Do you mean you have recognized your true nature without deep samadhi? There’s a lot to unpack in this statement. Recognizing one’s nature has many aspects, and sometimes deep samadhi is not necessary. At the moment of touch, samadhi is not required at all; some people understand it with just a blessing. However, without samashi, such realization is generally unstable.
There are two standards for whether samadhi is deep or not. One is the depth of concentration, which is the degree of samadhi power. The other is whether the view meets the standard, which refers to the purity of insight. You ask if what he perceives at the moment of touch is “that?” It might be, but it’s unstable; it cannot be said to be completely so, because what he touches is not a thorough penetration. The reason is that there are many attachments and various other forces that are too strong, preventing a clear and stable abidance within. When clarity is complete, there will naturally be samadhi.
Whether it’s Dzogchen or Chan, it’s not about recognizing it during samadhi. Sometimes, recognition might come from a sudden shock or a fall, and upon rising, realization occurred. This has really happened, like when Monk Shui Lao was awakened after being kicked over by Master Mazu. After awakening, he did not have deep samadhi, but if he immersed himself in it, he would naturally develop it, and he could no longer be scattered because the external world and ‘that’ are the same.
So he would say, ‘I don’t practice anything, but I am not scattered.’ Why isn’t he scattered? Everything is awareness; how can he be scattered? Every thought that arises is awareness, but this cannot be compared with the ordinary power of concentration we cultivate. Ordinary concentration means not seeing, not hearing, nothing at all, no thoughts; this is called concentration. But his samadhi is different; he does everything, yet
he is always within awareness. So the two are not quite the same.
If you immerse yourself in the samadhi of Dzogchen for a long time, you will naturally develop the ordinary kind of concentration. You can enter it whenever you want, even the serenity of cessation of an Arhat; you can enter or exit it at will, in and out instantly. So, is deep samadhi necessary to recognize one’s true nature? It’s hard to say whether it’s necessary or not, but if you maintain the realization of Dzogchen, you will understand all forms of samadhi.
Otherwise, how could the Buddha be omniscient? If the Buddha is omniscient but doesn’t know the samadhi of an Arhat, what use is that? So he certainly knows, but his way of entering is not as same as ours. He maintains awareness, doesn’t practice anything, but is absolutely not scattered. Why is he absolutely not scattered? Because it’s fundamentally impossible for him to be scattered; even anger is awareness, how can he be scattered?
But you have to recognize that awareness, and recognize it thoroughly. If you say sitting on your meditation cushion is awareness, but getting angry while you are off from the cushion, it shows that your awareness is not thorough. What’s the reason for not being thorough? There are many attachments that have not been removed. So you need to cultivate renunciation, bodhicitta, emptiness, guru yoga, and so on. Why? To gradually increase the power of your awareness and make it clearer."
Excerpted from: Cognition and Expression Part Two
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