in November 1967, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama met Buddhadasa Bhikkhu in Bangkok during the Dalai Lama’s first overseas trip outside of India. The Dalia Lama presented Buddhadasa Bhikkhu a gift, a line drawing with written instructions for the steps in Calm Abiding Meditation. The painting here is a replica of one made from this line drawing for Suan Mokkh’s Spiritual Theater.

Calm Abiding Meditation, or Samatha Kammatthana in Pali, is the practice of training the mind to develop inner peace and concentration. There are various methods of practicing Calm Abiding Meditation. Some examples are: developing mindfulness of breathing, contemplating loathsome aspects of one’s body or of a corpse, and gazing at a neutral object to induce concentration. The painting illustrates the path of this practice from the beginning to the achievement of the highest concentration. 

The first step is to listen carefully to the explanation about Calm Abiding Meditation from learned teachers before starting to practice. The practitioner must use mindfulness and clear comprehension, represented by a rope and a goad respectively, to control the mind, which is symbolized by the black elephant. The black color represents lethargy and the mental state of sinking. The black monkey leading the elephant represents the distractions from the five objects of sensual pleasure: visible form, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The large flame denotes the enormous strength of mindfulness and clear comprehension required in the beginning of practice to make good progress. The decreasing sizes of the flames along the path symbolize the diminishing efforts required to maintain mindfulness and clear comprehension at each progressive stage of practice.

The hare on the elephant’s back represents the subtle dullness of the mind. As the practitioner advances on his journey, he is able to tie the elephant with his rope, which means that his mindfulness has become stronger. Furthermore, the elephant, the monkey, and the hare gradually turn from black to white, and they all turn to face the practitioner. This signifies that the lethargy and subtle dullness of the mind have gradually decreased, and the distractions have been subdued. The fruits, cloth, cymbals, perfume conch, and mirror represent the disturbances of concentration through the five senses of taste, touch, hearing, smelling, and seeing, respectively. As the practitioner progresses further towards greater inner peace, these distractions will be reduced and finally eliminated. 

The white monkey on the tree symbolizes the thoughts of merit and virtue arising in the mind, which can become distractions. The practitioner must use the strength of mindfulness and clear comprehension to bring the mind back to the object of concentration. At this stage, the practitioner is able to control the elephant with his rope and goad. Thus, the elephant, the monkey, and the hare are now all half white. Then when the mind becomes more controlled and pacified, the subtle dullness and distractions through sensual pleasures are eradicated. This is represented by the disappearance of the hare and the monkey. The practitioner has gained full control of the completely white elephant, which is now lying tamely beside him. This shows that the mind is perfectly focused on the object of concentration and rests in perfect equanimity. 

A rainbow emerges and the practitioner flying in the air represents the experience of bodily ecstasy. He then rides on the elephant’s back, symbolizing the attainment of mental quiescence infused with mental ecstasy. The white flame shows that the dynamic forces of mindfulness and clear comprehension have become inseparable from the mind. Such dynamic forces enable the mind to succeed in practicing Insight Meditation, or Vipassana Kammatthana in Pali, wherein one examines the characteristics of phenomena in order to realize the sublime meaning of Emptiness, or Sunnata—the ultimate reality of all phenomena.