Meditation On The Six Factors That Cause Afflictions

So for today's meditation,

We'll do meditation on the six factors that cause afflictions to arise.

So we'll now have a chance to explore those and see if we can understand them better and look at ways that we might be able to work with them.

So let's start with a few minutes of sitting quietly to get settled down in the present moment,

Present place.

And then let's spend a few more moments generating a positive altruistic motivation for sitting here right now and doing this meditation.

So we're doing this partly to help ourselves to understand our own minds better,

How they work,

So that we can reduce the afflictive states of mind,

Like attachment,

Anger,

And so on,

That cause so many problems,

So much unhappiness,

Both for ourselves and for others.

So there are things we can do to learn to manage and reduce these afflictive emotions and eventually become free of them all together.

And so this is good for ourselves,

But it's also good for others.

One way it's good for others is if we have fewer afflictive emotions,

We'll be less likely to do things that'll be harmful to others,

Cause problems for others.

But also if we can learn to manage our own afflictive emotions,

Then we can be a good influence on others.

We can help them to also reduce their afflictive emotions.

So try to think you're doing this meditation,

Not just for yourself,

For your own benefit,

But for the benefit of others as well,

Your family,

Your friends,

Your patients,

People you meet,

And even in a bigger sense,

All the people in your country,

All the people in the world,

What we do does make a difference,

Does have an effect on others and on the world.

So feel the wish to have a positive,

Beneficial effect.

Okay.

So let's start by exploring our mind,

Our experiences,

And trying to understand which of the disturbing emotions we experience more frequently and creates more problems in our life.

So it could be attachment or desire,

Or it could be anger or jealousy or arrogance,

Pride.

You might notice you have a number of these,

But decide which one is most problematic.

You would like to focus on and have a better understanding of.

Okay.

So when this particular emotion arises in our mind,

It might seem as if it comes out of nowhere,

Just suddenly it's there in our mind.

But being an impermanent phenomena,

It doesn't just come from nowhere.

It comes from causes and conditions.

And if we can understand what the causes and conditions are,

There are things we can do to work on those and reduce the frequency of this disturbing emotion.

So the first of these causes or factors is seeds or latencies.

So this is how it's explained in Buddhism.

Whenever we do have a disturbing emotion in our minds,

Let's say anger,

So the anger is there for a few moments and then it disappears,

But it leaves an imprint or seed,

The word is used seed,

Or latency in our mind.

This isn't a physical thing,

Like a physical seed you plant in the ground,

But it's something subtle,

Like an imprint of that particular disturbing emotion.

It's left in our mind and then it is carried in our mind as our mind moves through time,

Changes.

And then at some point in the future when we meet with other conditions that trigger our afflictive emotion,

Then that seed ripens and that particular emotion comes up again.

So we have in our mind lots of these seeds or imprints left by our previous experiences of disturbing emotions.

So just lying there in our mind waiting to be nourished,

To be triggered and then they will give rise to these experiences.

Now there's not a whole lot we can do right now about those seeds.

We can't just clear them away,

Get rid of them.

It requires the direct realization of emptiness to completely eliminate all the seeds of afflictive emotions in our mind.

But if we understand how this process works,

We can at least try not to create more seeds of afflictions by trying our best not to let our mind get caught up in afflictions,

Which would then leave more seeds in our mind.

We'll just think about that and see if that makes sense.

Then the second of the six factors is contact with an object.

And so the object could be another person,

A living being.

It could be some inanimate object,

For example,

Something attractive that we see,

Hear,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch.

And then contacting that object can trigger a seed of attachment,

Desire to arise in our mind.

Or if we contact some object that is unpleasant,

Unattractive,

Annoying,

Irritating,

Then that will trigger the seed of anger,

Aversion,

Dislike to arise in our mind.

We'll find ourselves experiencing that.

So think about some experience you've had in the past of one of these disturbing emotions arising in your mind and try to understand how it came about due to contact with an object.

You you you you And this is also something we can work on if we notice that contact with particular objects regularly causes a disturbing emotion to arise in our mind.

We can try to avoid that object or at least be very mindful,

Very careful when we do happen to contact that object.

Watch our mind very carefully and try to not let it get caught up in an afflictive emotion.

Then the third factor is the influence of other people.

So we're easily influenced by the people we spend time with,

Associate with,

And so on.

So if we spend time with somebody who has a lot of anger,

For example,

And frequently gets angry,

Then we might find ourselves getting angry more frequently.

And the same is true with other affective emotions.

So see if you can notice that in your own experience,

How being close to or spending time with another person may have influenced you and caused you to have more of that particular afflictive emotion.

You So this is why we are advised to associate with people who have positive qualities,

Positive characteristics,

Habits,

And so on,

Because then we'll find ourselves being influenced in a positive way.

So for example,

If we're with someone who's very patient,

Doesn't get angry very easily,

Then we might find it easier ourselves to be more patient,

Less angry.

Then the fourth factor is verbal stimuli.

So this includes different ways that information comes into our minds,

Such as listening to talks or having conversations or listening to the news,

Watching TV,

Other forms of media like Facebook and internet and so on,

Reading books.

So there's lots of different sources of information coming into us and this can influence the rise of affective emotions.

Certain kinds of information can stir up our attachment,

Others can stir up our anger,

And so on.

Just try to see if you notice that this is true or not,

And if so,

You could work on just being more careful about what you pay attention to,

What you listen to,

Read,

And so on and so forth,

If you do wish to reduce the rise of affective emotions in your mind.

You Now number five is habit or familiarity.

So we have the tendency to get habituated with certain states of mind,

Certain ways of thinking,

Reacting,

And so on.

And the more we do it,

The easier it becomes,

The more frequent it will arise again.

So if we have a habit of getting angry or a habit of having attachment,

Then that particular emotion will come up again and again more and more easily.

And this is why in meditation we work on habituating our minds to more positive,

Constructive,

Beneficial ways of thinking and feeling and looking at things and so on,

So that they become more habitual,

And then the disturbing ones like anger and attachment will become less habitual.

See if that makes sense to you and if it's something you would like to work on.

And then the last of the factors is distorted thinking.

Or you could also think of it as obsessive thinking.

When there's some person or object we are attracted to or we are angry at,

Our mind keeps thinking about that object again and again and can get into exaggerating the good or the bad qualities of the object,

Projecting things that aren't even there,

Making up stories and fantasies.

And this way of thinking increases the particular afflictive emotion that we have towards that person.

But this is something else we can work on.

The more we develop mindfulness and introspective awareness,

Observing our thought patterns,

What our mind is doing,

And if we can recognize this way of thinking and how it does increase,

Kind of fans the flames of our disturbing emotions,

Then we can just say,

Stop it.

Just stop that way of thinking and do something more positive,

More constructive,

Like watching our breath or focusing on something beneficial.

You you So we didn't have a lot of time here to look at each of these six factors,

But if any of them you found more interesting,

Meaningful,

Then feel free to spend more time,

Go back to that one or the other ones,

And spend more time on your own,

Contemplating them and trying to find examples of them in your life,

And then trying to work on these factors in order to reduce the arrival of afflictive emotions in your mind.

So we'll stop here and just spend a few moments making a mental,

Dedication of the positive energy we've created by doing this meditation,

Just as we motivated in the beginning,

Wanting to benefit not just ourselves but others as well.

So now mentally share this positive energy with other people and beings all over the world.

May it help everyone become more aware of their minds,

Mental processes,

So that they can work on overcoming these afflictive emotions,

Which are the cause of our own personal problems,

But also the problems in society,

In the country,

And in the world.