Cultivation and Zen Practice for Attaining Enlightenment (Part Two)
Chapter 5 Concepts Related to Meditative Concentration (Dhyāna)
1. The Meaning of Initial Application and Sustained Examination (Vitarka-Vicāra)
Initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra) is also called meditative concentration (dhyāna) and meditative absorption (samādhi). "Initial application" means knowing, being aware of, and perceiving states. When there is initial application, the five universal mental factors and the five particular mental factors can all operate, and there is, not the recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi. Although such a resonant response is also a manifestation of good roots, it differs from the recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi. The recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi lasts longer—twenty or thirty minutes, or even several days and nights. The sound of the Buddha's name arises automatically in the mind, its lingering echoes unceasing in the ears, lingering around the beams for three days. Body and mind are relaxed and joyful; one may even feel the body floating in the air, tall, light, and nimble, without obstruction, without any sensation of the body's heaviness.
4. Which of the Four Dhyānas and Eight Samādhis Does the Recollection-of-the-Buddha Samādhi Correspond To?
The recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi is divided into the recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi of a meditative state, and the recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi of the mind-seeing state in which samādhi and prajñā are cultivated equally. Whichever kind of recollection-of-the-Buddha samādhi it is, it requires fully endowed preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), or the first dhyāna. Meditative concentration is the foundation of samādhi; without meditative concentration, no kind of samādhi will appear, no dharma will be accomplished, and in future lives one will continue to transmigrate through the suffering of birth and death. Therefore, do not be satisfied with broad learning and much hearing, do not be satisfied with extensive knowledge, and do not rely on knowledge passed on by word of mouth. You must deeply enter meditative concentration and investigate, striving to cultivate true wisdom. Do not believe the senseless talk of the wisdomless who claim that one can still attain realization of the fruits and liberation without meditative concentration; believe instead the wise words of the Buddha in the Buddhist sūtras.
5. The Difference Between the Cessation Attainment, the Attainment of No-Perception, and the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception
In the attainment of no-perception (asaṃjñi-samāpatti), the six consciousnesses are absent, but all five universal mental factors of the manas are operating. In the cessation attainment (nirodha-samāpatti), the six consciousnesses are absent, and of the manas's mental factors, feeling and perception have ceased. The cessation attainment is the state of the great arhat who is liberated in both ways; unless one is a great arhat endowed with the four dhyānas and eight samādhis who has severed all afflictions, it is impossible to enter the cessation attainment. The attainment of no-perception is a non-Buddhist concentration; the person in that concentration still regards the material body as the self, with the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) unsevered.
For beings in the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, part of the mind consciousness's five universal mental factors have ceased, so the mind consciousness is in a state of half-existing and half-not-existing; this still differs from the beings of the asaṃjñi heaven, who have a material body but no mind consciousness at all. In the attainment of no-perception and in deep sleep, the six consciousnesses do not exist. If the thoughts of the six consciousnesses arise again, it must be that the manas generates the mental factors of attention (manaskāra) and volition (ceṣṭā) toward the objects of the six sense objects, and when it wishes to discern the six sense objects, the eighth consciousness gives birth to the six consciousnesses to discern the six sense objects; thus one emerges from concentration or wakes up.
6. What Kind of State Is the Excessive Blankness of Preparatory Concentration?
The state of excessive blankness in preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) occurs when one has cultivated to the stage of preparatory concentration, the mind has no thoughts and no perceptions, and one has cultivated an empty concentration; thus one enters concentration without thoughts within preparatory concentration for a long time, even being able to remain in concentration for several days or over ten days. This is pure concentration, without deliberation or contemplative practice, and without questioning doubt; it has nothing to do with wisdom.
7. What Is the Higher Training of the Mind?
Question: What is the higher training of the mind (adhicitta-śikṣā)? Does samādhi include the desire-realm concentration? Does superior samādhi include the desire-realm concentration? Is preparatory concentration also excellent? But clearly, preparatory concentration cannot eradicate the afflictions of greed and resentment; the mind remains in conformity with the affliction of greed.
Answer: In Volume 30 of the Saṃyukta Āgama, the World-Honored One told the bhikṣus: “何等为增上意学？若比丘离诸恶不善法，有觉有观，离生喜乐，初禅具足住，乃至第四禅具足住，是名增上意学。” This higher training of intention is the higher training of the mind, referring to the four dhyānas and eight samādhis, from the first dhyāna of the form realm to the four formless absorptions of the formless realm. The characteristic of the first dhyāna is that within the mind there is awareness and observation; because the mind has departed from desire-realm existence, rapture and bliss arise, and evil unwholesome dharmas such as greed, hatred, and delusion are abandoned. "Higher" means that meditative concentration enables the mind to increase wholesome dharmas; "training of the mind" means that through meditative concentration one can transform one's mental disposition and depart from the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion of the desire realm. Since meditative concentration is a course of study for cultivating the mind, studying Buddhism cannot be separated from cultivating concentration. Apart from meditative concentration, the mind cannot sever evil or increase wholesome dharmas, and wisdom apart from meditative concentration has no beneficial efficacy of merit whatsoever.
Samādhi is very excellent, transcending the desire-realm concentration. The desire-realm concentration is relatively coarse, inferior, and shallow, with rather obvious inner afflictions; therefore the desire-realm concentration does not belong to the realm of samādhi. Superior samādhi is even more excellent, transcending the desire-realm concentration even further. Preparatory concentration is superior to having no concentration at all, but is shallower and more deficient than the form-realm concentrations. Preparatory concentration can only sever the five grades of afflictive delusions of the desire realm; it cannot completely sever the desire-realm affliction of greed, much less eradicate the affliction of resentment. The first dhyāna of the form realm has several levels of gradation—fully endowed and not fully endowed; for those not fully endowed, even severing resentment is difficult.
