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Viveka-Zandtao

Appendix C

   

Tetrads		Key Points	Thay Additions	Thay description 65
First	The Long Breath	Buddha’s Pranayama		In/out
Kaya	The Short Breath	Cooling Emotions		Long/short
	Experiencing All Breaths	Develop a kaya-conditioner routine		Experiencing body
	Harmonising body with heart - oneness of body and heart
	Calming the Breath			Calming body
Second	Piti (contentment)	Stopping spinning		Experiencing joy
Vedana	Sukha (joy)			Experiencing bliss
	Experiencing the mind-conditioner	Develop a vedana-conditioner routine	44.3 feelings arising from body and mind	Experiencing mental formations
	Harmonising body and vedana with heart - oneness with heart
	Calming the mind-conditioner	Develop a feeling of temporary nibbana nibbana-dhatu		Calming mental formations
Third	Experiencing citta.	Working correctly - supramundane		Experiencing mind
Citta	Delighting the Mind	Present moment touching seeds	46.6 Present Moment - joy arising from touching seeds	Gladdening mind
	Concentrating the Mind	Stability, purity, activeness		Concentrating mind
	Harmonising citta, vedana and kaya with heart - oneness with heart
	Liberating the Mind	End upadana and kilesa (now). Not attaching to the khandhas.	47.7 - description of what is liberated. Untying fetters	Liberating mind
	Dhamma		All dharmas - objects of mind
Fourth	Integrate mind emotion and body in heart-consciousness leading to Anicca and anatta	4 aspects of dhamma:-	Anicca	Contemplating anicca
Heart	Dissolving attachment and fading away Quenching Dukkha - nirodha	Nature itself, laws of nature, duty, rewards duty	Disappearing Desire	Contemplating non-craving
	Interdependence	All 6 – anicca, dukkha, anatta, sunnata, tathata, idappaccayata	Cessation	Contemplating nirvana
	Throwing it all back. State of atammayata leads to faith bringing in light of consciousness and awakening the heart.	Practice a time of deep observation - not achieving the 4 tetrads only but once we have brought in consciousness spend time just observing in a state of Awakened Heart, Consciousness, Unity and Atammayata	Letting go	Contemplating letting go

Quotes from Thay's book used in above table:-

p44.3 "The seventh and eighth exercises bring your attention to all feelings that arise, whether produced by the body (kayasamskara) or the mind (cittasamskara). The mind’s functions include feelings and perceptions. When you are aware of every bodily function and every mental action, you are aware of every feeling. The eighth exercise calms the body and mind and makes them peaceful."

p46.6 "The tenth exercise makes our minds happy, because it is easier for the mind to become concentrated when it’s in a peaceful, happy state than when it’s filled with sorrow or anxiety. We’re aware that we have the opportunity to practice meditation and that there is no moment as important as the present one. Calmly abiding in the present moment, immense joy arises each time we touch in ourselves the seeds of faith, compassion, goodness, equanimity, liberty, and so on. These seeds are buried deep in our consciousness, and we need only to touch them and water them with conscious breathing for them to manifest."

p47.7 "The mind is bound either because of the past or the future, or because of other latent desires, or anger. With clear observation, we can locate the knots that are binding us, making it impossible for our minds to be free and at peace. We loosen these knots and untie the ropes that bind our minds. Full Awareness of Breathing shines into the mind the light of the observation that can illumine and set the mind free. Looking deeply at the nature of mental formations such as fear, anger, anxiety, and so on, brings about the understanding that will liberate us."

p50.4 Thay disagrees with MwB and Zandtaomed. "Although the first four exercises help our concentration very much, and every time we practice it is helpful to do these, it is not always necessary to practice the sixteen exercises in sequence." Always - perhaps strict but going through all 4 tetrads is the usual process.

Observation meditation - no separation - non-duality - 4 tetrads - kaya conditioner creating calm body -vedana conditioner creating calm feelings - citta-conditioner calm mind - connecting to Dhamma - buddha-nature. p54.0 "Observation meditation is a lucid awareness of what is going on in the Four Establishments: body, feelings, mind, and all dharmas, “persevering, fully awake, clearly understanding his state, gone beyond all attachment and aversion to this life."