Cultivation of Concentration and Chan Meditation for Realization of the Way (Part 1)
Section 5: The Initial Method for Beginning the Cultivation of Meditative Concentration
1. Methods of Cultivating Meditative Concentration Differ in Different Periods
When first learning to cultivate meditative concentration, one may choose to single-mindedly recite one sutra from morning to night, or a mantra, or engage in recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), without giving rise to other thoughts. Over time, the mind will settle down, energy will become concentrated, the mind free of distractions, and the power of concentration will arise. Cultivating the path requires the combined operation of śamatha and vipaśyanā: one must not lean solely toward concentration, nor solely toward wisdom; only by cultivating concentration and wisdom equally can the Buddha's Dharma be accomplished. With concentration but no wisdom, the Buddha's Dharma cannot be accomplished; with wisdom but no concentration, the Buddha's Dharma likewise cannot be accomplished; with both concentration and wisdom, all the dharmas of the Buddha can surely be realized. Among Buddhist practitioners, some exclusively study theoretical knowledge without cultivating concentration; others exclusively cultivate concentration without studying the Dharma's knowledge and views and without contemplating the Dharma. Both are one-sided. If one can combine the cultivation of concentration with the cultivation of wisdom, one can personally realize the Buddha's Dharma and will surely succeed.
When deeply contemplating and engaging in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), that is precisely the dual cultivation of concentration and wisdom—the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. If one can contemplate single-mindedly with no scattered thoughts in the mind, then before seeing the mind and achieving sudden enlightenment, one need not specifically cultivate concentration. But not everyone can do this; such people must deliberately cultivate concentration. The concentration in stillness of sitting meditation can strengthen and promote the power of concentration amid the activities of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha); cultivate it as much as time allows. On the other hand, for those with wisdom, cultivating concentration is also relatively easy: knowing inwardly that all dharmas are false and illusory, they grasp at fewer things, so cultivating concentration proceeds very smoothly and quickly, and before they know it their thoughts become gathered and undispersed—this is the foundation laid in past lives. For those without wisdom, cultivating concentration is rather difficult, because their minds are too scattered and their grasping mind too heavy, taking everything to be real.
2. The Method of Cultivating Concentration by Imagining Delightful Realms
When cultivating concentration, one may also imagine an interesting realm and pour one's entire attention into it, forgetting oneself and everything around; then one abandons this realm. In every thought one must know that the realm is false and illusory, not be enticed by it, and yet be able to single-point the mind—entering concentration in this way is also very fast. For example, visualize a picture of the Western Land of Bliss (Sukhāvatī), or visualize the subtle features of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, or visualize oneself little by little transforming into the appearance of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, or visualize oneself little by little flying up to other places, or visualize oneself little by little transforming one's living environment to become ever more beautiful.
Or visualize one's qi penetrating the entire Ren meridian (Conception Vessel) or the Du meridian (Governing Vessel), or the qi penetrating both the Ren and Du meridians—anything beneficial to body and mind may be used for visualization; with the mind directed toward a single object, concentration will certainly be attained. Or, after adjusting the breath well, use no method at all: the mind can grow quiet and enter concentration directly; or use the method of observing the breath or counting the breath—either can quickly settle the mind. In practice, we should constantly attend to summarizing experience and gaining ample personal insight; in this way we can understand how to cultivate concentration quickly and find the method of cultivating concentration that suits us.
3. The Method for Resolving Scattered Delusive Thoughts
If in our daily reciting of sutras, recollection of the Buddha, and mantras we are very fluent, able to recite with great ease from the mouth, yet the mind still has delusive thoughts flying about, then without meditative concentration (dhyāna) we cannot obtain Dharma benefit. Why is this so, and how should this problem be solved? This situation occurs because the mind consciousness has already become very fluent in the recited and memorized content, with excellent memory, able to recite fluently without passing through the manas's deep and subtle deliberation (manasikāra) and scrutiny. Thus the manas sits idle with nothing to do and has the energy to grasp at other mental objects (dharmāyatana), and so delusive thoughts arise. In this way, while reciting sutras one simultaneously has delusive thoughts flying about; meditative concentration cannot be accomplished, and one cannot quietly and deeply contemplate and clearly comprehend the meaning within the sutras, so the benefit to one's practice is very small.
The solution is: recite and recite from memory slowly—the slower the better. In this way the manas is firmly tethered; it no longer has the energy to grasp at other dharmas and can no longer give rise to delusive thoughts. Whether reciting sutras, recollecting the Buddha, reciting mantras, or prostrating to the Buddha, our speed should be slow; then the manas cannot grasp at other dharmas, the mind can settle, and one may even reach single-mindedness without confusion. Everyone may give it a try: this is a very good method—effective, quickly attaining concentration, the breath well regulated and even, without harming the vital energy, and the body effectively regulated as well.
Practice does not pursue speed and quantity but requires quality. Quality is meditative absorption (samādhi); it is the state of the mind; it is śamatha and meditative concentration. When there is concentration, contemplation can be deep and subtle, wisdom can open up, and in the end one can obtain the greatest benefit within the Buddha's Dharma.
4. Focus the Mind on One Point, and Nothing Cannot Be Accomplished
In worldly dharmas there is a saying: "Focus the mind on one point, and nothing cannot be accomplished." Consider: which pierces deeper into the ground—the tip of an awl or a board? The answer is certainly that the awl tip pierces deeper into the ground. Cultivating concentration follows this same principle: when the mind abides within one realm, the mental power single-pointed and undispersed, the concentrated mind penetrating deeply and contemplating one principle in fine detail, one can penetrate through its meaning and thereby give rise to wisdom. Without concentration, the mind is like that wooden board—large in area with its force dispersed—and cannot penetrate deep into the soil. Cultivating concentration means having the mind adhere to one point with energy concentrated; only thus can nothing fail to be accomplished.
There is a special case in cultivating concentration that proves that when thoughts are single-pointed and the power of concentration deep, one can realize the Buddha's Dharma and obtain wisdom. Śākyamuni Buddha had a disciple called Cūḍapanthaka who, as the retribution brought about by karmic conditions from past lives, was extremely dull-minded: he would learn the latter and forget the former, learn the former and forget the latter, learning one sentence and forgetting one sentence. Seeing him so dull, the World-Honored One felt compassion and taught him to recite two words: "broom." Whatever he did each day, Cūḍapanthaka kept reciting the two words "broom" in his mind; eventually his mind became pure, and he was able to contemplate the principles of the Small Vehicle within meditative concentration (dhyāna), finally attaining the arhat of the fourth fruit. Cūḍapanthaka recited "broom" with no scattered thoughts; with this power of concentration, he contemplated the Dharma principles expounded by the World-Honored One and realized the fruit.
Therefore, in cultivating concentration we too should let the mind abide in one realm and adhere to one thought; carrying on persistently like this over a long time, the power of concentration will arise, and finally contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and contemplation will succeed. This one realm and one thought can be a phrase of the Buddha's name, a mantra, or a short sutra. Whatever we are doing, the mind holds the sutra or mantra, holds the recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti); casting off greedy attachment to the human world, the power of concentration will certainly arise.
5. How to Make the Pure Thought Fluent and Continuous
While walking, sitting, lying down, and doing things, there can be pure thoughts, but a pure thought is not one single thought—at minimum there are two thoughts, and three is normal. If one wants concentration, then whatever the mind is doing, there must be a primary thought—the focal point. Keeping hold of this primary thought without dropping it is meditative concentration (dhyāna); the other thoughts can simply be carried along lightly. This indeed requires a certain measure of effort; it can be practiced as a fixed daily lesson. Once familiar, the mind becomes relaxed and effortless. There are not many tricks: as attachment to worldly dharmas fades, the pure thought can be sustained. When the manas takes this thought as primary and gives only slight attention to other dharmas, the mind consciousness accordingly settles on this thought, and attention to other matters becomes slight and light. Ordinarily, reduce your interests; for unimportant matters, just adopt a perfunctory attitude.
6. The State of Meditative Absorption (Samādhi) Is Manifested by the Manas
Gaze at a Buddha image for ten seconds, then look at a white wall, and the image of the Buddha will appear; after a while the image disappears from view. How does this state appear? This is the phenomenon of persistence of vision—the memory function of the eye consciousness and mind consciousness; it has not yet reached deep into the manas, and the manas has not memorized it. If the manas memorized it, this image would remain for a long time. If the eye consciousness and mind consciousness observe for a long time, they will influence the manas; once the manas has memorized it, the image will appear anytime and anywhere—this is the state of meditative absorption (samādhi). The persistence of vision dominated by the eye consciousness is brief; that dominated by the mind consciousness lasts longer, and after closing the eyes and opening them again one can still see it.
What is "never forgetting what one has seen"? Content memorized by the mind consciousness alone is forgotten before long, whereas content memorized by the manas is very hard to forget—it may even arise in the mind involuntarily, or even become impossible to dispel. Never forgetting what one has seen is due to deep concentration: the mind consciousness and manas have strong focusing power, so that momentary memory is very firm. If concentration is shallow, what is memorized is not firm and is quickly forgotten. Therefore, all states of concentration are initiated by the manas; the mind consciousness cannot initiate long-lasting states of concentration and can only very briefly manifest some state. If we wish to accomplish the various samādhis, we must reach deep into the manas and have the manas initiate the states.
If one frequently observes a Buddha image, meditative concentration will emerge. Let the manas memorize the Buddha image and see whether that image always appears before one's eyes. If the Buddha's image always appears, then would we not be able to cultivate concentration? Would we not be able to cultivate the samādhi of recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti-samādhi)? Would we not be able to cultivate the contemplation of the white bones? Would we not be able to cultivate the Sūtra on the Contemplation of Amitāyus (Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra)? Visualize the Western Land of Bliss (Sukhāvatī): let the mind consciousness practice diligently until the manas reaches the point of never forgetting. Then at the time of death, whatever the circumstances, as soon as the mind thinks of the Land of Bliss, the manas can abide in the Land of Bliss, the Land of Bliss will manifest, and rebirth there is certain. When practicing diligently, whose diligence is more effective? The manas's diligence is effective; only the manas's diligence is true diligence. If one wants the image of the Land of Bliss to manifest, then let the manas recollect the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), with the manas and the mind consciousness together visualizing the Land of Bliss.
7. When the Perfuming Reaches the Manas, the Perfuming Has Succeeded
The power of environmental perfuming is very great. If someone around you stutters and you constantly watch him speak, you may gradually be perfumed into stuttering a little; appearance and living habits are the same, and even emotions are contagious. This is perfuming by the mind consciousness transforming over to the manas, perfuming the manas and thereby changing the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Hence the saying: "He who stays near vermilion becomes red; he who stays near ink becomes black." We must draw near to wholesome dharmas and wholesome people, and associate much with optimistic, positive, upward-striving people who have positive energy; then we ourselves can be infected with optimism and positivity, actively forging ahead. Only if one has the ability and strong power of concentration may one approach evil people in order to transform and deliver them; otherwise one is easily delivered by the evil people instead.
