The Fastest Method to Make the Manas Understand the Principles

The fastest way to subdue and transform the manas, and to make the manas understand the principles, is this: after the mind consciousness has roughly understood the principles, suspend these principles in the mind during meditative concentration (samādhi), without deliberating—just quietly watching and letting them rest there. Then you will gradually feel yourself understanding, or suddenly understand all at once. This is the result of letting the manas deliberate (manana) on its own. This method is extremely effective; I often use it this way, rather than relying on the mind consciousness's shallow analysis and research. The thought suspended in the mind and in the head is simply a question. Any problem you do not understand can be handed over to the manas, letting Him deliberate on it. The mind consciousness may either cooperate, or refrain from stirring up trouble and interfering, or simply go about handling everyday trivial matters as usual. As for when the manas will produce an answer, that depends on the manas's own wisdom, and also on how your meditative concentration is, and on how well the mind consciousness cooperates.

The method of suspending a thought in the mind is precisely the Chan investigation method commonly used by the Chan patriarchs of the past. For people in today's world who lack meditative concentration, it is rather difficult to cultivate. At the beginning, one often cannot find the way in and feels there is no place to start; one needs to keep pondering and experimenting on one's own. Once you have grasped the method and gotten through the door, things become easy. From then on, whenever you encounter difficult problems, you can use this method, which can solve problems at their root. There are many principles that seem to be understood but are not truly understood—in fact, it is the manas that does not understand, while the mind consciousness understands to some degree. Quiet down, give the manas time and energy, and let Him deliberate; the result that emerges will be quite satisfactory, free of doubt. This requires the mind consciousness to have a general direction of thinking and to have understood the principles a little. For those whose samādhi and wisdom are both good, it is fine even if the mind consciousness does not understand—just suspend the question deep in the mind, and understanding will come before long.

Without meditative concentration, almost all deliberation is done by the mind consciousness; the manas cannot exert any force, and such deliberation is generally rather superficial and not deep. Modern people generally lack meditative concentration, so very, very few know how to practice Chan investigation. Yet some people have never practiced Chan investigation and still became enlightened; some have never cultivated the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, the seven factors of enlightenment, or the four foundations of mindfulness, and still eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and realized the fruit. Taking such shortcuts and slipping in through the back door—the greatest loss is to oneself, and in the future the one most afflicted will still be oneself. The gains cannot make up for the losses.