The Merits and Benefits of Meditative Concentration

Answer: The meritorious benefits of meditative concentration (samādhi) are numerous. Growing in wisdom, eliminating self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), and awakening to the true mind—for most sentient beings still at the stage of ordinary beings, these are the ultimate and highest meritorious benefits attainable within a short time. But there are also other meritorious benefits, such as inner peace and harmony, physical and mental comfort and ease, a change in physical constitution, a healthy and long-lived body, reduced afflictions, an increase in wholesome mind, a decrease in unwholesome mind, an increase in the wholesome karmic deeds and the neutral deeds one performs and a decrease in unwholesome karma, so that in future lives one will tend toward wholesome destinies and be reborn in the heavens to enjoy blessings. When one first enters meditative concentration, many people lack the power of deliberation and cannot contemplate the Buddha-Dharma; the mind rests in an empty samādhi where thoughts are only budding—this is called the concentration of inwardly-guarded leisureliness. Of course, without contemplation one cannot awaken to the Path. However, after leaving meditative concentration, there is a kind of momentum: the state of concentration continues, so that body and mind remain more comfortable and pleasant than when one does not cultivate concentration. The mind becomes deeper than usual, the power of thinking deepens, and restlessness diminishes. Because body and mind are pleasant and full, the mind becomes wholesome, peaceful, and tranquil; in dealing with people and affairs one becomes generous, kind, and compassionate, and the unwholesome karma one creates decreases. When encountering matters, one contemplates them deeply and thoroughly; in handling affairs one is gentle, moderate, and not extreme; one can easily see through people, affairs, and principles, and thus wisdom and merit naturally grow. This meritorious benefit is something that a person without meditative concentration cannot compare to.

Within meditative concentration, continually train your power of deliberation and cultivate the habit of contemplation; gradually you will be able to contemplate in accordance with reality and contemplate in accordance with the Dharma, engaging in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and elevating wisdom. However, this kind of contemplation does not necessarily lead to interpretive awakening to the Buddha-Dharma. When one's grasp of the framework of the Buddha-Dharma is not yet clear enough, and one's understanding of the Dharma meanings one has studied is not yet fluent enough, one first needs the deliberation of the mind consciousness to clarify the framework and outline of the Buddha-Dharma, and thereby to permeate and influence the manas, so that the manas clearly understands how the Buddha-Dharma should be practiced and what kind of effort is needed to realize the Dharma. Once this foundation is laid, when the time comes for final realization, meditative concentration will have deepened and preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) will have been fulfilled. At this point, the deliberation (manana) of the manas should be primary, with the mind consciousness assisting the manas, engaging less in intellectual activities such as thinking, analysis, and reasoning, and letting the manas as much as possible investigate and ponder on its own. Only in this way can one reach final realization and avoid mere intellectual understanding by the mind consciousness. This is the practice sequence and method of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. Once you have mastered it, practice makes perfect; when the skill becomes firm, in future lives you will also avoid the false mode of practice that is mere intellectual understanding by the mind consciousness, and will gain the true benefit of the Buddha-Dharma.