Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
Subject: Five Meditations to Quite the Mind (五停心觀)
We talked about the Four Methods of Contemplation. Contemplate causes and conditions, effects and retributions, one’s body and the Tathagata-body.
Every day we must always contemplate, which means to be mindful in our actions, to keep the Buddha in our minds, and to act according to the Dharma. As we have said, everyone inherently has a virtuous nature; we have spiritual powers that allow us to travel leisurely through all Buddha-lands and listen to the Buddha-Dharma. Though we originally have pure, virtuous natures, due to the desires of ordinary beings, we are conditioned by worldly phenomena so our minds are obscured with afflictions. We should remain in an unconditioned state. We need to remain very pure and natural. Our intrinsic nature was pure. It was free of confused and deluded thinking and prevented delusions from entering our minds. This is what we must learn to do all the time. Otherwise, like we said yesterday, there will be many obstacles. So we must return to our virtuous nature; then we will be tranquil and pure, with a vow vast as the void, and remain unwavering. Otherwise we hinder ourselves in many ways.
We put up many obstacles for ourselves. Thus, this passage from the Repentance text says, “We have obstacles to the Anapana practice and contemplation of impurity and cause and effect.” We all have a virtuous nature. Through the Anapana practice we can return to the virtuous nature we inherently have. So of course we must learn it, and work hard to return to our intrinsic virtues, to contemplate causes and conditions, the karmic law of cause and effect, as well as our own bodies. Many things are unclean. Aside from the impurity of our bodies, there are many other impurities in this world.
Look at flowers; they grow and then they wilt. Then they either dry up or rot. Doesn’t the same happen to fruits and vegetables? This happens to many things in the world. Living Bodhisattvas often volunteer at the hospital. There are elderly people who live alone, people in poor families and others with no one to care for them. When they get sick, there is no one to take care of their bodies and homes. They become smelly and dirty. Our Tzu Chi volunteers, Living Bodhisattvas, often see these conditions. Can they always contemplate the impurities in this world and how they arise? We have all pursued things in our lives, but when we attain them, are they ever as beautiful as they were during our pursuit? Isn’t that how we accumulate trash in our home? We buy or receive things and bring them home. As time pass, these things break and become trash. Has anyone thought about it this way? People with wisdom can always see the source of such problems. After they understand this, they stop it. Simple and plain things are best. We accumulate many things, but in the end they are the cause of afflictions.
Many people are in pursuit of worldly or conditioned things. But we should pursue unconditioned Dharma, which is our pure intrinsic nature. We inherently possess it, so why would we seek it elsewhere? We had it, but we lost our abilities to use it. So now we need to rehabilitate ourselves by rediscovering it. We all have this potential, so we have to work hard on not creating more impediments. If we have obstacles, we lose our natural potential. These are called afflictions.
What is Anapana? Here, it is the practice of counting breaths to calm our minds. I often tell everyone, when we sit, we must focus our mind and train it carefully. There are many ways to do this, but the safest way for beginners is by meditating and counting breaths. Sit up straight, center your bodies and minds, and focus on counting your breaths.
How do we breathe properly? Exhale very slowly, all the way down to your dantian [lower abdomen]. Slowly exhale, then slowly inhale. When we inhale we also focus on our dantian. One exhalation and inhalation counts as one breath. We should remain completely focused, from the first breath to the tenth, and then do it again without losing our focus on the counting of each breath. Mindfully inhale and exhale, paying attention to the length of the inhalation and exhalation to keep them balanced. Then we can develop the strength of our core as well as our mental focus. This practice is also good for our circulation and is the first step toward cultivating a focused mind. When we focus our thoughts on each breath, on how we breathe, we can strengthen our breathing and our minds. This is counting breaths.
We can even “stop scattered thoughts” by counting our breaths. If we cannot focus our thoughts on counting our breaths, on how we exhale and inhale, when we sit down we become distracted. We think about many random things. Our minds wander to the past, to conflicts, and to future pursuits. We have many delusional thoughts of the future, as well as of past conflicts. Our mind is constantly distracted in this way. So when we practice Buddhism, we must contemplate the Buddha-body. Everyone inherently has this Buddha-nature. Everyone has the same virtues and the same nature as the Buddha. We were originally equal, but because of our unfocused minds, ignorant thoughts caused the Three Subtleties and external states led to the Six Coarse Marks. Facing the external world, the mind becomes unfocused. So we must rein it in, and bring it back. So the practice of Anapana is also the Five Meditations to Quiet the Mind.
The Five Meditations to Quiet the Mind:
For greed, contemplate the impurity of the body.
For anger, contemplate compassion.
For lack of focus, count breaths.
For ignorance, contemplate causes and conditions.
For karmic obstructions, be mindful of the Buddha.
Let us understand these five meditations, starting with, “for greed, contemplate the impurity of body.” If we can focus our minds, our wisdom will shine forth and our thoughts will not be scattered. Our minds can be unfocused in five ways, by greedy, angry, ignorant, scattered, and obstructed thoughts. If a greedy thought arises, we must immediately contemplate the impurity of the body.
What do we crave? We crave many things in this world. We crave better material goods. Buying new things makes us happy, but after we use it for a while, it breaks and becomes trash that we must clear away or our homes will become filthy. This is caused by greed. Some crave children and grandchildren. People are happy when children are born. But even if the children are healthy, and we can raise them, when they are small, we can see that these children eat and generate waste. How clean is that?
But people who want to be parents and grandparents do not think it is very tiring raising children and grandchildren.
Kids are cute when they are young, but they discharge phlegm, saliva, urine and feces. Those things are dirty and need to be cleaned up. Think about your own bodies. We feel uncomfortable after a day of work because we sweat, etc. What happens if we do not wash up? In this world, from material goods to children, to our own bodies, what is worth craving?
Our own bodies, what is worth craving? Everything is impure. Since we live in this world, let us live freely and simply. Why work so hard just to live? We can all practice simplicity in daily living. Becoming monastic is not the only method of spiritual practice. Cultivating our minds, fostering a good nature, and behaving properly is also a form of practice. Practice does not just happen in a monastery. It happens when we cultivate our minds, foster a good nature, and behave properly.
If we can practice this in our daily living, we will have fewer greedy thoughts, eliminate complicated tasks, and reduce interpersonal disputes. Leading a simple life starts with contemplating the impurity of the body.
Second is, “for anger, contemplate compassion.” Why do we lose our temper so often? Because we lack compassion.
If we are anger, others tell us to be more compassionate. How can we do that? As I have said, we must be understanding and accommodating. That is one way to be compassionate. We must also be content and grateful. If we can be content, grateful, understanding, accommodating, isn’t that a way to develop compassion? These are the means to eliminate and cure anger.
Third “for lack of focus, count breaths.” If our mind often wanders, we should count our breaths.
What about for ignorance or foolishness? “For ignorance, contemplate causes and conditions.” This is one the Four Methods of Contemplation. Everything comes from causes and conditions. So why be petty? Greed and anger arise from ignorance because it obscures reason. If we understand causes and conditions, we can understand everything. Then there would be no deluded attachments. Ignorance comes from lack of understanding. If people are ignorant and cannot see reason, we teach them to contemplate causes and conditions.
“For karmic obstructions, be mindful of Buddha.” There are many obstacles. Why are there so many obstacles? We have talked about this before. In Dharma as Water, aren’t there a lot of teachings that explain the sources of all our afflictions? We know we can return to our Buddha-nature, so what obstacles can there be? Why are there so many names for affliction? Because simple mundane phenomena have been complicated by our not-so-simple minds. The world becomes complicated because ignorance, greed, and anger scatter our thoughts. When our thoughts are chaotic, obstacles naturally arise.
So we must return to our pure nature. How do we eliminate complex, scattered thinking? By contemplating the Buddha-body. We must return to our innate Buddha-nature. To do so, the Buddha must be in our minds and the Dharma must guide our actions. Then we can naturally return to our Buddha-nature.
These five methods of practice are the Five Meditations to Quiet the Mind. If we can use these to calm our minds, that is the Anapana practice. We practice to allow our thought to cease. We can stop scattered thoughts and afflictions. If we can put an end to deluded thinking then naturally we can comprehend everything. Otherwise there will be “obstacles.” When we are obstructed, many afflictions arise.
So if we want to eliminate afflictions, the only way is to engage in spiritual practice. We must stop our scattered, delusional thoughts. Only then can we we really understand. Keep the Buddha in your hearts; keep Dharma in your actions. Everyone, please always be mindful.
(Source: Da Ai TV 靜思晨語 法譬如水)
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