Samyukta Āgama (285), Part One

(1) Original text: 如是我闻。一时。佛住舍卫国祇树给孤独园。尔时。世尊告诸比丘。我忆宿命未成正觉时。独一静处。专精禅思。生如是念。世间难入。所谓若生若老。若病若死。若迁若受生。然诸众生。于生老死上及所依不如实知。

Explanation: When the World-Honored One was staying in the Jeta Grove of Anāthapiṇḍika's Park in the country of Śrāvastī, he told the bhikṣus: "Through the recollection of past lives, I recall the time before I had attained buddhahood and perfect enlightenment, when I was alone in a quiet place, diligently engaged in meditative contemplation. This thought arose in me: this world is hard to enter—namely birth, aging, sickness, and death, the passing away of life and rebirth. Yet sentient beings do not truly know birth, aging, sickness, and death, nor do they truly know that upon which these depend."

Original text: 我作是念。何法有故生有。何法缘故生有。即正思惟。起无间等知。有有故生有。有缘故生有。复思惟。何法有故有有。何法缘故有有。即正思惟。起如实无间等知。取有故有有。取缘故有有。

Explanation: The Buddha said: "In my meditative contemplation, this questioning doubt arose: what dharma must exist for a living being to appear? By relying on what dharma as a condition is a living being born? I then engaged in right contemplation within that meditative contemplation, and after the right contemplation there arose an unbroken wisdom-cognition free of doubt, whereby I realized the following principle: because the inanimate world of the three realms exists, living beings are born; because the conditions for the survival of living beings in the inanimate world of the three realms are complete, living beings appear."

On this basis, I continued to contemplate further: what dharma must be complete for the conditions for survival in the inanimate world of the three realms to be complete? By relying on what dharma does the existence of the inanimate world of the three realms arise? I then entered into right contemplation, and after the right contemplation there arose a true, unbroken, perfectly equal wisdom-cognition: because of the grasping at the dharmas of the five-aggregate world, the existence of the inanimate world of the three realms arises; because the mind grasps at the dharmas of the five-aggregate world, the existence of the inanimate world of the three realms appears.

In this passage, the Buddha is describing the process of genuine practice in accordance with reality, the process of true investigation and personal realization. First, one raises doubt about the dharma being investigated. When the questioning doubt arises deeply, simple deliberation by the mind consciousness cannot resolve it, because it is the manas that has raised the doubt; this doubt must be resolved by oneself personally—the mind consciousness cannot substitute for the manas. So the Buddha engaged in right contemplation within meditative concentration, that is, the deep and subtle investigation of the manas. The result of this investigation was the arising of unbroken perfectly equal right knowledge. Unbroken knowledge is precisely the knowledge of the manas; the knowledge of the mind consciousness is subject to interruption, especially after death. Because it was the manas that personally carried out the investigation, in the end it was certainly the manas itself that realized the truth without interruption, realizing the true reality of the dharma.

If the Buddha had not possessed meditative concentration, first, the manas could not have raised doubt—there would only be the shallow doubt of the mind consciousness; second, the manas could not have personally carried out deep and subtle investigation, and in the end the unbroken knowledge could not arise; there would only be inference, analysis, understanding, and judgment by the mind consciousness, without personal realization of the true reality of the dharma. Therefore, the solitary enlightened ones, the pratyekabuddhas, cultivated alone deep in the mountains with very profound meditative concentration and extremely deep and subtle powers of contemplation, surpassing others, and theirs was right contemplation. Although the non-Buddhist practitioners also had deep meditative concentration, they lacked right contemplation; because they held wrong views, their contemplation was not right. With deep meditative concentration, the mind focused, and a powerful capacity for contemplation, great wisdom and true wisdom according with reality can be opened up.

At that time the Buddha was still a pratyekabuddha. There was no buddha appearing in the world, no dharma appearing in the world, and no Saṅgha transmitting the dharma. He went forth alone into the mountains and forests, with very deep and subtle meditative concentration and wisdom, contemplating alone the causes of the suffering dharmas of birth, aging, sickness, and death in the five-aggregate world. He then contemplated further: since the world is so full of suffering, why do sentient beings not realize and awaken to it by themselves? The Buddha, in order to liberate sentient beings from suffering, investigated within meditative concentration how life comes into being.