Physical and Mental Responses During Diligent Practice

Ru Chun: I don't know why, but during this period, ever since Master told me to speak less, I have begun not wanting to talk, and I am also afraid of hearing sounds. When communicating with people, I don't even want to listen to WeChat voice messages; I always convert them to text to read. I stagger my meal times with my family to avoid contact, don't go out, don't watch videos on my phone, and don't concern myself with affairs. I focus on cultivating meditation (samādhi), reciting sutras, and listening to the audio of Dharma teachings. At night when sleeping, I don't turn it off—I listen while sleeping. Often in dreams, without knowing what I heard, I suddenly spring up from the bed. During the day, I also listen while doing housework, often so immersed in contemplation that I completely forget myself.

Every night I still sit in meditation at one or two o'clock, and get up at four or five to apply effort, sleeping only two to three hours a day. Once or twice, being too exhausted, I couldn't get up in the morning; in a daze, I felt as if my arm had been jolted by electricity, and with a start I woke up. Another time when I couldn't get up, an image flashed in my mind of Guanyin Bodhisattva holding a lotus flower and looking at me; startled, I immediately became alert and applied effort. That image of Guanyin Bodhisattva is exactly the one saved on my phone. Several times when I entered meditative concentration (samādhi) and couldn't move, I clearly knew in my mind that my child was hungry and looking for food in the refrigerator; I wanted to get up and cook for him, but my body just couldn't get up. I asked Dharma brother Bai Xuexiang, and he said: "This is because you deeply believe Master's words, and they were directly received and utilized by the manas, which carried them out." I thought to myself, Master's manas energy is truly so strong!

Assessment: When outward-facing speech decreases, mental activity lessens and energy is not dispersed outward; with abundant energy, meditative concentration (dhyāna) arises. Because one dwells in the inner world, external sounds appear very abrupt and loud, and one cannot bear to listen to outside sounds, because any sound is material form (rūpa) that will vibrate into the mind, and the magnetic fields of various sounds differ, having different influences on one's own mind. Because bodhicitta has been generated, the blessing power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas has also increased, and one's practice becomes extremely diligent, with very rapid progress. For a person who has generated bodhicitta and has great hope of seeing the Path, the blessing power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will feel very strong and evident, and thus one practices with full confidence. Single-mindedly cultivating the Path, once you get on the fast track, the mind is pure and without stray thoughts; at this point there are no positive or negative emotions at all, and the mind has no fluctuations or sighs.

Ru Chun: Now, whether I am contemplating worldly dharmas or the Buddha-dharma, I am always in a state of complete self-forgetfulness; often when someone speaks to me, I don't know what they are saying, being completely immersed in my own contemplation. Recently I saw Master's Dharma teaching saying that one should use the mind consciousness less, and I realized my method was wrong, so I changed my method. But I don't know whether the change was wrong, because instead I can no longer find that good feeling. What is going on?

Assessment: Your state of contemplation involves not only the mind consciousness's thinking, but also the deliberative activity of the manas. Since you yourself cannot distinguish between them, you abandoned both, which is of course incorrect. Your daily training in contemplation like this is helpful for elevating the wisdom of the manas; when the wisdom of the mind consciousness is insufficient, training the mind consciousness first is also fine. If you observe that there is indeed deliberation (manana) by the manas within, just continue maintaining it. But you must know that this still has not set you on the correct path of practice, because the dharmas you contemplate have no main thread—it is scattered contemplation; whatever you encounter, you contemplate, and you have not yet headed in the direction of eliminating the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi). You should also train yourself to cultivate with single-minded focus. Observing the breath is for the purpose of knowing nothing; you have not yet grasped the Dharma, and your understanding of the practice approach for eliminating self-view is still unclear. Sort out the principles of practice clearly, and then combine it with applying effort in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and investigation, and it will be easy to see the Path.