How Does Inspiration Arise?

Research has found that when facing a sudden life-threatening situation, the fear circuit instantly takes control of the brain, so many mammals (including humans) freeze in place—this is freezing. During freezing, the body's energy is concentrated, and one begins to comprehensively receive all information present (pupils dilating, eyes widening, and so on). Therefore, when describing the event afterward, the person involved has an unusually clear and detailed memory of the moment when the feeling of fear struck. However, memories immediately following that moment may be blurry, or even completely forgotten.

Questions: 1. Who controls these bodily phenomena? 2. Is freezing the same as being fixed in meditative concentration? 3. Why is the memory of what happened during the freeze so clear, while afterward it becomes blurry and hard to recall?

Answer: 1. The manas, together with the tathāgatagarbha, can at any time discern the condition of the physical body, then regulate and control it at any time, and it will also make use of the physical body to release psychological emotions. The series of habitual actions by which the manas holds onto the body is also called innate instinct.

2. Freezing is a brief, momentary meditative concentration, with attention highly focused; it is also called being fixed in concentration. The body does not move, the conscious thoughts do not move, yet the manas can very attentively search for countermeasures and opportunities to escape danger, and often one can display quick wit in a crisis. This is precisely the characteristic and result of concentration: concentration can give rise to wisdom. In concentration, the manas is extremely keen and quick-thinking, and often one can turn peril into safety.

3. During the freeze, the manas can focus its attention highly, observe more subtly, and observe better; consequently, memory is better and more firmly established, so the scenes during the freeze are remembered deeply. Once the freezing stage passes, the concentration disappears and the mind becomes scattered, so memory becomes poor, and what happened afterward cannot be remembered clearly.

In the past, when Chan masters awakened to the Way, quite a few of them, while their questioning doubt was at its most intense, encountered a sudden unexpected event, which triggered an emergent inspiration, and thereby they awakened to the Way. When a student's questioning doubt is very intense during Chan investigation, if the master suddenly gives a great shout or uses some other method, enlightenment may occur. In the past, during the intervals between sitting meditation in the Chan hall, practitioners would get down from their seats and walk around the Chan hall or jog lightly; if the master suddenly called a stop, enlightenment could also occur at the moment of suddenly stopping. When caught off guard, inspiration easily arises. Such enlightenment is the result of genuine effort; it is all the manas awakening directly and directly experiencing it, which is called personal realization (direct verification), not merely awakening of the mind consciousness. There is no time allowed for you to think—to awaken is to awaken. Do not think or stir up thoughts, do not ponder; awaken directly—that is the manas awakening.