Categories: Maintaining Mindfulness
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!
Today, we explore a teaching that is both a gentle warning and a reflection on a common experience seen on the spiritual path. This is a deeply important lesson for anyone engaged in a journey of self-discovery, whether you practice formal meditation like Samatha-Vipassanā (calm and insight meditation), diligently observe ethical precepts like the Five, Eight, or Ten Precepts, or simply strive to live a principled life. It is crucial for every type of practitioner.
The core message is this: the person you have become through your efforts can change again. You might feel you have transformed, but this transformation is not always permanent. Understanding this is vital for your spiritual journey, and as we explore this, its meaning will become clear. This insight is not meant to discourage, but to help you navigate your path with greater wisdom and humility, protecting you from a common pitfall: spiritual pride.
The First Trap: Pride in Your Progress
Imagine a person who once lived a life filled with unskillful actions. Perhaps they were involved with alcohol or drugs, engaged in sexual misconduct, were consumed by excessive desire, or caused harm and distress to others. In short, they lived an unvirtuous life that brought suffering to themselves and those around them.
Now, imagine this person discovers the path of meditation and begins to practice. As time goes on, their wholesome qualities, or kusala, begin to emerge. The unwholesome tendencies, the akusala, are suppressed or even fade away. They transform. They become a better person, and they can feel this change deep within. This is a wonderful development, but here lies a subtle trap.
At this point, it is crucial that you never boast or become arrogant about your transformation. There is no need to announce, “I am not the person I used to be.” It’s easy to think that the old you is gone forever. This feeling of accomplishment can quickly curdle into spiritual pride, a dangerous state of mind that we will explore further.
The Unstable Mind: Why True Change Is Deeper Than You Think
Why is this spiritual pride so dangerous? Because the mind, until it is fundamentally transformed, is unreliable. In Buddhism, we speak of irreversible stages of awakening, known as the four fruits of the path: Sotāpanna (the Stream-enterer, who has entered the stream to Nibbāna), Sakadāgāmi (the Once-returner), Anāgāmi (the Non-returner), and Arahat (the fully liberated one).
Unless you have reached one of these stable states, your mind cannot be fully trusted. Even deep states of meditative concentration, known as the jhānas, are not entirely secure. A person who was once unvirtuous and has become good can, at any moment, change and revert to their former state. Therefore, do not think,“I have changed and will never go back.” This is the most important message for you today. Never assume you will remain unchanged, because until the mind is irreversibly purified, it remains vulnerable.
Chasing Gurus: The Pitfall of Seeking Refuge in a Person
This instability of the mind is visible in the behavior of many spiritual seekers. You may have met people like this. They find a particular teacher and listen to their talks. In the beginning, they are full of praise: “This is the true path! This monk speaks the absolute truth!” They speak with great arrogance and certainty. Both men and women do this.
However, after spending some more time listening to that teacher or perhaps associating with them, they might find something they disagree with. Their initial enthusiasm wanes. Soon, they come back and say, “That teacher is wrong, their path is incorrect. But now I have found a new teacher, and this one is the truly correct one!” They repeat the same cycle of excessive praise, only to likely become disillusioned again later.
This happens because they are seeking refuge in a person, not in the true refuge of the Triple Gem: the Buddha (the example of enlightenment), the Dhamma (the teachings of reality), and the Sangha (the community of noble, awakened beings). When you place your faith in a fallible person, your faith will be as unstable as their perceived perfection.
The Danger of “Spiritual Labels”
A particularly dangerous form of spiritual pride arises when teachers, both lay and monastic, begin to bestow spiritual labels upon their followers. They might tell someone, “You are now a Sotāpanna.” This is a deception that often preys on sincere practitioners, especially older women who may be retired and dedicated to the path.
If you find yourself in such a situation, or if you begin to believe you have reached such a state, there is a simple way to check for yourself. A true Sotāpanna has unshakable faith and confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Does your mind still waver? After many years, do you find your feelings towards your teacher changing? Do you ever have thoughts of abandoning the path, perhaps for money or another religion? If so, you can know for yourself that you have not attained that stable state.
You do not need a teacher to give you a label. By practicing mindfulness, or sati, and observing your own thoughts, you can understand the nature of your own mind. If you see this instability, you can stand with the confidence of a lion and tell any teacher, “Please do not say such things. I have not attained any such state. I understand the current nature of my mind.” This honesty is your real strength.
When Progress Stalls: Facing the Inner ‘Māra’
There are times on the path when your meditation practice may feel stagnant. You practice diligently, but no tangible results seem to appear. A sense of boredom or disillusionment can set in. This is a very vulnerable time. It is in these moments that your inner defilements, which we sometimes personify as Māra (the tempter), can strike.
Unless you have a wise teacher to guide you or the mindfulness to see what is happening, you might give up. Imagine the person from our earlier example, who has left behind their old life and is now practicing meditation. But they feel stuck, with no results. If an old friend appears and says, “Hey, what do you say we try some of those drugs again, just for old times’ sake?” the temptation can be overwhelming. They might think, “Well, this meditation isn’t giving me any results anyway, so why not?”
The same applies to someone who struggled with sensual desire. A temptation from the past may reappear, and they might easily fall back into old patterns. This can happen to anyone. It is a critical phase in the journey where equanimity and perseverance are essential.
The Subtle Poison of Boasting About Your Practice
This brings us back to the core warning against boasting, or what we call pampōri in Sinhala. It is a form of spiritual pride. Consider someone who doesn’t meditate but decides to start observing the ethical precepts, or sīla. Initially, they might talk endlessly about their virtue. This very act of boasting can be their downfall. After some time, their pride can lead to their own undoing, and they may revert to their former, unvirtuous state.
There are also those who boast about their meditation practice. They might call and say, “I meditate this many hours a day,” or “I practice ten different types of meditation.” Some even fall into a subtle form of dishonesty born of spiritual pride. They hear about another person’s meditative experiences and, not wanting to feel inferior, claim those experiences as their own, even if they never happened. These are weaknesses of the mind that must be observed with honesty.
A Lesson from the Bodhisatta: No Attainment is Safe Without Final Liberation
To understand just how deep this vulnerability runs, we only need to look at the Jātaka tales, the stories of the Buddha’s previous lives as a Bodhisatta (an aspirant to Buddhahood). In these stories, our own Bodhisatta, despite having developed immense spiritual power, mastering all eight jhānas, awakening powerful energies like kundalini, and attaining the five supernormal powers (abhiññā), still fell.
There are numerous accounts of him, as a powerful ascetic, becoming overwhelmed by sensual desire for a woman and losing all his hard-won spiritual powers. He would engage in worldly life, satisfy his desires, and only later, feeling disenchanted, would he return to the forest to start his practice all over again.
If this could happen to a great being like the Bodhisatta, then we must understand that no worldly attainment can make us immune. Until we reach the final, irreversible stages of awakening, the possibility of falling remains.
Your True Protection: The Awakening of Wisdom (Paññā)
So, what is our protection? It is not concentration alone, nor virtue alone. The ultimate safeguard is paññā, which means wisdom or profound insight. Whether a person has attained a fruit of the path or not, if they have developed wisdom, they can protect themselves. Wisdom is the faculty that allows you to recognize when you are about to fall. You can see the mind slipping back towards its old, unwholesome states.
With this wisdom, you can recognize, “I am heading towards decline. I am about to fall back into the person I was before I started meditating.” This clear seeing gives you the power to change course, to avoid the pitfall, and to re-establish yourself on the path. It is this wisdom, not spiritual pride, that will carry you forward.
The Way Forward: Practice in Silence and Humility
Therefore, the advice is simple: practice in silence and with humility. There is no need to boast about your spiritual life. Whether you are observing precepts, listening to Dhamma talks on YouTube all day, or meditating for hours, keep it to yourself. It is not wrong to explain your practice if someone asks sincerely, but do not go around advertising it out of spiritual pride.
Remember, the person you are today is not the person you will be tomorrow. You can listen to countless teachings, but if you still react with anger and aversion, you have not truly integrated them. You have become a mere listener, not a practitioner. See these tendencies in yourself and in the world around you with a clear, non-judgmental eye.
The Journey of Falling and Rising
This spiritual journey is a process of falling and rising again. But the goal is not to keep falling. The goal is to learn to stand. By understanding the warnings shared in this teaching, you awaken the wisdom needed for your journey. Even if you are not yet on unshakable ground, this wisdom is your tool.
When you feel a challenge approaching or a temptation arising, you can now face it without fear, because you understand what is happening. If you used to fall ten steps down, perhaps now, with this wisdom, you will only fall five steps before you can catch yourself. This is real progress.
This advice, this experience, is for everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, or religion. Take it to heart and apply it practically. I hope this teaching has been clear and that it brings you strength on your path.
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!
