All accomplished practitioners throughout the kalpas have been endowed with dhyāna and meditative concentration.

The method of contemplation taught in the Zuochan Sanmei Jing (Sūtra on the Samādhi of Sitting Chan) is precisely instruction in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā); the line of thought is clear, only somewhat coarse. Meditative concentration (samādhi) combined with contemplative practice is sufficient to realize the fruits and attain the various samādhis, and if one also strictly upholds the precepts in daily life, then precepts, concentration, and wisdom are all cultivated together. When the Buddha was in the world, after his disciples heard the Dharma, they cultivated meditative concentration and contemplated through contemplative practice, and then realized the fruits—that was the path of practice back then, and it was highly efficient. It was the same in the Tang and Song dynasties: the assembly cultivated concentration and contemplated in Chan investigation, Chan masters ascended the hall to give teachings, and when the conditions of the season were complete, they awakened to the true mind and saw its nature.

As for the non-Buddhist practitioners, every one of them had skill in meditative concentration. When they encountered the World-Honored One, as soon as he expounded the Dharma, they could immediately contemplate and practice, and realized the fruits right then. So do not look only at the final step of their realization—the immediate gaining of wisdom upon hearing the Dharma. Before that, meditative concentration had already been accomplished, the mind had already been purified, and the thirty-seven aids to the path had already been cultivated; all that was lacking was right view. When the World-Honored One expounded the Dharma, he supplied their right view, and so they realized the fruits the very moment they heard it. We should not look only at people's final results; we should observe the process of their cultivation. The process is crucial: without a process that accords with reason, there can be no correct fruit.

The cases recorded in the Āgama sūtras and those recorded in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra are all authentic. Indeed, there were some non-Buddhist practitioners who, after cultivating the four dhyānas and eight concentrations, heard the Buddha expound the Dharma and, after only a few minutes of contemplation, eliminated self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and self-grasping, became arhats (the fourth fruit), and then entered nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣa-nirvāṇa). These non-Buddhists were extraordinary, and the merit of the four dhyānas and eight concentrations was extraordinary. Many of us hear the Buddha's Dharma for a whole lifetime and still cannot eliminate self-view; the non-Buddhists with the four dhyānas and eight concentrations needed only a few minutes or even less—not only to eliminate self-view, but also to eliminate self-grasping and immediately enter nirvāṇa without remainder. This is truly inconceivable.

Consider: why were their faculties so sharp? Because in the course of cultivating the four dhyānas and eight concentrations, with such deep meditative concentration, the mind consciousness became extremely subtle, dense, and keen, and the manas had already been subdued; there was only one mistaken view that had not been clarified and eliminated. Once that wrong view (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) was eliminated, all afflictions and attachments fell away at that very moment—such is the merit of the four dhyānas and eight concentrations. From this we can see that subduing the afflictions of the manas is very closely related to the four dhyānas and eight concentrations; meditative concentration is extremely important.

The Chan patriarchs of the past were all masters of cultivating concentration. Their disciples all had meditative concentration, and the bodhisattva's six perfections had all been fully cultivated—the process of practice was already complete. When the Chan master ascended the hall to give a teaching, the disciples seated below would awaken; the fruit appeared in this way. We cannot look only at the results of those who have achieved success; the most important thing is to look at the process of their cultivation, including how far they cultivated in past lives, how they practiced, and what spiritual faculties they had. For those whose foundation has already been laid, hearing the Dharma can bring sudden awakening in that very moment, without gradual cultivation, because previously—or in past lives—they had already cultivated gradually and completed that stretch of the road. To take only the final segment of a practitioner's path of cultivation is a serious case of quoting out of context, and it does great harm to people.

Those new to Buddhism should read more of the Buddha's Jātaka accounts of his previous lives, and consider the path of cultivation the Buddha walked from the moment he first made his aspiration; this should be a great inspiration to us. To study Buddhism means to study everything of the Buddha. Even if one can read ten thousand volumes yet does not understand their meaning, that is not true diligence. The fundamental purpose of studying the Dharma is to gain wisdom, not to amass countless items of knowledge and learning, not to study for the sake of studying, and still less to study for show to others. Therefore, in order to gain wisdom, what we should do and how we should do it is something we ought to ponder carefully. To study Buddhism is to study the Buddha's mind and conduct: not to collect all of the Buddha's words, but through the Buddha's words to understand the Buddha's mind, and then to study the Buddha's mind and emulate the Buddha's conduct; only then can one ultimately be equal to the Buddha, without difference, and be compassionate toward others.