The Importance of Cultivating Meditative Concentration

Some aspects of the tathāgatagarbha's essential nature are very profound; we must repeatedly cultivate and familiarize ourselves with them in order to understand a little, while even more of the Dharma can only be gradually understood and gradually contemplated through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) after realizing the tathāgatagarbha. However, the realization of the Buddha's teachings must take place through deliberation (manasikāra/manana) and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) within meditative concentration (samādhi) in order to be truly realized; otherwise, at most one can only understand it intellectually, and what is merely understood is ultimately unreliable. Meditative concentration and contemplative practice are extremely important. Without meditative concentration, many aspects of the Dharma cannot be worked out through deliberation and contemplative practice, and the profound teachings to be discussed later will not be understood—gradually one will fall behind.

Whenever you have time, everyone should cultivate meditative concentration. Without meditative concentration, one cannot realize the Buddha's teachings; what is merely understood still belongs to the level of knowledge and cannot withstand birth and death. As for the more profound teachings, without meditative concentration, one simply cannot understand them at all. On the path of learning Buddhism, without meditative concentration, one cannot engage in contemplative practice of the Dharma, and thus cannot realize the tathāgatagarbha; even if one barely achieves seeing the mind, the various subsequent contemplative practices cannot be carried out, and then one cannot perfect the practice content of each stage of realization, and the path of practice ahead will become impassable, or progress will be extremely slow. Therefore, everyone must strive diligently to cultivate meditative concentration.