The psychological mechanism of meditation

1. The system of consciousness

There are many schools of psychology in the world, and each school has a different view of the system of consciousness. In Buddhism, we rely on the structure of the Five Aggregates taught by the Buddha to observe consciousness. Later, Mahayana teaching developed the Consciousness-Only school (Duy thức học) to study consciousness.

The structure of the Five Aggregates is listed as follows:

• The form aggregate (sắc uẩn): the body with its clear shape and appearance. For beings of the human realm, the form aggregate is the physical body; for the devas, the form aggregate is a very large body made of supernatural material.

• The feeling aggregate (thọ uẩn): the part of sensation, painful or pleasant, comfortable or uncomfortable, irritated or at ease. There is also a neutral sensation, neither painful nor pleasant. The feeling aggregate is related to the entire nervous system throughout the body.

• The perception aggregate (tưởng uẩn): the surface part of the mind, where appear thoughts, imaginings, memories and so on that have been turned into clear language, images, sounds and the like. The perception aggregate is related to Broca's area of the nervous system and the frontal lobe. Consciousness can see the activity of the perception and feeling aggregates, so perception and feeling are classed as part of the conscious mind.

• The formations aggregate (hành uẩn): the deeply submerged part of consciousness, very large, responsible for almost all the mind's activity, such as searching, creating, reasoning, recollecting, deciding, directing the body and so on. The activity of the formations aggregate is very fast; our conscious mind cannot see it in time, and so the formations aggregate is classed as part of the unconscious mind. The formations aggregate also holds people's natural instincts, such as the instinct for survival and the instinct for enjoyment. The ego also exists here. When the mind enters concentration, the formations aggregate is the place from which supernatural powers arise.

• The consciousness aggregate (thức uẩn): all the knowing of the mind. Knowing is the essence of consciousness. Without knowing, it is not mind. There are many different levels of knowing: the knowing of the five senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body); the knowing of the conscious mind (knowing one's own inner mind); the understanding obtained when studying, reading, listening to or looking at abstract matters; the knowing of supernatural intuition; the knowing of the clearly aware mind in concentration, and so on. The speed of the consciousness aggregate is very fast, a thousand times that of the formations aggregate. A clever person has a stronger consciousness aggregate than others.

In addition, accompanying the Five Aggregates, we have the following components:

• Memory: the store that records data received from outside or arising from within. Some people have a very strong ability to retrieve data; some forget easily. In memory, good and bad temperaments and varied likes and dislikes are also stored, and they govern people's thoughts and behaviour.

• Emotion: all the loves and hates, angers and resentments, desires, cravings, discouragement, fears and so on. Emotion is directly linked to the nerves of the heart, and is the motive for almost all the karma-creating actions of beings.

2. Kinds of thoughts

• Deliberate thoughts: purposeful thoughts, thinking that is required by work. If it is proper work, beneficial to beings and belonging to wholesome things, deliberate thought creates merit and is without fault, and makes it easier to gather the mind in meditation. However, we must not abuse this by thinking too much.

• Aimless thoughts: thoughts that arise in the mind by themselves though we do not want them, and so are also called delusive thoughts. Aimless thoughts appear because of the brain's habit of wanting to keep itself active in order to exist. Sometimes aimless thoughts arise from memory; sometimes they arise from the production of the formations aggregate. This is the first barrier, and also the hardest, for a person who practises meditation.

• Wholesome thoughts: good thoughts that accord with the Dharma, are altruistic in nature, and are humble towards oneself. These thoughts are the bricks that build the foundation for later Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Wholesome thought also belongs to Right Thought in the Noble Eightfold Path. When wholesome thoughts are master of the mind, the mind naturally grows still and clearly aware. It can be said that the wholesome mind and the concentrated mind lie on the same side.

• Unwholesome thoughts: selfish, malicious, greedy, envious, conceited thoughts and so on. These thoughts gradually make the mind uneasy and may later lead to derangement. It can be said that the unwholesome mind and the concentrated mind lie on opposite sides. However, thoughts, whether wholesome or unwholesome, must be confirmed by behaviour. If a thought has not yet become behaviour, that thought is not yet strong. A settled mind is a step towards non-self, and non-self is the greatest good; therefore, apart from times when we must be preoccupied with proper work, we must try to keep the mind pure. We should not think that because a thought is wholesome we may keep thinking it all the time, so that we cannot gather the mind and move towards non-self. Conversely, if we think that a pure mind is the most precious and so look for ways to avoid our duties in order to look after a pure mind, that is evil, because we make others do our work for us. When this evil accumulates over a long time, it also creates bad karmic results and unease.

• Coarse thoughts: thoughts with language, expressed in language. Often these thoughts are accompanied by images. These thoughts appear in Broca's area near the frontal lobe. It is the images arising here that act directly on the frontal lobe, making the frontal lobe dim and causing loss of clear awareness.

• Subtle thoughts: thoughts not yet expressed in language, mere notions, appearing in Wernicke's area near the back of the brain. From this Wernicke's area, thought is furnished with language to be passed on to Broca's area near the frontal lobe.

With determination and the right method, the practitioner will gradually be able to stop coarse thoughts. After that, the practitioner must continue to be wary of subtle thoughts, which are very hard to see because they have no distinct language. Often, seeing his mind empty, the practitioner thinks he is pure, not realising that there are still many subtle thoughts, with countless invisible notions, pouring forth. Most dangerous are thoughts of self-praise and of arrogance. Such thoughts will destroy all merit and ruin the work of practice.

3. The role of the conscious mind

The conscious mind is the knowing of one's own inner mind. When we think about something, we still know that we are thinking about it. When we love or hate someone, we still know that we are loving or hating in that way. Alongside the busy activity of consciousness, there is still a knowing that quietly knows (watches) those activities. It is precisely because the conscious mind is independent of thoughts and emotions that we can gradually practise and stop delusive thoughts.

Take the following comparison. Suppose we are sitting watching many people playing around in front of us. Sometimes we are drawn in and rush to join the fun, and sometimes we just sit still and watch. In the same way, the conscious mind is like the person watching those playing in front. Sometimes the conscious mind sinks along with thought to reason, create and increase the strength of thought. But sometimes the conscious mind simply knows quietly, independent and separate from thought, causing thought to weaken and go out. The essence of practising meditation is precisely to try to keep the conscious mind always independent of delusive thoughts, to know thought clearly yet remain independent of delusive thoughts, and to advance towards ending delusive thoughts. It is easy to say, but the practitioner must have much merit and determination to be able to separate in this way.

Question: What do you see when you observe your own inner mind? Have you been able to separate from delusive thoughts?