Four Determinations

Today marks the beginning of the rains retreat.

Of course, we don’t have much rain this time of the year in California, but over in South and Southeast Asia, this is the season when the monsoons come. In the old days, people would complain if the monks were wandering around during that time. People had planted crops. The roads were muddy. They didn’t like the idea of people wandering around, potentially trampling over their crops.

So, the Buddha instituted this rains retreat, a time for the monks to stay in place, basically. We make a determination that we’ll stay here from now until the full moon in October, to greet dawn here every day, unless you have pressing business, legitimate business, to be away. And even then, you can be away only for seven days at a stretch.

It’s also a time for us to benefit from one another’s company, one another’s support in the practice. This is something we have to think a lot about, because all too often, living together, instead of being an aid to one another’s practice, we become obstacles to one another. We should think about how we can benefit from the knowledge of other people, the skills of other people, and how we can contribute to their practice as well.

So, in addition to determining that we’re going to stay here for three months, we can also think about what the Buddha had to say about determination.

We’re determined, of course, on the end of suffering, which Ven. Sariputta, one of the Buddha’s main disciples, equated with the subduing of desire and passion. We’re determining on total freedom, determining on unbinding, which, the Buddha taught, completes four determinations.

The first is the determination for discernment, because the discernment that frees us from our defilements is the highest noble discernment.

We’re determined on truth, because nibbana, what the Buddha calls the undeceptive, is the highest noble truth.

The relinquishment of all our mental baggage that would get in the way of freedom is the highest noble relinquishment.

Then we’re determined on calm, because when the mind is freed from its defilements, it reaches the highest noble calm.

So those are four aspects of where we’re going: discernment, truth, relinquishment, calm. We don’t wait, though, for them to appear at the end of the path. We develop them as we practice.

So, you can look at your practice right now. Where are you lacking in discernment? Where are you lacking in truthfulness? Where are you lacking in relinquishment? And where are you lacking in calm? Which of those is your weak point? What could you do to strengthen that area? You want to bring all of them together because they do support one another.

It’s through our discernment, for instance, that we realize that relinquishment is not a deprivation. It’s a trade. You’re trading a lesser good for a greater good, trading the things of the world for things of the mind.

Discernment also helps with the quality of truth. Once you’ve made up your mind that you’re going to determine on something, you really have to stick with it. You’re going to run into obstacles. As the Buddha said, there are four kinds of action in the world: the things that you’d like to do and will give good results in the long term; the things you don’t like to do and will give bad results in the long term. Those two options don’t take much discernment. The things you like to do and give good results, you’ll do them. No problem. The things you don’t like to do and give bad results, you stay away from them. No problem.

The problem is with the other two options: the things you like to do but you know will give bad results in the long term, and the things you don’t like to do but you know will give good results in the long term. Right there is a measure of your discernment: how you can talk yourself into wanting to do the things you don’t like to do but will give good results, and talk yourself out of wanting to do things you like to do but will give long-term bad results. You need that kind of discernment in order to truly stick truthfully with your determination to relinquish what you have to give up.

Discernment also helps with calm; calm helps with discernment. When we discern what’s going on in our minds, we begin to see clearly what’s disturbing the mind. And the disturbance doesn’t come from outside. We all have a tendency, way too much, to blame our problems on people outside, situations outside, the weather, whatever.

But the whole point of the Buddha’s teachings, the whole point of the four noble truths, is that the cause for suffering is inside. The things outside are simply excuses. The real cause is our own clinging and craving, our desire and passion. When you understand that, you look inside and you can see where you’re disturbing yourself.

Or as the mind begins to settle down and you get used to being in a certain level of calm, you can begin to analyze that, too. Even in the highest states of concentration, there is still some disturbance coming from within, which is why those states of concentration are not the ultimate. So, you want to look for that. Get the mind really quiet to see, “Okay, where is there still a disturbance? What am I contributing to that?”

Sometimes it’s in the factors that got you concentrated to begin with, as with directed thought and evaluation. You have to think your way to get the mind to settle down with the breath: You adjust the breath to fit with the mind; you adjust the mind to fit with the breath. But there comes a point where you don’t have to adjust anymore. The fit is perfect, or at least good enough to settle down in.

But often the mind feels at loose ends if it’s not talking to itself. So, you have to learn how to be with the state of mind where there’s just a perception holding you in place. That’s an example of what you can look for.

As for calm helping with your discernment, the more still the mind is, the subtler things you’re going to see.

So, these four qualities—discernment, truth, relinquishment, calm—all work together.

So, look at your practice. Where is it lacking? For a lot of us, it’s in the calm. But you also find there are a lot of things you’re not willing to relinquish. Look at the way you spend your time as you go through the day when you’re not really meditating. Why? Why can’t you let that go?

The Buddha talks about wakefulness. He describes the ideal monk as one who sleeps only four hours a night. That’s a monk with no other responsibilities. But wakefulness doesn’t mean just sleeping a little bit. It also means, as you go through the rest of the day, that you try to keep cleansing your mind of any qualities that’d act as obstructions. In other words, you want to be alert and awake all through the day to what’s going on in your mind, and do the work that needs to be done to keep it unobstructed.

So, to what extent are you not wakeful in the Buddha’s terms? Look at your life. Look at your practice. Think of that question the Buddha has you ask: “Days and nights fly past, fly past. What am I becoming right now?”

What you’re becoming is dependent on what you’re doing. That’s the type of person you become. We all start out with bright hopes. Are your hopes still bright? If there’s any reason that they’re not, you have to ask yourself why. What are you lacking in terms of discernment, truth, relinquishment, and calm? Then figure out what you can do for the duration of the rains to make up for that lack.

It’s in this way that our time together becomes productive. We help one another on the path. We respect one another’s concentration. Working together becomes a source of joy, and that joy becomes another reason for getting the mind to settle down with a sense of contentment at being here.

That way, you can focus on the area where the Buddha said you should be discontent, which is the level of skillfulness in your mind. You have the time, the energy, and the opportunity to focus on wherever your skills are lacking, so try to develop them as far as you can.