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CONCENTRATION: SIXTH FACTOR OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Concentration is that factor of mind which lands on the object of observation, which pricks into it, penetrates into it and stays there. The P±li word for it is s±madhi.

Nonagitation

The characteristic of s±madhi is nondispersal, nondissipation, nonscatteredness. This means that the mind sticks with the object of observation, sinks into it, and remains still and calm, right there.

Fixed Concentration and Moving Concentration

There are two types of s±madhi. One is continuous s±madhi, which is the concentration gained while meditating on a single object. This is the type of concentration gained in pure tranquility meditation, where the one requirement is for the mind to stay put on one object to the total exclusion of all other objects. Those who follow the path of continuous concentration are able to experience it especially when they gain absorption into the jh±nas.

Vipassan± practice, however, is aimed toward the development of wisdom and the completion of the various stages of insight. Insight, of course, refers to basic intuitive understandings such as the distinction between mind and matter, the intuitive comprehension of their interrelation ship by virtue of cause and effect, and the direct perception of the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness of all physical and mental phenomena. These are basic in sights, and there are others which one must traverse before attaining the path and fruition consciousness which have nibbana or the cessation of all suffering as their object.

In vipassan± practice, the field of awareness of objects is crucially important. The field of vipassan± objects are mental and physical phenomena, those things which are directly perceptible without resorting to the thinking process. In other words, as we practice vipassan± we observe many different objects, with the goal of gaining insight into their nature. Momentary concentration, the second type, is most important in vipassan± practice. Vipassan± objects are arising and passing away all the time, and momentary concentration arises in each moment with each object. In spite of its momentary nature, such s±madhi can arise from moment to moment without breaks in between. If it does so, momentary concentration shares with continuous concentration the power to tranquilize the mind and keep the kilesas at bay.

Gathering the Mind

Let us say you are sitting, watching the rise and fall of the abdomen. As you make the effort to be mindful of the rising and falling processes, you are being with the moment. With each moment of energy and effort you expend in cultivating awareness, there is a corresponding mental activity of penetration. It is as though the mind were stuck fast onto the object of observation. You drop, or fall, into the object. Not only is the mind one-pointed and penetrating into the object, not only does the mind remain still for that moment in that object, but this mental factor of s±madhi has the power to gather together the other mental factors which arise simultaneously with that moment of consciousness. Concentration is a factor which collects the mind together; this is its function. It keeps all the mental factors in a group so that they do not scatter or disperse. Thus, the mind remains firmly embedded in the object.

Peace and Stillness

There is an analogy here with parents and children. Good parents want their children to grow up to be well-mannered and morally responsible adults. Toward this goal, they exercise some degree of control over their offspring. Kids are not yet mature, and they lack the wisdom of discretion. So parents must make sure they do not run out and mix with the naughty children of the neighborhood. Mental factors are like children in this respect. Just as children who lack parental guidance may act in ways that harm them selves and others, so too the uncontrolled mind will suffer from bad influences. The kilesas are always loitering nearby. If the mind is not contained, it can easily mix with delinquents like desire, aversion, anger, or delusion. Then the mind becomes wild and ill-mannered, which manifests in bodily behavior as well as in speech. The mind, like a child, may resent discipline at first. By and by, however, it will become more and more tame and civilized and tranquil, and more remote from attacks by the kilesas. The concentrated mind becomes more and more still, more and more quiet, more and more peaceful. This sense of peace and stillness is the manifestation of concentration.

Children, too, can be tamed if they are properly cared for. They may have a wild nature at first, but eventually, as they mature, they will understand why they should avoid bad people. They will even begin to be grateful for the care and control their parents gave to them. Perhaps they even observe that some childhood friend whose parents lacked vigilance has grown up to be a criminal. When they are old enough to go out into the world, they will be able to discriminate for themselves what sort of people to choose as friends, and whom to stay away from. As they grow older and more mature, this upbringing of theirs causes their continued development and prosperity.

Concentration Permits Wisdom to Arise

Concentration is the proximate cause for the unfolding of wisdom. This fact is very important. Once the mind is quiet and still, there is space for wisdom to arise. There can be comprehension of the true nature of mind and matter. Perhaps there will be an intuitive insight into how mind and matter can be differentiated, and how they are related by cause and effect. Step by step, wisdom will penetrate into more and more profound levels of truth. One will see clearly the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and absence of self; and finally insight is gained into the cessation of suffering. When this illumination happens, a person will never be able to become a grossly evil person again, no matter what environment he or she may be in.

Parents and Children

Parents or potential parents should perhaps prick up their ears here. It is very important for parents to control their own minds by concentration. Eventually they should complete the various levels of insight. Such parents can be very skillful in bringing up children, because they can differentiate clearly between wholesome and unwholesome activities. They will be able to instruct their children likewise, most particularly by setting a good example. Parents who do not control their minds, who are given to ill-mannered behavior, cannot help their children develop goodness and intelligence.

Some of my students in Burma have been parents. When they started meditation, they only considered their children's worldly welfare with respect to education and earning a livelihood in this world. Then these parents came to our meditation center and practiced. They had deep practice. When they returned to their children, they had new attitudes and plans. They now felt that it was more important for their children to learn to control their minds and develop good hearts than just to gain success in the world. When the children came of age, their parents urged them to practice meditation. In fact, when I asked the parents if there was a difference between children born before and after meditation experiences, the parents replied, "Oh, certainly. Those who were born after we completed our meditation practice are more obedient and considerate. They have good hearts compared with the other children."

Steady Attention Causes Concentration

The Buddha said that continuous wise attention, aimed toward the development of concentration was the cause of concentration. Preceding concentration causes successive concentration to arise.

Eleven More Ways to Arouse Concentration

The commentaries describe eleven more ways to arouse concentration.

1. Cleanliness

The first is purity of the internal and external bases, of the body and the environment. This influence has been discussed under the second factor of enlightenment, investigation (see page 103).

2. A Balanced Mind

The second cause of concentration is balancing the controlling faculties, wisdom and faith on the one hand, energy and concentration on the other. I have devoted a chapter to this balancing (see page 29).

3. Clear Mental Image

The third cause is more relevant to jh±na practice than to strict vipassan±, and so I will mention it only briefly. It is to be skillful in the concentration object, meaning to maintain a clear mental image as is practiced in tranquility meditation.

4. Uplifting the Discouraged Mind

The fourth cause is to uplift the mind when it becomes heavy, depressed or discouraged. You have doubtless taken a lot of bumps and tumbles in your practice. At these times you should try to uplift your mind, perhaps applying techniques for arousing energy, rapture or insight. Uplifting the discouraged mind is also one of the teacher's jobs. When a yogi comes to interviews with a long and sullen face, the teacher knows how to inspire him or her.

5. Calming the Overenthusiastic Mind

At times it is also necessary to put down the excited mind. This is the fifth cause leading to the development of concentration. At times yogis have fascinating experiences in their meditation practice. They become excited and active; their energy overflows. At these times the teacher should not be encouraging. He or she should speak in such a way as to put yogis in their proper place, one might say. A teacher might also help to activate the fifth factor of enlightenment, tranquility, by the means discussed in the previous section. Or the teacher may instruct yogis to take it easy, just settle back and watch without trying too hard.

6. Cheering the Mind that is Withered by Pain

If the mind is shrunken and withered by pain, it may need to be made happy. This is the sixth means. A yogi may feel depressed by the environment, or by a recurrence of an old health problem. At this time the mind needs to be uplifted and cleared so that it becomes bright and sharp again. You might try to liven it up in various ways. Or the teacher also can cheer you up, not by telling jokes, but by encouraging talk.

7. Continuous Balanced Awareness

The seventh way to arouse s±madhi is to continue balanced awareness at all times. Sometimes as the practice really deepens, you seem to be making no effort, but you are still mindful of objects as they arise and pass. At such times you should try not to interfere, even if this comfortable speed feels too slow for you and you want to step on the gas. You may want to realize the Dhamma very quickly. If you do try to speed up, you will upset the mind's equilibrium, and your awareness will become blunt. On the other hand, everything is so nice and smooth that you might relax too much. This, too, brings regression in practice. When there is effortless effort, you should cruise along, yet nonetheless keep up with the momentum that is present.

8-9. Avoiding the Distracted, Choosing Friends who are Focused You should avoid people who are unconcentrated, and keep company with people who are concentrated - the eighth and ninth arousers of concentration. People who are neither calm nor peaceful, who have never developed any kind of concentration, carry a lot of agitation within them. Children born to such parents may also lack peace of mind. In Burma there is a concept closely related to the current Western notion of "good vibes." There are many cases of people who have never meditated before, but when they come into the meditation center as visitors, they begin to feel very tranquilized and peaceful. They get the vibrations of yogis who are working seriously. Some visitors decide to come and practice. This seems very natural.

In the Buddha's time there was a king named Aj±tasattu who had killed his father to gain the throne. He spent many, many sleepless nights after committing this evil deed. Finally he decided to consult the Buddha. He went through the forest and came upon a group of monks listening with peaceful concentration to a discourse of the Buddha. It is said that all his remorse and agitation disappeared, and he was filled with calm and tranquility such as he had not felt in a long time.

10. Reflecting on the Peace of Absorption

The tenth method is to reflect on the peace and tranquilty of the jh±nic absorptions. This is relevant for yogis who have meditated in this way and attained pure tranquility. Remembering the method they used to attain jh±na, they can briefly use it in the present moment to attain concentration of mind. Those who have not yet attained the jh±nas perhaps can recall some of the times when momentary concentration was very strong, when there was a feeling of peace and one-pointedness. By remembering the feeling of liberation from hindrances and the peace of mind that comes from continually activating momentary concentration, concentration could again arise.

11. Inclining the Mind

The eleventh and last cause for concentration is to incline the mind persistently toward developing concentration. Everything depends on the effort expended in each moment. If you try to be concentrated, you will succeed.

EQUANIMITY: SEVENTH FACTOR OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Perhaps the United Nations should be given a new name. If it were called the Organization of Equanimities, delegates might be reminded of the state of mind that is essential at the negotiating table, especially when facing a hot problem. Any decision maker must be able to remain unbiased in the face of difficult problems.

The Pali word upekkh±, usually translated as equanimity, actually refers to the balancing of energy. It is that state of mind which is in the center, inclining neither to one extreme nor to the other. It can be cultivated in ordinary life, with its daily processes of decision, as well as in meditation.

Mediating the Internal Contest

In meditation various states of mind compete. Faith tries to overwhelm its complement, intelligence or wisdom, and vice versa. It is the same with effort and concentration. It is common knowledge among meditators that a balance in these two pairs of mental states is essential to maintain progress and direction in practice.

At the beginning of a retreat you may be very enthusiastic and ambitious. Immediately upon sitting down, you pounce on the rising and falling or any other object that arises in your field of awareness. Due to excess effort, your mind is likely to overshoot the object of meditation or to slip off it. This missing of the mark may upset you, for you will feel that you are doing your best and yet not succeeding.

Perhaps you discover your folly and are able to slip into the rhythm of what is happening. As you watch the rising and falling, the mind fits into these processes and goes along with them. In time it becomes easy, and you begin to relax a bit. Effort seems pointless, but if you are not careful, sloth and torpor will creep in and overwhelm you.

At times a yogi may be quite successful in distinguishing mind and matter and seeing their connection. She or he gets a flavor of the Dhamma and finds this quite exciting. Filled with faith, the yogi begins to want to tell friends and parents about the wonderful truth she or he has just discovered. Due to faith, imagination and planning run wild. With so much thinking and feeling going on, the practice grinds to a halt. This succession of events is symptomatic of excessive faith.

Another yogi might have the same intuitive insight, but instead of wanting to spread the Dhamma, he or she begins to interpret the experience. You might say this type of yogi makes a mountain out of a molehill. Every little thing he or she perceives is interpreted in light of the meditation literature which this yogi has read. A string of reflections and thoughts arises, again blocking the practice. Such are the symptoms of excess of intelligence.

Many yogis have a great tendency to reason and check out what they hear before they accept it. They take pride in their quality of discrimination. When they come to meditate, they are always testing in an intellectual way the validity of what they are doing, verifying the practice against their intellectual understanding. If they remain caught in this pattern, such yogis will always be plagued by doubt. Rotating endlessly on doubt's merry-go-round, they will never move forward.

Faith Balanced with Intelligence, Energy Balanced with Concentration

The characteristic of equanimity is the balancing of corresponding mental states so that one does not overwhelm the other. It creates a balance between faith and intelligence, energy and concentration.

Neither Excess nor Lack.

The function of equanimity as a factor of enlightenment is to fill in where there is a lack and to reduce where there is excess. Equanimity arrests the mind before it falls into extremes of excess or lack. When upekkh± is strong, there is total balance, no inclination at all toward excess in any direction. The yogi does not need to make an effort to be mindful.

A Good Driver Just Lets the horses Pull.

It seems as if mindfulness is taking care of everything, like the driver of the carriage who settles back and lets the horses do the work of pulling. This state of ease and balance is the manifestation of equanimity.

When I was a child, I heard people talking about how to carry two baskets on the ends of a bamboo pole. This is common in Burma. The pole is carried over one shoulder, with a loaded basket on the front end and another in back. When you first start off, you have to exert a lot of effort, and the load feels burdensome. But after ten or fifteen steps, the pole begins rocking up and down to the rhythm of your walking. You and the pole and the baskets move along in a relaxed way, so that you hardly feel the load. I could not believe this at first, but now that I have meditated, I know that it is quite possible.

Continuous Mindfulness Causes Equanimity

According to the Buddha the way to bring about equanimity is wise attention: to be continually mindful from moment to moment, without a break, based on the intention to develop equanimity. One moment of equanimity causes a succeeding moment of equanimity to arise. Once equanimity is activated, it will be the cause for equanimity to continue and to deepen. It can bring one to deep levels of practice beyond the insight into the arising and passing away of phenomena.

Equanimity does not arise easily in the minds of beginning yogis. Though these yogis may be diligent in trying to be mindful from moment to moment, equanimity comes and goes. The mind will be well balanced for a little while and then it will go off again. Step by step equanimity is strengthened. The intervals when it is present grow more prolonged and frequent. Eventually, equanimity becomes strong enough to qualify as a factor of enlightenment.

Five More Ways to Develop Equanimity

There are five ways to arouse equanimity discussed in the commentaries.

1. Balanced Emotion toward All Living Things

The first and foremost is to have an equanimous attitude toward all living beings. These are your loved ones, including animals. We can have a lot of attachment and desire associated with people we love, and also with our pets. Sometimes we can be what we call "crazy" about someone. This experience does not contribute to equanimity, which is a state of balance.

To prepare the ground for equanimity to arise, one should try to cultivate an attitude of non-attachment and equanimity toward the people and animals we love. As worldly people, it may be necessary to have a certain amount of attachment in relationships, but excessive attachment is destructive to us as well as to loved ones. We begin to worry too much over their welfare. Especially in retreat, we should try to put aside such excessive concern and worry for the welfare of our friends.

One reflection that can develop non-attachment is to regard all beings as the heirs of their own kamma. People reap the rewards of good kamma and suffer the consequences of unwholesome acts. They created this kamma under their own volition, and no one can prevent their experiencing the consequences. On the ultimate level, there is nothing you or anybody else can do to save them. If you think in this way, you may worry less about your loved ones.

You also can gain equanimity about beings by reflecting on ultimate reality. Perhaps you can tell yourself that, ultimately speaking, there is only mind and matter. Where is that person you are so wildly in love with? There is only nama and rupa, mind and body, arising and passing away from moment to moment. Which moment are you in love with? You may be able to drive some sense into your heart this way.

One might worry that reflections like this could turn into unfeeling indifference and lead us to abandon a mate or a dear person. This is not the case. Equanimity is not insensitivity, indifference or apathy. It is simply non-preferential. Under its influence, one does not push aside the things one dislikes nor grasp at things one prefers. The mind rests in an attitude of balance and acceptance of things as they are. When equanimity, this factor of enlightenment, is present, one abandons both attachment to beings and dislike for them. The texts tell us that equanimity is the cause for the cleansing and purification of one who has deep tendencies toward lust or desire, which is the opposite of equanimity.

2. Balanced Emotion toward Inanimate Things

The second way of developing this factor of enlightenment is to adopt an attitude of balance toward inanimate things: property, clothing, the latest fad on the market. Clothing, for example, will be ripped and stained someday. It will decay and perish because it is impermanent, like everything else. Furthermore, we do not even own it, not in the ultimate sense. Everything is non-self; there is no one to own anything. To develop balance and to cut down attachment, it is helpful to look at material things as transient. You might say to yourself, "I'm going to make use of this for a short time. It's not going to last forever."

People who get caught up in fads may be compelled to buy each new product that appears on the market. Once this gadget has been bought, another more sophisticated model will soon appear. Such persons throw away the old one and buy a new one. This behavior does not reflect equanimity.

3. Avoiding People Who "Go Crazy"

The third method for developing equanimity as an enlightenment factor is avoiding the company of people who tend to be crazy about people and things. These people have a deep possessiveness, clinging to what they think belongs to them, both people and things. Some people find it difficult to see another person enjoying or using their property.

There is the case of an elder who had a great attachment to pets. It seems that in his monastery he bred a lot of dogs and cats. One day this elder came to the center in Rangoon to do a retreat. When he was meditating, he was practicing under favorable circumstances, but his practice was not very deep. Finally I had an idea and asked him if he had any pets in his monastery. He brightened up and said, "Oh yes, I have so many dogs and cats. Ever since I came here I've been thinking about whether they have enough food to eat and how they're doing." I asked him to forget about the animals and concentrate on meditation, and quite soon he was making good progress.

Please do not allow over-attachment to loved ones, or even pets, to prevent you from attending meditation retreats which will allow you to deepen your practice and to develop equanimity as a factor of enlightenment.

4. Choosing Friends who Stay Cool.

As a fourth method of arousing upekkh±, you should choose friends who have no great attachment to beings or possessions. This method of developing equanimity is simply the converse of the preceding one. In choosing such a friend, if you happen to pick the elder I described just now, it could be a bit of a problem.

5. Inclining the Mind toward Balance

The fifth and last cause for this factor of enlightenment to arise is constantly to incline your mind toward the cultivation of equanimity. When your mind is inclined in? this way, it will not wander off to thoughts of your dogs and cats at home, or of your loved ones. It will only become more balanced and harmonious.

Equanimity is of tremendous importance both in the practice and in everyday life. Generally we get either swept away by pleasant and enticing objects, or worked up into a great state of agitation when confronted by unpleasant, undesirable objects. This wild alternation of contraries is nearly universal among human beings. When we lack the ability to stay balanced and unfaltering, we are easily swept into extremes of craving or aversion.

The scriptures say that when the mind indulges in sensual objects, it becomes agitated. This is the usual state of affairs in the world, as we can observe. In their quest for happiness, people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness. They never have the chance to experience the greater joy that comes with peace and tranquillity.

THE FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT DEVELOPED: HEALING INTO THE DEATHLESS

All of the factors of enlightenment bring extraordinary benefits. Once fully developed, they have the power to bring sams±ric suffering to an end. So the scriptures tell us. This means that the perpetual, cyclical birth and death of beings who are composed of mental and physical phenomena can come to a complete stop.

The factors of enlightenment also have the capacity to pulverize M±ra's ten armies, the destructive inner forces which keep us bound on the wheel of suffering and rebirth. For this reason, Buddhas and enlightened ones develop the factors of enlightenment and are thus able to transcend this realm of sensual pleasures as well as the realms of subtle form and all the formless realms.

You may ask where one goes after being liberated from these three types of realms. It cannot be said there is another birth of any kind, for with nibb±na comes cessation of birth and death. Birth brings inevitable life, aging, sickness and eventual death - all the aspects of suffering. To be free from all suffering is to be free from birth. Nor will death be able to happen. nibb±na is free from birth and also from death.

When fully developed, these factors of enlightenment bring the yogi to attain nibb±na. In this they are comparable to strong, effective medicine. They confer the strength of mind necessary to withstand the ups and downs of life. Moreover, they often cure physical and mental diseases.

There is no guarantee that if you meditate you will be able to cure every disease. However, it is possible that the development of enlightenment factors can bring healing to sicknesses, even those which appear incurable.

Purifying Our Mental Illnesses

Mental disease is the disease of greed, hatred, delusion, jealousy, miserliness, conceit and so forth. When these forces arise, they make the mind unclear and clouded. This clouded mind will produce physical phenomena which reflect its clouded state. Instead of having a clear and bright complexion, when your mind is clouded by negativity, you will look dull, unhappy and unhealthy, much as if you had been breathing polluted air.

However, if you are energetically trying to activate a penetrative mindfulness from moment to moment on the object of observation, very naturally the mind will stay on this object without scattering or dissipating. Sam±dhi or concentration is present at this time. After a due period, the mind will be cleansed of the hindrances or negative tendencies. Now wisdom will begin to unfold. When insights arise, the mind becomes even purer, as if it were breathing clean air again after returning from the hustle and bustle of a city.

Mindfulness, energy and investigation lead to concentration and insights which arise in successive stages. Each new insight is like another breath of fresh air to the mind. The stage of insight into the arising and passing away of phenomena is the beginning of good, deep practice. The factor of equanimity begins to stabilize the mind, and mindfulness becomes deeper and deeper. The arising and passing away of objects will be perfectly dear, and there will be no doubt about the true nature of what can be directly experienced.

Sudden upsurges of energy may make the practice seem effortless at this point. Yogis may understand that there is no one present even to make an effort. Joy and rapture arise as the yogi perceives directly his or her own purity of mind, as well as the secret of reality unfolding from moment to moment. Tremendous joy is followed by tranquil peace and a mind that is free from doubts and worries. In this peaceful space it is possible to see more and more clearly. Concentration can also deepen when there is no disturbance.

At this deep level of practice, one can truly experience a balanced mind, a mind that is not swept away by pleasant sensations, even though extreme rapture and joy may be present. Nor do unpleasant objects agitate the mind. Yogis feel no dislike for pain nor attachment to pleasure.

Effects on the Body

The seven factors of enlightenment naturally affect the body as well as the mind, for these two are intricately connected. When the mind is really pure and suffused with the factors of enlightenment, this has a tremendous effect on the circulatory system. New blood being produced is extremely pure. It permeates the various organs and sense organs, clearing them. The body becomes luminous, and perceptions are heightened. Visual objects will be extremely brilliant and clear. Some yogis may perceive so much light emanating from their bodies that their entire rooms may be lit up at night. The mind, too, is filled with light. There is bright faith, as well as the verified faith of believing in your own unmediated experience of what is happening. The mind becomes light and agile, as does the body, which sometimes feels as if it is floating in the air. Often the body may become quite imperceptible, and yogis can sit for many hours without feeling any pain at all.

Miraculous Cures

Old diseases, incurable ailments, are affected by the strength of the enlightenment factors, especially at the deeper levels of practice. At the center in Rangoon, it is a common occurrence for so-called miraculous cures to occur. Entire books could be written just listing the cases. Here I will merely mention two outstanding ones.

A Case of Tuberculosis

Once there was a man who had been suffering from tuberculosis for many years. Having sought treatment from various doctors and traditional Burmese herbalists, and having spent time in the TB ward of Rangoon General Hospital, still he was not cured. Downhearted and desperate, he felt certain that the only path open to him led toward death. As a last resort, he applied to meditate at the center but concealed his poor state of health lest he be refused admittance on the grounds that other yogis' health would be endangered.

Within two weeks of practice, his chronic symptoms came to the surface with a vengeance, exacerbated by the painful sensations that normally come during a certain period of practicing the Dhamma. His pain was so excruciating, agonizing and exhausting that he could not sleep at all but lay awake all night coughing.

One night I was in my cottage and I heard the terrible coughing sounds that came from his quarters. Taking some Burmese herbal cough medicine, I went to him expecting to help alleviate some recently contracted flu or cold. Instead, the man was sprawled in his room, so exhausted that he could not say a word to me. His spittoon was nearly filled with blood he had coughed up. I asked if he wanted medicine, and when at last he was able to speak, he confessed his medical condition. My first thought was to wonder whether I had breathed any of his germs.

The man went on, apologizing for having brought this infectious condition into the retreat center, but begging for permission to continue his practice. "If I leave there is only one path for me and that is the path of death," he said. These words touched my heart. I quickly began to encourage and inspire him to continue the practice. After making quarantine arrangements to prevent his tuberculosis from spreading all over the center, I continued to instruct him.

Within a month the man had overcome his tuberculosis through his fantastic progress in meditation. He left the center completely cured. Three years later he reappeared as a robust and healthy monk. I asked him how he felt now. Had his TB or coughing fits recurred? "No," said the man. "The TB has never returned. As for coughing, at times my throat itches, but if I am mindful of this sensation immediately, I don't begin to cough. The Dhamma is fantastic, miraculous. Having drunk the medicine of Dhamma, I am completely cured."

A Woman's High Blood Pressure

Another case happened about twenty years ago. This was a woman who lived in the center compound. She was related to one of the staff members. For a long time she had suffered from high blood pressure and had sought treatment and drugs from doctors. Sometimes she came to me and I would encourage her to meditate, saying that even if she died in the course of the practice, she would enjoy a lot of happiness in her next rebirth. She always had an excuse, though, and continued to take refuge in her doctors.

Finally I gave her a scolding. "Many people come from long distances, even from foreign countries, to taste the Dhamma in this retreat center. Their practice is deep and they experience many fantastic things. You live here and yet you haven't meditated to any level of satisfaction at all. You remind me of the fierce-looking stone lion which guards the foot of a stupa. Those lions, you know, always have their backs to the stupa so that they can never pay it any respect."

The woman was quite hurt by this scolding and agreed to try meditation. Within a short time she had reached the stage of great pain. The pain of her illness, combined with the pain of the Dhamma, gave her a really tough time. She could hardly eat or sleep. Eventually her family members, who also lived at the center, began to become alarmed at her condition. They begged her to return to their quarters so that they could take care of her. I was opposed to this and exhorted her to continue her practice rather than to listen to them.

Her family members came to her again and again, and I for my part insisted that she continue. It was quite a battle for this woman, but she persisted with her meditation. She was very tough. She had a new surge of inspiration and resolved to see her practice through to the end, even if she died.

The woman's pain was fantastically severe. She felt as if her brain was going to fall apart. The veins in her head throbbed, pounded and hammered. She endured all of it with patience, simply watching the pain. Soon a great heat began to emanate from her body. She emanated and radiated a great fire. Finally she overcame all these sensations and everything became still and calm. She had won the battle. Her high blood pressure was completely cured, and she never again had to take medicines for that disease.

Other Diseases - and Don't Forget Liberation!

I have witnessed cures of impacted intestines, uterine fibroids, heart disease, cancer and more. There is no guarantee of this outcome, though I hope the stories are inspiring to you. Nonetheless, if a yogi is ardent, persistent, heroic and courageous in trying to be mindful of painful sensations that arise from diseases or old injuries, he or she may find a miraculous recovery from these troubles. Persistent effort carries a great possibility.

Satipaµµh±na meditation is perhaps especially useful for cancer patients. Cancer is terrible. There is so much suffering both in the body and in the mind. One who is versed in Satipaµµh±na meditation can lighten his or her burden by being mindful of pain, no matter how dire. He or she can die a peaceful death, perfectly and impeccably mindful of just the pain. This kind of death is good and noble.

May you make full use of the knowledge you have gained through this exposition on the seven factors of enlightenment. May you cultivate each factor, starting from mindfulness and finishing with equanimity, so that you can become a fully liberated being.

(To be continued)

In This Very Life
(Sayadaw U Pandita)

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