Develop Meditation That is Like the Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space

Rāhula, develop meditation that is like the earth; for when you develop meditation that is like the earth, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Just as people throw clean things and dirty things, excrement, urine, saliva, pus, and blood on the earth, and the earth is not horrified, humiliated, and disgusted because of that,

So too, Rāhula, develop meditation that is like the earth; for when you develop meditation that is like the earth, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Rāhula, develop meditation that is like water; for when you develop meditation that is like water, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Just as people wash clean things and dirty things, excrement, urine, saliva, pus, and blood in water, and the water is not horrified, humiliated, and disgusted because of that,

So too, Rāhula, develop meditation that is like water; for when you develop meditation that is like water, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Rāhula, develop meditation that is like fire; for when you develop meditation that is like fire, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Just as people burn clean things and dirty things, excrement, urine, saliva, pus, and blood in fire, and the fire is not horrified, humiliated, and disgusted because of that,

So too, Rāhula, develop meditation that is like fire; for when you develop meditation that is like fire, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Rāhula, develop meditation that is like wind; for when you develop meditation that is like wind, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Just as the wind blows on clean things and dirty things, on excrement, urine, saliva, pus, and blood, and the wind is not horrified, humiliated, and disgusted because of that,

So too, Rāhula, develop meditation that is like wind; for when you develop meditation that is like wind, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Rāhula, develop meditation that is like space; for when you develop meditation that is like space, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

Just as space is not established anywhere, so too, Rāhula, develop meditation that is like space; for when you develop meditation that is like space, arisen agreeable and disagreeable contacts will not invade the mind and remain.

(Reference: MN 62)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares a Teaching with his son Rāhula.

While Gotama Buddha left the Royal Palace for a life of homelessness, he did return back to the region where his family lived. Many of his family members decided to join him as Ordained Practitioners including his son, wife, step mother, cousins, and others. Rāhula is the son of The Buddha and here he provides him a Teaching related to the development of meditation providing insight to help him deepen his practice of meditation.

Gotama Buddha relates meditation to the four (4) elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. There is a fifth category of “space” or “ether” that is often used to describe the emptiness or lack of the other four (4) elements.

During the lifetime of The Buddha and now in traditional medicine, the body is described through The Four Elements. The body is categorized into four (4) different elements such as: earth, water, fire, and wind. Each of these is used to describe the characteristics of the body.

Earth is the solids of the body. For example, hair, teeth, bones, finger and toe nails, etc.

Water is the liquids of the body. For example, tears, saliva, pus, urine, blood, etc.

Fire is the temperature of the body. For example, the heat that is generated to sustain the body. This element is also connected with the process of digestion.

Wind is the movement within the body. For example, the movement of food and feces through the intestines of the body.

Space is the lack of any other of The Four Elements. For example, the voids or empty spaces in the body like the nasal cavity or other locations where there is nothing that exists.

The Four Elements are used in traditional medicine to understand symptoms of illness and provide remedies to the patient. Space is not considered an element because it lacks the qualities of any of the other elements. There are no elemental qualities as it is described as the lack of or absence of, all the other qualities. Some people consider “space” to be a fifth element, but The Buddha described only The Four Elements.

Not only can the human body be described through The Four Elements, but we can also describe any physical object through The Four Elements as all material objects have a combination of The Four Elements.

Rāhula is encouraged to develop meditation like the earth as the earth is unaffected by agreeable or disagreeable contact. Here, the earth is being used describing the actual dirt or soil of the earth to explain how it is unaffected by clean or dirty things such as excrement, urine, saliva, pus, and blood.

Through training the mind in meditation in this way, then in daily life one will benefit from this training to ensure that contact with agreeable or disagreeable forms, sounds, smells, flavors, physical objects, or mental objects “will not invade the mind and remain”.

Whether our contact with forms, sounds, smells, flavors, physical objects, or mental objects (The Six External Sense Bases) is agreeable or disagreeable, the mind needs to be trained to reside unaffected not allowing this contact to “invade the mind”. In doing so, a Practitioner can cut off and let go of any arising discontentedness that is produced as a result of agreeable or disagreeable contact eventually getting to the point where the mind resides unaffected by agreeable or disagreeable contact.

Not only does a Practitioner need to train to not allow the agreeable or disagreeable contact to arise pleasant feelings, painful feelings, or feelings that are neither painful-nor-pleasant in meditation and in daily life but also, if these feelings do arise, a Practitioner will need to cut them off and let them go. A Practitioner can then ensure that agreeable or disagreeable contact with forms, sounds, smells, flavors, physical objects, and mental objects “will not invade the mind and remain”.

The ideal goal would be to catch any arising discontentedness as a bodily sensation to cut it off and let it go at that point. Then, the arising discontentedness never invades the mind. But, should the Practitioner not catch the arising discontentedness as bodily sensations and it moves to feelings in the mind, then one will need to cut it off and let it go as a feeling in the mind so that the arisen discontentedness does not “remain" in the mind.

Once arising discontentedness is allowed to move past the bodily sensations into feelings in the mind, they then have the ability to affect the condition of the mind lasting multiple hours, days, or weeks. Should a Practitioner not cut off and eliminate unwholesome conditions of the mind, they then have the ability to form mental objects such as complacency, ill will, restlessness, worry, and others that remain for significant periods of time making it much more difficult to eliminate from the mind. (These are described in more detail as part of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness.)

So, Gotama Buddha is providing guidance to develop meditation where the Practitioner’s mind is unaffected by any agreeable contact that might arise pleasant feelings and unaffected by any disagreeable contact that might arise painful feelings.

Train the mind to be unaffected just like the earth, water, fire, wind and space where agreeable and disagreeable contact will not invade the mind and remain.

Detailed explanation of The Six Sense Bases is available in this same book series found in the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1) or “The Six Sense Bases” (Volume 9).

Detailed explanation of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is available in this same book series found in the book “Developing a Life Practice: The Path That Leads to Enlightenment” (Volume 1) or “Breathing Mindfulness Meditation” (Volume 7).