From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=K6Nc8qIEXN4

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

the following reading is of the book the

path to Nirvana our mindfulness of

loving-kindness progresses through the

tranquil aware Jonah's to awakening

chapter 14 the daughter Nibbana as you

continue sitting there will be the

experience of strong stillness and

balance happening and you'll be able to

sit for long periods of time without

many distractions arising the mental

activity is very quiet notice especially

the movement of attention in your head

remember your brain is the seat of the

mind and tension and tightness are

arising right there release and relax in

one gentle motion just a touch of the

six rupees is enough back away quickly

from any movement of mind it can even be

the slightest sensation that draws your

attention relax right then at this stage

mind will be serene and bright there is

a brightness of mind with clear

energetic mindfulness you are

progressing well you easily see anything

arising you relax into any distractions

and six are automatically your mind

simply has no thoughts and your

attention never wanders the subtlest

links of dependent origination will

start to appear in your awareness first

there are the consciousness is arising

from the deep inner mind then even

deeper other formations which are the

cause of those conscious nurses you are

not as phenomenon arising don't identify

with it it is craving now just peace of

mind without these vibrations and

movements of mind is what you are now

finding more desirable there is less

suffering in this quiet tranquil mind

less is better

what are formations they are defined as

bodily verbal and mental formations they

are very small movements the

the potentials of actions to arise and

not the full-fledged results these are

the little seeds out of which

consciousness arises these in turn lead

to mentality materiality and then to the

arising of the sense basis then with

contact they explode into a conscious

awareness we won't mention here how they

appear because we want you to tell the

teacher what you think you are seeing

the teacher will decide if you are right

we don't want to put any expectation

here it is important for you to see

deeply on your own without

preconceptions if there is no teacher

available it still doesn't matter as to

whatever arises the instruction is to

always 6r and go back to your meditation

object you still must let go of

everything when you see what you think

are the formations or some deeper links

6ar them as you would any other

phenomena by a sixth ring any link that

arises this will uncover the next link

deeper in the chain we are removing

tension and tightness from the craving

in the links as they are rise and when

we do this reveals the next deeper part

how do you six our ignorance you don't

it is an understanding of the four noble

truths in SATA MN 128 imperfections the

Buddha states that the meditator may

have the brightness and light fall away

what would be the reason for the loss of

brightness but of course it would be

those pesky hindrances arising they are

dark clouds gathering over this bright

clear mind sometimes mind is so clear

that it can be described as luminous

many times sitting in this state

restlessness might come up since there

is not much to observe you may want

something to watch and might want to

start to control things boredom can

arise along with a corresponding

lessening of mindfulness because of this

the light recedes balancing the factors

of energy tranquility mindfulness and

the other awakening factor

once again we'll bring that radiant mind

back continue to use a clear mind as

your object of meditation if your

mindfulness is strong there will mostly

be the quiet now and then some slight

activity will arise mind will start to

vibrate and there will be a pulling away

from the quiet mind this balance still

point where your awareness resides six

are right then and come back to the

quiet your object of meditation

continues to be that quiet mind itself

be on the lookout for any activity that

arises if you feel you are losing the

quiet you can bring up that feeling of

stillness and notice this when your mind

quiets down again then you can let go of

that feeling and go back to just

observing and relaxing into mind subtle

movements the neutral zone gradually

even the smallest bits of mental

activity will subside it will be as if

there is nothing to 6:r at all you may

get restless and want to get up it is

like you feel there is nothing left to

do do not do that six are that

restlessness and keep sitting now is the

time for patience and persistence very

little happens you have to be okay with

that

mind will settle down more and more if

you just continue you might not even

realize progress is being made but it is

if restlessness or any hindrance starts

to get upper hand just observe with the

intention I don't care what happens next

my job is just to observe what is there

you will see the subtlest aspects of

mind in it of the seeds or potentials

that ultimately lead to birth old age

and death the teacher will ask questions

to find out what you are seeing you'll

be advised to be very watchful as to how

the movements arise and how they appear

and you should not take them personally

they are not your movements arising they

just a phenomena coming from mind we

don't know why and we don't care our

only job is to allow and relax into them

as they fade away it is important for

mindfulness and tranquility to continue

to develop so that these very slight

phenomena can be seen and understood

eventually you'll see all of the links

except ignorance which is just something

that you will come to understand and as

well you'll see all the Four Noble

Truths you are working your way backward

letting go of each link by going deeper

and deeper you will see the link

mentality materiality and continue

backward to consciousness and then the

formations you'll be advised to six are

these objects when they appear

uncovering the next link there is the

separate and big craving link itself

after feeling and before clinging in the

12 links but there is also a small

amount of craving in each individual

link keeping the wheel of samsara

turning you'll be able to see all of

that you will see the entire process of

mind as you six are deeper and deeper

you'll be advised to keep backing away

from each object that arises every time

there is a sound the chain of dependent

origination fires off and you will want

a six are all of that look at the links

the rising closer and closer to see how

each tiny part of it arises there is

craving there to let go you need to let

everything that arises come by itself

don't look for it in this way you can

see how there might be a craving to go

look for more experience your mind

constantly wants to go forward and like

pac-man engage in more and more senses

to see what is there to live more to

experience more this happens because

whatever is experienced passes away so

mind is constantly looking for more to

replace the phenomena that have just

passed see if you can see this jumping

from object to object by taking a mental

standpoint of a full-stop

just mentally standing still and letting

all experienced pass through your

imperturbable state of mind which

doesn't react not even to the slightest

puff of vibration we are exiting this

rounder about existence samsara we do

this by letting go by seeing clearly

each link as it arises and by seeing it

as impersonal impermanent and

unsatisfactory

amen 111 section 18 can't so indeed

these states not having been come into

being

having been they vanish regarding those

states he abided unattracted on repelled

independent detached free dissociated

with a mind rid of barriers he

understood there is an escape beyond and

with the cultivation of that attainment

he confirmed that there is

disenchantment while in this quiet and

clear state of mind there comes first

the knowledge of disenchantment up to

now you have continued observe phenomena

arising and passing away with some

interest you notice you are getting

deeper so you keep going there is less

and less - 6r as you go along mind

becomes quiet when quieter as you

continue you notice this constant

arising and passing away of objects you

notice the silent space between the

objects that arise and pass away you

think to yourself what if I could get

rid of these objects coming and going

then there would be just the peace you

think that then there would be only

silence and not all these annoying

objects and vibrations you see the lack

of eases suffering this trying to

control has an aspect of longing in it

wanting to have something happen is the

very thing that will stop it

the teacher will remind the student that

their job is simply to observe you

realize that now you are beginning to

develop a whole new perspective on the

world you had never thought that the

lack of mental activity would be good

but now you do

you see the venue mental activity and

movement is unsatisfactory silence is

better now you see any vibration and

even any consciousness as unsatisfactory

you even try to stop things from arising

and you can't you were never in control

at all it just keeps coming your mind

starts to go towards silence but there

is a problem the mental stream doesn't

stop and just keeps on rolling a subtle

sort of observation arises I am really

tired of these sensations disturbing my

peace of mind

dissatisfaction arises along with the

realization that it would be best to see

all these arising phenomena just stop

let me please have some peace you are

starting to become disenchanted you look

for a reason why these constant

sensations and mental objects arise but

there seems to be none if you could find

the reason then you might be able to

understand why it comes or a way to turn

it off you want to analyze and solve the

problem but you don't see a solution

finally you just give up looking

interest in watching this constant

stream starts to wane you realize there

really is no end to it this is an

arising state of knowledge about your

mind on the life process it will never

end there is no peace here you are

energetic continually watching every

little vibration thought form etc and

you can be very determined to relax and

let go of everything that arises by

doing that you think you'll get to the

end of the process but it doesn't work

you now understand all that arises to be

a disturbance it upsets the quiet state

of mind that you are starting to enjoy

enjoy not in a craving sort of way but

with appreciation you are starting to

relish the quiet you understand that

balance is better than chasing more

objects this realization will lead to

contentment contentment will arise

without a cascade of vibrations

movements constantly assaulting you you

may have some desire for Nibbana to

arise and might think you are close then

you might put too much energy in and

start to lean into the future hoping for

the attainment to arise you need to 6r

this desire this is the arising of more

craving this is longing you may think

that you need to have the desire to

reach the goal no you have already

pointed your mind there let the

meditation to the rest you make a

determination about getting somewhere

and then you just go you don't think

about the destination the whole time you

are on the way there you just continue

trusting that it will happen as planned

because you are on the right path this

is determination is the desire for

Nibbana

something that we should not have in

these final sessions of sitting before

attaining awakening we need to let go of

even the desire for nibbana when we

first start however we won't even begin

the meditation without some intentional

desire to get us on the path so it is a

positive desire a wholesome desire

because after all it is a desire for no

desire it is not like a desire for

chocolate ice cream or a new car it is a

desire to stop and be still in no peace

this kind of wholesome desire is called

Chanda in Pali as was stated above you

don't know how to stop this stuff from

coming and coming you want it to stop

there is nothing but vibration at all

different levels now you see peace as a

more desirable goal now you wish to be

void of these sensations finally there

comes the point where you just stop

caring about all these arising phenomena

you can't come on this stream to stop

you start to give up and see that by

paying heed to the phenomena you were

feeding them they will never stop if you

are interested in what is there you

realize that all this movement and

vibration is disturbing your kala

and peace mine now becomes disinterested

in water rises and there is a deeper

feeling of disenchantment there are

endless risings this is suffering

this is Dhaka which is poly for

suffering a disease the Buddha said the

first noble truth of existence is

suffering now you see it you see how you

pay attention to and like and dislike

everything that arises there by keeping

it going through craving the second

noble truth now you see the goal the

cessation of craving is the cessation of

suffering the third noble truth

dispassion this leads to an even deeper

letting go dispassion arises

disenchantment made you more and more

aware of how your interest in these

things just leads to more suffering now

you just don't care anymore it doesn't

matter what comes it goes your mind

draws back it doesn't look out with

anymore everything that arises is okay

it doesn't matter if no longer pulls

your attention you know you can't stop

it you don't even care about Nirvana

anymore this is a state where there are

no more hindrances your mind has just

stopped throwing up obstacles it has no

more interest in any arising experience

now you no longer try to control

anything you are now close to the

unconditioned why because you don't care

through disenchantment with all

conditioned existence / holy balanced

mind arises it neither likes nor

dislikes there are only conscious nurses

and mental objects are rising and

passing away there is no interest in any

of it it is just there there is now the

tendency toward deep peace of mind your

mind now has barely any movement at all

you are very aware and very energetic

but again it's like nothing is happening

and the thought comes up where you

wonder if you should do anything

the answer is definitely no just observe

see that very question arising in your

mind as impersonal and 6r8

it is just a matter of time watching and

observing carefully for any movement

like flickers lights adjust vibrations

the six rupees are on automatic and you

aren't putting in much effort it just

rolls off in front of you you will

observe this lack of hindrances but it

won't make you excited it is just part

of what is happening it is nonetheless

amazing to have no unwholesome states at

all to be free of craving completely

this realization has all come through

your own deep insights into watching

yourself coming into and out of

existence when dispassion arises you'll

be very close you think there is nothing

left to do because there is nothing -

six outs so you want to get up and do

something else there are no more

barriers to the meditation why I

continue you think everything has been

completed but just continue and be

patient with this sublimely quiet mind

continued observe without even caring

about what comes up anymore you have

realized now there is nothing that you

can do about it patience leads to

Nibbana this path is not just one step

after another until you reach the goal

you will have doubts you'll get out of

balance with your observational power

then you will figure it out two steps

forward and one step back if you are not

progressing further and you seem to hit

the wall you should ask yourself your

intuition what is stopping my meditation

from going deeper the answer may come

the next hour or the next day sometimes

there are blockages that are hidden and

simply not discoverable by the teacher

if you are working with one or by you

hopefully an answer will come back you

may be applying too much energy you may

need to back away further from

everything or you may not be observant

enough in seeing how the links arrived

how you take things personally and

identify with them you may be leaning

into to the process too much Vontae Vimy

larum she speaks about one student who

asked himself this question he just

posed it to himself later the answer

came back that he was waiting waiting

for what waiting for Nibbana the waiting

was the problem there was craving there

and that had to be released

whatever is stopping you will eventually

yield as your knowledge deepens

sometimes this blockage can go on for a

long time gradually even if it takes

years of retreats you mature your

technique and knowledge of how to do the

practice some people will understand

easily follow the instructions and apply

them in only a matter of days or weeks

they break through to awakening they

fall into the stream of the noble ones

patience and following the instructions

precisely as lead to nib honor let's go

to the match demon nakiya to see even

more clearly how the buddha described

this process in Sutta 148 the six sets

of six in the first 80% of the text the

buddha describes the impersonality of

each sense base as it arises and passes

away

nothing is you consciousness is not you

your body is not you and so on toward

the end he tells the students that as

they observe they will come to

understand certain insights as well as

why they arise liberation from Sutter M

and 148 m n 148 section 40 seeing thus

monks a well taught disciple becomes

disenchanted with the eye disenchanted

with forms disenchanted with eye

consciousness disenchanted with eye

contact disenchanted with I feeling

disenchanted with eye craving

it says that now the student starts to

pull away starts to understand there is

nothing in this arising and passing show

in which to delight what does the

student really see here the satyr tells

us m and 148 section 39 students

dependent on mind and mind objects mind

consciousness rises a meeting of the

three is mind-contact with mind-contact

as condition there arises a mind feeling

felt as pleasant too painful or

neither-pleasant-nor-painful when one is

touched by a pleasant mind feeling if

one does not delight in it welcome it

and remain holding to it then the

underlying tendency to lust does not lie

within one when one is touched by a

painful mind feeling if one does not

sorrow grieve and lament does not weep

beating one's breast and become

distraught then the underlying tendency

to aversion does not lie within one when

one is touched by a neither

pleasant-nor-painful mind feeling if one

understands it as it is the origination

the disappearance the gratification the

danger and the escape in regard to that

mind feeling then the underlying

tendency to ignorance does not lie

within one as you watch mind and mind

objects coming and going you are

interested in this process you are

delighting in this observation in seeing

how it all works the feeling of the

light is so subtle you may not

understand it as such but you do like

watching it and trying to figure out why

the process arises and what this all

means at times mind is kind of fun to

watch through this gratification which

is defined as source of pleasure you

watch and try to get to the goal but you

can't there is the tendency to lust

after these arising and disappearing

objects or you push them away as

interfering with your calm or you have

indifference and don't care about them

it is the craving mind that takes this

indifference personally it is your

indifference it is not a clear pure mind

in other words you see the arising and

passing of many objects and you are

attracted then only if you see that

these objects are sources of pleasure or

a version will you see the danger to

your mind by chasing and lusting after

them as this leads to suffering old age

and death when disenchantment arises the

Buddha goes on to say

MMN 148 sections 35 to 39 monks that one

shall here and now make an end of

suffering by abandoning the underlying

tendency to lust for pleasant

mind-feeling

by abolishing the underlying tendency to

aversion for painful mine feeling by

extirpating uprooting the underlying

tendency to ignorance in regard to

neither pleasant-nor-painful mine

feeling by abandoning ignorance and

arousing true knowledge this is possible

by giving up your tendency toward the

lighting in this or that and your

tendency to lust after these delights by

seeing the danger in it and so on you

come to the end of desire you no longer

want to keep chasing these feelings as

they only lead to suffering and it's not

because you were forcing restraint on

yourself it is because you are no longer

delighted by this passing show you no

longer care thus dispassion to all

phenomena arises through the knowledge

of craving the Four Noble Truths and how

craving leads to suffering freedom from

the wheel of samsara is experienced all

that had to be done is done

the daughter Nibbana is opening entering

the stream now we arrive at the

attainments and how nirvana is

experienced first I will describe the

four levels of noble attainments to be

experienced you must go through all four

to be fully awakened and free of craving

craving drops away in stages in total

there are four stages of sainthood

so tarpana sakagami

gommi and Aravind each of the four

stages has two components the path

knowledge Magga and the fooiish and

knowledge fala path knowledge is the

first glimpse of Nirvana but still may

be lost if precepts are not followed

once the fruit knowledge is gained the

attainment is locked in and cannot be

lost there are eight attainments in all

two final awakening two for each of the

major stages of sainthood path and fruit

at the last one the last fetter of all

ten Fetisov craving is destroyed three

are eliminated at sotapanna two more a

loosened at Sicard egami

and finally all of the first five

fetters a let go at a Nogami the balance

of the ten is eliminated at Aravind what

are the fetters with awakening the

hindrances are abandoned once and for

all but there remain subtler and eight

unwholesome tendencies in all of us that

are born from craving the word fetter is

defined as something that restrains us

these are the final chains that bind us

to this endless round of existences the

fetters are the last potentials of

unwholesome states I will list them as

we go through the noble paths and note

where they are eliminated chapter 15

first stage of awakening sotapanna

MN 111 section 19 again monks by

completely surmounting the base of

neither perception nor non-perception

Sara put her interred upon and abided in

the cessation of perception and feeling

attaining Nibbana path knowledge mega

finally after staying with this quiet

energetic imperturbable mind of the base

of neither perception nor non-perception

and six ring every tiny movement until

mind is barely moving at all you let go

of the last condition the last link of

ignorance and all activity ceases

everything stops and an unconditioned

state arises there is the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

for a few moments or minutes you don't

know you're in that state until after

you come out some will say they

experienced at Lange spot or a adapt in

consciousness this is nothing like any

of you previous johner experiences it

isn't a gap with a sense of time because

there is nothing missing time doesn't

exist when nothing is happening there is

just the stopping of the stream of

consciousness a halting you only know it

after you come out of it the world stops

you are no longer in samsara and it will

last as long as it's going to last

there's life still exist vitality and

your life continuum still go on your

autonomic functions like your heart

beating and blood pumping continue but

your mental process has stopped

completely before there just existed

slight movements of mind but now with

this temporary with cessation of all

mental activity there arises right after

that a powerful clarity of mind you have

just had the deepest rest of your life

when you come back you are now seeing

the subtlest movements deeper than you

have ever experienced mind appears like

a totally a raised blackboard nothing is

on it then when mind turns back on the

first mental process is clearly seen

against this inky black background

coming out of cessation mind is radiant

and observant you have arrived at full

stop the effect of the cessation is so

powerful that whereas before the pond of

your mind had tiny little ripples on it

now it is so still and placid that you

can see anything there you can see to

any depth what is below there is no

craving at all there is no dust to

obscure vision mind is a pure that you

see the smallest detail of anything that

starts to arise in crystal clarity what

you are about to see is the first

arising of consciousness the first

moment of mental activity as your mental

processes begin again from this still

point the next thing that happens is the

you see the links of dependent

origination arise and pass away very

quickly these are sometimes in the form

of vibrations and little lights flashes

or electrical currents you will see this

in your mind and sometimes even see it

in the air in front of you you won't

know what it is very likely and will not

expect it this is the first condition

mental process in which your mind starts

to vibrate again and come back on line

when this happens the eye of wisdom mind

without craving sees the total

impersonality of the process there is no

self there your deep observation

understands that there is nobody home

that what you are is just a process of

moments arising and passing away as a

result of this profound insight the

super mundane unconditioned Nibbana

arises this experience will be followed

by a momentary sense of relief like a

burden was lifted off you have just

experienced Nibbana you have become a so

tarpana Nibbana will not come when you

want it it will come when you are ready

when the seven factors of awakening all

line up in perfect balance like passing

through the keyhole of the door you

didn't think it could be possible yet it

happened you see that in this seemingly

permanent and eternal psychophysical

process when mind stops there really is

nothing between each thought moment that

persists that knowledge leads you to

understand that an impersonal underlies

everything there is nothing that is

continuous between each moment nothing

that survives not even God nothing

everything is absolutely void of selfi

soul amen

111 section 19 cont and his tanks were

destroyed by his seeing with wisdom the

word here is wisdom so what is wisdom

after the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness and it's going

to last as long as it will last when

feeling

perception and consciousness start up

again you have the opportunity of seeing

exactly clearly with very sharp

mindfulness every one of the links of

dependent origination you will see how

when this doesn't rise that doesn't rise

that each link is dependent on the

previous link you will see that

everything has a cause for arising you

have uncovered the last link of

ignorance you will also see that if it

arises it will come to an end you will

see impermanence clearly all that arises

will pass away whether it be pleasure or

pain this is wisdom it is the knowledge

that you gain by directly seeing the

links of dependent origination arise and

pass away and by seeing that there is no

injuring self this wisdom is not some

sort of conceptual philosophy some

religious tenets a Dogma it is the

result of sync directly when you see the

word wisdom in the suttas you should

understand that this always means seeing

the links of dependent origination

directly and seeing everything that

arises as impersonal it isn't learning a

philosophy it is directly observing

reality with the next mental process

that arises you'll see the whole arising

and passing away of all of the links of

dependent origination for the duration

of one instant then there is the final

letting go of ignorance and seeing the

Four Noble Truths that is when Nibbana

occurs it is just a momentary event and

just one group of Link's firing the

links are seen with wisdoms I this takes

place at a deeper level the normal

awareness people will say they don't

know what they saw but they will know

the mind to a greater or lesser degree

will be having insights arise into how

there is a cause that creates a result

this constant arising and passing away

of conditioned existence is the content

of who we are and that's all there is

they will now understand that an

intuitive level how dependent

origination works each link is

conditioned by the previous link

each process is conditioned by the

passing away of another process like a

candle flame that lights another candle

one candle burns down but the next

candle lights up being ignited by the

previous candle lit by bit you arise and

pass away you are changing little by

little over time like a great city that

arises from an empty piece of land each

building arise as one at a time each

shovel of dirt carried off and dumped

one at a time with the constant arising

and passing away of causes this great

city is built the next shovel full of

dirt

taken away changes it once again no one

person has built it just many shovels

and people shoveling it's a process with

no real beginning and no real and we

give cities names but these are just

concepts to label these groups of

buildings the perception aggregate of

the five aggregates is partially memory

and partly bowling perception is what

puts a name on this group of buildings

it labels it either New York or San

Francisco depending on what for example

visual forms arise in our own case we

are given a name like John and then we

personally identify with that name as if

some underlying entity were controlling

everything but it isn't it is just a

concept the city itself is not one solid

thing it is the result of all these

causes that make it what it is but in

this instant only in the next moment it

has changed to something else in the

same way you are a completely impersonal

process there is no one a soul behind it

it is automatically happening and will

continue forever into the future until

you become fully awake and exit the

wheel of samsara this is so profound

that after these links parse away

Nibbana arises just for an instant in

the suttas it says dot and his taints

were destroyed with wisdom

meaning that Nirvana arises right after

you see the links of dependent

origination and it destroys as

measured amount of craving it destroys

the first three what are called fetters

step-by-step attainment of Nibbana the

cessation of feeling perception and

consciousness occurs this means that

everything we consider a person stops

there is a blank state a blackout

avoiding us all mental activity stops on

an EEG one would guess the indicator

flatlines for just a moment following

the cessation because of the incredible

clarity created by the experience of

cessation the first mental activity a

set of twelve links arises and passes

away they might be seen like bubbles a

little flashing lights wisdoms eye

observes utter and total in personality

in this first mental process as the

links arise and pass away with no

craving to cloud mind the links are seen

as just an impersonal process with no

inherent self just a group of neurons

firing that is all you are after the

last link of ignorance passes away

Nibbana arises there is a feeling of

relief for a moment a unique feeling in

the mind that there has been a great

burden thrown off joy starts to arise

all pervading joy that can last for up

to several days it may continue longer

but sometimes you just get used to the

state and don't notice it anymore

note that the relief and the joy that

follows the different feelings you

should notice this difference the first

time Nibbana occurs many people will not

recognize or see the 12 links but they

will have the experience of Nirvana

regardless at the next level called

fruition it is likely they will witness

more clearly the links are rising and

passing away fruition knowledge is much

deeper it happens in this way for many

people when they experienced the first

path the so tarpana paths knowledge can

have the cessation with a relief but the

links themselves just are not clear

they may report more often a blackout

where they just disappeared and then

came back the fruition will be attained

later after they have practiced some

more this will cement in the attainment

in a deeper way again when wisdom arises

the first three of the ten fetters are

eliminated in the first path attainment

all of the fetters are fully abandoned

after the attainment have full awakening

which is our hand ship

what is nirvana Nibbana is described in

the poly Tech's as a door to or element

earth air fire water space and

consciousness are elements as taught by

the Buddha the nib honored r2 is also an

element and its other qualities are

described by Baku body here the Buddha

also refers to Nirvana as an ayah Tana

this means realm plane or sphere it is a

sphere where there is nothing at all

that corresponds to our mundane

experience and therefore it has to be

described by way of negations as the

negation of all the limited and

determinant qualities of condition

things the Buddha also refers to near

Bonner a Sardar to an element the

deathless element he compares the

element of Nibbana to an ocean he says

the just as the great ocean remains at

the same level no matter how much water

pours into it from the rivers without

increase a decrease so the near banda

element remains the same no matter

whether many a few people attain nirvana

he also speaks of Nirvana as something

that can be experienced by the body an

experience that is so vivid so powerful

that it can be described as touching the

deathless element with one's own body

the Buddha also refers to Nippon

rossette State pada as Amitabha dart the

deathless state or acute a pada the

imperishable State another word used by

the Buddha to refer to nirvana is Sakura

which means truth an existing reality

this refers to near Bonner as the truth

a reality that the noble ones have known

through direct experience so all these

terms considered as a whole clearly

established that Nibbana is an actual

reality and not the mere destruction of

defiled ments of the cessation of

existence Nibbana is unconditioned

without any origination and is timeless

when the Nirvana element touches craving

it is like the water of the great ocean

putting the fire out

pssss no more fire nee means no and

banna means fire no fire Nibbana

venerable border dasa Baku in an article

entitled Nibbana

for everyone a truth message from suan

mokkh adapted and translated by santa

karo baku also defines Nirvana as an

element it is the coolness when the

defilements are ended Nibbana was a

whole other matter than death instead

it's a kind of life that knows no death

Nibbana is the thing which sustains life

thus preventing death it itself can

never die although the body must die

eventual lie the cessation and the

experience of Nirvana are two different

things

some say when mind stops that is near

Bonner no it is what happens afterward

which is seeing the links arise that

causes the profound insight into

existence to arise that is Nibbana

we can't describe the experiences of

Nibbana that happens in each path of

sainthood with conditioned words as it

is beyond our conceptual mind to

perceive but it is what comes after the

experience that gives you a clue as to

what has just happened as described

before some explain feeling a moment of

relief after it happens some experience

a deep understanding of dependent

origination some say they just went away

into a black hole or disappeared then

slowly a mild the strong euphoria rises

I

I'm careful not to use the word joy here

it is beyond that some describe it like

steam that ascends slowly in mind of

perhaps a minty feeling this is what we

call all-pervading joy it seeps out from

every pore of your body you may not

notice it at first but soon you feel

very uplifted and elevated it is a

feeling of happiness but grounded in

very strong equanimity you realize in a

flash that there is no controller there

is no ego there is no self everything is

impersonal it is said no self no problem

what a relief

there is nothing to worry about to

control it is all impersonal arising and

passing away on its own all of these

mental states are arising from causes

they are just conditioned by previous

actions in fact the meaning of cama

parley or karma sanskrit is action there

is the action and then the result from

that action v Parker there is no self

that you need to psychoanalyze to get to

the real problem of this depression and

neuroses once the concept of self is

gone there is nobody left to be

depressed or more clearly nobody left to

take a painful feeling personally it is

only a feeling and it isn't your feeling

you may notice that everything looks a

little different now your senses appear

to be heightened more than normal

meditation might make them colors are

brighter or you just find yourself

looking at the trees with Oran wander

you notice the mind is sublimely quiet

you'll be asked if you notice a change

in your personality do you feel

different do you have a change in

perspective for some it is a dramatic

change and for others it is subtler you

will say your mind feels very relieved

and happy you talk about how you

understand now how everything arises due

to causes and conditions you are

starting to understand deeply what the

links are and how they are dependent on

each other

instead of understanding them

intellectually you now understand them

directly you may use the simile of the

cloth as the Buddha did hallow

everything with its causes and

conditions weaves together to make a

cloth it is all impersonal sutter means

thread in parley all the Sutter's weave

together to make the cloth the cloth

represents your wise understanding of

the whole process of the Buddha's

teaching you may or may not remember

seeing very much of this but you will

know it this is wisdoms I the profound

knowledge from directly seeing the deep

mind sees what happened and it has

understood what it means this is wisdom

seeing the links of dependent

origination this is the path knowledge

you are now on the path to the full

experience of the first stage of

awakening decisions arise in your mind

am you commit an action that has a

result like a painful a pleasant feeling

arising in the future

breaking precepts results in painful

consequences following precepts result

in wholesome pleasant results what

results do you want now you know what is

wholesome and what leads to wholesome

most people will experience the first

path knowledge in a sitting meditation

but some have reported that it happened

after washing dishes or even turning

over and going back to sleep Nibbana

happens when your knowledge is mature

and you are ready at the Meditation

Center in Missouri we see people get the

path attainment every now and then and

one of the principle ways you can tell

is that the face changes it is like all

the tension from a lifetime just

disappears it looks as though the face

drops the wrinkled forehead flattens out

you can just see the equanimity bubbling

there is a glowing and the radiance that

is there the speech is more controlled

and less emotional many times

bhante after he comes from the

interviews will point out to meditator

to me and say

look at the face when I look if I look

close enough I see an emotionless but

peaceful angelic expression adjust a big

smile with a glowing radiance that

wasn't there before after a few days the

most dramatic of these effects

disappears as the hindrances make the

way back just not as strong as before so

tarpana fruition fala the first path

knowledge which is experienced one time

is followed by the first fooiish in

knowledge the path knowledge gets you

through the door the fruition knowledge

closes the door and locks in your

understanding this all happens when you

have another cessation moment arise in

your meditation and you experience

Nibbana again after you experience the

so tarpana path attainment as outlined

above then if you sit and continue to

meditate exactly as you did before you

will experience that process of a blank

spot and flashes again with another

feeling of relief this is the sotapanna

fruition this is the first stage of four

stages of sainthood you have entered the

temple now but there are three more

levels of attainment following sotapanna

which we will get into following this

chapter however you might be too

Restless to sit right after your path

attainment this is due to the strong

all-pervading joy you'll be experiencing

over the next few days as your energy

wanes you'll be encouraged to go back to

your chair a cushion and gain the

fruition of sotapanna

you may be told that your mind is very

strong now

do not waste any time use this time to

make even more progress you are

understandably happy about your path

experience but now that your mind is

bright and very clear it is helpful to

continue to the fruit of the first stage

of awakening your mind is open and ready

so just continue with your practice

gaining the fruit is what changes the

personality in a major way gaining the

first path is a preliminary step to

gaining the full attainment and fruition

of sotapanna

the meditator with only the past

experience can actually slide back due

to bad behavior in breaking precepts you

can lose your attainment this is why it

is called the path knowledge you have

become a collar so tarpana little stream

meant what you are still on the path not

done yet you must keep the precepts

fully meditate and attained cessation

once again once the fruition is attained

the path has been fully traveled and you

and now a noble one who will never break

the precepts you have reached the first

level of sainthood fontava malarum she

likes to say you have given up a notion

of suffering a so tarpana purifies and

eliminates from his mind the first three

fetters of being there attend in all one

Sakura DT personality belief you now

know without any doubt that there is no

permanent self or soul to vicious

skeptical doubt about the Dharma you

will have no doubt about the path you

will know how you achieved what you did

and how to continue the practice you

have total confidence in the Buddha's

method you have full confidence in the

Buddha Dharma and Sangha three sila bart

are parameter clinging to rites and

rituals thinking that they will by

themselves lead to awakening you will

understand that bowing chanting or

worshipping the bud DHA will not get you

to the experience of Nirvana no matter

how much you do this you must do the

work of meditation and study to attain

nirvana with the second step of fruition

being attained you will not be able to

break precepts any more you might try to

do it just as a test but you won't be

able to go through with it with only the

path knowledge you could potentially

break them and this is the danger of not

attaining the fruit with only the first

path knowledge it is still possible that

if you did II continued to break

precepts and behave badly you could lose

your attainment

you would have to go through the process

having the experience of seeing

dependent origination again

Sutter M in 105 Sun Nakata Sutter

addresses this possibility with the

simile of the wound and healing if one

does not take care of the wound it is

liable to become infected however with

proper care the wound will heal

completely without any possibility of

becoming infected in the same way with

the proper taking care of path knowledge

your attainment will not be lost with

the fruition your attainment is locked

in there is no going back to the state

of the world lingpa Jonah as a Soutar

partner you are destined to have no more

than seven lifetimes before you get off

the wheel become a full arahant with all

ten fetters destroyed and attain final

parinibbana also when you are reborn at

worst you will not fall below the human

realm

you are also assured that your next life

will be pleasant where you can continue

to do your work to get off the wheel

there are 31 planes of existence is you

will not fall into the painful hellish

realms now you won't come back as an

animal the ghost you may return to the

human realm or to one of the six daiva

of celestial heaven realms where there

is only enjoyment and pleasures if you

attain jhana and you certainly did

practicing Twi M you would be destined

for at least one of the Brahma realms

with incredibly long lifespans where

beings feed on joy to sustain themselves

or you might go even higher into one of

the four arrow / realms where there is

only mind no tasting a touching there

exclusively mental realms with no

physical body in these realms it is said

that lifespans are measured with it one

followed by miles of zeros so they are

very long if for some reason you have

only attained the path knowledge and

heaven broken precepts but you did not

continue your meditation in this

lifetime

the Sutter's say you will attain the

fruition honor before your death

most of the time it will come a lot

sooner on a retreat fruition could come

in only a few days or even hours if you

continue to practice without a break

recently a man in Chicago experienced

the path at lunchtime and the fooiish

Neuros for him at 1:20 a.m. that night

he didn't see the Lynx the first time

but with the fur ition he did report

them all the higher paths are attained

by just continuing the practice in the

same way there will be deeper and

subtler fetters to see and abandon your

meditation will be easier but still the

balance of the fetters will continue to

arise now your confidence will be very

strong and you'll be without doubt the

Sutter's also described another way of

becoming a Soutar partner simply hearing

a passage of text can bring about the

Soutar partner of sakaar tegami paths in

one translation SOT a means here and

Panna means wisdom wisdom through

hearing this is rare but it did happen

for many of the Buddha's disciples like

Sarah Porter and Maud Lana but for this

to happen the teacher must say exactly

the right thing and the student must be

ready again this is a very rare

occurrence and it tends to take a Buddha

to accomplish it now you have had the

first two experiences of Nibbana and

have become a sotapanna with fruition

this is the goal of the eight Janus and

the path I have been describing you have

become a noble one one who has now

broken out of the samsaric wheel of

existences but there is still more to do

there are the four levels of noble ones

and three more I will describe below

that you still must go through to fully

eliminate all craving in your mind if

you want to accomplish all of this in

one li fed iron

chapter 60 second stage sakagami

meditation instruction now that you have

attained the first path and fruition of

Sur tarpana how do you continue that is

easy just

keep doing what you are doing each stage

of awakening is just one more step on

the ladder to eliminating craving now

the meditator spends two minutes in each

direction radiating equanimity and then

all around is before and again when the

feeling fades away you observe the quiet

clear mind and six are any phenomena

that arise that's it just keep going and

this is the process all the way to the

highest attainment the second stage of

awakening is a continued deepening of

the meditation practice

you've become a saccade egami when you

see the links of dependent origination

arising and passing away twice versus

only one time for the sotapanna

there is a cessation and you quickly see

the twelve links of dependent

origination one time and then they arise

and pass away a second time right after

the first in total twenty four links

arise and pass away all at once like

train cars one after the other this

seeing of the links is followed by a

moment of relief this is not just based

on the satyr texts but has been observed

in students experience after you attain

sakagami path Magga the sakagami

fruition Fowler comes when you once

again experience cessation and the links

of dependent origination arising and

passing away twice sometimes in the path

experienced the student does not

actually see the bubbles which are the

links but they will see them at the

fruition as before it is at fusion where

the personality changes permanently path

knowledge means really you are just on

the path to the fruit completion of the

secod egami stage at this stage you

weaken but don't fully eliminate the

fetters of one karma raga sensuous

craving a lust to via pada ill-will

hatred anger aversion and fear

these have been loosened at times these

unwholesome states will still arise if

the circumstance presents itself

you will tend to avoid anger and lust

seeing them as course states if they

arise you will notice six are them

you'll be surprised if they hang around

very long you'll be motivated to

continue your meditation to fully

eliminate these disturbing states of

mind but they will still be present just

not as strong it is that the fruition

there is a strong release and letting go

of sensual desires this doesn't

necessarily mean sexual desire but the

course desires for sensual pleasures

like entertainment eating out and bodily

pleasure sexual desire is deeper and is

let go later a note here is that if the

fruition of any path is not experienced

in this lifetime it will happen upon

your death as a sakagami you will have

no more than just one time that you have

to return to the human higher realms

before you attain final parinibbana and

release from samsara as a so tarpana it

was seven three ways to Nirvana as

outlined in this book the first and

easiest way to reach nirvana is through

the jhana path what I'm describing in

this book there are however two other

ways to attain nirvana the second way is

the way the buddha's own awakening

process unfolded he went to the fourth

jhana and then one he remembered his

past lives - he visited other realms and

saw how and why beings were reborn there

and finally three he saw how kama works

how causes create in more causes in a

never-ending wheel that leads to old age

and death disenchantment and dispassion

arose through this knowledge and Nibbana

was attained this way is called the

threefold knowledge or Tavita that is

one knowledge of past lives two

knowledge of beings in other realms and

three knowledge of the destruction of

the taints Nibbana the third way is

through attaining all the psychic powers

or innocent then attaining nirvana

this practice is most suited to people

who are sensitive to feeling or

emotionally driven being sensitive to

feeling means you are a feeling type

person who is governed by your heart the

other type of person is an intellectual

person ruled by logic and pragmatic

decisions they are best suited to go

through the jonna's people who are mixed

may take the Buddhist path of the

threefold knowledge ago through the

jonna's you can be taught to remember

your past lives but we will not go into

this practice here you can ask the

teacher if it would be helpful and they

can decide whether they will teach it to

you based on your progress in your

personality type the psychic power root

is a difficult path and can take many

years it brings with it the danger of

becoming attached to these powers and

not wanting to proceed it can bring up a

lot of conceit and arrogance about

having such unique abilities in the

opinion of the bhante the malarum XI it

is the most difficult of the ways he

says you can learn this but it will take

you 10 years and you will have to stay

with him for that whole time

chapter 17 third-stage inugami the

buddha considered the first and second

stage of attainments to be learner

states the fruit of the meditation

starts to develop at the next stage of a

Nogami where hatred and sensual desire

are eliminated together with the

previous three taints that were

eliminated at so tarpana these are the

five lower fetters this is truly ill

worthy and elevated state of being

arahant which is the fourth and final

stage then eliminates the rest of the

ten fetters completely to attain the

higher paths of a Nogami and arahant one

must practice meditation

whereas before one might have become

awakened to the first two paths just by

listening to a phrase it will now

require intense meditation practice with

full passage through the China's deep

meditation is needed to see even more

clearly the nature of the links of

dependent origination and how mind is

working taking everything personally

after more meditation and devotion to

the practice you will experience

cessation again then you will see the

links of dependent origination arise and

pass away three times after a cessation

moment in quick succession this is the a

Nogami Magra path knowledge of the third

stage of awakening after you experience

a Nogami Magga if you experience the

same thing again then a Nogami faller a

foosh and knowledge will arise three

times a Nana gommi has very strong

equanimity nothing disturbs you except

sometimes some restlessness that arises

whereas before you might have reacted

with some sensual desire lust hatred or

a version this is no longer the case in

addition there isn't the slightest fear

now because of the elimination of hatred

fear is part of hatred you will have

destroyed the first five fetters

completely one Sakura dirty personality

belief in an eye or personal selfish

soul two vicious

skeptical dad that the Dharma

is the true way three sila bart

r-parameter clinging to rites and

rituals for karma raga sensual craving

lust

5vr pada ill-will hatred anger aversion

and fear now you are very balanced in

mind this is not some super conscious

state but simply the removal of most of

the craving Tana from your mind you are

still you and you still have your

personality but the influences of the

craving neurotic fearful self not there

now you can continue working at your job

and be in the world work that is

involved in honest ethical pursuits will

appeal to you you'll be completely

truthful and fair in your dealings with

your customers and fellow employees you

will treat your fellow employees with

kindness and not be shaken by any

outbursts from the boss you will notice

that you are no longer bothered by the

petty fears and hang-ups that most

people are experienced you'll become a

better employee in the better boss you

will have no fear of anything and never

be intimidated you will follow

directions perfectly but have no problem

with pushing back against unwise orders

given to you and will not fear to talk

to the boss in an even unemotional way

you won't complain a gossip with other

employees about what is wrong and you

might even be promoted up the ranks

truly worldly success will come as you

achieve deep spiritual success romantic

interest is removed in a major way at

the path knowledge and eliminated

entirely at the fruition knowledge for a

Nogami

you will no longer desire marriage or a

family however if you currently are

married I have a family

your romantic lust will be replaced with

strong pure loving kindness you will

live with your mate as best friends a

brother and sister you won't have any

more children because your desire for

sex will be lost you'll be the most

wonderful parent conceivable you won't

ever get mad and you will always love

and

plenty of time for your child your

two-year-old won't get on your nerves

anymore because you know that's the

nature of a two-year-old it's okay you

will acquire what you need and not what

you want you won't have big desires to

do things other than being happy with

what you have than what you are doing

right now

you will want to share what you have

learned in your meditation by teaching

but you won't be attached to promoting

anything if it happens it happens your

happiness with what you have achieved

will be something you naturally want to

share with others if you are working

gradually you will move away from just

doing your job to make money - looking

for ways to help people directly by

starting a meditation group a teaching

meditation full-time people will ask you

what depression is a what suffering is

and you'll be able to tell them with no

doubts you will know how your mind works

and will be able to explain it to others

and best of all going to the dentist

won't bother you you will never be born

again in the sensuous realms if you

don't attain arahant in this lifetime

you'll be reborn in one of the five high

Brahma realms called the pure abodes

where there are only other a Nogami

Xanterra hands for this realm you are

destined to attain Harahan a Thep and

get off the wheel but there is still

more to do there are 10 fetters and you

have removed five there are yet five

more these are the final obstacles to

fully Awakening and freedom from even a

wisp of craving chapter 18 fourth stage

Aravind when you become an arahant there

is nothing more that can disturb your

mind you will experience arahato megger

and arahato fala path and fruition with

each path and each foosh an experience

you'll witness the arising and passing

away of the links of dependent

origination four times very quickly you

will now have completely let go of all

ten fetters of being there is no further

mental suffering for you of any kind

one Sekar duty personality belief in an

eye or personal self assault the

realization of the total impersonality

of all existence to Visser kitschy

skeptical dud that the correct practice

of right effort is the true way to

awakening 3 sila bart our parameter

realizing that rites and rituals by

themselves do not lead to awakening for

karma raga craving for sensual pleasures

5vr pada ill-will hatred and fear 6 Rupa

raga earned our oopah raga the desire

for material and immaterial existence

the desire to be reborn in any realm of

existence this fetter listing her has

these two desires for existence combined

into one which is different from the way

they are normally listed 7 mana conceit

comparing with somebody else thinking in

your mind are better than you or I'm

less than you comparing yourself to

others 8 FINA mirror sloth and torpor

although sloth and torpor are frequently

not classically included as part of the

fetters sloth and torpor are considered

as one of the hindrances which is why

bhante Vimy larom she added ear the

suttas lists this as a hindrance quite

clearly 9 hidaka restlessness and worry

10 avidya ignorance of the Four Noble

Truths and the workings of dependent

origination you will be sought had for

your wisdom as there is no craving left

in your mind and your mind is completely

transparent you see how your mind works

and can easily explain it to others

the Buddha was arrogant and passed

through all of the Jonah's and went

through all the stages of awakening it

is said you could ask the Buddha a

question and he would give you the

perfect answer

he always said exactly what was called

for at the time you may not have the

depth of his understanding or ability to

speak but it will be close you will have

experienced Nibbana the same number of

times but your understanding of what you

saw your ability to explain it may be

less the difference between a Buddha and

an arahant is that the Buddha has gone

through countless lifetimes of

purification and can be compared to a

bottle that is completely empty clear

and sparkling there will be no taint a

smell of what was there before in an

arahant there may be just a whiff of the

personality that was there before like a

milk bottle that is emptied and cleaned

out but with some faint remnant of what

was there in an arahant there may be

just a whiff of the personality that was

there before like a milk bottle that is

emptied and cleaned out but with some

faint remnant of what was there

nonetheless both aboard ruined an

arahant are both empty of craving and

ego both have the same attainments

another difference here is that a Buddha

comes to wisdom solely through their own

efforts while an era hand reaches

Awakening by hearing the teachings of a

Buddha when somebody asks you if you

have any attachments to relatives a

family you will say no there is nothing

that makes your mind lose its balance

yet arahants are not automatons the

Buddha was hardly an automaton

he not only responded to people who

needed his help but went from place to

place finding beings with little dust in

their eyes who he felt could understand

his teachings he initiated conversations

seeking out beings that he could help

awaken

he invited other teachers to come and

argue the views with him in order to

teach more students and convinced more

people he knew the true way it was said

that he taught the divers and beings in

other realms while everyone else was

asleep at night you will compassionately

take care of any problem that you find

you will always help others to overcome

problems but will never push your help

on them you'll be equally compassionate

to all beings and not just members of

your family your loving kindness now

knows no bounds or limits you will treat

the lowly and as well as you treat your

closest friend you will not proselytize

about Buddhism you will answer questions

and bring up Dharma at the right time it

is unlikely anyone would ever know about

your attainment as there is no longer

conceited desire to say you are better

than anyone

and as far as you are concerned your

mind is simply clear and that is all

there may arise in you some psychic

powers like reading minds as something

else

but it just depends on your past karmic

actions Sarah Potter had little in the

way of powers yet he was an intellectual

giant and called the general of the

dharma molana' had every power that was

possible and then some but his intellect

was not as sharp as he had more of a

feeling or emotional type of personality

feeling personalities have a strong

tendency to be able to develop psychic

powers your intuition about things will

be exquisite your meditation practice

will be very deep with no distractions

you can decide to go into a jhana or

even cessation Narada itself at will

you'll be able to resolve to sit in the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness for up to seven days if

you go any longer than that your body

will lose its heat and vitality and die

you must be careful going into a state

of extended cessation is of great

benefit because when you come out of

this state your mind will be extremely

energetic and awake you will need much

less sleep

the Buddha was said to have slept only

an hour per night people with the

fruition of a Nogami also have a limited

ability to go into cessation and there

are now students that can make this

determination and sit-in cessation for

as long as they wish theoretically based

on the suttas you can sit for seven full

days and get up as if you had just

recently sat down with no pain full of

energy this cessation stayed is

different than what is mentioned in the

suttas as he attained to the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and his taints were destroyed by seeing

with wisdom when this state is attained

you do not see the links arise and

attain nirvana it is simply a stilling

and stopping of mind why one doesn't see

the links again and attain nib honor

again I cannot say

all we can say is that there is a

cessation and there is a cessation

different in some way there is also a

difference between the cessation state

of an Ana gommi versus an arrogant

cessation or in poly Narada is a

stopping of the mental stream just like

when you turn the water off from the

faucet and it drips a little bit and

then stops there is no more water Narada

is the stopping of all mental activity

it is when mind becomes so tranquil

that it just stops however the arrogance

mind is so pure that when he determines

to go into this cessation experience it

is a state closer to Nirvana an

unconditioned State it is not just to

stopping but something else instead of

the conditioned mind stopping mind now

moves toward the unconditioned the

Cunanan endure in his series the mind

still in sermon 16 goes into this

subject and cools this state by its poly

named arrow hatoful a samadhi he

explains it here but the awakening in

Nibbana is not of such a temporary

character why because all the influx is

the lead one into the samsaric slumber

with its dreams of recurrent births are

made extinct in the light of that

perfect knowledge of realization that is

why the term ass of acharya extinction

of influxes is used in the discourses as

an epithet of Nibbana the arahants

accomplished this feat in the

concentration on the fruit of era hand

heard ARA hatoful a samadhi fontava

malarum she has traveled the world and

talked to and studied under many of the

recognized meditation masters of our

time he is inevitably asked if he has

met any arahants

what about fill-in-the-blank he says no

so far he has not met anyone that he

felt was arrogant he says you need to

spend time evaluating someone to be sure

they have no more fetters but he is

helpful that we will have one soon you

are at the end of the Eightfold

you have eliminated ignorance and

craving through thoroughly understanding

the Four Noble Truths you have traveled

the Eightfold Path to the end of

suffering you will live out your current

life but will not be born again to the

maelstrom of samsara and will not be

subject to its disease you have found

freedom you have become another noble

one in the Buddha's dispensation air men

twenty-one monks rightly speaking were

it to be said of anyone he has attained

mastery and perfection in noble virtue

attained mastery and perfection in noble

collectiveness attained mastery and

perfection in noble wisdom attained

mastery and perfection in noble

deliverance it is of Sarah put when deed

but rightly speaking this should be said

22 monks rightly speaking were it to be

said of anyone he is the son of the

Blessed One born of his breast born of

his mouth born of the Dharma created by

the Dharma an heir in the Dharma not an

heir in material things it is of Sarah /

- indeed that rightly speaking this

should be said 23 monks the matchless

wheel of the Dharma set rolling by the

tathagata is kept rolling rightly by

Sarah put her that is what the Blessed

One said the monks were satisfied and

delighted in the Blessed ones words in a

big room whose taints are destroyed

these last hatred delusion are abandoned

cut off at the root made like a palm

stump done away with so that they are no

longer subject to food her arising these

last hatred delusion are abandoned cut

off at the root made like a palm stamp

done away with so that they are no

longer subject to food her arising

chapter 19 the power of jhana

experiencing the state of jhana in this

lifetime is a very powerful and

far-reaching event that you can achieve

pretty quickly in this lifetime

in fact it is only second to attaining

the banner itself why is it so important

it is important because that when you

retain even one moment of jhana the

Sutter's say that if you keep your

precepts and continue to lead a

relatively moral life until your death

you'll be destined at minimum to be

reborn into a realm called the

brahmaloka a very high heaven realm that

corresponds to the last and highest most

Jannah you have attained for example if

the last and highest jhana you

experienced during your lifetime was the

third jhana then you would be reborn

into to the third jhana realm a

brahmaloka because of the powerful Mara

to hold some energy of the jhana you

will never return to a human of the

lower heaven David realms much less hell

ghosts or animal realms now if that

isn't good news then there is an even

more interesting fact that the satyrs

describe and is found in the anger

terror nicaya you will attain nirvana

there in that realm without any return

to a lower realm not only are you reborn

into a brahmaloka but you never take

rebirth in any lower realm even if you

have not attained Nirvana and all it

took was to experience jhana foot just

once this should motivate you to go sit

it is widely written in most books on

Buddhism that should you attain so

tarpana or higher attainment that you

will return at most seven times to any

realm before attaining final Nirvana or

our haunt ship but it can actually only

be as little as one time if you attain

nirvana through the jhana practice note

this is the tranquil aware jhana state

we are talking about you'll be only

reborn one time in the highest jhana

realm that you experienced and attained

final awakening there there are subtle

references to support this coming up but

first we must address a common

misconception that you must actually be

in the state of jhana while you are

dying to be reborn into that higher

realm

obtaining jhana just one time the suttas

to say that if you attain a jhana then

you are automatically reborn into the

corresponding brahmaloka realm and never

returned back to a lower realm however

most people think that when you die you

have to be in the state of jhana the

thought is that if you attain the first

jhana then rebirth is in the first jhana

realm rebirth is very pleasant and is

one year on long there if you attained

the second jhana then this realm is

higher still and so on up to the eighth

thirupu base of neither perception nor

non-perception have used the below

sutter it is a satyr central dotnet

translation but i am going to change

some of the text to baku bodies version

this becomes clearer with his anger tara

nicaya translation printed by wisdom

publications in 2012 on page 507 this is

a satyr entitled good willow

loving-kindness the book of falls sat

125 this is to address the skeptics that

think that to be reborn in a brahmaloka

requires that you be in the jhana

meditation state at the moment of your

death

anga tara nicaya for book of the fours

125 goodwill one monks there are these 4

types of individuals to be found

existing in the world which for there is

the case where an individual keeps

pervading the first direction as well as

the second direction the third and the

fourth with an awareness imbued with

loving-kindness a matter thus he keeps

pervading above/below

and all around everywhere and in every

respect the all encompassing cosmos with

an awareness imbued with good will

loving kindness

abundant expansive immeasurable e free

from hostility free from ill will he

savors that longs for that finds

satisfaction through that staying that

fixed on that demanding that are often

not falling away from that

DJ easily able to return to that jhana

then when he dies he reappears in

conjunct e'en with the Davies of Brahmas

retinue first jhana realm the divers of

Brahmas retinue monks have a lifespan of

an eon if we look at the Sutter this

appears not to be the case luckily you

only need to be able to experience in

the time period that is near your death

through a normal sitting the ability to

get back into the jhana again with this

condition you have fulfilled the

criteria the only exception would be if

you had committed any of the five

heinous crimes killing an arahant

killing your mother a father causing a

schism in the Sangha or wounding a

Buddha all of which are either

impossible or extremely unlikely as long

you meet these criteria you'll be reborn

into it for example that very pleasant

first jhana realm and if you are able to

attain the first jhana in the time

period around your death then you'll be

assured of going into that realm it

doesn't say you have to be in the jhana

at the moment of death who could

actually accomplish that anyway you are

dying you may be sick and weak it would

take a Buddha but then he is already

fully enlightened and it would not apply

to him anyway

most meditator Twi M students would

likely be able to get into a jhana

easily enough later on in life if they

have kept the practice up or at least

led a moral life and kept precepts it's

like getting on a bike the next part is

now subject to more interpretation and I

will do my best to help with this the

satyr says that whatever jhana realm

that you are reborn into

having arrived in that realm by your

John a practice you will obtain Nibbana

in that realm never to return to any

lower ohm or for that matter any realm

at all a run-of-the-mill world inhabited

there having used up all the lifespan of

those divers goes to hell to the animal

womb to the state of the hungry shades

ghosts but a disciple of the Blessed one

below it says noble disciple so this

means following the Buddha's training in

the aware Jonah's not concentration

Jonah's having stayed there having used

up all the lifespan of those divers is

unbound attains final nirvana right in

that state of being this monks is the

difference this the distinction this the

distinguishing factor between an

educated disciple of the noble ones

those having attained Nibbana at least

once and an uneducated run-of-the-mill

person non meditator when there is a

destination are reappearing the Sutter

implies that if you attain jhana and you

have learned the practice from one of

the Buddha's disciples then you'll be

reborn into the jhana realm and attained

final Nibbana in that realm and get off

the wheel right there with no further

births however there is a quite an

ominous warning and believe me most

people will not like this at all about

your subsequent rebirth after having

been reborn into a jhana realm if you

attain jhana

using concentration methods taught by

other teachers not by the Buddha

in fact she rejected concentration

methods early on in his search you will

indeed be reborn to this brahmaloka and

live out your life there but shockingly

you will not gracefully fall down from

the brahmaloka to a devar a heavenly

realm

and then gently into a human birth as

your good camera and merit is used up

but rather fall directly into to the

lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms and then gently

into a human birth as your good camera

and merit is used up but rather fall

directly into to the lower planes of

existence like the animal the hell

realms and then gently into a human

birth as your good camera and merit is

used up but rather fall directly into to

the lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms and then gently

into a human birth as your good camera

and merit is used up but rather fall

directly into to the lower planes of

existence like the animal the hell

realms and then gently into a human

birth as your good camera and Merritt is

used up but rather fall directly into to

the lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms and then gently

into a human birth as your good camera

and Merritt is used up but rather fall

directly into to the lower planes of

existence like the animal the hell

realms and then gently into a human

birth as your good camera and Merritt is

used up but rather fall directly into to

the lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms

this does not agree with the abbe head

hammer which most monks would consult

for this type of inquiry in fact there

is disagreement about whether the abbe

head hammer was spoken by the Buddha at

all

it is generally theorized by many

scholars that it was added to the basket

of texts at the third Council of monks

some 200 years after the Buddha died so

if we go by the suttas only then we need

to change our views after explaining

this sutter to one of our more advanced

students in the USA he said he did

recall one of his past lives in a

brahmaloka heaven realm and he

remembered actually dying from that

realm he was shocked to find he had

fallen all the way down to become an

animal in his next rebirth from a God to

a dog a sri lankan student at Dhamma

sukha for a retreat agreed with this

idea and quoted a subtle reference I

don't recall now where the Buddha is

asked about a stream of ants walking on

the ground he said that these beings had

fallen from a brahmaloka and had not

gotten off the wheel and attained

Nirvana the Buddha pointed this out as

an admonishment to sariputta who had

just gotten someone on the death bed

into a wholesome enough state for

rebirth after death into a heavenly

daiva realm the admonishment was for

only getting them into a heavenly realm

and not giving them enough wisdom for

them to attain the knowledge of nirvana

right there and get off the wheel either

this or only one more lifetime if you

attain a few absorption concentration

jhanas then eventually that karma runs

out and it really runs out you might

become an ant after your stay in a

heavenly palace

well note here that I believe the above

example may be of student that only

attained the brahmaloka through an act

of good merit

not attaining any jhanas but only was

listening to Sara put went through their

giving ear the mind became elevated

enough to get into a brahmaloka through

the hearing of a Sutter because it was

not through jhana practice there would

be no protection from falling from their

drom there are stories of people

acquiring enough merit at the time of

the Buddha to be reborn even as high as

the Brahma liquors but due to not having

any jhana practice to protect them

either concentration a tranquil aware

jhana they fell directly to the lower

realms as that was the only good merit

keeping them in the high realm I don't

know all this is speculation but let's

go to the Sutter BG 347 imperturbable

116 for anga Tara nicaya BB 2012

monks there are three types of persons

found in this world one here monks with

the attainment of the base of infinite

space this person relishes it and find

satisfaction in it if he is firm mndot

and has not lost it when he dies he is

reborn in companionship with the diverse

of the infinite space the lifespan is

twenty thousand eons this worldling

remains there all his life and when he

has completed the entire lifespan of

those Davers he goes down to hell to the

animal realm at of the sphere of

afflicted spirits but the Blessed ones

disciples that are all his life and when

he has completed his entire lifespan of

those Davers he attains Nibbana in the

very same state of existence this is the

difference between the instructed noble

ones disciple in the world Ling the

Sutter goes on to repeat for the base of

infinite consciousness and nothingness

so this is saying that if you are able

to enter into whatever jhana in this

specific case an arrow pledged honor at

death and you have not arrived at this

realm through wrong concentration

because of a large amount of worldly

merit then you are liable to fall

sharply for that realm directly into a

lower realm without gradually falling

first into a Devi Rome and then again

further down to a human realm in summary

I have you with some quotes from the

suttas to suggest it is up to the reader

to decide that if you keep up your

meditation practice and are able to get

into a jhana near and around the time of

your death then you will not only be

reborn into the corresponding brahmaloka

but attained Nirvana from there without

ever returning to a lower rebirth pretty

good again this is commonly thought as

only the domain of the stream enter or a

higher noble disciple

it was thought that you had to have the

third-stage Nibbana experience to never

return to this world a lower in fact all

you need to do is just to Tayna jhana

this is a wonderful discovery and if

true we are very lucky even for those

whose practice is only a little bit

advanced with just the first jhana

retained that said the Buddha always

admonished followers not ever to stop

and to continue the practice until final

awakening was achieved here and now he

had high expectations and demanded the

highest achievement either you were an

arahant or you were still in class John

our Nogami our John our Naga meter

reading through the anger tyranny car is

quite interesting as there are some

nuggets in these texts that don't appear

elsewhere in the other nicaya's

what I found specifically is a different

understanding or definition of the so

tarpana and sakagami noble disciples

first and second level attainments it is

thought that only in a Nogami attainment

third stage of awakening will give you

enough merit for your rebirth in your

next lifetime to be reborn in a

brahmaloka and in the case of the a

Nogami

a very special brahmaloka called the

pure abodes

we're only a Nogami is a reborn because

they have eliminated the first five

fetters of craving for that they attain

arahant ship in that realm and never

take birth again it is an incredible

accomplishment for this to be your last

lifetime in the lower realms even the

human and Daver realms and this is what

the a Nogami achieves however i found

some good news for the first two levels

in the anger tyranny car for the first

two noble disciples if you attain so

tarpana a saccade egami and you did this

through the jhana meditation practice

then you'll be reborn into the brahmalok

as never to return

like the a Nogami

the first and second paths can be

attained through hearing a sutter

however when you attain them with John a

practice your advantage is that you are

reborn into to the highest realm

available to a meditator you will not

return to any lower realm you will

attain nirvana in that realm and get off

the wheel right there

no more lifetime's like seven lives for

a so tarpana and one for a saccade egami

which is the case described in so many

commentaries those noble disciples that

have the attainment of cert are partner

of sakaar tegami that was attained

through the jhana practice a given a

unique title of John our Nogami ajahn an

ergometer public bodies notes from a

commentary he does note in his

translation of the anger tyrannic our

notes number 539 and number two thousand

one hundred and ninety three which i

reproduced later let's go to the

Sutter's here is a partial SATA quote

regarding the never return a status of

cert our parlor a saccade egami BG 1541

the deed born body 219 nine and this

noble disciple understands when the

liberation of mind by loving-kindness

has been developed in this way who has

attained the jhanas through the brahma

vihara z-- it leads to non returning for

a wise baku here who does not penetrate

to a further liberation a similar Sutter

is found on PG 327 autumn 94 3 tan

biggis just as in the autumn when the

sky is clear and cloudless the Sun

ascending in the sky dispels all

darkness from space as it shines and

beams and radiates satu when the dust

free

stainless Tom Araya arises in the noble

disciple together with the era seeing of

vision the noble disciple abandons three

fetters

person existence view doubt and wrong

grasp of behavior and observe and assess

afterward when he departs from two

states longing and ill-will then

secluded from sensual pleasures secluded

from unwholesome states he enters and

trials in the first jhana

which consists of Raptor and pleasure

born of seclusion accompanied by thought

and examination if vicious the noble

disciple should pass away on that

occasion there is no fetter bound by

which he might return to this world the

above person clearly becomes free of

three fetters and has become a so

tarpana bhiku body explains in a node

number 539 page 16 63 relating to the

above passage equals this type of

individual ajahn our Nogami or as in the

jupiter node number 2193

ajahn our naga meter here is the note

number 2193

page 1859 by bhikkhu bodhi this phrase

normally denotes the attainment of non

returning MP commentaries however

identifies this disciple as a John or

non returner John our naga meter that is

a stream into a once returner who also

attains jhana though such a practitioner

has not yet eliminated the two fetters

of sensual desire and ill will by

attaining jhana

he or she is bound to be reborn in the

forum realm and attained Nirvana that

without taking another rebirth in the

sense fear I will note here myself that

I don't know what the differences are

between the two types of John on Aramis

it is not explained by bhiku body so now

we have a new type of noble one one that

has attained so TARP honor and Sicard

egami attained by following the jhana

meditation system not attained through

listening to a phrase or other method he

has earned the achievement of not having

to be born again in the lower Daver of

human realms and will be reborn in a

brahmaloka

and attained final Nibbana there it says

the forum realm and I would theorize

that this is the pure abodes as this is

the highest form realm otherwise

logically if you do attain to the arupa

jhana z-- which you would do practicing

by practicing with the jhana path then

you would be reborn in the higher our

mental Brahma liquors where there is

only mind ie the base of nothingness etc

this would not be a birth in a form

realm but rather a formless realm this

seems fairly logical as it would make no

sense for someone who attained so

tarpana to be reborn again as a human

being with the same people they grew up

with the same high school dance party

tar tea they went to the same people who

never knew were followed precepts no I

don't think that makes sense

a Soutar pond is a very high being

called the sat in many places Pandit

would be very doubtful that he/she would

be reborn into the company of worldlings

even reborn as a regular monk among

monks who themselves are still

worldlings many monks these days art

study monks or serve lay people

performing rites and rituals and have

not meditated I will leave all these

ideas in the last chapter to contemplate

but I found it rather interesting and

hopeful it may be quite confusing but I

seem to have become a true Buddhist

speak as I am interested in the finer

perhaps really-really finer points of

attainments this research of course is

solely based on what the suttas say

which i would hope to be true and

correct the interpretation of course is

just my own meditate Ananda do not delay

or else you will regret it later this is

our instruction to you that is what the

Blessed One said the venerable Ananda

was satisfied and delighted in the

Blessed ones words and notes the path to

Nirvana

biography David Johnson has been in

residence at Dhamma sukha meditation

center since 2010

he is a long time senior student of Bond

TV malarum she and has participated in

many retreats currently he is a cap a

year personal attendant for then fontava

malarum she when resides at the centre

David also did a temporary ordination in

2012 under Bond TV malarum she he took

on the robes for a short period history

David was a student of many of the

persona retreats using the Mohave method

starting from the age of 19 he spent

nearly 20 years taking yearly retreats

he also has completed over 12 retreats

with Vontae vanilla Ramsay and has been

his student since 2006 David has taken

an accumulated video footage of and

personally met oppa Maher and mahadji

Tsai at all

he previously meditated under Joseph

Goldstein jack Kornfield a new Cylon

anda he has brought the footage of these

great teaches to the internet for all to

enjoy

David is from Bellevue near Seattle

Washington from 1973 to 1978 he was the

meditation center retreat manager for

the Stillpoint Institute a San Jose

California based Vipassana center he

assisted in the growth of the center and

managed its financial and administrative

affairs from the 1980s to 2010 he worked

in the San Francisco Bay Area at several

networking companies as a production and

logistics manager he then decided to

join bhante in his mission to bring Twi

m to the world in 2010 and moved to

Missouri on a permanent basis in 2015 he

wrote using Bond TV malarum she's

introductory talks than meditator

experiences the recent instruction book

a guide to tranquil wisdom meditation

his current duties at Dhamma sukha

include serving as secretary treasurer

on board member guiding monthly online

retreats since 2015 and now on-site

retreats managing the retreat center

maintaining the website and social media

accounts producing books publishing all

banters recent books producing videos

producing all footage of bhante found on

the website and on YouTube you can

directly get in touch with david at

david at da Misaka dot org and reach him

through the Dhamma sukha website orders

available from Amazon and paper and

Kindle local bookstores can order it for

you

Book Depository will ship books anywhere

in the world for free www.bucks.edu does

from begin to see publishing eight

thousand two hundred and eighteen county

route 204 Annapolis Missouri 6-3 6-2 oh

meditation questions welcome at email

info Dhamma sukha dot org

the following reading is of the book the

path to Nirvana our mindfulness of

loving-kindness progresses through the

tranquil aware Jonah's to awakening

chapter 14 the daughter Nibbana as you

continue sitting there will be the

experience of strong stillness and

balance happening and you'll be able to

sit for long periods of time without

many distractions arising the mental

activity is very quiet notice especially

the movement of attention in your head

remember your brain is the seat of the

mind and tension and tightness are

arising right there release and relax in

one gentle motion just a touch of the

six rupees is enough back away quickly

from any movement of mind it can even be

the slightest sensation that draws your

attention relax right then at this stage

mind will be serene and bright there is

a brightness of mind with clear

energetic mindfulness you are

progressing well you easily see anything

arising you relax into any distractions

and six are automatically your mind

simply has no thoughts and your

attention never wanders the subtlest

links of dependent origination will

start to appear in your awareness first

there are the consciousness is arising

from the deep inner mind then even

deeper other formations which are the

cause of those conscious nurses you are

not as phenomenon arising don't identify

with it it is craving now just peace of

mind without these vibrations and

movements of mind is what you are now

finding more desirable there is less

suffering in this quiet tranquil mind

less is better

what are formations they are defined as

bodily verbal and mental formations they

are very small movements the

the potentials of actions to arise and

not the full-fledged results these are

the little seeds out of which

consciousness arises these in turn lead

to mentality materiality and then to the

arising of the sense basis then with

contact they explode into a conscious

awareness we won't mention here how they

appear because we want you to tell the

teacher what you think you are seeing

the teacher will decide if you are right

we don't want to put any expectation

here it is important for you to see

deeply on your own without

preconceptions if there is no teacher

available it still doesn't matter as to

whatever arises the instruction is to

always 6r and go back to your meditation

object you still must let go of

everything when you see what you think

are the formations or some deeper links

6ar them as you would any other

phenomena by a sixth ring any link that

arises this will uncover the next link

deeper in the chain we are removing

tension and tightness from the craving

in the links as they are rise and when

we do this reveals the next deeper part

how do you six our ignorance you don't

it is an understanding of the four noble

truths in SATA MN 128 imperfections the

Buddha states that the meditator may

have the brightness and light fall away

what would be the reason for the loss of

brightness but of course it would be

those pesky hindrances arising they are

dark clouds gathering over this bright

clear mind sometimes mind is so clear

that it can be described as luminous

many times sitting in this state

restlessness might come up since there

is not much to observe you may want

something to watch and might want to

start to control things boredom can

arise along with a corresponding

lessening of mindfulness because of this

the light recedes balancing the factors

of energy tranquility mindfulness and

the other awakening factor

once again we'll bring that radiant mind

back continue to use a clear mind as

your object of meditation if your

mindfulness is strong there will mostly

be the quiet now and then some slight

activity will arise mind will start to

vibrate and there will be a pulling away

from the quiet mind this balance still

point where your awareness resides six

are right then and come back to the

quiet your object of meditation

continues to be that quiet mind itself

be on the lookout for any activity that

arises if you feel you are losing the

quiet you can bring up that feeling of

stillness and notice this when your mind

quiets down again then you can let go of

that feeling and go back to just

observing and relaxing into mind subtle

movements the neutral zone gradually

even the smallest bits of mental

activity will subside it will be as if

there is nothing to 6:r at all you may

get restless and want to get up it is

like you feel there is nothing left to

do do not do that six are that

restlessness and keep sitting now is the

time for patience and persistence very

little happens you have to be okay with

that

mind will settle down more and more if

you just continue you might not even

realize progress is being made but it is

if restlessness or any hindrance starts

to get upper hand just observe with the

intention I don't care what happens next

my job is just to observe what is there

you will see the subtlest aspects of

mind in it of the seeds or potentials

that ultimately lead to birth old age

and death the teacher will ask questions

to find out what you are seeing you'll

be advised to be very watchful as to how

the movements arise and how they appear

and you should not take them personally

they are not your movements arising they

just a phenomena coming from mind we

don't know why and we don't care our

only job is to allow and relax into them

as they fade away it is important for

mindfulness and tranquility to continue

to develop so that these very slight

phenomena can be seen and understood

eventually you'll see all of the links

except ignorance which is just something

that you will come to understand and as

well you'll see all the Four Noble

Truths you are working your way backward

letting go of each link by going deeper

and deeper you will see the link

mentality materiality and continue

backward to consciousness and then the

formations you'll be advised to six are

these objects when they appear

uncovering the next link there is the

separate and big craving link itself

after feeling and before clinging in the

12 links but there is also a small

amount of craving in each individual

link keeping the wheel of samsara

turning you'll be able to see all of

that you will see the entire process of

mind as you six are deeper and deeper

you'll be advised to keep backing away

from each object that arises every time

there is a sound the chain of dependent

origination fires off and you will want

a six are all of that look at the links

the rising closer and closer to see how

each tiny part of it arises there is

craving there to let go you need to let

everything that arises come by itself

don't look for it in this way you can

see how there might be a craving to go

look for more experience your mind

constantly wants to go forward and like

pac-man engage in more and more senses

to see what is there to live more to

experience more this happens because

whatever is experienced passes away so

mind is constantly looking for more to

replace the phenomena that have just

passed see if you can see this jumping

from object to object by taking a mental

standpoint of a full-stop

just mentally standing still and letting

all experienced pass through your

imperturbable state of mind which

doesn't react not even to the slightest

puff of vibration we are exiting this

rounder about existence samsara we do

this by letting go by seeing clearly

each link as it arises and by seeing it

as impersonal impermanent and

unsatisfactory

amen 111 section 18 can't so indeed

these states not having been come into

being

having been they vanish regarding those

states he abided unattracted on repelled

independent detached free dissociated

with a mind rid of barriers he

understood there is an escape beyond and

with the cultivation of that attainment

he confirmed that there is

disenchantment while in this quiet and

clear state of mind there comes first

the knowledge of disenchantment up to

now you have continued observe phenomena

arising and passing away with some

interest you notice you are getting

deeper so you keep going there is less

and less - 6r as you go along mind

becomes quiet when quieter as you

continue you notice this constant

arising and passing away of objects you

notice the silent space between the

objects that arise and pass away you

think to yourself what if I could get

rid of these objects coming and going

then there would be just the peace you

think that then there would be only

silence and not all these annoying

objects and vibrations you see the lack

of eases suffering this trying to

control has an aspect of longing in it

wanting to have something happen is the

very thing that will stop it

the teacher will remind the student that

their job is simply to observe you

realize that now you are beginning to

develop a whole new perspective on the

world you had never thought that the

lack of mental activity would be good

but now you do

you see the venue mental activity and

movement is unsatisfactory silence is

better now you see any vibration and

even any consciousness as unsatisfactory

you even try to stop things from arising

and you can't you were never in control

at all it just keeps coming your mind

starts to go towards silence but there

is a problem the mental stream doesn't

stop and just keeps on rolling a subtle

sort of observation arises I am really

tired of these sensations disturbing my

peace of mind

dissatisfaction arises along with the

realization that it would be best to see

all these arising phenomena just stop

let me please have some peace you are

starting to become disenchanted you look

for a reason why these constant

sensations and mental objects arise but

there seems to be none if you could find

the reason then you might be able to

understand why it comes or a way to turn

it off you want to analyze and solve the

problem but you don't see a solution

finally you just give up looking

interest in watching this constant

stream starts to wane you realize there

really is no end to it this is an

arising state of knowledge about your

mind on the life process it will never

end there is no peace here you are

energetic continually watching every

little vibration thought form etc and

you can be very determined to relax and

let go of everything that arises by

doing that you think you'll get to the

end of the process but it doesn't work

you now understand all that arises to be

a disturbance it upsets the quiet state

of mind that you are starting to enjoy

enjoy not in a craving sort of way but

with appreciation you are starting to

relish the quiet you understand that

balance is better than chasing more

objects this realization will lead to

contentment contentment will arise

without a cascade of vibrations

movements constantly assaulting you you

may have some desire for Nibbana to

arise and might think you are close then

you might put too much energy in and

start to lean into the future hoping for

the attainment to arise you need to 6r

this desire this is the arising of more

craving this is longing you may think

that you need to have the desire to

reach the goal no you have already

pointed your mind there let the

meditation to the rest you make a

determination about getting somewhere

and then you just go you don't think

about the destination the whole time you

are on the way there you just continue

trusting that it will happen as planned

because you are on the right path this

is determination is the desire for

Nibbana

something that we should not have in

these final sessions of sitting before

attaining awakening we need to let go of

even the desire for nibbana when we

first start however we won't even begin

the meditation without some intentional

desire to get us on the path so it is a

positive desire a wholesome desire

because after all it is a desire for no

desire it is not like a desire for

chocolate ice cream or a new car it is a

desire to stop and be still in no peace

this kind of wholesome desire is called

Chanda in Pali as was stated above you

don't know how to stop this stuff from

coming and coming you want it to stop

there is nothing but vibration at all

different levels now you see peace as a

more desirable goal now you wish to be

void of these sensations finally there

comes the point where you just stop

caring about all these arising phenomena

you can't come on this stream to stop

you start to give up and see that by

paying heed to the phenomena you were

feeding them they will never stop if you

are interested in what is there you

realize that all this movement and

vibration is disturbing your kala

and peace mine now becomes disinterested

in water rises and there is a deeper

feeling of disenchantment there are

endless risings this is suffering

this is Dhaka which is poly for

suffering a disease the Buddha said the

first noble truth of existence is

suffering now you see it you see how you

pay attention to and like and dislike

everything that arises there by keeping

it going through craving the second

noble truth now you see the goal the

cessation of craving is the cessation of

suffering the third noble truth

dispassion this leads to an even deeper

letting go dispassion arises

disenchantment made you more and more

aware of how your interest in these

things just leads to more suffering now

you just don't care anymore it doesn't

matter what comes it goes your mind

draws back it doesn't look out with

anymore everything that arises is okay

it doesn't matter if no longer pulls

your attention you know you can't stop

it you don't even care about Nirvana

anymore this is a state where there are

no more hindrances your mind has just

stopped throwing up obstacles it has no

more interest in any arising experience

now you no longer try to control

anything you are now close to the

unconditioned why because you don't care

through disenchantment with all

conditioned existence / holy balanced

mind arises it neither likes nor

dislikes there are only conscious nurses

and mental objects are rising and

passing away there is no interest in any

of it it is just there there is now the

tendency toward deep peace of mind your

mind now has barely any movement at all

you are very aware and very energetic

but again it's like nothing is happening

and the thought comes up where you

wonder if you should do anything

the answer is definitely no just observe

see that very question arising in your

mind as impersonal and 6r8

it is just a matter of time watching and

observing carefully for any movement

like flickers lights adjust vibrations

the six rupees are on automatic and you

aren't putting in much effort it just

rolls off in front of you you will

observe this lack of hindrances but it

won't make you excited it is just part

of what is happening it is nonetheless

amazing to have no unwholesome states at

all to be free of craving completely

this realization has all come through

your own deep insights into watching

yourself coming into and out of

existence when dispassion arises you'll

be very close you think there is nothing

left to do because there is nothing -

six outs so you want to get up and do

something else there are no more

barriers to the meditation why I

continue you think everything has been

completed but just continue and be

patient with this sublimely quiet mind

continued observe without even caring

about what comes up anymore you have

realized now there is nothing that you

can do about it patience leads to

Nibbana this path is not just one step

after another until you reach the goal

you will have doubts you'll get out of

balance with your observational power

then you will figure it out two steps

forward and one step back if you are not

progressing further and you seem to hit

the wall you should ask yourself your

intuition what is stopping my meditation

from going deeper the answer may come

the next hour or the next day sometimes

there are blockages that are hidden and

simply not discoverable by the teacher

if you are working with one or by you

hopefully an answer will come back you

may be applying too much energy you may

need to back away further from

everything or you may not be observant

enough in seeing how the links arrived

how you take things personally and

identify with them you may be leaning

into to the process too much Vontae Vimy

larum she speaks about one student who

asked himself this question he just

posed it to himself later the answer

came back that he was waiting waiting

for what waiting for Nibbana the waiting

was the problem there was craving there

and that had to be released

whatever is stopping you will eventually

yield as your knowledge deepens

sometimes this blockage can go on for a

long time gradually even if it takes

years of retreats you mature your

technique and knowledge of how to do the

practice some people will understand

easily follow the instructions and apply

them in only a matter of days or weeks

they break through to awakening they

fall into the stream of the noble ones

patience and following the instructions

precisely as lead to nib honor let's go

to the match demon nakiya to see even

more clearly how the buddha described

this process in Sutta 148 the six sets

of six in the first 80% of the text the

buddha describes the impersonality of

each sense base as it arises and passes

away

nothing is you consciousness is not you

your body is not you and so on toward

the end he tells the students that as

they observe they will come to

understand certain insights as well as

why they arise liberation from Sutter M

and 148 m n 148 section 40 seeing thus

monks a well taught disciple becomes

disenchanted with the eye disenchanted

with forms disenchanted with eye

consciousness disenchanted with eye

contact disenchanted with I feeling

disenchanted with eye craving

it says that now the student starts to

pull away starts to understand there is

nothing in this arising and passing show

in which to delight what does the

student really see here the satyr tells

us m and 148 section 39 students

dependent on mind and mind objects mind

consciousness rises a meeting of the

three is mind-contact with mind-contact

as condition there arises a mind feeling

felt as pleasant too painful or

neither-pleasant-nor-painful when one is

touched by a pleasant mind feeling if

one does not delight in it welcome it

and remain holding to it then the

underlying tendency to lust does not lie

within one when one is touched by a

painful mind feeling if one does not

sorrow grieve and lament does not weep

beating one's breast and become

distraught then the underlying tendency

to aversion does not lie within one when

one is touched by a neither

pleasant-nor-painful mind feeling if one

understands it as it is the origination

the disappearance the gratification the

danger and the escape in regard to that

mind feeling then the underlying

tendency to ignorance does not lie

within one as you watch mind and mind

objects coming and going you are

interested in this process you are

delighting in this observation in seeing

how it all works the feeling of the

light is so subtle you may not

understand it as such but you do like

watching it and trying to figure out why

the process arises and what this all

means at times mind is kind of fun to

watch through this gratification which

is defined as source of pleasure you

watch and try to get to the goal but you

can't there is the tendency to lust

after these arising and disappearing

objects or you push them away as

interfering with your calm or you have

indifference and don't care about them

it is the craving mind that takes this

indifference personally it is your

indifference it is not a clear pure mind

in other words you see the arising and

passing of many objects and you are

attracted then only if you see that

these objects are sources of pleasure or

a version will you see the danger to

your mind by chasing and lusting after

them as this leads to suffering old age

and death when disenchantment arises the

Buddha goes on to say

MMN 148 sections 35 to 39 monks that one

shall here and now make an end of

suffering by abandoning the underlying

tendency to lust for pleasant

mind-feeling

by abolishing the underlying tendency to

aversion for painful mine feeling by

extirpating uprooting the underlying

tendency to ignorance in regard to

neither pleasant-nor-painful mine

feeling by abandoning ignorance and

arousing true knowledge this is possible

by giving up your tendency toward the

lighting in this or that and your

tendency to lust after these delights by

seeing the danger in it and so on you

come to the end of desire you no longer

want to keep chasing these feelings as

they only lead to suffering and it's not

because you were forcing restraint on

yourself it is because you are no longer

delighted by this passing show you no

longer care thus dispassion to all

phenomena arises through the knowledge

of craving the Four Noble Truths and how

craving leads to suffering freedom from

the wheel of samsara is experienced all

that had to be done is done

the daughter Nibbana is opening entering

the stream now we arrive at the

attainments and how nirvana is

experienced first I will describe the

four levels of noble attainments to be

experienced you must go through all four

to be fully awakened and free of craving

craving drops away in stages in total

there are four stages of sainthood

so tarpana sakagami

gommi and Aravind each of the four

stages has two components the path

knowledge Magga and the fooiish and

knowledge fala path knowledge is the

first glimpse of Nirvana but still may

be lost if precepts are not followed

once the fruit knowledge is gained the

attainment is locked in and cannot be

lost there are eight attainments in all

two final awakening two for each of the

major stages of sainthood path and fruit

at the last one the last fetter of all

ten Fetisov craving is destroyed three

are eliminated at sotapanna two more a

loosened at Sicard egami

and finally all of the first five

fetters a let go at a Nogami the balance

of the ten is eliminated at Aravind what

are the fetters with awakening the

hindrances are abandoned once and for

all but there remain subtler and eight

unwholesome tendencies in all of us that

are born from craving the word fetter is

defined as something that restrains us

these are the final chains that bind us

to this endless round of existences the

fetters are the last potentials of

unwholesome states I will list them as

we go through the noble paths and note

where they are eliminated chapter 15

first stage of awakening sotapanna

MN 111 section 19 again monks by

completely surmounting the base of

neither perception nor non-perception

Sara put her interred upon and abided in

the cessation of perception and feeling

attaining Nibbana path knowledge mega

finally after staying with this quiet

energetic imperturbable mind of the base

of neither perception nor non-perception

and six ring every tiny movement until

mind is barely moving at all you let go

of the last condition the last link of

ignorance and all activity ceases

everything stops and an unconditioned

state arises there is the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

for a few moments or minutes you don't

know you're in that state until after

you come out some will say they

experienced at Lange spot or a adapt in

consciousness this is nothing like any

of you previous johner experiences it

isn't a gap with a sense of time because

there is nothing missing time doesn't

exist when nothing is happening there is

just the stopping of the stream of

consciousness a halting you only know it

after you come out of it the world stops

you are no longer in samsara and it will

last as long as it's going to last

there's life still exist vitality and

your life continuum still go on your

autonomic functions like your heart

beating and blood pumping continue but

your mental process has stopped

completely before there just existed

slight movements of mind but now with

this temporary with cessation of all

mental activity there arises right after

that a powerful clarity of mind you have

just had the deepest rest of your life

when you come back you are now seeing

the subtlest movements deeper than you

have ever experienced mind appears like

a totally a raised blackboard nothing is

on it then when mind turns back on the

first mental process is clearly seen

against this inky black background

coming out of cessation mind is radiant

and observant you have arrived at full

stop the effect of the cessation is so

powerful that whereas before the pond of

your mind had tiny little ripples on it

now it is so still and placid that you

can see anything there you can see to

any depth what is below there is no

craving at all there is no dust to

obscure vision mind is a pure that you

see the smallest detail of anything that

starts to arise in crystal clarity what

you are about to see is the first

arising of consciousness the first

moment of mental activity as your mental

processes begin again from this still

point the next thing that happens is the

you see the links of dependent

origination arise and pass away very

quickly these are sometimes in the form

of vibrations and little lights flashes

or electrical currents you will see this

in your mind and sometimes even see it

in the air in front of you you won't

know what it is very likely and will not

expect it this is the first condition

mental process in which your mind starts

to vibrate again and come back on line

when this happens the eye of wisdom mind

without craving sees the total

impersonality of the process there is no

self there your deep observation

understands that there is nobody home

that what you are is just a process of

moments arising and passing away as a

result of this profound insight the

super mundane unconditioned Nibbana

arises this experience will be followed

by a momentary sense of relief like a

burden was lifted off you have just

experienced Nibbana you have become a so

tarpana Nibbana will not come when you

want it it will come when you are ready

when the seven factors of awakening all

line up in perfect balance like passing

through the keyhole of the door you

didn't think it could be possible yet it

happened you see that in this seemingly

permanent and eternal psychophysical

process when mind stops there really is

nothing between each thought moment that

persists that knowledge leads you to

understand that an impersonal underlies

everything there is nothing that is

continuous between each moment nothing

that survives not even God nothing

everything is absolutely void of selfi

soul amen

111 section 19 cont and his tanks were

destroyed by his seeing with wisdom the

word here is wisdom so what is wisdom

after the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness and it's going

to last as long as it will last when

feeling

perception and consciousness start up

again you have the opportunity of seeing

exactly clearly with very sharp

mindfulness every one of the links of

dependent origination you will see how

when this doesn't rise that doesn't rise

that each link is dependent on the

previous link you will see that

everything has a cause for arising you

have uncovered the last link of

ignorance you will also see that if it

arises it will come to an end you will

see impermanence clearly all that arises

will pass away whether it be pleasure or

pain this is wisdom it is the knowledge

that you gain by directly seeing the

links of dependent origination arise and

pass away and by seeing that there is no

injuring self this wisdom is not some

sort of conceptual philosophy some

religious tenets a Dogma it is the

result of sync directly when you see the

word wisdom in the suttas you should

understand that this always means seeing

the links of dependent origination

directly and seeing everything that

arises as impersonal it isn't learning a

philosophy it is directly observing

reality with the next mental process

that arises you'll see the whole arising

and passing away of all of the links of

dependent origination for the duration

of one instant then there is the final

letting go of ignorance and seeing the

Four Noble Truths that is when Nibbana

occurs it is just a momentary event and

just one group of Link's firing the

links are seen with wisdoms I this takes

place at a deeper level the normal

awareness people will say they don't

know what they saw but they will know

the mind to a greater or lesser degree

will be having insights arise into how

there is a cause that creates a result

this constant arising and passing away

of conditioned existence is the content

of who we are and that's all there is

they will now understand that an

intuitive level how dependent

origination works each link is

conditioned by the previous link

each process is conditioned by the

passing away of another process like a

candle flame that lights another candle

one candle burns down but the next

candle lights up being ignited by the

previous candle lit by bit you arise and

pass away you are changing little by

little over time like a great city that

arises from an empty piece of land each

building arise as one at a time each

shovel of dirt carried off and dumped

one at a time with the constant arising

and passing away of causes this great

city is built the next shovel full of

dirt

taken away changes it once again no one

person has built it just many shovels

and people shoveling it's a process with

no real beginning and no real and we

give cities names but these are just

concepts to label these groups of

buildings the perception aggregate of

the five aggregates is partially memory

and partly bowling perception is what

puts a name on this group of buildings

it labels it either New York or San

Francisco depending on what for example

visual forms arise in our own case we

are given a name like John and then we

personally identify with that name as if

some underlying entity were controlling

everything but it isn't it is just a

concept the city itself is not one solid

thing it is the result of all these

causes that make it what it is but in

this instant only in the next moment it

has changed to something else in the

same way you are a completely impersonal

process there is no one a soul behind it

it is automatically happening and will

continue forever into the future until

you become fully awake and exit the

wheel of samsara this is so profound

that after these links parse away

Nibbana arises just for an instant in

the suttas it says dot and his taints

were destroyed with wisdom

meaning that Nirvana arises right after

you see the links of dependent

origination and it destroys as

measured amount of craving it destroys

the first three what are called fetters

step-by-step attainment of Nibbana the

cessation of feeling perception and

consciousness occurs this means that

everything we consider a person stops

there is a blank state a blackout

avoiding us all mental activity stops on

an EEG one would guess the indicator

flatlines for just a moment following

the cessation because of the incredible

clarity created by the experience of

cessation the first mental activity a

set of twelve links arises and passes

away they might be seen like bubbles a

little flashing lights wisdoms eye

observes utter and total in personality

in this first mental process as the

links arise and pass away with no

craving to cloud mind the links are seen

as just an impersonal process with no

inherent self just a group of neurons

firing that is all you are after the

last link of ignorance passes away

Nibbana arises there is a feeling of

relief for a moment a unique feeling in

the mind that there has been a great

burden thrown off joy starts to arise

all pervading joy that can last for up

to several days it may continue longer

but sometimes you just get used to the

state and don't notice it anymore

note that the relief and the joy that

follows the different feelings you

should notice this difference the first

time Nibbana occurs many people will not

recognize or see the 12 links but they

will have the experience of Nirvana

regardless at the next level called

fruition it is likely they will witness

more clearly the links are rising and

passing away fruition knowledge is much

deeper it happens in this way for many

people when they experienced the first

path the so tarpana paths knowledge can

have the cessation with a relief but the

links themselves just are not clear

they may report more often a blackout

where they just disappeared and then

came back the fruition will be attained

later after they have practiced some

more this will cement in the attainment

in a deeper way again when wisdom arises

the first three of the ten fetters are

eliminated in the first path attainment

all of the fetters are fully abandoned

after the attainment have full awakening

which is our hand ship

what is nirvana Nibbana is described in

the poly Tech's as a door to or element

earth air fire water space and

consciousness are elements as taught by

the Buddha the nib honored r2 is also an

element and its other qualities are

described by Baku body here the Buddha

also refers to Nirvana as an ayah Tana

this means realm plane or sphere it is a

sphere where there is nothing at all

that corresponds to our mundane

experience and therefore it has to be

described by way of negations as the

negation of all the limited and

determinant qualities of condition

things the Buddha also refers to near

Bonner a Sardar to an element the

deathless element he compares the

element of Nibbana to an ocean he says

the just as the great ocean remains at

the same level no matter how much water

pours into it from the rivers without

increase a decrease so the near banda

element remains the same no matter

whether many a few people attain nirvana

he also speaks of Nirvana as something

that can be experienced by the body an

experience that is so vivid so powerful

that it can be described as touching the

deathless element with one's own body

the Buddha also refers to Nippon

rossette State pada as Amitabha dart the

deathless state or acute a pada the

imperishable State another word used by

the Buddha to refer to nirvana is Sakura

which means truth an existing reality

this refers to near Bonner as the truth

a reality that the noble ones have known

through direct experience so all these

terms considered as a whole clearly

established that Nibbana is an actual

reality and not the mere destruction of

defiled ments of the cessation of

existence Nibbana is unconditioned

without any origination and is timeless

when the Nirvana element touches craving

it is like the water of the great ocean

putting the fire out

pssss no more fire nee means no and

banna means fire no fire Nibbana

venerable border dasa Baku in an article

entitled Nibbana

for everyone a truth message from suan

mokkh adapted and translated by santa

karo baku also defines Nirvana as an

element it is the coolness when the

defilements are ended Nibbana was a

whole other matter than death instead

it's a kind of life that knows no death

Nibbana is the thing which sustains life

thus preventing death it itself can

never die although the body must die

eventual lie the cessation and the

experience of Nirvana are two different

things

some say when mind stops that is near

Bonner no it is what happens afterward

which is seeing the links arise that

causes the profound insight into

existence to arise that is Nibbana

we can't describe the experiences of

Nibbana that happens in each path of

sainthood with conditioned words as it

is beyond our conceptual mind to

perceive but it is what comes after the

experience that gives you a clue as to

what has just happened as described

before some explain feeling a moment of

relief after it happens some experience

a deep understanding of dependent

origination some say they just went away

into a black hole or disappeared then

slowly a mild the strong euphoria rises

I

I'm careful not to use the word joy here

it is beyond that some describe it like

steam that ascends slowly in mind of

perhaps a minty feeling this is what we

call all-pervading joy it seeps out from

every pore of your body you may not

notice it at first but soon you feel

very uplifted and elevated it is a

feeling of happiness but grounded in

very strong equanimity you realize in a

flash that there is no controller there

is no ego there is no self everything is

impersonal it is said no self no problem

what a relief

there is nothing to worry about to

control it is all impersonal arising and

passing away on its own all of these

mental states are arising from causes

they are just conditioned by previous

actions in fact the meaning of cama

parley or karma sanskrit is action there

is the action and then the result from

that action v Parker there is no self

that you need to psychoanalyze to get to

the real problem of this depression and

neuroses once the concept of self is

gone there is nobody left to be

depressed or more clearly nobody left to

take a painful feeling personally it is

only a feeling and it isn't your feeling

you may notice that everything looks a

little different now your senses appear

to be heightened more than normal

meditation might make them colors are

brighter or you just find yourself

looking at the trees with Oran wander

you notice the mind is sublimely quiet

you'll be asked if you notice a change

in your personality do you feel

different do you have a change in

perspective for some it is a dramatic

change and for others it is subtler you

will say your mind feels very relieved

and happy you talk about how you

understand now how everything arises due

to causes and conditions you are

starting to understand deeply what the

links are and how they are dependent on

each other

instead of understanding them

intellectually you now understand them

directly you may use the simile of the

cloth as the Buddha did hallow

everything with its causes and

conditions weaves together to make a

cloth it is all impersonal sutter means

thread in parley all the Sutter's weave

together to make the cloth the cloth

represents your wise understanding of

the whole process of the Buddha's

teaching you may or may not remember

seeing very much of this but you will

know it this is wisdoms I the profound

knowledge from directly seeing the deep

mind sees what happened and it has

understood what it means this is wisdom

seeing the links of dependent

origination this is the path knowledge

you are now on the path to the full

experience of the first stage of

awakening decisions arise in your mind

am you commit an action that has a

result like a painful a pleasant feeling

arising in the future

breaking precepts results in painful

consequences following precepts result

in wholesome pleasant results what

results do you want now you know what is

wholesome and what leads to wholesome

most people will experience the first

path knowledge in a sitting meditation

but some have reported that it happened

after washing dishes or even turning

over and going back to sleep Nibbana

happens when your knowledge is mature

and you are ready at the Meditation

Center in Missouri we see people get the

path attainment every now and then and

one of the principle ways you can tell

is that the face changes it is like all

the tension from a lifetime just

disappears it looks as though the face

drops the wrinkled forehead flattens out

you can just see the equanimity bubbling

there is a glowing and the radiance that

is there the speech is more controlled

and less emotional many times

bhante after he comes from the

interviews will point out to meditator

to me and say

look at the face when I look if I look

close enough I see an emotionless but

peaceful angelic expression adjust a big

smile with a glowing radiance that

wasn't there before after a few days the

most dramatic of these effects

disappears as the hindrances make the

way back just not as strong as before so

tarpana fruition fala the first path

knowledge which is experienced one time

is followed by the first fooiish in

knowledge the path knowledge gets you

through the door the fruition knowledge

closes the door and locks in your

understanding this all happens when you

have another cessation moment arise in

your meditation and you experience

Nibbana again after you experience the

so tarpana path attainment as outlined

above then if you sit and continue to

meditate exactly as you did before you

will experience that process of a blank

spot and flashes again with another

feeling of relief this is the sotapanna

fruition this is the first stage of four

stages of sainthood you have entered the

temple now but there are three more

levels of attainment following sotapanna

which we will get into following this

chapter however you might be too

Restless to sit right after your path

attainment this is due to the strong

all-pervading joy you'll be experiencing

over the next few days as your energy

wanes you'll be encouraged to go back to

your chair a cushion and gain the

fruition of sotapanna

you may be told that your mind is very

strong now

do not waste any time use this time to

make even more progress you are

understandably happy about your path

experience but now that your mind is

bright and very clear it is helpful to

continue to the fruit of the first stage

of awakening your mind is open and ready

so just continue with your practice

gaining the fruit is what changes the

personality in a major way gaining the

first path is a preliminary step to

gaining the full attainment and fruition

of sotapanna

the meditator with only the past

experience can actually slide back due

to bad behavior in breaking precepts you

can lose your attainment this is why it

is called the path knowledge you have

become a collar so tarpana little stream

meant what you are still on the path not

done yet you must keep the precepts

fully meditate and attained cessation

once again once the fruition is attained

the path has been fully traveled and you

and now a noble one who will never break

the precepts you have reached the first

level of sainthood fontava malarum she

likes to say you have given up a notion

of suffering a so tarpana purifies and

eliminates from his mind the first three

fetters of being there attend in all one

Sakura DT personality belief you now

know without any doubt that there is no

permanent self or soul to vicious

skeptical doubt about the Dharma you

will have no doubt about the path you

will know how you achieved what you did

and how to continue the practice you

have total confidence in the Buddha's

method you have full confidence in the

Buddha Dharma and Sangha three sila bart

are parameter clinging to rites and

rituals thinking that they will by

themselves lead to awakening you will

understand that bowing chanting or

worshipping the bud DHA will not get you

to the experience of Nirvana no matter

how much you do this you must do the

work of meditation and study to attain

nirvana with the second step of fruition

being attained you will not be able to

break precepts any more you might try to

do it just as a test but you won't be

able to go through with it with only the

path knowledge you could potentially

break them and this is the danger of not

attaining the fruit with only the first

path knowledge it is still possible that

if you did II continued to break

precepts and behave badly you could lose

your attainment

you would have to go through the process

having the experience of seeing

dependent origination again

Sutter M in 105 Sun Nakata Sutter

addresses this possibility with the

simile of the wound and healing if one

does not take care of the wound it is

liable to become infected however with

proper care the wound will heal

completely without any possibility of

becoming infected in the same way with

the proper taking care of path knowledge

your attainment will not be lost with

the fruition your attainment is locked

in there is no going back to the state

of the world lingpa Jonah as a Soutar

partner you are destined to have no more

than seven lifetimes before you get off

the wheel become a full arahant with all

ten fetters destroyed and attain final

parinibbana also when you are reborn at

worst you will not fall below the human

realm

you are also assured that your next life

will be pleasant where you can continue

to do your work to get off the wheel

there are 31 planes of existence is you

will not fall into the painful hellish

realms now you won't come back as an

animal the ghost you may return to the

human realm or to one of the six daiva

of celestial heaven realms where there

is only enjoyment and pleasures if you

attain jhana and you certainly did

practicing Twi M you would be destined

for at least one of the Brahma realms

with incredibly long lifespans where

beings feed on joy to sustain themselves

or you might go even higher into one of

the four arrow / realms where there is

only mind no tasting a touching there

exclusively mental realms with no

physical body in these realms it is said

that lifespans are measured with it one

followed by miles of zeros so they are

very long if for some reason you have

only attained the path knowledge and

heaven broken precepts but you did not

continue your meditation in this

lifetime

the Sutter's say you will attain the

fruition honor before your death

most of the time it will come a lot

sooner on a retreat fruition could come

in only a few days or even hours if you

continue to practice without a break

recently a man in Chicago experienced

the path at lunchtime and the fooiish

Neuros for him at 1:20 a.m. that night

he didn't see the Lynx the first time

but with the fur ition he did report

them all the higher paths are attained

by just continuing the practice in the

same way there will be deeper and

subtler fetters to see and abandon your

meditation will be easier but still the

balance of the fetters will continue to

arise now your confidence will be very

strong and you'll be without doubt the

Sutter's also described another way of

becoming a Soutar partner simply hearing

a passage of text can bring about the

Soutar partner of sakaar tegami paths in

one translation SOT a means here and

Panna means wisdom wisdom through

hearing this is rare but it did happen

for many of the Buddha's disciples like

Sarah Porter and Maud Lana but for this

to happen the teacher must say exactly

the right thing and the student must be

ready again this is a very rare

occurrence and it tends to take a Buddha

to accomplish it now you have had the

first two experiences of Nibbana and

have become a sotapanna with fruition

this is the goal of the eight Janus and

the path I have been describing you have

become a noble one one who has now

broken out of the samsaric wheel of

existences but there is still more to do

there are the four levels of noble ones

and three more I will describe below

that you still must go through to fully

eliminate all craving in your mind if

you want to accomplish all of this in

one li fed iron

chapter 60 second stage sakagami

meditation instruction now that you have

attained the first path and fruition of

Sur tarpana how do you continue that is

easy just

keep doing what you are doing each stage

of awakening is just one more step on

the ladder to eliminating craving now

the meditator spends two minutes in each

direction radiating equanimity and then

all around is before and again when the

feeling fades away you observe the quiet

clear mind and six are any phenomena

that arise that's it just keep going and

this is the process all the way to the

highest attainment the second stage of

awakening is a continued deepening of

the meditation practice

you've become a saccade egami when you

see the links of dependent origination

arising and passing away twice versus

only one time for the sotapanna

there is a cessation and you quickly see

the twelve links of dependent

origination one time and then they arise

and pass away a second time right after

the first in total twenty four links

arise and pass away all at once like

train cars one after the other this

seeing of the links is followed by a

moment of relief this is not just based

on the satyr texts but has been observed

in students experience after you attain

sakagami path Magga the sakagami

fruition Fowler comes when you once

again experience cessation and the links

of dependent origination arising and

passing away twice sometimes in the path

experienced the student does not

actually see the bubbles which are the

links but they will see them at the

fruition as before it is at fusion where

the personality changes permanently path

knowledge means really you are just on

the path to the fruit completion of the

secod egami stage at this stage you

weaken but don't fully eliminate the

fetters of one karma raga sensuous

craving a lust to via pada ill-will

hatred anger aversion and fear

these have been loosened at times these

unwholesome states will still arise if

the circumstance presents itself

you will tend to avoid anger and lust

seeing them as course states if they

arise you will notice six are them

you'll be surprised if they hang around

very long you'll be motivated to

continue your meditation to fully

eliminate these disturbing states of

mind but they will still be present just

not as strong it is that the fruition

there is a strong release and letting go

of sensual desires this doesn't

necessarily mean sexual desire but the

course desires for sensual pleasures

like entertainment eating out and bodily

pleasure sexual desire is deeper and is

let go later a note here is that if the

fruition of any path is not experienced

in this lifetime it will happen upon

your death as a sakagami you will have

no more than just one time that you have

to return to the human higher realms

before you attain final parinibbana and

release from samsara as a so tarpana it

was seven three ways to Nirvana as

outlined in this book the first and

easiest way to reach nirvana is through

the jhana path what I'm describing in

this book there are however two other

ways to attain nirvana the second way is

the way the buddha's own awakening

process unfolded he went to the fourth

jhana and then one he remembered his

past lives - he visited other realms and

saw how and why beings were reborn there

and finally three he saw how kama works

how causes create in more causes in a

never-ending wheel that leads to old age

and death disenchantment and dispassion

arose through this knowledge and Nibbana

was attained this way is called the

threefold knowledge or Tavita that is

one knowledge of past lives two

knowledge of beings in other realms and

three knowledge of the destruction of

the taints Nibbana the third way is

through attaining all the psychic powers

or innocent then attaining nirvana

this practice is most suited to people

who are sensitive to feeling or

emotionally driven being sensitive to

feeling means you are a feeling type

person who is governed by your heart the

other type of person is an intellectual

person ruled by logic and pragmatic

decisions they are best suited to go

through the jonna's people who are mixed

may take the Buddhist path of the

threefold knowledge ago through the

jonna's you can be taught to remember

your past lives but we will not go into

this practice here you can ask the

teacher if it would be helpful and they

can decide whether they will teach it to

you based on your progress in your

personality type the psychic power root

is a difficult path and can take many

years it brings with it the danger of

becoming attached to these powers and

not wanting to proceed it can bring up a

lot of conceit and arrogance about

having such unique abilities in the

opinion of the bhante the malarum XI it

is the most difficult of the ways he

says you can learn this but it will take

you 10 years and you will have to stay

with him for that whole time

chapter 17 third-stage inugami the

buddha considered the first and second

stage of attainments to be learner

states the fruit of the meditation

starts to develop at the next stage of a

Nogami where hatred and sensual desire

are eliminated together with the

previous three taints that were

eliminated at so tarpana these are the

five lower fetters this is truly ill

worthy and elevated state of being

arahant which is the fourth and final

stage then eliminates the rest of the

ten fetters completely to attain the

higher paths of a Nogami and arahant one

must practice meditation

whereas before one might have become

awakened to the first two paths just by

listening to a phrase it will now

require intense meditation practice with

full passage through the China's deep

meditation is needed to see even more

clearly the nature of the links of

dependent origination and how mind is

working taking everything personally

after more meditation and devotion to

the practice you will experience

cessation again then you will see the

links of dependent origination arise and

pass away three times after a cessation

moment in quick succession this is the a

Nogami Magra path knowledge of the third

stage of awakening after you experience

a Nogami Magga if you experience the

same thing again then a Nogami faller a

foosh and knowledge will arise three

times a Nana gommi has very strong

equanimity nothing disturbs you except

sometimes some restlessness that arises

whereas before you might have reacted

with some sensual desire lust hatred or

a version this is no longer the case in

addition there isn't the slightest fear

now because of the elimination of hatred

fear is part of hatred you will have

destroyed the first five fetters

completely one Sakura dirty personality

belief in an eye or personal selfish

soul two vicious

skeptical dad that the Dharma

is the true way three sila bart

r-parameter clinging to rites and

rituals for karma raga sensual craving

lust

5vr pada ill-will hatred anger aversion

and fear now you are very balanced in

mind this is not some super conscious

state but simply the removal of most of

the craving Tana from your mind you are

still you and you still have your

personality but the influences of the

craving neurotic fearful self not there

now you can continue working at your job

and be in the world work that is

involved in honest ethical pursuits will

appeal to you you'll be completely

truthful and fair in your dealings with

your customers and fellow employees you

will treat your fellow employees with

kindness and not be shaken by any

outbursts from the boss you will notice

that you are no longer bothered by the

petty fears and hang-ups that most

people are experienced you'll become a

better employee in the better boss you

will have no fear of anything and never

be intimidated you will follow

directions perfectly but have no problem

with pushing back against unwise orders

given to you and will not fear to talk

to the boss in an even unemotional way

you won't complain a gossip with other

employees about what is wrong and you

might even be promoted up the ranks

truly worldly success will come as you

achieve deep spiritual success romantic

interest is removed in a major way at

the path knowledge and eliminated

entirely at the fruition knowledge for a

Nogami

you will no longer desire marriage or a

family however if you currently are

married I have a family

your romantic lust will be replaced with

strong pure loving kindness you will

live with your mate as best friends a

brother and sister you won't have any

more children because your desire for

sex will be lost you'll be the most

wonderful parent conceivable you won't

ever get mad and you will always love

and

plenty of time for your child your

two-year-old won't get on your nerves

anymore because you know that's the

nature of a two-year-old it's okay you

will acquire what you need and not what

you want you won't have big desires to

do things other than being happy with

what you have than what you are doing

right now

you will want to share what you have

learned in your meditation by teaching

but you won't be attached to promoting

anything if it happens it happens your

happiness with what you have achieved

will be something you naturally want to

share with others if you are working

gradually you will move away from just

doing your job to make money - looking

for ways to help people directly by

starting a meditation group a teaching

meditation full-time people will ask you

what depression is a what suffering is

and you'll be able to tell them with no

doubts you will know how your mind works

and will be able to explain it to others

and best of all going to the dentist

won't bother you you will never be born

again in the sensuous realms if you

don't attain arahant in this lifetime

you'll be reborn in one of the five high

Brahma realms called the pure abodes

where there are only other a Nogami

Xanterra hands for this realm you are

destined to attain Harahan a Thep and

get off the wheel but there is still

more to do there are 10 fetters and you

have removed five there are yet five

more these are the final obstacles to

fully Awakening and freedom from even a

wisp of craving chapter 18 fourth stage

Aravind when you become an arahant there

is nothing more that can disturb your

mind you will experience arahato megger

and arahato fala path and fruition with

each path and each foosh an experience

you'll witness the arising and passing

away of the links of dependent

origination four times very quickly you

will now have completely let go of all

ten fetters of being there is no further

mental suffering for you of any kind

one Sekar duty personality belief in an

eye or personal self assault the

realization of the total impersonality

of all existence to Visser kitschy

skeptical dud that the correct practice

of right effort is the true way to

awakening 3 sila bart our parameter

realizing that rites and rituals by

themselves do not lead to awakening for

karma raga craving for sensual pleasures

5vr pada ill-will hatred and fear 6 Rupa

raga earned our oopah raga the desire

for material and immaterial existence

the desire to be reborn in any realm of

existence this fetter listing her has

these two desires for existence combined

into one which is different from the way

they are normally listed 7 mana conceit

comparing with somebody else thinking in

your mind are better than you or I'm

less than you comparing yourself to

others 8 FINA mirror sloth and torpor

although sloth and torpor are frequently

not classically included as part of the

fetters sloth and torpor are considered

as one of the hindrances which is why

bhante Vimy larom she added ear the

suttas lists this as a hindrance quite

clearly 9 hidaka restlessness and worry

10 avidya ignorance of the Four Noble

Truths and the workings of dependent

origination you will be sought had for

your wisdom as there is no craving left

in your mind and your mind is completely

transparent you see how your mind works

and can easily explain it to others

the Buddha was arrogant and passed

through all of the Jonah's and went

through all the stages of awakening it

is said you could ask the Buddha a

question and he would give you the

perfect answer

he always said exactly what was called

for at the time you may not have the

depth of his understanding or ability to

speak but it will be close you will have

experienced Nibbana the same number of

times but your understanding of what you

saw your ability to explain it may be

less the difference between a Buddha and

an arahant is that the Buddha has gone

through countless lifetimes of

purification and can be compared to a

bottle that is completely empty clear

and sparkling there will be no taint a

smell of what was there before in an

arahant there may be just a whiff of the

personality that was there before like a

milk bottle that is emptied and cleaned

out but with some faint remnant of what

was there in an arahant there may be

just a whiff of the personality that was

there before like a milk bottle that is

emptied and cleaned out but with some

faint remnant of what was there

nonetheless both aboard ruined an

arahant are both empty of craving and

ego both have the same attainments

another difference here is that a Buddha

comes to wisdom solely through their own

efforts while an era hand reaches

Awakening by hearing the teachings of a

Buddha when somebody asks you if you

have any attachments to relatives a

family you will say no there is nothing

that makes your mind lose its balance

yet arahants are not automatons the

Buddha was hardly an automaton

he not only responded to people who

needed his help but went from place to

place finding beings with little dust in

their eyes who he felt could understand

his teachings he initiated conversations

seeking out beings that he could help

awaken

he invited other teachers to come and

argue the views with him in order to

teach more students and convinced more

people he knew the true way it was said

that he taught the divers and beings in

other realms while everyone else was

asleep at night you will compassionately

take care of any problem that you find

you will always help others to overcome

problems but will never push your help

on them you'll be equally compassionate

to all beings and not just members of

your family your loving kindness now

knows no bounds or limits you will treat

the lowly and as well as you treat your

closest friend you will not proselytize

about Buddhism you will answer questions

and bring up Dharma at the right time it

is unlikely anyone would ever know about

your attainment as there is no longer

conceited desire to say you are better

than anyone

and as far as you are concerned your

mind is simply clear and that is all

there may arise in you some psychic

powers like reading minds as something

else

but it just depends on your past karmic

actions Sarah Potter had little in the

way of powers yet he was an intellectual

giant and called the general of the

dharma molana' had every power that was

possible and then some but his intellect

was not as sharp as he had more of a

feeling or emotional type of personality

feeling personalities have a strong

tendency to be able to develop psychic

powers your intuition about things will

be exquisite your meditation practice

will be very deep with no distractions

you can decide to go into a jhana or

even cessation Narada itself at will

you'll be able to resolve to sit in the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness for up to seven days if

you go any longer than that your body

will lose its heat and vitality and die

you must be careful going into a state

of extended cessation is of great

benefit because when you come out of

this state your mind will be extremely

energetic and awake you will need much

less sleep

the Buddha was said to have slept only

an hour per night people with the

fruition of a Nogami also have a limited

ability to go into cessation and there

are now students that can make this

determination and sit-in cessation for

as long as they wish theoretically based

on the suttas you can sit for seven full

days and get up as if you had just

recently sat down with no pain full of

energy this cessation stayed is

different than what is mentioned in the

suttas as he attained to the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and his taints were destroyed by seeing

with wisdom when this state is attained

you do not see the links arise and

attain nirvana it is simply a stilling

and stopping of mind why one doesn't see

the links again and attain nib honor

again I cannot say

all we can say is that there is a

cessation and there is a cessation

different in some way there is also a

difference between the cessation state

of an Ana gommi versus an arrogant

cessation or in poly Narada is a

stopping of the mental stream just like

when you turn the water off from the

faucet and it drips a little bit and

then stops there is no more water Narada

is the stopping of all mental activity

it is when mind becomes so tranquil

that it just stops however the arrogance

mind is so pure that when he determines

to go into this cessation experience it

is a state closer to Nirvana an

unconditioned State it is not just to

stopping but something else instead of

the conditioned mind stopping mind now

moves toward the unconditioned the

Cunanan endure in his series the mind

still in sermon 16 goes into this

subject and cools this state by its poly

named arrow hatoful a samadhi he

explains it here but the awakening in

Nibbana is not of such a temporary

character why because all the influx is

the lead one into the samsaric slumber

with its dreams of recurrent births are

made extinct in the light of that

perfect knowledge of realization that is

why the term ass of acharya extinction

of influxes is used in the discourses as

an epithet of Nibbana the arahants

accomplished this feat in the

concentration on the fruit of era hand

heard ARA hatoful a samadhi fontava

malarum she has traveled the world and

talked to and studied under many of the

recognized meditation masters of our

time he is inevitably asked if he has

met any arahants

what about fill-in-the-blank he says no

so far he has not met anyone that he

felt was arrogant he says you need to

spend time evaluating someone to be sure

they have no more fetters but he is

helpful that we will have one soon you

are at the end of the Eightfold

you have eliminated ignorance and

craving through thoroughly understanding

the Four Noble Truths you have traveled

the Eightfold Path to the end of

suffering you will live out your current

life but will not be born again to the

maelstrom of samsara and will not be

subject to its disease you have found

freedom you have become another noble

one in the Buddha's dispensation air men

twenty-one monks rightly speaking were

it to be said of anyone he has attained

mastery and perfection in noble virtue

attained mastery and perfection in noble

collectiveness attained mastery and

perfection in noble wisdom attained

mastery and perfection in noble

deliverance it is of Sarah put when deed

but rightly speaking this should be said

22 monks rightly speaking were it to be

said of anyone he is the son of the

Blessed One born of his breast born of

his mouth born of the Dharma created by

the Dharma an heir in the Dharma not an

heir in material things it is of Sarah /

- indeed that rightly speaking this

should be said 23 monks the matchless

wheel of the Dharma set rolling by the

tathagata is kept rolling rightly by

Sarah put her that is what the Blessed

One said the monks were satisfied and

delighted in the Blessed ones words in a

big room whose taints are destroyed

these last hatred delusion are abandoned

cut off at the root made like a palm

stump done away with so that they are no

longer subject to food her arising these

last hatred delusion are abandoned cut

off at the root made like a palm stamp

done away with so that they are no

longer subject to food her arising

chapter 19 the power of jhana

experiencing the state of jhana in this

lifetime is a very powerful and

far-reaching event that you can achieve

pretty quickly in this lifetime

in fact it is only second to attaining

the banner itself why is it so important

it is important because that when you

retain even one moment of jhana the

Sutter's say that if you keep your

precepts and continue to lead a

relatively moral life until your death

you'll be destined at minimum to be

reborn into a realm called the

brahmaloka a very high heaven realm that

corresponds to the last and highest most

Jannah you have attained for example if

the last and highest jhana you

experienced during your lifetime was the

third jhana then you would be reborn

into to the third jhana realm a

brahmaloka because of the powerful Mara

to hold some energy of the jhana you

will never return to a human of the

lower heaven David realms much less hell

ghosts or animal realms now if that

isn't good news then there is an even

more interesting fact that the satyrs

describe and is found in the anger

terror nicaya you will attain nirvana

there in that realm without any return

to a lower realm not only are you reborn

into a brahmaloka but you never take

rebirth in any lower realm even if you

have not attained Nirvana and all it

took was to experience jhana foot just

once this should motivate you to go sit

it is widely written in most books on

Buddhism that should you attain so

tarpana or higher attainment that you

will return at most seven times to any

realm before attaining final Nirvana or

our haunt ship but it can actually only

be as little as one time if you attain

nirvana through the jhana practice note

this is the tranquil aware jhana state

we are talking about you'll be only

reborn one time in the highest jhana

realm that you experienced and attained

final awakening there there are subtle

references to support this coming up but

first we must address a common

misconception that you must actually be

in the state of jhana while you are

dying to be reborn into that higher

realm

obtaining jhana just one time the suttas

to say that if you attain a jhana then

you are automatically reborn into the

corresponding brahmaloka realm and never

returned back to a lower realm however

most people think that when you die you

have to be in the state of jhana the

thought is that if you attain the first

jhana then rebirth is in the first jhana

realm rebirth is very pleasant and is

one year on long there if you attained

the second jhana then this realm is

higher still and so on up to the eighth

thirupu base of neither perception nor

non-perception have used the below

sutter it is a satyr central dotnet

translation but i am going to change

some of the text to baku bodies version

this becomes clearer with his anger tara

nicaya translation printed by wisdom

publications in 2012 on page 507 this is

a satyr entitled good willow

loving-kindness the book of falls sat

125 this is to address the skeptics that

think that to be reborn in a brahmaloka

requires that you be in the jhana

meditation state at the moment of your

death

anga tara nicaya for book of the fours

125 goodwill one monks there are these 4

types of individuals to be found

existing in the world which for there is

the case where an individual keeps

pervading the first direction as well as

the second direction the third and the

fourth with an awareness imbued with

loving-kindness a matter thus he keeps

pervading above/below

and all around everywhere and in every

respect the all encompassing cosmos with

an awareness imbued with good will

loving kindness

abundant expansive immeasurable e free

from hostility free from ill will he

savors that longs for that finds

satisfaction through that staying that

fixed on that demanding that are often

not falling away from that

DJ easily able to return to that jhana

then when he dies he reappears in

conjunct e'en with the Davies of Brahmas

retinue first jhana realm the divers of

Brahmas retinue monks have a lifespan of

an eon if we look at the Sutter this

appears not to be the case luckily you

only need to be able to experience in

the time period that is near your death

through a normal sitting the ability to

get back into the jhana again with this

condition you have fulfilled the

criteria the only exception would be if

you had committed any of the five

heinous crimes killing an arahant

killing your mother a father causing a

schism in the Sangha or wounding a

Buddha all of which are either

impossible or extremely unlikely as long

you meet these criteria you'll be reborn

into it for example that very pleasant

first jhana realm and if you are able to

attain the first jhana in the time

period around your death then you'll be

assured of going into that realm it

doesn't say you have to be in the jhana

at the moment of death who could

actually accomplish that anyway you are

dying you may be sick and weak it would

take a Buddha but then he is already

fully enlightened and it would not apply

to him anyway

most meditator Twi M students would

likely be able to get into a jhana

easily enough later on in life if they

have kept the practice up or at least

led a moral life and kept precepts it's

like getting on a bike the next part is

now subject to more interpretation and I

will do my best to help with this the

satyr says that whatever jhana realm

that you are reborn into

having arrived in that realm by your

John a practice you will obtain Nibbana

in that realm never to return to any

lower ohm or for that matter any realm

at all a run-of-the-mill world inhabited

there having used up all the lifespan of

those divers goes to hell to the animal

womb to the state of the hungry shades

ghosts but a disciple of the Blessed one

below it says noble disciple so this

means following the Buddha's training in

the aware Jonah's not concentration

Jonah's having stayed there having used

up all the lifespan of those divers is

unbound attains final nirvana right in

that state of being this monks is the

difference this the distinction this the

distinguishing factor between an

educated disciple of the noble ones

those having attained Nibbana at least

once and an uneducated run-of-the-mill

person non meditator when there is a

destination are reappearing the Sutter

implies that if you attain jhana and you

have learned the practice from one of

the Buddha's disciples then you'll be

reborn into the jhana realm and attained

final Nibbana in that realm and get off

the wheel right there with no further

births however there is a quite an

ominous warning and believe me most

people will not like this at all about

your subsequent rebirth after having

been reborn into a jhana realm if you

attain jhana

using concentration methods taught by

other teachers not by the Buddha

in fact she rejected concentration

methods early on in his search you will

indeed be reborn to this brahmaloka and

live out your life there but shockingly

you will not gracefully fall down from

the brahmaloka to a devar a heavenly

realm

and then gently into a human birth as

your good camera and merit is used up

but rather fall directly into to the

lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms and then gently

into a human birth as your good camera

and merit is used up but rather fall

directly into to the lower planes of

existence like the animal the hell

realms and then gently into a human

birth as your good camera and merit is

used up but rather fall directly into to

the lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms and then gently

into a human birth as your good camera

and merit is used up but rather fall

directly into to the lower planes of

existence like the animal the hell

realms and then gently into a human

birth as your good camera and Merritt is

used up but rather fall directly into to

the lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms and then gently

into a human birth as your good camera

and Merritt is used up but rather fall

directly into to the lower planes of

existence like the animal the hell

realms and then gently into a human

birth as your good camera and Merritt is

used up but rather fall directly into to

the lower planes of existence like the

animal the hell realms

this does not agree with the abbe head

hammer which most monks would consult

for this type of inquiry in fact there

is disagreement about whether the abbe

head hammer was spoken by the Buddha at

all

it is generally theorized by many

scholars that it was added to the basket

of texts at the third Council of monks

some 200 years after the Buddha died so

if we go by the suttas only then we need

to change our views after explaining

this sutter to one of our more advanced

students in the USA he said he did

recall one of his past lives in a

brahmaloka heaven realm and he

remembered actually dying from that

realm he was shocked to find he had

fallen all the way down to become an

animal in his next rebirth from a God to

a dog a sri lankan student at Dhamma

sukha for a retreat agreed with this

idea and quoted a subtle reference I

don't recall now where the Buddha is

asked about a stream of ants walking on

the ground he said that these beings had

fallen from a brahmaloka and had not

gotten off the wheel and attained

Nirvana the Buddha pointed this out as

an admonishment to sariputta who had

just gotten someone on the death bed

into a wholesome enough state for

rebirth after death into a heavenly

daiva realm the admonishment was for

only getting them into a heavenly realm

and not giving them enough wisdom for

them to attain the knowledge of nirvana

right there and get off the wheel either

this or only one more lifetime if you

attain a few absorption concentration

jhanas then eventually that karma runs

out and it really runs out you might

become an ant after your stay in a

heavenly palace

well note here that I believe the above

example may be of student that only

attained the brahmaloka through an act

of good merit

not attaining any jhanas but only was

listening to Sara put went through their

giving ear the mind became elevated

enough to get into a brahmaloka through

the hearing of a Sutter because it was

not through jhana practice there would

be no protection from falling from their

drom there are stories of people

acquiring enough merit at the time of

the Buddha to be reborn even as high as

the Brahma liquors but due to not having

any jhana practice to protect them

either concentration a tranquil aware

jhana they fell directly to the lower

realms as that was the only good merit

keeping them in the high realm I don't

know all this is speculation but let's

go to the Sutter BG 347 imperturbable

116 for anga Tara nicaya BB 2012

monks there are three types of persons

found in this world one here monks with

the attainment of the base of infinite

space this person relishes it and find

satisfaction in it if he is firm mndot

and has not lost it when he dies he is

reborn in companionship with the diverse

of the infinite space the lifespan is

twenty thousand eons this worldling

remains there all his life and when he

has completed the entire lifespan of

those Davers he goes down to hell to the

animal realm at of the sphere of

afflicted spirits but the Blessed ones

disciples that are all his life and when

he has completed his entire lifespan of

those Davers he attains Nibbana in the

very same state of existence this is the

difference between the instructed noble

ones disciple in the world Ling the

Sutter goes on to repeat for the base of

infinite consciousness and nothingness

so this is saying that if you are able

to enter into whatever jhana in this

specific case an arrow pledged honor at

death and you have not arrived at this

realm through wrong concentration

because of a large amount of worldly

merit then you are liable to fall

sharply for that realm directly into a

lower realm without gradually falling

first into a Devi Rome and then again

further down to a human realm in summary

I have you with some quotes from the

suttas to suggest it is up to the reader

to decide that if you keep up your

meditation practice and are able to get

into a jhana near and around the time of

your death then you will not only be

reborn into the corresponding brahmaloka

but attained Nirvana from there without

ever returning to a lower rebirth pretty

good again this is commonly thought as

only the domain of the stream enter or a

higher noble disciple

it was thought that you had to have the

third-stage Nibbana experience to never

return to this world a lower in fact all

you need to do is just to Tayna jhana

this is a wonderful discovery and if

true we are very lucky even for those

whose practice is only a little bit

advanced with just the first jhana

retained that said the Buddha always

admonished followers not ever to stop

and to continue the practice until final

awakening was achieved here and now he

had high expectations and demanded the

highest achievement either you were an

arahant or you were still in class John

our Nogami our John our Naga meter

reading through the anger tyranny car is

quite interesting as there are some

nuggets in these texts that don't appear

elsewhere in the other nicaya's

what I found specifically is a different

understanding or definition of the so

tarpana and sakagami noble disciples

first and second level attainments it is

thought that only in a Nogami attainment

third stage of awakening will give you

enough merit for your rebirth in your

next lifetime to be reborn in a

brahmaloka and in the case of the a

Nogami

a very special brahmaloka called the

pure abodes

we're only a Nogami is a reborn because

they have eliminated the first five

fetters of craving for that they attain

arahant ship in that realm and never

take birth again it is an incredible

accomplishment for this to be your last

lifetime in the lower realms even the

human and Daver realms and this is what

the a Nogami achieves however i found

some good news for the first two levels

in the anger tyranny car for the first

two noble disciples if you attain so

tarpana a saccade egami and you did this

through the jhana meditation practice

then you'll be reborn into the brahmalok

as never to return

like the a Nogami

the first and second paths can be

attained through hearing a sutter

however when you attain them with John a

practice your advantage is that you are

reborn into to the highest realm

available to a meditator you will not

return to any lower realm you will

attain nirvana in that realm and get off

the wheel right there

no more lifetime's like seven lives for

a so tarpana and one for a saccade egami

which is the case described in so many

commentaries those noble disciples that

have the attainment of cert are partner

of sakaar tegami that was attained

through the jhana practice a given a

unique title of John our Nogami ajahn an

ergometer public bodies notes from a

commentary he does note in his

translation of the anger tyrannic our

notes number 539 and number two thousand

one hundred and ninety three which i

reproduced later let's go to the

Sutter's here is a partial SATA quote

regarding the never return a status of

cert our parlor a saccade egami BG 1541

the deed born body 219 nine and this

noble disciple understands when the

liberation of mind by loving-kindness

has been developed in this way who has

attained the jhanas through the brahma

vihara z-- it leads to non returning for

a wise baku here who does not penetrate

to a further liberation a similar Sutter

is found on PG 327 autumn 94 3 tan

biggis just as in the autumn when the

sky is clear and cloudless the Sun

ascending in the sky dispels all

darkness from space as it shines and

beams and radiates satu when the dust

free

stainless Tom Araya arises in the noble

disciple together with the era seeing of

vision the noble disciple abandons three

fetters

person existence view doubt and wrong

grasp of behavior and observe and assess

afterward when he departs from two

states longing and ill-will then

secluded from sensual pleasures secluded

from unwholesome states he enters and

trials in the first jhana

which consists of Raptor and pleasure

born of seclusion accompanied by thought

and examination if vicious the noble

disciple should pass away on that

occasion there is no fetter bound by

which he might return to this world the

above person clearly becomes free of

three fetters and has become a so

tarpana bhiku body explains in a node

number 539 page 16 63 relating to the

above passage equals this type of

individual ajahn our Nogami or as in the

jupiter node number 2193

ajahn our naga meter here is the note

number 2193

page 1859 by bhikkhu bodhi this phrase

normally denotes the attainment of non

returning MP commentaries however

identifies this disciple as a John or

non returner John our naga meter that is

a stream into a once returner who also

attains jhana though such a practitioner

has not yet eliminated the two fetters

of sensual desire and ill will by

attaining jhana

he or she is bound to be reborn in the

forum realm and attained Nirvana that

without taking another rebirth in the

sense fear I will note here myself that

I don't know what the differences are

between the two types of John on Aramis

it is not explained by bhiku body so now

we have a new type of noble one one that

has attained so TARP honor and Sicard

egami attained by following the jhana

meditation system not attained through

listening to a phrase or other method he

has earned the achievement of not having

to be born again in the lower Daver of

human realms and will be reborn in a

brahmaloka

and attained final Nibbana there it says

the forum realm and I would theorize

that this is the pure abodes as this is

the highest form realm otherwise

logically if you do attain to the arupa

jhana z-- which you would do practicing

by practicing with the jhana path then

you would be reborn in the higher our

mental Brahma liquors where there is

only mind ie the base of nothingness etc

this would not be a birth in a form

realm but rather a formless realm this

seems fairly logical as it would make no

sense for someone who attained so

tarpana to be reborn again as a human

being with the same people they grew up

with the same high school dance party

tar tea they went to the same people who

never knew were followed precepts no I

don't think that makes sense

a Soutar pond is a very high being

called the sat in many places Pandit

would be very doubtful that he/she would

be reborn into the company of worldlings

even reborn as a regular monk among

monks who themselves are still

worldlings many monks these days art

study monks or serve lay people

performing rites and rituals and have

not meditated I will leave all these

ideas in the last chapter to contemplate

but I found it rather interesting and

hopeful it may be quite confusing but I

seem to have become a true Buddhist

speak as I am interested in the finer

perhaps really-really finer points of

attainments this research of course is

solely based on what the suttas say

which i would hope to be true and

correct the interpretation of course is

just my own meditate Ananda do not delay

or else you will regret it later this is

our instruction to you that is what the

Blessed One said the venerable Ananda

was satisfied and delighted in the

Blessed ones words and notes the path to

Nirvana

biography David Johnson has been in

residence at Dhamma sukha meditation

center since 2010

he is a long time senior student of Bond

TV malarum she and has participated in

many retreats currently he is a cap a

year personal attendant for then fontava

malarum she when resides at the centre

David also did a temporary ordination in

2012 under Bond TV malarum she he took

on the robes for a short period history

David was a student of many of the

persona retreats using the Mohave method

starting from the age of 19 he spent

nearly 20 years taking yearly retreats

he also has completed over 12 retreats

with Vontae vanilla Ramsay and has been

his student since 2006 David has taken

an accumulated video footage of and

personally met oppa Maher and mahadji

Tsai at all

he previously meditated under Joseph

Goldstein jack Kornfield a new Cylon

anda he has brought the footage of these

great teaches to the internet for all to

enjoy

David is from Bellevue near Seattle

Washington from 1973 to 1978 he was the

meditation center retreat manager for

the Stillpoint Institute a San Jose

California based Vipassana center he

assisted in the growth of the center and

managed its financial and administrative

affairs from the 1980s to 2010 he worked

in the San Francisco Bay Area at several

networking companies as a production and

logistics manager he then decided to

join bhante in his mission to bring Twi

m to the world in 2010 and moved to

Missouri on a permanent basis in 2015 he

wrote using Bond TV malarum she's

introductory talks than meditator

experiences the recent instruction book

a guide to tranquil wisdom meditation

his current duties at Dhamma sukha

include serving as secretary treasurer

on board member guiding monthly online

retreats since 2015 and now on-site

retreats managing the retreat center

maintaining the website and social media

accounts producing books publishing all

banters recent books producing videos

producing all footage of bhante found on

the website and on YouTube you can

directly get in touch with david at

david at da Misaka dot org and reach him

through the Dhamma sukha website orders

available from Amazon and paper and

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you

Book Depository will ship books anywhere

in the world for free www.bucks.edu does

from begin to see publishing eight

thousand two hundred and eighteen county

route 204 Annapolis Missouri 6-3 6-2 oh

meditation questions welcome at email

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