Experimento 2

t is necessary to have many different methods and ways of training and constraining the citta in order to be competent to deal with the deceptive tricks of the many different kinds of kilesas which dwell in the citta and which display themselves in all situations and in different ways according to type. If one is observant one will see that the citta is the meeting place of all affairs and this causes one much disturbance so that one can never have any time to be quiet and relax even for a moment. In general, these affairs are of a low, unworthy nature, which lay in wait to draw and divert one’s activities in their direction and they hardly have anything of the teaching of Dhamma within them which could bring one some calm and peace of heart.

So one who intends to find out everything that is false and true must be a person who observes the citta and who trains and disciplines the citta in vari- ous different ways. The Lord Buddha and the Sāvakas are the most excellent examples of this to all of us who practise the way, for they liked to stay in the forest until they became used to it.

In truth, the feelings of all people are likely to be much the same, for nobody by himself would normally like to go and live in the forests, hills or lonely places that nobody in the world wants. But the Bhikkhu only thinks about and does this because he has the purpose of becoming a good and worthy person with faith and confidence in himself with thoughts and actions that he sees will be of value to himself and others. Therefore he goes against his inclinations of heart and does it in the same way that people everywhere in the world do their work, for in truth, nobody likes to do things that are difficult both physically and mentally. But they have to do it because the necessity of it compels them — and so they have to run around busily, everywhere in the world, instead of just eating, living, sleeping and lying down which is their natural inclination.

But the difficulty of training the citta is much greater, and those who have never done it should not try to compare it with the difficulties in doing other tasks in the world. For if the time comes that one does the work of training the citta, one may not be able to put up with the difficulty of it and one may call it “torture” or an imposition. Then one may lose interest in going on with this work without ever considering the results which will come from it and how wonderful and miraculous they are.

At this point one may have seen enough of the strength and tenacity of the kilesas which are the overlords ruling the heart to realise more and more how much tenacity and resistance they have and how much they oppose and torment beings in the world. Because training the citta is just the work of elimi- nating or driving out the kilesas from the heart. But the one who drives them out does not want to do so, for the one24 _{who has for ages been the overlord,}

having power over the hearts of people and other beings, does not want to go. Because to go and live elsewhere is not so easy as living over the heart of a person where it gets such affectionate treatment and lavish care all the time and where it is not likely to go wanting or be hard up for anything.

If it wants to admire forms, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings and mental perceptions (ārammaṇa) of any kind, the one who is acting as the servant of the kilesas immediately runs about searching for these things to gratify them without delay. However much the cost or the credit payment, the pleasure of it satisfies the craving and the accounts can be left to be thought about later.

Thinking out and paying the accounts is the work and the duty of the one who underwrites everything, but the Chief who has the power makes no complaint and is not the least troubled by this. In such a situation, who can make his heart so hard and from where can he get the steel resolve to be able to train the citta with the thought of driving out the kilesas — those lords who are so eloquent — from the heart?

Therefore training the citta so as to know and see with true mindfulness and wisdom, that the kilesas are the enemy of the heart is a difficult training and the most difficult thing to see. In fact one should call the work of train- ing the citta to torment the kilesas “a life and death struggle”. This work is not play, nor is it fun like sports on a playing field, and all of those who are able to know what the kilesas look like, destroy them so that they die from the heart. This means, such people as the Lord Buddha and they are therefore special people. If with us ordinary people there arises the ability to destroy

the kilesas so that they die from the heart, even if we do not become special people like the Lord, we must be special in the field of all the kilesas. For if the wonder of the ability to destroy the kilesas and the wonder of the citta which has gone beyond the power of the kilesas is within any person, such a worthy person is beyond the world.

Striving, in all its aspects for the purpose of capsizing the “Round of Saṁsāra”

(vaṭṭa) which is imposed on the heart is therefore a task which is full of dif-

ficulties and torments in every way. The Kammaṭṭhāna Bhikkhu who opposes his natural inclinations and goes to stay in places of hardship to train himself, such as the wild forests and hills, is thus like someone living in a prison. Before he can free himself from the shackles of each of the kilesas he must go to the limit — “make or break”.

Training the citta for the real truth of Dhamma is as difficult as this. Not only does he live under self-discipline but his mode of eating food is also a discipline. Because it is also an aspect of the work that he is doing and one who is anxious to pass through and get free from the jungle of darkness and obscurity will strive to apply the discipline to develop virtue in this direc- tion also.

When eating food, even though he may be very hungry and feel like eating a lot, after he has thought and taken Dhamma into consideration he will be sure to restrain and resign himself to eating only a little — enough to provide a balance between the needs of the body and of the citta — and he will try to make it his constant practice to eat that small amount which suits his needs.

If he should increase the amounts he takes on some occasions he must be fully aware of it at the time, not forgetting himself. But by alternating and taking more at times and less at others, the body and mind can be kept in balance without becoming too exhausted or getting sick, which would spoil the work. Thus the citta will at least be in balance and will develop steadily in accordance with the amount of work which is being done continually to promote it.

If his ability is enough and his characteristics of perfection (vāsanā–pāramī) are well developed, he can go beyond to what his heart is intent upon. Because each method of working in the direction of Dhamma aids his development, so those who find that going on fast is to their liking and accords with their nature, will try to alternate fasting, eating fully and eating little for longer or shorter periods as they see fit.

The citta then stirs up effort every time it has an opportunity. Meanwhile the physical body will be weakened so that his work may go ahead with facil- ity and so that the citta may steadily go on increasing in evenness and clarity. Then the way of samādhi will strengthen when the time is appropriate for it. And the way of wisdom will be active, and depending on the situation it will alternate with samādhi.

Those Bhikkhus who stay in the forest, in the hills, under an overhanging cliff or in various other places, and those who reduce their intake of food, or who fast, all have Dhamma as the firm aim of the citta, and in their various ways they are all working and striving in the direction of samādhi bhāvanā in their various situations and activities. They are also constantly watchful of the changes of heart that take place in association with objects that cause emotional reactions (ārammaṇa).

When the heart is consistently brought up and looked after in the right way, it will steadily develop. Then samādhi will develop and become firm and wisdom will become more skilful and widespread every time it is used. Things which were never known before become known, never seen before are seen and never existed before then arise in the heart which is continually searching for the truth wholeheartedly with complete commitment. Then the laziness and weakness, the distraction and instability, the confusion, restlessness, darkness and obscurity which are normally always present in the ordinary

citta gradually fade away day by day, until it can be seen clearly how much

they have disappeared. But in particular, for those who discipline the heart by means of fear, for those who fast for many days, depending on their suitability for this practice, and also for those who discipline themselves by sitting for a long time and investigating the resulting painful feelings (dukkha–vedanā) as the object of attention (ārammaṇa), the results which they get from each of these three methods are unusually wonderful and far more so than come from other forms of discipline. But they will be explained later on as the oc- casion demands.

here, wewillDescribeThegeneralwayinwhichThe bhikkhuspracTise. The

way in which they train and discipline their hearts by the foregoing methods, depends on the technique which each individual thinks out for himself to train himself and this is different for each person. Some of them, as well as going to

live in fearful forests and hills, also think up special methods to suit the time, place and circumstances and increase their effectiveness. Thus for example; in such a place at night, when fear arises in the citta they may go and walk in another part of the forest, in order to discipline the fear which was getting stronger, by going and sitting in samādhi bhāvanā on a rock on top of a hill or in the open, or by walking caṅkama in various places where large tigers pass by, and doing this for a long time.

At the same time, the citta examines the nature of fear and death, and it also looks into the nature of tigers, which the citta assumes to be so frighten- ing, and the nature of oneself by asking in what way the tiger is so different that one should be so afraid? One must investigate this by dividing up the different parts and comparing these things which the citta thinks are so dif- ferent. Thus for example:

“What is it that the tiger has that is frightening? What about its teeth? I also have teeth. What about its claws? I also have nails. Its hair? I also have hair. Its head? … Its body? … Its eyes? … Its stripes? I also have tattoos and birth marks. As for its tail, even the tiger itself is not afraid of it, so why should I be?”

“As far as the heart of the tiger and my own heart are concerned, they are both alike — indeed my heart is that of a man, a Bhikkhu, which has a much higher value. Even though the various parts of the body are not identically the same, yet the elements of which they are made are the same and there is not enough difference between the tiger and myself to justify this fear of each other.”

“The heart of the tiger is the heart of an animal whereas my heart is the heart of a Bhikkhu with Dhamma in it, so it has value and power far beyond that of a tiger. Why then should I turn round and lower my value and status as a Bhikkhu by being afraid of a tiger which is only an animal? Is this not degrading to one who is a complete Bhikkhu?”

“Furthermore the Sāsana has such wonderful excellence throughout the “three worlds”, but in it there is a Bhikkhu who is timid and frightened, who is a blemish on it, who stains it and gives it a bad name and who also degrades it. To degrade the Sāsana, which is the priceless treasure of the “three worlds” by being more concerned for one’s life than for Dhamma is not right and proper, and if I am to die I would do so in bad spirits and stupid, without any dignity in myself or in the circle of the Sāsana at all.

The Kammaṭṭhāna Bhikkhu who dies in this way is said to die in the manner of one who “sells” himself and one who “sells” the Sāsana and all those who practise the way everywhere. This is not dying in the manner of a warrior in battle who firmly believes in kamma and who courageously faces up to whatever is about to happen. I am a Kammaṭṭhāna Bhikkhu in all respects, and I ought not to die in such a way, but rather in the manner of a warrior, ending my life in battle with bravery and courage and this will be for the honour of myself and the Sāsana as a symbol for the world to uphold for a long time.”

“I must think rightly and see clearly the nature of both the tiger and myself; all the parts of its body and of my own, as well as the fear of death which penetrates and possesses me inwardly. I must see this quite clearly with wisdom, not letting this fear inundate me and play with me and then pass by in vain for this would spoil my standing as a Son of the Tathāgata and as a full Kammaṭṭhāna Bhikkhu. So whatever happens I must fight to the end until I see either victory or defeat and life or death today. Whichever way it goes, whether the side which brings power and honour to me and credit to the Sāsana, or the side which destroys both myself and the Sāsana because of this fear, I shall know tonight — and now I must contemplate and investigate and go on working it out until it breaks apart.”

While the contemplation and analysis are going on, turning round and about sorting out the elements, the khandhas, fearlessness and fear and searching for the underlying principle of truth with meticulous care and a resolute heart, the heart begins to know and understand from the wisdom which is continually teaching it all the time without letting up. Until the heart goes quiet and peaceful and all the previous anxiety disappears, resulting in a state of calm and happiness. All the emotion- ally charged images based on memory (saññā–ārammaṇa) which one had formerly believed in, in various ways then disappear entirely, leaving only calm and happiness of the citta which appears noble and dignified. The

citta then gains faith in the method of contemplation which is the cause

of this state, and it sees that it truly is the way to get rid of confusion and the tendency to run about searching for excitement and trouble, and also fear. It also gains faith in the results which arise at that time, that:

“This is a state of calm and happiness of a strange and unusual kind which I have never experienced before and I did this contemplation by taking fear as the motivating cause.”

This is a method which the Bhikkhus use to get rid of fear, until they see the results of it for themselves. But in the beginning stages of training in the way of kammaṭṭhāna they use a preliminary meditation (parikamma–bhāvanā) on some aspect of Dhamma such as “buDDho” when a lot of fear arises, rather than the

method of contemplation. This can result in the attainment of calm and the dispersal of fear in the same way, but it differs in that one gains no skilful or clever methods such as one gets from the way of contemplation.

Some Bhikkhus, when fear arises while they are sitting under the mosquito net, lift it up and sit without any cover. They put up with the bites of the gadflies and mosquitoes for nothing else matters but the resolve to practise their meditation using various methods to defeat the fear that is there at that time. Until they succeed. Then they stop and rest.

TheciTTawhichgainscalmbyTraininganDDiscipline based on fear seems to

gain a deeper more subtle state of calm which lasts much longer than the calm attained by the usual methods of meditation. While the citta is in the deep- est state of calm, in the above example, it feels as if the body has completely disappeared, and the contact (samphassa) between the internal and external fields of sensation (āyatana) ceases until the citta draws away from this state, after which they start to function again as normal.

The state of the citta in which the functions of the fields of sensation cease, closely resembles a state of sleep although it is not the same thing, for when one sleeps nothing very strange and unusual happens. But when the citta is completely calm something very strange and unusual manifests and there is only “knowing”25 _{in that state of calm at that time. The generally accepted}

results that come from normal sleep are different from the subtle state of