Samatha in daily life

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Hang: Ajahn, I have another question about the samatha bhāvana, as I know that there are three stages of samadhi, can you elaborate more?

A. Sujin: Would you like to understand or would you like to develop?

H. I would like to understand

Su. So, what is samatha? We have to begin from: what is it that we'd like to understand.

H. Kusala citta with some understanding about the kusala and akusala.

Su. So, is it wholesome or unwholesome, when we talk about samatha?

H. It is wholesome.

Su. and why do we call it samatha?

H. I think that the object of the citta is the concept, including the the kasinas, the 40 kinds of kasinas.

Su. Just wanting to experience the object of samatha or understanding the difference between the kusala at level of kāmāvācara and the rūpāvācara? Just wanting to have the moment of being samatha, the kusala at level of rūpāvācara, developed to the degree that it does not experience the sense object. Because the kusala which has the sense object and the kusala which doesn't have the sense object are different.

So, when you are interested to develop samatha bhāvana, do you mean that you do not want to have the kusala which experiences the sense object anymore? So, can we say that there are many levels of kusala? It's not easy at all to have kusala moments at moment of experiencing the sense object, and in order not to have even kusala at moment of experiencing the sense object, it must be higher calmness, which sees the danger of experiencing sensuous object, even it is kusala. Does anyone see the danger of any moment of experiencing the sensuous object, [that] it is always akusala? Because of the accumulation. So there must be conditions enough not to have akusala at moment of experiencing an object, and even it is kusala at level of experiencing such sensuous object, it's not as strong and not as calm as higher moment, when it can be calm without experiencing sensuous objects. So, it has to be pañña seeing the danger of experiencing sensuous objects in a day. Conditions, attachment, by accumulations, a lot.

So, just few moments of kusala in a day, but what about developing higher than that? And what about right understanding of that which appears as sensuous object? Better than just not experiencing it and trying to have kusala which is the moment of not experiencing sensuous objects at all. That's why understand what it is and how to have [it] developed. And what about, instead of developing such moment, what about developing the understanding of the truth of what is there now, as it is, as not self? That's why it has to be right understanding of the benefit of samatha bhāvana by accumulation, that can condition moment of beginning to understand what it is and how it can develop. So we have to study what is the object for the development of samatha. It's not just by one's own thoughts about it that it's calm and that it's enough, away from sensuous objects, but it's not like that at all. It has to be pañña from the very beginning. And that aspect of pañña is only seeing the danger of the sensuous object and not knowing how to understand it in order to eradicate attachment to it but another aspect of pañña is to see the danger of life, the arising and falling away. It cannot be ended at all as long as there are conditions for its arising.

So pañña doesn't want to have any pleasant object, very calm or whatever is there. Just to develop the understanding in order that one day it can be moment of directly experiencing the truth which is the only way to eradicate that which has been accumulated quite long, long time ago, not to arise again. And what about being so calm at level of samatha but no understanding of the truth right now at all? And the development of samatha was taught before the enlightenment of the Buddha, but no one can teach the truth of this very moment because just only the Buddha who had enlightened can talk about it. Before the enlightenment of the Buddha there were people who developed samatha to the highest degree, but no understanding of the truth at all.

So, life is so short and the path is so long, just slips away, falls away, just step by step, very short and just paying attention to the other things, not around there, not going straight to the path, if it's the way to understand what is there now. And what about samatha in daily life? very natural, not to the higher degree, which does not experience the sensuous object like right now at all. So it depends on the understanding [of] what samatha is, what moment is calm, not just the word or the name but the moment of kusala. When we talk about shortness of life it can be now or this evening or tomorrow, is it not marana sati? Life is so short, so what is the best thing, in a moment?

When it's worry, attachment, thinking about the other things, it's not calm[ness]. And calm in daily life can be understood as it is, not self, better than just calm without understanding of the truth of that very moment which is calm. What about developing calmness in daily life? Marana sati, kāyagata sati, metta, being friendly? Especially when it's based on understanding of no-self. All are different realities some are wholesome and some are unwholesome. Anyone who would like to develop samatha to the degree of not experiencing what is there in daily life has to understand what object can lead to that stage of calmness.

And it has to be developed by pañña, not by attachment or craving or desire. So, when thinking about death, marana sati, what is there to be done or, by such understanding. Thinking about death, marana sati, where does it lead to, when is pañña? Is it to develop more calmness or it is to develop right understanding? And how long can it take to understand the truth of this moment as it is? Much longer than just trying to be calm.

So, studying the objects for the development of calmness, in the beginning, to understand what can lead to more tranquility. What about this moment? Is there calm, metta, at this very moment? Calm[ness] with understanding of the truth, is it not better than calmness without understanding of the truth? The study of the object of calmness brings about the understanding that it's not easy at all. Because it has to be moment of reaching the degree of jhāna, the first, the second and go on, higher and higher. And the Buddha said that it is micchā patipadā, even it's the highest arūpa jhāna it's not the path leading to enlightenment, so it is micchā patipadā. Because it is pañña at that level of understanding, what about the tranquility, calmness, but no right understanding of the truth, so it's still micchā patipadā. And how many ariya sāvakas in the Buddha's time attained enlightenment without jhāna? By accumulation, so what about one's own accumulation? Is it like those in the Buddha's time, who had attained both samatha and vipassana to the highest degree? So, would you like to study about the object of samatha? To know, to understand how to develop it?

H. To understand as the reality now is more valuable.

Su. Yes, but we understand a bit about samatha, so that we know that they are different, not the development of pañña, but it's the development of calmness, only that. But anyone who just sits and thought that they had attained degrees, levels of samatha, higher and higher, it's wrong, without the right cause. So we study in order to know what is it and what is this object and how to develop it. That's why the Buddha taught about everything, including samatha too. Now, just talking about samatha and thinking that maybe there can be someone who is developing samatha, they should be asked what object is there, to be calm, from the very beginning.

H. Out of the 40 kinds of jhāna objects?

Su. Each one should be understood, whether it can be the object of calmness or not, for example, just reciting the word Buddho Buddho, is it kusala, is it calm? Many people take it for the development of samatha, but actually it's not because it has to be pañña which understands the moment when it is kusala otherwise it cannot get rid of nīvarana dhamma which is the hindrance for this development of samatha. Samatha bhāvana cannot develop without understanding at all, but different level of understanding. The understanding at level of samatha is the understanding of seeing the danger of clinging to the sensuous objects. So it has to be moment of understanding what is there, whether it is kusala or akusala, otherwise it cannot develop. It's not just sitting and being told to do something and thinking that it is samatha, that is not right at all. That's why samatha bhāvana is also the bhāvana at level of developing calmness by kusala kammapatha.

So, when we talk about any object of samatha bhāvana, there must be the understanding of why it is the object for such development, like death and so on, metta and so on, to what degree, to what level of calmness. Can there be more metta in a day, without thinking of developing samatha. So, anything can be object of lobha, only lokuttara dhammas cannot be object of lobha.


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