..续本文上一页ake a dramatic determination that they won”t get up until the incense has completely burned down. Then they start meditating, but after only five minutes they feel as if a whole hour has passed and when they open their eyes to look at the incense stick they get a surprise when they find that it”s still really long. They close their eyes and restart the meditation and in no time at all are checking the incense again. So, of course, their meditation doesn”t get anywhere. Don”t be like that, it”s like being a monkey. You end up not doing any work at all. You spend the whole period of the meditation thinking about that stick of incense, wondering whether it”s finished or not. Training the mind can easily get to be like this, so don”t attach too much importance to the time.
In meditation, don”t let tanha and kilesa know the rules of the game or what your goal is in the practice. The voice of the defilements will come and ask you, “How will you practice
How much will you do
How much effort will you put into it
How late will you go
” It will keep bugging you until you make some kind of agreement. If you say that you plan to sit until two in the morning, the defilements will immediately start pestering you. You won”t even have been sitting for an hour and already you”ll feel restless and impatient to finish the meditation. Then the hindrances will come up and say, “Is it so bad that you”re going die
I thought you were going to really concentrate the mind and yet look how shaky it still is. You made a vow and couldn”t keep to it.” Thinking like this, you just create suffering for yourself. You become self-critical and end up hating yourself. You suffer all the more because there”s no one else to use as a scapegoat and blame for the mess you”ve got yourself into. If you make idealistic vows or determinations, you feel honor-bound to hold to them until you are either successful or die in the process. To do it right according to this style, you have to practice intensely, without letting up. Another way is to practice more gently, without making any fixed vows, though keeping up a steady and persistent effort to train yourself. You will find that sometimes the mind will become calm and the pain in the body will subside. All that stiffness and pain in the legs will disappear by itself.
So there is this balanced way of practice which means you contemplate everything that you experience. Whatever you do, contemplate it thoroughly and don”t give up the work of meditation. Some people think that when the formal meditation ends, it all stops and they can take a rest, so they let go of their meditation object and stop contemplating. Don”t be like that! Keep reflecting on all that you experience. Whether you encounter good or bad people, rich or poor, important or unimportant, young or old, keep contemplating everything. See that it is all part of meditation.
Contemplating and investigating the Dhamma means that you must observe and reflect upon the various causes and conditions which influence the mind. Contemplate the various mind-objects: large or small, good or bad, black or white. If there is thinking, then note that the mind is “thinking” and notice how it is only just that much, in actuality. In the end, all mental impressions can be lumped together as aniccam, dukkham, anatta, not to be grasped at or clung to. This is the “graveyard” of all mind-objects. Throw them into these three “pits” and you will see them in the true light of the way things are.
Seeing “aniccam” for example, is something which doesn”t lead to suffering, but it has to come from contemplation. For instance, if you acquire something attractive and you are pleased with it, keep contemplating that sense of happiness. It”s possible that you might use it for a while and…
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