Namo Buddhaya!
May homage to the Blessed One, the Noble One, the Perfectly Enlightened One!

Securing your own protection


There are lots of people in this world. Even in our country, there is a large number of people. But only few among them have taken the refuge of the Gautama Supreme Buddha or think to take the refuge of the Dispensation of the Gautama Supreme Buddha. Moreover, there is not much who think to get births among divine beings when they pass away or to attain the Nibbāna in the Dispensation of the Gautama Supreme Buddha. If they could not remember the Supreme Buddha when they are impressed by false views, there is a danger that even this small amount of people could embrace those views deflecting from the path that the Supreme Buddha showed us.
We have met a rare opportunity – the opportunity of meeting the Dhamma of the Supreme Buddha, pleasing your mind about that Dhamma, becoming faithful, protecting the precepts, and getting to know what this Dhamma is – and it is called the Kshanha Sampatti. We might have had this rare opportunity in our past lives as well, but we don’t know about those chances. We may have missed those chances. Sometimes this chance we have in this life may have been given rarely. If we missed this rare opportunity again, it is not sure if we be able to get such a chance again. Therefore, we should understand this opportunity well.
There is not going to be any chance of realizing the Dhamma in this human world in the future. No chance of meeting the Dhamma in the future in this human world – in that future, there will only be a decline in good qualities of humans. All those good qualities of humans will drop rapidly with time vanishing at the end. A world of only joy of eating, drinking, and enjoying will be left, and that newly born world will not talk about the Four Noble Truths… Isn’t speaking about the Four Noble Truths has become a joke to most people already?
Realizing the fact that there is not going to be another chance of getting the protection of the Dhamma in this human world, we should cultivate the Sēkha Bala Dhamma – Saddhā (faith), Sīla (virtue), Sutha (Dhamma knowledge), Thyāga (generosity), and Paññā (wisdom of the Dhamma) – at this present time. If a person gets a chance to be born among divine beings by developing the Sēkha Bala Dhamma in this life, he/she will get another chance to practice the Dhamma. But that chance will be missed if that person gets a birth in the human world instead. That is because we do not know how long this chance of practicing the Dhamma will last in this human world.
Therefore, you should realize the importance of getting a help from this life by wisely cultivating wisdom and mindfulness. If you get a birth in the Thuthisa Divine World by realizing this importance and cultivating the Sēkha Bala Dhamma, then you will definitely get the protection to your life. You can get the chance to complete the rest of the path of the Dhamma even in the Chatummahārājika Divine World. If you get a birth either in Thāvathinsa, Yāma, Thusitha, Nimmānharathi, or Paranimmitha Vasavatthi Divine World, you will still have the protection in the Dhamma since you already have the Sēkha Bala Dhamma developed in you. The teachings of the Supreme Buddha clearly show this protection – it is your duty to secure it to your life.
May this Dhamma discussed here be a support to you all in the realization of the Noble Dhamma!
– Most Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero

An English translation of an article published in Mahamegha Magazine – Esala 2015.
Namo Buddhaya!
May homage to the Blessed One, the Noble One, the Perfectly Enlightened One!
1.1 Let us meditate
Meditation heals your human life more than by any other means. It also makes your life more meaningful. Practicing meditation is a remarkable way to develop your mind. It is our teacher, the Supreme Buddha, who first taught us the possibility of developing our minds. The Supreme Buddha developed His mind to the highest level first and showed it to us. Thus, the technique that is used to develop the mind is known as the meditation.
You are among the small amount of people who develop the mind…
If you are capable of cultivating the meditation in this very life, your mind will start to develop rapidly. In this effort, you need to have the ability to think well. If you cannot think well, you will not be able to develop your mind. In fact, most people do not develop their minds. Only few humans develop their minds. You can become one among that few. Learn this mindfully and attentively. We will gradually show you how to see your life in depth.
Are you also suitable to perform meditation?
It is especially important to have an admiration towards the Buddha as He is a person with a well-developed mind. That pleasing state of mind towards the Buddha’s talent is known as the Saddhā (faith). We cannot develop our minds by following advices of someone who did not develop his mind. We can only develop our minds by following advices of a person who developed his mind well. In fact, we do not find anyone other than the Supreme Buddha for that purpose. He developed His mind to the maximum level that one can ever reach. Therefore, you will be able to achieve a development through meditation if you please your mind about the Supreme Buddha, learn well what He taught us about life, and conduct your lives accordingly.
Fortune of the rare moment…
You will especially require the talent of thinking. When a person who can think meets the Dhamma preached by the Buddha by chance and become very please about it, it is called the fortune of the rare moment (Kshanha Sampatti). This is a very rare fortune. The Buddha and His noble disciples always preached that the beings who miss this Kshanha Sampatti suffer extremely after being born in hell. Even though we are living in this human world right now, the time of staying in this world is something that is being gradually spent. We have been given a life that ends in sickness and in death. Therefore, if you have developed a faith towards the Buddha and His Dhamma while you have your consciousness, hearing, mental health, and the ability to identify good from bad and before you die, get sick, or lose your mental health, then you will get the Kshanha Sampatti.
Control your mind with determination…
You have been born in the human world now. You have the ability to think too. With having this ability already, you should try to develop this skill of the ability of thinking. If you think that “I shall practice the Dhamma” when you get the chance to listen and develop devotion towards the Buddha’s teachings, then you will have the Kshanha Sampatti from that moment. Do not lose this Kshanha Sampatti. We can cultivate it. However, this mind’s nature is its difficulty to continue practicing something determinedly without any interruptions. Even if someone starts to meditate, one will find that it is difficult to cultivate moral qualities like virtue and practice a technique to control or to develop the mind. He will be sent back to where he started in a way we do not even think would happen. You must especially identify this condition and make a determination: ‘I will take the Dhamma I learned into my mind well and will lead my thinking process to develop my mind.’
The benefits one gets by developing the mind…
The specialty one finds in his/her life when the mind is being developed is the improvement of one’s moral qualities. If your mind gets developed, a personality will be built within you. In other words, a dignity will be created in you. Parallel to this dignity, you will see a mental development in you and not a downfall. As a result of that development, you will stop feeling jealous about others, you will no longer become enemy with another person or try to revenge others, and you will not become hateful towards others’ wealth and prosperity. You will be happy about all of them. This is the nature of your mental development. You can achieve this kind of mental
strength by developing your mind.
This is in fact what we call ‘the development of the mind.’ With your mind’s development you will become a person who develops moral qualities. This means, you will be happy about others’ prosper, wellbeing, and will not be jealous about them. You will feel happy about others’ development in their intelligence, education status, and talents. These are the characteristics of a developing mind, and these qualities will start to blossom in you. So, you should understand that you have a mind that can be developed. There are types of meditation tat can be mainly used to develop the mind. It was the Supreme Buddha who taught us these types of meditations.
Meditation is…
Meditation means a procedure to conduct our mind in a proper manner. By conducting the mind in a correct manner, our inner life gets cleansed. Since your inner life started to get cleansed, your life will be healed gradually. You will start to become determined and courageous. You will practice to become happy. All these are the benefits one will get by developing the mind.
You can see that our lives have been spent a lot now, but we still could not develop our minds. It is a great disadvantage for us being unable to develop our minds. By ending this disadvantage, we must protect this opportunity of developing the mind in our lives and achieve that development.
Building an independent thinking…
It is important to have an ability to think independently. Let us see what this ability of thinking independently means. When I am telling you the teachings of the Supreme Buddha, you should be pleased about it (the Dhamma). You must free of any doubts about the fact that this Dhamma was preached by the Buddha and that you can practice it. You must become definite about the Dhamma and that you can develop it through the Saddhā. What is being built in you through that certainty is an independent thinking. If someone tells you “No… No… you don’t have to meditate. There’s nothing you can gain from it. We don’t need any realization of life. You are a lay person. Meditation doesn’t belong to you,” you will immediately identify it as a wrong view.
Thus, you can be in a clear thinking. The value of your mind is within you. Therefore, do not let an opinion of an outsider to ruin your mind. Do not ruin your life by listening to an opinion of an outsider. You should come to a strong belief about the fact that you can realize the Dhamma in your life. Through such a strong belief, you will become a faithful devotee. You will start to arrive into the Order of the Gautama Buddha based on that Saddhā.
A dignified character to you too…
When you come to the Order of the Gautama Buddha little by little based on your Saddhā, your life will become strong gradually. You will be spiritually strong. A dignified character, which comprised of an ability to investigate details in an unprejudiced manner and take the reasonable side without getting attached to any outside opinions without any proper reasons, will be formed in you. Meditation will provide you such a rare opportunity. Therefore, the learnt information will help you to practice meditation.
1.2 Let us identify the basic types of meditation
We discussed about few details that you should have in order for you to practice meditation. Those are, the presence of an independent thinking in you, being aware of the importance of developing the mind, being in a strong view of trying to get the benefit of this rare life before it ends, and your faith about the fact that the Supreme Buddha’s Dhamma has all the necessary advices in helping to develop the mind. By taking these details into account, we are now going to let you have the opportunity to learn the two main types of meditation.
The types of meditation that needs to be practiced regularly….
The first type of meditation is the ‘Samatha Bhāvana’ while the second type is the ‘Vidarshanā Bhāvana’. The Supreme Buddha specified that both these meditation types are very important for the realization of life.
The Supreme Buddha preached that ‘the Samatha Bhāvana must be practiced (Samathō bhikkhavō bhāvitabbō)’ and cultivate it. The mind will be developed by cultivating the Samatha Bhāvana. It will improve/nurture the mind.
The Buddha also preached that ‘the Vidarshanā Bhāvana must also be practiced (Vipassanā bhikkhavē bhāvitabbā).’ By cultivating the Vidarshanā Bhāvana, the wisdom will be developed. ‘Vidarshanā’ means contemplating the true nature of something. Wisdom is the capability of seeing the truth in its true form.
Therefore, a developed Samatha meditation makes your mind strong and suitable to realize something by ending any weaknesses and any dispersed nature of your mind. We call such a state of mind as ‘karmanhya mind’, which means the mind has been conditioned to realize something. This preparation occurs through the Samatha Bhāvana.
The two meditation types…
Vidarshanā meditation helps realizing the life. The realization of life is occurred through wisdom. The ability to comprehend the truth of something in its exact form is the wisdom. These two types of meditation cannot be separated. One who attains the realization of life within the Dhamma of the Supreme Buddha completes their realizations in different ways. Some of them first practice and cultivate Samatha Bhāvana and transform it to the Vidarshanā Bhāvana. Some practice and cultivate Vidarshanā Bhāvana first and transform it to the Samatha Bhāvana. There are also some people who practice and cultivate both types together. Ones who cultivate Vidarshanā Bhāvana through the Samatha Bhāvana are known as the ‘Samatha pubbangamā Vipassanā’. Ones who cultivate Samatha Bhāvana through the Vidarshanā Bhāvana are known as the ‘Vipassanā pubbangamā Samathō’. People who have the ability to cultivate both are known as ‘Yuganaddha’.
Serenity of the mind…
In fact, no one among the disciples who realized the path-and-fruition just by cultivating only the Samatha or only the Vipassanā can be found. Therefore, it is important for us to understand both types of meditation in more detail now.
The Samatha Bhāvana develops the mind by alleviating the fetters. The word Samatha means appeasement/settlement. When we face a quarrel, confusion, or a struggle, we say “let’s settle this fight.” The ‘Samatha’ has the same meaning; settling the mind. A Samatha meditation has the capability of settling the mind by ending the scatteredness of the mind.
Let’s identify the five enemies…
The Supreme Buddha from His realization taught us that there are five items in our lives that disarrange our minds. Those five disruptive items are called five fetters (Pancha Neevaranha). These fetters destroy the mental development, hinder wisdom, prevent wisdom from developing, change the development of mind, and mislead you.
The five fetters that the Supreme Buddha taught us are,
Kāmachchnanda – the mind’s frequent attraction to the figures, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches that one likes.
Vyāpāda – thinking about the objectives you hated such as figures you saw from your eyes, sounds you heard from your ears, odors you smelled from your nose, tastes you felt by your tongue, and touches you felt from your body again and again and hate them.
Theenamiddha – becoming lazy and sleepy up to a level in which the mind cannot be developed.
Uddhacca Kukkucca – conducting the mind in a dispersed manner by thinking about the mistakes you made and sorrowing about it while putting the practicing of the Dhamma a side.
Vicikicchā – retreating yourself from practicing the Dhamma by doubting the pathway to practice it as ‘is it going to succeed by cultivating this, or could I cultivate it?’
These are the fetters that bind our mind every moment and hinder us from attaining a development of the mind. The Samatha meditation has the capability to alleviate these fetters from our minds and concentrate the mind. Therefore, the Samatha meditation is one of the important meditations we must do.
Source of wisdom…
The next meditation type is the Vipassanā meditation. This Vipassanā meditation must also be practiced. It is the Vipassanā meditation that helps realizing the basic nature or the characteristics of everything. For example, he Supreme Buddha preached us that everything, which is formed due to a cause, is impermanent. Then, what is the characteristic of basic things that were formed. It is the ‘impermanence’. If this impermanence nature is in everything that is formed due to a cause, then the impermanence nature is in you too.
Things that are of dying/changing characteristics are definitely impermanent…
Thus, your whole life is consisted of this character. Even though you are enchanted by this life and live without facing its true nature, you cannot stop the (impermanent) things becoming impermanent. This is why people cry when they face the impermanence of these things. However, if you are capable of facing the impermanence wisely without getting sad by the things when they become impermanent, then you have a realization about the true nature of life. Solely because of this reason, the capability of comprehending impermanent things as impermanent, painful things as painful, and soulless things (things that cannot be controlled by one’s own wish and things that do not have an owner) as soulless is known as the ‘doctrine of impermanence’.
Go forward confronting all challenges…
When you contemplate wisely and continuously, the capability of seeing things through will be developed within you. This capability is called the ‘wisdom’. Developing this capability to attain that wisdom is called the ‘vidarshanā’.
You must use your talent of controlling your thoughts a lot in this matter. Someone may say to you like this, “Oh… You shouldn’t be practicing the meditation about impermanence (Anittya Bhāvana). You are a layman. This type of things doesn’t apply to you.” Use your independent wisdom and think like this, “This person is completely profane (with false views). This person has thoughts against the truth. This person seems to like prevent others’ mental development. This person doesn’t seem to like development in wisdom.” Then, reject his idea.
Let’s build our faith…
By rejecting his idea, you should think as follows: “The Supreme Buddha is the most compassionate one. He will not preach anything to the world that will ruin a life. That type of things is told by pruthagjana people. The Supreme Buddha is not a pruthagjana person. He is an Arahant who eradicated all defilements in His life. The Supreme Buddha’s Dhamma frees a person from the pruthagjana state. His disciple Sanghas are the Buddha’s followers who attained the Nirvana and who walk towards the Nirvana by freeing themselves from the pruthagjana state. Therefore, the doctrine of impermanence belongs to the Triple Gem in which I took refuge. ‘Therefore, if someone says that this doctrine of impermanence is not important to our lives,’ that person doesn’t belong to the Triple Gem. He is a profane person. He belongs to the people who share same kind of false views.” You must identify that person clearly in this manner and act with a complete knowledge of life.
Go forward firmly…
Now, remember that the Samatha meditation is a procedure that makes your mind tranquil, alleviates five fetters, and develops the concentration (Samādi). The Samādi created by the Samatha meditation can be held for a long time. It is called the Dhyāna, which can be developed into first Dhyāna, second Dhyāna, third Dhyāna, and fourth Dhyāna.
It is the wisdom that gets developed by properly maintaining the Vidarshanā meditation. Once the wisdom starts to develop, he/she will be ready to embrace a truthful realization of life by freeing himself/herself from meaningless attachments, irrelevant problems, curious views, false opinions pertaining to life.
Thus, the Samatha meditation develops the mind and Vidarshanā meditation develops the wisdom. In order for us to cultivate both Samatha meditation and Vidarshanā meditation that result in the development of both the mind and wisdom, respectively, there is a perfect meditation in the Supreme Buddha’s Dhamma. We call it the ‘Satipatthāna’. You will be able to learn the way to use the Satipatthāna meditation to develop your lives in the future. At this point, you should remember that there are two types of meditation called Samatha meditation and Vidarshanā meditation. Both these meditation types are important to our lives. You also should make an effort to practice and develop them.
1.3 What is Sammā Sathiya?
Up to this point, we have learned about the necessary qualifications that one should have in a life in order to practice a meditation. We also learned about the Samatha and Vidarshanā meditations. Both these meditations are very important to this life. We also learned that we can practice and cultivate both these meditation types.
The noble Dhamma is free of any time constraints…
Today, we are going to learn a discourse of the Buddha that is related to this matter. The Supreme Buddha has shown us all developable aspects of our lives in a proper way of improving them. The Dhamma He preached us is known as Akālika, which means that we can still practice the Dhamma and acquire results even though the Buddha is not here with us at present. The Dhamma was fruitful in the past. It can also be practiced, and the result can be obtained in the present time. Even in the future, the Dhamma can be practiced and attain its fruits. This is what we call Akālika.
The inner question is the same…
The Dhamma does not get hammered by the time and be changed accordingly in contrast to other subjects we can find in the world. We know that these other subjects are more important in one point in time than in another. Those subjects are repelled from the society at a time. The Dhamma preached by the Supreme Buddha is not subjected to get changed like that. It is free of any time constraints (Akālika).
The problem within a human being today is the same as what was seen over the past in the Buddha’s era. There was no big difference in it. If the human beings at that time had some weaknesses or skills, those are still present in humans today. Therefore, the Buddha’s Dhamma that develops the skills and repels the weaknesses is still valid to the current human beings. The Dhamma is amazingly scientific even today; it sees at a life openly and freely.
Mindfulness is important…
Also, the Dhamma provides a wide perspective about the life. The Satipatthāna delivers the basic knowledge for this purpose. ‘Sati’ means consciousness. ‘Patthāna’ means establishing. ‘Establishing consciousness’ (Satipatthāna) means a way of contemplating the life consciously and with a perspective.
Normally, everyone needs a consciousness in going somewhere or doing a work. We walk in one end of the road in order to prevent any accidents. We also check both sides of the road before we cross it. All these things are done consciously.
Do you have Sammā Sathiya?
If we lose consciousness, we will lose track of what we are doing at the moment. In practicing the Dhamma, we transform this consciousness to a much developed state. That developed consciousness is called the Sammā Sathiya.
The Satara Satipatthāna (four ways of establishing consciousness) develops the Sammā Sathiya. This implies that the consciousness we have in our day-to-day lives is something different than the Sammā Sathiya. It does not matter how conscious we are when we cook food, wear cloths, or bathe. If the consciousness is not developed to Sammā Sathiya, the mind will not be formed suitably to realize the life.
The Satipatthāna that the Supreme Buddha preached is completely consisted of the Sammā Sathiya. The Sammā Sathiya cannot be achieved without the Sammā Ditthi. Therefore, the Sammā Ditthi is a very important item in our lives.
Signs of the Sammā Ditthi…
The Supreme Buddha taught us about the Sammā Ditthi as follows. Say there is a thick darkness in the night. In the morning, this darkness disappears as a slight color light is arisen in the eastern sky. This slight color light is known as ‘Arunha’. When we see this light (the Arunhālōkaya) in the morning, we definitely know that the Sun is arising.
The Supreme Buddha taught us that a life without a realization is deeply dark. The Sun starts to rise in this life if the Sammā Ditthi is with it. It is from the Sammā Ditthi the Arunhālōkaya starts in a life. Thus, the Sammā Ditthi is very important to a life. Therefore, practice the Satara Satipatthāna meditation through the Sammā Ditthi.
Does the ‘correct understanding’ accurately imply the Sammā Ditthi?
Our country accustomed to use the word ‘correct understanding’ to address the Sammā Ditthi. This presentation does not properly imply the meaning of it. Other than filling a gap, these two words do not shed any light to comprehend the meaning of the noble item: the Sammā Ditthi. Our teacher, the Samma Sambuddha, has completely interpreted the Sammā Ditthi in His discourses.
The Lord Buddha has shown ‘the wisdom of realizing the Four Noble Truths’ as the Sammā Ditthi. This implies that we think about this life through the Dhamma.
“This life is based on ‘the law of cause and effect.’ This natural law states that the effect can be stopped by ending the cause. A full happiness can be achieved by changing this law if the Noble Eightfold Path is followed.”
One who comprehends this matter through one’s life will have the Sammā Ditthi. That person can also drive his consciousness properly and is called the Satipatthāna.
Do not perform carelessly…
Like planting a tree recklessly, careless actions do not produce any results of any importance. Likewise, one cannot achieve any conceivable results by meditating carelessly. Therefore, it is important for us to know why we meditate, what is its necessity for doing it, and what can we gain from it by developing it.
A chance for the life…
Generally, our lives are limited to what we can see. As a result of it, most people think that we need to meditate to recover from illnesses, have a good memory, have a healthy life, and to perform a well organized daily routine. All these are secondary objectives. Place the necessity of meditation in realizing the life as the first objective.
A noble aspiration…
One who seeks the realization of life gets all the things mentioned above: One who seeks the realization of life becomes mentally healthy. One who seeks the realization of life develops memory power. One who seeks the realization of life will get a delightful life pattern.
Thus, if you expect any worldly gains from meditation, you will get them all as a by product of the effort of realizing the life through meditation. Therefore, your aspiration of practicing meditation should be the realization of life and not any other worldly goals such as to remember something that you want or to get something that brings you a good physical and mental health. If you come to the correct goal, you will get all other things as a result of the realization of life.
The by products of the Sammā Sathiya….
Therefore, it is possible for you to achieve it through the Satipatthāna. You know that the consciousness is developed in the Satipatthāna. As we mentioned earlier, we have a consciousness, but it is useless in this effort. It is in fact a general consciousness, and it cannot cure pain in your mind. A general consciousness cannot take you to a realization, cannot wipe your tears, and cannot calm your scattered mind. All these can be done by the Sammā Satiya. The Sammā Satiya is developed in the Satipatthāna.
An aim for you too…
The Supreme Buddha taught us four ways to cultivate the Satipatthāna:
1. Kāyānupassanā (the method of establishing the consciousness according to the body)
2. Vēdanānupassanā (the method of establishing the consciousness according to the feeling)
3. Chiatānupassanā (establishing the consciousness about the mind)
4. Dhamānupassanā (establishing the consciousness on the points of realization of life)
The aim of Satipatthāna is the realization of the Four Noble Truths. Therefore, let us learn the Satara Satipatthāna, which is aimed in the realization of life, in the future.
By Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero
Source. http://mahamevnawa.lk/01-the-basics-of-meditation/