內觀簡介
Dhamma Bhumi Blackheath, Australia November, 1990
A very good sunny Indian morning to you all.
You have all assembled here in this meditation centre, to understand what is being practised here, what is being taught here.
The word “meditation” carries different meanings for different people. Because there are different types of meditations.
One common meaning which people understand about meditation, is that you try to concentrate your mind fixing it on some object or the other. And mostly imaginary object. You close your eyes and you try to imagine the shape or the form of this god or that goddess, this saintly person or that saintly person. The mind wanders away and again you bring it back, it wanders away, you bring it back. And like this you try to concentrate your mind.
Another way is that you start repeating some word. Any word—the name of this god or that goddess, this saintly person or that saintly person, in whom you have great devotion. You keep on repeating this word mentally. The mind wanders and again you start repeating. The mind wanders, again you start repeating. And this is how you try to concentrate your mind.
Or you just start giving some suggestion to the mind, some auto-suggestion. And like this you try to concentrate your mind. Or you just contemplate, just think of some good things, good sermon of a saintly person, a portion of the scripture in which you have got great faith. Like this there are many kinds of meditations with different objects.
But here whatever is taught is totally different. Of course concentration of the mind is helpful, no doubt, but that is like a means, not the end.
The purpose of the meditation which is taught here—and it is called Vipassana. A [In the] ancient language of India, the Pali language, the word Vipassana means to observe, and to observe the reality as it is. Not just as it seems to be, not just as it appears to be, but as it is, in its true nature, in its true characteristic—so that you come out of the illusion or delusion or confusion about the reality.
Reality pertaining to what? Reality pertaining to your own self. This is the biggest delusion. One does not know “who I am,” or rather, “what I am.” All the saints and sages of the past have been telling us, “Know thyself, know thyself.” But how to know thyself? There must be a way, there must be a technique. Just by listening to such discourses, or reading scriptures, or merely trying to understand it at the intellectual level, does not help us to know ourselves.
We have to explore the entire field, entire field of the so-called “I”. What is this “I”? Is this physical structure “I”? At the intellectual level you will say, “No, the body is not ‘I’. I am not this body.” But at the actual level, when you are actually dealing in the life, day-to-day life, the body has become “I”. Tremendous amount of identification with this body, and tremendous amount of attachment towards this body, resulting in tremendous amount of tension, misery. After all, what is this body, to which I keep on saying “I”, “I”, “mine”, “mine”? And similarly what is this mind? Is this mind “I”? Is this mind “mine”? Can I say this mind is “myself”? What is this mind?
Again, not merely trying to understand what is this body, what is this mind—but to experience it. The whole technique is a[n] analytical study of this mental and material structure at the experiential level. Of course intellect will be there. Intellect will try to understand. But not depending merely on intellect. You have to explore the reality by your own experience. A[n] analytical study of mind and matter within the framework of this body. The mind and matter—how they are working, how one keeps on influencing the other, how one keeps on getting influenced by the other.
There is a constant interaction going on between mind and matter. Constant interaction. When you go deep inside you start understanding what is this interaction which is going on inside. So it is a[n] analytical study of your own structure, mind and matter. Exploring it, exploring it—from the surface level—the apparent truth about the mind, the apparent truth about the matter. And then going deeper, deeper, deeper—within yourself, within this body structure—going deeper, deeper, deeper you start experiencing truths which are subtler, subtler, subtler. Till you reach the stage where you can experience the subtlest truth, the subtlest truth pertaining to the matter. The subtlest truth pertaining to the matter is the subatomic particle.
The apparent truth of the body is: it seems to be so solid. And of course, at the apparent level it is so solid. But as you go deeper and deeper, with your own experience you will find, that there is no solidity at all. The entire physical structure is just mass of subatomic particles—which keep on arising, passing, arising, passing with great rapidity. The entire structure is nothing but wavelets, wavelets, wavelets.
This is what the modern scientists have found out—not by their experience, but by their intellect, by various scientific apparatus that they use.
And this is what was found out by the enlightened persons of the past who explored the reality within themselves at the experiential level. No other instrument was involved. With their own experience they went deeper, deeper, deeper. And they came to this realization that the apparent-looking solid body is actually nothing but tiny little bubbles, tiny little wavelets—arising, passing, arising, passing—with great rapidity. This is the ultimate truth pertaining to the matter.
Similarly exploring the truth pertaining to the mind, initially one comes across very solidified, intensified mind and mental contents. Like, say, anger has arisen. It is so intense. And it always tries to overpower you. Or passion has arisen. Or fear has arisen.
Anything that arises in the mind tries to overpower you—you start observing that. This is the apparent reality, the gross reality of the matter and the contents of the matter. And as you keep on observing, observing, observing, you will reach the stage where the mind also, and the mental contents are also, nothing but wavelets, wavelets, wavelets. Very tiny little wavelets arising, passing, arising, passing—with great rapidity.
This is what the students start experiencing as they make an exploration of the truth pertaining to mind and matter. And as they keep on moving further, further, deeper, deeper—they reach a stage which is beyond mind and matter. Just to see, what is this “I” to which I keep on saying “I”, “I”, “I”. After all what is this “I”?
And all this process, all this exercise is not just for the sake of curiosity. The exercise keeps on changing the present habit pattern of your mind. The present habit pattern of the mind is that you keep on reacting. You come across anything pleasant—you react with craving, you react with clinging. You come across anything unpleasant—you react with aversion, you react with hatred.
And every time you react—either you react with craving or clinging, or you react with aversion or hatred—you will note that you had lost the balance of your mind. And you have started generating tension within you, you have started tying knots within you. And knots after knots, knots after knots. As you go deeper inside you will find, that the entire mind-matter structure that you are carrying now, is full of knots, knots, Gordian knots, which keep you so tense.
At the surface level one tried to come…tries to come out of the tension, by keeping oneself engaged in this sensual pleasure or that sensual pleasure. One feels: “I am quite happy. I have got no misery. I have got no tension now.”
But as you go deep inside you will find, that you are a bundle of tension. And that is why the life is so miserable. There is no real happiness in the life.
If this tension from the depth of the mind goes away, then you will find that the happiness that you experience is something inexplainable. You can’t express it in words. You can’t compare it with any happiness that you might have experienced at the sensual level. It is so peaceful. It is so pleasant. But that happens only when the mind is liberated from the tensions, from the knots, from the defilements of anger, hatred, ill will, animosity, passion, fear, ego. All these impurities, defilements, make one so unhappy.
Mere sermons does not help. Mere intellectualization and understanding at the intellectual level: “Oh, I should not generate anger. This is not good for me. I should not generate fear. I should not generate ego.” But yet one keeps on generating, understanding fully well that: “When I generate anger I become very miserable. I make myself miserable, I make others miserable. Every time I generate anger I make myself miserable, I make others miserable. So I should not generate anger.”
And yet, anything unwanted has happened in the life, one reacts with anger. Because the intellect part of the mind, what is called the conscious level of the mind, is so small. The other part is so big—the half-conscious or unconscious. And this half-conscious or unconscious—the so-called half-conscious, unconscious—it is very conscious inside in its own way. This half-conscious or unconscious mind constantly keeps on reacting—either with craving or with aversion, either with craving or with aversion. And it has…it has become a slave of its own habit pattern. And that is why one remains so much agitated deep inside.
Now this technique helps people to go inside and observe it. And as you observe it, you start coming out of your blind reaction, your habit of blind reaction, and the life starts changing. As you get more and more established in this technique of self-exploration—the truth about your own mind and matter, the reaction taking place between mind and matter—[the] more and more you observe it, observe it—you find the reaction is becoming less, less, less. Your mind is now more calm, more quiet. And you can face the world much better.
Because when you live the life in the world—and you have to live the life in the world. You come here for ten days. This is like a hospital. A sick person goes to the hospital to regain the health, not to live there for the whole life. You regain your health, and make use of this health in your day-to-day life.
So here you come to explore this reality within yourself and come out of the misery which is because of your mental tension. And once you have come out of it, even to some extent, now you make use of it in your day-to-day life. And then whatever you learn here, you try to practise every day. Like you learn a physical exercise, and you practise daily this physical exercise to keep your body healthy, to keep your body strong.
Similarly, it is a mental exercise. One comes here, learns for ten days this mental exercise, and practises morning and evening to remain healthy at the mental level—and make use of this healthy mind to live a good life. Whenever our mind is unhealthy, whenever one is agitated inside, whenever one is irritated inside, one keeps on living the life of negativity, because one keeps on living the life of reaction. Reaction is always full of negativity. If one comes out of the habit of living the life of reaction, and starts living the life of action—wonderful; action is always positive. Reaction—full of negativity—is always harmful for oneself and harmful for others. A life of action, which is positive, is good for oneself and good for others.
That is why the whole technique is nothing but an art of living. How to live peacefully, how to live harmoniously; generating peace and harmony within, and giving this peace and harmony vibration to the atmosphere around, so that people who come in contact with us can also experience some peace and harmony.
When there is no harmony in my mind, when there is no peace in my mind—my mind is very agitated—this is what I contribute to the atmosphere around me. I make the entire atmosphere around me agitated. And anyone comes in contact with this atmosphere feels agitation—cannot feel peace, cannot feel harmony.
So the whole technique is nothing but a way of life, a code of conduct. How to live properly, without harming oneself and without harming others; maintaining the peace and harmony of oneself, and maintaining the peace and harmony of the atmosphere around us.
Now a few words about the technique. What people do here. How they practise. One thing very important is that you have to explore the field of your own reality inside, this mind-matter phenomena, the entire field of mind-matter phenomena—which is a delicate job.
It is so difficult to explore something so deeper. So you require a very quiet atmosphere around you. If there is lot of disturbance all around, it is so difficult for the mind to become concentrated and work inside. That is one reason that in this type of meditation centre, when a course is going on outsiders are not allowed. Not that outsiders are untouchable and they should not come—nothing like that. But to avoid all kinds of disturbances. The peace and tranquillity of the area is necessary to be maintained.
And then one starts exploring oneself. What is this physical structure? What is this mental structure? One is asked to sit down, sit down quietly. Close your eyes, keep your mouth closed. Now there is no physical activity, there is no vocal activity. Now let me see what is happening in this body.
And the first thing that you will come across is a flow of respiration. Naturally the breath comes in, the breath goes out, the breath comes in, the breath goes out. This is the grossest reality that you will come across as you start working.
Well you start with that. You just start observing your breath—the breath coming in, the breath going out. Don’t make it a breathing exercise. You are not supposed to regulate your breath, you are not supposed to control your breath. There are many other techniques where the controlling of the breath is helpful. But here you are not supposed to control. Just observe the breath. If it is deep, you are aware—it is deep. If it is shallow, you are just aware—it is shallow. If it is passing through this nostril, you are just aware—passing through this nostril; or passing through that nostril, or passing through both the nostrils.
You are developing your faculty of awareness, mindfulness. Mindfulness of the truth pertaining to your own mind and matter. As you proceed—of course when you work there are so many difficulties; because of the old habit, the mind starts wandering here, there; but very patiently you keep on working—very soon you will understand that this breath is not merely a physical function, it has something to do with the mind also.
You will notice that while you are observing your breath, a thought of the past might come, a thought of the future might come. And because of that you may generate some negativity, some anger or hatred, or ill will. And as soon as you generate any negativity you notice that your breath is no more normal. It has become slightly hard, slightly fast. And when that negativity has gone away, you will notice the breath is again normal. Oh, so the breath is not only a physical function; it has something to do with the mind, and something to do with the mental impurities also.
And you proceed further. Within the time…by the time you reach the fourth day, you find that there are sensations throughout the body. Either heat or cold or itching or tingling or throbbing or pulsing or weight or heaviness or lightness. Something is happening throughout the body. Throughout the body there is constantly something happening. Some biochemical reaction or the other constantly happening, some electromagnetic reaction or the other constantly happening.
But our mind remains so scattered at the surface level, it does not want to observe the reality within ourselves. So whatever is happening, the conscious mind does not remain aware of it.
Now this technique helps you to go deeper, deeper, deeper. And you start feeling sensations throughout the body. By the time one reaches the sixth day, seventh day, eighth day—it depends, not that everyone—quite a few students reach the stage where they find that the entire structure is nothing but vibrations, vibrations, nothing but vibrations. Mind or matter—nothing but vibrations. Arising, passing, arising…
It is to be experienced, not merely to be accepted; accepted at the intellectual level or devotional level. That doesn’t help. One has to experience it. And one starts experiencing, “Look, there is no solidity, nowhere there is any solidity.”
And then one goes deeper to understand the interaction which is going on between mind and matter.
One comes to the eye sense door—vibration, vibration; ear sense door—vibration, vibration; nose sense door—vibration, vibration; tongue sense door—vibration, vibration; the skin sense door—vibration, vibration; the mind sense door—vibration, vibration. These are the only six sense doors through which we come in contact with the entire world outside. It is nothing but vibration, vibration.
And whatever comes in contact with these sense doors, that is also vibration, vibration. A sound has come in contact—one notices that there is vibration, vibration. A shape or form or a colour or light has come in contact with the eyes—it is vibration. A smell has come in contact with the nose—it is vibration. A taste has come in contact with the tongue—it is vibration. Something tangible has come in contact with the body—it is vibration. A thought has come in contact with the mind—vibration, vibration. Everything is just vibration, vibration.
All right. A sound has come in contact with the ear. A vibration has come in contact with the vibration. And because of this contact, a new type of vibration starts, another type of vibration starts. Like you strike a gong, and where you strike a gong a vibration starts there. But this vibration does not remain limited to the area where you have struck the gong. The entire gong starts vibrating. So your entire physical structure will start vibrating when you hear a sound, or you see a…a…a [you] view anything. Or you smell something, or you taste something, or you touch something, or you think something. Vibrations everywhere.
One part of the mind will say: “Oh, something has happened. A sound has come. Something has happened at the ear sense door.” Then immediately another part of the mind will say: “What has happened? Some words. What words? Words of abuse. Or words of praise.” This is the second part of the mind. Its job is to recognize and then to give valuation: “The words of abuse, Oh, very bad. The words of praise, ‘Ah, wonderful.’” It has given evaluation to it.
And immediately the third part of the mind starts working. These very sensations, these very vibrations which were very neutral, now when you have given a evaluation, “This is abuse—very bad,” you will notice all these vibration turn into very unpleasant, very unpleasant vibrations. And when the evaluation is given, “Oh these words are words of praise. Ah, wonderful.” And you will find that these vibrations have become very pleasant vibration. The third part of the mind starts feeling these vibrations—pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
And then immediately the fourth part of the mind starts reacting. If it is pleasant, it starts reacting with craving. If it is unpleasant, it starts reacting with aversion. And this process keeps on multiplying, multiplying—continues, continues, continues, for long time. And makes you unbalanced for longer period. The mind loses its peace, loses its harmony.
If you just observe it: “Oh, after all, word is word, vibration is vibration. Look it is arising, passing, arising, passing.” You try to keep your mind calm, quiet. You try to keep your mind balanced. You try to keep your mind equanimous, without reacting.
And this is how you have started changing the habit pattern of your mind. Understanding the entire process of mind and matter, the inter-reaction of mind and matter. And how without knowing it, we keep on multiplying our tensions, we keep on multiplying our misery. And by understanding it at the actual level, at the experiential level, we are coming out of our mad habit of reaction which makes us so miserable.
Of course not that in ten days one changes the entire habit pattern. But in ten days one gets a glimpse as to what is happening within me. What is happening in this structure of mind or matter—which I keep on saying “I”, “I”, “mine”, “mine”. What is happening? And without my knowing all about it at the actual level, at the experiential level—look, one has become a slave of this habit pattern of reaction. One has become a slave of the tension of the misery that one keeps on generating every moment, and one keeps on multiplying every moment.
If this habit pattern starts changing even little bit, one is coming out of misery, little by little. And as this habit pattern changes more and more, more and more—one finds that one is coming out of the misery more and more, more and more. And this habit pattern is totally changed; one is totally liberated from misery.
It is nothing but a pure science of mind and matter. A[n] applied science—to understand the process of mind and matter, how it works. Not just by reading books, not just by listening to discourses. But it is a[n] applied science. You have to understand it within this laboratory of your own mind and matter inside, as to what is happening. How things are happening. How mind is getting affected by the matter. How the matter is getting affected by the mind. How this interaction is going on. How this cross-current is going on, undercurrent is going on. Constantly something or the other is happening throughout this structure. And understanding it, understanding it, you start coming out of your old habit pattern which keeps you very miserable.
This is a universal way to come out of the universal misery. Reacting with anger or hatred or ill will or passion, [or] craving—this is the habit of everyone. This mad habit is not only limited to the Christians, or to the Muslims, or to the Hindus, or to the Buddhists, or to the Jewish. It is not merely limited to the Australians, or New Zealanders, or English, or Russians, or Chinese. It is universal.
This malady is universal. We keep on reacting with these negativities and we keep on becoming miserable. The remedy is also universal. This is not something which will convert you from your organized religion to some other organized religion. This technique has nothing to do with organized religions.
Like you go to a school, a college, and you understand some…something about the science, and then applied science—you are not getting yourself converted from one religion to another religion. Similarly, you are understanding this science of your own mind and matter, the applied science. By your own experience you are understanding it. You are not converting yourself from one religion to another religion.
Of course you are converting yourself—conversion is involved. You are converting yourself from misery to happiness, from ignorance to wisdom. This conversion is involved. And everyone needs this conversion.
Now because the technique is quite new to many places, people are a bit apprehensive about it. What is going on? Is it some foreign cult which is coming in our country? Some foreign dogma, some foreign belief, some foreign religion which is being imposed on us?
A pure science. Once people pass through it, they understand it is a pure science. I foresee the future. As you are having schools and colleges in every part of your country—from the most populated cities to less populated villages, everywhere there are schools, colleges, hospitals—similarly a time will come when you will have such meditation centres throughout the country, throughout the world.
Because people need it. They want something to know about their own mind and matter. You may read books of psychology to learn about mind—that won’t help you. You read so many books about physiology, about anatomy of your body—doesn’t help you. But you experience the truth about your own mind and matter—that starts helping you to take you out of your old habit pattern where you generate negativities, you become miserable, you harm yourself, you harm others. And you learn a technique by which you can enjoy real peace, real harmony, real happiness.
May all of you who have come to listen this Dhamma talk today—this talk about the mind and matter, the law of nature—may [you] find time and spare ten days of your life, and experience it. Only by experience you will know what it is. Mere talks won’t help. Experience it, not to oblige anybody. For your own good, for your own benefit, for your own real happiness.
May all of you enjoy real peace, real harmony, real happiness. Real happiness to you all. Real peace to you all. Real harmony to you all.
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