‘THE CLOG-BOUND SUTTA’ (‘Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’)

Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw’s teachings
From http://www.paaukforestmonastery.org/books/workings_of_kamma.pdf


I —‘THE CLOG-BOUND SUTTA’
(‘Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’)
In the course of our Dhamma talks, we shall discuss two main suttas:
one is called ‘Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’1(‘The Clog-Bound Sutta’),2 the
other is called ‘Dutiya·Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’3 (‘The Second ClogBound Sutta’): that is two ‘Gaddula·Baddha’ suttas. We shall begin with
the first one:
INCONCEIVABLE IS THE BEGINNING, BHIKKHUS
Thus I heard.4 One time the Exalted One was dwelling in Sāvatthi, in Jeta’s Grove,
Anāthapi;<ika’s monastery. There the Exalted One addressed the bhikkhus:
Inconceivable is the beginning, bhikkhus, of the round of rebirth
(sa5sāra). A first point is not known of ignorance-hindered beings (avijjā·nīvara8āna5 sattāna5) fettered by craving (ta8hā·sa5yojanāna5), rushing on (sandhāvata5) and running about (sa5sarata5).
Here, The Buddha discusses the round of rebirth (sa5sāra),5 the rushing
on from one world to another (now a human being, then a deva, then an
animal, then again a human being, etc.), and the running about within
one world (again and again a human being, or again and again a deva,
etc.). The Buddha mentions the two main causes for this ongoing process: ignorance (avijjā) and craving (ta8hā).
Ignorance and craving are necessary for actions to possess kammic potency. The kammic potency (kamma·satti) is the potency by which volitional action through body, speech or mind is able to produce a kammaresult, kamma·vipāka. This potency is also called ‘other-momentkamma’ (nānā·kkha8ika kamma) because we produce the kamma at one
particular consciousness moment, and if the kamma matures, the kammic
potency produces the result at another moment: either in this life or a future life.6 But without ignorance and craving, action does not possess
kammic potency.


What is ignorance (avijjā)? It is explained in the Visuddhi·Magga:7
Amongst the ultimately non-existent (param·atthato a·vijjamānesu), amongst women,
men, it [ignorance] hurries on; amongst the existent (vijjamānesu), however, amongst
the aggregates, etc., it does not hurry on….8

What does this mean? It means that ignorance sees only conventional 
truth (sammuti·sacca):9 women and men, mothers and fathers, wives and 
husbands, daughters and sons, dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens, etc. It is 
wrong to see in this way, because these things do not exist according to 
reality (yathā·bhūta). The things that do exist according to reality, how-




What does this mean? It means that ignorance sees only conventional 
truth (sammuti·sacca):9 women and men, mothers and fathers, wives and 
husbands, daughters and sons, dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens, etc. It is 
wrong to see in this way, because these things do not exist according to 
reality (yathā·bhūta). The things that do exist according to reality, how-

ever, are the aggregates (khandha), the elements (dhātu), the bases 
(āyatana), mentality-materiality (nāma·rūpa), dependent origination 
(pa;icca·samuppāda), the workings of kamma, the three characteristics 
(ti·lakkha8a),10 etc.: in brief, the Four Noble Truths.11 These things, 
which are ultimate truth (paramattha·sacca), ignorance does not see.12
That is why, if we think: ‘This is a woman, a man, mother, father, daughter, son,’ etc., it is the perception of a being (satta·saññā), a manifestation 
of ignorance (avijjā). And that ignorance is a cause of kamma, a reason 
why beings run on from life to life, from suffering to suffering.13
Ignorance is to think there are men, women, fathers, mothers, sons, 
daughters, etc. It is wrong to think in this way because there are in fact 
no men, women, etc., there is only ultimate materiality and mentality.14
To examine materiality, we need to practise materiality meditation 
(rūpa·kamma·;;hāna), that is, four-elements definition meditation 
(catu·dhātu vavatthāna kamma·;;hāna). Then do we see small particles, 
clusters of materiality (rūpa kalāpas). If we analyse those small particles, 
we see ultimate materiality: altogether twenty-eight types of materiality 
(rūpa).15 Apart from materiality, there is also mentality, which depends 
on materiality.16 To examine mentality, we need to practise mentalitymeditation (nāma kamma·;;hāna). Then do we see the consciousness moments of the different types of mental process. If we analyse those consciousness moments, we see ultimate mentality: altogether eighty-one 
types of consciousness, and their associated mental factors.17 There is 
nothing else: only materiality and mentality. As soon as the elements that 
are materiality and mentality arise, they perish, which means they are 
impermanent. Since they are impermanent, there can be no permanent 
entities such as a man, woman, father, mother, son, daughter, etc.

If one 
thinks such things exist, it is a manifestation of ignorance.
When there is such ignorance, craving for those non-existent objects 
may arise. And when our actions of body, speech and mind18 are associated with such ignorance and craving, our actions possess kammic potency: kamma. If that kamma matures, it produces a good or bad result, 
and we continue rushing on and running about in the round of rebirth. 
That is why, in this sutta, The Buddha says: 
Inconceivable is the beginning, bhikkhus, of the round of rebirth. A first 
point is not known of ignorance-hindered beings fettered by craving, rushing on and running about. 


Then The Buddha explains how, in the future, the world system will 
come to an end.  (to be cont.)

The meaning of Namo mantra

NAMO TASSA,  =  HOMAGE TO HIM,

BHAGAVATO, = THE EXALTED ONE,

ARAHATO, = THE WORTHY ONE,

SAMMĀ- = THE PERFECTLY

SAMBUDDHASSA. = SELF-ENLIGHTENED ONE

Pa-Auk Tawya Dhamma Books / Workings of Kamma

Workings of Kamma by Pa-Auk Tawya 


http://www.paaukforestmonastery.org/books/workings_of_kamma.pdf





© 2007 This book is published as a gift, in the public domain, and cannot
be copyrighted.
The material in this book may be reproduced without the author’s permission. It is recommended, however, that unauthorized changes and
other misrepresentation of the Most Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya
Sayadaw’s teachings be avoided.
It is also the author’s express wish that there should not be his photograph or biography. He says: ‘There is only the Dhamma.’ Please respect
his wish.
Any inquiries regarding this book may please be addressed to the author.
Title: The Workings of Kamma

Pa-Auk Forest Monastery

http://www.paaukforestmonastery.org/index.htm

 

Meditation hall and sãma, the Upper Monastery

Pa-Auk Forest Monastery is a Buddhist monastery in the Theravàda tradition, with emphasis on the teaching and practice of both Samatha (tranquility) andVipassanà (insight) meditation. Situated in a forest along the Taung Nyo Mountain range in Mon State, Myanmar, the monastery provides a conducive setting for the practice of long-term, intensive meditation. Presently, there are over 100 foreign meditators, originating from over 20 countries, residing in the monastery.

Teaching:

• Mindfulness-of-Breathing (ànàpànassati) - to develop absorption concentration (the four jhànas)
• Most of the 40 Samatha subjects taught by The Buddha - including loving-kindness (mettà) meditation, the thirty-two parts of the body, the ten kasiõas and the four immaterial jhànas
• Four-Elements Meditation - to analyze ultimate materiality and ultimate mentality
• Dependent Origination - to discern past, present and future lives by analyzing their causes and conditions
• Vipassanà Meditation - to discern the five aggregates (materiality and mentality) as impermanent, subject to suffering and without a self

Training:

• Training and separate accommodations for monks, nuns and male/female lay practitioners
• Strong support and guidance for those who wish to ordain
• Regular interviews with qualified meditation teachers (who speak English)
• Vegetarian diet, including both white and whole-grain brown rice

Facilities:

• A large meditation hall for men and a separate meditation hall for women
• Over 280 kuñis (single meditator huts), many located in secluded areas of the forest
• A clinic and a sick-bay with doctors trained in both conventional Western and traditional Burmese herbal medicine
• A large new library with titles in English, Chinese, Burmese and Pàli

The Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw

The Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw is the abbot and principal teacher at Pa-Auk Forest Monastery. The Sayadaw speaks fluent English and has been teaching foreign meditators here since the early 1990's.

The Sayadaw leading the meditation

The meditation taught at Pa-Auk Tawya is based on the instructions by The Buddha as found in the Tipiñaka (the Pàli Canon) and its commentaries.

In brief, the main practice is to begin with Samatha (tranquility) meditation, which is to develop absorption concentration, also called jhàna. A yogi (meditator) is free to choose any of the forty Samatha subjects as taught by The Buddha. In Pa-Auk Tawya, most yogis develop jhàna with mindfulness-of-breathing (ànàpànassati). Having developed Samatha, the yogi may proceed to practise Vipassanà (insight) meditation.

As an alternative, the yogi may omit the development of jhàna. He/she (“he”) will be taught instead to develop the less powerful access concentration with theSamatha subject of Four-Elements meditation, prior to the practice of Vipassanà meditation. In either case, the concentration attained by the yogi produces the 'light of wisdom'.

Having completed the development of his/her (“his”) Samatha meditation, the yogi is then taught to protect his practice with the Four Protective Meditations ofMettà (Loving Kindness), Buddhànussati (Recollection of The Buddha), Asubha (Repulsiveness of the Body), and Maranànussati (Recollection of Death).

Following that, the yogi will be taught to prepare the way for Vipassanà meditation, which is to use the ‘light of wisdom’ to discern ultimate materiality and mentality. The yogi will also be taught to discern the workings of Dependent Origination (paññiccasamuppàda). This means he will discern a number of past and future lives, and to discern the causes for certain rebirths.

Only upon having discerned ultimate materiality and mentality and their causes (Dependent Origination), does the yogi have the necessary objects forVipassanà meditation. The practice of Vipassanà meditation is to discern the three characteristics of impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha), and non-self (anatta) in ultimate materiality and mentality – of past, present, and future, internal and external, gross and subtle, inferior and superior, far and near.

In accordance with the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), the yogi will be taught a series of detailed practices by which to develop and strengthen hisVipassanà knowledge of materiality and mentality of past, present and future. In this way, the yogi may progress through the different insight knowledges, preliminary to the attainment of Nibbàna.

Should the yogi attain Nibbàna, he will be taught how to discern which defilements have been destroyed, and which stage of enlightenment he has reached. With continued practice, the yogi may destroy all the taints, and be able to attain Arahantship, meaning he will have put a complete end to rebirth and suffering.

The 2 main languages of instruction for foreigners are English and Chinese.

For further details of the teaching of meditation, please refer to the book Knowing and Seeing (Rev. Ed.) by the Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw, and toTeaching & Training, a concise introduction to the Sayadaw’s teaching, compiled by his foreign disciple.

Vipassana meditation

General
An excellent book on the Buddha's teachings and detailed information on Vipassana meditation.
             
         In This Very Life
The Liberation Teachings of the Buddha
Sayādaw U Pandita (1992)
(Serialised with the Sayādaw’s Express Permission)
Hosted for Nibbana.com
     
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    -   Acknowledgements
    -   Foreword by Joseph Goldstein
     
    -   To the Reader
    -   Technical Note
   
1. Basic Morality and Meditation Instructions          
    -   A Basic Sense of Humanity
    -   Meditation Instructions
     
    -   Walking Meditation
    -   The Interview
   
2. Cutting Through to Ultimate Reality          
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    -   One: Attention to Impermanence
    -   Two: Care and Respect
    -   Three: Unbroken Continuity
    -   Four: Supportive Conditions
    -   Five: Reapplying Helpful Conditions from the Past
     
    -   Six: Cultivating the Enlightenment Factors
    -   Seven: Courageous Effort
    -   Eight: Patience and Perseverance
    -   Nine: Unwavering Commitment
   
3. The Ten Armies of Māra          
    -   First Army: Sense Pleasure
    -   Second Army: Dissatisfaction
    -   Third Army: Hunger and Thirst
    -   Fourth Army: Craving
    -   Fifth Army: Sloth and Torpor
     
    -   Seventh Army: Doubt
    -   Sixth Army: Fear
    -   Eighth Army: Conceit and Ingratitude
    -   Ninth Army: Gain, Praise, Honor, Undeserved Fame
    -   Tenth Army: Self-Exaltation and Disparaging Others
   
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4. The Seven Factors of Enlightenment          
   
    -   Becoming a Noble One
    -   1.  Mindfulness
    -   2.  Investigation
    -   3.  Courageous Effort
    -   4. Rapture
     
    -   5.  Tranquility
    -   6.  Equanimity
    -   7.  Concentration
    -   The Factors of Enlightenment developed:              
Healing into the Deathless
   
5. The Vipassanā Jhānas          
    -
Softening the Rigid Mind
    -   Blowing Out Suffering
    -   Hindrances and Antidotes
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    -   Comprehending the Nature of this World
    -   Reaching the Higher Vipassanā Jhānas
    -   On Nibbāna
   
           
6. Chariot to Nibbāna
    -   What is Wrong with a Continuous Party?
    -   The Noble Eightfold Path
    -   Stream Entry
     
    -   Clearing the Way for Ultimate Insight
    -   Benefits of Stream Entry
    -   A Vehicle for Everyone
   
             Appendices
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    -   Factors of Enlightenment
    -   Hindrances and Antidotes
     
    -   The Progress of Insight
    -   Numerical Lists
   
     Acknowledgments

This book came into being through the help of many people.
We want to thank all those who arranged for and supported
Sayādaw U Pandita’s course at the Insight Meditation Society,
Barre, Massachusetts in 1984. Venerable U Aggacitta expertly
and lucidly translated Sayādaw U Pandita’s discourses. Ron
Browning asked that the tapes be transcribed. Evelyn Sweeney
patiently transcribed them. U May Thaught went over every
word of the manuscript, and Eric Kolvig edited one draft of it.
We are grateful to Bruce Mitteldorf for his generous contribution
toward the printing of this book.

Kate Wheeler steadfastly and very skillfully devoted months to
editing the talks — none of this would have been possible
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without her.

SHARON SALZBERG
Insight Meditation Society    
Barre, Massachusetts
Foreword
When Sayādaw U Pandita first came to teach in the United
States in 1984, we knew him only by reputation as the
successor to Mahāsi Sayādaw of Burma. But in ways that we
could not have imagined at the time, his teaching and presence
helped to open many new doors of understanding. As a
meditation master, he has guided us through the subtleties of
practice; as a scholar, he has brought new meaning and life to
the timeless words of the Buddha; and as a great spiritual
friend, he has inspired us to seek the highest freedom.

Just as the Buddha came from the warrior class of ancient
India, so too, is Sayādaw U Pandita a spiritual warrior of our
time. His emphasis on heroic effort is joined with a joyous
confidence that liberation is possible in this very life . Sayādaw
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has helped us recognize our own inner capacity to overcome
the limitations of the conditioned mind.

This book is a collection of talks from the first three month
retreat that Sayādaw taught at the Insight Meditation Society.
He describes in detail both the practical journey of awakening
and a profound theoretical model of understanding. These
discourses reward a thoughtful reading, allowing the familiar
aspects of the teachings to mature in our minds, and
challenging us with new perspectives on some old and
cherished viewpoints.

This book is a treasure house of applied Dhamma. May it help
to awaken wisdom and compassion in us all.

JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Barre, Massachusetts
To the Reader
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It is my humble and sincere wish to help you discover for
yourself the state of inner peace through the essays in this
book, based on the Dhamma, or way of truth, taught by the
Buddha and also following the tradition of the late Venerable
Mahāsi Sayādaw of Rangoon, Burma. I am trying my best, as
far as my wisdom can take me, to provide this service to you.

The publication of these essays helps fulfil five beneficial
purposes. First, it may give you access to new aspects of the
Dhamma which you might not have heard before. Second, if
you have already heard about these subjects, you may be able
to consolidate your knowledge of the Dhamma. Third, if you
have doubts, these essays may help you to clear them. Fourth,
if you have certain pet views and preconceptions which are
incorrect, you may be relieved of them by proper and respectful
attention to the Dhamma of the Buddha.

The last and perhaps the most fulfilling aspect is that you may
be able to tally your own experiences with what is written in this
book. If your practice is deep, it can be a joyous and rapturous
occasion when you realize that your experiences conform to the
theory.

If you do not practice meditation, perhaps these essays can
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inspire you to begin. Then wisdom, the most potent medicine,
can bring you relief from the sufferings of your mind.

I offer you my personal best wishes and encouragement. May
you reach liberation, the highest goal.
SAYĀDAW U PANDITA
Technical Note
The Pāli terms in this text are meant to introduce a precision of
meaning that is not possible in English. It is hoped that readers
will pause and reflect in a way they might not, had the terms
simply been translated.

Pāli is used this way in Burma and in most of the communities
in countries where Vipassanā meditation is practiced. As Pāli
words are incorporated into living languages, they inevitably
lose ending or suffer other minor changes. The Pāli in this text
will differ slightly from academic usage. This reflect the use in
Sayādaw U Pandita’s native Burma, and more importantly, the
refined application of these terms specifically to meditation
practice and understanding. For ease of readability, we have
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used English forms for pluralization or adjectival case.

The first use of a term in the text is italicized and subsequent
uses are generally unemphasized. Definitions will be found in
the Glossary, pages 280-292.
1. Basic Morality and Meditation
Instructions
We do not practice meditation to gain admiration from anyone.
Rather, we practice to contribute to peace in the world. We try
to follow the teachings of the Buddha, and take the instructions
of trustworthy teachers, in hopes that we too can reach the
Buddha’s state of purity. Having realized this purity within
ourselves, we can inspire others and share this Dhamma, this
truth.

The Buddha’s teachings can be summed up in three parts: sīla,
morality;
samādhi,
concentration; and
paññā
intuitive wisdom.

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Sīla is spoken of first because it is the foundation for the other
two. Its importance cannot be overstressed. Without sīla, no
further practices can be undertaken. For lay people the basic
level of sīla consists of five precepts or training rules: refraining
from taking life, refraining from taking what is not given,
refraining from sexual misconduct, refraining from lying, and
refraining from taking intoxicating substances. These
observances foster a basic purity that makes it easy to progress
along the path of practice.
  A BASIC SENSE OF HUMANITY
Sīla is not a set of commandments handed down by the
Buddha, and it need not be confined to Buddhist teachings. It
actually derives from a basic sense of humanity. For example,
suppose we have a spurt of anger and want to harm another
being. If we put ourselves in that other being’s shoes, and
honestly contemplate the action we have been planning, we will
quickly answer, “No, I wouldn’t want that done to me. That
would be cruel and unjust.” If we feel this way about some
action that we plan, we can be quite sure that the action is
unwholesome.

In this way, morality can be looked upon as a manifestation of
our sense of oneness with other beings. We know what it feels
like to be harmed, and out of loving care and consideration we
undertake to avoid harming others. We should remain
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committed to truthful speech and avoid words that abuse,
deceive or slander. As we practice refraining from angry actions
and angry speech, then this gross and unwholesome mental
state may gradually cease to arise, or at least it will become
weaker and less frequent.

Of course, anger is not the only reason we harm other beings.
Greed might make us try to grab something in an illegal or
unethical way. Or our sexual desire can attach itself to another
person’s partner. Here again, if we consider how much we
could hurt someone, we will try hard to refrain from succumbing
to lustful desire.

Even in small amounts, intoxicating substances can make us
less sensitive, more easily swayed by gross motivations of
anger and greed. Some people defend the use of drugs or
alcohol, saying that these substances are not so bad. On the
contrary, they are very dangerous; they can lead even a
goodhearted person into forgetfulness. Like accomplices to a
crime, intoxicants open the door to a host of problems, from just
talking nonsense, to inexplicable bursts of rage, to negligence
that could be fatal to oneself or others. Indeed, any intoxicated
person is unpredictable. Abstaining from intoxicants is therefore
a way of protecting all the other precepts.

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For those whose devotion makes them wish to undertake a
further discipline, there are also sets of eight and ten precepts
for lay people, ten precepts for nuns, and the Vinaya or 227
rules for monks. There is more information about these forms of
sīla in the Glossary.
  Refinements During a Retreat
During a meditation retreat it becomes useful to change some
of our conduct in ways that support the intensification of
meditation practice. In a retreat, silence becomes the
appropriate form of right speech, and celibacy that of sexual
conduct. One eats lightly to prevent drowsiness and to weaken
sensual appetite. The Buddha recommended fasting from noon
until the following morning; or, if this is difficult, one could eat
only a little in the afternoon. During the time one thus gains to
practice, one may well discover that the taste of the Dhamma
excels all worldly tastes!

Cleanliness is another support for developing insight and
wisdom. You should bathe, keep nails and hair trimmed, and
take care to regulate the bowels. This is known as internal
cleanliness. Externally, your clothing and bedroom should be
tidy and neat. Such observance is said to bring clarity and
lightness of mind. Obviously, you do not make cleanliness an
obsession. In the context of a retreat, adornments, cosmetics,
fragrances, and time-consuming practices to beautify and
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perfect the body are not appropriate.

In fact, in this world there is no greater adornment than purify of
conduct, no greater refuge, and no other basis for the flowering
of insight and wisdom. Sīla brings a beauty that is not plastered
onto the outside, but instead comes from the heart and is
reflected in the entire person. Suitable for everyone, regardless
of age, station or circumstance, truly it is the adornment for all
seasons. So please be sure to keep your virtue fresh and alive.

Even if we refine our speech and actions to a large extent,
however, sīla is not sufficient in itself to tame the mind. A
method is needed to bring us to spiritual maturity, to help us
realize the real nature of life and to bring the mind to a higher
level of understanding. That method is meditation.
  MEDITATION INSTRUCTIONS
The Buddha suggested that either a forest place under a tree or
any other very quiet place is best for meditation. He said the
meditator should sit quietly and peacefully with legs crossed. If
sitting with crossed legs proves to be too difficult other sitting
postures may be used. For those with back trouble a chair is
quite acceptable. It is true that to achieve peace of mind, we
must make sure our body is at peace. So it is important to
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choose a position that will be comfortable for a long period of
time.

Sit with your back erect, at a right angle to the ground, but not
too stiff. The reason for sitting straight is not difficult to see. An
arched or crooked back will soon bring pain. Furthermore, the
physical effort to remain upright without additional support
energizes the meditation practice.

Close your eyes. Now place your attention at the belly, at the
abdomen. Breathe normally, not forcing your breathing, neither
slowing it down nor hastening it, just a natural breath. You will
become aware of certain sensations as you breathe in and the
abdomen rises, as you breathe out and the abdomen falls. Now
sharpen your aim and make sure that the mind is attentive to
the entirety of each process. Be aware from the very beginning
of all sensations involved in the rising. Maintain a steady
attention through the middle and the end of the rising. Then be
aware of the sensations of the falling movement of the
abdomen from the beginning, through the middle, and to the
very end of the falling.

Although we describe the rising and falling as having a
beginning, a middle, and an end, this is only in order to show
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that your awareness should be continuous and thorough. We
do not intend you to break these processes into three
segments. You should try to be aware of each of these
movements from beginning to end as one complete process, as
a whole. Do not peer at the sensations with an over-focused
mind, specifically looking to discover how the abdominal
movement begins or ends.

In this meditation it is very important to have both effort and
precise aim, so that the mind meets the sensation directly and
powerfully. One helpful aid to precision and accuracy is to make
a soft mental note of the object of awareness, naming the
sensation by saying the word gently and silently in the mind,
like “rising, rising...falling, falling.”
  Returning from Wandering
There will be moments when the mind wanders off. You will
start to think of something. At this time, watch the mind! Be
aware that you are thinking. To clarify this to yourself, note the
thought silently with the verbal label “thinking, thinking,” and
come back to the rising and falling.

The same practice should be used for objects of awareness
that arise at any of what are called the six sense doors: eye,
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ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Despite making an effort to
do so, no one can remain perfectly focused on the rising and
falling of the abdomen forever. Other objects inevitably arise
and become predominant. Thus, the sphere of meditation
encompasses all of our experiences: sights, sounds, smells,
tastes, sensations in the body, and mental objects such as
visions in the imagination or emotions. When any of these
objects arise you should focus direct awareness on them, and
use a gentle verbal label “spoken” in the mind.

During a sitting meditation, if another object impinges strongly
on the awareness so as to draw it away from the rising and
falling of the abdomen, this object must be clearly noted. For
example, if a loud sound arises during your meditation,
consciously direct your attention toward that sound as soon as
it arises. Be aware of the sound as a direct experience, and
also identify it succinctly with the soft, internal verbal label
“hearing, hearing.” When the sound fades and is no longer
predominant, come back to the rising and falling. This is the
basic principle to follow in sitting meditation.

In making the verbal label, there is no need for complex
language. One simple word is best. For the eye, ear, and
tongue doors we simply say, “Seeing, seeing... Hearing,
hearing... Tasting, tasting.” For sensations in the body we may
choose a slightly more descriptive term like warmth, pressure,
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hardness, or motion. Mental objects appear to present a
bewildering diversity, but actually they fall into just a few clear
categories such as thinking, imagining, remembering, planning,
and visualizing. But remember that in using the labeling
technique, your goal is not to gain verbal skills. Labeling
technique helps us to perceive clearly the actual qualities of our
experience, without getting immersed in the content. It develops
mental power and focus. In meditation we seek a deep, clear,
precise awareness of the mind and body. This direct awareness
shows us the truth about our lives, the actual nature of mental
and physical processes.

Meditation need not come to an end after an hour of sitting. It
can be carried out continuously through the day. When you get
up from sitting, you must note carefully — beginning with the
intention to open the eyes. “Intending, intending... Opening,
opening.” Experience the mental event of intending, and feel
the sensations of opening the eyes. Continue to note carefully
and precisely, with full observing power, through the whole
transition of postures until the moment you have stood up, and
when you begin to walk. Throughout the day you should also be
aware of, and mentally note, all other activities, such as
stretching, bending your arm, taking a spoon, puffing on
clothes, brushing your teeth, closing the door, opening the door,
closing your eyelids, eating, and so forth. All of these activities
should be noted with careful awareness and a soft mental label.

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Apart from the hours of sound sleep, you should try to maintain
continuous mindfulness throughout your waking hours. Actually
this is not a heavy task; it is just sitting and walking and simply
observing whatever occurs.
  WALKING MEDITATION
During a retreat it is usual to alternate periods of sitting
meditation with periods of formal walking meditation of about
the same duration, one after another throughout the day. One
hour is a standard period, but forty-five minutes can also be
used. For formal walking, retreatants choose a lane of about
twenty steps in length and walk slowly back and forth along it.

In daily life, walking meditation can also be very helpful. A short
period — say ten minutes — of formal walking meditation
before sitting serves to focus the mind. Beyond this advantage,
the awareness developed in walking meditation is useful to all
of us as we move our bodies from place to place in the course
of a normal day.

Walking meditation develops balance and accuracy of
awareness as well as durability of concentration. One can
observe very profound aspects of the Dhamma while walking,
and even get enlightened! In fact a yogi who does not do
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walking meditation before sitting is like a car with a rundown
battery. He or she will have a difficult time starting the engine of
mindfulness when sitting.

Walking meditation consists of paying attention to the walking
process. If you are moving fairly rapidly, make a mental note of
the movement of the legs, “Left, right, left right” and use your
awareness to follow the actual sensations throughout the leg
area. If you are moving more slowly, note the lifting, moving and
placing of each foot. In each case you must try to keep your
mind on just the sensations of walking. Notice what processes
occur when you stop at the end of the lane, when you stand
still, when you turn and begin walking again. Do not watch your
feet unless this becomes necessary due to some obstacle on
the ground; it is unhelpful to hold the image of a foot in your
mind while you are trying to be aware of sensations. You want
to focus on the sensations themselves, and these are not
visual. For many people it is a fascinating discovery when they
are able to have a pure, bare perception of physical objects
such as lightness, tingling, cold, and warmth.

Usually we divide walking into three distinct movements: lifting,
moving and placing the foot. To support a precise awareness,
we separate the movements clearly, making a soft mental label
at the beginning of each movement, and making sure that our
awareness follows it clearly and powerfully until it ends. One
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minor but important point is to begin noting the placing
movement at the instant that the foot begins to move
downward.
  A New World in Sensations
Let us consider lifting. We know its conventional name, but in
meditation it is important to penetrate behind that conventional
concept and to understand the true nature of the whole process
of lifting, beginning with the intention to lift and continuing
through the actual process, which involves many sensations.

Our effort to be aware of lifting the foot must neither overshoot
the sensation nor weakly fall short of this target. Precise and
accurate mental aim helps balance our effort. When our effort is
balanced and our aim is precise, mindfulness will firmly
establish itself on the object of awareness. It is only in the
presence of these three factors — effort, accuracy and
mindfulness — that concentration develops. Concentration, of
course, is collectedness of mind, one-pointedness. Its
characteristic is to keep consciousness from becoming diffuse
or dispersed.

As we get closer and closer to this lifting process, we will see
that it is like a line of ants crawling across the road. From afar
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the line may appear to be static, but from closer up it begins to
shimmer and vibrate. And from even closer the line breaks up
into individual ants, and we see that our notion of a line was just
an illusion. We now accurately perceive the line of ants as one
ant after another ant, after another ant. Exactly like this, when
we look accurately at the lifting process from beginning to end,
the mental factor or quality of consciousness called “insight”
comes nearer to the object of observation. The nearer insight
comes, the clearer the true nature of the lifting process can be
seen. It is an amazing fact about the human mind that when
insight arises and deepens through vipassanā or insight,
meditation practice, particular aspects of the truth about
existence tend to be revealed in a definite order. This order is
known as the progress of insight.

The first insight which meditators commonly experience is to
begin to comprehend — not intellectually or by reasoning, but
quite intuitively — that the lifting process is composed of distinct
mental and material phenomena occurring together, as a pair.
The physical sensations, which are material, are linked with, but
different from, the awareness, which is mental. We begin to see
a whole succession of mental events and physical sensations,
and to appreciate the conditionality that relates mind and
matter. We see with the greatest freshness and immediacy that
mind causes matter — as when our intention to lift the foot
initiates the physical sensations of movement, and we see that
matter causes mind — as when a physical sensation of strong
heat generates a wish to move our walking meditation into a
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shady spot. The insight into cause and effect can take a great
variety of forms; but when it arises, our life seem far more
simple to us than ever before. Our life is no more than a chain
of mental and physical causes and effects. This is the second
insight in the classical progress of insight.

As we develop concentration we see even more deeply that
these phenomena of the lifting process are impermanent,
impersonal, appearing and disappearing one by one at fantastic
speed. This is the next level of insight, the next aspect of
existence that concentrated awareness becomes capable of
seeing directly. There is no one behind what is happening; the
phenomena arise and pass away as an empty process,
according to the law of cause and effect. This illusion of
movement and solidity is like a movie. To ordinary perception it
seems full of characters and objects, all the semblances of a
world. But if we slow the movie down we will see that it is
actually composed of separate, static frames of film.
  Discovering the Path by Walking
When one is very mindful during a single lifting process that is
to say, when the mind is with the movement, penetrating with
mindfulness into the true nature of what is happening — at that
moment, the path to liberation taught by the Buddha opens up.
The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path, often known as the Middle
Way or Middle Path, consists of the eight factors of right view or
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understanding, right thought or aim, right speech, right action,
right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right
concentration. During any moment of strong mindfulness, five of
the eight path factors come alive in consciousness. There is
right effort; there is mindfulness; there is one-pointedness or
concentration; there is right aim; and as we begin to have
insight into the true nature of the phenomena, right view also
arises. And during a moment when these five factors of the
Eightfold Path are present, consciousness is completely free
from any sort of defilement.

As we make use of that purified consciousness to penetrate into
the true nature of what is happening, we become free of the
delusion or illusion of self; we see only bare phenomena
coming and going. When insight gives us intuitive
comprehension of the mechanism of cause and effect, how
mind and mailer are related to one another, we free ourselves
of misconceptions about the nature of phenomena. Seeing that
each object lasts only for a moment we free ourselves of the
illusion of permanence, the illusion of continuity. As we
understand impermanence and its underlying
unsatisfactoriness, we are freed from the illusion that our mind
and body are not suffering.

This direct seeing of impersonality brings freedom from pride
and conceit, as well as freedom from the wrong view that we
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have an abiding self. When we carefully observe the lifting
process, we see mind and body as unsatisfactory and so are
freed from craving. These three states of mind — conceit,
wrong view and craving — are called “the perpetuating
dhammas.” They help to perpetuate existence in samsara, the
cycle of craving and suffering which is caused by ignorance of
ultimate truth. Careful attention in walking meditation shatters
the perpetuating dhammas, bringing us closer to freedom.

You can see that noting the lifting of one’s foot has incredible
possibilities! These are no less present in moving the foot
forward and in placing it on the ground. Naturally the depth and
detail of awareness described in these walking instructions
should also be applied to noting the abdominal movement in
sitting, and all other physical movements.
  Five Benefits of Walking Meditation
The Buddha described live additional, specific benefits of
walking meditation. The first is that one who does walking
meditation will have the stamina to go on long journeys. This
was important in the Buddha’s time, when bhikkhus and
bhikkhunis, monks and nuns, had no form of transportation
other than their feet and legs. You who are meditating today
can consider yourselves to be bhikkhus, and can think of this
benefit simply as physical strengthening.
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The second benefit is that walking meditation brings stamina for
the practice of meditation itself. During walking meditation a
double effort is needed. In addition to the ordinary, mechanical
effort needed to lift the foot, there is also the mental effort to be
aware of the movement — and this is the factor of right effort
from the Noble Eightfold Path. If this double effort continues
through the movements of lifting, pushing and placing, it
strengthens the capacity for that strong, consistent mental effort
all yogis know is crucial to vipassanā practice.

Thirdly, according to the Buddha, a balance between sitting and
walking contributes to good health, which in turn speeds
progress in practice. Obviously it is difficult to meditate when we
are sick. Too much sitting can cause many physical ailments.
But the shift of posture and the movements of walking revive
the muscles and stimulate circulation, helping prevent illness.

The fourth benefit is that walking meditation assists digestion.
Improper digestion produces a lot of discomfort and is thus a
hindrance to practice. Walking keeps the bowels clear,
minimizing sloth and torpor. After a meal and before sitting, one
should do a good walking meditation to forestall drowsiness.
Walking as soon as one gets up in the morning is also a good
way to establish mindfulness and to avoid a nodding head in
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the first sitting of the day.

Last, but not least of the benefits of walking is that it builds
durable concentration. As the mind works to focus on each
section of the movement during a walking session,
concentration becomes continuous. Every step builds the
foundation for the sitting that follows, helping the mind stay with
the object from moment to moment — eventually to reveal the
true nature of reality at the deepest level. This is why I use the
simile of a car battery. If a car is never driven, its battery runs
down. A yogi who never does walking meditation will have a
difficult time getting any where when he or she sits down on the
cushion. But one who is diligent in walking will automatically
carry strong mindfulness and firm concentration into sitting
meditation.

I hope that all of you will be successful in completely carrying
out this practice. May you be pure in your precepts, cultivating
them in speech and action thus creating the conditions for
developing samādhi and wisdom.

May you follow these meditation instructions carefully, noting
each moment’s experience with deep, accurate and precise
mindfulness, so that you will penetrate into the true nature of
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reality. May you see how mind and matter constitute all
experiences, how these two are interrelated by cause and
effect, how all experiences are characterized by impermanence,
unsatisfactoriness and absence of self so that you may
eventually realize nibbāna — the unconditioned state that
uproots mental defilements — here and now.
  THE INTERVIEW
Vipassanā meditation is like planting a garden. We have the
seed of clear and complete vision, which is the mindfulness with
which we observe phenomena. In order to cultivate this seed,
nurture the plant, and reap its fruit of transcendent wisdom,
there are five procedures we must follow. These are called the
Five Protections, or the Five Anuggahitas.
  The Five Protections
As gardeners do, we must build a fence around our little plot to
protect against large animals, deer and rabbits, who might
devour our tender plant as soon as it tries to sprout. This first
protection is sīlānuggahita, morality’s protection against gross
and wild behavior which agitates the mind and prevents
concentration and wisdom from ever appearing.

Second, we must water the seed. This means listening to
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discourses on the Dhamma and reading texts, then carefully
applying the understanding we have gained. Just as
overwatering will rot a seed, our goal here is only clarification. It
is definitely not to bewilder ourselves getting lost in a maze of
concepts. This second protection is called sutānuggahita.

The third protection is the one I will dwell on here. It is
sākacchānuggahita, discussion with a teacher, and it is likened
to the many processes involved in cultivating a plant. Plants
need different things at different times. Soil may need to be
loosened around the roots, but not too much, or the roots will
lose their grip in the soil. Leaves must be trimmed, again with
care. Overshadowing plants must be cut down. In just this way,
when we discuss our practice with a teacher, the teacher will
give different instructions depending on what is needed to keep
us on the right path.

The fourth protection is samathānuggahita, the protection of
concentration, which keeps off the caterpillars and weeds of
unwholesome states of mind. As we practice we make a strong
effort to be aware of whatever is actually arising at the six
sense doors — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind — in the
present moment. When the mind is sharply focused and
energetic in this way, greed, hatred and delusion have no
opportunity to creep in. Thus, concentration can be compared
to weeding the area around the plant, or to applying a very
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wholesome and natural type of pesticide.

If these first four protections are present, insights have the
opportunity to blossom. However, yogis tend to become
attached to early insights and unusual experiences related to
strong concentration. Unfortunately, this will hinder their
practice from ripening into the deeper levels of vipassanā. Here,
the fifth protection, vipassanānuggahita, comes into play. This
is meditation which continues forcefully at a high level, not
stopping to dawdle in the enjoyment of peace of mind nor other
pleasures of concentration. Craving for these pleasures is
called nikanti taṇhā It is subtle, like cobwebs, aphids, mildew,
tiny spiders — sticky little things that can eventually choke off a
plant's growth.

Even if a yogi gets caught in such booby traps, however, a
good teacher can find out about this in the interview and nudge
him or her back onto the straight path. This is why discussing
one's experiences with a teacher is such an important
protection for meditation practice.
  The Interview Process
During an intensive vipassanā retreat, personal interviews are
held as often as possible, ideally every day. Interviews are
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formally structured. After the yogi presents his or her
experiences as described below, the teacher may ask
questions relating to particular details before giving a pithy
comment or instruction

The interview process is quite simple. You should be able to
communicate the essence of your practice in about ten minutes.
Consider that you are reporting on your research into yourself,
which is what vipassanā actually is. Try to adhere to the
standards used in the scientific world brevity, accuracy and
precision.

First, report how many hours of sitting you did and how many of
walking m the most recent twenty-four-hour period. If you are
quite truthful and honest about this, it will show the sincerity of
your practice. Next, describe your sitting practice. It is not
necessary to describe each sitting in detail. If sittings are
similar, you may combine their traits together in a general
report. Try using details from the clearest sitting or sittings.
Begin your description with the primary object of meditation, the
rise and fall of the abdomen. After thin you may add other
objects that arose at any of the six sense doors.

After describing the sitting, go into your walking practice. Here
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you must only describe experiences directly connected with
your walking movements — do not include a range of objects
as you might in reporting a sitting. If you use the three-part
method of lifting, moving and placing in your walking meditation
try to include each segment and the experiences you had with it
  What Occurred, How You Noted It, What Happened to It
For all of these objects, indeed with any object of meditation,
please report your experience in three phases. One, you
identify what occurred. Two, you report how you noted it. And
three, you describe what you saw, or felt, or understood, that is,
what happened when you noted it.

Let us take as an example the primary object, the rising and
falling movement of the abdomen. The first thing to do is to
identify the occurrence of the rising process, “Rising occurred.”
The second phase is to note it, give it a silent verbal label, “I
noted it as ‘rising.’”
The third phase is to describe what happened to the rising
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“As I noted ‘rising,’ this is what I experienced, the different
sensations, I felt This was the behavior of the sensations at that
time.”
Then you continue the interview by using the same three-phase
description for the falling process and the other objects that
arise during sitting. You mention the object’s occurrence,
describe how you noted it, and relate your subsequent
experiences until the object disappears or your attention moves
elsewhere.

Perhaps an analogy will serve to clarify Imagine that I am sitting
in front of you, and suddenly I raise my hand into the air and
open it so that you can see that I am holding an apple. You
direct your attention toward this apple, you recognize it and
(because this is an analogy) you say the word “apple” to
yourself. Now you go on to discern that the apple is red, round
and shiny. At last I slowly close my hand so that the apple
disappears.

How would you report your experience of the apple, if the apple
were your primary object of meditation? You would say, “The
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apple appeared/ I noted it as ‘apple’ and slowly disappeared.”

Thus, you would have reported in a precise way on the three
phases of your involvement with the apple. First, there was the
moment when the apple appeared and you became able to
perceive it. Second, you directed your attention to the apple and
recognized what it was, since you were “practicing meditation”
with the apple, you made the particular effort to label it verbally
in your mind. Third, you continued attending to the apple and
discerned its qualities, as well as the manner of its passing out
of your awareness. This three-step process is the same one
you must follow in actual vipassanā meditation, except, of
course, that you observe and report on your experiences of the
rising and falling of your abdomen. One warning your duty to
observe the fictitious apple does not extend to imagining the
apple’s juiciness or visualizing yourself eating it. Similarly, in a
meditation interview, you must restrict your descriptions to what
you have experienced directly, rather than what you may
imagine visualize and opine about the object.

As you can see, this style of reporting is a guide for how
awareness should be functioning in actual vipassanā
meditation. For this reason, meditation interviews are helpful for
an additional reason beyond the chance to receive a teacher's
guidance. Yogis often find that being required to produce a
report of this kind has a galvanizing effect on their meditation
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practice, for it asks them to focus on their experiences as
clearly as they possibly can.
  Awareness, Accuracy, Perseverance
It is not enough to look at the object indifferently, haphazardly
or in an unmindful, automatic way. This is not a practice where
you mindlessly recite some mental formula. You must look at
the object with full commitment, with all of your heart. Directing
your whole attention toward the object, as accurately as
possible, you keep your attention there so that you can
penetrate into the object's true nature.

Despite our best efforts, the mind may not always be so
well-behaved as to remain with our abdomen. It wanders off. At
this point a new object, the wandering mind, has arisen. How do
we handle this? We become aware of the wandering. This is
the first phase. Now the second phase we label it as
“wandering, wandering.” How soon after its arising were we
aware of the wandering? One second, two minutes, half an
hour? And what happens after we label it? Does the wandering
mind disappear instantly? Does the mind just keep on
wandering? Or do the thoughts reduce in intensity and
eventually disappear? Does a new object arise before we have
seen the disappearance of the old one? If you cannot note the
wandering mind at all, you should tell the teacher about this,
too.
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If the wandering mind disappears, you come back to the rising
and falling. You should make a point to describe whether you
are able to come back to it. In your reports it is good, also, to
say how long the mind usually remained with the rising and
falling movements before a new object arose.

Pains and aches, unpleasant sensations, are sure to arise after
some time of sitting. Say an itch suddenly appears — a new
object. You label it as “itching.” Does the itch get worse or
remain the same? Does it change or disappear? Do new
objects arise, such as a wish to scratch? All this should be
described as precisely as possible. It is the same with visions
and sights, sounds and tastes, heat and cold. tightness,
vibrations, tinglings, the unending procession of objects of
consciousness. No matter what the object, you only have to
apply the same three-step principle to it.

All of this process is done as a silent investigation, coming very
close to our experience — not asking ourselves a lot of
questions and getting lost in thought. What is important to the
teacher is whether you could be aware of whatever object has
arisen, whether you had the accuracy of mind to be mindful of
it, and the perseverance to observe it fully. Be honest with your
teacher. If you are unable to find the object, or note it, or
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experience anything at all after making a mental label, it may
not always mean that you are practicing poorly! A clear and
precise report enables the teacher to assess your practice, then
point out mistakes or make corrections to put you back on the
right path. May you benefit from these interview instructions.
May a teacher someday help you help yourself.
  2. Cutting Through to Ultimate Reality  
by Sharpening the Controlling Faculties
Vipassanā meditation can be seen as a process of developing
certain positive mental factors until they are powerful enough to
dominate the state of the mind quite continuously. These
factors are called “the controlling faculties,” and they are five in
number: faith, effort or energy, mindfulness, concentration, and
wisdom. Especially in an intensive retreat setting, proper
practice develops strong and durable faith, powerful effort, deep
concentration, penetrative mindfulness, and the unfolding of
more and more profound insight or wisdom. This final product,
intuitive wisdom or paññā;, is the force in the mind which cuts
through into the deepest truth about reality, and thus liberates
us from ignorance and its results: suffering, delusion, and all the
forms of unhappiness.

For this development to occur, however, the appropriate causes
must be present. Nine causes lead to the growth of the
controlling faculties; they are listed here, and will be discussed
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in more detail below. The first cause is attention directed toward
the impermanence of all objects of consciousness. The second
is an attitude of care and respect in meditation practice. The
third is maintaining an unbroken continuity of awareness. The
fourth cause is an environment that supports meditation. The
fifth is remembering circumstances or behavior that have been
helpful in one’s past meditation practice so that one can
maintain or recreate those conditions, especially when
difficulties may arise. The sixth is cultivating the qualities of
mind which lead toward enlightenment. The seventh is
willingness to work intensely in meditation practice. The eighth
is patience and perseverance in the face of pain or other
obstacles. The ninth and last cause for the development of the
controlling faculties is a determination to continue practicing
until one reaches the goal of liberation.

A yogi can travel far in this practice if he or she fulfills even just
the first three causes for the controlling faculties to arise. That
is, the yogi’s mental state will come to be characterized by faith,
energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom if she or he is
aware of the passing away of mental and physical phenomena
meticulously, respectfully, and with persistent continuity. Under
these conditions, the inner hindrances to meditation will soon
be removed. The controlling faculties will calm the mind and
clear it of disturbances. If you are such a yogi, you will
experience a tranquillity you may never have felt before. You
may be filled with awe. “Fantastic, it’s really true! All those
teachers talk about peace and calm and now I’m really
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experiencing it!” Thus faith, the first of the controlling faculties,
will have arisen out of your practice.

This particular kind of faith is called “preliminary verified faith.”
Your own experience leads you to feel that the further promises
of the Dhamma may actually be true.
With faith comes a natural inspiration, an upsurge of energy.
When energy is present, effort follows. You will say to yourself,
“This is just the beginning. If I work a little harder, I’ll have
experiences even better than this.” A renewed effort guides the
mind to hit its target of observation in each moment. Thus
mindfulness consolidates and deepens.

Mindfulness has the uncanny ability to bring about
concentration, one-pointedness of mind. When mindfulness
penetrates into the object of observation moment by moment,
the mind gains the capacity to remain stable and undistracted,
content within the object. In this natural fashion, concentration
becomes well-established and strong. In general, the stronger
one’s mindfulness, the stronger one’s concentration will be.

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With faith, effort, mindfulness and concentration, four of the five
controlling faculties have been assembled. Wisdom, the fifth,
needs no special introduction. If the first four factors are
present, wisdom or insight unfolds of itself. One begins to see
very clearly, intuitively, how mind and matter are separate
entities, and begins also to understand in a very special way
how mind and matter are connected by cause and effect. Upon
each insight, one’s verified faith deepens.

A yogi who has seen objects arising and passing away from
moment to moment feels very fulfilled. “It’s fabulous. Just
moment after moment of these phenomena with no self behind
them. No one at home.” This discovery brings a sense of great
relief and ease of mind. Subsequent insights into
impermanence, suffering and absence of self have a
particularly strong capacity to stimulate faith. They fill us with
powerful conviction that the Dhamma as it has been told to us is
authentic.

Vipassanā practice can be compared to sharpening a knife
against a whetstone. One must hold the blade at just the right
angle, not too high or too low, and apply just the right amount of
pressure. Moving the knife blade consistently against the stone,
one works continuously and until the first edge has been
developed. Then one flips the knife over to sharpen the other
edge, applying the same pressure at the same angle. This
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image is given in the Buddhist scriptures. Precision of angle is
like meticulousness in practice, and pressure and movement
are like continuity of mindfulness. If meticulousness and
continuity are really present in your practice, rest assured that
in a short time your mind will be sharp enough to cut through to
the truth about existence.
  ONE: ATTENTION TO IMPERMANENCE
The first cause for development of the controlling faculties is to
notice that everything which arises will also dissolve and pass
away. During meditation one observes mind and matter at all
the six sense doors. One should approach this process of
observation with the intention to notice that everything which
appears will, in turn, dissolve. As you are no doubt aware, this
idea can only be confirmed by actual observation.

This attitude is a very important preparation for practice. A
preliminary acceptance that things are impermanent and
transitory prevents the reactions that might occur when you
discover these facts — sometimes painfully — through your
own experience. Without this acceptance, moreover, a student
might spend considerable time with the contrary assumption,
that the objects of this world might be permanent, an
assumption that can block the development of insight. In the
beginning you can take impermanence on faith. As practice
deepens, this faith will be verified by personal experience.
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  TWO: CARE AND RESPECT
The second basis for strengthening the controlling faculties is
an attitude of great care in pursuing the meditation practice. It is
essential to treat the practice with the utmost reverence and
meticulousness. To develop this attitude it may be helpful to
reflect on the benefits you are likely to enjoy through practice.
Properly practiced, mindfulness of body, feelings, mind and
mind objects leads to the purification of the mind, the
overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the complete
destruction of physical pain and mental distress, and the
attainment of nibbāna. The Buddha called it satipaṭṭhāna
meditation, meaning meditation on the four foundations of
mindfulness. Truly it is priceless!

Remembering this, you may be inspired to be very careful and
attentive toward the objects of awareness that arise at the six
sense doors. On a meditation retreat, you should also try to
slow down your movements as much as possible, appreciating
the fact that your mindfulness is at an infant stage. Slowing
down gives mindfulness the chance to keep pace with the
movements of the body, noting each one in detail.

The scriptures illustrate this quality of care and meticulousness
with the image of a person crossing a river on a very narrow
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footbridge. There is no railing, and swift water runs below.
Obviously, this person cannot skip and run across the bridge.
He or she must go step by step, with care.

A meditator can also be compared to a person carrying a bowl
brimful of oil. You can imagine the degree of care that is
required not to spill it. This same degree of mindfulness should
be present in your practice.

This second example was given by the Buddha himself. It
seems there was a group of monks residing in a forest,
ostensibly practicing meditation. They were sloppy, though. At
the end of a sitting, they would leap up suddenly and
unmindfully. Walking from place to place, they were careless;
they looked at the birds in the trees and the clouds in the sky,
not restraining their minds at all. Naturally they made no
progress in practice.

When the Buddha came to know of this, his investigation
showed that the fault lay in the monks’ lack of respect and
reverence for the Dhamma, for the teaching, and for meditation.
The Buddha then approached the monks and spoke to them
about the image of carrying a bowl of oil. Inspired by his sutta,
or discourse, the monks resolved thereafter to be meticulous
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and careful in all that they did. As a result they were
enlightened in a short time.

You can verify this result in your own experience on a retreat.
Slowing down, moving with great care, you will be able to apply
a quality of reverence in noting your experience. The slower
you move, the faster you will progress in your meditation.

Of course, in this world one must adapt to the prevailing
circumstances. Some situations require speed. If you cruise the
highway at a snail’s pace, you might end up dead or in jail. At a
hospital, in contrast, patients must be treated with great
gentleness and allowed to move slowly. If doctors and nurses
hurry them along so that the hospital’s work can be finished
more efficiently, the patients will suffer and perhaps end up on a
mortuary slab.

Yogis must comprehend their situation, wherever they are, and
adapt to it. On retreat, or in any other situation, it is good to be
considerate and to move at a normal speed if others are waiting
behind you. However, you must also understand that one’s
primary goal is to develop mindfulness, and so when you are
alone it is appropriate to revert to creeping about. You can eat
slowly, you can wash your face, brush your teeth and bathe
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with great mindfulness — as long as no one is waiting in line for
the shower or tub.
  THREE: UNBROKEN CONTINUITY
Persevering continuity of mindfulness is the third essential
factor in developing the controlling faculties. One should try to
be with the moment as much as possible, moment after
moment, without any breaks in between. In this way
mindfulness can be established, and its momentum can
increase. Defending our mindfulness prevents the kilesas, the
harmful and painful qualities of greed, hatred and delusion, from
infiltrating and carrying us off into oblivion. It is a fact of life that
the kilesas cannot arise in the presence of strong mindfulness.
When the mind is free of kilesas, it becomes unburdened, light
and happy.

Do whatever is necessary to maintain continuity. Do one action
at a time. When you change postures, break down the
movement into single units and note each unit with the utmost
care. When you arise from sitting, note the intention to open the
eyelids, and then the sensations that occur when the lids begin
to move. Note lifting the hand from the knee, shifting the leg,
and so on. Throughout the day, be fully aware of even the
tiniest actions — not just sitting, standing, walking and lying, but
also closing your eyes, turning your head, turning doorknobs
and so forth.
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Apart from the hours of sleeping, yogis on retreat should be
continuously mindful. Continuity should be so strong, in fact,
that there is no time at all for reflection, no hesitation, no
thinking, no reasoning, no comparing of one’s experiences with
the things one has read about meditation — just time enough to
apply this bare awareness.

The scriptures compare practicing the Dhamma to starting a
fire. In the days before the invention of matches or magnifying
glasses, fire had to be started by the primitive means of friction.
People used an instrument like a bow, held horizontally. In its
looped string they entwined a vertical stick whose point was
inserted into a slight depression in a board, which was in turn
filled with shavings or leaves. As people moved the bow back
and forth, the stick’s point twirled, eventually igniting the leaves
or shavings. Another method was simply to roll that same stick
between the palms of the hands. In either case, people rubbed
and rubbed until sufficient friction accumulated to ignite the
shavings. Imagine what would happen if they rubbed for ten
seconds and then rested for five seconds to think about it. Do
you think a fire would start? In just this way, a continuous effort
is necessary to start the fire of wisdom.

Have you ever studied the behavior of a chameleon? The
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scriptures use this lizard to illustrate discontinuous practice.
Chameleons approach their goals in an interesting way.
Catching sight of a delicious fly or a potential mate, a
chameleon rushes suddenly forward, but does not arrive all at
once. It scurries a short distance, then stops and gazes at the
sky, tilting its head this way and that. Then it rushes ahead a bit
more and stops again to gaze. It never reaches its destination
in the first rush.

People who practice in fits and starts, being mindful for a
stretch and then stopping to daydream, are chameleon yogis.
Chameleons manage to survive despite their lack of continuity,
but a yogi’s practice may not. Some yogis feel called to reflect
and think each time they have a new experience, wondering
which stage of insight they have reached. Others do not need
novelty, they think and worry about familiar things.

“I feel tired today. Maybe I didn’t sleep enough. Maybe I ate too
much. A little nap might be just the ticket. My foot hurts. I
wonder if a blister is developing. That would affect my whole
meditation! Maybe I should just open my eyes and check.” Such
are the hesitations of chameleon yogis.
  FOUR: SUPPORTIVE CONDITIONS
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The fourth cause for developing the controlling faculties is to
make sure that suitable conditions are met for insights to unfold.
Proper, suitable and appropriate activities can bring about
insight knowledge. Seven types of suitability should be met in
order to create an environment that is supportive of meditation
practice.

The first suitability is that of place. A meditative environment
should be well-furnished, well-supported, a place where it is
possible to gain insight.
Second is what is known as suitability of resort. This refers to
the ancient practice of daily alms rounds. A monk’s place of
meditation should be far enough from a village to avoid
distraction, but near enough so that he can depend on the
villagers for daily alms food. For lay yogis, food must be easily
and consistently available, yet perhaps not distractingly so.
Under this heading, one should avoid places which ruin one’s
concentration. This means busy, active places where the mind
is likely to be distracted from its meditation object. In short, a
certain amount of quiet is important, but one must not go so far
from the noises of civilization that one cannot obtain what one
needs to survive.

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The third suitability is that of speech. During a retreat, suitable
speech is of a very limited kind and quantity. The commentaries
define it as listening to Dhamma talks. We can add participating
in Dhamma discussions with the teacher — that is, interviews. It
is essential at times to engage in discussions of the practice,
especially when one is confused or unsure about how to
proceed.

But remember that anything in excess is harmful. I once taught
in a place where there was a potted plant which my attendant
was overzealous in watering. All its leaves fell off. A similar
thing could happen to your samādhi if you get involved in too
many Dhamma discussions. And one should carefully evaluate
even the discourses of one’s teacher. The general rule is to
exercise discretion as to whether what one is hearing will
develop the concentration that has already arisen, or cause to
arise concentration that has not yet arisen. If the answer is
negative, one should avoid the situation, perhaps even
choosing not to attend the teacher’s discourses or not
requesting extra interviews.

Yogis on intensive retreat should of course avoid any kind of
conversation as much as possible, especially chatting about
worldly affairs. Even serious discussion of the Dhamma is not
always appropriate during intensive practice. One should avoid
debating points of dogma with fellow yogis on retreat.
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Thoroughly unsuitable during retreats are conversations about
food, place, business, the economy, politics and so forth; these
are called “animal speech.”

The purpose of having this kind of prohibition is to prevent
distractions from arising in the yogi’s mind. Lord Buddha, out of
deep compassion for meditating yogis, said, “For an ardent
meditator, speech should not be indulged. If indeed speech is
resorted to frequently, it will cause much distraction.”

Of course it may become really necessary to talk during a
retreat. If so, you should be careful not to exceed what is
absolutely necessary to communicate. You should also be
mindful of the process of speaking. First there will be a desire to
speak. Thoughts will arise in the mind as to what to say and
how to say it. You should note and carefully label all such
thoughts, the mental preparation for speaking; and then the
actual act of speaking itself, the physical movements involved.
The movements of your lips and face, and any accompanying
gestures, should be made the objects of mindfulness.

Some years ago in Burma there was a high-ranking
government official who had just retired. He was a very ardent
Buddhist. He had read a lot of Buddhist scriptures and literature
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in the fine translations available in Burmese and had also spent
some time meditating. His practice was not strong, but he had a
lot of general knowledge and he wanted to teach, so he
became a teacher.

One day he came to the center in Rangoon to meditate. When I
give instructions to yogis, usually I explain the practice and then
compare my instructions to the scriptural texts, trying to
reconcile any apparent differences. This gentleman immediately
began to ask me, “From where did this quotation come and
what is its reference?” I advised him politely to forget about this
concern and to continue his meditation, but he could not. For
three days in a row, he did the same thing at each interview.

Finally I asked him, “Why are you here? Did you come here to
be my student, or to try to teach me?” It seemed to me he had
only come to show off his general knowledge, not because he
wished to meditate.

The man said airily, “Oh, I’m the student and you’re the
teacher.”
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I said, “I’ve been trying to let you know this in a subtle way for
three days, but I must now be more direct with you. You are like
the minister whose job it was to marry off brides and
bridegrooms. On the day it was his turn to get married, instead
of standing where the bridegroom should stand, he went up to
the altar and conducted the ceremony. The congregation was
very surprised.” Well, the gentleman got the point; he admitted
his error and there after became an obedient student.

Yogis who truly want to understand the Dhamma will not seek
to imitate this gentleman. In fact it is said in the texts that no
matter how learned or experienced one may be, during a period
of meditation one should behave like a person who is incapable
of doing things out of his or her own initiative, but is also very
meek and obedient. In this regard, I’d like to share with you an
attitude I developed in my youth. When I am not skilled,
competent or experienced in a particular field, I do not intrude in
a situation. Even if I am skilled, competent and experienced in a
field, I do not intrude unless someone asks for my advice.

The fourth suitability is that of person, which chiefly relates to
the meditation teacher. If the instruction given by one’s teacher
helps one to progress, developing concentration that has
already arisen, or bringing about concentration that has not yet
arisen, then one can say that this teacher is suitable.
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Two more aspects of suitability of person have to do with the
community that supports one’s practice, and one’s own
relationship with the community of other people. In an intensive
retreat, yogis require a great deal of support. In order to
develop their mindfulness and concentration, they abandon
worldly activities. Thus, they need friends who can perform
certain tasks that would be distracting for a yogi in intensive
practice, such as shopping for and preparing food, repairing the
shelter, and so on. For those engaged in group practice, it is
important to consider one’s own effect on the community.
Delicate consideration for other yogis is quite helpful. Abrupt or
noisy movements can be very disruptive to others. Bearing this
in mind, one can become a suitable person with respect to
other yogis.

The fifth area of suitability, of food, means that the diet one
finds personally appropriate is also supportive to progress in
meditation. However, one must bear in mind that it is not always
possible to fill one’s every preference. Group retreats can be
quite large, and meals are cooked for every one at once. At
such times, it is best to adopt an attitude of accepting whatever
is served. If one’s meditation is disturbed by feelings of lack or
distaste, it is all right to try to rectify this if convenient.
  The Story of Mātikamātā
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Once sixty monks were meditating in the forest. They had a
laywoman supporter named Mātikamātā, who was very devout.
She tried to figure out what they might like, and every day she
cooked enough food for all of them. One day Mātikamātā
approached the monks and asked whether a lay person could
meditate as they did. “Of course,” she was told, and they gave
her instructions. Happily she went back and began to practice.
She kept up her meditation even while she was cooking for the
monks and carrying out her household chores. Eventually she
reached the third stage of enlightenment, anagami or
nonreturner; and because of the great merit she had
accumulated in the past, she also had psychic powers such as
the deva eye and deva ear — i.e. the abilities to see and hear
distant things — and the ability to read people’s minds.

Filled with joy and gratitude, Mātikamātā said to herself, “The
Dhamma I’ve realized is very special. I’m such a busy person,
though, looking after my household chores as well as feeding
the monks every day, I’m sure those monks have progressed
much further than I.” With her psychic powers she investigated
the meditation progress of the sixty monks, and saw to her
shock that none of them had had even the vaguest ghost of a
vipassanā insight.

“What’s wrong here?” Mātikamātā wondered. Psychically, she
looked into the monks’ situation to determine where the
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unsuitability lay. It was not in the place they were meditating. It
was not because they weren’t getting along — but it was that
they were not getting the right food! Some of the monks liked
sour tastes, others preferred the salty. Some liked hot peppers
and others liked cakes, and still others preferred vegetables.
Out of great gratitude for the meditation instructions she had
received from them, which had led her to profound
enlightenment, Mātikamātā began to cater to each monk’s
preference. As a result, all of the monks soon became
arahants, fully enlightened ones.

This woman’s rapid and deep attainments, as well as her
intelligence and dedication, provide a good model for people
like parents and other caretakers, who serve the needs of
others, but who do not need to relinquish aspirations for deep
insights.

While on this subject I would like to talk about vegetarianism.
Some hold the view that it is moral to eat only vegetables. In
Theravāda Buddhism there is no notion that this practice leads
to an exceptional perception of the truth.

The Buddha did not totally prohibit the eating of meat. He only
lay down certain conditions for it. For example, an animal must
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not be killed expressly for one’s personal consumption. The
monk Devadatta asked him to lay down a rule expressly
forbidding the eating of meat, but the Buddha, after thorough
consideration, refused to do so.

In those days as now, the majority of people ate a mixture of
animal and vegetable food. Only Brahmins, or the upper caste,
were vegetarian. When monks went begging for their livelihood,
they had to take whatever was offered by donors of any caste.
To distinguish between vegetarian and carnivorous donors
would have affected the spirit of this activity. Furthermore, both
Brabmins and members of other castes were able to join the
order of monks and nuns. The Buddha took this fact into
consideration as welt with all of its implications.

Thus, one needn’t restrict oneself to vegetarianism to practice
the Dhamma. Of course, it is healthy to eat a balanced
vegetarian diet, and if your motivation for not eating meat is
compassion, this impulse is certainly wholesome. If, on the
other hand, your metabolism is adjusted to eating meat, or if for
some other reason of health it is necessary for you to eat meat
this should not be considered sinful or in any way detrimental to
the practice. A law that cannot be obeyed by the majority is
ineffective.

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The sixth type of suitability is that of weather. Human beings
have a fantastic ability to adapt to weather. No matter how hot
or cold it may be, we devise methods of making ourselves
comfortable. When these methods are limited or unavailable,
one’s practice can be disrupted. At such times it may be better
to practice in a temperate climate, if possible.

The seventh and last kind of suitability is that of posture.
Posture here refers to the traditional four postures: sitting,
standing, walking and lying down. Sitting is best for samatha or
tranquillity meditation. In the tradition of Mahāsi Sayādaw,
vipassanā practice is based on sitting and walking. For any type
of meditation, once momentum builds, posture does not really
matter; any of the four is suitable.

Beginning yogis should avoid the lying and the standing
postures. The standing posture can bring about pain in a short
while: tightness and pressure in the legs, which can disrupt the
practice. The lying posture is problematic because it brings on
drowsiness. In it there is not much effort being made to
maintain the posture, and there is too much comfort.

Investigate your own situation to find out whether the seven
types of suitability are present. If they are not, perhaps you
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should take steps to ensure they are fulfilled, so that your
practice can develop. If this is done with the aim of making
progress in your practice, it will not be self-centered.
  FIVE: REAPPLYING HELPFUL CONDITIONS FROM
THE PAST
The fifth way of sharpening the controlling faculties is to bring
about the completion of meditative insight using what is called
“the sign of samādhi.” This refers to circumstances in which
good practice has occurred before: good mindfulness and
concentration. As we all know, practice is an up and down
affair. At times we are high up in the clouds of samādhi-land; at
other times, we’re really depressed, assaulted by kilesas, not
mindful of anything. Using the sign of samādhi means that
when you are up in those clouds, when mindfulness is strong,
you should try to notice what circumstances led to this good
practice. How are you working with the mind? What are the
specific circumstances in which this good practice is occurring?
The next time you get into a difficult situation, you may be able
to remember the causes of good mindfulness and establish
them again.
  SIX: CULTIVATING THE FACTORS THAT LEAD TO
ENLIGHTENMENT
The sixth way of sharpening the controlling faculties is
cultivating the factors of enlightenment: mindfulness,
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investigation, energy, rapture or joy, tranquility, concentration,
and equanimity. These qualifies of mind, or mental factors, are
actually the causes which bring about enlightenment. When
they are present and alive in one’s mind, the moment of
enlightenment is being encouraged, and may be said to be
drawing nearer. Furthermore, the seven factors of
enlightenment belong to what is known as “noble path and
fruition consciousness.” In Buddhism, we speak of
“consciousnesses” when we mean specific, momentary types of
consciousness — particular mental events, with recognizable
characteristics. Path and fruition consciousness are the linked
mental events that constitute an enlightenment experience.
They are what is occurring when the mind shifts its attention
from the conditioned realm to nibbāna, or unconditioned reality.
The result of such a shift is that certain defilements are
uprooted, so that the mind is never the same afterwards.

While working to create the conditions for path and fruition
consciousness, a yogi who understands the factors of
enlightenment can use them to balance her or his meditation
practice. The enlightenment factors of effort, joy, and
investigation uplift the mind when it becomes depressed, while
the factors of tranquility, concentration, and equanimity calm the
mind when it becomes hyperactive.

Many times a yogi may feel depressed and discouraged, having
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no mindfulness, thinking that his or her practice is going terribly
badly. Mindfulness may not be able to pick up objects as it has
in the past. At such a time it is essential for a yogi to pull out of
this state, brighten the mind. He or she should go in search of
encouragement and inspiration. One way to do this is by
listening to a good Dhamma talk. A talk can bring about the
enlightenment factor of joy or rapture; or it can inspire greater
effort, or it can deepen the enlightenment factor of investigation
by providing knowledge about practice. These three factors of
enlightenment — rapture, effort and investigation — are most
helpful in facing depression and discouragement.

Once an inspiring talk has brought up rapture, energy or
investigation, you should use this opportunity to try to focus the
mind very clearly on objects of observation, so that the objects
appear very clearly to the mind’s eye.

At other times, yogis may have an unusual experience, or for
some other reason may find themselves flooded with
exhilaration, rapture and joy. The mind becomes active and
overenthusiastic. On a retreat you can spot such yogis
beaming, walking around as if they were six feet above the
ground. Due to excess energy, the mind slips; it refuses to
concentrate on what is happening in the present moment. If
attention touches the target object at all, it immediately goes off
on a tangent.
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If you find yourself excessively exhilarated, you should restore
your equilibrium by developing the three enlightenment factors
of tranquility, concentration and equanimity. A good way to start
is by realizing that your energy is indeed excessive; and then
reflecting. “There’s no point in hurrying. The Dhamma will
unfold by itself. I should just sit back coolly and watch with
gentle awareness.” This stimulates the factor of tranquility.
Then, once the energy is cooled, one can begin to apply
concentration. The pactical method of doing this is to narrow
down the meditation. Instead of noting many objects, cut down
to concentrate more fully on a few. The mind will soon renew its
normal, slower pace. Lastly, one can adopt a stance of
equanimity, cajoling and soothing the mind with reflections like,
“A yogi has no preferences. There’s no point in hurrying. The
only thing that matters is for me to watch whatever is
happening, good or bad.”

If you can keep your mind in balance, soothing excitement and
lightening up depression, you can be sure that wisdom will
shortly unfold on its own.
Actually, the person best qualified to rectify imbalances in
practice is a competent meditation teacher. If he or she keeps
steady track of students through interviews, a teacher can
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recognize and remedy the many kinds of excesses that yogis
are susceptible to.

I would like to remind all yogis never to feel discouraged when
they think something is wrong with their meditation. Yogis are
like babies or young children. As you know, babies go through
various stages of development. When babies are in a transition
from one stage of development to another, they tend to go
though a lot of psychological and physical upheaval. They seem
to get irritated very easily and are difficult to care for. They cry
and wail at odd times. An inexperienced mother may worry
about her baby during periods like this. But truly, if infants don’t
go through this suffering they will never mature and grow up.
Babies’ distress is often a sign of developmental progress. So if
you feel your practice is falling apart, do not worry. You may be
just like that little child who is in a transition between stages of
growth.
  SEVEN: COURAGEOUS EFFORT
The seventh way of developing the controlling faculties is to
practice with courageous effort so much so that you are willing
to sacrifice your body and life in order to continue the practice
uninterrupted. This means giving rather less consideration
toward the body than we tend to be accustomed to give to it.
Rather than spending time beautifying ourselves or catering to
our wishes for greater comfort, we devote as much energy as
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possible to going forward in meditation.

Although it may feel very youthful right now, our body becomes
completely useless when we die. What use can one make of a
corpse? The body is like a very fragile container which can be
used as long as it is intact, but the moment it drops on the floor,
it is of no further help to us.

While we are alive and in reasonably good health, we have the
good fortune to be able to practice. Let us try to extract the
precious essence from our bodies before it is too late, before
our bodies become useless corpses! Of course, it is not our aim
to hasten this event. We should also try to be sensible, and to
maintain this body’s health, if only for our practice to continue.

You might ask what essence one can extract from the body. A
scientific study was once made to determine the market value
of the substances composing the human body: iron, calcium
and so on. I believe it came to less than one American dollar,
and the cost of extracting all those components was many
times greater than this total value. Without such a process of
extraction, a corpse is valueless, beyond providing compost for
the soil. If a dead person’s organs can be used for transplants
into living bodies, this is good; but in this case, progress toward
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becoming an entirely lifeless and valueless corpse has only
been delayed.

The body can be looked at as a rubbish dump, disgusting and
full of impurities. Uncreative people have no use for things they
might find in such a dump, but an innovative person
understands the value of recycling. He or she may take a dirty,
smelly thing off the rubbish heap and clean it and be able to use
it again. There are many stories of people who have made
millions from the recycling business.

From this rubbish heap we call our body, we can nonetheless
extract gold through the practice of the Dhamma. One form of
gold is sīla, purity of conduct, the ability to tame and civilize
one’s actions. After further extraction, the body yields up the
controlling faculties of faith, mindfulness, effort, concentration
and wisdom. These are priceless jewels which can be extracted
from the body through meditation. When the controlling faculties
are well-developed, the mind resists domination by greed,
hatred and delusion. A person whose mind is free of these
painful oppressive qualities experiences an exquisite happiness
and peace that cannot be bought with money. His or her
presence becomes calm and sweet so that others feel uplifted.
This inner freedom is independent of all circumstances and
conditions, and it is only available as a result of ardent
meditation practice.
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Anyone can understand that painful mental states do not vanish
just because we wish them to do so. Who has not wrestled with
a desire they knew would hurt someone if they indulged it? Is
there anyone who has never been in an irritable, grumpy mood
and wished they were feeling happy and contented instead?
Has anyone failed to experience the pain of being confused? It
is possible to uproot the tendencies which create pain and
dissatisfaction in our lives, but for most of us it is not easy.
Spiritual work is as demanding as it is rewarding. Yet we should
not be discouraged. The goal and result of vipassanā
meditation is to be free from all kinds, all shades and all levels
of mental and physical suffering. If you desire this kind of
freedom, you should rejoice that you have an opportunity to
strive to achieve it.

The best time to strive is right now. If you are young, you should
appreciate your good situation, for young people have the most
energy to carry out the meditation practice. If you are older you
may have less physical energy, but perhaps you have seen
enough of life to have gained wise consideration, such as a
personal understanding of life’s fleetingness and
unpredictability.
  “Urgency Seized Me”
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During the Buddha’s time there was a young bhikkhu, or monk,
who had come from a wealthy family. Young and robust, he’d
had the chance to enjoy a wide variety of sense pleasures
before his ordination. He was wealthy, he had many friends and
relatives, and his wealth made available to him the full panoply
of indulgences. Yet he renounced all this to seek liberation.

One day when the king of that country was riding through the
forest, he came across this monk. The king said, “Venerable sir,
you are young and robust; you are in the prime of youth. You
come from a wealthy family and have lots of opportunities to
enjoy yourself. Why did you leave your home and family to wear
robes and live in solitude? Don’t you feel lonely? Aren’t you
bored?”

The monk answered, “O great king, when I was listening to the
Buddha’s discourse that leads to arousing spiritual urgency, a
great sense of urgency seized me. I want to extract the
optimum utility from this body of mine in time before I die. That
is why I gave up the worldly life and took these robes.”

If you still are not convinced of the need to practice with great
urgency, without attachment to body or life, the Buddha’s words
may also be helpful for you.
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One should reflect, he said, on the fact that the whole world of
beings is made up of nothing but mind and matter which have
arisen but do not stay. Mind and matter do not remain still for
one single moment; they are in constant flux. Once we find
ourselves in this body and mind, there is nothing we can do to
prevent growth from taking place. When we are young we like
to grow, but when we are old we are stuck in an irreversible
process of decline.

We like to be healthy, but our wishes can never be guaranteed.
We are plagued by sickness and illness, by pain and
discomfort, throughout our existence. Immortal life is beyond
our reach. All of us will die. Death is contrary to what we would
wish for ourselves, yet we cannot prevent it. The only question
is whether death will come sooner or later.

Not a single person on earth can guarantee our wishes
regarding growth, health or immortality. People refuse to accept
these facts. The old try to look young. Scientists develop all
manner of cures and contraptions to delay the process of
human decay. They even try to revive the dead! When we are
sick we take medicines to feel better. But even if we get well,
we will get sick again. Nature cannot be deceived. We cannot
escape old age and death.
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This is the main weakness of beings: beings are devoid of
security. There is no safe refuge from old age, disease and
death. Look at other beings, look at animals, and most of all,
look at yourself.

If you have practiced deeply, these facts will come as no
surprise to you. If you can see with intuitive insight how mental
and physical phenomena arise endlessly from moment to
moment, you know there is no refuge anywhere that you can
run to. There is no security. Yet, if your insight has not reached
this point, perhaps reflecting on the precariousness of life will
cause some urgency to arise in you, and give you a strong
impulse to practice. Vipassanā meditation can lead to a place
beyond all these fearsome things.

Beings have another great weakness: lack of possessions. This
may sound strange. We are born. We begin procuring
knowledge right away. We obtain credentials. Most of us get a
job, and buy many items with the resulting wages. We call
these our possessions, and on a relative level, that is what they
are — no doubt about it. If possessions really belonged to us,
though, we would never be separated from them. Would they
break, or get lost, or stolen the way they do if we owned them in
some ultimate sense? When human beings die there is nothing
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we can take with us. Everything gained, amassed, stored up
and hoarded is left behind. Therefore it is said that all beings
are possession-less.

All of our property must be left behind at the moment of death.
Property is of three types, the first of which is immovable
property: buildings, land, estates, and so forth. Conventionally
these belong to you, but you must leave them behind when you
die. The second type of property is moveable property: chairs,
toothbrushes and clothing — all the things you carry along as
you travel about during your existence on this planet. Then
there is knowledge: arts and sciences, the skills you use to
sustain your life and that of others. As long as we have a body
in good working order, this property of knowledge is essential.
However, there is no insurance against losing that either. You
may forget what you know, or you may be prevented from
practicing your specialty by a government decree or some other
unfortunate event. If you are a surgeon you could badly break
your arm, or you could meet with some other kind of attack on
your well-being which leaves you too neurotic to continue your
livelihood.

None of these kinds of possessions can bring any security
during existence on earth, let alone during the afterlife. If one
can understand that we possess nothing, and that life is
extremely transitory, then we will feel much more peaceful
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when the inevitable comes to pass.
  Our Only True Possession
However, there are certain things that follow human beings
through the doors of death. This is kamma (Sanskrit: karma),
the results of our actions. Our good and bad kammas follow us
wherever we are; we cannot get away from them even if we
want to.

Believing that kamma is your only true possession brings a
strong wish to practice the Dhamma with ardor and
thoroughness. You will understand that wholesome and
beneficial deeds are an investment in your own future
happiness, and harmful deeds will rebound upon you. Thus,
you will do many things based on noble considerations of
benevolence, generosity, and kindness. You will try to make
donations to hospitals, to people suffering from calamity. You
will support members of your family, the aged, the handicapped
and underprivileged, your friends, and others who need help.
You will want to create a better society by maintaining purity of
conduct, taming your speech and actions. You will bring about a
peaceful environment as you strive to meditate and tame the
obsessive kilesas that arise in the heart. You will go through the
stages of insight and eventually realize the ultimate goal. All of
these meritorious deeds of dāna, of giving; of sīla, morality; and
of bhāvanā, mental development or meditation — they will
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follow you after death, just as your shadow follows you
wherever you go. Do not cease to cultivate the wholesome!

All of us are slaves of craving. It is ignoble, but it is true. Desire
is insatiable. As soon as we get something, we find it is not as
satisfying as we thought it would be, and we try something else.
It is the nature of life, like trying to scoop up water in a butterfly
net. Beings cannot become contented by following the dictates
of desire, chasing after objects. Desire can never satisfy desire.
If we understand this truth correctly, we will not seek
satisfaction in this self-defeating way. This is why the Buddha
said that contentment is the greatest wealth.

There is a story of a man who worked as a basket weaver. He
was a simple man who enjoyed weaving his baskets. He
whistled and sang and passed the day happily as he worked. At
night he retired to his little hut and slept well. One day a wealthy
man passed by and saw this poor wretched basket weaver. He
was filled with compassion and gave him a thousand dollars.
“Take this,” he said, and go enjoy yourself.”

The basket weaver took the money with much appreciation. He
had never seen a thousand dollars in his life. He took it back to
his ramshackle hut and was wondering where he could keep it.
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But his hut was not very secure.

He could not sleep all night because he was worrying about
robbers, or even rats nibbling at his cash.
The next day he took his thousand dollars to work, but he did
not sing or whistle because he was worrying so much about his
money again. Once more, that night he did not sleep, and in the
morning he returned the thousand dollars to the wealthy man,
saying, “Give me back my happiness.”

You may think that Buddhism discourages you from seeking
knowledge or credentials, or from working hard to earn money
so you can support yourself and family and friends and
contribute to worthy causes and institutions. No. By all means,
make use of your life and your intelligence, and obtain all these
things legally and honestly. The point is to be contented with
what you have. Do not become a slave of craving: that is the
message. Reflect on the weaknesses of beings so that you can
get the most from your body and life before you are too sick and
old to practice and can only depart from this useless corpse.
  EIGHT: PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE
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If you practice with heroic effort, entertaining no considerate
attachment to body or life, you can develop the liberating
energy which will carry you through the higher stages of
practice. Such a courageous attitude contains within itself not
only the seventh, but also the eighth means of developing the
controlling faculties. This eighth quality is patience and
perseverance in dealing with pain, especially painful sensations
in the body.

All yogis are familiar with the unpleasant sensations that can
come up during the course of a single sitting, the suffering of
the mind in reaction to these sensations, and on top of that, the
mind’s resistance to being controlled as it must be in the
practice.

An hour’s sitting requires a lot of work. First, you try to keep
your mind on the primary object as much as possible. This
restraint and control can be very threatening to the mind,
accustomed as it is to running wild. The process of maintaining
attention becomes a strain. This strain of the mind, resisting
control, is one form of suffering.

When the mind fills with resistance, often the body reacts also.
Tension arises. In a short time you are besieged by painful
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sensations. What with the initial resistance and this pain on top
of it, you’ve got quite a task on your hands. Your mind is
constricted, your body is tight, you lose the patience to look
directly at the physical pain. Now your mind goes completely
bonkers. It may fill with aversion and rage. Your suffering is now
threefold: the mind’s initial resistance; the actual physical pain;
and the mental suffering that results from physical suffering.

This would be a good time to apply the eighth cause for
strengthening the controlling faculties, patience and
perseverance, and try to look at the pain directly. If you are not
prepared to confront pain in a patient way, you only leave open
the door to the kilesas, like greed and anger. “Oh, I hate this
pain. If only I could get back the wonderful comfort I had five
minutes ago.” In the presence of anger and greed, and in the
absence of patience, the mind becomes confused and deluded
as well. No object is clear, and you are unable to see the true
nature of pain.

At such a time you will believe that pain is a thorn, a hindrance
in your practice. You may decide to shift position in order to
“concentrate better.” If such movement becomes a habit, you
will lose the chance to deepen your meditation practice.
Calmness and tranquility of mind have their foundation in
stillness of body.
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Constant movement is actually a good way to conceal the true
nature of pain. Pain may be right under your nose, the most
predominant element of your experience, but you move your
body so as not to look at it. You lose a wonderful opportunity to
understand what pain really is.

In fact we have been living with pain ever since we were born
on this planet. It has been close to us all our lives. Why do we
run from it? If pain arises, look on it as a precious opportunity
really to understand something familiar in a new and deeper
way.

At times when you are not meditating, you can exercise
patience toward painful sensations, especially if you are
concentrating on something you are interested in. Say you are
a person who really loves the game of chess. You sit in your
chair and look very intently at the chessboard, where your
opponent has just made a fantastic move, putting you in check.
You may have been sitting on that chair for two hours, yet you
will not feel your cramped position as you try to work out the
strategy to escape from your predicament. Your mind is totally
lost in thought. If you do feel the pain, you may very well ignore
it until you have achieved your goal.
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It is even more important to exercise patience in the practice of
meditation, which develops a much higher level of wisdom than
does chess, and which gets us out of a more fundamental kind
of predicament.
  Strategies for Dealing with Pain
The degree of penetration into the true nature of phenomena
depends very much on the level of concentration we can
develop. The more one-pointed the mind, the more deeply it
can penetrate and understand reality. This is particularly true
when one is being aware of painful sensations. If concentration
is weak, we will not really feel the discomfort which is always
present in our bodies. When concentration begins to deepen,
even the slightest discomfort becomes so very clear that it
appears to be magnified and exaggerated. Most human beings
are myopic in this sense. Without the eyeglasses of
concentration, the world appears hazy, blurry and indistinct. But
when we put them on, all is bright and clear. It is not the objects
that have changed; it is the acuity of our sight.

When you look with the naked eye at a drop of water, you do
not see much. If you put a sample under the microscope,
however, you begin to see many things happening there. Many
things are dancing and moving, fascinating to watch. If in
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meditation you are able to put on your glasses of concentration,
you will be surprised at the variety of changes taking place in
what would appear to be a stagnant and uninteresting spot of
pain. The deeper the concentration, the deeper your
understanding of pain. You will be more and more enthralled
the more clearly you can see that these painful sensations are
in a constant state of flux, from one sensation to another,
changing, diminishing, growing stronger, fluctuating and
dancing. Concentration and mindfulness will deepen and
sharpen. At times when the show becomes utterly fascinating,
there is a sudden and unexpected end to it, as though the
curtain is dropped and the pain just disappears miraculously.

One who is unable to arouse enough courage or energy to look
at pain will never understand the potential that lies in it. We
have to develop courage of mind, heroic effort, to look at pain.
Let’s learn not to run from pain, but rather to go right in.

When pain arises, the first strategy is to send your attention
straight toward it, right to the center of it. You try to penetrate its
core. Seeing pain as pain, note it persistently, trying to get
under its surface so that you do not react.

Perhaps you try very hard, but you still become fatigued. Pain
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can exhaust the mind. If you cannot maintain a reasonable level
of energy, mindfulness and concentration, it is time to gracefully
withdraw. The second strategy for dealing with pain is to play
with it. You go into it and then you relax a bit. You keep your
attention on the pain, but you loosen the intensity of
mindfulness and concentration. This gives your mind a rest.
Then you go in again as closely as you can; and if you are not
successful you retreat again. You go in and out, back and forth,
two or three times.

If the pain is still strong and you find your mind be coming tight
and constricted despite these tactics, it is time for a graceful
surrender. This does not mean shifting your physical position
just yet. It means shifting the position of your mindfulness.
Completely ignore the pain and put your mind on the rising and
falling or whatever primary object you are using. Try to
concentrate so strongly on this that the pain is blocked out of
your awareness.
  Healing Body and Mind
We must try to overcome any timidity of mind. Only if you have
the strength of mind of a hero will you be able to overcome pain
by understanding it for what it really is. In meditation many
kinds of unbearable physical sensations can arise. Nearly all
yogis see clearly the discomfort that has always existed in their
bodies, but magnified by concentration. During intensive
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practice pain also frequently resurfaces from old wounds,
childhood mishaps, or chronic illnesses of the past. A current or
recent illness can suddenly get worse. If these last two happen
to you, you can say that Lady Luck is on your side. You have
the chance to overcome an illness or chronic pain through your
own heroic effort, without taking a drop of medicine. Many yogis
have totally overcome and transcended their health problems
through meditation practice alone.

About fifteen years ago there was a man who had been
suffering from gastric troubles for many years. When he went to
his checkup, the doctor said he had a tumor and needed
surgery. The man was afraid that the operation would be
unsuccessful and he might die.

So he decided to play it safe in case he did die. “I had better go
meditate,” he said to himself. He came to practice under my
guidance. Soon he began to feel a lot of pain. At first it was not
bad, but as he made progress in practice and reached the level
of insight connected with pain, he had a severe, unbearable,
torturous attack. He told me about it and I said, “Of course you
are free to go home to see your doctor. However, why don’t you
stay a few more days?”

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He thought about it and decided there still was no guarantee he
would survive the operation. So he decided to stay and
meditate. He took a teaspoon of medicine every two hours. At
times the pain got the better of him; at times he overcame the
pain. It was a long battle, with losses on both sides. But this
man had enormous courage.

During one sitting the pain was so excruciating that his whole
body shook and his clothes were soaked in sweat. The tumor in
his stomach was getting harder and harder, more and more
constricted. Suddenly his idea of his stomach disappeared as
he was looking at it. Now there was just his consciousness and
a painful object. It was very painful but it was very interesting.
He kept on watching and there was just the noting mind and the
pain, which got more and more excruciating.

Then there was a big explosion like a bomb. The yogi said he
could even hear a loud sound. After that it was all over. He got
up from his sitting drenched in sweat. He touched his belly, but
in the place where his tumor once protruded, there was nothing.
He was completely cured. Moreover, he had completed his
meditation practice, having had an insight into nibbāna.

Soon afterwards this man left the center and I asked him to let
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me know what the doctor said about the gastric problem. The
doctor was shocked to see that the tumor was gone. The man
could forget the strict diet he had followed for twenty years, and
to this day he is alive and in good health. Even the doctor
became a vipassanā yogi!

I have come across innumerable people who have recovered
from chronic headaches, heart trouble, tuberculosis, even
cancer and severe injuries sustained at an early age. Some of
them had been declared incurable by doctors. All of these
people had to go through tremendous pain. But they exercised
enormous perseverance and courageous effort, and they
healed themselves. More important, many also came to
understand far more deeply the truth about reality by observing
pain with tenacious courage and then breaking through to
insight.

You should not be discouraged by painful sensations. Rather,
have faith and patience. Persevere until you understand your
own true nature.
NINE: UNWAVERING COMMITMENT
The ninth and last factor leading to the development of the
controlling faculties is the quality of mind that keeps you walking
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straight to the end of the path without becoming sidetracked,
without giving up your task.

What is your objective in practicing meditation? Why do you
undergo the threefold training of sīla, samādhi and paññā? It is
important to appreciate the goal of meditation practice. It is
even more important to be honest with yourself, so that you can
know the extent of your commitment to that goal.
  Good Deeds and Our Highest Potential
Let us reflect on sīla. Having this amazing opportunity to be
born on this planet as human beings, understanding that our
wondrous existence in this world comes about as a result of
good deeds, we should endeavor to live up to the highest
potential of humanity. The positive connotations of the word
“humanity” are great loving-kindness and compassion. Would it
not be proper for every human being on this planet to aspire to
perfect these qualities? If one is able to cultivate a mind filled
with compassion and loving-kindness, it is easy to live in a
harmonious and wholesome way. Morality is based on
consideration for the feelings of all beings, others as well as
oneself. One behaves in a moral way not only to be harmless
toward others, but also to prevent one’s own future sorrow. We
all should avoid actions that will lead to unfavorable
consequences, and walk the path of wholesome actions, which
can free us forever from states of misery.
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Kamma is our only true property. It will be very helpful if you
can take this view as a basic foundation for your behavior, for
your practice, for your life as a whole. Whether good or bad,
kamma follows us everywhere, in this life and the next. If we
perform skillful, harmonious actions, we will be held in high
esteem in this very life. Wise persons will praise us and hold us
in affection, and we will also be able to look forward to good
circumstances in our future lives, until we attain final nibbāna.

Committing bad or unskillful actions brings about dishonor and
notoriety even in this life. Wise people will blame us and look
down upon us. Nor in the future will we be able to escape the
consequences of our deeds.

In its powerful potential to bring good and bad results, kamma
can be compared to food. Some foods are suitable and healthy,
while others are poisonous to the body. If we understand which
foods are nutritious, eating them at the proper time and in
proper amounts, we can enjoy a long and healthy life. If, on the
other hand, we are tempted by foods which are unhealthy and
poisonous, we must suffer the consequences. We may fall sick
and suffer a great deal. We may even die.
  Beautiful Acts
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Practicing dāna or generosity can lessen the greed that arises
in the heart. The five basic sīla precepts help control the
emotions and very gross defilements of greed and hatred.
Observing the precepts, the mind is controlled to the extent that
it does not manifest through the body and perhaps not even
through speech.

If you can be perfect in precepts, you may appear to be a very
holy person, but inside you may still be tortured by eruptions of
impatience, hatred, covetousness and scheming. Therefore, the
next step is bhāvanā; which means in Pāli; the cultivation of
exceptionally wholesome mental states.” The first part of
bhāvanā is to prevent unwholesome states from arising. The
second part is the development of wisdom in the absence of
these states.
  Blissful Concentration and its Flaws
Samatha bhāvanā or concentration meditation, has the power
to make the mind calm and tranquil and to pull it far away from
the kilesas. It suppresses the kilesas, making it impossible for
them to attack. Samatha bhāvanā is not unique to Buddhism. It
can be found in many other religious systems, particularly in
Hindu practices. It is a commendable undertaking in which the
practitioner achieves purity of mind during the time he or she is
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absorbed in the object of meditation. Profound bliss, happiness
and tranquillity are achieved. At times even psychic powers can
be cultivated through these states. However, success in
samatha bhāvanā does not at all mean that one gains an
insight into the true nature of reality in terms of mind and
matter. The kilesas have been suppressed but not uprooted;
the mind has not yet penetrated the true nature of reality. Thus,
practitioners are not freed from the net of saṃsāra, and may
even fall into states of misery in the future. One can attain a
great deal through concentration and yet still be a loser.

After the Buddha’s supreme enlightenment he spent forty-nine
days in Bodh Gaya enjoying the bliss of his liberation. Then he
started to think about how he could communicate this profound
and subtle truth to other beings. He looked around and saw that
most of the world was covered by a thick layer of dust, of
kilesas. People were wallowing in deepest darkness. The
immensity of his task dawned on him.

Then it occurred to him that there were two-people who would
be quite receptive to his teaching, whose minds were quite pure
and clear of the kilesas. In fact, they were two of his former
teachers, the hermits Āḷāra the Kālāma and Uddaka the
Rāmaputta. Each of them had a large number of followers due
to their attainments in concentration. The Buddha had mastered
each of their teachings in turn, but had realized that he was
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seeking something beyond what they taught.

Yet both of these hermits’ minds were very pure. Āḷāra the
Kālāma had mastered the seventh level of concentration, and
Uddaka the Rāmaputta the eighth, or highest, level of
absorption. The kilesas were kept far from them, even during
the times when they were not actually practicing their
absorptions. The Buddha felt certain they would become
completely enlightened if only he would speak a few significant
words of Dhamma to them.

Even as the Buddha considered in this way, an invisible deva, a
being from a celestial realm, announced to him that both of the
hermits had died. Āḷāra the Kālāma had passed away seven
days before, and Uddaka the Rāmaputta only the previous
night. Both had been reborn in the formless world of the
brahmas, where mind exists but matter does not. Therefore the
hermits no longer had ears for hearing nor eyes for seeing. It
was impossible for them to see the Buddha or to listen to the
Dhamma; and, since meeting with a teacher and listening to the
Dhamma are the only two ways to discover the right way of
practice, the two hermits had missed their chance to become
fully enlightened.

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The Buddha was moved. “They have suffered a great loss,” he
said.
  Liberating Intuition
What exactly is missing from concentration meditation? It
simply cannot bring the understanding of truth. For this we need
Vipassanā meditation. Only intuitive insight into the true nature
of mind and matter can free one from the concept of ego, of a
person, of self or “I.” Without this insight which comes about
through the process of bare awareness, one cannot be free
from these concepts.

Only an intuitive understanding of the mechanism of cause and
effect — that is, seeing the link of recurrence of mind and
matter — can free one from the delusion that things happen
without a cause. Only by seeing the rapid arising and
disappearance of phenomena can one be released from the
delusion that things are permanent, solid and continuous. Only
by experiencing suffering in the same intuitive way can one
deeply learn that samsaric existence is not worth clinging to.
Only the knowledge that mind and matter just flow by according
to their own natural laws with no one, and nothing, behind them,
can impress upon one’s mind that there is no atta, or self
essence.

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Unless you go through the various levels of insight and
eventually realize nibbāna, you will not understand true
happiness. With nibbāna as the ultimate goal of your practice,
you should try to maintain a high level of energy, not stopping
or surrendering, never retreating until you reach your final
destination.

First you will make the effort needed to establish your
meditation practice. You focus your mind on the primary object
of meditation, and you return to this object again and again.
You set up a routine of sitting and walking practice. This is
called “Launching Energy;” it puts you on the path and gets you
moving forward.

Even if obstacles arise, you will stick with your practice,
overcoming all obstacles with perseverance. If you are bored
and lethargic, you summon up ardent energy. If you feel pain,
you overcome the timid mind that prefers to withdraw and is
unwilling to face what is happening. This is called “Liberating
Energy,” the energy necessary to liberate you from indolence.
You will not retreat. You know you will just keep walking until
you reach your goal.

After that, when you have overcome the intermediate difficulties
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and perhaps have found yourself in a smooth and subtle space,
you will not become complacent. You will go into the next gear,
putting in the effort to lift your mind higher and higher. This is an
effort which neither decreases nor stagnates, but is in constant
progress. This is called “Progressive Effort,” and it leads to the
goal you desire.

Therefore, the ninth factor conducive to sharpening the
controlling faculties actually means applying successive levels
of energy so that you neither stop nor hesitate, surrender nor
retreat, until you reach your final goal and destination.

As you go along in this way, making use of all of the nine
qualities of mind described above, the five controlling faculties
of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom will
sharpen and deepen. Eventually they will take over your mind
and lead you on to freedom.

I hope you can examine your own practice. If you see that it is
lacking in some element, make use of the above information to
your own benefit.
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Please walk straight on until you reach your desired goal!
  3. The Ten Armies of Māra
Meditation can be seen as a war between wholesome and
unwholesome mental states. On the unwholesome side are the
forces of the kilesas, also known as “The Ten Armies of Māra.”
In Pāli, Māra means killer. He is the personification of the force
that kills virtue and also kills existence. His armies are poised to
attack all yogis; they even tried to overcome the Buddha on the
night of his enlightenment.

Here are the lines the Buddha addressed to Māra, as recorded
in the Sutta Nipāta:
 
Sensual pleasures are your first army,    
Discontent your second is called.    
Your third is hunger and thirst,    
The fourth is called craving.    
Sloth and torpor are your fifth,    
The sixth is called fear,    
Your seventh is doubt,    
Conceit and ingratitude are your eighth,    
Gain, renown, honor and whatever fame is falsely received (are
the ninth),    
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And whoever both extols himself and disparages others (has
fallen victim to the tenth).    
That is your army, Namuci [Māra], the striking force of
darkness.    
One who is not a hero cannot conquer it, but having conquered
it, one obtains happiness.

To overcome the forces of darkness in our own minds, we have
the wholesome power of satipaṭṭhāna vipassanā meditation,
which gives us the sword of mindfulness, as well as strategies
for attack and defense.

In the Buddha’s case, we know who won the victory. Now,
which side will win over you?
FIRST ARMY: SENSE PLEASURE
Sense pleasure is the First Army of Māra. Due to previous good
actions in sensual or material realms, we find ourselves reborn
in this world. Here, as in other sensual spheres, beings are
faced with a wide assortment of appealing sense objects.
Sweet sounds, rich smells, beautiful ideas, and other delightful
objects touch all our six sense doors. As a natural result of
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encountering these objects, desire arises. Pleasant objects and
desire are the two bases of sense pleasure.

Our attachments to family, property, business and friends also
constitute the First Army. Normally for a sentient being, this
army is very difficult to overcome. Some humans fight it by
becoming monks and nuns, leaving behind their families and all
that they cling to. Yogis on retreat leave behind their family and
occupation temporarily in order to combat the force of
attachment which ties us to the six kinds of sense objects.

Anytime you practice meditation, especially in a retreat, you
leave behind a large number of pleasant things. Even with this
narrowing in range, though, you still find that some parts of your
environment are more desirable than others. At this time it is
useful to recognize that you are dealing with Māra, the enemy
of your freedom.
  SECOND ARMY: DISSATISFACTION
The Second Army of Māra is dissatisfaction with the holy life,
with the meditation practice in particular. On a retreat, you may
find yourself dissatisfied and bored: with the hardness or the
height of your cushion, with the food you are given, with any of
the elements of your life during the time of practice. Some issue
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crops up and, as a result, you cannot quite immerse yourself in
the delight of meditation. You may begin to feel that this is
actually the fault of the practice.

To combat this discontent, you must become an abhirati, a
person who is delighted in and devoted to the Dhamma. Having
found and implemented the correct method of practice, you
begin to overcome the hindrances. Rapture, joy and comfort will
arise naturally from your concentrated mind. At this time you
realize that the delight of the Dhamma is far superior to sense
pleasures. This is the attitude of an
abhirati.
However, if you are not thorough and careful in your practice,
you will not find this subtle and wonderful taste of the Dhamma,
and any difficulty in your practice will cause aversion to arise in
you. Then Māra will be victorious.

The overcoming of difficulty in vipassanā practice is, again, like
warfare. The yogi will use an offensive, defensive or a guerrilla
style of combat depending on his or her abilities. If he or she is
a strong fighter, the yogi will advance. If weak, he or she may
withdraw temporarily, but not in a helter-skelter fashion, reeling
and running in disorder. Rather, the withdrawal will be strategic,
planned and executed with the aim of gathering strength to win
the battle at last.
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Sometimes discontent with the environmental or other supports
of meditation practice is not entirely Māra’s fault — not entirely
due to the wanderings of a greedy mind. Nonetheless,
pervasive discontent may interfere with meditative progress. To
allow for meditation, certain necessities of life must be
available. Yogis must have proper shelter and meals, as well as
sundry other help. With these requirements met they can
proceed wholeheartedly to practice meditation. The need for a
suitable environment is the fourth of nine causes for
development of the controlling faculties, and was discussed at
length in the preceding chapter. If you find a deficiency in your
environment that you are certain is hindering your meditation, it
is all right to take reasonable steps to correct it. Of course, you
should be honest with yourself and others; make sure that you
are not merely succumbing to Māra’s Second Army.
  THIRD ARMY: HUNGER AND THIRST
Is food the problem? Perhaps a yogi has to overcome desire
and dissatisfaction, only to be attacked again by Māra’s Third
Army, hunger and thirst. In the days of old and even now,
Buddhist monks and nuns have depended for their food on the
generosity of lay people. The normal practice for a monk is to
go for an alms round every day in the community or village that
supports him. Sometimes a monk may live in a secluded area
and take all his support from a small group of families. One day
his needs will be well taken care of, another day not. The same
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goes for lay yogis. At a retreat, the food is not quite like home.
You do not get the sweet things you are fond of; or the sour,
salty and rich foods you are accustomed to. Agitated by missing
such tastes, you cannot concentrate and thus are unable to see
the Dhamma.

In the world also, one can spend a lot of money in a restaurant
and then not like the dish. Rarely, in fact do human beings get
everything precisely as they like. They may hunger and thirst
not only for food, but also for clothing, entertainment, and
activities either reassuringly familiar, or exotically exciting. This
notion of hunger and thirst relates to the entire range of needs
and requirements.

If you are easily contented, adopting an attitude of being
grateful for whatever you receive, Māra’s Third Army will not
bother you very much. One cannot always do every thing one
wishes to do, but it is possible to try to remain within what is
beneficial and appropriate. If you concentrate your energy on
furthering your meditation practice, you will be able to taste the
real taste of the Dhamma, which is incomparably satisfying. At
such a time, the Third Army of Māra will seem an army of toy
soldiers to you.

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Otherwise it is hard to adjust to hunger and thirst. They are
uncomfortable feelings which no one really welcomes.

When they strike, if there is no mindfulness, the mind inevitably
begins to scheme. You come up with fantastic justifications for
getting what you want — for the sake of your practice! Your
mental health! To aid your digestion! Then you begin moving
around to get the things you desire. Your body gets involved in
satisfying your craving.
  FOURTH ARMY: CRAVING
Craving is the Fourth Army of Māra. At times a monk’s bowl
may not be quite full at the end of his normal alms round, or
some of the things most suitable for his diet have not yet
appeared in it. Instead of going home to the monastery, he may
decide to continue his alms round. Here is a new route, as yet
untried — on it he might get the tidbit he desires. New routes
like this can grow quite long.

Whether one is a monk or not one might be familiar with this
pattern. First comes craving, then planning, then moving about
to materialize these schemes. This whole process can be very
exhausting to mind and body
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  FIFTH ARMY: SLOTH AND TORPOR
Thus, the Fifth Army of Māra marches in. It is none other than
sloth and torpor, drowsiness. The difficulties caused by sloth
and torpor are worth dwelling on, for they are surprisingly great.
Torpor is the usual translation of the Pali word thīna, which
actually means a weak mind, a shrunken and withered, viscous
and slimy mind, unable to grasp the meditation object firmly.

As thīna makes the mind weak, it automatically brings on
weakness of body. The sluggish mind cannot keep your sitting
posture erect and firm. Walking meditation becomes a real
drag, so to speak. The presence of thīna means that ātāpa, the
fiery aspect of energy, is absent. The mind be comes stiff and
hard; it loses its active sharpness.

Even if a yogi has good energy to begin with, sloth can envelop
him or her so that an additional burst of energy will be required
to burn it away. All the positive forces of mind are at least
partially blocked. The wholesome factors of energy and
mindfulness, aim and contact, are enveloped in the shroud of
weakness; their functions are retarded. This situation as a
whole is spoken of as Thīna middha, thīna being the mental
factor of torpor, and middha referring to the condition of the
consciousness as a whole when the factor of torpor is present.
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In one’s practical experience, it is not worthwhile to try to
distinguish between the two components of thīna and middha.
The general state of mind is familiar enough. Like imprisonment
in a tiny cell, sloth is a restricted state in which no wholesome
factor is free to carry on its proper activity. This obstruction of
wholesome factors is why sloth and torpor together are called a
hindrance. Eventually Māra’s Fifth Army can bring one’s
practice to a complete standstill. A twitching sensation comes to
the eyelids, the head suddenly nods forward... How can we
overcome this noxious state? Once when the Venerable Mahā
Moggallāna, one of the Buddha’s two chief disciples, was
meditating in the forest, thīna middha arose. His mind shrank
and withered, as unworkable as a piece of butter that hardens
in the cold. At this point the Lord Buddha looked into the
Venerable Mahā Moggallāna’s mind. Seeing his plight, he
approached and said, “My son Mahā Moggallāna, are you
drowsy, are you sleepy, are you nodding?”

The elder replied, “Yes, Lord, I am nodding.” He was frank and
candid in his reply. the Buddha said, “Listen, my son, I will now
teach you eight techniques of overcoming sloth and torpor.”
Eight Ways to Stay Awake
The first is to change one’s attitude. When torpor attacks, one
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may be tempted to surrender to thoughts like, “I’m so sleepy.
It’s not doing me any good just to sit here in a daze. May be I’ll
lie down for a minute and gather my energy.” As long as you
entertain such thoughts, the mental state of sloth and torpor will
be encouraged to remain.

If, on the other hand, one states decisively, “I’ll sit through this
sloth and torpor, and if it recurs I still won’t give in to it,” this is
what the Buddha meant by changing one’s attitude. Such
determination sets the stage for overcoming the Fifth Army of
Māra.

Another occasion to change one’s attitude is when meditation
practice becomes quite easy and smooth. There comes a point
where you have more or less mastered following the rise and
fall of the abdomen, and not much effort is needed to observe it
well. It is quite natural to relax, sit back and watch the
movement very coolly. Due to this relaxation of effort, sloth and
torpor easily creep in. If this happens, you should either try to
deepen your mindfulness, looking more carefully into the rise
and fall, or else increase the number of objects of meditation.

There is a specific technique for adding more objects. It
requires greater effort than simply watching the abdomen, and
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thus it has a revivifying effect. The mental labels to use are,
“rising, falling, sitting, touching? When you note “sitting,” you
shift your awareness to the sensations of the entire body in the
sitting posture. Noting “touching,” you focus on the touch
sensations at one or more small areas, about the size of a
quarter. The buttocks arc convenient. During this “touching”
note you should always return to the same chosen areas, even
it you cannot always find sensations there. The heavier the
state of sloth, the more touch points you should include, up to a
maximum of six or so. When you have run through the course
of touch points, return attention to your abdomen and repeat the
series of notes from the beginning. This change of strategy can
be quite effective; but it is not infallible.

The second antidote In drowsiness is to reflect on inspiring
passages you remember or have learned by heart, trying to
fathom their deepest meanings. Perhaps you have lain awake
at night pondering the meaning of some event. If so, you
understand the function of the Buddha’s second antidote to
sloth and torpor. In Buddhist psychology, when thinking is
analyzed in terms of its components, one component is the
mental factor of vitakka or aim. This mental factor has the
capacity to open and refresh the mind, and is the specific
antidote to sloth and torpor.

The third strategy for dealing with sloth is to recite those same
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passages aloud. If you are meditating in a group, it goes without
saying that you should recite only loud enough for your own
benefit.

Resort to more drastic measures if your mind still has not
perked up. Pull on your ears; rub your hands, arms, legs and
face. This stimulates the circulation and so freshens you up a
bit.

If drowsiness persists, get up mindfully and wash your face.
You could put in some eye-drops to refresh yourself.
If this strategy fails, you are advised to look at a lighted object,
such as the moon or an electric bulb; this should lighten up your
mind. Clarity of mind is a kind of light. With it, you can make a
renewed attempt to look clearly at the rising and falling from
beginning to end. If none of these techniques work, then you
should try some brisk walking meditation with mindfulness.
Finally, a graceful surrender would be to go to bed. If sloth and
torpor are persistent over a long period, constipation could be
responsible; if this is the case, consider measures to gently
clear the bowels.
  SIXTH ARMY: FEAR
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The Sixth Army of Māra is fear and cowardliness. It easily
attacks yogis who practice in a remote place, especially if the
level of ardent effort is low after an attack of sloth and torpor.
Courageous effort drives out fear. So does a clear perception of
the Dhamma which comes as a result of effort, mindfulness and
concentration. The Dhamma is the greatest protection available
on earth: faith in, and practice of the Dhamma are therefore the
greatest medicines for fear. Practicing morality ensures that
one’s future circumstances will be wholesome and pleasant;
practicing concentration means that one suffers less from
mental distress; and practicing wisdom leads toward nibbāna,
where all fear and danger have been surpassed. Practicing the
Dhamma, you truly care for yourself, protect yourself, and act
as your own best friend.

Ordinary fear is the sinking form of anger. You cannot face the
problem, so you show no reaction outwardly and wait for the
opportunity to run away. But if you can face your problems
directly, with an open and relaxed mind, fear will not arise. On a
meditation retreat, yogis who have lost touch with the Dhamma
feel fear and lack of confidence in relating to other yogis and
their teacher. For example, some yogis are severely attacked
by sloth and torpor. Such people have been known to sleep
through five hour-long sittings in a row. They may have only a
few minutes of clear awareness in an entire day. Such yogis
tend to feel inferior, shy and embarrassed, especially if they
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begin to compare their own practice to that of other yogis who
seem to be in deep samādhi all the time. At times in Burma,
torpid yogis slip away for a couple of days and miss their
interviews. A few slip all the way home! They are like school
children who have not done their homework. If such yogis
would apply courageous effort, their awareness would become
hot like the sun, burning off the clouds of sleepiness. Then they
could face their teachers boldly, ready to report what they have
seen for themselves in the light created by Dhamma practice.

No matter what problem you may encounter in your meditation
practice, try to have the courage and honesty to report it to your
teacher. Sometimes yogis may feel that their practice is falling
apart, when actually it is going fine. A teacher who is
trustworthy and well-qualified can help you to overcome such
insecurities, and you can continue on the path of Dhamma with
energy, faith and confidence.
  SEVENTH ARMY: DOUBT
Sloth and torpor is only one reason why yogis may begin to
doubt their own capacities. Doubt is the Seventh Army of Māra,
dreadful and fearsome. When a yogi begins to slip in his or her
practice, he or she will probably begin to lose self-confidence.
Pondering the situation does not usually lead to improvement.
Instead, doubt arises and slowly spreads: first as self-doubt,
then as doubt of the method of practice. It may even extend to
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becoming doubt of the teacher. Is the teacher competent to
understand this situation? Perhaps this yogi is a special case
and needs a special new set of instructions. The experiences
narrated by fellow yogis must be imaginary. Every conceivable
aspect of practice becomes dubious.

The Pāli word for this Seventh Army is vicikicchā, which means
more than simple doubt. It is the exhaustion of mind that comes
about through conjecture. A yogi attacked by sloth and torpor,
for example, will not be able to muster the continuous attention
that fosters intuitive vipassanā insight. If such a yogi were
mindful, he or she might experience mind and matter directly,
and see that these two are connected by cause and effect. If no
actual observation is made, however, the true nature of mind
and matter will remain obscure. One simply cannot understand
what one hasn’t yet seen. Now this unmindful yogi begins to
intellectualize and reason: “I wonder what mind and matter are
composed of, what their relationship is,” Unfortunately, he or
she can only interpret experiences based on a very immature
depth of knowledge, mixed up with fantasy. This is an explosive
mixture. Since the mind is unable to penetrate into the truth,
agitation arises, and then perplexity, indecisiveness, which is
another aspect of
vicikiccha.
Excessive reasoning is exhausting.

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Immaturity of insight prevents a yogi from reaching a firm and
convinced position. Instead, his or her mind is condemned to
run about among various options. Remembering all the
meditative techniques he or she has heard of, a yogi might try a
bit from here and a bit from there. This person falls into a great
pot of chop suey, perhaps to drown. Vicikicchā can be a terrible
obstacle in practice. The proximate cause of doubting
conjecture is lack of proper attention, an improper adjustment of
the mind in its search for truth. Proper attention, then, is the
most direct cure for doubt. If you look correctly and in the right
place, you will see what you are looking for: the true nature of
things. Having seen this for yourself, you will have no more
doubt about it.

To create the proper conditions for wise attention, it is important
to have a teacher who can put you on the path leading to truth
and wisdom. The Buddha himself said that one who is intent on
finding the truth should seek out a reliable and competent
teacher. If you cannot find a good teacher and follow his or her
instructions, then you must turn to the plethora of meditation
literature available today. Please be cautious, especially if you
are an avid reader. If you gain a general knowledge of many
techniques and then try to put them all together, you will
probably end up disappointed, and even more doubtful than
when you started. Some of the techniques may even be good
ones, but since you will not have practiced them with proper
thoroughness, they will not work and you will feel skeptical of
them. Thus you will have robbed yourself of the opportunity to
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experience the very real benefits of meditation practice. If one
cannot practice properly, one cannot gain personal, intuitive,
real understanding of the nature of phenomena. Not only will
doubt increase, but the mind will become very hard and stiff,
attacked by kodha, aversion and associated mental states.
Frustration and resistance might he among them.
  The Thorny Mind
Kodha makes the mind hard and rigid as a thorn. Under its
influence, a yogi is said to be pricked by the mind, like a traveler
thrashing through a bramble thicket, suffering at every step.
Since  kodha is a great impediment in many yogis’
meditation practice, I will deal with it in some detail in hopes
that readers can learn to overcome it. In general, it results from
two kinds of mental states: firstly from doubt, and secondly from
what are known as “the mental fetters.”

There are five kinds of doubt which load to the thorny mind. A
yogi is pricked by doubt regarding the Buddha, the great master
who showed the path to enlightenment. One doubts the
Dhamma, the path that leads to liberation; and the sangha, the
noble ones who have uprooted some or all of the kilesas. Next
come doubts of oneself, of one’s own morality and method of
practice. Last is doubt of fellow yogis, including one’s teacher.
When so many doubts are present, the yogi is filled with anger
and resistance: his or her mind becomes thorny indeed, he or
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she will probably feel quite unwilling actually to practice this
meditation, seeing it as dubious and unreliable.

All is not lost, however. Wisdom and knowledge are medicine
for this state of vicikicchā. One form of knowledge is reasoning.
Often persuasive words can coax a doubting yogi from the
brambles: a teacher’s reasoning, or an inspiring and
well-constructed discourse. Returning to the clear path of direct
observation, such yogis breathe great sighs of relief and
gratitude. Now they have the chance to gain personal insight
into the true nature of reality. If they do attain insight, then a
higher level of wisdom becomes their medicine for the thorny
mind.

Failure to return to the path, however, may allow doubt to reach
its incurable stage.
The Five Mental Fetters
The thorny mind arises not only from doubt, but also from
another set of causes known as the five mental fetters. When
these mental letters are present, the mind suffers from hard and
prickling states of aversion, frustration and resistance. But
these fetters can be overcome. Vipassanā meditation clears
them automatically from the mind. If they do manage to intrude
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upon one’s practice, identifying them is the first step toward
recovering a broad and flexible mental state.

The first mental fetter is to be chained to the various objects of
the senses. Desiring only pleasant objects, one will be
dissatisfied with what is really occurring in the present moment.
The primary object, the rising and falling of the abdomen, may
seem inadequate and uninteresting in comparison with one’s
fantasies. If this dissatisfaction occurs, one’s meditative
development will be undermined.

The second fetter is over-attachment to one’s own body,
sometimes spoken of as excessive self-love. A variation is the
projection of attachment and possessiveness onto another
person and his or her body. This is the third fetter, and it is such
a common situation that I hardly need elaborate.

Excessive sell-love can be a significant hindrance in the course
of practice. When one sits for extended periods, unpleasant
sensations invariably arise, some of them rather intense. You
may begin to wonder about your poor legs. Will you ever walk
again? You may decide to open your eyes and stretch. At this
point, continuity of attention usually breaks apart; momentum is
lost. Tender consideration for one’s own body can sometimes
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supplant the courage we need to probe into the actual nature of
pain.

Personal appearance is another area where this second fetter
can arise. Some human beings depend on stylish clothes and
makeup to feel happy. If ever they lose access to these external
supports (perhaps on a retreat where makeup and flamboyant
fashions are inappropriate distractions), these people feel as if
something is missing, and worry can interfere with their
progress. The fourth fetter of mind is to be chained to food.
Some people like to eat large amounts, others have many
whims and preferences. People whose first concern is the
satisfaction of their bellies tend to find greater bliss in snoozing
than in practicing mindfulness. A few yogis have the opposite
problem, worrying constantly about gaining weight. They, too,
are chained to what they eat.

The fifth fetter of mind is to practice with the goal of gaining
rebirth in a deva world. Besides effectively basing one’s
practice on craving for sensual pleasures, this is also to set
one’s sights much too low. For information on the
disadvantages of deva life, see the last chapter of this book,
“Chariot to Nibbāna.”

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By diligent practice one overcomes these five fetters. By the
same means, (one overcomes doubt and the anger that follows
it. Relieved from thorny discomfort, the mind be comes crystal
clear and bright. This bright mind is happy to make the
preliminary effort that sets your feet on the path of practice, the
steady effort that moves you along into deeper meditation, and
the culminating effort that brings liberation at the higher stages
of practice. This three fold effort — actually directed toward
keeping the mind alert and observant — is the best and most
natural defense strategy against Māra’s Seventh Army of doubt.
Only when the mind slips from the object, as it will in times of
slackening effort, do the conjectures and equivocations of doubt
have a chance to set in.
  Faith Clarifies the Mind
The quality of faith, or saddhā, also has the power to clarify the
mind and clear away clouds of doubt or aversion. Imagine a pail
of murky river water, full of sediment. Some chemical
substances, such as alum, have the power to make suspended
particles settle quickly, leaving clear water behind. Faith works
just like this. It settles impurities, and brings a sparkling clarity
to the mind.

A yogi ignorant of the virtues of the Triple Gem — the Buddha,
Dhamma and Sangha — will doubt its value as well as that of
the meditation practice, and will be overcome by the Seventh
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Army of Māra. Such a yogi’s mind is like a bucket of murky river
water. But informed of these virtues through reading,
discussions and Dhamma talks, a yogi can gradually settle
doubts and begin to arouse faith.

With faith comes the desire to meditate, the willingness to exert
energy in order to reach the goal. Strong faith is the foundation
of sincerity and commitment. Sincerity of practice and
commitment to the Dhamma will of course lead to the
development of effort, mindfulness and concentration. Then
wisdom will unfold in the form of the various stages of
vipassanā insight.

When circumstances and conditions are right in meditation,
wisdom unfolds quite naturally of itself. Wisdom, or insight,
occurs when one sees the specific and common characteristics
of mental and physical phenomena. Individual characteristics
mean the specific traits of mind and matter as experienced
directly within you. These are color, shape, taste, smell,
loudness, hardness or softness, temperature, movement, and
different states of mind. Common characteristics are general to
all the manifestations of mind and matter. Objects may differ
greatly from one another in terms of individual essence or
individual characteristics, yet all are united by the universal
traits of impermanence, suffering and absence of an abiding
self or essence.
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Both these types of characteristics, specific and common, will
be understood clearly and unquestionably through the insight
that arises naturally out of bare awareness. One attribute of this
wisdom or insight is the quality of brightness. It lightens one’s
field of awareness. Wisdom is like a floodlight breaking into
pitch darkness, revealing what was invisible up to now — the
specific and common qualities of all objects and mental slates.
By wisdom’s light, you will see these aspects of any activity you
are involved in, be it seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, feeling
through the body, or thinking.

The behavioral aspect of wisdom is nonconfusion. When insight
is present, the mind is no longer confused by mistaken
concepts about, or delusive perceptions of, mind and matter.
Seeing clearly, bright and unconfused, the mind begins to fill
with a new kind of faith, known as verified faith. Verified faith is
neither blind nor unfounded. It comes directly from personal
experience of reality. One might compare it to the faith that
raindrops will get us wet. The scriptures formally characterize
this kind of faith as a decision based on direct personal
experience. Thus, we see a very close association between
faith and wisdom.
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Verified faith does not arise because you hear statements you
find plausible. No comparative study, scholastic research nor
abstract reasoning can bring it. Nor is it shoved down your
throat by some sayādaw, roshi, rinpoche, or spiritual group.
Your own direct, personal, intuitive experience brings about this
firm and durable kind of faith.

The most important way to develop and realize verified faith is
practice in conformity with instructions from the scriptures. The
satipaṭṭhāna method of meditation is sometimes viewed as
narrow and oversimplified. It may appear so from the outside,
but when wisdom begins to unfold during deep practice,
personal experience shatters this myth of narrowness.
Vipassanā brings a wisdom that is far from narrow. It is
panoramic and expansive.

In the presence of faith one can spontaneously notice that the
mind has become crystal clear and is free from disturbances
and pollution. At this time, too, the mind fills with peace and
clarity. The function of verified faith is to bring together the five
controlling faculties discussed in the last chapter — faith,
energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom — and to
clarify them. They become alert and effective, and their active
properties will be more efficiently deployed to bring about a
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calm, powerful, incisive meditative state — one which is bound
to be successful in overcoming not only the Seventh, but all the
other nine armies of Māra as well.
  Four Powers which Motivate Successful Practice
In practice as much as in worldly endeavors, a vigorous and
strong-minded person is quite sure of accomplishing whatever
she or he desires. Vigor and strength of mind are only two of
the four powers which motivate a successful practice. Chanda
is willingness, the first power. Viriya is energy, or vigor, the
second. Strength of mind is third, and wisdom or knowledge is
the fourth. If these four factors provide the driving force for
practice, one’s meditation will unfold whether one has any
desire to gain results from it or not. One can even reach
nibbāna in this way.

The Buddha gave a rather homely example which illustrates
just how the results of meditation are attained. If mother hen
lays an egg with a sincere wish for it to hatch, but then runs off
and leaves the egg exposed to nature’s elements, the egg will
soon rot. If, on the other hand, mother hen is conscientious in
her duties toward the egg, sitting on it for long periods every
day, the warmth of her body will keep the egg from rotting and
will also permit the chick within to grow. Sitting on the egg is
mother hen’s most important duty. She must do this in the
proper way, with her wings slightly spread out to protect the
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nest from rain. She must also take care not to sit heavily and
crack her egg. If she sits in proper style and for sufficient time,
the egg will naturally receive the warmth it needs to hatch.
Inside the shell, an embryo develops beak and claws. Day by
day the shell grows thinner. During mother hen’s brief
excursions from the nest, the chick inside may see a light that
slowly brightens. After three weeks or so, a healthy yellow chick
pecks its way out of its claustrophobic space. This result
happens regardless of whether the hen foresaw the outcome.
All she did was sit on the egg with sufficient regularity.

Mother hens are very dedicated and committed to their task. At
times they would rather be hungry and thirsty than get up from
the egg. If they do have to get up, they go about their errands
as efficiently as possible and then return to their sitting practice.

I am not recommending that you skip meals, or stop drinking
liquids, or cease going to the bathroom. I would simply like you
to be inspired by the hen’s patience and persistence. Imagine if
she became fickle and restless, sitting for a few minutes and
then going out to do something else for a few minutes. Her egg
would quickly rot, and the chick would lose its chance for life.

So, too, for the yogi. If during sitting meditation, you are prone
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to giving in to all those whims to scratch, to shift, to squirm, then
the heat of energy will not be continuous enough to keep the
mind fresh and free from attacks by the rotting influence of
mental obscurations and difficulties such as the five mental
fetters mentioned above: sense desire, attachment to our own
bodies and to the bodies of others, gluttony, and craving for
future sensual pleasures as a result of meditation practice.

A yogi who tries to be mindful in each moment generates a
persistent stream of energy, like the persistent heat of mother
hen’s body. This heat aspect of energy prevents the mind from
rotting from its exposure to kilesa attacks, and it also permits
insight to grow and mature through its developmental stages.

All five of the mental fetters arise in the absence of attention. If
one is not careful when there is contact with a pleasurable
sense object, the mind will be filled with craving and clinging —
the first mental fetter. With mindfulness, however, sense desire
is overcome. Similarly, if one can penetrate the true nature of
the body, attachment to it disappears. Our infatuation with the
bodies of others diminishes in turn. Thus the second and third
mental fetters are broken. Close attention to the whole process
of eating cuts through gluttony, the fourth mental fetter. If one
carries out this whole practice with the aim of realizing nibbāna,
hankering after mundane pleasures one might obtain in the
afterlife will also disappear — wishing for rebirth in subtle
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realms is the fifth fetter of mind. Thus, continuous mindfulness
and energy overcome all five fetters. When these fetters are
broken, we are no longer bound in a dark, constricted mental
state. Our minds are freed to emerge into the light.

With continued effort, mindfulness and concentration, the mind
slowly fills with the warmth of the Dhamma which keeps it fresh
and scorches the kilesas. The Dhamma’s fragrance penetrates
throughout, and the shell of ignorance grows thinner and more
translucent. Yogis begin to understand mind and matter and the
conditionality of all things. Faith based on direct experience
arises. They understand directly how mind and matter are inter
related by a process of cause and effect, rather than being
moved by the actions and decisions of an independent self. By
inference, they realize that this same causal process existed in
the past and will continue into the future. As practice deepens,
one gains deep confidence, no longer doubting oneself and
one’s practice, other yogis or teachers. The mind is filled with
gratitude for the Buddha, the Dhamma and the sangha.

Then one begins to see the appearing and disappearing of
things, and realizes their impermanent nature, their suffering
and lack of a permanent self. Upon the occurrence of such
insights, ignorance of these aspects disappears.
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Like the chick about to hatch, at this point you will see a lot of
light coming through the shell. Awareness of objects moves
ahead at a faster and faster pace; you will be filled with a sort of
energy you have never experienced before, and great faith will
arise.

If you continue to incubate your wisdom, you will be led forward
to the experience of nibbāna — magga phala — path and
fruition consciousness. You will emerge from the shell of
darkness. Just like the chick who, filled with enthusiasm to find
itself in the great world, runs about the sunny farmyard with its
mother, so too will you be filled with happiness and bliss. Yogis
who have experienced nibbāna feel a unique, new-found
happiness and bliss. Their faith, energy, mindfulness and
concentration become particularly strong.

I hope you will take this analogy of mother hen into deep
consideration. just as she hatches her chicks without hopes or
desire, merely carrying out her duties in a conscientious way,
so may you well incubate and hatch your practice.

May you not become a rotten egg.
Captain of My Own Ship
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I have spent a lot of time here on doubt and related problems
because I know they are quite serious, and I want to help you
avoid them. I know personally how much suffering doubt can
cause. When I was twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old I
began to meditate under the Venerable Mahāsi Sayādaw, my
predecessor and the head of the lineage of Mahāsi Sāsana
Yeikthā, the meditation center in Rangoon. After about a week
at the meditation center, I began to feel quite critical of my
fellow meditators. Some monks who were supposed to be
meditating were not perfect in their morality; they did not seem
scrupulous or meticulous to me. The lay meditators, too,
seemed to communicate and move about in an uncivilized,
impolite manner. Doubt began to fill my mind. Even my teacher,
one of Mahāsi Sayādaw’s assistants, came under the fire of my
critical mind. This man never smiled and was sometimes abrupt
and harsh. I felt that a meditation teacher should be filled with
softness and solicitude.

A competent meditation teacher can make quite an educated
guess about a yogi’s situation, based on experience with many
yogis as well as on scriptural study. The master who was
teaching me was no exception. He saw my practice begin to
regress. Guessing that a doubt attack was responsible, he gave
me a very gentle and skillful scolding. Afterwards I went back to
my room and did some soul-searching. I asked myself. “Why
did I come here? To criticize others and test the teacher? No.”
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I realized that I had come to the center to get rid of as many as I
could of the kilesas I had accumulated through my journey in
samsāra. I hoped to accomplish this goal by practicing the
Dhamma of the Buddha in the meditative tradition of the center
where I was. This reflection was a great clarification for me.

A simile popped into my mind. It was as if I had been on a
sailboat. Out at sea I had been caught in a raging storm. Huge
waves rose up and crashed down again on every side. Blown
from left to right, up and down, I rocked helplessly in the mighty
ocean. Around me other boats were in the same predicament.
Instead of managing my own boat, I had been barking orders at
the other captains:

“Better put up the sails! Hey, you! Better take them down.” If I
had remained a busybody, I might well have found myself at the
bottom of the ocean.
This is what I learned for myself. After that I worked very hard
and entertained no more doubts in my mind. I even became a
favorite of my teacher. I hope you can benefit from this
experience of mine.
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  EIGHTH ARMY: CONCEIT AND INGRATITUDE
Having overcome doubt, the yogi begins to realize some
aspects of the Dhamma. Unfortunately, the Eighth Army of
Māra lies in wait, in the form of conceit and ingratitude. Conceit
arises when yogis begin to experience joy, rapture, delight, and
other interesting things in practice. At this point they may
wonder whether their teacher has actually attained this
wondrous stage yet, whether other yogis are practicing as hard
as they are, and so forth.

Conceit most often happens at the stage of insight when yogis
perceive the momentary arising and passing away of
phenomena. It is a wonderful experience of being perfectly
present, seeing how objects arise and pass away at the very
moment when mindfulness alights on them. At this particular
stage, a host of defilements can arise. They are specifically
known as the vipassanā kilesas, defilements of insight. Since
these defilements can become a harmful obstacle, it is
important for yogis to understand them clearly. The scriptures
tell us that māna or conceit has the characteristic of bubbly
energy, of a great zeal and enthusiasm arising in the mind. One
overflows with energy and is filled with self-centered,
self-glorifying thoughts like, “I’m so great, no one can compare
with me.”

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A prominent aspect of conceit is stiffness and rigidity. One’s
mind feels stiff and bloated, like a python that has just
swallowed some other creature. This aspect of māna is also
reflected as tension in the body and posture. Its victims get
big-headed and stiff-necked, and thus may find it difficult to bow
respectfully to others.
  Forgetting Others’ Help
Conceit is really a fearsome mental state. It destroys gratitude,
making it difficult to acknowledge that one owes any kind of
debt to another person. Forgetting the good deeds others have
done for us in the past, one belittles them and denigrates their
virtues. Not only that, but one also actively conceals the virtues
of others so that no one will hold them in esteem. This attitude
toward one’s benefactors is the second aspect of conceit,
rigidity being the first.

All of us have had benefactors in our lives, especially in
childhood and younger days. Our parents, for example, gave us
love, education and the necessities of life at a time when we
were helpless. Our teachers gave us knowledge. Friends
helped us when we got into trouble. Remembering our debts to
those who have helped us, we feel humble and grateful, and we
hope for a chance to help them in turn. It is precisely this gentle
state that defeats Māra’s Eighth Army.
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Yet it is very common to find people who don’t recognize the
good that has been done for them in the past. Perhaps a lay
person finds himself or herself in trouble, and a compassionate
friend offers help. Thanks to this help, the person manages to
improve his or her circumstances. Later, however, he or she
may demonstrate no gratitude at all, may even turn and speak
harshly to the erstwhile benefactor. “What have you ever done
for me?” Such behavior is far from unknown in this world.

Even a monk may become arrogant, feeling he has reached
fame and popularity as a teacher only through his own hard
work. He forgets his preceptors and teachers, who may have
helped him since his childhood days as a novice. They will have
taught him the scriptures, provided him with the requisites of
life, instructed him in meditation, given him advice, and
admonished him when appropriate, so that he grew up to be a
responsible, cultured, civilized young monk.

Come the age of independence, this monk may reveal great
talent. He gives good Dhamma talks that are well received by
the audience. People respect him, give him many presents and
invite him to distant places to teach. Having reached a high
station in life, the monk may become rather arrogant. One day,
perhaps, his old teacher approaches him and says,
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“Congratulations! I’ve been watching you ever since you were a
small novice. Having helped you in so many ways, it does my
heart good to see you doing so well.” The young monk snaps
back, “What have you done for me? I worked hard for this.”

Problems can occur in the Dhamma family as in any human
family. In any family, one should always adopt a positive, loving
and compassionate attitude toward resolving difficulties.
Imagine how it could be if the members of the world family
could get together with love and compassion and consideration
for each other when a disagreement arises.

In this world there are ways of solving problems which may not
be very fruitful but are unfortunately widespread. Instead of
acting directly and from fellowship and love, a family member
might start to wash dirty linen in public; might belittle other
family members; or criticize their personalities and virtues,
either directly or indirectly.

Before hurling insults and accusations at another family
member, one should consider one’s own state of mind and
circumstances. The tendency to lash out, defame and belittle is
an aspect of conceit. The scriptures illustrate it with the image
of a person enraged, taking up a handful of excrement to fling
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at his or her opponent. This person befouls himself or herself
even before the opponent. So, if there are matters on which we
disagree, please let us all try to exercise patience and
forgiveness in the spirit of the good-hearted.

Imagine a traveler on a long and arduous journey. In the middle
of a long hot day he or she comes across a tree by the side of
the road, a leafy tree with deep cool shade. The traveler is
delighted, and lies down at the roots of this tree for a nice nap.
If the traveler cuts down the tree before he goes on his or her
way, this is what the scriptures call ungrateful. Such a person
does not understand the benevolence a friend has shown.

We have a responsibility to do more than refrain from chopping
down our benefactors. It is true that in this world there are times
when we cannot repay what we owe to those who have helped
us. We will nonetheless be regarded as a good-hearted person
if we can at least remember their acts of benevolence. If we can
find a way to repay our debt, we should of course do so. It is
quite irrelevant whether our benefactor is more virtuous than
we, or is a rascal, or happens to be our equal in virtue. The only
requirement for him or her to gain the status of benefactor is to
have helped us in the past.

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Once upon a time, a man worked very hard to support his
mother. As it turned out, she was a promiscuous woman. She
tried to hide this from her son, but eventually some gossiping
villagers disclosed her activities to him. He answered, “Run
along, friends. As long as my mum is happy, whatever she
chooses to do is fine. My only duty is to work and support her.”

This was a very intelligent young man. He understood the limits
of his own responsibility: to repay his debt of gratitude to her
who had borne and suckled him. Beyond this, his mother’s
behavior was her own business.

This man was one of the two types of rare and precious people
in the world. The first type of rare and precious person is a
benefactor: one who is benevolent and kind, who helps another
person for noble reasons. The Buddha was one of these,
sparing no effort to help beings liberate themselves from the
sufferings of samsara. All of us owe him grateful remembrance,
and we might even consider our diligence in practice to be a
form of repayment. The second type of rare and precious
person is the one who is grateful, who appreciates the good
that has been done for him or her, and who tries to repay it
when the time is ripe. I hope you will be both types of rare and
precious person, and will not succumb to the Eighth Army of
Māra.
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  NINTH ARMY: GAIN, PRAISE, HONOR,
UNDESERVED FAME
The Ninth Army of Māra is gain, praise, honor and undeserved
fame. When you attain some depth of practice, your manner
and behavior will improve. You will become venerable and
impressive. You may even start to share the Dhamma with
others, or your experience of the Dhamma may manifest
outwardly in another way, perhaps in dear expositions of the
scriptures. People may feel deep faith in you and may bring you
gifts and donations. Word may spread that you are an
enlightened person, that you give great Dhamma discourses.

At this point it would be very easy for you to succumb to the
Ninth Army of Māra. The honor and respect these people direct
toward you could go to your head. You might begin to subtly or
overtly try to extract bigger and better donations from your
followers. You might decide that you deserve renown because
you really are superior to other people. Or, insincere ambition
might supplant a genuine wish to help others as your motivation
for teaching, for sharing whatever wisdom you have reached in
your own practice. Your reflections might run as follows: “Oh,
I’m pretty great. I’m popular with many people. I wonder if
anyone else is as great as I am. Can I get my devotees to buy
me a new car?”

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The first battalion of the Ninth Army is material gain: the gifts
one receives from devotees and admirers. The reverence of
these same people is the second battalion; the third battalion is
fame or renown.

In the outer world, Māra’s Ninth Army attacks mostly those
yogis who’ve had a good result in meditation. But it is quite
unnecessary to have a band of followers. Wishes for gain can
attack the most ordinary yogi, in the form of desires for grander
accommodations or new outfits to wear while on a retreat. One
might feel proud of one’s practice and begin wishing to be
acknowledged as a great yogi. People whose practice is not
very deep are most susceptible to deluding themselves about
their own achievements. A yogi who has had an interesting
experience or two, but little depth, can become overconfident.
He or she may quickly want to step out onto the Dhamma
scene and teach other people, thus becoming the object of
admiration and praise. Such persons will teach a
pseudo-vipassanā that is not in accordance with the texts, nor
with deep practical experience. They may actually harm their
students.
  Sincerity
To vanquish this Ninth Army, the motivation behind your effort
must be sincere. If you begin practicing only with the hope of
getting donations, reverence, or fame, you will never make any
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progress. Frequent reexamination of motives can be very
helpful. If you make genuine, sincere progress and later
succumb to greed for gain, you will become intoxicated and
negligent. It is said that a person who is intoxicated and
negligent will continue a life of peacelessness and be overcome
by much suffering. Satisfied with cheap gain, this person forgets
the purpose of meditation, performs unskillful actions and fails
to cultivate wholesomeness. Her or his practice will regress.

Perhaps, though, we believe there is an end to suffering and
that we can attain this end by practicing the Dhamma. This is
the sincere motivation that prevents us from falling into greed
for worldly gain and fame. Life means coming into being. For
humans it means a very painful birth process, with death
waiting at the end. In between these two events, we experience
falling sick, accidents, the pain of aging. There is also emotional
pain, not getting what we desire, depressions and losses,
unavoidable associations with persons and objects we dislike.
To be freed from all this pain, we sit in meditation, practicing the
Dhamma, the path that ends in the supramundane release of
nibbāna. Some of us go to retreats, leaving behind worldly
activities such as business, education, social obligations and
the pursuit of pleasure, because we have faith that suffering
can come to an end. Actually, we can legitimately consider as a
retreat any place where you strive to extinguish the kilesas.
When you go to such a place, even if it is the corner of the living
room set aside for meditation, the Pali word for you is pabbajita,
meaning “one who has gone forth from the world in order to
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extinguish the kilesas!”

Why would one want to extinguish them? Kilesas, or
defilements, have a tremendous power to torture and oppress
those who are not free of them. They are likened to a fire which
bums and tortures and torments, When kilesas arise in a being,
they burn him or her; they bring exhaustion, torment and
oppression. There is not a single good thing to be said about
the kilesas.
  The Three Types of Kilesas
Kilesas are of three kinds: the defilements of transgression, the
defilements of obsession, and the latent or dormant
defilements.
Defilements of transgression occur when people cannot keep
the basic precepts, and perform actions of killing, stealing,
sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication.
The second class of kilesas is a bit more subtle. One may not
outwardly commit any immoral action, but one’s mind will be
obsessed with desires to kill and destroy, hurt and harm other
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beings physically or otherwise. Obsessive wishes may fill the
mind: to steal property, manipulate people, deceive others to
obtain some desired object. If you have ever experienced this
kind of obsession, you know it is a very painful state. If a person
fails to control the obsessive kilesas, he or she is likely to hurt
other beings in one way or another.

Dormant or latent kilesas are ordinarily not apparent. They lie
hidden, waiting for the right conditions to assault the helpless
mind. Dormant kilesas may be likened to a person deeply
asleep. As such a person awakes, when his or her mind begins
to churn, it is as if the obsessive kilesas have arisen. When the
person stands up from bed and becomes involved in the day’s
activities, this is like moving from the obsessive kilesas to the
kilesas of transgression.

These three aspects can also be discovered in a matchstick. Its
phosphorus tip is like the dormant kilesas. The flame that
results from striking is like the obsessive kilesas. The forest fire
that ensues from careless handling of the flame is like the
kilesas of transgression.
  Extinguishing the Kilesas’ Fire
If you are sincere in applying sīla, samādhi and paññā, you can
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overcome, extinguish and give up all three kinds of kilesas. Sīla
puts aside the kilesas of transgression; samādhi suppresses
the obsessive ones; and wisdom uproots latent or dormant
kilesas which are the cause of the other two. As you practice in
this way, you can gain new kinds of happiness.

By practicing sīla, the delight of sensual pleasures is replaced
by the happiness that comes from sincerity of conduct, morality.
Due to the absence of the kilesas of transgression, a moral
person lives a relatively pure, clean and blissful life. We practice
sīla by keeping the five basic precepts mentioned in the first
chapter; and more generally by following the morality group of
the Noble Eightfold Path: Right Action, Right Speech and Right
Livelihood, all of which are based on not harming others or
oneself.

You may wonder whether true purity of conduct is possible in
the world. Of course it is! However, it is much easier to be pure
in one’s precepts in a retreat, where situations are simplified
and temptations are kept to a minimum. This is especially true if
one wishes to practice more than the basic five precepts, or if
one is a monk or nun and therefore obliged to follow many
rules. On retreat one can achieve a very high success rate for
any of these difficult endeavors.

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Purity of conduct is only a first step. If we want to extinguish
more than the coarse kilesas, some internal practice is
necessary. The obsessive kilesas are vanquished by the
samādhi, or the concentration group of the Noble Eightfold
Path: which consists of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and
Right Concentration. A continuous and persistent effort is
needed to note and be aware of the objects that arise in each
moment, without straying away. This kind of endeavor is difficult
to maintain in a worldly context.

With continuous moment-to-moment effort, mindfulness and
concentration, the obsessive kilesas can be kept far from the
mind. The mind can enter into the object of meditation and stay
there, unscattered. The obsessive kilesas have no chance to
arise, unless there is a momentary slip in the practice. Freedom
from these kilesas brings about a state of mind known as
upasama sukha, the well-being and bliss of tranquillity which
results from freedom from the oppressive kilesas. The mind is
free from lust, greed, anger, agitation. When one has known
this happiness, one sees it as superior to sense pleasure and
considers it a worthwhile exchange to have put aside sensual
joys to obtain it.

There is a better kind of happiness even than this, so one
should not become complacent. Taking a further step, one can
practice wisdom. With wisdom, the dormant kilesas can be
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abandoned momentarily and perhaps also permanently. When
mindfulness is well developed along with its associated factors,
such as energy and concentration, one begins to understand
very intuitively the nature of mind and matter. The wisdom
group of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right View and Right
Thought, begins to be fulfilled as one naturally moves through
the successive stages of insight. At every occurrence of insight,
the dormant kilesas are extinguished. Through the gradual
progress of insight, one may attain the noble path
consciousness in which dormant kilesas are permanently
extinguished.

Thus with deep practice the torture of the kilesas will diminish,
will perhaps even disappear forever.
In this case, gain and respect and fame will come very naturally
to you, but you will not get caught in them. They will seem paltry
compared to the noble goal and dedication of your practice.
Since you are sincere, you will never stop adding to your
foundation of morality. You will make use of gain and fame in a
fitting way, and will continue with your practice.
  TENTH ARMY: SELF-EXALTATION AND
DISPARAGING OTHERS
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All of us have some awareness of the fact of suffering. It is
present in birth, in life and in death. Painful experiences in life
often lead us to want to overcome suffering and live in freedom
and peace. Perhaps it is this wish, this faith, or perhaps even a
firm conviction of this that led you to read this book.

In the course of our practice, this fundamental aim may be
undermined by certain byproducts of the practice itself. We
have discussed how gain, respect and fame can become
obstacles to liberation. So, too, can the closely related problems
of self-exaltation and disparaging others, the Tenth Army of
Māra. This is a battle faced by meditation masters.

Self-exaltation often attacks after some gain in practice,
perhaps a feeling of maturity in our precepts. We might become
quite cocky, looking around and saying, “Look at that person.
They’re not keeping the precepts. They’re not as holy as I am,
not as pure.” If this happens, we have fallen victim to the Tenth
Army of Māra. This last army is perhaps the most lethal of all. In
the Buddha’s time there was even a man, Devadatta, who tried
to kill the Buddha under its influence. He had grown proud of
his psychic powers, his attainments in concentration and his
position as a disciple. Yet when subversive thoughts came, he
had no mindfulness, no defense against them.
  The Essence of the Holy Life
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It is possible to take delight in our own purity without
disparaging others, and without self-aggrandizement. A simile
might be useful here. Consider a valuable timber tree whose
core is the most precious part. We can compare this tree with
the holy life described by the Buddha: sīla, samādhi, paññā.

In cross section the tree trunk is revealed to be made of the
precious core, the woody tissue, the inner bark and finally the
thin epidermis of outer bark. A tree also has branches and
fruits.

The holy life is composed of sīla, samādhi and paññā; it
includes the path and fruition attainments or experiences of
nibbāna. There are also psychic powers, including, we might
say, the psychic power of penetrating into the true nature of
reality by vipassanā insight. Then there are the gain, respect,
and fame which can come to one through the practice.

One woodcutter may go into the forest seeking the tree’s pith
for some important purpose. Finding this big, handsome timber
tree, he or she cuts off all the branches and takes them home.
There the woodcutter finds that the branches and leaves are
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useless for the intended purpose. This is like a person satisfied
with gain and fame.

Another person may strip the thin outer bark from the tree. This
is like a yogi who, content with purity of conduct, does not work
to develop the mind any further.
A third yogi, perhaps a bit more intelligent, realizes that morality
is not the end of the road: there is mental development to be
considered. He or she may take up some form of meditation
and work very hard. Attaining one-pointedness of mind, this
yogi feels great. The mind is still and content, full of bliss and
rapture. Such a person may even master the jhānas, or
absorption states of deep concentration. Then the thought
comes: “Boy am I feeling great, but the person next to me is as
restless as ever.” This yogi feels he or she has attained the
essence of vipassanā and the holy life. But instead she or he
has only been attacked by the Tenth Army of Māra. This is like
a woodcutter who is content with the inner bark of the tree and
has not yet touched the core.

More ambitious, another yogi determines to develop the psychic
powers. He or she attains them and is filled with pride.
Moreover, it is a lot of fun to play with those new abilities. The
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thought may come, “Wow, this is far out. It must be the essence
of the Dhamma. Not everyone can do it either. That woman
over there can’t see what’s right under her nose, the devas and
hell beings.” If this person does not break free from the Tenth
Army of Māra, he or she will become intoxicated and negligent
in developing wholesome states of mind. His or her life will be
accompanied by great suffering.

Psychic powers are not truly liberating, either. In this present
age, many people are inspired by certain individuals who have
developed paranormal psychic powers. For some reason even
a small display of psychic ability seems to draw a great deal of
faith from people. It was the same in the Buddha’s time. In fact,
there was once a layman who approached the Buddha with the
suggestion that the Buddha should campaign for his teaching
on a basis of demonstrating psychic power. For this purpose
the Buddha should widely deploy all of his disciples who had
psychic powers and ask them to demonstrate miracles to the
people. “People will be really impressed,” the layman said.
“You’ll get a lot of followers that way.

The Buddha refused. Three times the request was repeated,
and three times it was refused. Finally the Buddha said,
“Layman, there are three types of psychic powers. One is the
power to fly in the air and dive into the earth, and to perform
other superhuman feats. The second is the power to read other
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people’s minds. You can tell a person, ‘Ah, on such and such a
day you were thinking that, and you went out to do this.’ People
can be very impressed with this. But there is a third psychic
power, the power of instruction, whereby one can tell another,
‘Ah, you have such-and-such a behavior that is not good. It is
unwholesome, unskillful, not conducive to your welfare or that
of others. You should abandon that and practice in such a way
as to cultivate wholesome actions. Then you should meditate as
I will now instruct you.’ Now, this power to guide another person
on the right path is the most important psychic power.

“O layman, if the first two powers are displayed to persons who
have faith in vipassanā, it will not undermine their faith. But
there are those who are not by nature faithful, and they would
say, ‘Well, that’s nothing very special. I know of other sects and
other religious systems wherein people can also attain such
powers, through mantras and other esoteric practices.’ People
like that will misunderstand my teaching.

“The third type of psychic power is best, that of being able to
instruct others, O layman. When one can say, ‘This is bad, do
not do it. You should cultivate good speech and behavior. This
is the way to cleanse your mind of kilesas. This is how to
meditate. This is the way to attain the bliss of nibbāna, which
liberates you from all suffering,’ This, O layman, is the best
psychic power.”
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By all means, go ahead and try to attain psychic powers if this
interests you. It is not essential, but it does not contradict
vipassanā practice; there’s no one to stop you, and the
achievement certainly is not anything one can scoff at. Just do
not mistake psychic powers for the essence of the teachings. A
person who attains psychic powers and then believes he or she
has reached the end of the spiritual path is much deluded. Such
people seek the pith of the timber tree but are satisfied to reach
only the woody outer layer. Bringing it home, they will find it of
no use. So, after you attain psychic powers, please go on and
develop the various vipassanā insights, successive path and
fruition moments, until the realization of arahantship.

When mindfulness and concentration are well-developed, the
vipassanā insight that penetrates into the various levels of the
true nature of things will arise. This is also a form of psychic
knowledge, but it is not yet the end of the path.

You may eventually attain the sotāpatti path, the noble
consciousness of the stream entrant, which is the first stage of
enlightenment. Path consciousness, the first dip into nibbāna,
uproots certain kilesas forever. You may continue to practice
and also develop the fruition consciousness. When this
consciousness arises, the mind dwells in the bliss of nibbāna. It
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is said that this liberation is unbounded by time. Once you have
put forth the effort to attain it, you can return to it at any time.

However, these lower attainments still fall short of the Buddha’s
purpose, which was to attain full enlightenment, that final
liberating consciousness which extinguishes all suffering
forever.

After he had finished constructing the simile of the timber tree,
the Buddha said, “The benefit of my teaching does not lie
simply in gain, respect and fame. The benefit of my teaching
does not lie merely in purity of conduct. It does not lie merely in
the attainment of the jhānas. It does not lie merely in the
attainment of psychic powers. It has as its essence the total
liberation from kilesas that is attainable at any time.”

I hope you will gather up strength, energy and a great deal of
courage to face the Ten Armies of Māra, and to vanquish all of
them with merciless compassion, so that you may be able to go
through the various vipassanā insights. May you at least attain
the noble consciousness of the stream entrant in this very life,
and after that, may you be liberated totally and finally from
suffering.
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  4. The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
BECOMING A NOBLE ONE
One does not become enlightened by merely gazing into the
sky. One does not become enlightened by reading or studying
the scriptures, nor by thinking, nor by wishing for the
enlightened state to burst into one’s mind. There are certain
necessary conditions or prerequisites which cause
enlightenment to arise. In Pāli these are known as the
bojjhaṅgas, or factors of enlightenment, and there are seven of
them.

The word bojjhaṅga is made up of bodhi, which means
enlightenment or an enlightened person, and aṅga, causative
factor. Thus a bojjhaṅga is a causative factor of an enlightened
being, or a cause for enlightenment. A second sense of the
word bojjhaṅga is based on alternative meanings of its two Pāli
roots. The alternative meaning of bodhi is the knowledge that
comprehends or sees the Four Noble Truths: the truth of
universal suffering or unsatisfactoriness; the truth that desire is
the cause of this suffering and dissatisfaction; the truth that
there can be an end to this suffering; and the truth of the path to
the end of this suffering, or the Noble Eightfold Path. The
second meaning of aṅga is part or portion. Thus, the second
meaning of bojjhaṅga is the specific part of knowledge that
sees the Four Noble Truths.
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All vipassanā yogis come to understand the Four Noble Truths
to some extent, but true comprehension of them requires a
particular, transforming moment of consciousness, known as
path consciousness. This is one of the culminating insights of
vipassanā practice. It includes the experience of nibbāna. Once
a yogi has experienced this, he or she deeply knows the Four
Noble Truths, and thus is considered to contain the bojjhaṅgas
inside him or herself. Such a person is called noble. Thus, the
bojjhaṅgas or enlightenment factors also are parts or qualities
of a noble person. Sometimes they are known as the
sambojjhaṅgas, the prefix sam- meaning full, complete, correct,
or true. The prefix is an honorific and intensifier, and adds no
crucial difference in meaning.

These seven factors of enlightenment, or seven qualities of a
noble person, are: mindfulness, investigation, effort, rapture,
calm, concentration and equanimity. In Pāli, the list would be sa
ti,
dhamma vicaya
, vīriya, pīti, passaddhi, samādhi, upekkha.
These seven can be found in all phases of vipassanā practice.
But if we take as a model the progressive stages of insight, we
can say that the seven enlightenment factors begin to be very
clear at the stage of insight where a yogi begins to see the
arising and passing of phenomena.
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How can one develop these factors in himself or herself? By
means of satipaṭṭhāna meditation. The Buddha said, “Oh
bhikkhus, if the four foundations of mindfulness are practiced
persistently and repeatedly, the seven types of bojjhaṅgas will
be automatically and fully developed.”

Practicing the four foundations of mindfulness does not mean
studying them, thinking of them, listening to discourses about
them, nor discussing them. What we must do is be directly and
experientially aware of the four foundations of mindfulness, the
four bases on which mindfulness can be established. The
satipaṭṭhāna Sutta names them: first, the sensations of the
body; second, feeling; the painful, pleasant or neutral quality
inherent in each experience; third, the mind and thought; and
fourth, all other objects of consciousness; feelings seen, heard,
tasted and so forth. The Buddha said, furthermore, that one
should practice this awareness not intermittently, but rather
persistently and repeatedly. This is exactly what we try to do in
vipassanā meditation. The tradition of vipassanā meditation
taught and developed by Mahāsi Sayādaw is oriented toward
developing fully the seven factors of enlightenment, and
eventually experiencing noble path consciousness, in
accordance with the Buddha’s instructions.
  MINDFULNESS: THE FIRST ENLIGHTENMENT
FACTOR
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Sati, mindfulness, is the first factor of enlightenment.
“Mindfulness” has come to be the accepted translation of sati
into English. However, this word has a kind of passive
connotation which can be misleading. “Mindfulness” must be
dynamic and confrontative. In retreats, I teach that mindfulness
should leap forward onto the object, covering it completely,
penetrating into it, not missing any part of it. To convey this
active sense, I often prefer to use the words “observing power”
to translate sati, rather than “mindfulness.” However, for the
sake of ease and simplicity, I will consistently use the word
“mindfulness” in this volume, but I would like my readers to
remember the dynamic qualities it should possess.

Mindfulness can be well understood by examining its three
aspects of characteristic, function and manifestation. These
three aspects are traditional categories used in the
Abhidhamma, the Buddhist description of consciousness, to
describe factors of mind. We will use them here to study each
of the enlightenment factors in turn.
  Nonsuperficiality
The characteristic of mindfulness is nonsuperficiality. This
suggests that mindfulness is penetrative and profound. If we
throw a cork into a stream, it simply bobs up and down on the
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surface, floating downstream with the current. If we throw a
stone instead, it will immediately sink to the very bed of the
stream. So, too, mindfulness ensures that the mind will sink
deeply into the object and not slip superficially past it.

Say you are watching your abdomen as the object of your
satipaṭṭhāna practice. You try to be very firm, focusing your
attention so that the mind will not slip off, but rather will sink
deeply into the processes of rising and falling. As the mind
penetrates these processes, you can comprehend the true
natures of tension, pressure, movement and so on.
  Keeping the Object in View
The function of mindfulness is to keep the object always in
view, neither forgetting it nor allowing it to disappear. When
mindfulness is present, the occurring object will be noted
without forgetfulness.

In order for nonsuperficiality and nondisappearance, the
characteristic and function of mindfulness, to appear dearly in
our practice, we must try to understand and practice the third
aspect of mindfulness. This is the manifestation aspect, which
develops and brings along the other two. The chief
manifestation of mindfulness is confrontation: it sets the mind
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directly face to face with the object.
  Face to Face with the Object
It is as if you are walking along a road and you meet a traveler,
face to face, coming from the opposite direction. When you are
meditating, the mind should meet the object in just this way.
Only through direct confrontation with an object can true
mindfulness arise.

They say that the human face is the index of character. If you
want to size up a person, you look at his or her face very
carefully and then you can make a preliminary judgment. If you
do not examine the face carefully and instead become
distracted by other parts of his or her body, then your judgment
will not be accurate.

In meditation you must apply a similar, if not sharper, degree of
care in looking at the object of observation. Only if you look
meticulously at the object can you understand its true nature.
When you look at a face for the first time, you get a quick,
overall view of it. If you look more carefully, you will pick up
details — say, of the eyebrows, eyes and lips. First you must
look at the face as a whole, and only later will details become
clear.
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Similarly, when you are watching the rising and falling of your
abdomen, you begin by taking an overall view of these
processes. First you bring your mind face to face with the rising
and falling. After repeated successes you will find yourself able
to look closer. Details will appear to you effortlessly, as if by
themselves. You will notice different sensations in the rise and
fall, such as tension, pressure, heat, coolness, or movement.

As a yogi repeatedly comes face to face with the object, his or
her efforts begin to bear fruit. Mindfulness is activated and
becomes firmly established on the object of observation. There
are no misses. The objects do not fall away from view. They
neither slip away nor disappear, nor are they absent-mindedly
forgotten. The kilesas cannot infiltrate this strong barrier of
mindfulness. If mindfulness can be maintained for a significant
period of time, the yogi can discover a great purity of mind
because of the absence of kilesas. Protection from attack by
the kilesas is a second aspect of the manifestation of
mindfulness. When mindfulness is persistently and repeatedly
activated, wisdom arises. There will be insight into the true
nature of body and mind. Not only does the yogi realize the true
experiential sensations of the rise and fall, but she or he also
comprehends the individual characteristics of the various
physical and mental phenomena happening inside herself or
himself.
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  Seeing the Four Noble Truths
The yogi may see directly that all physical and mental
phenomena share the characteristic of suffering. When this
happens we say that the First Noble Truth is seen.
When the First Noble Truth has been seen, the remaining three
are also seen. Thus it is said in the texts, and we can observe
the same in our own experience. Because there is mindfulness
at the moment of occurrence of mental and physical
phenomena, no craving arises. With this abandoning of craving,
the Second Noble Truth is seen. Craving is the root of suffering,
and when craving is absent, suffering, too, disappears. Seeing
the Third Noble Truth, the cessation of suffering, is fulfilled
when ignorance and the other kilesas fall away and cease. All
this occurs on a provisional or moment-to-moment basis when
mindfulness and wisdom are present. Seeing the Fourth Noble
Truth refers to the development of the Eightfold Path factors.
This development occurs simultaneously within each moment of
mindfulness. We will discuss the factors of the Eightfold Path in
more detail in the next chapter, “Chariot to nibbāna.”

Therefore, on one level, we can say that the Four Noble Truths
are seen by the yogi at any time when mindfulness and wisdom
are present. This brings us back to the two definitions of
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bojjhaṅga given above. Mindfulness is part of the
consciousness that contains insight into the true nature of
reality; it is a part of enlightenment knowledge. It is present in
the mind of one who knows the Four Noble Truths. Thus, it is
called a factor of enlightenment, a bojjhaṅga.
  Mindfulness is the Cause of Mindfulness
The first cause of mindfulness is nothing more than mindfulness
itself. Naturally, there is a difference between the weak
mindfulness that characterizes one’s early meditative efforts
and the mindfulness at higher levels of practice, which becomes
strong enough to cause enlightenment to occur. In fact, the
development of mindfulness is a simple momentum, one
moment of mindfulness causing the next.
  Four More Ways to Develop Mindfulness
Commentators identify four additional factors which help
develop and strengthen mindfulness until it is worthy of the title
bojjhaṅga.
1. Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension
The first is satisampajañña, usually translated as “mindfulness
and clear comprehension.” In this term, sati is the mindfulness
activated during formal sitting practice, watching the primary
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object as well as others. Sampajañña, clear comprehension,
refers to mindfulness on a broader basis: mindfulness of
walking, stretching, bending, turning around, looking to one
side, and all the other activities that make up ordinary life.
  2. Avoiding Unmindful People
Dissociation from persons who are not mindful is the second
way of developing mindfulness as an enlightenment factor. If
you are doing your best to be mindful, and you run across an
unmindful person who corners you into some long-winded
argument, you can imagine how quickly your own mindfulness
might vanish.
  3. Choosing Mindful Friends
The third way to cultivate mindfulness to associate with mindful
persons. Such people can serve as strong sources of
inspiration. By spending time with them, in an environment
where mindfulness is valued, you can grow and deepen your
own mindfulness.
  4. Inclining the Mind Toward Mindfulness
The fourth method is to incline the mind toward activating
mindfulness. This means consciously taking mindfulness as a
top priority, alerting the mind to return to it in every situation.
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This approach is very important; it creates a sense of
unforgetfulness, of non-absentmindedness. You try as much as
possible to refrain from those activities that do not particularly
lead to the deepening of mindfulness. Of these there is a wide
selection, as you probably know.

As a yogi only one task is required of you, and that is to be
aware of whatever is happening in the present moment. In an
intensive retreat, this means you set aside social relationships,
writing and reading, even reading scriptures. You take special
care when eating not to fall into habitual patterns. You always
consider whether the times, places, amounts and kinds of food
you eat are essential or not. If they are not, you avoid repeating
the unnecessary pattern.
  INVESTIGATION: THE SECOND ENLIGHTENMENT
FACTOR
We say that the mind is enveloped by darkness, and as soon as
insight or wisdom arises, we say that the light has come. This
light reveals physical and mental phenomena so that the mind
can see them clearly. It is as if you were in a dark room and
were given a flashlight. You can begin to see what is present in
the room. This image illustrates the second enlightenment
factor, called “investigation” in English and dhamma vicaya
sambojjhaṅga
in Pāli.
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The word “investigation” may need to be elucidated. In
meditation, investigation is not carried out by means of the
thinking process. It is intuitive, a sort of discerning insight that
distinguishes the characteristics of phenomena. Vicaya is the
word usually translated as “investigation”; it is also a synonym
for “wisdom” or “insight.” Thus in vipassanā practice there is no
such thing as a proper investigation which uncovers nothing.
When  vi
caya
is present, investigation and insight coincide. They are the
same thing.

What is it we investigate? What do we see into? We see into
dhamma. This is a word with many meanings that can be
experienced personally. Generally when we say “dhamma” we
mean phenomena, mind and matter. We also mean the laws
that govern the behavior of phenomena. When “Dharnma” is
capitalized, it refers more specifically to the teaching of the
Buddha, who realized the true nature of “dhamma” and helped
others to follow in his path. The commentaries explain that in
the context of investigation, the word “dhamma” has an
additional, specific meaning. It refers to the individual states or
qualities uniquely present in each object, as well as the
common traits each object may share with other objects. Thus,
individual and common traits are what we should be discovering
in our practice.
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  Knowing the True Nature of Dhammas
The characteristic of investigation is the ability to know, through
discernment by a nonintellectual investigation, the true nature of
dhammas.
Dispelling Darkness
The function of investigation is to dispel darkness. When
dhamma vicayais present, it lights up the field of awareness,
illuminating the object of observation so that the mind can see
its characteristics and penetrate its true nature. At a higher
level, investigation has the function of totally removing the
envelope of darkness, allowing the mind to penetrate into
nibbāna. So you see, investigation is a very important factor in
our practice. When it is weak, or absent, there is trouble.
  Dissipating Confusion
As you walk into a pitch-dark room, you may feel a lot of doubt.
“Am I going to trip over something? Bang my shins? Bang into
the wall?” Your mind is in confusion because you do not know
what things are in the room or where they are located. Similarly,
when dhamma vicaya is absent, the yogi is in a state of chaos
and confusion, filled with a thousand and one doubts. “Is there
a person, or is there no person? Is there a self, or no self? Am I
an individual or not? Is there a soul, or is there no soul? Is there
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a spirit or not?”

You, too, may have been plagued by doubts like this. Perhaps
you doubted the teaching of impermanence, suffering, and
absence of self. “Are you sure that everything is impermanent?
Maybe some things aren’t quite so unsatisfactory as others.
Maybe there’s a self-essence we haven’t found yet.” You may
feel that nibbāna is a fairy tale invented by your teachers, that it
does not really exist.

The manifestation of investigation is the dissipation of
confusion. When dhamma vicaya sambojjhanga arises,
everything is brightly lit, and the mind sees clearly what is
present. Seeing clearly the nature of mental and physical
phenomena, you no longer worry about banging into the wall.
Impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and absence of self will
become quite clear to you. Finally, you may penetrate into the
true nature of nibbāna, such that you’ll not need to doubt its
reality.
  Ultimate Realities
Investigation shows us the characteristics of paramattha
dhamma, or
ultimate realities, which simply means objects that can be
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experienced directly without the mediation of concepts. There
are three types of ultimate realities: physical phenomena,
mental phenomena, and nibbāna.

Physical phenomena are composed of the four great elements,
earth, fire, water and air. Each element has separate
characteristics which are peculiar to and inherent in it.
When we say “characterized” we could also say “experienced
as,” for we experience the characteristics of each of these four
elements in our own bodies, as sensations.
Earth’s specific or individual characteristic is hardness. Water
has the characteristic of fluidity and cohesion. Fire’s
characteristic is temperature, hot and cold. Air, or wind, has
characteristics of tightness, tautness, tension or piercing, and
an additional dynamic aspect, movement.

Mental phenomena also have specific characteristics. For
example, the mind, or consciousness, has the characteristic of
knowing an object. The mental factor of phassa, or contact, has
the characteristic of impingement.
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Please bring your attention right now to the rising and falling of
your abdomen. As you are mindful of the movement, you may
perhaps come to know that it is composed of sensations.
Tightness, tautness, pressure, movement — all these are
manifestations of the wind element. You may feel heat or cold
as well, the element of fire. These sensations are objects of
your mind; they are the dhammas which you investigate. If your
experience is perceived directly, and you are aware of the
sensations in a specific way, then we can say dhamma vicaya
is present.

Investigation can also discern other aspects of the Dhamma. As
you observe the rising and falling movements, you may
spontaneously notice that there are two distinct processes
occurring. On the one hand are physical phenomena, the
sensations of tension and movement. On the other hand is
consciousness, the noting mind which is aware of these
objects. This is an insight into the true nature of things. As you
continue to meditate, another kind of insight will arise. You will
see that all dhammas share characteristics of impermanence,
unsatisfactoriness and absence of self. The factor of
investigation has led you to see what is universal in nature, in
every physical and mental object.

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With the maturation of this insight into impermanence,
unsatisfactoriness and absence of self, wisdom becomes able
to penetrate nibbāna. In this case, the word dhamma takes
nibbāna as its referent. Thus, dhamma vicaya can also mean
discerning insight into nibbāna.

There is something outstanding about nibbāna in that it has no
characteristics in common with phenomena that can be
perceived. It has specific characteristics of its own, however:
permanence, eternity, nonsuffering, bliss and happiness. Like
other objects, it is called anatta, nonself, but the nonself nature
of nibbāna is different from the nonself of ordinary phenomena
in that it does not rest upon suffering and impermanence. It
rests instead on bliss and permanence. When the mind
penetrates nibbāna, this distinction becomes evident through
dhamma vicaya, the investigative discerning insight into the
dhamma, which has led us to this place and now allows us to
see it clearly.
  Spontaneous Insight is the Cause of Investigation
We might be interested in knowing how we can get this factor of
investigation to arise. According to the Buddha, there is only
one cause of it: there must be a spontaneous insight, a direct
perception. To realize such an insight, you must activate
mindfulness. You must be aware in a penetrative manner of
whatever arises. Then the mind can gain insight into the true
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nature of phenomena. This accomplishment requires wise
attention, appropriate attention. You direct the mind toward the
object, mindfully. Then you will have that first insight or direct
perception. The factor of investigation arises, and because of it,
further insights will follow naturally in order, as a child
progresses from kindergarten through high school and college
and finally graduates.
  Seven More Ways to Develop Investigation
The commentaries speak of seven additional ways to support
the arising of investigation as a factor of enlightenment.
The first is to ask questions about the Dhamma and the
practice. This means finding a person who is knowledgeable
about the Dhamma and speaking with him or her. There is no
doubt that Westerners can quite easily fulfill this first
requirement. They are adept at asking complicated questions.
This capacity is good; it will lead to the development of wisdom.
  2. Cleanliness
The second support is cleanliness of what are called the
internal and external bases. These are nothing more than the
body and the environment. Keeping the internal base, or body,
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clean means bathing regularly, keeping hair and nails well
groomed, and making sure the bowels are free of constipation.
Keeping the external base clean means wearing clean and neat
clothes and sweeping, dusting and tidying your living quarters.
This helps the mind become bright and clear. When the eyes
fall upon dirt and untidiness, mental confusion tends to arise.
But if an environment is clean, the mind becomes bright and
clear. This mental state is ideally conducive to the development
of wisdom.
  3. A Balanced Mind
The third support for the arising of investigation is balancing the
controlling faculties of faith, wisdom, mindfulness, energy and
concentration. We treated them at length in an earlier chapter.
Four of these five faculties are paired: wisdom and faith, effort
and concentration. The practice depends in fundamental ways
upon the equilibrium of these pairs.

If faith is stronger than wisdom, one is apt to become gullible or
to be carried away by excessive devotional thoughts, a
hindrance to practice. Yet, on the other hand, if knowledge or
intelligence is in excess, a cunning and manipulative mind
results. One can deceive oneself in many ways, even about the
truth.

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The balance between effort and concentration works like this: if
one is overenthusiastic and works too hard, the mind becomes
agitated and cannot focus properly on the object of observation.
Slipping off, it wanders about, causing much frustration. Too
much concentration, however, can lead to laziness and
drowsiness. When the mind is still and it seems easy to remain
focused on the object, one might begin to relax and settle back.
Soon one dozes off.

This balancing of faculties is an aspect of meditation that
teachers must understand quite thoroughly in order to guide
their students. The most basic way of maintaining balance, and
of reestablishing it when it is lost, is to strengthen the remaining
controlling faculty, mindfulness.
  4-5. Avoiding Fools, Making Friends with the Wise
The fourth and fifth supports for investigation are to avoid
foolish, unwise persons and to associate with wise ones. What
is a wise person? One person may be learned in the scriptures.
Another may be able to think things through with great clarity. If
you associate with these people, your theoretical learning will
surely increase and you will cultivate a philosophical attitude.
This activity is not at all bad. Another sort of wise person,
however, can give you knowledge and wisdom beyond what is
found in books. The scriptures tell us that the minimum
prerequisite defining such a person is that he or she must have
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practiced meditation and reached the stage of insight into the
arising and passing away of all phenomena. If one has not
reached this stage, it goes without saying that one should never
try to teach meditation, since associating with one’s students
will not foster the arising of dhamma vicaya in them.
  6. Reflection on Profound Truth
The sixth support for investigation is reflection on profound
Dhamma. This instruction to think about something might seem
contradictory. Basically it means reflecting on the nature of
physical and mental phenomena from the vipassanā point of
view: as aggregates, elements and faculties, all of them
impersonal.
  7. Total Commitment
The last important support for the arising of investigation is total
commitment to cultivating this factor of enlightenment. One
should always have the inclination toward investigation, toward
direct intuitive insight. Remember that it is not necessary to
rationalize or intellectualize your experiences. Just practice
meditation, so that you can gain a firsthand experience of your
own mind and body.
  COURAGEOUS EFFORT: THIRD FACTOR OF
ENLIGHTENMENT
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The third enlightenment factor, effort or vīriya, is the energy
expended to direct the mind persistently, continuously, toward
the object of observation. In Pāli, vīriya is defined as
vīrānaṃ bhāvo,
which means “the state of heroic ones.” This gives us an idea of
the flavor, the quality, of effort in our practice. It should be
courageous effort.

People who are hardworking and industrious have the capacity
to be heroic in whatever they do. It is effort itself, in fact, that
gives them a heroic quality. A person endowed with courageous
effort will be bold in going forward, unafraid of the difficulties he
or she may encounter in executing a chosen task.
Commentators say that the characteristic of effort is an
enduring patience in the face of suffering or difficulty. Effort is
the ability to see to the end no matter what, even if one has to
grit one’s teeth.

Yogis need patience and acceptance from the very beginning of
practice. If you come to a retreat, you leave behind the pleasant
habits and hobbies of ordinary life. You sleep little, on makeshift
mattresses in tiny cells. Then you get up and spend the day
trying to sit immobile and cross-legged, hour upon hour. On top
of the sheer austerity of practice, you must be patient with your
mind’s dissatisfaction, its longing for the good things of home.
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Anytime you actually get down to the work of meditation,
moreover, you are likely to experience bodily resistance and
some level of pain. Say you are trying to sit still for an hour with
your legs crossed. Just fifteen minutes into the sitting, a nasty
mosquito comes and bites you. You itch. On top of that, your
neck is a bit stiff and there’s a creeping numbness in your foot.
You may start to feel irritated. You are used to a luxurious life.
Your body is so pampered and spoon-fed that you usually shift
its position whenever it feels the slightest discomfort. Now, alas,
your body must suffer. And because it is suffering, you suffer as
well.

Unpleasant sensations have the uncanny ability to exhaust and
wither the mind. The temptation to give up can be very great.
Your mind may fill with rationalizations:
“I’ll just move my foot a tiny inch; it’ll improve my concentration.”
It may be only a matter of time before you give in.
Patient Endurance
You need courageous effort, with its characteristic of
forbearance in the face of difficulty. If you raise your energy
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level, the mind gains strength to bear with pain in a patient and
courageous way. Effort has the power to freshen the mind and
keep it robust, even in difficult circumstances. To increase your
energy level, you can encourage yourself, or perhaps seek out
the inspiration of a spiritual friend or guide. Fed with a bit more
energy, the mind grows taut and strong once more.
  Support for the Exhausted Mind
Commentators say that effort has the function of supporting. It
supports the mind when it withers under attack by pain.
Consider an old, dilapidated house on the point of collapse. A
slight gust of wind will bring it tumbling down. If you prop it up
with two-by-fours, though, the house can continue to stand.
Similarly, a mind withered by pain can be supported by
courageous effort and can continue the practice with freshness
and vigilance. You may have experienced this benefit
personally.

Yogis who suffer from chronic ailments may have difficulty
practicing in a regular way. Confronting an ailment again and
again saps physical and mental energy; it is taxing and
discouraging. It is no surprise that yogis who have sicknesses
often come to interviews full of despair and disappointment.
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They feel they are making no progress. They merely hit a wall
again and again. It all seems so futile. Little thoughts occur to
them, wanting to give up, wanting to leave the retreat or just
stop meditating. Sometimes I can save this situation with a little
discourse or a word of encouragement. The yogi’s face lights
up and he or she is on the road again for a day or two.

It is very important to have encouragement and inspiration, not
only from yourself but from someone else who can help you
along, give you a push when you get stuck.
Courageous Mind: The Story of Citta
The manifestation of effort is a bold, brave and courageous
mind. To illustrate this quality, there is a story from the
Buddha’s time of a bhikkhunī named Citta. One day she
reviewed the suffering inherent in mind and body and was
seized by a great spiritual urgency. As a result she renounced
the world and took nun’s robes, hoping to free herself from
suffering. Unfortunately, she had a chronic ailment which came
in spasms, without warning. One day she would feel fine, and
then suddenly she would fall ill. She was a determined lady,
though. She wanted liberation and was not one to call it quits.
Whenever she was healthy she would strive intensely, and
when she was sick she continued, though at a lesser pace.
Sometimes her practice was very dynamic and inspired. Then
the ailment attacked, and she would regress.
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Her sister bhikkhunīs worried that Citta would overstrain herself.
They warned her to take care of her health, to slow down, but
Citta ignored them. She meditated on, day after day, month
after month, year after year. As she grew older she had to lean
on a staff to move around. Her body was weak and bony, but
her mind was robust and strong.

One day Citta decided she was sick of putting up with all this
impediment, and made a totally committed decision. She said to
herself, “Today I’m going to do my very best without considering
my body at all. Either I die today or the kilesas will be
vanquished.”

Citta started walking up a hill with her staff. Very mindfully, step
by step, she went. Old and thin and feeble, at times she had to
get down and crawl. But her mind was persistent and heroic.
She was absolutely, totally committed to the Dhamma. Every
step she took, every inch she crawled, toward the peak of the
hill was made with mindfulness. When she reached the top, she
was exhausted, but her mindfulness had not been broken.

Citta made again her resolution to vanquish the kilesas once
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and for all or to be vanquished by death. She practiced on as
hard as she could, and it seems that on that very day she
reached her goal. She was filled with joy and rapture, and when
she descended the hill it was with strength and clarity of mind.
She was a very different person from the Citta who had crawled
up the hill. Now she was fresh and robust, with a clear and calm
expression. The other bhikkhunīs were astounded to see Citta
like this. They asked her by what miracle she had been
transformed. When Citta explained what had happened to her,
the bhikkhunīs were filled with awe and praise.

The Buddha said, “Far better is it to live a day striving in
meditation than one hundred years without striving.” In
business, politics, social affairs and education, we always find
that the leaders are people who work hard. Hard work brings
you to the peak of any field. This is a fact of life. Effort’s role is
obvious in meditation as well. Meditation practice takes a great
deal of energy. You have to really work to establish continuity of
mindfulness and maintain it from moment to moment without a
break. In this endeavor there is no room for laziness.
  A Heat that Vaporizes Defilements
The Buddha spoke of energy as a kind of heat, ātāpa. When
the mind is filled with energy, it becomes hot. This mental
temperature has the power to dry up defilements. We can
compare the kilesas to moisture; a mind devoid of energy is
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easily dampened and weighed down by them. If effort is strong,
however, the mind can vaporize kilesas before it is even
touched by them. Thus, when the mind is energized by effort,
mental defilements cannot touch it, or even come near.
Unwholesome states cannot attack.

On matter’s molecular level, heat appears as increased
vibration. A red-hot iron bar is actually vibrating rapidly, and it
becomes flexible and workable. This is so in meditation, too.
When effort is strong, the increased vibration in the mind is
manifested as agility. The energized mind jumps from one
object to another with ease and quickness. Contacting
phenomena, it heats them up, melting the illusion of solidity, so
that passing away is clearly seen.

Sometimes when momentum is strong in practice, effort carries
on by itself, just as an iron bar remains red-hot for a long time
after it has left the fire. With the kilesas far away, clarity and
brightness appear in the mind. The mind is pure and clear in its
perception of what is happening. It becomes sharp, and very
interested in catching the details of phenomena as they arise.
This energetic mindfulness allows the mind to penetrate deeply
into the object of observation and to remain there without
scattering and dispersing. With mindfulness and concentration
established, there is space for clear intuitive perception,
wisdom, to arise.
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Through diligent effort, then, the wholesome factors of
mindfulness, concentration and wisdom arise and strengthen,
and bring with them other wholesome, happy states. The mind
is clear and sharp, and it begins to enter more deeply into the
true nature of reality.
  Disadvantages of Laziness and Delights of Freedom
If instead there is sloppiness and laziness, your attention
becomes blunt and noxious states of mind creep in. As you lose
focus, you do not care whether you are in a wholesome state of
mind or not. You might think your practice can coast along with
no help from you. This kind of audacity, a lazy sort of boldness,
can undermine you, slow you down. Your mind becomes damp
and heavy, full of negative and unwholesome tendencies, like a
mildewed horse blanket that has been left out in the rain.

Ordinarily the kilesas pull the mind into their field of sensual
pleasures. This is especially true for rāga, lust, one aspect of
desire. People who are devoid of courageous effort are helpless
in rāga’s grip. They sink again and again into the field of
sensual pleasures. If effort is injected into the mind, though, the
mind can free itself from this harmful energy field. The mind
becomes very light, like a rocket that has succeeded in entering
the weightlessness of outer space. Freed from the heaviness of
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desire and aversion, the mind fills instead with rapture and
calm, as well as other delightful, free states of mind. This kind
of delight can only be enjoyed through the fire of one’s own
efforts.

You may have experienced this freedom personally. Perhaps
one day you were meditating while someone was baking
cookies nearby. A delicious smell came floating into your
nostrils. If you were really mindful, you simply noted this smell
as an object. You knew it was pleasant, but no attachment or
clinging arose. You weren’t compelled to get up from your
cushion and ask for one of those cookies. It might have been
similar had an unpleasant object come to you. You would have
felt no aversion. Confusion and delusion may also have been
absent. When you see clearly the nature of mind and matter,
unwholesome factors cannot control you.

Food can be one of the most difficult areas for meditators,
especially on retreat. Leaving aside the whole problem of
greed, yogis often feel strong disgust toward food. When one is
really mindful, one can make the shocking discovery that food is
quite tasteless on the tongue. As practice deepens, some yogis
begin to find food so repulsive that they are unable to eat more
than one or two bites. Alternatively, when yogis experience
strong rapture, this rapture becomes a nourishment for their
minds, such that they entirely lose their appetite. Both of these
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types of yogis should try to overcome their initial reactions and
make a concerted effort to eat sufficient food to maintain their
energy. When the body is deprived of physical nutriment it loses
strength and stamina, and eventually this undermines the
meditation practice.

One may dream of getting the benefits of vīriya, but if one does
not actually strive for them, it is said that one wallows in disgust.
The Pāli word for such a person is kusīta. In the world a person
who does not work to support him or herself and family will be
looked down upon by others. He or she might be called a
lazybones or insulted in various ways. The word
kusīta
refers specifically to someone who is abused verbally. In
practice it is the same. At times energy is essential. A yogi who
cannot muster the effort to confront a difficult experience, but
cringes instead, could be said to be “chickening out.” He or she
has no courage, no sense of boldness, no bravery at all.

A lazy person lives in misery, lives with suffering. Not only is he
or she held in low esteem by others, but also kilesas arise
easily when effort is low. Then the mind is assailed by the three
kinds of wrong thoughts: thoughts of craving, of destruction and
of cruelty. These mental states are oppressive, painful and
unpleasant in themselves. A lazy person can easily be pounced
upon by sloth and torpor, another unpleasant state.
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Furthermore, without energy it may be difficult to maintain the
basic precepts. One breaks the precepts at one’s own expense;
one loses the joy and benefit of moral purity.

The work of meditation is seriously undermined by laziness. It
robs a yogi of the chance to see into the true nature of things,
or to raise his or her mind to greater heights. Therefore, the
Buddha said, a lazy person loses many beneficial things.
  Persistence
For effort to develop to the point of being a factor of
enlightenment, it must have the quality of persistence. This
means that energy doesn’t drop or stagnate. Rather, it
continually increases. With persistent effort, the mind is
protected from wrong thoughts. There is so much energy that
sloth and torpor cannot arise. Yogis feel a sort of durability of
precepts, as well as of concentration and insight. They
experience the benefit of effort, a mind that is bright and clear
and full of strength, active and energetic.

Understanding about good effort is clear just after one has
enjoyed a major success in meditation. Perhaps one has
watched extremely painful sensations and penetrated them
without reacting or becoming oppressed by them. The mind
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feels a great satisfaction and heroism in its own
accomplishment. The yogi realizes for himself or herself that,
thanks to effort, the mind has not succumbed to difficulty but
has gone beyond it and has emerged victorious.
  Wise Attention is the Cause of Energy
The Buddha was brief in describing how effort or energy arises.
It is caused by wise attention, he said, wise reflection on being
committed to arousing the three elements of effort.
Stages of Energy: Leaving the Field of the Kilesas
The Buddha’s three elements of effort are launching effort,
liberating effort, and persistent effort.
Launching effort is needed at the beginning of a period of
practice, particularly on a retreat. At first the mind is
overwhelmed by the new situation, and may long for all the
things left behind. To get moving on the path of meditation, you
reflect on the benefits of your task and then start really putting
in the effort to be mindful. When a yogi first starts to practice,
only very basic objects are prescribed. You are directed just to
watch the primary object and only to attend to other objects
when they become distracting. This simple yet fundamental
endeavor comprises the first kind of effort, launching effort. It is
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like the first stage of a rocket which gets the rocket off the
ground.

Once you can be mindful of the primary object for some time,
you still do not always have smooth sailing. Hindrances come
up, or painful sensations, or sleepiness. You find yourself an
innocent victim of pain, impatience, greed, drowsiness and
doubt. Perhaps you have been enjoying some degree of calm
and comfort because you have been able to stay with the
primary object, but suddenly difficult objects assault you. At this
time the mind has a tendency to become discouraged and lazy.
Launching effort is no longer enough. You need an extra boost
to face pain and sleepiness, to get above the hindrances.

The second stage of energy, liberating energy, is like the
second stage of a rocket which pushes through the earth’s
atmosphere. Encouragement from a teacher might help here, or
you can reflect for yourself on the good reasons to arouse
liberating energy. Armed with internal and external
encouragements, you now make a concerted effort to observe
the pain. If you are able to overcome your difficulty, you will feel
very exhilarated; your energy will surge. You will be ready to go
for anything that comes into your field of awareness. Perhaps
you overcome a back pain, or you look into an attack of
drowsiness and see that it vanishes like a little wisp of cloud.
The mind grows refreshed, bright and clear. You may feel an
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energy high. This is the direct experience of liberating energy.

After this the practice may go smoothly, and the mind may feel
satisfied. Do not be surprised if the teacher suddenly assigns
you extra homework, such as asking you to pay attention to
several touch points on the body. This guidance is to encourage
persistent energy, the third kind of energy. Persistent energy is
necessary to keep deepening your practice, drawing you toward
your goal. It is like the third stage of a rocket which gives it the
energy to escape altogether from the earth’s gravitational field.
As you develop persistent energy, you will begin to travel
through the stages of insight.

It is easy to forget that the temporary happiness you feel today
in practice will pass away when you return to the world, unless
you attain some deeper level of peace. You might reflect on this
for yourself. Why are you practicing? I feel that the minimum
goal is to become a sotāpanna, or stream enterer, to reach the
first stage of enlightenment, which frees you from rebirth in
dangerous and painful lower realms. Whatever your goal is, you
should never be complacent until you reach it. For this you
need to develop a persistent effort that neither decreases nor
stagnates. It grows and grows until it finally brings you to your
destination. When effort is well developed in this way, it is
called in Pāli paggahita vīriya.
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Finally, at the end of practice, effort achieves a fourth aspect,
called fulfilling effort. This is what takes you completely beyond
the gravity field of sense pleasures into the freedom of nibbāna.
Perhaps you are interested to see what this is like? Well, make
an effort and you might find out.
  Eleven More Ways to Arouse Energy
The commentaries list eleven ways to arouse energy.
1. Reflecting on States of Misery
The first is to reflect on the fearsomeness of the states of
apaya, or misery, which you can fall into if you are lazy. The
meaning of apa is “devoid of.” Aya, in turn, refers to the
wholesome kamma that can bring about happiness —
specifically, the kinds of happiness that can be experienced as
a human, as a deva, as a brahma, and in nibbāna.

Thus, if you do not practice, you might go into states and
realms where you only have the chance to produce
unwholesome kamma. There are several realms of unfortunate
rebirths. Of these, the easiest for you to observe, and therefore
accept, is the animal world. Consider the animals on earth, in
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the sea, in the air. Can any of them perform wholesome
kamma, activities that are free from blame?

Animals live in a haze of delusion. They are covered by a
tremendously thick layer of ignorance, of unknowing. Insects,
for example, are rather like machines, programmed by their
genetic material to carry out certain activities without the
slightest capacity for choice, learning, or discernment. Most
animals’ mental processes are restricted to concerns about
mating and survival. In their world, character roles are incredibly
simple. You are predator or prey or both. It is a vicious realm
where only the fittest survive. Imagine the fear and paranoia
there must be in the mind of a being living under such pitiless
conditions. Imagine the distress and suffering when one
creature dies in the jaws of another. Dying with so much
suffering, how can animals gain rebirth in a good life? The
quality of the mind at death determines the quality of the next
rebirth. How can animals ever escape from their fearful
existence?

Do animals have the capacity to be generous? Can they be
moral? Can they keep precepts? Not to mention this noble and
demanding task of meditation. How can animals ever learn to
control and develop their minds to maturity? It is frightening and
fearful to contemplate a life where the only option is to behave
in unwholesome ways.
 179 / 419General

Reflecting thus may encourage your effort. “I’m a yogi right
now. This is my chance. How can I waste time lazing about?
Imagine if my next rebirth was as an animal. I wouldn’t ever
develop the enlightenment factor of effort. I must not waste
time! Now is the time to strive!”
  2. Reflecting on the Benefits of Energy
A second way to arouse energy is to reflect on energy’s
benefits, some of which have been described above. You have
a precious opportunity to come into contact with the Dhamma,
the Buddha’s teaching. Having gotten into this incomparable
world of Dhamma, you should not waste the opportunity to walk
the path that leads to the essence of his teaching! You can
attain supramundane states, four successive levels of noble
path and fruition, nibbāna itself. Through your own practice, you
can conquer suffering.

Even if you do not work to become completely free from all
suffering in this lifetime, it would be a great loss not to become
at least a sotāpanna, or stream enterer, and thus never again
be reborn in a state of misery. Walking this path isn’t just for
any Dick or Jane, however. A yogi needs a lot of courage and
effort. He or she must be an exceptional person. Strive with
diligence and you can attain the great goal! You should not
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waste a chance to walk a path that leads to the essence of the
Buddha’s teaching. If you reflect in this way, perhaps energy
and inspiration will arise, and you will put in more effort in your
practice.
  3. Remembering the Noble Ones
Thirdly, you can remind yourself of the noble persons who have
walked this path before you. This path is no dusty byway.
Buddhas from time immemorial, the silent Buddhas, the great
disciples, the arahants and all the rest of the noble ones, all
have walked here. If you want to share this distinguished path,
fortify yourself with dignity and be diligent. No room for cowards
or the lazy; this is a road for heroes and heroines.

Our ancestors on this path were not just a bunch of misfits who
renounced the world to escape from debts and emotional
problems. The Buddhas and noble ones were often quite
wealthy, and came from loving families. If they had continued
their lives as lay persons they would undoubtedly have had a
good time. Instead, they saw the emptiness of the worldly life
and had the foresight to conceive of a greater happiness and
fulfillment, beyond common sensual pleasures. There also have
been many men and women whose humble origin,
consciousness of oppression by society or a ruler, or battle
against ill health has granted them a radical vision — a wish to
uproot suffering, rather than to alleviate it only on the worldly
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level, or to seek revenge for the wrongs done against them.
These people joined their more privileged counterparts on the
road to liberation. The Buddha said that real nobility depends
on inner purity, not on social class. All of the Buddhas and
noble disciples possessed a noble spirit of inquiry and a desire
for higher and greater happiness, because of which they left
home to walk on this path which leads to nibbāna. It is a noble
path, not for the wayward or for dropouts.

You might say to yourself: “People of distinction have walked
this path, and I must try to live up to their company. I can’t be
sloppy here. I shall walk with as much care as possible,
fearlessly. I have this chance to belong to a great family, the
group of distinguished people who walk on this noble path. I
should congratulate myself for having the opportunity to do this.
People like me have walked on this path and attained the
various stages of enlightenment. So I, too, will be able to reach
the same attainment.”

Through such reflection, effort can arise and lead you to the
goal of nibbāna.
4. Appreciation for Support
A fourth causative means for arousing effort is respect and
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appreciation for alms food and the other requisites essential to
a renunciate’s way of life. For ordained monks and nuns, this
means respecting the donations of lay supporters, not only at
the moment that the gift is made, but also by having a
continuous awareness that the generosity of others makes
possible the continuation of one’s practice.

Lay yogis also may be dependent on others’ support in many
ways. Parents and friends may be helping you, either financially
or by taking care of your business so that you can participate in
intensive retreats. Even if you pay your own way on a retreat,
nonetheless many things are provided to support your practice.
The building which shelters you is ready-made; water and
electricity are taken care of. Food is prepared by volunteers,
and your other needs are cared for. You should have a deep
respect and appreciation for the service given to you by people
who may not owe you anything, people who have good hearts
and deep benevolence.

You can say to yourself, “I should practice as hard as possible
to live up to the goodness of those people. This is the way to
reciprocate and return the goodwill shown by faithful
supporters. May their efforts not go to waste. I will use what I
am given with mindfulness so that my kilesas will be slowly
trimmed and uprooted, so that my benefactors’ meritorious
deeds will bring about an equally meritorious result.”
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The Buddha laid down rules of conduct to govern the orders of
bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs, monks and nuns. One of these rules
was permission to receive what is offered by well-wishing lay
supporters. This was not to enable monks and nuns to live a
luxurious life. Requisites could be accepted and used in order
that monks and nuns might care for their bodies appropriately,
giving them the basic right conditions for striving to get rid of the
kilesas. Receiving support, they could devote all their time to
practicing the threefold training of sīla, samādhi and paññā,
eventually gaining liberation from all suffering.

You might reflect that it is only by practicing diligently that you
can reciprocate or return the goodwill shown by your
supporters. Seen in this way, energetic mindfulness becomes
an expression of gratitude for all the help you have received in
your meditation practice.
  5. Receiving a Noble Heritage
The fifth means to arouse energy is reflection on having
received a noble heritage. The heritage of a noble person
consists of seven nonmaterial qualities: faith or saddhā;
morality or sīla; moral shame and moral dread or hirī and
ottappa, discussed at length in “Chariot to nibbāna,” the last
chapter of this book; knowledge of the Dhamma, and generosity
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— one is very generous in giving up the kilesas, and in giving
gifts to others; and lastly, wisdom, which refers to the series of
vipassanā insights and finally the wisdom of penetrating into
nibbāna.

What is extraordinary about this inheritance is that these seven
qualities are nonmaterial and therefore not impermanent. This
contrasts with the heritage you may receive from your parents
upon their death, which is material and therefore subject to loss,
decay and dissolution. Further more, material inheritances may
be unsatisfying in various ways. Some people quickly squander
whatever they receive. Others do not find their new
possessions useful. The heritage of a noble one is always
beneficial; it protects and ennobles. It follows its heir through
the gates of death, and throughout the remainder of his or her
saṃsāric wanderings.

In this world, however, if children are unruly and wayward, their
parents may disown them so that the children receive no
material inheritance. Similarly in the world of the Dhamma, if
one has come into contact with the Buddha’s teaching, and
then is sloppy and lazy in practice, one will again be denied the
seven types of noble heritage. Only a person endowed with
enduring and persistent energy will be worthy of this noble
inheritance.
 185 / 419General

Energy is fully developed only when one is able to go through
all the levels of insight, up to the culmination of the series in
noble path consciousness. This developed energy, or Fulfilling
Energy as it is called, is precisely what makes one worthy of the
full benefits of the noble heritage.

If you continue to perfect the effort of your practice, these
qualities will become permanently yours. Reflecting in this way,
you may be inspired to practice more ardently.
6. Remembering the Greatness of the Buddha
A sixth reflection which develops energy is considering the
greatness and ability of the person who discovered and taught
this path to liberation. The Buddha’s greatness is demonstrated
by the fact that Mother Earth herself trembled on seven
occasions during his life. The earth first trembled when the
Bodhisatta (Sanskrit: Bodhisattva), the future Buddha, was
conceived for the last time in his mother’s womb. It trembled
again when Prince Siddhattha left his palace to take up the
homeless life of a renunciate, and then when he attained
supreme enlightenment. The earth trembled a fourth time when
the Buddha gave his first sermon, a fifth time when he
succeeded in overcoming his opponents, a sixth time when he
returned from Tāvatiṃsa Heaven, having given a discourse on
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Abhidhamma to his mother who had been reborn there. The
earth trembled for the seventh time when the Buddha attained
Parinibbāna, when he passed from conditioned existence
forever at the moment of his physical death.

Think of the depth of compassion, the depth of wisdom the
Buddha possessed! There are innumerable stories of his
perfections: how long and devotedly the Bodhisatta worked
toward his goal, how perfectly he attained it, how lovingly he
served humanity afterwards. Remember that if you continue to
strive, you too can share the magnificent qualities the Buddha
had.

Before the Buddha’s great enlightenment, beings were engulfed
in clouds of delusion and ignorance. The path to liberation had
not yet been discovered. Beings groped in the dark. If they
sought liberation, they had to invent a practice or follow
someone who made a claim to truth that was, in fact,
unfounded. In this world a vast array of pursuits have been
devised for the goal of attaining happiness. These range from
severe sell-mortification to limit less indulgence in sense
pleasure.
  A Vow to Liberate All Beings
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One of the Buddha’s previous existences was as a hermit
named Sumedha. This was during a previous eon and world
system, when the Buddha immediately previous to this one,
Dīpaṅkara, was alive. The hermit Sumedha had a vision of how
much beings suffered in darkness prior to the appearance of a
sammā sambuddha, a fully enlightened Buddha. He saw that
beings needed to be led safely across to the other shore; they
could not arrive alone. Due to this vision, the hermit renounced
his own enlightenment, for which he had a strong potential in
that particular existence. He vowed instead to spend
incalculable eons, however long it would take, to perfect his
own qualities to the level of a sammā sambuddha. This would
give him the power to lead many beings to liberation, not just
himself.

When this being finally completed his preparations and arrived
at his lifetime as the present Buddha, he was truly an
extraordinary and outstanding person. Upon his great
enlightenment, he was endowed with what are known as “the
three accomplishments”: the accomplishment of cause, the
accomplishment of result, and the accomplishment of service.

He was accomplished by virtue of the cause which led to his
enlightenment, that is, the effort he put forth during many
existences to perfect his paramis, the forces of purity in his
mind. There are many stories of the bodhisatta’s tremendous
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acts of generosity, compassion and virtue. In lifetime after
lifetime, he sacrificed himself for the benefit of others. Thus
developed, his purity of mind was the foundation for his
attainment under the Bo Tree of enlightenment and omniscient
knowledge. That attainment is called the accomplishment of
result because it was the natural result of his accomplishment
of cause, or the development of very strong powers of purity in
his mind. The Buddha’s third accomplishment was that of
service, helping others through many years of teaching. He was
not complacent about his enlightenment, but out of great
compassion and loving care for all those beings who were
trainable, he set forth after his enlightenment and tirelessly
shared the Dhamma with all those beings who were ready for it,
until the day of his Parinibbāna.

Reflecting on various aspects of the Buddha’s three great
accomplishments may inspire you to greater effort in your own
practice.
Compassion Leads to Action
Compassion was the Bodhisatta Sumedha’s sole motivation for
sacrificing his own enlightenment in favor of making the
incredible effort to become a Buddha. His heart was moved
when he saw, with the eye of great compassion, how beings
suffered as a result of misguided activities. Thus he vowed to
attain the wisdom necessary to guide them as perfectly as
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possible.

Compassion must lead to action. Furthermore, wisdom is
required so that action may bear useful fruit. Wisdom
distinguishes the right path from the wrong path. If you have
compassion but no wisdom, you may do more harm than good
when you try to help. On the other hand, you may have great
wisdom, may have become enlightened, but without
compassion you will not lift a finger to help others.

Both wisdom and compassion were perfectly fulfilled in the
Buddha. Because of his great compassion for suffering beings,
the Bodhisatta was able to go through his samsaric wanderings
with enduring patience. Others insulted and injured him, yet he
was able to bear these actions with perseverance and
endurance. It is said that if you were to combine the
compassion that all the mothers on this planet feel for their
children, it would still not come near the Buddha’s great
compassion. Mothers have a great capacity for forgiveness. It is
no easy task to bring up children. Children can be very cruel,
and at times they can inflict emotional and physical harm on
their mothers. Even when harm is grievous, however, a
mother’s heart usually has space to forgive her child. In the
Buddha’s heart this forgiving space was boundless. His
capacity for forgiveness was one of the manifestations of his
great compassion.
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Once upon a time the Bodhisatta was born as a monkey. One
day he was swinging around in the forest and happened upon a
Brahman who had fallen in a crevice. Upon seeing the poor
Brahman helpless, the monkey was filled with compassion. This
feeling had a great deal of momentum behind it, for by then the
Bodhisatta had spent many lifetimes cultivating his parami, or
perfection, of compassion.

The Bodhisatta prepared to leap into the crevice to save the
Brahman but he wondered if he had the strength to carry the
Brahman out. Wisdom arose in his mind. He decided he should
test his capability on a boulder he saw lying nearby. Lifting the
boulder and setting it down again, he learned that he would be
able to accomplish the rescue.

Down the Bodhisatta went and bravely carried the Brahman to
safety. Having carried first the boulder and then the Brahman
himself, the monkey fell to the ground in exhaustion. Far from
being grateful, the Brahman picked up a rock and smashed the
monkey’s head, so that he could take home the meat for his
supper. Awakening to find himself near death, the monkey
realized what had happened but did not get angry. This
response was due to his perfected quality of forgiveness. He
did say to the Brahman, “Is it proper for you to kill me when I’ve
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saved your life?”

Then the Bodhisatta remembered that the Brahman had lost his
way in the forest and would not be able to get home without
help. The monkey’s compassion knew no bounds. Clenching
his teeth, he refused to die until he had led the Brahman out of
the forest. A trail of blood fell from his wound as the monkey
instructed the Brahman which way to turn. Upon reaching the
right trail, the monkey expired.

If the Buddha had this much compassion and wisdom even as a
monkey, you can imagine how much more he had developed
these perfections by the time of his enlightenment.
Full Illumination
After innumerable existences as a Bodhisatta, the
Buddha-to-be was born as a human being in his last existence.
Having perfected all the paramis, he began searching for the
true path to liberation. He endured many trials before he finally
discovered the noble path by which he came to see deeply
impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and absence of self in all
conditioned phenomena. Deepening his practice, he went
through the various stages of enlightenment and eventually
became an arahant, completely purified of greed, hatred and
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delusion. Then, the omniscient knowledge he had cultivated
arose in him, together with the other knowledges particular to
Buddhas. His omniscience meant that if there was anything the
Buddha wished to know about, he had only to reflect upon the
question, and the answer would come to his mind
spontaneously.

As a result of his illumination, the Buddha was now endowed
with “The Accomplishment by Virtue of Fruition of Result,” as its
full title is known. This accomplishment came about because of
the fulfillment of certain causes and prerequisites he had
cultivated in his previous lives.

Having become a perfectly enlightened Buddha, he did not
forget the intention he had resolved upon so many eons ago
when he’d been the hermit Sumedha. The very purpose of his
working so hard and long was to help other beings cross the
ocean of suffering. Now that the Buddha was completely
enlightened, you can imagine how much more powerful and
effective his great compassion and wisdom had become. Based
on these two qualities, he began to preach the Dhamma and
continued to do so for forty-five years, until his death. He slept
only two hours a night, dedicating the rest of his time to the
service of the Dhamma, helping other beings in various ways so
that they could benefit and enjoy well-being and happiness.
Even on his deathbed he showed the path to Subhadda, a
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renunciate of another sect, who thereby became the last of
many disciples to be enlightened by the Buddha.

The full title of this third accomplishment is “The
Accomplishment of Seeing to the Welfare of Other Beings,” and
it is a natural consequence of the previous two. If the Buddha
could become enlightened and totally freed from the kilesas,
why did he continue to live in this world? Why did he mingle
with people at all? One must understand that he wanted to
relieve beings of their suffering and put them on the right path.
This was the purest compassion and the deepest wisdom on
his part.

The Buddha’s perfect wisdom enabled him to distinguish what
was beneficial and what was harmful. If one cannot make this
crucial distinction, how can one be of any help to other beings?
One may be wise indeed, knowing full well what leads to
happiness and what to misery, but then, without compassion
one might feel quite indifferent to the fates of other beings. Thus
it was the Buddha’s practical compassion which led him to
exhort people to avoid unskillful actions that bring harm and
suffering. And it was wisdom that allowed him to be selective,
precise and effective in what he admonished people to do. The
combination of these two virtues, compassion and wisdom,
made the Buddha an unexcelled teacher.
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The Buddha had no selfish thoughts of gaining honor, fame or
the adulation of many followers. He did not mingle with people
as a socialite. He approached beings with the sole intention of
pointing out the correct way to them so that they could be
enlightened to the extent of their capacities. This was his great
compassion. When he had finished this duty, the Buddha would
retire to a secluded part of the forest. He did not stay among the
crowds, bantering and mixing freely like a common person. He
did not introduce his pupils to each other, saying, “Here’s my
disciple the wealthy merchant; here’s the great professor.” It is
not easy to live a solitary and secluded life. No ordinary
worldling can enjoy total seclusion. But then, the Buddha was
not ordinary.
  Advice for Spiritual Teachers
This is an important point for anyone aspiring to become a
preacher of the Dhamma or a meditation teacher. One should
exercise great discretion in relating with students.
If one has any relationship at all with them, one must remember
always to be motivated by great compassion, following the
footsteps of the Buddha. There is danger in becoming too close
and familiar with those who are being helped. If a meditation
teacher becomes too close to his or her students, disrespect
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and irreverence may be the result.

Meditation teachers should also take the Buddha as their model
for the proper motivation in sharing the Dhamma with others.
One should not be satisfied with becoming a popular or
successful Dhamma teacher. One’s motivation must be,
instead, genuinely benevolent. One must strive to benefit one’s
students through presenting a technique whose actual practice
can tame the behavior of body, speech and mind, thereby
bringing true peace and happiness. Teachers must continually
examine their own motivations in this regard.

Once I was asked what was the most effective way to teach
meditation. I replied, “First and foremost, one should practice
until one is dexterous in one’s own practice. Then one must
gain a sound theoretical knowledge of the scriptures. Finally,
one must apply these two, based on a motivation of genuine
lovingkindness and compassion. Teaching based on these
three factors will doubtless be effective.”

In this world many people enjoy fame, honor and success due
to uncanny strokes of fate or kamma. They may not really have
fulfilled the accomplishment of cause, as the Buddha did. That
is, they may not have worked hard, but simply became
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successful or wealthy by a fluke. Such people are likely to
receive a lot of criticism. People might say, “It’s a wonder how
he or she got into that position, considering how sloppy and
lazy he or she is. He or she doesn’t deserve such luck.”

Other people may work very hard. But perhaps because they
are neither intelligent nor gifted, they attain their goal slowly, if
at all. They are unable to fulfill the accomplishment of result.
People like this are not free from blame either. “Poor old
so-and-so. He or she works hard, but does not have much for
brains.”

Yet another group of people work very hard and become
successful. Having fulfilled their ambition, they then rest upon
their laurels, so to speak. Unlike the Buddha, who turned his
own glorious achievements to the service of humanity, they do
not take any further steps by helping society or other beings.
Again, these people will be criticized. “Look how selfish he or
she is. He or she’s got so much property, wealth, and talent, but
no compassion or generosity.”

In this world it is difficult to be free from blame or criticism.
People will always talk behind one another’s backs. Some
criticisms are merely gossip, and others are deserved, pointing
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to some real flaw or lack in a person. The Buddha was indeed
an exceptional human being in having fulfilled the
accomplishments of cause, of result, and of service.

One could write an entire book describing the greatness and
perfection of the Buddha, the discoverer and teacher of the path
to freedom. Here, I only wish to open the doors for you to
contemplate his virtues so that you can develop effort in your
practice.

Contemplating the Buddha’s greatness, you may be filled with
awe and adoration. You may feel deep appreciation for the
wonderful opportunity to walk the path which such a great
individual discovered and taught. Perhaps you will understand
that in order to walk on such a path, you cannot be sloppy, nor
sluggish, nor lazy.

May you be inspired. May you be brave, strong and enduring,
and may you walk this path to its end.
9. Avoiding Lazy People
The ninth way to arouse effort is to avoid the company of lazy
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persons. There are people who are not interested in mental
development, who never try to purify themselves. They just eat,
sleep and make merry as much as they want. They are like
pythons, who swallow their prey and remain immobile for hours.
How will you ever be inspired to put forth energy in the
company of such people? You should try to avoid becoming a
member of their gang. Avoiding their company is a positive step
in developing energy.
  10. Seeking Energetic Friends
Now you should take another step and choose to associate
instead with yogis who are endowed with developed, enduring
and persevering energy. This is the tenth way of arousing effort.
Most specifically it refers to a yogi in retreat, but in fact, you will
be well off spending time with anyone who is totally committed
to the Dhamma, enduring and resolute, trying to activate
mindfulness from moment to moment, and maintaining a high
standard of progressive or persistent energy. People who give
top priority to mental health are your best companions. In a
retreat you can learn from the people who seem to be model
yogis. You can emulate their behavior and practice, and this will
lead to your own development. You should allow others’
diligence to be contagious. Take in the good energy, and allow
yourself to be influenced by it.
  11. Inclining the Mind toward Developing Energy
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The last and best way to arouse energy is persistently to incline
the mind toward developing energy. The key to this practice is
to adopt a resolute stand. “I will be as mindful as I can at each
moment, sitting, standing, walking, going from place to place. I
will not allow the mind to space out. I will not allow a moment of
mindfulness to be missing.” If, on the contrary, you have a
careless, self-defeating attitude, your practice will be doomed
from the start.

Every moment can be charged with this courageous effort, a
very consistent and enduring energy. If a moment of laziness
dares to tiptoe in, you will catch it right away and shoo it out! Ko
sajja,
laziness, is one of the most undermining and subversive
elements in meditation practice. You can eradicate it by effort:
courageous, persistent, persevering, enduring effort.

I hope you will arouse energy through any and all of these
eleven ways, so that you will make swift progress in the path
and eventually attain that consciousness which uproots
defilements forever.
  RAPTURE: FOURTH FACTOR OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Pīti, or rapture, has the characteristic of happiness, delight and
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satisfaction. It is in itself a mental state possessing these
characteristics. But a further characteristic of rapture is that it
can pervade associated mental states, making them delightful
and happy and bringing a sense of deep satisfaction.
  Lightness and Agility
Rapture fills the mind and body with lightness and agility. This,
according to the classical analysis, is its function. The mind
becomes light and energized. The body also feels agile, light
and workable. The manifestation of rapture is in actual
sensations of lightness in the body. Rapture manifests very
clearly through physical sensations.

When rapture occurs, coarse and uncomfortable sensations are
replaced with something very soft and gentle, velvet smooth
and light. You may feel such a lightness of body that it seems
as if you are floating in the air. At times the lightness may be
active rather than still. You may feel as if you were being
pushed or pulled, swayed and rocked, or as if you are traveling
on rough water. You may feel off-balance, but it is nonetheless
very pleasant.
  The Five Types of Rapture
There are five types of rapture. The first is called “Lesser
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Rapture.” At the beginning of practice, after the hindrances
have been kept at bay for sufficient periods of time, yogis may
begin feeling chills and thrills of pleasure, some times goose
bumps. This is the beginning of rapturous feelings.

The next type is called “Momentary Rapture.” It comes in
flashes like lightning and is more intense than the first type. The
third kind is “Overwhelming Rapture.” The classical simile is of
someone sitting by the sea and suddenly seeing a huge wave
that is coming to engulf her or him. Yogis experience a similar
feeling of being swept off the ground. Their hearts thump; they
are overwhelmed; they wonder what is happening.

The fourth type of rapture is “Uplifting or Exhilarating Rapture.”
With this, you feel so light that you might think you are sitting a
few feet off the ground. You feel as if you are floating about or
flying, rather than walking on the earth.

The fifth type of rapture, “Pervasive Rapture,” is the strongest of
all. It fills the body, every pore. If you are sitting, you feel
fantastically comfortable and you have no desire at all to get up.
Instead, there is a great interest in continuing to sit without
moving.
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The first three types of rapture are called pamojja, or weak
rapture. The last two deserve the rightful name of
pīti,
strong rapture. The first three are causes of, or stepping stones
toward, the stronger two.
  Wise Attention Causes Rapture
As with effort, the Buddha said there is only one cause for
rapture: wise attention. Specifically, this is wise attention to
being effortful in bringing about wholesome rapturous feelings
connected with the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha.
  Eleven More Ways to Develop Rapture
The commentaries give eleven ways of arousing rapture:
1. Remembering the virtues of the Buddha
The first way is buddhānussati, recollecting the virtues of the
Buddha. He has quite a number of virtues, and it might not be
necessary for you to go through all of the traditional lists of
them before the first hints of rapture begin to appear. For
example, the first traditionally listed virtue is the quality of araha
. This
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means that the Buddha is worthy of respect by all humans,
devas and brahmas, due to the purity he attained by uprooting
all kilesas. Think about the purity he achieved in this way, and
perhaps some joy will come up in you. You might also recollect
the Buddha’s three accomplishments as described in our
discussion of courageous effort.

However, reflections and recitation of formulas are not the only
way to recollect the Buddha’s virtues. In fact, these are far less
reliable than one’s own intuitive insights. When a yogi attains
the insight into arising and passing away, rapture arises
naturally, and so does an appreciation of the Buddha’s virtues.
The Buddha himself said, “One who sees the Dhamma sees
me.” A yogi who attains insight will truly be able to appreciate
the greatness of the founder of our lineage. You might say to
yourself, “If I am able to experience such purity of mind, how
much greater the Buddha’s purity must have been!”
  2. Rejoicing in the Dhamma
The second way of arousing rapture is to recollected the
Dhamma and its virtues. The first traditional virtue is expressed
in a phrase: “Well spoken is the Dhamma by the Buddha,
indeed well proclaimed is the Dhamma by the Buddha.” The
Buddha taught the Dhamma in the most effective way, and your
present teachers have reliably transmitted it. This is indeed a
cause for rejoicing.
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The Buddha spoke at length about the threefold training of sīla,
samādhi and paññā. To follow the training, we first maintain
purity of conduct by keeping the precepts. We try to develop a
high level of moral integrity through taming our actions and
speech. This will bring us many benefits. First, we will be free
from self-judgement, self- blame and remorse. We are free from
censure by the wise, and from punishment by the law.

Next if we follow the Buddha’s instructions, we will develop
concentration. If you are faithful, consistent and patient, you can
experience a mind that is happy and clear, bright and peaceful.
This is samatha sukha, the happiness that comes from
concentration and tranquility of mind. You can even attain the
various levels of jhānas or absorptions, states of consciousness
in which the kilesas are temporarily suppressed and an
extraordinary peace results.

Then, practicing vipassanā, we have the chance to experience
a third kind of happiness. As you penetrate deeper into the
Dhamma, attaining the stage of insight into the rise and fall of
phenomena, you will feel exhilarating rapture. This happiness
could be called “Thrilling Happiness.” Later on comes the
“Happiness of Clarity.” And eventually, when you reach the
insight called saṅkhārupekkhañāṇa, the insight into equanimity
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regarding all formations, you will experience the “Happiness of
Equanimity.” It is a profound delight, not so agitated and
thrilling, but very subtle and balanced.

Thus, true to the promises and guarantees of the Buddha,
those who follow the path of practice will be able to experience
all these sorts of happiness. If you manage to experience all
these kinds of happiness yourself, you can deeply appreciate
the truth of the Buddha’s words. You too will say, “Well spoken
is the Dhamma by the Buddha, indeed well proclaimed is the
Dhamma by the Buddha.”

Finally, transcending all these kinds of happiness is the ultimate
“Happiness of Cessation.” Going beyond the happiness of
equanimity, a yogi can experience a moment of insight into
nibbāna which comes about with the attainment of noble path
consciousness. After this, a yogi feels a depth of appreciation
for the Buddha’s Dhamma that he or she may never have
known before. Did the Buddha not say, “If you meditate in this
way, you can arrive at the cessation of suffering?” This is true.
Many people have experienced it; and when finally you know
for yourself, your mind will sing with rapture and gratitude.
  Great Possibilities that come to Fruition in Practice
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Thus, there are three ways of appreciating the fact that the
Dhamma is well proclaimed. First, if you think deeply about the
great possibilities that lie within meditation practice, your mind
will be full of praises for the Dhamma — and of rapture, too, of
course. Perhaps you naturally possess great faith, so that
whenever you hear a discourse or read about the Dhamma you
are filled with rapture and interest. This is the first of three ways
of appreciating the Dhamma. Second, if you enter the practice
itself, the promises and guarantees of the Buddha will certainly
begin to come true. Sīla and samādhi will improve your life. This
teaches you more intimately how well proclaimed the Dhamma
is, for it has brought you clarity of mind and a deep, subtle
happiness. Third and finally, the greatness of the Dhamma can
be seen in the practice of wisdom, which leads eventually to the
happiness of nibbāna. At this point profound changes may take
place in your life. It is like being reborn. You can imagine the
rapture and appreciation you would feel at this point.
  3. Rejoicing in the Virtues of the Saṅgha
Recollecting the virtues of the Saṅgha is the third major way of
developing rapture listed in the commentaries. The Saṅgha is
the group of noble individuals who are totally committed to the
Dhamma, striving earnestly and patiently. They follow the path
in a straight and correct way and arrive at their respective
destinations.

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If you have experienced some purity of mind in your practice,
you can imagine others feeling the same thing, and perhaps
even deeper levels, far beyond what you have known. If you
have attained some degree of enlightenment, you will be
endowed with unshakable faith in the existence of other noble
ones who have traversed this same path with you. Such people
are indeed pure and impeccable.
  4. Considering Your Own Virtue
The fourth way of arousing rapture is to consider the purity of
your own conduct. Impeccability of conduct is a powerful virtue
which brings a great sense of satisfaction and joy to its
possessor. It takes great perseverance to maintain purity. When
you review your own efforts in this regard you may feel a deep
sense of fulfillment and exhilaration. If you cannot maintain pure
conduct, you will be invaded by remorse and self-judgment.
You will not be able to concentrate on what you are doing, and
thus your practice cannot progress.

Virtue is the foundation of concentration and wisdom. There are
many examples of people who have attained enlightenment by
turning their mindfulness toward the rapture that arises from
their contemplation of the purity of their own sīla. This
contemplation can be particularly helpful in an emergency.
  Rapture during an Emergency: The Story of Tissa
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There was a young man called Tissa who, upon listening to the
Buddha, was struck with a great sense of urgency. He was a
very ambitious person, but he felt a deep sense of emptiness in
the world and so he turned his ambition toward becoming an
arahant. Soon he renounced the worldly life and took the robes
of a monk.

Before he ordained, he gave some of his property to his
younger brother Cūḷatissa, a gift which made his younger
brother very prosperous. Unfortunately, Cūḷatissa’s wife
suddenly became very greedy. She was afraid that the bhikkhu
might change his mind, disrobe, and come to reclaim his
property, which would deplete her own situation. Cūḷatissa’s
wife tried to think of ways to protect her newly-acquired wealth,
and finally fell upon the idea of calling some hit men. She
promised them a handsome prize if they would kill the bhikkhu.

The thugs agreed, and went in search of this bhikkhu in the
forest. Finding him immersed in his practice, they surrounded
him and prepared to kill him. The bhikkhu said, “Please wait a
while. 1 haven’t finished my job yet.”
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“How can we wait?” one thug replied. ‘We’ve got a job to do as
well.”

“Just a night or two,” the bhikkhu pleaded. “Then you can come
back and kill me.”
“We don’t buy that! You’ll run away! Give us a guarantee that
you won’t.”
The bhikkhu had no material possessions beyond his bowl and
robe, so he could not leave any deposit with the hit men.
Instead, he took a huge boulder and smashed both his thigh
bones. Satisfied that he could not escape, the thugs retreated
and left him to his striving.

You can imagine what a strong desire the young man had to
uproot the kilesas. He was not afraid to die or suffer pain. But
he was afraid of the kilesas, which were still very much alive in
him. He had his life, but he had not finished his work yet, and
he dreaded the thought of dying before he had uprooted the
defilements.
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Since this young man had renounced the world with such deep
faith, he must have been quite diligent in developing his
mindfulness. His practice must have been strong enough to
face the excruciating pain of smashed thigh-bones, for he
watched that intense pain without giving in. While he watched,
he reflected on his own virtue. He asked himself whether he
had broken any of the bhikkhu’s precepts since the day of his
ordination. To his delight, he found that he had been perfectly
pure without committing a single offense. This realization filled
him with satisfaction and rapture.

The pain of his fractured limbs subsided, and intense rapture
became the most prominent object in the young man’s mind. He
turned his mindfulness toward it, and noted rapture, happiness
and joy. As he was noting in this way, his insight matured and
speeded up. Suddenly he broke through: he experienced the
Four Noble Truths and became an arahant in a short space of
time.

The moral of this story is that one should build a good
foundation in sīla. Without sīla, sitting meditation is no more
than an invitation to aches and pains. Build up your foundation!
If your sīla is powerful, your meditative efforts will prove very
fruitful.
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  5. Remembering Your Own Generosity
The fifth way of arousing rapture is to recollect one’s own
generosity. If one can perform an act of charity without any
selfish motivation at all, but rather wishing for the welfare and
happiness of others, or wishing for liberation from suffering,
then that act will be full of merit. Not only that, but the act brings
great happiness and gladness into your mind. Motivation is
crucial in determining whether generosity is beneficial. it should
not be motivated by ulterior selfishness.

Generosity is not only financial. It can also mean simply
encouraging a friend who is in need of support. it is most
important to be generous in times of scarcity and these can also
be the most satisfying time to shares the little that one has.

There is a story of a king in Sri Lanka in the old days. seems
that one day he was retreating hastily from a baffle, carrying
only the barest of provisions. While he was going through the
forest he chanced upon a bhikkhu making alms rounds. The
bhikkhu was an arahant, it seems. The king gave part of his
food to that monk, even though he only had enough for himself,
his horse and his attendant. Much later, when he recalled all the
gifts he had given in his life, some of which had been splendid
and precious, this was the one he cherished most.
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Another story on this subject is set in the Mahāsi Sāsana
Yeikthā, a center in Rangoon. Some years ago, when the
center still was in a slow process of development some of the
yogis could not afford to pay for their food and
accommodations. People were poor at that time. But these
yogis were making good progress, and it was a great pity to see
them leaving the center only because they could not afford to
stay. So the meditation teachers got together and supported
those yogis who had strong potential. Indeed, these students
made tremendous progress. When the yogis succeeded in
attaining their goals, the teachers were filled with joy and
rapture.
  6. Considering the Virtues of the Gods
The sixth way to bring rapture is to think of the virtues of the
devas and brahmas, beings in the higher realms. While these
beings were still in the human realm, they had great faith in
kamma. They believed that good actions will bring a reward,
and harm will bring harmful consequences. So, they tried to
practice what was good and refrain from unskillful actions.
Some of them even meditated. The positive force of these
beings’ actions resulted in their rebirth in higher planes, where
life is more pleasant than it is in our human world. Those who
gained absorption in the jhānas were reborn in the brahma
world, with life spans lasting eons. Thus, when we think of the
virtues of super human beings, we actually consider the faith,
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charity, effort and perseverance which they developed in the
human world. It is easy to compare them with ourselves. If we
can find ourselves on a par with the devas and brahmas, we
can be filled with satisfaction and joy.
  7. Reflecting on Perfect Peace
The seventh way of arousing rapture is to reflect on the peace
of the cessation of kilesas. In the ultimate sense, this means
reflecting on nibbāna. If you have experienced this depth of
peace, you can bring up a lot of rapture upon recollecting it.

If you have not yet experienced nibbāna yourself, you can
reflect on the coolness of deep concentration or jhāna. The
peace of deep concentration is far superior to worldly
pleasures. There are people whose skill at absorption is so
strong that even when they are not actually practicing
concentration, their minds are never invaded by the kilesas.
Thus, for sixty or seventy years they may live in peace. To think
about this degree of coolness and clarity can bring about
extraordinary joy.

If you have not experienced jhāna, then you can remember
times in your practice when the mind felt pure and clean. When
the kilesas are put aside for some time, tranquility and coolness
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naturally fill the mind. You may find yourself comparing this with
the happiness you may have enjoyed in this world. You will see
that worldly happiness is quite coarse and gross in comparison
with the happiness of practice. Unlike the rapture of coolness
that arises from purity of mind, there is something burning about
worldly pleasures. Comparing thus, you may be filled with
rapture.
  8-9. Avoiding Coarse People, Seeking Refined Friends
The eighth and ninth ways of arousing rapture are related. They
are to avoid rough and coarse persons, persons overwhelmed
by anger and lacking in metta, or loving kindness; and to seek
out refined persons who have metta in their hearts. In this world
there are many people who are so overwhelmed by anger that
they cannot appreciate the difference between wholesome and
unwholesome activities. They do not know the benefit or
appropriateness of paying respect to persons worthy of respect.
nor of learning about the Dhamma, nor of actually meditating.
They may be hot-tempered, easily victimized by anger and
aversion. Their lives may be filled with rough and distasteful
activities. Living with such a person, you can imagine, might not
be a very rapturous experience.

Other people have a deep considerateness and loving care for
other beings. The warmth and love of their hearts is manifested
in actions and speech. Refined individuals like these carry out
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their relationships in a subtle, sweet way. Gaining their
company is very fulfilling. One is surrounded by an aura of love
and warmth, which leads to the arising of rapture.
  10. Reflecting on the Suttas
The tenth way of arousing rapture is reflecting on the suttas.
Some suttas describe the virtues of the Buddha. if you are a
person with a lot of faith, reflecting on one of these suttas can
give you great joy and happiness. The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta,
among others, talks about the benefits one can enjoy through
practicing the Dhamma. Others contain inspiring stories of the
saugha, the community of noble ones. Reading or reflecting on
these suttas can fill one with inspiration, which leads to rapture
and happiness.
  11. Inclining the Mind
Finally, if you firmly and consistently incline the mind toward
developing rapture, your aim will be fulfilled. You must
understand that rapture arises when the mind is relatively clean
of kilesas. So, to reach rapture, you must put in energy to be
mindful from moment to moment so that concentration arises
and the kilesas are kept at bay. You must be fully committed to
the task of arousing firm mindfulness in each moment whether
you are sitting or lying down, walking, standing or doing other
activities.
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  TRANQUILLITY: FIFTH FACTOR OF
ENLIGHTENMENT
Most people’s minds are in a state of agitation all the time. Their
minds run here and there, flapping like flags in a strong wind,
scattering like a pile of ashes into which a stone is tossed.
There is no coolness or calmness, no silence, no peace. This
restlessness or dissipation of mind might properly be called the
waves of mind, reminiscent of the water’s surface when wind is
blowing. Ripples or waves of mind become apparent when
restlessness occurs.

Even if this scattered mind becomes concentrated, the
concentration still is associated with restlessness, as when one
sick member of the family affects all the others with
feverishness and unrest. So, too, restlessness has a strong
effect on other simultaneously occurring mental states. When
restlessness is present, it is not possible for true happiness to
be reached.

When the mind is scattered, it is difficult to control our behavior.
We begin to act according to our whims and fancies without
considering properly whether an action is wholesome or not.
Because of this unthinking mind, we may find ourselves
performing unskillful actions or saying unskillful things. Such
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speech and action can lead to remorse, self-judgement and
even more agitation. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that. If
only I’d thought about it before I did it.” When the mind is
assaulted by remorse and regret, it will not be able to gain
happiness.

The enlightenment factor of tranquility arises in the absence of
restlessness and remorse. The Pāli word for it is passaddhi,
which means cool calmness. Coolness and calmness of mind
can only occur when mental agitation or activity have been
silenced.

In the world today, people feel a lot of mental suffering. Many
resort to drugs, tranquilizers and sleeping pills to bring calm and
enjoyment to their minds. Often young people experiment with
drugs to get through a period in their lives when they feel great
agitation. Unfortunately they sometimes find drugs so enjoyable
that they end up addicted, which is a terrible pity.

The tranquil peace that comes from meditation is far superior to
anything drugs or any other external substances can provide.
Of course, the goal of meditation is much higher than just
peace, but peace and tranquility are nonetheless benefits of
walking the straight, correct path of the Dhamma.
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  Calming the Mind and Body
The characteristic of passaddhi is to calm the mind and body, to
silence and tranquilize agitation.
Extracting Heat from the Mind
Its function is to extract or suppress the heat of the mind which
arises due to restlessness, dissipation or remorse. When the
mind is assaulted by these harmful states, it becomes hot, as if
on fire. Tranquility of mind extinguishes that heat and replaces it
with the characteristic of coolness and ease.
  Nonagitation
The manifestation of passaddhi is nonagitation of body and
mind. As a yogi you can easily observe how this state of mind
brings about great calm and tranquility, physical and mental.
Surely you are familiar with the absence of tranquility. There is
always an urge to move, to get up and do some thing. The body
twitches, the mind darts nervously back and forth. When all of
this ceases, there are no ripples in the mind, just a smooth and
calm state. Movements become gentle, smooth and graceful.
You can sit with hardly a flutter of movement.
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This factor of enlightenment follows invariably upon the arising
of the previous one, rapture. The strongest rapture, pervasive
rapture, is most particularly associated with strong tranquility.
After pervasive rapture has filled the whole body, one feels
unwilling to move at all, not to mention to disturb one’s mental
stillness.

It is said that the Buddha spent the first forty-nine days after his
liberation enjoying the fruits of enlightenment. He maintained
certain postures for seven days each, at seven different places,
enjoying the fruits of enlightenment by going in and out of
fruition attainments. By virtue of his pervasive Dhamma pīti or
Dhamma rapture, his whole body was permeated with
satisfaction for all of that time, so that he did not want to move
and could not even fully close his eyelids. His eyes remained
fully opened or half opened. You, too, may experience how the
eyes fly open involuntarily when strong rapture arises. You may
try to close them, but they fly open again. Eventually you may
decide to continue your practice with your eyes open. If you
have such experiences, perhaps you can appreciate how much
greater was the Buddha’s happiness and Dhamma rapture.
  Wise Attention Brings Tranquility
According to the Buddha the way to arouse tranquility is
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through wise attention. More specifically, this is wise attention
directed toward activating wholesome thoughts, wholesome
mental states and, more importantly, meditative mental states,
so that tranquility and rapture will arise.
  Seven More Ways of Developing Tranquility
For their part, the commentators point out seven ways of
arousing tranquility.
1. Proper food
The first way is to take sensible and nutritious food — food that
satisfies the twin principles of necessity and suitability. Nutrition
is very important, as you know. One’s diet need not be
elaborate, but it should provide for the body’s physical needs. If
your food is not nutritious enough, your physical strength will
not be sufficient for you to make progress in meditation. Food
should also be suitable, which means appropriate for you
personally. If certain foods cause digestive upheavals, or if you
really dislike them, you will not be able to practice. You will not
feel well and you will constantly be pining for foods you would
prefer to have.

We might draw a good lesson from the Buddha’s time. A
particular rich merchant and a laywoman were the leaders and
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organizers of most of the religious occasions in the area where
the Buddha was teaching. Somehow things never seemed to
work quite right unless these two were involved in planning and
organizing a retreat or other event. Their secret of success was
holding to the principles of necessity and suitability. They
always took the trouble to find out what was needed by the
monks, nuns or yogis who were invited to receive food
donations. The man and woman also found out what was
suitable. Perhaps you can remember having food you needed
and longed for, food which also was suitable, so that after
eating it you found your mind became calm and concentrated.
  2. Good Climate
The second way to arouse tranquility is to meditate in an
environment where the weather is good, so that you find it
comfortable and convenient to meditate. Everyone has
preferences. No matter what we prefer, however, it is possible
to adapt to different climates by the use of fans and heaters, or
lighter and heavier clothing.
  3. A Comfortable Posture
A third way to cultivate tranquility is to adopt a comfortable
posture. We generally sit and walk in vipassanā practice. These
are the two best postures for beginners. Comfortable does not
mean luxurious! Lying down or sitting in a chair with a backrest
might be considered luxurious postures unless you have a
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physical ailment that makes them necessary. When you sit
unsupported, or when you walk, you need a certain degree of
physical effort to keep from falling over. In the luxurious
postures this effort is missing, and it is easier to doze off. The
mind becomes very relaxed and comfortable, and in no time
you might disturb the air with snores.
  4. Neither Overenthusiasm nor Sloppiness
The fourth way to arouse tranquility is to maintain a balanced
effort in practice. You should be neither overenthusiastic nor
sloppy. If you push yourself too hard, you will miss the object
and become tired. If you are lazy, you will not move very far
ahead. Overzealous people may be likened to people who are
in a big hurry to reach the top of a mountain. They climb very
quickly, but because the mountain is steep, they must stop
frequently to rest. In the end it takes them a long time to get to
the top of the mountain. Lazy, sloppy types, on the other hand,
will be like snails crawling far behind.
  5-6. Avoiding Louts, Choosing Calm and Kind Friends
Avoiding bad-tempered, rough or cruel people can also aid
tranquility. It is obvious that if your companions are
hot-tempered, always angry with you and scolding you, you will
never arrive at peace of mind. It is also evident that you will
become more tranquil by associating with people who are calm
and quiet in body and in mind.
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  7. Inclining the Mind toward Peacefulness
Last, if you constantly incline your mind toward practice, hoping
to achieve tranquility and peace, you can realize this aim. If you
are vigilant in activating mindfulness, the enlightenment factor
of tranquility will arise in you quite naturally.
  CONCENTRATION: SIXTH FACTOR OF
ENLIGHTENMENT
Concentration is that factor of mind which lands on the object of
observation, which pricks into it, penetrates into it and stays
there. The Pāli word for it is samādhi.
Nonagitation
The characteristic of samādhi is nondispersal, nondissipation,
nonscatteredness. This means that the mind sticks with the
object of observation, sinks into it, and remains still and calm,
right there.
  Fixed Concentration and Moving Concentration
There are two types of samādhi. One is continuous samādhi,
which is the concentration gained while meditating on a single
object. This is the type of concentration gained in pure
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tranquility meditation, where the one requirement is for the mind
to stay put on one object to the total exclusion of all other
objects. Those who follow the path of continuous concentration
are able to experience it especially when they gain absorption
into the jhānas.

Vipassanā practice, however, is aimed toward the development
of wisdom and the completion of the various stages of insight.
Insight, of course, refers to basic intuitive understandings such
as the distinction between mind and matter, the intuitive
comprehension of their interrelation ship by virtue of cause and
effect, and the direct perception of the impermanence,
unsatisfactoriness and selflessness of all physical and mental
phenomena. These are basic in sights, and there are others
which one must traverse before attaining the path and fruition
consciousness which have nibbāna or the cessation of all
suffering as their object.

In vipassanā practice, the field of awareness of objects is
crucially important. The field of vipassanā objects are mental
and physical phenomena, those things which are directly
perceptible without resorting to the thinking process. In other
words, as we practice vipassanā we observe many different
objects, with the goal of gaining insight into their nature.
Momentary concentration, the second type, is most important in
vipassanā practice. Vipassanā objects are arising and passing
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away all the time, and momentary concentration arises in each
moment with each object. In spite of its momentary nature, such
samādhi can arise from moment to moment without breaks in
between. If it does so, momentary concentration shares with
continuous concentration the power to tranquilize the mind and
keep the kilesas at bay.
  Gathering the Mind
Let us say you are sitting, watching the rise and fall of the
abdomen. As you make the effort to be mindful of the rising and
falling processes, you are being with the moment. With each
moment of energy and effort you expend in cultivating
awareness, there is a corresponding mental activity of
penetration. It is as though the mind were stuck fast onto the
object of observation. You drop, or fall, into the object. Not only
is the mind one-pointed and penetrating into the object, not only
does the mind remain still for that moment in that object, but
this mental factor of samādhi has the power to gather together
the other mental factors which arise simultaneously with that
moment of consciousness. Concentration is a factor which
collects the mind together; this is its function. It keeps all the
mental factors in a group so that they do not scatter or disperse.
Thus, the mind remains firmly embedded in the object.
  Peace and Stillness
There is an analogy here with parents and children. Good
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parents want their children to grow up to be well-mannered and
morally responsible adults. Toward this goal, they exercise
some degree of control over their offspring. Kids are not yet
mature, and they lack the wisdom of discretion. So parents
must make sure they do not run out and mix with the naughty
children of the neighborhood. Mental factors are like children in
this respect. Just as children who lack parental guidance may
act in ways that harm them selves and others, so too the
uncontrolled mind will suffer from bad influences. The kilesas
are always loitering nearby. If the mind is not contained, it can
easily mix with delinquents like desire, aversion, anger, or
delusion. Then the mind becomes wild and ill-mannered, which
manifests in bodily behavior as well as in speech. The mind,
like a child, may resent discipline at first. By and by, however, it
will become more and more tame and civilized and tranquil, and
more remote from attacks by the kilesas. The concentrated
mind becomes more and more still, more and more quiet, more
and more peaceful. This sense of peace and stillness is the
manifestation of concentration.

Children, too, can be tamed if they are properly cared for. They
may have a wild nature at first, but eventually, as they mature,
they will understand why they should avoid bad people. They
will even begin to be grateful for the care and control their
parents gave to them. Perhaps they even observe that some
childhood friend whose parents lacked vigilance has grown up
to be a criminal. When they are old enough to go out into the
world, they will be able to discriminate for themselves what sort
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of people to choose as friends, and whom to stay away from.
As they grow older and more mature, this upbringing of theirs
causes their continued development and prosperity.
  Concentration Permits Wisdom to Arise
Concentration is the proximate cause for the unfolding of
wisdom. This fact is very important. Once the mind is quiet and
still, there is space for wisdom to arise. There can be
comprehension of the true nature of mind and matter. Perhaps
there will be an intuitive insight into how mind and matter can
be differentiated, and how they are related by cause and effect.
Step by step, wisdom will penetrate into more and more
profound levels of truth. One will see clearly the characteristics
of impermanence, suffering and absence of self; and finally
insight is gained into the cessation of suffering. When this
illumination happens, a person will never be able to become a
grossly evil person again, no matter what environment he or
she may be in.
  Parents and Children
Parents or potential parents should perhaps prick up their ears
here. It is very important for parents to control their own minds
by concentration. Eventually they should complete the various
levels of insight. Such parents can be very skillful in bringing up
children, because they can differentiate clearly between
wholesome and unwholesome activities. They will be able to
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instruct their children likewise, most particularly by setting a
good example. Parents who do not control their minds, who are
given to ill-mannered behavior, cannot help their children
develop goodness and intelligence.

Some of my students in Burma have been parents. When they
started meditation, they only considered their children’s worldly
welfare with respect to education and earning a livelihood in this
world. Then these parents came to our meditation center and
practiced. They had deep practice. When they returned to their
children, they had new attitudes and plans. They now felt that it
was more important for their children to learn to control their
minds and develop good hearts than just to gain success in the
world. When the children came of age, their parents urged them
to practice meditation. In fact, when I asked the parents if there
was a difference between children born before and after
meditation experiences, the parents replied, “Oh, certainly.
Those who were born after we completed our meditation
practice are more obedient and considerate. They have good
hearts compared with the other children.”
  Steady Attention Causes Concentration
The Buddha said that continuous wise attention, aimed toward
the development of concentration was the cause of
concentration. Preceding concentration causes successive
concentration to arise.
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  Eleven More Ways to Arouse Concentration
The commentaries describe eleven more ways to arouse
concentration.
1. Cleanliness
The first is purity of the internal and external bases, of the body
and the environment. This influence has been discussed under
the second factor of enlightenment, investigation (see page
103).
  2. A Balanced Mind
The second cause of concentration is balancing the controlling
faculties, wisdom and faith on the one hand, energy and
concentration on the other. I have devoted a chapter to this
balancing (see page 29).
  3. Clear Mental Image
The third cause is more relevant to jhāna practice than to strict
vipassanā, and so I will mention it only briefly. It is to be skillful
in the concentration object, meaning to maintain a clear mental
image as is practiced in tranquility meditation.
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  4. Uplifting the Discouraged Mind
The fourth cause is to uplift the mind when it becomes heavy,
depressed or discouraged. You have doubtless taken a lot of
bumps and tumbles in your practice. At these times you should
try to uplift your mind, perhaps applying techniques for arousing
energy, rapture or insight. Uplifting the discouraged mind is also
one of the teacher’s jobs. When a yogi comes to interviews with
a long and sullen face, the teacher knows how to inspire him or
her.
  5. Calming the Overenthusiastic Mind
At times it is also necessary to put down the excited mind. This
is the fifth cause leading to the development of concentration.
At times yogis have fascinating experiences in their meditation
practice. They become excited and active; their energy
overflows. At these times the teacher should not be
encouraging. He or she should speak in such a way as to put
yogis in their proper place, one might say. A teacher might also
help to activate the fifth factor of enlightenment, tranquility, by
the means discussed in the previous section. Or the teacher
may instruct yogis to take it easy, just settle back and watch
without trying too hard.
  6. Cheering the Mind that is Withered by Pain
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If the mind is shrunken and withered by pain, it may need to be
made happy. This is the sixth means. A yogi may feel
depressed by the environment, or by a recurrence of an old
health problem. At this time the mind needs to be uplifted and
cleared so that it becomes bright and sharp again. You might
try to liven it up in various ways. Or the teacher also can cheer
you up, not by telling jokes, but by encouraging talk.
  7. Continuous Balanced Awareness
The seventh way to arouse samādhi is to continue balanced
awareness at all times. Sometimes as the practice really
deepens, you seem to be making no effort, but you are still
mindful of objects as they arise and pass. At such times you
should try not to interfere, even if this comfortable speed feels
too slow for you and you want to step on the gas. You may
want to realize the Dhamma very quickly. If you do try to speed
up, you will upset the mind’s equilibrium, and your awareness
will become blunt. On the other hand, everything is so nice and
smooth that you might relax too much. This, too, brings
regression in practice. When there is effortless effort, you
should cruise along, yet nonetheless keep up with the
momentum that is present.
  8-9. Avoiding the Distracted, Choosing Friends who are
Focused
You should avoid people who are unconcentrated, and keep
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company with people who are concentrated — the eighth and
ninth arousers of concentration. People who are neither calm
nor peaceful, who have never developed any kind of
concentration, carry a lot of agitation within them. Children born
to such parents may also lack peace of mind. In Burma there is
a concept closely related to the current Western notion of “good
vibes.” There are many cases of people who have never
meditated before, but when they come into the meditation
center as visitors, they begin to feel very tranquilized and
peaceful. They get the vibrations of yogis who are working
seriously. Some visitors decide to come and practice. This
seems very natural.

In the Buddha’s time there was a king named Ajātasattu who
had killed his father to gain the throne. He spent many, many
sleepless nights after committing this evil deed. Finally he
decided to consult the Buddha. He went through the forest and
came upon a group of monks listening with peaceful
concentration to a discourse of the Buddha. It is said that all his
remorse and agitation disappeared, and he was filled with calm
and tranquility such as he had not felt in a long time.
  10. Reflecting on the Peace of Absorption
The tenth method is to reflect on the peace and tranquillity of
the jhānic absorptions. This is relevant for yogis who have
meditated in this way and attained pure tranquility.
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Remembering the method they used to attain jhāna, they can
briefly use it in the present moment to attain concentration of
mind. Those who have not yet attained the jhānas perhaps can
recall some of the times when momentary concentration was
very strong, when there was a feeling of peace and
one-pointedness. By remembering the feeling of liberation from
hindrances and the peace of mind that comes from continually
activating momentary concentration, concentration could again
arise.
  11. Inclining the Mind
The eleventh and last cause for concentration is to incline the
mind persistently toward developing concentration. Everything
depends on the effort expended in each moment. If you try to
be concentrated, you will succeed.
  EQUANIMITY: SEVENTH FACTOR OF
ENLIGHTENMENT
Perhaps the United Nations should be given a new name. If it
were called the Organization of Equanimities, delegates might
be reminded of the state of mind that is essential at the
negotiating table, especially when facing a hot problem. Any
decision maker must be able to remain unbiased in the face of
difficult problems.

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The Pāli word upekkhā, usually translated as equanimity,
actually refers to the balancing of energy. It is that state of mind
which is in the center, inclining neither to one extreme nor to the
other. It can be cultivated in ordinary life, with its daily
processes of decision, as well as in meditation.
  Mediating the Internal Contest
In meditation various states of mind compete. Faith tries to
overwhelm its complement, intelligence or wisdom, and vice
versa. It is the same with effort and concentration. It is common
knowledge among meditators that a balance in these two pairs
of mental states is essential to maintain progress and direction
in ractice.

At the beginning of a retreat you may be very enthusiastic and
ambitious. Immediately upon sitting down, you pounce on the
rising and falling or any other object that arises in your field of
awareness. Due to excess effort, your mind is likely to
overshoot the object of meditation or to slip off it. This missing
of the mark may upset you, for you will feel that you are doing
your best and yet not succeeding.

Perhaps you discover your folly and are able to slip into the
rhythm of what is happening. As you watch the rising and
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falling, the mind fits into these processes and goes along with
them. In time it becomes easy, and you begin to relax a bit.
Effort seems pointless, but if you are not careful, sloth and
torpor will creep in and overwhelm you.

At times a yogi may be quite successful in distinguishing mind
and matter and seeing their connection. She or he gets a flavor
of the Dhamma and finds this quite exciting. Filled with faith, the
yogi begins to want to tell friends and parents about the
wonderful truth she or he has just discovered. Due to faith,
imagination and planning run wild. With so much thinking and
feeling going on, the practice grinds to a halt. This succession
of events is symptomatic of excessive faith.

Another yogi might have the same intuitive insight, but instead
of wanting to spread the Dhamma, he or she begins to interpret
the experience. You might say this type of yogi makes a
mountain out of a molehill. Every little thing he or she perceives
is interpreted in light of the meditation literature which this yogi
has read. A string of reflections and thoughts arises, again
blocking the practice. Such are the symptoms of excess of
intelligence.

Many yogis have a great tendency to reason and check out
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what they hear before they accept it. They take pride in their
quality of discrimination. When they come to meditate, they are
always testing in an intellectual way the validity of what they are
doing, verifying the practice against their intellectual
understanding. If they remain caught in this pattern, such yogis
will always be plagued by doubt. Rotating endlessly on doubt’s
merry-go-round, they will never move forward.
  Faith Balanced with Intelligence, Energy Balanced with
Concentration
The characteristic of equanimity is the balancing of
corresponding mental states so that one does not overwhelm
the other. It creates a balance between faith and intelligence,
energy and concentration.
  Neither Excess nor Lack
The function of equanimity as a factor of enlightenment is to fill
in where there is a lack and to reduce where there is excess.
Equanimity arrests the mind before it falls into extremes of
excess or lack. When upekkhā is strong, there is total balance,
no inclination at all toward excess in any direction. The yogi
does not need to make an effort to be mindful.
  A Good Driver Just Lets the horses Pull
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It seems as if mindfulness is taking care of everything, like the
driver of the carriage who settles back and lets the horses do
the work of pulling. This state of ease and balance is the
manifestation of equanimity.

When I was a child, I heard people talking about how to carry
two baskets on the ends of a bamboo pole. This is common in
Burma. The pole is carried over one shoulder, with a loaded
basket on the front end and another in back. When you first
start off, you have to exert a lot of effort, and the load feels
burdensome. But after ten or fifteen steps, the pole begins
rocking up and down to the rhythm of your walking. You and the
pole and the baskets move along in a relaxed way, so that you
hardly feel the load. I could not believe this at first, but now that
I have meditated, I know that it is quite possible.
  Continuous Mindfulness Causes Equanimity
According to the Buddha the way to bring about equanimity is
wise attention: to be continually mindful from moment to
moment, without a break, based on the intention to develop
equanimity. One moment of equanimity causes a succeeding
moment of equanimity to arise. Once equanimity is activated, it
will be the cause for equanimity to continue and to deepen. It
can bring one to deep levels of practice beyond the insight into
the arising and passing away of phenomena.
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Equanimity does not arise easily in the minds of beginning
yogis. Though these yogis may be diligent in trying to be
mindful from moment to moment, equanimity comes and goes.
The mind will be well balanced for a little while and then it will
go off again. Step by step equanimity is strengthened. The
intervals when it is present grow more prolonged and frequent.
Eventually, equanimity becomes strong enough to qualify as a
factor of enlightenment.
  Five More Ways to Develop Equanimity
There are five ways to arouse equanimity discussed in the
commentaries.
1. Balanced Emotion toward All Living Things
The first and foremost is to have an equanimous attitude toward
all living beings. These are your loved ones, including animals.
We can have a lot of attachment and desire associated with
people we love, and also with our pets. Sometimes we can be
what we call “crazy” about someone. This experience does not
contribute to equanimity, which is a state of balance.

To prepare the ground for equanimity to arise, one should try to
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cultivate an attitude of non-attachment and equanimity toward
the people and animals we love. As worldly people, it may be
necessary to have a certain amount of attachment in
relationships, but excessive attachment is destructive to us as
well as to loved ones. We begin to worry too much over their
welfare. Especially in retreat, we should try to put aside such
excessive concern and worry for the welfare of our friends.

One reflection that can develop non-attachment is to regard all
beings as the heirs of their own kamma. People reap the
rewards of good kamma and suffer the consequences of
unwholesome acts. They created this kamma under their own
volition, and no one can prevent their experiencing the
consequences. On the ultimate level, there is nothing you or
anybody else can do to save them. If you think in this way, you
may worry less about your loved ones.

You also can gain equanimity about beings by reflecting on
ultimate reality. Perhaps you can tell yourself that, ultimately
speaking, there is only mind and matter. Where is that person
you are so wildly in love with? There is only nāma and rūpa,
mind and body, arising and passing away from moment to
moment. Which moment are you in love with? You may be able
to drive some sense into your heart this way.

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One might worry that reflections like this could turn into
unfeeling indifference and lead us to abandon a mate or a dear
person. This is not the case. Equanimity is not insensitivity,
indifference or apathy. It is simply non-preferential. Under its
influence, one does not push aside the things one dislikes nor
grasp at things one prefers. The mind rests in an attitude of
balance and acceptance of things as they are. When
equanimity, this factor of enlightenment, is present, one
abandons both attachment to beings and dislike for them. The
texts tell us that equanimity is the cause for the cleansing and
purification of one who has deep tendencies toward lust or
desire, which is the opposite of equanimity.
  2. Balanced Emotion toward Inanimate Things
The second way of developing this factor of enlightenment is to
adopt an attitude of balance toward inanimate things: property,
clothing, the latest fad on the market. Clothing, for example, will
be ripped and stained someday. It will decay and perish
because it is impermanent, like everything else. Furthermore,
we do not even own it, not in the ultimate sense. Everything is
nonself; there is no one to own anything. To develop balance
and to cut down attachment, it is helpful to look at material
things as transient. You might say to yourself, “I’m going to
make use of this for a short time. It’s not going to last forever.”

People who get caught up in fads may be compelled to buy
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each new product that appears on the market. Once this gadget
has been bought, another more sophisticated model will soon
appear. Such persons throw away the old one and buy a new
one. This behavior does not reflect equanimity.
  3. Avoiding People Who “Go Crazy”
The third method for developing equanimity as an
enlightenment factor is avoiding the company of people who
tend to be crazy about people and things. These people have a
deep possessiveness, clinging to what they think belongs to
them, both people and things. Some people find it difficult to
see another person enjoying or using their property.

There is the case of an elder who had a great attachment to
pets. It seems that in his monastery he bred a lot of dogs and
cats. One day this elder came to the center in Rangoon to do a
retreat. When he was meditating, he was practicing under
favorable circumstances, but his practice was not very deep.
Finally I had an idea and asked him if he had any pets in his
monastery. He brightened up and said, “Oh yes, I have so
many dogs and cats. Ever since I came here I’ve been thinking
about whether they have enough food to eat and how they’re
doing.” I asked him to forget about the animals and concentrate
on meditation, and quite soon he was making good progress.

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Please do not allow over-attachment to loved ones, or even
pets, to prevent you from attending meditation retreats which
will allow you to deepen your practice and to develop
equanimity as a factor of enlightenment.
  4. Choosing Friends who Stay Cool
As a fourth method of arousing upekkhā, you should choose
friends who have no great attachment to beings or possessions.
This method of developing equanimity is simply the converse of
the preceding one. In choosing such a friend, if you happen to
pick the elder I described just now, it could be a bit of a
problem.
  5. Inclining the Mind toward Balance
The fifth and last cause for this factor of enlightenment to arise
is constantly to incline your mind toward the cultivation of
equanimity. When your mind is inclined in? this way, it will not
wander off to thoughts of your dogs and cats at home, or of
your loved ones. It will only become more balanced and
harmonious.

Equanimity is of tremendous importance both in the practice
and in everyday life. Generally we get either swept away by
pleasant and enticing objects, or worked up into a great state of
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agitation when confronted by unpleasant, undesirable objects.
This wild alternation of contraries is nearly universal among
human beings. When we lack the ability to stay balanced and
unfaltering, we are easily swept into extremes of craving or
aversion.

The scriptures say that when the mind indulges in sensual
objects, it becomes agitated. This is the usual state of affairs in
the world, as we can observe. In their quest for happiness,
people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness. They
never have the chance to experience the greater joy that comes
with peace and tranquillity.
  THE FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT DEVELOPED:
 
HEALING INTO THE DEATHLESS
All of the factors of enlightenment bring extraordinary benefits.
Once fully developed, they have the power to bring samsāric
suffering to an end. So the scriptures tell us. This means that
the perpetual, cyclical birth and death of beings who are
composed of mental and physical phenomena can come to a
complete stop.

The factors of enlightenment also have the capacity to pulverize
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Māra’s ten armies, the destructive inner forces which keep us
bound on the wheel of suffering and rebirth. For this reason,
Buddhas and enlightened ones develop the factors of
enlightenment and are thus able to transcend this realm of
sensual pleasures as well as the realms of subtle form and all
the formless realms.

You may ask where one goes after being liberated from these
three types of realms. It cannot be said there is another birth of
any kind, for with nibbāna comes cessation of birth and death.
Birth brings inevitable life, aging, sickness and eventual death
— all the aspects of suffering. To be free from all suffering is to
be free from birth. Nor will death be able to happen. nibbāna is
free from birth and also from death.

When fully developed, these factors of enlightenment bring the
yogi to attain nibbāna. In this they are comparable to strong,
effective medicine. They confer the strength of mind necessary
to withstand the ups and downs of life. Moreover, they often
cure physical and mental diseases.

There is no guarantee that if you meditate you will be able to
cure every disease. However, it is possible that the
development of enlightenment factors can bring healing to
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sicknesses, even those which appear incurable.
  Purifying Our Mental Illnesses
Mental disease is the disease of greed, hatred, delusion,
jealousy, miserliness, conceit and so forth. When these forces
arise, they make the mind unclear and clouded. This clouded
mind will produce physical phenomena which reflect its clouded
state. Instead of having a clear and bright complexion, when
your mind is clouded by negativity, you will look dull, unhappy
and unhealthy, much as if you had been breathing polluted air.

However, if you are energetically trying to activate a penetrative
mindfulness from moment to moment on the object of
observation, very naturally the mind will stay on this object
without scattering or dissipating. Samādhi or concentration is
present at this time. After a due period, the mind will be
cleansed of the hindrances or negative tendencies. Now
wisdom will begin to unfold. When insights arise, the mind
becomes even purer, as if it were breathing clean air again after
returning from the hustle and bustle of a city.

Mindfulness, energy and investigation lead to concentration and
insights which arise in successive stages. Each new insight is
like another breath of fresh air to the mind. The stage of insight
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into the arising and passing away of phenomena is the
beginning of good, deep practice. The factor of equanimity
begins to stabilize the mind, and mindfulness becomes deeper
and deeper. The arising and passing away of objects will be
perfectly dear, and there will be no doubt about the true nature
of what can be directly experienced.

Sudden upsurges of energy may make the practice seem
effortless at this point. Yogis may understand that there is no
one present even to make an effort. Joy and rapture arise as
the yogi perceives directly his or her own purity of mind, as well
as the secret of reality unfolding from moment to moment.
Tremendous joy is followed by tranquil peace and a mind that is
free from doubts and worries. In this peaceful space it is
possible to see more and more clearly. Concentration can also
deepen when there is no disturbance.

At this deep level of practice, one can truly experience a
balanced mind, a mind that is not swept away by pleasant
sensations, even though extreme rapture and joy may be
present. Nor do unpleasant objects agitate the mind. Yogis feel
no dislike for pain nor attachment to pleasure.
  Effects on the Body
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The seven factors of enlightenment naturally affect the body as
well as the mind, for these two are intricately connected. When
the mind is really pure and suffused with the factors of
enlightenment, this has a tremendous effect on the circulatory
system. New blood being produced is extremely pure. It
permeates the various organs and sense organs, clearing them.
The body becomes luminous, and perceptions are heightened.
Visual objects will be extremely brilliant and clear. Some yogis
may perceive so much light emanating from their bodies that
their entire rooms may be lit up at night. The mind, too, is filled
with light. There is bright faith, as well as the verified faith of
believing in your own unmediated experience of what is
happening. The mind becomes light and agile, as does the
body, which sometimes feels as if it is floating in the air. Often
the body may become quite imperceptible, and yogis can sit for
many hours without feeling any pain at all.
  Miraculous Cures
Old diseases, incurable ailments, are affected by the strength of
the enlightenment factors, especially at the deeper levels of
practice. At the center in Rangoon, it is a common occurrence
for so-called miraculous cures to occur. Entire books could be
written just listing the cases. Here I will merely mention two
outstanding ones.
  A Case of Tuberculosis
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Once there was a man who had been suffering from
tuberculosis for many years. Having sought treatment from
various doctors and traditional Burmese herbalists, and having
spent time in the TB ward of Rangoon General Hospital, still he
was not cured. Downhearted and desperate, he felt certain that
the only path open to him led toward death. As a last resort, he
applied to meditate at the center but concealed his poor state of
health lest he be refused admittance on the grounds that other
yogis’ health would be endangered.

Within two weeks of practice, his chronic symptoms came to the
surface with a vengeance, exacerbated by the painful
sensations that normally come during a certain period of
practicing the Dhamma. His pain was so excruciating, agonizing
and exhausting that he could not sleep at all but lay awake all
night coughing.

One night I was in my cottage and I heard the terrible coughing
sounds that came from his quarters. Taking some Burmese
herbal cough medicine, I went to him expecting to help alleviate
some recently contracted flu or cold. Instead, the man was
sprawled in his room, so exhausted that he could not say a
word to me. His spittoon was nearly filled with blood he had
coughed up. I asked if he wanted medicine, and when at last he
was able to speak, he confessed his medical condition. My first
thought was to wonder whether I had breathed any of his
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germs.

The man went on, apologizing for having brought this infectious
condition into the retreat center, but begging for permission to
continue his practice. “If I leave there is only one path for me
and that is the path of death,” he said. These words touched my
heart. I quickly began to encourage and inspire him to continue
the practice. After making quarantine arrangements to prevent
his tuberculosis from spreading all over the center, I continued
to instruct him.

Within a month the man had overcome his tuberculosis through
his fantastic progress in meditation. He left the center
completely cured. Three years later he reappeared as a robust
and healthy monk. I asked him how he felt now. Had his TB or
coughing fits recurred? “No,” said the man. “The TB has never
returned. As for coughing, at times my throat itches, but if I am
mindful of this sensation immediately, I don’t begin to cough.
The Dhamma is fantastic, miraculous. Having drunk the
medicine of Dhamma, I am completely cured.”
  A Woman’s High Blood Pressure
Another case happened about twenty years ago. This was a
woman who lived in the center compound. She was related to
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one of the staff members. For a long time she had suffered from
high blood pressure and had sought treatment and drugs from
doctors. Sometimes she came to me and I would encourage
her to meditate, saying that even if she died in the course of the
practice, she would enjoy a lot of happiness in her next rebirth.
She always had an excuse, though, and continued to take
refuge in her doctors.

Finally I gave her a scolding. “Many people come from long
distances, even from foreign countries, to taste the Dhamma in
this retreat center. Their practice is deep and they experience
many fantastic things. You live here and yet you haven’t
meditated to any level of satisfaction at all. You remind me of
the fierce-looking stone lion which guards the foot of a stūpa.
Those lions, you know, always have their backs to the stūpa so
that they can never pay it any respect.”

The woman was quite hurt by this scolding and agreed to try
meditation. Within a short time she had reached the stage of
great pain. The pain of her illness, combined with the pain of
the Dhamma, gave her a really tough time. She could hardly eat
or sleep. Eventually her family members, who also lived at the
center, began to become alarmed at her condition. They
begged her to return to their quarters so that they could take
care of her. I was opposed to this and exhorted her to continue
her practice rather than to listen to them.
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Her family members came to her again and again, and I for my
part insisted that she continue. It was quite a battle for this
woman, but she persisted with her meditation. She was very
tough. She had a new surge of inspiration and resolved to see
her practice through to the end, even if she died.

The woman’s pain was fantastically severe. She felt as if her
brain was going to fall apart. The veins in her head throbbed,
pounded and hammered. She endured all of it with patience,
simply watching the pain. Soon a great heat began to emanate
from her body. She emanated and radiated a great fire. Finally
she overcame all these sensations and everything became still
and calm. She had won the battle. Her high blood pressure was
completely cured, and she never again had to take medicines
for that disease.
  Other Diseases — and Don’t Forget Liberation!
I have witnessed cures of impacted intestines, uterine fibroids,
heart disease, cancer and more. There is no guarantee of this
outcome, though I hope the stories are inspiring to you.
Nonetheless, if a yogi is ardent, persistent, heroic and
courageous in trying to be mindful of painful sensations that
arise from diseases or old injuries, he or she may find a
miraculous recovery from these troubles. Persistent effort
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carries a great possibility.

Satipaṭṭhāna meditation is perhaps especially useful for cancer
patients. Cancer is terrible. There is so much suffering both in
the body and in the mind. One who is versed in satipaṭṭhāna
meditation can lighten his or her burden by being mindful of
pain, no matter how dire. He or she can die a peaceful death,
perfectly and impeccably mindful of just the pain. This kind of
death is good and noble.

May you make full use of the knowledge you have gained
through this exposition on the seven factors of enlightenment.
May you cultivate each factor, starting from mindfulness and
finishing with equanimity, so that you can become a fully
liberated being.
  5. The Vipassanā Jhānas
SOFTENING THE RIGID MIND
The Buddha said, “Indeed with meditation, one can develop
knowledge and wisdom as grounded and as vast as the earth.”
The quality of such wisdom permeates the mind, making it
expansive and vast. In the absence of meditation, however, the
mind becomes narrow and rigid under the constant assault of
kilesas. Each moment we are unmindful, kilesas penetrate into
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the mind, making it tight, tense and agitated.

The objects that bombard us at the six sense doors are
sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes pleasant,
sometimes unpleasant. A pleasant visual object presents itself:
the unguarded mind will naturally fill with craving and clinging,
closing tightly around that object. Seized by this tension and
agitation, the mind begins to scheme of ways to get that very
pleasant object. From this plan to grasp the object, speech and
physical movements may develop.

If the mind is unguarded and an unpleasant object appears,
aversion will naturally arise. Again, the mind will become
agitated. Some manifestation might be seen: a bright face
twisted into a scowl, harsh and dreadful words, or even acts of
violence.

In the face of objects neither pleasant nor unpleasant, if the
mind is unguarded, delusion will cloud the mind, stopping it
from seeing what is true. At this moment, too, there is tension
and hardness of mind.
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It would be foolish to think that we can eliminate pleasant,
unpleasant and neutral objects from our lives. What is important
is to maintain a wholesome relationship with them. Perhaps one
could stuff one’s ears with cotton wool, blindfold oneself and
grope about while maintaining a meditative state of mind. But
obviously one could not block one’s nostrils or anesthetize
one’s tongue, nor cut off the sensitivity of the body to heat, cold
and other sensations. Sitting in meditation, we try to
concentrate on the primary object. But we will still hear sounds,
and strong sensations may arise in other parts of the body.
Despite our best effort, our practice could slip for a few
moments, and our thinking mind could run completely wild.
  The Power of Restraint
The practice of restraint is an effective way of preventing this
assault by kilesas. Restraint does not mean becoming dead
and numb. It means guarding each sense door so that the mind
does not run out through it into fantasies and thoughts, plans
and schemes. Mindfulness is actually the cause for restraint to
arise. When we are mindful in each moment, the mind is held
back from falling into a state where greed, hatred and delusion
may erupt. If we are vigilant, eventually the mind will become
somewhat tamed and content not to escape into danger of
ambush by kilesas.

We have to be on our toes. As soon as we come into contact
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with an object, we note it immediately for what it is. We want to
be sure that in seeing is only the seeing, in hearing only the
hearing, in touch only the touch, in taste only the taste, and in
thinking, just the thought. Each of these processes should be
clear and simple, not burdened with a lot of extra rumination,
not clotted with kilesas. If I we are able to be really mindful,
objects will arise and pass without further thoughts or reactions,
just the process in itself. No matter what kind of objects we are
forced to encounter, we will be safe from desire or aversion.

There was a great king in the Buddha’s time who was once very
curious as to how monks could keep their precepts. Young
monks, he observed, remained chaste even in the vigor of their
prime, when lust easily arises. He asked a senior monk about
this. The monk said, “When young monks come across a girl
younger than they are, they consider her as their younger
sister. When they come across a woman of the same age or
slightly older, they consider her their elder sister. When they
come across a woman older than that, they consider her their
mother. If she is advanced in age, they consider her their
grandmother.”

The king was not satisfied. He said, “But the mind is very quick,
and even if you make yourself think in those ways, lust may
already have arisen.”
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The elder tried again. “If a monk comes across a woman, if he
is unmindful and begins to admire her features, her body, then
naturally lust will arise. But if he should look at a woman by
dissecting her into pieces, in terms of the thirty-two parts of the
body — hair, teeth, nails and so forth — and if he reflects on the
repulsiveness of these parts, he will be filled with disgust and
not desire her at all.” This meditation on the body was given by
the Lord Buddha.

The king then asked, “What if a monk has more imagination
than concentration?” On the subject of imagination, I would like
to interpolate another story here.
Somewhere on the premises of a certain meditation center
there is a little closet in which a skeleton is hung. The skeleton
is for people to come and look at, reflecting upon the
imminence of death, and perhaps also on bones as a repulsive
body part. Under its bony feet is a small sign that says,
“Sixteen-year-old girl.”

Possessed of wise attention, one visitor might say, “Oh, that
poor girl, only sixteen but she had to die. I too will die one day.”
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Spiritual urgency might arise, and this person might try to do
more good deeds, or practice meditation with greater ardor.
Another visitor might reflect on the repulsiveness of the bones,
and see that there is nothing to the body, just bones, this frame.

Along comes a young and imaginative man. Standing in front of
the skeleton, his eyes fall on the placard that says what it once
was. He says to himself, “What a pity! How beautiful she must
have been before she died.” He looks at the skull and starts to
flesh it out with a beautiful face, adding nice hair and a very
nice neck. His eyes travel slowly downward, filling out each part
of the body. He is filled with craving by the image he has called
up, an image perhaps not so different from the creations of a
taxidermist.

Let us return now to the story of the king. The older monk
replied, “All the young monks practice mindfulness. They
activate restraint of their senses, so that they are guarded at
each sense door. Their minds are not wild. They don’t fantasize
about the things they see.”

The king was impressed. He said, “Yes, that must be very true.
I can testify from my own experience that when I go to my
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harem without mindfulness, I get into a lot of trouble. But if I am
mindful I have no problems.”

I hope these tales illustrate the importance of sense restraint.
Intensive Restraint for Retreats
During an intensive meditation retreat, the value of restraint
cannot be overestimated.
The scriptures give four practical guidelines for restraint during
intensive practice.
First, a yogi must act like a blind person even though he or she
may possess complete sight. The yogi should go about with
lowered eyelids, incuriously, to keep the mind from scattering.
Second, the yogi must act like a deaf person, not reflecting,
commenting upon, nor judging the sounds he or she may hear.
A yogi should pretend not quite to understand sounds and
should not listen for them.
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Third, though a yogi may have a great deal of learning, may
have read a tremendous amount about meditation and tried
fifteen techniques, during actual practice he or she should put
away all this knowledge. Keep it under lock and key, maybe
even under the bed! A yogi should act like an ignorant person
who does not know much and does not talk about the few
things he or she does know.

Fourth, a yogi should act like a hospital patient, frail and sick, by
slowing down and moving very mindfully.
There ought also to be a fifth principle. Even though a yogi is
very much alive, he or she should behave like a dead person
with respect to painful sensations. As you know, a corpse can
be chopped to pieces like a log without feeling anything at all. If
pain arises during meditation, a yogi should summon all of his
or her courage and energy simply to look it in the face. He or
she should make a heroic effort to penetrate and understand
the pain, without shifting posture or letting aversion take over
the mind.

In each moment we try to be mindful and present with whatever
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is arising. We try to note “seeing, seeing” at the moment of
seeing; “hearing, hearing” at the moment of hearing, and so
forth. Real effort is being made to note. There is also accuracy
of mind, a precise aim that enables the mind to hit its target of
observation. Mindfulness also is present, penetrating deeply
into the object. And with mindfulness comes right concentration,
which keeps the mind collected, not strained or dissipated.
  How Wisdom Softens the Mind
Right effort, right aim, right mindfulness, right concentration: all
these are factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. When they are
present in the mind, the kilesas have no chance to arise. The
kilesas, which make the mind so hard and rigid and agitated,
are dispelled when one is with the moment, and so the mind
has a chance to soften.

With continuous noting the mind gradually becomes more able
to penetrate into the true nature of things. There comes the
insight that everything is made up of just mind and matter, and
the mind experiences a huge sense of relief. No one is there,
just mind and matter, with no one creating them. If we can
further see how these phenomena are conditioned, the mind
will be free of doubts.

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A yogi full of doubt is difficult to work with, rigid and tough and
tense. No matter how much the teacher might try to convince
him or her of what is beneficial in the practice, the effort will be
in vain. If such a yogi can be persuaded to practice at least
enough to gain insight into cause and effect, however, there will
be no more problem. This insight clears the mind of doubt and
makes it soft. The yogi will no longer wonder whether these
phenomena of mind and matter might be created by some
external force, another being invisible or supreme.

As we go deeper and deeper into the moment, the mind
becomes softer and more relaxed as the tensions of the kilesas
loosen. Observing the fleeting nature of mental and physical
phenomena, one gains insight into their impermanence. As a
side effect of this process, one is freed from pride and conceit.
If one sees clearly the tremendous oppression brought about by
phenomena, one gains insight into their suffering nature and
thereby is freed from craving. If one sees the absence of self in
all phenomena, realizing that the process of mind and matter is
empty and not at all related to one’s wishes, one can be freed
from the wrong view that there is some permanent entity called
the self.

This is only the beginning. The deeper we penetrate into the
true nature of reality, the more our mind becomes flexible,
pliable, workable, dexterous. If one attains the first path
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consciousness, the first experience of nibbāna, certain kilesas
will never make the mind tense and rigid again.

I hope that you may be continuous and active in mindfulness,
so that you can develop that vast and expansive wisdom, as
grounded as Mother Earth, the basis for all that exists on this
planet.
  BLOWING OUT SUFFERING
Neither Wandering nor Stopping: A Riddle from the
Buddha
As a teacher I observe that many yogis’ minds seem prone to
wander, unaware of what is present here and now. Because I
would like to help you understand the nature of the wandering
mind, I will give you the following riddle. The Buddha said, “One
should not allow the mind to wander without. Neither should
one allow the mind to stop within. A bhikkhu who is able to be
mindful in that way will eventually be able to extinguish all
suffering.”

First of all I would like to say that all of you who sincerely
practice may consider yourselves bhikkhus. Those of you who
want to be free from suffering may be eager to apply this
advice. However, it may be hard to know in which direction to
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make one’s leap. What is meant by wandering without, and how
can we ensure that the mind will not do it? Perhaps we believe
that the task is not so difficult. We have all experienced
wandering mind, and we could just use force to prevent it. But if
we do not let the mind wander outside, then it must have to stay
inside, and the Buddha just told us not to do that!

You have probably noticed that the mind occurs within you. If
you focus your attention on the present moment, where is your
mind? If it is not outside, then it must be inside. What can you
do now? Should you take a tranquilizer and forget this whole
problem? Would even this be against the Buddha’s advice not
to let the mind stop within?

Ah, but the Buddha promised that if we follow these
instructions, we can escape from rebirth and its consequences
— old age, diseases and death — all the things that happen
against our wishes! He made this very pithy statement and then
retired to his Gandhakuṭi, or fragrant chamber, leaving most of
his listeners bewildered.

Looking around for help, people finally selected the Venerable
Kaccāyana to explain the discourse. He was an arahant and
was famous for explicating the very short discourses which the
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Buddha sometimes gave.
  Solving the Buddha’s Riddle
Unraveling this discourse is a challenging and rewarding
intellectual exercise. I suggest you begin by asking yourself
what would happen to your mind if you did not keep it under
control. How would it respond to objects?

If the mind comes into contact with a pleasant, desirable,
tempting object, it naturally fills with greed. This is the moment
we say it has wandered off. When it touches a disgusting,
painful object, it fills with aversion. Again it becomes a
wandering mind. The mind veiled in delusion, unable to see
what is happening, is also a mind that has run away. So the
Buddha was actually instructing his disciples not to allow the
mental factors of greed, aversion and delusion to arise.

The experiences of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and
smelling: are these to be considered part of the wandering mind
as well?
The Sensing Process with and without Mindfulness
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All the sensing processes occur through a series of
consciousnesses which are neither wholesome nor
unwholesome. Immediately after this series, however, if
mindfulness does not intervene, there will occur a second, and
perhaps a third or fourth and further series of consciousnesses
accompanied by greed, hatred and delusion. The point of
Vipassana practice is to sharpen mindfulness until it can catch
the bare sensing process at the end of the amoral series of
consciousnesses, and forestall the arising of further series
accompanied by greed, hatred and delusion. If a mind can
make this interception, we say that it is not wandering. The
wandering mind is the mind that has been polluted by kilesas as
it reflects on what has happened or what is happening.

Practically speaking, if we begin to reflect upon the
characteristics of the object — “Oh, what a gorgeous color” —
we know the mind has wandered off. If, on the other hand, we
activate precise and penetrative mindfulness and diligent effort
at the moment of seeing that colored object, we have the
chance to understand the seeing process for what it really is.
This is the chance to develop wisdom. We can see the
relationship of mind to matter, the conditionally that relates
them, and the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and
absence of self they share.

You might like to try an experiment right now. Direct your
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attention to the rise and fall of the abdomen. If the mind makes
an effort to be precisely aware of these movements, actually to
feel them from beginning to end, it will be freed of greed, hatred
and delusion. There are no thoughts of pleasurable objects, nor
aversion to unpleasant objects, nor deluded confusion about
what is going on.

CRASH!
Sound suddenly becomes predominant. At this moment, we
leave behind the rising and falling movements. Even so, we do
not consider that the mind has wandered if we are able to
recognize immediately that this is a sound, and note it as
“hearing, hearing,” without getting carried away by reflections
about what caused the sound and so forth. There is no greed,
no hatred or delusion in the mind.

It is another matter if the mind is drawn away by a familiar tune,
and we begin to remember the last time we heard it and what
the singer’s name is. Even during a sitting some yogis wriggle
and tap their fingers when they remember songs from the past.
They certainly suffer from wandering mind.

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Once there was a yogi who was having a very interesting and
powerful sitting. She was sitting nice and quiet when suddenly a
neighboring yogi noisily got up from the cushion. She heard
bones creak and clothing rustle. Immediately our yogi began to
think, “Inconsiderate! How can he get up like that in the middle
of the hour, when I’m trying to meditate!” She worked herself
into quite a rage. That might be called “The Great Mind
Wandering.” Most yogis, of course, work very conscientiously to
avoid this state by being mindful of objects at the moment of
occurrence, so as not to be caught by the wandering mind. This
is exactly what the Venerable Kaccāyana said to do.
  Jhāna
There are yet deeper aspects to this business of not wandering.
The mind that is not wandering is the mind that is penetratively
mindful of what is happening. The word “penetrative” is not
used casually. It refers to a jhānic factor that must arise in the
mind. Jhāna is usually translated as “absorption.” Actually, it
refers to the quality of mind that is able to stick to an object and
observe it.

Imagine you find something in the mud and you want to pick it
up. If you take a sharp instrument and stick it into that thing, it
will penetrate the object so that you can lift it out of the mud. If
you were uncertain what the object was, you can look at it
closely now. The same goes for the food on your plate. The
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way your fork pierces a morsel illustrates this jhānic factor.
  Samatha Jhāna
There are two types of jhāna: samatha jhāna and vipassanā
jhāna. Some
of you may have read about the samatha jhānas and wonder
why I am talking about them in the context of vipassanā.
Samatha jhāna is pure concentration, fixed awareness of a
single object — a mental image, for example, such as a colored
disk or a light. The mind is fixed on this object without wavering
or moving elsewhere. Eventually the mind develops a very
peaceful, tranquil, concentrated state and becomes absorbed in
the object. Different levels of absorption are described in the
texts, each level having specific qualities.
  Vipassanā Jhāna
On the other hand, vipassanā jhāna allows the mind to move
freely from object to object, staying focused on the
characteristics of impermanence, suffering and absence of self
that are common to all objects. Vipassanā jhāna also includes
the mind which can be focused and fixed upon the bliss of
nibbāna. Rather than the tranquility and absorption which are
the goal of samatha jhāna practitioners, the most important
results of vipassanā jhāna are insight and wisdom.

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Vipassanā jhāna is the focusing of the mind on paramattha
dhammas.
Usually these are spoken of as “ultimate realities,” but actually
they are just the things we can experience directly through the
six sense doors without conceptualization. Most of them are
saṅkhāra paramattha dhamma,
or conditioned ultimate realities; mental and physical
phenomena which are changing all the time. Nibbāna is also a
paramattha dhamma,
but of course it is not conditioned.

Breathing is a good example of a conditioned process. The
sensations you feel at the abdomen are conditioned ultimate
realities, saṅkhāra paramattha dhamma, caused by your
intention to breath. The whole purpose of concentrating one’s
attention on the abdomen is to penetrate the actual quality and
nature of what is happening there. When you are aware of
movement, tension, tautness, heat or cold, you have begun to
develop vipassanā jhāna.

Mindfulness at the respective sense doors follows the same
principle. If there is diligent effort and penetrative awareness,
focusing on what is happening in any particular sense process,
the mind will understand the true nature of what is happening.
The sensing processes will be understood in individual
characteristics as well as common ones.
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According to the fourfold way of reckoning, which admits of four
levels of jhāna, the first jhāna possesses five factors which we
will describe below. All of them are important in vipassanā
practice.
  The Five Jhānic Factors
The first of them is called vitakka. It is the factor of aiming,
accurately directing the mind toward an object. It also has the
aspect of establishing the mind on the object, so that the mind
stays there.

The second factor is vicāra (pronounced “vichara”), generally
translated as “investigation” or “reflection.” After vitakka has
brought the mind to the object and placed it firmly there, vicāra
continues to rub the mind onto the object. You can experience
this yourself when observing rising and falling. First you make
the effort to be precise in aiming the mind at the rising process.
Then your mind reaches the object and it does not slip off. It
impinges on the object, rubs against it.

As you are mindful in an intuitive and accurate way from
moment to moment, the mind gets more and more pure. The
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hindrances of desire, aversion, sloth, restlessness and doubt,
weaken and disappear. The mind becomes crystal clear and
calm. This state of clarity results from the presence of the two
jhānic factors we just discussed. It is called viveka, which
means seclusion. The consciousness is secluded, far away
from the hindrances. This viveka is not a jhānic factor. It is
merely a descriptive term for this secluded state of
consciousness.

The third jhānic factor is pīti, rapture, a delighted interest in
what is occurring. This factor may manifest physically as
gooseflesh, as feelings of being dropped suddenly as if in an
elevator, or as feelings of rising off the ground .The fourth jhānic
factor,  sukha, happiness or
comfort, comes on the heels of the third. One feels very
satisfied with the practice. Because both the third and the fourth
jhānic factors come about as a result of seclusion from the
hindrances, they are called
vivekaja pīti sukha,
meaning the rapture, joy and happiness born out of seclusion.

Think of this sequence as a causal chain. Seclusion of mind
comes about because of the presence of the first two jhānic
factors. If the mind is accurately aimed at the object, if it hits it
and rubs it, after some time the mind will become secluded.
Because the mind is secluded from the hindrances, one
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becomes happy, joyous and comfortable.

When these first four jhānic factors are present, the mind
automatically becomes calm and peaceful, able to concentrate
on what is happening without getting scattered or dispersed.
This one-pointedness of mind is the fifth jhānic factor, samādhi,
or concentration.
  Access to the First Vipassanā Jhāna Requires Insight into
Mind and Matter
It is not sufficient to have all five factors present for one to say
one has attained the first vipassanā jhāna. The mind must also
come to penetrate into the Dhamma a little bit, enough to see
the interrelationship of mind and matter. At this time we say that
access to the first vipassanā jhāna has occurred.

A yogi whose mind is composed of these five jhānic factors will
experience a new accuracy of mindfulness, a new level of
success in sticking with the object. Intense rapture, happiness
and comfort in the body may also arise. This could be the
occasion for him or her to gloat over the wondrousness of the
meditation practice. “Oh wow, I’m getting really precise and
accurate. I even feel like I’m floating in the air!” You might
recognize this reflection as a moment of attachment.
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  Stopping Within
Anyone can get caught up in rapture, happiness and comfort.
This attachment to what is happening within us is a
manifestation of a special kind of craving, a craving not
connected with ordinary, worldly sensual pleasures. Rather,
such craving comes directly out of one’s meditation practice.
When one is unable to be aware of this craving when it arises, it
will interfere with one’s practice. Rather than directly noting, one
wallows in the pleasant phenomena unmindfully, or thinks about
the further delights that might ensure from one’s practice. Now
we can understand the Buddha’s mystifying admonition, for this
attachment to the pleasant results of meditation is what he
meant by stopping within.

It seems we have explicated this very short sutta instructing us
to avoid wandering without as well as stopping within. There is
a still a bit more to discuss, however, to deepen our
understanding.
  Threefold Seclusion
The sutta implies that one should avoid certain things when one
practices meditation. One avoids contact with kāma or sensual
pleasures and with unwholesome dhammas. One avoids these
two things precisely by practicing threefold seclusion:
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kāya viveka,
seclusion of the body;
citta viveka,
seclusion of mind; and
upadhi viveka,
which comes as a result of the first two and is a state where
defilements and hindrances are very far away and weak.

Kāya viveka actually refers to seclusion not from a physical
body, but from the “body” of objects related to sensual
pleasures. This means simply the objects of the senses
considered as a group: sounds, visual objects, smells, tastes,
and tactile objects.

Seclusion from unwholesome dhammas comes under the
category of citta viveka: seclusion of the mind from the various
hindrances which obstruct the growth of concentration and
insight. In a practical way, this citta viveka simply means
activating mindfulness moment to moment. A yogi who can
maintain continuity of mindfulness moment to moment has
activated citta viveka.

These two types of viveka do not come without an effort. For
kāya viveka, we must remove ourselves from an environment of
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sensual pleasures, taking the opportunity to practice in a place
conducive to peace of mind. This removal is not in itself
sufficient, of course. To acquire citta viveka, we become mindful
of all the objects that arise at the six sense doors.

To be mindful, one must direct the mind toward an object. The
effort to be mindful is instrumental in bringing a sense of
accuracy in the mind. This aim, this effort toward accuracy in
placing the mind squarely on the meditation object, is the first
jhānic factor, vitakka.

So, you must have aiming. You try to observe the rising and
falling of the abdomen. Eventually the mind hits the bull’s-eye,
clearly noticing sensations of hardness, tension, movement. It
begins to impinge and rub against the object. This is vicāra, as
we said before. After the mind has been rubbing against its
object for some time, it wil become engrossed and absorbed
into it. When you stay with the rise and fall of the abdomen,
fewer thoughts arise. You may even go for some time without
having a single thought. Clearly, the mind is free from objects of
sense pleasure and also from kilesas which are caused by
these objects, Kāya viveka and citta viveka are therefore
present. With continued practice, effort and continuity, the
kilesas will fade into extreme remoteness. At last you have the
third type of seclusion, upadhi viveka.
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  A Special Kind of Happiness
With upadhi viveka, the mind becomes soft and subtle, light and
buoyant, dexterous and flexible. A special kind of happiness, ne
kkhamma sukha,
arises, the happiness and comfort that come from being free
from sensual objects as well as from the unwholesome kilesas
which react to those objects. So, in place of ordinary apparent
happiness, this liberating comfort appears. Does it seem
strange that in relinquishing the comfort of the senses, one
gains a very comfortable state of being liberated from the very
senses we have relinquished? This is the true renunciation of
sense pleasures.

Seclusion of the mind from unwholesome dhammas actually
means seclusion of the mind from all kilesas. There is no
opportunity for kilesas to arise because the immediate cause of
kilesas, namely sense objects, have been given up. Now the
word jhāna, the state of being absorbed, takes on a whole new
meaning. As a result of the jhānic factors of vitakka, aim, and
vicāra, rubbing, sensual pleasures have been given up and the
kilesas put away. Not only does jhāna allow absorption, but it
also removes kilesas. It burns them away as if it were fire.
  The Relationship of Vitakka and Vicāra
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In the development of jhānic states, these two factors of vitakka
and vicāra, accurate aim and impingement, are absolutely
important. The two of them have a close relationship which is
much discussed in the scriptures. Below are two examples.

Imagine that you have a brass cup that is covered with dirt and
stains. You take brass polish and put it on a rag. Holding the
cup in one hand, you use the other hand to rub the rag against
its surface. Working diligently and carefully, soon you will have
a shiny cup.

In the same way, a yogi must hold his or her mind in the
particular place where the primary object is occurring, the
abdomen. He or she keeps applying mindfulness at that place,
rubbing it until the stains and pollution of the kilesas disappear.
Then he or she will be able to penetrate into the true nature of
what is happening at that spot. He or she will comprehend the
process of rising and falling. Of course, if other objects become
more prominent than the primary object, a yogi must note them
applying vitakka and vicāra toward the new phenomena.

Holding the mug with one hand is analogous to vitakka, while
the polishing action is analogous to vicāra. Imagine what would
happen if this yogi only held on to the mug and did not polish it.
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It would remain as dirty as before.

If he or she tried to polish it without holding it steady, it would
again be impossible to do a good job. This illustrates the
interdependency of the two factors.
The second example is that of a compass, the kind used in
geometry. As you know, a compass has two arms, a pointed
one and another which holds the pencil. You must firmly place
your mind on the object of meditation, as if your mind were the
pointed end of the compass; and then you must rotate the mind,
so to speak, until it can see the object as a while and very
clearly. A perfect circle will result. Again, the placing of the
pointed end is analogous to vitakka, and the rotation to vicāra.
  Direct, Intuitive Knowledge
Sometimes vicāra is translated into English as “investigation” or
“sustained thought.” This is very misleading. People in the West
have been educated since kindergarten to use their intellects,
always to seek the whys and wherefores. Unfortunately, this
kind of investigation is inappropriate for meditation. Intellectual
learning and knowledge is only one of two kinds. The other kind
of knowledge and learning is direct and intuitive. In meditation
one examines the ultimate realities, or paramattha dhammas,
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directly. One must actually experience them, without thinking
about them. This is the only way to attain insight and wisdom
relating to things as they really are, the natural state of affairs.
One may understand a lot intellectually about ultimate reality.
One may have read a great deal, but without experiencing
reality directly, there can be no insight.

The reason why the samatha jhānas can grant tranquility, but
do not lead directly to wisdom is that they have concepts as
their objects, rather than objects which can be directly
experienced without thinking. The vipassanā jhānas lead to
wisdom, because they consists of direct, sustained contact with
the ultimate realities.  
Say you have an apple in front of you and you have heard
someone say that it is a very juicy, sweet and delicious apple.
Perhaps instead you come across this same apple and you
think, “Boy, that looks like a really juicy apple. I bet it will be
very sweet.” You can think, you can bet, but until you take a bite
you will not experience the taste of that fruit. So too with
meditation. You may vividly imagine what a certain experience
is like, but you have not experienced the real thing until you
have actually made the effort to practice in the right way. Then
you will have your own insight. There is no arguing with the
taste of an apple.
  HINDRANCES AND ANTIDOTES
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Just as darkness engulfs a room in the middle of the night when
there is no candle, so the darkness of delusion and ignorance
arises in the human mind when it is not properly attuned to the
object of meditation. This darkness is not empty and uneventful,
though. On the contrary, in each moment of ignorance the mind
is continually seeking and grasping after desirable sights,
sounds, thoughts, smells, tastes and sensations. Beings in this
condition spend all their waking hours seeking, grasping and
clinging. They are so enmeshed that it is difficult for them to
appreciate the possibility of another sort of happiness beyond
those sensual pleasures which are so familiar. Talk of
meditation, the practical method of achieving a higher
happiness, will be unintelligible to them.

Vipassanā practice is a full and continuous attention to the
object. This involves two aspects of concentration, vitakka and
vicāra: aiming and rubbing discussed above. These two jhānic
factors keep the mind absorbed in the object of noting. If they
are absent, the mind will stray. Bombarded by sense objects
and kilesas, especially the kilesas of longing for sensual
objects, the mind will be engulfed by delusion and ignorance.
There will be no light, no chance for the remaining three jhānic
factors to assemble with the first two to create the environment
of peace, clarity and joy where insight blossoms.
  Hindrances and Antidotes
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Just as darkness engulfs a room in the middle of the night when
there is no candle, so the darkness of delusion and ignorance
arises in the human mind when it is not properly attuned to the
object of meditation. This darkness is not empty and uneventful,
though. On the contrary, in each moment of ignorance the mind
is continually seeking and grasping after desirable sights,
sounds, thoughts, smells, tastes and sensations. Beings in this
condition spend all their waking hours seeking, grasping and
clinging. They are so enmeshed that it is difficult for them to
appreciate the possibility of another sort of happiness beyond
those sensual pleasures which are so familiar. Talk of
meditation, the practical method of achieving a higher
happiness, will be unintelligible to them.

Vipassanā practice is a full and continuous attention to the
object. This involves two aspects of concentration, vitakka and
vicāra: aiming and rubbing discussed above. These two jhānic
factors keep the mind absorbed in the object of noting. If they
are absent, the mind will stray. Bombarded by sense objects
and kilesas, especially the kilesas of longing for sensual
objects, the mind will be engulfed by delusion and ignorance.
There will be no light, no chance for the remaining three jhānic
factors to assemble with the first two to create the environment
of peace, clarity and joy where insight blossoms.
  The Five Hindrances
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The five specific ways in which the mind strays from its object
are called the five hindrances. Of the seemingly endless variety
of kilesas, the hindrances represent the five major types. They
are labeled “hindrances” because each of them has a particular
power to obstruct and impede our practice.

As long as the mind is seduced by temptations of the senses, it
cannot remain steadily observing a meditation object. Drawn
away time and again, it will never travel that path of practice
which leads beyond ordinary happiness. Thus, kāmacchanda,
or sensual desire, is the first and greatest hindrance to our
practice.

For an object to be distracting in an unpleasant way is another
frequent occurrence. Upon contact with an unpleasant object,
the mind fills with vyāpāda, aversion or anger. This too leads
the mind away from the object, and so also away from the
direction of true happiness.

At other times alertness and vigilance vanish. The mind
becomes drowsy, unworkable and sluggish. Once again, it
cannot stay with the object. This called thina middha, sloth and
torpor. It is third on the list of hindrances.
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Sometimes the mind becomes very frivolous and dissipated,
flirting with one object and then another. This is called uddhacc
a kukkucca,
restlessness and worry. The mind cannot stay one-pointed on
its object but is scattered and dissipated, full of memories of
past deeds, remorse and regret, worry and agitation.

The fifth and last major hindrance is vicikicchā, skeptical doubt
and criticism. Surely you have experienced times when you
have doubted yourself, the method of practice or your teachers.
You may compare this practice to others you have done or
heard about, and you become completely paralyzed, like a
traveler at a crossroads who, unsure of the right way cannot
decide which path to take.

The presence of hindrances means that rapture, comfort,
one-pointedness of mind, right aim and continuity are lacking.
These five wholesome factors are the factors of the first jhāna;
they are integral parts of successful vipassanā practice. Each
jhānic factors is the antidote for a specific hindrance, and each
hindrance is the enemy of a jhānic factor.
  Concentration: The Antidote for Sense Desire
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In this sensual world the hindrance of sense desire is chiefly
responsible for keeping us in darkness. Concentration,
one-pointedness, is its antidote. When your mind is
concentrated on the object of meditation, it does not attach itself
to other thoughts, nor does it desire pleasant sights and
sounds. Pleasurable objects lose their power over the mind.
Dispersion and dissipation cannot occur.
  Rapture: The Antidote for Aversion
As concentration takes the mind to more subtle levels, deep
interest arises. Rapture and joy fills one’s being. This
development frees the mind from the second hindrance, for
anger cannot coexist with joy. Thus, the scriptures say that joy
and rapture are the antidotes to anger.
  Happiness or Comfort: The Antidote for Restlessness
Now, with meditation well developed, a great sense of comfort
can begin to arise. The mind watches unpleasant sensations
peacefully, without aversion. There is ease in the mind, even if
the objects are difficult. Sometimes pain even disappears under
the influence of mindfulness, leaving behind a sense of physical
release. With this physical and mental comfort, the mind is
content to remain with the object. It does not fly about. Comfort
is the antidote for restlessness and anxiety.
  Aim: The Antidote for Sloth and Torpor
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The jhānic factor of vitakka or aim has the specific power to
open and refresh the mind. It makes the mind alive and open.
Thus, when the mind is continually and diligently trying to be
accurate in aiming at the object, sloth and torpor do not arise. A
mind attacked by drowsiness is a mind that has been
constricted and withered. Vitakka is the antidote to thina
middha.
  Continuous Attention or Rubbing: The Antidote for Doubt
If aim is good, it follows that the mind will hit its target of
observation. This impinging or rubbing against the object is the
jhānic factor of vicāra, which has the function of continuity,
keeping the mind stuck to its object of observation. Continuous
attention is the opposite of doubt, for doubt is indecision. The
doubting mind cannot fix itself on any particular object; instead
it runs here and there considering possibilities. Obviously, when
vicāra is present the mind cannot slip from the object and
behave in this manner.

Immature wisdom also contributes to the spreading of doubt.
Without a certain depth and maturity of practice, it is obvious
that very profound Dhamma will be obscure to us. Beginning
yogis may wonder about things they have heard about but
never experienced. But the more they try to think such things
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through, the less they will understand. Frustration and
continued thinking eventually lead to criticism. For this vicious
cycle continuous attention is again the antidote. A mind firmly
stuck to its object uses all its power to observe; it does not
generate critical thoughts.
  COMPREHENDING THE NATURE OF THIS WORLD
When you can keep your attention on the rising and falling from
the very beginning of its occurrence to the very end, developing
that penetrative, accurate mindfulness from moment to moment
in an unbroken and continuous manner, then you may come to
notice that you can see clearly with your mind’s eye the entire
rising process. From its beginning, through the middle, to the
end, there is not a single gap. The experience is utterly clear to
you.

You now begin to move through the progression of insights that
is only available through vipassanā meditation, direct
observation of mind and body. First you make the subtle
distinction between the mental and physical elements
constituting the rising and falling processes. Sensations are
material objects, distinct from the consciousness that perceives
them. As you observe more carefully, you begin to see how
mind and matter are mutually connected, causally linked. An
intention in the mind causes the appearance of a series of
physical objects constituting a movement. Your mind starts to
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appreciate how mind and matter come into being and
disappear. The fact of arising and vanishing comes into crystal
focus. It becomes obvious that all objects in your field of
consciousness have the nature to come and go. Sounds begin
and then they end. Sensations in the body arise and then
dissolve. Nothing lasts.

At this point in the practice, there begins to be a strong
presence of all five factors of the first jhāna, discussed above.
Aiming and impinging, vitakka and vicāra, have strengthened.
Concentration, rapture and comfort join them. The first
vipassanā jhāna is said to be complete, and vipassanā ñāṇa or
vipassanā insight knowledge can begin to arise.

Vipassanā insight knowledge is concerned specifically with the
three general characteristics of conditioned phenomena: anicca
(pronounced “anicha”), or impermanence;
dukkha
(pronounced duke-ka) unsatisfactoriness or suffering; and
anatta
or absence of an abiding self.
  Anicca: Impermanence
As you watch objects come and go, you will begin to appreciate
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their momentary nature, their impermanence. This knowledge
of anicca is direct, firsthand; you feel its truth anywhere you
place your attention. During the moment your mind is in contact
with the object, you see clearly how the object dissolves. A
great sense of satisfaction arises. You feel a deep interest in
your meditation, and rejoice at fact and truth about the universe.

Even simple and general observation tells us that the while
body is anicca, or impermanent. Therefore the term anicca
refers to the whole body. Looking closer, we see that all
phenomena which occur at the six sense doors are anicca; they
are impermanent things. We can also understand anicca to
mean all the impermanent things comprising mind and matter,
mental and physical phenomena. there is no object we can find
in this conditioned world that is not anicca.

The fact of arising and falling away is anicca lakkhaṇa, the
characteristic or sign of impermanence. It is precisely in the
arising and passing that anicca can be recognized.
Aniccānupassanā-ñāṇa
is the intuitive comprehension which realizes the fact of
impermanence; it occurs in the very moment of noting a
particular object and watching it dissolve. it is important to make
this point, that
aniccānupassana-ñāṇa
only can occur in the precise moment when one sees the
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passing away of a phenomenon. In the absence of such
immediate seeing, then, it is impossible to understand
impermanence.

Would one be justified in saying that one has had an insight into
impermanence through reading about the impermanent state of
things? Can one say an insight has occurred at the moment
when one’s teacher says that all things pass away? Or can one
deeply understand impermanence through deductive or
inductive reasoning? The answer to these questions is a firm
“No.” True insight only occurs in the presence of a nonthinking,
bare awareness of the passing away of phenomena in the
present moment.

Say you are watching the rising and falling of the abdomen. In
the moment of rising, you may be aware of tautness,
tenseness, expansion and movement. If you can follow the
rising process from beginning to end, and the ending of these
sensations is clear to you, it is possible for aniccānupassanā-ñā
ṇa to occur. All
sensations that can be felt at the abdomen or anywhere else
are anicca, impermanent things. Their characteristics, of having
appeared at the beginning of the rising process and having
disappeared at the end, constitute anicca lakkhaṇa. The
realization that they are impermanent can only occur in a
moment when one is observing their disappearance.
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Impermanence is not confined to one’s abdomen. Everything
that occurs in seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, thinking,
touching — all the sensations of the body, heat and cold, and
hardness and pain — and all of one’s miscellaneous activities
— bending, turning, reaching out, walking — all these things
are impermanent. If you can see the vanishing of any of these
objects, you will be involved in aniccānupassanā-ñāṇa. You will
lose the illusion of permanence.
Māna
or conceit also will be absent. In fact, during times when you
are mindfully aware of impermanence, your general level of
conceit will progressively diminish.
  Dukkha: Suffering or Unsatisfactoriness
The second characteristic of conditioned reality is dukkha,
suffering or unsatisfactoriness. It can be discussed under the
same three categories: dukkha, dukkha lakkhaṇa and dukkhān
upassanā-ñāṇa.

During your observation of anicca, very naturally the factor of
suffering will also become apparent. As phenomena arise and
pass, you will realize that nothing is dependable and there is
nothing fixed to cling to. Everything is in flux, and this is
unsatisfactory. Phenomena provide no refuge. Dukkha itself is
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actually a kind of synonym for impermanence, referring to all
impermanent things. Whatever is impermanent also is suffering.

At this point of development in meditation practice, painful
sensations can become very interesting. One can observe them
for some time without reacting. One sees that they are not solid
at all; they do not actually last more than the briefest instant.
The illusion of continuity begins to crumble. A pain in the back:
one sees fiery heat transform itself into pressure, and then into
throbbing. The throbbing changes its texture, its shape and
intensity, moment by moment. Finally, a climax occurs. The
mind is able to see the breakup and disintegration of that pain.
Pain vanishes from the field of consciousness.

Conquering the pain, one is filled with joy and exhilaration. The
body feels cool, calm, comfortable, yet one is not deluded into
thinking that suffering has been abolished. The unsatisfying
nature of sensations becomes ever more clear. One begins to
see this body as a mass of painful and unsatisfactory
phenomena, dancing without respite to impermanence’s tune.

The characteristic of dukkha, or dukkha lakkhaṇa, is oppression
by impermanence. Precisely because all objects arise and pass
away from moment to moment we live in a highly oppressive
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situation. Once arising had occurred, there is no way to prevent
passing away.

Dukkhānupassanā-ñāṇa, the insight that comprehends
suffering, also occurs at the moment when one is contemplating
the passing away of phenomena, but it has a different flavor
from aniccānupassanā-ñāṇa. One is suddenly seized by a great
realization that none of these objects is dependable. There is
no refuge in them; they are fearsome things.

Again it is important to understand that the appreciation of
suffering we gain through reading books, or through our own
reasoning and reflection, does not constitute the real thing.
Dukkhānupassanā-ñāṇa only occurs when the mind is present
with bare awareness, watching the arising and passing away of
phenomena, and understanding that their impermanence is
fearful, fearsome, undesirable and bad.

The true realization that suffering is inherent in all phenomena
can be very powerful. It eliminates the deluded view that these
things are pleasurable. When such an illusion vanishes, craving
cannot arise.
  Anatta: The Absence of Self
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Automatically now, one appreciates anatta, that no one is
behind these processes. Moment to moment, phenomena
occur; this is a natural process with which one is not identified.
This wisdom relating to the absence of self in things, anattānup
assanā-ñāṇa,
also is based on two preceding aspects, anatta itself and
anatta lakkhaṇa.

Anatta refers to all impermanent phenomena which possess no
self-essence — in other words, every single element of mind
and matter. The only difference from anicca and dukkha is that
a different aspect is being highlighted.

The characteristic of anatta, anatta lakkhaṇa, is seeing that an
object does not arise or pass away according to one’s wishes.
All the mental and physical phenomena that occur in us come
and go of their own accord, responding to their own natural
laws. Their occurrence is beyond our control.

We can see this in a general way by observing the weather. At
times it is extremely hot, at other time freezing cold. At times it
is wet, at other times dry. Some climates are fickle, such that
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one does not know what will happen next. In no climate can one
adjust the temperature to suit one’s comfort. Weather is subject
to its own natural laws, just like the elements that constitute our
minds and bodies. When we fall ill, suffer, and eventually die,
are these processes not contrary to our wishes?

While conscientiously watching all the mental and physical
phenomena arising and passing away within, one may be
struck by the fact that no one is in control of the process. Such
an insight comes quite naturally. It is not affected or
manipulated in any way. Nor does it come from reflection. It
simply occurs when one is present, observing the passing away
of phenomena. This is called anattānupassanā-ñāṇa.

When one is unable to see the momentary arising and passing
away of phenomena, one is easily misled to think that there is a
self, an individual unchanging entity behind the process of body
and mind. With clear awareness, this false view is momentarily
eliminated.
  Verified Knowledge by Comprehension: The Fulfillment of
the First Vipassanā Jhāna.
When awareness is clear, especially when the passing away of
things is noticeable, one can appreciate intuitively the
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characteristics of impermanence, of suffering, or of absence of
self that are inherent in all phenomena. The intuitive
understanding of all three of these characteristics is included in
a particular stage of insight, sammasana-ñāṇa, meaning the
insight that arises out of verification. Often this term is
translated as “verified knowledge by comprehension.” One
comprehends or verifies the three characteristics through a
personal experience of seeing the disappearance of
phenomena.

Though it is very commonly used, the word “insight” may not be
an appropriate translation of the Pāli word vipassanā. The word
vipassanā has two parts, vi and passanā. Vi refers to various
modes, and  passa
nā is
seeing. Thus, one meaning of vipassanā is “seeing through
various modes.”

These various modes, of course, are those of impermanence,
suffering and absence of self. A more complete translation of
vipassanā now becomes “Seeing through the modes of
impermanence, suffering, and absence of self.”

Another synonym for vipassanāñāṇa is paccakkha-ñāṇa.
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Paccakkha here refers to direct experiential perception.
Because true vipassanāñāṇa only arises when one is mindful,
because it occurs intuitively rather than from reasoning, it is
called a direct experiential insight, paccakkha-ñāṇa.

As vipassanāñāṇa recurs in one’s practice, the mind is led into
a natural and spontaneous reflection that impermanence,
suffering and nonselfness are not only manifest in the present
situation. One realizes by deduction that these three qualities
have also manifested throughout the past and will continue to
prevail in the future. Other beings and objects are constituted of
the same elements as oneself, all impermanent, unsatisfactory
and empty of self-nature. This reflection is called deductive
knowledge, and it is a further aspect of the jhānic factors of
vitakka and vicāra, manifesting in this case on the thinking
level.

At this stage the first vipassanā jhāna is considered to be fully
developed, and the stage of practice called “verified knowledge
by comprehension,” sammasanañāṇa, is fulfilled. One has a
deep and clear appreciation of the three characteristics of
conditioned phenomena: anicca, dukkha and anatta. One has
reached the deductive conclusion that in this world there never
has been, nor will there ever be, a situation that is not pervaded
by these three aspects.
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Deduction and reflection tend to be present in the first
vipassanā jhāna. They are harmless unless they begin to take
over one’s mind. Especially in the case of a person who is
highly intellectual, who has a vivid imagination or is
philosophically bent, too much reflection can get in the way of
personal and direct experience. it can actually put a stop to
insight.

If one is this kind of person and finds one’s practice somewhat
undermined, one can console oneself with the knowledge that
this is not wrong thinking. In this instance, reflection is
connected with the Dhamma rather than with greed or aversion.
Despite this fact, of course, one should make the effort to return
to bare observation, simply experiencing phenomena.
  Wholesome and Unwholesome Vitakka
The word vitakka, used for the jhānic factor of accurate aim,
includes this reflection on a thinking level, directing one’s
attention toward a thought. There are wholesome and
unwholesome kinds of vitakka.

Directing one’s attention toward sense pleasures is said to be
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unwholesome vitakka. Its wholesome counterpart is vitakka
connected with renunciation. Vitakka connected with aversion
and aggression is unwholesome. Vitakka connected with
nonaversion and with nonviolence is wholesome.

When deductive knowledge of anicca, dukkha and anatta arises
as explained above, the vitakka connected with sensual
pleasures is absent. In the series of thoughts that come out of
direct personal insight, some desire may be present, but it
probably will not be concerned with the pleasures of this world
— fame, sex, wealth, property. More likely, one will feel a very
wholesome desire to renounce the world or to be generous or
to spread the Dhamma. Thought these thoughts constitute
vitakka or reflections, they are connected with nongreed or
renunciation.

Vitakka connected with anger is an aggressive state of mind, in
which one desires that another person suffer harm and
misfortune. Rooted in anger, it has a destructive quality behind
it. Nonaversion or nonhatred refers to the lovely quality of
mettā, loving kindness. In contrast to the aggressive,
destructive quality of hatred, mettā wishes the welfare and
happiness of others. When one has tasted the Dhamma
through personal experiences as mentioned above it is not
unusual to want to share it with loved ones. You want others to
have the same experience. This kind of thought is connected
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with mettā, for it wishes the well-being of others.

The last path of vitakka is connected with causing harm. It has
two branches: cruel thought and noncruel thought. A cruel
thought contains the desire to harm, oppress, torture, or kill
other beings. It is another very destructive quality of the mind
rooted in hatred. Non-cruelty, on the other hand, is the quality of
compassion of karuṇā, wanting to help others and to relieve
them of any suffering or distress they may feel. One who has
strong compassion will not only feel it emotionally, but will also
seek ways and means to relieve the suffering of others.
  Vicāra as Reflective Knowledge
If such reflective thoughts recur again and again, this process
takes the name of vicāra. This is the same word used for the
more sustained, rubbing aspect of focused attention. Here it
means repeated reflection on the thinking level. First one
experiences a direct intuitive insight; and afterwards, deductive
knowledge arises concerning the insight. Deductive knowledge
is spicy and enjoyable, but in excess it develops into long trains
of thought which interrupt the process of direct observation.
These may be very noble thoughts — of renunciation, mettā
and compassion — but nonetheless one is caught by them and
carried away. At this time, insight cannot occur.

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May you strongly generate those two very important mental
factors, vitakka and vicāra, in your practice. May you aim the
mind carefully and rub the object thoroughly until you see it
clearly and penetrate its true nature. May you not be
sidetracked even by wonderful thoughts. Thus you will go
through the various stages of insight and eventually realize
nibbāna.
  REACHING THE HIGHER VIPASSANĀ JHĀNAS
The first vipassanā jhāna operates up to the point where a yogi
attains the insight into the rapid arising and passing away of
phenomena. Experiencing this insight and going beyond it, a
yogi grows up, as it were.
  The Second Vipassanā Jhāna
He or she leaves behind the childhood of reflective thinking and
enters the maturity of simple, bare attention.
Now the meditator’s mind becomes lucid and sharp. He or she
is able to follow the very fast rate at which phenomena appear
and disappear from moment to moment. Because of the
continuity and sharpness of mindfulness, there is little
discursive thinking. Nor is there doubt about the impermanent,
momentary nature of mind and matter. At this time, the practice
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seems effortless. In the absence of effortful application and
reflective thought, there is space for joy and rapture. This
nonthinking bare attention is called the second vipassanā
jhāna.

In the first vipassanā jhāna, then, the mind is congested with
effort and discursive thinking. It is only when the second
vipassanā jhāna arises at the beginning of insight into the
arising and passing away of phenomena that clarity, rapture,
faith and great comfort begin to predominate.
  The Danger of Faith, Calm, Rapture and Happiness
The mind is able to become more precise, and concentration
deepens. This deepened concentration leas to the clear verified
faith that arises from personal experience. It also brings
believing faith, faith that if one continues the practice one will
gain the benefits promised by the Buddha and by one’s
teachers. Rapture, mental and physical comfort also become
strong at this stage. When yogis attain the second vipassanā
jhāna there is a strong likelihood that they will become attached
to these extraordinarily pleasant states of mind. They
experience the deepest happiness of their lives. Some may
even believe they have become enlightened. In such a case,
the prospect of further progress grows dim. Yogis will have
done what the Buddha called “stopping within,” which I
discussed earlier.
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If you have extraordinary experiences, please make it a point to
note and label them. Be clearly aware that rapture, faith,
tranquility and so forth are no more than mental states. If, while
noting them, you realize that you are attached to them, cut the
attachment immediately and return your attention to the primary
object at the abdomen. Only then will your progress continue,
and it will bring you even sweeter fruit.

Meditation teachers have to be tactful in dealing with students
who are in this stage of practice. The students are so excited by
their experiences that they tend to rebel if the teacher is too
deflating. Instead, one might gently say, “Your practice is not
bad. These are natural things which arise in practice, but there
are many other experiences which are much better than what
you have now. So why don’t you note all these things so you
can experience the better ones?”

Paying heed to these instructions, the yogi returns to sitting and
carefully notes the lights, faith, rapture, happiness, tranquility
and comfort. It dawns on him or her that this simple noting
actually is the correct path of practice. Thus oriented, he or she
can proceed with great confidence.
  The Arising of the Third Vipassanā Jhāna
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Rapture will gradually fade, but mindfulness and concentration
will continue to deepen. Then insight into the true nature of
what is happening will become very strong. At this point, the
enlightenment factor of upekkhā, equanimity, becomes
predominant. The mind remains unshaken by pleasant objects
as well as unpleasant ones, and a deep sense of comfort arises
in the body and mind. Yogis can sit for long hours without pain,
and their bodies become pure, light and robust. This is the third
vipassanā jhāna, whose two jhānic factors are comfort and
one-pointedness of mind. The third jhāna arises at a more
mature stage of the insight into arising and passing away.

The transition from the second jhāna to the third is a critical
turning point in practice. Human beings have a natural
attachment to thrills and excitement which agitate the mind.
Rapture is one of these agitating pleasures; it creates ripples in
the mind. It is rather adolescent, though. So when you
experience it, be certain to increase your vigilance and note as
meticulously as you can. As long as a yogi remains attached to
rapture, he or she will not move forward into the more mature,
subtle happiness that comes with peace and comfort.
  The Climax of Happiness
The scriptures illustrate the transition with the story of a mother
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cow who is suckling her calf. It is important to wean the calf
early, so that the cow’s milk can be used by human beings. If
the calf is not weaned, it will constantly drink up all the cow’s
milk. This calf is like the second jhāna which feeds and thrives
on pīti or rapture. The mother cow might be the third jhāna, and
the person who is able to drink the sweet, fresh milk is like a
yogi who has successfully gone beyond his or her attachment
to rapture.

The happiness or comfort that can be tasted in this third
vipassanā jhāna is said in the scriptures to be the peak or
climax of happiness that can be experienced in vipassanā
practice. It is the sweetest. Nevertheless, the yogi can dwell in it
with equanimity and without attachment.

To continue noting precisely remains crucial, lest the comforts
of mind and body, the sharpness and clarity of insight, give rise
to subtle attachment. If you feel that your insight is fantastic,
sharp and and clear, you should note this. However, attachment
is less likely to arise, since a comprehensive, panoramic
mindfulness is present which notes each object easily and
without slipping.
  Dissolution of Phenomena: The Comfort Disappears
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The third jhāna is called the climax of happiness because there
is no more happiness in the next jhāna. As you note
phenomena, you will gradually pass beyond the stage of insight
into arising and passing away, into the stage of dissolution of
phenomena. At this point the beginnings and the middles of
objects are no longer clear. Instead the mind perceives
continuous dissolution of phenomena, which disappear as soon
as they are noted. Often it seems as if there is no body at all,
only bare phenomena dissolving away continuously.

Yogis tend to get distraught and upset, not only because they
feel a lack of comfort, but also because the rapid
disappearance of phenomena can be quite disconcerting.
Before you can note an object, it has gone. leaving empty
space. The next phenomenon behaves in the same way.

Concepts become indistinct. Up to now, the yogi may have
seen phenomena clearly, but the mental factor of perception, or
recognition, was still mixed in. Thus he or she was able to see
both the ultimate, nonconceptual reality of objects and also the
concept of form: body, arm, leg, head, abdomen, and so forth.
At the dissolution stage of insight, concepts fall away. You may
be unable to tell where the phenomena are located; there is
only disappearance.

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“What happened?” you may cry. “I was doing so well, and now
my practice is falling apart. It’s out of control I can’t note a
single thing.” Self-judgement, dissatisfaction, fill your mind.
Obviously there is no comfort.

Eventually it is possible to gain ease in this new space. You can
just cooly settle back and watch the continual flow of
phenomena. This stage of insight is called “insight into
dissolution of phenomena.” It has an interesting quality. There
is no more physical or mental happiness or ease, nor are there
outright discomforts or pains in the body at this time. The
feeling in the mind is rather neutral, too.
  The Appearance of the Fourth Vipassanā Jhāna
During the maturation of insight into the arising and passing
away of phenomena, the rapture of the second jhāna gave way
to the third jhāna factor of comfort. The outrageous pleasure of
rapture was replaced by milder and subtler feelings of comfort
and peace. As comfort disappears in the dissolution stage of
insight, it still does not incur mental displeasure. Now the third
jhāna gives way to the fourth, whose characteristic jhāna
factors are equanimity and one-pointedness of mind.
  Insight into Equanimity Regarding All Formations
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With a mind that is neither pleased nor displeased, comfortable
nor uncomfortable, upekkhā or equanimity arises. Upekkhā has
a tremendous power to balance the mind. In this particular
aspect, it is known as tatramajjhattatā. In this environment of
balance, mindfulness can become perfectly pure, keen and
sharp. Subtle aspects of phenomena can be seen with
incredible and uninterrupted clarity as particles and tiny
vibrations. In fact, tatramajjhattatā is present in each of the
jhānas from the beginning. Yet in the first, second and third
jhānas, it is hidden by more assertive qualities, like the moon in
daylight which cannot compete with the sun.
  Summary of the Four Vipassanā Jhānas
In the first jhāna, balance is quite undeveloped. Predominant
instead are vitakka and vicāra, aiming and rubbing or initial
application and sustained application. As discussed above, the
vitakka and vicāra of the first jhāna often include large amounts
of discursive thinking.

In the second jhāna, the thrills and chills of rapture overshadow
equanimity. Come the third jhāna, there is the sweetest
happiness and comfort, so that balance has no chance to show
itself. When comfort evaporates, however, bringing about that
feeling which is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, then balance
has a chance to shine. In just this way, when dusk sets in and
darkness begins to thicken, the moon reigns splendidly over all
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the sky.

After the insight into dissolution come successive insights into
fear, disgust, and wanting to be liberated. Equanimity is not
strongly shown until the stage of insight known as “equanimity
regarding all formations.”

This is a deep level of practice where things begin to move very
smoothly. Mindfulness is so agile now that it picks up the
objects before the mind can begin to be perturbed by
pleasantness or unpleasantness. There is no chance for
attachment or aversion to arise. Objects which normally are
very unpleasant, lose their influence completely, as do thrilling
and exciting objects. Because this is true at all six sense doors,
the kind of equanimity now present is known as “six-limbed
equanimity.”

A great subtlety of awareness is another feature of this time in
practice. The rising and falling process becomes a vibration. It
breaks into particles and may eventually disappear. If this
happens, you should try to look at the sitting posture as a whole
and perhaps some touch points such as buttocks and knees.
These, too, may disappear, leaving behind no perceptions of
the body whatsoever. Sickness and pains disappear, for no
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physical phenomena remain to be perceived, no itches left to
scratch. What remains is only the consciousness which knows
absence of physical phenomena. At such a time, this
consciousness itself should be taken as the object of knowing.
As you note, “knowing, knowing,” even that consciousness can
begin to flicker and reappear. yet, at the same time, there will
be clarity of mind and extreme sharpness.

This state of extreme mental balance is said to be like the mind
of an arahant, which remains unshakable in the face of any
object capable of arising in the field of consciousness.
However, even if you have attained this stage of practice, you
still are not an arahant. You are only experiencing a mind
similar to an arahant’s during this particular moment of
mindfulness.

Each of the four vipassanā jhānas is characterized by a distinct
type of happiness. In the first vipassanā jhāna, one can
experience the happiness of seclusion. The hindrances are kept
away, and so the mind is remote and secluded from them.

In the second jhāna, one experiences the happiness of
concentration. Good concentration brings happiness in the form
of rapture and comfort. As rapture is abandoned, the happiness
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in the third jhāna is simply known as the happiness of
equanimity.

Finally in the fourth jhāna, we experience the purity of
mindfulness due to equanimity.
The fourth type is the best happiness, of course. Like the first
three, however, it still occurs in the realm of conditioned
phenomena. Only if the yogi transcends this realm can he or
she experience the ultimate happiness, the happiness of real
peace. This called santisukha in Pāli. It occurs when the objects
of meditation and all other mental and physical phenomena, as
well as the noting mind itself, come to a complete stop.

I hope that you will be able to taste all four kinds of happiness
that arise through the vipassanā jhānas, and also that you will
go on to taste the highest happiness, the happiness of nibbāna.
ON NIBBĀNA
Confusion About Nibbāna
There has been a lot of discussion about the nibbānic
experience. Whole books have been written about it. Some
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people think that nibbānic happiness refers to a special sort of
physical or mental state. Some believe it exists in one’s body.
Others say that when mind and matter are extinguished, what
remains behind is the essence of eternal bliss.

Some may be filled with doubt. They say, “If nibbāna is the
extinguishing of mind and matter, how can there be anything
left to experience?” It is hard to think of happiness that is not
experienced through the senses. This entire discussion,
moreover, will be Greek to people who have no experience of
meditation.

In fact, only a person who has experienced nibbāna for herself
or himself will be able to speak of it with conviction.
Nonetheless, there are also inferential ways to speak of it,
which will seem quite familiar to anyone whose practice has
deepened to the extent of having had the nibbānic experience.

Some people think that nibbāna is some special kind of mind or
matter, but this is not so. There are four kinds of what are called
in Pāli the paramattha dhammas, which we mentioned above,
the realities that can be experienced directly without any
conceptualization or thinking. These four are material
phenomena, two kinds of mental phenomena — consciousness
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itself, plus the other mental factors that occur with each moment
of consciousness — and nibbāna. Thus nibbāna is defined as
being different from matter and also from mind.

A second mistaken notion is that nibbāna is what is left behind
when mind and matter are extinguished. Nibbāna is the source
of ultimate reality, and it is classified as an external
phenomenon rather than an internal one. As such, it has
nothing to do with anything that might remain in one’s body
after the mind and body process has been extinguished.

Nibbāna cannot be experienced in the same way that, say,
visual objects or sounds can be experienced, through the
senses. It is not a sensual object. Therefore it cannot be
included in any category of sensate (or sense-based)
pleasures, not matter how extraordinary. it is nonsensate
happiness, not based on the senses.

Arguments about the nature of nibbāna have been going on
since the Buddha’s time. it seems there was an abbot of a
monastery who was discussing nibbānic bliss before an
audience of bhikkhus. One of the bhikkhus said, “If there is no
sensation in nibbāna, how can there be bliss?”
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The elder answered, “My friend, it is precisely because there is
no sensation in nibbāna that it is so blissful” This answer is
almost like a riddle. I wonder what you think the answer is. If
you cannot find an answer, I will be happy to give one to you.
  Disadvantages of the Senses
First, we must talk about sensate pleasure. It is fleeting.
Happiness is here one moment and gone the next. Is it really so
enjoyable to go around hunting for something so ephemeral,
which is changing all the time?

Look at the amount of trouble you have to go through to get all
those novel experiences you think will bring happiness. Some
people have such strong desire for pleasure that they will even
break the law, commit atrocious crimes and cause others to
suffer just so they can experience these fleeting sense-based
pleasures. They may not understand how much suffering they
themselves will have to endure in the future as a consequence
of the unwholesome acts they have committed. Even ordinary
people who are not criminals may become aware that a
disproportionate amount of suffering is necessary to bring
together a few moments of happiness, so much that it really is
not worth it.
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Once one has begun to practice meditation, sources of
happiness become available that are more refined, more
enjoyable, than mere sense pleasures. As we have seen, each
of the vipassanā jhānas brings its own kind of joy. The first
jhāna brings the happiness of seclusion; the second, the
happiness of concentration, which consists of intense rapture
and joy. The third jhāna brings a refined contentment, which
educated the mind to understand that the happiness of rapture
and joy actually is rather coarse. Last and deepest, the
happiness of equanimity that is discovered in the fourth
vipassanā jhāna has the nature of stillness and peace. All these
four are known as nekkhamma sukha, the happiness of
renunciation.

However, the peace and happiness to be found in nibbāna is
superior to both the happiness of renunciation as well as that of
sense pleasures. It also is quite distinct from all of them in
nature. The happiness of nibbāna occurs upon the cessation of
mind and matter. It is the peace of the extinction of suffering. It
is independent of contact with the six kinds of sense objects. In
fact, it arises because there is no contact at all with sense
objects.

People whose idea of happiness is to take a vacations, go on a
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picnic and swim in a lake, people who use their free time just to
attend parties or barbecues, these people may not understand
how happiness could arise when there is no experience at all.
As far as they are concerned, there can be beauty only when
they have eyes to see it, a lovely object to look at, and the
consciousness to be aware of sight, and similarly with the other
senses. They might say, “If there is fragrance but no nose and
no consciousness of smell, where can I find delight?” They may
find it impossible to imagine how anyone could contrive of such
a horrid thing as nibbāna. They might reason that nibbāna is a
kind of secret death, something really horrendous. Human
beings become intensely frightened at the prospect of
annihilation.

Other people doubt that nibbāna can exist. They say, “This is a
poet’s dream.” Or they say, “If nibbāna is nothing, how can it be
better than a beautiful experience?”
Indescribable Bliss: A Sleeping Millionaire
Let us imagine that there is a multimillionaire or millionairesse
who has available to him or her all the imaginable sense
pleasures. One day this person is having a nice, sound sleep.
While he or she is sleeping, the chef has been at work, cooking
an array of delicious food and arranging it on the table.
Everything is quite in order in the full splendor of the
millionaire’s mansion.
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Now the chef becomes impatient. The food is getting cold and
the chef wants the owner of the house to come down and eat.
Let us say that the chef sends the butler to wake up the
millionaire. What do you think? Will the millionaire leap joyfully
from bed and come down to eat, or does the butler run the risk
of being clobbered?

When this millionaire is in a deep, sound sleep, he or she is
blissfully oblivious to the surroundings. No matter how beautiful
the bedroom, he or she does not see it. No matter how beautiful
the music that is piped throughout the house, he or she is deaf
to it. Fine fragrance may waft through the air, but he or she is
oblivious to it. He or she is not eating, that is clear. And no
matter how comfortable and luxurious the bed may be, he or
she is completely unaware of the sensation of lying upon it.

You can see that there is a certain happiness in sound sleep
which is not connected with sensate objects. Anyone, rich or
poor, may wake up from sound sleep and feel wonderful. One
may gather, then, that some sort of happiness exists in that
sleep. Though it is difficult to describe, it cannot be denied. In
the same way, the noble ones who have touched fulfillment of
Dhamma know of a kind of happiness that can neither be
denied nor fully described, but which we know by deductive
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reasoning actually exists.

Supposing it were possible to have deep, sound sleep forever.
Would you want it? If one does not like the kind of happiness
that comes with sound sleep, it may be difficult to have a
preference for nibbāna. If one does not want the happiness of
nonexperience, one is still attached to the pleasure of the
senses. This attachment is due to craving. It is said that craving
actually is the root cause of sense objects.
  The Root of All Trouble
Suffering will always follow craving. If we care to look closely at
the situation on this planet, it will not be difficult to see that all
the problems in this world are rooted in the desire for
sense-based pleasures. It is on account of the continual need to
experience these pleasures that families are formed. Members
of the family have to go out and toil through the day and night to
get money to support themselves. It is on account of the need
for pleasure that quarrels occur within the family, that neighbors
do not get along well, that towns and cities are at loggerheads,
that states have conflict, that nations go to war. It is on account
of sense-based pleasures that all these hosts of problems
plague our world, that people have gone beyond their
humanness into great cruelty and inhumanity.
  Singing the Praises of Nonexperience
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People may say, “We are born as human beings. Our heritage
is the whole field of sense pleasures. What is the point of
practicing for nibbāna which is the annihilation of all these
pleasures?”

To such people one might ask a simple question. Would you be
prepared to sit down and watch the same movie again and
again and again throughout the day? How long can you listen to
the sweet voice of your loved one without interruption? What
happened to the joy that you got from listening to that sweet
voice? Sense pleasures are not so special that we do not need
a rest from them sometimes.

The happiness of nonexperience or nonsensate experience far
exceeds the happiness that comes through sense pleasures. It
is much more refined, much more subtle, much more desirable.
In fact, deep sleep is not exactly the same as nibbāna! In sleep,
what is occurring is the life continuum, a very subtle state of
consciousness with a very subtle object. It is because of the
subtlety of the object that sleep seems to be nonexperience. In
fact, the nonsensate happiness of nibbāna is a thousand times
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greater than what is experienced in the deepest sleep.

Due to their great appreciation for nonexperience, non-returners
and arahants continually resort to nirodha samāpatti, the great
cessation attainment, whereby neither matter, mind, mental
factors, nor even that most subtle form of matter, mind-borne
matter, occur. When the non-returners and arahants emerge
from this state, they sing the praises of nonexperience.

Here is part of their song: “How wonderful it is to have this
suffering of mind and matter extinguished in nibbāna. When all
sorts of suffering connected with mind and matter are
extinguished, one can deduce that the opposite will occur, that
there is happiness. So in the absence of suffering we noble
ones rejoice, so blissful is nibbāna. Happy is nibbāna as it is
free from suffering.”
  The Nibbāna of the Buddhas
Who was it that showed us the path to this great happiness?
The Lord Buddha. This is a nibbāna which has been proclaimed
by all enlightened Buddhas. In Pāli, the Buddha is called samm
ā sambuddha. Sammā
means perfectly, correctly, rightly, and the Buddha is unique in
that he understood the true nature of things as they really are.
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The truth is true, yet what is known of it may be incorrect and
wrong. The Buddha made no such mistakes. The prefix
sammeans personal, by oneself; and
Buddha
means enlightened. The Buddha was enlightened by his own
efforts. He did not receive his attainment from superbeings, nor
did he depend on any other person. So, the nibbāna we are
talking about is the one proclaimed by the sammā sambuddha,
the perfectly self-enlightened one.
  Freedom from Sorrow
Another characteristic of nibbāna is that it is free from sorrow.
Most of you are familiar with sorrow. Imagine how wonderful it
would be to be free from it. Nibbāna is called virāga in Pāli. This
means free from dust and pollution. Dust as we normally know
it makes things dirty and unpleasant. It may damage clothing
and health. Far more lethal is the pollution of the kilesas! How
often our minds are bombarded by this constant stream of
greed, hatred, delusion, pride, conceit, jealousy, miserliness. In
such a state, how can one expect the mind to be clean, pure
and clear? In contrast nibbāna is completely free of all the
kilesas.
  Perfect Security
Khema or security is another characteristic of nibbāna. In this
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world we are constantly confronted by dangers. Dangers of
accident, danger of enemies harming us, danger of poison. In
this age of advanced science, we live in constant fear of the
weapons of war that have been invented. We would be
completely helpless if a war occurred in which nuclear weapons
are used. There is no escape from any of this except in
nibbāna, which is totally free from all dangers, totally secure.

In the scriptures the nonsensate happiness of nibbāna is called
that sort of happiness which is not mixed with kilesas. For
people who experience sensate happiness, there is always
some degree of greed involved. It is like food which you cook: if
you add no spices, it tastes flat and not at all delicious. With
spices, though, you can enjoy your food. It is the same with
sensate happiness: unless there is greed, lust and desire, you
will not enjoy an object. Precisely because nibbāna is not mixed
with other things, it is called pārisuddhi sukha, meaning pristine
and pure.

In order for us to experience this pristine happiness, we must
first of all cultivate sīla, samādhi and paññā. Continuous effort
to purify action, speech and mind will bring your mind to the
point where it can enjoy nibbāna. I hope you will be able to work
in this direction and attain pristine happiness in due course.
  6. Chariot to Nibbāna
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Once, when the Buddha was staying in the Jeta Grove near the
ancient city of Sāvatthī in India, he was visited in the wee hours
of the night by a deva, come down from the heaven realms with
a retinue of a thousand companions.

Although the deva’s radiance filled the entire grove, he was
nonetheless visibly distraught. He paid respects to the Buddha
and then launched into the following lament: “O Lord Buddha,”
he cried, “devaland is so noisy! It’s full of racket from all these
devas. They look like petas (unhappy ghosts) to me, frolicking
in their own land. Confusing it is to be in such a place. Please
show me a way out!”

This was an odd speech for a deva to make. The heaven
realms are characterized by delight. Their residents, elegant
and musically inclined, hardly resemble petas who live in
extreme misery and suffering some petas are said to have
gigantic bellies and pinhole mouths, so that they feel a
constant, terrible hunger which they cannot satisfy.

Using his psychic powers, the Buddha investigated the deva’s
past. He learned that only recently this deva had been a human
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being, a practitioner of the Dhamma. As a young man he had
had such faith in the Buddha’s doctrine that he left home to
become a bhikkhu. After the required five years under a
teacher, he had mastered the rules of conduct and community
life and had become self-sufficient in his meditation practice.
Then he retired to a forest alone. Because of his tremendous
wish to become an arahant, the bhikkhu’s practice was
extremely strenuous. So as to devote as much time as possible
to meditation, he slept not at all and hardly ate. Alas, he
damaged his health. Gas accumulated in his belly, causing
bloating and knife-like pains. Nonetheless the bhikkhu practiced
on single-mindedly, without adjusting his habits. The pains grew
worse and worse, until one day, in the middle of walking
meditation, they cut off his life.

The bhikkhu was instantly reborn in the Heaven of the
Thirty-three Gods, one of several deva realms. Suddenly, as if
from a dream, he awoke dressed in golden finery and standing
at the gates of a glittering mansion. Inside that celestial palace
were a thousand devas, dressed up and waiting for him to
arrive. He was to be their master. They were delighted to see
him appear at the gate! Shouting in glee, they brought out their
instruments to entertain him.

Amidst all this, our poor hero had no chance to notice that he
had died and been reborn. Thinking that all these celestial
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beings were no more than lay devotees come to pay him
respects, the new deva lowered his eyes to the ground, and
modestly pulled up a corner of his golden outfit to cover his
shoulder. From these gestures, the devas guessed his situation
and cried, “You’re in deva-land now. This isn’t the time to
meditate. It’s time to have fun and frolic. Come on, let’s dance!”

Our hero barely heard them, for he was practicing sense
restraint. Finally some of the devas went into the mansion and
brought out a full-length mirror. Aghast, the new deva saw that
he was a monk no more. There was no place in the entire
heaven realm quiet enough to practice. He was trapped.

In dismay he thought, “ When I left my home and took robes, I
wanted only the highest bliss, arahantship. I’m like the boxer
who enters a competition hoping for a gold medal and is given a
cabbage instead!”

The ex-bhikkhu was afraid even to set food inside the gate of
his mansion. He knew his strength of mind would not last
against these pleasures, far more intense than those of our
human world. Suddenly he realized that as a deva he had the
power to visit the human realm where the Buddha was
teaching. This realization cheered him up.
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“I can get celestial riches any time,” he thought, “but the
opportunity to meet a Buddha is truly rare.” Without a second
thought he flew off, followed by his thousand companions.
Finding the Buddha in the Jeta Grove, the deva approached
him and asked for help. The Buddha, impressed by his
commitment to practice, gave the following instructions:
 
“O deva, straight is the path you have trodden. It will lead you to
that safe haven, free from fear, which is your goal. You shall
ride in chariot that is perfectly silent. Its two wheels are mental
and physical effort. Conscience is its backrest. Mindfulness is
the armor that surrounds this chariot, and right view is the
charioteer. Anyone, woman or man, possessing such a chariot
and driving it well, shall have no doubt of reaching nibbāna.”
  WHAT IS WRONG WITH A CONTINUOUS PARTY?
This story of the bhikkhu-deva is outlined in the collection of
Pāli suttas known as the Saṃyutta Nikāya. It illustrates many
things about meditation practice. We will examine it step by
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step. But perhaps the first question you will ask is, “Why would
anyone complain about rebirth in a heaven realm?” After all,
deva-land is a continuous party, where everyone has a
gorgeous long-lasting body and is surrounded by sensual
pleasures.

It may be unnecessary to die and be reborn to understand the
deva’s reaction. There are heaven realms right on this planet. Is
true and permanent happiness to be found in any of them? The
United States, for example, is a very advanced country
materially. There, a vast array of sense pleasures is available.
You can see people intoxicated, drowning in luxury and
pleasure. Ask yourself whether such people think about looking
deeper, of making an effort to seek the truth about existence?
Are they truly happy?

When he had been a human being, our deva had had utter faith
in the Buddha’s teaching that the highest bliss is the freedom
that comes through Dhamma practice. In search of this
happiness beyond the senses, he renounced worldly
enjoyments and devoted himself to the life of a bhikkhu. He
strove ardently to become an arahant. In fact, he strove too
ardently and brought on his own premature death. Suddenly, he
found himself back at square one — surrounded by the sensual
pleasures he had tried to leave behind. Can you understand his
feeling of disappointment?
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Actually death is nothing very novel. It is just a shift of
consciousness. There is no intervening consciousness between
the awareness of death and rebirth-consciousness. Unlike
humans, moreover, birth for devas is spontaneous and
painless.

Therefore, the yogi lost no momentum in his practice between
one life and the other. Here again, it is not surprising that he
would complain about the noise in deva-land. If you have ever
practiced deeply, you know how disruptive and painful sound
can be at times, either in a sudden burst or as a sustained
barrage. Imagine you have just reached a place of quiet and
calm in your sitting, and the telephone rings. Instantly your
whole hour of samādhi can go to pieces. If this experience has
ever happened to you, you might understand this yogi’s
outburst comparing devas to the unhappy ghosts. When that
phone rings, I wonder what sort of curse arises in you, even if a
friend is calling!

In the original Pāli, this sutta contains a play on words. The
deva had found himself in a heavenly pleasure grove called
Nandana Vana, famous for its beauty. In his speech to the
Buddha, he renamed it Mohana, from the word moha, delusion
— a place that creates chaos and confusion in the mind.
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  The Way of Renunciation
From a yogi’s point of view, surely you can also appreciate the
distracting quality of intense pleasure. Perhaps your goal is not
arahantship, as this yogi’s was — or perhaps it is. Whatever
results you expect from your meditation practice, surely you
value the concentration and tranquility that meditation brings.
To achieve these goals, a certain amount of renunciation is
necessary. Each time we sit down to meditate, even for one
hour, we renounce the possibility of seeking out an hour’s worth
of pleasure and distraction. But we find some measure of relief
from distraction itself, the suffering of the mind which chases
after pleasant feelings. If we go to a longer retreat, we leave
behind our home, our loved ones and our pastimes. Yet many
of us find these sacrifices worthwhile.

Though he complained of the heavenly conditions, the
bhikkhu-deva was not really looking down on the devas’ way of
life. Much more, he was disappointed in himself for not
achieving his goal. It is as if you took a job in hopes of earning
$1,000. You work hard, industriously and meticulously, but at
the end of the day your task remains unfinished, and you are
paid only $50. This would be a letdown. Not that you would
despise the $50, but you feel disappointed at not meeting the
goal you set for yourself. So, too, this yogi was angry with
himself and compared himself to the boxer who had won a
cabbage instead of a gold medal. His deva companions
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understood and were not insulted in the least. In fact, they were
intrigued enough to follow him to the earthly realm, where they,
too, benefited from the Buddha’s instructions.

If you are well established in Dhamma, your interest in
meditation will follow you wherever you go, even into devaland.
If not, you will shortly become entangled in the pleasures
offered by whatever environment you may inhabit, and that will
be the end of your career as a Dhamma pilgrim.
  Establishing Oneself in Practice
Let us investigate how this yogi became established in his
practice. Before going alone into the forest, he was dependent
on a teacher for five years and lived in community with other
bhikkhus. He served the teacher in large and small ways,
received meditation instruction, and perfected the Vinaya rules
of morality. Each year he sat a three-month Rains retreat and
afterwards participated in the traditional ceremony where
monks discuss each other’s faults in a spirit of lovingkindness
and compassion, so that each can correct his own
shortcomings.

This man’s background is significant for all of us as yogis. Like
him, all yogis should strive to fully understand the mechanics of
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observing the precepts, until purity of conduct is a full and
natural part of our lives. We must also be aware of our
responsibilities to each other as we live together in this world.
We must learn to communicate in ways that are helpful and
loving. As for meditation, until we have a high degree of skill,
completing the whole series of vipassanā insights, it is also
necessary for us to depend on a reliable and competent
teacher.
  Distinguishing the Essential from the Superfluous
This bhikkhu had a great virtue: total commitment to the
Dhamma, to realizing the truth. For him all else was secondary.
Extremely careful to distinguish the essential from the
superfluous, he avoided external activities and spent as much
time as possible trying to be mindful.

It is good for all of us to limit our responsibilities so that we have
more hours for meditation. When at times this is impossible, we
can remember the tale of Mother Cow. As you know, cattle are
forever busy munching grass; they eat all day. Now, Mother
Cow has a pretty young calf who is also quite frisky and
mischievous. If she grazes on without a thought for her calf, the
calf will surely run off and get into trouble. But if she neglects
her own needs and only watches the calf, she will have to graze
all night. So, Mother Cow keeps an eye on the calf and grazes
at the same time. A yogi who has a job or a task to do should
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imitate her. Do your work but keep an eye on the Dhamma.
Make sure that your mind does not wander off too far!

We know that this bhikkhu was an industrious and ardent yogi.
During his waking hours he tried his best to be mindful, as all of
us know should be done. The Buddha allowed monks to sleep
four hours, through the middle watch of the night. But this
bhikkhu’s sense of urgency was such that he put his bed aside
and did not even think of sleeping. Furthermore, he ate almost
nothing, content with his exercise in persistent energy.

I do not suggest that you should stop eating and sleeping. I
would like you simply to appreciate his level of commitment.
During an intensive meditation retreat it is advisable to sleep as
the Buddha instructed, four hours, if one can manage this. More
is necessary in daily life, but still it is not good to dull oneself
with too much lying in bed. As for food, you should eat to your
satisfaction, so that you have sufficient strength for your daily
activities and for meditation practice, but not so much that you
feel bloated and sleepy. The story of this bhikkhu points out the
need to eat for health, at least a sufficiency of food.

A person who dies in the process of meditation, or while giving
a discourse on the Dhamma, can be regarded as a hero or
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heroine fallen in battle. Our bhikkhu was doing his walking
meditation when he was struck down by the sharp knife of wind
in his system. He woke up in devaland. And so might you, if you
die while meditating, even if you are not enlightened.

Even from a fortunate rebirth, you may wish for an escape
route, a way to perfect freedom and safety. During his visit to
the heaven realm, the bhikkhu-deva was frightened by his own
capacity for desire. If he so much as set foot in the gate of his
palace, he realized that his moral precepts might begin to
erode. Enlightenment was still his first priority, and for this he
needed to keep his virtue intact. He fled to Jeta Grove and
blurted out his question.
  The Buddha’s Progressive Instructions
The Buddha’s response was unusually succinct. Generally, he
instructed people step by step, beginning with morality,
progressing through the right view of kamma and concentration,
before he began with insight practice. To illustrate this order of
teaching, he once gave the example of an art master.
Approached by a neophyte who wants to paint, the master does
not just hand out a brush. The first lesson is stretching a
canvas. Just as an artist cannot paint in empty air, so it is futile
to begin vipassanā practice without a basis in morality and
understanding of the law of kamma. Without these two things,
there will be no surface, as it were, to receive concentration and
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wisdom. In some meditation centers, morality and kamma are
ignored. Not much can result from meditation under these
circumstances.

The Buddha also tailored his instructions to his listeners’
backgrounds or propensities. He saw that this unusual deva
had been a mature bhikkhu and meditation practitioner, and
that he had not broken his moral precepts during that
abbreviated stop in the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods.

There is a Pāli word, kāraka, meaning a dutiful and industrious
person. Our bhikkhu had been one of these. He was not a yogi
by name only; not a philosopher or a dreamer, lost in ideas and
fantasies; nor a sluggard, gazing blankly at whatever objects
arose. On the contrary, he was ardent and sincere. The bhikkhu
walked the path with total commitment. His profound faith and
confidence in the practice supported a capacity for sustained
effort. Moment to moment, he tried to put into practice the
instructions he had received. One might regard him as a
veteran.
  The Direct Route to Freedom
The Buddha gave this committed one a veteran’s instructions.
“Straight is the path you have trodden,” he said. “It will lead you
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to that safe haven, free from fear, that is your goal.” The path in
question, of course, was the Noble Eightfold Path. This deva
had already begun walking on it, and the Buddha was giving
him the go-ahead to continue. Aware, moreover, that the deva
wanted to be an arahant in this very life, the Buddha was
offering he straight path, straight vipassanā.

The Noble Eightfold Path is very straight indeed. It has no
sidetracks. It neither curves, nor bends, nor wriggles. It just
leads straight on toward nibbāna.
The Ten Types of Crooked Behavior
We can better understand this virtue of straightness by
examining its opposite. It is said that there are ten types of
unwholesome, or crooked, behavior. A person untamed with
respect to these ten actions of body, speech and mind, is sees
as crooked in the eyes of the wise. He or she is not honest, not
straight, lacks moral integrity.

Crooked bodily behavior is of three kinds. The first is connected
with feelings of hatred and aggression. If one lacks mettā and
karuṇā, love and compassion, one can easily succumb to such
feelings and translate them into actions on a physical level. One
might kill, harm or otherwise oppress other beings. Crooked
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behavior can also stem from greed, which, uncontrolled, leads
to stealing or deceitful acquisition of another’s property. Sex is
the third area of bodily crookedness. A person attacked by lust,
interest only in his or her own gratification, may commit sexual
misconduct without consideration for another’s feelings.

There are four kinds of crooked speech. First, one can lie.
Second, one can speak words that cause disharmony,
instigating the breakup of friendships or communities. Third,
one can speak hurtfully, coarsely and crudely, obscenely.
Frivolous chatter is the fourth kind of crooked speech.

On the level of the mind, three types of crookedness are listed.
One might think about harming other people. One might covet
their property. Or, one can have a wrong view of the law of
kamma. Not accepting the law of kamma, can lead to acting
irresponsibly, creating the conditions for one’s own suffering
and that of others.

There are other kinds of mental behavior that are unwholesome
though not included in this list, such as sloth and torpor,
restlessness, and all the myriad subtle permutations of the
kilesas. A person subject to these forces is considered to
possess a crooked mind.
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  Dangers of Walking a Crooked Path
One who is not free from these inner and outer forms of
unwholesome behavior is said to walk a crooked path. He or
she cannot expect to arrive at any safe place. He or she is
constantly exposed to many kinds of danger.

There is the danger of self-judgment, remorse and regret. One
may find a justification for a particular unwholesome action,
word or thought, or one might be unaware at first that it is
unskillful. Later reflection brings a flood of remorse. One
berates oneself, “That was really a stupid thing to do.” Remorse
is painful, and it is not a feeling anyone else imposes on you.
By walking the crooked path, you brought its suffering on
yourself. Such an eventuality is fearsome anytime, but it is truly
dreadful one one’s deathbed. Just prior to death, an
uncontrollable stream of consciousness arises, a recollection of
one’s life and actions. If you have many virtuous and generous
actions to remember, your heart will be filled with warmth and
clam, and you can die in peace. If you have not been careful in
your morality, remorse and regret will overwhelm you. You will
think, “Life is so short, and I misused my time. I failed to make
full use of the chance to live up to the highest standard of
humanity.” By then it will be too late to mend your ways. Your
death will be a painful one. Some people suffer so greatly at
this time that they weep and cry out as they die.
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Self-judgment is not the only danger for a person choosing the
crooked path. He or she must also contend with the blame and
censure of the wise. Goodhearted people do not offer their
friendship to the untrustworthy or the violent, nor hold them in
high esteem. Unwholesome people end up as misfits, unable to
live in society.

Somewhere along the crooked path, you may find yourself
crossing swords with the law. If you break the law, the law gets
even with you. The police nab you and you will be forced to pay
for your misdeeds, with a fine, or a jail sentence, or perhaps
even capital punishment, depending on the crime. The world at
this present age is filled with violence. Many, many people
break the law out of greed, out of hatred, and out of delusion.
They do so not just once, but over and over again. There is no
limit to the depth to which a person can sink. We read about
rampages of killing. When the law finally catches up with such
criminals, they may have to pay with their lives. Thus, it is said
that one who walks on the crooked path is in danger of
punishment.

Of course, if you are intelligent you might get away with a crime
and even commit it by legal means. one may indeed avoid
punishment at the hands of external authorities, but there is no
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escape from the self-punishment discussed above. The honest
knowledge that you have done wrong is very painful. You are
always your own best witness; you can never hide from
yourself. Nor is there escape from miserable rebirths, as an
animal, in hell realms, as a hungry ghost. Once an act has been
committed, kamma has the potential to bear fruit. If the fruit
does not ripen in this life, it will follow you until some time in the
future. The crooked path leads to all these kinds of danger.
  THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
No crookedness exists in the Noble Eightfold Path. With its
three divisions — morality, concentration, and wisdom — it
brings integration, straightness, to every aspect of a human life.
The Morality Group of the Noble Eightfold Path
Sammāvācā or right speech — literally, thorough or perfect
speech, according to the meaning of the prefix sammā — is the
first member of what is known as the morality group of the
Noble Eightfold Path. This means truthful words, of course. Yet
there are further criteria to be met. One’s speech should lead to
harmony among beings. It should be kind rather than hurtful,
pleasant, sweet to the ear and beneficial, not frivolous.
Practicing right speech, we are freed from the four types of
unwholesome behavior through speech, which were discussed
above.
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Right action, called sammākammanta in Pāli, is the second
factor of the morality group. Right actions involves restraint. We
must refrain from the three types of immoral behavior
manifested through the body: taking life, stealing, and sexual
misconduct. The last member of the morality group,
sammā-ājīva,
is right livelihood. One’s livelihood should be decent, legal and
free from any sort of blemish. One should not practice a
crooked occupation.

Eliminating crookedness in these three areas, one can easily
keep at bay the grossest forms of the kilesas. Kilesas are our
enemies. They should be considered and recognized as such.
Free from enemies, one is free from danger.
  The Concentration Group of the Noble Eightfold Path
The concentration or samādhi group is the next division of the
Noble Eightfold Path. It contains three factors: right effort, right
mindfulness and
right concentration.

This segment should be familiar to you if you have followed the
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meditation instructions. When you try to focus attention on the
abdomen, this is right effort. It has the power to push aside the
kilesas. When right effort is put forth, mindfulness is efficiently
activated and will be able to observe the object. Mindfulness,
too, acts as a protector. Effort moves the kilesas out of the way,
and mindfulness closes the door on them. Now the mind can
become focused. Moment to moment it remains with the object:
collected, unscattered, calm. This is right concentration.

With these three factors present, we say the samādhi group is
well developed. At this time, mental defilement, mental
crookedness, is kept at a distance. This samādhi group is
directly opposed to crookedness of mind.
  The Wisdom Group of the Noble Eightfold Path
Moment to moment, your mind can become pure and peaceful
through your own effort. In one minute you can have sixty
moments of a mind free from crookedness. In two minutes you
can have one hundred and twenty moments. Think how many
moments of peach you could activate during an hour, or even
an entire day. Every second counts!

In each such moment, you will see that the mind falls directly
onto its target, the object of meditation. This is right aim, a
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factor of the Noble Eightfold Path’s wisdom group. When the
mind is accurately aimed, it sees the object clearly: wisdom will
arise. Wisdom’s clear seeing, or knowing of phenomena as they
really are, constitutes another Noble Eightfold Path factor,
right view.

If the mind falls precisely on the target, wisdom will arise
perceiving the mechanism of conditionality, the
cause-and-effect relationship which links mental to physical
phenomena. If the mind falls on impermanence, the mind will
clearly perceive and know impermanence for what it is. Thus,
right aim and right view are linked.

This right view, resulting from right aim, has the power to uproot
the seed of the crooked mind. The seed of the crooked mind
refers to extremely subtle, latent defilements, which can only be
uprooted bin wisdom’s presence. This is very special. It can
only happen in the moment, in a way that is real and practical,
not by one’s imagination.

Perhaps now you can better appreciate why the Buddha said
the path was straight. Crookedness of body, speech and mind
are overcome by this threefold training of sīla, samādhi and
paññā found in the Noble Eightfold Path. Walking straight along
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this path, one transcends crookedness and is free from many
dangers.
  Nibbāna as Haven and the Path as Haven
The Buddha further promised the bhikkhu-deva that this straight
path leads to a safe haven. The word “haven” is discussed at
length in the commentary on this sutta. It actually means
nibbāna, where not a single danger, nothing fearful, remains.
Old age and death are conquered; the burden of suffering falls.
A person who reaches nibbāna is completely protected and can
therefore be called “The Fearless,” the one without danger.

In order to reach this safe haven of nibbāna we must walk the
mundane portion of the Noble Eightfold path — mundane in the
sense that it is not beyond this world. You cannot reach
nibbāna except by this route; nibbāna is its culmination.

We talked about the three sections of the path itself: sīla,
samādhi and paññā. When one is pure in sīla or conduct, one is
free from remorse and from censure by the wise, from
punishment by the law, from rebirth in states of woe. If the
second group is accomplished, one can be free from the danger
of obsessive defilements, those negative tendencies which
arise in our hearts and oppress us inwardly. Insight knowledge,
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arising in the wake of mindfulness and concentration, has the
power to overcome latent or subtle kilesas. So even before
arriving at the perfect safety of nibbāna, one is protected from
fearful things while walking the Noble Eightfold Path. Therefore,
this path itself is a haven.
  Kilesas, Kamma and results: The Vicious Cycle of
Saṃsāra
Kilesas are responsible for the perils of the world. Ignorance,
craving and clinging are kilesas. Based on ignorance,
dominated by craving, one makes kamma and then must live
with the results. Due to our past kammic activities in a sensate
realm, we were reborn on this planet, in the body and mind we
now possess. That is to say, our present life is the effect of a
previous cause. This body and mind, in turn, become the
objects of craving and clinging. Craving and clinging create
kamma, the conditions to be reborn again — again to crave and
cling to bodies and minds. Kilesas, kamma and results are the
three elements of a vicious cycle. It is the cycle of saṃsāra,
beginningless. Without meditation practice it could be endless
also.

If not for avijjā, ignorance, the cycle could not exist. We suffer
first from the ignorance of simply not knowing, not seeing
clearly. On top of that is the ignorance of delusion. If we have
not practiced deeply, we don’t perceive the true characteristics
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of reality: impermanence, suffering and absence of self.
Obscured is the fleeting nature of body and mind, mere
phenomena arising and vanishing moment to moment.
Disguised is the tremendous suffering we undergo, oppressed
by arising and passing away. We do not see that no one
controls this process, that no one is behind it, no one at home.
If we deeply understood these three characteristics of mind and
body, we would neither crave nor cling.

Then, because of delusion, we add illusory elements to reality.
We falsely perceive mind and matter as permanent and
unchanging. We find joy in possessing this body and mind. And
we assume that a permanent self or “I” is in charge of the
mind-body process.

These two types of ignorance cause the arising of craving and
clinging. Clinging, upādāna, is just a solidified form of taṇhā, or
craving. Desiring pleasant sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch
sensations and thoughts, we crave new objects to come to us.
If we get what we want, we cling to it and refuse to let go. This
creates the kamma that keeps us bound on the wheel of
rebirths.
  Breaking the Cycle of Saṃsāra
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Of course, there are various sorts of kamma. Unwholesome
kamma brings about unwholesome results, and it perpetuates
our existence in saṃsāra. While walking on the preliminary part
of the Noble Eightfold Path, one need not worry about the
negative repercussions of one’s actions, since one is avoiding
unwholesome deeds. Sīla protects the yogi from suffering in the
future. Wholesome kamma brings about happy results even as
it, too, propels us through renewed rounds of existence. But
during meditation, perpetuating kamma is no longer being
created. Simply watching things come and go is wholesome,
and more: it does not bring about continual existence in
saṃsāra. in its purest sense, meditation does not produce
resultants, called vipāka in Pāli. When awareness is precise
enough, it prevents the arising of craving, and therefore also the
arising of successive links to existence, kamma, birth, old age,
and death.

Moment by moment, vipassanā practice breaks through the
vicious three-part cycle of of kilesas, kamma and results. When
effort, mindfulness and stable concentration are activated,
precise aim allows consciousness to penetrate into the true
nature of existence. One sees things as they are. The light of
wisdom dispels the darkness of ignorance. In the absence of
ignorance, how will craving arise? If we see clearly the
impermanence, suffering, and insubstantiality of things, craving
will not arise, and clinging cannot follow. Thus, it is said that not
knowing, one clings; but knowing, one is free from clinging.
Free from clinging, one creates no kamma, and therefore no
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results.

Ignorance leads to craving and to clinging both to existence and
to the wrong view of the self. Walking the Noble Eightfold Path,
you kill the causes of ignorance. If these are absent, even for a
moment, there is freedom. The vicious cycle has been
shattered. This is the haven of which the Buddha spoke. Free
from ignorance, from the dangers of the kilesas, from fearsome
kammic activities that may cause suffering in the future, you
can enjoy safety and security as long as you are mindful.

Perhaps you feel that this body and mind are so dreadful that
you want to get rid of them. Well, you would not be doing
yourself any favors by committing suicide. if you really want to
be free, you must behave intelligently. It is said that only if the
effects are observed can the causes be destroyed. This is not
destruction in an active sense. Rather, it is an absence of
perpetuating force. Mindfulness destroys the causes that result
in a similar mind and body in the future. When the mind is
focused with right mindfulness, concentration and aim —
watching each object that arises, at its moment of occurrence,
at each of the six sense doors — at that moment the kilesas
cannot infiltrate. They are quite unable to arise. Since the
kilesas are the cause of kamma and rebirth, you sever a link in
saṃsāric existence. There can be no effect in the future if there
is no cause now.
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Following this Noble Eightfold Path, going through the various
stages of vipassanā insight, one eventually arrives at the haven
of nibbāna, free from all dangers. There are four stages of
nibbānic attainment. In each one, particular kilesas are
uprooted forever. The ultimate haven is reached at the final
stage of enlightenment, arahantship, when the mind is
completely purified.
  STREAM ENTRY:  
THE FIRST EXPERIENCE OF NIBBĀNA
At the first experience of nibbāna, the moment of attaining the s
otāpatti magga,
the path consciousness of the stream winner, the three cycles
which are connected to states of misery are shattered. One can
never again be reborn as an animal, a hungry ghost, or in hell.
The kilesas which cause these rebirths are uprooted. One
never again performs the kinds of kammic activities that cause
rebirth in such states, and past kamma that might have led to
such rebirth is rendered ineffective.

At the higher levels of enlightenment, more and more kilesas
are uprooted. In the end, at the attainment of the path
consciousness of an arahant, there is a total obliteration of
kilesas, kamma and resultant. An arahant will never be plagued
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by these again, and at death will enter the haven of
parinibbāna, a nibbāna from which one never re-enters
saṃsāra.

You may be encouraged to know that even with the lowest level
of enlightenment, you will be free from following a wrong
spiritual practice or a crooked path of any kind. This it says in
the Visuddhi Magga, Buddhaghosa’s great work from the fifth
century CE, known in English as  The Path
of Purification.
As a corollary, you will also be free from self-blame, from
censure by the wise; from danger of punishment and of falling
into states of misery.
  The Perfectly Silent Chariot
A worldling who has not yet attained the state of a stream
entrant is likened to a traveler undertaking a perilous journey.
Many dangers await one who wishes to cross the desert, jungle
or forest. He or she must be well equipped. Among the
essentials for such a journey is a good and reliable vehicle. The
Buddha offered the deva a magnificent option. “You shall ride,”
he said, “in a chariot that is perfectly silent.”

One can imagine that the deva would have found a quiet ride
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attractive after his recent experiences among the heavenly
musicians. But there is additional meaning here.

Most vehicles are noisy. The primitive carts and carriages used
in the Buddha’s time creaked noisily, especially if they were
poorly greased, or were badly made, or carried a heavy load of
passengers. Modern cars and trucks still make quite a racket.
The chariot the Buddha offered, however was no ordinary
vehicle. It is so well made that it moves without a sound, no
matter how many thousands or millions or billions of beings ride
upon it. This chariot can carry all of them safely across the
ocean, the desert, through the jungle of saṃsāra. It is the chariot
of vipassanā practice, of the Noble Eightfold Path.

When the Buddha was alive, millions of being became
enlightened by simply listening to his discourses. A thousand,
or a hundred thousand, or a million beings might be listening to
a single discourse. All these beings would cross together at
once on the chariot.

The chariot may never creak, but its passengers often make a
lot of noise, especially those who reach the farther shore, the
safe haven of nibbāna. They cry out in praise and exaltation:
“How wonderful is this chariot! I’ve used it and it works! It
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brought me to enlightenment.”

These are the noble ones, the stream entrants, the once
returners, the nonreturners and arahants — those who have
attained the four degrees of enlightenment. They sing the
chariot’s praises in various ways. “My mind has changed
completely. It’s filled with faith and crystal clarity and
spaciousness. Much wisdom can unfold within me. My heart is
strong and stable, it faces the vicissitudes of life with resilience.”

The noble ones who have been able to enter the jhānas will
also sing the praises of this vehicle, as will once returners and
arahants who enter into the absorption of cessation. They can
experience cessation of mind, mental factors, and all
mind-borne phenomena. Arising from such states, they are full
of joy and praise for the vehicle.

Normally when a person dies, people grieve and cry out in deep
sorrow. There is lamenting, wailing, sadness to see a being
leave this world. For an arahant who has uprooted all the
imaginable kilesas, however, death is something to look forward
to. “At last this mass of suffering can be discarded. This is my
last life. I’ll have no more confrontation with suffering but only
bliss in the haven of nibbāna,” he or she can say.
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The preciousness of an arahant may be beyond your ability to
conceive. But you can know for yourself how an arahant might
feel. Look at your own practice. You may have been able to
overcome the basic hindrances — craving, aversion, sloth and
torpor, restlessness, and doubt — and can see clearly the
nature of the object. You may have seen the distinction
between mind and matter, or the momentary arising and
passing of phenomena. The stage of seeing arising and
passing is one of freedom and exhilaration. This joy, this clarity
of mind, is the fruit of the practice.

The Buddha said, “For one who has retired to a retreat, for one
who has attained the jhānas, there is a joy which arises in him
or her which far surpasses the happiness that can be
experienced through sensual pleasures either of this human
world, or of the world of the devas.”

The jhānas here can equally refer either to fixed concentration,
or to very deep levels of moment-to-moment concentration
developed during the course of insight practice. As we
discussed earlier, the latter are called the vipassanā jhānas.
  An Incomparable Flavor
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A yogi who can maintain continuous mindfulness will
experience deep joy in the practice. There is a flavor of the
Dhamma you may not have tasted before. it is incomparable.
The first time you taste it you will be filled with wonder. “How
wonderful the Dhamma is. It’s fantastic. I can’t believe how
much calm, rapture and joy arise in me.” You are filled with faith
and confidence, with satisfaction and fulfillment. Your mind
starts to think of sharing this experience with others. You may
even get ambitious and plan your evangelical campaign. This is
the noise in your mind, your song of praise for the ride on the
silent chariot.

Another noise is somewhat less enthusiastic. It is the
screeching of yogis who ride the chariot without grace or
pleasure. They may manage to hang on, but just barely. These
are the yogis who do not practice diligently. In vipassanā
practice, a puny effort bring measly results. Slack yogis will
never get to taste the flavor of the Dhamma. They may hear of
others’ success. They may see others sitting still and straight,
presumably enjoying deep concentration and insight, but they
themselves will be swamped by distractions and hindrances.
Doubts will creep into their minds: doubts about the teacher the
method, and the chariot itself. “This is a lousy chariot. It won’t
get me anywhere. The ride is bumpy, and it makes a lot of
noise.”

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Sometimes one might even hear a desperate wail coming from
the chariot’s direction. This is the cry of yogis who have faith in
the practice and are trying hard, but who for one reason or
another cannot make as much progress as they wish. They
begin to lose confidence. They doubt whether they can reach
their goal.
  The More You Lose Your Way, the More Rice You Will Get
In Burma there is a saying to encourage these people. “The
more the anagārika loses his way, the more rice he or she
gets.” An anagārika is a kind of renunciate that exists in
Buddhist countries. Such a person takes eight or ten precepts,
puts on a white coat and shaves his or her head. Having
renounced the world, anagārikas live in monasteries,
maintaining the compound and aiding the monks in various
ways. One of their duties is to go into town every few days and
ask for donations. In Burma, donations often come in the form
of uncooked rice. The anagārika goes through streets
shouldering a bamboo pole that has a basket hanging from
each end.

Perhaps he or she is unfamiliar with the village byways and,
when it is time to go home, cannot find the way back to the
monastery. The poor renunciate bumps into this dead end,
turns around in an alley, gets stuck in that back lane. And all the
while people think this is part of the rounds and keep making
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donations. By the time the anagārika finds the way home, he or
she has a big pile of loot.

Those of you who get lost and sidetracked now and then can
reflect that you will end up with a really big bag of Dhamma.
“Its Two Wheels are Mental and Physical Effort”
As the Buddha described it, this noble chariot has two wheels.
In those days that was the way carts were made, so this
metaphor was accessible to listeners of his time. He explained
that one wheel was physical effort and the other was mental
effort.

In meditation as in any other pursuit, effort is crucial. We must
be hardworking and industrious in order to succeed. If our effort
is persevering, we can become a hero or heroine, a courageous
person. Courageous effort is precisely what is needed in
meditation.

Physical effort is the effort to maintain the body in its postures:
to sit, to stand, to walk, to lie down. Mental effort is that without
which meditation would not exist. It is the energy one puts forth
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to be mindful and to concentrate, making sure that the kilesas
are kept at a remote distance.

The two wheels of effort together carry the vehicle of practice.
In walking meditation, you must lift your leg, push it forward and
then place your foot on the ground. Doing this again and again
constitutes the act of walking. When you walk meditatively,
physical effort creates the movement, while mental effort
evokes a continuous and unbroken mindfulness of the
movement. Physical exertion, in regulated quantities,
contributes to wakefulness and energy of mind.

One cannot fail to notice that effort is basic to the Buddha’s
vehicle design. Just as it is necessary for a worldly chariot’s two
wheels to be firmly affixed, so too mental and physical effort
must always be engaged to move this chariot of the Noble
Eightfold Path. We will not get anywhere if we do not actually
make the physical effort sit in meditation; nor if we fail, while
sitting, to keep the mind penetrative, continuous and accurate in
noting. If the twin wheels of effort are kept moving, however, the
vehicle will roll on straight ahead.

A significant effort is required simply to maintain the physical
postures. If you are sitting, you must exert yourself not to fall
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over. If you are walking, you must move your legs. We try to
balance the four major postures, to balance energy and create
conditions for good health. In a retreat situation especially, we
must have sufficient hours of sitting, walking and, secondarily,
standing and lying down. Sleeping hours should be limited.

If postures are not rightly maintained, laziness results. In sitting,
you may seek out something to lean again. You might decide
that walking is too tiring, or that some relaxing hobby might be
preferable to meditation. As you might guess, none of these
ideas is recommended.

Similarly with mental effort. It is not good to slacken. One must
assume from the very beginning that it will be necessary to put
forth a persistent and continuous mental effort. Tell yourself that
you are not going to entertain any gaps in mindfulness, you are
just going to be as continuous as possible. Such an attitude is
very useful. It opens your mind to the possibility of actually
realizing your goal.

Some yogis have a peculiar distaste for walking meditation.
Considering it a tiring waste of time, they only do it because the
teacher tells them to. On the contrary, due to the strong dual
effort it requires, walking meditation is essential to keep the
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wheels of effort rolling. With proper attention to walking, you
can arrive at your destination in ease and comfort.

When mental effort is present from moment to moment, it bars
the kilesas from entering. They are kept at bay, they are put
aside, they are rejected by the mind.
Some yogis are sporadic in their application of effort. They do it
in spurts. This approach can be very disorienting. The energy
built up in one burst of mindfulness is all in vain, for in the next
few moments of mindlessness the kilesas have a field day.
Then, when such yogis start being mindful again, they have to
start back at square one. Trying and resting, trying and resting,
they do not build a momentum — they do not progress.

Maybe you should do some soul-searching. Be honest. Are you
truly being mindful? Are you truly and sincerely activating that
persevering, persistent effort to be mindful from moment to
moment throughout your waking hours?
  The Virtues of Ardency
One who keeps the wheel of mental effort turning continuously
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is said to possess ardent energy. The Buddha praised such a
person, saying, “One who possesses ardent energy lives in
comfort.” Why so? Ardent effort keeps the kilesas at bay. This
creates a cool and calm, enjoyable mental atmosphere, free
from greedy, cruel, destructive thoughts, all of which are painful.

There is no end to the virtues of ardent effort. The Buddha said,
“Better to live one day with ardent effort than a hundred years
without it.” I hope that you gain sufficient inspiration from this
discussion to set your wheels turning.
  Conscience: The Chariot’s Backrest
The next part of the chariot described by the Buddha was its
backrest, which was conscience. In those days chariots had
backrests for support. Without one, a driver or passenger might
fall of the chariot as it suddenly stopped or jerked forward. A
backrest could also be a luxury item. One could lean back as
comfortably as in a favorite armchair and proceed to one’s
destination. In our case, the destination is the noble goal of
nibbāna.
  Wholesome Shame and Wholesome Fear
In order to understand the function of the “backrest” of the
vipassanā chariot, we must delve into what is meant by
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conscience. The Buddha used a Pāli word, hiri; the quality of ott
appa
is its close companion. Since ottappa is implied, we shall
discuss it at the same time even though the sutta does not
specifically mention it. These two words are often translated as
“shame” and “fear” respectively. Unfortunately, these two words
are negative, and thus become inaccurate. There are no good
words in English to convey these meanings. The best expedient
is to say “moral conscience” and then, if there is time, to try to
explain the meaning of the Pāli words.

Remember that hiri and ottappa are not at all associated with
anger or aversion, as are conventional shame and fear. They
make one ashamed and afraid in only a very specific way,
ashamed and afraid of unwholesome activities. Together they
create a clear moral conscience, self-integrity. A man or woman
of integrity actually has nothing to be ashamed of, and is
fearless in virtue.

Hiri or “shame” is a feeling of disgust toward the kilesas. As you
try to be mindful, you find there are gaps during which the
kilesas pounce on you and make you their victim. Returning to
your senses, so to speak, you feel a kind of abhorrence, or
shame, at having been caught off guard. This attitude toward
the kilesas is hiri.
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Ottappa or “fear” is fear of the consequences of unwholesome
activities. If you spend long intervals in unwholesome thoughts
during your formal meditation practice, your progress will be
slow. If you perform unwholesome actions at any time under the
kilesas’ influence, you will suffer the consequences. Fearing
that this will happen, you will be more attentive, alert against the
kilesas which are always waiting to pounce. In sitting, you will
be strongly committed to the primary object.

Hiri has a direct connection one’s own virtues and integrity,
while ottappa is also linked to the virtues and good name of
one’s parents, teachers, relatives and friends.
Hiri works in various ways. Say a person, a man or a woman,
comes from a good upbringing. No matter what economic level
they may have come from, their parents educated them in
human values. Such a gentleman or lady would think twice
before committing the unwholesome act of killing. They would
think, “My parents taught me to be kind and loving. Will I
jeopardize my self-respect by succumbing to such destructive
thoughts and feelings? Should I kill another being in a weak
moment when I am devoid of compassion and consideration?
Am I willing to sacrifice my virtue?” If one can reflect in this way
and decide to refrain from killing, hiri has done a good job.
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The virtue of wisdom or learning can also cause one to refrain
from unwholesome actions. If a person is learned and cultured
in any meaningful sense, he or she has high moral standards.
When tempted to commit an immoral act, a truly cultured
person will consider it beneath him or her, and shrink from the
temptation. Hiri can also arise on account of one’s age. At an
advanced age one gains a sense of dignity. One says to
oneself, “I’m a senior citizen and I know the difference between
right and wrong. I will not do anything unbefitting because I
have deep respect for my own dignity.”

Hiri also occurs because of courageous conviction. One can
reflect that immoral actions are the province of timid, cowardly,
unprincipled people. A person of courage and conviction will
choose to stick to principles no matter what. This is heroic
virtue, refusing to allow one’s integrity to be undermined.

Ottappa, the fear aspect of conscience, arises when one
considers how one’s parents, friends and family members
would be disgraced by immoral acts. It is also a wish not to
betray the best that is in humanity.
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Once committed, an immoral act can never be concealed. You
yourself know you have done it. There are also beings who can
read the minds of others, who can see and hear what happens
to others. If you are aware of the presence of such a being, you
may be hesitant to commit unwholesome behavior lest you be
found out.

Hiri and ottappa play a great part in family life. It is because of
these that father and mother, sisters and brothers, can live a life
that is quite pure. If they have no sense of moral conscience,
human family members relate without barriers of kinship, as
dogs and cats do.

The world today is plagued by a lack of these qualities in
people. In fact, these two aspects of conscience are called “The
Guardians of the World.” Imagine a world where everyone
possessed them in abundance!

Hiri and ottappa are also called sukka dhamma, pure dhamma,
because they are so essential in maintaining purity of conduct
among the beings on this planet. Sukka dhamma can also
mean the color white as a symbol of purity. The opposites,
shamelessness and fearlessness, are called
kaṇha dhamma,
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or black dhamma. Black absorbs heat, and white reflects it. The
black dhamma of shamelessness and audacity are excellent
absorbers for the kilesas. When they are present you can be
sure that the kilesas will be well-soaked into the mind; whereas
if white dhamma are present, the kilesas will be reflected away.

The texts give the example of two iron balls. One is smeared
with excrement and the other is red hot. A person offered these
two iron balls refused the first because it is disgusting and
rejects the second out of fear of being burned. Not taking the
ball smeared with excrement is like the quality of hiri or shame
in one’s mind. One finds immorality disgusting when one
compares it with integrity. Not taking the hot ball is like ottappa,
the fear of committing an unwholesome act out of fear of the
kammic consequences. One knows that one might end up in
hell or in states of misery. Thus one avoids the ten types of
unwholesome behavior as if they were these two iron balls.
  Useless Kinds of Shame and Fear
Some kinds of shame and fear are useless. I call them
“imitation” shame and fear. One might be ashamed or
embarrassed to observe the five precepts, listen to Dhamma
talks or to pay respect to a person worthy of veneration. One
might be ashamed to read aloud or give a talk in public. Fear of
the bad opinion of others, if that bad opinion is not based on
one’s immoral acts is imitation shame.
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There are four things conducive to one’s personal benefit which
human beings should not be ashamed to do. These are not
listed in a Buddhist text — they are worldly and practical.
The first is not to be ashamed to do one’s business or to work
for a living. One should not be ashamed to approach a teacher
to learn a trade, a profession or subject. if one is ashamed to do
this, how will one ever gain knowledge? One should not be
ashamed of eating. If one cannot eat, one will starve to death.
Lastly, one should not be ashamed to have intimate relations
between husband and wife.

There is also imitation fear, such as the fear of meeting an
important person when this is necessary in the course of life.
Villagers tend to experience imitation fear when traveling in a
train, a bus, or ferry. I mean real villagers, people who have
never taken public transport. These simple people might also
be afraid to use the bathroom when they are traveling. This,
too, is unhelpful. People may also be afraid of animals, dogs,
snakes or insects, or of going to places they have never been
before. Many fear members of the opposite sex, or are so much
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in awe of their parents and teachers that they can’t talk or walk
in front of them. Some yogis are afraid of interviews with the
teacher. They wait outside the door as if it were dentist’s office.

None of these are real hiri and ottappa, which are only
connected with performing unwholesome actions. One should
be terrified of bad kamma and of the kilesas, knowing that when
they attack, there’s no telling to what extent they might
manipulate one to commit unwholesome acts.

Reflecting on hiri and ottappa is a very good thing to do. The
stronger these two qualities in a yogi, the more easily he or she
will activate the effort to be mindful. A yogi who fears to break
the continuity of practice will try hard to cultivate alertness.

Therefore the Buddha said to the deva, “This magnificent
chariot of the Noble Eightfold Path has hiri as its backrest.” If
you have this backrest of hiri and ottappa, you will have
something to rely on, something to depend on, something on
which you can sit comfortably as you ride toward nibbānic bliss.
Just as one who rides a vehicle is open to the risk of accidents,
so too a yogi on the chariot of the Noble Eightfold Path runs a
risk in practice. If these qualities are weak, he or she risks
losing mindfulness, and all the dangers that then ensue.
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May your abundant hiri and ottappa cause you to activate
ardent energy so as continuously to practice mindfulness. May
you thus make smooth and rapid progress along the Noble
Eightfold Path, until you eventually realize nibbāna.
  Mindfulness is the Armor that Surrounds this Chariot...
To ensure that the Dhamma journey is carried out safely, the
chariot must have a body. In the Buddha’s day, chariots were
made of wood or some other hard material as a defense
against spears and arrows. More recently, nations have
devoted a lot of resources to develop armor plating for
battlefield vehicles. Modern-day automobiles are also encased
in metal for safety’s sake. Today you can ride about as if in a
comfortable room, free from the wind, heat, cold and sun. If a
car’s body keeps you well protected from the elements of
nature, you travel in comfort whether it is raining and snowing
outside or not. All these examples illustrate the function of
mindfulness in keeping yogis free from the kilesas’ harsh attack.
Sati, or mindfulness, is a kind of armor that keeps the mind
safe, comfortable and cool: as long as mindfulness provides its
protection, the kilesas cannot enter.

No one can travel safely in this vehicle of the Noble Eightfold
Path without the protective covering of mindfulness. When the
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chariot goes into battle, armor is the decisive factor in protecting
the occupants. Our vipassanā practice is a battle against the
kilesas, which have dominated our existence since before we
can remember. We need strong armor surrounding our chariot
so we can be protected against their ruthless depredations.

It is good to understand how the kilesas arise in order to defeat
them. Kilesas arise in connection with the six sense objects.
Whenever there is no mindfulness at any of the six sense
doors, you easily become a victim of desire, anger, delusion
and the other kilesas.

When the seeing process, for example, occurs, visual objects
come into contact with seeing consciousness. If the object is
pleasant and you are not mindful, thoughts based on craving or
desire will arise. If the object is disagreeable, aversion attacks
you. If the object is insipid and neutral, you will be carried off on
a tide of delusion. When mindfulness is present, however,
kilesas cannot enter your stream of consciousness. Nothing the
seeing process, sati gives the mind a chance to understand the
true nature of what is happening.

The immediate benefits of mindfulness are purity of mind, clarity
and happiness. They are experienced at the very moment that
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mindfulness is present. Absence of kilesas is purity. Because of
purity come clarity and joy. A mind that is pure and clear can be
put to good use.

In the unchecked course of things, unwholesome mental states
are unfortunately more frequent than wholesome ones. As soon
as greed, aversion and delusion enter the consciousness, we
start to create unwholesome kamma, which will give results in
this life as well as in the future. Rebirth is one result. With that,
death becomes inevitable. Between birth and death, a being will
create more kamma, both wholesome and unwholesome, to
keep the cycle turning. Therefore, heedlessness is the path that
leads to death. It is the cause of death in this world as well as in
future life.

So mindfulness is also like fresh air, essential to life. All
breathing beings need clean air. If only polluted air is available,
they will shortly be afflicted by disease and may even die.
Mindfulness is just this important. A mind deprived of the fresh
air of mindfulness grows stale, breathes shallowly, and chokes
upon defilements.

A person breathing dirty air may become sick very suddenly,
and suffer extreme pain before death actually comes. When we
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are not mindful, we breath in the poisoned air of the kilesas and
we suffer. In the presence of a pleasant object, we are pierced
by pangs of craving. If the object is unpleasant, we burn with
aversion. If we find the object humiliating, we will be eaten up
by conceit. The kilesas come in many forms, but when they
attack us it is always the same: we suffer. Pure comfort of mind,
peace and happiness only exist if we can keep the kilesas out
of our minds.

Some pollutants cause breathing creatures to become dizzy
and disoriented. Others kill. The same is true for the kilesas.
Some attacks are minor, others fatal, One can be dizzied by
sensual pleasures or die in an apoplectic fit of rage. A strong
excess of lust can kill a person. Greed, indulged over many
years, can lay the foundations for terminal disease. Extreme
anger or fear is also deadly, especially if the victim suffers from
heart disease. Kilesas are also responsible for neurosis and
psychosis.

Kilesas are actually much more dangerous than the bad
chemicals in air. If a person dies from breathing contaminated
air, the poison will be left behind in his or her corpse. But the
taints of the kilesas carry forward to the next life, not to mention
their negative effect on other beings. Breathed in by the mind,
the kilesas result in kamma that will ripen in the future.
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When mindfulness is present from moment to moment, the
mind is gradually cleansed, just as the lungs of a person who
stops smoking gradually shed their coating of tar and nicotine.
A pure mind easily becomes concentrated. Then wisdom has
the opportunity to arise. This process of healing begins with
mindfulness. Basing your practice on mindfulness and
deepening concentration, you will pass through the various
levels of insight, your wisdom growing by degrees. Eventually
you may realize nibbāna, at which point kilesas are uprooted.
There are no pollutants in nibbāna.

The value of mindfulness can only be appreciated by people
who have experienced its benefits in their personal practice.
When people take the trouble to breathe fresh air, good health
proves to them the value of their effort. So too, a meditator who
has experienced deep practice, even nibbāna, will truly know
what mindfulness is worth.
  Right View is the Charioteer
No matter how marvelous the vehicle, without a driver it can go
nowhere. Similarly, the Buddha explained, right view must
provide the impetus as well as the direction for our spiritual
journey. The scriptures list six types of right view or sammā-diṭ
ṭhi. In this
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discourse, the Buddha was specifically referring to the right
view that arises at the moment of the noble path
consciousness. Noble path consciousness is one of the
culminating insights of this practice. We will discuss it below.
  Right view of Kamma as One’s Own Property
The first kind of right view is kammassakatā sammā-diṭṭhi,
right view of kamma as one’s property — kamma being, of
course, all wholesome and unwholesome activities. Our
concepts of ownership and control over material objects are
basically illusory, for all matter is impermanent, subject to
decay. Kamma is our only reliable possession in this world. We
must understand that whatever good or evil we do will follow us
through saṃsāra, giving rise to corresponding good or evil
consequences. Kamma has an immediate effect upon the mind,
causing joy or misery depending on whether it is wholesome or
unwholesome. It also has long-term consequences.
Unwholesome kamma results in birth in states of woe or misery.
Wholesome kamma leads to rebirth in happy states. The
highest wholesome kamma leads to relief from saṃsāra.

Seeing life in this way gives us the power to choose the
conditions under which we want to live. Thus, kammassakatā
sammā-diṭṭhi is called “The Light of the World,” for by it we can
see and evaluate the nature of our choices. Right
understanding of kamma is like a railroad junction where the
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train can choose its direction, or an international airport, linked
to many destination. Since we, like all beings, want happiness,
this understanding of kamma will generate in us a strong wish
to develop more and more unwholesome habits. We will also
want to avoid acting in ways that will bring us future misery.

Practicing charity, dāna, and morality, sīla, one chooses a
direction toward rebirth in good circumstances. This meritorious
kamma helps beings walk the path to nibbāna.
  Right View with Regard to the Jhānas
To go beyond kammassakatā sammā-diṭṭhi, one practices
concentration. Concentration has immediate benefits, enabling
the yogi to live in tranquility, absorbed in the object. This
second type of right view is jhāna sammā-diṭṭhi, right view with
regard to the jhānas and absorptions. It is the knowledge that
arises in conjunction with each of the eight types of jhāna. The
benefits of jhāna right view are three-fold. Upon death, if one is
able to maintain strength in ability to gain absorption, one is
reborn in the brahmā worlds and can live there for a very long
time, many eons and world systems. Second, the jhānas are
the basis for developing strong vipassanā. The jhānas can also
become the basis for the development of
abhiññās
or psychic powers.
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  CLEARING THE WAY FOR ULTIMATE INSIGHT:  
DEVELOPING VIPASSANĀ RIGHT VIEW
We devote the most time and effort developing the third type of
right view within ourselves. It is vipassanā sammā-diṭṭhi, right
view that occurs as a result of vipasanā insights. When effort,
mindfulness and moral conscience are present, these insights
naturally develop. It is important to remember that right view is
something more than an opinion. It is a deep intuitive
knowledge that comes from our seeing directly into the true
nature of existence.

These days when heads of state leave their palaces, there is a
great deal of preparation. Before the motorcade sets forth,
teams of security agents make sure its route is clear and safe.
Agents check for bombs, place barriers on the sidewalks for
crowd control, assign police officers to their posts and remove
any vehicles that might block the road. Only then will the
President leave the official residence and climb into the
chauffeured car.

In the same way, on this Noble Eightfold Path, vipassanā right
view is like the secret service. Insight into impermanence,
suffering and absence of self is what clears from the path all
sorts of clinging — clinging to wrong views and pet theories,
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misconceptions and so forth. The clearing process takes place
at sequential levels. Once the preliminary preparations are
complete, then the noble path right view will make its
appearance and uproot the kilesas.
  A Process of Elimination
On the way to noble path consciousness, each stage of insight
eliminates a particular kind of wrong view or misconception
about the nature of reality. The first vipassanā insight into the
nature of mental and physical phenomena shows us that mind
and matter are distinct from each other, and that life is nothing
more than a ceaseless stream of these two kinds of
phenomena. At this time, we do away with the extras, cleanse
ourselves of the view which puts into reality something that is
not really there, such as the notion of a permanent and
substantial self.

The second insight, understanding cause and effect, eliminates
any doubt as to whether things happen by chance — we know
that they do not. Furthermore, we see clearly and directly that
events are not caused by any external force.

Deepening meditation, we see the impermanence of objects
and understand intuitively that everything experienced in the
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past, and to be experienced in the future, is similarly
impermanent. Building on this knowledge of ephemerally and
transience, we realize next that we have no refuge and can rely
on nothing. Thus, we are rid of the false idea that peace and
stability can be found in the objects of this world. To be
oppressed by phenomena is indeed great suffering; and at this
stage of insight, we feel this from the bottom of our hearts.

Related to, and following upon, this deep sense of
fearsomeness and oppression is a realization that no one can
prevent or control the way things come and go. it will dawn on
our intuition that there is no self in things. These latter three
insights are the beginnings of vipasanā right view, which relates
specifically to impermanence, suffering and absence of self.
  The Arising of Vipassanā Right View
With the arising of vipassanā right view, the chariot is ready to
go. It is shaking a bit and moving as it faces the right road that
leads to nibbāna. Now you can really turn the wheels and get
that vehicle rolling. The armor is in place, the backrest firm, and
the driver well seated. You just need to give a bit of a push to
those two wheels, and the chariot will really take off.

Once you have gained insight into impermanence, suffering and
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absence of self, you see things arising and passing away much
quicker, much more clearly. Moment to moment arising and
passing: it comes in microseconds, nanoseconds — the deeper
you go the quicker you see it — and eventually you are not able
to see the arising at all. Wherever you look, there is just a flash
of quick dissolution. You will have a feeling as if someone is
pulling the carpet out from under you. The disappearance is not
an abstraction. It comprises your entire life at that time.

Deeper and deeper you go, driving closer and close to your
destination. After all these stages of vipassanā insight have
been completed, the right view of the path consciousness will
take over and drive you home, to the safe haven of nibbāna.

Although in the presence of vipassanā insights the kilesas have
no chance of arising, they are not yet uprooted. They may be
kept at bay, but they are waiting for their chance to get back
into power.
  The Final Stamp:    
Weakening and Eliminating the Kilesas
Only at the moment when the noble path right view occurs are
the kilesas uprooted.
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You may wonder what is meant by the notion of uprooting a
kilesa. Kilesas which have already arisen can no longer be
removed — they are past. Similarly, kilesas not yet arisen
cannot be removed, since they are not here yet. And even in
the present, kilesas arise and pass away, so how can they be
uprooted? Latent or potential kilesas are what is removed.
There are two types of kilesas, one connected with objects and
the other with the continuity of existence. The first type occurs
when the conditions are conducive, that is, in connection with a
mental or physical object and in the absence of mindfulness. If
an object becomes predominant, and there is no mindfulness to
keep the contact between mind and object clear and pure, the
kilesa which has been latent will come to life. It will become
manifest. If one is mindful, however, the conditions are no
longer appropriate and the kilesas are kept away.

The second type of kilesas are dormant and will remain buried
in the stream of our consciousness all the way through saṃsāra.
This kind can only be uprooted by path consciousness.
In the old days when patients suffered from malaria, they were
treated with two kinds of medicine. Malaria patients undergo a
repetitive cycle of temperature changes. Every two days or so,
a very high fever comes, followed by sudden chills. The first
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course of treatment levels the extremes of temperature. It
strengthens the patient and weakens the malaria germs.
Finally, when the cycles of fever and chills abate somewhat, a
dose of knockout medicine is prescribed. Now that the patient is
stronger, and the bacteria are much weaker, the malaria can be
totally eradicated.

The preliminary course of treatment is analogous to vipassanā
insight, which weakens the kilesas. The knockout medicine is
path consciousness, uprooting kilesas once and for all.
Another example is the process of getting a document legally
certified through the process of bureaucratic red tape. It could
take all day. First you go to the ground floor and talk to the
receptionist. He or she sends you up to the second floor to get
a document and have it signed. The Department of This sends
you to the Department of That. You produce the document and
are given a set of forms to fill out. Then you wait for the person
in charge to sign it. All day you go through various channels,
from one level to another, filling out forms and getting
signatures. It takes a very long time to get all the parts
complete. Finally you arrive at the top and it takes the official
half a second to make the final signature. You document is now
certified, but you have had to go through all that other red tape
first.
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It is the same in vipassanā. there is a lot of red tape. Path
consciousness comes even faster than the time it takes for the
top official to sign, but you have to work for it. When all is in
order, the path of right view appears and certifies that all the
kilesas have been uprooted.

The first part of vipassanā insight might be called “The Worker
Path.” You have to work to complete it properly, without
shirking. Noble path consciousness is like the boss, ordering
work to be done. He or she cannot sign a blank piece of paper
on which the preliminary processes have not been completed.
  Noble Path and Fruition Right View:    
Putting Out the Fire of Defilement, Pouring Water on the
Ashes
When vipassanā insights are completed, noble path
consciousness will arise automatically, followed by fruition
consciousness. In Pāli, these consciousnesses are called magg
a and
phal
a.
Noble path right view and noble fruition right view, elements of
these two respective consciousnesses, are the fourth and fifth
kinds of right view on the list of six.
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When noble path consciousness arises, noble path right view
uproots the groups of kilesas that causes rebirth in lower
realms, states of woe and misery. This refers to hell realms,
animal realms, peta and hungry ghost realms. Immediately after
comes noble fruition consciousness, part of which is noble
fruition right view. One might ask the function of this, since the
dormant kilesas already have been uprooted. Fruition right view
just cools the defilements. A fire may burn out but still leave
embers and warm ashes. Noble fruition right view splashes
water over the embers.
  Reviewing Knowledge Right View
The sixth and last kind of right view is reviewing knowledge
right view. Reviewing knowledge comes on the heels of fruition
consciousness and the experience of nibbāna. It reviews five
things: the occurrence of path consciousness and of fruition
consciousness; nibbāna itself as an object of consciousness;
the kilesas which have been uprooted and those which have yet
to be uprooted. It serves no other important function.

The first kind of right view, kammassakatā sammā-diṭṭhi, is
said to be perpetual. That is, it will never disappear from
existence. This world system may shatter and be devastated,
but there will always be beings, perhaps in other world systems,
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who have the right view of kamma as one’s own property.

People who do not even try to appreciate the difference
between wholesome and unwholesome kamma are far from
any light at all. They can be likened to a baby which is blind
from birth: blind in the womb and blind when it comes out. If this
baby grows up, still it will not be able to see well enough to
guide itself. A person who is blind and guideless will get into a
lot of accidents.

Jhāna right view will always be present as long as people
practice and attain jhānas. The Buddha’s teaching may not be
flourishing, but there will always be people practicing
concentration and absorption.

However, the remaining types of right view can only be present
while the Buddha’s teaching remains alive. From the time of
Gotama Buddha until this present age, his teachings have
flourished. They are known throughout the world at this
moment. Even in countries that are not Buddhist, there are
groups or institutions based on his teaching. A person satisfied
with right view related to kamma or the jhānas has no access to
the light of the Dhamma. He or she can be brightened by the
light of the world, but not by that of the Buddha. The remaining
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four types of right view, from vipassanā right view through
reviewing right view, contain the light of the Buddha’s teaching.

When yogis can distinguish mind and matter, they are free of
the delusion of self, and the first veil of darkness is removed.
We say that the light of Dhamma has dawned on the
consciousness. But there are more layers to be removed. The
second layer of ignorance is the opinion that things happen
chaotically and at random. This veil is removed by the insight
into cause and effect. When a yogi sees cause and effect, the
light in his or her mind shines a bit brighter. He or she ought not
to be satisfied at this point, for the mind still is darkened by
ignorance of the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and
absence of self. To remove this darkness the yogi must work
harder, persistently watching things as they arise, sharpening
mindfulness, deepening concentration. Then wisdom will arise
naturally.

Now the yogi sees that there is no refuge to be sought in the
impermanent phenomena. This brings on deep disappointment,
but the light within is brighter still. He or she clearly realizes the
suffering and nonselfness of phenomena. At this time only one
last veil remains, covering the realization of nibbāna, and it can
only be removed by the noble path consciousness. Now the
light of the Buddha’s teachings really begins to shine!
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If you develop all six types of right view, you will be radiant. You
will never be separated from the light of wisdom, no matter
where you go in future wanderings. On the contrary, wisdom
will shine ever more brightly in you throughout the remainder of
your wanderings in saṃsāra. At the last there will be a big
firework when arahatta magga phala, the path and fruition
consciousnesses of the final stage of enlightenment, come to
you.
  Taking Possession of the Chariot
 
Anyone, woman or man, possessing such a chariot and driving
it well,    
shall have no doubt of reaching nibbāna.

It is said that when the bhikkhu-deva heard this discourse of the
chariot he perceived the point the Buddha was making and
immediately became a sotāpanna, or stream entrant. He took
ownership of this magnificent chariot called the Noble Eightfold
Path. Although the Buddha’s discourse was directed toward the
ultimate goal of arahantship, this deva did not yet have the
potential to gain final enlightenment. His predisposition carried
him only as far as stream entry.
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  BENEFITS OF STREAM ENTRY:  
DRYING UP THE OCEAN OF SAMSARIC EXISTENCE
At this first stage of enlightenment, one is freed from the danger
of falling into states of misery. The suttas say that three kilesas
are uprooted: wrong view, doubt, and attachment to wrong
practices. In the commentary, the kilesas of jealousy and
miserliness are added to the list.

Safely assume that this deva had gained insight into the nature
of mind and matter in his previous life as a bhikkhu. At the
moment of gaining this insight, he was free from a false view
that there is an internal abiding entity, or self. However, his
abandoning of this wrong view was only temporary. Not until he
glimpsed nibbāna for the first time was there a permanent
change in his view. One who has experienced stream entry no
longer believes in the illusion of an abiding entity.

The second type of defilement uprooted is closely connected to
wrong view. When one has not correctly understood the nature
of things, it is difficult to come to a firm conclusion about what is
right and what is not. Like a person standing at a fork in the
road, or someone who suddenly discovers that he or she has
lost the way, there is doubt about which way to go. This
dilemma can be quite debilitating and undermining.
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When yogis see the mechanism of cause and effect, they
temporarily abandon doubt. They see that the Dhamma is true,
that mind and matter are conditioned, and that there is nothing
in this world which is not conditioned. This lack of doubt only
lasts as long as mindfulness and insight are sustained,
however. Final, unshakable faith in the Dhamma’s efficacy and
authenticity only comes when a person has walked as far as the
Eightfold Path’s destination, nibbāna. A yogi who walks in the
Buddha’s footsteps to the end of the path will also have faith in
the Buddha and the other noble ones who have attained the
same goal by the same route.

The third defilement uprooted by the sotāpanna, stream
enterer, is belief in wrong practice. This understanding is fairly
obvious in a general way, and can be understood more
completely if examined from the point of view of the Four Noble
Truths. When potential stream entrants first develop the Noble
Eightfold Path within themselves, they learn to understand the
first noble truth, that all things are unsatisfactory. Mind and
matter are suffering. A yogi’s preliminary development consists
of watching these suffering things. When the first noble truth is
completely seen, then the remaining three are automatically
achieved or realized. This means abandoning craving, the
second noble truth; cessation of suffering, the third noble truth;
and developing the Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth noble truth.
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The preliminary or mundane part of the Noble Eightfold Path is
being developed in every moment of mindfulness. At some
point it ripens into supramundane knowledge. So, upon
attaining nibbāna, this deva now knew that his practice was the
only way to achieve this nibbāna. He knew that he had
experienced a real cessation of suffering, the unconditioned,
and that there is no nibbāna other than that. All yogis feel the
same way at this moment.

The Noble Eightfold Path is the only one that leads to nibbāna.
This understanding is very deep and can only be attained
through practice. With this understanding, the stream entrant is
free from attachment or belief in the efficacy of other methods
of practice which are devoid of the elements of the Noble
Eightfold Path.

In the commentaries two additional kilesas are said to be
uprooted. These are issā or jealousy, the wish not to see others
happy and successful, and  macchariy
a or
miserliness, which is the dislike of seeing others as happy as
one is oneself, Personally I do not agree with these
commentaries. These two mental states belong to the category
of dosa, anger or aversion. According to the canon of suttas
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spoken by the Buddha, the stream entrant uproots only
defilements which have no connection with dosa. However,
since the potential for rebirth in lower states has been uprooted,
the stream entrant’s attacks of issā and macchariya will not be
sufficiently strong to cause this lower rebirth.

An interesting comment is found in the Visuddhi Magga, which
is a noncanonical work but still held in high esteem. Based on
canonical references, the
Visuddhi Magga
admits that a stream entrant can still be attacked by greed,
hatred and delusion, and still is subject to conceit and pride.
However, since the noble path consciousness has uprooted
kilesas that lead to states of misery, one can safely conclude
that the stream entrant is free from kilesas strong enough to
lead to such rebirth.

The Visuddhi Magga also points out that a stream entrant has
succeeded in drying up the vast ocean of saṃsāric existence.
As long as a person has not attained the first stage of
enlightenment, he or she must continually perpetuate existence
in the beginningless rounds of saṃsāra. The scope of saṃsāra is
vast — you just keep going on and on. But a stream entrant has
only a maximum of seven more existences to live before he or
she gains complete enlightenment as an arahant. What are
seven existences compared to an eternity of innumerable lives?
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For all practical purposes we can say the ocean has dried up.

Unwholesome kamma can only occur under the influence of
ignorance and craving. When a certain level of ignorance and
craving disappears, so does the potential for certain
unwholesome results, namely rebirth in states of misery. There
is no limit to the evil people may do when still mercilessly
assaulted by the kilesas of wrong view of the self and of doubt
about the path and kamma. The atrocities they commit will lead
to lower realms without a doubt. Lacking these kilesas, a
stream entrant will not longer commit terrible deeds that may
lead to such rebirth. Furthermore, his or her past kamma which
might have led to such unfortunate rebirths is cut off at the
moment of attaining the noble path consciousness. A stream
entrant no longer need fear this intense suffering.
  The Inalienable Property of Noble Ones
Another benefit of stream entry is realization of the sevenfold
property of noble ones. Noble ones are persons who are
purified, noble of character, who have attained one of the four
levels of enlightenment. Their properties are faith, morality, hiri,
ottappa, learning, charity and wisdom.

Faith is a durable and unshakable confidence in the Buddha,
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Dhamma and the Saṅgha. It is unshakable because of direct
experience and realization. A noble one can never be bribed or
corrupted in any way to abandon the Buddha, Dhamma and
Saṅgha. No matter what suave and cunning means, or
frightening threats, a person might employ to this end, a noble
one can never be convinced to abandon his or her knowledge.

Morality is purity of conduct with respect to the five precepts. It
is said that a stream entrant is incapable of deliberately
breaking them, incapable of any wrong thoughts or actions
leading to rebirth in states of woe. He or she will be free from
the threefold immoral behavior manifested through the body,
will be largely free from wrong speech, will be free from wrong
livelihood, and finally will be free from wrong effort in practicing
a wrong spiritual path.

The third and fourth properties, hiri and ottappa, we explained
earlier. A stream entrant has these two aspects of conscience
very strongly developed, and so will be incapable of performing
bad deeds.

The fifth property, learning, refers to the theory of meditation as
well as a practical understanding of how to meditate. A stream
entrant is indeed learned in the mechanics of walking this Noble
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Eightfold Path towards nibbāna.

Cāga, usually translated as charity, actually means
relinquishment. A stream entrant generously relinquishes all
kilesas that produce results in lower realms. Moreover, he or
she will be liberal in dāna; his or her generosity will be
continuous and very real.

The last property is wisdom. This refers to vipassanā insight
and wisdom. A stream entrant’s practice will be free from wrong
mindfulness and wrong concentration. He or she will also be
free from very explosive kilesas which erupt within and manifest
physically, vocally or mentally, and from fear of evil rebirth.

Personal peace is of utmost importance. It can be achieved in
freedom from fear. If many people are capable of realizing such
peace — if many people actually have that peace within — you
can imagine how conducive it would be to world peace. World
peace can only start from within.
  A True Child of the Buddha
Another benefit of stream entry is that one becomes a true child
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of the Buddha. Many are devoted. They may have great faith
and make daily offerings to the triple gem of Buddha, Dhamma
and Saṅgha, but due to changes in circumstances it is always
possible for a person to give up faith. He or she may be reborn
without it. You may be very holy and goodhearted in this life,
but next time you could turn out a rascal. There is no insurance
for you until you attain the first stage of enlightenment and
become a true daughter or son of the Lord Buddha.

The Pāli term used in the Visuddhi Magga is orasa putta which
means a real, full-fledged, redblooded child.
Putta
is often translated as son, but actually it is a general term for
progeny, including daughters.

There are hundreds more benefits that can be obtained, the Vis
uddhi Magga
says. In fact, the benefits of stream entry are beyond number. A
stream entrant is totally committed to the Dhamma, intensely
interested in listening to the true Dhamma; and can understand
Dhamma that is profound and not easily grasped by otters.
When a stream entrant hears a discourse that is well-delivered,
he or she will be filled with joy and rapture.

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And because a sotāpanna has stepped into the stream, his or
her heart will always be with the Dhamma. In executing his or
her duties in the world, the stream entrant will be like Mother
Cow, who eats grass and still watches over her tender calf. The
heart of the sotāpanna is inclined to Dhamma, but he or she will
not shirk worldly responsibilities. Stream entrants gain
concentration very easily if they put appropriate effort in
meditation, wishing to walk further on the path.
  A VEHICLE FOR EVERYONE:  
A VEHICLE THAT NEVER BREAKS DOWN
The Buddha concluded by saying explicitly that meditative
achievement is not differentiated on a basis of sex. Either a
woman or a man, he said, could trust this chariot to carry him or
her to nibbāna, The chariot was, and is, available to all.

In the modern age we have a myriad vehicles available. Ever
new inventions appear in the field of transportation. Human
beings can travel over land and sea or in the sky. An ordinary
person can go around the world without much trouble. Men
have walked on the moon. Spacecraft have gone to other
planets and even beyond.

No matter how far vehicles go through space, however, it is
 393 / 419General
unlikely they will be of any help bringing you to nibbāna. If
indeed there is a vehicle that stops in nibbāna, I would like to
have it. However, I have not yet heard advertisements or
assurances of any such extraordinary vehicle that could carry a
person to the safe haven of nibbāna.

No matter how advanced scientific technology may be, there is
no guarantee that even the most sophisticated vehicle is
accident free. Fatal accidents occur on land, on sea, in the air
and in space. Many people have died in this way. I do not
suggest that this renders the vehicles useless. It is just that
there is no guaranteed safety in them. The only vehicle with one
hundred per cent insurance coverage is the Noble Eightfold
Path.

Modern cars have a high standard of performance and safety. If
you are rich you can afford an extremely comfortable, fast,
luxurious automobile and can have it conveniently at your
disposal. If you are not rich you can get a loan, or rent a
limousine or a sports car for a short time, or you can ride on
public transportation. Even if you are poor you can always
stand by the road and hitch a ride.

However, there is no guarantee that performance will be
 394 / 419General
faultless even if the car is your own. You have to fill up your car
with gas, maintain it in various ways, repair it when it breaks
down — there are many chores involved. All the vehicles will be
towed to the junkyard someday, and the more you use them,
the closer they get to that final resting place.

It would be preferable to produce a nibbāna vehicle with the
same sophistication and high standards, for this is a vehicle that
never wears out. How good it would be if such a vehicle were
easily accessible to common people! If anyone could own a
vehicle to nibbāna, imagine what a peaceful world it would be.
This vehicle leads to something priceless. Nibbāna cannot be
bought, no matter how wealthy you may be, nor can it be
rented. You have to work for it so that it belongs to you. It will
only be useful if it becomes your own property.

In this world most vehicles are ready-made. They come from
the factory. But this vehicle leading to nibbāna has to be
self-made. It is a do-it-yourself kit. You must have faith at the
start that nibbāna is in your reach, and faith in the path that will
lead you to your destination. You must also have motivation, a
sincere and committed desire to strive for that goal. But
motivation alone will not get you far unless you act upon it. You
must work, put in the effort to be mindful, persevering and
enduring moment after moment so that concentration builds
and wisdom begins to blossom and mature.
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Would it not be wonderful if the Noble Eightfold Path were
ready-made on an assembly line? Unfortunately, it is not, and
that is why you poor souls have to do your own manufacturing.
You arm yourself with faith and the strong desire to realize your
goal. You intend to practice through thick and thin, undergoing
difficulties, fatigue and tiredness and the strain of struggling to
assemble your vehicle. You come to put forth energy to keep its
wheels rolling. You try to keep the bodywork of mindfulness
intact. You fix firmly your backrest of hiri and ottappa so that
you can rely upon it. You train your driver to go straight. Finally,
after passing through various stages of insight, you gain
possession of the sotāpatti magga vehicle, stream entrant path
consciousness. When this vehicle becomes your own
possession, you will have very easy and convenient access to
nibbāna.

Once this stream entrant vehicle is completed, it will never
depreciate in value or run down. It is quite unlike vehicles
presently available on this planet. You never need to oil or
lubricate it, repair it or replace it. The more you use it, the
stronger and more sophisticated it gets. It is totally accident
free. When you travel on this vehicle, you have
one-hundred-percent guaranteed safety.

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As long as we live on this earth, we will be subjected to ups and
downs and vicissitudes of life. At times things things go
smoothly and well; at other times, disappointment and
discouragement, suffering and sorrow are the rule. However,
one who has gained possession of this stream entrant path
vehicle glides smoothly through rough times, and does not fall
over too sharply in good times. The gates to misery are closed
and he or she always has free access to the safe haven of
nibbāna.

It is impossible to sing all the praises of this great vehicle, but
be assured that if you really complete it and own it, you will
have access to the fulfillment of life.
Please do not entertain any thoughts of surrender, but rather
put forth all the energy and effort you have. Strive to assemble
this vehicle and have it safely in your possession.
The Gates of Misery are Closed
The essential form of this chariot, this Dhamma vehicle, was
first revealed to the world by the Buddha about 2,525 years ago
or more, in the discourse called The Sutta on the Turning of the
Wheel of the Law, the first
discourse after his enlightenment.
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Before the Buddha appeared, the world live in total darkness, in
ignorance of the Noble Eightfold Path. Recluses and
renunciates, sages and philosophers, all held their own views
and opinions, speculations and pet theories about the truth.

Then as now, some people believed nibbāna was the
happiness of sensate pleasure, and so they immersed
themselves in pleasure. Others looked with disdain at this
behavior and reacted against it, mortifying themselves. They
deprived their bodies of sense comfort and delight, seeing this
as a noble endeavor. In general, beings lived in delusion. They
had no access to the truth, and so their beliefs and actions were
arbitrary. Each person had a view or opinion and, based
thereon, did a thousand and one different things

The Buddha accepted neither sense indulgence nor asceticism.
His way is between the two, inclining to neither extreme. When
he revealed the Noble Eightfold Path to beings, true faith
grounded in the truth of existence could arise. Faith cold be be
placed on that which was true, instead of on just an idea.

Faith has a great influence on one’s consciousness. That is why
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it is a controlling faculty. With faith there can be effort. Faith
arouses motivation in practice and becomes the basis for all
other dhammas, like concentration and wisdom. When the
Buddha first revealed the Noble Eightfold Path, he set the
controlling faculties in motion. This view of dhammas was set
rolling in the hearts of beings, and thereby true freedom and
happiness came within reach.

May your faith in the practice be sincere and profound. May this
be the basis for your attainment of ultimate liberation.
            The Seven Factors of Enlightenment
In the chart below, each of the seven factors which lead to enlightenment, and which become properties of an enlightened person, is analyzed according to three aspects — its most salient characteristic, its function as it affects the general mental state, and its manifestation, or visible result within the mental field. This complete description comes from the Buddhist texts known as the  Abhidhamma. Following the characteristic, function and manifestation, practical ways for meditators to arouse each enlightenment factor during meditation are listed by source, either according to the Buddha or according to subsequent amplifications by commentators.
   
                           
                      1. Mindfulness — Sati
           
                           
Characteristic
             
Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
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According to Commentaries
           
                           
Non-superficiality
             
Mindfulness
1) Mindfulness and clear comprehension, or broad-based mindfulness                  
2) Dissociation from unmindful persons                  
3) Association with mindful persons                  
4) Inclination of the mind toward the development of mindfulness
           
                           
Function
Non-disappearance, or to keep the object in view
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Manifestation
Confrontation
2. Investigation — Dhamma Vicaya
Characteristic
             
Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
According to Commentaries
           
                           
Intuitive knowledge of the nature of dhammas, also of nibbāna
             
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Direct perception
             
1) To ask questions about Dhamma and meditation practice                  
2) Cleanliness of internal and external bases (the body and the immediate environment)                  
3) Balancing the controlling faculties                  
4) Avoiding unwise persons                  
5) Associating with wise persons                  
6) Reflection on profound Dhamma                  
7) Commitment to cultivating investigation
           
                           
Function
To dispel darkness
Manifestation
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Nonconfusion
           
                              3. Courageous Effort — Vīriya
Characteristic
             
Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
According to Commentaries
           
                           
Enduring patience in the face of suffering and difficulty
             
Wise attention
1) Reflection on the fearsomeness of apāya or the states of misery one can fall into in the absence of effort                  
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2) Reflection on the benefits of effort                  
3) Reflecting on and trying to match the nobility of previous practitioners                  
4) Respect and appreciation for alms food or other supports one has received                  
5) Reflection on the sevenfold heritage of a noble person (see Numerical Lists, page 277)                  
6) Reflecting on the greatness of the Buddha                  
7) Reflecting on the greatness of the Dhamma which links the lineage of Buddhas, monks and nuns to oneself                  
8) Reflecting on the greatness of those who practice brahmacariya, or the Saṅgha                  
9) Avoiding the company of lazy persons                  
10) Associating with energetic persons                  
11) Incline the mind toward developing energy
           
                           
Function
Supporting the mental state
Manifestation
A bold and courageous mind
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                              4. Rapture — Pīti
Characteristic
             
Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
According to Commentaries
           
                           
Happiness, delight and satisfaction
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Wise attention to being effortful in bringing about wholesome feelings of rapture connected with the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha
1) Recollection of the virtues of the Buddha                  
2) Recollection of the virtues of the Dhamma                  
3) Recollection of the virtues of the Saṅgha                  
4) Recollection of one’s own moral purity                  
5) Recollection of one’s own generosity                  
6) Recollection of the virtues of devas and brahmas                  
7) Reflection on the peace of cessation of the kilesas, either in nibbāna, in the jhānas, or in deep meditations one has experienced                  
8) Avoid the company of rough, angry and coarse persons                  
9) Cultivate friends who are warm, loving and refined                  
10) Reflect on the suttas                  
11) Incline the mind toward developing rapture
           
                           
Function
Lightness and energy of body and mind
Manifestation
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Physical sensations of lightness
           
                              5. Tranquility — Passaddhi
Characteristic
             
Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
According to Commentaries
           
                           
Calmness of body and mind; end of agitation
             
Wise attention directed toward developing wholesome mental states, especially meditative states, which allow tranquility
1) Sensible and nutritious food                  
2) Suitable weather                  
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3) Comfortable, but not luxurious posture                  
4) Maintaining a balanced effort in practice                  
5) Avoiding bad-tempered, rough or cruel people                  
7) Inclining the mind toward the development of tranquility
           
                           
Function
To extract or suppress mental heat due to restlessness, dissipation or remorse
Manifestation
Nonagitation of body and mind
6. Concentration — Samādhi
Characteristic
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Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
According to Commentaries
           
                           
Nondispersal
             
Continuous wise attention aimed at the development of concentration
1) Purity of internal and external bases (cleanliness of body and immediate environment)                  
2) Balance of the controlling faculties                  
3) Skill in the concentration object (applicable to jhāna practice)                  
4) Uplifting the mind when it is depressed                  
5) Calming the mind when it is excited                  
6) Bringing happiness to the mind when it is withered by pain                  
7) Continuous, balanced awareness                  
8) Avoiding unconcentrated people                  
9) Associating with concentrated people                  
10) Reflecting on the peace of the jhānic absorptions                  
11) Inclining the mind toward the development of concentration
           
                           
Function
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To collect the mind
Manifestation
Peace and stillness
7. Equanimity — Upekkhā
Characteristic
             
Ways of arousing                    
According to Buddha
According to Commentaries
           
                           
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The balancing of opposed mental states
             
Wise attention; that is, continuous mindfulness based on the intention to develop equanimity
1) An equanimous attitude toward all living beings, not to be too attached to anyone                  
2) A balanced attitude toward nonliving objects, such as property                  
3) Avoiding people who are deeply possessive or otherwise lack equanimity                  
4) Association with those who are not too strongly attached to beings or possessions, and who otherwise demonstrate equanimity                  
5) Inclining the mind toward developing equanimity
           
                           
Function
To fill in where there is a lack and to reduce excess
Manifestation
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A state of ease and balance
           
                     
                           
                     Hindrances and Antidotes
Aspects of the concentrated mind have the capacity to remedy problematic mental states. Here are the factors of the first  jhāna, or state of concentration, paired with the hindrance each overcomes:
   
                           
                   
Jhāna factor
             
Overcomes
           
                           
vitakka, aiming
             
thīna middha, sloth and torpor
           
                           
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vicāra,  rubbing
             
vicikicchā, skeptical doubt
           
                           
pīti, delight
             
vyāpāda, aversion
           
                           
sukha, happiness
             
uddhaccakukkuca, restelessness
           
                           
ekaggatā, one-pointedness
             
kāmacchanda, sense desire
           
                     
                           
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                     The Progress of Insight
As yogis practice vipassanā meditation under the instruction of a qualified teacher, they become able to perceive different truths about reality not accessible to ordinary consciousness. These meditative insights tend to occur in a specific order regardless of personality type or level of intelligence, successively deepening along with the concentration and purity of mind that result from proper meditation practice. This list is provided with a strong cautionary note: if you are practicing meditation, don’t think about progress! It is quite impossible for even the most experienced meditator to evaluate his or her own practice; and only after extensive personal experience and training can a teacher begin to recognize the specific, subtle signs of this progression in the verbal reports of another meditator.
Insight into Mind and Matter
Awareness of a distinction between the observing mind or consciousness and matter, the objects of consciousness.
Seeing that one hundred per cent of one’s experience is composed of mind and matter, this insight temporarily removes the wrong view that a self exists independent of matter and mind. As long as mindfulness is sustained, doubt in the Dhamma remains in abeyance.
Insight into Cause and Effect
Direct apprehension of the causal relationship between mind and matter. For example, subsequent to a mental intention, a series of physical sensations arise and one has a sudden intuition of the causal relationship. Or, a painful sensation gives rise to a wish to move the body.
Seeing that there is only mind and matter, and that these are the elements that cause each other to come into existence, this insight removes the wrong view that an external force is responsible for our experiences. Seeing that there is only a continuous chain of causes and effects, this insight removes the false idea that events occur in a haphazard, uncaused manner.
Insights into Impermanence, Unsatisfactoriness and Absence of Self
Aniccānupassanā-ñāṇa: Seeing of impermanence in the perpetual and inescapable vanishing of objects of consciousness. Removes the wrong view of permanence, and lessens pride and conceit.
Dukkhānupassanā-ñāṇa: Observing the breakup of objects, especially painful sensations, one understands the unsatisfactoriness, the oppressiveness of impermanence. Realization that there is no refuge within objects and that impermanence is frightful and undesirable. Removes the false view that enduring satisfaction can be attained with the realm of impermanence.
Anattānupassanā-ñāṇa: Then, seeing the uncontrollability within the impermanence and painfulness of objects. Removes the illusion that oneself, or any other agency, can prevent or direct the passing away of objects; and clears away the false notion that an inherent essence is present in oneself, mind, or matter.
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These three intuitions correspond to the first  vipassanā jhāna, and are accompanied by reflective thinking about the universality of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and absence of self. One reflects that there was no time, nor will there ever be a time, when objects have not been characterized by these three marks of conditionality.
Sammasana-ñāṇa, verified knowledge by comprehension: The three marks of impermanence, suffering and absence of self, seen clearly together. One feels a conviction that the Dhamma is true as one has heard it.
This insight, together with the previous group, is the full development of the first vipassanā jhāna, and the dawning of vipassanā right view, which sees every object and experience under the triple aspects of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and absence of self.
Insight into Arising and Passing Away
The mind clearly sees the momentary arising and passing away of objects; that is, the very rapid beginning and ending of each mental and physical phenomenon.
This insight corresponds to the second vipassanā jhana, characterized by the weakening of conceptual thought and the arising of extremely strong rapture and comfort. Because some aspects of mindfulness are as yet undeveloped in this stage, there also is grasping onto these pleasant experiences (the “defilements of insight.”) Yogis feel strong faith and a desire to preach the Dhamma, and may believe themselves to be enlightened.
Insight into Path and Not-Path
As yogis are encouraged to note the faith and rapture they experience, grasping onto these experiences begins to diminish. Yogis gain the conviction that simple noting is the true path of practice rather than the generation of blissful states. From this point they proceed onward with confidence.
In this insight, the third vipassanā jhāna begins to predominate. Its predominant factor is happiness or comfort, and the equanimity that underlies all the vipassanā jhānas begins to be strongly apparent. Yogis may be able to sit for long periods without suffering from painful sensations.
Insight into Dissolution
The mind loses contact with the beginnings and middles of each object, and focuses instead on endings. Thus, awareness perceives nothing but dissolution everywhere it comes to rest. Conceptual images of the body become indistinct.
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As insight into Dissolution matures, a neutral feeling begins to predominate in body and mind, neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. The yogi’s mind can rest, coolly observing the dissolution of phenomena. This insight is the onset of the fourth vipassanā jhāna. The factor of happiness and comfort disappears and equanimity begins to predominate. Conceptual thought no longer sprouts up within each moment of insight or direct awareness.
Insight into Fear
Seeing the fearsomeness of all phenomena.
Insight into Disgust
Seeing the disgusting nature of all phenomena as they decay and fall apart
Insight into the Wish For Liberation
The arising of a profound impulse to continue the practice, driving onward to reach the cessation of all unsatisfying experiences.
Insight into Equanimity Regarding All Objects
Balance is reestablished as mindfulness becomes extremely agile, picking up objects quickly before the mind can be perturbed by pleasantness or unpleasantness. There is a sense of coolness and steadiness in the absence of reactions.
During this insight, practitioners experience a peaceful mental state similar to the mind of an arahant, or perfectly purified enlightened being. It is from this state of extreme balance that the mind may be able to penetrate into the peace of nibbāna.
Insight into Nibbāna, the Happiness of Peace
Mental and physical phenomena come to a stop. Path and Fruition Consciousness; Nibbāna; Reviewing Consciousness.
This is the experience commonly known as enlightenment, and it is irreversibly transforming. According to the Buddha there are four levels of enlightenment. Each of them is reached after culmination of the series of insights described above.
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On the first level, called  sotāpanna or stream entry, path consciousness uproots the defilements of wrong view of self, doubt, and adherence to wrong practices. Moreover, the kilesas strong enough to cause rebirth in hell or as an animal are uprooted, and the remaining kilesas are weakened. It is said that a sotāpanna has only seven more existences remaining in saṃsāra, meaning that only seven more times can he or she be reborn in a different realm from the one in which he or she expired; and, since the gates to the lower realms have been closed by the first path consciousness, all of these rebirths will take place in the human realm or higher.
Fruition consciousness is compared to water being poured on the ashes of a campfire. It cools the place from which the defilements have been uprooted.
Reviewing consciousness reviews path and fruition consciousness, nibbāna as an object of consciousness, and also surveys the path ahead. One realizes that one’s work of purification has, in a sense, just begun, for there are still kilesas remaining to torment one.
FURTHER LEVELS OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Sakadāgāmitā, anāgāmitā, arahatta. Progressions of Insight leading to the respective three Path and Fruition Consciousnesses:
A sotāpanna is only partially enlightened. Three levels of purification remain to be striven for — three successively deeper immersions in the peace of nibbāna, resulting in three successively deeper levels of happiness and contentment. The happiness of a pure mind is the true birthright of every human being. Every yogi should aspire to arahantship, perfect peace, the eradication of all inner torment.
Numerical Lists
    -   Two kinds of ignorance — Not seeing what is true, that is, universal impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and absence of inherent essence or self; and seeing what is not true, namely that objects and experiences possess permanence, happiness and inherent self-essence.
    -   Two kinds of  Kilesas — Those connected with objects, which arise in conjunction with desirable, unpleasant or neutral objects and in the absence of mindfulness; and those connected with the continuity of existence, which remain dormant and are uprooted by the respective path consciousness.
    -   Two kinds of rare and precious people in this world — Benefactors; grateful persons who remember the good that has been done for them and repay it when possible.
    -   Two kinds of ultimate realities  (paramattha dhammas) — conditioned ultimate realities,  saṅkhata paramattha dhammas; unconditioned ultimate reality, asaṅkhata paramattha dhamma, nibbāna.
    -   Two main weaknesses of beings — Lack of security, lack of true possessions.
    -   Three battalions of māra’s ninth army — Material gain in the form of donations from followers, the reverence of devotees, and fame or renown.
    -   Three characteristics of all phenomena —  anicca, impermanence;  dukkha, suffering;  anatta, absence of enduring self essence.
    -   Three great accomplishments of Buddhas  — By virtue of cause, by virtue of result, by virtue of service.
    -   Three  kilesas uprooted by the first path consciousness — Wrong view of self, doubt, and adherence to wrong practices.
    -   Three kinds of  kilesas — Transgressive, obsessive, and latent or dormant.
    -   Three kinds of ultimate realities — Mind, matter, and nibbāna.
    -   Three kinds of psychic powers — Superhuman physical feats, mind reading, and the power of instruction.
    -   Three kinds of seclusion —  kāya viveka, seclusion of the body through renunciation;  citta viveka, seclusion of the mind through concentration;  upadhi viveka, seclusion due to the weakening of the kilesas.
    -   Three levels of effort — Launching, persistent, liberating. Sometimes a fourth, fulfilling.
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    -   Three perpetuating Dhammas — Conceit, wrong view and craving
    -   Three-phase description used in meditation interview — Occurrence of the object, your noting of the object, what happened to the object.
    -   Three types of property — Movable, immovable, knowledge.
    -   Threefold teaching (or training)  —  sīla, samādhi, paññā: morality, concentration, wisdom.
    -   Triple gem — Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha.
    -   Four foundations of mindfulness — Mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, objects of mind.
    -   Four kinds of happiness pertaining to the first four  vipassanā jhānas — First  jhāna, the happiness of seclusion; second  jhāna, the happiness of concentration, which leads to rapture and comfort; third  jhāna, the happiness of equanimity; fourth  jhāna, the purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.
    -   Four postures — Lying, sitting, standing, walking.
    -   Four powers motivating a successful meditation practice — Willingness, vigor, strength of mind, wisdom or knowledge.
    -   Four stages of nibbānic attainment —  sotāpatti, stream-entry;  sakadāgāmī, once-returner;  anāgāmī, non-returner;  arahatta, perfection.
    -   Five benefits of walking meditation — Stamina for long journeys, stamina for meditation practice, good health, assistance in digestion, durable concentration.
    -   Five controlling faculties — Faith, energy or effort, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom.
    -   Five factors of the eightfold path predominantly developed during a moment of mindfulness — Right effort, mindfulness, concentration, right aim, right view.
    -   Five hindrances —  kāmacchanda, sense desire;  vyāpāda, aversion;  thīna middha, sloth and torpor;  uddhaccakukkucca, restlessness and worry;  vicikicchā, skeptical doubt.
    -   Five  jhānic factors —  vitakka, aiming;  vicāra, rubbing;  pīti, rapture or delight;  sukha, happiness;  samādhi, concentration.
    -   Five kinds of doubt leading to the thorny mind — Doubt of Buddha, of the Dhamma, of the Sangha, of oneself, and of others.
    -   Five mental fetters — To be chained to sense objects; overattachment to one’s own body; overattachment to the bodies of others; overattachment to food; wishing for rebirth in a realm of subtle material pleasure.
    -   Five precepts — Not to kill, not to take what is not given, to abstain from sexual misconduct, not to lie, not to take intoxicants.
    -   Five protections for meditation  (anuggahitas) —  sīlānuggahita, morality;  sūtanuggahita, understanding gained from discourses and texts;  sākacchānuggahita, a teacher’s guidance;  samathānuggahita, concentration;  vipassanānuggahita, forceful and continuous insight practice.
    -   Five types of rapture — Lesser, momentary, overwhelming, uplifting or exhilarating, pervasive.
    -   Six kinds of right view —  kammassakatā samma-diṭṭhi, right view of kamma as one’s only true property;  jhāna sammā diṭṭhi, knowledge arising in conjunction with each of the eight stages of absorption;  vipassanā sammā diṭṭhi, right view of the universality of impermanence, suffering and absence of self; noble path right view which uproots kilesas forever; noble fruition right view which cools the embers left behind by the extinguished defilements; reviewing consciousness right view, which reviews path and fruition consciousness, nibbāna as an object of consciousness, the defilements uprooted and the remaining defilements.
    -   Six sense doors  — Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind.
    -   Seven factors of enlightenment — Mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture or joy, tranquillity, concentration, equanimity.
    -   Seven results of mindfulness meditation practice — Purification of the mind, overcoming of sorrow, lamentation, physical pain and mental displeasure, and finally reaching the right path and the realisation of nibbāna.
    -   Sevenfold property of noble ones — Faith; morality;  hīri or moral shame;  ottappa or moral dread; learning or expertise in the theory and practice of meditation;  cāga or liberality with respect to relinquishing  kilesas as well as generosity in giving; and wisdom.
    -   Seven types of suitability which support meditation practice — Suitability of place, of resort, of speech, of person (teacher and community), food, of weather, of posture.
    -   Seven antidotes to drowsiness — Change one’s attitude and make meditation more dynamic; reflect on inspiring passages of Dhamma; recite passages aloud; physical stimulation such as rubbing the ears; washing one’s face and/or eyes; looking at a light; brisk walking meditation.
    -   Eight precepts — Includes the Five Precepts, with the third converted to refraining from breaking celibacy, plus: refraining from taking food after noon, refraining from entertainments and adorning or perfuming one’s body, and refraining from sleeping on a high or luxurious bed.
    -   Noble eightfold path — Right view or understanding, right thought or aim, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
    -   Nine causes for growth of the controlling faculties — Attention directed toward impermanence; rare and respect for meditation; continuity of awareness; supportive environment; remembering and recreating beneficial circumstances; cultivation of enlightenment factors; intense effort; patience and perseverance; determination to reach liberation.
    -   Ten armies of māra — Sensual pleasures; discontent; hunger and thirst; craving; sloth and torpor; fear; doubt; conceit and ingratitude; gain, renown, honor and whatever fame is falsely received; self-exaltation and disparaging others.
    -   Ten kinds of crooked behavior —
    -   Three kinds of crooked bodily behavior: 1) Based on lack of loving-kindness and compassion, namely killing, harming and oppressing others. 2) Based on greed, namely stealing or deceitful acquisition of others’ property. 3) Based on lust, namely sexual misconduct.
    -   Four kinds of crooked verbal behavior: 1) Lying. 2) Speech that causes disharmony. 3) Speech that is hurtful, coarse, crude or obscene. 4) Frivolous chatter.
    -   Three kinds of mental crookedness: 1) Thoughts of harming or cruelty toward self or others. 2) Covetous thoughts. 3) The wrong view of kamma, namely that one’s actions have no consequences.
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    -   Ten precepts — Includes the Eight Precepts, above, with the eighth on entertainments and adornments split, becoming eight and nine, plus: refraining from handling money.
    -   Two hundred and twenty-seven rules for monks  — The ten precepts, plus supplementary rules.
   
 
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