From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KMv7KxAs_gs

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

[Music]

so

today we are going to

talk about the path

and hindrances on the path

so i'm going to be reading from majama

nikaya107

this is ganaka moglana suta

to ganaka moglana

thus of i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at savathi in the

eastern park in the palace of megara's

mother

then the brahmana ganaka moglana

went to the blessed one and exchanged

greetings with him

when this courteous and amiable talk was

finished

he sat down at one side and said to the

blessed one

so ganaka maglana was a accountant

ganaka means one who counts so that's

accountant

master gautama in this palace of negar's

mother there can be seen gradual

training

gradual practice and gradual progress

that is down to the last step of the

staircase

among these brahmanas too there can be

seen gradual training

gradual practice and gradual progress

that is in study

among archers too there can be seeing

this gradual training

among

also accountants like us

who earn our living by accountancy

there can be seen gradual training

for when we get an apprentice first we

make him count

one one two twos

three threes

four fours five fives six sixes seven

sevens eight eights nine nines ten tens

and we make him count a hundred too

now is it also possible master gautama

to describe gradual training

gradual practice and gradual progress

in the dhamma and

discipline

it is possible brahman to describe

gradual training

gradual practice and gradual progress in

this dharma and discipline

just as brahman when a clever horse

trainer

obtains a fine thoroughbred cult

he first makes him get used to wearing

the bit

and afterwards strains him further

so when the tata open obtains a person

to be tamed

he first disciplines him thus

come beku be

virtuous restrained with the restraint

of the pati moka

be

be perfect in conduct and resort and

seeing fear in the slightest fault train

by undertaking the training precepts

you guys have only eight precepts

to take care of

right

so that's your training precepts those

are your virtues that you have to take

care of while you're on retreat

i believe the monastics the bikus have

and the bikunis have

311

yeah

be happy you only have eight

when brahman the biku is virtuous

and seeing fear in the slightest fault

trains by undertaking the training

precepts

then the taga disciplines him further

so seeing fear in the slightest fault

that's really about understanding the

consequences of what happens

when you break a precept

so they have two words in pali that's

to do with your moral compass where are

you

directed towards in terms of your moral

inclination

and otapa is the effort you make

based on and determined by

the understanding that if you break a

precept there are consequences to it

and we'll get deeper into what those are

come beku guard the doors of your sense

faculties

on seeing a form with the eye do not

grasp at its signs and features

so

on seeing a form with the eye do not

grasp at its signs and features

when you're doing your walking

meditation

are you guarding your sense doors

or are you getting caught up in the

sound of the birds

getting caught up by

wrecks or

duke around or by the goats down there

or are you just walking with

collectedness in mind

observing

loving kindness and staying with your

spiritual friend

since if you were to leave the i faculty

unguarded evil unwholesome states of

covetousness and grief

might invade you

practice the way of its restraint

guard the eye faculty undertake the

restraint of the i faculty

on hearing a sound with the ear on

smelling an odor with the nose on

tasting a flavor with the tongue

on touching a tangible with the body

uncognizing a mind object with the mind

do not grasp at their signs and features

since if you were to leave them

unguarded these faculties unguarded

evil unwholesome states might invade you

what are evil unwholesome states

they are the hindrances

practice the way of its restraint

guard these sense faculties undertake

the restraint of these sense faculties

so

how do you restrain sense faculties

restraint is an interesting word that

they use it comes from the word

samvara

and you know that somehow

has the connotation that you have to

control

the senses you have to restrain them you

have to restrict them

but how could you control your mind how

could you control what you're seeing

how can you control

the colors of the leaves around you how

could you control the sounds that are

coming into your ears or how can you

control the smell that's arising

you can't control them they are arising

as they arise

so you're not controlling anything here

you're not making an effort

to control something

you're just observing

how mind's attention gets distracted if

it gets distracted

so when you do this your mindfulness is

sharper your mindfulness is clearer

so it's more and it's more attentive

which means that it's able to

notice that there is craving for this

particular sense experience

and how do you restrain that or how do

you bring it back

to clarity how do you bring it back to

collectedness

the six hours

so you notice you're getting distracted

you're no longer on this spiritual

friend you're no longer with loving

kindness

you're no longer with your object of

meditation

so you recognize oh here i am getting

distracted

you release your attention away from it

relax mind and body

come back to the smile come back to your

object

when brahman the beak who guards the

doors of his sense faculties then the

tata disciplines him further

come biku be moderate in eating

reflecting wisely you should take food

neither for amusement nor for

intoxication

nor for the sake of physical beauty and

attractiveness

but only for the endurance

and continuance of this body

for ending discomfort and for assisting

the holy life considering

thus i shall terminate old feelings of

hunger without

arousing new feelings of hunger

and i shall be healthy and blameless and

shall live in comfort

so

on the surface this is really talking

about moderation in eating

right

so when you're on retreat you're taking

the precepts where you don't take any

meal after the noonday meal

but there's another way to understand

this as well when you come off of

retreat yes you be moderate with eating

you be more mindful of what's going on

is there greed

for that piece of chocolate cake is

there

craving for that particular strawberry

or whatever it might be you notice that

and then you 6r and let go of that

but then moderation in consumption in

general also something else

the quality of the things that you

intake through your sense basis

in terms of what is it that you consume

what kind of television shows do you

watch

what kind of movies do you watch what

kind of music do you listen to

what kind of things do you read

right

that has an effect on the mind

whatever it is that you have in terms of

the sixth sense based experiences that

has a direct effect on the mind

so be more mindful of things that you

consume be more moderate in that

moderation is key here which means

whatever it is happening whether it's

pleasant unpleasant or neutral whatever

the experience is

there's no reaction to it that causes

further craving or aversion

it's more about being equanimous seeing

things as they really are

when brahman the bhikkhu is moderate in

eating then the tata disciplines him

further

come biku be devoted to wakefulness

during the day while walking back and

forth and sitting

purify your mind of obstructive states

obstructive states are the hindrances

in the first watch of the night while

walking back and forth and sitting

purify your mind of obstructive states

in the middle watch of the night you

should lie down on the right side in the

lion's pose

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware

after noting in your mind the time for

rising

i told you about this yesterday after

noting in your mind the time for rising

make a determination

of what time you're going to wake up and

make a determination that when you wake

up

you wake up with a smile on your face

after rising in the third watch of the

night while walking back and forth and

sitting

purify your mind of obstructive states

so wakefulness that's what the buddha is

talking about wakefulness

wakefulness means

being clear with your attention

paying attention to everything that's

going on

and you do that by observing

that's it mindfulness is observing how

mind's attention moves remembering to

observe how mind's attention moves

so if you're wakeful then you're mindful

you're clear you're attentive

when you're attentive

you're aware of the inherent

characteristics of all conditioned

things

everything that you're experiencing

right now is conditioned

that which is conditioned is dependently

arisen

that which is dependently arisen is

bound to be per impermanent

that which is impermanent is bound to

cause suffering one way or the other

on even pleasant feelings pleasant

experiences are impermanent and

therefore they are liable to cause

suffering

therefore they are not worth holding on

to and therefore they shouldn't be

considered as me mine or myself

when you see this your mind becomes

equanimous when you're equanimous your

mind has disenchantment

when your disenchantment your mind is

dispassionate and that leads to the

cessation of suffering

so these are the steps that lead to that

and it all starts with paying attention

it all starts with right mindfulness

being attentive being aware of what's

happening in the mind

in relation to all experiences this is

wakefulness

when brahman the biku is devoted to

wakefulness

then the tata disciplines him further

come beku be possessed of mindfulness

and full awareness

act in full awareness when going forward

and returning

act in full awareness when looking ahead

and looking away

act in full awareness when flexing and

extending your limbs

act in full awareness when wearing your

robes and carrying your outer robe and

bowl

act in full awareness when eating

drinking consuming food and tasting

act in full awareness when defecating

and urinating act in full awareness when

walking standing

sitting falling asleep waking up talking

and keeping silent

so

this is an extension of that we just

talked about mindfulness so in the four

foundations of the mind of mindfulness

the buddha talks about how the mind is

in full awareness in relation to all

these things in relation to moving

to walking to sitting to standing to

lying down to resting

to eating to taking a shower whatever it

might be stay in full awareness of what

stay in full awareness of your object of

meditation

when you become collected around your

object of meditation

then you are in full awareness because

when you're not

with your object in meditation your mind

is able to recognize that it's not

and then it's able to use right effort

the rest of the six r's to come back to

full awareness come back to

collectiveness

when brahman the beku possesses

mindfulness and full awareness

then the tata

disciplines him further

come because resort to a secluded

resting place

the forest the root of a tree

a mountain a ravine a hillside cave a

charnel ground a jungle thicket an open

space a heap of straw

he resorts to a secluded resting place

on returning from his arms round after

his meal he sits down

folding his legs crosswise

setting his body erect and establishing

mindfulness before him

when you talk about establishing

mindfulness before him that's basically

seeing

is there present any hindrance in the

mind

when you sit down

for meditation when you establish

mindfulness before you that doesn't mean

you're paying attention to your nose

doesn't mean you're paying attention to

what's in front of you

what it means is

what states are present in the mind

now that you've closed your eyes

you're sitting motionless for meditation

are there any hindrances present

if there are no hindrances present

then

you continue on with the meditation you

have the intention of loving kindness if

there's a hindrance present

your six art come back to the awareness

of loving kindness

so it says abandoning covetousness for

the world he abides with the mind free

from covetousness he purifies his mind

from covetousness

this is the hindrance of sensual craving

abandoning ill will and hatred he abides

with the mind free from ill will

compassionate for the welfare of all

living beings

this is the hindrance of ill will of

aversion

he purifies

abandoning slot and torpor

he abides free from slot and torpor

percipient of light mindful and fully

aware he purifies his mind from slot and

torpor

when they talk about percipient of light

it means a couple of things

when we talk about slot intorpur that

means there's dullness in the mind

there's less lack of attention in the

mind

so when we talk about light that is

obasa

not venerable obasa but just obasa

and there are these

four kinds of light what are these four

the buddha talks about these great

lights the first light is the light of

fire

the second light is the light of the

moon

the third is the light of the sun

and the fourth is the light of wisdom

so when there is slot and torpor when

there is dullness of mind

there is lack of attention there is lack

of wisdom

there's lack of energy

now we'll talk about how to deal with

these hindrances let's continue

abandoning restlessness and remorse he

abides unagitated with the mind inwardly

peaceful

he purifies his mind from restlessness

and remorse

abandoning doubt he abides having gone

beyond doubt

unper unperplexed about the wholesome

states he purifies his mind from doubt

some at some point you might have heard

vantay talk about the five hindrances

and how they arise because at some point

you have broken the precepts

whether it's in this life or in the

previous life

there is this connection between the

five hindrances

and the five basic precepts

what is the cause of sensual craving

well let's take the five precepts let's

do it the other way around

what's the first precept

no killing with intention no harming or

killing with intention

but how do you kill with intention you

need to have ill will

you need to have aversion

so anytime you purposely harm another

being whether it's

mentally verbally or

with bodily action

there is present in that mind ill will

so whenever you break this precept it

cultivates ill will in the mind

what's the second precept

not taking what is not given

right abstaining from taking what is not

given

so that means basically stealing

now when you do this

it just doesn't mean taking what is not

given in the form of possessions in the

form of material things but it also

means taking away attention from someone

else

when it is not given

seeking out attention seeking out credit

seeking out this or that

what kind of mind state is there present

in such a mind

restlessness

restlessness arises because i need this

i need that i need to take this and so

restlessness arises and remorse arises

restlessness and anxiety

what's the third precept

no lying or harsh speech

right not dealing in lies not dealing in

harsh speech not dealing in false speech

uh dealing and slander and gossip

so when you deal in false speech when

you deal in gossip when you deal in

slander first of all what is gossip

right gossip is when you talk about

another person behind their back

so how do you know that you're doing

gossip

if what you're going to say

is something that you would dare not say

in front of the other person if they're

present about them

so if you are going to talk about them

are you going to talk about them in a

way to somebody else

while they're present when they're not

present

right

so gossip and slender talking about

someone else behind their back but you

know that is untrue

so

gossip slander false speech these create

doubt in another person this creates

doubts in yourself

so there is that doubt of what is

wholesome and unwholesome the doubt in

your own capacities and your own

capabilities as a practitioner

when you lie you deal in being

untrustworthy

and you don't trust other people around

you and this creates doubt

what's the fourth precept

sexual misconduct

this also includes sensual misconduct

what is sensual misconduct

doing something which

causes you attachment

to a sensual experience and when there's

attachment to that sensual experience it

causes you to break another precept

right

you really want that chocolate cake and

you're willing to fight somebody for it

right

so when that happens that gives rise to

sensual craving

that is the hindrance of sensual craving

what is the fifth precept

taking intoxicants that lead to

heatlessness

so indulging in intoxicants that cause

slot and torpor or it causes slot in

torpor and indulging or overindulging in

anything that includes

uh watching too much tv

being on the internet for too long

browsing the internet for too long

uh reading for too long doing anything

for too long can cause a dull mind

if you've been watching tv all day long

what's the quality of your mind it's

very dull it's very

it's got slot interpret in there

whenever you deal with indulging in

drugs and alcohol anything that

intoxicates

that ultimately dulls the mind it causes

tiredness in the mind

it causes inattention in the mind

so these this is the connection between

breaking a precept and the hindrances

at some point or another this had

happened whether it was bodily whether

it was verbal or whether it was

mental even if you had the intention

because that inclines your choices

towards things

now there are some practical things that

can cause the arising of hindrances too

for example restlessness

you have too much caffeine you're going

to have a very restless and energetic

mind

don't have enough sleep you're going to

cause yourself a lot of tiredness and

dullness in the mind

you know you're eyeing that chocolate

cake and you really want it but you

don't get it there's sensual craving

over there

somebody disturbs your meditation by

mowing the lawn around you you get angry

at them in your mind that's going to

cause aversion in the mind

so how do you deal with these hindrances

what are the

antidotes to these hindrances

when you have ill will when you have

aversion what's the antidote for that

matter loving kindness

compassion

when you have sensual craving

what is the

antidote for that

equanimity can be the case but there's

another one

there is a

enlightenment factor called joy that

arises

that joy arises when you're in jhana

we'll talk about that in a little bit

and then when you have doubt

what

is the antidote for doubt

no knowing what is right and knowing

what is wrong knowing what is wholesome

and what is unwholesome

in other words

doubt is about the being perplexed about

what is

a precept and what is a hindrance what

is the meditation and so on

so the investigation factor that is the

factor of investigation of states

knowing that you're in this state or in

that state the knowing of that the

perceiving of that

is the antidote to doubt

what about slot and torpor

energy

so the enlightenment factor of energy of

having right effort

now when you have slot intorpor it could

be because you haven't had enough sleep

so make sure you have enough rest make

sure you have enough

naps

right i encourage naps on this retreat

so

sometimes you need to sit out

uh you know where there's sunlight where

there's a lot of light this is also

about recipient of light

there's the idea that you have to have

light be able to see light in your mind

but when you when that happens the mind

becomes

too concentrated and you don't want that

because that's going to suppress the

hindrances that's going to cause

tightness and tension in the mind

so when we talk about

slot and torpor we're talking about

being more attentive there's a lack of

attention

so to deal with slot intorpur what you

have to do is you need more energy you

need more interest

in your object of meditation

there's no no there's not no real in

interest in what you're seeing and what

you're observing

so the mind's attention

is like a camera lens right how do you

focus

that lens

right so do you have enough energy to be

able to stay with the object

or do you have too much which can cause

restlessness you need to be able to make

that balance be able to understand and

so you just make little tiny adjustments

you realize you have slot and torpor

you realize you have slot and torpor so

then you

are now attentive because what happens

you recognize that they're a slot

interpreter you release your attention

away from it you relax any craving or

aversion towards it you come back with a

smile with a wholesome mind and now when

you come back to your object be a little

bit more collected

don't focus don't concentrate just bring

a little more energy

and then with restlessness that arises

because the mind is trying too hard

you know when you're meditating you're

frowning and you're trying too hard

to be with your object of meditation in

fact you're trying too hard to become

your object of meditation and that's not

the key with meditation here the key is

to understand that the object of

meditation

is like a planet

and your attention is a satellite

orbiting that planet it's around the

object it's collected around the object

it's not becoming that object not

becoming one

pointed

so when you have restlessness

what you require is more

tranquility more relaxation

back off a little bit don't put up too

much energy there

have more collectedness have more

equanimity

was that all of them

yeah

having thus abandoned these five

hindrances imperfections of the mind

that weakened wisdom quite secluded from

sensual pleasures

what does it mean when you say quite

secluded from sensual pleasures now

we're getting into actual meditation

practice

now we're getting into samadhi

the cultivation of the mind mental

development bhavana

so quite secluded from sensual pleasures

means that when you sit down for

meditation

your eyes are closed you're not no

longer receiving

sensory data from the eyes

right from around you yes you might be

hearing things but now your mind is

centered around an experience

in the mind rather than being dispersed

your attention is no longer dispersed in

what's going on out there in the world

it's now becoming attentive to what's

happening inside that is to say within

the mind

secluded from unwholesome states

secluded from unwholesome states means

that the mind is rid of the five

hindrances

there are no five hindrances present in

the mind

he enters upon and abides in the first

jhana

which is accompanied by thinking and

examining thought

what is thinking and examining thought

you bring up the intention of loving

kindness

you bring up a wholesome image

a wholesome memory or you verbalize may

i be happy may i be free of suffering

may i have loving kindness

what is examining thought the sustained

application of that thought that is to

say that is to say when loving kindness

arises

you now stay with that feeling of loving

kindness you place the mind on that

feeling of loving kindness

with rapture and pleasure born of

seclusion

when your mind is secluded from these

unwholesome states

there's a relief there

from that relief there is a joy that

arises the pithy that arises

the comfort in the body arises

with distilling and with the stilling of

applied and sustained thought with

distilling of thinking and examining

thought

he enters about he enters upon and

abides in the second child so now

you've let go of the wholesome image

you've let go of the wholesome memory or

you've let go

of the verbalizing

and now you're just staying with the

object of meditation you're staying with

the loving kindness

he enters upon and abides in the second

jhana which has self-confidence and

singleness of mind

without applied and sustained thought so

self-confidence

now the meditation is flowing now you've

got this now you're like okay i

understand what's going on here there's

no doubt anymore of what's going on you

know that you are with your object of

meditation singleness of mind

that is to say that the mind is now

becoming more collected now it knows

that the object of meditation is the

objective

the objective here is just to observe

and six are whenever the mind becomes

distracted

with rapture or joy and pleasure born of

collectedness now the mind becomes even

more collected

and there is this joy that arises

there's this feeling of energetic

vibratory joy that arises

there's a feeling of

great tranquility in the body great

comfort and ease within the

body with the fading away as well of

rapture

he abides in equanimity and mindful and

fully aware

still feeling pleasure with the body

he enters upon and abides in the third

jhana

on account of which noble ones announce

he has a pleasant abiding who has

equanimity

and is mindful

with the abandoning

oh before we go with that so in the

third jhana what happens

the joy fades away

this is why

if you experience joy

and it fades away don't become

disheartened

don't equate the joy with

loving-kindness don't make the feeling

of joy the object of meditation

see it as just

something that's happening in the

background of your mind

the feeling is the loving kindness not

the joy

when the joy goes away that's fine what

remains there's still sukkah

there's still not the cat sukkah in

terms of

the body comfort right the bodily

comfort that's there the happiness

that's there the ease of mind and body

that's there

the tranquility that's there the mind is

a little more expensive the body might

feel lighter or it might feel more

rooted it might feel more heavy because

it feels like it's more grounded

in either case this is a sign that

you're getting into the third channel or

one of the signs let's say

and you have equanimity there's

equanimity present as you'll see

tomorrow in each of the journals but the

equanimity becomes more apparent as you

get into the third and fourth jhana

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief

he enters upon and abides in the fourth

jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

this is really important to understand

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

now there is complete balance in the

mind

mind is utterly peaceful utterly calm

and what happens is as you're getting

through each of these genres

it's happening as a natural

process

you are

coming into balance with the

enlightenment factors

the seven enlightenment factors are the

seven factors of awakening

mindfulness

investigation of states

energy

joy

tranquility

collectedness and equanimity

these lead to

each other that is to say when you have

mindfulness

that leads to investigation of states

when you have investigation of states

that leads to energy that energy leads

to joy that joy leads to tranquility

that tranquility leads to collectedness

and that collectiveness leads to

equanimity

but it's also cyclical that is to say as

you're going through these genres you're

cycling through the enlightenment

factors and so they keep strengthening

each other and by the time you get to

the fourth genre you have mindfulness

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

mindfulness informed by the factor of

equanimity now how do you awaken these

enlightenment factors they happen quite

naturally like i said but they're also

in a sense if you look at it the

antidotes for each of the hindrances

the way to awaken the enlightenment

factors

is by using right effort

that is to say the six r's

mindfulness as we said is remembering to

observe how mind's attention moves from

one object to the other

when you recognize that you were

distracted you recognize that your mind

has moved from its object

you're seeing that the attention has

moved

what is the investigation of states

factor

that is to be

that is to be aware what state is

present in the mind

that's how you

relieve doubt that is how you let go of

doubt

because doubt is about the doubt of

whether i am practicing correctly or the

doubt of whether i'm in a wholesome

state or an unwholesome state in a

distracted state or an undistracted

state so when you recognize

you have the investigation of states

there as well because you recognize oh

here is a distracted mind

when you release

you're making the effort to let go of

that particular distraction that's the

energy that's required

that's the effort that's required that's

the third enlightenment factor of energy

now the next one is joy and the next one

is tranquility but here when you relax

the mind and body relax the tightness

and tension

you're bringing up the enlightenment

factor of tranquility

and then when you come back to the smile

you're bringing up joy

so these two are interchangeable joy and

tranquility when you are in a tranquil

state of mind

you can be naturally joyful and when you

are in a joyous state of mind you're

naturally relaxed and tranquil

finally when you return back to your

object of meditation your mind becomes

collected so now you have collectedness

and when you do this process you are

seeing things as they are

which is equanimity not being attached

one way or the other not being pushed or

pulled

by the object or not being pushed or

pulled by a hindrance or distraction

so when you use the six hours you're

naturally giving rise to the

enlightenment factors

and you're letting go of the hindrance

and so for the mind to be in jhana it

requires the non-presence or absence of

the hindrances and the presence or

activation of the enlightenment factors

so every time you six are you're

cultivating your mind to head towards a

giant state

now when it comes to the genres it's

important to understand that the factors

of the genres are one thing and the

object of meditation is one thing like i

said don't mistake

the joy or the comfort in the body or

the equanimity for the object of

meditation that is to say the meta

right the loving kindness

the way to see ghanas or the factors of

jhana is that they are basically the

background setting of your mind

think about it this way imagine you're

having a conversation with a friend at a

restaurant

or at your home and there's some ambient

music playing and there's some little

chitter chatter here going on that's the

background setting for your conversation

now if there's too much ambient music if

there's too much conversation going on

are you able to listen to your friend or

respond to your friend or are they able

to listen to you

in the same way when you're talking

about jhanas

the ambient music is the joy factor the

sukkah factor all of these different

factors

but the conversation is between you your

mind

and the object of meditation if the jana

factors are too much

you're not going to be able to pay

attention to your object and meditation

so if you start to get inclined towards

the joy start to get inclined towards

the sukkah towards the equanimity then

you're not paying attention

you're still distracted even though

you're you're being distracted by

something good you're still distracted

so when you notice that

just six are that and come back to the

loving kindness whatever the object is

this is my instruction brahman to those

bekus who who are in the higher training

whose minds have not yet attained the

gold who abide aspiring to the supreme

security from bondage but these things

conduce both to a pleasant abiding here

and now and to mindfulness and full

awareness for those beakers who are who

are our huts with taints destroyed who

have lived the holy life

done what had to be done lay down the

burden reached their own goal destroyed

the feathers of being

and are completely liberated through

final knowledge

so in other words in arahat just because

they let go and have destroyed the

feathers and destroyed the taints

doesn't mean that they stop practicing

they continue practicing because that's

their default way of functioning

so what you're training yourself to do

when you have these things when you six

are when you come to the meditation

practice when you have restraint correct

understanding of the restraint of the

senses you're training yourself to

become

an arhat you're training yourself to

become a mind rid of barriers

a mind that is completely liberated

when this was said

the brahmana ganaka maglana asked the

blessed one

when master gautama's disciples

are thus advised and instructed by him

do they all attain the bana the ultimate

goal goal or do some not attain it

when brahman they are thus advised and

instructed by me

some of my disciples attain nibana

nibana the ultimate goal and some do not

attain it master gautama since nibana

exists and the path leading to nibana

exists

and master gautama is present as the

guide

what is the cause and reason why

when master gautama's disciples are thus

advised and instructed by him

some of them attain the bana the

ultimate goal and some do not attain it

as to that brahmana i will ask you a

question in return

answer it as you choose

what do you think brahman are you

familiar with the road leading to raja

gaha

yes master gautama i am familiar with

the

road leading to raja gaha

what do you think brahman suppose a man

suppose a man came who wanted to go to

rajya gaha

and he approached you and said venerable

sir i want to go to rajya gaha show me

the road to raja gaha

then you told him now good man this road

goes to rajikaha follow it for a little

while and you will see a certain village

go little further and you will see a

certain town go a little further and you

will see raja gaha with its lovely parks

groves meadows and ponds

then having been thus advised and

instructed by you he would take a wrong

road

and would go to the west

then a second man came who wanted to go

to raja gaha

and he approached you and said venerable

sir

i want to go to raja gaha

show me the road to raja gaha

then you told him

now good man this road goes to rajagaha

follow it for a little while and you

will see raja gaha with its lovely parks

groves meadows and ponds

then having been thus advised and

instructed by you

he would arrive safely in raja gaham

now brahmana since raja raja gaha exists

and the path leading to raja gaha exists

and you are present as the guide

what is the cause and reason why when

those men have been thus advised and

instructed by you

one takes a wrong road and goes to the

west and one arrives safely in raj gaha

what can i do about that master gautama

i am the one who shows the way

so too brahman nirvana exists and the

path leading to nibana exists

and i am present at as the guide

yet when my disciples have been thus

advised and instructed by me

some of them attain nibana the ultimate

goal and some do not attain it what can

i do about that brahman the tata is one

who shows the way

in other words

you can lead the horse to the water but

you can't make them drink it

right

we can show you the path but you have to

follow the path you have to take the

path

you have to take the right path to

nibana

the path nibana that sounds familiar

yeah i think you should

when this was said the brahmana ganaka

moglana said to the blessed one

there are persons who are faithless and

having gone forth from the home life

into homelessness

do not out of faith but seeking a

livelihood who are fraudulent deceitful

treacherous haughty hollow personally

vain

rough tongued loose spoken unguarded in

their sense faculties in moderate in

eating undevoted to wakefulness

unconcerned with reckless ship

not greatly respectful of training

luxurious

careless leaders and backsliding

neglectful of seclusion lazy wanting an

energy unmindful not fully aware

unconcentrated with straying minds

devoid of wisdom dr driver drivelers

master guatama does not dwell together

with these

but there are clansmen who have gone

forth out of faith

from the home life into homelessness who

are not fraudulent deceitful treacherous

haughty hollow personally vain

rough-tongued and loose-spoken who are

guarded in their sense faculties

moderate in eating devoted to

wakefulness

concerned with recluseship greatly

respectful of training not luxurious or

careless who are keen to avoid

backsliding leaders in seclusion

energetic resolute established in

mindfulness fully aware collected with

unified minds possessing wisdom

not drivelers

master gautama dwells together with

these

just as black horus root

is reckoned as the best of root perfumes

and red sandalwood is reckoned as the

best of wood perfumes and jasmine is

recommend reckoned as the best of flower

perfumes

so too master gautama's advice is

supreme

among the teachings of today

magnificent master gautama magnificent

master gautama master gautama has made

the dharma clear in many ways

as though he were turning upright what

had been overturned revealing what was

hidden

showing the way to one who was lost or

holding up a lamp in the dark for those

with eyesight to see forms

i go to master gautama for refuge

and to enter the dhamma and to the

sangha of bekuz

let master gautama remember me as a lay

follower who has gone to him for refuge

for life

any questions

i'll ask the first question all right

so since you've got quite a bit of

meditation experience you've heard a lot

of techniques

uh many meditation instructors say

well you can keep your eyes open while

you meditate you can keep them half

closed or you should close them

what do you make of all these

instructions what's the best

i would say when you're starting out you

want to be able to keep your eyes closed

eventually there comes a point where

sometimes especially as you'll talk

about we'll talk about tomorrow in

infinite consciousness sometimes the

eyes open up on their own and there's

just this experience that goes on that's

okay but the whole point yes i did

mention your eyes are closed when you're

meditating for the most part you know

when you're sitting down

so when you keep your eyes closed you're

secluded from sensory input coming in

from your eyes

but that's not mandatory

so you can keep your eyes open you can

keep your eyes half closed you can keep

your eyes closed

but it's best to keep your eyes closed

when you're starting out because it's

going to be difficult otherwise for you

to be able to be collected

eventually you'll be able to just be

meditative even with your eyes open

doesn't really matter but when you start

out i would recommend you keep your eyes

closed

so that seems really low

you mentioned briefly earlier about a

mind that has a lot of light and you and

i think you talked about it in a

negative way that's it's not ideal are

you talking about nemata right yeah

can you uh expand on that a bit yeah i

like your shirt dharma brigade yeah

uh so yeah we talk about you know what

happens is

there's this understanding within some

schools

that you have to make your mind so

concentrated that you're able to see

light

in in inside like

behind the

eyes or in your eyelids there's like

this whiteness that arises this

brightness that arises

because of a super concentrated mind

but like i said when you become super

concentrated when you become one pointed

you're suppressing the mind

so when you suppress the mind you're

unable to experience the hindrances

and you're unable to experience the

insight that arise

so the analogy that i always use is the

analogy of the beach ball when you

suppress when you push down the beach

ball under the water and you let go what

happens

it comes back with full force

same way when you become very

concentrated

you're suppressing the hindrances and

when you come out you might feel good

for a little bit maybe even for a couple

of days

but you haven't actually dealt with the

hindrances so what happens

they come back with full force and

you're unable to tame them you're unable

to control them you aren't able to see

them even when they happen

but when your mind is collected what's

happening is you're able to recognize

and acknowledge that here as a hindrance

like i said yesterday hindrances are

your teachers see them as shedding light

on where your aversion and your

attachments lie

so as as for the nimita that we're

talking about so what does nimita mean i

mean nimitz is sometimes seen as a light

that comes up a blue light or a white

light or a red light or whatever it

might be

and then the idea is then to take that

and then let the mind become

concentrated on that

but this is

a

form of meditation that actually causes

more tightness

because you're constructing the

experience

you're not deconstructing an experience

remember i talked about how the first

jhana is seclusion from the hindrances

and the joy that arises is because of

relief from that

you're not constructing the jonic

factors you're not constructing the joy

that's arising

you are deconstructing the mind of

unwholesome states and as a result

because of the conditions that are right

joy arises

so this whole process is not about

constructing states of mind it's about

deconstructing deconditioning so that

you get to the unconditioned

now animeta just as as it's known is

really what it means or rather nimita

is object

so nemata just means sign or object so

that's all really it is so in that sense

the loving-kindness or the equanimity or

any of the brahmaviharas are nimitas

because they are objects of meditation

but the idea is not to become the object

is to let your mind be unified

collected orbiting the object of

meditation

so um delson you said yesterday that

each of us got uh gets three questions

yeah and i think i'll uh hopefully ask

all three today all right good uh so i

remember um

both vontava milo ramsay and bonte

punaji saying that

you have no sense of self and no craving

in a genre yeah so

how do you

measure

no sense of self and how do you measure

whether you have no craving at a given

moment

do you try to

distract yourself with some kind of

objective craving and then if you cannot

do it then does that mean

i mean how how do you measure these

things i mean like with sloth and darpa

for example um

what is the absence of sloth and torpor

i mean if you

okay

like if you take an energy drink then

you're more uh you know you're more

active than otherwise is that the

absence of i mean how is that quantified

yeah

so

how do you know you're not in salt and

torpor there's balanced energy in the

mind how do you know when there's no

restlessness again there's balanced

energy in mind

so slot and torpor and restlessness are

two sides of a coin

right and the idea is if you have too

much energy then it causes restlessness

if you have too little energy which is

too little attention then you have slot

intorper

how do you know we are rid of sensual

craving because you're not thinking

about it

how do you know you don't have any

doubts because your mind is collected in

an object or around an object

how do you know if there is

no aversion because loving-kindness is

present in the mind

so that's how you know it

you know it through the absence of these

states by the presence of their

antidotes let's say

so you can't quantify while you're in

jhana whether you are having craving or

not craving just because

you are in jhana means that you have no

craving at all there

so if you're experiencing a collected

mind

then you don't have craving

if you're experiencing a mind that is

balanced in energy then you don't have

restlessness and slot and hard proof

that's how you understand it

as for the sense of self

there's

there is

a declining sense of a personal self in

jhana

but the jhana itself can be taken as oh

this is me mine or myself

so the idea is the sense of self that we

talk about

is the taking of something personal

so saying that this is mine this is me

this is myself

you know with relation to

feeling in the mind with relation to

bodily feeling with relation to form or

the body itself in relation to

perception with relation to your

intention or formations and with

relation to your awareness

there's a sense of self there then there

is something there's bound to be

something taken personal

so when you're with an experience of

loving kindness that loving kindness is

not you that love and kindness is not

yours even though it feels like it is

but the conditions the causes and

conditions are right

for the lovingkindness to arise

namely the intention

the wholesome image or the wholesome

uh

verbalizations or whatever it might be

that start to bring up the loving

kindness and then you let go of that and

you stay with the loving kindness that's

why i'm saying you don't become the

loving kindness you're just observing

the loving kindness as it is

um how many questions do i have left

two okay

good

um so the translations of pithi

so do you translate them as

rapture and pleasure or do you translate

them as joy and and

i try joy and comfort

i translate them as joy and comforts

joys

like really energetic and vibratory it's

got this

really vibrant sense of joy

and sukkah is this comfort in the body

it's just like everything is very

relaxed

tranquil everything is fine the body

just feels very comfortable there's a

sense of ease in there

so um explosions of um like

uh explosions of this kind of what you

call joy which i always translated as

pithy um is that a sign of

is is that a defining characteristic of

it can be so joy can arise in different

ways it can arise as this vibration it

can arise as like feeling excited you

know that sense of like

when you get up through a

a roller coaster and there's this

exhilaration that happens that can also

be a kind of joy

uh there's a sense of joy where it comes

up and just goes away immediately it's

just you know explosions of joy as you

say they're not really really completely

there it just happens and then it goes

away or whatever it might be

so and then some people feel heat they

feel heat in their the palm of their

hands they feel heat throughout the body

whatever it might be so these are signs

uh of joy in one way or the other

um so that was your third question yeah

last one final question i actually

didn't don't quite know whether to ask

this or not but i'll ask it anyway

so you mentioned that

killing in killing beings there is ill

will

involved

now i going to briefly raise

a debate which

i i think you know what i'm referring to

here

um so if if there's

if you purchase

something from someone who had ill will

um are you completely uh you haven't uh

completely released from any kind of uh

involvement with that ill will

given that you you were you were

in a sense um

you're endorsing

uh the action that was taken because

you're purchasing uh the result of that

ill will so the way i would explain this

is you are responsible for your own

actions no one else's actions

you are responsible for your karma and

nobody else's karma

you're responsible for only your

intentions and nobody else's

intentions okay

thanks very much

let's share some merit and then we're

going to meditation

may suffering ones be suffering free may

the fear stroke fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

have 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

dispensation

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