How to Transcend the Realm of the Form Skandha

Only when one truly breaks through the realm of form aggregates can one be unaffected and unobstructed by the physical body. Solitary cultivation of meditative concentration can lead to breaking through the realm of form aggregates, but meditative concentration must be cultivated to the fourth dhyāna to achieve complete freedom from obstruction, just like Master Xu Yun. Theory requires the support of meditative concentration; without meditative concentration, one merely engages in empty talk, possessing only thought without the power to act. The theoretical knowledge we study must be practically observed, contemplated, and investigated within meditative concentration before it can be genuinely realized. Only after such realization does one gain some capacity for action. Without actual realization, the mental faculty cannot effect any change, and one will remain as before. No matter how much one mentally perceives the world as illusory like a dream, without actual realization, what is said and what is done remain separate, and nothing can be changed in the slightest. Change is initiated by the mental faculty; action is determined by the mental faculty. Only through the actual realization of the mental faculty can such change be accomplished.