Is the result obtained through contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in meditative concentration necessarily a realization through valid direct cognition?

When contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) within meditation yields a result, this result may, first, have been produced by the mind consciousness alone in its contemplative practice, or, second, have been produced by the mind consciousness and the manas together in contemplative practice. If it was produced by the mind consciousness alone in contemplative practice, it cannot play a decisive role. Only when the manas has also realized it through contemplative practice can it play a decisive role; only then does the samādhi of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā appear, and only then is it true wisdom.

Why does contemplative practice within meditation, though seemingly the same, produce two different results? This is because meditative concentration has degrees of depth, and the contemplative wisdom of the cultivated mind consciousness differs accordingly. Meditative concentration has degrees of depth: for example, there is the first dhyāna, the fully accomplished preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi), the unaccomplished and intermittent preparatory concentration, and even coarser and shallower states of concentration; the duration of concentration also varies. Thus there are great differences in contemplative wisdom. When concentration is shallow, when preparatory concentration is not yet fully accomplished, the functions of the mind consciousness occupy the vast majority, the role of inference and analysis is relatively large, and the deliberation (manana) of the manas is very slight; the conclusion reached is then not direct perception/valid direct cognition. Even with preparatory concentration, if the duration of each meditative session is rather short, so that the contemplative practice remains at a coarse and shallow stage and cannot go deeper, then there can be no refined contemplative wisdom, and the results obtained are far-fetched and contrived, lacking direct perception/valid direct cognition.

Meditative concentration is so important that some people single-mindedly cultivate concentration, ignoring everything else: they neither cut off evil and cultivate good, nor find ways to eliminate their innate afflictive obstruction (kleśāvaraṇa) and afflictions, nor actively accumulate merit. Lacking merit, and with heavy innate afflictive obstruction, even after practicing for ten or twenty years, they still cannot attain meditative concentration. Conversely, for those whose innate afflictive obstructions and afflictions are slight, who actively protect and support the Three Jewels and accumulate the merit of seeing the path, as soon as they begin cultivating meditative concentration they do so with ease; within a few months their bodies are regulated very smoothly and their power of concentration increases rapidly—faster than others who have cultivated for twenty or thirty years. It is evident that cultivation lies in cultivating the mind, not in the length of time one sits. If one does not cultivate the mind, and with heavy afflictions still acts willfully, karmic obstructions will increase rather than decrease—how could meditative concentration ever be attained?