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cattasallaIn my last post, I introduced the four right strivings: Prevent the arising of unarisen, unskilled states, Abandon already arisen unskilled states, Cultivate unarisen skilled states, and Keep already cultivated skilled states. PACK is a handy mnemonic device. That last post mainly discussed what is meant by "skilled" or "unsiklled" (although in that post I used the word "qualities" and here I used the word "states" as a shorthand for "mental states". The original word means both of those). The notion of PACK was left kind of in the abstract. In this post, I'd like to introduce some concrete strategies for achieving this.
Just some quick bookkeeping, though, for anyone who hasn't been following along, this is the fifth in a series of posts on the five spiritual faculties or powers:
Coming up are the faculties of recollection, stillness, and wise discernment (or mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, as they are traditionally translated in Buddhist Hybrid English).
The general goal is to end unskillful qualities, rooted in greed, hate, and delusion, and promote skillful qualities, rooted in relinquishment, love, and understanding. Many of these strategies will overlap, because they all head in this same general direction.
The first thing required is to simply be aware of whether or not a skillful or unskillful quality or state is present. In general, it's going to be better to catch an unskillful state right as it is arising than after it has already become established. Nipping it in the bud is much easier than uprooting it later. This is one way in which a meditation practice is good to have. Basically, as much as possible, the advice here is to set a part of your awareness to a self-monitoring function, watching your own mind to see when unskillful qualities arise. A version of this is called "guarding the sense doors". In my own experience, I find it easiest to actually pay attention to whether or not any feeling I'm having is pleasant or unpleasant, and anchor my attention there. Then I can see when my mental machinery begins to operate, orienting towards or away a thought or perceived sense-object, bringing greed or aversion into play. That is the point at which an unskillful state is in the process of arising, so that's a place it can be recognized and released before it has a chance to do any harm. At the very least, it needs to be caught before it escapes outward into word or deed.
Often times, simply noticing the presence of something unskillful is enough for it to evaporate. At times it can even feel like you're zapping it with "mindfulness rays". But sometimes, this is not enough. When it isn't, it becomes important to pay attention to the origination of the unskillful state. What causes it? Or triggers it? What conditions have to be in place for it to arise? Once you understand these, you can address them in such a way that prevents the unskillful state from arising. This may at first require simple avoidance, but eventually some degree of wisdom can be brought to bear on how to take apart those conditions so the sensory stimulus in question does not trigger further occurrences.
Another thing that can be helpful is cultivating a certain sense of pride and dignity for oneself. This may seem contradictory if your understanding of Buddhism has to do with no self, or ego loss, or something like that. There's quite a debate whether the Buddha even really meant to say that there was no self as an ontological truth, but it's generally agreed that this not-self idea is best left for a fairly advanced stage of practice. Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches that, before you can take apart your self, it can be helpful to build a certain sense of self that is skillful (or less unskillful) for navigating the path to liberation. Eventually it will have to be left behind, but some use can be made of it.
In this case, it's good to have a sense of dignity that sees unwholesome, unskillful states as simply beneath you. You're too good to do that. Develop a self-image that makes doing something harmful simply inconsistent with how you think of yourself. As an anarchist, I'm generally repelled by the idea of "nobility", but in this case, it can be useful. This is what the Buddha meant by "noble". This sense is called hiri in Pāli, and is regarded as one of the guardians of ethical behavior.
Complementary to hiri is a sense of the consequences of an unethical action, and the state of mind that produces such an action. This is called ottappa. You don't do something, and you don't let a mental state arise that would cause you to act poorly, because you're quite simply scared of the consequences, they are so dire. This is the other guardian of ethical behavior.
At this point, we're starting to bleed into what to do with already arisen unskillful states. Not acting on them, which is mostly what hiri-ottappa help us do, is first. Not letting the state get so deep in that it takes over and comes out in the form of word and deed.
A good starting place for getting rid of already existing unskillful states is to simply pay very close attention to them, and how they make you feel. Usually, they come with some sort of tension and discomfort. They are inherently unpleasant states of being, and if you bring your attention to the unpleasant aspects, they become obvious. Then the state of being becomes undesirable. Does it feel good to want something? Aren't you wanting things because you don't feel good? Does it feel good to be angry, or upset, or confused? What are the ways in which it feels bad?
Related to this is recognizing the danger inherent in the qualities (which is also related to ottappa). Unskillful states are always harmful in some way...if they weren't, they wouldn't be considered unskillful. Consider the drawbacks in the particular quality, regard them as horrific dangers. What will happen if you give in? Think of how it will condition giving in to future states, and strengthen our disposition, our underlying tendency, towards that quality.
Simply enduring it is another strategy. This is where patience, and having cultivated a calm place to use as a vantage point to watch the mind, through meditation practice, comes in handy. Find that place, in your breath, in your body, wherever you have trained yourself to rest your attention most easily, and simply watch the desire or anger pass away. It's always temporary, no matter how much it tries to convince you otherwise. It will always fade away, if you simply wait long enough. (This attitude is probably why I'm alive today, if I may get overly personal, as an occasionally suicidal bipolar person...I always knew that I just had to wait and the relentless suicidal ideation would eventually relent.)
It's also good to check in and see make sure that you are dealing with the unskillful quality in wise ways. Repression, which is another form of aversion, can be just as bad as the original problem. Repression simply causes the anger or lust to manifest in other ways. This is when a meditative practice in which you've cultivated a nonreactive awareness is helpful. Don't try to push it away or suppress it; be able to be with it without giving into it, so you can act with wisdom rather than react with delusion.
One of the best ways to counter unskillful states is to cultivate skillful states to counter them. Anger and hate are countered by love, kindness, and compassion. Greed is countered by generosity. And that brings us to the next two of the four strivings.
Which perhaps I'll punt on, once again, since this post has become lengthy, and put in the next blog post.
Just some quick bookkeeping, though, for anyone who hasn't been following along, this is the fifth in a series of posts on the five spiritual faculties or powers:
Coming up are the faculties of recollection, stillness, and wise discernment (or mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, as they are traditionally translated in Buddhist Hybrid English).
The general goal is to end unskillful qualities, rooted in greed, hate, and delusion, and promote skillful qualities, rooted in relinquishment, love, and understanding. Many of these strategies will overlap, because they all head in this same general direction.
The first thing required is to simply be aware of whether or not a skillful or unskillful quality or state is present. In general, it's going to be better to catch an unskillful state right as it is arising than after it has already become established. Nipping it in the bud is much easier than uprooting it later. This is one way in which a meditation practice is good to have. Basically, as much as possible, the advice here is to set a part of your awareness to a self-monitoring function, watching your own mind to see when unskillful qualities arise. A version of this is called "guarding the sense doors". In my own experience, I find it easiest to actually pay attention to whether or not any feeling I'm having is pleasant or unpleasant, and anchor my attention there. Then I can see when my mental machinery begins to operate, orienting towards or away a thought or perceived sense-object, bringing greed or aversion into play. That is the point at which an unskillful state is in the process of arising, so that's a place it can be recognized and released before it has a chance to do any harm. At the very least, it needs to be caught before it escapes outward into word or deed.
Often times, simply noticing the presence of something unskillful is enough for it to evaporate. At times it can even feel like you're zapping it with "mindfulness rays". But sometimes, this is not enough. When it isn't, it becomes important to pay attention to the origination of the unskillful state. What causes it? Or triggers it? What conditions have to be in place for it to arise? Once you understand these, you can address them in such a way that prevents the unskillful state from arising. This may at first require simple avoidance, but eventually some degree of wisdom can be brought to bear on how to take apart those conditions so the sensory stimulus in question does not trigger further occurrences.
Another thing that can be helpful is cultivating a certain sense of pride and dignity for oneself. This may seem contradictory if your understanding of Buddhism has to do with no self, or ego loss, or something like that. There's quite a debate whether the Buddha even really meant to say that there was no self as an ontological truth, but it's generally agreed that this not-self idea is best left for a fairly advanced stage of practice. Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches that, before you can take apart your self, it can be helpful to build a certain sense of self that is skillful (or less unskillful) for navigating the path to liberation. Eventually it will have to be left behind, but some use can be made of it.
In this case, it's good to have a sense of dignity that sees unwholesome, unskillful states as simply beneath you. You're too good to do that. Develop a self-image that makes doing something harmful simply inconsistent with how you think of yourself. As an anarchist, I'm generally repelled by the idea of "nobility", but in this case, it can be useful. This is what the Buddha meant by "noble". This sense is called hiri in Pāli, and is regarded as one of the guardians of ethical behavior.
Complementary to hiri is a sense of the consequences of an unethical action, and the state of mind that produces such an action. This is called ottappa. You don't do something, and you don't let a mental state arise that would cause you to act poorly, because you're quite simply scared of the consequences, they are so dire. This is the other guardian of ethical behavior.
At this point, we're starting to bleed into what to do with already arisen unskillful states. Not acting on them, which is mostly what hiri-ottappa help us do, is first. Not letting the state get so deep in that it takes over and comes out in the form of word and deed.
A good starting place for getting rid of already existing unskillful states is to simply pay very close attention to them, and how they make you feel. Usually, they come with some sort of tension and discomfort. They are inherently unpleasant states of being, and if you bring your attention to the unpleasant aspects, they become obvious. Then the state of being becomes undesirable. Does it feel good to want something? Aren't you wanting things because you don't feel good? Does it feel good to be angry, or upset, or confused? What are the ways in which it feels bad?
Related to this is recognizing the danger inherent in the qualities (which is also related to ottappa). Unskillful states are always harmful in some way...if they weren't, they wouldn't be considered unskillful. Consider the drawbacks in the particular quality, regard them as horrific dangers. What will happen if you give in? Think of how it will condition giving in to future states, and strengthen our disposition, our underlying tendency, towards that quality.
Simply enduring it is another strategy. This is where patience, and having cultivated a calm place to use as a vantage point to watch the mind, through meditation practice, comes in handy. Find that place, in your breath, in your body, wherever you have trained yourself to rest your attention most easily, and simply watch the desire or anger pass away. It's always temporary, no matter how much it tries to convince you otherwise. It will always fade away, if you simply wait long enough. (This attitude is probably why I'm alive today, if I may get overly personal, as an occasionally suicidal bipolar person...I always knew that I just had to wait and the relentless suicidal ideation would eventually relent.)
It's also good to check in and see make sure that you are dealing with the unskillful quality in wise ways. Repression, which is another form of aversion, can be just as bad as the original problem. Repression simply causes the anger or lust to manifest in other ways. This is when a meditative practice in which you've cultivated a nonreactive awareness is helpful. Don't try to push it away or suppress it; be able to be with it without giving into it, so you can act with wisdom rather than react with delusion.
One of the best ways to counter unskillful states is to cultivate skillful states to counter them. Anger and hate are countered by love, kindness, and compassion. Greed is countered by generosity. And that brings us to the next two of the four strivings.
Which perhaps I'll punt on, once again, since this post has become lengthy, and put in the next blog post.