The Benefits of Contemplating with Manas

Q: I seem to understand how to use the mental faculty for deliberation. It is a mental activity that cannot be grasped through ordinary thinking—the moment thinking arises, the conscious mind becomes involved. Once consciousness participates, that state becomes less profound and subtle. Is this correct? This state lasts only briefly; when deliberation reaches a point of blockage, I resort to conscious thinking, and immediately the state loses its depth and subtlety. Also, during meditation, when I observe the state of the body with awareness, a sensation arises where this material body seems to disappear. There remains only a subtle sense of awareness and a body constructed by consciousness, which feels very insubstantial. Suddenly, the thought arises that the things we see in daily life are merely images, projections manifested by the mind. Having this feeling, yet upon emerging from meditative concentration and looking around, everything still appears so real.

A: You now seem able to distinguish, during meditation, whether it is the conscious mind engaged in thinking or the mental faculty engaged in deliberation. Your method is correct, but your skill is not yet sufficiently refined and effortless. You need to proceed gradually, deepening your foundation step by step. When contemplating the Dharma in stillness, using the mental faculty indeed results in profound and subtle mental activity, whereas using the conscious mind feels somewhat superficial, as if separated by a layer—less penetrating and profound.

During meditation, when observing the material body with focused attention, the power of concentration increases. As concentration deepens, the act of observing awareness itself becomes subtle, and the perception of the material body vanishes—the mind becomes empty. The power of concentration allows the mind to become meticulous and precise, often enabling the observation of things usually unnoticed, revealing the true nature of phenomena and leading to thorough comprehension and realization of truth. Thus, the feeling in meditative concentration that things appear as images, less substantial, is a correct view. Building upon this correct view and refining your practice to maturity holds the potential for realization.

After realization, upon emerging from concentration, one no longer mistakes the illusory for real. Before realization, a correct view is merely a view—it changes nothing. However, a correct view does entail some degree of detachment from false perceptions and inclines toward discovering the true nature of things. Maintaining and deepening this state of practice allows one to see through the illusory and insubstantial nature of all phenomena and principles. When causes, conditions, and the right time converge, it becomes possible to realize emptiness. Therefore, the realization of all dharmas occurs within profound meditative absorption. Even during activity, there is concentration—a power rooted in the meditative concentration cultivated in seated meditation, an extension of the stillness attained in meditation.