Compilation of Daily Discourses
Chapter 9: Training the Manas
1. The Difference Between Contemplative Practice (Vipaśyanā), Visualization, Observation, and Imagination
Contemplation (guān) generally refers to objective observation—observing whatever is presently present. It is also called direct realization (pratyakṣa) and direct observation. Imagination, on the other hand, is deluded thinking about what is not presently present—fabrication that departs from the present state and from facts. It is the opposite of direct realization and direct observation; it is a mental activity of the mind consciousness and is a great taboo in cultivation and realization.
A few days ago, in a post about training the manas in daily life, I explained: staring at the tip of the incense stick is the mind consciousness staring, in order to draw the manas to observe the incense tip; the mind consciousness should not engage in random thoughts, should not imagine anything, should not produce any images in the mind, and should not disturb the manas' observation. What is there to imagine about an incense tip? There are not so many matters, so why produce images? If the mind consciousness's deluded thoughts cannot be stopped, the manas also cannot settle down; when the mind is not in meditative concentration, contemplation is impossible. With meditative concentration it is called contemplation; without meditative concentration it is just the mind consciousness's scattered thoughts. While training the manas, one is also training the mind consciousness. First train the mind consciousness to be free of deluded thoughts and imaginings; once it is free of scattered thoughts, the manas is more or less trained. Only then can one speak of contemplation—contemplation that does not stir the mind consciousness's thoughts—and can also enter investigation, and afterwards enter meditative absorption (samādhi), where contemplative practice and investigation can be accomplished.
In the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, contemplating the body as impure—including contemplating the breath and the contemplation of the skeleton (white-bone contemplation)—the breath is a dharma presently existing; this contemplation is called observation and contemplative practice. The skeleton may be presently visible, or may not be visible, but everyone has seen a skeleton and knows what it is, so no imagination is needed. The contemplation of the breath and the skeleton can be called observation and contemplative practice, and can also be called visualization.
Contemplating feeling as suffering: feeling is one's own personal experience, presently existing or something one has experienced, requiring no imagination. The contemplation of feeling is called observation, contemplative practice, and visualization.
Contemplating the mind as impermanent: the mind is one's own presently existing and operating deluded mind, which one can feel oneself, requiring no imagination. The contemplation of the mind is called observation, contemplative practice, and visualization.
Contemplating dharmas as non-self: the dharmas are the truths of the Four Noble Truths we cultivate, the Thirty-seven Factors of Enlightenment, the five hindrances, the five aggregates and eighteen realms, and so forth. These are dharmas presently existing, requiring no imagination. Contemplating dharmas is observation, contemplative practice, and visualization.
However, due to insufficient wisdom, one cannot correctly recognize the dharmas presently existing, and relies on the mind consciousness's thinking and imagination; then direct contemplative practice is impossible. Even such a simple phenomenon as the breath—many people cannot contemplate it directly, but rely on the mind consciousness's thinking and imagination. Once the mind consciousness moves, it obscures the manas, and direct contemplation and direct cognition cannot function, so the results obtained are false.
In contemplation-of-the-image recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti), one places a Buddha image in front, or draws one. The mind consciousness looks at the Buddha image, and the manas directly contemplates it. When meditative concentration is insufficient, the mind consciousness assists the manas in contemplating, with some thinking and analysis. When meditative concentration is sufficient, the mind consciousness's analysis is removed, and the manas contemplates directly on its own. When meditative absorption appears, the direct-perception realm of the manas's contemplative practice manifests, realization arises, and contemplation-of-the-image recollection of the Buddha is accomplished. At that time, whether or not the mind consciousness thinks of the Buddha image, the image will appear, independent of the mind consciousness, and body and mind are both in meditative absorption. Whatever the mind consciousness cannot control or direct is the manas's direct-perception realm—real and reliable.
The sixteen contemplations of the Contemplation Sūtra (Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra) have no reference objects and are very difficult to contemplate; they must rely on one's own power of vow and the blessing power of Amitābha Buddha and other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The first contemplation, the sun contemplation, has the setting sun as a reference object. The subsequent fifteen contemplations have no reference objects at all, and the mind consciousness cannot be used to think and imagine. Even a single blade of grass or a single tree in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī) cannot be imagined, let alone so many sights and treasures that one has never even heard of and that do not exist on Earth at all—how can one contemplate these? But as long as the first contemplation, the sun contemplation, is accomplished and the mind abides in meditative absorption, the manas's cognition opens up, and with the blessing of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the second and third contemplations have hope of being accomplished. After the third contemplation is accomplished, no matter what, the meditative absorption will never disappear, and will be maintained until the end of life, and then one is reborn in the land of bliss within this meditative absorption. And the permanent maintenance of the meditative absorption state is the result of the blessing of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; otherwise it cannot be maintained. Therefore, when the first contemplation has not been accomplished, going directly to cultivate the later contemplations is extraordinarily difficult—it is unimaginable how to cultivate them.
2. How to Train the Manas to Think and Solve Problems
When we encounter a problem, do not rush to immediately use the mind consciousness to think, analyze, and draw conclusions. If the matter is not particularly urgent, settle the mind down, try your best to eliminate scattered thoughts, and focus the mind only on the current matter. Do not perform the mind consciousness's analysis, do not perform the mind consciousness's reasoning, do not make the mind consciousness's judgments, and even less draw the mind consciousness's conclusions. Empty out other thoughts and fix your attention on this problem. There should be no language or words in the mind, no inner voice; quietly fix your attention on this problem. But the mind is not empty, and it is not that the problem is not being considered—rather, the manas is quietly suspending this problem in the mind, quietly deliberating (manasikāra) on it.
The mind consciousness is not thinking or analyzing, yet the manas is facing this problem, thinking and deliberating without language, words, or sound. When one lacks experience, or when the mind is not subtle, one cannot feel the manas's mental activity, but He indeed has a great deal of mental activity—it is merely covered up by the mind consciousness's activity. Some people's manas has very weak energy and very weak thinking power, because there are too many scattered thoughts, fragmentary and piecemeal, dispersing all the energy, resulting in insufficient mental power, unable to concentrate on thinking about one problem, and unable to solve a problem perfectly, reasonably, and in depth.
One of the important reasons sentient beings' wisdom is inferior and weak is having many scattered thoughts, with the mind in disorder, without a clear main thread, without focus. It is like a combat team whose members each do their own thing; the team's strength is dispersed and cannot gather together to form a great force to bravely and successfully fight against hostile forces, with the result that they are defeated by every hostile force they face. Another important reason is meager merit (alpa-puṇya)—severely lacking merit, without the support of merit. This will not be discussed for now.
So, in order to enhance wisdom—especially to enhance the manas's wisdom—one must eliminate scattered thoughts and be able to concentrate the mind on very few, important, key problems. To achieve this, one must restrain the mind consciousness, use the mind consciousness less, and try not to employ the mind consciousness's language, words, and sounds. Do not always have an inner voice, do not always have a monologue. Sometimes it does not matter if there is the mind consciousness's monologue, but in addition, there should also be the manas's focused deliberation: the mind consciousness monologues on one side while the manas deliberates on the other, and what the two focus on should be the same thing. At this time, the manas's energy becomes great and its power concentrated, and it will break through the inner darkness and ignorance, find the root of the problem, and solve the problem fundamentally.
When the manas deliberates clearly, it can solve problems fundamentally. But problems that the mind consciousness figures out, even if solved, are not thorough, not secure, and not reassuring—moreover, it is not easy to solve the problem. Because the manas is the determining consciousness, when He has considered a problem clearly Himself, after solving it He will not regret it; when following the mind consciousness's analysis, one easily regrets and easily changes one's mind and thoughts. Fickle people are those accustomed to using the mind consciousness to think and not using the manas; they are relatively shallow people. People without their own ideas, people who like to depend on others, are all unaccustomed to using the manas to think about problems but accustomed to using the mind consciousness—because their own mind consciousness is unreliable, they have no choice but to depend on others.
Using the manas to think about and solve problems, although secure, reliable, thorough, and ultimate, able to reach directly to the root, is often relatively slow, because deep thinking is slow, and only shallow thinking is fast. It is like digging a well: digging deep takes effort and is slow; digging shallow takes little effort and is fast. But digging slowly can reach water, while digging quickly cannot produce water. So slow is fast, and fast is also slow; the effects differ, so one should not seek speed—quality comes first. It is the same when we think about and solve problems: deep thinking and deliberation require some time, but slow work yields fine craftsmanship, and the result is perfect. A person accustomed to deep thinking, a person accustomed to using the manas, generally thinks relatively slowly and does things relatively slowly, but relatively speaking the results are good, less prone to error, and less prone to regret.
If you want good results in doing things and solving problems, do not seek speed; think deeply and carefully, use the manas more for thinking and decision-making, train the manas's thinking power more, and practice more the focused attention and observation without language, words, or sound. After a long time of training, when the manas is used skillfully, you will find that thinking with the manas has great charm and interest, is very attractive—the more you think, the less you want to stop—and so you come to enjoy solitude and do not want to be disturbed. Moreover, wisdom becomes deeper and deeper, and solving problems becomes more and more effortless. When a person's manas is well trained and habituated, that person appears very deep, with rich substance and distinctive qualities, profound thought, unique insights, and strong ability—and, crucially, steady and reliable, trustworthy, not constantly changing.
3. The Relationship Between the Way (Dao) and Technique (Shu)
Training the manas belongs to the category of technique. If the height of the Way is not reached, no matter what, one cannot see the Way by technique alone; one can only apply technique to worldly dharmas to make a living. But as long as the Way reaches a certain height, technique need not be trained—it is naturally complete. Because the Way is the root and technique is the branch-tip; the Way is the mind, and technique is accomplished by the mind—it is a state of the mind. When the mind is accomplished, technique is naturally accomplished, like a shadow following a form. If one deeply craves a dharma, with every thought of the mind fixed on it without other thoughts, that dharma will inevitably penetrate deep into the marrow, engraved into the manas's mind; though the stars shift and turn, morning and evening without wavering, the technique manifests without being sought.
When the manas's energy and attention can be highly concentrated, and it can independently consider and weigh certain matters and principles—everyone has personally experienced this; they just have not thought of it. For example, when the manas especially likes something, is especially interested, especially concerned, especially shocked and shaken and stirred, especially astonished, especially terrified, especially pleasantly surprised, extremely excited, extremely angry or indignant—at these times the manas is single-minded, and the mind consciousness cannot participate. The manas does not need the mind consciousness to do anything; single-mindedly immersed in the current situation, it engages in deep perception, deep experience, and deliberation. At this time, without stirring the mind consciousness's thoughts, the manas alone is digesting the information or sense-objects it has received and contacted; often one is dumbfounded, stunned, astonished, dazed. At this time the mind consciousness is not thinking, like a fool, while the manas itself rapidly and deeply deliberates; He will discover facts and truths that could not be discovered before. After discovering them, the mind consciousness will feel "so that's how it is," and also know the truth of the matter. Summarize and distill such experiences encountered in daily life into methods and approaches to guide one's own cultivation and realization, and one's practice will enter a deeper level.
The distilled and summarized experience contains both the Way and technique. The Way is the mind, the state of the mind; from the perspective of Buddhist cultivation, it is the bodhi mind, the attitude toward the Buddha-dharma, the roots of goodness and merit. Technique is skill and craft, which can only be complete after the Way, through cultivation and training; afterwards one just waits for the results to come forth.
Regarding developing the bodhi mind toward the Way, I have spoken very little, resulting in most disciples having insufficient understanding of developing the bodhi mind; they put in more effort on technique, yet progress is not fast. Developing the bodhi mind belongs to foundational study content; disciples who study with me should have long since fulfilled it, without my needing to teach it specially. My energy does not allow me to attend to the needs of beginner sentient beings; I do not have the energy to cover all the content required for sentient beings' cultivation and study.
4. The Method of Training the Manas in the Sūtra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Training the Manas)
The contemplative practice method taught by the World-Honored One in the Sūtra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is precisely the method of training the manas. First, looking at the contemplation of the breath: the World-Honored One had disciples contemplate as it truly is—whatever state the breath is presently in, contemplate that state. One must not add the mind consciousness's thinking and imagination. The mind consciousness is only responsible for drawing the manas to the matter of the breath; do not concern yourself with anything else, do not stir thoughts, do not go looking for trouble. How does the mind consciousness draw the manas to the breath? The mind consciousness only needs to fix its attention on the breath and watch the breath, without using language, words, or monologue. At this time the manas cannot direct the mind consciousness, and other dharmas cannot be grasped at; the manas can only follow the mind consciousness's focus to contemplate the breath.
In contemplating the breath, the mind consciousness knows the conditions of the breath's coming and going, its length and so forth, without any processing, and the manas gradually sets aside the many conditions and, together with the mind consciousness, focuses on contemplating the breath, knowing the state of the breath at each present moment. Gradually it becomes a habit, becoming almost automatic, and one contemplates the breath whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. Forming this habit is very important: once the habit is formed, it becomes the master; as days and months pass, when conditions mature, one will discover the truth of the breath, the truth of the emptiness and non-self of the material body. Contemplating other dharmas is done the same way: tether the manas, that wild horse, keeping it ever-mindful of this; when the mind becomes as subtle as a fine hair, the truth is discovered. If the manas is not tethered, the manas is like a monkey and a wild horse, attention scattered, wisdom does not arise, the truth cannot be discovered, and one continues to flow along the stream of birth and death without cease.
The sūtra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is excellent; its cultivation method applies to both the Great and Small Vehicles. Its method of practice is honest contemplation, contemplation as it truly is, without other thoughts, without processing. The mind consciousness draws the manas; the manas restrains the mind consciousness's deluded thoughts; working together, one realizes the non-self of the five aggregates. This gateway of practice applies to the contemplative practice and realization of all dharmas, and applies to cultivation in future lives: encountering the Buddha-dharma again in future lives, one will automatically contemplate in this way, and realization will be easy. The contemplative practice method taught in the Sūtra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is precisely the method of training the manas: guide and restrain the manas, form the habit of contemplative practice, and afterwards things will naturally come to fruition, as if becoming effortless practice (anābhoga-caryā), operating spontaneously and naturally—wisdom will surely open.
5. The Method of Training the Manas in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: Contemplating the Whiteness at the Nose Tip (Training the Manas)
Original text of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra: 孙陀罗难陀即从座起。顶礼佛足而白佛言。我初出家，从佛入道。虽具戒律。于三摩地。心常散动。未获无漏。世尊教我及拘絺罗。观鼻端白。我初谛观。经三七日。见鼻中气。出入如烟。身心内明。圆洞世界。遍成虚净。犹如琉璃。烟相渐销。鼻息成白。心开漏尽。诸出入息。化为光明。照十方界。得阿罗汉。世尊记我。当得菩提。佛问圆通。我以销息。息久发明。明圆灭漏。斯为第一。
Explanation: When Sundarananda first left home and entered the Way following the Buddha, although he had fully received the precepts and vinaya, his mind was constantly scattered and agitated in samādhi, and he had not attained the untainted (anāsrava) fruit of the path. The World-Honored One taught him and Kauṣṭhila to contemplate the breath at their nose tips turning white. Sundarananda only contemplated for twenty-one days before he saw that the breath entering and leaving his nose was like smoke, and his body and mind were inwardly bright, perfectly penetrating the world, seeing that everything had become empty and pure, clear like crystal. Then the smoke-like appearance of the breath entering and leaving his nostrils gradually vanished and turned white. Within this meditative absorption, wisdom opened and afflictions were exhausted; all the breath entering and leaving transformed into light, illuminating the worlds of the ten directions, and he attained the fruit of an arhat. The World-Honored One prophesied that he would attain supreme bodhi. His gateway to perfect penetration was dissolving the breath at the nose tip; after a long time, wisdom arose, and when it was complete, afflictions were extinguished.
The meditative absorption accomplishment that Sundarananda obtained was the fruit of the manas's contemplation, a fruit of cultivation and realization, not a fruit produced by the mind consciousness's thinking and analysis. No function of the mind consciousness can see the truth and essence of things, and therefore it cannot produce results. The results come from the manas's cultivation and realization, because the manas can see the truth of things, see the truth of the great thousand worlds, see the empty nature of the five aggregates. These truths cannot be thought up by the mind consciousness, because the dharmas the mind consciousness can contact are separated by a layer from the dharmas the manas contacts, and are one layer more false. The manas is closely connected with the tathāgatagarbha; the dharmas it contacts are the profoundly appearing realm (āśraya-vijñapti), coming directly from the essential realm, with no transitional dharma in between; whereas the dharmas the mind consciousness contacts are manifested again after the manas has contacted them. For the mind consciousness to see the truth is extremely, extremely difficult; one can only rely on the manas.
I have not cultivated this dharma gateway, so I cannot explain the specific cultivation process and the wondrous results clearly. But the general point of entry is objective contemplation: do not add the mind consciousness's thinking and analysis of the breath; use the manas's intuition to directly perceive the breath at the nose tip, gradually reaching single-mindedness, and with the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, enter into samādhi. In any contemplative practice dharma gateway, once the mind consciousness's thinking and other functions are activated, one is no longer in the state of contemplation; one has departed from the present state, becomes not-as-it-truly-is, the results become untrustworthy, and meditative absorption does not arise. The more the mind consciousness is used, the greater the obstruction to the manas's contemplation, and the farther from the Way.
Therefore, to train the manas's contemplation, use the method of direct observation: extinguish the mind consciousness's thinking, let the mind consciousness only play the role of drawing attention, and leave the rest to the manas. The manas's contemplation is objective and actual contemplation, without non-valid cognition (non-valid cognition) imagination that departs from reality; it can dominate the changes of the state, letting the state turn with the mind rather than the mind turning with the state, thereby transforming body, mind, and world. The point of entry seems simple, but in fact the practice is difficult to do. The reason is that there are too many people and matters that the mind is entangled with; the mind is so entangled that it cannot enter the quiet, single-minded state of contemplative practice, and neither meditative concentration nor wisdom can appear—of course there can be no talk of the fruit of cultivation and realization.
6. The Wondrous Contemplative Method for Eliminating Lust
Original text of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Chapter Five: （乌刍瑟摩）我常先忆。久远劫前。性多贪欲。有佛出世。名曰空王。说多淫人。成猛火聚。教我遍观。百骸四肢。诸冷暖气。神光内凝。化多淫心。成智慧火。从是诸佛。皆呼召我。名为火头。我以火光。三昧力故。成阿罗汉。心发大愿。诸佛成道。我为力士。亲伏魔怨。佛问圆通。我以谛观。身心暖触。无碍流通。诸漏既销。生大宝焰。登无上觉。斯为第一。
Explanation: Ucchuṣma recalled that in long-ago kalpas, his nature had much greed and desire. There was a Buddha in the world named King of Emptiness (空王), who said that people with much lust, because of their abundant sexual desire, are every day as if dwelling in a tribe of raging fire, burning their own body and mind, constantly feeling the scorching of body and mind, without peace. To free him from this scorching, the Buddha taught Ucchuṣma a wondrous method to counteract lust: every day, contemplate the cold and warm energies within the hundred bones and four limbs of one's entire body, contemplating all of them from head to toe and from toe to head.
This is contemplative practice starting from the fire element. The fire element's manifestation in the material body is body temperature, cold or hot, pervading the whole body inside and out—that is, within the hundred-odd bones and four limbs. The Buddha had Ucchuṣma contemplate all the cold and warmth of the whole body. After Ucchuṣma contemplated for a period of time, enormous changes appeared in body and mind: "spiritual light turned inward and condensed, transforming the lustful mind into the fire of wisdom." What is spiritual light? It is spirit, energy, attention, mental power—mainly referring to the manas's spiritual power. Not only did the attention of the six consciousnesses no longer scatter outward, but most importantly, the manas's energy no longer leaked outward and vented into lust; instead it condensed inward, all applied to contemplating the cold and warm energies within the body. This energy that was originally to be vented outward transformed inward, becoming the power of observation and the power of wisdom, giving rise to the light of wisdom—the mind's fire became the light of wisdom.
The Buddha's method is not to forcibly suppress the lustful mind from arising, but to skillfully transform and redirect it: the same energy and passion is transferred elsewhere, applied to developing wisdom, applied to liberation—how ingenious is that? Suppression causes painful struggle, as unbearable as quitting gambling or drugs, whereas transformation is "guiding the fire back to its source," using it in a different place. After full utilization, the fire-light samādhi arises, body and mind radiate with vibrant vitality, afflictions are exhausted, coolness and quiescence prevail, the mind attains great freedom, and one becomes an arhat. The gateway to perfect penetration that Ucchuṣma cultivated was: single-mindedly contemplating all the cold and warm contacts of the body's hundred bones and four limbs, so that the fire element in the body could circulate and flow unobstructedly throughout the body, no longer obstructed by lust or lingering in lust; from then on all afflictions were extinguished, the great wisdom of liberation from the threefold world arose, and he ascended the path of supreme enlightenment.
Contemplation starting from the four great elements of earth, water, wind, and space is done the same way—all contemplate the body, contact, sense faculties, and sense objects. Lust belongs to the fire element, while broad greed belongs to the water element; one can contemplate that the water realm within the body and the water realm outside the body are not different, both returning to emptiness, thereby extinguishing greed, with afflictions exhausted. Anger also belongs to the fire element; one can likewise contemplate the mind's fire returning to emptiness, thereby extinguishing anger and attaining liberation. Any dharma among the five aggregates can serve as the object of contemplative practice; all can lead to the Way, all can extinguish the outflows of affliction, all can reach nirvāṇa and attain liberation.
7. How Should Contemplative Practice Be Done to See the Way?
Original text of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Chapter Five: （周利槃特迦）佛愍我愚。教我安居。调出入息。我时观息。微细穷尽。生住异灭。诸行刹那。其心豁然。得大无碍。乃至漏尽。成阿罗汉。住佛座下。印成无学。佛问圆通。如我所证。返息循空。斯为第一。
Explanation: The Buddha took pity on Cūḍapanthaka's stupidity and taught him to dwell in a quiet retreat and regulate the outgoing and incoming breath; regulating is at the same time observing the breath. When Cūḍapanthaka contemplated the outgoing and incoming breath, contemplating to the end he observed that his outgoing and incoming breath was extremely subtle, so subtle it was about to cease. He also observed the subtle process of the breath's arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing, and could even perceive that the outgoing and incoming breath each operated moment by moment—that is, the incoming and outgoing breath was a process of instant after instant, not a continuous, complete process, but a divisible, mechanized process and procedure, assembled and pieced together.
At this point, he suddenly discovered that the outgoing and incoming breath was empty and illusory, not real. Then Cūḍapanthaka's mind suddenly opened up, and he suddenly realized that his own five aggregates were empty and non-self, no longer obstructed by these arising-and-ceasing dharmas; immediately his afflictions were exhausted, and he attained the fruit of the fourth stage, the great arhat. Cūḍapanthaka's contemplative insight was to reflect back on the coming and going of the breath, until he discovered that the place of coming was empty and the place of going was also empty; the entire process of the breath's arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing was empty, utterly unobtainable.
Contemplating the outgoing and incoming breath is the latter part of contemplating the breath. The earliest part of contemplating the breath is contemplating the air entering and leaving through the nostrils; this part is relatively coarse and easy to contemplate. When the air enters the body, it gradually becomes the breath connected with the channels; this part is more subtle, and even extremely subtle breath may no longer be related to the nasal breathing. It is the body's own automatic operation of breath-channels; even if breathing stops, with no external air entering the body through the nostrils, this breath-channel still slowly and faintly operates. This is the state of breathing having ceased in the fourth dhyāna, yet the person does not die. So how is the breath initiated? The human body has pores; outside air enters the body through the pores and becomes breath, driving the body's blood circulation to maintain the basic needs of life activities.
If one is not in the fourth dhyāna, such a tiny amount of breath cannot drive the blood to flow quickly; the supply of blood and nutrients the body needs would be insufficient, and one would feel suffocated and unable to bear it. The fourth dhyāna is the concentration of the purity of equanimity (upekṣā); there are no thoughts, so one does not need to consume so much vital energy and blood, and the nutrients provided by pore-breathing are sufficient.
The headquarters of the breath is at the dantian; from the dantian it circulates throughout the body. Contemplating the outgoing and incoming breath mainly means contemplating the breath in this dantian region; one rise and fall of the dantian is one breath. When energy is abundant and the mind is subtler, one follows the breath as it circulates through the whole body and contemplates the breath of the whole body. The breath is coarse or fine, fast or slow; when contemplating, only calmly, detachedly, and objectively feel the breath's movement, without adding any mental effort or thoughts. As meditative concentration deepens and the mind becomes very refined, one will observe that the breath's movement has become very weak and slow, moving in segments, with the connections between them not so tight, as if pieced together, feeling less real.
This is like watching a fire ring: ordinarily, when watching a fire ring, one sees a fire ring, not knowing it is formed by a torch being rapidly swung in a circle—there is no fire ring at all; it is an illusion, a mistaken perception. When the mind becomes subtle and one observes carefully, one discovers that there is no fire ring at all—it is just the torch moving point by point along a fixed circular track. Then one suddenly sees clearly and greatly awakens: there is no fire ring at all, and the torch is also empty; the mind instantly becomes empty and liberated, and from then on is no longer bound by the fire ring, no longer having to circle around the fire ring every day without rest.
Contemplating the outgoing and incoming breath, and contemplating all dharmas, follows this same principle: contemplating to the end, one discovers there is fundamentally no such thing, no such object, no such person, no such dharma—all are empty—and thus one sees the Way. As long as one observes as it truly is the arising, abiding, alteration, and ceasing of a dharma, one can see the Way in an instant. Once one understands the direction contemplative practice points to, masters the correct method of contemplative practice, and the practice reaches its proper level, seeing the Way is not difficult. The difficulty lies in the mind not being on the path of cultivation, still valuing and grasping worldly dharmas, unwilling to let go—thoughts and views play the decisive role.
Because sentient beings are foolish and their minds are coarse, without the power of meditative concentration, everything they see is illusion; they see all worldly dharmas as just those dharmas, utterly real, without the slightest doubt. That is why they desperately and ceaselessly grasp at all dharmas, ending up battered and covered with wounds, even paying with their lives, yet still stubbornly fighting on, euphemistically calling it "striving hard," "having great ambitions," "being proactive," "having a career-minded spirit," "having ideals, responsibility, and commitment"—paying every price for those empty dharmas in which there is fundamentally no such person or thing. Truly, their foolishness is beyond words.
