The Four Elements as Metaphors

By: Bhikkhu Anãlayo

The element earth can … be used to exemplify our rootedness in what is wholesome and productive of welfare for ourselves and others. Again, similar to water, which adapts its form to wherever it flows, so we can train ourselves to be flexible and adaptive to outer circumstances. Just as fire provides warmth to those who are shivering with cold, so we can offer the warmth of our heart to the lonely and desolate. Comparable to wind that keeps moving, in the same way, in the same way we keep progressing on the path to liberation. IN this or any other way, the four elements can be employed as metaphors for mental qualities to be cultivated.

From: Satipatthāna Meditaton: A Practice Guide. Anãlayo is a Theravadin monk and also has a PhD in Buddhist Studies. His main field of interest is Early Buddhism. Analayo is a resident scholar-monk at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous books.

Imagery of Craving

By: Bhikkhu Analayo

According to the early Buddhist analysis of existence, craving, or tanhā, is the very root cause of the samsāric predicament, being the central factor responsible for the arising of dukkha, as highlighted in the second noble truth. Due to its pivotal role as the chief cause of bondage, tanhā features in numerous passages and contexts in the early discourses…

The term “tanhā” literally stands for “thirst”…Tanhā - as a figurative type of thirst that demands the satisfaction of desires - manifests as a sense of lack or want, and has its root in dissatisfaction. Various aspects of craving are reflected in the use of a range of imageries and similes in the discourses.

One such image speaks of being enmeshed by craving, of being caught in the net of craving. … The net imagery recurs in relation to craving in general in a verse in the Theragāthā (Verses of the Elders), which compares the condition of one who has destroyed the net of craving … to the stainless moon on a clear night. The Dhammapada also employs this imagery, when it contrasts the net-like nature of craving to the freedom attained by the Buddha who, in contrast to such forms of entrapment, has a limitless range.

The aspect of craving as a form of bondage, …which underlies the net imagery, recurs in other similes. Overcome by craving, beings run around in circles comparable to a rabbit caught in a snare. Covered by craving’s cloak, they are in bondage like a fish in a trap.

…Another set of images revolves around the theme of growth in nature. These images alert us to the danger of allowing craving to follow its natural course, thereby becoming forever stronger. This aspect can be seen in a Dhammapada verse that compares the fertility of the underlying tendency to craving to a tree that grows again after being cut down. Similarly, as long as its roots are left intact, craving will grow again. Hence craving together with its root need to be removed.

From Excursions into the Thought-World of the Pāli Discourses

Establishing Your Meditation Posture

By: Bhikkhu Analayo

The sitting posture needs to be such that the spine is kept straight.  Here some degree of continuity of attention to the posture is required to avoid and slumping of the body….Keeping the body erect could be achieved by slowly passing our attention through the spine from bottom to top, relaxing each vertebra.  Such relaxing enables a natural alignment of the spine, by just letting gravity pull downwards.  The overall sense is as if the body were suspended from above, at the top of the head, and the rest of it relaxes downwards.  The resulting erectness of the body is not something to be held in a fixed manner.  Instead, the body remains flexible, comparable to a slender tree in the wind.  Such flexibility allows for minor adjustments to occur whenever we notice that the body is not fully in balance.  Needless to say, this does not mean that we keep shifting around all the time, but just that we avoid holding the posture rigidly and with tension, be it when sitting on the ground, a cushion, a bench, or a chair.

 In order to keep the body erect, we of course need to be aware of it.  Thus…[we] establish awareness of the body as a whole in the sitting posture and to some degree also monitor it throughout the meditation session, at least until such a deep level of concentration is reached that the posture of the body naturally remains firm.

From Mindfulness of Breathing. Bhikkhu Analayo is perhaps the foremost contemporary scholar-monk in the Theravadin tradition. Among the many books that he has published, his works on the four foundations of mindfulness—Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization and Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide—are exceptional.