To the Deathless

Why does the mind find it hard to grow still? Why is it not very still? The normal nature of the mind is that it has to think, to think about objects. The mind always has its objects. So when we try to get the mind not to think, to have nothing inside, it’s hard. It’s not easy at all. It’s like getting the wind not to blow. If it doesn’t blow, it’s not called “wind.” It’s called “air.” The wind has to blow back and forth. In the same way, the mind has to think of objects, to stay with objects. But intelligent people get their minds to think about things that are beneficial, to hold onto things that are beneficial.

We want stillness, but we hold onto themes that stand in the way of stillness. We don’t stay with themes that give rise to stillness. If you want happiness, you should hold onto themes that give rise to happiness. If you hold onto themes that don’t give rise to stillness, the mind won’t be still. It’ll fabricate thoughts that go somewhere else.

It’s for this reason that the mind needs something good to hold onto, something it can depend on. The problem is that the mind is really deft at thinking. If you’re absent-minded, it’ll run wild, both by day and by night.

This mind, if it didn’t think, couldn’t be put to any use. It would be like the earth, which doesn’t think. It just stays there as earth, with no discernment. Water, too, doesn’t think. It just stays there as water. It doesn’t have any discernment at all. Wind doesn’t think, doesn’t have any discernment. Fire doesn’t have any discernment.

But the mind does have discernment. It can be trained because it thinks, because it thinks about objects. With regard to thinking, the Buddha doesn’t have us sit there doing nothing. When you meditate, have the mind think of buddho: awake. Have the mind stay in buddho. Tie the mind down to buddho so that it’ll have something firm to hold onto. We think of the Buddha’s title—buddho—because the Buddha was fully developed in every way. He had every virtue. He’s the refuge for all beings in the world. The three levels of the cosmos all pay homage to him. There are many virtues of the Buddha contained in the word buddho, and so we bring those virtues into our heart and mind. After all, the Buddha’s heart and mind were pure, clear, and clean. Thinking buddho can make our mind bright as well. The Buddha had fully mastered concentration, so we think buddho to get our mind, too, in firm concentration.

The Buddha was complete in all skillful qualities: all eight factors of the noble eightfold path, including mastery of the four noble truths. He fully comprehended all four of the truths.

Suffering, as a noble truth, he understood before anyone else in the world. The cause of suffering he understood before anyone else in the world. The duty with regard to suffering is to comprehend it, and he comprehended it before anyone else in the world. The cause of suffering is to be abandoned, and he abandoned it before anyone else in the world.

That’s why the Buddha was complete. You’re free to take any aspect of his virtues to repeat and put into practice, and it’ll make your heart and mind still and at ease. The Buddha was someone who had genuine ease, genuine happiness. We, too, can fashion our heart to be at ease. We can fashion it to be happy. Buddho: awake. We can fashion our heart and mind to be awake and blossoming. Don’t let it fall asleep. Don’t let it get blurry. Don’t let it be heedless.

Make it awake and alert to the fact that you’re here with the body with its four properties: earth, water, wind, and fire. Whatever there is to these properties, the Buddha knew it all. We should try to be alert to them like he was, to see how much we can really hold onto them, how much we can really depend on them. In what ways do these four properties aid in our stillness and happiness? When you really look at them, you’ll see that the four properties don’t bring us the happiness of stillness. First they hurt here, then they itch there, then they’re hungry, then they’re too hot, then they’re too cold, then they’re this or that—all the time. You’ll see this if you examine them.

This is why the Buddha taught that we can’t always depend on them. Don’t hold onto them, assuming that you’ve really gained them. They’re not really ours. We really don’t own them. We assume that we dwell in the solidity of the body, the earth property, but what is there to the earth property? We already know. We recite the parts every day, so examine them. If you’re not yet ready to let go of them, contemplate them until you see clearly that they really are the way the Buddha described them: Atthi imasmiṁ kāye—“There is in this body…” And in this body there aren’t just properties. There’s also aging, illness, and ultimately death.

Why should we contemplate to know the body in this way? Because we want to escape from suffering. Because our attachment to these things makes us suffer. If we don’t know them, if we don’t see them, we can’t escape from them. This is why we have to meditate, focusing on them. We focus our mindfulness and discernment on them, watching them until they’re clear to the mind. That way, we won’t be deluded into making wrong assumptions. We’ll be able to develop right mindfulness with regard to the four noble truths—what’s called the establishing of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna), the practice to escape from suffering. We’ll be able to fully develop right view, seeing right in line with how the Buddha taught.

As we practice, our mind will really see things in that way and won’t deviate from it, even the least little bit. We’ll know that that’s the way things really are. It’ll appear clearly from within the mind. And at that point, whatever the Buddha says to abandon, we can easily abandon. It won’t be hard, because we’ve see for ourselves. Even if the Buddha didn’t say to abandon these things, we’d still have to abandon them. If anyone were to force us to hold onto them, we wouldn’t want to hold onto them—because we’ve seen their true nature. Why would we hold onto them? It wouldn’t serve any purpose. Once the mind really sees, it lets go. It’s at peace—bright and clean—because it’s seen and seen clearly. When it sees suffering and stress, it has to let go. It’s like stepping on a fire: You lift up your foot immediately. You can’t let it stay there, because you know that it’s hot.

The reason we hold onto things is because we’re deluded and misunderstand things. But once we know the truth, the mind tries to let go at all times. It doesn’t want to burden itself. That way, we can sit at our ease, walk at our ease—we can go anywhere at our ease once we’ve seen the truth in line with the Buddha’s teachings.

That truth is inside us. It’s not so far away that we can’t see it. It’s here. We’re aware of it, but we haven’t developed the mind enough. We need to strengthen our conviction, because our conviction isn’t solid. Our discernment to comprehend these things is very meager. For the most part, we use our discernment to think about other things.

If we focus fully on this, if we know this fully at all times, the mind will have to grow still. It’ll have to let go. It’ll have to know and see in line with the truth. It’ll be able to gain release. “Release” means that we’re released from suffering and stress. We’re released from these aggregates. To escape from suffering means that we escape from these aggregates, such as the body.

So look to see clearly what we each have right with us. See the body simply as “form”: not a being, not a self, not a person, not you or anyone else. If you see it as your self, you’ll be afraid to look at it. See it simply as form. Or focus on seeing the whole body as a puppet, covered with skin, held together with bones, muscles, and tendons, all made out of the earth property, with the water property mixed in, with the fire property to warm it, and the wind property to blow around inside.

This puppet that we’ve assumed into being by the craftsman—skillful and unskillful fabrications, puññābhisaṅkhāra and apuññābhisaṅkhāra: We take it apart to see what it’s made of, to see what’s in there. We look at it in this way until we feel a sense of well-being in the heart: the well-being that comes from seeing. There’s a sense of fullness in the heart because we know and see. This is said to be the pleasure garden of the noble ones, a deathlessness that we can feed on.

Whoever contemplates the body contemplates the deathless. To be content to contemplate the body is to be content with the deathless. To see the body in line with its truth is the deathless. The deathless can be found in this thing that dies.

So understand this, and set your heart on meditating.