The Reasons Why Meditative Concentration Cannot Be Cultivated Successfully

There are many reasons why meditation (samādhi) may not be cultivated well. Search carefully within yourself, and remove and correct any greedy habits that should not be there. If you want to cultivate meditation well and keep your mind pure every day, you should eat less and not be greedy about food. Do not take in excess nutrition from your diet, and do not make your flavors too rich; the lighter your diet, the purer your mind will be. In human life—clothing, food, shelter, and daily activities, eating, drinking, and bodily functions—try not to be greedy or attached to any of them; moderation is best. In this way, it becomes easier to move away from the human way of life and accord with the life of the heavenly realms, and meditation will arise more easily.

Emotional attachment is the hardest to relinquish; relinquish desire first, for desire is the easiest to let go of. Heavenly beings have feelings but no desire; the desires of desire-realm devas are very faint. We should begin by relinquishing what is easiest to relinquish; only then can we raise the quality of our life.

Devas of the first dhyāna do not eat food, nor do they smell fragrances or savor tastes, and there is no sexual activity. If we wish to attain first-dhyāna concentration, we should not be greedy about food and drink—not craving the appearance, aroma, or taste of food and drink, nor craving its nutrition. At the same time, do not be concerned with the odors of your surrounding living environment: do not pursue pleasant scents, do not detest unpleasant smells, do not be picky about or preoccupied with odors—accord with conditions in everything and let it all be a matter of indifference. As for male and female forms, do not crave or attach to them; treat them normally. Gender is merely an illusory, false appearance, a combination of the four great elements—just like pork, there is nothing worth craving or loving. Maintain such a mind, and you need not worry about lacking meditative concentration. Then further subdue sleep and the scattered mind, and first-dhyāna concentration will arise easily.

In the Āgama sūtras, the Buddha told the bhikṣus to be diligent during the first watch of the night, not craving sleep; diligent during the middle watch, not craving sleep; and diligent during the last watch, not craving sleep. Eat and drink less, avoid dullness and drowsiness, and have fewer wandering thoughts—then sleep will naturally decrease.

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