“The reason why your mind is not calm is your desires.”

“The reason why your mind is not calm is your desires.”

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Monk: How long does the mind have to be in the state of appaṇā-samādhi for it to be able to resist kilesas?

Than Ajahn: The duration depends on the strength of your mindfulness.
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Monk: Is it a short period like 20 minutes?

Than Ajahn:  Yes, ten, twenty, thirty, forty (minutes), one hour. It increases gradually as you develop. When you first start you will get a brief encounter, which we call kaṇika-samādhi. Your mind drops into calm and then due to this new experience you become excited, and lose your mindfulness so it withdraws.

So, the next time you know how to be more mindful. Just simply be aware of the experience and the mind will remain rested longer and if you do more of it, then it will last longer. And also if you develop wisdom after you withdraw (from this state), you can use wisdom to make the mind last longer in appaṇā state.

Every time you can resist a desire, your mind will drop into a calmer state, and then your mind will be calmer and the duration will spread not only when you are sitting, even when you withdraw (from appaṇā state), your mind can also remain calm. This will arise from your development of wisdom and resistance to your desire. Every time you want to do something which is not necessary, if you can resist, then your mind becomes less active. So, you need more samādhi and pañña to put your mind into a firmer ground, to become more stable, to be calmer.

When you first start you don’t have the ability to use pañña or wisdom, so you use mindfulness to prevent your mind from wandering, thinking about this and that, and to bring it into calm. Once you have calm then you can use this calm to develop pañña, to stop your mind and your desire. When you can get rid of your desire then your mind becomes firmer and more peaceful. This is the process of building up this peace of mind until you eventually get total peace of mind all the time without having to go into samādhi.

The reason why your mind is not calm is your desires. But once you can get rid of all your desires, then there is nothing to cause your mind to become restless or agitated, and your mind can become calm without having to go into jhāna.

“Australian Monks from Sydney, Feb 19, 2015”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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