Stay Alert
November 08, 2023

As we meditate, it’s important that we’re alert to what we’re doing right now. So as you focus on the breath, be aware both of how the breathing is going and how the mind is staying with the breath.

We use the breath to create a sense of well-being. It’s not that we’re trying to create sensations in the body. It’s more that we’re trying to create a sensation—a sensation of well-being—and see if we can stick with it. You learn a lot about cause and effect this way. What ways of focusing on the breath give rise to a sense of well-being? What ways maintain that sense of well-being? You begin to notice that the breath is going to have to change so that you can maintain that sense of well-being, because the needs of the body will change. If the breath gets too mechanical, after a while it becomes unpleasant. What was pleasant becomes not so pleasant after all.

That means you have to change. You have to be on top of things because as the Buddha said, learning to be a meditator is like learning to be an archer. One of the qualities of a good archer is that you can fire shots in rapid succession. Quickly, quickly, quickly—just fire your arrows. That means you have to have a good solid stance. Otherwise, if you try to do it quickly, you’re going to fall over. So make your stance with that comfortable sensation of the breathing.

Then notice when the needs of the body change. Try to keep up with those needs. Because as you get to know the mind better this way—get to know the body better this way—then you can start seeing which of the actions of the mind, which of the actions of the body, are painful and which ones are not.

And because you’re staying with a sense of well-being, you become more sensitive to the states of dis-ease that can arise. Things that seem to be normal, things that were even pleasant in the past, suddenly you’ve begun to realize are not so pleasant after all. It’s because your standards have been improved. You become more and more a connoisseur of what really is pleasure in the present moment.

So be on top of things so that you can perform the duties of the path correctly. In other words, develop right concentration, develop right view. There’s so many paths out there where people recommend that you avoid concentration. The Buddha wasn’t one of those teachers, though. He didn’t teach a seven-fold path; he taught an eightfold path. And that eightfold path requires a sense of well-being. So you maintain that.

And then, in the maintaining, if you really are alert, you begin to see things you wouldn’t have seen before—both because the mind is quiet and because your standards for what counts as well-being have been raised.

So do your best to get a comfortable sensation going, and keep on top of how you can protect it as you go through the day. One of the images the Buddha gives is of a man carrying a bowl of oil on his head. The bowl is filled with oil to the brim, and he has to walk between a beauty queen on one side and a crowd of people who are excited by the beauty queen on the other side. Behind him is another man with a sword raised. And if the first man drops even as much as one drop of oil, the second man is going to cut off his head. You have to have that sense of alertness, that sense of heedfulness, as you go through the day—trying to maintain the sense of well-being inside.

The sutta doesn’t say, but the beauty queen seems to stand for the beautiful things out there in the world. The crowd stands for the parts of the mind that are excited by the beautiful things out in the world. You have to walk between them and not get swayed by either one. You want that kind of focus, that kind of consistency. That’s when you begin to see things you wouldn’t have seen before.