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A talk given at the Ottawa Buddhist Society in 2001
September 4,
2005
The problem of the mind is really its propensity to
proliferate or add to things. At a certain level there’s
really nothing wrong with the mind at all. It’s just what we
keep adding to it. There’s a quotation of the Buddha in the
graduated discourses where the Buddha states that the mind is
intrinsically pure or intrinsically bright but it’s defiled by
adventitious defilements. Defilements come in and out of the
mind. They’re visitors to the mind. We keep getting caught up
with the visitors. Part of meditation practice is to be able
to separate and understand what is the actual nature of the
mind itself and what are the visitors to the mind that we keep
getting caught up in.
There was a bumper sticker going around California a few years
ago which expresses it fairly well: “Having a wonderful time.
Wish I were here.” It sort of says it all. On a certain level,
even if we’re having a good time we’re not actually present.
We’re not really there to appreciate it, or we’re comparing it
to something else or some other experience. Practice is
learning more clearly what are the moods of the mind. What is
the actual quality of the mind on its own, when it’s not
stimulated and proliferated on or not added to? This is
something that Ajahn Chah talked about a lot in his teaching
and training. It was something that was very important to him
in his practice.
When he was training as a young monk, trying to meditate, he
was getting himself tied up in knots. He had the opportunity
to pay respects to a very well-known meditation master at the
time, Ajahn Mun. One of the things that Ajahn Mun pointed out
to him was to start to separate out and pay attention to what
are the moods of the mind that come in and out and what is the
mind itself. Notice what is the underlying quality of the mind
when we don’t conceptually proliferate, when we don’t add to
it or don’t cover it over. We won’t ever really understand
what the fundamental nature of mind is until we pay attention
to what comes in and out of the mind. Mindfulness is to
apprehend what’s actually going on in the mind. Usually we’re
so swept up in it, so caught up in it, that we don’t recognize
what’s going on. Be attentive when we’re holding an opinion or
a view - usually we’re not even aware that it is an opinion
because we’re right, of course. Our opinion is right. Our view
is right. “That’s the way the world is. This is how that
person is. They’ve always been that way.” We carry on like
that and believe in it and then wonder why we suffer all the
time.
The Buddha pointed to three fundamental drives that tend to
cause the mind to fall into proliferation. The first one is
around sensuality: the seeking after sensual gratification,
pleasure, comfort. It isn’t to say that being comfortable or
experiencing that which is pleasant is wrong in some way. But
it’s when the desire is there, then we lose our freedom. When
we sense that we have to experience this or we have to get
that in order to be happy, when we’re not happy on our own,
then we’re overwhelmed by sensual desire. That’s what desire
is. The mind is always compelled to seek something that’s more
comfortable, something more pleasurable, something more
gratifying. The whole nature of our economy is built on that.
The advertising slogan for American Express is: take the
waiting out of wanting. You know, they’re very successful.
Canada pretty much functions like America. The society is
driven by credit card debt. You can’t really stop working
because you’ve got payments to make. There is that compunction
to try to fulfill or gratify ourselves in some way. It covers
many areas of our life.
It is important to make a distinction between experiencing
that which is pleasurable and being driven by sensual desire.
Because the development of pleasure is also fundamental to the
Buddha’s teaching. In many of the Buddha’s discourses, there
is a progression of mental states which are focussed around
well-being. This quality of well-being in Pali is called
pamojja and indicates a lightness of mind. A quality of
well-being is the condition for a quality of joy or piti in
Pali. The quality of joy is a condition for the establishing
of tranquillity or passaddhi. The quality of tranquillity is a
condition for the establishing of happiness or sukha. The
establishing of happiness is the condition for samadhi or
concentration of mind. All these very positive states of
well-being culminate in samadhi or meditative firmness of
mind. The Buddha repeats in many places that the happy mind is
easily concentrated. So it’s important that we cultivate this
quality of happiness or well-being. But it’s also important
that we be attentive to what is the intention in the mind. If
the happiness that we’re seeking is coming from, say, a desire
for gratification and possessiveness or gain out of the
material realm, then it just shatters and makes the mind
unsatisfied.
The Buddha recognized the tendency of the human mind to
proliferate and seek for gratification in the world around. He
also recognized that happiness is essential. It’s important to
be attentive to the quality of mind that is seeking happiness.
Try to come back to a quality of relinquishment, of motivation
which is circumspect and is grounded in these virtuous,
wholesome qualities such as lovingkindness, compassion, and
generosity. These are all qualities which lead to happiness.
They need to be cultivated because they actually make the mind
experience well-being which is what it wants. So often when we
practice meditation, we go about it backwards. “If I really
got my concentration together, then I’d be happy.” We really
need to shift that and be attentive to: “How do I actually
experience happiness in a settled and firm way?” When the mind
is content and happy within itself, then it’s very settled and
clear. We need to be attentive to the proliferating tendency
of sensual desire and how we get caught up in it.
The second basic drive that the Buddha pointed to as
proliferating the mind is very difficult to translate into
English. Mana is usually translated as conceit, but it really
means the tendency to establish the comparison of self. In the
typical thoroughness of the Buddha, there is this wonderful
description of what mana is:
Being inferior to somebody and considering that one is
inferior, being inferior and considering that one is equal,
being inferior and considering that one is superior; Being
equal and considering that one is inferior, being equal and
considering that one is equal, being equal and considering
that one is superior; Being superior and considering that one
is inferior, being superior and considering that one is equal,
being superior and considering that one is superior.
Basically, any stand of self and comparison to others brings
this sense of self-importance, or holding a self view. In some
ways, one can be better or worse at something than others and
its really not a problem. It’s just the way it is and it’s not
a fixed thing anyway. The problem is in establishing a sense
of self and looking around and worrying about: “Am I better?
Am I worse? Am I equal?” We all know how that feels. That’s
uncomfortable.
When we say that there shouldn’t be any establishing of self,
does that mean there’s no personality, or no display of any
particular differences? Well not really. Consider how it was
at the time of the Buddha. All the great disciples had very
different temperaments and personalities. Sariputta was this
wonderfully wise being but was also very attentive to the
affairs of the Sangha. He looked after his disciples in a very
particular way. The Buddha said that Sariputta is like a nurse
with his disciples and Maha Moggallana is like a mother.
Sariputta will teach and train them until the point of stream
entry, first level of enlightenment, and then he’ll let them
practice on their own. Whereas Maha Moggallana will be with
them, take responsibility for them, and really look after them
until they attain arahantship. Different temperament. The
Buddha wasn’t saying that one method was bad or anything.
In one discourse the Buddha praises Maha Kassapa for his
compassion. The usual temperament that he displayed was an
ascetic tendency, strictness in the dhutanga or ascetic
practices. He was quite fierce. He criticised Ananda for
wasting too much time. So the great disciples are not just
floating around jelly-like without any kind of personality.
They have very clear personalities. But not the need to
compare: “Am I better? Am I worse? How am I shaping up? How am
I looking?” That’s the addition that creates suffering and
torments us
Be attentive to qualities which are appropriate for the path
and meditative training such as: putting in effort, patience,
wisdom, discernment, reflective investigation, restraint,
loving kindness. But again, not to carry them around as a self.
“Was I as kind as I should have been?” That’s where we create
problems. We do something and then we worry about it. We get
caught up in the judgments and give ourselves points all the
time. It gets really complicated. That’s the way to suffer.
It’s quite all right to even miss one’s shot and blow it.
Really. There’s a wonderful scenario in a discourse where
Sariputta and Moggallana come to pay respects to the Buddha
and they bring their disciples with them. They meet up close
to where the Buddha is and get into conversations which make a
lot of noise. The Buddha notices the racket and says: “What’s
this noise in the monastery. It sounds like a bunch of
fishermen at the wharf.” He calls them in, reams them out,
dismisses them all, sends them off. Their behavior was
inappropriate, accepted as such, and then life goes on.
Eventually they’re called in again to receive teachings from
the Buddha. There was a recognizing of that which was
unskillful as unskillful and making amends and a
reestablishing in what was appropriate, but not having to
carry it around. I’m sure that Sariputta and Moggallana
weren’t going around and creating a whole lot of suffering
about it. They probably taught and trained their disciples,
admonished them, but didn’t make it a source of extraordinary
suffering, not a source of complication. Just recognizing
what’s appropriate and what’s the way to establish oneself
consistently in that which is appropriate. Not creating a
self. Not having to carry around this sense of me in
comparison with others all the time. There is tremendous
freedom in that because the mind isn’t proliferating. It isn’t
creating problems where there aren’t problems.
The last drive which the Buddha pointed to as proliferating
the mind is the tendency to views or opinions. The holding of
a view. Obviously we have to have some sort of perspectives
and views. The Buddha is concerned here about holding views
like: “This is right. I’m right and everybody else is wrong.”
“This is right and it has to be this way.” “This is true and
good. Nothing else is.” It’s that very fixed quality of mind
in terms of view and perspective which shuts out the nature of
things as being a continuum of causes and conditions. On a
certain level, we would love to simplify things and hold a
view, e.g. “This is right. This is how it is. This is really
true.” because it relieves us of having to take into account
the nature of truth that everything is in its flux. How do you
force it to stop? You can’t do it. One of Ajahn Chah’s
consistent teachings that he continually pounded into our
heads is the uncertainty of things. “This is not a sure
thing.” The nature of the mind is to overlay our experience
with a view. Particularly to try to make things a bit more
certain, a bit more clear, a bit more secure. But in truth
security comes from the ability to hold in consciousness the
fact that everything is changing. Our view of things, however
we view it, is going to be the way it is anyway. Rather than
getting in the way with our clinging and preferences, we may
as well just open up to all experience and be attentive so
that we can apprehend it clearly.
These tendencies to proliferate the mind are what cause
suffering. They’re the things that create difficulties. How do
we work with that? Just being really attentive with that sense
of: “What arises and what passes away?” “What is stable? What
is unstable?” To start to be attentive to that. The unstable
is what the Buddha described as agantuka in Pali, which means
a visitor or guest. The defilements are visitors. We can only
be attentive to what comes in and goes out of the mind if we
have the quality of clarity and stillness. If the mind is
reacting blindly, then it latches onto the moods and either
piggybacks on them or runs away with them. It’s interesting
how people will talk about meditation practice sometimes.
Some will say: “Well, my mind is always running off here and
there. My mind just carries me away.” Usually what happens, if
that’s the case, is that one is running after the mind and
bringing it back over and over. It’s very tiring. If you just
come back to establishing attention, that’s where the mind was
anyway. Attention has shifted. The mood was impermanent,
insubstantial. As soon as you establish awareness, that’s
where your mind is. Experiment with that. When you think that
your mind has got caught up in something over there, really
feel that. Then be attentive to that quality of just being
present. “Ah, here I am.” “The mind is right here.” As soon as
you recognize that, the mood just passed already. You can
recall it or you can get caught up in it again. But in that
moment, there is that quality of presence and clarity right
there. Be attentive to that quality of presence and nurture
it.
The Buddha’s most fundamental teaching is the Four Noble
Truths: suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of
suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering.
Suffering is that quality of distraction, dissatisfaction,
agitation, discontentment. When we’re attentive to that, then
we can start to recognize: “Where did this come from?” It has
a cause. It isn’t fundamental to the mind. Starting to
investigate. “Well, what were the causes? It was that grasping
after gratification. It was that view that I had. It was
holding that sense of self so strongly. Oh, right. That causes
suffering.” There is also the duty that is appropriate to each
Noble Truth. Suffering is to be known and the cause of
suffering is to be relinquished. It’s quite simple but if you
start to pay attention, then you notice that what we try to do
is to let go of suffering, or drop it, or annihilate it. As
long as the cause hasn’t been seen clearly, then it’s not
going to be dealt with properly. So, the suffering has to be
known. That takes a certain directness of mind, courage and
patience. Who wants to suffer? Nobody likes it. But as long as
we haven’t really felt it and been present for it, then we
don’t clarify the cause well enough. When we see and know
suffering clearly, the cause becomes apparent. That’s what we
can let go of. That’s what we can drop. If we want to
annihilate something, then go to the cause.
The other part of the Noble Truths is the cessation or ending
of suffering and then the path leading to the ending of
suffering. We’re really good at paying attention to suffering.
We’re not very good at paying attention to the ending of
suffering. So start to take interest when suffering isn’t
actually present or when suffering ends. If we were really
suffering all the time, we wouldn’t be let out onto the
streets. We wouldn’t be able to function. We don’t really take
that much interest in the ending of suffering, but we should.
We really need to. When there’s that quality of spaciousness,
the quality of clarity, the quality of peace. Oftentimes we’ll
fill it up with something else. When we sit in meditation and
we want to be peaceful. Suddenly, the clouds part and we start
to feel “Oh, wow. This is kind of peaceful.” and then the mind
starts to look for something to grab onto or to fill it up
with. “Peaceful” is usually too peaceful for us and not
suffering is unfamiliar. We’re not used to it and so we just
fill it up again. Notice how perverse the problem is. By not
understanding it and by not being able to comprehend it
clearly, we get really spun out. Pay attention to the ending
of suffering. How does it manifest? How does it feel? That’s
where you start to recognize that: “Oh, I can do something
about this to bring about this feeling of non-suffering.”
Then there is a whole path to follow. There are qualities of
training and establishing the mind in virtue and restraint, or
in meditation and mindfulness, or wisdom and the
circumspection of investigation. These are all supportive of
non-suffering. As we start to pay attention to that, we become
able to separate out the moods of the mind that just keep
coming in and going out and the underlying fundamental mind
which is still, knowing, clear and present. It’s there to be
experienced at all times. If it weren’t - if it were something
conditioned and had to be created all the time, then it
wouldn’t be something that would be worthy of calling
liberation. But because it is present and unconditioned, then
it’s accessible. One of the qualities of the Dhamma that comes
up in our chanting is: “To be experienced for each wise person
for themselves.” The Dhamma is there. It can be experienced.
There needs to be a certain wisdom and understanding there.
That’s our path. That’s what we need to do.
I offer these words for your reflection this evening.
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