What, Why, How: Answers to Your Questions About Buddhism, Meditation, and Living Mindfully

Editor’s Preface

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Mahathera, has spent his life spreading the Buddha’s teachings. Known and beloved worldwide by the affectionate nickname Bhante G., he was born in Sri Lanka in 1927 in the village of Henepola, was ordained as a novice monk at the age of twelve, and received full ordination at twenty.

He was invited to America in 1968 and served as the general secretary of the Buddhist Vihara Society in Washington, DC — a group he would later come to lead. He went on to earn a doctorate in philosophy from the American University. In 1985, he founded the Bhavana Society in the hills of West Virginia, a Theravada Buddhist monastery and retreat center that continues to attract retreatants from around the world.

Bhante G. is a noted Buddhist scholar and author of numerous books on Buddhist meditation practice and the Buddha’s teachings. These include his classic introductory guide to meditation, Mindfulness in Plain English, as well as Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English, Loving-Kindness in Plain English, and many more. His life story is told in Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G.

When I think of Bhante G., I invariably envision him sitting on a maroon meditation cushion. He is seated in front of the big golden Buddha in the meditation hall at the Bhavana Society in the back hills of West Virginia. In my mind’s eye, he seems larger than life, just like that oversized Buddha in the monastery and retreat center the Sri Lankan native founded in the early 1980s.

I am always surprised when we meet him in the sangha hall or monastery library at how slight his physical frame is. It is a measure of the authority, breadth, and bigheartedness of his teaching of the Dhamma that when he is in the meditation hall, the largeness of his spirit and erudition makes his physical presence seem larger, too.

Of all his books, he is perhaps best known for his remarkable primer on establishing a meditation practice, Mindfulness in Plain English, a book that Jon Kabat-Zinn dubbed a masterpiece. More than two decades after its debut, it has been translated into nearly thirty languages. (On a recent visit to the Bhavana Society, Bhante G. was pleased to show me a copy of the book recently translated into Russian.)

I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to suggest that that single book has perhaps guided more people to explore meditation in depth than any single Buddhist book of the last few decades.

This book is a bit different. It is an attempt to capture some of Bhante G.’s off-the-cuff style when asked questions at retreats, public events, live interviews, and questions e-mailed to him. Our hope is that this book, with its themed chapters, will be an accessible guide both for beginners coming to insight meditation and the Buddha’s teachings for the first time and for experienced meditators wishing to learn deeper aspects of those teachings.

This book condenses into one volume a half-century of Bhante G.’s answers to common questions, both introductory and advanced. How do you deal with pain while meditating? How long and how often should I meditate? What is spiritual friendship and why is it important? How does one uproot the hindrances? What are the stages of jhana and how do we know we have achieved them?

Bhante G.’s wit, honesty, and learning are a delight to experience live. He is known for his plainspoken instruction and guidance on meditation and Buddhist teachings as well as a deep command of passages from the Pali canon of Buddhist scripture, which he can pull up from memory in their original Pali.

He is also known for his wit, erudition, and good humor in answering questions about Buddhism and meditation and incorporating the practice of mindfulness and meditation into busy, modern lives.

This book is an attempt to capture a portrait of him thinking and responding on his feet (and on his cushion), as he parses and presents the Buddha’s teachings to an audience of dozens or an audience of one.

Throughout, he offers insights into his own personal experiences and challenges. These include his arrival in America, the attempt to ordain Buddhist nuns at the Bhavana Society, challenges faced in establishing a traditional forest monastery in the West Virginia hills, and even how he got the nickname Bhante G. He talks about the Buddha’s core teachings on meditation and spiritual practice, and responds at length to a host of questions posed to him through the years by lay followers and retreatants. Bhante G. also offers up some candid thoughts on the state of Buddhism today in the West and offers insights into how his understanding of the Buddha’s teachings and his own practice have developed.

Our hope in creating this book is to offer deep yet practical insights into Buddhist practice and the spiritual life from a Buddhist monk who has lived that life both on and off the cushion for nine decades.

May all beings attain Nibbana.

EDITOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks for additional editing help from Judy Larson and Patrick

Hamilton. And to Bhante G., for checking the manuscript and ensuring we got his responses and Pali words and phrases right.

— Douglas John Imbrogno

1

On Meditation

HOW MUCH EFFORT?

How much effort should we bring to our meditation practice? We hear the phrases just sit or effortless effort when it comes to meditating. How hard should we be trying when meditating?

When it comes to meditation, your effort should not be haphazard or blind. It’s a committed effort. Before you even start, you should consider, Is this the right moment for me to practice?

Suppose it’s a busy time, the TV is blaring somewhere, people are running around. No matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to do the practice. You have to understand the situation, you have to be mindful of when to sit.

But once you’ve chosen the place and time to practice, by all means, apply every ounce of effort to overcome laziness, drowsiness, restlessness, worry, and so on. These are very common, ordinary obstacles. In Buddhism, we call them hindrances because they hinder our progress. When hindrances arise, we shouldn’t be lazy. We shouldn’t think, Well, this is just way too hard. I’m wasting my time. This stuff always comes up and blocks me when I try to meditate. I give up.

You must encourage yourself and always renew your effort at sitting. You might tell yourself, I can do this. This is possible. I can overcome my sleepiness, I can work with this restless mind. I see other people who have learned how to do this. I can do this myself!

So, you must exert yourself. You must try to shake yourself awake and tell yourself, Hey, you! Don’t chicken out of this!

As for effortless effort, well, that’s a lazy man’s advice. There is no such thing as effortless effort. Things don’t come to us just like air. However, laziness, drowsiness, lust, greed — they come to us very naturally! Good things often don’t come to us naturally. We have them in us by our nature, but we must work hard to arouse them.

The trouble is that our mind is like water. Water always finds its way to the lowest place. In a similar way our mind tends to drag us down into the lower state of things — to base ideas, lazy practices, the easy way out.

Yet if we head that way, we’ll end up going down the drain with all the rubbish in the mind! So, we must turn up the volume on our effort. We repeat the same thing, again and again and again, until we achieve it. We bring commitment to our meditation practice, in spite of whatever happens in any one sitting.

There are actually three stages of effort. In Pali the first stage is called arambhadhatu, which means the element of beginning. When you read an inspiring book about meditation or have an enlightening discussion with a friend or teacher on Buddhist practice, you may become enthusiastic and start meditating right away. Yet a few weeks or months later, your effort may wane. You slide right back into the same old same old. How do you avoid that?

That’s where the second stage of effort comes in — nikkamadhatu, which essentially means proceeding with your effort. You stick to it, you work at your meditation practice with dedication and regularity. Even then, you can become lazy or may waiver in your resolve.

Then you have to play your last card. You have to give yourself a pep talk, but also be firm with yourself: This is it! I won’t budge from this cushion even if my back is killing me! OK, so I’m restless — I’ve seen that before. All right, now my knees hurt — I’ve experienced that too. I can sit through this. I can work with this. Reduce me to a skeleton and still I won’t budge!

That is the third kind of effort called parakkama, or valor. In the armed forces, you are encouraged to bring valor and bravery to your work. Meditators also need that kind of effort.

Sometimes people come here to the Bhavana Society with all good intentions to meditate. They book a place to stay months in advance and come for a week, or two weeks, or a month. Then a few days later they tell me, Um, Bhante, I have to go. I forgot I had to get back because I have this job to do and . . .

Or you may experience an inspiring meditation retreat, return home, and start practicing. Weeks or months later your resolve may waiver in establishing a daily practice. Remind yourself: You can do this. See the example of your teachers and fellow meditators. Seek out the support of sitting groups. Attend retreats regularly.

Really, it comes down to this: when you take the time to practice, when you make that commitment, stick to it with all the energy you can muster.

METTA AND MEDITATION

Some teachers recommend generating a feeling of metta, or loving-friendliness, in advance of meditation, bringing to mind a time you were very happy or acted with compassion and then beginning with a wish for yourself, May I be happy. Do you think this is a good practice?

I think this is a benevolent thought — that you have done something very meaningful to help people, you practice metta, and by doing so you make others happy. When you think of your actions that made others happy, you are happy. With this happy feeling you can practice meditation. I think that’s a good thing and there’s nothing wrong with that.

BEST MEDITATION OBJECT

What is the best meditation topic or object?

There are many meditation topics. But I think if you have a teacher, they would recommend you start your practice with focusing your mind on the breath. Most meditators find the breath easy to focus the mind upon for many reasons. It is readily available. It goes wherever you go. You don’t have to pack it in a bag. It is right there with you. You breathe all the time, and it will be present anytime you want it. That is the subject of meditation I recommend for everybody to start with in their practice.

Then you can see feelings — the feeling of the breath, the feeling of your body, the feeling of your cushion, the feeling of the temperature in the room. Feeling means some sensation you experience — another very good subject of meditation.

You may then become aware of passing thoughts. Don’t let your thoughts proliferate by adding more thoughts. Just become aware of any particular thought arising, for instance, a thought of anger. You feel it. It arises in your mind. You remember a certain person, certain situations in which you had an encounter, some kind of exchange of words that triggered your resentment, your anger, which is one of the three unwholesome roots.

You try to pay total attention to how you feel when anger arises in your mind. You see it is not a very pleasant feeling and then tell yourself, Why should I allow my mind to experience this unpleasant thought, which is harmful to my peace and my health and that hurts me in many ways? It eats me up inside, it disturbs my peace, it increases my blood pressure and disturbs my sleep. I lose friends when I experience this anger all the time. I might even lose my job. You can see the many disadvantages to anger. And so you let it go. You come back to your breath and meditate upon it.

LAYPERSON’S DAILY MEDITATION

In daily life how often should we meditate and for how long? If I am serious about committing to a meditation practice, what do you see as a minimum amount of meditation for a layperson?

I think every day — at least thirty minutes in the morning, thirty minutes in the evening — you must meditate. That is not a fixed or mandatory limit, of course. But given people’s active and busy lives, that is the minimum for someone who is serious about meditation practice. I encourage meditators to try to maintain that schedule every single day without fail.

I also encourage everyone to add the one-minute hourly meditation during their daily lives. Set aside one minute of every hour to stop and take about fifteen breaths — that’s about one minute. This will add a short but regular mindfulness reminder throughout your day.

And when you have the time, you should make the effort to go on meditation retreats at a meditation center. In all these ways you will always be in touch with a regular meditation practice. The commitment to practice is important. And the opportunities for mindfulness are there every moment of the day. Even as you lie in bed at night, go to sleep keeping the mind on the breath.

As for regular sitting, it’s good to get into the habit of sitting in the morning and also in the evening. In the morning it may be easier to meditate, as your senses are not yet bombarded by the day’s sense stimuli. It can be quite enjoyable to get up before anyone else, to have this time for yourself. In the evening it can seem a little more difficult to meditate, especially for laypeople. The TV and computer may be blaring, your children may be fighting, and your cellphone is right there, offering endless distractions.

But after things have quieted down or if you’re able to go off by yourself to a quieter place, meditating in the evening can be wonderful. After all, dealing with all the nitty-gritty problems of fast-paced contemporary life can be nerve-wracking! Yet all that stress and overstimulation can be handled more easily, more calmly, more wisely if you commit to a regular daily period in the evening when you allow the agitation from the day to settle. This will give your mind and spirit time to rest.

People often collapse when they get home and think that a good night’s sleep is all they need. But while a good sleep is revitalizing to the body and mind, a good evening meditation can be far more powerful in clearing the mind of the distractions and agitations of the day.

It is also important to grow used to sitting regularly for longer lengths of time. That’s because when you try to meditate, even if you’re able to sit for one hour, your real, true meditation may be no more than fifteen minutes. So, as you work with your practice, work on sitting a little bit longer each time. This is another reason why it is important to go to retreats regularly and also to find a supportive sitting group in your area, where possible. These will all help you in deepening your practice.

Many people come here to the Bhavana Society and hope to maintain a regular link to the center and to the monks here. We ask them, How much time do you spend on meditation? How frequently? These are essential matters. The answers help us to help them.

But what if that person doesn’t keep up their regular meditation practice? All of a sudden problems arise and they consult us for help. It will be hard for us to give them the necessary help — because they haven’t been doing their homework!

MEDITATION AND RELAXATION

What is the goal and purpose of meditation? Is feeling relaxed and peaceful a good goal?

The purpose is to reach the highest goal of Nibbana, or enlightenment. Along the way there are various other fringe benefits. Feeling peaceful certainly will occur. Becoming relaxed will be a result along the way. These experiences should not be overlooked. But they also should not be taken as the final attainment.

We have to look for the red herrings in meditation. You know about red herrings? Originally they were used to deceive hunting dogs because their smell is so strong the dogs would be thrown off track. Similarly, in meditation we have to look for deceptive moments and experiences.

Don’t worry about miraculous attainments and powers, such as being able to read another’s thoughts or astral traveling. Don’t look for them. These can be red herrings. They can deceive meditators.

What you have to look for is how you get rid of certain psychic irritants in order to cleanse the mind. When the mind is clean and clear, some of these supernatural things may be possible. But they are not the goal of practice.

So, when we understand the truth — especially the Four Noble Truths — we begin to see the real path developing in our mind. When we meditate we always remember to pay attention, that we must develop our mindfulness, concentration, and equanimity.

These factors have to be developed in tranquility meditation as well as insight meditation. Cultivate your attention, sharpen your attention. Pay attention always to your experience. Develop your mindfulness and use concentration to deepen your mindfulness. And try to have equanimity, an unbiased state of mind, so you can look at your experience clearly.

Just try to stay in a balanced state of mind. Then cleansing the mind becomes easier. Buddha said cultivating the mind is possible. Otherwise, we will get lost in the jungle inside our minds.

PAIN AND DISCOMFORT

While sitting in meditation, I try to keep at it when pain and discomfort arise. But after a while I feel I just have to change my position. How do you handle pain and discomfort while trying to sit for longer periods of meditation?

Normally the first and immediate reaction to pain and discomfort is to want to change position. That can be conquered if you have a little patience and if you stay with the pain. Pain that arises in meditation is not going to kill you. But if it does kill you, well, that is the best way to die — while meditating! After all, there are a whole lot more miserable ways to go.

But you won’t die. You just need to work with the pain or discomfort. When you have a pain in your back, your knee, or somewhere else while meditating, just watch it at first. Pay mindful attention to it. If you think you will lose your leg or something like that, watch even that reaction — since the way you react can intensify your perception of the pain.

As the Buddha taught, the first dart that you experience is the physical sensation of the pain. But the second dart is your attitude toward the pain. That second dart is optional! So, try to have a positive attitude by looking at the pain and seeing it exactly for what it is. Try just sitting with the pain without immediately shifting your position. Say to yourself, Let me sit with this pain and see how it increases and what happens after that.

You will be surprised as you pay careful attention to the pain. It seems to increase in volume and intensity. It increases until it reaches its painful climax — then it breaks down and even disappears. It becomes a neutral sensation. It becomes weak and blurred. Then your mind is able to return its focus to the breath.

If you stay with that neutral feeling, it turns into a pleasant feeling. As you watch that pleasant feeling, it turns into a neutral feeling again. That neutral feeling may again turn into the unpleasant feeling of discomfort. So it goes, in a cycle like that. Try to see this whole cycle of pain and your reaction to it ebbing and flowing throughout your meditation.

Suppose you are sitting and after thirty minutes you start to experience a lot of pain. If you tolerate the pain for five or ten minutes with this wholesome, positive attitude, you will see the pain or discomfort change into neutral and then pleasant feelings. Then it may become unpleasant for a while. Then it’s neutral again. When you come to that neutral feeling a second time, you have spent perhaps forty-five minutes meditating.

Through such effort, you can overcome the immediate desire when encountering discomfort to shift away from it. Sitting through these cycles of pain and discomfort, seeing how the mind reacts, can be a very powerful experience. In this way, you can really get to deeper levels of meditation.

The trouble is that many people don’t have a lot of patience, or they have not developed it enough. This difficulty is always coming up in meditation practice for them. I just advise them to stay with the pain and see the whole cycle.

Certainly, if you feel you really need to, you can mindfully shift your position. Or get up quietly and do standing meditation for a while, and then return to sitting. Working with pain and discomfort in meditation can offer deep insights into how our minds work.

Plus, as you learn to sit longer, your body will grow used to the posture, and discomfort will not be such a big issue. Please don’t get discouraged when you have discomfort as you sit. That is a part of the deal. Accept it and work with it.

BEGINNING BUDDHISM

You’ve been teaching beginning students a long time. What advice might you have for a person newly interested in Buddhism?

People who are interested in Buddhism must first pick up the right books, especially Theravada books. As I am a Theravada monk, somebody might think I am prejudiced. Surely, I am prejudiced. But I don’t condemn other sects and say other sects don’t have many wonderful things to teach.

But Theravada Buddhism is the oldest branch of Buddhism; therefore, if somebody wants to learn about Buddhism, first they must learn Theravada Buddhism.

I must tell you a little story I heard about a famous Tibetan teacher. One very cold winter night he called his students together, maybe sixty or seventy of them, from the grounds of the center they were all at. According to the story, in the middle of the night he woke up his bodyguard and asked him to gather the students. They all came to the big meditation hall and were sitting there, trembling from the cold.

This teacher came about a half-hour later and sat down. Everybody was silent. They all were waiting. They thought he was going to make a very serious announcement. Very serious! He sat down and waited for another fifteen minutes. Finally he lifted one finger and said, Don’t forget Theravada Buddhism! Now, go and sleep.

To make this one statement, he created this scene! That means even a Mahayana Buddhist sees the significance of Theravada Buddhism. So, I would say if somebody wants to learn Buddhism, first they must pick up good Theravada books and good translations of the Buddha’s teachings.

There are many beautiful translations, especially Bhikkhu Bodhi’s translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, Samyutta Nikaya, Anguttara Nikaya, and Sutta Nipata. He also has written some very good books on the Digha Nikaya and separately published one book titled The Buddha’s Teaching in His Own Words. People should read first at least one of these books to gain the background and grounding for the practice.

And when it comes to meditation, they must also pick up meditation books that give clear instructions on meditation. I don’t want to pinpoint any particular books, but the instructions must be easy to follow.

Second, they must choose a teacher who teaches in a clear, comprehensive language. By associating with that person, they will learn very sincerely. While learning, they must practice. Practice, practice, and practice! Then they will see how these meditation instructions work very well. The person will come to have a good knowledge of meditation through experience.

ULTIMATE AIM OF MEDITATION

Are we trying to empty the mind when meditating? What is the ultimate aim of meditating?

Sometimes people think insight meditation is just sitting on a cushion doing nothing. This is not mind-emptying meditation! This is mindfulness meditation. There is more to it than just sitting there. After all, you can devote 100 percent of your attention to what you are doing and still not gain any insight. A cat or a tiger pays total attention to its prey but doesn’t gain an iota of insight about anything. Why? All they have is simple concentration as they focus intently on their prey in their minds.

But in insight meditation we pay total attention with mindfulness. We work on gaining the ability to look at everything that arises with the clearest state of mind — without greed, hatred, or delusion.

That is not how we normally pay attention to things. Usually our minds are obsessed or distracted by some variation of greed or desire for things or a rejection of things. We feel annoyance, dislike, or dissatisfaction with our current state. We want to be someplace else, anyplace other than where we are. Or there is ignorance about what is really going on around us and inside us.

But when we start to