Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

energy is not the same as pushing oneself to practice
beyond one’s limits or forcing the mind to stay with a single
object; it is a natural result of seeing things as they are and
cultivating one’s vision to a greater and greater degree of
clarity, which in turn frees the mind of the weights and
chains of defilements.
It must be understood, however, that simply removing the
defilements of greed, anger and even delusion from the mind
is not enough; as long as there is still ignorance, the
defilements may still arise again in full force if we let down
our guard. For this reason, we must cultivate this process as
a habit, carving out a familiarity with objective observation in
the mind until we can truly internalize what we are
observing.
Once our minds become accustomed to observing in this
way, there will arise the fourth factor of enlightenment,
called “pīti” or rapture. Rapture is a phenomenon
well-known in religious circles, though they may have other
names for it. It refers to any mental state that catches one
up, holding one in its grasp, making it difficult to break away.
Ordinary rapture is found in the rocking back and forth that
can be seen to occur in meditators and religious devotees of
many religious traditions. They may believe that it is a god
or spirit that has taken possession of them; in actual fact, it
is simply a product of one’s own habitual cultivation of a
focused mind state, leading one to become stuck in the
experience like a broken record.
In the context of the factors of enlightenment, rapture refers
to the getting caught up by one’s introspection, something
akin to an airplane taking off. During its taxi on the runway,
the airplane’s travel is neither smooth nor steady. Once it
reaches a critical velocity, however, it is lifted into the air
and is able to travel smoothly without any obstacles.
Once one’s practice becomes habitual through intensive
dedication, usually over many days or weeks of intensive
practice, one will begin to feel as though little or no
conscious effort is required to maintain the objective
awareness. Some meditators may actually become
negligent as a result, failing to continue their efforts to
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