Śamatha-vipaśyanā is Samādhi and Prajñā

Śamatha is samādhi, and vipaśyanā is prajñā; practice means the joint operation of śamatha and vipaśyanā, the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā. Śamatha means holding the mind on one object, resting on a single dharma without wavering; vipaśyanā means contemplating, deliberating, investigating, and pondering the dharma that is the object of attention. Śamatha and vipaśyanā are connected and interlinked: without śamatha, one cannot practice vipaśyanā; without contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā), wisdom cannot arise. At the same time, while contemplating, samādhi can also arise and śamatha can also be attained—the two complement each other. Without wisdom, one cannot attain samādhi; without samādhi, wisdom cannot arise.

When one has wisdom, one can make discerning choices regarding the Dharma, able to let go of unnecessary worldly affairs, set aside other miscellaneous matters that are temporarily useless, and choose the most important things to do. Once the choice is made well, the mind can rest on a single place. Wisdom is the result of the mind consciousness understanding principles through deep and subtle deliberation, and in the process of that deep and subtle deliberation, further perfuming the manas and persuading the manas.

Whether śamatha or vipaśyanā, both involve the practice of the seven consciousnesses—letting the seven consciousnesses focus on a single object, so that the mind consciousness discerns only one object. With concentrated energy and an undistracted mind, one can think a problem through thoroughly and understand the hidden principles within it, thereby gaining the wisdom of the Buddha-Dharma. Contemplative wisdom generating samādhi means that after the mind consciousness understands the principle, it comes back to perfume the manas, persuading the manas not to cling to worldly dharmas, thereby preventing the mind consciousness from becoming scattered. Whether śamatha or vipaśyanā, effort is applied on the seven consciousnesses: letting the seven consciousnesses focus on a single object, letting the mind consciousness discern only one object. With concentrated energy, deliberation can become thorough, and one can then understand the true meaning within and gain genuine wisdom. Although the seventh consciousness cannot rest on a single object alone, He can nevertheless reduce grasping, engaging less in mental engagement (manaskāra) and deliberation (manana), and can gradually tend toward samādhi. Only then can the mind consciousness have samādhi and attain śamatha; otherwise, if the manas grasps everywhere, the mind consciousness can in no way rest on a single place.

Samādhi is the foundation and prerequisite for enlightenment. Among the six pāramitās of the bodhisattva and the three pure studies of the bodhisattva, samādhi is one of them—this shows the importance of cultivating samādhi. Without the power of samādhi, contemplative practice is impossible; if the power of samādhi is shallow, contemplative practice cannot go deep, nor can it be fine-grained, and wisdom cannot be developed. If one can cultivate the highest samādhi of the desire realm—preparatory concentration/threshold concentration (anāgamya-samādhi)—contemplative practice will gain power. It is a samādhi prior to the first dhyāna of the form realm. With this samādhi, whether investigating Chan, investigating a dharma principle, or contemplating the unreality of the five aggregates (pañcaskandha), the mind can become single-pointed, and deliberation becomes both profound and very fine-grained. Only in this way can one think the dharma principles through thoroughly, and only then is there the possibility of breaking through and attaining enlightenment.

Because the result and purpose of practice is to develop wisdom: only with wisdom can one escape the cycle of birth and death and attain liberation; only with wisdom can one accomplish the Buddha Way. Awakening to the Way and opening wisdom is more precious and more important than the various states of samādhi. If one has only the power of samādhi but not the wisdom of liberation, at most one can ascend to the heavens to enjoy blessings, but when the merit is exhausted, one will still fall into the three evil destinies to suffer. Therefore one must equally cultivate Samādhi and Prajñā, and must not practice one to the exclusion of the other.

With the joint operation of śamatha and vipaśyanā and the equal cultivation of samādhi and prajñā, studying Buddhism will surely bring accomplishment. One who has wisdom without samādhi has wild wisdom; one with wild wisdom does not necessarily have virtue, and one's views are not necessarily true and reliable—afflictions after all cannot be subdued, and thus it is said such a person does not necessarily have virtue. One who has samādhi without wisdom guards foolishness; the foolish and obstinate, being unenlightened, have no Way. One who has both samādhi and wisdom will surely realize liberation and gain true benefit of the Dharma—such a person is a great man (mahāpuruṣa) within the Buddha-Dharma.