The Wisdom of Discipline
October 02, 2023

When you focus on the breath, stay right here. The mind may want to be wondering off someplace else, but you keep bringing it back because you realize that just because you want to do something, or don’t want to do something, is not the measure for whether it should or shouldn’t be done.

Your original intention to sit down here and meditate is to train the heart and the mind. Training requires that you get it to do things that it hasn’t done before, and it may not like doing, but will give good results. It also requires that you stop doing some things that it does like to do, like wandering around as it likes, because those things get bad results.

This is the basic lesson in discernment. As the Buddha said, there are things you like to do that give good results—those are no brainers. Things you don’t like to do and give bad results—those are no brainers. It’s the things that you don’t like to do but will give good results—your ability to talk yourself into doing them—that’s a sign of discernment. And the same with things that you like to do but will give bad results—you can talk yourself out of wanting to do them. That, too, is your discernment.

Discernment is very basic like this. We all think about the Buddha teaching the Dhamma, but he himself said he taught Dhamma and Vinaya. The word vinaya means discipline, and this is the lesson in discipline. It’s a very basic lesson in discernment. In terms of the rules for the monks, there are some things that the Buddha says you can’t do, no matter how much you may want to do them. So if you’re wise, you talk yourself into not wanting to do them. Other things that you should do. You may not want to do them, but you talk yourself into wanting to. That’s where discernment begins.

We tend to think that discernment or insight has to do with seeing things in terms of the three characteristics or in terms of emptiness. But you don’t really understand those concepts unless you’ve got the basics down. So the basics are right here. You’re with the breath and there comes a thought that says, “Let’s go someplace else.” You learn how to say No. You learn how to say No effectively. Then you’re on the side of the No. And you turn into Yes, we’re going to stay with the breath. Learn the skill of getting the mind to stay in one place with one object. With a sense of ease. With a sense of well-being. That’s a skill that takes discipline. But it’s a discipline that pays off. The Buddha doesn’t teach discipline simply for the sake of discipline. He’s teaching you good qualities of the mind. And teaching you to be more and more discerning about what you’re doing and the consequences of what you’re doing.

After all, his awakening was not in terms of the three characteristics. He never mentions the three characteristics in his descriptions of his awakening at all. It all has to do with the four noble truths. And the four noble truths are about cause and effect in your actions. Some of your actions lead to suffering. Some of your actions lead to the end of suffering. And you have to learn how to see the difference. Stop doing the ones that lead to suffering. Master the ones that lead to the end of suffering.

So the practice starts with a simple discipline like this. Stay with the breath. Don’t wander off. And be wise enough learn how to want to stay with the breath. Learn how to make the breath an interesting topic. A pleasant topic to be with. That’s where you get to exercise your discernment in a way that really does make a difference in the mind.