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

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: Recently, the feeling of tightness and swelling at the crown of my head, forehead, and between the eyebrows has lessened, and the phenomenon of blisters forming on my eye faculty to discharge impurities has also diminished. Now my eyes feel fatigued when looking at things and cannot stay open, making it impossible to discern material sense-objects. Sometimes a thought arises slightly, 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, but I had no interest at all in any people, things, or affairs. When going out, I was unwilling to discriminate forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Because my mind was not on the realms of the six sense-objects, I could not apply my mind to whatever I did in daily life. Sometimes I would enter meditative concentration without realizing it, and in samādhi I could still hear the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind, without hindering my contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the Dharma principles.

Contemplating the Dharma principles was clearer than before; I only needed to read a Dharma principle once and could keep contemplating it 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 disappear, like a glowing red pot lid shining in my mind, feeling warm. Because my head was affected by wind and I feared the cold, I would contemplate the sun at any time as a glowing red pot lid baking 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 intention and the power of contemplative practice are inconceivable.

Previously I could not let go of my family. When practicing the contemplation of the skeleton (white bones), 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 sentient 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 covered in 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 shell of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) is just like wood, without any real existence—arising and ceasing, impermanent, and decaying.

In recent days I went to the nunnery for a Buddha-recollection retreat (buddhānusmṛti). While reciting the Buddha's name and the sutras, as I recited, 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 listening to sounds was as unreal as listening to sounds from a player, so I just sat blankly listening to the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind.

Assessment: This is the merit of meditative concentration (dhyāna). When the power of concentration is strong, one can remember a Dharma principle after reading it once and can continue contemplating it without repeated reading. Contemplating sunlight and contemplating the setting sun are like this; whatever one contemplates is like this. This shows that 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 immeasurable supernatural powers and powers of the Path, accomplish immeasurable and boundless endeavors, and transform the trichiliocosm (three-thousandfold great world) at will. With the power of meditative concentration, even dharmas imagined in the mind can become reality and appear before one's eyes. People in such a state should not be lightly provoked by others, because their power of mental intention is extremely strong; if they wished to punish you, they could do so without meeting you, and you would not even know what happened. Even if he has no mind of revenge 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 incur evil retribution; and with the protection of Dharma-guarding deities added on, 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 also does not keep the precepts well, studying Buddhism is merely "studying"—and even the studying will not go well; with principles not thoroughly understood, there are obstructions everywhere, and theory cannot be connected with practice. Studying the Dharma relies first on the mind consciousness. Without meditative concentration, the understanding and deliberation (manasikāra) of the mind consciousness are very shallow, lacking logic and the power of wisdom; so even the wisdom of the mind consciousness requires meditative concentration to be complete. When you contemplate a Dharma principle and simply cannot think it through, that is due to a lack of meditative concentration, and possibly also a lack of merit, causing the mind consciousness's deliberation to be shallow and unable to go deep.

If in studying and cultivating the Dharma one has not actually practiced and realized the first step, then trying to contemplate and understand Dharma principles five steps beyond is extremely laborious and exhausting for the mind; understanding simply cannot be adequate. If one still tries to understand and contemplate Dharma principles ten steps beyond, it is like reading a heavenly book—interesting perhaps, but who knows what practical meaning it has. Therefore, when we contemplate a Dharma principle at a certain level and cannot understand or think it through, we should step back and take the next best thing: build up merit and develop meditative concentration. In this way wisdom can deepen one step, and we should strive 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 hard to merge with this world.

When meditative concentration encounters obstructing conditions and regresses a little, the deliberation (manasikāra) and contemplative practice of the manas become insufficient, and the thinking and analysis of the mind consciousness appear. Even in deep meditative concentration, if the wisdom of the manas is insufficient, one cannot contemplate the Dharma in accordance with reality, and will substitute the mind consciousness's understanding and analysis. When the functions and activities of the mind consciousness become dominant, it is no longer contemplative practice but analysis and imagination; therefore, even a person whose preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi) is complete 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, then that conclusion is one dominated by the mind consciousness; such a conclusion is not reliable—it will later change, regress, or 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 eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and the realization of the fruit. 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 Path. Human life is short and impermanent; seize the time to realize whatever can be realized. Ensuring that in the next life one again obtains a human body and continues cultivating is what is fundamental. Being fond of learning in this life, interested in everything, yet realizing nothing—if in a future life one falls into the three evil destinies, what could one do then? 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, while unable to advance in cultivating the Buddha-Dharma and unable to let it enter their minds. Once they go to the three evil destinies in a future life, that will be suffering for long kalpas, without a bit of enjoyment—will regret still be timely then?