Dhyāna-Samādhi and the Realization of the Manas

The Buddha said: meditation arises from precepts, and wisdom arises from meditation. Precepts, meditation, and wisdom pertain not only to the mind consciousness but also to the manas. If the manas is to have the wisdom of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and the wisdom of seeing the mind, it too must have meditative concentration (samādhi), investigating and deliberating (manasikāra/manana) within meditation on the dharma of non-self, investigating and deliberating on true suchness and buddha-nature; only then can it eradicate the view of self and attain seeing the mind and seeing the nature.

If the manas cannot personally investigate and deliberate, then it cannot accept the principles that the mind consciousness instills into Him, and in the end it is still only an intellectual understanding by the mind consciousness. And if the manas is to investigate and deliberate on the principle of non-self, it likewise must have meditative concentration; otherwise He will be distracted and scattered. If the manas lacks meditative concentration, it will lead the six consciousnesses into distraction and scattering; when the six consciousnesses are distracted and scattered, they constantly discern, always wanting to report the contents of their discernment to the manas, and the manas must constantly divide its attention, unable to concentrate on investigation, and cannot arrive at an ideal result through investigation.

No method can substitute for meditative concentration; be very careful with a practice method that yields only intellectual understanding. Practicing according to the methods taught by the World-Honored One will surely not go wrong. All the disciples in the Buddha's time practiced sitting meditation to cultivate concentration; practitioners before the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and before the Republic of China, all took sitting meditation and cultivating concentration as their main practice; afterwards, they could have meditative concentration whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, with the mind constantly in concentration. In this way, the conditions ripened easily, and they realized realization upon encountering conditions. When we look back today, their realization of the Buddha's dharma seems so easy, but little do we know that their foundation was quite excellent: their roots of goodness and merit were complete, the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment were complete—of course including the completeness of meditative concentration—and their thinking was keen and clear, so that upon hearing a certain dharma they could immediately realize and awaken to it.

Among all who expound the dharma, what the Buddha teaches is the most perfect and most ultimate; no one can surpass the Buddha's wisdom, and trusting the Buddha's words is absolutely without error. In whatever era, the Buddha's dharma never changes or mutates; the Buddha's dharma is forever applicable to all eras. Reading the Buddhist sutras more will increase wisdom and prevent one from taking detours. The teachings of all bodhisattvas, compared with the Buddha's, have deficiencies and omissions, have leaks, and have aspects that are not perfect and not ultimate.