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Objectives for week 5:
- To consider how one can become conscious of one’s own mindscape through the example of the practice of mindfulness meditation;
- To reflect on impermanence, detachment and compassion as consequences of the practice of mindfulness;
- To reflect on the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and on the Eightfold Path.
Observing the Mindscape
Our mind is usually swimming in a sea of objects of consciousness, and is not aware of how it is influenced by thoughts, emotions, desires and beliefs. In past weeks, we began to consider the implications of Laozi’s “uncarved block” – what if all the concepts, meanings and objects of consciousness that clutter and carve up our mind and our life, actually cover up a deeper and more profound meaning, our “true self”? By imagining death, we wondered what if we literally lost all of those things, leaving only our deepest essence? Then how can we break through the encrusted layers of ideas and thoughts, and thus to gain insight on our true self and learn to take care of it?
In previous weeks, we considered William James' idea of objects of consciousness, which include not only our consciousness of concrete things, but also abstract qualities, meanings, ideas and concepts. All of these things fill up our mindscape, and are just as "real" in our lives as the outside world. Although we spend most of our time learning about the outside world and how to change small parts of it, most of us know very little about our own inner mindscape, and even less about how to change it for the better. One of the main concerns of religion is to transform our mindscape -- to align it with what it describes as the invisible structure of the cosmos, and to populate our mindscape with experiences, concepts, symbols and beings that aim to connect us with the deeper meanings and powers of the cosmos.
And by transforming the mindscape, it aims to transform the way we act in the world and change it. For most people, this is an unconscious process – we gradually absorb cultural or religious elements into our mindscape through imitation, enculturation and immersion in social environments, practices and teachings. But there also exist, in many religious traditions, practices and techniques that aim to lead us to become consciously aware of our thoughts, to purify ourselves of unhealthy thoughts and ideas, to become aware of deeper truths about oneself and about reality, and to construct what I would call a new mindscape.
Some of these practices are nowadays called "meditation". “Meditation” is widespread in several religious traditions and it is becoming increasingly popular. The word “meditation” has many meanings. At a basic level, meditation means to think and to spend time thinking deeply about something; to meditate on a passage, an idea; or to read something and to reflect about it. All of these activities mean “to meditate” at one level.
And there is another, more technical meaning of “meditation” which is now often used in English. This refers to disciplines to train the activity of the mind. This is what is called in Chinese, dazuo (打坐), jingzuo (靜坐) or liangong (練功). There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different techniques of meditation. But they are all concerned with training the mind and/or the body; cleaning the mindscape; or constructing a spiritual mindscape. How do your train your mind?
Now, because meditation is an enactive form of training and exercise, it’s hard to talk about it. It’s like sports. You can’t say that you understand sports if you have only read about sports, or watched a football game once and a couple of swimming matches. You experience the reality of football quite differently if you are playing the game, rather than just talking about it. Even if you’ve played only a few times, you will have a much greater insight on the game than if you’ve never played – but even then, how can that compare to someone who trains regularly? Can you imagine someone saying, “Oh! I just practiced sports for the first time. I did sports for ten minutes the other day. And now I know what sports is. Sports is very good for me.” Or what if someone said, “I tried sports for ten minutes and it doesn’t work.” First of all, there are so many different “sports”. The realities of swimming, football or wrestling are quite different from each other. And secondly, any kind of sport requires a lot of training. Our mind is the same. The mind has many different functions and powers; likewise, there are many different methods that train different aspects of our mind and consciousness.
For example, an important foundation for many meditation techniques involves training the breath. At first this is actually very hard, like any sport. It is something that you train and learn to exercise. But after a long time of practice, it becomes quite natural and easy. At that point, you can easily enter a state of stillness and tranquillity (rujing入靜), after only a few seconds if you are well trained. But it’s impossible if you have not trained. Actually, none of these meditation techniques can work without training. If your breath is not trained, it’s difficult to enter a state of deep relaxation.
There are many different types of meditation. One type, called visualisation, involves consciously creating objects of consciousness and relating to them. Another type of meditation is called "mindfulness", which involves observing, moment by moment, the ideas, feelings and mental states that come and go from our consciousness. It entails, in effect, to stand back and watch what is going on in our mindscape. Usually, our consciousness is completely captured by whatever comes to our mind at any particular moment -- we are controlled by our feelings, perceptions and ideas, without even being aware of it. Mindfulness meditation involves observing the mindscape with detachment -- becoming aware of thoughts and feelings as they arise, then letting them go, without becoming attached to them or fighting against them.
Suppose I am a scientist engaging in the observation of the world or the components of the material world outside of me, that involves a certain distance and detachment from the object observed in order to be able to observe it objectively and completely. Usually, we cannot observe what is going on in our minds, because we are like fish swimming in water. Our minds are thinking all the time, always running around, wandering and jumping here and there. It is hard for the mind to focus on anything. How can we possibly be conscious of these things that happen inside our own minds, because our consciousness is part of our minds? It is, in a sense, virtually impossible to engage in a detached observation of our minds. At the same time, we see the world with our minds – which are cluttered with so many different ideas, things, objects of consciousness. All these things are affecting our understanding of the world, as if we were wearing spectacles on which many different things have been painted, so that we cannot have a clear vision of anything in the world.
In mindfulness meditation, the purpose is to put yourself into a situation of observing everything that pops up in your mind – in a sense, to see what happens in your mindscape, and to see it with detachment. You can see these things coming and going. Through this kind of practice, gradually, the consciousness of your mindscape becomes more and more clear. And as a result of that, the consciousness of other things also becomes clearer.
A basic technique of mindfulness is to be aware of our perceptions, emotions and feelings, by naming them as soon as they appear to our consciousness. This can be done sitting, standing or even walking, which is exactly the method that the Buddhist monk walking in the streets of Tokyo is practicing in the film Baraka. Just name each thought or feeling quietly to yourself, as soon as it pops up. Why should we name the object of consciousness as soon as it appears? The purpose is to make you detached from it, because when something comes to your mind, it controls your mind completely. For example, when you think of a new iPhone, at that moment that thought dominates your mind. But by naming the thought, you step back from it. You say, “That is a thought of an iPhone.” By naming it, you detach yourself from it. And it becomes separate from you. You focus on it and become aware of the reality of it – by naming it, then it becomes separate from you, and then you let it go.
The following set of videos by the monk Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu, provide some simple instructions on mindfulness meditation as well as some basic guiding principles. He states that meditation is about more than attaining a peaceful state of mind. Just as medication (medicine) aims to cure the sicknesses of the body, meditation aims to cure the sicknesses of the mind: states of stress, worry, anger, addiction, delusion, conceit, arrogance, worry and fear… These, he says, are “unnatural states of being”. By becoming aware of these states through mindfulness, they gradually lose their grip on our consciousness, and fade away. Meditation thus brings the body back to its natural state of clarity, peace and happiness. The monk explains that mindfulness is to have “clear thoughts”: “To clearly experience a phenomenon as it arises, to know it clearly, to see it for what it is, and to not be addicted, attached, or upset, or adverse to it. So simply know it and to experience it for what it is.” Please watch these three videos, each of which is about 10 minutes long. And, after you watch them, I’d like you to try out the technique yourself. Find a quiet time and place, and just give it a try.[1]
In previous weeks, we considered William James' idea of objects of consciousness, which include not only our consciousness of concrete things, but also abstract qualities, meanings, ideas and concepts. All of these things fill up our mindscape, and are just as "real" in our lives as the outside world. Although we spend most of our time learning about the outside world and how to change small parts of it, most of us know very little about our own inner mindscape, and even less about how to change it for the better. One of the main concerns of religion is to transform our mindscape -- to align it with what it describes as the invisible structure of the cosmos, and to populate our mindscape with experiences, concepts, symbols and beings that aim to connect us with the deeper meanings and powers of the cosmos.
And by transforming the mindscape, it aims to transform the way we act in the world and change it. For most people, this is an unconscious process – we gradually absorb cultural or religious elements into our mindscape through imitation, enculturation and immersion in social environments, practices and teachings. But there also exist, in many religious traditions, practices and techniques that aim to lead us to become consciously aware of our thoughts, to purify ourselves of unhealthy thoughts and ideas, to become aware of deeper truths about oneself and about reality, and to construct what I would call a new mindscape.
Some of these practices are nowadays called "meditation". “Meditation” is widespread in several religious traditions and it is becoming increasingly popular. The word “meditation” has many meanings. At a basic level, meditation means to think and to spend time thinking deeply about something; to meditate on a passage, an idea; or to read something and to reflect about it. All of these activities mean “to meditate” at one level.
And there is another, more technical meaning of “meditation” which is now often used in English. This refers to disciplines to train the activity of the mind. This is what is called in Chinese, dazuo (打坐), jingzuo (靜坐) or liangong (練功). There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different techniques of meditation. But they are all concerned with training the mind and/or the body; cleaning the mindscape; or constructing a spiritual mindscape. How do your train your mind?
Now, because meditation is an enactive form of training and exercise, it’s hard to talk about it. It’s like sports. You can’t say that you understand sports if you have only read about sports, or watched a football game once and a couple of swimming matches. You experience the reality of football quite differently if you are playing the game, rather than just talking about it. Even if you’ve played only a few times, you will have a much greater insight on the game than if you’ve never played – but even then, how can that compare to someone who trains regularly? Can you imagine someone saying, “Oh! I just practiced sports for the first time. I did sports for ten minutes the other day. And now I know what sports is. Sports is very good for me.” Or what if someone said, “I tried sports for ten minutes and it doesn’t work.” First of all, there are so many different “sports”. The realities of swimming, football or wrestling are quite different from each other. And secondly, any kind of sport requires a lot of training. Our mind is the same. The mind has many different functions and powers; likewise, there are many different methods that train different aspects of our mind and consciousness.
For example, an important foundation for many meditation techniques involves training the breath. At first this is actually very hard, like any sport. It is something that you train and learn to exercise. But after a long time of practice, it becomes quite natural and easy. At that point, you can easily enter a state of stillness and tranquillity (rujing入靜), after only a few seconds if you are well trained. But it’s impossible if you have not trained. Actually, none of these meditation techniques can work without training. If your breath is not trained, it’s difficult to enter a state of deep relaxation.
There are many different types of meditation. One type, called visualisation, involves consciously creating objects of consciousness and relating to them. Another type of meditation is called "mindfulness", which involves observing, moment by moment, the ideas, feelings and mental states that come and go from our consciousness. It entails, in effect, to stand back and watch what is going on in our mindscape. Usually, our consciousness is completely captured by whatever comes to our mind at any particular moment -- we are controlled by our feelings, perceptions and ideas, without even being aware of it. Mindfulness meditation involves observing the mindscape with detachment -- becoming aware of thoughts and feelings as they arise, then letting them go, without becoming attached to them or fighting against them.
Suppose I am a scientist engaging in the observation of the world or the components of the material world outside of me, that involves a certain distance and detachment from the object observed in order to be able to observe it objectively and completely. Usually, we cannot observe what is going on in our minds, because we are like fish swimming in water. Our minds are thinking all the time, always running around, wandering and jumping here and there. It is hard for the mind to focus on anything. How can we possibly be conscious of these things that happen inside our own minds, because our consciousness is part of our minds? It is, in a sense, virtually impossible to engage in a detached observation of our minds. At the same time, we see the world with our minds – which are cluttered with so many different ideas, things, objects of consciousness. All these things are affecting our understanding of the world, as if we were wearing spectacles on which many different things have been painted, so that we cannot have a clear vision of anything in the world.
In mindfulness meditation, the purpose is to put yourself into a situation of observing everything that pops up in your mind – in a sense, to see what happens in your mindscape, and to see it with detachment. You can see these things coming and going. Through this kind of practice, gradually, the consciousness of your mindscape becomes more and more clear. And as a result of that, the consciousness of other things also becomes clearer.
A basic technique of mindfulness is to be aware of our perceptions, emotions and feelings, by naming them as soon as they appear to our consciousness. This can be done sitting, standing or even walking, which is exactly the method that the Buddhist monk walking in the streets of Tokyo is practicing in the film Baraka. Just name each thought or feeling quietly to yourself, as soon as it pops up. Why should we name the object of consciousness as soon as it appears? The purpose is to make you detached from it, because when something comes to your mind, it controls your mind completely. For example, when you think of a new iPhone, at that moment that thought dominates your mind. But by naming the thought, you step back from it. You say, “That is a thought of an iPhone.” By naming it, you detach yourself from it. And it becomes separate from you. You focus on it and become aware of the reality of it – by naming it, then it becomes separate from you, and then you let it go.
The following set of videos by the monk Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu, provide some simple instructions on mindfulness meditation as well as some basic guiding principles. He states that meditation is about more than attaining a peaceful state of mind. Just as medication (medicine) aims to cure the sicknesses of the body, meditation aims to cure the sicknesses of the mind: states of stress, worry, anger, addiction, delusion, conceit, arrogance, worry and fear… These, he says, are “unnatural states of being”. By becoming aware of these states through mindfulness, they gradually lose their grip on our consciousness, and fade away. Meditation thus brings the body back to its natural state of clarity, peace and happiness. The monk explains that mindfulness is to have “clear thoughts”: “To clearly experience a phenomenon as it arises, to know it clearly, to see it for what it is, and to not be addicted, attached, or upset, or adverse to it. So simply know it and to experience it for what it is.” Please watch these three videos, each of which is about 10 minutes long. And, after you watch them, I’d like you to try out the technique yourself. Find a quiet time and place, and just give it a try.[1]
Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu. How To Meditate I - What Is Meditation, 2009.
Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu. How To Meditate II - Sitting Meditation, 2009.
Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu. Questions on Meditation: What Should We See?, 2009.
When you try meditation, at first, it might actually feel stressful. It is a common idea that the whole point of meditation is to concentrate or to empty the mind. But if you try to do this, you will find out right away that the mind is constantly generating all kinds of ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions and so on. It’s a wild monkey, as many Buddhist texts say. It’s a mess. That is the first thing you will find out. And you will discover that it’s incredibly difficult to calm down the mind. And this will make you get even more stressed! You want to calm down, but new irrelevant ideas come . All these things keep coming to your mind, distracting you, no matter how hard you try.
The purpose of the “naming” method is not to force the mind to calm down, but to let these thoughts come. Let it come; just name it. For instance, I just thought I had to text my friend Komi. So I would say, “Thought of texting Komi,” and then let the thought go. Let it come, and let it go. Let it come, and let it go. Let it come, and let it go. And gradually, the idea will come and go. You name your thought, observe it, see it for what it is, and let it go on. In a way, your mind is like playing a film – these things come and leave. Normally, our thoughts and feelings capture us. But through watching and letting them go, a sense of calm starts to arise, so that we are no longer captured by these thoughts. Then, we become calm spectators or observers of these things. We may still have worries, but we just let them go. So the monk in the video says that as we see, we realise a lot of things about ourselves, because we will see many of our deep emotions or obsessions come up. As we see these thoughts coming and going, we become more aware of ourselves.
At the same time though, we also gain a certain amount of detachment from those thoughts and feelings. When anger comes, you feel the anger, name it, observe it, and let it go. In this way, anger becomes something separate from yourself, as it comes and goes. Where you see that somebody is angry, as the monk says, you realise the same thing is happening to him – anger came into his mind and captured him, just as sometimes, anger comes into your mind and captures you. By doing so, you can understand others better.
According to Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu, the results of this practice are as follows:
The mind becomes calmer, lighter, happier;
We realise things about ourselves and the world around us. We see that there are things in our mind that we could do without, we see why our suffering arises;
We come to understand things, and understand other people. When people get angry at us, we used to think they were evil. Now we understand that they have the same emotions that we have inside ourselves. We understand why people do, say, and think the things they do. We see that they are just like us, and we are just like them;
We become more aware of the world around us, of and the people around us. We become more aware of the things inside of us. We become more able to take things as they go;
We can let go of the evil, unwholesome states which exist in our minds. States of anger, greed, delusion, anxiety, worry, stress, fear, arrogance, conceit – things of no benefit to us or to other people, that create suffering and unhappiness.
In the final videoclip, Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu explains that the meditation practice leads us to see the root causes of suffering: the desire for permanence, for satisfaction, and for control. He talks about three insights about reality, which he says are the ultimate results of practising this kind of meditation. These insights are among the key teachings of Buddhism.
The first, he says, is attachment or the illusion of permanence. We tend to think that all the things that we see and are conscious of, all the things in the world, all things in our minds are stable and permanent. Yet, through this practice, we become aware of their impermanence – everything is just coming and going. Therefore, none of these things will last. This is the first insight that comes from this practice. We all know intellectually that nothing is permanent. However, psychologically, we are still very much attached to the permanence of things. I’m very attached to my iPhone, for instance. I don’t want to lose it for a minute. I’m very attached to my best friends and to my family, and want those relationships to last forever. All these things are deeply important for me. But none of them will last forever.
The second insight is about grasping for satisfaction. In our world, we always strive for satisfaction. We consider that satisfaction comes from something outside us. We seek money, because we think we can buy satisfaction with it, such as buying movie tickets, mobile phones, fashion accessories, bags and makeup, buying holiday resorts packages for relaxation, and so on. We are all always grasping after these things, because we think that this is what brings satisfaction. The insight from this meditation is that such satisfaction is something that is always fleeting and will never last. After a few months, you may get sick of your iPhone, and desire a better one. Your face will age, no matter what you do. That holiday resort may become boring. So you will grasp, grasp and grasp constantly, and feel unhappy when you don’t get it. And you will feel unhappy even if you do get it, because it’s never enough. The reason for this insight is because as we watch our thoughts coming and going, we will become detached even from happy thoughts. So even a feeling of comfort or satisfaction is not something that you would try to prolong. Instead, you should also watch it, observe it, name it and let it go. All these things – the feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, happiness or unhappiness – are never permanent. And we realize that a lot of things we strive for, such as different types of achievements and interests, are not intrinsic to us. They are the result of our following the crowd and internalising what other people consider to be important. We are fooled into wanting to acquire such achievements and passions. But then, we become mindful of them, and we realize that they are not who we truly are.
The final insight is the uncontrollable nature of the world. We ultimately cannot control all these things that come and go. The desire to control is a main cause of suffering and conflict among people, which often culminates in violence and wars. Mindfulness trains us to watch the comings and goings of our feelings, thoughts and mental states, and thus allows us to give up the idea of controlling our thoughts and the things in the world. Gradually, we try less to control our thoughts, and our thoughts control us less. Thus, we become aware of our incapacity to control everything.
These are three insights about reality that come from these practices. When we ultimately realise that these things that we considered so important are impermanent in some ways, it also leads to another question: who are we then, if we are none of those things that appear in our mindscape?
And then, the ultimate insight that comes with these practices is the realisation that you are nothing – but, paradoxically, being nothing, you are infinitely more than all of those thoughts and objects of consciousness. If you let go of them, you may come to a realisation of something so much greater, so much more beautiful, which is described as a deeper wisdom, the light of consciousness, and boundless compassion. These are infinite spiritual qualities. They bring joy and peace to yourself and to others. Thus Abdul’ Baha compared the mind to a mirror. If we clean off the dust and clutter of various ideas, desires and objects of consciousness, the mind becomes a pure mirror that reflects the light of divine qualities. This goes back to what Socrates said about our true self.
All of these insights are expressed in the core teaching of the Buddha, which is commonly called “The Four Noble Truths”. This was his first sermon after his Enlightenment.[2] The truths are:
The truth of suffering (dukkha)
The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)
Let’s consider each of them in order.
The purpose of the “naming” method is not to force the mind to calm down, but to let these thoughts come. Let it come; just name it. For instance, I just thought I had to text my friend Komi. So I would say, “Thought of texting Komi,” and then let the thought go. Let it come, and let it go. Let it come, and let it go. Let it come, and let it go. And gradually, the idea will come and go. You name your thought, observe it, see it for what it is, and let it go on. In a way, your mind is like playing a film – these things come and leave. Normally, our thoughts and feelings capture us. But through watching and letting them go, a sense of calm starts to arise, so that we are no longer captured by these thoughts. Then, we become calm spectators or observers of these things. We may still have worries, but we just let them go. So the monk in the video says that as we see, we realise a lot of things about ourselves, because we will see many of our deep emotions or obsessions come up. As we see these thoughts coming and going, we become more aware of ourselves.
At the same time though, we also gain a certain amount of detachment from those thoughts and feelings. When anger comes, you feel the anger, name it, observe it, and let it go. In this way, anger becomes something separate from yourself, as it comes and goes. Where you see that somebody is angry, as the monk says, you realise the same thing is happening to him – anger came into his mind and captured him, just as sometimes, anger comes into your mind and captures you. By doing so, you can understand others better.
According to Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu, the results of this practice are as follows:
The mind becomes calmer, lighter, happier;
We realise things about ourselves and the world around us. We see that there are things in our mind that we could do without, we see why our suffering arises;
We come to understand things, and understand other people. When people get angry at us, we used to think they were evil. Now we understand that they have the same emotions that we have inside ourselves. We understand why people do, say, and think the things they do. We see that they are just like us, and we are just like them;
We become more aware of the world around us, of and the people around us. We become more aware of the things inside of us. We become more able to take things as they go;
We can let go of the evil, unwholesome states which exist in our minds. States of anger, greed, delusion, anxiety, worry, stress, fear, arrogance, conceit – things of no benefit to us or to other people, that create suffering and unhappiness.
In the final videoclip, Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu explains that the meditation practice leads us to see the root causes of suffering: the desire for permanence, for satisfaction, and for control. He talks about three insights about reality, which he says are the ultimate results of practising this kind of meditation. These insights are among the key teachings of Buddhism.
The first, he says, is attachment or the illusion of permanence. We tend to think that all the things that we see and are conscious of, all the things in the world, all things in our minds are stable and permanent. Yet, through this practice, we become aware of their impermanence – everything is just coming and going. Therefore, none of these things will last. This is the first insight that comes from this practice. We all know intellectually that nothing is permanent. However, psychologically, we are still very much attached to the permanence of things. I’m very attached to my iPhone, for instance. I don’t want to lose it for a minute. I’m very attached to my best friends and to my family, and want those relationships to last forever. All these things are deeply important for me. But none of them will last forever.
The second insight is about grasping for satisfaction. In our world, we always strive for satisfaction. We consider that satisfaction comes from something outside us. We seek money, because we think we can buy satisfaction with it, such as buying movie tickets, mobile phones, fashion accessories, bags and makeup, buying holiday resorts packages for relaxation, and so on. We are all always grasping after these things, because we think that this is what brings satisfaction. The insight from this meditation is that such satisfaction is something that is always fleeting and will never last. After a few months, you may get sick of your iPhone, and desire a better one. Your face will age, no matter what you do. That holiday resort may become boring. So you will grasp, grasp and grasp constantly, and feel unhappy when you don’t get it. And you will feel unhappy even if you do get it, because it’s never enough. The reason for this insight is because as we watch our thoughts coming and going, we will become detached even from happy thoughts. So even a feeling of comfort or satisfaction is not something that you would try to prolong. Instead, you should also watch it, observe it, name it and let it go. All these things – the feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, happiness or unhappiness – are never permanent. And we realize that a lot of things we strive for, such as different types of achievements and interests, are not intrinsic to us. They are the result of our following the crowd and internalising what other people consider to be important. We are fooled into wanting to acquire such achievements and passions. But then, we become mindful of them, and we realize that they are not who we truly are.
The final insight is the uncontrollable nature of the world. We ultimately cannot control all these things that come and go. The desire to control is a main cause of suffering and conflict among people, which often culminates in violence and wars. Mindfulness trains us to watch the comings and goings of our feelings, thoughts and mental states, and thus allows us to give up the idea of controlling our thoughts and the things in the world. Gradually, we try less to control our thoughts, and our thoughts control us less. Thus, we become aware of our incapacity to control everything.
These are three insights about reality that come from these practices. When we ultimately realise that these things that we considered so important are impermanent in some ways, it also leads to another question: who are we then, if we are none of those things that appear in our mindscape?
And then, the ultimate insight that comes with these practices is the realisation that you are nothing – but, paradoxically, being nothing, you are infinitely more than all of those thoughts and objects of consciousness. If you let go of them, you may come to a realisation of something so much greater, so much more beautiful, which is described as a deeper wisdom, the light of consciousness, and boundless compassion. These are infinite spiritual qualities. They bring joy and peace to yourself and to others. Thus Abdul’ Baha compared the mind to a mirror. If we clean off the dust and clutter of various ideas, desires and objects of consciousness, the mind becomes a pure mirror that reflects the light of divine qualities. This goes back to what Socrates said about our true self.
All of these insights are expressed in the core teaching of the Buddha, which is commonly called “The Four Noble Truths”. This was his first sermon after his Enlightenment.[2] The truths are:
The truth of suffering (dukkha)
The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)
Let’s consider each of them in order.
The Four Noble Truths[3]
The First Noble Truth
The study of Buddhism begins with the Four Noble Truths, a teaching given by the Buddha in his first sermon after his enlightenment. The Truths contain the whole dharma. All teachings of Buddhism flow from them.
The First Noble Truth often is the first thing people hear about Buddhism, and often it is translated into English as "life is suffering." Right away, people often throw up their hands and say, that's so pessimistic. Why shouldn't we expect life to be good? Unfortunately, "life is suffering" doesn't really convey what the Buddha said. Let's take a look at what he did say.
The Meaning of Dukkha
In Sanskrit and Pali, the First Noble Truth is expressed as dukkha sacca (Sanskrit) or dukkha-satya (Pali), meaning "the truth of dukkha." Dukkha is the Pali/Sanskrit word that has often been translated as "suffering."
The First Noble Truth, then, is all about dukkha, whatever that is. To understand this truth, be open to more than one view of what dukkha may be. Dukkha can mean suffering, but it can also mean stress, discomfort, unease, dissatisfaction, and other things. Don't remain stuck on just "suffering."
What the Buddha Said
Here is what the Buddha said about dukkha in his first sermon, translated from Pali.
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of dhukka. Birth is dhukka, aging is dhukka, death is dhukka; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are dhukka; association with the unbeloved is dhukkha, separation from the loved is dhukka not getting what is wanted is dhukka. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dhukka."
Defining Dukkha
The Buddha taught there are three main categories of dukkha. These are:
Suffering or pain (dukkha-dukkha);
Impermanence or change (viparinama-dukkha);
Conditioned states (samkhara-dukkha).
Let's take these one at a time.
Suffering or pain (dukkha-dukkha). Ordinary suffering, as defined by the English word, is one form of dukkha. This includes physical, emotional and mental pain.
Impermanence or Change (viparinama-dukkha). Anything that is not permanent, that is subject to change, is dukkha. Thus, happiness is dukkha, because it is not permanent.
Great success, which fades with the passing of time, is dukkha. Even the purest state of bliss experienced in spiritual practice is dukkha. This doesn't mean that happiness, success and bliss are bad, or that it's wrong to enjoy them. If you feel happy, then enjoy feeling happy. Just don't cling to it.
Conditioned States (samkhara-dukkha). To be conditioned is to be dependent on or affected by something else. According to the teaching of dependent origination, all phenomena are conditioned. Everything affects everything else. This is the most difficult part of the teachings on dukkha to understand, but it is critical to understanding Buddhism.
What is the Self?
This takes us to the Buddha's teachings on the self. According to the doctrine of anatman (or anatta) there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence. What we think of as our self, our personality and ego, are temporary creations of the skandhas.
The skandhas, or "five aggregates," or "five heaps," are a combination of five properties or energies that make what we think of as an individual being. Theravada scholar Walpola Rahula said,
"What we call a 'being', or an 'individual', or 'I', is only a convenient name or a label given to the combination of these five groups. They are all impermanent, all constantly changing. 'Whatever is impermanent is dukkha' (yad aniccam tam dukkham). This is the true meaning of the Buddha's words: 'In brief the Five Aggregates of Attachment are dukkha.' They are not the same for two consecutive moments. Here A is not equal to A. They are in a flux of momentary arising and disappearing."
Pessimistic or Realistic?
Why is it so important to understand and acknowledge that everything in our lives is marked by dukkha? Isn't optimism a virtue? Isn't it better to expect life to be good?
The problem with the rose-coloured glasses view is that it sets us up for failure. As the Second Noble Truth teaches us, we go through life grasping at things we think will make us happy while avoiding things we think will hurt us. We are perpetually being pulled and pushed this way and that by our likes and dislikes, our desires and our fears. And we can never settle in a happy place for very long.
Buddhism is not a means to cocoon ourselves in pleasant beliefs and hopes to make life more bearable. Instead, it is a way to liberate ourselves from the constant push-pull of attraction and aversion and the cycle of samsara. The first step in this process is understanding the nature of dukkha.
The First Noble Truth often is the first thing people hear about Buddhism, and often it is translated into English as "life is suffering." Right away, people often throw up their hands and say, that's so pessimistic. Why shouldn't we expect life to be good? Unfortunately, "life is suffering" doesn't really convey what the Buddha said. Let's take a look at what he did say.
The Meaning of Dukkha
In Sanskrit and Pali, the First Noble Truth is expressed as dukkha sacca (Sanskrit) or dukkha-satya (Pali), meaning "the truth of dukkha." Dukkha is the Pali/Sanskrit word that has often been translated as "suffering."
The First Noble Truth, then, is all about dukkha, whatever that is. To understand this truth, be open to more than one view of what dukkha may be. Dukkha can mean suffering, but it can also mean stress, discomfort, unease, dissatisfaction, and other things. Don't remain stuck on just "suffering."
What the Buddha Said
Here is what the Buddha said about dukkha in his first sermon, translated from Pali.
"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of dhukka. Birth is dhukka, aging is dhukka, death is dhukka; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are dhukka; association with the unbeloved is dhukkha, separation from the loved is dhukka not getting what is wanted is dhukka. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dhukka."
Defining Dukkha
The Buddha taught there are three main categories of dukkha. These are:
Suffering or pain (dukkha-dukkha);
Impermanence or change (viparinama-dukkha);
Conditioned states (samkhara-dukkha).
Let's take these one at a time.
Suffering or pain (dukkha-dukkha). Ordinary suffering, as defined by the English word, is one form of dukkha. This includes physical, emotional and mental pain.
Impermanence or Change (viparinama-dukkha). Anything that is not permanent, that is subject to change, is dukkha. Thus, happiness is dukkha, because it is not permanent.
Great success, which fades with the passing of time, is dukkha. Even the purest state of bliss experienced in spiritual practice is dukkha. This doesn't mean that happiness, success and bliss are bad, or that it's wrong to enjoy them. If you feel happy, then enjoy feeling happy. Just don't cling to it.
Conditioned States (samkhara-dukkha). To be conditioned is to be dependent on or affected by something else. According to the teaching of dependent origination, all phenomena are conditioned. Everything affects everything else. This is the most difficult part of the teachings on dukkha to understand, but it is critical to understanding Buddhism.
What is the Self?
This takes us to the Buddha's teachings on the self. According to the doctrine of anatman (or anatta) there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence. What we think of as our self, our personality and ego, are temporary creations of the skandhas.
The skandhas, or "five aggregates," or "five heaps," are a combination of five properties or energies that make what we think of as an individual being. Theravada scholar Walpola Rahula said,
"What we call a 'being', or an 'individual', or 'I', is only a convenient name or a label given to the combination of these five groups. They are all impermanent, all constantly changing. 'Whatever is impermanent is dukkha' (yad aniccam tam dukkham). This is the true meaning of the Buddha's words: 'In brief the Five Aggregates of Attachment are dukkha.' They are not the same for two consecutive moments. Here A is not equal to A. They are in a flux of momentary arising and disappearing."
Pessimistic or Realistic?
Why is it so important to understand and acknowledge that everything in our lives is marked by dukkha? Isn't optimism a virtue? Isn't it better to expect life to be good?
The problem with the rose-coloured glasses view is that it sets us up for failure. As the Second Noble Truth teaches us, we go through life grasping at things we think will make us happy while avoiding things we think will hurt us. We are perpetually being pulled and pushed this way and that by our likes and dislikes, our desires and our fears. And we can never settle in a happy place for very long.
Buddhism is not a means to cocoon ourselves in pleasant beliefs and hopes to make life more bearable. Instead, it is a way to liberate ourselves from the constant push-pull of attraction and aversion and the cycle of samsara. The first step in this process is understanding the nature of dukkha.
The Second Noble Truth
The Second Noble Truth explains the origins of dukkha (dukkha samudaya). The Second Truth often is summarized as "Dukkha is caused by desire," but there's more to it than that.
Craving
In his first teaching on the second of the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha said,
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of dukkha: it is craving that makes for further becoming -- accompanied by passion and delight, relishing now here and now there -- craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming."
The Pali word translated as "craving" is tanha, which more literally means "thirst." It's important to understand that craving is not the only cause of life's difficulties.
It is only the most obvious cause, the most evident symptom. There are other factors that create and feed craving, and it's important to understand them, also.
Many Kinds of Desire
In his first sermon, the Buddha described three kinds of tanha -- craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming. Let's look at these.
Sensual desire (kama tanha) is easy to spot. We all know what it's like to want to eat one French fry after another because we crave the taste, not because we are hungry.
An example of craving for becoming (bhava tanha) would be a desire to be famous or powerful. Craving for non-becoming (vibhava tanha) is a desire to get rid of something. It might be a craving for annihilation or something more mundane, such as a desire to be rid of a wart on one's nose.
Grasping and Clinging
It may be that the things we crave are not harmful things. We might crave becoming a philanthropist, or a monk, or a doctor. It's the craving that's the problem, not the thing craved.
This is a very important distinction. The Second Truth is not telling us we have to give up what we love and enjoy in life. Instead, the Second Truth asks us to look deeper into the nature of craving and how we relate to the things we love and enjoy.
Here we must look at the nature of clinging, or attachment. In order for there to be clinging, you need two things -- a clinger, and something to cling to. In other words, clinging requires self-reference, and it requires seeing the object of clinging as separate from oneself.
The Buddha taught that seeing the world this way -- as "me" in here and "everything else" out there -- is an illusion. Further, this illusion, this self-centred perspective, causes our insatiable craving. It's because we think there is a "me" that must be protected, promoted, and indulged, that we crave. And along with craving comes jealousy, hate, fear, and the other impulses that cause us to harm others and ourselves. We cannot will ourselves to stop craving. As long as we perceive ourselves to be separate from everything else, craving will continue.
What to Do About Craving
The Second Noble Truth does not ask us to withdraw from the world and cut ourselves off from everything we enjoy and everyone we love. To do so would just be more craving -- becoming or not-becoming. Instead, it asks us to enjoy and to love without clinging; without possessing, grasping, trying to manipulate.
The Second Noble Truth asks us to be mindful of craving; to observe and understand it. And it calls on us to do something about it. And that will take us to the Third Noble Truth.
Craving
In his first teaching on the second of the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha said,
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of dukkha: it is craving that makes for further becoming -- accompanied by passion and delight, relishing now here and now there -- craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming."
The Pali word translated as "craving" is tanha, which more literally means "thirst." It's important to understand that craving is not the only cause of life's difficulties.
It is only the most obvious cause, the most evident symptom. There are other factors that create and feed craving, and it's important to understand them, also.
Many Kinds of Desire
In his first sermon, the Buddha described three kinds of tanha -- craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming. Let's look at these.
Sensual desire (kama tanha) is easy to spot. We all know what it's like to want to eat one French fry after another because we crave the taste, not because we are hungry.
An example of craving for becoming (bhava tanha) would be a desire to be famous or powerful. Craving for non-becoming (vibhava tanha) is a desire to get rid of something. It might be a craving for annihilation or something more mundane, such as a desire to be rid of a wart on one's nose.
Grasping and Clinging
It may be that the things we crave are not harmful things. We might crave becoming a philanthropist, or a monk, or a doctor. It's the craving that's the problem, not the thing craved.
This is a very important distinction. The Second Truth is not telling us we have to give up what we love and enjoy in life. Instead, the Second Truth asks us to look deeper into the nature of craving and how we relate to the things we love and enjoy.
Here we must look at the nature of clinging, or attachment. In order for there to be clinging, you need two things -- a clinger, and something to cling to. In other words, clinging requires self-reference, and it requires seeing the object of clinging as separate from oneself.
The Buddha taught that seeing the world this way -- as "me" in here and "everything else" out there -- is an illusion. Further, this illusion, this self-centred perspective, causes our insatiable craving. It's because we think there is a "me" that must be protected, promoted, and indulged, that we crave. And along with craving comes jealousy, hate, fear, and the other impulses that cause us to harm others and ourselves. We cannot will ourselves to stop craving. As long as we perceive ourselves to be separate from everything else, craving will continue.
What to Do About Craving
The Second Noble Truth does not ask us to withdraw from the world and cut ourselves off from everything we enjoy and everyone we love. To do so would just be more craving -- becoming or not-becoming. Instead, it asks us to enjoy and to love without clinging; without possessing, grasping, trying to manipulate.
The Second Noble Truth asks us to be mindful of craving; to observe and understand it. And it calls on us to do something about it. And that will take us to the Third Noble Truth.
The Third Noble Truth
The Third Noble Truth tells us that we don't have to remain stuck in this unsatisfactory state.
The Buddha said,
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha: the remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very craving."
The Path of Liberation
A superficial, but common, interpretation of the Four Noble Truths is that life is awful, it is awful because we have desires, and if we can get rid of our desires we will be enlightened and happy and go to Buddha Heaven. If you have studied the first and second Truths you already know there's more to it than that.
The first point to understand about the Third Noble Truth is that craving cannot be tossed away by force of will. You cannot just tell yourself, "Okay, from now on I won't crave anything." This won't work, because the conditions that give rise to craving will still be present. The next point is that merely believing in the Four Noble Truths won't help you, either. You must thoroughly investigate the Truths for yourself. Contemplate them and observe them in your everyday life. Be willing to learn through experience and not just intellect. Be open to insights that might surprise you.
Renunciation
The English word renunciation means to reject or cast away something. Buddhist texts in English use the word renunciation often, for lack of a better word, but in the context of Buddhism it means something else.
Renunciation in Buddhism happens when, because of insight, the things that bind us to dukkha naturally fall away. That's why contemplation, investigation, and insight are so important.
The Second Noble Truth tells us that we cling to things we believe will make us happy or keep us safe, but by clinging we bind ourselves to dukkha. It is only when we see this for ourselves that we can begin to let go. But when we see it, the letting go is easy. It is an act of liberation rather than penance. The craving will seem to disappear of its own accord.
Nirvana
The Buddha said that "the extinction of thirst [craving] is nirvana." (Or, in Pali, nibbana.) Many newcomers to Sanskrit imagine nirvana to be something like heaven. But the word actually means "to extinguish," as in extinguishing a fire.
That may sound unappealing. To appreciate the meaning of the word nirvana, it's important to understand how fire was understood in the Buddha's time and culture. Fire was considered to be an element that was always present, but it only became visible as flames when it was attached to fuel. When not attached to fuel, fire still existed but in a transformed state.
In the same way, the Buddha taught that when attachment to craving ends, the fire of dukkha is extinguished. The state of the former sufferer is transformed. This transformed state is so different from common human experience that it cannot be imagined, the Buddha said.
To review, the first three Truths tell us that life is incapable of satisfying us for very long. It is stressful, even painful, and impermanent. We feel this stress because we are attached to craving, and this attachment is the result of a delusional, self-centred perspective. If we gain insight into the nature of life and realize for ourselves how our own mental habits are causing our problems, the craving falls away.
That's grand, you might think, but how is this transformation accomplished? The "how" is addressed in the Fourth Noble Truth.
The Buddha said,
"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha: the remainderless fading and cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very craving."
The Path of Liberation
A superficial, but common, interpretation of the Four Noble Truths is that life is awful, it is awful because we have desires, and if we can get rid of our desires we will be enlightened and happy and go to Buddha Heaven. If you have studied the first and second Truths you already know there's more to it than that.
The first point to understand about the Third Noble Truth is that craving cannot be tossed away by force of will. You cannot just tell yourself, "Okay, from now on I won't crave anything." This won't work, because the conditions that give rise to craving will still be present. The next point is that merely believing in the Four Noble Truths won't help you, either. You must thoroughly investigate the Truths for yourself. Contemplate them and observe them in your everyday life. Be willing to learn through experience and not just intellect. Be open to insights that might surprise you.
Renunciation
The English word renunciation means to reject or cast away something. Buddhist texts in English use the word renunciation often, for lack of a better word, but in the context of Buddhism it means something else.
Renunciation in Buddhism happens when, because of insight, the things that bind us to dukkha naturally fall away. That's why contemplation, investigation, and insight are so important.
The Second Noble Truth tells us that we cling to things we believe will make us happy or keep us safe, but by clinging we bind ourselves to dukkha. It is only when we see this for ourselves that we can begin to let go. But when we see it, the letting go is easy. It is an act of liberation rather than penance. The craving will seem to disappear of its own accord.
Nirvana
The Buddha said that "the extinction of thirst [craving] is nirvana." (Or, in Pali, nibbana.) Many newcomers to Sanskrit imagine nirvana to be something like heaven. But the word actually means "to extinguish," as in extinguishing a fire.
That may sound unappealing. To appreciate the meaning of the word nirvana, it's important to understand how fire was understood in the Buddha's time and culture. Fire was considered to be an element that was always present, but it only became visible as flames when it was attached to fuel. When not attached to fuel, fire still existed but in a transformed state.
In the same way, the Buddha taught that when attachment to craving ends, the fire of dukkha is extinguished. The state of the former sufferer is transformed. This transformed state is so different from common human experience that it cannot be imagined, the Buddha said.
To review, the first three Truths tell us that life is incapable of satisfying us for very long. It is stressful, even painful, and impermanent. We feel this stress because we are attached to craving, and this attachment is the result of a delusional, self-centred perspective. If we gain insight into the nature of life and realize for ourselves how our own mental habits are causing our problems, the craving falls away.
That's grand, you might think, but how is this transformation accomplished? The "how" is addressed in the Fourth Noble Truth.
The Fourth Noble Truth: the Eightfold Path[4]
Now we get to the "how." The Buddha spent the last 45 or so years of his life-giving sermons on aspects of the Four Noble Truths, and most of these sermons were about the Fourth Truth -- the path (magga).
The path is eight broad areas of practice that touch on every part of one's life, from study to ethical conduct to what you do for a living to moment-to-moment mindfulness. Every action of body, speech, and mind are addressed by the path. It is a path of exploration and discipline to be walked for the rest of one's life.
Without the path, the first three Truths would just be theory; something for philosophers to argue about. Practice of the Eightfold Path brings the dharma into one's life and makes it bloom.
Right View
The first step of the Eightfold Path is Right View. The first spark of Right View arises, when we start to consider our existence, “What am I? What am I doing? It's not necessarily coming from study, reading about this and that. It may come from our experience of meditation. When we start to look at our lives, we become aware of the very basis of Buddhism: we begin to notice that we are responsible for our lives. The way we live brings about results, and it affects ourselves and others, and sometimes the results really aren't good. This first spark of right view is the realization that I am responsible. Not blaming or laying the burden on someone else or on some deity. This is the first appreciation of the Law of Kamma. The way I live, the state of my mind, all my actions bring about results.
Then I begin to notice that I suffer, my mind is unhappy. It's burdened. There is fear, jealousy, hate and anger. This is not due to the environment or other people. It is my own creation. That's another spark of right view. I begin to appreciate the first two of the Noble Truths. There is suffering, mental unease and anguish. Even in the midst of comfort and prosperity, I may still feel anguish. I notice that this mental anguish is not due to anyone or anything else, but is due to this mind.
Right View in Buddhism is the first step of the Eightfold Path. This is why we say it's a path of wisdom, not just a doctrine or belief. It's a noticing and observing of ourselves and our lives. The Buddha taught what is obvious, what is there to be seen. Although it's there to be seen it doesn't mean we see it, it may be obvious but it doesn't mean we understand it or notice it. Maybe we miss it all the time because it is so obvious. The Buddha pointed things out which we need to consider. He taught nothing outside of what can be seen and realized within this body, with this mind. The whole path is to be developed through this body and mind. We have all that we need. All we have to do is to start noticing what is around us. That's when the spark of Right View begins to arise.
Right Thought or Aspirations
The result of Right View is that Right Aspiration or Right Thought arises. This happens to us in various ways. I'm sure it has happened to everyone here, especially when we have some traumatic experience, or something helps us to stop and think and observe. Buddhism is not common in Australia and meditation is unusual. So why do you come here? Something has arisen in your mind that makes you stop and consider. What am I doing here? What do I want out of life? How can I improve this life? This is a spark of Right View, a spark of understanding involving Kamma. I am responsible.
This bit of Right View causes Right Aspiration: the intention to cultivate something. We know that selfishness - selfish, egotistic indulgence doesn't make us happy or peaceful. It doesn't seem to ever end. Hate, anger, negativity - it's the fire that burns, and you don't have to have it to suffer from it. Someone close to you has it and you also suffer. This we have all seen. We wish to free the mind from selfishness and the obsessive uncontrolled desire for sensual experience, all the negative forces within us, the anger and aversion which lead to malevolence and hurtfulness in our relationships with other human beings and even in our relationship with ourselves. How often do we feel aversion towards ourselves? Right View brings about Right Aspiration to do something about this: to try and change the mind, bring about more peace and more happiness, by trying to change the attitudes, the intentions and aspirations - towards giving, sharing, kindness and compassion. This begins to arise in the mind, doesn't it? If it hadn't arisen, you wouldn’t be here, because we don't teach anything other than this.
So these are the first two steps on the Buddhist Path: Right View and Right Aspiration. They are related, they are to do with wisdom and understanding, not just believing. Now that's fine. We have a spark of understanding and a spark of intending to live our lives in a new way. But that's not enough, is It? It has to be followed through. So, there is the rest of the path. This Eightfold Path is a comprehensive training, because from our understanding and intention, there has to be a carrying through to the way we actually live our lives.
Right Speech
The third factor on the Eightfold Path is Right Speech. This is anything but wishy-washy. I do a lot of talking, I think many of us do a lot of talking. The tongue is a very powerful thing. They say that the pen is mightier than the sword. I think the tongue is mightier than the pen. It is so much quicker, isn't it? To write can be a tedious thing, even if you want to write a nasty letter, of course it can be easier to write a nasty letter than a nice letter. You can really pump up some adrenalin and energy if you're getting stuck into someone. But it still takes a lot of time to write it down, and in that time, there's time for consideration and maybe a change of mind. However the tongue is so quick, so immediate. Before you even think twice, you have already spoken.
The Buddha said that this speech of ours is an action. It brings about results. What we say shapes life, can cause wars, or can cause peace. There are different types of wars. We read about all the wars overseas, the international wars, but there are also the interpersonal wars. We have a lot of those, don't we? How many wars have you created in the last week? When we're aspiring to peace and clarity of mind, it's very important to master one's speech. The Buddha said develop Right Speech, avoid Wrong Speech. This is not just a nebulous idea. He was very explicit. He said that wrong speech is lying and avoiding truth. That causes a lack of trust and it's anything but peaceful. It is very difficult to be peaceful when you're living with people who don't tell the truth because you can't trust them. Everything is lost when one's honesty is gone. If the person is no longer committed to truthfulness, how do you know that anything else is going to hold? It's impossible to trust, to be at peace and have spiritual growth without honesty.
Another aspect of Wrong Speech is abusive and harsh speech. There's a fair bit of that in our society. Putting someone down, really getting stuck into someone. It's hurtful. The last type is useless speech, just repeating bits of information and gossip that tends to confuse and distract people. This isn't training the mind. In order to cultivate Right Speech, we avoid these four types of speech, and we develop truthful speech that is kind, gentle and pleasant to the ear, words which bring harmony and friendship between people, words of wisdom which are useful, beneficial for our well-being and spiritual growth. So the Middle Way is pretty clear about how one should train one's speech. It's the same regardless of who is speaking, regardless of time and place. Wherever you go, this is the foundation of peaceful co-existence within a community.
Right Action
The fourth factor of the Eightfold Path is Right Action. We have a physical body, so we have the ability to do things with this body, and what we can do is very wide ranging. We can use this body for harmful, violent, selfish, destructive purposes, can't we? We can use this body in order to create Hell, in order to make trouble, to be a nuisance to others. Or we can use the body to be of service, to help, to create well-being for ourselves and others. This body is an instrument, in itself it is neutral. It depends on who's using it and for what purpose. People say that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The flesh is not weak; it's not strong; it's just flesh. Flesh is actually neutral. It's the mind that drives it. It is the mind that puts volition into it, causing it to act. It's not the body that decides to go and rob a bank, it's the mind that thinks that, isn't it? It's not the body that says, "I think I'II have another glass of whisky", or "My body tells me to have another beer". There's an element of truth to that, because the body does have its signals. The body affects the mind as well, but the volitional action comes from the mind, not the body. So this body is an instrument for us to use as we wish. How do we use it? We can be a real nuisance, use it for all sorts of harmful things, or we can use it for wonderful things, for service, being kind, gentle and helpful.
So, the Buddha said train this body, use it for skilful things. Avoid killing any living creature because every living creature wants to live. And every living creature thinks that its life is the most important life in this whole universe. We can refrain from killing living creatures because we can train the body. We don't use this body to steal that which is not ours. We respect the property of others because we respect their feelings. It is also important to understand our sexual nature and to train ourselves to live within the restraint befitting our status in life. The instinctive sexual forces have no knowledge of right or wrong, good or bad; and when followed indiscriminately they can result in much conflict and suffering. So for inner peace and outer harmony we train ourselves to refrain from adultery and other forms of sexual misconduct. We become responsible human beings, true to our vows and commitments, rather than just following the basic instincts.
Now in order to have this control over our body and speech it's essential that we be in control of our mental faculties. Thus it is obvious that alcohol and other drugs which cause heedlessness will impede our ability to train ourselves. So we choose to avoid such things not because of any commandment but because we wish to have the freedom of choice that is only possible when the mind is clear and alert. This is the cultivation of Right Action in the Eightfold Path.
Right Livelihood
Based on Right Speech and Right Action the next factor of the path is Right Livelihood. We all have to earn a living but how do we go about it? Would it be right to try to secure our own happiness at the expense of someone else's happiness? So we train ourselves to earn our living by honest means without exploiting or hurting others physically, mentally, or spiritually. I'm willing to train myself, and this is how morality and ethical standards come about. They are not commandments laid down by someone, demanding that you obey. This is coming from your own wisdom through close reflection and consideration. You can train yourself. What is the training? What you do, what you say depends on volition. What is volition? It comes from the mind. The mind is the forerunner; the mind is that which wills, motivates and drives us. It is behind the speech and behind the action; this is the volition: the mind.
This mind needs to be trained. The mind is the area for investigation and training, and this involves meditation. This is the remaining part of the Eightfold Path. So, Right View leads to Right Aspiration. Having Right Aspiration, then we know how to train our speech, our physical actions, and to consider and train our livelihood. But, all of that is dependent on our mind. So, the last three steps on the path have to do with cultivating the mind: Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Right Effort
Some people believe that Buddhism is the way of no effort. They've heard the teaching that making an effort cannot enlighten you. So what do you do, make no effort? Will you still get enlightened? In that case, more people should be enlightened than unenlightened, because there are more people making no effort than people who make effort. In that case, the cattle grazing in the fields and the flies flying around should be more enlightened, because they don't make any effort at all; they just follow their instincts. Yes, it's true; you cannot become enlightened if you make an effort that's obsessive or gain-oriented. That kind of effort is, in itself, an obstacle. But it is truer to say that you cannot become enlightened if you make no effort at all. That is very true.
The Buddha said there is Right Effort, balanced effort; it's not result-oriented effort, using just willpower and force. It is the mind balanced with Right View and Right Aspiration, putting forth an effort to train. How can we train our speech and our bodies? Only through effort, there needs to be effort or nothing is achieved. The effort must be made to abandon that which is harmful and to develop that which is skilful. However, that is still not enough, is it? It requires clarity of mind to know that which is harmful and that which is skilful. It requires a clarity of mind to know what we are saying, what we are doing. It requires mindfulness, doesn't it? This is crucial. It is the ability to know what we are doing. This is the actual trainer. Who is the trainer? Is it the mind? What aspect of the mind is the trainer? It is awareness.
Right Mindfulness
"Buddha" means "Awakened One". The one who knows. There's the knowing, alertness, and presence of mind: that which knows what I am saying, that knows the intention that knows the actions of speech, body and thought. The Buddha is the incomparable trainer of those who wish to be trained. The Buddha, the Knower, Awareness, Mindfulness. That is the quality that enables one to train. Take that away and there is no training. There is only habitual, mechanical, instinctive behaviour. This mindfulness is to be cultivated and strengthened. It's part of the path. We take responsibility for cultivating this quality of being awake. How can we be awake? By the practice of remembrance, of not forgetting the present moment, not forgetting to know what we are doing, what we are saying, what we are thinking. And so, we come to this crucial part of the training in Buddhism; the path of cultivating mindfulness. This is where meditation is so important. But meditation is not an isolated thing that we only do when we sit cross-legged. It is something in our daily lives as well, meditation in action, cultivating awareness in our ordinary existence, our ordinary activities, because what we say has its effect, what we do has its effect, what we think has its effect. So cultivating mindfulness in our daily lives, cultivating the quality of awareness is essential. It's a training, something to be developed by those aspiring to peace.
Right Concentration
When we have this Right Effort and we're cultivating Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration arises. Concentration here means the ability to focus your attention, to direct your mind, to observe closely. To focus your attention on the present experience, and penetrate deeply into the contents of our consciousness, the nature of this body, the nature of feelings, emotions and thoughts, the nature of mind itself. It's having that stability of mind that can focus and look with sustained attention. It's that which enables us to go a little bit deeper than just the superficial; just what is common knowledge, what is taken for granted. It's our ability to dwell, to look deeply. It's as if you're in a dark room, and you light a match, but it goes out quickly and you don't have that much of a look. But if you can light a candle, or better yet, an electric light, you can look closely and see everything in there. That's the power of concentration. It enables you to look closely so you can penetrate more deeply. What are doubt, desire, fear and anger? What is the body? What is this knowing itself, the mind, consciousness? Who am I?
If we strengthen the concentration through training, what happens? We have this tool, the mind is fit for work. We can penetrate and we can look closely. What happens when we look closely, when we begin to stop and consider our feelings and ourselves? We're back to the beginning again. When we stop and when we've got a mind that is that much more peaceful, that much more precise, we begin to have a deeper understanding, a deeper appreciation of the way things are, of the truth of existence, of the Four Noble Truths.
So, we're back to Right View. Our view, our perception, our understanding of life becomes that much more correct, more enlightened, if you wish. As our view becomes more enlightened, our aspiration becomes purer. And as our aspiration becomes purer, our speech and action, the way we live, everything will become more refined, more caring, and more peaceful. And when we live accordingly, the mind itself responds by becoming more peaceful and clearer. Meditation becomes more refined, concentration becomes stronger, and we see more deeply. You can see what's happening here. You can see the path unfolding. It is all interrelated, interdependent. Strengthening one aspect helps to strengthen all of the other factors on the path.
The path is eight broad areas of practice that touch on every part of one's life, from study to ethical conduct to what you do for a living to moment-to-moment mindfulness. Every action of body, speech, and mind are addressed by the path. It is a path of exploration and discipline to be walked for the rest of one's life.
Without the path, the first three Truths would just be theory; something for philosophers to argue about. Practice of the Eightfold Path brings the dharma into one's life and makes it bloom.
Right View
The first step of the Eightfold Path is Right View. The first spark of Right View arises, when we start to consider our existence, “What am I? What am I doing? It's not necessarily coming from study, reading about this and that. It may come from our experience of meditation. When we start to look at our lives, we become aware of the very basis of Buddhism: we begin to notice that we are responsible for our lives. The way we live brings about results, and it affects ourselves and others, and sometimes the results really aren't good. This first spark of right view is the realization that I am responsible. Not blaming or laying the burden on someone else or on some deity. This is the first appreciation of the Law of Kamma. The way I live, the state of my mind, all my actions bring about results.
Then I begin to notice that I suffer, my mind is unhappy. It's burdened. There is fear, jealousy, hate and anger. This is not due to the environment or other people. It is my own creation. That's another spark of right view. I begin to appreciate the first two of the Noble Truths. There is suffering, mental unease and anguish. Even in the midst of comfort and prosperity, I may still feel anguish. I notice that this mental anguish is not due to anyone or anything else, but is due to this mind.
Right View in Buddhism is the first step of the Eightfold Path. This is why we say it's a path of wisdom, not just a doctrine or belief. It's a noticing and observing of ourselves and our lives. The Buddha taught what is obvious, what is there to be seen. Although it's there to be seen it doesn't mean we see it, it may be obvious but it doesn't mean we understand it or notice it. Maybe we miss it all the time because it is so obvious. The Buddha pointed things out which we need to consider. He taught nothing outside of what can be seen and realized within this body, with this mind. The whole path is to be developed through this body and mind. We have all that we need. All we have to do is to start noticing what is around us. That's when the spark of Right View begins to arise.
Right Thought or Aspirations
The result of Right View is that Right Aspiration or Right Thought arises. This happens to us in various ways. I'm sure it has happened to everyone here, especially when we have some traumatic experience, or something helps us to stop and think and observe. Buddhism is not common in Australia and meditation is unusual. So why do you come here? Something has arisen in your mind that makes you stop and consider. What am I doing here? What do I want out of life? How can I improve this life? This is a spark of Right View, a spark of understanding involving Kamma. I am responsible.
This bit of Right View causes Right Aspiration: the intention to cultivate something. We know that selfishness - selfish, egotistic indulgence doesn't make us happy or peaceful. It doesn't seem to ever end. Hate, anger, negativity - it's the fire that burns, and you don't have to have it to suffer from it. Someone close to you has it and you also suffer. This we have all seen. We wish to free the mind from selfishness and the obsessive uncontrolled desire for sensual experience, all the negative forces within us, the anger and aversion which lead to malevolence and hurtfulness in our relationships with other human beings and even in our relationship with ourselves. How often do we feel aversion towards ourselves? Right View brings about Right Aspiration to do something about this: to try and change the mind, bring about more peace and more happiness, by trying to change the attitudes, the intentions and aspirations - towards giving, sharing, kindness and compassion. This begins to arise in the mind, doesn't it? If it hadn't arisen, you wouldn’t be here, because we don't teach anything other than this.
So these are the first two steps on the Buddhist Path: Right View and Right Aspiration. They are related, they are to do with wisdom and understanding, not just believing. Now that's fine. We have a spark of understanding and a spark of intending to live our lives in a new way. But that's not enough, is It? It has to be followed through. So, there is the rest of the path. This Eightfold Path is a comprehensive training, because from our understanding and intention, there has to be a carrying through to the way we actually live our lives.
Right Speech
The third factor on the Eightfold Path is Right Speech. This is anything but wishy-washy. I do a lot of talking, I think many of us do a lot of talking. The tongue is a very powerful thing. They say that the pen is mightier than the sword. I think the tongue is mightier than the pen. It is so much quicker, isn't it? To write can be a tedious thing, even if you want to write a nasty letter, of course it can be easier to write a nasty letter than a nice letter. You can really pump up some adrenalin and energy if you're getting stuck into someone. But it still takes a lot of time to write it down, and in that time, there's time for consideration and maybe a change of mind. However the tongue is so quick, so immediate. Before you even think twice, you have already spoken.
The Buddha said that this speech of ours is an action. It brings about results. What we say shapes life, can cause wars, or can cause peace. There are different types of wars. We read about all the wars overseas, the international wars, but there are also the interpersonal wars. We have a lot of those, don't we? How many wars have you created in the last week? When we're aspiring to peace and clarity of mind, it's very important to master one's speech. The Buddha said develop Right Speech, avoid Wrong Speech. This is not just a nebulous idea. He was very explicit. He said that wrong speech is lying and avoiding truth. That causes a lack of trust and it's anything but peaceful. It is very difficult to be peaceful when you're living with people who don't tell the truth because you can't trust them. Everything is lost when one's honesty is gone. If the person is no longer committed to truthfulness, how do you know that anything else is going to hold? It's impossible to trust, to be at peace and have spiritual growth without honesty.
Another aspect of Wrong Speech is abusive and harsh speech. There's a fair bit of that in our society. Putting someone down, really getting stuck into someone. It's hurtful. The last type is useless speech, just repeating bits of information and gossip that tends to confuse and distract people. This isn't training the mind. In order to cultivate Right Speech, we avoid these four types of speech, and we develop truthful speech that is kind, gentle and pleasant to the ear, words which bring harmony and friendship between people, words of wisdom which are useful, beneficial for our well-being and spiritual growth. So the Middle Way is pretty clear about how one should train one's speech. It's the same regardless of who is speaking, regardless of time and place. Wherever you go, this is the foundation of peaceful co-existence within a community.
Right Action
The fourth factor of the Eightfold Path is Right Action. We have a physical body, so we have the ability to do things with this body, and what we can do is very wide ranging. We can use this body for harmful, violent, selfish, destructive purposes, can't we? We can use this body in order to create Hell, in order to make trouble, to be a nuisance to others. Or we can use the body to be of service, to help, to create well-being for ourselves and others. This body is an instrument, in itself it is neutral. It depends on who's using it and for what purpose. People say that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The flesh is not weak; it's not strong; it's just flesh. Flesh is actually neutral. It's the mind that drives it. It is the mind that puts volition into it, causing it to act. It's not the body that decides to go and rob a bank, it's the mind that thinks that, isn't it? It's not the body that says, "I think I'II have another glass of whisky", or "My body tells me to have another beer". There's an element of truth to that, because the body does have its signals. The body affects the mind as well, but the volitional action comes from the mind, not the body. So this body is an instrument for us to use as we wish. How do we use it? We can be a real nuisance, use it for all sorts of harmful things, or we can use it for wonderful things, for service, being kind, gentle and helpful.
So, the Buddha said train this body, use it for skilful things. Avoid killing any living creature because every living creature wants to live. And every living creature thinks that its life is the most important life in this whole universe. We can refrain from killing living creatures because we can train the body. We don't use this body to steal that which is not ours. We respect the property of others because we respect their feelings. It is also important to understand our sexual nature and to train ourselves to live within the restraint befitting our status in life. The instinctive sexual forces have no knowledge of right or wrong, good or bad; and when followed indiscriminately they can result in much conflict and suffering. So for inner peace and outer harmony we train ourselves to refrain from adultery and other forms of sexual misconduct. We become responsible human beings, true to our vows and commitments, rather than just following the basic instincts.
Now in order to have this control over our body and speech it's essential that we be in control of our mental faculties. Thus it is obvious that alcohol and other drugs which cause heedlessness will impede our ability to train ourselves. So we choose to avoid such things not because of any commandment but because we wish to have the freedom of choice that is only possible when the mind is clear and alert. This is the cultivation of Right Action in the Eightfold Path.
Right Livelihood
Based on Right Speech and Right Action the next factor of the path is Right Livelihood. We all have to earn a living but how do we go about it? Would it be right to try to secure our own happiness at the expense of someone else's happiness? So we train ourselves to earn our living by honest means without exploiting or hurting others physically, mentally, or spiritually. I'm willing to train myself, and this is how morality and ethical standards come about. They are not commandments laid down by someone, demanding that you obey. This is coming from your own wisdom through close reflection and consideration. You can train yourself. What is the training? What you do, what you say depends on volition. What is volition? It comes from the mind. The mind is the forerunner; the mind is that which wills, motivates and drives us. It is behind the speech and behind the action; this is the volition: the mind.
This mind needs to be trained. The mind is the area for investigation and training, and this involves meditation. This is the remaining part of the Eightfold Path. So, Right View leads to Right Aspiration. Having Right Aspiration, then we know how to train our speech, our physical actions, and to consider and train our livelihood. But, all of that is dependent on our mind. So, the last three steps on the path have to do with cultivating the mind: Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Right Effort
Some people believe that Buddhism is the way of no effort. They've heard the teaching that making an effort cannot enlighten you. So what do you do, make no effort? Will you still get enlightened? In that case, more people should be enlightened than unenlightened, because there are more people making no effort than people who make effort. In that case, the cattle grazing in the fields and the flies flying around should be more enlightened, because they don't make any effort at all; they just follow their instincts. Yes, it's true; you cannot become enlightened if you make an effort that's obsessive or gain-oriented. That kind of effort is, in itself, an obstacle. But it is truer to say that you cannot become enlightened if you make no effort at all. That is very true.
The Buddha said there is Right Effort, balanced effort; it's not result-oriented effort, using just willpower and force. It is the mind balanced with Right View and Right Aspiration, putting forth an effort to train. How can we train our speech and our bodies? Only through effort, there needs to be effort or nothing is achieved. The effort must be made to abandon that which is harmful and to develop that which is skilful. However, that is still not enough, is it? It requires clarity of mind to know that which is harmful and that which is skilful. It requires a clarity of mind to know what we are saying, what we are doing. It requires mindfulness, doesn't it? This is crucial. It is the ability to know what we are doing. This is the actual trainer. Who is the trainer? Is it the mind? What aspect of the mind is the trainer? It is awareness.
Right Mindfulness
"Buddha" means "Awakened One". The one who knows. There's the knowing, alertness, and presence of mind: that which knows what I am saying, that knows the intention that knows the actions of speech, body and thought. The Buddha is the incomparable trainer of those who wish to be trained. The Buddha, the Knower, Awareness, Mindfulness. That is the quality that enables one to train. Take that away and there is no training. There is only habitual, mechanical, instinctive behaviour. This mindfulness is to be cultivated and strengthened. It's part of the path. We take responsibility for cultivating this quality of being awake. How can we be awake? By the practice of remembrance, of not forgetting the present moment, not forgetting to know what we are doing, what we are saying, what we are thinking. And so, we come to this crucial part of the training in Buddhism; the path of cultivating mindfulness. This is where meditation is so important. But meditation is not an isolated thing that we only do when we sit cross-legged. It is something in our daily lives as well, meditation in action, cultivating awareness in our ordinary existence, our ordinary activities, because what we say has its effect, what we do has its effect, what we think has its effect. So cultivating mindfulness in our daily lives, cultivating the quality of awareness is essential. It's a training, something to be developed by those aspiring to peace.
Right Concentration
When we have this Right Effort and we're cultivating Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration arises. Concentration here means the ability to focus your attention, to direct your mind, to observe closely. To focus your attention on the present experience, and penetrate deeply into the contents of our consciousness, the nature of this body, the nature of feelings, emotions and thoughts, the nature of mind itself. It's having that stability of mind that can focus and look with sustained attention. It's that which enables us to go a little bit deeper than just the superficial; just what is common knowledge, what is taken for granted. It's our ability to dwell, to look deeply. It's as if you're in a dark room, and you light a match, but it goes out quickly and you don't have that much of a look. But if you can light a candle, or better yet, an electric light, you can look closely and see everything in there. That's the power of concentration. It enables you to look closely so you can penetrate more deeply. What are doubt, desire, fear and anger? What is the body? What is this knowing itself, the mind, consciousness? Who am I?
If we strengthen the concentration through training, what happens? We have this tool, the mind is fit for work. We can penetrate and we can look closely. What happens when we look closely, when we begin to stop and consider our feelings and ourselves? We're back to the beginning again. When we stop and when we've got a mind that is that much more peaceful, that much more precise, we begin to have a deeper understanding, a deeper appreciation of the way things are, of the truth of existence, of the Four Noble Truths.
So, we're back to Right View. Our view, our perception, our understanding of life becomes that much more correct, more enlightened, if you wish. As our view becomes more enlightened, our aspiration becomes purer. And as our aspiration becomes purer, our speech and action, the way we live, everything will become more refined, more caring, and more peaceful. And when we live accordingly, the mind itself responds by becoming more peaceful and clearer. Meditation becomes more refined, concentration becomes stronger, and we see more deeply. You can see what's happening here. You can see the path unfolding. It is all interrelated, interdependent. Strengthening one aspect helps to strengthen all of the other factors on the path.
Conclusion
Through the example of mindfulness and the Buddhist teachings of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path, we can come to a better understanding of the concept of religion as a system of knowledge and practice concerning spiritual reality. Robert Bellah proposed that there are four modalities of understanding reality: unitive, enactive, symbolic and conceptual.” [5]
The "unitive" refers to a direct, unmediated, often mystical perception of reality. The experiences we considered in previous weeks can be considered as unitive -- Laozi's return to the “uncarved block” expresses this yearning for a state of undifferentiated union with the ultimate reality, a condition that cannot be expressed with words. Sartre's experience of the gnarly tree root could also be seen as a unitive experience -- albeit one that gave him a sense of nausea, rather than mystical enlightenment! According to Bellah, unitive experiences are deeply personal, revelatory experiences, which can never be fully conveyed or analysed in words. When such experiences are interpreted as having a spiritual or religious significance, they are called “spiritual experiences” or “mystical experiences”. They are often very important to peoples' narratives of their spiritual or religious life, and are at the root of the emergence of the world's religions: think of Moses and the burning bush, or the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha.
The "enactive" type of understanding occurs through the enacted movements and rhythms of the body. This is exemplified by ritualised gestures and rhythmic perceptions, which can never be fully described or explained -- such as dance, music, and ritual. Enacting these movements produces a specific perception and consciousness, but one in which there is potentially no distinction between the subject and object of consciousness -- the dance and the body-mind of the performer become one and the same.
The “symbolic” type of understanding involves the use of stories (narratives) that use symbols to connect the elements of the world. Bellah defines a symbol as follows: “It is always possible that an object, person or event in the world of daily life may have a meaning in another reality that transcends the world of working. If so we call it a symbol.”[6] Mythology is the best example of symbolic understanding.
The "conceptual" type of understanding uses theoretical, abstract reasoning. Religious theology, philosophy and science are examples of conceptual knowledge.
Meditation techniques often combine all four of Bellah’s approaches to understanding reality. They are enactive, in that they involve specific postures or movements of the body, or specific forms of breathing, or specific procedures for focusing the mind. For example, some methods involve sitting in a specific cross-legged position, or standing erect. You need to enact these postures and movements to gain certain insights on reality. Meditation techniques often also make use of symbols. For example, one meditation technique involves imagining, or visualising, a lotus flower opening and closing in your lower abdomen, following the rhythm of breathing in and out. The lotus is a common symbol in Asian religions; just as the pure white flower grows out of putrid mud, it evokes the idea of our pure soul rising out of the impurities and pollution of this world. These meditation techniques often aim to produce unitive experiences of unmediated reality. And meditation techniques are often the subject of conceptual descriptions, using abstract concepts and theories to rationally explain their methods, goals and mechanisms. Sometimes meditation techniques also involve the practice of abstract analytical thought. So, meditation often combines all four of Bellah’s ways of understanding reality: the unitive, the enactive, the symbolic and the conceptual.
The core Buddhist teachings also involve all four of these modalities: they use conceptual knowledge to present the teachings in a logical, conceptual fashion that can be understood with rational discourse. But the highest state that the teachings describe, that of nirvana, draw on the symbolism of extinguishing a fire, to express a spiritual reality that can’t be described in words. Understanding of the teachings cannot come only through intellectual and symbolic thinking, however: understanding comes through enacting the teachings, through methods of training the mind in specific postures, and through the way we think, speak, act and work. And the goal is an ultimate knowledge that is unitive – a direct understanding of the reality of things, unmediated by the objects in our mindscape.
Nowadays, all kinds of yoga, meditation, and so on are becoming more and more popular. They are usually marketed as ways of being healthy or relaxed. Mindfulness meditation has become increasingly popular in the past decade or so. Although this form of meditation originated in the various spiritual traditions of Asia, notably Buddhism, it became increasingly popular in the West beginning in the 1960s, and is now entering the mainstream of culture. Partly as a result of this Western popularity and to indigenous factors and movements, mindfulness meditation is becoming more popular and mainstream in modern Asian cities such as Hong Kong. Many scientific and academic research centres now conduct research on the practices and therapeutic effects of mindfulness meditation.
The popularity, and even what some people might call the fad of mindfulness, is an example of the transformations of religions in modernity. Mindfulness meditation is only one technique among the vast and complex system of Buddhist doctrines, practices and rituals. However, in the modern context it is often decontextualized -- removed from its Buddhist context, and turned into a practical technique that does not necessarily have any Buddhist, spiritual or religious connotations. While, in the Buddhist context, mindfulness meditation is part of a system of practices designed to lead to a complete transformation and transcendence of the self, in the modern secular context it can be practiced for simple relaxation, that can be helpful for worldly success. Or it can be used as part of a personal spirituality that has no formal religious structure. Some writers criticise the superficiality and self-centredness of this trend. Having been extricated from its traditional Buddhist context and transplanted to Western and other countries, mindfulness meditation is now often even practiced by Christians and Muslims. This triggers debates among people who identify with those religious traditions. For some, it helps them to become better Christians or Muslims.
For others, because it comes from a non-Christian origin, it is a dangerous temptation of the devil. And for others, the popularity of mindfulness has inspired them to dig into the Christian and Muslim past, to discover that similar practices have long existed within the Christian and Muslim traditions, but had been forgotten in the mainstream religious communities. And they compare how a Christian approach to mindfulness is similar or different from a Buddhist one.[7] We can see how, under the processes of modernity and globalization, religious practices and ideas circulate between the religious and secular worlds, and between different religions, undermining rigid boundaries between them. In these practices, the original purpose is not to seek for relaxation, although they do have that effect. In fact, the purpose is to acquire an awareness and consciousness that will transform our minds; to clear out the clutter in our mindscapes, so that a pure consciousness of spiritual reality can emerge.
The "unitive" refers to a direct, unmediated, often mystical perception of reality. The experiences we considered in previous weeks can be considered as unitive -- Laozi's return to the “uncarved block” expresses this yearning for a state of undifferentiated union with the ultimate reality, a condition that cannot be expressed with words. Sartre's experience of the gnarly tree root could also be seen as a unitive experience -- albeit one that gave him a sense of nausea, rather than mystical enlightenment! According to Bellah, unitive experiences are deeply personal, revelatory experiences, which can never be fully conveyed or analysed in words. When such experiences are interpreted as having a spiritual or religious significance, they are called “spiritual experiences” or “mystical experiences”. They are often very important to peoples' narratives of their spiritual or religious life, and are at the root of the emergence of the world's religions: think of Moses and the burning bush, or the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha.
The "enactive" type of understanding occurs through the enacted movements and rhythms of the body. This is exemplified by ritualised gestures and rhythmic perceptions, which can never be fully described or explained -- such as dance, music, and ritual. Enacting these movements produces a specific perception and consciousness, but one in which there is potentially no distinction between the subject and object of consciousness -- the dance and the body-mind of the performer become one and the same.
The “symbolic” type of understanding involves the use of stories (narratives) that use symbols to connect the elements of the world. Bellah defines a symbol as follows: “It is always possible that an object, person or event in the world of daily life may have a meaning in another reality that transcends the world of working. If so we call it a symbol.”[6] Mythology is the best example of symbolic understanding.
The "conceptual" type of understanding uses theoretical, abstract reasoning. Religious theology, philosophy and science are examples of conceptual knowledge.
Meditation techniques often combine all four of Bellah’s approaches to understanding reality. They are enactive, in that they involve specific postures or movements of the body, or specific forms of breathing, or specific procedures for focusing the mind. For example, some methods involve sitting in a specific cross-legged position, or standing erect. You need to enact these postures and movements to gain certain insights on reality. Meditation techniques often also make use of symbols. For example, one meditation technique involves imagining, or visualising, a lotus flower opening and closing in your lower abdomen, following the rhythm of breathing in and out. The lotus is a common symbol in Asian religions; just as the pure white flower grows out of putrid mud, it evokes the idea of our pure soul rising out of the impurities and pollution of this world. These meditation techniques often aim to produce unitive experiences of unmediated reality. And meditation techniques are often the subject of conceptual descriptions, using abstract concepts and theories to rationally explain their methods, goals and mechanisms. Sometimes meditation techniques also involve the practice of abstract analytical thought. So, meditation often combines all four of Bellah’s ways of understanding reality: the unitive, the enactive, the symbolic and the conceptual.
The core Buddhist teachings also involve all four of these modalities: they use conceptual knowledge to present the teachings in a logical, conceptual fashion that can be understood with rational discourse. But the highest state that the teachings describe, that of nirvana, draw on the symbolism of extinguishing a fire, to express a spiritual reality that can’t be described in words. Understanding of the teachings cannot come only through intellectual and symbolic thinking, however: understanding comes through enacting the teachings, through methods of training the mind in specific postures, and through the way we think, speak, act and work. And the goal is an ultimate knowledge that is unitive – a direct understanding of the reality of things, unmediated by the objects in our mindscape.
Nowadays, all kinds of yoga, meditation, and so on are becoming more and more popular. They are usually marketed as ways of being healthy or relaxed. Mindfulness meditation has become increasingly popular in the past decade or so. Although this form of meditation originated in the various spiritual traditions of Asia, notably Buddhism, it became increasingly popular in the West beginning in the 1960s, and is now entering the mainstream of culture. Partly as a result of this Western popularity and to indigenous factors and movements, mindfulness meditation is becoming more popular and mainstream in modern Asian cities such as Hong Kong. Many scientific and academic research centres now conduct research on the practices and therapeutic effects of mindfulness meditation.
The popularity, and even what some people might call the fad of mindfulness, is an example of the transformations of religions in modernity. Mindfulness meditation is only one technique among the vast and complex system of Buddhist doctrines, practices and rituals. However, in the modern context it is often decontextualized -- removed from its Buddhist context, and turned into a practical technique that does not necessarily have any Buddhist, spiritual or religious connotations. While, in the Buddhist context, mindfulness meditation is part of a system of practices designed to lead to a complete transformation and transcendence of the self, in the modern secular context it can be practiced for simple relaxation, that can be helpful for worldly success. Or it can be used as part of a personal spirituality that has no formal religious structure. Some writers criticise the superficiality and self-centredness of this trend. Having been extricated from its traditional Buddhist context and transplanted to Western and other countries, mindfulness meditation is now often even practiced by Christians and Muslims. This triggers debates among people who identify with those religious traditions. For some, it helps them to become better Christians or Muslims.
For others, because it comes from a non-Christian origin, it is a dangerous temptation of the devil. And for others, the popularity of mindfulness has inspired them to dig into the Christian and Muslim past, to discover that similar practices have long existed within the Christian and Muslim traditions, but had been forgotten in the mainstream religious communities. And they compare how a Christian approach to mindfulness is similar or different from a Buddhist one.[7] We can see how, under the processes of modernity and globalization, religious practices and ideas circulate between the religious and secular worlds, and between different religions, undermining rigid boundaries between them. In these practices, the original purpose is not to seek for relaxation, although they do have that effect. In fact, the purpose is to acquire an awareness and consciousness that will transform our minds; to clear out the clutter in our mindscapes, so that a pure consciousness of spiritual reality can emerge.
[1] These videos can also be found in the course website: http://cchu9014.weebly.com/4-observing-the-mindscape.html
[2] Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism.
[3] Adapted from O’Brien, “The Importance.”
[4] Adapted from Jagaro, “The Noble Eightfold Path.”
[5] Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution, chap. 1.
[6] Ibid., 8.
[7] For some examples, see some links on the course web page for this week: http://cchu9014.weebly.com/4-observing-the-mindscape.html
[2] Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism.
[3] Adapted from O’Brien, “The Importance.”
[4] Adapted from Jagaro, “The Noble Eightfold Path.”
[5] Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution, chap. 1.
[6] Ibid., 8.
[7] For some examples, see some links on the course web page for this week: http://cchu9014.weebly.com/4-observing-the-mindscape.html
References
Bellah, Robert N. Religion in Human Evolution. Harvard University Press, 2011.
Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Jagaro, Ajahn. “The Noble Eightfold Path. A Talk given by Ajahn Jagaro,” October 1988. http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/B%20-%20Theravada/Teachers/Ajaan%20Jagaro/The%20Noble%20Eight-Fold%20Path/The_Noble_Eightfold_Path.pdf.
O’Brien, Barbara. “The Importance of the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism.” ThoughtCo. Accessed September 14, 2017. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-four-noble-truths-450095.
Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Jagaro, Ajahn. “The Noble Eightfold Path. A Talk given by Ajahn Jagaro,” October 1988. http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/B%20-%20Theravada/Teachers/Ajaan%20Jagaro/The%20Noble%20Eight-Fold%20Path/The_Noble_Eightfold_Path.pdf.
O’Brien, Barbara. “The Importance of the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism.” ThoughtCo. Accessed September 14, 2017. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-four-noble-truths-450095.