Only in Samādhi Can Dharma Be Realized

Weiru's Experience in the Practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Over the past two years, I have primarily focused on contemplating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, practicing the contemplation of impurity and the skeleton contemplation. In the last six months, my body has continuously exhibited various reactions. My master taught me some methods, such as tapping my head, and also instructed me in moxibustion and washing my hair with ginger water. Wearing the moxibustion hat has helped significantly, but I haven't fully recovered yet. It feels like wind is drilling into the top of my head. Currently, I feel a small patch about the size of an egg on my crown, as if my hair is being pulled taut—uncomfortably swollen and slightly warm, yet I also feel a sense of lightness, ease, and comfort. My eyes have improved considerably too.

The house I lived in when I got married collapsed. At first, I felt quite sad and regretful about it. But then I reflected: a house is no different from the human body—both will decay and perish. With that realization, I let go of the attachment. When I visited my father-in-law in the hospital, I saw that all the inpatients were elderly people, each relying on tubes to maintain their breathing. Lately, whenever I see any physical form, doubt arises in me. So right then, I contemplated the impurity of the physical form and persisted with this doubt. Suddenly, I became dazed. Images appeared in my mind: these elderly people were all skeletons—some lying down, others as if reclining. Then, the image of my father's cremated and shattered bones, like dust, appeared in my mind, before vanishing completely.

Upon careful reflection, I realized that relatives are only close in this lifetime, yet they become obstacles to our practice. Recognizing this, my attachment to family ties immediately diminished, allowing my mind to settle and diligently pursue cultivation. Through mindful contemplation, I understood that the essence of matters like relatives and houses is also empty and unreal. Merely thinking about this helps me let go, free from clinging and sorrow. The more I personally witness the impermanence of all people and events, the firmer my resolve becomes, the stronger my faith grows, the easier the contemplation of emptiness feels, and the fewer deluded thoughts arise.

During the period approaching the New Year, family matters required my help. I kept hearing things and then forgetting, repeatedly mishearing and making mistakes, unable to remember anything. I felt my mind becoming increasingly sluggish, often causing mishaps. Not only that, but it also felt like wind was entering the top of my head. Whenever my scalp touched water or encountered wind, my head would ache as if splitting open. My eyes and nose ran constantly; my eyes felt gritty and tired from looking at things, and my ears buzzed incessantly—I thought my auditory faculty was damaged. Strangely enough, despite these physical symptoms and the buzzing in my ears, making other sounds unclear, it felt as though the sound of Buddha's name permeated my entire being, inside and out. Previously, I could hear the Buddha's name in my mind only when my heart was pure. Recently, however, the more anxious I became and the harder I tried to recall it, the dizzier I felt. It seemed as though a force was pushing the sound of the Buddha's name in my mind, making it clearer, louder, and continuous.

Commentary: The phenomena manifesting in the body during practice indicate that through cultivating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the meditative concentration is very deep, abiding in the samadhi of Buddha-recitation and a subtle level of skeleton contemplation samadhi. The internal sound of Buddha-recitation arises spontaneously and consciously—it’s difficult to prevent it from appearing. This is the state where the manas (the seventh consciousness) is in the samadhi of Buddha-recitation, beyond the control of the conscious mind (the sixth consciousness). Simultaneously, there is profound contemplative wisdom; concentration and wisdom are equally balanced. At this stage, it is easy to sever the view of self, or one might not even realize exactly when the view of self is severed.

The reflections on the house and relatives belong to the conscious mind's understanding and analysis—they are not experiential realization. The element of consciousness outweighs that of the manas; therefore, this is not direct perception (pratyakṣa). The skeleton contemplation that arose in the hospital, however, involved more of the manas, with some consciousness mixed in. The samadhi state was relatively shallow, and the power of concentration was not yet sufficient. Hence, upon seeing the elderly, doubt still needed to arise on the spot; the skeletons did not appear immediately. If the meditative concentration deepens further and the samadhi state becomes more profound, the skeletons will appear spontaneously, making it easy to sever the view of self. Therefore, severing the view of self and realizing the mind both occur within profound meditative concentration, within the samadhi state, where wisdom manifests spontaneously without deliberate contemplation or conscious control. This is the state of direct perception (pratyakṣa) of the Dharma. States dominated by consciousness are inferential cognition (anumāna) or erroneous cognition (viparyaya).

The phenomena in the head indicate that the energy channels (qi meridians) are close to fully opening up the entire head. Once they are fully opened, the body will be free from obstructions. I just don’t know whether this means the Ren and Du meridians have opened, or if the central channel is also close to opening—there’s no data to determine this. However, this signifies that severing the view of self is not far off. After severing the view of self, meditative concentration will deepen further, and more auspicious signs will appear.