Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

consequence; that is, past karma bearing fruit in the
present. When called "the five drivers," however, they
are considered in the position of cause—the impulses
arising in the present which will come to fruit in the
future. Our meditation lays most stress on the drivers of
the present; for depending on the extent of their control
now, their arising in the future may be limited. If we
make no attempt now to control lust, anger, ignorance,
pride, and doubt, they will continue to rampage in the
future as they have in the past infinity of lives.
G. The Five Meditations Themselves and How They
help Achieve a Settled Mind
Mr. Chen took the little skull and set it on the
ground between our chairs. "With its aid we may
understand the necessary stages of concentration,"
he said.
Every one of these five meditations may be divided
under eight headings.
1. The Meditation on Impurity
First we should mention again our fourfold samatha and
samapatti (see Ch. VII) with reference to our present
subject.
First comes the samapatti of samatha, in which one
repeatedly concentrates upon one point. In this way one
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