Only When There Is Meditative Concentration Can the Manas Be Deeply Touched

When the power of meditative concentration (samādhi) is insufficient, reading an article is like skimming over it in a cursory glance; when the power of concentration is sufficient, that cognitive awareness in the mind becomes extraordinary—it is enough to shake the heart, to shake the five internal organs and six viscera, and the feeling is very unusual. Some people skim through an article once, cannot deliberate (manasikāra) on it in detail, and rashly reject it, only to find in the end that they themselves were wrong. Where was the mistake? Without the power of concentration, one cannot engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) through deliberation; the mind is too shallow. Even with guidance, one still cannot practice contemplation, wisdom cannot gradually rise, and it cannot advance day by day. Those whose wholesome roots from past lives are insufficient will not be startled no matter what dharma they read; they pass over it blandly, as if they had truly understood it.

Only when there is the power of concentration and the deliberation is detailed can one be touched—this is called being deeply moved. Look at how rich the content of our ancient Huaxia culture is, and how precise its wording—it can describe the states of body and mind clearly and thoroughly. All of it has a certain scientific basis, a physiological basis. The Buddha-dharma is not isolated; it only depends on whether the public has the wisdom to know it as it truly is. The "deep" in "deeply moved" means penetrating deep into the manas; only then is there a feeling—not the shallow, surface-level deliberation of the mind consciousness. Ordinary deliberation produces no feeling, no sighing with emotion, let alone being overwhelmed with myriad feelings.