Inner Strengths

To train the mind, you need to make it strong. We start with the strength of conviction, the belief that the Buddha really was awakened and that what he saw about the power of human action is true: that through our efforts we can make a big difference in our lives for good or for evil. So we want to be careful. Based on that conviction, then, we try to do our best to get rid of unskillful mental states and develop skillful ones.

Like right now as you meditate: Try to develop concentration by staying with the breath as consistently as you can. The breath comes in, you know it’s coming in—goes out, you know it’s going out. Whether it’s comfortable or not, you also know. You want to make it interesting. So try to figure out what kind of breathing feels really good right now. If the mind wanders off, you just bring it back. Wanders off again, bring it back again. Each time you come back, try to make the breath really comfortable.

This means you have to keep certain things in mind. When the mind wanders off, it usually is through forgetfulness. So you have to remember. This is where mindfulness comes in—that you’re going to stay right here, and if you wander off, you’re going to come right back. Keep that in mind.

If you’ve been meditating before, you remember which spots in the body you like to focus on, which ones are easiest to stay focused on. You focus there. When you do that, the mind is bound to settle down, get concentrated, focused on one thing with a sense of well-being. When you’re focused here with a sense of well-being, then you can see what’s going on in your mind very clearly.

The reason we don’t see things clearly is because we’re hungry. It’s like the coyotes. You look at their scat during the times when there’s no fruit on the trees, and there’s all kinds of garbage. They just eat whatever they can just to have something in their mouth, something in their stomach. It’s because they’re hungry. But if they’re well fed, they won’t eat that kind of stuff at all.

It’s the same with us. When the mind is well fed with a sense of well-being inside, then we don’t feel hungry for greed, hungry for aversion, hungry for delusion, hungry for lust, hungry for jealousy. We’re hungry for genuine well-being. Then we can understand what really is truly in our best interests and what’s not, and we can make intelligent choices.

It’s in this way that the mind becomes strong. It doesn’t feel inclined to run after its greed, aversion, or delusion, or any of its unskillful states. It can resist them because it has something better inside.

So look at the way you talk to yourself. If you’re getting discouraged, give yourself some more encouragement. If you’re getting lazy, give yourself some pep talks—because this is work that does have to be done. It doesn’t happen on its own. But it’s good work, the work of strengthening the mind, because you benefit, and the people around you will benefit as well. When you’re not giving in to your greed, aversion, or delusion, you’re not creating any bad karma for yourself, and you’re also not disturbing the neighbors. You’re not harassing them with your greed, your aversion, or your delusion.

In that way, when you train your mind, the whole world becomes a better place.