There are three ways to approach the Dhamma. One
is by acquiring knowledge through study of the Buddha's discourses, trying to remember
them as faithfully as possible. That is very useful for the propagation of the teaching
through lectures and books.
Another way is through devotion, offering flowers and incense, reciting
devotional verses, giving gifts and making merit. Generosity and meritorious action were
highly recommended by the Buddha, but he didn't put any value on just being in the
presence of monks and nuns.
Once there was a monk who was so enraptured with the Buddha that he
never wanted to be out of his sight. When this monk became sick one day and was unable to
see the Buddha, he became despondent. The other monks asked him why he was so unhappy. He
explained that he was depressed because he could not see the Buddha, who then came to
visit the sick monk and said to him: "What do you see in this vile form? There is
nothing to see in that. Whoever sees me, sees the Dhamma, whoever sees Dhamma, sees me.
"
The third approach to Dhamma, namely practice, has always been the one
most highly recommended by the Buddha. He said a person with real reverence and devotion
is one who lives according to the teaching. There are a number of steps to be taken when
we approach the Dhamma through practice. The foundation would be moral conduct,
meritorious actions, making good kamma. Without such a foundation, we do not have enough
security within to be peaceful and at ease with ourselves, which are prerequisites for
meditation.
This has sometimes been misinterpreted to mean that we should not
meditate unless we have already complete purity of precepts and gained perfect
mindfulness. But that doesn't follow, because it's meditation that helps us to gain
mindfulness, and gives us insight into the efficacy of the precepts.
The next practice aspect is to guard our senses. This is frequently
mentioned by the Buddha, so that it bears repeating and remembering. Without guarding our
senses, we are always open to being tempted into wanting and craving, resulting in turmoil
in the mind. Our sense contacts are triggers for lust and hate.
Our senses are so permanently engaged that we have lost sight of their
impact, are taking all that for granted and think that's just the way it is. We also
believe that what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think is really exactly as we are
interpreting it. That's fundamental error. Everyone experiences their sense contacts in an
individual manner.
Here is an example: The food Westerners eat is considered baby food in
Asia: food spiced in the Asian way appears like hellfire to the Western palate. Even such
a basic necessity as food shows up as a completely opposite experience. We can infer from
that, that we all live in our own world. People argue vehemently because they believe
their world must be the right one and even kill each other because of unresolved
differences.
The Buddha was often asked such a question as: "Is the world
finite or infinite, eternal or not?" His answer was: "What is the world? The
world are our sense contacts." When asked questions such as these, the Buddha always
brought the questioner back to practice. When we know that the world we live in consists
of our sense contacts, we have something to practice with. When we know that the world is
eternal or not, what is there to practice with?
Our senses include thinking, which is an almost constantly operating
faculty. At this moment, we have touch, sound, sight and thought contact. Four of our six
senses are engaged. Because our senses have been at work all our lives we believe that is
the only way life can be experienced, which creates our deep craving to continue in this
form. There is danger in this craving, something most people are not aware of consciously.
Subconsciously we all know about it, because that's where our fears originate. If we
examine ourselves for a moment we will realize that we harbor many fears, all carrying
different names. Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes, some are afraid of the dark,
some are afraid of airplanes, others that their loved ones may die, or that they might
lose all their money. All sorts of different names for exactly the same fear; the fear of
losing one's identifications, the fear of unpleasant, painful sense contacts, ultimately
the fear of annihilation. Yet losing this existence is a guaranteed outcome of being
alive. It's just a matter of time.
These fears are caused by our attachment to our pleasant sense
contacts, identifying with them and believing that apart from our senses there is no other
reality. Naturally we want that to continue then. We take our unpleasant experiences in
stride, expecting them to cease and the pleasant ones to arise again. If our unpleasant
sense contacts are in the majority, then we say we are having a lot of //dukkha//. Or we
might say: "I'm having a problem." As a matter of fact we are all having the
same problem, namely that of not being enlightened. When we come to the realization that
our sense contacts are very momentary and their inherent satisfaction a matter of opinion,
we will find it easier to let go of them during meditation.
Meditation will only happen when the sense contacts, particularly the
thinking, are suspended. If, for instance, the touch contact in the sitting position is
recognized and attended to as unpleasant, the mind starts working on that. Remembering
what someone said yesterday, last week or even ten years ago, can start the mind churning.
This is all due to our attachment to our senses and our identification with them.
From all sense contacts feelings arise, there is no way that can be
altered, but we can stop ourselves from reacting to such feelings, and believing that they
belong to us. To get our meditation to a concentrated state, we must refuse to react to
feelings arisen from sense contacts. The more we practice this in daily life, the easier
it will be to become concentrated in meditation. We don't have to go along with this
natural reaction of human beings. Meditative absorptions are supermundane and therefore
require supermundane qualities in us. Whenever the Buddha described the way to Nibbana he
included the meditative absorptions as part of the practice, to lead us to the inner
realization of the Dhamma.
Guarding our senses is not only important in meditation, but equally
valid in daily life. In a meditation course, where there isn't as much input as in
ordinary situation, it is a little easier to protect our minds from liking or disliking
what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think. In order to facilitate this, we need to
practice hearing only sounds, without explaining to ourselves what it is we heard. When
the mind starts telling its story about the sound, at least we will know what we are
doing, namely investing sound with a reality which gives it importance.
The same applies to eye contact. If, for instance, we are looking at a
bush, our mind will say: "Oh, a cinnamon bush; who planted it? I wonder if we can use
it?" Or any number of other ideas. Instead of all this, we can look at that which we
call "bush" and be aware that our eyes are touching upon a form and thereby
stopping the mind from making up stories. If we can manage to do this once or twice
outside of meditation, we can use the same method of handling sense input in meditation.
When we guard ourselves against the mind-made details of sense contacts, we are in less
danger of falling into greed and hate. We will find this a great help in becoming
concentrated in meditation.
Our lives are governed by our senses, but we do not have to continue
with that. It is not compulsory. Within the operation of our six senses, it is not
possible to find continued and unadulterated happiness. If it were possible, we would
already be blissfully contented, since we have been having sense input day after day, life
after life. The answer does not lie in improving our sense contacts, even though most
people do try that, but rather in improving our reactions, so that eventually equanimity
becomes our mode of living. This is the promise the Buddha made to us, namely that we can
get out of all //dukkha//, all problems, but not by having only wonderful sense contacts
and not a single moment of unpleasantness. Such a thing has never been possible, not even
when the Buddha himself was alive. But we can have moments when we are actually able to do
just that. That one moment gives us the initial experience what it is like to be free,
which is the only kind of freedom to be found in human life. There is no other. Anyone who
understands the Buddha's explicit instructions, especially those who meditate, can
practice in this manner.
The next step to be taken is mindfulness, accompanied by clear
comprehension (//sampajanna//). Mindfulness is the mental factor of just knowing, clear
comprehension the one of understanding. We need both. That too can and should be practiced
in daily life. Mindfulness of the body was praised by the Buddha as leading to the
"deathless," a synonym for Nibbana. When we watch our body's actions and realize
that it can only follow the mind's instructions, this is our first step into insight.
Usually we take mind and body for granted. Most people are more interested in their body
than in their mind and are looking after the body very well. Very few people are looking
after their mind.
Being aware of our body's movements gives us a chance to be alert
without thinking, just knowing. Clear comprehension is our four-pronged mode of
discrimination described previously.
We might think that such discrimination would slow us down unduly, that
we won't be able to get our work done. Actually it has the opposite effect, because we
will not do anything that is unnecessary. When we use mindfulness and clear comprehension
again and again, they will become a habit, which will enhance our abilities to attain calm
and insight. When we experience our mind ordering our body around, this is different from
just knowing about it. We become intimately acquainted with our dual aspect of mind and
body and can begin to investigate where is "me" in that. We may eventually find
that "me" is our wish to be eternal, not to be annihilated.
Most people would like to experience calm, bliss and tranquillity in
meditation. But those, whose minds are very active need to gain insight first in order to
become calm. Those, whose minds are more peaceful in any case, find it easier to become
calm first and gain insight later. A little calm creates a little insight and vice versa.
In practice we work on both these aspects to give ourselves the best chance to develop
both simultaneously. When we watch the breath going in and out of the nostrils, we try to
achieve a calm and peaceful mind. When the mind strays to thinking, we first realize
"I'm thinking," and then see the impermanent nature of each thought, and how it
so often rolls along without any purpose. This is a valuable insight, because we can infer
that our thoughts are frequently not to be believed, are unimportant, have no solidity and
do not provide a secure foothold for us.
Without such an experience, we might continue to believe all our
thoughts and try using them as solid foundations for our life. but when we see in
meditation, that we can't remember what we were thinking from one second to the next, that
belief is shattered, never to arise again. When we start doubting our thoughts, that
doesn't mean we start doubting ourselves. It refers to doubting our views and opinions,
which is a most valuable practice.
In the discourse on living-kindness (Karaniya Metta Sutta) an Arahat is
described as being totally free from all views. What the Buddha expounded to us were his
own experiences. Viewpoints are always based on our wrong assumption that there is a
"me" and are therefore discolored by this underlying error. When we realize what
our minds are up to, we will eventually stop having so many viewpoints and thereby let go
of some of the mind's clutter. Most minds are full of ideas, hopes, plans, memories and
opinions. Right and wrong are often based on culture or tradition and have no ultimate
validity. They clutter up the mind and leave no space for a totally new outlook upon
ourselves and the world.
An important step in this sequence is self-conquest, which the Buddha
described as the way to Nibbana. As long as we react to our feelings created through sense
contacts, we must admit that we are "reactors" rather than "actors,"
victims rather than masters. We like to think of ourselves as more exalted than that, yet
when we observe reality, that is all we can find. As soon as we have overcome this
habitual reacting, we have taken a step towards conquering ourselves.
We do not force ourselves into unpleasant situations, which we haven't
learned to cope with yet, because the mind will again react negatively, which doesn't help
us on the path. We need not sit in excruciating pain in meditation, but we need to observe
our mind and its activity. This will assist us also in daily living when unpleasant
feelings and dislike arise because of words we hear or sights we see. When we learn to
accept things the way they are, self-conquest has taken place which releases us from views
and opinions.
//Dukkha// arises from the fact that we don't like the law of nature,
to which we are subject. We don't like our loved ones dying, we don't like physical pain
or lack of appreciation, we don't like losing what we prize. If we could just accept the
way it is it would go a long way towards looking at the world more realistically, with
less passion, which is the way to freedom. Our passionate desires keep us in bounds.
When we have the opportunity to sit quietly and watch ourselves, new
insights about ourselves may arise. We are the prototype of impermanence. But when our
mind veers toward the past and starts rehashing old movies, it's time to turn it off. The
past cannot be changed. The person who experienced the past, no longer exists, is only a
fantasy now. When the mind strolls to the future, imagining how we would like it to be, we
can let go by remembering the future has no reality either. When it happens, it can only
be the present, and the person planning the future is not the same one, who will
experience it. If we stay in this moment, here and now, during meditation, we can use that
same skill in daily life.
When we handle each moment with mindfulness and clear comprehension,
everything functions well, nothing goes amiss, our mind is content and inner peace can
arise. Keeping our attention focused on each step on the way will eventually bring us to
the summit. There are three ways to approach the Dhamma. One is by acquiring knowledge
through study of the Buddha's discourses, trying to remember them as faithfully as
possible. That is very useful for the propagation of the teaching through lectures and
books.
Another way is through devotion, offering flowers and incense, reciting
devotional verses, giving gifts and making merit. Generosity and meritorious action were
highly recommended by the Buddha, but he didn't put any value on just being in the
presence of monks and nuns.
Once there was a monk who was so enraptured with the Buddha that he
never wanted to be out of his sight. When this monk became sick one day and was unable to
see the Buddha, he became despondent. The other monks asked him why he was so unhappy. He
explained that he was depressed because he could not see the Buddha, who then came to
visit the sick monk and said to him: "What do you see in this vile form? There is
nothing to see in that. Whoever sees me, sees the Dhamma, whoever sees Dhamma, sees me.
"
The third approach to Dhamma, namely practice, has always been the one
most highly recommended by the Buddha. He said a person with real reverence and devotion
is one who lives according to the teaching. There are a number of steps to be taken when
we approach the Dhamma through practice. The foundation would be moral conduct,
meritorious actions, making good kamma. Without such a foundation, we do not have enough
security within to be peaceful and at ease with ourselves, which are prerequisites for
meditation.
This has sometimes been misinterpreted to mean that we should not
meditate unless we have already complete purity of precepts and gained perfect
mindfulness. But that doesn't follow, because it's meditation that helps us to gain
mindfulness, and gives us insight into the efficacy of the precepts.
The next practice aspect is to guard our senses. This is frequently
mentioned by the Buddha, so that it bears repeating and remembering. Without guarding our
senses, we are always open to being tempted into wanting and craving, resulting in turmoil
in the mind. Our sense contacts are triggers for lust and hate.
Our senses are so permanently engaged that we have lost sight of their
impact, are taking all that for granted and think that's just the way it is. We also
believe that what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think is really exactly as we are
interpreting it. That's fundamental error. Everyone experiences their sense contacts in an
individual manner.
Here is an example: The food Westerners eat is considered baby food in
Asia: food spiced in the Asian way appears like hellfire to the Western palate. Even such
a basic necessity as food shows up as a completely opposite experience. We can infer from
that, that we all live in our own world. People argue vehemently because they believe
their world must be the right one and even kill each other because of unresolved
differences.
The Buddha was often asked such a question as: "Is the world
finite or infinite, eternal or not?" His answer was: "What is the world? The
world are our sense contacts." When asked questions such as these, the Buddha always
brought the questioner back to practice. When we know that the world we live in consists
of our sense contacts, we have something to practice with. When we know that the world is
eternal or not, what is there to practice with?
Our senses include thinking, which is an almost constantly operating
faculty. At this moment, we have touch, sound, sight and thought contact. Four of our six
senses are engaged. Because our senses have been at work all our lives we believe that is
the only way life can be experienced, which creates our deep craving to continue in this
form. There is danger in this craving, something most people are not aware of consciously.
Subconsciously we all know about it, because that's where our fears originate. If we
examine ourselves for a moment we will realize that we harbor many fears, all carrying
different names. Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes, some are afraid of the dark,
some are afraid of airplanes, others that their loved ones may die, or that they might
lose all their money. All sorts of different names for exactly the same fear; the fear of
losing one's identifications, the fear of unpleasant, painful sense contacts, ultimately
the fear of annihilation. Yet losing this existence is a guaranteed outcome of being
alive. It's just a matter of time.
These fears are caused by our attachment to our pleasant sense
contacts, identifying with them and believing that apart from our senses there is no other
reality. Naturally we want that to continue then. We take our unpleasant experiences in
stride, expecting them to cease and the pleasant ones to arise again. If our unpleasant
sense contacts are in the majority, then we say we are having a lot of //dukkha//. Or we
might say: "I'm having a problem." As a matter of fact we are all having the
same problem, namely that of not being enlightened. When we come to the realization that
our sense contacts are very momentary and their inherent satisfaction a matter of opinion,
we will find it easier to let go of them during meditation.
Meditation will only happen when the sense contacts, particularly the
thinking, are suspended. If, for instance, the touch contact in the sitting position is
recognized and attended to as unpleasant, the mind starts working on that. Remembering
what someone said yesterday, last week or even ten years ago, can start the mind churning.
This is all due to our attachment to our senses and our identification with them.
From all sense contacts feelings arise, there is no way that can be
altered, but we can stop ourselves from reacting to such feelings, and believing that they
belong to us. To get our meditation to a concentrated state, we must refuse to react to
feelings arisen from sense contacts. The more we practice this in daily life, the easier
it will be to become concentrated in meditation. We don't have to go along with this
natural reaction of human beings. Meditative absorptions are supermundane and therefore
require supermundane qualities in us. Whenever the Buddha described the way to Nibbana he
included the meditative absorptions as part of the practice, to lead us to the inner
realization of the Dhamma.
Guarding our senses is not only important in meditation, but equally
valid in daily life. In a meditation course, where there isn't as much input as in
ordinary situation, it is a little easier to protect our minds from liking or disliking
what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think. In order to facilitate this, we need to
practice hearing only sounds, without explaining to ourselves what it is we heard. When
the mind starts telling its story about the sound, at least we will know what we are
doing, namely investing sound with a reality which gives it importance.
The same applies to eye contact. If, for instance, we are looking at a
bush, our mind will say: "Oh, a cinnamon bush; who planted it? I wonder if we can use
it?" Or any number of other ideas. Instead of all this, we can look at that which we
call "bush" and be aware that our eyes are touching upon a form and thereby
stopping the mind from making up stories. If we can manage to do this once or twice
outside of meditation, we can use the same method of handling sense input in meditation.
When we guard ourselves against the mind-made details of sense contacts, we are in less
danger of falling into greed and hate. We will find this a great help in becoming
concentrated in meditation.
Our lives are governed by our senses, but we do not have to continue
with that. It is not compulsory. Within the operation of our six senses, it is not
possible to find continued and unadulterated happiness. If it were possible, we would
already be blissfully contented, since we have been having sense input day after day, life
after life. The answer does not lie in improving our sense contacts, even though most
people do try that, but rather in improving our reactions, so that eventually equanimity
becomes our mode of living. This is the promise the Buddha made to us, namely that we can
get out of all //dukkha//, all problems, but not by having only wonderful sense contacts
and not a single moment of unpleasantness. Such a thing has never been possible, not even
when the Buddha himself was alive. But we can have moments when we are actually able to do
just that. That one moment gives us the initial experience what it is like to be free,
which is the only kind of freedom to be found in human life. There is no other. Anyone who
understands the Buddha's explicit instructions, especially those who meditate, can
practice in this manner.
The next step to be taken is mindfulness, accompanied by clear
comprehension (//sampajanna//). Mindfulness is the mental factor of just knowing, clear
comprehension the one of understanding. We need both. That too can and should be practiced
in daily life. Mindfulness of the body was praised by the Buddha as leading to the
"deathless," a synonym for Nibbana. When we watch our body's actions and realize
that it can only follow the mind's instructions, this is our first step into insight.
Usually we take mind and body for granted. Most people are more interested in their body
than in their mind and are looking after the body very well. Very few people are looking
after their mind.
Being aware of our body's movements gives us a chance to be alert
without thinking, just knowing. Clear comprehension is our four-pronged mode of
discrimination described previously.
We might think that such discrimination would slow us down unduly, that
we won't be able to get our work done. Actually it has the opposite effect, because we
will not do anything that is unnecessary. When we use mindfulness and clear comprehension
again and again, they will become a habit, which will enhance our abilities to attain calm
and insight. When we experience our mind ordering our body around, this is different from
just knowing about it. We become intimately acquainted with our dual aspect of mind and
body and can begin to investigate where is "me" in that. We may eventually find
that "me" is our wish to be eternal, not to be annihilated.
Most people would like to experience calm, bliss and tranquillity in
meditation. But those, whose minds are very active need to gain insight first in order to
become calm. Those, whose minds are more peaceful in any case, find it easier to become
calm first and gain insight later. A little calm creates a little insight and vice versa.
In practice we work on both these aspects to give ourselves the best chance to develop
both simultaneously. When we watch the breath going in and out of the nostrils, we try to
achieve a calm and peaceful mind. When the mind strays to thinking, we first realize
"I'm thinking," and then see the impermanent nature of each thought, and how it
so often rolls along without any purpose. This is a valuable insight, because we can infer
that our thoughts are frequently not to be believed, are unimportant, have no solidity and
do not provide a secure foothold for us.
Without such an experience, we might continue to believe all our
thoughts and try using them as solid foundations for our life. but when we see in
meditation, that we can't remember what we were thinking from one second to the next, that
belief is shattered, never to arise again. When we start doubting our thoughts, that
doesn't mean we start doubting ourselves. It refers to doubting our views and opinions,
which is a most valuable practice.
In the discourse on living-kindness (Karaniya Metta Sutta) an Arahat is
described as being totally free from all views. What the Buddha expounded to us were his
own experiences. Viewpoints are always based on our wrong assumption that there is a
"me" and are therefore discolored by this underlying error. When we realize what
our minds are up to, we will eventually stop having so many viewpoints and thereby let go
of some of the mind's clutter. Most minds are full of ideas, hopes, plans, memories and
opinions. Right and wrong are often based on culture or tradition and have no ultimate
validity. They clutter up the mind and leave no space for a totally new outlook upon
ourselves and the world.
An important step in this sequence is self-conquest, which the Buddha
described as the way to Nibbana. As long as we react to our feelings created through sense
contacts, we must admit that we are "reactors" rather than "actors,"
victims rather than masters. We like to think of ourselves as more exalted than that, yet
when we observe reality, that is all we can find. As soon as we have overcome this
habitual reacting, we have taken a step towards conquering ourselves.
We do not force ourselves into unpleasant situations, which we haven't
learned to cope with yet, because the mind will again react negatively, which doesn't help
us on the path. We need not sit in excruciating pain in meditation, but we need to observe
our mind and its activity. This will assist us also in daily living when unpleasant
feelings and dislike arise because of words we hear or sights we see. When we learn to
accept things the way they are, self-conquest has taken place which releases us from views
and opinions.
//Dukkha// arises from the fact that we don't like the law of nature,
to which we are subject. We don't like our loved ones dying, we don't like physical pain
or lack of appreciation, we don't like losing what we prize. If we could just accept the
way it is it would go a long way towards looking at the world more realistically, with
less passion, which is the way to freedom. Our passionate desires keep us in bounds.
When we have the opportunity to sit quietly and watch ourselves, new
insights about ourselves may arise. We are the prototype of impermanence. But when our
mind veers toward the past and starts rehashing old movies, it's time to turn it off. The
past cannot be changed. The person who experienced the past, no longer exists, is only a
fantasy now. When the mind strolls to the future, imagining how we would like it to be, we
can let go by remembering the future has no reality either. When it happens, it can only
be the present, and the person planning the future is not the same one, who will
experience it. If we stay in this moment, here and now, during meditation, we can use that
same skill in daily life.
When we handle each moment with mindfulness and clear comprehension,
everything functions well, nothing goes amiss, our mind is content and inner peace can
arise. Keeping our attention focused on each step on the way will eventually bring us to
the summit. There are three ways to approach the Dhamma. One is by acquiring knowledge
through study of the Buddha's discourses, trying to remember them as faithfully as
possible. That is very useful for the propagation of the teaching through lectures and
books.
Another way is through devotion, offering flowers and incense, reciting
devotional verses, giving gifts and making merit. Generosity and meritorious action were
highly recommended by the Buddha, but he didn't put any value on just being in the
presence of monks and nuns.
Once there was a monk who was so enraptured with the Buddha that he
never wanted to be out of his sight. When this monk became sick one day and was unable to
see the Buddha, he became despondent. The other monks asked him why he was so unhappy. He
explained that he was depressed because he could not see the Buddha, who then came to
visit the sick monk and said to him: "What do you see in this vile form? There is
nothing to see in that. Whoever sees me, sees the Dhamma, whoever sees Dhamma, sees me.
"
The third approach to Dhamma, namely practice, has always been the one
most highly recommended by the Buddha. He said a person with real reverence and devotion
is one who lives according to the teaching. There are a number of steps to be taken when
we approach the Dhamma through practice. The foundation would be moral conduct,
meritorious actions, making good kamma. Without such a foundation, we do not have enough
security within to be peaceful and at ease with ourselves, which are prerequisites for
meditation.
This has sometimes been misinterpreted to mean that we should not
meditate unless we have already complete purity of precepts and gained perfect
mindfulness. But that doesn't follow, because it's meditation that helps us to gain
mindfulness, and gives us insight into the efficacy of the precepts.
The next practice aspect is to guard our senses. This is frequently
mentioned by the Buddha, so that it bears repeating and remembering. Without guarding our
senses, we are always open to being tempted into wanting and craving, resulting in turmoil
in the mind. Our sense contacts are triggers for lust and hate.
Our senses are so permanently engaged that we have lost sight of their
impact, are taking all that for granted and think that's just the way it is. We also
believe that what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think is really exactly as we are
interpreting it. That's fundamental error. Everyone experiences their sense contacts in an
individual manner.
Here is an example: The food Westerners eat is considered baby food in
Asia: food spiced in the Asian way appears like hellfire to the Western palate. Even such
a basic necessity as food shows up as a completely opposite experience. We can infer from
that, that we all live in our own world. People argue vehemently because they believe
their world must be the right one and even kill each other because of unresolved
differences.
The Buddha was often asked such a question as: "Is the world
finite or infinite, eternal or not?" His answer was: "What is the world? The
world are our sense contacts." When asked questions such as these, the Buddha always
brought the questioner back to practice. When we know that the world we live in consists
of our sense contacts, we have something to practice with. When we know that the world is
eternal or not, what is there to practice with?
Our senses include thinking, which is an almost constantly operating
faculty. At this moment, we have touch, sound, sight and thought contact. Four of our six
senses are engaged. Because our senses have been at work all our lives we believe that is
the only way life can be experienced, which creates our deep craving to continue in this
form. There is danger in this craving, something most people are not aware of consciously.
Subconsciously we all know about it, because that's where our fears originate. If we
examine ourselves for a moment we will realize that we harbor many fears, all carrying
different names. Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes, some are afraid of the dark,
some are afraid of airplanes, others that their loved ones may die, or that they might
lose all their money. All sorts of different names for exactly the same fear; the fear of
losing one's identifications, the fear of unpleasant, painful sense contacts, ultimately
the fear of annihilation. Yet losing this existence is a guaranteed outcome of being
alive. It's just a matter of time.
These fears are caused by our attachment to our pleasant sense
contacts, identifying with them and believing that apart from our senses there is no other
reality. Naturally we want that to continue then. We take our unpleasant experiences in
stride, expecting them to cease and the pleasant ones to arise again. If our unpleasant
sense contacts are in the majority, then we say we are having a lot of //dukkha//. Or we
might say: "I'm having a problem." As a matter of fact we are all having the
same problem, namely that of not being enlightened. When we come to the realization that
our sense contacts are very momentary and their inherent satisfaction a matter of opinion,
we will find it easier to let go of them during meditation.
Meditation will only happen when the sense contacts, particularly the
thinking, are suspended. If, for instance, the touch contact in the sitting position is
recognized and attended to as unpleasant, the mind starts working on that. Remembering
what someone said yesterday, last week or even ten years ago, can start the mind churning.
This is all due to our attachment to our senses and our identification with them.
From all sense contacts feelings arise, there is no way that can be
altered, but we can stop ourselves from reacting to such feelings, and believing that they
belong to us. To get our meditation to a concentrated state, we must refuse to react to
feelings arisen from sense contacts. The more we practice this in daily life, the easier
it will be to become concentrated in meditation. We don't have to go along with this
natural reaction of human beings. Meditative absorptions are supermundane and therefore
require supermundane qualities in us. Whenever the Buddha described the way to Nibbana he
included the meditative absorptions as part of the practice, to lead us to the inner
realization of the Dhamma.
Guarding our senses is not only important in meditation, but equally
valid in daily life. In a meditation course, where there isn't as much input as in
ordinary situation, it is a little easier to protect our minds from liking or disliking
what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think. In order to facilitate this, we need to
practice hearing only sounds, without explaining to ourselves what it is we heard. When
the mind starts telling its story about the sound, at least we will know what we are
doing, namely investing sound with a reality which gives it importance.
The same applies to eye contact. If, for instance, we are looking at a
bush, our mind will say: "Oh, a cinnamon bush; who planted it? I wonder if we can use
it?" Or any number of other ideas. Instead of all this, we can look at that which we
call "bush" and be aware that our eyes are touching upon a form and thereby
stopping the mind from making up stories. If we can manage to do this once or twice
outside of meditation, we can use the same method of handling sense input in meditation.
When we guard ourselves against the mind-made details of sense contacts, we are in less
danger of falling into greed and hate. We will find this a great help in becoming
concentrated in meditation.
Our lives are governed by our senses, but we do not have to continue
with that. It is not compulsory. Within the operation of our six senses, it is not
possible to find continued and unadulterated happiness. If it were possible, we would
already be blissfully contented, since we have been having sense input day after day, life
after life. The answer does not lie in improving our sense contacts, even though most
people do try that, but rather in improving our reactions, so that eventually equanimity
becomes our mode of living. This is the promise the Buddha made to us, namely that we can
get out of all //dukkha//, all problems, but not by having only wonderful sense contacts
and not a single moment of unpleasantness. Such a thing has never been possible, not even
when the Buddha himself was alive. But we can have moments when we are actually able to do
just that. That one moment gives us the initial experience what it is like to be free,
which is the only kind of freedom to be found in human life. There is no other. Anyone who
understands the Buddha's explicit instructions, especially those who meditate, can
practice in this manner.
The next step to be taken is mindfulness, accompanied by clear
comprehension (//sampajanna//). Mindfulness is the mental factor of just knowing, clear
comprehension the one of understanding. We need both. That too can and should be practiced
in daily life. Mindfulness of the body was praised by the Buddha as leading to the
"deathless," a synonym for Nibbana. When we watch our body's actions and realize
that it can only follow the mind's instructions, this is our first step into insight.
Usually we take mind and body for granted. Most people are more interested in their body
than in their mind and are looking after the body very well. Very few people are looking
after their mind.
Being aware of our body's movements gives us a chance to be alert
without thinking, just knowing. Clear comprehension is our four-pronged mode of
discrimination described previously.
We might think that such discrimination would slow us down unduly, that
we won't be able to get our work done. Actually it has the opposite effect, because we
will not do anything that is unnecessary. When we use mindfulness and clear comprehension
again and again, they will become a habit, which will enhance our abilities to attain calm
and insight. When we experience our mind ordering our body around, this is different from
just knowing about it. We become intimately acquainted with our dual aspect of mind and
body and can begin to investigate where is "me" in that. We may eventually find
that "me" is our wish to be eternal, not to be annihilated.
Most people would like to experience calm, bliss and tranquillity in
meditation. But those, whose minds are very active need to gain insight first in order to
become calm. Those, whose minds are more peaceful in any case, find it easier to become
calm first and gain insight later. A little calm creates a little insight and vice versa.
In practice we work on both these aspects to give ourselves the best chance to develop
both simultaneously. When we watch the breath going in and out of the nostrils, we try to
achieve a calm and peaceful mind. When the mind strays to thinking, we first realize
"I'm thinking," and then see the impermanent nature of each thought, and how it
so often rolls along without any purpose. This is a valuable insight, because we can infer
that our thoughts are frequently not to be believed, are unimportant, have no solidity and
do not provide a secure foothold for us.
Without such an experience, we might continue to believe all our
thoughts and try using them as solid foundations for our life. but when we see in
meditation, that we can't remember what we were thinking from one second to the next, that
belief is shattered, never to arise again. When we start doubting our thoughts, that
doesn't mean we start doubting ourselves. It refers to doubting our views and opinions,
which is a most valuable practice.
In the discourse on living-kindness (Karaniya Metta Sutta) an Arahat is
described as being totally free from all views. What the Buddha expounded to us were his
own experiences. Viewpoints are always based on our wrong assumption that there is a
"me" and are therefore discolored by this underlying error. When we realize what
our minds are up to, we will eventually stop having so many viewpoints and thereby let go
of some of the mind's clutter. Most minds are full of ideas, hopes, plans, memories and
opinions. Right and wrong are often based on culture or tradition and have no ultimate
validity. They clutter up the mind and leave no space for a totally new outlook upon
ourselves and the world.
An important step in this sequence is self-conquest, which the Buddha
described as the way to Nibbana. As long as we react to our feelings created through sense
contacts, we must admit that we are "reactors" rather than "actors,"
victims rather than masters. We like to think of ourselves as more exalted than that, yet
when we observe reality, that is all we can find. As soon as we have overcome this
habitual reacting, we have taken a step towards conquering ourselves.
We do not force ourselves into unpleasant situations, which we haven't
learned to cope with yet, because the mind will again react negatively, which doesn't help
us on the path. We need not sit in excruciating pain in meditation, but we need to observe
our mind and its activity. This will assist us also in daily living when unpleasant
feelings and dislike arise because of words we hear or sights we see. When we learn to
accept things the way they are, self-conquest has taken place which releases us from views
and opinions.
//Dukkha// arises from the fact that we don't like the law of nature,
to which we are subject. We don't like our loved ones dying, we don't like physical pain
or lack of appreciation, we don't like losing what we prize. If we could just accept the
way it is it would go a long way towards looking at the world more realistically, with
less passion, which is the way to freedom. Our passionate desires keep us in bounds.
When we have the opportunity to sit quietly and watch ourselves, new
insights about ourselves may arise. We are the prototype of impermanence. But when our
mind veers toward the past and starts rehashing old movies, it's time to turn it off. The
past cannot be changed. The person who experienced the past, no longer exists, is only a
fantasy now. When the mind strolls to the future, imagining how we would like it to be, we
can let go by remembering the future has no reality either. When it happens, it can only
be the present, and the person planning the future is not the same one, who will
experience it. If we stay in this moment, here and now, during meditation, we can use that
same skill in daily life.
When we handle each moment with mindfulness and clear comprehension,
everything functions well, nothing goes amiss, our mind is content and inner peace can
arise. Keeping our attention focused on each step on the way will eventually bring us to
the summit. There are three ways to approach the Dhamma. One is by acquiring knowledge
through study of the Buddha's discourses, trying to remember them as faithfully as
possible. That is very useful for the propagation of the teaching through lectures and
books.
Another way is through devotion, offering flowers and incense, reciting
devotional verses, giving gifts and making merit. Generosity and meritorious action were
highly recommended by the Buddha, but he didn't put any value on just being in the
presence of monks and nuns.
Once there was a monk who was so enraptured with the Buddha that he
never wanted to be out of his sight. When this monk became sick one day and was unable to
see the Buddha, he became despondent. The other monks asked him why he was so unhappy. He
explained that he was depressed because he could not see the Buddha, who then came to
visit the sick monk and said to him: "What do you see in this vile form? There is
nothing to see in that. Whoever sees me, sees the Dhamma, whoever sees Dhamma, sees me.
"
The third approach to Dhamma, namely practice, has always been the one
most highly recommended by the Buddha. He said a person with real reverence and devotion
is one who lives according to the teaching. There are a number of steps to be taken when
we approach the Dhamma through practice. The foundation would be moral conduct,
meritorious actions, making good kamma. Without such a foundation, we do not have enough
security within to be peaceful and at ease with ourselves, which are prerequisites for
meditation.
This has sometimes been misinterpreted to mean that we should not
meditate unless we have already complete purity of precepts and gained perfect
mindfulness. But that doesn't follow, because it's meditation that helps us to gain
mindfulness, and gives us insight into the efficacy of the precepts.
The next practice aspect is to guard our senses. This is frequently
mentioned by the Buddha, so that it bears repeating and remembering. Without guarding our
senses, we are always open to being tempted into wanting and craving, resulting in turmoil
in the mind. Our sense contacts are triggers for lust and hate.
Our senses are so permanently engaged that we have lost sight of their
impact, are taking all that for granted and think that's just the way it is. We also
believe that what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think is really exactly as we are
interpreting it. That's fundamental error. Everyone experiences their sense contacts in an
individual manner.
Here is an example: The food Westerners eat is considered baby food in
Asia: food spiced in the Asian way appears like hellfire to the Western palate. Even such
a basic necessity as food shows up as a completely opposite experience. We can infer from
that, that we all live in our own world. People argue vehemently because they believe
their world must be the right one and even kill each other because of unresolved
differences.
The Buddha was often asked such a question as: "Is the world
finite or infinite, eternal or not?" His answer was: "What is the world? The
world are our sense contacts." When asked questions such as these, the Buddha always
brought the questioner back to practice. When we know that the world we live in consists
of our sense contacts, we have something to practice with. When we know that the world is
eternal or not, what is there to practice with?
Our senses include thinking, which is an almost constantly operating
faculty. At this moment, we have touch, sound, sight and thought contact. Four of our six
senses are engaged. Because our senses have been at work all our lives we believe that is
the only way life can be experienced, which creates our deep craving to continue in this
form. There is danger in this craving, something most people are not aware of consciously.
Subconsciously we all know about it, because that's where our fears originate. If we
examine ourselves for a moment we will realize that we harbor many fears, all carrying
different names. Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes, some are afraid of the dark,
some are afraid of airplanes, others that their loved ones may die, or that they might
lose all their money. All sorts of different names for exactly the same fear; the fear of
losing one's identifications, the fear of unpleasant, painful sense contacts, ultimately
the fear of annihilation. Yet losing this existence is a guaranteed outcome of being
alive. It's just a matter of time.
These fears are caused by our attachment to our pleasant sense
contacts, identifying with them and believing that apart from our senses there is no other
reality. Naturally we want that to continue then. We take our unpleasant experiences in
stride, expecting them to cease and the pleasant ones to arise again. If our unpleasant
sense contacts are in the majority, then we say we are having a lot of //dukkha//. Or we
might say: "I'm having a problem." As a matter of fact we are all having the
same problem, namely that of not being enlightened. When we come to the realization that
our sense contacts are very momentary and their inherent satisfaction a matter of opinion,
we will find it easier to let go of them during meditation.
Meditation will only happen when the sense contacts, particularly the
thinking, are suspended. If, for instance, the touch contact in the sitting position is
recognized and attended to as unpleasant, the mind starts working on that. Remembering
what someone said yesterday, last week or even ten years ago, can start the mind churning.
This is all due to our attachment to our senses and our identification with them.
From all sense contacts feelings arise, there is no way that can be
altered, but we can stop ourselves from reacting to such feelings, and believing that they
belong to us. To get our meditation to a concentrated state, we must refuse to react to
feelings arisen from sense contacts. The more we practice this in daily life, the easier
it will be to become concentrated in meditation. We don't have to go along with this
natural reaction of human beings. Meditative absorptions are supermundane and therefore
require supermundane qualities in us. Whenever the Buddha described the way to Nibbana he
included the meditative absorptions as part of the practice, to lead us to the inner
realization of the Dhamma.
Guarding our senses is not only important in meditation, but equally
valid in daily life. In a meditation course, where there isn't as much input as in
ordinary situation, it is a little easier to protect our minds from liking or disliking
what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think. In order to facilitate this, we need to
practice hearing only sounds, without explaining to ourselves what it is we heard. When
the mind starts telling its story about the sound, at least we will know what we are
doing, namely investing sound with a reality which gives it importance.
The same applies to eye contact. If, for instance, we are looking at a
bush, our mind will say: "Oh, a cinnamon bush; who planted it? I wonder if we can use
it?" Or any number of other ideas. Instead of all this, we can look at that which we
call "bush" and be aware that our eyes are touching upon a form and thereby
stopping the mind from making up stories. If we can manage to do this once or twice
outside of meditation, we can use the same method of handling sense input in meditation.
When we guard ourselves against the mind-made details of sense contacts, we are in less
danger of falling into greed and hate. We will find this a great help in becoming
concentrated in meditation.
Our lives are governed by our senses, but we do not have to continue
with that. It is not compulsory. Within the operation of our six senses, it is not
possible to find continued and unadulterated happiness. If it were possible, we would
already be blissfully contented, since we have been having sense input day after day, life
after life. The answer does not lie in improving our sense contacts, even though most
people do try that, but rather in improving our reactions, so that eventually equanimity
becomes our mode of living. This is the promise the Buddha made to us, namely that we can
get out of all //dukkha//, all problems, but not by having only wonderful sense contacts
and not a single moment of unpleasantness. Such a thing has never been possible, not even
when the Buddha himself was alive. But we can have moments when we are actually able to do
just that. That one moment gives us the initial experience what it is like to be free,
which is the only kind of freedom to be found in human life. There is no other. Anyone who
understands the Buddha's explicit instructions, especially those who meditate, can
practice in this manner.
The next step to be taken is mindfulness, accompanied by clear
comprehension (//sampajanna//). Mindfulness is the mental factor of just knowing, clear
comprehension the one of understanding. We need both. That too can and should be practiced
in daily life. Mindfulness of the body was praised by the Buddha as leading to the
"deathless," a synonym for Nibbana. When we watch our body's actions and realize
that it can only follow the mind's instructions, this is our first step into insight.
Usually we take mind and body for granted. Most people are more interested in their body
than in their mind and are looking after the body very well. Very few people are looking
after their mind.
Being aware of our body's movements gives us a chance to be alert
without thinking, just knowing. Clear comprehension is our four-pronged mode of
discrimination described previously.
We might think that such discrimination would slow us down unduly, that
we won't be able to get our work done. Actually it has the opposite effect, because we
will not do anything that is unnecessary. When we use mindfulness and clear comprehension
again and again, they will become a habit, which will enhance our abilities to attain calm
and insight. When we experience our mind ordering our body around, this is different from
just knowing about it. We become intimately acquainted with our dual aspect of mind and
body and can begin to investigate where is "me" in that. We may eventually find
that "me" is our wish to be eternal, not to be annihilated.
Most people would like to experience calm, bliss and tranquillity in
meditation. But those, whose minds are very active need to gain insight first in order to
become calm. Those, whose minds are more peaceful in any case, find it easier to become
calm first and gain insight later. A little calm creates a little insight and vice versa.
In practice we work on both these aspects to give ourselves the best chance to develop
both simultaneously. When we watch the breath going in and out of the nostrils, we try to
achieve a calm and peaceful mind. When the mind strays to thinking, we first realize
"I'm thinking," and then see the impermanent nature of each thought, and how it
so often rolls along without any purpose. This is a valuable insight, because we can infer
that our thoughts are frequently not to be believed, are unimportant, have no solidity and
do not provide a secure foothold for us.
Without such an experience, we might continue to believe all our
thoughts and try using them as solid foundations for our life. but when we see in
meditation, that we can't remember what we were thinking from one second to the next, that
belief is shattered, never to arise again. When we start doubting our thoughts, that
doesn't mean we start doubting ourselves. It refers to doubting our views and opinions,
which is a most valuable practice.
In the discourse on living-kindness (Karaniya Metta Sutta) an Arahat is
described as being totally free from all views. What the Buddha expounded to us were his
own experiences. Viewpoints are always based on our wrong assumption that there is a
"me" and are therefore discolored by this underlying error. When we realize what
our minds are up to, we will eventually stop having so many viewpoints and thereby let go
of some of the mind's clutter. Most minds are full of ideas, hopes, plans, memories and
opinions. Right and wrong are often based on culture or tradition and have no ultimate
validity. They clutter up the mind and leave no space for a totally new outlook upon
ourselves and the world.
An important step in this sequence is self-conquest, which the Buddha
described as the way to Nibbana. As long as we react to our feelings created through sense
contacts, we must admit that we are "reactors" rather than "actors,"
victims rather than masters. We like to think of ourselves as more exalted than that, yet
when we observe reality, that is all we can find. As soon as we have overcome this
habitual reacting, we have taken a step towards conquering ourselves.
We do not force ourselves into unpleasant situations, which we haven't
learned to cope with yet, because the mind will again react negatively, which doesn't help
us on the path. We need not sit in excruciating pain in meditation, but we need to observe
our mind and its activity. This will assist us also in daily living when unpleasant
feelings and dislike arise because of words we hear or sights we see. When we learn to
accept things the way they are, self-conquest has taken place which releases us from views
and opinions.
//Dukkha// arises from the fact that we don't like the law of nature,
to which we are subject. We don't like our loved ones dying, we don't like physical pain
or lack of appreciation, we don't like losing what we prize. If we could just accept the
way it is it would go a long way towards looking at the world more realistically, with
less passion, which is the way to freedom. Our passionate desires keep us in bounds.
When we have the opportunity to sit quietly and watch ourselves, new
insights about ourselves may arise. We are the prototype of impermanence. But when our
mind veers toward the past and starts rehashing old movies, it's time to turn it off. The
past cannot be changed. The person who experienced the past, no longer exists, is only a
fantasy now. When the mind strolls to the future, imagining how we would like it to be, we
can let go by remembering the future has no reality either. When it happens, it can only
be the present, and the person planning the future is not the same one, who will
experience it. If we stay in this moment, here and now, during meditation, we can use that
same skill in daily life.
When we handle each moment with mindfulness and clear comprehension, everything
functions well, nothing goes amiss, our mind is content and inner peace can arise. Keeping
our attention focused on each step on the way will eventually bring us to the summit.