Four Steps for the Heart & Mind

When the Buddha gives instructions on breath meditation, he gives 16 steps, divided into four sets of four. Each set is called a tetrad.

The first tetrad deals with the body, the second with feelings, the third with the mind, and the fourth with dhammas, or mental events, mental qualities.

Now, some people think that you do all the steps in that order. First you deal with the body, then with feelings, then with the mind, then with mental qualities.

But your awareness of the breath is not like that. Those four things are all here together. When you focus on the body right now, you can’t help but notice the feelings that come with the different ways you breathe. What’s watching over this? Your mind. And the mind brings mental qualities to bear on what it’s doing.

So instead of seeing these tetrads laid out in a line, it’s better to see them as four parallel tracks. The different steps in each tetrad are there for times when that particular tetrad, or the topic of that particular tetrad, is the problem.

Sometimes the body is the problem. There’s an ache here, a pain there. The breath is harsh. Sometimes the feelings are the problem, again, with aches and pains. Sometimes the problem is with the mind. It just doesn’t want to settle down. It’s carrying issues in from the day or from the past. It’s tired or it’s wired. You’ve got to do something about it.

So think of these four tetrads as a checklist for trouble-shooting: With the tetrad for the body, are you sensitive to the length of the breath? Are you aware of the whole body as you’re breathing in and breathing out? Can you calm the breath?

With feelings, can you give rise to feelings of rapture and pleasure? They may have to do with the way you breathe. Or you can give rise to some mental pleasure by thinking back to some good things you’ve done in terms of being generous or virtuous. Then you want to be sensitive to how these feelings have an impact on your mind, together with the perceptions that go along with them. Then you want to calm that impact. That’s the second tetrad.

The third tetrad is dealing with the mind. As you’re sitting here, the Buddha says, first be sensitive to the mind. In other words, what is your mind like right now? Is it settling down? Is it content to be here? Does it want to be here? How is the committee of the mind right now? Is everybody on board? Are there some members plotting to leave?

The Forest ajaans say this is an important part of settling into the meditation: surveying your mind. Their question is: “Is it leaning forward or leaning back, to the left or to the right?” In other words, is it leaning toward thoughts of the future? Is it leaning toward thoughts of the past? Is it leaning toward things you like or don’t like?

However you sense your mind is right now, what do you have to do to compensate to bring it into balance in the present moment, standing upright, not leaning in any direction? The Buddha gives you three things to think about. One is if your energy is down or your motivation is not all that strong right now, he says to gladden the mind. Because the mind and the feelings and the breath are all here together, one way of gladdening the mind, of course, would be to breathe in a way that feels really gratifying.

What kind of hunger does your body have for the breath right now? Can you satisfy that? Would that be satisfactory to the mind? Sometimes if the mind is feeling weak or frazzled, just breathing really fully and comfortably makes you happy to be here.

Other times, the mind seems disinclined to deal with the breath at all. It’s been looking at the breath all day long and it asks, “Can’t I have something else?” Well, yes, there are other things you can focus on, like your own generosity. You may have given a gift today, done something to go out of your way to be helpful. Think about that. Develop a sense of self-esteem around that.

The same with virtue: Were there things you could have done either today or sometime in the past that would have been less than honorable, but you decided No, even though you may have benefited from them in one way or another? You tell yourself, “I’m above that.” The sense of being above that kind of thing can lift the mind, lift your heart.

When you’re dealing with the mind, remember, it’s not just the thinking side. It’s also the side of the heart: your emotions, your will. Remember that the Pali word citta means both heart and mind. So what would gladden your heart?

You could think about the Buddha, the fact that there was such a person in this world who really put his life on the line to find a way to put an end to suffering. And not only his own suffering: If there was anyone else who wanted to follow his path, he’d be happy to teach them. He taught them for free. No suggested donations. No teachings just to appeal to people.

A lot of the truth that he taught was pretty harsh, but it had that one big positive focus, which was that it is possible to put an end to suffering, and it is possible through your efforts to find something that goes beyond efforts.

In other words, you use conditions, you use fabrications, to get something unconditioned, something unfabricated, that’s not subject to the ups and downs of space or time.

We live in a world where there has been such a person.

You can think about his Dhamma. As many of his listeners said when they listened to it, it was as if he’d taken a light into the darkness so people could see things that were blurry before. He’d taken something that had been turned upside down and turned it right-side up again.

He taught about the power of human action—that you can, through your efforts, make a difference in your life. All too many of the teachings at the time— like many teachings now—say that everything is predetermined by physical laws and you’re just along for the ride. You have no choice as to which direction this ride is going to go. To that idea he said No, in no uncertain terms. You are shaping your present moment. And in shaping the present moment, you’re shaping your future.

This gives you power. It demands a lot out of you, gives you responsibility, but endows you with power. That kind of thinking can lift your heart.

So that’s one of the areas where the Buddha says, “If the mind is out of balance, gladden it.”

Another is to steady it or concentrate it.

Get a clear image of the breath, hold that image in mind, and just stay with it as best you can. Any other thoughts that come up right now, you can let them go, let them go. You don’t have to be responsible for them.

You can be confident that any thoughts that would pull you away from the breath right now are pulling you down, so you don’t have to inspect each and every one of them. This streamlines the process quite a bit. Otherwise, you’re sitting here thinking, “Well, I could stay with the breath, but there might be something better coming along, so I’ll just check out everybody who comes into the mind.” You’re never going to get any concentration that way. You have to be confident that this is the path.

It’s like that cartoon of two penguins on an ice floe. One penguin is playing the piano; the other has a little straw hat and a cane. The one playing the piano says, “No, no, take it again from the top. This is our only ticket out of here.”

The breath right now is your only ticket out of here. Look at the world around you: people plotting war, people plotting killing and destruction, people plotting murder. There are all kinds of horrible people in charge right now. Wouldn’t it be better to get out of this? And in getting out, you’re not being irresponsible. You’re showing other people that it is possible, that you don’t have to suffer from these things.

So have some focus. Don’t have any regrets. Don’t have any nostalgia for the things you’re leaving behind. If they’re really good, they’ll go with you. Think in those terms. Have a part of the mind that’s decisive: that this is what you really want more than anything else.

It may take some thinking first to get that decisive, but whatever is needed to get the mind more focused that way and more confident in its focus, think in those ways and then settle down. If any other thoughts come up, tell yourself, “Okay, I’ve already settled this issue. I don’t need to look into it.”

Our problem is we think every thought coming our way is a little box, potentially a present. But remind yourself, no present could be better than total freedom. So keep focused in this direction.

Finally, the last recommendation is to release the mind. With anything that’s weighing it down, tell yourself, “I’ve got to think my way around this.” Whatever is weighing the mind down has some allure. So how are you going to see the allure in a way that lets you get past it?

First you have to see, “How does this thing arise? What’s its origination?” When the Buddha says “origination,” he’s talking about cause. It’s not about the simple fact that things arise. When it arises, why is it arising? Look for the cause in the mind itself.

When greed, aversion, or delusion arise, you can’t blame things outside. They may be the focal point, but the real cause is inside. What makes you want to go for these things?

Notice also that these mind states pass away. They’re not a constant tone. They come for a bit, then they stop. Then they come again, and they stop. They come again, and they stop. When they come again, why do you pick them up again?

That’s where you’re going to see the allure. Then you can compare the allure with the drawbacks. The typical list of the drawbacks, of course, is that whatever it is, it’s going to be inconstant and unreliable. It’s going to be stressful. It’s not really worth claiming as you or yours. But whatever thinking works, whatever way of perceiving and analyzing the drawbacks of that particular thought, that particular mental burden, that particular burden on your heart, use your ingenuity.

When you can see that the drawbacks outweigh the allure, that’s when you develop dispassion; and dispassion is the escape. That’s the release.

So these are ways of getting the mind ready to settle down. First you survey it. And remember, we’re talking about the heart as well. You survey your heart; you survey your mind. You try to gladden them if their energy level or their motivation is down. You steady them. If you have a habit of wanting to check everything out before you settle down, tell yourself, “You know the world, you know what the world has to offer. You don’t know what the breath has to offer. You don’t know how far it’s going to take you, how far your concentration will take you. Here’s your chance. Focus on it.”

Remember that a well-focused mind, a steady mind, has to have a good, broad foundation, so that it’s not a one-pointed focus—a sense of one point in space, or one point in your body. You’re settled in the whole body. That’s your foundation. When a foundation is broad like this, it’s not likely to tip over.

Then finally, anything that’s weighing the mind down, trapping the mind, learn how to release it through looking at its origination, its passing away, its allure, the drawbacks—so you gain some escape through dispassion.

Remember the Buddha’s image of the fire. Fire burns because it’s clinging to its fuel. In clinging to its fuel, it’s also trapped. But what’s trapping it? It’s not the fuel that’s trapping it. The fire is trapping itself by clinging.

The things that you hold on to tight, the things that weigh you down: They’re not trapping you. You’re the one who’s trapping yourself by holding on to them. So when you understand why you hold on and to see that it’s really not worth it, then the mind can be released.

This is how you take care of the mind, how you take care of the heart, as you try to get everything to settle down and be clear inside.

Sometimes the mind is ready and you don’t have to deal with these things directly. Other times, it’s not ready, and these are some of the techniques the Buddha offers for getting everything in place.