IT IS OUR RELENTLESS EFFORT THAT MAKES CULTIVATION, ENLIGHTENMENT AND PERFECTION IN SPIRITUAL PRACTICE POSSIBLE
Question: During His time in the human realm, the Lord Buddha practised extreme asceticism for more than 10 years and yet, He failed to come to any spiritual awakening. However, when He meditated with His eyes shut under a Bodhi tree for 49 consecutive days, out of a sudden, He experienced a great spiritual awakening, paving the way for His attainment of unsurpassed and supreme enlightenment. What was the reason behind this?
Separately, does concentration really help one gain wisdom? Is meditative concentration paramount to our practice?
Answer: It goes without saying that meditative concentration gives rise to wisdom. Having said that, this doesn’t mean that all His prior spiritual practice was of no use at all as it formed an integral part of His practice as a whole.
Let’s say you are not full after taking some rice but, after drinking a bowl of soup, you feel full. Would you say that the rice you took before is of no use, and it is that one bowl of soup that makes you full?
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Discourse (Question 388), 7 June 2020
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