Observing the Five Aggregates to Cut Through the View of Self (Part 2)
Chapter Two: How to Personally Realize No-Self
1. What Is Meant by Personal Realization and Direct Realization?
Original text of the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment:善男子。云何我相。谓诸众生心所证者。善男子。譬如有人。百骸调适。忽忘我身。四肢弦缓。摄养乖方。微加针艾。则知有我。是故证取。方现我体。
Explanation: The Buddha said: "Sons of goodness, what is the mark of self? The mark of self is that which the minds of all sentient beings have verified and experienced. Sons of goodness, it is like a person whose whole body is harmonious and comfortable, who suddenly forgets the existence of his own body; the four limbs are completely relaxed, the body and mind are tranquil and extremely quiet, and he does not know the position or orientation of his body. At this moment, if the body is lightly pricked with a needle, he then knows in his mind that there is a self; thus he has verified and grasped the self, and the notion of 'I' arises."
This is the state of the body having been forgotten, and the verification of the self after the body has been forgotten. At the very moment of verifying the body, one also verifies the self: the body is the self, the awareness is the self, the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are the self; once the existence of a self has been verified, the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) appears. This involves the matter of the body's energy channels, showing that there is a certain connection between the energy channels, the emptiness of mind, and the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). Once the energy channels are unobstructed, the body no longer has obvious awareness; only then can the mind become empty, and thus the body be forgotten. After the body has been forgotten, if awareness arises again, one will directly and tangibly verify the existence of the body, of awareness, and of the self.
What is the mark of self that the minds of sentient beings verify and experience? It is the body, the awareness, and the five aggregates that the mind has comprehended, personally experienced, personally felt, directly observed, and perceived in direct perception. Because one feels that one can genuinely experience and perceive them, one believes without doubt that this body is the self, that what can be aware is the self; there is a subject and an object, and thus the mark of self appears.
The Buddha gave an example to illustrate what the mark of self in sentient beings' minds is. When someone's whole body, inside and out, is entirely comfortable, extremely comfortable, and the body's energy channels are all flowing smoothly without the slightest obstruction, at that time one no longer perceives the body and forgets that there is such a thing as a body — that is to say, neither the perceiving subject nor the perceived object exists. At this time the four limbs are extremely relaxed, without the slightest application of intention, without deliberately tightening or moving them; the mind no longer attends to the limbs, forgets that there are such things as limbs, and does not know the state one is presently in, does not know one's present condition, does not know which direction one is facing, does not know whether one is lying down or sitting, and does not know what posture or position one's limbs and torso are in. This is called the body being forgotten and one having forgotten the body. "Forgetting the body" and "the body being forgotten" naturally means that in the mind there is no perceived body, nor any awareness that perceives the body — both subject and object are empty.
When the physical body as self has been forgotten in the mind, and there is no obvious awareness, if someone lightly and gently pricks his body with a needle, that person immediately has perception and knows there is a self; the marks of self of the aggregate of form and the aggregate of feeling emerge. This is provisionally called the mark of self of directly realizing the existence of a self — directly realizing that there is a self. Directly realizing no-self must likewise be personally experienced and personally verified in this way; it is not known through the mode of thinking, not worked out through the functions of the mind consciousness such as inference, speculation, analysis, or imagination — it is just like genuinely perceiving that there is a body. There should be an actual, genuine, direct-perceptional realization of no-self. What is meant by direct realization — shouldn't everyone now be very clear about it? Measured by this standard, how many people in this world can directly realize no-self? Carefully reflect on how you directly realized the existence of a self in your own mind, and then use that same method to directly realize no-self; the principle of the two is the same, without difference.
2. What Is Meant by "Filling in with Imagination"?
Anything imagined through a rich imagination, rather than a conclusion reached through practice, is called "filling in with imagination." Filling in with imagination is in essence a misunderstanding — there is no such thing at all. Just like the fruit-attainment and enlightenment of many people: these are imagined into being, not cultivated into being; they are the result of a rich imagination.
Only when the mind consciousness has been rendered half-paralyzed one day will one's practice get on the right track and begin to take shape. A clever mind consciousness is precisely a condition that obstructs the Path; only when a person is not so clever can the Path easily appear. Cultivating the Path is something fools do; clever people do not cultivate the Path — they think about the Path. A Path that is thought up is a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, of no use whatsoever. Thinking about the Path is easy; cultivating the Path is hard. That is why most people take shortcuts, all using the method of thinking rather than the method of cultivation.
3. The Difference Between the Gate of Understanding and the Gate of Practice
Understanding, as the word implies, means comprehension; it starts from the principles and processes them through thinking, including imagination, inference, organizing, summarizing, conjecture, and so on. It can also be called the preparatory work before direct realization. If the preparatory work is overdone, affecting and obstructing the deepening of contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), direct realization becomes very difficult. In short, the gate of understanding enters through the principles and is the digestion and dissolution of the principles. This is the easiest and least laborious entry method for studying Buddhism and practicing, and beginners all remain stuck at this stage and cannot get past it.
Practice, as the word implies, means action; it is the action taken to achieve direct realization after the principles have been understood and grasped — for example, cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi), contemplative practice, investigating Chan, vitarka-vicāra (initial application and sustained examination), and so on. The gate of practice involves concrete action; only action can achieve the goal, whereas understanding has not yet been put into practice and lacks the power of action, so it cannot achieve the goal. The steps of implementation include keeping precepts, cultivating meditative concentration, ceasing evil and cultivating goodness, subduing afflictions, repenting of karmic obstructions, removing obstructions, and then investigating Chan, investigating, realizing, and contemplating within meditative concentration — many kinds of practical methods. This is a practical process that must be gone through in order to directly realize the Buddha-dharma. This is what is meant by "practice yields true knowledge." Without this process, true knowledge cannot emerge, and even if one knows something, it is not true knowledge.
Many people are quite unclear about the difference between understanding and practice and cannot distinguish them, often taking the gate of understanding to be the ultimate gate of practice and the final place of entering the Path, blocking their own gate to enlightenment — very regrettable. Understanding is like imagination; practice is like contemplation. Contemplation and imagination differ greatly: imagination completely adds a realm out of nothing, equivalent to what the secular world calls "filling in with imagination"; no realm automatically presents itself, let alone a state of meditative absorption (samādhi). Even if what is imagined is completely accurate, it still does not equal having contemplated it. Contemplation, on the other hand, is when, once the meditative skill has arrived, the realm naturally presents itself, appearing automatically and spontaneously, and then one sees the realm as it truly is — whatever the realm is like, that is how it is seen, with nothing extra added — and moreover a state of samādhi will accompany it.
Those who claim enlightenment without being enlightened are basically all in the following situation: they take the dharma they have imagined to be the dharma of realization that they have contemplated — a very serious misunderstanding. The difference between direct-perceptional observation and imagination — probably one hundred percent of people cannot distinguish it clearly. Therefore, of nearly all who believe themselves enlightened and whom others believe enlightened, almost one hundred percent have a greater component of imagination and have not observed it in direct perception, because their contemplative practice skill is severely insufficient. The reason I have not said that all enlightenment is one hundred percent false enlightenment is that one should leave some room in one's speech, and also show mercy with one's mouth — I do not wish to hurt people, still less to offend people and make everyone resent me.
Only after direct realization and personal realization can understanding and practice correspond: what one has understood is confirmed, and what one has realized accords with what one has understood. After confirmation, questioning doubt ceases, the bonds and fetters cease, coarse afflictions cease, and one's bodily, verbal, and mental actions accord with and conform to the principles; principle and phenomena are initially fused and do not diverge — what one says is in accord with principle, what one does is reasonable, mind and mouth are as one, body and mind are consistent, with no contradiction between speech and action, and no phenomenon of bodily, verbal, and mental actions running counter to the principles. Only when understanding and practice do not correspond is it like that — which shows there has been no direct realization.
4. Only When the View of Self Has Thinned Can It Be Eradicated
The differences in the weight of each sentient being's view of self and grasping at self are very great. Naturally, those with light view of self and grasping at self can easily eradicate the view of self; those with heavy view of self and grasping at self only have hope of eradicating the view of self after transforming them into something light through practice. It is like solid ice that wants to melt into water all at once: the ice must become thinner and thinner, less and less solid, and only at the end can it melt in an instant. Studying Buddhism and practicing is in fact first transforming the view of self and grasping at self to be lighter, karmic obstructions gradually decreasing, obstructions becoming lighter and lighter — this is the merit of practice. On this basis, in a later life one can very quickly eradicate the view of self.
Practice is a gradual process; one cannot reach the goal all at once. As long as one keeps making progress, it is worthy of joy and congratulations. Those with a weak foundation can set their goals a bit lower, in accordance with their actual circumstances; then practice will have something to strive toward. There is no need for everyone to set the goal as seeing the mind and seeing the nature, and then feel dejected and discouraged when they cannot attain it, no longer wanting to practice. The solid ice of the manas's view of self must gradually become lighter and thinner — and this in-between process is precisely practice.
5. What Is the Difference Between Contemplative Practice and Imagination?
A: Contemplative practice is genuinely looking, genuinely contemplating; the six faculties are all concentrated on one thing and all participating. If the manas does not wander off, it can participate throughout. What is obtained from contemplative practice is what the manas acknowledges. Imagination is when the five faculties do not participate and only the mind consciousness conjures something out of thin air by itself; the manas cannot participate and will not acknowledge it.
B: The object of contemplative practice is based on objectively existing things. Imagination belongs to subjective conjecture.
C: Contemplative practice is a mental activity with the manas as the primary agent; during the process of contemplative practice, the mind consciousness provides necessary guidance, letting the manas make a direct-perceptional, truthful observation of the object attended to. Imagination, on the other hand, is a mental activity with the mind consciousness as the primary agent, mainly the mind consciousness's non-valid cognition of subjectively imagined mental objects; it does not easily have a substantive influence on the manas.
D: Imagination is the operation of the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta); the manas also participates, for the manas silently encompasses all dharmas, so it too has cognized them. Imagination belongs to the subjectively imagined realm and is a non-direct-perceptional cognition. Contemplative practice, on the other hand, is when both what the mind consciousness and the manas attend to are real objective realms, belonging to the essence-dependent realm, and are direct-perceptional cognition; it easily permeates and influences the manas, letting the manas realize the dharma. Contemplative practice is letting both the mind consciousness and the manas make direct-perceptional cognition. Sustained direct-perceptional cognition (with other faculties also participating at times) requires the power of meditative concentration; only when the manas is concentrated can there be direct realization.
E: First, when engaging in contemplative practice one must possess a certain power of meditative concentration; contemplative practice without the support of concentration will fall into imagination. Second, because contemplative practice is carried out in a state of concentration, the manas will necessarily attend to very few other dharmas and can concentrate its attention on the mental object guided by the mind consciousness — that is, it is interested in the contemplated mental object. In the process of imagination the manas also participates, but it will not participate wholeheartedly; it will attend to other dharmas. Third, contemplative practice begins with guidance by the mind consciousness and gradually shifts to being led by the manas, cognizing the object-realm it attends to; the dharmas confronted are all direct-perceptional realms, whereas the mind consciousness's imagination is non-valid cognition. Only direct-perceptional realms better conform to objective reality and can make the manas believe with certainty. In short, only when the manas genuinely attends and participates can its enormous potential be brought into play, views be thoroughly changed, and correct choices be made.
Which is easier — imagination or contemplative practice? Which is more effortless?
A: Imagination is far easier; wandering thoughts come uninvited.
B: One should know that many people deceive themselves and others: without meditative concentration they still claim they can engage in contemplative practice and attain the fruits, taking imagination for contemplative practice without realizing it. Once you understand the principles of practice, you will know that the vast majority of the time one relies on one's own effort in cultivation; there is no need to linger all day in a sea of books of various theories to absorb others' views or insights — counting another's treasures, one after all does not get half a coin for oneself.
6. Without Fulfilling the Conditions of the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment, One Cannot Attain the Fruits or See the Mind
For those who have never eradicated the view of self in past lives, or who have eradicated it only a few times, eradicating the view of self for the first time and attaining srotāpanna is extremely difficult; the necessary conditions for eradicating the view of self — the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment — are not easy to cultivate. Everyone who is cultivating meditative concentration every day knows that meditative concentration is not easy to cultivate, and truthful contemplative practice is even harder; to have results from contemplative practice, to attain the pure dharma eye and realize the samādhi of emptiness, is harder still. Those who eradicated the view of self in past lives are people of special status in this life, and in the Sahā world there are hardly any people of such special status — as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Some people always think themselves special, believing they become enlightened after studying for three to five years. But without eradicating the view of self one cannot become enlightened; enlightenment is even harder than eradicating the view of self. So do not casually claim you have become enlightened and seen the mind, that you are already such-and-such a bodhisattva. Publicly proclaiming your own enlightenment brings very bad retribution. This is a special period now, and some special phenomena have appeared, yet they have brought great trouble to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva; after this generation passes away, Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva will become very busy. Being a bodhisattva is not easy at all: "Until the hells are empty, I vow not to attain buddhahood" — clearly endowed with the Buddha's merits and merit, yet not taking the position of a Buddha. Such is the bodhisattva's mind, empty of self.
So as not to add trouble to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, everyone now should follow the teachings of our original teacher, Śākyamuni Buddha, practice according to the sequence and standards of cultivation taught by the Buddha, and strictly examine to what degree one's thirty-seven aids to enlightenment have been achieved. If any single one of them is unfulfilled, do not think you have attained the fruits or seen the mind, and so on. If the most basic thirty-seven aids to enlightenment have not been fulfilled in cultivation, one cannot be reborn transformed, cannot leap the Dragon Gate, and cannot become a sage.
7. How to Judge Whether the View of Self Has Been Eradicated
If the Hīnayāna thirty-seven aids to enlightenment have not been fulfilled, the view of self cannot be eradicated. With insufficient meditative concentration, one cannot engage in direct contemplative practice and can only infer and imagine. If the enlightenment factors of joy (prīti), tranquility (praśrabdhi), concentration (samādhi), and equanimity (upekṣā) are not complete, or have not appeared at all, one is still far from eradicating the view of self. If the four right efforts of ceasing evil and cultivating goodness have not yet been cultivated — evil still continuing and goodness not yet arisen, afflictions not lessened, the mind not changed — the view of self cannot be eradicated. If the eightfold noble path has not yet been fully complete, with bodily, verbal, and mental actions still having unwholesome aspects, the view of self likewise cannot be eradicated. If one still craves worldly dharmas and the mind of renunciation is not strong, one likewise cannot eradicate the view of self. If there is still the mark of self in the mind, at all times and places taking the self as the main thing and the center, and there are still the mark of a person, the mark of sentient beings, and the mark of a life span — the four marks clearly present — then the view of self has not been eradicated.
In the process of cultivating the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, as body and mind continuously change, various auspicious dreams all indicate that afflictions are gradually falling away, karmic obstructions are gradually being eliminated, the mind is gradually becoming pure, the body is gradually becoming unobstructed, meditative concentration is gradually deepening, and worldly dharmas are gradually being left behind. At the time of eradicating the view of self, the dharma eye is pure, one sees that the five aggregates are all empty and without self, and a state of samādhi with the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā appears; body and mind are both pure, abiding within samādhi, with extraordinary experiences of body and mind. Nowadays sentient beings' faculties are all rather shallow, and such samādhi is very hard to realize; precepts, concentration, and wisdom are also not easy to cultivate to completion, so eradicating the view of self is extremely difficult. As it stands now, many who believe they have eradicated the view of self and seen the mind have had none of these phenomena appear — so it was not direct realization.
At the time of eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind, one has already been reborn transformed, like the carp leaping the Dragon Gate. If coarse and heavy afflictions have not been eliminated and the mind is not pure, the bones are still the original ones and the embryo will not change. If one lowers the various conditions for seeing the Path, with the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and the bodhisattva's six pāramitās all incomplete and imperfect, then one has crawled through the Dragon Gate — in essence still a carp, not having become a dragon. At this most crucial point of Buddhist cultivation and realization — attaining the fruits and seeing the mind — if one is casual and not rigorous, various evil signs will appear at the time of death, and the evil destinies will be unavoidable; after death, finding oneself in a gloomy and terrifying place, regret will come too late.
8. The Reasons One Cannot Eradicate the View of Self
In practice, one must first negate and break through the functions and operations of the physical body and the five aggregates; only afterward is it possible to realize the true person behind the five aggregates. How unreal and masterless is the physical body? The body is composed of the four great elements and is controlled and manipulated by them. If you want to manipulate the four great elements, it is truly not easy — it takes a great deal of effort, and even then you may not succeed. For example, in summer when it is hot and one sweats all over, some people even develop eczema — this is the fire element, water element, and earth element out of balance. Then turning on the air conditioner to let in some breeze, the body catches a chill and feels unwell — this is the wind element out of balance. A body of unbalanced four great elements is truly vexing. As long as there is a physical body, the four great elements will forever manipulate you. The Buddha said the four great elements are like four poisonous snakes, very hard to serve; with the slightest inattention, the poisonous snakes will harm you. Such a body has not the slightest autonomy — can it be the true person? Can it be the self?
The self that is unborn and undying through life after life should be free and at ease, with autonomy; it should be impervious to all poisons; it should be able to master everything and not be mastered by anything. What person of wisdom would take such a body as the self or as belonging to the self? Eradicate it from your own mind as early as possible, negate it, and then go find the new master to take refuge in. If, with such an obvious and clear principle, you still cannot confirm it in your own heart, that shows your practice is still lacking. What exactly is lacking? Merit, wisdom, meditative concentration, precepts, and so on — whatever can be perfected, perfect each one as soon as possible; do not be lazy and keep procrastinating.
When the principle that the physical body is not the self and the five aggregates are without self has become very clear, you ought to bravely take it upon yourself; the notions of self accumulated over beginningless kalpas should be updated and replaced — the old goes, the new comes, completely renewed. But this notion of self seems to be stuck fast; no matter what is said, it will not budge, and even advancing one small step is very difficult. This is obstruction, like a mountain lying across the path ahead that cannot be crossed. To push down this mountain requires the combination of one's own power and external powers. One's own power includes the power of precepts, the power of concentration, the power of wisdom (prajñā-bala), the power of merit (puṇya-bala), and the power of wholesome karma. External powers include: one, the blessing power of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dharma protectors; two, the impetus of fellow practitioners on the Path; three, the power of other wholesome conditions. With one's own power as the mainstay and external powers as auxiliary — only when one's own power is complete can external powers accomplish anything.
For example, a person pushing a cart uphill suddenly encounters a large boulder blocking the way ahead; he lacks the strength to go forward and get past the boulder, and no matter how hard he tries, he cannot push the cart. At this time the combination of many powers is needed. One's own power lies in one's physical strength, perseverance, skillful force, decision-making ability, and so on. External power is this: because of the wholesome connections one formed in the past and the wholesome karma one planted, one happens to meet someone passing by who has a connection with you and is willing to help you push the cart together. If two people cannot push it, and another person happens to pass by who is also willing to lend a hand, then with the combined strength of three people the boulder is successfully passed and one continues forward.
If in the past you never formed wholesome connections by helping others, never planted seeds of merit and wholesome karma, then when you encounter resistance you will be isolated and without aid, with no external power to help you. Perhaps you will not even meet anyone passing by, and no one will know you have encountered difficulty. Even if someone passes by, because there is no connection and no merit, no one will be willing to come to your rescue.
On the path of studying Buddhism, accumulating merit and forming wholesome connections is extremely important, because the path to buddhahood requires an immense number of helpers; the strength of a single person alone cannot accomplish it. Isolated and without aid, how could one cross the cultivation kalpas of three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas? Unwilling even to lift a finger to help others, not accumulating merit, not forming wholesome connections, not planting seeds — relying on one's own strength alone, one cannot get past any obstacle, and can only sigh and grieve. If you do not help others, how can you have heaven's help?
10. Can a Mind That Seeks Attainment Obtain the Fruit of Liberation?
There are always people who say to me: "Master, I want to attain the fruits, I want to see the mind and see the nature, I want to reach the seventh stage of abiding — how should I practice?" People who speak this way are only interested in the fruit, not in the process; they only want views and knowledge, and do not want to change themselves and be reborn transformed. In their hearts they actually value the fruit over cultivation, realization, and liberation. Speaking this way, no external power can benefit them. Where there is benefit in the world, people flock to it; where there is benefit in Buddhism, people likewise flock to it.
Why do sentient beings rush toward places of benefit? Because there is a self, there is what belongs to the self, there are dharmas, there is grasping (upādāna), and therefore there is seeking. With a mind of self and a mind of seeking, seeking benefits in the Buddha-dharma — can any benefit be obtained? Only without self and without seeking is there fruit; with self and with seeking, whence comes fruit? Believing there is a fruit to be obtained, seeing the benefit of the fruit in the Buddha-dharma, one rushes straight to the place of benefit, preparing to seize it. Speaking this way, can any fruit-realization be obtained? Why do so many false fruits fly about everywhere nowadays? Having seized a false fruit with a mind of attainment, how could one not fall into the three evil destinies? If the fruit in one's mind is not empty, benefits are not empty, fame and gain are not empty — can the view of self be eradicated? Without eradicating the view of self, can the fruit be attained?
Only with no self, no person, no sentient beings, and no life span can one eradicate the view of self and attain the fruits. Those who obtain false fruits with a mind of attainment increase their view of self and grasping at self; the marks of self, person, sentient beings, and life span become even heavier — contrary to the Path, running counter to it. The Path is liberation; going against the Path is birth and death. The secular world is an arena of fame and gain; in some people's eyes, the Buddhist world is likewise an arena of fame and gain. Chasing fame and gain within Buddhism leads even more toward birth and death.
11. Samādhi Is the Mark of Success in Cultivating a Dharma
Question: In cultivating the sun contemplation, must one cultivate until the image does not disappear for all twenty-four hours of the day before one can proceed to the next stage?
Answer: Each of the sixteen contemplations in the Contemplation Sūtra (Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra) is only complete when the corresponding samādhi appears; only afterward can the next contemplation be undertaken. The first contemplation, the sun contemplation, requires the arising of samādhi — the setting-sun samādhi. The image of the setting sun in the mind must appear continuously without ceasing, body and mind must both be in a state of meditative concentration, without afflictions or scattered thoughts — except when sleeping, one is in concentration. Only then is the sun-contemplation samādhi complete, and one can move on to the second contemplation. In cultivating any dharma and realizing any path, including meditative concentration and wisdom, if no samādhi appears, it does not count as successful cultivation, does not count as realizing the dharma or realizing the path. In the period around the appearance of samādhi, sleep is also not heavy, without scattered or chaotic dreams; the mind has a certain degree of clarity, sleep is brief and light, without dullness. In light sleep there should be images in the mind; in deep sleep there are none.
The sun contemplation is the simplest and easiest of all contemplative practices, yet many people have cultivated it for over three years with still no results, not even seeing the shadow of samādhi. This shows that practice is not such a simple matter — especially great wisdom accomplishments such as eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind and seeing the nature, which are even less easy. Of the sixteen contemplations of the Contemplation Sūtra, only by completing the third contemplation can rebirth in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) at the end of life be guaranteed, and only by reaching the seventh contemplation can one see the mind and become enlightened. In three years no one has completed even the first contemplation — in what year or month will the third and seventh contemplations be accomplished? Practice is not such an easy matter, unless one cultivated it in past lives and was an accomplished practitioner; only then is it slightly easier in this life.
11. Why Does Eradicating the View of Self Require Corresponding Meditative Concentration?
Eradicating the view of self is the product of the combination of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and also the product of eradicating afflictions; and wisdom is inseparable from meditative concentration. Only after eradicating the view of self can one obtain liberation, and liberation means liberation from the entanglement of afflictions. Eradicating afflictions is not only an accomplishment of wisdom but even more the result of meditative concentration; without meditative concentration one cannot eradicate afflictions, and thus cannot eradicate the view of self.
The first and second fruits require preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi); without preparatory concentration, one cannot even become a candidate for the first fruit. The first fruit eradicates the afflictions to be abandoned by seeing the Path — the coarsest, low-grade afflictions of the desire realm — which must be eradicated within preparatory concentration. The second fruit requires eradicating the afflictions to be abandoned by cultivating the Path — the middle-grade and high-grade afflictions of the desire realm — which even more require eradication within preparatory concentration. After death, those of the first and second fruits can only be reborn in the desire-realm heavens, not in the form-realm or formless-realm heavens, because they lack the first dhyāna of the form realm.
Those of the second fruit need to continue contemplating the principle of the four noble truths on the basis of the first fruit; direct realization is inseparable from preparatory concentration — otherwise direct realization is impossible, and one can only rely on the mind consciousness's thinking and analysis, without the wisdom of direct-perceptional observation, unable to attain the third fruit or obtain the first dhyāna. Those of the third fruit must eradicate all afflictions of the desire realm and also eradicate at least one grade of afflictions of the form realm, becoming sages liberated in mind, so at the very minimum they must have the first dhyāna of the form realm. Those of the third fruit will at death be reborn among the five Pure Abodes of the form realm, or will eradicate all afflictions within the neutrino-body (antarā-bhava), attain the fourth fruit, and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder (Anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). If those of the third fruit lack form-realm concentration, how could they be reborn among the five Pure Abodes, how could they eradicate all afflictions?
If meditative concentration is not complete, the corresponding afflictions cannot be eradicated. Without form-realm concentration, the afflictions of the desire realm and form realm cannot be eradicated; without preparatory concentration, the afflictions of the desire realm cannot be eradicated, and the principle of the four noble truths is not what the path of liberation relies upon. Those who say that one can realize bodhi without eradicating afflictions do so precisely because they lack meditative concentration and cannot subdue the afflictions in their minds. The mind consciousness's understanding may seem superior, as if very clever, but without the wisdom of direct realization, one cannot escape the entanglement of afflictions and cannot leave the cycle of the six destinies. Studying Buddhism without cultivating meditative concentration, relying entirely on conjecture — that is all conceptual proliferation (prapañca).
12. Is the Result Obtained from Contemplative Practice Within Meditative Concentration Necessarily Direct-Perceptional Realization?
When contemplative practice within concentration yields a result, that result may, first, have been produced by the mind consciousness contemplating alone, or, second, have been produced by the mind consciousness and the manas contemplating together. A result produced by the mind consciousness alone cannot play the decisive role; only when the manas has also contemplated it out can it play the decisive role, only then does the samādhi of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā appear, and only then is it genuine wisdom.
Why does contemplative practice within concentration produce two different results? Because concentration has degrees of depth, and the contemplative wisdom of the consciousness that is gathered and sustained differs accordingly. Concentration has degrees of depth: for example, there is first dhyāna and fully complete preparatory concentration; there is incomplete, intermittent preparatory concentration; and there is even coarser, shallower concentration, with durations of varying lengths. Thus contemplative wisdom differs greatly. When concentration is shallow — preparatory concentration not yet complete — the functions of the mind consciousness occupy the vast majority, the role of inference and analysis is relatively large, and the manas's deliberation (manasikāra/manana) is very small, so the conclusion reached is not direct perception. Even with preparatory concentration, if each period of concentration is rather short and the contemplative practice remains at a coarse, shallow stage and cannot go deep, there cannot be deep and subtle contemplative wisdom, and the result obtained is forced and contrived, without direct perception.
Meditative concentration is so important that some people single-mindedly cultivate concentration, ignoring everything else — neither ceasing evil and cultivating goodness, nor finding ways to remove the afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) and afflictions, nor actively accumulating merit. Because they lack merit and have heavy afflictive obstruction, even after cultivating for ten or twenty years, meditative concentration still does not arise. Conversely, those with light afflictive obstruction and afflictions, who actively protect and support the Three Jewels and accumulate the merit of seeing the Path — as soon as they cultivate meditative concentration, they do so with ease; within a few months their bodies are regulated very smoothly and their power of concentration increases rapidly, faster than others who cultivate for twenty or thirty years. This shows that practice lies in cultivating the mind, not in the length of time spent sitting. If one does not cultivate the mind, and with heavy afflictions still acts willfully, karmic obstructions will increase rather than decrease — how could meditative concentration be cultivated?
13. What Is "Ground of Seeing"?
The "ground" in "ground of seeing" refers to the level of cultivation and realization, the status and position one occupies. In the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Bodhisattva Maitreya divides the grounds into seventeen grounds, from the ground of ordinary beings to the ground of a Buddha. Each ground has a different status, with the position rising at each level, divided according to differences in merit, wisdom, and meditative concentration. Among them, the desire realm has nine grounds, divided according to merit; the form realm and formless realm are divided according to meditative concentration, with wisdom also playing an auxiliary role. The grounds of ordinary beings, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas are divided according to realization, and realization includes merit, meditative concentration, and wisdom.
Therefore, the term "ground of seeing" cannot be applied to ordinary beings, because only when views have been directly realized, when insights have been confirmed, when one has realized the patience with non-arising and the patience with the non-arising of dharmas, does one possess a certain wisdom of liberation, one's status rises to the level of the sages, and one's former views and insights become a "ground of seeing."
Views, ideas, and opinions that have not been confirmed can only be called views, intellectual understanding, or personal ideas. To confirm that one's own views and insights are correct, one must cultivate precepts, concentration, and wisdom, investigate Chan within concentration, personally realize and personally see — not merely think and ponder from afar or make subjective judgments. Subjective conjecture cannot end doubt; only what has been personally seen and confirmed can end doubt. Only after doubt has ended can the wisdom of liberation arise, and only then can body, mind, and world undergo a fundamental transformation, from which one's level of thought, status, and position all rise.
