How Can One Enter Meditative Concentration Quickly

When sitting in meditation, if one contemplates the meaning of the Dharma, one enters meditative concentration (samādhi) faster than by silently reciting the Heart Sutra and mantras, and the concentration is deeper; it is faster than entering concentration by regulating the breath, and faster than by any other method. This is true for those of sharp faculties whose afflictions are slight and whose wandering thoughts are few, because such people already have a foundation in cultivating concentration, so the preparatory methods can be omitted. But for beginners in concentration who are heavily prone to grasping and whose minds are busy with many thoughts, the more they contemplate, the more scattered their minds become; without meditative concentration, contemplation is just scattered thinking—a jumble of thoughts and a disordered mind—so they should wait until they have a foundation in concentration before contemplating. When I take my seat and cross my legs, I use no preparatory method at all; I go directly into deep contemplation. There is no thinking by the mind consciousness—everything is the deliberation (manana) of the manas. After crossing my legs, I first focus on 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.

The manas deliberates deeply and slowly, but thoroughly; the mind consciousness thinks quickly and shallowly, neither thoroughly nor penetratingly. Thinking by the mind consciousness is a preparatory method, whose purpose is to prompt the manas to deliberate; 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, yet it is full of interest—a deep delight of exploration, a joy of dimly, vaguely being about to discover something. What is developed is the wisdom within one's own field of mind; such 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 because there are things my mind is attached to that I have to come down from the seat.