From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MXBpHOUph7I

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

[Music]

do

[Music]

so today

we're going to be

talking about dependent origination

the suit that i'm reading from is samyta

nikaya

12.20 12.20

and it's called conditions

at savathi

because i will teach you dependent

origination and dependently arisen

phenomenon

listen and attend closely i will speak

yes venerable sir those because replied

the blessed one said this

and what beku's is dependent origination

with birth as condition aging and death

comes to be

whether there is the arising of a

tatargata

or no arising of

a tata gata

that element still persists

the stableness of the dhamma

the fixed course of the dhamma specific

conditionality

so in other words whether we have a

buddha or not

dependent origination is still there

dependent origination is the mechanics

of karma

it's the mechanics of what

runs the machinery of samsara

it's only

understood

for the first time after a long time by

a sama buddha or by a buddha in general

and it is a tagat who then explains it

as

wisdom

once you understand dependent

origination then it is said that you

have wisdom

and a very specific kind of wisdom

so here it says

whether there is an arising of a tata

or no arising of a tata

that element still persists in other

words

aging and death will still persist

birth will still persist

and so too with all of the links of

dependent origination they will still

persist they still continue whether you

realize it or not

the difference is that rediscovers it

and then proclaims it

a tatargata awakens to this and breaks

through to it

having done so he explains it

teaches it proclaims it

establishes it discloses it analyzes it

elucidates it

and he says see with birth as condition

because

aging and death

so when we talk about dependent

origination it's really about causality

and conditionality

with the arising of this there is the

arising of that with the cessation of

this there is the cessation of that

so when we talk about aging and death

that's just one component that's

called

and aging and death is inescapable

everybody experiences aging and death

and along with that in certain sutas it

talks about it

in addition to that is the whole mass of

suffering

so

grief lamentation sorrow despair and

this whole mass of suffering

so when we talk about aging and death it

is unpreventable it will be there

aging manifests in so many different

ways

it manifests as

you know getting old getting

weaker in your faculties

whether that's mental or physical

and death of course is the dissolution

of the body the solution of the five

aggregates

so when we talk about dependent

origination we talk about it on two

different levels there is the macro

level

and there is the micro level

macro level of dependent origination

helps us understand how rebirth happens

how this process of going from one life

to another happens

but for the purpose of our understanding

we'll also explore more importantly the

micro level which is that

the links of dependent origination

arise and pass away in every moment

so with regards to aging and death the

body is

always in decline

always experiencing some form of aging

when you are born

you come with an expiry date

and whatever that expiry date is will be

the death of the body

now

you can't six our aging and death

try as you might you can't

right there's so many ways that people

try to prevent their death try to

prevent aging

and that stems from the fear of aging

and death

that stems from a fear of the unknown

there is this understanding of what's

known as the denial of death

and this was a big thing uh sometime

back in the 50s and 60s the denial of

death and something known as death

anxiety

and at the very extreme of that death

anxiety can cause a person to become

violent

can cause a person to become murderous

because the fear of death is such

that in order to feel like they have

power over death

they will destroy others

i destroy others and therefore i am a

conqueror of death

this is a very

convoluted idea

but

it can manifest in people who have

extreme

anxiety about death

so what can you six are what can you let

go of

you can let go of the fear of death

we can understand that death is a

natural part of life

aging is a natural part of life

so when you notice that the mind thinks

about death or the mind contemplates

death and there is some anxiety there

there's some fear there

there is some kind of

resistance there

you can recognize that

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension

come back to the smile and become more

wholesome generate a wholesome state of

mind

there's so many things people do to

prevent aging you know but all of that

stems from that desire to live forever

but that is not possible in samsara

now it says that with

birth as condition there comes to be

aging and death

when we talk about birth we're talking

about on two levels again we're talking

about

the macro and the micro

here we're talking about jathi that is

rebirth or birth on the macro level

and what is rebirth

a very simple way of understanding what

rebirth is

the same definition of insanity

doing the same thing over and over again

and expecting a different result

so you're going to find in your life

or in series of lives

that you come back to the same kind of

people that you come back to the same

kinds of situations that you come back

to the same kinds of reactions

and that's because you haven't

understood

that this is an impersonal process

you have not understood with wisdom

and because you keep reacting to it and

because you keep responding to it in

such a way that causes tightness and

tension

that causes craving and resistance you

will still continue to experience those

similar states

those similar states of existence and

meet with the similar kinds of people

so until you learn to see this and let

go of it you will still continue having

these kinds of rebirths

now on the micro level what we talk

about birth

is as birth of action

or birth of

reaction when we talk about birth of

action or birth of reaction we're

talking about

there arises this

thought and that is the birth of a

mental intention

there arises speech

and that is the birth of verbal action

there arises movement where you do

something

and that is the birth of physical action

and so with existence as condition

there comes to be birth

existence comes from the word power

and existence also can be habitual

tendencies

when we talk about existence in the

suttas it talks about three types of

existence

there is the existence in the sensual

realms

the existence in the form realms and the

existence in the formless realms

and habitual tendencies are that which

cause you to behave in a certain way

so dependent upon habitual tendencies

there is a certain type of birth of

action birth of reaction

now when we talk about the three types

of existences they can also be

psychological on the macro level it's

all about

you have a certain kind of mindset you

have a certain kind of response

and that gives rise

to a certain kind of

craving or a certain kind of grasping

that gives rise to certain formations

which then take root

in a new mentality materiality

when it takes root in the new mentality

materiality that is the new existence

and that could be the sense

sensual realms the sensual existence

that includes all of the hell realms all

the way up to the sixth

sensual heaven

so

what kind of existence you have is also

determined by your psychological state

now

that is to say if

the mind is filled with a lot of

wholesome

uh experiences

a lot of wholesome intentions

if the mind is filled with generosity if

the mind is filled with loving kindness

if the mind is filled with equanimity if

the mind is filled with forgiveness

if the mind is filled with patience

then what arises is a deva-like

mindset and a deva-like mindset

gives rise to a deva-like existence

whether it's in this life or in another

life

conversely if you have a mind that is

jealous envious

a mind that has a lot of

anger a lot of irritation

has a lot of ill will

that kind of mindset can give rise to a

hellish existence

it can be here you could have hell on

earth

through your psychological state

the way you behave

if you have certain kinds of intentions

rooted in anger

rooted in hatred

that causes you to see everything in a

hellish way

and so your habitual emotional reactions

are rooted in those kinds of intentions

now when we talk about

animal realms people can have

animalistic ways of being

they're very much caught up

in animalistic behaviors they're caught

up in trying to seek pleasure sense

pleasures

whether it's sex or food or whatever it

might be

and as they have these kinds of

animalistic desires animalistic

behaviors and intentions that gives rise

to a certain kind of psychological state

that is animalistic

and so the existence there is

animalistic

or hungry ghosts

people are craving for attention people

are craving for this or that

so if your habitual

tendencies are rooted in that

then the actions that you produce are

rooted in that kind of behavior if

you're always jealous always seeking for

things always craving for things

you'll have a very restless mindset

having that kind of a restless mindset

your actions that you produce the birth

of those actions

will be rooted in that kind of mindset

what about form realms and formless

realms

if your mind is in jhana

any of the four genres first second

third fourth channel

and you have a mind that is imbued with

the asianic factors

then you experience jhana all the time

you can experience china all the time

that means then your mind is rid

when you're in that state of any of the

hindrances

you don't have any kind of sensual

craving you don't have any kind of ill

will you don't have any kind of

restlessness you don't have any kind of

slot interpret you don't have any kind

of doubt

your mind is non-agitated

clear and free

imagine what that feels like 24 7.

being in that kind of giant state of

mind

and so your existence here right now can

be jonic

can be in a form realm

likewise on the macro level if a person

continues to develop jaundice but stays

attached to that that can cause them to

take

rebirth in a brahmaloka in a jana loka

and then the same goes for formless

realms infinite space infinite

consciousness

nothingness neither perception

non-perception

if a person becomes very much

attuned to infinite space they feel

compassion all the time they feel

infinite space all the time

or joy empathetic joy all the time along

with that

a feeling of infinite consciousness

that's a different kind of existence

that a person can have here and now but

as well as

on a macro level in another life

so habitual tendencies also known as

habitual emotional reactions

they are a repository of

the different types of reactions that

the mind settles on

the choices you make condition the next

set of choices that you can potentially

make

so if your mind inclines towards

reactions

and tendencies that are wholesome

then when you are met with something

your reactions or the library the

storehouse of reactions that you have

will be rooted in the wholesome so your

mind will incline towards the wholesome

if your mindset is unwholesome and your

reactions are always unwholesome you

react with irritation you react with

frustration you react with anger

then whenever you're met with something

your

mo will always be to react with anger

so your your rudder will always incline

towards something that is unwholesome

and so because of that your next action

will be dependent upon that inclination

these are the habitual tendencies this

is power

with clinging as condition

habitual tendencies come to be

now when we talk about clinging that

comes from the word upadhana

upadhana is that minds mind that grasps

at something

upadhana means acquisitions assets

wanting to grasp at something

it also means to refuel that craving

process

and there are different types of

clinging

there is a clinging to sensual

experiences

there is the clinging to views

there is the clinging to rights and

rituals

and there is a clinging to self-fuse

so when we talk about clinging to

sensual pleasures

on a very practical level clinging is

basically that process of mind that

associates

things

with other things

so you have traumatic experiences for

example

and you associate certain kinds of

sensual experiences

that happen during that traumatic

incident

and then your mind clings to that

like for example somebody is at a

funeral

and they're mourning their loved one

and somebody just pats that person's

back

you know now they've associated that

feeling with comfort they've associated

that feeling of that experience that

sensual experience

with grief as well with trauma

so sometimes you know you're even in a

wholesome state of mind

you might be in a wholesome environment

and then suddenly somebody just

you know passed your pats your back or

rubs your shoulder and then you're

immediately

brought back to that experience

this process of association this process

of

of bringing up these kinds of events and

then creating stories around them

this is clinging

on the flip side of that that's also

creating a sense of identity through

creating favorites

these are my favorite sensual

experiences

these are my favorite genre of music my

favorite genre of movies my favorite

fragrances my favorite foods my favorite

blanket whatever it might be

and so if you don't have those things or

you do have those things and then they

go away how do you react to it

do you have attachment to it

do you have craving for it do you cling

to it or do you see it for what it

actually is

it arose and it can pass away

when it arises the tendency is for

people to attach

to that arising process instead of

tending towards the cessation of an

experience

the mind that is fully awakened is

always in cessation and what that means

is that mind understands that everything

that arises passes away

everything that arises ceases

so clinging to sensual pleasures

creating favorites around sensual

experiences creating ideas around

sensual experiences

this is the grasping that happens

so when you recognize that or you can

actually 6r that you can recognize oh

i'm starting to cling to this

i'm starting to create associations here

you can recognize that release it

relax the tightness and tension

replace it with something wholesome

so instead of allowing the clinging to

go further and then create the habitual

reactions the habitual tendencies

which by the way you can also recognize

for example

let's say your habitual tendencies were

always to

defend yourself when somebody comes to

you and

criticizes you and you take it

personally

as soon as you take it personally

there is this habitual emotional

reaction there's this habitual tendency

that arises that wants to defend the

sense of self

but if you recognize that arising and

say oh i recognize this i'm going to let

that go

i'm going to relax

and generate a wholesome state of mind

then you are reconditioning that process

of habitual tendencies you're

reconditioning that process of clinging

when we talk about clinging to

rights and rituals

this is clinging to rights and rituals

with the idea that they will take you to

nibana

but it's also clinging to rights and

rituals with the idea that if i pray to

this deity or if i do this

or if i wear my lucky socks it's going

to be a good day

all of these kinds of associations

right

that completely is in violation of karma

because karma says

that what arises is dependent upon your

own intentions

dependent upon your own actions

so you have to make the effort for

something

you have to have the intention for

something and then act upon that

intention if you want something you

can't just pray to a deity and just say

okay give me a million dollars or

whatever it might be

so this idea of luck this idea of trying

to gather luck

that's also in clinging to rights and

rituals the idea that if i only do it

this way

then

this is what's going to happen

or another way is clinging to schedules

clinging through

if this doesn't happen by this time i'm

going to get cranky you have to have

flexibility you have to be able to see

where you're clinging to is are you

clinging to routines are you clinging to

schedules

if you can be like water if you can be

flexible and just see everything as it

is

then there's no standpoints that you

hold on to there's nothing that you're

holding on to that causes this sense of

an identity in bhava

it's at bhava where the sense of self is

most apparent

but the process of bringing that sense

of self happens at clinging

when we talk about clinging to views

this is clinging to certain kinds of

wrong views

there are these 62 different types of

wrong views

let's go into all of them

well when we talk about the different

types of wrong views you can find it in

beginning one that talks about the

different kinds of self-use and the

different kinds of views about the world

eternalism annihilationism and so on and

so forth

in the buddha's time there were

different kinds of rival ascetics let's

see different kinds of teachings that

were going on

and there were six main kinds of

teachings one was the view of eternalism

that there is this self

that is eternal that is always ongoing

all pervasive

there was a view about

the idea that

you know there is

only

there is only enjoyments there's only

material enjoyments that's all you have

to do here there's no

need for merit there is no need to do

good actions there's no need to have

marriage there's no need to do certain

kinds of good actions for you to be able

to reap those merits

everything is just about take everything

is about just

enjoying yourself to the fullest

right so that creates a lot of

attachment to the sixth sense basis

eternalism gives this idea of

an eye that i am here i am present

and it causes to create this conceit

this

uh identity from which you act

there was a view in relation to

asceticism i have to

i have to

do certain kinds of practices

in order to negate my karma

so this was the view of of the jains

right

so the views of the view of the jains

was

that there is a soul

that continues to reincarnate from

lifetime to

lifetime and here the idea is that

as it goes from one lifetime to the

other it accumulates karmic particles

karmic dust

intentionally or unintentionally that's

in direct violation of what the buddha

talks about which is karma is all about

intention

it's your intention not doing something

by mistake not doing something out of

having you know not an intention for

that

so intention is karma but here the view

is whether you did it or whether you

intended to do it or not you gather

these karmic particles and the idea is

in order for you to be able to get rid

of these karmic particles you have to do

certain kinds of purificatory rites and

rituals

you have to do certain kind of ascetic

practices

so the buddha had a question about that

if you're doing these kinds of rights

and rituals

how much karma do you have left do you

know your balance of karma that you have

left

so for the buddha the response is it's

all about understanding

karma from the perspective of intention

and the effect of that intention and how

you react and respond

to that intention

then there is the view of what's known

as the eel wrigglers these are the

skeptics they don't have one way or the

other they don't know if this is right

or this is wrong that brings up a lot of

perplexity that brings up a lot of kinds

of doubts

so

that

kind of you

actually makes you confused about what

is wholesome and what is unwholesome

what is right view and what is wrong

view

then there is also attachment to right

view

you may actually have right view you may

actually understand what the dhamma is

you understand that there is meaning in

giving meaning in being generous

you understand that there is mother and

father which means that you have

gratitude towards one's parents

because they brought you here into this

life

for you to be able to have the potential

to experience nibana

and so on and so forth

and then you might have the

a form of super mundane right view which

is understanding dependent origination

to a certain extent

but there can arise based on that

conceit and pride

and you become what's known as a dhamma

defender

somebody criticizes the dhamma somebody

criticizes the twin practice somebody

criticizes what you're doing

what is

the emotion that arises in your mind is

it are you quick

to attach to that and say no no that's

not how it is are you quick to defend

the dhamma the dhamma doesn't need

defending

right so don't identify yourself with

the dhamma understand the dharma as it

actually is but don't cling to it

this is another kind of clinging to

views

and of course on the very mundane level

it's clinging to opinions clinging to

different kinds of ideas

this is what's happening

and this is what's happened all

throughout the different eons of samsara

when you cling to different kinds of

views when you cling to different kinds

of opinions

that can manifest at the very extreme

into wars the taking up of the stick and

sword as the buddha says

clinging to views

you see that on you know news channels

people are just

berating others because of their

clinging to views

or they're criticizing them for this or

criticizing them for that

and they forget that they should be

compassionate they completely forget

about loving kindness they completely

forget about compassion completely

forget about equanimity all there is is

this is my view and i am right and you

are wrong

and what does that create

that creates a version

that creates ill-will

that creates hatred

so having a standpoint like that and

holding on to views in that way trying

to defend your views

taking it personally causes you

suffering

and it creates all of these habitual

tendencies to cling to those views and

then if somebody says something that

does not resonate with what you know to

be true apparently you know to be true

and it doesn't resonate with you what

happens there is this habitual tendency

to incline the mind towards oh they are

wrong and then you want to say that they

are wrong or you want to defend yourself

or you want to defend that particular

view

so when you recognize this oh i'm

noticing this

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension

generate a wholesome state of mind and

then respond

there's a difference between reacting

and responding

you react from greed hatred and delusion

but you respond from wisdom and

compassion

and the difference between the two is

the six r's

if you notice a reaction coming up

you can recognize it you can release

your attention from it relax the

tightness and tension

come back to the smile

and generate something wholesome and

then respond from that

this is how you de-escalate situations

this is how

you have peace

when there is discord

this is where you have unity where there

is division

this is how to do it so loving-kindness

and compassion and all these things is

not about just feeling all good and

everything else

it's also about being able to convey

that to others

through your intentions

through your speech and through your

actions

notice that recognize that recognize

when your mind has ill will when it's

clinging to a view and let it go replace

it with loving-kindness and compassion

and then there's clinging to self view

so this clinging to self view is this

identification

with one or more of the five aggregates

there are these 20 different types of

self-view

but it's very easy to understand them

it's the five aggregates

right multiplied by four types of views

so for example

you take the five aggregates one or more

of the five aggregates as self

or you see self in one or more of the

five aggregates

or you see self separate from the five

aggregates

or you see that the five aggregates

originate from a sense of self

so these are the different kinds of self

views and there's many more but these

are the main categories

and when this is there there comes to be

this attachment to form attachment to

feeling attachment to perception

attachment to intention or formations

or attachment to

consciousness attachment to awareness

one way or the other when that happens

the mind responds or rather reacts

from a sense of self

a wrong sense of self

so the clinging to self view also has to

do with is there a self or is there not

a self

if you say there is not a self what is

that self that says that there is not a

self

so

let go of the idea of self or not self

it's not about that

right it's understanding that things are

impersonal and that gives you peace of

mind

and so when the buddha talks about what

he teaches he says i teach only two

things suffering and the cessation of

suffering

does what you do lead to suffering or

does it lead to the cessation of

suffering

so clinging to self-use has to do with

clinging to a sense of identity

let go of that recognize when the mind

starts to identify with something

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension come back to

the smile

and be happy

so with craving as condition clinging

comes to be

now craving that's the big word tanha

tanha in pali means thirst

to be thirsty

to want something very badly that's one

side of it

or to have resistance against something

that's the other side of it or to

strongly identify with something

so in other words there's the craving

for a pleasant feeling

there's the aversion for an unpleasant

feeling

or towards an unpleasant feeling and

there is the identification whether it's

pleasant painful

or neutral

so craving manifests as tightness and

tension

there are three types of craving there

are essential craving craving for

existence craving for non-existence

what is sensual craving

you see something beautiful

and you want it you say i really like

that

i want more of that

and how do you know if there's craving

there if you take away that object how

does the mind respond

does it hold on to it get upset when

it's not

there is there tightness and tension

built around that

why does the tightness intention come

about

the tightness and tension arises

because of the mindset that the mind has

been conditioned to behave in

this

fight or flight or freeze

kind of condition

so when it sees something beautiful or

when it experiences something beautiful

when it has a pleasant feeling

the mind says i hope this doesn't stop i

really like this and i want more of it

and so it gravitates towards it and the

mind

tenses up the body recoils the body

tenses up for wanting that thing

and when it acquires it and has it it

feels relief

this is the way the mind has always been

conditioned to experience reality

on the flip side of that if there is

something that is aversive if there is

something that is unpleasant

the mind recoils them in fear or an

anxiety or in resistance or in

frustration or an irritation or an anger

or hatred or whatever it might be the

mind says oh i don't like that and so it

does everything it can to push that away

and as soon as it pushes away it feels

relief from that

so it's conditioned in this way

but when you do the six r's what are you

doing you're reconditioning the mind

you're deconditioning the usual way in

how you respond to situations or react

to situations and now reconditioning the

mind

so instead of

experiencing relief

by

acting upon the craving or the aversion

you can experience relief

and then not have to crave for something

not to have resistance towards something

so if you notice the craving coming up

if you notice the mind says i want this

and i want to own this or if you notice

the mind says i really hate this

recognize that release your attention

from that relax the tightness and

tension

when you relax the tightness and tension

you feel spaciousness

you feel

happy

you feel clear

then you generate something wholesome

like the smile

and now you respond with wisdom you feel

relief right there and then when you

relax

so why do you need to act upon your

craving if you feel relief right there

and then

why do you need to act upon your

resistance and aversion if you feel

relief right there and then

so you let go of that

and you experience relief and then no

craving arises further

no aversion arises further no

identification arises further so we're

talking about sensual craving here that

is related to

the five physical sense basis

craving for sound or having irritation

when somebody coughs while you're

meditating

or somebody bangs open the door or

closes the door whatever it might be or

there's a lawnmower going outside and

you hear that you get irritated by that

that irritation is the aversion and

identifying with that sound

or when you're meditating you experience

back pain you experience some kind of a

pain now it could be meditation pain or

it can be physical pain

how is it meditation pain

you know it's meditation pain when you

get up

you move around and it goes away but

physical pain

stays

it remains

regardless of what the pain is that is a

painful feeling

how do you choose to respond to that

painful feeling does the mind get

distracted by it and starts to get

irritated by it or starts to wish that

this pain was not there

or does it see it for what it actually

is this pain is present

it's not me it's not mine it's not

myself

just let go recognize the aversion to it

recognize the pain and the aversion to

it

release your attention from it relax the

tightness and tension relax the aversion

let go of that abandon it

come back to the smile and come back to

the wholesome object of meditation

so when we talk about

craving for existence what is craving

for existence

why am i not in this jhana yet

why am i not feeling the loving-kindness

yet

why haven't i achieved nibbana yet

what's going on

this is a type of craving for existence

on the very mundane level it's like

craving for being someone

i want to be the best meditator ever i

want to be

a millionaire i want to own this kind of

a car i want to be known as this kind of

person

i want to have this kind of vacation

i want to have this kind of family i

want to have this kind of recognition in

society and so on and so forth

these are all craving for existence

so when you can recognize that you can

recognize oh the mind is

wanting this the mind is saying why am i

not in this genre yet the mind is

you notice that especially in quiet mind

right what happens in quiet mind

you have boredom

or there can be a tendency for boredom

to arise

and then what happens with that boredom

it can manifest as restlessness

or as slot and torpor

when you have a lot of thoughts when you

have a lot of energy when you have a lot

of different streams of ideas and things

going on that's the restlessness

so you balance that when you have slot

intorpor you have a lot of

dullness of mind

the mind feels

like it's unable to pay attention to

what's going on

and so this manifests as boredom there's

nothing going on in quiet mind

it's completely quiet there's no

vibrations going on

it could happen for

five minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes an

hour two hours three hours

nothing going on

and then an inkling of boredom arises

and says

where's nirvana

right it's waiting for nibana

so when we say patience leads to nibana

we're not saying wait for nibana

right waiting is another word for

craving

expectation is another word for craving

you're not waiting for anything you're

just there

present in quiet mind

expectations

are meant to never be met

when you have an expectation

it either exceeds it

something happens and it exceeds the

expectation

or it doesn't meet up to that

expectation rarely does it ever actually

meet

your exact expectations

so let go of expectations let go of this

idea i have to do it this way or i have

to do it that way or i want it to be

exactly like this let go of that when

you notice the mind saying

in your mind you will notice it says i

want to be

or i want this when you notice that

let go of it seeks art

because if you act upon that if you say

i want to be this there is this sense of

self that arises

conjoined with that

and then there will be clinging and then

there will be becoming and then there

will be birth of action that causes

further suffering

craving for non-existence

i don't want this hindrance to be

present here is this hindrance

i don't like it

i don't want it to be here

on a mundane level and at the very

extreme level of craving for

non-existence it can manifest as suicide

why does a person want to commit suicide

generally

they feel this

intense

emotion they feel like as if they are

being overwhelmed they feel like there's

so many things being

you know bombarded bombarding their

senses bombarding their mind they can't

handle it anymore

and they're like i wish this would stop

that's a craving for non-existence and

sometimes they take their own lives

because they think that's relief

from this painful existence

this is a type of craving for

non-existence

so when you recognize that aversion when

you recognize oh i don't like to be in

this state of mind or i don't like to be

with this person or i don't like to be

here or i don't like to be in this

family or whatever it is recognize that

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension come back to

the smile

generate a wholesome object generate

equanimity

bring up equanimity stay stay with that

equanimity the more you do this

the more you decondition the mind from

these kinds of craving

and recondition the mind with wisdom

because you're seeing how your mind's

attention moves from one thing to the

other that's mindfulness

you're recognizing that okay mind is now

feeling this way mind is not

experiencing this

let go of that and come back to wisdom

come back to compassion come back to

equanimity come back to loving kindness

with feeling as conditioned craving

comes to be

when we talk about feeling that comes

from the word vedana

when we talk about vedan aveda means to

know

so veda comes from the word vidya to

know

so whether whatever feeling you are

experiencing through the sixth sense

spaces is vedana it's feeling

it's an experience to be felt

tied to this feeling there is perception

so feeling is one thing perception is

the other but they're tight together

remember i said before feel feeling is

just the

seeing of the green leaf

but knowing that it is a green leaf is

perception

recognizing that that color is green

recognizing that that is a leaf is

perception

now there can be pleasant feeling there

can be unpleasant feeling and there can

be neither painful nor pleasant feeling

there are 108 types of feeling

depending upon how you categorize it

but just for simplicity's sake we'll

talk about the six feelings

dependent upon

contact with the sixth sense basis

so you can be seeing something

hearing something

touching something tasting something

smelling something thinking something

so that's just the experience that is

felt

but within that experience they can

arise potential for craving

or potential for aversion

these are known as underlying tendencies

anusayas in pali

and there are seven of these there's the

underlying tendency to word screen

there's the underlying tendency towards

aversion

the underlying tendency towards

ignorance

the underlying tendency towards doubt

the underlying tendency towards conceit

the underlying tendency towards becoming

and the underlying tendency towards

views about something so you're having

an experience how do you take that

experience

as soon as you see this experience and

say this experience is me mine or myself

now you have taken it personally

having taken it taken it personally

the mind will have an underlying

tendency to crave for the pleasant

feeling or the mind will have an

underlying

tendency to have aversion towards the

painful feeling or have ignorance lack

of mindfulness ignorance is lack of

mindfulness or manifests

as lack of mindfulness not paying

attention to things as they really are

so how do you see things as they really

are

every experience that you're having

right now

whether it's here

whether it's walking whether it's eating

whether it's sitting whether it's

standing whether it's meditating

all experiences

are conditioned

conditioned by contact

because they're conditioned because of

dependently arisen they arise and they

pass away

which means that they are impermanent

therefore they are not worth holding

onto and they should be seen as not me

not mine not myself

when we talk about anatha there is a way

of understanding anatha the impersonal

nature of things

during the buddha's time and generally

in ancient india they had the concept of

ata or atman

the idea of a core

permanent

all-pervading unchanging

self

and the buddha comes along and says okay

all conditioned things and even nibana

is not self

what he says is if you're going to use

the self as a touchstone

your concept of a self which is

right that it is existent that it is

always there present and that it is a

source of bliss if you're going to use

that

let's see your experiences are they self

whatever experience you're having

whatever

feeling that you're experiencing

whatever it is that arises

it's arising based on causes and

conditions

because it is arising based on causes

and conditions it's impermanent

seeing it as impermanent you realize

that it is not self because whatever is

impermanent is liable to change if it's

a good thing it's liable to change and

inherently it can cause you suffering

so whether it's good bad or indifferent

pleasant painful or neither painful nor

pleasant

it is not self

don't take it personally the moment you

take any experience personally whether

right now or whether in the meditation

you are going to cause yourself

suffering because what arises dependent

upon that is craving

or aversion

and then based on that there is clinging

associating something with it making

favorites out of it thinking about it

adding fuel to the fire of craving or

aversion

adding fuel to the fires of greed hatred

and delusion

and then dependent upon that you start

to create this sense of self it becomes

more concrete

at bhava and you have all of these

habitual tendencies which you act out of

which causes you suffering which causes

you dukkah

with contact as conditioned feeling

comes to be

contact this comes from the pali word

fasa

or spersha in sanskrit in hindi

that just basically means to touch

make contact with

so what is the contact we're talking

about here

the eye

and form they make contact and there is

eye feeling

the sound and the ear they touch they

make contact and born from that is your

feeling

hearing the sensation of the ear

likewise with the nose and odors

likewise with the taste and

the tongue and tastes

likewise with body intangibles and

likewise with mind and mental objects

that's just contact

so when we talk about contact in geno

for example right when we looked at

majaminikaya 111 we saw that there was

contact feeling perception intention

attention mind

you know all of these other things so

what was the contact there

contact there was the mind making

contact with the mental object

loving kindness for example dependent

upon that that there is the feeling of

loving-kindness there is a perception

that the mind is in loving-kindness

so

contact

is just

the touching of i and form and so on and

so forth

so when the i and form meet

they can arise i consciousness

the joining of these three is eye

contact

and dependent upon that comes i feeling

so in other words that means

that if the eye is defective

that

there a person is blind or the ear is

defective or person is deaf

even if light

bounces off an object and hits the

retina

there is no eye consciousness present

and so there is no i feeling dependent

upon that

dependent upon that contact or if a

person is deaf

fine there is sound but there's no

reception of that sound

and because of that there is no your

consciousness

and therefore dependent upon that there

won't be any hearing going on

so you need that too you need the eye

consciousness your consciousness nose

consciousness

tongue consciousness

body consciousness and mind

consciousness we'll get into

consciousness in a little bit

with the sixth sense basis as condition

contact comes to be

so the sixth sense basis that's

basically what

the eyes

the ears

the nose the tongue

the body

and the mind

that's it that's the sixth sense basis

so

they're just present i mean there's

nothing you can do about it they are

present everything from ignorance all

the way up to feeling

all of that is old karma that you're

inheriting dependent upon previous

choices that you're making

so however your eyes are however your

ears are however your nose is however

your tongue is however your body is

however your mind is

it's dependent on previous choices that

you've made

so it is only just old karma to be

experienced and felt at feeling

what you choose to do and how you choose

to react with that

is what will either cause the craving

and therefore the clinging and therefore

the becoming and therefore the birth of

further reaction

or you can understand all of this as an

impersonal process and don't take it

personally

once you see it as it actually is

once you have attention rooted in

reality

that is yoni so mana sakhara

then you see everything as a series of

dependent causes and conditions

because of that you don't take them

personally because of that you don't

have craving for this or aversion

towards that so whatever arises just

ceases there without any fuel of craving

or clinging or becoming

this is how you dissipate karma

karma arises for example a hindrance

arises what is that

that's old karma that's a mental

experience

mind made contact and now there is

a hindrance present

how do you deal with that hindrance do

you crave for it

do you have resistance towards it you

have aversion towards it

and if you do what's going to happen

you're going to cling

and then when you have clinging you have

becoming and then you have the birth of

action and then you have further

suffering

or you can choose to see this hindrance

as being present and being impersonal

don't take it personally your hindrance

has arisen

if you do anything

but see it for what it actually is

you're going to cause yourself suffering

but if you see the hindrance acknowledge

that it is there

release your attention from that gently

bring it back relax the mind and body

which means you relax the tightness and

tension

and come back to the smile come back to

your object

you are dealing with that hindrance with

proper wisdom with correct wisdom

with name and form or mentality

materiality as condition the sixth sense

basis come to be

mentality materiality that is mind and

body or name and form

so when we talk about mentality there

are certain factors to mentality

there's contact there's feeling there's

perception there's inclination or

intention and there is attention

and then when we talk about materiality

that is the body

so in essence what we are talking about

are the five aggregates

form here or materiality is made up of

the four great elements

or the four states of matter

you have the earth element

or the solid state of matter you have

the liquid the water element or the

liquid state of matter

you have the air element or the gaseous

state of matter and you have the fire

element or the plasma state of matter

the heat the temperature

so these start to make up the body

contact with the body gives rise to

feeling perception

intention or inclination and attention

so contact is the key here

so when we're talking about contact

feeling and perception we see that it's

there in mentality but we're also seeing

it further down in the chain we're

seeing it as contact as a link we're

seeing feeling as a link so what's the

difference between the two

these are the faculties in the mind that

allow you to experience contact

so that is the receptors the sense-based

receptors are in mentality materiality

the feeling that's there it's the

faculty of feeling allowing you to

actually experience something the

faculty of perception these are your

memory centers in the mind that allow

you to recognize and label what it is

that you are experiencing

intention or inclination allowing you to

act on something

that is caitanya it comes from the word

caitanya that is to incline the mind

towards one thing or the other this is

what is meant by when we say where is

your inclination where are your

intentions if you want to understand

formations the quality of formations

look at where your intentions lie look

at where your inclinations lie

and so formations

go through the formation aggregate goes

through intention

and finally attention consciousness

flows through attention you have an

intention to bring your attention or

awareness here and so now there is a

cognizing of this

and so now there is an awareness of this

and so now there is a attention to this

consciousness flows through wherever the

attention is put on something

so na marupa mentality materiality are

basically the five aggregates

so with mentality

you experience materiality

but without materiality you can't have

mentality

they are they are interdependent

you need the mentality or you need the

materiality for the mentality to be

housed into something

and you need the mentality in order to

know that you have a body

in order to know what is materiality

so when we talk about what is mind mind

is defined by its factors by its

faculties which give rise to the

processes

so the the faculty of con contact allows

you to experience contact the process of

contact

the faculty of feeling allows you to

experience the process of feeling

the faculty of perception allows you to

experience

the process

of perception the faculty of intention

or inclination allows you to experience

the process of formations how they arise

and manifest

the faculty of attention allows you to

cognize allows you to have

the process of cognizing whatever it is

that you are experiencing

with consciousness as conditioned name

and form come to be

consciousness

consciousness comes from the word

vinyana

vinyana means so there's v

and nyana

means knowledge

and v means to divide it's divided

knowledge what does that mean knowledge

divided by the experience of the sixth

sense basis

in other words

there is the eye consciousness there is

the your consciousness there is the nose

consciousness there is the tongue

consciousness there is the body

consciousness and there is mind

consciousness

this is all happening on the micro level

when you go into the sixth jhana when

you go into infinite consciousness what

is it that you're experiencing

you're experiencing the arising and

passing away of infinite

eye consciousness so infinite ear

consciousness or infinite nose

consciousness or whatever it might be

so like i said when you experience

contact that is the joining of the i the

form and i consciousness

so cognizing the experience of i

the eye or the ear or the nose or the

tongue the body or the mind

so consciousness basically is cognition

it's awareness

now on the macro level we talk about it

from the perspective of rebirth from one

lifetime to the other where

consciousness

as a gandaba

as a potential being descends into a

namarupa descends into a mentality

materiality so for simply simplicity's

sake what happens is

when a person dies when there's a

dissolution of the body what arises is

certain kinds of thoughts and ideas and

concepts

and then the mind takes that and either

has craving towards it grasps at it or

has aversion towards it that gives rise

to certain kinds of formations which

we'll get to those formations activate a

type of consciousness that is rooted in

that kind of craving that consciousness

then goes from there and descends into a

new namarupa

into a new mind and body that manifests

when there is birth

and that is when there's procreation

when that happens then that

consciousness dissipates and there is a

new arising and passing away of

individual consciousnesses in that nama

rupa in that mentality materiality

so that is why we say

name and form are dependent upon

consciousness

on the macro level on the micro level it

is also dependent upon consciousness

because it is without without

consciousness you won't be able to know

that there is a body you won't be able

to cognize the different factors of the

mind

and now in some of the

renditions of the links of dependent

origination there is an interdependency

here as well

dependent upon consciousness

mind and body arise

and dependent upon mind and body

consciousness arises

why is that

because in order for consciousness to

come into being it needs a mind and body

on the micro on the macro level on the

micro level you need some kind of body

in order for you to experience the

cognition of something

you need the mentality factors for you

to be able to cognize that here is

contact here is feeling here is

perception here is intention here is

attention you need the mind and body in

order for you to cognize

the sixth sense basis

so that's why that is why you have the

eye consciousness the ear consciousness

the nose consciousness the tongue

consciousness the body consciousness and

mind consciousness

with formations as condition

consciousness comes to be

now formations

that comes from the word sankhara

or samskaras in sanskrit

sankhara actually

has different kinds of connotations it

can mean formations it can mean to

prepare preparations

a more modern rendition is percolations

because thoughts percolate up

right there's these proto thoughts in

the mind when you're in quiet mind for

example

when you're in quiet mind when you're

neither perception or non-perception

you're not able to really recognize what

it is that you're seeing you might see

certain pictures you might see certain

kinds of

ideas you might see some kind of

disconnected thoughts but not they're

not fully formed thoughts so these are

proto thoughts that percolate up

into fully formed thoughts and these are

the formations

so

sankhara also means to cook up something

literally it means to make something to

cook something

so the formations cook up your reality

everything you're experiencing is based

on formations

there are three types of formations

mental formations

bodily formations and verbal formations

mental formations are related to feeling

and perception whether it's mental

feeling and perception

or feeling and perception born from the

other five physical sense basis

verbal formations have to do with your

expression of speech

you hear something it makes contact with

you you think about it that process of

thinking about it is verbalizing and

then that process then

actuates into speech actuates into

um

expression of something that you

perceive

so verbal formations are responsible for

this

traditionally bodily formations are

associated with breathing

because they allow you to breathe in and

out

but they allow you to do everything from

moving to sitting to standing to walking

so these formations

are then arising and give rise or

certain kind of consciousness

and then that manifests in a certain way

of how you perceive your mind and body

then the sixth sense bases make contact

with something and those formations then

further color

or cook up

how you experience reality

now formations

are carriers of karma as well

so contact when we talk about the link

of contact it is one of the keys to

understanding this whole process of

dependent origination because from

contact feeling arises perception arises

intention arises karma arises

if there was no contact no karma would

arise

and for karma to arise it has to flow

through the links of dependent

origination the formations carry forward

that

and if the formations are pure or unpure

or impure rather

that will then determine what kind of

consciousness arises

in terms of how the consciousness is

colored is the consciousness rooted in

envy is the consciousness rooted in

anger is the consciousness rooted in

bitterness or is the consciousness

rooted in generosity and seeing things

as they are being happy and fulfilled

so if the formations are fettered

that means they are fettered by

ignorance

by craving by conceit by wrong views

how are they fettered

consciousness or rather

formations

are dependent upon your previous

intentions that is why i say if you want

to understand the quality of your

formations

notice

how you're intending things notice where

your mind is inclining to words

in every given present moment you have a

choice

you can choose to be wholesome or

unwholesome

now the rudder

the compass

gravitates towards either the wholesome

or the unwholesome that gravitation

process is dependent upon

the choices you made before

so if you start to act upon whatever

choices you made before then those

formations will continue

but if you see it for what it is and

stop becoming unwholesome

and gravitate your compass towards a

wholesome choice

then the next arising of formations are

conditioned by that choice

so those formations start to be whittled

away in terms of the feathers of

of conceit

of craving of ignorance of wrong view

so once that starts to get starts to

loosen up what happens those formations

start to become purer and pure and pure

eventually those formations become

completely unfettered untainted and so

any consciousness that arises is pure

which means now conscious consciousness

that arises will not be rooted in any

kind of emotion will not be rooted in

any kind of tendency

and it won't give rise to any kind of

tendency it will just see reality as it

actually is

so when formations arise in a completely

purified mind

they're just carrying forward karma

carrying forward

the

the effects of choices made prior to

full awakening

and those choices are then manifested in

feeling

and because the mind is completely pure

it's not going to react to that

experience in a way that causes craving

or identify with that experience or have

ignorance which is a lack of mindfulness

it will just see things as they are and

so that karma will just dissipate bit by

bit by bit

on a practical level when you're

meditating and you have a hindrance that

arises what is that that's old karma

that is the snowball effect of

formations that were fettered and rooted

in choices that were unwholesome at some

point

so now you're experiencing that

hindrance now you don't have to be

guilty because you did something in the

previous choice that caused you to have

that hindrance you just see that that

hindrance is present

if you take it personally you're going

to only add to that energy of hindrance

but

if you see it for what it actually is

and you 6r

then what you're doing is you're

whittling away at that hindrance so it

might arise again

but it will be weaker this time around

and it might arise again and it'll be

weaker in that next moment it might

arise yet again but it will be even

weaker eventually there is the

remainderless fading away

of that

of that hindrance

so this is the way to understand

formations just see where your choices

lie

where are you making your choices and

then if your choices are rooted in the

wholesome then you know the formations

are coming up that are coming up are

rooted in the wholesome they are not

rooted in greed hatred or delusion they

are rooted in non-greed non-hatred

non-delusion

with ignorance as condition formations

come to be

what is ignorance

it is ignoring the four noble truths

ignoring the first noble truth of

suffering ignoring the second noble

truth of

the cause of suffering

ignoring the third noble truth of the

cessation of suffering and ignoring the

fourth noble truth of the way leading to

the cessation of suffering that is

ignorance

ignorance of the four noble truths now

there's levels of ignorance there's the

ignorance that you have never been

introduced to the four noble truths you

don't even know that there's something

called the four noble truths you've

never been introduced to the dhamma

that's one level of ignorance

that you don't know that you don't know

right

but then there's another level of

ignorance which arises because of lack

of mindfulness now you have been taught

the dharma now you know

what is right for you now you know

what is suffering now you understand

what is the cause of suffering now you

understand how to let go of that

suffering and experience the cessation

of suffering

or rather how to let go of the cause

so that you experience the cessation of

suffering

but every time you have lack of

attention

lack of mindfulness

lack of awareness

that adds to the link

that adds energy back to the link of

ignorance

but every time you recognize you are

aware and you use the six r's you are

whittling away at that ignorance

because why

because

every time you recognize you are

recognizing there is suffering present

in the form of this hindrance or

whatever it might be

every time you release and relax you are

abandoning

the attention to that suffering

attention to that hindrance

and thereby experiencing the third noble

truth

of the cessation of that hindrance the

cessation of that dukkha

and every time you use the six r's you

are utilizing the fourth noble truth

which is the eightfold path

because the six r's are right effort

which is the heart of the eightfold path

it is from right effort that you go from

wrong view to right view

wrong intention to right intention

wrong speech to right speech

wrong action to right action wrong

livelihood to right livelihood wrong

mindfulness to right mindfulness and

wrong collectedness to right

collectedness

so the way to let go of ignorance is to

continue to be

mindful

whether there is an arising of the

tagatha or no arising of a tata

that element still persists meaning this

dependent origination will still

continue whether there is a buddha to

let you know about it or not

the stableness of the dhamma the dhamma

being dependent origination

the fixed course of the dhamma specific

conditionality

it's only from birth that aging and

death come to be it's only from becoming

that birth comes to be

now here's another way of understanding

this on the micro level

you can see dependent origination like a

river

the ignorance the formations

the

consciousness

the mentality materiality the sixth

sense basis the contact all of these are

streams

and then there's the feeling that arises

and these are whirlpools the feeling the

craving the clinging the becoming all of

these are there cascading down

at each point you can six r them you can

six are the craving that is rooted in

them

six are the ignorance that is rooted in

them six are the conceit that is rooted

in them okay

but

if you have the birth of action that is

the bend of the so the bend of the

waterfall when you're having the river

the bend of the waterfall is the

becoming

the bhava

but the waterfall itself you cannot swim

up the waterfall

once you have done the action you cannot

recall the action

you can't say something terrible and six

art

out of existence

so whatever it is that you're thinking

saying or doing that is the birth of

action birth of reaction you can't do

anything about it but you can do

something about all of the preceding

links before that

and that is by using the 6rs

a tattagata

awakens to this and breaks through to it

having done so he explains it

teaches it proclaims it establishes it

discloses it analyzes it elucidates it

and he says see

with this as conditions

because that comes to be

thus because

the actuality in this

the inerrancy

the not not other wiseness

specific conditionality this is called

dependent origination

the actuality in this

it is existing it is there it is present

whether you recognize it or not

that is

reality conditioned reality

the inerrancy

meaning there's no way for you to change

it

in terms of its order it's just

happening the way it will happen that's

the specific conditionality

and the not otherwise

you cannot replace this link with

another link

you can destroy the links as you get

through each of the attainments so that

they don't arise but you can't replace

it you can't say okay i'm not going to

have craving i'm going to replace it

with clinging there's a specific order

in how these things arise

now with each attainment certain levels

of clinging go away certain levels of

craving go away

so in the case of a soda panna what goes

away

the clinging to rights and rituals

the clinging to wrong views goes away

because now they have established the

right view

the

sakadagami weakens sensual craving and

weakens

the

aversion

but the anagami lets go of any kind of

clinging to sensual pleasures let's go

of sensual craving altogether

and then finally with the arhat they let

go of the craving for non-existence the

craving for existence and they let go of

the clinging to any kind of

views even clinging to right view right

and they also let go of clinging to

self-you there's no more identification

with this that or the other

so as you continue to progress through

this practice you start to whittle away

grind away at these different links

until they no longer are present

and so in that mind that is fully

awakened

what arises are formations that are pure

consciousness that is pure

nama rupa depended upon that

consciousness

the sixth sense basis contact

and feeling and perception tied to that

feeling but there is no more ignorance

there is no more craving there is no

more clinging there is no more becoming

there is no more birth of reaction

so how does a fully awakened mind act

how do they think how do they

intentionalize how do they speak

the ignorance is replaced by right view

which means they have a full

understanding of the four noble truths

they have a complete understanding of

suffering they have fully abandoned

the origin of suffering namely craving

and ignorance and so on

and they have fully realized the

cessation of of suffering meaning they

have fully realized nibana

fully realized nirota

and they are fully cultivated and

perfected the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

which is the eightfold path

so for such a for such a mind

that speech that arises that action that

arises is not rooted in craving is not

rooted in clinging is not rooted in

becoming

that action is rooted in right action

that speech is rooted in right speech

that intention is rooted in right

intention

which means the default mode of

functioning for such a per for such a

mind

is always rooted in the eightfold path

they automatically act or speak or

intentionalize

from the eightfold path

and the eightfold path is also the

cessation of karma

which means they don't produce any new

karma there's no birth of action or

reaction

there is just karma in terms of activity

ineffective karma

non-productive karma

non-fruitful karma because whatever

karma that they produce

is dissipated right there and then

because of the usage of the eightfold

path

which means the cessation of karma

happens through using the six r's

you can six r all the way

to our heart ship

6r everything until there's nothing left

to 6r

so for that mind like i said there's no

ignorance now all that's remaining is

the formations

the consciousness

the namarupa or mentality materiality

sixth sense spaces contact and feeling

everything else is non-functional it

doesn't even occur doesn't even arise

the seeds of that are completely

destroyed

and what beekus are the dependently

arisen phenomena

it's not like these are two different

things dependent origination is the

dhamma dependently arisen phenomena are

the same as depend as the dhamma

so whatever you're experiencing right

now is all the dhamma

dependently arisen phenomenon and what

is that

aging and death because is impermanent

conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction

vanishing fading away and cessation

birth is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction

vanishing

fading away and cessation

habitual tendencies are impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction vanishing

fading away and cessation

clinging is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

craving is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

feeling is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

contact is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

the sixth sense bases are impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction

vanishing fading away and cessation

mentality materiality is impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

consciousness is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

formations are impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

ignorance is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen

subject to destruction vanishing fading

away and cessation these bikus are

called the dependently arisen phenomenon

each of the links of dependent

origination being conditioned

being dependently arisen are subject to

change subject to destruction

subject to vanishing away subject to

cessation

so why would you hold on to any of those

links

see them all as being impermanent

subject to change don't hold on to them

that will be for your benefit

not otherwise

when because a noble disciple

a noble disciple is one who has an

attainment meaning they have attained to

stream entry or attained

to sakuragami whatever it might be

has clearly seen with correct wisdom as

it really is this dependent origination

which means has clearly seen what

happens

when the mind comes out of cessation

it sees dependent origination

it makes contact with nibana

it sees dependent origination and has

wisdom correct wisdom

this is the ultimate insight the

understanding of dependent origination

and these dependently arisen for

phenomena it is impossible

that he will run back into the past

thinking

did i exist in the past

did i not exist in the past

what was i in the past

how was i

in the past having been what what did i

become in the past

why is that

because he understands that the self is

dependently arisen the idea of a self is

dependently arisen so which self are you

talking about are you talking about your

two year old self or your seven year old

self or your 10 year old self

or your 15 year old self

or are you talking about the self that

was on a tuesday on march 5th 1999

are you thinking about all of these

things you see everything has

dependently arisen so why would you take

all of that personal

all of that past is passed why would you

think about how did i arise or how did

this come to be it just arose because of

causes and conditions

in the same way

or that he will run forward into the

future thinking

will i exist in the future will i not

exist in the future what will i be in

the future how will i be in the future

having been what what will i become in

the future

would you think about the future once

you see everything as being dependently

arisen would you really worry about the

future you understand certain causes and

conditions have come to be and they will

lead to a certain kind of future but

will you really worry about that will we

have anxiety about that

if you have fully let go

you're not going to have any anxiety

about the future

likewise

or that he will now be inwardly confused

about the present thus

do i exist

do i not exist what am i how am i

this being where has it come from and

where will it go

when was the last time you thought do i

exist

or do i not exist

so all of these kinds of questions about

existence and about the self

they are

unnecessary

they don't lead to the cessation of

suffering

they don't lead to the understanding of

what is suffering

they don't lead to the realization of

the four noble truths

so even if you're staying in the present

even if you are in the present moment

is there a sense of self there or are

you just observing things as they

actually

are don't hold on to anything not even

the present moment

as soon as you hold on to the present

moment it's gone

what you think to be this present moment

is not the present moment

it is a reflection of what you think is

the present moment

so don't hold on to any standpoints

about the past

the future or the present

for what reason is this impossible

because because the noble

this disciple

has clearly seen with correct wisdom as

it really is

this dependent origination

and these dependently arisen phenomenal

you

[Music]

do

[Music]

so today

we're going to be

talking about dependent origination

the suit that i'm reading from is samyta

nikaya

12.20 12.20

and it's called conditions

at savathi

because i will teach you dependent

origination and dependently arisen

phenomenon

listen and attend closely i will speak

yes venerable sir those because replied

the blessed one said this

and what beku's is dependent origination

with birth as condition aging and death

comes to be

whether there is the arising of a

tatargata

or no arising of

a tata gata

that element still persists

the stableness of the dhamma

the fixed course of the dhamma specific

conditionality

so in other words whether we have a

buddha or not

dependent origination is still there

dependent origination is the mechanics

of karma

it's the mechanics of what

runs the machinery of samsara

it's only

understood

for the first time after a long time by

a sama buddha or by a buddha in general

and it is a tagat who then explains it

as

wisdom

once you understand dependent

origination then it is said that you

have wisdom

and a very specific kind of wisdom

so here it says

whether there is an arising of a tata

or no arising of a tata

that element still persists in other

words

aging and death will still persist

birth will still persist

and so too with all of the links of

dependent origination they will still

persist they still continue whether you

realize it or not

the difference is that rediscovers it

and then proclaims it

a tatargata awakens to this and breaks

through to it

having done so he explains it

teaches it proclaims it

establishes it discloses it analyzes it

elucidates it

and he says see with birth as condition

because

aging and death

so when we talk about dependent

origination it's really about causality

and conditionality

with the arising of this there is the

arising of that with the cessation of

this there is the cessation of that

so when we talk about aging and death

that's just one component that's

called

and aging and death is inescapable

everybody experiences aging and death

and along with that in certain sutas it

talks about it

in addition to that is the whole mass of

suffering

so

grief lamentation sorrow despair and

this whole mass of suffering

so when we talk about aging and death it

is unpreventable it will be there

aging manifests in so many different

ways

it manifests as

you know getting old getting

weaker in your faculties

whether that's mental or physical

and death of course is the dissolution

of the body the solution of the five

aggregates

so when we talk about dependent

origination we talk about it on two

different levels there is the macro

level

and there is the micro level

macro level of dependent origination

helps us understand how rebirth happens

how this process of going from one life

to another happens

but for the purpose of our understanding

we'll also explore more importantly the

micro level which is that

the links of dependent origination

arise and pass away in every moment

so with regards to aging and death the

body is

always in decline

always experiencing some form of aging

when you are born

you come with an expiry date

and whatever that expiry date is will be

the death of the body

now

you can't six our aging and death

try as you might you can't

right there's so many ways that people

try to prevent their death try to

prevent aging

and that stems from the fear of aging

and death

that stems from a fear of the unknown

there is this understanding of what's

known as the denial of death

and this was a big thing uh sometime

back in the 50s and 60s the denial of

death and something known as death

anxiety

and at the very extreme of that death

anxiety can cause a person to become

violent

can cause a person to become murderous

because the fear of death is such

that in order to feel like they have

power over death

they will destroy others

i destroy others and therefore i am a

conqueror of death

this is a very

convoluted idea

but

it can manifest in people who have

extreme

anxiety about death

so what can you six are what can you let

go of

you can let go of the fear of death

we can understand that death is a

natural part of life

aging is a natural part of life

so when you notice that the mind thinks

about death or the mind contemplates

death and there is some anxiety there

there's some fear there

there is some kind of

resistance there

you can recognize that

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension

come back to the smile and become more

wholesome generate a wholesome state of

mind

there's so many things people do to

prevent aging you know but all of that

stems from that desire to live forever

but that is not possible in samsara

now it says that with

birth as condition there comes to be

aging and death

when we talk about birth we're talking

about on two levels again we're talking

about

the macro and the micro

here we're talking about jathi that is

rebirth or birth on the macro level

and what is rebirth

a very simple way of understanding what

rebirth is

the same definition of insanity

doing the same thing over and over again

and expecting a different result

so you're going to find in your life

or in series of lives

that you come back to the same kind of

people that you come back to the same

kinds of situations that you come back

to the same kinds of reactions

and that's because you haven't

understood

that this is an impersonal process

you have not understood with wisdom

and because you keep reacting to it and

because you keep responding to it in

such a way that causes tightness and

tension

that causes craving and resistance you

will still continue to experience those

similar states

those similar states of existence and

meet with the similar kinds of people

so until you learn to see this and let

go of it you will still continue having

these kinds of rebirths

now on the micro level what we talk

about birth

is as birth of action

or birth of

reaction when we talk about birth of

action or birth of reaction we're

talking about

there arises this

thought and that is the birth of a

mental intention

there arises speech

and that is the birth of verbal action

there arises movement where you do

something

and that is the birth of physical action

and so with existence as condition

there comes to be birth

existence comes from the word power

and existence also can be habitual

tendencies

when we talk about existence in the

suttas it talks about three types of

existence

there is the existence in the sensual

realms

the existence in the form realms and the

existence in the formless realms

and habitual tendencies are that which

cause you to behave in a certain way

so dependent upon habitual tendencies

there is a certain type of birth of

action birth of reaction

now when we talk about the three types

of existences they can also be

psychological on the macro level it's

all about

you have a certain kind of mindset you

have a certain kind of response

and that gives rise

to a certain kind of

craving or a certain kind of grasping

that gives rise to certain formations

which then take root

in a new mentality materiality

when it takes root in the new mentality

materiality that is the new existence

and that could be the sense

sensual realms the sensual existence

that includes all of the hell realms all

the way up to the sixth

sensual heaven

so

what kind of existence you have is also

determined by your psychological state

now

that is to say if

the mind is filled with a lot of

wholesome

uh experiences

a lot of wholesome intentions

if the mind is filled with generosity if

the mind is filled with loving kindness

if the mind is filled with equanimity if

the mind is filled with forgiveness

if the mind is filled with patience

then what arises is a deva-like

mindset and a deva-like mindset

gives rise to a deva-like existence

whether it's in this life or in another

life

conversely if you have a mind that is

jealous envious

a mind that has a lot of

anger a lot of irritation

has a lot of ill will

that kind of mindset can give rise to a

hellish existence

it can be here you could have hell on

earth

through your psychological state

the way you behave

if you have certain kinds of intentions

rooted in anger

rooted in hatred

that causes you to see everything in a

hellish way

and so your habitual emotional reactions

are rooted in those kinds of intentions

now when we talk about

animal realms people can have

animalistic ways of being

they're very much caught up

in animalistic behaviors they're caught

up in trying to seek pleasure sense

pleasures

whether it's sex or food or whatever it

might be

and as they have these kinds of

animalistic desires animalistic

behaviors and intentions that gives rise

to a certain kind of psychological state

that is animalistic

and so the existence there is

animalistic

or hungry ghosts

people are craving for attention people

are craving for this or that

so if your habitual

tendencies are rooted in that

then the actions that you produce are

rooted in that kind of behavior if

you're always jealous always seeking for

things always craving for things

you'll have a very restless mindset

having that kind of a restless mindset

your actions that you produce the birth

of those actions

will be rooted in that kind of mindset

what about form realms and formless

realms

if your mind is in jhana

any of the four genres first second

third fourth channel

and you have a mind that is imbued with

the asianic factors

then you experience jhana all the time

you can experience china all the time

that means then your mind is rid

when you're in that state of any of the

hindrances

you don't have any kind of sensual

craving you don't have any kind of ill

will you don't have any kind of

restlessness you don't have any kind of

slot interpret you don't have any kind

of doubt

your mind is non-agitated

clear and free

imagine what that feels like 24 7.

being in that kind of giant state of

mind

and so your existence here right now can

be jonic

can be in a form realm

likewise on the macro level if a person

continues to develop jaundice but stays

attached to that that can cause them to

take

rebirth in a brahmaloka in a jana loka

and then the same goes for formless

realms infinite space infinite

consciousness

nothingness neither perception

non-perception

if a person becomes very much

attuned to infinite space they feel

compassion all the time they feel

infinite space all the time

or joy empathetic joy all the time along

with that

a feeling of infinite consciousness

that's a different kind of existence

that a person can have here and now but

as well as

on a macro level in another life

so habitual tendencies also known as

habitual emotional reactions

they are a repository of

the different types of reactions that

the mind settles on

the choices you make condition the next

set of choices that you can potentially

make

so if your mind inclines towards

reactions

and tendencies that are wholesome

then when you are met with something

your reactions or the library the

storehouse of reactions that you have

will be rooted in the wholesome so your

mind will incline towards the wholesome

if your mindset is unwholesome and your

reactions are always unwholesome you

react with irritation you react with

frustration you react with anger

then whenever you're met with something

your

mo will always be to react with anger

so your your rudder will always incline

towards something that is unwholesome

and so because of that your next action

will be dependent upon that inclination

these are the habitual tendencies this

is power

with clinging as condition

habitual tendencies come to be

now when we talk about clinging that

comes from the word upadhana

upadhana is that minds mind that grasps

at something

upadhana means acquisitions assets

wanting to grasp at something

it also means to refuel that craving

process

and there are different types of

clinging

there is a clinging to sensual

experiences

there is the clinging to views

there is the clinging to rights and

rituals

and there is a clinging to self-fuse

so when we talk about clinging to

sensual pleasures

on a very practical level clinging is

basically that process of mind that

associates

things

with other things

so you have traumatic experiences for

example

and you associate certain kinds of

sensual experiences

that happen during that traumatic

incident

and then your mind clings to that

like for example somebody is at a

funeral

and they're mourning their loved one

and somebody just pats that person's

back

you know now they've associated that

feeling with comfort they've associated

that feeling of that experience that

sensual experience

with grief as well with trauma

so sometimes you know you're even in a

wholesome state of mind

you might be in a wholesome environment

and then suddenly somebody just

you know passed your pats your back or

rubs your shoulder and then you're

immediately

brought back to that experience

this process of association this process

of

of bringing up these kinds of events and

then creating stories around them

this is clinging

on the flip side of that that's also

creating a sense of identity through

creating favorites

these are my favorite sensual

experiences

these are my favorite genre of music my

favorite genre of movies my favorite

fragrances my favorite foods my favorite

blanket whatever it might be

and so if you don't have those things or

you do have those things and then they

go away how do you react to it

do you have attachment to it

do you have craving for it do you cling

to it or do you see it for what it

actually is

it arose and it can pass away

when it arises the tendency is for

people to attach

to that arising process instead of

tending towards the cessation of an

experience

the mind that is fully awakened is

always in cessation and what that means

is that mind understands that everything

that arises passes away

everything that arises ceases

so clinging to sensual pleasures

creating favorites around sensual

experiences creating ideas around

sensual experiences

this is the grasping that happens

so when you recognize that or you can

actually 6r that you can recognize oh

i'm starting to cling to this

i'm starting to create associations here

you can recognize that release it

relax the tightness and tension

replace it with something wholesome

so instead of allowing the clinging to

go further and then create the habitual

reactions the habitual tendencies

which by the way you can also recognize

for example

let's say your habitual tendencies were

always to

defend yourself when somebody comes to

you and

criticizes you and you take it

personally

as soon as you take it personally

there is this habitual emotional

reaction there's this habitual tendency

that arises that wants to defend the

sense of self

but if you recognize that arising and

say oh i recognize this i'm going to let

that go

i'm going to relax

and generate a wholesome state of mind

then you are reconditioning that process

of habitual tendencies you're

reconditioning that process of clinging

when we talk about clinging to

rights and rituals

this is clinging to rights and rituals

with the idea that they will take you to

nibana

but it's also clinging to rights and

rituals with the idea that if i pray to

this deity or if i do this

or if i wear my lucky socks it's going

to be a good day

all of these kinds of associations

right

that completely is in violation of karma

because karma says

that what arises is dependent upon your

own intentions

dependent upon your own actions

so you have to make the effort for

something

you have to have the intention for

something and then act upon that

intention if you want something you

can't just pray to a deity and just say

okay give me a million dollars or

whatever it might be

so this idea of luck this idea of trying

to gather luck

that's also in clinging to rights and

rituals the idea that if i only do it

this way

then

this is what's going to happen

or another way is clinging to schedules

clinging through

if this doesn't happen by this time i'm

going to get cranky you have to have

flexibility you have to be able to see

where you're clinging to is are you

clinging to routines are you clinging to

schedules

if you can be like water if you can be

flexible and just see everything as it

is

then there's no standpoints that you

hold on to there's nothing that you're

holding on to that causes this sense of

an identity in bhava

it's at bhava where the sense of self is

most apparent

but the process of bringing that sense

of self happens at clinging

when we talk about clinging to views

this is clinging to certain kinds of

wrong views

there are these 62 different types of

wrong views

let's go into all of them

well when we talk about the different

types of wrong views you can find it in

beginning one that talks about the

different kinds of self-use and the

different kinds of views about the world

eternalism annihilationism and so on and

so forth

in the buddha's time there were

different kinds of rival ascetics let's

see different kinds of teachings that

were going on

and there were six main kinds of

teachings one was the view of eternalism

that there is this self

that is eternal that is always ongoing

all pervasive

there was a view about

the idea that

you know there is

only

there is only enjoyments there's only

material enjoyments that's all you have

to do here there's no

need for merit there is no need to do

good actions there's no need to have

marriage there's no need to do certain

kinds of good actions for you to be able

to reap those merits

everything is just about take everything

is about just

enjoying yourself to the fullest

right so that creates a lot of

attachment to the sixth sense basis

eternalism gives this idea of

an eye that i am here i am present

and it causes to create this conceit

this

uh identity from which you act

there was a view in relation to

asceticism i have to

i have to

do certain kinds of practices

in order to negate my karma

so this was the view of of the jains

right

so the views of the view of the jains

was

that there is a soul

that continues to reincarnate from

lifetime to

lifetime and here the idea is that

as it goes from one lifetime to the

other it accumulates karmic particles

karmic dust

intentionally or unintentionally that's

in direct violation of what the buddha

talks about which is karma is all about

intention

it's your intention not doing something

by mistake not doing something out of

having you know not an intention for

that

so intention is karma but here the view

is whether you did it or whether you

intended to do it or not you gather

these karmic particles and the idea is

in order for you to be able to get rid

of these karmic particles you have to do

certain kinds of purificatory rites and

rituals

you have to do certain kind of ascetic

practices

so the buddha had a question about that

if you're doing these kinds of rights

and rituals

how much karma do you have left do you

know your balance of karma that you have

left

so for the buddha the response is it's

all about understanding

karma from the perspective of intention

and the effect of that intention and how

you react and respond

to that intention

then there is the view of what's known

as the eel wrigglers these are the

skeptics they don't have one way or the

other they don't know if this is right

or this is wrong that brings up a lot of

perplexity that brings up a lot of kinds

of doubts

so

that

kind of you

actually makes you confused about what

is wholesome and what is unwholesome

what is right view and what is wrong

view

then there is also attachment to right

view

you may actually have right view you may

actually understand what the dhamma is

you understand that there is meaning in

giving meaning in being generous

you understand that there is mother and

father which means that you have

gratitude towards one's parents

because they brought you here into this

life

for you to be able to have the potential

to experience nibana

and so on and so forth

and then you might have the

a form of super mundane right view which

is understanding dependent origination

to a certain extent

but there can arise based on that

conceit and pride

and you become what's known as a dhamma

defender

somebody criticizes the dhamma somebody

criticizes the twin practice somebody

criticizes what you're doing

what is

the emotion that arises in your mind is

it are you quick

to attach to that and say no no that's

not how it is are you quick to defend

the dhamma the dhamma doesn't need

defending

right so don't identify yourself with

the dhamma understand the dharma as it

actually is but don't cling to it

this is another kind of clinging to

views

and of course on the very mundane level

it's clinging to opinions clinging to

different kinds of ideas

this is what's happening

and this is what's happened all

throughout the different eons of samsara

when you cling to different kinds of

views when you cling to different kinds

of opinions

that can manifest at the very extreme

into wars the taking up of the stick and

sword as the buddha says

clinging to views

you see that on you know news channels

people are just

berating others because of their

clinging to views

or they're criticizing them for this or

criticizing them for that

and they forget that they should be

compassionate they completely forget

about loving kindness they completely

forget about compassion completely

forget about equanimity all there is is

this is my view and i am right and you

are wrong

and what does that create

that creates a version

that creates ill-will

that creates hatred

so having a standpoint like that and

holding on to views in that way trying

to defend your views

taking it personally causes you

suffering

and it creates all of these habitual

tendencies to cling to those views and

then if somebody says something that

does not resonate with what you know to

be true apparently you know to be true

and it doesn't resonate with you what

happens there is this habitual tendency

to incline the mind towards oh they are

wrong and then you want to say that they

are wrong or you want to defend yourself

or you want to defend that particular

view

so when you recognize this oh i'm

noticing this

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension

generate a wholesome state of mind and

then respond

there's a difference between reacting

and responding

you react from greed hatred and delusion

but you respond from wisdom and

compassion

and the difference between the two is

the six r's

if you notice a reaction coming up

you can recognize it you can release

your attention from it relax the

tightness and tension

come back to the smile

and generate something wholesome and

then respond from that

this is how you de-escalate situations

this is how

you have peace

when there is discord

this is where you have unity where there

is division

this is how to do it so loving-kindness

and compassion and all these things is

not about just feeling all good and

everything else

it's also about being able to convey

that to others

through your intentions

through your speech and through your

actions

notice that recognize that recognize

when your mind has ill will when it's

clinging to a view and let it go replace

it with loving-kindness and compassion

and then there's clinging to self view

so this clinging to self view is this

identification

with one or more of the five aggregates

there are these 20 different types of

self-view

but it's very easy to understand them

it's the five aggregates

right multiplied by four types of views

so for example

you take the five aggregates one or more

of the five aggregates as self

or you see self in one or more of the

five aggregates

or you see self separate from the five

aggregates

or you see that the five aggregates

originate from a sense of self

so these are the different kinds of self

views and there's many more but these

are the main categories

and when this is there there comes to be

this attachment to form attachment to

feeling attachment to perception

attachment to intention or formations

or attachment to

consciousness attachment to awareness

one way or the other when that happens

the mind responds or rather reacts

from a sense of self

a wrong sense of self

so the clinging to self view also has to

do with is there a self or is there not

a self

if you say there is not a self what is

that self that says that there is not a

self

so

let go of the idea of self or not self

it's not about that

right it's understanding that things are

impersonal and that gives you peace of

mind

and so when the buddha talks about what

he teaches he says i teach only two

things suffering and the cessation of

suffering

does what you do lead to suffering or

does it lead to the cessation of

suffering

so clinging to self-use has to do with

clinging to a sense of identity

let go of that recognize when the mind

starts to identify with something

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension come back to

the smile

and be happy

so with craving as condition clinging

comes to be

now craving that's the big word tanha

tanha in pali means thirst

to be thirsty

to want something very badly that's one

side of it

or to have resistance against something

that's the other side of it or to

strongly identify with something

so in other words there's the craving

for a pleasant feeling

there's the aversion for an unpleasant

feeling

or towards an unpleasant feeling and

there is the identification whether it's

pleasant painful

or neutral

so craving manifests as tightness and

tension

there are three types of craving there

are essential craving craving for

existence craving for non-existence

what is sensual craving

you see something beautiful

and you want it you say i really like

that

i want more of that

and how do you know if there's craving

there if you take away that object how

does the mind respond

does it hold on to it get upset when

it's not

there is there tightness and tension

built around that

why does the tightness intention come

about

the tightness and tension arises

because of the mindset that the mind has

been conditioned to behave in

this

fight or flight or freeze

kind of condition

so when it sees something beautiful or

when it experiences something beautiful

when it has a pleasant feeling

the mind says i hope this doesn't stop i

really like this and i want more of it

and so it gravitates towards it and the

mind

tenses up the body recoils the body

tenses up for wanting that thing

and when it acquires it and has it it

feels relief

this is the way the mind has always been

conditioned to experience reality

on the flip side of that if there is

something that is aversive if there is

something that is unpleasant

the mind recoils them in fear or an

anxiety or in resistance or in

frustration or an irritation or an anger

or hatred or whatever it might be the

mind says oh i don't like that and so it

does everything it can to push that away

and as soon as it pushes away it feels

relief from that

so it's conditioned in this way

but when you do the six r's what are you

doing you're reconditioning the mind

you're deconditioning the usual way in

how you respond to situations or react

to situations and now reconditioning the

mind

so instead of

experiencing relief

by

acting upon the craving or the aversion

you can experience relief

and then not have to crave for something

not to have resistance towards something

so if you notice the craving coming up

if you notice the mind says i want this

and i want to own this or if you notice

the mind says i really hate this

recognize that release your attention

from that relax the tightness and

tension

when you relax the tightness and tension

you feel spaciousness

you feel

happy

you feel clear

then you generate something wholesome

like the smile

and now you respond with wisdom you feel

relief right there and then when you

relax

so why do you need to act upon your

craving if you feel relief right there

and then

why do you need to act upon your

resistance and aversion if you feel

relief right there and then

so you let go of that

and you experience relief and then no

craving arises further

no aversion arises further no

identification arises further so we're

talking about sensual craving here that

is related to

the five physical sense basis

craving for sound or having irritation

when somebody coughs while you're

meditating

or somebody bangs open the door or

closes the door whatever it might be or

there's a lawnmower going outside and

you hear that you get irritated by that

that irritation is the aversion and

identifying with that sound

or when you're meditating you experience

back pain you experience some kind of a

pain now it could be meditation pain or

it can be physical pain

how is it meditation pain

you know it's meditation pain when you

get up

you move around and it goes away but

physical pain

stays

it remains

regardless of what the pain is that is a

painful feeling

how do you choose to respond to that

painful feeling does the mind get

distracted by it and starts to get

irritated by it or starts to wish that

this pain was not there

or does it see it for what it actually

is this pain is present

it's not me it's not mine it's not

myself

just let go recognize the aversion to it

recognize the pain and the aversion to

it

release your attention from it relax the

tightness and tension relax the aversion

let go of that abandon it

come back to the smile and come back to

the wholesome object of meditation

so when we talk about

craving for existence what is craving

for existence

why am i not in this jhana yet

why am i not feeling the loving-kindness

yet

why haven't i achieved nibbana yet

what's going on

this is a type of craving for existence

on the very mundane level it's like

craving for being someone

i want to be the best meditator ever i

want to be

a millionaire i want to own this kind of

a car i want to be known as this kind of

person

i want to have this kind of vacation

i want to have this kind of family i

want to have this kind of recognition in

society and so on and so forth

these are all craving for existence

so when you can recognize that you can

recognize oh the mind is

wanting this the mind is saying why am i

not in this genre yet the mind is

you notice that especially in quiet mind

right what happens in quiet mind

you have boredom

or there can be a tendency for boredom

to arise

and then what happens with that boredom

it can manifest as restlessness

or as slot and torpor

when you have a lot of thoughts when you

have a lot of energy when you have a lot

of different streams of ideas and things

going on that's the restlessness

so you balance that when you have slot

intorpor you have a lot of

dullness of mind

the mind feels

like it's unable to pay attention to

what's going on

and so this manifests as boredom there's

nothing going on in quiet mind

it's completely quiet there's no

vibrations going on

it could happen for

five minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes an

hour two hours three hours

nothing going on

and then an inkling of boredom arises

and says

where's nirvana

right it's waiting for nibana

so when we say patience leads to nibana

we're not saying wait for nibana

right waiting is another word for

craving

expectation is another word for craving

you're not waiting for anything you're

just there

present in quiet mind

expectations

are meant to never be met

when you have an expectation

it either exceeds it

something happens and it exceeds the

expectation

or it doesn't meet up to that

expectation rarely does it ever actually

meet

your exact expectations

so let go of expectations let go of this

idea i have to do it this way or i have

to do it that way or i want it to be

exactly like this let go of that when

you notice the mind saying

in your mind you will notice it says i

want to be

or i want this when you notice that

let go of it seeks art

because if you act upon that if you say

i want to be this there is this sense of

self that arises

conjoined with that

and then there will be clinging and then

there will be becoming and then there

will be birth of action that causes

further suffering

craving for non-existence

i don't want this hindrance to be

present here is this hindrance

i don't like it

i don't want it to be here

on a mundane level and at the very

extreme level of craving for

non-existence it can manifest as suicide

why does a person want to commit suicide

generally

they feel this

intense

emotion they feel like as if they are

being overwhelmed they feel like there's

so many things being

you know bombarded bombarding their

senses bombarding their mind they can't

handle it anymore

and they're like i wish this would stop

that's a craving for non-existence and

sometimes they take their own lives

because they think that's relief

from this painful existence

this is a type of craving for

non-existence

so when you recognize that aversion when

you recognize oh i don't like to be in

this state of mind or i don't like to be

with this person or i don't like to be

here or i don't like to be in this

family or whatever it is recognize that

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension come back to

the smile

generate a wholesome object generate

equanimity

bring up equanimity stay stay with that

equanimity the more you do this

the more you decondition the mind from

these kinds of craving

and recondition the mind with wisdom

because you're seeing how your mind's

attention moves from one thing to the

other that's mindfulness

you're recognizing that okay mind is now

feeling this way mind is not

experiencing this

let go of that and come back to wisdom

come back to compassion come back to

equanimity come back to loving kindness

with feeling as conditioned craving

comes to be

when we talk about feeling that comes

from the word vedana

when we talk about vedan aveda means to

know

so veda comes from the word vidya to

know

so whether whatever feeling you are

experiencing through the sixth sense

spaces is vedana it's feeling

it's an experience to be felt

tied to this feeling there is perception

so feeling is one thing perception is

the other but they're tight together

remember i said before feel feeling is

just the

seeing of the green leaf

but knowing that it is a green leaf is

perception

recognizing that that color is green

recognizing that that is a leaf is

perception

now there can be pleasant feeling there

can be unpleasant feeling and there can

be neither painful nor pleasant feeling

there are 108 types of feeling

depending upon how you categorize it

but just for simplicity's sake we'll

talk about the six feelings

dependent upon

contact with the sixth sense basis

so you can be seeing something

hearing something

touching something tasting something

smelling something thinking something

so that's just the experience that is

felt

but within that experience they can

arise potential for craving

or potential for aversion

these are known as underlying tendencies

anusayas in pali

and there are seven of these there's the

underlying tendency to word screen

there's the underlying tendency towards

aversion

the underlying tendency towards

ignorance

the underlying tendency towards doubt

the underlying tendency towards conceit

the underlying tendency towards becoming

and the underlying tendency towards

views about something so you're having

an experience how do you take that

experience

as soon as you see this experience and

say this experience is me mine or myself

now you have taken it personally

having taken it taken it personally

the mind will have an underlying

tendency to crave for the pleasant

feeling or the mind will have an

underlying

tendency to have aversion towards the

painful feeling or have ignorance lack

of mindfulness ignorance is lack of

mindfulness or manifests

as lack of mindfulness not paying

attention to things as they really are

so how do you see things as they really

are

every experience that you're having

right now

whether it's here

whether it's walking whether it's eating

whether it's sitting whether it's

standing whether it's meditating

all experiences

are conditioned

conditioned by contact

because they're conditioned because of

dependently arisen they arise and they

pass away

which means that they are impermanent

therefore they are not worth holding

onto and they should be seen as not me

not mine not myself

when we talk about anatha there is a way

of understanding anatha the impersonal

nature of things

during the buddha's time and generally

in ancient india they had the concept of

ata or atman

the idea of a core

permanent

all-pervading unchanging

self

and the buddha comes along and says okay

all conditioned things and even nibana

is not self

what he says is if you're going to use

the self as a touchstone

your concept of a self which is

right that it is existent that it is

always there present and that it is a

source of bliss if you're going to use

that

let's see your experiences are they self

whatever experience you're having

whatever

feeling that you're experiencing

whatever it is that arises

it's arising based on causes and

conditions

because it is arising based on causes

and conditions it's impermanent

seeing it as impermanent you realize

that it is not self because whatever is

impermanent is liable to change if it's

a good thing it's liable to change and

inherently it can cause you suffering

so whether it's good bad or indifferent

pleasant painful or neither painful nor

pleasant

it is not self

don't take it personally the moment you

take any experience personally whether

right now or whether in the meditation

you are going to cause yourself

suffering because what arises dependent

upon that is craving

or aversion

and then based on that there is clinging

associating something with it making

favorites out of it thinking about it

adding fuel to the fire of craving or

aversion

adding fuel to the fires of greed hatred

and delusion

and then dependent upon that you start

to create this sense of self it becomes

more concrete

at bhava and you have all of these

habitual tendencies which you act out of

which causes you suffering which causes

you dukkah

with contact as conditioned feeling

comes to be

contact this comes from the pali word

fasa

or spersha in sanskrit in hindi

that just basically means to touch

make contact with

so what is the contact we're talking

about here

the eye

and form they make contact and there is

eye feeling

the sound and the ear they touch they

make contact and born from that is your

feeling

hearing the sensation of the ear

likewise with the nose and odors

likewise with the taste and

the tongue and tastes

likewise with body intangibles and

likewise with mind and mental objects

that's just contact

so when we talk about contact in geno

for example right when we looked at

majaminikaya 111 we saw that there was

contact feeling perception intention

attention mind

you know all of these other things so

what was the contact there

contact there was the mind making

contact with the mental object

loving kindness for example dependent

upon that that there is the feeling of

loving-kindness there is a perception

that the mind is in loving-kindness

so

contact

is just

the touching of i and form and so on and

so forth

so when the i and form meet

they can arise i consciousness

the joining of these three is eye

contact

and dependent upon that comes i feeling

so in other words that means

that if the eye is defective

that

there a person is blind or the ear is

defective or person is deaf

even if light

bounces off an object and hits the

retina

there is no eye consciousness present

and so there is no i feeling dependent

upon that

dependent upon that contact or if a

person is deaf

fine there is sound but there's no

reception of that sound

and because of that there is no your

consciousness

and therefore dependent upon that there

won't be any hearing going on

so you need that too you need the eye

consciousness your consciousness nose

consciousness

tongue consciousness

body consciousness and mind

consciousness we'll get into

consciousness in a little bit

with the sixth sense basis as condition

contact comes to be

so the sixth sense basis that's

basically what

the eyes

the ears

the nose the tongue

the body

and the mind

that's it that's the sixth sense basis

so

they're just present i mean there's

nothing you can do about it they are

present everything from ignorance all

the way up to feeling

all of that is old karma that you're

inheriting dependent upon previous

choices that you're making

so however your eyes are however your

ears are however your nose is however

your tongue is however your body is

however your mind is

it's dependent on previous choices that

you've made

so it is only just old karma to be

experienced and felt at feeling

what you choose to do and how you choose

to react with that

is what will either cause the craving

and therefore the clinging and therefore

the becoming and therefore the birth of

further reaction

or you can understand all of this as an

impersonal process and don't take it

personally

once you see it as it actually is

once you have attention rooted in

reality

that is yoni so mana sakhara

then you see everything as a series of

dependent causes and conditions

because of that you don't take them

personally because of that you don't

have craving for this or aversion

towards that so whatever arises just

ceases there without any fuel of craving

or clinging or becoming

this is how you dissipate karma

karma arises for example a hindrance

arises what is that

that's old karma that's a mental

experience

mind made contact and now there is

a hindrance present

how do you deal with that hindrance do

you crave for it

do you have resistance towards it you

have aversion towards it

and if you do what's going to happen

you're going to cling

and then when you have clinging you have

becoming and then you have the birth of

action and then you have further

suffering

or you can choose to see this hindrance

as being present and being impersonal

don't take it personally your hindrance

has arisen

if you do anything

but see it for what it actually is

you're going to cause yourself suffering

but if you see the hindrance acknowledge

that it is there

release your attention from that gently

bring it back relax the mind and body

which means you relax the tightness and

tension

and come back to the smile come back to

your object

you are dealing with that hindrance with

proper wisdom with correct wisdom

with name and form or mentality

materiality as condition the sixth sense

basis come to be

mentality materiality that is mind and

body or name and form

so when we talk about mentality there

are certain factors to mentality

there's contact there's feeling there's

perception there's inclination or

intention and there is attention

and then when we talk about materiality

that is the body

so in essence what we are talking about

are the five aggregates

form here or materiality is made up of

the four great elements

or the four states of matter

you have the earth element

or the solid state of matter you have

the liquid the water element or the

liquid state of matter

you have the air element or the gaseous

state of matter and you have the fire

element or the plasma state of matter

the heat the temperature

so these start to make up the body

contact with the body gives rise to

feeling perception

intention or inclination and attention

so contact is the key here

so when we're talking about contact

feeling and perception we see that it's

there in mentality but we're also seeing

it further down in the chain we're

seeing it as contact as a link we're

seeing feeling as a link so what's the

difference between the two

these are the faculties in the mind that

allow you to experience contact

so that is the receptors the sense-based

receptors are in mentality materiality

the feeling that's there it's the

faculty of feeling allowing you to

actually experience something the

faculty of perception these are your

memory centers in the mind that allow

you to recognize and label what it is

that you are experiencing

intention or inclination allowing you to

act on something

that is caitanya it comes from the word

caitanya that is to incline the mind

towards one thing or the other this is

what is meant by when we say where is

your inclination where are your

intentions if you want to understand

formations the quality of formations

look at where your intentions lie look

at where your inclinations lie

and so formations

go through the formation aggregate goes

through intention

and finally attention consciousness

flows through attention you have an

intention to bring your attention or

awareness here and so now there is a

cognizing of this

and so now there is an awareness of this

and so now there is a attention to this

consciousness flows through wherever the

attention is put on something

so na marupa mentality materiality are

basically the five aggregates

so with mentality

you experience materiality

but without materiality you can't have

mentality

they are they are interdependent

you need the mentality or you need the

materiality for the mentality to be

housed into something

and you need the mentality in order to

know that you have a body

in order to know what is materiality

so when we talk about what is mind mind

is defined by its factors by its

faculties which give rise to the

processes

so the the faculty of con contact allows

you to experience contact the process of

contact

the faculty of feeling allows you to

experience the process of feeling

the faculty of perception allows you to

experience

the process

of perception the faculty of intention

or inclination allows you to experience

the process of formations how they arise

and manifest

the faculty of attention allows you to

cognize allows you to have

the process of cognizing whatever it is

that you are experiencing

with consciousness as conditioned name

and form come to be

consciousness

consciousness comes from the word

vinyana

vinyana means so there's v

and nyana

means knowledge

and v means to divide it's divided

knowledge what does that mean knowledge

divided by the experience of the sixth

sense basis

in other words

there is the eye consciousness there is

the your consciousness there is the nose

consciousness there is the tongue

consciousness there is the body

consciousness and there is mind

consciousness

this is all happening on the micro level

when you go into the sixth jhana when

you go into infinite consciousness what

is it that you're experiencing

you're experiencing the arising and

passing away of infinite

eye consciousness so infinite ear

consciousness or infinite nose

consciousness or whatever it might be

so like i said when you experience

contact that is the joining of the i the

form and i consciousness

so cognizing the experience of i

the eye or the ear or the nose or the

tongue the body or the mind

so consciousness basically is cognition

it's awareness

now on the macro level we talk about it

from the perspective of rebirth from one

lifetime to the other where

consciousness

as a gandaba

as a potential being descends into a

namarupa descends into a mentality

materiality so for simply simplicity's

sake what happens is

when a person dies when there's a

dissolution of the body what arises is

certain kinds of thoughts and ideas and

concepts

and then the mind takes that and either

has craving towards it grasps at it or

has aversion towards it that gives rise

to certain kinds of formations which

we'll get to those formations activate a

type of consciousness that is rooted in

that kind of craving that consciousness

then goes from there and descends into a

new namarupa

into a new mind and body that manifests

when there is birth

and that is when there's procreation

when that happens then that

consciousness dissipates and there is a

new arising and passing away of

individual consciousnesses in that nama

rupa in that mentality materiality

so that is why we say

name and form are dependent upon

consciousness

on the macro level on the micro level it

is also dependent upon consciousness

because it is without without

consciousness you won't be able to know

that there is a body you won't be able

to cognize the different factors of the

mind

and now in some of the

renditions of the links of dependent

origination there is an interdependency

here as well

dependent upon consciousness

mind and body arise

and dependent upon mind and body

consciousness arises

why is that

because in order for consciousness to

come into being it needs a mind and body

on the micro on the macro level on the

micro level you need some kind of body

in order for you to experience the

cognition of something

you need the mentality factors for you

to be able to cognize that here is

contact here is feeling here is

perception here is intention here is

attention you need the mind and body in

order for you to cognize

the sixth sense basis

so that's why that is why you have the

eye consciousness the ear consciousness

the nose consciousness the tongue

consciousness the body consciousness and

mind consciousness

with formations as condition

consciousness comes to be

now formations

that comes from the word sankhara

or samskaras in sanskrit

sankhara actually

has different kinds of connotations it

can mean formations it can mean to

prepare preparations

a more modern rendition is percolations

because thoughts percolate up

right there's these proto thoughts in

the mind when you're in quiet mind for

example

when you're in quiet mind when you're

neither perception or non-perception

you're not able to really recognize what

it is that you're seeing you might see

certain pictures you might see certain

kinds of

ideas you might see some kind of

disconnected thoughts but not they're

not fully formed thoughts so these are

proto thoughts that percolate up

into fully formed thoughts and these are

the formations

so

sankhara also means to cook up something

literally it means to make something to

cook something

so the formations cook up your reality

everything you're experiencing is based

on formations

there are three types of formations

mental formations

bodily formations and verbal formations

mental formations are related to feeling

and perception whether it's mental

feeling and perception

or feeling and perception born from the

other five physical sense basis

verbal formations have to do with your

expression of speech

you hear something it makes contact with

you you think about it that process of

thinking about it is verbalizing and

then that process then

actuates into speech actuates into

um

expression of something that you

perceive

so verbal formations are responsible for

this

traditionally bodily formations are

associated with breathing

because they allow you to breathe in and

out

but they allow you to do everything from

moving to sitting to standing to walking

so these formations

are then arising and give rise or

certain kind of consciousness

and then that manifests in a certain way

of how you perceive your mind and body

then the sixth sense bases make contact

with something and those formations then

further color

or cook up

how you experience reality

now formations

are carriers of karma as well

so contact when we talk about the link

of contact it is one of the keys to

understanding this whole process of

dependent origination because from

contact feeling arises perception arises

intention arises karma arises

if there was no contact no karma would

arise

and for karma to arise it has to flow

through the links of dependent

origination the formations carry forward

that

and if the formations are pure or unpure

or impure rather

that will then determine what kind of

consciousness arises

in terms of how the consciousness is

colored is the consciousness rooted in

envy is the consciousness rooted in

anger is the consciousness rooted in

bitterness or is the consciousness

rooted in generosity and seeing things

as they are being happy and fulfilled

so if the formations are fettered

that means they are fettered by

ignorance

by craving by conceit by wrong views

how are they fettered

consciousness or rather

formations

are dependent upon your previous

intentions that is why i say if you want

to understand the quality of your

formations

notice

how you're intending things notice where

your mind is inclining to words

in every given present moment you have a

choice

you can choose to be wholesome or

unwholesome

now the rudder

the compass

gravitates towards either the wholesome

or the unwholesome that gravitation

process is dependent upon

the choices you made before

so if you start to act upon whatever

choices you made before then those

formations will continue

but if you see it for what it is and

stop becoming unwholesome

and gravitate your compass towards a

wholesome choice

then the next arising of formations are

conditioned by that choice

so those formations start to be whittled

away in terms of the feathers of

of conceit

of craving of ignorance of wrong view

so once that starts to get starts to

loosen up what happens those formations

start to become purer and pure and pure

eventually those formations become

completely unfettered untainted and so

any consciousness that arises is pure

which means now conscious consciousness

that arises will not be rooted in any

kind of emotion will not be rooted in

any kind of tendency

and it won't give rise to any kind of

tendency it will just see reality as it

actually is

so when formations arise in a completely

purified mind

they're just carrying forward karma

carrying forward

the

the effects of choices made prior to

full awakening

and those choices are then manifested in

feeling

and because the mind is completely pure

it's not going to react to that

experience in a way that causes craving

or identify with that experience or have

ignorance which is a lack of mindfulness

it will just see things as they are and

so that karma will just dissipate bit by

bit by bit

on a practical level when you're

meditating and you have a hindrance that

arises what is that that's old karma

that is the snowball effect of

formations that were fettered and rooted

in choices that were unwholesome at some

point

so now you're experiencing that

hindrance now you don't have to be

guilty because you did something in the

previous choice that caused you to have

that hindrance you just see that that

hindrance is present

if you take it personally you're going

to only add to that energy of hindrance

but

if you see it for what it actually is

and you 6r

then what you're doing is you're

whittling away at that hindrance so it

might arise again

but it will be weaker this time around

and it might arise again and it'll be

weaker in that next moment it might

arise yet again but it will be even

weaker eventually there is the

remainderless fading away

of that

of that hindrance

so this is the way to understand

formations just see where your choices

lie

where are you making your choices and

then if your choices are rooted in the

wholesome then you know the formations

are coming up that are coming up are

rooted in the wholesome they are not

rooted in greed hatred or delusion they

are rooted in non-greed non-hatred

non-delusion

with ignorance as condition formations

come to be

what is ignorance

it is ignoring the four noble truths

ignoring the first noble truth of

suffering ignoring the second noble

truth of

the cause of suffering

ignoring the third noble truth of the

cessation of suffering and ignoring the

fourth noble truth of the way leading to

the cessation of suffering that is

ignorance

ignorance of the four noble truths now

there's levels of ignorance there's the

ignorance that you have never been

introduced to the four noble truths you

don't even know that there's something

called the four noble truths you've

never been introduced to the dhamma

that's one level of ignorance

that you don't know that you don't know

right

but then there's another level of

ignorance which arises because of lack

of mindfulness now you have been taught

the dharma now you know

what is right for you now you know

what is suffering now you understand

what is the cause of suffering now you

understand how to let go of that

suffering and experience the cessation

of suffering

or rather how to let go of the cause

so that you experience the cessation of

suffering

but every time you have lack of

attention

lack of mindfulness

lack of awareness

that adds to the link

that adds energy back to the link of

ignorance

but every time you recognize you are

aware and you use the six r's you are

whittling away at that ignorance

because why

because

every time you recognize you are

recognizing there is suffering present

in the form of this hindrance or

whatever it might be

every time you release and relax you are

abandoning

the attention to that suffering

attention to that hindrance

and thereby experiencing the third noble

truth

of the cessation of that hindrance the

cessation of that dukkha

and every time you use the six r's you

are utilizing the fourth noble truth

which is the eightfold path

because the six r's are right effort

which is the heart of the eightfold path

it is from right effort that you go from

wrong view to right view

wrong intention to right intention

wrong speech to right speech

wrong action to right action wrong

livelihood to right livelihood wrong

mindfulness to right mindfulness and

wrong collectedness to right

collectedness

so the way to let go of ignorance is to

continue to be

mindful

whether there is an arising of the

tagatha or no arising of a tata

that element still persists meaning this

dependent origination will still

continue whether there is a buddha to

let you know about it or not

the stableness of the dhamma the dhamma

being dependent origination

the fixed course of the dhamma specific

conditionality

it's only from birth that aging and

death come to be it's only from becoming

that birth comes to be

now here's another way of understanding

this on the micro level

you can see dependent origination like a

river

the ignorance the formations

the

consciousness

the mentality materiality the sixth

sense basis the contact all of these are

streams

and then there's the feeling that arises

and these are whirlpools the feeling the

craving the clinging the becoming all of

these are there cascading down

at each point you can six r them you can

six are the craving that is rooted in

them

six are the ignorance that is rooted in

them six are the conceit that is rooted

in them okay

but

if you have the birth of action that is

the bend of the so the bend of the

waterfall when you're having the river

the bend of the waterfall is the

becoming

the bhava

but the waterfall itself you cannot swim

up the waterfall

once you have done the action you cannot

recall the action

you can't say something terrible and six

art

out of existence

so whatever it is that you're thinking

saying or doing that is the birth of

action birth of reaction you can't do

anything about it but you can do

something about all of the preceding

links before that

and that is by using the 6rs

a tattagata

awakens to this and breaks through to it

having done so he explains it

teaches it proclaims it establishes it

discloses it analyzes it elucidates it

and he says see

with this as conditions

because that comes to be

thus because

the actuality in this

the inerrancy

the not not other wiseness

specific conditionality this is called

dependent origination

the actuality in this

it is existing it is there it is present

whether you recognize it or not

that is

reality conditioned reality

the inerrancy

meaning there's no way for you to change

it

in terms of its order it's just

happening the way it will happen that's

the specific conditionality

and the not otherwise

you cannot replace this link with

another link

you can destroy the links as you get

through each of the attainments so that

they don't arise but you can't replace

it you can't say okay i'm not going to

have craving i'm going to replace it

with clinging there's a specific order

in how these things arise

now with each attainment certain levels

of clinging go away certain levels of

craving go away

so in the case of a soda panna what goes

away

the clinging to rights and rituals

the clinging to wrong views goes away

because now they have established the

right view

the

sakadagami weakens sensual craving and

weakens

the

aversion

but the anagami lets go of any kind of

clinging to sensual pleasures let's go

of sensual craving altogether

and then finally with the arhat they let

go of the craving for non-existence the

craving for existence and they let go of

the clinging to any kind of

views even clinging to right view right

and they also let go of clinging to

self-you there's no more identification

with this that or the other

so as you continue to progress through

this practice you start to whittle away

grind away at these different links

until they no longer are present

and so in that mind that is fully

awakened

what arises are formations that are pure

consciousness that is pure

nama rupa depended upon that

consciousness

the sixth sense basis contact

and feeling and perception tied to that

feeling but there is no more ignorance

there is no more craving there is no

more clinging there is no more becoming

there is no more birth of reaction

so how does a fully awakened mind act

how do they think how do they

intentionalize how do they speak

the ignorance is replaced by right view

which means they have a full

understanding of the four noble truths

they have a complete understanding of

suffering they have fully abandoned

the origin of suffering namely craving

and ignorance and so on

and they have fully realized the

cessation of of suffering meaning they

have fully realized nibana

fully realized nirota

and they are fully cultivated and

perfected the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

which is the eightfold path

so for such a for such a mind

that speech that arises that action that

arises is not rooted in craving is not

rooted in clinging is not rooted in

becoming

that action is rooted in right action

that speech is rooted in right speech

that intention is rooted in right

intention

which means the default mode of

functioning for such a per for such a

mind

is always rooted in the eightfold path

they automatically act or speak or

intentionalize

from the eightfold path

and the eightfold path is also the

cessation of karma

which means they don't produce any new

karma there's no birth of action or

reaction

there is just karma in terms of activity

ineffective karma

non-productive karma

non-fruitful karma because whatever

karma that they produce

is dissipated right there and then

because of the usage of the eightfold

path

which means the cessation of karma

happens through using the six r's

you can six r all the way

to our heart ship

6r everything until there's nothing left

to 6r

so for that mind like i said there's no

ignorance now all that's remaining is

the formations

the consciousness

the namarupa or mentality materiality

sixth sense spaces contact and feeling

everything else is non-functional it

doesn't even occur doesn't even arise

the seeds of that are completely

destroyed

and what beekus are the dependently

arisen phenomena

it's not like these are two different

things dependent origination is the

dhamma dependently arisen phenomena are

the same as depend as the dhamma

so whatever you're experiencing right

now is all the dhamma

dependently arisen phenomenon and what

is that

aging and death because is impermanent

conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction

vanishing fading away and cessation

birth is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction

vanishing

fading away and cessation

habitual tendencies are impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction vanishing

fading away and cessation

clinging is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

craving is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

feeling is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

contact is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

the sixth sense bases are impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction

vanishing fading away and cessation

mentality materiality is impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

consciousness is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

formations are impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

ignorance is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen

subject to destruction vanishing fading

away and cessation these bikus are

called the dependently arisen phenomenon

each of the links of dependent

origination being conditioned

being dependently arisen are subject to

change subject to destruction

subject to vanishing away subject to

cessation

so why would you hold on to any of those

links

see them all as being impermanent

subject to change don't hold on to them

that will be for your benefit

not otherwise

when because a noble disciple

a noble disciple is one who has an

attainment meaning they have attained to

stream entry or attained

to sakuragami whatever it might be

has clearly seen with correct wisdom as

it really is this dependent origination

which means has clearly seen what

happens

when the mind comes out of cessation

it sees dependent origination

it makes contact with nibana

it sees dependent origination and has

wisdom correct wisdom

this is the ultimate insight the

understanding of dependent origination

and these dependently arisen for

phenomena it is impossible

that he will run back into the past

thinking

did i exist in the past

did i not exist in the past

what was i in the past

how was i

in the past having been what what did i

become in the past

why is that

because he understands that the self is

dependently arisen the idea of a self is

dependently arisen so which self are you

talking about are you talking about your

two year old self or your seven year old

self or your 10 year old self

or your 15 year old self

or are you talking about the self that

was on a tuesday on march 5th 1999

are you thinking about all of these

things you see everything has

dependently arisen so why would you take

all of that personal

all of that past is passed why would you

think about how did i arise or how did

this come to be it just arose because of

causes and conditions

in the same way

or that he will run forward into the

future thinking

will i exist in the future will i not

exist in the future what will i be in

the future how will i be in the future

having been what what will i become in

the future

would you think about the future once

you see everything as being dependently

arisen would you really worry about the

future you understand certain causes and

conditions have come to be and they will

lead to a certain kind of future but

will you really worry about that will we

have anxiety about that

if you have fully let go

you're not going to have any anxiety

about the future

likewise

or that he will now be inwardly confused

about the present thus

do i exist

do i not exist what am i how am i

this being where has it come from and

where will it go

when was the last time you thought do i

exist

or do i not exist

so all of these kinds of questions about

existence and about the self

they are

unnecessary

they don't lead to the cessation of

suffering

they don't lead to the understanding of

what is suffering

they don't lead to the realization of

the four noble truths

so even if you're staying in the present

even if you are in the present moment

is there a sense of self there or are

you just observing things as they

actually

are don't hold on to anything not even

the present moment

as soon as you hold on to the present

moment it's gone

what you think to be this present moment

is not the present moment

it is a reflection of what you think is

the present moment

so don't hold on to any standpoints

about the past

the future or the present

for what reason is this impossible

because because the noble

this disciple

has clearly seen with correct wisdom as

it really is

this dependent origination

and these dependently arisen phenomenal

you

[Music]

do

[Music]

so today

we're going to be

talking about dependent origination

the suit that i'm reading from is samyta

nikaya

12.20 12.20

and it's called conditions

at savathi

because i will teach you dependent

origination and dependently arisen

phenomenon

listen and attend closely i will speak

yes venerable sir those because replied

the blessed one said this

and what beku's is dependent origination

with birth as condition aging and death

comes to be

whether there is the arising of a

tatargata

or no arising of

a tata gata

that element still persists

the stableness of the dhamma

the fixed course of the dhamma specific

conditionality

so in other words whether we have a

buddha or not

dependent origination is still there

dependent origination is the mechanics

of karma

it's the mechanics of what

runs the machinery of samsara

it's only

understood

for the first time after a long time by

a sama buddha or by a buddha in general

and it is a tagat who then explains it

as

wisdom

once you understand dependent

origination then it is said that you

have wisdom

and a very specific kind of wisdom

so here it says

whether there is an arising of a tata

or no arising of a tata

that element still persists in other

words

aging and death will still persist

birth will still persist

and so too with all of the links of

dependent origination they will still

persist they still continue whether you

realize it or not

the difference is that rediscovers it

and then proclaims it

a tatargata awakens to this and breaks

through to it

having done so he explains it

teaches it proclaims it

establishes it discloses it analyzes it

elucidates it

and he says see with birth as condition

because

aging and death

so when we talk about dependent

origination it's really about causality

and conditionality

with the arising of this there is the

arising of that with the cessation of

this there is the cessation of that

so when we talk about aging and death

that's just one component that's

called

and aging and death is inescapable

everybody experiences aging and death

and along with that in certain sutas it

talks about it

in addition to that is the whole mass of

suffering

so

grief lamentation sorrow despair and

this whole mass of suffering

so when we talk about aging and death it

is unpreventable it will be there

aging manifests in so many different

ways

it manifests as

you know getting old getting

weaker in your faculties

whether that's mental or physical

and death of course is the dissolution

of the body the solution of the five

aggregates

so when we talk about dependent

origination we talk about it on two

different levels there is the macro

level

and there is the micro level

macro level of dependent origination

helps us understand how rebirth happens

how this process of going from one life

to another happens

but for the purpose of our understanding

we'll also explore more importantly the

micro level which is that

the links of dependent origination

arise and pass away in every moment

so with regards to aging and death the

body is

always in decline

always experiencing some form of aging

when you are born

you come with an expiry date

and whatever that expiry date is will be

the death of the body

now

you can't six our aging and death

try as you might you can't

right there's so many ways that people

try to prevent their death try to

prevent aging

and that stems from the fear of aging

and death

that stems from a fear of the unknown

there is this understanding of what's

known as the denial of death

and this was a big thing uh sometime

back in the 50s and 60s the denial of

death and something known as death

anxiety

and at the very extreme of that death

anxiety can cause a person to become

violent

can cause a person to become murderous

because the fear of death is such

that in order to feel like they have

power over death

they will destroy others

i destroy others and therefore i am a

conqueror of death

this is a very

convoluted idea

but

it can manifest in people who have

extreme

anxiety about death

so what can you six are what can you let

go of

you can let go of the fear of death

we can understand that death is a

natural part of life

aging is a natural part of life

so when you notice that the mind thinks

about death or the mind contemplates

death and there is some anxiety there

there's some fear there

there is some kind of

resistance there

you can recognize that

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension

come back to the smile and become more

wholesome generate a wholesome state of

mind

there's so many things people do to

prevent aging you know but all of that

stems from that desire to live forever

but that is not possible in samsara

now it says that with

birth as condition there comes to be

aging and death

when we talk about birth we're talking

about on two levels again we're talking

about

the macro and the micro

here we're talking about jathi that is

rebirth or birth on the macro level

and what is rebirth

a very simple way of understanding what

rebirth is

the same definition of insanity

doing the same thing over and over again

and expecting a different result

so you're going to find in your life

or in series of lives

that you come back to the same kind of

people that you come back to the same

kinds of situations that you come back

to the same kinds of reactions

and that's because you haven't

understood

that this is an impersonal process

you have not understood with wisdom

and because you keep reacting to it and

because you keep responding to it in

such a way that causes tightness and

tension

that causes craving and resistance you

will still continue to experience those

similar states

those similar states of existence and

meet with the similar kinds of people

so until you learn to see this and let

go of it you will still continue having

these kinds of rebirths

now on the micro level what we talk

about birth

is as birth of action

or birth of

reaction when we talk about birth of

action or birth of reaction we're

talking about

there arises this

thought and that is the birth of a

mental intention

there arises speech

and that is the birth of verbal action

there arises movement where you do

something

and that is the birth of physical action

and so with existence as condition

there comes to be birth

existence comes from the word power

and existence also can be habitual

tendencies

when we talk about existence in the

suttas it talks about three types of

existence

there is the existence in the sensual

realms

the existence in the form realms and the

existence in the formless realms

and habitual tendencies are that which

cause you to behave in a certain way

so dependent upon habitual tendencies

there is a certain type of birth of

action birth of reaction

now when we talk about the three types

of existences they can also be

psychological on the macro level it's

all about

you have a certain kind of mindset you

have a certain kind of response

and that gives rise

to a certain kind of

craving or a certain kind of grasping

that gives rise to certain formations

which then take root

in a new mentality materiality

when it takes root in the new mentality

materiality that is the new existence

and that could be the sense

sensual realms the sensual existence

that includes all of the hell realms all

the way up to the sixth

sensual heaven

so

what kind of existence you have is also

determined by your psychological state

now

that is to say if

the mind is filled with a lot of

wholesome

uh experiences

a lot of wholesome intentions

if the mind is filled with generosity if

the mind is filled with loving kindness

if the mind is filled with equanimity if

the mind is filled with forgiveness

if the mind is filled with patience

then what arises is a deva-like

mindset and a deva-like mindset

gives rise to a deva-like existence

whether it's in this life or in another

life

conversely if you have a mind that is

jealous envious

a mind that has a lot of

anger a lot of irritation

has a lot of ill will

that kind of mindset can give rise to a

hellish existence

it can be here you could have hell on

earth

through your psychological state

the way you behave

if you have certain kinds of intentions

rooted in anger

rooted in hatred

that causes you to see everything in a

hellish way

and so your habitual emotional reactions

are rooted in those kinds of intentions

now when we talk about

animal realms people can have

animalistic ways of being

they're very much caught up

in animalistic behaviors they're caught

up in trying to seek pleasure sense

pleasures

whether it's sex or food or whatever it

might be

and as they have these kinds of

animalistic desires animalistic

behaviors and intentions that gives rise

to a certain kind of psychological state

that is animalistic

and so the existence there is

animalistic

or hungry ghosts

people are craving for attention people

are craving for this or that

so if your habitual

tendencies are rooted in that

then the actions that you produce are

rooted in that kind of behavior if

you're always jealous always seeking for

things always craving for things

you'll have a very restless mindset

having that kind of a restless mindset

your actions that you produce the birth

of those actions

will be rooted in that kind of mindset

what about form realms and formless

realms

if your mind is in jhana

any of the four genres first second

third fourth channel

and you have a mind that is imbued with

the asianic factors

then you experience jhana all the time

you can experience china all the time

that means then your mind is rid

when you're in that state of any of the

hindrances

you don't have any kind of sensual

craving you don't have any kind of ill

will you don't have any kind of

restlessness you don't have any kind of

slot interpret you don't have any kind

of doubt

your mind is non-agitated

clear and free

imagine what that feels like 24 7.

being in that kind of giant state of

mind

and so your existence here right now can

be jonic

can be in a form realm

likewise on the macro level if a person

continues to develop jaundice but stays

attached to that that can cause them to

take

rebirth in a brahmaloka in a jana loka

and then the same goes for formless

realms infinite space infinite

consciousness

nothingness neither perception

non-perception

if a person becomes very much

attuned to infinite space they feel

compassion all the time they feel

infinite space all the time

or joy empathetic joy all the time along

with that

a feeling of infinite consciousness

that's a different kind of existence

that a person can have here and now but

as well as

on a macro level in another life

so habitual tendencies also known as

habitual emotional reactions

they are a repository of

the different types of reactions that

the mind settles on

the choices you make condition the next

set of choices that you can potentially

make

so if your mind inclines towards

reactions

and tendencies that are wholesome

then when you are met with something

your reactions or the library the

storehouse of reactions that you have

will be rooted in the wholesome so your

mind will incline towards the wholesome

if your mindset is unwholesome and your

reactions are always unwholesome you

react with irritation you react with

frustration you react with anger

then whenever you're met with something

your

mo will always be to react with anger

so your your rudder will always incline

towards something that is unwholesome

and so because of that your next action

will be dependent upon that inclination

these are the habitual tendencies this

is power

with clinging as condition

habitual tendencies come to be

now when we talk about clinging that

comes from the word upadhana

upadhana is that minds mind that grasps

at something

upadhana means acquisitions assets

wanting to grasp at something

it also means to refuel that craving

process

and there are different types of

clinging

there is a clinging to sensual

experiences

there is the clinging to views

there is the clinging to rights and

rituals

and there is a clinging to self-fuse

so when we talk about clinging to

sensual pleasures

on a very practical level clinging is

basically that process of mind that

associates

things

with other things

so you have traumatic experiences for

example

and you associate certain kinds of

sensual experiences

that happen during that traumatic

incident

and then your mind clings to that

like for example somebody is at a

funeral

and they're mourning their loved one

and somebody just pats that person's

back

you know now they've associated that

feeling with comfort they've associated

that feeling of that experience that

sensual experience

with grief as well with trauma

so sometimes you know you're even in a

wholesome state of mind

you might be in a wholesome environment

and then suddenly somebody just

you know passed your pats your back or

rubs your shoulder and then you're

immediately

brought back to that experience

this process of association this process

of

of bringing up these kinds of events and

then creating stories around them

this is clinging

on the flip side of that that's also

creating a sense of identity through

creating favorites

these are my favorite sensual

experiences

these are my favorite genre of music my

favorite genre of movies my favorite

fragrances my favorite foods my favorite

blanket whatever it might be

and so if you don't have those things or

you do have those things and then they

go away how do you react to it

do you have attachment to it

do you have craving for it do you cling

to it or do you see it for what it

actually is

it arose and it can pass away

when it arises the tendency is for

people to attach

to that arising process instead of

tending towards the cessation of an

experience

the mind that is fully awakened is

always in cessation and what that means

is that mind understands that everything

that arises passes away

everything that arises ceases

so clinging to sensual pleasures

creating favorites around sensual

experiences creating ideas around

sensual experiences

this is the grasping that happens

so when you recognize that or you can

actually 6r that you can recognize oh

i'm starting to cling to this

i'm starting to create associations here

you can recognize that release it

relax the tightness and tension

replace it with something wholesome

so instead of allowing the clinging to

go further and then create the habitual

reactions the habitual tendencies

which by the way you can also recognize

for example

let's say your habitual tendencies were

always to

defend yourself when somebody comes to

you and

criticizes you and you take it

personally

as soon as you take it personally

there is this habitual emotional

reaction there's this habitual tendency

that arises that wants to defend the

sense of self

but if you recognize that arising and

say oh i recognize this i'm going to let

that go

i'm going to relax

and generate a wholesome state of mind

then you are reconditioning that process

of habitual tendencies you're

reconditioning that process of clinging

when we talk about clinging to

rights and rituals

this is clinging to rights and rituals

with the idea that they will take you to

nibana

but it's also clinging to rights and

rituals with the idea that if i pray to

this deity or if i do this

or if i wear my lucky socks it's going

to be a good day

all of these kinds of associations

right

that completely is in violation of karma

because karma says

that what arises is dependent upon your

own intentions

dependent upon your own actions

so you have to make the effort for

something

you have to have the intention for

something and then act upon that

intention if you want something you

can't just pray to a deity and just say

okay give me a million dollars or

whatever it might be

so this idea of luck this idea of trying

to gather luck

that's also in clinging to rights and

rituals the idea that if i only do it

this way

then

this is what's going to happen

or another way is clinging to schedules

clinging through

if this doesn't happen by this time i'm

going to get cranky you have to have

flexibility you have to be able to see

where you're clinging to is are you

clinging to routines are you clinging to

schedules

if you can be like water if you can be

flexible and just see everything as it

is

then there's no standpoints that you

hold on to there's nothing that you're

holding on to that causes this sense of

an identity in bhava

it's at bhava where the sense of self is

most apparent

but the process of bringing that sense

of self happens at clinging

when we talk about clinging to views

this is clinging to certain kinds of

wrong views

there are these 62 different types of

wrong views

let's go into all of them

well when we talk about the different

types of wrong views you can find it in

beginning one that talks about the

different kinds of self-use and the

different kinds of views about the world

eternalism annihilationism and so on and

so forth

in the buddha's time there were

different kinds of rival ascetics let's

see different kinds of teachings that

were going on

and there were six main kinds of

teachings one was the view of eternalism

that there is this self

that is eternal that is always ongoing

all pervasive

there was a view about

the idea that

you know there is

only

there is only enjoyments there's only

material enjoyments that's all you have

to do here there's no

need for merit there is no need to do

good actions there's no need to have

marriage there's no need to do certain

kinds of good actions for you to be able

to reap those merits

everything is just about take everything

is about just

enjoying yourself to the fullest

right so that creates a lot of

attachment to the sixth sense basis

eternalism gives this idea of

an eye that i am here i am present

and it causes to create this conceit

this

uh identity from which you act

there was a view in relation to

asceticism i have to

i have to

do certain kinds of practices

in order to negate my karma

so this was the view of of the jains

right

so the views of the view of the jains

was

that there is a soul

that continues to reincarnate from

lifetime to

lifetime and here the idea is that

as it goes from one lifetime to the

other it accumulates karmic particles

karmic dust

intentionally or unintentionally that's

in direct violation of what the buddha

talks about which is karma is all about

intention

it's your intention not doing something

by mistake not doing something out of

having you know not an intention for

that

so intention is karma but here the view

is whether you did it or whether you

intended to do it or not you gather

these karmic particles and the idea is

in order for you to be able to get rid

of these karmic particles you have to do

certain kinds of purificatory rites and

rituals

you have to do certain kind of ascetic

practices

so the buddha had a question about that

if you're doing these kinds of rights

and rituals

how much karma do you have left do you

know your balance of karma that you have

left

so for the buddha the response is it's

all about understanding

karma from the perspective of intention

and the effect of that intention and how

you react and respond

to that intention

then there is the view of what's known

as the eel wrigglers these are the

skeptics they don't have one way or the

other they don't know if this is right

or this is wrong that brings up a lot of

perplexity that brings up a lot of kinds

of doubts

so

that

kind of you

actually makes you confused about what

is wholesome and what is unwholesome

what is right view and what is wrong

view

then there is also attachment to right

view

you may actually have right view you may

actually understand what the dhamma is

you understand that there is meaning in

giving meaning in being generous

you understand that there is mother and

father which means that you have

gratitude towards one's parents

because they brought you here into this

life

for you to be able to have the potential

to experience nibana

and so on and so forth

and then you might have the

a form of super mundane right view which

is understanding dependent origination

to a certain extent

but there can arise based on that

conceit and pride

and you become what's known as a dhamma

defender

somebody criticizes the dhamma somebody

criticizes the twin practice somebody

criticizes what you're doing

what is

the emotion that arises in your mind is

it are you quick

to attach to that and say no no that's

not how it is are you quick to defend

the dhamma the dhamma doesn't need

defending

right so don't identify yourself with

the dhamma understand the dharma as it

actually is but don't cling to it

this is another kind of clinging to

views

and of course on the very mundane level

it's clinging to opinions clinging to

different kinds of ideas

this is what's happening

and this is what's happened all

throughout the different eons of samsara

when you cling to different kinds of

views when you cling to different kinds

of opinions

that can manifest at the very extreme

into wars the taking up of the stick and

sword as the buddha says

clinging to views

you see that on you know news channels

people are just

berating others because of their

clinging to views

or they're criticizing them for this or

criticizing them for that

and they forget that they should be

compassionate they completely forget

about loving kindness they completely

forget about compassion completely

forget about equanimity all there is is

this is my view and i am right and you

are wrong

and what does that create

that creates a version

that creates ill-will

that creates hatred

so having a standpoint like that and

holding on to views in that way trying

to defend your views

taking it personally causes you

suffering

and it creates all of these habitual

tendencies to cling to those views and

then if somebody says something that

does not resonate with what you know to

be true apparently you know to be true

and it doesn't resonate with you what

happens there is this habitual tendency

to incline the mind towards oh they are

wrong and then you want to say that they

are wrong or you want to defend yourself

or you want to defend that particular

view

so when you recognize this oh i'm

noticing this

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension

generate a wholesome state of mind and

then respond

there's a difference between reacting

and responding

you react from greed hatred and delusion

but you respond from wisdom and

compassion

and the difference between the two is

the six r's

if you notice a reaction coming up

you can recognize it you can release

your attention from it relax the

tightness and tension

come back to the smile

and generate something wholesome and

then respond from that

this is how you de-escalate situations

this is how

you have peace

when there is discord

this is where you have unity where there

is division

this is how to do it so loving-kindness

and compassion and all these things is

not about just feeling all good and

everything else

it's also about being able to convey

that to others

through your intentions

through your speech and through your

actions

notice that recognize that recognize

when your mind has ill will when it's

clinging to a view and let it go replace

it with loving-kindness and compassion

and then there's clinging to self view

so this clinging to self view is this

identification

with one or more of the five aggregates

there are these 20 different types of

self-view

but it's very easy to understand them

it's the five aggregates

right multiplied by four types of views

so for example

you take the five aggregates one or more

of the five aggregates as self

or you see self in one or more of the

five aggregates

or you see self separate from the five

aggregates

or you see that the five aggregates

originate from a sense of self

so these are the different kinds of self

views and there's many more but these

are the main categories

and when this is there there comes to be

this attachment to form attachment to

feeling attachment to perception

attachment to intention or formations

or attachment to

consciousness attachment to awareness

one way or the other when that happens

the mind responds or rather reacts

from a sense of self

a wrong sense of self

so the clinging to self view also has to

do with is there a self or is there not

a self

if you say there is not a self what is

that self that says that there is not a

self

so

let go of the idea of self or not self

it's not about that

right it's understanding that things are

impersonal and that gives you peace of

mind

and so when the buddha talks about what

he teaches he says i teach only two

things suffering and the cessation of

suffering

does what you do lead to suffering or

does it lead to the cessation of

suffering

so clinging to self-use has to do with

clinging to a sense of identity

let go of that recognize when the mind

starts to identify with something

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension come back to

the smile

and be happy

so with craving as condition clinging

comes to be

now craving that's the big word tanha

tanha in pali means thirst

to be thirsty

to want something very badly that's one

side of it

or to have resistance against something

that's the other side of it or to

strongly identify with something

so in other words there's the craving

for a pleasant feeling

there's the aversion for an unpleasant

feeling

or towards an unpleasant feeling and

there is the identification whether it's

pleasant painful

or neutral

so craving manifests as tightness and

tension

there are three types of craving there

are essential craving craving for

existence craving for non-existence

what is sensual craving

you see something beautiful

and you want it you say i really like

that

i want more of that

and how do you know if there's craving

there if you take away that object how

does the mind respond

does it hold on to it get upset when

it's not

there is there tightness and tension

built around that

why does the tightness intention come

about

the tightness and tension arises

because of the mindset that the mind has

been conditioned to behave in

this

fight or flight or freeze

kind of condition

so when it sees something beautiful or

when it experiences something beautiful

when it has a pleasant feeling

the mind says i hope this doesn't stop i

really like this and i want more of it

and so it gravitates towards it and the

mind

tenses up the body recoils the body

tenses up for wanting that thing

and when it acquires it and has it it

feels relief

this is the way the mind has always been

conditioned to experience reality

on the flip side of that if there is

something that is aversive if there is

something that is unpleasant

the mind recoils them in fear or an

anxiety or in resistance or in

frustration or an irritation or an anger

or hatred or whatever it might be the

mind says oh i don't like that and so it

does everything it can to push that away

and as soon as it pushes away it feels

relief from that

so it's conditioned in this way

but when you do the six r's what are you

doing you're reconditioning the mind

you're deconditioning the usual way in

how you respond to situations or react

to situations and now reconditioning the

mind

so instead of

experiencing relief

by

acting upon the craving or the aversion

you can experience relief

and then not have to crave for something

not to have resistance towards something

so if you notice the craving coming up

if you notice the mind says i want this

and i want to own this or if you notice

the mind says i really hate this

recognize that release your attention

from that relax the tightness and

tension

when you relax the tightness and tension

you feel spaciousness

you feel

happy

you feel clear

then you generate something wholesome

like the smile

and now you respond with wisdom you feel

relief right there and then when you

relax

so why do you need to act upon your

craving if you feel relief right there

and then

why do you need to act upon your

resistance and aversion if you feel

relief right there and then

so you let go of that

and you experience relief and then no

craving arises further

no aversion arises further no

identification arises further so we're

talking about sensual craving here that

is related to

the five physical sense basis

craving for sound or having irritation

when somebody coughs while you're

meditating

or somebody bangs open the door or

closes the door whatever it might be or

there's a lawnmower going outside and

you hear that you get irritated by that

that irritation is the aversion and

identifying with that sound

or when you're meditating you experience

back pain you experience some kind of a

pain now it could be meditation pain or

it can be physical pain

how is it meditation pain

you know it's meditation pain when you

get up

you move around and it goes away but

physical pain

stays

it remains

regardless of what the pain is that is a

painful feeling

how do you choose to respond to that

painful feeling does the mind get

distracted by it and starts to get

irritated by it or starts to wish that

this pain was not there

or does it see it for what it actually

is this pain is present

it's not me it's not mine it's not

myself

just let go recognize the aversion to it

recognize the pain and the aversion to

it

release your attention from it relax the

tightness and tension relax the aversion

let go of that abandon it

come back to the smile and come back to

the wholesome object of meditation

so when we talk about

craving for existence what is craving

for existence

why am i not in this jhana yet

why am i not feeling the loving-kindness

yet

why haven't i achieved nibbana yet

what's going on

this is a type of craving for existence

on the very mundane level it's like

craving for being someone

i want to be the best meditator ever i

want to be

a millionaire i want to own this kind of

a car i want to be known as this kind of

person

i want to have this kind of vacation

i want to have this kind of family i

want to have this kind of recognition in

society and so on and so forth

these are all craving for existence

so when you can recognize that you can

recognize oh the mind is

wanting this the mind is saying why am i

not in this genre yet the mind is

you notice that especially in quiet mind

right what happens in quiet mind

you have boredom

or there can be a tendency for boredom

to arise

and then what happens with that boredom

it can manifest as restlessness

or as slot and torpor

when you have a lot of thoughts when you

have a lot of energy when you have a lot

of different streams of ideas and things

going on that's the restlessness

so you balance that when you have slot

intorpor you have a lot of

dullness of mind

the mind feels

like it's unable to pay attention to

what's going on

and so this manifests as boredom there's

nothing going on in quiet mind

it's completely quiet there's no

vibrations going on

it could happen for

five minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes an

hour two hours three hours

nothing going on

and then an inkling of boredom arises

and says

where's nirvana

right it's waiting for nibana

so when we say patience leads to nibana

we're not saying wait for nibana

right waiting is another word for

craving

expectation is another word for craving

you're not waiting for anything you're

just there

present in quiet mind

expectations

are meant to never be met

when you have an expectation

it either exceeds it

something happens and it exceeds the

expectation

or it doesn't meet up to that

expectation rarely does it ever actually

meet

your exact expectations

so let go of expectations let go of this

idea i have to do it this way or i have

to do it that way or i want it to be

exactly like this let go of that when

you notice the mind saying

in your mind you will notice it says i

want to be

or i want this when you notice that

let go of it seeks art

because if you act upon that if you say

i want to be this there is this sense of

self that arises

conjoined with that

and then there will be clinging and then

there will be becoming and then there

will be birth of action that causes

further suffering

craving for non-existence

i don't want this hindrance to be

present here is this hindrance

i don't like it

i don't want it to be here

on a mundane level and at the very

extreme level of craving for

non-existence it can manifest as suicide

why does a person want to commit suicide

generally

they feel this

intense

emotion they feel like as if they are

being overwhelmed they feel like there's

so many things being

you know bombarded bombarding their

senses bombarding their mind they can't

handle it anymore

and they're like i wish this would stop

that's a craving for non-existence and

sometimes they take their own lives

because they think that's relief

from this painful existence

this is a type of craving for

non-existence

so when you recognize that aversion when

you recognize oh i don't like to be in

this state of mind or i don't like to be

with this person or i don't like to be

here or i don't like to be in this

family or whatever it is recognize that

release your attention from that relax

the tightness and tension come back to

the smile

generate a wholesome object generate

equanimity

bring up equanimity stay stay with that

equanimity the more you do this

the more you decondition the mind from

these kinds of craving

and recondition the mind with wisdom

because you're seeing how your mind's

attention moves from one thing to the

other that's mindfulness

you're recognizing that okay mind is now

feeling this way mind is not

experiencing this

let go of that and come back to wisdom

come back to compassion come back to

equanimity come back to loving kindness

with feeling as conditioned craving

comes to be

when we talk about feeling that comes

from the word vedana

when we talk about vedan aveda means to

know

so veda comes from the word vidya to

know

so whether whatever feeling you are

experiencing through the sixth sense

spaces is vedana it's feeling

it's an experience to be felt

tied to this feeling there is perception

so feeling is one thing perception is

the other but they're tight together

remember i said before feel feeling is

just the

seeing of the green leaf

but knowing that it is a green leaf is

perception

recognizing that that color is green

recognizing that that is a leaf is

perception

now there can be pleasant feeling there

can be unpleasant feeling and there can

be neither painful nor pleasant feeling

there are 108 types of feeling

depending upon how you categorize it

but just for simplicity's sake we'll

talk about the six feelings

dependent upon

contact with the sixth sense basis

so you can be seeing something

hearing something

touching something tasting something

smelling something thinking something

so that's just the experience that is

felt

but within that experience they can

arise potential for craving

or potential for aversion

these are known as underlying tendencies

anusayas in pali

and there are seven of these there's the

underlying tendency to word screen

there's the underlying tendency towards

aversion

the underlying tendency towards

ignorance

the underlying tendency towards doubt

the underlying tendency towards conceit

the underlying tendency towards becoming

and the underlying tendency towards

views about something so you're having

an experience how do you take that

experience

as soon as you see this experience and

say this experience is me mine or myself

now you have taken it personally

having taken it taken it personally

the mind will have an underlying

tendency to crave for the pleasant

feeling or the mind will have an

underlying

tendency to have aversion towards the

painful feeling or have ignorance lack

of mindfulness ignorance is lack of

mindfulness or manifests

as lack of mindfulness not paying

attention to things as they really are

so how do you see things as they really

are

every experience that you're having

right now

whether it's here

whether it's walking whether it's eating

whether it's sitting whether it's

standing whether it's meditating

all experiences

are conditioned

conditioned by contact

because they're conditioned because of

dependently arisen they arise and they

pass away

which means that they are impermanent

therefore they are not worth holding

onto and they should be seen as not me

not mine not myself

when we talk about anatha there is a way

of understanding anatha the impersonal

nature of things

during the buddha's time and generally

in ancient india they had the concept of

ata or atman

the idea of a core

permanent

all-pervading unchanging

self

and the buddha comes along and says okay

all conditioned things and even nibana

is not self

what he says is if you're going to use

the self as a touchstone

your concept of a self which is

right that it is existent that it is

always there present and that it is a

source of bliss if you're going to use

that

let's see your experiences are they self

whatever experience you're having

whatever

feeling that you're experiencing

whatever it is that arises

it's arising based on causes and

conditions

because it is arising based on causes

and conditions it's impermanent

seeing it as impermanent you realize

that it is not self because whatever is

impermanent is liable to change if it's

a good thing it's liable to change and

inherently it can cause you suffering

so whether it's good bad or indifferent

pleasant painful or neither painful nor

pleasant

it is not self

don't take it personally the moment you

take any experience personally whether

right now or whether in the meditation

you are going to cause yourself

suffering because what arises dependent

upon that is craving

or aversion

and then based on that there is clinging

associating something with it making

favorites out of it thinking about it

adding fuel to the fire of craving or

aversion

adding fuel to the fires of greed hatred

and delusion

and then dependent upon that you start

to create this sense of self it becomes

more concrete

at bhava and you have all of these

habitual tendencies which you act out of

which causes you suffering which causes

you dukkah

with contact as conditioned feeling

comes to be

contact this comes from the pali word

fasa

or spersha in sanskrit in hindi

that just basically means to touch

make contact with

so what is the contact we're talking

about here

the eye

and form they make contact and there is

eye feeling

the sound and the ear they touch they

make contact and born from that is your

feeling

hearing the sensation of the ear

likewise with the nose and odors

likewise with the taste and

the tongue and tastes

likewise with body intangibles and

likewise with mind and mental objects

that's just contact

so when we talk about contact in geno

for example right when we looked at

majaminikaya 111 we saw that there was

contact feeling perception intention

attention mind

you know all of these other things so

what was the contact there

contact there was the mind making

contact with the mental object

loving kindness for example dependent

upon that that there is the feeling of

loving-kindness there is a perception

that the mind is in loving-kindness

so

contact

is just

the touching of i and form and so on and

so forth

so when the i and form meet

they can arise i consciousness

the joining of these three is eye

contact

and dependent upon that comes i feeling

so in other words that means

that if the eye is defective

that

there a person is blind or the ear is

defective or person is deaf

even if light

bounces off an object and hits the

retina

there is no eye consciousness present

and so there is no i feeling dependent

upon that

dependent upon that contact or if a

person is deaf

fine there is sound but there's no

reception of that sound

and because of that there is no your

consciousness

and therefore dependent upon that there

won't be any hearing going on

so you need that too you need the eye

consciousness your consciousness nose

consciousness

tongue consciousness

body consciousness and mind

consciousness we'll get into

consciousness in a little bit

with the sixth sense basis as condition

contact comes to be

so the sixth sense basis that's

basically what

the eyes

the ears

the nose the tongue

the body

and the mind

that's it that's the sixth sense basis

so

they're just present i mean there's

nothing you can do about it they are

present everything from ignorance all

the way up to feeling

all of that is old karma that you're

inheriting dependent upon previous

choices that you're making

so however your eyes are however your

ears are however your nose is however

your tongue is however your body is

however your mind is

it's dependent on previous choices that

you've made

so it is only just old karma to be

experienced and felt at feeling

what you choose to do and how you choose

to react with that

is what will either cause the craving

and therefore the clinging and therefore

the becoming and therefore the birth of

further reaction

or you can understand all of this as an

impersonal process and don't take it

personally

once you see it as it actually is

once you have attention rooted in

reality

that is yoni so mana sakhara

then you see everything as a series of

dependent causes and conditions

because of that you don't take them

personally because of that you don't

have craving for this or aversion

towards that so whatever arises just

ceases there without any fuel of craving

or clinging or becoming

this is how you dissipate karma

karma arises for example a hindrance

arises what is that

that's old karma that's a mental

experience

mind made contact and now there is

a hindrance present

how do you deal with that hindrance do

you crave for it

do you have resistance towards it you

have aversion towards it

and if you do what's going to happen

you're going to cling

and then when you have clinging you have

becoming and then you have the birth of

action and then you have further

suffering

or you can choose to see this hindrance

as being present and being impersonal

don't take it personally your hindrance

has arisen

if you do anything

but see it for what it actually is

you're going to cause yourself suffering

but if you see the hindrance acknowledge

that it is there

release your attention from that gently

bring it back relax the mind and body

which means you relax the tightness and

tension

and come back to the smile come back to

your object

you are dealing with that hindrance with

proper wisdom with correct wisdom

with name and form or mentality

materiality as condition the sixth sense

basis come to be

mentality materiality that is mind and

body or name and form

so when we talk about mentality there

are certain factors to mentality

there's contact there's feeling there's

perception there's inclination or

intention and there is attention

and then when we talk about materiality

that is the body

so in essence what we are talking about

are the five aggregates

form here or materiality is made up of

the four great elements

or the four states of matter

you have the earth element

or the solid state of matter you have

the liquid the water element or the

liquid state of matter

you have the air element or the gaseous

state of matter and you have the fire

element or the plasma state of matter

the heat the temperature

so these start to make up the body

contact with the body gives rise to

feeling perception

intention or inclination and attention

so contact is the key here

so when we're talking about contact

feeling and perception we see that it's

there in mentality but we're also seeing

it further down in the chain we're

seeing it as contact as a link we're

seeing feeling as a link so what's the

difference between the two

these are the faculties in the mind that

allow you to experience contact

so that is the receptors the sense-based

receptors are in mentality materiality

the feeling that's there it's the

faculty of feeling allowing you to

actually experience something the

faculty of perception these are your

memory centers in the mind that allow

you to recognize and label what it is

that you are experiencing

intention or inclination allowing you to

act on something

that is caitanya it comes from the word

caitanya that is to incline the mind

towards one thing or the other this is

what is meant by when we say where is

your inclination where are your

intentions if you want to understand

formations the quality of formations

look at where your intentions lie look

at where your inclinations lie

and so formations

go through the formation aggregate goes

through intention

and finally attention consciousness

flows through attention you have an

intention to bring your attention or

awareness here and so now there is a

cognizing of this

and so now there is an awareness of this

and so now there is a attention to this

consciousness flows through wherever the

attention is put on something

so na marupa mentality materiality are

basically the five aggregates

so with mentality

you experience materiality

but without materiality you can't have

mentality

they are they are interdependent

you need the mentality or you need the

materiality for the mentality to be

housed into something

and you need the mentality in order to

know that you have a body

in order to know what is materiality

so when we talk about what is mind mind

is defined by its factors by its

faculties which give rise to the

processes

so the the faculty of con contact allows

you to experience contact the process of

contact

the faculty of feeling allows you to

experience the process of feeling

the faculty of perception allows you to

experience

the process

of perception the faculty of intention

or inclination allows you to experience

the process of formations how they arise

and manifest

the faculty of attention allows you to

cognize allows you to have

the process of cognizing whatever it is

that you are experiencing

with consciousness as conditioned name

and form come to be

consciousness

consciousness comes from the word

vinyana

vinyana means so there's v

and nyana

means knowledge

and v means to divide it's divided

knowledge what does that mean knowledge

divided by the experience of the sixth

sense basis

in other words

there is the eye consciousness there is

the your consciousness there is the nose

consciousness there is the tongue

consciousness there is the body

consciousness and there is mind

consciousness

this is all happening on the micro level

when you go into the sixth jhana when

you go into infinite consciousness what

is it that you're experiencing

you're experiencing the arising and

passing away of infinite

eye consciousness so infinite ear

consciousness or infinite nose

consciousness or whatever it might be

so like i said when you experience

contact that is the joining of the i the

form and i consciousness

so cognizing the experience of i

the eye or the ear or the nose or the

tongue the body or the mind

so consciousness basically is cognition

it's awareness

now on the macro level we talk about it

from the perspective of rebirth from one

lifetime to the other where

consciousness

as a gandaba

as a potential being descends into a

namarupa descends into a mentality

materiality so for simply simplicity's

sake what happens is

when a person dies when there's a

dissolution of the body what arises is

certain kinds of thoughts and ideas and

concepts

and then the mind takes that and either

has craving towards it grasps at it or

has aversion towards it that gives rise

to certain kinds of formations which

we'll get to those formations activate a

type of consciousness that is rooted in

that kind of craving that consciousness

then goes from there and descends into a

new namarupa

into a new mind and body that manifests

when there is birth

and that is when there's procreation

when that happens then that

consciousness dissipates and there is a

new arising and passing away of

individual consciousnesses in that nama

rupa in that mentality materiality

so that is why we say

name and form are dependent upon

consciousness

on the macro level on the micro level it

is also dependent upon consciousness

because it is without without

consciousness you won't be able to know

that there is a body you won't be able

to cognize the different factors of the

mind

and now in some of the

renditions of the links of dependent

origination there is an interdependency

here as well

dependent upon consciousness

mind and body arise

and dependent upon mind and body

consciousness arises

why is that

because in order for consciousness to

come into being it needs a mind and body

on the micro on the macro level on the

micro level you need some kind of body

in order for you to experience the

cognition of something

you need the mentality factors for you

to be able to cognize that here is

contact here is feeling here is

perception here is intention here is

attention you need the mind and body in

order for you to cognize

the sixth sense basis

so that's why that is why you have the

eye consciousness the ear consciousness

the nose consciousness the tongue

consciousness the body consciousness and

mind consciousness

with formations as condition

consciousness comes to be

now formations

that comes from the word sankhara

or samskaras in sanskrit

sankhara actually

has different kinds of connotations it

can mean formations it can mean to

prepare preparations

a more modern rendition is percolations

because thoughts percolate up

right there's these proto thoughts in

the mind when you're in quiet mind for

example

when you're in quiet mind when you're

neither perception or non-perception

you're not able to really recognize what

it is that you're seeing you might see

certain pictures you might see certain

kinds of

ideas you might see some kind of

disconnected thoughts but not they're

not fully formed thoughts so these are

proto thoughts that percolate up

into fully formed thoughts and these are

the formations

so

sankhara also means to cook up something

literally it means to make something to

cook something

so the formations cook up your reality

everything you're experiencing is based

on formations

there are three types of formations

mental formations

bodily formations and verbal formations

mental formations are related to feeling

and perception whether it's mental

feeling and perception

or feeling and perception born from the

other five physical sense basis

verbal formations have to do with your

expression of speech

you hear something it makes contact with

you you think about it that process of

thinking about it is verbalizing and

then that process then

actuates into speech actuates into

um

expression of something that you

perceive

so verbal formations are responsible for

this

traditionally bodily formations are

associated with breathing

because they allow you to breathe in and

out

but they allow you to do everything from

moving to sitting to standing to walking

so these formations

are then arising and give rise or

certain kind of consciousness

and then that manifests in a certain way

of how you perceive your mind and body

then the sixth sense bases make contact

with something and those formations then

further color

or cook up

how you experience reality

now formations

are carriers of karma as well

so contact when we talk about the link

of contact it is one of the keys to

understanding this whole process of

dependent origination because from

contact feeling arises perception arises

intention arises karma arises

if there was no contact no karma would

arise

and for karma to arise it has to flow

through the links of dependent

origination the formations carry forward

that

and if the formations are pure or unpure

or impure rather

that will then determine what kind of

consciousness arises

in terms of how the consciousness is

colored is the consciousness rooted in

envy is the consciousness rooted in

anger is the consciousness rooted in

bitterness or is the consciousness

rooted in generosity and seeing things

as they are being happy and fulfilled

so if the formations are fettered

that means they are fettered by

ignorance

by craving by conceit by wrong views

how are they fettered

consciousness or rather

formations

are dependent upon your previous

intentions that is why i say if you want

to understand the quality of your

formations

notice

how you're intending things notice where

your mind is inclining to words

in every given present moment you have a

choice

you can choose to be wholesome or

unwholesome

now the rudder

the compass

gravitates towards either the wholesome

or the unwholesome that gravitation

process is dependent upon

the choices you made before

so if you start to act upon whatever

choices you made before then those

formations will continue

but if you see it for what it is and

stop becoming unwholesome

and gravitate your compass towards a

wholesome choice

then the next arising of formations are

conditioned by that choice

so those formations start to be whittled

away in terms of the feathers of

of conceit

of craving of ignorance of wrong view

so once that starts to get starts to

loosen up what happens those formations

start to become purer and pure and pure

eventually those formations become

completely unfettered untainted and so

any consciousness that arises is pure

which means now conscious consciousness

that arises will not be rooted in any

kind of emotion will not be rooted in

any kind of tendency

and it won't give rise to any kind of

tendency it will just see reality as it

actually is

so when formations arise in a completely

purified mind

they're just carrying forward karma

carrying forward

the

the effects of choices made prior to

full awakening

and those choices are then manifested in

feeling

and because the mind is completely pure

it's not going to react to that

experience in a way that causes craving

or identify with that experience or have

ignorance which is a lack of mindfulness

it will just see things as they are and

so that karma will just dissipate bit by

bit by bit

on a practical level when you're

meditating and you have a hindrance that

arises what is that that's old karma

that is the snowball effect of

formations that were fettered and rooted

in choices that were unwholesome at some

point

so now you're experiencing that

hindrance now you don't have to be

guilty because you did something in the

previous choice that caused you to have

that hindrance you just see that that

hindrance is present

if you take it personally you're going

to only add to that energy of hindrance

but

if you see it for what it actually is

and you 6r

then what you're doing is you're

whittling away at that hindrance so it

might arise again

but it will be weaker this time around

and it might arise again and it'll be

weaker in that next moment it might

arise yet again but it will be even

weaker eventually there is the

remainderless fading away

of that

of that hindrance

so this is the way to understand

formations just see where your choices

lie

where are you making your choices and

then if your choices are rooted in the

wholesome then you know the formations

are coming up that are coming up are

rooted in the wholesome they are not

rooted in greed hatred or delusion they

are rooted in non-greed non-hatred

non-delusion

with ignorance as condition formations

come to be

what is ignorance

it is ignoring the four noble truths

ignoring the first noble truth of

suffering ignoring the second noble

truth of

the cause of suffering

ignoring the third noble truth of the

cessation of suffering and ignoring the

fourth noble truth of the way leading to

the cessation of suffering that is

ignorance

ignorance of the four noble truths now

there's levels of ignorance there's the

ignorance that you have never been

introduced to the four noble truths you

don't even know that there's something

called the four noble truths you've

never been introduced to the dhamma

that's one level of ignorance

that you don't know that you don't know

right

but then there's another level of

ignorance which arises because of lack

of mindfulness now you have been taught

the dharma now you know

what is right for you now you know

what is suffering now you understand

what is the cause of suffering now you

understand how to let go of that

suffering and experience the cessation

of suffering

or rather how to let go of the cause

so that you experience the cessation of

suffering

but every time you have lack of

attention

lack of mindfulness

lack of awareness

that adds to the link

that adds energy back to the link of

ignorance

but every time you recognize you are

aware and you use the six r's you are

whittling away at that ignorance

because why

because

every time you recognize you are

recognizing there is suffering present

in the form of this hindrance or

whatever it might be

every time you release and relax you are

abandoning

the attention to that suffering

attention to that hindrance

and thereby experiencing the third noble

truth

of the cessation of that hindrance the

cessation of that dukkha

and every time you use the six r's you

are utilizing the fourth noble truth

which is the eightfold path

because the six r's are right effort

which is the heart of the eightfold path

it is from right effort that you go from

wrong view to right view

wrong intention to right intention

wrong speech to right speech

wrong action to right action wrong

livelihood to right livelihood wrong

mindfulness to right mindfulness and

wrong collectedness to right

collectedness

so the way to let go of ignorance is to

continue to be

mindful

whether there is an arising of the

tagatha or no arising of a tata

that element still persists meaning this

dependent origination will still

continue whether there is a buddha to

let you know about it or not

the stableness of the dhamma the dhamma

being dependent origination

the fixed course of the dhamma specific

conditionality

it's only from birth that aging and

death come to be it's only from becoming

that birth comes to be

now here's another way of understanding

this on the micro level

you can see dependent origination like a

river

the ignorance the formations

the

consciousness

the mentality materiality the sixth

sense basis the contact all of these are

streams

and then there's the feeling that arises

and these are whirlpools the feeling the

craving the clinging the becoming all of

these are there cascading down

at each point you can six r them you can

six are the craving that is rooted in

them

six are the ignorance that is rooted in

them six are the conceit that is rooted

in them okay

but

if you have the birth of action that is

the bend of the so the bend of the

waterfall when you're having the river

the bend of the waterfall is the

becoming

the bhava

but the waterfall itself you cannot swim

up the waterfall

once you have done the action you cannot

recall the action

you can't say something terrible and six

art

out of existence

so whatever it is that you're thinking

saying or doing that is the birth of

action birth of reaction you can't do

anything about it but you can do

something about all of the preceding

links before that

and that is by using the 6rs

a tattagata

awakens to this and breaks through to it

having done so he explains it

teaches it proclaims it establishes it

discloses it analyzes it elucidates it

and he says see

with this as conditions

because that comes to be

thus because

the actuality in this

the inerrancy

the not not other wiseness

specific conditionality this is called

dependent origination

the actuality in this

it is existing it is there it is present

whether you recognize it or not

that is

reality conditioned reality

the inerrancy

meaning there's no way for you to change

it

in terms of its order it's just

happening the way it will happen that's

the specific conditionality

and the not otherwise

you cannot replace this link with

another link

you can destroy the links as you get

through each of the attainments so that

they don't arise but you can't replace

it you can't say okay i'm not going to

have craving i'm going to replace it

with clinging there's a specific order

in how these things arise

now with each attainment certain levels

of clinging go away certain levels of

craving go away

so in the case of a soda panna what goes

away

the clinging to rights and rituals

the clinging to wrong views goes away

because now they have established the

right view

the

sakadagami weakens sensual craving and

weakens

the

aversion

but the anagami lets go of any kind of

clinging to sensual pleasures let's go

of sensual craving altogether

and then finally with the arhat they let

go of the craving for non-existence the

craving for existence and they let go of

the clinging to any kind of

views even clinging to right view right

and they also let go of clinging to

self-you there's no more identification

with this that or the other

so as you continue to progress through

this practice you start to whittle away

grind away at these different links

until they no longer are present

and so in that mind that is fully

awakened

what arises are formations that are pure

consciousness that is pure

nama rupa depended upon that

consciousness

the sixth sense basis contact

and feeling and perception tied to that

feeling but there is no more ignorance

there is no more craving there is no

more clinging there is no more becoming

there is no more birth of reaction

so how does a fully awakened mind act

how do they think how do they

intentionalize how do they speak

the ignorance is replaced by right view

which means they have a full

understanding of the four noble truths

they have a complete understanding of

suffering they have fully abandoned

the origin of suffering namely craving

and ignorance and so on

and they have fully realized the

cessation of of suffering meaning they

have fully realized nibana

fully realized nirota

and they are fully cultivated and

perfected the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

which is the eightfold path

so for such a for such a mind

that speech that arises that action that

arises is not rooted in craving is not

rooted in clinging is not rooted in

becoming

that action is rooted in right action

that speech is rooted in right speech

that intention is rooted in right

intention

which means the default mode of

functioning for such a per for such a

mind

is always rooted in the eightfold path

they automatically act or speak or

intentionalize

from the eightfold path

and the eightfold path is also the

cessation of karma

which means they don't produce any new

karma there's no birth of action or

reaction

there is just karma in terms of activity

ineffective karma

non-productive karma

non-fruitful karma because whatever

karma that they produce

is dissipated right there and then

because of the usage of the eightfold

path

which means the cessation of karma

happens through using the six r's

you can six r all the way

to our heart ship

6r everything until there's nothing left

to 6r

so for that mind like i said there's no

ignorance now all that's remaining is

the formations

the consciousness

the namarupa or mentality materiality

sixth sense spaces contact and feeling

everything else is non-functional it

doesn't even occur doesn't even arise

the seeds of that are completely

destroyed

and what beekus are the dependently

arisen phenomena

it's not like these are two different

things dependent origination is the

dhamma dependently arisen phenomena are

the same as depend as the dhamma

so whatever you're experiencing right

now is all the dhamma

dependently arisen phenomenon and what

is that

aging and death because is impermanent

conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction

vanishing fading away and cessation

birth is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction

vanishing

fading away and cessation

habitual tendencies are impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction vanishing

fading away and cessation

clinging is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

craving is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

feeling is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

contact is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

the sixth sense bases are impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction

vanishing fading away and cessation

mentality materiality is impermanent

conditioned dependently arisen subject

to destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

consciousness is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

formations are impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen subject to

destruction vanishing fading away and

cessation

ignorance is impermanent conditioned

dependently arisen

subject to destruction vanishing fading

away and cessation these bikus are

called the dependently arisen phenomenon

each of the links of dependent

origination being conditioned

being dependently arisen are subject to

change subject to destruction

subject to vanishing away subject to

cessation

so why would you hold on to any of those

links

see them all as being impermanent

subject to change don't hold on to them

that will be for your benefit

not otherwise

when because a noble disciple

a noble disciple is one who has an

attainment meaning they have attained to

stream entry or attained

to sakuragami whatever it might be

has clearly seen with correct wisdom as

it really is this dependent origination

which means has clearly seen what

happens

when the mind comes out of cessation

it sees dependent origination

it makes contact with nibana

it sees dependent origination and has

wisdom correct wisdom

this is the ultimate insight the

understanding of dependent origination

and these dependently arisen for

phenomena it is impossible

that he will run back into the past

thinking

did i exist in the past

did i not exist in the past

what was i in the past

how was i

in the past having been what what did i

become in the past

why is that

because he understands that the self is

dependently arisen the idea of a self is

dependently arisen so which self are you

talking about are you talking about your

two year old self or your seven year old

self or your 10 year old self

or your 15 year old self

or are you talking about the self that

was on a tuesday on march 5th 1999

are you thinking about all of these

things you see everything has

dependently arisen so why would you take

all of that personal

all of that past is passed why would you

think about how did i arise or how did

this come to be it just arose because of

causes and conditions

in the same way

or that he will run forward into the

future thinking

will i exist in the future will i not

exist in the future what will i be in

the future how will i be in the future

having been what what will i become in

the future

would you think about the future once

you see everything as being dependently

arisen would you really worry about the

future you understand certain causes and

conditions have come to be and they will

lead to a certain kind of future but

will you really worry about that will we

have anxiety about that

if you have fully let go

you're not going to have any anxiety

about the future

likewise

or that he will now be inwardly confused

about the present thus

do i exist

do i not exist what am i how am i

this being where has it come from and

where will it go

when was the last time you thought do i

exist

or do i not exist

so all of these kinds of questions about

existence and about the self

they are

unnecessary

they don't lead to the cessation of

suffering

they don't lead to the understanding of

what is suffering

they don't lead to the realization of

the four noble truths

so even if you're staying in the present

even if you are in the present moment

is there a sense of self there or are

you just observing things as they

actually

are don't hold on to anything not even

the present moment

as soon as you hold on to the present

moment it's gone

what you think to be this present moment

is not the present moment

it is a reflection of what you think is

the present moment

so don't hold on to any standpoints

about the past

the future or the present

for what reason is this impossible

because because the noble

this disciple

has clearly seen with correct wisdom as

it really is

this dependent origination

and these dependently arisen phenomenal

you