The Relationship between States and Meditative Concentration (I)

Question: Sometimes while sitting in meditation, one clearly perceives that the conscious mind has fully settled down with no wandering thoughts, yet images resembling a landscape painting—mountain peaks, forests, birds and beasts, and monks—still appear in the mind. One can clearly perceive that these images are not imagined by the sixth consciousness (manovijñāna); they seem to pop up suddenly without any cause. Is this a meditative state (dhyāna-state) that arises within meditation? If so, does this kind of meditation belong to a somewhat deeper level of meditative concentration?

Answer: First of all, the mind that clearly perceives is the mind consciousness. Although the mind consciousness has no obvious thoughts, it still has perception, so it is not fully quiet. Even if the mind consciousness wants to settle down, the manas refuses to be quiet and insists on stirring things up, so the mind consciousness cannot become quiet, or cannot become completely quiet. All the thoughts and images that appear involuntarily in the mind, which the mind consciousness cannot control, are manifested by the manas and perceived by the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta). This is a confused subjectively imagined realm, not a meditative state. At such a time, one cannot say that the mind consciousness has already fully settled down; one's own judgment is inaccurate. The most basic requirement for a meditative state is preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi); only states that appear at this level of meditative concentration or above count as meditative states. Below this level, no meditative states will appear. 

At the most basic level of studying Buddhism, one must spend some time clarifying all the various foundational concepts before one can accurately judge various dharmas. Experience more things and practice more dharmas; do not lightly draw conclusions or pass judgments on various phenomena—be more steady and composed. Any small achievement, whether worldly or transcendent, requires considerable effort and cost to attain. Do not begrudge your own effort, do not haggle over every ounce with yourself; just keep your head down and cultivate, and do not care too much about the fruit. Beginners in Buddhism always need encouragement from others, need others' comfort and guidance; but if such conditions are unavailable, one must face everything alone, relying less on external factors. The more independent one is, the more capable and accomplished one becomes.

Question: When sitting in meditation, if one merely opens the eyes and looks at the sun for a few seconds, small laser-like clusters of light—azure blue, emerald green, or pink—appear in front of the forehead, extremely beautiful, with emerald green being the most common, lasting about a minute or so before slowly fading away. Moreover, if one applies intention to the small light cluster during this time, there is a noticeable brightening effect. Is this a purely physiological phenomenon, or a good phenomenon that only appears during Chan meditation?

Answer: This is a purely physiological phenomenon. When the eyes are slightly narrowed to look at the sun, light refraction occurs, and various colored lights and shadows appear before the eyes. The various colored rays that appear after closing the eyes following looking at the sun are caused by visual persistence. Although the eye consciousness and mind consciousness have already stopped seeing the light, after closing the eyes the image lingers for a while—it is a brief visual memory; in reality, the form has already disappeared. This is not only the case with looking at sunlight, but also with seeing other forms. It is precisely because of this phenomenon of visual persistence and delay that when we see all material forms, our perception feels complete and continuous rather than intermittent—not as if one form after another were strung together—and this is why all material forms seem so real and credible, why we take all material forms as real, discriminating and grasping at them, unwilling to let go or disregard them.

If the mind is quiet and meditative concentration is excellent, one will observe that one's own body and the appearances of sense objects are not continuously and tightly connected, but rather like images gradually decomposing in slow motion. The mind will then have a slight feeling of unreality, and after continuing to observe, one will realize the emptiness of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha).