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The Role of the Elements in Vipassana Meditation
A Dhamma Talk and Student Interview
By Sopako Bodhi Bhikkhu
Edmonton Talk #6. This discourse was given by Sopako Bodhi Bhikkhu in
Edmonton, Canada, 1988, during an intensive meditation retreat. The
names of the students have been changed. The comments in brackets are
the editor’s.
Dhamma Talk
[Note: this article makes frequent use of two Pali terms: “rupa” and
“nama.” “Rupa” has several meanings: 1) Matter; 2) material form as
perceived by us, such as color, sound, scent, flavor and tactile
impressions; 3) any object of the mind, as opposed to the knower. Rupa
has no awareness.
“Nama” means mind. Broadly speaking, it includes consciousness and all
other mental phenomena such as feeling, intention, desire,
mindfulness, and so forth. It is nama, mind, that is aware of all the
things we experience.]
Student: What is the reason for listening to a Dhamma talk during a
meditation retreat?
Ven. Sopako: To generate more confidence. Sometimes confidence is
weak. Listening to a dhamma talk makes your confidence strong enough
to balance with mindfulness and concentration. If you don’t hear any
dhamma talks, confidence will sometimes be weak and your energy down.
Listening to a dhamma talk makes confidence go up and then your energy
tries to balance with it. That’s the purpose of giving a talk once a
day— so confidence and energy will balance with mindfulness and
concentration.
Tonight I’ll start by talking about the four physical elements.1 We
have to understand what the body is. What is the body? Who can answer?
No one?
The four elements are the air, earth, fire, and water. They harmonize
together. The body is made up of these elements. That’s what we mean
when we talk about the body. Just these four elements: Earth, air,
fire, and water— nothing else. They form the body. Everyone has those
elements already. But the ratios are different— in different people
one element is greater than another. Men and women have different
proportions of the four elements.
What is the earth element? What is the heat element? What is the air
element? What is the water element in the body? The earth element
shows as the sensation of touch. When we touch something, it feels
hard or soft. The fire element means hot or cold. Usually we just
think of fire as heat. But coolness is a manifestation of the fire
element, too. The feeling of cold when you touch ice is the fire
element. The fire element refers to something we can know by a
sensation of heat or cold.
The air element can be known by moving and stopping. The hand moves
and stops. Moving is an expression of the air element. Stopping is a
result of the air element, too. When you’re moving you’re not
stopping. When you stop you’re not moving. And the water element— it’s
very hard to understand. We experience it mixed with the other
elements. It means cohesion. All things have the water element to make
them stick together. The three elements earth, fire and air are held
together by water.
We cannot touch the water element the way an image can contact the
eye, or a sound contact the ear, or a smell contact the nose. We can
only contact three elements directly: earth, fire, and air. We cannot
feel or contact the water element directly.
Some elements are good friends and some are enemies. Earth and water
are friends. Air and fire are friends. When fire burns, wind blows,
which is the air element. But fire and water, for example, are
enemies. Water puts out fire.
It’s the same in the body. Why do we have more than one posture? Why
do we have to change posture? Why do we have to have sitting,
standing, walking, and lying down? Because the elements fight over
which one will be in charge. [A different element is in charge for
each of the four postures]
The elements want to take turns being the president of the body. When
you sit, the earth element is in charge. It becomes president. Maybe
each term is an hour long. Then two terms are enough! [laughter]. If
you sit more than two terms, you feel terrible. You cannot keep
sitting. The earth element can’t be president anymore. That’s because
air and fire are fighting with earth. They want to be president, too.
That’s why staying too long in one position creates pain, numbness, or
makes you fall asleep. The air tells the earth, “Move, move, move. Go
go go. I want to be president.” It makes the body feel it has to move.
When you change posture, you feel okay. But then when you walk too
long, the fire element says you have to stand. It wants to lead, to be
in charge, to be president. So you have to stand.
When you move the body, the air element is in charge. When you stand,
fire is in charge. When you walk, air in charge. When you lie down,
water is in charge. If you don’t give all the elements a turn, the
body can get sick because it’s unbalanced.
That’s why you have to let all the elements take a turn: to balance.
You have to let the enemy element substitute for the present one. It’s
like when you’re too hot and you take a shower to cool off. Likewise,
if you change posture things will come back into balance. That’s why
even the physical elements, even rupa [matter; “rupa” can also mean an
object of the mind], are impermanent— they change by themselves.
[Because comfort changes to physical discomfort when you sit too long,
for example.] The nature of rupa, too, is impermanent, suffering and
nonself. Does everybody understand? Good.
But the Abhidhamma [Buddhist metaphysics] talks about eighteen
elements,2 not just four. I began to talk about this in Calgary. The
eighteen elements include the six sense organs: eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body and mind, and the sense-impressions: color, sound, smell,
touch, flavor, and mental objects.
There is a lens in the eye. It is rupa, matter. And then there is
color, which is rupa, too. Usually we say the eye is seeing, but
that’s not correct. That’s wrong view. The eye is just matter. Rupa
cannot see. One object cannot know another object. [Matter can only
function as an object, not a knower] But what sees? Who can tell me?
Student: Nama [i.e., mind].
Ven. Sopako: Right. What kind of nama sees? Eye-consciousness.
Eye-consciousness sees an image. Can eye-consciousness hear a sound?
Student: No.
Ven. Sopako: No, right? Why not?
Student: It needs a different rupa.
Ven. Sopako: Because one [unit of] consciousness can only have one
object, then it passes away. Each type of consciousness only has one
duty. Eye-consciousness has the duty to see, not to hear. That’s why
you have to have ear-consciousness to hear sound. It has a different
duty. It isn’t true that one type of consciousness can see and hear
both. No. That’s impossible.
That’s why there’s not just one type of consciousness [because there
are many different objects]. There are many, many types of
consciousness, depending on what the object of attention is. The
Abhidhamma lists 89 types of consciousness in all [or 121, depending
on how they are classified].
The different planes of existence3 have different types of objects, so
there have to be different kinds of consciousness to know them. That’s
why there are 89 or 121 types of consciousness. It all depends on the
object.
Also, lokiya [mundane or worldly] consciousness can’t see Nibbana. To
see Nibbana you have to have lokuttara [supramundane, i.e., beyond the
world] consciousness. During meditation practice [until the moments of
enlightenment] you just use worldly consciousness to get an object in
the present moment, but you don’t have Nibbana as an object yet.
Student: is the Nibbana object nama?
Ven. Sopako: It is nama, but not nama like ordinary consciousness.
It’s different from the nama we experience here in the world, because
it’s outside of the five khandhas [The five groups or aggregates that
comprise a “person”: body, feeling, perception, mental formations, and
consciousness. The Buddhist Dictionary by Nyanatiloka states, “These
are the five aspects in which the Buddha has summed up all the
physical and mental phenomena of existence, and which appear to the
ignorant man as his ego, or personality”].
Nibbana is not in the five khandhas. No condition or mental formation
makes Nibbana. It does not depend on anything making it. It doesn’t
belong to mental formations. And there’s no arising and passing away.
Nibbana is khandha vimmut [free of the five khandhas], and visankhara—
without condition. It is not conditioned by anything. There is no
cause and effect in Nibbana. And it is amatta. That means without
birth or death: permanent. But it’s outside of the world.
The four elements are the path of concentration only. But the eighteen
elements can be the path of insight. With the eighteen elements we can
have nama [mind] to see the object [i.e., we can be aware of the mind
as it knows the object]. In Calgary I talked about the eighteen
elements because I talked about the vipassana bhumis, which are the
grounds for establishing insight [the eighteen elements are one of the
groups comprising the vipassana bhumis].
“Bhumi” means ground or land or field. A vipassana bhumi is
[metaphorically] a field, the land for growing the seeds of
mindfulness. It’s a field used for planting mindfulness, because when
planted here, mindfulness can grow and the result will be wisdom. It’s
like the land used for planting vegetables or flowers or fruit. You
have to have land to plant seeds in, or they won’t grow. Same thing.
In the dhamma we have the vipassana bhumis.
[The act of] seeing an image is [carried out by] nama. Hearing sound
is [done by] nama; It is nama, mind, that smells, tastes, feels and
thinks. But color, sound, smell, taste, tactile objects, and mental
objects are rupa. Now, when you have rupa and nama [mind and object]
together you have the “vipassana bhumis,” the land that mindfulness
can grow on.
Nibbana is not too far away. The Buddha described Nibbana. He said in
the Suttas that Nibbana is not the air, earth, fire, water, or the
khandhas, or ayatana [the six sense-organs and six
sense-impressions].4 Instead it’s the end of the elements, the end of
the khandhas, the end of world. The Buddha described this so people
wouldn’t make a mistake about where Nibbana is, so they wouldn’t think
they could find Nibbana in the five khandhas.
Nibbana and the ordinary world are like the palm and the back of the
hand. They are not too far from each other. But you can’t see both at
the same time. When you turn your hand this way you can see the palm.
When you turn it the other way you see the back.
Same thing. Nibbana is not too far from here. Not too far from the
khandhas. But it’s not the khandhas. Just like the palm is not the
back of the hand, right? When you turn it like this, you can see palm.
When you move it this way you can see the back of the hand. It’s the
opposite side. Nibbana and the khandhas are opposite. The end of the
khandhas is Nibbana; the end of suffering is Nibbana.
But you cannot really say Nibbana is happiness. Because if you have
happiness you have to have suffering also. If you talk about light you
have to have dark. Everything that comes from a cause is part of a
duality. If you have man, you have woman. If you have day, you have
night. If you have dark, you have light.
The eighteen elements are very important in order to keep practicing
the Middle Way. Some arahants [fully enlightened beings whose minds
are entirely purified of unwholesome mental factors] became
enlightened by practicing with the eighteen elements. Other arahants
practiced the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. These two methods come
down to the same thing; they’re just different ways to develop
vipassana or mindfulness.
As I said, the eighteen elements include twelve elements having to do
with the senses: the six sense organs and six sense-objects: Eye, ear,
nose, tongue, body and mind; and color, sound, fragrance, flavor,
touches, and mental objects. These are the sense doors and sense
objects. To practice with the sense doors and sense objects correctly
is to follow the Middle Way.
How can you follow the Middle Way? When you see an image, there are
several things involved. There is the lens of the eye, which is rupa
[material]. There is an image, which is rupa, too. Now, what sees?
Consciousness sees. When you focus on “seeing, seeing” you are walking
on the Middle Way between the eye and the image. If you focus on the
eye, that’s not correct. If you attach with the image, that’s not
correct, either. For example— what is the name of the river we went to
this morning?
Student: The North Saskatchewan.
Ven. Sopako: The North Saskatchewan River, right? The far bank of the
river is color, sound, smell, taste, touch and mind-objects. That’s
one bank of the river. But eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are
the near bank. Where is the middle of the river? Where the water is.
The stream of the water is in the middle between both banks.
If a log comes down the river from the north, it will flow along with
the water, right? If it doesn’t get stuck on the near or far bank, and
doesn’t sink to the bottom of the river, where will the log go? To the
ocean. It will stay in the middle between the banks until reaching the
ocean.
Same thing. The Middle Way means that you focus on nama [mind] when
you are seeing or hearing. Then you will stay in the middle. You’re
not stuck on the near bank meaning, you’re not focusing on the eye,
ear, nose, tongue, body or mind [focusing on “mind” here is different
from focusing on nama. In the last sentence, focusing on mind means
clinging to the mind as a self]. You’re not stuck on the far bank,
focusing on color, sound, smell, touch, flavor, and mental objects.
Student: You mean the organ of the eye? Not focusing on the eye organ?
Ven. Sopako: Yes, on the eye organ. If you cling to the idea that it’s
the eye seeing, that means focusing on the eye.
Student: And not focusing on the object?
Ven. Sopako: Right, not focusing on the object. You have to focus on
seeing. Where do you see? When do you see? If you do that, you’ll be
staying in the present moment.
For example, this is the eye [pointing to a match]; this is color or
an image [pointing to the friction strip on a match box]. Or this is
the ear, and this is sound, okay? They make fire arise. Hearing is
like fire. Where do you hear? When do you hear? In the middle between
the match and the friction strip. When the two things make contact,
fire appears. That’s the middle. When fire arises. At that moment
vinnana (ear-consciousness) arises. Seeing or hearing arises. The
moment that eye- or ear-consciousness happens is the Middle Way. But
after the fire burns, it’s not the middle anymore, because there is
attachment there. There is memory to immediately say [for example,
when you’re seeing something] “Oh, that’s a Buddha statue.” That’s not
the middle because you cling to the image.
Student: Achan, if I understand correctly, you can develop vipassana
by looking at, say, feeling, and seeing it arise and fall, but you can
also look at rupa. The object can be rupa to; the object of
mindfulness can be rupa or can be feeling.
Ven. Sopako: Yes, but the objects from the eye, ear, nose, tongue, or
body are only rupa, matter.
Student: You were talking about having mindfulness in the Middle Way
with respect to the object. My understanding of what you’re saying is
that you’re being mindful of sound before it becomes a memory— is that
correct? Is that what you mean by the Middle Way? When you’re just
hearing it, you should be mindful of just hearing, before there’s a
mental object accompanying it?
Ven. Sopako: Yes, before the mind describes the object. For example,
before the mind asks, “What is the sound? What did you see?” until you
remember what the sound is. That’s not the Middle Way. In other words,
what is attachment? Attachment with what? If you cling to the idea the
eye is seeing, you are focusing on nama. If you cling to the object,
thinking, “that’s a good smell, or good sound,” and so on, that’s
attachment with rupa. When seeing, everybody thinks, “I am seeing.”
That means you attach with nama because you think, “I am.” I am
seeing, I am hearing, smelling, tasting, touching.
Student Interviews
Ven. Sopako: How is your practice going today?
Student 1: In Calgary, walking and sitting and standing were balanced.
The walking, the sitting, were all the same. The only problem was I
liked it and now I’m suffering again because it’s not that way again.
Ven. Sopako: If you feel liking, don’t cling to the liking. Let the
liking go on until the end. When you feel suffering, don’t worry about
the suffering. Don’t resist the suffering feeling. Suffering has to go
on until the end of suffering. Then you’ll have something different.
When you finish suffering you have to have new food, right? You have
to have happiness. But at the end of happiness you have to have
suffering. How can you cling? The end of day is the beginning of
night. When night reaches the end, that’s day.
It’s the same with good or bad, suffering or happiness. It’s the same
with the changing of the object. Don’t cling, don’t resist, don’t care
about that. Just let everything go on by the nature of the truth. Just
keep knowing and focusing, and forget it. Do it lightly. Don’t force
yourself or use too much energy. Don’t concentrate too much, as I told
Anne. Sometimes you won’t feel you are practicing. You’ll just sit.
That will be good. Then maybe it will be clear. It won’t be very hard
because you won’t be worried about losing mindfulness or something
like that. But sometimes you want to keep going. It’s not quite clear
or uncomfortable or too heavy. That’s very hard. You have to figure
out how to adjust or balance. It’s not easy to get equanimity, all
right? You have to be smart and use skillful means.
Student 2: I’ve been working with the touch points sort of like Linda
was doing… so I’m just saying “sitting” in between the breath.
Sometimes a gap happens on the in-breath sometimes on the out-breath.
[The student is adding “sitting” in between the rising and falling
movements because he perceives a gap between the two motions. See How
to Meditate for an explanation of the exercises.]
Ven. Sopako: That’s all right. You don’t have to add another object
every time there’s a gap. When you have a gap, you still have
mindfulness knowing there’s a gap. Knowing there’s no object now.
Mindfulness just stays there. That’s all right. You can wait until the
next actor shows. For example, when you see a play, an actor appears
onstage. But when you first go into the theater you have to have a
gap. There’s nobody onstage yet. They will come soon.
If you keep knowing, if you maintain your duty to know whatever’s
going on, then even if there’s a gap, mindfulness will still be
continuous. It won’t be too long until another actor shows, until
another object comes to you. You don’t have to look for an object when
you have a gap. You can let the objects come to you. The actors will
come because it’s their duty. When you maintain your duty, when you
keep watching, seeing and knowing what’s going on, the actors will
have to come sooner or later. When you walk into the theater and the
play hasn’t started yet, you don’t leave your seat to look for the
actors, right? You stay in your seat, waiting for the play to start.
It’s the same way during meditation. If you look for objects too much
you will lose your continuity of mindfulness.
Student 3: In the past in meditation, my object of meditation has been
the body in terms of breathing. It’s been the end of the nose, and in
walking it’s been the foot touching. So it’s taking a little bit of
time to focus on the movement as opposed to the body. First of all I
don’t usually do the meditation of the abdomen and I tend to lose it.
Ven. Sopako: What do you usually do?
Student 3: Normally I work with the nose [i.e., observing the feeling
of air touching the nostrils].
Ven. Sopako: What do you observe when breathing in and breathing out?
Touching or sensation?
Student 3: Touching.
Ven. Sopako: Touching, right? The touching point.
Student 3: Is that okay?
Ven. Sopako: If you observe the touching point, that’s okay. If you
observe sensation, it’s not okay. Because if you observe sensation
your mind is going to an object from the past. You are not in the
present moment anymore.
Student 3: The movement of the air…
Ven. Sopako: When you observe touching you’re knowing the air element.
The body feels contact. And there is knowing there. When you are aware
of knowing touching, you’re aware of nama [the mind, not just the
object alone]. You’re aware of the moment of contact between the mind
and the object in that experience of touching, all right?
Student 3: My concentration is a little weak. My mind does wander. I
do keep bringing it back. It takes various amounts of time to do that.
Ven. Sopako: Don’t bring it back. Just be aware it’s wandering. Let it
go. But at the same time, just stay with the principal meditation
object from moment to moment, according to your duty. Don’t bring the
mind back. Don’t worry about it going out. When it reaches the end it
will come back by itself.
Student 3: Last night we discussed that I get headaches when I
meditate and that it’s due to not enough concentration and too much
energy. Do I balance that by labeling more? How do I bring them into
balance?
Ven. Sopako: Yes, if concentration is down you have to label the object.
Student 3: If I find it’s a consistent problem over a long period of
time, would it be valuable to try and establish a higher degree of
concentration?
Ven. Sopako: Concentration in insight does not mean tranquility
[samatha]. You don’t need the kind of concentration that comes from
focusing for a long time on one object. Just develop momentary
concentration by labeling the object in the present moment. Labeling
will make momentary concentration strong enough to stay with objects
from moment to moment.
Student 3: In the past I have done a lot of labeling but I kept
finding I was in the past with the labeling. I found I was thinking
too much trying to find an appropriate label for every thought and
every movement.
Ven. Sopako: That’s not correct. That’s the reason… usually some
teachers or meditators believe that whenever you’re thinking you
should focus on and label the thinking, then go back to
rising-falling. Or whenever you have emotion, you should focus on the
emotion, labeling the name of it, then go back to rising-falling. When
sleepy, you should label sleepiness and return to rising-falling.
That’s not the correct way to practice.
The correct way is to keep staying in the moment to moment with the
principal object whenever you can. If wandering mind happens, as long
as it’s not strong, don’t care about it. You know it, but you just try
to continue with the principal object. If emotion arises, as long as
it’s not strong, don’t care about it, don’t note it. Don’t label the
emotion at all. If a sound comes up but it’s not strong and does not
make defilements arise, you shouldn’t care about that object.
But if the object makes defilements arise, you have to stop observing
the principal object and switch your focus to that [secondary] object.
But as long as the secondary object does not make defilements arise,
as long as it’s not strong, just keep going with your duty— just keep
observing the principal object.
If you practice this way, momentary concentration will get strong
enough or have experience enough with one object. If you jump from
here to there all the time, momentary concentration may not get strong
enough. It won’t be strong because you won’t stay on one object from
moment to moment long enough. That’s why you should keep observing the
principal object as long as you can. You don’t have to worry about
other objects unless they make defilements arise or they are so strong
that you have to stop observing the main object.
Student 4: Practice is going reasonably well. Usually I have a great
aversion to walking. Now it’s not too bad. Once I’m up it’s okay. The
mindfulness is good.
Ven. Sopako: How about sitting?
Student 4: With sitting I’m much less restless than I was in past
retreats. Everything’s okay.
Ven. Sopako: Like I said before, don’t switch objects often. Stay with
one object as long as you can. For example, if you’re observing
rising-falling, then when the mind wanders, don’t care about the
wandering if it’s not strong. When emotion arises, don’t be interested
at all. Just be aware and forget it. Just stay here with the
rising-falling. At first, just continue more and more with labeling
from moment to moment on one spot for a longer time. That will make
the object more clear, and make mindfulness and concentration
stronger. After that it will be easy to focus on wandering mind or
emotion. For now, try to stay with one object so that concentration
and mindfulness will be balanced and strong enough.
Student 4: I’ve been careful to not to over do it. In the past I’ve
felt burned out.
Ven. Sopako: It’s like starting a fire with dry bamboo. If you move
the sticks too fast you get tired and it’s easy to give up. That’s why
you should take it easy. Good. No problem.
Student 5: I’m taking it easy.
Ven. Sopako: Okay. Good! How easy is it to stay in the present moment?
Student 5: Stay in the moment? It’s better today. I was sleepy
yesterday but today I’m awake.
Ven. Sopako: That’s good. There’s no rush, no hurry. Meditation is not
very hard but it takes time. Everything takes time until you can
understand correctly, exactly. From that time on everything will be
smooth and it will be easy to continue. But for now, practice is up
and down. That’s all right. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes bad. That’s
all right. But you should keep trying to develop energy from moment to
moment, more and more. Don’t worry about how often you lose
mindfulness. Don’t worry about how long there’s a space or you fall
asleep or you have wandering mind. How long or how much doesn’t
matter. Just keep observing from moment to moment, all right?
Student 6: I’m just floating along nicely. Just taking it easy. And no
big highs, no lows. Just…
Ven. Sopako: Middle Way, right?
Student 6: Middle way! [laugher]. I feel really good with the sitting.
I’m just doing rising-falling. It seems to me a lot of times I’m not
really wanting to be here.
Ven. Sopako: Why? Worried about David?
Student 6: No, I’m not worried about David, so I feel good about that.
A little bit of restlessness I guess. But once I sit down and I get in
my little place it’s just fine. And my walking— I was finding I was
really irritated with walking. Angry.
Ven. Sopako: Angry with walking? Angry about what?
Student 6: Well, I didn’t want to do it and I just didn’t do it. And
so then I… I don’t know how he knew, but Tim said “how many steps
are you doing in walking?” And I said “I’m doing six.” And he said to
do three. So I did three and I was just happy walking along and it
just all went very nicely. So everything’s hunky-dory [laughter].
Ven. Sopako: You have to take time also. You’ve only been practicing a
few days. Even though you had some experience with meditation before,
we have to take time until it’s correct and balanced. Sometimes
meditators are very smart to do the practice correctly but they still
have to take time to adjust until it is complete or balanced.
Then even when it’s balanced, you have to wait for some factors of
dhamma [i.e., factors of enlightenment] to harmonize, too. It’s not
easy to get enlightened, all right? Even if you have correct
understanding and everything is balanced, it takes time. You have to
wait for paramita [merit or perfections from wholesome actions
performed in the past and present] or background, for many wholesome
factors to harmonize until the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment
[bodhipakkhiya dhamma]5 are complete. At that time, when they
harmonize, everything will be fine. Now it’s not fine. [Laughter]. Now
everything isn’t fine yet. All right?
Okay, how about Matthew [the student teacher]? Maybe I don’t need to
interview him because he already came to ask me a question when he had
some problem. But I just want him to tell the group what’s happening
or what he experienced from practicing and helping the group and the
teacher.
Student [Matthew]: It’s a little like clear comprehension, except that
momentary concentration has to be quite good. You can’t stick too long
on one object because you miss what’s necessary. So in a way it
doesn’t matter if I’m sitting or walking or standing or whatever.
Labeling occurs for me just like every once in awhile. In the morning
it’s very difficult because I’m really sleepy. Low energy. But then
it’s interesting to see how my mindfulness follows things. Like last
night I was about ready to fall on my face with tiredness until Achan
started talking. Then mindfulness had an object of interest. So I
didn’t go to sleep until about 12:30. I just maintained some of what
he said as thoughts. It’s different than sitting. Sometimes you have
to look for objects for mindfulness. I don’t have a problem right now.
It’s different because there’s activity rather than being in one
place. It’s the same in terms of mindfulness and concentration. The
only difference is in concentration, and the good lesson I’ve learned
from it, both from Calgary and here, is that more isn’t better. Less
is better as far as concentration is concerned, for me. It’s much
easier to do, as Laura said, and take a holiday. That doesn’t mean
that you don’t see moment to moment if you’re not concentrating. But
it doesn’t have to be deep, deep, deep; it can be light, light, light,
and you still know, know, know. And as far as being with the teacher
goes, well I thank everyone for that opportunity.
Ven. Sopako: I want to give my knowledge or experience to meditators
so they can be representatives for me, to teach or help people here.
That’s why I try to let him translate or help or interview some
people, too. That’s why now, you [talking to Matthew] understand more
about the difference between tranquility and insight— how they are
different and how we can follow the correct the path and know which
one is which.
If you have two things you can compare them. You can know enough to
teach. But if you have one thing like this [pointing at a tape
recorder] you cannot tell if it’s big or small, right? But if you have
another thing to compare it with, you can say how big or small it is.
If it’s bigger you can tell it’s bigger. If smaller you can tell it’s
smaller.
There are two kinds of meditation [i.e., tranquility (samatha) and
insight (vipassana)], but when you don’t know in what way they are
similar or different, how can you teach meditators? The point is, how
can you know in what way they are the same and in what way different?
Which one is big, which one small? Sometimes we make a mistake about
concentration and think it’s vipassana. Even if you know it’s
concentration, do you know how strong or deep it is? Someone thinks
they have to go too deep with concentration, as you do in tranquility
meditation. Concentration in vipassana doesn’t mean that at all. It
just means that momentary concentration is balanced with energy. You
have to understand that. When you understand, you can compare and tell
how the two types of meditation are different or how they are the
same. When you understand, you can help people a lot, can help people
find the correct path easily because you can understand both ways.
Teaching people to become wise or have insight knowledge is very hard.
On the other hand, teaching tranquility meditation is not too hard.
You just give the students instruction and let them do it, let them
practice. But teaching insight meditation for correctly understanding
the right path is very hard. You have to know both kinds of meditation
and understand what is right and what is wrong.
Notes
1. The Buddhist Dictionary by Nyanatiloka states: “The 4 physical
elements (dhatu), popularly called earth, water, fire and wind, are to
be understood as the primary qualities of matter… In Vis.M. XI, 2
the four elements are defined thus: ‘Whatever is characterized by
hardness (thaddha-lakkkhana) is the earth or solid-element; by
cohesion (abandhana) or fluidity, the water-element; by heating
(paripacana), the fire or heat-element; by strengthening or supporting
(vitthambhana), the wind or motion-element. All four are present in
every material object, though in varying degrees of strength. If, for
instance, the earth element predominates, the material object is
called “solid,” etc.'”