Guard yourself like a fortified City

Mark Wong

Nagaraṃ yathā paccantaṃ
Guttaṃ santara bāhiraṃ
Evaṃ gopetha attānaṃ
Khaṇo ve mā uapccagā
Khaṇātitā hi socanti
Nirayamhi samappitā
                        Dpd.315

As a border town is guarded both inside and outside,
So guard yourself.
Let not the opportunity go by;
For those who miss the opportunity come to grief
When they fall into a woeful state.
Trans. K.Sri Dhammananda

Gotama Buddha employed the metaphor of guarding one’s  town  against the external attack or plunder  of robbers to admonish us not to neglect in guarding the state of one’s mind. Guarding against the attack or plunder of robbers and against the arising of unwholesome or unskilful state of mind are equally important. For a Buddhist practioner, guarding the mind is guarding the six sense doors well so that the mind is not defiled with cankers or taints (āsavas).

When one is obsessed by mental constructs (papañca) or false imagination of the unreal, the mind is poorly guarded.  The  unguarded mind is defiled with cankers (āsavas). The mind is considered well-guarded if the mind is not defiled by false mental constructs. The mind is defiled  when one’s mind grasps upon the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhā) as this is I; this is mine; this belongs to me. The non-grasping upon the five aggregates can be actualized by executing the skill of the four establishments of mindfulness (cattāri satipațțhāna) adeptly .

Satipațțhāna annihilate the superimposition of self-centric ego (attā; ahaṃkāra)   through right mindfulness and clear awareness so that one does not grasp upon the five aggregates as this is I; this is mine; this belongs to me. The complete annihilation of self-centric ego purifies the mind. The self-centric ego is the spiritual robber against which must be guarded .

Guarding the six sense doors well connotes that the one is mindful and heedful not to defile the mind with grasping upon the five aggregates or not to superimpose the mind with illusory self-centric ego. Annihilation of personality view (sakkāya-dițțhi) annihilates the self-centric ego. Guarding the six sense doors is self-protection. Self-protection through heedfulness is also protection of others through heedfulness. Besides being heedful not to evoke the notion of Iness and mineness to protect oneself, one also exercises heedfulness to be patient, harmless, lovingly kind and sympathetic towards others.

Editor’s Note:

Protecting oneself, one protects others. Protecting others, one protects oneself. The spiritual benefit is always reciprocal. Religious wisdom is a win-win strategy in human interrelationship.