All accomplished practitioners throughout the kalpas have been endowed with dhyāna and meditative concentration.

The method of contemplation taught in the Zuochan Sanmei Jing (Sūtra on the Samādhi of Sitting Chan) is precisely an instruction in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); the line of thinking is clear, only somewhat coarse. Meditative concentration combined with contemplative practice is sufficient to realize the fruits and attain the various samādhis, cultivating both samādhi and prajñā together. It was the same when the Buddha was in the world: after hearing the Dharma, disciples cultivated meditative concentration, contemplated and practiced contemplative practice, and then realized the fruits. That was the path of cultivation at that time, and it was highly efficient. It was also so in the Tang and Song dynasties: the assembly cultivated concentration and contemplated Chan through deliberation, Chan masters ascended the hall to give teachings, and when the conditions of the season were complete, they awakened to the true mind and saw their nature.

As for the non-Buddhists (tīrthikas), every one of them had skill in meditative concentration. When they met the World-Honored One, as soon as He expounded the Dharma, they could immediately contemplate and practice, and realized the fruits right then. So do not merely look at the final step of their realizing the fruit—gaining wisdom at the moment of hearing the Dharma. Before that, meditative concentration had already been accomplished, the mind had already been purified, and the thirty-seven aids to the path had already been cultivated; all that was lacking was right view and right knowledge. When the World-Honored One expounded the Dharma, He supplied their right view and right knowledge, and thus they realized the fruits at the very moment of hearing the Dharma. We should not look only at people's final results; we should observe the process of their cultivation. The process is very important: without a proper process in accord with the Dharma, there can be no correct fruit.

The Chan patriarchs of the past were all masters of cultivating concentration. Their disciples all had meditative concentration, and the bodhisattva's six pāramitās had all been fully cultivated—the process of cultivation had already been completed. When a Chan master ascended the hall to give a teaching, the disciples seated below would awaken. That is how the fruit came about.

We cannot look only at the results of those who have achieved attainment; the most important thing is to look at the process of their cultivation, including what degree they had cultivated to in past lives, how they cultivated, and what kind of spiritual faculties they had. For those whose foundation has already been laid, hearing the Dharma can bring sudden awakening in that very moment, without gradual cultivation, because previously—or in past lives—they had already cultivated gradually, and that stretch of the road had already been traversed. To take only the final segment of a practitioner's process of cultivation is a serious case of quoting out of context, and it does great harm to people.

Those who are new to Buddhism should read more of the Buddha's Jātaka accounts of His previous lives, and consider the path of cultivation the Buddha walked from the moment He first made His resolve. This should be a great inspiration to us. To study Buddhism means to study everything of the Buddha.