A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Mindfulness and Concentration: Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects and the Fourth Jhāna
RIGHT MINDFULNESS Establishing Mindfulness of Mental Objects
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 sluggishness is internally present, one is aware:
"Sluggishness is present for me." When sluggishness is not present, one
is aware: "Sluggishness is not present for me." When the arising of
unarisen sluggishness occurs—one is aware of that. And when the
abandoning of arisen sluggishness 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)
Reflection
Formal practice
involves sitting down deliberately for a stretch of time and committing
to being aware of all that unfolds in your experience. At its best this
is an enterprise of great contentment, even though it requires effort
to maintain an ardent and wakeful mind. Even if all you are noticing is
that your mind is getting sluggish and you need to generate some energy,
it is valuable that you can see that.
Daily Practice
As we practice
becoming aware of the five hindrances in succession, we come to working
with sluggishness. Like all the other hindrances, this is just a mental
state that is inherently impermanent and that comes and goes under
different conditions. When you notice a lethargy of mind, just be aware
of it. This is just what is happening now. But notice also that it goes
away and that you can help it go away by abandoning it.
RIGHT CONCENTRATION Approaching and Abiding in the Fourth Phase of Absorption (4th Jhāna)
With the abandoning of pleasure
and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one
enters upon and abides in the fourth phase of absorption, which has
neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.
The concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of
imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to
imperturbability. (MN 4)
Reflection
Equanimity is
the attitude and emotional state that is truly transformative. Being
able to be entirely neutral while at the same time being fully aware is a
special state of mind to be cherished. Neutral is sometimes regarded as
a negative word, suggesting disinterest or detachment, but that is not
at all how it is used in the Buddhist tradition. Rather it is the
pinnacle of the developed mind, the state to which the jhāna practice
delivers us.
Daily Practice
See if you can
work with these descriptions of the mind as a living practice. Can you
feel what it is like for the mind to be "bright"? Can you relate to how
the texts are using words like "unblemished" and "rid of imperfection"
not to judge the mind harshly but to appreciate its capacity for
luminosity? Can you sit tranquilly in equanimity and feel the mind as
"malleable"and "wieldy," imperturbable in the face of any experience?
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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