Going Deep into the Mind, Recollecting the Buddha, and Attaining Samādhi

To attain meditative concentration (samādhi) through recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), one must go deep into the mind. Our mind consciousness is sometimes as scattered as a monkey, able to reach any state; the manas clings everywhere, refusing to rest. In order to tether these two conscious minds—the manas and the mind consciousness—one must learn to recite the Buddha's name slowly. The slower the recitation, the slower the mind moves, and only then can it finally stop. While the mind recites the Buddha's name, at the same time listen attentively with the mind to the sound of the recitation; then the mind consciousness can be tethered, and the manas will have no way to cling to other mental objects (dharma-viṣaya). In this way the mind becomes focused on a single state of Buddha-recollection, and one can reach single-mindedness; the power of meditative concentration will naturally improve.

If cultivation can reach the manas, all problems can be resolved. Starting cultivation from the manas is the fastest and most direct approach. This can also be understood from the principle of our cultivation of meditative concentration: concentration is a state of the mind, a state of the deluded seven consciousnesses, with the sixth and seventh consciousnesses as the mainstay. The mind's various states of focus are meditation in motion, and also include meditation in stillness. When the dharmas the mind perceives become fewer and fewer, lighter and lighter, and even disappear, this is meditation in stillness, and one can enter relatively deep states of concentration. Before attaining enlightenment, do not expend too much energy cultivating this kind of deep, thought-free concentration.