Only with Perfect Meditative Concentration Can One Swiftly Attain the Fruits of Realization

The cases recorded in the Āgama sūtras and the cases recorded in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra are all authentic. Indeed, there were some non-Buddhist practitioners who, after cultivating the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, heard the Buddha expound the Dharma and, after only a few minutes of reflection, eliminated the view of self (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and eliminated self-grasping, becoming arhats (the fourth fruit), and then entered nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). These non-Buddhist practitioners were extraordinary, and the merit of the four dhyānas and eight samādhis is extraordinary. Many of us listen to the Buddha's teachings for an entire lifetime and still cannot eliminate the view of self, whereas non-Buddhists with the four dhyānas and eight samādhis needed only a few minutes or even less—not only to eliminate the view of self, but also to eliminate self-grasping, and to immediately enter nirvāṇa without remainder. This is inconceivable. Consider, everyone: why were their spiritual faculties so sharp? Because in the course of their cultivation of the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, the manas had already been subdued; there was only one mistaken view remaining that had not been clarified and eliminated. Once this wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) was eliminated, all afflictions and attachments fell away at that very moment—this is the merit of the four dhyānas and eight samādhis. From this we can see that subduing the afflictions of the manas is very closely related to the four dhyānas and eight samādhis; meditative concentration (dhyāna) is extremely important.