The Process of Cultivating Preparatory Concentration (anāgamya-samādhi)

Mie Mie's meditation experience: In October 2022, I did a short retreat in my room. By the third day, my thoughts began to decrease, and by the evening of the fifth day, there were basically no distracting thoughts left—only one would appear after a long while. Suddenly, a mental engagement arose: that I did not need worldly romantic love, life after life. Then a sensation of qi arose, inflating and supporting my entire body like blowing up a balloon; during this I could hear the cracking sounds of my bones, and my mind became focused and no longer scattered. The next day, body and mind were joyful; the sense of worry about the future disappeared, and my thinking became clear and sharp. After that, I believed in the power of meditative concentration (dhyāna) and my faith was strengthened. I continued sitting in meditation but made no further breakthrough.

In September 2023, I went to pay homage to the Sixth Patriarch. Along the way, there were many animal corpses, which aroused great fear in me. I thought, the game of saṃsāra is too terrifying—from the perspective of animals, the Earth is hell. During the trip, while listening to the Repentance chapter of the Platform Sutra, I fell asleep, and in a dream I saw my own karmic actions from a high-altitude perspective. I deeply felt the weight of my karma and a sense of shame arose. When I arrived at the Sixth Patriarch Temple, a sutra verse suddenly appeared in my mind: 有我罪即生 亡功福无比。In December, after returning home, I felt deeply ashamed and stayed in my room practicing meditation.

Around May 2024, a fellow practitioner invited me to sit in meditation together, sitting intermittently from eight in the evening until past five in the morning. A thought arose in my mind: "I dedicate all the merit from my cultivation across countless lifetimes to you, wishing you to attain buddhahood soon and liberate sentient beings—whoever attains buddhahood first is fine, because sentient beings suffer too much." As soon as this thought arose, an energy appeared from behind and moved upward, somewhat different from the previous qi sensation—somewhat like a liquid—making me feel extremely light, and in an instant my breathing changed, seeming to be there and yet not there.

In the days that followed, I sat in meditation without distracting thoughts, and my body felt extremely light, as if weightless. While sitting, phenomena such as the body dissolving into emptiness and continuous imaging appeared. One day upon taking my seat, my body suddenly disappeared, and the so-called world also disappeared—there was no matter at all, only an "consciousness." This consciousness still had feeling and perception; it was as if locked in a large prison cell, searching for and expecting something. There was a solid, tangible sense of existence. In that state there was no language, but there was a kind of understanding. I felt that I understood the body is not the self, and I also understood the dharma of the twelve links of dependent origination.

After emerging from samādhi, my state of mind was peaceful and harmonious; my mental capacity opened up, and I had a feeling of regarding everyone as a friend. When interacting with people, I would think from the other person's perspective; I could become aware of the limitations of my own cognition, no longer rejecting things outright, maintaining an awareness that my own view is one-sided. Moreover, I saw the labels I had attached to all kinds of people, things, and matters—as if I were operating according to a program. This made me even more afraid in my heart, thinking, this karma is far too heavy; I am completely trapped in a cage. My resolve to practice grew even firmer.

Assessment: When mental engagement arises in meditative concentration—when a thought or aspiration arises to sever worldly romantic love—this arises automatically, not thought up; it is naturally initiated by the manas when the conditions of practice ripen. Because the manas has this wholesome aspiration and mental engagement, with a single wholesome thought wishing to cut off afflictions, the body follows the mind's turning, the qi channels surge throughout the body inside and out, the body transforms, both body and mind become joyful, and worry and afflictions dissipate. This shows that with a single wholesome thought, both body and mind transform, and meditative concentration deepens. For those whose health is not good, it is appropriate to transform one's own thoughts and views, to frequently make wholesome and pure great aspirations; as the circumstances turn with the mind, the body-mind world will achieve a breakthrough.

有我罪即生，亡功福无比。All karmic offenses arise because of the self. If there is no self, there is nothing to seek, and many things need not be fabricated at all—fabrication is for the sake of my wishes and seeks. If each person carefully observes all of their bodily actions, verbal actions, and mental actions, they will find that the vast majority of these actions stem from the self and the self's craving. For the sake of that self, countless actions are produced, including unnecessary high demands—chasing wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep, and form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas—without ever knowing satiation.

If one can extinguish the self, the merit and virtue attained is supreme, incomparable in the world. That such a verse naturally appeared in the mind was because the fear of saṃsāra and the shame over past evil karma had arisen; these are all wholesome mental factors. From these wholesome roots arising, wholesome words naturally appeared in the mind.

The body disappeared, and all worlds disappeared as well, leaving only a consciousness. This was not the mind consciousness, but the manas—alone, without language—realizing that the body is not the self, being produced from causes and conditions. This wholesome state was induced by the wholesome thought and wholesome conduct of assisting and liberating sentient beings; the wholesome mind transformed the circumstances, and the circumstances, too, became wholesome.

In summary, all worldly affairs arise from thoughts of the mind; to transform all worldly affairs, one must first transform one's thoughts. When a single wholesome thought arises, a million gates of obstruction close; when a single unwholesome thought arises, a million gates of obstruction open. The essence of cultivation is cultivating the mind. If one abandons cultivating the mind and instead constantly chases after the body, it is like whipping the cart instead of the horse. Cultivating the mind is the shortcut, the direct path; cultivating the body is the winding path, the detour. How does one cultivate the mind? Observe your own mind, observe all the thoughts that arise in it, discern what is right and wrong, wholesome and unwholesome, crooked and straight; constantly give rise to wholesome thoughts and sever unwholesome thoughts, and the circumstances will turn from unwholesome to wholesome—everything becomes wholesome.

The Buddha, in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, taught us that at all times, in every stirring of thought and every activity, we should recite wholesome mantras and give rise to wholesome thoughts, leaving no room for unwholesome thoughts. Over time, the mind will surely become wholesome, and all circumstances will likewise become wholesome. When you have time, read the relevant chapters of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra yourselves, and learn how to recite mantras, which mantras to recite, and what thoughts the mind should give rise to according to the different objects of contemplation.