The Secret of Diligent Practice in Meditative Inquiry

When practicing Chan, the mind consciousness may be without thought, but the manas must never be without thought. If there is no thought at all, one is purely cultivating meditative concentration; this thought-free concentration cannot give rise to wisdom, and therefore one cannot attain enlightenment, nor can one see one's nature.

When the power of meditative concentration is very good, the mind consciousness seems to be without thought, but in fact there is still one thought suspended in the heart—that is, suspended in the manas. The manas is engaged in investigation, with the mind consciousness cooperating; when the material is sufficient and the data complete, the investigation is led primarily by the manas. If the data is insufficient, the manas asks the mind consciousness for material and data, and then investigates deeply. This is the true secret of applying effort in investigation; if everyone knew it, it would no longer be a secret.

When the manas asks the mind consciousness for material and data, the mind consciousness must engage in obvious deliberation and analysis, then hand the results of the analysis and deliberation over to the manas, and the manas then investigates on the basis of this data.

We have all had the experience that, on the surface, we seem to have no thoughts or deliberation, but deep inside the mind is not actually calm; there are still some mental activities deeply hidden, just like the water of the great ocean—on the surface it does not flow and appears very calm, but in reality its currents are very swift. The manas is like this: deep and hidden, hard to find, unfathomable.

A Chan master with experience and a high sense of responsibility will observe whether a disciple's conditions are complete. If they are not complete—lacking meditative concentration—he will not begin to guide, lest the disciple attain a merely intellectual understanding and remain unable to be full of vitality for a lifetime. Enlightenment under different Chan masters yields wisdom that differs greatly, and the degrees of realization differ greatly. Therefore, what kind of Chan master one encounters precisely reflects the state of one's own merit.