Strong Samādhi but Weak Prajñā Is Also a Great Regret (2025-06-28)

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: In the past I often contemplated the five aggregates as suffering, empty, impermanent, and non-self, contemplating where the five-aggregate physical bodies of countless lifetimes had gone. One morning, after listening for a while to the Buddha's name recitation in my mind, I contemplated how we sentient beings' five-aggregate physical shells arise and cease, cease and arise—amid this constant arising and ceasing, where is there a real self? As I contemplated, in meditative concentration I clearly saw another "me" come out of this false shell of mine and sit facing me. This state occurred twice in succession, and in the blink of an eye everything returned to normal. At that moment something suddenly dawned in my mind, and I felt my body and mind become unobstructed and free-flowing; sitting there, I felt like jumping up, and involuntarily a sentence came out from within: It is He! Life after life, silently and imperceptibly, He operates His function and power of equality. When I emerged from that concentration, I could no longer see the image! On June 23rd, I dreamed that I went to the toilet and passed a great deal of golden-yellow feces.

Assessment: Ven. Shi Ruyuan first developed meditative concentration (dhyāna), then gradually contemplated the Dharma principles within that concentration, and finally came to understand them. Without meditative concentration, her understanding and digestion of the Dharma principles would have been extremely slow. This also shows that meditative concentration can generate and enhance wisdom. Ven. Shi Ruyuan has always leaned toward meditative concentration, with wisdom weaker than concentration; she has not studied very many Dharma principles and does not grasp Buddhist technical terms well, so much so that her expression is unclear and communication with her takes effort.

Among Buddhist practitioners, the majority lean toward wisdom over concentration: they study theory for a long time without attaining concentration, which results in a vague, fuzzy grasp of theory, obstructions and impasses everywhere, skewed understanding, and an extreme fondness for debate—yet when they debate, their reasoning lacks logic, and they themselves are entirely unaware of it. Those who lean toward concentration and those who lean toward wisdom both have outflows (āsrava), and communicating with either kind gives one a headache; the wisdom-leaning ones are even more difficult to deal with, lacking rationality and self-awareness.

Everyone may discuss this: is it better to lean toward concentration, or to lean toward wisdom? Or is cultivating both concentration and wisdom together faster? Especially those who have studied theory for several decades—compare yourselves with Ven. Shi Ruyuan: what insights do you have? Ven. Shi Ruyuan has only practiced for a few years, and to this day she has not yet mastered Buddhist technical terminology, yet how long would it take you to catch up to the state she has now reached? Those who lean toward wisdom and have studied much theory have given this master a great deal of grief—self-assured, fond of debate, with minds that are not even sharp, logic that does not hold together, stubborn and hard to transform. There are even one or two individuals who consider their wisdom not inferior to their master's, and in some respects even surpassing their master's. I truly have suffered in silence.

When a practitioner's practice begins to take effect and karma starts to be dissolved, one will dream of being in a toilet full of filthy, unbearable excrement with nowhere to set one's feet—this is a sign that afflictions have been partially eliminated and karmic obstructions have lightened. But in Ven. Shi Ruyuan's current dream, what appeared was golden-yellow feces—not filthy at all, but rather quite precious. This is a sign that her mind has already transformed toward purity, free of afflictions and vexations. Having such a sign indicates, first, that her meditative concentration is profound, and second, that her mind-ground is pure. If anyone believes they have already realized the fruits and attained enlightenment—seeing the mind and its nature—they should, like Ven. Shi Ruyuan, lay out all the evidence concerning body and mind and clearly display the whole course of their practice, so that others can see it at a glance.

After these several days of communication with Ven. Shi Ruyuan and a deep, detailed understanding of her current state of concentration and wisdom, what can be determined is this: in terms of meditative concentration, Ven. Shi Ruyuan is close to attaining the first dhyāna; her mind has continuously remained in a state of joy without interruption; both body and mind are in concentration—whatever she does, she does not leave that concentration; eating and sleeping do not interfere with her concentration, farming and tidying up do not interfere with it, and even conversing with people does not interfere with it. She sleeps very little, at most four hours a day; there is always a flow of energy surging in her chest and dantian, and the energy channels throughout her body run without interruption—these are preliminary characteristics of the first dhyāna. But this cannot yet be finally confirmed, because she still has craving for food and drink; only by observing subsequent developments can a final determination be made.

Regarding Mahāyāna seeing-the-mind (明心), observing the wisdom and cognition within her mind, it can be determined that she has a realization through understanding (解悟); whether she has realization through direct realization (证悟) cannot yet be finally determined, and further communication and observation are needed. Her verbal expression is poor, and communication is very difficult—if she had studied more theory, it would not be like this. But this is already quite good, and one cannot demand perfection. Even if hers is realization through understanding, to reach realization through direct realization would be a matter of a single instant—as easy as play, requiring no effort at all.

However, Ven. Shi Ruyuan has a misconception: she believes that on the marks of objects such as flowers, grass, and trees, she can perceive the operation of the tathāgatagarbha. But this is impossible. Because the external sense objects of the six dusts are operated upon jointly by many tathāgatagarbhas, not by one's own tathāgatagarbha alone; even after enlightenment, one does not have the ability to discern the operation of an individual tathāgatagarbha upon the six dusts.

Therefore, no matter how deep one's meditative concentration, we cannot be certain that investigating Chan within concentration is one hundred percent the function of the manas—the mind consciousness, that thief, will also sneak in to cause trouble; and insufficient wisdom will not do either. This is how it is for all who have deep meditative concentration. As for those without concentration, they are certainly, ten thousand percent, using the thief of the mind consciousness to deliberate, analyze, speculate, and infer—and for such people, even realization through understanding would never appear even in their dreams.