2015 Day 4 Easter Retreat 2 'Perceptions' MN18 - Bhante Vimalaramasi-I1hNpff

From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=I1hNpff_JaA

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

give you a suita tonight

that's called the honey ball suita

and the honey ball suit has some

some things about the links of

dependent origination in them so you're

going to get a little bit more

every night for a little while

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in the sakian

country of

capilovatu in negrota's park

then when it was morning the blessed one

dressed

taking his bowl and outer rope went into

capital of atu for

alms when he'd wandered for alms at cap

villavatu

and had returned from his alms round

after his meal

he went to the great wood for his days

abiding

entering the great wood he sat down

at the root of a bulva sapling for the

days abiding

dan de penny the sakin

walking and wandering for exercise

also went to the great wood and then

and when he entered the great wood he

went to the bulva sapling where the

blessed one

was and exchanged greetings with him

when this courteous and amiable talk was

finished he stood

at one side leading on his stick

this shows that dan depending was

not respectful of the buddha's teaching

he he knew that the buddha was the

teacher

and the teacher's head is always

supposed to be higher than anybody

else's

so he asked the blessed one

what does a recluse assert

what does he proclaim

friend i assert and proclaim my teaching

in such a way that one does not quarrel

with anyone in the world

with its gods its maras and its brahmas

in this generation with its recluses and

brahmanas

its princes and its people in such a way

that perceptions no longer underlie

that brahman who abides detached

from sensual pleasures without

perplexity

shorn of worry free from craving

for any kind of being

when this was said dan japane the sock

shook his head wagged his tongue

and raised his eyebrows until his

forehead

was puckered with three lines

then a departed one then he departed

leaning on his stick

when it was evening the blessed one rose

for meditation

and went to the negrota's park where he

sat down on a seat made ready for him

and told the monks what had taken place

so this tells you right there that the

buddha always

didn't always sit on the ground

cross-legged quite often he would sit on

a chair

and it was made ready for it so he

didn't have to get all the way down

when this suit was given he was getting

old

he was uh maybe

73 74 years old so it was getting harder

for him to get up and down

as happens

ah boy does it

then a certain monk asked the blessed

one

but venerable sir how does the blessed

one

assert and proclaim his teachings in

such a way

that he does not quarrel with anyone in

the world

with its gods its maras and its brahmas

and this

generation with its recluses and

brahmans

its princes and its people and venerable

one

how is it that perceptions

no more underlie the blessed one that

brahman

who abides detached from sensual

pleasures

without perplexity shorn of worry

free from craving for any kind of being

monks as to the source

through which perceptions and notions

born

of mental proliferation

one of my favorite words these days

besets amen if nothing is found there to

delight in

welcome and hold to this

is the end of the underlying tendency to

lust

of the underlying tendency to aversion

of the underlying tendency to craving

of the underlying tendency to views

of the underlying tendency to doubt

of the underlying tendency to conceit

of the underlying tendency to desire for

being

of the underlying tendency to ignorance

this is the end of resorting to rods and

weapons and

of quarrels brawls disputes

recrimination malicious words and false

speech

here these evil and wholesome state

cease

without remainder

that is what the blessed one said having

said this

the sublime one rose from his seat and

went into his dwelling

this is where the monks that were

listening to this made a mistake

because they asked the buddha a question

he always gave a summary

of the answer and unless they said

well i need to hear the detailed meaning

the buddha

would get up and go away thinking

okay they understood that

so then soon after the blessed one had

gone

the monks considered now friends

the blessed one has risen from his seat

and gone into his dwelling after giving

a summary in brief

without expounding the detailed meaning

now who will expound this in detail

then they considered the venerable

mahakachana

is praised by the teacher and esteemed

by his wise companions in the holy life

he is capable of expounding the detailed

meaning

suppose we went to him and asked him the

meaning of this

then the blessed then the monks went to

the venerable

mahakachana and exchanged greetings with

him

when this courteous and amy of old talk

was finished he sat down at what they

sat down at one side

and said and and told him

what had taken place adding

the venerable mahaka chana

let the venerable mahakatrana expound it

to us

the venerable mahaka-chana

replied friends it is though

a man needing heartwood seeking

heartwood

wandering in search of heartwood

thought that heartwood should be sought

for

among the branches and leaves of a great

tree standing

possessed of heartwood after he passed

over the root

and the trunk

and so it is with you venerable sirs

that you think i should be

asked about the meaning of this after

you passed the blessed one by

when you were face to face with the

teacher

for knowing the blessed one knows

seeing he sees he is vision

he is knowledge he is the dhamma

he is the holy one he is the sayer

proclaimer elucidator of meaning

the giver of the deathless the lord of

the dhamma

the tatagata

that was the time you should have asked

the blessed one the meaning

as he told you you should have

remembered it

surely friend kachana knowing the

blessed one

knows seeing he sees

he is vision

he is knowledge he is the dhamma he is

the holy one

he is the sayer the proclaimer the

elucidator of meaning

the giver of the deathless the lord of

the dhamma the tatagata

that was the time we should have asked

the blessed one the meaning

as he told us we should

have remembered it yet the venerable

mahaka-chana is praised by the teacher

and esteemed by

his wise companions in the holy life

there again you have the word wise so

that what are you talking about

he understood the length of dependent

origination and

how to explain them

the venerable mahaka-chana is capable of

expounding in

the detailed meaning of this summary

given in brief by the blessed one

without expounding the detailed meaning

let the venerable mahaka china

expound it without finding it too

troublesome

then listen friends and attend closely

to what i shall say

yes venerable or yes friend

it's a little bit confusing because

during the time of the buddha all of the

monks called each other friend it didn't

matter what the seniority was

uh in the perinebana suta right before

the bear

the buddha died he said that

now the senior monks should be called

bhante and the junior monks should be

called

friend awuso

these days when monks address themselves

they call everybody

bunty so it gets a little bit confusing

sometimes when you

hear them saying friend what are you

doing

and now we say bante so

the venerable mahakachana said this

friends when the blessed one rose from

his seat

and went into his dwelling after giving

a summary in brief

without expounding the detailed meaning

that is at monks as

to the source through which perceptions

and notions born of mental proliferation

beset a man if nothing is

found there to delight in welcome and

hold to

this is the end of the underlying

tendency to lust

the underlying tendency to aversion

the underlying tendency to craving

of the underlying tendency to views

of the underlying tendency to doubt

of the underlying tendency to conceit

of the underlying tendency to desire for

being of the underlying tendency to

ignorance

this is the end of resorting to rods and

weapons

of quarrels brawls disputes

recrimination

malicious words and false speech

here these evil unwholesome states cease

without remainder

friends when the blessed one rose from

his seat and went into the dwelling

after giving a summary and brief without

expounding the detailed meaning

this is the understanding

of the detailed meaning to it

as follows

dependent on the i and forms i

consciousness arises

the meeting of the three is eye contact

with eye contact as conditioned there

is i feeling

what one feels that one

perceives so you have a feeling

with eye consciousness

and as soon as that feeling arises

there is the perception

the perceiving of this is a pleasant

sight

an unpleasant sight a neutral sight

what one perceives

that one craves what

one craves that one thinks about

what one thinks about that one mentally

proliferates

with what one has mentally proliferated

as the source

perceptions and notions born of mental

proliferation beset a man with respect

to the past future and present forms

cognizable

through the eye

what is mental proliferation saying

mental proliferation is getting caught

up in the story about

and this is where your opinions your

ideas

and the false belief in a personal self

arise now your opinions and your ideas

are not

necessarily true

they can be clouded because of

past attachments

somebody that has gone through

a very emotional state

and kept hold of it and kept repeating

to themselves over and over when they

forget about that

another situation that comes up that's

similar

is clouded because of the past

mental proliferation

and that's how you cause yourself

suffering that's how you cause yourself

pain

okay

dependent on the ear and sounds ear

consciousness arises

the meeting of the three is ear contact

that's the ear the sound

and the consciousness the ear

consciousness

those three together are called contact

ear contact

with ear contact as conditioned there is

ear feeling

what one feels that one perceives

what one perceives that one

craves i like it or i don't like it

what one graves

that one thinks about what one thinks

about

that one mentally proliferates

with what one has mentally proliferated

as the source

perceptions and notions born of mental

proliferation beset amen with respect to

the past

future and present

sounds cognizable through the

ear

dependent on the nose and odor's nose

consciousness

arises the meeting of the three

is nose contact with nose contact as

conditioned there is

no feeling what one feels

that one perceives what

one perceives that one

craves what one graves

that one thinks about

what one thinks about that one mentally

proliferates so what are we talking

about here

getting caught in your own

ideas concepts and opinions

they don't necessarily have to do with

things as they truly are most of the

time

they don't do with that how many times

you get in into an emotional situation

and you go away from that and what do

you think about

how you liked this or didn't like that

how you're right then whoever you had

that

interaction with is wrong

what you should have said to them

but you didn't

so you wind up mentally proliferating

and it's like it's on a tape deck

same words same order

that's what being attached is all about

this is showing you how this process

actually works

okay and we'll get into how to let it go

in a little while

with what one has mentally proliferated

as the source perceptions and

notions born of mental proliferation

beside a man

you understand that how how you get

beset

upon the suffering that you are causing

yourself

by your mental proliferation and opinion

opinions and ideas

that are clouded already because

you're taking it personally

you're saying the this is me this is the

way it actually is

these are my thoughts these are my

feelings

and i'm right and they're wrong

so when you start to see

this what do you need to do

ah it's getting to be more and more

people saying

good why because that's the only way

that you can let go of the craving

and when you let go of the craving there

is no mental proliferation

so this is a real important thing that

i'm telling you

and you hear me tell you every day

over and over and eventually you might

even hear it

so with what one has mentally

proliferated as the source

perceptions and no notions

born of mental proliferation beset of

man with respect

to the past future and present

odor is cognizable through the nose

this is a real short suit except for

the dot dot dot which makes it a long

zuta

dependent on

the tongue and flavors

tongue consciousness arises

the meaning of the three is tongue

contact with tongue contact as

condition there is tongue feeling

what one feels that one perceives

what one perceives that one

craves what one craves

that one thinks about

the very start of the false belief in a

personal self

is craving now

almost all of the suttas they make a big

deal about clinging

but craving is where that false belief

actually begins

i like it i don't like it

that's what craving is

so when you use the 6rs

what you see is you

let go of that tension and tightness

caused by that craving

and right after you relax

there is no more thoughts

there is no mental proliferation

there is only this

clear bright pure mind

and you bring that pure mind and it's

pure

because you don't have any craving in it

it's pure and you bring that pure mind

your smile and your object to meditation

that's why a lot of you are starting to

see

that when you do this your progress

starts to get very fast

and you really start understanding ah

this

is and now i understand what he's

talking about here

this is really good

so the six r's are

and right effort is the most

i can't say most is

a real important part of the eightfold

path

because every every part of the

eightfold path and we'll get into that a

little bit later

is important and

the the eightfold path

is practiced

all of the lengths of the pen or all of

the

folds of the eightfold path

occur when you let go of

craving when you relax

that tightness that happens around your

brain

you're purifying your mind

you're letting go of past mental

proliferations

and when you let go of the past mental

proliferations

you're clear to see exactly how

this process works

and that's what this meditation is all

about

now a lot of people practice uh

different kinds of of buddhist

meditation

and they have this idea from a

commentary

that there's 40 different kinds of

meditation

actually the buddha only taught one kind

of meditation

the eightfold path

there's 40 different objects of

meditation

but there's only one method

and that's being confused quite a bit by

people that are taking

commentaries and making them the same

as the buddha's teaching

and i did that for 20 years i do

understand how that happens

from the very start of my practicing

meditation i was told over and over

again

that the visuti maga this commentary

is the encyclopedia of meditation

if you have any questions go look in the

visutimaga

after a period of time i started

thinking well what happens if i

look at the suttas and i would try to

read the sutas but i

didn't understand them

because i had this reference of this

commentary and i always went back to

that and it made the suttas

incredibly difficult to understand

now i was very successful meditation

practicer

in straight vipassana

but i wasn't satisfied with what they

were telling me about it

doing a two-year retreat where

there was very little distraction

in two years

and being successful

they they

told me some things that i couldn't

agree with

and they said that i was a sotapanna and

i've always heard that when you become a

sodapana

you'll keep your precepts without

breaking them

you might have the temptation

to say something that's not true

but as soon as you try your mind says no

don't do that

but after they told me

that i was a sotapanna i tested whether

i could say something that was not true

or not

and see what my mind did with that and

it didn't slow me down at all

so i became very disenchanted

with the straight vipassana

and after doing a retreat for two years

i went back to malaysia where i had

already started up a monastery

and people were very anxious to have me

teach them and they wanted me to teach

vipassana and i couldn't do it with a

clear mind because i knew

it wasn't right and that's when i

started teaching loving-kindness

meditation

when you practice loving-kindness

meditation

you start changing your perspective of

things in

life you don't get so caught up in the

emotional

rollercoasters that you used to get

caught up in

there is true personality development

when you're practicing the six r's

your personality starts to soften

you start to notice when you're so

incredibly

critical of yourself

and how you beat yourself up because you

did something that

maybe was right and maybe it wasn't

but you start seeing that you're causing

yourself all of this suffering

by this kind of mental proliferation

so you start changing a little bit you

start being softer

with your interaction

with yourself

now part of the eightfold path is called

right speech

and that's always defined as you don't

tell any lies you don't curse

you don't cause problems between one

group and another

and you don't gossip that's

right speech the way they define it

but right speech is

having the right speech with yourself

how do you criticize yourself and keep

making the same mistakes over and over

again

how do you why do you do that to

yourself

because you're not being mindful

in the present moment or the present

that this is what you're doing

you're developing unwholesome habits

what's an unwholesome habit taking

these thoughts this mental proliferation

personally and beating yourself

up i told some people in

indonesia that i was going to go out and

get some boxing gloves so they can

really

do it right

because they were so hard on themselves

they were so trying to be perfect with

everything

and you're not gonna be and you're gonna

make mistakes

good how do you learn if you don't make

mistakes

but don't make the same mistake over and

over

again and that's what a lot of people do

they criticize themselves

i'm supposed to be perfect but i'm not i

did this oh i shouldn't have done that

and then you start

mentally beating yourself up

you're craving and clinging

and having mental proliferation

that causes you suffering more

and more so when you start to

recognize that you have to be softer to

yourself

you have to be more forgiving okay you

made a mistake

okay fine i forgive

myself for not understanding this

and don't do it again

but sometimes you forget and you do it

again

then forgive yourself

and be more careful with

what you're doing in your mind

be kind to yourself

in the precepts you take every morning

what's the last precept

to be loving and kind to myself and

all other beings to myself

be forgiving to yourself

and when you're like that when you start

doing that

that's when you actually become a

teacher

for other people because you have

balance in your mind you're not getting

caught up in the craving and the

clinging and the mental proliferation

so now you can stay in the present

moment in the present

without

being hard

or critical

see the the kalama suta is

real uh popular suta

the first part of it

oh you don't believe anything because

it's tradition

or somebody else says it or whatever

you don't believe it just because it's

in in the text

or because a teacher said it

the advice that the buddha gave to the

kalamas

is if you

do or say something that causes

pain to yourself or other beings

don't do that anymore

but when you do something or say

something

that makes you happy and

other people around you happy do that

over and over again

so now you're stopping the mental

proliferation

you're getting over letting craving

dictate your life and you

naturally become more happy

and joyful now this is only the first

part of the

kalama sutta

the other part of the kalamazuta is what

i'm showing you right now

all of the brahmaviharas how to practice

loving-kindness meditation and

compassion

and joy and equanimity and this

leads to having a cool

mind

there's a suit in the

mahavaga that says

it's a uh a suta called the fire

suta the fire sermon i think they call

and the buddha gave a discourse

on how you cause

fire in your mind

through craving

craving causes light

and the only way light appears

is through heat

everything's burning why because of the

craving

so i'm trying to show you in this

retreat how to cool your mind

and have equanimity in it so that

there's balance

and you will affect the world around you

in a positive way

when you practice this way

it really works it's not a maybe

when you start to understand more and

more about

how this process works

and you start seeing it

up close and personal with yourself

you start changing your

perspective of the whole world and

how you interact with the world

and this is what meditation

is for now when i was practicing

straight vipassana

for almost 20 years

my mind was super critical you could

come up and tell me that your experience

and meditation was and my mind

immediately said

you don't know what you're talking about

it's not like that

and i was saying things that would

really make people

unhappy

but when i started practicing loving

kindness

that critical nature starts to soften

because i'm not being so critical with

myself

i'm being more accepting of myself

now that's what this is talking about

in the present moment in the past

forgive yourself for past

things that you were beating yourself up

for

oh this is wrong i shouldn't have done

that

well can't change it now it's already

done

but you can forgive yourself for not

understanding

you can forgive yourself for making a

mistake

ah i'm in the wrong kind of place to

talk about guilt

but you don't have to feel guilty

because you made a mistake

forgive yourself for making a mistake

and learn from that

and that way you can be happy more of

the time

you can be at ease with yourself

it's much easier to recognize hindrances

when you have an accepting mind of

yourself

and then you see this stuff come up and

you go well that's not mine that's not

me but it's there

so let's just 6r and let it be

it's a real important thing to remember

that these hindrances are going to arise

and they're there to help you

yeah but i don't like oh i don't care

who doesn't like i

don't who's taking it personally

i am who's making themselves

suffer i am

so you use the six hours to let go of

that

false belief in a personal self

and you start seeing things more

impersonally

and you don't have that emotional

upset that causes

so much pain to ourselves you start

having more balance

and you can see this in a number of

different sutas that the buddha is

talking about this

it doesn't matter what somebody else

says

it doesn't matter whether it's harsh or

gentle

it doesn't matter whether it's true or

untrue

it just doesn't matter that's their

opinion they can have that

but i can read loving-kindness to that

person

it's a real interesting thing people

think loving-kindness

oh people are going to take advantage of

me if i practice loving-kindness i'll be

so kind and so

gentle that they'll just

keep trying to make me do things that i

know i don't want to do

well that's not the way it works

when somebody comes up to you with some

something they want you to do

and take advantage of you you start

radiating

loving kindness to them because that's

what they really want

everybody wants to be loved everybody

wants to be accepted

so practice

sending loving kindness to everybody you

see

all day

and you start seeing a change

you want to change the way this

government works

hating it doesn't work

i mean you have a thing in the daily

in your morning

reciting

hatred can never be overcome by hatred

hatred can only be overcome by love

and it's true i have people that

come to the meditation center and they

start wobbling

squabbling with each other

they come knocking at my door

come in and they're angry with each

other and they're

talking at the same time and

they're they're just

highly emotional and i see them

suffering i see them

as really causing each other

and themselves pain so what am i going

to do i start radiating loving kindness

to them

i don't say anything i don't get in the

middle of their

argument i'm not that crazy

so i start radiating loving-kindness and

before

long they stop talking at the same time

and they start discussing what the

problem is

and they find out really there's not

that much of a problem it's pretty easy

to take care of

and after a while then they start

laughing with each other

and then they say i got a lot of things

to do thanks monte i'll see you later

and i haven't said a word i haven't said

anything but i changed the world around

me by focusing on loving kindness

i don't care what words they're using

i'm not going to pay attention to that

nonsense

and that's what it is nonsense

so radiate loving kindness to everyone

you come up and talk to

and use that person as the reminder to

focus on

loving-kindness to all beings in all

directions

do that with your daily activity

try just one day of doing that

see what kind of results you get you'll

be shocked

and this takes away the mental

proliferation

and opinions and false

concepts and ideas

people start to get sane

that's what the meditation is about

so a lot of people have this idea that

oh i'm going to radiate loving-kindness

to 10 different directions

and everybody's going to be happy after

that actually it doesn't work that way

because

they're practicing a one-pointed

concentration

that is devoted to me

even though i'm radiating

loving-kindness i want the feeling of

loving-kindness

but they don't want to change their

perspective

you have to have this

six r's it has to be there

if you want to change the world around

you

along with yourself

it takes practice but

how much fun is it to

smile to the little kid and have them

smile

back it's

great fun

in missouri sometimes i go into this uh

big store and have to wait in line and

one of the

little kids is in the cart and they're

crying and yelling and not being happy

at all

and i start radiating loving-kindness to

them

and after a short period of time maybe a

minute maybe

a little bit longer they stop crying and

they

they have this look of wonder in their

face

what are you doing

now this is part of generosity isn't it

this is true generosity

too many people think that generosity is

only about

giving material things

and that that's a part of it

but there's no personality development

with only giving material things

the personality development is

when you can truly love

someone in front of you that's suffering

have compassion what's the definition of

compassion

compassion is seeing

someone else that's suffering

allowing them to have their

pain and love them no matter what

i used to spend a lot of time going to

hospital

when i was in malaysia i was going about

every day because somebody would get

some kind of disease and they wanted me

to come in and

and hang out with them for a while

so as i was walking down the hall

i was reminding myself the definition of

loving kindness

their pain is theirs i can't take their

pain away

but i can certainly love them

so when i walk in the room

everybody is down because they're

they're sad because their loved one is

suffering

and they're trying to take that pain

away and they're making themselves

suffer

and many times people will say when i

walk in

in the room at the hospital it's like

fresh air coming in the room

because i'm not trying to make their

pain go away

all i'm doing is loving them

and they start feeling much better

even though they're in extreme pain

and i always try to say something that

makes them laugh

why because the pain

starts to go away when you're laughing

the family members what they do is they

come

in and they adjust the pillow and adjust

the blankets

open the window or close the window or

run out and get a glass of water and

bring it back

but they're really suffering a lot

so i when i come in i'm sending loving

kindness

not only to the person that's really

suffering

physical pain but i'm also

radiating loving kindness to the people

that are suffering

mental pain

and before long it feels light in the

room

i say okay i gotta go

you've learned your lesson now pay

attention

and do it

it's really kind of amazing because when

i went to

in in in malaysia they have

large rooms like this with just beds one

after the other

after the other so i'd go in

and i'd visit these people and i'd start

radiating loving kindness

and then it's time to leave and i start

walking away and a muslim man

muslims do not like buddhist they really

don't but i wasn't being a buddhist

at that time

i was focused on radiating loving

kindness so they'd ask me to come over

and they'd hold my hand

okay fine i have no problem with that i

started radiating loving kindness to

them they started feeling better and

they

very profusely thank me

but it doesn't matter what their belief

system is

if they're human beings and they're

suffering

i want to send loving kindness to them

i want to keep that going

with my daily activities

when i'm walking from one place to

another i want to radiate loving

kindness

or equanimity

and that affects everybody else around

you

so you're helping everyone by doing this

practice this often

okay we're going to get back to

dependent on the body and tangibles

body consciousness arises

the meeting of the three is body contact

with body contact as condition there is

body

feeling what

one feels that one perceives

what one perceives that

one craves what one

craves that one thinks about

what one thinks about that one mentally

proliferates

what one has mentally proliferated as

the source

perceptions and notions born of mental

proliferation beset a man with respect

to past future and present

tangibles cognizable by the body

dependent on

i forgot where i was

dependent on mind and mind objects

mind consciousness arises

the meeting of the three is mind contact

with mind contact as conditioned there

mind feeling with mind feeling as

condition

excuse me what

one feels that one perceives

what one perceives that one

craves what one craves

that one thinks about

what one thinks about that one mentally

proliferates

with what one has mentally proliferated

the source perceptions and notions

born of mental proliferation beset a man

with respect to the past future and

present

mind objects cognizable by

mind

so it starts to make sense this is how

this process works

and it works the same for all human

beings

it doesn't matter what country they come

from

it doesn't matter what their culture

says

this is how it actually works

when there is the eye of form and i

consciousness it is possible to point

out the manifestation of eye contact

when there's the manifestation of eye

contact

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of

i feeling when there is the

manifestation of

i feeling it is possible to point out

the manifestation

of perception

when there is the manifestation of

perception there

is it is possible to point out the

manifestation of craving

when there's the manifestation of

craving

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of thinking

so if you don't catch it

right after feeling and you start

getting

caught up in your stories and mental

proliferations

use the six ours right then

but don't criticize yourself because you

weren't fast enough

okay any kind of critical thought about

yourself

is unwholesome

and that is a source of suffering

so it's a real important thing

to use the 6r so much

that it becomes automatic and it will

it will become automatic over a period

of time

every time you experience the six r's

you are experiencing the third noble

truth

the cessation of suffering you're

letting go of the suffering

how much lighter and cooler does your

mind become because of that

and this is an all the time practice

this

is not just about sitting

it was a real good thing when the

japanese came over to america and they

introduced

zen meditation but one of the things

that they did

was they got across the idea that the

only time you can meditate

is when you're sitting

and that has kind of

hurt people in this country

and when you start thinking about only

doing it while you're sitting that means

you don't have to pay attention to what

you're doing during the rest of the day

oh i feel really good when i sit in

meditation

and the rest of the day you're cursing

and making people

unhappy well that's not the practice

see i want you to be real familiar with

the hindrances when they come up

while you're sitting because they're

going to come up in your daily life

and then you can recognize it and six

are right then

and send forgiveness to yourself for

getting caught

or send loving-kindness to other people

around you

so this is an all the time practice

that's why i wrote the book life is

meditation meditation

is life there's no difference

it's something that needs to be done all

the time

when i was practicing straight vipassana

the one of the last things the teacher

said was

okay go out in the world and be mindful

what in the world is that supposed to

mean

well be mindful of your body

well they don't understand that the

mindfulness of body is

mindfulness of the tension and tightness

that arises when a hindrance arises

or when you start thinking or there's a

feeling

or a sensation this is part of the body

a lot of people don't think that way

they think

that from here to here

is the mind and the body

is everything else

but it's not true

and when they talk about in the suttas

they talk about being mindful of the

body

what they're talking about is

being mindful of the tension and

tightness

in body and relax

and that means

so there's a lot of misunderstanding in

buddhism

because of the kind of practices that

they

are are using they're trying to make

the hindu practices fit in to the

buddhist practice

it doesn't work

one pointed concentration absorption

concentration

takes you on a definite different path

where you're gonna run into a wall

you're going to run into this place

where there's no more progress in your

meditation

that will never happen when you're

practicing

the six hours

isn't that interesting you're always

going to progress

why because you're always purifying

yourself

by relaxing and letting go of the

craving

and that's one of the things that makes

this practice

so much fun

because you keep progressing

and you get these insights and you go

wow

that was real i just saw this and that's

great that's what that's talking about

now you you see that i'm reading the

buddha's words a lot

they're not mine it's not my ideas

this is what the buddha is talking about

and i still get a lot of insights

by reading the same suit you might hear

me read it

50 times some of my students that

are living at damasuka

they hear me give the same suit as over

and over again

but they still get insights

oh i didn't hear it that way before

oh ain't that neat and you feel

like you're really progressing when you

have these kind of insights

it's really fun

so this practice

is never boring

i've probably read sutto one one one

that i did last night i've probably

read that three or four hundred times

and it's always new

there's always something there's

insights that come to me

that oh i just thought of this that's

what this is mean see how that works

and it comes from doing the same thing

over and over again

reading the same suttas over again oh

i'm bored i don't want to hear that

there's a suit called the chachaka suta

that has an amazing amount of

repetition in it

it takes me about about an hour and five

minutes to read it

i do it for every retreat

and a lot of people have

heard me do this over and over and over

again and then they'll come in for the

interview and now say well

did you like the suit till last night

yeah i really heard it this time

and i really do understand it

all right good for you

it's not easy to read

with so much repetition

but why do you think the buddha

has so much repetition in the suttas

so it will get set in your mind

now when he gave a discourse

his discourses sometimes would last all

night

because there was so much repetition

and nobody complained about beings

taking so much time

nobody complained about it at all

part of our problem right now is

we read the suttas we need to hear

the suttas

and hear all of the repetition

and hear it with interest

joseph goldstein just read a rit

wrote

a uh a new book and he said

in the book i'm starting to realize

that all this repetition that happens in

buddhism

is pretty helpful

and it is it's amazingly helpful because

you hear the same thing one time you

haven't got it

you hear it a second time you kind of

get it but you hear it three or four

or six or eight times then it gets stuck

in your mind for a little while

now when i do the chichaka suit i tell

everybody

i don't want you to talk i don't want

you to move around

after reading the suta i want you to

meditate

because all of that repetition

repetition gets

caught in your head and you start having

it come back

out at you when you start seeing things

this is how that works

i highly recommend

that you memorize this suta

now one of my students had

a a stroke

about 20 years ago and it affected her

memory

when she first came and started

practicing with me she said

i can't remember anything

well that's a challenge for me

so i would start repeating things over

and over and get her to say them over

and over

and before long she had she knew all of

the four noble truths

and then she knew the five aggregates

and then she really got adventuresome

and she memorized

the eightfold path

and i got her doing this kind of thing

over and over and over again i said

i'd ask her to repeat something and

she'd do it

and i say i thought you didn't have a

memory

and she the caima is who i'm talking

about sister kama

she was driving me around the country so

that i could teach in different places

and while i was driving or writing with

her

i was getting her to recite

all of this different stuff and she'd do

and then i'd say okay do it again okay

do it again

now do it backwards oh

that was tough but she got so she could

do it forwards and backwards like the

five aggregates

that's not much it's just five things to

remember

it took about three hours of going over

the same thing

over and over and over again before she

got it

but once she got it she still has it to

this day

that's what the repetition is all about

you need to have repetition

but we're in the fast food generation we

like things

fast we want it simple and easy make it

quick

i've had people complain to me

you talk too long

why don't you just talk for about a half

an hour

well i got too much to tell you you can

talk it up for a half an hour

and how much time do you hear me

repeating myself

so you can get it stuck in your mind

so you can understand the importance

of hearing it over and over again

so there was one instance we were in

california and we had to drive back to

missouri

while she was driving and i

told her i wanted her to have the

chuchaka suta

memorized by the time we got back

and she did

and the next year

we went to indonesia we got in a car

accident

and she has a very weak back

and it gets thrown out very easily and

she was really suffering so we went took

her to the hospital and she said

she's laying down on the bed kind of

moaning and she said what am i supposed

to be doing with my mind

i've said recite the chichaka sutta

and she did and the pain went away

because she wasn't focusing on it and

she was seeing

this process that i'm showing you right

now she's seeing this process

this is how this works and she didn't

take it personally

so there's a lot of advantages to

memorizing

what the buddha said some suit does more

than others

but the easiest suta in in this whole

imagina nikaya to memorize

is the chichaka suta because it has so

much

repetition in it

and you'll see

when there is the manifestation of

craving

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of

thinking

when there is the manifestation of

thinking it is

possible to point out the manifestation

of besetment

by perceptions and notions born of

mental proliferation

when there is the ear a sound and

ear consciousness it is possible to

point out the manifestation of contact

when there is the manifestation of

contact it is possible to point out the

manifestation of

feeling when there's the manifestation

of ear

feeling it is possible to point out the

manifestation

of perception when there's the

manifestation of perception

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of

craving when there's a manifestation of

craving

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of thinking

when there's the manifestation of

thinking

it is possible to point out the

manifestation

of besetment by perceptions and notions

born of mental

proliferation

when there is the nose and odors and

nose consciousness

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of nose contact

when there is the manifestation of nose

contact

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of nose feeling

when there's the manifestation of nose

feeling

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of perception

when there's the manifestation of

perception

there it is possible to point out the

manifestation of craving

when there is the manifestation of

craving

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of thinking

when there's the manifestation of

thinking

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of besetment

by perceptions and notions born of

mental proliferation

when there is the tongue flavors and

nose consciousness

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of nose contact

dung context excuse me

when there's the manifestation of tongue

contact it is possible to point out the

manifestation of tongue

feeling when there's a manifestation of

tongue

feeling it is possible to point out the

manifestation of

perception when there is the

manifestation of

perception it is possible to point out

the manifestation of

craving when there's the manifestation

of craving

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of thinking

when there is the manifestation of

thinking

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of besetment

by perceptions and notions born of

mental proliferation

when there is the body a tangible

in body consciousness it is

possible to point out the manifestation

of body contact

when there is the manifestation of body

contact

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of body feeling

when there is a manifestation of body

feeling

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of perception

when there's the manifestation of

perception

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of craving

when there's the manifestation of

craving

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of thinking

when there is the manifestation of

thinking

it is possible to point out the

manifestation of besetment

by perceptions and notions born of

mental proliferation

okay i'm going to skip a part of this

because it takes too long to explain it

and i've been talking for a long time

and we still have a ways to go

friends when the blessed one rose from

his seat

and went into his dwelling after giving

a summary and

brief without expounding the detailed

meaning

that is monks as to the source

through which perceptions and notions

born of mental proliferation

be said a man if nothing

is found there to delight in

welcome and hold too this is the end of

the underlying tendency to lust

the underlying tendency to aversion

the underlying tendency to craving

the underlying tendency to views

the underlying tendency to doubt

the underlying tendency to conceit

the underlying tendency to desire for

being the underlying tendency to

ignorance

this is the end of resorting to rods and

weapons

of quarrels brawls disputes

recrimination

malicious words quarrels brawls

false speech

these here these evil and wholesome

states cease without remainder

i understand the detailed meaning of

this summary to be thus

now friends if you wish to go to the

blessed one

and ask him the meaning of this

as the blessed one explains it to you

so you should remember it

here the monks have

then the monks having delighted and

rejoiced in the venerable

mahakachana's words rose from their

seats

and went to the blessed one after paying

homage to him they sat down at one side

and told the blessed one all that had

taken place

after he had left adding

the venerable sir then venerable sir

we went to the venerable mahakatrana

asked him about the meaning of this

the venerable makhaka chana expounded

the meaning

to us with these terms statements and

phrases

mahakatrana is wise monks

mahaka chana has great wisdom

if you had asked me the meaning of

this i would have explained to you in

the same way

that mahakashana has explained it

such is the meaning of this and you

should remember

it when this was said the venerable

ananda

said to the blessed one venerable sir

just as if a man exhausted and hungry

and weak and weakness

came upon a honey ball wherever he would

take

taste it it he would find it sweet

delectable flavor

so too venerable sir any able-bodied

monk

wherever he might

scrutinize with wisdom the meaning of

this discourse

on the dhamma would find satisfaction

and confidence of mind venerable sir

what is the name of the this discourse

on the dhamma

as to that ananda you may remember this

discourse on the dhamma

as the honey ball discourse

that is what the blessed one said the

venerable anando was satisfied and

delighted in the blessed one's words

so this gives you a little bit of

a taste of

the links of dependent origination it

will get