Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Breath of Love - 5 Faculties & 5 Powers

The Breath of Love
Author
Most Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi Mahàthera



The Five Faculties

“Again Udayin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to
develop the five spiritual faculties. Here a monk develops the
faculty of faith which leads to peace, leads to awakening.”
The faculty of faith is also called the faculty of confidence. As you
become interested in letting go of the pain of living, your curiosity
becomes stronger. Thus, you begin to look for a meditation teacher.
If you are fortunate enough to learn from a competent guide, you
will  begin  to  see  some  slight  changes  in  the  way  you  perceive
the world. As you begin to see this through direct practice, your
confidence  begins  to  grow.  As  a  result,  enthusiasm  towards  the
practice increases so that you will want to practice more!


“He develops the faculty of energy, which leads to peace, leads
to awakening.”
When  your  confidence  grows,  you  will  naturally  put  more
energy  into  your  practice.  You  begin  to  sit  a  little  longer  and
mind becomes a little clearer. For the beginner it is recommended
to sit not less than 30-45 minutes at a time.
When a sitting is good, please stay with that sitting for as long
as it lasts. A good sitting might last for one hour, one hour-ten
minutes, or longer. It is good to sit progressively for longer periods
of  time  and  not  worry  about  becoming  attached  to  the  sitting.
The  only  way  you  become  attached  is  by  the  thinking  about
the  meditation  instead  of  doing  the  meditation  in  the  correct
manner.  There  is  nothing  wrong  in  sitting  for  long  periods  of
time as long as you do not hurt yourself physically and you have
enough exercise.
Sitting for one or two or three hours is fine only when you are
ready  to  sit  comfortably  for  such  long  periods.  If  you  sit  in  a
way which causes pain to arise every time, then you are causing
yourself  unnecessary  physical  discomfort.  This  is  not  a  wise
thing to do, because the sitting posture should be comfortable. It
is alright if you use a stool or chair, as long as you do not lean too
much into anything. Leaning is good for sleeping and dullness,
but not for meditating! Thus, the more confidence you have, the
more  energy  you  put  into  your  practice.  Your  enthusiasm  will
naturally increase as you continue practicing.
“He develops the faculty of mindfulness which leads to peace,
leads to awakening.”
As your energy improves, your awareness and mindfulness will
naturally  become  stronger.  This  is  a  very  natural  “non-forced”


process.  Let’s  take  a  look  at  the  mind  of  an  ordinary  person,  a
person like you or me. What you find is a grasshopper mind, a
butterfly  mind,  or  one  could  also  say,  a  mad  monkey  mind.  It
is always moving, ever-jumping around. It changes its fantasies
and impulses at every moment.
Mind’s  attention  is  prey  for  all  stimuli  and  its  own  emotional
reaction  to  them.  This  is  actually  a  reaction  that  is  mostly  re-
acting to conditions the way you always act when a certain stimuli
arises. It is a chain of linked associations, hopes, fears, memories,
fantasies, or regrets that are streaming constantly through mind.
These are triggered by memories of the outside world.
Mind’s  attention  is  blindly  moving,  never-stopping,  never-
satisfied in its search for pleasure and satisfaction. It is no wonder
that mind becomes so crazy and filled with un-satisfactoriness
and was described by the early monks as a restless mad monkey
swinging from branch-to-branch in the quest for satisfying fruit
through the endless jungle of conditional events.
Thus,  when  you  first  begin  to  meditate,  mind’s  attention
naturally runs all over the place and it stays away from the object
of  meditation  for  a  long  time.  Sometimes  it  even  takes  two  or
three  minutes  before  you  are  able  to  recognize  that  it  is  being
pulled away  and then,  you gently  let  it  go, relax  the tension in
the head, calm mind, smile and re-direct mind’s attention back
to the breath and relaxing.
When this happens, this is only natural, because mind is used to
running wherever it likes to go. When it does happen, please don’t
criticize  yourself  or  beat  yourself  up  because  mind’s  attention
is so unruly. Instead, release the distraction, relax, smile as you
return back to the object of meditation and continue on.


As your practice develops and you are able to recognize and let
go more quickly, your mindfulness gradually becomes sharper.
Mind  might  only  stay  away  from  the  breath  and  relaxing  for
one  minute  before  recognizing  that  it  is  not  on  the  breath  and
relaxing.  It  then  lets  go,  relaxes,  smiles,  and  comes  back  to  the
breath and relaxes again.
At  this  time  mind’s  attention  begins  to  stay  on  the  breath
and  relaxing  for  longer  periods  of  time,  perhaps,  as  long  as
thirty  seconds,  before  it  goes  off  again.  However,  you  are  now
becoming better at seeing when mind’s attention goes away. Your
mindfulness  becomes  sharper  and  you  are  able  to  recognize
what mind is doing. Thus, when your confidence becomes better,
energy improves, and as a result, the alertness of mind naturally
develops  and  this  is  sharpening  your  mindfulness.  One  of  the
most  important  parts  of  this  meditation  is  to  realize  that  the
‘breath and relaxing’ should be your re-centering point for each
cycle.
“He  develops  the  faculty  of  collectedness  or  stillness,  which
leads to peace, leads to awakening.”
When  your  mindfulness  of  the  present  moment  improves,
mind  will  naturally  stay  on  the  object  of  meditation  for  much
longer  periods  of  time.  Most  people  would  describe  this  as
‘concentration’  but  this  is  not  an  accurate  description  because
this is not that kind of concentration. Mind is not absorbed into or
fixed on just the breath. Instead, it is very still, relaxed, composed
and stays on the breath and relaxing very well. Remember that
the breath is the reminder for the RELAX step and that is very
important.
At this time a strong feeling of joy arises and the body becomes
very  light  and  this  feels  like  floating.  When  joy  fades  away,  a


powerful  feeling  of  tranquility,  equanimity,  and  comfort  arises.
Due to your sharp awareness, you do not become involved with
these  feelings.  But  if  you  begin  to  think  or  internally  verbalize
about how nice this state is, and how much you like it, you will
lose that state and sleepiness very often comes into mind. This
is  because  you  are  caught  by  the  attachment  to  those  feelings
(craving and clinging) and it slips off the object without coming
back to the breath and relaxing.
Mindfulness  fades  away  when  you  start  to  think  or  internally
verbalize  about  things  and  you  become  involved  in  wanting
to  control  these  things  and  thoughts.  This  also  happens  when
you crave for the experience of joy and tranquility to arise. This
desire makes mind try too hard so that it can’t get back to that
experience!.  But  when  you  try  harder  and  put  in  more  energy,
the restlessness becomes bigger. Often times, you will put even
more energy into overcoming this hindrance when what is really
needed is to put in less energy and relax and smile more. Turn
your meditation into a fun game to play with instead of making
the hindrance an enemy to fight with.
These arising combinations of hindrances will stop all spiritual
practice  from  occurring  because  the  desire  for  things  to  be  in
a particular  way  (craving)  makes all  the  spiritual  development
fade away. Therefore, you must be more mindful of the thoughts
about these pleasant abidings.
As  your  confidence  and  smiling  increases,  your  energy  grows
naturally.  This  improves  your  mindfulness  which  enables  the
collectedness and stillness of mind to become stronger and last
longer.
“A  monk  develops  the  faculty  of  wisdom  (or  understanding
of how Dependent Origination occurs), which leads to peace,


leads  to  awakening  .  And  thereby  many  disciples  of  mine
abide  having  reached  the  consummation  and  perfection  of
direct knowledge.”
As your mind becomes more calm and still, you are able to see the
true nature of things. This development of wisdom or intelligence
is  gained  by  personally  seeing  things  arise  and  pass  away  by
themselves. For instance, even while you are sitting in a Jhàna [a
meditation stage of understanding] you see how joy arises. It is
there for a while, then fades away. You then see how tranquility
and  happiness  arise.  You  are  there  for  a  while  and  then,  they
fade away. You are able to see the true nature of impermanence,
even  in  the  beginning  of  your  practice,  by  observing  thoughts
arising and passing away.
You begin to observe feeling and emotions arising and passing
away.  You  will  also  notice  that  these  things  that  arise  and  pass
away  are  un-satisfactory  and  these  feelings  and  emotions
are  a  form  of  suffering,  especially  when  they  don’t  behave
in  the  way  you  want  them  to.  When  you  see  how  truly  un-
satisfactory this process is, you can then clearly see that it is an
“impersonal  process”  (anattà).  No  one  controls  the  appearance
and disappearance of these things.
Even  while  in  Jhàna  [a  meditation  stage  of  understanding]  you
have  no  real  control  over  joy  arising  because  joy  arises  when
the conditions are right for it to come up. At the same time, you
simply cannot force joy to stay because it will fade away when
the conditions are right. Whatever arises, passes away.
This causes more un-satisfactoriness to arise, because joy is such
a nice feeling! In this way, you are able to see the characteristics
of  existence  very  clearly,  i.e.  anicca  (impermanence),  dukkha
(suffering), and the impersonal nature of these things (anattà).


This is how to develop wisdom which gradually leads us to the
seeing of Dependent Origination both arising and ceasing (that
is, seeing and realizing The Four Noble Truths). An interesting
observation  found  in  the  Vinaya  is  that  you  can  see  the  three
characteristics  of  existence  without  ever  seeing  the  links
of  Dependent  Origination,  but  you  can  never  see  the  links  of
Dependent Origination without seeing the three characteristics
of  existence  (i.e.,  impermanence,  suf fering  and  the  impersonal
nature of everything) at the same time. We will discuss this in
more detail at a later time.
The Five Powers
“Again Udayin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to
develop the Five Spiritual Powers.
Here a monk develops the Power of Faith, which leads to peace,
leads to awakening.
He develops the Power of Energy, which leads to peace, leads
to awakening.
He develops the Power of Mindfulness, which leads to peace,
leads to awakening.

He develops the Power of Collectedness, which leads to peace,
and leads to awakening.
He develops the Power of Wisdom (which means seeing and
understanding  the  links  of  Dependent  Origination),  which
leads to peace, and leads to awakening.
And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the


consummation and perfection of direct knowledge.”
These are the same as the five faculties but, they are called powers
because of their ability to purify mind and make it wholesome
and clean.
We will now continue with the ânàpànasati Sutta.
14] “In this saïgha of monks there are monks who abide devoted
to the development of loving-kindness ... of compassion ... of
joy ... of equanimity ... of the meditation of foulness ... of the
perception  of  impermanence—such  monks  are  there  in  this
saïgha  of  monks.  In  this  saïgha  of  monks  there  are  monks
who  abide  devoted  to  the  development  of  mindfulness  of
breathing.
 Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity are known
as  the  Four  “Brahmà  Vihàras”  or  the  Four  Boundless  states  of
mind, or the Limitless or Immeasurable states of mind. This is
because  there  are  no  boundaries  or  limitations  on  mind  when
they are practiced.
The meditation of foulness is suitable for those who have a strong
affinity for lust arising in their minds. It is practiced by reflecting
on the elements and the disgusting nature of our body parts. For
example, when you look at a beautiful person and thoughts of lust
arise, you can imagine how desirable that person would be if all
of their body parts were to be turned inside-out! Will your mind
then think, “Oh! what a lovely intestine or liver!” or “Wow! What
beautiful bile, pus and phlegm that person has!” How much lust
is there in mind at that time? Thus, this meditation helps people
with a lustful personality to come more into balance.
The perception of impermanence does not actually refer to sitting


down and thinking about how everything changes. (Remember,
“Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation” (TWIM) is about seeing
with a silent and spacious mind). It is referring to the meditation
states of “infinite space” and “infinite consciousness” where mind
sees  just  how  fleeting  these  mental  and  physical  phenomenon
truly  are  and  you  realize  just  how  unsatisfactory  this  is.  Plus,
the biggest insight is when you realize all states of existence are
just a part of an impersonal process. In other words, you see and
understand that there is no controller and that there is no self-
making these things to arise. They arise by themselves. They are
there for a brief moment and they go away without you having
any control over what happens.
We will now proceed to the next section of the sutta which speaks
about “Mindfulness of Breathing”.

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