To relax the activity of the mind, awareness – citta – needs something else to stand on. We set up internal and external foundations that generate the sense of steadiness and stability. This enables us to get perspective and step back from the stream of energies and mind-states that we call ‘myself.’
On Āsalha Puja we commemorate the occasion when the Buddha gave his first teaching on the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Path of Practice. By cultivating this Path, the mind stops looking outside of itself – it finds pleasure in itself.
Contemplating the mind, not trying to change or explain it, knowing it as just a mental state, a result of causes and conditions. If feeling pressed upon by the mind, pause and widen. Bring attention to the body. Determine the appropriate attitude for settling.
Speech, whether internal or external, tends to reinforce and reify the sense of self. Self-awareness, rather than self-referencing, is recommended. Speech has the possibility of helping to prune, clarify, steady – it can help lead to the end of the person.
Sutta references: AN4:183; M.58:12
The mind becomes crowded with our thoughts, impressions, plans and worries. But what’s the bit that’s not occupied by all of that? Stability and confidence are available in that space, to meet what is arising.
An untrained mind has no choice, it goes straight into dukkha; the trained mind has the possibility to turn away from patterns that the mind creates. The hinge-point is nibbidā – disinterest, disenchantment – to no longer be gripped by the play of the mind. Through this, mental patterns can be acknowledged as they arise but not entered into. Through remaining with dispassionate awareness, liberation can be realized.
*Sutta references - AN10:2; SN35:28
Instructions for surveying the movements of mind and body from a wider, detached perspective. See the patterns that arise without fixating on them. Topics can then be approached from a more enlightened perspective.
A good teacher (Acariya) encourages and pushes the mind of the disciple away from the changeable world presented by sense-consciousness, to the more fruitful reality that’s centred on Dhamma. In this talk, the principles of this are pointed out, and as exemplified by Ajahn Chah. This talk was offered on Ajahn
It’s the compulsiveness and repetitiveness of certain actions that creates the sense of a solid self. So we aim for the end of action, for non-doing, and linger there. Keep relaxing and widening awareness without acting. Energy is released from activations – this is the ending of kamma.
*Sutta Reference: AN10:81
Awareness is open – it simply knows and can witness. If we can widen and broaden awareness, we don’t have to get snagged by the circumstances of our “self-package”.
