Unclear Thinking Stems from a Lack of Meditative Concentration

Everyone should train their thinking well and not deviate too far from the right direction. If your thinking is unclear, you must be lacking in meditative concentration (samādhi), and then you need to work hard at cultivating meditative concentration. If you cannot cultivate meditative concentration well, examine whether you are deficient in merit, or whether your observance of precepts is not good enough, or whether your habitual tendencies are too heavy, or whether there are obstacles on the physical level.

Many people lack meditative concentration; their power of concentration is insufficient, so their thinking cannot keep up, and they cannot gain determination (adhimokṣa) regarding many dharmas—they cannot understand them. Their practice gradually falls behind, lagging after others. Everyone must strive to find their own sticking point, to find their own shortcomings and deficiencies, and after finding them, think of ways to improve. Looking back at yourself, checking for gaps and patching up leaks—this is itself diligence.

If your power of concentration is even a little lacking, your contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) cannot reach its mark, and then what you say has no evidence and is not necessarily the truth of the matter. Therefore, as long as your own power of contemplative practice is not good enough, do not assert your views with certainty.