Only Through Persistent Contemplative Practice (Vipaśyanā-caryā) Can One Continuously Advance

Ru Ben's contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) log: Over these two days, each time I sit in meditation I first do full lotus for 25 minutes, then my body begins to warm up, and I switch to half lotus. Now my right leg is softer than before. I feel that the mental power in full lotus is somewhat more effective than in half lotus. For now I am still focusing mainly on cultivating meditative concentration (samādhi). After sitting down, my mind can settle, and I have come to recognize the importance of "sharpening the axe does not delay the chopping of firewood." I no longer crave any particular feelings or results, and so I am no longer impatient. I can settle my heart and start from the ground up, beginning with the breath. 

When I sit, I still first regulate the breath: first inhale deeply into the abdomen, then slowly exhale, regulating for several minutes while relaxing. Then I slowly and silently recite the Heart Sutra, word by word. Once I reach a state of concentration and contemplation, I contemplate the breath a little longer. When I feel it is dull and boring, desires arise in my mind with some scattered movement. Then I turn to introspect and see that this mind is merely a function of awareness, that this "I" has no place to rest upon, that it cannot be found either internally or externally—suddenly it is like a dream, and no one truly exists at all. Then, in that state, there are no more cravings, the mind settles and stops moving, and even the desire to contemplate disappears. At 45 minutes, when my legs begin to feel numb, swollen, and painful, I persist in enduring the sensations for a while, and after one hour I get down from the seat, not wanting to continue any further. 

Assessment: In contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), it is normal for the state of the physical body and the state of the mind to rise and fall. What matters is persistence; in the end it will become steady, without fluctuations. At that point, the contemplative practice will become firm. With regard to the breath being contemplated, there will be a clear understanding and perception, and regarding the other bodily phenomena induced by contemplating the breath, there will also be a lucid understanding. One will no longer enter into the state but will be able to leap outside of it, separating mind from matter, looking down upon the physical body. Only then can there be an understanding in accord with reality, seeing clearly the true facts of the physical body, and gradually perceiving the emptiness (śūnyatā) of the body's arising, ceasing, and changing. This perception is not forcibly implanted by the mind consciousness, nor is it guided by the mind consciousness; it is the manas's objective, lucid perception—an intellectual cognition unmixed with emotion. Only intellectual cognition can endure and function persistently, can transform body and mind, can change one's attitude toward the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), and can allow one to view and handle the problems of the five aggregates objectively. With sustained effort like this, even the elimination of self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga) becomes possible. 

By cultivating steadily like this, one will come to know what role the mind consciousness plays in it and what role the manas plays in it. One will then realize how childish and laughable the erroneous, irrational view is that the mind consciousness can attain the fruits of realization. Some people, seeing the records in the Buddhist sutras of bhikṣus who attained realization within minutes of hearing the Dharma, think that they too can quickly attain realization without cultivating the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment and without cultivating meditative concentration. How ignorant and laughable such a notion is! Those who attained realization within minutes of hearing the Buddha preach the Dharma had done a great deal of cultivation in past lives and this life: the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment were complete, their roots of goodness and merit were complete, the conditions for obtaining the Dharma were complete, and the Buddha's empowering power was great. Their realization was not a freebie gained without labor; they paid a considerable price for it. 

Now, our diligent cultivation of the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness is precisely the cultivation of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, practicing precepts, concentration, and wisdom all together, striving to cultivate roots of goodness and merit, taking no shortcuts but advancing steadily, laying a solid foundation. When all the various causes and conditions are complete, the elimination of self-view (ahaṃkāra-mamakāra-parityāga) will be possible.