From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SOFEZJ2Hlng

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

[Music]

so

[Music]

this is a classic

1-1-1

oh i already hear the groans

one by one as they occurred

thus have i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at savathi in

jetta's grove

anatapindika's park

there he addressed the bikus thus bikus

venerable sir they replied

the blessed one said this

bikus sariputa is wise

sarikuta has great wisdom

sariputta has wide wisdom

sariputta has joyous wisdom

sariputta has quick wisdom

sariputta has

keen wisdom

sariputta has penetrative wisdom

so these different types of wisdom are

referring to

a specific insight

into

dependent origination

whenever they talk about wisdom they're

referring to that

during half a month because

sariputta gained insight into states one

by one as they occurred

now sariputta's insight into states one

by one

as they occurred was this

so

just so you know

if i'm correct about this

magulana took about a week to become an

arahat

sorry brother was a slow learner so it

took him about two weeks

hirobikus

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states

sariputta entered upon

and abided in the first jhana

which is accompanied by applied and

sustained thought

with rapture and pleasure born of

seclusion

so let's unpack this first what happens

in the first jhana

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

so when you sit down

for your practice

or whenever you're in jhana if you're

walking in the first jana

your mind is not paying attention to any

sensory experience

it's just with the feeling of loving

kindness or whatever the object is

that doesn't mean that it doesn't hear

that doesn't mean that it doesn't see if

you're walking

that doesn't mean that it doesn't feel

the wind if you're meditating outside

it just means that the mind is

okay with those experiences

not affected unaffected by them

secluded from unwholesome states

unwholesome states are hindrances

so when your mind is rid of hindrances

it is ripe for becoming

in jannah or going into jhana

and so he says that first jhana is

accompanied by applied and sustained

thought

this is

thinking and examining thought

and what that means is

you start off with the process of

verbalizing

a wish of may i be happy may i be well

or you start off with the

intentionalizing of

a feeling of loving kindness

through wholesome imagery through

using a wholesome memory

and then you allow the mind to rest in

that experience this is the process of

thinking and sustained thought thinking

and examining thought

with rapture that is joy

and pleasure born of seclusion

now that joy and that pleasure that

we're talking about that joy is this

feeling of elevated pleasantness this

feeling of elevated joy

and that pleasure is a feeling of

comfort in the body ease in the body

this is coming from the pali word sukkah

sukkah means comfort

and ease

so in the first jhana

you don't have to bring up the joy you

don't have to bring up the ease

it naturally arises

born out of seclusion born out of

becoming starting to become collected

around your object of meditation

remember yesterday we talked about how

when you have the five hindrances

and you let go of them

there arises a natural joy

a natural happiness because you have

freedom from those hindrances

so that

joy and pleasure that's born of

seclusion

is related to the fact that the mind is

no longer

contaminated by hindrances

no longer

dealing with hindrances having let go of

relax and abandon the hindrances

as a result that joy

picks up

so the method that arises is one thing

and the joy that arises is another the

feeling of meta is this warmth in the

middle of your chest

that joy is high vibrational energetic

experience

a form of feeling exhilarated sometimes

it feels like that sometimes it feels

like it's

rising whatever it might be it might

manifest in different ways

it might manifest as warmth in the hands

as a feeling of heat in the body

as a feeling of being happy and so on

and the states in the first jhana

the applied thought the sustained

thought so the applied thought is

the intentionalizing of bringing up

loving kindness and the sustained

thought is the mind resting

in the experience of loving kindness

the joy

the ease or comfort

and the unification of mind

the unification of mind is the mind that

starts to become

collected around the object of

meditation

this comes from the pali word ekagata

and sometimes this is translated as one

pointed concentration

but as we talked about last time

when the mind is relaxed it's able to be

more attentive

when the mind

has too much concentration

there is a point in which that

concentration becomes diffused

because so many different thoughts arise

as a result of

suppressing the mind

through one point of concentration

so a kagata here means a unified

mind a mind that orbits around the

feeling of loving kindness a mind that

stays

there rests there

the contact feeling perception

volition or intention and

mind or consciousness

so the contact feeling

perception intention and later on it

talks about attention

these make up

mentality

when we talk about mentality materiality

we're talking about mind and body

the body is made up of the four great

elements so the four states of matter

and the mind

is known by its qualities by its

faculties of and processes of contact

feeling

perception

intention and attention

so when you start this practice you

start with the contact

that first contact is

the mind making contact with the feeling

of loving kindness

the mind making contact with its object

of meditation

the feeling the sensation the experience

is the experience of that warm glow of

loving-kindness

the perception

is the recognition that you are

experiencing loving-kindness

the intention

is placing your attention on

loving-kindness

so the intention is

the actual application of thought the

application of the practice and the

attention is the scope

that you use to be able to see the

experience of loving-kindness

and then we talk about

the zeal of the mind consciousness

so there is consciousness that flows

through that process of attention

awareness of the love and kindness

zeal decision energy

mindfulness equanimity

and attention

the zeal comes from the word chanda

chanda means the

inclination the inclining of the mind

towards meditation the inclining of the

mind towards loving-kindness

the zeal is also

a wholesome desire

or as i call it a cultivated intention

an intention

rooted in something that's wholesome

rooted in the dharma

the decision so decision here comes from

the word adi moko

that is the resolution to resolve the

mind

to be in meditation to have that

resolution

the energy here you're making the right

effort

to go into the practice of meditation

and so when we talk about energy we talk

about in in the form of mental and

physical energy but we're also talking

about it from the application

or the endeavor

of

using right effort applying your mind

towards using right effort

mindfulness

so now you're observing what's going on

through that observation attention flows

through the attention that is pointed

towards love and kindness

so mindfulness here remember is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention moves from one object to

another

so you're actually paying attention the

process of mindfulness is the process of

paying attention attention is the tool

of the mind to be able to know what's

going on

equanimity

so there's equanimity here in the first

jhana and what we're talking about here

is actually the equanimity that's

understood as knowledge and vision of

things as they are as they really are

meaning equanimity is the ability to see

things

and not be agitated by them

so the mind gets disturbed there should

be equanimity okay the mind is disturbed

use the six r's

and come back

the mind is collected all right great

the mind is collected there's no pulling

or pushing going on the mind is just

seeing things

as they are like a scientist observing

and attention as i said the attention is

the scope of the mind that is to say

the tool of the mind to hone in on an

experience that doesn't mean it becomes

one pointed it's just a process of how

you use your attention the intention of

bringing your attention is the process

of

this practice

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

so these different states so first the

first jhana has the applied thought the

sustained thought the joy and the

comfort and unification of mind these

will change as we get through higher

jhanas but what will remain is the

contact

now the contact also means contact in

terms of sensory contact with the body

so while you're still in the first jan

of the second gen or third genre for

china you still have a sense of contact

with the body you might hear things

you might smell something

you might feel the fly on your arm or on

your knee

you might

have some kind of experience and there's

that contact

but it doesn't affect you

you just know with equanimity that here

is the contact

that's okay your mind is not

distracted it's just aware of everything

there's an open awareness going on here

in jannah

one of the ways to understand jhana is

so we have jhana which is traditionally

understood as jhana that is

suppressing the hindrances

suppressing the mind

and then there's a concentrated mind

that then experiences pleasure and joy

and you might experience that pleasure

and joy after you come out of the

meditation practice

for

a few hours or even for the whole day

but nothing really happens you're just

experiencing a blissful state of mind

but not really understanding when

hindrances arose and in allowing those

hindrances to be there and letting them

go

using right effort using the six r's

the genres that we're talking about are

what i would call arya jhanas that is to

say noble jhanas

and this is a jhana which is through the

process of having a collected mind

rather than a concentrated mind

a collected mind is a mind that orbits

around its object to meditation aware

using that as a gravitational field and

just being openly aware

so that when insights arise

they arise accompanied by that genre

through that process of jhana or when

hindrances arise the mind knows it is

distracted and lets it go and comes back

the process of applying right effort is

key

to this practice

knowing that there is an unwholesome

state arising

using recognition recognizing that

letting go of that through releasing

relaxing the craving the tightness and

tension coming back to the smile and

bringing up joy

and then returning back to your object

to meditation this fulfills the four

right efforts

which which are

uh

part of the right effort we know as part

of the eightfold path

so in the first kind of jhana which is

the non-arya genre the an arya jhana

that is to say the ignoble jhana

in that jhana you suppress

everything

so there's no wisdom that is cultivated

the wisdom that's cultivated through the

arya jana is through the process of

knowing how

mind's attention moves how this process

of mind works

that's why sariputta is able to see

these different

elements the contact the feeling the

perception the intention the mindfulness

the attention the consciousness the zeal

the enthusiasm the equanimity and so on

so another way to understand janna might

be through a process through this kind

of analogy

let's say you're sitting with a friend

at a restaurant

and there's some ambient music playing

so that creates a nice ambiance for you

and you're talking with your friend

but let's say that more and more people

come in

and now it gets a little louder and then

the music becomes even louder and now

it's difficult for you to listen to what

your friend is saying

or for your friend to listen to what

you're saying

and so

you become more distracted by that by

paying attention more

to the processes of what's happening

with the music and the ambient noise

it's more difficult for you to be more

connected with your object of meditation

so there's a tendency in initially for

people to get distracted by the factors

of the jhana the jhana is the background

setting of your mind to cultivate wisdom

if the background setting of the mind

the ambient

aspect of the mind becomes louder

and you take the joy as your object or

you take the equanimity as your object

or you take the sukkah as your object

then you're no longer becoming collected

now you're being distracted by the very

factors of the jhanas

and when you do that what you see is

that the mind becomes

or rather mistakes the loving kindness

or the joy for the loving kindness

and so sometimes it'll feel like oh the

loving kindness went away but that's

because you mistook

the joy factor the pt factor of the

first and second jana as loving-kindness

and loving-kindness will fade away as

we'll see

because what sariputta says or the

buddha says about sariputta's experience

he says

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred now it's not

necessary for you to have to define

these states in that same order

but you might recognize them you might

recognize here is the contact you might

recognize here is the feeling of

loving-kindness you might recognize

here's the intentionalizing you might

recognize here's the consciousness

flowing to the loving kind to the

through the awareness of loving kindness

yeah that's the perception aspect of

seeing it

yeah

no it is investigation but i

i caution anyone to use the word

investigation because it brings up in

the mind that i have to further analyze

it's the discernment let's say the

knowing the understanding i use the word

understanding

understanding that the mind is now in

jhana or understanding now the mind is

making contact with the loving kindness

or understanding now the mind is

perceiving the experience of loving

kindness

that's the

second enlightenment factor of

investigation of states

so you might recognize these things if

you don't recognize them that's fine no

problem but just understand that

sariputta's mind was openly aware to be

able to recognize them his mind was not

suppressed

his mind was not one pointed that he was

not able to

be able to pick out

these different factors

known to him those states arose

known they were present

known they disappeared

he understood thus so indeed these

states

not having been

come into being having been they vanish

what is he seeing

he's saying he's saying the impermanence

of the janas

so the jhanas are a means to an end the

jhanas

even though we have the eightfold path

and you see the experience

of all of the different path factors

leading to right

collectedness leading to

sama-samadhi

that process of samadhi that process of

mental development of bhavana through

the process of

jhana

is just a means to an end and that end

is wisdom that end

is the destruct the destruction of greed

hatred and delusion

so you're understanding these states of

jhana not as

an end of themselves

in of themselves rather they are a

process to allow you to develop wisdom

to cultivate wisdom

so

regarding these states he abided

unattracted unrepelled independent

detached

free disassociated with a mind rid of

barriers

so he abided unattracted unrepelled

that is he's had equanimity towards

these different factors he saw them as

they occurred one by one

didn't get attached to them he was

independent and detached free

disassociated with a mind rid of

barriers

a mind rid of barriers which means a

mind that is rid of any

inclination to do something any

inclination to be something

just seeing things as they are

unattached

he understood there is an escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because with the stilling of

applied and sustained thought

sorry entered and abided in the second

jana

which has self-confidence and singleness

of mind

without applied and sustained thought

with rapture and pleasure born of

collectedness

and so now what happens in the second

genre

in the first genre you started the

process of intentionalizing the love and

kindness

through a process of verbalizing or

through a process of wholesome

imagery using a memory or

an image that helps you to

feel that loving kindness to bring up

that loving kindness

once the experience of loving kindness

happens

then you let go of that image

you don't need that image anymore now

the mind becomes

collected with that feeling of loving

kindness

and so there is no need to continue to

start the ignition over again over and

over again to start the car the first

time you started the ignition is enough

now the car is running now the mind is

staying with its object of meditation

and therefore there is the

self-confidence the idea that okay i

know what i'm doing now i'm confident in

this practice

and the singleness of mind the mind

stays with its object of meditation

doesn't become distracted the attention

is

non-dispersed

and then there is the

joy and the comfort born of

collectedness

again you don't bring up the joy you

don't bring up the comfort it arises as

a result of the mind becoming further

collected

the mind becoming unimpeded

by the process of jhana or through the

process of jhana the mind becomes

aware and resting in that awareness of

loving kindness and as a result there

will be a feeling of pleasantness there

will be a feeling of pleasure there'll

be a feeling of joy and there'll be a

feeling of comfort

and the states in the second genre the

self-confidence

the joy the pleasure and the unification

of mind the contact feeling perception

volition and mind

the zeal 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 he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because with the fading away as

well of joy shariputa abided in

equanimity

and mindful and fully aware still

feeling pleasure with the body that's

the sukkah the comfort and ease of 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

now what happens in the third jhana is

that

excited form of joy that vibratory

energetic joy starts to taper it starts

to disappear and all that's left is this

feeling of pleasant pleasantness or

pleasure in the body and in the mind

and so there is a

more sustained experience of pleasure in

the body while the mind is collected on

its object of meditation

but the defining factor for this third

genre is the equanimity and tranquility

so the tranquility factor of the body

the body feels very relaxed and so

sometimes the body will feel very light

and it feels like it's starting to be

more expensive

sometimes the body will feel heavy feels

like it's

grounded feels like it's collected

and sometimes you'll feel

that the

body is just

very stable

very balanced

very much at ease

and likewise with the mind the mind will

start to feel expansive you might feel

like loving kindness starts to become

more expansive from the heart and starts

to rise up

you might feel like as if the mind is

becoming

more spacious

you might feel like the mind is becoming

more balanced and more tranquil more

relaxed

and the states in the third jhana the

equanimity the pleasure the mindfulness

the full awareness

so in these in the states of the third

genre we have the equanimity that

balance of mind the tranquility the

pleasure of the body the comfort in the

body the mindfulness that is to say a

mind that is

observing things as they are the full

awareness

now the mind is fully collected on its

object to meditation there's just smooth

gliding from the second genre to the

third channel

and the unification of mind that's the

collectedness again the contact feeling

perception volition and mind

the zeal decision energy again it says

mindfulness that's the observation and

the equanimity seeing things as they are

so here you notice

there's the equanimity first and that's

the factor of vagina and there's the

mindfulness the mind is becoming more

and more clear

more and more having more and more

clarity whereas here when we talk about

the factor of

mindfulness and equanimity the second

time around in this channel we're

talking about the enlightenment factor

of mindfulness

and the enlightenment factor of

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

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief shri putta entered upon

and abided in the fourth jhana which has

neither pain nor pleasure now the mind

is very balanced

not much going on here very stable

and purity of mindfulness due to

equanimity

mindfulness due to equanimity

so we talked about the enlightenment

factors yesterday right we have the

mindfulness

which leads to the investigation of

states

which leads to the energy

which leads to the joy

which leads to the tranquility

which leads to the collectedness which

leads to the equanimity

that equanimity leads further

strengthening of mindfulness

so what we're seeing here is a process

of the enlightenment factors

feeding themselves

through continual attention

the more you pay attention to the

factors as they arise

so there is the joy that arises then

that all right then there's the

tranquility that arises

then there is the

collectedness that arises then there's

the equanimity now there is a furthering

further strengthening further clarity in

the mind further strengthening of

mindfulness

and so that mindfulness becomes even

more powerful even more even sharper

and so this equanimity informs that

mindfulness which means that clarity of

mind

is based in equanimity

it sees things as they are without

getting pulled in one direction or

another without getting pulled towards

pleasure or getting pulled towards

displeasure or pain

questions yeah

the mind is becoming even clearer

because of that remember the analogy i

used of water when the water is

all over the place moving the mud also

starts to move around but once the water

becomes quiet the mud settles and

there's clarity

how about purity of mindfulness we're

saying that the mindfulness is becoming

clearer and sharper

and the states in the fourth jhana the

equanimity the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling

that's a feeling of neutrality

everything's great

balance

the mental unconcern due to tranquility

mind is very relaxed

mind is very tranquil

it doesn't get enough it doesn't get

affected by this or that just

stays with the object it stays with its

object of meditation

very in a very relaxed manner

the purity of mindfulness the

mindfulness is much sharper now

and the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception volition

and consciousness

the zeal 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 he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

so now these are the four janas that we

talk about

right

the first jhana has

the

that is to say the sustained the

application of thought and the sustained

thought

the pithi and the sukkah that is the joy

and the comfort

the second jhana

the application of mind ceases that is

to say the thinking and examining

thought ceases but what remains is

primarily the joy and the sukkah the joy

and comfort in the third jhana the joy

tapers away and there is now a lightness

of body that is experienced through

further comfort

and tranquility

and in the fourth genre the mind becomes

utterly stable

utterly mindful due to that

very strong equanimity very strong

balance

these are the four janas

now we're going to explore

what are usually

uh

known as

the arupa-janas the formless genas but

technically they are known as

bases they come from the word the pali

word ayatana which can mean the base of

the sphere of the dimension of

these four formless attainments these

formless jhanas as they wore are

actually within the experience of the

fourth jhana

so in other words they are subsets of

the fort chana while you are in the

fourth jhana

you're still experiencing

these formless attainments and we'll go

through them now

sure

so

typically dispassion

of quality of mind in the fourth job

this passion starts to arise

and it gets further cultivated

by the process of disenchantment

so what we're talking about here is that

joy leads to tranquility that

tranquility leads to

collectedness that collectedness leads

to equanimity which you experience

deeper and deeper and then eventually

that equanimity

leads to further disenchantment

that disenchantment then leads to this

passion

but that dispassion is starting to arise

as you get into the third and fourth

genus

so in the satwik

as

the buddha is describing

the latter

sequence

that's where that

and i always equated that to the fourth

job

i mean

you're talking about uh mindfulness of

uh

of phenomena

no i'm talking about the

the

description of the training

and there are he starts up

so there are i think there are 12

descriptions

and starting with the like

i think it's disenchantment

is like something like

eight or nine in the sequence

this enchantment is an important factor

actually

so this enchantment is an important

factor in the path

and we'll talk about that at some point

later where there's a process where

you have something known as pamoja that

arises from faith pramoja is gladness of

the dharma which then leads to

the joy that joy then leads to

tranquility that tranquility then leads

to further comfort that comfort leads to

collectedness that collectiveness leads

to

equanimity that equanimity then leads to

disenchantment that's disenchantment

leads to dispassion

and then that dispassion leads to

cessation yeah and i think those are the

last

three in the sequence in that

in that part of the suit right so i was

just trying to figure out does this

is that something that correlates with

with the fourth genre or is it something

that correlates more with the iotas

it can happen in the four channel

yeah so it's just

it's it depends on the individual

so it actually there are

let's say six different perceptions

we'll get into that as we get into the

ayat thanos but it can happen at some

point or another

which is you get to a point where you

see certain things you see impermanence

you see dukkha you see

anata

and you're you're not reflecting on it

you're seeing it as it actually happens

the impermanence of states and so on

these three so impermanence leads

to dukkha

leads to anata

anata leads to

uh equanimity equanimity leads to

disenchantment disenchantment leads to

dispassion and this passion leads to

cessation

so it can happen in the ayat and us

but

it's not unique to the ayat in us it can

even happen in the fourth channel

so

again because with the complete

surmounting of perceptions of form

with the disappearance of perceptions of

sensory impact

with non-attention to perceptions of

diversity

so what we're talking about is the

complete surmounting of perceptions of

form

now it's completely a mental experience

that is to say now

the the experience of infinite space

infinite consciousness

of nothingness and neither perception

and non-perception are happening at the

level of mentality

so there is still a form

you still will feel something but it

will be very minute if at all

that doesn't mean that the mind becomes

so concentrated that it can't

hear what's going on outside

but it's just that these things become

more and more faint and that's why there

is

the disappearance of the perceptions of

sensory impact with non-attention to

perceptions of diversity which means now

the mind is collected in this mental

experience of the ayatonas

so now there's nothing to do with the

body it has to do with internal

states of understanding the

expansiveness of infinite space

the arising and passing away of infinite

consciousnesses

the experience of nothingness and in the

experience of perception of neither

perception and non-perception

so

diversity here refers to sensory

experiences

when they talk about diversity that's a

mind that is not collected because it's

paying attention to an experience that

it's hearing or paying attention to an

experience it's smelling or paying

attention to an experience that it's

experiencing through the body while

sitting or even when you're

walking around paying attention rather

to what you're seeing and so on

so diversity is

having a mind or an attention rather

that's dispersed through the experience

of the sixth sense faces

or really the five sense spaces because

the mind is still collected

but now

there's no attention given there now the

mind is collected within itself through

the experience of the ayatmas

aware that space is infinite sariputta

entered upon and abided in the base of

infinite space

so here

the feeling of loving kindness

will move up and it will change

and the quality of that feeling of

loving kindness will change into

compassion

and infinite space

so when you have this experience you

will report to me and tell me what

happened how did the feeling change

and then we will explore it and see that

that's compassion

that experience of compassion

is

conjoined to the experience of infinite

space

so you have an experience of boundless

space

because at this point you're radiating

the brahmaviharas and as you're

radiating you're not pushing them

you're observing how they radiate

outward and there's an expansion going

on and this is the experience of

boundless space of infinite space

and the states in the base of infinite

space

the perception of the base of infinite

space and the unification of mind mind

is still collected and the same the

factors of contact feeling perception

intention and consciousness

the enthusiasm the decision the energy

the 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

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because

by completely surmounting

the base of infinite space aware that

consciousness is infinite so i put that

entered upon and abided in the base of

infinite consciousness

so this is sometimes called boundless

awareness or

infinite awareness or whatever

other ways you want to talk about it

but usually

when people see this they have this

understanding that oh so now what

happens is the experience of

expansiveness into infinite space

now that's replaced by an idea of this

infinite consciousness

aware that there is space and then aware

that that awareness of space also is

infinite

but just as you see this light or just

as you see the rays of the sun

they all seem like one fluid experience

ray experience of light one fluid ray of

light

but in actuality they are made up

of individual quintillions and

quintillions

of photons

that give the illusion of a flowing

experience of light

in the same way infinite consciousness

as we understand it consciousness as we

understand it is made up of data packets

of individual arising and passing away

of consciousnesses

so depending upon which sensory

formations are strongest in your mind

you might have some experience of

infinite consciousness

you may see flickering you may see

circles of light you may see an

expansion of light in your eyes or

through the field of your mental vision

you may hear

clicking sounds

you may hear some kind of tones arising

and passing away

you might actually smell phantom smells

you might feel tingling on your face or

on your skin you might feel slight

small vibrations going on in the body

that's body consciousness

you might experience phantom tastes or

some electricity buzzing through the

tongue

you might experience

the gaps between thoughts and seeing

infinite mental consciousnesses

so as you see this what you are seeing

is infinite consciousness and it might

happen in different ways the arising and

passing away of consciousness

when you see this it will also be

accompanied by the experience of what's

known as

or empathetic or altruistic joy

in the experience of the meditation this

is a softer

more

sustainable form of joy

when we talk about pithi it's very

vibratory and energetic but this mudata

is

more sort of a silent

comforting joy it's a very stable form

of joy

in your experience of daily living what

modita means is the ability to be happy

for somebody's wholesome success

the ability to celebrate in their

wholesome success and it's that feeling

that quality of feeling that you

experience

this accompanies the experience of

infinite

consciousness

now it's important to understand that

that inf arising and passing away of

infinite consciousness is the ambient

sound

don't let the mind get caught up in the

ambient sound but pay attention to the

conversation

which is the experience of mudita the

experience of joy

so you might see the arising and passing

away of individual consciousnesses and

what you start to see is this is

impermanent the impermanence of

consciousness you are seeing for

yourself

anicha

and then it becomes tiresome it's like

all right when is this going to get over

maybe like this dhamma talk but

you know it's just

seeing the dukkha

the tiresomeness of the arising and

passing away of consciousnesses

seeing that you also see that there's no

controller here

you didn't intentionalize the arising

and passing away of consciousnesses it's

just happening because of a series of

impersonal

causes and conditions

so you're seeing right there

into

anata

you don't have to reflect on it you

don't have to bring it up

it's happening

in that moment as it happens

as it arises and passes away

so the seeing of the impermanence leads

to the seeing of the which leads to the

seeing of

anata the impersonal nature which leads

to equanimity

and so now the mind starts to see the

gaps between the arising and passing

away of individual consciousnesses and

eventually the arising and passing away

slows down and the gap widens and as the

gap widens there is the perception of

nothingness which we'll get to

and accompanied by that is equanimity

having seen the impersonal nature

remember i said a little earlier while

we were talking which is the perception

of impermanence leads to the perception

of dukkha which leads to the perception

of anatha which leads to the perception

of equanimity so this equanimity is

experienced in nothingness

the states in the base of infinite

consciousness the perception of the base

of infinite consciousness and the

collectedness of mind the contact

feeling perception intention and mind

the the 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 he understood thus that

there is an escape beyond this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is

again because by completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing

sorry put that entered upon and abided

in the base of nothingness

so when those gaps of consciousness the

arising and passing away of

consciousness start to widen

and they start to quiet down

what's left is the sense of nothingness

there's nothing going on now

a mind becomes so collected it's not

paying attention to anything outside of

itself now the mind is just fully

with that nothingness

accompanied by by the experience of

equanimity

mind is very pure at this point mind is

very collected mind is very balanced

and so mind is just perceiving this

equanimity and what you're doing is

you're radiating this equanimity just as

you are radiating the loving kindness

which turns to compassion in infinite

space

you were radiating the experience of joy

in infinite consciousness and now you're

radiating the equanimity in the

experience of nothingness

soon that feeling of radiating

equanimity starts to die down

it starts to fade away

just gently fades away

you go back and you start

intentionalizing the radiating of

equanimity again

and it will just go on in itself the

analogy that i use is imagine the mind

like a still surface

of a lake clear lake

and you have the intention which is a

small little pebble that you drop

and that creates little ripples

and those ripples are the rippling of

equanimity in all directions

so just dropping a little intention

and then allowing the mind to observe

the radiating of equanimity

eventually those fade away

and you do it again

eventually the radiating fades away

again

and then it feels like the mind doesn't

want to do anything

it just feels like it wants to rest in

itself

that's when we get into neither

perception or non-perception and we'll

get to it that in a moment

and the states in the base of

nothingness

the perception of the base of

nothingness and the collectedness of

mind the contact feeling perception

intention and mind

the zeal 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 he understood

thus there is an escape beyond this and

with the cultivation of that attainment

he confirmed that there is

so let's just for the sake of

understanding explore how these factors

are still involved in the ayatonas

taking the example of nothingness

there's still collectedness of mind what

is the contact that arises the contact

is

the contact with the experience of

equanimity the feeling is the feeling of

radiating equanimity the perception is

perceiving that the mind is radiating

equanimity

the intention is the intention to

radiate equanimity

the mind or the consciousness is the

awareness that mind is radiating

equanimity

the the zeal that is the intent the

cultivated intention the enthusiasm the

decision mind is resolved on radiating

equanimity the energy the right effort

to radiate the right effort to bring

back the mind when it becomes

uncollected and distracted

the mindfulness observing the radiating

happening

the equanimity

and the attention

the mind scopes into the experience of

radiating equanimity that's the

attention

so these are all still there

from infinite space

to infinite consciousness

to infinite i'm sorry to nothingness but

now what happens in neither perception

nor non-perception

again because

by completely surmounting the base of

nothingness sariputta entered upon and

abided in the base of neither perception

nor non-perception

this is a very interesting state to be

in

neither perception

nor non-perception

what is perception

perception

go ahead

please

knowing what things are

identifying them meaning being able to

recognize what it is that you're seeing

or experiencing

so that perception is rooted in memory

when as a kid let's say somebody

uh goes to the stove fire

and touches that stove fire

they have

the feeling that that fire is hot and

painful

now the memory of that fire being hot

and painful is there in the mind so the

next time they see fire they perceive it

as

hot and painful

that perception that recognition

from memory that this fire is hot and

painful is perception

so here in neither perception nor

non-perception what's going on

here are the limits of perception

the the ability to recognize things

becomes

less and less active

less and less stable that's because now

mind is

ceasing a lot of that activity

the activity is starting to diminish so

you get into a state of like a lucid

dreaming or lucid

uh sleep state where you're awake and

asleep at the same time and little

things might pop up disconnected

thoughts disconnected images

shapes and patterns maybe even insight

into past lives

memories things like that they just

don't make a lot of sense they're all

discombobulated

you know

and so you don't have to pay attention

to those just let them be let them go at

this point mind is automatically

releasing them you're just observing how

mind releases them and stays with what's

known as the quiet mind

so those events are taking place during

that time yeah

yeah

and so the mind uses the quiet mind

as a homing beacon like oh it's getting

distracted it comes back to home base

which is the quiet mind

and it stays there the quiet mind can

you can also call it the luminous mind

the papastara chitta that is the mind

that is luminous quiet bright radiant

however you want to call it

but it's basically mind resting in

itself resting on in on itself

and staying there it's a collectedness

of mind

eventually all of those fuzzy images and

things start to die down because of

non-attention to them your mind just

releases them and there's this

very

sharp clarity pristine clarity that

happens

and no vibrations at all

and no vibrations for 10 minutes 20

minutes 30 minutes

an hour

two hours three hours four hours nothing

going on

there might be a slight slight vibration

that happens and you just release it

just relax it come back to the feeling

of

quiet mind to the experience of quiet

mind

now because there's no fuel

to that quiet mind no fuel for the

attention

to look at these vibrations that

vibrations cease

and what also ceases is the

feeling and perception which we'll get

to in a moment

so

look what he says it says here

sariputta

emerged mindful

from that attainment of neither

perception nor non-perception

when you're in that state you're not

able to identify where is the contact

where is the feeling where is the

intention where is the perception where

is the attention where is the

mindfulness where is the equanimity

where is

consciousness

it's very

sort of like a twilight zone kind of

thing

so that's why he emerged mindful from

that attainment

then

having done so

he contemplated the states that had

passed ceased and changed

which means

if you don't get into cessation and you

break your sitting and you come out of

this particular attainment of neither

perception or non-perception

spend a couple of minutes to just review

what happened in mind because you might

have missed out on certain formations

that might have arisen

and you might notice patterns coming up

you might notice disconnected images

coming up you might notice shapes coming

up whatever comes up just six are it

so

just as sariputa emerged from that state

mindful

and then recollected what happened in

that experience you do the same thing

and then use 6r and let go of those

states

let go of those experiences

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they vanish

regarding those states whatever states

they were

he abided unattracted unrepelled

independent detached free disassociated

with the mind rid of barriers

he understood there is an escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because by completely surmounting

the base of neither perception nor

non-perception sariputta entered upon

and abided in the cessation of feel of

perception

feeling and consciousness

so now very subtle formations arise in

the form of vibrations that might happen

every so often when you're in quiet mind

and you're starting to let go of them

and the deepest or the most subtle

formation is the sense of the conceit of

i am

from that sense of i am comes craving

comes aversion comes restlessness comes

all of these other kinds of hindrances

and ideas

but that very subtle formation that

arises you have to continue to let go

it's that particular formation that

causes fear in the mind

that oh something is going to happen now

i'm going to drop

i'm going to sink

and there's a resistance there

that resistant that resistance arises

from the idea that there's still a self

that's holding on to this

so when you fear when you have that

experience of fear see it as a rising

based on this formation

it's impersonal

it's arising because of the impersonal

causes and condition of

that sense of i am let that go just

soften the mind when you experience that

fear soften it let go of it

and eventually the mind becomes

utterly pure again

and when there is no more fuel in the

form of attention given to any states

it comes a point where mind completely

drops

and switches off

maybe for a couple of seconds maybe just

for a couple of moments

and this is the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

you don't know you were in that state

until you come out of it

and what happens is when you come out of

it there's this

sense of seeing something

a sense of having

seen something and then immediately mine

says wow what was that

that's why bantay said that he wanted to

call this meditation the oh wow

meditation

because you see all of these amazing and

cool things

but in that process what happens is you

experience seeing the links of dependent

origination

and having seen them

in a unattached manner

you have experienced the unconditioned

element that is nibana

and from there

having made contact with the

unconditioned there is a feeling of joy

and relief

that arises

and that feeling of joy and relief stays

with you for

a long time

and what happens is everything you see

is unimpeded unfiltered

you're seeing things as they really are

in the best sense of that statement

which is when you see the grass

the grass is greener when you see

flowers the flowers are brighter when

you see the sky

depending upon whether it's gray or blue

you see it much grayer or much bluer

everything has this sparkle to it

everything has this freshness to it and

that's because you have experienced

something in the form of nirvana and you

have experienced the letting go of

certain feathers and that depends on

whatever attainment that you've had and

so on

and so in the case of sariputta

and his taints were destroyed by seeing

with wisdom

meaning he saw with wisdom

he saw the link's independent

origination and not having clung to the

relief in joy not having identified

through that experience the taints were

destroyed the taint of sensual craving

was already gone

the taint of becoming

went away and the taint of ignorance

went away because he saw everything from

the context of the four noble truths

he emerged mindful from that attainment

having done so he recalled the states

that had passed

ceased and changed thus

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they vanish

regarding these states he abided

unattracted unrepelled independent

detached free disassociated with the

mind rid of barriers so what are these

states he's talking about

states he's talking about is the joy and

relief that was experienced

the seeing of the links of dependent

origination

he remained unrepelled unattracted he

remained seeing things as they were

without any identification to them

mindfulness was very sharp and clear

that it was able to catch

seeing that process arise

he understood there is no escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment

he confirmed that there is not

because rightly speaking

worried to be said of anyone he has

attained mastery and perfection in noble

virtue

that is selah

attained mastery and perfection in noble

collectedness that is samadhi

attained mastery and perfection in noble

wisdom panya

attained sorry

attained mastery

and perfection in noble deliverance

that is vimuti

liberation of the mind

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

because rightly speaking war 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

and heir in the dharma not an air in

material things

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

because the matchless wheel of the

dhamma set rolling by the tattagata

is kept rolling rightly by sariputta

that is what the blessed one said

the beakers were satisfied and delighted

in the blessed one's words

okay all right i think

yes

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless being

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

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

sadly

[Music]

[Music]

so

[Music]

this is a classic

1-1-1

oh i already hear the groans

one by one as they occurred

thus have i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at savathi in

jetta's grove

anatapindika's park

there he addressed the bikus thus bikus

venerable sir they replied

the blessed one said this

bikus sariputa is wise

sarikuta has great wisdom

sariputta has wide wisdom

sariputta has joyous wisdom

sariputta has quick wisdom

sariputta has

keen wisdom

sariputta has penetrative wisdom

so these different types of wisdom are

referring to

a specific insight

into

dependent origination

whenever they talk about wisdom they're

referring to that

during half a month because

sariputta gained insight into states one

by one as they occurred

now sariputta's insight into states one

by one

as they occurred was this

so

just so you know

if i'm correct about this

magulana took about a week to become an

arahat

sorry brother was a slow learner so it

took him about two weeks

hirobikus

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states

sariputta entered upon

and abided in the first jhana

which is accompanied by applied and

sustained thought

with rapture and pleasure born of

seclusion

so let's unpack this first what happens

in the first jhana

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

so when you sit down

for your practice

or whenever you're in jhana if you're

walking in the first jana

your mind is not paying attention to any

sensory experience

it's just with the feeling of loving

kindness or whatever the object is

that doesn't mean that it doesn't hear

that doesn't mean that it doesn't see if

you're walking

that doesn't mean that it doesn't feel

the wind if you're meditating outside

it just means that the mind is

okay with those experiences

not affected unaffected by them

secluded from unwholesome states

unwholesome states are hindrances

so when your mind is rid of hindrances

it is ripe for becoming

in jannah or going into jhana

and so he says that first jhana is

accompanied by applied and sustained

thought

this is

thinking and examining thought

and what that means is

you start off with the process of

verbalizing

a wish of may i be happy may i be well

or you start off with the

intentionalizing of

a feeling of loving kindness

through wholesome imagery through

using a wholesome memory

and then you allow the mind to rest in

that experience this is the process of

thinking and sustained thought thinking

and examining thought

with rapture that is joy

and pleasure born of seclusion

now that joy and that pleasure that

we're talking about that joy is this

feeling of elevated pleasantness this

feeling of elevated joy

and that pleasure is a feeling of

comfort in the body ease in the body

this is coming from the pali word sukkah

sukkah means comfort

and ease

so in the first jhana

you don't have to bring up the joy you

don't have to bring up the ease

it naturally arises

born out of seclusion born out of

becoming starting to become collected

around your object of meditation

remember yesterday we talked about how

when you have the five hindrances

and you let go of them

there arises a natural joy

a natural happiness because you have

freedom from those hindrances

so that

joy and pleasure that's born of

seclusion

is related to the fact that the mind is

no longer

contaminated by hindrances

no longer

dealing with hindrances having let go of

relax and abandon the hindrances

as a result that joy

picks up

so the method that arises is one thing

and the joy that arises is another the

feeling of meta is this warmth in the

middle of your chest

that joy is high vibrational energetic

experience

a form of feeling exhilarated sometimes

it feels like that sometimes it feels

like it's

rising whatever it might be it might

manifest in different ways

it might manifest as warmth in the hands

as a feeling of heat in the body

as a feeling of being happy and so on

and the states in the first jhana

the applied thought the sustained

thought so the applied thought is

the intentionalizing of bringing up

loving kindness and the sustained

thought is the mind resting

in the experience of loving kindness

the joy

the ease or comfort

and the unification of mind

the unification of mind is the mind that

starts to become

collected around the object of

meditation

this comes from the pali word ekagata

and sometimes this is translated as one

pointed concentration

but as we talked about last time

when the mind is relaxed it's able to be

more attentive

when the mind

has too much concentration

there is a point in which that

concentration becomes diffused

because so many different thoughts arise

as a result of

suppressing the mind

through one point of concentration

so a kagata here means a unified

mind a mind that orbits around the

feeling of loving kindness a mind that

stays

there rests there

the contact feeling perception

volition or intention and

mind or consciousness

so the contact feeling

perception intention and later on it

talks about attention

these make up

mentality

when we talk about mentality materiality

we're talking about mind and body

the body is made up of the four great

elements so the four states of matter

and the mind

is known by its qualities by its

faculties of and processes of contact

feeling

perception

intention and attention

so when you start this practice you

start with the contact

that first contact is

the mind making contact with the feeling

of loving kindness

the mind making contact with its object

of meditation

the feeling the sensation the experience

is the experience of that warm glow of

loving-kindness

the perception

is the recognition that you are

experiencing loving-kindness

the intention

is placing your attention on

loving-kindness

so the intention is

the actual application of thought the

application of the practice and the

attention is the scope

that you use to be able to see the

experience of loving-kindness

and then we talk about

the zeal of the mind consciousness

so there is consciousness that flows

through that process of attention

awareness of the love and kindness

zeal decision energy

mindfulness equanimity

and attention

the zeal comes from the word chanda

chanda means the

inclination the inclining of the mind

towards meditation the inclining of the

mind towards loving-kindness

the zeal is also

a wholesome desire

or as i call it a cultivated intention

an intention

rooted in something that's wholesome

rooted in the dharma

the decision so decision here comes from

the word adi moko

that is the resolution to resolve the

mind

to be in meditation to have that

resolution

the energy here you're making the right

effort

to go into the practice of meditation

and so when we talk about energy we talk

about in in the form of mental and

physical energy but we're also talking

about it from the application

or the endeavor

of

using right effort applying your mind

towards using right effort

mindfulness

so now you're observing what's going on

through that observation attention flows

through the attention that is pointed

towards love and kindness

so mindfulness here remember is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention moves from one object to

another

so you're actually paying attention the

process of mindfulness is the process of

paying attention attention is the tool

of the mind to be able to know what's

going on

equanimity

so there's equanimity here in the first

jhana and what we're talking about here

is actually the equanimity that's

understood as knowledge and vision of

things as they are as they really are

meaning equanimity is the ability to see

things

and not be agitated by them

so the mind gets disturbed there should

be equanimity okay the mind is disturbed

use the six r's

and come back

the mind is collected all right great

the mind is collected there's no pulling

or pushing going on the mind is just

seeing things

as they are like a scientist observing

and attention as i said the attention is

the scope of the mind that is to say

the tool of the mind to hone in on an

experience that doesn't mean it becomes

one pointed it's just a process of how

you use your attention the intention of

bringing your attention is the process

of

this practice

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

so these different states so first the

first jhana has the applied thought the

sustained thought the joy and the

comfort and unification of mind these

will change as we get through higher

jhanas but what will remain is the

contact

now the contact also means contact in

terms of sensory contact with the body

so while you're still in the first jan

of the second gen or third genre for

china you still have a sense of contact

with the body you might hear things

you might smell something

you might feel the fly on your arm or on

your knee

you might

have some kind of experience and there's

that contact

but it doesn't affect you

you just know with equanimity that here

is the contact

that's okay your mind is not

distracted it's just aware of everything

there's an open awareness going on here

in jannah

one of the ways to understand jhana is

so we have jhana which is traditionally

understood as jhana that is

suppressing the hindrances

suppressing the mind

and then there's a concentrated mind

that then experiences pleasure and joy

and you might experience that pleasure

and joy after you come out of the

meditation practice

for

a few hours or even for the whole day

but nothing really happens you're just

experiencing a blissful state of mind

but not really understanding when

hindrances arose and in allowing those

hindrances to be there and letting them

go

using right effort using the six r's

the genres that we're talking about are

what i would call arya jhanas that is to

say noble jhanas

and this is a jhana which is through the

process of having a collected mind

rather than a concentrated mind

a collected mind is a mind that orbits

around its object to meditation aware

using that as a gravitational field and

just being openly aware

so that when insights arise

they arise accompanied by that genre

through that process of jhana or when

hindrances arise the mind knows it is

distracted and lets it go and comes back

the process of applying right effort is

key

to this practice

knowing that there is an unwholesome

state arising

using recognition recognizing that

letting go of that through releasing

relaxing the craving the tightness and

tension coming back to the smile and

bringing up joy

and then returning back to your object

to meditation this fulfills the four

right efforts

which which are

uh

part of the right effort we know as part

of the eightfold path

so in the first kind of jhana which is

the non-arya genre the an arya jhana

that is to say the ignoble jhana

in that jhana you suppress

everything

so there's no wisdom that is cultivated

the wisdom that's cultivated through the

arya jana is through the process of

knowing how

mind's attention moves how this process

of mind works

that's why sariputta is able to see

these different

elements the contact the feeling the

perception the intention the mindfulness

the attention the consciousness the zeal

the enthusiasm the equanimity and so on

so another way to understand janna might

be through a process through this kind

of analogy

let's say you're sitting with a friend

at a restaurant

and there's some ambient music playing

so that creates a nice ambiance for you

and you're talking with your friend

but let's say that more and more people

come in

and now it gets a little louder and then

the music becomes even louder and now

it's difficult for you to listen to what

your friend is saying

or for your friend to listen to what

you're saying

and so

you become more distracted by that by

paying attention more

to the processes of what's happening

with the music and the ambient noise

it's more difficult for you to be more

connected with your object of meditation

so there's a tendency in initially for

people to get distracted by the factors

of the jhana the jhana is the background

setting of your mind to cultivate wisdom

if the background setting of the mind

the ambient

aspect of the mind becomes louder

and you take the joy as your object or

you take the equanimity as your object

or you take the sukkah as your object

then you're no longer becoming collected

now you're being distracted by the very

factors of the jhanas

and when you do that what you see is

that the mind becomes

or rather mistakes the loving kindness

or the joy for the loving kindness

and so sometimes it'll feel like oh the

loving kindness went away but that's

because you mistook

the joy factor the pt factor of the

first and second jana as loving-kindness

and loving-kindness will fade away as

we'll see

because what sariputta says or the

buddha says about sariputta's experience

he says

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred now it's not

necessary for you to have to define

these states in that same order

but you might recognize them you might

recognize here is the contact you might

recognize here is the feeling of

loving-kindness you might recognize

here's the intentionalizing you might

recognize here's the consciousness

flowing to the loving kind to the

through the awareness of loving kindness

yeah that's the perception aspect of

seeing it

yeah

no it is investigation but i

i caution anyone to use the word

investigation because it brings up in

the mind that i have to further analyze

it's the discernment let's say the

knowing the understanding i use the word

understanding

understanding that the mind is now in

jhana or understanding now the mind is

making contact with the loving kindness

or understanding now the mind is

perceiving the experience of loving

kindness

that's the

second enlightenment factor of

investigation of states

so you might recognize these things if

you don't recognize them that's fine no

problem but just understand that

sariputta's mind was openly aware to be

able to recognize them his mind was not

suppressed

his mind was not one pointed that he was

not able to

be able to pick out

these different factors

known to him those states arose

known they were present

known they disappeared

he understood thus so indeed these

states

not having been

come into being having been they vanish

what is he seeing

he's saying he's saying the impermanence

of the janas

so the jhanas are a means to an end the

jhanas

even though we have the eightfold path

and you see the experience

of all of the different path factors

leading to right

collectedness leading to

sama-samadhi

that process of samadhi that process of

mental development of bhavana through

the process of

jhana

is just a means to an end and that end

is wisdom that end

is the destruct the destruction of greed

hatred and delusion

so you're understanding these states of

jhana not as

an end of themselves

in of themselves rather they are a

process to allow you to develop wisdom

to cultivate wisdom

so

regarding these states he abided

unattracted unrepelled independent

detached

free disassociated with a mind rid of

barriers

so he abided unattracted unrepelled

that is he's had equanimity towards

these different factors he saw them as

they occurred one by one

didn't get attached to them he was

independent and detached free

disassociated with a mind rid of

barriers

a mind rid of barriers which means a

mind that is rid of any

inclination to do something any

inclination to be something

just seeing things as they are

unattached

he understood there is an escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because with the stilling of

applied and sustained thought

sorry entered and abided in the second

jana

which has self-confidence and singleness

of mind

without applied and sustained thought

with rapture and pleasure born of

collectedness

and so now what happens in the second

genre

in the first genre you started the

process of intentionalizing the love and

kindness

through a process of verbalizing or

through a process of wholesome

imagery using a memory or

an image that helps you to

feel that loving kindness to bring up

that loving kindness

once the experience of loving kindness

happens

then you let go of that image

you don't need that image anymore now

the mind becomes

collected with that feeling of loving

kindness

and so there is no need to continue to

start the ignition over again over and

over again to start the car the first

time you started the ignition is enough

now the car is running now the mind is

staying with its object of meditation

and therefore there is the

self-confidence the idea that okay i

know what i'm doing now i'm confident in

this practice

and the singleness of mind the mind

stays with its object of meditation

doesn't become distracted the attention

is

non-dispersed

and then there is the

joy and the comfort born of

collectedness

again you don't bring up the joy you

don't bring up the comfort it arises as

a result of the mind becoming further

collected

the mind becoming unimpeded

by the process of jhana or through the

process of jhana the mind becomes

aware and resting in that awareness of

loving kindness and as a result there

will be a feeling of pleasantness there

will be a feeling of pleasure there'll

be a feeling of joy and there'll be a

feeling of comfort

and the states in the second genre the

self-confidence

the joy the pleasure and the unification

of mind the contact feeling perception

volition and mind

the zeal 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 he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because with the fading away as

well of joy shariputa abided in

equanimity

and mindful and fully aware still

feeling pleasure with the body that's

the sukkah the comfort and ease of 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

now what happens in the third jhana is

that

excited form of joy that vibratory

energetic joy starts to taper it starts

to disappear and all that's left is this

feeling of pleasant pleasantness or

pleasure in the body and in the mind

and so there is a

more sustained experience of pleasure in

the body while the mind is collected on

its object of meditation

but the defining factor for this third

genre is the equanimity and tranquility

so the tranquility factor of the body

the body feels very relaxed and so

sometimes the body will feel very light

and it feels like it's starting to be

more expensive

sometimes the body will feel heavy feels

like it's

grounded feels like it's collected

and sometimes you'll feel

that the

body is just

very stable

very balanced

very much at ease

and likewise with the mind the mind will

start to feel expansive you might feel

like loving kindness starts to become

more expansive from the heart and starts

to rise up

you might feel like as if the mind is

becoming

more spacious

you might feel like the mind is becoming

more balanced and more tranquil more

relaxed

and the states in the third jhana the

equanimity the pleasure the mindfulness

the full awareness

so in these in the states of the third

genre we have the equanimity that

balance of mind the tranquility the

pleasure of the body the comfort in the

body the mindfulness that is to say a

mind that is

observing things as they are the full

awareness

now the mind is fully collected on its

object to meditation there's just smooth

gliding from the second genre to the

third channel

and the unification of mind that's the

collectedness again the contact feeling

perception volition and mind

the zeal decision energy again it says

mindfulness that's the observation and

the equanimity seeing things as they are

so here you notice

there's the equanimity first and that's

the factor of vagina and there's the

mindfulness the mind is becoming more

and more clear

more and more having more and more

clarity whereas here when we talk about

the factor of

mindfulness and equanimity the second

time around in this channel we're

talking about the enlightenment factor

of mindfulness

and the enlightenment factor of

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

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief shri putta entered upon

and abided in the fourth jhana which has

neither pain nor pleasure now the mind

is very balanced

not much going on here very stable

and purity of mindfulness due to

equanimity

mindfulness due to equanimity

so we talked about the enlightenment

factors yesterday right we have the

mindfulness

which leads to the investigation of

states

which leads to the energy

which leads to the joy

which leads to the tranquility

which leads to the collectedness which

leads to the equanimity

that equanimity leads further

strengthening of mindfulness

so what we're seeing here is a process

of the enlightenment factors

feeding themselves

through continual attention

the more you pay attention to the

factors as they arise

so there is the joy that arises then

that all right then there's the

tranquility that arises

then there is the

collectedness that arises then there's

the equanimity now there is a furthering

further strengthening further clarity in

the mind further strengthening of

mindfulness

and so that mindfulness becomes even

more powerful even more even sharper

and so this equanimity informs that

mindfulness which means that clarity of

mind

is based in equanimity

it sees things as they are without

getting pulled in one direction or

another without getting pulled towards

pleasure or getting pulled towards

displeasure or pain

questions yeah

the mind is becoming even clearer

because of that remember the analogy i

used of water when the water is

all over the place moving the mud also

starts to move around but once the water

becomes quiet the mud settles and

there's clarity

how about purity of mindfulness we're

saying that the mindfulness is becoming

clearer and sharper

and the states in the fourth jhana the

equanimity the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling

that's a feeling of neutrality

everything's great

balance

the mental unconcern due to tranquility

mind is very relaxed

mind is very tranquil

it doesn't get enough it doesn't get

affected by this or that just

stays with the object it stays with its

object of meditation

very in a very relaxed manner

the purity of mindfulness the

mindfulness is much sharper now

and the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception volition

and consciousness

the zeal 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 he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

so now these are the four janas that we

talk about

right

the first jhana has

the

that is to say the sustained the

application of thought and the sustained

thought

the pithi and the sukkah that is the joy

and the comfort

the second jhana

the application of mind ceases that is

to say the thinking and examining

thought ceases but what remains is

primarily the joy and the sukkah the joy

and comfort in the third jhana the joy

tapers away and there is now a lightness

of body that is experienced through

further comfort

and tranquility

and in the fourth genre the mind becomes

utterly stable

utterly mindful due to that

very strong equanimity very strong

balance

these are the four janas

now we're going to explore

what are usually

uh

known as

the arupa-janas the formless genas but

technically they are known as

bases they come from the word the pali

word ayatana which can mean the base of

the sphere of the dimension of

these four formless attainments these

formless jhanas as they wore are

actually within the experience of the

fourth jhana

so in other words they are subsets of

the fort chana while you are in the

fourth jhana

you're still experiencing

these formless attainments and we'll go

through them now

sure

so

typically dispassion

of quality of mind in the fourth job

this passion starts to arise

and it gets further cultivated

by the process of disenchantment

so what we're talking about here is that

joy leads to tranquility that

tranquility leads to

collectedness that collectedness leads

to equanimity which you experience

deeper and deeper and then eventually

that equanimity

leads to further disenchantment

that disenchantment then leads to this

passion

but that dispassion is starting to arise

as you get into the third and fourth

genus

so in the satwik

as

the buddha is describing

the latter

sequence

that's where that

and i always equated that to the fourth

job

i mean

you're talking about uh mindfulness of

uh

of phenomena

no i'm talking about the

the

description of the training

and there are he starts up

so there are i think there are 12

descriptions

and starting with the like

i think it's disenchantment

is like something like

eight or nine in the sequence

this enchantment is an important factor

actually

so this enchantment is an important

factor in the path

and we'll talk about that at some point

later where there's a process where

you have something known as pamoja that

arises from faith pramoja is gladness of

the dharma which then leads to

the joy that joy then leads to

tranquility that tranquility then leads

to further comfort that comfort leads to

collectedness that collectiveness leads

to

equanimity that equanimity then leads to

disenchantment that's disenchantment

leads to dispassion

and then that dispassion leads to

cessation yeah and i think those are the

last

three in the sequence in that

in that part of the suit right so i was

just trying to figure out does this

is that something that correlates with

with the fourth genre or is it something

that correlates more with the iotas

it can happen in the four channel

yeah so it's just

it's it depends on the individual

so it actually there are

let's say six different perceptions

we'll get into that as we get into the

ayat thanos but it can happen at some

point or another

which is you get to a point where you

see certain things you see impermanence

you see dukkha you see

anata

and you're you're not reflecting on it

you're seeing it as it actually happens

the impermanence of states and so on

these three so impermanence leads

to dukkha

leads to anata

anata leads to

uh equanimity equanimity leads to

disenchantment disenchantment leads to

dispassion and this passion leads to

cessation

so it can happen in the ayat and us

but

it's not unique to the ayat in us it can

even happen in the fourth channel

so

again because with the complete

surmounting of perceptions of form

with the disappearance of perceptions of

sensory impact

with non-attention to perceptions of

diversity

so what we're talking about is the

complete surmounting of perceptions of

form

now it's completely a mental experience

that is to say now

the the experience of infinite space

infinite consciousness

of nothingness and neither perception

and non-perception are happening at the

level of mentality

so there is still a form

you still will feel something but it

will be very minute if at all

that doesn't mean that the mind becomes

so concentrated that it can't

hear what's going on outside

but it's just that these things become

more and more faint and that's why there

is

the disappearance of the perceptions of

sensory impact with non-attention to

perceptions of diversity which means now

the mind is collected in this mental

experience of the ayatonas

so now there's nothing to do with the

body it has to do with internal

states of understanding the

expansiveness of infinite space

the arising and passing away of infinite

consciousnesses

the experience of nothingness and in the

experience of perception of neither

perception and non-perception

so

diversity here refers to sensory

experiences

when they talk about diversity that's a

mind that is not collected because it's

paying attention to an experience that

it's hearing or paying attention to an

experience it's smelling or paying

attention to an experience that it's

experiencing through the body while

sitting or even when you're

walking around paying attention rather

to what you're seeing and so on

so diversity is

having a mind or an attention rather

that's dispersed through the experience

of the sixth sense faces

or really the five sense spaces because

the mind is still collected

but now

there's no attention given there now the

mind is collected within itself through

the experience of the ayatmas

aware that space is infinite sariputta

entered upon and abided in the base of

infinite space

so here

the feeling of loving kindness

will move up and it will change

and the quality of that feeling of

loving kindness will change into

compassion

and infinite space

so when you have this experience you

will report to me and tell me what

happened how did the feeling change

and then we will explore it and see that

that's compassion

that experience of compassion

is

conjoined to the experience of infinite

space

so you have an experience of boundless

space

because at this point you're radiating

the brahmaviharas and as you're

radiating you're not pushing them

you're observing how they radiate

outward and there's an expansion going

on and this is the experience of

boundless space of infinite space

and the states in the base of infinite

space

the perception of the base of infinite

space and the unification of mind mind

is still collected and the same the

factors of contact feeling perception

intention and consciousness

the enthusiasm the decision the energy

the 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

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because

by completely surmounting

the base of infinite space aware that

consciousness is infinite so i put that

entered upon and abided in the base of

infinite consciousness

so this is sometimes called boundless

awareness or

infinite awareness or whatever

other ways you want to talk about it

but usually

when people see this they have this

understanding that oh so now what

happens is the experience of

expansiveness into infinite space

now that's replaced by an idea of this

infinite consciousness

aware that there is space and then aware

that that awareness of space also is

infinite

but just as you see this light or just

as you see the rays of the sun

they all seem like one fluid experience

ray experience of light one fluid ray of

light

but in actuality they are made up

of individual quintillions and

quintillions

of photons

that give the illusion of a flowing

experience of light

in the same way infinite consciousness

as we understand it consciousness as we

understand it is made up of data packets

of individual arising and passing away

of consciousnesses

so depending upon which sensory

formations are strongest in your mind

you might have some experience of

infinite consciousness

you may see flickering you may see

circles of light you may see an

expansion of light in your eyes or

through the field of your mental vision

you may hear

clicking sounds

you may hear some kind of tones arising

and passing away

you might actually smell phantom smells

you might feel tingling on your face or

on your skin you might feel slight

small vibrations going on in the body

that's body consciousness

you might experience phantom tastes or

some electricity buzzing through the

tongue

you might experience

the gaps between thoughts and seeing

infinite mental consciousnesses

so as you see this what you are seeing

is infinite consciousness and it might

happen in different ways the arising and

passing away of consciousness

when you see this it will also be

accompanied by the experience of what's

known as

or empathetic or altruistic joy

in the experience of the meditation this

is a softer

more

sustainable form of joy

when we talk about pithi it's very

vibratory and energetic but this mudata

is

more sort of a silent

comforting joy it's a very stable form

of joy

in your experience of daily living what

modita means is the ability to be happy

for somebody's wholesome success

the ability to celebrate in their

wholesome success and it's that feeling

that quality of feeling that you

experience

this accompanies the experience of

infinite

consciousness

now it's important to understand that

that inf arising and passing away of

infinite consciousness is the ambient

sound

don't let the mind get caught up in the

ambient sound but pay attention to the

conversation

which is the experience of mudita the

experience of joy

so you might see the arising and passing

away of individual consciousnesses and

what you start to see is this is

impermanent the impermanence of

consciousness you are seeing for

yourself

anicha

and then it becomes tiresome it's like

all right when is this going to get over

maybe like this dhamma talk but

you know it's just

seeing the dukkha

the tiresomeness of the arising and

passing away of consciousnesses

seeing that you also see that there's no

controller here

you didn't intentionalize the arising

and passing away of consciousnesses it's

just happening because of a series of

impersonal

causes and conditions

so you're seeing right there

into

anata

you don't have to reflect on it you

don't have to bring it up

it's happening

in that moment as it happens

as it arises and passes away

so the seeing of the impermanence leads

to the seeing of the which leads to the

seeing of

anata the impersonal nature which leads

to equanimity

and so now the mind starts to see the

gaps between the arising and passing

away of individual consciousnesses and

eventually the arising and passing away

slows down and the gap widens and as the

gap widens there is the perception of

nothingness which we'll get to

and accompanied by that is equanimity

having seen the impersonal nature

remember i said a little earlier while

we were talking which is the perception

of impermanence leads to the perception

of dukkha which leads to the perception

of anatha which leads to the perception

of equanimity so this equanimity is

experienced in nothingness

the states in the base of infinite

consciousness the perception of the base

of infinite consciousness and the

collectedness of mind the contact

feeling perception intention and mind

the the 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 he understood thus that

there is an escape beyond this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is

again because by completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing

sorry put that entered upon and abided

in the base of nothingness

so when those gaps of consciousness the

arising and passing away of

consciousness start to widen

and they start to quiet down

what's left is the sense of nothingness

there's nothing going on now

a mind becomes so collected it's not

paying attention to anything outside of

itself now the mind is just fully

with that nothingness

accompanied by by the experience of

equanimity

mind is very pure at this point mind is

very collected mind is very balanced

and so mind is just perceiving this

equanimity and what you're doing is

you're radiating this equanimity just as

you are radiating the loving kindness

which turns to compassion in infinite

space

you were radiating the experience of joy

in infinite consciousness and now you're

radiating the equanimity in the

experience of nothingness

soon that feeling of radiating

equanimity starts to die down

it starts to fade away

just gently fades away

you go back and you start

intentionalizing the radiating of

equanimity again

and it will just go on in itself the

analogy that i use is imagine the mind

like a still surface

of a lake clear lake

and you have the intention which is a

small little pebble that you drop

and that creates little ripples

and those ripples are the rippling of

equanimity in all directions

so just dropping a little intention

and then allowing the mind to observe

the radiating of equanimity

eventually those fade away

and you do it again

eventually the radiating fades away

again

and then it feels like the mind doesn't

want to do anything

it just feels like it wants to rest in

itself

that's when we get into neither

perception or non-perception and we'll

get to it that in a moment

and the states in the base of

nothingness

the perception of the base of

nothingness and the collectedness of

mind the contact feeling perception

intention and mind

the zeal 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 he understood

thus there is an escape beyond this and

with the cultivation of that attainment

he confirmed that there is

so let's just for the sake of

understanding explore how these factors

are still involved in the ayatonas

taking the example of nothingness

there's still collectedness of mind what

is the contact that arises the contact

is

the contact with the experience of

equanimity the feeling is the feeling of

radiating equanimity the perception is

perceiving that the mind is radiating

equanimity

the intention is the intention to

radiate equanimity

the mind or the consciousness is the

awareness that mind is radiating

equanimity

the the zeal that is the intent the

cultivated intention the enthusiasm the

decision mind is resolved on radiating

equanimity the energy the right effort

to radiate the right effort to bring

back the mind when it becomes

uncollected and distracted

the mindfulness observing the radiating

happening

the equanimity

and the attention

the mind scopes into the experience of

radiating equanimity that's the

attention

so these are all still there

from infinite space

to infinite consciousness

to infinite i'm sorry to nothingness but

now what happens in neither perception

nor non-perception

again because

by completely surmounting the base of

nothingness sariputta entered upon and

abided in the base of neither perception

nor non-perception

this is a very interesting state to be

in

neither perception

nor non-perception

what is perception

perception

go ahead

please

knowing what things are

identifying them meaning being able to

recognize what it is that you're seeing

or experiencing

so that perception is rooted in memory

when as a kid let's say somebody

uh goes to the stove fire

and touches that stove fire

they have

the feeling that that fire is hot and

painful

now the memory of that fire being hot

and painful is there in the mind so the

next time they see fire they perceive it

as

hot and painful

that perception that recognition

from memory that this fire is hot and

painful is perception

so here in neither perception nor

non-perception what's going on

here are the limits of perception

the the ability to recognize things

becomes

less and less active

less and less stable that's because now

mind is

ceasing a lot of that activity

the activity is starting to diminish so

you get into a state of like a lucid

dreaming or lucid

uh sleep state where you're awake and

asleep at the same time and little

things might pop up disconnected

thoughts disconnected images

shapes and patterns maybe even insight

into past lives

memories things like that they just

don't make a lot of sense they're all

discombobulated

you know

and so you don't have to pay attention

to those just let them be let them go at

this point mind is automatically

releasing them you're just observing how

mind releases them and stays with what's

known as the quiet mind

so those events are taking place during

that time yeah

yeah

and so the mind uses the quiet mind

as a homing beacon like oh it's getting

distracted it comes back to home base

which is the quiet mind

and it stays there the quiet mind can

you can also call it the luminous mind

the papastara chitta that is the mind

that is luminous quiet bright radiant

however you want to call it

but it's basically mind resting in

itself resting on in on itself

and staying there it's a collectedness

of mind

eventually all of those fuzzy images and

things start to die down because of

non-attention to them your mind just

releases them and there's this

very

sharp clarity pristine clarity that

happens

and no vibrations at all

and no vibrations for 10 minutes 20

minutes 30 minutes

an hour

two hours three hours four hours nothing

going on

there might be a slight slight vibration

that happens and you just release it

just relax it come back to the feeling

of

quiet mind to the experience of quiet

mind

now because there's no fuel

to that quiet mind no fuel for the

attention

to look at these vibrations that

vibrations cease

and what also ceases is the

feeling and perception which we'll get

to in a moment

so

look what he says it says here

sariputta

emerged mindful

from that attainment of neither

perception nor non-perception

when you're in that state you're not

able to identify where is the contact

where is the feeling where is the

intention where is the perception where

is the attention where is the

mindfulness where is the equanimity

where is

consciousness

it's very

sort of like a twilight zone kind of

thing

so that's why he emerged mindful from

that attainment

then

having done so

he contemplated the states that had

passed ceased and changed

which means

if you don't get into cessation and you

break your sitting and you come out of

this particular attainment of neither

perception or non-perception

spend a couple of minutes to just review

what happened in mind because you might

have missed out on certain formations

that might have arisen

and you might notice patterns coming up

you might notice disconnected images

coming up you might notice shapes coming

up whatever comes up just six are it

so

just as sariputa emerged from that state

mindful

and then recollected what happened in

that experience you do the same thing

and then use 6r and let go of those

states

let go of those experiences

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they vanish

regarding those states whatever states

they were

he abided unattracted unrepelled

independent detached free disassociated

with the mind rid of barriers

he understood there is an escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because by completely surmounting

the base of neither perception nor

non-perception sariputta entered upon

and abided in the cessation of feel of

perception

feeling and consciousness

so now very subtle formations arise in

the form of vibrations that might happen

every so often when you're in quiet mind

and you're starting to let go of them

and the deepest or the most subtle

formation is the sense of the conceit of

i am

from that sense of i am comes craving

comes aversion comes restlessness comes

all of these other kinds of hindrances

and ideas

but that very subtle formation that

arises you have to continue to let go

it's that particular formation that

causes fear in the mind

that oh something is going to happen now

i'm going to drop

i'm going to sink

and there's a resistance there

that resistant that resistance arises

from the idea that there's still a self

that's holding on to this

so when you fear when you have that

experience of fear see it as a rising

based on this formation

it's impersonal

it's arising because of the impersonal

causes and condition of

that sense of i am let that go just

soften the mind when you experience that

fear soften it let go of it

and eventually the mind becomes

utterly pure again

and when there is no more fuel in the

form of attention given to any states

it comes a point where mind completely

drops

and switches off

maybe for a couple of seconds maybe just

for a couple of moments

and this is the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

you don't know you were in that state

until you come out of it

and what happens is when you come out of

it there's this

sense of seeing something

a sense of having

seen something and then immediately mine

says wow what was that

that's why bantay said that he wanted to

call this meditation the oh wow

meditation

because you see all of these amazing and

cool things

but in that process what happens is you

experience seeing the links of dependent

origination

and having seen them

in a unattached manner

you have experienced the unconditioned

element that is nibana

and from there

having made contact with the

unconditioned there is a feeling of joy

and relief

that arises

and that feeling of joy and relief stays

with you for

a long time

and what happens is everything you see

is unimpeded unfiltered

you're seeing things as they really are

in the best sense of that statement

which is when you see the grass

the grass is greener when you see

flowers the flowers are brighter when

you see the sky

depending upon whether it's gray or blue

you see it much grayer or much bluer

everything has this sparkle to it

everything has this freshness to it and

that's because you have experienced

something in the form of nirvana and you

have experienced the letting go of

certain feathers and that depends on

whatever attainment that you've had and

so on

and so in the case of sariputta

and his taints were destroyed by seeing

with wisdom

meaning he saw with wisdom

he saw the link's independent

origination and not having clung to the

relief in joy not having identified

through that experience the taints were

destroyed the taint of sensual craving

was already gone

the taint of becoming

went away and the taint of ignorance

went away because he saw everything from

the context of the four noble truths

he emerged mindful from that attainment

having done so he recalled the states

that had passed

ceased and changed thus

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they vanish

regarding these states he abided

unattracted unrepelled independent

detached free disassociated with the

mind rid of barriers so what are these

states he's talking about

states he's talking about is the joy and

relief that was experienced

the seeing of the links of dependent

origination

he remained unrepelled unattracted he

remained seeing things as they were

without any identification to them

mindfulness was very sharp and clear

that it was able to catch

seeing that process arise

he understood there is no escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment

he confirmed that there is not

because rightly speaking

worried to be said of anyone he has

attained mastery and perfection in noble

virtue

that is selah

attained mastery and perfection in noble

collectedness that is samadhi

attained mastery and perfection in noble

wisdom panya

attained sorry

attained mastery

and perfection in noble deliverance

that is vimuti

liberation of the mind

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

because rightly speaking war 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

and heir in the dharma not an air in

material things

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

because the matchless wheel of the

dhamma set rolling by the tattagata

is kept rolling rightly by sariputta

that is what the blessed one said

the beakers were satisfied and delighted

in the blessed one's words

okay all right i think

yes

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless being

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

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

sadly

so

[Music]

this is a classic

1-1-1

oh i already hear the groans

one by one as they occurred

thus have i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at savathi in

jetta's grove

anatapindika's park

there he addressed the bikus thus bikus

venerable sir they replied

the blessed one said this

bikus sariputa is wise

sarikuta has great wisdom

sariputta has wide wisdom

sariputta has joyous wisdom

sariputta has quick wisdom

sariputta has

keen wisdom

sariputta has penetrative wisdom

so these different types of wisdom are

referring to

a specific insight

into

dependent origination

whenever they talk about wisdom they're

referring to that

during half a month because

sariputta gained insight into states one

by one as they occurred

now sariputta's insight into states one

by one

as they occurred was this

so

just so you know

if i'm correct about this

magulana took about a week to become an

arahat

sorry brother was a slow learner so it

took him about two weeks

hirobikus

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states

sariputta entered upon

and abided in the first jhana

which is accompanied by applied and

sustained thought

with rapture and pleasure born of

seclusion

so let's unpack this first what happens

in the first jhana

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

so when you sit down

for your practice

or whenever you're in jhana if you're

walking in the first jana

your mind is not paying attention to any

sensory experience

it's just with the feeling of loving

kindness or whatever the object is

that doesn't mean that it doesn't hear

that doesn't mean that it doesn't see if

you're walking

that doesn't mean that it doesn't feel

the wind if you're meditating outside

it just means that the mind is

okay with those experiences

not affected unaffected by them

secluded from unwholesome states

unwholesome states are hindrances

so when your mind is rid of hindrances

it is ripe for becoming

in jannah or going into jhana

and so he says that first jhana is

accompanied by applied and sustained

thought

this is

thinking and examining thought

and what that means is

you start off with the process of

verbalizing

a wish of may i be happy may i be well

or you start off with the

intentionalizing of

a feeling of loving kindness

through wholesome imagery through

using a wholesome memory

and then you allow the mind to rest in

that experience this is the process of

thinking and sustained thought thinking

and examining thought

with rapture that is joy

and pleasure born of seclusion

now that joy and that pleasure that

we're talking about that joy is this

feeling of elevated pleasantness this

feeling of elevated joy

and that pleasure is a feeling of

comfort in the body ease in the body

this is coming from the pali word sukkah

sukkah means comfort

and ease

so in the first jhana

you don't have to bring up the joy you

don't have to bring up the ease

it naturally arises

born out of seclusion born out of

becoming starting to become collected

around your object of meditation

remember yesterday we talked about how

when you have the five hindrances

and you let go of them

there arises a natural joy

a natural happiness because you have

freedom from those hindrances

so that

joy and pleasure that's born of

seclusion

is related to the fact that the mind is

no longer

contaminated by hindrances

no longer

dealing with hindrances having let go of

relax and abandon the hindrances

as a result that joy

picks up

so the method that arises is one thing

and the joy that arises is another the

feeling of meta is this warmth in the

middle of your chest

that joy is high vibrational energetic

experience

a form of feeling exhilarated sometimes

it feels like that sometimes it feels

like it's

rising whatever it might be it might

manifest in different ways

it might manifest as warmth in the hands

as a feeling of heat in the body

as a feeling of being happy and so on

and the states in the first jhana

the applied thought the sustained

thought so the applied thought is

the intentionalizing of bringing up

loving kindness and the sustained

thought is the mind resting

in the experience of loving kindness

the joy

the ease or comfort

and the unification of mind

the unification of mind is the mind that

starts to become

collected around the object of

meditation

this comes from the pali word ekagata

and sometimes this is translated as one

pointed concentration

but as we talked about last time

when the mind is relaxed it's able to be

more attentive

when the mind

has too much concentration

there is a point in which that

concentration becomes diffused

because so many different thoughts arise

as a result of

suppressing the mind

through one point of concentration

so a kagata here means a unified

mind a mind that orbits around the

feeling of loving kindness a mind that

stays

there rests there

the contact feeling perception

volition or intention and

mind or consciousness

so the contact feeling

perception intention and later on it

talks about attention

these make up

mentality

when we talk about mentality materiality

we're talking about mind and body

the body is made up of the four great

elements so the four states of matter

and the mind

is known by its qualities by its

faculties of and processes of contact

feeling

perception

intention and attention

so when you start this practice you

start with the contact

that first contact is

the mind making contact with the feeling

of loving kindness

the mind making contact with its object

of meditation

the feeling the sensation the experience

is the experience of that warm glow of

loving-kindness

the perception

is the recognition that you are

experiencing loving-kindness

the intention

is placing your attention on

loving-kindness

so the intention is

the actual application of thought the

application of the practice and the

attention is the scope

that you use to be able to see the

experience of loving-kindness

and then we talk about

the zeal of the mind consciousness

so there is consciousness that flows

through that process of attention

awareness of the love and kindness

zeal decision energy

mindfulness equanimity

and attention

the zeal comes from the word chanda

chanda means the

inclination the inclining of the mind

towards meditation the inclining of the

mind towards loving-kindness

the zeal is also

a wholesome desire

or as i call it a cultivated intention

an intention

rooted in something that's wholesome

rooted in the dharma

the decision so decision here comes from

the word adi moko

that is the resolution to resolve the

mind

to be in meditation to have that

resolution

the energy here you're making the right

effort

to go into the practice of meditation

and so when we talk about energy we talk

about in in the form of mental and

physical energy but we're also talking

about it from the application

or the endeavor

of

using right effort applying your mind

towards using right effort

mindfulness

so now you're observing what's going on

through that observation attention flows

through the attention that is pointed

towards love and kindness

so mindfulness here remember is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention moves from one object to

another

so you're actually paying attention the

process of mindfulness is the process of

paying attention attention is the tool

of the mind to be able to know what's

going on

equanimity

so there's equanimity here in the first

jhana and what we're talking about here

is actually the equanimity that's

understood as knowledge and vision of

things as they are as they really are

meaning equanimity is the ability to see

things

and not be agitated by them

so the mind gets disturbed there should

be equanimity okay the mind is disturbed

use the six r's

and come back

the mind is collected all right great

the mind is collected there's no pulling

or pushing going on the mind is just

seeing things

as they are like a scientist observing

and attention as i said the attention is

the scope of the mind that is to say

the tool of the mind to hone in on an

experience that doesn't mean it becomes

one pointed it's just a process of how

you use your attention the intention of

bringing your attention is the process

of

this practice

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred

so these different states so first the

first jhana has the applied thought the

sustained thought the joy and the

comfort and unification of mind these

will change as we get through higher

jhanas but what will remain is the

contact

now the contact also means contact in

terms of sensory contact with the body

so while you're still in the first jan

of the second gen or third genre for

china you still have a sense of contact

with the body you might hear things

you might smell something

you might feel the fly on your arm or on

your knee

you might

have some kind of experience and there's

that contact

but it doesn't affect you

you just know with equanimity that here

is the contact

that's okay your mind is not

distracted it's just aware of everything

there's an open awareness going on here

in jannah

one of the ways to understand jhana is

so we have jhana which is traditionally

understood as jhana that is

suppressing the hindrances

suppressing the mind

and then there's a concentrated mind

that then experiences pleasure and joy

and you might experience that pleasure

and joy after you come out of the

meditation practice

for

a few hours or even for the whole day

but nothing really happens you're just

experiencing a blissful state of mind

but not really understanding when

hindrances arose and in allowing those

hindrances to be there and letting them

go

using right effort using the six r's

the genres that we're talking about are

what i would call arya jhanas that is to

say noble jhanas

and this is a jhana which is through the

process of having a collected mind

rather than a concentrated mind

a collected mind is a mind that orbits

around its object to meditation aware

using that as a gravitational field and

just being openly aware

so that when insights arise

they arise accompanied by that genre

through that process of jhana or when

hindrances arise the mind knows it is

distracted and lets it go and comes back

the process of applying right effort is

key

to this practice

knowing that there is an unwholesome

state arising

using recognition recognizing that

letting go of that through releasing

relaxing the craving the tightness and

tension coming back to the smile and

bringing up joy

and then returning back to your object

to meditation this fulfills the four

right efforts

which which are

uh

part of the right effort we know as part

of the eightfold path

so in the first kind of jhana which is

the non-arya genre the an arya jhana

that is to say the ignoble jhana

in that jhana you suppress

everything

so there's no wisdom that is cultivated

the wisdom that's cultivated through the

arya jana is through the process of

knowing how

mind's attention moves how this process

of mind works

that's why sariputta is able to see

these different

elements the contact the feeling the

perception the intention the mindfulness

the attention the consciousness the zeal

the enthusiasm the equanimity and so on

so another way to understand janna might

be through a process through this kind

of analogy

let's say you're sitting with a friend

at a restaurant

and there's some ambient music playing

so that creates a nice ambiance for you

and you're talking with your friend

but let's say that more and more people

come in

and now it gets a little louder and then

the music becomes even louder and now

it's difficult for you to listen to what

your friend is saying

or for your friend to listen to what

you're saying

and so

you become more distracted by that by

paying attention more

to the processes of what's happening

with the music and the ambient noise

it's more difficult for you to be more

connected with your object of meditation

so there's a tendency in initially for

people to get distracted by the factors

of the jhana the jhana is the background

setting of your mind to cultivate wisdom

if the background setting of the mind

the ambient

aspect of the mind becomes louder

and you take the joy as your object or

you take the equanimity as your object

or you take the sukkah as your object

then you're no longer becoming collected

now you're being distracted by the very

factors of the jhanas

and when you do that what you see is

that the mind becomes

or rather mistakes the loving kindness

or the joy for the loving kindness

and so sometimes it'll feel like oh the

loving kindness went away but that's

because you mistook

the joy factor the pt factor of the

first and second jana as loving-kindness

and loving-kindness will fade away as

we'll see

because what sariputta says or the

buddha says about sariputta's experience

he says

these states were defined by him one by

one as they occurred now it's not

necessary for you to have to define

these states in that same order

but you might recognize them you might

recognize here is the contact you might

recognize here is the feeling of

loving-kindness you might recognize

here's the intentionalizing you might

recognize here's the consciousness

flowing to the loving kind to the

through the awareness of loving kindness

yeah that's the perception aspect of

seeing it

yeah

no it is investigation but i

i caution anyone to use the word

investigation because it brings up in

the mind that i have to further analyze

it's the discernment let's say the

knowing the understanding i use the word

understanding

understanding that the mind is now in

jhana or understanding now the mind is

making contact with the loving kindness

or understanding now the mind is

perceiving the experience of loving

kindness

that's the

second enlightenment factor of

investigation of states

so you might recognize these things if

you don't recognize them that's fine no

problem but just understand that

sariputta's mind was openly aware to be

able to recognize them his mind was not

suppressed

his mind was not one pointed that he was

not able to

be able to pick out

these different factors

known to him those states arose

known they were present

known they disappeared

he understood thus so indeed these

states

not having been

come into being having been they vanish

what is he seeing

he's saying he's saying the impermanence

of the janas

so the jhanas are a means to an end the

jhanas

even though we have the eightfold path

and you see the experience

of all of the different path factors

leading to right

collectedness leading to

sama-samadhi

that process of samadhi that process of

mental development of bhavana through

the process of

jhana

is just a means to an end and that end

is wisdom that end

is the destruct the destruction of greed

hatred and delusion

so you're understanding these states of

jhana not as

an end of themselves

in of themselves rather they are a

process to allow you to develop wisdom

to cultivate wisdom

so

regarding these states he abided

unattracted unrepelled independent

detached

free disassociated with a mind rid of

barriers

so he abided unattracted unrepelled

that is he's had equanimity towards

these different factors he saw them as

they occurred one by one

didn't get attached to them he was

independent and detached free

disassociated with a mind rid of

barriers

a mind rid of barriers which means a

mind that is rid of any

inclination to do something any

inclination to be something

just seeing things as they are

unattached

he understood there is an escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because with the stilling of

applied and sustained thought

sorry entered and abided in the second

jana

which has self-confidence and singleness

of mind

without applied and sustained thought

with rapture and pleasure born of

collectedness

and so now what happens in the second

genre

in the first genre you started the

process of intentionalizing the love and

kindness

through a process of verbalizing or

through a process of wholesome

imagery using a memory or

an image that helps you to

feel that loving kindness to bring up

that loving kindness

once the experience of loving kindness

happens

then you let go of that image

you don't need that image anymore now

the mind becomes

collected with that feeling of loving

kindness

and so there is no need to continue to

start the ignition over again over and

over again to start the car the first

time you started the ignition is enough

now the car is running now the mind is

staying with its object of meditation

and therefore there is the

self-confidence the idea that okay i

know what i'm doing now i'm confident in

this practice

and the singleness of mind the mind

stays with its object of meditation

doesn't become distracted the attention

is

non-dispersed

and then there is the

joy and the comfort born of

collectedness

again you don't bring up the joy you

don't bring up the comfort it arises as

a result of the mind becoming further

collected

the mind becoming unimpeded

by the process of jhana or through the

process of jhana the mind becomes

aware and resting in that awareness of

loving kindness and as a result there

will be a feeling of pleasantness there

will be a feeling of pleasure there'll

be a feeling of joy and there'll be a

feeling of comfort

and the states in the second genre the

self-confidence

the joy the pleasure and the unification

of mind the contact feeling perception

volition and mind

the zeal 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 he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because with the fading away as

well of joy shariputa abided in

equanimity

and mindful and fully aware still

feeling pleasure with the body that's

the sukkah the comfort and ease of 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

now what happens in the third jhana is

that

excited form of joy that vibratory

energetic joy starts to taper it starts

to disappear and all that's left is this

feeling of pleasant pleasantness or

pleasure in the body and in the mind

and so there is a

more sustained experience of pleasure in

the body while the mind is collected on

its object of meditation

but the defining factor for this third

genre is the equanimity and tranquility

so the tranquility factor of the body

the body feels very relaxed and so

sometimes the body will feel very light

and it feels like it's starting to be

more expensive

sometimes the body will feel heavy feels

like it's

grounded feels like it's collected

and sometimes you'll feel

that the

body is just

very stable

very balanced

very much at ease

and likewise with the mind the mind will

start to feel expansive you might feel

like loving kindness starts to become

more expansive from the heart and starts

to rise up

you might feel like as if the mind is

becoming

more spacious

you might feel like the mind is becoming

more balanced and more tranquil more

relaxed

and the states in the third jhana the

equanimity the pleasure the mindfulness

the full awareness

so in these in the states of the third

genre we have the equanimity that

balance of mind the tranquility the

pleasure of the body the comfort in the

body the mindfulness that is to say a

mind that is

observing things as they are the full

awareness

now the mind is fully collected on its

object to meditation there's just smooth

gliding from the second genre to the

third channel

and the unification of mind that's the

collectedness again the contact feeling

perception volition and mind

the zeal decision energy again it says

mindfulness that's the observation and

the equanimity seeing things as they are

so here you notice

there's the equanimity first and that's

the factor of vagina and there's the

mindfulness the mind is becoming more

and more clear

more and more having more and more

clarity whereas here when we talk about

the factor of

mindfulness and equanimity the second

time around in this channel we're

talking about the enlightenment factor

of mindfulness

and the enlightenment factor of

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

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief shri putta entered upon

and abided in the fourth jhana which has

neither pain nor pleasure now the mind

is very balanced

not much going on here very stable

and purity of mindfulness due to

equanimity

mindfulness due to equanimity

so we talked about the enlightenment

factors yesterday right we have the

mindfulness

which leads to the investigation of

states

which leads to the energy

which leads to the joy

which leads to the tranquility

which leads to the collectedness which

leads to the equanimity

that equanimity leads further

strengthening of mindfulness

so what we're seeing here is a process

of the enlightenment factors

feeding themselves

through continual attention

the more you pay attention to the

factors as they arise

so there is the joy that arises then

that all right then there's the

tranquility that arises

then there is the

collectedness that arises then there's

the equanimity now there is a furthering

further strengthening further clarity in

the mind further strengthening of

mindfulness

and so that mindfulness becomes even

more powerful even more even sharper

and so this equanimity informs that

mindfulness which means that clarity of

mind

is based in equanimity

it sees things as they are without

getting pulled in one direction or

another without getting pulled towards

pleasure or getting pulled towards

displeasure or pain

questions yeah

the mind is becoming even clearer

because of that remember the analogy i

used of water when the water is

all over the place moving the mud also

starts to move around but once the water

becomes quiet the mud settles and

there's clarity

how about purity of mindfulness we're

saying that the mindfulness is becoming

clearer and sharper

and the states in the fourth jhana the

equanimity the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling the neither painful nor

pleasant feeling

that's a feeling of neutrality

everything's great

balance

the mental unconcern due to tranquility

mind is very relaxed

mind is very tranquil

it doesn't get enough it doesn't get

affected by this or that just

stays with the object it stays with its

object of meditation

very in a very relaxed manner

the purity of mindfulness the

mindfulness is much sharper now

and the unification of mind

the contact feeling perception volition

and consciousness

the zeal 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 he understood

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

so now these are the four janas that we

talk about

right

the first jhana has

the

that is to say the sustained the

application of thought and the sustained

thought

the pithi and the sukkah that is the joy

and the comfort

the second jhana

the application of mind ceases that is

to say the thinking and examining

thought ceases but what remains is

primarily the joy and the sukkah the joy

and comfort in the third jhana the joy

tapers away and there is now a lightness

of body that is experienced through

further comfort

and tranquility

and in the fourth genre the mind becomes

utterly stable

utterly mindful due to that

very strong equanimity very strong

balance

these are the four janas

now we're going to explore

what are usually

uh

known as

the arupa-janas the formless genas but

technically they are known as

bases they come from the word the pali

word ayatana which can mean the base of

the sphere of the dimension of

these four formless attainments these

formless jhanas as they wore are

actually within the experience of the

fourth jhana

so in other words they are subsets of

the fort chana while you are in the

fourth jhana

you're still experiencing

these formless attainments and we'll go

through them now

sure

so

typically dispassion

of quality of mind in the fourth job

this passion starts to arise

and it gets further cultivated

by the process of disenchantment

so what we're talking about here is that

joy leads to tranquility that

tranquility leads to

collectedness that collectedness leads

to equanimity which you experience

deeper and deeper and then eventually

that equanimity

leads to further disenchantment

that disenchantment then leads to this

passion

but that dispassion is starting to arise

as you get into the third and fourth

genus

so in the satwik

as

the buddha is describing

the latter

sequence

that's where that

and i always equated that to the fourth

job

i mean

you're talking about uh mindfulness of

uh

of phenomena

no i'm talking about the

the

description of the training

and there are he starts up

so there are i think there are 12

descriptions

and starting with the like

i think it's disenchantment

is like something like

eight or nine in the sequence

this enchantment is an important factor

actually

so this enchantment is an important

factor in the path

and we'll talk about that at some point

later where there's a process where

you have something known as pamoja that

arises from faith pramoja is gladness of

the dharma which then leads to

the joy that joy then leads to

tranquility that tranquility then leads

to further comfort that comfort leads to

collectedness that collectiveness leads

to

equanimity that equanimity then leads to

disenchantment that's disenchantment

leads to dispassion

and then that dispassion leads to

cessation yeah and i think those are the

last

three in the sequence in that

in that part of the suit right so i was

just trying to figure out does this

is that something that correlates with

with the fourth genre or is it something

that correlates more with the iotas

it can happen in the four channel

yeah so it's just

it's it depends on the individual

so it actually there are

let's say six different perceptions

we'll get into that as we get into the

ayat thanos but it can happen at some

point or another

which is you get to a point where you

see certain things you see impermanence

you see dukkha you see

anata

and you're you're not reflecting on it

you're seeing it as it actually happens

the impermanence of states and so on

these three so impermanence leads

to dukkha

leads to anata

anata leads to

uh equanimity equanimity leads to

disenchantment disenchantment leads to

dispassion and this passion leads to

cessation

so it can happen in the ayat and us

but

it's not unique to the ayat in us it can

even happen in the fourth channel

so

again because with the complete

surmounting of perceptions of form

with the disappearance of perceptions of

sensory impact

with non-attention to perceptions of

diversity

so what we're talking about is the

complete surmounting of perceptions of

form

now it's completely a mental experience

that is to say now

the the experience of infinite space

infinite consciousness

of nothingness and neither perception

and non-perception are happening at the

level of mentality

so there is still a form

you still will feel something but it

will be very minute if at all

that doesn't mean that the mind becomes

so concentrated that it can't

hear what's going on outside

but it's just that these things become

more and more faint and that's why there

is

the disappearance of the perceptions of

sensory impact with non-attention to

perceptions of diversity which means now

the mind is collected in this mental

experience of the ayatonas

so now there's nothing to do with the

body it has to do with internal

states of understanding the

expansiveness of infinite space

the arising and passing away of infinite

consciousnesses

the experience of nothingness and in the

experience of perception of neither

perception and non-perception

so

diversity here refers to sensory

experiences

when they talk about diversity that's a

mind that is not collected because it's

paying attention to an experience that

it's hearing or paying attention to an

experience it's smelling or paying

attention to an experience that it's

experiencing through the body while

sitting or even when you're

walking around paying attention rather

to what you're seeing and so on

so diversity is

having a mind or an attention rather

that's dispersed through the experience

of the sixth sense faces

or really the five sense spaces because

the mind is still collected

but now

there's no attention given there now the

mind is collected within itself through

the experience of the ayatmas

aware that space is infinite sariputta

entered upon and abided in the base of

infinite space

so here

the feeling of loving kindness

will move up and it will change

and the quality of that feeling of

loving kindness will change into

compassion

and infinite space

so when you have this experience you

will report to me and tell me what

happened how did the feeling change

and then we will explore it and see that

that's compassion

that experience of compassion

is

conjoined to the experience of infinite

space

so you have an experience of boundless

space

because at this point you're radiating

the brahmaviharas and as you're

radiating you're not pushing them

you're observing how they radiate

outward and there's an expansion going

on and this is the experience of

boundless space of infinite space

and the states in the base of infinite

space

the perception of the base of infinite

space and the unification of mind mind

is still collected and the same the

factors of contact feeling perception

intention and consciousness

the enthusiasm the decision the energy

the 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

thus and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because

by completely surmounting

the base of infinite space aware that

consciousness is infinite so i put that

entered upon and abided in the base of

infinite consciousness

so this is sometimes called boundless

awareness or

infinite awareness or whatever

other ways you want to talk about it

but usually

when people see this they have this

understanding that oh so now what

happens is the experience of

expansiveness into infinite space

now that's replaced by an idea of this

infinite consciousness

aware that there is space and then aware

that that awareness of space also is

infinite

but just as you see this light or just

as you see the rays of the sun

they all seem like one fluid experience

ray experience of light one fluid ray of

light

but in actuality they are made up

of individual quintillions and

quintillions

of photons

that give the illusion of a flowing

experience of light

in the same way infinite consciousness

as we understand it consciousness as we

understand it is made up of data packets

of individual arising and passing away

of consciousnesses

so depending upon which sensory

formations are strongest in your mind

you might have some experience of

infinite consciousness

you may see flickering you may see

circles of light you may see an

expansion of light in your eyes or

through the field of your mental vision

you may hear

clicking sounds

you may hear some kind of tones arising

and passing away

you might actually smell phantom smells

you might feel tingling on your face or

on your skin you might feel slight

small vibrations going on in the body

that's body consciousness

you might experience phantom tastes or

some electricity buzzing through the

tongue

you might experience

the gaps between thoughts and seeing

infinite mental consciousnesses

so as you see this what you are seeing

is infinite consciousness and it might

happen in different ways the arising and

passing away of consciousness

when you see this it will also be

accompanied by the experience of what's

known as

or empathetic or altruistic joy

in the experience of the meditation this

is a softer

more

sustainable form of joy

when we talk about pithi it's very

vibratory and energetic but this mudata

is

more sort of a silent

comforting joy it's a very stable form

of joy

in your experience of daily living what

modita means is the ability to be happy

for somebody's wholesome success

the ability to celebrate in their

wholesome success and it's that feeling

that quality of feeling that you

experience

this accompanies the experience of

infinite

consciousness

now it's important to understand that

that inf arising and passing away of

infinite consciousness is the ambient

sound

don't let the mind get caught up in the

ambient sound but pay attention to the

conversation

which is the experience of mudita the

experience of joy

so you might see the arising and passing

away of individual consciousnesses and

what you start to see is this is

impermanent the impermanence of

consciousness you are seeing for

yourself

anicha

and then it becomes tiresome it's like

all right when is this going to get over

maybe like this dhamma talk but

you know it's just

seeing the dukkha

the tiresomeness of the arising and

passing away of consciousnesses

seeing that you also see that there's no

controller here

you didn't intentionalize the arising

and passing away of consciousnesses it's

just happening because of a series of

impersonal

causes and conditions

so you're seeing right there

into

anata

you don't have to reflect on it you

don't have to bring it up

it's happening

in that moment as it happens

as it arises and passes away

so the seeing of the impermanence leads

to the seeing of the which leads to the

seeing of

anata the impersonal nature which leads

to equanimity

and so now the mind starts to see the

gaps between the arising and passing

away of individual consciousnesses and

eventually the arising and passing away

slows down and the gap widens and as the

gap widens there is the perception of

nothingness which we'll get to

and accompanied by that is equanimity

having seen the impersonal nature

remember i said a little earlier while

we were talking which is the perception

of impermanence leads to the perception

of dukkha which leads to the perception

of anatha which leads to the perception

of equanimity so this equanimity is

experienced in nothingness

the states in the base of infinite

consciousness the perception of the base

of infinite consciousness and the

collectedness of mind the contact

feeling perception intention and mind

the the 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 he understood thus that

there is an escape beyond this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is

again because by completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing

sorry put that entered upon and abided

in the base of nothingness

so when those gaps of consciousness the

arising and passing away of

consciousness start to widen

and they start to quiet down

what's left is the sense of nothingness

there's nothing going on now

a mind becomes so collected it's not

paying attention to anything outside of

itself now the mind is just fully

with that nothingness

accompanied by by the experience of

equanimity

mind is very pure at this point mind is

very collected mind is very balanced

and so mind is just perceiving this

equanimity and what you're doing is

you're radiating this equanimity just as

you are radiating the loving kindness

which turns to compassion in infinite

space

you were radiating the experience of joy

in infinite consciousness and now you're

radiating the equanimity in the

experience of nothingness

soon that feeling of radiating

equanimity starts to die down

it starts to fade away

just gently fades away

you go back and you start

intentionalizing the radiating of

equanimity again

and it will just go on in itself the

analogy that i use is imagine the mind

like a still surface

of a lake clear lake

and you have the intention which is a

small little pebble that you drop

and that creates little ripples

and those ripples are the rippling of

equanimity in all directions

so just dropping a little intention

and then allowing the mind to observe

the radiating of equanimity

eventually those fade away

and you do it again

eventually the radiating fades away

again

and then it feels like the mind doesn't

want to do anything

it just feels like it wants to rest in

itself

that's when we get into neither

perception or non-perception and we'll

get to it that in a moment

and the states in the base of

nothingness

the perception of the base of

nothingness and the collectedness of

mind the contact feeling perception

intention and mind

the zeal 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 he understood

thus there is an escape beyond this and

with the cultivation of that attainment

he confirmed that there is

so let's just for the sake of

understanding explore how these factors

are still involved in the ayatonas

taking the example of nothingness

there's still collectedness of mind what

is the contact that arises the contact

is

the contact with the experience of

equanimity the feeling is the feeling of

radiating equanimity the perception is

perceiving that the mind is radiating

equanimity

the intention is the intention to

radiate equanimity

the mind or the consciousness is the

awareness that mind is radiating

equanimity

the the zeal that is the intent the

cultivated intention the enthusiasm the

decision mind is resolved on radiating

equanimity the energy the right effort

to radiate the right effort to bring

back the mind when it becomes

uncollected and distracted

the mindfulness observing the radiating

happening

the equanimity

and the attention

the mind scopes into the experience of

radiating equanimity that's the

attention

so these are all still there

from infinite space

to infinite consciousness

to infinite i'm sorry to nothingness but

now what happens in neither perception

nor non-perception

again because

by completely surmounting the base of

nothingness sariputta entered upon and

abided in the base of neither perception

nor non-perception

this is a very interesting state to be

in

neither perception

nor non-perception

what is perception

perception

go ahead

please

knowing what things are

identifying them meaning being able to

recognize what it is that you're seeing

or experiencing

so that perception is rooted in memory

when as a kid let's say somebody

uh goes to the stove fire

and touches that stove fire

they have

the feeling that that fire is hot and

painful

now the memory of that fire being hot

and painful is there in the mind so the

next time they see fire they perceive it

as

hot and painful

that perception that recognition

from memory that this fire is hot and

painful is perception

so here in neither perception nor

non-perception what's going on

here are the limits of perception

the the ability to recognize things

becomes

less and less active

less and less stable that's because now

mind is

ceasing a lot of that activity

the activity is starting to diminish so

you get into a state of like a lucid

dreaming or lucid

uh sleep state where you're awake and

asleep at the same time and little

things might pop up disconnected

thoughts disconnected images

shapes and patterns maybe even insight

into past lives

memories things like that they just

don't make a lot of sense they're all

discombobulated

you know

and so you don't have to pay attention

to those just let them be let them go at

this point mind is automatically

releasing them you're just observing how

mind releases them and stays with what's

known as the quiet mind

so those events are taking place during

that time yeah

yeah

and so the mind uses the quiet mind

as a homing beacon like oh it's getting

distracted it comes back to home base

which is the quiet mind

and it stays there the quiet mind can

you can also call it the luminous mind

the papastara chitta that is the mind

that is luminous quiet bright radiant

however you want to call it

but it's basically mind resting in

itself resting on in on itself

and staying there it's a collectedness

of mind

eventually all of those fuzzy images and

things start to die down because of

non-attention to them your mind just

releases them and there's this

very

sharp clarity pristine clarity that

happens

and no vibrations at all

and no vibrations for 10 minutes 20

minutes 30 minutes

an hour

two hours three hours four hours nothing

going on

there might be a slight slight vibration

that happens and you just release it

just relax it come back to the feeling

of

quiet mind to the experience of quiet

mind

now because there's no fuel

to that quiet mind no fuel for the

attention

to look at these vibrations that

vibrations cease

and what also ceases is the

feeling and perception which we'll get

to in a moment

so

look what he says it says here

sariputta

emerged mindful

from that attainment of neither

perception nor non-perception

when you're in that state you're not

able to identify where is the contact

where is the feeling where is the

intention where is the perception where

is the attention where is the

mindfulness where is the equanimity

where is

consciousness

it's very

sort of like a twilight zone kind of

thing

so that's why he emerged mindful from

that attainment

then

having done so

he contemplated the states that had

passed ceased and changed

which means

if you don't get into cessation and you

break your sitting and you come out of

this particular attainment of neither

perception or non-perception

spend a couple of minutes to just review

what happened in mind because you might

have missed out on certain formations

that might have arisen

and you might notice patterns coming up

you might notice disconnected images

coming up you might notice shapes coming

up whatever comes up just six are it

so

just as sariputa emerged from that state

mindful

and then recollected what happened in

that experience you do the same thing

and then use 6r and let go of those

states

let go of those experiences

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they vanish

regarding those states whatever states

they were

he abided unattracted unrepelled

independent detached free disassociated

with the mind rid of barriers

he understood there is an escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment he confirmed that there is

again because by completely surmounting

the base of neither perception nor

non-perception sariputta entered upon

and abided in the cessation of feel of

perception

feeling and consciousness

so now very subtle formations arise in

the form of vibrations that might happen

every so often when you're in quiet mind

and you're starting to let go of them

and the deepest or the most subtle

formation is the sense of the conceit of

i am

from that sense of i am comes craving

comes aversion comes restlessness comes

all of these other kinds of hindrances

and ideas

but that very subtle formation that

arises you have to continue to let go

it's that particular formation that

causes fear in the mind

that oh something is going to happen now

i'm going to drop

i'm going to sink

and there's a resistance there

that resistant that resistance arises

from the idea that there's still a self

that's holding on to this

so when you fear when you have that

experience of fear see it as a rising

based on this formation

it's impersonal

it's arising because of the impersonal

causes and condition of

that sense of i am let that go just

soften the mind when you experience that

fear soften it let go of it

and eventually the mind becomes

utterly pure again

and when there is no more fuel in the

form of attention given to any states

it comes a point where mind completely

drops

and switches off

maybe for a couple of seconds maybe just

for a couple of moments

and this is the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

you don't know you were in that state

until you come out of it

and what happens is when you come out of

it there's this

sense of seeing something

a sense of having

seen something and then immediately mine

says wow what was that

that's why bantay said that he wanted to

call this meditation the oh wow

meditation

because you see all of these amazing and

cool things

but in that process what happens is you

experience seeing the links of dependent

origination

and having seen them

in a unattached manner

you have experienced the unconditioned

element that is nibana

and from there

having made contact with the

unconditioned there is a feeling of joy

and relief

that arises

and that feeling of joy and relief stays

with you for

a long time

and what happens is everything you see

is unimpeded unfiltered

you're seeing things as they really are

in the best sense of that statement

which is when you see the grass

the grass is greener when you see

flowers the flowers are brighter when

you see the sky

depending upon whether it's gray or blue

you see it much grayer or much bluer

everything has this sparkle to it

everything has this freshness to it and

that's because you have experienced

something in the form of nirvana and you

have experienced the letting go of

certain feathers and that depends on

whatever attainment that you've had and

so on

and so in the case of sariputta

and his taints were destroyed by seeing

with wisdom

meaning he saw with wisdom

he saw the link's independent

origination and not having clung to the

relief in joy not having identified

through that experience the taints were

destroyed the taint of sensual craving

was already gone

the taint of becoming

went away and the taint of ignorance

went away because he saw everything from

the context of the four noble truths

he emerged mindful from that attainment

having done so he recalled the states

that had passed

ceased and changed thus

so indeed these states not having been

come into being having been they vanish

regarding these states he abided

unattracted unrepelled independent

detached free disassociated with the

mind rid of barriers so what are these

states he's talking about

states he's talking about is the joy and

relief that was experienced

the seeing of the links of dependent

origination

he remained unrepelled unattracted he

remained seeing things as they were

without any identification to them

mindfulness was very sharp and clear

that it was able to catch

seeing that process arise

he understood there is no escape beyond

and with the cultivation of that

attainment

he confirmed that there is not

because rightly speaking

worried to be said of anyone he has

attained mastery and perfection in noble

virtue

that is selah

attained mastery and perfection in noble

collectedness that is samadhi

attained mastery and perfection in noble

wisdom panya

attained sorry

attained mastery

and perfection in noble deliverance

that is vimuti

liberation of the mind

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

because rightly speaking war 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

and heir in the dharma not an air in

material things

it is of sariputta indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said

because the matchless wheel of the

dhamma set rolling by the tattagata

is kept rolling rightly by sariputta

that is what the blessed one said

the beakers were satisfied and delighted

in the blessed one's words

okay all right i think

yes

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless being

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

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

sadly

[Music]