Three steps towards the total elimination of bad feelings

“…The Buddha taught three steps towards the total elimination of bad feelings. The first step is called dāna, which means charity. The second step we call sīla, which means keeping the precepts or abstaining from hurting other people and animals, other living beings.

The third step is what we call bhāvanā, which consists of two parts. The first part is samatha-bhāvanā, calming the mind by meditating, sitting, closing your eyes and concentrating on one object to stop your mind from thinking aimlessly.

After you have calmed your mind, it becomes peaceful and is then ready to learn the truth that the Buddha discovered. Because if you know the truth that the Buddha knew, then you can eliminate all of your bad feelings.

Your bad feelings arise because you don’t know the truth. You see the truth not according to what the truth is, but according to what you think it is. And what you think it is, is delusional and not according to the truth.

So you have to teach or reteach your mind the truth. This is the third step, the final step, before you will be able to eliminate completely all your bad feelings. So these are the steps you have to go through.

You cannot skip them because they are interdependent and support one another. Like the practice of dāna, it supports the practice of maintaining the precepts, which in turn will support the practice of meditation.

The first step of meditation is bringing your mind to peace and calm. After your mind has become peaceful and calm, then you can teach your mind the truth. And once the mind sees the truth, it will act appropriately.

Right now the mind doesn’t act the way it should be acting. It is not thinking the way it should be thinking. It is thinking contrary to the truth, working against the truth. When you do this, you will generate stress and bad feelings in yourself.

So this is what you have to develop, from the first step to the second and on to the third and fourth steps. Some of these practices can be done at the same time, but with different levels of intensity.

When you first start, you might practice from the lowest level of intensity, such as when you give dāna or to charity, you might give a little bit at first, maybe one-tenth of your income, and then you can maintain your precepts about one-tenth, and you can meditate about one-tenth.

But if you increase your practice of dāna, of charity, by giving more, then you will be able to maintain more of the precepts and you will be able to practice meditation more. So this is how things go.

You have to first let go of your attachment to your possessions because the attachment to your possessions will prevent you from being able to keep the precepts. Sometimes when you want something badly, you are willing to do something bad, just to keep what you have. But if you are not attached to your possessions, then you will be able to maintain and keep your precepts.

So the first step is to try to let go of your possessions as much as possible. Let go of the things you love. Let go of attachment to the people you love. Because when you are attached to people or things that you love, you will want to do everything possible to keep them.

But sometimes things may happen in a way that prevents you from keeping them. But you might still try to do it in the wrong way, like breaking the precepts, being dishonest, cheating, or hurting other people, for instance…”

By Ajaan Suchart Abhijāto