The Important Role of Meditative Concentration (Dhyāna)

Fruitful realizations at all levels are all meditative concentration (samādhi); therefore, they must all possess both a state of meditative concentration and a state of wisdom—neither can be lacking.

Once, while I was talking with someone and at the same time sewing monastic robes, I discovered that I had sewn the robe wrong. Sewing clothes is such a simple task that it requires almost no deliberation, yet because my attention was not sufficiently focused, I sewed it incorrectly. If even such a simple task goes wrong without concentration, then how could the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and seeing one's true mind—matters as great as the sky, even greater than the sky—be accomplished without meditative concentration? How could they be so easy and effortless?

When I have many things to attend to, my mind is not very settled; at such times, when I edit manuscripts, my deliberation becomes disordered and unclear. I have no choice but to sit quietly for a while to calm my mind before I can proofread the manuscripts. So then, for such great matters of birth and death as the elimination of self-view and seeing one's true mind—matters concerning countless kalpas of successive lives—how could they be resolved without meditative concentration?