Meditation for Daily Life:

Sabba Loke Anabiratha Sanna - Part III

Dr Padmaka Silva

We should practice these things at least from now. If we remain idle the probability of the mind getting corrupted is more. The possibility of the mind getting polluted is more if we remain idle. Therefore get used to the Dhamma from now itself. When some torment or worry comes refuge from this Dhamma comes invariably. Otherwise we have to succumb to that torment and get destroyed.

The fact we learnt today is definitely a difficult one. Not easy. It is easily said than done. If one starts doing it little by little it becomes a very easy matter for him. It becomes a very delightful thing. Getting rid of desire, cessation of desire becomes a very easy activity for him.

Walking meditation. Picture by Saman Sri Wedage

This meditation is practiced in order to train our mind to annihilate the liking for the entire world. When this meditation is practiced the liking for all worlds such as of humans, abodes of deities, Brahma worlds, Peta worlds starts getting annihilated. As one develops loathsomeness towards eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, visual objects, sounds, odors, tastes, touch and mind objects the liking for all worlds starts ceasing. Therefore practice doing it briefly. We might not feel it at once. But as you keep on doing it our desire starts getting annihilated little by little.

However much one practices Dhamma and meditation one experiences immense torments, worries and inconveniences until the end of our Sansaric journey. One might not feel so much inconveniences during the initial period of meditation. Difficulty of developing the meditation will be felt after some time. After developing the meditation and proceeding for some time some inconveniences may arise. They are not inconveniences that arise due to meditation. What are we trying to achieve by performing some meditation? We are attempting to eradicate the defilements in our minds. So isn’t there a difficulty at the initial stages of meditation? After practice it becomes easy. After practice we attempt to eradicate the defilements. At that time we experience an inconvenience. The defilements cause torments. Severe torments are caused. This Sanna (Sabba Loke Anabiratha Sanna) helps us not to be overcome by those torments and to achieve comfort.

If some torment arises it is due to the surfacing of Raga, Dosa or Moha. It arises in the mind. It remains in the mind. If we generate mindfulness and contemplate it as impermanent we can get rid of that torment. Please remember that any torment does not arise instantaneously. It arises little by little and gradually increases. Therefore we must understand when an inconvenience arises that it will increase in intensity. Therefore we must be clever to avoid it at the commencement itself.

Or else we must be clever enough to get rid of it by thinking of it as impermanent. We must establish mindfulness. If you fail and if it becomes strong we must think “This is something that has been caused”. “It has a cessation”. “This is something that is conditioned”. Once we develop such an idea it becomes possible to get rid of that inconvenience by considering that as impermanent. That is the refuge we get from the Dhamma. Therefore remember that such an inconvenience is not unlikely. It can happen to anyone. Raga, Dosa and Moha do not leave us just because we wished to eradicate them. Will Raga, Dosa, Moha leave us just because we like them to leave us? They do not leave us. Why? Although we loath eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind will they leave us? Why don’t they leave us? We now say that we do not like eye, ear, nose etc.

We say I will give them up. By just saying so or thinking so can we give them up? No we cannot. Why continue? Because they are under the control of Mara (the evil one). They are not under our control. Mara has supreme control in this world. We are not worth even a millionth part of a particle of dust. A particle of dust is a very small entity. We do not have even a millionth part of that power.

We think we have a lot of power. Don’t we think that we have a lot of ability? But we do not possess the power of even a millionth part of a dust particle. We are under the control of somebody else. We consider something under the control of someone else as belonging to us and think that we have power. We think of eye, ear etc. which are under the control of Mara as belonging to ‘I’ and imagine that we have a lot of power and ability. We are in such a state of delusion.

We are depending on an imagined power based on thinking as mine the six sense organs which are under the control of Mara. As long as we remain within that notion we cannot get liberated or get rid of torments. Therefore keep in mind that these six sense organs of eye, ear, nose etc. are under the control of Mara who has supreme power. We have got deceived by it and thinking as ‘I’ we remain within an ability that has been built up by the mind. If one accepts that one has no ability, he has the ability of building up an ability that can be built up by himself thinking of it himself. What is that ability? That is the ability to think wisely based on Saddha. That has to be generated himself. It does not arise spontaneously. It is something that has to be done willfully.

The nature of the ordinary man is to think what is in his mind as correct and arrive at conclusions based on it. The decision has been based on the thoughts arising in the mind. To whom does the mind belong? Whose is the thought? That also belongs to Mara. To whom does the flame belong? It belongs to the fire. If the mind belongs to Mara, the thoughts arising in it also belong to Mara. Thus if one acts according to one’s thoughts under whose control is he? Under Mara’s control. We think we are independent. That is the place where we have made the mistake.

We think we must be independent. We get such feelings. Those are in our minds. Such thoughts belong to Mara. One who thinks on those lines are Trapped by Mara. So there is only one thing to be done to get released from the grip of Mara. That is not to accept the thought arising in the mind. We must get used to thinking wisely by giving priority to Saddha, by giving prominence to Saddha and generating Saddha. If an ability to think wisely after generating Saddha such an ability arises during association with the worthy friend. If the worthy friend says “Do this” or “Don’t do this” we should have the strength to accept it.

If one has the strength to accept what the worthy friend says such a person is an energetic person. He is a strong person. That strength helps him to remain without being overcome by the mind. Getting overcome by the mind means getting overcome by Mara. That deprives us of an immense gain. At the same time we become a party that deprives the world also of that gain.

(Compiled with instructions given by Ven Nawalapitiye Ariyawansa Thero.)

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