Only with Less Clinging Does Meditative Concentration Easily Arise

If the mind is always swayed by various states and turns along with those states, then it cannot attain stillness; without stillness, there can be no contemplation. The precepts guard against wrongdoing and stop evil, preventing the mind from scattering; they are used to subdue afflictions. Once the afflictions are suppressed, the mind no longer moves restlessly; when states arise, the mind engages in less grasping, and cultivating meditative concentration becomes easier. If the mind is preoccupied with food, clothing, housing, and possessions, harboring many likes and wishes, caring about many people, things, and matters, with the mind tangled like hemp, then how can it become still? Reduce your interests and hobbies, reduce the objects the mind attends to, and the mind can become somewhat still. As much as possible, take no interest in and pay no heed to all the people, things, and matters around you; let the mind engage in little grasping, draw the mind inward, and do not let it scatter outward—then meditative concentration will surely appear.

Among people, those with many interests and hobbies grasp at every kind of worldly affair, wanting at every moment and in every place to display themselves, with a self constantly appearing in their minds—such a mind cannot attain tranquil stillness. At the time of death, they will discover that this life has in fact yielded nothing at all, mere toil without benefit. So rather than that, it is better to turn back early, develop the inner treasure abundantly, and not greedily seek outward things that disturb the mind. Life always involves gains and losses; you must calculate well for yourself what gain constitutes the greatest benefit, so that you will have reliable assurance in future lives.