How to Enter Meditative Concentration as Quickly as Possible While Sitting in Meditation

To enter meditative concentration (samādhi) quickly, you should relax the body and the conscious mind as much as possible. When taking your seat, let the body slacken; you must empty out body and mind. Relax the arms, hands, and shoulders; relax the legs and feet. Do not hold up your shoulders, arms, or hands—the whole body must loosen. The head should also relax, kept naturally upright and tilted slightly downward. The back should be naturally straight, neither bent nor stiffly erect. The shoulders should gently droop down and be drawn back slightly, lightly and effortlessly, without using any force. Do not use force anywhere in the body. Using force means you are stiffening yourself upright; once you stiffen up, the body becomes rigid, the qi-mechanism stops moving, the qi channels cannot easily circulate, and the body cannot easily open up. 

After the body is completely relaxed, relax the mind as well—empty it out, lightly and easily. Apart from the dharma you are contemplating, think of nothing in the mind, dwell on nothing, let nothing concern you. Even if the sky were to fall, pay it no heed; relinquish everything. Let the body be however it wants to be—there is no need to attend to it at all. The more you attend to it, the more you grasp at it, the harder it is for the qi-mechanism to stir, the harder it is for the qi and blood to pass through, and the worse your meditative concentration will be. Conversely, the more empty and relaxed your body and mind are, the better your meditative concentration will be. Practice this: let yourself completely down, relinquish everything, empty everything out. Only in this way can you enter samādhi as quickly as possible.