Buddhism In Daily Life

by Nina van Gorkom

published by zolag.co.uk

Chapter 16

Right Mindfulness

Questioner: The wisdom which sees realities as they are can only develop when there is mindfulness. Is there anything we can do in order to have mindfulness of nåma and rúpa, so that later on paññå which knows them as they are will arise?

Nina: If one wants to do something in particular in order to have mindfulness, one is led by clinging and then paññå cannot develop. Some people think that right mindfulness of the eightfold Path is something other than attending to the characteristic of nåma or rúpa which appears now, in daily life. That is the wrong understanding of mindfulness. At this moment you are sitting. Is there hardness? Can you experience it?

Question: Yes, I can experience it.

Nina: Hardness is only a kind of rúpa which appears through the bodysense. We usually think of a thing or the body which is hard and we are forgetful of the characteristic of hardness which appears. When there is mindfulness of the characteristic of hardness which appears we do not think of a thing or of the body which is hard and at that moment paññå can investigate the reality which is hardness. In that way hardness can be known as only a kind of rúpa which appears through the bodysense, no “self”. Hardness is an ultimate reality with its own unchangeable characteristic which can be directly experienced without the need to think about it or to name it “hardness” or “rúpa”. Ultimate realities are different from concepts which are not real in the ultimate sense. When we think of a thing which is hard or the body which is hard, the object of thinking is a concept. The thinking itself, however, is an ultimate reality, a type of nåma. Anything which is real, nåma and rúpa, are the objects of right mindfulness and right under-standing of the eightfold Path. The right understanding of ultimate realities can eventually lead to detachment from the wrong view of self. When a reality such as hardness appears, there is also a reality which experiences hardness. It is not self who experiences.154 • Buddhism in Daily Life hardness, but a kind of nåma, different from the rúpa which is hardness. The experience of hardness is an ultimate reality with its own characteristic which can be object of mindfulness when it presents itself, and then paññå can investigate it in order to know it as it is. Thus, sati is not forgetful, but mindful of the characteristics of nåma and rúpa as they appear one at a time through the six doors. At the moment of mindfulness of a reality paññå can inves-tigate it and in this way it will eventually be known as it is.

We may be inclined to think that we have to do something special in order to have mindfulness and that we then can “experi-ence” nåma and rúpa as they are, but this is not so. Right under-standing of what sati is and what the object of sati is, namely an ultimate reality, can condition the arising of sati and then paññå can gradually develop. In order to know what sati is and what the object of sati we have to listen to the good friend in Dhamma who can explain the development of right understanding, we have to study the Dhamma and to consider it carefully.

Sammå-sati, right mindfulness, is one of the factors of the eight-fold Path and it arises together with sammå-diììhi, right under-standing.

Sammå-sati is mindful of a characteristic of nåma or

rúpa which appears and sammå-diììhi realizes it as it is.

Question: But mindfulness has to be cultivated. Do we not have to do certain things and abstain from other things we are used to doing in daily life, in order to have more mindfulness?

Nina: Studying the teachings, pondering over them, learning

about the right way of practice, knowing the benefit of right

understanding, these are conditions for the arising of mindfulness. When we have understood that mindfulness arises because of conditions, that it is anattå, non-self, and when we have found out for ourselves that we cannot induce mindfulness, we will refrain from doing special things in order to have more mindfulness. Question: I know what you mean. When I sit still at home and I try to be mindful, I cannot be mindful.

Nina: When there is right understanding, we realize that the

aim of vipassanå is knowing ourselves, our daily life. Therefore,

we do not act in a way which is unnatural to ourselves in order to

have more sati. We do not force ourselves to sit still for a long

time and wait for sati to arise. Is sitting still and doing nothing

the natural thing for you to do?.Right mindfulness • 155

Question: No, I usually read or write, or I stand up and walk

around and do many different things.

Nina: So, if you want to know your daily life, should you force yourself to do something which is not natural to you?

Question: No, I see that I will know myself better if I do the things I have accumulations for and which I am used to doing. However, I wonder how we can know realities as they are since a moment of sati is extremely short.

Nina: A moment of sati is extremely short; it arises and falls away with the citta. Sati is impermanent and non-self. Sati arises and falls away, but it can arise again when there are conditions. Thus characteristics of nåma and rúpa can gradually be known. If people do not realize that sati arises because there are the right conditions for its arising and if they try to induce it, they will not know what sati is. In that case paññå cannot be developed.

Question: I notice that when I do good deeds mindfulness of nåma and rúpa arises more often. Are good deeds a condition for mindfulness of nåma and rúpa?

Nina: Good deeds are beneficial and they are a condition to have less akusala cittas, but we should not assume that there is necessarily more mindfulness of nåma and rúpa while we perform them. The arising of sati depends on conditions, and there is no self who can regulate its arising. We should not mistakenly believe that there cannot be awareness also of akusala cittas; after akusala citta has fallen away citta with sati may arise and then also the reality which is akusala can be object of mindfulness. The Buddha said that all kinds of realities can be known as they are. Mindfulness should not be limited to certain times, places or occasions.

Question: But is it not important for those who begin to develop mindfulness to be in a special place?

Nina: It is right understanding which is important. In vipassanå we come to know six worlds—the world appearing:

through the eyes,

through the ears,

through the nose,

through the tongue,

through the bodysense,

through the mind-door.

We should learn to distinguish between these six worlds in.156 • Buddhism in Daily Life order to know the truth. Only one “world” at a time is object of mindfulness. When we think of a person, an animal or a tree, there is a concept of a “whole” and we do not distinguish between these six worlds. When there is mindfulness of a reality such as visible object, which is the “world appearing through the eyes”, or hardness, which is the “world appearing through the bodysense”, we learn to understand the difference between thinking of concepts and mindfulness of ultimate realities as they appear one at a time. In order to develop right understanding of realities we have to know the difference. The “six worlds” are everywhere, no matter where we are; there should be mindfulness of nåma and rúpa which are those six worlds, in order to know the truth.

Question: In the beginning, when there is very little awareness, we are likely to become impatient. We think that there never will be any result. Would it not be helpful to be in a quiet place, such as a meditation centre?

Nina: When we begin to develop vipassanå we are anxious to

have immediate results. We want to experience nåma and rúpa as

they are and to eradicate defilements without delay. People may

become tense in their effort to control awareness and thus they

deviate from the right path. If they are on the wrong path they do

not have right awareness and can therefore not develop right

understanding.

In vipassanå one develops right understanding of one’s daily

life. I heard someone say that in vipassanå he is tearing himself away from normal life. He calls his life without awareness his normal life and his life with awareness his “meditation life”. If we separate mindfulness from our daily life and consider it as some-thing apart from it we are not on the eightfold Path.

For many of us it is difficult to see that the eightfold Path is the

development of understanding of our daily life. The eightfold

Path is the “middle way”. When our understanding is more devel-oped

we will realize what the middle way is. Walking the middle

way means not forcing ourselves to things for which we have no

accumulations. If we have no accumulations for a secluded life it

is clear that such a life is not our real life, and thus we should not

force ourselves to it on the assumption that paññå will develop

more quickly. There is no self who could hasten the development

of paññå..Right mindfulness • 157

Question: I still think that there are certain conditions which

are not favourable to the development of mindfulness and which should be avoided. For example, reading books such as novels. If we read books which are not about Dhamma and which do not contribute to the improvement of society, the reading is not helpful for the arising of kusala cittas. Should we not stop reading books like that if we want to have more awareness?

Nina: When we read books which are not helpful for kusala it shows that we have accumulations for reading them. It would be wrong to assume that in order to be mindful we should stop reading them; this would not help us to know ourselves and it would make us believe that we have no more akusala cittas. Not our desire to control sati but right understanding of what the object of sati is can condition its arising. Whatever reality appears, no matter whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, kusala or akusala, can be the object of sati. When there is awareness of the nåma and rúpa which appear while we are reading we are on the middle way; we are on the way to know ourselves better. There can be awareness of seeing as a type of nåma; of knowing the meaning of what we read as another type of nåma. We may be absorbed in what we read and like or dislike may arise; these are different types of nåma again. Many types of nåma and rúpa may appear while we are reading. If there is mindfulness of what appears at the present moment, also while we are reading, there will be less attachment to the concept of self.

If we have accumulations for music or for painting we should not suppress them in order to have more mindfulness. While we play music or while we paint, nåma and rúpa appear through the six doors. Why can there not be mindfulness of them? In this way we will understand that our life consists of nåma and rúpa. We do not have to go to a secluded place in order to look for nåma and rúpa; they appear already.

Question: But if we read unwholesome literature or take alcoholic drinks will it not hinder awareness? I doubt whether it is the middle way to give in to these things. It seems that there are then more akusala cittas instead of less.

Nina: Akusala cittas are bound to arise but sati can be mindful of the akusala citta. At the moment of mindfulness there is kusala citta instead of akusala citta. It is sati which can prevent us from.158 • Buddhism in Daily Life unwholesome courses of action (akusala kamma patha) through body, speech and mind. We can learn that even a moment of mindfulness, be it only a short moment, is very valuable, that it bears great fruit, because during that moment right understanding is being developed. We will have less ignorance of our defilements; we will learn that they are types of nåma which arise because of conditions.

Someone who has developed paññå to the degree that it can realize nåma and rúpa as they really are could become a sotåpanna (streamwinner) even shortly after akusala citta appeared. When insight has been highly developed it can know any reality which appears as it is, even if it is akusala. Paññå can understand whatever reality appears as impermanent, dukkha and anattå. But only one of these three characteristics can be known at a time. Wisdom is developed in daily life and enlightenment can occur in daily life. When we have learned from our own experience that the middle way which the Buddha taught is the only way leading to the end of defilements, our confidence in his teachings will increase all the time. We should not be afraid to be mindful of realities in daily life. Then we will know ourselves more and more until finally there will be no doubt that what we used to take for self are only nåma and rúpa.

Question: Sati has to be developed in daily life. But when I think of the day which has passed and I realize how little mindful-ness there has been, I cannot help regretting the time I wasted. I know regret is unwholesome, but what can I do about it?

Nina: People would like to have a great deal of sati but they do not realize for what purpose they want it. Our aim should not be just awareness, without developing understanding, but it should be: to see realities as they are. At the very moment of awareness of the reality which appears paññå can investigate its characteristic so that eventually nåma and rúpa can be known as impermanent and non-self.

If the reality of the present moment is regret there can be

awareness of that characteristic and it can be understood as it is:

only a type of nåma which is conditioned. You will realize that all

phenomena which arise, sati included, arise because of conditions

and that it is of no use to regret the lack of sati. Then there will

be less regret..Right mindfulness • 159

Question: Must sati always experience an object? I have heard people say that when sati is more developed it does not experience an object; that there is just stillness and peace.

Nina: Sati must experience an object. Sati is a sobhana cetasika (beautiful mental factor) arising with a sobhana citta. Each citta must experience an object and the cetasikas arising with the citta experience that object as well. Sati in samatha experiences an object; it experiences the same object as the citta it accompanies, that is: a meditation subject which can condition calm. Sati in vipassanå experiences an object; it experiences the same object as the citta it accompanies, that is, a nåma or a rúpa appearing at the present moment.

Most people like to have tranquillity and peace of mind. For what purpose do they want it? Deep in their hearts they do not want to know themselves, they just want tranquillity; they cling to a concept of tranquillity. What is peace of mind or tranquillity? There should be a precise understanding of its characteristic. There is peace or calm with every kusala citta. When one is generous or one abstains from unwholesome deeds or speech there is calm. In samatha one can develop a higher degree of calm, but through samatha defilements are not eradicated. There is calm also with the kusala citta which develops vipassanå. But the aim of vipassanå is not the calm which is temporary freedom from defilements; the aim is the development of right understanding of realities. Through right understanding the wrong view of self and eventually all defilements can be eradicated. We should know the difference between the way of development and aim of samatha and of vipassanå. Vipassanå is a kind of wisdom, it is the wisdom which knows things as they are.

Question: The Buddha said that mindfulness should be cultivated

at any time, even just before we fall asleep. We read in the

Satipaììhåna-sutta (Middle Length Sayings I, no. 10

) that the

Buddha said to the monks:

And further, monks, a monk, in going forward and back, applies clear

comprehension; in looking straight on and looking away, he applies

1 I have used the translation of the Wheel Publication no. 19, Buddhist

Publication Society, Sri Lanka.

clear comprehension; in bending and in stretching, he applies clear.160 • Buddhism in Daily Life comprehension; in wearing robes and carrying the bowl, he applies clear comprehension; in eating, drinking, chewing and savouring, he applies clear comprehension; in attending to the calls of nature, he applies clear comprehension; in walking, in standing, in sitting, in falling asleep, in waking, in speaking and in keeping silence, he applies clear comprehension. Thus he lives contemplating the body in the body...

Can there be mindfulness while we are falling asleep? When we

are in deep sleep and not dreaming there are bhavaòga-cittas

(life-continuum), cittas which do not experience an object imping-ing

on one of the six doors

. When we are dreaming there can

be kusala cittas, but mostly there are akusala cittas.

Nina: If mindfulness has been developed there can be mindfulness just before we fall asleep. If there is no sati, there may be attachment, we are pleased to be comfortably lying down. Or perhaps we are worrying about many things which have happened during the day and thus aversion, dosa, arises. If there is mindfulness of the realities which appear just before we fall asleep, there are conditions for mindfulness as soon as we wake up. When we fall asleep we do not know whether we will wake up again. Death can come at any time. If we develop right understanding of realities in daily life, no matter what we are doing, there are conditions for mind-fulness shortly before death. The cittas arising shortly before death condition the rebirth-consciousness of the next life. The sutta can remind us to development mindfulness of nåma and rúpa at any moment, even just before we fall asleep.

Question: The Buddha said that there should be mindfulness when speaking and mindfulness when keeping silence. I find it very difficult to be mindful when talking to other people.

Nina: We may think that we cannot be aware in such situations when we still assume that in order to be aware we have to do something special. When you are walking, are there no realities appearing?

Question: Yes, there is for example the characteristic of hardness

1 Bhavanga-cittas arise in between the processes of cittas which experience an

object through one of the six doors, they keep the continuity in the lifespan of a being.

which may appear, or the characteristic of motion or pressure..Right mindfulness • 161 Nina: When you are talking is there no hardness, no motion?

Question: Yes, there is.

Nina: Can there not be hearing, seeing and thinking too when you are talking? Do you have to stop talking in order to notice that there is sound?

Question: No, it can be noticed while one is talking.

Nina: Can there not, while you are speaking, be awareness of sound, and can it not be known as only sound, a kind of rúpa? While we are speaking there are many different realities appearing at different moments. We do not have to stop speaking in order to be aware. When we are talking in a way which is not wholesome, when we are laughing and enjoying ourselves, we may think that we cannot be aware. But all realities are nåma and rúpa. Why can there not be awareness of them?

When you are in your office, do you often use the telephone?

Are you mindful when you pick up the receiver and speak?

Question: When the telephone rings and I lift up the receiver

there are so many things happening one after the other. It is

difficult to be mindful in the office.

Nina: Are there no realities appearing through the six doors?

You cannot be mindful all the time, but if you have right under-standing of what sati is and what the object of sati, it may sometimes arise, even when you are in your office. There may be mindfulness when you take up the receiver and start to speak; then you may become absorbed in what you want to say and there is forgetfulness instead of sati. But even if there are only a few moments of sati, they can condition the arising of sati again, later on. Sati can only be gradually accumulated.

Question: Some people think that when mindfulness has not yet been established it is necessary to be alone in order to cultivate it. Is that right?

Nina: When there is mindfulness of a characteristic of nåma or rúpa we are actually alone, because at that moment we are not attached to “someone” or “something”. There are no people, only nåma and rúpa. Being alone in this sense has nothing to do with the place where we are. We do not have to break off our activities in order to be aware, because any reality appearing through one of the six doors can be the object of mindfulness. Even when we are with many people we can be “alone” with nåma and rúpa..162 • Buddhism in Daily Life When there is mindfulness of nåma and rúpa we will see that what we take for a “person” are only nåma and rúpa. If we were to go to a secluded place in order to be aware we might not be “alone” at all, we might instead be attached.

We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Saîåyatana-vagga, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Second Fifty, Ch II, § 63, By Migajåla):

At Såvatthí was the occasion (for this discourse)...

Then the venerable Migajåla came to see the Exalted One... Seated at one side he thus addressed the Exalted One:

“ ‘Dwelling alone! Dwelling alone!’ Lord, is the saying. Pray, lord, to what extent is one a dweller alone, and to what extent is one a dweller with a mate?”

“There are, Migajåla, objects cognizable by the eye, objects desirable, pleasant, delightful and dear, passion-fraught, inciting to lust. If a monk be enamoured of them, if he welcome them, if he persist in clinging to them, so enamoured, so persisting in clinging to them, there comes a lure upon him. Where there is a lure there is infatuation. Where there is infatuation there is bondage. Bound in the bondage of the lure, Migajåla, a monk is called ‘dweller with a mate’...

A monk so dwelling, Migajåla, though he frequent jungle glades, hermitages and lodgings in the forest, remote from sound, remote from uproar, free from the breath of crowds, where one lodges far from human kind, places suitable for solitude–yet is he called ‘dweller with a mate.’ Why so? Craving is the mate he has not left behind. Therefore is he called ‘dweller with a mate.’

But, Migajåla, there are objects cognizable by the eye, desirable, pleasant, delightful and dear, passion-fraught, inciting to lust. If a monk be not enamoured of them... the lure fades away. Where there is no lure, there is no infatuation. Where there is no infatuation, there is no bondage. Freed from the bondage of the lure, Migajåla, a monk is called ‘dweller alone’...

Thus dwelling, Migajåla, a monk, though he dwell amid a village crowded with monks and nuns, with laymen and women layfollowers, with råjahs and royal ministers, with sectarians and their followers–yet is he called ‘dweller alone’. Why so? Craving is the mate he has left behind.

Therefore is he called ‘dweller alone’.”.• 163

Chapter 17

Right Concentration

Questioner: Right concentration, sammå-samådhi, is one of the factors of the eightfold Path. There is concentration in samatha and there is concentration in vipassanå. What is concentration in vipassanå?

Nina: Samådhi is a cetasika, mental factor, which is one-pointedness or concentration, ekaggatå cetasika. Each citta can experience only one object and the function of ekaggatå cetasika, which is also called samådhi, is to focus on that one object.

Each citta is accompanied by ekaggatå cetasika or samådhi, but since there are many kinds of citta there are also many kinds of samådhi. When samådhi accompanies akusala citta it is also akusala and when it accompanies kusala citta it is also kusala.

There is sammå-samådhi or right concentration in samatha. It focuses on one object: on the meditation subject which conditions calm. There are many degrees of right concentration in samatha. As calm develops and higher stages of calm are attained, concen-tration also develops.

There is sammå-samådhi in vipassanå. The sammå-samådhi of the eightfold Path arises together with sammå-diììhi, right under-standing, and sammå-sati, right mindfulness. Its object is the reality which appears through one of the six doors.

Question: Thus, sammå-samådhi focuses on the nåma or rúpa which is the object of mindfulness. It seems that we have to concentrate for some time on nåma or rúpa; but in that way there could not be mindfulness during our daily activities.

Nina: One-pointedness on the nåma or rúpa which appears does not mean concentration for a period of time. Sammå-samådhi of the eightfold Path arises with right mindfulness and right understanding which investigates a characteristic of nåma or rúpa.

It arises and falls away together with the citta it accompanies. In

vipassanå one does not try to concentrate for some time on the

reality which appears..164 • Buddhism in Daily Life

The development of vipassanå does not interfere with our daily activities; whatever nåma or rúpa appears in our daily life can be object of mindfulness. Is there no seeing now, or hearing now? They can be object of mindfulness. When we are talking to other people, there are nåma and rúpa appearing through the six doors. Why can there not be mindfulness of them? We do not have to stop talking when there is mindfulness of a nåma or rúpa which appears. Sati can be a condition to speak with kusala cittas instead of akusala cittas.

Question: What should I do to understand the nåma or rúpa which appears at the present moment? There is mindfulness in my daily life, but there is not yet clear understanding of the nåmas and rúpas which appear. It seems to me that there can be mindfulness also without knowing characteristics of nåma and rúpa. Is that right?

Nina: When we begin with the development of the eightfold Path there is not yet a clear understanding of the nåma or rúpa which is the object of mindfulness. Moreover, there are many degrees of understanding. The understanding is bound to be very vague in the beginning, but, if there is mindfulness of nåma and rúpa more often, there will be a more precise understanding of their characteristics.

In vipassanå you do not have to do anything special in order to develop right understanding of the reality which appears, such as trying to concentrate on it. When there are conditions for right mindfulness it arises, and at that moment right understanding can investigate the characteristic of the reality which appears; and there is also right concentration which focuses on that reality. We should not forget, however, that right understanding cannot be developed within a short time, and thus a great deal of patience is needed for its development.

Question: Some people say that in order to develop vipassanå there must be the development of samatha as a foundation. They think that when concentration is developed in samatha it can help with the development of insight.

Nina: Samatha is the development of calm which is temporary

freedom from defilements. There are sati and paññå also in samatha

but these are different from sati and paññå in vipassanå and they

have a different object. The way of development of samatha is.Right concentration • 165

different from the way of development of vipassanå and they

each have a different aim. In samatha the object of sati and

paññå is a meditation subject which can condition calm; in samatha one does not learn to see the nåmas and rúpas which appear as they are and thus detachment from the concept of self cannot be realized.

People may be inclined to think that they should develop samatha before they develop vipassanå in order to accumulate a great deal of sati, but they should remember that sati in samatha is different from sati in vipassanå. The aim of the development of vipassanå should be from the beginning understanding, understanding real-ities as they are, as impermanent, dukkha and non-self. This can only be achieved through mindfulness of the nåma or rúpa which appears now, at this moment.

Question: In the case of nervous people would it not be better to develop at least some degree of samatha before they develop vipassanå?

Nina: If one has accumulations for samatha one can develop it, but through samatha one does not learn to be mindful of the nåmas and rúpas which appear now, one at a time, in order to know them as non-self. How could samatha then be a necessary condition for vipassanå?

There are no rules as to the types of kusala someone should develop, because this depends on his accumulations. If nervous people were to study the Buddha’s teachings and practise what he taught, they would gain more understanding of the phenomena of their lives. This understanding would help them effectively. Question: I have heard people say that someone who is restless should not study the Buddha’s teachings because it would make him more confused. He should just practise, not study.

Nina: Everyone is confused before he listens to the teaching of the Dhamma and studies it. We all have ignorance; because of ignorance we are still in the cycle of birth and death. We have eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodysense and mind; we have lobha, attachment, dosa, aversion, and moha, ignorance, arising on ac-count of what we experience through the senses and through the mind-door. But so long as we are ignorant we do not know about these realities.

However, in studying the teachings and pondering over them.166 • Buddhism in Daily Life we begin to have more understanding of our life. Could a clearer understanding make us confused? Moreoever, how could one prac-tise without study? If we were to develop vipassanå without stud-ying we would not know what the right path is and what the wrong path. When people do not know the characteristic of sammå-sati of the eightfold Path, they would mistakenly think that sati can be induced, they would not know that sati is anattå, non-self. The result would be that they become more attached to the idea of self, instead of less attached. They may believe that they can exert control over realities, that they can experience nåma and rúpa as they are, that they can experience their arising and falling away, whereas in reality they do not know anything. We should remember that studying the teachings is a necessary condition for the development of the eightfold Path.

Question: But should those who are just beginning to develop mindfulness not go to a special place such as a meditation centre where there is peace and quiet? Most people are so busy in their daily lives that it is impossible for them to be aware. In a meditation centre they can really set their mind on being aware and they can concentrate on nåma and rúpa.

Nina: The idea of going to a meditation centre in order to set one’s mind on being aware is motivated by the wrong view of self who can control realities. A centre can be useful if one receives instruction in the Dhamma, but one should not believe that one must go to a centre in order to have more mindfulness. In the centre there may be attachment to tranquillity and this is akusala, thus not helpful. One may become more and more attached to tranquillity. When calm is disturbed there are conditions for dosa. When people return to daily life they find that they cannot be mindful, because daily life is not tranquil. Some people think that they are “in meditation” while they are in the centre and that they are “out of meditation” when they are leading their ordinary, daily life.

In the development of vipassanå there is no question of “in meditation” or “out of meditation”. There are nåma and rúpa no matter where we are. Seeing now is not different from seeing in a meditation centre; seeing is always seeing, it experiences visible object everywhere. Hardness which appears now is not different from hardness in a meditation centre; it is a kind of rúpa which.Right concentration • 167 can be experienced through the bodysense. Right understanding of mindfulness of the eightfold Path is the condition for its arising in any place, at any time.

Question: I have heard people say that someone who begins to develop vipassanå should be slow in all his movements, he should also eat and walk slowly, in order to have more mindfulness.

Nina: When you move your arm slowly in order to have more mindfulness, what types of citta motivate the movement? Is there desire?

Question: Yes, there is desire for sati.

Nina: Thus there are cittas rooted in attachment, lobha-múla-cittas. At such moments one thinks of the awareness one wishes to have, of what has not appeared yet. One is clinging to what may arise in the future instead of attending to the present moment. One may be ignorant and forgetful of the desire which has arisen and when seeing or hearing appears there is no mindfulness of them either. Thus there will not be detachment from the concept of self.

When one eats slowly in order to have more sati there is again clinging to sati instead of right mindfulness. When we are eating, defilements are bound to arise since we have not eradicated them. There can be like or dislike of the food we are eating, but there can be mindfulness of like and dislike so that they can be known as conditioned nåmas. No matter whether we are doing things quickly or slowly, realities are appearing through the six doors and sati can perform its function of being mindful of them. Also when we are walking quickly hardness, for example, may appear and it can be object of mindfulness.

We should not forget the second noble Truth: craving is the

origin of dukkha. So long as there is clinging to nåma and rúpa

there will be rebirth and thus no end to dukkha. When we in the

development of vipassanå cling to results, we forget the second

noble Truth. For instance, we may want to know within a short

time the difference between nåma and rúpa, such as the difference

between seeing and visible object, hearing and sound; or we may

wish to experience the arising and falling away of nåma and

rúpa. But so long as we cling to obtaining the results of the

development of insight, there is no way to come to know the

truth. The eightfold Path cannot be developed within a short.168 • Buddhism in Daily Life time. In order to become detached from the concept of self a precise understanding of the different nåmas and rúpas which appear has to be developed.

Question: When there is more mindfulness there is more peace-fulness too. I am inclined to be contented with peacefulness and not to develop a keener knowledge of realities.

Nina: When there is mindfulness one is at that moment removed from akusala and thus there is peace. There is also calm in the development of vipassanå. There are many degrees of calm or peace. When one has become an arahat one is freed from defile-ments forever. Then one has attained true peace.

One may be attached to calm which arises when there is sati.

This kind of attachment is a reality which can also be known

when it appears: it is only a type of nåma. We can see how

deeply rooted defilements are: if there is lack of sati one regrets the lack of sati, but when sati arises one is attached to it. Awareness of all kinds of realities is essential in order to become detached from the concept of self. If one is glad that mindfulness arises one should not think that one has reached the goal. Right understanding is the aim and thus one should persevere in the development of a keener knowledge of the characteristics of nåma and rúpa.

Question: In the Satipaììhåna-sutta (Middle Length Sayings I, 10), it appears that meditation subjects of samatha are also included in the four Applications of Mindfulness. For example, meditation subjects such as mindfulness of breath, meditations on corpses and on the repulsiveness of the body are included in “Mindfulness of the Body”. Why are the objects of samatha and of vipassanå not separated? I thought that we should not confuse these two ways of mental development.

Nina: Samatha and vipassanå are different ways of mental de-velopment and they each have a different aim, as we have seen.

When one reads the scriptures one will come across texts on the development of right concentration which has reached the stage of absorption, jhåna. This does not imply that all people should develop calm to the degree of jhåna. We read in the scriptures about monks who led a secluded life, developed jhåna and later on attained enlightenment. They developed jhåna because they had accumulated the skill and the inclinations to do so. Before the Buddha’s enlightenment and his teaching of Dhamma, samatha.Right concentration • 169 was the highest way of kusala. However, those who developed jhåna and then attained enlightenment could not have attained it without having developed vipassanå as well. Some people in the Buddha’s time developed both jhåna and vipassanå and then attained enlightenment, but there were also many people who developed vipassanå and attained enlightenment without having developed a high degree of calm first. The Buddha did not set any rules with regard to samatha as a necessary preparation for the development of vipassanå. The Buddha encouraged those who could develop calm to the degree of jhåna to be mindful of realities in order to see also jhåna as non-self. However, we should remember that the attainment of jhåna is extremely difficult and that only very few people can attain it. Someone who has accumulated the skill and inclination to develop samatha to the degree of jhåna, has to know the right conditions for jhåna and he has to know which factors can obstruct it. He has to be aware of his cittas in order to know whether the jhåna-factors have been developed to the degree that jhåna can be attained. If he is not attached to jhåna he can, after the jhånacittas have fallen away, develop right understanding of whatever reality appears. Also jhånacitta can be object of mindfulness, it can be realized as non-self. Anything which is real and which appears can be object of mindfulness.

Out of his great compassion the Buddha spoke about everything

which is real. He knew the different accumulations of people and

thus he used many different ways of explaining the truth and he

taught all kinds of wholesomeness. It depends on someone’s

accumulations which type of kusala citta arises at a particular

moment: there may be kusala cittas which ponder over the true

nature of realities, or kusala cittas with a higher degree of calm,

even to the degree of jhåna, or there may be kusala cittas with

mindfulness of nåma and rúpa, or even lokuttara cittas which

experience nibbåna.

Mindfulness of breathing and other objects which are among

the meditation subjects of samatha are included in the “Application of Mindfulness of the Body”, because they can also be objects of mindfulness in vipassanå. In the Satipaììhåna-sutta, after the section on mindfulness of breathing, the section on the repulsiveness of the body, the section on meditations on corpses and after each of the other sections, we read that one should contemplate the.170 • Buddhism in Daily Life origination-factors and the dissolution-factors in the body. In order to understand the meaning of this sutta we should not overlook these sentences. The contemplation of the origination and dissolu-tion of phenomena is not merely thinking about them, it is con-templation through insight. The aim of the four Applications of Mindfulness is not calm which is only temporary but the wisdom which can eradicate defilements. This wisdom, insight, can only be developed through mindfulness of whatever reality appears now.

All the objects included in the four Applications of Mindfulness

can remind us of the true nature of reality, of impermanence,

dukkha and anattå. They can exhort us to be mindful of what

appears now. The meditations on corpses can for some people

condition calm, and for those who have accumulated skill for

jhåna, even calm to the degree of jhåna, it all depends on the

individual. However, in order to eradicate defilements, also the

person who has attained jhåna should develop insight; he should

with insight contemplate the origination and dissolution of real-ities

. The person who develops both jhåna and insight and the person who develops insight alone should be aware of whatever reality appears in order to eradicate wrong view and all defilements. We read in the Satipaììhåna-sutta, at the end of each of the meditations on corpses, that the monk should reflect as follows:

“Verily, this body of mine too is of the same nature as that body, is going to be like that body, and has not got past the condition of becoming like that body.” Also for those who have no inclination to develop jhåna subjects such as meditations on corpses can be objects of mindfulness in vipassanå: when they see a dead person or a dead animal, they can be reminded of the impermanence of their own body. At such a moment mindfulness of whatever reality appears can arise. We may not have accumulations to reflect on corpses, but we can still think of the shortness of life and this can help us to have less attachment and aversion and not to waste opportunities for the development of right understanding of nåma and rúpa.

There are many moments of forgetfulness of realities but we

1 For such a person jhåna is then the “proximate cause” for insight (Vis. XI,

121).

can be reminded of the true nature of realities by the things we.Right concentration • 171 perceive in our daily life. The “Repulsiveness of the Body”, for example, which is classified under Mindfulness of the Body, can remind us to be aware. In our daily life we can notice “parts of the body”, such as hair, nails, teeth and skin. Is it not true that they are loathsome? Are they not subject to decay? They can remind us of the true nature of phenomena. When we reflect on the truth there may be moments of calm, but are we contented to have only the calm which is temporary freedom from akusala? If our aim is the development of right understanding and if we do not cling to calm there can be mindfulness of whatever reality appears. Everything in our life can urge us to be mindful of the nåma or rúpa which appears now. When we look into a mirror and notice that we are becoming older it can remind us of the true nature of the body. What we take for “my body” are only elements which are impermanent and not self. Are there not many things in our life which are ugly or unpleasant, such as, for example, our own or others’ bad breath? Repulsiveness and decay both in ourselves and in others can lead us to the most useful thing in life: to the development of right understanding of realities. The Buddha spoke about everything which is real, because the objects which can remind us to be aware of the present moment are different for each of us, as we all have different accumulations. It depends on the accumulated conditions what type of citta arises at a particular moment. It may be a citta with calm reflecting on impermanence, a citta with calm to the degree of jhåna, experi-encing a meditation subject with absorption, or a citta with mind-fulness of the present reality. We cannot force ourselves to have a particular citta, then we are led by clinging to the concept of self. Thus, there is no rule which kind of kusala should be developed at a particular moment. Insight can be developed of the realities which naturally arise in our life.

Everything within us and around us can remind us to be aware now. Reflections on our own accumulations can lead us to aware-ness of the present moment too. We may notice how deeply rooted clinging is; we have accumulated it in countless lives. Do we wish to continue accumulating clinging or do we want to walk the way leading to the end of clinging? Even our akusala cittas can remind us to be aware of the present moment.

Sometimes we may notice that others have akusala cittas; we.172 • Buddhism in Daily Life may notice their attachment, anxiety, ignorance and doubt. Or we may notice that they have kusala cittas with generosity and compassion. The cittas of others are also included in the four Applications of Mindfulness, in the section on mindfulness of citta. They can remind us of reality and thus they can be the condition for the arising of sati. Sati can then be aware of whatever nåma or rúpa appears.

There is not any reality which is excluded from the Applications of Mindfulness. We do not have to do complicated things in order to develop the eightfold Path. That which is closest to ourselves, the realities within ourselves and around ourselves in daily life, can be the object of mindfulness at any time. Anything in the world can urge us to develop the eightfold Path, until the goal is reached: the eradication of lobha, dosa and moha.

We read in the Kindred Sayings (V, Mahå-vagga, Book I, Kindred Sayings on the Way, Ch II, § 9) that in Påìaliputta the venerable Bhadda came to see Ånanda and said to him:

“ ‘The righteous life, the righteous life!’ is the saying, friend Ånanda.

Pray, friend, what is the righteous life, and in what does it end?”

“Well said, well said, friend Bhadda... Well, friend, it is just that

ariyan eightfold way, namely: Right understanding, right thinking, right

speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and

right concentration. The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred,

the destruction of illusion, friend,— that is what this righteous life

ends in.”.• 173