The Mystery of Meditative Concentration

The mystery of cultivating concentration lies in the mental faculty, the objective lies in the mental faculty, and the purpose lies in the mental faculty—it is to subdue the mental faculty and to harness its function. When consciousness focuses the mind on a single point, it compels the mental faculty to apply itself to that single point; when consciousness is undistracted, the mental faculty is also undistracted. When consciousness is undistracted, it engages in less discrimination and ceases to disturb the mental faculty, allowing the mental faculty to concentrate its application. Consciousness thinks with meticulous clarity, and the content of its thoughts is transmitted to the mental faculty. When the mental faculty can concentrate its attention on the dharmas (phenomena) contemplated and analyzed by consciousness, and when the mental faculty itself is undistracted, it can then wholeheartedly ponder these dharmas. Only in this way can the dharma be realized.

The Buddha employs the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to enable us to cultivate concentration. The principle behind this is that through the mental application (manasikāra) of consciousness, the mental faculty is led to apply itself to the object focused on by consciousness, thereby also remaining undistracted. For example, the mental faculty must continuously apply itself to the bodily faculty's breathing and walking, applying itself to nothing else and grasping at nothing else. Only then can it wholeheartedly ponder and discern the dharmas discerned by consciousness, leading to sudden awakening and the arising of wisdom. Sudden awakening refers to the awakening of the mental faculty, while the gradual clarification of principles is the result of consciousness analyzing step by step.

Visualize a profoundly captivating state; this binds the mental faculty to that visualization. As the mind quiets down and the subtle energy channels (nāḍī) flow, the psychological sensation becomes comfortable, and the mental faculty becomes even more interested. Then, concentration and the attainment of meditative absorption (dhyāna) present no problem. Consciousness is extremely intelligent; it has no issue thinking through and analyzing a dharma. The challenge lies in making the mental faculty understand. It is essential to prevent the mental faculty from scattering its attention, so that it receives the information transmitted by consciousness, reprocesses it, assimilates it, and can then arrive at its own conclusion—this is the realization of the dharma, resulting in sudden enlightenment. The various states that subsequently manifest in body and mind are caused by the mental faculty.