Build Your Resistance

In terms of the Dhamma, the Buddha says that we’re ill. Our illnesses are greed, aversion, and delusion. Most people don’t see those as illnesses. They’re just the normal state of the mind. But then the normal state of the mind is also creating suffering. So we come to the practice to take our medicine—the medicine of generosity, the medicine of virtue, the medicine of meditation—to treat our illnesses.

Our problem is that there are germs all over, things that would be very likely to incite greed, aversion, and delusion. But if you build up your resistance, then you can be immune to those germs. So the solution is not to go out and create a world in which there’s nothing to make you feel greedy, or averse, or deluded. The solution is to build up your resistance inside.

As you follow through the impulse to be generous, that strengthens your resistance to stinginess. As you follow through the impulse to be virtuous, to observe the precepts even when it’s difficult, that strengthens your resistance inside.

Of course, the best resistance is through meditation. As you get the mind quiet, and you find that there are better ways of finding happiness in this world than running after sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations, then you can be at ease inside. Breathe in deeply, breathe in comfortably. Have a sense of well-being in the way you breathe. That way, you’re less likely to feel hungry for things outside, the kind of food that will be poisonous or infected with germs.

As you develop discernment, you begin to see the problem is not out there. The problem is how the mind talks to itself—saying, “This is nice; that’s attractive. This is bad; this is whatever.” This part of the mind is something you have to learn how to train. It’s not that you don’t see that things are right or wrong. You do. But you don’t give in to the part that gives rise to passion, aversion, or delusion around those things that are right or wrong. You can see what’s poisonous, what’s not. You take what’s not poisonous and, as for the poison, you leave it alone. Put it aside. That way, you can live in this world, which is full of all kinds of germs, and not get sick.

As for whatever illnesses are already there in your mind, you find that they grow weaker and weaker and weaker as the mind gets stronger, as your resistance gets stronger. Just think of the practice as medicine for the mind. You have a clear sense of what the illnesses are that are there in your mind. All too many people don’t like the idea to be told that they’ve got defilements in their mind. But when their mind’s not bright, when they’re not clear of greed, aversion, and delusion, then they’re dark.

So you want to bring some brightness into your mind, build up your resistance inside. Then you’ll find out what a healthy mind really is.