Meditation and Psychotherapy:Learning from Non-Ordinary States

Non-Ordinary States

in Buddhist Meditation

Andrew Olendzki

Director of Mindfulness Studies

Lesley University

There are these six dangers attached to addiction to

strong drink and sloth-producing drugs:

• present waste of money

• increased quarrelling

• liability to sickness

• loss of good name

• indecent exposure of one’s person

• weakening of the intellect. —Long Discourses 31

Classical Buddhism is conservative and has a clear precept against the use

of intoxicants of any kind.

However, what it condemns is the ”heedlessness” of states of intoxication.

• Practical dangers of intoxication

• Clarity of mind is preeminently important

Buddhism places a high value on gaining wisdom.

This is either a clear answer or an invitation for exploration.

The case against intoxicants

I do not see even a single thing that leads

to such great harm as heedlessness.

I do not see even a single thing that leads

to such great good as heedfulness.—Numerical Discourses 1.82-3

Dismantling the Binary

How do we define what is ordinary and non-ordinary?

• Ordinary is what is common of standard,

non-ordinary is what is rare and exceptional.

• Ordinary is the natural state or condition,

non-ordinary is what obscures or distorts that.

In Buddhist thought, these two are ambiguous;

a case made in either direction:

• The ordinary mind is distorted, enlightenment is a

non-ordinary state because it is so rarely achieved.

• The natural state of the mind is free of distortion,

and enlightenment is restoring the mind to its

ordinary state.

Distortions of the Mind

vipallāsa = something that has been ripped from its

original setting, turned completely around, and thrown

down again.

This is what our mind does every moment when it

processes the information coming in through the senses

and makes it fit into a story.

There are three primary examples of distortion:

• Taking to be permanent what is actually impermanent.

• Taking to be satisfying what is actually unsatisfactory.

• Taking to be personal what is actually impersonal.

Gone astray with wrong views, beingsmis-perceive with distorted minds.

But when in the world of darknessBuddhas arise to make things bright,they present this profound teachingwhich brings suffering to an end.

When those with wisdom have heard this,they recuperate their right mind.

—Numerical Discourses 4.49

Three ordinary states of mind:

Greed (craving, desire, wanting things to be different than they are)

Hatred (aversion, anger, wanting things to be different than they are)

Delusion (confusion, ignorance, not knowing how things actually are)

The mind is naturally afflicted by these toxic mental/emotional states.

This affliction is the cause of suffering, which is universal.

In extra-ordinary cases, this suffering can be brought to an end

—the fires are extinguished (nirvāna).All is burning.

What is the all that is burning?

• the eye and forms

• the ear and sounds

• the nose and smells

• the tongue and tastes

• the body and touches

• the mind and thoughts

Burning with what?

the fire of greed

the fire of hatred and

the fire of delusion.—Connected Discourses 35.28

Three other ordinary states of mind:

Non-Greed (Generosity) non-attachment, not clinging to anything

Non-Hatred (Kindness) compassion, not harming anything

Non-Delusion (Wisdom) knowing things as they actually are

The mind is equally affected by these healthy mental/emotional states.

These positive states are natural, but are obscured by toxic afflictions.

Enlightenment is uncovering and restoring the underlying ordinary state.

This mind is luminous.

It is defiled by the defilements that come into it,.

It is set free from the defilements that come into it.

—Numerical Discourses 1.49

What do Buddhists

mean by ‘states’?

States are fleeting units of experiential phenomena,

arising and passing away in a stream of consciousness

Each states consist of five interdependent aspects:

• consciousness

• a sense base

• a feeling tone

• a cognitive construct

• an emotional response.

conscious

-ness

feeling

tone

sense base

perception emotional

response

conscious

-ness

feeling

tone

sense base

perception emotional

response

conscious

-ness

feeling

tone

sense base

perception emotional

response

conscious

-ness

feeling

tone

sense base

perception emotional

response

ear / soundseye / forms mind / thoughts body / touches

Mindfulness Meditation ➙ Open Monitoring of States

Here a person abides observing the body, feeling tones, mental

states, and mental objects just as they are…ardent, fully aware, and

mindful, leading away worldly yearning and sadness.

A person who has gone to the forest, or to the root of a tree, or to

an empty place, sits down. Folding the legs around the ankles, and

setting the body erect, they establish the presence of mindfulness.

Mindfulness meditation is simply observing states as they arise and fall

in experience.

• Conscious awareness of present experience

• With an attitude of equanimity—non attachment (non-judging)

Terms used in the Discourse on Establishing Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta)

to instruct and guide meditation practice:

• ātāpī =ardent, intent, engaged with what is happening

• sampajāna =fully aware of what is happening

• satimā =mindful, present, aware of what is happening

• anupassī =“seeing along with” what is happening

• pajānāti =“knowing”, “being aware of “ what is happening

• paṭisamvedī =“settling into the whole feeling of” what is happening

Mindfulness meditation involves no non-ordinary states

One abides observing things both internally and externally;

one abides observing arising and passing phenomena;

one abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world.

Sāriputta gained insight into states one by one as they occurred:

known to him those states arose, known they were present, known they disappeared. He

understood: these states, not having been, come into being; having been, they vanish.’ —Middle Length Discourses 111

• The mind is ordinarily afflicted by

five states called ‘hindrances’:

• restlessness

• sluggishness

• sense desire

• ill will

• doubt

• These are a common cause of

minor and major forms of suffering

• They prevent the mind from

accessing a peaceful center

Some of the states observed in meditation can be difficult

restlessness

sluggishness

wanting

/liking

not wanting

/not liking

doubt

• The five hindrances can expand to

include a wide range of afflictions

• Many of these constitute the mental

health problems we face

• All afflicted states are rooted in

greed, hatred, and delusion

• Sometimes meditation makes these

afflicted states more apparent

restlessness

sluggishness

wanting

/liking

not wanting

/not liking

doubt

anxiety

worry

anger

conceit

violence

despair

depression

panic fear

addiction

compulsion

cruelty

GREED HATRED

DELUSION

bigotry

Most ordinary states of mind are afflicted to some extent

Accessing the peaceful center of the mind (non-ordinary)

Can focus on loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, equanimity

Temporary refuge from these states can be found in meditation

• neither too much or too little energy: tranquil and alert

• neither favoring nor opposing anything: abiding with equanimity

• suspending doubt: confidence and trust.

The center point is elusive at first, but one can reach a ‘tipping point’

when the experience of the tranquil mind becomes more compelling

than the allure of external objects

At this point one is said to be be ‘absorbed’ in jhāna

Concentration meditation

➙ Focused Awareness

restlessness

sluggishness

wanting

/liking

not wanting

/not liking

doubt

Having abandoned the five hindrances, imperfections of the mind that

weaken wisdom, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from

unwholesome states, one enters upon and abides in the first jhāna,

which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with

joy and pleasure born of seclusion. —Middle Length Discourses 51

The five hindrances are imperfections of the mind that weaken wisdom.

When a person lets go of the five hindrances they:

• are separated from sensual pleasures and

• are separated from all unhealthy states.

Because of this separation, they experience profound pleasure and well-

being that “suffuses, drenches, fills and irradiates the body so that no spot

remains untouched.” They are still able to direct their minds normally.

Like paying off a debt, recovering from an illness, being released from

prison, being freed from slavery, or safely completing a dangerous journey.

Concentration: Stage One

With the stilling of applied and sustained thought, one enters upon and

abides in the second jhāna, which has inner clarity and a mind that is

focused, without applied thought and without sustained thought, with

joy and pleasure born of concentration. —Middle Length Discourses 51

Concentration: Stage Two

As concentration deepens, the apparatus of conceptual

thinking ceases to function. This is not a trance, it is a quieting

of the mind’s discursive chatter.

Compare the first verse of the Yoga Sutra: “Yoga is stilling the

movements of the mind.”

As the mind gets more focused, and ceases its discursive

thinking, it gains an inner clarity.

Because of the increased concentration, the experience of

pleasure and well-being increases.

With the fading away as well of joy, one abides in equanimity, and mindful

and fully aware, still feeling pleasure with the body, one enters upon and

abides in the third jhāna, on account of which noble ones announce: ‘One

has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.’

—Middle Length Discourses 51

Concentration: Stage Three

While physical pleasure continues, the experience of mental

pleasure gradually gives way to an attitude of equanimity

toward all experience.

This is simply observing everything objectively, while still

experiencing a deep sense of well-being, of “pleasant abiding.”

The hedonic tone of pleasure is one thing; the emotional

attitude of observing it with equanimity is another.

With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance

of joy and grief, one enters upon and abides in the fourth jhāna, which has

neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.

—Middle Length Discourses 51

Concentration: Stage Four

The process culminates in a state of profound equanimity.

All feeling tones are neither pleasant nor painful, but are neutral.

The state is described by such images as

• gold that has been refined of all its impurities as is thus workable;

• a cloth that is so clean it can accept dye evenly without blemish.

• water that has become still and is thus able to reflect accurately;

• a mirror that has been wiped clean of all its accumulated dust.

This is not a final destination, but a point of departure.

The mind has now become luminous, purified, adaptable, and steady.

From this situation one can go on to access many other practices:

• exploring four non-material ‘spheres’

• the sphere of infinite space

• the sphere of infinite consciousness

• the sphere of nothingness

• the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

• creating a mind-made body, like drawing a reed from its sheath, a

sword from its scabbard, or a snake from its skin.

• exhibiting psychic powers, such as disappearing, walking through walls;

walking on water; flying like a bird; touching the sun and the moon.

When one’s concentrated mind is thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of

imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability,

one directs the mind to… —Middle Length Discourses 51

Where to go from here?

How are we to understand the extra-ordinary

powers accessible through meditation?

We can take them as literally true.

• Whatever the Buddha said must be true

• There may be more to this reality than we yet know

• Consciousness may be entangled at the quantum level

We can take them as necessarily false.

• Violations of the laws of nature are not possible

• “It can’t be, therefor it isn’t”

• These are relics of a pre-modern way of thinking

• These are examples of universal religious superstitions

We can see them as accessing non-ordinary but valid experience:

• hallucination

• dreaming

• lucid dreaming

• symbolic imagery

It is possible that a person would abide in jhāna…

…or in higher meditative states.

They might think:

‘I abide practicing transformative austerity’.

But these are not called austerities

in the practice of the noble ones.

These are called “pleasant abidings here and now.”—Middle Length Discourses 8

Meditative States are Not Inherently Transformative

Pre-Buddhist traditions practiced meditation. Buddha learned

meditation for other teachers.

He considered that in themselves these states of concentration

were not sufficient to bring about lasting changes or character.

People often drew mistaken conclusions from their higher

meditative experience (Brahmajāla Sutta —Long Discourses 1).

Only wisdom was truly transformative.

Behaviors

kamma

Traits

anusaya

States

dhammā

There is an emotional feedback loop:

• States are conditioned by underlying (unconscious)

traits—habits shaped by past experience

• States condition physical, verbal, and mental action;

all action is done with some quality of intention

• States condition traits; specific traits are strengthened

or weakened by the enacting of specific states

States, Behaviors, and Traits

Whatever a person frequently thinks and ponders

upon, that will become the inclination of their mind.

—Middle Length Discourses 19

States/Behaviors/Traits

are either:

Healthy (kusala) or

Unhealthy (akusala) States

Unhealthy/unwholesome/unskillful/unhelpful:

• lead to the affliction of oneself and others

• obstruct wisdom

• cause difficulties

• lead away from enlightenment

Healthy/wholesome/skillful/helpful:

• do not lead to the affliction of oneself and others

• aid wisdom

• do not cause difficulties

• lead to enlightenment

Do non-ordinary states lead to

healthy or unhealthy outcomes?

If one frequently thinks and pondersupon unhealthy thoughts, one has abandoned healthy thoughts to cultivate the unhealthy thought, and then one’s mind inclines to unhealthy thoughts.

If one frequently thinks and pondersupon healthy thoughts, one has abandoned unhealthy thoughts to cultivate the healthy thought, and then one’s mind inclines to healthy thoughts.

—Middle Length Discourses 19

Perceptions

saññā

Thoughts

vitakka

Views

diṭṭhi

There is also a cognitive feedback loop:

• Perceptions condition thoughts—perceptual

interpretations are the building blocks of thoughts.

• Thoughts condition views—what we think about

regularly and habitually evolve into views and beliefs.

• Views condition perceptions—how we interpret things

is shaped by our expectations and habits of mind .

Perceptions, Thoughts, Views

What one feels, that one perceives.

What one perceives, that one thinks about.

What one thinks about, that one mentally proliferates.

—Middle Length Discourses 18

Delusion as Wrong View / Wisdom as Right View

The mental function of perception includes the construction of views

Views may be distorted (wrong view) or accurate (right view)

It is always good when wrong view can be replaced with right view

If the experience of non-ordinary states helps to transform wrong view

into right view, then it is a healthy and beneficial thing

Can “intoxicants” evoke right view?

For a person with right view, whatever actions of body, speech, or mind

are undertaken according to that view, whatever intentions, aspirations, decisions

—indeed all activities whatsoever—incline towards what is welcome agreeable, pleasing, beneficial, towards happiness.

—Numerical Discourses 1.16.10

Non-Ordinary Experience:

Healthy or Unhealthy?

Unhealthy Non-Ordinary Experience

• Fear, confusion, anger, violence, cruelty

• Breakdown of a coherent sense of self

• Various harmful side-effects of meditation”

• “Bad Trip”

Healthy Non-Ordinary Experience

• Wisdom: seeing impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, non-self

• Experiencing lovingkindness/compassion/empathic joy/equanimity

• Insights that lead to self-knowledge

• Insights that change unhealthy behaviors

No Simple Answers

• Every moment is unique

• Every person is unique

• Every situation is unique

When you know for yourselves:these things are unhealthy;these things are blameworthy;these things are censured by the wise;these things, if accepted and undertaken, lead to harm and suffering.’

—then you should abandon them.

When you know for yourselves:these things are healthy;these things are blameless;these things are praised by the wise;these things, if accepted and undertaken, lead to welfare and happiness.’

—then you should live in accordance with them.—Numerical Discourses 3.65