Talk: Keeping the Buddha in Mind

It's amazing that sometimes we fill our mind with very unpleasant people.

It's a tendency for many human beings to constantly think about people they don't like,

Who have hurt them,

And they are complaining about.

How much time do you spend with some politician in your mind complaining what they are all doing wrong,

And what is the result?

The mind is just upset,

Disappointed,

Frustrated.

On the other hand,

We have the freedom to simply think about the Buddha.

There is nothing harmful if we think with respect and admiration,

With reverence,

Esteem,

And respect about the Buddha.

This is a meditation which can be done also through thinking.

Some people find it very difficult to calm their mind to the extent that thinking stops completely or almost.

I get that complaint a lot,

And I can't really get into samadhi,

The mind is thinking too much.

So recollection of the Buddha can be done as a deliberate thinking meditation.

Of course,

Thinking is too complex,

It's not calm and one-pointed enough that we can attain full samadhi,

Full jhana by thinking about the Buddha.

For that you usually have to narrow it down on just say one word,

And at some stage the mind will have to drop repeating the word,

It will have to drop that concept,

That notion,

And it will have to simply stay with the feeling and the joy connected with that,

And then we can attain even full samadhi.

But even if you don't attain full absorption,

Full jhana,

Simply thinking about the Buddha for half an hour,

In a conceptual way,

Not just repeating one word,

But remembering the Buddha's quality,

Remembering his biography.

We can study,

There's a very good book from Venerable Jnanamoli,

So it's available in the library here,

The Life of the Buddha,

Using only the oldest sources in the canon which we can find for each period in the Buddha's life.

And the more we know about the Buddha,

The more material we have to think about him.

So if the problem is too much thinking,

And it's too difficult to abandon thinking completely,

What we do is simply thinking about a suitable object.

And we can think about the Buddha from all angles.

For example,

What he has done for other beings.

Even now,

2500 years after his passing,

All the monks and nuns,

All the male and female Buddhist lay disciples,

And even others who have not taken refuge,

Receiving tremendous benefit from his actions,

From his teachings.

He has founded the oldest multinational corporation,

The Sangha,

Which is still functioning according to the original rules laid down by him.

We can find monasteries in Buddhist countries,

Who have been used for basically millennia.

So if you imagine how many millions of people right now are receiving benefits,

And then we can imagine for 2500 years that amount of people,

Generation after generation,

That is all due to the Buddha's compassion and his wisdom,

And working in unison in explaining the Dhamma,

Teaching the Dhamma,

Expounding the Dhamma,

And also establishing a functioning institution,

A practical way to realize the Dhamma here in this life.

We can remember how many beings have understood the Dhamma on the level of realization,

How many have become stream-entrers.

Now,

Already in the Buddha's time,

Once Brahma Sampati came and he talked about how many have attained,

And even with his psychic powers as a Brahma,

He said,

I wouldn't want to give an exact figure of those who have become stream-entrers,

Because I don't want to say anything wrong,

There are so many.

It was right in the beginning,

Now after 2500 years,

How many have attained stream-entry,

Once returning,

Non-returning,

Even avahantship.

Or if they didn't attain,

How many have been supported to find a fortunate rebirth,

Now how many countless millions have been practicing at least generosity and some aspects of virtue,

Hopefully the five precepts,

So that they attain a fortunate rebirth.

There would be countless millions,

And once they attain a fortunate rebirth,

One of those in the deva loka may last for millions and millions of years in human reckoning.

So the Buddha is a very source,

A very cause for all of these incredible beneficial and wholesome things to happen.

We can also simply contemplate the biography of the Buddha.

Now we are walking tirelessly over the Ganges plain,

And if you travel there,

We have been there a couple of times and people find it quite straining,

Even in luxury buses and luxury hotels.

In winter it can be very cool and foggy,

People get colds.

In the hot season it's incredibly hot and dry and dusty.

In the rainy season,

The torrential downpour is very hot and humid.

The Buddha would face all these difficulties and would continue walking,

Even when he was 80 years,

Walking until his very last day,

Giving a living example of the lifestyle he's teaching and also reaching out to everyone.

He could live very conveniently in the royal capital,

Savatthi,

In his monastery,

Where he was looked after by billionaires and kings and rich brahmins,

But out of compassion,

With the intention to reach everyone,

That every person in the Ganges plain can meet him personally,

Ask questions,

Hear the Dhamma from his own lips.

He would be walking many kilometers a day through the sun,

Through the cold,

Through the rain,

Taking all hardships out of compassion for our benefit and faith and happiness.

So if we reflect like that,

There's no harm in these thoughts.

We can do that extensively.

We will notice now our heart is elated,

Joyful,

Happy.

We can notice even if it's not full samadhi how all the hindrances get weakened.

Thinking about the Buddha doesn't nurture and strengthen centrality and desire.

Thinking about the Buddha doesn't strengthen our ill-will,

Quite the opposite.

It weakens centrality,

It weakens ill-will,

Aversion and anger.

Thinking about the Buddha,

It makes us awake,

Bright,

Energetic.

Thinking about the Buddha,

There's also calming,

There's settling down,

There's dispelling fear and anxiety,

Uncertainty.

If we think about the Buddha's boundless compassion,

How he would accept any being,

Whatever shortcomings we may have,

Whatever weaknesses,

Whatever mistakes we have made.

Maybe you can imagine if you were to meet the Buddha,

What that diminishes compassion would feel for us.

Of course not impossible.

So thinking about the Buddha helps us to dispel doubt,

It strengthens our faith.

So meditation which can be done in the conceptual area,

Even if we can't attain full one-pointed thoughtless samadhi,

We can calm and settle our mind,

Suppress the hindrances and give us great joy and happiness by simply conceptually thinking and contemplating the Buddha,

His qualities,

His lives,

And all the benefits countless beings have received from his tireless work,

Cultivated by compassion for us.