The Supreme Realm of Meditative Concentration on Recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti-samādhi) (2023-03-28)

Explanation: Ven. Shi Ruyuan: When I sit in the morning and evening, I first contemplate the breath a few times, but after a while I unconsciously forget about contemplating the breath, and automatically begin contemplating the impurity of the material body, contemplating that my own body and the bodies of all sentient beings are so impure. Sometimes when my daughter is beside me saying something, I just cannot hear her; I feel her voice is so very far away, and my mind has no reaction at all. Sometimes I even feel flustered, my mind blank, as if I were dreaming, my whole body listless and dazed, with no mind at all to listen to what she is saying.

At the same time, the sound of the Buddha's name continues unceasingly in my mind. The purer my mind becomes, free of thoughts, the more relaxed my head feels, and the contemplation of dharma principles proceeds without interruption. The sound of the Buddha's name in my mind cannot be suppressed even if I try; as soon as my mind rests, the recollection of the Buddha's name continues without pause. Listening to the sounds around me, they all seem like the sound of the Buddha's name, and I cannot turn my thoughts away from it. Now when I wake up in the morning, I first sit up and quietly listen to the sound of the Buddha's name for a while, then get up to wash my face and brush my teeth, and the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind continues unceasingly. At this time I turn my thoughts to contemplating the impurity of the material body, contemplating a person's phenomena of birth, aging, sickness, and death—from infancy and childhood through youth, middle age, and old age until death, contemplating the process of dying and its suffering.

Therefore I have made a great vow to diligently and attentively study the dharma teachings of my benevolent teacher Shengru and to cultivate well. When my father passed away, he suffered just as the teacher described, like a turtle being stripped of its shell while still alive; the process of his death is deeply imprinted in my mind. Sometimes as soon as I sit down, I recall those events, and in my mind my father appears as a pile of white bones; then, contemplating further, the white bones slowly disintegrate and vanish. When I first began hearing the dharma, I did not know how to cultivate. At that time my elder brother and sister-in-law told me that if I did not understand, I should just recollect the Buddha earnestly. From that time on I recollected the Buddha with a seeking mind for several years, and even while reciting, distracting thoughts still arose in my mind.

It was only after I had the good fortune to encounter the dharma teachings of my benevolent teacher Shengru that a great transformation occurred. At the end of 2019, Teacher Shengru bestowed the five precepts and the bodhisattva precepts on us at a monastery in Zhejiang. During the precept ceremony, I experienced the teacher's incredible power of blessing: my body became fixed and unable to move, and my mind was empty. Since then, every time I read the teacher's dharma teachings I make progress. Whether reading paper books or e-books, I can smell a special fragrance that does not exist in this human world; fragrance has also issued several times from the gaps between the teeth on my lower left side and from within my mouth. Whatever I am doing, my mind feels empty and vacant. When others speak to me, I feel their voices are so very far away, as if they were not speaking to me.

Because when I sit and contemplate the dharma principles, my mind is still clear and lucid—why is it that when I recite the Śūraṅgama Mantra, partway through the recitation I no longer know that I am reciting, as if half asleep and half awake? Reciting with my eyes open, my body, mind, and eyes feel very tired. If I recite with my eyes closed, partway through I lose awareness, and upon waking I find I am still reciting, but I do not know which section I have reached; sometimes, repeating this over and over, it takes four or five attempts to complete the recitation. If I recite while looking at the book, I am quite clear-headed, but as soon as I sit, my body feels very, very tired, as if my energy is insufficient.

Assessment: Ven. Shi Ruyuan attained the meditative concentration of recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti-samādhi) in 2023, recollecting the Buddha without interruption every day, with excellent meditative power. Contemplating the impurity of the material body within such meditative concentration yields very good results. Why has she attained such an excellent state of samādhi? First, it stems from the wholesome roots of her cultivation in past lives; second, in this life she has the mind of renunciation—worldly dharmas are utterly bland to her, arousing not the slightest interest, without the slightest longing. Under these circumstances, what distracting thoughts and wandering thoughts could she still produce? Her meditative skill naturally became very good, she attained samādhi quickly, and her contemplative practice of the Buddha-dharma is also very effective. Tracing it to its root, it is because her mind of renunciation is strong: she has seen through the falsity and tedium of the world, and her mind toward worldly matters is completely sealed off. Even if she did not want to attain samādhi, she could not help it—meditative concentration came naturally. For those who cannot cultivate meditative concentration, the fundamental reason is that they are too attached to and too enamored of worldly dharmas; exerting effort only on the body and external appearances is of no avail.