Why Can We Never Enter Samādhi When We Sit in Meditation and Cultivate Meditative Concentration?

Why is it that when we sit in meditation to cultivate concentration, we can never enter meditative concentration, and why is our power of concentration so shallow? It is because the manas refuses to rest, and its grasping never ceases. The mind frets over everything and cannot let go. This is ignorance (avidyā) — the mind believes there truly is an external world, that people, matters, and things truly exist, and so the mind cannot break free from them. Thus, during sitting meditation, the manas is always grasping at everything everywhere, stirring up various matters, and the mind consciousness must then discern these matters, so the mind cannot be at peace, cannot settle into concentration, and even less can it extinguish wandering thoughts. If there were no ignorance, and the manas did not grasp or cling, and did not conjure up mental sense-objects, the mind consciousness would have nothing to discern, and it would be very easy for the mind to settle into concentration.

All the people, matters, and things seen within concentration are also conjured up by the manas's grasping, and are likewise false and illusory. If one does not cling to these people, matters, and things, those states will gradually fade away, and the concentration will deepen. Remember the words the World-Honored One once told us — "All marks are false and illusory" — and remind yourself of them at all times. Then grasping will diminish, ignorance will become thin, and concentration will be easy to cultivate.