The Important Role of Meditative Concentration

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

Once, while talking with someone, I was also sewing monastic robes, and I discovered that the robe had been sewn inside out. Sewing clothes is such a simple task that it requires almost no deliberation, yet because my attention was not sufficiently focused, I sewed it wrong. Then, for something as monumental as eradicating the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and seeing the mind—something greater than the sky itself—why could it be accomplished without meditative concentration? How could it be so easy and effortless?

When I have many matters to attend to, my mind is not very settled. At such times, when I organize manuscripts, my deliberation becomes disordered and unclear. I have to sit quietly for a while to calm my mind before I can proofread the manuscripts. Then, for such a great matter of birth and death as eradicating the view of self and seeing the mind—a matter concerning countless kalpas of successive lives—how could it be resolved without meditative concentration?