Some Revealing facts of Buddhist Philosophy, I was enlightened upon

Some revealing facts of Buddhist Philosophy I was enlightened upon

The mind can be purified though the body cannot 

However much we wash and clean our body it becomes foul soon and needs cleaning over and over again. A permanent cleansing of unwanted matter is impossible. But on the other hand can the mind be purified? Fortunately yes! Why fortunately? Because, a mind harboring defilements such as anger, worry, jealousy, sadness, greed etc. is a polluted mind. And such a mind brings suffering because these ‘thorns’ keep on pricking and it hurts. Really hurts. A few words of consolation or advice from a friend, elders or priests would help sometimes. But this condition could easily recur. The very next time you encounter a bitter situation you get disturbed. So it seems that there is no permanent solution to this problem. But there is! That is why you are fortunate and it is a great relief to know that there is a way out.

The signals for unwholesome thoughts are picked up by the five sense doors namely, eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. These are recognized as vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch respectively. Once recognized they get registered and established in the mind. This way the mind gets attached to defilements. And wherever you go they follow you like a shadow. You cannot escape from their curse. No Super Natural Power can help you. This is something you have to do by yourself and yourself alone. Yet how to do it? The only solution to put an end to this suffering is to sever the bond - the attachment. The technique of meditation based on the Noble Eightfold Path (article 1) effect the breakage by detaching the defilements from the mind and letting go of them with complete mindfulness on the matter. So, one has to practice this meditation technique to purify the mind.

In this method of meditation, you engage in the technique while observing its procedure. You will see what is going on within and without you. Whenever a thought comes into being you become aware of it and let go of it. If it is stubborn you bless it with ‘Loving Kindness’ and pass it off. Once it is gone you go back to the technique. This way you don’t let the thought whether good or bad get established and thus get attached to the mind. That is, you become aware of the thoughts and shut the entrances before they come in. Purification of the mind is something that you have to experience by practicing this meditation.  

One has to realize that it is a great blessing to be engaged in this method of meditation. Just imagine how one would feel if the mind cannot be purified. One would feel unhappy for ever; feel helpless; feel hopeless; feel miserable, suffering for the whole lifetime. A pure mind will be happy and healthy and is a blessing to one and the others as it will bring happiness to all.

The mind does feel but the body doesn’t 

The body and the mind are two different entities. Yet they are so closely bound together that we can never even imagine them as separate. For us these two are inseparable. But the truth is that the body doesn’t feel anything. But the mind does. For instance imagine your finger got accidentally pricked by a pin. You will feel pain only as long as you think of the injured spot.  In other words pain is felt only when the mind comes into being in the affected area. As soon as you divert your mind over to something else, there is no feeling of pain. Similarly, any other sense coming in from the sense doors are felt only by the mind. This means the suffering solely is something of the mind. Once this is realized it would be somewhat easy to cope with the challenge of suffering. This fact helps to understand the attachment of the mind to things including the body which will in turn be instrumental in detachment, thus freeing the mind.

Not realizing suffering as suffering

Perhaps not realizing ‘suffering as suffering’ is the single, biggest stumbling block that prevents us from entering the path to end suffering. Almost all mankind do not see suffering as suffering. The suffering is being taken for granted. For them suffering is part and parcel of life; suffering should be there, otherwise life is meaningless; no suffering no happiness; have obligations, commitments and duties, so must not complain about suffering; one fine day all suffering will be over and there will be permanent happiness etc. etc. Various reasons, theories and excuses are given.

This misconception is put into our thinking from childhood by our parents and elders. We are conditioned by it and it is no easy task to liberate our minds from its grip. It’s only a handful of people who realize suffering as suffering and seek some means to end it. So the wise immediately grasp the Eightfold Path when they get access to it and make use of it, ending suffering forever.

The qualities of Buddha, Dhamma and Sanga

The Supreme qualities of Buddha, Dhamma and Sanga (Lord Buddha, His Philosophy and the organization of Buddhist priesthood respectively) as stipulated in the recitals of virtues of these 3 refuges, are also the qualities accrued upon by the developing mind in its journey through the Eightfold Path. These are not just the qualities of the Lord Buddha, His Doctrine and the monk community alone as has been traditionally taught. This conventional teaching makes one feel alien to or out of reach for them. But everybody is potentially capable of possessing these and these are right within one when one follows the procedure of the Eightfold Path and free the mind of its attachments.

Of Buddha statues and pictures  

Lord Buddha has once stated that his Supreme Mind Existence will fade away from this world, the day a picture of him is created. This means that the lay people will gradually forget the essence of His doctrine and instead of following the Noble Eightfold Path will resort to worshipping the symbol i.e. the statue or the picture. There is no harm in worshipping a Buddha statue recollecting the noble qualities but this will not bring the result that the Buddha wanted all of us to get. This is more so as people worship the statue thinking that it is a wholesome deed and that it will bring something good for them. This is expecting something in return and thus based on greed which leads to attachment; exactly opposite of what Buddha preached.

The three selves of ‘I’

The notion ‘I’ comes into being when the mind feels senses in the fetus for the first time. From this moment onwards until a person’s life ends, this egoistic concept ‘I’ prevails in everything a person does, even though there is no permanent self, as both mind and body are constantly changing entities. ‘I’ is made of three components namely, the past self, the present self and the future self. The past self is the consciousness of the body which is experienced at the earliest stage of life. The present self is the one that experiences senses brought in by the sense doors eye, ear, nose, tongue and body at a given moment. The third one that is the future self that   remembers or bring back whatever information stored in the mind to be put to use.

The Noble Eightfold Path     

The constituents of the Noble Eightfold Path are the Right Vision, the Right Attitude, the Right Speech, the Right Action, the Right Livelihood, the Right Effort, the Right Mindfulness and the Right Concentration. According to conventional teaching these eight disciplines have to be practiced in daily life in sequence in order to achieve Nirvana. This sounds as if it is a long process which would take a life time for completion. This is completely misleading. The truth is that you can embark on the path with the eight components altogether in a matter of few moments.

You sit getting ready to meditate. You have realized that the ultimate happiness comes by freeing the mind of all attachments. This is the Right Vision. You are all out to enter the path and go on it to your destination. You have the Right Attitude. You keep the mouth closed and do not speak. You fulfill the third requirement that is Right Speech by refraining from wrong speech. You keep your body still and you are doing the Right Action as you are not engaged in any wrong doing. Both Right Speech and Right Action get you engaged in Right Livelihood i.e. you refrain from wrong livelihood. Normally it is not possible for you to sit still in a place even for a few moments without changing position or making some other movement or noise. So you need a lot of commitment and tolerance to spend the time in meditation which is the Right Effort. With the Right Effort you observe the process of going through the technique. Now you have the Right Mindfulness. Right Mindfulness leads to Right Concentration. It is noteworthy that the ‘Concentration’ here does not imply just concentration of the mind or ‘one pointedness’ as it is generally known but it is ‘Right Concentration’. The ‘one pointedness’ tends to get the mind attached to the object of concentration.  Whole idea here is ‘letting go’ or detachment. Thus what is meant here is the observation of the meditation procedure mindfully.                                                                                                                                                              

This completes the constituents of the Noble Eightfold Path. Practicing the meditation incorporating this Path brings you right on to it. All the elements of the Path manifest altogether at the same time. The result is the dawn of wisdom which sees attachment as the cause of suffering and effect detachment thus freeing the mind making it supreme.

Knowledge and wisdom

From the time of birth to the end of our life we gather knowledge and intelligence by experience and by learning. These are essential ingredients for us to lead a happy and successful life. But knowledge cannot end suffering because the root cause of suffering is attachment; attachment of the mind to worldly things including our own physical body. No attachment; no suffering! The foundation of knowledge we acquire is attachment. This is why knowledge and intelligence cannot end suffering. A complete understanding of our existence in its real perspective only will help free the mind from its bonds. And such an understanding could only be obtained by wisdom. The path to achieve wisdom is meditation with mindfulness.

The technique of meditation based on the Noble Eightfold Path is such a meditation. When you practice it the attachment gets reduced gradually dawning wisdom instead. This process will go on till the knowledge and intelligence linked to worldly matters are completely replaced by wisdom when the mind will be free of all attachments becoming supreme.

Blessing selected sites with ‘Loving Kindness’ in the meditation technique    

In the meditation technique (article 1) a number of zones or sites of the body are selected for contemplation. Locations in head, chest, abdomen and legs form these sites. Each of these is made of trillions of cells. The cells have all the constituent elements of a unit of life except the infusion of the mind component. In a physiological sense, whether mind is focused or not a group of cells is considered live. But in a spiritual sense when the mind is focused to a location in the body each cell in this particular area is taken as a living being. Therefore, when a selected body site is blessed with ‘Loving Kindness’, the individual cells in the area are considered as living organisms.

The blessing, ‘May all beings be healthy, happy and peaceful’, also is done with a certain understanding and in sequence as follows.  

‘May all beings be healthy!’

The cellular units in a site would be affected with sickness with or without our knowledge. It is wished for them first to be healthy with no sickness.

‘…..be happy’

The living cells are in a state of constant change. They form, age and perish. This is suffering. Absence of suffering is meant by wishing ‘be happy’.

‘….. be peaceful’

This is wishing them to be peaceful in the absence of agitation, sickness and suffering which are the results of birth, existence and death.

The reason for the blessing of the sites with compassion is a difference of opinion. Thus several explanations can be given. But what is important to remember is that the main idea of this exercise is to practice ‘letting go’. You ‘take’ a site observe it without getting attached to it; without thinking that it is a part of your body and then leave it with compassion and not with an unwholesome thought. So the blessing is only a tool to follow the meditation procedure and that itself is of no significance.

Nirvana and the mind    

The final target of meditation is the achievement of Nirvana. This is the blissful state the mind attains once it is free of all attachments inclusive of the desire to obtain it. Contrary to the age old teaching that mind ceases to exist after the death of a person who has attained Nirvana, it does prevail. It exists in its supreme state, free and powerful, with the ability to see anything in and out, possessing the ability to explore anything in the universe, no matter how many light years away it is. It will stay this way eternally but will never again will it access a fetus resulting in another birth.

                                                                                                                                               

‘Letting go’

‘Letting go’ is the foundation of the meditation based on the Noble Eightfold Path. It is the nucleus around which the whole meditation process revolves. It is simple logic. You let go a thing and you don’t have it anymore. You let go of the defilements of the mind and you don’t have them anymore. In real practice however, unless you have a proper understanding of this concept, it is not so smooth sailing. You have to apply it in relation to the meditation technique and see how it works. During the meditation exercise when you feel pain, you become aware of it and then bless it with ‘Loving Kindness’ and let it go. When you hear a noise you become aware of it and let it go. When a thought arises you become aware of it and let it go. So it fundamentally is a process of ‘letting go’. You let the defilements go and you are left with a pure mind. When this exercise is developed and when all the defilements of the mind exit, it will culminate in a free and Supreme Mind. This is attainment of Nirvana.

You have to experience this all by yourself. Experience and realize the results. Results are immediate. It wouldn’t cost you a cent. Isn’t it wonderful if you can achieve the end of suffering free of charge?

Attaining nirvana is a reality

We have been taught that attaining nirvana during our life time is a remote possibility. We hardly or never heard about people in society who have gained Higher States of the mind which are the steps up the ladder reaching Nirvana. These higher levels and Nirvana are within our grasp in our life time. This is wonderful news! Great news! We must make use of this rare opportunity and make a firm effort to put an end to suffering and attain Nirvana.   

A different person

The benefits that can be reaped from the practice of the meditation technique (as given in article 1) are of immense value for a successful and a happy day to day life. The most important lesson of the technique is the ‘practice of Observation’. The Observation is not what’s meant in the normal sense but something more superior to it. A beginner to the meditation would follow the technique trying to concentrate on it. But as he progresses he will learn to observe what he is doing i.e. observe his own performance. This is the fundamental principle and the foundation on which depends the progress of meditation and it is what is meant by Observation here.  

In this technique the Observation is the factor which governs the whole procedure of meditation. It encompasses the elements of mental alertness such as consciousness, awareness and mindfulness. It is the supervisor that oversees the performance of these elements during meditation. The Observation also effects another important function, that is in addition to overseeing, it implements the process of ‘letting go’ during meditation. It sees what is going on within and without you. When you hear a sound, Observation knows it and tells you to let it go without following it. If you experience a pain somewhere in the body Observation recognizes it and commands you to let it go without suffering from it. If a new thought arises Observation senses it and reminds you that you are on the procedure and prevents you from going after the thought.  

Also Observation is the state of the mind when it is free of any defilement. It would prevail during the meditation exercise but the effect of the mind-set it created, however, would last for a few hours more after the exercise, before being faded away. Fortunately however, it would re-surface for short intervals of time in the mind of the meditator when he is relaxing or when he is emotionally disturbed. It is at these moments that Observation guides one on the correct path or brings one back on to the rails if derailed. This is a great benefit derived from meditation. Unlike before, there is a ‘supervisor’ who over sees what you are doing. When you get disturbed emotionally the ‘supervisor’ will remind, “Hello, you are wobbling. You could get derailed. So back on to the track”! I experience this in daily life now, which is such a relief! This is how the application of the fruits of meditation to daily life, works. What a Blessing!

Improved efficiency

The after effect of meditation lasts longer the longer you meditate. Sometimes you feel lazy and tend to postpone things that need to be done. Even if you attend to some work it would take a long time to finish. The after effect of meditation helps you to be more alert and focus better on the task you are engaged in. Thus you‘ll be able to finish it sooner and more successfully than before. If your mind gets distracted while being occupied in the task, you become aware of it before long and Observation will bring your attention back. This way you‘ll realize that a job that you took one hour to finish earlier takes only a fraction of that time now. You will be surprised at your own improvement. This means that one can do an increased number of tasks in a given time than before. Also increased alertness will not allow you to waste time.  If you are doing nothing and wasting time it will make you aware of it so that you can think of doing something worthwhile. This is when you feel how much time you would have lost earlier just by wasting it. So Observation improves your time management skills too. The result is that you are a more efficient and therefore a happier person now. How wonderful!

Some days there are a number of things to attend to. You start the day engaging in one of these which has a deadline. Now the rest of the things come into mind. “Oh, I have to do those jobs also.” Or someone will disturb you reminding of these. Then in the middle of all these you may get a telephone call regarding still some other work you have to do. Now you get disturbed. So many things to do and yet some more coming in. You get confused. Lose your calmness. A real headache!  Stress catalysts created! At this point if somebody talks to you, you are likely to get angry. No soothing utterance could be expected from you.  Observation helps you to act with a cool head in such a situation. It‘ll tell you to choose only those tasks that you could tackle in the available time in that day. Then it will guide you to prioritize what was chosen and then attend to the first priority. If thoughts of other jobs come to mind it will ‘let go’ of them. If there is some other external disturbance it guides you to respond calmly. If you get confused or angry by these, it will remind you that you are emotionally disturbed. So back on to the right track! This is how Observation will help you to attend to your daily tasks smoothly and efficiently with no stress so that you can be satisfied at the end of the day.   

A happy life   

Everything in this world is in a dynamic state of change. We fail to understand this and try to see a permanent entity in constantly changing phenomena. This is the biggest illusion that we are doped with. We are conditioned with it from our childhood by our parents and elders who inculcate this into our thinking. And because of this we tend to get attached to worldly things in life, which results in suffering. So rather than crave for things, you should learn to live with them – associate with them, make use of them – all the time observing them without getting attached to them. You do this perhaps like an alien watching the happenings in this world. This is a whole new experience. You begin to see this existence in its real perspective. So relaxing! So pleasing! Because you are no longer involved with or immersed in the scourge of existence of this world. The burden is being taken away and the suffering minimized. This is when you see the others who are possessed with this illusion, suffering because of the attachment to it and realize how fortunate and happy you are. Just do this once and see what a wonderful experience it is.

With understanding derived from logical argument you can minimize pain and thus suffering. Mind and body are two different entities. It is the mind that bears suffering. Suppose you have a wound. The body has the injury but the mind suffers with pain. Not fair! You can easily experience this. When you feel the pain of the wound and if the mind is distracted to something else there is no more pain. It vanishes. So if only the mind feels the pain why should you let it hurt and suffer? The body has the wound. Let it bear the pain. What do you care?  

Coping with emotions

It is difficult for most of us to control our emotions. Many unhappy, unpleasant or violent situations could be avoided if one knows how to cope with one’s emotions. The most difficult place to cope with your emotions is unquestionably your home. This is where you live ‘with yourself’: the way you want. This is where your beloved ones are; those that care for you and whom you care and love most. Then why is it difficult to cope with emotions when living with them? It is once again due to this curse - the attachment; the root cause of the problem. Your attachment is the greatest at home. As such, you expect the other family members to love you and care for you in the same way that you do for them. But if you feel that they don’t respond in kind you become hurt. Just a single word uttered by mistake would be enough to start ‘fireworks’. Parents and elders expect the children to obey them, respect them at all times. The higher the attachment the greater is the hurt, the pain; that is the suffering. When the younger are teenagers the parent/child relationship in most families are at the lowest; sour and unpleasant. Most of them live like strangers under the same roof. Since the attachment is the highest the parents think that their children also should think and behave in the same way as them. This is when attachment is blind to reason. They are your children alright, yet they are different individuals with different mind sets. Be less attached to your loved ones and property and attend to your commitments and obligations dutifully. The lesser the attachment the more sensible, and reasonable you will be and it would be easier to control emotions.

Another remarkable achievement of the meditation practice is the slowing down of sudden reaction to emotional disturbances. This means though the natural quick reflexes are there, you don’t react as fast as before. But you become aware of the situation and think before reacting. This way you avoid the situation getting tense or unpleasant.

Realizing these facts make home a pleasant place for the whole family to live in.  

Of the defilements special consideration should be given to anger, hatred, jealousy and vengeance as these are fundamentally associated with the ego factor “I”. These result in unpleasantness, unhappiness and could lead to physical harm to oneself and others. When you position or status is challenged, when a subordinate disobeys you, when your spouse or the romantically involved partner or a dear friend disagrees with you or worse, try to quit, you get angry, lost, and insecure and feel that life is hopeless. When you are falsely accused of, insulted or scolded you get angry. Who gets affected by these is the ‘self’ known as ‘I’. But there is no permanent self as ‘I’: only a constantly changing phenomenon. Thus it is understood that whoever that got affected is changed; gone; no more, and a new ‘I’ has emerged; born. As such, why should the new person get hurt over something that happened to another person? This truthful fact gives you strength to face and overcome anger and other defilements. 

The Observation plays a major role in calming down such a situation. If you have developed your Observation you become aware of it once you are emotionally disturbed. And instead of reacting at once as a mundane person would have done, the Observation will help pass over the initial shock and the disturbance and guide you to settle down thus making it easy to solve the causative problem. The same goes for situations when you are overjoyed. If uncontrolled you could become arrogant or overconfident and be tempted to try something impossible by which means you would hurt not only others but yourself as well. Whatever happened to the hardly achieved joy? The Observation could easily have prevented this unfortunate happening. With right understanding of these facts you can stay calm without getting agitated, overexcited when faced with an emotionally disturbing situation.

Life in its true sense and fear of death  

Mind is the forerunner of our life. Like all other worldly things mind is also in a state of constant change. It is a continuous process of flux of thoughts arising, existing and passing away. This happens so fast, probably in a millionth of second that we don’t realize it. This process takes place throughout our life. This means that birth, living and death of the mind occur at every moment of life. This same process takes place at the time of death but with the difference that the physical body ceases its physiological role and immediately starts to decompose. In other words the thought process of the mind, from one thought to another continues even at the time of death. That is as the last thought of life dies away the mind has already chosen and conceived in another form of existence. The mind exits from the physical body leaving it behind, lifeless. Thus it is clear that there is no point in being sad or fearful of death, because it doesn’t kill our mind. Mind is indestructible. So it continues to exist, of course in another form, human or other. In other words, it is clear that the physical body which we cared for so much and were attached to so much is not the dominant and the essential component of life’s existence. The body is principally a medium made of physical elements of the universe for the mind to experience the sensual pleasures and other feelings brought in by the sense organs. And what causes the sadness and the fear of death? It is the attachment; the attachment to property acquired, beloved ones etc. - that you don’t want to leave behind - a cause of suffering. Therefore, with a clear understanding of their true nature and with the Observation guiding, you can face both life and death meaningfully with no fear.

One should also realize how fragile the life is. We all have great expectations in life. Young hope to study well and get a sound employment, marry, build a house, have children, own a vehicle and so forth. Those who have grown and have fixed jobs want to rise up in the employment, get promotions, higher status a higher salary etc. What about engaging in something spiritual; something religious; something meritorious? “Oh! Those can wait until we are old.” So these deeds are postponed to the old age. Will you live up to the old age? Are you sure you can? Yes, you believe you can. You think it is unlikely that you will be passing away before reaching the old age. Of course people are so occupied and busy with their jobs, commitments and obligations that they have less time left for such wholesome acts. But even any time available is not used for these purposes. Because people don’t understand the uncertainty of life and they expect to live until old. No one can predict when one will die. Death has no particular time or place to occur. You may drop dead on the road; in the vehicle while driving; in a hall while delivering a lecture; while taking your meal; in the most unexpected time and place. This is what death is. This is what reality is. So then how can you possibly believe that you can live till you are old; till your children are grown up, educated and well employed, till they are married and have children so that you can enjoy the company of your grand children? Little we realize this and that is why we keep hopes for the future and become attached to them. Once the unpredictability and fragility of life is realized we will still have hopes but will not be attached to them. The realization of the fact that death may come at any moment in life helps you prepare to face it anytime. Also you see the vanity of having expectations and aspirations for the future. Once you are enlightened on the uncertainty of life you will not delay entering into the path to achieve Nirvana. Whenever you have a leisure time you would try to make it fruitful by engaging in the Eightfold Path to reach a higher mental status. One must make a concerted effort, without postponing it, to achieve Nirvana.

Engaging in the Eightfold Path is an immense benefit at the time of death. You live a life guided by the Path and the resulting mindset will surface when all the signals coming in from the five sense organs cease just prior to death. Your last thought will be a positive one guided by the Observation when you can exit peacefully with full consciousness.

Past, present and future

The nature of the mind is such that it cannot stay fixed to the same thought for long. It always wants to wander here and there. When you attend to some work, initially you focus on it well but after a few minutes you find that various other thoughts completely irrelevant to what you are doing come into being. This means that the mind has started roaming. When you are engaged in some daily routine task like brushing teeth, taking a shower, taking meals, cooking or some other, such as ironing, cleaning the household, washing the  vehicle, writing, preparing a presentation, studying, resting etc. most of the time you’ll be day dreaming. In other words rather than concentrating on what you are performing your mind would be wandering all over uncontrollably. This is the time that the mind gets filled with mostly unwholesome thoughts and you will get emotionally disturbed and waste valuable time as well. You would take twice or more of the time you should have taken to finish a task. These thoughts could be anything, like thinking about some embarrassment you had to face, insult, and large amount of money you had lost, some jewellery you had lost and so on. Sometimes you would, instead of focusing on the task you do, try to react to some of these unnecessary matters going on in the mind and by mistake harm yourself or even cause a serious accident. This is why it is important to have the presence of mind when you are attending to some work. Since living is a momentary thing you must try to live in every moment of life. Day dreaming is a great sin. It pollutes your mind. New and even forgotten defilements such as hatred, jealousy, craving, grief, vengeance, anger etc. would quietly creep into the mind causing hurt and suffering.

In these situations your attention is mainly either on the past or on the future. The present is given only minute consideration. A universal truth is that everything happens only once. It is never repeated in exactly the same way. So it is of no use lamenting on what you lost or what you couldn’t get because you’ll not see or get the exact thing again. It is useless crying for spilled milk. Thus contemplating on what happened in the past is not a fruitful thing. It is just a waste of time. This could be applied to strong emotional disturbances as well. If someone’s bad remark makes you angry, you’ve to understand that once the words were uttered and over they were gone; added to the past. If a sad- news makes you grief stricken, as soon as you’ve heard it, it is gone; it is history. This is the truth. And it is of no use being angry or sad over something of the past. With this kind of logical argument you must learn to tackle your emotions and be happy all the time. Regretting over the past brings you unhappiness and thus suffering.

What about the future? No one can predict what will happen in the future. No fortune teller, crystal ball or horoscope reader could tell what the future is going to be. If so why do you want to worry about something that you don’t know will happen? This again is a useless exercise. The present is there for you to see and experience. So live in the present moment. When you try to live in every moment of life these negative thoughts will get no access to the mind and even if they do Observation which is active in the alert mind will let them pass off. If you don’t live in the present you’ll either be in the past or be in the future both of which are in hopeless and useless arenas which will bring nothing but suffering. A mind living in the past or in the future can use only a fraction of its potential. It is a dead mind. A mind living in the present is live and thus is sharp, focused and powerful. It can work with its full potential. This is what happens in meditation. You try to live in the present throughout the procedure and wisdom begins to dawn. You must try to live in the present at times even when you are not engaged in meditation. Because then you can ‘let go’ of defilements. “Letting go” is the essence of the meditation based on the Eight Fold Path. It relieves you of burdens that you carry in your mind. Imagine how many of these impurities you can get rid of in a day; thus purifying the mind; making it powerful; making you an efficient and a wise person. See how simple, light and relaxed the life becomes. You have been filling your mind with such garbage over all these years; all in vain. A purified mind only will lead to Nirvana.

Greatest contribution 

The foregoing are some of the benefits that could be harvested by those who practice the meditation technique based on the Noble Eightfold Path. But perhaps the single greatest contribution to the society as a whole from this practice is the provision of persons with Higher Mental Status. Individuals who have achieved even the lowest rank of these states abstain from engaging in the basic five unskillful acts. In other words they observe the Five Precepts. To lead a life observing these precepts is no problem for them. There is no conflict in their minds, as whether to commit these acts or not.  This is because, the thoughts to commit such deeds, mostly do not arise in their minds. Even if these do arise, the Observation which is well developed, will promptly brush them out. So these unwholesome thoughts are never put into action. What a Blessing!

Today a majority in the society believe that one cannot live without breaking the Five Precepts. The educated, the wealthy, the influential and worst the very people who preach the lay man to safeguard the Five Precepts do not lead a life observing these. This has been taken for granted in the society. Some educated people say that you cannot survive without breaking them. Some say, “Nobody abstain from breaking them. So how could we?” But surely it has to start somewhere; by someone.

Perhaps the worst sin of all the Five Precepts is lying. It is said that Bodhisatva from the day he vowed to achieve the Buddha Hood, was born in so many millions of lives but never told a lie. Sometimes he happened to break the third precept that is, sexual misconduct, yet he admitted in committing it. That is the beauty of it. And that is what a great sin, lying is. Yet if you consider the society today, how many do observe this precept?

Introduction of people of Super Mental Status to the society is a Great Blessing. Imagine a society where a majority observes the Five Precepts. What a peaceful, happy and a prosperous society it would be?                             

A different man 

The practice the meditation technique based on the Noble Eightfold Path helped me to be a different person from what I was in a matter of just one year. This transformation was a new experience. The change I feel is remarkable. It made me happier, more efficient, more relaxed, and calmer than before and a person ever ready to face death. Now I see almost all the people around me suffering and living in fear of death as I was then. This is when I feel that it would have been better had I learnt the practice earlier. I feel sorry for those unfortunate ones for not being able to see suffering as suffering and thus not making an effort to enter the Path to end suffering. The only way for the eternal cease of suffering is the passage through the Noble Eightfold Path. Once in, the results are instantaneous. This is the truth. It is with no cost at all. I like to share this newly found happiness and experience with you. Therefore, I plead you to come and see it, make an effort, experience it by yourself, realize it by yourself and yourself alone and enjoy its fruits by following this Practice.

Enjoy your meditation

The basic idea of meditation is to let go of all attachments of the mind – past, present and future- and get it free. Let us see how one can perform this exercise successfully. Start focusing your attention to the technique (as given in article 1). Initially, concentration is necessary in this step. But since the focal sites are continually changed from one to another, for example, from the top of the head to the forehead, the concentration will be overtaken by observation or ‘watching over’. You will observe how you pass over one site and move on to another site without getting attached to them. Changing sites is important because otherwise you would tend to concentrate on one site, object or point thus becoming attached to it. The whole idea of the technique is not to get attached to any. In other words complete detachment. Trying to concentrate on one thing creates a conflict in the mind. Because by nature mind always prefer to wander and if you try to stop it, it will react against it. The result will be that you will be disappointed, exhausted both mentally and physically. You would wonder whether there is any purpose in proceeding further. Doubts on the path you are in, creep in. You expected some mental relaxation and happiness from meditation but here you are anxious to end it up. The conflict in the mind reflects in the face, which is not happy or pleasant but tense as if you are in some pain. So do not try to concentrate but just observe what you are doing. The concentration will come automatically bringing joy.

Experience how the burden you were carrying passes off and you become relaxed with the light atmosphere. Watch how you spread over one site with “Metta” (loving kindness) and give it up and move on to the next. It should be noted that blessing the sites with Metta is only a tool in following this meditation procedure. The core of this meditation technique is to ‘let go’. You go to i.e. ‘take’ a site, hover over observing it and let go of it with Metta and not with dissatisfaction, aversion, sorrow or fear. Why bless it with Metta is not significant. Many interpretations can be given. But what is important is that you leave it with compassion; with happiness.

You will also be aware of disturbances both external, like noises, smells etc. and internal, like thoughts and pains occurring and passing away. While monitoring these you can go on with the exercise. It is now that you will begin to see the things in their real perspective. This way you will be relaxed and happy thus enjoying your meditation which will lead to the successful achievement of the expected goal of achieving Super Mental Status and finally Nirvana.

1. The technique of meditation based on the Noble Eightfold Path

Twenty five zones or sites of the body are considered for contemplation in the technique of meditation based on the Eight Fold Path. Top of the head, forehead, right eye, nose, left eye, left cheek, mouth, right cheek, chin, neck, upper chest, lower chest (this division if for convenience), upper abdomen, middle abdomen (enclosing the umbilicus), lower abdomen (this division too is for convenience), following parts of the right and left legs – thigh, knee cap, lower leg, sole, toes – together form these 25 (see diagram). These need not be considered right in this order but this sequence is quite convenient once you get used to it. Sit in a comfortable position on the floor or any seat. You may use a cushioned seat if necessary. Lotus and semi lotus positions are said to be ideal as both these are supposed to improve blood circulation in the brain. But any other position convenient for you would do. Now relax the body. Relax the facial muscles. Let all the tension go. Keep the back straight, head up. Relax the mind. Half close the eyes (about 75%).

Now you are ready to meditate. Observe the body with the “mind’s eye” from top of the head down to the toes. Now guide the mind to the top of the head. Starting from the middle of the front of the head observe it right round and come back to the original position. While going round bless the area with loving kindness as follows. “May all beings be healthy, happy and peaceful”! Then let go of the site and go to forehead and bless it also in the same way. The route you take round each zone will have the same shape as the shape of the zone – circular, oval, triangular, long stripe like and so on. Cover all 25 sites this way. Here you observe and bless each site without concentrating on them. Thus you don’t get attached to them but hover over them and leave them that is, ‘let them go’.

While going through this process you may get some pain – itching or some other uncomfortable or unpleasant sensation. Without changing the posture that is, without moving your body, you divert your attention to the spot concerned and bless it with loving kindness 3 to 4 times. It would fade away. But if it is stubborn you leave the place altogether and go back to where you left in the procedure. If you have forgotten it, start from the beginning that is, the head.

You also might hear sounds – voices, a car horn, a TV telecast and so on. If this happens you identify what the sound is but don’t try to detail it i.e. don’t follow it or listen to it. Just be aware of it as a noise and let it go i.e. you don’t get attached to it.

Now while being engaged in the technique, your mind will start getting distracted from the procedure due to various thoughts arising in it. Be aware of these and let them go without following them; going behind them.

Do this exercise at least one hour at a time, ideally twice a day. This is a technique taught by Venerable Lankapura Saripuththa.

Thought of sharing the benifits of meditation aimed at Nirvana

I have been following the technique of meditation taught by Venerable Lankapura Saripuththa of ‘Jethavanaramaya’, off- Palapathwala, Matale, for the last five years.

The realization of what this life is all about and the benefits I gained through this practice are of great value. These made me a different person.

It is my intention to share my experience with others so that they also could enjoy the benefits of this meditation and have a happy and a peaceful life. As such, I present herewith a series of articles based on the experience of this meditation practice.