Developing Absorption
November 19, 2023

Sometimes we’re told that when we meditate, we’re trying to put the mind in a position where it doesn’t pass any judgment or is simply receptive. But I’ve never heard the Buddha say that. I’ve never read the Buddha say that. After all, the meditation is something you do; it’s something you develop.

That’s the duty with regard to the total noble eightfold path. Each of the factors has to be developed. It’s part of a series of duties that the Buddha says is to be applied to the four noble truths. The first noble truth, the truth of suffering, is to be comprehended: not just registering the fact that there is suffering, but realizing that clinging to the aggregates is the suffering. That’s not a point that’s easy to comprehend, because it’s all too easy to think that we’re suffering because of things outside. But to see that the actual suffering is the act of clinging: That requires that we be very careful in our observation of the mind.

The same with the duty with regard to the second noble truth: The origination of suffering and craving is to be abandoned. The problem there, of course, is that the things we crave are the things we like, things we want. And to say that that’s causing us suffering may sound as if we’re being told to just stop wanting. But then the Buddha doesn’t say that either. He says to see why these things should be abandoned and why it is really in your best interest to do so. And for that, you have to develop the path.

As you develop the path, completing that duty, you also complete the duty with regard to the third noble truth, which is to realize it. So the developing is the important duty there.

When you’re not sure which duty you should be doing as you go through the day, go back to that one. There’s always something you’ve got to develop. It might be right view, right resolve, all the way down through right concentration. Like right now, we’re working on right mindfulness, right concentration—and we’re passing judgment. There are certain things that will come up in the meditation that we have to let go. When the Buddha defines right mindfulness, which leads to right concentration, he talks about two activities. The first is to keep track of the body in and of itself. The second activity is to put aside any greed and distress with reference to the world. In other words, anything that would come in and pull you into the world outside, you’ve got to let go. Protect any thoughts that help direct your attention to the breath. Those are things to develop.

So you have to pass judgment as to which things you should let go, which things you should develop. To do that, you develop three qualities of mind. One is mindfulness, just remembering why you’re here, what you’re trying to do. And also remembering to recognize when something comes up in the mind, how you can tell whether it’s going to be skillful or not. You’ve seen your greed and distress before, and hopefully you’ve gotten some insight into them. You’ve also seen the thoughts that help you stay with the breath. They keep reminding you that this is a good place to stay, and they can be useful in making it a good place to stay, a better place to stay, as you adjust the breath, get settled in. That’s mindfulness.

Then there’s alertness, when you’re watching what you’re actually doing and the results that you’re getting. Are your actions in line with what your mindfulness has been telling you to do, or are you wandering away? And are you getting good results or not? Because mindfulness doesn’t have all the knowledge in the world to draw on, you have to keep on learning. And you learn from what? You learn from watching what you’re doing and the results you’re getting. Mindfulness reminds you of where you should be alert. You’re not here to listen to the birds or the crows outside. You should be alert to what you’re doing

Finally, there’s ardency, which is the desire to do this well. If the mind wanders off, you just bring it right back. While you’re with the breath, you try to be as sensitive as possible to how the breath feels, to where it could be adjusted a little bit here or adjusted a little bit there, where you could open up the energy channels in the body so that the breath energy flows smoothly.

This is how you get the mind into right concentration.

So these are the things to develop. Now, there will come times when there’s some suffering in the mind, or some stress in the mind, that’s not related to the breath, not related to the body. That’s when you try to figure it out: “Where is the stress coming from? What am I doing that’s causing that?” When you’ve dealt with that issue, then you let it go and come back to the breath. Your default mode is always right here, developing good qualities in the mind and trying to be centered in the body, sensitive to what’s going on in the body, because this is your foundation.

You’re training the mind in new habits, so sometimes it’s going to be difficult. It goes against your old habits. One of the best ways of making you happy to be doing this is to create a sense of well-being. Breathe down through your toes; breathe down through your fingers, all the way through the body. Any patterns of tension or any sense of blockage, just loosen them up, let them dissolve.

There are some people who say that right concentration doesn’t mean being sensitive to the body, it simply means thinking about developing skillful thoughts and abandoning unskillful ones. But the Buddha says again and again: You start out, you’re thinking about the breath, you’re evaluating the breath. But then when things are good, then you can be with the breath, but don’t think thoughts about the breath. In other words, just hold that perception in mind, and just be with the breath, with the breath.

As he says elsewhere, “If you think skillful thoughts all day, it can get to be tiring for the mind.” They may be good thoughts, they may be helpful to you, but if you think them all the time, the mind gets worn out, and when it gets worn out, it starts going back to unskillful thoughts. So to give the mind a chance to rest, you put it in concentration. Wherever there’s a sense of ease or well-being in the body, you think about spreading it, so that it saturates the whole body.

The Buddha gives the image of a bathman. Back in those days, they didn’t have soap. They would take a powder and mix it with water, make a kind of dough that you would rub over the body. As the bathman mixes the powder with the water, he tries to get all the powder moistened, but at the same time, not let the water drip out. In other words, he mixes everything until it’s thoroughly mixed. So wherever there’s a sense of well-being, think about its being able to spread along the nerves, along the blood vessels, everywhere throughout the body. That gives you a sense of full well-being that you can draw on as you go through the day.

So you are passing judgment on things to do, things not to do, things worth comprehending, things worth developing, things worth abandoning. This requires more of your mind and just accepting, accepting, accepting. But then this is how you’re going to develop discernment. As you see what’s worth doing, what’s not worth doing, and your powers of judgment get better, that means your discernment gets better. After all, the message of the Buddha is that we’re causing ourselves suffering and we don’t realize it.

Sometimes the suffering is subtle. It’s hard to call it suffering, it’s more like stress. It’s so subtle that we don’t notice it. At other times, we notice the suffering, but we don’t notice the connection to our own actions. So we’ve got to clear away the things in the mind that get in the way: the wrong assumptions, the wrong ways of paying attention. Those things have to be dropped. If you find yourself slipping away from the breath, you’ve got to remind yourself, “This is not my territory.”

One of the images in the Canon is of the quail that’s wandered away from its ancestral territory, and a hawk catches it. As it’s being carried away, the quail laments, “Oh, my lack of merit! Oh my bad luck! If I had stayed in my ancestral territory, this hawk would have been no match for me.”

The hawk hears that and he’s a little incensed that this puny little quail is saying that he’d be no match for it. So the hawk asks the quail, “What is your ancestral territory?”

The quail says, “It’s a field that’s newly plowed, with all the stones turned up.”

So the hawk lets the quail go. He says, “Go ahead, go back to your ancestral territory, but even there, you won’t be able to evade me.”

So the quail flutters down to the field, stands on top of a stone, and starts taunting the hawk: “Come get me, you hawk! Come get me, you hawk!”

The hawk folds his wing and swoops down, and just as he’s getting close to the quail, the quail jumps off the stone, hides behind it, and the hawk crashes into the stone and dies.

As the Buddha said, “As a meditator, you have your ancestral territory, which is in the establishing of mindfulness. If you wander off into the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations you like, even just thinking about them, Mara can catch you.” In other words, all your unskillful thoughts can swoop in and possess your mind. But if you stay inside your proper territory, you’re safe: putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world.

So again, you have to use your powers of judgment. Where is your territory and where is outside of the territory, now that you’re meditator? Keep the mind in your territory, and you’re practicing in line with the duties of the four noble truths. You’re going to be safe. After all, that’s why the Buddha taught those truths to begin with. He wasn’t just showing off his knowledge. He was giving us truths, instructions, and recommendations that will be helpful in digging out the cause of suffering within our own minds so that we, too, can be free. We, too, can be safe.