The Benefits of Practicing Meditation

In the morning, while sitting quietly in meditation, I heard a "ding-dong" sound from QQ. At first there was only knowing of the sound, without any definition or concept of the sound, and without any feeling—just simple knowing. This process lasted quite a long time; this was the discernment of the ear consciousness, which is relatively coarse. Only afterward did the mind consciousness discern; once the mind consciousness discerned, it differentiated that it was the QQ sound, and there came definition and names/labels, and there came feeling. At the same time, I felt lazily disinclined to move, with a slight craving attachment to the comfortable sensation, wanting to continue sitting—this was the craving attachment of the manas. Before the ear consciousness heard the sound, it was the manas that knew; when the manas knew, it was vague and indistinct, unable to discern that it was a sound, unable to discern what content it contained. Only when the mind consciousness emerged could it gradually discern that it was the QQ ding-dong sound. If one is not sitting in meditative absorption (samādhi), this process of discernment is extremely brief and swift; but in samādhi, the mind is very subtle, the discernment is very fine, and the ear consciousness, mind consciousness, and manas are all more subtle than usual, so the whole process appears somewhat prolonged, the content more refined, the knowing more pure. The mind does not easily give rise to emotions, and afflictions are easily subdued.

All of this is the credit of the manas. If the manas is further subdued, then when the ding-dong sound arises, He no longer wishes to discern what it is; then the ear consciousness and mind consciousness do not arise, the five consciousnesses all do not arise, and there is no feeling and no knowing—that would be entering the state of the second dhyāna.

During sitting meditation, the mind becomes very subtle and the perception very vivid and real, yet objective and free of emotion. One can then discover truths that are normally undiscoverable. As long as the mind does not enter into the object-realm, but perceives simply and discerns objectively, the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and seeing one's true mind (awakening to the true mind) will be relatively easier.

For a person with meditative concentration (dhyāna), the mind is very subtle; his discernment is fine, and he sees people and matters very accurately, able to grasp the essentials. When doing things, his mind is very meticulous and thorough with details; when encountering new things, he learns them quickly, makes few mistakes, and is intelligent and wise. As for a person with a scattered mind, one can imagine: the mind is coarse and the temperament restless, careless and sloppy. Among the people I have come into contact with, hardly any are pleasing to my eye, so I always avoid people. Since childhood I have preferred solitude, liking to quietly do things alone.