How to Use Wisdom to Give Rise to Meditative Concentration (Dhyāna)

Using wisdom to initiate meditative concentration (samādhi), one enters concentration very quickly. The prerequisite is that both the foundation of meditative concentration and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) are fairly good, so that upon sitting down one can quickly dispel distracting thoughts and deluded notions from the mind. One contemplates a dharma principle with clear content, able to focus on the deliberation (manana) very quickly, and with increasingly deep focus, gradually weakening and eliminating the obvious thinking of the mind consciousness, while the manas within still continues contemplating and deliberating—without language, without sound, without words—deliberating very deeply. At the beginning of this practice it feels rather forced and hard to endure, but once accustomed, one enters concentration very quickly; body and mind feel extremely comfortable, the whole body feels transparent and clear, the mind is lucid, and after emerging from concentration one feels physically and mentally joyful and full of energy—far more effective than sleep.

During the manas's process of deliberation, one can observe that the manas does not consult any dharma principles, does not compare them with other dharma principles, and does not guess or imagine. Therefore the manas has no mode of thinking by inference or erroneous cognition/non-valid cognition; its thinking is entirely direct perception/valid direct cognition. Once it reaches a conclusion, that conclusion is wisdom of direct perception—relatively true, not easily overturned or regretted, and worthy of trust. Thinking with the mind consciousness is not like this. Because the manas's deliberation involves no language, words, or sound, for the conclusions it deliberates to take the form of language, words, and sound, the mind consciousness must come to help: the mind consciousness must be awakened and the conclusion transmitted to it; only after the mind consciousness understands it does it organize language, forming words and sounds. The language and words thus formed will be very concise, clear, transparent, and apt.

This process is rather complex and slow—much slower than the mind consciousness thinking through a problem on its own. Yet although slow, it is deep, thorough, and apt, representing one's own true wisdom. Therefore, if a person does a great deal of thinking with the mind consciousness, relying primarily on the mind consciousness's thinking, their writing and speeches may indeed be very fast, with abundant and sprawling content, but the quality cannot be guaranteed—let alone guaranteed to be wisdom of direct perception. There will be a great deal of inference and erroneous cognition, more content drawn from references, and memory and performance may be excellent, but it does not fully represent one's own true wisdom. Hence a good meal does not fear being late, nor does it fear being slow; refined and delicious is the most enjoyable.