..续本文上一页ted like this: even though we like it, it”s uncertain. It”s suffering, because these things which are constantly rising and falling don”t follow the influence of our minds. All these things are not a being or a self, they don”t belong to us. The Buddha taught us to see them just as they are. It is this principle on which we stand in practice.
We understand then, that we aren”t able to just bring about various moods as we wish. Both good moods and bad moods are going to come up. Some of them are helpful and some of them are not. If we don”t understand rightly regarding these things, then we won”t be able to judge correctly. Rather we will go running after craving -- running off following our desire.
Sometimes we feel happy and sometimes we feel sad, but this is natural. Sometimes we”ll feel pleased and at other times disappointed. What we like we hold as good, and what we don”t like we hold as bad. In this way we separate ourselves further and further and further from Dhamma. When this happens, we aren”t able to understand or recognize Dhamma, and thus we are confused. Desires increase because our minds have nothing but delusion.
This is how we talk about the mind. It isn”t necessary to go far away from ourselves to find understanding. We simply see that these states of mind aren”t permanent. We see that they are unsatisfactory and that they aren”t a permanent self. If we continue to develop our practice in this way, we call it the practice of Vipassana or Insight Meditation. We say that it is recognizing the contents of our mind and in this way we develop wisdom.
Samatha (Calm) Meditation
Our practice of Samatha is like this: We establish the practice of mindfulness on the in-and out-breath, for example, as a foundation or means of controlling the mind. By having the mind follow the flow of the breath it becomes steadfast, calm and still. This practice of calming the mind is called Samatha Meditation. It”s necessary to do a lot of this kind of practice because the mind is full of many disturbances. It”s very confused. We can”t say how many years or how many lives it”s been this way. If we sit and contemplate we”ll see that there”s a lot that doesn”t conduce to peace and calm and a lot that leads to confusion!
For this reason the Buddha taught that we must find a meditation subject which is suitable to our particular tendencies, a way of practice which is right for our character. For example, going over and over the parts of the body: hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth and skin, can be very calming. The mind can become very peaceful from this practice. If contemplating these five things leads to calm, it”s because they are appropriate objects for contemplation according to our tendencies. Whatever we find to be appropriate in this way, we can consider to be our practice and use it to subdue the defilements.
Another example is recollection of death. For those who still have strong greed, aversion and delusion and find them difficult to contain, it”s useful to take this subject of personal death as a meditation. We”ll come to see that everybody has to die, whether rich or poor. We”ll see both good and evil people die. Everybody must die! Developing this practice we find that an attitude of dispassion arises. The more we practice the easier our sitting produces calm. This is because it”s a suitable and appropriate practice for us. If this practice of Calm Meditation is not agreeable to our particular tendencies, it won”t produce this attitude of dispassion. If the object is truly suited to us then we”ll find it arising regularly, without great difficulty, and we”ll find ourselves thinking about it often.
Regarding this we can see an example in our everyday lives. When laypeople bring trays of many differen…
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