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 3:51 PM
Note: @`Worldy / Unworldly / Mundane / Supramundane`
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
