Simply This Moment - Buddhist Meditation and Theravada ...

go inwards, in the opposite direction. It takes a lot of training to be able to do that.That is the training in the five indriyas, especially the first indriya, confidence andfaith, saddhā. Confidence and faith also means having patience, giving it time, givingit all the time it needs. If you read the Theragāthā, you will find that some of themonks, for instance Anuruddha, spent many, many years practising before theybecame Stream Winners. It took them many more years before they becameArahants. These were great monks with the best of teachers, the Lord Buddhahimself. It took them a long time, but they had patience and persistence and anyonewith patience and persistence must reach the goal eventually. If you have faith,saddhā, it’s only a matter of time before you see that what the Buddha taught is true.If you have confidence that there are Ariyas in the world, and you have confidence inthem, then you know that if you practise the Eightfold Path it leads to Nibbāna. Ifyou’re practising the Eightfold Path, and following the instructions, you know whereit leads. It’s only a matter of time.It’s not up to you. It’s a process, a condition, cause and effect. It’s wonderful whenyou realize anattā (no-self) and realize that it’s not up to the person. It’s just a processindependent of any ego or any self. So whether you say, “I can’t do it”, “I can do it”,“I’m up to it”, “I’m not up to it”, the ‘I’ doesn’t come into it. It’s a process, that’s all.All the conditions are here for you, so it’s only a matter of time. Having that sort ofconfidence, having that sort of faith, is what powers the mind to go against the stream,against the out-flowings, and instead go inwards.The Russian DollsThe tendency of people is to go out into the world. When any problem arises in theirpractice or their meditation, they blame something outside of themselves, like theteacher, the monastery, this monk, that anagārika, the food, the climate, or even theirbodies. That’s just going out into the world again. Don’t go out into the world,instead go inside. One can always go ‘in’ no matter what the problem or difficulty is.Don’t go out to the problem. Go against the stream, yoniso manasikāra, go inwards.What is experiencing the problem? What is making this decision? What is this‘doer’? What is this ‘knower’? Going inside is going in the right direction and youshould understand that the going inwards is precisely the path of meditation which is195