Ajahn Chah said:
“About this mind – in truth there is nothing really wrong with it. It is intrinsically pure. Within itself it’s already peaceful. If the mind is not peaceful these days, it’s because it follows moods. The real mind doesn’t have anything to it; it is simply an aspect of nature. It becomes peaceful or agitated because moods deceive it. The untrained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trick it into happiness, suffering, gladness, and sorrow, but the mind’s true nature is none of those things. That gladness or sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows these things; it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we who are upset or at ease or whatever.”
Our practice is simply to see the “Original Mind.” We must train the mind to know those sense impressions and not get lost in them, to make it peaceful. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through.
Ajahn Chah says, “We must train the mind to know those sense impressions and not get lost in them, to make it peaceful.”
The first step of training is to understand how the mind gets lost in sense impressions.
There is a chain of events that begins with sense impressions. The eye sees an object, the nose smells a scent, the ear hears a sound, the tongue tastes a flavor, the body feels a sensation, or the mind thinks a thought. The sense impression is felt as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This gives rise to a mental state – what Ajahn Chah calls “a mood” – that is some flavor of craving, aversion or ignoring. Without wise understanding the mental state proliferates into a tangle of thoughts and the mind gets lost in a “story” in which “I” play the starring role in a plot about me and mine.
If we don’t catch the mood in the act of arising it will form the motivation for unwholesome action that feeds the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. Acting out of those motives makes it more likely that we will get caught in the chain of events again and again, solidifying the habit energy that leads to suffering.
The key to developing a mind that doesn’t get “tricked by” or “lost in” moods is mindfulness.
We focus attention on the present moment, direct experience of sense impressions, observing the process as impersonal instead of getting lost in it and becoming identified with it. With mindfulness, we see clearly the difference between the peaceful “Original Mind” and the moods/mental states that come to trick it.
Ajahn Chah says, “We must train the mind to know those sense impressions and not get lost in them, to make it peaceful. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through.”
There is much freedom when we see for ourselves that mental states/moods are not intrinsic to our true nature; that they are visitors that only pull us into suffering if we don’t have sufficient wisdom to see their true nature.
Ajahn Chah gives us a wonderful image that embodies how to train the mind to know sense impressions and not get lost in them. The image of “taking the one seat” helps us to relate wisely to the chain of events that begins with sense impressions and can end in suffering.
Just go into the room and put one chair in the center. Take the seat in the center of the room, open the doors and windows, and see who comes to visit. You will witness all kinds of scenes and actors, all kinds of temptation and stories imaginable. Your only job is to stay in your seat. You will see it all arise and pass, and out of this, wisdom and understanding will come.
As I see it, the mind is like a single point, the center of the universe, and mental states are like visitors who come to stay at this point for short or long periods of time. Get to know these visitors well. Become familiar with the vivid pictures they paint, the alluring stories they tell, to entice you to follow them. But do not give up your seat — it is the only chair around. If you continue to occupy it unceasingly, greeting each guest as it comes, firmly establishing yourself in awareness, transforming your mind into the one who knows, the one who is awake, the visitors will eventually stop coming back.
Meditation
Coming into a posture that is balanced between being upright and alert and, at the same time, relaxed and receptive . . .
Choosing a focus for attention – the breath, some other sensation in the body easily felt, or sounds arising in the environment. Letting that focus be the seat that you take in the center of the room of awareness. Creating stability to stay in your seat by concentration on your chosen focus . . . Noticing when the attention moves off its seat and gently returning it to its chair in the middle of the room . . .
When you are ready, opening all the doors and windows, and seeing what comes to visit – expanding awareness to include other sense impressions, moods and thoughts that may arise like visitors who come to stay for a while . . .
Noticing what it’s like to give up your seat and get lost in the scenes and actors . . .
Noticing what it’s like to remain in your seat, greeting each guest as it comes, firmly establishing yourself in awareness, transforming your mind into the one who knows, the one who is awake . . .
With patience and compassion coming back to your seat again and again and again . . .
The Buddha speaks about the importance of training the mind in wisdom.
No other thing do I know . . . that brings so much suffering as an undeveloped and uncultivated mind. An undeveloped and uncultivated mind truly brings suffering.
No other thing do I know . . . that brings so much happiness as a developed and cultivated mind. A developed and cultivated mind truly brings happiness.
(AN 1:3.1–10; selected)
No other thing do I know . . . that brings so much harm as a mind that is untamed, unguarded, unprotected and uncontrolled. Such a mind truly brings much harm.
No other thing do I know . . . that brings so much benefit as a mind that is tamed, guarded, protected and controlled. Such a mind truly brings great benefit.
(AN 1:4.1–10; selected)
Bridget Rolens teaches mindfulness meditation as a spiritual practice and as a tool for stress reduction. She will lead an online retreat April 28-May 1, 2022.
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