Physical and Mental Reactions During Diligent Practice

Ru Chun: During this period, for some unknown reason, ever since Master told me to speak less, I have begun not wanting to talk, and I have also become afraid of hearing sounds. In ordinary communication 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 concentrate on cultivating meditative concentration, reciting sutras, and listening to audio recordings of Dharma teachings. At night when I sleep, I don't turn it off; I listen while sleeping, and often in my dreams, without knowing what content 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 am still sitting in meditation at one or two o'clock, and I get up at four or five to apply effort, sleeping only 2 to 3 hours a day. Once or twice, when I was too tired to get up in the morning, in my dazed state 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 got up to apply effort. That image of Guanyin Bodhisattva is the one saved on my phone. Several times I entered meditative concentration and couldn't move; my mind clearly knew that my child was hungry and looking for food in the refrigerator, and I wanted to get up to cook for him, but my body simply would not rise. 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 your manas, which carried them out." I thought to myself, Master's manas energy is truly so powerful!

Assessment: When outward speech is reduced, mental activity diminishes, energy is not dissipated outward, and when energy is abundant, meditative concentration arises. Because one dwells in the inner mental 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 vibrates the inner mind; the magnetic fields of various sounds differ, and they have different effects 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 very diligent, with very rapid progress. For one who has generated bodhicitta and has great hope of seeing the Path, the blessing power of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will be felt as very strong and obvious, and thus one practices with full confidence. Single-mindedly cultivating the Path, once one gets on the "expressway," the mind is pure and without scattered thoughts; at this time there are no positive or negative emotions whatsoever, and the mind has no fluctuations or sentimental stirrings.

Ru Chun: Now, whether I am contemplating worldly dharmas or Buddhist dharmas, 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 wonder whether I changed it incorrectly, for 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 could not distinguish between them, you abandoned both, which of course is incorrect. Your daily training in contemplation like this is helpful for enhancing 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 also the manas's deliberation (manasikāra) 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—without yet heading in the direction of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi). You should also train yourself to cultivate with single-minded focus. Watching the breath is for the purpose of knowing nothing; you have not yet grasped the Dharma, and your understanding of the practice approach for eradicating the view of self is still unclear. Sort out the principles of practice clearly, and then combine them with applying effort in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and investigation, and it will be easy to see the Path.