What Does It Mean When One Feels That Deluded Thoughts Are Increasing During Contemplation?

Deluded thoughts are inherently false and illusory; if you then go and counteract these illusory dharmas, the counteracting mind itself is still illusory. While counteracting, the mind is no longer pure, and then if you want to extinguish the counteracting mind as well, you add another layer of illusion. Illusion upon illusion in this way—when will it ever end?

Visualizing the Buddha's image—this is the object of the mind, the main practice. Just keep your focus fixed on the object and pay no attention to anything beyond it. It is like originally intending to go to Beijing, but becoming captivated by the scenery along the way, continuously admiring the roadside views—when will you ever reach Beijing?

When there is no meditative concentration (samādhi), the mind is scattered; and because the mind is scattered, one cannot detect that one's own mind is scattered. Only once you gather the mind back a little and calm it down a little can you discover that your mind was actually scattered and impure. Only when there is such a discovery does it show that your mind has awakened; if you cannot discover that you have deluded thoughts, that mind has not awakened. Is it better to discover that one has deluded thoughts, or to be unable to discover them?

It is like a foolish person who never knows that he is foolish. When others point out his foolishness, not only does he refuse to admit it, he even gives rise to anger and opens his mouth to curse people—is that not even more foolish? Once a foolish person awakens, he will discover that he was actually so foolish; only by knowing his own foolishness will he think of ways to counteract it, and only then will he become wise. If a person does not even know that he is foolish, when will he ever become a little wiser?

Only when a person is willing to admit his various shortcomings and various faults can he be an awakened person. Once awakened, he will gradually correct his flaws and faults, and only then can he begin to make progress. If he does not even admit his faults, how can you expect him to correct them? Then he will simply have to carry his faults along with him and persist in error to the very end.