Visuddhimagga.info

of the Buddha -Maggasamyutta)

What is the holy life? It is this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view ...right concentration. What are the fruits of the holy life? The fruit of stream-entry, the fruit of once-returning, the fruit of non-returning, the fruit of arahantship. These are called the fruits of the holy life. Meditation on the Noble Eightfold Path

At the moment, you may be practicing some kind of meditation. Some people do it for relaxation, and some others do it for the purpose of liberating the mind. That is, for the liberating the mind from attachment, aversion and ignorance, or in other words for attaining Nibbana. Most of us live a mundane household life, and we go to work in the morning and come back in the afternoon and are tired of all the things we said and done in the day time. You will most probably agree that our mind becomes sluggish as a consequence of this on going process. Buddha said that it is not timely to develop tranquility or concentration when the mind becomes sluggish. It is timely to develop the enlightenment factor of discrimination of states, enlightenment factor of energy and the enlightenment factor of rapture when the mind is sluggish (See: Bojjhangasamyutta for further details). The best way to start meditation is to start with the Noble Eightfold path. It is the path leading to Nibbana and also the path leading to the development of the bases for spiritual power. After going through this meditation you may practice whatever meditation you are already doing. It makes a lot of difference by going through the Noble Eightfold path. You might have heard about it already but you may have many misconceptions about it. We need to learn the Noble Eightfold path correctly as explained by the Buddha. The Noble Eightfold path ( Ariya atthangika magga )

English Pali
Right view Sammaaditthi
Right thought Sammaasankappo
Right speech Sammaavaca
Right action Sammaakammanto
Right livelihood Sammaa-ajivo
Right effort Sammaavayamo
Right mindfulness Sammaasati
Right concentration Sammaasamadhi

The best way to learn about the Noble Eightfold path is to read carefully the discourse Mahaacattaariisakasutta in Middle Length sayings. The following is a short description of the above eight extracted from Mahaasatipatthaana Sutta.

1) Right View
Right view is the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of the origin of suffering, the knowledge of the cessation of suffering, and the knowledge of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. That is, understanding the Four Noble Truths.

2) Right Thougtht
The thought of renunciation, the thought of non-malevolence, the thought of non-harming. This is called Right Thought.

3) Right Speech

Refraining from lying, refraining from slander, refraining from harsh speech, refraining from frivolous speech. This is called Right Speech.

4) Right Action

Refraining from taking life, refraining from taking what is not given, refraining from sexual misconduct. This is called right action.

5) Right Livelihood

The Ariyan disciple, having given up wrong livelihood, keeps himself by right livelihood.

6) Right Effort

Here a monk rouses his will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts his mind and strives to prevent the arising of unarisen evil unwholesome mental states. He rouses his will ... and strives to overcome evil unwholesome mental states that have arisen. He rouses his will ... and strives to produce unarisen wholesome mental states. He rouses his will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts his mind and strives to maintain wholesome mental states that have arisen, not to let them fade away, to bring them to greater growth, to the full perfection of development. This is called Right Effort.

7) Right Mindfulness

Here, a monk abides contemplating body as body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside covetousness and dejection for the world; he abides contemplating feelings as feelings ... ; he abides contemplating mind as mind ... .; he abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects, ardent, dearly aware and mindful, having put aside covetousness and dejection for the world. This is called Right Mindfulness.

8) Right Concentration

Here, a monk, detached from sense desires, detached from unwholesome mental states, enters and remains in the first jhana, which is with thinking and pondering, born of detachment, filled with delight and joy. And with the subsiding of thinking and pondering, by gaining inner tranquillity and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without thinking and pondering, born of concentration, filled with delight and joy. And with the fading away of delight, remaining imperturbable, mindful and clearly aware, he experiences in himself the joy of which the Noble Ones say: "Happy is he who dwells with equanimity and mindfulness", he enters the third jhana. And, having given up pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of former gladness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana which is of purity of equanimity & mindfulness and he experiances neither pleasure nor pain. This is called Right Concentration. After learning the Noble Eightfold path, start meditation with right view and go through the details of the first Noble truth only. Pay attention to each part in minute details, starting from the 'Birth' and then continuing to 'Aging' and so on, testing the meaning of each part and approving it one by one if it is acceptable. The Buddha mention, arising of six sense bases in birth and it is suffering. You should investigate this in meditation time. Why is it suffering to have six sense bases? The answer is that you have impermanent eye, ear etc. Take your own and other's examples here. If you cannot see the same way as before now and you are suffering from it then you will agree with the Buddha from your own experience ( not because Buddha says so). Take your father or mother or someone you know that cannot see with the old age and think that you cannot escape it. Do not neglect to contemplate on other sense bases, ear etc. If you agree that it is suffering then go to the second part, Old age is suffering (Jarapi dukka ) and investigate it, when you come to death contemplate very heavily on it by taking examples. In this manner you go through the rest of the meditation. Do not rush through it, you might be spending 40 minutes but still you may be contemplating only on birth is suffering for that day. This is fine. What is important here is that you realize what Buddha said from your own wisdom. Note that you may be thinking that you have already approved what Buddha said but that is blind faith and it is without any realization. If you are doing it properly you will come across some Dhamma which you have heard but you haven't approved it. Do not reject it ( Buddha has wisdom, it is only we do not understand it) try contemplating more on that. Eventually, you will agree with the Buddha one day and that is your lucky day. You need to do this mediation for few months. Do not forget to devote some time for the meditation on the Five aggregates of clinging (i.e. form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness aggregates of clinging) as part of this meditation on every day. After sometime, you will develop the ability to recall each minute part of the first Noble Truth and you may have approved some parts of it. See whether you are getting any insights while you are doing this meditation. You may pay attention to the second Noble Truth after you have developed skills in going through the first Noble Truth. Spend few moths on the first and the second Noble Truth. Always start with the right view and then to description of the first Noble Truth and then to the second Noble Truth in that order. It may take several months to develop this part of the meditation and afterwards you may move on to the third Noble Truth. When you move on to the fourth Noble Truth you are back in the Noble Eightfold path and we continue with the "Right Thought". Always test the meaning of the Dhamma you are practicing and approve it if it is agreeable to you. If not leave it at this stage and visit it again at a later stage of the meditation. Note that approval is a very important part to make progress. When practicing, check to see whether you have those qualities. In other words, test yourself; am I renouncing sense pleasures as much as I can? Am I having thoughts of non-harming, thoughts of non-malevolence? If you are comfortable here then move to the "Right Speech" and so on. Meditation on the Five Aggregates of clinging

The five aggregates are

1) Form

2) Feeling

3) Perception

4) Volitional formations

5) Consciousness

The best way to study about these five is to read Khandasamyutta in the Connected Discourses of the Buddha. If you do not have a copy of the book then you may read a brief description from Bhikku Bodhi. Note that learning much about these five aggregates cannot be accomplished without reading the khandasamyutta and it may be one of the most greatest thing that you do to yourself by learning it. The meditation on the five aggregates of clinging focuses on arising and passing away phenomena of 'form, feeling, perception, volitional formations and consciousness'. Buddha has explained the origin of form as follows

"One seeks delight in form, welcomes it, and remains holding to it. As a consequence of this, delight arises. Delight in form is clinging. With one's clinging as condition, existence; with existence as condition, birth, with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to be. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering." The same thing is said about feeling, perception, volitional formations and consciousness. Buddha has explained the passing away of form as follows

"One does not seek delight in form, does not welcome it, does not remain holding to it. As a consequence of this, delight in form ceases. With the cessation of delight comes cessation of clinging; with cessation of clinging, cessation of existence..... Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering." For further details see Samadhi Sutta

Volitional formations plays a significant part in our lives. In another discourse (in Khandhasamyutta), Buddha has said the following. "The volitional formations construct the conditioned form as form, they construct conditioned feeling as feeling, they construct conditioned perception as perception; they construct conditioned volitional formations as volitional formations; they construct conditioned consciousness as consciousness." Think what this means and use this when meditating on the Five Aggregates of clinging. In the meditation session, go through each part in details and observe the arising and passing away phenomena of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations and consciousness.