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+ | <div navi> | ||
+ | <div center round todo 60%> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== Steps Along the Path ====== | ||
+ | <span hide> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Summary: | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div #h_meta> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div navigation></ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Preface ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The little book you are now holding in your hand grew from the faith and conviction of a Westerner of Jewish extraction, named Dr. Philip, who came to study Buddhism in Thailand in 1963, when I was staying on Phuket Island. He practiced meditation with me for a full six months and seemed to develop not only peace of mind but also a great appreciation for Buddhism' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought has occurred to me that this little book might be of use to those who are interested in practicing meditation, as it is small, easy to carry and read through quickly without taxing the brain. So I have edited it, polishing the style and adding more points — in particular, [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | If anything written here deviates from the truth, I ask for all the responsibility to be placed on me alone, as I still lack experience in terms of education, practice, writing skills, and knowledge of many fields. If knowledgeable people should come across this book, I would be very grateful if they would correct and enlighten me. | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 1. ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | A basic tenet of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 2. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In order to do away with unawareness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As long as your precepts aren't being kept pure, your mind isn't yet ready for training. Even if it is trained, its training won't lead to progress and development in the Dhamma, for its foundations aren't yet firm enough to advance along the Noble Path — and we can say that it hasn't yet reached the refuge of the Triple Gem // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Noble Eightfold Path and the three teachings at the heart of Buddhism — the avoidance of all evil, the perfection of skillfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The next step is to train the mind to develop concentration // | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 3. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | For Buddhism, the true aim in developing concentration and absorption is to gather one's mental energies and make them steady and strong in a single point. This then forms the basis for the knowledge and discernment capable of gaining true insight into all conditions of nature and eliminating all that is detrimental and defiling from the heart. Thus, stillness of mind is developed not simply for other, external purposes, such as the various fields of science. Instead, it's meant specifically for use in cleansing the heart of such defilements as the five Hindrances // | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 4. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In training the mind — which is a mental phenomenon — material objects such as chains and leashes are of no use. The mind has to be trained by tutoring it, first by listening to the explanations of those who are already skilled, and then by being determined to practice in line with those explanations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | By and large, people who start out by exploring cause and effect on their own don't reach their desired goal because they lack the proper approach. They miss the true path, tending instead to be biased in favor of their own opinions. To develop first a sense of trust in the individual giving the training and in the practices in which one is being trained until the mind is firm and unwavering, and //then// to begin exploring and figuring things out, in line with the way they really are: This is what will give satisfactory results. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is because any beginning exploration of cause and effect is usually a matter of looking at things from the outside, following external influences — i.e., "This person says that... That person says this." But to investigate and explore cause and effect exclusively within the bounds of the body — i.e., "What is this body of mine made of? How does it come about so that its parts are complete and able to perform their functions well? What is it to be used for? What keeps it going? Is its fate to develop or to deteriorate? | ||
+ | |||
+ | But if your stillness of mind isn't yet strong enough, don't go reasoning in line with the books you may have read or the things you may have heard other people say, because even though you may think things through, it won't lead you to the truth. In other words, it won't lead you to a sense of dispassion and detachment. So instead, explore and investigate things in line with the causes and effects that actually arise from the mind in the present. | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 5. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The mind investigating and figuring things out in line with its own personal reasonings in this way will tend to focus exclusively on examining a single spot in a single object. This is called one-pointed concentration. This is a gathering of the mind's energies so that they have great strength, able to uproot attachments — mistaken assumptions — and to cleanse the mind so that it is, for the moment, bright and clear. At the very least, you will experience peace — an extreme sense of well-being in body and mind — and perhaps knowledge of one sort or another: knowledge of a strange and striking sort, for it arises, not from mental imaginings, but from the causes and effects of the truth acting in the present, in a way that has never happened before. Even if it is knowledge of something you may have suspected all along, only now is it your own, making your mind bright, driving away all doubt and uncertainty about matters that may have been occupying your thoughts. You will say to yourself with a sense of deep satisfaction and relief, "So // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Those whose sensitivities are dull, though, won't be convinced and delighted with their knowledge until someone else confirms it or they see teachings of the Buddha in books bearing witness to what they have learned. This is in line with the fact that the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | This type of knowledge — no matter how much or how wide-ranging it is — won't weigh on your nerves. On the contrary, it's a form of calm and true well-being that will greatly brighten and refresh your nerves. At the same time, it will refine your mind and manners in a way that will be very inspiring to others. Whatever you say or do, you will do mindfully, with hardly any careless lapses. Once this happens to you, you should then try to maintain all these traits and not grow careless or complacent. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are all individual matters and won't occur in every case. But at any rate, when you have trained the mind as explained above, even if you don't gain the results in full measure, you will still experience a striking sense of peace and well-being in proportion to the extent of your own individual practice. You should then try to maintain this mental state. Don't let feelings of greed or desire, disappointment or dejection arise. Keep the mind neutral and continue practicing as I have explained from the beginning, with a sense of trust and conviction. Be mindful, careful, and observant at every stage of your practice, and you will then meet with the results you hope for. | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 6. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | If training the mind in line with points [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | So it is with the mind. If a new trainee doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In focusing, examine the object in line with the principles of the foundations of mindfulness // | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are two ways of doing the focused examination that prompts this realization: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | **a.** When focused exclusively on the target, don't give any thought to what the target is or who is focusing. Let there simply be awareness and the act of focusing. Don't let there be any naming or labeling of anything at all. There will simply be the single sensation that makes you feel that you are sticking with the target, but don't think about what the target is. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **b.** When focused exclusively on the target, at the same time keep yourself aware that, "This is the target of the mind. This is the mind examining. This is mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Both methods work, although method (a) is suited for beginners and those whose sensitivities are not yet developed, while method (b) is suited for those who are sensitive and experienced. Both methods, though, if you practice them diligently, give rise to the same results, namely concentration and discernment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 7. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In training the mind as explained above, no matter which method you choose, please don't let yourself wonder about whether or not you're going to attain concentration and discernment. And put aside all desires based on the various rumors and reports that get passed around by word of mouth. Just follow correctly the method mentioned in [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the same time, observe the approach you've taken to see how you brought the mind to the object, how you maintained mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In observing how the mind behaves under training, some people will be able to observe their state of mind while the mind is still in that state; others, only after the mind has withdrawn from that state and stopped still for a moment. Both ways work. They are simply a matter of individual temperament. But if you don't use your powers of observation at all, progress in mental training will be hard to achieve and — even if you do happen to achieve it — hard to maintain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 8. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | While you are training the mind, one thing — strange and striking — may occur without your intending it. That is, the mind will withdraw from its external objects and gather into a single whole, letting go of all labels and attachments dealing with past or future. There will be just bare awareness paired with its preoccupation in the present. This is something with no sense of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the mind coming to its own level: the // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Reaching this state is somewhat like dozing off and dreaming. The difference depends on how much alertness there is. Those who are collected and perceptive will — when the event first occurs — be aware of what is happening and what they are experiencing, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 9. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The phenomenon discussed in [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Incidentally, | ||
+ | |||
+ | To be perfectly truthful, when it comes to the question of visions and signs that arise in the course of meditation, you can say that they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for people who aren't especially mindful or alert — and who are gullible to boot — when a vision arises they will get extremely excited and may even become so deluded as to lose touch with reality because they believe the vision to something real and true. (I will discuss how to deal with visions and signs in [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition, people who have trained their minds to this stage are usually stubborn and bull-headed in their opinions, due to their strength of mind. When they think about something, they tend to see it from one side only. They won't easily give any heed to the opinions of others, because they believe that their own opinions are perfectly reasonable and trustworthy — even though their opinions are actually self-serving and very much lacking in reason, and can easily pervert the way they see things. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But at any rate, whether or not visions and signs arise, they' | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 10. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | When you have trained the mind to be firmly enough established in absorption and concentration to suppress the five Hindrances, then you should work at developing clear insight. Actually, clear insight may arise at the same time you are working on tranquillity. In other words, discernment may brighten so as to know and see clearly the truth that all conditioned things // | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this sort of knowledge arises, it will make the mind become disenchanted and dispassionate towards to all conditioned things. The mind will dwell entirely in a state of matured and chastened dispassion, no matter what it sees or hears, and no matter where. This is called clear insight occurring together with tranquillity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If, however, insight doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When you examine things in this way, using the power of a fully concentrated mind, you will reach the goal of the mind's training. The light of discernment will arise, complete with the insight into cause and effect you have discovered totally on your own. This is something that arises not from appropriating labels or theories remembered from other people, but from realizing the causes and effects entirely within your own heart. The mind will never again be deluded into becoming attached, passionate, pleased, or displeased with any conditioned thing at all. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Incidentally, | ||
+ | |||
+ | To summarize: The purification of our words and deeds has to begin with training in moral virtue. The purification of the mind has to begin with training in tranquillity — concentration and absorption — until the mind has enough strength to suppress the five Hindrances. When the mind is adept at concentration and absorption, able to enter, withdraw, and stay in place at will, then discernment — the light of knowledge seeing into the truth of all natural conditions //(sabhava dhamma),// together with the causes for their arising and passing away — will arise in a remarkable way. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This sort of knowledge may arise only to certain individuals in certain circumstances. But in any case, those who have trained their minds to this level should realize that a mind that has reached this point is fit to be trained to give rise to clear insight. They should thus take any aspect of the body or any mental phenomenon that occupies their thoughts, and examine it from the standpoint of the Three Characteristics, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though the mind is intangible, it has influence over the body and all things in the world. It is capable of bringing everything in the world under its power. Still, it isn't so vicious or savage as to lack all sense of good and evil. When a person of good intentions trains the mind to enter correctly into the path of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is because the true substance of the mind has been, from the very beginning, something bright and clear. But because of the preoccupations that have seeped into it and clouded it, the brightness of the mind has been temporarily darkened, making the world dark as well. If the mind were originally dark, there probably wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | //So whether the world is to be dark or bright, whether it is to experience well-being or suffering, depends on the mind of each individual.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== 11. ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The visions and signs that arise from the practice of meditation are a strange and uncanny affair. They may delude a gullible person of weak judgment into being so convinced of their truth as to lose touch with reality. For this reason, those who practice meditation should be cautious, examining and reflecting on them carefully, as I will now explain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The signs arising from meditation are of two sorts: visions and signs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | **a.** Visions: Sometimes, when the mind gathers itself into its own level while we are considering our own body to see its unattractiveness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In other cases, visions of divine beings or of hell and hungry shades may sometimes appear. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **b.** As for signs: When the mind gathers, as already mentioned, a whispering voice may appear. It may be the voice of a person we respect, telling us to examine a particular truth, or to beware of a coming event; or else it may be the voice of an enemy who means to harm us, appearing to us just before he/she will come to do us harm — which shows how the mental currents of different individuals impinge on one another. On the other hand, the same sort of thing may occur involving a person who means us well. Sometimes an unidentified voice may come to tell a truth that's thought-provoking and worthy of consideration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | It's not the case that visions and signs will occur to all meditators. With some people, no matter how refined a level their minds attain, visions and signs won't appear. With others, the mind may gather in a flash for a brief moment, and all sorts of visions and signs will appear. (Be careful not to concoct too many, though.) This depends on the individual' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ? Question: | ||
+ | :: Are visions and signs true? | ||
+ | ? Answer: | ||
+ | :: Sometimes yes and sometimes no, because they arise exclusively from //jhana,// and //jhana// is a mundane phenomenon — and thus undependable. That is to say, they arise to a person practicing meditation whose mind gathers into the // | ||
+ | ? Question: | ||
+ | :: Is //jhana// mundane or transcendent? | ||
+ | ? Answer: | ||
+ | :: //Jhana// has only twelve or thirteen component factors, and they are entirely mundane. But if the person entering //jhana// is a Noble One using it as a tool or a dwelling place for the mind, then he or she will be able to use this mundane //jhana// at will, and dependably as well — like an expert sharpshooter as opposed to a person just learning how to shoot; or like a king, whose sword is part of his regalia, as opposed to a commoner, whose sword is just a sword. | ||
+ | ? Question: | ||
+ | :: Are visions and signs a good thing? | ||
+ | ? Answer: | ||
+ | :: Only for a person who knows how to make use of them in the proper way, without being taken in by them or attached to them. They aren't good for a person who doesn' | ||
+ | :: Visions and signs arise from the power of mundane //jhana// and are sustained by attachment and mental concocting. They thus fall under the Three Characteristics: | ||
+ | :: Also, learn to see the drawbacks of visions and signs. Once they arise and we get fooled into latching onto them, they will cause our //jhana// to deteriorate, | ||
+ | :: The visions and signs that appear to a meditator just beginning to attain //jhana// tend to be extraordinary and amazing. The acts of mental grasping and concocting will tend to fasten tightly to them, and they will be indelibly impressed on one's inner eye. If the above methods for curing and removing these visions and signs don't produce results, then try not to have the mind enter //jhana.// In other words, don't put your mind to it, don't let the mind be still, don't take a liking to the visions or signs. Sleep and eat as much as you like, perform heavy tasks until the body is very tired, think of objects that will give rise to defilements, | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | </dl> | ||
+ | |||
+ | If the student meditator can't solve the problem with these methods, then the teacher should try to help by using the same sort of approach. The quickest and most effective way is to find an issue that will provoke the person attached to visions and signs to extreme anger. The visions and signs will immediately disappear. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The basis for giving rise to knowledge into the Dhamma is threshold concentration //(upacara samadhi),// which is of two sorts: | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | **a.** As a meditator is working with a particular object of meditation, the mind will gradually withdraw from external preoccupations and gather into one spot, right at the mind itself, but without being completely cut off from all objects. It is still sensing, thinking, and considering, | ||
+ | |||
+ | **b.** The mind becomes more and more refined until it is able to let go and withdraw from the object it is considering, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Both sorts of threshold concentration can form a good basis for insight into particular truths and various events, which is different from the knowledge arising from the visions and signs mentioned above, because visions and signs arise from mundane //jhana,// whereas the knowledge we are discussing here, even though it arises from mundane concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In short, the knowledge arising from visions and signs, and the knowledge arising from threshold concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | An item deserving a little more explanation here is the term fixed penetration //(appana samadhi).// Fixed penetration is a superior human attainment. By and large, people who reach fixed penetration tend to focus on the in-and-out breath // | ||
+ | |||
+ | When you're in this state you can't examine anything, because the mind is totally uninvolved with anything at all. Only when the mind comes out of this state and enters threshold concentration can you begin examining things again. You will then see clearly into all the truths that the Buddha said are to be known, and into other matters as well. There will be no visions and signs, as mentioned above, but the knowledge here will be based on cause and effect, complete with analogies and similes that will utterly erase all doubt. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In some cases, meditators will be considering objects of meditation other than the in-and-out breath, and yet will still be able to reach fixed penetration in the same way as those who practice mindfulness of breathing. When the mind gathers to a point where there is no more in-and-out breathing, that's fixed penetration. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This, at any rate, is my opinion on the matter. Meditators shouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Parting Thoughts ===== | ||
+ | <div anecdote> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | All transcendent phenomena are rooted in mundane phenomena. The 37 Wings to Awakening // | ||
+ | |||
+ | Visions, signs, and the knowledge resulting from //jhana// are obstacles to the one-eyed — those who are simply developing //jhana —// but can provoke insight for those with two eyes, i.e., those who are developing discernment along with concentration. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Every sword and ax is made with both a sharp and a dull edge, each with its own different uses, but a person who confuses those uses, aside from getting nowhere with the sword or ax, may actually harm himself or the work he is doing. Insight and the defilements of insight come from one and the same basis. When people without discernment consider things wrongly, they will give rise to the defilements of insight; but when they consider things rightly, using the proper approach, the same things will become true insight. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mundane phenomena — when we clearly see and know them and their causes for what they are, and when seeing their drawbacks we grow disenchanted with them, not being deluded into latching onto them — then turn into Dhamma. But when we get taken in by them and are unwilling to let them go... It's not the case that the world will stay the way it is forever. The world of the Brahmas may degenerate into the world of the Devas; the world of the Devas, into the human world; the human world, into the lower realms. Just as liquids tend to seek out low-lying places, so it is easy for the minds of living beings to seek out what's low — namely, evil. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even though the practice of meditation is a self-revolution, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Glossary ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <dl class=' | ||
+ | ? Abhiñña: | ||
+ | :: Intuitive powers that come from the practice of concentration. | ||
+ | ? Asava: | ||
+ | :: Mental effluent; fermentation; | ||
+ | ? Bhavanga: | ||
+ | :: The mind's underlying preoccupation or resting state, which determines its state of being and to which it reverts in between its responses to stimuli. | ||
+ | ? Bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma: | ||
+ | :: "Wings to Awakening"; | ||
+ | ? Brahma: | ||
+ | :: An inhabitant of the heavens of form and formlessness. | ||
+ | ? Deva: | ||
+ | :: An inhabitant of the heavens of sensual bliss. | ||
+ | ? Dhamma: | ||
+ | :: Phenomenon; event; things as they are in and of themselves; the right natural order of things. By extension, Dhamma is used also to refer to any doctrine that teaches such matters. | ||
+ | ? Jhana: | ||
+ | :: Meditative absorption in a single sensation or mental notion. | ||
+ | ? Kamma: | ||
+ | :: Intentional acts leading to states of becoming and birth. | ||
+ | ? Khandha: | ||
+ | :: Heap, aggregate, group; the component factors of the personality, | ||
+ | ? Nivarana: | ||
+ | :: Hindrance to concentration — sensual desire, ill will, torpor & lethargy, restlessness & anxiety, and uncertainty. | ||
+ | ? Sabhava dhamma: | ||
+ | :: Natural condition; phenomenon; qualities and events as they are directly experienced in and of themselves. | ||
+ | ? Samadhi: | ||
+ | :: Concentration; | ||
+ | ? Sankhara: | ||
+ | :: Conditioned phenomenon; fabrication; | ||
+ | ? Satipatthana: | ||
+ | :: Foundation of mindfulness; | ||
+ | ? Ti-ratana: | ||
+ | :: The triple Gem — the Buddha, the Dhamma (his teachings, their practice and the realization of liberation at which they are aimed), and the Sangha (those of his followers who have gained at least a glimpse of that liberation). To take refuge in the Triple Gem means to take them as guide in one's pursuit of happiness and to give rise to their qualities in one's life and heart. | ||
+ | ? Vipassana: | ||
+ | :: Clear insight into things as they actually are, seeing them in terms of the characteristics of inconstancy, | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
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+ | ---- | ||
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