When you sit and meditate, you should keep in mind the factors that
  make it a worthwhile activity:

    (1) The right object for the mind -- i.e., the breath, which is the
  theme of your meditation.

    (2) The right intention. This means that you focus your mind
  steadily on what you're doing and nothing else, with the purpose of
  making it settle down firmly in stillness.

    (3) The right quality -- inner worth -- i.e., the calm and ease you
  gain from your practice of concentration.

                                *  *  *

  To have the right object while you sit and meditate, you should have
  your mind set on giving your heart solely to the qualities of the
  Buddha. What this means is that you focus on your in-and-out breathing
  together with the word //buddho//, without thinking of anything else.
  This is your object or foundation for the mind. The mental side of the
  object is the word //buddho//, but if you just think, //buddho,
  buddho//, without joining it up with your breathing, you won't get the
  results you want, because simply thinking on its own is too weak to
  have a hold on the mind, and as a result it doesn't fulfill all the
  factors of meditation.  The mind won't be snug enough with its object
  to stay firmly put in its stillness, and so will show signs of
  wavering.

    Since this is the case, you have to find something to give it some
  resistance, something for it to hold onto, in the same way that a nail
  you drive into a board will hold it firmly to a post and not let it
  move. A mind without something to hold onto is bound not to be snug
  and firm with its object. This is why we're taught to think also of
  the breath, which is the physical side of our object, together with
  //buddho//, thinking //bud// in with the in-breath, and //dho// out
  with the out.

    As for the factor of intention in your meditation, you have to be
  intent on your breathing. Don't leave it to the breath to happen on
  its own as you normally do. You have to be intent on synchronizing
  your thought of the in-breath with the in-breath, and your thought of
  the out-breath with the out. If your thinking is faster or slower than
  your breathing, it won't work. You have to be intent on keeping your
  thinking in tandem with the breath. If you breathe in this way, this
  is the intention that forms the act (//kamma//) of your meditation
  (//kammatthana//). If you simply let the breath happen on its own,
  it's no longer a theme of meditation. It's simply the breath. So you
  have to be careful and intent at all times to keep the mind in place
  when you breathe in, and in place when you breathe out. When you
  breathe in, the mind has to think //bud//. When you breathe out, it
  has to think //dho//. This is the way your meditation has to be.

    The quality of inner worth in centering the mind comes when you make
  the body and mind feel soothed and relaxed. Don't let yourself feel
  tense or constricted. Let the breath have its freedom. Don't block it
  or hold it, force it or squeeze it. You have to let it flow smoothly
  and easily. Like washing a shirt and hanging it out to dry: Let the
  sun shine and the wind blow, and the water will drip away by itself.
  In no time at all the shirt will be clean and dry. When you meditate,
  it's as if you were washing your body and mind. If you want the body
  to feel clean and fresh inside, you have to put it at its ease. Put
  your eyes at ease, your ears at ease, your hands, feet, arms, and legs
  all at their ease. Put your body at ease in every way and at the same
  time don't let your mind get involved in any outside thoughts. Let
  them all drop away.

                                *  *  *

  When you wash your mind so that it's clean and pure, it's bound to
  become bright within itself with knowledge and understanding. Things
  you never knew or thought of before will appear to you. The Buddha
  thus taught that the brightness of the mind is discernment. When this
  discernment arises, it can give us knowledge about ourselves -- of how
  the body got to be the way it is and how the mind got to be the way it
  is. This is called knowledge of form and name or of physical and
  mental phenomena.

    Discernment is like a sail on a sailboat: The wider it's spread, the
  faster the boat will go. If it's tattered and torn, it won't catch the
  wind, and the boat will have to go slowly or might not even reach its
  goal at all. But if the sail is in good shape, it will take the boat
  quickly to its destination. The same holds true with our discernment.
  If our knowledge is only in bits and pieces, it won't be able to pull
  our minds up to the current of the Dhamma. We may end up sinking or
  giving up because we aren't true and sincere in what we do. When this
  is the case, we won't be able to get any results. Our good qualities
  will fall away and sink into our bad ones. Why will they sink? Because
  our sails don't catch the wind. And why is that? Because they're torn
  into shreds. And why are they torn? Because we don't take care of
  them, so they wear out fast and end up tattered and torn.

    This is because the mind spends all its time entangled with thoughts
  and ideas. It doesn't settle down into stillness, so its discernment
  is tattered and torn. When our discernment is in bits and pieces like
  this, it leads us down to a low level -- like a log or post that we
  leave lying flat on the ground, exposed to all sorts of dangers:
  Termites may eat it or people and animals may trample all over it,
  because it's left in a low place. But if we stand it up on its end in
  a posthole, it's free from these dangers, apart from the minor things
  that can happen to the part buried in the ground.

    The same holds true with the mind. If we let it drift along in its
  ideas, instead of catching hold of it and making it stand firmly in
  one place -- i.e., if we let it make its nest all the time in concepts
  and thoughts --it's bound to get defiled and sink to a low level. This
  is why the Buddha taught us to practice centering the mind in
  concentration so that it will stand firm in a single object. When the
  mind is centered, it's free from turmoil and confusion, like a person
  who has finished his work. The body is soothed and rested, the mind is
  refreshed -- and when the mind is refreshed, it becomes steady, still,
  and advances to a higher level, like a person on a high vantage point
  -- the top of a mountain, the mast of a boat, or a tall tree -- able
  to see all kinds of things in every direction, near or far, better
  than a person in a low place like a valley or ravine. In a low place,
  the sun is visible for only a few hours of the day, and there are
  corners where the daylight never reaches at all. A mind that hasn't
  been trained to stand firm in its goodness is sure to fall to a low
  level and not be bright. But if we train our minds to a higher and
  higher level, we'll be sure to see things both near and far, and to
  meet up with brightness.

    These are some of the rewards that come from centering the mind in
  concentration. When we start seeing these rewards, we're bound to
  develop conviction. When we feel conviction, we become inspired to
  pull our minds even further -- in the same way that a sail that isn't
  torn can take a boat to its destination without any trouble. This is
  one point I want to make.

    Another point is that discernment can also be compared to an
  airplane propeller. When we sit here stilling our minds, it's as if we
  were flying an airplane up into the sky. If the pilot is sleepy, lazy,
  or in a blur, we're not safe. No matter how fantastic the plane may
  be, it can still crash us into a mountain or the forest wilds, because
  the pilot doesn't have any mindfulness or presence of mind. So when we
  sit meditating, it's like we're flying an airplane. If our mindfulness
  is weak and our mind keeps wandering off, our airplane may end up
  crashing. So we have to keep observing the body to see where at the
  moment it feels painful or tense; and keep check on the mind to see
  whether or not it's staying with the body in the present. If the mind
  isn't with the body, it's as if the pilot isn't staying with his
  airplane. The Hindrances will have an opening to arise and destroy our
  stillness. So when we sit and meditate, we have to make sure that we
  don't get absentminded. We have to be mindful and self-aware at all
  times and not let the mind slip away anywhere else. When we can do
  this, we'll develop a sense of comfort and ease, and will begin to see
  the benefits that come from mental stillness.

    This insight is the beginning of discernment. This discernment is
  like an airplane propeller. The more we practice, the more benefits
  we'll see. We'll be able to take our plane as high as we want, land it
  whenever we feel like it, or try any stunts that occur to us. //In
  other words, when we develop discernment within ourselves we can have
  control over our mind.// If we want it to think, it'll think. If we
  don't want it to think, it won't think. We know how to keep our own
  mind in line. If we can't keep ourselves in line, there's no way we
  can expect to keep anyone else in line. So if we're intelligent, it's
  like being a pilot who can keep a plane under his full control. We can
  keep the mind in line. For example, if it thinks of something bad, we
  can order it to stop and rest, and the thought will disappear. This is
  called keeping the mind in line. Or if we want it to think, it will be
  able to think and to know. Once it knows, that's the end of the
  matter, and so it will then stop thinking. Whatever we want it to do,
  it can do for us. According to the Buddha, people like this are called
  sages because they have discernment: Whatever they do, they really do.
  They know what is harmful and what isn't. They know how to put a stop
  to their thinking and as a result they very rarely meet with
  suffering.

    As for stupid people, they simply fool around and drag their feet,
  pulling themselves back when they should go forward, and forward when
  they should go back, spending their days and nights thinking about all
  kinds of nonsense without any substance. Even when they sleep, they
  keep thinking. Their minds never have any chance to rest at all. And
  when their minds are forced to keep working like this, they're bound
  to run down and wear out, and won't give any good results when they're
  put to use. When this happens, they suffer.

    But if we have the discernment to be alert to events, we can let go
  of what should be let go, stop what should be stopped, and think about
  what needs to be thought about. We can speak when we should speak, act
  when we should act -- or simply stay still if that's what's called
  for. People who work day and night without sleeping, without giving
  their bodies a chance to rest, are killing themselves. In the same
  way, thoughts and concepts are things that bring on the end of our
  life and destroy our mind -- because they keep the mind working
  whether we're sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. Sometimes,
  even when we're just sitting alone, we keep thinking -- which means
  we're killing ourselves, because the mind never gets a chance to rest.
  Its strength keeps eroding away; and eventually, when its strength is
  all gone, its good qualities will have to die.

    So when we sit here centering our minds, it's like eating our fill,
  bathing ourselves till we're thoroughly clean, and then taking a good
  nap. When we wake up, we feel bright, refreshed, and strong enough to
  take on any job at all.

    This is why the Buddha was able to develop such strength of mind
  that he was able to do without food, for example, for seven full days
  and yet not feel tired or weak. This was because his mind was able to
  rest and be still in the four levels of absorption. His concentration
  was strong and gave great strength to his body, his speech, and his
  mind. The strength it gave to his body is what enabled him to wander
  about, teaching people in every city and town throughout Northern
  India. Sometimes he had to walk over rough roads through destitute
  places, but he was never tired in any way.

    As for the strength of his speech, he was able to keep teaching,
  without respite, from the day of his Awakening to the day of his final
  passing away -- a total of 45 years.

    And as for the strength of his mind, he was very astute, capable of
  teaching his disciples so that thousands of them were able to become
  arahants. He was able to convince large numbers of people who were
  stubborn, proud, and entrenched in wrong views, to abandon their views
  and become his disciples. His heart was full of kindness, compassion,
  and sincerity, with no feelings of anger, hatred, or malice toward
  anyone at all. It was a pure heart, without blemish.

    All of these qualities came from the Dhamma he had practiced -- not
  from anything strange or mysterious -- the same Dhamma we're
  practicing right now. The important thing is that we have to be intent
  on really doing it if we want to get results. If, when we center the
  mind, we really do it, we'll get real results. If we don't really do
  it, we'll get nothing but playthings and dolls. That's how it is with
  the practice.

                            * * * * * * * *
 
 
 

                       GETTING ACQUAINTED INSIDE
                           September 28, 1958

  The four properties of the body -- the way it feels from the inside,
  i.e., earth (solidity), water (liquidity), wind (motion), and fire
  (heat) -- are like four people. If you keep trying to acquaint
  yourself with them, after a while they'll become your friends.

    At first they aren't too familiar with you, so they don't trust you
  and will probably want to test your mettle. For instance, when you
  start sitting in meditation, they'll take a stick and poke you in your
  legs so that your legs hurt or grow numb. If you lie down, they'll
  poke you in the back. If you lie on your side, they'll poke you in the
  waist. If you get up and sit again, they'll test you again. Or they
  may whisper to you to give up. If you give in to them, the King of
  Death will grin until his cheeks hurt.

    What you have to do is smile against the odds and see things
  through. Keep talking with all four properties. Even though they don't
  respond at first, you have to keep talking with them, asking them this
  and that. After a while they'll give you a one-word answer. So you
  keep talking and then their answers will start getting longer until
  you eventually become acquaintances and can have real conversations.
  From that point they become your friends. They'll love you and help
  you and tell you their secrets. You'll be a person with friends and
  won't have to be lonely. You'll eat together, sleep together, and
  wherever you go, you'll go together. You'll feel secure. No matter how
  long you sit, you won't ache. No matter how long you walk, you won't
  feel tired -- because you have friends to talk with as you walk along,
  so that you enjoy yourself and reach your destination before you
  realize it.

    This is why we're taught to practice meditation by keeping
  mindfulness immersed firmly in the body. Contemplate your meditation
  themes -- body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities -- without
  letting your mind wander astray in outside thoughts and
  preoccupations. Contemplate the body so as to know how its properties
  are getting along, where it feels pleasant, painful, or neutral.
  Notice how the mind moves around in the various things you know until
  you reach the mental quality that is still, solid, and true.

    This way it's like having friends go with you wherever you go and
  whatever you do. In other words, when the body walks, the mind walks
  with it. When the body lies down, the mind lies down with it. When the
  body sits, the mind sits with it. Wherever the body stops, the mind
  stops, too. But most of us aren't like this. The body takes two steps,
  but the mind takes four or five -- so how can it //not// get tired?
  The body lies in a mosquito net surrounded by a railing and seven
  thick walls, but the mind can still go running outside. When this is
  the case, where will it get any happiness? It'll have to wander around
  exposed to the sun, wind, rain, and all sorts of dangers because it
  has no protection. If there's no concentration to act as a shelter for
  the heart, it'll always have to meet with misery and pain.

    For this reason, you should train your heart to stay firm in
  concentration and to develop full strength within yourself so that you
  can be your own person. This way you'll be bound to meet with all
  things pure and good.

                            * * * * * * * *
 
 

                              STOP & THINK
                             July 20, 1959

  Insight isn't something that can be taught. It's something you have to
  give rise to within yourself. It's not something you simply memorize
  and talk about. If we were to teach it just so we could memorize it, I
  can guarantee that it wouldn't take five hours. But if you wanted to
  understand one word of it, three years might not even be enough.
  //Memorizing gives rise simply to memories. Acting is what gives rise
  to the truth.// This is why it takes effort and persistence for you to
  understand and master this skill on your own.

    When insight arises, you'll know what's what, where it's come from,
  and where it's going -- as when we see a lantern burning brightly: We
  know that, 'That's the flame... That's the smoke.. That's the light.'
  We know how these things arise from mixing what with what, and where
  the flame goes when we put out the lantern. All of this is the skill
  of insight.

    Some people say that tranquillity meditation and insight meditation
  are two separate things -- but how can that be true? Tranquillity
  meditation is 'stopping,' insight meditation is 'thinking' that leads
  to clear knowledge. When there's clear knowledge, the mind stops still
  and stays put. They're all part of the same thing.

    Knowing has to come from stopping. If you don't stop, how can you
  know? For instance, if you're sitting in a car or a boat that is
  traveling fast and you try to look at the people or things passing by
  right next to you along the way, you can't see clearly who's who or
  what's what. But if you stop still in one place, you'll be able to see
  things clearly.

    Or even closer to home: When we speak, there has to be a pause
  between each phrase. If you tried to talk without any pauses at all,
  would anyone be able to understand what you said?

    This is why we first have to make the mind stop to be quiet and
  still. When the mind stays still in a state of normalcy, concentration
  arises and discernment follows. This is something you have to work at
  and do for yourself. Don 't simply believe what others say. //Get so
  that you know 'Oh! Oh! Oh!' from within, and not just 'Oh? Oh? Oh?'
  from what people say.// Don't take the good things they say and stick
  them in your heart. You have to make these things your own by getting
  them to arise from within you. Spending one dollar of your own money
  is better than spending 100 dollars you've borrowed from someone else.
  If you use borrowed money, you have to worry because you're in debt.
  If you use your own money, there's nothing to worry about.

                                *  *  *

  Stopping is what gives rise to strength. If a man is walking or
  running, he can't put up a good fight with anyone, because the
  advantage lies with the person standing still, not with the person
  walking or running. This is why we're taught to make the mind stop
  still so that it can gain strength. Then it will be able to start
  walking again with strength and agility.

    It's true that we have two feet, but when we walk we have to step
  with one foot at a time. If you try to step with both feet at once,
  you won't get anywhere. Or if you try to walk with just one foot, you
  can't do that either. When the right foot stops, the left foot has to
  take a step. When the left foot stops, the right foot has to take a
  step. You have to stop with one foot and step with the other if you're
  going to walk with any strength because the strength comes from the
  foot that has stopped, not from the foot taking a step. One side has
  to stop while the other side takes a step. Otherwise, you'll have no
  support and are sure to fall down. If you don't believe me, try
  stepping with both feet at once and see how far you get.

    In the same way, tranquillity and insight have to go together. You
  first have to make the mind stop in tranquillity and then take a step
  in your investigation: This is insight meditation. The understanding
  that arises is discernment. To let go of your attachment to that
  understanding is release.

    So stopping is the factor that gives rise to strength, knowledge,
  and discernment -- the fixed mind that knows both the world and the
  Dhamma in a state of heightened virtue, heightened consciousness, and
  heightened discernment leading on to the transcendent.

                            * * * * * * * *
 
 

                        HEIGHTENED CONSCIOUSNESS
                             June 25, 1959

  The Buddha taught, 'The pursuit of heightened consciousness is the
  heart of the Buddhas' teaching.' Heightened consciousness is a state
  of mind that lies above and beyond mental defilement. There are two
  ways it can be reached:

    (1) The mind doesn't yet have any heightened inner quality, but we
  heighten it through our efforts.

    (2) The mind has developed the proper inner quality and uses it to
  keep itself safe, above and beyond defilement.

    The first case refers to the state of ordinary people's minds. When
  they aren't sitting in meditation, their minds aren't in any special
  state of concentration, so if defilement arises within them, they have
  to be determined and perceptive -- to be aware of the defilement and
  to make up their minds that they won't let it push them around. This
  is called Right Attitude. Even though the mind isn't in concentration,
  this technique can give results.

    What this means is that we're alert to what's going on. For example,
  when we're angry, when we meet with something undesirable, we should
  be alert to the fact and make ourselves determined that no matter
  what, we're going to keep the defilement of anger under control by
  resisting it and putting our better side into play. In other words,
  when we're angry, we act as if we weren't. Instead of letting the
  anger overpower the mind, we use our inner goodness to overpower the
  mind. This is called heightened consciousness. When you meet with
  something you don't like, don't let the fact that you don't like it
  show. Instead, act as if you were happy and calm. I.e., put your good
  side to use. Don't let your bad side show under any circumstances.

    If you're circumspect and composed enough to hold the mind in check
  before it can let its defilements come out in word or deed, if you can
  force the defilements to stop and can let only your best manners show,
  you count as having heightened consciousness. You are also a good
  member of any social group, for you can work toward your own progress
  and that of the group as a whole.

    In the texts, this quality is called composure -- a state of mind
  that lies above the defilements. This is one form of heightened
  consciousness and is something we should all try to develop within
  ourselves as we are able.

    The second form of heightened consciousness refers to a mind freed
  from the Hindrances and trained to a state of Right Concentration. The
  mind is firmly established in its inner quality. When defilements
  arise, they can't overpower the mind //because they can't reach in to
  touch it//, for the mind is protected by its own full measure of inner
  quality.

    I ask that we all aim at making this form of heightened
  consciousness arise within ourselves by being persistent and 
  persevering in cherishing our own inner goodness -- in the same way
  that when we have good food, we make sure to chase away the flies so
  that we can enjoy it in good health.

    To do this, you have to be observant and make two kinds of effort:
  the effort to abandon your defilements and the effort to develop your
  meditation theme, which is the means for wiping out the mental
  Hindrances. There are five types of Hindrances: sensual desire, ill
  will, torpor & lethargy, restlessness & anxiety, and uncertainty. As
  for meditation, there are two ways of practicing it -- in series and
  in isolation -- as I'll explain to you now.

    (1) To practice in series is to practice by the book: contemplating
  the unattractiveness of the body, for instance, by following the lists
  of its parts without skipping over any of them or mixing them up.
  Whichever theme you choose, you have to understand how the topics are
  grouped and in what order, so as to deal with them properly. This kind
  of meditation can give great benefits, but at the same time can cause
  great harm. For example, if you contemplate the unattractiveness of
  the body, it can lead to a sense of dispassion, detachment, and calm,
  but there are times it can also get you into a state where you can't
  eat or sleep because everything starts seeming filthy and disgusting.
  This is one way it can be harmful. Or sometimes you may contemplate
  the body until a mental image arises, but you get frightened and
  unnerved. In cases like this, you have to try to be up on what's
  happening so that your theme will help you instead of harming you.

    (2) To practice in isolation is to focus on a single refined theme
  that doesn't have a lot of different features. I.e., you focus on
  being mindful of the in-and-out breath, without letting your attention
  slip away. Focus on whatever kind of breathing feels soothing, and the
  mind will settle down. Try to make the breath more and more refined,
  all the while keeping the mind gently with the breath, in the same way
  that you'd cup a bit of fluff in the palm of your hand. Do this until
  you feel that there's no 'in' or 'out' to the breath at all. The mind
  doesn't wander around. It's quiet and still, able to cut away thoughts
  of past and future. At this point it becomes even more refined, with
  no restlessness at all. The mind is stable and doesn't change along
  with its objects. It's firmly set and unwavering to the point where it
  becomes fixed and strong.

    When you can develop your meditation to this point, it will make the
  mind let go of its attachments and gain conviction and understanding
  into the truths of inconstancy, stress, and not-self. Your doubts will
  fall away, and you will know the way of the world and the way of
  Liberation, without having to ask for confirmation from anyone else.
  When your knowledge is clear and free from uncertainty, the mind is
  firm in its own strength. This is when you become your own refuge --
  when your mind isn't affected by other people or objects and reaches
  the happiness and ease of heightened consciousness.

                            * * * * * * * *