I hope you are enjoying our series on How To Understand The Mind. We have been discussing different mental factors for the past few sessions. Today, let’s talk about virtuous state of mind. There are eleven virtuous states of mind that are naturally virtual. Just like sugar is naturally sweet, these minds are naturally virtuous. The eleven virtuous states of mind are: 1) Faith; 2) Sense of Shame; 3) Consideration for Others; 4) Non-attachment; 5) Non-hatred; 6) Non-ignorance; 7) Effort; 8) Mental Suppleness; 9) Conscientiousness; 10) Equanimity; 11) Non-harmfulness.
Let’s start with faith. Faith is a mental factor that exists to eliminate non-faith. So, in order to understand faith, let’s understand non-faith. There are three types of non-faith. Non-faith of disbelief, non-faith of non-admiration, and non-faith of not-wishing. Non-faith of disbelief if not believing any correct object in which it is necessary to believe to make spiritual progress. What does that mean? Let’s say you want to meditate. If you do not believe that it will help you calm your mind or give you mental peace however short, it will never work. Because without belief we will not put an effort and without effort nothing ever works as we all know. Non-faith of non-admiration causes us to see faults in spiritual teachers or gurus. A few years ago, I made a practice of not criticizing any spiritual teachers whether I follow them or not. Because even if I do not follow that person, they are guiding other people through their spiritual journey and who am I to criticize that? Non-faith of not-wishing is a mind that does not desire to make spiritual progress. Of all the non-faith, this in my opinion is the worst because it prevents you from practicing spirituality. Faith overcomes all these non-faiths.
You will realize that the function of faith is to induce virtuous aspirations. Without faith in a particular practice, we will not wish to engage in it. And as we discussed last week, without wish, we will not put any effort into it. And without effort, we are not going to be able to achieve any results. Faith is not just necessary for our spiritual practice; it is also necessary for our daily life. Let me give you an example. A friend of mine is suffering some physical pain. He went to several doctors and has been suffering from this condition for more than year. I asked him why he did not get surgery yet and he said I just don’t trust my doctor. You see, without faith in his doctor, he will not commit to surgery and without that he will not get better. Faith removes hesitation. It is also a source of attainment of happiness. How you ask? Well, faith is the source of all virtuous karma and virtuous karma are the source of our happiness. Faith also helps us eliminate pride, which is the source of many of our problems. It is faith which ultimately leads us to liberation and enlightenment.
There are three types of faith. Believing faith; Admiring faith; and Wishing faith. Believing faith is belief in any object that is conducive to our spiritual progress. Admiring faith arises when we contemplate good qualities of virtuous objects or holy beings. Wishing faith is a wish to follow spiritual path based on recognition of its good qualities.
The next virtuous state of mind is Sense of Shame. It prevents us from committing negative or inappropriate actions because it is not suitable for us. For example, if a mosquito is bothering us, instead of killing it if we think that killing this mosquito is not right, that motivation is sense of shame. Sense of shame serves as foundation for moral discipline. Sense of shame prevents us from committing negative karma by appealing to our conscience. One thing to point out is that sense of shame prevents us from negative karma mostly for consideration for ourselves.
The next virtuous state of mind is Consideration for Others. This state of mind helps us avoid inappropriate actions out of consideration for others. Some examples may be avoid saying something unpleasant because it will upset someone else. Or not going fishing because it hurts fish. We have so many desires and some of them will harm others so before we do something, we should think about if it will harm other living beings. Together with Sense of Shame, Consideration of Others acts as foundation for our moral discipline. Without these two states of mind, our daily behavior will be negative.
The next virtuous state of mind is non-attachment. It is the direct opponent of attachment. As we have discussed in the past, attachment is one of the three poisons that keep us in samsara. We cannot attain liberation while staying attached to samsara. If we have attachment, we are controlled by our circumstances. Think about it. If a pleasurable object shows up, we automatically develop attachment. Avoiding all pleasurable objects is not the answer. Otherwise, we will avoid, food we like, clothes we wear, friends we hang out with and so on. That is not the idea. Idea is to develop a mind of non-attachment by recognizing the faults of attachment.
The next virtuous state of mind is non-hatred. Non-hatred is a direct opponent of hatred. Hatred is same as anger in this scenario. The great Indian yogi Shantideva said that there is no evil greater than anger. It has the power to destroy all the merits we have accumulated in the past. Unless we practice non-hatred, we will not be able to deal with anger, and unless we pacify our anger, we will not find inner peace. When we are angry, we cannot enjoy life. Depending on level of our anger, sometimes, it manifests in physical symptoms. Anger even disturbs our sleep. Unless we have Dharma exposure, we will blame our enemies for all our problems instead of our own delusions and past karma. That will lead to thought of harming them and it will create more negative karma. If we see our hatred coming up, we should try to practice non-hatred by thinking it is not appropriate for me to hate this person as it will only create more negative karma and will harm me in future. This way of thinking will stop the hatred train in its tracks before it takes off. Non-hatred overcomes irritation and frustration and allows us to respond to a situation in calm and positive manner. When we practice non-hatred, we have no enemies.
OK, so we will continue this discussion next week with the remaining virtuous states of mind.