Chapter 13
Four Kinds of Protective Meditation

The following explanation of Caturarakka-meditation provides meditators with four meditation themes used to protect those who exercise their minds. There are some Buddhist meditators who, realizing the protection they afford, contemplate these four themes everyday for the benefit of being more peaceful while they are making progress in their mental training. The four themes of meditation that directly protect and save meditators from dangers are:

1. Buddhanusati—contemplation on the virtues of the Buddha,

4. Maranasati—mindfulness of death.

All these together are called “Caturarakka-kammatthana” meaning ‘the four kinds of meditation that protect meditators’.

Contemplation on the virtues of the Buddha is one which directly eradicates fear and downheartedness. When one begins to practice meditation, especially in a forest or under a tree, naturally one fears the presence of ferocious animals. This is why there is the warning to “Uphold the mind at the time when it should be upheld” and “to check the mind when it should be checked.” This caution means that when the mind is low and discouraged, one should recollect on the virtues of the Buddha since this will make the meditator courageous, fearless and determined to proceed in life and in mental practice.

However, it is often said “Buddham, Dhammam, Sangham saranam gacchami—I take the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha for my refuge.” If this is really meant and correctly understood, then people will not take things other than the Triple Gem to be their refuge. Whosoever thinks often of the Buddha will be courageous and fearless because he is confident and knows that he has the most excellent refuge.

One can recollect the virtues of the Buddha either in brief, or in detail. The brief recollection of the Buddha’s virtues can be performed with the following chanting:

“Namo tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma-sambuddhassa”.

Meaning,

“Homage to the Exalted One, the Perfect One, and the perfectly

This chanting proclaims the significance of the Buddha’s virtues. Buddhists always utter this chanting but many do not understand any of its hidden meaning. In this chanting, it is apparent that Three mains of His virtues appear.

The first one is His great mercifulness which is revealed by the word, “Bhagavato”, meaning that he is the analyzer of the Dhamma. The Buddha exercised extreme compassion when he analyzed the Dhamma for the benefit of worldly beings so that they could reach proper understanding. Otherwise they would have remained ignorant and would not have understood the Dhamma. The second is His purity, which comes from the word, “Arahato”, meaning that He is an Arahant who is far from defilements. The third one is His supreme wisdom, which appears in the word, “Samma-sambuddhassa”, meaning that He is fully self-enlightened. In other words, He does not have any teacher; all His knowledge is a result of His self-enlightenment.

The Buddha possesses these three great virtues perfectly. Anyone who steadily and frequently reminds himself that “Blessed is the Buddha who possesses the qualities of mercifulness, purity, and supreme wisdom” will in turn be blessed with delight and tranquillity.

To recollect the Buddha’s virtues in detail, one should recall all nine virtues of the Buddha starting with the verse, “Bhagava—He who analyzes the Dhamma” and ending with the verse, “Buddho—He who is the knower, the wakeful one, and the one who wakens others”. Recollect also that the Blessed One is to be given unconditional faith because, before His Enlightenment, worldly beings were burning in the Fire of Passions (defilements). In their ignorance, they could not have known that the fire exists, nor could they have known how to extinguish the fire. The Buddha described the fires as follows.

(A) The Fire of Sufferings is caused by birth, decay and death, which are inevitable and occur to every person.

(B) The Fire of Passions or Defilements occur inside the minds of worldly beings. The three forms of Fire are: Ragaggi—Fire of Raga (lust), Dosaggi—Fire of Dosa (anger), and Mohaggi—Fire of Moha (ignorance) and they exist inside the minds of human beings. Before the Buddha’s Enlightenment, there was no one with any knowledge of these fires, nor the knowledge of how to extinguish them. But after His Enlightenment, He described the fires and showed the way to eradicate sufferings.

He is our benefactor, since after knowing the Dhamma, He taught people the way to dissipate sufferings. Thus, He should be highly respected so that we may be endowed with strong faith. Therefore, recollecting His virtues, the mind that used to be downhearted and in deep despair will become encouraged and will not be discouraged any longer.

Some aspirants may not be downhearted but they may be afraid. For example they may be afraid of death, of being struck by a car, of being hurt, of ghosts, of snakes, or of many other dangerous situations, animals, or imagined spirits. It is human nature to be afraid and for this reason refuge is sought by all. However, we already have the safest of all refuges—the Buddha.

It is puzzling why more of us do not take this refuge. We should never hesitate to announce that the Buddha is our supreme refuge and that we will not seek any other refuge. In the evening chanting we chant, “Buddhassaham niyademi, sariranjivitancidam,” meaning, “I give my body and dedicate my life to the Buddha”. Thus dedicated, our lives are His and not ours any longer. Totally believing in Him whom we have declared as our refuge, we should recollect the virtues of the Buddha when we are afraid and recite, “Namo Tassa Bhagavato, Arahato, Samma-sambuddhassa”. Having so recited, nothing can harm us as we are under the holy protection of the Buddha. Moreover, we gain merit every time we perform this recollection.

2. Metta—loving-kindness for all beings

The cultivation of Metta drives away anger (Dosa) and ill-will (Vyapada). Therefore, the development of loving-kindness should be practiced by those who have anger or ill-will. Extending one’s loving-kindness constantly is also an especially effective manner of merit making and is more meritorious than charity and observing the precepts; it moves one closer to Jhana as well. The Buddha states in the Book of Ekanipata of the Anguttaranikaya:

“Accharasanghatamattampi ce bhikkhave bhikkhu metta cittam

bhaveti asevati…”

which means,

“Bhikkhus, if you extend your loving-kindness for just an instant, you are said to be not far from Jhana, (even for such a period of time) being obedient and my faithful followers. Thus you waste not the food which the people give you. It is not necessary to consider the merit of those who extend loving-kindness for longer periods.”

This confirms that the benefits of metta are great, even with only an instant of extension. Therefore, if performed for longer periods of time, the benefits are inestimable. Loving-kindness is sure to protect those who cultivate it constantly. Additionally, one with loving-kindness is loved by all.

The Buddha said that one who extends loving-kindness receives the following benefits, if metta is cultivated properly. They are:

(1) One sleeps happily,

(2) One awakens happily,

(3) One experiences no nightmares,

(4) One is adored by mankind,

(5) One is adored by non-human beings,

(6) Deities protect him,

(7) Fire, poison and any kind of weapons cannot harm him,

(8) One’s complexion is serene,

(9) One can concentrate one’s mind quickly,

(10) One dies undeluded,

(11) If one does not progress to the final goal of Buddhism, then after

one’s death, one goes to the realm of Brahma world.

The eleventh benefit refers to those who have attained Jhana. Those others who have not attained to Jhana will be born in the place being appropriate to the merit they have accumulated.

3. Asubha—The recollection on the repulsiveness of the body.

This meditation theme, Asubha, eradicates lust (raka). In general, this is for laymen who become overpowered by lust, thus making themselves unhappy and far from peaceful. The Buddha advises us to practice this meditation theme, recollection on the repulsiveness of the body, to banish the lustful forms of mental hindrance.

In fact, the human body is full of manifold impurities. For example, the hair on the head, the body hair, the nails, the teeth, the skin, etc. are all dirty, unclean, and repulsive. The body is like an unwashed toilet. If one is ten years old, then one is like a ten-year-old unwashed toilet. If one is twenty years old, then one is like a twenty-year-old toilet that has never been cleaned.

The body is the abode for impurities and remains. It is a cemetery for the corpses of pigs, ducks, chickens, and other animals that one has eaten. It is a shelter for various diseases caused by the germs that reside in the body. These diseases use the body as their birthplace, their place of procreation, and their place of death. These diseases (called worms by monks) breed, decay, and die inside our bodies.

Furthermore, the body is a moving skeleton. If we reverse the internal organs to the outside of our body, then crows and dogs will certainly chase after us to eat our meat, organs, blood, and so on. One who constantly reminds himself of the repulsiveness of the body as described above will be able to destroy one’s lustful desire for the body.

4. Maranasati—mindfulness of death

This meditation theme, Maranasati, is a means to free the restless mind caught in a tangle of thoughts and to prevent one from being careless in life. If one practices being mindful of death, then this will cause one to make haste in doing good. One should recall, “I am surely going to die someday, probably before reaching an old age. However, should I remain alive until old age, then I am still sure to die soon afterwords.” Or, one may chant the words, “maranam, maranam or death, death”. This will serve to remind us that we must certainly die someday.

In fact, we are even more sure that we must die since we have seen others die before us. For example, our grandparents and great grandparents have probably already died. At present, people are dying every moment and more will die at each and every moment of the future. We should consider the following words; these words are used by monks before they accept the robes dedicated to a deceased person by his survivors:

 Subbe satta maranti ca All beings are dying now,

Marimsu ca marissare Many beings have already died,

and all beings will die.

tathevaham marissami We also will die like this.

natthi me ettha samsayo There is no doubt that we must die.

Death should be regarded as the end of everything that we possess in our lives. We cannot take loved ones or treasured, worldly belongings with us. We have to leave all that we have on earth. Even our own bodies must be left behind. We can take with us only our merit or evil, which we have accumulated. When death comes, no one can delay it. We cannot ask the death master (maccu-raja) to wait while we complete whatever task we are engaged in. Nor will we receive additional time to advise others who will take over our tasks once we have departed.

Death is all-powerful. We can never know what diseases or Karma will bring to us, nor can we know the time we will die. So the Buddha regularly exhorted, “Make haste in doing good”. The way we practice for mind development can be regarded as an attempt to do good. So do not wait to do good since life is impermanent.

Thus contemplating death, the restless mind will become calm and will be disillusioned with false thoughts and ideas about life and death. In order to get the best results from being mindful of death, it is advised that the following three factors be considered:

 1. Maintaining mindfulness during recollections of death

3. Possessing a clear understanding (nana) that one is sure to die.

If the three factors are combined, then restlessness will be calmed, one will not be afraid of death, and one will make haste in doing good. Therefore this meditation theme is also a protector of the mind.

In short, all four meditation themes should be recollected both day and night. In so doing the meditator will be protected by their power, just like being protected by powerful deities. These four protectors will prevent one from staying in wicked places, from going astray, and from being in trouble.

Therefore, one who recollects these four protectors daily will create a holy guardian within oneself. One’s mind will be well-cultured, serene, strong, and distant from the perils of retribution and danger. One will receive the benefits of one’s good conduct and it will be worthwhile to be one who was born a human in Buddhism. The Dhamma, proclaimed by the Lord Buddha, protects those who practice in making them happy and free from suffering. So they can progress in their lives as a result of their righteous conduct.

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