Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Volume Six

The Buddha said: 阿难，汝常闻我毗奈耶中宣说修行三决定义，所谓摄心为戒，因戒生定，因定发慧，是则名为三无漏学。

Vinaya is one of the Tripitaka of sūtras, vinayas, and śāstras; it is the precepts spoken by the Buddha. It also means subduing one's own mind and subduing body, speech, and mind, harmonizing the actions of body, speech, and mind. The result of such subduing is that afflictions can be conquered and eradicated, attaining a mind-ground without taints, so that body, speech, and mind are all without taints and without afflictions, without afflictive habitual tendencies, without ignorance, ultimately attaining buddhahood.

Why is gathering in the mind the precepts? Which mind must be gathered in to accomplish the precepts? When the mind is not gathered in, body, speech, and mind will move recklessly and chaotically. With the body, one insists on doing what should not be done, going where one should not go, moving when one should not move; in severe cases this creates the karma of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct, and meditative concentration cannot be accomplished. Even milder chaotic bodily actions and reckless movements preclude meditative concentration, because when the body cannot be stilled, meditative concentration is impossible.

When the mind cannot be gathered in, the mouth will speak recklessly and wildly, saying what should not be said and what cannot be said; in severe cases this leads to false speech, frivolous speech, and divisive speech, stirring up gossip and disputes, violating the five precepts and ten wholesome deeds. Thus the mind is not tranquil, and meditative concentration is impossible. Even if one does not violate the five precepts and ten wholesome deeds, because the mouth speaks wildly, with much verbal activity, the mind must certainly be thinking wildly, with much mental activity; the mind is not stilled, and meditative concentration is impossible.

When the mind is not gathered in, the mental karma is certainly not tranquil: one thinks what should not be thought, deliberates what should not be deliberated, is aware of what one should not be aware of, contemplates what one should not contemplate. In this way afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion will inevitably manifest; the water of the mind is turbid—how can there be concentration?

People one should not think of, yet one insists on thinking of them; matters one should not ponder, yet one insists on pondering them; feelings one should not cling to, yet one insists on clinging to them—how can the mind be stilled? Who are the people one should not think of? Some people have many emotional attachments, constantly holding the image of another person in their minds—unshakable, summoned at will, impossible to erase. How can such a person have meditative concentration? During sitting meditation, these images will certainly obscure one's own mind, obstructing contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) and deliberation, blocking tranquility—how can there be concentration? If one can replace these images with images of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with the blessings of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the mind becomes tranquil, and meditative concentration arises immediately.

Some people do not gather in their minds; matters unrelated to themselves, matters that do not benefit others, are kept in mind thought after thought, never forgotten moment to moment, clinging to everything, the mind packed full without a gap. Thus the water of the mind surges and churns, agitated and clamorous—how can there be concentration? When the mind is not gathered in, constantly clinging to wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, with the conditioned shadows of the six sense objects layer upon layer, the mind is not empty, covered by things—how can there be meditative concentration?

Many people complain that they cannot cultivate concentration well. Then you must examine yourself: what exactly is the reason you cannot cultivate meditative concentration well? What exactly in your mind is obscuring you? Dig these things out and resolve them; when the mind is empty, meditative concentration will naturally be easy to accomplish. What affects meditative concentration is the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion; the mind grasps at worldly dharmas, unwilling to let go, taking everything as real, as useful things, feeling it must grasp them, preferring death to giving up these worldly dharmas—how can there be concentration?

Even after all this has been explained, there are still many people who do not know how to examine themselves, not knowing what exactly is in their minds. Because the mind has long been accustomed to scattering after sense objects, clinging too tightly to them, inseparable, the mind cannot leap outside the objects to observe its own mind. How then can there be the wisdom of observation? How can one observe the afflictions and habitual tendencies of one's own mind?

Only by leaping out of the circle, out beyond the sense objects, out beyond the mind itself, to observe one's own mind, can there be the wisdom of observation, the power of contemplation, able to discover what could not be discovered before, and only then can there be a way to counteract one's own mind, to turn one's own mind around, to have the strength to subdue one's own mind.

What must be done first now is to take the mind away from the sense objects, remove it, letting mind be mind, objects be objects, people be people, things be things, all dharmas abiding each in their own dharma-position, each unrelated to one's own mind. When the mind is apart from objects, the power of awareness and illumination is strong, and it is easy to awaken to the true reality of all dharmas; meditative concentration naturally grows, and wisdom naturally arises.

What has been discussed above is the principle of concentration arising from precepts. Gathering in one's own mind is the precepts; the mind not committing wrongs is the precepts; the mind not thinking wildly, deliberating wildly, moving wildly, choosing wildly, acting wildly—that is the precepts. This mind mainly refers to the seventh consciousness, the manas. The manas's contact, attention, feeling, perception, and volition can trigger the attention, contact, feeling, perception, and volition of the six consciousnesses, triggering the scattered activity of the bodily, verbal, and mental actions of the six consciousnesses. Gathering in the manas is equivalent to controlling the master switch of bodily, verbal, and mental actions, equivalent to subduing the general and commander-in-chief; then the six consciousnesses, the soldiers under his command, will obediently comply, docile and not moving wildly—why worry about lacking meditative concentration?

The most important point in study and cultivation is that wisdom arises from concentration. "Arise" means to generate and bring forth. The Buddha instructs us that because of the power of meditative concentration, when the mind is concentrated it has strength, and this strength can give rise to wisdom. It is like a kind of force that can push a sprout up out of the soil; pushing out is called arising, called emerging. Wisdom is pushed up out of the mind, generated, by the power of meditative concentration. Without meditative concentration, the mind has no strength and cannot grow wisdom.
The legacy and precious family estate the Buddha left us are the threefold learning beyond training of precepts, concentration, and wisdom. If, because we cannot keep the precepts and cultivate concentration, we abandon the first two portions of the estate, saying these two are useless and that one treasure alone is enough—then let us think: are we not prodigal sons? Ruining the Buddha's family treasures and casting them aside without care, are we still the Buddha's disciples? Not guarding the Buddha's family estate, are we still the Buddha's filial sons and worthy descendants? Without the first two treasures, can there be the last treasure? Even if the last one exists, do you know what kind of thing it would be?

As for the precepts, if expounded fully, one could never finish speaking. As for concentration, if expounded fully, one could never finish speaking. As for wisdom, if expounded fully, even less could one finish speaking. In the final analysis, the precepts, concentration, and wisdom of the superficial mind consciousness must reach the ultimate precepts, concentration, and wisdom of the seventh consciousness, the manas—only this is the true precepts, concentration, and wisdom. The true precepts, concentration, and wisdom are the mind's precepts, the mind's concentration, the mind's wisdom—not merely the bodily and verbal actions of the surface six consciousnesses, not merely the mental activity of the mind consciousness, but a matter of the mental activity of the seventh consciousness, the manas. When the manas's mind is gathered in, not committing wrongs, not moving wildly, wisdom will inevitably be born. The precepts, concentration, and wisdom of the manas govern all dharmas, and in the end one will ultimately attain buddhahood through the precepts, concentration, and wisdom of the manas.