Meditation: A Way of Awakening - Chapter Ten

Ajahn Sucitto

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Ajahn Sucitto, an elder western disciple of Ajahn Chah and abbot of Cittaviveka Buddhist Monastery in England, has written a new book entitled Meditation: A Way of Awakening. This book is still in its production phase, and is yet to be printed. However, Abhayagiri Monastery is glad to be able to make this new text available via our website. We will be posting one chapter at a time, each Monday and Friday for six weeks.

The other chapters of this book that have already been published, are available at http://www.abhayagiri.org/index.php/main/teacher_other/C24

Theory: Meditation and the Path to Awakening

I have seen an ancient path, an ancient road traversed by the rightly enlightened ones of former times. And what is this ancient path, that ancient road? It is this Noble Eightfold Path, that is: right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Along that I have gone, and going along it I have fully come to know decay-and-death, I have fully come to know the arising of decay-and-death, I have fully come to know the ceasing of decay-and-death, I have fully come to know the way going to the ceasing of decay-and-death. [Sam 12, 65]

What is Awakening?

The short-term aim of meditation is to bring calm and stability to the mind/heart, and through that provide a basis for insight into the issues that govern our lives. Such fundamental life-topics as pain and pleasure, wanting and resisting, identity and relationship – are all food for insight when we have the skills to contemplate and handle them wisely. This long-term process is summarised in the Buddha's Eightfold Path – which comprises overall perspective, aims, moral development and meditation. It is both a comprehensive way out of causing conflict and pain for each individual and a way to bring the fruits of cultivation into the world in which we live. To fully comprehend and integrate this Path is called ‘Awakening.’

Any path has to have a sense of direction or purpose: a going from and a going to. Page 2 of 13

The Buddha did teach an end to the Path – called ‘Nibbāna’, or sometimes ‘the Deathless.’ At which point the notion of Path ceases to be useful, because Nibbāna is the end of coming and going. This experience is impossible to define in words, except to say the Path doesn’t create it, but reveals this freedom as our fullest potential. More often than talking about Nibbāna, the Buddha focused on what are called the Four Noble Truths as the understanding that leads there. These Truths are: that in our lives there is suffering and stress (dukkha), which can range from dissatisfaction to anguish; that it has an origination; that through abandoning the origination there can be a stopping of suffering and stress; and that there is a Path that leads to that stopping. In this formulation, the sense of Path, a sense of direction or purpose fits well.

These Four Noble Truths have to be worked on; they aren’t always apparent. A lot of the time we don’t abandon the origin of suffering and stress, but rather shift the topic that is triggering it. Just as we scratch an itch, or fidget in a chair rather than let go of irritability, we commonly turn the mind away from its edginess and onto a source of pleasure. Alternatively we may react to getting hurt or frustrated by losing our temper, blaming someone or getting depressed. This reactivity isn’t always something we have much say over: lose someone you’re fond of and it’s likely that you’ll feel down for quite a while. We all respond in that way, but these responses don’t get to the roots of the problem, which is the reactivity in our hearts. Cultivation of the Path, in its eight aspects, is the Buddha's remedy for clearing the heart from both these afflictive strategies and the underlying Unknowing from which they originate. It is through this Unknowing that we want what we can't keep, fight with the way things are, and ignore the full fruition which our systems are capable of.

The process of Awakening entails holding the Page 3 of 13

potential for liberation in mind and strengthening the Path in terms of outer action and meditation. It also means waking up to and dismantling the source of suffering in terms of how our inner mental action. Some heart/mind responses are impaired with what are called defilements (kilesa); so called because they defile the brightness which we are capable of. Defilements occur as specific incidents: jealousy over someone else's success; hankering after a particular food; irritation over delay, etc. So instead of experiencing empathy, contentment or patience, we suffer instead. However through reflection and training we can realign ourselves to see that other people’s happiness doesn’t do us any harm, so why not feel some gladness on their behalf. This means we tune in to empathy: I feel good when I can wish others well, feel compassion for them and so on. On another count, rather than get irritated and angry over what life is doing to us, we can turn it around by reflecting some warmth to ourselves and just weathering through. After all, when you’re getting a rough deal, why make it worse by burning up inside over it? Furthermore, we can learn to let go of the neediness that keeps us running after the bait of material things. With some work on the mind, you get to know your own value and you don’t need all that stuff. It cuts out a lot of stress.

When we cultivate like this, we begin to appreciate the clearer, more easeful and agile mind that is revealed. So as a result of adjusting our behaviour and attitude, we get to know our innate balance and well-being. That’s the way the Path works: suffering and the way out; problems are a spur to cultivation. This ability to lessen the confusion and turmoil in our lives gives us the confidence and skill to develop meditation.

Meditation also reveals ingrained flaws of the heart called hindrances (nīvarana); so called because they hinder the enjoyment of a pure mental awareness. These are listed as covetousness (abhijja) or sense-desire (kāma-chanda); ill will; dullness and lethargy Page 4 of 13

(thina-middha); worry and agitation (uddhaca-kukuccha) and doubt (vicikiccha). The last of these is not doubt over an external fact, (what is the capital of Mauretania anyway?), but the doubt about one's presence and value. It amounts to loss of confidence, despair and depression. The first goal of meditation is to free the mind from the effect of these hindrances, even temporarily. Even more than with the freedom from defilements, the mind gets to feel really good, and that makes the work of tackling the hindrances well worthwhile. The hindrances go down in proportion to the arising and strengthening of spiritual qualities that eradicate them, and the overall effect is to make one’s mental awareness steady, agile, penetrative and peaceful.

Until these factors are present, most of us wouldn’t recognize that there are subtler and more deep-rooted biases in the mind. These are so ingrained that we take them for granted, but they also support suffering. Take for example the notion that there’s something that we should be, or have that isn’t here right now. Conditions change, from good days to bad days, but with this bias, the basic message continues that we should get somewhere, get something, experience something that lasts and belongs to us. The tempo may slow down, but the push goes on. Such biases (asava) occur around the hunger for sense-input or ‘sensuality’ (kāmasava) ‘being or becoming something’ (bhavasava) and plain old ‘missing the point’ or ‘Unknowing’ (avijjasava). They are also called 'influxes' because they flow into the way the mind operates, and therefore influence the way it apprehends and relates to experience.

We all might agree, for example, that a rose is beautiful, without pausing to acknowledge that the labelling ‘beautiful’ occurs in our minds: dogs and toads don't experience roses as beautiful. Not that they're ‘ugly’ either. This influx is a problem because it sets up a mentality that clings to sense-objects, may get obsessed and possessive about them, and fears and grieves over their inevitable change and demise. Exchange 'roses' for ‘my body’ and the analogy probably becomes clearer. This influx of Page 5 of 13

sensuality is a basis for suffering. It tells us that the only things that are around, including a lot of what we take ourselves to be, are sensory objects – but we can't retain the pleasant ones, nor can we avoid the unpleasant ones. Things keep changing. However we can't bear and dwell in that recognition unless the mind has its own stability and resources. Hence meditative training is to bring spiritual support in terms of ‘factors of Awakening’ to the fore. These, which represent the resources and the way to the Awakened awareness are: mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture/uplift, calm/tranquillity, concentration, and equanimity.

The influx of ‘becoming’ is the temporal sense that our identity is based upon: I am a being in time with a past, who has arrived at this present and will persist into this future. The clarity of meditation allows one to experience in the present that all the past is a memory occurring now, the future is an expectation occurring now, and what one is in the present is an awareness of senses, ideas, impressions and reactions that come and go. This present awareness can't be found in any object or process of consciousness. So if this most essential quality isn’t locatable in terms of what we normally assume is what we are…why do we base so much of our lives on it?

Well, we miss the point. This is the main obstacle, the major influx: that of Unknowing, of not being in touch with this present awareness. If we’re not in touch with that, we can’t train it to integrate into our lives.

Unknowing is the absence, or the covering-up of full unbiased awareness. In specific instances it may mean that a person has a very restricted access to qualities such as trust, self-respect, or empathy. At times this Unknowing flares up for all of us: we may feel stressed at addressing a large number of people; we may feel miserable at being on our own; we are subject to paranoia and feeling of pointlessness unless we are with something that reassures Page 6 of 13

or uplifts us. We’ve missed our own value and present freedom. This is the effect of Unknowing: we get lost in a trance of what we should, might, and maybe aren’t and then lock into these constricted states of being.

Meditative training can clear these influxes. It is only then that we can live in an unbiased and unafflicted way. But of course, the more thoroughly we can work on dispelling afflicted mental states in our daily lives, the easier our access to the factors of Awakening will be. And when we understand meditation and its peaceful states to be a means and not an end in their own right, the less we're going to get caught in the influx of trying to become calmer and calmer. There can be a lot of suffering in that!

What is the Path?

At first approach, meditation can appear to be a series of techniques that stand apart from the other activities of life. This notion has some truth in it: meditation certainly gets well-established and thrives in a situation where we can be alone, or sitting quietly with friends, in a place that is free from disturbances. It's good to set aside a time every day when we change gear and let go of how we normally operate and even who we assume ourselves to be. However, this idea can put us out of touch with the cultivation of a Path to Awakening in which how we speak and act have a crucial part to play. Ideally the way we do the things we do in our daily life should feed into the meditation, and the attitudes and understanding that arise out of meditation should feed back into our daily lives. So that, even though we may change gear, we're still riding the same vehicle in the same direction. And the direction is a simple yet profound one: towards the complete release from suffering and stress. This, rather than any esoteric ideal or theory is what Awakening is about.

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affect how we feel in the long term; and it's probably also obvious this means that it brings around changes in how we act. However it's sometimes not fully understood that how we act is a necessary precondition for meditation. In fact, if meditation doesn't make use of the strength and purpose that we've employed in the wider sphere of our lives, it is like a plant with poor roots. Meditation is going to be positively affected if we have geared our minds in terms of compassion, honesty and clarity. If our speech is harsh, it affects how we think and our awareness has to receive the results of that — not to mention the feedback we get from other people if we act in these ways. To put it simply, what we do has an immediate effect on how we will be. It is also very much the case that if we are generous, responsible and looking towards Awakening in our lives, actions that issue from those roots will have a beneficial effect.

The process whereby actions have effects is called ‘Kamma’. The truth of kamma is an aspect of the truth of mutual conditioning (or interdependence): that is, all states arise dependent on others. Just as ice needs water and a certain temperature in order to manifest, or as our bodies need air, water and physical food to keep going, so our awareness – the ‘heart’ of the mind – can only manifest in terms of the conditions that we have established it in as the daily norm. In ethical terms, this conditionality also means that the good we have done will lay down a residue of brightness and support: it can't be otherwise. If this weren't the case, there would be no real benefit in kindness, generosity or doing good, and no harm in violence and dishonesty. So there would be no sense of right and wrong, and no Path going anywhere. But because we can sense that there is a purpose in doing good, there is a Path – and it leads out of inflicting Page 8 of 13

pain on ourselves and others. The purpose of this Path is to get out of suffering. So the understanding of kamma is the core of Buddhism. It is called Right View, (samma-ditthi) the first factor of the Buddha's Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path covers the way we live: right view deals with basic attitudes and norms, right intent relates to our directed intentions, to what we aim to bring forth in our lives. These represent the ‘wisdom’ aspect of the Path. Right speech, right action and right livelihood deal with how we get on with our lives in their changing context – this is about goodness and virtue. Right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration cover the cultivation of awareness – the ‘meditation’ aspect of the Path. To offer a brief overview of the eight factors, I'd like to reflect on the three factors which generate and support all the others – right view, right effort and right mindfulness.

Right view gives personal immediate value to any factor: for example I recognize that if I cultivate right speech, whatever anyone else thinks about me, I can live free from regret and with a clear heart. Right view is therefore regarded as the paramount Path factor because it not only sets up the parameters for the other factors by outlining the truth of kamma, but it also suggests where we need to look for Awakening. That is, we need to access, dwell in and draw from that awareness in us which respects others and ourselves and does not wish to harm others or ourselves; we need to centre ourselves in that heart which inclines towards trusting and being trustworthy, helping and appreciating how we have been helped. This is the sense of 'conscience and concern' (hiri-ottappa) that values all life. Conscience and concern are natural qualities: that is they are present when we are at ease and fully authentic. However, these qualities get buried by abusive or deluded behaviour – and they get acquired through any attitude that gives more value to what we can get and make and Page 9 of 13

have than to goodness of heart. This is wrong view. So if the ability to respect, to love and experience gratitude has been buried under anxiety, mistrust and a sense of meaninglessness, we need to regain that capacity. Otherwise what kind of mind are we going to be meditating with?

The most damaging twist in the conditioning of wrong view is self-denigration. This is because if we don't amount to anything to ourselves, there's no confidence (and no point) in cultivating the mind or Awakening. Wrong view gets stimulated by attitudes which measure us in terms of performance. We acquire these through life in the human world. That is, we are valued by how well we do in terms of the quicksand world of material success and social status – in which there are more losers than winners. The result is that many of us incline at times to viewing ourselves as inadequate or born losers, that 'I'm not much good, so of course I can't expect much; and as I'm of little value, I have to work twice as hard for half the rewards just to be acceptable.' This view, which can linger in an unspoken way in the back of the mind, prevents us from fully appreciating the good that we have done – of which the bottom line is the bad that we could have done and haven't!

So with wrong view, we lose touch with the common ground: that we can all be of benefit to ourselves and others, and we all have the potential for Awakening. Without that confidence, all effort, even in meditation, is an attempt to prove that we are good enough. This never works: whatever good we do is never good enough while wrong view is intact. It distorts and finds fault with everything. So meditation shifts the criteria for self-regard away from performance and becoming something in the future towards one of valuing intrinsic goodness and bringing it forth. Otherwise our practice has no firm foundation and no sense of uplift.

Right Effort, (samma-vāyāmo) the second of Page 10 of 13

the three overriding factors, is described in four ways. Actually the ways are paired: one pair of efforts is that of uplifting and also protecting what is truly worthy in ourselves. What is truly worthy in ourselves gets revealed when, with right view, we come from an attitude of conscience and concern. Then the effort is to bring that intrinsic wisdom and goodness to bear on the mental and emotional afflictions that hold us back.

The other pair of right efforts involves putting aside and protecting the heart and mind from attitudes, thoughts and behaviour that degrade ourselves and others. There are aspects of moral conduct that are quite natural to pick up when we reflect on the pain of abusive behaviour. However, we don't always recognize that the psychology of self-denigration also has to be cleaned from our ongoing awareness: ill will as often spoils our perception of ourselves as it is does that of others. Is it possible to contemplate and check the voice of self-criticism? If we are still and focusing on ourselves, can we feel OK with that? Do we find that part of our need to be busy is to stop the mood swinging back to the default of feeling hopeless and inadequate? It's not that we have no shortcomings, but when these get the exclusive block capital headlines, this is ill- will, an absence of graciousness towards ourselves. And the fruition of this form of ill-will is doubt – the sense that my life has no meaning and no purpose. Between ill-will and doubt are hankering, dullness, and restless worry. So right view on effort is to understand that it's for cleansing the mind, so that we can bring forth our best for ourselves and others.

If there is right view, the hindrances can be approached as habits conditioned into the mind, rather than as something that we really are. Then our practice is both to cut the behaviour attitudes and scenarios that support these afflictive habits, and with mindfulness to see that they’re based on no real identity. So the balance Page 11 of 13

of effort in all aspects of the Path is struck by entering into a fundamental trust and appreciation of one's aware heart. Then because one is worthy, one casts off attitudes and behaviour that are not worthy of oneself. We incline towards curing the sickness rather than punishing the patient.

Right Mindfulness (samma-sāti) is the factor that brings right view and right effort into specific application in any aspect of the Path. It is an attention that is sustained over what is presently arising in our awareness – within ourselves or in the situation around us. It places our focus on present clarity rather than the way it should be, or the way I'm supposed to be, or what you're always like, and what will happen if... So it curtails personal history and the descriptions through which we have grown to regard ourselves and others. This radical simplicity and freedom from bias attends to moods, thoughts, sensations, energies and passions as arising in the present rather than life-journey luggage that we are pleased or disgusted with. When with right view, we understand the nature of afflictions as conditions rather than as self, they can be handled as itinerant blemishes without adding shame and guilt to the pile of stress. This handling is mindfulness. So mindfulness is a 'pure approach' because it sees things purely as they are.

As it is applied to the specific presence of a phenomenon, right mindfulness brings around the realisation of change – that a feeling or a thought moves in a pattern of rising up and subsiding. We don't have to do a whole lot with it. This realisation alleviates the immediate reactivity by which confused habits and hindrances gain power. As we thus weaken the power of those reactions, mindfulness puts us in touch with a purity which they generally obscure. This process is notably (but not exclusively) the case with the formal exercises of mindfulness that constitute meditation. In these, through attending within a prescribed frame of reference (such as breathing in and out) we challenge the habits that get built Page 12 of 13

into our normal activities. That is, in normal life, we attend to something because it promises us well-being, or because we have to: these are habits of expectation or compulsion that are sources of stress. In meditation we attend to how things are in order to strengthen attention itself. If we get bored, we acknowledge the bored state as it is, rather than react to it. If it persists and begins to capture attention, we work with it in various ways. And so on with restlessness, sorrow...and all the mood swings that normally govern our lives; mindfulness keeps the attention from being swayed. In this way, meditation is of supreme importance in living a responsible and free life.

Mindfulness is also a something that connects us to the refreshing ‘rest states’ of Right Concentration (samma-samādhi). For a beginner, an appreciation of what this might be occurs whenever there's an experience of mental stillness – even for a few seconds. The uplift of experiencing this is a special kind of pleasure, that of restful awakeness. This kind of pleasure doesn't cause the attention to jump or contract around it; it is spacious and offers an opportunity for our attention to deepen into it. It is an ease that nourishes and strengthens. This is the calm well-being of right concentration.

As I've explained them, the three main Path factors support each other in a consecutive sense. It's also the case that the support runs the other way. If there's no right effort, no encouraging and abstaining, then how do we clear away wrong view? And if there's no right mindfulness, how do we know where and to what degree to apply effort? Clearing cobwebs with a sledge-hammer is more likely to do harm than good. So the Path is more a circle than a ladder. Mindfulness takes us into the enjoyment of inner purity which is the flowering of right view. We recognize that good kamma makes us feel good; and that insight deepens confidence in the Path as a whole.

So meditation is not a matter of Page 13 of 13

trying to get somewhere or become something, but of Awakening to a purity that is already with us but has been obscured. And as that purity is fully revealed, it is freed from obscuration; being freed it does not depend on this or that. Eventually it doesn't even depend on a Path: the Path leads to its own transcending.

But in terms of where we are now, practice hinges around accessing and using the wisdom and goodness towards which all the eight Path factors contribute. If there's no access to wisdom or goodness, then the meditation is not going to flow. And if meditation has to be forced or supported by beliefs, then, rather than give rise to a natural unfolding, it adds more layers over the purity. Heart and mind don't become peaceful on demand. But they can attune to and settle into an Awakening process: the process that brings peace to our ongoing life.