Your mental state influences your physical and mental well-being. Sufficient scientific evidence shows how stressful experiences harm your body, and how practicing altruism and mindfulness boosts your physical and mental health (references at the bottom).
2,500 years ago, Lord Buddha investigated the nature of reality and, out of compassion, taught others how to end suffering permanently. Lord Buddha explained that your mind isn’t a single continuous process — it consists of many individual citta (mind-moments) that arise and pass away rapidly. As you read this article, hundreds of trillions of citta arise and pass away every second.
Each citta carries multiple hetu (foundational root) that determines its ethical quality:
- Kusala hetu - Wholesome roots - Lobha - Craving
- Dosha - Aversion
- Moha - Delusion
- Akusala hetu - Unwholesome roots - Alobha - Non-craving
- Adosha - Non-aversion
- Amoha - Non-delusion
Monks, there are these three unskillful roots. What three?
Lobho akusalamūlaṁ, doso akusalamūlaṁ, moho akusalamūlaṁ
…
There are these three skillful roots. What three?
Alobho kusalamūlaṁ, adoso kusalamūlaṁ, amoho kusalamūlaṁ.
…-Akusalamūlasutta (link)
Based on the different types of hetu, many types of citta (121 to be precise) can arise which can be grouped into the following broad categories:
- Kusala citta - Wholesome mind (e.g. compassion, mindfulness, tranquility, etc.)
- Akusala citta - Unwholesome mind (e.g. greed, anger, envy, restlessness, etc.)
- Kiriya citta - Functional mind (e.g. intellectual thought)
- Vipāka citta - Resultant mind
The more you engage in activities that produce kusala citta, the calmer, more peaceful, content, and fulfilled you become. Your body also relaxes, lightens, and grows healthier over time. Conversely, the more you engage in activities that produce akusala citta, the more restless, agitated, and unsatisfied you feel. Your body also tenses, grows heavier, and deteriorates over time.
A lot of psychological problems people face today are a result of excess indulging in akusala activities such as addiction to sensuality (entertainment, intoxicants, sex, food, etc). Many akusala activities feel intensely pleasurable, which makes the mind crave for them even more. The next episode of the TV series, the next sequel to the movie, the next glass of alcohol, the next intense sex encounter, it never ends. As the mind keeps craving more, you feel more restless, agitated and unsatisfied.
Craving for anything implies that you want something that isn’t there, how can that ever make you feel satisfied?
Companies spend more than a trillion dollars every year to make you subconsciously believe that happiness means acquiring worldly pleasures (reference at bottom) — entertainment, tourism, wealth, beauty, and more. But acquiring worldly pleasure only makes your mind crave even more of it. You forget that happiness means more than feeling pleasure - it also means feeling content, satisfied, secure and peaceful.
Cultivating Kusala
Cultivating kusala citta, on the other hand, helps you become more accepting, fulfilled, and content with yourself, improving your overall quality of life. So how do you develop more kusala citta to make your life better? Lord Buddha taught the eightfold noble path to do exactly that, through the following practices:
- Dāna - Generosity of sharing resources, time, energy, or knowledge
- Pūjā - Cultivating humility, reverence and faith in correct teaching and inspiring beings
- Sīla - Living a ethical and moral life
- Samādhi - Cultivating tranquility and contentment on single meditation object (e.g. mindfulness of breathing meditation)
- Paññā - Cultivating wisdom through learning, contemplation and vipassana (insight) meditation practice
Engaging in any of these practices can help you develop more kusala citta and improve your overall quality of life. Each of the above practices have great depth, but simply put, they all strengthen your kusala tendencies, which weaken your akusala tendencies over time.
If you struggle with greed and stinginess, practicing dāna — even offering a single grain of rice — can slowly help you overcome your akusala greedy tendencies. If you carry excessive pride and ego, showing reverence to great, inspiring beings can slowly help you overcome your akusala prideful tendencies. If you struggle with lust, practicing sīla can slowly help you overcome your akusala lust tendencies. Samādhi and paññā practices help you weaken all types of akusala tendencies.
Samadhi Practice to Cultivate Kusala Citta
Samadhi (meditation) offers a great way to develop kusala citta, but most people often approach the practice the wrong way. In a culture heavily influenced by people showing off their achievements and special abilities, people often try to approach meditation as a practice in which they must achieve something to prove to themselves and others.
When you approach samadhi practice with the intent of achieving something, your mind often craves what isn’t already present, creating more akusala citta — restlessness, impatience, and the like. This causes suffering and discomfort in a practice that should instead make you feel more content, tranquil, and happy. I’ve listed common meditation mistakes in another post (link).
Instead, use samadhi practice as a way to cultivate kusala citta. Whatever your meditation object is, approach it with gentleness, kindness, and delight — this makes your mind like the meditation object and, over time, naturally want to stay with it effortlessly.
Conclusion
I hope these strategies make your meditation path easier and comfortable. I’d love to hear about your own experiences with meditation too.