Only by the Equal Cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā Can One Truly Realize the Buddha-Dharma

Śamatha is stillness, and it is also meditative concentration (samādhi); vipaśyanā is contemplation, and it is also wisdom. Only through the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, with stillness and contemplation working in concert, can great wisdom be born—this is the method practiced by bodhisattvas. Having stillness without contemplation, or contemplation without stillness, leaning to one side alone, one cannot give birth to great wisdom, cannot realize the Buddha's teachings firsthand, and cannot attain right wisdom; one can only achieve an intellectual understanding of the Dharma and acquire knowledge. These are the latter two of the three uncontaminated trainings—precepts, concentration, and wisdom—taught by the Buddha, and also two of the six perfections of the bodhisattva spoken of by the Buddha.

If someone sits in meditation cultivating concentration for years on end without raising the mind to deliberate and investigate the Buddha's teachings, they will never attain realization or liberation. If someone leans toward absorbing knowledge, studying widely and hearing much, but does not cultivate meditative concentration, their mind scattered and restless, never entering deeply into meditative contemplation, they likewise can never realize the Buddha's teachings firsthand; at most they will gain an intellectual understanding of the Dharma and acquire knowledge, their mind unable to attain liberation, unable to sever the three fetters. Knowledge can never substitute for realization, but laypeople cannot distinguish the difference, and most are those who worship knowledge and learning yet have not opened their eyes.