How Can One Enter Meditative Concentration Quickly

When sitting in meditation, if one contemplates the meaning of the Dharma, one enters samādhi faster than by silently reciting the Heart Sutra, and the concentration is deeper; it is faster than entering samādhi by regulating the breath, and faster than entering samādhi by other methods. This is true for those of sharp faculties whose afflictions are slight and whose wandering thoughts are few, because they already have a foundation in meditative concentration, so the preparatory methods can be omitted. But for beginners in concentration who are heavy with grasping and full of mental activity, the more they contemplate, the more scattered their minds become; without meditative concentration, contemplation is just scattered thinking—scattered thoughts and a confused mind—so they should wait until they have a foundation in meditative concentration before contemplating. When I take my seat and cross my legs, I use no preparatory method at all, but go directly into deep contemplation. There is no thinking by the mind consciousness; it is all done by the manas. After crossing my legs, I first attend to the Dharma that needs to be contemplated, and then I settle upon that Dharma without moving, without a single wandering thought. This is the state of the manas investigating Chan and probing into the mystery.

The manas deliberates deeply and slowly, but thoroughly; the mind consciousness thinks quickly and superficially, neither thoroughly nor penetratingly. Thinking by the mind consciousness is a preparatory method, whose purpose is to prompt the manas to contemplate; at the very beginning, this is a process that must be gone through. In the manas's deliberation and investigation, there is almost no knowledge to be gained, and one's store of knowledge does not increase, but it is very interesting—there is a flavor of exploration, a delight of dimly, vaguely being about to discover something. What is developed is the wisdom within one's own field of mind; wisdom is not obtained from outside—what is obtained from outside is only knowledge. At this level, one no longer feels tired. I can sit for a whole morning, or even a whole day. It is only when there are things weighing on my mind that I have to come down from the seat.