Preface
“If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it.” 5/3/25 8:45 PM
Note: Anagārika Munindra
Introduction
Maybe when the Buddha repeats certain phrases over and over again, he is trying to tell us something: that these are important qualities of mind to cultivate and strengthen in our practice and in our lives. 5/3/25 8:54 PM
The Four Qualities of Mind
1. Ardency: The Long-Enduring Mind
What are the four? Here, bhikkhus, in regard to the body a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body, ardent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to feelings he abides contemplating feelings, ardent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to the mind he abides contemplating the mind, ardent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to dhammas he abides contemplating dhammas, ardent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. 5/3/25 8:55 PM
Note: The Four Foundations
Ardent implies a balanced and sustained application of effort. But ardent also suggests warmth of feeling, a passionate and strong enthusiasm or devotion because we realize the value and importance of something. When the Buddha says that a bhikkhu (all of us on the path) abides ardently, he is urging us to take great care, with continuity and perseverance, in what we do 5/3/25 8:55 PM
One way to cultivate ardency is to reflect on the purpose of our practice, realizing that the Dharma is a jewel of priceless value. 5/3/25 8:56 PM
understanding the mind is the same as understanding the Dharma, and that realizing the deepest truths of the mind is the attainment of awakening. 5/3/25 8:56 PM
Ask yourself how many of the billions of inhabitants of this planet have any idea of how rare it is to have been born as a human being. How many of those who understand the rarity of human birth ever think of using that chance to practice the Dharma? How many of those who think of practice actually do? How many of those who start continue? . . . But once you see the unique opportunity that human life can bring, you will definitely direct all your energy into reaping its true worth by putting the Dharma into practice.2 5/3/25 8:57 PM
The third reflection that arouses ardor in our practice is the understanding of the law of karma. This is the fundamental and essential understanding that all of our volitional actions—of body, speech, and mind — bear fruit depending on the motivation associated with them. Actions rooted in greed, hatred, or ignorance bring unpleasant results. Actions rooted in nongreed, nonhatred, and nondelusion bring many different kinds of happiness and wellbeing. 5/3/25 9:00 PM
As we’re about to act, or when thoughts or emotions are predominant, do we remember to investigate and reflect on our motivation? Do we ask ourselves, “Is this act or mind state skillful or unskillful? Is this something to cultivate or abandon? Where is this motivation leading? Do I want to go there?” 5/3/25 9:02 PM
2. Clearly Knowing: Cultivating Clear Comprehension
With clear comprehension, we know the purpose and appropriateness of what we’re doing; we understand the motivations behind our actions. 5/3/25 9:03 PM
Note: SAMPAJAÑÑA
How does our practice benefit others? How does feeling our breath or taking a mindful step help anyone else? It happens in several ways. The more we understand our own minds, the more we understand everyone else. We increasingly feel the commonality of our human condition, of what creates suffering and how we can be free. 5/3/25 9:19 PM
3. Mindfulness: The Gateway to Wisdom
“the five spiritual faculties”: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom 5/3/25 9:23 PM
Note: The Five Spiritual Faculties
Mindfulness makes us aware when any of them are deficient or in excess; for example, it balances faith and wisdom, energy and concentration. When we have too much faith, we can become dogmatic, attached to our own views. And we can see all too often how this blind belief leads to so much conflict and suffering in the world. When faith is not balanced with wisdom, we can also become overly enthusiastic about our meditation experiences. There is a state called “pseudo-nirvāna.” This is when our insight is developing, but in our enthusiasm we forget to be mindful, and then, because of our attachment to these very states, they become corruptions of insight. 5/3/25 9:24 PM
Note: Balancing the five spiritual faculties
our aim should be not to follow the heart but to train the heart. All of us have a mix of motivations; not everything in our hearts is wise or wholesome. The great power of mindful discernment allows us to abandon what is unwholesome and to cultivate the good. This discernment is of inestimable value for our happiness and wellbeing. 5/3/25 9:26 PM
In the Dzogchen tradition, this is called fabricated mindfulness, and is similar, perhaps, to what in the Theravāda Abhidhamma is called prompted consciousness. This is when, either by reflection or determination of the will, we deliberately endeavor to generate a certain state. There is another kind of mindfulness that is unprompted. When it is well cultivated, it arises spontaneously through the force of its own momentum. No particular effort is required. It’s all just happening by itself. In this state of effortless awareness, we can further discern the presence or absence of a reference point of observation, a sense of someone observing or being mindful. 5/3/25 9:29 PM
Mindfulness of the Body
7. Mindfulness of Breathing
“Bhikkhus, when anyone has not developed and cultivated mindfulness of the body, Māra finds an opportunity and a support. . . .”1 “Bhikkhus, when anyone has developed and cultivated mindfulness of the body, Māra cannot find an opportunity or a support. . . .”2 5/11/25 8:37 PM
In the midst of endless thought proliferation, of emotional storms, of energetic ups and downs, we can always come back to just this breath, just this step. So many times in my practice I was thankful that it was that simple. We can always just come back to the simplest aspect of what’s already here. 5/11/25 8:38 PM
Retiring to a physically secluded location, such as a retreat center or a cabin in the woods, would be ideal. But it could also mean establishing a place dedicated to practice right in our own home—a room, or even a corner of a room, where we create an environment of stillness and beauty. 5/11/25 8:39 PM
the form becomes both the container and the expression of the awakened state 5/3/25 9:34 PM
n both meditation and life, wise effort creates energy. We often think that we need energy to make effort. But the opposite can be just as true. Think of the times when you feel tired and sluggish and then go out for some exercise. Usually, you come back feeling alert and energized: effort creates energy. 5/3/25 9:35 PM
Note: Effort creates energy
It’s a moment’s reflection about our intention, rather than simply sitting down and settling into a perhaps familiar drift of thought and fantasy. 5/11/25 8:40 PM
[H]e seats himself cross-legged, sets his body erect, and establishes mindfulness in front of him. He does not occupy his mind with self-affliction, or the affliction of others, or the affliction of both; he sits with his mind set on his own welfare, on the welfare of others, and on the welfare of both, even on the welfare of the whole world.”6 5/3/25 9:37 PM
Note: Metta, Prayer
Bhikkhus, when mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it is of great fruit and great benefit. When mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it fulfills the four foundations of mindfulness. When the four foundations of mindfulness are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the seven enlightenment factors. When the seven enlightenment factors are developed and cultivated, they fulfill true knowledge and deliverance. 5/11/25 8:42 PM
it is a stabilizing factor at the time of death 5/11/25 8:42 PM
Note: The Breath
an increasing level of intentionality in our practice as we broaden our awareness from the breath to the whole body. 5/3/25 9:41 PM
The second interpretation of “experiencing the whole body” is found in the Buddhist commentaries, which say that this phrase refers to the whole “breath body.” This means that we train experiencing the beginning, middle, and end of each breath 5/3/25 9:41 PM
8. Mindfulness of Postures
All of this is summarized in the dharma statement, “Movement masks dukkha.” It’s worth investigating this to see for ourselves what drives the many movements we make during the day. 5/11/25 8:54 PM
We see that there’s no one behind this process to whom it is all happening, only the pairwise progression of knowing and object rolling on. 5/11/25 8:56 PM
The purpose of all our practice is to purify the mind of obstructive, unskillful states—in the Buddha’s words, “to abandon ill will and hatred, and to abide with a mind compassionate for the welfare of all beings.” 5/11/25 8:59 PM
9. Mindfulness of Activities
“Clearly knowing,” the translation of the Pali word sampajañña, is sometimes translated as “clear comprehension.” Clearly knowing means seeing precisely or seeing thoroughly, with all of the five spiritual faculties (confidence, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom) in balance. 5/11/25 9:02 PM
Note: Sampajanna and the Five Spiritual Faculties
The first way of training is clearly knowing the purpose of doing an action before we do it, understanding whether or not it is of benefit to ourselves and others. 5/11/25 9:03 PM
Note: Pace is critical
Because our motivations are often subtle and hard to see—they are often mixed or are a series of conflicting motivations—it takes a lot of honesty, clarity, and mindfulness to see them clearly, to know the inner purpose behind our actions. 5/11/25 9:03 PM
We might be feeling tired or frustrated, and then this kindly voice arises in the mind: “I’ve done enough. I’ve been working really hard. Let me take a little rest.” Sometimes we do need rest, but sometimes the kindly voice is just that aspect of sloth and torpor that retreats from difficulties. 5/11/25 9:05 PM
This aspect of clear comprehension—seeing the purpose of our actions and whether they are of benefit or not—rests on our understanding the ethical dimensions of mindfulness. This is the discernment of wholesome or unwholesome mind states and actions, which lead respectively to happiness or suffering. 5/11/25 9:06 PM
The famous thirteenth-century Japanese Zen master Dogen expressed it this way in the Genjo Koan: “What is the way of the Buddha? It is to study the self. What is the study of the self? It is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be Enlightened by all things.” 5/11/25 9:08 PM
10. Mindfulness of Physical Characteristics
In meditation, we move from the concept of body to the awareness of the body as a changing energy field. On this level, the sense of the body as being something solid and substantial disappears. 5/11/25 9:15 PM
Note: The Etheric body
Dry out that which is past, let there be nothing for you in the future. If you do not grasp at anything in the present you will go about at peace. One who, in regard to this entire mind/body complex, has no cherishing of it as “mine,” and who does not grieve for what is non-existent truly suffers no loss in the world. For that person there is no thought of anything as “this is mine” or “this is another’s”; not finding any state of ownership, and realizing, “nothing is mine,” he does not grieve.7 5/11/25 9:20 PM
Those who believe in things can be helped through various kinds of practice, through skillful means—but those who fall into the abyss of emptiness find it almost impossible to re-emerge, since there seem to be no handholds, no steps, no gradual progression, nothing to do 5/11/25 9:22 PM
Note: The Abyss of Emptiness
Mindfulness of Feelings
11. Liberation through Feelings
“Bhikkhus, that one shall here and now make an end to suffering without abandoning the underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feeling, without abolishing the underlying tendency to aversion towards painful feeling, without extirpating the underlying tendency to ignorance in regard to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling . . . this is impossible.” 5/25/25 3:33 PM
Note: Ñāṇamoli and Bodhi, The Middle Length Discourses, 1134–35
As we see the transitory nature of whatever feelings arise, we become less identified with them, less attached to the pleasant ones, less fearful of the unpleasant ones. 5/25/25 3:35 PM
We can also train in mindfulness of feelings with external situations. There is a story of Ajahn Chaa going on retreat by himself in a little hut in the forest, but not far from a village. One night, the villagers were having a celebration with loud music playing on loudspeakers. At first, Ajahn Chaa became annoyed, thinking, “Don’t they know I’m here on retreat?” But after a few moments of consideration, he realized the problem was in his own mind, not in the sound. He thought, “Well, they’re just having a good time down there. I’m making myself miserable up here. No matter how upset I get, my anger is just making more noise internally.” And then he had this insight: “Oh, the sound is just the sound. It’s me who is going out to annoy it. If I leave the sound alone, it won’t annoy me. It’s just doing what it has to do. That’s what sound does. It makes sound. This is its job. So if I don’t go out and bother the sound, it’s not going to bother me.” 5/25/25 3:48 PM
Note: @`Sense Desire / Craving / Aversion`
Whatever feeling one feels, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neither-painful-nor pleasant, one abides contemplating impermanence in those feelings, contemplating fading away, . . . contemplating relinquishment. Contemplating thus, one does not cling to anything in this world. When one does not cling, one is not agitated. When one is not agitated, one personally attains Nibbāna. 5/25/25 3:49 PM
Note: Choice @`Nibbana / Nirvana / Enlightenment / Awakening`
12. Worldly and Unworldly Feelings
Worldly feelings arise from contact with the senses: these are feelings dependent on sights and sounds, smells and tastes, touch sensations, and also thoughts connected with these objects. 5/25/25 9:05 PM
Note: Worldly v Unworldy overview
The Buddha highlighted this understanding when he said, “What the world calls happiness, I call suffering; what the world calls suffering, I call happiness.” 5/25/25 3:56 PM
We may not yet know the happiness of full enlightenment, but all along the path, we do experience clear times of nonsensual joy, the unworldly pleasant feelings. We experience them in times of generosity, when we are renouncing mind states of greed and stinginess. Think of times when you were generous with someone, giving something out of love or compassion, respect or gratitude. Practicing generosity is an easily accessible gateway to the happy, unworldly feelings based on renunciation, and it is the reason the Buddha usually begins his progressive teachings speaking of generosity. 5/25/25 8:52 PM
Note: @Paramis @`Generosity / Dana`
We feel nonsensual joy when we practice qualities like love and compassion. The great Zen master and poet Ryokan summed up the expression of this feeling when he wrote, “Oh that my monk’s robes were wide enough to gather up all the people in this floating world.” 5/25/25 8:54 PM
We feel a nonsensual joy when we practice the renunciation involved with following the precepts. We renounce harmful actions, and this renunication brings the unworldly pleasant feeling of nonremorse. 5/25/25 8:54 PM
Note: @`Renunciation / Nekkhama`
We experience nonsensual joy of unworldly pleasant feelings in states of concentration, where the mind is secluded from unskillful states. 5/25/25 8:54 PM
Note: @Concentration
We experience an even higher nonsensual joy in the various stages of insight and awakening. Here it is not the absorption in the unworldly pleasant feelings of concentration, but the special happiness of clear seeing — that is, seeing deeply and vividly the changing, selfless nature of all that arises. 5/25/25 8:56 PM
Note: @Anatta
When a pleasant feeling arises, know it as worldly or unworldly; when an unpleasant feeling arises, know it as worldly or unworldly; and the same with neutral feelings 5/25/25 8:58 PM
Note: Discerning worldly and unworldly as a key faculty
mindfulness fosters empathetic joy when others experience pleasant feelings, and it fosters compassion when others are in pain. When we’re not mindful of feelings — pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral; worldly and unworldly—and we don’t contemplate them internally, externally, and both, then we easily become identified with these feelings, taking them to be self. 5/25/25 9:00 PM
Note: @Anatta @Mudita
Mindfulness of Mind
13. The Wholesome and Unwholesome Roots of Mind
These three roots are greed or lust; hatred, which includes ill will and anger; and delusion or ignorance, which encompasses bewilderment and confusion. 6/15/25 5:45 PM
Note: The Three Poisons
It’s important to understand which mind states are skillful and which are unskillful, not in order to judge ourselves or be reactive to them, but in order to see which lead to happiness and should be cultivated in our lives, and which lead to suffering and should be abandoned 6/15/25 5:48 PM
There is a verse in the Dhammapada that succinctly describes how these unwholesome states manifest: “There is no fire like lust, no grip like anger, and no net like delusion.” In practicing mindfulness of mind, we need to see for ourselves how we experience each of these states. We might feel that fevered excitability of wanting or greed; we might experience the tightness, contraction, and alienation of anger and hatred; we might feel the confused entanglement of delusion. The Thai master Buddhadasa describes these tendencies yet another way: “pulling in, pushing away, and running around in circles.” 6/15/25 5:49 PM
“Luminous, bhikkhus, is this mind, but it is defiled by adventitious defilements. The uninstructed worldling does not understand this as it really is; therefore I say that for the uninstructed worldling there is no development of the mind. “Luminous, bhikkhus, is this mind, and it is freed from adventitious defilements. The instructed noble disciple understands this as it really is; therefore I say that for the instructed noble disciple there is development of the mind.”2 6/15/25 5:51 PM
CONTRACTED AND DISTRACTED MIND
6/15/25 5:53 PM
Contracted here refers to the inner withdrawal of the mind due to sloth and torpor. There’s little or no energy to meet the object; we experience dullness and heaviness, collapsing inward. This state is contrasted with the mind distracted by externals and pursuing different sense objects due to restlessness. 6/15/25 5:53 PM
Be Aware of Moods and Emotions
6/15/25 5:55 PM
GREAT AND NARROW, SURPASSABLE AND UNSURPASSABLE
6/15/25 5:56 PM
In the last part of the instructions on mind, the Buddha says to know the great mind as great, and the narrow mind as narrow; a surpassable mind as surpassable, and an unsurpassable mind as unsurpassable; a concentrated mind as concentrated, and an unconcentrated mind as unconcentrated; and finally, a liberated mind as liberated, and an unliberated one as unliberated. 6/15/25 5:57 PM
Great and narrow refer to how far the concentration pervades. For example, in the brahmavihāra practices of love and compassion, they refer to whether we are radiating these feelings toward all beings or just one person. Surpassable and unsurpassable refer to the level of absorption and whether the higher levels are attainable or not. (As an interesting footnote, unsurpassable refers here to the fourth jhāna, because the higher formless absorptions have the same degree of concentration, simply more refined objects.5) The third pair, concentrated and unconcentrated, emphasizes being mindful of whether stable one-pointedness in both samatha (concentration) and vipassanā (insight) meditation is present or not. 6/15/25 5:58 PM
Liberated here means both full awakening, when all the unwholesome tendencies have been uprooted, and also the mind temporarily free of defilements, a state we often experience in vipassanā practice. 6/15/25 5:58 PM
14. The Refrain: On Feelings and Mind
PRACTICING MINDFULNESS INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY
6/15/25 8:19 PM
there is one common interpretation that clearly applies to all four foundations of mindfulness: internal refers to one’s own experience, and external refers to the experience of others. 6/15/25 8:20 PM
Just as pleasant feelings condition desire, unpleasant ones condition aversion, and neutral feelings condition ignorance when we’re unmindful internally, so too might seeing painful feelings in others trigger grief, sorrow, or denial in ourselves when we’re unmindful externally 6/15/25 8:21 PM
Arousing Wholesome Mind States
6/15/25 8:22 PM
We might feel joy for the pleasant feelings of others, rather than envy, and compassion for their painful feelings, rather than fear or apathy 6/15/25 8:22 PM
I started doing the meditation on muditā, or empathetic joy. This is the practice of wishing the happiness and success of others to continually grow and increase. 6/15/25 8:23 PM
Reactivity in the Mind
6/15/25 8:24 PM
In practicing mindfulness internally, externally, and both internally and externally, we begin opening to the understanding of anattā, the empty, selfless nature of feelings and all experience. We shift our understanding from “I’m having a pleasant feeling” or “She is having a pleasant feeling” to “There is a pleasant feeling.” As Anālayo points out, in this contemplation, the boundaries of “I” and “others,” of separate selves, are left behind. It is the experience of phenomena independent of any ownership. 6/15/25 8:25 PM
ARISING AND PASSING AWAY
6/15/25 8:25 PM
What does this say about what we value and work for in our lives, and about the liberating effect of seeing directly, in the moment, the truth of change? The refrain reminds us, with regard to body, feelings, and mind, to be mindful of them internally, externally, and both, and to contemplate their arising and passing away. 6/15/25 8:27 PM
BARE KNOWING
6/15/25 8:28 PM
“Bare knowledge” here means observing or knowing objectively what is arising, without getting lost in associations, reactions, judgments or evaluations, or, if we do get lost, to then become aware of those states themselves. 6/15/25 8:28 PM
CONTINUITY OF MINDFULNESS
6/15/25 8:29 PM
ABIDING INDEPENDENT
6/15/25 8:30 PM
Mindfulness of Dhammas—The Four Noble Truths
32. The First Noble Truth: Dukkha
So while “suffering” as the often-used translation of dukkha might sometimes be appropriate, it can also be misleading. It doesn’t always resonate with our own lived experience. We might begin to get a better sense of its meaning by remembering its etymological derivation. The word is made up of the prefix du and the root kha. Du means “bad” or “difficult.” Kha means “empty.” “Empty,” here, refers to several things—some specific, others more general. 7/10/25 8:55 PM
Note: Empty difficulty – ironic
Words like unsatisfying, unreliable, uneaseful, and stressful all convey universal aspects of our experience. Anālayo clarifies an important point regarding these various translations: Thus, “suffering,” unlike “unsatisfactoriness,” is not inherent in the phenomena of the world, only in the way in which the unawakened mind experiences them. This is indeed the underlying theme of the four noble truths as a whole: the suffering caused by attachment and craving can be overcome by awakening. For an arahant, the unsatisfactory nature of all conditioned phenomena is no longer capable of causing suffering.4 7/10/25 8:56 PM
Note: Only in the way the unawakened mind experiences them
There is the obvious suffering caused by war, violence, hunger, natural disasters, political and social oppression, and injustice. 7/10/25 9:16 PM
33. The Second Noble Truth: The Cause of Dukkha
We sometimes use the words craving and desire synonymously, but this can sometimes be confusing in a Dharma context, because the word desire in English has a wide range of meanings. Sometimes it is the thirst of craving that is rooted in greed. But sometimes desire simply means the motivation to do something, the desire to accomplish some aim, which could be skillful or unskillful depending on the motivation associated with it. In the context of this chapter on the origin of dukkha, I’ll be using these two terms — desire and craving — interchangeably, understanding that in this case, desire refers to desire bound up with greed and leading to clinging and grasping. 8/19/25 9:29 PM
THE FIRST DOMAIN OF CRAVING: THE DESIRE FOR SENSE PLEASURES
8/19/25 9:36 PM
During the day, notice the gratification that comes from different sense pleasures. It might be from very simple things like a hot shower, or the tastes of enjoyable food, or that moment when we first lie down at night after a busy day; or it might be the enjoyment of pleasant fantasies and the desire for them to continue. See what you become enamored of and the desire and craving that often follow. At some point of investigation and self-reflection, we might resonate with the Buddha’s words, “Whatever gratification there is in the world, that I have found.” Or are we still holding out hope for some new and unexpected gratification of the senses? 8/19/25 9:32 PM
THE DRAWBACKS OF SENSE PLEASURES
8/19/25 9:36 PM
Craving Can Lead to Suffering
8/19/25 9:36 PM
The Buddha talked of nine things rooted in craving: pursuit; acquisition; decision; desire and lust; selfish tenacity; possessiveness; avarice; concern for protection; and quarrels, strife, dissension, offensive talk, slander, and lies. We can see how craving gives rise to these things on both a personal level and also a national level, thus seeing how craving leads directly to different kinds of suffering. 8/19/25 9:35 PM
So even when we are considering concentration, one factor of awakening, we should remember that the essence of the path is nonclinging — to anything. The next time you feel frustrated or agitated in your practice, look to see if expectation is operative, and notice the craving behind it. 8/19/25 9:38 PM
Because something is unpleasant, we desire its nonexistence, which leads to a craving for something pleasant, or wanting to experience a future existence different from what is happening. 8/19/25 9:43 PM
34. The Third Noble Truth: The Cessation of Dukkha
As a simple experiment, the next time you have some wanting or desire in the mind, investigate what the wanting feels like and then notice how it feels when the wanting passes away. 8/19/25 9:44 PM
WAYS TO ABANDON CRAVING
8/19/25 9:46 PM
Focus on the Drawbacks of Conditioned Experience
8/19/25 9:48 PM
On this particular retreat, I was noticing that phenomenon very clearly. Then, later in the day, in times of walking meditation, I began to notice more clearly how often there is a thin layer of background thoughts, images, fragments of stories, floating like a thin layer of clouds across the mind. This stream of thoughts is really the hardly noticed but ongoing creation of the world we inhabit. And almost always the thoughts were self-referential in one way or another: memories, plans, likes and dislikes. What struck me forcibly at that time was that the experience of slipping into and out of these background thought worlds was the same experience of slipping back into a dream state after being awake. I realized that we are simply dreaming the self into existence. And I found that occasionally repeating that phrase during the day—“dreaming myself into existence”—reinforced the strong aspiration to stay awake and to notice more carefully the dream 8/19/25 9:48 PM
The dialogue takes place between Bodhidharma, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to China in the fifth or sixth century, and Daizu Huike, who was to become his Dharma heir. Legend has it that Bodhidharma had meditated in a cave for nine years when Huike came to him for teachings. Huike said to Bodhidharma, “My mind is anxious. Please pacify it.” To which Bodhidharma replied, “Bring me your mind, and I will pacify it.” Huike said, “Although I’ve sought it, I cannot find it.” Bodhidharma then said, “There, I have pacified your mind.”4 8/19/25 9:51 PM
NIBBāNA: THE UNCONDITIONED
8/19/25 9:52 PM
This deeper freedom, the end of craving, comes through a profound inner shift of understanding, in which the strongly held view of self is purified through the experience of what is unconditioned, unborn. It’s not surprising that different Buddhist traditions, even within Theravāda, express this experience in different ways. In many texts it is described as the cessation of conditioned consciousness. As practice matures, we reach a stage of perfect equanimity, where all the factors of enlightenment ripen. At this time, there are no cravings or yearnings, even for the next breath or the next moment of experience. There is not the slightest impulse toward either becoming or not becoming. As the mind settles into this perfect balance of noncraving, the flow of consciousness conditioned by changing objects suddenly stops. The mind then opens to and alights upon nibbāna, the unconditioned, the unborn. “There is, monks, an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned. If, monks, there were no unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, no escape would be discerned from what is born, become, made, conditioned. But because there is an unborn, unbecome, unmade, unconditioned, therefore an escape is discerned from what is born, become, made, conditioned.”5 8/19/25 9:53 PM
Ajahn Maha Boowa teaches about this consciousness when he speaks of the conventional mind and the mind released. The conventional mind is ruled by the tides of proliferating thought and conditioned by ignorance and craving. When these defilements disappear through mindfulness and wisdom, then the true mind, or the mind released, appears to its full extent. All that remains is simple awareness, utterly pure. The aggregates, or conditioned phenomena, still function according to their own nature, but they do not in any way affect the mind released. This mind, this pure awareness, does not partake of any feeling apart from the ultimate ease, the highest peace, which is its own nature. Ajahn Maha Boowa, like the Buddha, emphasized that the defilements, the path, and enlightenment are all right in the heart. In several suttas the Buddha describes this experience of the mind released: “’Consciousness without feature, without end, luminous all around: Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing. Here long & short coarse & fine fair & foul name & form are all brought to an end. With the cessation of [the activity of] consciousness each is here brought to an end.’”6 8/19/25 9:55 PM
35. The Fourth Noble Truth: The Way Leading to the Cessation of Dukkha
STREAM-ENTRY
8/19/25 9:59 PM
As mentioned in the last chapter, this is the path moment that uproots the first three of the ten fetters that bind us to conditioned existence: doubt, belief in rites and rituals as a path to freedom, and most fundamentally, the belief in self. 8/19/25 9:59 PM
Realization of Stream-Entry
8/19/25 10:01 PM
Walking the path transforms every aspect of our lives. And, as Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche reminds us, we each need to walk the path by ourselves: The potential for realization is universal and present for all of us. True benefit will come from your own efforts and realization. For your efforts to bring benefit, you must take your life into your own hands and examine your mind and experience. From this point of view, nobody could be kinder to you than yourself. Nobody could have a greater effect on you or actually do more for you than yourself. The Buddha said, “I have shown you the path of liberation. Now liberation depends on you.” This is really true. If you don’t take your life into your own hands, not even the buddhas can make a difference. It’s up to you.6 8/19/25 10:03 PM
Mindfulness of Dhammas—The Noble Eightfold Path: Wisdom Factors
36. Right View: Worldly Ease
Worldly right view very pragmatically acknowledges that for those of us who are not yet fully liberated, our wholesome actions are often in the realm of desire, of acquiring merit, of aiming for particular happy results in our lives. Even though these acts are wholesome (for example, acts of generosity), they may still be in the realm of acquisition — that is, making good karma for good results, rather than in the abandonment of desire. This aspect of right view is especially relevant for those of us who are laypeople, living our lives engaged with the world. It shows how we can live in the world in a way that brings happiness and ease rather than stress and difficulties. 8/20/25 8:38 PM
MUNDANE RIGHT VIEW AND THE LAW OF KARMA
8/20/25 8:40 PM
The Practice of Generosity
8/20/25 8:40 PM
A question for us then is how, in our fast-paced, individualistic culture, can we actually make generosity a practice? One way that I’ve found very helpful is to act on each of those moments of generous impulse 8/20/25 8:41 PM
Every time we give, we’re strengthening associated factors of mettā and renunciation; in those moments, we have friendly, loving feelings toward the recipient at the same time that we’re letting go. 8/20/25 8:41 PM
Motivations and Their Consequences
8/20/25 8:42 PM
These ten unwholesome actions are killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, lying, speaking harshly, backbiting, engaging in useless speech, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view 8/20/25 8:42 PM
Rebirth and Other Planes of Existence
8/20/25 8:44 PM
In this same vein, in our first teacher-training program at the Insight Meditation Society, we had a young Sri Lankan man whom I had first met in Sri Lanka when he was a child. At age two or three, before he could even read or write, he started spontaneously chanting long, complex Buddhist suttas and chanting them in an ancient melody no longer heard in Sri Lanka. As he got a little older and started meditating, he began remembering some of his past lives, and in one he was one of a group of chanting monks in the entourage of the fifth-century great Buddhist commentator Buddhaghosa. He said that the spontaneous chants he’d experienced as a very young boy came from the practices of that life. 8/20/25 8:45 PM
The last part of this opening to potentials beyond my own field of experience was the growing meditative insights into the nonmaterial nature of awareness. As we become mindful of the experience of awareness itself, it’s possible to intuit it without any physical limitations. 8/20/25 8:45 PM
Regardless, though, of our present relationship with our parents, the Buddha is pointing out that there is a karmic debt for the great gift of our precious human birth. He said that the best possible repayment of that debt is to somehow connect our parents with the Dharma or at least to try and plant a few seeds of these understandings within them. 8/20/25 8:46 PM
The greatest communication is usually how we are rather than what we say. If there is already an open, loving communication, then there are real possibilities for dharma discussion and maybe even an encouragement to practice. 8/20/25 8:47 PM
Many years later, as Sāriputta was contemplating his own passing away, he reflected on his mother who, although she was the mother of seven arahants, still had no faith in the Buddha, Dharma, or Sangha. Through his eye of wisdom, he also saw that she had the necessary supportive conditions for stream-entry, but that only he would be able to bring this about. So Sāriputta returned to his mother’s home, to his own birth chamber, and it’s said that on the last evening of his life, gods from all the heavenly realms appeared in order to pay homage to this great enlightened being. This finally seemed to impress his mother: “[I]f all these celestial beings are paying homage to my son, what great virtues must the Buddha have.” Her heart softened, and Sāriputta gave a final discourse establishing his mother in the fruit of stream-entry, bound for full awakening. 8/20/25 8:49 PM
Realization through Direct Experience
8/20/25 8:50 PM
Our egalitarian values can sometimes diminish the understanding that there actually are people wiser than ourselves, people from whom we can genuinely learn about the Dharma, the truth, the way things are. 8/20/25 8:51 PM
We learn to listen for that voice of genuine experience, rather than being influenced, positively or negatively, by personality or position. Recognizing that there are genuinely wise and awakened beings in the world helps us reaffirm the understanding that wisdom and awakening are possible for us as well. 8/20/25 8:51 PM
Of course, as we begin to explore the noble or supramundane right view, we see that real freedom lies in letting go of all craving, all desire for acquisition, for becoming, and cutting through the great Gordian knot of self. 8/20/25 8:52 PM
37. Right View: Liberation
ENHANCING RIGHT VIEW OF NON-SELF
8/22/25 8:49 PM
Observe the Changing Nature of the Aggregates
8/22/25 8:49 PM
We can practice a sustained mindfulness of the fourth aggregate, mental formations, as well. This is becoming aware of all the moods, emotions, reactions, and even refined meditative states that arise. All of them are not self, not “I,” not “mine.” All are arising out of conditions, and all pass away when conditions change. Although they seem so important when we’re lost in them, they are as ephemeral as clouds forming and dissolving in the sky. Based on right view, we can practice not identifying with either the wholesome or unwholesome formations as self. 8/22/25 8:53 PM
See Which Aggregate Is Predominant in the Moment
8/22/25 8:58 PM
THE THREE DISTORTIONS OF EXPERIENCE
8/22/25 8:57 PM
As Ledi Sayadaw pointed out, once we have established right view within ourselves, we no longer will commit any weighty, unwholesome actions that lead to misfortune. 8/22/25 8:57 PM
38. Right Thought: Renunciation
RECOGNIZING OUR OWN ADDICTIONS
8/22/25 9:04 PM
WISE RESTRAINT
8/22/25 9:07 PM
We can practice developing a wise restraint, where we settle back and allow the desires to arise and pass away without feeling the need or compulsion to act on them 8/22/25 9:07 PM
39. Right Thought: Lovingkindness
DESIRE: THE NEAR ENEMY OF LOVINGKINDNESS
8/22/25 9:24 PM
CULTIVATING LOVINGKINDNESS
8/22/25 9:25 PM
Focus on the Good Qualities in People
8/22/25 9:29 PM
40. Right Thought: Compassion
AWAKENING COMPASSION IN OURSELVES
8/22/25 9:31 PM
Compassion arises out of our willingness to come close to suffering 8/27/25 5:32 PM
There are strong tendencies in the mind that keep us defended, withdrawn, indifferent, or apathetic in the face of suffering. This indifference is often unacknowledged and is a great barrier to a compassionate response. 8/22/25 9:32 PM
Compassion requires both openness and equanimity. It requires learning to let things in without drowning in the difficulties and without being overcome by sorrow. It means learning to simply be with the truth of things as they are. This is the great gift of mindfulness that opens us to compassion. Being with the truth of what is present is what we do every time we open to our own pain or difficulty. As we practice opening to and coming close to the suffering in our own lives with compassion, we then have greater strength and courage to be with the suffering of others. 8/22/25 9:44 PM
Empathy Is the First Step
8/22/25 9:44 PM
Empathy is the beginning of compassion. Empathy happens when we take a moment to stop and feel what is really going on with another person before we rush on with our lives. 8/22/25 9:44 PM
Cultivating Wholesome Responses to Suffering
8/22/25 9:46 PM
“Hatred never ceases by hatred; it only ceases by love.” 8/22/25 9:48 PM
The Field of Compassion Is Limitless
8/22/25 9:48 PM
His aspiration was not just to alleviate the suffering of a particular situation, but to understand the root causes of all suffering—the forces of greed, hatred, and delusion—and how to be free of them. Twenty-six hundred years later, we are still benefiting from the power of his compassion and wisdom. 8/22/25 9:49 PM
THE PRACTICE AND EXPRESSION OF COMPASSION
8/22/25 9:49 PM
If we jump into situations without proper understanding and motivation, we often only add to the confusion. 8/22/25 9:49 PM
For all those ailing in the world, Until their every sickness has been healed, May I myself become for them The doctor, nurse, the medicine itself. Raining down a flood of food and drink, May I dispel the ills of thirst and famine. And in the ages marked by scarcity and want, May I myself appear as drink and sustenance. For sentient beings, poor and destitute, May I become a treasure ever plentiful, And lie before them closely in their reach, A varied source of all that they might need. My body, thus, and all my goods besides, And all my merits gained and to be gained, I give them all away withholding nothing, To bring about the benefit of beings. . . . Like the earth and the pervading elements, Enduring like the sky itself endures, For boundless multitudes of living beings, May I be their ground and sustenance. Thus, for everything that lives, As far as the limits of the sky, May I provide their livelihood and nourishment Until they pass beyond the bonds of suffering.4 8/22/25 9:51 PM
Note: Shāntideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva, trans. Padmakara Translation Group (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1997), 50–52.
One of the great turning points in my practice, one that for me gave strength to this aspiration, was realizing that wisdom and compassion were expressions of each other. Compassion is the very activity of emptiness of self. This is compassion not as a stance of the ego, or even as a particular practice, but as the spontaneous expression of a heart and mind free of self-reference. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, a great Dzogchen master of the last century, pointed to this directly when he reminds us that when we recognize the empty, selfless nature of phenomena, “the energy to bring about the good of others dawns uncontrived and effortless.” 8/22/25 9:54 PM
Mindfulness of Dhammas—The Noble Eightfold Path: Morality Factors
41. Right Speech
TRUTHFULNESS
9/23/25 8:26 PM
I came to the place of recognizing, “Yes, my mind can dissemble.” There was a great freedom in that recognition, a letting go of the previously unnoticed pretense that I would never tell a lie, particularly to my teacher. When we’re willing to see ourselves more honestly, it becomes much easier to recognize those impulses, which gives us more opportunity to refrain from them. 9/23/25 8:12 PM
SLANDER AND GOSSIP
9/23/25 8:26 PM
I would not speak about a third person; I would not speak to someone about someone else. There were some striking results. First, a large percentage of my speech was eliminated. I was surprised to realize how much of my speech revolved around this kind of talk. Second, as I stopped verbalizing my various thoughts, comments, and judgments of other people, I saw that my mind became much less judgmental, even about myself. This care with speech resulted in a much more peaceful mind. 9/23/25 8:17 PM
When we have the interest and alertness to look at it, we see that speech is a mirror of our minds. 9/23/25 8:17 PM
EMOTIONAL TONE
9/23/25 8:26 PM
The intent here is not to suppress whatever feelings we may have, but to communicate them in a way that fosters connection rather than divisiveness. 9/23/25 8:19 PM
MINDFUL LISTENING
9/23/25 8:26 PM
USELESS AND FRIVOLOUS TALK
9/23/25 8:26 PM
“Bhikkhus, possessing five factors, speech is well spoken, not badly spoken; it is blameless and beyond reproach by the wise. What five? It is spoken at the proper time; what is said is true; it is spoken gently; what is said is beneficial; it is spoken with a mind of lovingkindness.”7 9/23/25 8:24 PM
42. Right Action and Right Livelihood
As Shāntideva said, “We’re like senseless children who shrink from suffering but love its causes.” 9/23/25 8:24 PM
RIGHT ACTION
9/23/25 8:26 PM
Abstaining from Physical Harm
9/23/25 8:28 PM
Abstaining from Taking What Is Not Given
9/23/25 8:29 PM
Just as the positive side of nonkilling is cultivating loving care for all living beings, the positive expression of nonstealing is contentment, which the Buddha called “our greatest wealth.” And in this time of overconsumption of resources, this expression of nonstealing might mean not taking or using more than we need. Of course, what we need is always a subjective evaluation, but we can at least begin to examine our lives from this reference point: do I really need this? 9/23/25 8:34 PM
Abstaining from Sexual Misconduct
9/23/25 8:36 PM
The Karmic Consequences of Actions
9/23/25 8:36 PM
Always, the unwholesome karma is proportional to the force and strength and duration of the defilements. 9/23/25 8:36 PM
Sudden Awakening, Gradual Cultivation
9/23/25 8:41 PM
The great twelfth-century Korean Zen master Chinul framed his teachings in terms of what he called “sudden awakening, gradual cultivation”: Although he has awakened to the fact that his original nature is no different from that of the Buddhas, beginningless habit energies are extremely difficult to remove suddenly.5 Hindrances are formidable and habits are deeply ingrained.6 So how could you neglect gradual cultivation simply because of one moment of awakening? After awakening you must be constantly on your guard. If deluded thoughts suddenly appear, do not follow after them. . . . Then and only then will your practice reach completion.7 9/23/25 8:39 PM
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
9/23/25 8:41 PM
How can we approach Right Livelihood on a subtler and more integrated level? 9/23/25 8:42 PM
Right Livelihood, in its broadest application, can be seen as the expression of bodhichitta. The Dalai Lama captured this truth when he said, “To take responsibility for others gives us the power of a radiant heart, a responsive and heroic heart.”8 9/23/25 8:44 PM
