Mindful of the Rise and Fall of a Thought

Observing Our Mind through the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

We may not be aware of the rise and fall of every single wandering thought in our mundane busy lives. The Buddhist teaching of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, which may provide us with an insightful framework to observe our chain of thoughts, might very well be helpful in mindful meditation.

The cycle of the Twelve Links of Origination is inter-related and interdependent on each other

This chart of the Twelve Links of Origination can be interpreted in the sequential time, that is rounds of past life, present life, and future life. It can also be interpreted in a cyclical process starting from Ignorance (Rise), Mental Formations, Consciousness, Name & Form, Six Senses, Contact, Feelings & Sensations, Craving, Attachment, Becoming, Birth, and ending at Aging & Death (Fall).

On the notion of mindfulness, let’s analyse our thinking mind with the cyclical approach. Consider the following scenario that depicts the rise and fall of a thought according to the chart (Heard about this analogy from a devoted Buddhist guru years ago).

Scenario: A lady, working at her cubicle in the office, suddenly saw her boss walking over to the direction of her desk. In split seconds, her mind gives rise to a chain of thoughts:

1. With an economic downturn and rumors of looming layoffs, this lady is subconsciously nervous about her security. [Ignorance — not knowing whether her job is secure]
2. As she is not too confident about her work, she thought that she must try her best not to offend her boss. [Mental Formations]
3. Noticing her boss is walking over to the direction of her desk [Consciousness — perceiving, recognizing]
4. Her mind creates stress and her body becomes tense [Name & Form]
5. She tries hard to concentrate on her task but couldn’t help and peek whether her boss is really coming to her. [Six Senses]
6. She feels her boss is passing in front of her, slowing down, and looking at her. [Contact]
7. She immediately becomes nervous and have a trembling feeling. [Feelings & Sensations]
8. If the boss comes over with a smiling face, she will be happy; if the boss comes with a frowning look, she will be scared. [Craving — happiness]
9. If the boss is smiling, she will feel that her work and capabilities are affirmed and recognized. [Attachment]
10. She becomes narcissistic, very much absorbed in self-admiring thoughts. [Becoming]
11. She then generates imaginary thoughts about her “self”, such as winning the employee of the month award, earning a bonus, or getting a promotion. [Birth]
12. But this imaginary thought of her “self” does not last long and quickly dissipated. [Aging & Death]

As we can see — reacting to the boss walking over to her desk — her mind arises with one thought that trickled down the cycle of the twelve links of dependent origination.

Ignorance is the Root Cause

Our mind is constantly and subconsciously engaged in wandering thoughts and delusions. Functioning from self-interests and selfishness, we are in constant desire for the Five Pleasures of wealth, sex, fame, eating, and sleep, knowingly or unknowingly gravitate toward them at the expense of other people. Each desire trigger cycles and cycles of the rise and fall of immense mental activities that bring about endless sufferings.

If we look deeply, each step of our thought, desire, or feeling within the twelve origination traces from the start of ignorance. In samsara, ignorance is the obstacle that blocks our innate Buddha Nature in the path toward enlightenment, because ignorance causes afflictions that lead us to sufferings and endless cycles of births and deaths.

Buddha’s teachings taught us that ignorance is the lack of right understanding, the absence of wisdom. The root cause is ignorance. Can we rid the ignorance (impurities) in our mind? The answer is yes, innate prajna wisdom is the antidote. Only when we uncover our innate wisdom will we then naturally and intuitively know what is moral and correct, the right understanding.

How do we uncover our innate wisdom? What’ll we do to cultivate a pure mind?

In the present modern days, our world is filled with constant distractions that only intensifies our greed, anger, and ignorance, and Sakyamuni Buddha knew this will be a great challenge to us humans in the future of this world. Thus, in countless occasions during his forty-nine years of teachings, Sakyamuni introduced all sentient beings to Amitabha Buddha’s Pure Land and the Sixteen Mindful Visualization techniques.

One visualization method Sakyamuni taught is buddha-name chanting, which has long been praised by highly renowned master teachers such as Master Shandao (aka Japanese: Zendo) and Honen Shonin. Amitabha Mindful chanting (Namo Amitabha Buddha) is the easiest and simplest, the most convenient and most wondrous practice of pure mindfulness meditation.

The Amitabha Buddha name encompasses the virtuous deeds of truth, purity, equanimity, and supreme enlightenment, therefore, every vocal or mental chant of the Amitabha name inconceivably works its way to rid the ignorance (karmic obstacles) stored in our mind.

Through persistent chanting practice, we will loosen up karmic obstacles, let go of afflictions, cultivate inner peace, a pure mind, and eventually liberate our “self” from cycles of births and deaths.

Resources:
Pure Land Principles
Mindful Chanting Practice of Amitabha
Visualization (or Meditation) Sutra: The Sixteen Mindful Visualizations
Amitabha Mindful Chanting Collection