Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

2. Before samatha attainment, one's mind may fix upon
some concentrated truth, but even so, it will not be
possible to maintain or actualize it. When samapatti is
not sustained by the force of samatha, it is neither true
samapatti, nor is it of much use in meditation.
3. If one attains samatha, then wisdom is increased, and
one can penetrate into the truth with samapatti.
4. Every thought before the attainment of samatha is an
act of the six consciousnesses and thus is tainted with
the false views of past lives and avidya (ignorance); that
is samsara. Once samatha is attained, the force of it may
be used to meditate on the truth, so that with avidya cut
off, one's whole system of thought is correctly oriented
and turned towards Full Enlightenment.
5. A human being's unwholesome thoughts have
accumulated over the ages, so that bad habits have been
formed: this is because one's thoughts are not centered
upon Buddhadharma (see Ch. II, B, 1). It is hardly
possible to use a mind like this to think about the truth;
before this must come the attainment of samatha.
Buddhists well know that past karma causes habits, and
would generally agree with the old adage: "Sow an
action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a
character, reap a destiny."
This saying just describes nicely (though fatalistically)
the character of a human being who does not possess the
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