From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=V2Kbd9zschM

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

there's been a lot of translations of

this particular suit down and what

they've been doing is saying that the

first foundation is the body in the body

and that's not a good definition it's

not very good it's supposed to be the

body as the body if you use a

translation of the body in the body then

that leads you to a different place so

you have to be careful with this when

that's what I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in the kuru

country where there was a town of the

gurus named Thomas Adama here he

addressed the monks thus monks venerable

sir they replied the Blessed One said

this monks this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for the

surmounting of sorrow and lamentation

for the disappearance of pain and grief

for the attainment of the true way for

the realization of Nirvana namely the

four foundations of mindfulness what are

the four here monks a monk a Buy's

observing the body as a body ardent

fully aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world he

abides observing feeling as feeling

ardent fully aware and mindful

and put away covetousness and grief for

the world he abides observing mind as

mind art and fully aware and mindful

having put away covetousness and grief

for the world he abides observing mind

objects as mind objects ardent fully

aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world now

we're gonna go to the mindfulness of

breathing and how a monk does a mock

abide observing body as a body here a

monk gone to the forest or to the root

of the tree or an empty hut sits down

having folded his legs crosswise that's

one thing that I kind of object to you

know it's real funny because when you go

to India everybody sits on the floor

they all sit cross-legged for about 20

minutes

so when I have them sitting in chairs

they find out that their legs don't hurt

him so much and they kind of liked that

idea so he sets his body erect and

establishes mindfulness in front of him

ever mindful he breathes in mindful he

breathes out now this is the instruction

for mindfulness of breathing breathing

in long he understands I breathe in lung

or breathing out long he understands I

breathe out long

breathing in short he understands I

breathe in short or breathing out short

he understands I breathe out short now

did you hear me say focus or put your

attention only at your nostril tip or

your abdomen why because that's not in

the instruction the key word for these

two sentences is he understands you know

when you take a long breath and you know

when you take the short breath you know

when you're fat breath is fast you know

when it's slow you know when your breath

is very gross and where it's very subtle

it doesn't say focus on the breath it

just says you know that this is what the

breath is doing so you don't over a

focus on the breath now we get into the

actual instruction he trains us key

words now this is what you need to do I

shall breathe in experiencing the whole

body not body of breath

not focusing on the breath just

experiencing the whole body heat rains

thus I shall breathe out experiencing

the whole body heat rains thus I shall

breathe in tranquilizing the bodily

formation okay so on the in-breath you

tranquilize a bodily formation he trains

thus I shall breathe out tranquilizing

the bodily formation again you're using

the breath as the reminder to relax that

tension and tightness now when you relax

attention and tightness here

it not only relaxes here it relaxes your

whole body the meninges I was talking

about the other day that goes around

your brain is like a bag but it goes all

the way down your spine so when you

relax your tension and tightness here

you're actually relaxing the whole body

a lot of people in in the West they

consider the body from the neck down and

mind is from the top of the neck up but

this is part of your body too now when

you use the six hours and you relax that

tension and tightness not only are you

relaxing your body but you're relaxing

your mind at the same time okay so this

is this is a practice that an awful lot

of people are doing but they're not

following these four simple sentences

they're not following the directions

they're told to put their attention and

focus on the breath or put your

attention on your abdomen and focus on

the in and out breathing and nowhere

does it say to focus what it's actually

saying is you're using the breath as the

reminder to relax

so it doesn't matter I practice for a

long time when they were talking about

you need to see the first part of the

in-breath in the middle of the in-breath

and the end of the in-breath and the

pause and you have and you have to focus

to see this but it doesn't say that here

you understand what the breath is doing

you understand when it's long or short

but you use the breath as the reminder

to relax and if you start focusing on

just the breath now you're starting to

get into your one-pointed concentration

and that's why an awful lot of people

they do meditation for a while and then

they stop doing it because they they

just don't progress it's because they're

not following the directions that the

Buddha gave they're following the

directions that a teacher gave who isn't

following the suit death

just as a skill lathe operator or his

apprentice when making a long term

understands I make a long term or when

making a short turn he understands I

make a short turn again it doesn't say

focus on it just you understand so two

breathing in long a monk understands I

breathe involved breathing out long he

understands I breathe out long and so on

he trains thus I shall breathe in

experiencing the whole body doesn't mean

you focus on the body but you experience

it you see that it's there body is there

until you get to a certain place in your

meditation and then you don't feel the

body anymore it's all mental feeling

that arises it trains this I shall

breathe in tranquilizing a bodily

formation I shall breathe out

tranquilizing the bodily formation so in

this particular interpretation

translation it has what they call

insights now this is taken from

commentary and the insights that they're

talking about excuse me

is taken from the commentary where

you're over focusing or you're over

concentrating just on the breath so I'm

not gonna read these these insights

because it's very confusing and the way

it's written it it does what the

commentary does is it breaks it up into

separate little pieces instead of a flow

so

okay yeah vibes independent not craving

and clinging to anything in the world

that is how a monk observes the body as

a body then it gets into the four

postures and I've always thought that

this is kind of funny do you know when

you're sitting in when you're standing

do you know when you're walking or

you're lying down that's all I was

talking about but when I was practicing

the maja C method I was told that when I

was walking I was putting my attention

and my feet that was walking very slowly

and then when I stopped at at the end of

a walking area I was told to mentally

tell myself that I was standing

as if I didn't know I was standing so

I've always been confused to buy this

because it's such a general kind of

knowing what you're doing while you're

doing it again a monk is one who acts in

full awareness when going forward and

returning who acts in full awareness

when looking ahead and looking away who

acts in full awareness when flexing and

extending his limbs who acts in full

awareness when wearing his robes and

carrying his outer robe and bowl who

acts in full awareness when eating

drinking consuming food and tasting who

acts in full awareness when defecating

and urinating who acts in full awareness

when walking standing sitting falling

asleep waking up talking and keeping

silent awareness of what awareness of

what mind is doing when you're doing

these activities

and 6rn when your mind starts thinking

about other things okay now this next

part of the sake of atomic suit talks

about the foul on us and the body parts

this is a meditation that you should

only do with a teacher because you start

realizing that the this is made up of a

lot of stuff that's really disgusting

and your mind can go towards a version

very easily and become completely

disgusted I know some monks that give

this meditation to students that have

just gotten married and you don't want

to think about the foul nosov the body

when you're married not to start off

with anyway but I had I had a lot of

college students that were just getting

they were 20 21 22 years old and they

were very easily distracted by beautiful

bodies and then that sort of thing and

they had a lot of lust coming up so they

asked me what what am I supposed to do

with this and I said well

when you see somebody that you're

attracted to and you start thinking

about them with lustful thoughts what

you need to do is turn their body inside

out in your mind and tell me what's

beautiful about it oh you have a

beautiful liver your intestines are

wonderful what's beautiful about that

and there are other things that are in

the body a faeces bile phlegm pus blood

sweat fat Tears grease spittle snot oil

of the joints and urine well if you

start thinking of the body in that way

while you're sitting in meditation

there's nothing to be admiring the body

is truly disgusting in a lot of ways but

we don't think of it that way we get

caught up in our mind and get caught up

in the lust but when you turn the body

inside out there's nothing that is

beautiful and what that does is it puts

your mind into balance

so you can overcome lust very easily

that way this particular practice that

is not not an easy practice you it takes

about a hundred and sixty-five days to

do this practice to get to do it

correctly so and you do need to be

around a teacher to keep your mind in

balance so you don't become so repulsed

by the body you want to get rid of it

now it it goes into journal ground

contemplations and in India they have

places that they put bodies after after

they die they put them in certain places

and they wait for the family to come and

take care of the body sometimes they did

sometimes it would be a year later but

that that's where you would go to see

bodies that are rotting and that the

whole point of that is to keep your mind

and balance and not be attached to this

now we go to the observation of feeling

and how does a monk abide observing the

observing feeling as feeling here when

feeling a pleasant feeling a monk

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

when feeling a painful feeling he

understands I feel a painful feeling now

the key word here again is understand

don't make a big deal out of these kinds

of feeling when feeling a neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a neither painful nor

Pleasant feeling when feeling a worldly

Pleasant feeling he understands I feel a

worldly Pleasant feeling what is a

worldly Pleasant feeling

I know you know the answer but I'm not

let now on I'm waiting for people other

people to answer every time you will

answer it what is the worldly Pleasant

feeling yeah it can be but it's a

pleasant feeling at one of the cent

stores okay it can be food it could be

sites it can be sounds it can be

whatever at the cents doors the reason

that it's worldly is because you don't

have the strong mindfulness to see it as

it actually is and you have a tendency

to have a feeling come up and then get

distracted with thoughts about the

feeling and then your thoughts just kind

of carry away and you go to other things

so this is just an ordinary person that

doesn't do any meditation that's a

worldly kind of feelings that they

experience

when feeling an unworldly pleasant

feeling he understands they feel an

unworldly Pleasant feeling now unworldly

is talking about being in jhana okay

and when one of the sad stories come up

and you're in Aegina it's not a

distraction to you it's just something

that comes up by itself and you don't

get carried away thinking about it I

told you before you you have these five

aggregates you have body you have

feeling you have perception you have

formations or thoughts and consciousness

feeling and perception are always

together always as soon as the feeling

comes up your mind says that's nice

that's that's pleasant that's that's a

happy feeling or if it's a painful

feeling comes up your mind says that's

painful so perception is the part of

your brain that names things now when we

think we only think and concepts

what's a concept well

what's a car

is a car in the wheels is it the motor

is it the windscreen is it's a bumper

where is a car a car is a concept made

up of a lot of different little tiny

things put together to make up this idea

of a car or this is a chair well where

is the chair is the chair of the arms is

it the legs

is it the seat is it the back was made

up of all of these things to make this

concept and we only think in concepts so

when you start getting deeper and deeper

into your meditation and you'll get to a

place where there's no distraction at

all your mind is very quiet your mind is

really still for periods of time you are

getting close to the experience of

Nirvana

and one of the definitions that you can

use for the Nibbana experience is the

realm of no concepts

so when you're feeling in a out an

unworldly Pleasant feeling your feet you

have feelings that still come up but

these kind of feelings it can be

pleasant very nice but you're not taking

it personally

and you're not getting distracted away

from that feeling you're staying with

that feeling as long as it's there you

stay with your object of meditation and

the feeling when it arises right yeah no

okay

you have to speak up believe I'm not

sure I can David can you say it

you don't take it personally you don't

get lost in in distracting thoughts okay

and that's why it's called unworldly

because you're in a jhana

when that happens now jhana is the word

that's much misunderstood people will

say well that means you're practicing

concentration know the word jaman means

a level of your understanding

now everybody comes for their interview

and I start I talk about you're starting

to teach yourself very well because

you're starting to understand more and

more clearly how this process works so

it's a level of your understanding and

you get into the first jhana you

understand a very little bit about how

this process works but you get into the

second jhana you start understanding

more and you start getting confidence

and you start feeling like you're really

it's it's really working and that makes

you happy then you get into the third

jhana your mind starts to develop this

equanimity and you you have a deeper

understanding about this process and how

to handle any hindrances when they come

up you know what to do with them now we

know how to

learn from them so when you're feeling

an unworldly feeling it means that

you're you're having a feeling that's

there it can be pleasant or painful you

at one but you're not taking it

personally you're not saying this is my

feeling like you could control it do you

ask a pleasant feeling to come up no it

comes up by itself the joy is there by

itself the comfortable feeling the

happiness is there by itself because

your mindfulness is getting sharper your

observation of how mine's attention

moves becomes more precise so you'll

stay with your object of meditation for

a longer period of time when feeling a

worldly painful feeling he understands I

feel a worldly painful feeling stub your

toe what do you do with that painful

feeling comes up and all of a sudden

you're thinking about how much you hate

that feeling and taking it personally

and wanting it to be different than it

is and wanting to run away from the

painful feeling but a painful feeling is

a painful feeling

now I have a lot of tooth problems now I

didn't used to have so many but when I

was in Burma I had a dentist he won't

really wanted to do me a favor so evil

he clean my teeth and he broke one of

the teeth and I had to have a root canal

the thing in Burma and I had friends

that have gone through this experience

they don't clean their tools from one

person to another

they don't sterilize all of their they

just use the tools and I had a couple

friends that they got real bad

infections in their mouth because of

that so I'm not about ready to let them

just stick these things in my mouth and

this aids was very prevalent in Burma at

the times no you're not going to put any

and I got a Brittany with one of those

needles because you don't clean them

very well so I allowed him to do a root

canal without any painkiller and you bet

it was painful sometimes he'd he'd hit a

spot and I begged my old buddy jump

but while he was he was working on me I

would take a look at my body and I was

all tensed up

so I started relaxing the tension and

tightness in my body and let go of all

the tight muscles and that sort of thing

and I had enough time to start sending

loving and kind thoughts to him while he

was working on me he was the guy that

was causing the bane

now after a period of time he was

satisfied that he'd gone deep enough it

felt like he was going all the way

through my skull at the time but that's

okay but as soon as he stopped causing

the pain I got a real good opportunity

to see how that pain wasn't mine it was

just because the conditions are right

and when they stopped those conditions

then the pain disappeared and my mind

was very peaceful and calm right after

that so

painful feeling pleasant feeling the

same coin different sites and you treat

them both in the same way you use the

six artists and allow that feeling to be

there without getting and involved in it

without getting distracted by your

lighting this and disliking that and

when you do that you start developing

very strong equanimity balance of mind

so you don't get your mind doesn't start

wobbling and run try to run away when

it's a painful feeling

so it's it's a real interesting

phenomena that we tend to take our

feeling as this is me this is mine this

is who I am

but when your mindfulness starts to get

sharper the like and dislike becomes

less and less and with that there's more

balance in your mind

so when feeling an unworldly painful

feeling that is a meditation pain hole

but it hurts so bad you start telling me

about the pain you have in your knee or

pain you have an ear back when you get

to a certain place in the meditation you

don't have a body anymore you're in a

mental realm completely mental realm and

the reason that the hindrance arises is

because of some past action and when you

see it as it actually is it's just a

feeling you don't tighten around it

because you start seeing it as it is

this feeling is there yeah that's true

you're not fighting with the truth

you're not trying to control the truth

you're not trying to make the truth be

the way you want it to be you allow it

to be there and don't resist it and

don't keep your attention on it let it

be there by itself relax

smile come back to your object of

meditation

so anytime that you're taking a painful

feeling or Pleasant feeling personally

and you try to hold on to that pleasant

feeling but it's not gonna be there all

the time it's gonna go away everything's

impermanent everything is in a state of

change and that change is a lot faster

than you realize

but when you're in the jhana you're not

taking things personally so now you're

seeing the unworldly feeling and how

that's different from the worldly

feeling when feeling a worldly neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a world lead me there

painful nor pleasant feeling what is a

worldly neither painful nor Pleasant

feeling that's when your mindfulness is

weak and you're indifferent to whatever

it is you just don't see if you don't

pay attention to it when feeling an

unworldly neither painful nor pleasant

feeling he understands I feel in an

unworldly neither painful nor Pleasant

feeling the unworldly neither painful

nor Pleasant feeling is equanimity so

when you're when you start out on your

meditation your mind is flip-flopping

like this as you start to get deeper

there's less movement of mind's

attention there's more attention on your

object of meditation for longer

years of time when you get to the fourth

jhana which just has equanimity in it

and tranquility both your mind is not

flip-flopping anymore it's not moving in

such radical ways now you start to get

where your mind is vibrating and it's

pretty easy to see as you go deeper in

your meditation that vibration becomes

less and less and harder to recognize

until you get to neither perception nor

non-perception where you can't really

tell whether there's movement abides

attention at all equanimity is the

highest feeling that you can have okay

that is the highest feeling so your mind

doesn't move in Shaykh when a pleasant

feeling arises or a painful feeling

arises you just recognize it that's

that's what's happening right now and

it's okay for it to be there right

so this is how you observe feeling as

feeling whatever kind of feeling arises

don't take it personally don't get

caught up in it don't try to hold on to

it doesn't matter whether it's a painful

feeling or a pleasant feeling it doesn't

matter you have that balance of mind and

it's okay for that to be the like that

now when you get off free three you're

gonna get back into your regular life

your mind is gonna have more of a sense

of balance in your daily life you're not

the things that used to get you very

angry

it's not going to get you so angry

anymore

the things that you really hold on to

and enjoy you're not gonna have as much

joy it's like when you start doing the

meditation your mind is on a

rollercoaster ride okay it's real happy

then it's real painful then it's happy

and it's painful in it in your daily

life you go through that but as you gain

more and more understanding about how

mind works as you have more and more

balance in your mind the highs and the

low lows are not going to be so radical

it's gonna turn out more like little

waves you're still going to have them

but they're not gonna take you away and

use

angry for a week because something

happened

yeah it's you're gonna see it do you

even recognize that your mind is not so

much in balance and you start using the

six artists and then it mellows out now

another thing that helps your mind to

stay with equanimity and balance is by

keeping your precepts without breaking

them it's really important you take that

you take the precepts every day as a

reminder to not break them and make a

determination I'm gonna I'm gonna go

through the whole day without breaking a

precept at all and after you do that for

a period of time your mind gains more

and more a sense of balance and your

mindfulness gets sharper okay now we're

gonna go to the observation of mind and

how monks does a monk abide observing

mind as mind here a monk understands

mine affected by lust as mind affected

by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as

a mine unaffected by lust he understands

mine affected by hate as a mine affected

by hate or he call it a version whatever

and a mine not affected by hate as a

miner

goodbye heat he understands mine

affected by delusion

what is delusion I don't want you

answering well it's taking things

personally

that is a deluded mind because that

starts pulling you away and gets you to

all kinds of hindrances and you're not

seeing things as clearly as you can now

lust I like it

hatred I don't like it

delusion that's where you start

identifying and taking things personally

with the light and the dislike whatever

it happens to be in other words lust

hatred and delusion is craving it's

another way of describing craving and

now you start to see more and more the

importance of using the six hours and

relaxing and letting go of that creep he

understands contracted mind as

contracted mind what is a contracted

mind mind that pulls together its tight

you know save again aha no not really

that has craving in it of course but a

contracted mind is a mind that has sloth

and Dorper you get a fresh loaf of bread

out of the oven and you go to put some

butter on it then the butter has been in

the refrigerator and the sloth and

torpor mind is like the butter and it

just doesn't spread it's just it tears

everything it does all kinds of strange

things so your mind has a tendency to

contract and then you start getting

sleepy and one of the causes of sloth

and torpor arising is not taking enough

interest and staying with your object of

meditation more interest

and when you start paying attention you

can start seeing what happens first what

happens after that what happens after

that when you start having a sloth and

torpor arising if you take interest in

it then you're not going to be caught by

it for very low now one of the things I

always tell the students to do is don't

lean heavily in the chair when you have

sloth and torpor you want to straighten

your back up a little bit more than is

comfortable and then when the sloth and

torpor comes naturally you'll start

slumping and you'll be able to catch it

more quickly if you keep that nice and

straight and it won't stay around as

long because you're paying more

attention to it you're starting to see

how the process works because that's the

way my mind has a tendency to be I know

it very well I can see when I'm trying

to stay with my object of meditation and

I start having these little quiet

thoughts and then they start getting

bigger and bigger and then my mind

starts to get a little bit dreamy and

I'm not with my object of meditation

anymore I'm starting to slump and then

your head starts bobbing

now in the suit does it talks about

different ways of letting go of sloth

and torpor but the the most effective

way is by being able to recognize it

when it first starts to come up and take

more interest in how your mind is doing

that you don't have such strong interest

in your object of meditation and you'd

have like a dual mind you have the mind

that's on your object of meditation kind

of but you have these little little

thoughts then they just start to build

after a while so you have less attention

on your object of meditation let's say

your spiritual friend or one of the

brahma vihara x' and then you just kind

of lose your object of meditation and

all of a sudden you're in dreamland and

then you're your body just starts to

slow so when you start by sitting

straighter by sitting with your back a

little straighter than is comfortable

when your mind starts to let go and your

body starts to slump a little bit

you can catch it quite quick and then

you don't snap your body straight again

and run back to your object of

meditation you do this in a 6r way you

don't have to push it just notice that

that's what's happening

straighten your mind up go back to your

object of meditation after you smile

after you practice all six R's you let

it be there by itself it is just a

feeling and it's all right for that

feeling to be there it has to be because

that's the truth when it's there it's

there so you allow it to be there by

itself but you don't keep your attention

on that feeling you relax the tightness

caused in your head and don't over relax

it sometimes some people will get kind

of involved with whatever hindrance it

is that they have and it could be quite

big it can be quite painful and they

forget the six artists and they try to

do it with two lawyers and that is

release relax release relax release

relax and then you come to me and you

say you know this doesn't work well if I

give you

aha recipe for making cookies and you

leave out the main ingredients it

doesn't come out so good it's gonna be

lousy tasting cookies it's like not

having the sugar that you need for the

for the cookies or not adding the nuts

or whatever it happens to be so you have

to use all six hours every time but as

you become more familiar with it it

starts to be more automatic and you'll

get to a place where you'll just notice

a hindrance starting to come up in your

mind all of a sudden does it by itself

and comes back to the object of

meditation that's kind of fun when that

happens

so the contracted mind is a mind that

that it just pulls together and does

doesn't want to let go and relax into it

into whatever it is it wants to go to

sleep that's a problem

and he understands a distracted mind as

distracted now what is a distracted mind

you have to speak up louder a distracted

mind is a - restless

and you've got to be friends with

restlessness and sloth adore pert

because they're going to stay around

till you become a Nara so you better be

friendly with them one of my friends as

a teacher he said you know the whenever

a hindrance comes up you should be

grateful for it being there be grateful

for that

that entrance coming up because that's

showing you where your attachment is

don't fight hindrances don't try to

control distractions whatever they

happen to be if you do then here here

restlessness is going to get very much

stronger

[Applause]

now one of the things you've heard me

say a few times is before you start

you're sitting you should tell yourself

I don't care what happens next it

doesn't matter what happens next

my job is only to observe not to control

not to make something come up because if

you try to make it come up you're gonna

have lose a meditation and you're doing

it to yourself so a distracted mind is

easy to let go of

especially when you recognize that

there's that it is a painful feeling and

it is a restless feeling so when it

comes up it says in masuka's to bring up

a feeling of peace and calm feel

peaceful feel calm and bring that

feeling to your object of meditation

that will overcome the Restless feeling

very quickly but the Restless feeling it

mostly comes up because we were trying

to control they're trying to make

something be the way you want it to be

oh I had a really good sitting last time

I wanted to happen now well that's the

fastest way to have restless mind you

got yourself all kinds of problems

that's why I say telling yourself before

you sit too

develop your equal intimate equanimity

to such a degree that it doesn't matter

what happens next

your job is only to observe now they

would let me talk for a little bit more

I'll get to you in just a minute one of

the things that happens when it's

getting time for the retreat to get done

is the planning mind what am I gonna do

when I get off retreat and the planning

mind is part of restlessness but it's it

is a pleasurable feeling and you'll have

repeat thoughts over and over again how

I'm gonna see this person and I'm gonna

say this to them and it never happens

the way you plan it anyway so it's just

a waste of time

so when you get close to the end of the

retreat you start telling yourself when

the Restless mind comes up you tell your

mind I don't need to think about this

right now

I don't need to continually have these

thoughts of what I'm gonna do when I get

off retreat tell yourself I don't need

to think about this right now my job is

only to observe what's happening here

and your mind will pretty much pay

attention to it but you have to mean it

okay well of course there's intention to

stay with your object of meditation but

don't over emphasize it because if you

do then you're gonna be putting in too

much energy and you're gonna get

restless

right and the thing with equanimity is

you can have it for a period of time in

your mind is really balanced and nice

and then all of a sudden something

changes a little bit and then you start

trying a little bit and you start

getting the restlessness and when you'd

recognize that then you have to relax

let it be and back off now if you start

sitting with the idea that you're gonna

have a good meditation and you really

want to stay with your object of

meditation that thought is big enough

and strong enough that you're gonna have

loves ecity you're not going to stay

with your object of meditation at all

and then what happens in your mind is oh

I'm gonna try harder I really want this

quiet mine and you wind up having a

really very difficult time because

you're your restlessness is so strong

and when you see that happen back off

and laugh at yourself oh I got caught

again this mind is really crazy and it's

okay to be crazy it's not my mind anyway

right so you have to learn to adjust now

there could be another time when your

mind just starts to get a little bit

lazy and as you start to get the sloth

and torpor then you have to pick up your

energy a little bit

by taking more interest in how the

process works this is a very fascinating

process I have been a monk for 33 34

years something like that and I'm never

bored ever this process is interesting

and there's always new ways of seeing

things and having these insights come up

at you oh that's how that happens that's

what I've been doing because myself

suffering so you start noticing when you

have repeat thoughts and you go ah look

at that

there's too much energy in this one and

I'm making too much of a big deal out of

it so I have to start backing off from

that but laughing with yourself is the

fastest way that I know of to let go of

restlessness

of distractions you go from and I mean

it can be any of the emotional upsets it

can be fear it can be anxiety it can be

a version whatever the catch happens to

be but when you laugh you go from I am

that let's say anger I'm mad and I don't

like this and then you laugh and your

mind goes well it's only this anger do I

want to carry this room with me for a

while I'm not that stupid let it go so

developing your sense of humor about

yourself is very skillful

so do you have any other question well

it doesn't have to be on that point any

any point well we'll continue here

okay he understands an exalted mind as

exalted what is an exalted mind this is

a kind of language we haven't heard

before an exalted mind is a mind that

gets into the first four dramas

okay

your mind is exalted that's uplifted and

as very wholesome because you're not

taking things personally you're not

being distracted away by this by

hindrances you're staying with your

object of meditation that's why they

call it exalted because it is raising

your mind up and that's why they call it

unworldly because most people don't have

that sort of thing okay he understands a

surpassed mind as surpassed what is this

or past mind the mind that has that

practices the brahma vihara z' they in

pali they call it the of rupa jhanas and

an Aruba jhana means that you're getting

into a mental realm that you don't have

a body anymore everything that comes up

is mental you know to be quite honest

you don't even have eye

anymore so where's that consciousness I

don't know I can't give you an answer on

that one so having a surpassed mine

means practicing the brahma vihara z--

your there's times when your mind is

gonna be with lovingkindness there's

times when your mind is gonna be with

compassion and you'll feel expansion in

your head there's times when you're

gonna have joy arise but this is a

different kind of joy than you've

experienced before this kind of joy is

the awakening factor of joy it doesn't

have the excitement that the the lower

dramas have it's a real happy feeling

so the whole time that you're practicing

this way you are teaching yourself more

and more subtleties about the jhanas and

about these different states that you

can experience and you'll have insights

into them you know you'll see now we're

going to start to get into dependent

origination tomorrow and this is the

process of how this all works how it

arises so you're gonna see more and more

subtleties as you start going deeper in

how this is a process there's nothing to

be taken personally it's just arising

and passing away of phenomena and

everything is impersonal when conditions

are right for this dual rise it's going

to order dies but you'll start seeing it

on deeper and deeper levels and it gets

real interesting when you do that

okay he understands a collected mind as

a collected mind what is a collected

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

mind that's it's still it's like

concentration but I prefer to call it

stillness because concentration means

really focusing and your mind is very

very alert

you're still gonna hear things you're

still gonna see things but you can have

very strong balance of mind while you're

doing that my teacher was Lucille Ananda

he was a Burmese teacher he was very

famous and in in Burma the highly

educated I mean he was really smart he

memorized this many books and even up

until he died he could recite from those

books and be correct he didn't make any

mistakes but he didn't believe that you

could sit and meditate you could do your

walking meditation or your daily

activities with strong equanimity in

your mind he didn't believe it because

he was a scholar more than he was a

practitioner and I finally convinced him

to start practicing and he saw it for

himself and he was completely blown away

I mean he was so surprised it was

unbelievable the thing with Lucille

Ananda and my relationship with him

was that he was my teacher there was no

doubt about it and he was very good at

reading minds and somebody would come up

and they would ask him a question and my

mind would say oh it's this and instead

of him answering he would say you

answered this one

but he was also my friend and we could

talk about personal things very deeply

and get good understanding from each

other from with whatever we were going

through so I had and I was always

playing jokes on him

I love to make him laugh out loud the

Burmese when when you hear somebody

laugh in Burma if they're what they

consider educated when they laugh they

just lightly chuckle and they think

Americans and they that wouldn't when

they were here the he used to call me

toza

which means a mountain boy which means

uneducated because I would laugh out

loud and things but I got him a few

times

so it's a real interesting thing to

understand that mind is not your mind is

here

it's not part of the body although it's

connected with the body

and for him to see that he could walk

with equanimity and the only thing that

he felt when he was walking was the

bottom of his feet because there was

contact

sometimes a win would come up and you he

would feel that but when there was

contact with something he would feel it

but because the equanimity was so strong

it didn't make his mind shake and go to

it it just noticed that it was there and

okay that's there that's enough not make

a big deal out of it so this is a real

interesting part of the observation of

mind that is not really talked very well

with people that are doing straight

Vipassana so we're gonna go to the last

part which is the observation of mind

objects and the first part of that is

dealing with the hindrances now which

says that this is a very important part

of the practice it's not something that

you push down and push away it's

something that you use as your your

teacher to show you where your your

attachments are

and how does a monk abide observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five hindrances here there being sensual

desire and him a monk understands there

is sensual desire in me or there's no

central desire in him so he understands

there's no sensual desire in me and it

goes through the hatred then the

delusion then they goes through the

whole thing

then it says he also understands how

there comes to be the arising of the

unreason sensual desire and how there

comes to be the abandoning of the arisen

sensual desire and how there comes to be

the future non arising of abandon

sensual desire now that's a complicated

way of looking at it so we'll go through

this again he understands how there

comes to be the arising of honor isn't

sensual desire how does that come to be

your mindfulness gets weak and you start

having distraction

okay that's the start of the hindrances

doesn't matter which hindrance it is

that's why I just call them distractions

and how their comes to be the abandoning

of the arisen sensual desire how do you

let it go use the six hours right and

how there comes to be the future non

arising of the abandoned sensual desire

how does that come to be

stay on your object of meditation that's

absent

so you know how it comes up why it comes

up you know that because of past actions

and past breaking of a precept but you

don't have to know exactly what precept

it is that you broke just that this is

how this process works when my

mindfulness gets weak when I'm not

staying with my object of meditation

then my endurance is gonna come up and

it's a necessary part of the practice to

be able to recognize the hindrance and

know what to do with the hindrance when

it arises use the six hours and stay

with your object of meditation stay with

what you're doing in the present okay

and you do that with all of the

hindrances

you know how many times do you hear me

say don't make a big deal out of things

what am I saying

keep your mindfulness sharp understand

when these things happen and use your

six hours to take care of them the thing

that's real important is to carry that

with you in your daily life so when a

hindrance comes up of course they're

gonna come up your mindfulness is not

gonna be that sharp all the time so of

course you're gonna see luster hatred or

so you'll get sleepy or you'd be

restless or you have anxiety or you have

fear but you have to know that you have

the tools to not take them personally so

you won't get caught for with them for

so long

and if it's a big hindrance

then ask your intuition why am I so

attached with this why am I taking this

so personally you'll get the answer

again a monk abides observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five aggregates when they are affected

by craving and kinging

here a monk understand such is material

form

Bruce noble truth such as its origin

second noble truth such its

disappearance third noble truth such as

the way to that disappearance fourth

noble truth using the six artists such

as feelings such its origin such as

disappearance and the way to that

disappearance such as perception such as

origin such its disappearance and no way

leading to the cessation such are the

formations such their origins such their

disappearance such the way to the

disappearance such as consciousness such

is its its origin such its disappearance

and the way leading to that

disappearance then we go to the sixth

sense basis again a monk abides

observing mind objects as mind objects

in terms of the six internal and

external basis or external mind objects

views me

here a mock understands the eye he

understands form and he understands the

fed earth at arose dependent on both you

have you see coloring form you have a

good working eye easy color inform eye

consciousness arises there's a feeling

that arises with that of I like it or I

don't like it that craving comes up and

you have to be able to use the six hours

and allow it to be by itself without any

attachment of taking it personally

he also how there he understands how

there comes to be the arising of the an

arisen fetter why does it come up

because you've lost your mindfulness and

how they're gemst to be the abandoning

of the arisen fetter using the Sixers

and how there comes to be the future non

arising staying with your object the

meditation whatever that happens to be

he understands the year he understands

sounds he understands the nose he

understands odors he understands a

tongue he understands flavors he

understands the body he understands

tangibles he understands mind he

understands mind objects and he

understands the fetter that arises

dependent on both and also understands

how there comes to be that the arising

of the inner isn't fetter how there

comes to be the abandoning of the arisen

fetter how there comes to be the future

non arising

of the abandoned fetter and now we get

to the awakening factors again a monk

abides observing mind objects as mind

objects in terms of the seven awakening

factors now the awakening factors is the

mindfulness awakening factor the

investigation of your experience

awakening factor the energy awakening

factor the joy awakening factor the

tranquility awakening factor the

collectiveness awakening factor and the

equanimity awakening factor now these

these awakening factors will happen one

at a time

and as you improve your mindfulness

you'll start seeing these more and more

theory now the thing is with the sloth

and torpor it says in the suit is the

way you overcome sloth and torpor is by

examining your experience how does this

arise what happens first what happens

after that what happens after that and

as you do that you naturally start

picking up your energy and when you pick

up your energy your mind becomes lighter

and you start to have this happy feeling

also when you have restlessness you

bring up the feeling of tranquility the

feeling

of stillness or is this the feeling of

equanimity and that will always put your

mind in balance that's what the

awakening factors are for oh the the

awakening factors will arise and be in

perfect balance when your mind is ready

to experience nirvana that's one of the

things that happens in your mind

so these awakening factors you can use

them to help overcome hindrances and

also to if you notice that one of the

awakening factors is a bit weak you can

add a little bit more energy into it so

now we're gonna get to the conclusion

and that is monks if anyone should

develop these four foundations of

mindfulness in such a way for seven

years one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here and

now that means becoming a Nara hot or if

there is a trace of craving and clinging

left non return that means being in the

Hana got me let alone seven years if

anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for six years five years four three two

one one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here in

now or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left

non-return let alone one year if anyone

should develop these four foundations of

mindfulness in such a way for seven

months six months five four three two

one half of month one of two fruits can

be expected for him either final

knowledge here and now or if there's a

trace of craving and clinging left non

return let alone half a month monk's if

anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for seven days how long have you been

you one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here and

now or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left non return so it was with

reference to this that it was said monks

this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for surmounting

sorrow and lamentation for the

disappearance of pain and grief for the

attainment of a true way for the

realization of Nirvana namely the four

foundations of mindfulness that's what

the Blessed One said the monks were

satisfied and delighted in the Blessed

ones words so now you've heard all of

the four foundations but you've heard it

in a different way than you might have

heard from other teacher but you see

that what I'm showing you is straight

from the book and it does have to

do with your being able to experience

jhanas and have a pure mind and the way

you get that is by practicing the six

artists with whatever arises mature

Samaritan

me suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fear this be me the

grieving shed all grief and may all

beings find relief may all being here

this merit that we've thus acquired for

the acquisition of all kinds of

happiness may beings inhabiting space

and earth Davis and Nagas of mighty

power share this marital hours may they

don't protect the Buddhist dispensation

[Music]

you

there's been a lot of translations of

this particular suit down and what

they've been doing is saying that the

first foundation is the body in the body

and that's not a good definition it's

not very good it's supposed to be the

body as the body if you use a

translation of the body in the body then

that leads you to a different place so

you have to be careful with this when

that's what I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in the kuru

country where there was a town of the

gurus named Thomas Adama here he

addressed the monks thus monks venerable

sir they replied the Blessed One said

this monks this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for the

surmounting of sorrow and lamentation

for the disappearance of pain and grief

for the attainment of the true way for

the realization of Nirvana namely the

four foundations of mindfulness what are

the four here monks a monk a Buy's

observing the body as a body ardent

fully aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world he

abides observing feeling as feeling

ardent fully aware and mindful

and put away covetousness and grief for

the world he abides observing mind as

mind art and fully aware and mindful

having put away covetousness and grief

for the world he abides observing mind

objects as mind objects ardent fully

aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world now

we're gonna go to the mindfulness of

breathing and how a monk does a mock

abide observing body as a body here a

monk gone to the forest or to the root

of the tree or an empty hut sits down

having folded his legs crosswise that's

one thing that I kind of object to you

know it's real funny because when you go

to India everybody sits on the floor

they all sit cross-legged for about 20

minutes

so when I have them sitting in chairs

they find out that their legs don't hurt

him so much and they kind of liked that

idea so he sets his body erect and

establishes mindfulness in front of him

ever mindful he breathes in mindful he

breathes out now this is the instruction

for mindfulness of breathing breathing

in long he understands I breathe in lung

or breathing out long he understands I

breathe out long

breathing in short he understands I

breathe in short or breathing out short

he understands I breathe out short now

did you hear me say focus or put your

attention only at your nostril tip or

your abdomen why because that's not in

the instruction the key word for these

two sentences is he understands you know

when you take a long breath and you know

when you take the short breath you know

when you're fat breath is fast you know

when it's slow you know when your breath

is very gross and where it's very subtle

it doesn't say focus on the breath it

just says you know that this is what the

breath is doing so you don't over a

focus on the breath now we get into the

actual instruction he trains us key

words now this is what you need to do I

shall breathe in experiencing the whole

body not body of breath

not focusing on the breath just

experiencing the whole body heat rains

thus I shall breathe out experiencing

the whole body heat rains thus I shall

breathe in tranquilizing the bodily

formation okay so on the in-breath you

tranquilize a bodily formation he trains

thus I shall breathe out tranquilizing

the bodily formation again you're using

the breath as the reminder to relax that

tension and tightness now when you relax

attention and tightness here

it not only relaxes here it relaxes your

whole body the meninges I was talking

about the other day that goes around

your brain is like a bag but it goes all

the way down your spine so when you

relax your tension and tightness here

you're actually relaxing the whole body

a lot of people in in the West they

consider the body from the neck down and

mind is from the top of the neck up but

this is part of your body too now when

you use the six hours and you relax that

tension and tightness not only are you

relaxing your body but you're relaxing

your mind at the same time okay so this

is this is a practice that an awful lot

of people are doing but they're not

following these four simple sentences

they're not following the directions

they're told to put their attention and

focus on the breath or put your

attention on your abdomen and focus on

the in and out breathing and nowhere

does it say to focus what it's actually

saying is you're using the breath as the

reminder to relax

so it doesn't matter I practice for a

long time when they were talking about

you need to see the first part of the

in-breath in the middle of the in-breath

and the end of the in-breath and the

pause and you have and you have to focus

to see this but it doesn't say that here

you understand what the breath is doing

you understand when it's long or short

but you use the breath as the reminder

to relax and if you start focusing on

just the breath now you're starting to

get into your one-pointed concentration

and that's why an awful lot of people

they do meditation for a while and then

they stop doing it because they they

just don't progress it's because they're

not following the directions that the

Buddha gave they're following the

directions that a teacher gave who isn't

following the suit death

just as a skill lathe operator or his

apprentice when making a long term

understands I make a long term or when

making a short turn he understands I

make a short turn again it doesn't say

focus on it just you understand so two

breathing in long a monk understands I

breathe involved breathing out long he

understands I breathe out long and so on

he trains thus I shall breathe in

experiencing the whole body doesn't mean

you focus on the body but you experience

it you see that it's there body is there

until you get to a certain place in your

meditation and then you don't feel the

body anymore it's all mental feeling

that arises it trains this I shall

breathe in tranquilizing a bodily

formation I shall breathe out

tranquilizing the bodily formation so in

this particular interpretation

translation it has what they call

insights now this is taken from

commentary and the insights that they're

talking about excuse me

is taken from the commentary where

you're over focusing or you're over

concentrating just on the breath so I'm

not gonna read these these insights

because it's very confusing and the way

it's written it it does what the

commentary does is it breaks it up into

separate little pieces instead of a flow

so

okay yeah vibes independent not craving

and clinging to anything in the world

that is how a monk observes the body as

a body then it gets into the four

postures and I've always thought that

this is kind of funny do you know when

you're sitting in when you're standing

do you know when you're walking or

you're lying down that's all I was

talking about but when I was practicing

the maja C method I was told that when I

was walking I was putting my attention

and my feet that was walking very slowly

and then when I stopped at at the end of

a walking area I was told to mentally

tell myself that I was standing

as if I didn't know I was standing so

I've always been confused to buy this

because it's such a general kind of

knowing what you're doing while you're

doing it again a monk is one who acts in

full awareness when going forward and

returning who acts in full awareness

when looking ahead and looking away who

acts in full awareness when flexing and

extending his limbs who acts in full

awareness when wearing his robes and

carrying his outer robe and bowl who

acts in full awareness when eating

drinking consuming food and tasting who

acts in full awareness when defecating

and urinating who acts in full awareness

when walking standing sitting falling

asleep waking up talking and keeping

silent awareness of what awareness of

what mind is doing when you're doing

these activities

and 6rn when your mind starts thinking

about other things okay now this next

part of the sake of atomic suit talks

about the foul on us and the body parts

this is a meditation that you should

only do with a teacher because you start

realizing that the this is made up of a

lot of stuff that's really disgusting

and your mind can go towards a version

very easily and become completely

disgusted I know some monks that give

this meditation to students that have

just gotten married and you don't want

to think about the foul nosov the body

when you're married not to start off

with anyway but I had I had a lot of

college students that were just getting

they were 20 21 22 years old and they

were very easily distracted by beautiful

bodies and then that sort of thing and

they had a lot of lust coming up so they

asked me what what am I supposed to do

with this and I said well

when you see somebody that you're

attracted to and you start thinking

about them with lustful thoughts what

you need to do is turn their body inside

out in your mind and tell me what's

beautiful about it oh you have a

beautiful liver your intestines are

wonderful what's beautiful about that

and there are other things that are in

the body a faeces bile phlegm pus blood

sweat fat Tears grease spittle snot oil

of the joints and urine well if you

start thinking of the body in that way

while you're sitting in meditation

there's nothing to be admiring the body

is truly disgusting in a lot of ways but

we don't think of it that way we get

caught up in our mind and get caught up

in the lust but when you turn the body

inside out there's nothing that is

beautiful and what that does is it puts

your mind into balance

so you can overcome lust very easily

that way this particular practice that

is not not an easy practice you it takes

about a hundred and sixty-five days to

do this practice to get to do it

correctly so and you do need to be

around a teacher to keep your mind in

balance so you don't become so repulsed

by the body you want to get rid of it

now it it goes into journal ground

contemplations and in India they have

places that they put bodies after after

they die they put them in certain places

and they wait for the family to come and

take care of the body sometimes they did

sometimes it would be a year later but

that that's where you would go to see

bodies that are rotting and that the

whole point of that is to keep your mind

and balance and not be attached to this

now we go to the observation of feeling

and how does a monk abide observing the

observing feeling as feeling here when

feeling a pleasant feeling a monk

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

when feeling a painful feeling he

understands I feel a painful feeling now

the key word here again is understand

don't make a big deal out of these kinds

of feeling when feeling a neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a neither painful nor

Pleasant feeling when feeling a worldly

Pleasant feeling he understands I feel a

worldly Pleasant feeling what is a

worldly Pleasant feeling

I know you know the answer but I'm not

let now on I'm waiting for people other

people to answer every time you will

answer it what is the worldly Pleasant

feeling yeah it can be but it's a

pleasant feeling at one of the cent

stores okay it can be food it could be

sites it can be sounds it can be

whatever at the cents doors the reason

that it's worldly is because you don't

have the strong mindfulness to see it as

it actually is and you have a tendency

to have a feeling come up and then get

distracted with thoughts about the

feeling and then your thoughts just kind

of carry away and you go to other things

so this is just an ordinary person that

doesn't do any meditation that's a

worldly kind of feelings that they

experience

when feeling an unworldly pleasant

feeling he understands they feel an

unworldly Pleasant feeling now unworldly

is talking about being in jhana okay

and when one of the sad stories come up

and you're in Aegina it's not a

distraction to you it's just something

that comes up by itself and you don't

get carried away thinking about it I

told you before you you have these five

aggregates you have body you have

feeling you have perception you have

formations or thoughts and consciousness

feeling and perception are always

together always as soon as the feeling

comes up your mind says that's nice

that's that's pleasant that's that's a

happy feeling or if it's a painful

feeling comes up your mind says that's

painful so perception is the part of

your brain that names things now when we

think we only think and concepts

what's a concept well

what's a car

is a car in the wheels is it the motor

is it the windscreen is it's a bumper

where is a car a car is a concept made

up of a lot of different little tiny

things put together to make up this idea

of a car or this is a chair well where

is the chair is the chair of the arms is

it the legs

is it the seat is it the back was made

up of all of these things to make this

concept and we only think in concepts so

when you start getting deeper and deeper

into your meditation and you'll get to a

place where there's no distraction at

all your mind is very quiet your mind is

really still for periods of time you are

getting close to the experience of

Nirvana

and one of the definitions that you can

use for the Nibbana experience is the

realm of no concepts

so when you're feeling in a out an

unworldly Pleasant feeling your feet you

have feelings that still come up but

these kind of feelings it can be

pleasant very nice but you're not taking

it personally

and you're not getting distracted away

from that feeling you're staying with

that feeling as long as it's there you

stay with your object of meditation and

the feeling when it arises right yeah no

okay

you have to speak up believe I'm not

sure I can David can you say it

you don't take it personally you don't

get lost in in distracting thoughts okay

and that's why it's called unworldly

because you're in a jhana

when that happens now jhana is the word

that's much misunderstood people will

say well that means you're practicing

concentration know the word jaman means

a level of your understanding

now everybody comes for their interview

and I start I talk about you're starting

to teach yourself very well because

you're starting to understand more and

more clearly how this process works so

it's a level of your understanding and

you get into the first jhana you

understand a very little bit about how

this process works but you get into the

second jhana you start understanding

more and you start getting confidence

and you start feeling like you're really

it's it's really working and that makes

you happy then you get into the third

jhana your mind starts to develop this

equanimity and you you have a deeper

understanding about this process and how

to handle any hindrances when they come

up you know what to do with them now we

know how to

learn from them so when you're feeling

an unworldly feeling it means that

you're you're having a feeling that's

there it can be pleasant or painful you

at one but you're not taking it

personally you're not saying this is my

feeling like you could control it do you

ask a pleasant feeling to come up no it

comes up by itself the joy is there by

itself the comfortable feeling the

happiness is there by itself because

your mindfulness is getting sharper your

observation of how mine's attention

moves becomes more precise so you'll

stay with your object of meditation for

a longer period of time when feeling a

worldly painful feeling he understands I

feel a worldly painful feeling stub your

toe what do you do with that painful

feeling comes up and all of a sudden

you're thinking about how much you hate

that feeling and taking it personally

and wanting it to be different than it

is and wanting to run away from the

painful feeling but a painful feeling is

a painful feeling

now I have a lot of tooth problems now I

didn't used to have so many but when I

was in Burma I had a dentist he won't

really wanted to do me a favor so evil

he clean my teeth and he broke one of

the teeth and I had to have a root canal

the thing in Burma and I had friends

that have gone through this experience

they don't clean their tools from one

person to another

they don't sterilize all of their they

just use the tools and I had a couple

friends that they got real bad

infections in their mouth because of

that so I'm not about ready to let them

just stick these things in my mouth and

this aids was very prevalent in Burma at

the times no you're not going to put any

and I got a Brittany with one of those

needles because you don't clean them

very well so I allowed him to do a root

canal without any painkiller and you bet

it was painful sometimes he'd he'd hit a

spot and I begged my old buddy jump

but while he was he was working on me I

would take a look at my body and I was

all tensed up

so I started relaxing the tension and

tightness in my body and let go of all

the tight muscles and that sort of thing

and I had enough time to start sending

loving and kind thoughts to him while he

was working on me he was the guy that

was causing the bane

now after a period of time he was

satisfied that he'd gone deep enough it

felt like he was going all the way

through my skull at the time but that's

okay but as soon as he stopped causing

the pain I got a real good opportunity

to see how that pain wasn't mine it was

just because the conditions are right

and when they stopped those conditions

then the pain disappeared and my mind

was very peaceful and calm right after

that so

painful feeling pleasant feeling the

same coin different sites and you treat

them both in the same way you use the

six artists and allow that feeling to be

there without getting and involved in it

without getting distracted by your

lighting this and disliking that and

when you do that you start developing

very strong equanimity balance of mind

so you don't get your mind doesn't start

wobbling and run try to run away when

it's a painful feeling

so it's it's a real interesting

phenomena that we tend to take our

feeling as this is me this is mine this

is who I am

but when your mindfulness starts to get

sharper the like and dislike becomes

less and less and with that there's more

balance in your mind

so when feeling an unworldly painful

feeling that is a meditation pain hole

but it hurts so bad you start telling me

about the pain you have in your knee or

pain you have an ear back when you get

to a certain place in the meditation you

don't have a body anymore you're in a

mental realm completely mental realm and

the reason that the hindrance arises is

because of some past action and when you

see it as it actually is it's just a

feeling you don't tighten around it

because you start seeing it as it is

this feeling is there yeah that's true

you're not fighting with the truth

you're not trying to control the truth

you're not trying to make the truth be

the way you want it to be you allow it

to be there and don't resist it and

don't keep your attention on it let it

be there by itself relax

smile come back to your object of

meditation

so anytime that you're taking a painful

feeling or Pleasant feeling personally

and you try to hold on to that pleasant

feeling but it's not gonna be there all

the time it's gonna go away everything's

impermanent everything is in a state of

change and that change is a lot faster

than you realize

but when you're in the jhana you're not

taking things personally so now you're

seeing the unworldly feeling and how

that's different from the worldly

feeling when feeling a worldly neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a world lead me there

painful nor pleasant feeling what is a

worldly neither painful nor Pleasant

feeling that's when your mindfulness is

weak and you're indifferent to whatever

it is you just don't see if you don't

pay attention to it when feeling an

unworldly neither painful nor pleasant

feeling he understands I feel in an

unworldly neither painful nor Pleasant

feeling the unworldly neither painful

nor Pleasant feeling is equanimity so

when you're when you start out on your

meditation your mind is flip-flopping

like this as you start to get deeper

there's less movement of mind's

attention there's more attention on your

object of meditation for longer

years of time when you get to the fourth

jhana which just has equanimity in it

and tranquility both your mind is not

flip-flopping anymore it's not moving in

such radical ways now you start to get

where your mind is vibrating and it's

pretty easy to see as you go deeper in

your meditation that vibration becomes

less and less and harder to recognize

until you get to neither perception nor

non-perception where you can't really

tell whether there's movement abides

attention at all equanimity is the

highest feeling that you can have okay

that is the highest feeling so your mind

doesn't move in Shaykh when a pleasant

feeling arises or a painful feeling

arises you just recognize it that's

that's what's happening right now and

it's okay for it to be there right

so this is how you observe feeling as

feeling whatever kind of feeling arises

don't take it personally don't get

caught up in it don't try to hold on to

it doesn't matter whether it's a painful

feeling or a pleasant feeling it doesn't

matter you have that balance of mind and

it's okay for that to be the like that

now when you get off free three you're

gonna get back into your regular life

your mind is gonna have more of a sense

of balance in your daily life you're not

the things that used to get you very

angry

it's not going to get you so angry

anymore

the things that you really hold on to

and enjoy you're not gonna have as much

joy it's like when you start doing the

meditation your mind is on a

rollercoaster ride okay it's real happy

then it's real painful then it's happy

and it's painful in it in your daily

life you go through that but as you gain

more and more understanding about how

mind works as you have more and more

balance in your mind the highs and the

low lows are not going to be so radical

it's gonna turn out more like little

waves you're still going to have them

but they're not gonna take you away and

use

angry for a week because something

happened

yeah it's you're gonna see it do you

even recognize that your mind is not so

much in balance and you start using the

six artists and then it mellows out now

another thing that helps your mind to

stay with equanimity and balance is by

keeping your precepts without breaking

them it's really important you take that

you take the precepts every day as a

reminder to not break them and make a

determination I'm gonna I'm gonna go

through the whole day without breaking a

precept at all and after you do that for

a period of time your mind gains more

and more a sense of balance and your

mindfulness gets sharper okay now we're

gonna go to the observation of mind and

how monks does a monk abide observing

mind as mind here a monk understands

mine affected by lust as mind affected

by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as

a mine unaffected by lust he understands

mine affected by hate as a mine affected

by hate or he call it a version whatever

and a mine not affected by hate as a

miner

goodbye heat he understands mine

affected by delusion

what is delusion I don't want you

answering well it's taking things

personally

that is a deluded mind because that

starts pulling you away and gets you to

all kinds of hindrances and you're not

seeing things as clearly as you can now

lust I like it

hatred I don't like it

delusion that's where you start

identifying and taking things personally

with the light and the dislike whatever

it happens to be in other words lust

hatred and delusion is craving it's

another way of describing craving and

now you start to see more and more the

importance of using the six hours and

relaxing and letting go of that creep he

understands contracted mind as

contracted mind what is a contracted

mind mind that pulls together its tight

you know save again aha no not really

that has craving in it of course but a

contracted mind is a mind that has sloth

and Dorper you get a fresh loaf of bread

out of the oven and you go to put some

butter on it then the butter has been in

the refrigerator and the sloth and

torpor mind is like the butter and it

just doesn't spread it's just it tears

everything it does all kinds of strange

things so your mind has a tendency to

contract and then you start getting

sleepy and one of the causes of sloth

and torpor arising is not taking enough

interest and staying with your object of

meditation more interest

and when you start paying attention you

can start seeing what happens first what

happens after that what happens after

that when you start having a sloth and

torpor arising if you take interest in

it then you're not going to be caught by

it for very low now one of the things I

always tell the students to do is don't

lean heavily in the chair when you have

sloth and torpor you want to straighten

your back up a little bit more than is

comfortable and then when the sloth and

torpor comes naturally you'll start

slumping and you'll be able to catch it

more quickly if you keep that nice and

straight and it won't stay around as

long because you're paying more

attention to it you're starting to see

how the process works because that's the

way my mind has a tendency to be I know

it very well I can see when I'm trying

to stay with my object of meditation and

I start having these little quiet

thoughts and then they start getting

bigger and bigger and then my mind

starts to get a little bit dreamy and

I'm not with my object of meditation

anymore I'm starting to slump and then

your head starts bobbing

now in the suit does it talks about

different ways of letting go of sloth

and torpor but the the most effective

way is by being able to recognize it

when it first starts to come up and take

more interest in how your mind is doing

that you don't have such strong interest

in your object of meditation and you'd

have like a dual mind you have the mind

that's on your object of meditation kind

of but you have these little little

thoughts then they just start to build

after a while so you have less attention

on your object of meditation let's say

your spiritual friend or one of the

brahma vihara x' and then you just kind

of lose your object of meditation and

all of a sudden you're in dreamland and

then you're your body just starts to

slow so when you start by sitting

straighter by sitting with your back a

little straighter than is comfortable

when your mind starts to let go and your

body starts to slump a little bit

you can catch it quite quick and then

you don't snap your body straight again

and run back to your object of

meditation you do this in a 6r way you

don't have to push it just notice that

that's what's happening

straighten your mind up go back to your

object of meditation after you smile

after you practice all six R's you let

it be there by itself it is just a

feeling and it's all right for that

feeling to be there it has to be because

that's the truth when it's there it's

there so you allow it to be there by

itself but you don't keep your attention

on that feeling you relax the tightness

caused in your head and don't over relax

it sometimes some people will get kind

of involved with whatever hindrance it

is that they have and it could be quite

big it can be quite painful and they

forget the six artists and they try to

do it with two lawyers and that is

release relax release relax release

relax and then you come to me and you

say you know this doesn't work well if I

give you

aha recipe for making cookies and you

leave out the main ingredients it

doesn't come out so good it's gonna be

lousy tasting cookies it's like not

having the sugar that you need for the

for the cookies or not adding the nuts

or whatever it happens to be so you have

to use all six hours every time but as

you become more familiar with it it

starts to be more automatic and you'll

get to a place where you'll just notice

a hindrance starting to come up in your

mind all of a sudden does it by itself

and comes back to the object of

meditation that's kind of fun when that

happens

so the contracted mind is a mind that

that it just pulls together and does

doesn't want to let go and relax into it

into whatever it is it wants to go to

sleep that's a problem

and he understands a distracted mind as

distracted now what is a distracted mind

you have to speak up louder a distracted

mind is a - restless

and you've got to be friends with

restlessness and sloth adore pert

because they're going to stay around

till you become a Nara so you better be

friendly with them one of my friends as

a teacher he said you know the whenever

a hindrance comes up you should be

grateful for it being there be grateful

for that

that entrance coming up because that's

showing you where your attachment is

don't fight hindrances don't try to

control distractions whatever they

happen to be if you do then here here

restlessness is going to get very much

stronger

[Applause]

now one of the things you've heard me

say a few times is before you start

you're sitting you should tell yourself

I don't care what happens next it

doesn't matter what happens next

my job is only to observe not to control

not to make something come up because if

you try to make it come up you're gonna

have lose a meditation and you're doing

it to yourself so a distracted mind is

easy to let go of

especially when you recognize that

there's that it is a painful feeling and

it is a restless feeling so when it

comes up it says in masuka's to bring up

a feeling of peace and calm feel

peaceful feel calm and bring that

feeling to your object of meditation

that will overcome the Restless feeling

very quickly but the Restless feeling it

mostly comes up because we were trying

to control they're trying to make

something be the way you want it to be

oh I had a really good sitting last time

I wanted to happen now well that's the

fastest way to have restless mind you

got yourself all kinds of problems

that's why I say telling yourself before

you sit too

develop your equal intimate equanimity

to such a degree that it doesn't matter

what happens next

your job is only to observe now they

would let me talk for a little bit more

I'll get to you in just a minute one of

the things that happens when it's

getting time for the retreat to get done

is the planning mind what am I gonna do

when I get off retreat and the planning

mind is part of restlessness but it's it

is a pleasurable feeling and you'll have

repeat thoughts over and over again how

I'm gonna see this person and I'm gonna

say this to them and it never happens

the way you plan it anyway so it's just

a waste of time

so when you get close to the end of the

retreat you start telling yourself when

the Restless mind comes up you tell your

mind I don't need to think about this

right now

I don't need to continually have these

thoughts of what I'm gonna do when I get

off retreat tell yourself I don't need

to think about this right now my job is

only to observe what's happening here

and your mind will pretty much pay

attention to it but you have to mean it

okay well of course there's intention to

stay with your object of meditation but

don't over emphasize it because if you

do then you're gonna be putting in too

much energy and you're gonna get

restless

right and the thing with equanimity is

you can have it for a period of time in

your mind is really balanced and nice

and then all of a sudden something

changes a little bit and then you start

trying a little bit and you start

getting the restlessness and when you'd

recognize that then you have to relax

let it be and back off now if you start

sitting with the idea that you're gonna

have a good meditation and you really

want to stay with your object of

meditation that thought is big enough

and strong enough that you're gonna have

loves ecity you're not going to stay

with your object of meditation at all

and then what happens in your mind is oh

I'm gonna try harder I really want this

quiet mine and you wind up having a

really very difficult time because

you're your restlessness is so strong

and when you see that happen back off

and laugh at yourself oh I got caught

again this mind is really crazy and it's

okay to be crazy it's not my mind anyway

right so you have to learn to adjust now

there could be another time when your

mind just starts to get a little bit

lazy and as you start to get the sloth

and torpor then you have to pick up your

energy a little bit

by taking more interest in how the

process works this is a very fascinating

process I have been a monk for 33 34

years something like that and I'm never

bored ever this process is interesting

and there's always new ways of seeing

things and having these insights come up

at you oh that's how that happens that's

what I've been doing because myself

suffering so you start noticing when you

have repeat thoughts and you go ah look

at that

there's too much energy in this one and

I'm making too much of a big deal out of

it so I have to start backing off from

that but laughing with yourself is the

fastest way that I know of to let go of

restlessness

of distractions you go from and I mean

it can be any of the emotional upsets it

can be fear it can be anxiety it can be

a version whatever the catch happens to

be but when you laugh you go from I am

that let's say anger I'm mad and I don't

like this and then you laugh and your

mind goes well it's only this anger do I

want to carry this room with me for a

while I'm not that stupid let it go so

developing your sense of humor about

yourself is very skillful

so do you have any other question well

it doesn't have to be on that point any

any point well we'll continue here

okay he understands an exalted mind as

exalted what is an exalted mind this is

a kind of language we haven't heard

before an exalted mind is a mind that

gets into the first four dramas

okay

your mind is exalted that's uplifted and

as very wholesome because you're not

taking things personally you're not

being distracted away by this by

hindrances you're staying with your

object of meditation that's why they

call it exalted because it is raising

your mind up and that's why they call it

unworldly because most people don't have

that sort of thing okay he understands a

surpassed mind as surpassed what is this

or past mind the mind that has that

practices the brahma vihara z' they in

pali they call it the of rupa jhanas and

an Aruba jhana means that you're getting

into a mental realm that you don't have

a body anymore everything that comes up

is mental you know to be quite honest

you don't even have eye

anymore so where's that consciousness I

don't know I can't give you an answer on

that one so having a surpassed mine

means practicing the brahma vihara z--

your there's times when your mind is

gonna be with lovingkindness there's

times when your mind is gonna be with

compassion and you'll feel expansion in

your head there's times when you're

gonna have joy arise but this is a

different kind of joy than you've

experienced before this kind of joy is

the awakening factor of joy it doesn't

have the excitement that the the lower

dramas have it's a real happy feeling

so the whole time that you're practicing

this way you are teaching yourself more

and more subtleties about the jhanas and

about these different states that you

can experience and you'll have insights

into them you know you'll see now we're

going to start to get into dependent

origination tomorrow and this is the

process of how this all works how it

arises so you're gonna see more and more

subtleties as you start going deeper in

how this is a process there's nothing to

be taken personally it's just arising

and passing away of phenomena and

everything is impersonal when conditions

are right for this dual rise it's going

to order dies but you'll start seeing it

on deeper and deeper levels and it gets

real interesting when you do that

okay he understands a collected mind as

a collected mind what is a collected

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

mind that's it's still it's like

concentration but I prefer to call it

stillness because concentration means

really focusing and your mind is very

very alert

you're still gonna hear things you're

still gonna see things but you can have

very strong balance of mind while you're

doing that my teacher was Lucille Ananda

he was a Burmese teacher he was very

famous and in in Burma the highly

educated I mean he was really smart he

memorized this many books and even up

until he died he could recite from those

books and be correct he didn't make any

mistakes but he didn't believe that you

could sit and meditate you could do your

walking meditation or your daily

activities with strong equanimity in

your mind he didn't believe it because

he was a scholar more than he was a

practitioner and I finally convinced him

to start practicing and he saw it for

himself and he was completely blown away

I mean he was so surprised it was

unbelievable the thing with Lucille

Ananda and my relationship with him

was that he was my teacher there was no

doubt about it and he was very good at

reading minds and somebody would come up

and they would ask him a question and my

mind would say oh it's this and instead

of him answering he would say you

answered this one

but he was also my friend and we could

talk about personal things very deeply

and get good understanding from each

other from with whatever we were going

through so I had and I was always

playing jokes on him

I love to make him laugh out loud the

Burmese when when you hear somebody

laugh in Burma if they're what they

consider educated when they laugh they

just lightly chuckle and they think

Americans and they that wouldn't when

they were here the he used to call me

toza

which means a mountain boy which means

uneducated because I would laugh out

loud and things but I got him a few

times

so it's a real interesting thing to

understand that mind is not your mind is

here

it's not part of the body although it's

connected with the body

and for him to see that he could walk

with equanimity and the only thing that

he felt when he was walking was the

bottom of his feet because there was

contact

sometimes a win would come up and you he

would feel that but when there was

contact with something he would feel it

but because the equanimity was so strong

it didn't make his mind shake and go to

it it just noticed that it was there and

okay that's there that's enough not make

a big deal out of it so this is a real

interesting part of the observation of

mind that is not really talked very well

with people that are doing straight

Vipassana so we're gonna go to the last

part which is the observation of mind

objects and the first part of that is

dealing with the hindrances now which

says that this is a very important part

of the practice it's not something that

you push down and push away it's

something that you use as your your

teacher to show you where your your

attachments are

and how does a monk abide observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five hindrances here there being sensual

desire and him a monk understands there

is sensual desire in me or there's no

central desire in him so he understands

there's no sensual desire in me and it

goes through the hatred then the

delusion then they goes through the

whole thing

then it says he also understands how

there comes to be the arising of the

unreason sensual desire and how there

comes to be the abandoning of the arisen

sensual desire and how there comes to be

the future non arising of abandon

sensual desire now that's a complicated

way of looking at it so we'll go through

this again he understands how there

comes to be the arising of honor isn't

sensual desire how does that come to be

your mindfulness gets weak and you start

having distraction

okay that's the start of the hindrances

doesn't matter which hindrance it is

that's why I just call them distractions

and how their comes to be the abandoning

of the arisen sensual desire how do you

let it go use the six hours right and

how there comes to be the future non

arising of the abandoned sensual desire

how does that come to be

stay on your object of meditation that's

absent

so you know how it comes up why it comes

up you know that because of past actions

and past breaking of a precept but you

don't have to know exactly what precept

it is that you broke just that this is

how this process works when my

mindfulness gets weak when I'm not

staying with my object of meditation

then my endurance is gonna come up and

it's a necessary part of the practice to

be able to recognize the hindrance and

know what to do with the hindrance when

it arises use the six hours and stay

with your object of meditation stay with

what you're doing in the present okay

and you do that with all of the

hindrances

you know how many times do you hear me

say don't make a big deal out of things

what am I saying

keep your mindfulness sharp understand

when these things happen and use your

six hours to take care of them the thing

that's real important is to carry that

with you in your daily life so when a

hindrance comes up of course they're

gonna come up your mindfulness is not

gonna be that sharp all the time so of

course you're gonna see luster hatred or

so you'll get sleepy or you'd be

restless or you have anxiety or you have

fear but you have to know that you have

the tools to not take them personally so

you won't get caught for with them for

so long

and if it's a big hindrance

then ask your intuition why am I so

attached with this why am I taking this

so personally you'll get the answer

again a monk abides observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five aggregates when they are affected

by craving and kinging

here a monk understand such is material

form

Bruce noble truth such as its origin

second noble truth such its

disappearance third noble truth such as

the way to that disappearance fourth

noble truth using the six artists such

as feelings such its origin such as

disappearance and the way to that

disappearance such as perception such as

origin such its disappearance and no way

leading to the cessation such are the

formations such their origins such their

disappearance such the way to the

disappearance such as consciousness such

is its its origin such its disappearance

and the way leading to that

disappearance then we go to the sixth

sense basis again a monk abides

observing mind objects as mind objects

in terms of the six internal and

external basis or external mind objects

views me

here a mock understands the eye he

understands form and he understands the

fed earth at arose dependent on both you

have you see coloring form you have a

good working eye easy color inform eye

consciousness arises there's a feeling

that arises with that of I like it or I

don't like it that craving comes up and

you have to be able to use the six hours

and allow it to be by itself without any

attachment of taking it personally

he also how there he understands how

there comes to be the arising of the an

arisen fetter why does it come up

because you've lost your mindfulness and

how they're gemst to be the abandoning

of the arisen fetter using the Sixers

and how there comes to be the future non

arising staying with your object the

meditation whatever that happens to be

he understands the year he understands

sounds he understands the nose he

understands odors he understands a

tongue he understands flavors he

understands the body he understands

tangibles he understands mind he

understands mind objects and he

understands the fetter that arises

dependent on both and also understands

how there comes to be that the arising

of the inner isn't fetter how there

comes to be the abandoning of the arisen

fetter how there comes to be the future

non arising

of the abandoned fetter and now we get

to the awakening factors again a monk

abides observing mind objects as mind

objects in terms of the seven awakening

factors now the awakening factors is the

mindfulness awakening factor the

investigation of your experience

awakening factor the energy awakening

factor the joy awakening factor the

tranquility awakening factor the

collectiveness awakening factor and the

equanimity awakening factor now these

these awakening factors will happen one

at a time

and as you improve your mindfulness

you'll start seeing these more and more

theory now the thing is with the sloth

and torpor it says in the suit is the

way you overcome sloth and torpor is by

examining your experience how does this

arise what happens first what happens

after that what happens after that and

as you do that you naturally start

picking up your energy and when you pick

up your energy your mind becomes lighter

and you start to have this happy feeling

also when you have restlessness you

bring up the feeling of tranquility the

feeling

of stillness or is this the feeling of

equanimity and that will always put your

mind in balance that's what the

awakening factors are for oh the the

awakening factors will arise and be in

perfect balance when your mind is ready

to experience nirvana that's one of the

things that happens in your mind

so these awakening factors you can use

them to help overcome hindrances and

also to if you notice that one of the

awakening factors is a bit weak you can

add a little bit more energy into it so

now we're gonna get to the conclusion

and that is monks if anyone should

develop these four foundations of

mindfulness in such a way for seven

years one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here and

now that means becoming a Nara hot or if

there is a trace of craving and clinging

left non return that means being in the

Hana got me let alone seven years if

anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for six years five years four three two

one one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here in

now or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left

non-return let alone one year if anyone

should develop these four foundations of

mindfulness in such a way for seven

months six months five four three two

one half of month one of two fruits can

be expected for him either final

knowledge here and now or if there's a

trace of craving and clinging left non

return let alone half a month monk's if

anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for seven days how long have you been

you one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here and

now or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left non return so it was with

reference to this that it was said monks

this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for surmounting

sorrow and lamentation for the

disappearance of pain and grief for the

attainment of a true way for the

realization of Nirvana namely the four

foundations of mindfulness that's what

the Blessed One said the monks were

satisfied and delighted in the Blessed

ones words so now you've heard all of

the four foundations but you've heard it

in a different way than you might have

heard from other teacher but you see

that what I'm showing you is straight

from the book and it does have to

do with your being able to experience

jhanas and have a pure mind and the way

you get that is by practicing the six

artists with whatever arises mature

Samaritan

me suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fear this be me the

grieving shed all grief and may all

beings find relief may all being here

this merit that we've thus acquired for

the acquisition of all kinds of

happiness may beings inhabiting space

and earth Davis and Nagas of mighty

power share this marital hours may they

don't protect the Buddhist dispensation

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