Changlu Zongze's Zuochanyi:
This one teaching of meditation is our most urgent business. If
you do not practice meditation and enter dhyāna, then when it comes
down to it, you will be completely at a loss. Therefore, to seek
the pearl, we should still the waves; if we disturb the water, it
will be hard to get. When the water of meditation is clear, the
pearl of the mind will appear of itself. Therefore, the Perfect
Enlightenment Sūtra says, ''Unimpeded, immaculate wisdom always
arises dependent on meditation." The Lotus Blossom Sūtra says, "In
a quiet place, he practices the control of the mind, abiding
motionless like Mt. Sumeru." Thus, transcending the profane and
surpassing the holy are always contingent on the condition of
dhyāna; shedding [this body] while seated and fleeing [this life]
while standing are necessarily dependent on the power of samādhi.
Even if one devotes himself to the practice his entire life, he may
still not be in time; how then could one who procrastinates
possibly overcome karma? Therefore, an ancient has said, ''Without
the power of samādhi, you will meekly cower at death's door."
Shutting your eyes, you will end your life in vain; and just as you
are, you will drift [in saṃsāra].