The Relationship Between States and Meditative Concentration (I)

Question: Sometimes during sitting meditation I clearly perceive that the conscious mind has fully settled down without wandering thoughts, yet images resembling a landscape painting—mountain peaks, forests, birds and beasts, and monks—still appear in my mind. I 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 (samādhi-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 conscious mind. Although the mind consciousness has no obvious thoughts, it still has perception, so it is not fully quiet. Even though 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 thoughts and images that appear in the mind involuntarily, 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 Image-Only Object, 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 unreliable. The most basic requirement for a meditative state is preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi); only states that appear at or above this level of meditative concentration qualify as meditative states. Below this level, no meditative states will appear. 

The most basic thing in learning Buddhism is to spend some time clarifying all the various foundational concepts, and only then can one accurately judge certain 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 quibble with yourself over gains and losses—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 I open my eyes and look at the sun for just a few seconds, small laser-like spots of light—cyan-blue, emerald green, or pink—appear in front of my forehead, extremely beautiful, with emerald green being the most common. They last for about a minute or so before slowly fading away. If I add an intention onto the small spot of light 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. Not only is this so with looking at sunlight; it is the same with seeing other forms. It is precisely because of this phenomenon of visual persistence that when we see all material form, our perception feels complete and continuous rather than intermittent—not feeling like one form connected to another—which is why all material form seems so real and credible, why we take all material form as real, discriminating and grasping it, unwilling to let go or disregard it.

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