How to Truly Arouse Questioning Doubt?

Ru Yuan (Wei Ru)'s Mahāyāna questioning doubt: Nowadays, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, I am generally in meditative concentration (samādhi), contemplating the dharma teachings familiar to my mind, mainly contemplating the white-bone contemplation in my mind and my own skeleton. I have no interest in people or things outside the mind, and I do not discriminate about them. Once, my daughter pulled me along to go to the supermarket to buy snacks; all the way to the supermarket, I was introspecting, could not hear clearly the voices of others speaking, and had no interest in looking at the people and things around me. When my daughter asked me to pick out items, I felt as if my body were wandering in a dream, unreal; my hands and eyes seemed not to obey my commands, and I could not pick things out properly, being absent-minded.

Once, a sentence inexplicably popped out of my mind: "The mechanical wooden man, when the mechanism is triggered, its marks arise." At the time I had not yet reacted; I just kept reciting it in my mind, as if this phrase had been mentioned in the books of the Dharma-grandmaster. Previously I did not understand what it meant, but now this sentence suddenly leaped out, and I pondered its meaning with my mind: it should be using iron men and wooden men, and shadow-play figures pulled by strings wound around them, as metaphors for the activities of a person's five aggregates (pañca-skandha), right? The fact that sentient beings' five-aggregate physical shells jump about lively is all the wondrous function arising from behind, from the self-nature of the tathāgatagarbha. The wondrous functions of the tathāgatagarbha manifest in all dharmas; all koans and huatou investigation are speaking of the self-nature's wondrous functions of sentient beings' tathāgatagarbha. Therefore, in samādhi, looking at everything is just like being in a dream—unreal, without any feeling. Sometimes at night, while still asleep, I was awakened by the mantras being recited in my mind.

When I practiced the white-bone contemplation last year, I had some physical and mental experiences. Looking at family members who were once ever so dear to me, or at ever so beautiful people outside, they likewise seemed like a pool of flesh and blood, filthy. Sometimes when going to the toilet I would also contemplate that people are all this filthy, with the body's nine orifices constantly discharging dirty things. I felt that people were unreal; thinking of them, there was no point—it felt boring—so I no longer ate fine food or wore fine clothes; good or bad, it made no difference. Recently, whether day or night, whether awake or asleep, I am in samādhi, with the dharma teachings continuously in my mind.

Assessment: Practicing the white-bone contemplation can absolutely eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). If the skeleton can appear in the mind at all times, it shows that the person is constantly in the white-bone contemplation, that is, constantly in meditative absorption (samādhi). Being able to automatically and spontaneously manifest the skeleton, eradicating the view of self is a matter of minutes; one might eradicate the view of self at any time and place. Perhaps the view of self has already been eradicated, yet one cannot feel it, because one lacks the wisdom to discern it, and the mental state and experiences cannot be clearly described. The key is that Ru Yuan (Wei Ru) should clearly recognize her current state, understanding her mental thoughts and feelings clearly, so that her wisdom and cognition can be judged—whether it belongs to the state of having eradicated the view of self, or how far she still is from eradicating it. At the moment of eradicating the view of self, there are some corresponding states in body and mind; if one fails to understand them and treats them as ordinary matters, one misses them.

If a person can constantly have no interest in external people, things, and affairs, this is not merely the merit of meditative concentration but also the merit of wisdom. Generally, only when one's contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the five aggregates is quite adept, and the mind can accord with emptiness (śūnyatā), can such a reaction appear; or only after eradicating the view of self can one constantly have such reactions. If cultivation is not in place, it is impossible to be uninterested in people and things and not want to discriminate. Therefore, this state has a probability of over ninety percent of being the state of having eradicated the view of self; the specifics still await observation and understanding.

Inexplicably, a sentence popped out of the mind: "The mechanical wooden man, when the mechanism is triggered, its marks arise." This is the great Mahāyāna questioning doubt suddenly bursting forth from the manas while in a state of samādhi, showing that the conditions for Mahāyāna Chan investigation have naturally matured. Being able to spontaneously bring forth such questioning doubt shows that Mahāyāna wisdom is also quite good; otherwise, only the mind consciousness could raise the questioning doubt, while the manas would not. The reason the manas can give rise to Mahāyāna questioning doubt is, first, that the Hīnayāna foundation is very solid—being fully certain about the selflessness of the five aggregates, without doubt—so one then wonders: since the five aggregates are empty, why is there still activity of the five aggregates? Second, the cultivation and permeation of the Mahāyāna dharma has already matured. Therefore, when the view of self still exists, or is even still rather heavy, the manas will not raise Mahāyāna questioning doubt; the mind consciousness, however, can, because the mind consciousness can leap across many levels to cognize dharmas through non-valid cognition (non-valid cognition), whereas the manas cannot do this.

From this it can be seen that true questioning doubt arises spontaneously within samādhi; it is not muttered out by the mind consciousness like reciting a mantra. It surges forth from the manas when conditions mature—when the manas, after knowing that the five aggregates are empty, wants to understand the mechanical mysteries within the five-aggregate body. This is a natural phenomenon of Mahāyāna cultivation reaching the point where the channel is formed when water arrives; it is not questioning doubt deliberately and forcedly delivered by the mind consciousness. Only in this way can investigation be fast and efficient, not wasting time in vain, and there will be no false or mistaken enlightenment. In such a state of samādhi, seeing the mind and enlightenment can be expected at any moment.

In the state of samādhi, it is indeed like being in a dream—everything seen is unreal. This state resembles the state after having eradicated the view of self. If some major event previously occurred in body and mind that one overlooked, I now cannot judge accurately. Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are all within meditative concentration, all within contemplative practice; external states cannot pull one away no matter what—the meditative concentration is quite solid, the mind like walls of bronze and iron. At this time, entering the Path is a matter of minutes; it is so for both the Great and Small Vehicles. At this point, barring accidents, attaining enlightenment in this life and becoming a sage bodhisattva is more or less settled. Others who want to enter samādhi cannot enter it, cannot be pushed into it, whereas you cannot be pulled out of it—this difference is considerable. Why is there such a great difference? There are many factors, which will be revealed gradually later.

The description in the last paragraph of the experiences of practicing the white-bone contemplation shows that the effect of Ru Yuan's white-bone contemplation practice is very significant. She can constantly contemplate that sentient beings are all impure, fully recognizing (or perhaps realizing) the emptiness and unreality of sentient beings' five aggregates; her mind has removed greedy thoughts, no longer being picky or concerned about food and clothing; whether awake or asleep she can remain in meditative concentration, with the state of samādhi unbroken—her skill is quite good. The state of awakened clarity after eradicating the view of self is just like this. These states are generally the states one is in after eradicating the view of self. Before eradicating the view of self, although meditative concentration may also be quite good, with preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) complete, there will still be moments of interruption; only after eradicating the view of self, when the mind is empty, can meditative concentration be continuous and unbroken, constantly in samādhi. These various phenomena indicate that there is a probability of over ninety percent that Ru Yuan has already eradicated the view of self; it is just that her own description is not very clear.

Everyone must remember: apart from the wisdom-cognition within such samādhi, none of it is seeing the Path. Apart from the state of meditative concentration, neither the Great nor the Small Vehicle can truly see the Path. Even if you have meditative concentration but are not constantly within it, and you believe that your cognition when not in meditative concentration also belongs to seeing the Path, that is also impossible. With shallow concentration, true seeing of the Path is likewise impossible; it is all something the mind consciousness has pondered up, and that does not count.