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Pleasure and Happiness
Although many disturbances are not apparent to us, certain evil thoughts which are deeply rooted in the mind may still remain. At some moment we may be quiet and look nice because there are no disturbances to agitate us, but if some disturbances arise, we soon change our attitude and become violent and ugly. The pleasure that momentarily appears in the mind we mistakenly regard as happiness. It is in fact not happiness. Pleasure is merely emotional satisfaction. The fleeting nature of pleasure is such that it disappears at the very next moment.
The seeking of pleasure must not be confused with the seeking of happiness. Pleasure is elusive, temporary, and can leave a bitter after-taste. Also, it can be costly, yet unsatisfactory. Not so happiness, which does not have to be purchased; it comes from an inner source - the mind, and it is long lasting.
The pleasure we have at this moment sometimes creates disappointment because of the fleeting nature of the pleasure. At the same time, we cannot gain happiness by keeping mental impurities such as fear, anger, jealousy, malice and ill-will in the mind. When these are not active in the mind, then we regard the brightness that temporarily appears in the mind as happiness.
Happiness Gained Through Merits
To achieve happiness we have to do more and more meritorious deeds. The meaning of meritorious deeds is doing some service to others to release them from their sufferings. The happiness that we gain by doing good is more important than material gain. Whenever we do some good deeds with confidence and understanding, we gain happiness and a sense of well-being. This is what we call merits. The mental state we develop in this life determines the kind of life we will experience after death. At death, there is nothing to help us except for our own merits or karma. Therefore we must strive to do as much good as we can in this life because it is the only insurance we have to ensure rebirth in a fortunate existence.
There are certain misinformed people who put valuable things into a coffin thinking that such items would benefit the deceased in his or her life. We have to use our common sense and understand things without blindly following certain outmoded traditions of our forefathers. The time has come for us to eliminate such practices because we notice that other religionists would take advantage of our ignorance to condemn and ridicule. Buddhists for what they do, thinking that they are indeed Buddhist practices. The Buddha, for instance, did not ask his followers to burn anything in the name of the departed. He advised us to burn only our mental impurities.
Samadhi Through Meditation
Samadhi is the second principle; concentration or cultivation of the mind to experience peace and calmness by focusing the mind on one particular object. The minds of those who have no such experience are very weak. The reason why their minds are very weak is due to the fear that disturbs them. We have feelings of insecurity and suspicion within us because of that weakness. Every minute we dissipate our mental energy unprofitably through our five senses.
These five channels extract our mental energy and use that energy to attract external objects which cause suspicion, fear and worry. They can at the same time create what appears as emotional satisfaction and excitement. Eventually, in this way, we disturb the mind. We collect defilements from outside through the senses and confuse our mind.
Thus the mind has no time to relax and becomes weak because of this wastage of energy. It is like a waterfall which goes on pouring and spreading water everywhere because there is no proper channel to divert the water for systematic use. A hydro-electric dam however channels this energy to create electricity which can be put to various good uses.
An engineer, having seen the colossal wastage of falling water decides to construct a dam to harness the water and produce hydro-electricity to illuminate the whole country. In exactly the same manner we waste our mental energy through lack of focus. The Buddha advised us not to waste our mental energy through the senses, but to get the mind to relax and free it from constantly making choices regarding external stimuli.
It is indeed a real torture for the mind. During that period of relaxation we can concentrate on one neutral object without allowing the mind to run here and there. And thereby we develop our mind. “Bhavana” means development of the mind that is to accumulate and harness the lost energy and regenerate itself. When it is fully developed the mind becomes a very dynamic force and all the fear, suspicion and insecurity we have will disappear. Then we get courage, knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
In order to maintain a good standard of moral conduct, it is also essential to practise meditation, which is called samadhi. Samadhi is the fixed or tranquil state of the mind. The undisciplined mind is in the habit of wandering here and there and is difficult to control. (t may follow any harmful idea, or imagination. In order to prevent this unhealthy tendency the mind should be concentrated on a selected object of meditation.
In the course of practice, the mind will gradually become more restrained and remain obediently fixed on the object to which it is directed. By choosing suitable objects we can counteract specific mental weaknesses. For example, by meditating on loving-kindness we can assuage the traits of enmity, wrath and envy. By meditating on the repulsive aspects of the body we can diminish lust and infatuation.
By contemplating the inevitability and unpredictability of death we can dispel complacency and apathy. By recollecting the special qualities of the Buddha we can overcome depression, anxiety and negativity. By the development of compassion one forgets one’s own troubles and realises the omnipresence of suffering.
By repeated practice of meditative absorption the Buddha and his disciples came to possess psychic powers. Although such powers are only developed by very deep concentration they are not considered, by most schools of Buddhism, to be essential to the attainment of the main goal of Buddhism, nibbana. Nibbana is the extinction of desire, hatred and delusion. If we want to gain happiness, we should allow our mind to relax and develop it to uproot the evil forces which lurk there.
During the time we meditate, we experience peace but as soon as we stop our meditation and go back to our normal way of thinking, peace and happiness will disappear and disturbance will return. The water in a pond may be covered with dry leaves on the surface, but the water beneath will be very clear. You can push the dry leaves apart and see the clear water. But when you remove your hand the water will be covered by the dry leaves again. Meditation helps us to reveal the “clear water” of the mind.
Enlightenment is when the leaves are removed permanently and the water remains perpetually clear. When we meditate, our mind becomes pure. This is because we do not allow evil thoughts to disturb the mind. In the same way when we stop meditating, all the evil thoughts become active again.
When we cover green grass with a bucket for a few weeks and expose it again, we can notice that the green leaves have turned to a pale colour due to lack of sunlight. Similarly, when we meditate, lots of changes take place in the mind. We feel calm and serene with no anger because our mind is under the beneficial influence of concentration.
But when we return to our normal way of life, once again those negative thoughts will return, just like the grass that you covered changed colour because you prevented sunlight. As part of your practice you just develop concentration to such a degree that you guard your mind constantly and never allow it to relapse into the confused state. The purpose of meditation is to help you train the mind to constantly remain pure and undefiled.
Knowledge and Wisdom
Wisdom is not knowledge. We do gain knowledge after listening, reading, and observing many things in this world but it is not wisdom in the real sense. Wisdom only appears in the mind when mental hindrances, obstructions and other impurities are not active in the mind. There are many learned people all over the world who no doubt have wonderful knowledge but unfortunately some of them lack proper wisdom.
Many people are intelligent but their behaviour however is not reasonable, as some are hot tempered, egoistic, emotional, jealous, greedy and temperamental. On the other hand, there are others who are very kind and although they have patience tolerance and many other good qualities, their wisdom is very poor as they can be easily misled by others. If we develop our generosity without proper understanding, we could get into trouble as certain people can take undue advantage of us. Understanding and good qualities must therefore go together.
Panna: Release Through Wisdom
Panna - Wisdom is the third and last stage of the path. After undertaking the observance of morality, the aspirant practises meditation. When the mind is well-concentrated, he is able to understand the true nature of things. Wisdom is the right understanding of the world in the light of its transience, unsatisfactoriness and insubstantiality. Knowledge is of three kinds:
1) that acquired by learning,
2) that acquired by thinking, and
3) that acquired by meditation. This wisdom is the apex of the three-fold training which leads to nibbana.When illusion, ignorance and evil thoughts disappear from the mind, brightness appears in their place. That brightness is enlightenment. The more we learn worldly things with a deluded mind, the more we increase our ignorance. We have to learn how to open the mind. When the mind is fully opened, then development takes place; only then can wisdom, understanding and purity appear in the mind. That is inner development.
We cannot bring this brightness, purity and realisation from the outside. They have to emanate from within. Sila, Samadhi, Panna - mental training, and calmness of the mind and higher wisdom, are the three main religious principles in Buddhism for the development of human life. Further development of sila or precepts for the attainment of sainthood is called Adhi Sila. Calmness or tranquillity of the consciousness is called Adhi Citta (Samadhi). Gaining higher wisdom through the development of insight - Vipassana is called Adhi Panna. These therefore are the three Buddhist principles for training the human mind.
The Scheme of Threefold Training
“An alternative formulation of the Buddhist scheme of moral development is presented in the form of three progressive and mutually dependent factors of moral training. They are sila, consisting of moral practices involving the conscious and voluntary transformation of one’s patterns of bodily and verbal behaviour; samadhi, the development of mental composure; and panna, the cultivation of the insight that leads to moral perfection. Sila is believed to be the foundation on which the other two stages in the path are to be developed. This formulation of the path reveals not only the pragmatic character of Buddhism, but also the psychological insights on which the practical aspects of the Buddhist moral system are based.
The Buddha speaks of the path to spiritual perfection, or the attainment of Nibbana as a graduated one leading systematically from one step to the other. The perfection of sila is recognised as the foundation or the basis of all spiritual endeavour. An intelligent man is supposed to establish himself in sila and dewelop his mind (citta) and cultivate wisdom (panna). It is such a person who is said to be able to disentangle the tangles of evil (A.V.p.66) (Encyclopaedia of Buddhism)
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