RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Mind
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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 the mind is beset by aversion, one is aware "the mind is beset
by aversion". . . One is just aware, just mindful: "There is mind." And
one abides not clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
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As mental
factors flow into consciousness, they color and distort the clarity with
which we see what is actually going on, either in the world or in our
own minds. Sometimes the mind is "beset by aversion" —that is, we feel
annoyance at or distaste for some object of experience. Resenting this,
or wishing it were not so, does no good and can even make aversion
worse. With mindfulness practice, one simply abides without clinging and
lets the experience come and go.
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The practice of
mindfulness is simply to be aware of what is happening in the moment.
This includes being aware of both healthy and unhealthy states of mind,
and here we are being encouraged to know when the mind has been impacted
by the emotional state of aversion, the not liking and not wanting of
something. The practice here is to simply note the aversion without
clinging to it. Aversion to the aversion is a form of clinging.
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RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the Third Phase of Absorption (3rd Jhāna)
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With the fading away of joy, one
abides in equanimity; mindful and fully aware, still feeling pleasure
with the body, one enters upon and abides in the third phase of
absorption, on account of which noble ones announce: "One has a pleasant
abiding who has equanimity and is mindful." (MN 4)
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In some
contexts the words "joy" and "equanimity" can seem to exclude one
another: it is either one or the other. Here they are combined in the
third phase of absorption, where the strong sensory pleasure of the
previous two jhānas fades away, to be replaced by equanimity. Then this
equanimity itself is subtly pleasurable but not in the same sense as
before. The absence of pleasure is itself pleasurable, so to speak.
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Again, never
mind the formal levels of jhāna practice. That is something you can get
into if you take up formal jhāna practice under proper conditions. But
sitting in silence and solitude on a Sunday morning or afternoon, you
can allow the mind and body to formlessly unwind and relax to such an
extent that you taste the quality of equanimity, of being fully aware of
all experience without wanting anything to be different than it is.
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Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and Abiding in the Fourth Jhāna
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