The Process of Complete Transformation of One Striving Toward the First Fruit (Srotāpanna)

Ven. Shi Ruyuan's Contemplative Practice Journal (February 28, 2024)

In recent days, my body's reactions have been especially pronounced. I eat less and less, yet I don't feel hungry. The area on the top of my head still feels somewhat swollen and itchy; when I scratch, the scalp hurts a lot. Between my eyebrows and at the crown of my head there is a swollen, tight feeling, and my forehead burns as if roasted by fire—so much that I can barely keep my eyes open, and looking at things feels exhausting and wearying. Now I dread going out, doing things, or meeting people. When people around me call me, I often fail to react in time; countless times I have misheard and done things wrong, my mind going completely blank, refusing to obey me.

During this period, no matter what I do, I unconsciously forget. While walking, at the moment of waiting for a green light, as soon as my mind settles down, my brain goes blank; I stand there staring blankly, unable to remember what I was doing, feeling as if I were sleepwalking, with my brain and body out of control and sluggish. Sometimes I recite the Śūraṅgama Mantra to ease these reactions, and then when I look at the people, buildings, and cars around me, they seem like images on an endless giant screen—unreal. Now the area between my forehead and brow is tight and hot. If I sit in meditation with eyes closed, it feels much better. When contemplating the Dharma principles, my mind is pure and no stray thoughts arise; but when family members talk with me, I find it strenuous and laborious.

In the past, when I listened to you, Venerable Grandmaster, expound the contemplation of Dharma principles, I could not understand. Now that I have attained meditative concentration (dhyāna) and then contemplate the four foundations of mindfulness, I have gradually come to understand a little of the wondrous function of self-nature. In observing how things are done, and in observing the sentient beings' five aggregates (pañcaskandha) and eighteen realms as instruments, I can discover the functional role of self-nature manifesting its wondrous function. With certain huatous, such as "Who is reciting the Buddha's name?" or "Who is dragging this corpse around?", I can now slowly and deeply deliberate (manana) and raise a questioning doubt; an intense response arises within, and tears flow down involuntarily. In the past, my study of Buddhism relied on the simple mind consciousness—hearing, thinking, and looking—but I had no real feeling for the Dharma learned that way. Now, with meditative concentration, deliberation is different: it stirs me deeply. I keenly perceive that this body is nothing but a corpse; through birth after birth in the six realms of saṃsāra, changing bodies is like changing clothes. Now I have no interest in people, things, or affairs, and am unwilling to discriminate between conflicts and disputes, good and bad; my mind is at every moment on the contemplation of Dharma principles.

Assessment: This is the process of body-and-mind transformation prior to seeing the Path—gradually being reborn, shedding the mortal body and mind to accord with the realm of the sages. You are now at the level of one heading toward the stream-enterer fruit (Srotaāpanna). This process of cultivation is indispensable; without this body-and-mind transformation, one remains forever an ordinary being (pṛthagjana), forever within the realm of the consciousness, with the manas never receiving perfuming. The transformation in the body is brought about by meditative concentration: when the mind becomes still to a certain degree, the qi and blood throughout the body flow through freely and abundantly, replacing the old karmic-obstruction body.

The transformation in the mind is a gradual no longer according with worldly conditioned dharmas—losing interest in the realm-appearances of the human world, gradually according with emptiness (śūnyatā) and with no-self, gradually shedding the mortal womb and exchanging the mortal bones. The elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) is only a matter of time. In wisdom, you have not only achieved something in the Small Vehicle Dharma but have also made great progress in the Mahāyāna Dharma, gaining an initial capacity for direct realization (abhisamaya) of the Dharma of self-nature, without the slightest component of the consciousness's sentiment and intellectual interpretation; the light in your mind grows ever greater and brighter. In this way, after the elimination of self-view, if you then devote yourself single-mindedly to investigating Chan, seeing your true mind (mingxin) will be within reach.

From Weiru's state of body and mind, one can see that her cultivation of the Small Vehicle Dharma has already passed the heat stage (ūṣma-gata) of the four aids to penetration (nirvedha-bhāgīya), and also passed the summit stage (mūrdhan), reaching the acquiescence stage (kṣānti), possessing the wholesome roots of acquiescence. Afterward, passing through the stage of the supreme worldly dharma (laukikāgra-dharma), she will eliminate self-view and realize the first fruit. In the cultivation of the Mahāyāna Dharma, she has already reached the heat stage of the four aids to penetration, possessing the wholesome roots of heat. After eliminating self-view in the Small Vehicle, the Mahāyāna four aids to penetration will naturally continue to advance, and seeing the true mind in this life is hopeful. Judging from this most genuine and real cultivation, in the entirety of Weiru's body-and-mind realm, is there any manifestation of the afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion? Any grasping (upādāna) and craving for the world of the five aggregates? Any trace of indulgence in the five worldly desires? None at all. So the facts prove that as long as one cultivates genuinely and earnestly, as long as meditative concentration arises—especially preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi)—afflictions will be subdued. After cutting off the coarsest greed—greed for the human world—when greed for the heavenly realms is also cut off, that is the dhyāna of the first jhāna. If the first jhāna arises after realizing the fruit, there is every hope of attaining the third fruit (Anāgāmin). Therefore, as long as one makes the aspiration to cultivate genuinely and wishes to attain realization, it is not so difficult. One does not need to be especially clever; cleverness and worldly discernment often get in the way.

Those who can practice steadily and earnestly are generally not the shrewd, superficially clever type, nor those fond of talk, nor those fond of showing themselves off. Though they may appear somewhat dull on the outside, being honest and hardworking is their greatest advantage, and the result is that they gain benefits that are real and true. By contrast, so many people who claim to have realized the first or second fruit—do they have any such process of cultivation? Almost not the slightest. Their body-mind world has hardly changed at all, flat as still water, still the same old appearance and old shell, nothing new. Without meditative concentration, so-called wisdom is merely the views of the consciousness, unable to penetrate beyond the consciousness and reach the inner mind of the manas; they still carry that old womb and old bones, complete with all afflictions, yet can be glib and smooth-talking—able to speak but unable to practice.