From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=vffbAULl2aA

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

[Music]

welcome to the 2017 Easter retreat with

want to demo Ramsay tonight's talk will

be on a pod of victim number one one one

one by one is greater this is my

favorite suit duck because this gives

you the explanation of what happens at

each level as you go deeper

thus as I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatya in

jeta's grove anathapindika's park there

he addressed the monks thus monks

venerable sir they replied the Blessed

One said this monks sorry Buddha is wise

sorry Goethe has great wisdom

sorry puta has wide wisdom

sorry Buddha has joyous wisdom

sorry Buddha has quick wisdom sorry

Buddha has keen wisdom sorry puta has

penetrative wisdom now every time you

hear the word wise or wisdom in Buddhist

literature is talking about

understanding of the links of dependent

origination you can't look up the word

wiser wisdom in a regular dictionary

because it's not going to give you this

kind of understanding during half a

month

monks he gained insight into States one

by one as they occurred now sorry put

those insights into States one by one as

they occurred was this here quite

secluded from sensual pleasures secluded

from unwholesome States that means

inferences sorry puta

turn upon and abided in the first jhana

which is accompanied by thinking and

examining thought with joy and happiness

born of seclusion and the states in the

first jhana the thinking the examining

thought the joy the happiness the

unification of mind the contact feeling

perception formations and mind now this

is commonly called the five aggregates

and the reason that they put the word

contact instead of body is because this

happens all the way through the all of

the John is up to the 8th jhana up to

the realm of neither perception nor

non-perception when you go past the 4th

jhana you're in including the 4th jhana

you're in a mental realm so you don't

have a body then but if there's contact

you will feel it I'll explain this as we

go along the four foundations of

mindfulness and the five aggregates are

one and the same thing so while he was

in the jhana he was experiencing the

four foundations of mindfulness

there's a lot of misunderstanding with

this particular Ceuta and tomorrow

you'll get to see what i'm talking about

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and detention the

states were defined by him one by one as

they occurred known to him those states

of rose known they were present known

they disappeared so what he's talking

about here is the impermanence of

everything everything and is it in a

state of change

he understood thus so indeed these

states not having been come into being

having been they vanished regarding

those states he abided unattracted he

didn't hold onto anything

unruhe pelled he didn't push anything

away which is what we really want to do

when a meditation Bane arises but the

truth is you have to be unrep else you

don't try to force it away if you try to

force away unpleasant feeling or a

painful feeling you're taking it

personally you make that feeling bigger

and more intense so with the

instructions that I've given you you

allow that feeling to be there

don't keep your attention on it

when you develop your balance of mind

your equanimity it's not going to be a

real painful experience because you have

this balance and you're not getting

involved with it you're not taking it

personally you're not trying to make it

go away you're just letting it be there

by itself it will fade away on its own

so independent detached free dissociated

all of these are describing the

impersonal nature of everything

everything on the human existence is

impersonal what makes things personal

craving this is why it's so important

that you use this X R's you're letting

go of that false belief in a personal

self sadness comes up anxiety comes up

this light comes up if you take it

personally you can look forward to a lot

of suffering when you allow it to be

there by itself and don't keep your

attention on it it will go away by

itself and you start to see that

everything on the physical plane is

impersonal your mind has has had how

many lifetimes of thinking that's it's

in control of everything and when you

start seeing the impersonal nature of

everything when you let go of the

craving all of a sudden your mind starts

to realize it's not in control anymore

everything happens because of a process

and that process is how the links of

dependent origination arise and pass

away and we'll get into more of that a

little bit with a mind rid of barriers

when you're in the jhana you don't have

any hindrances arise if you start

feeling restlessness you're not in the

jhana anymore and you have to work with

the six hours to let go of that false

belief in a personal self he understood

there's an escape beyond this first

stage and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again with the stilling of thinking and

examining thoughts re putas entered upon

and abided in the second jhana which had

self-confidence and stillness of mind

without thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of

collectiveness I don't use the word

concentration very often because if I

use the word concentration it's

misunderstood everybody will talk about

one pointed kinds of concentration now

this one pointed concentration when when

you start getting into the jhana the

force of the concentration is so strong

that it suppresses hindrances hindrances

are where your attachments are and

you have to learn that the relaxed step

in the six ARS is most important that's

the most important part of the six R's

the second noble truth the first noble

truth is quite often said all life is

suffering and that's not what the first

noble truth is there is suffering in

life

nobody has to have a PhD to see that

sort of thing the second noble truth is

there's a cause of the suffering what is

the cause craving taking it personally

identifying with it getting caught up in

your thinking about it

and your emotional tendency that arise

arises right after the thinking about so

when I talk about concentration I change

that definition to collectiveness what

is a collected mind a collected mind is

a mind that's very composed it's a mind

that still and it's a mind that's very

pure why is it pure because you've let

go of the craving and this is the third

noble truth this is how you have the

cessation of suffering arise by letting

go of the craving now these are all

things that you're going to understand

personally

when you're doing the meditation you're

going to see it for yourself and you're

going to start to understand that the

Four Noble Truths are not just these

four things to think about generally

because every link of dependent

origination has the Four Noble Truths in

it and that will get explained a little

bit later as we will deeper into the the

practice now when you get to the second

jhana I will tell you to let go of

verbalization this is the noble silence

jhana you're going to have more

confidence in this practice because

you're going to have joy arise and it's

going to be stronger and you'll start to

feel so light in your mind and light in

your body you're going to feel like

you're floating I have somewhere around

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