Cultivation of Concentration and Chan Meditation for Realization of the Way (Part 1)
Chapter 3: How to Cultivate Meditative Concentration Well
Section 1: Only by Reducing Desires Can One Cultivate Meditative Concentration Well
1. With Greed There Is No Meditative Concentration
Those with severe desire-greed cannot attain not only the first dhyāna concentration, but also the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) of the desire realm, and cannot even attain the coarsest and shallowest concentration of the desire realm—thus having not a trace of meditative concentration. To have meditative concentration, one must subdue desire-greed. Greed means craving-attachment and craving-grasping; love means fondness and delight. When one no longer feels fondness and delight toward the three realms, love is severed. When love is severed, the karma of the three realms is ended; when desire-greed is severed, the bonds of the desire realm are severed. When the bonds of the desire realm are severed, one can leave the desire realm, and at that time the first dhyāna concentration of the form realm will certainly appear, and at the end of life one can be born in the form realm heavens.
This is because any concentration is the mind corresponding to the realms of devas and heavenly beings, not corresponding to the realms of the human world; when the mind's nature is higher than that of humans, the realm is higher than that of humans. For a person who has desire-realm concentration, their mind has certainly become indifferent to the desires of the human world; for a person who has form-realm concentration, their mind is indifferent to the realms of desire-realm humans, ghosts, animals, and desire-realm devas; for a person who has formless-realm concentration, their mind is indifferent to the realms of the form realm and the desire realm.
Whether one has meditative concentration depends entirely on the mind's thoughts; once a thought stirs, concentration vanishes—such is the power of mental thoughts. Those who complain that they cannot cultivate meditative concentration well should examine whether the thoughts in their minds are tranquil, whether they are too close to the affairs, people, and things of the human world, with every thought revolving around human-world matters. If the thoughts are not tranquil, enduring leg pain and forcibly cultivating concentration is useless.
Poetry and songs, the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, various arts and so on—all belong to the human world. If one delights in these things, craves these things, and attaches to these things, there will be no meditative concentration, and one cannot leave the desire realm. We only need to identify the things that belong to the human world, distance ourselves from them in our minds, not crave or be entangled with them, and exclude them from our minds—then meditative concentration will certainly appear. This is the essence and foundation of cultivating meditative concentration.
When a Pratyekabuddha was a king, why could he, after just a brief contemplation of conditioned arising, realize the fruit of a Pratyekabuddha, with meditative concentration and supernatural powers appearing instantly, flying out of the palace to leave home and cultivate the Path? It was because his mind held no human-world matters and he did not delight in human-world affairs. Though he occupied the position of king, with palace women and consorts in crowds, his mind was free of desire, not fond of clamor and entertainment, and therefore he could realize the fruit of a Pratyekabuddha very quickly—this was also the foundation of his Path cultivation in previous lives.
2. Only by Not Coveting a Life of Ease Can One Have Meditative Concentration
Eating whenever one encounters food, drinking whenever one encounters drink, with the stomach, intestines, brain, and mind never wanting to rest even for a little while—how can there be meditative concentration? Being so particular every day about eating, clothing, housing, daily use, and travel, with such enjoyment, and the mind never applied to cultivating the Path—how can there be meditative concentration? Either stirring up gossip and disputes, or chasing fame, power, and money, racking one's brains in scheming—how can there be meditative concentration? With the mind a messy, chaotic jumble—how can there be meditative concentration? When asked to receive precepts, hiding a hundred thousand miles away—how can there be meditative concentration?
Living conditions today are too good; everyone is accustomed to enjoyment and never feels it is excessive. Therefore, the many changes in the body go unnoticed, the mind's scatteredness goes even more unnoticed, and even when thoughts are impure there is no awareness of it. In such a case, how can there be meditative concentration? The little merit cultivated in past lives has all been spent on enjoyment, leaving insufficient merit for the enterprise of the Path—how can the Path enterprise make progress? Without paying some price, without enduring some hardship, wanting to enjoy life on the one hand and attain the Way on the other, wanting to gain everything—with such great greed, how can one attain the Way?
Greedily eating highly nutritious, heavily fortifying supplements every day causes excess energy in the body, and the mind becomes restless and unsettled; when the mind is not pure, even if there is meditative concentration it will disappear. While the stomach and intestines are working, while the internal organs are working, the manas must keep watch over them; thus the manas is not pure and cannot get any leisure, and must divide its attention and energy. No matter how one sits cross-legged in stillness, the mind cannot settle; when not sitting cross-legged, it is even harder to settle.
In cultivating concentration, the greatest taboo is having the stomach and intestines constantly working to digest food. Some people not only eat three meals but also have a late-night snack, eating four meals a day—can such a person be called a practitioner, and what could they cultivate? There will be no meditative concentration at all; with the stomach and intestines working all day, the manas constantly attends to the stomach, intestines, and body faculty, unable to get any leisure, and meditative concentration will certainly not appear. If one is unwilling to give up even a little bit of gustatory pleasure, attaining the Way is impossible—without giving up there is no gaining. Unless one does not want the doctrinal understanding that comes with meditative concentration, one need not abstain from food—eat when you want to eat, drink when you want to drink, enjoy as much blessing as you wish. Among the people of this world, hardly anyone looks like a cultivator of the Path. The appearance of past Chan masters and patriarchs, or of those who cultivated Chan, can no longer be seen at all today—people nowadays will not even pretend. Their skin does not resemble a patriarch's, nor their flesh, still less their bones; to hope for any great accomplishment in the Buddhadharma is then impossible.
3. Only with Less Engagement in External Conditions Will Meditative Concentration Easily Appear
If the mind is always swayed by various states and turned by conditions, then it cannot be stilled; without stilling, there can be no contemplation. The precepts guard against wrongdoing and stop evil, preventing the mind from scattering; they are used to subdue afflictions. After the afflictions are pressed down, the mind does not move about chaotically; when states appear, the mind engages less in pursuing conditions, and cultivating concentration becomes easier. If the mind is focused on food, clothing, housing, and daily use, with many hobbies and wishes, caring about many people, things, and matters, with the mind tangled like hemp—then how can it be stilled? Reduce hobbies and interests, reduce the objects the mind engages with, and the mind can be somewhat stilled. Try to be uninterested in and unconcerned with all the people, things, and matters around you; let the mind engage less in pursuing conditions, gather the mind inward, and not scatter outward—concentration will certainly appear.
In the human world, with many hobbies and interests, chasing after every kind of human affair, always wanting to display oneself everywhere, with a "self" constantly appearing in the mind—such a mind cannot attain tranquil stillness. At the end of life one will discover that this life actually yielded nothing, all toil and no benefit. So it is better to turn back early now, develop the inner treasure abundantly, and not greedily seek outward, throwing the mind into confusion. Life always involves gains and losses; one must calculate well what gain would be the greatest benefit, so that future lives can have reliable security.
4. Why Is There No Meditative Concentration When the Manas Engages in Ceaseless Attention?
When an arhat reaches the end of life, the manas no longer generates attention (manaskāra) toward any dharma, nor does the volition (cetanā) mental factor operate; none of the five universal mental factors become active. Thus the tathāgatagarbha cannot perceive the mental activities of the manas and cannot transmit the consciousness seeds of the manas, and the manas ceases. If the manas's attention is unceasing and its deliberation (manasikāra) and decision-making unceasing, the tathāgatagarbha will continuously give rise to the six consciousnesses, and bodily, verbal, and mental actions will continuously manifest, so the mind cannot become stilled. The manas only attends to dharmas it finds interesting; the more things it finds interesting, the more attention it generates, and the mind consciousness becomes extremely busy—then there is no way to become tranquil, and concentration cannot be cultivated successfully.
If we want to cultivate meditative concentration well, we must reduce our desires for worldly dharmas and not be interested in any worldly dharmas, minimizing indulgence in human pleasures. When the mind of renunciation arises, meditative concentration can be cultivated very quickly. If one always has initial application and sustained examination (vitarka-vicāra) toward certain people and matters, has anger, has craving-attachment, it shows that the manas's pursuit of conditions is unceasing, its attention unceasing, its deliberation unceasing, and the thoughts of the six consciousnesses are unceasing—in that case meditative concentration cannot be cultivated successfully. Reduce human-world desires, and desire-realm concentration will easily appear; be less greedy for or not greedy for human-world dharmas, and heavenly states will manifest. If one always feels that everything in the human world is good, always fond of human affairs, people, and things, the mind will have no concentration. Reduce greed and desires, do not be too concerned with yourself, do not let your thoughts always revolve around yourself, try to relinquish yourself, and keep the Path enterprise in your heart—then meditative concentration will easily appear.
5. Only When the Mind Engages with One Object Can There Be Concentration
Cultivating meditative concentration is also cultivating the mind; subduing the afflictions of greed, anger, and delusion is cultivating the mind, and cultivating the mind is cultivating concentration. When the mind becomes tranquil, meditative concentration appears. Those who cannot cultivate meditative concentration well certainly have many worldly matters in their minds that they cannot set aside, so the six consciousnesses continuously generate thoughts and cannot settle on one object. Therefore, to cultivate meditative concentration well, one should frequently examine one's own mind, see what is inside it, and try to expel all the people, things, and matters one cannot let go of; then the six consciousnesses will become tranquil, and there will be concentration.
Whatever you do each day, keep the mind engaged with one dharma, with no other thoughts—or let other thoughts be fainter, and discard them once dealt with. Worldly matters only need to be dealt with perfunctorily; do not take them too seriously. In cultivating concentration, as long as you can gather in the mind's thoughts and pursue fewer worldly conditions, concentration in motion will certainly be cultivated well. The mind should be kept as isolated as possible from worldly dharmas: things can be done, but once done, discard them; do not let the mind chase after them, and think about things less—then concentration will easily appear. One should strive to achieve this: every day, except when sleeping, no matter when or what one is doing, keep the mind engaged with one dharma—either recollecting the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), reciting mantras, reciting sutras, contemplating (vipaśyanā-caryā), investigating Chan, investigating a huatou, or investigating a gong'an. Over time, comfortable feelings will naturally arise in body and mind, and meditative concentration will appear.
6. Craving-Attachment Obstructs Meditative Concentration
What do sentient beings of the desire realm crave most? In the desire realm there are the five desires' pleasures: form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. All dharmas have mental sense-objects (dharma-viṣaya): there are material mental sense-objects, and there are mental dharmas—the mental dharma-object is the mind of the seven consciousnesses, along with the mental factors of the seven consciousnesses. What sentient beings find hardest to relinquish is the consciousness-mind and its mental factors, mainly the feeling mental factor and the perception mental factor—always wanting to know, always caring about feelings—so the manas does not want tranquility. Not wanting to eliminate these feelings and the capacity to know, the mind is scattered like hemp; that is why cultivating concentration is so very difficult.
Sentient beings' craving for self and all dharmas is actually craving for the Ālayavijñāna, because these dharmas are all functions of the Ālayavijñāna. Yet despite this craving, they do not know what the substance of their craving actually is. Sentient beings of the desire realm, once they have power, will not give it up; once they have status, will not give it up; once they have money, will not give it up; and their various personal enjoyments they will never give up under any circumstances—too greedy. They do not know how supreme it is to become a Buddha, how worthy of craving, yet none of them have the aspiration to become a Buddha—this is deep and heavy ignorance.
7. Training the Manas to Focus on One Thing Will Bring Meditative Concentration
If the mind has no scattered thoughts and rambling ideas, the scattered mind is removed; without a scattered mind, meditative concentration naturally manifests. Scattered thoughts and rambling ideas are the manas's habit of chasing conditions, which is very hard to overcome; one must find ways to subdue the manas's habit of pursuing conditions. How can one effectively subdue the manas's habits? Grasp the manas's characteristic: He most fears being idle with nothing to do. So give Him a meaningful task to do, let Him focus on doing this task, and tell Him this task is very important. Once He considers it important, He will certainly devote His energy to it.
What kind of task is most meaningful? Have Him recite mantras, recite sutras, and recollect the Buddha. At first, set fixed quantities and times; once He forms the habit, there is no need to set quantities and times anymore—He will recite mantras, sutras, and the Buddha's name automatically and spontaneously, maintaining this state even during sleep, and the power of concentration will be accomplished. The manas's energy is too abundant; find ways to attract His attention and let Him concentrate His energy. Then the mind consciousness can be single-mindedly focused, and the manas can also single-mindedly deliberate on the Buddha-dharma. This depends on how the mind consciousness guides the manas and how it leads the manas. No matter what you are doing ordinarily, keep reciting the Śūraṅgama Mantra in your mind—do not seek quantity, just focus well; the blessing power this brings is great.
Try to squeeze out time to cultivate concentration. When the power of concentration is somewhat better, contemplate the five aggregates and eighteen realms, beginning contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) from the impermanence and non-self of the physical body. In the very moment the five aggregates are active, distinguish: what is the physical body, what is the aggregate of feeling—which consciousnesses have feeling; what is the aggregate of perception—which consciousnesses have perception; what is the aggregate of volitional formations—which consciousnesses have volitional formations. What are the six faculties, what are the six sense-objects, what are the six consciousnesses doing—then observe the arising, ceasing, and changing of these dharmas.
8. Cultivating the Power of Focus Will Bring Meditative Concentration
Meditative concentration is nothing more than a power of focus—concentrating one's energy on doing well what should be done at present, with no other thoughts in the mind; only thus can things be done well. First, one must have a high sense of responsibility toward what one is doing, and a strong interest in it; only then can one plunge in single-mindedly and solve the problem. The more focused one is, the better the solution, the more one can discover profound and significant truths, and the deeper one's wisdom.
For example, scientific researchers, investigators, and scientists have a strong sense of responsibility toward their research, are very fond of it, and have a strong interest in exploration; therefore they study tirelessly, day and night, forgetting food and sleep, attending to nothing else, and finally can produce certain results and make astonishing discoveries.
For those whose minds are still scattered: during the day, while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, persist in reciting mantras in the mind, or reciting the Heart Sutra. Sit in meditation during free time so the mind can settle down, and only later can one engage in contemplative practice and reflection on the Buddha-dharma. After being able to contemplate the Buddha-dharma in sitting meditation, then during the day's walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, train yourself to contemplate simple Buddha-dharma. As initial training: for whatever you are currently doing, the mind should know it clearly and distinctly, without being neutral/indeterminate (avyākṛta), scattered, or chasing conditions—keeping the mind on what is being done at present is coarse, shallow focus.
9. How to Give Rise to Meditative Concentration Through Wisdom
Cultivating concentration also requires some skillful methods; it is not something achieved by forcibly enduring leg pain to sit through it. If one's pursuit of conditions regarding all dharmas is unceasing, if initial application and sustained examination and reflection in the mind are unceasing, the mind is not tranquil, and one cannot sit down—meditative concentration will not appear. How can one make the mind tranquil so that meditative concentration appears? Reduce the manas's pursuit of conditions and reduce initial application and sustained examination and reflection, and the mind will gradually become pure; only then will meditative concentration appear.
The Zuochan Sanmei Jing (Sutra on Sitting in Chan and Meditative Concentration) discusses many methods of cultivating concentration. Before cultivating concentration, one should first use wisdom to recognize the falsity of all dharmas, in order to break the mind that chases conditions; when the pursuit of conditions is reduced, meditative concentration will appear. For example, if someone has the desire for family and retinue, use a method to break the notion of family and retinue; when the mind has no such notions, it will become tranquil and the mind can settle; if someone is attached to their homeland and home, they must break the notion of homeland; when the mind no longer thinks of home and homeland, meditative concentration appears; if someone has craving-attachment in the mind, they must find a way to subdue the craving; when the mind has no craving it becomes tranquil, and meditative concentration appears; if someone has anger in the mind, they must find a way to subdue the anger; when the mind is not angry and becomes tranquil, meditative concentration appears.
Before crossing the legs, first find out what afflictions are in your mind, what thoughts are entrenched in the mind, then find a corresponding method to counteract them. After you have convinced yourself, the afflictions and thoughts will no longer appear, and cultivating concentration becomes easy. In this way, using wisdom to eliminate the mind that chases conditions, the mind settles down and enters concentration.
After the mind has been subdued and meditative concentration appears, one should then contemplate and practice within the concentration to counteract afflictions; after attaining meditative absorption (samādhi), one can eliminate afflictions. Those with heavy anger should cultivate the contemplation of loving-kindness; how to cultivate loving-kindness contemplation—the Zuochan Sanmei Jing has specific methods. If greed is heavy, cultivate the contemplation of the white skeleton; by contemplating a person as a white skeleton, greed disappears. If there is desire for family and retinue, contemplate and practice on the arising and ceasing, falsity, and unreliability of family and retinue; if the mind is always attached to the homeland and has the notion of homeland, contemplate and practice on the disasters, fragility, and unreliability within the homeland. In this way, from concentration one can give rise to true great wisdom.
Concentration and wisdom actually mutually promote and complement each other. With wisdom, observing the impermanent nature of the world reduces the mind's chasing of conditions and scatteredness, making it easier to settle. Observe what knots and bonds are in your mind, then contemplate and analyze how those knots and bonds are contrary to the Dharma; when the analysis is thorough, the knots and bonds will slowly untie, no longer entangled, and the mind settles down. You must understand what your own mind is thinking; if you do not understand, there is no way to break through those thoughts, and the mind cannot settle. Wisdom must guide meditative concentration: after cultivating concentration, contemplate again within the concentration, which gives rise to further wisdom—this is called meditative absorption (samādhi). Therefore, with wisdom concentration is easy to cultivate; without wisdom it is not easy to cultivate concentration; and with meditative concentration, wisdom easily emerges.
10. Only by Subduing the Five Hindrances Can the First Dhyāna Concentration Arise
The condition for the first dhyāna to manifest is subduing the five hindrances: desire-greed, anger, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness (auddhatya), and doubt—all must be effectively subdued; wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep must all be kept at a distance as much as possible; only then can the first dhyāna concentration arise.
The five hindrances are: desire-greed, anger, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness, and doubt. If there is anger in the mind, thoughts and initial application and sustained examination will constantly manifest, the mind cannot calm down, and meditative concentration will not appear. If there is desire-greed in the mind, afflictions are ceaseless, tranquil stillness cannot be attained, and cultivating concentration is also very difficult. Sloth-and-torpor still belongs to dullness; with the mind murky and not tranquil, it of course obstructs meditative concentration. Restlessness—the mind chasing after people and affairs of the past, with ceaseless recollection and reminiscence, with ceaseless hopes and imaginings—also obstructs meditative concentration.
Doubt: when there are problems in the mind that cannot be resolved—doubting oneself, doubting others, doubting the Dharma—with doubt hanging in the mind, stuck in the mind, and initial application and sustained examination unceasing, it of course also obstructs meditative concentration. Remorse: always thinking about the wrong things one has done, with ceaseless rumination, ceaseless afflictions, ceaseless thoughts—the six consciousnesses cannot become tranquil, and meditative concentration will not manifest. Therefore, before cultivating concentration, one should examine one's own mind, sweep the dust clean from the mind; when the mind is empty and pure, as soon as one crosses the legs there will be concentration; when the mind is ordinarily free of concerns, meditative concentration will also appear while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.
To subdue the five hindrances, one must give rise to the mind of renunciation and a strong aspiration to cultivate the Path, not craving the enjoyment of material life in the desire-realm world—being indifferent to and unconcerned with food, clothing, and drink, indifferent to and unconcerned with dwelling and daily use. Only thus can one reach the state of the mind abiding nowhere, be far from desire-realm dharmas, not crave any of form, sound, smell, taste, or touch, and give rise to the first dhyāna concentration.
People today all emphasize enjoyment, emphasize living comfortably and at ease, and also care about face, constantly comparing themselves with others, with the whole mind immersed in worldliness—this severely obstructs the arising of meditative concentration. Those who are very particular about food, clothing, housing, and daily use, who crave them deeply, cannot possibly have meditative concentration. The devas of the first dhyāna in the form realm have no tongue consciousness and need no food or drink; if we love to eat, love to eat fine food, and crave taste-objects, the first dhyāna concentration cannot manifest. The form-realm devas have no nose consciousness and do not smell odors; if we always like fragrant smells and dislike foul odors, caring about smell-objects, the first dhyāna concentration likewise cannot manifest.
Only by not craving the dharmas of the human world can the concentration of the desire-realm heavens appear; being uninterested in human-world affairs, desire-realm concentration will arise; being fond of human-world people, things, and matters, there will be no desire-realm concentration. Only by not craving the states of the desire-realm devas can the meditative concentration of the form realm arise; only by relinquishing the enjoyments and craving-attachments of the lower realms can the concentration of the higher realms appear—such is the principle and condition for the manifestation of meditative concentration.
If every day we throw ourselves wholeheartedly into desire-realm affairs, calculating back and forth, the first dhyāna concentration cannot manifest; if we pursue everything, want to gain everything, want to be better than everyone else at everything, the first dhyāna concentration cannot manifest. If the blessings gained from studying Buddhism and cultivating are all spent on the enjoyment of material life, the blessings needed for the Path enterprise will be insufficient. Keep more blessings in reserve for cultivating the Path, and only then can the Path enterprise progress continuously.
