Chan Meditation Is Not Reasoning and Guesswork

To practice Chan meditation, one must be fully endowed with the six perfections of the bodhisattva, and the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment must all be cultivated to completion. In particular, one must possess preparatory concentration (anāgamya-samādhi). Only when practicing Chan under these conditions, with all causes and conditions complete, can one attain realization. Otherwise, it is nothing but theory or inference and speculation; even if the resulting conclusion is reasonable, it lacks the liberating benefit and experiential enjoyment, one cannot eradicate the three fetters, and one cannot truly contemplate the workings of the eighth consciousness.

With a result obtained through inference, the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) cannot die out, the mental activities are not empty, and afflictions remain as before. If arrogance additionally arises, the afflictions will become worse than before. How many so-called sages have afflictions worse than before, with two "selves" in their minds—all because they lacked meditative concentration, never went through the arduous process of personal investigation, and their mental activities were never quietly transformed and subdued. Suddenly a "fruit" appears in their minds, and so arrogance arises and afflictions increase.

Whether it is the fruit of the Great Vehicle or the Small Vehicle, the fruit itself is not the most important thing. What matters most is: when the fruit appears, is one's inner mind deeply moved? Can one change oneself to some degree, and to what extent? From then on, can one forever benefit from this fruit, and from that starting point, step onto a genuine and solid path of bright liberation? If you wish to gain the greatest benefit, you must value the manner, the channel, and the process of attaining the fruit. The process represents the degree of hardship in gathering evidence; the harder it is won, the sweeter it feels when attained, the more one cherishes it, the more resolute the mind becomes, the more tranquil, at ease, and selfless one is, and the less likely one is to regress. The more one invests, the greater the harvest. If the fruit is obtained easily and without effort, the experience of selflessness will be fainter, the fetters of birth and death harder to sever, and liberation more difficult to attain.