The Importance of Cultivating Samadhi and Prajñā Simultaneously

Shamatha is cessation and also concentration; Vipashyana is observation and also wisdom. Only through the balanced cultivation of concentration and wisdom, the harmonious integration of cessation and observation, can great wisdom arise. This is the method practiced by bodhisattvas. Having cessation without observation, or having observation without cessation—leaning to either extreme—cannot give rise to great wisdom. Without this, one cannot directly realize the Dharma and attain true wisdom; one can only intellectually understand the Dharma and acquire knowledge. These represent the latter two of the Buddha's threefold training of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, which are free from outflows. They are also two of the six paramitas taught by the Buddha for bodhisattvas.

If someone practices seated meditation to cultivate concentration for years on end without engaging the mind to contemplate and investigate the Dharma, they will never attain realization or liberation. If someone leans toward absorbing knowledge, studying extensively and hearing much, without practicing meditative concentration, their mind will remain scattered, restless, and unsettled, failing to penetrate deeply into meditative observation. Such a person will also never directly realize the Dharma. At best, they may intellectually understand the Dharma and acquire knowledge, but their mind will remain unliberated, unable to sever the three fetters. Knowledge can never substitute for experiential realization. However, those unversed in the practice cannot discern this difference; most are merely unseeing admirers of intellectual learning and scholarship.