How to Enter Samadhi Quickly

When contemplating the Dharma principles during meditation, it leads to faster and deeper absorption (samadhi) compared to silently reciting the Heart Sutra or mantras. It is faster than entering samadhi through breath regulation and quicker than any other method. This applies to those with sharp faculties (kalyāṇa-mitra), whose afflictions are slight and discursive thoughts are few, as they already possess a foundation in meditative concentration. For them, preliminary expedients can be omitted. However, for beginners in concentration whose minds are heavily entangled and thoughts are numerous, the more they contemplate, the more chaotic their minds become. Without meditative stability, it becomes mere scattered thinking; scattered thinking agitates the mind. Such individuals should wait until they have established a foundation in dhyana before engaging in contemplation. When I sit on the cushion, once I cross my legs, I need no preliminary methods at all. I directly enter into profound contemplation – a thinking without conscious deliberation, entirely the pondering of the manas (the intellectual faculty). After sitting cross-legged, I first focus on the Dharma principle to be contemplated, and then settle firmly upon that Dharma without moving. There is not a single discursive thought. This is the state of the manas investigating Chan (参禅).

The pondering of the manas is deep and slow, yet thorough. The thinking of the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) is fast and shallow, neither thorough nor penetrating. The thinking of the conscious mind is a preliminary expedient, its purpose being to trigger the contemplation of the manas. Initially, this is a necessary process to go through. Within the pondering and investigation of the manas, there is almost no acquisition of knowledge; it does not increase the volume of knowledge. Yet it is profoundly interesting, carrying a deep sense of exploratory fascination, a kind of hazy delight in the anticipation of discovering something. What is developed is the wisdom within one's own mind-field. This wisdom is not obtained from the outside; what comes from outside is merely knowledge. Upon reaching this stage, one no longer feels weary. I can sit for a whole morning, even a whole day. It is only because of worldly entanglements that I am compelled to rise from the seat.