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

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

[Music]

you

this is kind of a special way of doing

the suit is because I'm going to be

using two separate suit does you'll get

to see in a minute this is called the

dot two V Banga suit suit to number-14

oh the exposition of the elements thus

if I heard on one occasion the blessed

one was wandering in the magadhan

country and eventually arrived at

rajagaha there he went to the Potter

bagua and asked him if it's not

inconvenient for you ba gua I will stay

one night in your workshop it is not

inconvenient for me venerable sir but

there is a homeless one already staying

there if he agrees then stay as long as

you like venerable sir now there was a

Klansman named poopoo sati who had gone

forth from the home life into

homelessness out of faith in the blessed

one and on that occasion he was already

staying in the Potters workshop then the

blessed one went to the venerable puku

sati and said to him if it's not

inconvenient for you my monk I will stay

one night in the workshop The Potter's

workshop is large enough friend let the

venerable one stay as long as

likes then the Blessed One entered the

Potters workshop prepared a spread of

grass at one end sat down folding his

legs setting his body erect and

establishing mindfulness in front of him

then the Blessed One spent most of the

night seated in meditation and the

venerable puku sati also spent most of

the night seated in meditation then the

Blessed One thought this clansmen

conducts himself in a way that inspires

confidence suppose I were to question

him so he asked the venerable puku sati

under whom have you gone forth monk who

is your teacher whose dhamma

do you profess a friend there is the

recluse Gautama the son of the sake uns

who went forth from the sake and clan

now a good report of that blessed

Gautama has been spread to this effect

that the Blessed One is accomplished

fully awakened perfect in true knowledge

and conduct sublime knower of worlds

incomparable leader of persons to be

tamed teacher of gods and humans

awakened and blessed I have gone forth

under the Blessed one that Blessed One

is my teacher I profess the Dhamma of

that blessed one

but monk where is that blessed one

accomplished and fully awakened now

living there is friend a city in the

northern country named Salwa T the

blessed one accomplished and fully

awakened is now living there but monk

have you ever seen that blessed one

before would you recognize him if you

saw him no friend I've never seen that

blessed one before nor would I recognize

him if I saw him then the Blessed One

thought this clansmen has gone forth

from the home life into homelessness

under me suppose I were to teach him the

Dhamma so the blessed one addressed the

venerable puku sati thus monk I will

teach you the Dhamma listen and attend

closely to what I shall say yes friend

the venerable puku sati replied the

Blessed One said this monk this person

consists of six elements six bases of

contact eighteen kinds of mental

exploration and he has four foundations

the tides of conceiving do not sweep

over one who stands on these foundations

and when the tides of conceiving no lack

no longer sweep over him he's called

saij at peace one should not neglect

wisdom should preserve truth should

cultivate relinquishment this means

letting go of craving and should train

for peace this is a summary of the

exploration of the six elements monk

this person consists of six elements so

it was said and with reference to what

was this said there are the earth

element the water element the fire

element the air element the space

element and the consciousness element so

it was with reference to this that it

was said monks this person consists of

six elements monk this person consists

of six bases of contact sort with said

and with reference to what was this said

there are the base of the eye contact

the base of ear contact the base of nose

contact the base of tongue contact the

base of body contact and the base of

mind contact so it was with reference to

this that it was said monk this person

consists of six bases of contact monk

this person consists of eighteen kinds

of mental exploration so it was said and

with reference to what was this said on

seeing a form with the eye

one explorers of form productive of joy

one explorers of form productive of

grief one explores a form productive of

equanimity on hearing a sound with the

ear on smelling an odor with the nose on

tasting a flavour with the tongue on

touching a tangible with the body on

cognizant object-- with mind one

explores one of these scents doors

productive of joy one explores one of

these scents doors productive of grief

one explores one of these scents doors

productive of equanimity so it was with

reference to this that it was said monks

this person consists of eighteen kinds

of mental exploration monk this person

has four foundations so it was said and

with reference to what was this said

these are four different kinds of

foundation there are the foundation of

wisdom a foundation of wisdom is seeing

how the links of dependent origination

work and seeing the impersonal nature of

everything okay the foundation of truth

the foundation of relinquishment this

means letting go of grieving six R's and

the foundation of peace so it was with

reference to this that it was at monk

this person has four found

Dacians one should not neglect wisdom

one should preserve truth should

cultivate relinquishment use the six

artists and should train for peace so it

was said and with reference to what was

this said how a monk does one not

neglect wisdom here there are six

elements the earth element water element

fire element air element space element

and consciousness element what monk is

the earth element the earth element may

be either internal or external what is

the internal or if element whatever

internally belonging to oneself is solid

solidified craved and clung to that is

head hairs body hairs nails teeth skin

flesh senyu bones bone marrow kidneys

heart liver diaphragm spleen lungs

intestines mesentery contents of the

stomach faeces or whatever else

internally belonging to oneself is solid

solidified craved and clung to this is

called the internal earth element now

both the internal earth element and the

external earth element are simply earth

element and that should be seen as it

actually is with proper whizzed

thus this is not mine this I am NOT this

is not my self when one sees that thus

as it actually is with proper wisdom one

becomes disenchanted with the earth

element and allows the mind to be

dispassionate towards the earth element

now we're going to another another suit

and this is the advice that the Buddha

was giving to his son rahula Rahula

develop meditation that is like the

earth for when you develop meditation

that is like the earth a risen agreeable

and disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain that's a real

strong statement not invade your mind

and remain I use a few different words

for that don't make a big deal out of

anything whether it's agreeable or

disagreeable it doesn't matter you make

a big deal out of something that's

agreeable you're gonna start thinking

about it and you're gonna be away from

your object of meditation what's the

point of being with an a meditation if

you're not with the object so you're

gonna hear this statement fairly often I

want you to really appreciate it and

understand deeply don't let things

invade your mind and remain how many

times do you have repeat thoughts

about anything anybody that has repeat

thoughts has what craving in it and

they're causing themselves suffering and

that causes to frustration anxiety

depression whatever because you make a

big deal out of whatever arises a

feeling when a painful feeling arises

what do you do with it first thing you

do is I don't like it oh I'm attached

right now then you have clinging arise

what is clinging clinging is all of your

your thoughts your opinions your ideas

your story about and your deep

attachment to that feeling and that

story and then you have what I call a

habitual emotional tendency now you're

made up of five things right you have a

physical body you have feeling you have

perception those two are always

conjoined always you have thoughts you

have consciousness when you have a

painful feeling or rise and you start to

make a story about it then you start to

try to control the feeling with thoughts

and that doesn't work and that causes

frustration it causes anxiety that

causes all kinds of suffering

and you're taking it all very personally

this is where your emotions really get

out of hand

this is where you suffer a lot and then

there is the birth of action and then

sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair arise and you're doing it all to

yourself why because you let it invade

your mind and remain you try to think

you can control these things and you try

to control the feeling with your

thoughts well I'll tell you a little

secret the more you think about a

feeling the bigger and more intense that

feeling becomes then you get more and

more emotionally attached to it and you

cause yourself immeasurable amounts of

suffering and you can't blame anybody

else for your suffering because you're

to go ahead to yourself right don't do

that right easy when you start

practicing the six R's and you learn how

to smile more and have a lighter mind

and you start to laugh with yourself

because your mind is crazy it does all

kinds of weird things and becomes

attached when you can laugh with that

that changes your perspective right then

right there the easiest way to let go of

suffering is to

laughs with yourself I'll tell you how I

discovered what I lived in Hawaii for a

while and there was a man that was

building a house and he was doing it all

by himself so I said okay I'll help you

do this I can't pay you I don't want any

page I just want to help no problem

after a couple of weeks he started

thinking he was my boss and he said

something that really got me pretty

angry right at the end of the day and I

started walking up to my truck and as I

was walking I was noticing I was digging

my heels into the ground and I'm

thinking all of these nasty thoughts

about this yo-yo that thought he was my

boss and I'm helping him for free and

then I had a thought and it dawned on me

that he really did think he was my boss

and at that time it made me laugh and

when I laughed all of a sudden I wasn't

angry anymore

I went from I'm mad and I don't like it

- well there's some anger there is that

mine no I didn't ask it to come up do I

want to carry this anger around with me

for the rest of the day no let it go

it's not that important so it changes

your perspective from I am that and I

don't like that - well it's only this

anger is only this dislike it's only

whatever it is

okay but it's impersonal isn't it I

didn't ask that anger to come up it came

up because conditions were right for it

to come up now what am I going to do

with that when it arises laughs I told

you yesterday we got a laugh more we

have to laugh at how incredibly stupid

our minds can be every time you get

serious with something every time you

have a repeat thought I am there I am

causing myself more and more sorrow

lamentation pain grief and despair and

you can't blame anybody else because

you're doing it to yourself so when you

laugh that takes that hindrance and just

changes the perspective of the whole

thing now it's easy to let go of that so

the more you laugh with yourself you

ever have one of those kind of days that

nothing went right everything or you try

to do is difficult and they all man this

is a really rough day I used to have

days like that I don't anymore but I

used to and there was a song that was

out of the sixties and every time I had

a day like that I would remind myself

this song mama said there'd be days like

this

and as soon as I sang that to myself all

of a sudden I wasn't upset because it

was one of those kind of days and what

happened in my mind it changed my

perspective and I became super efficient

what I put put aside time it's going to

take a half an hour to do that I did it

in two minutes and I got done with

everything that I needed to get done for

the whole day and I still had time left

over developing your sense of humor

about yourself is really really

important and life is more fun now also

it is the keeping of your precepts that

helps this to develop it's not a baby it

really does work this way okay

rahula developed meditation that is like

the earth for when you develop

meditation that is like the earth arisen

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain just as

people throw clean things and dirty

things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood on

the earth the earth is not repelled and

disgusted because of that so to rahula

develop meditation that is like the

earth for when you develop meditation

that is like the earth a risen agreeable

and disagreeable contacts will not

invade your mind and remain sounds like

good advice to me you

okay okay

what monk is the water element the water

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal water

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is water watery craved and clung

to that is bile phlegm pus blood sweat

fat tears grease spittle not oil of the

joints urine or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is water watery

craved and clung to that is called the

internal water element now both the

internal water element and the external

water Melamed are simply water element

and that should be seen as it actually

is with proper wisdom thus this is not

mine this I am NOT this is not my self

when one sees it thus as it actually is

with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the water element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the water element now one of the

things that when I was and I lived in

Malaysia for some years and I had a lot

of college students they were nineteen

twenty twenty-one years old and the

thing with the

going to college in Malaysia is they

only give you one test a year you either

pass or you fail so that put a lot of

pressure on these young kids they were

Chinese Chinese by nature are very

ambitious they want to get good grades

so about a week before they had their

test or two weeks they would come and I

would give them a retreat now one of the

problems they had when they came was

they were 18 19 20 years old 21 years

old

and their hormones were really starting

to flash up and they had a lot of

lustful thinking in their mind or they

would see some beautiful body walk by

and then all of a sudden they're they're

lost in this world of lust of thinking

about and they asked me how can I put my

mind in balance when this comes up so I

didn't read this kind of suited to them

I told them it's real simple turn their

body inside out tell me how beautiful is

oh you have wonderful smelling puss

I've never seen such a beautiful set of

intestines and the more that they

thought like that they started losing

their interest in a lust that put their

their mind in balance so what I

basically told them I taught them a lot

of different kinds of lessons but one of

the biggest problems they had was

they're worried about being able to pass

a test so they had to study a lot and

they would pick up a book and they would

start reading the book and then they

would have some kind of worry or anxiety

about oh what's my mother gonna think or

my father if I don't pass this test and

they were very worried about it so I

told them you understand what

restlessness is that's what you get

attacked by so instead of getting caught

up in your worry while you're trying to

read something in the book put the book

down use the six hours come back to your

to wishing yourself happiness five

minutes then their mind would settle

down and they became efficient with what

they were reading they don't they didn't

have to go over it and over it and over

it to get it and they were all real

successful with taking their their tests

and they passed quite nicely after I

taught them these simple little things I

told them don't study the night before

the test go to bed

and I had taught them how to use their

intuition so if they didn't know an

answer right off ask what the doubt of

how to solve this problem or whatever it

happened to be and go to another

question and then come back to this one

and answer it they did quite well then

they graduated and he said now we have

to go get jobs what do I do to get a job

and I said you already know the answer

smile and when you go in to talk to them

about getting a job you interview them

to see if you want to work there and

they were real successful they were

really happy the smiles they came back

and told me you know this smiling is

really amazing yeah come on guys

of course it's success you're successful

when you smile who likes to see if I'm a

frowning face smile be happy interview

them to see if you want that job or not

they like people that take control they

like people that are ambitious enough to

ask good questions so it was a real

interesting experience so

rahula developed meditation that is like

water for when you develop meditation

that is like water a risen greet

agreeable and disagreeable context will

not invade your mind and remain let your

mind be like water there's a stream and

the water goes down the stream what

happens when it hits a rock does it try

to push it out of the way does it get

angry with it does it try to force that

rock to move no it just goes around it

let your mind be like water don't hang

on to hindrances don't make a big deal

out of it let your mind be like water

yeah you're gonna have entrances arise

welcome to the real world but just let

your mind go around it don't make it a

big deal relax into it

just as people wash clean things and

dirty things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood in

water and the water is not repelled and

disgusted because of that so to rahula

develop meditation that is like water

for when you develop meditation that is

like water arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain don't let these

things invade your mind and remain stop

making a big deal out of a memory or a

hindrance or whatever a pain

don't let it invade your mind and remain

let it be there by itself use the six

hours that come back to your object of

meditation it's simple in India they

they used to complain to me it can't be

that simple

why what's got to be much more

complicated than that I said you stay

here for a couple of days and you'll see

how simple it is and how easy it can be

don't add anything don't subtract

anything just simply use the six R's

with your distraction okay

what monk is the fire element the fire

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal fire

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is fire fire fire 'i craved and

clung to that is that by which one is

warmed ages and is consumed and that by

which what is eaten drunk consumed and

tasted gets completely digested or

whatever else internally belonging to

oneself is fire fiery craved and clung

to this is called the internal fire

element now both the internal fire

element and the external fire element

are simply fire element and that should

be seen as it actually is with proper

wisdom thus this is not mine this I am

NOT this is not my self when one sees it

thus as it actually is with proper

wisdom one becomes disenchanted with the

fire element and allows the mind to be

dispassionate towards the fire element

rahula develop meditation that is like

fire for when you develop meditation

that is like fire a risen agreeable and

disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain just as people burn

clean things and dirty things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood in

fire and the fire is not repelled and

disgusted because of that so to rahula

developed meditation that is like fire

for when you develop meditation that is

like fire arisen agreeable and

disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain now you're starting

to get the idea don't make a big deal

out of anything I don't care if it's a

painful feeling I don't care if it's a

painful emotion it's not yours did you

ask it to come up did you say you know I

haven't had this really painful feeling

for a long time I think it's time for it

to arise nobody's had dumb so why do you

take it personally

why do you try to control it why do you

try to make it be the way you want it to

be relax

use your six R's smile have fun laugh

with yourself for taking things

personally got to develop your sense of

humor more and you know the the magic of

doing this practice is your sense of

humor starts to change you stop laughing

at things you start laughing with things

I saw some turkeys there a little while

ago and it made me smile it made me

happy

I love turkeys

these kind of things uplift your mind

you truly appreciate nature and you'll

start laughing with how animals act with

each other we have dogs and cats and

they they they play and they have all

kinds of fun makes me laugh it's fun

being around them that's why we have

them

what monk is the air element the air

element may be internal or external what

is the internal air element whatever

internally belonging to oneself is air

air II craved and clung to that is up

going winds down going winds winds and

in the belly winds in the bowels winds

that course through the limbs in-breath

and out-breath or whatever else

internally belonging to oneself is air

airy craved and clung to that is called

the internal air element now both the

internal air element and the external

air element are simply air element and

that should be seen as it actually is

with proper wisdom thus this is not mine

this I am NOT this is not my self

when one sees it thus as it actually is

with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the air element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the air

the air element is real interesting

because it's movement and vibration the

movement and vibration I tell you you

have to sit still

can you mmm can you sit without movie

not hardly

your Bloods moving around molecules and

atoms are moving around all over the

place the earth is spinning the galaxy

is spinning the universe is spinning how

can you sit still doesn't mean anything

really I just like to make that one make

that but it is an interesting concept

rahula developed meditation that is like

air for when you develop meditation that

is like air arisen agreeable and

disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain just as the air

blows on clean things and dirty things

on experiment urine spittle pus and

blood in and the air is not repelled and

disgusted because of that so to rahula

develop meditation that is like the air

for when you develop meditation that

like the air a risen agreeable and

disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain

what monk is the space element the space

element maybe they're internal or

external what is the internal space

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is space spatial graved and

clung to that is the holes of the ears

the nostrils excuse me

the door of the mouth and that aperture

whereby what is eaten drunk consumed

then tasted get swallowed and where it

collects and where it is excreted from

below or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is space spatial

craved and clung to this is called the

internal space element now both the

internal space element and external

space element are simply space element

and that should be seen as it actually

is with proper wisdom thus this is not

mine this I am NOT this is not my self

when one sees that thus as it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the space element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the space element

Rahula develop meditation that is like

space for when you develop meditation

that is like space arisen agreeable and

disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain just as space is

not established anywhere now here we're

talking about getting into the root

pajamas you don't have a body anymore

now you're in a mental realm so to

rahula develop meditation that is like

space for when you develop meditation

that is like space arisen agreeable and

disagreeable context will not invade

your mind and remain rahula developed

meditation on loving-kindness for when

you develop meditation on

loving-kindness any ill-will will be

abandoned

rahula develop meditation on compassion

for when you develop meditation on

compassion any cruelty will be abandoned

Rahula develop meditation on joy for

when you develop meditation on joy any

discontent will be abandoned

rahula develop meditation on equanimity

for when you develop meditation on

equanimity any aversion will be

abandoned so you know now you know the

importance of what I'm showing you by

getting into the brahma vihara that will

help change your whole perspective of

things so you can be more happy all the

time then there remains only

consciousness purified and bright what

does one cognize with that consciousness

one cognizes this is pleasant one

cognizes this is painful one cog nice is

this is neither painful nor pleasant in

dependence on a contact to be felt as

pleasant there arises a pleasant feeling

when one feels a pleasant feeling one

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

one understands with the cessation of

that same contact to be felt as pleasant

it's corresponding feelings the pleasant

feeling that arose in dependence on that

contact to be felt as pleasant ceases

and subsides

so it's going to be there for a while

it's going to disappear that's the

nature of everything everything is in a

state of change but the more you develop

your equanimity the more you develop

your balance you don't get knocked off

balance so easy you still go through

your ups and downs but they're not as

radical

now I was I was with somebody and I I

live in a very small town I don't live

in that town I live 12 miles from the

town but I was in town and somebody gave

me a phone call and they said we just

had a tornado go through the property

and they were real excited and they said

oh the buildings are blown down and

there's all kinds of problems and the

trees were that all the trees are gone

and blown away and the person I was with

that was driving me she said oh oh this

is so horrible this is so terrible and

I'm going well let's get there and see

because people get really excited about

something like that that happens and it

can be worse or it can be better but

we'll see so we got there and yeah all

of the big trees that we had in the

front yard are gone oh that's too bad

and the tornado had hit and it took my

cabin and it lifted it up and moved it

over about six inches and put it back

down and it wasn't under foundation

anymore so that was kind of a problem

and I had a roof in front of the cabin

and that was gone ok so there's there

some problems there we had a library and

it got blown over and behind it we had a

walking swimming pool and it went into

the swimming pool and there were a

number of problems that we had but it

wasn't that big a deal

so I went into my cabin expecting to see

everything in my cabin all over the

place and I was going to be a major

hassle and the only thing that I found

was that I had a bookshelf and it fell

so there was books on the floor I had a

table that was about this size and I had

three crystals big like this high and

about that big around two of them were

like that one of them was quite a bit

bigger and they were still sitting on

the table beside a glass of water

it didn't really cause that much problem

inside it's just that it picked up the

cabin and moved it over and now we had

to lift it back up and put it back on

the foundation so I didn't get excited

about it yeah we got a lot of work to do

we have to take all these trees they've

got blown down now we have to clean them

up and we got to do a whole bunch of

stuff and there were some cabins that

one of the one of the shingles on the

roof blew off so we had to put some of

those back on but it wasn't anything to

get terribly excited about yeah it was a

problem but okay now we can have some

fun whether we while we're fixing it up

no problem

and we had was at that time no that was

a second time we got hit by a tornado

the time before that we had a lot of

trees that blew down and had to do a lot

of work and a guy from FEMA came and he

said oh you've got so many problems and

you have to do all of this stuff and you

have to one building blew away which we

were just getting ready to abandon

because we moved it up into another

place and he said oh you have we had

goats and we had chickens and ducks and

we had a big turkey and other animals

around and he stopped and he looked at

all of this and he said well you're

actually are a small farm so I can help

you with the finances of getting the

place fixed up again and they wrote a

check right there for $22