How to Enter Meditative Concentration with Wisdom

After the practitioner has adjusted his breathing, he brings up in his mind the question that needs to be contemplated. After using the mind consciousness to sort out the meaning of the question clearly, he does not analyze, reason, speculate, or imagine, and does not engage in the surface-level thinking of the consciousness. Instead, he mobilizes the manas, planting the question deeply into the mind of the manas, letting the manas hang onto this question. At this time, there are no words, language, or sounds in the minds of either the consciousness or the manas. In this way, the power of meditative concentration arises, and meditative concentration (dhyāna) appears. When the manas is in a state of deliberation (manasikāra) upon the question, if the physical body encounters no obstruction and there are no scattered thoughts in the mind, the more the manas deliberates, the more focused it becomes; the deeper the meditative concentration, the more wisdom opens up and unfolds, the body and mind become increasingly harmonized, and the spirit becomes ever more joyful. 

Deliberating on the meaning of the Dharma within such profound meditative concentration is entirely equivalent to profound contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), Chan investigation, and meditative inquiry. One's understanding of the Dharma meaning will become clearer and clearer. Once one can deliberate through it thoroughly, the mind will be very certain, without doubt, having eradicated doubt and perplexity. If one deliberates in this way on the content of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) or on matters concerning seeing the mind and self-nature, once the deliberation and investigation become clear, the three fetters will be severed, and the fetter of doubt will certainly be cut off. If it is merely deduced and conjectured by the consciousness, and the manas does not clearly understand it, then the fetter of doubt will not be severed, karmic obstructions will not be removed, and birth and death cannot be ended. 

The vast majority of people only know how to use the shallow mode of thinking of the consciousness, and do not know how to use the deep mode of deliberation of the manas. Therefore, they are unable to apply effort in Chan investigation and meditative inquiry, resulting in emotional conjecturing and intellectual understanding, with the questioning doubt never extinguished and the fetter of doubt never severed. At the slightest disturbance, their doubt blazes fiercely, and the Dharma principles they previously deduced get overturned. Even if not overturned, it is still not genuine realization or personal verification, and thus has no real practical use. So nowadays, among those who believe themselves to have awakened to the Way, the proportion of false awakenings is like the purity of pure gold—or even higher, only more, never less. This is the current state of the Dharma-ending age. No matter how many people are unwilling to accept it, this is the fact, corresponding to and matching the spiritual faculties (indriya) of sentient beings in the Dharma-ending age and the circumstances of the era. It cannot be better than the age of the True Dharma or the age of the Semblance Dharma—absolutely not.