The Twenty-Five Preliminary Ways & Means

The Twenty-Five Preliminary Ways & Means
for Observation of the Mind, Page Two

From The Calm-Observation, Volume Four...

Briefly there are five categories:
A. Possessing the Five Conditions
B. Rejecting the Five Desires
C. Discarding the Five Shrouds
D. Regulating the Five Activities
E. Practicing the Five Spiritual Practices

One is not alone on the path of enlightenment as it is broadly spread by many different people. People need a broad variety of different conditions and circumstances to advance on the spiritual path. Because of this it is necessary for them to be in possession of five conditions.
Already endowed with the power of these conditions, they should destroy all of their appetites and sensory desires.
With their desires for the outer objects of senses being eliminated, they should purify the inner mind.
When the mind is serene, they should regulate and adjust the five activities.
Once the five activities are regulated, with the five spiritual practices they can directly attain observation of the mind.

These ways & means can be illustrated by a master of pottery:

When he desires to make a vessel, he selects a good location, free of any gravel or poor soil and abundant in water and vegetation. This place is established to make the vessel.
Next he ceases all other business matters. Without having to bother with any other business, he can settle down to the work at hand.
Although he may have ceased the external relationships, in his body there is a sickness. How can he apply himself to the making of vessels?
Although his body is serene and at peace, the wheel of mud is not in proper working order and consequently the vessels cannot be produced.
Although all of the conditions above have been been satified, he does not concentrate on doing it, he abandons the work or does not continually stay at it, or he does not discern the principle of how to do make the vessels.

The Five Conditions of Calm-Observation are also like this:

With the physical body depending upon and borrowing directly from the temporary resources available, it is like finding a suitable location.
In losing interest in sensory desires, it is like ceasing external relationships.
In discarding the five shrouds, it is like healing the inner sickness.
In regulating the five activities, it is like training in the working of the wheel.
In practicing the five spiritual practices, it is like making the vessels without ever quitting.

The shallow activities of this world do not occur without the convergence of conditions. This is even more true for the spiritual path that is beyond this world. If there were no twists and turns, how could one make any steps towards spiritual transformation? And so there is the progression of the twenty-five conditions. With observation one regulates that which is coarse and enters into that which is refined. One investigates the scattered mind and makes it quiet. Therefore this is called the distant, long-term ways & means.

Next, possession of the five conditions...

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