The Sequence of Cultivating Meditative Concentration

Why is it that when meditative concentration (samādhi) is present, the seeds of consciousness flow forth less and less, and the discerning activity grows weaker? Who decides to discern? Who decides to discern less or not to discern? Within meditative concentration, why does the manas decide to discern less or not to discern? And why, when not in meditative concentration, does the manas not make such a decision? What is the relationship between the manas and meditative concentration?

If meditative concentration only stabilizes the six consciousnesses without stabilizing the manas, and the manas clings at eight places, intensely wanting to discern at those eight places, what will the result be? And when the manas clings less, or stops clinging altogether and settles down, what is that called? What kind of phenomenon is it?

In cultivating concentration, shallow concentration trains the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses (pañcavijñāna-sahagata-manovijñāna), while deep concentration must reach the solitary mental consciousness. The general procedure for cultivating concentration is: first subduing the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses, gradually deepening and shifting over to the solitary mental consciousness, and then subduing the solitary mental consciousness. All profound meditative concentrations are cultivated starting from the solitary mental consciousness; for example, the various visualization dharma-gates in the Buddhist sūtras all work by subduing the solitary mental consciousness. Throughout the entire process of cultivating concentration, from beginning to end, it is the manas that governs and draws the arising and ceasing, the changes of the six consciousnesses. Although sometimes, and especially at the beginning, it is the mind consciousness that draws the manas—using reasoning and rational explanation to persuade the manas not to cling indiscriminately—in the end it is still in substance the manas that determines the presence or absence, the weight or lightness, of the six consciousnesses; it is the manas that draws the six consciousnesses as they come and go, and it is the manas that weakens and extinguishes the six consciousnesses.

The solitary mental consciousness is far more active than the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses, and is not easy to subdue; but once it is subdued, meditative concentration comes with ease. Once one can grasp and draw the solitary mental consciousness, there is a gateway to entering and leaving concentration. Both the grasping and the drawing are done by the manas, so the manas must possess the mental factor of desire (chanda). Subduing the manas' desire, mobilizing the manas' desire, drawing the manas' desire—then meditative concentration comes with ease. Therefore, in cultivating concentration, one is still cultivating the manas, subduing the manas, and drawing the manas.

The sequence for cultivating concentration: subdue the five sense consciousnesses until only one of the five remains—this is called one-pointedness. Then even that one of the five sense consciousnesses must be weakened, allowing the function of the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses to strengthen. After that, shift the function of the mental consciousness accompanying the five sense consciousnesses over to the solitary mental consciousness, then weaken the former and strengthen the latter. After that, let the solitary mental consciousness become focused, unified, and deep.

Going deeper into concentration, one then weakens the solitary mental consciousness, and finally extinguishes it. If the solitary mental consciousness is too strong, it also hinders meditative concentration, especially deep meditative concentration. For example, if one always wants to contemplate the meaning of the Dharma, if there are always thoughts in the mind, if thoughts cannot cease and one keeps switching from one thought to another, then deep meditative concentration is very hard to maintain.

From the principles of cultivating concentration, the manas must necessarily correspond with the mental factor of concentration (samādhi). Concentration means concentrating the manas; concentrating the six consciousnesses is useless, and one cannot stabilize the six consciousnesses anyway—the children will inevitably follow their mother. Stabilize the mother, and the children are stabilized at the same time. In examining matters, one must not look only at surface phenomena; one must penetrate deeply into the essence and ultimate nature of things. If one cannot observe the workings of the manas, one also cannot observe the deeper levels of essence, and can only remain on the surface of things, observing various false appearances.