From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4IEQT_aNj9E

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

foreign

[Music]

tonight we're going to be talking about

suta 117.

the Great 40.

so this Suitor is about the Eightfold

Path

faithful path is the path to the

cessation of suffering in the Four Noble

Truths

so the first Noble truth is the truth of

suffering

the second is the truth of the cause of

suffering

the third is the cessation of suffering

and the fourth is the path leading to

the cessation of suffering the hateful

path

so suffering uh unfortunately we're all

familiar with

this is defined as not getting what we

want

having what we want going away aging

death

pain grief and despair and so on

suffering happens when we are out of

sync with our reality

when we have an image of how things

should be that does not line up

suffering can involve pain but it

doesn't have to

I worked in an ER for about four years

and during the time in the er er is a

very interesting place to work

every day is different you see different

people

every day someone is born every day

someone dies every day someone breaks

their arm has an ear infection or a

headache everything in between

working there you get an interesting

perspective on life and death

after you've seen people come back from

obvious death and obviously healthy

people pass

lit for no apparent reason and how you

look at them well it it changes your

perspectives on things

when you're but it's a wonderful way to

help people and it's actually a pretty

exciting way to work

people in that facility in that kind of

healthcare environment are very good at

what they do and everyone works at it as

a team together

a real chance for flow and perfection in

action in a way when everyone is doing

their job correctly together

it's it's a pretty magical moment where

everyone knows what everyone else will

do everyone is working in sync and

working together to make a good outcome

yeah

but also what you see in the ER is a lot

of people in pain a lot of people on a

very bad day or maybe their worst day

and it's interesting how people react to

that pain

there is a Pain Scale that is given to

people there it's a it's a list of

numbers one to ten and there's a smiley

face next to one and a frowny face next

to ten

and when you show it to people you say

what's your scale on a scale of one to

ten with 10 being the worst pain

imaginable and zero being no pain at all

you know smiley face or frowny face

and what they tell you correlates very

well it's it's very internally

consistent with their pain

and it's interesting what people say

about this so

people that can be dying of cancer can

be dying of very serious illness or

suffering

very serious issues may say their pain

is at a three or four

and

and all that you know dislocated their

finger have a headache

you know cut or things that we might

think would not cause so much pain their

numbers could be eight nine and ten and

they could be honestly answering that

question

so that's really interesting it's really

interesting how someone can suffer so

much uh from a discomfort like that and

someone

who we would think would be in terrible

pain says they're not

I think that is because of their uh

acceptance or concept of what should be

happening to them

when the pain is accepted as it is and

there is no expectation it should be

different

it is not as intense

and that's that's how they experience it

and when the expectation or the

understanding of the pain is that it

shouldn't be there

that it should not be happening

um

after all the cut just happened or the

finger just got dislocated then it can

be excruciating

because they're fighting with what is

happening rather than accepting it

so pain does not equal suffering

and also the the inverse is interesting

too I I think it's kind of interesting

that we use babies and small animals and

puppies to generate meta

when these are very scary things

your baby will take your time your

patience and your money for 18 to 20 to

30 years yeah yeah they they do I'm a

parent I know

the puppy is shortly after that gonna go

pee on the floor and destroy your stuff

and and we we think of them and we smile

we

I think that's about expectation too

maybe yeah

we have no expectation of them

accept interaction

and so what we get is loving kindness

so

yeah

so suffering is the cause of suffering

is craving

the song the cause of suffering is not

accepting what is happening

craving uh

is what happens is what pulls us out of

our view of seeing things in a personal

way

and into an opinion about it

a decision that it is mine that it

should change

the cessation of suffering is simply the

cessation of expectation the cessation

of craving

entering into a mind that has no

expectations and can see things as they

are him personally

and the path leading to that

immediately and in the long term is the

Eightfold Path

the cessation of suffering can happen

very quickly when we six are

and in fact we'll be talking about

tonight that the 6rs will fulfill the

Eightfold Path at every place we look

the long-term cessation of suffering

involves from changing our relationship

with our reality changing how we

interact with it

letting go of our Fetters

changing how we how we are

um and that is also what the hateful

path points us to

so thus as I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sovereignty

and Jeff's Grove Anna from pedico's Park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

venerable sure they replied the blessed

one said this

monks I shall teach you Noble right

collectiveness with its supports and

requisites listen and attend closely to

what I shall say

yes venerable sir the monks replied the

blessed one said this

what monks is noble right collectiveness

with its supports and its requisites

that is Right View right intention right

speech right action right livelihood

right effort and right mindfulness

unification of Mind equipped with these

seven factors is called Noble right

right collectiveness with the supports

and its requisites

and this explains the Eightfold Path uh

these are requisites that when when

fulfilled they will support right

collectedness

which will then allow us to address the

suffering immediately and in the long

term

therein monks Right View comes first

in Right View absolutely comes first

with Right View

everything is obvious

when one has Right View true Right View

one can actually figure out how things

work themselves

anything you do with Right View can

fulfill the hateful path or I should say

your daily life and all your activities

can full fulfill the Eightfold Path when

you have right for you

and how does Right View come first one

understands wrong view as wrong View and

right view is Right View

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong with you

there is nothing given nothing offered

nothing sacrificed no fruit or result of

good or bad actions know this world no

other world no mother no father no

beings who are born spontaneously no

good in virtuous recklesses and

brahmanas in the world who have realized

for themselves by direct knowledge and

declare this world and the other world

this is wrong with you

so this describes a view that does not

acknowledge causality

that does not acknowledge the results of

good and bad actions though that what we

do affects ourselves

short-term and long-term and even that

what we do does not affect what happens

to other people potentially

this is interestingly very much like the

reduction materialistic view yeah

they're uh like that

a view and of itself is not a problem

um it's just a view it's just a concept

the problem with the view is what it

leads our actions to do and what it

leads us to do based on our views we we

act we have

when we do not have a view of causality

and of right and wrong or good and bad

outcomes or actions we will be

potentially tempted to act in ways that

cause harm to ourselves and those around

us

um

and so this is why this is wrong View

thing in this way with this view may

lead to our harm for a long time to come

and what monks is Right View

right the USA is twofold it is right

through that is affected by taints

partaking a merit writing any

Acquisitions and there is Right View

that is Noble tameless super mundane and

a factor of the path

so

Right View affected by teens

the teens this can be translated as

cankers like a canker sore

the word is awesome it's uh translated

as outflows or inflows

out fluxes

it can be also translated as distraction

the taints are habits that pull us out

of Right View

potentially that pull us into the coming

uh

so the teams are we can say there's

maybe three or five of them depending

how we classify them

there is the the taint of desire for

sensual pleasure the taint of ignorance

the taint of desire for uh birth in

higher

higher Realms desire for not for desires

are becoming and desire for not becoming

that's the fourth one maybe we could

flip it around

and the the last one is the tainted

views

um most presentations will have three

but some presentations will throw in

views

views is the ideas of wrong different

kinds of wrong view that lead to mental

proliferation

these are ideas of I am the body I am

not the body I am I exist in this way

we're not in that way basically

philosophical unprovable ways of looking

at the world

the problem with these is they lead to

mental proliferation

and why they are considered the taints

and all of the tanks will lead to a

mental proliferation as well

mental proliferation separates us from

what is happening mental proliferation

is thinking about things our ideas and

Concepts about things

when one becomes a sodapana

one let's go of the taint of views

this means one has the ability to not be

perplexed about what's happening and

simply be in the present moment and view

it just as it is

and in reality this happens before so it

upon him every time we six are

we enter a clear mind without craving

that can see reality as it is

without proliferation

the taint of desire for sensual

pleasures

this is let go of when uh desire when

greed and aversion is let go of at

onagami

so the desire for sensual Pleasures

um

this one when we look at the sensor

operation we can see how this works

clearly

so in the example this example we should

use something like chocolate

so if we're examining chocolate which is

a fantastic object of Investigation

because taste Cent Store operates so

slowly

it's maybe the slowest sense drawer so

we can watch things progress

the the eye is very fast and I you can

see these things with the eye too but

it's much much faster than the taste

sunstorm

so we put the chocolate in our mouth and

first we notice the materiality the

hardness the cohesion the texture

immediately after that we have taste

tongue contact bitterness sweet

and then if we pay close attention we

notice from those the explosion of the

taste of chocolate

which is none of those it's something

else

probably quite Pleasant

I know people that don't like chocolate

that might be wrong view as well

and right after the taste of chocolate

there is a contraction around the

feeling

there is identification with it and

there's thoughts

I like that

that's good

or hopefully not it's bad chocolate

and immediately that there's more

thoughts

geez I had chocolate like this before

huh I wonder if I should eat more of the

chocolate or should I save it for later

and so on

that is mental proliferation and it

separates us from the chocolate

and this is the tragedy in paradox

a sexual desire is because it separates

us from with this object

quite unsatisfactory

so the solution of course is to 6r

and end the mental proliferation so we

can really examine the chocolate

and this is actually the solution with

all the Tates is to 6r and to attend

appropriately

with

some Zone variations and strategies but

basically it's bringing up clear

bringing up your clear mind

and not allowing the proliferation to

result

the taint of ignorance is the taint of

forgetting the Four Noble Truths

which is basically forgetting to be

mindful for getting to observe

when we let go of the Tate of ignorance

or when we have the

with the power of mindfulness developed

or a well-developed faculty of

mindfulness

we see things automatically

without effort they happen and they're

there just as they are

and again there is no proliferation in

that

so ripening the Acquisitions means

ripening in the five aggregates

so mundane Right View leads to outcomes

in the world

it leads to Wholesome outcomes it leads

to good things it leads to positive

States but it does not necessarily

lead to a mental development or the

or the super mundane pass

and there is right few that is Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and what monks is right to you that is

affected by the teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

there is what is given and what is

offered and what is sacrificed there is

a fruit and result of good and bad

actions

there is this world in the other world

there is Mother and Father there are

beings who were born spontaneously there

are in the world good in The Virtuous

recluses and ramens who have realized

for themselves by direct knowledge and

declare this world in the other world

this is Right View affected by the teens

partaking of Merit ripening in the

acquisitions

this is a view of causality

that what happens now that our

intentions lead to results and they

matter

this is the uh the view of comma

comma is created by Our intention and

our action

when we have an intention and we act on

it indeed speech and mind we create

comma

in comma it leads to results now and in

the future

understanding this we're more likely to

act in skillful ways in the president

and understanding this we we know what

we do now matters

this means what we do reinforces our

Behavior

so when we act a certain way now we're

more likely to act a certain way in the

future

this is very important for meditation

practice

when we're dealing with the hindrance

how we deal with it will affect the

future arising of the hindrance

so if you are dealing with restlessness

in your set and you are wanting to move

and endure sit

you have a couple of options there

when you're restless and it's time to

end your Sid because you were going to

anyway well that's fine

but if you are attempted to enter set

earlier because of the restlessness

if you choose to break your set because

of the restlessness you are giving in to

uh the effect of that feeling

that feeling of that hindrance of

restlessness is driving behavior

and when that behavior manifests you're

more likely to do it again in the future

you're giving in to the restlessness

and furthermore restlessness is more

likely to arise in the future

people can be quite comfortable sitting

a certain length of time

and when they start giving in to

restlessness and ending their sit really

this happens in daily life more commonly

than on retreat

then the next time restlessness comes up

they're more likely to end the sit

and it comes up earlier right because it

comes up before the sit-in so there

should there's it shortens and shortens

and before long it's not comfortable for

them to sit very long at all they've

reinforce that pattern

and conversely

when we do not engage in the hindrance

we when we do not let it dictate our

Behavior

when we allow it to be there

when we don't interfere we don't take it

personally we accept it

we relax

smile

come back to our object of meditation

that hindrance loses power to affect our

Behavior

our attachment to that set of Sensations

goes down and reduces

so in every given moment we have a

choice if we're going to be making what

kind of comma

we're going to be making unwholesome

common

we're going to be making wholesome Karma

are we going to be making comma that

leads to uh

leads to a Right View

and super mundane Right View

that's always our choice

and what monks is Right View that is

Noble attainments super mundane in a

factor of the path

so in some presentations Right View is

going to be presented as the Four Noble

Truths

and this is this is correct

the four noble truths are

um

they fulfill uh Right View

the thing is there are different ways of

understanding the vulnerable truths by

that I mean you can have an intellectual

understanding of the dhamma

and versus an experiential understanding

of the nama

intellectual understanding is important

that's how we get to experiential

understanding but it is not the same

thing

our concept of what things are is

different than their reality

and that's a plug for one of my favorite

books actually Concept in reality if you

haven't it's on the back table it

discusses some of these things very good

but the concept the intellectual

understanding of the Four Noble Truths

is one thing and people can be very

skillful in their intellectual

understandings and their ability to use

language and their ability to discuss

topics

and still not have an experiential

understanding

language is meant to be this way we use

it as a symbol to convey meaning to try

to convey our experience

and this is its purpose but unless we

understand this it can be a trap too we

can be trapped in the words and what we

think they mean rather than what they

actually mean

a really clear example of this is

talking about color

the word blue we know what this means

but it is extremely different than the

experience of blue

and this is okay when we're talking

about colors

when we're talking about the dhamma it's

important to understand that there are

levels to this and what we're going for

is an experiential understanding

and frequently what seems complex in

language and in words

is extremely simple and it's it is

extremely simple in our direct

experience when we understand it

that's the Dharma

and so the four noble truths uh at an

experiential level certainly fulfills

this idea of Right View that we're going

to talk about in the suta

and what monks is Right View that is

Noble taintless super mundane a factor

of the path

through wisdom The Faculty of wisdom the

power of wisdom the investigation of

States Enlightenment Factor the path

factor of Right View and one whose mind

is Noble whose mind is taintless who

possesses the Noble Path and is

developing the Noble Path

this is a Right View that is Noble

tameless super mundane a factor of the

path

so wisdom is seeing dependent

origination it is seeing things as they

are

the power of wisdom in the faculty of

wisdom again is seeing dependent

origination an investigation is

observation into that

so what this is really saying is right

to you

is observation of one without taints

with one whose mind is free from craving

it is an observation it's how they

observe that is right for you

that is Right View that is Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and you notice they say right few and

one whose mind is Noble

whose mind is taintless so this is an

araha

who possesses the Noble Path

this is one in training someone between

stream entry and our hot path

and it's developing the normal path that

if someone has not yet entered into

sodavana

so what one mind who's Noble who's done

the six R's was released craving

observation is right for you

now right view does not come into full

fruition until our hardship

and it is but but this is accessible by

everyone

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

View and to enter upon Right View this

is one's right effort

right effort as we talked about is the

six hours

letting go of an underrism of our

unorisen on wholesome state

preventing unorisen on wholesome States

from arising

bringing up on a risen wholesome State

and sustaining that state

so letting it be there

relaxing and smiling and bringing up the

object to meditation

mindfully one abandons wrong view

mindfully one enters upon it and abides

and right view this is one's right

mindfulness

right mindfulness is remembering to

observe the movements of Mind attention

it all interconnects here again

thus these three states run and circle

around right view that is Right View

right effort and right mindfulness

right intention

they're in Monk's Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong intention is wrong

intention and right intention is Right

intention this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong intention

the intention of sensual desire the

intention of ill will and the intention

of Cruelty

this is wrong intention

in what is Right intention right

intention I say is twofold that is the

right intention that is affected by the

taints partaking of Merit ripening in

the Acquisitions and there is a right

intention that is Noble taintless super

mundane and a factor of the right path

of the path

and what monks's right attention that is

affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening Acquisitions the intention of

brunsonic renunciation intention of

non-ill Will and the intention of

non-cruelty

this is right attention that is affected

by the teens ripening and acquisitions

tensions are images that we hold

they are

directions we point our mind in

they are ways we we direct our mind

we can say intention of not ill will is

a positive image

intention of non-cruelty is a positive

image

we hold all kinds of images all the time

we

and it's good to notice what images

you're holding for yourself about

yourself about the world

again when these images are in conflict

with reality they are cause of suffering

and the stories we tell ourselves about

ourselves affect our behavior and what

we do

we can contend Our intention we can

choose Our intention we can choose what

images we hold in mind

and we can choose to hold thoughts of

knowing it will towards ourself

with those around us

and we can choose to hold thoughts of

ill will

I would recommend the latter or the

former yeah

meta is an intention it's an image that

we can hold

we can have the intention of generosity

and how we hold these images

how we are generous with those around us

matters and affects what will happen in

the future

it affects how we build our comma

and it affects what will happen next

next in in our meditation and our

experience

when we're holding a positive intention

about things

when we can reframe things in a

non-personal way

the suffering can go away

when we think things are our fault when

we think things are wrong should not be

there

this allows them to persist

so our goal in holding Right View is to

hold generous thoughts feel well

that will support our practice and

support those around us and support

generosity that way

and what monks his right intention that

is Noble taintless super mundane a

factor of the path

the thinking thought intention

mental collectiveness directing of Mind

verbal formation of one whose mind is

Noble whose mind is taintless who

possesses the Noble Path and is

developing the normal path this is right

intention that is Noble

not a factor of the path

so this is simply the intention and

collectiveness and thoughts

of one with mind without craving

naturally without craving thoughts of

ill will do not arise

naturally we do not have intentions that

are in disharmony with those around us

when we have a clear mind when we have

no craving we do not break precepts

only reason we would break precepts is

because of the personal View

because we're trying to control our

experience

because the assassinville will they harm

those around us

and

those when we harm our environment we're

harming ourselves

it makes absolutely no sense to do that

and so seeing things and personally

seeing things as they are we're not

going to be harboring thoughts if I will

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

intention and to enter upon right

intention this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong intention

mindfully one enters and abides the

right intention this is one's right

mindfulness

mindfully you can choose to be playful

and curious

mindfully you can notice that heavy

thought has entered

entering your mind stream and mindfully

you can let that go and choose a lighter

thought

these three states run and circle around

right intention that is Right View right

effort and right mindfulness

speech

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong speech as wrong

speech and right speeches right speech

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong speech false

speech malicious speech harsh speech and

gossip this is wrong speech

in what monks's right speech

right speech I say is twofold there is

right speech that is affected by the

teens partaking in Merit ripening in the

Acquisitions and there is right speech

that is Noble taintless super mundane

and a factor of the path

in what monks is Right speech that is

affected by taints or taking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

have sentence from false speech

abstinence from malicious speech

abstinence from harsh speech abstinence

from Gossip this is right speech that is

affected by the tanks ripening in

acquisitions

in what monks is Right speech that is

Noble taintless super mundane and a

factor of the past path

that is desisting from the four kinds of

herbal misconduct the abstaining

refining refraining abstinence from them

in one whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses an elbow path

and is developing the Noble Path

this is right speech that is Noble a

factor of the path

and so what's the difference between

these two

the difference is uh intention uh the

the first ripening of Acquisitions one

is trying to do that

resisting other kinds of speech

in the in the super mundane path it is

natural for the mind not to engage in

those kinds of speech so the inclination

doesn't even arise

this doesn't mean that one with a clear

mind does not have difficult

conversations or say difficult things

or it is but it does mean things can be

said at the right time in the best

possible way that one knows how to

like that

um

it is always better to engage in

difficult conversations with the mind of

loving kindness

with a clear mind

than otherwise

when we enter a potential conflict that

way we have a chance of seeing the other

person's perspective

and they have a chance of knowing that

they are seen

in some cases this is going to deflect

the conflict and diffuse it

in some cases it will not

but in those cases

at least you'll have a clear mind love

and kindness

for love and kindness is protective

with loving kindness well when your mind

is happy and you're having a wonderful

day nothing can bring you down yeah

when you bring that mind to what you're

doing uh everything is okay and

big problems don't seem so big

with your mind of loving kindness you're

not as affected by negativity

and the loving kindness meditation is

one of the protective meditations

partially for this reason

what makes an effort to abandon wrong

speech and to enter upon right speech

this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong speech

mindfully one enters upon and abides and

writes speech this is one's right

mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right speech that is Right View

right effort right mindfulness

action

therein monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong action is wrong

action and right action is Right action

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong action

killing living beings taking what is not

given and misconduct and Central

Pleasures this is wrong action

in what monks is Right action right

action I say is twofold there is right

action that is affected by taints

partaking of Merit ripening in their

acquisitions there is right action that

is Noble taintless super mundane a

factor of the path

and what amongst his right action that

is affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the Acquisitions abstinence

from killing living beings abstinence

from taking what is not given abstinence

from misconduct and Central Pleasures

this is right action that is affected by

the teens

ripening and acquisition

basically keeping your precepts keeping

your seal up

and what monks is Right action that is

Noble taintless super mundane a factor

of the path

the desisting from the three kinds of

bodily misconduct the abstaining

refraining abstinence from them in one

whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses the Noble Path

in developing the Noble Path this is

right action that is Noble

affect a factor of the path Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and this means automatically keeping

your precepts

when one is entered on the path and the

stream entry one's relationships to the

hindrances changes or the precepts

changes

and one naturally will not want to cause

harm on other beings one will naturally

not want to lie

naturally not want to take what's not

given

I've seen this working with people of

this transformation

and it is quite interesting uh it

becomes important

to do the right thing to not cause harm

and it becomes a very automatic thing

whereas before they would have no

problem telling a lie

or saying Little White Lie eating the

co-workers lunch whatever it is

and now

they will not just will not

they'll take the insect outside rather

than kill it and that just happened

it's quite remarkable

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

action and to enter upon right action

this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong action

mindfully and one enters upon and dwells

in right action this is one's right

mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right action that is right the

right effort and right mindfulness

livelihood

they're amongst Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong livelihood as

wrong livelihood and right livelihood is

Right livelihood this is one's right

View

in what months is wrong livelihood

scheming talking hinting blitting

belittling pursuing gain with gain this

is wrong livelihood

so that is wrong livelihood

um that is directed towards people

living monastic life

and for it is also put as avoiding sales

in intoxicants poisons

uh human beings

that's a pretty General

um another way of thinking about this is

having a livelihood that does not cause

precepts to be broken

or cause harm to other beings

and what monks is Right livelihood right

livelihood is twofold there is right

livelihood that is affected by teens

partaking of Merit ripening in the

Acquisitions and there is right

livelihood that is Noble taintless super

mundane a factor of the path

and what monks's right livelihood that

is affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

here amongst a noble disciple abandons

wrong livelihood and gains his living by

right livelihood

this is right livelihood that is

affected by the teens ripening an

acquisition

and what monks is Right livelihood that

is Noble Taylor's super mundane a factor

of the past path that desisting from

wrong livelihood the abstaining

refraining abstinence from it in one

whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses the Noble Path

and is developing the Noble Path this is

right livelihood that is Noble affected

by acquisition by Noble taintless super

mundane a factor of the path

so right livelihood I think can be

fleshed out a little bit and we can talk

about how we interact in our daily life

what is our livelihood how do we live

our lives

the short answer is to bring loving

kindness in everything we do and to

share this with generosity and those

around us of course not breaking

precepts but of course bringing kindness

and and love to our interactions

we in order to do this we have to

remember the practice and remember the

meditation remember to 6r

in this this can be a challenge

it can be very challenging to decide to

keep loving kindness with you all day

as people try to do this ever

universally everyone is surprised by how

difficult it is you can start the day

intending to be with loving kindness and

all of a sudden you're the next thing

you're like oh I was going to do that

you know

so this is where mindfulness games and

mindfulness tricks come into play to

help us bring us with us all the time

the first one is when you're practicing

now which is smiling all the time

we set the intention to always have a

smile on our face uh whatever we're

doing

this is actually easier for most people

than remembering the feeling of love and

kindness It's a physical posture it

seems to be easier to remember

and as you're learning you connect your

smile to the feeling of loving kindness

and is automatically connected

and so this will keep it going as well

when we're smiling all the time then we

get to interact with people when we're

smiling all the time

and this is the other part of this

practice the smiling at strangers

I'm from Minnesota

minnesotans are very uh nice

superficially we have Minnesota nice

very kind and there's also in the

Minnesota nice is a lack of actual

interaction

and deeper deeper interaction with

people I think this is an interesting

thing it probably comes from cold

Winters and cultures with very cold

Winters when you really need to get

along with your neighbors no matter what

um but it also means when someone grins

at you authentically randomly walking

down the street it's quite a moment

sometimes

so you do this you do this for them you

do this for your practice

they get to be Granddad by someone with

loving kindness

and you get to see what happens

so sometimes they react and they smile

right back

and this is a nice reflex the normal

reflex

because we use our smile to transmit

loving kindness quite effectively

but sometimes they don't

they look away they look confused they

even get upset about it yeah yeah

invading their space somehow

and this is their chance to check in and

how we're doing

what is Our intention in that moment

what does our mind do when they frown at

us

do we go to oh my is my smile wrong is

there something in my teeth oh

yeah

or do we immediately go to oh they must

be having a tough day too bad they

didn't smile with me and that might have

been fun huh

yeah

when we're grounded under 11 kindness is

where we're protected from that

negativity

and we have compassion and reflexively

and when uh when we're last grounded we

get to see the other thing happen too

that's fine we get to see

we relax well and come back and keep

playing the game

another fun game is the sticker game

and this is getting sticky notes and

putting them around your house in random

places

you could put the word smile on there or

a smiley face

these should be in places you don't go

to very often if you put them on like

the refrigerator door pretty soon it's

going to become invisible

if you put them in places you see all

the time you won't see them so you put

them in cabinets you open only sometimes

then buy the dryer washer uh you know

random places and then when you see

Lydia remember to smile

or you've noticed that you've been

smiling

when I first did this practice I had

roommates I was living with a couple of

guys and

yep I think they thought it was pretty

weird but

they had to deal with that too and we're

close friends it's fine

um still are even and um yeah so that's

a fun one

and then the last set is specific

mindfulness cues

mindfulness cues can be challenging or

less challenging and I would suggest a

challenge an example of a challenging

mindfulness cute is to smile every time

you go through a doorway

or to have loving kindness every time

you sit down

that's very Advanced that you will

forget pretty quickly so you start with

simple cues

I think two good cues are radiating

loving kindness to two groups of people

I think elders and very young children

are really good candidates for this

it can be other groups of people you

don't see very often too

um but these are good groups because

both these groups of people really can

appreciate and use the loving kindness

and are actually more likely to

reciprocate it

um

so sending loving kindness to a child in

a restaurant is fun they know what's

going on immediately and they'll smile

right back at you and you'll have a

great thing going on until the parent

notices and is confused then he's the

number 11 kindness too

you get to see how you react yeah

no but but children are wonderful they

understand this practice instinctively

with my boy I started teaching him

loving kindness at a very very young age

and

he understood it quickly because he was

young because he was too and

two-year-olds understand Happy Feelings

they understand a happy feeling in their

heart for people in their lives

and that makes sense to them

so you can do this with your own

children

and they'll remember it

yeah

so

yeah right livelihood I think we should

expand into how we interact with the

world and how we bring our mindfulness

and our meditation and everywhere with

us

foreign

makes an effort to abandon wrong

livelihood and to enter upon right

livelihood this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong livelihood

mindfully one enters upon and dwells in

right livelihood

this is one's right mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right livelihood that is Right

View right effort and right mindfulness

the Great 40.

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

in one of Right View right intention

comes to being

in one of right intention right speech

comes to being

in one of Wright's speech right action

comes into being

in one of right action right livelihood

comes into being

in one of right livelihood right effort

comes into being

and what a right effort right

mindfulness comes to me into being

right mindfulness is simply remembering

to observe the movements of mind's

attention remembering to observe

comes into being

one of right mindfulness Right

collectiveness comes into being

right collectiveness is the genres

in one of right collectiveness right

knowledge comes into being

and right knowledge here refers to the

knowledge of our hardship the

destruction of the teens

this is the ninth Factor

um

in one of right knowledge right

Deliverance comes into being and that's

simply being one of one whose tense is

destroyed

thus monks the path of the disciple in

higher training possesses eight factors

the arhat possesses 10 factors

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first in

one of Right View wrong view is

abolished and the many evil and

wholesome states that originate with

wrong view is conditioned are also

abolished in the many wholesome states

that originate with Right View as

condition come to fulfillment by

development

in one of right intention wrong

intention is abolished and the many

unwholesome states that originate with

wrong intention as conditioned are also

abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right intention as

conditioned come into fulfillment by

development

in right speech wrong speech is

abolished and the many unwholesome

states that originate with the wrong

speech as conditioner also abolished in

the many wholesome states that originate

with right speech as conditioned come

into fulfillment by development

in one of right action wrong action is

abolished in the many evil and wholesome

states that originate with wrong action

as conditioned are also abolished and

the many wholesome states that originate

with right action as condition come to

fulfillment by development

in one of

livelihood wrong livelihood is abolished

and the many evil and wholesome states

that originate with wrong livelihood as

conditioned are also abolished in the

many wholesome states that originate

with right livelihood as conditioned

come into fulfillment by development

in one of right my right effort wrong

effort is abolished

and the many evil and wholesome states

that originate with wrong Africa's

condition are also abolished and the

many wholesome states that originate

with right effort as condition come into

fulfillment by development

in one of right mindfulness wrong

mindfulness is abolished in the many

evil and wholesome states that originate

with wrong mindfulness this condition

are also abolished in the many wholesome

states that originate with right

mindfulness as condition come into

fulfillment by development

in one of right collectiveness wrong

collectiveness is abolished and the many

even wholesome states that originated

with wrong collectiveness this condition

are also abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right collectiveness this

condition come into fulfillment by

development

in one of right knowledge wrong

knowledge is abolished and the many evil

and wholesome states that originate with

wrong knowledge as condition are also

abolished

and the many wholesome states that

originate with right knowledge as

condition come to fulfillment by

development

in one of right development what right

Deliverance were on Deliverance is

abolished and the many evil and

wholesome states that originate with

wrong deliverances condition are also

abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right Deliverance as

conditioned come to fulfillment by

development

thus monks there are 20 factors on the

side of the wholesome and 20 factors on

the side of the unwholesome

this um a discourse on the great 40 has

been set rolling and cannot be stopped

by any recluse of ramen or God or

Mara or Brahma in the world

because if any recluse Ramen thinks that

this dhamma discourse on the great 40

should be centered and rejected and

there are 10 legitimate deductions from

his assertation that will provide

grounds for centering him here and now

if that were the one centuries right for

you then it wouldn't be honor and praise

those recluses are a wrong view if one

were the center's right intention then

he would honor and praise of recklesses

who are of wrong intention if that

worthy one centers right speech right

action right livelihood right effort

right mindfulness

right collecting this right knowledge

and right Deliverance

then he would honor and praise those

recklesses and brahmanas that are wrong

Deliverance

if any recluse or brahmana thinks that

this dominant discourse from the great

40s should be censored and rejected then

these are 10 legitimate deductions from

his assertations that would approve

grounds for centering Here and Now

monks even those teachers from Ocala

Vasa and bayana who held the doctrine of

Nas causality the doctrine of non-doing

and a doctrine of nihilism would not

think that this dominant discourse in

the great 40s should be centered and

rejected why is that

for fear and blame attack and

confrontation

this is what the blessed one said the

monks were satisfied and delighted in

the Blessed month's words

so

the Eightfold Path is fulfilled by the

six hours

and by fulfilling the aspects of the

Eightfold Path

we support our medication and our

collectiveness

and in fact our meditation if we are not

fulfilling needs to some degree is going

to be very difficult to make progress in

like that

okay

well let's share some mirror

I'll be 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 be shared

this mayor that we are the best choir

for the acquisition of all kinds of

happiness

May beings and animating Space Center

Davis and nagas the mighty power and

share this marriage of ours may they

long protect Buddhist dispensation

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

tonight we're going to be talking about

suta 117.

the Great 40.

so this Suitor is about the Eightfold

Path

faithful path is the path to the

cessation of suffering in the Four Noble

Truths

so the first Noble truth is the truth of

suffering

the second is the truth of the cause of

suffering

the third is the cessation of suffering

and the fourth is the path leading to

the cessation of suffering the hateful

path

so suffering uh unfortunately we're all

familiar with

this is defined as not getting what we

want

having what we want going away aging

death

pain grief and despair and so on

suffering happens when we are out of

sync with our reality

when we have an image of how things

should be that does not line up

suffering can involve pain but it

doesn't have to

I worked in an ER for about four years

and during the time in the er er is a

very interesting place to work

every day is different you see different

people

every day someone is born every day

someone dies every day someone breaks

their arm has an ear infection or a

headache everything in between

working there you get an interesting

perspective on life and death

after you've seen people come back from

obvious death and obviously healthy

people pass

lit for no apparent reason and how you

look at them well it it changes your

perspectives on things

when you're but it's a wonderful way to

help people and it's actually a pretty

exciting way to work

people in that facility in that kind of

healthcare environment are very good at

what they do and everyone works at it as

a team together

a real chance for flow and perfection in

action in a way when everyone is doing

their job correctly together

it's it's a pretty magical moment where

everyone knows what everyone else will

do everyone is working in sync and

working together to make a good outcome

yeah

but also what you see in the ER is a lot

of people in pain a lot of people on a

very bad day or maybe their worst day

and it's interesting how people react to

that pain

there is a Pain Scale that is given to

people there it's a it's a list of

numbers one to ten and there's a smiley

face next to one and a frowny face next

to ten

and when you show it to people you say

what's your scale on a scale of one to

ten with 10 being the worst pain

imaginable and zero being no pain at all

you know smiley face or frowny face

and what they tell you correlates very

well it's it's very internally

consistent with their pain

and it's interesting what people say

about this so

people that can be dying of cancer can

be dying of very serious illness or

suffering

very serious issues may say their pain

is at a three or four

and

and all that you know dislocated their

finger have a headache

you know cut or things that we might

think would not cause so much pain their

numbers could be eight nine and ten and

they could be honestly answering that

question

so that's really interesting it's really

interesting how someone can suffer so

much uh from a discomfort like that and

someone

who we would think would be in terrible

pain says they're not

I think that is because of their uh

acceptance or concept of what should be

happening to them

when the pain is accepted as it is and

there is no expectation it should be

different

it is not as intense

and that's that's how they experience it

and when the expectation or the

understanding of the pain is that it

shouldn't be there

that it should not be happening

um

after all the cut just happened or the

finger just got dislocated then it can

be excruciating

because they're fighting with what is

happening rather than accepting it

so pain does not equal suffering

and also the the inverse is interesting

too I I think it's kind of interesting

that we use babies and small animals and

puppies to generate meta

when these are very scary things

your baby will take your time your

patience and your money for 18 to 20 to

30 years yeah yeah they they do I'm a

parent I know

the puppy is shortly after that gonna go

pee on the floor and destroy your stuff

and and we we think of them and we smile

we

I think that's about expectation too

maybe yeah

we have no expectation of them

accept interaction

and so what we get is loving kindness

so

yeah

so suffering is the cause of suffering

is craving

the song the cause of suffering is not

accepting what is happening

craving uh

is what happens is what pulls us out of

our view of seeing things in a personal

way

and into an opinion about it

a decision that it is mine that it

should change

the cessation of suffering is simply the

cessation of expectation the cessation

of craving

entering into a mind that has no

expectations and can see things as they

are him personally

and the path leading to that

immediately and in the long term is the

Eightfold Path

the cessation of suffering can happen

very quickly when we six are

and in fact we'll be talking about

tonight that the 6rs will fulfill the

Eightfold Path at every place we look

the long-term cessation of suffering

involves from changing our relationship

with our reality changing how we

interact with it

letting go of our Fetters

changing how we how we are

um and that is also what the hateful

path points us to

so thus as I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sovereignty

and Jeff's Grove Anna from pedico's Park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

venerable sure they replied the blessed

one said this

monks I shall teach you Noble right

collectiveness with its supports and

requisites listen and attend closely to

what I shall say

yes venerable sir the monks replied the

blessed one said this

what monks is noble right collectiveness

with its supports and its requisites

that is Right View right intention right

speech right action right livelihood

right effort and right mindfulness

unification of Mind equipped with these

seven factors is called Noble right

right collectiveness with the supports

and its requisites

and this explains the Eightfold Path uh

these are requisites that when when

fulfilled they will support right

collectedness

which will then allow us to address the

suffering immediately and in the long

term

therein monks Right View comes first

in Right View absolutely comes first

with Right View

everything is obvious

when one has Right View true Right View

one can actually figure out how things

work themselves

anything you do with Right View can

fulfill the hateful path or I should say

your daily life and all your activities

can full fulfill the Eightfold Path when

you have right for you

and how does Right View come first one

understands wrong view as wrong View and

right view is Right View

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong with you

there is nothing given nothing offered

nothing sacrificed no fruit or result of

good or bad actions know this world no

other world no mother no father no

beings who are born spontaneously no

good in virtuous recklesses and

brahmanas in the world who have realized

for themselves by direct knowledge and

declare this world and the other world

this is wrong with you

so this describes a view that does not

acknowledge causality

that does not acknowledge the results of

good and bad actions though that what we

do affects ourselves

short-term and long-term and even that

what we do does not affect what happens

to other people potentially

this is interestingly very much like the

reduction materialistic view yeah

they're uh like that

a view and of itself is not a problem

um it's just a view it's just a concept

the problem with the view is what it

leads our actions to do and what it

leads us to do based on our views we we

act we have

when we do not have a view of causality

and of right and wrong or good and bad

outcomes or actions we will be

potentially tempted to act in ways that

cause harm to ourselves and those around

us

um

and so this is why this is wrong View

thing in this way with this view may

lead to our harm for a long time to come

and what monks is Right View

right the USA is twofold it is right

through that is affected by taints

partaking a merit writing any

Acquisitions and there is Right View

that is Noble tameless super mundane and

a factor of the path

so

Right View affected by teens

the teens this can be translated as

cankers like a canker sore

the word is awesome it's uh translated

as outflows or inflows

out fluxes

it can be also translated as distraction

the taints are habits that pull us out

of Right View

potentially that pull us into the coming

uh

so the teams are we can say there's

maybe three or five of them depending

how we classify them

there is the the taint of desire for

sensual pleasure the taint of ignorance

the taint of desire for uh birth in

higher

higher Realms desire for not for desires

are becoming and desire for not becoming

that's the fourth one maybe we could

flip it around

and the the last one is the tainted

views

um most presentations will have three

but some presentations will throw in

views

views is the ideas of wrong different

kinds of wrong view that lead to mental

proliferation

these are ideas of I am the body I am

not the body I am I exist in this way

we're not in that way basically

philosophical unprovable ways of looking

at the world

the problem with these is they lead to

mental proliferation

and why they are considered the taints

and all of the tanks will lead to a

mental proliferation as well

mental proliferation separates us from

what is happening mental proliferation

is thinking about things our ideas and

Concepts about things

when one becomes a sodapana

one let's go of the taint of views

this means one has the ability to not be

perplexed about what's happening and

simply be in the present moment and view

it just as it is

and in reality this happens before so it

upon him every time we six are

we enter a clear mind without craving

that can see reality as it is

without proliferation

the taint of desire for sensual

pleasures

this is let go of when uh desire when

greed and aversion is let go of at

onagami

so the desire for sensual Pleasures

um

this one when we look at the sensor

operation we can see how this works

clearly

so in the example this example we should

use something like chocolate

so if we're examining chocolate which is

a fantastic object of Investigation

because taste Cent Store operates so

slowly

it's maybe the slowest sense drawer so

we can watch things progress

the the eye is very fast and I you can

see these things with the eye too but

it's much much faster than the taste

sunstorm

so we put the chocolate in our mouth and

first we notice the materiality the

hardness the cohesion the texture

immediately after that we have taste

tongue contact bitterness sweet

and then if we pay close attention we

notice from those the explosion of the

taste of chocolate

which is none of those it's something

else

probably quite Pleasant

I know people that don't like chocolate

that might be wrong view as well

and right after the taste of chocolate

there is a contraction around the

feeling

there is identification with it and

there's thoughts

I like that

that's good

or hopefully not it's bad chocolate

and immediately that there's more

thoughts

geez I had chocolate like this before

huh I wonder if I should eat more of the

chocolate or should I save it for later

and so on

that is mental proliferation and it

separates us from the chocolate

and this is the tragedy in paradox

a sexual desire is because it separates

us from with this object

quite unsatisfactory

so the solution of course is to 6r

and end the mental proliferation so we

can really examine the chocolate

and this is actually the solution with

all the Tates is to 6r and to attend

appropriately

with

some Zone variations and strategies but

basically it's bringing up clear

bringing up your clear mind

and not allowing the proliferation to

result

the taint of ignorance is the taint of

forgetting the Four Noble Truths

which is basically forgetting to be

mindful for getting to observe

when we let go of the Tate of ignorance

or when we have the

with the power of mindfulness developed

or a well-developed faculty of

mindfulness

we see things automatically

without effort they happen and they're

there just as they are

and again there is no proliferation in

that

so ripening the Acquisitions means

ripening in the five aggregates

so mundane Right View leads to outcomes

in the world

it leads to Wholesome outcomes it leads

to good things it leads to positive

States but it does not necessarily

lead to a mental development or the

or the super mundane pass

and there is right few that is Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and what monks is right to you that is

affected by the teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

there is what is given and what is

offered and what is sacrificed there is

a fruit and result of good and bad

actions

there is this world in the other world

there is Mother and Father there are

beings who were born spontaneously there

are in the world good in The Virtuous

recluses and ramens who have realized

for themselves by direct knowledge and

declare this world in the other world

this is Right View affected by the teens

partaking of Merit ripening in the

acquisitions

this is a view of causality

that what happens now that our

intentions lead to results and they

matter

this is the uh the view of comma

comma is created by Our intention and

our action

when we have an intention and we act on

it indeed speech and mind we create

comma

in comma it leads to results now and in

the future

understanding this we're more likely to

act in skillful ways in the president

and understanding this we we know what

we do now matters

this means what we do reinforces our

Behavior

so when we act a certain way now we're

more likely to act a certain way in the

future

this is very important for meditation

practice

when we're dealing with the hindrance

how we deal with it will affect the

future arising of the hindrance

so if you are dealing with restlessness

in your set and you are wanting to move

and endure sit

you have a couple of options there

when you're restless and it's time to

end your Sid because you were going to

anyway well that's fine

but if you are attempted to enter set

earlier because of the restlessness

if you choose to break your set because

of the restlessness you are giving in to

uh the effect of that feeling

that feeling of that hindrance of

restlessness is driving behavior

and when that behavior manifests you're

more likely to do it again in the future

you're giving in to the restlessness

and furthermore restlessness is more

likely to arise in the future

people can be quite comfortable sitting

a certain length of time

and when they start giving in to

restlessness and ending their sit really

this happens in daily life more commonly

than on retreat

then the next time restlessness comes up

they're more likely to end the sit

and it comes up earlier right because it

comes up before the sit-in so there

should there's it shortens and shortens

and before long it's not comfortable for

them to sit very long at all they've

reinforce that pattern

and conversely

when we do not engage in the hindrance

we when we do not let it dictate our

Behavior

when we allow it to be there

when we don't interfere we don't take it

personally we accept it

we relax

smile

come back to our object of meditation

that hindrance loses power to affect our

Behavior

our attachment to that set of Sensations

goes down and reduces

so in every given moment we have a

choice if we're going to be making what

kind of comma

we're going to be making unwholesome

common

we're going to be making wholesome Karma

are we going to be making comma that

leads to uh

leads to a Right View

and super mundane Right View

that's always our choice

and what monks is Right View that is

Noble attainments super mundane in a

factor of the path

so in some presentations Right View is

going to be presented as the Four Noble

Truths

and this is this is correct

the four noble truths are

um

they fulfill uh Right View

the thing is there are different ways of

understanding the vulnerable truths by

that I mean you can have an intellectual

understanding of the dhamma

and versus an experiential understanding

of the nama

intellectual understanding is important

that's how we get to experiential

understanding but it is not the same

thing

our concept of what things are is

different than their reality

and that's a plug for one of my favorite

books actually Concept in reality if you

haven't it's on the back table it

discusses some of these things very good

but the concept the intellectual

understanding of the Four Noble Truths

is one thing and people can be very

skillful in their intellectual

understandings and their ability to use

language and their ability to discuss

topics

and still not have an experiential

understanding

language is meant to be this way we use

it as a symbol to convey meaning to try

to convey our experience

and this is its purpose but unless we

understand this it can be a trap too we

can be trapped in the words and what we

think they mean rather than what they

actually mean

a really clear example of this is

talking about color

the word blue we know what this means

but it is extremely different than the

experience of blue

and this is okay when we're talking

about colors

when we're talking about the dhamma it's

important to understand that there are

levels to this and what we're going for

is an experiential understanding

and frequently what seems complex in

language and in words

is extremely simple and it's it is

extremely simple in our direct

experience when we understand it

that's the Dharma

and so the four noble truths uh at an

experiential level certainly fulfills

this idea of Right View that we're going

to talk about in the suta

and what monks is Right View that is

Noble taintless super mundane a factor

of the path

through wisdom The Faculty of wisdom the

power of wisdom the investigation of

States Enlightenment Factor the path

factor of Right View and one whose mind

is Noble whose mind is taintless who

possesses the Noble Path and is

developing the Noble Path

this is a Right View that is Noble

tameless super mundane a factor of the

path

so wisdom is seeing dependent

origination it is seeing things as they

are

the power of wisdom in the faculty of

wisdom again is seeing dependent

origination an investigation is

observation into that

so what this is really saying is right

to you

is observation of one without taints

with one whose mind is free from craving

it is an observation it's how they

observe that is right for you

that is Right View that is Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and you notice they say right few and

one whose mind is Noble

whose mind is taintless so this is an

araha

who possesses the Noble Path

this is one in training someone between

stream entry and our hot path

and it's developing the normal path that

if someone has not yet entered into

sodavana

so what one mind who's Noble who's done

the six R's was released craving

observation is right for you

now right view does not come into full

fruition until our hardship

and it is but but this is accessible by

everyone

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

View and to enter upon Right View this

is one's right effort

right effort as we talked about is the

six hours

letting go of an underrism of our

unorisen on wholesome state

preventing unorisen on wholesome States

from arising

bringing up on a risen wholesome State

and sustaining that state

so letting it be there

relaxing and smiling and bringing up the

object to meditation

mindfully one abandons wrong view

mindfully one enters upon it and abides

and right view this is one's right

mindfulness

right mindfulness is remembering to

observe the movements of Mind attention

it all interconnects here again

thus these three states run and circle

around right view that is Right View

right effort and right mindfulness

right intention

they're in Monk's Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong intention is wrong

intention and right intention is Right

intention this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong intention

the intention of sensual desire the

intention of ill will and the intention

of Cruelty

this is wrong intention

in what is Right intention right

intention I say is twofold that is the

right intention that is affected by the

taints partaking of Merit ripening in

the Acquisitions and there is a right

intention that is Noble taintless super

mundane and a factor of the right path

of the path

and what monks's right attention that is

affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening Acquisitions the intention of

brunsonic renunciation intention of

non-ill Will and the intention of

non-cruelty

this is right attention that is affected

by the teens ripening and acquisitions

tensions are images that we hold

they are

directions we point our mind in

they are ways we we direct our mind

we can say intention of not ill will is

a positive image

intention of non-cruelty is a positive

image

we hold all kinds of images all the time

we

and it's good to notice what images

you're holding for yourself about

yourself about the world

again when these images are in conflict

with reality they are cause of suffering

and the stories we tell ourselves about

ourselves affect our behavior and what

we do

we can contend Our intention we can

choose Our intention we can choose what

images we hold in mind

and we can choose to hold thoughts of

knowing it will towards ourself

with those around us

and we can choose to hold thoughts of

ill will

I would recommend the latter or the

former yeah

meta is an intention it's an image that

we can hold

we can have the intention of generosity

and how we hold these images

how we are generous with those around us

matters and affects what will happen in

the future

it affects how we build our comma

and it affects what will happen next

next in in our meditation and our

experience

when we're holding a positive intention

about things

when we can reframe things in a

non-personal way

the suffering can go away

when we think things are our fault when

we think things are wrong should not be

there

this allows them to persist

so our goal in holding Right View is to

hold generous thoughts feel well

that will support our practice and

support those around us and support

generosity that way

and what monks his right intention that

is Noble taintless super mundane a

factor of the path

the thinking thought intention

mental collectiveness directing of Mind

verbal formation of one whose mind is

Noble whose mind is taintless who

possesses the Noble Path and is

developing the normal path this is right

intention that is Noble

not a factor of the path

so this is simply the intention and

collectiveness and thoughts

of one with mind without craving

naturally without craving thoughts of

ill will do not arise

naturally we do not have intentions that

are in disharmony with those around us

when we have a clear mind when we have

no craving we do not break precepts

only reason we would break precepts is

because of the personal View

because we're trying to control our

experience

because the assassinville will they harm

those around us

and

those when we harm our environment we're

harming ourselves

it makes absolutely no sense to do that

and so seeing things and personally

seeing things as they are we're not

going to be harboring thoughts if I will

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

intention and to enter upon right

intention this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong intention

mindfully one enters and abides the

right intention this is one's right

mindfulness

mindfully you can choose to be playful

and curious

mindfully you can notice that heavy

thought has entered

entering your mind stream and mindfully

you can let that go and choose a lighter

thought

these three states run and circle around

right intention that is Right View right

effort and right mindfulness

speech

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong speech as wrong

speech and right speeches right speech

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong speech false

speech malicious speech harsh speech and

gossip this is wrong speech

in what monks's right speech

right speech I say is twofold there is

right speech that is affected by the

teens partaking in Merit ripening in the

Acquisitions and there is right speech

that is Noble taintless super mundane

and a factor of the path

in what monks is Right speech that is

affected by taints or taking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

have sentence from false speech

abstinence from malicious speech

abstinence from harsh speech abstinence

from Gossip this is right speech that is

affected by the tanks ripening in

acquisitions

in what monks is Right speech that is

Noble taintless super mundane and a

factor of the past path

that is desisting from the four kinds of

herbal misconduct the abstaining

refining refraining abstinence from them

in one whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses an elbow path

and is developing the Noble Path

this is right speech that is Noble a

factor of the path

and so what's the difference between

these two

the difference is uh intention uh the

the first ripening of Acquisitions one

is trying to do that

resisting other kinds of speech

in the in the super mundane path it is

natural for the mind not to engage in

those kinds of speech so the inclination

doesn't even arise

this doesn't mean that one with a clear

mind does not have difficult

conversations or say difficult things

or it is but it does mean things can be

said at the right time in the best

possible way that one knows how to

like that

um

it is always better to engage in

difficult conversations with the mind of

loving kindness

with a clear mind

than otherwise

when we enter a potential conflict that

way we have a chance of seeing the other

person's perspective

and they have a chance of knowing that

they are seen

in some cases this is going to deflect

the conflict and diffuse it

in some cases it will not

but in those cases

at least you'll have a clear mind love

and kindness

for love and kindness is protective

with loving kindness well when your mind

is happy and you're having a wonderful

day nothing can bring you down yeah

when you bring that mind to what you're

doing uh everything is okay and

big problems don't seem so big

with your mind of loving kindness you're

not as affected by negativity

and the loving kindness meditation is

one of the protective meditations

partially for this reason

what makes an effort to abandon wrong

speech and to enter upon right speech

this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong speech

mindfully one enters upon and abides and

writes speech this is one's right

mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right speech that is Right View

right effort right mindfulness

action

therein monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong action is wrong

action and right action is Right action

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong action

killing living beings taking what is not

given and misconduct and Central

Pleasures this is wrong action

in what monks is Right action right

action I say is twofold there is right

action that is affected by taints

partaking of Merit ripening in their

acquisitions there is right action that

is Noble taintless super mundane a

factor of the path

and what amongst his right action that

is affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the Acquisitions abstinence

from killing living beings abstinence

from taking what is not given abstinence

from misconduct and Central Pleasures

this is right action that is affected by

the teens

ripening and acquisition

basically keeping your precepts keeping

your seal up

and what monks is Right action that is

Noble taintless super mundane a factor

of the path

the desisting from the three kinds of

bodily misconduct the abstaining

refraining abstinence from them in one

whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses the Noble Path

in developing the Noble Path this is

right action that is Noble

affect a factor of the path Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and this means automatically keeping

your precepts

when one is entered on the path and the

stream entry one's relationships to the

hindrances changes or the precepts

changes

and one naturally will not want to cause

harm on other beings one will naturally

not want to lie

naturally not want to take what's not

given

I've seen this working with people of

this transformation

and it is quite interesting uh it

becomes important

to do the right thing to not cause harm

and it becomes a very automatic thing

whereas before they would have no

problem telling a lie

or saying Little White Lie eating the

co-workers lunch whatever it is

and now

they will not just will not

they'll take the insect outside rather

than kill it and that just happened

it's quite remarkable

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

action and to enter upon right action

this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong action

mindfully and one enters upon and dwells

in right action this is one's right

mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right action that is right the

right effort and right mindfulness

livelihood

they're amongst Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong livelihood as

wrong livelihood and right livelihood is

Right livelihood this is one's right

View

in what months is wrong livelihood

scheming talking hinting blitting

belittling pursuing gain with gain this

is wrong livelihood

so that is wrong livelihood

um that is directed towards people

living monastic life

and for it is also put as avoiding sales

in intoxicants poisons

uh human beings

that's a pretty General

um another way of thinking about this is

having a livelihood that does not cause

precepts to be broken

or cause harm to other beings

and what monks is Right livelihood right

livelihood is twofold there is right

livelihood that is affected by teens

partaking of Merit ripening in the

Acquisitions and there is right

livelihood that is Noble taintless super

mundane a factor of the path

and what monks's right livelihood that

is affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

here amongst a noble disciple abandons

wrong livelihood and gains his living by

right livelihood

this is right livelihood that is

affected by the teens ripening an

acquisition

and what monks is Right livelihood that

is Noble Taylor's super mundane a factor

of the past path that desisting from

wrong livelihood the abstaining

refraining abstinence from it in one

whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses the Noble Path

and is developing the Noble Path this is

right livelihood that is Noble affected

by acquisition by Noble taintless super

mundane a factor of the path

so right livelihood I think can be

fleshed out a little bit and we can talk

about how we interact in our daily life

what is our livelihood how do we live

our lives

the short answer is to bring loving

kindness in everything we do and to

share this with generosity and those

around us of course not breaking

precepts but of course bringing kindness

and and love to our interactions

we in order to do this we have to

remember the practice and remember the

meditation remember to 6r

in this this can be a challenge

it can be very challenging to decide to

keep loving kindness with you all day

as people try to do this ever

universally everyone is surprised by how

difficult it is you can start the day

intending to be with loving kindness and

all of a sudden you're the next thing

you're like oh I was going to do that

you know

so this is where mindfulness games and

mindfulness tricks come into play to

help us bring us with us all the time

the first one is when you're practicing

now which is smiling all the time

we set the intention to always have a

smile on our face uh whatever we're

doing

this is actually easier for most people

than remembering the feeling of love and

kindness It's a physical posture it

seems to be easier to remember

and as you're learning you connect your

smile to the feeling of loving kindness

and is automatically connected

and so this will keep it going as well

when we're smiling all the time then we

get to interact with people when we're

smiling all the time

and this is the other part of this

practice the smiling at strangers

I'm from Minnesota

minnesotans are very uh nice

superficially we have Minnesota nice

very kind and there's also in the

Minnesota nice is a lack of actual

interaction

and deeper deeper interaction with

people I think this is an interesting

thing it probably comes from cold

Winters and cultures with very cold

Winters when you really need to get

along with your neighbors no matter what

um but it also means when someone grins

at you authentically randomly walking

down the street it's quite a moment

sometimes

so you do this you do this for them you

do this for your practice

they get to be Granddad by someone with

loving kindness

and you get to see what happens

so sometimes they react and they smile

right back

and this is a nice reflex the normal

reflex

because we use our smile to transmit

loving kindness quite effectively

but sometimes they don't

they look away they look confused they

even get upset about it yeah yeah

invading their space somehow

and this is their chance to check in and

how we're doing

what is Our intention in that moment

what does our mind do when they frown at

us

do we go to oh my is my smile wrong is

there something in my teeth oh

yeah

or do we immediately go to oh they must

be having a tough day too bad they

didn't smile with me and that might have

been fun huh

yeah

when we're grounded under 11 kindness is

where we're protected from that

negativity

and we have compassion and reflexively

and when uh when we're last grounded we

get to see the other thing happen too

that's fine we get to see

we relax well and come back and keep

playing the game

another fun game is the sticker game

and this is getting sticky notes and

putting them around your house in random

places

you could put the word smile on there or

a smiley face

these should be in places you don't go

to very often if you put them on like

the refrigerator door pretty soon it's

going to become invisible

if you put them in places you see all

the time you won't see them so you put

them in cabinets you open only sometimes

then buy the dryer washer uh you know

random places and then when you see

Lydia remember to smile

or you've noticed that you've been

smiling

when I first did this practice I had

roommates I was living with a couple of

guys and

yep I think they thought it was pretty

weird but

they had to deal with that too and we're

close friends it's fine

um still are even and um yeah so that's

a fun one

and then the last set is specific

mindfulness cues

mindfulness cues can be challenging or

less challenging and I would suggest a

challenge an example of a challenging

mindfulness cute is to smile every time

you go through a doorway

or to have loving kindness every time

you sit down

that's very Advanced that you will

forget pretty quickly so you start with

simple cues

I think two good cues are radiating

loving kindness to two groups of people

I think elders and very young children

are really good candidates for this

it can be other groups of people you

don't see very often too

um but these are good groups because

both these groups of people really can

appreciate and use the loving kindness

and are actually more likely to

reciprocate it

um

so sending loving kindness to a child in

a restaurant is fun they know what's

going on immediately and they'll smile

right back at you and you'll have a

great thing going on until the parent

notices and is confused then he's the

number 11 kindness too

you get to see how you react yeah

no but but children are wonderful they

understand this practice instinctively

with my boy I started teaching him

loving kindness at a very very young age

and

he understood it quickly because he was

young because he was too and

two-year-olds understand Happy Feelings

they understand a happy feeling in their

heart for people in their lives

and that makes sense to them

so you can do this with your own

children

and they'll remember it

yeah

so

yeah right livelihood I think we should

expand into how we interact with the

world and how we bring our mindfulness

and our meditation and everywhere with

us

foreign

makes an effort to abandon wrong

livelihood and to enter upon right

livelihood this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong livelihood

mindfully one enters upon and dwells in

right livelihood

this is one's right mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right livelihood that is Right

View right effort and right mindfulness

the Great 40.

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

in one of Right View right intention

comes to being

in one of right intention right speech

comes to being

in one of Wright's speech right action

comes into being

in one of right action right livelihood

comes into being

in one of right livelihood right effort

comes into being

and what a right effort right

mindfulness comes to me into being

right mindfulness is simply remembering

to observe the movements of mind's

attention remembering to observe

comes into being

one of right mindfulness Right

collectiveness comes into being

right collectiveness is the genres

in one of right collectiveness right

knowledge comes into being

and right knowledge here refers to the

knowledge of our hardship the

destruction of the teens

this is the ninth Factor

um

in one of right knowledge right

Deliverance comes into being and that's

simply being one of one whose tense is

destroyed

thus monks the path of the disciple in

higher training possesses eight factors

the arhat possesses 10 factors

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first in

one of Right View wrong view is

abolished and the many evil and

wholesome states that originate with

wrong view is conditioned are also

abolished in the many wholesome states

that originate with Right View as

condition come to fulfillment by

development

in one of right intention wrong

intention is abolished and the many

unwholesome states that originate with

wrong intention as conditioned are also

abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right intention as

conditioned come into fulfillment by

development

in right speech wrong speech is

abolished and the many unwholesome

states that originate with the wrong

speech as conditioner also abolished in

the many wholesome states that originate

with right speech as conditioned come

into fulfillment by development

in one of right action wrong action is

abolished in the many evil and wholesome

states that originate with wrong action

as conditioned are also abolished and

the many wholesome states that originate

with right action as condition come to

fulfillment by development

in one of

livelihood wrong livelihood is abolished

and the many evil and wholesome states

that originate with wrong livelihood as

conditioned are also abolished in the

many wholesome states that originate

with right livelihood as conditioned

come into fulfillment by development

in one of right my right effort wrong

effort is abolished

and the many evil and wholesome states

that originate with wrong Africa's

condition are also abolished and the

many wholesome states that originate

with right effort as condition come into

fulfillment by development

in one of right mindfulness wrong

mindfulness is abolished in the many

evil and wholesome states that originate

with wrong mindfulness this condition

are also abolished in the many wholesome

states that originate with right

mindfulness as condition come into

fulfillment by development

in one of right collectiveness wrong

collectiveness is abolished and the many

even wholesome states that originated

with wrong collectiveness this condition

are also abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right collectiveness this

condition come into fulfillment by

development

in one of right knowledge wrong

knowledge is abolished and the many evil

and wholesome states that originate with

wrong knowledge as condition are also

abolished

and the many wholesome states that

originate with right knowledge as

condition come to fulfillment by

development

in one of right development what right

Deliverance were on Deliverance is

abolished and the many evil and

wholesome states that originate with

wrong deliverances condition are also

abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right Deliverance as

conditioned come to fulfillment by

development

thus monks there are 20 factors on the

side of the wholesome and 20 factors on

the side of the unwholesome

this um a discourse on the great 40 has

been set rolling and cannot be stopped

by any recluse of ramen or God or

Mara or Brahma in the world

because if any recluse Ramen thinks that

this dhamma discourse on the great 40

should be centered and rejected and

there are 10 legitimate deductions from

his assertation that will provide

grounds for centering him here and now

if that were the one centuries right for

you then it wouldn't be honor and praise

those recluses are a wrong view if one

were the center's right intention then

he would honor and praise of recklesses

who are of wrong intention if that

worthy one centers right speech right

action right livelihood right effort

right mindfulness

right collecting this right knowledge

and right Deliverance

then he would honor and praise those

recklesses and brahmanas that are wrong

Deliverance

if any recluse or brahmana thinks that

this dominant discourse from the great

40s should be censored and rejected then

these are 10 legitimate deductions from

his assertations that would approve

grounds for centering Here and Now

monks even those teachers from Ocala

Vasa and bayana who held the doctrine of

Nas causality the doctrine of non-doing

and a doctrine of nihilism would not

think that this dominant discourse in

the great 40s should be centered and

rejected why is that

for fear and blame attack and

confrontation

this is what the blessed one said the

monks were satisfied and delighted in

the Blessed month's words

so

the Eightfold Path is fulfilled by the

six hours

and by fulfilling the aspects of the

Eightfold Path

we support our medication and our

collectiveness

and in fact our meditation if we are not

fulfilling needs to some degree is going

to be very difficult to make progress in

like that

okay

well let's share some mirror

I'll be 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 be shared

this mayor that we are the best choir

for the acquisition of all kinds of

happiness

May beings and animating Space Center

Davis and nagas the mighty power and

share this marriage of ours may they

long protect Buddhist dispensation

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

tonight we're going to be talking about

suta 117.

the Great 40.

so this Suitor is about the Eightfold

Path

faithful path is the path to the

cessation of suffering in the Four Noble

Truths

so the first Noble truth is the truth of

suffering

the second is the truth of the cause of

suffering

the third is the cessation of suffering

and the fourth is the path leading to

the cessation of suffering the hateful

path

so suffering uh unfortunately we're all

familiar with

this is defined as not getting what we

want

having what we want going away aging

death

pain grief and despair and so on

suffering happens when we are out of

sync with our reality

when we have an image of how things

should be that does not line up

suffering can involve pain but it

doesn't have to

I worked in an ER for about four years

and during the time in the er er is a

very interesting place to work

every day is different you see different

people

every day someone is born every day

someone dies every day someone breaks

their arm has an ear infection or a

headache everything in between

working there you get an interesting

perspective on life and death

after you've seen people come back from

obvious death and obviously healthy

people pass

lit for no apparent reason and how you

look at them well it it changes your

perspectives on things

when you're but it's a wonderful way to

help people and it's actually a pretty

exciting way to work

people in that facility in that kind of

healthcare environment are very good at

what they do and everyone works at it as

a team together

a real chance for flow and perfection in

action in a way when everyone is doing

their job correctly together

it's it's a pretty magical moment where

everyone knows what everyone else will

do everyone is working in sync and

working together to make a good outcome

yeah

but also what you see in the ER is a lot

of people in pain a lot of people on a

very bad day or maybe their worst day

and it's interesting how people react to

that pain

there is a Pain Scale that is given to

people there it's a it's a list of

numbers one to ten and there's a smiley

face next to one and a frowny face next

to ten

and when you show it to people you say

what's your scale on a scale of one to

ten with 10 being the worst pain

imaginable and zero being no pain at all

you know smiley face or frowny face

and what they tell you correlates very

well it's it's very internally

consistent with their pain

and it's interesting what people say

about this so

people that can be dying of cancer can

be dying of very serious illness or

suffering

very serious issues may say their pain

is at a three or four

and

and all that you know dislocated their

finger have a headache

you know cut or things that we might

think would not cause so much pain their

numbers could be eight nine and ten and

they could be honestly answering that

question

so that's really interesting it's really

interesting how someone can suffer so

much uh from a discomfort like that and

someone

who we would think would be in terrible

pain says they're not

I think that is because of their uh

acceptance or concept of what should be

happening to them

when the pain is accepted as it is and

there is no expectation it should be

different

it is not as intense

and that's that's how they experience it

and when the expectation or the

understanding of the pain is that it

shouldn't be there

that it should not be happening

um

after all the cut just happened or the

finger just got dislocated then it can

be excruciating

because they're fighting with what is

happening rather than accepting it

so pain does not equal suffering

and also the the inverse is interesting

too I I think it's kind of interesting

that we use babies and small animals and

puppies to generate meta

when these are very scary things

your baby will take your time your

patience and your money for 18 to 20 to

30 years yeah yeah they they do I'm a

parent I know

the puppy is shortly after that gonna go

pee on the floor and destroy your stuff

and and we we think of them and we smile

we

I think that's about expectation too

maybe yeah

we have no expectation of them

accept interaction

and so what we get is loving kindness

so

yeah

so suffering is the cause of suffering

is craving

the song the cause of suffering is not

accepting what is happening

craving uh

is what happens is what pulls us out of

our view of seeing things in a personal

way

and into an opinion about it

a decision that it is mine that it

should change

the cessation of suffering is simply the

cessation of expectation the cessation

of craving

entering into a mind that has no

expectations and can see things as they

are him personally

and the path leading to that

immediately and in the long term is the

Eightfold Path

the cessation of suffering can happen

very quickly when we six are

and in fact we'll be talking about

tonight that the 6rs will fulfill the

Eightfold Path at every place we look

the long-term cessation of suffering

involves from changing our relationship

with our reality changing how we

interact with it

letting go of our Fetters

changing how we how we are

um and that is also what the hateful

path points us to

so thus as I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sovereignty

and Jeff's Grove Anna from pedico's Park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

venerable sure they replied the blessed

one said this

monks I shall teach you Noble right

collectiveness with its supports and

requisites listen and attend closely to

what I shall say

yes venerable sir the monks replied the

blessed one said this

what monks is noble right collectiveness

with its supports and its requisites

that is Right View right intention right

speech right action right livelihood

right effort and right mindfulness

unification of Mind equipped with these

seven factors is called Noble right

right collectiveness with the supports

and its requisites

and this explains the Eightfold Path uh

these are requisites that when when

fulfilled they will support right

collectedness

which will then allow us to address the

suffering immediately and in the long

term

therein monks Right View comes first

in Right View absolutely comes first

with Right View

everything is obvious

when one has Right View true Right View

one can actually figure out how things

work themselves

anything you do with Right View can

fulfill the hateful path or I should say

your daily life and all your activities

can full fulfill the Eightfold Path when

you have right for you

and how does Right View come first one

understands wrong view as wrong View and

right view is Right View

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong with you

there is nothing given nothing offered

nothing sacrificed no fruit or result of

good or bad actions know this world no

other world no mother no father no

beings who are born spontaneously no

good in virtuous recklesses and

brahmanas in the world who have realized

for themselves by direct knowledge and

declare this world and the other world

this is wrong with you

so this describes a view that does not

acknowledge causality

that does not acknowledge the results of

good and bad actions though that what we

do affects ourselves

short-term and long-term and even that

what we do does not affect what happens

to other people potentially

this is interestingly very much like the

reduction materialistic view yeah

they're uh like that

a view and of itself is not a problem

um it's just a view it's just a concept

the problem with the view is what it

leads our actions to do and what it

leads us to do based on our views we we

act we have

when we do not have a view of causality

and of right and wrong or good and bad

outcomes or actions we will be

potentially tempted to act in ways that

cause harm to ourselves and those around

us

um

and so this is why this is wrong View

thing in this way with this view may

lead to our harm for a long time to come

and what monks is Right View

right the USA is twofold it is right

through that is affected by taints

partaking a merit writing any

Acquisitions and there is Right View

that is Noble tameless super mundane and

a factor of the path

so

Right View affected by teens

the teens this can be translated as

cankers like a canker sore

the word is awesome it's uh translated

as outflows or inflows

out fluxes

it can be also translated as distraction

the taints are habits that pull us out

of Right View

potentially that pull us into the coming

uh

so the teams are we can say there's

maybe three or five of them depending

how we classify them

there is the the taint of desire for

sensual pleasure the taint of ignorance

the taint of desire for uh birth in

higher

higher Realms desire for not for desires

are becoming and desire for not becoming

that's the fourth one maybe we could

flip it around

and the the last one is the tainted

views

um most presentations will have three

but some presentations will throw in

views

views is the ideas of wrong different

kinds of wrong view that lead to mental

proliferation

these are ideas of I am the body I am

not the body I am I exist in this way

we're not in that way basically

philosophical unprovable ways of looking

at the world

the problem with these is they lead to

mental proliferation

and why they are considered the taints

and all of the tanks will lead to a

mental proliferation as well

mental proliferation separates us from

what is happening mental proliferation

is thinking about things our ideas and

Concepts about things

when one becomes a sodapana

one let's go of the taint of views

this means one has the ability to not be

perplexed about what's happening and

simply be in the present moment and view

it just as it is

and in reality this happens before so it

upon him every time we six are

we enter a clear mind without craving

that can see reality as it is

without proliferation

the taint of desire for sensual

pleasures

this is let go of when uh desire when

greed and aversion is let go of at

onagami

so the desire for sensual Pleasures

um

this one when we look at the sensor

operation we can see how this works

clearly

so in the example this example we should

use something like chocolate

so if we're examining chocolate which is

a fantastic object of Investigation

because taste Cent Store operates so

slowly

it's maybe the slowest sense drawer so

we can watch things progress

the the eye is very fast and I you can

see these things with the eye too but

it's much much faster than the taste

sunstorm

so we put the chocolate in our mouth and

first we notice the materiality the

hardness the cohesion the texture

immediately after that we have taste

tongue contact bitterness sweet

and then if we pay close attention we

notice from those the explosion of the

taste of chocolate

which is none of those it's something

else

probably quite Pleasant

I know people that don't like chocolate

that might be wrong view as well

and right after the taste of chocolate

there is a contraction around the

feeling

there is identification with it and

there's thoughts

I like that

that's good

or hopefully not it's bad chocolate

and immediately that there's more

thoughts

geez I had chocolate like this before

huh I wonder if I should eat more of the

chocolate or should I save it for later

and so on

that is mental proliferation and it

separates us from the chocolate

and this is the tragedy in paradox

a sexual desire is because it separates

us from with this object

quite unsatisfactory

so the solution of course is to 6r

and end the mental proliferation so we

can really examine the chocolate

and this is actually the solution with

all the Tates is to 6r and to attend

appropriately

with

some Zone variations and strategies but

basically it's bringing up clear

bringing up your clear mind

and not allowing the proliferation to

result

the taint of ignorance is the taint of

forgetting the Four Noble Truths

which is basically forgetting to be

mindful for getting to observe

when we let go of the Tate of ignorance

or when we have the

with the power of mindfulness developed

or a well-developed faculty of

mindfulness

we see things automatically

without effort they happen and they're

there just as they are

and again there is no proliferation in

that

so ripening the Acquisitions means

ripening in the five aggregates

so mundane Right View leads to outcomes

in the world

it leads to Wholesome outcomes it leads

to good things it leads to positive

States but it does not necessarily

lead to a mental development or the

or the super mundane pass

and there is right few that is Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and what monks is right to you that is

affected by the teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

there is what is given and what is

offered and what is sacrificed there is

a fruit and result of good and bad

actions

there is this world in the other world

there is Mother and Father there are

beings who were born spontaneously there

are in the world good in The Virtuous

recluses and ramens who have realized

for themselves by direct knowledge and

declare this world in the other world

this is Right View affected by the teens

partaking of Merit ripening in the

acquisitions

this is a view of causality

that what happens now that our

intentions lead to results and they

matter

this is the uh the view of comma

comma is created by Our intention and

our action

when we have an intention and we act on

it indeed speech and mind we create

comma

in comma it leads to results now and in

the future

understanding this we're more likely to

act in skillful ways in the president

and understanding this we we know what

we do now matters

this means what we do reinforces our

Behavior

so when we act a certain way now we're

more likely to act a certain way in the

future

this is very important for meditation

practice

when we're dealing with the hindrance

how we deal with it will affect the

future arising of the hindrance

so if you are dealing with restlessness

in your set and you are wanting to move

and endure sit

you have a couple of options there

when you're restless and it's time to

end your Sid because you were going to

anyway well that's fine

but if you are attempted to enter set

earlier because of the restlessness

if you choose to break your set because

of the restlessness you are giving in to

uh the effect of that feeling

that feeling of that hindrance of

restlessness is driving behavior

and when that behavior manifests you're

more likely to do it again in the future

you're giving in to the restlessness

and furthermore restlessness is more

likely to arise in the future

people can be quite comfortable sitting

a certain length of time

and when they start giving in to

restlessness and ending their sit really

this happens in daily life more commonly

than on retreat

then the next time restlessness comes up

they're more likely to end the sit

and it comes up earlier right because it

comes up before the sit-in so there

should there's it shortens and shortens

and before long it's not comfortable for

them to sit very long at all they've

reinforce that pattern

and conversely

when we do not engage in the hindrance

we when we do not let it dictate our

Behavior

when we allow it to be there

when we don't interfere we don't take it

personally we accept it

we relax

smile

come back to our object of meditation

that hindrance loses power to affect our

Behavior

our attachment to that set of Sensations

goes down and reduces

so in every given moment we have a

choice if we're going to be making what

kind of comma

we're going to be making unwholesome

common

we're going to be making wholesome Karma

are we going to be making comma that

leads to uh

leads to a Right View

and super mundane Right View

that's always our choice

and what monks is Right View that is

Noble attainments super mundane in a

factor of the path

so in some presentations Right View is

going to be presented as the Four Noble

Truths

and this is this is correct

the four noble truths are

um

they fulfill uh Right View

the thing is there are different ways of

understanding the vulnerable truths by

that I mean you can have an intellectual

understanding of the dhamma

and versus an experiential understanding

of the nama

intellectual understanding is important

that's how we get to experiential

understanding but it is not the same

thing

our concept of what things are is

different than their reality

and that's a plug for one of my favorite

books actually Concept in reality if you

haven't it's on the back table it

discusses some of these things very good

but the concept the intellectual

understanding of the Four Noble Truths

is one thing and people can be very

skillful in their intellectual

understandings and their ability to use

language and their ability to discuss

topics

and still not have an experiential

understanding

language is meant to be this way we use

it as a symbol to convey meaning to try

to convey our experience

and this is its purpose but unless we

understand this it can be a trap too we

can be trapped in the words and what we

think they mean rather than what they

actually mean

a really clear example of this is

talking about color

the word blue we know what this means

but it is extremely different than the

experience of blue

and this is okay when we're talking

about colors

when we're talking about the dhamma it's

important to understand that there are

levels to this and what we're going for

is an experiential understanding

and frequently what seems complex in

language and in words

is extremely simple and it's it is

extremely simple in our direct

experience when we understand it

that's the Dharma

and so the four noble truths uh at an

experiential level certainly fulfills

this idea of Right View that we're going

to talk about in the suta

and what monks is Right View that is

Noble taintless super mundane a factor

of the path

through wisdom The Faculty of wisdom the

power of wisdom the investigation of

States Enlightenment Factor the path

factor of Right View and one whose mind

is Noble whose mind is taintless who

possesses the Noble Path and is

developing the Noble Path

this is a Right View that is Noble

tameless super mundane a factor of the

path

so wisdom is seeing dependent

origination it is seeing things as they

are

the power of wisdom in the faculty of

wisdom again is seeing dependent

origination an investigation is

observation into that

so what this is really saying is right

to you

is observation of one without taints

with one whose mind is free from craving

it is an observation it's how they

observe that is right for you

that is Right View that is Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and you notice they say right few and

one whose mind is Noble

whose mind is taintless so this is an

araha

who possesses the Noble Path

this is one in training someone between

stream entry and our hot path

and it's developing the normal path that

if someone has not yet entered into

sodavana

so what one mind who's Noble who's done

the six R's was released craving

observation is right for you

now right view does not come into full

fruition until our hardship

and it is but but this is accessible by

everyone

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

View and to enter upon Right View this

is one's right effort

right effort as we talked about is the

six hours

letting go of an underrism of our

unorisen on wholesome state

preventing unorisen on wholesome States

from arising

bringing up on a risen wholesome State

and sustaining that state

so letting it be there

relaxing and smiling and bringing up the

object to meditation

mindfully one abandons wrong view

mindfully one enters upon it and abides

and right view this is one's right

mindfulness

right mindfulness is remembering to

observe the movements of Mind attention

it all interconnects here again

thus these three states run and circle

around right view that is Right View

right effort and right mindfulness

right intention

they're in Monk's Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong intention is wrong

intention and right intention is Right

intention this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong intention

the intention of sensual desire the

intention of ill will and the intention

of Cruelty

this is wrong intention

in what is Right intention right

intention I say is twofold that is the

right intention that is affected by the

taints partaking of Merit ripening in

the Acquisitions and there is a right

intention that is Noble taintless super

mundane and a factor of the right path

of the path

and what monks's right attention that is

affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening Acquisitions the intention of

brunsonic renunciation intention of

non-ill Will and the intention of

non-cruelty

this is right attention that is affected

by the teens ripening and acquisitions

tensions are images that we hold

they are

directions we point our mind in

they are ways we we direct our mind

we can say intention of not ill will is

a positive image

intention of non-cruelty is a positive

image

we hold all kinds of images all the time

we

and it's good to notice what images

you're holding for yourself about

yourself about the world

again when these images are in conflict

with reality they are cause of suffering

and the stories we tell ourselves about

ourselves affect our behavior and what

we do

we can contend Our intention we can

choose Our intention we can choose what

images we hold in mind

and we can choose to hold thoughts of

knowing it will towards ourself

with those around us

and we can choose to hold thoughts of

ill will

I would recommend the latter or the

former yeah

meta is an intention it's an image that

we can hold

we can have the intention of generosity

and how we hold these images

how we are generous with those around us

matters and affects what will happen in

the future

it affects how we build our comma

and it affects what will happen next

next in in our meditation and our

experience

when we're holding a positive intention

about things

when we can reframe things in a

non-personal way

the suffering can go away

when we think things are our fault when

we think things are wrong should not be

there

this allows them to persist

so our goal in holding Right View is to

hold generous thoughts feel well

that will support our practice and

support those around us and support

generosity that way

and what monks his right intention that

is Noble taintless super mundane a

factor of the path

the thinking thought intention

mental collectiveness directing of Mind

verbal formation of one whose mind is

Noble whose mind is taintless who

possesses the Noble Path and is

developing the normal path this is right

intention that is Noble

not a factor of the path

so this is simply the intention and

collectiveness and thoughts

of one with mind without craving

naturally without craving thoughts of

ill will do not arise

naturally we do not have intentions that

are in disharmony with those around us

when we have a clear mind when we have

no craving we do not break precepts

only reason we would break precepts is

because of the personal View

because we're trying to control our

experience

because the assassinville will they harm

those around us

and

those when we harm our environment we're

harming ourselves

it makes absolutely no sense to do that

and so seeing things and personally

seeing things as they are we're not

going to be harboring thoughts if I will

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

intention and to enter upon right

intention this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong intention

mindfully one enters and abides the

right intention this is one's right

mindfulness

mindfully you can choose to be playful

and curious

mindfully you can notice that heavy

thought has entered

entering your mind stream and mindfully

you can let that go and choose a lighter

thought

these three states run and circle around

right intention that is Right View right

effort and right mindfulness

speech

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong speech as wrong

speech and right speeches right speech

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong speech false

speech malicious speech harsh speech and

gossip this is wrong speech

in what monks's right speech

right speech I say is twofold there is

right speech that is affected by the

teens partaking in Merit ripening in the

Acquisitions and there is right speech

that is Noble taintless super mundane

and a factor of the path

in what monks is Right speech that is

affected by taints or taking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

have sentence from false speech

abstinence from malicious speech

abstinence from harsh speech abstinence

from Gossip this is right speech that is

affected by the tanks ripening in

acquisitions

in what monks is Right speech that is

Noble taintless super mundane and a

factor of the past path

that is desisting from the four kinds of

herbal misconduct the abstaining

refining refraining abstinence from them

in one whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses an elbow path

and is developing the Noble Path

this is right speech that is Noble a

factor of the path

and so what's the difference between

these two

the difference is uh intention uh the

the first ripening of Acquisitions one

is trying to do that

resisting other kinds of speech

in the in the super mundane path it is

natural for the mind not to engage in

those kinds of speech so the inclination

doesn't even arise

this doesn't mean that one with a clear

mind does not have difficult

conversations or say difficult things

or it is but it does mean things can be

said at the right time in the best

possible way that one knows how to

like that

um

it is always better to engage in

difficult conversations with the mind of

loving kindness

with a clear mind

than otherwise

when we enter a potential conflict that

way we have a chance of seeing the other

person's perspective

and they have a chance of knowing that

they are seen

in some cases this is going to deflect

the conflict and diffuse it

in some cases it will not

but in those cases

at least you'll have a clear mind love

and kindness

for love and kindness is protective

with loving kindness well when your mind

is happy and you're having a wonderful

day nothing can bring you down yeah

when you bring that mind to what you're

doing uh everything is okay and

big problems don't seem so big

with your mind of loving kindness you're

not as affected by negativity

and the loving kindness meditation is

one of the protective meditations

partially for this reason

what makes an effort to abandon wrong

speech and to enter upon right speech

this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong speech

mindfully one enters upon and abides and

writes speech this is one's right

mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right speech that is Right View

right effort right mindfulness

action

therein monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong action is wrong

action and right action is Right action

this is one's right View

and what monks is wrong action

killing living beings taking what is not

given and misconduct and Central

Pleasures this is wrong action

in what monks is Right action right

action I say is twofold there is right

action that is affected by taints

partaking of Merit ripening in their

acquisitions there is right action that

is Noble taintless super mundane a

factor of the path

and what amongst his right action that

is affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the Acquisitions abstinence

from killing living beings abstinence

from taking what is not given abstinence

from misconduct and Central Pleasures

this is right action that is affected by

the teens

ripening and acquisition

basically keeping your precepts keeping

your seal up

and what monks is Right action that is

Noble taintless super mundane a factor

of the path

the desisting from the three kinds of

bodily misconduct the abstaining

refraining abstinence from them in one

whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses the Noble Path

in developing the Noble Path this is

right action that is Noble

affect a factor of the path Noble

taintless super mundane a factor of the

path

and this means automatically keeping

your precepts

when one is entered on the path and the

stream entry one's relationships to the

hindrances changes or the precepts

changes

and one naturally will not want to cause

harm on other beings one will naturally

not want to lie

naturally not want to take what's not

given

I've seen this working with people of

this transformation

and it is quite interesting uh it

becomes important

to do the right thing to not cause harm

and it becomes a very automatic thing

whereas before they would have no

problem telling a lie

or saying Little White Lie eating the

co-workers lunch whatever it is

and now

they will not just will not

they'll take the insect outside rather

than kill it and that just happened

it's quite remarkable

one makes an effort to abandon wrong

action and to enter upon right action

this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong action

mindfully and one enters upon and dwells

in right action this is one's right

mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right action that is right the

right effort and right mindfulness

livelihood

they're amongst Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

one understands wrong livelihood as

wrong livelihood and right livelihood is

Right livelihood this is one's right

View

in what months is wrong livelihood

scheming talking hinting blitting

belittling pursuing gain with gain this

is wrong livelihood

so that is wrong livelihood

um that is directed towards people

living monastic life

and for it is also put as avoiding sales

in intoxicants poisons

uh human beings

that's a pretty General

um another way of thinking about this is

having a livelihood that does not cause

precepts to be broken

or cause harm to other beings

and what monks is Right livelihood right

livelihood is twofold there is right

livelihood that is affected by teens

partaking of Merit ripening in the

Acquisitions and there is right

livelihood that is Noble taintless super

mundane a factor of the path

and what monks's right livelihood that

is affected by teens partaking of Merit

ripening in the acquisitions

here amongst a noble disciple abandons

wrong livelihood and gains his living by

right livelihood

this is right livelihood that is

affected by the teens ripening an

acquisition

and what monks is Right livelihood that

is Noble Taylor's super mundane a factor

of the past path that desisting from

wrong livelihood the abstaining

refraining abstinence from it in one

whose mind is Noble whose mind is

taintless who possesses the Noble Path

and is developing the Noble Path this is

right livelihood that is Noble affected

by acquisition by Noble taintless super

mundane a factor of the path

so right livelihood I think can be

fleshed out a little bit and we can talk

about how we interact in our daily life

what is our livelihood how do we live

our lives

the short answer is to bring loving

kindness in everything we do and to

share this with generosity and those

around us of course not breaking

precepts but of course bringing kindness

and and love to our interactions

we in order to do this we have to

remember the practice and remember the

meditation remember to 6r

in this this can be a challenge

it can be very challenging to decide to

keep loving kindness with you all day

as people try to do this ever

universally everyone is surprised by how

difficult it is you can start the day

intending to be with loving kindness and

all of a sudden you're the next thing

you're like oh I was going to do that

you know

so this is where mindfulness games and

mindfulness tricks come into play to

help us bring us with us all the time

the first one is when you're practicing

now which is smiling all the time

we set the intention to always have a

smile on our face uh whatever we're

doing

this is actually easier for most people

than remembering the feeling of love and

kindness It's a physical posture it

seems to be easier to remember

and as you're learning you connect your

smile to the feeling of loving kindness

and is automatically connected

and so this will keep it going as well

when we're smiling all the time then we

get to interact with people when we're

smiling all the time

and this is the other part of this

practice the smiling at strangers

I'm from Minnesota

minnesotans are very uh nice

superficially we have Minnesota nice

very kind and there's also in the

Minnesota nice is a lack of actual

interaction

and deeper deeper interaction with

people I think this is an interesting

thing it probably comes from cold

Winters and cultures with very cold

Winters when you really need to get

along with your neighbors no matter what

um but it also means when someone grins

at you authentically randomly walking

down the street it's quite a moment

sometimes

so you do this you do this for them you

do this for your practice

they get to be Granddad by someone with

loving kindness

and you get to see what happens

so sometimes they react and they smile

right back

and this is a nice reflex the normal

reflex

because we use our smile to transmit

loving kindness quite effectively

but sometimes they don't

they look away they look confused they

even get upset about it yeah yeah

invading their space somehow

and this is their chance to check in and

how we're doing

what is Our intention in that moment

what does our mind do when they frown at

us

do we go to oh my is my smile wrong is

there something in my teeth oh

yeah

or do we immediately go to oh they must

be having a tough day too bad they

didn't smile with me and that might have

been fun huh

yeah

when we're grounded under 11 kindness is

where we're protected from that

negativity

and we have compassion and reflexively

and when uh when we're last grounded we

get to see the other thing happen too

that's fine we get to see

we relax well and come back and keep

playing the game

another fun game is the sticker game

and this is getting sticky notes and

putting them around your house in random

places

you could put the word smile on there or

a smiley face

these should be in places you don't go

to very often if you put them on like

the refrigerator door pretty soon it's

going to become invisible

if you put them in places you see all

the time you won't see them so you put

them in cabinets you open only sometimes

then buy the dryer washer uh you know

random places and then when you see

Lydia remember to smile

or you've noticed that you've been

smiling

when I first did this practice I had

roommates I was living with a couple of

guys and

yep I think they thought it was pretty

weird but

they had to deal with that too and we're

close friends it's fine

um still are even and um yeah so that's

a fun one

and then the last set is specific

mindfulness cues

mindfulness cues can be challenging or

less challenging and I would suggest a

challenge an example of a challenging

mindfulness cute is to smile every time

you go through a doorway

or to have loving kindness every time

you sit down

that's very Advanced that you will

forget pretty quickly so you start with

simple cues

I think two good cues are radiating

loving kindness to two groups of people

I think elders and very young children

are really good candidates for this

it can be other groups of people you

don't see very often too

um but these are good groups because

both these groups of people really can

appreciate and use the loving kindness

and are actually more likely to

reciprocate it

um

so sending loving kindness to a child in

a restaurant is fun they know what's

going on immediately and they'll smile

right back at you and you'll have a

great thing going on until the parent

notices and is confused then he's the

number 11 kindness too

you get to see how you react yeah

no but but children are wonderful they

understand this practice instinctively

with my boy I started teaching him

loving kindness at a very very young age

and

he understood it quickly because he was

young because he was too and

two-year-olds understand Happy Feelings

they understand a happy feeling in their

heart for people in their lives

and that makes sense to them

so you can do this with your own

children

and they'll remember it

yeah

so

yeah right livelihood I think we should

expand into how we interact with the

world and how we bring our mindfulness

and our meditation and everywhere with

us

foreign

makes an effort to abandon wrong

livelihood and to enter upon right

livelihood this is one's right effort

mindfully one abandons wrong livelihood

mindfully one enters upon and dwells in

right livelihood

this is one's right mindfulness

thus these three states run and circle

around right livelihood that is Right

View right effort and right mindfulness

the Great 40.

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first

in one of Right View right intention

comes to being

in one of right intention right speech

comes to being

in one of Wright's speech right action

comes into being

in one of right action right livelihood

comes into being

in one of right livelihood right effort

comes into being

and what a right effort right

mindfulness comes to me into being

right mindfulness is simply remembering

to observe the movements of mind's

attention remembering to observe

comes into being

one of right mindfulness Right

collectiveness comes into being

right collectiveness is the genres

in one of right collectiveness right

knowledge comes into being

and right knowledge here refers to the

knowledge of our hardship the

destruction of the teens

this is the ninth Factor

um

in one of right knowledge right

Deliverance comes into being and that's

simply being one of one whose tense is

destroyed

thus monks the path of the disciple in

higher training possesses eight factors

the arhat possesses 10 factors

they're in Monks Right View comes first

and how does Right View come first in

one of Right View wrong view is

abolished and the many evil and

wholesome states that originate with

wrong view is conditioned are also

abolished in the many wholesome states

that originate with Right View as

condition come to fulfillment by

development

in one of right intention wrong

intention is abolished and the many

unwholesome states that originate with

wrong intention as conditioned are also

abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right intention as

conditioned come into fulfillment by

development

in right speech wrong speech is

abolished and the many unwholesome

states that originate with the wrong

speech as conditioner also abolished in

the many wholesome states that originate

with right speech as conditioned come

into fulfillment by development

in one of right action wrong action is

abolished in the many evil and wholesome

states that originate with wrong action

as conditioned are also abolished and

the many wholesome states that originate

with right action as condition come to

fulfillment by development

in one of

livelihood wrong livelihood is abolished

and the many evil and wholesome states

that originate with wrong livelihood as

conditioned are also abolished in the

many wholesome states that originate

with right livelihood as conditioned

come into fulfillment by development

in one of right my right effort wrong

effort is abolished

and the many evil and wholesome states

that originate with wrong Africa's

condition are also abolished and the

many wholesome states that originate

with right effort as condition come into

fulfillment by development

in one of right mindfulness wrong

mindfulness is abolished in the many

evil and wholesome states that originate

with wrong mindfulness this condition

are also abolished in the many wholesome

states that originate with right

mindfulness as condition come into

fulfillment by development

in one of right collectiveness wrong

collectiveness is abolished and the many

even wholesome states that originated

with wrong collectiveness this condition

are also abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right collectiveness this

condition come into fulfillment by

development

in one of right knowledge wrong

knowledge is abolished and the many evil

and wholesome states that originate with

wrong knowledge as condition are also

abolished

and the many wholesome states that

originate with right knowledge as

condition come to fulfillment by

development

in one of right development what right

Deliverance were on Deliverance is

abolished and the many evil and

wholesome states that originate with

wrong deliverances condition are also

abolished

in the many wholesome states that

originate with right Deliverance as

conditioned come to fulfillment by

development

thus monks there are 20 factors on the

side of the wholesome and 20 factors on

the side of the unwholesome

this um a discourse on the great 40 has

been set rolling and cannot be stopped

by any recluse of ramen or God or

Mara or Brahma in the world

because if any recluse Ramen thinks that

this dhamma discourse on the great 40

should be centered and rejected and

there are 10 legitimate deductions from

his assertation that will provide

grounds for centering him here and now

if that were the one centuries right for

you then it wouldn't be honor and praise

those recluses are a wrong view if one

were the center's right intention then

he would honor and praise of recklesses

who are of wrong intention if that

worthy one centers right speech right

action right livelihood right effort

right mindfulness

right collecting this right knowledge

and right Deliverance

then he would honor and praise those

recklesses and brahmanas that are wrong

Deliverance

if any recluse or brahmana thinks that

this dominant discourse from the great

40s should be censored and rejected then

these are 10 legitimate deductions from

his assertations that would approve

grounds for centering Here and Now

monks even those teachers from Ocala

Vasa and bayana who held the doctrine of

Nas causality the doctrine of non-doing

and a doctrine of nihilism would not

think that this dominant discourse in

the great 40s should be centered and

rejected why is that

for fear and blame attack and

confrontation

this is what the blessed one said the

monks were satisfied and delighted in

the Blessed month's words

so

the Eightfold Path is fulfilled by the

six hours

and by fulfilling the aspects of the

Eightfold Path

we support our medication and our

collectiveness

and in fact our meditation if we are not

fulfilling needs to some degree is going

to be very difficult to make progress in

like that

okay

well let's share some mirror

I'll be 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 be shared

this mayor that we are the best choir

for the acquisition of all kinds of

happiness

May beings and animating Space Center

Davis and nagas the mighty power and

share this marriage of ours may they

long protect Buddhist dispensation

[Music]