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:: Living Meditation, Living Insight ::
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:: The Path of Mindfulness in Daily Life ::
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by
Dr. Thynn Thynn
Copyright (c) Dr. Thynn Thynn 1995
This book may be copied or reprinted _for free distribution_ without
permission from the publisher. Otherwise all rights reserved.
=====================================================================
Dedicated to my teachers and to my family
Dr. San Lin, Win and Tet.
=====================================================================
[Information about the publisher]
For further information, write to:
The Dhamma Dana Publication Fund
c/o Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
Lockwood Road
Barre, Massachusetts 01005 USA
&
Dr. Thynn Thynn
e-mail: <puma7988@ix.netcom.com>
[information from the back cover, and biographical summary]
======================================================================
Living Meditation, Living Insight
The Path of Mindfulness in Daily Life
For Western practitioners of Buddhist insight, the application of mindfulness
in daily life, rather than abstract theory, is what connects them most to the
teachings. This book speaks most eloquently on how the path of mindfulness may
be available to householders with full responsibilities of jobs and families.
The most precious commodity in our busy daily life is time, and the
complexities of life are so demanding that to find a sense of balance and
sanity seems to be a pressing issue. Dr. Thynn's focus is on gaining spiritual
insight through keeping mindfulness alive in the midst of our busy daily
lives. Her book is a unique presentation of traditional Theravada teachings
for lay people, and shows a strong flavor of Zen and Krishnamurti.
Dr. Thynn Thynn is a medical doctor-turned-artist from Burma and a Dhamma
teacher. She is the mother of two and currently lives in Scarsdale, New York.
She published a book in Burmese in 1978 about her experiences in Buddhist
meditation. She is the author of many articles on Buddhism, childhood
education and health related issues, published in Thailand and Burma.
Foreword
=====================================================================
I am very impressed by the thoroughness and care with which Dr. Thynn Thynn
explains the path of mindfulness in daily life in her book. This has not been
emphasized as strongly in the monastic and meditative teachings of Buddhism
that have taken root in the West. In fact, much of Buddhist practice in Asia
has followed the intensive model. But clearly, that will not work for those of
us who are householders in the West. And anyway, the wonderful experiences of
intensive practice often lead to less transformation of our lives than we
might hope, so that after intensive meditation practice we are back again in
the midst of our lives with the question of how to bring the Dhamma to bear in
everyday life. I am so pleased when I see a book like Dr. Thynn Thynn's that
speaks directly to this situation.
I applaud her clarity and courage for teaching in the straightforward way that
she does.
Jack Kornfield
Spirit Rock Center
Woodacre, California
July 1992
Introduction
=====================================================================
Years ago when I came to Thynn-Thynn's small Dharma group in Bangkok, I was a
newcomer to Buddhism. Thynn-Thynn opened the door to her home and welcomed me
with warm eyes and an infectious laugh. Several of her friends joined us and
began asking her questions about Buddhism. Smiling, she answered them in a
casual way, often using personal anecdotes.
As the years went by, the group grew. Friends invited their curious friends to
come. Thynn-Thynn responded by offering more structured sessions. We literally
sat at her feet as she gave a discourse, drew diagrams, and defined Pali
terms. After a lunch filled with laughter and talk, we met again for lively
discussions. Someone would ask for clarification of a point. The discussion
would roll around to: How can I apply this in my life? How will it help me be
mindful around my little toddlers? How can I practice equanimity with my
rebellious teenagers? How can I share this with a closed-minded spouse? How
can I be more compassionate to a friend in need?
Thynn-Thynn would gently offer, in a soft voice, her insights. Rather than
suggest a specific solution, she would propose a Dharma way of looking at a
problem. The questioner would return home and try "stopping and looking" and
"letting go." That was our practice. Go home and try it out.
Over the years, we became a support group, but one with a difference. The
Dharma propelled us forward in our lives; it held us together as a group. It
wasn't always easy. We were all so different -- or so we thought at first. We
came from many countries -- Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Switzerland,
Russia and the United States. We were an eclectic mix of religious backgrounds
-- Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and atheist. And we had very
different personalities -- devotional, intellectual, artistic, out-going and
contemplative. In a sense, we were speaking different languages: the logic of
the intellectual left the devotional unmoved; dramatic insights overwhelmed
those with more reserved temperaments. Sometimes sparks would fly at meetings.
But Thynn-Thynn leavened these delicate situations with her ready humor and
perceptive awareness. The social interactions within the group itself also
became part of our practice.
Going one step further, Thynn-Thynn customized the practice for each of us.
She matched, point for point, the heated arguments of the intellectual. She
urged artists to delight in the beauty of the moment. Nurturing each person's
natural tendencies, she encouraged each person to open up and blossom. Acutely
sensitive to each person's needs, Thynn-Thynn sought to balance our rigid
conditioning. She prodded the lazy, shocked the arrogant, and relaxed the
compulsive. In doing so, she revealed many different paths to understanding.
Gradually, each of us softened into Buddhism. We found we smiled more, laughed
more and loved more. We slowed down and had glimpses of things as they are.
Recently, Thynn-Thynn has moved to the United States; new friends gather
around, eager to learn the Dharma and apply it to their daily lives. The
Bangkok group still continues. Those of us who were in the original group
remain friends and continue to practice, although we are separated by years
and miles. Despite our differences, we found we have a lasting commitment to
living the Dharma, and an abiding love for the woman who showed us it can be
done.
Pam Taylor
Preface to the Second Edition
=====================================================================
Ten years ago, when our small Dhamma group started to meet in Bangkok, I was
inspired to write about the many questions that arose. The articles compiled
in this book came out of those many discussions. As I wrote, I gave these
articles to Dhamma friends to help them digest the Dhammic point of view and
encourage them in their spiritual quests.
I wrote the articles to encourage practitioners learning to meditate in daily
life. In this sense, the articles are presented as a "hands-on" or, more
accurately, a "minds-on" training manual. Although I discuss meditation in
general, the real focus is on how the Dhamma brings us into spontaneous,
wholesome and creative living.
This book is primarily for beginners in meditation. I have used theory and
Pali terms sparingly. The emphasis is on the process and insights into the
nature of the mind. My objective in presenting the articles is to help the
aspirant build up a solid foundation of mindfulness as a way of life rather
than as a practice separated from daily living. For those who have been
practicing meditation in the formal way, this approach can help them
incorporate their mindfulness practice into everyday experience. The process
of mindfulness is the same, except in one important aspect: instead of sitting
down, closing the eyes and watching the mind, the practice is done while
attending to everyday business.
After the first edition of this book came out in 1992, I received comments to
the effect that my teaching style is similar to Krishnamurti and Zen. When
someone once mentioned it to my friend, the Theravada nun Shinma Dhammadina,
she replied, "That's because her teachers' teachings are very much like
Krishnamurti and Zen."
My teachers are Burmese abbots, Sayadaw U Eindasara of Rangoon and Sayadaw U
Awthada of Henzada. They are Theravada monks, but teach the Dhamma in a very
unorthodox and dynamic fashion. They veer away from the emphasis on the
traditional form of "sitting" meditation, and instead strongly emphasize
"looking directly within and practicing mindfulness in everyday life."
I was very much attracted to this approach because of its simplicity,
directness and practicality in daily life. Just before I met my teachers in
1973, I had meditated briefly in the traditional sitting style at the Mahasi
Meditation Center in Rangoon with the late Sayadaw U Zawana. After a few
sessions with him, I began to realize I was automatically becoming aware of my
feelings in daily life and was becoming much calmer without formal "sitting in
meditation." I discovered that as soon as I focused on my feelings they would
drop away very quickly. Then, through some good Dhamma friends, I found out
about my teachers' method of finding peace of mind by stopping and looking at
the mind, moment by moment, in daily life as a form of meditation practice. I
felt immediately drawn to this style of teaching since I was experiencing
exactly what these teachers taught.
When I met my teachers, I was struck by the Sayadaws' profound wisdom and
their innovative style of teaching. Their liberal interpretation of Theravada
Buddhism is rarely found in traditional Buddhist Myanmar. Their teachings may
sound similar to Krishnamurti's, in an attempt to break down the mind from all
conditioning to its ultimate freedom, but what is striking in the approach of
the Sayadaws is that they provide a means to reassimilate the relative with a
new insightful perspective. They are also exceptionally skillful in providing
hands-on training which is similar to a direct transmission in the Zen
tradition. This is probably why my book may appear to some as an integration
of Theravada Buddhism, Krishnamurti and Zen. My teachers have not been
Western-educated, and came to know about Krishnamurti and Zen only when we,
their students, introduced them to these teachings. It is thus interesting to
see the confluence of such apparently disparate approaches to spiritual truth
in such an unlikely manner.
I am often asked what my teachers were like. They are actually an unlikely
pair. Sayadaw U Eindasara is a profound mystic and poet and the quieter one of
the pair. We fondly call him "the laughing Buddha." He rarely appears or talks
in public but devotes extraordinary energy to working with his students.
Sayadaw U Awthada is brilliant and quick-witted and we called him "the Burmese
Zen Master" in recognition of his Zen-like ability to tie up his students in
knots and push them beyond the intellect.
These teachers invite comparisons with Krishnamurti in that they live a very
simple life, without seeking followers, without setting up any institutions or
organizations, and keeping away from publicity and fame. They still live and
teach within the confines of monkhood, yet maintain an integrity and openness
rarely found in Buddhist Asia.
I had the good fortune to study closely with these two remarkable teachers and
I remember with fondness and gratitude the time I spent training with them.
They thought I was a little tricky, as I would continuously bring people from
all walks of life to be exposed to their teaching first-hand. From such close
encounters I have the privilege now to share my experiences with members of my
Dhamma groups and also, through this book, with many others. To these two
teachers, I bow in great reverence; I also bow down to my guru, Shwe Baw Byun
Sayadaw, for his kind support for this book and for my Dhamma work in the
West.
Thynn Thynn
Scarsdale, New York, 1995
Acknowledgements
=====================================================================
I am deeply indebted to my dearest Dhamma friend, Pam Taylor, who was the very
first person to suggest that I should get my writings published, and who also
took it upon herself to better organize my random writing and restructure it
into a manuscript. Without her valiant efforts and superb editing, my
manuscript would still be lying on a shelf in my basement. My thanks also go
to Marcia Hamilton, who edited the first draft manuscript, and to Ashin U Tay
Zaw Batha, who edited the text. Then it was my illustrious husband, Dr. San
Lin, who succeeded in nudging me to complete the manuscript and who was
enormously helpful in preparing the final version.
It is not only to my husband, but to my wonderful children, Win and Tet, that
I owe many insights into myself, human nature and family life. Many friends
ask me what my meditation is and I always reply, "My family is my meditation."
It is mostly through my family that I have learned to practice what I preach.
It is the family that compels me to sharpen my wits, to train and retrain my
own mindfulness. In fact, my family is my greatest challenge and training
ground.
I am very grateful to my old Dhamma friends from Bangkok for the memorable and
joyous times I had with them and for their candid and challenging questions
which resulted in this book.
Many thanks to John Hein and Charlotte Richardson for their careful editing
and revising, to Nee Nee Myint for retyping, and to David Babski for
formatting the manuscript.
Lastly, I would like to thank John Bullitt for putting it on-line.
Thynn Thynn
Contents
=====================================================================
Freedom to Begin
Living Meditation
Living Meditation
Staying with the Moment
Staying with More Moments
Meditation in Action
Letting Go and Picking Up
Peace-Mind
Non-Peace
Meditation on Peace-Mind
Silent Mind
Four Noble Truths in Daily Life
Unity of the Noble Eightfold Path
Dynamics of Meditation
Inner Retreat
Reflections on Meditation
Concentration and Meditation
Mindfulness and Awareness
In the Moment
Meditation without Meditation
Creative Living
Creative Living
Love and Hate
Happiness
Love and Compassion
Equanimity and Indifference
Sense Pleasures
Outward Form
Ordinary Awareness
Elaboration of the Noble Eightfold Path
Glossary of Pali Terms
The Path of Sukkhavipassaka
=====================================================================
Samatha practices such as anapanasati meditations on the breath are not
particularly necessary on the Path of Sukkhavipassaka. Together with
observance of the three sila (moral precepts), pañña (wisdom) can be
developed. When the two pañña factors develop, the three samadhi factors are
also developed concomitantly. This is known as pañcangika magga. Herein Five
Path factors are together integratedly developed. In conjunction with the
three sila factors, they make up the Noble Eightfold Path.
Practicing this Path will also relieve mental afflictions. To practice this
path requires a high level of intelligence, effort and perseverance.
Ledi Sayadaw (Magganga Dipani)
Freedom to Begin
=====================================================================
What is it to be free?
In the Buddhist sense, "free" means to be free from all suffering, to reach
inner freedom where suffering ceases to be. This is, of course, an ideal state
of mind -- but how do we reach it? To reach inner freedom we must search for
freedom with a "free mind." It is like the saying, "to catch a thief one must
think like a thief." The sort of freedom one is trying to find is an absolute
state -- nothing less -- infinite, unbounded and limitless. We are starting
out with a mind that is finite, intellect-bound and already limited in itself.
If we crowd this with all sorts of ideals, concepts, doctrines and judgments,
the mind -- which is already weighed down by its own burden -- can never be
free enough to experience truth in its entirety. It can only accept the truth
or experience within the limits of doctrines, beliefs and concepts, which are
products of the intellect. The mind can never break out of the intellectual
conditioning we are trying to transcend. By clinging to a specific system or
format in the search for inner freedom, we will be able to experience only
that which the system or format allows. But Truth is infinite, unpossessed,
unbounded. It does not belong to any religion, sect or system. All religions,
all methods, all systems improvised by humankind are attempts to guide us on
the path to Truth. Often, though, the "way" is mistaken for the "Truth."
The mind in search of its own freedom must first of all assume an impersonal
attitude, which leaves it free to explore, investigate, examine and, most
important of all, to "experience." Most of us start with a personal need to
find an inner freedom. In this state it is rather difficult to assume an
impersonal approach, but such is the paradox of the inner path. As soon as we
become personal, we tend to be judgmental and opinionated. Judgments and
discriminations arise out of an intellectual and conditioned mind. As soon as
one makes a judgment and discriminates, the intellect is at work. So long as
the intellect is at the forefront of one's mind, it will always obstruct one's
ability to experience fully one's own inner depth and essence. This is the
reason that all the ways and means to liberation -- the inner paths --
transcend the intellect and move into the realm of the intuitive or the
spiritual, for only the intuitive aspect of our mind can experience and
realize Truth or freedom in its entirety. Different religious systems have
developed methods and styles particular to their own historical, cultural and
emotional backgrounds. Each of us is left to find the right path for
ourselves.
Whichever path one may adopt, the greatest danger is the accumulation of
emotional possessions. These are "my" guru, "my" beliefs, "my" progress, "my"
experience. Here again, one faces a paradox. A teacher's guidance is
invariably necessary for one to proceed properly on the path, but it presents
a hindrance if one is not careful. The most common problem is personally
clinging to gurus and teachers. In fact, this is one of the most difficult
hindrances to overcome in all quests for inner freedom. Letting go of beliefs,
doctrines, gurus, ideals and judgments is extremely difficult, because one
holds them very dear to oneself. They become one's possessions, like material
wealth and power, and then one is not free and does not proceed further.
So what should one do? The only appropriate way is to view everything with
equanimity, be it gurus, doctrines, ideals, and even one's own practice and
progress. Only then can one view everything with objectivity.
Freedom is not just an end result. It is not something that awaits us at the
end of our endeavor. Freedom is instantaneous, right now, from the very
beginning. We can be "free" in the very process of the search, in
experiencing, in every step along the way.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To achieve freedom requires only two things:
a silent mind and an open heart.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================================
Living Meditation
=====================================================================
It is not entirely necessary that in vipassana practice one achieve a tranquil
state through samatha practices. What is crucial is pañña paramita in the
individual (the inherent quality of intelligence). If a person has the
necessary pañña paramita and is ready for it, he or she can attain
enlightenment even by just listening to a discourse. Hence, based on a
person's pañña paramita, enlightenment can be achieved while living a
household life and contemplating anicca (impermanence) within or without his
or her own self, within or without his or her own home life.
Ledi Sayadaw (Vipassana Dipani)
Living Meditation
=====================================================================
A: I have a lot of worries and stress. I try to meditate in order to relax,
but it is no use.
Thynn: In this fast-moving world, meditation is regarded as an instant remedy
for life's ills. If you look upon meditation as merely a tranquilizer, you are
underestimating its true value. Yes, relaxation does occur through meditation,
but that is only one of its many results. Meditation in Buddhism is neither an
instant cure nor just a stress-relieving measure.
Meditation in Buddhism means cultivation of the mind in order to achieve
insight wisdom or pañña, ultimately leading to liberation or nibbana.
D: Nibbana aside, I want to meditate, but I cannot find the time.
When you speak of meditation, you may think of the type of meditation that is
popular these days, the sitting form of meditation. But that form is merely an
aid, a support to develop a mental discipline of mindfulness and equanimity.
The form should not be mistaken for the path.
The popular notion is that you need to set aside a special time or place to
meditate. In actuality, if meditation is to help you acquire peace of mind as
you function in your life, then it must be a dynamic activity, part and parcel
of your daily experience. Meditation is here and now, moment-to-moment, amid
the ups and downs of life, amid conflicts, disappointments and heartaches --
amid success and stress. If you want to understand and resolve anger, desires,
attachments and all the myriad emotions and conflicts, need you go somewhere
else to find the solution? If your house was on fire, you wouldn't go
somewhere else to put out the fire, would you?
If you really want to understand your mind, you must watch it while it is
angry, while it desires, while it is in conflict. You must pay attention to
the mind as the one-thousand-and-one thoughts and emotions rise and fall. The
moment you pay attention to your emotions, you will find that they lose their
strength and eventually die out. However, when you are inattentive, you find
that these emotions go on and on. Only after the anger has subsided are you
aware that you have been angry. By then, either you have made some unwanted
mistakes or you have ended up emotionally drained.
R: How do you handle these emotions? I know that when I am angry I want to
shout and throw things. Should I control these emotions or express them?
The natural inclination is to try to control the emotions. But when they are
kept under a lid, they try to escape. They either rush out with a bang or they
leak out as sickness or neuroses.
R: What should I do? Do I let my emotions go wild?
Certainly not. That is exactly what we don't want to do. That is another
extreme -- to release your emotions impulsively. The important thing is
neither control nor non-control. In either situation you are working up your
desire to control. Neither situation is tenable. So long as this desire
occupies your mind, your mind is not free to see anger as it is. Hence another
paradox arises: the more you want to be free of the anger, the more you are
not free of it.
To understand the mind, you have to watch and pay attention with an
uncluttered, silent mind. When your mind is chattering away, all the time
asking questions, then it lacks the capacity to look. It is too busy asking
questions, answering, asking.
Try to experience watching yourself in silence. That silence is the silence of
the mind free from discriminations, free from likes and dislikes, free from
clinging.
Thoughts and emotions by themselves are just momentary and possess no life of
their own. By clinging to them, you prolong their stay.
Only when your mind is free from clinging and rejecting can it see anger as
anger, desire as desire. As soon as you "see," your mental process is fully
preoccupied with "seeing," and in that split second anger dies a natural
death. This seeing, or insight, called pañña, arises as a spontaneous
awareness that can be neither practiced nor trained. This awareness brings new
insight into life, new clarity and new spontaneity in action.
So, you see, meditation need not be separate from life and its daily ups and
downs. If you are to experience peace in this everyday world, you need to
watch, understand and deal with your anger, desire and ignorance as they
occur. Only when you cease to be involved with your emotions can the peaceful
nature of your mind emerge. This peace-nature enables you to live every moment
of your life completely. With this newfound understanding and awareness, you
can live as a complete individual with greater sensitivity. You will come to
view life with new and fresh perceptions. Strangely enough, what you saw as
problems before are problems no more.
Staying with the Moment
=====================================================================
R: You say I can meditate in daily life by cultivating sati (paying attention)
in my mind. But I find that very difficult; my mind is too distracted.
Thynn: That is not unusual. You see, to focus on your mind as you function in
everyday life, you need to turn your mind inside out. Indeed, your mind must
be strong and focused in order to be mindful of itself. So naturally it is
difficult to focus on your mind if you are agitated or distracted.
R: How can I start then?
Try being mindful of whatever you are doing at the moment -- walking, sitting,
bathing, cleaning, looking at a flower. You can do this at any time and in any
place. As you train your mind to focus, you will find you are less distracted.
Later, as you go on, you can be mindful of your thoughts and emotions as they
arise.
Suppose you are driving. You have to pay attention to the driving, don't you?
Your mind has to be there at the time and place of driving, concentrating on
the road, watching the other drivers. You cannot afford to be distracted too
much by other thoughts. It is something like meditation on the task at hand.
But often we do not carry out other tasks in this concentrated way.
D: Why not?
Probably because they are less dangerous than driving. But you can apply the
same principle to other activities. Suppose you are eating. If your mind is
distracted, you may not even be aware of tasting the food, let alone enjoying
it. Only when you focus on eating can you really enjoy the food.
The same is true even in passive activities. Suppose you are sitting on a bus.
Try simply to be where you are, rather than letting your mind wander. Train
your mind to focus on your surroundings. Be aware of the other people on the
bus, how fast the bus is going, and where it is going. This is a very good way
to start meditation. Simply be where you are rather than letting your mind
roam.
P: I have tried being mindful of the moment. But it is strenuous and I get all
tangled up.
For goodness sakes, staying with the moment is only a figure of speech. It is
not a commandment to be followed rigidly. This is not a proficiency test. You
must understand this from the outset; otherwise you will be tied up in knots
trying too hard every second of the day.
If you become too involved with staying in the moment, you lose the art of
living -- of free flowing.
You must realize that staying with the moment is just a means to break the
mind's old habits. Usually the mind flitters between thoughts and feelings
about the past, present and future. Staying with the moment is just a way to
train the mind to cease flitting.
It is not important that you be with the moment every single moment of the
day. What is important is that you learn to get out of the constant mental
run-around and to be more focused and grounded.
Once you break the habit of the roaming mind, you will find you are more
centered and more with the present moment.
SD: What do we gain from this?
That is a very pertinent question. Of course, you will have better
concentration, but you can achieve concentration without learning the art of
meditation. Many activities -- golf, chess, reading -- enhance concentration.
SD: What is the difference between those activities and moment-to-moment
meditation?
If you look into the process involved in those activities, you will see an
element of desire -- the desire to achieve perfection, to win a game, to feel
good, whatever. You are motivated by desire. Also, there is an end to the
activity and so to the concentration. Concentration is also very important in
meditation, but it is not everything. If we simply concentrate, we will not
get any further benefit.
To meditate, it is crucial to be mindful without desire, without aversion,
without likes and dislikes, and without goals.
If you can be mindful without judgments and without likes and dislikes, then
you are practicing with an inner silence or equanimity, called upekkha in
Pali.
This is true in both formal sitting meditation and in the informal,
unstructured meditation we are discussing now. Two elements are involved:
staying with the moment and viewing everything without likes and dislikes.
R: Oh, it's not that easy. We have to do more than just notice our
surroundings.
No, it's not easy. That's why it's better to start slowly by focusing on a
particular moment. You may not be good at it all at once. But you will find
that this practice of staying with the moment facilitates the inner silence.
If you concentrate on the moment, and if your concentration is good, then no
stray thoughts will enter your mind. As you practice, not only will you be
more focused, but you will also become more alert and sensitive to what is
happening around you. When your mindfulness is strong, then you can direct
your attention inward to your mind, your emotions or your thoughts.
SD: So just being mindful is not enough?
That's right. Being mindful is not sufficient. It is only a means. What is
crucial is incorporating equanimity or upekkha into your mindfulness.
SD: Will upekkha lead to inner silence?
Yes, the only way that will lead the mind to silence is upekkha. Upekkha is
not just a product of meditation training. It is itself a tool in meditation.
When you become proficient at looking with equanimity at your own mind, your
thoughts and your emotions, then this upekkha approach will also spill over
into other areas of life. You will begin to listen, look, feel and relate to
everything with upekkha.
Just mindfulness and concentration do not constitute meditation; equanimity
must be a constant ingredient.
SD: Doesn't upekkha mean detachment?
Sometimes it is translated as detachment, but that translation is very
inadequate. You have to understand that upekkha transcends both detachment and
attachment. When you are detached, you may also become indifferent if you are
not careful. This indifference can lead to dissociation and subtle rejection.
Upekkha transcends not only non-attachment, but also rejection. The mind is
very tricky and has many nuances you have to be aware of.
The full essence of upekkha is to go beyond attachment and detachment, beyond
likes and dislikes, to relate to things as they are.
So it is crucial that you begin your mindfulness right from the start on the
basis of upekkha, the nondualistic, the Middle Way. When you can view the
world and your own mind or yourself with upekkha, then you are already on the
right path of meditation.
Staying with More Moments
=====================================================================
P: Sometimes it's a luxury to be mindful of a task with undivided attention. I
only get frustrated if I try to be mindful of a task when my young children
demand my attention. It seems like the only thing to do is to redirect my
attention to the children and do the task on automatic pilot.
Thynn: I like your phrase "automatic pilot"! Again, I have to emphasize that
being mindful is only a means to practice focusing. Don't compete with
yourself. What you choose to pay attention to is entirely circumstantial. If
the children need you, focus on them.
The only guideline is to avoid rigid conditioning.
This does not mean that if you are cooking vegetables, you must be absolutely
mindful of the color and smell of the vegetables and ignore the children's
questions. If you did that, you'd be clinging to the cooking.
P: Oh, so that's why I feel frustration?
Yes, because you are clinging. Once again, you must understand that upekkha
should be in every act. If you can view cooking with upekkha, then you won't
have a problem letting go of mindfulness on the cooking and you can redirect
your attention to the child. Sometimes you can cook -- on automatic pilot, as
you say -- and answer the child. Other times, if the child has a pressing
need, you might find it better to stop cooking and really devote all your
attention to the child. There are no set rules.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can become attached to your mindfulness
of the moment just as you can become
attached to anything else.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is very subtle, but understand from the outset that you can be bound by
your own mindfulness!
P: If things are very hectic I cannot even redirect my attention to another
activity, but find I have to just live in the chaos.
Well, letting go of the mindfulness can be appropriate. But we must also talk
about living in the chaos. How do you deal with the chaos?
P: Sometimes I become involved in the chaos and get carried away by it.
Yes, if your mindfulness is not strong enough you can easily be drawn into the
chaos. The mindfulness I am talking about is the mindfulness of your own mind.
If you are not aware of your thoughts and your feelings about the chaos, you
can easily slip into interacting in the situation, reacting to the chaos.
Before you know what's happening, you are already storming through the chaos,
thus creating more chaos.
If you are mindful of your own feelings as you notice the chaos, you can
choose how to act in the situation.
Instead of being only aware of the outside chaos, stop and look directly into
yourself and see what is there.
D: But that's not easy.
Of course not. But you have to start somewhere. As long as you are not silent
inside, you will always be on a roller coaster ride with the outside chaos.
To look into yourself directly is to come back to your own source and to reach
an inner equilibrium and silence. It is only from this inner equilibrium that
you can view the outer chaos objectively.
When this happens you can see the chaos as chaos, as only a circumstantial
situation. You'll see the cause behind the chaos and you can act accordingly.
In short, when you penetrate to the heart of the chaos, you will spontaneously
resolve it in the best way for the circumstances. This is what is called
penetrating insight wisdom, or pañña.
P: Do you mean we should be passive in a chaotic conflict?
No. Again, there is nothing rigid about it. One situation may require a firm
hand that cuts right through to the heart of the matter. If you are acting
with awareness it will be the right action. Another situation might require
that you become quiet and not generate more confusion. If you stop and look,
you will know what to do in each situation. If you view both the chaos and
your mind with upekkha, you will know what to do and will not be bothered by
the chaos.
P: If we stop to look, how can we react to others in the right way? We
wouldn't have time to think of what to do.
This is the most difficult part to explain. We are so used to functioning with
the intellect that it seems quite impossible to function in any given
situation without conceptualizing. You see, here we are talking about insight
or pañña. It's a paradox: insight does not arise unless the conceptualizing
stops altogether. In a chaotic situation insight can arise only when we stop
conceptualizing about the chaos. Mindfulness of our own mind will in fact stop
the conceptualizing that our minds normally go through. When the mindfulness
is strong enough and there is total silence in the mind, then insight will
spontaneously arise as to how best to deal with the situation at hand.
D: I have another question. I find I can stop being emotional, right in the
middle of a difficult interaction, but then I don't know where to go from
there. Since I am studying Buddhism and learning to practice the Buddhist way,
I feel I should react with more compassion. But I may not feel compassionate.
Because I don't know how to go on, I go back to my old conditioning of either
resentment or aggressiveness.
My dear, this is only a phase in your own progress. You have come this far. It
is possible to go further. Look into the process involved in your mind right
in the midst of reacting. When you are able to stop in your tracks, you are
already doing quite well.
It is only when you start intellectualizing again that you get into trouble.
If you have the notion that as a practicing Buddhist you should be
compassionate, then you are setting up an image of yourself. As soon as that
thought is allowed to come into your mind, you are not free. At that moment
your mind is filled with the desire to fulfill your own image as a practicing
Buddhist.
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When the mind is not free, there is no chance
for true compassion to arise.
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It is as simple as that. Only when you free yourself of preconceived
perceptions of yourself can spontaneous compassion arise. When you are free of
concepts, you will act spontaneously and compassionately as well as
creatively.
Meditation in Action
=====================================================================
D: You say we can work on meditation in our everyday lives. What is the best
way to start?
Thynn: Generally speaking, your mind is caught up with the external world and
you react to the world in an automatic and habitual manner. When you are
preoccupied with the external world, you grossly neglect your mind. The most
crucial thing is to realize that you have to redirect this external focus of
attention inward, toward your own mind. In other words, learn to be attentive
to your mind in the context of daily living -- as you eat, work, tend the
children, cook, clean, whatever.
R: Do you mean I have to take note of everything that comes into my mind? That
would be incredibly difficult. Suppose I'm driving. How can I notice my mind
and still pay attention to the road?
That's a very relevant question. It's impossible to take note of your mind all
of the time. You would tie yourself up in knots and run off the road. Instead
of going to an extreme, begin by concentrating on one particular emotion in
yourself. Choose the emotion that bothers you the most, or the one that is
most prominent in you. For example, if you tend to be a temperamental kind of
person, start by watching your anger. If you are easily hurt, then work with
your mood swings. Pay attention to whichever emotion is most noticeable and
troublesome to you.
For many people, anger is a good starting point because it is easily noticed
and dissolves faster than most other emotions. Once you begin to watch your
anger, you will make an interesting discovery. You will find that as soon as
you know you are angry, your anger will melt away by itself. It is very
important that you watch without likes or dislikes. The more you are able to
look at your own anger without making judgments, without being critical, the
more easily the anger will dissipate.
You may find in the beginning that you notice your anger only when it is about
to end. That is not important. The important thing is to decide that you want
to focus on your anger. Gradually the watching will become more and more
natural. Before long you will notice, suddenly, in the midst of a fit of
anger, that your anger drops away without warning. You will find yourself just
being aware and no longer entangled in the anger.
A: Can that really happen?
Of course. You see, when you make an effort to turn your attention inward, you
are reconditioning yourself. Before this, you were only looking outward. Now
you are conditioning yourself anew to look inward some of the time. This
looking inward can become habitual; it becomes a kind of conditioning in which
your mind automatically focuses on itself at all times. In the beginning this
may not be frequent, but don't be discouraged. As time goes on, you will be
surprised to find you are aware of your anger sooner than before.
This awareness, when it becomes stronger, will spill over to other emotions.
You might find yourself watching your desire. In that watching, the desire
will resolve and you will be left only with the awareness. Or you may watch
sadness. Sadness is slower to arise and resolve than some other emotions. The
most difficult emotion to watch is depression. But that too can be done with
stronger mindfulness.
As you get into the swing of it, you will find your awareness becoming
sharper. At the same time, the episodes of anger will get shorter and less
frequent. As the intensity of anger lessens, you will find you are grappling
less and less with your emotions. In the end, you will be surprised to find
that you can be friends with your emotions as never before.
R: What do you mean? I can't imagine ever being comfortable with anger.
Because you are no longer struggling with your emotions, you can learn to look
at them without judging, clinging or rejecting them. They are no longer
threatening to you. You learn to relate to your emotions more naturally, like
a witness. Even when you are faced with conflicts and filled with emotions,
you can be equanimous with them. As you become more stable, you can deal with
conflicts without losing your emotional balance.
D: If my awareness becomes more and more sensitive, is it possible for my mind
to know anger as soon as it arises?
Certainly. You see, as your mindfulness becomes stronger and more alert, your
mind becomes more aware of its own workings. When mindfulness is complete and
dynamic, then you know anger as soon as it arises; as soon as you know it, it
begins to dissolve.
D: I have tried watching my anger and I can even see it die down for a moment,
but it comes back again and again. Why?
In the initial stages, when mindfulness is still weak and incomplete, anger
may die for a moment as you watch. Then, the mind may revert back to its old,
habitual angry state. The old conditioning is still strong and you have yet to
master the art of mindfulness. You are so used to intellectualizing about the
cause of anger -- who's to blame, why the conflict escalated, and so on. In
fact, this is the mind going back to its treadmill of reacting in the old
ways.
You yourself restart the old cycle of creating the anger, thinking about the
anger, reacting according to the anger. Here you have anger-intellectualizing-
reacting in a vicious cycle.
The purpose of learning to pay attention to anger with a silent mind is to
break this cycle of anger and the intellectualization on anger.
The only logical solution is to stop intellectualizing the conflict and simply
watch your own mind in the midst of confusion.
R: Do you mean I should just stop thinking in such a situation and do nothing
but watch my mind?
That's exactly what I mean.
SD: Suppose I find it difficult to focus on anger. What should I do?
If that is the case, then focus on milder emotions like aversion and desiring.
The same thing will happen when you do that. As soon as you are aware of
aversion, you will find its intensity decreases; and when your mindfulness
becomes strong, the aversion or desiring will resolve. As you proceed and
build up your mindfulness, you will find you are able to go on to stronger
emotions like anger, craving and greed.
SD: What about problem solving? How can I work my way through complicated
situations in which anger and judgment interfere with mindfulness?
It is the same in complicated situations. Let's be very clear -- be mindful
and watch without judgment. The mindfulness itself trains one towards a pure
and simple mind, devoid of judgment and discrimination. To be mindful is a
transcending act -- transcending anger, transcending judgment. So, if you
master the art of mindfulness, you will no longer react with anger or
judgment, because paying attention is itself a transcending act.
M: What about other people? How can I react to others? I still need to react
to get out of a conflict situation.
That is exactly the point. Most often you are just reacting rather than
acting. You are reacting in the ways you have been conditioned. The way to
stop reacting is to break that conditioning.
Stop rationalizing. Stop the thinking mind and train it to experience itself
by watching itself.
When the mind stops its roller-coaster thinking, it sees the entire situation
as it is. This is crucial. The seeing, the awareness, is total.
You have to start with yourself. Make the decision to watch the mind and then
see the process. Although you start with yourself, the actual seeing
encompasses the total situation. You stop seeing yourself in isolation and see
yourself instead in the context of the whole situation.
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Then, there is no longer an outside or inside.
You are part of the whole. "You" now, are
not as important as "you" used to be.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Before, you saw your situation and your own importance and you needed to guard
your identity, to control the situation. Now, when you see no division between
yourself and others, when you are no more or no less important than others,
only now are you able to grasp the whole situation, as it is, with clarity.
Now you see very clearly where the problem lies, and instead of reacting, you
simply act.
D: Can you give us an example from everyday life?
Would one of you like to give an example?
P: Let's say my young child is crying because I won't allow him to have
something he wants. If I stop to look, I see my own annoyance and frustration.
I even feel anger, because I cannot reason with the child. The moment I see
that anger, it dissolves -- and rather than responding to my son in anger, I
am able to be understanding, yet firm, towards him. It's strange, because
suddenly I know how to deal with the problem. I don't get involved in his
anger and frustrations, or my own. He seems to pick up on this and he becomes
calmer too.
Yes, that's it. At that moment of seeing your anger, you transcend your own
feelings of anger and frustration. You become centered. You no longer generate
conflict, and because you are calmer, naturally the child responds.
More often than not, your actions are so complete that the conflict will not
continue; you no longer generate reasons for continuing the conflict. This
complete, non-generating action in Buddhism is called right action, or samma
kammanta in Pali. This right action is what I mean by meditation in action. By
so doing, you are already on the Noble Eightfold Path.
Letting Go and Picking Up
=====================================================================
J: Why is "letting go" so important in Buddhism?
Thynn: The term "letting go" has become a catchword in Buddhist circles. It is
true that "letting go" is crucial for arriving at self-realization of inner
freedom, but you have to understand how to let go.
J: What are we supposed to let go of?
Let go of your clinging. Let go of the motivating desire behind whatever
you're doing. It may be a desire to succeed, to be perfect, to control others
or to glorify yourself. It doesn't matter what it is specifically; what
matters is the desire behind your act. It is easy to mistake the act for the
desire.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To let go is to let go of clinging to desire,
not to let go of the act.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We have been talking about stopping and looking at emotions. Try to stop and
look at an act; see if you can identify the desire propelling it. When you see
the desire, you can also detect the clinging to the desire. When you see the
clinging, you see it resolve and you spontaneously let go.
R: There are so many things in life I don't want to renounce or let go of.
Of course not. We don't let go for the sake of letting go. There is a parable
about a Zen master who was approached by a pupil. The pupil asked, "I have
nothing in my mind now; what shall I do next?" "Pick it up," replied the
master. This is an excellent example of the negation that comes with proper
understanding, as opposed to pure nihilism.
If we are bound to the concept of letting go, then we are not free. When we
are not free, understanding -- pañña -- does not arise. But if we truly see
the clinging to desire and let go of it, our act becomes a pure act, without
any attendant tensions or frustrations. When the act is pure and simple, we
can accomplish more with less stress. At that point, you are "picking up" just
as you are "letting go."
D: Why is letting go so difficult? I can watch my other emotions like anger
and hatred, but it is much harder to see desire and clinging.
That's because desire and clinging precede anger and hatred. In any fit of
emotion -- and our mental formations occur so very fast -- we can only
identify gross emotions like anger and hatred. Desire and clinging are much
more subtle, so it takes stronger samadhi to be able to see them.
You have been conditioned since you were very young to relate everything to
yourself. As soon as you learn to recognize people and things, you're taught
how to relate these to the "I" and "mine"-- my mom, my dad, my toy, etc. As
you grow up you're taught how to relate ideas and concepts to yourself. You
have to learn that so that you can function properly in society.
But at the same time, this process slowly and unconsciously creates a concept
of selfhood, and you build up your ego. This buildup is strengthened by the
values of society. You learn to compete, to achieve, to accumulate knowledge,
wealth and power. In other words, you are trained to possess and to cling.
By the time you are grown up, the concept of ego-self has become so real that
it is difficult to tell what is illusion and what is reality. It is difficult
to realize that "I" and "mine" are temporary, relative and changeable. The
same is true of all that is related to "I" and "mine." Not understanding that
"I" and "mine" are temporary, you struggle to keep them permanent; you cling
to them. This desire to try to keep everything permanent is what makes it so
difficult to learn to let go.
M: I have trouble accepting the Buddhist idea of self as an illusion.
You have become so used to functioning with the "I" and "mine," so used to
thinking your "self" is real, that it is naturally difficult to understand the
Buddhist way of thinking. The "I" and "mine," being illusions themselves,
survive only by clinging to illusions of their own making. They cling to all
kinds of mental possessions -- be they power, wealth, status or whatever --
which are themselves conceptual creations of the mind with no substantial
reality. In short, they are also illusions.
R: If "I" is an illusion and not reality, how can "I" get rid of the "I"?
How can you get rid of something that never was?
M: I feel that if I let go of "I" and "mine," I would lose my identity. How
can I exist if I let go of everything? Won't I become cold and unfeeling? It
sounds scary, like living in a vacuum.
You have to understand that what you lose is merely an illusion. It never was.
You empty the mind of illusion about self. Just let go of the illusion.
In fact, you are not losing anything. You just remove an imaginary screen
before your eyes. In the process you gain wisdom, or pañña. From this wisdom
unfold the four virtues of unconditional love, compassion, sympathetic joy and
equanimity. These virtues manifest themselves as concern, humanness and
sensitivity to others. When you have pañña you can fully experience the beauty
and warmth that is within all human relationships.
That is why letting go is not losing your illusory ego. You are actually
uncovering a great treasure.
Peace-Mind
=====================================================================
If you just stopped thinking for a while and sat back to reflect on your own
mind, you would be surprised to realize that you are at peace. Even if you
agree with me, you might argue that this peace is only temporary. So be it.
But let us look into this peaceful tranquil state, temporary or otherwise,
since it is already with us -- without our having to make any effort at all at
being peaceful.
You were born with this peace-nature of the mind; otherwise you would not be
what you are, would you? You did not run around meditating to bring about this
peace to yourself: you did not learn from someone or some book to make
possible this peaceful state in yourself. In other words, "you" had nothing to
do with it. Peace is a natural mind-state in every one of us. Peace has been
there since the day we were born and it is going to be there till the day we
die. It is our greatest gift; so why do we think we have no peace of mind?
Experiencing peace is like looking at our hands. Usually, we see only the
fingers -- not the spaces in between. In a similar manner, when we look at the
mind, we are aware of the active states, such as our running thoughts and the
one-thousand-and-one feelings that are associated with them, but we tend to
overlook the intervals of peace between them. If one were to be unhappy or sad
every minute of the twenty-four-hour day, what would happen to us? I guess we
would all be in the mad house!
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Then why is it that we supposedly never are at peace?
It is simply because we never allow ourselves to be so.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We enjoy battling with ourselves and our emotions so much that the battle
becomes second nature to us. And we complain that we have no peace of mind.
Why don't we leave aside all these complicated ideas for a while and simply
contemplate this peaceful nature of ours -- since we are fortunate enough to
have it -- instead of frantically trying to find peace of mind someplace else?
How can we find something elsewhere, when it is already in ourselves? Probably
that is the reason why we often do not find it.
We do not have to do anything to have this peace, do we? Mind is by itself
peaceful.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
But we do need to do something to our minds
in order to be angry or sad.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Imagine yourself enjoying a moment of quiet. Suddenly something disturbs your
enjoyment. You start up at once, annoyed or angry at the disturbance. Why?
Because you dislike the interruption. Your mind "acts." It dislikes. It sets
up thoughts of dislike, followed by annoyance, anger and a whole series of
reactions.
Thought moments are extremely fast, so you don't notice the moment of the mind
setting up thoughts of dislike. We generally think that the outside situation
is what is responsible for our annoyance. But even during the most durable and
miserable experiences of our lives, we find moments when our minds are
distracted from the cause of misery and we are relatively free from the
devastating emotional state. Once we set our minds back on the event, the
unpleasant feelings come rushing in again immediately. When these emotions
subside, what happens to them? We seem to take it for granted that they end up
or phase out somewhere outside of us. But if they had their origin in the
mind, they must surely end in the mind. If they had their origin in a peaceful
state, then they would surely end in that peaceful state also. It is only
logical.
Let us contemplate this peaceful state. We recognize it before emotions have
set in and also after they have disappeared. What about the in-between times?
Is peace destroyed during the time that we have been angry or sad? We are so
used to implying that this or that destroys our peace of mind that we have
come to assume that peace of mind is a contrived state that can be arrived at
or deleted at will.
But this is not the case. Peace and tranquillity are part and parcel of our
own mental makeup. If they are destroyed during emotional upheavals, our minds
might as well be destroyed too. Peace is the essence of our own innate nature
and can never be destroyed.
Peace is with us every single moment of our life, but we do not recognize it.
This is because we are ignorant about peace -- most of the time we are too
preoccupied with the external world and our own running thoughts and emotions
to be aware of it. We have lost touch with our inner selves, with what is the
best in us. We frantically try to find the answer outside when all the time
peace is sitting there, silently waiting until we come home to it.
Non-Peace
=====================================================================
If we agree that have innate peace, what do you think gives us non-peace? From
the standpoint of peace of mind, thoughts by themselves are neither good nor
bad. It is only when the concepts of "I" and "mine" arise that the mind is
thrown into conflict. Likes and dislikes quickly follow these concepts of
self. This where the real trouble begins.
A thought by itself is okay. Let's say you've lost your keys. It happens. The
problem begins when you start judging the fact that you misplaced your keys.
"I dislike it when I lose my keys.... I like it so much better when I have my
keys and I can continue my busy schedule." You might go on with your thinking:
"Why am I so careless? It must have been because the children were rowdy."
Then you might put your thoughts into words: "Look what you made me do -- I
was so busy with you that I lost my keys." You might put those thoughts and
emotions into physical actions by rushing around looking for the lost keys.
All this commotion stems from your reaction to a couple of misplaced keys.
Let's go back to what prompted the commotion. When you had the thought, "I
lost my keys," you weren't able to let go of that thought. Instead, you
immediately jumped into likes and dislikes. Feeling, conflicts and
frustrations are born from this dichotomy of likes and dislikes. You allowed
yourself to be swept away by your judgments, your feelings, your frustrations.
But let's look at the thoughts for a moment. They arise, and by their own
accord they fall away. That is, unless we cling to them. If we allow thoughts
to continue their normal span, they will naturally fall away. All thoughts are
subject to the universal law of impermanence, anicca.
For those of you who are familiar with Buddhism, you know this law of change.
You accept it in many aspects of your lives. But can you apply it to the most
important area of all -- your mind? Can you watch thoughts and emotions as
they arise in your mind? Can you allow them to naturally fade away, without
clinging to them? Or do you indulge in letting the "I" grasp onto a thought,
an emotion?
By their nature, thoughts are transient, unless the "I" interferes and refuses
to let them go. By clinging to thoughts and emotions, the "I" prolongs the
emotion-span -- on and on. It is the "I" which insists on clinging to thoughts
and emotions that creates non-peace.
Peace has nothing to do with the "I." It is not "my" peace. As long as you
think you own peace -- as long as you think, "I like my peace" -- then you
will not experience peace.
A friend of mine, a spiritual educator, came up with a metaphor that may help
explain the process. Let's take the phrase, "I like peace." If we eliminate
the "I," then we are left with "like peace." If we go further and eliminate
the "like," then all that remains is peace. Peace is something that can be
felt but not owned. Peace can be experienced when we eliminate our ideas of
likes and dislikes about peace.
P: It sounds as though we can do something to realize this state of peace ...
that we can purposely eliminate concepts of "I" and likes and dislikes.
Thynn: No, this example is just a metaphor. Realization of peace does not come
with "doing" anything with your mind, nor does it come with "not-doing."
"Doing" and "not-doing" are just more concepts to cling to. Right? When you
can let go of your ideas of how to obtain peace, of what to do and not do,
then your mind is silent and you can experience peace. As long as your mind is
rushing back and forth between likes and dislikes, then your mind is too busy
to experience peace. When the mind calms and is silent, then you can realize
its innate peaceful nature.
Meditation on Peace-Mind
=====================================================================
Many have asked how to go about finding inner peace. Once you have recognized
that
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peace is not an induced state,
but an innate-natural state,
----------------------------------------------------------------------
that is exactly where you begin. There is absolutely nothing to do but look
within yourself and recognize peace this very moment. When you recognize peace
in your mind, you have in fact already experienced peace.
If you do recognize your own peaceful moments at times, then you are already
started. Never mind if this recognition is very brief. You can make this
peace-moment the base from which to investigate your own mind. This can be the
focal point from which to launch your investigation. And surprisingly, you
will find this is also the home base to which you return.
You may find that it is not easy to come back to this peace-moment. That is
not important. It is more important to decide that you want to pay attention
to your own mind. We are so conditioned to looking outward that our minds have
fallen into a kind of mental groove. It is difficult to rise up and leave that
groove because it is easy and comfortable there. To turn outward attention
inward is difficult unless one has the "will" to do it.
In your initial attempts to see peace-moments, they may be very infrequent and
brief, but that is all right. It may even be that the more you try, the more
difficult seeing peace or peace-moments becomes. If that is the case, just let
go. Very often the awareness of peace-moments is unforeseen; it comes when you
least expect it.
You may ask whether there is a specific method to "see" these peace-moments.
And I would say no -- not beyond the "will" to pay attention to the mind.
Paying attention requires no particular time or place. It goes on while you go
about the daily business of living, playing, doing the one-thousand-and-one
chores of what is called life. There is nothing to do beyond this. There is
just something specifically you should not do and that is to let opinions,
judgments and discrimination crowd your mind. The mind watching itself needs
to be whole so that it can pay complete attention.
When you start discriminate, your mind becomes preoccupied with making
judgments. Your mind ceases to be free. Then you cannot see or experience the
peace within yourself.
In order to understand how things move in space, you must be able to see the
whole panorama of space as well as the objects in it. Without space, objects
cannot have motion. Objects may be affected, but the space will never be
affected. The objects may disintegrate in space, but the space remains.
Your home base -- the peace-nature of the mind -- is just like physical space
outside your body. Within you is the space of consciousness where thoughts and
emotions move about. As with the outside space, it is because of this space-
mind that thoughts and feelings can arise freely and also cease freely. If
your mind is already crammed, there is no room for anything to arise in it.
If you can "see" this space clearly in yourself, you also see what is rising
and falling more clearly. At first, you may notice only the falling -- because
it is more obvious. You will find yourself less involved with your own
emotions and thus more at your home base. And the more you are at your home
base, the more at peace you will be with yourself and with the world.
You may not have found perfect peace as yet, but at least you will find a
breathing space in yourself, a respite. This is the time you learn to be
friends with your own mind and your emotions. You will find that you no longer
wrestle with them as before. The beautiful part is that you will find yourself
loosening up inside. This loosening up may not appear important to you, but
actually this first step is always the most important. When you are not in a
tightly bound, self-inflicted tangle, you can look at yourself more
objectively.
Never mind, if you do not see the rising. There is time for everything. Even
when you "see" the falling away, you will notice a change. You will already
experience peace. Keep on "experiencing" this peace as you would experience a
good cup of coffee or a scoop of ice cream. After a while, you will find that
you can "experience" your emotions without getting involved in them. Since you
are more at home base, you will find that your feelings are in and of
themselves fleeting.
For example, you may be surprised to find that feelings do not stay for a long
time without your own invitation and your clinging to them. You will also see
that they are part of the natural phenomena of the mind. In Buddhism, all
phenomena are impermanent, are not of the self, and are themselves the basis
of suffering.
Becoming aware of your feelings in this way is like discovering a new friend.
When you realize that thse transient feelings have no power of their own, they
cease to threaten you. This realization gives you a positive feeling, because
you are no longer overwhelmed.
As you find out more about yourself in this way, you will also find that you
reside more and more in your own peace home base. You will also realize this
peace has always been there. It is just that you were so engrossed in trying
to get rid of your frustrations that you had neither the time nor the skill to
see this peace that is already there. In fact, peace-mind has been there all
along for you to rediscover.
The path to inner peace is quite simple. You complicate it by thinking that
the method should be difficult. You are conditioned to achieving this,
accomplishing that. Your mind is in perpetual motion. Of course, you must earn
a living, feed your family, make friends, take your children to school. That
is the business of living. But if you perpetuate this frantic mode as the mode
of your search for peace, you won't find peace.
What we are concerned with is slowing down ... so you can understand yourself,
and experience what is already there. When you are already at the home base,
do you need to do anything to stay there?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You need only to wake up and realize
you have always been home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We must be aware that this kind of meditation is a way of investigating and
understanding ourselves, of awakening to our actual state of mind, to all the
mental formations that arise and fall. It is an entrance to ourselves. We will
discover the bad things as well as the good, but in the end the investigation
will pay off. For now we can find an opportunity to discover our own wondrous
inner depths and draw upon the essence of what is the best in us.
Silent Mind
=====================================================================
J: I still don't understand how we can make the mind silent.
Thynn: You must realize that you cannot make the mind silent. The more you try
to silence the mind purposefully, the more you tie yourself up in knots. The
more you try to quiet your mind, the more you propel it into activity. If you
try to vanquish your mind, you'll find that the action of subduing is itself
disquieting. You see, a mind that is already unquiet cannot deal with a
nonquiet mind. This vicious cycle perpetuates a continuous state of frenzy.
M: What do you mean by silent mind? If there is no action in the mind, aren't
we paralyzed? How can we function?
A silent mind is not a dead or static mind. A mind is dead or static when it
is dulled with ignorance of oneself. In Buddhism, this ignorance is called
avijja. Self-conceit, anger, greed and confusion cloud the mind. The mind may
be active with greed, hatred and anger, but that mind is dead to the world and
to others. Totally wrapped up in its own confusions, that mind is insensitive
to the needs of others. This is a true paralysis of the mind, which renders it
unable to open up to others. A truly silent mind, on the other hand, is alert
and sensitive to its surroundings. This is because a silent mind is devoid of
judging, clinging or rejecting. The silent mind is free from hatred, anger,
jealousy, confusion and conflict.
J: It sounds so beautiful! How can we achieve this silent mind?
The mind is silent when it transcends the duality of liking and disliking.
Generally we perceive the world through a conceptual framework based on a
dualistic way of thinking. As soon as we perceive something, we judge it.
Let's say we judge that it is good. As soon as we judge something as being
good, then anything opposing it automatically becomes bad. We constantly
divide our conceptual world in this polarized manner; we set up good and evil,
beauty and ugliness, right and wrong, according to our own standards.
M: But we have to discriminate in order to function in everyday life. I'm not
going to eat a rotten apple. It would make me sick. I have to judge this apple
rotten, that one ripe and good to eat.
Of course you need to make judgments to function in this world. You need to
recognize a good apple from a bad one. This is rational, not emotional,
judgment. But usually we don't stop at making rational judgments. We go on to
impose our emotional judgment of likes and dislikes onto our perceptions. We
dislike a rotten apple, don't we? Therefore, we cling to our dislike of it.
Suppose someone offers you a rotten apple. How would you feel?
M: I would be annoyed.
Yes. And if they gave you a big beautiful apple?
M: I'd be delighted.
Do you see how your emotions are built up around your own likes and dislikes?
When you find something that appeals to you -- an idea, a person or a thing --
then you want to cling to it, to possess that idea, person or thing. You
become caught up in the duality of beauty versus ugliness, good versus evil,
on and on.
Let's go back to your big, beautiful apple. Suppose someone snatches your
beautiful apple away?
M: I'd be very annoyed.
There you see. Where's the problem?
M: Oh, you mean the apple is not the problem, but we are?
Exactly. Apple is just apple, good or rotten. You can take it or leave it. You
can make a rational judgment about it. But our problem is that we make
emotional judgments instead. This is what we need to be clear about.
When we make emotional judgments, we set up ripples in our minds. These
ripples cause larger ripples and soon a storm is brewing. This storm disturbs
the mind. In all this we lose touch with the silence in the mind, the peace
within. It is only when we can calm these ripples that the mind can reside in
its own silence, its own equanimous state. When the mind can rest in its own
stillness it can see things as they are. I call this silent mind, "peace-
mind."
If we don't allow the mind to be silent, we make emotional judgments and then
we get into trouble. Here is where the battle starts, within ourselves and
outside of ourselves.
J: Oh, I see. We cling to what we judge to be good, right or beautiful, and
reject its opposite.
Yes, you've got it.
J: But how do we break out of this duality?
Remember, duality is a creation of our conceptual minds. We love to cling to
what we have created. The duality we create becomes a personal possession. "I"
want to hold onto "my" idea of right, "my" idea of beauty, "my" idea of good.
Our minds become rigid, and we end up looking at the world through narrow
blinders.
J: How can we free ourselves from this fixation?
By being mindful. When you are mindful of yourself judging in that moment, the
judging will stop. Once you stop judging, "seeing things as they are" will
follow naturally. Eventually, you will become more equanimous; your mind will
stop and look instead of running around in circles. When the mind is busy
judging, clinging and rejecting, it has no space for anything else. Only when
you stop discriminating can you see things as they are, and not as you think
they are or want them to be. This is the only way to transcend the duality of
likes and dislikes.
Once we transcend duality, once we break through the boundaries of our own
conceptual framework, then the world appears expanded. It's no longer limited
by our tunnel vision. When the bondage is broken, then whatever has been
dammed up within us all these years has a chance to emerge. Love -- and along
with it, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity -- come forth and bring
sensitivity to others.
In the past, our energy was sapped by conflict, frustration, anger, rejection,
etc. This conflict was exhausting. Now free from conflict, we can redirect
ourselves toward harmonious living and meaningful relationships with others.
Only then does life become worth living, because now we can experience fully
each moment in its freshness. We can also see our relationships with others in
a totally new light. Now we can truly live in harmony.
Four Noble Truths in Daily Life
=====================================================================
Thynn: The Four Noble Truths are the cornerstone of Buddhism. Understanding
them helps us in daily life. The First Noble Truth is dukkha, or suffering.
The Second Noble Truth is samudaya, or craving. The Third Noble Truth is
nirodha, or cessation of suffering. The Fourth Noble Truth is magga, the
Eightfold Noble Path, leading to cessation of suffering.
M: When I hear the First Noble Truth, that life is suffering, I think Buddhism
is a pessimistic, negative philosophy.
Yes, some people misunderstand it that way. But this is because the teaching
has not been fully understood. When dukkha is translated as suffering, it is
understood as gross physical suffering. But in truth, dukkha can be
experienced on many levels; the actual meaning of dukkha encompasses the whole
range of human experience from very subtle dissatisfaction to gross misery.
Dukkha is the inescapable fact of old age, illness and death. It is being
separated from what one likes, enduring what one dislikes.
At the most profound level dukkha is the failure to understand the
insubstantiality of all things. Everything is insubstantial; nothing is
concrete, nothing is tangible. To be ignorant of or go against the natural
state of impermanence is itself suffering.
Buddhism seems negative only if one looks at the First Noble Truth in
isolation. But if you look at the Four Noble Truths collectively, you will
find that they are positive, because the three other noble truths show the way
out of suffering.
M: But how do we incorporate the Four Noble Truths into daily life?
Thynn: That is not difficult. To begin with, you have to see dukkha in its
entirety before you can see your way out of it. You don't have to be in
physical or mental agony to understand dukkha. It is everywhere around you.
Right now, how do you feel about the pounding noise next door?
[Noisy construction work was going on at a neighbor's house.]
M: I feel irritated because I want to have a peaceful experience and listen to
you and learn what you are talking about. In fact, I'm trying to eliminate the
noise from my consciousness, but I can't.
Because that is not the way to solve the problem.
M: The noise annoys me and I want to stop it. I have a craving for the workers
to stop.
Well then, you have already set up a desire that the noise should stop. How
did the desire arise? It arose from your dissatisfaction with the current
situation. In other words, you desire a peaceful circumstance right now. Since
you can't have it, you are annoyed. There is already aversion in your mind.
Suppose you were in the midst of doing something that was very important to
you. Then this aversion might flare up into overt anger, hatred or even
violence. Aversion is already a stressful state. Anger, hatred and violence
bring on even greater stress and suffering, both to oneself and to others.
These are the truths that we have to face in every moment of our daily lives.
But we are not aware of this aversion and suffering. We blame our dukkha on
someone or something else.
This lack of awareness is called avijja, or ignorance -- that is, ignorance
about the Four Noble Truths. This ignorance is described as an unawakened
state. If you wake up to your own state of mind, right now, you will see what
is happening there.
Can you look into your own mind this very moment and see what is happening
there?
M: See what?
What happens to the annoyance.
M: When I become aware of the annoyance, it sort of lessens.
As soon as you become aware of the annoyance, the aversion fades away. It
resolves in the mind.
M: Yeah, a little bit.
Is it still there?
M: You mean the annoyance? It's much less. It is still there but it is much
less now. [laughter] I see. So it's not a question of putting the irritation
out of your mind. It is a question of accepting the fact that your mind is
irritated and annoyed.
You are right. The issue is not the noise. It is your reaction to the noise.
You have to deal with yourself first before you deal with the noise. Now, what
are you going to do about it?
M: That's my next question. We have a number of choices. We can move away from
the noise. We can ask the workers to stop hammering. We can continue to sit
here and try to maintain our awareness of the noise in order to minimize the
irritation.
You have to be clear. Is it the awareness of the noise or the awareness of
your own state of mind?
M: Awareness of my own state of mind regarding it.
Right. There are many situations in life when you will not be able to
eliminate external factors. We cannot eliminate or control most of the
external factors in our lives, but we can do something about ourselves. You
begin with yourself. Since you are born with a free will, it is absolutely up
to you what you want to do with yourself.
M: Are you saying that since I cannot make the noise go away, I can just
choose to accept it?
You must understand the difference between accepting things blindly and
accepting them intelligently. Acceptance can be complete only when you harbor
no judgments.
Now let's go back to the Four Noble Truths. Your dissatisfaction with the
noisy circumstances is the First Noble Truth of Suffering -- dukkha. Your
desire or craving for peace is the Second Noble Truth -- samudaya -- which is
the cause of dukkha. Now as soon as you look within yourself and resolve the
annoyance, you are free from the cycle of desire-aversion-desire. Aren't you ?
Now look into yourself again.
M: The annoyance is already gone! It is amazing that you had to bring the
noise back again into my awareness.
Let's look at what we've been going through. You have seen that it is possible
to break the cycle of suffering by merely looking into your own state of mind.
This in actual fact is mindfulness of the mind, which is the basis of
satipatthana meditation in Buddhism.
Do you see now how practicing mindfulness can lead to the end of suffering?
M: No, not yet. How does mindfulness relate to the acceptance of the noise?
The acceptance is the result of mindfulness. The act of mindfulness is a
transcending act. It transcends likes and dislikes, and purifies our vision.
We see things as they are. When we see or hear things as they really are,
acceptance comes naturally.
M: You are aware of the noise. You get rid of the clinging to silence and you
accept the noise. You accept that the noise will be part of the experience.
There is not even "you" there. There is just acceptance.
M: Aahh.
The acceptance comes from the freedom of the mind in the moment. As soon as
the cycle is broken, you no longer feel annoyed. When your mind frees itself
emotionally from the noise, it assumes a state of equanimity and acceptance.
M: You're not expecting it to stop and you're not expecting it to get louder.
That's right. You are free of any conceptualizing regarding the noise. You
arrive at a point where you can just hear it as it is. With that hearing of
the noise as it is, acceptance is already part of the situation. You can't
force yourself to accept it. That's why I am very careful using these words.
When you say, "I accept," that usually means...
M: I am in control.
Yes, that's right and that doesn't really solve the problem. The kind of
acceptance we are talking about is a natural spontaneous absorbing of the
environment, being one with it.
M: Oh, I see. There ceases to be a division between the noise and my
experience of the noise. So there is nothing to accept or be annoyed about.
Right. Now let us go back to your experience right this minute. Are you still
irritated by the noise?
M: Not anymore. I'm completely free of it. You mentioned mindfulness being the
foundation of meditation. How does that work?
Yes. Mindfulness of one's own mind at any moment is part of the practice of
satipatthana. In this particular instance, your own mindfulness of annoyance
is contemplation of the First Noble Truth -- dukkha. Your mindfulness of the
desire for peace and of clinging to silence, which is the cause of dukkha, is
contemplation of the Second Noble Truth -- samudaya. The moment that you
become free of the annoyance is nirodha -- the Third Noble Truth. In this
case, the cessation of suffering is momentary, so it can be called tadanga
nirodha.
M: And the Fourth Noble Truth?
When you practice mindfulness you are in fact practicing magga, the Noble
Eightfold Path. You are making the right effort, called samma vayama, to be
mindful, called samma sati, of your annoyance. As a result, your mind becomes
collected, which is called samma samadhi. When you transcend your dislike of
the noise and your irritation ceases, at that moment you are able to regard
the sound as it is. This is called samma ditthi or right view. It is samma
sankappa, right thinking, when you are not expecting it to get louder. You are
able to verbalize the situation with proper insight, called samma vaca. Now do
you still feel like running away from the noise?
M: Not anymore. At first I did. I might have said or done something nasty if I
had had the chance.
But you didn't and that is samma kammanta, right action.
M: You mean no action in this context is right action?
Yes. So you can see how by practicing mindfulness with equanimity in daily
life, one is already applying the Four Noble Truths and integrating the Noble
Eightfold Path as living meditation.
Unity of the Noble Eightfold Path
=====================================================================
In Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is the guide to the attainment of
liberation. If it is to be understood and incorporated into our daily lives,
it must be viewed in terms of unity of mind, speech and action. The Path can
be explored in such great detail that one could get lost in digressions. To
avoid that, we take a practical, accurate and holistic view of the Path. We
look at it in terms of wisdom, ethical conduct and concentration, or -- in
Pali -- pañña, sila and samadhi.
Wisdom (Pañña)
1. Right understanding (samma ditthi)
2. Right thinking (samma sankappa)
Ethical Conduct (Sila)
3. Right speech (samma vaca)
4. Right action (samma kammanta)
5. Right livelihood (samma ajiva)
Concentration (Samadhi)
6. Right effort (samma vayama)
7. Right mindfulness (samma sati)
8. Right collectedness (samma samadhi)
Even these three aspects of the Path, although identified separately for
clarification, are not separate. In actual practice, with proper
understanding, sila, samadhi and pañña are assimilated in each moment, in
every thought, word or deed.
Take, for instance, sila, or ethical conduct. How does one refrain from wrong
speech and action? First of all, what is right speech and wrong speech? Are
they not relative to time, place and person? Is there such a thing as absolute
right and absolute wrong? We can go on and on without coming to a definite
conclusion, and by so doing we veer away from ourselves -- that is, from our
minds.
The purpose of sila is to refrain from hurting others by way of harmful speech
and action -- but how much restraint we can impose on ourselves at all times?
We react to our environment in such a habitual way that we may already have
hurt others before we realize what has happened in the mind. This is because
we are conditioned to neglect our own minds in our daily life. Our attention
is almost always directed outward. This preoccupation with the outer world is
what we have to transcend.
Although we are dealing with verbal and physical acts, all of these originate
from the mind itself. The actions of the mind, speech and body occur in such
rapid succession that there seems to be no interval in between. As soon as a
thought has arisen, we find ourselves speaking or doing something. We find
that we cannot control speech and bodily behavior fast enough to refrain from
harmful speech and action. But sati (mindfulness) on the mind renders it alert
to its own actions of speech and body.
How do we redirect our attention to our own mind? This was the Buddha's
purpose in laying out the path of mindfulness. The objective of cultivation of
the mind is to learn to break the habitual preoccupation with the external
world so that we become more aware of what is happening in us, in our own
minds, as we go on in life. As soon as mindfulness, samma sati, occurs, we
find that the mind acts no more; it stops like a witness to watch the inner
state. When this watching becomes a constant habit, second nature, the cycle
of reacting mindlessly to the environment is broken. In this moment of
breakthrough, "seeing" or "awareness" occurs: crystal-clear perception of
things as they are, of people, situations and things properly in perspective,
free of discriminations, likes and dislikes. From this new insight thre
follows right thinking, right speech and right action, relative and
appropriate to each specific circumstance and instance. Then the question of
what is absolutely right or absolutely wrong no longer arises.
Thus, in terms of the Noble Eightfold Path, as soon as we pay attention to our
mind, there is already samma vayama (effort) and samma sati (mindfulness).
When samma sati is full and complete, the mind enters instantaneously into
khanika samadhi (momentary concentration), which brings forth pañña (wisdom).
Wisdom sees things in the right perspective, samma ditthi. Wisdom brings samma
sankappa (right thought); and thereby samma vaca (right speech), samma
kammanta (right action) and samma ajiva (right livelihood.)
Hence it is possible in every conscious moment that sila, samadhi and pañña
are all three incorporated in our daily business of living -- while we eat,
work, play and struggle. In short, our life itself becomes the Noble Eightfold
Path.
MS: You have translated samma samadhi as "one-pointedness of mind" or "right
concentration." Isn't, textually speaking, samma samadhi an absorption in the
four jhanas? One-pointedness of mind can be right- or wrong-pointedness of
mind and, therefore, may not fit the true understanding of samma samadhi. This
distinction becomes important when we talk about meditation and concentration
in daily life.
Thynn: Well, samma samadhi is generally translated as one-pointedness of mind
or right concentration. But when it is expounded in detail it is described in
two categories: jhanic absorption as in samatha meditation, and khanika
samadhi (momentary concentration) as in vipassana meditation of the dry-
visioned (sukkha-vipassaka) path of daily life.* Thus I personally think it
should not be translated as absorption in the four jhanas only. In this I am
following the commentarial rather than the canonical tradition.
You are correct, though, that one-pointedness of mind can be of the right or
wrong kin, because the power of the concentrated mind is enormous and can be
directed toward harmful activities if not governed by wisdom. This is exactly
why the Path sould be understood and practiced in a holistic manner. If you
take meditation out of the context of the Noble Eightfold Path, without
morality or the pursuit of wisdom (pañña), then naturally it cannot be called
samma samadhi. In the case of meditation in daily life, what is important is
the arising of wisdom (pañña) as a sequel of mindfulness in the moment as a
preventive to harmful thoughts, words, action or livelihood.
A traditional elaboration of the Noble Eightfold Path
is given at the end of this book.
Dynamics of Meditation
=====================================================================
M: What really scares me about meditation is the idea of becoming completely
without thought, completely mindless.
Thynn: Let me clarify your usage of "mindless" and "completely without
thought." Mindless in your context would mean that the mind is totally absent,
without any consciousness, a vacuum. This is not possible. Without
consciousness we would be dead. "Completely without thought" means
consciousness exists, but no thoughts are present. This is possible in
meditation, but only under certain conditions. In some forms of sitting
meditation it is possible to reach a state where the mind is absolutely quiet,
one-pointed and absorbed in itself. This is called jhanic samadhi. In this
meditative state, the person cannot function.
M: I don't think I could be completely without thought. It sounds like I would
become like a zombie.
It is only a temporary state, which one comes out of. But we have been talking
about another way of meditating, a way that sidesteps the problems of jhanic
samadhi. If you practice mindfulness in everyday life as you have experienced
just now, you do not go through absorptive states.
M: It sounds like daily-life meditation is a more active process than I had
thought. How does the mindfulness process relate to this kind of meditation?
Let's be clear. The process is active whether one is in formal meditation or
in a daily-life situation. In the sitting practice, although the body is
stationary, the mind is actively watching; it is mindful of the body or the
mind. Meditation is a mental discipline that ultimately leads the mind to a
purified state.
M: In daily-life meditation, is the mind actively watching itself through a
state of no thought?
Yes. When your mindfulness is at its peak, you can experience states where
thoughts fall away. But the no-thought state lasts for only a split second.
You experience a heightened awareness that is one-pointed as well as
absolutely quiet. This momentary one-pointedness of the mind is called khanika
samadhi. Although it is not as prolonged as the samadhi states in sitting
meditation, khanika samadhi has the same intensity and quality. In khanika
samadhi, thoughts fall away and the mind arrives at its purest state.
M: If thoughts fall away, does it mean that no "I" exists in that moment?
Yes, but only momentarily.
M: If no "I" exists in that moment, what does exist? What happens in that
moment of no thought?
When split-second samadhi occurs, in that moment there is no thought, but only
an absolutely pure and heightened consciousness. It is at that moment that
pañña or insight awareness arises. The person experiences pure vision, ditthi
visuddhi. In Pali, ditthi means view and visuddhi means purity. So, it means
pure vision.
Although this experience may be brief, it is timeless and infinite; it is a
moment of transformation. It is the moment when the "I" and "mine" resolve.
After that moment of no thought, pure vision is followed by thought, but the
thoughts, emotions and actions are not in the old habitual routine. In the
moment of an absolutely still and quiet mind, pure vision (pañña or insight),
love and compassion arise from our inner depths. Subsequent thoughts and
actions are tempered with love and compassion.
You see, meditation does not make you into an inert, unthinking, unfeeling
person, my dear. In fact, meditation brings out the best in you -- love,
warmth and sensitivity to all beings.
The practice of mindfulness, whether within the sitting meditation or in this
daily-life meditation, is an active, ongoing process. In the sitting practice,
although the body is stationary, the mind is actively watching and mindful of
the body or the mind. Likewise, in meditation in daily life, the mind is
actively watching itself regardless of posture and time. The mental discipline
involved in each form is what is most crucial and ultimately leads the mind to
its purified state. It is not the postures that lead to enlightenment, though
postures are useful in helping the mind to quiet itself. If you understand
this clearly, you can meditate anywhere and anytime.
Inner Retreat
=====================================================================
L: I've just finished a retreat at a meditation center and I am having some
difficulty adjusting to the outside world. It was so tranquil in the center
that I find it very difficult to cope with the sights and sounds and all the
confusion outside. How can one cope with the transition?
Thynn: Your experience is not unusual. Many people find themselves in the same
kind of situation when they first leave a meditation center. In the retreat,
conditions for peace and quiet are established, and meditation can be
practiced without disturbance. While you are in the retreat, you become
temporarily conditioned to these quiet circumstances. So when you come out,
you find the bombardment of the sights and sounds difficult to handle.
L: How can one better cope with the transition?
Let's look at how your mind functions inside and outside the retreat. When you
were in the retreat, you were practicing mindfulness intensively. Your
mindfulness was in a very high gear. When you came out, you probably left the
mindfulness behind, didn't you?
L: Ha! I actually did.
There you are! As soon as you left the retreat, you changed gear. You let your
mindfulness go and you were back to your old unmindful state. When you are
suddenly faced with the confusion in the outside world, you find it difficult
to handle. The difficulty arises because you separate meditation from daily
experience. Actually, the mindfulness you have learned in the retreat should
equip you better to face the outside world.
L: How's that?
Well, first you must overcome the impression that mindfulness can only be
practiced in the retreat and at a particular time and place. This conditioning
renders it difficult for anyone to bridge the gap between the retreat and the
outside world. In the retreat, you have learned to be mindful sitting cross-
legged with your eyes closed. Now that you are out of the retreat you can
practice the same kind of mindfulness, but you have got to be able to do it
with your eyes open, while you deal with a myriad of problems and
bombardments.
L: Isn't that difficult?
Nothing is too difficult if you know how. Probably the first thing you learned
in the meditation retreat was how to be in the present moment. You can also
practice that outside. You can be mindful of everything you do -- cooking,
washing up, bathing, driving, walking. You can be mindful of just about
anything.
Not only that, but in the retreat you invariably learn to watch your mind like
a witness, without likes and dislikes. In daily life you can watch your mind
like a witness in the same way. You can watch your aversions to sights and
sounds as they come to you. Let them come and let them go. Be equanimous to
your feelings about the outside world, and your equanimity will overflow to
the outside world itself as well.
As you are witness to your own reactions to the outside world, you will also
become a witness to the sights and sounds, and not be so disturbed by them.
When you become quite good at this, you will actually be living with an inner
retreat whatever your circumstances, whether quiet or not. All the world may
go round and round, but your inner world will be still and you will find you
won't need a separate time and place to meditate.
L: What about setting up a time to practice at home in the course of the day?
It is fine to do that if you can be equanimous about that set period of
practice. You see, what happens with most people is that they become dependent
on that meditative practice and find they cannot function the whole day
properly if they do not have the chance to sit and meditate in the morning.
L: Why is that?
It is a form of conditioning like everything else. It is like being addicted
to the morning cup of coffee or tea. You can become addicted to meditation
also. Although this is definitely not a bad conditioning per se, there are
many subtleties that one must be aware of in meditation. The mind is very
tricky, and one must always be aware of how the mind can be trapped.
L: Then what does one do in such circumstances?
The most important thing is to develop equanimity toward your own practice. It
may be the most difficult thing to do because, like everything else, one
becomes attached to the meditative practices. We learn to be equanimous with
other things, but forget to be so with our own practice.
L: If we can be equanimous with our practice, will it be possible to set aside
a time for meditation and yet maintain an equilibrium through out the day?
That will be possible if you can be equanimous and at the same time mindful
outside the practice session. Then you can be good at meditating, both in and
out of the set period.
=====================================================================
Reflections on Meditation
=====================================================================
Concentration and Meditation
=====================================================================
For many people the act of concentration is synonymous with meditation. That
is probably the reason why so many good Buddhists are more or less satisfied
with the notion that when they are doing something in a concentrated fashion
-- such as reading, working, playing golf -- they are already meditating. They
are partly right and partly wrong.
Actually, concentration is only a part of meditation. The essence of
meditation is to reach a higher form of understanding, pañña, to stretch the
mind beyond the boundaries of the intellect into the realm of the intuitive,
of insight-wisdom. In most cases, meditative disciplines require collecting
the mind to a one-pointed state in the initial stages. The first method used
is to train the mind to concentrate on one single object.
If one considers the pure act of concentration one uses in one's work or
hobby, one sees that the objective of such a feat is quite different from that
of meditation. In our work or hobby we are merely concerned with accomplishing
something that is outside of us generally, like job success, winning a game of
golf, completing a scientific experiment, etc. In meditation, however, the
achievement is inward, an achievement of self-understanding and spiritual
insight. In the initial stages of meditation it may be necessary to
concentrate on objects that are external to one's mind, like on the nostrils,
or on the movement of the abdomen, until the mind is collected at one point.
This type of one-pointed collectedness also occurs while we work or play, but
that's where the similarity between concentration and meditation ends.
Concentration is pure and simple collectedness of the mind, whereas meditation
is the collected mind moving further toward the development of insight-wisdom,
or vipassana. In meditation, the awareness of the mind automatically shifts
onto the mind itself and of its own accord focuses on its workings and
processes, ultimately leading to true self-knowledge.
Though we may come to some form of understanding while concentrating on work
and play, this type of knowledge or understanding is intellect-bound, whereas
meditative knowledge is intuitive and spiritual. Therefore, the two kinds of
understanding are entirely different in nature and serve completely different
purposes.
In pure concentration, there is always duality in the mind -- "I" and "what I
am doing." There is a subject, an object and the process of doing. In other
words, there is the knower, the known and the knowing. Meditation also begins
with these three. But eventually the mind transcends these divisions by
turning inward toward itself. The ultimate enlightenment experience is the
state where the differentiation of knower, the known and the knowing ceases.
To confuse concentration with meditation leads to the difficult-to-overcome
states of apathy and self-satisfaction. Thus, the concept that concentration
and meditation are the same is a misunderstanding that offers us no help on
the path to liberation, and may even hamper aspirants in their inner progress.
MS: You said that in the concentrated activities of daily life, such as
reading or working, there is always a duality in the mind -- that is, there is
the knower, the knowing and the known. It seems to me that there is a
distinction between concentration in an ordinary activity and absorption in an
actifity like painting or making music or some other artistic endeavor where
the knower, the knowing and the known seem to disappear. This grey area comes
up again and again in Dhamma talks and questions. Would you elaborate on this?
Thynn: Actually, during absorption in artistic activities like painting or
making music, etc., the knower, the knowing and the known do not completely
disappear. What happens is that, in these moments of heightened artistic
activity, the person experiences a kind of rapture where the sense of "I-ness"
fades away to a great extent but not completely. Also, the person is still
conscious of the object, be it painting or making music or whatever.
Therefore, the known also does not completely disappear. I call these kinds of
experiences "pseudo-spiritual incidences," because they come close to jhanic
absorptions, but are not quite so. On the other hand, these raptures in
artistic endeavors allow the artist to become more pliable and spiritual than
most people.
Mindfulness and Awareness
=====================================================================
E: How we can practice mindfulness in daily life?
Thynn: Generally, our awareness is very much preoccupied with the external
situation, with whatever we contact through our six senses. Invariably, we
react to these sensations in a habitual way. We repeat our behavior again and
again, without awareness of what is happening in our minds. In Buddhism this
is known as avijja, or ignorance. This does not mean intellectual ignorance,
but specifically lack of insight into oneself.
E: But we do seem to know our own minds, don't we?
In one sense we do, but only in a sluggish manner. For example, when we go
through an emotional upheaval, we are aware of it only after the incident is
over. At the time of the turmoil we are lost in our confusion.
We generally focus on the external factors we think are affecting us. Take,
for example, the case of eating. Our attention is focused on the food: its
taste, its smell and appearance. If the food is not up to our expectations, we
immediately react to it with annoyance -- or even anger, if we are already in
a bad mood. Then we are apt to vent our anger on anyone or anything we come
into contact with.
But if we look at the situation analytically, we will see that the problem
does not begin outside of us. Another person who is not concerned with that
food, or who even likes it, will enjoy it without making a fuss. So the root
of the problem is not in the food but in our judgmental and discriminating
mind. The moment we start thinking, "I don't like it," we reject the existing
situation as being unacceptable. This rejection always ends up in anger or
tension in one form or another.
E: Then how do we practice awareness?
Awareness cannot be practiced.
E: Oh? But we hear and read so much about practicing awareness in Buddhism,
don't we?
There has been some confusion between awareness and mindfulness.
E: But I always thought they were the same.
They are related, but distinct. Sati, or mindfulness, implies there is action
of the mind. We purposely set ourselves to pay attention to our minds. We
exert effort. Awareness is different.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Awareness is devoid of any action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The mind simply "awares." There is no action here, only a collected and
spontaneous awareness that just "sees." Here, mindfulness is the cause, and
awareness is the effect. You cannot practice or train the effect. You can only
practice something that will cause it. We have to start with mindfulness so
that awareness may arise in us.
E: How do we practice mindfulness?
Normally, our minds are in constant motion, thinking, feeling, endlessly
flitting from one thing to another. Because of this perpetual motion, there is
little room for awareness to arise. Awareness may peek through at times, but
it is too timid. It is sluggish and dull. Most often our noisy thoughts and
emotions dominate the scene. The mind must get out of this perpetual cycle for
awareness to arise fully.
E: How does this happen?
The mind must readjust itself, redirecting its usually externally oriented
attention onto mindfulness of itself. When we redirect ourselves in this way,
we replace all other mental activities with mindfulness. Rather than getting
caught in all the mental activities, we are left only with "paying attention."
At each single moment the mind can accommodate only one mind state. For
example, we cannot be angry and be happy at the same time, can we?
E: Goodness, no.
When there is anger in our minds, there is no room for happiness. When
mindfulness occupies the whole of our minds, there is no room for any thought
or emotion to arise at that specific mind-moment. There is pure attentiveness.
When this attentiveness is total, the perpetual roller-coaster state of the
mind is broken: the mind finds a balanced footing in itself. Then awareness
can arise on its own accord.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
When there is complete balance,
there is awareness.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E: Can you relate this to the incident of eating?
Well, suppose you are used to paying attention to your mind. As soon as you
see the food, and thoughts of dislike enter your mind, you will be aware of
what is happening in you. When you watch your feelings of like and dislike
without judgment, you will be left only with the watching. There is no chance
for subsequent thoughts to arise. In short, your emotions will be stopped in
their tracks instead of building up. Maybe you cannot stop your dislike of the
food, but that is not important. The crucial thing is that when you are
stopped in your tracks, you begin to see the situation "as it is" and not "as
I want it." This "seeing" is the awareness we are talking about. Instead of
reacting with anger, you can now relate to the situation in a relatively calm
way and deal with it rationally, with harmony. The situation leads
constructively to your own and others' satisfaction.
E: You mean awareness dispels all the confusion in you?
Yes, it does.
E: But how?
You see, in awareness the mind becomes an "all-seeing" state -- which in
Buddhism is called pañña (insight wisdom). Although we say awareness, this
awareness is not just "being" aware. It is not a passive state. It brings with
it a dynamic perception which cuts through all confusions in the mind.
The total external situation is revealed in its entirety with transparent
clarity. When we see the world through our own confusion, the scene is very
much distorted. The more confused we are, the more distorted our view of the
world is. Therefore, our reactions are also distorted, and we create confusion
around us. It is only when confusion is transcended by pañña that we have
clarity in ourselves. With this clarity we can deal with the external
situation in a wholesome and creative way.
In the Moment
=====================================================================
P: Why is it that we find it so refreshing to go to a place which is totally
different from what we are used to? I always find it necessary to get away
from my normal life and take a break, to find a change of scene and
environment. Is that quite normal?
Thynn: I don't know whether you would call it normal or abnormal, but one can
say that it is quite usual. It is quite usual for us to feel suffocated and
hemmed in by our lives. One feels the need to get away from it all, to take a
break, and to find new experiences to sustain oneself.
But you must also understand that it is not mainly the suffocating life
situation that is driving us to seek relief temporarily, though that does help
to some extent. The main reason is that one is not free in the present moment.
When one is not free, one cannot experience this very moment fully and
completely.
P: So one is actually seeking a diversion when one does not find satisfaction
in the present. But even when one gets to a new place and finds the new
experience to be exciting, the satisfaction does not last for long, because it
only satisfies the senses and not the spirit.
Yes, this is true. When you get back to your original situation, you find that
you are on the old treadmill again. But, come to think of it, what is it that
makes you feel contented and satisfied? You can be contented and satisfied
only when the mind is free from desires and clinging, for only the free mind
can experience each moment fully and completely.
To a mind free from desires, free from conflicts and frustrations, each moment
is fresh and new. If your mind is always burdened with conflicts and
frustrations, you cannot experience the moment fully. There is no clarity or
room for experience. In this sort of situation you are either living in the
past or in the future; the experience of the present is only partial. You are
only partly aware of the present, so to say. You do not experience the
freshness of the moment, the joy of everything you come into contact with. So
you go out to seek freshness in other places, from other people, in new
relationships and so on. However, the cycle continues, because the root of the
problem is not in the environment but within yourself. Until that truth is
properly understood and dealt with, you continue the search for satisfaction
everywhere, and yet find it nowhere.
Meditation without Meditation
=====================================================================
R: What is sitting meditation?
Thynn: You purposefully quiet your mind so that you can go deeper and deeper
within yourself.
R: Then why don't you teach us sitting meditation?
Buddhist vipassana meditation (insight meditation) involves four methods.
First, kaya-nupassana, meditation on the body. For example, the in-breath and
out-breath, walking, sitting and standing. Second, vedana-nupassana,
contemplation on sensations and feelings. Third, citta-nupassana,
contemplation on the mind. And fourth, dhamma-nupassana, contemplation on
mental and intellectual objects.
R: You mean all this time I have been meditating on the last three?
What else? Yes, you have been meditating on the last three.
R: You mean in all the struggling I have done watching my feelings and
confusions, struggling with the discussions in the group and with my readings,
I have been meditating all the time and never even knew I was meditating?
This is a good way of putting it. Yes, you have been meditating without
knowing that you were meditating. This is called "meditation without
meditation."
R: But why are we so stuck with the idea that to meditate we must sit in a
certain way at a certain time?
You see, institutional forms of vipassana meditation have become extremely
popular in Asian Buddhist countries and in the West. Whatever methods the
teachers and founders of these institutions may use, there is one feature
common to all of them: a structured system or form within which the student of
meditation learns to meditate. So meditation has become synonymous with
sitting meditation.
R: But how does meditation without meditation work? I mean, how does it
achieve results without our having to go through rigorous discipline?
I think you mean the rigor of the sitting meditation as a discipline. You see,
the sitting is only an aid to the more important discipline of the mind. The
sitting is not to train the body per se, but to train the mind in the art of
mindfulness and in going beyond. In formal meditation you concentrate on the
body at one point -- either on the breath or on sensations -- in order to
relinquish any thoughts, feelings or intellectual activities of the mind, to
help it become collected at one point. In the process you learn to watch the
mind without judgment and discrimination and also learn to let go.
R: But you have been telling us the same thing: to watch the mind, to let go,
etc.
Exactly. You can watch your mind while you quietly sit in the meditative
posture, or you can do so while you function in your daily life. Either way is
feasible, depending on your own disposition.
In the unstructured approach, you have to face yourself very often. In trying
to let go, you must first of all face your own ego and pride. Nobody wants to
face his or her own ego. It is too painful. It takes great mental effort to do
so. In this unstructured approach, facing your own ego is itself a meditative
act of the mind. It requires sati (mindfulness), effort, samadhi
(collectedness of mind) and equanimity. It may not require the rigorous
disciplining of the body, but it definitely requires perseverance and rigorous
disciplining of the mind.
R: But what about our discussions and readings? How do they help develop
insight?
In sitting meditation, you purposefully waive intellectualization by
concentrating on one single point -- let us say, on the breathing. However, in
this less formal approach I am teaching, you use the intellect as a tool to
develop insight. Reading, discussing and contemplating the Dhamma sharpen your
intellect and insight. But there is a very important point here. If your
efforts are only at the intellectual level, then you will only collect
intellectual knowledge. This is quite different from actual experiential
insight. In our discussions we have always gone beyond intellectualization of
the Dhamma. We have gone into personal experience, into the nitty-gritty of
life as we live and struggle through. Do you remember many times you've said:
"It's impossible; I can't understand it. I can't let go of my opinions and
clinging"?
R: Yes, that's right.
And many times you've said, "if I understand, I'll let go." But you found
that:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
you can understand only when
you let go of intellectualization.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
R: That is correct.
You make use of your intellect only where it works. The intellect has a limit;
it can only go so far. When it is exhausted, it just lets go. That is when you
experience the "seeing." Then the "understanding" just hits you.
R: But there is a price for this. My goodness, I had to pay so much -- all my
pride, my likes and dislikes, my clinging. How I loved my clinging! I had to
learn to let go of all that. It was not an easy thing. In fact, it was an
enormous struggle, mind you, and sometimes agonizing.
Yes, one does not get something for nothing. But it depends on how we
persevere, how willing we are to look within ourselves. We have to be brave
enough to face ourselves. That is a great struggle and it takes great effort
and courage to do so. But it is, in fact, an effortless effort.
R: Oh?
Yes, you are making an effort without really consciously "trying" to make an
effort. In Buddhism that is called viriya. It can happen in daily life or in
sitting meditation.
R: You mean we are transcending ourselves during all this struggling?
Exactly. You've been doing that without knowing you were transcending
yourself. In sitting meditation, you are taught the "how-to" of letting go at
each and every step of the way. The difference here is that you let go without
knowing it. Your intellect just simply cannot go any further; it just lets
itself go.
R: Oh, that's why, when I try to think about the Dhamma and our discussions, I
don't really understand. But later on when I stop thinking about them, the
"understanding" just strikes me. It isn't my doing. It just comes like
lightning out of the blue. At one point I thought your discussions were too
intellectual, especially the Abhidhamma teachings.
Yes, you can even make use of the dullest intellectual treatise in the Pali
Canon to transcend yourself!
R: Well, that's something new.
Even that is not! Nothing is ever wasted, if you know how to make use of it.
All of our sessions, even the Abhidhamma teachings, helped you stretch your
mind. You were making your mind more and more elastic without knowing it. You
went further than you had ever gone before. Your mind had to stretch beyond
its previous rigid orbit. The more difficult the discussions, the more your
mind was exercised. You may not have understood anything during those
sessions, but they helped you acquire the plasticity of mind that is so
essential to going beyond the mundane.
R: Yes, many times I felt lost and confused.
That was because your intellect was at work. But when the intellect reaches
its limit, it just drops away. Many of you have been asking me: what is the
method? What do we have to do to achieve understanding? You are so conditioned
to systems and methods and to structured learning that you can't see that
there is an approach without any form or structure. What have we been doing in
all our sessions? All the struggling you had to do within yourselves is the
means to self-understanding. Whether you call it method or non-method is
irrelevant.
R: I see now. We were left very much on our own to sort things out by
ourselves. No methods and no gurus.
Yes, that is the way it is. When you have a guru, you cling to your guru. When
you are working with a method, you cling to your method. You become dependent
on them. Then you lose the impetus to investigate freely and learn for
yourself. Our approach has no strict form or structure in the practice, but
all the qualities of the bojjhanga -- the seven factors of enlightenment --
are already integrated in the process we have been in.
R: What are the seven factors of enlightenment?
They are mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquillity, concentration
and equanimity. You have been practicing mindfulness with perseverance within
the context of daily life, which in fact has been slowly building up
concentration or samadhi. Not only that -- the act of mindfulness in daily
life is also an investigative process into the nature of your own mind with
equanimity.
The investigation is also taking place while you are reading, studying or
discussing with the group. Remember that our discussions were not just
theoretical. They dealt with how to incorporate the teachings into our lives
and to see through our problems of living by using the Dhamma. We have also
seen how we need the right amount of effort and energy to observe our mind, to
study and investigate it. And we have found that the pursuit itself, though
difficult, brings peace and joy. In this manner, our way of life itself then
becomes the Path to Enlightenment. This is the practice of dhamma-nupassana.
=====================================================================
Creative Living
=====================================================================
Creative Living
=====================================================================
H: I have the impression that Buddhism is very individualistic in its
teachings.
Thynn: It would seem so, but we are not isolated beings. We live in society.
Therefore, what affects an individual invariably affects all those around him
or her. Buddhism focuses a great deal on each individual's enlightenment.
Although it does not neglect the community, it has to start with the
individual. When each individual is well centered and in perfect equilibrium
within him or herself, he or she naturally draws others' centers into balance,
and hence the community as well. In other words, a spontaneous equilibrium is
created within any given situation.
H: How does this come about?
There is no magic formula for it, but two basic ingredients, patience and
pañña (wisdom), bring forth the harmony.
H: Isn't patience also a form of passivity?
If one is patient and tolerant but does not have pañña, that patience and
tolerance can take the form of passivity. In such a case, one can even allow
oneself to be abused in many ways. This is not intelligent living. Intelligent
living avoids both extremes -- passivity and impulsiveness.
These days people are always in a hurry and tend to be afflicted with the
disease of impatience. We are plagued with the urge to "act" instantly, to get
"going," to "move," and to "do" something in haste. We leave no time to
reflect, to stop, to absorb, and to let things evolve or emerge by themselves.
One tends to react through one's conditioned chaotic mind -- rather than
acting in a cool and collected way -- thus creating more chaos.
Any action without intelligence is destructive. Intelligent living means
"watching" and "seeing" the right moment, the right opportunity, the
appropriate situation, in which to act. In Buddhism this is known as samma
kammanta (complete and skillful action). In short, intelligent living means
skillful and creative living.
H: Then, if intelligence and patience are both relevant to skillful living,
how are they related? How do they come together?
Pañña (wisdom) and patience are like two sides of a coin. If there is
intelligence, then patience arises by itself. Patience without intelligence is
just contrived benevolence; it doesn't last long. Sooner or later one runs out
of patience. True tolerance arises only through pañña. You see, pañña brings
with it the four brahma viharas or sublime states, namely, metta
(unconditional love), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy) and
upekkha (equanimity). Only love, compassion and equanimity provide a person
with true benevolence. Equanimity leaves the person concerned detached from
clinging; love and compassion help the person to identify with others; and
pañña leads the person to take the right action. All these together lead to
true benevolence.
H: Well then, how does one live in harmony with others?
This is an extremely important question. It is a matter of focusing on your
own equilibrium. This is the most fundamental issue. Whatever situation you
are facing -- whether it is personal, social, one's career, family, friends,
etc. -- equilibrium must start right there ... with you. If you are shaky, how
can you bring others into balance? The equilibrium must start right here,
within yourself. Otherwise, you will only sink the ship with your shakiness.
Only when you are completely stable and well-centered can you reach out to
others' inner states. You cannot change others by purposeful and forceful
means. The change, first of all, must come from within yourself. The
equilibrium must start right there within you. When you have struck the right
balance within yourself, this balance will pervade the whole situation and
will, by itself, affect others' equilibrium. It is a spontaneous occurrence.
Your own tranquillity will allow other people and situations to respond to you
very naturally. We need to retain an open heart, so that whenever we do
anything, our action will be out of love and compassion and nothing less. This
kind of living and loving generates tremendous energy for harmonious, creative
and joyful life.
Love and Hate
=====================================================================
She was just out of college; to know her was like a breath of fresh air. She
was full of life, intelligent and pleasant, with a youthful inquiring mind.
She was becoming a spiritual friend.
She told me about a person she had hated since college days. This troubled her
so much that even in her dreams he was bothering her. That was why she wanted
to know about love and hate.
S: Can you explain to me about love and hate?
Thynn: Well, you see, love and hate are not so different. They are two aspects
of our discriminating mind, like two sides of the same coin.
S: But they feel so different.
Yes, initially they are different, but they both arise out of our habit of
discrimination, and they both lead to suffering. Whether we love or hate
someone is based on our own likes and dislikes. We automatically categorize
people according to our own preconceptions. When they meet our ideals and
appear to be to our liking, immediately our mind starts to cling to them; and
if they should fall into the category of dislike, our minds start to reject
them. In this way we end up loving or hating.
S: But how can we stop loving and hating? I find both situations equally
frustrating.
Let's think about a situation where you love a person at one time and come to
hate him at another. He is the same person, so why do your feelings about him
change?
S: Probably because that person and I have changed.
True. That means our love changes with each changing situation, and that means
our feelings are not permanent, but relative to time and place.
S: Our feelings are not permanent?
Exactly. This is what the Buddha called maya, the illusion of the mind. Our
feelings are an illusion born of our conceptual mind; they arise from the ego-
self. According to Buddhism, since ego is an illusion, anything that is born
of the conceptual mind is also an illusion. It has no substance, permanence or
peace. That is why mundane love is fickle. That is why it can change to hate.
About a week later she came to see me again, and this time, in great
excitement, she said to me:
S: I fully understand now what you said about love and hate! I met that person
the other day and, to my great surprise, I found myself going up to him and
even greeting him without hesitation. I don't know why, but I don't feel any
animosity toward him anymore. Before, I used to hate even the sight of him. It
is really such a great relief to me. I feel free now!
Let me ask you one thing: before you met this person did you have this feeling
of hate in you?
S: Why, come to think of it, I didn't.
And what about now; do you still have it?
S: No.
Then, what is the difference, before and after?
Then she burst into laughter, saying:
S: Very true!
Well, you were free of this hate or love before you met him, weren't you?
S: Yes, that's right.
What did you have to do to be free like that?
S: Well, I didn't have to do anything. I was free by myself.
That's right. By ourselves we are free of either loving or hating. Only when
we start to like or dislike do we become entangled in our own emotions. As
soon as we come to realize that they are illusions of our own making, we
become free. We are brought back to our original situation where there is
neither love nor hate. Only when the mind starts to work on liking and
disliking is the burden of love and hate built up and we lose that freedom
temporarily.
This is a real-life example of how the cloud of moha (delusion), once lifted,
leads to freedom and self-realization in the moment.
Happiness
=====================================================================
One day a friend found me reading Buddhism and asked, "Are you trying to find
happiness?"
Thynn: Yes.
R: Have you found it?
Yes, I have.
R: How?
By realizing that I cannot find it.
R: But how can that be?
There is no such thing as a feeling of happiness that is permanent and
everlasting. Those feelings of elation and pleasure that arise whenever we
come across things, people or events that satisfy and please us are but
momentary.
We hanker after pleasurable feelings, thinking that if we get everything we
want we will be happy. When we try to find satisfaction outside of ourselves,
we end up running in circles. We can never get total satisfaction from others,
just as we can never provide them with it. We simply forget that others are in
the same position as we are! They expect the same kind of satisfaction from
you and me.
As soon as we try to find happiness, we are already on the road to
unhappiness.
R: Is there no way out?
Yes, there is a way out. We will find happiness only when we stop looking for
it.
R: But that's difficult.
That is the paradox. The moment we want happiness, we start to cling to it in
our mind. First, we cling to our own idea of happiness. We relate to the
outside world as a source of satisfaction and look outward for the things we
normally associate with happiness -- accumulating wealth, success, fame or
power. As soon as we become attached to any idea -- happiness, success or
whatever -- there is already some stress. Clinging is itself a stressful
state, and everything that derives from it is also stressful. For example, try
to clench your hand to make a fist. As soon as you start to clench your hand,
you have to use energy to keep your fingers clenched tightly. When you let go
of the clenching, your hand is free again.
So it is with the mind. When it is in such a state of clenching, it can never
be free. It can never experience peace or happiness, even if one has all the
wealth, fame and power in the world.
R: So how do we get out of this?
The only way is to let go.
R: Let go of what?
Your desire for happiness.
Love and Compassion
=====================================================================
A: What is true compassion?
Thynn: Compassion (karuna in Pali), as taught in Buddhism, is one of four
sublime states (brahma vihara) that are inherent qualities of wisdom (pañña).
The other three are unconditional love (metta), sympathetic joy (mudita) and
equanimity (upekkha). An act of compassion is not isolated, but is also an
expression of these other qualities of wisdom.
A: Suppose you have a friend who is an alcoholic, and you want to help her.
What would be the right thing to do if she refuses to take your advice?
B: Even if my own son happened to be a victim, I would suggest that he go to
the hospital. I would help him all I could if he wanted to go. If not, that's
it, and I would not feel angry or say anything.
Yes, if what you are saying is that we can't help someone who is not ready to
be helped, that is very true. But we have to be very careful here. We have to
examine our own minds very carefully. There is a fine line between equanimity
and indifference. If we try to perform an act of compassion in a detached way,
with no wisdom governing the act, there is danger.
B: Why is that so?
Because, first of all, only wisdom can differentiate between equanimity and
indifference. A person can be very proficient in dissociating herself or
himself emotionally from any situation or from people. But that kind of
detachment is not true equanimity; it is only a delusion, and the delusion
itself can lead to indifference and negligence. You can be led to think that
so long as your duty is done, that's it; the rest has nothing to do with you.
You must also differentiate between fulfilling duty with indifference and
acting with love and compassion. There is a very fine line between them.
B: Then what is upekkha or equanimity if it isn't detachment?
Detachment is the opposite of attachment. It means disengaging or dissociating
from somebody or something.
Equanimity is that which transcends
both attachment and detachment.
It means seeing things as they are, without clinging or rejecting. It goes
beyond attachment and detachment.
B: What is the difference between equanimity and indifference?
Indifference is the result of a lack of concern, a lack of love. But
equanimity is born from wisdom and love.
It is not an isolated quality in itself.
It is part and parcel of wisdom, love, compassion and joy. Likewise,
compassion is not an isolated feeling. If it were isolated, then it could
probably be induced by a conditioned behavior based on the idea of compassion.
A: Then what is true compassion?
True compassion and love are spontaneous manifestations of pañña (wisdom). If
there is pañña, there is already love, compassion, joy and equanimity. They
are all present in a single act of compassion. That act encompasses all these
qualities.
For example, in the case of the alcoholic son, wisdom would give you the
insight to look at the total situation -- what alcoholism is doing to your son
and whether it is affecting others; what it is doing to the whole family; and
the mental, social and economic misery and suffering resulting from
alcoholism. You may be detached and not be affected by his refusal to take up
your suggestion, but your equanimity should not turn into indifference.
There is a vast and very crucial difference between
detaching yourself from your emotions and
detaching yourself from the situation.
You can still be genuinely concerned and actively involved in any situation
without expending your emotional resources. Your own insight into the total
situation and your love for the whole family leads you to the right action in
that particular situation.
B: So we could say that wisdom and love serve as checks and balances to
equanimity.
Yes, that's right. Love keeps you involved in the situation; compassion leads
you to identify yourself with others; equanimity helps you to transcend
emotional involvement and see things objectively; and wisdom helps you
identify the right solution to the problem or situation for the benefit of
yourself as well as of others.
A: What about sympathetic joy? How would joy come into this integrated action?
An act is joyless if it is done on the basis of pure duty. Joy is also lacking
if you help someone out of pity. Duty and pity fall short of true compassion.
Joy is present only when an act is born of wisdom, love, compassion and
equanimity. Such action is joyful because it is not restrained by attachment
nor burdened with worries and anxieties.
Love and joy bring perseverance to compassion. One does not give up easily
until some good comes out of an adverse situation. An act of joy with no
emotional attachment makes the involvement itself fulfilling. This is an act
born of a free mind.
B: What do you mean by a free mind?
A free mind is a mind free from fixation on anything, free even from a concept
of compassion.
B: What do you mean by that?
A free mind is a mind that is purely in the present moment. Because it lacks
any fixations, it can view the total situation and adapt to prevailing
circumstances -- then you can act accordingly.
Suppose the alcoholic is your friend. How you would act would be slightly
different from your actions toward a son. For the latter, you have a far
greater moral responsibility than for a friend. Furthermore, your behavior
would change according to your standing and relationship with that friend, his
attitude, receptivity, etc. Many factors would determine how much you could be
involved. On the other hand, if you have a sick child, you would not hesitate
to put the child in the hospital, whether the child appreciates your decision
or not. Every situation is unique and no fixed rule can be applied to all
situations. The only criterion that the Buddha set was that one should act on
what would benefit oneself and the other person.
B: So, there are no hard and fast rules for compassion?
The real reason we are having this discussion is that I am very concerned that
any generalization I make might be taken as a guideline for action, even in
the name of compassion. A fixed idea or guideline for action may not work for
every situation.
Fixation leads to conditioning; every time you meet with a similar situation,
you react in the same conditioned way, even though there may be differences in
the situation. The mind must be free from any fixation; only then can true
compassion arise. Every situation we face is unique and different from any
other. Each situation has to be dealt with differently according to the needs
and benefits of that particular situation. Without clear insight, if your
action proves disastrous, you and others may suffer needlessly.
Equanimity and Indifference
=====================================================================
One friend always drops in to visit me for a Dhamma discussion when he's in
town. He is a devout Buddhist who has been studying and practicing the Dhamma
in Sri Lanka with his Abbot teacher for many years. My friend had written me
that he wanted to discuss my article on Love and Compassion. He launched into
the subject as soon as he arrived.
G: I was quite struck by the piece "Love and Compassion" and I am very glad
you wrote about it, because it is one of the problems I am actually facing
right now with my teenage son. It is very true that when you have studied the
Dhamma, you learn to detach yourself from others, but it is, as you said, very
difficult to differentiate between equanimity and indifference. And very often
we confuse the two. I find that when I detach myself, I also withdraw from
people.
Thynn: Yes, when we first study the Dhamma and learn to apply it to our own
lives, we start by learning to detach ourselves, to let go. This is because we
are so conditioned, mentally and emotionally, to cling to everything that
relates to us. We learn to distance ourselves from the situation so that,
instead of being absolutely immersed and caught up in it, we can look at it
more objectively.
G: Like becoming a witness?
Yes, initially we must learn to be a witness and not be emotionally involved.
We need to be objective, to see the situation as it is, without bias.
But in so doing -- unless we have very astute guidance -- we may end up
detaching ourselves all too thoroughly. The detachment may overtake other
feelings, like concern for and interest in the welfare and benefits of others.
This may lead to psychological dissociation from the person because we can
falsify our satisfaction and assume that we have done our duty and that there
is nothing further to be done.
G: That is so true. I find it very difficult to impress on my son what I think
is in his best interest. I have become somewhat detached now, since he does
not really respond. I thought I had done my duty and it was up to him to take
it from there. If he didn't, then what could I do? I used to think that way.
Now, I see that this is not desirable.
Yes, when we withdraw in one way we also tend to withdraw in other ways.
G: Why does it happen like that?
This also is a kind of conditioning. Previously, we were conditioned to cling
to everything. When we study the Dhamma, we are taught to "uncling" or let go;
however, instead of clinging to all sorts of things, we now cling to the idea
itself of letting go. So we become conditioned to the opposite extreme. We let
go of virtually everything. Thus, when we are faced with a situation we tend
to react by letting go of both the situation and the people. Even letting go
can become a habit.
G: A habit?
You see, the mind is a peculiar thing. It is used to being fixed on something
-- past experiences and memories, past learning, ideas, etc. Because of this,
we cannot experience each moment without attachment to anything. We even cling
to the best of Dhamma ideas.
The idea of letting go is also a concept. This concept is useful when we begin
to study the Dhamma, or when we practice meditation. But eventually we become
so proficient at detachment that we don't realize we are clinging to yet
another concept. From the concept of self we switch to the concept of non-
self, the idea that "it has nothing to do with me." This leads to disinterest
and lack of concern for others.
As a result, you may unconsciously close your mind as well as your heart even
to those closest to you. This creates a barrier between you and those in your
life.
G: Is this what you mean by indifference?
Yes, it is. From detachment, we unwittingly move on to indifference. Mind you,
this is not purposeful indifference; there is no intention behind it. It's
simple conditioning. So long as the mind responds to people and situations in
any conditioned way, love and compassion have no space to evolve.
G: How does love evolve then?
Love evolves only in a mind that is totally free, free from fixation on any
idea -- even the idea of letting go. We have to learn to free ourselves from
the idea of letting go.
G: But how do we free ourselves from this concept?
By mindfulness of the moment. Let me stress this. As soon as you realize that
you are clinging to the idea of letting go, you will drop the letting go. In
that moment of "dropping" you are free.
There is a Zen parable about a student holding a pot in each hand. When the
Master saw him, he shouted, "Drop it!", and the student dropped one pot. Again
the Master commanded, "Drop it!", and the student dropped the other pot. Again
the Master shouted, "Drop it!", and the student became enlightened. Everything
dropped from his mind. He became absolutely free. At that moment of absolute
freedom the pupil experienced Truth.
When we realize that we are conditioned to letting go, we spontaneously
transcend the conditioning. We stop clinging to the idea of letting go of our
concern for and interest in others.
Only in moments of complete freedom from
either attachment or detachment can upekkha
(equanimity) transcend both states of mind.
Only then can insight arise spontaneously as to what is the best approach to
the situation. If the situation needs our concern, we give it; if it needs our
interest, we give it; if our action or intervention is necessary, we do not
hesitate. We let go and pick up at the same time.
G: Could you explain a little more?
It is important to let go of clinging to your fixed ideas -- to self, or to
the desire to change others, for example. But at the same time, you need to
pick up the threads of life. In short, make your actions into pure acts --
straight from the heart.
For example, in the case of a child who has not come of age, indifference on
the part of parents is very undesirable -- even dangerous. Children do not
have sufficient knowledge and maturity to decide many things on their own.
They require our continued concern and interest. So long as our acts do not
arise out of egoism, and we have enough insight into the needs of our
children, we can reach out to them. But if the idea of "letting go" creates a
barrier within ourselves, we will be paralyzed. We have, first of all, to deal
with our own inner problems, our desire to control. Then we can deal
effectively with those outside.
G: But what about being a witness? If you are a mere witness you will not be
concerned or involved.
That is true. Initially you need to learn to be a witness -- to detach
yourself emotionally from situations. But being a witness is only a phase in
learning to be objective. When we have learned to be objective, we have to
step back into the drama of life again.
G: But won't we be caught up again in the same old cycle of affairs?
Yes, that is a danger. If you have not gained any insight by your withdrawal,
you may return to the same vicious cycle. But if you have really understood
how to "let go and pick up at the same time," you won't get tangled up again.
You see, when you step back into the drama, you step back differently. Now,
you act with clear understanding rather than fear or ignorance. Previously,
you looked at the situation through your ego -- you saw everything through
filters. It was impossible to see the entire situation when you wanted to
control the situation. Before, it was more important to justify your ego-hood.
Now, after stepping back and removing the filters, you can see clearly the
whole panorama of what is happening around you.
The more freedom you have in the moment, the more clarity you have about the
situation. This clarity brings with it a sensitivity and compassion for others
which keeps you involved, even if they don't respond immediately. You can
persevere in your search for a way to benefit others, because you are not
emotionally burdened. The act of involvement itself becomes joyful because it
is a free act, an act of pure love and spontaneity. You are part of the whole;
you are no longer isolated from others. You are connected to them without
losing yourself in their problems. You stand free, yet you are not apart. That
is true equanimity.
Sense Pleasures
=====================================================================
SDD: I have just read something by a well known Buddhist teacher on sense
pleasures and how they are the scourge of human beings. The teacher talks
about how clinging to sense pleasures creates problems in society.
Thynn: It is true that there is excessive indulgence in sense pleasures. No
doubt, modern civilization has become too preoccupied with them and allowed
itself to be enslaved by them. Let us look objectively at the root cause of
the problem. Otherwise, we fall into the trap of rejecting the sense world and
escaping from it, and in the end this is the same as being enslaved by the
senses. It is possible to be bound up in rejecting the sense world.
SDD: How is that?
If you think preoccupation with the sense world is the root cause of the human
problem, you may feel a sense of guilt where sensual enjoyment is concerned.
You may even be afraid to experience sensual pleasures. This can lead to
escapism and phobias if you are not careful.
SDD: Then what is the solution to this?
Craving after sense pleasures is primarily due to insecurity and not
recognizing craving in ourselves. We don't know what we are lacking, so we
look outside ourselves. We try to fill our emotional vacuum with all kinds of
diversions. And, of course, with the rampant commercialism, the handiest thing
is to indulge in all kinds of new experiences that cater to the senses. But
invariably we find that there is no end to indulgence and pleasure-seeking.
There is no lasting and absolute satisfaction from these sense pleasures
because we are not free in the moment.
SDD: Why is that so?
The mind, in its state of insecurity, needs to cling to something -- material
possessions, sense pleasures, distractions, wealth, fame, success or just
about anything on earth -- in order to fill the emotional vacuum. Actually,
all these give us is a false sense of security or temporary satisfaction.
SDD: How does one deal with insecurity?
There is only one way to deal with insecurity.
SDD: What is that?
It is to arrive at the understanding that security cannot be found anywhere or
in anything.
SDD: Oh? Why is that?
It is the search for security itself that makes the mind insecure; the mind is
so bound up with the search that it is not free to experience what can be
found in the present moment. We tend to project ourselves into the future, so
we cannot live fully in the present; we experience the present only partially.
Thus we do not experience the freshness of each moment. But if each moment is
experienced fully with every encounter, the beauty and the joy that day-to-day
surroundings bring become so obvious that there is no need to look for
satisfaction elsewhere.
SDD: But how does one learn to live in the present moment?
It all goes back to being mindful in the moment.
SDD: Mindful of what? Is it on the body or on what you are doing?
Mindfulness on the body does help you to exist in the present moment, but the
most crucial thing is to realize your own freedom in the moment. If you start
to want this and want that, thinking about the past or thinking about how you
are going to enjoy the future, you are not free. Your present moment is
preoccupied with the wanting and as a result your natural freedom in the
moment is lost.
SDD: You mean, we are naturally free but make ourselves "un-free?"
Yes, it is as though you were being tied by with an invisible rope, by no one
but yourself.
SDD: What you mean is, when you realize that there is no such thing as a rope
tying you, you are already free!
That's exactly it. You are back to your natural freedom in the moment, and you
can experience relationships afresh, in ordinary living. Even very mundane
things become so fulfilling that there is no need to search for freedom
elsewhere or to be dependent on new experiences and sense pleasures. You see,
this natural freedom in us is the only permanent thing, because it is the
innate essence of our being; it is life's natural gift. Everything outside of
ourselves is contrived and unsatisfactory.
So, to be free of sense pleasure is neither to cling to nor run away from it,
but to learn to be free in yourself. From this premise of freedom in yourself,
the sense world will neither threaten nor attract you. Then you will be able
to experience sense pleasures without becoming a slave to them.
In fact, we don't study the Dhamma to shut out the external world or to be
enslaved by it, but to arrive at our innate natural freedom. Then we can
experience the world as it is, in its beauty and ugliness, in the mundane as
well as the extraordinary, without having hang-ups or being caught by life's
snares.
Outward Form
=====================================================================
D: You said we should neither cling to form nor reject it. How do we know if
we are clinging or not?
Thynn: It depends on whether or not you are having conflicts with yourself
regarding form. Society requires certain forms. You are expected to behave in
a certain way, dress in a certain manner. This conventional truth is called
paññati. It means knowing which form is appropriate for that situation. But if
you cling to the form, your mind will be rigid and you will enslave yourself
to form. On the other hand, if you reject the form while you are in it, then
you are also enslaved.
D: Why is that so?
When you reject something, you are clinging to your rejection. Your mind
becomes fixed on the rejection. Clinging or rejecting, either way, your mind
is fixed and can never be free of conflict. You perpetually struggle.
D: How does we get out of this fixation?
You have to transcend the dualism of form as well as of not-form.
You cling to form or reject it because you have set up likes and dislikes in
your mind. Perhaps you reject a conventional truth. Although this truth is
relative, it is still the established norm for the moment. When you rebel
against a form, you are unable to accept things as they are.
D: But how can we accept a form if it is against our better judgment?
That is exactly the point. It is precisely because of our value judgments that
we are unable to see things as they are. We see things according to our way of
thinking. Our likes and dislikes become our frame of reference. We reject
outright anything that does not fit into this framework. Conversely, if
something fits into our framework, we embrace it as our possession. Our mind
always flits between these two extremes, clinging and rejecting. As long as
our minds are polarized in this manner, we continue to be attached. When we
are so attached to our likes and dislikes, how can our minds be free to see
form as it is?
D: Then what do we do?
There is nothing to do but learn to be silent, to not judge the form. As soon
as you stop judging, your likes and dislikes will also cease, as will your
clinging and rejecting. Once you stop being judgmental, you will see the form
as the form, no more, no less. You will see it as it is and you will be able
to relate to it freely.
Unhindered by rejecting or clinging, you can function within form or no-form.
Ordinary Awareness
=====================================================================
Being a close friend, and closer still in spirit, makes possible open and free
communication without constraint either way.
E: I am aware of a stillness in me that is so peaceful and exquisite that I
feel as if I were living in a cocoon.
Thynn: This is only a phase. It will pass away, and later it will become
ordinary. There is nothing extraordinary about peace.
E: But this is not ordinary! I felt this peace when I was very young, but when
I grew up I became filled with emotions, conflicts and frustrations, and I
lost this stillness. Only now, through meditation and study of the Dhamma, am
I beginning to experience this again! This is a marvelous thing and it is
definitely not ordinary. What I mean by ordinary is the angers and
frustrations I went through before. I don't have them now. That is what I mean
by not being ordinary.
It is true that the feeling of marvel and exquisiteness makes one think one is
enveloped in a cocoon. This is only in the beginning. This feeling of
exquisiteness -- or whatever you want to call it -- will fade away like
everything else. For the moment, you feel separate from others and may even
think yourself above them. Actually, there is neither above nor below. We are
all the same as human beings. We all possess this inner stillness, everyone of
us.
We are neither better nor worse than others.
It is just that we are more fortunate than some others because we have been
presented with a set of circumstances in which we can learn to experience this
inherent inner quality.
E: You mean everyone has it in them?
Of course. Most people are not aware of this peace because they are caught up
with their emotions and everything that goes on outside of themselves. In
Buddhism, this is called moha, or delusion. Just because we know how to look
within doesn't make us any different from others. If we think we are
different, we are creating a huge gulf between ourselves and others. We are
creating a mental division and will never be at one with them.
E: But why do you say this awareness of peace is ordinary?
Well, you see, it may seem extraordinary to you now because for a long time
you have been functioning with a roller-coaster mind. But the newness will
wear out and this awareness of peace will become second nature. Once you
become accustomed to this relatively new state of mind, it becomes just an
ordinary way of being, an everyday awareness. The only difference is that
previously your awareness was tied to the outside world and to your emotions
and confusions. Now it has learned to stay in its own peace.
E: But how did we lose our peace?
We never lost peace; it has always been there. We were just too preoccupied
with our emotions and were not aware of our peaceful state. This peaceful
state is nothing extraordinary. But one has to be very careful here. As long
as we think this stillness is extraordinary, we cling to it. This clinging is
so subtle and refined that it is difficult to recognize in oneself. One does
not realize that one is still on a very refined ego trip. So long as that is
the case, even when one experiences stillness through samadhi (concentration),
there is no chance for pañña (wisdom) to arise.
E: Why is that?
Even a very concentrated mind, if it is not completely free, impedes the
unfolding of wisdom. You see, in achieving samadhi, although you can suppress
defilements to some extent, they are not totally extinguished. Samadhi enables
the mind to achieve a sharpness and sensitivity that is greater than ordinary.
This sensitivity is what experiences peace and stillness so clearly.
Sensitivity has its drawbacks in that the stillness is so unique and exquisite
that one clings to its uniqueness. Thus self-importance arises. Many are stuck
in this way and are unable to proceed from there.
E: Don't you need samadhi to achieve pañña (wisdom)?
Sure -- but let's be clear. There are two kinds of samadhi. In addition to
jhanic samadhi, there is also what is called khanika samadhi. It is only
momentary in nature but it is penetrating enough to realize Truth. Khanika
samadhi can occur even without strenuous meditative efforts, given the right
circumstances and mental state. Even in jhanic samadhi, realization of Truth
or anatta (not-self) is only momentary. After that, one is back to ordinary
consciousness. The unfolding of insight wisdom with khanika samadhi occurs
with few or none of the mystic experiences or sensations of bliss that are
usually encountered in jhanic samadhi; thus, the person has no chance to cling
to blissful sensations. Before they know it, they are back to ordinary
consciousness.
E: But don't people who experience khanika samadhi also accumulate some
experiences they hang on to?
Of course they do, and that is why in all cases there should be a guiding hand
to help people free themselves from their own achievements. As I said just
now, clinging to progress on the spiritual path is so subtle that it is never
easy for us to realize this in ourselves.
E: Would a teacher know it?
It depends upon the sensitivity of the teacher and his or her own experience.
But a truly wise teacher should be able to detect where the clinging or the
problem is and help accordingly. I still remember clearly eighteen years ago
when my teachers chastized me mercilessly for getting a swelled head. Thinking
back now, I realize how fortunate I was to experience my teachers' great
compassion.
E: Wasn't it painful for you at that time?
Of course it was. I was only thirty-three then and the only woman in the
Dhamma circle. You can imagine how inflated I became with all the praise and
attention I was getting. My teachers saw all of this and took it upon
themselves to put me in my right place. They taught me the essence and virtue
of humility. From them I learned that spiritual achievement without wisdom and
humility is useless to oneself or humanity.
The essence of the spiritual path lies only in
the beauty of the ordinariness, in the mundane,
and in the freedom from separation of the
spiritual and the ordinary.
Elaboration of The Noble Eightfold Path
=====================================================================
1. Right Understanding (samma ditthi)
Knowledge of the Four Noble Truths:
a) the Noble Truth of Suffering;
b) the Noble Truth of Cause of Suffering;
c) the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering;
d) the Noble Truth of the Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering.
2. Right Thoughts (samma sankappa)
Thoughts free from:
a) lust, free from attachment;
b) free from ill-will; and
c) free from cruelty.
3. Right Speech (samma vaca)
Refrain from:
a) falsehood;
b) slander;
c) harsh words; and
d) frivolous speech.
4. Right Action (samma kammanta)
Abstain from:
a) killing;
b) stealing; and
c) sexual misconduct.
5. Right Livelihood (samma ajiva)
Abstain from trading in:
a) arms;
b) human beings (slavery, prostitution, etc.);
c) flesh (breeding animals for slaughter);
d) intoxicants; and
e) poison.
6. Right Effort (samma vayama)
a) to discard evil that has already arisen;
b) to prevent the arising of unarisen evil;
c) to develop unarisen good; and
d) to promote the good that has already arisen.
7. Right Mindfulness (samma sati)
Mindfulness with regard to:
a) body;
b) feelings;
c) mental formations; and
d) ideas, thoughts, conceptions and things (dhammas).
8. Right Concentration (samma samadhi)
One-pointedness of mind.
Glossary of Pali Terms
=====================================================================
Anapanasati: mindfulness of breathing; a form of meditation
Anicca: impermanence, flux, change
Avijja: ignorance of the Four Noble Truths
Brahma vihara: sublime dwelling in universal love, compassion, sympathetic joy
and equanimity
Bojjhanga: seven factors of enlightenment, of which mindfulness is the first
Citta-nupassana: contemplation of the mind
Dhamma: truth, teaching, righteousness, doctrine, nature, all things and
states, conditioned and unconditioned
Dhamma-nupassana: contemplation on mental/intellectual objects
Dukkha: suffering, conflict, unsatisfactoriness
Jhanic samadhi: trance state in which the mind is absorbed in one mental
object
Karuna: compassion
Kaya-nupassana: contemplation of the body
Khanika samadhi: split-second collectedness of the mind
Magga: path or way
Maya: illusions
Metta: universal love
Moha: ignorance
Mudita: sympathetic joy
Nibbana: Ultimate Reality, Absolute Truth, The Unconditioned
Nirodha: cessation of dukkha
Pañña: insight, wisdom
Samadhi: concentration attained in higher meditation
Samatha: concentration meditation
Samma kammanta: right action
Samudaya: arising, origin of dukkha
Satipatthana: setting up of mindfulness
Tadanga nirodha: momentary cessation of suffering
Theravada: literally, "the School of Elders," the orthodox, original form of
Buddhism followed in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
Upekkha: equanimity
Vipassana: insight meditation
======================================================================
The author may be contacted at the following address:
Dr. Thynn Thynn
4 Swarthmore Rd.
Scarsdale, NY 10583
e-mail: <puma7988@ix.netcom.com>