Heart & Mind

The word bhavana, for meditation, means “to develop.” A lot of us have the notion that when we meditate, we’re developing our minds. But you have to remember that the word for “mind,” citta, in Pali, also covers heart. We’re developing qualities of the heart as well. But this doesn’t mean we’re getting sentimental.

We think about the goodness we can do and the goodness that comes to the mind when it does goodness and the insights you gain from doing goodness. You begin to see the parts of the mind that resist, that rebel—say, that don’t like to have goodwill for everybody or don’t like to put up with difficult situations, don’t care about developing endurance. You have to look into those. You’re not going to understand them unless you fight them.

So the quality of the heart is not just being sentimental. It’s being courageous in doing what you know you should be doing with the good qualities of the heart—and seeing what parts of the mind resist and how you can train them so they don’t resist.

If you just approach this as an intellectual exercise, you don’t gain very much from it. You can analyze things, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re really a good meditator or a good person. We’re trying to create a good person here, all around, for each of us. That requires qualities like endurance, compassion, equanimity, goodwill—the willingness to fight off your defilements, which requires some courage. So we’re developing you in a way that’s all around. This means you’re not just analyzing things. You’re developing the qualities, and you’re developing the wisdom that comes with a good heart.

So for the times when you’re really busy with the different work projects, as we are right now, even though you may not be spending a lot of time sitting with your eyes closed, still you can develop good qualities of the heart as you engage in the work. That’s all part of the practice.

People come with the question, “What can I do when I don’t have much time to practice?” View everything you’re doing as part of the practice, part of this all-around development of the heart and mind. In that way, your practice develops continuity and momentum. It becomes the framework for your life, instead of the other way around.