How to Properly Cultivate Meditative Concentration

Cultivating meditative concentration also requires skillful methods; one cannot sit down and cultivate meditative concentration well merely by forcibly enduring the legs. If one's mind constantly engages in clinging to all dharmas, if initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra) and deliberation (manasikāra) within the mind never cease, and the mind is not tranquil, then one cannot sit down in meditation, and there will be no meditative concentration. How can one make the mind tranquil so that meditative concentration arises? By reducing the clinging of the manas and reducing initial application and sustained examination and deliberation, the mind will gradually become pure, and only then will meditative concentration appear.

The Zuochan Sanmei Jing (Sūtra on Sitting Chan Meditative Concentration) discusses many methods for cultivating meditative concentration. Before cultivating concentration, one should first use wisdom to recognize the falsity of all dharmas in order to break the clinging mind; when clinging is reduced, meditative concentration will appear. For example, if someone has a desire for family and retinue, one should use a method to break the notion of family and retinue; when the mind has no such thoughts, it will become tranquil and be able to settle in concentration. If someone is attached to their homeland and home, one must break the notion of homeland; when the mind no longer thinks of home and homeland, meditative concentration appears. If someone has craving and attachment in the mind, one must find a way to subdue that craving; when the mind is free of craving, it becomes tranquil and meditative concentration appears. If someone has anger and resentment in the mind, one must find a way to subdue that anger; when the mind is free of anger and becomes tranquil, meditative concentration appears. Before crossing the legs, first find out what afflictions are in your mind, what thoughts are entrenched in the mind, and then find a corresponding method to counteract them. Once you have convinced yourself, the afflictions and thoughts will no longer arise, and cultivating concentration becomes easy. In this way, by relying on wisdom to extinguish the clinging mind, the mind becomes still and enters concentration.

Once the mind has been subdued and meditative concentration has appeared, one should then engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation within that concentration to counteract afflictions; after attaining meditative absorption (samādhi), one can extinguish afflictions. Those with heavy anger should cultivate the contemplation of loving-kindness; the Zuochan Sanmei Jing contains specific methods for how to cultivate the contemplation of loving-kindness. If one has heavy greed, one should cultivate the contemplation of the white skeleton; by contemplating a person as a white skeleton, greed disappears. If one has a desire for family and retinue, one should contemplate and examine the arising and ceasing, falsity, and unreliability of family and retinue. If the mind is always attached to one's homeland and harbors the notion of homeland, one should contemplate and examine the disasters, fragility, and unreliability of the homeland. In this way, meditative concentration can give rise to true great wisdom.

Meditative concentration and wisdom in fact mutually promote and complement each other. With wisdom, observing the impermanent nature of the world will reduce the mind's clinging and scatteredness, making it easier to settle into concentration. Observe what knots and bonds exist in your own mind, then contemplate and analyze how those knots and bonds are contrary to the Dharma; once the analysis is thorough, the knots and bonds will gradually loosen, one will no longer be entangled, and the mind will become still. You must understand what your own mind is thinking; if you do not understand, there is no way to break through those thoughts, and the mind cannot become still. Wisdom must guide meditative concentration: after cultivating concentration, contemplate again within that concentration, which will then give rise to further wisdom—this is called meditative absorption (samādhi). Therefore, with wisdom it is easy to cultivate concentration; without wisdom, it is not easy to cultivate concentration; and with meditative concentration, wisdom easily arises.