From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RoQygUTm6vE

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

lucky the suitor tonight is called the

unknown father suta one of my favorites

this gives you the whole map of what to

expect with your medication

that's what I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at Sawatdee in

jeta's grove anathapindika's park there

he addressed the box thus monks

venerable sir if they replies the

Blessed One said this monks sorry puta

is wise

sorry Buddha has great wisdom

sorry Buddha has wide wisdom

sorry boo Dez joyous wisdom

sorry put - has quick wisdom sorry

Putin has keen wisdom sorry

butas penetrative wisdom any time you

hear the word wise or wisdom it is

talking about how he sees the links of

dependent origination and seeing the

impersonal nature in everything

during half a month monks sorry put to

gain insight in two states one by one as

they occurred now sorry

butas insights and two states one by one

as they occurred was this here quite

secluded from sensual pleasures that

looted from unwholesome states sorry who

- entered upon and abided in the fourth

job at 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 four foundations of mindfulness and

the five aggregates are the same thing

it's a different way of describing the

same thing

and here they're gonna not talk about

body and talk about contact because the

with contact you can go through all of

the different traumas feeling perception

formations and mind feeling and

perception are always conjoined they're

always together

when a pleasant feeling arises your mind

says that's that's nice

that's good when a painful feeling

arises your mind says now that's not

good that that's that's painful it's

perception that does that but perception

and feeling are always together always

so when you were talking about the four

foundations of mindfulness the first

foundation of mindfulness is mindfulness

of the body okay here we call it contact

because if we just said body it would

only go to the third rung because it's

contact after that yeah

feeling feeling as pleasant painful

neither painful nor pleasant and that is

the second foundation of mindfulness and

fullness of feeling then you have

mindfulness of mind

and

that is the last of the aggregates mind

and you have mindfulness of mind objects

and that is the fact of the formations

so anytime you hear these five

aggregates in this suit it's saying that

you're practicing straight Vipassana and

vomit in the same job okay suit to

number 149 it says that summit and

Vipassana are always yoked together

they're not separate practices and

that's one of the problems with maja

society does style of meditation and

actually you go Inga they tell you that

be careful of Jonna Jonna is only good

for developing psychic abilities you can

never attain nirvana if you just do

jhana well it's not necessarily true

here you have the four foundations of

mindfulness while you're in every one of

the jhanas up to the realm of neither

perception nor non-perception

so this is quite a bit different kind of

practice and it's different because of

using the six artists because of the

relaxed step street Vipassana they tell

you to put your attention on any kind of

distraction and know that that until it

goes away and then come back to your

primary object of meditation which is

the breath but

that is not right effort

right effort is recognizing when

something unwholesome arises the only

thing that's unwholesome is taking it

personally okay this is me this is mine

this is Who I am

next you release the distraction

don't keep your attention on the

distraction and relax then bring up

something wholesome smile and bring that

smiling pure mind back to your object of

meditation stay with your object the

meditation as long as you can

that's right effort so even when you

first start up with doing the practice

of straight Vipassana the instructions

that you're getting are not from the

students in obstructions that you're

getting is from commentary and sub

commentary now what is a commentary you

know I might take this and I might write

what I think the Buddha's talking about

I can be right I can be wrong it depends

and then somebody comes along and they

take what I write and they say well I

think we can add to this and what they

wind up doing is make it more

complicated but that's the way folks

like to do

we have a real tendency to make things

more complicated to be so

this particular suit it's not the only

suit that's like this and they there's

other other suits that are very similar

to this that have foundations of -

you're getting a job it's not the only

place that you're gonna see this okay

you have enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred known to him those

states arose no they were present

knowing they disappeared so woody what

are we talking about here we're talking

about impermanence we're talking about

everything changing okay everything is

in this state of change there are 17

different things that happen while

you're in the first jhana and they

happen one by one they don't all happen

at the same time so that makes it quite

a bit different than me one pointed

kinds of concentration that are being

taught these days where your mind just

stays on wonderfully and you focus

Deeping just on

thing and you can get into very nice

states of I think they call it bliss

deep tranquility where your mind is

stays that way for a long period of time

but you're not learning anything staying

with one thing only doesn't teach you

anything as you start to see these

different things come up by yourself

you're gonna start going oh wow yeah

that's right that's that's oh I know

on the right path so he understood us so

indeed these states not having been come

into being

having been they vanish regarding those

states he abided unattracted he didn't

hold on to anything on where he felt he

didn't push anything away independent he

saw as impersonal the attached freed

associated with the mind grid of

barriers now this is just other ways of

describing the impersonal nature of

everything he understood there is an

escape beyond this and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is again with the

stilling of thinking and examining

thought sorry

Buddha entered upon and abided in the

second Drona which has self-confidence

and stillness of mind without thinking

and examining thought with joy and

penis born of collectiveness now the

second jhana is what we call the noble

silence John this is where I'm going to

tell you don't verbalize the wish

anymore just bring up the feeling of the

wait now when you get into the second

jhana you start feeling like I'm

starting to progress this is pretty good

style and the joy you experience is

going to be stronger now this kind of

joy is called uplifting joy where you

feel very light in your mind then

there's some excitement and it's really

nice and you feel very light in your

body I've had some students that they

told me that they didn't want to sit but

this kind of joy this uplifting joy is

oh the only way you're going to

experience this is through mental

development and there is another kind of

joy that even goes deeper and this is

the they call it all-pervading joy this

kind of joy is a it doesn't have the

excitement in it that the

uplifting joy house it's a very happy

feeling but this is the awakening factor

of joy it's a little bit different than

the other kinds of joy that you can

experience now you'll notice sometimes

Buddha images they'll have the eyes half

open well that's the artist trying to

show you that he's experiencing that

kind of joy and I've been with

meditation teachers have tried to tell

me that you should always sit with your

eyes apple half open because that's what

they see in the statues but what happens

when you get to this kind of joy it's a

very happy feeling and you can be quite

trainable at the same time and your eyes

will pop over for no reason you think

well that's kind of weird so you close

your eyes and your eyes open up again

the open stay open I don't care

but don't be looking around just keep

your eyes focused down there are some

kinds of people that they suggest that

don't always sit with your eyes open and

then what they'll do is tell you to go

sit looking at the walls well what

happens if you're sick with your eyes

open any kind of movement you're out of

your mind goes to that your eyes would

go to that movement even if it's a fly

or an ant or whatever and that kind of

slows down your progress with your

concentration so if you want to sit with

your eyes open it's up to you I really

don't care but it is harder to sit with

your eyes open than it is with your eyes

closed okay

now the happy feeling right after joy is

there then it fades away by itself and

you feel strong tranquility and then you

start feeling more comfortable in your

body in your mind that moves out before

you feel all very much of ease and that

is a real Pleasant kind of feeling to

have and your mind stays with your

object of meditation for a little bit

longer than it had before so it's a very

nice comfortable feeling when you get

into the second jhana and the states in

the second your honor the

self-confidence the joy the happiness

the unification are mine now the self

contradicts is something that you start

developing on your own you start going

yeah this

right I know it's right this is this is

a good good thing and it not only

carries gives you confidence while

you're City but it also helps you with

your confidence while you're doing your

daily activities you just feel more at

ease you don't have as much emotional

excitement things like that arise okay

the contact feeling perception

formations and mind that's the four

foundations of mindfulness again the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention as you start to

go deeper you start to get more

enthusiasm and you want to start sitting

longer and that's a good thing these

states were defined by him one by one as

they occurred known to him those states

arose known they were present known they

disappeared so you're still seeing more

and more of him permanent nature of

things how every

is still in a state of change one of the

things I noticed when I was doing this

street the pasta home was there was a

lot of talk about impermanence but it

was like philosophy Rather's that

something you actually see for yourself

with this particular practice you're

gonna see it for real and you're gonna

recognize it as section that's one of

the insights that you're getting out ok

and he understood there still wanted to

do and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again with the fading away of joy sorry

but to enter upon and abided an

equanimity mindful and fully aware still

feeling happiness with the body he

entered upon them abided in the third

jhana on account of which noble ones

announced he has a pleasant abiding who

has equanimity in his mindful when we

get to the third jhana he'd no longer

have joy we have a very peaceful calm

feeling

have good balance in your mind where

before when you were in the lower jaw as

a sound would come your mind would go to

it now when you're in the third jhana it

doesn't make your mind jump to it

it will just be peaceful okay the sound

is there you know it's there but it

doesn't upset you at all and this is a

very interesting state to be in because

as you start going deeper into the

meditation and you start staying with

your spiritual friend for longer what's

gonna happen is you're gonna start

losing feeling in different parts of

your body you won't know that sharing

hands if you put your attention on your

hands you'll feel them but when you're

staying with your object and meditation

you just won't feel your hands or an arm

or a leg and after a period of time as

you let go of tension and tightness in

your head in your mind you let go of

tension

in their body and that's why you don't

feel it unless there's contact now you

see why the word contact is there

instead of body if you feel an ant

walking across your heart your hand you

feel a fly you could feel the pains of

different things but it doesn't make

your mind shake that's just okay you

know how you notice that that's there so

it also happens with sounds quite often

where I give retreats

there's always motorcycle and it seems

like Asia they really really like to

take the muffler off of their bike they

really like to fight that's going by

when you get into the third jhana you

hear it but it doesn't make your mind

shake and go to it it doesn't upset you

your mind is says okay that's there's a

sound there so every month if I come up

then I touch you you'll feel it as

there's contact

now interesting thing with each one of

these China's is there's kind of a

strange belief and it comes from people

that are practicing one-pointed

concentration and that is you can't be

in China while you're up moving around

but I'm here to tell you that's not true

you can stay in the jhana while you get

up and you start walking and then you

come back and you can still be in that

jhana

when you sit down and you start sitting

again so when you get to a certain place

in the meditation where you really don't

feel much in the way of your

at all the feeling of loving kindness

will move up into your head by itself it

does it all on its own

okay don't push it back down that will

give you a major Eddie let that feel and

either stay with your spiritual friend

and that's when I will talk to you about

changing your meditation so that you

haven't sent loving-kindness to

different beings and that's okay when

you get so that the loving-kindness is

in your head we're actually starting to

experience the fourth jhana some of you

have already done that

and that's that's just great when you

get to the fourth jhana this is where

you really do start to understand mind

and you don't understand how to do a lot

of things and you're naturally going to

be more observant you'll be able to sit

for a little bit longer periods of time

staying with

spiritual friend and that's great but

you're going to start having more and

more balance in your mind when you get

to the fourth jhana

that's where the Buddha praised his

meditators when you get to the fourth

jhana you really do start understanding

how this process works much more clearly

because you have direct experience of

each one of these jhanas you're gonna be

able to discern more clearly if you're

being given the right directions or not

the right meditation or not if you pick

up the Dhamma book sometimes you can

pick up a book and start reading and you

go I wonder what this guy is talking

about

and then we've got some other books and

you go oh yeah this is exactly right I

know it's right because that's what my

experiences so you'll be able to discern

more clearly the different stages of the

meditation you're gonna understand it

more more clearly you'll be able to

understand the suit does more clearly

after you get through so

and the states this is in the third

drama the equanimity the happiness the

mindfulness the full awareness and

unification of mine the contact feeling

perception formation and mind there's a

fourth foundations of mindfulness again

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred known to him those

states arose know they were present

known they disappeared the understood

they're still mourn to do and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirm that there is again with the

abandoning of pleasure in pain with the

previous disappearance of joy and grief

sorry Buddha entered upon and abided in

the fourth jhana which has neither pain

nor pleasure and purity of mindfulness

due to equanimity and the states in the

fourth jhana

the

remember T the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling the mental unconcerned

due to tranquility the purity of

mindfulness and unification of money the

contact feeling perception for nations

and mine the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by em one by

one as they occurred to him those states

arose no they were present known it

disappeared he understood there still

more to do and with the cultivation of

that attainment he confirmed that there

is no when you get to the fourth jhana

no longer feeling your body ok now is

when the contact becomes a little bit

different when you get up after sitting

for a period of time and you start doing

your walking you stay with the

equanimity and it actually is a little

bit strange because you don't have a

body

unless there's contact you're not gonna

feel it so you're gonna feel when you

put your foot down on the floor you're

gonna feel that contact but you're not

gonna feel anything beyond that it's

just going to be feeling of contact the

equanimity

and this is a big difference between

what's being taught by most meditation

teachers and what the Buddha was talking

about the Buddha came up with the word

to describe the kind of mental

development that he was teaching and

it's called Samadhi Samadhi is very much

misunderstood

oh that's concentration no it's not

there was a lot of different words that

described one-pointed concentration

during the time of the Buddha but he

didn't want to use that he wanted to say

he wanted to show there something

different

sama tranquil be wisdom okay Samadhi

wisdom it really does work that way

you're seeing the impersonal nature of

things much more clearly when you get

into this good samadhi before the buddha

there was a lot of different kinds of

meditation that were being taught and

they actually didn't have the different

jhanas that this is what the buddha

introduced they were going straight to

the brahma vihara s-- and working with

that without any preliminary practice

what the buddha did was he introduced

the preliminary practice he produced the

first four jhanas and that's what he was

he was teaching people that so that they

could stay on the path much more easily

when they got to the other route pajamas

the material John's just trying to

develop the material jhanas from not

doing any meditation and brain to get

this that's not any easy task that's

difficult so the Buddha was when he

talked about Samadhi and he made the

definition of some

he said it was the first for jhanas

first jhana second jhana third jhana 4th

jhana

now when you're talking about doing the

brahma vihara and you're talking about

that material realms and things like

that these are different states of the

fourth job different levels of the four

different levels of your understanding

so one of the reasons that people are so

much more

open to experiencing the first four

drums it's because of the way that he

was teaching the meditation and the

using right effort as the mainstay of

the fourth noble truth right effort is

the fourth noble truth okay that's the

way leading to the cessation of

suffering so I've been telling people

that the fourth noble truth uses six

artists

I see a lot of times when I was in

Thailand they used to drag me crazy

because they loved to talk about

suffering and the Burmese oh man really

love that kind of stuff

everything is suffering when I was in

Burma I had the opportunity to spend

some time with a very very very popular

monk and we got invited to this was that

was really a lot of great food that was

really really good and this monk is

after it's all been offered to him and

he's we've done chanting and do all that

kind of thing he started eating and

while he's eating he's going to and

there was a man standing right behind

he said I want some of that Duke they

say everything in life is suffering and

that's not the first noble truth there

is suffering in life yes but not

everything and suffering I mean what's

the sense of doing anything why even

have a Buddha come around if everything

is always going to be suffering he

showed us how to let go of the suffering

he wanted us to understand that the

third noble truth is what we want to

focus on the cessation of the suffering

and it's pretty easy to focus on it give

pretty easy so it's kind of amazing that

there's so much emphasis on suffering

and I've been with with a lot of monks

when they first start giving a Dhamma

talk and all the other good shaking

their head yeah this is suffering

everything has suffering whenever I

would give that dominant talk I got

actually criticized very heavily because

I wouldn't talk about suffering I talked

about the cessation yeah isn't that

weird find out how to let it go you just

want to indulge it what is that

okay so now again with the complete

surmounting of gross perceptions of form

gross perceptions of form is what you're

feeling linear in the lord rama's and

you feel your hands and you feel a pain

come up and you really are paying

attention to it so that's the gross

paint with the disappearance of gross

perceptions of sensory impact aware that

space is infinite

sorry poop - entered upon and abided in

the base of infinite space now what

happens when you get to the fourth jhana

I'm going to change your meditation to

the six directions I don't want you

practicing it on your own only when I

give you these directions but what

happens is you're starting to radiate

loving kindness to all beings

all the different directions and that

sort of thing and then the feeling of

loving-kindness changes I'm not going to

tell you how it changes you have to tell

me but it changes to a feeling of

compassion an awful lot of people

especially Mahayana they like to

interchange the word

loving kindness and compassion like

they're the same thing and they aren't

they're different as I said I'm not

going to tell you the difference you

have to tell me by your direct

experience but also what happens is you

start to feel expansion happening in

your head they're just a feeling of

going out and it's really nice and it

just keeps going out and out and that is

the feeling of infinite space

so and the states in the base of

infinite space with compassion the

perception of the base of infinite space

with compassion the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception

formations and mind now you're getting

into the four foundations of mindfulness

into the aruba jhanas into the

immaterial States the enthusiasm

decision energy mindfulness equanimity

and attention these states were defined

by him one by one as they occurred known

to him those states of rose no they were

present no he disappeared he understood

there's still more to do and with the

cultivation of that attainment eating

from that there is so once you bit into

the material States you don't have

at all I don't want you here if they are

you talking about your body if you're

talking about your body that means

you're putting your attention on your

body and you're not staying on your

object of meditation now your object of

meditation is a feeling of compassion

when you get to this state and you read

that that feeling so there are going to

be some times when a meditation pain and

arise and it can be pretty intense a lot

of people talk about in their bottom

almost like they're sitting on a tack

it's pretty intense and they don't break

their sitting because of that when you

get to these kind of stages you should

be sitting between two and three hours

without moving

and it sounds like that's really a big

thing but it's not your mind will just

start settling down more and more and it

gets more easy and you'll be able to

stay with your your object of meditation

for longer and longer periods of time 15

minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes maybe more

so you you know that this is and you

start to get more and more confidence

and you start to it's easier when that

meditation baby comes up that can be big

when I teach in Malaysia they get to

certain places and the meditation and I

start talking to them about that

then they start saying yes but I forbid

that word I tell them they have to get

there but the way to teams as well as

one

but it hurts so much

who doesn't like

who wants it to be different than it is

oh are you taking it personally did you

ask that pain to come up or did it come

up by itself well you know what the

answer is

you didn't ask it to come up you're not

gonna get try to talk yourself into

having a pain that hurts so bad it makes

your eyes water you're not gonna do that

it happens because conditions are right

for it to arise why does it arise

because in the past you broke a precept

okay this is something that I need to

really get you to understand when you

get off retreat that doesn't mean that

it's time to go back to the way you were

it means that you now have a deep

responsibility to keep the precepts

without breaking because you're gonna

cause yourself a lot of pain you don't

keep these precepts

I've had a student that he was pretty

bad about his person and he did it a lot

and he did a lot of retreats with me and

if he did a two-week retreat the first

10 days he had a really rough time of

his retreat on his retreat and then he

did about 10 days and nothing to have a

couple more days before he had to start

getting ready to go home and as Rita's

retreat was very good for two days and

then he would get off retreat and he

would tell me now I can go back to being

the way I was retreat if you're not

willing to change and that's the whole

point of doing this finding out how

you've caused yourself suffering and

learn how to let it go it's real

important for you to understand that the

morning you break your precepts the more

pain you're causing yourself in life and

the more trouble there is in your life

but when you keep your precepts without

breaking them there's great benefits in

that things just start to roll toward

you then things get easy there's an

expression

Buddhism that says when you take care of

dama dama takes care of you what does

that mean you keep the precepts and all

of your life is going to become easier

and it's almost magical how it happens

sometimes I can think of something in

the morning as well I'd it'd be nice if

that happened and then the afternoon it

happens you have to be careful what you

want but keeping your precepts is a real

important part of what meditation is the

first part is practicing your generosity

and always be nice to other people be

kind to other people help them overcome

their suffering and keep your precepts

and what what kind of reputation you

have

after that people will start coming to

you and they'll start asking new

questions cuz they trust you because

they know that what you're gonna say to

the best of your knowledge is going to

be true it really does make a difference

I have some friends in Missouri that

they're not so good at keeping the

precepts and they're always having

problems and I can't convince them that

they have to stop the kind of language

that they use and their gossips and all

of this kind of stuff the guys have no

problems and if they would just pay

attention for a month then they would

start to see things are better things

get a lot easier keeping your precepts

is a kind

protection you need to seriously

consider that all the time

yeah

by completely surmounting the base of

infinite space with compassion where

that consciousness is infinite sorry

lieutenant turn upon and abided in a

base of infinite consciousness now what

happens is the field life and passion

will change to a feeling of joy as not

the exciting time this is the time then

that's the awakening factor of joy and

you're gonna be able to sit when your

mind settles down enough you're gonna be

able to see one of the centers a very

fast trickery that was roughly a hundred

thousand of rising and passing away of

earing consciousness when you start

seeing this flickering eager at the at

the eyes or the ears body mind when you

start seeing this flickering you're

seeing individual consciousnesses

the best way arise and pass the way it

readies and pass away and you're

starting to see for sure up close and

very personally that everything is in a

state of change and it's that way with

every sense door

it's always very fast arising passing

away it's birthday birthday birthday

birthday it's the birth of a

consciousness and it fades away and

that's the death that's why the Buddha

talked about rebirth not reincarnation

reincarnation implies some kind of soul

that's directing things around and it's

not like that

now because you're seeing this arising

and passing away and it's very fast

trickery

you're going to start seeing that it's

it starts to be troublesome after a

while but it's tiresome that every sense

door is like that is continually arising

passing away it raising passing away and

that's what the Buddha called Gupta

unsatisfactoriness and you're gonna see

really really clearly that there is no

controller it happens by itself when the

conditions are right you're going to be

able to see it so you're seeing

Anitra dukkha not up close and personal

and you're gonna see that it's not a

philosophy this is something that's real

and you'll be able to recognize it as

that that's it's kind of a bit oh wow

that happens now sometimes at this level

you can have fear arise you know why

you're you just feel afraid

and I've had some people they've called

me up on the telephone and said I'm

going to die very soon

oh really why I don't know that's what

my mind is saying and I started laughing

because I know it's happening

her mind was throwing a temper tantrum

because it seemed that it's not in

control and seeing that everything

happens because conditions when the

conditions right these are going to

happen it's not their mind isn't in

control it's like a little gift and

that's what your mind does what do you

do back

your mind is just be a little kid for

how many lifetimes does your mind think

it's in control and then when he finds

out it's not oh it's gonna throw temper

tantrums

so just so this is a real good insight

this infinite consciousness seek

consciousness is a raisin passed away so

fast and you know it's not yours you

can't control it you can't make it be

the way you want it to be it's got to be

the way it wants to be because that's

the nature of

okay

again by completely surmounting the

beasts of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing so you put two

entered upon a divided in a base of

nothingness what happens next is the

feel feeling of joy they do it and it

will be very strong tranquility and real

strong no excitement it's a real nice

state to be in and actually it's one of

the more interesting states of the

meditation each meditation level that

you go through is a different because

you experience different things so when

you get to the realm of nothingness now

mind is not looking outside of itself

anymore and there's nothing now you take

the equanimity

meditation and you stayed with the

equanimity is about

the interesting thing about this is this

is where you start teaching yourself

true balance of money and you put too

much energy into staying with the

equanimity your mind is going to get

restless you don't put enough energy and

your mind is going to get dull it's not

gonna get sleepy anymore it's just going

to be the dull so this is where you need

to learn how to adjust and you might

have to adjust three or four or five

times in the city they no longer stay

there's other things that happen while

you're in that state but again I'm not

going to talk to you about it you have

to tell me about it but it does get to

be quite interesting as you start to go

deeper into the equanimity

we have less of the less mental

excitement about things you start

developing disenchantment towards things

for instance and Asia food is number one

King everybody they really like their

food when you have strong equanimity and

disenchantment you can see your favorite

foods but it doesn't make your mind

shaking it doesn't make your might get

excited

it doesn't make you drool because you

know what you want that so this is a

finer degree of equanimity that's quite

nice now as you stay with the equanimity

you're going to start sitting for longer

periods of time and you need to stay

with the remedy you do the six

directions with the wouldn't

yeah then you radiate to all beings with

equanimity at Nazca and that's going to

stop and it's going to feel like you're

asleep and aware at the same time it's

kind of a hot thing and after a period

of time mine is just going to become

really

exquisitely quiet there's not gonna be

anything that you see just strong

peaceful now you're taking mine as your

object of meditation if you see the

slightest little movement of - attention

relax

so this is called the realm of neither

perception nor non-perception real

interesting state to be in - and you'll

be able to sit for long periods of time

attention 45 minutes an hour

I had one man that he said for four

hours three hours he didn't have any

movement of my attention at all three

hours that's impressive

what's the advantage of that but there's

so much relief in that your mind is at

its purest you don't have any craving in

her mind we don't have any movement of

minds attention so your mind is

exceptionally pure and what will happen

eventually

is that you'll get to a place and

everything just stops it's like flipping

off the light switch nothing you don't

even know you're in that state until you

come out of it this is called the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness when you come out of that

you're going to feel in relief just like

you've been carrying around heavy heavy

boulders and you didn't know you were

and you put them down and you oh isn't

that better

yeah nice depending on your mindfulness

if your mindfulness is really really

sharp you're gonna see tiny

my attention just for peridotite

what you're actually seeing at this time

is the links of dependent origination

right after that you are going to have

some real strong joy at Rice and you're

going to feel a difference in their

perception of things okay so now you're

gonna start noticing things a little bit

more clearly a little bit more stronger

mindfulness you have just experienced

I will ask you certain kinds of

questions and I'm going to let you know

what those are either you get it got to

go through the experience before I'm

going to ask you about it but you will

feel the Buddhist said that when you

become a certified you have given up

there is a different kind of perspective

that happens and you will feel more and

more a tendency to keep the precepts

without breaking them because if you do

happen to break one of the precepts

you're going to feel really guilty and

you need to confess that

okay

now this is after you have become a soda

bottle a noble disciple considers thus

do I possess the character of a person

who possesses right view what is the

character of a person who possesses

right view this is the character of a

person who possesses right view although

he may commit some kind of offence break

the precept for which a means of

rehabilitation has been laid out by the

teacher or his wise companions and the

holy life having done that he enters

upon the restraint for the future what

this is saying is you have to confess it

you have to go to a teacher and tell

them I broke the preset what we'll do is

say okay now I want you to take the

precepts again and make a determination

that you won't do that again feel really

bad if you break the precept then you

know somebody

- but there are also other ways of

handling and that is forgiving yourself

for making a mistake

take the precepts again right then you

only have a five preset that's pretty

easy okay you take the precepts with the

strong determination that you're not

ever going to break that precept

together so it's a real interesting

think that you really do want to

confess

still he at once confesses reveals and

discloses to the teacher or to always

companion and the holy life

having done that he enters upon

restraint for the future just as a young

in a tender infant lying prone at once

draws back when he puts a hand or a foot

on the life coal so - that is the

character of a person who possesses

right you interesting too many times and

in my country anyway they really don't

like the idea of morality

they had their share of Catholic

practices and haven't been having that

talked about it going to L and all of

these way I know things because of

breaking up reason but it's it's a real

important part of the practice and the

more closely you can keep your precepts

without breaking them the easier life

becomes the more benefits you can you

get powder of life so there's some real

advantages for doing this now I told you

about this friend that he was a he was

it was like he was in the Navy and he

was always using curse words and he

always was causing problems for himself

people would hear him use those curse

words and they didn't like to be around

him I don't like to be around somebody

that's cursing all the time and looked

at what kind of mind he was developing

because he was cursing all the time he

was developing a mind that had a lot of

a virgin and a lot of hatred in his body

so using this kind of foul language not

only it affects imp in a negative way

but it affects other people around you

anyway so it's finally after quite a

number of years and many many retreats

that he did with me he finally got

serious with it and he stopped doing

that and his progress was very fast

after that give you another example of

what happens that you have to be able to

be mine there was a man that came from

Korea it was a good meditator and he

came to Burma where I was and he wanted

to take off the robes and put on the

terrified her robes they eat after that

they need terrified among stuffed

we take we take precepts that says that

we don't

when he first got there if it said for

three hours without really good sitter

but after he took on the terrified of

ropes he started getting hungry in the

evening so he started making food for

himself he went from being able to sit

for three hours to not being able to sit

for more than 15 minutes because he had

a guilty mind that's a simple thing but

he knew he was breaking the precept

that's the whole thing the uplifted mind

is because you want to change from the

old way of causing yourself suffering

you want to let go of that suffering you

want to you want to be kind to yourself

and you have to be guiding to

people too an awful lot of people that

were practicing straight Vipassana and I

noticed this in myself too I can't blame

other people only was my mind had a

tendency to get very critical and

judgmental about other people and I I

saw that I was making other people angry

by some of the things I was saying and

it was actually real rude some of the

things I would tell people that you're

doing this they didn't like to hear that

but when I started letting go of the one

pointed concentration which doesn't have

much personality development in it and

started finding more and more about

craving and

let go of the craving my personality

became softer much more attentive

towards other people I wanted to help

other people to be happy I wanted to

practice more generosity I wanted to

keep my precepts more closely and I

watched the personality training happen

and this quite amazed and I can see that

that's starting to happen for some of

you right now I see it in your faces and

that makes me happy so yes you can

attain nirvana on this two-day retreat

but the real gem of this is not

attaining me but is softening your mind

stop making your mind heart and critical

and nasty don't do that anymore be kind

to yourself be kind to other people

around you help them to overcome their

suffering that's what life is for

so what happens after you have attained

nirvana and I questioned you about it

and I might congratulate you so that's

just the first part each one of the

different levels of awakening has two

parts to it when you first attain

nirvana that's called the path knowledge

as you continue on and you go deeper you

will experience what is called the

fruition knowledge the fruit and that's

where it's really set very tightly and

it's very good then you get to be a

socket a gong yes I could've got me and

somebody that well let me go back

explain

being a certified business owner bono

means you don't ever have any doubt as

to whether this path really works or not

you know that this is the way

you

lucky the suitor tonight is called the

unknown father suta one of my favorites

this gives you the whole map of what to

expect with your medication

that's what I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at Sawatdee in

jeta's grove anathapindika's park there

he addressed the box thus monks

venerable sir if they replies the

Blessed One said this monks sorry puta

is wise

sorry Buddha has great wisdom

sorry Buddha has wide wisdom

sorry boo Dez joyous wisdom

sorry put - has quick wisdom sorry

Putin has keen wisdom sorry

butas penetrative wisdom any time you

hear the word wise or wisdom it is

talking about how he sees the links of

dependent origination and seeing the

impersonal nature in everything

during half a month monks sorry put to

gain insight in two states one by one as

they occurred now sorry

butas insights and two states one by one

as they occurred was this here quite

secluded from sensual pleasures that

looted from unwholesome states sorry who

- entered upon and abided in the fourth

job at 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 four foundations of mindfulness and

the five aggregates are the same thing

it's a different way of describing the

same thing

and here they're gonna not talk about

body and talk about contact because the

with contact you can go through all of

the different traumas feeling perception

formations and mind feeling and

perception are always conjoined they're

always together

when a pleasant feeling arises your mind

says that's that's nice

that's good when a painful feeling

arises your mind says now that's not

good that that's that's painful it's

perception that does that but perception

and feeling are always together always

so when you were talking about the four

foundations of mindfulness the first

foundation of mindfulness is mindfulness

of the body okay here we call it contact

because if we just said body it would

only go to the third rung because it's

contact after that yeah

feeling feeling as pleasant painful

neither painful nor pleasant and that is

the second foundation of mindfulness and

fullness of feeling then you have

mindfulness of mind

and

that is the last of the aggregates mind

and you have mindfulness of mind objects

and that is the fact of the formations

so anytime you hear these five

aggregates in this suit it's saying that

you're practicing straight Vipassana and

vomit in the same job okay suit to

number 149 it says that summit and

Vipassana are always yoked together

they're not separate practices and

that's one of the problems with maja

society does style of meditation and

actually you go Inga they tell you that

be careful of Jonna Jonna is only good

for developing psychic abilities you can

never attain nirvana if you just do

jhana well it's not necessarily true

here you have the four foundations of

mindfulness while you're in every one of

the jhanas up to the realm of neither

perception nor non-perception

so this is quite a bit different kind of

practice and it's different because of

using the six artists because of the

relaxed step street Vipassana they tell

you to put your attention on any kind of

distraction and know that that until it

goes away and then come back to your

primary object of meditation which is

the breath but

that is not right effort

right effort is recognizing when

something unwholesome arises the only

thing that's unwholesome is taking it

personally okay this is me this is mine

this is Who I am

next you release the distraction

don't keep your attention on the

distraction and relax then bring up

something wholesome smile and bring that

smiling pure mind back to your object of

meditation stay with your object the

meditation as long as you can

that's right effort so even when you

first start up with doing the practice

of straight Vipassana the instructions

that you're getting are not from the

students in obstructions that you're

getting is from commentary and sub

commentary now what is a commentary you

know I might take this and I might write

what I think the Buddha's talking about

I can be right I can be wrong it depends

and then somebody comes along and they

take what I write and they say well I

think we can add to this and what they

wind up doing is make it more

complicated but that's the way folks

like to do

we have a real tendency to make things

more complicated to be so

this particular suit it's not the only

suit that's like this and they there's

other other suits that are very similar

to this that have foundations of -

you're getting a job it's not the only

place that you're gonna see this okay

you have enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred known to him those

states arose no they were present

knowing they disappeared so woody what

are we talking about here we're talking

about impermanence we're talking about

everything changing okay everything is

in this state of change there are 17

different things that happen while

you're in the first jhana and they

happen one by one they don't all happen

at the same time so that makes it quite

a bit different than me one pointed

kinds of concentration that are being

taught these days where your mind just

stays on wonderfully and you focus

Deeping just on

thing and you can get into very nice

states of I think they call it bliss

deep tranquility where your mind is

stays that way for a long period of time

but you're not learning anything staying

with one thing only doesn't teach you

anything as you start to see these

different things come up by yourself

you're gonna start going oh wow yeah

that's right that's that's oh I know

on the right path so he understood us so

indeed these states not having been come

into being

having been they vanish regarding those

states he abided unattracted he didn't

hold on to anything on where he felt he

didn't push anything away independent he

saw as impersonal the attached freed

associated with the mind grid of

barriers now this is just other ways of

describing the impersonal nature of

everything he understood there is an

escape beyond this and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is again with the

stilling of thinking and examining

thought sorry

Buddha entered upon and abided in the

second Drona which has self-confidence

and stillness of mind without thinking

and examining thought with joy and

penis born of collectiveness now the

second jhana is what we call the noble

silence John this is where I'm going to

tell you don't verbalize the wish

anymore just bring up the feeling of the

wait now when you get into the second

jhana you start feeling like I'm

starting to progress this is pretty good

style and the joy you experience is

going to be stronger now this kind of

joy is called uplifting joy where you

feel very light in your mind then

there's some excitement and it's really

nice and you feel very light in your

body I've had some students that they

told me that they didn't want to sit but

this kind of joy this uplifting joy is

oh the only way you're going to

experience this is through mental

development and there is another kind of

joy that even goes deeper and this is

the they call it all-pervading joy this

kind of joy is a it doesn't have the

excitement in it that the

uplifting joy house it's a very happy

feeling but this is the awakening factor

of joy it's a little bit different than

the other kinds of joy that you can

experience now you'll notice sometimes

Buddha images they'll have the eyes half

open well that's the artist trying to

show you that he's experiencing that

kind of joy and I've been with

meditation teachers have tried to tell

me that you should always sit with your

eyes apple half open because that's what

they see in the statues but what happens

when you get to this kind of joy it's a

very happy feeling and you can be quite

trainable at the same time and your eyes

will pop over for no reason you think

well that's kind of weird so you close

your eyes and your eyes open up again

the open stay open I don't care

but don't be looking around just keep

your eyes focused down there are some

kinds of people that they suggest that

don't always sit with your eyes open and

then what they'll do is tell you to go

sit looking at the walls well what

happens if you're sick with your eyes

open any kind of movement you're out of

your mind goes to that your eyes would

go to that movement even if it's a fly

or an ant or whatever and that kind of

slows down your progress with your

concentration so if you want to sit with

your eyes open it's up to you I really

don't care but it is harder to sit with

your eyes open than it is with your eyes

closed okay

now the happy feeling right after joy is

there then it fades away by itself and

you feel strong tranquility and then you

start feeling more comfortable in your

body in your mind that moves out before

you feel all very much of ease and that

is a real Pleasant kind of feeling to

have and your mind stays with your

object of meditation for a little bit

longer than it had before so it's a very

nice comfortable feeling when you get

into the second jhana and the states in

the second your honor the

self-confidence the joy the happiness

the unification are mine now the self

contradicts is something that you start

developing on your own you start going

yeah this

right I know it's right this is this is

a good good thing and it not only

carries gives you confidence while

you're City but it also helps you with

your confidence while you're doing your

daily activities you just feel more at

ease you don't have as much emotional

excitement things like that arise okay

the contact feeling perception

formations and mind that's the four

foundations of mindfulness again the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention as you start to

go deeper you start to get more

enthusiasm and you want to start sitting

longer and that's a good thing these

states were defined by him one by one as

they occurred known to him those states

arose known they were present known they

disappeared so you're still seeing more

and more of him permanent nature of

things how every

is still in a state of change one of the

things I noticed when I was doing this

street the pasta home was there was a

lot of talk about impermanence but it

was like philosophy Rather's that

something you actually see for yourself

with this particular practice you're

gonna see it for real and you're gonna

recognize it as section that's one of

the insights that you're getting out ok

and he understood there still wanted to

do and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again with the fading away of joy sorry

but to enter upon and abided an

equanimity mindful and fully aware still

feeling happiness with the body he

entered upon them abided in the third

jhana on account of which noble ones

announced he has a pleasant abiding who

has equanimity in his mindful when we

get to the third jhana he'd no longer

have joy we have a very peaceful calm

feeling

have good balance in your mind where

before when you were in the lower jaw as

a sound would come your mind would go to

it now when you're in the third jhana it

doesn't make your mind jump to it

it will just be peaceful okay the sound

is there you know it's there but it

doesn't upset you at all and this is a

very interesting state to be in because

as you start going deeper into the

meditation and you start staying with

your spiritual friend for longer what's

gonna happen is you're gonna start

losing feeling in different parts of

your body you won't know that sharing

hands if you put your attention on your

hands you'll feel them but when you're

staying with your object and meditation

you just won't feel your hands or an arm

or a leg and after a period of time as

you let go of tension and tightness in

your head in your mind you let go of

tension

in their body and that's why you don't

feel it unless there's contact now you

see why the word contact is there

instead of body if you feel an ant

walking across your heart your hand you

feel a fly you could feel the pains of

different things but it doesn't make

your mind shake that's just okay you

know how you notice that that's there so

it also happens with sounds quite often

where I give retreats

there's always motorcycle and it seems

like Asia they really really like to

take the muffler off of their bike they

really like to fight that's going by

when you get into the third jhana you

hear it but it doesn't make your mind

shake and go to it it doesn't upset you

your mind is says okay that's there's a

sound there so every month if I come up

then I touch you you'll feel it as

there's contact

now interesting thing with each one of

these China's is there's kind of a

strange belief and it comes from people

that are practicing one-pointed

concentration and that is you can't be

in China while you're up moving around

but I'm here to tell you that's not true

you can stay in the jhana while you get

up and you start walking and then you

come back and you can still be in that

jhana

when you sit down and you start sitting

again so when you get to a certain place

in the meditation where you really don't

feel much in the way of your

at all the feeling of loving kindness

will move up into your head by itself it

does it all on its own

okay don't push it back down that will

give you a major Eddie let that feel and

either stay with your spiritual friend

and that's when I will talk to you about

changing your meditation so that you

haven't sent loving-kindness to

different beings and that's okay when

you get so that the loving-kindness is

in your head we're actually starting to

experience the fourth jhana some of you

have already done that

and that's that's just great when you

get to the fourth jhana this is where

you really do start to understand mind

and you don't understand how to do a lot

of things and you're naturally going to

be more observant you'll be able to sit

for a little bit longer periods of time

staying with

spiritual friend and that's great but

you're going to start having more and

more balance in your mind when you get

to the fourth jhana

that's where the Buddha praised his

meditators when you get to the fourth

jhana you really do start understanding

how this process works much more clearly

because you have direct experience of

each one of these jhanas you're gonna be

able to discern more clearly if you're

being given the right directions or not

the right meditation or not if you pick

up the Dhamma book sometimes you can

pick up a book and start reading and you

go I wonder what this guy is talking

about

and then we've got some other books and

you go oh yeah this is exactly right I

know it's right because that's what my

experiences so you'll be able to discern

more clearly the different stages of the

meditation you're gonna understand it

more more clearly you'll be able to

understand the suit does more clearly

after you get through so

and the states this is in the third

drama the equanimity the happiness the

mindfulness the full awareness and

unification of mine the contact feeling

perception formation and mind there's a

fourth foundations of mindfulness again

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred known to him those

states arose know they were present

known they disappeared the understood

they're still mourn to do and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirm that there is again with the

abandoning of pleasure in pain with the

previous disappearance of joy and grief

sorry Buddha entered upon and abided in

the fourth jhana which has neither pain

nor pleasure and purity of mindfulness

due to equanimity and the states in the

fourth jhana

the

remember T the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling the mental unconcerned

due to tranquility the purity of

mindfulness and unification of money the

contact feeling perception for nations

and mine the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by em one by

one as they occurred to him those states

arose no they were present known it

disappeared he understood there still

more to do and with the cultivation of

that attainment he confirmed that there

is no when you get to the fourth jhana

no longer feeling your body ok now is

when the contact becomes a little bit

different when you get up after sitting

for a period of time and you start doing

your walking you stay with the

equanimity and it actually is a little

bit strange because you don't have a

body

unless there's contact you're not gonna

feel it so you're gonna feel when you

put your foot down on the floor you're

gonna feel that contact but you're not

gonna feel anything beyond that it's

just going to be feeling of contact the

equanimity

and this is a big difference between

what's being taught by most meditation

teachers and what the Buddha was talking

about the Buddha came up with the word

to describe the kind of mental

development that he was teaching and

it's called Samadhi Samadhi is very much

misunderstood

oh that's concentration no it's not

there was a lot of different words that

described one-pointed concentration

during the time of the Buddha but he

didn't want to use that he wanted to say

he wanted to show there something

different

sama tranquil be wisdom okay Samadhi

wisdom it really does work that way

you're seeing the impersonal nature of

things much more clearly when you get

into this good samadhi before the buddha

there was a lot of different kinds of

meditation that were being taught and

they actually didn't have the different

jhanas that this is what the buddha

introduced they were going straight to

the brahma vihara s-- and working with

that without any preliminary practice

what the buddha did was he introduced

the preliminary practice he produced the

first four jhanas and that's what he was

he was teaching people that so that they

could stay on the path much more easily

when they got to the other route pajamas

the material John's just trying to

develop the material jhanas from not

doing any meditation and brain to get

this that's not any easy task that's

difficult so the Buddha was when he

talked about Samadhi and he made the

definition of some

he said it was the first for jhanas

first jhana second jhana third jhana 4th

jhana

now when you're talking about doing the

brahma vihara and you're talking about

that material realms and things like

that these are different states of the

fourth job different levels of the four

different levels of your understanding

so one of the reasons that people are so

much more

open to experiencing the first four

drums it's because of the way that he

was teaching the meditation and the

using right effort as the mainstay of

the fourth noble truth right effort is

the fourth noble truth okay that's the

way leading to the cessation of

suffering so I've been telling people

that the fourth noble truth uses six

artists

I see a lot of times when I was in

Thailand they used to drag me crazy

because they loved to talk about

suffering and the Burmese oh man really

love that kind of stuff

everything is suffering when I was in

Burma I had the opportunity to spend

some time with a very very very popular

monk and we got invited to this was that

was really a lot of great food that was

really really good and this monk is

after it's all been offered to him and

he's we've done chanting and do all that

kind of thing he started eating and

while he's eating he's going to and

there was a man standing right behind

he said I want some of that Duke they

say everything in life is suffering and

that's not the first noble truth there

is suffering in life yes but not

everything and suffering I mean what's

the sense of doing anything why even

have a Buddha come around if everything

is always going to be suffering he

showed us how to let go of the suffering

he wanted us to understand that the

third noble truth is what we want to

focus on the cessation of the suffering

and it's pretty easy to focus on it give

pretty easy so it's kind of amazing that

there's so much emphasis on suffering

and I've been with with a lot of monks

when they first start giving a Dhamma

talk and all the other good shaking

their head yeah this is suffering

everything has suffering whenever I

would give that dominant talk I got

actually criticized very heavily because

I wouldn't talk about suffering I talked

about the cessation yeah isn't that

weird find out how to let it go you just

want to indulge it what is that

okay so now again with the complete

surmounting of gross perceptions of form

gross perceptions of form is what you're

feeling linear in the lord rama's and

you feel your hands and you feel a pain

come up and you really are paying

attention to it so that's the gross

paint with the disappearance of gross

perceptions of sensory impact aware that

space is infinite

sorry poop - entered upon and abided in

the base of infinite space now what

happens when you get to the fourth jhana

I'm going to change your meditation to

the six directions I don't want you

practicing it on your own only when I

give you these directions but what

happens is you're starting to radiate

loving kindness to all beings

all the different directions and that

sort of thing and then the feeling of

loving-kindness changes I'm not going to

tell you how it changes you have to tell

me but it changes to a feeling of

compassion an awful lot of people

especially Mahayana they like to

interchange the word

loving kindness and compassion like

they're the same thing and they aren't

they're different as I said I'm not

going to tell you the difference you

have to tell me by your direct

experience but also what happens is you

start to feel expansion happening in

your head they're just a feeling of

going out and it's really nice and it

just keeps going out and out and that is

the feeling of infinite space

so and the states in the base of

infinite space with compassion the

perception of the base of infinite space

with compassion the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception

formations and mind now you're getting

into the four foundations of mindfulness

into the aruba jhanas into the

immaterial States the enthusiasm

decision energy mindfulness equanimity

and attention these states were defined

by him one by one as they occurred known

to him those states of rose no they were

present no he disappeared he understood

there's still more to do and with the

cultivation of that attainment eating

from that there is so once you bit into

the material States you don't have

at all I don't want you here if they are

you talking about your body if you're

talking about your body that means

you're putting your attention on your

body and you're not staying on your

object of meditation now your object of

meditation is a feeling of compassion

when you get to this state and you read

that that feeling so there are going to

be some times when a meditation pain and

arise and it can be pretty intense a lot

of people talk about in their bottom

almost like they're sitting on a tack

it's pretty intense and they don't break

their sitting because of that when you

get to these kind of stages you should

be sitting between two and three hours

without moving

and it sounds like that's really a big

thing but it's not your mind will just

start settling down more and more and it

gets more easy and you'll be able to

stay with your your object of meditation

for longer and longer periods of time 15

minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes maybe more

so you you know that this is and you

start to get more and more confidence

and you start to it's easier when that

meditation baby comes up that can be big

when I teach in Malaysia they get to

certain places and the meditation and I

start talking to them about that

then they start saying yes but I forbid

that word I tell them they have to get

there but the way to teams as well as

one

but it hurts so much

who doesn't like

who wants it to be different than it is

oh are you taking it personally did you

ask that pain to come up or did it come

up by itself well you know what the

answer is

you didn't ask it to come up you're not

gonna get try to talk yourself into

having a pain that hurts so bad it makes

your eyes water you're not gonna do that

it happens because conditions are right

for it to arise why does it arise

because in the past you broke a precept

okay this is something that I need to

really get you to understand when you

get off retreat that doesn't mean that

it's time to go back to the way you were

it means that you now have a deep

responsibility to keep the precepts

without breaking because you're gonna

cause yourself a lot of pain you don't

keep these precepts

I've had a student that he was pretty

bad about his person and he did it a lot

and he did a lot of retreats with me and

if he did a two-week retreat the first

10 days he had a really rough time of

his retreat on his retreat and then he

did about 10 days and nothing to have a

couple more days before he had to start

getting ready to go home and as Rita's

retreat was very good for two days and

then he would get off retreat and he

would tell me now I can go back to being

the way I was retreat if you're not

willing to change and that's the whole

point of doing this finding out how

you've caused yourself suffering and

learn how to let it go it's real

important for you to understand that the

morning you break your precepts the more

pain you're causing yourself in life and

the more trouble there is in your life

but when you keep your precepts without

breaking them there's great benefits in

that things just start to roll toward

you then things get easy there's an

expression

Buddhism that says when you take care of

dama dama takes care of you what does

that mean you keep the precepts and all

of your life is going to become easier

and it's almost magical how it happens

sometimes I can think of something in

the morning as well I'd it'd be nice if

that happened and then the afternoon it

happens you have to be careful what you

want but keeping your precepts is a real

important part of what meditation is the

first part is practicing your generosity

and always be nice to other people be

kind to other people help them overcome

their suffering and keep your precepts

and what what kind of reputation you

have

after that people will start coming to

you and they'll start asking new

questions cuz they trust you because

they know that what you're gonna say to

the best of your knowledge is going to

be true it really does make a difference

I have some friends in Missouri that

they're not so good at keeping the

precepts and they're always having

problems and I can't convince them that

they have to stop the kind of language

that they use and their gossips and all

of this kind of stuff the guys have no

problems and if they would just pay

attention for a month then they would

start to see things are better things

get a lot easier keeping your precepts

is a kind

protection you need to seriously

consider that all the time

yeah

by completely surmounting the base of

infinite space with compassion where

that consciousness is infinite sorry

lieutenant turn upon and abided in a

base of infinite consciousness now what

happens is the field life and passion

will change to a feeling of joy as not

the exciting time this is the time then

that's the awakening factor of joy and

you're gonna be able to sit when your

mind settles down enough you're gonna be

able to see one of the centers a very

fast trickery that was roughly a hundred

thousand of rising and passing away of

earing consciousness when you start

seeing this flickering eager at the at

the eyes or the ears body mind when you

start seeing this flickering you're

seeing individual consciousnesses

the best way arise and pass the way it

readies and pass away and you're

starting to see for sure up close and

very personally that everything is in a

state of change and it's that way with

every sense door

it's always very fast arising passing

away it's birthday birthday birthday

birthday it's the birth of a

consciousness and it fades away and

that's the death that's why the Buddha

talked about rebirth not reincarnation

reincarnation implies some kind of soul

that's directing things around and it's

not like that

now because you're seeing this arising

and passing away and it's very fast

trickery

you're going to start seeing that it's

it starts to be troublesome after a

while but it's tiresome that every sense

door is like that is continually arising

passing away it raising passing away and

that's what the Buddha called Gupta

unsatisfactoriness and you're gonna see

really really clearly that there is no

controller it happens by itself when the

conditions are right you're going to be

able to see it so you're seeing

Anitra dukkha not up close and personal

and you're gonna see that it's not a

philosophy this is something that's real

and you'll be able to recognize it as

that that's it's kind of a bit oh wow

that happens now sometimes at this level

you can have fear arise you know why

you're you just feel afraid

and I've had some people they've called

me up on the telephone and said I'm

going to die very soon

oh really why I don't know that's what

my mind is saying and I started laughing

because I know it's happening

her mind was throwing a temper tantrum

because it seemed that it's not in

control and seeing that everything

happens because conditions when the

conditions right these are going to

happen it's not their mind isn't in

control it's like a little gift and

that's what your mind does what do you

do back

your mind is just be a little kid for

how many lifetimes does your mind think

it's in control and then when he finds

out it's not oh it's gonna throw temper

tantrums

so just so this is a real good insight

this infinite consciousness seek

consciousness is a raisin passed away so

fast and you know it's not yours you

can't control it you can't make it be

the way you want it to be it's got to be

the way it wants to be because that's

the nature of

okay

again by completely surmounting the

beasts of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing so you put two

entered upon a divided in a base of

nothingness what happens next is the

feel feeling of joy they do it and it

will be very strong tranquility and real

strong no excitement it's a real nice

state to be in and actually it's one of

the more interesting states of the

meditation each meditation level that

you go through is a different because

you experience different things so when

you get to the realm of nothingness now

mind is not looking outside of itself

anymore and there's nothing now you take

the equanimity

meditation and you stayed with the

equanimity is about

the interesting thing about this is this

is where you start teaching yourself

true balance of money and you put too

much energy into staying with the

equanimity your mind is going to get

restless you don't put enough energy and

your mind is going to get dull it's not

gonna get sleepy anymore it's just going

to be the dull so this is where you need

to learn how to adjust and you might

have to adjust three or four or five

times in the city they no longer stay

there's other things that happen while

you're in that state but again I'm not

going to talk to you about it you have

to tell me about it but it does get to

be quite interesting as you start to go

deeper into the equanimity

we have less of the less mental

excitement about things you start

developing disenchantment towards things

for instance and Asia food is number one

King everybody they really like their

food when you have strong equanimity and

disenchantment you can see your favorite

foods but it doesn't make your mind

shaking it doesn't make your might get

excited

it doesn't make you drool because you

know what you want that so this is a

finer degree of equanimity that's quite

nice now as you stay with the equanimity

you're going to start sitting for longer

periods of time and you need to stay

with the remedy you do the six

directions with the wouldn't

yeah then you radiate to all beings with

equanimity at Nazca and that's going to

stop and it's going to feel like you're

asleep and aware at the same time it's

kind of a hot thing and after a period

of time mine is just going to become

really

exquisitely quiet there's not gonna be

anything that you see just strong

peaceful now you're taking mine as your

object of meditation if you see the

slightest little movement of - attention

relax

so this is called the realm of neither

perception nor non-perception real

interesting state to be in - and you'll

be able to sit for long periods of time

attention 45 minutes an hour

I had one man that he said for four

hours three hours he didn't have any

movement of my attention at all three

hours that's impressive

what's the advantage of that but there's

so much relief in that your mind is at

its purest you don't have any craving in

her mind we don't have any movement of

minds attention so your mind is

exceptionally pure and what will happen

eventually

is that you'll get to a place and

everything just stops it's like flipping

off the light switch nothing you don't

even know you're in that state until you

come out of it this is called the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness when you come out of that

you're going to feel in relief just like

you've been carrying around heavy heavy

boulders and you didn't know you were

and you put them down and you oh isn't

that better

yeah nice depending on your mindfulness

if your mindfulness is really really

sharp you're gonna see tiny

my attention just for peridotite

what you're actually seeing at this time

is the links of dependent origination

right after that you are going to have

some real strong joy at Rice and you're

going to feel a difference in their

perception of things okay so now you're

gonna start noticing things a little bit

more clearly a little bit more stronger

mindfulness you have just experienced

I will ask you certain kinds of

questions and I'm going to let you know

what those are either you get it got to

go through the experience before I'm

going to ask you about it but you will

feel the Buddhist said that when you

become a certified you have given up

there is a different kind of perspective

that happens and you will feel more and

more a tendency to keep the precepts

without breaking them because if you do

happen to break one of the precepts

you're going to feel really guilty and

you need to confess that

okay

now this is after you have become a soda

bottle a noble disciple considers thus

do I possess the character of a person

who possesses right view what is the

character of a person who possesses

right view this is the character of a

person who possesses right view although

he may commit some kind of offence break

the precept for which a means of

rehabilitation has been laid out by the

teacher or his wise companions and the

holy life having done that he enters

upon the restraint for the future what

this is saying is you have to confess it

you have to go to a teacher and tell

them I broke the preset what we'll do is

say okay now I want you to take the

precepts again and make a determination

that you won't do that again feel really

bad if you break the precept then you

know somebody

- but there are also other ways of

handling and that is forgiving yourself

for making a mistake

take the precepts again right then you

only have a five preset that's pretty

easy okay you take the precepts with the

strong determination that you're not

ever going to break that precept

together so it's a real interesting

think that you really do want to

confess

still he at once confesses reveals and

discloses to the teacher or to always

companion and the holy life

having done that he enters upon

restraint for the future just as a young

in a tender infant lying prone at once

draws back when he puts a hand or a foot

on the life coal so - that is the

character of a person who possesses

right you interesting too many times and

in my country anyway they really don't

like the idea of morality

they had their share of Catholic

practices and haven't been having that

talked about it going to L and all of

these way I know things because of

breaking up reason but it's it's a real

important part of the practice and the

more closely you can keep your precepts

without breaking them the easier life

becomes the more benefits you can you

get powder of life so there's some real

advantages for doing this now I told you

about this friend that he was a he was

it was like he was in the Navy and he

was always using curse words and he

always was causing problems for himself

people would hear him use those curse

words and they didn't like to be around

him I don't like to be around somebody

that's cursing all the time and looked

at what kind of mind he was developing

because he was cursing all the time he

was developing a mind that had a lot of

a virgin and a lot of hatred in his body

so using this kind of foul language not

only it affects imp in a negative way

but it affects other people around you

anyway so it's finally after quite a

number of years and many many retreats

that he did with me he finally got

serious with it and he stopped doing

that and his progress was very fast

after that give you another example of

what happens that you have to be able to

be mine there was a man that came from

Korea it was a good meditator and he

came to Burma where I was and he wanted

to take off the robes and put on the

terrified her robes they eat after that

they need terrified among stuffed

we take we take precepts that says that

we don't

when he first got there if it said for

three hours without really good sitter

but after he took on the terrified of

ropes he started getting hungry in the

evening so he started making food for

himself he went from being able to sit

for three hours to not being able to sit

for more than 15 minutes because he had

a guilty mind that's a simple thing but

he knew he was breaking the precept

that's the whole thing the uplifted mind

is because you want to change from the

old way of causing yourself suffering

you want to let go of that suffering you

want to you want to be kind to yourself

and you have to be guiding to

people too an awful lot of people that

were practicing straight Vipassana and I

noticed this in myself too I can't blame

other people only was my mind had a

tendency to get very critical and

judgmental about other people and I I

saw that I was making other people angry

by some of the things I was saying and

it was actually real rude some of the

things I would tell people that you're

doing this they didn't like to hear that

but when I started letting go of the one

pointed concentration which doesn't have

much personality development in it and

started finding more and more about

craving and

let go of the craving my personality

became softer much more attentive

towards other people I wanted to help

other people to be happy I wanted to

practice more generosity I wanted to

keep my precepts more closely and I

watched the personality training happen

and this quite amazed and I can see that

that's starting to happen for some of

you right now I see it in your faces and

that makes me happy so yes you can

attain nirvana on this two-day retreat

but the real gem of this is not

attaining me but is softening your mind

stop making your mind heart and critical

and nasty don't do that anymore be kind

to yourself be kind to other people

around you help them to overcome their

suffering that's what life is for

so what happens after you have attained

nirvana and I questioned you about it

and I might congratulate you so that's

just the first part each one of the

different levels of awakening has two

parts to it when you first attain

nirvana that's called the path knowledge

as you continue on and you go deeper you

will experience what is called the

fruition knowledge the fruit and that's

where it's really set very tightly and

it's very good then you get to be a

socket a gong yes I could've got me and

somebody that well let me go back

explain

being a certified business owner bono

means you don't ever have any doubt as

to whether this path really works or not

you know that this is the way

you