Without Meditative Concentration, Can One Attain the Fruit and Liberation?

Question: One often hears of the recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) meditative concentration (samādhi). In terms of the four dhyānas and eight absorptions, which dhyāna does the recollection of the Buddha samādhi correspond to? 

Answer: The recollection of the Buddha samādhi is divided into the recollection of the Buddha samādhi that is a meditative state, and the recollection of the Buddha samādhi that is the mind-seeing state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. In either kind of recollection of the Buddha samādhi, there is fully accomplished preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), or first dhyāna concentration. Meditative concentration is the foundation of samādhi; without meditative concentration, no kind of samādhi will ever arise, no dharma will be accomplished, and in future lives one will continue to transmigrate through the suffering of birth and death. Therefore, everyone should not be satisfied with broad learning and much hearing, should not be satisfied with extensive knowledge, and should not rely on knowledge passed down merely by word of mouth; one must deeply enter meditative concentration and investigate, striving to cultivate true wisdom. Do not believe the nonsense that one can still attain realization of the fruits and liberation without meditative concentration; believe instead what the Buddha says in the Buddhist sūtras.