One Who Guards The Doors of The Six Sense Bases

And how is a Monk guarded as to the doors of the six sense bases?

Here, a Monk, seeing a form with the eye… he hears a sound with the ear… with the nose smells an odor… with the tongue tastes a flavor… with the body touches a physical object… with the mind he recognizes a mental object, does not grasp at the general features or at the details of them.

Since craving and aversion, evil, unwholesome states might flow in upon one who dwells with the sense base of the eye uncontrolled… the sense base of the ear uncontrolled… the sense base of the nose uncontrolled… the sense base of the tongue uncontrolled... the sense base of the body uncontrolled... the sense base of the mind uncontrolled, he applies himself to such control, he sets a guard over the sense base of the eye… the sense base of the ear… the sense base of the nose… the sense base of the tongue… the sense base of the body... the sense base of the mind, attains control of them.

That is how a Monk has the doors of the six sense bases guarded.

(Reference: SN 35.239)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that one should guard the doors of The Six Sense Bases. This is also referred to as “guarding the doorways to discontentedness”. The practice of Right Mindfulness, to include, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is how a Practitioner would “guard the doorways to discontentedness”.

All discontentedness experienced in the mind will be experienced through one of these doorways - the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind. Through being observant of the mind by practicing Right Mindfulness, a Practitioner is able to guard the mind cutting off and letting go of any arising discontentedness as a bodily sensation ensuring that it does not reach the mind to become discontent feelings.

A Practitioner who trains the mind to be able to control The Six Sense Bases is able to guard those doorways ensuring the mind does not experience discontentedness related to experiences of agreeable or disagreeable forms, sounds, odors, flavors, physical objects, or mental objects entering one of these doorways and affecting the mind.

In practice, this can be employed in multiple ways.

For example, if a Practitioner finds themselves in a conversation where the discussion has become heated, they might decide to walk away removing the mind, and thus the doorways (i.e. The Six Sense Bases) from the conversation. Then, the ear will not hear the argumentative speech to affect the mind. Instead, the Practitioner is guarding the doorway by practicing Right Mindfulness to be aware of the arising of discontentedness and then applies Right Effort to, cut it off and let it go, which might include, leaving the conversation to protect the mind.

A second example might include, that if you know you are about to speak with someone who tends to be argumentative, that you prepare the mind ahead of time that the person who you are about to have a conversation with, may become argumentative at any time during the conversation. And, if that happens, you plan to remain quiet, ignore the argumentative speech, change the subject, or otherwise defuse the situation, perhaps even leaving the conversation entirely.

A third example might include, that if you know you have a craving/desire/attachment to having the place where you reside to look a certain way and the mind craves for things to be in a certain place, prior to entering a residence that you share with others, you prepare the mind that the residence is not going to look the way you want it to look and that the mind needs to be peaceful and calm remaining unaffected when you observe things are not the way the mind wants or expects them to be. The problem is not that things aren’t in the right place, instead, the problem is that the mind is uncomfortable with impermanence and that items in the home cannot be permanently in the same spot. A Practitioner needs to train the mind to have restraint and control that it is disciplined to recognize the true problem it’s facing is that the mind wants and expects things to be a certain way permanently and that is not possible. Guarding the doorways would be to practice Right Mindfulness (i.e. awareness of mind) then, exercise restraint and control over the mind so that it does not become discontent due to its own cravings/desires/attachments related to anything that may enter The Six Sense Bases.

If the mind becomes aware of an agreeable or disagreeable form, sound, odor, flavor, physical object, or mental object through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind, it will need to exercise restraint, control, and discipline so that its craving/desire/attachment does not produce discontentedness in the mind. Any arising pleasant feelings, painful feelings, or feelings that are neither painful-nor-pleasant is discontentedness and will need to be cut off and let go.

But, if the Practitioner can reside guarding the doorways not allowing the mind to be triggered, then discontentedness does not arise as bodily sensations, feelings, affect the condition of the mind, or form mental objects.

Guarding the doorways to discontentedness would include being watchful over the mind, practicing Right Mindfulness to include The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, not allowing it to be triggered through The Six Sense Bases.