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 deliberated. 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 deliberation 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, profound meditative concentration (samādhi) appears, and the power of concentration arises. When the manas is in a state of deliberation (manasikāra), if the physical body has no obstructions and there are no scattered thoughts in the mind, the more the manas deliberates, the more focused it becomes, the deeper the meditative concentration grows, the more wisdom unfolds and is released, the state of body and mind becomes 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 increasingly clear in the mind. Once one can deliberate through it thoroughly, the mind will be very resolute, without doubt, having eradicated doubt and perplexity. If one deliberates in this way on the content of eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and 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 inferred 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 deliberation 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 clinging 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 will be overturned. Even if not overturned, it is still not genuine realization or personal verification, and thus has no practical use. So nowadays, among the many who believe they have awakened to the Way, the proportion of false awakening is like the purity ratio of 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 and the circumstances of the Dharma-ending age. It will not be better than the age of the True Dharma or the age of the Semblance Dharma—absolutely not.