Samatha-Training, and directions during various stages

(* On Obtaining Tranquility & Transforming Meditation Diseases toward Enlightenment) By Master Yuechen Translated by Ping Zhen Cheng Excerpt from Chan Journal, Finger Pointing to the moon Section, Volume 4, 1996, Hebei Buddhist Association, Hebei, China (* are editions from the translator)

The practice of Buddhism originates from the arising of a heart of renunciation, is aided by the Bodhisattva vow, and completes in the perfection of the Bodhicitta. During this vast process, except a few practitioners with rare natural potentials or the so-called the ones with sharp roots, for most of us, Quiescence or Samatha is a must tool to be developed. Therefore, many Sutras state, all the pure and serene merits are born out of meditative stabilization. Works on meditation are many as there are countless of sutras and teachings. However, the ancient scriptures illustrating step by step stages were ALL created for professional practitioners (Bikus and Bikunis). Even the 9 Steps of Sustaining the Attention for beginners was also targeted toward the same audiences-nuns and monks. Today, the situation is quite different as most practitioners are lay disciples living a nonsecluded life style. It is quite difficult for lay practitioners to follow step by step stages created by (and for) ancient saints and sages, after a whole busy day of working. How can we use our limited amount of time the most efficient way? To save our time, to also eliminate the countless possibilities of going off to the wrong path are becoming top-priorities, unavoidable issues for todays practitioners of modern Buddhism. After all, the key points of meditation are the cultivation of the two - Samatha Quiescence (or Quiescence, Stopping, to pacify and to remain) and Vipassana (or Insight, observation). How can we practice them? The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment discusses the three basic ways of meditation; Samatha (Quiescence), Samapatti (Insight), and Dhyana (dual cultivation of the two). Viewing this matter from the ground base, there are two levels of Quiescence. The conventional meaning is to place the attention on right thinking and right focusing;

the absolute or the non-dual (per say) meaning is to remain the attention on emptiness. There is no comparison between the conventional and the absolute ways of naming the two in terms of their depth; the same holds true for Vipassana. There are also two levels. The conventional meaning of it is to analyze, to mentally or consciously contemplate about emptiness. The absolute meaning (per say) is to actually and presently be resting in emptiness. Also there are miles of differences between these two levels of Vipassana . Regarding Dhyana (Channa) however, there is only one kind. That is the absolute harmonious combination between the two techniques of Samatha and Vipassana. This first article will only be addressing the conventional techniques of Quiescence or Samatha. The second article will be discussing the conventional side of Vipassana. As for the absolute or the non-dual aspects of the two, it only becomes applicable when the practitioner attains true experiences & realizations of emptiness. Quiescence or Samatha is the base of meditation to reach Samadhi. It means to stop or remain on in Sanskrit. For the practitioner to proceed into more advanced practices without having already attained a certain level of quiescence is like building architectures out of sand which would be useless. Many of the more advanced practices including Vipassana or observation based on analysis, Samapatti or observation based on Meditative Equipoise, Yi Xin San Guan or Triple Observations with one heart, the meditation of Mahamudra, Qieque or the first part of Dzogchen, etc, must all be based on Samatha. Therefore, there is really no shortcut or laziness allowed on the practice of quiescence. It is a must and time investment is needed. However, the art of stopping is a commonly shared tool for both Buddhists and heretics (or non-Buddhists, meditators with goals other than enlightenment). One aspects of looking at this is that the ultimate objective of any practice is never the practice itself, but always determined by the direction, goal and individual qualities of the specific practitioner. The only GOAL of Buddhism is to break through all harmful, habitual, mechanical patterns and attachments and realize enlightenment toward the perfection of the Bodhicitta and ultimate completion of Nirvana. Buddhism practice is NOT for (or against) paranormal powers (Siddhi) immortality, or great health, because it does states clearly that these feel-goodies are only by-products. Looking at the meditation circle or circus of today, it has already become a trend or Fashion Disease for practitioners to become involved or obsessed in attaining Personal or supernatural power. Very often, practitioners among us are negatively affected professionally and psychologically, putting family, finance and mental health at risk. Even the minimum loss would be time which is the most un-replacable.

Dissecting this Dharmic social phenomena from its root, there are only two simple causes. One is greed, the want to attain fame and power through attaining supernatural powers or just to satisfy the ego. The second one is blindness or ignorance, where practitioners have a lack of correct views, blindly accepting the meditation pliancy (or meditative highs) and psychic power as the ultimate cures of the human condition. Therefore, the arising of the Bodhicitta and correct views and understandings must become the base of correct meditation. Without this, it is almost absolutely sure to get lost and go off to the wrong path. Forming correct understandings and views is one of the most important components of Buddhism practice (if not the most important). Its importance cannot be fully stressed with the limited sentences in this article. For practitioners with doubts, the constant study of the Sutras and consulting with the knowing ones are greatly needed. All sorts of unclear understandings and unclear views are buried in the depth of the psyche. Many views and understandings many times are not consciously felt or clarified by the individual. However, as we know, all actions, either conscious or unconscious are all directed by the individuals understandings and views, meditation is of no exception. It is impossible to have a practice independently without being influenced by views and understandings. The same kind of view will give birth to the same kind of meditation of the practitioner. For sincere practitioners aiming at the correct Samadhi, please sincerely contemplate on THIS. Practicing Samatha is about learning how to place the heart/mind (in Chinese, Xin means both heart and mind) on one object or item. During the beginning stage, two crutches are a must, Correct Focus and Correct Knowing. Correct focus can also be considered as THE object of Samatha. For example, it can be the name of the Buddha, a picture of the Buddha, a mantra, or even just a little wooden ball. It is necessary to fix the individuals focus on or attach to only this one Correct Focus. This is called the ability stay attached on the attached. It is also to eliminate all other distractive thoughts. As human beings, we are 100% distracted by thoughts and are always carried away by them. Dealing with the basic issue of distraction, the individual now must use the other crutch-Correct Knowing, to recognize, catch, and discover its occurrence. As soon as going off the track is discovered, the individual can then return the awareness back to the Correct Focus. Chinese call this Kung Fu or results attained through time or work. There is no shortcut at all. A famous Zen quote is : For those who enter through a Given entrance, will not be lead into the hidden treasure . Generally speaking, in todays meditation circle or circus, on the time investment of Samatha, any Guru who claims to have the ability to help the students take a shortcut by giving blessing or energy or Qi, are all liars with ulterior motives by taking advantage of the students greed and laziness. Practitioners should be very careful. Training to focus is bitter and boring in the beginning, but THE good side of this is that as long as one is willing to take time & practice, it can always be mastered without the help of others.

On the techniques of stopping, there are two kinds. They are equally easy and equally difficult. The one that can be learned relatively easier is hard to be applied later when it is needed to apply ; the one that is relatively harder to learn or master can be applied easier. What makes a technique easy or hard? It is the object of focusing. For beings living in duality with a heart of attachment, with A habitual pattern of subjectobject relationship, it is our natural tendency to be always attached to A target all the time. The more solid, obvious, outstanding the target is, the easier it is to focus or attach on. However, the goal of the Buddhism meditation is to help the practitioner loosen up and eventually break the solid boundary of the subject-object relationship, the gap between the observing and the observed. When the duality is broken, then the practitioner will become one with THE original heart. Therefore, for those objects of focus that are more solid and outstanding and require less effort to focus on, it would actually require more practice to make them work, in order to serve any value towards THE breakthrough. The practitioner would have to reach a high level of quiescence, one that is free from the mind drifting away or falling asleep. This required level is equivalent to the 9th level of Sustaining the Attention. Only then a possibility of a temporary breakthrough of the object-subject duality becomes possible. Only then would the practice be any good to the practitioner. On the contrary, if the practitioner selects a method that has a very subtle or nonsolid form to start with as the object of focus, it can be as subtle as to the point of formlessness or even close to non-duality, the story would be very different. Well, obviously it would be very hard to start with such an abstract focus or method since it is extremely difficult to be able to even INITIATE this kind of focus on a contacting target, not to mention how difficult it would be to MAINTAIN it for a period of time. However, the great truth is, as long as the practitioner can master this second kind of focusing, it would be greatly beneficial toward the breakthrough and attaining the true, original heart. Overall, the practitioner would either reach the level of thought-vanishing in the first method, or he/she would be able to apply the second method of subtle focus to make THE work. Beyond this, whether he/she is able to attain realization or not is determined by the individuals correct views, correct timing and other conditionally-arising factors. How do we determine the subtleness or solidness of the object of focus? Generally speaking, the forms of objects that are outside of the individuals body are less subtle, or more solid or dual-in-nature than the ones that are within; objects or things with a solid image or shape are more dualistic than the intangible ones; moving ones are more dual than stationary ones. The following is a list of objects in the order of most solid to the most subtle: Standing Pole Qigong, a wooden ball, an external picture of the Buddha, counting the breath, meditating on Dantian (or lower abdomen), reciting Amitabha, mantra, visualization.

Lets look at the example of the wooden ball; it is obviously an object outside of the body. It is not hard to use as an object of focus. However, its rare to see the usage of it taught in any of the Buddhism schools since the solidness or duality of the focused is too hard. Also choosing a wooden ball does not carry any specific merit in compare with other methods.. The question now is, within the limit of the individuals ability, is it correct to say that the less obvious, less solid targets are the better ones or less dualistic ones for meditation? In general, the answer is yes with some exception. Since each person has different potential deeds and there is never an absoluteness, sometimes it is not absolutely proportional between the difficulty of the focusing and the duality (subtleness or solidness) of the focused. However, as beginners, we should always choose an object of meditation that is relatively more subtle comparing with other possible choices and yet it also has to be within the range of our ability to attach our focus on. In Buddhism, especially in Vajrayana traditions, there are practices that utilize forms that seem to be very solid and dualistic by image and still produce great, outstanding results. One example of this is the Usage of the Tanka.* The reason behind this (seemingly paradox) is because these practices and forms skillfully took advantages of the power of beneficial causes and conditions. With these skillful means established, practitioners can easily gather the revenues needed toward enlightenment-great merits and wisdom. Therefore, we can state that these (seemingly more dualistic) forms carry great merits or The Greater the Form, the Greater the Usage, which is another unique manifestation of the principle of skillful means. What should be mentioned here is a rarely used and documented target of focusing. That is to make the correcting views and understandings the object of focusing. Very few works have discussed ways of placing the focus on such. Why? because THE form of TRUE( or high level) views and understandings is too abstract and difficult to grasp. What we should know is that the art of Abiding on correct views is indeed a very advanced level of Samatha. It does have the ability to bring the practitioner toward the absolute at a quite fast speed, toward the non-dual practice-oneness between Samatha and Vipassana, oneness between Light and Emptiness. It is actually adopted as the preparation practice of Dzogchen. The techniques of the so-called Abiding on correct understandings can even be more categorized into further kinds. Among them, the ones with very, very subtle forms, or the ones that approach toward the direction of the complete dissolution of the duality, are the more ideal ones. Eventually, the barrier is completely destroyed and the practitioner will be entering into the main practice of the great perfection of Dzogchen. Here we are not suggesting beginners to use correct understandings as the object of focus. However, practitioners whose goals are enlightenment should bear in mind that this is a very important method and might be needed in the future.

Once a suitable method is selected, one must have patience. An inconsistent practice will produce no results. It is very common to experience ups and downs in the quality of meditative stabilization. It is very important to not be distracted by this. At the same time, this is not saying to rigidly follow all the rules either. After trying one method for a period of time, if there is actually no result at all, then one should ask what the causes are. If a method is really unsuitable, then it is time to change to a different one. When the practice reaches a certain stage, the method should also be adjusted and improved correspondingly. During the process of learning focusing, everyone does encounter mistakes and hindrances. We call these Chan Diseases. Though disease symptoms are thousands, there are only two causes: scattering and sleepiness. All scattering diseases are caused by losing the right focus, all sleepiness diseases are caused by losing right knowing. What beginners encounter is usually the most obvious one the disease of mind-scattering or day-dreaming. For example, as we chant the name of Amitabha, before we start the sitting session, everything is ok. Just shortly after the session starts, the mind begins to go left and right, even miniature thoughts, the very, very trivial ones, all start to flourish and occupy the mind. The only thing that is absent is the name of the Amidaba. Without knowing, the mind had already forgotten about the Amidaba. Actually, there is no way out of this problem. The only thing that a practitioner can do is to increase the intensity of right knowing, to always catch oneself, or to be strict on oneself and use the awareness ruthlessly. As soon as the awareness drifts away, pull it back to the mantra or the name of Amidaba; when losing it again, bring it back again. As time goes by, the problem will become less and less severe. One of the secrets is, when one is chanting mantra or reciting the name of Amidaba, the correct feeling should be a heavy weight lifting or pushing a heavy cart up a slope. You have to fully apply the power of the heart/mind. During the same time, feel & listen to the sound of the chanting from within. Chanting without conscious intent will lead nowhere. After this first stage or the mind-scattering disease is basically under control, then the mind-sleepiness will be encountered. Again, unconsciously without knowing, the practitioner would fall into a state of sleepiness. Well, it depends on the situation, if the practitioner is actually tired, then to go and rest would be the right solution. Meditation can be continued after one gets enough rest. For beginners, meditation cannot replace sleep! Forcing oneself to sit without having enough rest will form a very, very harmful habit (* the habit will be automatically falling asleep during sitting sessions) which will prevent further developments. However, if this sleepiness is not caused by lack of rest, then the practitioner has to strengthen the power of correct knowing. Watch yourself closely, stay in tuned with the sound of the chanting or Amidaba. By practicing each day between 1-2 hrs consistently, after a few months, the most outstanding enemies - scattering and sleepiness will be basically conquered. Now, while the two outstanding enemies or major Chan diseases are no longer in frequent

appearance, in which the practitioner is now also no longer experiencing exhaustion or falling asleep. The feeling is starting to become pretty decent. The next problem now would be pain in the legs, feet and knees. All the pain will be distractive to the practitioners mind. The only solution again is to practice more and more in order to increase the level of stability. After another period of practice, when the physical pain in the legs is conquered, another level is reached, a good feeling, light-headed one. Watch out! When you feel good, both scatterness and sleepiness are coming onto you together! How so? Because there are actually many, many miniature thoughts hidden underneath the depth of the psyche going on and on (which is called scattering); while the practitioner is only soaked in the good feelings or highs without noticing what is going on underneath, (which is called sleepiness). This is the second mountain to conquer. At this stage, obstacles are still within the category of non-subtle Chan diseases which are outstanding and obvious. As long as one keeps on going, it will be conquered eventually and meditation quality will be improved in TOTAL quality. Then, a new, healthier I would be born in order to serve for the later work of no-I.* During this stage of practice, facing the hardship, many practitioners cease to go forward and become stuck on these obstacles. For the majority of cases, the reason is that the self is not able to push the intent ruthlessly. Let face it, nobody is fond of using power on self-conquering. No one likes hard work. Most likely, during this stage, practitioners would start to blame the mantras or Buddhism that they are no longer working. Many times, we hear Dharma friends complain: my heart/mind is a mess, & no matter how much time I spend on the mantra, there is no way I can stop the scattering, just no way, blah, blah. Even though I can not accuse these complaints as purposeful lies, what these meditators are saying are not objective. The key is that people do not like to fight themselves. People with power do not want to use it! Lets do an experiment to understand: Cross the legs tightly and sit straight. Keep on sitting until a great deal of pain is felt. Keep on going and hold that position, till when? Until the whole body is breaking out with sweat. Then come out from the sitting position. Ask yourself: during the last couple of minutes before you finish the sitting, was the mind able to go scattering like crazy? The answer is no, it did not, *because it was too busy feeling the pain! From the experiment we can state that as long as one is able to push oneself to the same intensity as feeling the leg pain, the thoughts would vanish by themselves to a large extent. So, now the question is : Can you use your intent so forcefully, almost as intense as the feeling of the leg pain? The answer is yes. The fact that you are able to hold on to

the point of sweating proves the answer to be yes. Then the question becomes whether every practitioner wants to push himself/herself that far. Are you willing to do it? Now let Now lets look at something common to each human being: weakness is one of the universal conditions within all of us-the unenlightened beings. There is no exception. Many years ago, I was also almost defeated during this stage of practice. As that time, I met Master MinZhi. He said: this thing (meditation) is like life & death combat in the battle field, if you dont kill them, they will kill you! (they is applying to the scattering thoughts) There is only going forward, no backward. If you want to live, then kill them, kill them brutally. What kind of thoughts cannot be conquered? I thought about it. He was right. It is the same one that is creating all the thoughts as well as trying to stop them. The two should be equally powerful. This is almost like a person with a cyst who wants to cut it off from his own body. Even though it is painfully difficult, its not impossible. I took Master Minzhis suggestion and really pushed it hard for a few months. It really worked. The obvious thoughts were conquered. Then I understood that even though Buddhism prohibits killing, it only prohibits killing lives, not killing harmful thoughts or patterns! Ruthlessness also has its right usage. Aluohan is also known as The Thief Killer! A question can be asked here often: Dont we read many books and teachings saying that in dealing with distractive thoughts, one should neither follow nor suppress them? The books never teach us to stop them? Well, we have to understand that those sayings are only under certain conditional context. We should not take the meaning out of the context. Neither follow nor suppress is a technique that is applied toward very subtle thoughts,* not the obvious or outstanding ones. Nowadays for practitioners, it is very easy to not suppress or stop the thoughts. We dont even need to learn how to do it. (*We do it all the time! Dont we?) However, how many practitioners have attained the ability to not follow the distractions of the thoughts. If you have not attained that ability, then you must try to learn how to stop them, and try ruthlessly. That is the only way to conquer distractions. We learn how to stop/suppress them NOW so that eventually we will attain the ability of naturally NOT following them in the future. Only then there would be no need to stop them. * Without mastering Suppress, not-follow will just never happen. After the above two stages, the practitioner should continue to practice hard and the meditation will be brought into a totally new stage. That new stage then becomes the most crucial period. We call this stage crucial because before this stage is reached, if the practitioner does not conquer the meditation diseases correctly, the only consequence would just be cessation of improvement, equal to no practice at all. Even though its not good, it would

not create any further problems. Working hard and applying the basic skills would be sufficient to conquer these diseases during the early stage. However, once this new stage is reached, if the practitioner does not treat the new diseases correctly, not only will no new improvements be made, but even great dangers would occur. On the other hand, if the problems are solved correctly, then gradually, a path that differs Buddhism from heretics (or non-enlightenment path) would become open to the practitioner. During this new stage, skill and hard work themselves would not be sufficient. Correct views become even more crucial. At this time, the practitioner would no longer have heavy and outstanding scatterings and sleepiness during sittings. A stable good and high feeling would surpass any life experience in ones past. At times, the practitioner would reach a stage in which there seems to be absolutely no affliction or suffering even during the after meditation hours. Especially when this stage is able to be sustained for quite a long period of time, the practitioner would very likely be convinced that some kind of attainment or enlightenment has been reached. Gradually, arrogance would arise and flourish. If one is not able to watch closely, or lacks the timely guidance of from realized helpers, big problems will occur. The fact is, just because there is no apparent scatterings or sleepiness, it does not mean that they are absent. During this stage, very subtle thoughts are going on at all times. Many practitioners at this stage become visionaries seeing Buddhas, demons, and ghosts. Occasionally, one is able to read others minds, with other paranormal powers, etc. Very soon, practitioners would be attached to what had been attained. Three kinds of falling-downs would occur that is quite usual in the history of meditation. The least harmful cases would be a stronger addiction toward these visions and detour toward a non-Buddhism or non-enlightenment path. The more severe ones would be manipulating these power for personal usage of financial and personal power until gradually falling down. The worst ones would be automatically being attracted to demon or devil realms, as in the 50 demons & Skandhas discussed by the Lengyan Sutra. All these consequences are caused by lack of correct views and understandings. They are not correct meditation stabilities and should be prevented. We are not trying to overemphasize the extreme cases here. In fact, Buddhism does not negate or go against Siddhi or paranormal powers. For example, in the teaching of Atisha Ditamkis Discourse on the Light of the Bodhi Path, it states that the amount of merit accumulated by a Bodhisattva with Siddhi during the course of one day and night is greater than the merit accumulated by a Bodhisattva without Siddhi in a million infinite time units. However the body of enlightenment should be realized first before its functional usage should be persuaded. For the practitioner without realizing the body of enlightenment, having paranormal power is like an infant holding a sharp weapon, not only no benefits would be accessible, harm will definitely occur. Therefore, paranormal powers should not be played with.

What can one do to prevent this? First one must have the correct views, knowing what the true path is and what the off roads are. Understanding that all forms and phenomena are consciousness created. All Siddhi, all higher stages are manifestations of very, very subtle thoughts during meditation and are not solid and independent in nature. As long as attachment occurs, one is turning back away from enlightenment and rejoining the dust of delusion. Secondly, it is important to recognize and catch ones own meditation diseases on time. Not being able to recognize them on time is actually a sign of sleepiness after all. During this stage, correct understanding becomes especially important. It becomes very necessary to elevate or strengthen the level of correct views. Encountering heavy and outstanding scatterings, practitioners have the ability to know that thoughts are flourishing. This knowing belongs to correct knowing. Encountering subtle scatterings, knowing alone is not enough. It is too slow, too dual. Now the ability of developing the fine, subtle awareness to catch the arising of scatterings on time is becoming necessary for the practitioner to master. It is very difficult to describe this kind of high-quality awareness with words. Practitioners should consult the questions to the knowledgeable ones. However, if language must be used in order to describe this stage of awareness, then I believe that maybe the phrase Brightly Shining Through or illumination can be barely used. The illumination is not a product of either I know or I dont know. The Brightness does not refer to the state of seeing Buddhas or seeing light. It refers to a state of naked thoroughness or clarity where nothing is hidden away from it. Practitioners who reach this level should put a large portion of the Quiescence practice on correct understanding and views. Indeed, correct understanding can be used as the object of focus during this stage. Using Brightly Shining through as the only focusing object is a good method. As a result, even the subtle thoughts will not be able to have much effect and correct meditation stability will be attained easier. Even practitioners who like to chant should invest some time on this so-called BST. Especially for Vijrayana mantra chanters, Great intelligence is free from work and Great Mantra is free from sound should be understood deeper. On the contrary, if the practitioner neglects this technique, even if he/she is unaffected by stages of Siddhi, it is still easy to become victims of subtle sleepiness, falling into a state of memory-numbness which is not the right meditation stability. The frog hibernates during the winter and there is definitely stability there. But without the BST, it is just like a dead object without any good usage. To learn BST, three factors are difficult. First of all, it is not easy to control the intensity of utilizing ones intent as it is very intangible. Using the intent too strong, creating too much of a subject-object duality would not do the work at all. Both Chan and Vajrayana have secret teachings on solving this difficult issue. Teachings from both schools are amazingly coherent. They only differ in the ways

expressed. However, today there are not many who know about these secret teachings. But, there is no need to feel frustration either. True masters in both schools do still exist. As long as one searches consciously, one will eventually discover them. Within different sutras, this method is also discussed. Most times the meaning is hidden between the lines which makes it difficult for the reader to grasp. This is the first difficulty. The second difficulty is after one had learned the way of using the right intensity of this so called BST. Since it is almost formless, almost free from the object-subject duality, it requires very much effort for the practice to be sustained. So much effort is needed that usually it is very difficult to hold the practice for a long time. But again, with persistent practice, this can also be accomplished. The third or the last difficulty is called relaxation. After the focus or meditation of this BST is established, the practitioner would have to slowly reduce the amount of effort being used. The underlying condition is to also avoid falling back to mindscattering at the same time. As long as the mind does not fall into scattering, the more effort being reduced the better. All these details should really be taught in person, words can never fully clarify. What good is it once one is able to learn to use BST? If the practitioner has a sufficient base of correct views, this is only a half step away from the first stage of Chans enlightenment or Satori. The absolute becomes almost reachable to the practitioner. On this LAST half step, many things have been said. These things are about avoiding false zones. All ancient collections of the masters from Chan, Lonchinpas writings from the Vajra School, current masters such as Rev. Xuyun, Rev. Laiguo, Master Yuanyins Brief discourse on Realizing the heart and seeing the nature, Subtle waves in the Ocean of Chan, etc., are all great aids toward leaping this half step. Generally speaking, the correct direction is the one that is inclined toward cutting through forms, cutting through dualities, toward non-attachment of all forms and dualities. SUMMERY: To many practitioners, the practice of Quiescence may sound like stopping afflicted thoughts with correct thoughts. Basically, the nature of all thoughts is delusive and afflicted. There exist no such thoughts that are non-delusive. The so-called correct thoughts are simply ways of correctly using delusive thoughts. Strictly speaking, thoughts should not be terminated and can not be terminated. Ways of dealing with thoughts vary at different stages of meditation.

In dealing with heavy, solid delusive thoughts, one must be capable of stopping and cutting through them. The minimum requirement for the practitioner is to have the ability to stop the thoughts at will and sustain on the tranquility for quite a period of time without thoughts arising. Without this capability, clearing away heavy, solid afflictions and negative emotions that are surface obstacles blocking the true heart, the path of enlightenment becomes impossible. Necessary preparations toward further, more advanced practices will NEVER be ready. In dealing with subtle delusive thoughts, including paranormal stages, etc., both stopping and cutting through are not good methods. The best ways of dissolution are non-identifying and non-attachment which will enable ones clarity to Brightly Shine Through all delusions. Finally, there does exist the most subtle thoughts which were not mentioned above that are not recognizable to most practitioners, such as mountains, rivers, earth, manifestation and its dependants, etc. Usually they are not paid enough attention to be recognized as thoughts. Indeed it is not needed to stop or cut through these supersubtle thoughts. Only to avoid seeing them as solid, independent entities is sufficient. When the ego-attachment becomes loose and the self-enlightened wisdom starts to clearly manifest, one will recognize for oneself that all are non-hindrances. Forms and phenomena all are self-reflecting and self-dissolving. This will be realized in the further practice. So many words were said and now a brief summery of Quiescence practice in 3 sentences: a. Quiescence must be practiced with effort & time. b. Use the heart ruthlessly while stopping the afflicting thoughts. c. After heavy and solid thoughts are conquered, the key of practice would be correct knowing and BST. If the quality and quantity of Samatha are both good, the views are correct, and supporting factors and conditions are favorable, then practicing Samatha alone can allow one enter the absolute. However, after applying all above, if realization/enlightenment still does not occur, the next step for the practitioner would be practicing Vipassana in order to merge in with the emptiness nature. Basically, the practice of Samatha uses silence while Vipassana always takes advantage of the moving form which is not soothing to the usual habits of most people. The habits of the six senses are always attached to and confused by moving forms and phenomena. The practices utilize both the silent and the moving form to experience the complete manifestations of emptiness of all. Generally speaking, to most people, our constantly polluted consciousness is in constant afflicted motion. Only through the stopping practice of Samatha, one is capable of seeing its quiescence. As it is impossible to see the bottom of a fast-flowing stream, so is to succeed in the observation or Vipassana without accomplishing Samatha first.

If it is correct to say that during the process of practicing Samatha, views are applied in a concealed way, then the process of Vipassana is to directly break down, dissect and analyze wrong views in depth, to correct ways in which we use the mind/awareness incorrectly, and to realize the nature of being. One must acquire correct views first to make all this work! Vipassana or observation is not difficult to be performed as long as the base of the preparation practice is solid and ready, which are: Bodhisitta Vows, correct views, a certain level of Samatha power. Also, another great importance is that the practice of Vipassana should also be practiced during off-sitting hours. Using language and words alone, these kinds of techniques are quite difficult to be mastered by readers regardless of how many pages are written. However, under the presence of a real teacher, Directly-Pointing-Out, or Hands-on corrections on ways in which a practitioner wrongly, unconsciously utilizes the heart/mind during his/her meditation process may very likely create a breakthrough within seconds! The proof is that in history, many Chan practitioners did experience sudden enlightenment within just a few words. The causes of not being able to have a breakthrough are mostly all insufficient PREPARATIONAL work. That is where make-up works should be focused on which is another broad topics with specific techniques and stages that this article will not be covering. What are the incorrect methods of utilizing the heart/mind during and off meditation? How to fix them? These belong to the category of Vipassana practice. They are covered in the next article. May this article serve as a stepping stone for better works in the future, to bring out more in-depth, more accurate discourses on meditation from knowledgeable, true teachers. May the never-ending lamp of the Dharma continue to guide and benefit all sentient beings that are traveling on the roads toward enlightenment-a path of noreturns.