From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=cY2qi3ZNflw

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

[Music]

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jetta's grove

annathan pindika's park there he

addressed the monks thus

monks venerable sir they replied the

venerable one said this

monk sorry puta is wise

sorry putta has great wisdom

sorry puta has wide wisdom

sorry puta has joyous wisdom

sorry puta has quick wisdom

sorry putta has keen wisdom

sariputta has penetrative wisdom

during half a month monks sorry put to

gained insight into states one by one as

they occurred

now sorry to put his insights into state

one by one as they occurred was this

here monks quite secluded from sensual

pleasure secluded from

unwholesome states sorry putta entered

upon and abided in the first

jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of seclusion

and the states in the first genre

the thinking the examining thought the

joy

the happiness the unification of mind

in in buddhism we have a thing called

the five

aggregates the five

aggregates and the four foundations of

mindfulness are just ways of describing

the same thing

so when you hear the five aggregates

it's actually saying the four

foundations of mindfulness

and this is while you're in the jhana

the satipatana suta is claimed by

people practicing straight vipassana

as their suta

almost every time you hear a talk on

nasa patana sutta

it's a talk about it but they never

actually tell you what it is that you're

doing

you have a body

you have feeling feeling is pleasant

painful neither pleasant nor painful

that in itself for most

meditation teachers means emotional

feeling

and it's not that it's

just feeling either pleasant or painful

neither painful nor pleasant

it doesn't matter whether it's

mental pain or physical pain

treated in the same way

pain and perception are

feeling and perception are conjoined

they're always come together

as soon as a pleasant feeling arises

perception says that's a pleasant

feeling it puts a name on it

if it's a painful feeling then

perception says that's painful

if it's neither perception nor

non-perception

then it says

this is neutral it's not

pain it's not pleasure

perception is the part of your mind that

names things

this is a book

the reason it's a book is because of

memory

you've seen this before you know what it

is from your

memory so perception has memory

in it but it also names it

and where is a book

is it this page is it the cover

where is a book a book

is a concept

and we think only in concepts

nibana is a state

of no concepts

we'll get into that more later

okay

now this because this goes through the

material genres and the immaterial

genres it doesn't say body it says

contact

if you didn't have a body you wouldn't

have contact

so it's basically saying the same thing

the contact feeling perception

formations in mind

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared

so this is talking about the

impermanence of everything

he understood thus so indeed these

states not having been come into being

having been they vanished

regarding those states he abided

unattracted he didn't try to hold on to

anything

unrepelled he didn't try to push

anything away

independent detached free

dissociated with the mind rid of

barriers

all of these are describing what is

probably the most

important aspect

of the buddha's teaching and that is the

impersonal nature of everything

and i say impersonal not not

self self

didn't really come into being the

concept of self didn't really come into

being

until freud and when they started

translating some of his works

their

the german word they used was geist

which means soul

and the reason they use that word is

because they don't have a word

in german for

mind is it that

odd so

they use the word geist which means soul

to them

so

we need to understand very clearly

what this actually does mean and it does

mean

it's impersonal

and why do i use that term

because

when craving arises

you

have the i like it i don't

like it mine that's the thing that

starts off

the personal nature the false idea

in a personal self

so when i say impersonal it takes that

out

he understood there's an escape beyond

this

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

so you know once you start getting on

this

path your understanding at every level

changes and your meditation will change

you're not always going to be staying

with your spiritual friend

that will change as you go deeper

again monks with the stilling of

thinking

and examining thought sorry puta

entered and abided in the second jhana

which has self-confidence and stillness

of mind without thinking and

examining thought with joy

and happiness born of collectiveness

there's five different kinds of joy

three kinds of joy only occur

when the conditions are

right in your daily life

these kind occur at any time

the last two kinds of joy only occur

when

there's mental development

now the kind of joy he's talking about

here is called

uplifted joy

you feel very light in your mind light

in your body sometimes

you get so light in your body you can

actually

float for a little bit

that has happened with some of my

students

not very many so don't look for it to

happen to you

necessarily but if it does

it's okay it doesn't matter

the happiness occurs when the joy

fades away then your mind becomes very

tranquil

and you feel very comfortable in both

your mind and your body

very peaceful and calm

that's what the buddha called happiness

and the unification of mind the coming

together

and just staying on your object of

meditation without any problem

when you get to the second drama

that's when i will tell you not to

verbalize a wish anymore

now you just bring up the feeling of the

wish without

words in your mind

this is called the noble

place of noble silence

okay

and the states in the second genre the

self-confidence

you become very confident that now

you're starting to really understand how

to do it

and with that self-confidence

gives you satisfaction that

you're progressing with your meditation

every level you progress more and more

deeply

and there are signposts and that's what

we call

jhana

and this states in the second jhana

the self-confidence the joy the

happiness

the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception formation

and mind that's the four

foundations of mindfulness again

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity and detention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were present known they disappeared

he understood there's still more to do

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there

is so you know you're on the path

but you're you're just starting out

again with the fading away

of joy sorry but

abided in equanimity mindful and fully

aware

still feeling happiness with the body

he entered upon and abided in the third

jhana on account of which

noble ones announce he has a pleasant

abiding who has

equanimity and is mindful

when you get to the third jhana you no

longer have

joy arise in your mind

and you start to feel

very nice balance in your mind

you'll hear a sound but it won't shake

your mind and

won't make your mind run to it you'll

just know that it was there

somebody riding a motorcycle or a truck

going along one of our roads you'll hear

it

but that's all there's no reaction

to it

now what happens in this jhana is you

feel

very comfortable in your mind and your

body

and you become so comfortable

that you won't feel different parts of

your body

you won't feel your hands or your leg or

shoulder

if you put your attention on it yes

you'll feel it but

if you keep your attention on your

object to meditation

it will just fade away

eventually the feeling of loving

kindness in your heart

goes out of your body up into your head

don't push it back down

let it stay up in your head

and that's a very good sign that's one

of the things that i look for

when that happens then i'm going to give

you

a change in your meditation

and this states in the third genre the

equanimity

the pleasure the mindfulness the full

awareness

and the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception formation

and mind the enthusiasm

decision mindfulness

equanimity and attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were

present known they disappeared

he understood there's still more to do

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there

is

now what happens when you get up into

into

the feeling in your head

is you have gotten to the fourth drama

in the fourth jhana is where you become

an

advanced meditator

and

the buddha praised the fourth jhana on a

lot of different levels

but you've given up your emotional

states of joy and

happiness and now you just have very

strong balance of mind

you still stay with your object to

meditation but the object

meditation will be changed

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

with the previous disappearance of joy

and grief

sorry put a entered upon and abided in

the fourth jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness

due to equanimity

so that balanced feeling that you had in

the third

genre gets even stronger

by this time you should be able to stay

with your object

of meditation for

oh eight or ten minutes

maybe 15 minutes something like that

without your mind getting distracted

and the states in the fourth jhana the

equanimity the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling

the mental unconcerned due to

tranquility

the purity of mindfulness and

unification of mind

the contact feeling perception

formations in mind

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness

equanimity and detention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were present

known they disappeared

he understood there is still more to do

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again monks with the complete

surmounting of

gross perceptions of form

when you start losing feeling in your

body

the only time you will feel your body

is if you put your attention on it

intentionally

or an insect lands on you

you will feel it but your mind doesn't

shake

it just knows that it's there

with the disappearance of gross

perceptions of sensory

impact

aware that space is infinite

so hurry put entered upon and abide it

in the base of

infinite space

this is where the feeling of loving

kindness

changes to a feeling of

compassion

also you will feel an expansion

happening in your mind just a going

out in all directions at the same time

and this is when you're going to be

radiating loving-kindness to all beings

in all the different directions

but now you take compassion

as your object of meditation not loving

kindness

you'll be able to tell the difference

between the two

i'm not going to explain it to you you

have to explain it to me

and the states in the base of

infinite space with compassion

one of the things that mahayana has done

is they talk a lot about compassion

and infinite compassion

that's a slight misunderstanding of

this state

it's compassion with infinite space

now the buddha sat in this state

every day for a couple of hours

radiating loving kind they're

radiating compassion to all beings and

all the directions

nice way to start the day

in the states in the base of

infinite space with compassion

the perception of the base of infinite

space

with compassion and unification of mind

the contact failing perception

formations

and mind so we are now

in what is called an arupa jhana

and you'll get to experience it on this

retreat

i have a lot of confidence in you

you still have the four foundations of

mindfulness

even in the arupa jhanas

not all of the rupa genus but i'll

explain that as we go

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness equanimity

and attention these states were defined

by him one by one as they occurred known

to him

those states arose known they were

present

known they disappeared

and he understood

there's still more to do

with the cultivation of that attainment

he confirmed that there

is so you know that you're

pretty solid on the path but there's

still more coming

again monks by completely surmounting

the base of

infinite space with compassion

aware that consciousness is

infinite and the feeling of compassion

changes to a very gentle

not excited state of

uh joy

now what happens is the feeling of

compassion disappears and the feeling of

joy arises

what you're going to see is individual

consciousnesses arise and pass away

arise and pass away

it happens very quickly it'll happen

at one or more of the sense stores

but it's a kind of blinking like a movie

is going too slowly

and you see a picture and there's a

blank spot and a picture and a blank

spot that's what it's like but it

happens fairly

fast now

that was about a hundred thousand rising

and passing away

of individual consciousnesses

and now you're going to be seeing

individual consciousnesses

arise and pass away this particular

state

of the base of infinite space is very

important to realize

that when you see this you're seeing

change happening very very quickly

this is one of the things that

uh your friend from korea

stephen batchelor does not understand

he still thinks that it's a continuous

consciousness

anyway not only are you seeing

that you're seeing the unsatisfactory

nature

of

change

you want to be able to get into a space

that's just peaceful and calm

where there's not much of that sort of

thing happening

and you're seeing

very clearly

the

impersonal nature of everything

you're not in control

there's no you there and this is where

you can have some deep insights into

this is happening by itself my mind

doesn't have anything to do with it

it's just observing

so you get some a lot of insights in

this particular

state

and the states in the base of infinite

consciousness

the perception of the base of infinite

consciousness

with joy now joy is your object to

meditation

sorry puta entered upon and abided in

the base

of infinite consciousness with joy

the contact feeling perception

formations

and mind still with the four foundations

of mindfulness

the contact feeling i said that already

the enthusiasm decision mindfulness

energy mindfulness equanimity and

attention

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were present

known they disappeared so you see

that you really begin to

realize that this is true

at this state

he understood there's still more to do

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again by completely surmounting the base

of

infinite consciousness and joy

aware that there is nothing

sariputa enters upon and invited

in the base of nothingness

with equanimity

now your mind the joy fades away

and you have very strong balance in your

mind

mind is not looking outside of itself

anymore

like it does with infinite consciousness

now you're just seeing

by staying with the equanimity

you're seeing nothing much

this is where you have to start

adjusting

little tiny bits

if your attention is too strong on

the feeling of equanimity your mind

will get restless not quite strong

enough your mind will get

dull so you have to learn how to adjust

it's like

walking on a tightrope

very fine type rule

and the states in the base of

nothingness

with equanimity now this is as high

as the brahma viharas will take you

when you get into the next stage

you're starting to talk about very very

subtle states more subtle than even

seeing an

individual consciousness

but with this you still have contact

feeling perception formations in mind

the contact feeling formation

perceptions in mind

the enthusiasm decision energy

mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

are defined by

him one by one as they occurred

known to him those states arose known

they were present

known they disappeared he understood

there's still

more to do even though you're sitting in

nothing

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

now what happens next

the feeling of equanimity will disappear

you'll get into a state that is very

much like being asleep

and being aware at the same time

mind becomes very very subtle at this

state

and that feeling will start to fade away

but you still

your mind will get into such strong

silence that you'll be able to sit for a

fairly

long period of time without anything

arising this is where you take

mind as your object of meditation

and your job is only to

observe that's what mindfulness is all

about

observe how there's any slight movement

or vibration that arises in mind

so when you see any kind of movement or

vibration right then

you use the six r's

okay that movement or vibration

will not necessarily just disappear

sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't

sometimes a thought will come up but

you're not keeping your attention on

that

and you've already six hearted

so you just keep watching mind

not the content of the thought

this is a dangerous place

for a lot of meditators because they

want to follow

the thought and

[Music]

that will slow down your progress a lot

i had one student that did that for

seven years before i finally got him to

stop doing it

he was able to sit in neither perception

or non-perception for a long period of

time

but he kept on following oh i had a

memory of a past

lifetime and

the reason that he got into that was

because he had so much

psychotherapy and they say

follow it and then he did straight

vipassana and vipassana says

watch it until it goes away which is not

right effort

by the way

so you don't keep your attention

on it you just watch mind

and when you get distracted by a little

movement or vibration

relax you'll be able to sit

for 20 minutes 30 minutes

45 minutes an hour without having

any movement of mind's attention

and mine will come up and try to trick

you in whatever way it can

to get some excitement going

and throw up a

memory or whatever

so that you can get involved with it

because it doesn't like the idea

of just observing

and when boredom

arises i

when i'm in indonesia i make that a

forbidden

word

because when somebody complains to me

about boredom

who's bored who doesn't like it

who wants it to have some kind of

movement

who has lost their mindfulness

so i don't let them use that word

now they say the b word

it's the same thing

they have to understand that their mind

is

attached till to

i'm still here

and i'm going to cause a disturbance

and they they forget to use the six

hours

so it's very important

this is where you're gonna start sitting

along and i'm gonna

encourage you to sit long three hours

four hours five hours like that

before

you get out of that meditation

and this only takes a couple of minutes

it's very quick and easy

reflect on what happened while you were

in that state

because sometimes there's perception of

it and sometimes there's not but there's

still something that arises

so when it comes up into your memory

then six are right then

then get up and start walking

now what i suggest very strongly is

you walk with a lot of energy

walk very quickly walk fast enough

that you're breathing through your mouth

and we have some steps on the back side

of the dining hall going up to the

library

go up and down the steps fast

get your blood moving because it settles

into your legs

and you've got to get your circulation

going again you got to get your heart

beating very quickly

it's very necessary

now here you're not going to be noticing

the

four foundations of mindfulness so much

you still are going to be able to

observe when there's a little movement

of mind's attention

but mind is so subtle at this point

the four foundations of mindfulness are

too gross a feeling

now it's a very important thing for you

to realize

that

when you sit long

and then you get up and walk and then

you come back and you sit

start sitting alone again the first

part of your sitting can be very active

your mind can have a lot of thoughts

coming through

a lot of distractions and what your mind

is doing is actually helping you to

develop

your mindfulness to a finer degree

so you have to 6r a lot

and after 45 minutes or an hour all of a

sudden

it just stops

now you're just taking mind as you're

object to meditation and there's no

disturbance

or only an occasional disturbance

eventually you will get to a place

where all perception feeling and

consciousness

stops this is called the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

you won't know you're in that state

until you come

out of that state

when you come out of that state you will

feel a very big sense of

relief like you've let go of a heavy

burden

you can see very quickly

little tiny movements which happens

very fast of mine's attention

not big but very

very small very slight some people

notice that some people don't

it's still there and then

you will feel exceptional joy

and that joy will stay with you for

quite a while

you have become a sotapanna

that's the first stage of awakening

the buddha described somebody that they

also

call it a stream enterer

entering the stream

the buddha described this as now you

have given up an

ocean of suffering

you will not be born less

than a human being you will only be

reborn

seven more times at the most before you

become an

arab and get off the wheel

you will have a change of

perspective the way you

see things is going to change a little

bit

you're going to be able to observe

things more keenly

without distraction in your mind

colors become a little bit brighter

seeing individual things they used to be

clusters

you'll see those individual things

like the petals on a flower or something

like that you'll see it

much more clearly

you won't intentionally break a precept

so you're purifying your mind

and actually this is what

a buddhist calls being

a saint

with the catholic religion being so

strong

and talking about saints so much and

what has to happen they have to have so

many miracles happen and that sort of

thing

that's not for real

the buddha era that we're in right now

is called the age of saints

and it's going to last for about five

thousand years

now an interesting thing with this first

stage of awakening

depending on your understanding

if you listen to a dhamma talk

very attentively and understand

the dharma talk you can have this

occur you can have this

happen for yourself

doesn't happen very often because the

understanding does have to be very deep

but to go all the way through to our

hardship you have to sit in meditation

i have quite a few students that have

experienced this

and there is a change in personality

it's not a big one

you still get excited like you used to

you still have emotional

upsets like you used to but you don't

get

caught in them for as long

and they disappear very quickly

because you see that you're taking it

personally

you're never again going to have any

doubt

as to whether this is the right path

or not no more doubt is ever going to

arise in your mind you know

this is it

you're going to let go in the belief

of rights and rituals

now i have some students that have

gotten up to the third stage

of awakening it's called an onagami

and they've been doing a lot of

they like the mahayana chanting and they

still

do it but they know

that it does not lead to nibana

but they like doing it so this they said

can i

still chant i said i

honestly i don't care that's up to you

while you're on retreat i don't want you

to chant because that's a distraction

away from the meditation

when you get off retreat and you want to

chat

do it as long as you want it's up to you

and you're going to see very clearly

that everything is impersonal

you're still going to have the old habit

of getting caught in it

but not as strong

and when you sit back and realize that

you're causing yourself the suffering

and see that know that it's impersonal

then you can let go of it much more

quickly more easily

so there's a major change that happens

in your personality when you get to the

first stage of awakening

and you come and you we discuss

and there's other questions that i'll

ask about it just to make sure

and i will tell you to

test it on your own

make sure that it's real some people

they hear about it they make up what

they think

is right and they overestimate what

their practice really

was and i have one student

that she only became a sodapana

and because of some of the experiences

she had in meditation she says that

she's an arahat

that's overestimation

some people are like that

now

what i'm going to tell you to do is good

then i'm going to tell you to go back to

the equanimity

and you'll learn how to do that on the

way

and stay with the equanimity till it

disappears again

and then take mind as your object to

meditation

and you're still going to have the first

bit

be active and that's okay six

arc then it stops and you just stay with

that peaceful calm mind

you'll be able to stay even a little bit

longer with that peaceful calm mind

sometimes an hour hour and a half with

nothing happening at all

don't break your sitting

keep sitting

eventually you'll get to a place where

the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness occurs again

it occurs because all of your awakening

factors get in perfect balance

when it happens again you

have become a sodapana

with fruition and what that basically

means

is that state of mind is pretty much

cemented

now if you're a sodapana with without

fruition

you still will have the temptation to

say things that aren't true

your mind will start rejecting it but

you can overpower

that and still do that you're going to

lose your attainment if you do that

when you have the fruition your mind

will be a lot stronger in your mind when

you say

no and you

keep your precepts very well from for

the rest of your life

then we will discuss that

and i will tell you

good go back and do the equanimity

until it fades away go back

in take mind as your object of

meditation

when the conditions are right that all

of the

the awakening factors are in balance

then you can attain

the next step that's called sakadagami

a sakuragami is called a once returner

and that means you'll only be reborn as

a human being

one more time

from there you only will be reborn in

one of the brahmalokas

then you will attain our hot ship there

and get off the wheel so you'll never

come back as a human being

again

becoming a sakadagami means that

you lessen

the lust and hatred that arises in your

mind

it still can arise

but it's not near as strong

you catch it more quickly

and let go more easily

so i'm going to tell you to go back to

the equanimity

and then get into watching mind again

and that experience can happen again

this time

this is the fruition of sakadagami

the once once returner

and a lot of people uh

kind of misunderstand they think that

they're never supposed to have

any lust or hatred arise in their mind

again

but that doesn't happen until you get to

the next step

but your awareness becomes much

better and you have more equanimity in

your mind

with everything

then you continue on

and you experience the cessation of

perception feeling

and consciousness again

and you become an onagami which means

a non-returner

you're never going to be reborn

in the human state again

you will have no lust

or hatred arise in your mind again

you won't have any fear you won't have

any anxiety

you won't have any

uh aversion

your mindfulness is going to be very

very

sharp

and what you're going to have in your

mind most of the time

is

loving-kindness

equanimity and your mind is going to be

very

collected you're not going to have a

real active

mind anymore but it'll still be there

there is some still

some slight attachment

you start thinking that yeah i'm doing

pretty good

i it's still there

then i'm going to tell you to do more of

the same go back to the equanimity

watch mine until

the fruition comes and that cements it

if you're married

you're going to be living with your

spouse

like brother and sister

and

there won't ever be any lust

even for food arising

you still will have

some preferences on food depending on

because i travel so much i have so many

different kinds of

food thrown at me that i still

have preferences of the kind of taste

that i want

and that's that's okay

not a big deal

because i can eat anything

even bitter gourd

i can eat it but it just

because i didn't grow up with it i don't

particularly like the taste of bitter

i i grew up with missouri kind of food

anyway

think of the relief of never have any

fear or anxiety arise in your mind again

ah what relief is that

now when you die from this state you

will be reborn in a special

brahmaloka

and this is where the misunderstanding

of pure land comes from

when you're reborn spontaneously

in that realm

uh

you will eventually become an

arahat and when you die

from that realm there is no more

being no more becoming

no more

person

because when you become an arahat you

give up the final

fetters even an

onagami can have some restlessness

or some dullness of mind

when they become in heart doesn't happen

they give up the idea of being reborn in

a particular place

they give up that conceit

and pride and

they give up ignorance

so they never again have craving a rise

in their mind

no more craving

nice

only seeing things very

very clearly

no restless thoughts coming in to

distract them

all you ask them a question they point

their mind in that direction they can

give you the answer

so they're into their intuition in a big

way

and each of these different steps

has two steps in it you become

say an arahat

that's on the path and then you keep

going

until you get to be an arahat

with fruition

so it's a

absolutely pure state of mind

now i get asked a lot how

many are a hats do you know

i don't know any i

search for them i've heard

that there's a couple still alive and

well

in thailand

i've heard that there's some in the

forest

in burma

just because somebody says they are

doesn't mean anything

but there's not many of them around that

i know of

there's a lot of claims

but i know what to look for in

somebody that claims and if i spend

a few months with them then i can

determine for myself whether it's real

or not

anyway that is the final goal

from there there's the break up of the

aggregates nothing holding them together

anymore

and that's what the buddha called

paranibada

and that's what happened with him

okay so we'll get back to

uh neither perception or non-perception

again monks by completely surmounting

the base of

equanimity and nothingness

sorry puta entered upon and abided in

the base of neither perception nor

non-perception he

emerged mindful from that attainment

having done so he observed the states

that had

passed ceased and changed

that's why i'm telling you you need to

reflect

every time you get done with the sitting

it doesn't take long

but there were some things that you

didn't necessarily

notice before that did happen and they

need to be

six-hearted so your mind can be

absolutely pure

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they

vanished

regarding those states he abided

unattracted and

rebelled independent detached free

dissociated with the mind rid of

barriers

he understood there's an escape beyond

this

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there

is again by

completely surmounting the base

of neither perception nor non-perception

sariputa entered upon and abided in the

cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and his taints were destroyed by his

seeing with wisdom

in other words he's gonna see

and understand perfectly how

the links of dependent origination work

no more questions

he emerged mindful from that attainment

having done so he recalled the states

that it passed ceased and changed

having been they vanish

regarding those states he abided

unattracted and

unrepelled independent detached tree

dissociated

with a mind rid of barriers he

understood there is no escape

beyond this and with the cultivation

of that attainment

he confirmed that there is not

monks rightly speaking were it to be

said of

anyone he has attained mastery and

perfection

in noble virtue

attain mastery and perfection in noble

collectedness

attain mastery and perfection in noble

wisdom attain mastery and perfection

in noble deliverance

it is of sorry putta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be

said monk's

rightly speaking word to be said of

anyone

he is the son of the blessed one

born of his breast born of his

mouth born of the dhamma

created by the dhamma an error

in the dhamma not an error in material

things

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

amongst the matchless wheel of dhamma

set rolling by the tatagata

is kept rolling rightly by sorry putta

that's what the blessed one said the

monks were satisfied

and delighted in the blessed one's words

now sorry puta was the first chief

disciple

and mogallana was the second chief

disciple

and they co-taught a lot

sorry putu would take someone

who has no attainment at all

and he would get them to sodapana

then he would hand them over to

mogallana

mogallana took them to arahat ship so

they were a real good combination

interesting thing is both mogallana and

sariputa were about 10 years older than

the buddha

and they both died before the buddha

died

and sorry puta was about

90 years old that was the same year that

the buddha died

and he decided that he wanted to go home

and he saw his his mother was still

alive

she was 120 years old

and she had been practicing praying

to one of the deities

whatever it happened to be

and when he went home

just before he died there was a lot of

deities that appeared and paid respect

to sariputta for his greatness and help

that he

gave and his mother who was very

attached to praying to this one deity

saw that the deity was paying respect to

sorry putta

and because of that she gave up her

attachment to that deity

and she became the sodapana

so that's kind of an interesting little

story

anyway

everybody that is serious enough to come

here

and really practice

has the opportunity

to get to these states that i've been

talking about

you're going to get there at your own

speed

but the closer you follow the directions

the more you smile the more you have fun

the more you laugh with how crazy your

mind can be

the faster your progress becomes

i have many many students

that have

done other meditations and they kind of

want to put some of

oh i learned this in this meditation i

want to use it here

it doesn't work

so you need to follow the recipe

as closely as you can

keep your mind light

sit as long as you're comfortable no

less than 30 minutes

but when your sitting is good

stay with your sitting as long as you

can

don't break a sitting because of a meal

okay we'll make sure you got enough food

you don't have to worry about that

if you're sitting and the lunch bell

rings and your sitting is good continue

sitting

we will put out a dish of food for you

so whenever you're done with that

sitting

you can come and eat that's why

it says in the precepts

uh after the noonday meal

so your noonday meal can be one o'clock

or two o'clock

and it's still not breaking the precept

i want to talk a little bit about food

because i want you to understand that

there is a difference between

hard food and soft food and you need to

have a balance

soft food is

fruits

white rice is a soft food but sticky

rice is a hard food

although we don't have sticky rice here

very often i don't think she knows how

to make it

but putting some nuts in with your food

it'll stay in your stomach for longer

when you have hard food like that

and you don't get hungry

now she has diabetes so i allow her the

space to

take the medicine and that

is she gets some food

after the dhamma talk or right before

however you do it i don't care

you can take honey anytime you want

and that helps coach your stomach

so that you don't have so much hunger

arise

and you can take yogurt

yogurt with honey in it is very nice

that's one of the uh the things in sri

lanka they do

it's not honey that they put in and it's

uh

sugar cane syrup

anytime you get something that's too hot

there's different ways of handling it

sometimes food can be very spicy

you take some sugar and you put it on

the spoon on

on the food that will take the heat away

or just lessen it

because the chemical reaction with the

spice

makes it tamer

but in sri lanka if they use yogurt

and

the first time i went to sri lanka i was

staying at a monastery that was very far

away

so that there was always

spicy food i mean it was really hot

and even some of their desserts

had chili peppers in it

so i had to learn how to temper that

and yogurt works kind of

but not as good as and i'm not talking

about huge amounts of sugar i'm just

talking about sprinkling it on and that

changes the chemical composition of the

heat so it's done so bad

but don't fill up on soft food

that doesn't stay in your stomach

you need to have that balance

and as you get more used to it

that you'll just start doing it

naturally

and one of the reasons that we put

cottage cheese out every day is because

that stays in your stomach

very nicely

okay do you have any questions

it's a curse nobody has any questions

when i get done with the dom and talk

did you understand everything that i was

saying

then ask a question

[Music]

well if you don't understand something

even while i'm talking

raise your hand and i will try to answer

your question don't be afraid of that

okay

[Music]

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

thus

acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

[Music]

dispensations

[Music]

you