Why Did the Sixth Patriarch Cultivate for Fifteen Years Among Hunters After His Enlightenment?

The Sixth Patriarch was pursued and hunted along the way, and only out of necessity did he hide among a band of hunters. The circumstances he was in at that time allowed him only to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi), but the Sixth Patriarch cultivated concentration not in order to sustain and preserve the true mind; rather, he contemplated the principle of true suchness (tathatā) within concentration, and thereby attained very profound wisdom of subsequent realization. One who has genuinely realized the tathāgatagarbha has no need to sustain and preserve the tathāgatagarbha—once enlightened, enlightened forever. If one has awakened to the thought-free mind consciousness, then one needs to sustain and preserve the mind consciousness in a state of no-thought, always having to cultivate concentration to make the mind consciousness reach a state of no-thought and no wandering thoughts; if one does not cultivate concentration, deluded thoughts arise again, and that is not enlightenment. Clearly this is mistaken enlightenment, a tremendous misunderstanding.

This is because they take the mind consciousness when it is free of wandering thoughts to be the tathāgatagarbha and awaken to it; when there are wandering thoughts, it is no longer the tathāgatagarbha, so they must rely on cultivating concentration to sustain the mind consciousness so that it does not give rise to deluded thoughts, hoping to achieve long periods without wandering thoughts. This is taking the arising-and-ceasing mind consciousness to be the unborn-and-unceasing tathāgatagarbha and awakening to it—a mistaken practice and mistaken enlightenment, an enormous misunderstanding. True enlightenment requires no sustaining and preserving; the tathāgatagarbha never has moments when deluded thoughts appear, and there is no need to use the mind consciousness to cultivate it into a state of no-thought, no need to use the mind consciousness to sustain the tathāgatagarbha's state of no-thought—there is simply no such necessity.

Although one must still cultivate concentration after realizing the tathāgatagarbha, the purpose is different: the purpose is to attain deeper meditative absorption, and then engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) to gain deeper wisdom, to reduce or remove afflictions, and to let the mind attain tranquility (praśama). During those fifteen years, the Sixth Patriarch accomplished the fourth dhyāna, accomplished supernatural powers, and accomplished wisdom. He was not sustaining and preserving the eighth consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha. Having seen the mind and realized the tathāgatagarbha, the Sixth Patriarch recognized the tathāgatagarbha forever and would never lose it again. Through cultivating Chan concentration, he gained an even more profound experiential understanding of the tathāgatagarbha's nature, making his own mind more tranquil and his prajñā wisdom deeper and broader.