From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FtB1QN0Gp1I

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

the following reading is of the book the

path to Nirvana her mindfulness of

loving-kindness progresses through the

tranquil aware Jonah's to awakening by

David C Johnson introduction the purpose

of this book is to help the Ernest C

current advanced meditator understand

the experiences and signposts on the

Buddha's path which has as its goal the

destruction of craving and the

elimination of ignorance I want to

document these experiences for the

meditation community so they may be

studied and preserved as a guide to

future meditators this book was also

written so that meditators without

access to local teachers could have all

the instructions to continue down this

path on their own every instruction on

how to meditate at every level is here

there are no secret techniques held back

just the words from the suttas and

commentary by venerable bart ava malarum

she in this edition the beginners

instruction guide is added to the back

of this book a beginner's guide to

tranquil wisdom inside meditation by

bhante v malarum she read this first if

you wish to start from the beginning and

make the quickest progress if when you

were starting you bogged down and you

just can't feel this loving-kindness for

yourself take a look at the pamphlet

also at the end of this book by bhante v

malarum she entitled a guide to

forgiveness meditation try this

meditation and see if it doesn't loose

and possible blocks in your mind from

past traumas bosses or other scary

memories forgiveness can be a perfect

prerequisite to experiencing warm

flowing loving-kindness but some places

in the book I will put meditation

instruction to highlight for students

using the book as an instruction guide

any updates to the meditation practice

instructions based on personal progress

or a significant experience that may

arise

this book expands on the previously

printed a guide to tranquil wisdom

inside meditation that guide clearly

lays out beginning instructions for the

practice Olivetti wim in fine detail

this entire pamphlet has been included

at the back of this book for your use at

home if you wish to start now Twi M is a

fancy name for basic click the brahma

vihara practice starting with meta or

loving-kindness as the object breath may

be used but tends to have slower

progress these instructions are taken

directly from the meditation methods

described in the suttas the earliest

Buddhist teachings Twi M is the practice

that will lead us to new bonner as it is

outlined in the texts we will see that

when the instructions are followed there

are immediate results precisely as the

Buddha laid out the path to nib honor

elaborates on both the goal in the

practice of meditation is explained by

the Buddha its purpose is to follow the

progress of the practice as it is

explained in the suttas themselves for

that the clearest map is the match ji

min nicaya m and no 111 the a new pada

Sutter

one by one is they occurred this Sutter

shows how progress occurs step-by-step

all the way to near Bonner this is the

map we will use as we go through the

levels of insight in this book the

Sutter's of the Pali Canon a traceable

back to thousand five hundred and fifty

years to the Buddha himself they're

considered by scholars to be the words

of the Buddha as he originally spoke

them to put a finer point on this it is

thought that the Buddha spoke my goody

that was his native language Pali is a

form of that language and later all of

the Sutter's were documented in Pali

first by reciting and then writing them

down by members of the Buddhist Order in

Sri Lanka they were written on palm

leaves about 80 BC as they were written

down monks who had memorized the suttas

checked the written texts for any

wrong words the satyrs were inscribed on

stone tablets in Mandalay Burma and the

today still being memorized and recited

by Buddhist monks in Burmese monasteries

this has continued since the first

Council of 500 senior monks or era hands

convened three months after the Buddha

died I visited this interesting site in

Burma in 2003 and saw the white marble

stones with these very inscription x'

groups of monks memorized the sutter

texts together one monk will recite and

the rest of the group of check and

correct him as he goes this method has

been about as foolproof as any other to

retain original texts for long periods

writing the suttas noun can be subject

to the translators misinterpretation of

what words to use to describe the

practice precisely but even with this

method that could have been errors that

crept in even as perfect as this system

was we can't really in there because we

weren't there and it was over 25

centuries ago thus we use these Sutter's

as the closest direct guide to what the

Buddha really taught there are many

Buddhist sects and many different

beliefs and practices all we can do is

find what meditation practice matches

the Buddha's words the practice of Twi M

is new in the sense it has been

rediscovered in the suttas it is not

practiced very widely yet which seems

rather surprising in fact venerable

bhante vim alarum xi and his approved

teachers are the only ones who teach

directly from the suttas in this way

others reference the suttas but don't

follow them precisely Twi M is the

actual and correct application of right

effort this is the reason for its

resulting success I will discuss more

about this later changes have been made

in other practices to allegedly improve

upon the Buddha's meditation

instructions but hold on he was the

Buddha is it not just a little bit

presumptuous to think that

instructions of a Buddha can be improved

upon after all he was indeed the supreme

me awaken ptarth Agharta perfecting his

wisdom over countless lifetimes let's

try to put aside all the other

techniques for now and just focus on how

to practice as described in the early

teachings as close to the actual words

of the Buddha as we can get most

scholars agree that the Pali Canon and

it's utters are the actual teachings of

the Buddha so let's go to them and only

them to find the way to practice the ANU

pada Sutter M in 111 explains the

progress of the meditation through the

jhanas and the four foundations of

mindfulness at the same time it will be

shown here that these jhanas when

practiced as taught in the suttas will

lead us to awakening the jhanas

described in the a new pod result were

not to be confused with the

concentration states commonly taught

elsewhere these are the tranquil aware

jhanas that are being taught in the

suttas in which you maintain awareness

of both mind and body

the foundation is collectiveness not

concentration which we will cover later

it is this rediscovered where Jonah that

is the key to a new understanding of the

Buddhist teachings the TWI M technique

referenced in this book uses for its

primary SATA guide the middle length

discourses of the Buddha a translation

of the match Jim Anika by Baku body and

Baku Nana moly fontava millirems she

feels this is the closest translation

available though sometimes he prefers

different wordings then I used there for

example he uses the word habitual

tendency instead of becoming more on

this later

we will combine here the explanation of

the suttas meaning with the actual

experiences of the many meditators who

have practiced and have been successful

also we will attempt to explain some of

the reasons why certain experiences and

subtle phenomena occur though only the

Buddha knows for sure please forgive me

for errors and a mish

some phenomena are like the subtlest

links of dependent origination that are

deep down in the mental processes have

had the descriptions left out there for

the student to discover on their own and

it weren't changed the pace of a

student's progress by not describing

them here explaining certain phenomena

before the student is ready to see them

can create false expectations and wrong

ideas many students later who grateful

Devante does not explain to them where

they are in the jonna's they just want

to progress and not be thinking and

analyzing as they practice they may

develop some sense of pride because of

thoughts about arm in this John are that

Gianna

they might have some familiarity with

meditation practice and may have some

conceit Arizer gets to seek a thinking

about how far advanced they are when

they are only beginners in this practice

it is better off not knowing where you

are if you are on an intensive retreat

and just follow the instructions if you

are seeking an even deeper understanding

of how the practice works than what is

described here in this book more

descriptions of insights and levels of

understanding that arise and the subtle

references that support this meditation

you may also want to read one of the

following books meditation is life life

is meditation which provides information

in depth and detail breath of love and

moving Dharma volume volume one also

offers skillful guidance as one goes

deeper into it to the practice these are

all written by venerable Bart Ava

malarum she my purpose here is to put

down on paper the steps to awakening the

progress through the levels of insight

to awakening it is my hope that this

knowledge can be handed down studied in

the future and not lost this book is

based on venerable bant Ava malarum

she's Sutter based methods and results

using texts from his various talks as

well drawing on my own personal

experiences involving this practice

today

practices include Brahmanic influences

new-age methods and even a new take on

Buddhism in which the Buddha himself

starts to disappear from the pages this

is called secular Buddhism just

mindfulness with no mention of the

Buddha a hard weight of the Buddha's

teachings has been mixed up with Western

psychology and even the word mindfulness

is no longer being used in the way the

Buddha intended an important goal of

this book is to show how Buddhism as it

is generally taught today has veered

away from the ideas presented in the

suttas it has deviated from what the

historical Buddha taught we are going to

explore among other things what the

Buddha taught us in his own words from

the suttas awakening both mind and body

dependent origination the definition of

mindfulness what is tranquil wisdom

inside meditation Twi M what are the six

R's two types of jhanas absorption

jhanas and aware jhanas the progress

through the jhanas to Nirvana the four

stages of sainthood chapter one what is

Buddhism around 2600 years ago when the

young Prince Siddhartha Gautama went

outside his palace into the village he

realized suffering was experienced

universally by all beings he found that

there was sickness old age and death and

it's a shocked him that he left behind

his wife and newborn son his kingdom and

all his worldly goods to go in search of

a way to end this suffering after years

of searching he finally discovered the

path to the end of suffering Nibbana a

path which he described as not only

achieving release from suffering but

that it was also immediately effective

or not taking th at long if practiced

correctly he then spent the next forty

five years teaching the path to others

during that time many people were

awakened the matter vaca got to Sutter

number 73 in the match Jim Anika MN

confirms and gives us more deed

tells about just how many thousands of

people were awakened in the sutter when

the Buddha is asked if there were any

beings who had been successful he

clearly described the numbers and

attainments of those he had taught what

is suffering the Buddha stated the cause

through his Four Noble Truths there are

suffering and dissatisfaction in the

world and in our lives the cause and

origin of that suffering is craving the

cessation of craving is the cessation of

suffering the Eightfold Path leads us to

the end of that suffering this is

Buddhism in brief suffering the cause of

suffering the end of suffering and the

path leading to the end of suffering

this is the heart of Buddhism it is not

about rites and rituals prayers and

incense it is not a religion but a

scientific investigation into overcoming

sorrow at all levels of mind and body in

modern times it seems that few people

actually reach awakening some teachers

explained that people in the Buddha's

time were more spiritually developed and

some say it was because of the Buddha

himself others attribute the lack of

success to the so called darker times in

which we now live but the Buddha made it

clear that if you follow the directions

awakening can be achieved in a single

lifetime even in as little as a few days

this is as true today as it was at the

time of the Buddha this book just might

be the proof people are different

culturally but our minds and bodies all

function in the same way this means that

if we follow the true path of the Buddha

we too can experience awakening in a

short period of time the experiences of

our students who have followed the

instructions from the earliest sutter's

precisely without adding or subtracting

anything for proof of that they have

experienced the states I will talk about

an su canoe a super Monday in science

dr. Albert Einstein is attributed to

have said that if he were ever

interested in getting involved with

religion he would become a Buddhist

Buddhism he said is the religion that is

the closest to science he talked about

air cosmic religion which he felt

Buddhism was closer to certainly most

people think of Buddhism is a religion

but what is a religion religion is

defined in the merriam-webster

dictionary as follows belief in a God or

a group of God's an organized system of

beliefs ceremonies and rules used to

worship her God or a group of gods so is

Buddhism a religion many sects of

Buddhism seem to treat it as such and

certainly most people consider it one

but the Buddha left had the whole

concept of God and what the Buddha

taught is certainly beyond any religious

belief system then is it science perhaps

but it may even be beyond science

at least the existing level of today's

knowledge because the Buddha's concern

was with the cause and the cessation of

suffering much of what he taught focused

on the development of mind through deep

meditative practices there is a growing

tendency currently in the scientific

community to explain everything about

mind in terms of neuroscience and the

study of the brain in fact much of

neuroscience ceased mind is just a

product of the functioning brain but

this is a limited understanding of mind

so in one corner you have practitioners

of meditation wanting to find happiness

with religious leaders teachings and

meditation and in the other corner you

have Western scientists wanting to find

happiness through the study of the

physical brain there seems to be the

goal maybe hope is a better word that by

understanding the brain we can somehow

develop a therapy or pill to attain

happiness studying the neural system

will give us an idea of how neurons work

and what they look like on an MRI and

other medical measurement equipment it

may also show us what parts of the brain

are used for certain mental functions

but it will never explain the insights

that are experienced by mind

for our purposes it does not give

insights into the true nature of

suffering and how through seeing these

insights Nibbana can be attained there

is no way at least that we know of now

to duplicate the process of awakening in

the lab by any physical process drugs

machines etc to achieve awakening we

must understand at a very deep level how

body and mind working together is an

impersonal process without any self or

soul the brain is not mind and mind is

not the brain the brain is just part of

the body like an arm or a finger mind

brain is something that sits in

dependence upon the physical body

however mind is something we cannot

directly measure and can only indirectly

understand why because we are dependent

on the reported experience of the

individual for this information when

studying another person to find out

their actual cognition of something we

only have what they tell us we cannot

measure for example their understanding

of reality so since science is defined

by Merriam Webster's dictionary as

systematized knowledge derived from

observation study and experimentation

carried on in order to determine the

nature our principles of what is being

studied and saying that Buddhism leans

more toward science than belief is close

but still not quite right the Buddha did

leave us a clear set of methods and

instructions that have come down to us

from the suttas which allow us to go

deeply into our mind and observe things

firsthand whenever the buddha taught the

way to the cessation of suffering he

always told his followers that they did

not have to believe what he said but

that they should come and see for

themselves as he suggested in the

calamus utter do not take up his

teachings with only faith try at first

and then dismiss it if it has no

measurable benefit no belief of faith

was asked for by the buddha these

instructions still apply try the

practices that Buddha taught it

you decide for yourself if the results

who are having the same as those that

are described and if they are beneficial

to you when you see that they work and

produce repeatable results this develops

confidence and encourages you to

continue on the path if we only study

the brain we cannot purport to be

studying mind as mind is only truly in

knowable by the individual being studied

the researcher must ask the subject what

happened they can never know how

understanding and wisdom have internally

affected the subjects mind this is

something beyond simple science when we

say that the Buddha's teachings go

beyond science ie that it is

supramundane we are talking about both

the actual methods that the Buddha

taught and the results insights achieved

with the practice while both the methods

and the results are repeatable and

measurable they are also subjective

experiences they are transformative and

profound but not easily measured by

outside researchers the Buddha was not

just trying to understand the nature and

principles of what is being studied he

was searching for a way to finally end

personal suffering not just obtain

understanding of it

Buddhism is beyond any scientific study

because only by observing mind directly

with one's own consciousness can we

understand mind once the understanding

is achieved then that mind being

observed is transformed in India it is

called their subjective science I call

it super Monday in science this is why

we needed a Buddha to show us the path

the answer was not as simple this or

that it was a subtle recipe a complex

training to which he gave the name a

middle path between all extremes

awakening both mind and body

traditionally Indian masters believed

that enlightenment could be achieved by

controlling desire as desire was

believed to be the cause of all kinds of

suffering practicing initially within

this tradition the Buddha mastered the

mind based practices of yogic

one-pointed

option concentration following that he

spent some long years mastering the body

based austere ascetic practices of the

yogic sadhus both efforts were intended

to bring desire under control and

thereby bring about awakening on the one

hand the Brahmanic meditation masters

believed that they could control desire

by controlling mind by forcing the

attention to stay on an object for a

longer and longer periods of time it was

thought that craving or desire could be

controlled but it wasn't that craving

would be overcome it was that there

would arise this all-powerful controller

of that craving which by improving self

discipline and self control would be

able to exert mastery over desire

holding it down and keep it from coming

up pushing it down versus eliminating it

but then would have to ask the question

who is our real self care the

controlling one the mind that wish to

control desire or the one with the

desire or neither for their even to be a

self there must be something that is

considered not the self or at least not

our real self in the Brahma jawless

utter no one of the dharna car the

Buddha describes there are sixty two

views of self there is self watching

self not self observing self the self

observing and not self and on and on

there is only one you at which one is it

if an alcoholic says they will give up

drinking by exercising the willpower

then who is the real self which desire

is the real you it seems like a fight

for control is going to break out soon

on the other hand if controlling desires

with mental self-control and discipline

didn't work then ascetics thought that

they could control desire by controlling

the body Yogi's would stand on one leg

for extended periods or eat are very

restricted by it believing that by

controlling the body in this way

enlightenment would surely come mind

would experience a breakthrough when the

control of the body was mastered again

self discipline would enable someone to

take

charge and bring desire under control

this someone was conceived as the higher

self or the I who would finally have

total control such third one would no

longer be subject to design dat

suffering

this was the perceived goal of the

meditation practice

it wasn't about eliminating desire but

actually controlling desire after

practicing both approaches extensively

the future Buddha Bodhisattva had not

achieved awakening when he entered deep

states of absorption concentration he

found that these states suppress his

sense basis so that he no longer felt

heard or experienced anything from the

body the mental states he achieved were

blissful and sublime however he soon

realized that tightly controlling mind

did suppress desire but only while he

was practicing this was temporary it did

not eradicate the craving mind entirely

as soon as he stopped practicing desire

returned in full force similarly after

six years of ascetic practices when he

was about to die from hunger near Bodh

Gaya he understood that excessive

controlling of the body through

depravation would only lead to death

through starvation when he was about to

die from hunger near Bodh Gaya

he understood that excessive controlling

of the body through deprivation would

only lead to death through starvation it

would not however lead to the

elimination of desire the cessation of

suffering would never be achieved with

these practices when he had all but

given up practicing concentration

meditation and ascetic techniques to

their absolute limit he realized that

control was not the answer it was a

futile practice that didn't lead to

awakening using craving to control

craving at that point he sat down under

the body tree and determined that he

would sit there until he found the

answer on a full moon day in May he

became the tathagata the Buddha the

awakened one in the third watch of the

night between 3 and 7 a.m. he had found

the middle way

he had come to understand the need to

employ a meditation method that used a

totally different approach a method that

would include both mind and body and

eliminated the controller the Buddha had

previously developed the seeing and

understanding of how his mind worked by

careful observation he began to see that

the mental processes are a dependent

chain of events arising in passing away

we now know this is seeing the links of

dependent origination the Buddha used

the term Pataca sama pada which is

parley for dependent origination on the

morning of his awakening he realized

that seeing clearly the deepest

phenomena in mind is without a doubt the

way to Nibbana by seeing how his own

mind worked and closely observing the

mental processes he grew to understand

that we all caused our own suffering he

saw how desire works how it leads to

suffering and how the cessation of

suffering can be achieved the Buddha

realized that desires arise because we

feed them and continually chase after

them we see them as ours and personally

identify with them in other words if you

are sitting quietly and your mind

earth-2 thinking about how nice it would

be to be somewhere else can you stop it

can you just say that okay mine I'd like

to sit quietly and enjoy some peace this

afternoon No here come the desires for

this and that unasked uncalled for

in that sense it is not our desire

because we personally identify with

these desires that we experience

thinking of them as mine and then become

attached to them this craving inevitably

leads to suffering we have no control

over how when they arise or how are when

they pass away craving and suffering

occur because we identify with and

personalize these desires and then cling

to them dependent origination is the

understanding that all things in both

body and mind are conditioned they're

conditioned are caused by what came

before and they're inevitably lead to

what happens next by seeing this chain

of events clearly we see that everything

is impersonal so where are we in this

process where am I an important part of

understanding dependent origination is

that this thing we call self or ego is

actually not a self or ego at all but an

impersonal process that happens

completely beyond our control in fact

there is no possibility of control

because there is no continuous a

permanent self capable of being the

controller the board has saw that there

are only processes arising and passing

away with no permanent self involved who

controls anything who makes the

decisions even decision itself is

another condition mental process which

arises based on previous actions

decisions aren't made by some permanent

self who has control of what's happening

there are the impersonal you at that

moment our only possible input is to

recognize the reality of this situation

and not to take it personally not to be

attached to the outcome of any given

situation this is the practice of right

effort we call it the six R's and we'll

discuss this later this was a unique and

profound truth that the Buddha

discovered and presented to the thinkers

of his time once the board of fully and

deeply realized what he had discovered

he found that craving and suffering

ceased and today researchers have found

that there are indeed measurable changes

in both the mind and bodies of

meditators as various types of

meditation techniques are practiced

there are measurable positive results

the Buddha realized that he could not

break through to awakening by

controlling either mind a body

independently you can't turn off input

from the body by suppressing the sense

basis in some sort of deep concentration

on the other hand you can't torture the

body and they expect this to lead to

some sort of control of mind by

controlling pain the Buddha understood

that mind and body worked together but

first he tried controlling each one

separately as far as he could muster his

energy and determination

it didn't work the result was that he

gave up trying to control mind and body

to look for another way to solve this

dilemma hundreds of years later there

came commentaries and opinions about the

Buddha's teachings like the Vista team

agar which started to split our

practices fundamentally discriminating

insight and concentration Vipassana and

samatha into different techniques

whereas the original satyrs had called

for them to be yoked together the

visibly Magga was written in 430 CE he

over 900 years after the Buddha lived it

is a large volume written by Buddha

hoser that attempts to lay out most of

the chief meditative practices that the

Buddha taught it is especially

considered a very important document for

the Theravada Buddhist sect since it is

not the words of the Buddha it is

considered a commentary on his practices

in the Vistula Maya there are many

methods involved in developing

concentration some use casinos are

colored discs many use the breath to

create an emitter a sign on which to

concentrate we will describe the origins

of the book later and how it fits with

meditation practice then K dry inside

practice which avoided deep

concentration entirely those teachers

even told the practitioners to stay away

from concentrated absorption practices

because they might get attached this dry

insight method developed only enough

concentration to start investigating the

mental process without the benefit of

the stronger type of concentration

teachers of such an approach said it was

faster and more direct the question here

is did the Buddha teach this here is the

critical understanding of what the

Buddha taught in the suttas he says that

concentration samatha is yoked together

with Insight Vipassana samatha and

Vipassana therefore must be practiced

together this is what is actually taught

in the suttas and this is what bhante

Vimy larum Shi

Reed's covered hiding there in plain

sight he has named this tranquil wisdom

inside meditation or aware jhana

practice before we get into meditation

practice let us look at how mind works

by examining what the Buddha considered

the most important concept to learn

dependent origination leaving control

behind after years of practice in the

Brahmanic tradition on the night of his

awakening the Buddha realized why he had

not found relief the fundamental premise

of those practices was incorrect that

idea assumed that one could actually

control design thereby control suffering

on the night of his awakening the Buddha

directly realized what he had already

reasoned out about his own mental

processes he understood that everything

has craving in it and arises because of

actions that took place in the past

because those actions have already

happened no one has any control over

what will emerge or how they will react

to it in other words you cannot in fact

control what desire arises but can only

observe the impersonal arising of it

what is dependent origination and how

does it work when one sits and quiets

mind all becomes still the next thing

that might happen is a sand arising a

bird made sure the sound formed the

chirp hits the ear base the organ

physical ear and ear consciousness

arises these three things sound the air

base and ear consciousness of the

contact link in the twelve links of

dependent origination contact fossa is

all three elements coming together so

that hearing happens in the same way

lighting a match you have the match head

the flammable chemicals and the Flint of

the match box when they are struck

together this is called contact heat and

light arise resulting in a flame if

either one of these three things am

missing hearing doesn't happen once

hearing happens there arises a feeling

vadhana associated with that sound then

perception arises

that it is pleasant unpleasant or

neither-pleasant-nor-painful owed by

craving Tana arising with the formula I

like it or I don't like it or I don't

care this is where you start to identify

with what is happening and take it

personally craving can always be

recognized as tension and tightness in

the head the tension or tightness is how

you recognize craving you must see and

let go of this craving in the head that

desire is what is next going to lead you

into thought clinging and then leads to

the birth of action in resulting in

sorrow lamentation grief and despair

following craving clinging up Hagana or

thinking arises the story about why you

like it or don't like it this is based

on your past experience what happened

when that sound arose at some past time

you remember a time when you were bird

watching and heard a unique type of bird

thoughts arise and a story begins about

the sound then there arises a driver an

urge to action associated with what you

might do when that sound is heard this

is the habitual emotional tendency a

behavior bhava for example if you are a

bird watcher when you hear a bird you

have a habitual tendency to reach for

your camera or you might have a tendency

to reach for your binoculars a habitual

emotional tendency is something you

always tend to do in a certain situation

it can be your habitual reaction to a

feeling you have someone comes in the

room and complains about something you

always react in the same way by not

liking it and emotionally reacting to

the person complaining your spouse calls

and says he/she will be home late from

work you may get this kind of call quite

a bit and react the same way every time

with a negative reaction it might be a

judgment of you are unreliable or it

might be a reaction to lash out because

you think he/she isn't telling the truth

it is habitual it tends to come up when

this situation occurs

when this habitual reaction arises this

is where the strong tendency to try and

control your feelings with your thoughts

arises you observe that mind is

disturbed and you react with frustration

trying to control the disturbing

thoughts this is the start of taking

something personally you've become

emotional mind has many factors the

states of consciousness contained in it

there is a greedy mind and there is a

joyful mind in the ANU pada Sutter the

Buddha says that even the mental factor

of decision is conditioned by previous

actions from the past this decision

process is something that you might call

a volition or intention but we have to

be careful to use those words because

they might wrongly imply that there is a

self making a decision decision is just

a small yet the most important factor of

the coming toward decision as stated

previously phenomena arise and past like

the sound of a bird and are dependent on

that sound for its existence when your

mind is very tranquil you can see the

decision factor arise as well as the

push that goes with it to make the

decision it's pretty interesting when

you can observe your mind operating at

this level and see how truly uie I am

not in charge for example a desire

arises to get a cup of tea you then

continue to think about which tea might

taste good if you are very mindful you

can see the exact moment when you decide

which tea to have there is a moment in

which your decision arises if you back

away gently just allowing everything to

arise very carefully watching it this is

your mental investigation factor you'll

see the decision mental factor arise

entirely on its own and then it also

passes away there appears this call to

action arising through the craving

attached to it this craving is the push

you feel to go into action is there

really free will is there some soul or

entity down deep making decision

kind of yet at the deepest level there

is only the deciding mind that arises

and passes away so you have the decision

there but it is a conditioned decision

the phrase volitional formations used in

the Sutter Texas inadequate not

precisely correct volition indicates

someone is deciding but there is no one

there to do that there are only causes

and conditions there is no you that

makes the decision just the deciding

moment the only real power we have is to

allow and observe releasing and relaxing

into the decision seeing it fade away

continuing after the habitual tendency

Lincoln dependent origination comes the

actual birth of action jati link and you

get up to go get your camera the drive

to action translates into taking action

this can be bodily action moving verbal

action speaking or mental action

thinking unfortunately by the time you

get back with your camera the bird has

flown away due to the result of your

action in getting the camera

dissatisfaction might arise because now

the bird is gone you think your actions

always will lead you to what you want

but you can never really positively be

sure of the results of any action the

best laid plans of mice and men then

what follows the birth of action link is

the last link sorrow lamentation grief

and despair yes there are some happy

moments here and there but they are

fleeting even if you get that picture

you will wish the bird had stayed longer

pull the dude recorded its song etc in

the twelve links of dependent

origination we just went through the

last part of the process The Grocer and

observable part these are the last seven

contact feeling craving clinging

habitual tendency birth of action and

sorrow lamentation grief and despair

these are the ones you can see without

having to go too deep into the

meditation contact feeling craving

clinging habitual tendency

birth of action sorrow lamentation grief

and despair the first five links of the

full twelve links of do come before the

ones listed above and can be understood

as potentials they can only be observed

as subtle movements in mind with the

exception of ignorance which is your

understanding later when your meditation

goes deeper you'll see the arising of

the first five ignorance formations

consciousness mentality materiality and

the six-fold sense base the Buddha said

that it all starts with ignorance of how

things work that is ignorance of the

truth of dependent origination and of

the Four Noble Truths which makes clear

that craving drives the whole process of

suffering it is this ignoring of the

Four Noble Truths which leads us to act

in unwholesome ways which creates

endless suffering on the next page is a

chart that shows the circle of dependent

origination each link is dependent on

the link before it as nutriment as food

in each link there is also a small

additional amount of craving which makes

the whole process continue forward in a

never-ending chain of events the sam yot

Anika has a wealth of information about

dependent origination and what it is

here are the basics SN 12.1 monks I will

teach you dependent origination listen

to that in 210 closely I will speak yes

venerable sir those monks replied the

Blessed One said this and what monks is

dependent origination with ignorance as

conditioned formations come to be with

formations as conditioned consciousness

with consciousness as conditioned name

and form with name and form as

conditioned the sixth sense bases with

the sixth sense basis as conditioned

contact with contactors conditioned

feeling with feeling as conditioned

craving with craving as conditioned

clinging with King as conditioned

existence with our existence as

conditioned

birth with Bertha's condition aging and

death sorrow lament at Ian's pain

displeasure and despair can't be such is

the origin of this whole mass of

suffering this monks is called dependent

origination but with the remainders

fading away and cessation of ignorance

comes cessation informations with the

cessation of formations cessation of

consciousness with the cessation of

consciousness cessation of name-and-form

with the cessation of name-and-form

cessation of the sixth sense bases with

the cessation of the sixth sense bases

cessation of contact with the cessation

of contact cessation of feeling with the

cessation of feeling cessation of

craving with the cessation of craving

cessation of clinging with the cessation

of clinging cessation of existence with

the cessation of existence cessation of

birth with the cessation of birth aging

and death sorrow lamentation pain

displeasure and despair cease such as

the cessation of this whole mass of

suffering the highest goal of Twi M is

to see how each link is dependent on a

condition by the previous link when one

understands this process in a deep and

profound way the unconditioned state

Nibbana arises for the first time this

first instance is the path knowledge one

realizes that there is no personal self

or ego just an impersonal process

dependent on conditions for this

realization comes tremendous relief

because as the famous Zen saying goes no

self no problem no one is there so

nobody to control it's as if we see a

dark figure walking toward us fear might

arise because our mind throws up this

concept of a villain from our past yet

when we get closer we see it is our

friend and that fearful image is

replaced by another happy image just in

the same way we thought there was a self

there and now we see that it was an

illusion

we can follow the links of dependent

origination in our own behavior in much

the same way we look at a town and trace

it back over the last hundred years the

first buildings led to more buildings

then they deteriorated and were replaced

by different buildings and so on and so

forth

this arising and passing away of

conditions is like the arising and

passing away of a great city flourishing

and deteriorating and constantly

changing

finally it disappears because of

countless causes depending on each other

there is no controller making decisions

and taking actions there in that city

there are only changes occurring

conditioned by what has happened in the

past similarly you have no personal self

or soul controlling your progress

through life there are only changes that

happen due to causes and conditions

arising and passing away this is what we

mistakenly call ourself me myself and I

it's an impersonal process an endless

chain of causes and conditions that flow

like a river a river that we mistakenly

take as ourselves dependent origination

is indeed the most important principle

of Buddhism along with the Four Noble

Truths understanding the source of

suffering is craving and how dependent

origination works leads to the

elimination of that craving

understanding that the Noble Eightfold

Path is the way to this goal is the

heart of Buddhist meditation chapter 2

mindfulness redefined what is

mindfulness

just what does mindfulness mean there

was an article in a Buddhist magazine

where this question was posed to for

meditation teachers by the end of the

discussion a satisfactory answer still

had not been reached they decided to

take it up again in next month's

magazine mindfulness does seem to be all

the rage these days and has gone from

its strict Buddhist origins who are more

general acceptance anywhere from use by

psychologists to children and even by

the military it even has it

magazine mindful mindfulness is used to

be aware of one's thoughts and once

general state of being and is used to

calm one down and relax these are all

the good uses but is it what the Buddha

taught is the actual procedure of

mindfulness the process he intended I

have a theory and you won't find it

anywhere else so please bear with me the

pali word for mindfulness is sati when

the pali texts were translated the

translators ran into this word sati and

had to pick out an appropriate english

word to translate it to the problem is

that some of the things that buddha

taught were brand new ideas and never

had been exposed to european culture

there never were any English words that

represented these Eastern concepts

Buddhism he had never come to the west

thus no English vocabulary had been

developed so what to do pick the closest

word sati had to do with observation and

to know what was happening so the word

mindful was selected made sense who did

it the problem was that mindfulness

already was a solid concept in the

English language be mindful of the

opening and don't bump your head that

sort of definition became applied to

sati and thus to be mindful meant to

remember to look where you are going and

watch carefully the process of getting

there what happened here is that the

English word has exerted powerful undue

influence over the pali term now it was

almost as if the poly term was created

to represent the english word and not

the other way around the parley term in

a sense became the english term because

the translators were not meditators they

could only get what sati really meant

that would be fine if that is how sati

is defined and used in the suttas but it

may not be you are now going to get a

new definition of the word mindfulness

that is quite different in its

application when tested against the

sutter texts you will see that it works

better

the definition of mindfulness is

remembering to observe how minds

attention moves from one thing to

another looking closer at this

definition the first part is just

remembering which sounds easy but it

isn't once you pay attention you will

find that your mind is constantly

distracted from observation of itself by

thoughts over which you have no control

you are aware of mind a thought arises

and you are pulled away and with that

thought until you remember that you're

supposed to be paying attention to the

movement of minds attention

you bring your observation back to mind

and then maybe a few seconds of minutes

later another thought pulls your

attention away it's important to

remember what it is you're supposed to

be doing observing the process of mind's

attention and its movements as part of

an impersonal process which leads us to

the second part on retreat you go for a

walking meditation as you start your

practice and you slowly walk down the

path your mind wanders the first thing

you must do is to remember to be mindful

then actually do it so the second part

of mindfulness means to become aware of

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another the Buddha intended

that the meditator be mindful of what

arises in the present whatever that may

be and that they specifically see how it

arises he didn't care what the feelings

of sensations were at whether we peered

at them that closely are not only to

know they had arisen he did not intend

from the meditator to pick out specific

parts of the four foundations of

mindfulness or the five aggregates of

mind and body and only observed those

that would have been a concentration

practice focusing in on those individual

parts rather he wanted you to watch the

activity of mind's attention and to

observe one how it arises and passes

away without any control on your part

and two how you take this mental

movement personally as yourself mind

clamps onto a feeling and then

identifies it as my

even though you did not ask for it to

arise or to pass away you never had any

control over it whatsoever

it just arose when conditions were right

this identification with feeling gives

rise to a false belief in a personal

self the concept of I when you see how

the I concept arises you can release it

by not keeping attention on it relax the

tension a tightness caused by the

disturbance smile into it and return to

the meditation object it becomes clear

that there never was herself at all

there is only the endless stream of

activity since you have no control over

what comes up you begin to see how this

identification process craving is at the

root of suffering craving manifests as

that desire to control what happens and

when even that can't be accomplished

suffering arises and we don't like it

this leads to frustration and an even

further desire to control so again what

is the definition of mindfulness

mindfulness is remembering observe how

mind's attention moves from one thing to

another as things arise unasked and they

then completely pass away when they have

run their course mindfulness is not over

focusing on an object feeling a breath

or anything else it only knows that it

is happening this process of observing

the movement of mind's attention is

where you see the hindrances arise and

pull your attention away there are five

hindrances one greet essential desires

to hatred or aversion three sloth

laziness sleepy and torpor dullness four

restlessness worry or anxiety five doubt

in yourself at the teacher the practice

or the Buddha as you stay with your

object of meditation this is where you

will find craving rearing its ugly head

it is your goal to fully understand how

craving arises and by understanding the

process you let go of this craving and

stay with the object of meditation

and you don't do this by clenching your

teeth and pushing it away you want to

make the hindrances your friends they

are your teachers they show you where

you are attached when you fully

understand them you'll need no more

instruction you will graduate to

awakening you will see the four

foundations of mindfulness with pure

clear observation power you will see

them free of craving and free of you're

taking them personally it will be a

relief to give up the control of those

things that are uncontrollable the four

foundations of mindfulness as we

investigate deeper into Twi a meditation

it is important to understand the four

foundations of mindfulness and how they

are correctly applied to the meditation

practice M + 10 the satipatthana sutter

tells us to observe the four foundations

of mindfulness the sutter says observe

the four foundations and let go of

craving and clinging letting go of

taking the foundations personally the

four foundations are body feeling

consciousness and mind objects they are

also known as the five aggregates body

feeling perception formations and

consciousness when the four foundations

are used instead of the five aggregates

perception and feeling are joined

together the four foundations and the

five aggregates are different ways of

saying the same thing but it depends on

whether you are talking about meditation

are talking about the impersonal process

of the existence of mind and body we

want to see what is there before we

create confusion by identifying with

what we are observing and taking it as

ourself we want to see the body only as

a body feeling only as feeling

consciousness only as consciousness and

so forth we need to observe in

personality or an utter for ourselves

the visibly Magor explains that the

satipatthana sutter methodology is to

break up these four foundations and

practice them separately if you want to

observe the body then

observe the breath part of the body if

you want to observe feeling then only

observe feeling and so on the Vipassana

inside meditation practice breaks up the

four foundations as described above you

observe and focus in on just one of them

separately for the most part you watch

breath going in and out but some

teachers will try to explain that you

have to watch feeling a mind object

separately in a different iteration of

the practice as you focus in on feeling

for example you only see feeling and not

the rest of the aggregates that go with

it you are not truly a mindful which

means to see how your attention moves

from one thing to another it isn't to

just look at the objects themselves in a

concentrated way but the relationship

between the object of meditation and the

other objects moving around it that

explanation is not what is in the suttas

you don't break the four up you can't

you observe all foundations because they

all occur together all of the

foundations exist in every moment or you

would not exist you cannot have body

arise without feeling it perceiving it

and cognizing it you can't have a mind

with no mind objects body of feelings

the foundations arise and are observed

as being conjoined they are not separate

things we have a mind and the body

dependent on each other clearly

observable in even the earliest stages

of the meditation you can't observe body

without consciousness a perception to

cognize what is there all without

feeling to know what feeling is that are

in the body it is like disassembling a

car down to its parts and observing it

running it can't be observed in

operation without all its parts

assembled and running together feeling

is not feelings let's stop here for a

minute and talk about the feeling

foundation to be clear we're talking

about feeling not feelings in the suttas

the aggregate of feeling vadhana is

without the S it is just sensation with

a feeling turn to it

just feeling itself that's all the most

important part of this feeling is that

it is either a pleasant feeling painful

feeling only the pleasant-nor-painful

feeling feelings on the other hand are

usually understood to be emotional

states which mean there is craving mixed

in if you look at someone whom you find

attractive and a pleasant feeling comes

up last likely will arise a pleasant

feeling with lust I like it is what we

call emotions a bit you'll tendency

bother that emotion might be categorized

as a pleasant feeling a desire that is

taken personally this feeling with the

personalization is commonly known as

feelings with an S on the end

for example love we're referred to

romantically is not loving kindness this

kind of love in a relationship is much

more related to the state of affection

or infatuation and has craving in it

loving kindness is a pure non personal

state a true wish for someone to be

happy loving kindness may turn into

compassion when it is directed towards

someone who is suffering it doesn't turn

into hatred or sadness it's never taken

personally these are not feelings they

are just feeling the Buddha considered

feeling to be anything that was felt in

other words he considered feeling as any

mental a physical experience that was

felt he categorized feeling as either

Pleasant and pleasant and neither

Pleasant nor

he did not use the word sensation here

he did not care whether it was a feeling

of heat or a feeling of hardness of the

taste of a mango or a banana flavor he

only wanted you to consider whether it

was pleasant and pleasant a neutral no

need to dive deeper

why is this distinction important why

because feeling leads to craving the I

like it or I don't like it states of

craving are dependent on feeling and

will arise in the untrained mind if not

released quickly the I like it mine may

lead to thoughts about why you like it

when you last had it and

when you'll get it again with this

process your mind starts to wander away

from your object of meditation this is

the unwholesome mind in which you are

watching the five aggregates arise it

becomes muddy with craving leading to

thinking and stories how do we let go of

this craving process and what is a clear

mind free of craving in the next chapter

we will look at what this freed state is

and how it arises we will consider the

stages of progress in the meditation

that the Buddha called the Gianna's we

will examine what they are using the

suttas only and how as time passed the

original meaning of this word became

confused chapter 3 what is a jhana more

than one type of jhana if you have ever

run across the word jhana before then it

is likely a state that you would desire

to experience jhanas are described as

levels of concentration contained in

them can be bliss and deep contentment

which of course everyone wants they are

important to understand because the

Sutter's explained that you passed

through them on the way to near Bana

they are the road to Nibbana actually

there are two types of jhana today there

are some many methods that are taught in

meditation practice which is right how

can we find out what the Buddha really

taught in the darnit car this same

dilemma was addressed by the Buddha by

Anna cos uttered 21 Sakura asked the

Lord sir do all teachers and Brahmans

teach the same Dharma practice the same

discipline desire the same thing and

pursued the same goal no ruler of the

Gods they do not and why not this world

is made up of many and various elements

and people adhere to one or another of

these elements and become tenaciously

attached to them saying this alone is

true all else is false therefore all

teachers and Brahmans do not teach the

same Dharma practice the same discipline

desire

same thing a pursuit the same goal in

this book we will try to remain faithful

to the SATA material as we explain the

differences in the many techniques of

the Buddhist universe yes there are two

types of jhanas and two major types of

meditation practice by which to attain

those two types of Jonna there is the

one pointed concentration absorption

practice and the tranquil wisdom inside

meditation Twi M practice later the

first type one pointed concentration

practice will be broken further into one

straight concentration absorption

practice - concentration absorption

inside practice and three dry inside

practice the pali word jhana was not

used in reference to meditation prior to

the Buddha the Buddha did use it to

describe his own experiences during

meditation practice while the pali word

jhana is often translated as a state of

concentration this is not direct from

the viewpoint of twi m pali experts like

most venerable Panaji of malaysia say

that John just means level if you check

a parley dictionary it also defines it

as meditation or state of meditation

most venerable Panaji also offers an

alternate definition of the related word

Samadhi which is often considered and

used to define a state of absorption

concentration the Pali word sama means

equal or even DHI means state in this

usage so most venerable Panaji

translates Samadhi as an even state of

balance the word Sam had implies a

collected and unified state but not deep

absorption that suppresses the

hindrances it is a more open and aware

state venerable bhante vim alarum she

defines the word jhana as a level of

understanding each successive jhana is

an increasingly deeper level of

understanding of the workings of

dependent origination and tee-hee mental

process fontava malarum she uses

collected

to translate the word concentration more

accurately

additionally bhante has found that in

pali that the word DHI may also be

translated as wisdom in terms of the

levels of understanding

thus we put together summer and DHI

resulting in tranquil wisdom in the

Buddha's description of the jonna's as

you go deeper into the practice the

attainment of each jhana reflects a

deeper level of understanding of what it

means to let go of craving you pass

through the jhanas as you progress from

gross craving to a finer and finer

balance of mind until finally after the

state of neither perception nor

non-perception the highest jhana

you reach the cessation of craving this

is the gateway to the attainment of

Nirvana

at that moment the cessation of craving

narada samapatti occurs this is the

state of no feeling no perception and no

consciousness arising at all the mind

just stops and Nibbana arises again

Janna never was supposed to mean

absorption it means a collected state or

a level of understanding in mental

development

however as emphasis shifted away from

the Buddha's actual teachings as

described in the suttas to the

commentaries like the viscid Omega the

word jhana was more commonly used to

describe the state of one pointed

concentration in the anger Tarun Iike

the book of fives number 27 we have this

quote and 5:27 the knowledge arises that

is personally yours this concentration

is peaceful and sublime gained by full

tranquilizer TN and attained to

unification it is not reined in and

checked by forcefully suppressing the

defilements clearly this quote indicates

an open and aware state and not an

absorbed suppressing state so there are

two kinds of jhana are two different

ways to understand the term one style is

made up of one pointed absorption jhanas

which are achievable by various

concentration methods including

observing the breath focusing on a

colored disc Cocina or absorbing

yourself in a candle flame these Jana's

for the states achieved by the yogic

masters and were learned by the future

Buddha when he first started down the

path the absorption concentration jhanas

have been adopted by many of today's

buddhist monks and are supported by

commentaries like the vissa d mega then

fontava malarum she explains the visibly

Magga was written by a venerable Buddha

Hauser a Korea in the fifth century

1

the following reading is of the book the

path to Nirvana her mindfulness of

loving-kindness progresses through the

tranquil aware Jonah's to awakening by

David C Johnson introduction the purpose

of this book is to help the Ernest C

current advanced meditator understand

the experiences and signposts on the

Buddha's path which has as its goal the

destruction of craving and the

elimination of ignorance I want to

document these experiences for the

meditation community so they may be

studied and preserved as a guide to

future meditators this book was also

written so that meditators without

access to local teachers could have all

the instructions to continue down this

path on their own every instruction on

how to meditate at every level is here

there are no secret techniques held back

just the words from the suttas and

commentary by venerable bart ava malarum

she in this edition the beginners

instruction guide is added to the back

of this book a beginner's guide to

tranquil wisdom inside meditation by

bhante v malarum she read this first if

you wish to start from the beginning and

make the quickest progress if when you

were starting you bogged down and you

just can't feel this loving-kindness for

yourself take a look at the pamphlet

also at the end of this book by bhante v

malarum she entitled a guide to

forgiveness meditation try this

meditation and see if it doesn't loose

and possible blocks in your mind from

past traumas bosses or other scary

memories forgiveness can be a perfect

prerequisite to experiencing warm

flowing loving-kindness but some places

in the book I will put meditation

instruction to highlight for students

using the book as an instruction guide

any updates to the meditation practice

instructions based on personal progress

or a significant experience that may

arise

this book expands on the previously

printed a guide to tranquil wisdom

inside meditation that guide clearly

lays out beginning instructions for the

practice Olivetti wim in fine detail

this entire pamphlet has been included

at the back of this book for your use at

home if you wish to start now Twi M is a

fancy name for basic click the brahma

vihara practice starting with meta or

loving-kindness as the object breath may

be used but tends to have slower

progress these instructions are taken

directly from the meditation methods

described in the suttas the earliest

Buddhist teachings Twi M is the practice

that will lead us to new bonner as it is

outlined in the texts we will see that

when the instructions are followed there

are immediate results precisely as the

Buddha laid out the path to nib honor

elaborates on both the goal in the

practice of meditation is explained by

the Buddha its purpose is to follow the

progress of the practice as it is

explained in the suttas themselves for

that the clearest map is the match ji

min nicaya m and no 111 the a new pada

Sutter

one by one is they occurred this Sutter

shows how progress occurs step-by-step

all the way to near Bonner this is the

map we will use as we go through the

levels of insight in this book the

Sutter's of the Pali Canon a traceable

back to thousand five hundred and fifty

years to the Buddha himself they're

considered by scholars to be the words

of the Buddha as he originally spoke

them to put a finer point on this it is

thought that the Buddha spoke my goody

that was his native language Pali is a

form of that language and later all of

the Sutter's were documented in Pali

first by reciting and then writing them

down by members of the Buddhist Order in

Sri Lanka they were written on palm

leaves about 80 BC as they were written

down monks who had memorized the suttas

checked the written texts for any

wrong words the satyrs were inscribed on

stone tablets in Mandalay Burma and the

today still being memorized and recited

by Buddhist monks in Burmese monasteries

this has continued since the first

Council of 500 senior monks or era hands

convened three months after the Buddha

died I visited this interesting site in

Burma in 2003 and saw the white marble

stones with these very inscription x'

groups of monks memorized the sutter

texts together one monk will recite and

the rest of the group of check and

correct him as he goes this method has

been about as foolproof as any other to

retain original texts for long periods

writing the suttas noun can be subject

to the translators misinterpretation of

what words to use to describe the

practice precisely but even with this

method that could have been errors that

crept in even as perfect as this system

was we can't really in there because we

weren't there and it was over 25

centuries ago thus we use these Sutter's

as the closest direct guide to what the

Buddha really taught there are many

Buddhist sects and many different

beliefs and practices all we can do is

find what meditation practice matches

the Buddha's words the practice of Twi M

is new in the sense it has been

rediscovered in the suttas it is not

practiced very widely yet which seems

rather surprising in fact venerable

bhante vim alarum xi and his approved

teachers are the only ones who teach

directly from the suttas in this way

others reference the suttas but don't

follow them precisely Twi M is the

actual and correct application of right

effort this is the reason for its

resulting success I will discuss more

about this later changes have been made

in other practices to allegedly improve

upon the Buddha's meditation

instructions but hold on he was the

Buddha is it not just a little bit

presumptuous to think that

instructions of a Buddha can be improved

upon after all he was indeed the supreme

me awaken ptarth Agharta perfecting his

wisdom over countless lifetimes let's

try to put aside all the other

techniques for now and just focus on how

to practice as described in the early

teachings as close to the actual words

of the Buddha as we can get most

scholars agree that the Pali Canon and

it's utters are the actual teachings of

the Buddha so let's go to them and only

them to find the way to practice the ANU

pada Sutter M in 111 explains the

progress of the meditation through the

jhanas and the four foundations of

mindfulness at the same time it will be

shown here that these jhanas when

practiced as taught in the suttas will

lead us to awakening the jhanas

described in the a new pod result were

not to be confused with the

concentration states commonly taught

elsewhere these are the tranquil aware

jhanas that are being taught in the

suttas in which you maintain awareness

of both mind and body

the foundation is collectiveness not

concentration which we will cover later

it is this rediscovered where Jonah that

is the key to a new understanding of the

Buddhist teachings the TWI M technique

referenced in this book uses for its

primary SATA guide the middle length

discourses of the Buddha a translation

of the match Jim Anika by Baku body and

Baku Nana moly fontava millirems she

feels this is the closest translation

available though sometimes he prefers

different wordings then I used there for

example he uses the word habitual

tendency instead of becoming more on

this later

we will combine here the explanation of

the suttas meaning with the actual

experiences of the many meditators who

have practiced and have been successful

also we will attempt to explain some of

the reasons why certain experiences and

subtle phenomena occur though only the

Buddha knows for sure please forgive me

for errors and a mish

some phenomena are like the subtlest

links of dependent origination that are

deep down in the mental processes have

had the descriptions left out there for

the student to discover on their own and

it weren't changed the pace of a

student's progress by not describing

them here explaining certain phenomena

before the student is ready to see them

can create false expectations and wrong

ideas many students later who grateful

Devante does not explain to them where

they are in the jonna's they just want

to progress and not be thinking and

analyzing as they practice they may

develop some sense of pride because of

thoughts about arm in this John are that

Gianna

they might have some familiarity with

meditation practice and may have some

conceit Arizer gets to seek a thinking

about how far advanced they are when

they are only beginners in this practice

it is better off not knowing where you

are if you are on an intensive retreat

and just follow the instructions if you

are seeking an even deeper understanding

of how the practice works than what is

described here in this book more

descriptions of insights and levels of

understanding that arise and the subtle

references that support this meditation

you may also want to read one of the

following books meditation is life life

is meditation which provides information

in depth and detail breath of love and

moving Dharma volume volume one also

offers skillful guidance as one goes

deeper into it to the practice these are

all written by venerable Bart Ava

malarum she my purpose here is to put

down on paper the steps to awakening the

progress through the levels of insight

to awakening it is my hope that this

knowledge can be handed down studied in

the future and not lost this book is

based on venerable bant Ava malarum

she's Sutter based methods and results

using texts from his various talks as

well drawing on my own personal

experiences involving this practice

today

practices include Brahmanic influences

new-age methods and even a new take on

Buddhism in which the Buddha himself

starts to disappear from the pages this

is called secular Buddhism just

mindfulness with no mention of the

Buddha a hard weight of the Buddha's

teachings has been mixed up with Western

psychology and even the word mindfulness

is no longer being used in the way the

Buddha intended an important goal of

this book is to show how Buddhism as it

is generally taught today has veered

away from the ideas presented in the

suttas it has deviated from what the

historical Buddha taught we are going to

explore among other things what the

Buddha taught us in his own words from

the suttas awakening both mind and body

dependent origination the definition of

mindfulness what is tranquil wisdom

inside meditation Twi M what are the six

R's two types of jhanas absorption

jhanas and aware jhanas the progress

through the jhanas to Nirvana the four

stages of sainthood chapter one what is

Buddhism around 2600 years ago when the

young Prince Siddhartha Gautama went

outside his palace into the village he

realized suffering was experienced

universally by all beings he found that

there was sickness old age and death and

it's a shocked him that he left behind

his wife and newborn son his kingdom and

all his worldly goods to go in search of

a way to end this suffering after years

of searching he finally discovered the

path to the end of suffering Nibbana a

path which he described as not only

achieving release from suffering but

that it was also immediately effective

or not taking th at long if practiced

correctly he then spent the next forty

five years teaching the path to others

during that time many people were

awakened the matter vaca got to Sutter

number 73 in the match Jim Anika MN

confirms and gives us more deed

tells about just how many thousands of

people were awakened in the sutter when

the Buddha is asked if there were any

beings who had been successful he

clearly described the numbers and

attainments of those he had taught what

is suffering the Buddha stated the cause

through his Four Noble Truths there are

suffering and dissatisfaction in the

world and in our lives the cause and

origin of that suffering is craving the

cessation of craving is the cessation of

suffering the Eightfold Path leads us to

the end of that suffering this is

Buddhism in brief suffering the cause of

suffering the end of suffering and the

path leading to the end of suffering

this is the heart of Buddhism it is not

about rites and rituals prayers and

incense it is not a religion but a

scientific investigation into overcoming

sorrow at all levels of mind and body in

modern times it seems that few people

actually reach awakening some teachers

explained that people in the Buddha's

time were more spiritually developed and

some say it was because of the Buddha

himself others attribute the lack of

success to the so called darker times in

which we now live but the Buddha made it

clear that if you follow the directions

awakening can be achieved in a single

lifetime even in as little as a few days

this is as true today as it was at the

time of the Buddha this book just might

be the proof people are different

culturally but our minds and bodies all

function in the same way this means that

if we follow the true path of the Buddha

we too can experience awakening in a

short period of time the experiences of

our students who have followed the

instructions from the earliest sutter's

precisely without adding or subtracting

anything for proof of that they have

experienced the states I will talk about

an su canoe a super Monday in science

dr. Albert Einstein is attributed to

have said that if he were ever

interested in getting involved with

religion he would become a Buddhist

Buddhism he said is the religion that is

the closest to science he talked about

air cosmic religion which he felt

Buddhism was closer to certainly most

people think of Buddhism is a religion

but what is a religion religion is

defined in the merriam-webster

dictionary as follows belief in a God or

a group of God's an organized system of

beliefs ceremonies and rules used to

worship her God or a group of gods so is

Buddhism a religion many sects of

Buddhism seem to treat it as such and

certainly most people consider it one

but the Buddha left had the whole

concept of God and what the Buddha

taught is certainly beyond any religious

belief system then is it science perhaps

but it may even be beyond science

at least the existing level of today's

knowledge because the Buddha's concern

was with the cause and the cessation of

suffering much of what he taught focused

on the development of mind through deep

meditative practices there is a growing

tendency currently in the scientific

community to explain everything about

mind in terms of neuroscience and the

study of the brain in fact much of

neuroscience ceased mind is just a

product of the functioning brain but

this is a limited understanding of mind

so in one corner you have practitioners

of meditation wanting to find happiness

with religious leaders teachings and

meditation and in the other corner you

have Western scientists wanting to find

happiness through the study of the

physical brain there seems to be the

goal maybe hope is a better word that by

understanding the brain we can somehow

develop a therapy or pill to attain

happiness studying the neural system

will give us an idea of how neurons work

and what they look like on an MRI and

other medical measurement equipment it

may also show us what parts of the brain

are used for certain mental functions

but it will never explain the insights

that are experienced by mind

for our purposes it does not give

insights into the true nature of

suffering and how through seeing these

insights Nibbana can be attained there

is no way at least that we know of now

to duplicate the process of awakening in

the lab by any physical process drugs

machines etc to achieve awakening we

must understand at a very deep level how

body and mind working together is an

impersonal process without any self or

soul the brain is not mind and mind is

not the brain the brain is just part of

the body like an arm or a finger mind

brain is something that sits in

dependence upon the physical body

however mind is something we cannot

directly measure and can only indirectly

understand why because we are dependent

on the reported experience of the

individual for this information when

studying another person to find out

their actual cognition of something we

only have what they tell us we cannot

measure for example their understanding

of reality so since science is defined

by Merriam Webster's dictionary as

systematized knowledge derived from

observation study and experimentation

carried on in order to determine the

nature our principles of what is being

studied and saying that Buddhism leans

more toward science than belief is close

but still not quite right the Buddha did

leave us a clear set of methods and

instructions that have come down to us

from the suttas which allow us to go

deeply into our mind and observe things

firsthand whenever the buddha taught the

way to the cessation of suffering he

always told his followers that they did

not have to believe what he said but

that they should come and see for

themselves as he suggested in the

calamus utter do not take up his

teachings with only faith try at first

and then dismiss it if it has no

measurable benefit no belief of faith

was asked for by the buddha these

instructions still apply try the

practices that Buddha taught it

you decide for yourself if the results

who are having the same as those that

are described and if they are beneficial

to you when you see that they work and

produce repeatable results this develops

confidence and encourages you to

continue on the path if we only study

the brain we cannot purport to be

studying mind as mind is only truly in

knowable by the individual being studied

the researcher must ask the subject what

happened they can never know how

understanding and wisdom have internally

affected the subjects mind this is

something beyond simple science when we

say that the Buddha's teachings go

beyond science ie that it is

supramundane we are talking about both

the actual methods that the Buddha

taught and the results insights achieved

with the practice while both the methods

and the results are repeatable and

measurable they are also subjective

experiences they are transformative and

profound but not easily measured by

outside researchers the Buddha was not

just trying to understand the nature and

principles of what is being studied he

was searching for a way to finally end

personal suffering not just obtain

understanding of it

Buddhism is beyond any scientific study

because only by observing mind directly

with one's own consciousness can we

understand mind once the understanding

is achieved then that mind being

observed is transformed in India it is

called their subjective science I call

it super Monday in science this is why

we needed a Buddha to show us the path

the answer was not as simple this or

that it was a subtle recipe a complex

training to which he gave the name a

middle path between all extremes

awakening both mind and body

traditionally Indian masters believed

that enlightenment could be achieved by

controlling desire as desire was

believed to be the cause of all kinds of

suffering practicing initially within

this tradition the Buddha mastered the

mind based practices of yogic

one-pointed

option concentration following that he

spent some long years mastering the body

based austere ascetic practices of the

yogic sadhus both efforts were intended

to bring desire under control and

thereby bring about awakening on the one

hand the Brahmanic meditation masters

believed that they could control desire

by controlling mind by forcing the

attention to stay on an object for a

longer and longer periods of time it was

thought that craving or desire could be

controlled but it wasn't that craving

would be overcome it was that there

would arise this all-powerful controller

of that craving which by improving self

discipline and self control would be

able to exert mastery over desire

holding it down and keep it from coming

up pushing it down versus eliminating it

but then would have to ask the question

who is our real self care the

controlling one the mind that wish to

control desire or the one with the

desire or neither for their even to be a

self there must be something that is

considered not the self or at least not

our real self in the Brahma jawless

utter no one of the dharna car the

Buddha describes there are sixty two

views of self there is self watching

self not self observing self the self

observing and not self and on and on

there is only one you at which one is it

if an alcoholic says they will give up

drinking by exercising the willpower

then who is the real self which desire

is the real you it seems like a fight

for control is going to break out soon

on the other hand if controlling desires

with mental self-control and discipline

didn't work then ascetics thought that

they could control desire by controlling

the body Yogi's would stand on one leg

for extended periods or eat are very

restricted by it believing that by

controlling the body in this way

enlightenment would surely come mind

would experience a breakthrough when the

control of the body was mastered again

self discipline would enable someone to

take

charge and bring desire under control

this someone was conceived as the higher

self or the I who would finally have

total control such third one would no

longer be subject to design dat

suffering

this was the perceived goal of the

meditation practice

it wasn't about eliminating desire but

actually controlling desire after

practicing both approaches extensively

the future Buddha Bodhisattva had not

achieved awakening when he entered deep

states of absorption concentration he

found that these states suppress his

sense basis so that he no longer felt

heard or experienced anything from the

body the mental states he achieved were

blissful and sublime however he soon

realized that tightly controlling mind

did suppress desire but only while he

was practicing this was temporary it did

not eradicate the craving mind entirely

as soon as he stopped practicing desire

returned in full force similarly after

six years of ascetic practices when he

was about to die from hunger near Bodh

Gaya he understood that excessive

controlling of the body through

depravation would only lead to death

through starvation when he was about to

die from hunger near Bodh Gaya

he understood that excessive controlling

of the body through deprivation would

only lead to death through starvation it

would not however lead to the

elimination of desire the cessation of

suffering would never be achieved with

these practices when he had all but

given up practicing concentration

meditation and ascetic techniques to

their absolute limit he realized that

control was not the answer it was a

futile practice that didn't lead to

awakening using craving to control

craving at that point he sat down under

the body tree and determined that he

would sit there until he found the

answer on a full moon day in May he

became the tathagata the Buddha the

awakened one in the third watch of the

night between 3 and 7 a.m. he had found

the middle way

he had come to understand the need to

employ a meditation method that used a

totally different approach a method that

would include both mind and body and

eliminated the controller the Buddha had

previously developed the seeing and

understanding of how his mind worked by

careful observation he began to see that

the mental processes are a dependent

chain of events arising in passing away

we now know this is seeing the links of

dependent origination the Buddha used

the term Pataca sama pada which is

parley for dependent origination on the

morning of his awakening he realized

that seeing clearly the deepest

phenomena in mind is without a doubt the

way to Nibbana by seeing how his own

mind worked and closely observing the

mental processes he grew to understand

that we all caused our own suffering he

saw how desire works how it leads to

suffering and how the cessation of

suffering can be achieved the Buddha

realized that desires arise because we

feed them and continually chase after

them we see them as ours and personally

identify with them in other words if you

are sitting quietly and your mind

earth-2 thinking about how nice it would

be to be somewhere else can you stop it

can you just say that okay mine I'd like

to sit quietly and enjoy some peace this

afternoon No here come the desires for

this and that unasked uncalled for

in that sense it is not our desire

because we personally identify with

these desires that we experience

thinking of them as mine and then become

attached to them this craving inevitably

leads to suffering we have no control

over how when they arise or how are when

they pass away craving and suffering

occur because we identify with and

personalize these desires and then cling

to them dependent origination is the

understanding that all things in both

body and mind are conditioned they're

conditioned are caused by what came

before and they're inevitably lead to

what happens next by seeing this chain

of events clearly we see that everything

is impersonal so where are we in this

process where am I an important part of

understanding dependent origination is

that this thing we call self or ego is

actually not a self or ego at all but an

impersonal process that happens

completely beyond our control in fact

there is no possibility of control

because there is no continuous a

permanent self capable of being the

controller the board has saw that there

are only processes arising and passing

away with no permanent self involved who

controls anything who makes the

decisions even decision itself is

another condition mental process which

arises based on previous actions

decisions aren't made by some permanent

self who has control of what's happening

there are the impersonal you at that

moment our only possible input is to

recognize the reality of this situation

and not to take it personally not to be

attached to the outcome of any given

situation this is the practice of right

effort we call it the six R's and we'll

discuss this later this was a unique and

profound truth that the Buddha

discovered and presented to the thinkers

of his time once the board of fully and

deeply realized what he had discovered

he found that craving and suffering

ceased and today researchers have found

that there are indeed measurable changes

in both the mind and bodies of

meditators as various types of

meditation techniques are practiced

there are measurable positive results

the Buddha realized that he could not

break through to awakening by

controlling either mind a body

independently you can't turn off input

from the body by suppressing the sense

basis in some sort of deep concentration

on the other hand you can't torture the

body and they expect this to lead to

some sort of control of mind by

controlling pain the Buddha understood

that mind and body worked together but

first he tried controlling each one

separately as far as he could muster his

energy and determination

it didn't work the result was that he

gave up trying to control mind and body

to look for another way to solve this

dilemma hundreds of years later there

came commentaries and opinions about the

Buddha's teachings like the Vista team

agar which started to split our

practices fundamentally discriminating

insight and concentration Vipassana and

samatha into different techniques

whereas the original satyrs had called

for them to be yoked together the

visibly Magga was written in 430 CE he

over 900 years after the Buddha lived it

is a large volume written by Buddha

hoser that attempts to lay out most of

the chief meditative practices that the

Buddha taught it is especially

considered a very important document for

the Theravada Buddhist sect since it is

not the words of the Buddha it is

considered a commentary on his practices

in the Vistula Maya there are many

methods involved in developing

concentration some use casinos are

colored discs many use the breath to

create an emitter a sign on which to

concentrate we will describe the origins

of the book later and how it fits with

meditation practice then K dry inside

practice which avoided deep

concentration entirely those teachers

even told the practitioners to stay away

from concentrated absorption practices

because they might get attached this dry

insight method developed only enough

concentration to start investigating the

mental process without the benefit of

the stronger type of concentration

teachers of such an approach said it was

faster and more direct the question here

is did the Buddha teach this here is the

critical understanding of what the

Buddha taught in the suttas he says that

concentration samatha is yoked together

with Insight Vipassana samatha and

Vipassana therefore must be practiced

together this is what is actually taught

in the suttas and this is what bhante

Vimy larum Shi

Reed's covered hiding there in plain

sight he has named this tranquil wisdom

inside meditation or aware jhana

practice before we get into meditation

practice let us look at how mind works

by examining what the Buddha considered

the most important concept to learn

dependent origination leaving control

behind after years of practice in the

Brahmanic tradition on the night of his

awakening the Buddha realized why he had

not found relief the fundamental premise

of those practices was incorrect that

idea assumed that one could actually

control design thereby control suffering

on the night of his awakening the Buddha

directly realized what he had already

reasoned out about his own mental

processes he understood that everything

has craving in it and arises because of

actions that took place in the past

because those actions have already

happened no one has any control over

what will emerge or how they will react

to it in other words you cannot in fact

control what desire arises but can only

observe the impersonal arising of it

what is dependent origination and how

does it work when one sits and quiets

mind all becomes still the next thing

that might happen is a sand arising a

bird made sure the sound formed the

chirp hits the ear base the organ

physical ear and ear consciousness

arises these three things sound the air

base and ear consciousness of the

contact link in the twelve links of

dependent origination contact fossa is

all three elements coming together so

that hearing happens in the same way

lighting a match you have the match head

the flammable chemicals and the Flint of

the match box when they are struck

together this is called contact heat and

light arise resulting in a flame if

either one of these three things am

missing hearing doesn't happen once

hearing happens there arises a feeling

vadhana associated with that sound then

perception arises

that it is pleasant unpleasant or

neither-pleasant-nor-painful owed by

craving Tana arising with the formula I

like it or I don't like it or I don't

care this is where you start to identify

with what is happening and take it

personally craving can always be

recognized as tension and tightness in

the head the tension or tightness is how

you recognize craving you must see and

let go of this craving in the head that

desire is what is next going to lead you

into thought clinging and then leads to

the birth of action in resulting in

sorrow lamentation grief and despair

following craving clinging up Hagana or

thinking arises the story about why you

like it or don't like it this is based

on your past experience what happened

when that sound arose at some past time

you remember a time when you were bird

watching and heard a unique type of bird

thoughts arise and a story begins about

the sound then there arises a driver an

urge to action associated with what you

might do when that sound is heard this

is the habitual emotional tendency a

behavior bhava for example if you are a

bird watcher when you hear a bird you

have a habitual tendency to reach for

your camera or you might have a tendency

to reach for your binoculars a habitual

emotional tendency is something you

always tend to do in a certain situation

it can be your habitual reaction to a

feeling you have someone comes in the

room and complains about something you

always react in the same way by not

liking it and emotionally reacting to

the person complaining your spouse calls

and says he/she will be home late from

work you may get this kind of call quite

a bit and react the same way every time

with a negative reaction it might be a

judgment of you are unreliable or it

might be a reaction to lash out because

you think he/she isn't telling the truth

it is habitual it tends to come up when

this situation occurs

when this habitual reaction arises this

is where the strong tendency to try and

control your feelings with your thoughts

arises you observe that mind is

disturbed and you react with frustration

trying to control the disturbing

thoughts this is the start of taking

something personally you've become

emotional mind has many factors the

states of consciousness contained in it

there is a greedy mind and there is a

joyful mind in the ANU pada Sutter the

Buddha says that even the mental factor

of decision is conditioned by previous

actions from the past this decision

process is something that you might call

a volition or intention but we have to

be careful to use those words because

they might wrongly imply that there is a

self making a decision decision is just

a small yet the most important factor of

the coming toward decision as stated

previously phenomena arise and past like

the sound of a bird and are dependent on

that sound for its existence when your

mind is very tranquil you can see the

decision factor arise as well as the

push that goes with it to make the

decision it's pretty interesting when

you can observe your mind operating at

this level and see how truly uie I am

not in charge for example a desire

arises to get a cup of tea you then

continue to think about which tea might

taste good if you are very mindful you

can see the exact moment when you decide

which tea to have there is a moment in

which your decision arises if you back

away gently just allowing everything to

arise very carefully watching it this is

your mental investigation factor you'll

see the decision mental factor arise

entirely on its own and then it also

passes away there appears this call to

action arising through the craving

attached to it this craving is the push

you feel to go into action is there

really free will is there some soul or

entity down deep making decision

kind of yet at the deepest level there

is only the deciding mind that arises

and passes away so you have the decision

there but it is a conditioned decision

the phrase volitional formations used in

the Sutter Texas inadequate not

precisely correct volition indicates

someone is deciding but there is no one

there to do that there are only causes

and conditions there is no you that

makes the decision just the deciding

moment the only real power we have is to

allow and observe releasing and relaxing

into the decision seeing it fade away

continuing after the habitual tendency

Lincoln dependent origination comes the

actual birth of action jati link and you

get up to go get your camera the drive

to action translates into taking action

this can be bodily action moving verbal

action speaking or mental action

thinking unfortunately by the time you

get back with your camera the bird has

flown away due to the result of your

action in getting the camera

dissatisfaction might arise because now

the bird is gone you think your actions

always will lead you to what you want

but you can never really positively be

sure of the results of any action the

best laid plans of mice and men then

what follows the birth of action link is

the last link sorrow lamentation grief

and despair yes there are some happy

moments here and there but they are

fleeting even if you get that picture

you will wish the bird had stayed longer

pull the dude recorded its song etc in

the twelve links of dependent

origination we just went through the

last part of the process The Grocer and

observable part these are the last seven

contact feeling craving clinging

habitual tendency birth of action and

sorrow lamentation grief and despair

these are the ones you can see without

having to go too deep into the

meditation contact feeling craving

clinging habitual tendency

birth of action sorrow lamentation grief

and despair the first five links of the

full twelve links of do come before the

ones listed above and can be understood

as potentials they can only be observed

as subtle movements in mind with the

exception of ignorance which is your

understanding later when your meditation

goes deeper you'll see the arising of

the first five ignorance formations

consciousness mentality materiality and

the six-fold sense base the Buddha said

that it all starts with ignorance of how

things work that is ignorance of the

truth of dependent origination and of

the Four Noble Truths which makes clear

that craving drives the whole process of

suffering it is this ignoring of the

Four Noble Truths which leads us to act

in unwholesome ways which creates

endless suffering on the next page is a

chart that shows the circle of dependent

origination each link is dependent on

the link before it as nutriment as food

in each link there is also a small

additional amount of craving which makes

the whole process continue forward in a

never-ending chain of events the sam yot

Anika has a wealth of information about

dependent origination and what it is

here are the basics SN 12.1 monks I will

teach you dependent origination listen

to that in 210 closely I will speak yes

venerable sir those monks replied the

Blessed One said this and what monks is

dependent origination with ignorance as

conditioned formations come to be with

formations as conditioned consciousness

with consciousness as conditioned name

and form with name and form as

conditioned the sixth sense bases with

the sixth sense basis as conditioned

contact with contactors conditioned

feeling with feeling as conditioned

craving with craving as conditioned

clinging with King as conditioned

existence with our existence as

conditioned

birth with Bertha's condition aging and

death sorrow lament at Ian's pain

displeasure and despair can't be such is

the origin of this whole mass of

suffering this monks is called dependent

origination but with the remainders

fading away and cessation of ignorance

comes cessation informations with the

cessation of formations cessation of

consciousness with the cessation of

consciousness cessation of name-and-form

with the cessation of name-and-form

cessation of the sixth sense bases with

the cessation of the sixth sense bases

cessation of contact with the cessation

of contact cessation of feeling with the

cessation of feeling cessation of

craving with the cessation of craving

cessation of clinging with the cessation

of clinging cessation of existence with

the cessation of existence cessation of

birth with the cessation of birth aging

and death sorrow lamentation pain

displeasure and despair cease such as

the cessation of this whole mass of

suffering the highest goal of Twi M is

to see how each link is dependent on a

condition by the previous link when one

understands this process in a deep and

profound way the unconditioned state

Nibbana arises for the first time this

first instance is the path knowledge one

realizes that there is no personal self

or ego just an impersonal process

dependent on conditions for this

realization comes tremendous relief

because as the famous Zen saying goes no

self no problem no one is there so

nobody to control it's as if we see a

dark figure walking toward us fear might

arise because our mind throws up this

concept of a villain from our past yet

when we get closer we see it is our

friend and that fearful image is

replaced by another happy image just in

the same way we thought there was a self

there and now we see that it was an

illusion

we can follow the links of dependent

origination in our own behavior in much

the same way we look at a town and trace

it back over the last hundred years the

first buildings led to more buildings

then they deteriorated and were replaced

by different buildings and so on and so

forth

this arising and passing away of

conditions is like the arising and

passing away of a great city flourishing

and deteriorating and constantly

changing

finally it disappears because of

countless causes depending on each other

there is no controller making decisions

and taking actions there in that city

there are only changes occurring

conditioned by what has happened in the

past similarly you have no personal self

or soul controlling your progress

through life there are only changes that

happen due to causes and conditions

arising and passing away this is what we

mistakenly call ourself me myself and I

it's an impersonal process an endless

chain of causes and conditions that flow

like a river a river that we mistakenly

take as ourselves dependent origination

is indeed the most important principle

of Buddhism along with the Four Noble

Truths understanding the source of

suffering is craving and how dependent

origination works leads to the

elimination of that craving

understanding that the Noble Eightfold

Path is the way to this goal is the

heart of Buddhist meditation chapter 2

mindfulness redefined what is

mindfulness

just what does mindfulness mean there

was an article in a Buddhist magazine

where this question was posed to for

meditation teachers by the end of the

discussion a satisfactory answer still

had not been reached they decided to

take it up again in next month's

magazine mindfulness does seem to be all

the rage these days and has gone from

its strict Buddhist origins who are more

general acceptance anywhere from use by

psychologists to children and even by

the military it even has it

magazine mindful mindfulness is used to

be aware of one's thoughts and once

general state of being and is used to

calm one down and relax these are all

the good uses but is it what the Buddha

taught is the actual procedure of

mindfulness the process he intended I

have a theory and you won't find it

anywhere else so please bear with me the

pali word for mindfulness is sati when

the pali texts were translated the

translators ran into this word sati and

had to pick out an appropriate english

word to translate it to the problem is

that some of the things that buddha

taught were brand new ideas and never

had been exposed to european culture

there never were any English words that

represented these Eastern concepts

Buddhism he had never come to the west

thus no English vocabulary had been

developed so what to do pick the closest

word sati had to do with observation and

to know what was happening so the word

mindful was selected made sense who did

it the problem was that mindfulness

already was a solid concept in the

English language be mindful of the

opening and don't bump your head that

sort of definition became applied to

sati and thus to be mindful meant to

remember to look where you are going and

watch carefully the process of getting

there what happened here is that the

English word has exerted powerful undue

influence over the pali term now it was

almost as if the poly term was created

to represent the english word and not

the other way around the parley term in

a sense became the english term because

the translators were not meditators they

could only get what sati really meant

that would be fine if that is how sati

is defined and used in the suttas but it

may not be you are now going to get a

new definition of the word mindfulness

that is quite different in its

application when tested against the

sutter texts you will see that it works

better

the definition of mindfulness is

remembering to observe how minds

attention moves from one thing to

another looking closer at this

definition the first part is just

remembering which sounds easy but it

isn't once you pay attention you will

find that your mind is constantly

distracted from observation of itself by

thoughts over which you have no control

you are aware of mind a thought arises

and you are pulled away and with that

thought until you remember that you're

supposed to be paying attention to the

movement of minds attention

you bring your observation back to mind

and then maybe a few seconds of minutes

later another thought pulls your

attention away it's important to

remember what it is you're supposed to

be doing observing the process of mind's

attention and its movements as part of

an impersonal process which leads us to

the second part on retreat you go for a

walking meditation as you start your

practice and you slowly walk down the

path your mind wanders the first thing

you must do is to remember to be mindful

then actually do it so the second part

of mindfulness means to become aware of

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another the Buddha intended

that the meditator be mindful of what

arises in the present whatever that may

be and that they specifically see how it

arises he didn't care what the feelings

of sensations were at whether we peered

at them that closely are not only to

know they had arisen he did not intend

from the meditator to pick out specific

parts of the four foundations of

mindfulness or the five aggregates of

mind and body and only observed those

that would have been a concentration

practice focusing in on those individual

parts rather he wanted you to watch the

activity of mind's attention and to

observe one how it arises and passes

away without any control on your part

and two how you take this mental

movement personally as yourself mind

clamps onto a feeling and then

identifies it as my

even though you did not ask for it to

arise or to pass away you never had any

control over it whatsoever

it just arose when conditions were right

this identification with feeling gives

rise to a false belief in a personal

self the concept of I when you see how

the I concept arises you can release it

by not keeping attention on it relax the

tension a tightness caused by the

disturbance smile into it and return to

the meditation object it becomes clear

that there never was herself at all

there is only the endless stream of

activity since you have no control over

what comes up you begin to see how this

identification process craving is at the

root of suffering craving manifests as

that desire to control what happens and

when even that can't be accomplished

suffering arises and we don't like it

this leads to frustration and an even

further desire to control so again what

is the definition of mindfulness

mindfulness is remembering observe how

mind's attention moves from one thing to

another as things arise unasked and they

then completely pass away when they have

run their course mindfulness is not over

focusing on an object feeling a breath

or anything else it only knows that it

is happening this process of observing

the movement of mind's attention is

where you see the hindrances arise and

pull your attention away there are five

hindrances one greet essential desires

to hatred or aversion three sloth

laziness sleepy and torpor dullness four

restlessness worry or anxiety five doubt

in yourself at the teacher the practice

or the Buddha as you stay with your

object of meditation this is where you

will find craving rearing its ugly head

it is your goal to fully understand how

craving arises and by understanding the

process you let go of this craving and

stay with the object of meditation

and you don't do this by clenching your

teeth and pushing it away you want to

make the hindrances your friends they

are your teachers they show you where

you are attached when you fully

understand them you'll need no more

instruction you will graduate to

awakening you will see the four

foundations of mindfulness with pure

clear observation power you will see

them free of craving and free of you're

taking them personally it will be a

relief to give up the control of those

things that are uncontrollable the four

foundations of mindfulness as we

investigate deeper into Twi a meditation

it is important to understand the four

foundations of mindfulness and how they

are correctly applied to the meditation

practice M + 10 the satipatthana sutter

tells us to observe the four foundations

of mindfulness the sutter says observe

the four foundations and let go of

craving and clinging letting go of

taking the foundations personally the

four foundations are body feeling

consciousness and mind objects they are

also known as the five aggregates body

feeling perception formations and

consciousness when the four foundations

are used instead of the five aggregates

perception and feeling are joined

together the four foundations and the

five aggregates are different ways of

saying the same thing but it depends on

whether you are talking about meditation

are talking about the impersonal process

of the existence of mind and body we

want to see what is there before we

create confusion by identifying with

what we are observing and taking it as

ourself we want to see the body only as

a body feeling only as feeling

consciousness only as consciousness and

so forth we need to observe in

personality or an utter for ourselves

the visibly Magor explains that the

satipatthana sutter methodology is to

break up these four foundations and

practice them separately if you want to

observe the body then

observe the breath part of the body if

you want to observe feeling then only

observe feeling and so on the Vipassana

inside meditation practice breaks up the

four foundations as described above you

observe and focus in on just one of them

separately for the most part you watch

breath going in and out but some

teachers will try to explain that you

have to watch feeling a mind object

separately in a different iteration of

the practice as you focus in on feeling

for example you only see feeling and not

the rest of the aggregates that go with

it you are not truly a mindful which

means to see how your attention moves

from one thing to another it isn't to

just look at the objects themselves in a

concentrated way but the relationship

between the object of meditation and the

other objects moving around it that

explanation is not what is in the suttas

you don't break the four up you can't

you observe all foundations because they

all occur together all of the

foundations exist in every moment or you

would not exist you cannot have body

arise without feeling it perceiving it

and cognizing it you can't have a mind

with no mind objects body of feelings

the foundations arise and are observed

as being conjoined they are not separate

things we have a mind and the body

dependent on each other clearly

observable in even the earliest stages

of the meditation you can't observe body

without consciousness a perception to

cognize what is there all without

feeling to know what feeling is that are

in the body it is like disassembling a

car down to its parts and observing it

running it can't be observed in

operation without all its parts

assembled and running together feeling

is not feelings let's stop here for a

minute and talk about the feeling

foundation to be clear we're talking

about feeling not feelings in the suttas

the aggregate of feeling vadhana is

without the S it is just sensation with

a feeling turn to it

just feeling itself that's all the most

important part of this feeling is that

it is either a pleasant feeling painful

feeling only the pleasant-nor-painful

feeling feelings on the other hand are

usually understood to be emotional

states which mean there is craving mixed

in if you look at someone whom you find

attractive and a pleasant feeling comes

up last likely will arise a pleasant

feeling with lust I like it is what we

call emotions a bit you'll tendency

bother that emotion might be categorized

as a pleasant feeling a desire that is

taken personally this feeling with the

personalization is commonly known as

feelings with an S on the end

for example love we're referred to

romantically is not loving kindness this

kind of love in a relationship is much

more related to the state of affection

or infatuation and has craving in it

loving kindness is a pure non personal

state a true wish for someone to be

happy loving kindness may turn into

compassion when it is directed towards

someone who is suffering it doesn't turn

into hatred or sadness it's never taken

personally these are not feelings they

are just feeling the Buddha considered

feeling to be anything that was felt in

other words he considered feeling as any

mental a physical experience that was

felt he categorized feeling as either

Pleasant and pleasant and neither

Pleasant nor

he did not use the word sensation here

he did not care whether it was a feeling

of heat or a feeling of hardness of the

taste of a mango or a banana flavor he

only wanted you to consider whether it

was pleasant and pleasant a neutral no

need to dive deeper

why is this distinction important why

because feeling leads to craving the I

like it or I don't like it states of

craving are dependent on feeling and

will arise in the untrained mind if not

released quickly the I like it mine may

lead to thoughts about why you like it

when you last had it and

when you'll get it again with this

process your mind starts to wander away

from your object of meditation this is

the unwholesome mind in which you are

watching the five aggregates arise it

becomes muddy with craving leading to

thinking and stories how do we let go of

this craving process and what is a clear

mind free of craving in the next chapter

we will look at what this freed state is

and how it arises we will consider the

stages of progress in the meditation

that the Buddha called the Gianna's we

will examine what they are using the

suttas only and how as time passed the

original meaning of this word became

confused chapter 3 what is a jhana more

than one type of jhana if you have ever

run across the word jhana before then it

is likely a state that you would desire

to experience jhanas are described as

levels of concentration contained in

them can be bliss and deep contentment

which of course everyone wants they are

important to understand because the

Sutter's explained that you passed

through them on the way to near Bana

they are the road to Nibbana actually

there are two types of jhana today there

are some many methods that are taught in

meditation practice which is right how

can we find out what the Buddha really

taught in the darnit car this same

dilemma was addressed by the Buddha by

Anna cos uttered 21 Sakura asked the

Lord sir do all teachers and Brahmans

teach the same Dharma practice the same

discipline desire the same thing and

pursued the same goal no ruler of the

Gods they do not and why not this world

is made up of many and various elements

and people adhere to one or another of

these elements and become tenaciously

attached to them saying this alone is

true all else is false therefore all

teachers and Brahmans do not teach the

same Dharma practice the same discipline

desire

same thing a pursuit the same goal in

this book we will try to remain faithful

to the SATA material as we explain the

differences in the many techniques of

the Buddhist universe yes there are two

types of jhanas and two major types of

meditation practice by which to attain

those two types of Jonna there is the

one pointed concentration absorption

practice and the tranquil wisdom inside

meditation Twi M practice later the

first type one pointed concentration

practice will be broken further into one

straight concentration absorption

practice - concentration absorption

inside practice and three dry inside

practice the pali word jhana was not

used in reference to meditation prior to

the Buddha the Buddha did use it to

describe his own experiences during

meditation practice while the pali word

jhana is often translated as a state of

concentration this is not direct from

the viewpoint of twi m pali experts like

most venerable Panaji of malaysia say

that John just means level if you check

a parley dictionary it also defines it

as meditation or state of meditation

most venerable Panaji also offers an

alternate definition of the related word

Samadhi which is often considered and

used to define a state of absorption

concentration the Pali word sama means

equal or even DHI means state in this

usage so most venerable Panaji

translates Samadhi as an even state of

balance the word Sam had implies a

collected and unified state but not deep

absorption that suppresses the

hindrances it is a more open and aware

state venerable bhante vim alarum she

defines the word jhana as a level of

understanding each successive jhana is

an increasingly deeper level of

understanding of the workings of

dependent origination and tee-hee mental

process fontava malarum she uses

collected

to translate the word concentration more

accurately

additionally bhante has found that in

pali that the word DHI may also be

translated as wisdom in terms of the

levels of understanding

thus we put together summer and DHI

resulting in tranquil wisdom in the

Buddha's description of the jonna's as

you go deeper into the practice the

attainment of each jhana reflects a

deeper level of understanding of what it

means to let go of craving you pass

through the jhanas as you progress from

gross craving to a finer and finer

balance of mind until finally after the

state of neither perception nor

non-perception the highest jhana

you reach the cessation of craving this

is the gateway to the attainment of

Nirvana

at that moment the cessation of craving

narada samapatti occurs this is the

state of no feeling no perception and no

consciousness arising at all the mind

just stops and Nibbana arises again

Janna never was supposed to mean

absorption it means a collected state or

a level of understanding in mental

development

however as emphasis shifted away from

the Buddha's actual teachings as

described in the suttas to the

commentaries like the viscid Omega the

word jhana was more commonly used to

describe the state of one pointed

concentration in the anger Tarun Iike

the book of fives number 27 we have this

quote and 5:27 the knowledge arises that

is personally yours this concentration

is peaceful and sublime gained by full

tranquilizer TN and attained to

unification it is not reined in and

checked by forcefully suppressing the

defilements clearly this quote indicates

an open and aware state and not an

absorbed suppressing state so there are

two kinds of jhana are two different

ways to understand the term one style is

made up of one pointed absorption jhanas

which are achievable by various

concentration methods including

observing the breath focusing on a

colored disc Cocina or absorbing

yourself in a candle flame these Jana's

for the states achieved by the yogic

masters and were learned by the future

Buddha when he first started down the

path the absorption concentration jhanas

have been adopted by many of today's

buddhist monks and are supported by

commentaries like the vissa d mega then

fontava malarum she explains the visibly

Magga was written by a venerable Buddha

Hauser a Korea in the fifth century

1