The Process of Cultivating Preparatory Concentration (anāgamya-samādhi)

Mie Mie's meditation experience: In October 2022, I did a short retreat in my room. By the third day, my thoughts began to decrease, and by the fifth evening there were basically no distracting thoughts left—only one would appear after a long while. Suddenly, an intention arose that, life after life, I did not need worldly romantic love, and then a current of qi-energy arose, inflating and supporting my entire body like blowing up a balloon; during this I could hear the cracking sounds of my bones, and my mind became focused and no longer scattered. The next day, body and mind were joyful, the sense of worry about the future disappeared, and my thinking became clear and sharp. After that, I believed in the power of meditative concentration (dhyāna) and my faith was strengthened. I continued sitting in meditation but made no further breakthroughs.

In September 2023, I went to pay homage to the Sixth Patriarch. Along the way there were many animal corpses, which aroused in me great fear. I thought, this game of saṃsāra is too terrifying—from the perspective of animals, the Earth is simply hell. During the trip, while listening to the Repentance chapter of the Platform Sūtra, I fell asleep, and in a dream I saw my own karmic actions from a high-altitude perspective. I deeply felt the weight of my karma and a sense of shame arose. When I arrived at the Sixth Patriarch's Temple, a sutra verse suddenly appeared in my mind: 有我罪即生 亡功福无比。In December, after returning home, I felt very ashamed and stayed in my room sitting in meditation and cultivating.

Around May 2024, a fellow practitioner invited me to sit in meditation together, sitting intermittently from eight in the evening until past five in the morning. A thought arose in my mind: "I dedicate all the merit of my cultivation across countless lifetimes to you, may you soon attain buddhahood and deliver sentient beings—either of us attaining buddhahood first is fine, because sentient beings suffer so much." The moment this thought arose, an energy appeared from behind me and moved upward, different from the earlier qi-sensation, somewhat like a liquid, making me feel extremely light, and in an instant my breathing changed, becoming barely perceptible.

In the following days of meditation there were no distracting thoughts, and my body felt extremely light, as if weightless. While sitting, phenomena such as the body dissolving into emptiness and sustained imaging appeared. One day upon taking my seat, my body suddenly disappeared, and the so-called world also disappeared—there was no matter at all, only an "awareness." This awareness still had feeling and perception; it was as if locked in a large prison cell, searching for and expecting something. There was a solid, tangible sense of existence. In that state there was no language, but there was a kind of understanding. I felt that I understood the body is not the self, and I also understood the twelve links of dependent origination.

After emerging from samādhi, my state of mind was peaceful and harmonious, my mental capacity opened up, and I had a feeling of regarding everyone as a friend. When interacting with people, I would think from their perspective; I could become aware of the limitations of my own cognition, no longer rejecting things outright, maintaining an awareness that my own view is one-sided. Moreover, I saw the labels I had attached to all kinds of people, things, and matters—as if I were operating according to a program. This made me even more afraid; I thought, this karma is so heavy, I am completely trapped in a cage, and my resolve to cultivate grew even firmer.

Assessment: In meditative concentration, an intention arose, a thought arose, a volition arose—to sever worldly romantic love. This arose automatically, not thought up; it was naturally initiated by the manas when the conditions ripened through cultivation. The manas had this wholesome aspiration and intention; with one wholesome thought of the mind, wishing to cut off afflictions, the body followed the mind's turning, the qi-channels surged throughout the body inside and out, the body changed, both body and mind became joyful, and worries and afflictions dissipated. This shows that with one wholesome thought, both body and mind transform, and meditative concentration deepens. For those whose health is not good, it is appropriate to transform one's thoughts and views somewhat, and to make more wholesome vows and pure great vows; as the environment turns with the mind, the body-mind world will achieve a breakthrough.

有我罪即生，亡功福无比。All karmic offenses arise because of the existence of self. If there is no self, there is nothing to seek, and many things need not be undertaken at all—for undertaking is for the sake of my wishes and seeks. If each person carefully observes all of their bodily actions, verbal actions, and mental actions, they will find that the vast majority of these actions stem from "I" and "mine," from craving and seeking—for the sake of that self, extremely many actions are produced, including unnecessary high demands, chasing after wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, and after form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas, never knowing satiety.

If one can extinguish the self, the merit and virtue thus obtained is supreme, unmatched in the world. That such a verse naturally appeared in the mind was because the fear of saṃsāra and the shame over past evil karma had arisen; these are all wholesome mental factors (kuśala-caittas), and from these wholesome roots arising, wholesome words naturally appeared in the mind.

The body disappeared, and all worlds also disappeared, leaving only an awareness. This was not the mind consciousness, but the manas, all alone, without language, realizing that the body is not the self, being produced from causes and conditions. This wholesome state was induced by the wholesome thoughts and wholesome actions of helping and delivering sentient beings; the wholesome mind transformed the environment, and the environment too became wholesome.

In summary, all worldly affairs arise from thoughts of the mind; to transform worldly affairs, one must first transform one's thoughts. When one wholesome thought arises, a million gates of obstruction close; when one evil thought arises, a million gates of obstruction open. The essence of cultivation is cultivating the mind. If one abandons cultivating the mind and instead constantly chases after the body, it is like whipping the cart instead of the horse. Cultivating the mind is the shortcut, the direct path; cultivating the body is the winding path, the crooked road. How does one cultivate the mind? Observe your own mind, observe all the thoughts that arise in it, discern right and wrong, wholesome and unwholesome, crooked and straight; continually give rise to wholesome thoughts and cut off evil thoughts, and the environment will turn from evil to wholesome, and everything will become wholesome.

The Buddha, in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, taught us that at all times, in every stirring of thought and every activity, we should recite wholesome mantras and give rise to wholesome thoughts, leaving no room for evil thoughts. Over time, the mind will surely become wholesome, and all states will likewise become wholesome. When you have time, read the relevant chapters of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra yourselves, learn how to recite mantras, what mantras to recite, and what thoughts the mind should give rise to according to the different objects of attention.