How to Transform Delusion into Wisdom

Wu Shi's Observation Journal:

During meditation these past few days, I deliberately observed how those discursive thoughts arise. The conscious mind was not thinking about them, yet the discursive thoughts still surfaced. This happens because the conscious mind went elsewhere; it is the mental faculty clinging. If the mental faculty did not cling, discursive thoughts would not appear. Particularly concerning matters one usually focuses on or is interested in, they are more likely to emerge during evening meditation. Therefore, whether one can maintain mental clarity and calm during the day is crucial. With a clear and calm mind, discursive thoughts are less likely to arise easily.

Hence, when dealing with matters during the day, one should strive to avoid letting them enter the heart, letting them pass without lingering. In this way, the mind becomes more easily clear and calm, and fewer discursive thoughts will appear. Of course, deliberately trying to suppress matters (or objects) from entering the heart is not very effective; subduing afflictions cannot rely solely on suppression. One must be skillful in shifting thoughts: contemplate that all phenomena with form are illusory; that all dharmas are characterized by suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self; that the material body is impure, and so forth. Direct the conscious mind to contemplate these aspects more. Once contemplated clearly, the afflictions will dissipate, and only then can one prevent people, events, and things from entering the heart so easily, thereby reducing or even eliminating the mental faculty's preoccupation with matters and objects.

Commentary: Discursive thoughts originate from the clinging and obsessions of the mental faculty. The mental faculty's grasping towards the world of the five aggregates is extremely stubborn and obstinate; its grasping towards the objects of the six dusts is also very tenacious, almost ceaseless, persisting even after falling asleep. Consequently, the mind cannot attain tranquility, wisdom cannot arise, and afflictions cannot be severed. Subduing this clinging nature of the mental faculty is extremely difficult. One can only shift the object of the mental faculty's clinging, redirect its attention, enabling it to focus on one dharma, thereby stabilizing it. Only afterwards can its thoughts become somewhat simpler. This is the method of "using one nail to remove another nail." Ultimately, once the nail is removed, the mind will become empty. Reciting the Buddha's name, reciting mantras, and reciting sutras are all methods of "using one nail to remove another nail." Contemplative practices like mindfulness of breathing, contemplation of the skeleton, the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on, are all methods of "using one nail to remove another nail." As long as the mental faculty can concentrate, specifically pondering one dharma, wisdom can be born.

When you are overwhelmed by a multitude of discursive thoughts, do not rush to eliminate them. Watch them, observe them, and seek their source. You will discover that discursive thoughts come from nowhere and go nowhere; they have no root, like duckweed. Therefore, there is fundamentally no need to counteract them. Give them a new object of focus, assign the mental faculty a new and important task, keep it busy with one thing, and the mind will become tranquil, allowing wisdom to appear. The mental faculty lacks wisdom precisely because it clings too much; its objects of focus are too numerous, preventing it from contemplating with concentration. Consequently, it cannot see the principles of things clearly and naturally lacks wisdom. Therefore, to attain wisdom, one must cultivate concentration (samadhi), stabilize the mental faculty, and face only one problem, one dharma. Then the problem can be resolved, and even the great matter of life and death can be solved.