Practice mindfulness to develop basic self-awareness, allowing you to see what mental states are arising in any given moment. This prevents you from being ‘owned’ or controlled by unwholesome states like anger, judgmentalism, or fear.
When unwholesome or defiled mental states arise, make an effort to simply note and observe them clearly, then consciously drop or let them go. This practice allows the mental state to pass without gaining power over your mind or causing damage to its texture.
Approach the practice of mindfulness as a process of observation rather than an attempt to forcefully control your mind states. The goal is to recognize what arises without resistance, which helps states pass naturally.
When observing your mind, adopt a soft, gentle, non-judgmental, and curious attitude. This mindset is crucial to prevent the practice from becoming a compulsive ’nanny state’ of self-blame and to keep it fruitful.
Engage in consistent, long-term mind training using various methods and appropriate antidotes for defilements. This gradual process can utterly transform the texture of your mind, weakening and eliminating unwholesome tendencies over time.
Utilize particular meditative practices as antidotes for specific defilements, rather than relying solely on a single technique. This leverages the full range of methods provided by the Buddha’s teachings for effective personal development.
As an antidote to anger, hatred, and ill will, dedicate 15-20 minutes daily to loving-kindness (metta) meditation. Consistent practice can significantly diminish aggressive or inflammatory character traits over time.
To counteract craving for worldly success, position, power, and wealth, meditate on death. Reflect on its inevitability and the fact that all worldly possessions and achievements must be left behind upon dying.
As an antidote to delusion, particularly the grasping of an ego self, regularly reflect on the five aggregates (body, feelings, perceptions, volitional activities, consciousness). Contemplate each as ’not mine, not I, not myself’ to chip away at the root of delusion.
For sexual desire, particularly in monastic life, practice meditation on the 32 parts of the body. Examine your own body’s physical constituents from head to toe to dispel the appearance of beauty that triggers such desire.
Observe mental states as constantly changing, transient, and conditioned, rather than permanent aspects of your identity. This practice helps break identification with specific states (e.g., ‘I am an angry person’) and allows them to lose force and pass away.
Extend the capacity for self-observation developed in formal meditation to monitor and recognize mind states in daily life. This enables you to deal with mental states effectively, preventing you from being overwhelmed or carried away by unwholesome thoughts.
Before engaging in more intricate mind observation techniques, practice mindfulness of breathing to calm and stabilize the mind. This initial step helps reduce the mind’s tendency to wander and builds concentration.
In meditation, mentally recite the word ‘mind’ repeatedly, using it as a focal point to turn your attention back upon the mind itself and observe its machinery. This technique helps keep the mind focused on its own activity and serves as a reminder to be awake.
When distracted during meditation, identify the specific mental state that caused the distraction, using categories like ‘mind with lust,’ ‘mind with hatred,’ or ‘mind with delusion.’ This develops the habit of clearly seeing and categorizing the mind states that arise.
Once you develop skill and momentum with the ‘mind’ repetition technique, gradually drop the word and observe the rapid, unverbalized flux of mental events directly. This allows for deeper, more continuous observation of the mind’s instantaneous arising and vanishing of thoughts, feelings, and emotions, though it may require a retreat setting for most.
When observing your own mind states (e.g., lust, anger), reflect that these are universal human experiences, shared by almost all other human beings. This practice helps you not take your own mental ‘stuff’ so personally and fosters a sense of shared humanity.