Only in Samadhi Can One Realize the Dharma

Shi Ruyuan: Over the past two years, my practice has primarily focused on contemplating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, practicing contemplation of the impure and skeleton contemplation. In the last six months, due to the movement of the channels and energies, my body has continuously exhibited various reactions. The master taught me some antidotal methods, such as tapping my head, and also instructed me in moxibustion on the head and washing my hair with ginger water. Wearing the moxibustion cap feels much better, but I still feel as if wind is drilling into the top of my head. There's also a small area about the size of an egg that feels swollen and uncomfortable, slightly feverish, yet my body feels light, tranquil, and comfortable. My eyes have also improved significantly.

The house I lived in when I got married collapsed. Initially, I felt quite sad and regretful, but then I reconsidered: houses and the human body are no different; both will decay and perish. So, I let go of the attachment. When I visited my elderly father-in-law in the hospital, I saw that all the inpatients were elderly people, each relying on tubes to maintain breathing. Lately, whenever I see any physical form, I give rise to investigative doubt. So, right then, I contemplated the impurity of the physical body. I kept contemplating until suddenly I froze. My mind spontaneously presented these elderly people turning into piles of skeletons—some lying down, others reclining. Afterwards, my mind presented the image of my father's pulverized bones during cremation, like dust, which then vanished.

Upon careful reflection, relatives are merely karmic connections in this lifetime, yet they become obstacles to our practice. After realizing this, the attachment to family ties immediately diminished, allowing my mind to settle and practice diligently with vigor. Contemplating mindfully, I see that the essence of matters concerning relatives and houses is also empty and unreal. Understanding this enables letting go, freeing me from clinging and sorrow. The more I witness firsthand the impermanence of all people and events, the firmer my resolve becomes, the stronger my faith grows, the easier the contemplation of the emptiness of mind feels, and the less I give rise to false thoughts.

During the period approaching the New Year, family matters required my help, but I kept forgetting things after hearing them, constantly mishearing and making mistakes. My mind's reactions became increasingly sluggish, and I kept messing things up. Not only that, but I also felt as if wind was entering the top of my head. When my scalp touched water or encountered wind, my head felt as if it were splitting open, causing great discomfort. My eyes and nose kept running, my eyes felt gritty and tired when looking at things, and my ears buzzed incessantly—I even thought my auditory faculty was damaged. Strangely enough, although I couldn't hear other sounds clearly, I could hear what seemed like the sound of the Buddha's name both inside and outside my body and mind. Previously, I could hear the Buddha's name in my mind only when my mind was pure. But recently, the more anxious I felt and the more I struggled to recall things, the more dazed my mind became, and it felt as if a force was pushing the sound of the Buddha's name to arise in my mind, becoming even clearer, louder, and continuous.

Commentary: The phenomena manifesting in the body during practice indicate that through cultivating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the meditative concentration is very deep, abiding in the samadhi of Buddha-recitation and a light state of skeleton contemplation samadhi. The inner sound of Buddha-recitation arises spontaneously and consciously; it’s difficult to prevent it from arising. This is the state where the mental faculty (manas) is abiding in the samadhi of Buddha-recitation, uncontrolled by the conscious mind (mano-vijnana). At the same time, there is also profound contemplative wisdom. Concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (prajna) are equally balanced. At this stage, it becomes very easy to sever the view of self (sakkaya-ditthi), or one might not even know precisely when the view of self was severed.

The reflections on the house and relatives belong to the understanding and analysis of the conscious mind (mano-vijnana), not direct realization. The component of the conscious mind outweighs that of the mental faculty (manas), therefore it is not perceptual direct awareness (pratyakṣa-pramāṇa). The skeleton contemplation that arose in the hospital involved mostly the mental faculty, with some component of the conscious mind. The samadhi state was relatively shallow, and the power of concentration was not yet sufficient. Therefore, upon seeing the elderly, it was still necessary to give rise to investigative doubt on the spot; the skeletons did not appear immediately. If meditative concentration deepens further and the samadhi state becomes deeper, the skeletons will appear spontaneously. Then, severing the view of self becomes very easy. Therefore, severing the view of self and realizing the mind (seeing the true nature, 'mind') both occur within profound meditative concentration, within the samadhi state, where wisdom manifests spontaneously without deliberate contemplation or thinking, uncontrolled by the conscious mind. This is the state of perceptual direct awareness (pratyakṣa-pramāṇa) of realizing the Dharma. States dominated by the conscious mind belong to the realms of non-valid cognition (apramāṇa) and inferential cognition (anumāṇa-pramāṇa).

The phenomena in the head indicate that the channels and energies are close to fully opening up the entire head. Once this happens, the body will be free from obstructions. I just don't know whether this means the Ren and Du channels have opened up, or if the central channel is also nearly open—there's no data to determine. But this indicates that severing the view of self is not far off. After severing the view of self, meditative concentration will deepen further, and more auspicious signs will appear.