RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects
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A person goes to the forest
or to the root of a tree or to an empty place and sits down. Having
crossed the legs, one sets the body erect. One establishes the presence
of mindfulness. (MN 10) One is aware: "Ardent, fully aware, mindful, I
am content." (SN 47.10)
When ill will is internally present, one is aware: "Ill will is
present for me." When ill will is not present, one is aware: "Ill will
is not present for me." When the arising of unarisen ill will occurs,
one is aware of that. And when the abandoning of arisen ill will occurs,
one is aware of that. . . . One is just aware, just mindful: "There is a
mental object." And one abides not clinging to anything in the world.
(MN 10)
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The second of
the five hindrances is ill will, which, like the first hindrance, sense
desire, is a mental state that arises and passes away from time to time.
Highlighting this factor in the swirl of experience and noticing when
it is present and when it is not helps us realize that the annoyance we
often feel is a fleeting phenomenon. This in turn gives us the ability
to abandon that annoyance. We need not give in to it.
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Annoyance is a
good way of practicing with ill will, because it is a mild form of it.
Anger, hatred, and fear are more charged and thus more difficult to work
with. See if you can notice when you are annoyed and also when you are
not. See how annoyance is just a state that arises and therefore is a
state you can let go of. Instead of holding on to the justification for
the annoyance, see if you can just let it go and "abide without
clinging."
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RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna)
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With the abandoning of pleasure
and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one
enters into and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has
neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness as a result of
equanimity. The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished,
rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to
imperturbability. (MN 4)
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This state of
mind is the culmination of the four stages of absorption and represents
the consummation of the meditative enterprise of focused, one-pointed
awareness. With the mind thus purified of its imperfections it is
capable of seeing clearly, and by becoming "malleable" and "wieldy" it
can be used as a tool to penetrate the many distortions and delusions
that normally prevent us from understanding the true nature of things.
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Allow your
Sunday sitting meditation to slowly and gently mellow into a profound
state of equanimity. The mind is steady and bright but also
imperturbable in the sense that there is nothing in your inner or outer
experience that is going to evoke an episode of yearning or aversion.
Equanimity is balance, an evenly hovering attention. Notice also in this
passage that equanimity is said to be the means of purifying
mindfulness.
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Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Body and Abiding in the First Jhāna
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