The Importance of Cultivating Samadhi and Prajñā Simultaneously

Śamatha is cessation and also concentration; vipaśyanā is observation and also wisdom. Only with the equal cultivation of concentration and wisdom, the harmonization of cessation and observation, can great wisdom arise. This is the method practiced by bodhisattvas. Having cessation without observation, or having observation without cessation—being partial to one side—cannot give rise to great wisdom. Without this, one cannot realize the Dharma experientially and attain genuine wisdom; one can only intellectually understand the Dharma and acquire knowledge. This refers to the latter two of the Buddha’s threefold training of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, and also to two of the six pāramitās taught by the Buddha for bodhisattvas.

If someone sits in meditation for years cultivating concentration without engaging in contemplation or investigation of the Dharma, they will never attain realization or liberation. If someone leans toward absorbing knowledge, extensively studying and widely listening, without practicing meditation, their mind will remain scattered, restless, and unsettled, unable to penetrate deeply into meditative observation. Such a person will also never experientially realize the Dharma; at best, they may intellectually understand it and acquire knowledge, but their mind will not attain liberation, failing to sever the three fetters. Knowledge can never replace experiential realization, yet those who are uninitiated cannot distinguish between the two, often revering knowledge and scholarship as the unenlightened do.