Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Breath of Love - Five Aggregates

The Breath of Love
Author
Most Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi Mahàthera



Five Aggregates

This  psycho-physical  process  is  made  up  of  five  different
aggregates  which  are  affected  by  craving  and  clinging.  The
meditator  has  a  physical  body,  feeling  (both  mental  and
physical),  perception  (a  process  of  naming  things),  thoughts,
and consciousness. Knowing this, you can clearly see that feeling
is one thing and thoughts are another.
Unfortunately,  all  of  us  have  developed  the  habit  of  trying  to
think feeling away. This only makes the feeling bigger and more
intense. As a result, more pain and suffering arise.
When you practice the Buddha’s meditation method, you begin
to understand and let go of this old habit of thinking the feeling.
Thus, when a feeling arises, no matter whether it is physical or
emotional,  first,  let  go  of  any  thoughts  about  the  feeling  and
relax  the  tightness  in  your  head  caused  by  that  movement  of
mind’s attention.
Next, let go of that tight mental hold around that feeling. Now
relax  the  tightness  in  the  head  and  feel  mind  expand.  Notice
it  becomes  calm  and  tranquil.  Next,  smile  and  redirect  mind’s
attention back to the breath and relaxing.
When you do this, you are seeing the true nature of that feeling:
It  wasn’t  there.  Then,  it  arose  by  itself,  i.e.  this  is  change  or
impermanence. You certainly do not request for this incredibly
painful  sensation  to  arise,  nor  do  you  ask  at  that  time  to  feel
angry,  sad,  fearful,  depressed,  doubtful  or  whatever  the  “catch
of the day” happens to be.
A feeling arises by itself, without your desire for it to arise. They
last as long as they last. The more you try to control, fight with,
or push away a feeling or you try to think the feeling away, the
longer it stays and becomes much bigger and extra intense.


This  is  because  whenever  you  want  to  control  a  feeling,  you
are  identifying  with  that  sensation  or  emotion  as  being  yours
personally (craving)! You tend to think about how much it hurts,
where it came from, why it has to bother you now? “Oh! I hate
that feeling and I want it to go away.”
Every thought about the feeling is the ego-identification (which
is  craving  and  then  clinging)  with  that  feeling.  Every  time  you
try to resist what is happening in the present moment, you are
fighting  with  the  “Dhamma  of  the  Present  Moment”.  You  are
fighting with the Truth!
When a painful or even a pleasant feeling arises, the Truth is—it
is there. Any resistance, trying to control it, wishing it away with
thoughts, or fighting that feeling in any way, only causes more
suffering to arise. Actually whenever a feeling arises, you open
mind, let go of the want to control, lovingly accept the fact that
this feeling is there, and relax and smile—allow it to be there by
itself.
“Don’t Resist Or Push. Soften and Smile”. This DROPSS is the
key to having an accepting open mind which later develops into
equanimity. Any slight resistance or tightness means that there
is some craving or ego-identification still attached to it.
Let’s  say  that  a  friend  or  a  boss  came  up  and  scolded  you  in
the  early  morning  after  you  went  to  work.  What  happened  to
your  mind?  If  you  were  like  most  people—you  would  have
scolded them back because you were angry and ready to fight
back.  When  the  friend  or  boss  went  away,  what  did  you  think
about?  What  you  said?  What  your  friend,  or  boss  said?  What
you should have said? “I’m right for feeling the way I do and for
what I said. They are wrong for what they said and did.“ And so
it goes on in your mind. This feeling of anger is strong and there


were thoughts which were attached to that feeling.
After a little while you distract yourself with some other activities.
But the anger is still there and if someone comes to talk to you,
chances are good that you will complain about your other friend
or boss who scolded you.
So, at that time you are giving your dissatisfaction and anger to
someone else and that affects them in a negative way. At different
times  during  the  day,  these  feelings  and  the  thoughts  that  are
attached  to  them  arise.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  thoughts  are
just like they were recorded on a cassette tape with a permanent
loop going around and around.
They  come  back  in  the  same  order  and  with  exactly  the  same
words.  After  the  end  of  the  day  you  would  have  distracted
yourself so much that this feeling doesn’t come up so often. Then
comes the time to sit in meditation and purify mind. But what
arises? This feeling of anger, and the associated thoughts come
up! Thus, here we go again.
But this time, you 6R as you let go of getting involved with those
feelings  and  thoughts,  you  begin  to  relax.  Seeing  that  these
thoughts  cause  the  feeling  to  grow,  you  then  begin  to  soften
mind’s attention. “Never mind! It just isn’t that important.” You
Soften... “Let it be”... open mind and let go of that tight mental
knot around these thoughts and gently relax the tightness in your
head. You let go of the aversion to the feeling and you feel mind
begin  to  relax,  then  expand,  become  calm,  and  you  smile,  and
then  redirect  mind’s  attention  back  to  the  breath  and  relaxing.
What a relief!
Now  gently  go  back  to  the  breath  and,  on  the  in-breath  relax
the  tightness  in  the  head;  on  the  out-breath  relax  the  tightness


in the head. Always you are feeling mind open up, expand, and
become tranquil, and then you smile.
Then, the anger comes up again, and so, again you do the same
thing. You let it be there by itself without getting involved with
the  thinking  about  it...  open  and  relax  the  mental  hold  on  it...
relax the tightness in the head... smile… softly re-direct mind’s
attention  back  to  the  breath  and  relaxing  again.  This  is  the
process of the 6R’s.
It doesn’t matter how many times mind’s attention goes back to
that feeling of anger. It is treated in the same way every time. You
are not taking that feeling personally when you let the feeling be
there by itself and relax.
Thus,  there  is  no  ego-identification  (craving  or  clinging)  with
that  feeling.  This  is  seeing  the  true  nature  of  that  feeling,  isn’t
it? The feeling wasn’t there before, but now it is. This is seeing
impermanence.  When  that  feeling  arises,  it  takes  away  the
tranquility and peace. That is definitely painful, a true form of
suffering. When you allow the feeling to be there by itself without
getting  involved  or  thinking  about  it  and  you  open  your  mind
and relax the tightness away and smile, you are experiencing the
impersonal nature (anattà) at that time.
Thus, when you practice “Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation”
(TWIM), you continually experience the Three Characteristics of
Existence: impermanence, suffering, and the impersonal nature
of everything (anicca, dukkha, anattà).
As  you  continue  to  relax  mind’s  attention  and  let  go  of  any
distraction,  attachment  (craving)  becomes  smaller  and  weaker.
Finally it doesn’t have enough strength to arise anymore. When
this happens, mind becomes filled with relief and joy arises.


Letting go of attachment (craving) means you become secluded
from unwholesome states. When you let go and joy arises, it lasts
for a period of time. After that, mind becomes very tranquil and
happy (sukha). Now, you will experience a mind which stays on
the object of meditation very easily. When this is done repeatedly,
mind will naturally become calm and collected by itself. At that
time,  you  begin  to  develop  some  equanimity  and  balance  of
mind.
“The monk enters upon and abides in the first Jhàna (meditation
stage),  which  is  accompanied  by  thinking  and  examining
thought, with joy and happiness born of seclusion.”
All of these different factors make up what is commonly called
the first Jhàna (meditation stage of understanding). At that time
there can still exist some very small wandering thoughts. If mind
wanders  away  from  the  breath  and  relaxing,  you  can  easily  let
that  distraction  go  and  relax  mind,  then  smile.  The  wandering
thoughts are noticed very quickly.
Simply let go. Relax the tightness and smile before coming back
to  the  breath  and  relaxing.  Some  meditation  teachers  call  this
‘access  concentration’.  But  actually  they  are  looking  at  things
from  the  viewpoint  of  “concentration  meditation”  and  not
“Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation” (TWIM).
Thinking and examining thought are descriptions of the thinking
mind  and  discursive  thinking  (wandering  thoughts).  Some
translations call this initial and sustained thought, thinking and
pondering.
There can still be directed thoughts in each one of the different
Jhànas  (meditation  stages  of  understanding).  The  difference
between directed thought and wandering thoughts is: Directed


thought is about what is happening to you in the present moment.
With  wandering  thoughts,  you  think  about  what  happened  in
the past or what will happen in the future, or daydream about
what you would like to see.
Observation  thoughts  are  a  little  different.  For  instance,  ‘mind
feels very happy right now’, ‘mind is very calm’, ‘body feels very
still and peaceful right now’, etc. This is another way of looking
at examining thought.
Thinking  thought  is  mind  that  notices  when  mind’s  attention
is  distracted  and  brings  the  attention  back  to  the  breath  and
relaxing.  Examining  thought  is  mind  that  stays  on  the  breath
and  relaxing  without  slipping  away  again  and  it  also  has  the
thoughts of what is happening in the present moment.
When mind’s attention begins to stay on the object of meditation
for longer and longer periods of time, relief and joy will become
quite strong. You will naturally feel like smiling because the joy
is such a pleasurable feeling in both mind and body.
At  that  time,  the  body  and  the  mind  feel  very  light  until  it  is
almost  like  floating.  This  is  quite  a  pleasant  experience.  Some
meditation  teachers  tell  their  students  that  when  joy  arises,
“Don’t  Be  Attached!”  So,  these  students  become  fearful  of  that
joy and try to push it away so that they won’t possibly have the
chance to become attached.
However,  this  is  not  the  correct  thing  to  do  because  it  doesn’t
matter  what  kind  of  feeling  arises,  either  pleasurable,  painful,
or neutral, your job is to see that mind stays on the breath and
relaxing and allow those feelings to be there by themselves.
If mind’s attention is pulled away by a feeling, simply let it be


there by itself and relax the tightness in the head, feel mind open
and expand, then go back to the breath. Attachment or “craving”
comes from personally getting involved with liking or disliking
what  arises  in  the  present  moment.  “Clinging”  is  the  thinking
mind  where  concepts,  opinions,  ideas,  and  the  story  about
why you like or dislike that feeling arises. You will not become
attached  when  you  allow  whatever  arises  to  be  there  by  itself,
relax and smile, and then come back to the object of meditation.
After the joy fades away, mind will become very calm, peaceful
and comfortable. It is this comfortable and tranquil feeling that
is called “happiness born of seclusion”.
At first, you can sit in this stage of meditation for 5 or 6 minutes.
You can do this for longer periods as mind becomes quieter. This
is the first Jhàna (meditation stage of understanding) and it will
arise  when  you  have  let  go  of  sensual  pleasure  for  a  period  of
time,  and  have  also  let  go  of  unwholesome  habits  or  states  of
mind (the craving and clinging) which stop the meditator from
having a mind without distractions in it.
Once you have experienced this state of calm, you will begin to
realize the reasons that you are meditating. At that time, mind is
nicely composed and happy with very few distractions. There is
more peace of mind than has ever been experienced before.
Then,  after  that  experience,  you  become  enthusiastic  and  want
it  to  happen  every  time  you  sit.  BUT,  that  very  desire  to  have
those  calm  states  of  mind  is  the  very  thing  which  stops  them
from arising! You then try even harder and put in more effort.
Unfortunately, mind only becomes more and more restless and
unsettled.
This is due to the desire for something to happen in a particular


way.  When  it  doesn’t  happen  that  way,  you  have  the  tendency
to  push  harder  and  try  to  force  things  to  become  calm  and
tranquil.
As a result of your attachment (craving and clinging), your desire
to have this occur as you want it to be, you can’t experience this
calm  stage  of  meditation  again.  This  desire  causes  you  to  lean
out of the present moment and to try to make the next present
moment the way you want it to be. When that present moment
isn’t right, you try even harder.
However, this calm state of mind will occur again when mind is
relaxed and at ease and you don’t try to push it. Just relax and
let go of that strong desire, calm down and stop expecting things
to  work  according  to  your  own  desires  and  attachments.  After
the first experience of Jhàna (meditation stage of understanding),
mind may become quite active the next time you sit in meditation.
So, laugh and let it be!
But,  now  your  mindfulness  is  sharp  and  is  able  to  recognize
when mind’s attention goes away quickly. Then you simply let it
go, open mind up, relax, smile, and return mind’s attention back
to the breath and relaxing.
Calming  and  relaxing  on  the  in-breath,  calming  and  relaxing
mind on the out-breath helps the meditation. Before long, mind
will settle down again and the joy will arise again. When this joy
fades away, you will again experience a tranquil mind that is a
very comfortable and happy feeling, as well as a mind that is still
and at ease.
At this time, you still have the experience of all the five aggregates
(these aggregates are not affected by craving or clinging). You can
still hear things, or have feelings arise in the body. For example,


you would know when a mosquito or an ant lands on you. You
may  have  some  thoughts  about  that  mosquito  or  ant,  but  you
quickly recognize that this is a distraction, you 6R, and you let
it go, relax the tension in the head and mind, smile, then softly
come back to the breath and relaxing.
As you continue to relax, open and calm mind on the in and out-
breath, eventually you will arrive at a stage where there are no
more wandering thoughts and this is when you let go of all of
your thinking thoughts. This is commonly called Noble Silence.
The joy is a little stronger here, and it lasts a little longer. When it
fades away, the comfortable feeling of happiness is stronger and
the calm mind goes deeper into the breath and relaxing.
This state is described:
“again with the stilling of thinking and examining thought, the
monk, enters and abides in the second Jhàna (meditation stage
of understanding), which has self-confidence and singleness
of  mind  without  thinking  and  examining  thought,  with  joy
and happiness born of stillness of mind.”
The  stilling  of  thinking  and  examining  thought  means  that  at
that  time,  mind  becomes  very  still  and  stays  on  the  object  of
meditation quite nicely. There is no discursive thinking about the
past or future. However, there can still be observation thoughts.
Remember that true meditation is silent, open observation.
There  is  still  feeling  in  the  body  as  all  of  the  sense  doors  are
working and the five aggregates are present. But, for example, if
a sound arises, it doesn’t make mind shake or move. You know
where you are and what you are doing.
The  self-confidence  mentioned  in  the  sutta,  comes  from  the
confidence you gain when you see clearly for yourself how well


the meditation works. The self-confidence not only arises when
you are sitting in meditation but, also during daily activities. The
singleness of mind means that mind is very calm and doesn’t run
around. Mind is very contented to stay on the breath and relaxing
and keep opening and relaxing on the in and out-breaths. These
are the descriptions of the first two Jhànas (meditation stages).
We now return to the ânàpànasati Sutta.  

He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing happiness’;
He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing happiness.’
As you continue onwards with your practice and keep calming
and relaxing mind, eventually you will reach a stage where the
feeling  of  joy  becomes  too  coarse  and  it  won’t  arise  naturally
anymore.  This  is  always  a  rather  comical  time  for  the  teacher
because the meditator comes to the teacher and says:
Student: ‘There’s something wrong with my meditation!’  
Teacher: ‘Why do you say that?’
Student: ‘I don’t feel any more joy’,
Teacher: ‘Is that bad?’
Student:  ‘No,  of  course  not,  but  still  I  don’t  feel  any  more  joy.
Why?’
Teacher:  ‘Do  you  feel  comfortable  and  more  calm  than  ever
before and does your mind have a strong sense of balance in it
and you feel very much at ease?’
Student: ‘Yes, I feel all of that, but I don’t feel any more joy!’
Teacher:  ‘Good,  continue.  Everything  is  going  along  just  fine.
Relax and stop demanding that joy arises when you want it to.’


The joy fades away by itself, and a very strong sense of equanimity
and calm becomes apparent. You can still hear sounds, and feel
contact  with  the  body  even  though  eventually  the  body  seems
to disappear. If someone were to touch you during your sitting
meditation, you would know it. It someone made a sound, you
would hear it but, your mind would not go to it. This is what is
meant when the sutta says the meditator has full awareness. It is
described as follows:
“Again,  with  the  fading  away  of  joy,  a  monk  abides  in
equanimity,  and  mindful  and  fully  aware,  still  feeling
happiness  (or  pleasure)  with  the  body,  he  enters  upon  and
abides  in  the  third  Jhàna  (meditation  stage),  on  account  of
which noble ones announce: ‘He has a pleasant abiding who
has equanimity and is mindful’.
With the description above, you can plainly see that being in the
third  Jhàna  (meditation  stage  of  understanding);  mind  is  very
clear,  alert  and  balanced.  You  are  aware  of  what  is  happening
around  you,  but  mind  stays  on  the  object  of  meditation  easily
and comfortably.
Being  alert  (being  mindful)  and  having  equanimity  in  mind  is
an unusual thing to experience because this state of meditation
is the highest and best feeling that you have ever experienced in
your whole life. Furthermore, you are not attached to it due to
the strong equanimity.
At the same time, both body and mind are exceptionally relaxed
and  at  ease.  What  a  nice  state  to  be  in!  This  is  why  this  state
is praised by noble ones. Besides this easing of the tightness in
the head, the body looses tension and the feeling of sensations
begin to disappear. This is because the tightness in mind causes
tension in the body. But now, mind is so comfortable and tension


free  that  the  tension  in  the  sensation  of  the  body  goes  away.
When this happens, the body becomes so soft and comfortable
that there is nothing to feel. However, you become aware of it if
anyone were to touch you. This is the meaning of being mindful
and fully aware. Mind knows what is happening around it but it
does not shake or become disturbed.
This is what we call experiencing happiness on the in and out-
breath.
Some  “Fixed  Concentration  Meditation”  teachers  say  that
when  one  is  in  this  state  of  Jhàna,  the  meditator  can  no  longer
experience the body or any of the sense doors. They claim that
the meditator will not know if someone were to hit them with a
stick or someone were to change their positions of their hands
and  feet.  This  is  because  their  minds  are  so  deeply  absorbed
into the object that they can’t be fully aware. This is clearly not
true in the meditation described within the suttas or if one were
practicing “Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation” (TWIM).

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