Cultivation of Concentration and Chan Meditation for Realization of the Way (Part 1)

Section 3: Cultivating Meditative Concentration by the Method of Reciting Sūtras and Mantras from Memory

1. The Method of Reciting the Heart Sūtra from Memory

Using the method of reciting the Heart Sūtra, the Śūraṅgama Mantra, or the Great Compassion Mantra from memory to cultivate meditative concentration can settle the mind into purity, and through this the power of meditative concentration can be strengthened very quickly. No matter what you do each day, whether walking, sitting, or lying down, you should be reciting the Heart Sūtra or the mantras in your mind. When you have things to attend to, recite a little faster, because if you recite too slowly you will forget; when you have nothing to do and are relatively at leisure, recite more slowly, so that the mind can become concentrated and meditative concentration can easily arise.

If you recite the Heart Sūtra from memory while sitting in meditation, slow the pace down a little more, and the power of concentration will come even faster. Gradually, the slower the better; after a period of time, your attention will be able to become extremely focused, with the mind free of scattered thoughts. When the power of concentration is quite good, the mind can enter into concentration; the recitation of the Heart Sūtra and the mantras may then cease, and you may be unable to recite them in your mind—at this point you can remain in concentration for a while, to unblock the qi channels, relieve fatigue, and purify body and mind; it need not take too long. Because you have not yet awakened to the Path, spending long periods in concentration without thoughts is a waste of time, and you may also become attached to meditative concentration, thereby obstructing the cultivation of wisdom such as deliberation and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā).

2. How to Recite Mantras in a Way That Benefits the Cultivation of Meditative Concentration

While sitting in meditation, you can hold a mantra single-mindedly, and you can contemplate the Buddha's teachings to cultivate the samādhi of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. However, when the concentration becomes somewhat deep, holding the mantra becomes difficult and feels very tiring, and in the end you stop holding it. If you wish to enter concentration, at this point you can completely set the mantra aside and enter into concentration. After emerging from concentration, when you deliberate upon and contemplate the Buddha's teachings, your thinking will be very clear, and you may even feel joyful from morning to night, with keen and agile thinking. Therefore, one cannot say that pure meditative concentration cannot be cultivated; in the early stage of practice it is permissible to cultivate concentration alone, and after emerging from pure meditative concentration, the power of deliberation can be enhanced, afflictions can be subdued, and progress in practice will be quite rapid.

Silently reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra requires quite good power of concentration. When the power of concentration is not good enough, the mantra must be recited aloud; at this time the mind consciousness is producing the vocal sound, and the manas can easily attend to the sound-dust, so it can wander off. With silent recitation, if the manas relaxes and stops paying attention even slightly, the mind consciousness will fail to recall the mantra; in order for the mind consciousness to be able to recall it, the manas will not become scattered or chase after objects. Therefore silent recitation can tether the manas. When the power of concentration is very good, the mind consciousness feels very tired while reciting and becomes unwilling to vocalize; at this point the recitation can easily cease and die out, so it is best to switch to letting the manas do the reciting, with the mind consciousness gently attending to it—in this way the power of concentration is also strong. The harder the recitation is, the more it draws the manas' attention, and the more concentration there will be. With content that is too familiar, the mind consciousness exerts no effort, and the manas can wander off—that becomes scatteredness.

3. The Benefits of Reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra from Memory for the Cultivation of Meditative Concentration

For people whose minds are rather scattered, in order to gather in the mind, when first beginning to cultivate concentration it is best to start with reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra—recite it three, seven, twenty-one, or forty-nine times each day; it is best if you can reach the point of reciting it from memory. In this way, whether walking, sitting, or lying down, the mind rests on the Śūraṅgama Mantra, chasing after the objects of the six dusts less and less, and gradually concentration can arise. Moreover, when reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra, with the blessing power of all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Dharma-protecting deities, your progress in cultivating the Path will also be somewhat faster. For those with scattered minds, when sitting in meditation, visualize an extremely interesting realm; the process should be somewhat lengthy and involve a certain amount of conception, so that the mind can focus on the visualization, and meditative concentration will then appear. Once the concentration has stabilized, set aside these visualized realms and switch to contemplating a principle of the Dharma. If you always take the visualized realms as real, it is easy to go astray.

4. How to Recite Mantras for the Best Effect

Before reciting sūtras and mantras, adjust your breathing well and take several deep breaths; with the head clear and alert, the thoughts can settle into purity, and then when you recite you can be focused. When the power of concentration is good, memorization works well; when the power of concentration is poor and the mind is scattered, it is not easy to remember what you recite. In order to gather in the mind and attain concentration, when reciting mantras the tone must be drawn out long and kept low and deep; the tone should not rise upward, and there should not be too much melody, lest it stir up emotional fluctuations in the mind, making the thoughts scattered and difficult to still. The same applies to reciting the Buddha's name: do not have excited, impassioned emotions; the melody should not be high and soaring; keep the tune as low and deep as possible, so that it does not stir up emotional fluctuations, thereby gathering in the mind, attaining concentration quickly, and making it easy to resonate with the Buddha's blessing.