Only by Gathering In the Six Faculties Can One Recollect the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) with Pure Thoughts Arising in Continuity

Ru Chun's contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) experience: After reading the chapter on training the manas, I tried reciting the Buddha's name using the method of focused recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti): I sat cross-legged, turning the prayer beads while reciting the Buddha's name, my eyes watching the turning beads, my ears listening to my own recitation, and my mind consciousness guarding this place without giving rise to other thoughts—very focused. I recited for about forty minutes, and afterward felt a buzzing in my head. Not long after, I went to sit in meditation, and shortly after sitting down, I heard my recitation of the Buddha's name, my heartbeat, and my pulse interwoven together, ringing very clearly, powerfully, and rhythmically in the depths of my mind. The sound seemed to form a separate space, blocking out all other information, and it lasted for more than half an hour. Later, when I felt the mind consciousness begin to intervene, the sound disappeared.

May I ask, Master: Was this the manas reciting the Buddha's name? Is this method of practice correct? Later, I wanted to continue practicing with this method, but I could not recover that state, and I don't know why.

Answer: If it were the manas reciting the Buddha's name, there would be no sound and no inner voice; you would not hear yourself reciting. But the mind consciousness's verbal recitation and mental recitation can be heard by the mind consciousness. Your recitation was done jointly by the mind consciousness and the manas. If only the mind consciousness recited, the manas would go chasing after objects and delusive thoughts would arise. Your recollection of the Buddha at this time is neither shallow nor deep—it belongs to an intermediate transitional stage. Only at the end, when the hand, eyes, and ear faculty all stop moving, and one very single-mindedly and soundlessly recollects the Buddha, is that the manas reciting the Buddha's name. But this is already quite good—your recollection of the Buddha is not shallow, you have also entered meditative concentration (samādhi), and an initial, shallow meditative absorption (samādhi) has manifested.

If you want to recite the Buddha's name purely and more deeply, you must gather in the six faculties. What is called gathering in the six faculties means restraining the first five faculties and the first six consciousnesses, letting the manas single-mindedly, without confusion, focus on reciting the Buddha's name, soundlessly and silently. When reciting the Buddha's name, the five faculties and six consciousnesses should all be still, yet in your case not only were the hand and body faculty moving, but the eye faculty was also moving, and the ear faculty was also moving. Maintaining the manas's focus in this way requires enormous energy and is extremely difficult, so your level of meditative concentration (dhyāna) is still not deep enough. Reciting the Buddha's name means having the Buddha in the mind. The prayer beads are not the Buddha; turning them with the hand is not reciting the Buddha's name. Looking with the eyes is not reciting the Buddha's name. The sound is not the Buddha either; listening with the ears is not reciting the Buddha's name. The more auxiliary tools for recitation, the more distractions there are.

There are also people who visualize the setting sun while standing on tiptoe to exercise their body—the mind is divided between two entirely different places, so how could they have even a trace of meditative concentration? There are also people who contemplate several dharmas in a single day, as if their abilities were exceptional, but in reality their minds are far too scattered and distracted; they simply do not understand what contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) is. Most sentient beings have the habit of the six faculties grasping at the six sense objects; they refuse to let go and be single-minded, as if being single-minded would deprive them of other sense objects. Having grown accustomed to grasping at sense objects, they are extremely greedy for them. Thus the six faculties all move at once, grasping at all dharmas, unwilling to relinquish anything. To go against the principles of cultivation is to not be cultivating at all.