From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=M4DEA2lmOhk

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

this course tonight is called the second

suit the discipline and hire training in

poly a part of this copy down

it's not the same abu dhabi

that they teach from books this is from

this is talking about the fire training

with directly with your own friends the

said I heard on one occasion a blessed

one was living in the sake and country

of capital about to throw his part now

on that occasion new assembly palcohol

had recently been built for the sake ins

of cat Billa wat too and it had not been

inhabited by any Rekluse or Brahman or

human being at all the assembly halls

the each individual place would put up

in assembly hall and then whatever

aesthetics or teachers that came through

they would give their talks there and

then they would spend the night there

either go all night with the dhamma talk

or they would seek them so it was kind

of a special occasion for this

particular one being brand new then the

sock hands of capital about two went to

the Blessed One after paying homage to

him they sat down at one side and said

to him venerable sir a new assembly hall

has been recently built for the sake ins

of capital about two and it has not yet

been inhabited by any recluse or Brahman

or human being at all venerable sir let

the Blessed One be the first to use it

when the Blessed One has used it first

then the sake ins of cat velvet two will

use it afterwards that will lead to

their welfare and happiness for a long

time the Blessed One consented in

silence

then when they saw that he had consented

they got up from their seats and after

paying homage to him keeping him on the

right they went to the assembly hall

they covered it completely with

coverings and prepared seats and they

put the put out a large water drug and

hung up oil lamp

then they went to the Blessed One after

paying homage to him they sat down at

one side and said venerable sir the

Assembly Hall has been covered

completely with coverings seats have

been prepared a large water drug has

been put out an oil lamp hung up let the

Blessed One come at his own convenience

then the blessed one dressed taking his

bowl an outer robe went to that with the

sangha of monks to the assembly hall

when he arrived he washed his feet then

he entered the hall and sat down by the

center pillar facing the east I read

something very interesting years ago now

and that when you face the east you get

a lot of energy when you face the North

we get the least amount of energy so

when you have sloth and torpor face

needs

if you have restlessness when you face

them up sick of you

and after I found that out I went out

and bought a compass and I checked it

out and it's really true and if you if

you go to sleep with your head facing

the north you'll go to sleep very

quickly and have some sleep

same to work I don't know if it works

for anybody else but it sure seemed to

work for me

the best the bhikkhus washed their feet

and then entered the hall and sat down

by the western wall facing with the

Blessed One before them the sake ins of

capital about to wash their feet and

enter the hall and sat down on the

eastern wall facing the West with the

Buddha before them then when the blessed

one had instructed urge roused and

gladden the sake ins of kept the lava

too with talk on the Dhamma for much of

the night he said to venerable Ananda

Ananda speak to the sake ins of capital

about to about the discipline in higher

learning in higher training who has

entered upon the way my back is

uncomfortable I will rest this statement

right here says that this particular

discourse happened at the end of the

Buddha's life because he didn't start

having his back aches until the last few

years

his life

and somebody asked him one time why he

had back aches he had spent for maha

coppers and a hundred thousand lifetimes

purifying himself but he couldn't verify

himself

there was one time in the distant past

that he was a fighter and he would get

in a ring and fight and what he did to

the people that he thought was he broke

their backs would lift them up and come

down on his knee and break their backs

so in his last lifetime the karma of

that period so he had this Fame now when

it says that I will rest it seeing just

a second yes general sir the venerable

Ananda replied the blessed one prepared

his patchwork cloak folded in four lay

down on his right side in the Lions pose

with foot one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware this is a

formula that they use because this

particular statement comes up very often

and they added this part to it but it's

not true of this suit though it says

after noting in his mind the time for

rising he didn't do that he stayed a

work alert he didn't go to sleep he was

listening to what a non descend so he he

was just resting his back because

rest and that lets you know that era

hats still have some physical problems

arise from time to time but they know

how to handle proper

and rest with needs rest and when the

resting is is done and it's okay for

them to move her out then they'll do

that there's a lot of discussion with a

lot of people that when you become a

Nara hop you don't have any more

suffering but just the fact that you

have a body means that there is

suffering you have to feed it yeah clean

it to take care of it the bathroom all

of that's one form or another of

distraction and suffering

when they get off of the wheel of

samsara and they die then there is no

more second that even the Buddha

experienced these kinds of suffering he

was a lot it's an important fact that

then the venerable ananda addressed

mahanama the sake and us Mahama here a

noble disciple is possessed of virtue

guards the doors of his sense faculties

is moderate in eating and devoted to

wakefulness he possesses seven good

qualities and he is one who obtains at

will without trouble or difficulties the

for dramas

that constitute the higher mind and

provide a pledging abiding and how is a

noble disciple possessed of virtue here

in noble disciple is virtuous he dwells

restrained by the restraint of the patty

mocha the patty mocha is the rules for

the monks you're taking eight precepts

I have 227

is perfect and conduct and resort and

seeing fear in the slightest fault he

trains by understanding the training

precepts this is how a noble disciple is

possessed of Richard you know the roles

well when when when there is a Sangha of

monks every new moon and full moon they

get together and recite all of the rules

of so this keeps that in your mind so

that you start to do something and you

realize oh that's breaking the rule

and it's the same for you with your

eight precepts now we try to take the

precepts every day at least here

and this is not a rich fool this is a

reminder keep those precepts as closely

because if you break one of the precepts

your mind will get very restless and the

meditation will be non-existent that's

the nature of breaking up results so the

reason you don't break the precepts is

so let your meditation in the deeper and

better

if for some reason you happen to break a

preset

the spider gets on you and you're not

thinking Lee and then you realize you

just killed your intention was to stop

that feeling from being there but it was

also to kill that will affect your

meditation very negative so come to me

tell me you've broken the precepts we

will take the precepts again right then

so I purifies

the precepts are very very important

when someone is dying if you're with

that person while they're dying if they

have there's there's five different

visions that they can have there's a

vision of fire there's a vision of ogres

very frightening beings there's a vision

of animals there's a vision of past

relatives that have died and then

there's a vision of Davis now all of

these correspond to different kinds of

mental state

anger and somebody dies and they start

to get angry with somebody in the room

they can have a very strong visual fire

and what you do at that time as you

being angry about this right now

let's take the precepts

if they're their consciousness is not

very strong and they can out loud

verbally take the precepts tell them to

follow this in their mind and then ask

them what their vision is right after

that because this purifies mine very

very quickly

they could very easily go from seeing a

hell realm to seeing a developer just by

developing

see odors and black beings and things

like that in their mind that generally

has to do with the greeting light

they're thinking about their possessions

who should get their possessions and we

should take care of it how you don't you

want to take this possession with you

what those kind of thoughts so again you

give them the precepts

if they have a vision of animals that

means that they have ignorance in

diluted they're thinking about

themselves very strong and they're

identifying with what's happening with

them person so you talk with them about

the impersonal nature of them get them

to take the freezer

if they have a vision of the family

members there is some attachment to the

family members and

if they die at that time they will be

reborn

but

being a monk am never satisfied with

that I want to be go to the day bullets

so I gave up my precepts tan

so keeping the virtue as high as you

possibly can it helps in all ways not

only while you're doing your meditation

and you get off retreat I'm going to

give you five precepts and keep those

Five Precepts as close as you can

and it improves your mindfulness it

makes you more aware of what you're

going to do and what you're going to say

before you do it for sale

and then you have the conscious decision

to either do that or not but if you

break the preset

take them again right there you don't

have to cut yourself to be

filled with remorse and anxiety because

you broke the preset forgive yourself

for making a mistake now take the

princeps again and right after you take

the presets you make the determination

I'm not going to break the preset see

this still is part of your training this

is a very important part see the first

part of your training is practicing your

generosity how do you practice your

generosity when you're sitting in

meditation

giving

sorry

being very generous

so you're practicing your generosity

that's the first part of meditation the

second part of meditation is keeping

your foot true keep alert rope

and the third part of the meditation is

learning how to still your mind state

their experiences that we'll talk

and of course you know there's always

these this one clown at a retreat that

will say okay I'll keep the readout keep

with the Five Precepts how long do I

and I generally say well we'll start at

a hundred years ago up from there

in it

and how is a noble sample disciples of

the way and how does a noble disciple

guard the doors of his sense faculties

on see a form with the eye and noble

disciple does not grasp at its signs and

features what are at signs in feature

eye color

hair that signs and features and that

when you get involved in looking at the

beauty of this then the clingy start

cleaning has I don't be better there was

this one has changed a little bit and

then oh I remember a time when I saw

this other thing and then you're a

thousand miles away thinking about all

kinds of different things that's the

problem with getting involved with the

signs and features

now your eye hits the color inform my

consciousness arises the meeting of

those three is called eye contact with

eye contact as condition I feeling

arises you see this and you say oh

that's nice that's a pleasant feeling

right after the feeling i'm craving

arises I like it Titans

and then your thoughts about it and then

control tendency of letting your

thoughts ramble on from one place to

another and being lost for a period when

you are very clear about the signs and

thinkers and you see them yes that's

color and form and there's a nice

feeling with that and you relax right

then what happens is you get to see it

completely totally because you don't

have any thoughts pulling your

consciousness away so when you start

practicing this form of meditation and

practicing in six hours everything

becomes more clear

colors become more vivid you can stand

in front of something that's very nice

and you can allow your mind to feel that

pleasant feeling and relax into that and

experience it totally without

distraction

now one of the things that happens in

Buddhist circles as somebody will say we

have some cheesecake you want some

cheesecake I said sure I like trees key

please ah you're attached hey I've got a

clue what attachment is before they came

up and said anything I wasn't thinking

about cheesecake when they mentioned it

yeah that's okay I can have some

cheesecake it's good it's a pleasant

field fine and then let it go right then

don't get into I like it I don't like it

and all of the thoughts of distractions

so it's okay to have preferences

right now I started learning more about

possibly what the cause of my swelling

is and it might have something to do

with diabetes so what did I do for lunch

today no dessert

wanted to buy a candy bar no I'll get

water instead wanted something to drink

waters good

let's see

just okay let's cut that out I'm not

attached to it I enjoy sweet things but

I don't have to have it and I don't

think about it when I don't have so

there's no attachment

since if he left the I faculty unguarded

evil unwholesome states of covetousness

and brief might invade him I really like

it I really wanted oh I hate that thing

I don't want that that's that's the

gravy there he practices the way of its

restraint he guards the I faculty

undertakes the restraint of the I

faculty on hearing a sound would be here

on smelling an odor within those I'm

tasting the flavor with the tongue on

touching a tangible with the body on

cognizing a mind object with mine a

noble disciple does not grasp at it

signs and feature

them credit hold up he allows it to be

in relaxes into it then he can

experience since if he left the mind

faculty unguarded the evil unwholesome

states of covetousness and grief might

invade him he practices the way of its

restraint he guards the mine faculty he

undertakes the restraint of the mind

faculty that is how noble disciple

guards the doors of incense faculties

and how is a noble disciple moderate in

eating here reflect reflecting wise and

I always have problems like what people

don't want to say that a noble disciple

takes food neither for amusement nor for

intoxication nor for the sake of

physical beauty and attractiveness but

only for the endurance and continuation

of the body an awful lot of people when

they when they eat they will eat very

quickly

they chew their food very little and

swallow and they wind up overeating

quite often the Buddha it is said that

he would eat until his stomach was half

full and then he would take one quarter

water in one quarter air

and when he put food in his mouth not

even one grain of rice went unmask to

keep he chewed everything

so a rule of thumb when you're eating is

to chew until it turns to liquid in your

mouth before you swallow

and this helps you with your digestion a

lot and it also helps very much with the

more

troubling you

okay that's enough

oh we have desert the desert

you don't eat

for any other reason that

to keep your body strong so you can

and if you don't eat

then you don't find that

it does affect your

your mind and you start to get a little

bit grumpy

when you eat food you want to learn

especially when you're vegetarian you

want to learn the difference between

Hartfield and soft and you want to eat

it in a balanced way soft food fruits

hi

whatever

hard food would be things nuts

and you want to have the balance of both

a side note if you're going to eat nuts

you should always soak the nuts for at

least overnight

because there are

any

you eat so that you can continue

thus I shall terminate old feelings from

being hungry without arousing new

feelings of overeating and I read I

shall be healthy and blameless and move

in comfort that is how a noble disciple

is moderating and how is a noble

disciple devoted to wakefulness here

during the day while walking back and

forth and sitting & noble disciple

purifies his mind of obstructive States

in the first watch of the night while

walking back and forth and sitting he

purifies his mind of obstructive States

in the middle watch of the night he lies

down on his right side in the Lions pose

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware after noting in

his mind the time for rising after

rising the third watch of the night

while walking back and forth and sitting

purifies his final obstructed states

that is how

disciple is devoted to wakefulness first

watch of the night seven o'clock to 11

a little watch of the night eleven

o'clock three o'clock last watch of the

night for eight o'clock to seven

when I was

at my house et cetera

that's

they've been there for

a couple of months range retreat

and the first

time I went to see my teacher after the

range retreat started he said how much

were you sleeping for hours I said why

are you sleeping so

so I cut it down to two hours

midnight

I did that for three

I found some real interesting things

that happened during that one is I was

eating huge quantities of food and

losing

because it takes a lot of energy to stay

away

when I got done with that right after

the

and they were having their social unrest

so at the end of the range retreat these

that all foreigners have to get out of

the country you don't want you here

I wasn't real happy about starting to

come on to the meditation real good

but I had to leave so I left and I went

back to Thailand and then

I would

grew up for alms round

generally go out for arms around 65

what you do is you wait until the light

is is enough that you can see the

wrinkles in your hand see that then you

can go out and go

because by that time they pretty much

have all the food prepared they've been

up since three or four o'clock in the

morning preparing

and then I came back for a mom's around

and I ate you know i'm not on retreat

now maybe all the way down

and I will lay down too

that kind of wandered around a little

bit

the shower that all of the body things

it needed to be

so is left from about six o'clock until

five o'clock in the morning and I did

that every day

catching up unrest that lasts from

pushing

I win when you're here I'm not pushing

you very hard go to bed at ten o'clock

you get up at five o'clock seven hours

you need to take a rest during the day

take a rest during the day that makes it

eight hours we get plenty of sleep I

don't want you walking around being

tired because if you're tired then you

have all kinds of struck obstructing

states arising

destruction

hey when I first became a monk was in

Thailand and I went to this monastery

and

I told them that I just wanted to be

left

and I would sit in a chair

sit

and watch obstructive States and all the

mind games that happen right after you

ordain doesn't mean that you have up

your mind at that time

so you have all of this nonsense worldly

stuff running through your mind these

are obstructive state so I would sit and

I would watch all of this nonsense go

through and then i would get up

watch it some more and I did that for

about a month

I wasn't meditating necessarily i was

just generally being my

and watching how when I got into it

strips and as you become more familiar

not to get caught but that's why we do

this practice that's why do the

wakefulness

and that's what we're talking about here

and how does a noble disciple possess

seven good qualities here a noble

disciple has faith he places his faith

in the to target does enlightenment the

Blessed One is accomplished fully

enlightened perfect and true knowledge

and conduct sublime nor of the world's

and comparable leader of persons to be

tamed teacher of gods and humans

enlightened and blessed he has shame he

is ashamed of misconduct in the body

speech and mind ashamed of engaging and

evil unwholesome deeds

he has fear of wrongdoing he's afraid of

misconduct and body speech and mind

afraid of engaging in evil unwholesome

in other words practice

in general ways so that this fear and

the shame will arise it and it is a

practice

perfect with an adverse

you don't beat yourself up you're

mindful that you did that one of the

things that happens every moment when

the monks do their the potty they all

meet together in a particular place the

recitation of

rules all of the monks thats it in

nepali marca they have to be pure all

free

and that means that we have to do a

little confession

with each other before we

so this is some of the practices that

the monks have and they're very useful

and because monks are amongst that means

that we go a little bit overboard and a

lot of things and try to keep our roles

as closely

so that the shame and the fear doesn't

arise

he has learned much remembers what he

has learned and consolidates what he has

learned such teachings as are good and

to be getting good in the middle good in

the end with the right meaning and

phrasing and I firm a holy life that is

utterly perfect and pure such teaching

as these he has learned much of

remembered recited verbally investigated

with mine and penetrated by view and

this means studying the symptoms

memorizing the suit

reciting the city's that's what chanting

is supposed to be

but it's gotten into ritualized things

where we have these suitors that are

called protections so we have to recite

these protections as part of our

practice but actually

it's knowing the teaching and following

the teaching that is so much more

important than just empty reciting

that's why I put those two things in at

the end at the Dhammapada somebody that

recites the text very well but doesn't

follow the text is like a coward

watching others cows he has no work holy

night

it's not the reciting of the Texas

understanding

that's more forward

so it's a real interesting thing

some places that they put such emphasis

on camp

that they haven't got a clue

is that intent

you'll notice that here we don't have

much in the way of rites and rituals

i watch has been in your time not

learning what these rites and rituals

are I want you spending your time so you

can attain nirvana you can

just a short period of time doesn't take

that long as long as you follow you

that don't have anything goes

you will progress along very quickly

this leads to your permit

one of the things that happens if you

is that you lose the belief that rites

and rituals lead to name on

that's one of the things that happens

you don't have any doubt that's what

you're doing exactly

and you start to begin to truly

understand what the impersonal nature

that's what happens

there are some people that

they go much deeper

you don't have to follow first step the

second step the third step the fourth

step have to follow like that it depends

on your understand

he is energetic in abandoning

unwholesome states an undertaking

wholesome states he is steadfast firm

and striving not remiss in developing

wholesome States what's that

having that uplift at night

knowing when your mind first starts to

take

now what happens is you'll notice that

your mind is on your object of

meditation and when your mindfulness is

very sharp you'll see that there's all

kinds of little things that happen

before your mind

and it keeps wobbling and then

Oh

as soon as you see that your mind is

just starting to move a little bit relax

right there

staying on your object to meditation is

the most wholesome thing you can do

he has mindfulness he possesses the

highest mindfulness and skill

observation power of minds

the observation of how mines attention

moves from one thing

when your observation power is very good

you are able to see dependent

origination over and again before your

mind starts to wobble there's something

that happens before that what is

say what I experienced when I'm not as

odd but I'll always seemed like

the concept or an idea concept I the

thing

this is for real stuff

I just experienced just

it's a wobble the first thing

sup a little shift or something come out

whoops for a second

yeah what happens right before that

nothing

if it's go ask there's something they

have a dry before

to be shamed that girl

you're in something that happens before

the slightest little water

actually there's two things

I told somebody left after

doing a retreat thing they went quite

deep in our meditation and said your job

is to tell me what

before that so I don't hear from that

year

then he rates me an email he says I know

what it is it's this but he only told me

about one thing I wrote back and said

what happened before that I'm missing

one thing I could hear him he's in

Pennsylvania I could hear him complain

to me about that he is wise he possesses

wisdom in regard to rise and

disappearance that noble that is noble

and penetrating and leads to the

complete destruction of suffering that

means exactly seeing

you hear me talk a lot about dependent

origination don't go to other retreats

and you'll hear that much at all and the

depth of your practice is much better

when you know what you're looking for

and what you're looking for is how does

this process work

how does it work

at singing the process over and over and

over and over again until you start

recognizing it very well and then you

see it on more and more levels

that is how a noble disciple possesses

seven good qualities and how is a noble

disciple one who attains that will

without trouble or difficulty the four

jonna's that constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant biting here

it's still at going in

how the tremor of John I you want to go

in start working for the determination

they don't generally teach people

determinations

real

you want to have there's 55 powers

you work with once you're good at

getting in

of the four drums the power of

going into the drum

tiny woman staying to the inland drama

to the second

coming out of the drum

reflecting

the last clip

but these lead to mastery

so you can sit here and in the blink of

an eye

I'm going to go into

43 seconds

I'm going to go into the Jonah for one

hour 21 minutes and 14 seconds

takes a lot of practice

and the way you start

is before you go to sleep

make

of exactly

so don't make at the same time every day

I'm going to get up at four 59 34 and

when you hit that then I'm going to get

up at five o 113 and when you hit that

regularly then you're ready to start

practicing for your determination

mastery

it is a difficult practice

can you also use the same practice on

meditation itself

it's a whole meditation

it's all learning how to develop your

mind and set your internal

initially when you start working

with say I want you to sit in the second

higher than

and I want you to sit in the second job

for 14 minutes and 28 seconds and then

when you hit that exactly

then you pick

other times all within 15

and change and then you go well okay I

can do that in a second Donna let's see

if I can do that in the fourth day

so you're bouncing around for 15 minutes

at a pub and when you've been hit it

right on every time then do it for half

an hour

and you said in each one of the four

dramas for however long

29 minutes 58 seconds 31 minutes 14

seconds

and when you hit that every time then

you do that for an hour

when you hit that

then when you get out of that drama then

I want you to go in a Drama for in that

drama for examples

you're able to hit that then you sit for

longer periods of time and shorter

periods of time I want you to go into

the 4th jhana in 33 seconds

once you've done

you've gained pretty good control

it's not an easy practice I guarantee

and there is more to the instruction

what I've just given I don't want you to

do

but if you want to start working at

waking up in exactly that the time

and when you've been hinted every day

for a few weeks

exactly

and how is a noble's disciple and how is

a noble example one who attains at will

without difficulty were trouble the four

Jonah's that constitute the higher

present abiding here and now here quite

secluded from sensual pleasures that

booted from unwholesome states a noble

disciple enters upon and abides in the

first job with the stilling of thinking

an exam thought the actors upon and

abides in the second with the fading

away as well of joy he enters upon it

hides in the third job with the

abandoning of pleasure in pain he enters

upon n abides in the 4th jhana which has

no pain or pleasure and purity of

mindfulness to the equinox that is how a

noble disciple is one who attains at

will without trouble difficulty before

jonna's that constitute the higher line

and provide a pleasant biting

each one of these jonna's is a level of

your understanding of how the hindrances

are very very

they're not your enemy to fight with

they're not something to push away they

are

as you begin to apply the six ours to

the entrance it starts to lose its

energy and after a while it will fade

away and your mind is pure at that time

that's why you can get into the

different stages of Jonah through this

understanding of the process of

dependent origination and seeing it over

and over again at practicing

you

this course tonight is called the second

suit the discipline and hire training in

poly a part of this copy down

it's not the same abu dhabi

that they teach from books this is from

this is talking about the fire training

with directly with your own friends the

said I heard on one occasion a blessed

one was living in the sake and country

of capital about to throw his part now

on that occasion new assembly palcohol

had recently been built for the sake ins

of cat Billa wat too and it had not been

inhabited by any Rekluse or Brahman or

human being at all the assembly halls

the each individual place would put up

in assembly hall and then whatever

aesthetics or teachers that came through

they would give their talks there and

then they would spend the night there

either go all night with the dhamma talk

or they would seek them so it was kind

of a special occasion for this

particular one being brand new then the

sock hands of capital about two went to

the Blessed One after paying homage to

him they sat down at one side and said

to him venerable sir a new assembly hall

has been recently built for the sake ins

of capital about two and it has not yet

been inhabited by any recluse or Brahman

or human being at all venerable sir let

the Blessed One be the first to use it

when the Blessed One has used it first

then the sake ins of cat velvet two will

use it afterwards that will lead to

their welfare and happiness for a long

time the Blessed One consented in

silence

then when they saw that he had consented

they got up from their seats and after

paying homage to him keeping him on the

right they went to the assembly hall

they covered it completely with

coverings and prepared seats and they

put the put out a large water drug and

hung up oil lamp

then they went to the Blessed One after

paying homage to him they sat down at

one side and said venerable sir the

Assembly Hall has been covered

completely with coverings seats have

been prepared a large water drug has

been put out an oil lamp hung up let the

Blessed One come at his own convenience

then the blessed one dressed taking his

bowl an outer robe went to that with the

sangha of monks to the assembly hall

when he arrived he washed his feet then

he entered the hall and sat down by the

center pillar facing the east I read

something very interesting years ago now

and that when you face the east you get

a lot of energy when you face the North

we get the least amount of energy so

when you have sloth and torpor face

needs

if you have restlessness when you face

them up sick of you

and after I found that out I went out

and bought a compass and I checked it

out and it's really true and if you if

you go to sleep with your head facing

the north you'll go to sleep very

quickly and have some sleep

same to work I don't know if it works

for anybody else but it sure seemed to

work for me

the best the bhikkhus washed their feet

and then entered the hall and sat down

by the western wall facing with the

Blessed One before them the sake ins of

capital about to wash their feet and

enter the hall and sat down on the

eastern wall facing the West with the

Buddha before them then when the blessed

one had instructed urge roused and

gladden the sake ins of kept the lava

too with talk on the Dhamma for much of

the night he said to venerable Ananda

Ananda speak to the sake ins of capital

about to about the discipline in higher

learning in higher training who has

entered upon the way my back is

uncomfortable I will rest this statement

right here says that this particular

discourse happened at the end of the

Buddha's life because he didn't start

having his back aches until the last few

years

his life

and somebody asked him one time why he

had back aches he had spent for maha

coppers and a hundred thousand lifetimes

purifying himself but he couldn't verify

himself

there was one time in the distant past

that he was a fighter and he would get

in a ring and fight and what he did to

the people that he thought was he broke

their backs would lift them up and come

down on his knee and break their backs

so in his last lifetime the karma of

that period so he had this Fame now when

it says that I will rest it seeing just

a second yes general sir the venerable

Ananda replied the blessed one prepared

his patchwork cloak folded in four lay

down on his right side in the Lions pose

with foot one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware this is a

formula that they use because this

particular statement comes up very often

and they added this part to it but it's

not true of this suit though it says

after noting in his mind the time for

rising he didn't do that he stayed a

work alert he didn't go to sleep he was

listening to what a non descend so he he

was just resting his back because

rest and that lets you know that era

hats still have some physical problems

arise from time to time but they know

how to handle proper

and rest with needs rest and when the

resting is is done and it's okay for

them to move her out then they'll do

that there's a lot of discussion with a

lot of people that when you become a

Nara hop you don't have any more

suffering but just the fact that you

have a body means that there is

suffering you have to feed it yeah clean

it to take care of it the bathroom all

of that's one form or another of

distraction and suffering

when they get off of the wheel of

samsara and they die then there is no

more second that even the Buddha

experienced these kinds of suffering he

was a lot it's an important fact that

then the venerable ananda addressed

mahanama the sake and us Mahama here a

noble disciple is possessed of virtue

guards the doors of his sense faculties

is moderate in eating and devoted to

wakefulness he possesses seven good

qualities and he is one who obtains at

will without trouble or difficulties the

for dramas

that constitute the higher mind and

provide a pledging abiding and how is a

noble disciple possessed of virtue here

in noble disciple is virtuous he dwells

restrained by the restraint of the patty

mocha the patty mocha is the rules for

the monks you're taking eight precepts

I have 227

is perfect and conduct and resort and

seeing fear in the slightest fault he

trains by understanding the training

precepts this is how a noble disciple is

possessed of Richard you know the roles

well when when when there is a Sangha of

monks every new moon and full moon they

get together and recite all of the rules

of so this keeps that in your mind so

that you start to do something and you

realize oh that's breaking the rule

and it's the same for you with your

eight precepts now we try to take the

precepts every day at least here

and this is not a rich fool this is a

reminder keep those precepts as closely

because if you break one of the precepts

your mind will get very restless and the

meditation will be non-existent that's

the nature of breaking up results so the

reason you don't break the precepts is

so let your meditation in the deeper and

better

if for some reason you happen to break a

preset

the spider gets on you and you're not

thinking Lee and then you realize you

just killed your intention was to stop

that feeling from being there but it was

also to kill that will affect your

meditation very negative so come to me

tell me you've broken the precepts we

will take the precepts again right then

so I purifies

the precepts are very very important

when someone is dying if you're with

that person while they're dying if they

have there's there's five different

visions that they can have there's a

vision of fire there's a vision of ogres

very frightening beings there's a vision

of animals there's a vision of past

relatives that have died and then

there's a vision of Davis now all of

these correspond to different kinds of

mental state

anger and somebody dies and they start

to get angry with somebody in the room

they can have a very strong visual fire

and what you do at that time as you

being angry about this right now

let's take the precepts

if they're their consciousness is not

very strong and they can out loud

verbally take the precepts tell them to

follow this in their mind and then ask

them what their vision is right after

that because this purifies mine very

very quickly

they could very easily go from seeing a

hell realm to seeing a developer just by

developing

see odors and black beings and things

like that in their mind that generally

has to do with the greeting light

they're thinking about their possessions

who should get their possessions and we

should take care of it how you don't you

want to take this possession with you

what those kind of thoughts so again you

give them the precepts

if they have a vision of animals that

means that they have ignorance in

diluted they're thinking about

themselves very strong and they're

identifying with what's happening with

them person so you talk with them about

the impersonal nature of them get them

to take the freezer

if they have a vision of the family

members there is some attachment to the

family members and

if they die at that time they will be

reborn

but

being a monk am never satisfied with

that I want to be go to the day bullets

so I gave up my precepts tan

so keeping the virtue as high as you

possibly can it helps in all ways not

only while you're doing your meditation

and you get off retreat I'm going to

give you five precepts and keep those

Five Precepts as close as you can

and it improves your mindfulness it

makes you more aware of what you're

going to do and what you're going to say

before you do it for sale

and then you have the conscious decision

to either do that or not but if you

break the preset

take them again right there you don't

have to cut yourself to be

filled with remorse and anxiety because

you broke the preset forgive yourself

for making a mistake now take the

princeps again and right after you take

the presets you make the determination

I'm not going to break the preset see

this still is part of your training this

is a very important part see the first

part of your training is practicing your

generosity how do you practice your

generosity when you're sitting in

meditation

giving

sorry

being very generous

so you're practicing your generosity

that's the first part of meditation the

second part of meditation is keeping

your foot true keep alert rope

and the third part of the meditation is

learning how to still your mind state

their experiences that we'll talk

and of course you know there's always

these this one clown at a retreat that

will say okay I'll keep the readout keep

with the Five Precepts how long do I

and I generally say well we'll start at

a hundred years ago up from there

in it

and how is a noble sample disciples of

the way and how does a noble disciple

guard the doors of his sense faculties

on see a form with the eye and noble

disciple does not grasp at its signs and

features what are at signs in feature

eye color

hair that signs and features and that

when you get involved in looking at the

beauty of this then the clingy start

cleaning has I don't be better there was

this one has changed a little bit and

then oh I remember a time when I saw

this other thing and then you're a

thousand miles away thinking about all

kinds of different things that's the

problem with getting involved with the

signs and features

now your eye hits the color inform my

consciousness arises the meeting of

those three is called eye contact with

eye contact as condition I feeling

arises you see this and you say oh

that's nice that's a pleasant feeling

right after the feeling i'm craving

arises I like it Titans

and then your thoughts about it and then

control tendency of letting your

thoughts ramble on from one place to

another and being lost for a period when

you are very clear about the signs and

thinkers and you see them yes that's

color and form and there's a nice

feeling with that and you relax right

then what happens is you get to see it

completely totally because you don't

have any thoughts pulling your

consciousness away so when you start

practicing this form of meditation and

practicing in six hours everything

becomes more clear

colors become more vivid you can stand

in front of something that's very nice

and you can allow your mind to feel that

pleasant feeling and relax into that and

experience it totally without

distraction

now one of the things that happens in

Buddhist circles as somebody will say we

have some cheesecake you want some

cheesecake I said sure I like trees key

please ah you're attached hey I've got a

clue what attachment is before they came

up and said anything I wasn't thinking

about cheesecake when they mentioned it

yeah that's okay I can have some

cheesecake it's good it's a pleasant

field fine and then let it go right then

don't get into I like it I don't like it

and all of the thoughts of distractions

so it's okay to have preferences

right now I started learning more about

possibly what the cause of my swelling

is and it might have something to do

with diabetes so what did I do for lunch

today no dessert

wanted to buy a candy bar no I'll get

water instead wanted something to drink

waters good

let's see

just okay let's cut that out I'm not

attached to it I enjoy sweet things but

I don't have to have it and I don't

think about it when I don't have so

there's no attachment

since if he left the I faculty unguarded

evil unwholesome states of covetousness

and brief might invade him I really like

it I really wanted oh I hate that thing

I don't want that that's that's the

gravy there he practices the way of its

restraint he guards the I faculty

undertakes the restraint of the I

faculty on hearing a sound would be here

on smelling an odor within those I'm

tasting the flavor with the tongue on

touching a tangible with the body on

cognizing a mind object with mine a

noble disciple does not grasp at it

signs and feature

them credit hold up he allows it to be

in relaxes into it then he can

experience since if he left the mind

faculty unguarded the evil unwholesome

states of covetousness and grief might

invade him he practices the way of its

restraint he guards the mine faculty he

undertakes the restraint of the mind

faculty that is how noble disciple

guards the doors of incense faculties

and how is a noble disciple moderate in

eating here reflect reflecting wise and

I always have problems like what people

don't want to say that a noble disciple

takes food neither for amusement nor for

intoxication nor for the sake of

physical beauty and attractiveness but

only for the endurance and continuation

of the body an awful lot of people when

they when they eat they will eat very

quickly

they chew their food very little and

swallow and they wind up overeating

quite often the Buddha it is said that

he would eat until his stomach was half

full and then he would take one quarter

water in one quarter air

and when he put food in his mouth not

even one grain of rice went unmask to

keep he chewed everything

so a rule of thumb when you're eating is

to chew until it turns to liquid in your

mouth before you swallow

and this helps you with your digestion a

lot and it also helps very much with the

more

troubling you

okay that's enough

oh we have desert the desert

you don't eat

for any other reason that

to keep your body strong so you can

and if you don't eat

then you don't find that

it does affect your

your mind and you start to get a little

bit grumpy

when you eat food you want to learn

especially when you're vegetarian you

want to learn the difference between

Hartfield and soft and you want to eat

it in a balanced way soft food fruits

hi

whatever

hard food would be things nuts

and you want to have the balance of both

a side note if you're going to eat nuts

you should always soak the nuts for at

least overnight

because there are

any

you eat so that you can continue

thus I shall terminate old feelings from

being hungry without arousing new

feelings of overeating and I read I

shall be healthy and blameless and move

in comfort that is how a noble disciple

is moderating and how is a noble

disciple devoted to wakefulness here

during the day while walking back and

forth and sitting & noble disciple

purifies his mind of obstructive States

in the first watch of the night while

walking back and forth and sitting he

purifies his mind of obstructive States

in the middle watch of the night he lies

down on his right side in the Lions pose

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware after noting in

his mind the time for rising after

rising the third watch of the night

while walking back and forth and sitting

purifies his final obstructed states

that is how

disciple is devoted to wakefulness first

watch of the night seven o'clock to 11

a little watch of the night eleven

o'clock three o'clock last watch of the

night for eight o'clock to seven

when I was

at my house et cetera

that's

they've been there for

a couple of months range retreat

and the first

time I went to see my teacher after the

range retreat started he said how much

were you sleeping for hours I said why

are you sleeping so

so I cut it down to two hours

midnight

I did that for three

I found some real interesting things

that happened during that one is I was

eating huge quantities of food and

losing

because it takes a lot of energy to stay

away

when I got done with that right after

the

and they were having their social unrest

so at the end of the range retreat these

that all foreigners have to get out of

the country you don't want you here

I wasn't real happy about starting to

come on to the meditation real good

but I had to leave so I left and I went

back to Thailand and then

I would

grew up for alms round

generally go out for arms around 65

what you do is you wait until the light

is is enough that you can see the

wrinkles in your hand see that then you

can go out and go

because by that time they pretty much

have all the food prepared they've been

up since three or four o'clock in the

morning preparing

and then I came back for a mom's around

and I ate you know i'm not on retreat

now maybe all the way down

and I will lay down too

that kind of wandered around a little

bit

the shower that all of the body things

it needed to be

so is left from about six o'clock until

five o'clock in the morning and I did

that every day

catching up unrest that lasts from

pushing

I win when you're here I'm not pushing

you very hard go to bed at ten o'clock

you get up at five o'clock seven hours

you need to take a rest during the day

take a rest during the day that makes it

eight hours we get plenty of sleep I

don't want you walking around being

tired because if you're tired then you

have all kinds of struck obstructing

states arising

destruction

hey when I first became a monk was in

Thailand and I went to this monastery

and

I told them that I just wanted to be

left

and I would sit in a chair

sit

and watch obstructive States and all the

mind games that happen right after you

ordain doesn't mean that you have up

your mind at that time

so you have all of this nonsense worldly

stuff running through your mind these

are obstructive state so I would sit and

I would watch all of this nonsense go

through and then i would get up

watch it some more and I did that for

about a month

I wasn't meditating necessarily i was

just generally being my

and watching how when I got into it

strips and as you become more familiar

not to get caught but that's why we do

this practice that's why do the

wakefulness

and that's what we're talking about here

and how does a noble disciple possess

seven good qualities here a noble

disciple has faith he places his faith

in the to target does enlightenment the

Blessed One is accomplished fully

enlightened perfect and true knowledge

and conduct sublime nor of the world's

and comparable leader of persons to be

tamed teacher of gods and humans

enlightened and blessed he has shame he

is ashamed of misconduct in the body

speech and mind ashamed of engaging and

evil unwholesome deeds

he has fear of wrongdoing he's afraid of

misconduct and body speech and mind

afraid of engaging in evil unwholesome

in other words practice

in general ways so that this fear and

the shame will arise it and it is a

practice

perfect with an adverse

you don't beat yourself up you're

mindful that you did that one of the

things that happens every moment when

the monks do their the potty they all

meet together in a particular place the

recitation of

rules all of the monks thats it in

nepali marca they have to be pure all

free

and that means that we have to do a

little confession

with each other before we

so this is some of the practices that

the monks have and they're very useful

and because monks are amongst that means

that we go a little bit overboard and a

lot of things and try to keep our roles

as closely

so that the shame and the fear doesn't

arise

he has learned much remembers what he

has learned and consolidates what he has

learned such teachings as are good and

to be getting good in the middle good in

the end with the right meaning and

phrasing and I firm a holy life that is

utterly perfect and pure such teaching

as these he has learned much of

remembered recited verbally investigated

with mine and penetrated by view and

this means studying the symptoms

memorizing the suit

reciting the city's that's what chanting

is supposed to be

but it's gotten into ritualized things

where we have these suitors that are

called protections so we have to recite

these protections as part of our

practice but actually

it's knowing the teaching and following

the teaching that is so much more

important than just empty reciting

that's why I put those two things in at

the end at the Dhammapada somebody that

recites the text very well but doesn't

follow the text is like a coward

watching others cows he has no work holy

night

it's not the reciting of the Texas

understanding

that's more forward

so it's a real interesting thing

some places that they put such emphasis

on camp

that they haven't got a clue

is that intent

you'll notice that here we don't have

much in the way of rites and rituals

i watch has been in your time not

learning what these rites and rituals

are I want you spending your time so you

can attain nirvana you can

just a short period of time doesn't take

that long as long as you follow you

that don't have anything goes

you will progress along very quickly

this leads to your permit

one of the things that happens if you

is that you lose the belief that rites

and rituals lead to name on

that's one of the things that happens

you don't have any doubt that's what

you're doing exactly

and you start to begin to truly

understand what the impersonal nature

that's what happens

there are some people that

they go much deeper

you don't have to follow first step the

second step the third step the fourth

step have to follow like that it depends

on your understand

he is energetic in abandoning

unwholesome states an undertaking

wholesome states he is steadfast firm

and striving not remiss in developing

wholesome States what's that

having that uplift at night

knowing when your mind first starts to

take

now what happens is you'll notice that

your mind is on your object of

meditation and when your mindfulness is

very sharp you'll see that there's all

kinds of little things that happen

before your mind

and it keeps wobbling and then

Oh

as soon as you see that your mind is

just starting to move a little bit relax

right there

staying on your object to meditation is

the most wholesome thing you can do

he has mindfulness he possesses the

highest mindfulness and skill

observation power of minds

the observation of how mines attention

moves from one thing

when your observation power is very good

you are able to see dependent

origination over and again before your

mind starts to wobble there's something

that happens before that what is

say what I experienced when I'm not as

odd but I'll always seemed like

the concept or an idea concept I the

thing

this is for real stuff

I just experienced just

it's a wobble the first thing

sup a little shift or something come out

whoops for a second

yeah what happens right before that

nothing

if it's go ask there's something they

have a dry before

to be shamed that girl

you're in something that happens before

the slightest little water

actually there's two things

I told somebody left after

doing a retreat thing they went quite

deep in our meditation and said your job

is to tell me what

before that so I don't hear from that

year

then he rates me an email he says I know

what it is it's this but he only told me

about one thing I wrote back and said

what happened before that I'm missing

one thing I could hear him he's in

Pennsylvania I could hear him complain

to me about that he is wise he possesses

wisdom in regard to rise and

disappearance that noble that is noble

and penetrating and leads to the

complete destruction of suffering that

means exactly seeing

you hear me talk a lot about dependent

origination don't go to other retreats

and you'll hear that much at all and the

depth of your practice is much better

when you know what you're looking for

and what you're looking for is how does

this process work

how does it work

at singing the process over and over and

over and over again until you start

recognizing it very well and then you

see it on more and more levels

that is how a noble disciple possesses

seven good qualities and how is a noble

disciple one who attains that will

without trouble or difficulty the four

jonna's that constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant biting here

it's still at going in

how the tremor of John I you want to go

in start working for the determination

they don't generally teach people

determinations

real

you want to have there's 55 powers

you work with once you're good at

getting in

of the four drums the power of

going into the drum

tiny woman staying to the inland drama

to the second

coming out of the drum

reflecting

the last clip

but these lead to mastery

so you can sit here and in the blink of

an eye

I'm going to go into

43 seconds

I'm going to go into the Jonah for one

hour 21 minutes and 14 seconds

takes a lot of practice

and the way you start

is before you go to sleep

make

of exactly

so don't make at the same time every day

I'm going to get up at four 59 34 and

when you hit that then I'm going to get

up at five o 113 and when you hit that

regularly then you're ready to start

practicing for your determination

mastery

it is a difficult practice

can you also use the same practice on

meditation itself

it's a whole meditation

it's all learning how to develop your

mind and set your internal

initially when you start working

with say I want you to sit in the second

higher than

and I want you to sit in the second job

for 14 minutes and 28 seconds and then

when you hit that exactly

then you pick

other times all within 15

and change and then you go well okay I

can do that in a second Donna let's see

if I can do that in the fourth day

so you're bouncing around for 15 minutes

at a pub and when you've been hit it

right on every time then do it for half

an hour

and you said in each one of the four

dramas for however long

29 minutes 58 seconds 31 minutes 14

seconds

and when you hit that every time then

you do that for an hour

when you hit that

then when you get out of that drama then

I want you to go in a Drama for in that

drama for examples

you're able to hit that then you sit for

longer periods of time and shorter

periods of time I want you to go into

the 4th jhana in 33 seconds

once you've done

you've gained pretty good control

it's not an easy practice I guarantee

and there is more to the instruction

what I've just given I don't want you to

do

but if you want to start working at

waking up in exactly that the time

and when you've been hinted every day

for a few weeks

exactly

and how is a noble's disciple and how is

a noble example one who attains at will

without difficulty were trouble the four

Jonah's that constitute the higher

present abiding here and now here quite

secluded from sensual pleasures that

booted from unwholesome states a noble

disciple enters upon and abides in the

first job with the stilling of thinking

an exam thought the actors upon and

abides in the second with the fading

away as well of joy he enters upon it

hides in the third job with the

abandoning of pleasure in pain he enters

upon n abides in the 4th jhana which has

no pain or pleasure and purity of

mindfulness to the equinox that is how a

noble disciple is one who attains at

will without trouble difficulty before

jonna's that constitute the higher line

and provide a pleasant biting

each one of these jonna's is a level of

your understanding of how the hindrances

are very very

they're not your enemy to fight with

they're not something to push away they

are

as you begin to apply the six ours to

the entrance it starts to lose its

energy and after a while it will fade

away and your mind is pure at that time

that's why you can get into the

different stages of Jonah through this

understanding of the process of

dependent origination and seeing it over

and over again at practicing

you