Guarding the Six Faculties to Maintain Pure Mindfulness in Reciting the Buddha's Name

Experience of Contemplation Practice in Spring: After reading the section on manas training, I tried reciting the Buddha's name using the method of focused recitation: sitting cross-legged, turning the prayer beads while reciting the Buddha's name, with my eyes watching the moving beads, my ears listening to my own recitation, and my consciousness guarding this state without giving rise to other thoughts, maintaining deep concentration. I recited for about 40 minutes, and after finishing, I felt a buzzing sound in my head. Shortly after, I went to sit in meditation. Not long after sitting down, I heard my own recitation, heartbeat, and pulse intertwined, resonating clearly, powerfully, and rhythmically deep within my mind. This sound seemed to form a separate space, blocking out all other information, and it lasted for over half an hour. Later, I felt my consciousness begin to intervene, and the sound disappeared.

May I ask, Master: Is this the manas reciting the Buddha's name? Is this method of practice correct? Later, when I tried to continue practicing with this method, I couldn't regain that state and don't know why.

Answer: If it were the manas reciting the Buddha's name, there would be no sound, no heart sound, and you would not hear yourself reciting. However, the oral recitation and mental recitation of consciousness can be heard by consciousness itself. Your recitation involved both consciousness and manas working together. If only consciousness recites, the manas will grasp at objects, giving rise to wandering thoughts. Your recitation skill at this stage is neither shallow nor deep; it belongs to an intermediate transitional phase. Only when, in the end, the hand, eye, and ear faculties cease moving, and you are very focused, silently recalling the Buddha, is it the manas reciting the Buddha's name. Nevertheless, this is still quite good. Your recitation skill is not shallow; you have entered concentration, and the initial stage of samādhi has manifested.

If you wish to recite purely and more deeply, you must gather in the six sense faculties. So-called "gathering in the six sense faculties" means controlling the first five sense faculties and the first six consciousnesses, enabling the manas to focus single-mindedly and undistractedly on reciting the Buddha's name, silently and without sound. When reciting the Buddha's name, the five sense faculties and six consciousnesses do not move. However, not only were your hand and body faculties moving, but your eye faculty was also moving, and your ear faculty was also moving. This requires immense energy to maintain the manas's focus, which is extremely difficult. Therefore, the depth of your meditative concentration is still insufficient. Reciting the Buddha's name means having the Buddha in the mind. The prayer beads are not the Buddha; turning them with the hand does not equal reciting the Buddha's name. Seeing with the eyes does not equal reciting the Buddha's name. The sound is not the Buddha; hearing with the ears does not equal reciting the Buddha's name. The more auxiliary recitation tools you use, the more your mind becomes scattered.

There are also those who visualize the setting sun while simultaneously doing tiptoe exercises to train the body, dividing their mind into two completely different places—how could there be even a trace of samādhi? Others contemplate several dharma methods in a single day, as if possessing extraordinary abilities, but in reality, their minds are extremely scattered; they fundamentally do not understand what contemplation practice is. Most sentient beings are accustomed to their six sense faculties grasping at the objects of the six dusts (sense fields), unwilling to let go and become single-minded, as if being single-minded means losing other sense objects. They are habituated to grasping at sense objects, clinging greedily. Thus, all six sense faculties move simultaneously, grasping at all phenomena, unwilling to relinquish anything. Acting contrary to the principles of practice is not true practice.