Developing Right Mindfulness: Resting Body and Heart the Correct Way

Phra Ajarn Suraphong opened by paying homage to the Triple Gem, then taught: don't think of this as sitting meditation yet -- think of it as coming to learn how to rest properly. Developing right mindfulness has two halves: the half where our eyes are open, doing our activities, and the half where our eyes are closed. After we finish our activities and duties, now we come to rest from the fatigue, resting body and heart the correct way. We will learn to close our eyes and rest properly, letting go of everything.

Observing the Inner World: Dark, Bright, or Dim, As It Truly Is

He had us observe: once we go inward, is the inner world dark, bright, or dim? Let us know it as it is. Before this, when we entered the inner world in darkness, we didn't even know it was dark; in brightness we didn't know it was bright; in dimness we didn't know it was dim -- because ignorance concealed it, keeping us from noticing how dark or dim it was. But once we close our eyelids, if it's dark we know it's dark, if it's bright we know it's bright, if it's dim we know how dim.

From there, let us go further and notice if there's a blurriness, a dullness, a drowsy haziness, or whatever state appears -- we need to determine to know and examine it, knowing what appears before us exactly as it is. Simple knowing is enough; there's no need to force it. Just receive it as it truly is -- if it's bright, know brightness; if dim, know dimness -- exactly as it is, even if it's murky, clouded, blurry, confused, drowsy, or dazed in whatever way appears to us. If none of that is present -- if it's fresh, clear, and at ease -- whatever appears, let us know clearly what appears right in front of our eyes, right there before our very heart. As for the not-knowing that cannot read or name the state that appears, that is ignorance -- the state of not knowing.

Consciousness and Mental Factors: Whoever Possesses the Heart Shapes It

When we determine to know, the sphere of knowing -- the sphere of mindfulness -- draws the pure energy called merit to flow continuously into the brightness at the centre of the heart. Once the sphere of knowing is established, this sphere of mindfulness is a wholesome sphere -- a clear, round, radiant orb that can arise nowhere but the heart. The heart is the instrument that knows all dhammas, whether wholesome, unwholesome, or neutral -- they all manifest at the heart. The heart is a neutral ground where wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral natures compete to take possession of it as their seat. Whichever wins then shapes its own consciousness there -- the unwholesome brings unwholesome consciousness, the wholesome brings wholesome consciousness -- layering in to occupy and govern the heart.

We can see that consciousness itself is sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes neither -- depending on which nature has taken possession of the heart as its seat. Each side appoints a representative to serve as its overseer, and this appointed overseer is what we call "consciousness" (citta). It becomes the one that knows fully within that particular plane of existence, according to what is present before our eyes and heart at that moment. Right now is our plane; this very moment of sitting in meditation is a plane of Dhamma, where wholesome consciousness has taken the seat and shapes a consciousness fitting to the present state -- depending on the proportion of the three natures -- whether at the level of the refined human body or the celestial body, whichever suits the state we are in now.

The Eighteen Layered Bodies and the Plane That Shifts With the Mind

Whichever consciousness establishes itself as the seat of the heart arises together with a mental factor (cetasika) -- the emotional quality of that consciousness, appointed along with it -- which then directs us, as if it were our own idea. All our feelings and thoughts arise from this consciousness and mental factor layering in. A body-within-the-body then appears: if that consciousness is at the level of the refined human body, a refined human body appears layered within us; if the consciousness is more refined still, a celestial body appears layered within, one that will direct us toward what is correct and good.

In truth, these bodies already exist -- eighteen layered bodies within us. Each has a different form depending on the proportion of the three natures. Body within body, mind within mind, dhamma within dhamma all appear layered within our refined human body. This is why our emotions keep shifting -- depending on the level of the consciousness and mental factor present, or the proportion of the three natures at any moment, which is never fixed or constant. Our feelings and thoughts vary accordingly -- sometimes very good, sometimes only a little good.

The Buddha's Teaching: Know Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dhamma Clearly to Uproot Covetousness and Grief

Phra Ajarn pointed out that even though our teachers have taught various meditation subjects, we still need to clearly grasp the essence of developing right mindfulness, which the Fully Enlightened Buddha taught thus: "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and dhamma, in order to remove covetousness and grief regarding the world." This is the essence of one of the eight factors of the Noble Path, capable of transforming an ordinary person's life into something truly extraordinary.

The Buddha taught the monastic community that a monk must determine to know, because knowing is mindfulness, knowing is clear comprehension. Mindfulness knows the topic at hand; clear comprehension knows the subtler states of dhamma, including each inner dimension that leads us deeper within. In the beginning, mindfulness establishes itself first; once mindfulness arises, the heart is drawn together with the body, fusing heart and body into one -- we become aware of body-and-mind. Recollection is this initial bodily awareness.

The Three Feelings: Pleasant, Painful, and Neither -- According to the Three Natures

The knowing connected with the heart involves three things: feeling, mind, and dhamma. Feeling is sensation, and there are only three kinds: pleasant, painful, and neither-pleasant-nor-painful. There are only three because these are the qualities of the three natures. Whenever the wholesome takes the seat of the heart, we feel pleasant and at ease, because that is the nature of the wholesome side; once it possesses the heart, it manifests its own quality right there at the heart.

But if the unwholesome nature possesses the heart, it likewise manifests its own quality. The nature of the unwholesome is a state that must be endured and is hard to endure -- we call this suffering. The nature of the neutral, meanwhile, is a strange, oddly indifferent state -- not the equanimity that belongs to wholesome consciousness, but an indifference that is neither quite good nor quite bad, because the neutral takes neither side, embracing neither good nor evil.

The Anatomy of the Sphere of Sin: Misfortune at the Core

When the unwholesome nature establishes itself in the heart, at the same time the induction of the energy of defilement occurs -- the energy of sin, a dark sphere, is drawn in. This sphere of sin contains a defiled quality that must be endured and is hard to endure, which we call suffering, densely packed within this mass of sinful energy. At the very centre of this sphere of sin lies something called "misfortune" (vibat) -- not treasure, but its opposite, existing solely to destroy treasure. At the centre of the sphere of sin there is misfortune related to illness, which destroys health; misfortune related to danger -- whether economic or physical and mental -- which destroys our body and mind, causing accidents and disasters of various kinds, depending on the type of misfortune. There is only illness and danger. This is the nature of each type that possesses the mind and heart.

The consciousness fitting to each nature that takes the seat draws in its own energy to flow through, in order to drive its own system, because no system can function without energy to power it. Every nature therefore strives to make use of the human body and mind in order to induce its energy to flow through continuously. In every single instant, energy -- both merit and sin -- flows through us continuously. There is never a moment free from this flow of energy.

The Grilled Fish Example: The Unwholesome Directs Us Toward Harmful Food

The sinful energy residing at the centre of the human body tries to wear down our health, relying partly on past karmic results and partly on directly seizing the moment to direct us toward drinking alcohol, using drugs, or eating harmful foods. Whatever food serves to destroy life, it directs us to crave that very food. Beyond grilled fish, there are many other unhygienic foods -- carrying parasites and various pathogens -- capable of undermining our health. The unwholesome within us demands to eat this, to eat that, even knowing it will cause harm and suffering; it refuses to listen, insisting on eating it regardless, precisely so these parasites can enter the body and be used to wear down our life.

We can see that once the unwholesome nature possesses the heart, it brings in unwholesome consciousness to take the seat, constantly directing us wrongly as though it were our own idea, setting up feelings and mental factors such as boredom, gloom, tedium, stress, irritation, weariness, discouragement, hopelessness, despondency, restlessness, and resentment -- all of which wear down and tarnish the heart. At the same time, it also induces sin to flow in.

The Difference Between the Unwholesome and the Neutral: Destruction Versus Idleness

Phra Ajarn explained that the Buddha placed such importance on developing right mindfulness, instructing monks to clearly know body, feeling, mind, and dhamma, with the purpose of eliminating covetousness and grief regarding the world. Covetousness and grief are simply the gladness and sorrow of worldly beings, arising through form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects, which we perceive through eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind via the sense faculties, relying on the element of consciousness to perceive through these bodily sense channels.

In truth it is not only gladness and sorrow -- there is also indifference. Both the neutral and the unwholesome use this gladness and sorrow to lure us, but they differ: the neutral invites us to eat, play, dance, and travel endlessly, wasting our time for no benefit, leaving us with nothing but fleeting fun and exhaustion in return. The unwholesome, however, wants to destroy; it always directs us toward whatever produces suffering and harm, because that is its true purpose. The neutral does not want to destroy, but neither does it protect or help in any way -- it wants only aimless amusement, day after day. If we let life drift along on its own, ninety percent of each day's time falls under the control of the neutral -- seemingly harmless, yet squandering our precious time for nothing, along with our vitality and the freshness of body and mind.

Faith, Wisdom, and the Qualities That Arise With Wholesome Consciousness

When wholesome consciousness establishes itself, faith arises with it, shaped by whatever it was cultivated toward. If the unwholesome intrudes and misdirects it, tainting that faith with aversion, violence can result. This is how the blending of the three natures occurs, mixed together according to each person's views. This is why the Buddha taught that the most essential thing is right view; we study the Dhamma precisely to attain complete right view, with an understanding that grows ever more refined, until not even the slightest trace of wrong view remains -- this is the nature of the Arahant.

Beyond the sphere of mindfulness and the sphere of faith, there is also the sphere of wisdom, which arises only when deliberately determined -- it does not normally arise together with wholesome consciousness. We can see that a person possessed by wholesome qualities may still be unable to solve various problems if wisdom is absent. A good person can sometimes be too naive, not clever enough, and easily deceived by the cunning. Only when accompanied by wisdom does one become a truly wise and virtuous person, capable of teaching and guiding others toward what is correct and good. The sphere of wisdom is therefore the most radiant of all wholesome spheres -- brighter than a million midday suns. Our late grandmother once said that to see and know things exactly as they truly are, one must generate a brightness equal to a million suns filling the entire sky.

Knowing Continuously Without Lapsing: Purifying Both Coarse and Subtle Defilement

He taught us to know continuously, without lapsing, aware of whatever state appears before us: dark, know darkness; bright, know brightness; dim, know dimness. This is at minimum something for the instrument of knowing -- mindfulness -- to anchor upon. Beyond this, observe the feeling of the heart, whatever state it shows: still and calm, or trembling and excited; weary, irritable, restless; or light, comfortable, relaxed, or pleasantly at ease. He compared this to watching a child sleeping peacefully, or watching a puppy or kitten asleep -- their nature is simply calm like that. Our late teacher said this nature is "the movement of the mind" -- the behaviour of whatever consciousness possesses the heart at each moment. Simply know it pleasantly, continuously -- that's all.

When we determine to know the sphere of knowing -- the sphere of mindfulness -- it draws the pure energy called merit to flow continuously into the brightness at its centre, purifying all the tarnishing defilements until they grow light and eventually vanish. Once the defilement is gone, we feel a sense of open, empty spaciousness -- nothing there. The hindrances that used to disturb us are gone. But why doesn't happiness or brightness appear then? Because although the coarse defilement is indeed gone, subtle defilement still remains. This subtle defilement, even though it shows no outward behaviour, still conceals and blocks happiness and brightness. We must keep determining to know, letting the sphere of knowing and the sphere of clear comprehension continue drawing in pure energy to cleanse this subtler layer of defilement, until it too grows light and eventually disappears.

The Spotless Heart, Brightness, and Happiness That Gradually Form

Once the subtle defilement is gone, we come to know a spotless cleanliness of heart -- utterly clean, utterly spotless. We had never before experienced such cleanliness; now, this thoroughgoing cleanliness has appeared to us. After this cleanliness and spotlessness appear, the mass of purity begins to form, manifesting first as either brightness or happiness -- one or the other, not yet able to appear together, because a subtler layer of defilement still blocks it. We must therefore purify defilement layer by layer, gradually -- it isn't difficult at all; we need only determine to know continuously without lapsing. If any defilement intrudes, we simply know it, and that's enough.

He compared it to someone making a ruckus in front of our house: we simply know it's happening, and after a while the ruckus passes on its own. We simply determine to know, and the sphere of knowing draws in pure energy to cleanse it away, like officials arriving to disperse the disturbance. We need only determine to know, continuously without lapsing, and calm stillness will gradually appear automatically. Whatever disturbs us, there's no need for gladness or sorrow; even when brightness appears, no need for excitement; when happiness arises, no need for excitement either -- it all unfolds according to its own nature. Where there is strength, it continues; where there is none, it fades on its own. As long as wholesome strength is present, brightness and happiness continue. If the pure energy becomes unstable and diminishes, happiness and brightness diminish too -- there's no need for sorrow or gladness about that either. Simply know continuously, without lapsing -- that is all.

Closing Chant

Phra Ajarn Suraphong closed the sitting by leading the chant of homage to the Triple Gem: Sabbe Buddha balappatta, paccekana nca yam balam, arahantananca tejena, rakkham bandhami sabbaso. Sabba-Buddhanubhavena, sabba-Dhammanubhavena, sabba-Sanghanubhavena, sadda-sotthi bhavantu te.