Maintaining the Practice State of the Equal Cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā

Question: In order to develop meditative concentration (samādhi) as quickly as possible, is the method of contemplating a photograph of the setting sun a good one? 

Answer: Two years ago I taught how to contemplate the setting sun. That method of contemplating the setting sun mainly involves personally observing the setting sun in the western sky, watching the golden-red sun suspended in empty space like a hanging drum. After watching it, close your eyes and recollect and recall the setting sun you saw with your own eyes. In this way, the memory is still vivid, and the effect of the contemplation is the best; it is also relatively easy to cultivate this contemplation. After all, it is something seen with one's own eyes, having a basis, and is not as difficult as imagining out of thin air. In fact, all of these contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) methods are more or less the same; it is merely a matter of which one is easier to get started with and which method suits oneself better. 

No matter what method you use, as long as there is one method that enables you to successfully develop meditative concentration, and to carry out contemplative practice with clear, valid direct cognition, that is good. As long as the contemplative practice reaches the manas, and the manas can deliberate with focus, then you have succeeded in your cultivation. Once you know how to have the manas deliberate with focus, then when encountering any dharma, you can deliberate with the manas, letting the manas realize the dharma; then you can attain great wisdom and meditative absorption (samādhi), and be perfectly unobstructed in the dharma you cultivate. 

In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Sudhana's fifty-three visits: each time he visited a good teacher and received the good teacher's instruction, he would investigate within meditative concentration and meditative absorption, always with the manas deliberating with focus, without intellectual interpretation by the mind consciousness, and thus he attained the samādhi of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, finally cultivating up to the stage of a bodhisattva of equivalence (samatā-mātra). Sudhana did not spend time learning so much theory, nor did he focus on theory to acquire abundant theoretical knowledge; rather, having sought out one dharma, he would verify and investigate it within dhyāna and meditative absorption, finally attaining the profound samādhi of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā—neither leaning toward concentration nor leaning toward wisdom. Only in this way can there be true realization, and it is also the most ultimate realization. Therefore, in our cultivation we should also try our best to maintain the state of practice of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā—neither wild wisdom nor foolish concentration. Once you have mastered a method, you should investigate within concentration. If you only study theory one-sidedly, meditative concentration will also be very hard to develop, with the result that none of the theories can be digested and absorbed; they become stuck in the mind, fostering a mind of pride.