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In October and November 2020 seven groups  of 7 or 8 meditators  investigated the iddhipādas - the four bases of success -under the auspices of the Samatha Trust (www.samatha.org). They came from Europe, the USA & the Middle East and met weekly for eight sessions on-line.  Each week they investigated one of the iddhipādas, or some aspect of them, in their own lives and reported back to the group on what they had discovered.  For the final session the group members were asked to produce a creative contribution on the iddhipādas as a whole.  On this noticeboard are posted some contributions from this session and some related work.
For further information on this padlet contact Francis Beresford fab@doctors.org.uk

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Iddhipāda formula in Pāli - for chanting

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Iddhipāda formula in Pāli - for chanting

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To my surprise the most important thing that I learnt is not about the four bases of success but about people. The study and discussion brought home to me how different we all are in character and how various are our inner worlds. Approaching  the end of the course I feel a real fondness to my fellow investigators which inspires me to have more, wider and deeper discussions about the things that really matter. Thank you to all who ran and participated in the course.

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Deep longing

Action

Keeping going

Am I still going in the right direction?

What a privilege to be part of a  group exploring the Iddhipadas!  This teaching is so active and relevant to us in every moment of our lives. Reflecting upon life it can be seen that everything we have done or achieved is a result of this process.

They greet you every morning, it’s just after 5, I have already got out of bed, made a cup of tea, started writing this and a few other things besides. On reflection we can see them in the things that are the long haul, lifetime achievements, in  work, in raising  children, in meditation.... the things we do week after week, month after month, year after year, sometimes we are ‘successful’ but  ‘done/doing  the very best we can’ is enough.

They are present in the small day to day things we do. I have a favourite aubergine bake recipe that I have been making for a couple of years now. It’s very simple, and I still use the same ingredients. Every time I make it it is better than the last time. I started by following a recipe but it’s now been tweaked it so much (proportions, cooking time, choice of particular ingredient) that it is no longer just a meal but a feast! In the times when you may be able to visit my house again, I may even cook it for you!

During the time of the group the bare rooted raspberries arrived to be planted, for the third time. There were raspberries here when we moved in, so they will grow here, but they needed replacing. They have been replanted twice and failed, not sure why. This year we have tried a different supplier, made sure there is plenty of grit, enough water, not too much, spoken encouraging words to them. We won’t know till next summer whether they will produce the canes and the fruit we long for... perhaps if you visit in a couple of years you may have a bowlful after your aubergine bake!

We see the process in others too, the course ran over the time of the American election of Joe Biden.... what an interesting example! The period of the search for a coronavirus vaccine.... not quite there yet....

In our meditation practice as in every other part of life, we have a goal. However,  we need to put most of our attention on the path, keeping the love we have for the practice alive, attending to the small steps, just sitting down every day, being creative and open to what we need to do next, making those small adjustments and then looking at the whole picture, taking a step back and reassessing. Aubergine bake is lovely but perhaps I need to have a curry!  Feeding the practice as we do ourselves with delicious meals along the way.

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The iddhipāda formula as a form of practice

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The iddhipāda formula as a form of practice

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The iddhipāda formula as a form of practice

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We were asked to imagine the iddhipadas in a creative way. In this video you can see one interpretation of the four bases of success. There are 4 bases that are equally important and need each other to lead to success. (Click on the image and then on the magnifying class to watch the video.) Citta has an organic shape; Vimamsa is horizontal as it looks at something from all angles; Viriya is sturdy and blocklike but grows more subtle over time; and Chanda is vertical, because it has to be quite straight and clear and unwavering.

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Because the bases do not arise separately but rather together with one being slightly more dominant than the rest, I began to think of them as different facets of the same thing, always joined and interrelated. I started thinking about this geometrically, as a four-sided solid or three-sided pyramid: the tetrahedron. Each face might be one of the bases, and they connect with each other along the edges. In the illustration, chanda is the base of the pyramid, this might represent a case where chanda is leading, or you might say the endeavor rests on chanda, or chanda is at the center. But any of the bases could be in that central position at different times. Like rolling a four-sided die.
In our group discussion, it was suggested that that might be a fun way to playfully engage with the bases. Build the die out of paper, roll, and whatever it lands on try working from that base.

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This could be considered a snapshot of the early stage of a practice when the four iddhipadas are fairly active.

I will not say how the individual iddhipada relate to the image but you could gently bring each one to mind while looking at the image.

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Citta has a complex face, I don't know why.
Vimaṃsa is perfected; the blue spiral.
Viriya is the rather overenthusiastic and possibly overworked red square/circle.
Chanda, just a straightforward, optimistic bright heart!

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Reflections of working in an iddhipadas group during lockdown

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Reflections of working in an iddhipadas group during lockdown

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I have got a lot out of working in the group over the past seven weeks, learnt more about the four iddhipadas, myself and the other people in my group. I think the most important thing for me was that it gave a focus to the week and got me away from the routine of life in the lockdown.

The only thing that I felt was missing was a feeling of connection with other groups working on the same material. Looking at the notice board gave that connect.

A great idea!

I think another way round that lack of connection would be to hold a short meeting at the start and end of the seven weeks, just to practice together. Everyone would not be able to make the meeting but they could practice at that time or keep the meeting in mind. The meeting could even be recorded and put here on the notice board for a few weeks.

Maybe something to think about if this exercise is to be repeated.

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This came during the week we worked on Chitta.  I went back to Swami Vivekananda's book  on Raja Yoga (1966), where he translates Chitta as "mindstuff".  Here's the haiku:

The mindstuff wavers
Yet breathing, poise and vigour,
Steady can hold it.

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Success?
An interesting concept -
Easy to overlook,
Amidst the busy-ness
And unfinished to-do-lists.
It’s thought provoking,
To consider life this way.
I like it – it feels good.
Makes me consider
What I’m getting right,
What I hold dear,
What I want to achieve,
How I can develop -
Physically,
Spiritually,
Emotionally,
Organisationally.

Chanda -
Starts me off,
Motivates
And shows me the way.

Viriya -
The engine room,
The power house,
Persevere,
Stick it out,
But know when to turn it off!
Citta -
Concentrated,
Clear,
Unambiguous,
Decisive.

Vimamsa -
Dig and delve -
What’s happening?
Surprising results -
Shining a light on habits,
Embedded over decades;
Challenging me
To forge new pathways,
Better and fresher
To new successes.

Thank you
To my wise companions
On the path!

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A Poem

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Also submitted as an audio file

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This is a poem based on the iddhipāda
practice. There is also an audio file so it can be done as a exercise.

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This poem can be a mini practice on the iddhipādas  by imagining or experiencing the words as they are spoken.

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As is often the case with the practice, one goes into a group thinking one knows what a word like "success", or "vigour" or "investigation" means. But then one discovers that meaning is different than experiencing. This gap between what something means and how it actually is to experience is an interesting place to explore.

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Helping others is often easier ...

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Working with the Iddhipadas helped me to focus my energy and intentions.  It showed me that the wish to do something could be given energy, thoughtfulness and investigation.  My picture was a way of showing some different qualities that arose, a feeling of movement, strength, gentleness and the balance or unity between these qualities.

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Working with the Iddhipadas helped me to focus my energy and intentions.  It showed me that the wish to do something could be given energy, thoughtfulness and investigation.  My picture was a way of showing some different qualities that arose, a feeling of movement, strength, gentleness and the balance or unity between these qualities.

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This is a good question to start the investigation as there are many fours in Buddhism. There are the four noble truths, the four right endeavours, the four elements, or the four attirbutes of a good friend (to name simply 4 others). In fact, once one is sensitized to the number four one can see groupings of four all around oneself.  So it is good to ask at the beginning, "what four", so there is no confusion as to what is meant. Especially since the four bases of success can be helpful both in undertanding the practice more deeply and in building the skills to follow the eightfold path (which is really just a doubling of the number 4). I hope that I am not sounding to trite or too cute by half here with all of my fours. It is simply an interesting exercise to play lightly with the numbers and their permutations and to see what comes up. So what does come up? or perhaps the question is "what for"? What are the bases of success for? As alluded to, they are perhaps a base upon which to build our actions and intentions in leading a noble life . The desire to act tells us that leading such a life is a choice, requires volition. Once the volition is there, there is an energy or vigour required to carry it through. And yet how to channel this vigour, what is it good for? For that, one needs the heart/mind (compassion, loving kindness, equanimity) and a continual investigation of what is. Despite the calm of the practice, it is an active undertaking indeed that we are pursuing!

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The four bases of success (iddhipadas) and the fourth jhana.

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Considering the Iddhipadas on 26 November 2020

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Considering the Iddhipadas on 26 November 2020

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I examined in the Iddhipadas in relation to two tasks achieved that day: cleaning the kitchen and tidying the herbaceous border in the garden.

Chanda

Kitchen – I knew it had to be done, and determined when and how I would tackle it from the time I was drinking my first cup of tea of the day.

Garden – I only resolved to do this job after lunch, when I observed the border looking rather scruffy as I sat at the kitchen table.

Viriya

Kitchen – As usual the task required some energy, such that I became warm while working even though I was dressed in my shirt sleeves in an unheated house.

Garden – I went at this in a rush, cutting back whole areas of the border. I reflected afterwards that it might have been more mindful to have used the time to remove just the brown leaves from a few plants. However, I generated a pleasing amount of waste for the green bin.

Citta

Kitchen – Listening to Radio 6 Music as I worked, I was entranced by a track they played by Brian Eno from a newly-released album of his and resolved to buy it.

Garden – I was pleased to encounter a frog at this late stage of the year. I also noticed that the leaves on my Sisyrinchium were forming a perfect fan shape, and the Chaenomeles had a few very delicate pink blooms.

Vimamsa

Kitchen – There is not much to investigate about this task, except for a feeling of pleasure that the job is done, and won’t have to be thought about again for some days.

Garden – As I hung around watching a nice sunset, I decided to investigate the behaviour of green parrots on my neighbours’ oak tree, whose noisy squawks I always hear about this time of day. Huge numbers were perched on the highest branches, and more kept arriving from nearby trees. They were not eating or fighting: it seemed to be a purely social time for them. Then over a period of a few minutes they departed in separate groups flying together like bullets, the last two individuals leaving just as darkness fell.

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7 weeks when I wanted to think about some bad, sad, useless, and etc. things, I remained myself to think about the topic (4 iddhipadas) that I must talk about it in group so I released from any useless though. Besides, I understand I have problem in effort.

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What are the four planes of success?
They are:
the first  jhāna as the plane born of seclusion,
the second jhāna as the plane of joy and happiness
the third jhāna as the plane of equanimity and happiness
the fourth jhāna as the plane of neither-unhappiness-nor-happiness

These four planes of success lead to the attaining of success, to the obtaining of success, to the transformation due to success, to the majesty of success, to the mastery of success, to assurance in success.

(Patisambhidāmagga Treatise XXII)

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One way of thinking about how we develop is that it's all about views.  Perhaps one sort of freedom is the momentous change when we realise that our usual views are no longer needed.  To get us on our way - successfully! - we can play with views.  Most of us have views about who we are and what happens when we set out to do things.  So, why not spend a week firmly believing ourselves to be successful in all that we do?  Naturally, we will attend to everything else that helps; effort and patience, being true to ourselves and determination, love for ourselves and others, and a sense of balance.  But the keystone is to take it as given that we will be successful in all that we do.  I wish you success in your play with views.

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Investigation or discrimination (vīmaṃsā) 

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Investigation or discrimination (vīmaṃsā) 