The fully controlled person is called a bhikkhu He who is controlled in hand, in foot, in speech and in the highest; he who delights in meditation and is composed, he who is alone and is contented - him they call a bhikkhu. Bhikkhu Vagga - The Dhammapada

Intelligence: ability to observe life

Bhikkhu Viradhammo

Continued from august 07

The following teaching on the Four Noble Truths is taken from a talk given by Venerable Viradhammo during a ten-day retreat conducted in Bangkok for Thai lay people, in June 1988.

We don’t have to be in a monastery, or even have a happy feeling, to contemplate Dhamma. We can contemplate Dhamma within misery. We often find that it is when people are suffering that they start coming to the monastery.

When they are happy and successful it probably wouldn’t occur to them. But if their partner leaves home, or they lose their job, get cancer, or something, then they say, “oh, what do I do now?”

So for many of us, the Buddha’s teaching begins with the experience of suffering. This is what we start contemplating. Later on we find we also, need to contemplate happiness. But people don’t begin by going to the Ajahn, saying, “oh venerable sir, I’m so happy! Help me fix this happiness.”

Usually we begin when life says, “This hurts.” Maybe it’s just bordom’ for me it was the contemplation of death. Maybe it’s alienation at work. In the West we have what’s called “the mid-life crisis.” Men around the age of forty-five fifty start to, think, “I’ve got it all,” or, “I haven’t got it all, so what?” “Big deal”.

Something awakens and we begin to question life. And since everybody experiences dukkha, in its gross and refind aspects, it’s beautiful that the teaching begins here. The Buddha says, “There is Dukkha.” No one can deny that. This is what the Buddhist teaching is based upon-actually observing these experiences we have - observing life.

Now the worldly way of operating with Dukkha is to try to get rid of it. Often we use our intelligence to try and maximize sukha and minimize dukkha. We are always trying to figure out how to make things more convenient.

I remember a discourse that Ajah Chah once gave about this. In the monastery we to all join in hauling water from the well. Then would bring two cans of water on a long bamboo pole, and a bhikku at each end to carry them. So Ajahn Chah said, “Why do you always carry water with the monk that you like? You should carry water with the monk you dislike!”

This was true. I was a very speedy novice and would always try to avoid carrying water with a slow old bhikku in front. It drove me crazy. Sometimes I’d get stuck behind one of them, and I’d be pushing away.

So having to carry water with a monk I disliked was dukkha and, as Ajah Chah said, I would always try to figure out how to have things the way I wanted.

That’s using intelligence to try to maximize Sukha and minimize Dukkha. But of course even if we do get what we want, we still have dukkha, Because the pleasure of gratification is not permanent - it is anicca - Imagine eating something really delicious. In the beginning it would be pleasurable. But, if you had to eat that for four hours! It would be awful.

So what do we do with dukkha? The Buddhist teaching encourages us to use intelligence to really look at it. That’s why we put ourselves in a retreat situation like this with the eight precepts. We’re actually looking at dukkha rather than just trying to maximize sukha.

Monastic life is based on this also; We’re trapped in these robes. But then we have an incredible freedom to look at suffering, rather than just ignorantly trying to get rid of it. We all have responsibilities: family, job career and so and there are kinds of limitations, aren’t they? What do we do with them? Rather than resent these limitations and say.

“Oh if only it were different, I would be happy, we can consider: “Now this is a chance to understand.” We say “This is the way it is now, There is dukkha.” We actually go towards that dukkha; we make it conscious, bring it into mind.

We don’t have to create dukkha especially; there’s already enough suffering in this world. But the encouragement of the teachings is to actually feel the dukkha that we have in life.

The first noble truth of the Buddhist teaching is not saying, “Get this experience”. It says look at the experience of dukkha. We are not expected to mearly believe in Buddhism as a teaching, but to look at dukkha, without, judging. We are not saying I shouldn’t have dukkha. Nor are we just thinking about it. We’re actually feeling it, observing it. We’re bringing it to mind. So, there is dukkha.

The teaching then goes on to consider that dukkha has a cause and also that it has an end.

So, the Buddha wasn’t just talking about dukkha. He was also talking about enlightenment - Nibbana and that is what the Buddha - image is saying. Its’ not an image of the Buddha suffering. Its’ an image of his enlightenment; its’ all about freedom. But to be enlightened we have to take what we’ve got, rather than try to get what we want.

In the worldly way, we usually try to get what we want. all of us want Nibbana - right - even though we don’t know what it is. When we’re hungry, we go to the fridge and get something. Getting, getting, always getting something. But if we try to get enlightenment like that, it doesn’t work. If we could get enlightenment the same way as we get money, or get a car, it would be rather easy. But it’s more subtle than that.

It takes intelligence. I takes investigation.

So now we’re using intelligence not to maximize sukha and minimize dukkha, but to actually look at dukkha.

We’re using intelligence to consider things skilfully: “Why am I suffering?” So you see, we’re not dismissing thought; thought is a very important faculty. But if we can’t think clearly then it’s not really possible to use the Buddhist teachings. However, you don’t need a Ph.D. in Buddhism either.

Intelligence is the ability to observe life and to ask the right questions. We’re using thought to direct the mind in the right way. We’re observing and opening the mind to the situation. And it is in this openness, with the right questions, that we have vipassna practice: insight into the way we are.

The mind is taking the concepts of teaching, and channelling intelligence towards human experience. We’re opening, being attentive, and realizing the way things are. This investigation of the Four Noble Truths is the classic application of intelligence in Theravada Buddhism.

So simply observing dukkha is not trying to get an experience, is it? It is accepting responsibility for our dukkha - our inner conflict. We feel the inner conflict - “I am suffering.” And we ask “what is the cause?” The teaching says: dukkha begins and ends - it’s not permanent.

Suppose I’m feeling uncomfortable during the sitting, and I turn to that dukkha and ask: “What is the cause of this suffering?” “It’s because the body is uncomfortable,” comes the answer. So I decide to move.

But after five minutes, I find the body is uncomfortable again. So this time, I look at the feeling a little more closely. And I notice something more: “I don’t want discomfort. I want pleasant feeling.”

Ah! So it’s not the painful feeling, that’s the problem; it’s the not wanting the painful feeling. Now that’s a very useful insight, isn’t it? That’s a bit deeper. I find that now I can be at peace with painful feeling and I don’t have to move. I don’t get restless and the mind becomes quite calm.

So I’ve seen that the cause of the problem isn’t the painful feeling; it’s the “not wanting” that particular feeling. “Wanting” is quite tricky stuff.

It comes in many forms. But we can always apply this same investigation: What is it I want now? The second Noble Truth - SAMUDAYA - says that the cause of suffering is attachment to wanting. It makes us feel that if we get what we want we’ll be fulfilled. “If I have this” or “If I become that...” or “If I get rid of this and don’t have that...” and that’s SAMSARA rolling on.

Desire and fear, pushing beings into always becoming: always seeking rebirth, leading endlessly bury lives.

But the Buddha says that there is also a way out. There is an end to suffering. The end of suffering we call Nirodha - sensation - or Nibbana.

When I first read about Nibbana, I understood it to mean no greed, no hatred, and no delusion. So I thought if only I can get rid of all greed, hatred and delusion, then that would be Nibbana. It seemed that way. I tried and it didn’t work. I got more confused.

But as I continued to practise, I found that the cessation of suffering meant the ending of these things in their own time; they have their own energy. I couldn’t say to myself, “OK, tomorrow I’m not going to be greedy or afraid.”

That was a ridiculous idea. What we have to do is, to contain these energies until they die, until they cease. If I felt angry and were to act on it, may be I would kick someone in the shin.

Then they’d kick me back, and we’d have a fight. Or, I’d go back to my hut and meditate, and hate, myself. It goes on and on because I’ve reacted to it. If I’m either following it or trying to get rid of it, then it doesn’t cease. The fire doesn’t die.

The teaching of the Four Noble Truths says then: We have suffering - DUKKHA; there is a cause - SAMUDAYA; there is an end - NIRODHA; and a path to that end - MAGGA. This is such a practical teaching. In any situation of inner conflict we can take responsibility for what we’re feeling.

It is important that we actually apply these teachings. Ajahn Chah used to say, “Sometimes people who are very close to Buddhism are like ants that crawl around the outside of the mango. They never actually taste the juice. “Sometimes we hear the structure of the teachings and think we understand - “Its just a way of observing life,” we say.

But the teachings are not just an intellectual structure. They are saying that experience itself has a structure, which must be understood. So we’re not merely using intelligence to maximize sukha and minimize dukkha. We are using it to free the mind, to go beyond, to realize the unshakeable deliverance of the heart, to realise Nibbana.

We’re using intelligence for freedom not just frivolity; to liberate the mind, not just to be happy. We’re going beyond happiness and unhappiness. We’re not just trying to get another experience; it is a different attitude altogether.

From: “The Stillness of Being”

by: Chandrasriya De Silva

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Climate change, humans endanger historic Silk Road stop

China’s historic Silk Road city of Dunhuang and its archaeological treasures are under threat from the effects of climate change, human activity and mismanagement, state media reported on Sunday.

The oasis city, home to the UN World Heritage-listed Mogao Grottoes, has recently seen rivers run dry, vegetation die off, underground water levels fall sharply and sand storms increase, Xinhua news agency said.

Dunhuang was an important stop on the Silk Road, while the grottoes — also called the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas — house one of the world’s most extensive and historic Buddhist temple complexes, stretching back more than 1,500 years.

But population pressures, haphazard development and a changing climate now “threaten the cultural relics and local scenery”, Xinhua quoted an unnamed official with the national evironment watchdog as saying.

The official with the State Environmental Protection Administration called for the establishment of an ecological reserve at Dunhuang.

“A national ecological reserve is urgently needed in Dunhuang to protect its civilisation and heritage that has a history of more than 1,000 years,” the official was quoted as saying.

The official also blamed local administrators for failing to put in place proper planning to balance economic development with protection of the area.

The cave shrines, built between the fourth and 14th centuries A.D., house some of the world’s best examples of ancient Buddhist art.

(AFP)

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Concentrated mind-prerequisite towards liberation

Richard Shankman

mind: Samadhi, typically translated as “concentration”, is the ability of the mind to remain calm and settled without distraction. It is through the power of a sustained, concentrated attention that the fruits of meditation practice are realized, so samadhi plays an indispensable role in mental training on the path towards liberation.

Attaining samadhi, or any other meditative state, is not the ultimate goal of Buddhist meditation, but it is an important element. The habitual tendencies of grasping to pleasant experiences and pushing away unpleasant ones, and the underlying root cause of ignorance, are deeply conditioned in us.

A powerful, steady awareness is needed for strengthening the supportive conditions necessary for the mind to see more clearly into the subtler layers of clinging and identity. We should not make samadhi more important than it is, but we should not diminish its importance, either.

Unravelling the mix of ideas about what exactly samadhi is and its proper place in dharma practice can be difficult. Student may become confused about the intensity or type of samadhi one should ultimate. I have found it helpful to go back to the scriptural sources, but they can be conflicting.

The Buddha of the early Pali suttas taught contextually, varying His advice depending on His audience and the immediate circumstances. The suttas, therefore, presenting an array of practices, are not entirely consistent and lend themselves to various interpretations regarding the path of meditation.

The deepest stages of samadhi are associated with meditative absorption states of profound mental unification called jhanas. Teachers disagree about what the jhanas are, and the term is used to describe a range of experiences by various teachers.

The suttas define jhana in terms of five jhana factors (applied thought, sustained thought, rapture, happiness and one-pointedness), along with a number of other associated attributes that are present, to varying degrees, throughout a wide range of levels and types of samadhi.

Various meditation teachers, each presenting a different idea of what jhana is, can legitimately claim to be teaching the “real” jhana. There is no consensus on whether or not jhana is necessary to realize the deeper stages of insight, and scriptural evidence can be found to support either view.

Within the Pali suttas there are teachings suggesting that in meditation practice one should first develop samadhi until jhana has been achieved and then switch to insight practice.

For example, the Buddha states that after attaining jhana and with a mind now “concentrated, purified and cleansed, unblemished, free from impurities, malleable, workable, steady and having gained imperturbility,” one then directs the mind towards insight practice.

This can be variously interpreted to mean the meditator comes out of jhana to begin insight practice, or that insight practice continues after the meditator has attained and is still in Jhana.

There are many other sutta passages supporting the view, both implicitly and explicitly, that samadhi and mindfulness are not easily separated, and, in fact, should be developed in concert and synthesized into one unified practice and path.

The suttas teach that through mindfulness and insight practice the mind penetrates into the nature of experience and realizes directly the three characteristics of existence - impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness. However, the suttas also state explicitly that concentration in and of itself is a condition for seeing directly and clearly into the true nature of things:

As the understanding and interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings evolved over the centuries, later commentaries, including the highly influential Visuddhimagga, appeared with their own interpretations of the doctrine.

For some Theravada Buddhists, the entire teaching is funnelled through the one commentarial lens of the Visuddhimagga, greatly influencing the understanding and style of meditation practice.

In contrast to the suttas, the Visuddhimagga clearly divides meditation practice into two separate paths: samatha (calm), in which samdhi is cultivated to a high degree without regard to mindfulness, and vipassana (insight), in which mindfulness in highlighted and samadhi can sometimes be de-emphasized.

In samatha practice, fixed concentration is developed such that the mind is fixed or absorbed into a meditation object. Concentration on a fixed object becomes so intense that no other consciousness can arise, resulting in a state in which the meditator no longer experiences changing phenomena.

In insight meditation, momentary concentration is developed. In this case, samadhi is strengthened until the mind is relatively stable and concentrated, not so much that it becomes fixed on an unchanging object, but present for moment-by-moment change, and thus able to practice insight into the three characteristics of existence.

The Kayagatasati (Mindfulness of the Body) Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 119) states that, as one enters jhana and two of the jhana factors (rapture and happiness) arise, one should “drench, steep, fill and pervade the body, so that there is no part of his whole body unpervaded by the rapture.” It goes on to say that this is how one develops mindfulness of the body.

This is a clear example of jhana presented as a meditative state in which body awareness has been retained. In contrast, the Visuddhimagga defines jhana as an intense state of fixed concentration in which awareness of the body, and most other experiences, disappears.

In order to reconcile with the suttas, where one is instructed to permeate the body with the jhana factors, the Visuddhimagga interprets the term body as referring to the “mental body”.

There is no single right or wrong path, technique or approach to meditation, only the appropriate practice best suited to each of our individual temperaments and needs. We may go through many phases of practice as meditation develops throughout the course of our lives.

In the path of vipassana meditation, some of us may be drawn toward intensive samtha practice, delving deeply into Visuddhimagga-style jhanas and later making a conscious shift to insight practice. Others will emphasize the cultivation of mindfulness from the beginning of practice,

allowing samadhi to naturally strengthen through the sustained, moment-by-moment application of attention toward all the changing experiences that arise and pass away during meditation practice. A third style of practice strengthens samadhi and mindfulness together, bringing the mindfulness up to meet whatever level of samadhi there is, including full absorption states.

Breath meditation is an example of a practice that can be used in any of these ways, and I have found it extremely useful in my own practice for developing both concentration and insight.

Breath is constant enough that, by giving strong preference to it as a single meditation object, samadhi can be developed all the way to jhana. Yet breath is always changing, so that mindfulness can be strengthened if we choose to incorporate insight into the practice.

On a long retreat I learned a hard-won lesson in samadhi practice. My plan was to attain jhana in five or six weeks, as I had done previously, and then continue from there for many months deepening into the classical insights.

But for the first few months I was not entering jhana, and I suffered terribly worrying about how the practice was going. I finally complained to my teacher, who kindly pointed out that the deeper realizations came, not from attaining jhana, or any particular meditative state, but through nonclinging to whatever state was arising.

Regardless of the style of meditation you practice, remember that everything develops in its own way and its own time, as we find the balance between making effort and relaxing into our moment-to-moment experience. “Right” effort means applying oneself without overstriving.

You cannot make anything happen in meditation but only strengthen supportive causes and conditions. I suggest you develop as much samadhi as you can without making it an object of clinging, as I learned the hard way.

Courtesy: Inquiring Mind.

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Meditation

I want to ask you
in this whole world
What is the most profound
most wonderful thing?
Sit erect and meditate
right to the end
As you meditate,
you’ll find a clue
And everything will
naturally become clear
Keep your concentration
don’t miss your chance
After a while, your mind
will be pure
your wisdom ripe

- Ryokan
From Great Fool: Zen Master Ryokan,