Becoming

Becoming is the process where the mind takes on an identity in a world of its own making. It is the most fundamental movement of the heart that leads to stress. The Buddha described it as a seed of craving falling into the field of kamma, watered by the moisture of clinging. When you want something, or want to be something, the mind immediately begins to fabricate a world where that desire can be satisfied. You are no longer just sitting on a cushion; you have become a person who is frustrated by noise, or a person who is anticipating a future success. You have stepped out of the present and into a story.

Identifying becoming requires a sharp sense of internal alertness. You have to catch the mind at the moment it starts to lean. It usually begins with a subtle stir of intention. You might feel a tightness in the chest or a shift in the breath as the mind starts to wrap itself around an idea. This is the fabrication of name and form. You are taking a raw sensation and giving it a label: "I am this" or "this is mine." If you feel yourself getting angry, you have become a victim of a perceived wrong. If you are daydreaming, you have become a traveler in an imaginary landscape. To see this clearly, you must treat your thoughts like moving gifts of intent that flash into existence. If you step into the flash, you are in the process of becoming.

To avoid or stop the process, you must learn the skill of non-participation. You do not try to suppress the thoughts, as that is just another form of becoming—the "suppressor." Instead, you develop the quality of the breath as a home base. When you notice a world being built, you simply refuse to move into it. You stay with the physical sensation of the breath in the abdomen or the chest. You watch the craving that is fueling the construction and you let it cool. You ask yourself: "Is this world I am building worth the stress of maintenance?"

The most effective tool for stopping becoming is discernment. You see that every identity you take on is a burden. If you are a "somebody," you have to protect that somebody from the world's criticism. If you are a "nobody," you suffer the sting of being ignored. By staying as the observer, you remain in the dimension of the unfabricated. You see the flashes of intent arise and pass away, but you do not claim them. You stay with the breath, keeping it calm and spacious, until the mind loses its appetite for building houses that are always on fire. This is how you find the freedom that exists when the work of becoming finally ceases.

💥 Thanissaro Bhikkhu evening audio dhamma talks \\\ Becoming.