Chan Meditation Can Train the Mind and Subdue Afflictions

Ru Chun: I used to think that training the mind amid the mundane world could cultivate mental capacity and wisdom, thereby transcending afflictions. Later I discovered that without the practice of Buddhist dharma, the mundane world cannot train the mind—it can only produce another affliction to replace the original one. For example, upgrading from pursuing material pleasures to pursuing spiritual pleasures makes one think oneself more elevated, but in essence it is merely moving from the wolf's den to the tiger's lair—fundamentally, the afflictions have simply been upgraded. Now I find that cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi) seems able to change a person's physiological structure, such as 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 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 promotes change in the body. Body and mind, and the world, mutually influence and elevate one another; when 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 (catvāra-nirvedha-bhāgīyāḥ) and of the aspiration toward the first fruit can subdue and eradicate the coarsest afflictions; only when coarse afflictions are eradicated can one see the Path and eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). 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 fundamental afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion are eradicated.