The Development of Calm
Those were the words of a prince who longed to live in the forest (Theragāthā, Canto X, 234, Ekavihāriya). Do we not all have moments when we wish to have none in front and none behind us, moments when we wish to dwell alone? It seems impossible to find tranquillity in daily life. We have people around us the whole day, and there is noise everywhere. The real cause of our restlessness, however, is not outside but inside ourselves; the real cause is our defilements. We may not commit grave crimes such as killing or stealing, but we think unwholesome thoughts and we spend much time in talking about other people’s mistakes and shortcomings. We harm ourselves in that way. Unwholesomeness is harmful, to both body and mind. We can see the difference in appearance between a restless person and someone who is serene and full of loving-kindness.
It is not easy to change our habits. If we are used to speaking in an unwholesome way then we cannot expect to change ourselves at once. For how long have we been accumulating unwholesomeness? Because of our accumulated unwholesome tendencies we are hindered in doing good deeds, speaking in a wholesome way and having wholesome thoughts, and we are restless and agitated. We would like to have peace of mind but we do not know where to find it.
Dāna (generosity), sīla (morality) and bhāvanā (mental development) are ways of having kusala cittas instead of akusala cittas. The Buddha encouraged people to develop all kinds of wholesomeness, be it dāna, sīla or bhāvanā. At the moment of kusala citta there are no lobha, dosa and moha and there is calm. When we offer food to the monks and pay respect to them there is calm. There is not always opportunity for dāna or sīla but there is at any time opportunity for the way of kusala which is mental development, bhāvanā, and this includes: the study and the teaching of Dhamma, samatha (development of calm) and vipassanā. Dāna and sīla can be performed with paññā or without it, but for mental development paññā is indispensable.
As regards the form of bhāvanā which is the study of Dhamma, we will have more understanding of the teachings through reading the Tipiṭaka, the Three Collections of the Vinaya, the Suttanta and the Abhidhamma. If we study the Dhamma, ponder over it and also explain it to others, there are conditions for kusala cittas with paññā . Both our own life and the lives of others will be enriched. The study of the Dhamma will help us to have right understanding of our life.
Samatha, the development of calm, and vipassanā, the development of insight, are included in bhāvanā, but they each have a different aim and a different way of development. The aim of samatha is calm. In samatha defilements are temporarily subdued, but they are not eradicated. The aim of vipassanā is seeing things as they are. The right understanding, paññā , which is developed in vipassanā can eradicate defilements.
Through samatha one develops the calm which is temporary freedom from lobha, attachment, dosa, aversion, and moha, ignorance. When we realize how often in a day there are akusala cittas, we would like to develop more wholesome thoughts. Samatha is a way of developing kusala cittas, also at the moments when there is no opportunity for dāna or sīla. Samatha is a means of developing a higher degree of calm, but one must have right understanding of the way of its development and one must know the characteristic of calm which is wholesome. Some people may think that there is calm when they are alone in the woods, but is that always the calm which is wholesome? Instead of kusala cittas there may be attachment, aversion and ignorance. Thus, in order to develop samatha one must have a very precise knowledge of the different cittas which arise, otherwise one is likely to take for calm what is in fact akusala citta.
For the development of samatha there are specific meditation subjects (kammaṭṭhāna), forty in all(40). It depends on the individual which subject conditions calm for him. If one would try to use, instead of one or more among these forty meditation subjects, any other object, it would not help one to attain true calm.
Right understanding of the characteristic of calm and of the meditation subject is the most important factor for the development of samatha. One may think that samatha is a matter of just concentrating on one object, but which type of citta arises while one tries to concentrate? Are we attached to an idea of “my concentration”? When the citta is akusala citta there is no mental development. Thus, it is essential to know when the citta is kusala citta and when it is not.
What is concentration? Concentration or one-pointedness, in Pāli “ekaggatā cetasika” or “samādhi”, is a mental factor, cetasika(41), which accompanies each citta. Its function is to focus on one object. For example, seeing is a citta which experiences visible object. One-pointedness or ekaggatā cetasika, which accompanies the citta, is focusing on only that object. Each citta can have only one object at a time and ekaggatā cetasika focuses on that object. No matter whether there is seeing, hearing, a citta with attachment, aversion, generosity or wisdom, there is ekaggatā cetasika accompanying these different moments. The quality of ekaggatā cetasika depends on the citta it accompanies. When ekaggatā cetasika accompanies akusala citta it is also akusala, and when it accompanies kusala citta it is also kusala.
As regards right concentration in samatha, this can arise only if there is right understanding of the development of calm. When there is calm there is at the same time right concentration as well which accompanies the kusala citta.
Can samatha be developed in daily life or do we have to lead a secluded life? If one intends to develop higher degrees of calm, there are specific conditions which have to be fulfilled, as we will see. However, not everybody is able to or intends to develop higher degrees of calm. If we have right understanding of samatha, there can also be conditions for moments of calm in daily life. We can, in daily life, reflect for example on the loathsomeness of the body or on corpses, which are among the forty meditation subjects which can condition calm. For some people the meditations on a corpse can be helpful to have less attachment to sense-impressions. We all have to see dead people or dead animals at times. When we have read about the meditations on corpses and pondered over them there is a condition for the arising of wholesome thoughts at such moments, instead of akusala cittas with aversion. We may remember what the Buddha said about the impermanence of all conditioned things.
We read in the Thera-Therīgāthā (Psalms of the Brethren, Psalms of the Sisters) about people who were restless, who could not find peace of mind. Meditations on corpses and the foulness of the body reminded them of the truth of impermanence. In the Theragāthā (Canto VI, 213, Kulla) we read about the monk Kulla who had been infatuated with sense pleasures. The Buddha recommended him to meditate in the charnel field. The meditation on the putrefaction of the body was the condition for him to attain calm to the degree of the first stage of jhāna, absorption. On that basis he developed insight and attained arahatship. The following verses are an expression of his attainment:
Kulla was reminded of the truth and saw things as they are.
There are people for whom the meditation on corpses or on the loathsomeness of the body is not helpful; they may instead be inclined to the recollections of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, which are also included among the forty meditation subjects. Or they may recollect “virtue” (sīla) or “generosity” (dāna), which are other meditation subjects. The recollection of generosity may encourage us to more generosity. In the Visuddhimagga (VII, 107) we read that the person who starts to develop this recollection should make the following resolution: “From now on, when there is anyone present to receive, I shall not eat even a single mouthful without having given a gift.” After he has given a gift he can recollect the following: “It is gain for me, it is great gain for me, that in a generation obsessed by the stain of avarice I abide with my heart free from stain of avarice, and am freely generous and openhanded, that I delight in relinquishing, expect to be asked, and rejoice in giving and sharing.” For this recollection one must know the characteristic of generosity; one cannot recollect generosity and one cannot become calm with this meditation subject if one is not generous in one’s daily life.
There are meditations which are the “divine abidings” (Brahmavihāras). They are: loving-kindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), sympathetic joy (muditā) and equanimity (upekkhā). However, these qualities cannot be one’s meditation subjects if one does not practise them in daily life. How could one develop the meditation subject of loving-kindness if one does not know the characteristic of loving-kindness as it appears in daily life? We may have moments of pure loving-kindness but there are bound to be many moments of selfish affection in between. Are we not attached to people? It is necessary to know exactly when there is a moment of pure loving-kindness and when there is attachment. There must be right understanding which clearly distinguishes between these characteristics and thus we see again that right understanding is indispensable for samatha.
If one knows the characteristic of loving-kindness one can develop it and then it can condition calm. This subject can help us to have kusala citta instead of thoughts of ill-will.
Mindfulness of breathing is another meditation subject. In order to develop calm with this subject one must have right understanding of it and know how to be mindful of the characteristic of breath. According to the Visuddhimagga mindfulness of breathing is one of the most difficult meditation subjects and, since breath is very subtle, not everyone is able to be mindful of it.
What is breath? What we call breath is rūpa, a physical phenomenon. Rūpas of the body can be conditioned by one of the four following factors: by kamma, by citta, by temperature or by food. Breath is conditioned by citta. So long as there is citta there is breath conditioned by citta. We all cling to our life and all the things we enjoy in life, but life is very fragile. Life is supported by breath, rūpa which arises and then falls away. When we have drawn our last breath, death occurs and of what use are then our possessions and all the things to which we cling so much? When mindfulness of breath is developed with right understanding it can condition the calm which is temporary freedom from defilements. However, the characteristic of breath must be known correctly.
The Visuddhimagga (VIII, 197, f.f.) explains that breath appears where it touches the nose tip or upper lip. It falls away immediately at the place where it appears. One should not follow the going out and coming in of breath, one should only be aware of breath where it touches the nose tip or upper lip. The Visuddhimagga explains this by way of similes, one of which is the simile of a gate-keeper:
This is the simile of the gate-keeper: just as a gate-keeper does not examine people inside and outside the town, asking, “Who are you? Where have you come from? Where are you going? What have you got in your hand?” for those people are not his concern -but does examine each man as he arrives at the gate, so too, the incoming breaths that have gone inside and the outgoing breaths that have gone outside are not this bhikkhu’s concern, but they are his concern each time they arrive at the (nostril) gate itself.
If one follows the going out and the coming in of breath one’s mind will, according to the Visuddhimagga (VIII, 197) be “distracted by disquiet and perturbation”. Right understanding of the method of development of this subject is indispensable. If one thinks that all that is necessary is just trying very hard to concentrate on breath one may concentrate with lobha, dosa and moha. If one enjoys watching one’s breath and if one aims at feeling relaxed there is attachment and this is not bhāvanā. Some people may be inclined to do breathing exercises for their health, but, if one wants to develop calm one must know what is bhāvanā and what is not bhāvanā. The aim of this meditation subject is calm which is wholesome and thus there must be paññā which knows exactly when the citta is kusala citta and when it is akusala citta. When there are moments of calm there is no clinging.
It is extremely difficult to be mindful of breath in the right way so that there can be true calm, freedom from lobha, dosa and moha. It may happen that one takes for breath what is not breath, the rūpa conditioned by citta. Some people follow the movement of the abdomen and they erroneously take this for mindfulness of breath. If one has no accumulations for mindfulness of breath, one should not force oneself to take up this subject. There are many other subjects of meditation which can condition calm.
There can be mindfulness of breath both in samatha and in vipassanā. What is the difference between the object of mindfulness in samatha and the object of mindfulness in vipassanā? In samatha there is sati which is mindful, non-forgetful, of breath in order to temporarily subdue defilements. In samatha the object of mindfulness is not, as is the case in vipassanā, the characteristic of whatever nāma or rūpa appears at the present moment through one of the six doors. There is paññā in both samatha and vipassanā, but the paññā in samatha does not know nāma and rūpa as they are, as non-self (anattā). The paññā in samatha knows when the citta is kusala citta and when it is akusala citta; it knows how to develop the calm which is temporary freedom from defilements. The aim of vipassanā is seeing things as they are. In vipassanā right understanding is developed of all nāmas and rūpa which appear, no matter what one’s activities are. Also when one develops calm by means of mindfulness of breathing there are nāmas and rūpas which appear and these can be known as they really are: as impermanent and non-self. The paññā of vipassanā knows nāma and rūpa as they are.
Several of the meditation subjects of samatha can be our recollections in daily life and they can condition moments of calm. Some people, however, may have accumulations to develop higher degrees of calm, even to the stage of jhāna, absorption. When there is a higher degree of calm ekaggatā cetasika or samādhi (concentration) which accompanies the citta with calm is of a higher degree as well. Samādhi develops when there are the right conditions, one cannot force oneself to become concentrated.
In the development of samatha there are three stages of samādi: the preliminary stage or parikamma samādhi, access concentration or upacāra samādhi and attainment concentration or appanā samādi, which accompanies jhānacitta. When there is still the preliminary stage of samādhi, parikamma samādhi, the citta is aware of the meditation subject, but it is not jhānacitta; it is citta of the sensuous plane of consciousness, kāmāvacara citta. Kāmāvacara cittas are the cittas which arise in daily life when, for example, we see, think or wish for something. When samādhi has reached the stage of access concentration, upacāra samādhi, there is a higher degree of calm but at that stage the citta is still kāmāvacara citta, not jhānacitta. When samādhi has reached the stage of attainment concentration, appanā samādhi, the citta is jhānacitta. The jhānacitta experiences the meditation subject with absorption; at that moment one is free from sense-impressions and thus also from the defilements which are bound up with them. The jhānacitta is of a higher level of consciousness than kāmāvacara citta.
If people do not know about the different stages of samādhi they may erroneously think that they have jhānacittas or they may doubt whether they have attained jhāna or not. The jhānacitta is accompanied by paññā. If one has doubts it is clear that there is no paññā . Even if one has no intention to cultivate jhāna it is useful to know about the different degrees of samādhi. One might have cultivated jhāna in a past life and if there are the right conditions, one of the degrees of samādhi could arise. People who have not studied Dhamma may have confused ideas about concentration and about jhāna. There is right concentration and wrong concentration. When people concentrate on a meditation subject in the wrong way, for example with lobha, there is wrong concentration. They may, because of wrong concentration, have unusual experiences which they take for jhāna. Or they may even take such experiences for the attainment of nibbāna.
There are several stages of jhāna and each higher stage is more subtle and more refined than the preceding one. There is rūpa-jhāna, which is translated as “fine-material jhāna”, and arūpa-jhāna, which is translated as “immaterial jhāna”. Arūpa-jhāna is more subtle than rūpa-jhāna; the meditation subjects of arūpa-jhānacitta do not pertain to objects which can be experienced through the senses.
Of the forty meditation subjects, some can lead only to access concentration, upacāra samādhi, some to rūpa-jhāna but not to the highest stage, and some lead to the highest stage of rūpa-jhāna. There are four (or, for some people five) stages of rūpa-jhāna(43) Those who see the disadvantages of the meditation subjects of rūpa-jhāna, which are less refined than those of arūpa-jhāna, develop the meditation subjects of arūpa-jhāna. There are four stages of arūpa-jhāna, which are: the sphere of boundless space, the sphere of boundless consciousness, the sphere of nothingness and the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. Perception in the fourth arūpa-jhāna is very subtle.
Of those who develop samatha only very few can attain jhāna. Much skill has to be developed in order to attain jhāna. One should know the conditions for the attainment of jhāna and what can obstruct its attainment. We read in the Visuddhimagga (XII, 8) how difficult it is to attain the preliminary stage of samādhi, parikamma samādhi, or access concentration, upacāra samādhi, to attain jhāna and to develop the skills in jhāna in order to acquire supernatural powers.
People today want to experience something which is beyond this world because they feel distressed about life or they are bored. Wouldn’t we sometimes like to know the future? We may be curious as to what fortune-tellers can predict about our life. Many of us read the horoscope in the daily newspaper, and even when we say that we do not believe in those things we cannot help attaching some importance to them. Sick people who cannot be cured by a doctor go to healers who claim that they can treat diseases in a more effective way than doctors. We may well go to fortune-tellers, or to people who claim to have clairvoyance, but we still do not know ourselves. We still have defilements, we still have ignorance, we still have to continue in the cycle of birth and death. So long as there are attachment, ill-will and ignorance in one’s heart, true happiness cannot be found.
In the Buddha’s time people developed jhāna until they became quite skillful and they even acquired supernatural powers. Those who have attained the highest stage of rūpa-jhāna and of arūpa-jhāna and have acquired “mastery” in the attainment of the these stages, can apply themselves to the development of supernatural powers. The development of those powers is extremely difficult; only very few of those who attain jhāna can develop them. The supernatural powers developed by means of samatha are: miraculous powers such as flying through the air, walking on water, diving into the earth; the “Celestial Ear” or clairaudiance; the power to discern the thoughts of others; the power of recollecting one’s past lives; the “Celestial Eye” (clairvoyance), by means of which one also sees the passing away and rebirth of beings.
We read in the Discourse on the Fruits of the Life of a Recluse (Dialogues of the Buddha I, no. 2, 77, 78) that the Buddha spoke to the King of Magadha about the recluse who had supernatural powers. The Buddha said to the King:
With his heart thus serene, made pure, translucent, cultured, devoid of evil, supple, ready to act, firm and imperturbable, he applies and bends down his mind to the modes of the Wondrous Gift. He enjoys the Wondrous Gift in its various modes -being one he becomes many, or having become many he becomes one again; he becomes visible or invisible; he goes, feeling no obstruction, to the further side of a wall or rampart or hill, as if through air; he penetrates up and down through solid ground, as if through water; he walks on water without breaking through, as if on solid ground; he travels cross-legged in the sky, like birds on wing; even the Moon and the Sun, so powerful, so mighty though they be, does he touch and feel with his hand; he reaches in the body even up to the heaven of Brahmā...
In Buddhism one learns to study cause and effect. People are impressed by extraordinary things when they do not know the conditions that give rise to them. Each phenomenon in our life has conditions through which it arises. When we know this we are not surprised by strange phenomena. Moggallāna, Anuruddha and other disciples has supernatural powers, but they did not cling to them or take them for self because they realized that those phenomena arose because of conditions.
Samatha is a high degree of kusala kamma and it brings about kusala vipāka. Samatha can help people to be more calm. But defilements cannot be eradicated by samatha, even if calm is developed to the degree of jhāna. Nor can defilements be eradicated by supernatural powers. Jhāna and supernatural powers do not lead to the end of ignorance. The Buddha, when he was still a Bodhisatta, developed samatha, but he also developed vipassanā in order to become the Fully Enlightened One, the Buddha.
In the Vinaya (Book of the Discipline I, Pārājika, Defeat I, 1, 4) we read that the Buddha spoke to the brahmin of Veraja about the “three watches” of the night in which he attained enlightenment. In the first watch he recollected, by means of supernatural powers developed through samatha, his former lives. In the second watch he saw, by means of supernatural powers, the passing away and rebirth of beings. In the third watch his defilements were eradicated and he attained Buddhahood. We read:
Then with mind collected…I directed the mind towards the knowledge of the destruction of the cankers. I knew as it really is: This is dukkha, this is the arising of dukkha, this is the stopping of dukkha, this is the course leading to the stopping of dukkha…In me, thus knowing, thus seeing, my mind was freed from the canker of sensual pleasures, my mind was freed from the canker of becoming, my mind was freed from the canker of false views, my mind was freed from the canker of ignorance. (To me) freed, came knowledge through the freedom; I knew: Destroyed is rebirth, lived is the Brahma-life, done is what was to be done, there is no beyond for this state of things. This was, brahmin, the third knowledge attained by me in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was dispelled, knowledge arose, darkness was dispelled, light arose...
The four ariyan truths can be known through vipassanā. How could one know that nāma and rūpa are dukkha unless one is mindful of their characteristics when they appear at the present moment? Only thus will we know that they are impermanent and dukkha, unsatisfactory. This kind of knowledge leads to the eradication of defilements.
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