The Mystery of Chan Meditation

In the investigation of all dharmas, at the beginning it is the manas cooperating with the mind consciousness in thinking and analysis, with the mind consciousness gathering various data and materials; once the mind consciousness has gathered the materials sufficiently for the manas to make use of, the mind consciousness should then cooperate with the manas in its deep and careful deliberation, cooperate with the manas in its processing and integration work, and cooperate with the manas in its examination and filtering work—letting the manas expend more mental effort while the mind consciousness is less active—then the work of investigation can be completed quickly.

If you want the mind consciousness to engage less in active thinking and the manas to deliberate more, you must cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi); only in samādhi can the manas's focused investigation be guaranteed. Although He cannot be completely fixed on a single object, it is enough that He can be fixed on a very few dharmas: apart from the dharma meaning that requires focused investigation, other things need only be briefly discerned, without affecting one's own investigation. Thus investigating Chan must be done within samādhi; the mind consciousness must not engage in emotional speculation and intellectual interpretation, but must make much use of the manas's deliberative nature, giving full and effective play to the manas's deliberation, and personally realize the tathāgatagarbha—this is the secret of investigating Chan. Therefore, if the manas does not realize the dharma, it is impossible to awaken and see one's true mind, and likewise impossible to eliminate self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi). When investigating Chan within samādhi, the use of the mind consciousness's thinking is relatively little, while the use of the manas's deliberative nature is extensive—that is why realization comes easily. This is the secret of Chan investigation.