MINDFULNESS MEDITATION MADE EASY

Venerable Dhammasami
1999

Chapter Six

BARE ATTENTION

        SATI-PATTHANA SUTTA AS A FOUNDATION AND CHIEF FACTOR

        TODAY I SHALL discuss "Bare Attention" in Vipassana meditation, what we mean by it and how to apply it in mindfulness meditation. The main discourse for Vipassana meditation is the discourse on the foundation of mindfulness — Satipatthana. The Pali words Sati means mindfulness. Patthana means the foundation that must be acquired first. It also means a leading or chief factor that has to guide, guard and sustain the mind in developing other required factors such as concentration and direct knowledge. Mindfulness is fundamental throughout the practice, from start to finish. We try to establish mindfulness. First, we have to discover that we are not mindful. Our mind goes here, there and everywhere. The mind sometimes is thinking when we are not supposed to be thinking or when we do not really intend to. By recognizing the fact that mindfulness is not yet present, we can make a good start in our effort to gain it.

        Sati means mindfulness, to be mindful of an object, whatever that may be. We divide objects into primary and secondary objects for technical reasons. Mindfulness means constant awareness of an object, without any break. It is being aware of one object after another arising here and now. There is no break or gap in between breathing, the ticking of the clock, the sounds coming from outside, the road, being contemplative of sensation and so on. Any object can be a meditation object and to be aware of it continuously is called mindfulness practice. This is the main task in the initial stage of Vipassana meditation practice. It is about being conscious of something at the present moment, being conscious of the world we live in. It is about merely registering an object perceived directly through any of the six doors of our senses.

        EXPERIENCE AND JUDGEMENT

        We do not live in the same world all the time. For example, some one is thinking about his work. Then his world at that time is his thoughts about his job. At that moment, he is not living in any other world, but in the world of thinking. He is conscious of his job, and his job is the object of his meditative mind. So there are only two things out there — the meditative mind and the meditative object.

        As we have discussed before, there are six worlds and we do not live in the same world all of the time. Prof. Oliver Goldsmith of Einstein Medical School, New York tells of a man who was operated on for his blindness. He had been blind since the age of five. He was forty-five when he was operated on. He had lived as a blind man for forty years. He could not remember seeing anything during the first five years of his life because he was too young. He had lived for forty years through listening, touching, smelling, tasting and thinking. He studied, graduated and had a job. He even got married. His wife insisted that he had the operation. The doctors also persuaded him to have the operation because they wanted to try out their newly found technology. So both eyes were operated on and he regained his sight. On the first day that they removed the bandage, the surgeon stood in front of him without saying anything. He could see the surgeon but he could not make anything out of what he was seeing. Only when the surgeon stated to talk did he recognize him and say, "Oh, it is you!" This is because he had not lived in the seeing world for the last forty years. He was not making anything out of it.

        We make many things out of what we see and hear. We create happiness as well as unhappiness. We create joy; we create agitation, through what we see, what we hear, what we taste, what we smell, what we feel and what we think. We need to be conscious of this. In the case of this man for the last forty years, consciousness never operated between his eyes and a visual object. However, between the two physical objects — the sounds and the ears, consciousness had been operating. So as soon as he heard the voice of the surgeon he was able to make something out of it, identifying someone he knew. When he was having physiotherapy, he was made to walk and open doors without touching or feeling. When he started walking, even for just one or two steps, he would jump, he could not judge distance through his use of sight.

        This is how our mind operates when the meditation object and the meditative mind come together. The mind that operates at this time is called consciousness. The mind and consciousness are the same. The mind that is called consciousness is something that operates between two objects. The ear is a physical object and the sound is another physical object. When they come together, then the mind functions and becomes consciousness. You become conscious of the sound. That is the height of the cognitive process. In the same way, you become conscious of visual objects. You become aware or conscious of touching, tasting, seeing, etc. This is how things operate. What we should do is to just pay bare attention to it without judging. Everything in the world is a meditation object.

        When we see things we make something out of it and what follows is our judgement. As we have discussed how we judge the hair. The hair on our head, we love it, it is pleasant. That is because we interpret it as "mine" — this is my hair. We wash it every day. Once it is cut and separated from our head, we do not bother with it or care for it any more. Our attitude has changed. There is no more attachment to that hair. Should your hair fall into a plate of food that you are about to eat, your attitude towards the food will change. This is what is meant by judgement. If your hair happens to be in my plate, if my hair happens to be in your plate, it is even worse. Even if you know I wash my hair every day and I know you wash your hair every day. Yet, still we cannot bear it. As we form an opinion and make a judgement, we unconsciously decide not to experience things fully.

        Another thing that we often judge is the food we eat. When the food is in the pot or on the table, it looks very nice. Even before we eat, we may say it looks delicious. Then you put the food in your mouth and chew it. After the space of one or two seconds, you will not want to see it anymore, although that is exactly what you are about to swallow. Just try taking it out and looking at it. How will you feel? Your attitude has now changed. This is what we call judging. All our reactions are judgements. "Oh, It's disgusting" we might say. Some may even vomit. When this happens and the food we have eaten comes out, we rush to wash it away. We do not want to see it any more. Nevertheless, this is what we have inside our body. Therefore, this is an example of how we keep changing our attitudes. This is our reaction. We keep reacting to the object — to what we see, to what we taste, to what we smell. The same thing is true with sound. When we are expecting someone and when we hear the sound of a car engine, we feel happy. But when you are reading or when you want silence and you can hear the sound of a car, you may feel disturbed. Therefore, you make different judgements of the same sound. When we practise bare attention, we say to ourselves "hearing, hearing, and hearing." We do not even say listening. We just say hearing. We say tasting — not good taste or bad taste. There is no value judgement attached to it. Just bare attention.

        NON-JUDGMENTAL NATURE OF VIPASSANA

        In Vipassana meditation, the Buddha even goes so far as to say, wandering mind and concentrated mind are equally valuable as meditative objects. To quote the Pali passage from the Satipatthana Sutta: "Samkhittam va cittam samkhittam cittanti pajanati, vikkhittam va cittam vikkhittam cittanti pajanati" which means a shrunken mind and wavering mind are to be treated in the same manner by being aware of it and then comprehending its true nature. When a mind is shrunken into an object, it is totally immersed into it; this is a concentrated mind. A wandering mind never stays in one place; it travels all over the places. The Buddha said that if you are aware of these two — a concentrated and a wandering mind — if you are mindful of both, just pay bare attention to it and do not judge. Do not say the wandering mind is bad or the concentrated mind is good. Make no value judgement.

        We know we are usually judgmental because of the unsettled minds. We often hear people saying that meditation makes mind still and calm. This implies to us that the wandering mind is the very obstacle to meditation. This is where Vipassana really differs from Samatha in handling "restless mind."

        To have a concentrated mind is very important for all meditation purposes. But even though concentration is very important, you still have to treat the concentrated mind just like the wandering mind because both are objects. The presence and absence of them are object of contemplation. You have to treat each object objectively, unlike the way we treat our hair and our food, which is quite prejudiced and subjective, not objective.

        To see things as they are is the ultimate aim of Vipassana meditation. When being prejudiced and subjective, we cannot see things as they actually are. The whole objective of Buddhism is to see dukkha as dukkha, and not to react to it. In Vipassana meditation, when observing pain, it is a practice to see pain as pain, no longer reacting to it creating agitation, impatience, frustration or disappointment. So long as we are reacting and continuously justifying our reactions, we do not yet see things as they really are yet.

        Another Pali passage from the same Sutta worthy of quoting is "Sadosam va cittam sadosam cittanti pajanati. Niddosam va cittam niddosam cittanti pajanati," meaning an angry mind and a not angry-mind, maybe a compassionate or a loving one, these two are the same. Ethically speaking, an angry mind and a compassionate mind cannot be the same. The angry mind is bad because it can create tension. It is bad for your health. It creates many problems. As far as the ethical aspect is concerned, we can even have different views as to whether anger is good or bad. Some say that anger makes people take you seriously and therefore is justifiable. It is very subjective and open to personal judgement. This is when you approach the issue through ethics (sila). But, the Buddha said that when you approach these two psychologically, you have to rise above the ethical aspect of it.

        It may be said here, by saying what we have just said, that we do not underestimate the role of ethical morality in bhavana but rather emphasize the two different approaches at different levels. Both are indeed part of the training in the Noble Eightfold Path.

        DO NOT SUPPRESS IT

        Remember that in Vipassana meditation there are three stages — learning, controlling and liberating stages. You need to learn about the angry mind before you can control anger. At the second stage, you are able to control the angry mind and, at the third stage, you will be able to liberate your mind from anger. Liberation comes from direct knowing, and direct awareness (sati) leads to direct knowledge (sampajana).

        In the first stage of Vipassana meditation, we are developing bare attention. We are talking about this today. What you need to do is just to observe — to observe that this is an angry mind or a mind lacking in anger. A murderous thought and a loving thought are equally important as meditation objects. When a murderous thought arises, you note "murderous thought, murderous thought, murderous thought", and just be conscious of it; to be mindfully experiencing it and knowing what a murderous thought is like. Because without understanding it, we are not going to be able to get rid of this angry mind, we will not be able to control it. If we are anxious to control it, we force ourselves — "Don't get angry". We are just suppressing it, instead of accepting and trying to see it. If you say, "Do not get angry", it means you are suppressing it. If you are suppressing something, you will not be able to see it. But, it does not mean that it has gone away. It is there. It may pop up without your knowledge. This is what happens all the time.

        We normally learn about what is good and what is bad. Later we begin imposing a golden rule on ourselves "Anger is not good, I must not be angry." Nevertheless, anger is still there. It does not work that way. Therefore, what we should do is to try to accept it and see it as an angry mind with no whatsoever value judgement attached to it. Normally we would analyze it. A loving mind is wholesome and an angry one unwholesome consciousness. Nevertheless, Vipassana meditation is something that will lead you to transcend both wholesome and unwholesome. Without unwholesome, you will not have wholesome. One does not exist without the other as they belong to dualistic states diametrically opposed to each other. They both belong to the Kammic process. Nibbana is realized once the Kammic process ceases to operate.

        In the case of the Buddha and the arahants, there is no more wholesome or unwholesome kamma. In Buddhist philosophy, the end of kamma and the end of dukkha (suffering) are the same. It is Nibbana. When we say the end of kamma, we do not mean just the end of unwholesome kamma but also that of wholesome kamma. What has led us to be born as human beings is wholesome kamma. It is leading us to suffer in a human world. When we look at things as wholesome or unwholesome, this is at a mundane level, with two standpoints. The middle path, which we also call the Noble Eight-Fold Path, of which Vipassana. meditation is a very important aspect, is something that transcends both. Normally when we do good things in a mundane sense, we try to get rid of as much of the unwholesome and accumulate as much as the wholesome. But, the aim of Vipassana meditation is to get rid of both. That is why value judgement is not attached even to wholesome kamma.

        JUST KNOWING IT

        The Buddha said that when the mind is concentrated, know it as a concentrated mind. When it is not, then know it as an unconcentratedmind. Normally, when our mind is not concentrated and it goes here and there, we tend to get disappointed and upset. People mumble, "Oh, I'm not doing well in this session. My mind keeps wandering. I have a lot of disturbances and distractions." These are habitual reactions; we are conditioned to react in this way. Both whole some and unwholesome minds are conditioned. Vipassana Meditation is a way out of conditioning (sankhara) as well as being conditioned (sankhata). We are, of course, still in the process of conditioning and being conditioned, and not yet out of it. But the unconditioned state is where "Bare Attention" will lead us to. First develop Bare Attention and be open to any conditions. Merely knowing them, and not forming any opinion of or adding value judgement to them is a way to the unconditioned state (asankhata) here and now.

         NO PRE-CONCEIVED NOTION

        Let us go back to another aspect of bare attention. Bare attention is not to have any preconceived notions. To give an example, You want to get rid of itchiness on your face (while meditating) and you note itchiness, itchiness, and itchiness. Your mind is being conditioned by the desire to get rid of the itch. Before it acts, the mind is already attached to judgement. If the itchiness does not go away, you are going to react to it. Even if it goes away, you will still react to it by saying, "Oh, good. I've done it." If it does not, you feel disappointed — "Oh, it's getting worse. The numbness in my leg is getting worse. The pain in my back is getting worse." This is because of the notion that this is my back, this is my leg, etc. This notion over rides or overshadows the pain or numbness. So instead of seeing the pain as it is, or the numbness as it is, we see the pain and numbness overshadowed by the preconceived notion that this is my back or my leg. That preconceived notion prolongs the pain and numbness.

        Sometimes, people are encouraged to contemplate pain, saying that the pain will vanish after some continued observations. This leads to a belief that in order to get rid of pain, one has to contemplate; contemplation of pain will bring the end of pain. This is a preconceived notion of what could come about from contemplation effort. In fact, the pain may vanish or increase. Vipassana teaches only what to do if it vanishes or if it increases. We cannot command pain to disappear or increase. It is Anatta. If the preconceived notion is there, the mind is blocked, and not open. As it is not open, it will reject any outcome not in line with one's expectation. One is not prepared to face alternative situation. Flexibility comes only with an open and receptive minds.

        NOT TO GET RID OF IT BUT RATHER TO COPE WITH IT BETTER

        The aim of Vipassana is not to get rid of pain, as pain is as a part of life. There is no world where there is no pain. Vipassana meditation is rather a method of how to cope with it when it arises. To make use of pain as a meditation object in order to gain insight that brings the end of suffering. It is true that at some stage, pain is greatly relieved and one does not feel it as one used to, one can also sir for many hours at this point and facial looks become bright, dignified, calm and serene.

        In the Satipatthana Sutta, the discourse on mindfulness, there are two very important words in Pali — sato and sampajano. The first one is bare attention; that is to pay bare attention to an object by merely knowing its existence. This progresses; as you are collecting data, you are registering the bare facts. You are going to see the characteristics of the object. Before that, you are not going to condition your mind and say "The pain is impermanent", or "It will go away". You must not judge or condition your mind with anything, not even with impermanence, although the law of impermanence is real and true. Nevertheless, since you are going to make use of this law only in theory in order to get rid of the pain, not because you see the impermanent nature of the pain. Also not necessarily because you see the impermanence happening here and now, but because you have read it in a book or heard of it i n a Dhamma talk. Moreover, you are expecting to strengthen your ability to tolerate the pain with the consolation and knowledge that the pain is impermanent and will not last forever, expecting it to go at any moment. Therefore, impermanence in theory is not a real impermanence.

        BARE ATTENTION LEADS TO MINDFULNESS AND CLEAR KNOWLEDGE

        When we observe an object continuously, we get a clear comprehension of these objects — about pain, sounds, breathing and so on. Clear comprehension is the realization of the six worlds. What we are trying to do first in Vipassana meditation is to establish this bare attention. We keep reacting all the time. However, the more we try, the more we become aware of the lack of bare attention, which strengthens our resolve and willingness to establish bare attention.

        This bare attention will then be used for two purposes. One is for reflection. You are going to contemplate and reflect all the objects. To reflect, first you have to establish bare attention or constant awareness. Before that is achieved, reflection can lead to speculation. To quote in Pali from the Discourse, "Sati paccu patthita hoti yavadeva nanamatthaya patisatimatthaya" meaning "in order to reflect, we have to establish mindfulness and in order to understand things clearly as they are we have to establish mindfulness, which is bare attention." Before we can reflect effectively (patisati-matthaya), we have to establish mindfulness by paying bare attention to all that arises here and now. The second purpose of bare attention is to comprehend things as they are (nana matthaya). As we relate to the present moments more and more, we are now starting to live our life fully at the present moment.

        That is why once you are in a position to control your mind, you will be able to use your mind to reflect on the object. Now, when you are trying to establish mindfulness, even if an insignificant reflection comes into your mind, you note "reflection, reflection, reflection" and try to go on with the task of establishing mindfulness.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MEDITATION ON THE IMPERSONALITY OF THE BODY
EXPLANATION AND INSTRUCTION

         FIRST STEP IS TO STUDY

         THIS EVENING WE are going to discuss the impersonality of the body, which is about the reflection on the different parts of our own body. Afterwards, we will meditate on that. In the olden days, the analysis was done in this way. The body was divided into 32 parts. We shall divide theses into six groups according to the tradition. They are,

• (a) head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin;

• (b) flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys;

• (c) heart, liver, intestines, spleen, lungs;

• (d) bowels, stomach, undigested food, feces, brain;

• (e) bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fats¹⁰

• (f) tears, lymph, saliva, nasal mucus, oil of the joints (synovial fluid)¹¹, urine.

        ¹⁰ Microscopically Fat may be Found in all parts of the body under the skin. But in places like the palm, bridge of nose and ear lobes, it is not grossly present. But one may concentrate on fat situated in the abdominal area, arms and legs.

         ¹¹ Synovial fluid is the fluid between the bone joints. There are four types of bone joint in the body: The hinge type which is in the knees and elbows, the ball and socket type found in shoulders, the flat type found in the skull and the spinal cord type. Synovial fluid found in the knee joints is like a lubricator for ease of movement.

         There are other ways of grouping these, which, I think, work equally well for our purpose. It is important to know these parts of the body by name so that one can meditate on them through mental recitation without the assistance of reading or listening. Not only that, one should also know their colour, shape, location and their relation to other parts of body in terms of both similarity and dissimilarity. One should even know the actual odor of each part. It involves some degree of basic anatomical study to meditate on different parts of body effectively. We can understand the remark of the great commentators of Pali texts that states that to learn about these 32 parts of body in the way we have discussed would take weeks or even months. It is very much an analytical procedure in its own way.

         To make this type of meditation a principal practice, one has to meditate on one group at least for fifteen days dividing it into three steps each lasting for five days. First, one should begin according to the order given above, and reverse it after five days, which makes the second step. During the last five days, one would meditate forward and backward.

         PURPOSE OF THIS MEDITATION

         The purpose of this type of meditation is to bring to our awareness the wrong perception we have of our body. We perceive the whole body to be one entity. We do not usually think of it as different parts. Therefore, we see it as a whole rather than as parts. When we see it as an entity, we come to differentiate each body as a specific person, for example, Dr. Kyaw Thinn, Dr. Maung Maung Lat, Dr. Sein Shwe and so on. We do not see it in terms of having things in common. We see each being as a separate entity. Because of this perception, we become proud of our own perceived entity. The deceitfully perceived entity is an object for clinging. Wrong perception of the body is a source of attachment. The ultimate aim of this type of meditation is to develop detachment through seeing and being mindful of the repulsive nature of the body. It is another meditation method of reflective nature. This technique may be used to serve the different purpose of samatha or vipassana meditation. However, we are discussing it here in the context of vipassana, mindfulness meditation.

         As this type of meditation gains momentum, we will start seeing some small but important effects. One's fear and dread in secluded places will weaken and one will be able to tolerate different climates and enjoy different foods and places. The ultimate air, however, is to understand the true nature of the body. As this brings deep insight into the nature of the body, detachment from the body will follow. Our aim is not to repress the feeling of bodily attraction by directly producing a repelling emotion but see the body as it is and consequently gain direct knowledge from the exercise. Detachment and insight into the true nature of body happen together. Direct knowing of the nature of the body gives rise to freedom from false notions of it.

         TECHNIQUES OF MEDITATION ON THE IMPERSONALITY OF THE BODY

         As discussed earlier, there is a lengthy procedure especially to practise this type of meditation. It takes about six months to complete the preliminary stage. During these months one comes to discover those parts which are clear in one's mind and those which are not clear. One comes to the second stage only when one has gradually eliminated from the list all of the objects that are not perceived clearly in the mind. When the clearest object is found, one begins focusing on that alone object, until one can effectively control one's mind to apply it to a chosen object without any difficulty. From here, if one pursues it earnestly so as to acquire a well-developed understanding, one comes to a point where one has to choose either samatha or vipassana to progress further.

         The 32 parts of body are placed in six groups according to their approximate nature. Some belong to the outer part and are dried; some are situated in the abdominal region; and some are of a fluidic nature. Yet, others are more of the characteristic of the earth element, which is hardness. They have been classified in this way for a purpose. The traditional practice starts from the first group and then expands to include all eventually.

         There have also been many modifications to this method over the centuries especially where the practice has been unbroken. Taung Pulu Sayadaw, one of the most famous meditation masters that Burma has produced this century, had some wonderful methods of meditation on different parts of body. He was a close friend of the Most Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw. I used to try one of such modified methods that is said to have an effect on gastric problems. I chose to try this as I have a gastric ulcer and my stomach produces more gas. I found that it could control gas within a few minutes, bringing calm and contemplation. This method is a technique, which differs from what we have discussed. It still includes, of course, five parts, small and lower intestine, undigested food, feces and brain. One of my devotees, Emma, also reminded me of this technique, which she had read from a monthly Burmese Buddhist magazine, which described how an American Buddhist monk was cured of his gastric problem after practising this particular technique of meditation given by the Most Venerable Taung Pulu Sayadaw. This is a good example of how the Buddha's teachings are flexible and suit people of various needs.

         INSTRUCTIONS FOR A SHORT RETREAT

         This evening, since we are only in a relatively short retreat we are going to reflect on the different parts randomly. This will give you an idea of this kind of meditation, and may even help you to discover which part could be the clearest for you. I have found this technique most useful for those who have not learnt about all the 32 parts in details as required in the Pali commentary.

         We shall focus first on bones, beginning with the skull. Do not include the hair, skin, blood, and muscles yet. Just leave them for a while. Just try to see the skull without the eyes, muscles, nerves and skin. Then come down to your shoulder, and then the arms. Try to see only the bones without the muscles, flesh, sinews, blood or even the nails. You then go right down to your toes. You form your body only in bones. There are small bones in your legs and feet. Try to see them. Sweep down slowly. Then come back to the skull again. Try to see the body in the skull and bones only.

         Now after that, try to see the joints in various regions of your body, like in your neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, etc. Try to see each joint. Go down to your toes contemplating joints in your hips, knees and ankles. You will see how vulnerable the body is when you see the joints. Now you have covered two parts already, the bones and the joints.

         Next, you are going to put all the muscles on, from the top downwards, slowly through the body, the thighs, and the legs, to form a person. Put on the nerves, the sinews and the vessels in this way, also the blood. Look again at the upper part, the brain and the skin. Then you look at the hair on your head. Try not to see it as a whole, but as single strands of hair. Get to its roots if you can. Then the hair of the body. Then go to each nail. When you reflect on the nails, try to see them separately from the bones and the skin. Note each nail, all twenty of them, on both hands and feet.

         The next stage is to go to the parts inside. First your teeth. Try to see each individual tooth, inside and outside. If possible, get down to the roots. Try to go around each tooth. See them as some thing that is not fixed to the jaw but individually and separately. The idea is to see the different parts which fit together to make a person. Inside the mouth, you also have the saliva or sputum to observe.

         Then go further down inside into the internal organs. You have the heart, the lungs, and the liver (I think being doctors, you have an advantage here). I do not know whether or not you will get frightened. This is a kind of mental operation. You use your mind to go through different parts of your body. You see the stomach, intestines, new food, the waste and all. Try to see them individually. As you see them, you name them repeatedly.

         Choose at least ten different parts. The scriptures say that you should choose at least five. Nevertheless, here, I think it is nice to choose about ten and make a list. You go down this list and then up it again. You repeat this a number of times. If you choose the internal organs, you can choose the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, stomach and intestines. If you choose the bones, it is important to also include joints. If you choose the blood vessels, it has to be also with blood and muscles. If you choose hair, it is helpful to bring in the teeth and nails. There are many things from which to choose. You can even choose tears.

         NOT ON DISSIMILARITY BUT SIMILARITY

         When you see these individual parts, you will come to see that the body known as Venerable U Dhammasami is composed of all of these parts, and are the same as Dr. Kyaw Thinn, Dr. Maung Maung Lat, Zaw Zaw, etc. They are all the same. Therefore, what we now see is different parts of the body. What we do not see is Venerable U Dhammasami. Are the nails Venerable U Dhammasami? Or is it the bones, or the joints? It is only when you take them as a whole that you can name it as Venerable U Dhammasami. Therefore, you get a deep insight into the impersonality of the body. Usually, we tend to personalise; we have been conditioned to perceive things in that way. We have been made to see that we are different from others.

         Once, I saw a cartoon in a magazine, of two girls watching a movie in the cinema. They hated the actor. When the actor appeared, one of them said, "Oh, no. I hate this man. Let's go." The other said, "No, no. Do not go, he's going to die in the next scene." You see, they had been made to see the actor as different from themselves. Because of differentiating perception they wished him to die. This attitude is common to all of us.

         When we were young and we fell on the ground, we would cry and blame the ground. I am not sure whether I did or did not! But I saw such action later when I visited a home, a child fell down and cried, not because he was badly hurt, but because he got so frustrated with the ground and thought the ground had hit him. He perceived that the ground had nothing in common with him and was to blame. Then his mother could not console him; she hit the ground telling the child "I've hit the ground." Only then did the child stop crying. The idea of revenge had made him see the ground differently. In such a way, we have been led to emphasise the dissimilarities rather than similarities.

         DOWN TO FOUR ELEMENTS

         The other day, Dr. Sein Shwe was asking me about the four elements (maha-bhuta). The four elements are earth, water, fire and wind. Solid or rigid element is called the earth element (pathavi-dhatu). The bone is hard. This is the earth or hard element. I am moving my hand now. The ability to move or stretch is the wind element (vayo). This includes walking as well. It is an element that makes mobility possible. We do not see anything in common between the earth and us. Although the earth has all these four elements, significantly prominent among them is the earth element, which is hard in nature. In the sea, the water element (apo) is prominent, but the other elements are still there. We have all of this element of cohesion that binds different parts of our body together. After sitting and meditating, we become hungry and it burns inside. That is the heat element (tejo) that is present. The body is made up of these four elements. You feel the hard element when you sit on the floor. It is hard because the earth element is so prominent. When you go out, you feel cold because of the weather. We do not usually consider that these four elements are with us. Although we see, non-sentient materials of being worth little, we do not, however, usually see our body, which also consists of the same four elements in the same way. We always see it as being worth more. Even between sentient beings, we say that my four elements are more beautiful than yours!

         So we are now going to reflect on the different pans of our body for twenty minutes and follow it with vipassana meditation for fifteen minutes. Or if you prefer, you can do vipassana meditation first and then do the reflection on the different parts of the body for twenty minutes afterwards.

         While contemplating of these many parts of the body, if any sensation or thought arises so prominently, you may observe it as a secondary object and return to the part where you stopped. Should you feel repulsion, fear or disgust, bring in mindfulness to pay bare attention to the feelings before continuing with contemplation on the body again. Vipassana and this meditation technique are supportive to each other.

CHAPTER EIGHT

INTENSIVE MINDFULNESS PRACTICE

         WE DISCUSSED BARE ATTENTION the other day. Today we shall be discussing the same thing from a different point of view, which is mindfulness. Mindfulness is something people find it difficult to understand. Mindfulness is a very important factor that needs to be acquired and developed in meditation. It forms not only the basis but also acts as a chief factor along the way in developing other factors such as concentration, effort and wisdom.

         WHAT IS MINDFULNESS

         Mindfulness means different things at different stages. Constant awareness is mindfulness. This is a good description. However, if we do not know what kind of awareness, of what and how, then there is still a lot to experience in order to understand it. We need more explanation, as we have not understood things. Mindfulness will be realised through practice.

         Mindfulness actually means paying bare attention to an object without any preconceived notion, prejudices or valued judgment. It also means being aware of the existence of something in the here and now, and at a later stage, mindfulness is a mental state of flexible and investigative nature.

         Being receptive, being flexible, not reacting but acting, being heedful, being in harmony with oneself, being actively watchful, direct experience of the present object and being at the present moment are some popular description of the functions of mindfulness.

         MINDFULNESS AS AN EXPLORATION

         Mindfulness is a kind of exploration. You will not explore if you know something very well. When you climb the highest mountain, you will expect to discover something you have not seen. You are not certain of what you will find. You expect something uncertain and unfamiliar. You are prepared to face and learn from it. This is exploration.

         You do not expect to see all that is calm and peaceful, settled and easy to cope with. That is not exploration. You want to see what you have not seen and what only a few people can see. That is why you venture off to places like the North Pole or South Pole. And you do see something exciting. When you explore something what you have to do is to observe. You observe what you see, what you hear. Observation is the first step in mindfulness practice.

         Before you learned how to swim well, you would have learnt theoretically how to swim and would have tried a bit; you tried to reach the other side without an instructor — for twenty minutes, thirty minutes or forty minutes. This involves some sort of exploration. Life is the very universe you could explore and become a wiser person. When you close your eyes and try to do intensive mindfulness practice, you set out to explore. Remember at the time you begin, that mindfulness has not been fully established. As a result, observation may not go as far as you expect. Do not be disappointed. Simply put in some effort and try it again.

         TWO KINDS OF MINDFULNESS

         When we do mindfulness meditation, there are two kinds of mindfulness, intensive and general mindfulness. Today, we are doing intensive mindfulness. Tomorrow, I will be talking about general mindfulness.

         MINDFULNESS AS LEARNING TO BE WITH THE UNEXPECTED

         Mindfulness is also about learning to face the unexpected. As human beings, we possess a valuable quality, the mental capacity to think, to learn, to cope with things. But often we are taken by surprise by something we have experienced repeatedly before. Anxiety, agitation, worry, anger etc. are not unknown to us. But we are still taken aback each time they come. I remember the time when I was already a lecturer at the Sasana Mandaing Pali University, Pegu. I got the news from Laikha, Shan State, Burma that a few days previously my father had passed away. It happened just as I was about to administer the eight precepts to my devotee, Daw Yee, who supported my education and ordination in Moulmein. I was sitting on a chair and the lady devotee and her children were sitting in front of me reciting okasa, okasa, and okasa in Burmese. My friend turned up immediately with a message he received from a telephone call fro m the University the previous night. My father had died a few days earlier and now my mother and relatives were waiting for me to attend my father's funeral. My mind just went blank. I was shocked to receive the news. I knew that things are impermanent; life is impermanent but I did not expect that it would be my father's life. I did not expect that it would come that time.

         When I reflected upon impermanence, unconsciously I am sure I would have spared my father. So when my father died I could not take it. I did not go ahead with administering the precepts. I could not talk anymore. It was grief that became overwhelming. Grief was not something new to me. I had experienced it before and cannot even remember how many times I had gone through it. But I did not expect such grief would be connected to my father's death. I was in terrible shock. I could not even wait to take the regular ferry to catch up the train in Mottama (Martaban). I hired a boat. But from Moulmein to my hometown Laikha in central Shan State, it took five days. The transport was so inadequate. I just managed to miss the funeral and seven days anniversary. I was experiencing grief for the whole week because I did not expect it to come; it came unexpected. I was not prepared to face the ever-present impermanence law.

         This mindfulness practice is not only about expecting miserable facts of life such as death, but it is about preparation to face the unexpected in day to day life as well. When we do not expect things, it is very difficult to accept them. We are not receptive to it at all. Instead, we keep resisting. Say, we expect everything to be according to the Burmese culture when we go to another country. As we discover different behavior and a different way of life, we get shocked. Sometime we even think they are impolite. We become judgmental, thinking that our culture is superior. This is because we are not receptive to their culture. You are not prepared for difference. You never expect things to be otherwise from what you have known. So when you discover things like that you feel upset because you cannot accept it as it is.

         When we are mindful, not only can we observe what we are seeing, but at the same time we are also prepared to accept what we have not seen before.

         The pain comes, we observe that. That looks alright at the moment. But something we do not expect follows the pain. That is the reactions to it. We keep reacting to the presence of pain because we never dealt with it mindfully before. Like anxiety, agitation, irritation, frustration are there in every body's life, It is a fact common to everybody. But we just cannot accept it as it is. And we keep reacting endlessly. We become impatient and finally just give up meditating.

         With mindfulness, we learn about pain through intensive training like this. As pain comes we just pay bare attention to it and note pain, pain, pain. We register the bare fact without adding any value. Now if any reaction to that comes; maybe frustration or impatient simply pay bare attention to it as well, observe it. We are exploring and observing. Pain has presented itself for observation.

         We may not succeed overnight; we cannot force ourselves not to react. In that circumstance, we are simply observing the reaction. Disappointment is one reaction, getting upset is another reaction, getting discouraged or disheartened is another reaction. Therefore, what we are trying to do is to observe these things. When we observe, we come to see both, the expected and the unexpected. We mainly have to learn how to live with the unexpected one.

         We have had twenty and thirty minute sessions of meditation for two days and we tried a forty-minute session today. I said in the morning that we were going to have a forty-minute session which is to prepare you mentally for that. You will remember that most of you reported that you felt the time was a bit short and you could have gone on longer. This is because you were mentally prepared for forty minutes. We know that if we fly to Bangkok, we have to sit for more than ten hours and yet because we are mentally prepared, we do not complain about it. It is easier to accept when you are mentally prepared. You are more receptive to what is to come.

         This afternoon, you expected to sit for forty minutes but did not expect to sit for over an hour. As we sat more than one hour, you all reported of being restless and impatient for the alarm to ring. You were not prepared for that. Had I asked you if you were going to sit for more than one hour, all of you would have said "No." This is something I know you will resist. If we simply look into our minds, we experience resistance many a time during the day for one or another reason. We could experience resentment and rejection having to sit more than we could. We have to observe resentment or restlessness as well. Your purpose is to act as an observer and an explorer, to collect facts and data for registering. Now you have registered agitation, irritation, frustration, impatience, you have got all the data. They will reveal their nature to you at one point. They come unexpected at work, at home or while driving. This mindfulness practic e is a kind of learning how to live with the unexpected.

         MINDFULNESS AS ACCEPTANCE OF FACTS OF LIFE

         You observe as a traveler who explores the world. You see a lot. Mostly different from what you have seen before. Many people, mostly British, tell me that it was nice to have been in India, in Brazil; although they didn't have running water everywhere, no flushing toilet, no hot water on demand, it was still nice. If things were the same, they would not have spent their money to go there and experience it. Therefore, when they come back they appreciate more the things they have got here in England. Contentment is born in their heart. They have an ability to enjoy the same thing even more. A man from the BBC world service, who is a very experienced journalist, agreed to go to Brazil with an explorer to raise some funds. Later when he returned, he reported the hard time he had had, trying to escape from wild animals, insects, etc. Worse than that, he said, was not having a toilet. When he agreed to go there, he did so because he thought there would be flushing toilets. He was prepared to face those wild animals in the Amazon. However, because he was not prepared for a situation without flushing toilets and running water, it was quite a struggle for him. This is the typical way an ordinary man deals with daily life.

         We do not get everything we expect in life. We may get some thing we do not expect and we learn to deal with this through meditation as well. Vipassana meditation experience is not something different from real life. It very much reflects the reality of life

         DO NOT REJECT IT

         The Buddha said that His way of solving the problem is opposite to what the world thinks is the way to solve the problem. His way of thinking is against the mainstream. If the people said that you have to run away from a problem, the Buddha would say, "You have to face it and accept it." "We can't be bothered with suffering; forget about it," people would say. The Buddha would, however, say, "No, you have to be mindful of it. You have to see it. You have to understand it. You cannot run away from it." It is a totally different way of thinking altogether. However, such acceptance is only possible through constant awareness or strong mindfulness. Otherwise, every time we see it we will keep rejecting it because we are not used to accepting it.

         MINDFULNESS AS LETTING GO

         Sometimes people say, "Just let it go." However, it is not that easy to let things go. You want to let things go, and you try to forget things, but it just does not go away. When my father died, if possible, I wanted to forget everything and tried to behave as if my father was still alive. However, things did not happen that way. Sorrow and grief kept coming. I tried to let them go but it was not possible until I experienced them mindfully.

         You cannot arrange the world in such a way that you will never feel disturbed and upset. You cannot put only nice people and all wonderful things around you. Life does not start in such abstract form. Nor does the world exist in an ideal way either. The world exists the way it is, not the way we imagine it to be. We just have to take it as it is and let go of it.

         Pain is there even when we do not pay attention to it. When we ignore it, we think it will go. We think this is the way to let go. This is a very normal and logical way of thinking habituated in people whose mind is not trained in mindfulness practice. Therefore, you try to forget your toothache by listening to music or trying to engage in any other activity. This will not work. But the Buddha said that the actual way of letting things go is to face it, to be mindful of it, to be aware of its existence. You confront the fact that you have a toothache. Before you accept it, you will not even think of seeing a dentist. When mindfulness is not strong, you cannot let go of pain. You are just confused about what to do with it. So the pain now creates irritation, impatience, frustration and so on, it is an endless frustration because you cannot let things go.

         As the mind becomes contemplative, it gets strong. What happens is that when we observe the pain, there is no more frustration and sometimes even joyous feelings appear. This means you are now letting it go. You are freeing yourself from it. You feel no longer attached to the pain or the part of body where you feel pain. Maybe you are observing the pain objectively as a surgeon rather than as a patient or a relative of the patient. If you do not look at it objectively, you will not be able to help the patient. You will be overwhelmed and overtaken by the suffering the patient is experiencing. So to let things go is something that is possible only through mindfulness. Letting go brings freedom and objectivity.

         MINDFULNESS AS PROTECTION

         Mindfulness is also like a protection. An example here is the cat. When it came in the first day, you felt disturbed. You were not protected from disturbances coming from the cat. However, as you learned how to observe the cat's coming, the noises and its touch, you learn how to live with it. It does not bother you any more. When it comes you just observe the sound and its touch — you are now in harmony with the cat. You are now protected from being disturbed. You free yourself from the cat's disturbances, not necessarily by running away from it nor getting rid of the cat but by accepting its presence and trying to live in harmony with it.

         It can be quite miserable to have to wait for a coach for two hours. Sometimes flights are delayed for one day. You feel agitated and miserable. But when you are mindful of the fact that it is late and you accept it, you will not be feeling agitated. You may be quite happy doing something else and making best use of the time made available to you unexpectedly. Therefore, this is a protection. You are protected by mindfulness. You are safe only when you are mindful. You are safe from agitation and misery. Otherwise you will be reacting and those reactions are dangerous. They harm you physically and mentally. The Buddha said never try to justify your being upset for whatever reason. Being upset is bad. Anger for whatever reason is bad. If someone criticizes you, you are already suffering from the criticism. When you are angry, on top of that suffering you create yet another one. An angry man is not happy. When faced with criticism, if you can remain calm, peaceful and stable, how great that would be. That is possible only when mindfulness is present. There will be no end to our complaints if we are to make a fuss every time we see our weak points or someone else's. The world is established in imperfection. No one is perfect. We have just to live, as it were, with this imperfect world.

         Imperfection is not a reason for being annoyed or upset. It is something we can learn to accept through mindfulness. We can be compassionate to the other party. We can help whenever it is possible. So we do not try to justify our anger, jealousy, envy, gossip or annoyance. They are what we should learn through mindfulness. It can save us from having to complain all the time.

         Britain is a prosperous nation. People are quite well off, but they never stop complaining. The same is true in Japan. People even commit suicide out of frustration. Do you think someone who is complaining is happy? Something is burning inside like a fire. Anger is like a fire. Resentment is like a fire. We should be mindful of the dangers of anger, jealousy, hatred, getting upset, frustration, irritation, agitation and we must not seek to justify them.

         AMATA NIBBANA: MINDFULNESS AND THE IMMORTAL

         To go a bit deeper, mindfulness produces immortality (amatta nibbana). With sustained mindfulness alone, can such immortality be experienced here and now. Immortality we are talking about here is not about permanent life after death. This is quite difficult to understand.

         When mindfulness gets stronger, we come to see more in this physical movement. You lift your feet, but behind that, there is the intention to do so, the intention comes before the movement. There is an intention to speak, then you speak. The intention is there behind everything. Since one cannot perceive intention consciously before any physical or verbal action, one would like to think that one just acts without any intention. This is because one's mind is not contemplative enough to see intention behind it. Intention is the least known meditation object whereas any product of it such as the feet lifting is the best known one. Intention is a mental phenomenon just as other mental reactions like agitation, unhappiness, happiness, joy and getting upset.

         The physical movements that we reflected on yesterday as we meditated on the different parts of the body are physical phenomena. And we come to see later that what really exists is something that we can call physical phenomena and something that can feel like mental phenomena. These two things are real. They exist in reality. What is not there is what we normally create "self identity," called "atta" or "atman".

         In other words, the five aggregates are real. They are there in existence. In Pali, they are called "sakkaya"— something that exists in reality. Nama and rupa, physical and mental phenomena or mind and matter whatever you may call it. What does not exist, is, in reality self-identity. However, it does exist in notion or perception, a perception that is born out of physical and mental phenomena that are real. Perception is something we create in our mind, not necessarily an actual phenomenon. Depending on something that exists in reality, we create something unreal. So wrong perception or belief in the existence of something that does not exist is called sakkaya ditthi. Ditthi means a wrong perception. Literary speaking, Sakkaya is not wrong but Ditthi is.

         When you practice mindfulness that is getting stronger and stronger passing through the learning stage and the controlling stage, reaching the liberating stage, you come to see what really exists and what does not. In a Buddhist philosophical sense, mortality or death means the death of that kind of entity, the entity that we wrongly perceive to exist. The arising and falling, the coming and going of the physical and mental phenomena are not some thing new to us. Scientifically, every twenty-four hours, about a hundred billion cells are replaced, the old by the new ones. Therefore, death occurs every moment. It is not something new and unknown to human beings. Cells are being replaced all the time. Change or impermanence of physical phenomenon is not something we call death or mortality.

         Earlier when you were meditating for more than one hour, you got frustrated. That frustrated mind is no more now. As you are listening to my talk, there is now an attentive mind, paying attention to the Dhamma talk. The frustrated mind has gone and it has been replaced by the attentive mind. At the end of the one-hour session, your frustrated mind was immediately replaced by a relieved mind as soon as I said we would stop here. Therefore, the mind keeps changing as well. A new mind keeps coming and is being born every second. It has been proved scientifically.

         It does not mean that we are not afraid of the change or the going, the passing away of this physical and mental phenomenon, which exists in reality. We are. As a result, there is fear of death, but the death of what? Actually, the deeply rooted fear is that of death of the false identity that we have created in our mind. This is what we call the mortality of the false self-identity. With this identity in existence, you feel hurt, you feel fearful and attached. Once you let it go you are now free from anger, fear and attachment.

         In the last stage of mindfulness when you have accepted that only these two things, mind and matter, are real, there is no more falsely perceived self, then there is nothing to die. The cessation of these physical and mental phenomena is taking place here and now; since the time we were in the womb. Unless they keep changing, we would not be growing or getting old. So when we say Nibbana is immortal, it means mindfulness is never broken and we are constantly aware what is there in reality. The Buddha from the age of thirty-five to the age of eighty was constantly aware of what truly exists. No false identity was created in His mind any more. Consequently, there was nothing to die, hence immortality.

         THE CONDITIONING AND THE CONDITIONED

         Let us talk a bit about the conditioning and the conditioned, which we talked about in the morning. What do we mean by conditioning and conditioned?

         Life is a process. It is not a single entity existing throughout for forty, fifty, seventy or eighty years. It is a dynamic process with change taking place momentarily. Just take one process from your meditation experience as an example. The pain is there. The pain arises basically because we have these physical and mental phenomena, of which we are composed. If you are composed in this way, with mind and matter, how can you run away from pain? The pain is there all the time. The question is whether you perceive it or not. When the pain arises, you normally start reacting to it. You become agitated. But you are not mindful of agitation. The agitation is there. As the pain becomes unbearable, frustration is born. First, there is impatience and then frustration. Pain, agitation, impatience, frustration and now maybe also disappointment — look at them as a part of a process, that are related to one another as cause and ef fect. Now you have things operating in a series. The pain has produced the agitation. Therefore, the pain is conditioning the agitation. Agitation has been conditioned by the pain. The pain is the immediate cause for the agitation and the agitation is the immediate effect of the pain. The conditioning is the cause and the conditioned is the result. The cause that is conditioning is called in Pali sankhara. Grammatically, it is a subjective case. The conditioned has been created. It is the objective case. In Pali it is called sankhata.

         When mindfulness is progressing satisfactorily, the pain no longer gives rise to agitation. The pain stops being a conditioning factor and consequently the result is not born. Momentary rebirth ceases at least temporarily.

         MINDFULNESS AND SAMSARA, THE CIRCLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

         Pain experienced in meditation itself is a good illustration of how samsara the circle of suffering begins and operates. Pain, impatience, frustration and agitation come in a series that makes a cycle, with the immediate predecessor factor serving as a direct cause. Something that was earlier the conditioned becomes the cause or the conditioning. Agitation is born out of frustration, and agitation is the effect, the conditioned. This is how change is taking place here and now, from effect to cause. You become a father from first being a son. It goes on and on. If you have only one, or even two factors, you do not call it a cycle. Something that has been produced continues to produce. That is an endless process of cause and effect. What we call samsara means this very cycle of cause and effect.

         We have discussed that when the mind lacks constant awareness, any pain can create agitation and frustration. Contrarily, if sufficient mindfulness is present, the pain will stop producing agitation and frustration. Accordingly, there is no such thing as the conditioned thing simply the pain is not producing anything. Since it is not producing anything, you cannot say any more that the pain is the cause. The process of cause and effect is broken in this way. Other consequences like impatience, frustration, agitation, stress, depression, low-esteem and other negative emotions will also stop from becoming. The process stops by itself, as there is no cause to bring it into existence. If they are not conditioned to become, they will definitely cease to be there to condition others at the same time.

         This process is weakened, broken and ultimately cut off by constant awareness, constant mindfulness. That is why mindfulness practice is called one that is geared towards asankhata — the unconditioned. The mind still works, it does even a more wonderful job. But it is not conditioned any more. There is no disturbance to it. It can now function more effectively without being motivated by any prejudices or emotions. It is a lotus mind, similar to the existence of a lotus flower that retains its root in the muddy water, nevertheless, remains above the mud and water.

         This life, composed of a unit called psychophysical has been conditioned by the past kamma. It is the conditioned. However, if it does not produce another effect, in other words, if this so-called the conditioned does not become the conditioning, then the process of going round the cycle is stopped. This can be achieved in this life. Amata Nibbana is realised only at the present moment.

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