The Gentle Way of
Buddhist Meditation
Dhamma Talks by Godwin Samararatne
Hongkong, 1997
Day 2: 7th October
1997
Importance of Awareness
~~~
Godwin:
I like to welcome you once again. Like yesterday, I'll be giving a
talk and then after that, a discussion, then we'll be meditating and then
ending with some chanting.
The subject of today's talk as you know is "The importance of the
practice of mindfulness", which is something very very
important for the practice of meditation.
I am very happy to see some of you reading the little booklet we are
bringing out today on the Satipatthana Sutta which really deals with the
practice of mindfulness. It is also very nice to see some of you meditating.
Absence of Mindfulness or Awareness: We Become Machines
Yesterday I suggested you make an effort to do some practice of
mindfulness today, so that what I'm going to say will make some sense in your
experience. If we do not practise mindfulness or awareness, what will happen to
us is we become more and more like machines. We will be doing things
mechanically, habitually, repetitively and automatically. I think in this
modern world there are lots of technology and machines, so that I think in a
way human beings are being more and more machine like, automatic. So by doing
this we are forgetting the reality, the art of living. And what is very
unfortunate is when human beings are becoming more and more like machines, they
are also losing the importance of feelings. So when human beings don't feel the
very important aspect of feelings in them, then they cannot feel love for
oneself, they cannot feel love for others, they cannot feel warmth for oneself,
warmth for others. Perhaps let me explain why there is such a lot of violence
in the modern world. So we become more and more violent to ourselves and more
and more violent towards others, all these are related in a way to the absence
of awareness, to the absence of knowing what is in our mind and body. So this
is the first point I want to make about the importance of mindfulness or
awareness.
Experience the Present Moment
Another very important aspect of mindfulness is that it helps us to
experience the present moment, the "here" and the "now". In a way it is funny to think that
most of the time during the day we either live in the past about
what has happened or we live in the future on what is going to
happen. The past and the future are not real but only the
present is real, so it shows that human beings, because of their
lack of awareness, are living in an unreal world which does not
correspond to reality. To make this clearer, let me give an
example of what is happening now. Physically you can be present
here, you may even see me but mentally you can be completely
elsewhere. So to be completely present, to know what I'm saying,
you have to be here and now and being present, otherwise as I
said, physically you'll be present but mentally you'll be
elsewhere. A meditation master described his practice as: When I
eat I eat, when I walk I walk, when I sleep I sleep. The words
sound very simple but it means that he was most of the time
being present with what he was doing. An interesting question
arises: what did he mean when he said "when he sleeps he
sleeps"? One interpretation of this is that even when we are
asleep, with the dreams that we see, we are in a way half awake.
So we don't really experience deep sleep. However, for most of
us, when we are awake during the day, what happens? We are half
asleep! This is what we call "living". So if you really want to start
living, you have to develop this very very important quality of
being present, of being alert, of being awake. That is why the
Buddha is called the fully awakened one. The whole practice of
meditation and practice of mindfulness is a way of awakening our
mind, awakening the Buddha nature in us. And when we awaken the
Buddha nature in us, the quality of living becomes so different.
Now please realize that being in the present doesn't mean that
we don't have to use what we consider as the past and the
future. Sometimes we have to plan about the future. If you did
not plan about the future, you couldn't have been present here.
And if you forget the past, you'll not be able to go back to
your home. So again what is important for us to realize is that
through awareness to see for ourselves how we are using the past
and the future. Psychologists say that sometimes depression and
sadness are due to the way we are relating to the past, and
anxiety in relation to the future. So here again with awareness,
we need to understand how we use the past and the future
consciously and deliberately, and then at other times being
present in the here and now.
Use Awareness in Everyday Life
Related to that is something which I'm going to emphasize very much
and I consider very important. It is to use awareness in everyday life. Even
small things like brushing our teeth, combing our hair, drinking, eating. As I
said earlier, we have been so used to doing these things like machines. So if
you can really learn to practise awareness, mindfulness in everyday life, then
meditation becomes a way of life.
I live in a lay meditation centre in Sri Lanka. What we emphasize in
our centre is: how to integrate daily life, how to integrate your ordinary life
with meditation. Otherwise what happens is that life is one thing, meditation
is another. So if you are really serious about the practice, as I said,
meditation has to be a way of living. So when you read the text that we are
distributing today and the text which mentions the practice of awareness,
you'll see the Buddha telling us to be mindful of most of the things that
happen to us during the day. You'll be surprised to read that the Buddha says
even when we are in the toilet, be mindful, be aware, be conscious of what is
happening in the toilet. I call this the toilet meditation. Sometimes when I visit some rich
homes and when I go to their toilets I see lots of books,
magazines and things like that in the toilet, so I would suggest
that next time when you are in your toilet, you'll see such a
difference if you can just be conscious, just be present while
you are in the toilet.
Another very important aspect is eating. We do such a lot for the
purpose of eating but do we really eat consciously? Is your awareness present
while you are eating? Are you conscious of what you are tasting? Are you
conscious of what you are chewing? Now chewing is a very very important aspect.
If you can make an effort to consciously chew our food, you'll realize a
difference when you are eating. So when you consider this, you'll realize that meditation
is related to ordinary things, not extraordinary things, not special things. Some have the wrong idea that
meditation is having some special experience, some extraordinary
experience. But when you consider some of the meditation
techniques, they are ordinary things, simple things like being
aware of the breath, being conscious of walking, being aware of
eating. So meditation is simple, practical, ordinary things in life which we do consciously and then these ordinary
things become extraordinary. If you can learn to do these
ordinary things, then you'll realize that even for ordinary
things you can do as if for the first time. Then you see others.
Can you see them as if you are seeing for the first time? Can
you relate to yourself as if you are relating to yourself as if
for the first time without our past images, without our past
judgments about ourselves and others? Can you see a tree or
flowers or Buddha image as if for the first time? Please try
that and you'll see that the quality of seeing is so different,
it becomes so alive, it becomes so fresh, it becomes so
innocent.
There is a very important book. It is called "The Dhammapada". And in
"The Dhammapada" it is said that if you are not aware, if you are not mindful,
if you are not awake, you are like people who are dead. So being like a dead
person and being like a machine are the same.
Explore & Investigate Unpleasant Experience
Another very important aspect of awareness is learning to explore,
investigate with awareness our unpleasant experience. There is a beautiful
simile which I like in one of the Buddhist texts. It compares the doctor who is
a surgeon and is trying to operate. So the doctor has to find out where he has
to operate, where the wound is. So to find out, he has to use an instrument. So
once with this instrument he finds out what the problem is, then with the
surgeon's knife, he cuts it off, he heals it, he cures it. So what the simile
is saying is that with awareness we can find out, we can explore, we can
investigate, we can discover and with wisdom, we can work with the problem that
we discovered. So in everyday life, we have problems like anger, anxiety,
fears, sadness, guilt, so all these things really create suffering for us. Like
the surgeon's instrument, we can find out, we can learn, we can discover, we
can explore, we can experiment with them. And then when you explore you'll
realize that you are creating the problem, and then when you see that, you can
use wisdom to free yourself from that. You can use wisdom to understand what is
happening in our mind and body. So through this understanding, we can bring
about a change or even working with them, investigating them, exploring them.
That unpleasant experience itself becomes an object of meditation. So please
realize that meditation is not always having pleasant, positive experiences.
Actually unpleasant experiences do not create any problems for us unless we of
course identify ourselves with them. But the real challenge we have is also
learning how to work with these unpleasant experiences, how to work with
physical pain, how to work with mental pain. This is much more important than
just experiencing pleasant positive experiences. I'll be giving a separate talk
on emotions so when I speak on emotions I might try to relate, speaking about
emotions in this culture. What are the emotions that bother you? What are the
emotions that create suffering for you? So I'll be presenting tools, presenting
ways and means of working with these tools using meditation. I'm afraid I have
to stop now. So I've touched on some important aspects of mindfulness and
awareness. Like yesterday, I would like to hear questions, specially practical
questions relating to your life.
Q&A
Audience:
When we
notice emotion arising, like anger, who exactly is observing
this anger?
Godwin:
This is the
beautiful thing, quality of awareness. So with this quality of
awareness, we can know: Ah, now I am angry and now I have fear
and now there is no fear. So this was the point I was trying to
make. If you do not have awareness, you don't know what is
happening in your mind and then by this knowing, we can
understand and then develop wisdom and then develop mastery over
what is happening in our mind.
The question you want to know is who is observing the anger. This
itself is a very important area to inquire. Thing like this can be a very
powerful technique. When we are angry, when we have fear, when we have doubts,
ask the question: who is experiencing this? And when you really inquire into it
deeply, you'll realize that there is no "who" apart from what you are
experiencing. Then you'll realize that these states of mind arise and pass away
due to certain conditions, but we have a sense of ownership and say: this is my anger,my fear,my joy,my sadness. So this question on "who"
helps us to realize that there is no owner but just conditions
arising and conditions passing away. This is the deepest aspect
of the Buddha's teaching.
Audience:
When we
see our own children doing something wrong we will get angry,
but if we see other people's children doing something wrong, we
won't get angry and the same applies to our wife or spouse. So
is it correct to say that we should get angry with everything we
see or what attitude should we take to handle the
situation?
Godwin:
Very good
question. Because you realize that you are angry only when your
child behaves in a particular way, or only when your wife
behaves in a particular way, but others' children can behave in
any way. You have a very important realization. And the
important realization is as I said earlier, people with whom we
identify ourselves with, people whom we think we own, they
should behave in one way, other people can behave in any other
ways. So we can even carry the point further. When your son
becomes sick you become sad. When the neighbour's son becomes
sick, no problem. When your mother dies, sadness. When your
friend's mother dies, no problem. Aren't we funny ? So when you
inquire into this: why am I doing this? Then you'll realize that
we have this sense of ownership. This is mine. It belongs to
me.
And for what
belong to me, only things expected by us should happen to them,
for others, there is no problem. So the real practice again, the
real deep practice is: can we see everything as far as possible
without the sense of ownership? Can we relate to suffering in
whatever form it arises? It can be with your son, it can be with
the neighbour's son, it can be with anyone. This is real loving
kindness. I'll be speaking on loving kindness and on that day,
we'll be distributing a very important book on loving kindness
and in that book it is said that the best way, the most noble
way is like a mother having affection to her only child. If we
can relate to every one in this way, isn't that a beautiful way
to live? There is a beautiful phrase in this connection:
boundless compassion, compassion which has no boundary, which
has no division. So slowly, gently, gradually, this is what we
have to develop, developing the qualities of the heart. I'll be
speaking more about this when we are talking about loving
kindness which is something I emphasize very much. As I said
earlier, human beings now are losing these qualities of the
heart. So it is very important for us to at least to know this
and make an effort to open our hearts to ourselves, to open our
hearts to others.
Audience:
During my
meditation sometimes I get a little confused. It seems that I'm
watching my thoughts or my own mind and be aware of what I'm
thinking. Now can you tell us is this the right direction: to
watch with our mind, what our mind is working on?
Godwin:
As I said
earlier, you can say it is mindfulness or awareness that helps
us or you can say it is the mind watching the mind but what is
important is not the way to understand but the practical
watching, the practical observing, the practical mindfulness
that is more important than the theoretical question : is it the
mind watching or is it the awareness watching? But what is
important is to develop this quality of alertness, of vigilance,
of being awake, of knowing what is happening, this is what is
important. So after the discussion, we'll be trying to practise
this.
Audience:
You said
earlier that we do things mechanically. I can observe that I am
a machine but I don't want to be a machine. For example,
breakfast. I have the same breakfast every day and I know I'm
like a machine. How can we not behave like a machine although we
observe the fact that we are acting like a machine?
Godwin:
I'm happy my
friend Peter has asked that question. A very very important
practical question: how to start the day with breakfast? So I'll
give some practical suggestions: how to relate to such a
situation without being like a machine. I know with breakfast
you have very little time. But even with little time, please try
tomorrow when you eat breakfast how far you can practise these
things:
When you see the food on the table, it can be fruits, it can be
bread, it can be anything. Spend a few minutes just trying to see it as if for
the first time. Look at the fruits and the bread very closely and see the
different aspects of what you see at that time.
Another very beautiful practice in traditional Buddhist countries is
before we eat, to feel grateful for those who have prepared the meal or at
least to feel grateful that I'm able to eat my breakfast. There are people in
this world who do not have breakfast early in the morning. So to feel grateful.
As you know, machines cannot feel grateful.
The third suggestion is, as I said earlier, please feel the
difference, make an effort tomorrow when you eat your breakfast, take your time
and try to consciously chew your food, eating very slowly and consciously.
There is a saying among the Red Indian Americans that they drink their food
which means that they chew their food until it becomes liquid. And you'll
realize that when you chew your food slowly and consciously, you don't require
much food, this is a very important discovery you might make.
Another very important point the Buddha had told meditators about
eating is to avoid two extremes. Do you know what the two extremes are? One
extreme is eating too much and the other extreme is eating too little. So how
to know you are eating the right quantity? Very interesting question. How do we
know it? By listening to the body while eating. If you are listening to music
while you are eating, you'll not be able to listen to your stomach. I like this
phrase very much: listening to your body, listening to yourself, listening to
your thoughts, listening to your emotions. So if you can eat your breakfast in
this way, it's a wonderful beginning of the day and then during the day you can
have this kind of awareness as far as possible, not the whole time, not to have
moment to moment of awareness. But if you can have moment to moment awareness,
it is excellent. Then during the day, as I have said, you'll be living not as
machines but as human beings.
One last suggestion is at the end of the day, it is a very good
practice to take your mind backwards and find out how you spent the day. Find
out the moments when you are conscious, when you are aware and the moments when
you were like a machine. And just find out how many times you got angry and
also find out the times when you are not angry, this is very important. So when
you do this kind of reviewing, sometimes you'll be surprised what a good person
you have been. And this kind of reflection, this kind of reviewing can bring
about a self transformation in a very natural way because you learn to see more
and more inwards rather than outwards.
So now we have to stop our discussion. Now what I would like to
suggest is to take a small break and during this break you can go to the
toilet, you can do some walking but as we did yesterday and as we were
discussing mindfulness, please find out in this break how far you can be
conscious, how far you can be mindful of what is happening in your mind and
body. To do this exercise you have to be completely silent. So with a silent
mind, please make an effort to get an idea of what mindfulness is and then when
you come back, I will try to give a guided meditation in the practice of
mindfulness, so this would be a kind of preparation for the meditation. Thank
you very much. I will ring the bell in a few minutes, then please come back.
Continue to have this awareness, mindfulness.
[Break]
To begin with, we try to feel happy. Feeling happy that you came here
at 7:30 to listen to a talk and now that you are practising meditation. So let
us spend some time now just feeling happy with ourselves, that we get this
opportunity to learn to meditate.
Feeling happy that you are trying to develop this quality of
mindfulness, awareness, of being awake.
Try to feel that happiness in the area of your heart. Let us now feel
grateful that we have got this opportunity to meditate.
Feeling grateful is a very important spiritual quality that you may
develop.
Can we feel grateful that we can sit completely still? And can you
become conscious, aware that your body is sitting completely still, completely
relaxed?
Let us now experiencing what it is to be in the present. So can you
be with the peace and stillness in this room? Can you feel it now? Not thinking
about the past, not thinking about the future but feeling the peace in this
room now.
The past is gone, we cannot change the past. The future has yet to
come. So let us experience the joy of the present moment.
So if thoughts about the past and thoughts about the future would
arise in your mind, gently let go of them and come back to the present moment,
the here and the now.
So with awareness, you are learning to let go of your thoughts, you
are learning to control your thoughts, you are learning to develop mastery over
your thoughts, by learning to let go of them and then come back to the present
moment.
Just feeling, just knowing the stillness, the peace in this room.
Maybe you don't even hear any sound.
Now please open your eyes consciously and mindfully. And you change
your posture, please do it slowly, consciously, mindfully. Please do not think
that the meditation is over.
Let us now do some chanting. The chanting can be also a meditation.
Using the chant to experience the present moment and also there will be some
pauses between the chants, just feel the stillness, the space that the chanting
creates in your mind.
So firstly there'll be Pali chant and then there'll be Chinese chant.