Lacking meditative concentration, one cannot realize the Buddha's teachings through direct practice

For us practitioners, if we wish to realize the Buddha's teachings through personal experience, the power of meditative concentration is extremely important. Every step of realizing the Dharma depends on the power of concentration to carry out contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), and only afterward can one come to understand the true reality of all dharmas. For example, to contemplate whether the eye consciousness arises first or the mind consciousness arises first, whether manifest color appears first or shape-color appears first, one must first have the power of concentration in order to contemplate and observe it; otherwise, with the mind scattered and distracted, one certainly cannot arrive at the correct result through contemplation. We can look at the scenery outside, look at the sky, look at trees, look at flowers, grass, and woods, look at rivers. When the eye consciousness goes out, first observe the external objects the eyes are facing: do you first see manifest color, or first see shape-color, or first see the content within these forms? Only step by step, with the power of concentration, can one contemplate and observe this; without the power of concentration and relying only on the brain's imagination, it is absolutely impossible to think it through clearly, and one cannot realize the Buddha's teachings through personal experience.

The realization of the Buddha's teachings, apart from the power of meditative concentration, cannot be called realization at all—it is all imagination, thinking, and emotional conjecture and intellectual interpretation. Relying on emotional conjecture and intellectual interpretation, we cannot have true wisdom, and whatever wisdom we originally had will not be elevated; we only learn a little wisdom from the outside, and our wisdom grows very slowly. Without the power of concentration, even if one barely succeeds in seeing one's true mind and knows the answer to where the eighth consciousness is, one cannot carry out contemplative practice, wisdom cannot grow, and the wisdom of contemplative practice cannot appear either.

Apart from the power of meditative concentration, after seeing one's true mind, the illusion-like contemplation of the ten abodes cannot arise, the special feelings of body and mind will not appear, and no change can occur in body and mind. If the feelings of body and mind do not change, one has not attained the illusion-like contemplation. Apart from the power of concentration, the mirage contemplation of the ten practices cannot be contemplated either, and without those feelings of body and mind of mirage contemplation, it is impossible to pass beyond the ten practices. Add to that the dream-like contemplation of the ten dedications: if the power of concentration is lacking, the feelings of dream-like contemplation will not arise either. If one cannot get through these contemplations, one by one, then the bodhisattva's progress on the path merely marks time in place and cannot advance. Apart from meditative concentration, to wish to realize the Buddha's teachings is pure fantasy. With the power of concentration, at the time of eliminating self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga) and seeing one's true mind, the feelings of body and mind and the joy of dhyāna are simply beyond words to describe, and afterward the growth of wisdom, the growth of concentration and wisdom, and the advancement of bodhisattva stages will all be very rapid.