By Arjanyai
Why can people not sit longer in Samadhi practice? Guarding the moralities practising Samadhi and using Wisdom to investigate the formations are all good. The evil one (Mara) does not like these things, for he fears that we will become free of his influence. The world is in the grip of Mara from the Realm of Human Beings up to and including the highest Brahma Realms.
One may recall how, just before the Buddha gained Enlightenment, Mara sent his three daughters to tempt Him. When they did not succeed, Mara himself had to come and try to defeat Him. He performed miracles, causing it to rain spears, swords and stones. But he could not overcome the Transcendent-Virtues (Parami) of the Buddha, and Mara, the Evil One, was defeated.
When we oppose Mara and cannot defeat him, it is because our Transcendent-Virtues are not strong enough. When we have developed Morality, Samadhi and Wisdom, there arises fear and trepidation and we cannot retain these virtues. The Buddha, Conqueror of Mara, determined that He was ready to let blood, flesh, sinews and bones wither away before rising from His seat if that virtue which good people should develop did not arise.
This is how the Buddha overcame Mara when night was falling and He went on to gain Enlightenment by developing this same practice of mindfulness-of-breath-ing (Anapanasati-Kammatฺtฺhana). He developed Reflective-Thought on the in-coming-and-outgoing-breaths, so that He knew a short breath to be short, and a long breath to be long. In this way: l.) Reflective-Thought (Vitakka), and, 2) Con-templative-Thought(Vicara), became developed on Breathing. When the Citta stopped thinking of the past, the future, and of external objects of perception, which are the snares of Mara, then His Mind remained concentrated on a single point. Then there arose: 3) Pleasure-of-Body-and-Heart (Piti)4) Happiness-of-Body-and-Heart (Sukha), and, 5) Unification-of-Citta (Ekaggata).
These comprise the five Factors (Anga) which oppose the five hindrances (Nivarana). If the Citta becomes detached and still and overcomes the hindrances, then it has attained the First-Jhana (Patฺhama-Jhana).
But the First-Jhana still involves Discursive-Thoughts or concentrating one's attention, which requires that one guards the Citta constantly in order to maintain the five Jhana-Factors.
Keeping a constant guard on the Citta is difficult to maintain. This is like the working elephant which must still be kept on the tether. Looking after such an animal is difficult, so it must be trained to become capable and accustomed to it's work. When it is fully trained, there is no longer any need for the tether.
One who has Conquered the Senses and is Proficient in Entering Jhana
The Citta, when it becomes accustomed to an object, will tend to leave that object whenever it can. Because of this, one must train the Citta to become skilled in five kinds of Mastery (Vasi),1 these being:
1.Mastery in Adverting (Avajjana-Vasi) to the First Jhana when about to enter it.
2.Mastery in Entering the First Jhana (Samapajjana).
3.Mastery in Setting up the Factors of the First Jhana in the Citta (Adhitฺtฺhana).
4.Mastery in Leaving the First Jhana (Vutฺtฺhana).
5.Mastery in Retrospecting on the Factors of the First Jhana when they have died away (Paccavekkhanฺa).
When one has become skilled at practising the first Jhana, one should then abandon the factors which are most gross, these being: 1) Reflective thought and 2) Contemplative thought.
One then depends only upon one's skill in establishing the Citta firmly, which enables one to omit the use of reflective and contemplative thought, in other words, one need not concentrate one's attention or think discursively.
If one stops concentrating one's attention and thinking discursively, and the Citta then escapes from the factors of Jhana, it means that one is not yet sufficiently skilled in the practice.
As for one who is skilled, he should have no difficulty in entering Jhana. He will know that the Citta which is in the past, present or future, and which escapes to external objects of perception is in the sensual-realm, and when he is about to enter Jhana, as he is skilled, he will stop thoughts, let go of objects of the three times and watch the empty heart-base. With no thoughts arising, he then attains the Second Jhana.
When the heart-base is empty, one neither thinks nor reflects, but has only Reviewing-Knowledge (Paccavekkhana-Nanฺa) to set up understanding.
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