To Be Your Own Mainstay
October 04, 2023
We depend on our bodies so much. Even when we meditate, we have to depend on the breath. But we also have to be aware of the fact that we can’t totally depend on the body. So you get what use you can out of it but realize that it can turn on you at any time.
We have the chant about aging, illness, death. These things happen in the body all the time. So while the body is relatively healthy and relatively young and still alive, get what use you can out of it.
Like right now. Work with the breath. Create a sense of comfortable breathing in the body. Think of the breath as a whole-body process, that it can be comfortable, can be easeful, soothing when the body is tense and tight, energizing when its energy level is low. You can use the breath in a lot of ways to bring things into balance.
You want to be friends with your breath. As with any friendship, it takes time. You have to be very observant to see what your friend likes here—what the breath likes, what the body likes. What kind of breathing is good for it? What kind of breathing is good for you?
But at the same time you have to contemplate the body, that it can turn on you at anytime. So you want to learn how to be more and more dependent on the mind. Develop good qualities in the mind. This is what the meditation is all about. We’re not here just to bliss out or to relax. We’re working on good qualities—like mindfulness, alertness, ardency, concentration, discernment—because these are qualities that will stand us in good stead no matter what happens. Whether you’re with the body or have to leave the body, you’re going to need mindfulness to keep in mind what are good places to go. Alertness to watch what’s actually going on in the mind. And ardency to overcome any unskillful qualities that may be arising. All these are qualities you can depend on.
When the Buddha talks about making yourself your own mainstay, making yourself an island, he talks about establishing mindfulness, which requires these three qualities. These three quantities are then used to work toward more concentration, more discernment. When you have these quantities, then you can depend on yourself whether you’re staying here or going someplace else. Those are your real mainstays.
As for the body, a little germ gets in there and it multiplies, and the body can turn on you. Or a little blood clot develops and starts wandering around the body and gets lodged in an important capillary someplace—an important blood vessel someplace—and that’s it. It seems like nature is designed to ultimately take the body away from you. If things outside don’t get you, things inside the body will get you.
But just remember, those things are getting the *body. *You can be independent of that. You can depend on the mind, if you develop good qualities inside. When the Buddha talks about yourself being your own mainstay, that’s a goal to which we aspire and a goal toward which we work. So work in that direction by developing good qualities in the mind—using the body as a tool. Then be willing to put the tool down when you have to. That way, the mind doesn’t have to suffer.