In What Meditative Concentration Can One Attain the Fruit?

Chan dhyāna is also called the three samādhis: the first is the samādhi with initial application and sustained examination (savitarka-savicāra-samādhi), the second is the samādhi with initial application but without sustained examination (savitarka-avicāra-samādhi), and the third is the samādhi without initial application and without sustained examination (avitarka-avicāra-samādhi). The third, the samādhi without initial application and without sustained examination, is also called without vitarka and without vicāra; it is the meditative state of the second dhyāna, in which the five sense consciousnesses have ceased, the mind consciousness is faint, there is no awareness, no examination, and no power of introspection (pratyavekṣā-bala); one does not know what state one is in, nor does one know that one has entered samādhi. Since in the second dhyāna the wisdom is weak and there is no examination, wisdom such as the wisdom of no-self cannot be aroused; therefore one cannot attain realization of the fruit within the second dhyāna.

The second, the samādhi with initial application but without sustained examination, is the intermediate concentration between the first dhyāna and the second dhyāna; the five sense consciousnesses are present, and there is the awareness of the mind consciousness—one knows that one has entered samādhi—but the mind consciousness has no examination and no introspection, and its awareness-wisdom is neither strong nor weak. Since there is no examination in this samādhi, it is very difficult to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and attain realization of the fruit. Only in the meditative state of the first dhyāna, where there is initial application and sustained examination, with the mind single and focused and strong power of observation, is it easy to eradicate the view of self and attain realization of the fruit. In the preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) that precedes the three samādhis, the power of meditative concentration is also very strong, with the mind single and focused, and one can likewise eradicate the view of self and attain realization of the fruit. When the practice of cultivating samādhi and contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) reaches the state of sustained examination (vicāra), that is the skill of investigating Chan; once this skill is accomplished, one will benefit endlessly, life after life, because the realization of any dharma is attained in the state of sustained examination. In shallower states of concentration, there is still an element of intellectual understanding, and the wisdom is not very genuine or reliable.