14 Buddha’s Own Words
men & women start growing vegetables & fruit bearing dwarf
plants in pots to overcome hunger the worst kind of illness & to
save precious lives.Share this with all Political leaders,religious
heads and universities of the world.Then we will create Awakened
Universe
frightened by the bodhisattva’s fearlessness.”
Noble Eightfold Path
Mental Development
Right Mindfulness
of Green Gulch Farm joined with Bay Area leaders and activists to
distribute their sangha-grown vegetables where it was needed most.
of the last formal ceremonies offered at Green Gulch before the sangha
began sheltering in place was the annual seed-sowing ceremony, which
opened this year’s agricultural season with a chant of dedication:
few months later, the fields were arrayed in a tapestry of dark green
kale, golden beets, red mustard, collards, rainbow chard, purplette
onions, and multi-hued lettuce—all ready for harvest just as access to
the Bay Area farmers markets closed down in May loaded vintage red
Toyota farm truck with harvest bounty to share across the increasingly
food-insecure Bay Area community.
the food and prepare it for distribution, would go to the Gulch three or
four times a week to load stacks of fresh produce and seedlings. We
would deliver these offerings to a network of three former farm
apprentices, dharma colleagues, and dedicated food activists who would
distribute the food throughout the community in places where it was most
needed.
almost fifty years of Zen training, the linked practices of engaged
dharma and deep ecology have been at the core of practice. Deep ecology
asks that recognize the interdependent nature of all species in the
living world without focusing on their potential usefulness to human
beings. Grounded in meditation and enlivened by kinship with plants and
the work of organic gardening, this practice in combination with engaged
dharma is dynamic, nonlinear, and rooted in universal change, were
able, in small, local way, to respond to rampant food insecurity.
monk Thich Nhat Hanh often said: “Mindfulness must be engaged. Once
there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise what is the use of
seeing?” Bhikkhu Bodhi, the activist scholar-monk who founded Buddhist
Global Relief in 2008, holds that all beings must have access to safe,
nutritious, and culturally appropriate food and medicine. Like Bhikkhu
Bodhi, have come to see making sure that people have the food and
medicine they need to sustain a healthy life full of dignity and moral
clarity is essential Buddhist practice.
the Anguttara Nikaya the Buddha taught “In giving food, one gives five
things: life, beauty, happiness, strength, and mental clarity.” This
insight informs 2nd-century scholarship attributed to Prabuddha Bharat
philosopher and monk Nagarjuna. He is one of the primary sources for the
teaching on the three forms of far-reaching generosity, which include
the generosity of material resources, of dharma teaching, and of
non-fear. Thich Nhat Hanh regularly emphasized the importance of
Nagarjuna’s fundamental teachings. Material support, a form of dana, is
considered the root of all good dharmas. In its worldly form of food,
medicine, shelter, and clothing, true material generosity never
discriminates between giver, receiver, or gift. Thich Nhat Hanh
underscored the intimacy of sharing goods and material resources
directly, warm hand to warm hand. The original teachings remind us that
to give with faith and respect, without harming any being and without
any expectation of praise or reward, brings benefit without limit and
generates an abiding wealth of spirit.
in the soil of material generosity, good dharma teaching grows. The
words “dharma” and “farm” share a common etymological root, dher,
meaning to uphold and support. A good farm upholds and supports the vow
to feed a hungry world. This generosity turns the wheel of dharma and
opens the door to its grounded teachings.
of all, the generosity of material support and dharma teaching
generates courage for consequential times. Fearlessness is expressed in
the timeless gesture of the upheld naked palm indicating the absence of
weapons and a readiness to meet all that arises. Trungpa Rinpoche
confirms that with this kind of spiritual courage: “Even fear is
frightened by the bodhisattva’s fearlessness.”
school gardens across the Bay were fallow when our guerilla team of
partners began planting them with close to 20,000 organically grown
seedlings donated by Green Gulch. These plants were entrusted to a range
of school gardens and public community plots around the Bay, from Marin
City to San Pedro public school to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
in North Berkeley (where surplus plant material was later shared with
the Oakland public school district) and to several community garden
projects in San Francisco and beyond. Now, in late autumn, as some
children are able to return to school, they are astounded by tangled
vines of Armenian cucumbers and drifts of ripe Sungold tomatoes spilling
across the pathways leading to their classrooms. Some of these same
schools ran active food giveaway programs all summer long to distribute
surplus produce from their Zen-fed gardens.
Marin City just six miles south of Green Gulch, the local People’s
Inter-Cities Fellowship Church received at least six crates a week from
May to October of fresh vegetables to cook and share with hungry
parishioners. The nearby Community Services District has planted their
annual senior citizen’s garden chock-full of robust collards, curly
mustard, and burgundy Romaine lettuce destined for a long winter
harvest.
the height of the growing season Peter often made two trips a week, his
truck loaded to capacity with produce, to donate to Berkeley Food
Network. This community-centered food hub was established in 2016 to
feed the City of Berkeley, where one in five residents are food
insecure. Berkeley Food Network runs an onsite pantry and many mobile
food pantries, pop-up grocery giveaway sites throughout the city, and
hub kitchens where more than 1,000 meals per week are prepared and
served by volunteer Bay Area chefs cooking recovered and donated food
for hungry citizens. One of our closest colleagues this summer was The
Cultural Conservancy, a beloved place-based, indigenous-led intertribal
organization that Peter and I have been working with for almost a
decade. From May through October we met with Maya Harjo, who is Quapaw,
Shawnee, Muskogee Creek, and Seminole and the young director of the
Native Foodways project at The Cultural Conservancy, to transfer ten to
twelve boxes of fresh Green Gulch produce into her truck.
The Cultural Conservancy Maya and other young Native staff tend their
traditional harvest fields of Seneca flint corn, Chimayo chile peppers,
Lakota squash and Bear Paw beans. These medicine crops are supplemented
with cool coastal relatives from Green Gulch: dinosaur kale, knobby
fingerling potatoes, and huge bunches of savoy spinach. Every week boxes
filled with this produce are distributed to feed families through the
California Indian Museum, the American Indian Children’s Resource Center
in Oakland, and the Sogorea Te Land Trust, a women-led urban indigenous
organization that honors sacred sites and ancestral burial grounds
throughout the California East Bay region.
is past mid-autumn now, and the long California growing season has
waned. Late light slants low, down to the root system of Candy Roaster
winter squash ripening honey gold beneath the gaze of exhausted
sunflowers.
US death toll from COVID-19 has topped 250,000, with more than 1.3
million deaths worldwide. The West Coast wildfires were a vivid
representation of the devastation and they were far from symbolic. The
ash and smoke of the California climate fires carry visible traces of
countless plant and animal relatives vaporized in the blazes. The great
nature of endless interdependence upholds the truths and continued
aspirations of this arduous year, echoed in the meal chant from Upaya
Zen Center:
the pandemic hit, veterans of Green Gulch Farm joined with Bay Area
leaders and activists to distribute their sangha-grown vegetables where
it was needed most.
মন-জাগ্ৰতএটা কৰক সকলো পুৰুষ আৰু মহিলাই ভোক দূৰ কৰিবলৈ পাত্ৰত পাচলি আৰু ফল যুক্ত
বামুণ গছ খেতি কৰা আৰম্ভ কৰে। jāti, jarā-maraṇa, দুখ, বিলাপ, দুক্খা,
দোমানসা আৰু দুখৰ নিৰোধা বন্ধ হ’বলৈ আহিছে। দুখাৰ এই গোটেই ভৰৰ নিৰোধা
এনেকুৱা। এটা জেন হাৰ্ভেষ্ট “আনকি বোধিসত্ত্বৰ নিৰ্ভীকতাৰ বাবে ভয়ও ভয়
খাইছে।” পৃথিৱী, বায়ু, পানী, জুই আৰু মহাকাশ এই খাদ্য তৈয়াৰ কৰিবলৈ
একত্ৰিত কৰক সংখ্যাহীন জীৱই তেওঁলোকৰ জীৱন আৰু শ্ৰম দিয়ে যিটো আমি খাব
পাৰোঁ। আমি জীৱনক পুষ্টি প্ৰদান কৰিব পৰাকৈ পুষ্টি প্ৰাপ্ত হওঁক!
মানুষ যদি হঠাৎ বদলে যায় বা ঠকায় তাহলে কি করা উচিত(Break up
motivation)আমাদের জীবন থেকে যখন আমাদের ভালোবাসার মানুষ….
પાકો :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXKTA5cOjQ&list=PLZ276sLY09iA7Et2-DyorbmR2×68i13oVયાંત્રિકારણ
/ સાધનો https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqTGXW…
purifyNirodha of Jāti, Jarāa, ຄວາມໂສກເສົ້າ, ຄວາມໂສກເສົ້າ, diamkha, domentas
& domenture ມາຢຸດເຊົາການ nirodha ຂອງມະຫາຊົນທັງຫມົດຂອງ dukkha.
ᴡᴛꜰ ʏ ᴇꜱᴛᴇ ᴋɪᴇɴ ᴘᴏʀᴏɴɢᴀꜱ ᴇꜱ?¿ᴍᴇᴍᴇ ʟʏɴᴇʟᴀlelaki & wanita mula tumbuh sayur-sayuran & buah-buahan yang
mempunyai tumbuhan kerdil di dalam periuk untuk mengatasi kelaparan.
Nirodha Jāti, Jarā-Maraṇa, kesedihan, meratap, Dukkha, Domanassa &
Kesusahan Datang ke Hease.Such adalah nirodha dari seluruh jisim Dukkha
ini.
Jangan lupa di SUBSCRIBE channeln…പുരുഷന്മാരും സ്ത്രീകളും പച്ചക്കറികളും പഴങ്ങളും വളർത്താൻ തുടങ്ങുന്നു,
പട്ടിണിയെ മറികടക്കാൻ ചട്ടിയിൽ കുള്ളൻ സസ്യങ്ങളെ വളർത്താൻ തുടങ്ങുന്നു.
Jarā-maraṇa, സങ്കടം, സങ്കടം, ദുൽഥ്, ഡൊമാനാസ്സ, ദുരിതങ്ങൾ
എന്നിവയ്ക്കൊപ്പം ദുഖ, ഡൊമനാസ്സ, ദുരിതങ്ങൾ എന്നിവ നിർണ്ണയിക്കുന്നു. ദുഖ
![കടങ്കഥകൾ [ പഴങ്ങൾ, പച്ചക്കറികൾ ]/question bank](https://external.fblr15-1.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQHKiKbiXqWXKH5L&w=480&h=250&url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FgpGnXWxiyRY%2Fhqdefault.jpg&cfs=1&ext=jpg&_nc_oe=6f640&_nc_sid=06c271&ccb=3-5>=1&_nc_hash=AQHcWBto4Ix7sOvB)
0 င်သောဟင်းသီးဟင်းရွက်များနှင့်သစ်သီးများကိုစိုက်ပျိုးကြသည်။
Jari-Maraṇa, Jarā-Maraṇa, ဝမ်းနည်းခြင်း, ငိုကြွေးမြည်တမ်းခြင်း, Dukkha,
Domanassa & Distress သည် Distress is is roluch သည် Diodha
၏ဒစ်ခ်ျနေရလိမ့်မည်။
भरारी : आरोग्य सल्ला : मासिक पाळीदरम्यान जास्त रक्तस्त्राव होत असल्यास
घरगुती उपचारFor latest breaking news, other top stories log on to:
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PऊऱीFय़् ंईण्ढ्-आWआKEण्Eढ् Oण्Eमेन् & wओमेन् स्टर्ट् ग्रोwइन्ग् वेगेटब्लेस् & फ़्रुइट्
बेअरिन्ग् ड्wअर्फ़् प्लन्ट्स् इन् पोट्स् टो ओवेर्cओमे हुन्गेर्.
ते निरोद ओफ़् ज्āटि,जर्ā-मरṇअ,सोर्रोw, लमेन्टटिओन्,डुक्ख,डोमनस्स &
डिस्ट्रेस्स् cओमे टो cएअसे.Sउच् इस् ते निरोद ओफ़् तिस् एन्टिरे मस्स् ओफ़्
डुक्ख.
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102) Classical Tamil-பாரம்பரிய இசைத்தமிழ் செம்மொழி,
புத்திசாலித்தனமாக மனதில் விழித்தெழுந்த ஒருஅனைத்து
ஆண்கள் & பெண்கள் வளர்ந்து வரும் காய்கறிகள் மற்றும் பசுமை கடக்க
பானைகளில் குள்ள தாவரங்கள் தாங்கி குள்ள தாவரங்கள் தொடங்கும்.ஜாத், ஜார்தா, துக்கம், புலம்பெயர்வு, துக்க்கா, துக்காசா, டுக்க்கா, துக்காசா, துக்காசா, துக்காசா மற்றும் துயரங்கள் ஆகியவையாகும்.ஒரு ஜென் அறுவடை“போதிலும் பயம் பயபக்தியினால் பயப்படுவதில்லை.”பூமி, காற்று, நீர், தீ மற்றும் இடம்இந்த உணவு செய்ய இணைக்கஎண்ணற்ற மனிதர்கள் நாம் சாப்பிடக்கூடிய வாழ்க்கையையும் உழைப்பையும் கொடுக்கிறார்கள்.நாம் வாழ்க்கையை வளர்க்கலாம் என்று நாம் உணரலாம்!
காய்கறிகள் சாகுபடியில் பெண்கள்
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Nirodha ของJāti, Jarā-Maraṇa, ความเศร้าโศก, คร่ำครวญ, Dukkha, Domanassa
& Distress มาที่ Such เป็น nirodha ของมวลทั้งหมดนี้ของ dukkha
Nirodha của Jāti, Jarā-Maraṇa, Nỗi buồn, Ladentation, Dukkha, Domanassa
& Đau khổ đến chấm dứt. Đó là Nirodha của toàn bộ khối dukkha này.
one occasion, the Bhagavā was dwelling near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s grove,
Anāthapiṇḍika’s park.{n} There, the Bhagavā adressed the bhikkhus:
by jāti arise jarā-maraṇa, sorrow, lamentation, dukkha, domanassa and
distress. Thus arises this whole mass of dukkha.
what, bhikkhus, is jarā-maraṇa? For the various beings in the various
classes of beings, jarā, the state of being decayed, of having broken
[teeth], of having grey hair, of being wrinkled, the decline of
vitality, the decay of the indriyas: this is called jarā. For the
various beings in the various classes of beings, the decease, the state
of shifting [out of existence], the break up, the disappearance, the
death, maraṇa, the passing away, the break up of the khandhas, the
laying down of the corpse: this is called maraṇa. Thus there is this
jarā and this maraṇa: this is called, bhikkhus, jarā-maraṇa.
what, bhikkhus, is jāti? For the various beings in the various classes
of beings, jāti, the birth, the descent [into the womb], the arising [in
the world], the appearance, the apparition of the khandhas, the
acquisition of the āyatanas. This, bhikkhus, is called jāti.
what, bhikkhus, is bhava? There are, bhikkhus, these three [types of]
bhava: kāma-bhava, rūpa-bhava and arūpa-bhava. This, bhikkhus, is called
bhava.
what, bhikkhus, is upādāna? There are, bhikkhus, these four upādānas:
kām’upādāna, diṭṭh’upādāna, sīlabbat’upādāna and attavād’upādāna. This,
bhikkhus, is called upādāna.
what, bhikkhus, is taṇhā? There are, bhikkhus, these six types of
taṇhā: taṇhā for visible forms, taṇhā for sounds, taṇhā for odors, taṇhā
for tastes, taṇhā for tangible bodily phenomena, taṇhā for mental
phenomena. This, bhikkhus, is called taṇhā.
what, bhikkhus, is vedanā? There are, bhikkhus, these six vedanās:
vedanā born of phassa at cakkhu, vedanā born of phassa at sota, vedanā
born of phassa at ghāna, vedanā born of phassa at jivhā, vedanā born of
phassa in kāya, vedanā born of phassa in mana. This, bhikkhus, is called
vedanā.
what, bhikkhus, is phassa? There are, bhikkhus, these six phassas:
phassa at cakkhu, phassa at sota, phassa at ghāna, phassa at jivhā,
phassa at kāya and phassa at mana. This, bhikkhus, is called phassa.
what, bhikkhus, are the saḷāyatanas? The āyatana of cakkhu, the āyatana
of sota, the āyatana of ghāna, the āyatana of jivhā, the āyatana of
kāya, the āyatana of mana. These, bhikkhus, are called saḷāyatanas.
what, bhikkhus, is nāma-rūpa? Vedanā, saññā, cetanā, phassa and
manasikāra: this is called nāma. The four great elements and the rūpa
derived from the four great elements: this is called rūpa. Thus, there
is this nāma and this rūpa: this is called nāma-rūpa.
what, bhikkhus, is viññāṇa? There are, bhikkhus, six viññāṇas: the
viññāṇa of cakkhu, the viññāṇa of sota, the viññāṇa of ghāna, the
viññāṇa of jivhā, the viññāṇa of kāya and the viññāṇa of mana. This,
bhikkhus, is called viññāṇa
what, bhikkhus, is saṅkhāra? There are, bhikkhus, three [types of]
saṅkhāras: kāya·saṅkhāras, vācā·saṅkhāras, citta·saṅkhāras. These,
bhikkhus, are called saṅkhāras.
what, bhikkhus, is avijjā? Not knowing dukkha, not knowing
dukkha-samudaya, not knowing dukkha-nirodha, not knowing
dukkha-nirodha-gāmini paṭipada. This, bhikkhus, is called avijjā.
by jāti arise jarā-maraṇa, sorrow, lamentation, dukkha, domanassa and
distress. Thus arises this whole mass of dukkha.
the nirodha of jāti, jarā-maraṇa, sorrow, lamentation, dukkha,
domanassa and distress come to cease. Such is the nirodha of this entire
mass of dukkha.
jarā-maraṇaṃ soka parideva dukkha domanass·upāyāsā sambhavanti.
Evam·etassa kevalassa dukkha’k'khandhassa samudayo hoti.
bhikkhave, jarā-maraṇaṃ? Yā tesaṃ tesaṃ sattānaṃ tamhi tamhi
satta·nikāye jarā jīraṇatā khaṇḍiccaṃ pāliccaṃ valittacatā āyuno saṃhāni
indriyānaṃ paripāko: ayaṃ vuccati jarā. Yā tesaṃ tesaṃ sattānaṃ tamhi
tamhi satta·nikāyā cuti cavanatā bhedo antaradhānaṃ maccu maraṇaṃ
kālakiriyā khandhānaṃ bhedo kaḷevarassa nikkhepo, idaṃ vuccati maraṇaṃ.
Iti aya·ñca jarā, ida·ñca maraṇaṃ: idaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave,
jarā-maraṇaṃ.
ca, bhikkhave, jāti? Yā tesaṃ tesaṃ sattānaṃ tamhi tamhi satta·nikāye
jāti sañjāti okkanti nibbatti abhinibbatti khandhānaṃ pātubhāvo
āyatanānaṃ paṭilābho. Ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, jāti.
bhikkhave, upādānaṃ? Cattār·imāni, bhikkhave, upādānāni: kām’upādānaṃ,
diṭṭh’upādānaṃ, sīlabbat’upādānaṃ, attavād’upādānaṃ. Idaṃ vuccati,
bhikkhave, upādānaṃ.
ca, bhikkhave, taṇhā? Cha’y'ime, bhikkhave, taṇhā·kāyā: rūpa·taṇhā,
sadda·taṇhā, gandha·taṇhā, rasa·taṇhā, phoṭṭhabba·taṇhā, dhamma·taṇhā.
Ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, taṇhā.
ca, bhikkhave, vedanā? Cha’y'ime, bhikkhave, vedanā·kāyā:
cakkhu·samphassa·jā vedanā, sota·samphassa·jā vedanā, ghāna·samphassa·jā
vedanā, jivhā·samphassa·jā vedanā, kāya·samphassa·jā vedanā,
mano·samphassa·jā vedanā. Ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, vedanā.
ca, bhikkhave, phasso? Cha’y'ime, bhikkhave, phassa·kāyā:
cakkhu·samphasso, sota·samphasso, ghāna·samphasso, jivhā·samphasso,
kāya·samphasso, mano·samphasso. Ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, phasso.
bhikkhave, saḷāyatanaṃ? Cakkh·āyatanaṃ, sot·āyatanaṃ, ghān·āyatanaṃ,
jivh·āyatanaṃ, kāy·āyatanaṃ, man·āyatanaṃ. Idaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave,
saḷāyatanaṃ.
bhikkhave, nāma-rūpaṃ? Vedanā, saññā, cetanā, phasso, manasikāro: idaṃ
vuccati nāmaṃ. Cattāro ca mahā-bhūtā, catunna·ñca mahā-bhūtānaṃ
upādāya·rūpaṃ: Idaṃ vuccati rūpaṃ. Iti ida·ñca nāmaṃ, ida·ñca rūpaṃ:
idaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, nāma-rūpaṃ.
bhikkhave, viññāṇaṃ? Cha’y'ime, bhikkhave, viññāṇa·kāyā:
cakkhu·viññāṇaṃ, sota·viññāṇaṃ, ghāna·viññāṇaṃ, jivhā·viññāṇaṃ,
kāya·viññāṇaṃ, mano·viññāṇaṃ. Idaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, viññāṇaṃ..
ca, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā? Tay·ome, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā: kāya·saṅkhāro,
vacī·saṅkhāro, citta·saṅkhāro. Ime vuccanti, bhikkhave, saṅkhārā.
ca, bhikkhave, avijjā? Yaṃ kho, bhikkhave, dukkhe aññāṇaṃ,
dukkha-samudaye aññāṇaṃ, dukkha-nirodhe aññāṇaṃ, dukkha-nirodha-gāminiyā
paṭipadāya aññāṇaṃ. Ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, avijjā.
jarā-maraṇaṃ soka parideva dukkha domanass·upāyāsā sambhavanti.
Evam·etassa kevalassa dukkha’k'khandhassa samudayo hoti.
jarā-maraṇaṃ soka parideva dukkha domanass·upāyāsā nirujjhanti.
Evam·etassa kevalassa dukkha’k'khandhassa nirodho hotī ti.
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(Samma Sati)
The Buddha says that the Dhamma, the ultimate truth of things, is directly visible, timeless, calling out to be approached and seen. He says further that it is always available to us, and that the place where it is to be realized is within oneself.49 The ultimate truth, the Dhamma, is not something mysterious and remote, but the truth of our own experience. It can be reached only by understanding our experience, by penetrating it right through to its foundations. This truth, in order to become liberating truth, has to be known directly. It is not enough merely to accept it on faith, to believe it on the authority of books or a teacher, or to think it out through deductions and inferences. It has to be known by insight, grasped and absorbed by a kind of knowing which is also an immediate seeing.
What brings the field of experience into focus and makes it accessible to insight is a mental faculty called in Pali sati, usually translated as “mindfulness.” Mindfulness is presence of mind, attentiveness or awareness. Yet the kind of awareness involved in mindfulness differs profoundly from the kind of awareness at work in our usual mode of consciousness. All consciousness involves awareness in the sense of a knowing or experiencing of an object. But with the practice of mindfulness awareness is applied at a special pitch. The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped. The task is simply to note whatever comes up just as it is occurring, riding the changes of events in the way a surfer rides the waves on the sea. The whole process is a way of coming back into the present, of standing in the here and now without slipping away, without getting swept away by the tides of distracting thoughts.
It might be assumed that we are always aware of the present, but this is a mirage. Only seldom do we become aware of the present in the precise way required by the practice of mindfulness. In ordinary consciousness the mind begins a cognitive process with some impression given in the present, but it does not stay with it. Instead it uses the immediate impression as a springboard for building blocks of mental constructs which remove it from the sheer facticity of the datum. The cognitive process is generally interpretative. The mind perceives its object free from conceptualization only briefly. Then, immediately after grasping the initial impression, it launches on a course of ideation by which it seeks to interpret the object to itself, to make it intelligible in terms of its own categories and assumptions. To bring this about the mind posits concepts, joins the concepts into constructs — sets of mutually corroborative concepts — then weaves the constructs together into complex interpretative schemes. In the end the original direct experience has been overrun by ideation and the presented object appears only dimly through dense layers of ideas and views, like the moon through a layer of clouds.
The Buddha calls this process of mental construction papañca, “elaboration,” “embellishment,” or “conceptual proliferation.” The elaborations block out the presentational immediacy of phenomena; they let us know the object only “at a distance,” not as it really is. But the elaborations do not only screen cognition; they also serve as a basis for projections. The deluded mind, cloaked in ignorance, projects its own internal constructs outwardly, ascribing them to the object as if they really belonged to it. As a result, what we know as the final object of cognition, what we use as the basis for our values, plans, and actions, is a patchwork product, not the original article. To be sure, the product is not wholly illusion, not sheer fantasy. It takes whatis given in immediate experience as its groundwork and raw material, but along with this it includes something else: the embellishments fabricated by the mind.
The springs for this process of fabrication, hidden from view, are the latent defilements. The defilements create the embellishments, project them outwardly, and use them as hooks for coming to the surface, where they cause further distortion. To correct the erroneous notions is the task of wisdom, but for wisdom to discharge its work effectively, it needs direct access to the object as it is in itself, uncluttered by the conceptual elaborations. The task of right mindfulness is to clear up the cognitive field. Mindfulness brings to light experience in its pure immediacy. It reveals the object as it is before it has been plastered over with conceptual paint, overlaid with interpretations. To practice mindfulness is thus a matter not so much of doing but of undoing: not thinking, not judging, not associating, not planning, not imagining, not wishing. All these “doings” of ours are modes of interference, ways the mind manipulates experience and tries to establish its dominance. Mindfulness undoes the knots and tangles of these “doings” by simply noting. It does nothing but note, watching each occasion of experience as it arises, stands, and passes away. In the watching there is no room for clinging, no compulsion to saddle things with our desires. There is only a sustained contemplation of experience in its bare immediacy, carefully and precisely and persistently.
Mindfulness exercises a powerful grounding function. It anchors the mind securely in the present, so it does not float away into the past and future with their memories, regrets, fears, and hopes. The mind without mindfulness is sometimes compared to a pumpkin, the mind established in mindfulness to a stone.50 A pumpkin placed on the surface of a pond soon floats away and always remains on the water’s surface. But a stone does not float away; it stays where it is put and at once sinks into the water until it reaches bottom. Similarly, when mindfulness is strong, the mind stays with its object and penetrates its characteristics deeply. It does not wander and merely skim the surface as the mind destitute of mindfulness does.
Mindfulness facilitates the achievement of both serenity and insight. It can lead to either deep concentration or wisdom, depending on the mode in which it is applied. Merely a slight shift in the mode of application can spell the difference between the course the contemplative process takes, whether it descends to deeper levels of inner calm culminating in the stages of absorption, the jhanas, or whether instead it strips away the veils of delusion to arrive at penetrating insight. To lead to the stages of serenity the primary chore of mindfulness is to keep the mind on the object, free from straying. Mindfulness serves as the guard charged with the responsibility of making sure that the mind does not slip away from the object to lose itself in random undirected thoughts. It also keeps watch over the factors stirring in the mind, catching the hindrances beneath their camouflages and expelling them before they can cause harm. To lead to insight and the realizations of wisdom, mindfulness is exercised in a more differentiated manner. Its task, in this phase of practice, is to observe, to note, to discern phenomena with utmost precision until their fundamental characteristics are brought to light.
Right mindfulness is cultivated through a practice called “the four foundations of mindfulness” (cattaro satipatthana), the mindful contemplation of four objective spheres: the body, feelings, states of mind, and phenomena.51 As the Buddha explains:
And what, monks, is right mindfulness? Herein, a monk dwells contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief concerning the world. He dwells contemplating feelings in feelings… states of mind in states of mind… phenomena in phenomena, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief concerning the world.52
The Buddha says that the four foundations of mindfulness form “the only way that leads to the attainment of purity, to the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, to the end of pain and grief, to the entering upon the right path and the realization of Nibbana.”53 They are called “the only way” (ekayano maggo), not for the purpose of setting forth a narrow dogmatism, but to indicate that the attainment of liberation can only issue from the penetrating contemplation of the field of experience undertaken in the practice of right mindfulness.
Of the four applications of mindfulness, the contemplation of the body is concerned with the material side of existence; the other three are concerned principally (though not solely) with the mental side. The completion of the practice requires all four contemplations. Though no fixed order is laid down in which they are to be taken up, the body is generally taken first as the basic sphere of contemplation; the others come into view later, when mindfulness has gained in strength and clarity. Limitations of space do not allow for a complete explanation of all four foundations. Here we have to settle for a brief synopsis.
(1) Contemplation of the Body (kayanupassana)
The Buddha begins his exposition of the body with contemplation of the mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati). Though not required as a starting point for meditation, in actual practice mindfulness of breathing usually serves as the “root meditation subject” (mulakammatthana), the foundation for the entire course of contemplation. It would be a mistake, however, to consider this subject merely an exercise for neophytes. By itself mindfulness of breathing can lead to all the stages of the path culminating in full awakening. In fact it was this meditation subject that the Buddha used on the night of his own enlightenment. He also reverted to it throughout the years during his solitary retreats, and constantly recommended it to the monks, praising it as “peaceful and sublime, an unadulterated blissful abiding, which banishes at once and stills evil unwholesome thoughts as soon as they arise” (MN 118).
Mindfulness of breathing can function so effectively as a subject of meditation because it works with a process that is always available to us, the process of respiration. What it does to turn this process into a basis for meditation is simply to bring it into the range of awareness by making the breath an object of observation. The meditation requires no special intellectual sophistication, only awareness of the breath. One merely breathes naturally through the nostrils keeping the breath in mind at the contact point around the nostrils or upper lip, where the sensation of breath can be felt as the air moves in and out. There should be no attempt to control the breath or to force it into predetermined rhythms, only a mindful contemplation of the natural process of breathing in and out. The awareness of breath cuts through the complexities of discursive thinking, rescues us from pointless wandering in the labyrinth of vain imaginings, and grounds us solidly in the present. For whenever we become aware of breathing, really aware of it, we can be aware of it only in the present, never in the past or the future.
The Buddha’s exposition of mindfulness of breathing involves four basic steps. The first two (which are not necessarily sequential) require that a long inhalation or exhalation be noted as it occurs, and that a short inhalation or exhalation be noted as it occurs. One simply observes the breath moving in and out, observing it as closely as possible, noting whether the breath is long or short. As mindfulness grows sharper, the breath can be followed through the entire course of its movement, from the beginning of an inhalation through its intermediary stages to its end, then from the beginning of an exhalation through its intermediary stages to its end. This third step is called “clearly perceiving the entire (breath) body.” The fourth step, “calming the bodily function,” involves a progressive quieting down of the breath and its associated bodily functions until they become extremely fine and subtle. Beyond these four basic steps lie more advanced practices which direct mindfulness of breathing towards deep concentration and insight.54
Another practice in the contemplation of the body, which extends meditation outwards from the confines of a single fixed position, is mindfulness of the postures. The body can assume four basic postures — walking, standing, sitting, and lying down — and a variety of other positions marking the change from one posture to another. Mindfulness of the postures focuses full attention on the body in whatever position it assumes: when walking one is aware of walking, when standing one is aware of standing, when sitting one is aware of sitting, when lying down one is aware of lying down, when changing postures one is aware of changing postures. The contemplation of the postures illuminates the impersonal nature of the body. It reveals that the body is not a self or the belonging of a self, but merely a configuration of living matter subject to the directing influence of volition.
The next exercise carries the extension of mindfulness a step further. This exercise, called “mindfulness and clear comprehension” (satisampajañña), adds to the bare awareness an element of understanding. When performing any action, one performs it with full awareness or clear comprehension. Going and coming, looking ahead and looking aside, bending and stretching, dressing, eating, drinking, urinating, defecating, falling asleep, waking up, speaking, remaining silent — all become occasions for the progress of meditation when done with clear comprehension. In the commentaries clear comprehension is explained as fourfold: (1) understanding the purpose of the action, i.e., recognizing its aim and determining whether that aim accords with the Dhamma; (2) understanding suitability, i.e., knowing the most efficient means to achieve one’s aim; (3) understanding the range of meditation, i.e., keeping the mind constantly in a meditative frame even when engaged in action; and (4) understanding without delusion, i.e., seeing the action as an impersonal process devoid of a controlling ego-entity.55 This last aspect will be explored more thoroughly in the last chapter, on the development of wisdom.
The next two sections on mindfulness of the body present analytical contemplations intended to expose the body’s real nature. One of these is the meditation on the body’s unattractiveness, already touched on in connection with right effort; the other, the analysis of the body into the four primary elements. The first, the meditation on unattractiveness,56 is designed to counter infatuation with the body, especially in its form of sexual desire. The Buddha teaches that the sexual drive is a manifestation of craving, thus a cause of dukkha that has to be reduced and extricated as a precondition for bringing dukkha to an end. The meditation aims at weakening sexual desire by depriving the sexual urge of its cognitive underpinning, the perception of the body as sensually alluring. Sensual desire rises and falls together with this perception. It springs up because we view the body as attractive; it declines when this perception of beauty is removed. The perception of bodily attractiveness in turn lasts only so long as the body is looked at superficially, grasped in terms of selected impressions. To counter that perception we have to refuse to stop with these impressions but proceed to inspect the body at a deeper level, with a probing scrutiny grounded in dispassion.
Precisely this is what is undertaken in the meditation on unattractiveness, which turns back the tide of sensuality by pulling away its perceptual prop. The meditation takes one’s own body as object, since for a neophyte to start off with the body of another, especially a member of the opposite sex, might fail to accomplish the desired result. Using visualization as an aid, one mentally dissects the body into its components and investigates them one by one, bringing their repulsive nature to light. The texts mention thirty-two parts: head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, stomach contents, excrement, brain, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, snot, spittle, sinovial fluid, and urine. The repulsiveness of the parts implies the same for the whole: the body seen closeup is truly unattractive, its beautiful appearance a mirage. But the aim of this meditation must not be misapprehended. The aim is not to produce aversion and disgust but detachment, to extinguish the fire of lust by removing its fuel.57
The other analytical contemplation deals with the body in a different way. This meditation, called the analysis into elements (dhatuvavatthana), sets out to counter our innate tendency to identify with the body by exposing the body’s essentially impersonal nature. The means it employs, as its name indicates, is the mental dissection of the body into the four primary elements, referred to by the archaic names earth, water, fire, and air, but actually signifying the four principal behavioral modes of matter: solidity, fluidity, heat, and oscillation. The solid element is seen most clearly in the body’s solid parts — the organs, tissues, and bones; the fluid element, in the bodily fluids; the heat element, in the body’s temperature; the oscillation element, in the respiratory process. The break with the identification of the body as “I” or “my self” is effected by a widening of perspective after the elements have come into view. Having analyzed the body into the elements, one then considers that all four elements, the chief aspects of bodily existence, are essentially identical with the chief aspects of external matter, with which the body is in constant interchange. When one vividly realizes this through prolonged meditation, one ceases to identify with the body, ceases to cling to it. One sees that the body is nothing more than a particular configuration of changing material processes which support a stream of changing mental processes. There is nothing here that can be considered a truly existent self, nothing that can provide a substantial basis for the sense of personal identity.58
The last exercise in mindfulness of the body is a series of “cemetery meditations,” contemplations of the body’s disintegration after death, which may be performed either imaginatively, with the aid of pictures, or through direct confrontation with a corpse. By any of these means one obtains a clear mental image of a decomposing body, then applies the process to one’s own body, considering: “This body, now so full of life, has the same nature and is subject to the same fate. It cannot escape death, cannot escape disintegration, but must eventually die and decompose.” Again, the purpose of this meditation should not be misunderstood. The aim is not to indulge in a morbid fascination with death and corpses, but to sunder our egoistic clinging to existence with a contemplation sufficiently powerful to break its hold. The clinging to existence subsists through the implicit assumption of permanence. In the sight of a corpse we meet the teacher who proclaims unambiguously: “Everything formed is impermanent.”
(2) Contemplation of Feeling (vedananupassana)
The next foundation of mindfulness is feeling (vedana). The word “feeling” is used here, not in the sense of emotion (a complex phenomenon best subsumed under the third and fourth foundations of mindfulness), but in the narrower sense of the affective tone or “hedonic quality” of experience. This may be of three kinds, yielding three principal types of feeling: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neutral feeling. The Buddha teaches that feeling is an inseparable concomitant of consciousness, since every act of knowing is colored by some affective tone. Thus feeling is present at every moment of experience; it may be strong or weak, clear or indistinct, but some feeling must accompany the cognition.
Feeling arises in dependence on a mental event called “contact” (phassa). Contact marks the “coming together” of consciousness with the object via a sense faculty; it is the factor by virtue of which consciousness “touches” the object presenting itself to the mind through the sense organ. Thus there are six kinds of contact distinguished by the six sense faculties — eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact, and mind-contact — and six kinds of feeling distinguished by the contact from which they spring.
Feeling acquires special importance as an object of contemplation because it is feeling that usually triggers the latent defilements into activity. The feelings may not be clearly registered, but in subtle ways they nourish and sustain the dispositions to unwholesome states. Thus when a pleasant feeling arises, we fall under the influence of the defilement greed and cling to it. When a painful feeling occurs, we respond with displeasure, hate, and fear, which are aspects of aversion. And when a neutral feeling occurs, we generally do not notice it, or let it lull us into a false sense of security — states of mind governed by delusion. From this it can be seen that each of the root defilements is conditioned by a particular kind of feeling: greed by pleasant feeling, aversion by painful feeling, delusion by neutral feeling.
But the link between feelings and the defilements is not a necessary one. Pleasure does not always have to lead to greed, pain to aversion, neutral feeling to delusion. The tie between them can be snapped, and one essential means for snapping it is mindfulness. Feeling will stir up a defilement only when it is not noticed, when it is indulged rather than observed. By turning it into an object of observation, mindfulness defuses the feeling so that it cannot provoke an unwholesome response. Then, instead of relating to the feeling by way of habit through attachment, repulsion, or apathy, we relate by way of contemplation, using the feeling as a springboard for understanding the nature of experience.
In the early stages the contemplation of feeling involves attending to the arisen feelings, noting their distinctive qualities: pleasant, painful, neutral. The feeling is noted without identifying with it, without taking it to be “I” or “mine” or something happening “to me.” Awareness is kept at the level of bare attention: one watches each feeling that arises, seeing it as merely a feeling, a bare mental event shorn of all subjective references, all pointers to an ego. The task is simply to note the feeling’s quality, its tone of pleasure, pain, or neutrality.
But as practice advances, as one goes on noting each feeling, letting it go and noting the next, the focus of attention shifts from the qualities of feelings to the process of feeling itself. The process reveals a ceaseless flux of feelings arising and dissolving, succeeding one another without a halt. Within the process there is nothing lasting. Feeling itself is only a stream of events, occasions of feeling flashing into being moment by moment, dissolving as soon as they arise. Thus begins the insight into impermanence, which, as it evolves, overturns the three unwholesome roots. There is no greed for pleasant feelings, no aversion for painful feelings, no delusion over neutral feelings. All are seen as merely fleeting and substanceless events devoid of any true enjoyment or basis for involvement.
(3) Contemplation of the State of Mind (cittanupassana)
With this foundation of mindfulness we turn from a particular mental factor, feeling, to the general state of mind to which that factor belongs. To understand what is entailed by this contemplation it is helpful to look at the Buddhist conception of the mind. Usually we think of the mind as an enduring faculty remaining identical with itself through the succession of experiences. Though experience changes, the mind which undergoes the changing experience seems to remain the same, perhaps modified in certain ways but still retaining its identity. However, in the Buddha’s teaching the notion of a permanent mental organ is rejected. The mind is regarded, not as a lasting subject of thought, feeling, and volition, but as a sequence of momentary mental acts, each distinct and discrete, their connections with one another causal rather than substantial.
A single act of consciousness is called a citta, which we shall render “a state of mind.” Each citta consists of many components, the chief of which is consciousness itself, the basic experiencing of the object; consciousness is also called citta, the name for the whole being given to its principal part. Along with consciousness every citta contains a set of concomitants called cetasikas, mental factors. These include feeling, perception, volition, the emotions, etc.; in short, all the mental functions except the primary knowing of the object, which is citta or consciousness.
Since consciousness in itself is just a bare experiencing of an object, it cannot be differentiated through its own nature but only by way of its associated factors, the cetasikas. The cetasikas color the citta and give it its distinctive character; thus when we want to pinpoint the citta as an object of contemplation, we have to do so by using the cetasikas as indicators. In his exposition of the contemplation of the state of mind, the Buddha mentions, by reference to cetasikas, sixteen kinds of citta to be noted: the mind with lust, the mind without lust, the mind with aversion, the mind without aversion, the mind with delusion, the mind without delusion, the cramped mind, the scattered mind, the developed mind, the undeveloped mind, the surpassable mind, the unsurpassable mind, the concentrated mind, the unconcentrated mind, the freed mind, the unfreed mind. For practical purposes it is sufficient at the start to focus solely on the first six states, noting whether the mind is associated with any of the unwholesome roots or free from them. When a particular citta is present, it is contemplated merely as a citta, a state of mind. It is not identified with as “I” or “mine,” not taken as a self or as something belonging to a self. Whether it is a pure state of mind or a defiled state, a lofty state or a low one, there should be no elation or dejection, only a clear recognition of the state. The state is simply noted, then allowed to pass without clinging to the desired ones or resenting the undesired ones.
As contemplation deepens, the contents of the mind become increasingly rarefied. Irrelevant flights of thought, imagination, and emotion subside, mindfulness becomes clearer, the mind remains intently aware, watching its own process of becoming. At times there might appear to be a persisting observer behind the process, but with continued practice even this apparent observer disappears. The mind itself — the seemingly solid, stable mind — dissolves into a stream of cittas flashing in and out of being moment by moment, coming from nowhere and going nowhere, yet continuing in sequence without pause.
(4) Contemplation of Phenomena (dhammanupassana)
In the context of the fourth foundation of mindfulness, the multivalent word dhamma (here intended in the plural) has two interconnected meanings, as the account in the sutta shows. One meaning is cetasikas, the mental factors, which are now attended to in their own right apart from their role as coloring the state of mind, as was done in the previous contemplation. The other meaning is the elements of actuality, the ultimate constituents of experience as structured in the Buddha’s teaching.To convey both senses we render dhamma as “phenomena,” for lack of a better alternative. But when we do so this should not be taken to imply the existence of some noumenon or substance behind the phenomena.The point of the Buddha’s teaching of anatta, egolessness, is that the basic constituents of actuality are bare phenomena (suddha-dhamma) occurring without any noumenal support.
The sutta section on the contemplation of phenomena is divided into five sub-sections, each devoted to a different set of phenomena: the five hindrances, the five aggregates, the six inner and outer sense bases, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the Four Noble Truths. Among these, the five hindrances and the seven enlightenment factors are dhamma in the narrower sense of mental factors, the others are dhamma in the broader sense of constituents of actuality. (In the third section, however, on the sense bases, there is a reference to the fetters that arise through the senses; these can also be included among the mental factors.) In the present chapter we shall deal briefly only with the two groups that may be regarded as dhamma in the sense of mental factors. We already touched on both of these in relation to right effort (Chapter V); now we shall consider them in specific connection with the practice of right mindfulness. We shall discuss the other types of dhamma — the five aggregates and the six senses — in the final chapter, in relation to the development of wisdom.
The five hindrances and seven factors of enlightenment require special attention because they are the principal impediments and aids to liberation. The hindrances — sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and worry, and doubt — generally become manifest in an early stage of practice, soon after the initial expectations and gross disturbances subside and the subtle tendencies find the opportunity to surface. Whenever one of the hindrances crops up, its presence should be noted; then, when it fades away, a note should be made of its disappearance. To ensure that the hindrances are kept under control an element of comprehension is needed: we have to understand how the hindrances arise, how they can be removed, and how they can be prevented from arising in the future.59
A similar mode of contemplation is to be applied to the seven factors of enlightenment: mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture, tranquillity, concentration, and equanimity. When any one of these factors arises, its presence should be noted. Then, after noting its presence, one has to investigate to discover how it arises and how it can be matured.60 When they first spring up, the enlightenment factors are weak, but with consistent cultivation they accumulate strength. Mindfulness initiates the contemplative process. When it becomes well-established, it arouses investigation, the probing quality of intelligence. Investigation in turn calls forth energy, energy gives rise to rapture, rapture leads to tranquillity, tranquillity to one-pointed concentration, and concentration to equanimity. Thus the whole evolving course of practice leading to enlightenment begins with mindfulness, which remains throughout as the regulating power ensuring that the mind is clear, cognizant, and balanced.