Maintaining the State of Calm Abiding and Special Insight in Equipoise

Question: Is it good to use the method of contemplating sunset photographs to quickly develop meditative concentration?

Answer: Two years ago, I explained how to contemplate the sunset. That method primarily involves personally observing the golden-red sun in the western sky, suspended in the void like a drum. After viewing it, close your eyes and recall the sunset you witnessed firsthand. This way, the memory remains vivid, the effect of visualization is optimal, and cultivating visualization becomes relatively easier. After all, it is based on actual sight, providing a foundation, unlike the difficulty of pure imagination. In truth, all such contemplative practices are quite similar; it's merely a matter of which method is easier to start with or more suitable for oneself.

Regardless of the method you use, as long as one method enables you to successfully develop meditative concentration and achieve clear, direct perceptual contemplation, it is sufficient. As long as the contemplation settles into the mental faculty (意根), allowing it to focus intently and deliberate, then you have succeeded in your practice. Once you learn to use the mental faculty for focused deliberation, encountering any Dharma teaching, you can use the mental faculty to deliberate upon it, enabling the mental faculty to realize the Dharma. Then you can attain the great wisdom samadhi (三昧), achieving unimpeded mastery over the Dharma you cultivate.

In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (华严经), the youth Sudhana (善财童子) undertook fifty-three visits to virtuous teachers (善知识). After receiving instruction from each virtuous teacher, he would contemplate and investigate within the samadhi state. In each case, it was the mental faculty focusing intently and deliberating, without merely intellectual understanding by the conscious mind. Thus, he attained the samadhi of balanced concentration and wisdom (定慧等持), ultimately reaching the stage of an Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattva (等觉菩萨). Sudhana did not spend time learning vast amounts of theory, nor did he concentrate solely on acquiring extensive theoretical knowledge. Instead, upon receiving a teaching, he would verify and investigate it within meditative samadhi, finally attaining the profound samadhi of balanced concentration and wisdom. He was neither biased towards concentration nor towards wisdom alone. Only in this way can genuine realization be achieved, which is the most ultimate realization. Therefore, in our practice, we should also strive to maintain the state of balanced cultivation of concentration and wisdom, avoiding the pitfalls of wild wisdom (狂慧) or dull concentration (愚定). Once we grasp a method, we should investigate it within concentration. If one merely indulges in learning theory without practice, it becomes very difficult to develop meditative concentration. This results in all theories remaining undigested and unassimilated, clogging the mind and fostering arrogance (慢心).