Meditative concentration can train the mind and subdue afflictions

Ru Chun: I used to believe that training the mind in the mundane world could cultivate magnanimity and wisdom, thereby transcending afflictions. Later I discovered that without the cultivation of Buddhist practice, the mind cannot be trained in the mundane world; one can only develop a new affliction to replace the original one. For example, one upgrades from pursuing material pleasures to pursuing spiritual pleasures, and thinks oneself elevated—when in fact one has merely moved from the wolves' den to the tiger's lair; essentially, the affliction has simply been upgraded. Now I find that cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) seems able to change a person's physiological structure—for instance, promoting the secretion of certain hormones in the brain and the opening of the chakras—which can bring physical and mental joy, emotional stability, and calm composure; on this basis, afflictions also become lighter accordingly.

Assessment: Meditative concentration can change the body; when the body changes, it influences and changes the mind; when the mind changes, it in turn prompts the body to change. Body and mind, and the world, mutually influence and elevate one another; when the body, mind, and world are transformed, afflictions will naturally be effectively subdued. But to eradicate them, meditative concentration must be combined with the wisdom of emptiness and no-self, eradicating afflictions through the union of samādhi and wisdom. The wisdom of the four aids (catuḥ-prayoga) and of the aspiration toward the first fruit (srotāpanna-phala-pratipannaka) can subdue and eradicate the coarsest afflictions; only when coarse afflictions are eradicated can one see the Path and eliminate the self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi). At that point, with the wisdom of emptiness and no-self, one can eradicate more and subtler afflictions, until the first dhyāna arises and the root afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are eradicated.