Hi everyone,
Does anyone know of any sutta where the Buddha says that when we get distracted we should come back to the object of our meditation?
Kindly provide passage and sutta reference.
1 Like
The usual reference here is MN 20:
When he gives attention to some other sign connected with what is wholesome, then any evil unwholesome thoughts connected with desire, with hate, and with delusion are abandoned in him and subside. With the abandoning of them his mind becomes steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness, and concentrated.
The sutta goes on to list further techniques if that doesnât work
5 Likes
The simile of tethering the mind comes to mind. The âobjects of meditationâ here are the foundations of mindfulness.
They give up these five hindrances, corruptions of the heart that weaken wisdom. Then they meditate observing an aspect of the bodyâkeen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world.
They meditate observing an aspect of feelings ⌠mind ⌠principlesâkeen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. Itâs like when the elephant trainer dug a large post into the earth and tethered the elephant to it by the neck, so as to subdue its wild behaviors, its wild memories and thoughts, and its wild stress, weariness, and fever, and to make it happy to be within a village, and instill behaviors congenial to humans. In the same way, a noble disciple has these four kinds of mindfulness meditation as tethers for the mind so as to subdue behaviors tied to domestic life, memories and thoughts tied to domestic life, stress, weariness, and fever tied to domestic life, to discover the system, and to realize extinguishment.
-MN 125
Suppose a person was to catch six animals, with diverse territories and feeding grounds, and tie them up with a strong rope. Theyâd catch a snake, a dolphin, a bird, a dog, a jackal, and a monkey, tie each up with a strong rope, then tether them to a strong post or pillar.
Then those six animals with different domains and ranges would each pull towards their own domain and range. The snake would pull one way, thinking âIâm going into a termite mound!â The dolphin would pull another way, thinking âIâm going into the water!â The bird would pull another way, thinking âIâm flying into the atmosphere!â The dog would pull another way, thinking âIâm going into the village!â The jackal would pull another way, thinking âIâm going into the charnel ground!â The monkey would pull another way, thinking âIâm going into the jungle!â When those six animals became exhausted and worn out, theyâd stand or sit or lie down right by that post or pillar.
In the same way, when a mendicant has developed and cultivated mindfulness of the body, their eye doesnât pull towards pleasant sights, and isnât put off by unpleasant sights. Their ear ⌠nose ⌠tongue ⌠body ⌠mind doesnât pull towards pleasant ideas, and isnât put off by unpleasant ideas. This is how someone is restrained.
âA strong post or pillarâ is a term for mindfulness of the body.
So you should train like this: âWe will develop mindfulness of the body. Weâll cultivate it, make it our vehicle and our basis, keep it up, consolidate it, and properly implement it.â Thatâs how you should train.â
-SN 35.247
6 Likes
Hi all,
Respectfully, thatâs not it. This is not saying that you should focus on an object, and when you get distracted, come back to it. This is just describing cognitive defusion.
No, but I do recall the Buddha saying that one should attend to another wholesome sign if one does not settle on the current object:
âWhat four? Itâs when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the bodyâkeen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. As they meditate observing an aspect of the body, based on the body there arises physical tension, or mental sluggishness, or the mind is externally scattered. That mendicant should direct their mind towards an inspiring subject as a basis for meditation. As they do so, joy springs up. Being joyful, rapture springs up. When the mind is full of rapture, the body becomes tranquil. When the body is tranquil, one feels bliss. And when blissful, the mind becomes immersed in samÄdhi. Then they reflect: âI have accomplished the goal for which I directed my mind. Let me now pull back.â They pull back, and neither place the mind nor keep it connected. They understand: âIâm neither placing the mind nor keeping it connected. Mindful within myself, Iâm happy.ââ
I wonder whether it is reasonable to expect such explicit instructions in the suttas. In my view, the suttas are a summary of what to do and what the result is. For example, abandoning the hindrances and developing the awakening factors leads to jhÄna. To implement that, one needs to work on oneâs own particular difficulties, often with the assistance of others, as indicated in the first part of MN118 or in AN4.94.
For example, consider:
⌠Itâs when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the bodyâkeen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. âŚ
It seems logical that if you get distracted doing this then you would return to paying attention to the particular aspect of the body.
There are many things that are not mentioned in the suttas that are surely just common sense. For example, Iâve not seen a sutta that says âIf your body isnât very flexible, do some stretching exercises before sittingâ. Or âYou might try examining feelings in the body by scanning from head to toeâ(though MN10 does mention scanning the body for elements).
It is, perhaps, deliberate that there are details not mentioned in the suttas that can be varied to suit the particular needs of the practitioner. However, I think it is important to make a distinction between elaborations that contradict Dhamma, which should be criticised, and tips and tricks regarding details of method (such as stretching, scanning the body, and so on), which do not contradict Dhamma.
1 Like
Hi everyone,
Does anyone know of any sutta where the Buddha says that when we get distracted we should come back to the object of our meditation?
Kindly provide passage and sutta reference.
Iâd love to hear the context of your inquiry.
We do have:
So he abides fully conscious of what is behind and what is in front.
As (he is conscious of what is) in front, so behind: as behind, so in front;
as below, so above: as above, so below:
as by day, so by night: as by night, so by day.
Thus with wits alert, with wits unhampered, he cultivates his mind to brilliancy.(SN 51.11, tr. Pali Text Society vol 5 p 235)
The explanation of âas by day, so by night: as by night, so by dayâ is:
Herein a monk, in cultivating the basis of psychic power of which the features are desire, together with the co-factors of concentration and struggle, employs by day the same signs, characteristics, and marks as he does in cultivating this basis by night, and in doing so employs by night the same signs, characteristics, and marks as he does in cultivating this basis by day.
(SN 51.20, PTS vol V p 250)
The monk âemploysâ the signs, characteristics, and marks, rather than returns to an object of meditation.
Thereâs the âsurvey-signâ, taken after the fourth concentration:
Again, the survey-sign is rightly grasped by (a person), rightly held by the attention, rightly reflected upon, rightly penetrated by insight. ⌠just as someone might survey another, standing might survey another sitting, or sitting might survey another lying down; even so the survey-sign is rightly grasped by (a person), rightly held by the attention, rightly reflected upon, rightly penetrated by insight.
AN 5.28, tr. Pali Text Society vol. III pp 18-19
I have always presumed that the survey-sign allows a return to the fourth concentration, as itâs always described after the fourth concentration, and the cessation of inhalation and exhalation of the fourth concentration seems likely to me to have been the cessation Gautama implied in his description of his own way of living (SN 54.11).
There are the ten kasinas, referenced at DN 33, MN 77, and (according to AI but I havenât checked) somewhere in the AN book of ones and in the AN book of tens. They are described as âexternal material shapesâ in the PTS translation of MN 77, yet they are described as things that are seen and mastered, not as objects of meditation per se.
In general, I think Gautamaâs teaching emphasized âone-pointednessâ of mind and mindfulness in the four arisings of mindfulness, without any fixed object. Thought âinitial and sustainedâ occurs in the first concentration, but the thought must follow from necessity, as any exercise of will results in a stationing of consciousness and suffering:
That which we willâŚ, and that which we intend to do and that wherewithal we are occupied:âthis becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being there, there comes to be a station of consciousness. Consciousness being stationed and growing, rebirth of renewed existance takes place in the future, and here from birth, decay, and death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow, and despair come to pass. Such is the uprising of this mass of ill.
Even if we do not will, or intend to do, and yet are occupied with something, this too becomes an object for the persistance of consciousness⌠whence birth⌠takes place.
But if we neither will, nor intend to do, nor are occupied about something, there is no becoming of an object for the persistance of consciousness. The object being absent, there comes to be no station of consciousness. Consciousness not being stationed and growing, no rebirth of renewed existence takes place in the future, and herefrom birth, decay-and-death, grief, lamenting, suffering, sorrow and despair cease. Such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill.
(SN 12.38, tr. Pali Text Society vol 2 p 45)
Iâm guessing you were looking to refute someone who said that the right idea was to return to some object in meditation, and none of what Iâve offered here really establishes that Gautama never said to return to an object. The question does point to a common misunderstanding of the practice Gautama first discovered while sitting under a rose-apple tree, watching his father plow.
1 Like
Thereâs also SN 47.6:
You should roam inside your own territory, the domain of your fathers. If you roam inside your own territory, the domain of your fathers, MÄra wonât find a vulnerability or get an opportunity.
And what is a mendicantâs own territory, the domain of the fathers? Itâs the four kinds of mindfulness meditation.
3 Likes