The Process of Practicing the White Bone Contemplation

Question: Over the past few days, I have been imagining and comparing the image of the whole body's skeleton and viewing photographs of the full-body skeleton. The images of the bones in various parts of the body that appear in my mind are as clear as the various objects in my home. When the body moves, the image of the whole-body skeleton in my mind moves along with it. My mind feels very settled, and mental scatteredness has lightened considerably. Is my contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in this way correct? 

Answer: This is the initial preparatory work of the contemplation of the white bones, all of which is accomplished by the mind consciousness. The mind consciousness must gather information, organize, categorize, and analyze it, and then infer and imagine the image of the white bones. But no matter how the mind consciousness infers and imagines, meditative concentration (samādhi) will not appear, because these methods are not direct perception/valid direct cognition. No matter how firmly the mind affirms that the white bones are like this, no samādhi state of direct perception will appear. It is just like this: no matter how one imagines the sixteen contemplations in the Contemplation of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life Sutra, no samādhi state of direct perception of any of the sixteen contemplations will appear—not even the simplest samādhi of the sunset contemplation will appear, because the manas has not matured in the contemplation, or the manas has not yet begun the contemplation. 

The work of gathering information done by the mind consciousness is like the work of a little secretary. After organizing this information completely and meticulously, it must be submitted to the leader, the manas, and then there is not much more to do—just waiting for the leader's next instruction. After the manas has read through this information, if it considers the information important, it will set aside its other work at hand and devote itself specifically to studying this material, concentrating its focus and pondering the information. Gradually the mind becomes clear about the specific content of the information, will discover the facts, wisdom will arise, and samādhi will appear. 

The preliminary work done by the mind consciousness described above is basically correct. When comparing and viewing diagrams of the skeletal structure and imagining the bones, you are transmitting information to the manas, permeating the manas, shifting the manas's attention to the visualization of the bones. At present there is a bit of preliminary effect, but the mind consciousness's visualization still needs to be further strengthened; you need to keep permeating the manas so that the manas's grasping becomes less and less, its attention becomes more and more concentrated, and its meditative power becomes stronger and stronger. When the mind consciousness's visualization is very clear and the meditative power is also strong, the mind consciousness no longer needs to exert much effort in visualization, and even less should it do such simple, elementary things as thinking, analyzing, organizing, and categorizing—there is no need for that anymore; just remain unmoved, and the manas will engage in focused deliberation (manana). The skill needs to be accumulated bit by bit, and gradually the samādhi state will appear naturally when conditions are ripe. 

Those who take the mind consciousness's most elementary functions of inference, organizing, categorizing, analyzing, and so on as the ultimate method for realizing the fruits of the path are simply too shallow. The gap between these functions of the mind consciousness and the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and realization of the fruit is far too great. All methods that work on the mind consciousness are the emotional sentiments and intellectual interpretations that were vigorously rebuked by all the Chan patriarchs of the past; people with wisdom do not take these as ultimate. If the mind consciousness's methods of thinking were to prevail, then whether in the Mahāyāna or the Hīnayāna, practitioners would inevitably go astray, and the Buddhist cultivation and realization would surely perish. Without cultivation and realization, only some views and knowledge would remain, and gradually even those views would become incomplete, and Buddhism would be destroyed. 

Therefore, people today, lacking merit and wisdom, dig out again what the patriarchs threw into the garbage heap and revere it like a treasure. But revering the mind consciousness as the means to realize the fruit is an act of destroying the Buddha's Dharma; one should promptly repent and correct this, and should not continue stepping onto the wrong path and into byways—otherwise the consequences are unimaginable. A great man can naturally stand upright between heaven and earth; when wrong, he must promptly correct himself and should not seek empty fame. Whether one has realized the fruit or not is not decided by anyone—it is decided by the tathāgatagarbha. If it accords with the facts of realizing the fruit, the tathāgatagarbha will naturally manifest the retribution corresponding to a noble one, and no one's denial will be of any use. Likewise, if it does not accord with the facts of realizing the fruit, the tathāgatagarbha will only manifest the retribution of an ordinary being/worldling (Skt. pṛthagjana) who has not realized the fruit; no matter what, it will not manifest the retribution of a noble one who has realized the fruit. No matter who certifies the fruit for you, it is useless, and there is also the unlovely retribution of great false speech; in the end the loss outweighs the gain. The wise should ponder this well.