What is the purpose of meditation?

Have nothing on your mind?

Think of something specific?

Find a pleasant feeling to hold on to?

Be blank and see what comes into your mind?

It’s normal to feel lost in all these questions if you’re new to meditation. There is so much information out there that can overwhelm and frustrate you.

I remember asking myself the same questions. I bought a bunch of books on meditation, and each of them had a different perspective and technique.

It was so hard to find a common thread of meaning in all of that information overload.

But everything fell into place when I began to study Buddhism. I was able to connect all the dots and understand the goal of meditation and how it fits into its western version.

In this post, I’m going to look at the three aspects of meditation in Buddhism. It will help you gain a clear understanding of its place, function, and purpose.

The purpose of meditation in the eightfold path

When we think about meditation, we have to go back to the source — Buddhism. When we do that, it becomes clear that the starting point of our investigation is the monk’s training process.

The path of the Buddhist monk is divided into three sections:

1. Moral discipline
2. Concentration
3. Wisdom

Each of these sections represents a higher subdivision of the Noble Eightfold Path.

The first one, the training in the higher moral discipline, includes right speech, right action, and right livelihood.

The second one, the training in the higher mind, includes right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

The third one, the training in the higher wisdom, includes right view and right intention.

If we look at the steps, the purpose of meditation in the Noble Eightfold Path becomes clear. It’s to develop steps five to seven: right mindfulness, right concentration, and right view.

The purpose of meditation in the establishment of mindfulness

Step five shows us meditation is inseparable from mindfulness. So how are the two connected? And how exactly can meditation help us establish and maintain mindfulness?

As you know, there are a lot of meditation techniques, so I’ll start with the most popular one — breathing meditation.

The Pali word for breathing meditation is anapanasati. It can be translated as mindfulness (sati) of breathing (anapana)

There is an ancient Buddhist scripture called Satipatthana Sutta — The Discourse on the Establishment (upatthana) of Mindfulness (sati).

This text is generally considered to be one of the most comprehensive instructions on meditation. It’s divided into four major sections, which correspond to the four objective domains:

1. contemplation of the body
2. contemplation of feelings
3. contemplation of mind
4. contemplation of phenomena

The first objective domain, contemplation of the body, comprises 14 meditation subjects. Mindfulness of breathing is the first one. It’s aimed at calming the mind and moving the meditator to a subtler level of stillness.

As we can see, the purpose of breathing meditation in establishing mindfulness is mastering the first objective domain — contemplation of the body.

But what happens after that?

The purpose of meditation on the path to Nibbana

The four objective domains of the Satipatthana Sutta imply a progressive sequence in reaching the final goal.

In mindfulness of breathing, we calm our mind. In contemplation of feelings, we move toward non-physical feelings that are neither pleasant nor painful. In contemplation of mind, we move toward liberated and concentrated states.

So the first three domains help us reach concentration (samadhi), which is the aim of serenity meditation (samatha meditation).

The fourth domain, contemplation of phenomena, is the subject of insight meditation (vipassana meditation). It’s aimed at developing wisdom (panna).

Insight meditation starts by observing and overcoming the five hindrances. After overcoming the hindrances, we begin to contemplate five aggregates and the six sense bases. This is followed by the contemplation of the seven factors of enlightenment and culminates in the true knowledge of the Four Noble Truths.

Knowledge of the Four Noble Truths liberates the mind from the defilements and leads to the realization of Nibbana.

“So long, monks, as my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are (…) was not thoroughly purified in this way, I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment.” — the Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths are often believed to be the introductory teaching of Buddhism, but it’s a misconception for to fully understand the Four Noble Truths is to attain full enlightenment, as the Buddha said in his first discourse Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion (the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta).

The four noble truths are reminiscent of a medical formula, and the Buddha himself is compared to a great physician. Just as the doctor diagnoses the patient and prescribes the medicine, the Buddha pinpoints humanity’s ailment and prescribes the treatment to overcome it.

As such, the first noble truth diagnoses the affliction, the second noble truth reveals its origin, the third noble truth points to the cure, and the fourth noble truth shows the way to the cure.

This is how the Buddha defined the Second Noble of Truth (Craving):

The Noble Truth of the origin of suffering is this: It is this thirst (craving) which produces re-existence and re-becoming, bound up with passionate greed. It finds fresh delight now here and now there, namely, thirst for sense-pleasures; thirst for existence and becoming; and thirst for non-existence.

Here’s a talk given by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on the Second Noble Truth of Buddhism:

From the Buddha’s definition of the Second Noble Truth, we can see that he’s looking deeply at the underlying root of all forms of Dukkha (suffering). And what he’s doing is not just pointing out the outer signs but looking at the underlying cause of suffering.

Sometimes the Pali word Tanha (Sanskrit: Trishna) is translated as desire, but that is somewhat misleading because there can be good and bad desire in Buddhism. So the more accurate English word would be craving — a thirst to swallow up things and absorb them into oneself as the basis of one’s own identity.

When the Buddha analyzes the nature of craving, he distinguishes three types of craving.

The first type is craving sensual pleasure through the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. We crave beautiful forms, delightful sounds, fragrant odors, delicious food, and pleasant bodily sensations, all of which stimulate our minds.

The second type is craving continued existence. This craving manifests most prominently in clinging to the five aggregates of attachment: body, feelings, perceptions, volitions, and consciousness. These five constituents form what we believe to be our true “self.” This craving for existence is what ultimately drives the stream of consciousness into a new manifestation after the death of our physical body: rebirth and new incarnation. And in this way, the craving can be understood as the dynamic force that drives the cycle of rebirths.

The third type is craving for non-existence, which is very hard to comprehend. At first glance, it may seem to imply a craving that drives someone to end his own life, but it’s never explained in the Buddhist texts in that way. If we attempt to interpret its meaning, then we could say that it’s a repulsion to existence and refusal to continue in the cycle of rebirths, desire to cease to exist after death, nothing else after that.

Furthermore, there are two ways in which craving functions as the cause of Dukkha: psychological and meta-psychological.

The psychological aspect can be seen in how we crave for something that we don’t have. For example, we might want to buy a new expensive smartphone because we don’t like the one we have. First, we have to struggle to get the money to buy one. Then, we get the money and buy the new phone, and we feel amazing; there is a delight of possession. But then comes another form of Dukkha which manifests in anxious concern for our new phone. We are worried that it might break down, get lost, or be stolen; we experience the anxiety of possession. Then, with time our new phone gets old and out-of-date. We see our friends with new phones, and we don’t like our phone anymore, and we want to buy a new one. And so the cycle continues endlessly.

The meta psychological aspect is the craving that creates attachment to the five aggregates which, after the breakdown of our physical body at the moment of death, drive the stream of consciousness into a new existence and perpetuate the round of birth and death. This aspect shows the deep existential relationship between craving and Dukkha.

Did you hear someone say that the First Noble Truth of Buddhism states that life is suffering?

Quite a pessimistic point of view, if you ask me.

But are you sure it’s the correct interpretation of Buddha’s teaching?

We tend to oversimplify things sometimes, and this is the case where most people get Buddhism completely wrong.

I’m guilty of this myself. Before my interest in meditation and eastern philosophy, I knew very little about Buddhism in general.

The only thing I heard about it is that life is suffering. Well, I thought that was pretty grim, so I didn’t even try to learn something new about it.

But after seeing incredible benefits that meditation brought to my life, I started reading more and more about Buddhism.

Most of what I learned was a complete opposite of my previous assumptions. So today, I would like to clarify three common misconceptions about Dukkha, the First Noble Truth of Buddhism.

#1. Buddhism doesn’t say that life is suffering (only)

The first point of confusion in understanding Dukkha is the translation.

In the ordinary sense, the Pali word “dukkha” can indeed be translated as “suffering.”¹

But the most important aspect to remember here is the Buddhist life philosophy as a whole.

If we look from that point of view, then dukkha doesn’t necessarily mean only suffering, it can also mean imperfection, impermanence, emptiness, insubstantiality.²

I don’t know about you, but I see a lot of differences between suffering and, let’s say imperfection.

But you may also wonder, how they are linked. How does dukkha link suffering and imperfection?

This brings us to the next important point in understanding dukkha — interpretation.

#2. Buddhism doesn’t imply a pessimistic worldview

Before going deeply into the interpretation, I would like to ask you one question.

Are you the person who tries to see the positive side of things even when facing difficulties?

Or are you someone who is cautious and always assumes the worst case scenarios?

In other words, are you a pessimist or an optimist? Take a few minutes to reflect on this before reading on; it will help you to understand the following information.

I asked you that question because Buddhism is neither optimistic nor pessimistic, even though the whole “life is suffering” thing might tell you otherwise. And here’s why.

Buddhism views life from a realistic point of view. It reflects the objective quality of all things (imperfection/impermanence) and diagnoses the human condition (suffering due to attachment to impermanent things).

So does that relates to happiness?

#3. Buddhism Doesn’t Deny Happiness

All this talk about suffering, impermanence, imperfection, insubstantiality is enough to make you say, “Sorry, I didn’t sign up for this.”

And it’s completely understandable if this Buddhist principle might not sound so appealing.

But before pack your things and go, you need to hear one more thing: Buddhism doesn’t deny happiness. In fact, according to Buddhist scriptures, you can be a Buddhist and a very happy person at the same time.

For example, in Aṅguttara-nikāya, there is a list of states of happiness: the happiness of family life and the happiness of a recluse life,  the happiness of sense pleasures and the happiness of renunciation, the happiness of attachment and happiness of detachment, physical happiness and mental happiness, etc.³

Yes, you can be happy, but being a Buddhist, you know that these states are impermanent and included in Dukkha.

This gives you the freedom and power to enjoy things while they last and not be distressed when they come to an end.

As you can see, there are many sides to the First Noble Truth of Buddhism than meets the eye.

I think the biggest misconception out there is that Buddhist teaching is concentrated on the suffering and pessimism as predominant themes.

As you’ve learned from this article, Dukkha doesn’t mean that life is only suffering. It’s objective and allows for some happiness without attachment and disappointment.

What other misconceptions about Buddhism did you hear or read about?

Footnotes

1. Due to this popular and limited translation some authors prefer not to translate the word Dukkha into English.↑
2. Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. Kindle Edition. Locations 501-502.↑
3. Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. Kindle Edition. Locations 507-509.↑

“So long, monks, as my knowledge and vision of these Four Noble Truths as they really are (…) was not thoroughly purified in this way, I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment” — the Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths are often believed to be the introductory teaching of Buddhism, but it’s a misconception for to fully understand the Four Noble Truths is to attain full enlightenment, as the Buddha said in his first discourse Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion (the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta).

The four noble truths are reminiscent of a medical formula, and the Buddha himself is compared to a great physician. Just as the doctor diagnoses the patient and prescribes the medicine, the Buddha pinpoints humanity’s ailment and prescribes the treatment to overcome it.

As such, the first noble truth diagnoses the affliction, the second noble truth reveals its origin, the third noble truth points to the cure, and the fourth noble truth shows the way to the cure.

This is how the Buddha defined the First Noble of Truth of Dukkha (suffering):

The Noble Truth of suffering (Dukkha) is this: Birth is Dukkha; aging is Dukkha; sickness is Dukkha; death is Dukkha; sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair are Dukkha; association with the unpleasant is Dukkha; dissociation from the pleasant is Dukkha; not to get what one wants is Dukkha—in brief, the five aggregates of attachment are Dukkha.

Here’s a wonderful talk given by Ven. Bikkhu Bodhi’s on the First Noble Truth:

From the Buddha’s definition of the First Noble Truth, we can discern three aspects of Dukkha (suffering): the physical suffering, the psychological suffering, and existential suffering (the five aggregates of attachment).

The first aspect of Dukkha is defined in this way, “Birth is Dukkha; aging is Dukkha; sickness is Dukkha; death is Dukkha.” As you can see, all four elements correspond to the suffering of the physical body, which starts at the moment of birth and ends with death. We might not remember it, but our birth was a painful process not just for our mothers but also for us. We were expelled from the womb into the world, helpless, against our will, and forced to go through all the stages of life. Next comes aging, when our skin becomes wrinkled while our physical and mental faculties start to whither away. As our bodies are weakened, they become susceptible to many illnesses that inevitably lead to death and the body’s complete dissolution.

The second aspect of Dukkha is contained in this line, “association with the unpleasant is Dukkha; dissociation from the pleasant is Dukkha; not to get what one wants is Dukkha.” This is the psychological suffering that we are bound to experience throughout the course of our entire life. As we’re forced to associate with unpleasant people, get into stressful situations, lose our loved ones, and fail to attain the things we desire. All of these are the inevitable and intrinsic part of everyone’s journey and can’t be avoided.

The third aspect of Dukkha is by far the hardest to comprehend because it’s defined using the term “five aggregates of attachment.” This one phrase encompasses the Buddha’s teaching on the false sense of fixed identity that we believe to be our true “self.” The Buddha teaches us that this self consists of five components (aggregates): body, feelings, perceptions, volitions, and consciousness. These aggregates are anything but stable and undergo a constant process of arising and fading away every moment. To be attached to these changing processes and seek your “self” in them is the most basic delusion that serves as the source of our unhappiness and discontent.