29 August 2004: The Four Stations of Mindfulness

The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives

Buddhist Hour
Radio Broadcast on Hillside 88.0 FM
Script 344 for Sunday 29 August 2004

This script is entitled: "The Four Stations of Mindfulness"

When the Buddha was just about to enter nirvana, the Venerable Ananda, distraught with grief, wept and became dishevelled. The Venerable Aniruddha, who, although blind, was foremost in the powers of the heavenly eye, and could see all the world systems of a billion worlds as though they were an apple in his palm, noticed Ananda's condition, and being a bit more level headed under the circumstances, suggested to Ananda that he not cry, but instead take care of some important matters while there was still time.

He then suggested that Ananda put the following four questions to the Buddha.

The first question.

"When the sutras are compiled, how shall we begin them in order to show that they are the Buddha's words?" The Buddha answered this question by instructing that sutras should begin with the phrase "Thus I have heard"

The second question.

"When the Buddha was in the world, we dwelt with him. Now that he will be gone, where should we live?" The Buddha instructed his disciples to dwell in the Four Stations of Mindfulness: contemplation of the body as impure, contemplation of the feelings as suffering, contemplation of thoughts as impermanent, and contemplation of Dharmas as devoid of a self.

The third question.

"Now that the Buddha will not be in the world, whom shall we revere as our teacher?" The Biksus were told to take the Pratimoksa, the precepts, as their master.

The fourth question.

"How shall we deal with ill-disciplined monks?" The Buddha said that such persons should be silently ignored.

It is the third question asked of the Buddha and his response that we focus on today.

The Four Stations of Mindfulness: contemplation of the body as impure, contemplation of the feelings as suffering, contemplation of thoughts as impermanent, and contemplation of Dharmas as devoid of a self.

Buddhism speaks of all things being impermanent.

The Most Venerable Nyanaponika Mahathera, when discussing the power of mindfulness, concluded that: "The danger for spiritual development posed by the dominating influence of habit is perhaps more serious today than ever before; for the expansion of habit is particularly noticeable in our present age when specialisation and standardisation reach into so many varied spheres of life and thought".

The mental haze that surrounds a habitual activity has a false notion: "it is right because it was done before". So what is needed is some powerful disruption which gives time and vision to break the unquestioned, unthinking spontaneity of the event.

Ajahn Sumedho wrote in The Way It Is, the Buddha said that the origin of all suffering is ignorance - so it's important to consider what he really meant by ignorance. Most human beings in the world live very much as if they really are their habits, thoughts, feelings and memories. They don't take time or have the opportunity to look at their lives, to watch and consider how these conditions operate.

What is a condition? the body that we're with, the emotions and feelings, the perceptions of the mind, conceptions and consciousness through the senses - these are conditions. A condition is something that is added and compounded; something that arises and passes away; it's not the uncreated , unborn, unoriginated ultimate reality.

Notice in your life when you suffer or feel discontent - why?

It's because of some attachment, some idea of yourself or someone else.

Buddhist meditation and practice is a way of looking at the conditions of mind, investigating and seeing what they are, rather than believing in them.

John D. Hughes wrote that although habit brings considerable simplification into our life stream, the evenness of habitual performance does not prove that the habitual performance is valid or will lead the person using it to come out of trouble.

It is too much to ask lay persons to examine every small little habit but it is not unreasonable for them to question their professional development in terms of how they treat their colleagues in day-to-day work activity. The relationship to one's professional colleagues has to be freshened up by new and direct vision.

There is no possibility of improving a person's lifestyle until that person queries the hardness of his or her routine behaviour and thoughts about the difference between work and pleasure.

Analysis with mindfulness, not sentiment, can help form a new approach needed for work in this 21st Century. The good aspects of repeated practice are that we form useful spontaneous responses to the unexpected.

We must teach about clear and direct vision until our Students are stirred to a sense of urgency (samvega) to break through their poor habit patterns.

In Buddha Dhamma, scholarship and training environments are needed in which to observe and develop the antidotes for those who have minds with doubt because they allow their lazy and slothful minds to operate.

May Buddha Dhamma students each for himself of herself become more mindful of the nature of authentic practice and study more diligently.

One disturbance of mindfulness is hate. When hate arises the mind has no peace.

All things are impermanent. Hate arises and hate passes away.

But a vengeful person keeps it in his mind to retaliate his rival or enemy. In such cases the action of that person is furious. His mind has no peace. The Buddha says, he abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me, whomever should harbour such thoughts hatred is not appeased.

There are 19 processes arising of hate. "This person has done me wrong", the same for the present and the future. The same for my beloved relatives and friends. The next three are "This person was kind to my enemies. By doing so, they do not love me, are not loyal to me." The next nine are that "This person did not do me a favour", the same for the present and the future. These 19 types of hates being resentment against the inanimate objects.

Actually, a wise man does not like to hate and to be hated. Most of the people do not know what reaction will come of it. The Head of the States and the Leaders of the world, if they understand it from the core of their hearts, many wars, devastation and production of nuclear weapons which are designed to destroy humanity will be ceased.

Hate creates a mental strain through which several physical and mental illnesses arise. Perhaps digestive troubles, rheumatic pain, skin diseases, paralysis, headache, blood pressure, even cancer are the root of hate.

To overcome hate, patience, forgiveness, and loving-kindness or Metta Bhavana is very useful to practise. Moreover, the Noble Eight-fold Path is the way of cessation of hate.

In the absence of hate, we can examine our mind, peace and happiness is our own, is latent to us. Social harmony, good-will, peace every thing depends on our friendly environment. If we are rational in all respects, peace is within our reach. Let's slay hate when it is in our minds and maintain mindfulness on it so that it may not arise to disturb our mental equipoise.

The Buddha taught us a tool which is more precious than jewels
as many as all the sands in the river Ganges. Why is this tool so precious? This tool mindfulness as taught by the Buddha enables beings to analysis the mind in operation, it is through analysis of the mind that wisdom is developed and it is through Wisdom that ignorance & suffering are dispelled.

There is nothing in the world more precious than this.

To remove the obstacles of mindfulness such as habit, the ancient practice taught by the Buddha 2500 years ago to centre the mind by being aware of the breath which in Pali is known as Anapanasati.

Venerable Ajahn Sumedho shows the way of Anapanasati in his book Mindfulness: The Path to the Deathless.

Anapanasati is a way of concentrating your mind on your breath, so whether you are an expert at it already or whether you have given it up as a lost cause, there is always a time to watch the breath. This is an opportunity for developing 'samadhi' ( concentration) through mustering all your attention just on the sensation of breathing. So at this time use your full commitment
to that one point for the length of an inhalation, and the length of an exhalation.

You are not trying to do it for, say, fifteen minutes, because you would never succeed at that, if that were your designated span of time for one-pointed concentration. So use this span of an inhalation and exhalation.

Now the success of this depends on your patience rather than on your will- power, because the mind does wander and we always have to patiently go back to the breath.

When we're aware that the mind wanders off, we note what it is: it may be because we tend to just put in a lot of energy at first and then not to sustain it, making too much effort without sustaining power.

So we are using the length of an inhalation and the length of an exhalation in order to limit the effort to just this length of time within which to sustain attention.

Put forth effort at the beginning of the exhalation to sustain it through that, through the exhalation to the end, and then again with the inhalation. Eventually it becomes even, and one is said to have 'samadhi' when it seems effortless.

At first it seems like a lot of effort, or that we can't do it, because we aren't used to doing this. Most minds have been trained to use associative thought. The mind has been trained by reading books and the like, to go from one word to the next, to have thoughts and concepts based on logic and reason.

However, Anapanasati is a different kind of training, where the object that we re concentrating on is so simple that it's not at all interesting on the intellectual level. So it's not a matter of being interested in it, but of putting forth effort and using this natural function of the body as a point of concentration.

The body breathes whether one is aware of it or not. It's not like pranayama, where we're developing power through the breath, but rather developing 'samadhi' - concentration - and mindfulness through observing the breath, the normal breath, as it is right now. As with anything, this is something that we have to practice to be able to do; nobody has any problems understanding the theory, it's in the continuous practice of it that people feel discouraged.

Ajahn Sumedho write, but note that very discouragement that comes from not being able to get the result that you want, because that's the hindrance to the practice. Note that very feeling, recognise that, and then let it go. Go back to the breath again. Be aware of that point where you get fed up or feel aversion or impatience with it, recognise it, then let it go and go back to the breath again.

In an earlier Buddhist Hour program titled "The Anthems and Fanfares You are Looking For". John D. Hughes wrote, although you may have heard Buddhist Monks and Nuns chant many things; you ought to know the words cover Buddhist Instructions and Blessings.

Songs, in the sense of popular favourites, have superficial words so you can just relax and waste time. Songs are therefore, not in Buddhist practice. In fact, the nearest Buddhists have to an international tune that peak Buddhist Organisations agree on, is the theme of the World Fellowship of Buddhists composed about 20 years ago and sang at their biennial conferences. The singing follows the performance of the national anthem of whatever country holds the World Fellowship of Buddhist Conference.

When listening to such a tune, once again your sanna perception operates and your feeling operates but in a different manner to that of our national anthem.
Anthems represent a powerful set of sounds which can induce combinations of sanna to reinforce noble sentiments, such as love of this country, or love of an organisation.

The mind is chief in the sense that, at times, it can determine what arises to the accompaniment of certain sounds.

Therefore, if we take care of our mind, and do not weaken it with drugs, we can pay attention to what we are hearing and whatever propaganda is being spread. Then we can do much better than animals who can be conditioned by sound using Pavaleon methods.

So the first thing you had better understand if you think about learning about Buddha Dhamma Teaching methods is that mindfulness of a higher order is needed so you do not look for mere conditioning by ritual.

Depending on your past causes, your thoughts that arise now must be coming to you with some satisfaction due to your pleasant feeling because of how your hearing consciousness is operating at present.

Now if unpleasant feeling arose within you, we presume you would switch to another broadcast channel.

So, if you really wish to learn, you must learn to note when unpleasant feeling is arising and find out what the sanna is examining. When you do this, perhaps you find out it is nothing to do with what I am saying. Rather it is something you have done which is playing with what you are hearing and thus, the content is not to your satisfaction.

However, if you examine the script we are presenting you may note we make no claims that what we tell you will be invariably pleasant to hear. Sorry! So, to inspire persons like you to keep learning rather than tune out if unpleasant feelings arose, our Teacher had an Australian musician write a Buddhist Fanfare.

It is called the Namo Tassa Theme Fanfare and it makes for pleasant feeling. We play the fanfare and the beginning and conclusion of the Buddhist Hour each week.

When a person wishes to learn something new it is a good idea to praise the person who first discovered and introduced the knowledge you wish to learn to the human world.

If we are to master a subject, we had better like the many persons in the supply chain who helped hold the knowledge; the publishers, the writers of textbooks, the printers, those who transport the books to the local bookstores, the postman and so on.

A solid commitment to learning is very important. The best results come from those who dare to learn from their best heart. Without this good heart and a prior resolve to learn, you may not wish to listen to the instructions. Instead you may be inclined to listen to the voicing information within your own "self - talk".

When you follow your "self-talk" inclinations, they become your instructor.

The result is that there is little space within your mental continuum where the Teachers instructions, voiced or unvoiced, become available to you. Expressing this caution in slogan form: please do not allow your circumspection to fall into the temptation to position your mind to act like a dumb terminal.

Avoid the emotionalism that you must become "open" to the Teachings. If your mind could become "open" you may be at risk to negative thoughts generated in the past.

Having discounted these two standard barriers you adjust yourself to learn. By the precaution of noting that your mind doors of hearing and seeing and so on stay alert, it becomes easier to keep your feelings within the volume of your body. This guarding of your awareness of mindfulness ( Pali: sati) helps you to reduce "self- talk" and allows you to succeed with the Teachings.

If the learning task is to meet the Teacher at the summit of a peak with a climbing rope having a series of knots in it, you would be wise not to stop to undo the knots as you climb the rope. Reaching the summit in the time available does not require that you be curious about who put the knots in the rope, or why the knots are different. The prime task is to climb, not undo the knots.

Suppose you had long beautiful hair and had to go to an important date at short notice. You should not sit and braid your hair for hours. A short ribbon may suffice. Do not get side-tracked if you do not wish to miss out.

It may help you to think you are like a person who has just entered the last carriage of the last train.

There is a need to unify your understanding of what is a necessary condition to learn, as opposed to a sufficient condition to learn. A necessary condition to learn quickly is that you decide from the beginning not to waste time exploring the many interesting sensations that appear on your bodies and minds as you practice.

Exercise restraint if you can on the "self-talk" which comments on differences. If you wish to examine one tree in fine detail, over-emphasis on the forest ecology blurs definition of the specific tree.

Your first responsibility is to know more about yourself as a solitary figure rather than a group figure.

It is a good practice for persons provided a safe forest is procurable. Nevertheless, you should follow a similar method of control of your sense bases and guard them as if you were in a forest.

Consider the script of a Teacher who wants to guide you to an orchard where many enjoyable fruits are growing. The Teacher has tasted the fruit. If you do not follow the Teacher's directions, you may find yourself in a field near the orchid digging the soil for small potatoes. Content with little, you miss the fruits. Buddha Dhamma Teachers want you to look up and grasp the fruits before they rot, and tell you not to dig down in the dirt.

Right motive is an intrinsic matter. Teachers are aware that some persons are unable to see the need for a platform with a clearer view when they start to practice the mindfulness they are looking for. They may settle for a state of mind less vast than the true empty. That is natural. There is no "magic" charm to change you.

The truth is that only you, and you alone, can make "magic", in this case, the right effort to overcome your shy feelings. Do not expect your Teacher to be able to perform "magic" to help your feelings.

Some persons complain that since they have difficulty in facing their uncertainties of ageing or sickness or that current financial difficulties, personal relationships, family or work situations demonstrate enough troubles in their present experiences, it is too late or too soon to deal with new experiences.

Loving kindness (Pali: metta) is part of Buddha Dharma, and many Teachers show this method. Your motive should include a vow to learn the method at some time if you do not practice it to date.

Metta was an earlier Christian meditation practice. It is not prayer. The Christian method is the same form of loving kindness (Pali: metta) taught by the Buddha, around 500 years B.C. Most genuine Christians who our Teacher John D. Hughes met in many countries today agree on the need for more metta meditation in the world, rather than less. Testimony from earlier times, from Christian Saints, makes it seem possible that in addition to metta meditation a few of our ancestors, under early Western culture, may have proceeded further than loving kindness, to say, clairaudience, sometimes called "heavenly ear" or, at times, to "celestial eye". These small things arise from lengthy time trying to undo the "Knots" in the rope analogue.

Among the many acid tests set out by the Buddha over 2500 years ago, is the test of seeing the truth of Dhamma each for himself or herself .

It is our hope that this paper will lead persons to the understanding and practice of the Four Stations of mindfulness.

May you develop the Four Stations of Mindfulness in your life.

May all beings be well and happy.

May you be well and happy.

Today's script was prepared by Anita Hughes, Julian Bamford, Peter Boswell, Lisa Nelson, Lainie Smallwood, Julie O'Donnell, Leila Igracki and Helen Costas.

References

Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva. The Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religion. New York USA 1974.

Sumedho, Ajahn. The Way It Is. Reprinted and donated by The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation. Taiwan 1998.

Buddha Dhyana Dana Review editorials and papers found through ISYS searches of our Heritage Database.

Buddhist Hour radio script No. 66 ""The Anthems and Fanfares You are Looking For".

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