CHAPTER VII
‘MEDITATION’ OR MENTAL
CULTURE:
BHĀVANĀ
The Buddha said: ‘O
bhikkhus, there are two kinds of illness. What are those
two? Physical illness and mental illness. There seem to be
people who enjoy freedom from physical illness even for a
year or two… even for a hundred years or more. But, O
bhikkhus, rare n this world are those who enjoy freedom from
mental illness even for one moment, except those who are
free from mental defilements’ (i.e., except arahants).
The Buddha’s
teaching, particularly his way of ‘meditation’, aims at
producing a state of perfect mental health, equilibrium and
tranquility. It is unfortunate that hardly any other section
of the Buddha’ teaching is so much misunderstood as
‘meditation’, both by Buddhists and non-Buddhists. The
moment the word ‘meditation’ is mentioned, one thinks of an
escape from the daily activities of life; assuming a
particular posture, like a statue in some cave or cell in a
monastery, in some remote place cut off from society; and
musing on, or being absorbed in, some kind of mystic or
mysterious thought or trance. True Buddhist ‘meditation’
does not mean this kind of escape at all. The Buddha’s
teaching on this subject was so wrongly, or so little
understood, that in later times the way of ‘meditation’
deteriorated and degenerated into a kind of ritual or
ceremony almost technical in its routine.
Most people
are interested in meditation or yoga in order to gain
some spiritual or mystic powers like the ‘third eye’, which
others do not posses. There was some time ago a Buddhist nun
in India who was trying to develop a power to see through
her ears, while she was still in the possession of the
‘power’ of perfect eye-sight! This kind of idea is nothing
but ‘spiritual perversion’. It is always a question of
desire, ‘thirst’ for power.
The word
meditation is a very poor substitute for the original term
bhāvanā, which means ‘culture’ or ‘development’,
i.e., mental culture or mental development. The Buddhist
bhāvanā, properly speaking, is mental culture in the
full sense of the term. It aims at cleansing the mind of
impurities and disturbances, such as lustful desires,
hatred, ill-will, indolence, worries and restlessness,
skeptical doubts, and cultivating such qualities as
concentration, awareness, intelligence, will, energy, the
analytical faculty, confidence, joy, tranquility, leading
finally to the attainment of highest wisdom which sees the
nature of things as they are, and realize the Ultimate
Truth, Nirvāna.
There are two
forms of meditation. One is the development of mental
concentration (samatha or samādhi), of one-pointedness
of mind (cittekaggatā, Skt, cittaikāgratā), by
various methods prescribed in the texts, leading up to the
highest mystic states such as ‘the Sphere of Nothingness’ or
‘the Sphere of Neither-Perception-nor-Non-Perception’. All
these mystic states, according to the Buddha, are
mind-created, mind-produced, conditioned (samkhata).
They have nothing to do with Reality, Truth, Nirvāna. This
form of meditation existed before the Buddha. Hence it is
not purely Buddhist, but it is not excluded from the field
of Buddhist meditation. However it is not essential for the
realization of Nirvāna. The Buddha himself, before his
Enlightenment, studied these yogic practices under different
teachers and attained to the highest mystic states; but he
was not satisfied with them, because they did not give
complete liberation, they did not give insight into the
Ultimate Reality. He considered these mystic states only as
‘happy living in this existence’ (ditthadhammasukhavihāra),
or ‘peaceful living’ (santavihāra), and nothing more.
He therefore
discovered the other form of ‘meditation’ known as
vipassanā (Skt. Vipaśyanā or vidarśanā),
‘Insight’ into the nature of things, leading to the complete
liberation of mind, to the realization of the Ultimate
Truth, Nirvāna. This is essentially Buddhist ‘meditation’,
Buddhist mental culture. It is an analytical method based on
mindfulness, awareness, vigilance, observation.
It is
impossible to do justice to such a vast subject in a few
pages. However an attempt is made here to give a very brief
and rough idea of the true Buddhist ‘meditation’, mental
culture or mental development, in a practical way.
The most
important discourse ever given by the Buddha on mental
development (‘meditation’) is called the
Satipatthāna-sutta ‘The Setting-up of Mindfulness’ (No.
22 of the Digha-nikāya, or No. 10 of the
Majjhima-nikāya). This discourse is so highly venerated
in tradition that it is regularly recited not only in
Buddhist monasteries, but also in Buddhist homes with
members of the family sitting round and listening with deep
devotion. Very often bhikkhus recite this sutta by
the bed-side of a dying man to purify his last thoughts.
The ways of
‘meditation’ given in this discourse are not cut off from
life, nor do they avoid life; on the contrary, they are all
connected with our life, our daily activities, our sorrows
and joys, our words and thoughts, our moral and intellectual
occupations.
The discourse
is divided into four main sections: the first section deals
with our body (kāya), the second with our feelings
and sensation (vedanā), the third with the wind (citta),
and the fourth with various moral and intellectual subjects
(dhamma).
It should be
clearly borne in mind that whatever the form of ‘meditation’
may be, the essential thing is mindfulness or awareness (sati),
attention or observation (anupassanā).
One of the
most well-known, popular and practical examples of
‘meditation’ connected with the body is called ‘The
mindfulness or Awareness of in-and-out breathing’ (ānāpānasati).
It is for this ‘meditation’ only that a particular and
definite posture is prescribed in the text. For other forms
of ‘meditation’ given in this sutta, you may sit,
stand, walk, or lie down, as you like. But, for cultivating
mindfulness of in-and-out breathing, one should sit,
according to the text, ‘cross-legged, keeping the body erect
and mindfulness alert’. But sitting cross-legged is not
practical and easy for people of all countries, particularly
for Westerners. Therefore, those who find it difficult to
sit cross-legged may sit on a chair, ‘keeping the body erect
and mindfulness alert’. It is very necessary for this
exercise that the mediator should sit erect, but not stiff;
his hands placed comfortably on his lap. Thus seated, you
may close your eyes, or you may gaze at the tip of your
nose, as it may be convenient to you.
You breathe
in and out all day and night, but you are never mindful of
it, you never for a second concentrate your mind on it. Now
you are going to do just this. Breathe in and out as usual,
without any effort or strain. Now, bring your mind to
concentrate on your breathing-in and breathing-out; let your
mind watch and observe your breathing in and out; let your
mind be aware and vigilant of your breathing in and out.
When you breathe, you sometimes take deep breaths, sometimes
not. This does not matter at all. Breathe normally and
naturally. The only thing is that when you take deep breaths
you should be aware that they are deep breaths, and so on.
In other words, your mind should be so fully concentrated on
your breathing that you are aware of its movements and
changes. Forget all other things, your surroundings, your
environment; do not raise your eyes and look at anything.
Try to do this for five or ten minutes.
At the
beginning you will find it extremely difficult to bring your
mind to concentrate on your breathing. You will be
astonished how your mind runs away. It does not stay. You
begin to think of various things. You hear sounds outside.
Your mind is disturbed and distracted. You may be dismayed
and disappointed. But if you continue to practice this
exercise twice daily, morning and evening, for about five or
ten minutes at a time, you will gradually, by and by, being
to concentrate your mind on your breathing. After a certain
period, you will experience just that split second when your
mind is fully concentrated on your breathing, when you will
not hear even sounds nearby, when no external world exists
for you. This slight moment is such a tremendous experience
for you, full of joy, happiness and tranquility, that you
would like to continue it. But still you cannot. Yet if you
go on practising this regularly, you may repeat the
experience again and again for longer and longer periods.
That is the moment when you loose yourself completely in
your mindfulness of breathing. As long as you are conscious
of yourself you can never concentrate on anything.
This exercise
of mindfulness of breathing, which is one of the simplest
and easiest practices, is meant to develop concentration
leading up to very high mystic attainments (dhyāna).
Besides, the power of concentration is essential for any
kind of deep understanding, penetration, insight into the
nature of things, including the realization of Nirvāna.
Apart from
all this, this exercise on breathing gives you immediate
results. It is good for your physical health, for
relaxation, sound sleep, and for efficiency in your daily
work. It makes you calm and tranquil. Even at moments when
you are nervous or excited, if you practice this for a
couple of minutes, you will see for yourself that you become
immediately quiet and at peace. You feel as if you have
awakened after a good rest.
Another very
important, practical, and useful form of ‘meditation’
(mental development) is to be aware and mindful of whatever
you do, physically or verbally, during the daily routine of
work in your life, private, public or professional. Whether
you walk, stand, sit, lie down, or sleep, whether you
stretch or bend your limbs, whether you look around, whether
you put on your clothes, whether you talk or keep silence,
whether you eat or drink, even whether you answer the calls
of nature- in these and other activities, you should be
fully aware and mindful of the act you perform at the
moment. That is to say, that you should live in the present
moment, in the present action. This does not mean that you
should not think of the past or the future at all. On the
contrary, you think of them in relation to the present
moment, the present action, when and where it is relevant.
People do not
generally live in their actions, in the present moment. They
live in the past or in the future. Though they seem to be
doing something now, here, they live somewhere else in their
thoughts, in their imaginary problems and worries, usually
in the memories of the past or in desires and speculations
about the future. Therefore they do not live in, nor do they
enjoy, what they do at the moment. So they are unhappy and
disconnected with the present moment, with the work at hand,
and naturally they cannot give themselves fully to what they
appear to be doing.
Sometimes you
see a man in a restaurant reading while eating a very common
sight. He gives you the impression of being a very busy man,
with no time even for eating. You wonder whether he eats or
reads. One may say that he does both. In fact, he does
neither, he enjoys neither. He is strained, and disturbed in
mind, and he does not enjoy what he does at the moment, does
not live his life in the present moment, but unconsciously
and foolishly tries to escape from life. (This does not
mean, however, that one should not talk with a friend while
having lunch or dinner.)
You cannot
escape life however you may try. As long as you live,
whether in a town or in a cave, you have to face it and live
it. Real life is the present moment-not the memories of the
past which is dead and gone, nor the dreams of the future
which is not yet born. One who lives in the present moment
lives in the real life, and he is happiest.
When asked
why his disciples, who lived a simple and quiet life with
only one meal a day, were so radiant, the Buddha replied:
‘They do not repent the past, nor do they brood over the
future. They lived in the present. Therefore, they are
radiant. By brooding over the future and repenting the past,
fools dry up like green reeds cut down (in the sun).’
Mindfulness,
or awareness, does not mean that you should think and be
conscious ‘I am doing this’ or ‘I am doing that’. No. Just
the contrary. The moment you think ‘I am doing this’ you
become self-conscious, and then you do not live in the
action, but you live in the idea ‘I am’, and consequently
your work too is spoilt. You should forget yourself
completely, and lose yourself in what you do. The moment a
speaker becomes self-conscious and thinks ‘I am addressing
an audience’, his speech is disturbed and his trend of
thought broken. But when he forgets himself in his speech,
in his subjects, then he is at his best, he speaks well and
explains thing clearly. All great work- artistic, poetic,
intellectual or spiritual- is produced at those moments when
its creators are lost completely in their actions, when they
forget themselves altogether, and are free from
self-consciousness.
This
mindfulness or awareness with regard to our activities,
taught by the Buddha, is to live in the present moment, to
live in the present action. (This is also the Zen way which
is based primarily on this teaching.) Here in this form of
meditation, you haven’t got to perform any particular action
in order to develop mindfulness, but you have only to be
mindful and aware of whatever you may do. You haven’t got to
spend one second of your precious time on this particular
‘meditation’: you have only to cultivate mindfulness and
awareness always, day and night, with regard to all
activities in your usual daily life. These two forms of
‘meditation’ discussed above are connected with our body.
Then there is
a way of practicing mental development (‘meditation’) with
regard to all our sensations or feeling, whether happy
unhappy or neutral. Let us take only one example. You
experience an unhappy, sorrowful sensation. In this state
your mind is cloudy, hazy, not clear, it is depressed. In
some cases, you do not even see clearly why you have that
unhappy feeling. First of all, you should learn not to be
unhappy about your unhappy feeling, not to be worried about
your memories. But try to see clearly why there is a
sensation or a feeling of unhappiness, or worry, or sorrow.
Try to examine how it arises, its cause, how it disappears,
and its cessation. Try to examine it as if you are observing
it from outside, without any subjective reaction, as a
scientist observes some object. Here, too, you should not
look at it as ‘my feeling’ or ‘my sensation’ subjectively,
but only look at it as ‘a feeling’ or ‘a sensation’
objectively. You should forget again the false idea of ‘I’.
When you see its nature, how it arises and disappears, your
mind grows dispassionate towards that sensation, and becomes
detached and free. It is the same with regard to all
sensations or feelings.
Now let us
discuss the form of ‘meditation’ with regard to our minds.
You should be fully aware of the fact whenever your mind is
passionate or detached, whenever it is overpowered by
hatred, ill-will, jealousy, or is full of love, compassion,
whenever it is deluded or has a clear and right
understanding, and so on and so forth. We must admit that
very often we are afraid or ashamed to look at one’s own
mind as one looks at one’s face in a mirror.
Here is no
attitude of criticizing or judging, or discriminating
between right and wrong, or good and bad. It is simply
observing, watching, examining. You are not a judge, but a
scientist. When you observe your mind, and see its true
nature clearly, you become dispassionate with regard to its
emotions, sentiments and states. Thus you become detached
and free, so that you may see things as they are.
Let us take
one example. Say you are really angry, overpowered by anger,
ill-will, and hatred. It is curious, and paradoxical, that
the man who is in anger is not really aware, not mindful
that he is angry. The moment he becomes aware and mindful of
that state of his mind, the moment he sees his anger, it
becomes, as if it were, shy and ashamed, and begins to
subside. You should examine its nature, how it arises, how
it disappears. Here again it should be remembered that you
should not think ‘I am angry’, or of ‘my anger’. You should
only be aware and mindful of the state of an angry mind. You
are only observing and examining an angry mind objectively.
This should be the attitude with regard to all sentiments,
emotions, and states of mind.
Then there is
a form of ‘meditation’ on ethical, spiritual and
intellectual subjects. All our studies, reading discussions,
conversation and deliberations on such subjects are included
in this ‘meditation’. To read this book, and to think deeply
about the subjects discussed in it, is a form of meditation.
We have seen earlier
that the conversation between Khemaka and the group of monks
was a form of meditation which led to the realization of
Nirvāna.
So, according
to this form of meditation, you may study, think, and
deliberate on the Five Hindrances, (Nivarana),
namely:
1.
lustful
desires (kāmacchanda),
2.
ill-will,
hatred or anger (vyāpāda),
3.
torpor and
languor (thina-middha),
4.
restlessness and worry (uddhacca-kukkucca),
5.
sceptical
doubts (vicikicchā).
These five are
considered as hindrances to any kind of clear understanding,
as a matter of fact, to any kind of progress. When one is
over-powered by them and when one does not know how to get
rid of them, then one cannot understand right and wrong, or
good and bad.
One may also
‘meditate’ on the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (Bojjhanga).
They are:
1.
Mindfulness
(sati), i.e., to be aware and mindful in all
activities and movements both physical and mental, as we
discussed above.
2.
Investigation and research into the various problems of
doctrine (dhamma-vicaya). Included here are all our
religious, ethical and philosophical studies, reading,
researches, discussions, conversation, even attending
lectures relating to such doctrinal subjects.
3.
Energy (viriya),
to work with determination till the end.
4.
Joy (piti),
the quality quite contrary to the pessimistic, gloomy or
melancholic attitude of mind.
5.
Relaxation
(passaddhi) of both body and mind. One should not be
stiff physically or mentally.
6.
Concentration (samādhi), as discussed above.
7.
Equanimity
(upekkhā), i.e., to be able to face life in all its
vicissitudes with calm of mind, tranquillity, without
disturbance.
To cultivate these
qualities the most essential thing is a genuine wish, will,
or inclination. Many other material and spiritual conditions
conductive to the development of each quality are described
in the texts.
One may also
‘meditate’ on such subjects as the Five Aggregates
investigating the question ‘What is a being?’ or ‘What is it
that is called I?’ or on the Four Noble Truths, as we
discussed above. Study and investigation of those subjects
constitute this fourth form of meditation, which leads to
the realization of Ultimate Truth.
Apart from those we
have discussed here, there are many other subjects of
meditation, traditionally forty in number, among which
mention should be made particularly of the four Sublime
States:(Brahma-vihāra): (I) extending unlimited,
universal love and good-will (mettā) to all living
beings without any kind of discrimination, ‘just as a mother
loves her only child’; (2) compassion (karunā) for
all living beings who are suffering, in trouble and
affliction; (3) sympathetic joy(muditā) in other’
success, welfare and happiness; and (4) equanimity (upekkhā)
in all vicissitudes of life.
