At present, only the Buddha’s words remain in Buddhism. Only his teachings and scriptures are left. Please understand this clearly. Because of the corruption caused by mental defilements, the true spiritual principles are no longer widely practiced in modern Buddhism. As Buddhists, we often allow our minds to become restless and confused, completely covered by mental defilements coming from every direction. These defilements become so powerful that no matter how hard we try, we cannot rise above them. Most people are not even interested in trying. They simply ignore the problem and let themselves be overwhelmed. They do not even try to resist. Because they lack mindfulness and do not pay attention to the results of their thoughts, everything they think, say, and do becomes controlled by mental defilements. They surrendered to these destructive forces a long time ago and now no longer have the motivation to control their wandering thoughts. When mindfulness is absent, mental defilements work freely day and night in every activity. As a result, they constantly burden and oppress the hearts and minds of people with suffering.
During the time of the Buddha, his direct disciples truly practiced the Buddhist path. They left worldly life with the clear purpose of going beyond suffering. No matter their social position, age, or gender, once they ordained under the Buddha’s guidance, they changed the way they thought, acted, and spoke to follow the Dhamma. They abandoned mental defilements and stopped following their influence from that moment onward. With sincere effort, they directed all their energy toward purifying their hearts and removing the contamination created by mental defilements.
True effort means a meditator constantly tries to maintain steady mindfulness, always watching over the mind. When mindfulness carefully observes all mental and emotional activity at all times and in every posture, this is called “right effort.” Whether we are doing formal meditation or not, if we sincerely try to keep the mind focused on the present moment, we can continually protect ourselves from the danger of mental defilements. Mental defilements constantly create thoughts about the past and the future. This distracts the mind and pulls it away from the present moment and from the mindfulness needed to maintain proper effort.
For this reason, meditators should not let the mind wander into worldly thoughts about the past or the future. Such thoughts are always connected to mental defilements and become obstacles to practice. Instead of following the habit of focusing outward on worldly matters, meditators must turn inward and become aware of the mind’s inner world. This is extremely important.
Many meditators fail to achieve good results because they are not firm enough in applying the basic principles of meditation. I always teach my students to practice carefully and with a clear and specific focus. In this way, they can achieve good results. It is important to find a suitable meditation object to prepare the mind properly for this work. I usually recommend using a meditation word whose continuous mental repetition acts like an anchor, quickly grounding the mind in calmness and concentration. If a meditator only focuses on awareness itself without using a meditation word as an anchor, the results are often uncertain and inconsistent. The mind’s knowing nature is too subtle to give mindfulness a stable foundation, so the mind easily wanders into thinking and distraction, pulled away by mental defilements. Meditation practice then becomes unstable. Sometimes it seems to progress smoothly and easily, but suddenly it becomes difficult again. Progress disappears, confidence weakens, and the mind becomes confused. However, if we use a meditation word to firmly anchor mindfulness, the mind can quickly enter a calm and concentrated state. It will also be able to maintain that calmness more easily.
I speak about this from my own experience. When I first began meditating, my practice did not have a strong foundation. Since I had not yet discovered the correct way to care for my mind, my practice constantly changed. Sometimes it improved steadily, but then it quickly declined and returned to its original untrained condition. Because of my intense effort in the beginning, my mind entered a calm and concentrated state that felt solid and stable like a mountain. But because I lacked the proper method to maintain that state, I relaxed and became careless. That was when my practice began to decline. I did not know how to stop the decline, so I reflected deeply, trying to find a stable foundation that could keep the mind steady. Eventually, I realized mindfulness had weakened because my foundation was wrong: I did not have a meditation word to serve as a precise object of attention.
I had to begin my practice all over again. This time I firmly established a stable foundation and held onto it no matter what happened. That foundation was buddho, recollection of the Buddha. I made the meditation word buddho my only object of attention. I focused on mentally repeating buddho and excluded everything else. Buddho became my sole concern while mindfulness carefully directed all my effort. I stopped thinking about progress or decline. Whatever happened, I would simply let it happen. I was determined not to follow my old habits of thinking about the past—when my practice had once progressed well and later collapsed—or thinking about the future, hoping my former happiness and satisfaction would somehow return by itself. All along, I had failed to create the conditions needed for success. I merely wished for improvement and then became disappointed when it did not appear. In truth, desire for success does not create success; only mindful effort does.
This time I resolved that no matter what happened, I would simply allow it to happen naturally. Worrying about progress and decline only created agitation and distracted me from the present moment and the work I needed to do. Only the mindful repetition of buddho could prevent changes and instability in my meditation. It was essential to center the mind firmly in present-moment awareness. Discursive thinking could not be allowed to disturb concentration.
To practice meditation sincerely and reach the end of all suffering, you must fully commit yourself to each stage of the path. Nothing less than complete dedication will succeed. To experience the deepest levels of calm and concentration and to develop profound wisdom, you cannot be lazy, halfhearted, or uncertain, lacking firm principles to guide your practice. Meditators who lack strong commitment to the principles of practice can meditate their entire lives without achieving the proper results. In the beginning stages of practice, you must find a stable meditation object to anchor the mind. Do not casually focus on something vague, like awareness itself, which is naturally present within the mind. Without a clear object of attention to hold onto, it becomes almost impossible to prevent the mind from wandering. This leads to failure. Eventually, disappointment arises and you may stop practicing altogether.
When mindfulness loses its object, mental defilements quickly drag the mind into thoughts about the past or the future. The mind becomes unstable and wanders endlessly without finding peace or satisfaction even for a moment. This is how meditators lose progress and watch their meditation collapse. The only solution is to use one simple and clear object of attention, such as a meditation word or the breath. Choose whichever feels most suitable for you and focus firmly on that one object alone. Complete dedication is necessary for the task.
If you choose the breath as your meditation object, become fully aware of every in-breath and every out-breath. Notice the feeling created by the movement of the breath and place your attention on the point where that feeling is strongest, such as the tip of the nose. Clearly know when the breath enters and when it leaves, but do not follow the breath inward or outward. Simply keep attention fixed on the point where the breath passes. If it helps, combine the breathing with the silent repetition of buddho, thinking bud while breathing in and dho while breathing out. Do not allow wandering thoughts to interrupt your work. This is training in present-moment awareness, so remain alert and attentive at all times.
As mindfulness gradually becomes stronger, the mind will stop paying attention to harmful thoughts and emotions. It will lose interest in its usual distractions. Free from disturbance, the mind will settle deeper and deeper into calmness and stillness. At the same time, the breath—which feels coarse at the beginning—will gradually become more refined and subtle. Eventually, it may become so refined that it completely disappears from conscious awareness. At that moment, there is no awareness of breathing left. Only the Citta’s pure knowing nature remains.
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