Same Ol', Same Ol'
October 27, 2023
When you sit down with the breath, sometimes it’s the same ol’, same ol’. It comes in. It goes out. You try to make it comfortable. Sometimes you can. Sometimes you can’t. But the important thing is that you observe your mind as you go through this. When the breath is not comfortable yet, how can you maintain your patience? How can you maintain your persistence? So you stick with it. Stick with it. Laziness comes up. What do you do with the laziness? Worries about this or that come up. What do you do with the worries?
You’ve probably dealt with these things before. Sometimes the techniques that worked before will work and sometimes they won’t. When they don’t work, don’t get upset. Just tell yourself that this may be a different version. Sleepiness comes in lots of versions. Laziness, worries: They all come in different versions. You can be worried for different reasons. You can be sleepy for different reasons. The breath can be recalcitrant for different reasons.
So always view the meditation as an opportunity to learn. If you come to the meditation with the attitude, “I want everything to be peaceful; I want everything to be quiet; I don’t want to have to think too much,” you’re setting yourself up for a fall. But if you come with the attitude, “I want to learn,” then the meditation can be more productive. You try the techniques that worked in the past, and if they don’t work, try to use your ingenuity for something new.
Ajaan Maha Bua talks about how he dealt with pain by sitting up all night one time. He finally was able to get the pain and the body to separate from each other. Then a few nights later, he tried the same technique and it didn’t work. He realized that one of the reasons why pain is so bewildering is because it comes in different forms. The reasons the mind is pained will differ from one session to the next.
The same goes for all the other defilements that come up, all the other hindrances. So it’s not the case that one technique will be your magic pill or your magic bullet. It may seem like the same ol’, same ol’, but there may be something new coming up. So be alive to that. And when you come with the attitude that you’re here to learn, then it’s a lot easier to put up with the difficulties—a lot easier to put up with the times when it’s hard to settle down. But you always profit.
Even if you can’t quite figure things out, at least you’ve got the right attitude. It’s called appropriate attention: asking the right questions. The wrong questions are things like, “Why is this happening to me?” The right questions are, “Where is the suffering right now? What’s causing it? And what can I do to put an end to that cause?” When you come with that set of questions, then you’re approaching the present moment in the right way.
There’s a movement around, saying that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to the Buddha’s teachings—that we should be open to all possibilities. But sitting here open to all possibilities doesn’t teach you much. And we’re not benefiting from the wisdom of people who’ve come before us who tell us that if you really want to put an end to the suffering you’re causing yourself, which is the big problem, then these are the areas you need to look at, and these are the questions you need to ask. That narrows things down, that’s true, but it narrows them down to the important points. As is the case with every problem, when you can narrow things down, then you’re getting closer and closer to solving the problem. It’s just that this particular problem is fairly complex because the mind has so many different kinds of craving, so many different kinds of clinging. So it takes a while to figure them all out. But that’s what you’re here for: to figure them out.
Your mind is like a puzzle. There is a solution to the puzzle. But sometimes the puzzle is difficult. Can you imagine a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces were white? It would take a while. But it is possible. In the same way, there’s a problem here, but there is a solution. And you’re here to find it. If that’s your attitude—and you have the cheerful attitude that “Other people have found it, so why can’t I?” then you’re headed in the right direction.