Afternoon Session: From Understanding to Practice

Every afternoon session is a round of practice, coming after we've learned the underlying framework governing life, the core of Buddhism, and how to live within the three systems. The afternoon then trains us to abide in wholesome states (kusala-dhamma). The essential tool for wholesome states is using mindfulness to be constantly self-aware. Even once we understand this, if we don't actually train and practice it repeatedly, we won't have enough power to remain in wholesome states. Even knowing, understanding, and having studied it, when the moment comes, if our power — the power built through training — isn't enough, we can't restrain ourselves. This is the case of "knowing everything but still unable to resist," because the power simply isn't there.

Knowing It's Wrong but Still Doing It: Why Knowledge Alone Isn't Enough

Ask whether a thief who does wrong knows it's wrong — yes, the thief knows. Does a police officer know it's wrong? Yes. Does a child know it's wrong? Yes. So why do they still do it, why can't they restrain themselves? Because there is no power, no mastery over wholesome states, because mindfulness and concentration are not yet firmly established. Conviction (saddhā) must be sufficient to move us to act — but if we still don't act, that shows our conviction isn't sufficient. Insufficient conviction comes from not understanding clearly, and not understanding clearly comes from refusing to study, or from having no wise guide. For these reasons we end up not wanting to act, or knowing something is good but still finding excuses not to do it. Once we have excuses, conditions, and provisos against wholesome states, the unwholesome seizes on this as an opening.

The Unwholesome Imprisons Mindfulness and Wisdom

The unwholesome "imprisons" the wholesome so it cannot act. It imprisons what? It imprisons mindfulness, imprisons wisdom, imprisons understanding — causing misunderstanding, causing incorrect understanding, causing what is known to remain unclear, and causing us to lack the power or force to act on what we know. Even though we know, understand, and hear it every day, the power still isn't enough, because we haven't actually practiced or trained in understanding, in wisdom, in conviction — genuine confidence built up to the point of having enough power to practice — and we still lack effort (viriya) as well.

Conviction, Wisdom, and Effort: The Foundation of Mindfulness and Concentration

If we're going to be serious, we truly have to be serious — committed to the point of "come what may, I will sit until it's done, I will make it succeed." It's like a student aiming to place first or get straight A's — it's impossible without reading. Concentration is the same; training in wholesome states is the same. If we say we don't feel like sitting in meditation, or there's still something pulling our time away, establishing ourselves firmly in wholesome states, even while knowing, becomes difficult. Conviction, wisdom, and effort are therefore the foundation from which mindfulness and concentration arise. Without correct understanding, without careful reflection, without knowing the reasons — what benefit comes from doing this, what benefit from not doing it — we won't have the effort or diligence to commit to doing this every single day. Without effort, mindfulness and concentration cannot arise, and without them there's no mastery. Without mastery, we lose to the unwholesome — lose to the voice in our head, lose to craving, which is defilement (kilesa) — because the breaking point is that genuine conviction and understanding never arose.

Knowledge Paired With Happiness for Purity

Coming here, we must first bring clarity to our knowledge, build genuine understanding. Once we have clarity and understanding, we then want to practice, want to come sit in Dhamma, want to enter the sessions, want to guard our body, speech, and mind — because Buddhism centers on mindfulness and concentration for the sake of happiness and purity. This is why the program's theme is "Knowledge Paired With Happiness for Purity" — because purity leads to liberation; only through purity can liberation come. And to become pure, we must cleanse the defilements within, the hindrances within, reducing them further and further. The more defilement and staining within us, the less pure we are; the less defilement and staining, the more pure. So we're not aiming to become an arahant or to eliminate defilement entirely — we simply ask that the defilements within grow lighter, so that we can live on this earth happily, living in a chaotic world without being chaotic ourselves. Whether one then has the conviction or accumulated merit to go further, toward liberation into an even better inner state, is a matter for each individual — a question of the merit and perfections accumulated in the past.

Training Mindful Walking Meditation

This program runs about three days. We're giving knowledge so that, when we return home, we'll have the motivation to keep practicing on our own each day. Today we move into the first part of practice: walking with mindfulness. We walk every day already, but without training or setting mindfulness, walking is just ordinary walking that generates no merit. We're going to transform ordinary walking into a walk that builds mindfulness and concentration, by staying aware through every single step. Walking may seem unimportant, but if we've never trained in it, never intended to train, or never actually tried, it becomes difficult. So we train in walking with mindfulness, aware of every step, every contact, every touch of the foot, every lift and press — sustaining mindfulness through lifting and pressing. Whenever we sit in Dhamma practice, whatever the tradition, we're told to fix an anchor point for the mind, a point where mindfulness gathers. Sitting meditation needs a gathering point for mindfulness too — whatever appears most clearly becomes that anchor, whether it's ānāpānasati (breath), the 14 postures of formal meditation involving bending and stretching the arms, or reciting "Buddho" or "Samma-araham." All of these are anchor points for the mind, needed to give rise to mindfulness and concentration. Walking is the same — every time the sole of the foot touches the ground, that is the anchor point for mindfulness. Walking meditation belongs within kāyānupassanā satipaṭṭhāna (mindfulness of the body), still within the body. We bring our awareness to the soles of the feet — lifting, we know we're lifting; pressing, we know we're pressing. We train this way continuously, gradually building firm mindfulness. Once trained, whether walking to a meal, to our room, to practice, or to the restroom, we must continue practicing mindful walking. Every posture — sitting, standing, walking, or even lying down — needs its own anchor point for the mind.

Guarding the Mind Before Sleep: The Mind Before Sleep and the Mind on Waking

The Fully Enlightened Buddha is the model of the most mindful sleeping posture, but we don't need to go that far — simply settling the mind before sleep is enough. Whatever emotional state the mind holds before sleep tends to carry over, appearing similarly or continuously upon waking. If we sleep in calm stillness, that calm stillness is still somewhat present when we wake. If we sleep in agitation and restlessness, that same agitation and restlessness continues to appear on waking. Whatever state the mind was in before sleep, that same state's residual emotion remains when we wake. This is why we must guard the mind, or sit in meditation, before sleep — for the sake of heedfulness. Every night before sleep, we should sit in Dhamma practice to let go, to let the mind become clear and bright, and fall asleep together with an empty, still mind.

Before Walking Meditation: Letting Go So the Mental Factors Turn Wholesome

Before walking, we compose body, speech, and mind within, letting the mind release everything. Every time, we must adjust our emotional state — because what we've learned to call cetasika (mental factors) is precisely the emotion that arises. Every time, we must adjust our emotions to be wholesome — good-natured, cheerful, relaxed. These states can only arise once we let go of every story, dropping everything, not dwelling in the past or future, staying only with the present. Letting go arises only when we are aware of just what is right in front of us, in the present, releasing all external matters and turning the mind inward. Whenever we hold the mind within, we can touch what is called mindfulness — recollective awareness arises only when the mind is held within; if the mind is outside, that is external awareness and cannot be called mindfulness. While walking, keep your eyes open at all times — never close your eyes while walking, or you may fall or bump into someone. Cast your gaze downward, no more than one or two meters ahead. Before walking, compose body, speech, and mind, and walk this round as an offering of homage to the Buddha, in devotion to the training of mindfulness — inviting him to watch over and protect the merit we generate as we walk, body, speech, and mind together, so that wholesome states become firmly established, so that merit is drawn inward to us. Then walk slowly, with the mind as mindfulness itself, the mind abiding within, in continuous concentration.