Meditative Concentration and Merit Are the Prerequisites for Accomplishing All Dharmas (2024-04-02)

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: Recently, the tight, swollen feeling on the crown of my head, forehead, and between my eyebrows has lessened, and the phenomenon of blisters forming on my eyes to discharge impurities has also eased. Now my eyes feel fatigued when looking at things and cannot stay open, so I cannot discern material sense-objects. Sometimes a thought slightly arises, and if I ignore it, it disappears.

After the qi in my head cleared through, I felt like a different person—my whole body felt light and floating, very comfortable and joyful, yet I had no interest at all in any people, things, or affairs. When going out, I was unwilling to discriminate among forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Because my mind was not on the objects of the six sense-objects, I could not apply my mind to anything in daily life no matter what I did. Sometimes I would enter meditative concentration without realizing it, and within concentration I could still hear the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind, without hindering my contemplative practice of the Dharma principles.

Contemplative practice of the Dharma principles became clearer than before; I only needed to read the Dharma principles once and could keep contemplating continuously, with very few wandering thoughts. Some days ago, when the sun was about to set, I gazed at the setting sun with my eyes and it fell into my mind; whether walking, lying, or sitting, the setting sun did not vanish, like a burning-red pot lid shining in my mind, and I felt a warm sensation. Because my head was affected by wind and I feared the cold, I contemplated at any time the sun as a burning-red pot lid roasting my head, and then my head really did become warm, and the sensation of cold pain gradually disappeared. This shows that the power of mental mindfulness and the power of contemplative practice are inconceivable.

Formerly I could not let go of my family, so when cultivating the contemplation of the white skeleton, I began by contemplating my closest family members, visualizing them all turning into white bones. At first I felt panic and distress, but after becoming accustomed to the contemplation, no matter what kind of beings I encountered, I could contemplate them as white bones wrapped in a layer of skin, wearing masks, moving about everywhere. Now, whether walking, sitting, or lying down, my mind presents images of white bones with bloody flesh strewn all over the ground—some like piles of old wooden figures, headless, missing arms and legs, bodies askew. As such images continuously appear in my mind, I feel that this five-aggregate shell of form is just like wood, without any real existence—arising and ceasing, impermanent and decaying.

In the past few days I went to the nunnery for a Buddha-name recitation retreat. While reciting the Buddha's name and sutras, before I knew it I no longer knew where my body was; I felt that other people were very, very far away from me; looking at things felt like looking at images in a mirror, and hearing sounds was like listening to sounds from a player—unreal. So I just dully listened to the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind.

Assessment: This is the merit of meditative concentration. When the power of concentration is strong, one can remember the Dharma principles after reading them once and can continue contemplating them without rereading. Visualizing sunlight and visualizing the setting sun are the same; whatever one visualizes is like this. Thus the power of meditative concentration is inconceivable. With meditative concentration, one can accomplish all dharmas. The meditative power of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can give rise to boundless supernatural powers and powers of the Way, accomplishing boundless and immeasurable endeavors, transforming the trichiliocosm at will. With the power of meditative concentration, even dharmas merely imagined in the mind can become reality and appear before one's eyes. A person in such a state should not be lightly provoked by others, because his power of mindfulness is extremely strong; if he wished to punish you, he could do so without meeting you, and you would not even know what happened. Even if he has no mind of retaliation or punishment, if his level of cultivation and realization is high, his virtue deep, and his merit great, he can still cause evil people to bring retribution upon themselves; moreover, with the protection of Dharma-protecting deities, the punishment evil people receive is even greater.

Many people cannot sustain their study of the Dharma or go deep into it. This is because their own merit is insufficient and they have no power of concentration to speak of, so the Buddha-Dharma cannot enter their minds—they are like duckweed floating on the water. Therefore, in the process of cultivation, merit is extremely important, and the power of meditative concentration is equally important. Lacking these two, and if one does not keep the precepts well, studying Buddhism is merely "studying"—and even the studying will not go well: the principles are not penetrated, and obstructions arise everywhere; theory and practice cannot be connected. Studying the Dharma relies first on the mind consciousness. Without meditative concentration, the mind consciousness's understanding and deliberation are very shallow, lacking logic and the power of wisdom; therefore, the wisdom of the mind consciousness also requires meditative concentration to be complete. When you cannot think through a Dharma principle no matter how you deliberate, it is because you lack meditative concentration, and perhaps also lack merit, causing the mind consciousness's deliberation to be shallow and unable to go deep.

If the first step of studying and cultivating the Dharma lacks actual practice and realization, then trying to deliberate and understand Dharma principles five steps beyond is extremely strenuous and exhausting for the mind, and understanding cannot be adequate at all. If one further tries to understand and deliberate on Dharma principles ten steps beyond, it is like reading a heavenly book—interesting perhaps, but who knows what practical significance it has. Therefore, when we cannot understand or deliberate through a certain level of Dharma principles, we should step back and take the secondary approach: cultivate merit and develop meditative concentration, so that wisdom can deepen one step, striving to realize the foundational parts first.

When each person cultivates to this stage, it is almost impossible to live together with anyone, and in solitude one cannot take care of oneself either, so this is the most difficult period. A true practitioner will encounter some obstacles in dealing with the world—unable to get along with people, yet lacking the appropriate conditions for solitude. It is very difficult to merge with this world.

When meditative concentration encounters obstructive conditions and regresses a little, the manas's deliberation and contemplative practice become insufficient, and the mind consciousness's deliberation and analysis appear. Even in deep meditative concentration, if the manas's wisdom is insufficient, one cannot contemplate in accordance with reality and will substitute the mind consciousness's understanding and analysis. When the mind consciousness's functions and effects become great, it is no longer contemplative practice but analysis and imagination. Therefore, a person who has perfected preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) is not necessarily enlightened. If a conclusion is reached in a state of having withdrawn from meditative concentration, or in a state of shallow concentration, that conclusion is one dominated by the mind consciousness; such a conclusion is not reliable—it will change later, regress, and be disavowed. Even if it does not regress, a conclusion of the mind consciousness does not belong to the conclusions of realization.

The four foundations of mindfulness are four of the thirty-seven aids to the path; the result of cultivating them is the elimination of self-view and the realization of the fruits. While cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness, the other limbs of the path will also gradually become complete; only when all thirty-seven limbs of the path are complete can one see the Way. Life is bitter and short, and human life is impermanent. Seize the time to realize whatever can be realized; ensuring that in the next life you again obtain a human body to continue cultivation is what is fundamental. Being fond of learning in this life, interested in everything, yet realizing nothing—if in a later life you fall into the three evil destinies, what else could you do? Be a clever and wise person: one bird in the hand is worth ten in the bush; what you have not grasped is not yours.

There are also some people who are still greatly enjoying that pitiful bit of worldly merit, grasping at every one of forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches, unwilling to give up even a little, yet unable to advance in cultivating the Buddha-Dharma, which does not enter their minds. Once they go to the three evil destinies in a later life, that is suffering for long kalpas, without any enjoyment at all—will it still be too late for regret then?