Cultivation of Concentration and Chan Meditation for Realization of the Way (Part 1)
Chapter 9: The Correct Knowledge and Views Concerning Realization
Section 1: The Difference Between Intellectual Understanding and True Realization
1. Only with Precepts, Meditative Concentration, and Wisdom All Complete Can One Realize Enlightenment and Avoid Mere Intellectual Understanding
The Buddha said: 因戒生定，因定生慧。 The precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom must be complete not only in the mind consciousness but also in the manas. For the manas to have the wisdom to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and the wisdom of seeing the mind, it must also have meditative concentration, investigating and deliberating (manasikāra/manana) within meditative concentration on the dharma of non-self, investigating and deliberating on true suchness and buddha-nature; only then can it eradicate the view of self and achieve seeing the mind and seeing the nature.
If the manas cannot personally investigate and deliberate, then it cannot accept the principles that the mind consciousness instills into it, and in the end it is still only the mind consciousness that intellectually understands. And for the manas to investigate and deliberate on the principle of non-self, it likewise must have meditative concentration; otherwise it will be distracted and scattered. If the manas lacks meditative concentration, it will drag the six consciousnesses into distraction; when the six consciousnesses are distracted and constantly discriminating, they always want to transmit the contents of their discrimination to the manas, and the manas must constantly divide its attention, unable to concentrate its energy on investigation, and cannot investigate out an ideal result.
No method can substitute for meditative concentration. One must be careful with methods of practice that lead to mere intellectual understanding. Practicing according to the methods taught by the World-Honored One will certainly not go wrong. All the disciples in the Buddha's time all sat in meditation and cultivated concentration, so that in their daily moving, standing, sitting, and lying down their minds were always contemplating the Buddha-dharma within concentration. Practitioners in the Tang and Song dynasties, before the Ming and Qing, and before the Republic all took sitting meditation and cultivating concentration as their main practice; afterward, even in moving, standing, sitting, and lying down they could maintain meditative concentration, with the mind constantly in concentration. In this way their thinking was fine and meticulous, the conditions for breaking through could easily mature, and upon touching conditions they would realize. Looking back now, their realization of the Buddha-dharma seems to have been so easy, but little do people know that their foundational practice was quite deep, their roots of goodness and merit were complete, the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment were complete—including, of course, meditative concentration—and their thinking was sharp and clear; upon hearing the corresponding dharma, they could realize immediately.
Among all who teach the dharma, what the Buddha taught is the most perfect and most ultimate; no one can surpass the Buddha's wisdom. Trusting the Buddha's words is absolutely not wrong. In whatever era, the Buddha-dharma never changes; the Buddha-dharma is forever applicable to all eras. Reading more Buddhist sutras will increase wisdom, so one will not take detours and will not easily be deceived by others. All the teachings of bodhisattvas, compared with the Buddha's, have deficiencies and leaks, have places that are not perfect and not ultimate; therefore in studying and practicing the Buddha-dharma we should still take the Buddhist sutras as the mainstay.
2. When Meditative Power Is Insufficient, One Can Only Have Intellectual Understanding
In the practice of the bodhisattva path, meditative concentration, merit, and wisdom are all very important, and all must be cultivated deeply. This also involves subduing afflictive mental dispositions, cultivating the bodhisattva disposition, making great vows, widely benefiting sentient beings, conditionally guiding beginning-stage sentient beings, and liberating oneself while liberating others; only then can one gradually fulfill the conditions to be a bodhisattva. As for meditative concentration, the concentration in sitting quietly should also be cultivated diligently as conditions allow; this is an important way to obtain meditative power. Meditative power is very important; with meditative power one can personally realize all dharmas, and can personally and bodily experience that all dharmas are like illusions and transformations, like a mirage, like a dream; only then can afflictions truly be subdued and extinguished, and the wisdom realization of the Great and Small Vehicles can be advanced. When meditative power is not good enough, one cannot investigate buddha-nature and cannot personally realize buddha-nature; even if one investigates the contents of buddha-nature, because meditative power is insufficient, one cannot personally realize buddha-nature.
When meditative power is insufficient, most of one's engagement with the Buddha-dharma is understanding with the mind consciousness, without true realization; it is mostly lip service, and in fact one can accomplish nothing. Only with concentration can one truly and genuinely realize the Buddha-dharma, and only then have personal, bodily experience of all dharmas. The deeper the concentration, the deeper the realization, the deeper the impressions, and there will be a great transformation of mental activity. There is a great difference between having concentration and not having it. Do not be impressed by some people who speak of the Buddha-dharma eloquently and fluently, yet within their minds there is no realization, no true wisdom; what they say is all learned words and intellectual understanding. For such people, changing the mind is extremely difficult; afflictions are still heavy, and the mind does not obtain the meritorious benefit of liberation.
With concentration it is different: one need not learn a great deal of Buddhist doctrine; as long as one comes into contact with the Buddha-dharma and contemplates carefully, one can penetrate it, and can even draw inferences from one instance to others, naturally having many insights, and one's mental state can advance quickly. Without concentration, the mind is scattered and cannot engage in deep and subtle contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the Buddha-dharma, which will obstruct one's own wisdom. Therefore I urge everyone, whether before or after enlightenment, to cultivate meditative concentration well.
3. How to Personally Realize and Avoid Mere Intellectual Understanding?
So-called personal realization means the manas itself has realized it, not relying solely on the mind consciousness's reasoning and guessing. So-called intellectual understanding is merely the mind consciousness understanding certain characteristics of the tathāgatagarbha, vaguely sensing or obtaining through guessing and reasoning a rough idea of the functions the tathāgatagarbha performs, and then believing oneself to have realized the tathāgatagarbha. But this is not truly realizing the tathāgatagarbha; it is not knowing the functions the tathāgatagarbha performs upon the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) through directly observing its operation; therefore one does not know exactly where the tathāgatagarbha appears or what functions it truly performs, much less can one directly observe how the tathāgatagarbha operates; body and mind and the world have not undergone a fundamental transformation, and therefore it is not realization. One who has truly realized the tathāgatagarbha can directly observe its operation, and thereby knows truly and clearly the characteristics, functions, and effects of the tathāgatagarbha, knows how the tathāgatagarbha manifests the five aggregates—as clear as observing an object in one's hand.
The canon of authentic teaching is all the correct and true principles taught by the Buddha; after hearing them, we can reach an initial understanding and acceptance. But because we have not realized them, the mind does not truly know them, and cannot directly verify the correctness of these dharmas. Then these dharmas are not direct perception for oneself, and there is no way to truly practice and uphold them, to actually operate and apply them, and thus one cannot truly change one's own thinking and behavior.
To turn the Buddha's canon of authentic teaching into one's own direct perception, one must, through investigating Chan within concentration, actually and personally realize the dharma of the tathāgatagarbha; only then can one's mind deeply cognize these dharmas, and the mind will have a true support and refuge, thereby undergoing a tremendous transformation. From then on one can gradually directly observe the operation of the tathāgatagarbha, obtain more and deeper wisdom, and make the Buddha's truth into one's own genuine wisdom-cognition, into one's own insight.
Personal realization requires methods such as investigating Chan, investigating the huatou, and investigating gong'an to personally realize; this requires developing preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), and investigating the tathāgatagarbha under the condition of possessing the corresponding meditative power, before realization is possible. The prerequisite is also that merit be complete, that precepts, concentration, and wisdom be complete, that the disposition be gentle and pliant, patient and mild, gradually corresponding to the disposition of the great bodhisattvas, gradually corresponding to the disposition of the sages, so as to transcend the mundane and become a sage.
4. The Meaning of "Illumination" in "Illuminating and Seeing That the Five Aggregates Are All Empty"
Illumination is like an image appearing in a mirror: the mirror is the manas and the mind consciousness, and the image is the dharma realized. When the mirror does not move, the image appears of itself—this is illumination; when the manas does not move, the dharma appears of itself—this is illumination. Why does the dharma appear of itself in the mind, without the mind consciousness attaching to it? Because concentration and wisdom are complete and the power of meditative absorption (samādhi) is strong, the dharma-image cannot but appear. In preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) or first dhyāna, the manas investigates, the mind opens and understanding arises, the tathāgatagarbha is realized, and one directly observes that the five aggregates are all produced by the tathāgatagarbha, not self and not truly existent—the five aggregates are all empty. This state of illumination has both meditative concentration and wisdom, the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā; this is the manifestation of the profound wisdom of realization. It is not, in a condition lacking meditative power, the restless intellectual deliberation of the mind consciousness, intellectually understanding the Buddha-dharma.
This word "illumination" indicates that the mind is extremely deep and subtle, and the contemplative wisdom is extremely strong; only when the mind can be stilled is wisdom deep. The word "illumination" is used here very well, very accurately; this is the true point of entry for practice, precisely corresponding to what the World-Honored One said: only with the three unconditioned studies of precepts, concentration, and wisdom complete can one practice and realize in truth and give rise to wisdom of suchness. Therefore one must investigate Chan within profound meditative concentration, thereby realizing the tathāgatagarbha and awakening to the principle of true suchness.
5. Knowledge Is Not Equal to Realization
Knowledge is not equal to realization. Modern people, because communication is developed, can easily acquire rich knowledge of the Buddha-dharma; but because they lack merit and meditative concentration, they cannot actually realize the knowledge they have learned; it remains merely at the theoretical stage, without genuine benefit, and the problems of ignorance, afflictions, and birth-and-death cannot be solved. People of the past, because technology and communication were undeveloped, found it very difficult to hear the sutras and the dharma; yet because their minds were pure and they had meditative concentration, and the Buddha-dharma of that time was pure and authentic, actual realization was easy: once they encountered the Buddha-dharma, a little contemplative practice would bring realization. There were not a few people with realization, and it was easy to obtain the genuine benefit of the Buddha-dharma.
The stages of a bodhisattva's practice are measured by actual realization, not determined by the amount of knowledge. If one has never actually engaged in each of the necessary contemplative practices, then even if one is learned enough to fill five carts, one's wisdom still cannot compare with that of a bodhisattva versed in the Buddha-dharma, because one has no realization, no actual realization. Conversely, even a person without much education who has not studied much Buddhism, upon contacting a little of the Buddha-dharma, can contemplate it within meditative concentration, and on that basis can contemplate even more of the Buddha-dharma; his realization is remarkable, his wisdom is deeper than that of the highly learned, and he can receive benefit from the Buddha-dharma life after life. Nowadays many people claim they have already attained the fruits, have already seen the mind; in fact it is all theoretical knowledge, not actually realized, for their afflictions are as before, and body and mind have not changed, without benefit. Therefore in the Dharma-ending age, actual practice and actual realization become especially important.
6. Only Realizing the Self-Nature Tathāgatagarbha Counts as Enlightenment
Enlightenment must be based on realizing the self-nature tathāgatagarbha consciousness, taking the tathāgatagarbha as the object of realization, being able to directly observe how it cooperates with the seven consciousnesses to produce the activities of the five aggregates, and after enlightenment being able to gradually observe how it produces the myriad dharmas of the world. The content of one's awakening must accord with the five "how unforeseen is self-nature (svabhāva)" statements spoken by the Sixth Patriarch. Merely understanding certain principles does not count as enlightenment; those principles are all written in books and often discussed by others; if they are not realized by oneself through finding the self-nature, they do not count as awakening, but are merely superficial understanding, reasoning, and inferential thinking; some do not even amount to understanding.
We cannot directly take the theories expounded in the Buddha-dharma as the result of our own practice and realization; those are the crystallization of the Buddha's wisdom, the Buddha's summary of wisdom, and have nothing to do with us. Learning the Buddha's words, or the words of the patriarchs and great masters, if not realized and awakened from the depths of one's own heart, does not belong to enlightenment. A true practitioner must use the already-known Buddhist theories to re-realize the truth of these theories for oneself, thereby turning them into something within one's own heart, giving rise to one's own genuine wisdom; one cannot directly take the conclusions of others' practice as one's own conclusions and hang them on one's lips all day—that is mere "Chan of the mouth," and mouth-Chan has not the slightest actual meritorious benefit.
7. The Relationship Between the Sixth Patriarch's Sudden Enlightenment and Shenxiu's Gradual Cultivation
The Southern School of the Tang dynasty, led by the Sixth Patriarch, advocated sudden enlightenment. The Sixth Patriarch's famous verse: 菩提本无树，明镜也非台，本来无一物，何处惹尘埃。The Northern School, led by Shenxiu, advocated gradual cultivation. Shenxiu's verse is: 身是菩提树，心如明镜台，时时勤拂拭，勿使惹尘埃。The Sixth Patriarch's verse shows that he was still only at the stage of the Small Vehicle's emptiness and had not yet awakened to the Great Vehicle; Shenxiu's verse shows that he was still at the stage of repairing body and mind. People of the time and later generations mostly praised the Sixth Patriarch and disparaged Shenxiu, not knowing that each had his own rationale; with different faculties (indriya) and different conditions, the dharmas they cultivated should not be the same; the two are in a relationship of sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation, and one cannot force them to be identical.
Regarding the relationship between gradual cultivation and sudden enlightenment, I once gave an example: it is like sawing a large tree; the moment the tree is sawn down is a metaphor for sudden enlightenment, and the work before the tree is sawn down is a metaphor for gradual cultivation. Only after gradual cultivation can there be sudden enlightenment, and after sudden enlightenment gradual cultivation is still needed. The dharmas cultivated before and after are different; the cultivation after enlightenment and the cultivation before enlightenment are certainly not the same. The gradual cultivation Shenxiu spoke of was the gradual cultivation before sudden enlightenment, at the stage of laying foundations; without this gradual cultivation there could be no subsequent sudden enlightenment. As for the Sixth Patriarch's "originally not a single thing," although it was not yet the Great Vehicle's sudden enlightenment, because his previous practice had been completed in past lives—indeed who knows how many lives and kalpas ago—his mind in this life was already empty, and he no longer needed to repair body and mind, diligently wiping it at all times.
Standing from the Sixth Patriarch's position, with the Sixth Patriarch's faculties he could go directly to emptiness; although he had not reached the Great Vehicle's emptiness, and it did not belong to the Chan school's sudden enlightenment, the Sixth Patriarch after all had the ability to empty; this state was indeed much higher than Shenxiu's, having already passed the stage of gradual cultivation, and when conditions arrived he could reach the state of sudden enlightenment at any time. Shenxiu, however, was still far from sudden enlightenment; he had to cultivate gradually, had to diligently wipe at all times, to clear away the filth on his mind; otherwise he could not have sudden enlightenment—even the Small Vehicle's emptiness would be impossible.
Speak according to the place you are in, and cultivate the dharma of the stage you are at; since each person's state is different, the dharmas they cultivate cannot be the same. Elementary students have the dharma elementary students cultivate, and university students have the dharma university students cultivate; one cannot require everyone to study university courses. Almost everyone must pass through the preceding elementary and middle school stages; the road must be walked step by step, and the intermediate process cannot be skipped; the length of time varies from person to person, but this process must exist—even if it is a process of only an instant, it must still exist. Only after all these processes have been walked through can one reach that final state of sudden enlightenment. This is the dialectical relationship between the Sixth Patriarch's sudden enlightenment and Shenxiu's gradual cultivation.
