In meditative concentration, is the result obtained from contemplative practice necessarily direct perception and realization?

When contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) within meditative concentration yields a result, there are two possibilities for this result: first, it may have been produced by the mind consciousness alone through contemplative practice; second, it may have been produced by the mind consciousness and the manas together through contemplative practice. If it was produced by the mind consciousness alone through contemplative practice, it cannot play a decisive role. Only when the manas has also realized it through contemplative practice can it play a decisive role; only then does the meditative absorption (samādhi) of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā appear, and only then is it true wisdom.

Why does contemplative practice within meditative concentration produce two different results? This is because meditative concentration varies in depth, and the contemplative wisdom of the minds it gathers and sustains differs accordingly. Meditative concentration has differences of shallow and deep—for example, there is the first dhyāna, the fully endowed preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), the insufficient and intermittent preparatory concentration, and even coarser and shallower concentration; the duration of concentration also varies. Thus there are great differences in contemplative wisdom. When concentration is shallow, when preparatory concentration is not yet fully endowed, the functions of the mind consciousness occupy the vast majority, the role of reasoning and analysis is relatively large, and the deliberation (manasikāra) of the manas is very slight, so the conclusion reached is not direct perception. Even with preparatory concentration, if the duration of each session of concentration is rather short, and the contemplative practice remains at a coarse and shallow stage, unable to go deeper, then there cannot be refined contemplative wisdom; the results obtained will be far-fetched and contrived, lacking direct perception.

Since meditative concentration is so important, some people single-mindedly cultivate concentration, ignoring everything else—neither eradicating evil and cultivating good, nor finding ways to eliminate afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) and afflictions, nor actively accumulating merit. Lacking merit, and with heavy afflictive obstructions, even after cultivating for over a decade or twenty years, they still cannot attain meditative concentration. On the contrary, for those with mild afflictive obstructions, who actively protect and uphold the Three Jewels and accumulate the merit of seeing the path, as soon as they cultivate meditative concentration, they do so with ease; within just a few months, their bodies are regulated very smoothly and their power of concentration increases rapidly—faster than others who have cultivated for twenty or thirty years. It is evident that cultivation lies in cultivating the mind, not in the length of time spent sitting. If one does not cultivate the mind, and with heavy afflictions still acts willfully, karmic obstructions will increase rather than decrease—how could meditative concentration possibly be attained then?