  
  
  
  
                                   II 
                                          
                             SKILLFUL MEANS
  
  
  The two aspects of our being are mind and body. We have to pay 
  attention to both of them, even though meditation is a mind exercise, 
  not a body exercise.
  
    Some of the most common questions are: "How am I going to learn to 
  sit?" "How am I not going to have any pain?" That is only possible 
  through continued application, doing it again and again. In the 
  beginning, the body just doesn't like sitting cross-legged on the 
  floor.
    
    We can use this situation as skillful means. When discomfort arises 
  in the body, we learn to pay attention to the mind's reaction, and do 
  not move automatically. Everybody in the world is trying to get out of 
  any kind of discomfort with an instinctive, immediate reaction. It's 
  not that we're not going to get out of discomfort, but in order to 
  make meditation pay off, we have to learn to get out of instinctive, 
  immediate reactions. It's those that land us in //dukkha// over and 
  over again.
    
    When there is an uncomfortable feeling, it is essential to realize 
  what is happening within. We notice that there is a sense contact, in 
  this case "touch!" The body is making contact; the knees with the 
  pillow, the legs with each other, several contacts are happening. From 
  all sense contacts, feelings arise. There is no way out of that, this 
  is how human beings are made. The Buddha taught cause and effect, that 
  dependent upon any sense contact, feeling results. There are three 
  kinds of feelings, pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. We can forget 
  about the neutral ones, because we are hardly ever aware of them. 
  Neutral is actually considered pleasant, because at least it doesn't 
  hurt. From this particular touch contact that is being made through 
  the sitting posture, there arises, after a while, an unpleasant 
  feeling. The immediate reaction is to move. Don't! Investigate! By 
  getting to know our own mind, we get to know the world and the 
  universe. All minds contain the seed of enlightenment. Unless we know 
  our own mind, we cannot develop and cultivate that seed. here the mind 
  has been contacted with an unpleasant feeling, our perception says: 
  "this is painful." Our next step are the mental formations, which are 
  also kamma formations, because we make kamma through our thought 
  processes.
    
    First came the sense contact, secondly feeling arose. Then 
  perception, naming it, followed by dislike. At the moment of dislike, 
  there is the running away through changing our position. That is the 
  kamma making aspect. This is minor negative kamma, yet it's negative, 
  because the mind is in a state of ill-will by saying "I don't like 
  it."
    
    The mind may start all kinds of rationalizations: "I wish I'd 
  brought my own little chair"; "I can't sit"; "At my age I shouldn't do 
  things like this"; "Meditation is too difficult." None of these 
  explanations have any intrinsic validity, they are only a mind 
  reacting to an unpleasant feeling. Unless we become acquainted with 
  our mind's reactions, we're not using meditation in the most 
  beneficial manner.
    
    Knowing the unpleasant feeling, we can now try to acquaint ourselves 
  with its true nature. Our whole life is lived according to our 
  feelings. Unless we become aware of our reactions to feelings, we 
  remain half asleep. There is a beautiful little book called //The 
  Miracle of Being Awake//. This miracle is nothing but mindfulness, 
  knowing what's going on within. When we have realized we want to get 
  rid of the unpleasant feeling, then we can try to disown it for a 
  moment. Only the Arahant is fully capable of complete detachment, but 
  we can do so for a short time. The unpleasant feeling has arisen 
  without our asking for it and we don't have to believe it to be ours. 
  We can let it be just a feeling.
    
    If we do that for a moment, we can get back to the meditation 
  subject, and have won a victory over our own negative reactions. 
  Otherwise we are letting our unpleasant feelings rule us in whatever 
  way they want. The whole of humanity runs after pleasant feelings, and 
  away from unpleasant ones. Unless we at least know that, we have no 
  reference point for inner change. It may not be possible to reverse 
  that reaction yet, but at least we know it is happening.
    
    After we have become aware of our mind's intention, we're free to 
  move and change our sitting position. There is nothing wrong with 
  changing one's posture but there's something wrong with instinctive, 
  impetuous habits. Meditation means total awareness. Being awake is not 
  the opposite of being asleep; it is the opposite of being dull and 
  foggy. Such mind states are mostly due to an unwillingness to look at 
  our own //dukkha//. We'd rather hide in a fog. In meditation that 
  won't do. The Buddha said that this body is a cancer; the body as a 
  whole is a disease, and we can experience that when just sitting 
  still, it becomes uncomfortable.
    
    Meditation means //samatha// and //vipassana//, calm and insight. 
  Unless we know the limitations of each and also their possibilities, 
  we won't be able to make good use of the practice. We are generally 
  applying both of them in every session, but we must be able to 
  distinguish between them. If there is no understanding of what's 
  happening in the mind, the fog settles down in it.
    
    Everybody would like bliss, peace and happiness. That is a natural 
  wish. They are available in meditation, with a lot of practice, and 
  some good kamma. However they are not the goal of meditation. The goal 
  of meditation is insight. Yet skillful means for gaining insight are 
  needed and are found in tranquillity meditation.
    
    Making use of a meditation subject, the mind, after some training, 
  will be able to stay on it for a while. Presuming that the mind is 
  able to focus on the breath for even a short time, we realize 
  afterwards that some peace arose, because the mind was not thinking. 
  The thinking process in everybody's mind is hardly ever profound. It's 
  just thinking. Just as the body breathes, so the mind keeps churning. 
  And it keeps churning out mostly irrelevant, unsubstantial and 
  unimportant details, without which we would be much happier.
    
    The mind in its original form is pure. It's clear and lucid, 
  luminous, pliable and expandable. Our thinking is the impurity and the 
  blockage. There's hardly a person who doesn't think all day long, 
  probably without even being aware of it. But when we start meditating, 
  we do become aware of our inner restlessness. We realize we can't keep 
  the mind on the meditation subject, because we are thinking instead of 
  meditating. The moment we experience our thinking habit (even that 
  takes time to realize) we accomplish two things. We become aware of 
  our mind's activity and also the content of our thoughts. We will 
  realize immediately that our thinking is irrelevant and makes little 
  or no sense. Because of that, we can let go of it fairly easily and 
  return to the meditation subject. We have to be able to stand back and 
  watch the thinking process and not get involved in it. Otherwise we'll 
  just keep on thinking instead of meditating.
    
    The mind is the greatest and most delicate tool existing in the 
  universe. All of us have it, but few look after it properly. 
  Practically everybody is interested in looking after their bodies. 
  Eating, sleeping, washing, exercising, seeing the doctor when the body 
  is sick, cutting hair, nails, filling teeth, doing everything that's 
  necessary to keep the body functioning well. In reality, the body is 
  the servant and the mind is the master. So we are looking after the 
  servant and forgetting the master. If we do that in our homes, we 
  create chaos. That's one of the reasons why the world looks as chaotic 
  as it does. People kill each other, steal from each other, are 
  unfaithful, lie, gossip and slander. Most have absolutely no ideas 
  that the mind is our most precious asset. It gives us wealth beyond 
  compare and yet we don't know how to look after it.
    
    We have to do exactly the same thing for the mind as we do for the 
  body. We need to give it a rest. Imagine if we didn't go to sleep for 
  three or four days, how would we feel? Without energy, without 
  strength, pretty terrible. The body needs a rest, but the mind does 
  too. During the day it thinks, at night it dreams. It's always busy. 
  The only real rest it can ever get, which energizes and gives the 
  needed boost to become clear and lucid, is to stay on the meditation 
  subject.
    
    The mind needs a clean-up, which means purification. This happens 
  when all thinking is stopped for a while, because of one-pointed 
  concentration. One moment of concentration is one moment of 
  purification. At that time the mind cannot contain ill-will or sensual 
  desire, or any other negativity. When the concentration ceases, the 
  mind reverts to its usual behavior again. In meditation we can 
  experience that a purified mind gives us happiness, and quite 
  naturally we will try to keep that purification process going also in 
  daily living.
    
    The mind needs the kind of exercise that is not geared towards 
  winning or achieving anything, but just to obey. When we ask the mind 
  to stay on the meditation subject, yet it runs away from it, we know 
  immediately that we are not the master of our mind, but that the mind 
  does what it pleases. When we have realized that, we will be less 
  likely to believe our own views and opinions, particularly when they 
  are unwholesome, because we understand that the mind is simply 
  thinking habitually. Only through the meditation process can we become 
  aware of that.
    
    The mind also requires the right kind of food. Because in meditation 
  we can reach states of higher consciousness, we are thereby able to 
  nourish the mind in a way which cannot happen in the ordinary thinking 
  process. Tranquillity meditation leads the mind into realms which are 
  totally unavailable to us otherwise. Happiness and peacefulness arise 
  without dependence on outer conditions, which give us a new freedom.
    
    The mind of every human being contains the seed of Nibbana. We need 
  training in order to realize what is obscuring our vision. Then the 
  seed can be cultivated and nurtured to full growth. Because our minds 
  contain such a potential, they also contain the peace and happiness 
  which everybody wants. Most people try to find fulfillment through 
  acquiring material objects, seeing or touching, eating or knowing 
  them. Particularly having more and keeping it all safe.
    
    This dependency is a guarantee for //dukkha//. As long as we depend 
  on outer conditions, whether people, experiences, countries, 
  religions, wealth or fame, we are in constant fear of losing our 
  footing, because everything changes and vanishes. The only way we can 
  have real peace and happiness, is by being independent of all around 
  us. That means gaining access to the purity of our mind without 
  thinking, which involves staying on our meditation subject long enough 
  for our consciousness to change. The thinking consciousness is the 
  consciousness we all know. It contains constant ups and downs, either 
  liking or disliking, wanting something in the future or regretting 
  something about the past, hoping for better days or remembering worse 
  ones. It is always anxious and cannot be expected to be totally 
  peaceful.
    
    We are familiar with a different consciousness also, for instance 
  when we love someone very much. That emotion changes our consciousness 
  to where we are only giving from the heart. We know a different 
  consciousness when we are involved with religious activities, with 
  faith and confidence aroused. We are giving ourselves to an ideal. 
  None of that lasts through, and all depends upon outer conditions.
    
    Through meditation we can change our consciousness to an awareness 
  of purity within, which all of us have, only obscured through 
  thinking. At that time we realize that such an independent peace and 
  happiness are only possible when the "me" and "mine" are forgotten for 
  a moment, when "I want to be happy" is eliminated. It is impossible to 
  have peace when thinking about "self." This will be our first inkling 
  of what the Buddha meant, when he said non-self (//anatta//) is the 
  way out of //dukkha//.
    
    Because it is difficult for the mind to stay on the meditation 
  subject, we have to use everything that arises for insight. Eventually 
  the mind becomes clear and sharp and is no longer bothered by the 
  outer manifestations that touch upon it, such as sound and thought, 
  which are the most common ones. Finally a depth of concentration is 
  reached.
    
    When unpleasant feelings arise let us use them for insight. We 
  didn't ask for the feelings, why are they ours? They are certainly 
  changeable, they get worse or better, they move their position, and 
  they give us a very good indication that the body is //dukkha//.
    
    The body isn't doing anything except sitting, and yet we have 
  //dukkha//, for the simple reason of not liking the feeling as it is. 
  When we use the unpleasant feeling to actually realize the first and 
  second noble truths, we've come nearer to the Dhamma in our hearts. 
  The first noble truth being the noble truth of //dukkha//, the second 
  being the reason for //dukkha//, namely craving. In this case, we're 
  craving to get rid of the unpleasant feelings. If we were totally 
  accepting of the feeling, not making any value judgments, there would 
  be no //dukkha//.
    
    We can try letting go of this craving for a moment; anyone with some 
  strength of mind can do that. Just accepting the feeling as it is, not 
  disliking it. Then there's no //dukkha//, for just that moment. That 
  will be a profound insight experience, because it will show without 
  the shadow of a doubt, that if we drop our desires, //dukkha// 
  disappears. Naturally when the body feels uncomfortable, it's 
  difficult to drop the craving to get rid of that discomfort. But 
  anybody can do it for just one moment, and it's an essential and 
  in-depth experience of the Dhamma.
    
    When we are able to step back to observe our thought processes we 
  realize that the mind is continually thinking. It may take from 5-10 
  minutes to become aware of that, for someone who hasn't practiced 
  meditation previously. For an experienced meditator it may only take a 
  second or two. Next we can see what kind of thinking we are indulging 
  in and the more often we see it, the less enraptured we'll be with it. 
  We become aware of the fact that this is the way the human mind acts, 
  not just ours, but everybody's and we'll know the truth about the 
  mind. There is nothing else to be seen except that. When we observe 
  that the thinking goes on and that it is insignificant, it will be so 
  much easier to let go. We also see how very fleeting thoughts are, how 
  they come and go all the time. We'll know from experience then, that 
  no real happiness is to be found in something so short-lived, yet the 
  whole world is trying to achieve happiness that way. We can't even 
  remember what we thought a moment ago, how can that bring happiness? 
  Such insights make it possible to drop the distractions and get back 
  to the meditation subject.
    
    We are using the two approaches of calm and insight in conjunction 
  with each other. When calm is firmly established, insight arises 
  spontaneously. It's important to realize that calm meditation is 
  essential. If isn't as if some people like it and others don't.
    
    If the ocean has high waves and we want to look beneath the surface 
  to see what can be found there, we can't recognize anything at all 
  while the waves are rising. There is too much movement, all is stirred 
  up and nothing is to be seen. When the waves subside and the ocean 
  surface becomes calm and transparent, then we can look underneath the 
  surface of the water and see sand, coral and multi-colored fish. It's 
  the same in the mind. When the mind has all the waves and motions of 
  thinking, that churning in the mind makes it impossible to see 
  absolute reality. On the contrary, the mind refuses to look beyond 
  ordinary knowing. But when the mind becomes totally calm, then there 
  is no value judgment, and we can see easily what lies underneath the 
  surface.
    
    In order to understand the Buddha's teaching, we have to get below 
  the surface, otherwise our insights will be superficial. The calm mind 
  is the means for delving below relative reality. While we are trying 
  to become calm, at the same time we're objectively examining all that 
  arises, so that there is more and more support for letting go of the 
  thinking. The less we believe in our thoughts, the less we expect of 
  them and the happier we will be to let them go. Then we get an inkling 
  of what inner peace and happiness mean.
    
    These inner feelings are most pronounced in meditation, but can be 
  carried into daily living in a milder form, primarily because the mind 
  knows it can always return to peace and happiness in meditation, 
  without having to depend on any situation or any person. Worldly 
  affairs no longer have the former sting in them; they are just 
  happening, that's all, the same as thinking and feeling are arising 
  and ceasing, without an owner or a maker.
                                          
                                          
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