Zen Is Not Reasoning or Speculation

Engaging in Chan meditation requires the complete cultivation of the Six Perfections of a Bodhisattva and the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment. It is especially essential to attain the concentration just before enlightenment (the "unattained ground samadhi"). Only when these conditions are fully met, and the causes and circumstances align, can genuine realization occur. Otherwise, the outcome is merely theoretical speculation or logical inference. Even if the result seems reasonable, it lacks the liberating merit and benefit. It cannot sever the three fetters, nor can it enable the true observation of the functioning of the eighth consciousness.

Results derived solely from reasoning cannot cause the death of the five aggregates; mental formations remain unemptied, and afflictions persist as before. If arrogance is added on top, afflictions will become even stronger than before. Many so-called sages find their afflictions worse than before, harboring two "selves" within, precisely because they lack meditative concentration. Without undergoing the arduous process of diligent investigation, without the quiet turning, subduing, and transformation of mental formations, when a fruit suddenly appears in the mind, arrogance arises, and afflictions increase.

Whether it is the fruit of the Mahayana or the Hinayana, the fruit itself is not the most crucial aspect. What matters most is whether, when the fruit appears, it profoundly touches one's inner self. Can it bring about even a slight change within oneself? To what degree is one transformed? From then on, can one forever benefit from this fruit? Can one use it as a starting point to embark on a solid, bright path of liberation? To gain the greatest benefit, one must value the method, the channel, and the process of attaining the fruit. The process represents the degree of effort invested in gathering evidence; the harder it is earned, the sweeter it feels, the more it is cherished. The mind becomes firmer, lighter, more at ease, more free, and more selfless. The less likely one is to regress. The more one invests, the greater the harvest. If the fruit is obtained easily, without exertion, the sense of selflessness is fainter, the bonds of life and death are harder to sever, and liberation becomes more difficult to attain.