Mettā as taught by the Buddha is expressed through mental thoughts as well as verbal and physical actions. It involves not only passive expression of friendliness to other beings but also active work of kindness, within one own means, to alleviate the suffering of one's fellow beings. In the case of the latter mettā works hand in hand with another positive mental quality, karuṇā or compassion, which is a close aide of mettā. Compassion is the movement (or quivering) in the mind at the sight of others' suffering. It is that which moves the heart to take action to alleviate that suffering.
But when it comes to the practice of mettā, Theravāda Buddhists have sometimes been criticized for being armchair (or meditation seat) practitioners. The reason for this is that there seem to be a lot of emphasis among Theravāda Buddhists on mettā meditation. In fact so synonymous is mettā with mettā meditation that often, among some circle of Buddhists, when one say that one practices mettā it usually means that one is practicing mettā meditation, and when a teacher is said to be teaching mettā, what it means is that he is teaching mettā meditation.
And in mettā meditation one is only required to sit down, close one's eyes and send thoughts of kindness continuously to other beings. Meditation being a work that is to be carried out with the mind alone, mettā meditation on its own does not involve translating the kind mental thoughts into physical and verbal actions. And thus the criticism.
But just because mettā meditation is purely a mental work this should not be taken to imply that those who practice mettā meditation will simply stop there, that once they got up from the meditation seat they would also stop practicing mettā, and that they will not manifest the mettā they have cultivated through meditation in their everyday physical and verbal actions as they interact and relate with other beings. In fact the opposite is true, that the intense torrent of genuine kind thoughts of mettā cultivated through mettā meditation would be so overwhelming as to overflow into all sphere of one's everyday life outside of the time of meditation and informs all of one's physical and verbal actions. That is of course if one practices mettā meditation properly, methodically and sincerely. But more on mettā meditation later.
While it is true that in mettā meditation, mettā is practiced solely in the mind, and most of the passages in the canonical texts dealing with mettā describe mettā as a mental activity (mettā is after all a mental state), particularly as a meditation, it does not follow that Theravāda Buddhism only teaches mental expression of mettā and totally ignore other modes of expressing mettā.
In Kosambiya Sutta (Majjhima-Nikāya Sutta 48) for example the Buddha spoke about those principles “which are worth remembering, that create love and respect and lead to cohesion, non-dispute, concord, and unity.” Three among these principles are the maintenance of bodily, verbal, and mental acts of mettā both in public and in private towards one's companions in the holy life (and by extension, to other beings as well that one happens to live with). Another principle is to share one's own righteously obtained gains with one's companions in the holy life which is a physical act often motivated by mettā. Yet another principle is to possess in common with one's companions in the holy life those moral-virtues or sīla pertaining to the holy life. Sīla, which involves regulating one's physical and verbal conduct in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma, is another practice of the Dhamma which is often motivated by mettā for one's fellow beings.
The disciples of the Buddha too express mettā using all three modes of expression. For example in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (Dīgha-Nikāya Sutta 16), during the last days of the Buddha, he praised the Ven. Ānanda for having attended to him as his personal attendant with bodily, verbal, as well as mental acts of mettā.
Many Theravāda Buddhists today, both laities and monastics, are also seen to be practicing mettā not only as a meditation but also expressing it physically and verbally in their everyday social interaction. Of course it is an established Buddhist tradition that lay Buddhists will generally attend to the material needs of the members of the Saṅgha (the community of monks) and many of them will do so out religious piety with their hearts filled not only with faith but also with mettā. This has led to another criticism that Theravāda Buddhists will only do dāna and have mettā for the members of the Saṅgha but to no one else. While this may be true for some, perhaps overzealous section of the Buddhist community, and we should all also take note of this at least as a precaution, it is not fair at all to make a sweeping remark that all Theravāda Buddhist in general practice dāna and mettā that is limited only towards the members of the Saṅgha.
There are also many Theravāda welfare organizations at present around the globe that are doing great work in addressing various humanitarian needs. These are, however, often overlooked as most of them “tend to be relatively small scale and low profile.” Besides welfare organizations many Theravāda Buddhists in their personal capacity and according to their means would also not hesitate to contribute towards humanitarian aid when requested. And whenever there are any humanitarian needs, be it small or big, many among Theravāda Buddhists who possess leadership and organizational skills would rise to the occasion and begin to rally people and put resources together to meet these needs. And we know of occasions when such aids are extended not only to humans but to animals as well. All these are to be expected of Theravāda Buddhists whom are well groomed in basic Dhamma values of wisdom, kindness, and compassion.
So, far from being mere armchair practitioners of mettā, Theravāda Buddhists are just as capable as any other true human-beings in manifesting mettā as well as karuṇā beyond their meditation seats in their everyday activities as they interact with their fellow beings, both humans and non-humans.
Now let us turn our attention to the question why there is so much emphasis on mettā meditation in Theravāda communities. Why is it that whenever Theravāda teachers talk about mettā they will usually also talk about mettā meditation. In fact why is there so much emphasis on meditation in general in Theravāda Buddhism? There is of course a good reason for this. And it is not because Theravāda Buddhists are only selfishly interested in their own inner world and self-liberation and would largely ignore the society and world around them.
The primary purpose of the Buddha's teaching, it must be reminded, is to help suffering beings to achieve the cessation of existential suffering (And why would anyone call this selfish?). And the Buddha had traced the cause (or causes) of this suffering to the mind. He said the causes of this suffering are all the mental defilements, those unskilful mental states, especially ignorance, craving, and clinging (avijjā, taṇhā, and upādāna), that arise in the mind and cause the mind to respond to its experience of the world in a way that is inappropriate and does not accord with the reality of things as they are, giving rise to conflicts with reality and thus suffering.
And since the causes of suffering arise in the mind, it is in the mind that we must resolve the problem of suffering. And this is exactly what meditation is all about: the transformation of the mind through a process of gradual purification that serves to develop the strength and wisdom in the mind so as to enable the mind to break free from the clutches of the mental defilements and thus be free from suffering. For if the underlying psychological causes of suffering in the mind is not effectively dealt with, any measure we take externally (and this includes all the social welfare work we do) to overcome the problem of suffering in the world will be ultimately futile. So to solve the problem of suffering we have to go back to its source in the mind and purify the mind of the causes of suffering through meditation.
Take the example of mettā meditation. Mettā meditation is a samatha or tranquility subject of meditation. On its own it cannot totally and irreversibly purify the mind from all traces of mental defilements, unlike Vipassanā meditation. However, it does help to significantly purify the mind, temporarily at least, from ill-will which is one among the five major hindrances to the practice of meditation as well as a cause of much conflicts, disputes, and suffering in the world.
But even though mettā meditation can put away ill-will only temporarily leaving its root in the mind largely untouched, nevertheless if it is properly and methodically developed it can effect a far-reaching positive psychological transformation in the mind of the meditator.
In a methodical and systematic development of mettā meditation the meditator is trained to arouse and maintain a steady and continuous stream of mettā or kind-thoughts towards beings. In an intensive mettā meditation retreat this continuous stream of mettā towards beings is kept going continuously throughout the day in all the four postures of the body – walking, standing, sitting, and lying-down. It is kept going regardless of what the meditator is doing, whether he is doing the formal sitting or walking meditation, or whether he is eating his meal, taking a shower, doing his laundry, etc.
In this way, with persistent and unrelenting practice over a period, this stream of mettā picks up momentum and strength, and it starts to grow intense. The meditator's mind becomes saturated with powerful wholesome mettā that is single-mindedly focused on beings. With continuous practice the stream of mettā continues to grow and at some point it can become so overwhelmingly strong and powerful that the mind becomes totally absorbed in a torrential stream of powerful wholesome mettā towards beings. At this point the mind is said to be absorbed in mettā-jhāna. In the systematic development of mettā meditation the meditator is trained in mettā-jhāna until he is able to attain this jhāna equally using any kind of beings as the recipient of his mettā. This means that he is able to arouse and direct this powerful stream of wholesome mettā to all beings equally just as he would do so to himself. His mettā towards himself, towards a lovable person, a neutral person, and even an enemy is equal and undifferentiated in its strength and effectiveness.
Mettā-jhāna is a powerful state of deep concentration of mettā where the mind becomes totally immersed in the stream of very powerful wholesome mettā that has been developed through mettā meditation. This, as we have said, can have very far reaching positive psychological effect on the mind. This powerful stream of mettā can penetrate and reach deep into the inner most recesses of the mind and helps to break down any psychological barriers that have been consciously or unconsciously set up there by negative mental states such as ill-will, aversion, fear, anxiety, worry, etc. With the breakdown of these barriers the mind would be positively transformed. And even if the positive effect of this transformation is not irreversible it will definitely leave a very strong impression on the mind of the meditator.
The stream of mettā being so powerful, the effect of its powerful positive transformation of the mind does not stop there at the meditation seat. Due to its forceful momentum the powerful stream of mettā will continue to flow from the mind even after the meditator stops meditating. And with consistent practice it can even become a habitual and dominant part of one's nature. Mettā will then flow quite naturally from one's heart. This will definitely have positive effect on the way the meditator relate to other beings, both humans and non-humans, around him. His relationship with others will be improved as he begins to treat people with more and more genuine kindness and empathy that flows from a heart purified by wholesome mettā. Enemies will be forgiven, bitterness let go of, quarrels and disputes settled. The stream of genuine mettā will flow out and manifest itself in all his thoughts, all his physical as well as verbal actions as he interacts and relates with others. Others' attitude towards him will also be changed as a result of his mettā. They can see the positive changes that have overcome him. They see this in the bright and radiant expression on his face. They hear it in the tone of his voice. They can see that he has become friendlier, more approachable, more susceptible to empathy. And they in turn will respond and be more ready to open up to him. It is known that people are attracted towards and like to be around those who are filled with mettā. They feel safe and peaceful just by being around such a person.
Such effects of mettā are possible because genuine pure unadulterated mettā flows from within the depth of one's heart that has been transformed by the stream of powerful genuine mettā cultivated through mettā meditation. One's heart has become like a fountain of mettā bursting and overflowing with the torrential stream of mettā which has been methodically cultivated and systematically developed through mettā meditation.
Therefore the practice of mettā is more effective if this powerful stream of mettā is first developed in our hearts through mettā meditation until mettā becomes a dominant and natural part of our mental composition that it begins to flow naturally from our hearts and shines forth in our personality not only during the time of meditation but outside of it as well. Then every thought of ours, every physical and verbal actions will be imbued with pure and genuine mettā. And thus the importance and usefulness of mettā meditation in the practice of mettā, as well as the emphasis on this meditation among Theravāda communities.
There may be some people, however, for whom mettā flows quite naturally from their hearts even if they have never practice mettā meditation. For these people mettā is already part of their natural tendencies due, perhaps, to past cultivation of mettā in their past lives, their mettā-pāramī or spiritual perfection of mettā. These people, however, are the exception, not the rule. The fact that there is so much hate in our world today, so much anxiety and fear among the people, shows that for most people mettā does not come naturally. So for the majority of the people who wish to practice mettā, it is more effective if they approach the practice of mettā through mettā meditation first. We start in the mind and build a strong base for genuine mettā in our hearts first. Then when the force mettā has been strongly developed in us then we can put it to practical use as we interact and relate to other beings in our daily life. This way the practice of mettā is more effective, genuine, and lasting.
If, without building a strong base for mettā in our hearts first, with mettā being still weak in our hearts, we try to relate to others with mettā through our physical and verbal actions, while there may be some mettā there, it will not be strong enough to withstand even the slightest test. A single minor fault or flaw on the part of another person will cause the mind to quickly gravitate towards the fault and dwell on it, giving rise to aversion again which is the exact opposite of mettā. The mind will also not be able to withstand any inconvenience that often comes with sending mettā to difficult people. We will soon give up our mettā endeavor and recourse back to our old habitual fault-finding ways which has dosa or aversion as its root. Any mettā there is in such a mode of practice will be just a flicker or two that very soon fizzles out.
On the other hand those who have cultivated and developed a strong base of mettā in their hearts through the methodical method of mettā meditation will be better able to withstand the test of mettā in the world outside of meditation. This is especially true for those who have developed mettā meditation until they habitually attained mettā-jhāna or at least something close to it. They not only have developed a powerful habitual stream of mettā that flows from their hearts equally to all kinds of beings, but the concentration they have developed also gives strength, firmness, and stability to their minds. This would stand them a better chance to withstand and confront the difficulties encountered when practicing mettā in the “real” world outside (is it really real?). They would be able to handle these difficulties more calmly and firmly, and with powerful stream of genuine mettā flowing from their hearts, and thus they will be better able to maintain the integrity of their mettā.
It is for these reasons that there is so much emphasis on mettā meditation in Theravāda communities and why Theravāda teachers will usually talk about mettā meditation when they touch on the subject of mettā. Mettā meditation is the most effective way to develop mettā in our lives. From this discussion also we can understand why there is generally a strong emphasis in Theravāda Buddhism on meditation and especially on vipassanā meditation.
As we said earlier, the primary purpose of the Buddha's teaching is to help beings to realize the cessation of existential suffering or what Buddhists called Nibbāna. The key to this realization is to develop the wisdom call vipassanā (insight-knowledge) that sees into the nature of things as they really are, that sees into the true nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self that are inherent in all our experience of the conditioned world. Only this vipassanā wisdom, when it is well developed, can lead to the arising of the path and fruition knowledge (magga-phala-ñāṇa) which can irreversibly purify the mind from the mental defilements such as ignorance, craving, and clinging which are the causes of suffering. The practice that develops this vipassanā wisdom is called vipassanā meditation.
The Buddha spoke a lot about the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self of our conditioned-existence all the time. So important (and popular) is this teaching that it is often taken up as a subject for Dhamma talk and discussion by teachers and students of Theravāda Buddhism alike. But mere talks and discussion about this can at best only bring about a theoretical appreciation of the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Unless one is a person who possesses pāramīs or qualities of spiritual perfections that are cultivated in the past, such theoretical appreciation alone will not be able to arouse the true vipassanā wisdom that can bring about realization of Nibbāna.
Often when Buddhists express their understanding of impermanence, suffering, and non-self they will talk about things like how they are no longer young, how their health is failing them, about the difficulties in earning their livelihood, about difficulties in their relationship with friends and family, about the difficulties and burden of raising a family, about stress, about their worries and anxieties, etc. While these things are definitely signs of impermanence, suffering, and non-self, they are still quite wide of the mark. For most people these are but very general and superficial reflection on impermanence, suffering, and non-self. They are still not exactly what the Buddha was pointing to which is the true insight of vipassanā that can lead to the arising of path and fruition knowledges and the realization of Nibbāna. If they were true insights many Buddhists and non-Buddhists too would have realized Nibbāna quite easily as these things are not difficult to perceive and see in life.
To develop vipassanā insight one needs to practice vipassanā meditation. Only through vipassanā meditation, through developing intense, energetic, and sharp mindfulness and directing this very powerful concentrated mindfulness to probe deep into the deepest level of the fabric of our conditioned-existence – which consists of mental and physical phenomena variously classified in the texts as five-aggregates subject to clinging, six internal and external sense-bases, eighteen elements, etc. - and uncovering there at the deepest level of our experience of the conditioned world, with the help of powerful concentration and mindfulness, their insecure nature due to the fact that they are rapidly and endlessly arising and passing away every single moment, only then can true vipassanā insights arise.
Only when we have probed these deepest level of our experience with powerful concentrated mindfulness developed through vipassanā meditation and discovered there, through observation of their rapid moment to moment arising and passing away, their true nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self, will our normal and superficial perception of the world as permanent, pleasurable, and as belonging to our selves, be firmly challenged and decisively discarded. Only this wisdom of vipassanā insight can help us discard these wrong perceptions of the world which are caused by ignorance, craving, and clinging. A general and superficial reflection on impermanence, suffering, and non-self as described above cannot help us to do this. At most it can only lead to a sense of urgency, in the case of wise people. For most other people who are not so wise spiritually, it will just cause them to lament about suffering but do nothing concrete about it.
So, as we can see, both in the case of mettā meditation and vipassanā meditation, meditation is the true way for the wholesome transformation of the mind from the inside out through the purification of the mind from mental defilements that are the causes of suffering. And since the primary purpose of the Buddha's teaching is to help beings to realized the cessation of suffering, meditation is the only true way for achieving this purpose. And thus the strong emphasis on meditation, especially vipassanā meditation, in Theravāda Buddhism.
“The [perception of] foulness should be developed for the abandoning of lust; loving-kindness should be developed for the abandoning of ill-will; mindfulness of the breathe should be developed for the cutting off of [discursive] thoughts; perception of impermanence should be developed for the removal of the ‘I am’ conceit. For when one perceives impermanence, Meghiya, the perception of non-self is established. One who perceives non-self arrives at the removal of the ‘I am’ conceit, nibbāna in the very here and now.”
~ Meghiya Sutta, Udāna Chapter 4 Sutta 1
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