Calm Abiding — 2013-11-13

Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. In this 118-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche grounds calm abiding practice in a diagnosis of our fundamental ignorance: we do not understand karma and causality, the root of all our suffering-creating behavior. Before laying out meditation technique, he establishes the philosophical foundation—why a stable mind is essential to see reality clearly. He then walks through the Six prerequisites for calm abiding: a conducive living setting, ethical discipline, few desires, contentment. He unpacks the Five faults that disrupt practice (laziness, forgetting the object, sinking, agitation, over-application) and their Eight antidotes, mapped onto Nine stages of mental development. He makes precise distinctions between sinking and agitation, and between subtle and coarse sinking. Q&A addresses household distractions, the relationship between the Nine stages and the dhyanas, and cultivating faith in concentration. For practitioners grounded in Buddhist framework and serious about meditation.

File metadata (for organising)

File: 2013-11-13 – KR.mp3

UUID: 00371a42-efde-412c-bde7-ac656f444ad9

Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche

Collection: Calm Abiding

Date: 2013-11-13

Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide

Words: ~5,433

As Buddha Śākyamūni said, do not engage in even the slightest of non virtues and protect your mind. These are my teachings. Buddha Śākyamūni did not say try to reduce the amount of non virtues you commit. He said do not engage in even the slightest non virtue. In our cases, even though we wish to attain happiness and wish to be free from suffering, we do not understand the causes of happiness and the causes of suffering and can therefore not abandon the causes of suffering.

Then, since we do not understand the causes which give rise to happiness, we cannot create or generate happiness. And likewise, not understanding the causes which give rise to suffering, we cannot put effort at eliminating them. In our cases, through habituation since beginningless time to the cause of suffering, the afflictions, we engage in deeds motivated by the afflictions. Deeds motivated by the afflictions become sins and as such give rise to suffering. Likewise, regarding happiness, since we have no habituation whatsoever in giving rise to the causes of happiness, which are virtuous deeds, engaging in these deeds is inordinately difficult for us.

In addition, we are unable to identify what is suffering correctly. Since we are unable to identify what is actually suffering, we are unable to be motivated to abandon its causes. To be able to do this, it is critical for us to study. It is only through study that we will be able to identify suffering correctly, to identify virtue which are which is the cause of happiness and non virtue which is the cause of suffering. Therefore, through study we will be able to abandon them.

However, study is insufficient. In addition, one must engage in effort, and to engage in such effort one must have conviction in what one has studied. We lack these three factors. In our case, we experienced no hardship or difficulty in putting effort at what we view as happiness and what we wish for. However, we do not understand what is full enlightenment, nor do we understand what liberation is.

Having no experience of them, we do not make any effort in attaining them, and as far as higher rebirths are concerned, we doubt their existence as well, and therefore put no particular effort in creating their causes. Then whether our mindset is virtuous or not is something we and we alone can know. It is through checking our interiority that we can see this. If when we check our minds, we see that sincerely from the depths of our being we actually wish to help others, then we are in a virtuous state of mind. If at least we do not wish to harm others through our behavior, we are also in a virtuous state of mind.

But these two states of affairs are very difficult to generate. Then in our cases, if we inspect our minds, we can see that dominant within our minds is our own well-being, our sense of self. We wish happiness for ourselves and we think, this is what I want. I want to succeed, I want to be rich, I want to make it in this life, and whether this harms others or not is something which is broadly speaking irrelevant to our assessment of our chances for success. And if that is our state of mind, we have work to do.

Then we use various means to try to accomplish our goals. We flatter people, we lie to people, we deceive people, we pretend to be better than we are, but in every single case our behavior is the cause of further suffering for ourselves. And in this context, even though we are obsessed with our own happiness, all we create are the causes for our suffering. The opposite attitude is very rare, an attitude of true concern for others. In our case, the only result of our attempts at being happy is sowing the seed for further suffering.

This is the state we are in. And this is a direct result of the lack of understanding of karma and causality. When one understands karma and causality one is able to reverse this. So not understanding karma and causalities main fault is precisely our present situation. And therefore, without an understanding of Karma and causality, however much we strive to attain our own happiness, we will only create the source for great suffering.

On the other hand, if we understand karma and causality, we will put effort at those virtuous deeds, which are virtuous because they give rise to happiness, and those we will put effort at abstaining from the non virtuous deeds which give rise to suffering. Dependent on an understanding of karma and causality, on the other hand, it is possible to abandon suffering and it is also possible to actualize virtue. Actually, it is possible to attain both a higher rebirth and definite excellence, since both are contingent on training in the training of ethics. Then, if we attain ineffable happiness, peerless happiness, we will definitely have true happiness. This however is contingent on our giving up not only what we call suffering in this life, but also what we call happiness.

Both what we call suffering and what we call happiness in this life are objects of abandonment. Having abandoned them, then we will be able to strive through renunciation for liberation or for full enlightenment. And therefore, we should abandon both contaminated suffering and contaminated happiness. At present, we only view one of the three subdivisions of suffering as actual suffering, the suffering of suffering. We view the two other subdivisions of suffering, the suffering of change and all pervasive sufferings, as things to be attained, as happinesses.

And we also view mundane happiness as happiness. All these must be abandoned. And therefore, we must give rise to a mind which wishes to abandon both contaminated suffering and contaminated happiness. This occurs when we are able to meditate correctly on emptiness. It is through this that we are able to attain both liberation and full enlightenment.

In our own cases we have no experience whatsoever of liberation from suffering and therefore lacking ourselves any sense of liberation from suffering, how could we wish for others to be freed from something we ourselves do not even strive for? We claim to believe in the existence of Buddhas and Arhats, But in reality, doubt arises when we reflect on it carefully. What we lack is confidence and trust in the works of the Buddhas and his great disciples. This confidence and trust can only arise when we understand that these works were composed out of experience. Then if we study them, we will study them with conviction.

And these teachings of the Buddha and his foremost disciples are encapsulated within the three principles of the path: definite emergence or renunciation, bodhicitta, and the view which realizes emptiness. Therefore we should habituate our minds over and again to the three principles of the path, in dependence on which all of the other subsidiary paths arise. Let us now meditate briefly upon this. We have reached stanza 22 of the Compendium of the Stages of the Path. Contemplation is akin to a king ruling over the mind, once set is akin to the unwavering Lord of the mountain, once dispatched it engages all virtuous objects of observation and induces a great bliss of physical and mental pliancy.

Understanding this, powerful yogis continually rely on concentration which overcomes the flow of distraction. I as a yogi have practiced thus, you too who wish for liberation should wish to act thus. Here contemplation, Dhyāna, refers to calm abiding, Shine. It is the king ruling over the mind because it is under in dependence on this, that all good qualities arise, and it is referred to as the lord of the mountains because it rests unwaveringly on its object of observation. Calm abiding is indispensable to attain the various dhyanas and the close approximations.

Without calm abiding it is impossible to engage seriously in the practice of virtue, since without calm abiding the mind fluctuates and is unstable in its practice of virtue. In the second line of stanza 22, Once set ’tis akin to the unwavering lord of the mountains, refers to the fact that once calm abiding is set on its object of observation, for instance emptiness, it never moves away from its object of observation. So if we observe our own mind, for instance, when we are looking at a statue, a religious object, we can see that our mind fluctuates and departs from the object. This is the result of not having attained calm abiding. The Lord of the Mountains in line two refers to Mount Meru, just as Mount Meru is immovable and rests motionlessly.

Likewise, once one has calm abiding one’s mind rests motionlessly on the object of observation. And in the third line, once dispatch it engages all virtuous objects of observation means that it can focus on any object of observation we wish it to focus upon. And in line four, And induces a great bliss of physical and mental competence, sometimes translated as pliancy. This means that in dependence on calm abiding, both physical and mental bliss derived from competence arise. And because the mind is competent, it is serviceable, this competence or serviceability, both mental and physical, gives rise respectively to physical and to mental pliancy.

In dependence on calm abiding, one can attain any of the states such as liberation or full enlightenment. The following lines understanding this, powerful yogis continually rely on concentration which overcomes the flow of distraction. Powerful yogis refer to yogis striving for liberation and for full enlightenment. Whereas in the following line, distraction is compared to an enemy one must overcome. I the yogi have practiced thus, you too who wish for liberation should wish to act thus.

In other words, do this. And therefore we must realize or we must attain calm abiding. It is only through the attainment of calm abiding that it is possible to attain liberation or full enlightenment. It is only through the attainment of calm abiding that it is possible to realize bodhicitta bodhicitta which acts as a cause for full enlightenment. Then to attain calm abiding one must have the collections or the prerequisites for attaining calm abiding which are six fold.

The six prerequisites for calm abiding are dwelling in a harmonious setting, having few desires, having contentment, not being busy, having pure ethics and having few conceptions. The first precondition living in a harmonious setting means that if we do not live in a setting which is conducive to the attainment of calm abiding, we will not attain it and it has several features. It must be a good place, a place in which it is easy to obtain what one needs, neither too close nor too far from the facilities. Then another feature of a harmonious setting is one must have the right number of companions. One should not live alone since this present dangers for oneself, nor should one have too many companions.

Therefore one should neither have too few nor too many companions. In addition, they must be of a harmonious outlook with oneself. It is quite difficult to get these conditions. Then in this context, in the context of the first precondition, when one refers to a good place, ideally this would be a place which has been blessed by previous practitioners, such as for instance, Bodh Gaya or Varanasi. But if this is not possible, at the very least it should be a place in which there are not interferences due to spirits, such as ghosts, the 10 spirits, and other demonic forces?

In addition, the place should neither be too hot nor too cold. It should have the perfect conditions for one to practice. In addition, another of the attributes of a good place is that one must have the requisites for a yogi. This refers first and foremost to having received all of the various initiations, commentaries and explanations for the practice one is engaging in, and having studied the various texts related to it, and having also what one needs to drink, to eat and so forth. This is difficult for us since to attain abiding, one must actually have studied in-depth the commentaries and treatises on calm abiding to understand the causes of calm abiding, the results one attains through training in calm abiding, the preconditions and so forth.

This is difficult for us. Once one has obtained all of the prerequisites, then in keeping with the Mahāyāna Sūtra Alamkara, one engages in, as is said, the practice of the eight antidotes which abandon the five faults. Here eight antidotes act as a counter to five faults. So the five faults are, laziness, forgetting the instruction, sinking and agitation, non application and intemperate application. The eight antidotes to the five faults are faith, aspiration, enthusiasm and pliancy, which are antidotes to laziness. Memory, which is the antidote to forgetting the instruction, vigilance, which is the antidote to sinking and agitation, application, which is the antidote to non application, and non-application, which is the antidote to intemperate application.

So the four first antidotes to laziness are faith aspiration, enthusiasm and pliancy. Here, when we refer to faith as the first antidote, it is not faith in general. It is a faith in the qualities of calm abiding and the qualities of concentration. Once this faith has arisen, then in dependence on this faith aspiration or the wish to attain concentration or calm abiding will arise. Once that aspiration has arisen, as a result of it, perseverance or enthusiasm in the practice will arise, and as a result of this, the fourth antidote of pliancy will arise.

These are the four antidotes to laziness. These four first antidotes are in a causal relationship with each other. From faith as a cause arises the result of aspiration, from aspiration as a cause arises perseverance, and from perseverance arises pliancy. Therefore, faith is the foundation of this practice. Faith in concentration.

The second of the five faults is forgetting the instruction. Forgetting the instruction here refers specifically to losing the object of observation. One can choose whichever object of observation one wishes for the attainment of calm abiding. It can for instance be the body of one’s tutelary deity or oneself arisen as one’s tutelary deity or for that matter a Tathagatas visualized in space in front of oneself. in dependence on such objects of observation one accumulates merit.

Then there are numerous objects of observation, in dependence on which objects become abiding, such as sticks, stones, the horns of goats and so forth. The object itself is irrelevant, it is just a support for concentration. Whatever you want is okay, even the tip of your nose is object of observation. One must however be wary of the fact that when one uses a form as a means to generate calm abiding, calm abiding is not generated in dependence on the visual consciousness. It is dependent on the mental consciousness.

In other words, having observed a given form, one then visualizes it. Then, calm abiding can be generated in dependence on a visual object, on a sound, on a smell, on a taste or on a tactile sensation. However, in every single case, calm abiding is not generated in dependence on the eye consciousness, the auditory consciousness, the olfactory consciousness, the gustatory consciousness or the tactile consciousness. If one generates calm abiding in dependence on a sound, one then recollects the sound one has heard and imagines hearing it. On this basis one can generate calm abiding.

Then in our cases when we start training in calm abiding, we visualize an object such as the body of a Buddha in space in front of ourselves, and we will find that our mind cannot remain on the object of observation for even a couple of seconds. Once our mind after repeated practice in habituation is able to remain on the object of observation for let us say ten to fifteen minutes, one can say that one has actually found the object of observation of calm abiding. Until then, one has not even found the object of observation. Then this loss of the object of observation is what is referred to as forgetting the instruction. This is countered by the antidote of memory or recollection, which actually when one realizes one has lost the object, brings the object back to mind.

Once one holds the object or apprehends the object through the power of memory, sinking and agitation will arise. Agitation here refers to an outwards movement of the mind from the object of observation. In this context one must make a clear distinction between agitation and scattering. Agitation is an affliction which has a function of removing the mind from its object of observation under the power of desire. Scattering however is not necessarily an affliction, although it does remove the object, the mind from its object of observation in the context of training in calm abiding.

Scattering, is motivated by desire, is subsumed within agitation and is an affliction. But scattering can also be scattering towards virtuous, objects of reflection, such as great compassion, bodhicitta and so forth. In this case, it is not an affliction, but it still hinders the development of calm abiding. And therefore, while agitation is of the nature of affliction. Scattering can be either virtuous or non virtuous, in other words it can be a virtuous state of mind or an affliction.

This is the reason for which in the presentation of the five thoughts one refers to scattering and, excuse me, one refers to agitation and not to scattering as an obstacle to the generation of calm abiding. This is what concerns agitation. Now regarding sinking, within the complex of sinking one must distinguish between lethargy, coarse, and subtle sinking. Lethargy is the cause of sinking, and it is that state of body of or mind marked by a certain heaviness and a certain inertia, which acts as the cause for sinking. Lethargy is said to be akin to the beginning of sleep, and we can see in it this inertia and this heaviness which will eventually give rise to sinking.

When sinking arises, the mind settles on its object of observation and sinks as it were a bit. Therefore, the object of observation is stable, but if one were to distinguish between a factor of abiding and a factor of clarity of the mind, the factor of abiding is present when sinking occurs, but the factor of clarity is not present, it is absent. This is called coarse sinking. However, if one increases somewhat the power of the mind, so that in addition to the factor of abiding, the factor of clarity is at present there, but nonetheless a certain intensity is absent. One will call this condition subtle sinking.

So subtle sinking has a factor of abiding, the factor of clarity, but no intensity. So when we refer here to intensity, we refer to a certain concentration of the mind on its object. When the mind is concentrated on its object in this way, then the three factors of clarity, of abiding, and of intensity are present. However, if that concentration slackens and the mind sinks a little bit, then even though the factor of abiding and of clarity are present, intensity is no longer there and one is dealing with subtle sinking. It is akin to the situation of holding a cup.

When hold the cup, one must hold it just in the right way, not too strong and not too slackly. And therefore one must meditate on an object which is characterized by the three factors of stability, clarity and intensity. Once one is focused on an object of observation with the factors of clarity, of stability and of intensity, periodically sinking and agitation will nonetheless arise. One must maintain the object therefore through the force of memory or recollection, in keeping with the famous quote which says, attach the wild elephant of the mind to the pillar of the object of observation with the rope of recollection and using the hook of vigilance. And therefore the mind must be focused on the pillar of the object of observation, and must be tied as it were to the pillar of the object of observation by the rope of memory or recollection, while a part of the mind called vigilance inspects the mind to check whether either sinking or agitation have arisen or not.

And then more vigilance is checking whether agitation or sinking has not occurred. If it notice notices that agitation is occurring, it must decrease the elevation of the mind. On the other hand, if it notices that sinking is occurring, it must increase the elevation of the mind. And if either sinking or agitation is present, then the mind which is observing this process counters sinking or agitation using the appropriate antidote. The seventh of the eight antidotes is application.

Application refers to the application of whichever antidote is necessary when either sinking or agitation is noticed in the context of concentration. On the other hand, when the mind is focused in a concentrated fashion on the object of observation and neither sinking nor agitation are present, one must avoid the intemperate application of application and one must remain in a state of equanimity devoid of any application of the antidotes, which are not required. This process of application of the eight antidotes to the five thoughts enables one to progress along the nine mental abidings, from placement to continuous placement to repeated placement to close placement to pacification to subjugation to close subjugation to single-pointedness and equanimity. So you have a drawing of the nine mental abidings which has been handed out, which illustrates this quite clearly. You may refer to it, those of you who have attended the seminars.

And once one has reached a point where one can stay in concentration for one day, for a full cycle of twenty four hours, for a month or longer, without ever losing the object of concentration, one has reached single pointedness, but one has not yet at this point attained calm abiding. Then through repeated habituation with equanimity, eventually physical and physical and mental bliss of pliancy will arise. At this point one will have obtained calm abiding. Once one has attained calm abiding, that yogic wisdom which abides in calm abiding is a mind of the higher realms, it is no longer a mind of the desire realms, and it acts as the mental basis for the attainment of all paths. Then, without calm abiding it is impossible to attain any of the paths leading to liberation or full enlightenment.

They are powerless. None of these uncontaminated paths can be attained. Then we shall stop here for today. If you have questions? At what stage of the nine mental abidings would it be that you would be abiding on the object of meditation for ten to fifteen minutes?

Perhaps a second mental abiding, continuous abiding. Continuous placement. Excuse me. I think it was last year or the year before that a monk at Sera was in the white light for seventeen days. In which light?

Light you mentioned. The light, sorry, yes, sorry. And but according to Rinpoche, he had never been on retreat and presumed he didn’t have abiding. What I’m hearing all the time is you have to have calm abiding to attain enlightenment. Could Geshe-la comment on that?

These are separate things. It is unnecessary to have calm abiding to be able to meditate on emptiness within the clear light of death. This is more contingent on habituation with emptiness during this life, and understanding the process of the dissolution. This was probably the case of this monk. Thank you, Geshe-la.

Regarding the three factors of stability, clarity and intensity, are these three factors of the mind or are they factors of the object of observation or are they factors of both the mind and object of observation? These three factors are from the standpoint of the subject, in other words the mind observing the object of observation. Is this mind observing the object with clarity? Is it observing it with concentration? Is it stable?

This is the case because we are looking at things from the standpoint of the mind being accustomed to calm abiding. Question about the abode, know, the house that we live in, if you live with a person who’s 95% dead and they can’t 95% deaf they can’t with a person who’s 95% deaf. That’s oh yes. And you know I’m creating compassion because I understand that she can’t avoid that situation but I still live in an abode that’s suitable for meditation Can I still live there? Know living with a deaf person she bangs the door and makes a lot of noise and you know she doesn’t know that she’s doing it, she’s not doing it deliberately.

No, it is very difficult because these preconditions, they’re called collections or tshogs in Tibetan, are causes for the attainment of calm abiding. So if these causes are not present, the result calm abiding cannot be attained or with great difficulty. The levels of calm abiding, what is referred to as jhanas, are they the same? No, there is a big difference. The nine mental abidings are actually preliminary to dhyana.

The nine mental abidings are the cause of dhyana, what I’ve called contemplation in verse 22. So one progresses incrementally through each of the nine mental abidings from placement all the way up to equipoise, this is a cause for calm abiding and that is actually a dhyana, a contemplation. To get to such an attainment, one has to travel a long way on the road. Given that I would say that in terms of training in this life for studying about calm abiding rather than practising it, I’m at the level of antidotes to laziness, so training in faith, which appears to be faith in the qualities of calm abiding so right down the bottom even before mental placement so and I wonder if others are the same How can one create causes to train in faith in the qualities of calm abiding through study in a group at the centre?

The key to generating faith in the qualities of concentration is to, understand fully the benefits of the qualities of concentration as was explained in line three of stanza 22. Once dispatched, it engages all virtuous objects of observation. In other words, concentration can be focused on any virtuous object of observation one wishes. It’s a bit the same thing as gold. If one doesn’t know what gold enables one to buy, one couldn’t care less whether one has some or not.

Once one understands the value of gold, one clings to it. Then you can see if you work through the four antidotes to laziness that having faith to understanding the qualities, the wish to attain, the aspiration to attain calm abiding arises, in dependence on this, enthusiasm arises, in dependence on this, pliancy arises, if you have pliancy you have calm abiding. And therefore we must counter laziness, the fact that we have no attainments at present and most of the activities we engage in are all laziness. Yes, I don’t really understand and never have really understood why once you get to the state of stability, why would you want to over apply the antidotes? What happens in this case is that even though neither sinking nor agitation arise, nonetheless one applies intemperately application.

Those one applies intemperately the antidotes. And this acts as a counter to stable meditation, mainly through having become accustomed to the application of the antidotes. When sinking and agitation arise, not applying the antidotes is a fault. On the other hand, when sinking and agitation do not arise, applying the antidotes is a fault. Geshe-la, I didn’t quite understand the difference between scattering and sinking because I think at one moment we were talking sinking and then we started using the word scattering.

I thought they were the same thing but they’re obviously not. The difference between sinking and, excuse me, the difference between agitation and scattering is that agitation is always an affliction. It is motivated by desire, and it is through desire that one loses the concentration on the object of observation. However, scattering is not the same. One can have scattering to virtuous objects.

For instance, the mind can be scattered away from the object of observation to thoughts of compassion, of bodhicitta, or of virtuous states of mind. This is not the case for agitation. Therefore agitation is without exception an object of abandonment, whereas scattering is not always so. There are virtuous forms of scattering. I think you didn’t understand, right?

So imagine the mind focused on one object of observation. If that mind is scattered from that object of observation, leaves that object of observation because it is thinking of something else which is virtuous, such as bodhicitta, compassion and so forth, this is scattering. It is not non virtuous, but it still causes the mind to abandon its object of observation. In other words scattering can have virtuous or non virtuous components. On the other hand, if the mind is focused on the object of observation, and it leaves the object of observation under the force of desire, then desire is an affliction.

That leaving the object of observation under the force of desire is agitation. Agitation is always an affliction. So in the case of scattering and agitation, start from the same object of observation. Did you understand? Just Geshe-la said that when the mind has achieved calm abiding, it is a mind of the higher realms.

Could you just elaborate a little bit what that actually means? So the difference between the minds of the desire realm and of the higher realm is that the minds of the desire realm are coarse minds which are unserviceable. They cannot be used for the practice of virtue easily. It is only these subtle minds of the higher realms which can act as a mental basis for the generation of a path. Once one has attained calm abiding, that mind of calm abiding is a higher realm mind.

Such a mind is a mental basis for the attainment of all uncontaminated paths. Whereas the minds of the desire realms are not mental basis for the attainment of uncontaminated paths because they are coarse minds. It’s a little bit the same thing as the difference between flour and tsampa. With flour, coarse flour, you cannot do anything. This is akin to the mind of the desire realm.

But once it has been turned into tsampa and water has been added, then you can shape it into things. It becomes serviceable. This is akin to the minds of the higher realms. The difference is one of serviceability. The quality of mental and physical pliancy, could Geshe-la developed that word pliancy?

There obviously are a lot of qualities in relation to that single word. So what would that be like? Physical pliancy is a state of lightness, of spaciousness and of airiness literally, of the body, where the body becomes suitable to do whatever one wants to do. Mental pliancy is a similar state of lightness, of happiness and of ease of mind where the mind is able to be put to whatever virtuous usage one wishes to put it to. That bliss of body and mind which accompanies pliancy enables one to engage in any virtuous deeds of body or mind one wishes to.

The meaning in a nutshell is that one experiences no physical and mental hardship anymore. Just a couple of announcements. Sunday morning, the November 24 at 09:30, there will be a long life Puja for Geshe-la. And then the he’ll be the teachings will be coming to an end and he’ll be returning to India and for his holiness, his teachings. And on that point, those who are traveling to India, if you could just meet with me shortly in the foyer, Ilya has just given me some documents to give to you.

Next Wednesday night, the tea there will be a slightly shorter teaching as we’ll have a short AGM. And anything else? Stay for some chai. Thank you.

Key terms in this teaching

bodhicitta jang chub sem (Tib)

A principal consciousness that combines the two factors of wishing to free all beings from suffering and of wishing to attain enlightenment in order to achieve that; the spontaneous altruistic mind of enlightenment can be either aspirational or engaging. LYWA

desire realm kamadhatu (Skt); do kham (Tib)

One of the three realms of samsara, comprising the hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras (demi-gods) and the six lower classes of suras (gods); beings in this realm are preoccupied with desire for objects of the six senses. LYWA

dhyana samten (Tib)

An advanced form of concentration meditation after realizing shamatha (calm abiding). LYWA

higher realms

The higher realms comprise the more fortunate rebirths as a human, god or demi-god. LYWA

Mount Meru

The mythical center of the universe in Buddhist cosmology. LYWA

shamatha zhi nä (Tib)

Calm abiding; a state of concentration in which the mind is able to abide steadily, without effort and for as long as desired, on an object of meditation. There are nine stages in its development. LYWA

suffering of change viparinama-duhkhata (Skt); gyurwäi dug ngäl (Tib)

What is normally regarded as pleasure, which because of its transitory nature sooner or later turns into suffering. LYWA

suffering of suffering duhkha-duhkhata (Skt); dug ngäl gyi dug ngäl (Tib)

Aka the suffering of pain; the commonly recognized suffering experiences of pain, discomfort and unhappiness. LYWA

Definitions adapted from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive glossary, as taught in the Gelug tradition.

Questions answered in this teaching

Are the levels of calm abiding, the nine mental abidings, the same as the jhanas (dhyanas)?

No, there is a big difference. The nine mental abidings are preliminary to dhyana. They are the cause of dhyana, which is referred to as contemplation in verse 22. One progresses step by step through each of the nine mental abidings, from placement all the way up to equipoise. This is a cause for calm abiding, and that attainment is actually a dhyana, a contemplation. To reach such an attainment, one has to travel a long way on the road.

How can one create the causes to develop faith in the qualities of calm abiding?

The key is to fully understand the benefits of concentration, as explained in line three of stanza 22: once dispatched, it engages all virtuous objects of observation. In other words, concentration can be focused on any virtuous object one wishes. It is like gold: if one doesn't know what gold enables one to buy, one couldn't care less whether one has some, but once one understands its value, one clings to it. Working through the four antidotes to laziness, faith in the qualities gives rise to the wish and aspiration to attain calm abiding, which gives rise to enthusiasm, then pliancy, and with pliancy one has calm abiding.

Once the mind has reached a stable state in calm abiding, why would one still over-apply the antidotes?

Even when neither sinking nor agitation arises, one may still apply the antidotes intemperately. This obstructs stable meditation, mainly because one has become accustomed to applying the antidotes. The rule runs both ways. When sinking and agitation arise, failing to apply the antidotes is a fault. When sinking and agitation do not arise, applying the antidotes is a fault.

In calm abiding practice, what is the difference between scattering and agitation (which the questioner confused with sinking)?

Agitation is always an affliction. It is motivated by desire, and it is through desire that the mind loses the object of observation. Scattering is not the same, because the mind can scatter to virtuous objects. For example, a mind focused on one object may leave it to think of compassion or bodhicitta. That is not non-virtuous, but it still causes the mind to abandon its object of observation. So scattering can have virtuous or non-virtuous components, while agitation is without exception an object of abandonment. Both start from the same situation: the mind focused on an object that it then leaves.

Why is a mind that has achieved calm abiding considered a mind of the higher realms, and how does it differ from desire realm minds?

Desire realm minds are coarse and unserviceable, so they cannot easily be used for the practice of virtue. Only the subtle minds of the higher realms can act as a mental basis for generating a path. Once calm abiding is attained, that mind is a higher realm mind, and it is a mental basis for attaining all uncontaminated paths. Desire realm minds are not, because they are coarse. The difference is like flour and tsampa. Coarse flour cannot be made into anything, which is like the desire realm mind. Once it is turned into tsampa and water is added, it can be shaped into things, which is like the higher realm mind. The difference is one of serviceability.

What are physical and mental pliancy in calm abiding practice?

Physical pliancy is a state of lightness, spaciousness and literally airiness of the body, in which the body becomes suitable for whatever one wants to do. Mental pliancy is a similar state of lightness, happiness and ease of mind, in which the mind can be put to whatever virtuous use one wishes. The bliss of body and mind that accompanies pliancy enables one to engage in any virtuous deeds of body or mind one wishes to. In a nutshell, one no longer experiences any physical or mental hardship.