Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

to rest, settling into the moment as a way of calming the
mind. Though calming the mind is a valid meditation
practice, even such calm requires development to achieve.
If one doesn’t direct the mind towards purely tranquil states,
unwholesomeness will quickly overpower the meditator’s
mind, rendering the meditation practice worse than useless.
In order to gain true and lasting fruit from the practice, a
great amount of work is required. We shouldn’t undertake
meditation with a complacent attitude, thinking that we can
just sit, letting our minds float around, and expect to gain
real benefit. If you actually put effort into the practice, you
will find that your mind is far more clear, your insight more
powerful, and your concentration more stable than simply
sitting and waiting for results to come. It is similar to
working out the body; when you put out effort, pushing the
limits of your present capabilities, whether the object be
body or mind, it will become more and more powerful in
proportion to the amount of effort put out.
Also, as with physical exercise, it is the effort itself, rather
than the result, that is important in meditation practice.
When one lift weights, one isn’t interested in the movement
of the weights but rather the work itself. The weights return
to their original position; the result is simply increased
physical strength. Likewise, in meditation, walking back and
forth and sitting still, watching the stomach rise and fall
again and again, may cause people to think: “Well, that’s
stupid! You’re not going to get anywhere just pacing back
and forth or watching your stomach for hours on end.” Yet,
as with lifting weights, at the end of the exercise you have
indeed gained something – a verifiable increase in strength
and fortitude of mind. So what we mean by meditation is the
application of the mind to cultivate increased mental
qualities such as clarity, stability, strength and insight.
In Buddhist meditation, the quality of mind that is most
coveted is wisdom. Wisdom that understands objective
reality is the key to becoming free from suffering, as the first
noble truth of the Buddha tells us: “taṃ kho panidaṃ
dukkhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ pariññeyyaṃ” – “and that noble truth
of suffering should indeed be fully understood.” For this
reason, our practice of “mindfulness” must be based on the
68