Q & A
We’ll start with two questions asking for more instructions on walking meditation.
When you meditate while you’re walking, you can choose as your object either the steps of the feet or your breath. There’s no need to try to coordinate the two. Determine your path. Each time you walk down the path, start out with your intention very firm: You’re going to stay either with the breath or with your feet, and you’re going to stay with that intention all the way to the end of the path. You’re not going to think about anything beyond that one walk down the path. Then when you get to the other end, stop, turn around, and then make up your mind you’re going to stay with your object all the way to the other end of the path.
If you’re focusing on your breath, try to focus on a part of the body that moves as little as possible in the process of walking—for example, the middle of the chest or the middle of the head. If you’re going to stay with your feet, make sure that you have a meditation word to go with the steps of the feet. “Buddho” is a common one. “Buddho” means “awake.” When you put one foot on the ground, think, “Bud.” When you put the other foot down, think, “-dho.” “Bud-dho, Bud-dho.” If you don’t like “Buddho,” choose another word. Or you can think, “left, right.” Anything you like. That’s basically it.
Q: I meditate more easily in a spacious space where my mind is able to relax better. But when I’m with a group, like right now, my breathing becomes less fluid and I feel agitated energies around me. So would you have advice on how to stay calm and concentrated while meditating with a lot of people?
A: Basically, erase the perception of a lot of people. Remember that all atoms have a lot of space in them. The people all around you are made of atoms and are full of space. So think of the space around you penetrating everybody and extending outside, through the walls of the building.
It’s not a false perception. There’s a lot of space in here. Just focus on that, and then you can focus on your breath, breathing in and out through that enormous space.
Q: How should one deal with persistent or long-term tension in the face and the throat? It feels like blocked energy and it’s very strong. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming. I’m wondering how much attention to give it. Should I go into it as long as it isn’t overwhelming?
A: When you have patterns of tension like this, there are various ways to deal with them. One is that you can breathe around them. The other is to think of the breath energy going directly into them from all directions as you breathe in, and then out in all directions as you breathe out. As long as it’s not overwhelming, then you can sit with it that way. If it does feel overwhelming, then focus on another part of the body.
Q: How to create joy during meditation?
A: Every time you feel tempted to go for a distraction, and you don’t go for it, take some pride in that fact: “I beat that one defilement.” Or if you have a tendency, after three breaths, to go wandering, and then you actually make it to five or six, pat yourself on the back.
In other words, you’re working on a skill, and the only way you can develop a skill is to take pride in each little step forward. Ajaan Maha Bua would talk about seeing one little fleck of bark fall off the tree of your defilements and taking pride in that fact. Each little piece is worth it.
Q: Can you please come back to the four stages that you mentioned and say again in what context they should be used? One, locate the area. Two, notice how it feels. Three, notice perceptions. And four, release. Thank you.
A: These are the four steps to use when you’re making a survey of the body as you’re doing breath meditation.
• Locate the particular part of the body that you’re going to focus on, and ask yourself, “Exactly where do I feel that right now?”
• The second step is to watch it for a while to see how it feels as you breathe in and breathe out.
• The third step is to try to breathe in a way that feels comfortable there.
• And then four, if you feel any tension or tightness in that part of the body, allow it to relax. If you’re doing anything to maintain or increase that tension, then you stop doing it.
Q: You talked today about the blood that can stagnate after being in a certain position for a while. I rarely sit with my legs crossed because I feel that after 20 minutes, one foot doesn’t receive blood anymore, and since there exist other positions to meditate in, and because I’m concerned about this effect when it happens, sincerely concerned about my foot, I never sit with crossed legs. For me, this pain is different from back pain. I’m not scared that it will harm my back. Do you advise to do it anyway and learn how to deal with this pain and concerns?
A: These feet have fallen asleep every now and then for 55 years and they still work. But as for getting used to the pain of sitting in cross-legged, I would say it depends on how old you are. If you’re young, it’s good to learn how to break in the body like this. As you get older, it’s harder and harder for the body to break in. It doesn’t really hurt the feet that much. The advantage of having this position is that you can sit and meditate anywhere. You walk around, you see a nice rock on the ground, and you can sit right down. You don’t have to go back and get your cushion or your bench.
Q: How do we know which type of pain to endure?
A: If you have any long-term injury, try to sit with it only if it doesn’t aggravate the injury. But if you find, when getting up from meditation, that you have to hobble around for ten minutes, it’s a sign that you’ve overdone your endurance of pain. The position is not right for you.
Q: This question is a long description of how the meditation goes really bad and then it goes really well. You go through a really bad period, you go for a walking meditation, you come back and it’s really great, and the next day it starts up again. What to do?
A: Welcome to meditation. This is the way it is when you start out: You’re finding your way. The important thing is that when it seems really bad, remind yourself it’s going to get good after a while, so don’t get depressed, don’t get discouraged, stick with it. When it goes well, don’t get complacent. When you come out of a good session, try to remember where you were focused and how you were breathing, and see if you can recreate those conditions with your next meditation. And if the mind is in a good space when the meditation ends, see if you can maintain that mind state as you get up and walk around.
Q: In your last book, Beyond Desire & Passion, in the chapter, “Other Maps of Concentration,” you mentioned visual experience of light and forms as a door for jhāna and then insight. May I tune into these forms, using this technique to merge or to absorb into them?
These forms of light are constantly changing, until a spectacle of light, a nimitta, becomes stable. Inattention and sloth are a major current obstacle for me, I guess. Lights, forms appear spontaneously in normal life, in any situation. How to work on it?
A: If you have light happening in your meditation, try to see if you can get it under control. If it’s changing, try to see if you can make it stable. And if it’s some other color, try to make it white or off-white. Once it’s white, then ask yourself, “Can I make it go away? Can I make it reappear?” Make it go far away, make it come close up. If it’s totally under your control like this, then bring it into the body. It’ll bring a great sense of refreshment. If you cannot control it, let it go.
Q: The first day you told us about a piece of advice you gave to a mother who didn’t have time to meditate, to really be concentrated on the things she is doing. Can this have the same effect as sitting meditation?
A: It doesn’t have the same effect, but it’s better than nothing. The best thing to do is, if your child gives you five minutes of free time, take five minutes of free time to sit and meditate.
Q: Skillful desires, including the one to put an end to suffering: Are they forms of craving that lead to suffering? Or are there two different types of desires?
A: All desire involves some sort of stress. Some desires are stressful and don’t accomplish anything. There are other desires that involve some stress but they actually lead to the end of stress. We’re trying to focus on that second type of desire here. Once those desires have done their work, then you can let them go, too.
Q: The life cycle of desire: How does it relate to the three types of fabrication? How does it work? Could you expand on that? From initiation to production to execution and to ending desire.
A: It’s not really a cycle. What you have with every moment is raw material coming in from your past actions, and the mind is very busy trying to create an experience out of that raw material. Then it has to cast that experience aside to focus on the next shipment of raw material. It’s like an artisan who makes something very quickly and tosses it aside, makes something very quickly and tosses it aside.
As we’re meditating, we’re trying to get to do one thing repeatedly for a while so that we can actually see this process of desire and fabrication as it’s happening.
Q: In what way does desire, whether it’s skillful or unskillful, relate to what is moral or immoral? Is the distinction something sociological, which means culturally defined? And in that case, in what way can skillful desire, in accordance with how Buddhism defines it, be universal with regards to the Indian origins of Buddhism?
A: Of the five precepts, four are totally universal: the precepts against killing, stealing, lying, and taking intoxicants. The one that does have a little bit of cultural definition has to do with the one about illicit sex. What type of relationships are considered normal and legal in a particular culture: That’s what is defined as okay in terms of the five precepts. For example, in some cultures, one man can have many wives and in another culture he can’t. So if you’re in a culture like that, then if you have many husbands or many wives, it would be okay. You would not break the precept.
But killing is killing all over the world. Lying is lying. Taking alcohol hinders your mindfulness, even in France.
However, it’s important to note that when the Buddha defined what is skillful and unskillful, the distinction was based on what leads to the end of suffering and what forms an obstacle to the end of suffering. That’s not based on culture. It’s based on noticing the effect that your actions have on your ability to develop concentration and discernment. The Buddha offers a course of training for putting an end to suffering, and you can best judge whether it works by taking it on, as a working hypothesis, as best you can.
Q: If suffering comes from desire, then as a lay person, how do we choose a career without desire or becoming? How do we quit our jobs or partner without desire or becoming?
A: Basically, there’s going to be suffering in either case, whether taking on a career or contemplating a divorce. Try to choose a course of action that creates as little harm as possible. This is a problem for not only lay people, but also for monks. Becoming a monk is a kind of desire for becoming. You learn how to do it in a way that minimizes suffering.
Q: This question is from a person dealing with another person who has ill will and is manipulative, almost to the point that it’s laughable. The person asking the question sees all that. Yet even though this person has goodwill and has a good understanding of the other person’s suffering, but at the same time trying to preserve one’s balance and one’s well-being, isn’t it best to just cut that relationship, uproot it, uproot the power the other person is trying to have over one?
A: Having goodwill and compassion doesn’t mean you have to hang around with somebody. Sometimes you realize the best thing is to go your separate ways. A couple years back, I told the story of Ajaan Fuang with a snake in his hut. He went into his hut and saw a snake slipping behind a little cabinet. So he took it as a test for his own goodwill. For three days, he let the snake stay there. Then, at the end of the third day, he said, “Okay, enough.” He sat and meditated, after propping the door open, and he said to the snake in his mind, “We belong to different species, so misunderstandings could happen very easily. You can be very happy out there in the woods. It’s not that I have ill will for you, it’s just that I think it’d be better for both of us if you went there.” And the snake left.
So sometimes the best thing to do is actually to cut off the relationship with a lot of goodwill.
Q: How to get more equanimity and to use it in daily life? Thank you.
A: You have to remember that everybody has his or her own kamma. There are times when you can have an influence on somebody else and other times when you can’t, which is why the contemplation for equanimity starts with, “All beings are the owners of their actions.” So develop the attitude that “There will always be times when I cannot get this other person to do what I think is best for them. If my happiness depends on what the other person does, I’m putting myself in a miserable position.” This is why you’re trying to develop a source of happiness inside. Then it’s easier to put up with the other person’s unskillful behavior.
Q: How to develop skillful goals for the self as consumer? This feels challenging if the producing part of self doesn’t feel much agency.
A: This is where you need to really give your producer some pep talks that, yes, you can create more causes for happiness in your life. As for the goals you set for yourself as a consumer, set them in a step-by-step order. In other words, if you tell yourself, “I’m going to attain stream-entry by the end of this retreat or else,” you’re setting yourself up for trouble. But if you tell yourself, “Today I’m going to try to stay with my breath as much as I can,” that’s a much more realistic goal.
Q: I’ve read that one of the disciples of the Buddha, Ven. Moggallāna, was beaten to death: How is that possible? I thought that kamma was conditioning just our thoughts and our consciousness, but here it’s something external. Can you explain?
A: Kamma can influence both internal and external conditions. You can have an influence on what’s going on in your mind and also an influence on events from the outside as they affect you. As for how that works, the Buddha said, if you try to figure that out, you’ll go crazy.
The best thing is just to try to keep on creating good kamma all the time. That story, by the way, is in the commentaries, and not in the Canon, so it’s not quite as authoritative as the Canon. But still, the principle is right: Your actions now can influence outside conditions now and on into the future.
Q: Than Ajaan, concerning death and rebirth, one, would you please share your thoughts on how to skillfully use the three fabrications while the body is undergoing the dying process, and also at the last moments before death?
Two, would you also please share your thoughts on skillful desire for a good rebirth? Are intentions or desires for a heavenly rebirth, or even the desire to be reborn in a specific heavenly realm, skillful or useful? Or if nibbāna is the goal, should one place one’s desire on a good rebirth in a human realm, as I have heard the human realm presents better chances of realizing nibbāna?
A: When you’re dying, your ability to use bodily fabrication—in other words, your in-and-out breath—will depend on the conditions of the body. I’ve seen some cases where the in-and-out breath is very, very difficult for people when they die. In other cases, the in-and-out breath is very peaceful. If you can make it peaceful, that’s helpful. If you can’t, then you focus on verbal and mental fabrication: how you talk to yourself and the images that you hold in mind.
There’s a book in English called Straight from the Heart, available on dhammatalks.org. It’s a series of Dhamma talks that Ajaan Maha Bua gave to a woman who was dying of cancer. He gives lots of instructions on how to talk to yourself as you’re dying and also what perceptions to hold in mind.
In the Pāli Canon, they do the same thing. Basically, if there’s bad pain at the moment of death, tell yourself, “This will end with the end of the body, but consciousness will continue,” so you focus on your awareness. Tell yourself, “If I can attain awakening now, I’ll try to do it now. If I can’t, I want to be reborn in a place where I can find the true Dhamma and practice it.”
As for whether that would be a human realm or a deva realm: One evening at the monastery Ajaan Suwat came up from his hut and saw a group of lay people sitting outside the meditation hall. Out of nowhere, he said, “The human realm is going to get pretty bad as a place to practice. If you have the choice, try to be reborn in a heavenly realm where you can practice the Dhamma.” There are levels of heaven where the devas practice. The problem is that there are also levels where they don’t practice.
The Canon has a story where a deva has been recently born, and one of the other devas he meets says, “I remember you. We used to chant together down on Earth. So let’s chant some more.” Then they start practicing together.
But there’s also a level of heaven where the devas are pretty much like teenagers. All they can think about is sex, music, and fast vehicles. They don’t practice. So, try to choose a place where you can practice the true Dhamma. You have to maintain that intention all the way through death.
Q: This is in response to what I said this morning about Japanese cooks after World War II. It’s basically a French version of the story:
Grandmother Artémise was the great aunt of my mother. She lived in Braux, a little village in the Ardennes. She was a very strong woman. One day she threw her husband out the window. From 1914–1918, the German army occupied the Ardennes. Artémise would yell at soldiers who would requisition her rutabagas, but they would still come every day to drink coffee at her house—and every day she would piss in the coffee.
