The Principle of Cultivating Meditative Concentration (Samādhi)

Sometimes you want to quietly think things through, yet your ears keep picking up faint noises—buzzing sounds, insect chirps, and so on—which feel a bit noisy and distracting. Why is it that sounds the mind consciousness dislikes hearing still linger and cannot be dispelled? This is the manas' habitual grasping, a purposeless grasping. Its habits are so powerful that the mind consciousness simply cannot keep it under control. Only through long-term cultivation of meditative concentration (samādhi), immersing the mind in something of great interest, can one screen out the dharmas the mind consciousness does not wish to know. When meditative concentration is deep and the mind consciousness is highly focused, the manas grasps at dharmas that the mind consciousness dislikes and is unwilling to discern; once the manas realizes this, it gradually ceases its grasping. Knowing that the mind consciousness pays no attention to it, the manas settles down, and attention becomes concentrated. Such is the principle of cultivating concentration: when the mind consciousness no longer complies with the manas, the manas has no choice but to restrain itself and revolve around the mind consciousness, and in this way both become settled in concentration.