Being Nobody, Going Nowhere ABOUT THE A UTHOR Ayya Khema was born to Jewish parents in Germany in 1923 and grew up in Berlin. After the Nazis came to power, she escaped from Germany and later became an American citizen. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka in 1979. During her life as a nun she established Parappuduwa Nuns Island at Dodanduwa in Sri Lanka; Buddha Haus Buddhist Centre in Germany; and Metta Forest Monastery, also in Germany. Ayya Khema expired in November 1997 after a long bout of cancer. She leaves behind a legacy of twenty-five books on Buddhism and meditation in both English and German. Being Nobody, Going Nowhere Meditations on the Buddhist Path Ayya Khema Buddhist Publication Society P.O. Box 61 54, Sangharaja Mawatha Kandy, Sri Lanka. Originally published by Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144, U.S.A. First Asian edition 1993 Reprinted 1998, 2006, 2016 This book is published with the consent of the original publisher. Copies are for sale in Asia only. National Library of Sri Lanka – Cataloguing in Publication Data Ayya Khema Being nobody going nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist path/Ayya Khema—Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 2006 - 1989; 23 cm ISBN 978-955-24-0113-8 i. 294 34435 DDC 21 ii. Title 1. Buddhist Meditation 2. Buddhism ISBN 978-955-24-0113-8 Typeset at BPS in Times_BPS and GaramondNo8BPS. Printed in Sri Lanka by Samayawardana Printers Colombo 10. Contents Preface vi CHAPTER 1 Meditation—Why and How .......................................1 CHAPTER 2 Meditation Affects Our Lives ...................................11 CHAPTER 3 Calm and Insight ........................................................16 CHAPTER 4 Four Friends ...............................................................26 Loving Kindness ..........................................................26 Compassion ..................................................................35 Sympathetic Joy ............................................................39 Equanimity ..................................................................41 CHAPTER 5 Loving Kindness Meditation .....................................44 CHAPTER 6 Five Hindrances .....................................................46 Sensual Desire ..............................................................47 Ill Will .........................................................................54 Sloth and Torpor .........................................................64 Restlessness and Worry ................................................68 Sceptical Doubt ............................................................73 CHAPTER 7 Kamma and Rebirth ...................................................76 Kamma ........................................................................76 Rebirth .........................................................................80 CHAPTER 8 The Discourse on Loving Kindness .........................85 CHAPTER 9 Four Kinds of Happiness .........................................102 The Happiness of the Sense Contacts .........................102 Deva Happiness .........................................................103 The Happiness of Concentration ...............................105 The Happiness of Insight ............................................108 CHAPTER 10 The Five Aggregates .................................................112 The Body ....................................................................114 Feeling ........................................................................117 Perceptions .................................................................118 vi BEING NOBODY. G OING NOWHERE Mental Formations .................................................... 119 Sense Consciousness ................................................... 120 CHAPTER 11 Ten Virtues ............................................................... 122 Generosity ................................................................. 123 Moral Conduct .......................................................... 124 Renunciation ............................................................ 125 Wisdom ..................................................................... 128 Energy ....................................................................... 129 Patience ..................................................................... 131 Truth ......................................................................... 133 Determination .......................................................... 135 Loving Kindness and Equanimity ........................... 137 CHAPTER 12 The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path .......................................................... 138 The Four Noble Truths .............................................. 141 The Noble Eightfold Path .......................................... 144 Right View ................................................................ 144 Right Intention ......................................................... 148 Right Speech .............................................................. 152 Right Action .............................................................. 154 Right Livelihood ....................................................... 155 Right Effort ............................................................... 156 Right Mindfulness ..................................................... 159 Right Concentration ................................................. 162 CHAPTER 13 A New Beginning .................................................... 165 Glossary 171 Preface This is a simple book for ordinary people who want to find greater happiness and contentment in their lives by following a spiritual path. The Buddha’s path is simple and meant for ordinary people, and anyone with goodwill and determination can follow its steps towards freedom of heart and mind. Both heart and mind have to be involved in this journey towards liberation from the ‘self’. The mind understands and concludes, connects and discerns, whereas the heart feels. When our feelings become free of emotional reactions and dwell in love and compassion as their natural abode, our mind will be open to the great truths of universal significance. And the more we refer to these truths, the closer we will get to spiritual emancipation. Hopefully this book can help to point out some steps on the way, according to the Buddha’s teaching, and facilitate the journey. A ten-day meditation course in Kundasale, Sri Lanka, was the venue for the talks, that are published here. Although my name appears as the author, this book could never have been assembled without the help and support of many people, each making their own special contribution. The students on the course provided the impetus for the talks and their questions occasioned many of the points mentioned. Stanley Wijegunawardena was the manager and convener of the course and without him this book would not have been possible. Barbara Raif transcribed the tapes and Sister Sanghamittā typed the first edited version. Sister Vayāmā proof-read the manuscript. Katja and Amara looked after my physical well-being, and Helga gave me massages and moral support. All the supporters in Sri Lanka, especially Mr. Arthur de Silva, made it possible for me to have the peace and quiet in my hut to attend to this book. How can I show my gratitude? If this book helps even one person to find their path to freedom, the effort will have been amply rewarded. AYYA KHEMA Parappuduwa Nuns Island, Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka. October, 1985 CHAPTER 1 Meditation—Why and How Why is meditation so important? You must have realized that it is, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. I’d like to emphasize that meditation is not just something extra to be done in our spare time, but is essential for our well-being. One of our human absurdities is the fact that we’re constantly thinking about either the future or the past. Those who are young think of the future because they’ve got more of it. Those who are older think more about the past because for them there is more of that. But in order to experience life, we have to live each moment. Life has not been happening in the past. That’s memory. Life is not going to happen in the future. That’s planning. The only time we can live is now, this moment, and as absurd as it may seem, we’ve got to learn that. As human beings with life spans of sixty, seventy or eighty years we have to learn to actually experience living in the present. When we have learned that, we will have eliminated a great many of our problems. How simple it sounds, how difficult it is. Anyone who has been trying knows that. Those of you who haven’t tried yet will certainly find out. Such a simple premise and not at all easy to do. There’s no other way to learn to live each moment except through meditation. Meditation has other aspects and facets which also help us to do that. We are all quite able and efficient in looking after our bodies. We wash them at least once a day, probably even more often. We go out with clean clothes. We rest our bodies at night. Everyone has a bed. We wouldn’t be able to stand up to the strain of living if we didn’t also rest. We have a house where we shelter the body from rain, wind, sun, the heat and the cold. We wouldn’t be able to function well otherwise. We feed the body with healthy nourishment, not with anything that we would consider poison. We give it the food we consider good for us and we take exercise. At 2 BEING NOBODY. G OING NOWHERE