How to Make Pure Thoughts Mature and Continuous

When walking, standing, sitting, lying down, and doing things, there is a pure thought; but a pure thought is not just one thought—at minimum there are two thoughts, and three thoughts is normal. If one wants to have meditative concentration (samādhi), then no matter what the mind is doing, there must be one principal thought—that is, the focal point. Keeping this principal thought held firmly without losing it is Chan meditation (dhyāna); the other thoughts can just be carried along lightly. This indeed requires a certain degree of skill; it can be practiced as a fixed course of training. Once familiar, the mind becomes relaxed and effortless. There are not too many techniques: by diminishing attachment to worldly dharmas, the pure thought can be sustained. The manas takes this thought as primary, diverting only a small portion of attention to other dharmas, and the mind consciousness accordingly settles on this thought as well, so less and lighter mental effort is spent on other matters. In daily life, reduce your interests; for unimportant matters, just adopt a perfunctory attitude.