The Path of Awakening II (Revised Edition)

Luang Por Pramote

English translator: Hataitip Devakul Chinese translator: Present Moment, At Ease (当下即安)

Copyright © 2013: Wat Suan Santidham

Luang Por Pramote and Suan Santidham Temple offer this Dhamma book free of charge.

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Contents

• Contents — 2
• Chapter One: What Is the Goal of Buddhism? — 4
• Chapter Two: What Is Suffering? — 5
• Chapter Three: What Is the Cause of Suffering? — 8
• Chapter Four: The Path to the Cessation of Suffering — 9
• Chapter Five: What Is Mindfulness Meditation? — 13
• Chapter Six: How to Be Aware of Phenomena — 14
• Chapter Seven: What Are Phenomena (Conditional Phenomena)? — 28
• Chapter Eight: What Is "The Present Moment"? — 31
• Chapter Nine: What Is Knowing As It Is? — 33
• Chapter Ten: What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness? — 42
• Additional Notes — 46
• Closing Words — 51

Preface: Words from My Heart

I wrote this book, The Path of Awakening II, on July 30, 2002. As time has passed, I felt it needed revision to make it more complete and beneficial for all meditators.

Luang Por Pramote July 30, 2006

The path still exists. Practitioners still firmly follow this holy way. Before time's wind scatters its sacred traces, set out today—so we do not wander aimlessly for too long without direction.

— Luang Por Pramote

Chapter One: What Is the Goal of Buddhism?

1.1 The goal of Buddhism is the science of answering the question: "How can we bring suffering to an end?"

1.2 People often overlook the cessation of suffering and instead chase after pleasure, because they haven't recognized that body and mind are truly the nature of suffering, and that lasting happiness cannot be found. The harder a person strives to find happiness and avoid pain, the heavier the burden they carry. No matter how vigorously one pursues it, happiness can never be fully grasped. And it always slips away so quickly. Happiness is like something held just out of reach, waiting for you to grab it. Just as you're about to catch it, it slides from your palm and races ahead once more. It lures you on, urging you to keep striving in the hope that, one day, you'll finally hold onto it forever.

1.3 In truth, the happiness we seek is nothing more than an illusion that can never be realized. We often think that if we could only obtain it, possess it, or secure it, we'd be happy. We cling to the belief that knowledge, wealth, family, relatives and friends, reputation, power, pleasure, health, and so on will bring us happiness. We pursue it at any cost, never stopping to ask what true happiness really is.

1.4 Buddhism doesn't teach us to seek that illusory happiness. It teaches us to investigate suffering, which is the reality of life. Only Buddhism directly addresses the question of suffering, points to its cause, and offers a path of practice leading to its end. If we investigate suffering until we attain its cessation, we'll immediately come to know a happiness that is irresistible, perfect, and present right before our eyes.

1.5 Some may think Buddhism is too pessimistic because it points out that life is nothing but suffering. We won't debate that here, because explaining it now would lead us into a philosophical argument. If we simply read this book from beginning to end and begin learning about suffering according to the Buddha's method, we'll come to know the truth—and there'll be no need to waste time in debate.

Chapter Two: What Is Suffering?

2.1 The meaning of suffering (dukkha) in Buddhism is far deeper and broader than our ordinary understanding. Suffering is:

2.1.1 Suffering as painful feeling: This is the well-known, everyday kind of suffering—physical pain and mental distress. People who have never practiced mindfulness meditation may feel that suffering rarely arises, but for mindfulness meditators, suffering shows up constantly. If we contemplate the body with mindfulness, for example, we'll find that pain stalks us like a wild beast, wounding us again and again. It forces us to shift our posture, to eat, drink, relieve ourselves, wash, scratch, breathe in, breathe out—we're almost never still. Sometimes, when we fall ill, suffering presses down on us with crushing weight. In the end we grow exhausted, unable to escape; suffering follows us, harming us until we die.

Whenever a painful feeling eases, we feel a flicker of pleasure—but before long, suffering seizes us again. With mindfulness, we can see that our mind is almost always restless and tense. When the tension lightens, the mind feels glad; when it tightens, the mind feels sorrow.

2.1.2 Suffering as conditioned nature (the inherent suffering of conditioned phenomena): This isn't the sensory pain known to everyone. It refers to the general character of any state shaped by causes and conditions—body, mind, and all conditioned phenomena (the formations aggregate, saṅkhāra-khandha)—which are suffering because they're impermanent. By this definition, happiness too is a form of suffering, because it's impermanent. When someone begins to practice mindfulness meditation, this inherent nature of suffering becomes clearer. At this stage, it's enough to understand the basic characteristics of suffering.

2.1.3 Suffering caused by craving: For human beings and all animals, this kind of suffering is almost always present, yet only a few perceive it. Meditators may become aware of it to some degree, especially when they take the mind itself as the object of awareness. They'll come to understand that "arising is the cause of suffering." When we crave and cling to mind and body, to the phenomena that arise (objects), suffering—frustration and pain—immediately follows. If the mind is freed from craving and attachment toward whatever it's knowing, it doesn't suffer, and it remains prominent, mindful, clear, joyful, and at peace. When a meditator's mind has fully developed to this level, right concentration (sammā-samādhi) arises. The mind becomes stable and needs no special tending. Insight at this stage is called the Non-Returner stage (Anāgāmī-phala). Some noble beings who reach this stage may grow complacent and stop practicing mindfulness, because the stable, prominent mind feels like a safe haven of pleasant ease.

2.1.4 The Noble Truth of Suffering and its origin: This is the deepest form of suffering. Only those who have fully and thoroughly understood it can be freed from the cycle of rebirth. Understanding suffering as painful feeling is common to everyone. Understanding conditioned suffering as the nature of phenomena can be perceived by insight meditators, though at this stage they're still at the worldly level. If the mind still believes that some phenomena are pleasant and some unpleasant, its understanding of suffering through craving isn't yet complete. Only at the Non-Returner stage does one understand that wherever craving and attachment arise, suffering arises. The Non-Returner is content with the firmness of mind and no longer seeks external objects, for those are the source of craving and grasping. Instead, they may turn toward grasping the very mind that is mindful, awakened, and joyful.

Only when insight wisdom fully ripens can the mind truly and clearly understand the Noble Truth of Suffering: that the five aggregates, mind and body themselves, are suffering—whether with craving or without. Mind and body are simply suffering. Suffering alone arises, and suffering alone ceases. To say that mind and body are sometimes suffering and sometimes pleasant is wrong. They're pure suffering, differing only in degree. When insight wisdom reaches this stage, the mind sees that all five aggregates are suffering, and at that moment the Four Noble Truths become clear. It understands: "Arising leads to the birth of suffering; ignorance of suffering leads to arising." Thus the endless wheel of rebirth turns on. Only when the Noble Truth of Suffering is fully seen does the mind let go of suffering. Then the cause of suffering automatically ceases, and Nibbāna appears before our very eyes. At that moment, the chain of rebirth is broken.

Whoever clearly sees that the five aggregates of mind and body are suffering—cutting off ignorance and attaining clear knowledge—can completely abandon craving and attachment toward them. The five aggregates are still present; they're just phenomena of suffering, but there's no longer one who suffers. The craving that seeks to make "our mind and body" happy and free from suffering also automatically ceases. The striving—the mind's struggle to find happiness and avoid pain, or the volitional formations (saṅkhāra)—comes to an end. The mind no longer grasps at any mind and body in order to form a new "self." It penetrates Nibbāna, the cessation of suffering, because it has completely emerged from the defilements of the five aggregates.

Cultivating mindfulness is the sole path leading to the realization of the Four Noble Truths. Once the mind clearly knows the Four Noble Truths, it gradually becomes fair and neutral—no longer deluded by craving, no longer clinging to whatever it knows—until it reaches the final stage and is completely free from the suffering of mind and body.

2.2 The suffering the Buddha taught is the five aggregates themselves, which—through meditation—lead to liberation. Once the mind has cut off ignorance, it recognizes that mind and body are impermanent, suffering, and not-self, and it immediately lets go of suffering (the five aggregates, mind and body), never again grasping at suffering or at any mind and body. Physical pain is unavoidable, so it's necessary to ease and soothe it as circumstances allow. In such a case, "although the body suffers, the mind no longer suffers." Only when one is separated from the five aggregates, with no new five aggregates arising, does the noble one fully attain the cessation of suffering.

Chapter Three: What Is the Cause of Suffering?

3.1 Generally speaking, human beings and animals believe that unfulfilled desire is what causes suffering to arise. When a person grows old but wishes to be young, suffering arises. A person wishes for health but falls ill—how painful. A person wishes to live forever but is moving toward death—how sorrowful. A person wants something but can't get it—how frustrating. Conversely, when someone gets what they want, they feel glad.

3.2 That craving is what gives rise to suffering—meditators come to understand this more deeply. Craving drives the mind to struggle, to labor day and night in the hope of helping "us" escape suffering and find happiness. Without craving, the mind need not strive; it abides in utter peace.

3.3 Those who have come to know the Four Noble Truths will discover that the nature of the five aggregates is a collection of suffering. Whether with craving or without, the five aggregates themselves are suffering. It's ignorance—ignorance of the truth that the five aggregates constitute the arising of suffering—that makes us believe mind and body are sometimes suffering and sometimes pleasant. From that ignorance, the origin arises: the craving that seeks to permanently free mind and body from suffering and bring them happiness. Then comes the urgent pressure of mental striving, causing the mind to burn continually under the drive of craving, producing suffering. Even when the body is at rest, ignorance drives the mind to fabricate new karma-formations, causing it to suffer again. Thus ignorance of the Noble Truths—ignorance of the true nature of mind and body—is truly the root of suffering. Ignorance leads to grasping at mind and body, which is nothing more than a collection of suffering. Then the mind exhausts itself trying to remove the suffering of mind and body and bring it happiness. New karma keeps arising endlessly, and so suffering keeps arising without end.

Chapter 4: The Path to the End of Suffering

4.1 Once a person knows the cause of suffering, it's not hard to understand how suffering ends. It ends by overcoming ignorance—ignorance of the Noble Truths, and especially ignorance of the Truth of Suffering, and of the fact that body and mind are not "I." Ignorance itself is rooted in craving, in the wish to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and this craving shapes body and mind. Knowing the true nature of body and mind clearly is essential. As the Buddha said: "When the truth is known, disenchantment arises. With disenchantment, balanced and unbiased equanimity arises. Through equanimity, the mind is wholly liberated. With liberation comes the knowledge of liberation: 'What should be done has been done; there is no further becoming.' The round of rebirths ceases, and the Noble Path is complete."¹⁶ (The study of the Dhamma is finished.)

4.2 The most direct way to observe phenomena as they truly are is to abide mindfully with what is present. (In this article, "mindfulness" means right mindfulness—mindfulness that arises together with right concentration, right view, and wisdom. For beginners who are curious, the differences between these terms aren't explained here, so as not to overwhelm them.) This direct method is also the wisest and most reasonable. Take knowing another person: if we really want to understand them, we watch their actions without prejudice, and in that way we come to know them as they really are. The Buddha stated plainly that mindful observation of body and mind is the one path that purifies us, because it can uproot the world's craving, wrong views (delusions about reality), and prejudice (the mind that divides things into pleasant and unpleasant). Here, "the world" means simply body and mind, or nama and rupa.

4.3 Some meditators may wonder whether "mindfulness meditation observing body and mind" really is the path to the end of suffering. They've heard it taught that the Noble Eightfold Path is the path to the end of suffering—summed up as morality, concentration, and wisdom. What they heard is true enough, but they should see more clearly that the Noble Eightfold Path (morality, concentration, and wisdom) is a supporting condition for awakening and liberation, while mindfulness meditation is the direct path to the end of suffering.

In fact, the Buddha praised virtuous conduct. Before attaining Supreme Perfect Enlightenment, he himself cultivated the perfections widely. When he was born as a prince in the kingdom of Vessantara, for example, he practiced great giving. In many past lives, he even gave away his own life. In one of them, he cultivated concentration and gained the five psychic powers, then was reborn in the Brahma world. In another life, he was born as a scholar named [name] and developed perfect wisdom. Yet why did he not awaken in those many earlier lives, and only in his final one, when he reached Supreme Perfect Enlightenment through practicing the Foundations of Mindfulness? Clearly, if he hadn't accumulated enough perfections, he wouldn't have attained Supreme Perfect Enlightenment. But if he had only cultivated perfections without developing mindfulness, he wouldn't have attained it either. The completed perfections laid the groundwork and prepared him for mindfulness meditation. For instance, since in a previous life as the prince of Vessantara he was able to give away his wife and children in pursuit of awakening, in his final life he had the spiritual strength to leave behind his beloved wife Yasodhara and his young son Rahula to seek the path to awakening.

4.5 Virtuous actions of every kind—giving, virtue, meditation, and the cultivation of wisdom to a certain level—don't by themselves lead to awakening. They simply act as virtuous deeds or merits that bring the happy fruits of goodness. Sometimes, at the very moment a good deed is done, the mind may actually be unwholesome. Some examples:

4.5.1 Giving: Without mindfulness and wisdom, giving may actually give rise to more defilements. For instance, giving with wrong views: "I give; in the next life 'I' will receive the result; 'I' will obtain the fruit of this giving; 'I' will attain awakening through this giving." Or giving with greed: "Because of this giving, I hope to gain even more results."

4.5.2 Cultivating Virtue: If a person keeps precepts alone, without mindfulness and wisdom, he will easily grow attached to precepts and rituals. He may come to believe, wrongly, that keeping precepts reduces defilements by suppressing the mind. The more he keeps them, the more defilements may grow—pride may swell, and he may think, "I keep the precepts; I'm better than others. Other people don't keep them; they're beneath me."

4.5.3 Cultivating Concentration: Without mindfulness and wisdom, the more a person meditates, the more likely he is to get lost in tranquility and ease and forget himself. In some cases, under the grip of delusion and craving, a meditator may develop more wrong views the longer he practices. For example, he may become so absorbed in the meditation that he loses himself, and all kinds of mental images appear. Some meditators even come to see "Nibbana" as a city or a crystal ball in their mind. Others pick up certain knowledge or insights and grow proud of them. Still others may decide the mind is the self, because it can command things.

4.5.4 Cultivating Insight Wisdom: Lacking wisdom and right view, meditators can make many mistakes. Someone who doesn't know the difference between calm (samatha) and insight (vipassana) meditation may practice blindly, assuming that what he's doing is insight meditation. For instance, deliberately contemplating the three characteristics of animals, humans, the self, oneself, others, objects, things, people, and so on—such practice is only samatha, and only brings peace to the mind. Sometimes, instead of peace, the mind scatters after mental objects (restlessness arises). For some meditators, the more they think about the three characteristics, the larger their pride and sense of self becomes. That's because the three characteristics can't be grasped by thinking; they must be known by bringing mindfulness and concentration to bear directly on the true nature of body and mind. Only then can insight reveal them. Others, instead of developing insight wisdom through awareness of body and mind, try to build up or meditate on "emptiness" in place of body and mind. They don't realize that in insight meditation, the objects to be known must be body and mind. On the contrary, they think letting go of body and mind to contemplate emptiness is a shortcut in the practice.

4.6 Virtuous actions that help toward awakening must either strengthen mindfulness meditation, or be accompanied by mindfulness and wisdom at the moment they are done. Some examples:

4.6.1 Giving: Before, during, and after giving, the mind should be grounded in mindfulness and wisdom. If giving is accompanied by faith and wisdom—not by defilements for oneself or others—then it's a proper virtuous act. If the giving brings happiness and joy to others, mindfulness should recollect that happiness and joy, and the act of giving can also become a tool for developing mindfulness. On the other hand, if a person gives frantically out of greed and delusion, the giving won't help mindfulness meditation at all.

4.6.2 Cultivating Virtue: Without mindfulness, a pure foundation of virtue is almost impossible. If a person keeps watch over the mind with mindfulness, however, restraint of the senses (indriya samvara sila) arises on its own. When anger arises, mindfulness knows it has appeared, and the mind isn't swayed. The first precept of non-harming is thus kept perfectly, because the mind has no intention to kill or hurt anyone. Likewise, when craving arises, mindfulness recollects it, and the second precept of non-stealing and the third precept of sexual restraint are kept automatically.

4.6.3 Cultivating Concentration: Right concentration is one factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. So in Buddhism, concentration must work together with the other factors. It must be accompanied by mindfulness and wisdom. Concentration without them may bring happiness and other pleasant things, but it's no use for mindfulness meditation, because the mind isn't truly anchored in body and mind. When the mind isn't anchored, virtue and wisdom can't come to fulfillment.

4.6.4 Cultivating Insight Wisdom: The most complete and correct insight meditation will be explained in the chapter on mindfulness meditation. Here, only the basic stage of wisdom—what's written in the scriptures—is touched on. Buddhists and meditators shouldn't neglect the scriptures. At the very least, they should study them to know the basic principles of Buddhism. Otherwise, they may end up revering the scriptures of other religions while still thinking of themselves as Buddhists.

4.7 Cultivating morality, concentration, and wisdom may look like three separate trainings, but through the cultivation of mindfulness, all three arise on their own. There's a story in the Dhammapada that illustrates this: one day a bhikkhu went to see the Buddha and asked to be allowed to disrobe. When the Buddha asked why, the bhikkhu said there were too many precepts to keep. The Buddha told him to practice the Foundations of Mindfulness instead of focusing on the precepts. The bhikkhu followed the instruction. He was purified, his virtue became complete, and he eventually even attained liberation. When we practice the Foundations of Mindfulness—truly knowing present conditions as they are—we automatically have right concentration in that moment. The mind is steady; mindfulness knows present conditions as they are, without the meddling of ignorance.

Then we see into the natural state of body and mind—that is, we see the three characteristics of body and mind, and even the Four Noble Truths. So insight wisdom cultivated through mindfulness meditation arises together with right concentration. From this we can draw a conclusion: the path to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path—in short, the threefold training of morality, concentration, and wisdom—or, in the simplest terms, mindfulness meditation. Cultivating mindfulness is, in fact, cultivating morality, concentration, wisdom, and the whole Noble Eightfold Path.

Chapter 5: What Is Mindfulness Meditation?

5.1 As mentioned earlier, the root of suffering in Buddhism is ignorance of the Truth of Suffering—ignorance of mind and body, of the five aggregates, of nama and rupa. This ignorance gives rise to craving, clinging, and becoming, and to the wish that body and mind be permanent, happy, and controllable. That wish adds a second layer of suffering on top of the original suffering already present in body and mind, in the five aggregates. If the mind can recognize the true nature of body and mind—impermanent, suffering, and not-self—it will let go of its attachment to body and mind. Craving, clinging, and becoming will then cease on their own. The mind is freed from the heap of suffering that the five aggregates build up, and reaches true peace—Nibbana. So only by removing the cause of suffering—ignorance of mind and body, of the five aggregates, of nama and rupa—through the light of wisdom can suffering be fully uprooted.

5.2 When it comes to cultivating wisdom or knowledge, we're used to traditional ways of learning, such as: (1) receiving knowledge or experience passed on by others through reading or listening to talks; (2) thinking over the subject matter. These two methods can be applied in many fields. To understand the heart of the Dhamma, however, a person must add a third method on top of these: (3) continually observing the phenomena of body and mind as they truly are. The reason is simple—wisdom gained from listening is only a form of memory, and wisdom from thinking is just thoughts. Neither memory nor thoughts is the truth. In the beginning, we need to learn the scriptures and the Buddha's teachings through reading and listening. Then we think them over so that we have a direction for observing body and mind correctly.

5.3 The methods of gaining knowledge through reading, listening to the Dhamma, and thinking are very ordinary—we already know them. So what follows will discuss mindfulness meditation, the unique way of seeking the truth. It is the continual, mindful observation of present phenomena of body and mind as they truly are.

Chapter Six: How to Be Aware of Phenomena

6.1 Generally speaking, a person can naturally be aware of what's present—phenomena in the here and now. For example, knowing that one is standing, walking, sitting, or lying down; knowing that one feels happy, sad, or neutral; knowing whether one is experiencing love, greed, anger, delusion, doubt, restlessness, depression, laziness, faith, energy, or peace, and so on. Yet people tend to fall into two common pitfalls: (1) They forget to notice their present state of body and mind, drifting unaware into stories in their thinking or getting caught up in whatever they're seeing or knowing, so they lose touch with what's happening right now. (2) They observe body and mind through the lens of ignorance. Instead of seeing ultimate realities, they see only conventional realities—things fabricated by thought and imagination. For instance, someone may think "a person" is walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, when in fact it's matter, a collection of elements, doing the walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. Someone may think "a person" is greedy, angry, or deluded, when in fact it's the mind or consciousness that is greedy, angry, or deluded. The reason is that they don't clearly understand ultimate dhammas or the true nature of body and mind; they're accustomed to the feeling of "this body and mind are myself"—a conventional reality, a thought shaped by wrong view.

Much of the time, even our own students don't properly understand what mindfulness meditation is. In truth, mindfulness meditation is simply this: knowing the ultimate realities presently arising, with a natural and ordinary mind. Meditators often mistake mindfulness, or recollection, for some special state of mind. As a result, instead of using an ordinary mind to know an object, they try to cultivate a special mind and find a special object to replace it. This misses the point entirely.

This chapter will look at the mind that knows naturally—a mind helpful for developing insight, one endowed with mindfulness, right concentration, and the wisdom of insight. Some meditators call it "the knowing mind-consciousness."

6.2 It's hard to pin down what mindfulness or the rightly knowing mind actually is. If we simply declare from our own view, "it's this" or "it's that," we go off track right away. But if we talk about what isn't right—things born of craving and wrong view—we can come to understand the rightly knowing mind more easily. Consider these examples of error:

6.2.1 Knowing Is Not Unknowing (Bewilderment / Negligence)

6.2.1.1 The opposite of knowing is unknowing: daydreaming, bewilderment, negligence, carelessness, fantasizing. It's a state of slackness in which the six sense bases meet their objects and the mind wanders off into sensory pleasure or idle thought. For example, when the eye sees something, the mind recognizes a beautiful woman or a handsome man, and the eye shifts to stare. Or, alone and without stimulation, the mind goes blank and scattered. Sometimes one notices that thoughts have arisen; more often, one has no idea what one is thinking about.

6.2.1.2 This state of bewilderment or negligence is a state of forgetting one's own body and mind—as if one has vanished from the world. At that moment, the person doesn't know whether they are happy or sad, good or bad. So at the moment we're bewildered or negligent, we're not aware of body, feeling, mind, or dhammas.

6.2.1.3 Whenever the mind is bewildered, if it recollects that it has just been bewildered, the bewilderment vanishes, and knowing appears right away. So simply recollecting that we were bewildered—this is correct knowing.

6.2.2 Knowing Is Not Thinking

6.2.2.1 Knowing is different from thinking. We may clearly know what we are thinking about and yet forget ourselves, just as in bewilderment. Knowing observes what is actually happening, as it is; thinking anticipates what should happen. (That said, when we have things to think about—study or work, for instance—we have to think in order to fulfill our duties.)

6.2.2.2 Many meditators misunderstand mindfulness meditation. They think that thinking or contemplating the body and mind as nama-rupa, as impermanent, as suffering, as non-self—that this is mindfulness meditation. But in mindfulness or insight practice, one must know the presently arising phenomena just as they are. It is not a matter of thinking about phenomena, because thinking in conventional terms is often biased, rooted in all sorts of wrong view. For instance, the view that "the body is impermanent, but the mind is permanent; when the body dies, the mind will leave this body and be reborn." Or the view that "the self exists, but after death it disappears." None of this is insight. One of Luang Por Mun's most accomplished disciples, Luang Por Tat Desarangs, said: "Contemplating the body as impure to overcome the hindrance of sensual desire is practicing calm-abiding meditation; contemplating death, and contemplating the body as the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—or as the five aggregates, in order to prevent certain mental reactions, is also practicing calm-abiding meditation. Only when the wisdom of insight born of practice penetrates deeply into the heart can the meditator truly discern the heart of the practice." Luang Por Pu Tainiyom often stressed: "Calm-abiding arises without intention; insight arises without thinking." Luang Por Ton also said: "No matter how actively you think, you will not know; stop thinking, and you will know." His teaching echoes the canonical teaching on "knowledge of arising and passing away"—the necessary foundation of insight is freedom from thinking.

6.2.2.3 Whenever we've been thinking, if we then recollect that we've just been absorbed in thought, the thought disappears, and the mind present in that moment immediately takes its place. So simply recollecting that we were thinking—this is correct knowing.

6.2.3 Knowing Is Not Setting Up the Practice

6.2.3.1 Knowing is not setting up the practice. As soon as we think of practicing, almost every practitioner quickly gets ready to do something—because they assume practice means doing something. In fact, beyond directly and naturally knowing the present body and mind, there's nothing to do. It's like looking at a picture in front of you: simply open the eyes and see it. When a mosquito bites, know the sensation of being bitten. The inner capacity for knowing is already there within us. When we don't understand the principles of mindfulness meditation, we set the mind to meditate—poised like a sprinter on the starting line, body and mind tense, instead of comfortably and naturally knowing the object presently appearing.

6.2.3.2 If meditation is done with intention, meditators often end up forcing the mind, and certain mental karmas arise. For example, a meditator may notice some deep point within, and the mind runs off looking for something to contemplate. Or the meditator notices the mind has wandered, then grips it to make it still, waiting to see what happens. These serious mistakes all come from meditating with craving or with wrong view: "meditation is done this way, so 'I' understand meditation."

6.2.3.3 From this kind of view, meditators who like using the body as a contemplation object often start interfering with the body's natural activity. When observing the breath, they control its rhythm. When observing bodily movement, they choreograph the timing of the hands, feet, or abdomen. If this is for developing meditative concentration, or for using bodily contemplation as a preliminary to cultivating mindfulness, there's nothing wrong with it. But if they practice bodily movements on purpose while believing they're cultivating mindfulness, without noticing that craving or wrong view has already taken hold in the mind, this is yet another serious error.

6.2.3.4 In fact, if we want to develop mindfulness and clear knowing, we don't need to interfere with the workings of body and mind at all. When the eye sees a form, just see it. After seeing, a reaction arises—the mind is pleased or displeased—and we simply recollect and acknowledge it. Whatever posture the body is in, know it. When standing, know that this lump of matter is standing. When stiffness arises and the wish to change posture comes up, recollect that the desire to change has arisen. After recollecting, one may change posture out of need, or one may wish first to see the true nature of the body's pain without changing. While sitting at ease, thoughts appear—at that moment one should recollect that thinking has occurred. After thinking, when a wholesome or unwholesome mind arises, one simply recollects its arising.

6.2.3.5 However, if a meditator can't yet naturally know present phenomena, there's no need to panic. In the beginning, one can do some preparatory work to keep things balanced. If the mind is restless and agitated, start with calm-abiding meditation—but take care not to get so lost in it that you forget yourself, or to become too tense. Simply and comfortably know one object, whatever it is—even a repeated phrase will do. Once the mind is calm and at ease, then move on to knowing the mind's natural changes. The meditator may also start by knowing the rising and falling of the abdomen, or walking meditation, or hand movements—whatever feels right. In short, a beginner can begin in any way, developing awareness without aiming anywhere in particular, moving steadily toward clear knowing.

6.2.3.6 Whenever we're doing this kind of preparatory balancing, if we recollect that we're doing it, the moment of recollection dissolves that mental state, and the mind present in that moment appears at once. So simply recollecting what we were doing—this is correct knowing.

6.2.4 Knowing Is Not Mental Noting (Labeling)

6.2.4.1 Knowing isn't mental noting or labeling, nor is it contemplating an object as nama-rupa. It's paying attention to present phenomena in a natural, ordinary way. Many meditators assume knowing means mental labeling, because they keep hearing about labeling nama-rupa, labeling the present object. So they think "knowing" must involve doing something—mentally labeling or contemplating. As a result, the moment they know an object, they quickly slap a label on it: "lifting," "walking," "anger," "sound," and so on. That is mental labeling, not knowing. (For beginners, labeling at the start is necessary, but one mustn't get stuck there, because it's not insight meditation.) Some meditators love to contemplate. That isn't knowing, either. When the eye naturally sees something, the meditator may deliberately think: "This is just a collection of forms; it's not an animal, a person, I, he, and so on." Or: "Color is a material phenomenon; knowing is a mental phenomenon." All of this is purposeful labeling, done after the object has already been known—which makes this "knowing" impure, unnatural, and anything but ordinary.

6.2.4.2 In fact, in the Three Baskets of scripture, the word "mindfulness" means "recollection." The Abhidhamma goes further, explaining that the characteristic of mindfulness is presence of mind in the present moment. It also says that the most suitable cause for mindfulness to arise is strong, clear awareness of phenomena. Young meditators often take "mindfulness" to mean "mental labeling," but labeling is not recollection—it's a deliberate fabrication. Mental labeling is an action born of craving, accompanied by the wrong view that "labeling is insight." In fact, mental labeling arises from thinking and is never insight. And mental labeling is neither recollection (mindfulness) itself nor a cause of recollection; strong awareness is what gives rise to mindfulness. Repeatedly recollecting phenomena—or practicing mindfulness meditation—causes the mind to develop strong awareness of body-and-mind phenomena.

6.2.4.3 Whenever we've mentally labeled something, if we recollect that we labeled it on purpose, that intentional labeling vanishes, and the mind present in that moment appears at once. So simply recollecting the labeling—this is correct knowing.

6.2.5 Knowing Is Not Staring (Fixating)

6.2.5.1 Knowing is not staring, not fixating. Yet many meditators, though they want to practice insight and don't care for calm-abiding, fall into the habit of staring. They often stare without knowing their own mind. In fact, when someone deliberately sets out to meditate, staring arises. Whenever they think of meditating, they practice with purpose: they settle the mind, steady themselves, then solemnly stare at every object—and end up forgetting themselves. Some meditators may become numb, losing appropriate response to their surroundings. Some deliberately fix the gaze on the body until they forget the mind. Such meditators feel that everything is moving, arising, and passing away—displaying the three characteristics—except for some particular phenomenon that's still, empty, and permanent. So they conclude that everything is subject to the three characteristics, except the mind, which is eternal. Some purposefully stare at the mind or at emptiness, sinking ignorantly into emptiness so they can no longer develop insight. Some may stare at whatever affliction they happen to recollect, and when the affliction disappears (because its cause has run out), they wrongly conclude, "I can overcome my afflictions every time."

6.2.5.2 Knowing what "staring" feels like is not hard. Raise your thumb and stare at it until your attention locks onto it tightly. Soon you'll see nothing but the thumb. That's because the mind, with purpose, greedily pours all its attention onto a single point. In that moment, you see only the thumb—there's no awareness of the body, no awareness of feelings, no awareness of happiness or pain, no awareness of wholesome or unwholesome mind. The mind slips onto the thumb and doesn't know itself. In short, it knows only the thumb and doesn't know body, feelings, mind, or dhammas.

Meditators should remember this state of staring well, so they can avoid it. When practicing right mindfulness on a body-and-mind object, observe both the object and the mind that's aware of it—don't stare blankly at the object as if it were your thumb. Otherwise, you'll unknowingly be practicing samatha, even though you think you're practicing Vipassana—being mindful of body and mind.

6.2.5.3 The moment staring happens, recognize it. At that very instant, the staring dissolves and awareness arises. So simply recognizing that you've been staring is correct knowing.

For those used to practicing samatha, even knowing they've been staring, the grip may not loosen. But if you notice that your mind wants to pull away from staring, it just might. If it still won't release, you may need to take some remedial measures. Try forgetting about meditation for a moment. When the mind gets caught up in something else—a thought, say—the staring fades on its own. Then notice that your attention has shifted, and right knowing is there.

Although the author himself dislikes resorting to measures, I've offered this way out of staring. But I prefer teaching how to meditate in line with the principles of Vipassana—how to know body and mind as they truly are. Many meditators get stuck staring because they simply can't pull themselves out on their own; they may stay stuck for decades. So sometimes a measure is needed to deal with the immediate problem. The basic principle is simple: distract the mind away from the object it's been clinging to. That's usually enough to let the mind relax out of staring.

6.2.6 Knowing is not Inducement

6.2.6.1 Knowing is not inducement. Inducement is another state many meditators run into. It's another illusion of practice—the meditator thinks they're meditating, just as with staring. The difference is this: in staring, you fixate on a single object to see it more clearly, trying to lock onto it. In inducement, you turn away from the object of awareness toward calm, wallowing in calm and forgetting yourself, because you want the mind to settle. So this is meditation driven by greed—the mind gets lost in calm, or grows dull and sluggish. On a day when the mind is thoroughly dull, the meditator wrongly concludes they've had a good day of practice. On a day when they're not dull or sunk in calm, they feel bad, thinking they didn't practice well. Some practitioners even use tools to help induce the mind—listening to a Dharma talk while sitting, for instance—so the mind quickly drifts into a drowsy, half-asleep state.

6.2.6.2 Whenever we induce the mind toward calm, simply recognizing that we're doing so causes the inducement to vanish, and awareness immediately takes its place. So recognizing "we're inducing" is correct knowing.

6.2.7 Knowing is not Knowing Anything with Intention

6.2.7.1 Knowing is not knowing anything with intention. So if a meditator asks, "You teach us to be mindful—where should I focus? Should I be aware of the whole body, from head to toe?"—such questions show that person hasn't yet learned what true knowing is. In fact, knowing doesn't mean purposefully and selectively knowing some things while ignoring others. Having a purpose comes from greed and wrong view.

6.2.7.2 Knowing is waking up from the world of imagination and dreams. Most people, when they get up in the morning, wake up only physically; their minds are still off in dreams—the so-called state of daydreaming. Knowing is the state of waking up from those dreams. It's alert and ready to be aware of whatever comes in through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind. Once it knows an object, it's ready to respond naturally. And it remembers that response well. This kind of knowing isn't purposeful or selective. When an object appears at any sense door, the mind simply knows what's there without being swept away by it. That's the perfection of awareness. It doesn't try to be aware of the whole body—trying to spread awareness across the entire body is a deliberate act of distribution.

6.2.7.3 Any time we want to be mindful, the moment we remember that we want to be mindful, the wanting disappears and awareness immediately takes its place. So simply remembering "the intention to want to do so" is correct knowing.

6.3 In short, whenever we try to know, or look for correct knowing, or even try to know continuously, we immediately fall into the wrong view of ignorance. Any action that goes beyond ordinary knowing comes from greed and wrong view, and completely blocks our ability to be aware of objects—an ability that's already present in our minds. So don't try to know correctly. The moment you know you're wrong, correct knowing automatically arises.

Still, many meditators who've heard about mindfulness meditation refuse to simply be aware of present conditions as they arise. They cling to views like, "My merit is small; I should practice making offerings first." Or, "My five faculties are weak or unbalanced; I need to cultivate them first. I need to develop wisdom to balance faith, and concentration to balance energy." These meditators don't realize that if they practice the four foundations of mindfulness, the practice itself will strengthen and balance all five faculties.

6.4 Supported by right mindfulness and right concentration, correct knowing arises easily:

6.4.1 When the mind has strong, clear awareness of natural phenomena—love, greed, aversion, delusion, joy, happiness, and so on—right mindfulness arises quickly whenever those phenomena appear, because it's known them before. With unfamiliar phenomena, it may need time to learn. The stronger the mind's awareness of a phenomenon, the more readily right mindfulness arises.

6.4.2 With right concentration, right knowing comes more easily. A mind with right concentration is firm, stable, unshakable. It doesn't get lost in the objects appearing at the six sense doors. It's calm and unified—neither pleased nor dismayed by what arises. It's bright and light, but not weightless like something floating in air. It's gentle and pliable, not stiff or tense. It's ready to skillfully know whatever appears. It neither fixates on objects until it grows rigid or dull, nor indulges in them like someone drunk on pleasure. It regards objects uprightly, without interference—like an honest judge who exercises authority fairly, favoring neither plaintiff nor defendant.

If you understand the laws of nature, a knowing mind with right concentration isn't hard to bring about. The mind of natural knowing isn't swayed by objects; in other words, a mind that keeps the precepts is already a mind with right concentration. But if your mind doesn't have right concentration, you can train it. First, resolve to keep external precepts—the five or eight precepts, for example. Then cultivate internal precepts through meditation. Meditation here means continuously knowing a single object—anything that doesn't stir up defilements, such as the breath, footsteps, hand movements, the rising and falling of the abdomen, or a repeated mantra. Settle into the object with gentle intention, comfortably, without becoming too solemn or too intense. A few points to note:

6.4.2.1 If delusion or greed interferes, awareness grows weak and tends toward resting stillness. It may become drowsy or produce mental images. This is wrong concentration.

6.4.2.2 While you're knowing an object and mindfulness is continuous, alert, and gathered, it can catch the mind even when it wanders off into daydreaming, even when it fixates on an object, and even when it's actively aware. Ordinary people, without mindfulness, are constantly being carried away by one thing or another. So a beginner should start by practicing awareness of a single object. Notice when the mind drifts from the object. In time, right mindfulness will be there whenever the mind sways with its object. When mindfulness remembers, the mind stops wavering and becomes steady without effort. Then, whatever appears, the mind knows it actively—without interference, without being swept away.

One could say that mental noting (with its greed and wrong view) is a tool for building concentration, while "remembering" or "active right mindfulness" is the tool of Vipassana.

6.5 To put it plainly, knowing is the development and cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path.

6.5.1 When the knowing mind is firm, independent, unbiased toward any object, and not controlled by any object, it has right concentration.

6.5.2 The knowing mind is skillful and agile—when an object contacts any sense door, right mindfulness immediately knows the present phenomenon as it truly is.

6.5.3 If the knowing mind has firm right concentration, that is awareness. Awareness is right view, or right knowledge. If the mind isn't firm, it slides toward an object, gets taken over by it, and loses awareness. Once awareness is lost, the mind can't know phenomena clearly as they are, can't discern the arising and passing of mind and matter, and can't understand the Noble Truths. So right concentration is the cause for wisdom to arise.

6.5.4 When the mind has right mindfulness, right concentration, and wisdom, right intention naturally follows—and so do right speech, right action, and right livelihood.

6.5.5 In right mindfulness meditation, effort protects the five faculties: it blocks all evil and unwholesome actions and develops what's wholesome. This is right effort.

6.6 Since "right mindfulness knowing" is a cause for moving toward the Noble Path, we should cultivate it as much as we can, so that it arises as often as possible. But this doesn't mean being aware for as long as possible—minutes, hours, years. Right mindfulness is itself a mental factor; it arises and passes moment by moment with the mind. We can't ask impermanent things to last, but we can ask them to occur more frequently. The proximate cause for right mindfulness is strong, clear awareness of many phenomena. (We must recognize conditions, not just name them and list their attributes as textbooks do.) When any phenomenon appears, right mindfulness can remember it again and again, quickly and often, until it arises as swiftly as links in a chain. Then unwholesome states have little chance to arise—and finally, none at all.

6.7 Strong, precise awareness of many conditions is developed by knowing a single body- or mind-related object. Many meditation methods are widely taught today as a foundation for right mindfulness meditation: watching the breath, watching the rise and fall of the abdomen, watching the steps in walking meditation, watching the movements of the hands, watching the body as it walks, stands, sits, and lies down, watching the recitation of "Buddho," watching feelings, watching mental states, and so on. All of this is meant to improve—even slightly—the quality of our awareness of these objects, because awareness of different qualities leads to different results. Many meditators nowadays only stare at their object, naively steering the mind toward concentration. The following examples show how right mindfulness of varying qualities leads to varying results:

6.7.1 Watching the breath: If you sink into the breath without awareness, it's not acceptable. If you stare at the breath until consciousness clings tightly to it, that's samatha practice. If right mindfulness is aware of the body, and the knowing mind is the knower—separate from the object being known—then that's Vipassana practice of the body foundation of mindfulness.

6.7.2 Observing the Rising and Falling of the Abdomen

When observing the rising and falling of the abdomen, getting lost in the movement without awareness won't work. If you fixate on an object until your consciousness grips the rising and falling tightly, that's practicing samatha—concentration meditation. But if mindfulness is aware of the body, and the knowing mind stands apart as the knower—separate from the object being known—then this is insight meditation grounded in body contemplation. If the mind is confused and chaotic, mindfulness notices this. If the mind doesn't realize it has been fixating on the rising and falling, mindfulness notices this. If the mind feels pleased, displeased, or neutral, mindfulness notices this. If the mind is wholesome or unwholesome, mindfulness notices this. All of these are practices of being aware of mental phenomena, and they lead toward cultivating insight through mind contemplation.

6.7.3 Observing the Steps in Walking Meditation

When observing the steps in walking meditation, getting lost in the walking without awareness won't work. If you fixate on an object until your consciousness grips the walking tightly, that's practicing samatha. But if mindfulness is aware of the body, and the knowing mind stands apart as the knower—separate from the object being known—then this is insight meditation grounded in body contemplation. If the mind is confused and chaotic, mindfulness notices this. If the mind doesn't realize it has been fixating on the walking, mindfulness notices this. If the mind feels pleased, displeased, or neutral, mindfulness notices this. If the mind is wholesome or unwholesome, mindfulness notices this. All of these are practices of being aware of mental phenomena, and they lead toward cultivating insight through mind contemplation.

6.7.4 Observing the Movement of the Hands

When observing the movement of the hands, getting lost in the hand movements without awareness won't work. If you fixate on an object until your consciousness grips the breath tightly, that's practicing samatha. But if mindfulness is aware of the body, and the knowing mind stands apart as the knower—separate from the object being known—then this is insight meditation grounded in body contemplation. If the mind is confused and chaotic, mindfulness notices this. If the mind doesn't realize it has been fixating on the hand movements, mindfulness notices this. If the mind feels pleased, displeased, or neutral, mindfulness notices this. If the mind is wholesome or unwholesome, mindfulness notices this. All of these are practices of being aware of mental phenomena, and they lead toward cultivating insight through mind contemplation.

6.7.5 Observing the Recitation of "Buddho"

When observing the recitation of "Buddho," getting lost in the recitation without awareness won't work. If you fixate on an object until your consciousness grips the breath tightly, that's practicing samatha. But if mindfulness is aware of the body, and the knowing mind stands apart as the knower—separate from the object being known—then this is insight meditation grounded in body contemplation. If the mind is confused and chaotic, mindfulness notices this. If the mind doesn't realize it has been fixating on the recitation of "Buddho," mindfulness notices this. If the mind feels pleased, displeased, or neutral, mindfulness notices this. If the mind is wholesome or unwholesome, mindfulness notices this. All of these are practices of being aware of mental phenomena, and they lead toward cultivating insight through mind contemplation.

6.8

Section 6.2 described various states that are not the knower. This section explains the factors of the knower, which will help us check whether our present-moment knowing is the correct kind of knowing. The factors of correct knowing are as follows:

6.8.1 The knowing mind is a deeply wholesome mind—that is, a wholesome mind accompanied by clarity. It is natural, spontaneous, and effortless. Therefore:

6.8.1.1 Whenever the mind is unwholesome, the knowing mind cannot arise.

6.8.1.2 Whenever the mind puts forth more effort than wisdom—for instance, straining to get rid of suffering or unwholesome states, or struggling to hold on to happiness or wholesome states—the knowing mind cannot arise.

6.8.1.3 Whenever the mind tries to make the knowing mind arise, the knowing mind vanishes. The more you crave the knowing mind, the less it appears. The harder you look, the less you find.

6.8.2 The knowing mind involves simple attention (manasikāra). Attention means paying attention to or mentally noting an object. It is not daydreaming, not thinking, not deliberately setting out to practice, not mental labeling, not staring, and so on (see Section 6.2). The quality of this attention is weightless, light, quiet, and purposeless—free of craving and intention.

6.8.3 The knowing mind is accompanied by certain beautiful mental factors. These are ordinary wholesome qualities, and they are easy to recognize:

6.8.3.1 Non-greed: At that moment, the mind is free from sensual desire, from attachment, and even from craving for the Dhamma. If the mind clings to meditation—if it meditates with a purposeful, deliberate agenda, or develops fondness for states of joy and wholesomeness—then at that moment the mind is greedy, and that is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.2 Non-aversion: Whenever the mind is displeased with or angered by any object—such as hating suffering or unwholesome states like distraction, or trying to push away suffering or unwholesome states—at that moment there is aversion, and that is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.3 Equanimity: The mind is neither pleased nor displeased; it neither welcomes nor rejects objects. It doesn't try to hold on to an object or get rid of one. If the mind is biased or swayed by preference, then it isn't neutral, and that is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.4 Tranquility: When the mind is aware of an object, it is calm and settled. Toward the object at hand, the mind doesn't waver or conflict with itself. Even when the object is a feeling, the mind stays tranquil—once it has known, there is no added distraction or inner struggle. If, after being aware of an object, the mind gets stirred up, then it is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.5 Lightness: The knowing mind is bright and light. When aware of an object, no sense of heaviness arises. If during meditation the mind feels heavy and burdened—even slightly (including a faint, unnatural sense of ease that masks the weight)—this shows that the knowing mind is absent, and it is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.6 Pliancy: The knowing mind is pliant and gentle, not rigid or stiff. If, after meditation, the mind is rigid and stiff, this shows that the knowing mind is absent, and that is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.7 Adaptability: The knowing mind is ready for insight meditation. It is free from the hindrances and not obscured by them. In fact, when hindrances arise, the mind clearly knows them and sees them as the truth of suffering to be understood. If hindrances are present, the mind is aware of them but not overcome by them—this kind of meditation is workable. But whenever the mind is obstructed by a hindrance, it is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.8 Proficiency: The knowing mind is alert, agile, and adept. If the mind is dull, drowsy, or lazy, this shows that the knowing mind is absent, and that is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.3.9 Uprightness, Honesty, and Rectitude: The mind straightforwardly and honestly does its job of being aware of objects. Beyond that, it does nothing else. If the mind doesn't do its job—if, when defilements arise, it sinks into the object or interferes with it—then it is not the correct knowing mind.

6.8.4 The knowing mind is accompanied by clear comprehension (sampajañña), insight wisdom (vipassanā-ñāṇa), the faculty of wisdom (paññindriya), and non-delusion (amoha). Through clear comprehension, the knowing mind can develop wisdom. Clear comprehension means clearly knowing: what you are doing right now (practicing mindfulness meditation); why you are doing it (recollecting the object as it truly is); and how you are doing it (being aware of the present object as it truly is). Through this awareness, mindfulness can grow—without confusion, and without being swept away by any object through ignorance. Moreover, it has the wisdom to see and understand the three characteristics—impermanence, suffering, and non-self—of whatever object is presently being known. If the mind is simply aware of a phenomenon (a conditioned process) but lacks the wisdom to understand that phenomenon's nature, then it is not the correct knowing mind needed for insight meditation.

Chapter 7: What Are Phenomena (Conditioned Phenomena)

7.1 Mindfulness meditation means attending to materiality and mentality, to uproot the wrong view that "my body and mind are me, or belong to me." Eventually, the mind lets go of its attachment to body and mind, since body and mind are nothing but a bundle of suffering. Therefore, to cultivate mindfulness, you must be aware of the materiality and mentality of each phenomenon. Mindfulness meditation is not a resting of the mind on Nibbāna, nor a focus on conventional reality, for these exist only in thoughts and imagination. Even reflecting on body and mind is still subject to the three characteristics, so it remains a focus on conventional reality: it is neither direct awareness of a body-mind phenomenon, nor a direct understanding of the three characteristics of body and mind.

7.2 Mind and body (nāma-rūpa) are phenomena, or conditioned phenomena. Mindfulness attends to them; wisdom, by contrast, understands their three characteristics. Beyond mindfulness and wisdom, the tools we use to attend to mind and body are the six sense doors: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Materiality is known through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body; mentality is known through the mind-door.

7.3 We can cultivate awareness of materiality through every sense door. Please look at the following examples:

7.3.1 There are countless forms the eyes can perceive: thousands, millions of them—a woman, a man, a child, an elder, a tiger, a monkey, a bird, the sea, a river, a mountain, a tree, a flower, a cell, and so on. But among all these innumerable forms, the only actual material the eyes can see is raw materiality itself. Then awareness—that is, recognition and interpretation—arises, becomes consciousness of the phenomenon, and labels this collection of materiality "woman," "man," "cell," and so on. In practical terms, the only real material the eyes see is simply materiality.

7.3.2 The ears perceive sound; the nose perceives smell. The body perceives three material elements: fire (experienced as hot or cold), earth (experienced as soft or hard), and wind (experienced as stillness or movement).

7.3.3 What the mind perceives is far vaster than what the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body register. These include the five subtle sense faculties, which respond to sensory input from the five physical senses; there is also a sixth type of subtle materiality, including consciousness-nutriment, sex-characteristic materiality (existence), bodily movement, and verbal communication.

7.4 Beyond these, there are 21 additional forms of materiality in total. Several other types of materiality are perceived through the mind-door, including: (1) 52 mental factors, such as joy, pain, equanimity, perception, greed, aversion, delusion, gladness, faith, effort, and wisdom; (2) consciousness, or minds that cognize objects, classified into 89 to 121 types; (3) Nibbāna; (4) conventional labels, thoughts, and dreams—things that have no inherent reality (please refer to the Abhidhamma). This makes the mind-door the sense door that takes in the widest, most varied range of objects.

7.5 To keep this simple: in mindfulness meditation, the mind must stay anchored in ultimate reality—the absolute, natural truth—not in thoughts or imagination. For example, when you stand close to a fire, the intense heat you feel in your body is ultimate reality; the label "hot" is just conventional reality. It’s the meditator’s responsibility to be aware of that heat affecting his body; he should not get caught up in thoughts of it as fire, or the fires of hell, or any other mental spin. The meditator also needs to know which sense door each object is perceived through. For instance, to be aware of the body’s four postures (walking, standing, sitting, lying down), you must use the mind-door, not the eye-door or body-door.

7.6 When a meditator can attend to the ultimate realities of mind and body, insight wisdom will awaken, freeing him from the wrong views of person-view, self-view, and being-view. For the ultimate realities perceived in insight meditation are simply mind and body—not an animal, a person, a self, "me," or "them." All person-view, self-view, and being-view arise from thinking, or from assigning a fixed identity to some collection of mind and body.

7.7 When it comes to conditioned phenomena, there are a few key points to keep in mind:

7.7.1 The mind-door perceives two types of objects: ultimate reality and conventional reality. It cannot choose to perceive only one of them on its own. So when the mind-door perceives ultimate reality, mindfulness knows it; when it perceives conventional reality, mindfulness knows that too. Even an arahant perceives both types—they do not perceive only ultimate reality.

7.7.2 In insight meditation, you can start with body contemplation or mind contemplation, whichever you prefer. You can begin with any of the four foundations of mindfulness; you do not need to practice all four in full. Trying to master every detail of each foundation will not only be ineffective, it may also confuse your mind. The Buddha taught us to contemplate the body in the body, feelings in feelings, mind in mind, and dhammas in dhammas. This means the meditator stays anchored, aware of some materiality and mentality, some feeling, some wholesome or unwholesome state of mind, some category of conditioned phenomena. Once the mind understands even a small amount of materiality and mentality, it will be able to understand all materiality and mentality. This is a form of investigative learning: studying mind and body through observing ordinary, unscripted examples, which is a very high level of learning. For example, when the mind sees that the materiality of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down is not "me," it will see that all forms of materiality are not "me." If it observes that a mindful mind and an unmindful mind are both impermanent and beyond control, it will know that all states of mind, in all conditions, are impermanent and beyond control.

7.7.3 At first, you may need to intentionally place your attention on a particular phenomenon as the object of contemplation. But as mindfulness matures, it begins to operate on its own; you can no longer choose what object to focus on. If an object arises at any sense door, mindfulness recognizes it clearly, and the mind will naturally and continuously be aware of form, sound, smell, taste, or whatever object is present. You will also come to see that you cannot force the mind to attend to only one object, because the mind itself is non-self.

Chapter 8: What Is "The Present Moment"?

8.1 In satipaṭṭhāna meditation, there is a core principle: you must be aware of the body and mind as they are in the present moment, not dwelling on memories of the past or worries about the future. The Buddha placed great emphasis on staying in the present, as taught in the Discourse on Blessings (Tipiṭaka 14/527):

Do not recall the past, nor hope for the future; The past is gone, the future has not yet come; When present things arise, observe them with wisdom— Do not fixate on them, or let them pull you into thought. Clear them away today; Tomorrow death may come, And we shall have no dealings with death and its demon army. Therefore, you should clear them away with diligence, unceasingly, day and night; This is the only worthwhile task, as the Peaceful One declared.

8.2 "The present body and mind" refers to two things:

8.2.1 First, materiality must be tangibly present in that exact moment. For example, you might be aware of the physical body standing still or moving.

8.2.2 Second, after a phenomenon has faded, the mind must recognize it immediately in the next present moment. To be precise, the knowing mind is not actually present in the exact same moment as the object it knows, because the mind can only know one object at a time. When the mind knows an object, it cannot know itself. For example: while the body is sitting still, the mind is daydreaming. In that moment, the mind has forgotten the sitting body, and ignorance has arisen. The mind may wander for five minutes, then suddenly recognize that it was wandering. In that instant of recognition, the wandering disappears. Another example: if you are angry with a friend for five minutes, then recognize and recall that you were angry, this is acceptable and permissible. But if you were angry yesterday and only recognize and repent of it today, that is not being in the present. Yesterday’s anger went unacknowledged; even if you feel remorse now, that is not true awareness, because your mind is simply thinking about a past event. Likewise, if you recall being angry with a friend yesterday and now want to make amends, you may worry about whether they will agree to reconcile. That worry is your present feeling, but you are not aware of it, because your mind is caught up in thoughts of the future.

8.3 In general, the mind can only know one object at a time. The meditator’s responsibility is to be aware of the body in the present moment, or the state of mind in the immediately following present. He should not cling to a past object for a long time, worried that he failed to see the three characteristics clearly. For example: when the eyes see a group of forms, the mind notes them as they are, for that group of forms is the object appearing in the present moment, called a "visible object" (rūpārammaṇa). Then perception arises, labeling that group of forms as his beloved. A feeling of pleasure arises in the mind in response to that materiality, and delight springs up. At that moment, delight becomes a new object of awareness; the meditator’s present duty is to be aware of this present conditioned phenomenon—delight. He should not try to counteract his delight by thinking of the form he loves as repulsive or impure, or use other methods to suppress it. The material form of his beloved is already in the past; delight is the object appearing in the present moment—it arises and then vanishes.

8.4 Some people get confused about contemplating the present object, and wonder if Buddhists are not supposed to make any plans at all. This is a misunderstanding. Whenever you have a responsibility that requires planning, you should make a plan. Even the Buddha made plans every morning: Who would he teach that day? What topic would he teach, and what result did he want to bring about? The Buddha was a great planner, because he (1) set a clear goal; (2) decided on the method he would use; (3) mapped out the outline of his teaching—what he would share with his audience; (4) considered what effect his teaching would have on them. The meditator should know how to practice the Dhamma in a way that fits the time and context. When you have a responsibility to plan, make a plan; when you have a responsibility to study, study; when you have a responsibility to work, work; when your work requires focus, give it your full focus; when you need to reflect and consider, do so. You should not practice satipaṭṭhāna meditation nonstop, without ever letting your mind rest quietly, without letting it think, or without addressing the tasks that are your responsibility.

8.5 What’s more, the term "present" in satipaṭṭhāna meditation does not mean today, this hour, this minute, or even this second. It means being aware of the materiality that arises in the instant just before the mind registers it, or recognizing and recalling the state of mind that vanished in the immediately preceding moment. Mindfulness (awareness) means knowing in the shortest possible span of time—a span so brief that there is no room to do anything other than "attend to it."

Chapter 9: What Is Knowing as It Is

9. What Is "Knowing as It Is"?

9.1 Chapter 6 explained mindfulness, Chapter 7 described the phenomena (objects) that can be known, and Chapter 8 clarified what it means to be mindful of the present moment. This chapter focuses on what happens once we're mindful of a present-moment phenomenon: the mind must know that phenomenon just as it is — (1) without altering or interfering with the object (covered in sections 9.2 and 9.3), (2) without restricting the mind (covered in section 9.4), and (3) with clear understanding of the three characteristics of body-and-mind objects, in line with the Buddha's teachings (covered in section 9.5).

9.2 Altering an Object: Many meditators tend to change body-and-mind objects so that they become something other than ordinary. There are two main ways of doing this: (1) trying to hold onto or delay the knowing of an object; (2) breaking an object into several steps, or adding steps or details to it.

9.2.1 Many meditators try to delay the moment of knowing an object. For example, they walk as slowly as possible, hoping mindfulness can keep up with the slow movement. But no matter how slow the movement gets, the defilements don't slow down with it. Some people may spend five minutes taking a single step. Staring at the movement does make it easier to notice — but they don't realize that in that moment, the mind has been seized by craving. The desire to succeed in meditation has taken over. They don't realize that for those five minutes the mind has been without mindfulness, having slipped from knowing into thinking again and again. Even if the mind stays mindful and doesn't wander, staring locks it onto the object — the hand, the foot, the abdomen. This kind of meditation is called "fixing on the object." It's samatha (calm-abiding) practice, not the vipassanā (insight) they set out to cultivate.

9.2.2 Some meditators, to increase how often mindfulness arises, break the object of awareness into parts or add extra steps and details. For instance, when they're aware of the breath, they decide in advance to notice several points: first the sensation at the upper lip or the tip of the nose, then following the breath all the way down through the body to the abdomen. Some people break walking meditation into multiple stages. These methods do work well for locking awareness onto an object — they're samatha practice, and the mind will grow calm. Through these methods, the mind often experiences rapture and pleasure or sees nimittas (mental images). But meditators may mistake these experiences for insight knowledge, believing they're practicing vipassanā.

9.3 Interfering with an Object: Vipassanā develops the wisdom that sees into the true nature of body and mind. It isn't about gaining happiness, peace, or virtue. Yet most meditators don't actually want to see things as they are. So when they're mindful of a phenomenon, they often try — through various methods — to block or improve the conditions appearing in the present moment, in pursuit of happiness and virtue, as described below:

9.3.1 When the mind notices an unwholesome state, the meditator tries to get rid of it. For example, when they realize they've wandered off, they repeat the word "Buddha" over and over, or make a mental note "wandering" to overcome the distraction. When they notice craving, they try to practice contemplation of the body's foulness. When they notice anger, they try to cultivate loving-kindness (mettā). When they notice pain, they try various methods to remove it. These reactions come from several causes:

9.3.1.1 They hold wrong views because they've heard a teaching that says one should abandon all unwholesome states. So when an unwholesome state appears, they try to get rid of it. What these meditators have never realized is that vipassanā transcends both cultivating the wholesome and abandoning the unwholesome — it's a stage of purification that goes beyond good and bad. The mind must simply know a phenomenon (a condition) as it is, whether wholesome or unwholesome, without liking or disliking. People can easily misread the Buddha's teachings. For instance, when they come across the section on the five hindrances in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, they might think the Buddha is saying to be mindful of the hindrances and then overcome them. From there, they assume that cultivating mindfulness means both being aware of and getting rid of certain natural phenomena — that mere knowing isn't enough.

9.3.1.2 What we lack in our understanding of the truth of suffering (dukkha) is "knowing," not "abandoning." When suffering arises, we try to get rid of it — which only satisfies the mind that craves pleasure and resists pain.

9.3.1.3 We may not yet understand the principle of insight: the meditator must know phenomena just as they are, until they recognize that nothing that exists is a being, a self, "us," or "them" — and none of it is under our control. Once this is seen clearly, the mind lets go, and through that letting go, suffering comes to an end.

9.3.1.4 A meditator may be accustomed to samādhi (concentration) practice, or simply assume that meditation is about achieving tranquility. The serenity and ease that arise from meditation are far more subtle and refined than sensory pleasures. Some samatha practitioners attain genuine peace of mind; others gain certain knowledge and insights that fill them with delight and pride, and they may be admired by many followers. Yet the moment they encounter anything that disrupts their serenity, they'll try to push it away or avoid it.

9.3.2 When they notice any wholesome state, they try to hold onto it or develop it further. They hope the wholesome mind will keep growing until one day they attain liberation, because "the mind of an Arahant is always wholesome." This is a serious misunderstanding. The knowing mind and the wholesome mental factors are all conditioned formations (saṅkhāra) — and therefore impermanent and not-self. Only insight wisdom — seeing through to the truth — can lead the mind to release its grip on the knowing mind, and so find freedom. It doesn't turn the impermanent into something permanent, the suffering into non-suffering, or the not-self into a self.

9.4 Restricting the Mind: To know body and mind as they are means not only leaving the object of awareness alone, but also leaving the knowing mind alone. The moment we think about meditating, nearly all meditators start adjusting the knowing mind into some unusual state. Then they deliberately, purposefully set out to know body and mind — and some even lose touch with body and mind altogether. Here are some examples of adjusting and altering the knowing mind:

9.4.1 Suppressing the Mind to Make It Stand Still: The moment we think of meditation, nearly all meditators begin changing the mind from its natural state. They force the mind into a deeply calm, concentrated state. But we practice vipassanā with a mind that wants to see the true nature of body and mind. If we alter the mind so that it's no longer in its ordinary state, how can we see the mind's true nature? All we're doing is steering the mind toward tranquility. The mind may recognize that other objects are subject to the three characteristics, yet it will regard the knowing mind itself as still, stable, and unmoving — beyond the three characteristics. This way, the wrong view that "the knowing mind is my self" can never be uprooted. Self-view remains intact, and the meditator cannot attain stream-entry (Sotāpanna).

9.4.2 Pushing the Mind into Emptiness: Some meditators have heard their teachers say, "At the end of practice, the mind will be emptied of defilements and emptied of the five aggregates." So they head straight for emptiness, holding the mind still to fabricate an experience of emptiness, trying to imitate what the end of the path looks like. They haven't carefully considered the Buddha's actual instructions. The Buddha taught that meditation begins with knowing body and mind. When the mind understands their true nature, it lets go of clinging to them — and eventually arrives at a state where defilements are empty and the five aggregates are empty. Deliberately maintaining an empty mind leads, at best, to the meditative absorption of the base of infinite space (ākāsānañcāyatana), or to meditating on "nothingness" as the object of awareness (ākiñcaññāyatana). These are samatha practices. Some meditators find their mind bright, clear, and stable for long stretches, and mistakenly believe they've reached the final stage of the noble path. In truth, the mind remains in a conditioned state of emptiness-becoming, still clinging to "existence."

"Emptying defilements" actually happens because the mind has gained insight wisdom — it has seen the true nature of body and mind and can therefore let go of clinging. When that happens, defilements and craving can no longer arise. So at that point, the mind can freely know sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and mental objects. It doesn't need to fixate on emptiness and shut everything else out. "Emptying the five aggregates" doesn't mean the mind stops knowing them. It still knows them — but it truly understands that the five aggregates have no owner, that they are not a being, a person, oneself, a self, or another.

9.4.3 Abandoning the Knowing Mind: Some meditators try, through various means, to abandon the mind itself. Consider the following examples: (1) Staring at the physical body (rūpa): Some meditators focus only on bodily movements and ignore the mind entirely. Rather than separating body and mind — "the body is moving; the mind knows the body is moving" — they lock the mind so tightly onto the body that it goes still, with no thinking or imagining. This is the method of fixing on the object — a samatha practice. Fixing on the object can ultimately lead to the four jhānas. With the mind inactive, consciousness moves further into the perception-less realm (asaññā-satta), where awareness ceases altogether. The knowing consciousness completely disappears; the body remains rigid. This is sometimes called "the unconscious Brahmā." After practicing these concentration states and returning to the human realm, a person perceives the world as empty and takes it to be the emptiness of self, because whenever they're aware of an object, the mind can neither think nor register any awareness. Some believe they've attained liberation because no defilements seem to arise at all. But this isn't genuine liberation — this emptiness of self is something the mind has fabricated. By fixing on the object, the mind temporarily suppresses the defilements, until eventually it clings to the object even without deliberate effort. Because there's no longer any need to fix or label in order to stay locked on, the meditator may think they've completed the noble path. In addition, mind-and-body (nāma-rūpa) itself has split in two: the inner consciousness has gone vacant and unclear, while the knowing mind has become tainted, clinging tightly to external objects. The defilements produced by the force generated through fixing on an object are many times stronger than those of an ordinary person.

Abandoning awareness can also arise from another cause: (2) Tension builds until the mind becomes extremely tight, and then — to escape the pain of that tension — it slips into a fabricated emptiness and hides there, no longer needing to be aware. Tension may build in several ways: (a) continuous, unrelenting focus on the object makes the mind unbearably tight; (b) over-exertion — sitting or walking for days and nights on end without rest. When tension peaks, some meditators suffer mental breakdown or physical illness. Others find the mind slipping outward, sliding into an external emptiness to escape the inner pain. The meditator then mistakes this for attainment: the mind has slipped out, and on the surface it looks bright, light, and pleasant. They see the external world as empty of self — but they can't see their own mind. They feel the mind is empty, yet the mind can't turn back to look at itself. It loses itself, unaware, in the external world. Meditators with this tendency often practice loving-kindness meditation (mettā-bhāvanā) and soak in that state.

9.4.4 Trying to Make Mindfulness More Effective: For awakening and liberation, simply knowing and remembering is already enough. If a meditator lacks confidence in this, they may try various ways to boost mindfulness's effectiveness, as in these examples:

9.4.4.1 Helping the Mind Evaluate the Phenomenon Being Known: For instance, when the mind notices anger, the meditator tries to reason that anger is bad, painful, and harmful.

9.4.4.2 Staring Hard at a Phenomenon so the Mind Can Know It More Clearly or Make It Disappear: Sometimes a meditator stares at a phenomenon so intensely that they forget themselves entirely. Though they may be aware of the object in that moment, they've fallen deep into their own mental activity. It's like leaning over the water to look at something and falling in — without realizing you've fallen in.

9.4.4.3 Balancing Many Virtues: People are often inspired by a thought like this: "I still lack certain virtues — generosity (dāna), moral conduct (sīla), moral shame, fear of wrongdoing, honesty, gentleness, patience, liberality, renunciation, faith, mindfulness, effort, rapture, tranquility, concentration, equanimity, wisdom, and so on. So I need to develop these virtues first. Once they're sufficient, I'll be able to balance the other qualities. Then I'll practice satipaṭṭhāna meditation." In truth, if a person has clear knowing (right view) and has already learned how to be aware, all of these virtues will arise easily. But if they focus single-mindedly on cultivating these perfections (pāramī) while neglecting mindfulness practice, it's like someone who lays out many pairs of shoes for a long journey but never steps out the front door. Years pass, and they never reach their destination.

9.5 Meditators must follow the Buddha's teachings in every respect — knowing phenomena directly and seeing the three characteristics of body and mind for themselves.

To be aware of phenomena as they truly are, we must follow the Buddha's teachings—not according to our own preferences, not trusting our own understanding as correct, and not following a teacher's instructions in a way that contradicts what the Buddha taught.

9.5.1 Phenomena Known by the Mind: The mental and physical (nāma-rūpa) phenomena that the mind knows must accord with the Buddha's teachings. For instance, mindfulness is recollection—not mentally noting a label. Wisdom is truly knowing the mind—not some strange bodily reaction. Suffering is a feeling, not the body (rūpa) displaying symptoms of illness.

9.5.2 The Three Characteristics: When mindfulness correctly recollects a phenomenon, the mind becomes mindful, clear, and joyful, because momentary concentration arises on its own. The object—whether mental or physical—will reveal one of the three characteristics. For example, when the body (rūpa) shows pain and its physical nature, mental phenomena (nāma) reveal impermanence and non-self. And when mindfulness arises in particular, unwholesome states of mind immediately vanish.

9.6 Why must we be aware of phenomena as they truly are? Because we need to know their true nature. We don't need to change or control them. Sections 9.3 and 9.4 already explained the consequences of not seeing things as they are. Ignorance leads to craving; craving leads to suffering. Once ignorance is overcome, craving and suffering can never arise again.

9.7 Trying to interfere with our awareness of phenomena only breeds more ignorance. Say a defilement arises—such as restlessness—and a meditator tries to get rid of it by mentally repeating "restless, restless." The restlessness quickly dies down (because the repetition breaks the stream of thoughts fueling it). But the meditator may then develop a wrong view: that defilements can be controlled, or that the mind is a "self" because "I" can control it. The more he practices this way, the more skilled he becomes at suppressing defilements through staring or mental noting. Ignorance quietly accumulates; conceit and the sense of self grow. The mind never gets the chance to see that things arise with causes and cease when those causes cease. Instead, he may even believe that because he's so skilled at "insight meditation," he can make any phenomenon stop at will.

9.8 For ordinary, unawakened beings, unwholesome states of mind arise frequently, while wholesome states are rare. A person might drift along lost and unaware for a long stretch—maybe hours—caught in the grip of ignorance. Then he suddenly recollects: "I was just lost." In the moment he was lost, the mind was unwholesome. The moment mindfulness recollects, the lostness drops away on its own, and the mind has already shifted to a wholesome state. (Once mindfulness or awareness arises, unwholesome mind states vanish automatically—they're no longer there, so there's nothing to abandon. What we do need to abandon are the latent tendencies, the deeply buried defilements. So our task is simply to be aware, not to abandon. In the very moment of mindfulness, there are no defilements left to let go of. Even suffering doesn't need to be abandoned. This arising, that suffering arises; this ceasing, that suffering ceases. Our task is only to be aware of the suffering.)

One common weakness among meditators practicing mindfulness of the four foundations is that they don't clearly grasp how mindfulness actually works. So their minds slip into unwholesome states in a flash. Then when a glimmer of awareness returns, they ignorantly beat themselves up over the past: "Oh no—I was lost for an hour. How will I ever get this practice right?" Or they worry about the future: "How can I keep from spacing out like that again?" Instead of naturally being aware of the object, they try to do something about it—and that, little by little, leads to serious error.

9.9 When recollection reaches a stage that is pure, perfect, and supreme, it's called "active recollection." At this point the mind knows the present object exactly as it is, without adding anything at all. Consider these examples: (1) Not adding purposeful thinking about the phenomenon—no "this is body, this is mind, this nāma is doing this action, this is the result, this is the cause, this is impermanent, this is suffering, this is not me, this is impure, this is active knowing." (2) Not adding even the slightest trace of purposeful awareness.

9.10 Intention, purpose, and craving are what give rise to mental and bodily kamma, and they feed the kamma that keeps growing. When we're aware with intention, purpose, or craving—whether of an object (sense base) or of the mind itself—this produces mental and bodily kamma, and that kamma gets labeled "practice" or "meditation."

Hidden behind purpose is craving—the craving to make "our body and mind" permanently free from suffering and full of happiness. Behind craving lies ignorance, specifically: (1) ignorance of the truth of suffering—not knowing that body and mind are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self, yet treating them as worldly possessions to hold onto. This ignorance gives rise to the craving to escape suffering and find happiness. (2) Ignorance of the origin of suffering—not understanding the true cause of becoming, birth, and death: the struggle to avoid pain and chase pleasure by seeking sensory entertainment, forcing the body and mind, or avoiding contact with objects. This very struggle is what causes becoming, birth, and death.

Many meditators cling tightly to the mind. They crave "freeing the mind from suffering" and constantly chase after the Dhamma, not realizing that chasing the Dhamma is itself a conditioned wholesome state—or an ascetic practice—that, just like the conditioned unwholesome habit of endlessly seeking sensory pleasure, is rooted in ignorance.

These conditioned phenomena obscure the pure, natural truth:Nibbāna, empty of self. They veil reality so that meditators can't see through to Nibbāna. Unwholesome causes completely blind them.

9.11 "Active recollection" arises from wisdom and manifests at different levels: (1) The mind wisely sees the two extremes: a defilement-stained mind reaching out for external objects, and a mind locked in a stare at its own body and mind. (2) When consciousness contacts sense objects through the six sense doors, the mind wisely knows pleasant or unpleasant feelings. (3) Most importantly, the mind wisely understands this truth: all phenomena are changing—whether happiness or pain, good or bad. So the mind steps away from the extremes of grasping this and rejecting that. It moves toward the Middle Way, develops equanimity toward all objects, and arrives at the stage of "active knowing." Whatever appears, the mind actively knows it, because it has already attained the knowledge of equanimity toward formations (saṅkhārupekkhā ñāṇa), having understood that all conditioned phenomena are in flux.

9.12 Being aware of an object without purpose, yet remaining mindful of its ultimate reality. Being aware of the mind without purpose, yet remaining mindful of the mind. In this way, the mind can know all objects and itself just as they are. Eventually, insight wisdom matures, and the mind penetrates the truth of suffering—the truth of the five aggregates.

At first, it understands: "The five aggregates are not me. I am not the five aggregates. There is no self in the aggregates or anywhere else." This is the foundational wisdom—the wisdom of Stream-entry (Sotāpanna).

Then, as mindfulness of body and mind deepens, insight wisdom grasps something further: "When there's craving for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or touch—a pleasing sensory object—or even craving to think about such an object, mental suffering arises. When the mind doesn't crave, there's inner peace." This is intermediate insight wisdom. Those who reach it are content with the stillness of mind. They see a mind that is peaceful, free from defilement and craving, as a refuge—an island in the vast ocean of saṃsāra where suffering ends. And so the mind stops wavering and struggling. It turns away from the pursuit of pleasing objects and arrives at right concentration—steady, vivid, no longer looking elsewhere. This is the insight wisdom of the Non-returner (Anāgāmi).

Through steady practice, insight wisdom grows sharper still, until the five spiritual faculties are fully mature. Then intuitive insight pierces through suffering in a flash. It sees: "The knowing mind is itself just another natural phenomenon, subject to the three characteristics. It's no safe haven." Those strong in faith see the impermanence of the mind; those strong in concentration see its suffering; those strong in wisdom see its non-self. The mind lets go of the knowing mind itself, releasing it back to nature, because pure insight knowledge has been attained. The meditator sees clearly that the mind itself is, in essence, suffering. It's no longer the fine, wondrous thing he once felt and treasured.

This insight penetrates the truth of suffering and automatically uproots its cause. And suddenly, a vast, boundless natural state opens up—pure, peaceful, free from defilement and the five aggregates, empty of self, unconditioned. This is the end of suffering: Nibbāna.

When we compare a pure mind with Nibbāna, we find they are different kinds of phenomena with different qualities. A pure mind is the knower—the observer. Its nature is non-self, formless, and boundless, yet it still belongs to the realm of arising and passing away. Nibbāna's nature is likewise pure, non-self, formless, and boundless; it can be known as an object, belongs to no one, and does not fall within the realm of arising and passing away.

9.13 Having discerned the true nature of body and mind through insight, the active knower—the observer—develops. The mind gradually settles into the Middle Way, equanimous toward all bodily and mental phenomena. It lets go of clinging to body and mind and brings suffering to an end, just as the Buddha said to Bāhiya:

Bāhiya, you should train yourself this way:

Whenever you see, just see. Whenever you hear, just hear. Whenever you are aware, just be aware. Whenever you cognize, just cognize.

In that moment, "you" won't be found.

When there's no "you" at all, then "you" are neither in this world, nor in the next, nor anywhere between.

That is the end of suffering.

(Bāhiya Sutta / Saṃyutta Nikāya 35:49)

Chapter 10: What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness?

10.1 On hearing the teaching to mindfully know present phenomena as they truly are, many meditators may doubt: "We've tried far more demanding methods without reaching Nibbāna—how could something this simple possibly work?" In fact, practicing the Foundations of Mindfulness—knowing body and mind with mindfulness—is profoundly wondrous, so wondrous that the Buddha declared it without hesitation the one swift path for purifying body and mind. Some attain liberation in seven days, some in seven months, some in seven years.

10.2 There's no need to guess what mindfulness meditation can offer—the Buddha has already described it. Consider this passage from the scriptures:

Bhikkhus, (1) Through having a cause for clear knowing and mindfulness, clear knowing and mindfulness arise; (2) Through having a cause for conscience and shame, the wholesome mind of conscience and shame arises, and the cause for conscience and shame is fulfilled; (3) Through having a cause for restraint of the sense faculties, restraint of the sense faculties arises, and restraint of the sense faculties is fulfilled; (4) Through having a cause for virtue, virtue arises, and virtue is fulfilled; (5) Through having a cause for right concentration, right concentration arises, and right concentration is fulfilled; (6) Through having a cause for the knowledge that truly knows the true nature of body and mind, that knowledge arises, and the knowledge that truly knows the true nature of body and mind is fulfilled; (7) Through having a cause for disenchantment and dispassion, disenchantment and dispassion arise, and the mind of dispassion is fulfilled; (8) The knowledge of liberation is fulfilled.

(Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta / Saṃyutta Nikāya 23/187)

10.3 From the Buddha's teaching above, it's plain that by cultivating clear knowing and mindfulness, every supreme wholesome quality can be brought to fulfillment.

10.3.1 Conscience and Shame (feeling ashamed of wrongdoing and fearing its consequences): Whenever clear knowing and mindfulness are present, the mind sees every defilement as it arises and knows where it leads—that defilements give rise to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, and how they shape the mind itself. Thus, when conscience and shame arise, a person with mindfulness has no opportunity to engage in serious wrongdoing. At the same time, conscience and shame are heavenly qualities—they make a person heavenly.

10.3.2 Restraint of the Sense Faculties (moderation of the six senses: when the six senses meet their objects, if restraint is lacking, unwholesome states may take over the mind): One with clear knowing, mindfulness, conscience, and shame will automatically exercise restraint over the six senses. What's more, when the six senses meet their objects, simply being aware of those objects is the most direct method of insight meditation.

10.3.3 Virtue (the ordinary, balanced state of mind): When the senses meet their objects, if clear knowing and mindfulness are present, the mind won't be seized by unwholesome states. It won't wander, because it abides in its ordinary condition—virtue. This ordinary mind is luminous; it carries mindfulness, wakefulness, and joy, and naturally includes concentration. A person who has previously experienced this state knows clearly that one whose mind abides in such a condition can live very peacefully in the present. Virtue, moreover, brings happiness, prosperity, and Nibbāna. The more ordinary the mind, the fewer conditions constrain it. When the mind can transcend conditions, Nibbāna is realized—for Nibbāna lies beyond all conditions.

10.3.4 Right Concentration (a stable mind, as described in section 6.4): A mind that has virtue naturally possesses right concentration; a mind with right concentration is a virtuous mind. Virtue and right concentration support one another, as when the left hand washes the right and the right hand washes the left. When right concentration is continuously present, it can lead the meditator into the lightness and peace of absorption, bringing present happiness; if they don't attain Nibbāna in this life, they will be reborn in the favorable realms of the form and formless gods.

10.3.5 Knowledge of the True Nature of Body and Mind (knowledge of body and mind as they truly are; here the term refers to the five aggregates of body and mind, not to ghosts in Thai belief): Knowledge of the true nature of body and mind is part of insight wisdom. The cause giving rise to insight wisdom is right concentration. When the mind is steadfast, neutral, and mindful of body and mind as its objects, it knows them as they truly are—without craving wishing them to be otherwise, and without wrong view expecting them to be anything they're not.

10.3.6 The Mind of Disenchantment and Dispassion (impartiality and non-delusion): When body and mind are known as they truly are, the mind grows disenchanted and dispassionate toward, or impartial and non-deluded about, all phenomena of body and mind, because it recognizes their lack of substantial essence. The mind of disenchantment and dispassion is not the worldly kind of aversion that recoils from pain and clings to pleasure. It grows equally weary of both sides and lets go of them: pain and pleasure, good and bad, coarse and refined, inner and outer. When disenchantment and dispassion arise, the mind stops struggling and lets go of the urge to flee pain and chase pleasure.

Through sustained mindfulness practice, the mind's attitude toward body-and-mind phenomena becomes truly even. At this point the true nature of body and mind is clearly seen:

(1) No beings, persons, selves, "I," or "they" exist in nature; there is only mind and matter—body and mind; (2) Mind and matter bear the three characteristics: impermanence, suffering, and non-self—or uncontrollability; (3) When causes are present, mind and matter arise and change in accordance with those causes; when the causes cease, mind and matter also cease; (4) Clinging to mind and matter gives rise to suffering; (5) When insight wisdom reaches its peak, the mind recognizes that mind and matter are themselves suffering. The complete understanding of suffering guides one to clearly understand the Noble Truths: that the origin (the cause of suffering) leads to the arising of suffering; ignorance of suffering leads to the arising of the origin; suffering and the origin depend on each other, endlessly arising and ceasing. Yet, "clearly understanding suffering, the origin ceases; with the origin uprooted, Nibbāna is realized. This is the Noble Path." This is the cessation of suffering. Nibbāna itself is the state of dispassion.

In short, when the mind treats all conditioned phenomena with equal regard, as it's about to realize the Noble Truths it suddenly leaps forward, racing toward liberation, even though the meditator never intended it. Once the mind lets go of the five aggregates, it suddenly reaches cessation, Nibbāna, and dispassion—the goal of the practice.

10.3.7 Knowledge and Vision of Liberation (complete knowledge of freedom from suffering and defilements): Once the mind has let go of body and mind and realized Nibbāna, the meditator gains knowledge of the path to awakening and understands the conditions by which Nibbāna is realized. He or she will see that Nibbāna is the ending of defilements and the five aggregates—not the annihilation of sensory experience (the view of annihilationists, who hold that everything ends at Nibbāna), nor a kind of continued existence (the view of eternalists, who hold that the five aggregates continue forever after Nibbāna).

Nibbāna is a natural state: boundless, complete in itself; light, peaceful, and pure; unconditioned by anything, untouched by any disturbance. Through the path to awakening, the meditator realizes Nibbāna and, having attained the four stages of sanctity, is completely freed from suffering and defilements. Because the mind is freed from every canker, like a chick that pecks its way out of the shell, there's no reason to crawl back in. The mind is free and deeply at ease, no longer crushed by craving. It carries no weight and bears no sorrow. In every posture it's happy, by day or night, asleep or awake. One who has already realized Nibbāna can also be aware of it again as a present happiness. It can be reached in two ways: (1) without attending to any conditioned phenomenon, the mind then knows Nibbāna; (2) by directly turning the mind to Nibbāna. Both work and bring present benefit, but only with mindfulness can they be attained.

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In summary, the more frequently mindfulness arises, the better. Apart from the Four Foundations of Mindfulness—that is, cultivating awareness of body and mind—there is no other path, no true Noble Path. Any teaching that fixes the mind on one wholesome conditioned phenomenon in order to overcome another unwholesome conditioned phenomenon is merely a postponement (possibly necessary for beginners). Any teaching that uses mindfulness to know both wholesome and unwholesome phenomena on equal terms, freeing the mind from both, is the true way—the direct path to the cessation of suffering (Nibbāna).

The Forest Tradition monks who were the author's meditation teachers (such as Luang Por Dun Atulo, Luang Por Tat Desarangsi, Luang Por Phut Thaniyom, and Luang Por Suwat Suwakan) repeatedly emphasized to the author the necessity of cultivating mindfulness, that is, awareness. Some of the key instructions quoted come from the teachings of Luang Por Mun given to the author. Luang Por Mun often used to say: "Practicing concentration is a waste of time. Visualizing too much is confusion. The most important thing in practice is to cultivate mindfulness in daily life. Walking, walk with mindfulness; sitting, sit with mindfulness; whatever you do, do it with mindfulness. Because whenever there's mindfulness, the mind has steady endurance; without mindfulness and effort, the mind has none." Throughout his practice, the author has followed the guidance of these teachers.

Additional Notes:

1. Dukkha: No single English word fully captures the depth, range, and subtlety of the Pali term dukkha. Depending on context, this translation uses different words — suffering, unsatisfactoriness, and misery among them.

2. Unsatisfactoriness: unsatisfactoriness by virtue of transience.

3. Matter and Mind: upādāna-kkhandha / jāti / rūpa and nāma — the aggregates of clinging / becoming / Matter and Mind.

4. The Noble Eightfold Path: ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga.

5. Morality, concentration, and wisdom: sīla, samādhi, and paññā.

6. Mindfulness: sati, or recollection.

7. Becoming: bhava.

8. Condition: sabhāva-dhamma — the inherent nature of phenomena; existence in the ultimate sense.

9. Objects of consciousness: ārammaṇa — sense objects.

10. Matter and Mind: rūpa-dhamma and nāma-dhamma.

11. Right Concentration: sammāsamādhi.

12. Right View: sammādiṭṭhi.

13. The Extinction of Suffering: nirodha.

14. Saṅkhāra / bhava / kammabhava: conditioned things / existence / the process of becoming — formations, phenomena / existence / existential becoming.

15. Samudaya: the Cause of Suffering.

16. The holy life: brahma-cariya — a life of purity, referring to monastics or laypeople observing the Eight Precepts, whose highest aim is an unshakable heart.

17. Perfected pāramī: the ten spiritual perfections to be fulfilled by a bodhisatta on the path to Buddhahood.

18. Dāna-pāramī: The perfection of generosity. When asked, Prince Vessantara gave away an auspicious, powerful royal elephant to the people of a rival kingdom. As a result, he, his wife, and their two small children were banished to a remote mountain. One day a traveler happened by and asked the bodhisatta to give him the children. Vessantara handed them over without the slightest hesitation. Later, he gave away his virtuous wife as well.

19. Abhiññā: Intuitive powers attainable through concentration practice — psychic abilities, clairvoyance, clairaudience, the ability to read others' thoughts, recollection of past lifetimes, and the knowledge that puts an end to the mental effluents.

20. Meritorious acts: kusala vipāka — wholesome actions.

21. Dhammapada-Aṭṭhakathā: The commentaries offer meticulous, phrase-by-phrase and word-by-word explanations and analyses of the corresponding passages in the Tipiṭaka.

22. The body, feeling, mind, and mind-object: kāya, vedanā, citta, and dhamma.

23. Luang Pu Thate Desaransi was one of the most highly respected Theravāda monks in Thailand and an internationally recognized meditation master.

24. Luang Pu Mun Bhuridatta Mahāthera (1870–1949) was by all accounts the most renowned and revered meditation master of the Thai forest tradition. He had many disciples who became accomplished teachers in their own right, among them Ajahn Thate.

25. Thīna-middha: sloth and torpor.

26. Asaṅkhārikam: somanassa-sahagataṃ ñāṇasampayuttaṃ asaṅkhārikam ekam — spontaneous, unforced.

27. Abhidhammattha-vibhāvinī, also called Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha-ṭīkā.

28. "Kāya in kāya": being mindful of the characteristics of Matter — the breath, major and minor postures, movement, and the elements within, of, or through the body — and seeing them as they really are: as Matter, not as "my body."

29. "Vedanā in vedanā": the characteristics of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feelings or sensations — whether physical or mental, internal or external — that arise when consciousness contacts an object, and seeing them as they really are: as feeling, not "my feeling."

30. "Citta in citta": the characteristics of consciousness as greedy, angry, deluded, distracted, concentrated, or otherwise, and seeing them as they really are — as mind, not mine.

31. "Dhamma in dhamma": the characteristics of any dhamma other than kāya, vedanā, and citta — practicing mindfulness of the hindrances, aggregates, sense bases, and so on — and seeing the dhamma as it really is: as a phenomenon, not as a self or as belonging to a self.

32. Ārammaṇūpanijjhāna: object-scrutinizing jhāna.

33. Philtrum: the vertical groove on the surface of the upper lip.

34. Asañña-satta bhūmi: one of the sixteen rūpa-brahma planes, where there is only rūpa and no nāma — the "Unconscious" realm.

35. Uccheda-diṭṭhi: annihilationism — the view that after attaining Nibbāna, everything simply vanishes.

36. Sassata-diṭṭhi: eternalism — the view that the Aggregates persist even after the attainment of Nibbāna.

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BOOK-END NOTE

Cycle of rebirth (vaṭṭa): "From samudaya arises dukkha. From ignorance of dukkha arises samudaya."

End of the cycle of rebirth (vivaṭṭa): "With keen insight into dukkha, samudaya is abandoned. With the extinction of samudaya, Nibbāna is attained."