RIGHT MINDFULNESS
Establishing Mindfulness of Feeling
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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 feeling a mental neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling, one is
aware: “Feeling a mental neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling”. . . one
is just aware, just mindful: “There is feeling.” And one abides not
clinging to anything in the world. (MN 10)
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Of the three kinds of feeling tone—pleasant, painful, and neither-pleasant-nor-painful—it
is the neutral feeling that can be the most difficult to discern.
Pleasure and pain are obvious, especially at the extreme ends of the
continuum, but as each gets more and more subtle they merge into the
middle ground of a feeling tone that is not obviously either. Hold your
attention on this neutral zone and simply notice what is there.
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See if you can
become aware of the feeling tones that are arising in conjunction with
the thoughts and mental images that pass through your mind. Some things
feel good to imagine or think about, while some feel really bad. Bring
your attention to the middle ground, where your thoughts are present but
don’t have a strong feeling tone associated with them. Be content to
simply be aware of thoughts coming and going.
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RIGHT CONCENTRATION
Approaching and Abiding in the Second Phase of Absorption (2nd Jhāna)
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With the stilling of applied and
sustained thought, one enters upon and abides in the second phase of
absorption, which has inner clarity and singleness of mind, without
applied thought and sustained thought, with joy and the pleasure born of
concentration. (MN 4)
One practices: “I shall breathe in gladdening the mind;”
one practices: “I shall breathe out gladdening the mind.”
This is how concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated
so that it is of great fruit and great benefit. (A 54.8)
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Tomorrow: Understanding the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
One week from today: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and Abiding in the Third Jhāna
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