We have seen two different motivations for meditating: the initial motivation to improve oneself, and the ultimate motivation to be liberated, including from existential boredom and anxiety. These motivations give rise to two distinct meditation paths: the inital and the ultimate paths. Nevertheless, both rely on the same set of three fundamental skills: the travel equipment. These will be introduced in this post, described in the context of the initial path. In the next one (Post 6), it will be explained in general terms how they apply through both paths toward liberation. Then, in Posts 7, 8, and 9, methods for developing each of the three skills will be presented.
The Fundamental Skills For all parts of the journey the following tools are needed: discipline, concentration, and insight. These come from a basic teaching of the Buddhadhamma, the Four Noble (or Ennobling) Truths. These state the following.
1. There is suffering, 2. Suffering has a cause. 3. This cause can be stopped. 4. There is a way to stop the cause of suffering.
The way, mentioned in 4, is known as the Eight-fold Path, and can be grouped into three categories of skill.
* Discipline: right action, right speech, right livelihood * Concentration: right effort, right concentration, right mindfulness * Insight: right view, right intention
This traditional subdivision leads to the Interconnected Threefold Training. In our model, right effort will be placed under discipline, and right mindfulness will be associated with insight, aligning with its role in cultivating clear seeing.
Discipline consists of two components: diligence and respect1. Of these Diligence enables right effort in meditation. The other component Respect—for oneself, others, and the world—supports ethical behavior through right action, right speech, and right livelihood. The skill of Concentration is the ability to focus attention on something for longer than usual. Finally Insight is 1. understanding which mind-states and actions lead to genuine happiness, and which diminish it. Deeper insight also involves 2. an intuitive grasp that both Worldview and Selfview are virtual realities created by the mind, and 3. an understanding of the lawful nature of the stream of consciousness, as depicted below.
Interconnected training Insight cannot be forced, but it requires concentration. This is similar to solving a mathematical2 problem. For the more interesting problems, there is no clearly described method for finding a solution, we must rely on insight and trust that one will emerge. The chances of this happening increase, when we stay with the problem in a focused way, for an extended period. Concentration is developed through simple repetition. And for that, we need discipline. Finally, discipline is sustained by effort. The interconnected development of these three skills is as follows: with the effort we are able to provide some discipline, and using this we raise the level of concentration. This, in turn, enables the probability that intuitive insight arises. When this happens, it inspires renewed effort toward reinforced discipline. In this way, the cycle continues, becoming in fact an upward spiral.
The Stream of Consciousness The way life appears to us is through the stream of consciousness. This sometimes is considered as a perpetual flow of input and actions. This then is a purely behaviorist model: input (stimulus) leads to action (response), which in turn changes our environment, providing new input, and so on. What’s missing in such a view is a mind-state, our inner disposition present both while acting and receiving input. The concept of mind-state, or simply state, is necessary to explain why we often act in different ways, even when encountering the same situation twice with identical input. After including ‘state’, the stream of consciousness becomes a dynamic process that can be depicted in the following figure.
In order to interpret this figure, imagine sitting in the driver’s seat of a car. There are many gadgets at your disposal. These can be divided into exactly two disjoint sets: those that you can ‘activate’ (e.g. the gas and brake pedals, the klaxon, and switches to turn on various lights). Let us call these the ‘action switches’. Additionally there are gadgets that you can only ‘observe’ in order to obtain information (e.g. speedometer, mileage counter, and warning lights). These are the various forms of ‘input’ that also can be considered as ‘resultant’, because what we experience on the dashboard happens as a consequence of the actions we have chosen in the past. You as a driver decide what to do next, partly depending on what happens in the resultant input and on what other traffic does. Therefore the driver can be thought to sit in the position between the resultant input3 and action.
Now instead of being the driver of a car, let us shift to human experience. In a similar way in Fig. 5.1 the stream of consciousness includes, alongside Action and Resultant (input), the notion of State, which is akin to the driver making decisions. After an action—whether through the body, speech, or mind—the phenomenological world changes. A bodily action alters the physical arrangement around us, resulting in new sensory input. The same applies to speech: it affects our environment and elicits responses. A mental action does not change the outer world, but it alters our attention, thoughts, and intentions. In all possible cases of an action, the resultant is input for the state that determines what happens next. The stream of consciousness consists of a sequence of snapshots from one of these three fundamental sources: Action, Resultant, State—corresponding to action, input, and intention. Intention is an important function of the (Mind-)State that chooses an action.
The clockwise running arrows
Action → Resultant → State → Action → Resultant → … (chain of events).
represent the causal chain of events. This is not always the order in which we perceive these phenomena. The reason is that some of the events happen ‘in the dark’, outside our awareness (the Buddhadhamma refers to this as ‘ignorance’). If we were fully aware, as is claimed to happen for a fully liberated Arhat, then the logical clockwise running stream would possibly coincide4 with the phenomenological chain.
Cause of Suffering Why does Homo sapiens so often suffer? This is because when we receive pleasant or unpleasant input, in both cases we tend to react automatically, wanting more of the pleasant, or less of the unpleasant. This habitual response gives rise in the mind-state to desire or aversion, respectively, emotions considered unwholesome. Unwholesome mind-states often lead to unwholesome actions, which in turn generate further unpleasant results. These results then reinforce aversion or desire in the next mind-state. In this framework, suffering is the repeated contact with unpleasant input, caused by the self-perpetuating mechanism of the loop. This simplified version of the ‘Dependent Origination’ (with twelve links) was inspired by the Abhidhamma teaching of Sayadaw Dr U Nandamālābhivaṃsa in Sagaing Hill, Myanmar. The possibility of freedom from this loop is illustrated in Fig. 5.2, through the use of the triple tools.
This self-perpetuating mechanism that leads to painful experiences underlies what the Buddhadhamma refers to as the sickness of the mind.
Modifying the Stream of Consciousness
Next, we will explore how these three skills help gradually transform our personality toward liberation. (Figure 5.2 illustrates this process.)
The loop can be interrupted through the cultivation and application of the three skills—concentration, insight, and discipline—that offer a way to change this flow. Concentration helps weaken the seductive or painful pull of input by allowing us to redirect attention. By focusing on something neutral or skillful, we reduce the input’s emotional impact. When input is still experienced as pleasant or unpleasant, mindful observation—foundational to insight—can prevent it from triggering a reactive mind-state. Mindfulness allows us to see the input clearly without immediately falling into desire or aversion. At times, however, mindfulness may be too weak, too slow, or altogether absent. In such cases, the mind-state may still contain some unwholesome factors, and we may feel compelled to act in unwholesome ways. Here, discipline, especially ethical discipline, comes to our aid. It helps prevent harmful action, even when desire or aversion is present in the mind. This restraint interrupts the cycle.
A Medical Metaphor
Already in early Buddhist texts, the Four Noble Truths were likened to a medical model.
The First Truth identifies the symptom: suffering.
The Second Truth reveals the cause: unwholesome mind-states.
The Third Truth confirms the possibility of a medicine, the three skills.
The Fourth Truth offers the treatment plan: the Eight-fold Path.
This metaphor can be extended.
Discipline is like preventing hygiene (e.g. washing hands).
Concentration functions like symptomatic relief (e.g. taking paracetamol).
Insight is like the true cure of the illness (e.g. taking antibiotics).
Liberation is comparable to preventing recurrence—like immunization (e.g. through vaccination).
Through repeated application of the three skills to the stream of consciousness, the mind can be purified by attenuation of these painful loops. Behavior then changes as a natural consequence. For these skills to be effective, they must first be developed to a sufficient degree—a gradual process discussed in Posts 7, 8, and 9. Later we will explore how the full use of these skills can even lead to the eradication of such loops of suffering.
Link to Next Post 6 Table of Contents
In traditional schools in the Netherlands fifty years ago, the pupil had separate grades for “IJver” and for “Gedrag”, Diligence and [Proper] Behavior. In Estonia these grades still exist, but will be abolished from September 1, 2025.
Like solving an interesting mathematical problem—where no method guarantees a solution—insight cannot be forced but requires sustained attention and intuitive emergence.
The driver will of course pay attention to what happens outside of their car. Because it is beyond the control of the driver what other traffic does, this introduces a non-deterministic element in given model of the stream of consciousness. In general this refers to the things that happen in the world.
But this is not guaranteed to happen, as perhaps the causal chain of events may be more complex than the simple model displayed in the above ‘chain of events’.