Categories: Maintaining Mindfulness
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!
Welcome. In our ongoing spiritual exploration, we have consistently focused on a single, profound practice: the cultivation of mindfulness. For those who have begun to apply this practice, a deep understanding is already starting to blossom, not from theory, but from direct, personal experience. Even for those who have only been reading our teachings, a certain clarity has likely begun to dawn.
This practice of mindfulness, or Sati as it is known in the Pali language, is a direct teaching from the Buddha. It is a skill we can develop through training, a method to bring stability and clarity to our minds. When you seek spiritual development through the path of tranquility and insight, mindfulness becomes the very foundation of insight, known as Vipassanā. Through mindfulness in daily life, you gain a vast understanding of your own mind. This is not just a concept to be heard, but a truth to be realized through practice.
The Ultimate Goal: Ending Suffering by Uprooting Defilements
The path of insight, or Vipassanā, is the journey towards liberation from Saṃsāra, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. If we wish to end this journey and experience a state where we are not born again, we must completely eliminate the mental defilements, or Kilesa, that reside within our minds. To do this, we must first learn to recognize them. The very foundation of this path is identifying the states of clinging and aversion, greed and hatred, that constantly pull our minds.
Without this first step, the journey cannot begin. The noble fruits of the path, the four stages of awakening known as Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmi, Anāgāmi, and Arahant, are not merely stable mental states one can achieve through any method. They are specific landmarks on the path to liberation, and to reach them, you must develop mindfulness.
Why Tranquility Isn’t Enough: The Role of Insight (Vipassanā)
Many people try to attain these fruits of the path by focusing only on concentration or tranquility meditation, known as Samatha. While Samatha practices can bring peace and stability, they alone cannot lead to liberation from Saṃsāra. This is because they do not, by themselves, uproot the deep-seated defilements.
To eradicate these defilements, the Buddha taught the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, or the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. Through this practice, we cultivate clear comprehension and mindfulness, which allows us to see the true nature of our minds.
As you practice mindfulness in daily life, you will begin to see how these defilements are eliminated. If you are new to these teachings, we encourage you to explore our article ‘Look at Your Mind in Silence,’ which offers a simple, practical guide to practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This is the key to understanding the landscape of your own heart.
The Practical Path: How to Weave Mindfulness into Daily Life
The journey through Saṃsāra is fueled by two fundamental forces: clinging and aversion. These are rooted in what are known as the three unwholesome roots: Lobha (greed, lust), Dosa (hatred, aversion), and Moha (delusion, ignorance). As long as these exist in our minds, the journey is difficult. We must work to completely abandon them to find release.
The core message I wish to share is this: whatever you do in your day-to-day existence, do it with mindfulness. From now until the day we die, we are engaged in countless activities. This work never ends. Therefore, if you genuinely wish to be free from suffering, to not be born again, to attain the fruits of the path, and to practice Vipassanā, you must walk this path of mindfulness.
You don’t need to chase after the fruits of the path or constantly check ‘which stage am I at?’ Such striving is a fruitless distraction. The results will come naturally as a consequence of dedicated practice. Be wary of those who claim to identify your spiritual stage; you can be deceived, and even teachers can be mistaken.
Focus only on the practice itself. The elimination of defilements is all that is needed. If you notice that you are different now than you were before, less reactive, more peaceful, that is the true sign of progress.
Your Mind as a Laboratory: A Practical Guide to Everyday Observation
Let me give you very concrete examples of how to practice mindfulness in daily life. I share these to spark your enthusiasm. We are busy until we die, so let’s use that time wisely.
- When you sweep the yard: Normally, you might do this hastily, your mind lost in a thousand thoughts. From today, as you take the broom, watch your mind. Sweep the yard while observing the thoughts that arise and pass away.
- When you sweep inside the house: Do the same. Watch your mind.
- When you cook: As you wake up and begin to prepare food, keep your attention on your mind. It is entirely possible to cook while observing your mental state.
- During your morning routine: When you wash your face, brush your teeth, use the toilet, or take a bath, in all these moments, watch your mind.
- When getting ready: As you put on your clothes and prepare for school, for work, or for any other task, do it while observing your mind.
- Right now, as you read this: Read these words while watching your mind.
- When you talk: Whether on the phone or face-to-face with one person or a group, speak while observing your mind. You will notice a change. Wrong words will lessen. The habit of speaking carelessly, saying things that should and should not be said, will diminish over time.
- When you listen: By watching your mind, you can listen to others with greater clarity. What you hear becomes more distinct. You can give a clearer, more thoughtful answer to any question or conversation.
- When you read, write, or study: Do it while observing your mind. This is not a difficult thing. Just begin. Once you start, you will realize it is not as hard as it seems.
- At work, school, or university: Apply this same practice.
- When you are commuting: If you are driving, drive while watching your mind. If you are on a bus, from the moment you get on, be mindful. Be aware as you buy your ticket, receive change, find a seat, and observe the world passing by. Do it all while watching your mind. You will not get into an accident; in fact, you will travel with even greater awareness and safety.
As you come home, do it while watching your mind. Through this continuous practice, you will develop a profound understanding of how your mind works.
Decoding Your Inner World: Recognizing Thoughts and Emotions
As you practice this, you will see your mind bring up countless things. It will recall past events, perhaps a relationship that ended, making you wish it were still here. With mindfulness, you can simply recognize, ‘Ah, a memory of the past has arisen.’ You will also see future plans: ‘I will get into this university, get that degree, build this house, buy that car, get married, have children.’ You can recognize these as future-oriented thoughts, plans being made in the mind.
Your five senses, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, are constantly feeding you information in the present moment. But once that data enters the mind, it quickly becomes the past. The mind will remind you of things from ten years ago, from your school days, from your job, even what you ate yesterday. With mindfulness, you can watch this parade of thoughts without getting lost in it. Over time, you will begin to understand the true nature of your mind.
You will see clearly how the mind reacts. You see an attractive person and a thought arises: ‘They are beautiful, I want them.’ A feeling of lust, or rāga, may arise. With mindfulness, you see it as it appears. You see an enemy, and a thought of hatred or ill-will, dosa, arises. You see it instantly.
You witness an event and feel jealousy, issā, you see that too. You see someone succeed and feel supportive joy, you see that wholesome thought as well. When you accomplish something and feel happy, you see the happiness. When you face a sorrowful event, you see the sadness. In this way, you can clearly distinguish the various thoughts and feelings that are constantly arising and passing away within the mind.
From Waking to Sleeping: Making Mindfulness a 24/7 Practice
As you continue this practice, extend it even to your sleep. When you go to bed, lie down with mindfulness, watching your mind. Let sleep come while you are observing. When you wake up, do so with mindfulness. As you get out of bed and begin your morning activities, do everything while watching your mind.
The more attention we give to the mind, the more we understand its habitual patterns. With that understanding comes the ability to let go, to abandon, to destroy these unwholesome patterns. This very understanding is the act of purification.
If you can establish this foundational practice of mindfulness in daily life, you will find it much easier to develop other spiritual skills. Whether it is a Samatha meditation like the ‘Third Eye’ or ‘Brahma World’ practices we have taught, or traditional Buddhist meditations like contemplation of the Buddha (Buddhānussati), or even concentration practices from outside of Buddhism, everything becomes easier. Your spiritual life can develop immensely.
Building the Foundation: Why You Can’t Skip the Basics
Many people do not understand the importance of this foundation. They try to jump straight to advanced concepts like Dependent Origination (Paṭiccasamuppāda) or analyzing mind-and-matter (nāma-rūpa), thinking this is the correct start to Vipassanā. But they cannot succeed. It is like trying to empty a deep well with a small bucket after a flood. It is a futile effort. You cannot see into the depths all at once.
We must start from the shoreline and walk gradually into the ocean. If you jump in suddenly without knowing how to swim, you will drown. If someone can jump in and swim immediately, it is only because they have trained in previous lives, practicing this very mindfulness that I am describing now.
If you practice this in this life, you will be able to recognize the clinging and aversion arising in your mind, as we’ve discussed in other teachings. By observing with mindfulness, you can stop the journey of Saṃsāra. You can absolutely achieve the destruction of defilements. Even if you don’t attain a fruit of the path in this lifetime, the practice is never wasted. The understanding you gain is embedded in your mindstream and carries forward.
If in a future life you meet a Buddha or an Arahant, a fully enlightened being, you will be able to grasp their teaching instantly. Hearing just a short discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness will trigger your past practice, and you could attain the stages of awakening, Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmi, Anāgāmi, Arahant, right then and there. This is how countless beings in the past attained Nibbāna while listening to the Buddha; they had already done the preparatory work.
Practice Over Prayer: The Story of the Cloth and the Egg
Today, many people hold the mistaken belief that they can attain liberation, or Nibbāna, simply by making material offerings (āmisa pūjā) and wishing for it. This is not to say you should stop making offerings. But if you only engage in offerings, you will receive worldly comforts in Saṃsāra, but the journey to Nibbāna will be very long. However, if you engage in offerings while also cultivating the practice (paṭipatti) of mindfulness, you receive both worldly happiness and the ability to realize Nibbāna very quickly.
As the venerable Rerukane Chandawimala Nayaka Thero wrote, it’s like a hen laying an egg. If she just wishes for a chick to hatch without incubating the egg, no chick will ever emerge. She must put in the effort. Similarly, no matter how many flowers you offer, how many grand ceremonies you perform at sacred sites like Ruwanwelisaya or the sixteen holy places, it is not enough. Do those things, but you must also practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
Consider the story of Venerable Cūḷapanthaka. The Buddha gave him a clean white cloth and told him to contemplate the word ‘Rajoharaṇaṃ’ (removing dirt). In a past life, Cūḷapanthaka had been a king. Riding an elephant on a hot day, he wiped the sweat from his brow with a white cloth, soiling it. Looking at the stained cloth, he had a moment of insight: ‘
All things are subject to change and decay,’ a reflection on impermanence, or Anicca. It was because of that past moment of insight that the Buddha, through his psychic power, could give him a manifested white cloth and a simple instruction that would lead him to enlightenment. Even a momentary reflection on impermanence is incredibly powerful.
The Cost of Distraction: A Herdsman’s Missed Opportunity
This reminds me of another story. A herdsman came to listen to the Buddha. The Buddha intended to recite four verses for him, but after hearing only two, the herdsman said, ‘That is enough, Lord Buddha. We are busy people. I have no time to listen, I must go.’
After he left, the Buddha remarked to Venerable Ānanda that if that man had stayed to hear the remaining two verses, he would have attained the first stage of awakening, Sotāpanna. I rarely tell stories in our teachings, but I share these to show you the immense value of this practice.
You must understand these lessons. Simply wishing for Nibbāna while offering flowers is not enough. If you do not practice what has been discussed today, this path of Samatha-Vipassanā and the integration of mindfulness in daily life, you will not get results. If you wish to develop spiritually, you must practice what we teach. For further understanding, if you are able, read the Tipiṭaka (the Buddhist canon).
Also, read the books of the late Venerable Rerukane Chandawimala Nayaka Thero, who explained these concepts with great simplicity. If you don’t understand, read it again and again. The goal is not to finish the book, but to understand it, even if you have to read one passage a thousand times.
The Four Paths to Liberation: Which One is Yours?
The Buddha taught four paths by which one can realize Nibbāna:
You have the freedom to choose your path. You can focus only on the mindfulness teachings, or only on the concentration practices. You can practice both. We recommend practicing both, but the priority must always be liberation from suffering. Therefore, even if you only follow the path of mindfulness in daily life, that is perfectly fine.
As you develop this mindfulness, observing your mind in every daily activity, you will see many things. This teaching was meant to reignite your enthusiasm for this journey. Please put these instructions into practice.
I will now conclude this teaching on how to perform daily activities while watching the mind. May the power and blessings of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha, the Triple Gem, give you the strength to understand these matters clearly and to put them into practice.
We invite you to walk this path with us. Read our teachings, and most importantly, apply them practically in your own life. as you practice, questions will naturally arise. Please feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comments below, via email or contact form. I will do my best to offer guidance in future talks based on your progress. For now, begin this practice with an open heart and a mind free from expectation. Cultivate it correctly, and may you find the clarity and peace you seek.
Thank you for joining us. We hope this blog will be of great benefit to your spiritual journey.
May you all be well and happy.
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!.
