Reasons for Rapid Cultivation Practice (2025-04-20)

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: Every time I am in meditative concentration, I can feel that the power of Your blessing, Master, is so great. In the past I did not understand what a "magnetic field" was; I only knew that when I went to other places or to other people's side, I felt an indescribable restlessness and discomfort in my heart, and I just longed to leave quickly. But when I contemplate the Master's dharma teachings in deep meditative concentration, I can feel a kind of sublime resonance, especially evident, and my meditative concentration deepens noticeably.

The first time I listened to the Master's audio dharma teachings, I was deeply captivated, and I felt such dharma joy in my heart that I silently made a vow: I must earnestly study the Master's dharma teachings and diligently cultivate meditative concentration. Every time I study the dharma teachings, I clearly feel the power of blessing, a special resonance; my head feels soft again as before, without any supporting strength, and when walking it is as if I were rooted to the road, unable to move. Fortunately there were others accompanying me, so I quickly gathered my spirits and vigorously swayed my numb head slowly, then rubbed my somewhat tense eyes and face. Luckily my dwelling was nearby, and before I knew it I had returned to my room.

After returning, it felt like the last time—I felt my whole body about to enter samādhi, and my head and eyes really could not bear it, so I quickly lay down on the desk, still thinking: will there again be those physical and mental reactions like those few days last time? Although my body and mind could not bear it, inwardly I felt dharma joy, knowing that this was a resonance produced by Your blessing, Master, and knowing that it was of great help to my cultivation of meditative concentration and contemplation of the dharma teachings. The next morning when I woke up and finished sitting meditation, I felt my body light and floating, my mind clear and lucid, and I felt as if my whole body and mind had an inexhaustible supply of strength.

One night I sat quietly the whole night in utter stillness; I could not hear a single sound, and my ear faculty felt as if it were sealed, unable to perceive any movement. It was not until five or six in the morning that I slowly recovered and could hear birdsong, the sound of cars, and people talking. At that moment I felt my skull was so clear and unobstructed it was beyond words. It seems I had heard in the Master's dharma teachings before that in profound meditative concentration, investigating Chan is like discovering a new continent; the mind is peaceful, pure, and at ease. This kind of experience cannot be understood through thinking with the conscious mind, nor can it be clearly expressed in words.

Now, no matter when, I am always in samādhi; only this time the period of meditative concentration was long, and everything outside felt tranquil as if it had never happened. Apart from hearing the sound of the Buddha's name both inside and outside the mind and the thought of investigating the questioning doubt, I could feel nothing else, while my mind remained calm and awake. If I sit down, I unknowingly enter a state of meditative concentration, so I quickly get up and walk around to practice walking meditation. Now, whether sitting in meditation or in meditation within movement, I always alert myself to use the mind to investigate the dharma teachings that appear in my mind.

The deeper the meditative concentration, the clearer and more lucid the mind becomes, and the questioning doubt that arises can be resolved on the spot. All the activities of this five-aggregate body, whether worldly dharma or supramundane dharma, are the wondrous function of self-nature. For example, dragging the sentient being's five-aggregate body about everywhere—breathing, exhaling, sleeping, fainting—or everything pertaining to all things, whatever species they may be, sentient or insentient, mountains, rivers, and the great earth, flowers, grass, and trees, the blowing of wind and stirring of grass—all worldly dharmas are the functional wondrous use of the substance of quiescent nirvāṇa. The tathāgatagarbha manifests His wondrous functional use upon sentient beings' eyes, ears, nose, body, mouth, and mind, upon the gates of the six faculties. If we wish to be mindful of Him, call upon Him, think of Him, worship Him, and take refuge in Him, we must seek His wondrous functional use through all marks and all dharmas.

The reason I was able to cultivate deep meditative concentration is that I never read books indiscriminately. From the very start, the first thing I did to cultivate meditative concentration was to join the Four Foundations of Mindfulness contemplative practice group. At the beginning of cultivating concentration, after just a few breaths of inhaling and exhaling, I forgot the breath, and I single-mindedly and deeply cultivated the recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi (buddhānusmṛti-samādhi). When I first encountered the Master's audio dharma teachings, I would fall asleep while listening, yet in my dreams I could still hear the Master's voice teaching the dharma. The states in dreams are inherently fragmented and scattered, and I did not understand a single sentence; every time I listened I fell asleep, and I had to wake up and start listening again from the beginning. I remember I listened a total of five times, that is, I listened five times in dreams.

Assessment: Ven. Shi Ruyuan's state is not a mere state of meditative concentration, but a samādhi state possessing both concentration and wisdom. She first had the wisdom of the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) of the Small Vehicle, and now she has the wisdom of investigating Chan of the Great Vehicle; she is only one step away from enlightenment and realizing the tathāgatagarbha. Now, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, whatever she does, she remains in a state of investigating the tathāgatagarbha. Although there is still some conscious mental analysis, deliberation, and understanding, which is somewhat less than ideal, the general location where the tathāgatagarbha resides has already been clearly ascertained; all that remains is to reach out and grasp it. This is unique on the entire internet. For someone with such a deep samādhi state, no external person or affair can disturb her.

Ven. Shi Ruyuan has not been studying Buddhism for long; she has known me for only five years and has been in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness group for only four years. After joining the group, her meditative concentration rapidly improved, while she also studied some related dharma principles. Because of her meditative concentration, although the dharma she studied was not much, it could enter into the mind of the manas, so much so that two years ago the samādhi state arose in her, possessing both concentration and the wisdom of the emptiness of the five aggregates. The contemplation of the white skeleton often appeared spontaneously, and her mind was empty. At that time I did not hold much hope for sentient beings of today, so I did not pay much attention to her, and thus did not promptly understand and guide her. That Ven. Shi Ruyuan's cultivation progressed so rapidly over four or five years is, first, because she was obedient, and second, because she had few miscellaneous affairs in her mind and not the slightest interest in worldly matters, making it easy to cultivate meditative concentration. And for a person with good meditative concentration, learning something easily enters the manas, samādhi easily arises, and realization comes easily.

In contrast, those who have studied theory for decades are still at the stage of hearing and thinking, without meditative concentration; what they have learned and known cannot be put to self-benefit. Their afflictions pile up, they cannot escape the bondage of worldly dharmas, and at times they even commit evil karma, even great evil karma. Studying Buddhism in this life brings them no benefit, and the next life is even more uncertain. Broadly studying theory without going deep into actual practice wastes much precious time; mistaking one's guide, and being conceited and arrogant besides, the price is great. Many people are conceited without reason, deeply steeped in pride, and refuse to heed good advice. Over many years, without even understanding small texts, they throw themselves wholeheartedly into great voluminous texts. Unable to honestly assess their own strength and faculties, they not only skip over the Small Vehicle practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and directly study Yogācāra, but also want to self-study it—that dharma is absolutely not something a worldling has the ability to self-study.