Jagarianuyoga — Self Discipline
"I'll guard the gold,
and you go Yoga Class."
"Indians never attack at night,"
said the Indian. "I'll guard the gate
an you go s l e e e e e p e e d e e p e e s l e e p e e"
These 4 should not be dealt with
carelessly simply because they are young:
A crown prince
A poisonous snake
A fire
A sorcerer's apprentice
— SN 1.3:1
Guarding the Senses
These are the senses:
Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Touch
Knowing
These are what are called
the Doors to the Senses:
The Eye
The Ear
The Nose
The Tongue
The Body
The Mind
The experience of sense awareness arises as a consequence of contact.
Contact is the simultaneous presence of sense organ with it's appropriate stimulus and re-knowing-knowledge.
A visual object comes within the scope of the eye, and the result is sensation associated with the sight (experienced as pleasant, painful, or not-painful-but-not-pleasant); perception and re-knowing-knowledge.
A previous act of identification with the activities that started the process [intent to create personal experience coupled to deeds of body, speech and mind] puts a sort of 'mark of ownership' on the consequences and it is identifying (claiming, recognizing) these markers that results in the experience known as "My sight", or "I am seeing."
The experience of sensation — that is, the subjective reaction to or evaluation of the painful or pleasant (physical, verbal or mental) — changes in accordance with whether or not the individual is oriented to gain in the experience of worldly pleasures or to attaining an end to kamma. For example the experience of pleasant sensation arising from kamma to be experienced as worldly pleasure can be changed to the perception of the painful implications of that situation for one seeking to end kamma. Thus the pleasant can be experienced as pleasant or painful, the painful can be experienced as painful or pleasant, or both can be experienced indifferently.
— p.p.
Arising from this experience comes liking or disliking depending on the sensation and whether or not one's original intent was to create worldly experience or to escape the world.
Both liking and disliking, are, in the Pāḷi, forms of wanting and lead to action that repeats the cycle and results in an outcome determined by kamma.
For this reason, the beggar trains himself to be wary of sights, sounds, scents, flavors, touches, and thoughts.
Being aware of the danger,
he guards "The Doors of the Senses"
and when an object of sense
comes into the range
of an organ of sense,
he neither dwells on its general appearance
nor it's details.
— He is aware of it, but does not 'think about' it
or dwell on the sensation associated with it
or take delight in it
or react to it's influence
or say to himself 'sensing, sensing, sensing'.
Lord Chalmers:
"You must train yourselves to guard the portals of the senses.
When with the eye
you see a visible shape,
you must resolve not to be taken
with its detailed marks and signs,
since, uncontrolled,
the eye might lead to appetite and distress,
and to evil and wrong states of consciousness;
your resolve will be
to control the sense of sight,
to keep watch and ward over it,
and to bring the eye under control.
... And similarly with all the other senses. ..."
I.B. Horner:
"Thinking:
'We must be guarded as to the doors of the sense-organs;
having seen a material shape with the eye
we are not entranced by the general appearance,
we are not entranced by the detail;
for if one had the organ of vision uncontrolled,
coveting and dejection,
evil unskilled states of mind,
might predominate.
We will fare along for its control,
we will guard the organ of sight,
we will come to control over the organ of sight.
Having heard a sound..."
Bhikkhu Thannissaro:
'We will guard the doors to our sense faculties.
On seeing a form with the eye, we will not grasp at any theme or variations by which — if we were to dwell without restraint over the faculty of the eye — evil, unskillful qualities such as greed or distress might assail us.
We will practice for its restraint.
We will protect the faculty of the eye.
We will achieve restraint with regard to the faculty of the eye.
On hearing a sound ..."
Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, edited and revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi:
"We will guard the doors of our sense faculties. On seeing a form wit the eye, we will not grasp at its signs and features. Since, if we left the eye faculty unguarded, evil unwholesome states of covetousness and grief might invade us. We will undertake the restraint of the eye faculty. On hearing a sound...
— MN 39:
Moderate Eating
Here the practice of the time called "The OneMealMan Practice", will be described in order to provide an idea of how the modern practitioner might modify his own eating habits in order to further his Dhamma progress:
Noon means 12 noon.
Simple:
12:00 AM = Day begins;
12:00 PM = Night begins.
Refrain from eating at Night, at a wrong time = refrain from eating past 12:00 High Noon. Previously I (and others) have suggested a 'noon hour' (12:00 to 1:00), or 'two-finger-shadow of an upright stick, but this does not fit the uses such as suggested by the statement of the disadvantages of giving to the gods 'after the sun is full up'. [see e.g.: MN 112; AN 5.228]
For a sutta dealing with the introduction of this practice, resistance to it, and Gotama's justification of it, see MN 70.
— p.p.
In this case
a beggar eats one meal a day,
after sunup,
before noon.
The original practice consisted of two styles, called "Hard Man" and "Soft Man".
Hard Man practice
was the practice of eating
at one sitting
from the contents of one bowl.
The meal is done,
no matter how much was eaten,
if the beggar rose up from eating
(hand-out bowl clean —
we would say "gets up from the table").
In the Soft Man Practice
(which was the practice adopted by Gotama),
a beggar could eat several bowls-full
at several sittings
and even take one bowl-full
back to his residence
for eating later,
provided all eating was completed
before noon.
The Buddha's usual actual practice,
we can gather from his own statements
and descriptions found in the Pāḷi,
was to eat one bowl full at one sitting.
Occasionally he would take additional food,
which is why he would be described as practicing
"Soft Man Style".
At one time he pointed out:
"It is not because I am austere
in my eating practices
that those who follow me
respect me as they do,
for there are those
whose practices are far more austere than mine,
it is because I teach a higher Dhamma
that they respect me as they do."
Modifications were made to both practices at the request of laymen wishing to make good kamma. These were that a beggar of either style could, if he had such, drink a beverage and eat a piece of bread or pastry upon rising up before going on his begging rounds.
All beggars ate however much they wished of what was allowable that was placed in the bowl.
There was, at one time, a huge dispute over what was and what was not proper to eat.
The dispute was begun by the infamous Buddhist bad guy, Devadatta, who tried to institute the practice of not eating flesh. (He wanted to prove himself more austere than Gotama).
The dispute threatened to disrupt the Order, and so Gotama laid out the rules of what was proper to "accept" in a formula he called "The Threes:"
Flesh was acceptable if
It was not
1. Seen
2. Heard
3. Suspected
To have been
1. killed by one's self
2. requested to have been killed by one's self
3. killed specifically for one's self.
An individual could be a vegetarian if he wished,
but there was no bad kamma
(and no rule)
associated with eating something
"killed on speculation"
by a butcher or hunter
or found dead, etc.
It is the intent that is the important thing,
and in such a case
there is no intent
(that is, by the beggar,
or by another for that specific beggar
that that beggar is aware of).
It is possible to adopt the One-Meal-Man practice and be quite fat and happy,
but one should approach this sort of diet with good sense.
There is a reasonable period of adjustment of a few weeks during which there will be for some a fair to middling battle with desire for food
(and this desire may re-surface from time-to-time usually in association with other unrelated changes).
A six month or so period follows during which there is considerable weight loss
(especially for people who are overweight)
and during this time one should be careful not to exceed one's limits.
This is a practice that was intended to provide adequate sustenance to a beggar whose desire to bring kamma to an end had already caused him to become a homeless wanderer, willing to die if necessary, to achieve his goals.
It was not designed for a modern family man working long hours or doing manual labor or who was under a great deal of stress.
After a period of adjustment the body will return to a normal healthy weight and the energy level will be high and there will be a substantial improvement in one's feelings of well being.
At this point it is possible to work long hours, do manual labor and keep up with the strongest of them or work under great stress without problems.
It is during the period of adjustment that caution should be taken.
One meal or many meals,
Bhikkhu or layman,
all are advised to eat moderately,
not for the pleasure of taste,
not out of habit,
not to fill time,
not for good looks,
not for show of wealth,
but only just sufficient to keep the body going a little further on This Way, thinking:
"By this moderate eating practice
I will bring old sensations to conclusion
and set going no new sensations,
and I will have sufficient sustenance,
while living blamelessly."
Remember! If you are reading the suttas in English, you are reading a translation and translations are interpretations! For your own safety you need to begin to learn a few terms in Pāḷi so that you will be able to compare between translations and between sutta and sutta!
Iti purāṇañ ca vedanaṃ paṭihankhāmi navañ ca vedanaṃ na uppādessāmi.
'Thus former sensation slap-back and to no new sensation giving-rise'
'Feeling' for 'Sensation' is not a problem, but it is not 'destroying old feelings of hunger' and 'not creating new feelings from overeating' that is the point here; it is stopping the cycle of intentional actions producing identified-with consequences that is the point. 'Hunger' and 'Overeating' are not in the Pāḷi and are not the problems. That 'Iti,' 'Thus' points the way. The emphasis needs to be on the lack of desire connected with the eating, not on the destruction of the feeling of hunger. One slaps back the arising sensations by not indulging in their pleasantness (as tastes, means for beautification, for show of wealth ...) thus providing no platform for new desires for more or different foods as one eats and it is by that and not by not overeating that the arising of new sensations is prevented.
See also SN 4.35.120
— p.p.
Lord Chalmers:
"You must train yourselves
to moderation in food,
taking food with deliberate purposefulness,
not for pleasure or delight,
not for ostentation or display,
but only to the extent required
to support and maintain the body,
to shield it from hurt,
and to foster the higher life, -
with the resolve on your part
to destroy the old feelings
and not to allow any new feelings to arise,
to the end that
the blameless lot may be yours
and well-being."
I.B. Horner:
"Thinking:
'We must be moderate in eating,
carefully reflecting must we eat,
not for fun or pleasure
or adornment
or beautifying,
but just enough for maintaining this body
and keeping it going,
for keeping it from harm,
for furthering the Brahma-faring;
with the thought:
'I am destroying old feeling,
and I must not allow new feeling to arise,
so that there will be blamelessness for me
and living in comfort' -
thus, monks, must you train yourselves."
Bhikkhu Thanissaro:
"Considering it appropriately,
we will take food not playfully,
nor for intoxication,
nor for putting on bulk,
nor for beautification,
but simply for the survival and continuance of this body,
for ending its afflictions,
for the support of the holy life, thinking,
"I will destroy old feelings [of hunger]
and not create new feelings [from overeating].
Thus I will maintain myself,
be blameless,
and live in comfort"'
— MN 39:
Some of the benefits of moderate eating are:
There are few things that are as swift in the furtherance of the attainment of magic powers and clarity of view than a little hunger! It re-awakens the hunter in one.
— p.p.
One wants little,
in times of scarcity one is prepared,
the body is healthy:
one has few illnesses and recovers from illnesses quickly,
one's time is not wasted in slavery to the belly,
the mind is clear and alert,
one is of little trouble to one's supporters.
Content with Little
Content with little
Like a bird on the wing
That takes with him only his wings
As he flies
So the beggar, beggars
Takes only his bowl and robes
And goes whithersoever he will.
The Wakeful Watch
For the sake of those wishing to adjust their own habits of wakefulness, here is the Pāḷi ideal:
The ideal, when asleep, is to remain wide-awake — clearly conscious. If dreaming, watch the dreams with an awareness of separateness. This is approximately 100% the opposite of what is taught by Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan, where the objective is 'being in dreaming'. Don Juan's idea is to create a 'dreaming body' — a dream-like and fluid identified-with self-conscious self-controlled body that acts in the dream state. Here the approach is to separate from any identified-with state.
The Buddha was said to have slept only rarely, on occasions when he was ill,
or when he was very old, during the hottest part of the day.
— p.p.
During the day, pace back and forth and sit, clearing the mind of distracting mental states.
During the first watch of the night, pace back and forth and sit, clearing the mind of distracting mental states.
During the majjhima (middle/magic) watch of the night, lie down in the lion posture (on the right side, with the head supported by the right arm, and with the legs one on top of the other so that one foot is over the other — bone on bone!) and, clearly conscious and wide awake, focus the mind on the time of rising up again.
During the last watch, after rising up, pace back and forth and sit, clearing the mind of distracting mental states.
Lord Chalmers:
"Purge your hearts of besetting states of consciousness, -
by day as you either pace to and fro or are seated ..."
I.B. Horner:
"Thinking:
'We must be intent on vigilance;
during the day,
pacing up and down,
sitting down,
we must cleanse the mind
from obstructive mental objects..."
Bhikkhu Thanissaro:
"During the day, sitting and pacing back and forth, we will cleanse the mind of any qualities that would hold it in check."
— MN 39:
No Other Single Sight
Beggars!
I see no other single sight
By which a man's mind is more enslaved
Than by that of a woman
Indeed, beggars,
The sight of a woman
Obsesses a man's mind.
Beggars!
I see no other single sound, scent, taste or touch
By which a man's mind is more enslaved
Than by that of a woman
Indeed, beggars,
The sound, scent, taste and touch of a woman
Obsesses a man's mind
Beggars!
I see no other single sight
By which a woman's mind is more enslaved
Than by that of a man
Indeed, beggars,
The sight of a man
Obsesses a woman's mind.
Beggars!
I see no other single sound, scent, taste or touch
By which a woman's mind is more enslaved
Than by that of a man
Indeed, beggars,
The sound, scent, taste and touch of a man
Obsesses a woman's mind
The Mind is Pure
— AN 1.49
The mind, beggars, is pure,
but is defiled by corruption from without.
This the uneducated common man
does not understand as it really is.
Because he does not understand this,
the uneducated common man
makes no effort to cultivate the mind,
I say
The mind, beggars, is pure,
and can be cleansed of corruptions
that came from without.
This the well tamed,
well trained,
well educated
student of the Aristocrats understands
as it really is.
Thus there is
for the well tamed,
well trained,
well educated
student of the Aristocrats
cultivation of the mind,
say I
Energetic Effort
Beggars!
I see no other single thing
Of more power to cause
The arising of good conditions
Not yet in the here and now, or
The subsidence of bad conditions
Already in the here and now, as
energetic effort.
In the beggar that makes energetic effort
good conditions not yet in the here and now appear, and
bad conditions in the here and now disappear
Wanting Little
Beggars!
I see no other single thing
Of more Power to cause
The arising of good conditions
Not yet in the here and now, or
The subsidence of bad conditions
Already in the here and now, as
Wanting little
In the beggar that wants little
Good conditions not yet in the here and now appear, and
Bad conditions in the here and now disappear
Contentment
Beggars!
I see no other single thing
Of more power to cause
The arising of good conditions
Not yet in the here and now, or
The subsidence of bad conditions
Already in the here and now, as
Contentment
In the beggar that is content
Good conditions not yet in the here and now appear, and
Bad conditions in the here and now disappear
Studious Etiological Examination
Beggars!
I see no other single thing
Of more power to cause
The arising of good conditions
Not yet in the here and now, or
The subsidence of bad conditions
Already in the here and now, as
Studious etiological examination
In the beggar that gives studious etiological examination to things
Good conditions not yet in the here and now appear, and
Bad conditions in the here and now disappear
Objective Detachment
Beggars!
I see no other single thing
Of more power to cause
The arising of good conditions
Not yet in the here and now, or
The subsidence of bad conditions
Already in the here and now, as
objective detachment
In the beggar who is objectively detached
Good conditions not yet in the here and now appear, and
Bad conditions in the here and now disappear
[Please note: pressing 'next' takes one to the multi-page section on the advantages of good behavior and the disadvantages of bad behavior which is also a section in other presentations of the Dhamma on this site. To continue on in The Pāḷi Line, at the end of the segment on the advantages of good behavior do not go on to 'Liberating the Heart through Friendly Vibrations', but click the link that says: Continue with The Pāḷi Line: Next: The Second Lesson'.]
[ The Gradual Course ] [ I. Nidana ] [ II.Dana — Giving ] [ II.Sila — Ethical Culture ] [ III. Jagarianuyoga — Self Discipline ] [ The Second Lesson ] [ The Third Lesson ] [ The Fourth Lesson ] [ The Fifth Lesson ] [ The Sixth Lesson ] [ The Seventh Lesson ] [ The Eighth Lesson ] [ TheGreatMastersSatisfactionPastures ] [ HighGetnHigh ] [ The 10th Question I ] [ The 10th Question II ]
