How to Skillfully Engage in Contemplative Practice

During investigation, consciousness must fully understand the content to be investigated, giving rise to a questioning state, condensing it into a single point, and then handing it over to the mental faculty, so that the mental faculty also gives rise to this questioning state. Day and night, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, one must contemplate it relentlessly, refusing to cease until the questioning state is resolved.

Why must it be condensed into a single point? Because the mental faculty lacks language and the capacity for analysis. If the entire meaning is not condensed into a single point, it remains entangled with language and words, making it impossible for the mental faculty to investigate; only consciousness alone can engage in thinking and analysis. However, thinking and analysis by consciousness alone occur at a relatively shallow level and cannot give rise to profound wisdom. In other words, without the mental faculty's investigation, wisdom cannot arise; the wisdom of consciousness is not decisive. Only when the mental faculty also possesses wisdom can it properly grasp the driving wheel of the five aggregates and determine their future destiny.