Four Determinations in One

Determination is one of the perfections. In fact, it’s probably the central perfection. The Buddha’s determination to become awakened drove his pursuit of all his other perfections. He had to work on that determination, make up his mind that that was his primary desire, and he would do whatever it took to attain it.

What’s interesting is that the Buddha discusses determination in only one place in the Canon. He says there are four determinations: discernment, truth, relinquishment, and stilling. It’s interesting that endurance is not listed among them.

When you determine on something, you’d think that endurance would be the primary quality you need to stick with whatever has to be done and you bear with whatever difficulties are entailed. But instead, the Buddha places primary emphasis on discernment. It’s first in the list, and when he discusses the four, it’s the only one he discusses in any detail.

He treats the determinations in two ways. On the one hand, there are the determinations as qualities you develop, and they have verbs that go with them: You don’t neglect discernment. You guard the truth. You’re devoted to relinquishment, and you train only for stilling.

Those are determinations as means.

Then, as ends, the highest noble discernment is the discernment that lets go of the defilements—that final act when all the defilements are abandoned. The highest noble truth is nibbāna because it’s totally undeceptive. The highest noble relinquishment, again, is the relinquishment of your defilements. And the highest noble stilling is the stilling of nibbāna.

Of those four, two are attributes of nibbāna and two are attributes of the final act before attaining nibbāna. Nibbāna itself is true and still. The discernment and relinquishment are the things that you do at the very last moment before attaining nibbāna.

So this is a high-level teaching. When the Buddha discusses it, it’s primarily in the context of meditation—developing concentration and discernment at the same time. All this comes under the heading of not neglecting discernment.

He discusses the six elements, or six properties, as topics of concentration. In getting the mind focused, on the one hand, you develop the focus of the concentration, and then you contemplate each element, one by one, to see that it’s not worthy of attachment. So it’s a practice of concentration in tandem with discernment, or tranquility in tandem with insight.

He starts with earth. You focus on the fact that you’ve got a solid body here, made out of solid parts. But then you contemplate the fact that the solid parts inside your body are no different from the solid things in the world outside. And what of that solidity is really you or yours? Nothing, really. You can’t depend on it.

The external earth element is subject to very wide swings. So what is there of the puny part of earth here in the body that you can control? Not much. So you let it fade from your mind.

Then you focus on water, and it’s the same sort of thing. The liquids in the body are no different from liquids outside. They’re no more stable, they’re no more reliable, they’re not really you or yours. So you let water fade from your mind.

Then you go to fire: the warmth in the body. Again, it’s the same as the warmth outside—out of your control. So you drop that.

Then there’s wind, which includes the breath. Same contemplation: There’s no difference between wind in your body and wind outside. So you let that fade from your mind.

Then you focus on space: space inside the body, space outside the body—no difference. You let that go; you let it fade from your mind.

That leaves pure consciousness. And here the analysis changes. The question now is, what does this consciousness cognize? Well, it knows feelings: pleasant feelings, painful feelings, neutral feelings. You see how they arise, you see how they come from contact, and you see how they end when the contact ends.

So you let go of those feelings. The consciousness then is totally equanimous. You realize you could take that equanimity and apply it to any of the perceptions that would lead you to the formless dimensions—infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception nor non-perception—and you could stay there for a very long time. But then you realize that even those are fabricated. And anything that’s fabricated is unreliable. So here the emphasis is not so much on not-self; it’s more on inconstancy, stress.

When it really hits home that no matter where you go, it’s going to be fabricated, the mind finally has no desire to fabricate for becoming or for not-becoming. When there’s no desire for fabrication, the mind is released.

At this point, the Buddha says you’ve completed not only the duty with regard to discernment, but also the duties that fulfill all the other determinations as well. Truth, in the sense that you’re looking for what’s really dependable—if something is not dependable, you don’t want to rely on it. So you keep digging away, digging away, throwing away, throwing away things that are undependable.

Relinquishment: Whatever’s not dependable, you don’t want to be in a position where you have to depend on that, so you let it go. As for stilling, the mind gets more and more still as the relinquishing gets it deeper and deeper into concentration. Then, when the defilements are gone, that’s the ultimate stilling.

So that’s how, as you don’t neglect discernment, you’re also guarding the truth, devoted to relinquishment, and you train only for stilling.

Now, these are instructions on meditation—very high-level instructions. And it’s interesting that this is the only place in the whole Canon where the Buddha uses the six elements as topics for concentration.

It’s very similar to how Ajaan Lee and Ajaan Fuang would teach the topic, except they would take the four physical elements in the opposite order. They’d start with breath, then go to fire, liquid, solid, and then space.

But as for determinations in other levels of your life, other levels of your practice, the same principles hold. After all, what does it mean not to neglect discernment? You keep in mind the question that lies at the beginning of discernment: “What, when I do it, will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?”

So you keep that determination in mind, that you want to go for long-term, not just the short-term. And in doing so, you have to look at what in yourself or in your surroundings you can really rely on. What is true in you? What’s the most reliable thing in you?

We have a lot of things we’re attached to because we hope we can rely on them. And yet, we know deep down inside that they’re risky. But because we don’t think there’s anything else we can depend on, we keep holding on.

Yet here the Buddha is saying that there are other things inside that you can rely on, things more reliable than things outside. They’re qualities of mind you can develop.

That pure consciousness the Buddha talks about: It’s interesting that he switches his analysis from not-self to stressful and inconstant. He doesn’t say, though, that the consciousness element is your awakened consciousness. After all, it, too, is fabricated. It, too, as long as you have to put it on something, has to be established. Well, whatever you put it on is going to be unreliable.

But you work on the qualities of the path, as the Buddha said: This is your way out. Even though the path itself is fabricated, it takes you out to something that’s unfabricated and more reliable. So you hold on to the path; you hold on to good qualities of the mind: the best things you’ve got.

Other things can be taken away from you, but these qualities of the mind: Nobody can take them away from you. You lose them only if you throw them away. So you have to be willing to let go of other things. There are a lot of things that we really like in life, but if we hold on to them, they leave us exposed.

This is what this analysis is all about. If you hold on to things that are risky, you’re going to be threatened. Try to find something inside that’s really solid. And you find that the ultimate solidity is what brings your mind peace.

So aim for what’s peaceful. You may say, “Well, I have other aims in my life.” But to whatever extent you have other aims in your life, you’re leaving yourself exposed, so be forewarned.

The Buddha is not saying, “Don’t aim at those other things.” After all, he’s not your father; he’s not a god who created you. He can’t tell you what to do, but he can tell you that it’s not in your best interest to leave yourself exposed. So be willing to let go of the things that leave you exposed.

And learn how to appreciate the mind when it’s really still, because when it’s really still, it opens up to something that is totally unfabricated. It goes deeper even than the pure consciousness of the consciousness element.

So there are absolute ways of practicing these determinations, and more relative ways. But understand the basic principle, apply the basic principle, and you find that, wherever you apply them, these teachings really are for your long-term welfare and happiness. Use your discernment to think long-term, look for what’s reliable, let go for anything that’s unreliable, and focus on bringing the mind to stillness. That’s where your real long-term happiness lies.