MASTERING
THE
CORE TEACHINGS
OF THE
BUDDHA
THE SEVEN FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment are mindfulness,
investigation of the truth , energy , rapture , tranquility ,
concentration and equanimity. So, we have three concepts from the
Five Spiritual Faculties and four that seem new but have actually already
been touched on to some degree. The order here is actually closely
related to the stages of something called “The Progress of Insight,”
which is like a map of standard stages through which diligent insight
meditators pass in cycles. This connection is a fairly advanced topic that
will be explored later.
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment might be regarded as a
pyramid with mindfulness as the base and each factor supporting and
helping create the other. However, every factor is also important at
every stage as well, so we will look into each of these and see what they
can tell us.
MINDFULNESS
Mindful nes s has already been covered above, but in terms of
practice I will say that mindfulness can be really useful in sorting out
what is mind and what is body, as mentioned on the section on
impermanence in the Three Characteristics. You might want to read
that one again, as it is really relevant to practically applying these first
two factors of enlightenment. Basically, we need to know the basic
sensations that make up our world. This is the crucial foundation of
insight practices. Not surprisingly, the first classic insight that leads to the
others is called “Knowledge of Mind and Body” and arises when we
learn to clearly distinguish between the two as they occur.
So with mindfulness we sort out what is physical, what is visual, what
is mental, what is pleasant, what is unpleasant, what is neutral, and all of
that. We can know what is a mental sensation and what is a related
physical feeling. We can know what specific sensations make up our
emotions. We can know each thing and the mental impression of it that
follows it. We can know the intentions that precede actions and
thoughts. We can know where sensations are in relation to each other.
We can know exactly when they occur and how they change during
their very brief stay. We can and should sort these out as best we can.
Be patient and precise. Become fluent in the sensations that make up
your reality.
While I have tried to avoid advocating one specific insight tradition
or technique over any other, there is an exercise that you might find
helpful when trying to do this. It is commonly called “Noting,” and it
has its origins in the Pali Canon in Sutta #111, One by One as They
Occurred, of The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (very
worthwhile reading). It is used primarily in the Mahasi Sayadaw insight
tradition from Burma, though related exercises are found in various Zen
traditions, notably Soto Zen and Korean Chan, and probably in Tibetan
Hinayana traditions as well.
Noting is the practice that got me the most breaks and insights in my
early practice, particularly when coupled with retreats, and my
enthusiasm for it is understandably extreme. I still consider it the
foundation of my practice, the technique that I fall back on when things
get difficult or when I really want to push deep into new insight territory.
Thus, of all the techniques and emphases I mention in this book, take
this one the most seriously and give it the most attention. Its simplicity
belies its astonishing power.
The practice is this: make a quiet, mental one-word note of whatever
you experience in each moment. Try to stay with the sensations of
breathing, noting these quickly as “rising” (as many times as the
sensations of the breath rising are experienced) and then “falling” in the
same way. This could also be considered fundamental insight practice
instructions. When the mind wanders, notes might include “thinking,”
“feeling,” “pressure,” “tension,” “wandering,” “anticipating,” “seeing,”
“hearing,” “cold,” “hot,” “pain,” “pleasure,” etc.
Note these sensations
0ne by one as they occur and then return to the sensations of breathing.
Here are some valuable tips for successful noting. Don’t get too
neurotic about whether or not you have exactly the correct word for
what arises. The noting should be as consistent and continuous as
possible, perhaps one to five times per second. Speed and an ability to
keep noting no matter what arises are very important. Anything that
derails your noting practice deserves aggressive and fearless noting the
next time it arises. Note honestly and precisely. So long as you note
whatever arises, you know that you were mindful of it.
Noticing each sensation and those that follow, you will see their true nature. Seeing
their true nature, you will gain profound insights.
What the sensations are doesn't matter one bit from the point of
view of noting practice. What is important is that you know what they
are. The difference between these two perspectives should be clearly
understood. This practice is directly related to Koan practices such as
“what is it?” and is loosely related to breathing exercises where you count breaths from 1 to 10.
.
That was almost all he ever said. It was amazing how easy it was to forget that simple instruction, and equally amazing how extremely useful
it was when I remembered to follow it. He didn't seem to care about
anything other than that I get to know my reality as it was with great
precision and consistency. I knew very little theory then, but during
those two weeks I practiced noting quickly all day long and made the
fastest progress I have ever made in my life, getting all the way to the
very brink of first awakening in a mere 14-day retreat. Since that time, I
have been a big fan of this particularly direct and down-to-earth method.
There are many techniques for waking up to the truth of our
experience, of which noting is just one. I have found it to be extremely
powerful and fast, but each person must find what works for them. The
trick is to get to know one's reality as it is, and what techniques one uses
to do this do not matter much so long as they work and bring results.
What is meant by “results” will be clearly spelled out in The Progress of
Insight in Part III
INVESTIGATION OF THE TRUTH
Once we start to know what our objects are, what our actual reality
is, then we can get down to the good stuff: knowing the truth of these
things, called appropriately investi gatio n of the truth , also called
investigation of the dharma. Dharma just means truth. So, once
mindfulness has made things a bit clearer we can know that things come and go, don't satisfy and ain't us. Hey, the Three Characteristics again!
They are the truth, the sooner we understand this the better, and nothing helps us understand them like seeing them again and again. Forgive this brief digression, but I am no fan of the popular term “mindfulness meditation,” as mindfulness is essential for both concentration practices (which lead to temporary bliss states) and insight
practices (which lead to fundamental freedom). The crucial difference between these meditation practices is that insight practices also stress
investigation of the Three Characteristics, whereas concentration practices emphasize stabilizing in the illusion of solidity and continuity
while ignoring the fact that the sensations that make up this are all impermanent, etc. Thus, I hope that one day the modern meditation
world drops this confusing term in favor of more precise language.
In addition to the categories of sensations mentioned above in
Mindfulness, one could also consider consistent investigation of all
sensations that seem to have to do with the direction and movement of
attention, as well as investigating all sensations that have to do with
questioning, wanting, the application of energy and even the individual
sensations that make up the process of investigation itself. These are
very interesting objects, as are “the hindrances.”
Traditionally, books on meditation spend a lot of time discussing
the possible hindrances to meditation. I will not. The hindrances are an
important topic, but they can easily begin to seem more ominous than
they really are. Hindrances are just anything of which we were not
mindful and of which we did not investigate the truth. Now that we
know to be mindful and investigate the Three Characteristics of all
moment-to-moment experiences, there will only be hindrances when we
forget to do this.
If we do not forget to do this, there will be no hindrances. No
phenomena are inherently a hindrance unless we do not understand
them. If we did not understand at least one of the Three Characteristics
of each of the sensations that make up a phenomenon, no matter what
it was, it was a hindrance. Remember that the content of reality is not
our concern in insight meditation, but the ultimate truth of the
sensations that make up experiential reality is. So whatever seems to be
in the way of your practice, remember that the experience of that moment is the practice and contains all the truth you could ever need!
All phenomena are of the nature of ultimate truth. When we know deeply that these are all of the nature of ultimate truth, phenomena cease to be a fundamental problem.
The Buddha was a master of teaching through analogies that were
easily accessible to those listening to him.
I am certainly not in his
league in this regard, and this will be clearly demonstrated by the analogy I am about to use for investigation. However, it has its points,
and so after much consideration, I have included it here. The Buddha gave his analogies names, and I have named this one
“The Analogy of Shootin’ Aliens.” Bear with me here! Just about all of us in this day and age have at least seen if not played video games
involving shooting aliens. As the game goes on, the aliens come in faster and faster, some taking multiple hits to kill them. Some of these games
penalize us for wasting ammunition, causing us to really focus on exactly
where and when these aliens are arising, so that we may shoot them
exactly when they arise as efficiently as possible before they shoot us.
A few of you may already be thinking, “Get that bloody and violent
analogy out of this book of holy wisdom!” The Buddha used many
similar analogies, one of which comes to mind is has to do with a horse trainer (teacher) who kills horses that simply will not be broken (stops teaching unreachable students). Thus, you pansy critics can all drop dead. Anyway, in this analogy the aliens are all of the little sensations that
make up our experience. Shooting them is paying attention to them and seeing their true nature, perhaps with the aid of noting practice (like a
gun with laser sight on it). The aliens shooting us is what happens when we do not see their true nature, as they become a hindrance, binding us
on the wheel of suffering for the duration of our inability to shoot them. Some may even take us out of the game (cause us stop practicing
entirely). The aliens that take multiple hits to kill are our big issues, those things that are difficult for us to break into their composite
sensations. Being penalized for shooting wastefully is what can happen if
we note sensations that we didn’t actually experience because we fell
into repetitive, imprecise, mantra-like noting habits.
Further, the speed, precision and playful attitude required for video
games is exactly like the feel of well-done insight practices. If you watch
some kid playing a fast alien-shooting game, you will notice that they are
really going for it. They are shooting very fast and definitely not thinking
about anything but doing that. This is exactly the sort of dedication and
passion that helps with insight practices.
When our mindfulness and investigation are on hair trigger, being
aware of every little sensation that arises and passes, we are bound to
win sooner or later. The motto, “Note first, ask questions later,” is just
so helpful if we are to keep practicing precisely without getting lost in
the stories. Again, off the cushion the stories can have some value if not
taken too seriously. On the cushion, take no prisoners: “Note ‘em all,
and let God sort ‘em out!” This is seemingly extreme but actually very
powerful and profound advice. Do not dismiss easily The Analogy of
Shootin’ Aliens.
Where the Analogy of Shootin’ Aliens breaks down is that all these
aliens want is attention and acceptance. They come to us so that we will
greet them clearly and openly, but if we fail to do this they can get very
troublesome. Their little alien hearts are being broken when we don’t
get to know them as they are, so who can blame them when they get
mischievous and try to trick us into paying more attention to them by
causing trouble. Sure, it’s a bit childish of them, but we don’t always get
to meet mature and well-adjusted aliens.
Thus, rather than killing our aliens by shooting them, we give them
what they want by noticing or noting them. We don’t invite the pretty
ones to stay with us forever, nor do we ignore the boring aliens. We
don’t kick the ugly ones from our door either. Like a politician on the
campaign trail, we extend a hand to all, say, “Hello!” and then quickly
do this for lots of others. When we meet them, greet them, get to know,
accept and even love them, they go away happy. I realize that I’ve just
gone from being excessively violent to being excessively sentimental, but
somewhere in there is what insight practices are all about.
I have already mentioned numerous possible exercises, perspectives
and emphases that may be used when exploring our reality for the
purpose of awakening, and I will continue to mention more as we go
along. However, I recommend that the foundation of your practice be
investigation of the Three Characteristics of the sensations that make up
your reality. If you find it too complicated to try to investigate all Three
Characteristics at once, then I recommend quick and precise
investigation of impermanence. If this seems too difficult, I have found
the simple practice of noting very quickly to be more than sufficiently
powerful for gaining clear and direct insights into the true nature of
thing. Should you find that the numerous instructions and avenues of
inquiry I present to be too confusing, remember this paragraph and
stick to these simple but profound practices. “When in doubt, note it
out!”
ENERGY
So, we diligently investigate the ultimate truth of our experience, and
this can actually be really invigorating once we get into it. Just as playing
video games can be very exciting, we have lots of sensations coming in
all the time that are just screaming to be understood. When we rise to
this challenge, things can really begin to jump. Once we have sorted out
what is mind and what is body and begun to see a bit of the Three
Characteristics, this in itself can produce lots of ener gy , the third of the
seven factors. This can be just a bit scary at first until we get used to how
quick and powerful our minds can be. As mentioned in the Five
Spiritual Faculties, energy is a very good thing, as it obviously energizes
our practice. We can almost always call up just a bit more energy when
we need it, and this is a good thing to realize. However, being mindful
and investigating diligently can also lead to increased energy, so now you
have more than one way to go about this! Thank you, Seven Factors of
Enlightenment!
RAPTURE
When energy comes on line with mindfulness and investigation, this
can produce something called rapture . Rapture has two general
meanings, the first of which relates to deep joy, pleasure, and
enthusiasm. These are valuable spiritual qualities, and Ye of Dark
Puritanical Inklings take heed of this! It is much easier going on the
spiritual path if we are generally enthusiastic about what we are doing.
This should be no surprise, but somehow it is often overlooked. I'm
definitely not advocating hedonistic Epicureanism here, but to walk the
spiritual path with a sense of joy, a sense of wonder, a bit of a smile and
especially a sense of humor is really good for you and everyone who has
to be near you. Sure, there will be hard times and difficulties that can
have good lessons to teach us, but be open to what joy and happiness
life can bring.
Spiritual practice can also produce all kinds of odd experiences,
some of which can be very intense, bizarre and far out. This is the other
connotation of the word rapture, as these are commonly referred to as
“raptures.” Some of these might be really pleasant, some may just be
weird, and some might completely suck. All the strange physical
sensations, pains, pleasures, movements, visions, lights, perception
distortions, etc., which may or may not show up as a result of spiritual
practice are all just raptures. Repeat, just raptures. Don't get hung up on
them or make stories out of them, as compelling as they can be, and
don't think that they are required either: they aren't. The sensations that
make them up come, go, ain't you, and don't satisfy. Most are just
byproducts of meditation and strong concentration. Many produce no
wisdom. Some, of course, can provide deep insights into the truth of
things, but don't get stuck on these. Many of these lessons show up once
and never again.
Some people can get so serious and fixated on suffering that they
fight the pleasant raptures and even cling to the difficult ones. Don't do
this! The joy and pleasure that may arise in meditation has wonderful
healing aspects to it, and it can lead to deep tranquility, concentration
and equanimity, which are all really good things. Don't cling to pleasant
states either, as you will just get stuck and be frustrated when they end,
which they always do. In general, if you try to fight or cling to raptures
you will get stuck, and if you can accept them as they are this will be of
benefit. See equanimity at the end of this list, as well as the expertly
written Chapter 9 of A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield.
This is a good place for me to mention the concept of vedena,
which is a Pali word that relates to the degree of pleasantness,
unpleasantness or neutrality of a sensation. If one pays too much
exclusive attention to sensations that are either pleasant, unpleasant, or
neutral, while ignoring the other sensations going on at that time, then
one is likely to be missing many opportunities for insight. Preoccupation
with pleasant sensations can cause one to become a vapid bliss-junkie.
Preoccupation with unpleasant sensations can cause one to become
dark and depressed. Preoccupation with neutral sensations can cause
one to become dull and emotionally flat. (Thanks to the esteemed
Christopher Titmuss for the inspiration for this paragraph). Our
experience tends to be a complex mixture of many flavors of sensations.
They are all quite worthy of investigation.
The take-home message here is that rapture and raptures are to be
understood as they are and related to wisely, accepting all sensations that
make them up, be they pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Learn when to
put the breaks on practice if the difficult raptures are teaching you their
important lessons a bit too fast for you to keep it together, and learn
how to open to the wonderful joy and bliss which spiritual practice may
sometimes produce.
TRANQUILITY
Joy, bliss and rapture can produce tranqu ility . We can associate
being peaceful with tranquility. Focusing on tranquility and a more
spacious and silent perspective in the face of difficult raptures can help
you ride them out, and just sitting silently and observing reality do its
thing can be very powerful practice. There are actually whole schools of
spiritual practice dedicated to this. Thus, tranquility is a really good
thing in meditation. We may think of great spiritual masters being
internally tranquil, and while it may or may not be true, there are
reasons why we associate tranquility with spirituality. A mind that is not
tranquil will have a harder time concentrating and being balanced. It is
just as simple as that. Being kind and moral can help with tranquility, as
this lessens the harsh thought patterns in our minds.
This does not mean that non-tranquil moments are not “spiritual”
or that we must adopt some sort of restrained and artificial flatness.
Remember, all types of sensations, mind states and actions are valid
phenomena for investigation and real expressions of what is going on.
Real tranquility comes from a deep understanding of all of this, but all
too often this ideal becomes some sort of dehumanizing exercise in
passivity. Real tranquility often comes naturally, though it may be
skillfully cultivated as well. Cultivating equanimity of the kind
mentioned later is helpful for cultivating tranquility, as is deepening in
pure concentration practices, the second spiritual training. Tranquility,
concentration and equanimity are intimately related.
CONCENTRATION
Co ncentrati on we have seen twice before, and we will see it again
in much more detail in Part III. One of the challenges of deep
tranquility is keeping the mind concentrated. This may seem like a
direct contradiction to what I have just said, but there may be stages of
practice where there can be so much tranquility that the mind can get
quite dull and hard to focus. So, just as tranquility is good for
concentration and acceptance, too much is similar to not having enough
energy. Remember, balance and strengthen, strengthen and balance.
As these are the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, they apply directly
to insight practices, training in wisdom. Thus, the concentration being
referred to here is a very different kind of concentration than that used
for attaining high concentration states. It is called “momentary
concentration.” In the context of insight, concentration really means that
we are able to very consistently investigate each sensation that arises, one
after the other. In this way, we have stability of our ability to investigate,
in that it can happen again and again without interruption, but we are
not trying to attain stable states or anything else, as we are doing insight
practices.
EQUANIMITY
As mentioned before, concentration can produce great stability of
mind, and this can lead to equa nimity . Equanimity is that quality of
mind that is okay with things, or balanced in the face of anything, even a
lack of equanimity. This may sound a bit strange, but it is well worth
considering. Equanimity also relates to a lack of struggle even when
struggling, to effortlessness even in effort, to peacefulness even when
there is not tranquility. When equanimity is really well developed, one
is not frightened of being afraid, worried by being concerned, irritated
by being irritated, pissed off at being angry, etc. The fundamental nature
of the mind is imperturbable and absolutely equanimous; phenomena
do not disturb space or even fundamentally disturb themselves from a
certain point of view.
There are actually whole spiritual traditions that involve just tuning
into this basic truth. There can be great value in learning to see the
space around things, rather than just being caught up in the things
themselves. A useful phrase from one of these traditions is “cultivating
space-like meditative equipoise.” The more we habituate this way of
being, the more we connect with the truth of our minds.
There are also some really excellent teachings, especially from Zen
and Daoism (also spelled Taoism), that relate to this, such as the
teachings about no defilements, no enlightenment (or practice is
enlightenment), nothing to perfect, no where to go, etc., and checking in
with some of these teachings can be very helpful. This is the important
counterbalance to spiritual striving and gung-ho practice that can get
very future-oriented if done incorrectly. In the end, even if you have all
kinds of insights, if you don't have equanimity, you will be beating your
head against a wall, and it actually might feel like that or worse.
Once again we are back to knowing this moment just as it is. This
“just as it is” quality is related to mindfulness and also to equanimity. In
the end, we have to just accept the truth of our lives, of our minds, of
our neuroses, of our defilements, of impermanence, of suffering, and of
egolessness. We have to accept this, and this is what they are talking
about when they say “just open to it,” “just be with it,” “just let it be,”
“just let it go,” and all of that.
From a pure insight practice point of view, you can’t ever
fundamentally “let go” of anything, so I sometimes wish the popularity
of this misleading and indifference-producing admonition would
decline, or at least be properly explained. However, if you simply
investigate the truth of the Three Characteristics of the sensations that
seemed to be a solid thing, you will come to the wondrous realization
that reality is continually “letting go” of itself! Thus, “let it go” at its best
actually means, “don’t give a bunch of transient sensations an excessive
sense of solidity.” It does not mean, “stop feeling or caring,” nor does it
mean, “pretend that the noise in your mind is not there.”
If people start with “just open to it” and yet don't develop strong
mindfulness, look into the Three Characteristics and gain deep insights,
then their practice may be less like meditation and a lot more like
psychotherapy, day dreaming, or even self-absorbed, spiritually-
rationalized, neurotic indulgence in mind noise. It was noticing the high
prevalence of this activity and the pervasive and absurd notion that there
was no point in trying to get enlightened that largely demolished my
vision of being a happy meditation teacher in some mainstream
meditation center somewhere.
Psychotherapy, on the other hand, can be a fine undertaking, but it
is a completely different endeavor from meditation and falls squarely in
the domain of the first training. I do not, however, advocate wallowing
in self-absorbed mind noise, and anyone who has been to a small group
meeting on a meditation retreat knows what I am talking about. This is
what happens when people don’t ground the mind in the object of
meditation.
On the other hand, even if you gain all kinds of strong
concentration, look deeply into impermanence, suffering and no-self,
but can't just open to these things, can't just let them be, can't accept the
sometimes absurd and frightening truths of your experience, then you
will likely be stuck in hell until you can, particularly in the higher stages
of insight practices.
Reflect on these previous three paragraphs now and often, as many,
many errors on the spiritual path come from not understanding the
points made therein. Too often there is an imbalance between the first
three (mindfulness, investigation, and energy), and the last three
(tranquility, concentration and equanimity). The vast majority of
aspiring insight meditators are, to be honest, way, way, way too slack
about the first three. Just so, some gung-ho meditators get into trouble
when they don't cultivate enough acceptance, balance and peace, related
to the second three. When people focus only on the middle factor,
rapture, they become vapid bliss-junkies. In short, all seven factors are
very important.
The order here is important. Start with good technique,
mindfulness, investigation, etc., and work on the others along the way.
In summary, you must have both insights and acceptance, and each
perspective can and should help the other along the way. They are
actually one and the same.
One last thing about equanimity: its near enemy, its deadening
imposter, is indifference. Real equanimity is accepting of the full range
of the heart and experience, whereas indifference is dry, flat and
heartless. This point is frequently misunderstood. However, being
accepting of the full range of the heart doesn't mean always acting on
whatever impulse comes up. Act only on the impulses of the heart that
seem skillful and kind.
To balance and perfect the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, you
guessed it, is sufficient cause for awakening. Thus, checking in from
time to time with this little list and seeing how you are doing and what
might need some improvement is a good idea, and just having this list in
the back of your mind somewhere can be helpful.
It is important to note that only one factor, investigation of the
Three Characteristics, separates training in concentration from training
in fundamental insight. When purposefully training in concentration, we
decide to be mindful of a limited and specific concentration object, such
as the breath or even a rarified state of consciousness. We do not,
however, investigate the individual sensations that make up that state, as
it would break apart under that investigation and produce insights. If we
are not looking for ultimate insights at that point in time, then we should
avoid investigating that state. However, we do apply energy to stabilize
our concentration, and this produces rapture, a characteristic of the
early concentration states. We also cultivate concentration very strongly,
obviously, and also tranquility and equanimity, which help us stabilize
early states and attain to higher ones. Thus, six of the Seven Factors of
Enlightenment are cultivated by training in concentration, and it is often
recommended as a preliminary training before training in insight for this
and other reasons.
Training in morality also cultivates some of the Seven Factors of
Enlightenment, though in a less formally meditative way. In order to
work well in the ordinary world, it is very helpful to be mindful of what
we are doing, saying and thinking and also what effects these produce in
the world so that we can consciously work to craft the life we want to
lead as best we can. It is helpful to exert energy as we craft our life for
obvious reasons. We can also cultivate tranquility, the ability to not take
life too seriously, to relax, finding that balance of focus and ease that
makes for a good life. We can learn to concentrate on staying on track
with our tasks, goals and aspirations, though in this case concentration is
more like a form of discipline than the concentration of formal
meditation, though discipline of action, speech and mind is vital for the
other two trainings. Finally, we can learn that we cannot get rid of all of
the bumps on our road, so having the shock absorbers of equanimity,
the ability to stay spacious and accepting of what happens, is also very
helpful for crafting a good and healthy life.
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