Learning & Respect
November 23, 2023

I was reading an article recently about one of the founders of AI, and he was talking about how one of the breakthroughs in AI research came when they realized that intelligence is not so much what you know, it’s how you learn.

That reminded me of a comment that Ajaan Fuang made one time: that an attitude of respect is a sign of intelligence. Because what does respect mean? It means that you’re open to the possibility that there’s something that you don’t know, that you could learn, and you could benefit from learning it. So you treat the people around you with respect, because if you show them disrespect, they’re not going to share their knowledge.

Respect applies not only to people, but also to what’s happening in your experience. You want to pay careful attention to what you’re doing. After all, what is the Buddha’s message? We’re suffering because of our actions—which means we’re doing something wrong. So we have to learn: What is it that we’re doing wrong?

We come into this world, we have certain desires that shape our sense of who we are, the world we live in, and when those desires are fairly well met, we tend to be very impervious to ideas that we could get better. But the Buddha points out that the way we talk, the way we think, the way we act is causing suffering—someplace. And he wants us to be sensitive to that. This is one of the reasons why we train the mind in meditation: We bring it to stillness so that we can see clearly.

I was reading something recently where someone was saying, “Why would the Buddha want you to have your mind still, when he wants you to develop discernment? You have to think in order to gain discernment.” Well, there is the discernment that comes from thinking, and it’s an important part of learning. You learn something new, and then you think about how it affects what you already felt you knew—what you might have to reorganize. But if it’s just thinking about what you’re observing, what you can observe on a normal level, there’s a lot you’re going to miss.

There’s so much going on in the mind that’s subterranean. When we talk about the subconscious, it’s not like a basement, a different place in the mind. Subconscious things are actions in the mind that come very quickly. We’re barely aware of them, but they’re there and they leave their traces. The Buddha points out that there are intentions that we can be totally un-alert to, as he says, and yet they still function as karma—they do shape our lives. So to see these things, we’ve got to get the mind quiet.

There’s an interesting passage in Majjhima 125 where the Buddha compares the training of a monk to the training of an elephant. There are stages that the elephant goes through, and in the same way, there are stages for the monk, i.e., any meditator. When the time comes to meditate, the Buddha says, “Keep track of the body in and of itself—ardent, alert, and mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world.” He repeats the same formula for feelings, mind, and mental qualities. And as he describes it, we’re not just thinking. We are thinking, but we’re also being aware of what’s going on, watching what’s going on, in things as basic as the breath or the elements of the body. When he describes how to be aware of feelings, mind states, mental qualities, he says elsewhere that you do that while you’re still anchored in the breath. So you want to be in the present moment to watch these things as they’re happening—and the breath is a good way to make sure that you’re anchored here.

Then, when you can do that, he says the next step in the training is to keep track of the body in and of itself—ardent, alert, and mindful—putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world, but don’t think any thoughts about the body. The same with feelings, mind states, mental qualities. This means that you’re aware of the body, you’re aware of the breath, but there’s no thinking going on. You’re just holding this theme in mind, focused on watching it. And there, he says, you’re entering the second jhāna.

The implication there being that when you’re doing the basic steps in right mindfulness, you’re getting into the first jhāna, where you’re thinking about the breath, thinking about your mind being with the breath, thinking about the feelings that are associated with the act of paying attention to the breath. So you’re watching, you’re not just thinking. You’re watching what’s going on. And then you get the mind really, really still.

As he says, there are two ways you can develop discernment doing that. One is when you get really still, and you get really good at staying still, you can start observing the still mind to see that it, too, is made out of aggregates. It, too, is subject to inconstancy, stress, not-self. So even in the still mind, you can observe.

Or you can observe it as it goes from one state of concentration to the next and you notice what gets dropped. You’re peeling away things in the processes of how you put things together in the present moment, and you can’t see that unless you get really, really still.

This is one of the reasons why the Buddha says you have to have respect for concentration—because it allows you to see things you may not have seen before. The things that used to be subconscious, that were very quick and just barely there—a whisper in the mind—suddenly get very clear.

It’s like having your basement full of water, and you find a way of draining it out, and all the things that were hidden in the water show themselves as the water recedes. So, be ready to learn a lot of things as you meditate. And we learn not only by thinking but also by watching, and we watch most clearly when we get the mind really, really still.

The other day someone came to visit, and said his problem was that he could get the mind really still, but he didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Of course, the question is, Where are you trying to go? You want to learn about the mind by keeping it still. If the mind starts getting un-still, okay, where does it go? What does it latch on to? You can take that as your theme for investigation.

The stillness isn’t something you want to do only while you’re sitting here meditating. The Buddha talks about going through the day exercising sense restraint, but at the same time having mindfulness immersed in the body. So you want to be with your breath as you go through the day. This, he says, is your post.

The analogy is of six animals, which correspond to the six senses. You have them on leashes and you tie the leashes together, but if you don’t have a post to tie the leashes to, the animals will pull and pull in their different directions. The crocodile wants to go down into the river, the bird wants to fly up into the sky, the monkey wants to go up a tree, the dog wants to go into the village, the jackal wants to go into a charnel ground, the snake wants to go into a hole.

So they pull… and probably the crocodile is going to drag everybody down into the river because it’s stronger. That’s why they all die. But if you have a post, he says, you tie the leashes to the post, and then, pull as they might, they’re not going to go very far. They end up lying down right next to the post. In the same way, if you have the sense of stillness inside that you can carry around, then you keep your senses under control and you can see where they’re pulling, but you don’t have to follow along with the pull. Otherwise, you get pulled to the river and you drown, too. Your goodness drowns.

So have some respect for your concentration. Have respect for the concentration of others, too, because you learn and you allow them to learn. This is how, as we live together, it’s not a hindrance to the practice. It becomes an aid—as we respect one another, as we respect watching what’s going on in our own minds. Have a willingness to learn. That’s how you show your intelligence.