คำว่าเห็นสิบแล้วเห็นศูนย์สืบรากมาจากอักษรจีนโบราณ เลข 10 เป็นรูปกากบาทกลางกาย เมื่อละเอียดเข้าไปก็กลายเป็นจุดศูนย์กลางที่ขยายเป็นดวงกลม บทบาทของผู้ปฏิบัติคือเพียงกำหนดรู้อยู่เสมอไม่เผลอ ที่เหลือเป็นกลไกอัตโนมัติของระบบกุศลธรรมThe saying traces back to ancient Chinese script — the character for ten is a cross shape at the center of the body, which, refined further, becomes a bright point that expands into a sphere: zero. The practitioner's only role is to stay continuously aware without lapsing; the rest is the automatic mechanism of the wholesome system.
Someone asked what the Great Teacher meant by "see ten, reach zero," and why one must see the number ten before reaching zero.
The "ten" here refers to the cross-shape at . Tracing this back, the phrase originates from ancient Chinese script — the character for the number ten in Chinese is shaped like a cross. If you look it up, you'll find that "ten" in Chinese, whether in the Teochew or Mandarin pronunciation, is written as crossed lines — a cross at the midpoint, the cross at the center of the body. Once one reaches that point and refines it further, it becomes a central point, a bright star; and as that star expands, it becomes a sphere — "zero." So seeing "ten" is followed by seeing "zero." This is the traditional origin passed down.
But the Great Teacher taught that one needn't try to force these images to appear. Simply settle the mind in a neutral, even state, without thinking of dark or bright — just settling the mind evenly, again and again, staying aware without lapsing, and it will naturally refine on its own. If you can picture two crossing lines forming a cross, that image will appear in the imagination and remain there; it will naturally grow more refined, because the very act of knowing is what causes merit to flow in — then overlays and corrects everything automatically. All a human being can do is maintain awareness, staying aware without lapsing; everything else is the work of the wholesome system, which handles it all — including the seeing of "ten" and "zero" — all of it is simply the mechanism of the automatic inner system unfolding on its own. The more the wholesome system clears away the defilement — the concealing elements of — the more clearly we come to perceive.
Just don't get excited by what you see, because excitement stirs the mind, and once stirred, it becomes coarse again, and the concealing elements return to obscure things once more. But before the concealing elements can be cleared, ignorance itself must be cleared first — not (). The hindrances are merely the front line that stirs up trouble to prevent concentration from arising; clearing the hindrances only requires giving time to the wholesome — maintaining awareness, staying aware without lapsing, that's all. This is as far as a human being's role in attainment goes. So what matters most is giving as much time as possible to the wholesome. If you want quick results, give the wholesome plenty of time. When a defilement makes us sleepy, we sleep; when it makes us restless, we're restless; when it makes us drowsy, we're drowsy — all naturally. The single most important role for a human being is to maintain awareness, staying aware without lapsing, and then to choose a meditation object suited to oneself, one that can anchor to and rely on — this is called -vicaya, the investigation of : researching which approach to Dhamma best suits oneself.