How to Enter Meditative Concentration (Samādhi) with Wisdom

After the practitioner has adjusted his breathing, he brings up in his mind the question that needs to be contemplated. After using the mind consciousness to sort out the content of the question clearly, he does not analyze, reason, speculate, or imagine, and does not engage in the superficial thinking of the surface consciousness. Instead, he mobilizes the manas, planting the question deeply into the mind of the manas, letting the manas hang onto this question. At this time, there are no words, language, or sounds in the minds of either the consciousness or the manas. In this way, profound meditative concentration (dhyāna) appears, and the power of meditative concentration arises. When the manas is in a state of deliberation (manana) upon the question, if there are no obstructions in the physical body and no scattered thoughts in the mind, the more the manas deliberates, the more concentrated it becomes, the deeper the meditative concentration grows, the more wisdom unfolds and is liberated, the more harmonized the body and mind become, and the more joyful the spirit is.

Deliberating on the meaning of the Dharma within such profound meditative concentration is entirely equivalent to profound contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), Chan investigation, and meditative inquiry. The mind's understanding of the Dharma will become increasingly clear. Once one can deliberate through to complete clarity, the mind will be very resolute, without doubt, having eliminated doubt and perplexity. If one deliberates in this way on the content for eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and on matters concerning seeing one's true nature and awakening to the true mind, once the deliberation and investigation become clear, the three fetters will be severed, and the fetter of doubt will certainly be cut off. If it is merely deduced and conjectured by the consciousness, the manas will not understand it, the fetter of doubt will not be severed, karmic obstructions will not be removed, and birth and death cannot be ended.

The vast majority of people only know how to use the shallow mode of thinking of the consciousness, and do not know how to use the deep mode of deliberation of the manas. Therefore, they are unable to apply effort in Chan investigation and meditative inquiry, resulting in emotional sentiment and intellectual interpretation, with questioning doubt never extinguished and the fetter of doubt never severed. At the slightest disturbance, their doubting mind blazes fiercely, and the Dharma they previously deduced gets overturned. Even if it is not overturned, it is still not actual, personal realization and has no practical use. Therefore, among the many today who believe themselves to have awakened, the proportion of false awakening is like the purity of pure gold, or even higher—only more, never less. This is the current state of the Dharma-ending age. No matter how many people are unwilling to accept it, this is the fact, corresponding to and matching the spiritual faculties (indriya) of sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age and the circumstances of the era. It will not be better than the age of the True Dharma or the age of the Semblance Dharma—absolutely not.