I have spent most of my adult life living in a city,
having a job and practising Dharma. In the city, I am
faced with a very different landscape from what the
Buddha saw in his life: pavement and sidewalks, fire
hydrants, buses, traffic signals and neon signs. I
regularly go on retreat to beautiful natural areas, but
I also try to bring the practices of transformation into
my daily urban life.
At the beginning of the Satipattana Sutta, the Buddha
makes this inspiring declaration: “This is the direct
path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming
of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain
and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the
realization of liberation.” He goes on to describe a
myriad of ways to practice that will put us on this
path, many of which apply mindfulness to the direct
experience of our own physical body, “contemplating the
body as a body.” I particularly like the practice of the
“four elements” - reflecting on the body as composed of
air, water, fire and earth - and exploring its relevance
for us today in an urban environment. The direct
experience of the human body seems to remain the same
after thousands of years despite technological
innovations and new geographic boundaries.
Air element
Let’s start with the air element. Many people use this
as their base object of awareness in sitting meditation:
the movement of the breath as it enters and leaves the
body. The simple act of breathing, something we have
been doing since the moment of our birth and which we
will continue doing until our death, is the continuous
syncopation of our lives. The air element sustains us,
and we share the air that we breathe with everyone,
whatever their age, ethnicity, occupation, bank account
or species. We share it with all other expressions of
urban life the dogs, cats, pigeons, mice and insects
and, fortunately, also with the plants, who are quietly
respiring in exchange with us, breathing in CO2 and
breathing out oxygen.
You can connect directly with the experience of the air
element at any time. Bring your attention to your chest
expanding and contracting as you breathe. See others
breathing by paying attention to those waiting with you
at the bus stop, to the dog lying on the sidewalk, to
the baby rolling by in a stroller. Observe flags wafting
in the breeze and plastic bags being blown around in
circles in alleys. Notice a vehicle belching clouds of
smog, impacting the air element for all of us. Sense the
air element as movement, internally and externally.
Water element
Next is the water element. We can’t live very long
without the water element. Like the surface of the Earth
itself, the human body is made up of about seventy
percent water. We are like walking bags of liquid held
together by our skin. We are constantly replenishing the
liquid in our bodies like giant water filters, with more
liquid poured in and then excreted through sweat, urine
and tears. Water is carried through our bodies in
systems of arteries, veins and other vessels just as,
beneath our feet on the sidewalk, elaborate systems of
pipes bring water to buildings for us to drink and wash
with, while others remove sewage and waste. Our
individual bodies periodically interact with these
larger systems.
Feel the liquid nature of your own body - the saliva in
your mouth, the lubrication of your eyeballs, the
gurgling in your belly. Feel the softness of your arms,
legs and torso; this is due to the liquidity and
cohesion of the water element in your body. As you turn
on a faucet to get a drink, flush the toilet, or pass a
gushing fire hydrant, sense the water element,
internally and externally.
Fire element
The fire element represents the heat or coolness we feel
in our body. As delicate organisms, we can only survive
within a limited range of temperature. The fire element
burns up food in digestion - and slowly ages us. Our
life is like a bonfire, consuming all the fuel we pile
on it. (and none of us knows how long our fire will
burn.)
Our skin goes from fresh and unwrinkled as babies to
drier and more shriveled as we age, just as the paint on
buildings crackles and peels in the sun. The fire
element is present in the heat and energy from neon
signs and traffic lights, as well as in the furnaces and
space heaters we use to keep ourselves warm.
Drop into your body with an awareness of temperature and
feel that different parts of the body have different
levels of heat and coolness. Notice how these levels are
constantly shifting, like the temperature of the air
outside as the Earth rotates and tilts through the
seasons during the year. Pay attention to the fire
element in the vast system of electrical wires running
above our streets that connect to the wiring in our
homes and offices. In the glow of your computer screen
and the warmth of your hands typing, feel the fire
element, internally and externally.
Earth element
Finally, the earth element represents solidity-hardness
or softness, roughness or smoothness. The Earth always
supports us regardless of what we have done or how hard
our day may have been. We can feel the solidity of our
bones and teeth and the pressure of our body on the
ground as we sit or stand. The earth element is apparent
all over the city - in the concrete of the roads, the
bricks of the buildings, the metals of the vehicles.
Notice the solidity of the earth element reflected in
the architectural structure of buildings, just as it is
in the skeletal scaffolding of your body. Remember the
earth element, internally and externally.
The food that sustains us is made up of all four
elements. Vegetables and grains were grown in the earth,
watered by the rain, and nourished by the light of the
sun and warmth of the air. In the city, it often seems
like food comes from store shelves, vending machines and
foil or plastic packages. But when you reflect a little
more deeply, you can remember that it is the four
elements that nourish our life through each meal we eat,
even if it comes in a takeout container.
Contemplation of the four elements call into question
the boundary between “me” and “not me”. Where is the
boundary between me and the air I breathe? The water I
drink? The minerals in the vitamins I swallow? The waste
that comes from my body and returns to the Earth? At
what point does the sandwich I eat end and my body
begin? Boundaries are not as clear as they seem.
Relaxing into this truth can bring tremendous freedom,
confidence and joy. We are part of our environment,
whether hiking through the woods or strolling down a
busy street. Our bodies are made of the same elements
that we see around us and are affected by the health and
vitality of these elements. We are earth, air, fire and
water; we are concrete, wind currents, electricity and
hydrants. As the Buddha said, “This is the direct path
for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of
sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain
and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the
realization of liberation.” Enjoy your urban
contemplation.
Courtesy: Fall 2009: Inquiring Mind.
(The writer is a management consultant and Dhamma
teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.)
පසෙලාස්වක
අව
අටවක
අමාවක
පුර
අටවක