From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=q39VyHG5l0M

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

greetings

hello ponte i hope all of you have had a

good week

yes and you had a lot of smiles and a

lot of laughs

okay so we're gonna do

the greater series of questions and

answers

this is something that i started last

week and then i got carried away with

the eightfold path

got through

the eightfold path

and the four noble truths

and i want you to realize that the four

noble truths are not this simplistic

uh thing to say

and do with

without really understanding what it's

talking about

so many people get into

uh the four noble truths and they can

recite it

but they don't understand the deeper

meaning of it

and the four noble truths are in every

link of dependent origination

and maybe next week or the week after

i can get another book and i can show

you exactly what i'm talking about

now this suit today

the greater series of questions and

answers

is quite a deep suta

you know if you're a beginner and you

don't understand what i'm talking about

it will become apparent

as we go along

consciousness consciousness is said

friend

with reference to what is consciousness

said

it cognizes it cognizes

now what we're talking about by the word

cognized

is you're seeing it in the present

you're seeing it and

recognizing that that's what's happening

in the present

that is why consciousness is said

what does it cognize

it cognizes this is pleasant

it cognizes this is painful

it cognizes this is neither painful nor

pleasant

it cognizes it cognizes

so what we're talking about is that

consciousness is a rising

right with feeling that's what

perception does it cognizes

and it cognizes

by naming the kind of feeling that

you're actually

experiencing in the present

that is

as soon as a pleasant feeling arises

you cognize that's a pleasant feeling

you

recognize it

we don't say recognize because

that is

coming from memory

and when you cognize it's what you're

experiencing in the present

wisdom and consciousness friend

are these states conjoined or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the

other in order to describe the

difference between them

wisdom and consciousness friend

these states are conjoined

they are together

not disjoined and it's impossible to

separate

each of these states from the other in

order to describe the difference between

them

for what one wisely sees

that one cognizes

and what one cognizes that one wise

wisely understands

now it's interesting that they use y's

in both of these uh

parts of the definition

because we're talking about deep

cognition we're talking about

seeing individual

consciousnesses arising

and passing away

and this is the very beginning

of as soon as that cognition is there

craving arises and craving is the i like

it

if it's pleasant i don't like it if it's

painful

and this is the very beginning

of

false belief in a personal self

this is the very beginning of taking

things personally

and

um next what arises

is is your opinions your thoughts

and your attachments

to whether it's

pleasant or unpleasant but it's the

attachment

to that craving

craving is a real biggie

you'll hear more about that in a bit

excuse me

but this is the very beginning of how

this process of dependent origination

actually works

that is why these states are

conjoined not disjoined

and it is impossible to separate each of

these

states from the other in order to

describe

the difference between them

what is the difference friend between

wisdom

and consciousness these states that are

conjoined

not disjoint

the difference friend between wisdom and

consciousness

these states that are conjoined not

disjoined

is this listen closely

wisdom is to be developed

having the ability to see the links of

dependent

dependent origination has to be

developed

and consciousness is to be fully

understood now what we're talking about

by

fully understood it is

seeing the links of dependent

origination and how they

actually work

and understanding that everything that

arises everything

is part of an impersonal process

that means there is no craving

when you see it that way

you still have consciousnesses

arising and passing away you still have

your

life that you're living but you're

living it

with the kind of wisdom

that sees everything as

part of a process

that

is impersonal

there's no distractions

when you see it this way there's no

hindrances

when you see it this way

so it's real interesting

to hit something so deep

at the start of a suta but it gets even

deeper

so we'll continue on

feeling feeling is said friend

with reference to what is feeling said

it feels now you can see by that that

we're not talking about emotional

upsets emotional

feeling we're talking about

feeling as it actually is

it's either pleasant feeling painful

feeling neither painful

or pleasant that's what feeling is

what does it feel it feels pleasure it

feels

pain it feels neither pain nor pleasure

it feels it feels friend that's why

feeling is said

now we get to an interesting thing here

perception perception is said friend

with reference to what is perception

said

it perceives friend

that's why perception is said what does

it perceives

now it's going to go into colors but

perception is the very

beginning of our conceptual

thinking

we only think in concepts

and we take those concepts personally

and we cause ourselves a huge amount

of suffering

because of taking these opinions and

thoughts and ideas

personally and tagging

it as this is me this is mine

this is who i am

so as i said it gets into colors

this is a standard way

for the buddha to talk about it it

perceives blue

it perceives yellow it perceives red

it perceives white now these are the

colors

of the buddhist flag

the buddhist flag didn't come into being

until

the very early 1900s

when walcott

went to sri lanka

and he noticed that there wasn't any

such a thing as a flag

for buddhists so he made this up

it perceives it perceives friend that's

why

perception is said

feeling perception

and consciousness friend

are these states conjoined or

disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the

others in order to describe the

difference between them

now this is this gets to be real

interesting

because you have these three things in

the five aggregates

so that makes it because they're

conjoined they're

always together

not separate so it makes it

three aggregates instead of five

because consciousness perception

and feeling are

always conjoined they're always together

this will explain this in just a second

here

feeling perception and consciousness

friend

excuse me

got something down the wrong side

these states are conjoined not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate

each of these states from the others in

order

to describe the difference between them

a lot of people spend a lot of time with

the five

aggregates not realizing that three of

the aggregates are conjoined

so it can get real confusing when you

see other people um

i'm trying to describe the five

aggregates and make sense out of it

one of the things that the translator

biku bodhi

does with the five aggregates

is when he describes the aggregate

then he'll say

uh feeling or consciousness whatever it

happens to be

is affected by

clinging now i changed that a little bit

because it's affected by craving and

clinging

and it's only affected

when you're already

caught in that

that aggregate you're already

taking it personally

so

quite often when i'm talking about the

five aggregates and i run across what

vikku bodhi said

affected by clinging i say is affected

by craving

and clinging or it

may be affected by craving and clinging

depending on your mindfulness at the

time

so

uh they are conjoined not just joined

and it's impossible to separate

each of these states from the others in

order to describe a difference between

them

now listen closely for

what one feels that one

perceives and

what one perceives that

one cognizes

this is a real strong statement

and let's see you see how they are

actually

conjoined they are together

and you can see that when you're sitting

in meditation

and a feeling comes up then there's the

i like it i don't like it

or there's excuse me there's there's the

perception

which is pleasant or unpleasant

and the consciousness recognizes

that right then and there

okay

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoined

and it's impossible to separate each of

these states from the others in order to

describe the difference between them

okay this these are states that are

knowable by mind alone

now what we're talking about here

is getting into the immaterial

jhanas

now actually it's not a jhana it's

a there's four

different parts to the fourth

jhana when you get into the fourth jhana

the only time you have feeling arising

in your body

is if there is contact

like you will hear a sound but it's not

going to make your mind wobble

it's not going to make your mind uh

jumpy in any way

unless you keep your attention

on that feeling now quite often when i'm

giving a retreat

people will come and they'll tell me oh

i have this pain

in my back and i almost always stop them

right then

and say isn't that interesting

because you don't have

a body

you're putting your attention on it

you're making a big deal out of it

you're trying to control it and who's

doing that

who's taking it personally who's trying

to control it

who doesn't like it if it's a painful

feeling

who causes themselves suffering

now honestly when you get to

the realm of infinite space

well actually when when you get to the

fourth genre

you don't feel your body

now it's all mental

and if you take the precepts

and and the

refuges in the morning and read their

little

short verses from the dalmapada

the first thing it says is mind is the

forerunner of

all states

my maid they are

so how can you have a body if it's my

need

oh but i have this feeling in my back

no your mindfulness isn't sharp enough

to see that it

is part of this collection

of feeling perception

and consciousness

that's what you're feeling that's what

you're

actually seeing

but because there's a specific

place that pulls your attention to it

which means you're not in the jhana

anymore

it means that you are distracted because

your mindfulness

got weak

and pulled your attention away

so

you come and say well i have this huge

pain in my backside

or my back or my arm or my leg

when you come to realize

that you don't have any feeling

in your body

when you are on your object of

meditation

then a feeling arises and it's painful

you start to make a big deal out of it

you start to get more and more involved

in

i don't like it i wanted to stop oh i

can't stand this

every thought about

that feeling

causes the feeling to get bigger and

more intense

so

when you keep your attention on that

you're not

following the six r's

not anymore you are

keeping your attention on

that feeling instead of

letting that feeling be by itself

and relaxing and smiling and coming back

to your objective meditation

what will happen is that feeling

will become more and more

more and more equanimity towards that

feeling

and it's okay for it to be there when

it's okay for it to be there

equanimity when it comes up

is mental balance

allowing accepting

not

not keeping your attention on anything

in particular

oh but that feeling it hurts so much

well yeah

it's gonna hurt as long as you keep

making a big deal out of it

as long as you continue on

keeping your attention there

oh but it hurts so bad i had to get up

and walk

well that's kind of disappointing

because it says

that when you do that

you have taken that personally and you

have tried to control

it and it got worse and you made it

bigger and stronger without

realizing that that's what you were

doing to yourself

see you cause your own suffering

you are your own teacher

learn from that experience

instead of indulging in that experience

and the less you make a big deal of it

the faster it will go away on its own

and it won't bother you anymore

now there are certain times when you get

to the

arupa jhanas

that

your mind is going to throw up some kind

of a hindrance like this

because that's all it is is a hindrance

anything to distract you sometimes that

hindrance

is going to be fear

sometimes it's anxiety

sometimes it's just a physical feeling

what you think is a physical feeling but

it's not really

it is a mental feeling

when this occurs

there's a couple different ways that you

can take care of it

by using the six r's and not making a

big deal

out of it in your mind just let it be

there it doesn't

it it's not going to go away that

feeling is not going to go away

anytime real soon but when you stop

making a big deal out of it and come

back to your object

of meditation after relaxing

it gets to be less and less

of a

a problem okay

yeah so

realize how tricky your mind can be

another way you can overcome this

problem

is kind of make it a joke in your mind

and

laugh with it

it's only a pain

did you ask that pain to arise

did you want that pain to come up

nobody said dumb it came up

because of past actions of breaking a

precept

and it might not be from this lifetime

it might be from a past lifetime

it doesn't matter and it doesn't matter

what that pain actually is or the cause

of it

what matters is what you do with what

arises in the present

and that dictates what's going to happen

in the future if you keep taking it

personally you get involved with the

pain

you start

you start dreading the pain

then you can look forward to that pain

coming back over and over and over again

until you learn

that it's not yours till you

see that it's not yours it's just a

pain because

you didn't ask it to come up you can't

control it you can't make it go away

this is just part of a lesson

that you're teaching yourself in

how to have a balanced mind

so this is real interesting with the

knowledge of mine alone

friend what can be known by

purified mind consciousness

released from the five faculties

now being released from the five

faculties

definitely says this is

the immaterial realms the mental realms

friend a purified mind consciousness

released from the five faculties

the base of infinite space can be known

thus space is

infinite

now when when i'm teaching you i

generally am teaching

the brahmavirus

okay you're learning all of

the brahma viharas when you practice the

way that i'm showing you right now and

your understanding of how

this process works grows

very quickly

sometimes in one sitting you can go all

the way through

all of the brahmaviaras and get into

equanimity

i'll explain that a little later

the base of infinite consciousness can

be known thus

consciousness is infinite

this is where you actually see and teach

yourself

the real meaning of impermanence

suffering and the impersonal nature of

everything the

not controller

the not personally being their

personal being personally being their

means

that there's craving and you're not

going to be in the journal when

craving is there

and the base of nothingness can be known

thus

there is nothing

the realm of nothingness is

when you get very very strong

equanimity

very strong nothing excites your mind

and that's when you start developing the

ability

to have this enchantment

with the outside world

with everything you just don't get near

as excited as you used to

and this is a good thing because your

mind has a state of balance all the time

it's there you're seeing

things but you're not looking outside of

mind

anymore you're watching mind

now when you get into this state

then you'll get to a place

where the equanimity disappears

and it's like being asleep and being

awake at the same time you're starting

to develop the ability

to watch the true subtleness of

mind's attention and how it moves

and this is what i call the quiet mind

you sit quietly you don't have anything

disturbing your mind if you see the

slightest

tiny little movement of mind's attention

then relax and stay

with the quiet mind

this is where you get to see the

subtlety

of the amount of energy

needed to stay with that quiet mind

now there's sometimes your mind might

get a little bit

frisky and start to think something now

the sooner you can

recognize it let it be by

itself and relax and come back to the

quiet mind

the quieter your mind becomes

now i i have had students that can get

into this state and

stay in that state with a quiet mind for

long periods of time

sometimes it shocks me how long they can

actually

be in that kind of

a pure mind

the mind is pure

because there are no disturbances

there's nothing moving

in mind's attention

and this is when your mind is most pure

and this is the state that occurs

right before you experience

the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

when you come out of that

you don't even know that you're in that

state

until you come out but when you come out

your mind is it's just like somebody

took an eraser

and cleaned your mind

and depending on your mindfulness

and your your degree of being able to

see this

uh you might be able to see

the links of dependent origination and

you start

understanding more clearly how this

entire process works

and it all begins to make complete sense

and you're gonna see without a doubt

the impersonal nature of everything

and this helps you develop even more and

more

disenchantment no excitement

you're seeing the process as it actually

occurs

and you're teaching yourself

how this

thing we call life actually does work

it's funny there's an awful lot of

psychoanalysts

and and people that they're just

starting to see

how this process works and they're

shocked

when they see me give a talk on

dependent origination because it goes so

much deeper

than anything that they can measure

by machines

it's quite interesting we're starting to

develop some machines now

that

are sensitive to any kind of

movement in mind

and when you're sitting in the cessation

of

perception feeling and of and

consciousness

there's absolutely no movement of mind

and this

baffles an awful lot of people they

they can't believe it

we're trying to get get it together to

have some papers written on this

because there's a lot of people that are

trying to measure all of this

the movement of mind's attention and

figure out where

different emotions occur

but when there's no consciousness in

mind there's nothing

to measure

excuse me

and all of the studies

that have been done as far as i know

are part of

the one pointed type of concentration

where there's still

some movement in mind

and in mind's attention

having a tough time today

so

the the more we can get people

interested

in that that have this sensitive

equipment

of seeing

what's happening when you sit in

the cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

it's going to blow the the lid

off of a lot of

understanding of how

this process actually does work

i can't get that tickle off my throat

okay

friend with what does one understand

a state that can be known

interesting question

friend one under state understands a

state that can be known

with the eye of

wisdom

so when you get into the

when you get into the

uh mind states

infinite space infinite consciousness

joy

equanimity

when you get into these states

the thing that sees these

is seeing exactly in the present

how this impersonal process

is developing and how it actually

occurs

so

the more you can sit in meditation

for a few hours

i encourage especially when you get into

the fourth jhana and the

arupa jhanas which is different aspects

of the fourth genre

and it's not the fifth genre and sixth

genre and seventh gen

i don't like that we call them by name

we don't give them a number

and if you're sitting by yourself

quite often what happens with most

people

is they overestimate

what their experience is

so when you start getting into these

deeper realms

it's actually really a good idea to be

in touch with a teacher that has

the understanding of how this process

works with this type of

meditation

people have different

ideas when they get into

the

uh one pointed kind of concentration

where they're not letting go of the

craving

this causes a different kind of

understanding

and this kind of understanding is

leading

away from the buddha's teaching

so when you are in the

immaterial realms which means the mental

realms

you're observing things with a pure mind

and you're using the eye of wisdom

and the eye of wisdom always is

referring to

seeing the impersonal nature of

everything

so you see the importance of not taking

things personally

and we get caught with that a lot

especially when you're where you're just

starting out

especially when you have a lot of

problems in trying to radiate loving

kindness

when that happens i highly

suggest that you don't

try to send loving kindness out

but get into your

forgiving it's amazing

how forgiveness and acceptance

when that clears up how much clearer

your mind becomes and how much faster

your progress

in meditation becomes

friend what is the purpose

of wisdom that's an interesting question

why why is it so important to be able to

see

how this process works

the purpose of wisdom friend is

to see with direct knowledge

in other words that's how you're

teaching yourself

with direct knowledge

its purpose is full understanding

and that's how you're teaching yourself

understanding

how this process actually does work

and not resist

the

sneaky desire of getting into emotional

states

the purpose of wisdom is

abandoning

abandoning what abandoning the craving

i got coughs now i got sneezes

so the whole purpose of developing

wisdom

is to abandon the attachments

that we have with

living with our daily lives

okay now we're going to get into what

they

call right view i call it harmonious

perspective and i've always found

this very interesting friend

how many conditions are there for the

arising

of right view or harmonious

perspective friend there are two

conditions for the arising of right view

the voice of another now we're not

talking about my voice we're talking

about the buddha's voice

we couldn't figure this out on our own

not even close

so we have to be told about it

and wise attention after we're

told about it then we have to pay

attention

to how the process actually does

work these are the two

conditions for the arising of harmonious

perspective

friend how many factors are there

excuse me by how many factors is right

view

assisted when it has

deliverance of mind for its path

deliverance of mind for its path and

fruition

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path

and deliverance by wisdom for its path

and fruition friend

harmonious persec perspective is

assisted

by five factors

when it is when it has deliverance of

mind for its path

deliverance of mind for its path and

fruition

and

when it has deliverance by wisdom

for its path and deliverance by wisdom

for its path and fruition

here friend listen closely

right view is assisted by

keeping your precepts

you will find more and more

that when you

keep your precepts without breaking them

your mind will

settle down and you'll be able to

concentrate

much more quickly and easily

learning now you're teaching yourself

by your direct experience

but it also the voice of another is

important

to help you realize how

this process actually does work

discussion now this is an

interesting thing because a lot of

people that have been practicing

straight vipassana for years and years

and years

they're told that they shouldn't discuss

where they are or what their experience

is and this is confusing because

monks are not supposed to talk about

where they are

but laymen can

it's up to them whether they want to

discuss it or not

but when you get with somebody that is

in the same

level of understanding

it's quite interesting conversation and

you can learn a lot

by their observations and by you

helping them with your observations

so discussion is extremely

important

but you start talking with somebody

that's

doing a different kind of meditation and

they'll flat out tell you

oh we can't talk about that it's against

the rules to talk about that

no it's not against the rules for layman

it's actually encouraged

to be able to discuss with your your

friends

your kali amitas your close

dhamma friends what your experience is

they might have gone through the same

thing and can give you insights

into how to observe

and understand

this process

now the last two is very interesting

serenity going in the jaundice

and insight insight

is a misunderstood concept because it

was codified

by the burmese oh you have 16

insights that you have to see before you

can attain nibana

well actually it's 12 insights that you

have to see

the others happen by themselves

but it's so codified that you only start

looking

for this insight into seeing

a niche

or this insight in seeing how the

process

of karma actually works

but the insights that you get with this

kind of meditation

is you're being able to see

and recognize more and more clearly

how the process works your understanding

of how you let go

of uh

painful past experiences

how you understand more clearly when you

do

let go and how that process

actually works

so insight is

bigger and broader and you'll have

insights into little tiny things

and you'll you'll all of a sudden just

recognize something that you hadn't seen

before

and it can be stunning and you'll

sit back and you go wow

i've known this all my all of my

meditation life but it's not

philosophy this stuff is real

amazing fun

i had a student in in malaysia

that she just started meditating with me

and she was trying to get into the

philosophy and all of these different

ideas and she didn't understand them

deeply

but she had a relative

that was very strong christian

and he started talking about religion

and how you have to

believe

and all of these different

uh conceptual ideas

and he would get frustrated with her

because he

she would start talking about

impermanence and suffering

and and the impersonal nature of things

and finally he said why is it that

all buddhists are so smart

and she came back and she said i

couldn't give him an

answer i don't know why are we smart

because you're able to see things as

they actually are

you're able to see how this process

actually does work

and there might be some of the things in

the christian

bible and and teachings

about the same things but

they're they're worded and they're

obscured so it's not easy to understand

so when you start to get into buddhism

which is

quote not a religion

religion means belief in a

higher power

and we have belief in intuition

and that's quite a bit different anyway

the understanding

in studying

quote buddhism which is just studying

dhamma the way things actually are

it's much easier to understand because

it is put to you

in a very simple to follow

organized way

anytime any meditation

that is taught

that is complicated

uh when i was looking for meditation 45

years ago or so

when i was looking for meditation

i came across these incredibly

complicated

ways of doing the meditation and i it

just

turned me off stopped me from getting

involved with that kind of philosophy

that kind of

way of doing things

when i ran across buddhism it was put

forth in very simple terms

so i took this dharma to be for real and

i really went for it

and i've been studying it ever since

right view is assisted by these five

factorants factors

that has deliverance of mind

for its fruit or for its path

deliverance of mine for its path and

fruition

it has deliverance by wisdom for its

path

deliverance by wisdom for its path and

fruition

so i'll go over these again real quick

virtue keeping your precepts

learning paying attention to how you're

teaching yourself

the process

discussion

serenity and insight

serenity and insight are conjoined

they are together

and that's where a big misunderstanding

comes

from a commentary that was written a

thousand years after the buddha died

and after buddhism

had spread to different countries and it

got

confused because buddhism

doesn't come in and take over religion

it kind of blends in and

uh you you practice a little bit more

deeply

the uh the morality

and and the sense of

well-being and your work towards

happiness and peace

okay i'm getting behind here

again

friend how many conditions are there

for the attainment of need of

neither painful nor pleasant deliverance

of mind

friend there are four conditions for the

attainment of

neither painful nor pleasant deliverance

of mind

here with the abandoning of pleasure and

pain

with a previous disappearance of joy and

grief

a person enters upon and abides in the

fourth

drama which has neither pain nor

pleasure

and purity of mindfulness due to

equanimity

these are the four conditions for the

attainment of neither painful nor

pleasant

deliverance of mind

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment

of the signless deliverance of mind the

signless deliverance of mine is getting

into neroda where there's

no consciousness

it's also some in

neither perception nor non-perception

there's a there's no signs that come up

and distract you away

when your mind is on the quiet mind and

there is no disturbance

friend there's two conditions for the

attainment of the sinus deliverance of

mind

non-attention to all signs

any kind of disturbance that wants to

come up

no attention on it and the attention

to the signless element

i have some problems with this kind of

understanding

because if there's no

feeling perception or consciousness

how can you keep your attention on the

signless deliverance of mine because

there's no consciousness it happens

automatically

here it's kind of inferring that you

have a little bit of consciousness and

you can

see this but that's not true

niroda and he wrote a summa body

friend how many conditions are there for

the persistence

of the signless deliverance of mind

that's an interesting question

there are three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverance

of mine

non-attention to all signs

attention again i have problem with that

to the signless element

and the prior determination of its

duration now

when you get deep enough and you can get

into this experience

where you don't even know you're in it

until you come out

and you start practicing being able to

do that

then you have to develop your

determinations

i'm gonna sit in this space for

uh two and a half hours

okay and then two and a half hours you

come

now it's real interesting because i have

some students in

malaysia

that are very active and they

are very busy especially during a

retreat

and they are quite good meditators

and they can get into the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

at will by just pointing their mind in

that direction

and they make a determination that

they're just going to be in that state

for 20 minutes because they got a lot of

things they have to do they don't have a

lot of time

so they'll sit in the cessation for 20

minutes

when they come out it's just like they

woke up after

eight hours of sleep

they have their energy back they they're

very clear

they're very uh

patient they're very nice

of being able to experience

with a clear mind what needs to be done

so there's a lot of useful things that

you need to be able to do

when you are able to get into the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

and the signless deliverance of mine

are these states different in meaning

and different in name

or are they one in meaning and different

in name only

ran the immeasurable deliverance of mine

that is the brahma vrs that we're

talking about here

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

and the signless deliverance of mine

there is a way in which these states are

different and meaning and different in

name

and there is a way in which they are one

in meaning

and different in name only

what is the way in which these states

are different and meaning and different

in name here a monk abides

pervading one quarter with a mind imbued

with

loving kindness now this might sound

familiar for those that are practicing

the

immaterial genres

likewise the second quarter likewise the

third likewise the fourth

so above below around and everywhere

and to all as to himself he abides

perfading the all-encompassing world

with a mind imbued with loving kindness

abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill will

so we're talking about the six

directions

and the importance of letting

the six directions go out as far as it

wants to go out

at first it will feel like it doesn't go

out very far when you first start doing

it

and then

it just gets bigger and bigger and it it

kind of expands

to the entire universe

with practice he abides pervading one

quarter with a mind imbued with

compassion

likewise this second likewise the third

likewise the fourth

quarter of mine

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

joy imbued with joy

he abides pervading the one quarter with

a mind imbued with

equanimity second third

and fourth so

above below and around and everywhere

to all as to himself

here by pervading the all-encompassing

world

with a mind imbued with equanimity

abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill will

this is called the immeasurable

deliverance of mine

so each one of these

brahma viharas are included in this

right now in the immeasurable

it's immeasurable or they sometimes call

it boundless that there's no

end to it it can keep going out and out

and out

and everyone close while you're doing

that

feels the effect of the loving kindness

which is kind of nice

and what friend is the deliverance of

mine through

nothingness now i've talked with

people about this before

uh when i first became a monk i didn't

really have a teacher

a monk teacher and i decided that i was

going to

see the impersonal nature of

every thought and feeling that came into

my head

and i would ask myself where did that

come from

whose thought is that

and over the course of about six months

i got to go quite deep

into the meditation of seeing the

impersonal nature and that's the realm

of nothingness

my mind became very very balanced

and clear and i

saw how emotional things when they first

start to arise

can cause so much suffering

so it was an interesting experience

this is called the deliverance of mind

through nothingness

and what friends is a deliverance of

mine through voidness

now there's a lot of discussion about

voidness

with a lot of different

philosophical ideas

uh maybe next week i will read the suta

on voidness

and it will show you what voidness

actually is talking about

here a monk gone to the forest or the

root of a tree here an

empty hot reflex this is void of a

self or what belongs to itself

this is called the deliverance of mind

through voidness

now there's a lot as i said there's a

lot of different definitions

this is just one and we'll get more into

that next week maybe

and what friends is the signless

deliverance of mine

here with non-attention to all signs

a person enters upon and abides in the

signless

collectedness of mind

that is in the cessation of perception

feeling and

consciousness this is called the

signless deliverance of mind

this is a way in which these states are

different

in meaning and different in name

and what friend is a way in which these

states are one in meaning and different

in name only and this is a real

interesting part of the suit i like it a

lot

lust is a maker

of signs

hate is the maker of signs

delusion is a maker of

signs

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

that means being

an arahat these are abandoned cut off at

the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so that they are no longer subject to

future arising

of all the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the unshakable deliverance of mind

as pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust

void of hate and void of delusion

now quite often i give talks about lust

hatred and delusion

how that's just another way of

describing

grieving in some ways

it makes it a little bit more confusing

unless you really realize

that it's talking about craving i like

it

lust i don't like it hatred

i am that

the impersonal nature of

that

lust is a something hatred

is a something delusion is a something

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

there are these

are abandoned cut off at the root made

like a palm stump

done away with so that they

no longer subject to future arising

of all the kinds of deliverance of mine

through nothingness the unshakable

deliverance of mine

is pronounced the best

now that unshakeable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion void of craving

lust is a maker of signs

hate is a maker of signs

delusion is a maker of signs

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned

cut off at the root made like a palm

stump

done away with so they are no longer

subject to future arising

of all the kinds of signless deliverance

of mind the unshakable deliverance of

mine is pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

this is the way in which these states

are one in meaning and different in name

that is what the venerable sorry putta

said

the venerable maha kohita and his

students were satisfied and delighted in

the venerable

sorry buddha's words

so i've been talking for a real long

time

sorry i get carried away

i uh i didn't used to talk this long

i used to talk for about an hour

and that would be like the longest and

then then i

started stretching out a little bit more

as i

understand more when i moved to

kuala lumpur and it could be with

a great teacher his name was k

sri damanda he was used to giving two

hour talks

and he expected the talks to be that

long

when i gave the talks now he asked me

there because he said i'm getting old

and i don't want to

uh have to give a talk

every week i'll give it every other week

so i got in the habit of giving two hour

talks

and when i came back to the united

states boy did i get hit

with those talks are too long

and

uh i found out that the attention span

of most americans

is about three minutes

but as i give a talk you hear me talk

quite often

and repeat myself quite often

and this is an oral tradition

so it's important that you hear

and it goes into that part of your brain

and that way that means it'll get stuck

in your

long-term memory more easily

anyway okay now

do you have any questions

about anything

yes hello

yes may i be the first to ask this

question

half an hour ago you talk about the

conditions of conditions of uh

arising for right view one of it is

insight

right and so my question is how do you

know

that you don't know how does one know

that they

don't figure it out you'll see something

and you'll go oh that's what that's

talking about

you will know by your own

understanding

that's one of the things that makes this

fun

it's not it's not this codified way that

the burmese say

it has to be this and this and this

insight knowledge and this and that

insight knowledge it's not like that

these don't come up

in any particular order okay

well they will arise when you when you

finally

deeply understand and it it can change

your whole life

having an insight

you really um understand

that's one of the reasons i say you are

your

own teacher

true thank you that was very clear

okay anybody else had a question

hi monte hello um i have a question

the first one was wisdom and

i couldn't quite understand what was the

wisdom because

buddha is talking about wisely

understanding

so where that wisdom is coming from what

how you define wisdom

wisdom is seeing things as

an impersonal process

okay so that's kind of like opposite

ignorance

yeah okay

ignorance when you cut down the word it

means to ignore

to not see and truly understand

but wisdom is seeing and understanding

and realizing that this everything is

part of an impersonal process

okay okay thank you okay

anybody else

ante i have a question probably

i have a little difficulty with uh

hearing words like what one

uh feels one perceives and so on

because for me it's like first

i see something or hear something

that means i perceive and i don't

necessarily

feel it no no no no no i mean you feel

there's a feeling that comes up first

and then there's there is a perception

of the concept

of a pleasant feeling or a painful

feeling it's not that you see

something you feel first

and then you perceive it and then

you have the consciousness

actually naming it yeah

okay yeah okay and then

it's that way with every cent store

feeling comes up before there's there is

contact there's ceiling there's craving

and then all of the other

links but that's how it actually does

work

and that's why the buddha said mind is

the forerunner

of everything

okay yes thank you and

another question

regarding six hours okay sometimes

not often but sometimes when my mind is

quite

sharp and quiet it's easy

well after i've done like the six hours

and then kind of silence

yeah a place where i feel very

comfortable

yeah serene and then

should i stay there or should i

move back to object of meditation

because moving back to objective

meditation

this kind of effort in depends on the

on the object of meditation and what it

is

at that time yeah

that is part of right effort

the way that the buddha set it out and

the six r's are just another way of

describing that right effort

so it's always coming back to your

object and meditation

but you can come back to your object of

meditation with a quiet mind

and you're you're not uh you're

you're radiating whatever

object of meditation that is whether

it's compassion or

or joy or equanimity or loving kindness

so you're not disturbing yourself

you have to be careful of getting stuck

in one pointed concentration you don't

want your concentration to go too

deep okay that's why that's why

the object of meditation is so important

now remember when you come back and your

mind is very quiet

and you radiate loving kindness you can

still have a quiet mind

you're just radiating this feeling

it's not a mental feeling it is

it's not a

verbal kind of feeling it is a real

feeling meditation so bringing up that

feeling

and having a quiet mind at the same time

with practice is very easy

and there are times when you do the six

hours that they start to happen

automatically

yeah okay

thank you very much but then the

i have the opposite situation when the

sleepiness

comes and i try to sit

more stiff but still it can be so

overwhelming

do you have any advice

well when it comes you're not in the

jhana

at that time no definitely

which means that your mindfulness is not

near as sharp enough

you have to have more interest in how

the process works

pick up your interest don't indulge in

that

um

dull mind more interest

okay that's what what happens first when

you start to feel

loving or the sloth and torpor come

what happens first what happens right

after

that see more interest in how the

process

works help you overcome the hindrance

but you have to have a true interest in

how

it works now every time you let go

of the sloth and torpor and you come

back to your object of meditation

that is a different sloth interpret it

takes over again

because your mindfulness didn't catch

how the process worked

take more interest in how

this actually occurs

okay okay thank you sit and sitting a

little straighter does help you catch it

quicker

thank you very much bente okay

any other question

i have a question oh hello

hello um you're talking

well the suit i was talking about virtue

and i'm always thinking about the

precepts and the

the part where it talks about well the

gossip

what is gossip exactly would you

recommend

not to talk about other people at all

or well no it's not it's not that it's

the making up the stories about it

see when when gossip occurs what

actually happened is

people start just

talking about somebody else not knowing

what the real facts

are

now you can talk about if if you're

going to talk about somebody else

act like they're standing right beside

you

and when you talk about them be polite

okay yeah

but a lot of the gossip

oh there's so much gossip about me in

asia it's just

remarkable

and they make up all kinds of stories

and then you hear what this

what they're talking about and you know

well that doesn't have anything to do

with me

that's just somebody's imagination

and their own gossip

so when i was going to asia i used to

stress

very much don't gossip don't talk about

other people unless you know the real

facts

so talking about other people as long as

it's wholesome as long as you

are talking about them

in a positive way and how you appreciate

them

then

that is away from

gossip gossip is making up stories

i heard one lady that was talking about

the

amount of money this one man had

and in a conversation of five minutes

the amount of money that guy had went

from like uh in

in asia they they do things in in lack

which is a thousand pieces of

money it went from one lakh

to a hundred in the suppose

in the span of uh

five minutes or so

so she was just gossiping so nobody

really knows

what the truth is

you can hurt yourself a lot by making up

stories

that aren't true and then spreading

that kind of idea

around other people

okay i have one more question

can it be that um say it again i didn't

quite hear this first

i just said i have another question okay

can it be that one is in

a jhana just for a second and

moves in and out and is disturbed by

thoughts

in between right

anytime you have a thought that pulls

you away

from your object of meditation that

means that you're out of the drama

you're not in the drama at that time

when you six are and come back to your

object to meditation you can get back

into the drama fairly quickly

do you understand yeah i i heard

yes okay

is that clear enough for you do you want

more

well i guess i'm still not sure about

what what the genre really means or what

it is

i i can well it's a level of your

understanding

okay when you get to the first jhana you

you

uh have certain things you have

joy arise and you have happiness arise

and you have

you're staying with your object of

meditation for

a short period of time but still you're

staying with them

you go to the second genre

you start understanding more clearly how

the process

works

and as you go to the third genre then

you start having different things

happen while you're in that drama you

become more peaceful you become more

calm

you have more balance in your mind like

that

so the dramas are just levels of

understanding

and you don't even have to know what

drama you're in

especially in the beginning it's more

important

for me to

talk to you about what your experience

is and then i can

i can see what genre you are in

okay but it's not important for you to

know

a lot of times i won't tell anybody what

drama they're in

until we start getting into the arupa

jhanas

and then i can be more specific because

you have more balance in your mind you

have more equanimity in your mind

and that that's important

okay okay thank you

okay keep smiling

you have a beautiful smile please keep

smiling

okay

anybody i have something i have

something to share

bante about talking bad about people

talk about the last time we talked about

dreams and so this time again i had this

buddhist dream i was in the bus and this

conductor this bus driver was talking

bad about

a group of a country or of people

and at the end i said to him very kindly

and gently and said you should not talk

bad about people why what is the purpose

you know

i i i know i said it very well i said it

very with a lot of kindness

and he and it got his interest he came

running after me

like what else what do you mean but then

when i woke up i realized

why did i give him an advice he didn't

ask me for advice and i felt bad about

that

giving advice that's that's okay you

just have to be careful about giving

advice

if somebody is angry and you say

yeah well just let it go don't be angry

they get more angry

so you have to be careful with giving

advice you have to do it

in a way that doesn't cause upset

in the other person

he wasn't upset he was he was curious he

came running after me it was very close

but

what does that mean tell me more

good but i felt bad because it wasn't

an advice he asked why would you feel

bad

if you were giving good advice to

somebody else

because he wasn't asked for unsolicited

advice

somebody gives you advice do you get

angry at them or do you

pay attention to them is it bad

yes no advice

yeah okay all right that's good good

point thank you

okay

okay anybody else

okay then let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

david nagas of mighty powers share this

merit of ours

may they long protect the buddhistism

dispensation

you