Why We Practice: A Teaching That Has Worked for Over 2,500 Years

Meditation practice is essential for every life, because we need to live within the wholesome system. Every life exists under three natures, and apart from the wholesome system, none of the others benefit us at all — the unwholesome one, in fact, brings suffering and harm. The Buddha taught, over 2,000 years ago, "Monks, you should clearly know body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, in order to remove covetousness and grief from the world." That single sentence still holds true today, benefiting countless practitioners, lifting ordinary people into virtuous ones, developing an excellent life into a wondrous one, and a wondrous life into a truly extraordinary one. Meditation centers everywhere build their teaching on this one principle.

Knowing Body, Feeling, Mind, and Mental Objects

The core of what the Buddha taught was that monks must anchor their attention — wherever we anchor, the mind settles there. He taught anchoring in two places: at the body, such as the nostrils to sense the breath, or the sense of the whole body, or the center of the body; this last position matters enormously because it is the gateway onto the path leading straight to Nibbana, the shared center of every body we have — the subtle body, the divine body, the Brahma body, the form-Brahma body, all the way to Nibbana itself. Knowing is mindfulness (sati); knowing clearly is clear comprehension (sampajañña) — clearly knowing body, feeling, mind, and mental objects. This relies on a clear, continuous signal for registering each position of the body, or registering through the mind, such as feeling — pleasant, painful, or neutral. Simply by anchoring on whatever arises in each present moment, that very signal is what mindfulness needs to register.

Bearing With Suffering: Patience Forges New Armor Each Time

If a signal of ease and comfort is present, we register it easily. If not, we check whether suffering is present — a state that must be endured and is hard to endure. Once we anchor on it, the intensity may rise slightly simply because we're focusing on it, but as we keep anchoring, the sphere of knowing draws in pure energy called merit to wear down the impurity causing the suffering. At first we need to bear with it a little; patience arrives to help, together with austerity, a kind of armor protecting us from torment. But if the suffering is intense enough that our existing armor can't hold, patience automatically forges new armor to withstand the greater intensity — and this raises our capacity for endurance overall. Without ever facing real difficulty, our capacity to endure stays weak. Suffering carries a coarse, clear, continuous signal, which is exactly why it's easy to anchor on — and, if intense enough, why it can overwhelm any other meditation object.

The Neutral of Abyakata versus the Equanimity of True Balance

But if there's neither ease nor suffering, only a neutral feeling remains — this is the nature of abyakata, the indeterminate state, entirely different from the wholesome neutral called upekkhā (equanimity). Though both feel "neutral," abyakata's neutral is a strange, uncertain kind — not quite good, not quite bad. Upekkhā's neutral, by contrast, gives rise to genuine wholesome qualities. We simply anchor and rest the mind in the middle — knowing, then resting evenly, without indulging joy or sorrow — and the mind grows balanced, settled, and steady.

The House-Lord of the Mind: How Wholesome, Unwholesome, and Neutral Reveal Themselves Through Feeling

Within the mind there is feeling, mind itself, and mental objects. Feeling registers whichever nature has taken up residence as the house-lord of our mind; whichever nature enters draws in its own kind of mental state to take charge of managing our body and mind. We need to anchor and know exactly which kind of mind has come to direct us. Feeling reveals this to us — pleasant means the wholesome is in charge; a state that must be endured means the unwholesome is in charge; a blank neutral means abyakata is in charge. Mind itself is the knower within a given existence, registering information such as whatever meditation method we've learned and grown familiar with. Mental objects are the mental factors — the moods of mind — that arise in each present moment.

The Purpose of Right Mindfulness: Balance That Leads to the First Jhana

Developing right mindfulness matters because it lets us register the nature that's been controlling our mind and life. The Buddha gave us a clear purpose for this: to still liking and disliking, removing the world's joy and sorrow entirely. As we anchor on body, feeling, mind, and mental objects, we come to understand, in accordance with reality, that our life has been directed the whole time — steered by an inner voice and by whichever mental state has taken possession. This practice can be done with eyes open or closed. As we continue, the mind grows steadily more balanced; once balance arises, the mind can settle; once it settles continuously, it becomes steady — and this steadiness leads to the first jhana.

The Inner World Is Like a Classroom

While we anchor and stay continuously aware, we come to understand things as they really are. He puts it this way: "the inner world is like a classroom — some people register it as a small classroom, others register it as a large one." If light hasn't yet appeared, we're still living in a world of darkness.

Learning Like a Blind Person: Touch, Feeling, and Sound

He compares our learning at this stage to a blind person moving through a world of darkness, anchoring bit by bit as they go. A blind person living in this world relies on continuous anchoring and learning through touch, through feeling, and through sound. We do the same — staying continuously aware without losing that awareness, because once the sphere of knowing is established, the sphere of not-knowing falls away. This established sphere of knowing draws in pure energy called merit to cleanse impurity, starting exactly where we've anchored our attention — wherever we anchor, the mind settles there, and the stream of merit begins flowing right at that point.

The Stream of Merit and the Resources Waiting in Each Dimension

This pure energy appears as a small, clear, radiant sphere, filled with the pure Dhamma element called merit, brimming with happiness, with the quality of dissolving suffering and the impurity that causes trouble and hardship. This energy drives the wholesome system to cleanse that impurity. He compares it to dipping a coffee straw into water and blowing through it — a continuous stream of bubbles rising up; the stream of merit works the same way, each sphere of merit rising in rapid, continuous succession. At the center of each sphere rests refined wealth — form, riches, virtues, retinue, honor, praise, happiness, and the path and fruit of Nibbana. As merit flows through us, this refined wealth flows through us too, drawing coarser worldly wealth toward us. Every subtler dimension we're liberated into holds better resources waiting for us — purer, more sacred merit, refined wealth of greater value, more exquisite outcomes, and wiser, more capable guides suited to that dimension.

Beginning the Sit: The Center of the Body and "Sammā Arahaṃ"

Our senior teachers taught us to rest the mind stopped and still at the center of the body, the seventh base. Imagine two lines: one stretched taut from the navel to the spine, the other from the right side of the waist to the left; where they cross, place the index and middle fingers together, then raise them up two finger-widths — that spot is where the mind belongs. Once the mind rests there, we repeat "Sammā Arahaṃ," a name given for its qualities, denoting the Dhamma-body brimming with wholesome qualities, appearing as a lively, clear crystal image who can smile and blink, residing at the center of the body. As we utter his name, he appears within us, carrying the task of refining and helping us, clearing away impurity and the effects of past unwholesome deeds.

Merging with the Buddha-Image, and Success as the Mind Decrees

Once he appears at the center of our mind, he expands to fill our entire body, merging us as one with him. We adopt the feeling that "I am the Buddha-image, the Buddha-image is me," letting our whole body become a radiant, clear, cool, clean, pure crystal Dhamma-body — the head as the crowned head with its glowing lotus-bud crest, the face as his gently smiling countenance, moving through the forehead, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, belly, back, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, down to the soles of the feet. This merging can register anywhere from 1% to 100%, depending on our faith and confidence — the more we reinforce it, the more that confidence deepens, from 1% to 2%, to 5%, to 10%, and onward; whatever we can register, we take that much for now. Because our mind is a wish-fulfilling element: whatever right and good thing we deliberately anchor on comes to be, through the power of the wholesome. But if the unwholesome has become the house-lord, it steers us toward anchoring on what is wrong instead, and what results is a demeritorious "success" that brings suffering and harm.

Stopped in Stillness: The Simile of the Child Growing a Millimeter a Day

Once our body is merged with his, we merge our mind with his mind too. He rests his mind stopped and still, absorbed in the attainment of cessation, refining our elements toward purity; we do the same, until the sphere of stillness arises as a small, clear, radiant sphere, showing its quality of halting every system. This lets the wholesome system carry us continuously from one dimension to the next; even the breath pauses for a moment. This purification and liberation happens continuously, whether we're aware of it or not. He compares it to a child who eats their meals and grows a little every day — a millimeter, or half a millimeter — growth that's nearly impossible to see day to day, yet after enough time has passed, it's unmistakably clear that the child has grown. Abiding within the wholesome system works the same way: purification and liberation happen constantly, our standing shifting bit by bit, but every single time we abide within the wholesome system, that shift is real.

Radiating Loving-Kindness from Ourselves to the Universe

Once we've benefited ourselves, we turn to benefiting people and all beings, through loving-kindness (mettā), the tool the wholesome system uses to sustain the world and the cosmos. We simply form a sincere wish of love and good will, drawing on the image of a mother's heart, full of love for her small child. We ourselves are the first to register that love and good will, and it then expands to our family — children, parents, siblings, spouses — and to our circle of companions, before spreading through our home. This loving-kindness appears as a small, clear, radiant sphere, unlike moonlight or sunlight in that it casts no shadow, penetrating every particle both outside and within. It then expands to cover the neighborhood, district, province, the whole country, and the whole world, embracing the earth, water, air, sky, mountains, rivers, seas, oceans, plants, and our belongings. "May all people and beings be free from suffering and find happiness," embracing earthbound and sky-dwelling spirits, heavenly beings at every level, Brahmas and formless Brahmas, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, and animals. May those with great suffering suffer less; those with little suffering be entirely free; those with little happiness find more; and those already happy find even greater happiness. We extend this further to the cosmos, embracing countless stars. This loving-kindness dissolves resentment and irritation in the hearts of beings, giving wholesome nature the chance to take up residence instead. Whoever benefits the world and cosmos in this way earns the right to draw on the world and cosmos's own resources, as the Bodhisatta of old did, benefiting the world until he became a great Brahma and later a Universal Monarch, governing the world in peace, so that war had no place.

Merging with the Triple Gem and Our Teachers

We still and settle the mind within this radiant loving-kindness, as the stream of merit continues flowing, and we dedicate this merit to all people and beings. The Triple Gem is universal, present within everyone, regardless of religion or belief, watching over and helping us continuously whether we're asleep, awake, standing, walking, sitting, or lying down, whether we're good or troubled — always seeking a way to take up residence in our mind and steer us toward virtue. We therefore need to remember this boundless kindness, and we still and settle the mind within the subtlest Dhamma-body of our senior teachers, who watch over, protect, and help us continuously.

Dedicating the Merit and the Closing Aspiration

While our teachers work to refine our elements, connect our stream of merit and wealth, and adjust the path ahead for us, we form our aspiration, setting a completed intention into the bright sphere of merit, that our life, now and in the future, be filled with knowledge, happiness, and purity, together with success in everything right and good. The talk closes with a dedication asking for the blessings of the Triple Gem and our teachers — that calamity, demerit, and the defilements of greed, hatred, delusion, and ignorance be extinguished without remainder; that we come to realize the Dhammakāya teachings fully; that we enjoy good health and the strength of heart to keep building perfections toward Nibbana; and that any past unwholesome deeds be forgiven and released, through the boundless power of every Buddha.