"In this way he remains focused internally on the body in & of itself, or externally on the body in & of itself, or both internally & externally on the body in & of itself." (Quoted from Ajahn Thanissaro's translation: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html)
I notice that this is repeated throughout the entire sutta. What strikes my mind is the part on "internal or external or both internal and external." From what I have understood through listening teachings from many teachers, they tend to emphasize that the practice of meditation is an internal one, while some openly reject the notion of external things. But here in this sutta, it says one should focus internally, externally or both internal and external. Do you know or how would you understand this phrase?
I try to reconcile this seeming conflict in the following way: the internal part refers to one's own mind - watching how one mind easily gets distracted or jumps from one thought to another - and why it is so restless and agitated - because of one's defilements such as greed, hatred, envy, selfishness, ignorance, etc. Hence, it is important to look internally to identify these roots of suffering and guard the mind from the attack of these defilement to prevent or overcome suffering.
However, one needs to also pay attention to the external part as well, because by just merely focusing on the internal part, one could easily get so absorbed in the internal processes that he loses awareness of his body movement/posture or even his external surrounding which may pose a danger to himself. To account for this, I take as example public speaking or communication. When speaking, the speaker first needs to look internally into himself: he needs to make sure he focuses on what he wishes to address or speak and not get off-track, he needs to make sure he is reasonably calm or otherwise he would stutter or stammer throughout the communication process. However, he needs to look at his audience and environment for non-verbal feedback or cues and cater his speech accordingly to those feedback so that he could successfully convey what he wishes his audience to receive. In this manner, by accounting or being mindful of both internal and external things, it also seems to prove the practicality of mindfulness, or how mindfulness yields not only insight but also wisdom in dealing with everyday issues. That's why, in my opinion, the practice of mindfulness meditation includes kayanupassana: contemplating on bodily activities such as seeing, listening, walking, etc, as these are the channels of activities that could connect both the internal and external world through mindfulness.
This phrase from the sutta became a point for contemplation to me after I heard some of my friends who have been regular meditators and have been attending talks on meditation keep on emphasizing that one should always focus internally and disregard the external aspects. For me, I thought the external aspects could serve to facilitate meditation practice and should not be denied altogether, although they could be dangerous if one is not mindful about them.
This is just my own point of view and I'm very happy to be corrected if I'm wrong. What do you think about that phrase from the sutta?
With metta,
Dhammanucara
