From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZAyrVZRjKUI
Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.
[Music]
so today we'll be reading from maja 149
this is the maha salah
maha salaya tanika
the great six-fold base
thus have i heard on one occasion the
blessed one was living at savathi in
jetha's grove
anathapendika's park
there he addressed the bhikkhu's thus
bhikkhu's venerable sir they replied
the blessed one said this
because i shall teach you a discourse on
the great six-fold base
listen and attend closely to what i
shall say
yes venerable sir the beakers replied
the blessed one said this
because when one does not know and see
the i as it actually is
when one does not know and see forms as
they actually are
when one does not know and see eye
consciousness as it actually is
when one does not know and see eye
contact as it actually is
when one does not know and see as it
actually is
the feeling felt as pleasant or painful
or neither painful
nor pleasant
that arises with eye contact as
condition
then one is inflamed by lust for the eye
for forms
for eye consciousness for eye contact
for feeling felt as pleasant or painful
or neither painful nor pleasant that
arises with eye contact as condition
so not knowing
the i as it actually is
not knowing and seeing forms as they
actually are
not knowing and seeing eye consciousness
as it actually is
not knowing and seeing eye contact as it
actually is
not knowing and seeing the feeling felt
as it actually is
so when that happens it says
that one is inflamed by lust for the eye
for forms for eye consciousness for eye
contact for the feeling
so what is it that one doesn't know and
see as it actually is
when in relation to the eye to forms
to contact
to eye consciousness to feeling what is
it that you don't see what is it that
you don't know and see
you don't see that this is dependently
arisen
you don't see that this is actually
impermanent
you don't see it as liable to cause
suffering and you don't see it as
impersonal
when you take it personally what happens
last arises craving arises
or aversion arises
so then
one is inflamed by lust for the eye
for forms for eye consciousness for eye
contact for feeling felt as pleasant or
painful
or neither painful nor pleasant that
arises with eye contact as condition
when one abides inflamed by lust
fettered infatuated contemplating
gratification
then the five aggregates affected by
craving and clinging
are built up for oneself in the future
so when one abides inflamed by lust
that is to say when one
has a lustful intention when the
intention is rooted in craving or
aversion
taking it to be personal
when it when the formations are fettered
by that craving when the mind is in fact
you infatuated with it contemplating the
gratification
how do i satisfy my craving
how do i let go of my pain that this is
my pain that this pain is me
so
when that happens the five aggregates
are built up for oneself in the future
what does that mean there is becoming
there is renewal of existence
the thing about the five aggregates is
they are not stationary they are always
arising and passing away
just as you see consciousness arise and
pass away at infinite consciousness
formations arise and pass away
feeling and perceptions arise and pass
away form arises and passes away it
might not be that apparent but obviously
if you see all throughout your life form
has changed
the way you see things
the different sense bases that you have
they too change dependent upon causes
and conditions
so when they change are they
getting further rooted by craving and
cleaning are they getting further
affected by craving and clinging that is
to say namely are the formations being
fettered
being hindered fettered by craving and
hindered by ignorance
when that happens there can be craving
clinging
so here when he says
inflamed by lust that's the craving
that's the craving or aversion
infatuated contemplating gratification
that is the clinging contemplating and
contemplating gratification
right this is me this is mine this is
myself
how do i how do i get more of this
then the five aggregates affected by
clinging and craving are built up for
oneself in the future
so that's the renewal of being the bhava
the becoming
which then leads to birth of action and
reaction
and one's craving which brings renewal
of being is accompanied by delight and
lust and delights in this and that
increases
so every time you are inflamed by that
craving every time you act upon that
craving
you are further strengthening it every
time you act upon it
every time you act upon the aversion and
the identification
you are further strengthening it so that
in the next
future period in the next future moment
when that same
experience arises
your mind almost automatically inclines
towards having craving for it anyway
unless you have wisdom and see
what that is
as it actually is
and therefore let it go through the six
r's and don't add further
fuel to that craving don't add further
fuel
to that for those formations to arise
you decondition the craving when your
six are and recondition the mind towards
the wholesome
towards wisdom
and therefore once bodily and mental
troubles increase
one's bodily and mental torments
increase
one's bodily and mental fevers increase
and one experiences bodily and mental
suffering
does this sound familiar
when you sit for a long period of time
what happens
mind is trying too hard it's tensing up
it's not able to relax
there's pain that arises
mind looks at that pain and says this is
me this is mine this is myself
whether it's bodily pain or meditation
pain it sees it for what it is for what
it is not which is
it's seeing it as something that's
permanent it's seeing it as something
that's mine but as soon as you six are
those notions
and let go and soften the mind
pull back a little bit don't try so hard
don't push so much
pull back
keep the mind open keep the awareness
open relax
soften
when you do this
you realize that the pain has
disappeared it goes away
because there's no longer any craving or
aversion related to that pain
when one does not know and see the year
as it actually is when one does not know
and see the nose as it actually is when
one does not know and see the tongue as
it actually is when one does not know
and see the body as it actually is
when one does not know and see the mind
as it actually is
one experiences bodily and mental
suffering
because
when one knows and sees the i
as it actually is
when one knows and sees forms as they
actually are
when
one knows and sees eye contact as it
actually is
when one knows and sees as it actually
is the feeling felt as pleasant or
painful
or neither painful nor pleasant
that arises with eye contact as
condition
then one is not inflamed by lust for the
eye for forms for eye consciousness for
eye contact for the feeling felt as
pleasant or painful or neither painful
nor pleasant that arises
with eye contact as condition which
means
there is mindfulness there there is
attention there
you are not
getting distracted
by the pleasantness of the experience
which can create or can give rise to an
underlying tendency
towards craving towards aversion towards
ignorance and so on
when you pay attention when you have
mindfulness whenever you use the six r's
you let go of that craving you let go of
those underlying tendencies and then
you're seeing things as they are
you see the eye as being impersonal you
see this whole process as being
impersonal so when you don't take it
personally then you don't have craving
then you don't have a version that you
don't then you don't have clinging and
you don't have becoming then you don't
have birth or reaction
when one abides uninflamed by lust
unfettered uninfatuated
contemplating danger
then
the five aggregates affected by clinging
and craving are diminished for oneself
in the future
and one's craving
which brings renewal of being is
accompanied by delight and lust
and delights in this or that is
abandoned
so
when you are attentive in that moment in
any given moment and see things as they
are
with equanimity not getting pushed or
pulled in one direction
understanding this as an impersonal
process
craving won't arise clinging won't arise
becoming won't arise
and that means that the five aggregates
which continue to renew
because they continue to arise and pass
away but what does not continue to renew
is the clinging and the craving that
affects them
so the formations that arise
weaken in terms of the fettered craving
that's in them in other words
every time you make a choice to see
whatever experience you're experiencing
as being impersonal
then the formations that arise will not
be fettered by craving will not be
hindered by ignorance
instead there will be formations rooted
in wisdom and clarity and mindfulness
therefore ignorance starts to be
grinded away
craving starts to be grinded away and
conceit starts to be grinded away which
means
the formations that
do have the craving in them that do have
the conceit in them
that do have the ignorance in them start
to weaken through non-activation through
not through non-use
but the formations that arise that are
rooted in the wisdom rooted in non-creed
non-hatred and non-delusion
they get to be strengthened once they
strengthen then the consciousness that
arises
will see things as they are continue to
see them as they are so that's why then
the next set of aggregates that arise
will have little
less craving in them will have less
clinging in them and eventually all
craving and clinging
will fade away
that happens when you destroy ignorance
craving
wrong views
conceit
and ignorance
the view of such a person as this is
right view
someone sees things as they actually are
does not take them personally
right view is guiding them in that
moment
his intention is right intention that
intention does not hold on to anything
doesn't take anything personally it has
loving kindness it has compassion
his effort is right effort you use the
six hours whenever that arises
his mindfulness is right mindfulness you
are observing how your mind's attention
moves from one thing to the other
his collectedness is right collectedness
your mind becomes stabilized
in an object
it becomes collected
and it experiences jhana
but his bodily action his verbal action
and his livelihood
have already been well purified
earlier
why is that
because he's keeping his precepts
he's using right speech he's using right
action he's making choices
rooted in keeping the precepts
he's refraining from killing and harming
living beings with intention
he
or intentionally
refraining from taking what is not given
he's refraining from using
harsh and false speech
he's refraining from sensual misconduct
he's refraining from
indulging in intoxicants
which means that because of that his
mind is already purified his mind being
purified
then right view starts to come into
his foreground he's able to see things
as they are
but if his mind is distracted
because he's not keeping precepts
because someone is not keeping precepts
their mind becomes agitated because
they're agitated there's like a veil
of ignorance in front of their eyes
and they're not actually able to see
things as they are they don't even have
the proper mindfulness
the proper collectedness to be able to
even begin to see that but once you
start to keep precepts
your mind becomes unagitated
your mind becomes less agitated
and because of that there is what arises
is joy happiness gladness in the dharma
and now you take up
you take the intention or you have the
intention of seeing things as they are
and letting them go
and so you're able to use right effort
by using the six hours
and as you do this more and more right
view comes into place more and more
right intention starts to become
strengthened
mindfulness becomes sharper and
collectedness becomes deeper
thus this noble eightfold path comes to
fulfillment in him by development
when he develops this noble eightfold
path
all right let's before we continue let's
talk about the eightfold path itself
what is the eightfold path
right view right intention right speech
right action right livelihood right
effort right mindfulness and right
collectedness
what is right view
right view
is understanding
the first noble truth of suffering
it's abandoning
or knowing the cause and condition for
suffering
it's knowing the cessation of suffering
and it's knowing what is the way leading
to the cessation of suffering
right view is also mundane
it understands that there is
causality and conditionality that for
every action there is a consequence
it understands
that there is something known as rebirth
or at least has an open mind to see to
be able to investigate into what is
rebirth
to investigate into
what is the arising and passing away of
consciousness it doesn't close off that
possibility it says okay
i might not believe it but i want to see
if it's true or not for myself
that's also part of mundane right view
when they write mundane right view also
includes
understanding that there is mother and
father that is to say
that there is gratitude for one's
parents even if one's parents have not
been
so great
right
because they brought you into this world
so that you could experience or you have
the potential to experience nibana
that's the greatest thing that they
could give you is the possibility
the prob the the potential for you to be
able to experience nibbana
just for that alone if you have
gratitude forget about everything else
that in itself
that purifies the mind
that lets go a lot of resentment that
goes lets go of a lot of
discontentment
so having this mundane right view allows
the mind to be
in a healthy state of mind
the super mundane right view is
the application of the four noble truths
the understanding of the four noble
truths
there is right intention there's three
things to write in tension
which means renunciation
non-ill will
which is cultivated through
loving-kindness
and non-harmlessness or non-cruelty
which is cultivated through compassion
so right intention is all about letting
go abandoning
deconstructing not constructing things
for yourself that create further
suffering but rather seeing things as
they are and letting them go
this is the mundane right view a right
intention
the super mundane is that which is of
the liberated mind
that is to say that it is automatic
there is a mundane right view which is
you have to continue to apply right
intention
you have to continue to incline your
mind towards the wholesome
but eventually that becomes automatic
that becomes the default mode of
functioning for the liberated mind and
that's the super mundane right intention
so the right speech
right speech is
basically the acronym that i use is
think
t-h-i-n-k
think before you speak
and how do you understand that that is
basically
knowing if it's the right time or not to
say what you're going to say
timeliness
h is honesty is what you're going to say
true or not true do you know it to be
true or untrue
i is for intention what is the intention
behind what you're going to say is it
intentionally wholesome or intentionally
unwholesome
n is for necessity
is it necessary is it beneficial
for yourself and the other party
concerned
and k is for kindness
can you say it with loving kindness
there's a suta in the dining hall which
is the abhiya sutra
if you read that you'll have more
clarity on what this means
you speak when things are factual and
you can say it with kindness when it's
the right time
and when it's beneficial and so on
this is right speech
right action is refraining from breaking
the precepts
refraining from killing and harming
refraining from taking what is not given
refraining from sexual misconduct
and
it doesn't really say that but it is
implied that you refrain from indulging
in any intoxicants
because that's implied in right
mindfulness in order for you to have
right mindfulness
you don't have intoxicants in you
because intoxicants will lead
to a mind that is
unmindful to a mind that is
inattentive which can cause the mind to
break the other precepts
right livelihood so now when we talk
about right livelihood
there's the right livelihood for the
monastics and there's a right livelihood
for the lay people
the right livelihood for monastics is
that they abstain from certain things
they abstain from anything that gets in
the way of what they became monastics
for
what did what does it why does a person
go forth what do they go forth for
why do they go forth from the home life
to the homeless life
for the realization of nibana
anything that prevents you from that
anything else so wrong livelihood
includes things like for monastic to
tell the future you know fortune telling
uh
you know creating amulets and all kinds
of
interesting and colorful things
that have nothing to do with the path
that have nothing to do with actually
attaining nibana
for laypeople
there are five types of wrong livelihood
that is to say
dealing or having to do with trade that
deals in
human trafficking
in poisons
in weapons
in alcohol
and
in
meat
then there is
right mindfulness
so when we talk about right mindfulness
as opposed to wrong mindfulness
right mindfulness is elaborated in the
sati patana sutta
understanding body feelings
consciousness or mind and phenomena
but not understanding them insofar as
mindfully eating mindfully walking
mindfully
uh resting and all that
you're mindful not of the actual action
you're mindful of is there present
craving or aversion in the mind
so simply put right mindfulness
is remembering to observe how mind's
attention moves from one thing to the
other
so when you are walking where is your
mind when you are eating where is your
mind
when you uh you know walk up the stairs
where is your mind
when you're driving where is your mind
when you're writing an email where is
your mind
when you're reading a book where is your
mind
when you're watching a movie where is
your mind
sometimes people watch your entire
two-hour movie and then don't even
realize what they've been watching
because their mind is just
all over the place
or they might actually be seeming to be
listening to a person
but their mind is all over the place
their eyes are just glazed over you know
so even upon when you're listening
where is your mind
what is it doing is there craving is
there aversion what's happening there
so observing mind's attention
remembering to observe it
right collectedness
right collectedness is
the four genus
right collectedness is
getting to the first jhana getting to
the second jana getting to the third
genre getting to the fourth journal
and then the formless attainments that
arise from the full genome infinite
space infinite consciousness
nothingness neither perception nor
non-perception but right collectedness
means that the mind doesn't become
one-pointed
it's not absorbed in its object of
meditation
it's using the object of meditation like
an anchor right it's like this is the
planet this is the object here is your
attention and it orbits
around the object of meditation it
doesn't land on it and become it
it doesn't unify with it it doesn't
become one with it it's just using that
as a way to understand itself
so right collectedness is all about
the
yoking of serenity and insight of
samatha and vipassana together
when he develops this noble eightfold
path the four foundations of mindfulness
also come to fulfillment in him by
development
so whenever you're following the
eightfold path you're also fulfilling
the four
foundations of mindfulness
when you have right mindfulness
you are following the four foundations
of mindfulness
the four kinds of right effort also come
to fulfillment in him
by development
what are the four kinds of right effort
the six r's
so right effort whenever you apply right
effort
you are fulfilling the four kinds of
effort right effort
so the four right efforts are
the unarisen unwholesome states you see
that
you abandon the unwholesome states
you
generate a wholesome state of mind and
you maintain a wholesome state of mind
that's happening whenever you do the six
hours
you generate you cultivate and then you
maintain
so with right effort also there is a
mundane and super mundane the mundane is
the four kinds of effort the super
mundane is
effortlessness
because there's for the liberated mind
is there anything to six our
liberated mind just sees things as they
are unimpeded by craving unimpeded by
ignorance unimpeded by conceit unimpeded
by wrong views
so there's no need to six are
it's just seeing things as they are
so that right effort is not even effort
it's just effortless
seeing
what about right mindfulness
in the mundane right mindfulness you
have to apply
you have to actually do it remember to
observe
how a mind's attention moves from one
thing to the other but in the liberated
mind in the super mundane
right mindfulness
the mind is always mindful it's always
aware it's always observing
what about
right collectedness there is a mundane
and super mundane
in the right collectedness all you're
doing is you're intentionalizing to get
into the jaundice
you do that even with
the super mundane but the difference is
super mundane is without any taints
there's no craving for that jhana
there's no identification with that
jhana
there's no sense of i am in that jannah
this shanna is mine or the shanna is me
the four bases for spiritual power also
come to fulfillment in him by
development
so what are the four basis for spiritual
power first of all what is spiritual
power
they talk about it as psychic faculties
or psychic powers or super mundane
powers
and there they are there are basically
six higher powers
that are mentioned
there is the uh the power to
manipulate
material objects and things like that
there's the power to
uh
you know the divine year for example
being able to hear in a far distance
being able to hear what's going on in
the deva realms listening to all their
parties and gossip and stuff that's
going on there
you know
then there's the
uh
there's the divine eye where you can
actually
see into the arising and passing away of
beings being able to see
into celestial realms being able to see
otherworldly beings over here and so on
and so forth and there's reading others
minds being able to understand what kind
of mind is present is that mind
distracted or not distracted
is that mind having anger or doesn't
have anger is that mind
happy or unhappy and so on and so forth
and then there is the
there is the seeing
past lives seeing into your past lives
so being able to go back into the past
and being able to see what lives were
there and this allows you to have a
deeper understanding of karma a deeper
understanding of rebirth
a deeper understanding of dependent
origination so i think those were the
first five i mentioned
that is the manipulation of material
objects so that includes
you know being in two places at the same
time and all these other things that
they talk about
there is
reading other people's minds
there is
the divine ear there is the divine eye
there is
recounting all of your different past
lives
but the sixth one
is the destruction of the taints
that's considered to be a higher power
but that is a higher power only in
relation to the arahat
so there are different types of arahats
there are arahats who may who have all
the six higher powers there are arahats
who only have the destruction of the
taints and the threefold knowledge
and there are hats who have one or more
of these higher powers but they will
always have the destruction of the
taints
so that means you always need these four
bases
for spiritual power
so what are the four bases for spiritual
power
you need
chanda
you need consciousness
you need
mindfulness
and you need what's known as vimsa
let me make sure that's correct
[Laughter]
yeah you need the the
the zeal that is the chanda
that's the culture
chanda is a wholesome desire a wholesome
inclination every time you incline the
mind towards jhana
every time you incline the mind towards
nibana
that is
chanda
but
it's about having the inclination
towards it but not getting obsessed by
it
so setting the intention and then
letting it go and just continuing on
then
you need
collectedness
oh sorry you need energy
so that is the right effort you need the
right effort for this
then you need
due to the purity of mind
so you need the mind itself obviously
that's consciousness
otherwise what are you developing
psychic powers for
so you need a mind
and then you need
investigation
so that's the the monster that we're
talking about so investigation means
what is present in mind and what is not
present in mind these are the four basis
for spiritual power
so you need
the chanda the zeal
you need the effort
you need the mind itself
and you need the investigation
are these fulfilled by the eightfold
path
how is chanda
fulfilled by the eightfold path
right intention
because it's a cultivated intention it's
an intention of inclining towards that
which is wholesome
how is
effort
right effort
what about the mind itself consciousness
itself
it's it's all it's present throughout
the entire eightfold path
you need a mind in order to follow the
eightfold path you need consciousness
and then investigation what about
investigation
that's mindfulness
because whenever you recognize something
what are you doing
you're mindful that mind was distracted
you're aware you're attentive you're
paying attention you're observing how
mind's attention moved
and the investigation of states is
aware
that there is a distracted mind
so what does investigation of states
mean
that i'll get into that a little deeper
but investigation of states is basically
knowing
that the mind is in this state or in
that state that's basically it
the five faculties also come to
fulfillment in him by development the
five powers also come to fulfillment in
him by development now the five
faculties and the five powers are
identical
so the faculties are mindfulness
are
mindfulness faith energy
collectedness and wisdom
so let's start with
faith how does faith become fulfilled
right that's being uh
having confidence in the buddha the
dharma and the sangha but through the
eightfold path
right view fulfills that
right view fulfills faith
what about energy
right effort
what about mindfulness
right mindfulness
how about collectedness
right collectedness
how about wisdom
right you
so what's the difference between the
five faculties and the five powers
right because it's the same thing right
the five faculties are
basically the same as the five powers
it's identical in terms of the listing
so what's the difference between them
faculties are
the
the way through which the powers flow
so you're developing mindfulness and
then that becomes a strength
you're developing effort
and then that becomes your strength
you're developing collectedness and that
becomes your strength
you're developing faith and that becomes
your strength you're developing wisdom
and that becomes your strength in other
words one is
in that sense a path
and the other is a fruition
meaning you're developing these things
through the faculties and then you have
them as powers
they are inherent in the mind
after you have developed them
cultivated them and perfected them
the seven enlightenment factors also
come to fulfillment in him by
development
how do the seventh enlightenment factors
come so let's figure out what are the
enlightenment factors
mindfulness investigation of states
energy
joy
tranquility
collectedness and equanimity
right
every time remember what i said every
time you use the six r's what are you
doing you're activating the
enlightenment factors
when you recognize
you become mindful
you
remember to observe that mind's
attention is moving
remember to observe how it's moving
every time you recognize you're also
having the investigation of states
because now you recognize that the mind
is distracted it went from being
collected to becoming distracted
that's all investigation of states is
that's why the investigation of states
is the antidote to the hindrance of
doubt
what is the hindrance of doubt
am i doing this correctly
what state am i in
uh
do i have a wholesome state or an
unwholesome state what kind of you know
what's going on here when you have
investigation of states you know for
yourself what's actually going on
you know that you're doing it correctly
you know that you are in a wholesome
state of mind you know if you're
distracted or not distracted and so on
what about energy when you release your
attention from that distraction
you're letting go of that distraction so
you're using effort
so energy is another word for effort
they call it striving they call it this
and that but i would just call it effort
it's just
applying right effort the application of
right effort
when you relax
you're activating tranquility when you
re-smile you're activating
joy
when you return to your object or
meditation you're activating
collectedness
now notice there there was tranquility
and then there was joy instead of the
other way around i said this before joy
and tranquility can be interchangeable
when there is joy the mind is relaxed
when the mind is relaxed it's able to
experience joy
if the mind is constricted if the mind
is anxious if the mind is worried if the
mind is sad
it can't experience joy but as soon as
you relax the mind and open it up
it can experience joy
and when you feel joyful
you're also
relaxed
you're also happy and relaxed
and when you return you'll have
collectedness what about equanimity
equanimity is fulfilled by the
application of the six r's because
you're seeing things as they are not
getting pulled by the hindrance not
getting distracted by the hindrance not
getting uh pushed by the hindrance not
having any craving or resistance towards
you just seeing oh here's a hindrance
6r
that's how equanimity is fulfilled
so right effort
the activation of
the enlightenment factors is part of
right effort
and therefore that is how it comes to
fulfillment through the noble eightfold
path
these two things serenity and insight
occur in him yoked evenly together which
means
if you have the eightfold path if you
are cultivating the eightfold path
you're keeping your precepts
you're maintaining those precepts you're
committing to keeping them
and then you have right mindfulness and
right collectedness using right effort
and you develop and perfect right view
with insight with understanding that
means you have evenly yoked together
serenity and insight
so you need that collectedness you need
the meditation you need samadhi
oftentimes there will be a question
which is
can you have uh insight without samadhi
right can you have insight without
collectiveness
without meditation without going into
jhana
the simple answer to that is it's called
the eightfold path not the seven-fold
path right so it's inherent
it's implicit it's important it's
imperative
that you have jhana that you have
collectors that you have the right kind
of genre in order for you to experience
liberation in order for you to
experience
awakening
he fully understands by direct knowledge
those things that should be fully
understood by direct knowledge he
abandons by direct knowledge those
things that should be abandoned by
direct knowledge he develops by direct
knowledge those things that should be
developed by direct knowledge
he realizes by direct knowledge those
things that should be realized by direct
knowledge
and what things should be fully
understood by direct knowledge the
answer to that is
the five aggregates affected by craving
and clinging
that is the material form aggregate
affected by craving and clinging the
feeling aggregate affected by craving
and clinging
the perception aggregate affected by
craving and clinging
the formations aggregate affected by
craving and clinging
the consciousness aggregate affected by
craving and clinging
these are the things that should be
fully understood by direct knowledge
whenever they say the word understand or
understood
it means to actually see things as they
are
to experience them as they are
seeing the arising and passing away
doesn't mean you have to investigate and
look at it
like okay when is the arising of this
when is the passing away of this
it's just
observing
letting the mind observe
and then it will be apparent to the mind
when the collectedness is good when the
mindfulness is sharp and clear
that is why when you get into infinite
consciousness what do you see you see
the arising and passing away of
consciousnesses because you're not doing
anything there your mind is just letting
go
mind is letting go on subtler and
subtler levels and your mind is
collected
even deeper and your mindfulness is even
sharper and so now you're starting to
see the arising and passing away
you don't intentionalize that you see it
you don't do anything there you're just
being aware
you're just watching the movie
so what are you watching the movie of
here the arising and passing away of the
aggregates you understand for yourself
as it actually is that this form that
you have is impermanent
that this feeling that you have is
impermanent
that this perception that you have is
impermanent that the formations that are
there are impermanent and consciousness
is impermanent what does that lead to
that leads to the perception of dukkha
that leads to the perception of the
impersonal nature
of all things
that leads to equanimity seeing things
as they are
that leads to disenchantment and that
leads to dispassion
and that leads to
cessation
and what things should be abandoned by
direct knowledge
ignorance and craving for being
these are the things that should be
abandoned by direct knowledge
so what is ignorance
ignorance is not knowing about the four
noble truths
once you start to
access
right effort and apply right effort once
you start to cultivate the six hours
you start to become more mindful you
start to become more attentive
you start to see things as they are and
ignorance
starts to be well whittled away
what about the craving for being what
does that mean
so right now what the buddha is talking
about is
there is that person who is uninflamed
by lust and aversion
so that is the anagami
so that is why he's saying what has to
be abandoned by direct knowledge is the
craving for being
so first you eliminate sensual desire
sensual craving and aversion
then the craving for being goes away
what is the craving for being
the craving to be in a certain state of
mind craving to be in the jhana the
craving for existence the craving to be
this or that
you let go of that
and what things should be developed by
direct knowledge
serenity and insight
these are the things that should be
developed by direct knowledge and what
things should be realized
by direct knowledge
true knowledge and deliverance
these are the things that should be
realized by direct knowledge
so what is true knowledge and
deliverance
when you experience cessation of
perception feeling and consciousness
then the mind emerges from that makes
contact with nibana
experiences release
and therefore is delivered
from certain kinds certain kinds of
feathers
eventually it's fully delivered that is
to say it is fully released it is fully
liberated and there is the true
knowledge what is the true knowledge
the wisdom the insight into the
impersonal nature of things the wisdom
and insight of dependent origination
and then there is the true knowledge
that mind is liberated
rebirth is ended
there is no more coming to be
what had to be done has been done
that is what the blessed one said the
bekus were satisfied and delighted in
the blessed one's words
questions
all right
oh yeah
all right let's go through this so this
is uh
this is the maha sakula sakul udayi suta
the greater discourse to
sakulu dain
sutha number 77 majamenikaya 77 this is
page 638
section 8 starting from number
22. again
i have proclaimed to my disciples
the way to develop the eight liberations
so i'll read it first and we'll go
through it
possessed of material form one sees
forms
this is the first liberation
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally this is the second
liberation
one is resolved upon the beautiful this
is the third liberation
with the complete surmounting of
perceptions of form with the
disappearance of perceptions of sensory
impact
with non-attention to perceptions of
diversity
aware that space is infinite one enters
upon and abides in the base of infinite
space this is the fourth liberation
by completely surmounting the base of
infinite space
aware that consciousness is infinite one
enters upon and abides in the base of
infinite consciousness
this is the fifth liberation
by completely surmounting the base of
infinite consciousness
aware that there's nothing one enters
upon and abides in the base of
nothingness
this is the sixth liberation by
completely surmounting the base of
nothingness
one enters upon and abides in the base
of neither perception nor non-perception
this is the seventh liberation
by completely surmounting the base of
neither perception nor non-perception
one enters upon and abides in the
cessation of perception feeling and
consciousness
this is the eighth liberation
and thereby many disciples of mine abide
having reached the consummation and
perfection of direct knowledge
so let's talk about the first liberation
possessed of material form one sees
forms
that kind of makes sense right possess
the forms
possess the material forms one sees
forms
this is actually talking about going
through the asuba practices
so
you look at the body you look at the
different elements of the body so
possessed of material form
one sees the different forms
one sees the body one sees the skeleton
the bones one sees the lungs one sees
the heart one sees all of these
different things
this is the first liberation liberation
from
sensual craving liberation from
identification
it's not the first journal
then not perceiving form internally once
these forms externally
what does that mean
how do you see forms
how do you not see internally but see
externally
casinos that's exactly it
yeah
so not perceiving form internally once
these forms externally
in other words
now
you have taken that casino and you have
expanded it first of all the word casino
right a lot of people take that to mean
i have to take this casino i have to
take for example
the the fire element i look at the
candle flame i take the flickering flame
and then i put it here and then i see
into it and it's a nimita
and then
i become concentrated on it and then i
go into it
and then i experience whatever it might
be
but
comes from the sanskrit word kritsna
k-r-i-t-s-n-a
krits na
which means expansion which means whole
w-h-o-l-e
so we're actually taking this
whatever casino it is the red casino the
blue casino the yellow casino the white
casino the fire casino the water casino
whatever casino it is
and you're expanding it so what does
that mean you're expanding it what are
you doing
you're radiating
you're expanding it you're starting to
get into infinite space
so this allows you to go into infinite
space
right
as long as you're not one pointed the
other the other
the other way of doing it
which is
basically the concentration part of it
which is you take that and you become
super focused on that
and then you develop
how would you expand a red circle
just by looking at it you look at it and
it just expands
yeah
instead of becoming pinpointing on it
and this is the process that they
actually did
yeah
if you go to one two one majamenikai one
two one the buddha talks about the
perception of earth and so on so there
he's referring to the earth casino
in any expense
and then you go into infinite space so
surmounting perceptions of form and so
on
this is the second liberation one is
resolved only upon the beautiful
what's the beautiful
jhana
first four genus but specifically the
fortuna
so this is
the third liberation
the fourth jonah
with the complete surmounting of
perceptions so the rest you know infant
space infinite consciousness
nothingness neither perception
non-perception cessation of perception
feeling and consciousness
this looks
like a concentration path
not
i mean the first steps
the first step is the asuba practice
right that is looking at the different
parts of the body and and so on and so
forth
as well
that's first the body
yeah
body as body yeah
so before i answer that let me answer
his question
so what you're asking is
the asuba practice the concentration
path
well so far i haven't heard of anyone
doing the asuba practices of you in the
twin practice
so
maybe we could i mean somebody could you
could contemplate the idea and just know
the nature of the body you don't need to
concentrate right you just know there's
skin there's
and at some point
inside arises like that's awful
yeah
so well
the first one i agree but the casinos
part how can you do it i don't know
is the one that it looks to me a
concentration
uh because that's that's the way it's
been taught which is you take that and
then you make that a nemeta and then you
just concentrate on it
and let it just expand
especially
radiating out keeps the mind expensive
rather than
concentrating
yeah so it could be a
you want to try it
i believe it's better
uh so the question was about the
beautiful
yeah
what was the question
because there's truth soother references
to talking about he inclines the mind to
the beautiful which is the fourth
channel
no just the fourth only the fourth
have you heard some of the burmese they
talk about
liberation by beauty or liberation by it
ugly and i wonder if that's like the
city wagon stuff
uh liberation bio liberation from
i've only heard it i tried to research
it
it sounds like it's getting to
equanimity liberation from that which is
beautiful and ugly that is to say
not getting
uh craved for or not getting any
aversion towards
i did hear it described as
dedicating yourself to see the beauty
and everything or dedicating yourself to
see that ugly or the future
so that could be seeing the repulsive
and the unrepulsive the unrepulsive and
the repulsive
which we talked about a few days ago
which was like
you know being able to see that and then
letting go of any
greed for it or hatred for it and so on
for the first three genres because if
three was four
where the first three go
the first three giants he enters the
wesley to the fourth
yeah
what happened towards the right
ten goes directly
it's not that these these liberations uh
so okay let's first understand what he
means by liberations here
when you say liberation doesn't mean in
terms of entertainment it's it's a
temporary liberation
whenever you get into jhana whenever you
get into collectedness whenever you get
into a formless attainment
that means your mind is
rid
of the five hindrances it is liberated
from the five hindrances
so this is one way the buddha talks
about the liberations he's talked about
it in here he's talked about it in
uh dignikaya
a couple of times a few times in
dignikaya and what he's talking about
here is that there's different ways to
liberate the mind why is this the first
liberation
seeing the asuba practice because it's
liberating from liberating you from the
attachment to the body liberating
you from the central craving to the body
the
casino practice how does that liberate
you
it liberates you from
the the the sense of form
right it's liberating you from
any sense of form it's expansive
the fourth genre what is it liberating
you from
now actually since you bring this up
each of the eight ghanas are also
temporary liberations what is the first
jhana liberate you from
the five hindrances it liberates you
from the five hindrances
it liberates you from having to talk
because you don't talk when you're in in
in the first channel
what about the second genre what does it
liberate you from
verbal formations
now you let go of intentionalizing
things it's just everything is flowing
what about the third genre what does it
liberate you from
joy
because joy can be seen two course
of a feeling
the fourth jana liberates you from
sukkah so now you have just equanimity
a unified mind it's it means a mind that
is
is orbiting its object
so ekagata is present but that's just
basically a mind that is
uh single-minded that means it's just
staying with its object that's all it is
it's being collected
so what about the uh
what else is the fortuna liberating you
from though yes it's liberating you from
let's say the
the the joy and the sukkah
body
[Laughter]
so when i say that the genres are levels
of cessation
they're basically levels of cessation
because they cease certain formations
and what are the three types of
formations
verbal bodily mental formations
so when you're in the first jhana you
stop talking
in the second genre you let go of the
verbal formations
in the third genre you let go of the joy
in the fourth genre you let go of bodily
formations
right and then
in the fifth jhana you let go of
anybody itself it's just mine
letting go of any contact
not paying attention non-attention to
that
the sixth genre or
infinite consciousness you're no longer
perceiving infinite space
in nothingness you're no longer
perceiving
infinite consciousness neither
perception or non-perception you're no
longer perceiving nothingness
cessation of perception feeling
unconsciousness
that ceases neither perception
non-perception but it ceases
mental formations
the cessation of perception and feeling
which means
mental formations are feeling and
perception so mental formations
completely cease at the eighth journal
sorry at the cessation of perception
feeling and consciousness
okay let's try it let's see what it says
here
again udayan i have proclaimed to my
disciples the way to develop the eight
basis for transcendence
perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally limited fair and ugly
by transcending them one sees one
perceives thus i know i see
this is the first base for transcendence
perceiving forms
internally one sees forms externally
immeasurable fair and ugly by
transcending them one perceives thus i
know i see
this is the second base for
transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally limited fair and ugly
by transcending them one perceives thus
i know i see
this is the third base for transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
immeasurable
fair and ugly by transcending them one
perceives thus i know i see
this is the fourth base for
transcendence
not perceiving forms internally one sees
forms externally
blue of blue color
blue in appearance with blue luminosity
just like a flax flower which is blue a
blue color blue in appearance with blue
luminosity or just like banars cloth
smoothen on both sides which is blue
of blue color blue in appearance with
blue luminosity
so too not perceiving forms internally
one sees forms externally with blue
luminosity
by transcending them one sees thus i
know i see
this is the fifth base for transcendence
not perceiving form internally once
these forms externally
yellow
of yellow color yellow in appearance
with yellow luminosity
like a kanikara flower which is yellow
of yellow color yellow in appearance
with yellow luminosity or just like
bernar's cloth smoothened on both sides
which is yellow of yellow color yellow
in appearance with yellow luminosity
so too not perceiving form internally
one sees forms externally with yellow
luminosity
by transcending them one perceives thus
i know i see
this is the sixth base for transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
red of red color red in appearance with
red luminosity just like a hibiscus
flower
which is red of red color red in
appearance with red luminosity or just
like benares cloth smoothened on both
sides which is red of red color red in
appearance with red luminosity
so too not perceiving form internally
one sees forms externally with red
luminosity
by transcending them one perceives thus
i know i see
this is the seventh base for
transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
white of white color white in appearance
with white luminosity
just like the morning star which is
white of white color white in appearance
with white luminosity or just like
benares cloth smoothen on both sides
which is white of white color
white in appearance with white
luminosity
so too not perceiving form internally
once these forms externally with white
luminosity by transcending them once
perceives thus
i know i see
this is the eighth base for
transcendence and thereby many disciples
of mine abide having reached the
consummation
and perfection of direct knowledge
so somebody made notes on this right the
other day
what are those notes
the new color monitor by apple or
something
i'm
sorry
what was it about the eight basis for
transcendence this is what it's called
so uh what was the
notes
all right let's let's do this
[Laughter]
perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
limited fair and ugly that's the first
one
perceiving form internally once these
forms externally
immeasurable fair and ugly that's the
second one
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
limited fair and ugly
that's the third one not perceiving
internally perform internally
one sees forms externally immeasurable
fair and ugly
so these are the four let's talk about
these four
perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally limited fair and ugly
the way i'm looking at this is when we
talk about limited
that is to say limited by form
when he talks about
immeasurable
he's talking about that which is
outside of form but here he's talking
about the immeasurable which is
the brahmaviharas
so when he talks about perceiving form
internally one sees forms externally
externally limited fair and ugly this is
the first four janus
when he says fair and ugly he's talking
about with equanimity
not getting pulled or pushed
by that which is beautiful or ugly
when he talks about perceiving form
internally once he's externally
immeasurable fair and ugly here he's
talking about the brahmaviharas
that's a magic trick
yeah
not perceiving forms internally once
these forms externally
limited fair and ugly
this is the third base not perceiving
form internally one sees forms
externally
immeasurable
fair and ugly
so in this case also he's talking about
janna's the first four jonas but when he
talks about the immeasurable here he's
talking about the formless attainments
so first you have the first four janas
then you have the four viharas
and you have the four genres again and
then you have the four formless states
uh formless attainments
what about the
red yellow
or the blue yellow red and white
what does that mean
[Laughter]
what he's talking about is the
attainments
the four attainments
so the blue represents the soda panna
the yellow represents the sakuragami the
red uh
uh
is the onigami and the white is the
arahat
those are primary colors
i think yeah blue uh
blue
yellow and red
oh rgb yeah
okay
so
there's a reason why he uses these
colors and we're talking about it in
this way because
the buddha refers to these
noble persons
as ascetics
there are the blue lotus aesthetics
there are the yellow lotus aesthetics
there are the red lotus aesthetics and
there are the white lotus aesthetics
so
the blue represents the sodapanas
the
excuse me the yellow represents the
sakuragamis
the red the onigami's
and the white the arhats
so why why lotus though
lotus wow in the mud
and remains untainted by
the mud
was there
that was there a
it's it's more of a cultural
cultural thing in the cultural thing
which is
you have these different colored lotuses
and the buddha primarily said about
these particular may beings inhabiting
space and earth devas and nagas of
mighty power share this merit of ours
may they long protect the buddha's
dispensation
[Music]
so
[Music]
[Music]
so today we'll be reading from maja 149
this is the maha salah
maha salaya tanika
the great six-fold base
thus have i heard on one occasion the
blessed one was living at savathi in
jetha's grove
anathapendika's park
there he addressed the bhikkhu's thus
bhikkhu's venerable sir they replied
the blessed one said this
because i shall teach you a discourse on
the great six-fold base
listen and attend closely to what i
shall say
yes venerable sir the beakers replied
the blessed one said this
because when one does not know and see
the i as it actually is
when one does not know and see forms as
they actually are
when one does not know and see eye
consciousness as it actually is
when one does not know and see eye
contact as it actually is
when one does not know and see as it
actually is
the feeling felt as pleasant or painful
or neither painful
nor pleasant
that arises with eye contact as
condition
then one is inflamed by lust for the eye
for forms
for eye consciousness for eye contact
for feeling felt as pleasant or painful
or neither painful nor pleasant that
arises with eye contact as condition
so not knowing
the i as it actually is
not knowing and seeing forms as they
actually are
not knowing and seeing eye consciousness
as it actually is
not knowing and seeing eye contact as it
actually is
not knowing and seeing the feeling felt
as it actually is
so when that happens it says
that one is inflamed by lust for the eye
for forms for eye consciousness for eye
contact for the feeling
so what is it that one doesn't know and
see as it actually is
when in relation to the eye to forms
to contact
to eye consciousness to feeling what is
it that you don't see what is it that
you don't know and see
you don't see that this is dependently
arisen
you don't see that this is actually
impermanent
you don't see it as liable to cause
suffering and you don't see it as
impersonal
when you take it personally what happens
last arises craving arises
or aversion arises
so then
one is inflamed by lust for the eye
for forms for eye consciousness for eye
contact for feeling felt as pleasant or
painful
or neither painful nor pleasant that
arises with eye contact as condition
when one abides inflamed by lust
fettered infatuated contemplating
gratification
then the five aggregates affected by
craving and clinging
are built up for oneself in the future
so when one abides inflamed by lust
that is to say when one
has a lustful intention when the
intention is rooted in craving or
aversion
taking it to be personal
when it when the formations are fettered
by that craving when the mind is in fact
you infatuated with it contemplating the
gratification
how do i satisfy my craving
how do i let go of my pain that this is
my pain that this pain is me
so
when that happens the five aggregates
are built up for oneself in the future
what does that mean there is becoming
there is renewal of existence
the thing about the five aggregates is
they are not stationary they are always
arising and passing away
just as you see consciousness arise and
pass away at infinite consciousness
formations arise and pass away
feeling and perceptions arise and pass
away form arises and passes away it
might not be that apparent but obviously
if you see all throughout your life form
has changed
the way you see things
the different sense bases that you have
they too change dependent upon causes
and conditions
so when they change are they
getting further rooted by craving and
cleaning are they getting further
affected by craving and clinging that is
to say namely are the formations being
fettered
being hindered fettered by craving and
hindered by ignorance
when that happens there can be craving
clinging
so here when he says
inflamed by lust that's the craving
that's the craving or aversion
infatuated contemplating gratification
that is the clinging contemplating and
contemplating gratification
right this is me this is mine this is
myself
how do i how do i get more of this
then the five aggregates affected by
clinging and craving are built up for
oneself in the future
so that's the renewal of being the bhava
the becoming
which then leads to birth of action and
reaction
and one's craving which brings renewal
of being is accompanied by delight and
lust and delights in this and that
increases
so every time you are inflamed by that
craving every time you act upon that
craving
you are further strengthening it every
time you act upon it
every time you act upon the aversion and
the identification
you are further strengthening it so that
in the next
future period in the next future moment
when that same
experience arises
your mind almost automatically inclines
towards having craving for it anyway
unless you have wisdom and see
what that is
as it actually is
and therefore let it go through the six
r's and don't add further
fuel to that craving don't add further
fuel
to that for those formations to arise
you decondition the craving when your
six are and recondition the mind towards
the wholesome
towards wisdom
and therefore once bodily and mental
troubles increase
one's bodily and mental torments
increase
one's bodily and mental fevers increase
and one experiences bodily and mental
suffering
does this sound familiar
when you sit for a long period of time
what happens
mind is trying too hard it's tensing up
it's not able to relax
there's pain that arises
mind looks at that pain and says this is
me this is mine this is myself
whether it's bodily pain or meditation
pain it sees it for what it is for what
it is not which is
it's seeing it as something that's
permanent it's seeing it as something
that's mine but as soon as you six are
those notions
and let go and soften the mind
pull back a little bit don't try so hard
don't push so much
pull back
keep the mind open keep the awareness
open relax
soften
when you do this
you realize that the pain has
disappeared it goes away
because there's no longer any craving or
aversion related to that pain
when one does not know and see the year
as it actually is when one does not know
and see the nose as it actually is when
one does not know and see the tongue as
it actually is when one does not know
and see the body as it actually is
when one does not know and see the mind
as it actually is
one experiences bodily and mental
suffering
because
when one knows and sees the i
as it actually is
when one knows and sees forms as they
actually are
when
one knows and sees eye contact as it
actually is
when one knows and sees as it actually
is the feeling felt as pleasant or
painful
or neither painful nor pleasant
that arises with eye contact as
condition
then one is not inflamed by lust for the
eye for forms for eye consciousness for
eye contact for the feeling felt as
pleasant or painful or neither painful
nor pleasant that arises
with eye contact as condition which
means
there is mindfulness there there is
attention there
you are not
getting distracted
by the pleasantness of the experience
which can create or can give rise to an
underlying tendency
towards craving towards aversion towards
ignorance and so on
when you pay attention when you have
mindfulness whenever you use the six r's
you let go of that craving you let go of
those underlying tendencies and then
you're seeing things as they are
you see the eye as being impersonal you
see this whole process as being
impersonal so when you don't take it
personally then you don't have craving
then you don't have a version that you
don't then you don't have clinging and
you don't have becoming then you don't
have birth or reaction
when one abides uninflamed by lust
unfettered uninfatuated
contemplating danger
then
the five aggregates affected by clinging
and craving are diminished for oneself
in the future
and one's craving
which brings renewal of being is
accompanied by delight and lust
and delights in this or that is
abandoned
so
when you are attentive in that moment in
any given moment and see things as they
are
with equanimity not getting pushed or
pulled in one direction
understanding this as an impersonal
process
craving won't arise clinging won't arise
becoming won't arise
and that means that the five aggregates
which continue to renew
because they continue to arise and pass
away but what does not continue to renew
is the clinging and the craving that
affects them
so the formations that arise
weaken in terms of the fettered craving
that's in them in other words
every time you make a choice to see
whatever experience you're experiencing
as being impersonal
then the formations that arise will not
be fettered by craving will not be
hindered by ignorance
instead there will be formations rooted
in wisdom and clarity and mindfulness
therefore ignorance starts to be
grinded away
craving starts to be grinded away and
conceit starts to be grinded away which
means
the formations that
do have the craving in them that do have
the conceit in them
that do have the ignorance in them start
to weaken through non-activation through
not through non-use
but the formations that arise that are
rooted in the wisdom rooted in non-creed
non-hatred and non-delusion
they get to be strengthened once they
strengthen then the consciousness that
arises
will see things as they are continue to
see them as they are so that's why then
the next set of aggregates that arise
will have little
less craving in them will have less
clinging in them and eventually all
craving and clinging
will fade away
that happens when you destroy ignorance
craving
wrong views
conceit
and ignorance
the view of such a person as this is
right view
someone sees things as they actually are
does not take them personally
right view is guiding them in that
moment
his intention is right intention that
intention does not hold on to anything
doesn't take anything personally it has
loving kindness it has compassion
his effort is right effort you use the
six hours whenever that arises
his mindfulness is right mindfulness you
are observing how your mind's attention
moves from one thing to the other
his collectedness is right collectedness
your mind becomes stabilized
in an object
it becomes collected
and it experiences jhana
but his bodily action his verbal action
and his livelihood
have already been well purified
earlier
why is that
because he's keeping his precepts
he's using right speech he's using right
action he's making choices
rooted in keeping the precepts
he's refraining from killing and harming
living beings with intention
he
or intentionally
refraining from taking what is not given
he's refraining from using
harsh and false speech
he's refraining from sensual misconduct
he's refraining from
indulging in intoxicants
which means that because of that his
mind is already purified his mind being
purified
then right view starts to come into
his foreground he's able to see things
as they are
but if his mind is distracted
because he's not keeping precepts
because someone is not keeping precepts
their mind becomes agitated because
they're agitated there's like a veil
of ignorance in front of their eyes
and they're not actually able to see
things as they are they don't even have
the proper mindfulness
the proper collectedness to be able to
even begin to see that but once you
start to keep precepts
your mind becomes unagitated
your mind becomes less agitated
and because of that there is what arises
is joy happiness gladness in the dharma
and now you take up
you take the intention or you have the
intention of seeing things as they are
and letting them go
and so you're able to use right effort
by using the six hours
and as you do this more and more right
view comes into place more and more
right intention starts to become
strengthened
mindfulness becomes sharper and
collectedness becomes deeper
thus this noble eightfold path comes to
fulfillment in him by development
when he develops this noble eightfold
path
all right let's before we continue let's
talk about the eightfold path itself
what is the eightfold path
right view right intention right speech
right action right livelihood right
effort right mindfulness and right
collectedness
what is right view
right view
is understanding
the first noble truth of suffering
it's abandoning
or knowing the cause and condition for
suffering
it's knowing the cessation of suffering
and it's knowing what is the way leading
to the cessation of suffering
right view is also mundane
it understands that there is
causality and conditionality that for
every action there is a consequence
it understands
that there is something known as rebirth
or at least has an open mind to see to
be able to investigate into what is
rebirth
to investigate into
what is the arising and passing away of
consciousness it doesn't close off that
possibility it says okay
i might not believe it but i want to see
if it's true or not for myself
that's also part of mundane right view
when they write mundane right view also
includes
understanding that there is mother and
father that is to say
that there is gratitude for one's
parents even if one's parents have not
been
so great
right
because they brought you into this world
so that you could experience or you have
the potential to experience nibana
that's the greatest thing that they
could give you is the possibility
the prob the the potential for you to be
able to experience nibbana
just for that alone if you have
gratitude forget about everything else
that in itself
that purifies the mind
that lets go a lot of resentment that
goes lets go of a lot of
discontentment
so having this mundane right view allows
the mind to be
in a healthy state of mind
the super mundane right view is
the application of the four noble truths
the understanding of the four noble
truths
there is right intention there's three
things to write in tension
which means renunciation
non-ill will
which is cultivated through
loving-kindness
and non-harmlessness or non-cruelty
which is cultivated through compassion
so right intention is all about letting
go abandoning
deconstructing not constructing things
for yourself that create further
suffering but rather seeing things as
they are and letting them go
this is the mundane right view a right
intention
the super mundane is that which is of
the liberated mind
that is to say that it is automatic
there is a mundane right view which is
you have to continue to apply right
intention
you have to continue to incline your
mind towards the wholesome
but eventually that becomes automatic
that becomes the default mode of
functioning for the liberated mind and
that's the super mundane right intention
so the right speech
right speech is
basically the acronym that i use is
think
t-h-i-n-k
think before you speak
and how do you understand that that is
basically
knowing if it's the right time or not to
say what you're going to say
timeliness
h is honesty is what you're going to say
true or not true do you know it to be
true or untrue
i is for intention what is the intention
behind what you're going to say is it
intentionally wholesome or intentionally
unwholesome
n is for necessity
is it necessary is it beneficial
for yourself and the other party
concerned
and k is for kindness
can you say it with loving kindness
there's a suta in the dining hall which
is the abhiya sutra
if you read that you'll have more
clarity on what this means
you speak when things are factual and
you can say it with kindness when it's
the right time
and when it's beneficial and so on
this is right speech
right action is refraining from breaking
the precepts
refraining from killing and harming
refraining from taking what is not given
refraining from sexual misconduct
and
it doesn't really say that but it is
implied that you refrain from indulging
in any intoxicants
because that's implied in right
mindfulness in order for you to have
right mindfulness
you don't have intoxicants in you
because intoxicants will lead
to a mind that is
unmindful to a mind that is
inattentive which can cause the mind to
break the other precepts
right livelihood so now when we talk
about right livelihood
there's the right livelihood for the
monastics and there's a right livelihood
for the lay people
the right livelihood for monastics is
that they abstain from certain things
they abstain from anything that gets in
the way of what they became monastics
for
what did what does it why does a person
go forth what do they go forth for
why do they go forth from the home life
to the homeless life
for the realization of nibana
anything that prevents you from that
anything else so wrong livelihood
includes things like for monastic to
tell the future you know fortune telling
uh
you know creating amulets and all kinds
of
interesting and colorful things
that have nothing to do with the path
that have nothing to do with actually
attaining nibana
for laypeople
there are five types of wrong livelihood
that is to say
dealing or having to do with trade that
deals in
human trafficking
in poisons
in weapons
in alcohol
and
in
meat
then there is
right mindfulness
so when we talk about right mindfulness
as opposed to wrong mindfulness
right mindfulness is elaborated in the
sati patana sutta
understanding body feelings
consciousness or mind and phenomena
but not understanding them insofar as
mindfully eating mindfully walking
mindfully
uh resting and all that
you're mindful not of the actual action
you're mindful of is there present
craving or aversion in the mind
so simply put right mindfulness
is remembering to observe how mind's
attention moves from one thing to the
other
so when you are walking where is your
mind when you are eating where is your
mind
when you uh you know walk up the stairs
where is your mind
when you're driving where is your mind
when you're writing an email where is
your mind
when you're reading a book where is your
mind
when you're watching a movie where is
your mind
sometimes people watch your entire
two-hour movie and then don't even
realize what they've been watching
because their mind is just
all over the place
or they might actually be seeming to be
listening to a person
but their mind is all over the place
their eyes are just glazed over you know
so even upon when you're listening
where is your mind
what is it doing is there craving is
there aversion what's happening there
so observing mind's attention
remembering to observe it
right collectedness
right collectedness is
the four genus
right collectedness is
getting to the first jhana getting to
the second jana getting to the third
genre getting to the fourth journal
and then the formless attainments that
arise from the full genome infinite
space infinite consciousness
nothingness neither perception nor
non-perception but right collectedness
means that the mind doesn't become
one-pointed
it's not absorbed in its object of
meditation
it's using the object of meditation like
an anchor right it's like this is the
planet this is the object here is your
attention and it orbits
around the object of meditation it
doesn't land on it and become it
it doesn't unify with it it doesn't
become one with it it's just using that
as a way to understand itself
so right collectedness is all about
the
yoking of serenity and insight of
samatha and vipassana together
when he develops this noble eightfold
path the four foundations of mindfulness
also come to fulfillment in him by
development
so whenever you're following the
eightfold path you're also fulfilling
the four
foundations of mindfulness
when you have right mindfulness
you are following the four foundations
of mindfulness
the four kinds of right effort also come
to fulfillment in him
by development
what are the four kinds of right effort
the six r's
so right effort whenever you apply right
effort
you are fulfilling the four kinds of
effort right effort
so the four right efforts are
the unarisen unwholesome states you see
that
you abandon the unwholesome states
you
generate a wholesome state of mind and
you maintain a wholesome state of mind
that's happening whenever you do the six
hours
you generate you cultivate and then you
maintain
so with right effort also there is a
mundane and super mundane the mundane is
the four kinds of effort the super
mundane is
effortlessness
because there's for the liberated mind
is there anything to six our
liberated mind just sees things as they
are unimpeded by craving unimpeded by
ignorance unimpeded by conceit unimpeded
by wrong views
so there's no need to six are
it's just seeing things as they are
so that right effort is not even effort
it's just effortless
seeing
what about right mindfulness
in the mundane right mindfulness you
have to apply
you have to actually do it remember to
observe
how a mind's attention moves from one
thing to the other but in the liberated
mind in the super mundane
right mindfulness
the mind is always mindful it's always
aware it's always observing
what about
right collectedness there is a mundane
and super mundane
in the right collectedness all you're
doing is you're intentionalizing to get
into the jaundice
you do that even with
the super mundane but the difference is
super mundane is without any taints
there's no craving for that jhana
there's no identification with that
jhana
there's no sense of i am in that jannah
this shanna is mine or the shanna is me
the four bases for spiritual power also
come to fulfillment in him by
development
so what are the four basis for spiritual
power first of all what is spiritual
power
they talk about it as psychic faculties
or psychic powers or super mundane
powers
and there they are there are basically
six higher powers
that are mentioned
there is the uh the power to
manipulate
material objects and things like that
there's the power to
uh
you know the divine year for example
being able to hear in a far distance
being able to hear what's going on in
the deva realms listening to all their
parties and gossip and stuff that's
going on there
you know
then there's the
uh
there's the divine eye where you can
actually
see into the arising and passing away of
beings being able to see
into celestial realms being able to see
otherworldly beings over here and so on
and so forth and there's reading others
minds being able to understand what kind
of mind is present is that mind
distracted or not distracted
is that mind having anger or doesn't
have anger is that mind
happy or unhappy and so on and so forth
and then there is the
there is the seeing
past lives seeing into your past lives
so being able to go back into the past
and being able to see what lives were
there and this allows you to have a
deeper understanding of karma a deeper
understanding of rebirth
a deeper understanding of dependent
origination so i think those were the
first five i mentioned
that is the manipulation of material
objects so that includes
you know being in two places at the same
time and all these other things that
they talk about
there is
reading other people's minds
there is
the divine ear there is the divine eye
there is
recounting all of your different past
lives
but the sixth one
is the destruction of the taints
that's considered to be a higher power
but that is a higher power only in
relation to the arahat
so there are different types of arahats
there are arahats who may who have all
the six higher powers there are arahats
who only have the destruction of the
taints and the threefold knowledge
and there are hats who have one or more
of these higher powers but they will
always have the destruction of the
taints
so that means you always need these four
bases
for spiritual power
so what are the four bases for spiritual
power
you need
chanda
you need consciousness
you need
mindfulness
and you need what's known as vimsa
let me make sure that's correct
[Laughter]
yeah you need the the
the zeal that is the chanda
that's the culture
chanda is a wholesome desire a wholesome
inclination every time you incline the
mind towards jhana
every time you incline the mind towards
nibana
that is
chanda
but
it's about having the inclination
towards it but not getting obsessed by
it
so setting the intention and then
letting it go and just continuing on
then
you need
collectedness
oh sorry you need energy
so that is the right effort you need the
right effort for this
then you need
due to the purity of mind
so you need the mind itself obviously
that's consciousness
otherwise what are you developing
psychic powers for
so you need a mind
and then you need
investigation
so that's the the monster that we're
talking about so investigation means
what is present in mind and what is not
present in mind these are the four basis
for spiritual power
so you need
the chanda the zeal
you need the effort
you need the mind itself
and you need the investigation
are these fulfilled by the eightfold
path
how is chanda
fulfilled by the eightfold path
right intention
because it's a cultivated intention it's
an intention of inclining towards that
which is wholesome
how is
effort
right effort
what about the mind itself consciousness
itself
it's it's all it's present throughout
the entire eightfold path
you need a mind in order to follow the
eightfold path you need consciousness
and then investigation what about
investigation
that's mindfulness
because whenever you recognize something
what are you doing
you're mindful that mind was distracted
you're aware you're attentive you're
paying attention you're observing how
mind's attention moved
and the investigation of states is
aware
that there is a distracted mind
so what does investigation of states
mean
that i'll get into that a little deeper
but investigation of states is basically
knowing
that the mind is in this state or in
that state that's basically it
the five faculties also come to
fulfillment in him by development the
five powers also come to fulfillment in
him by development now the five
faculties and the five powers are
identical
so the faculties are mindfulness
are
mindfulness faith energy
collectedness and wisdom
so let's start with
faith how does faith become fulfilled
right that's being uh
having confidence in the buddha the
dharma and the sangha but through the
eightfold path
right view fulfills that
right view fulfills faith
what about energy
right effort
what about mindfulness
right mindfulness
how about collectedness
right collectedness
how about wisdom
right you
so what's the difference between the
five faculties and the five powers
right because it's the same thing right
the five faculties are
basically the same as the five powers
it's identical in terms of the listing
so what's the difference between them
faculties are
the
the way through which the powers flow
so you're developing mindfulness and
then that becomes a strength
you're developing effort
and then that becomes your strength
you're developing collectedness and that
becomes your strength
you're developing faith and that becomes
your strength you're developing wisdom
and that becomes your strength in other
words one is
in that sense a path
and the other is a fruition
meaning you're developing these things
through the faculties and then you have
them as powers
they are inherent in the mind
after you have developed them
cultivated them and perfected them
the seven enlightenment factors also
come to fulfillment in him by
development
how do the seventh enlightenment factors
come so let's figure out what are the
enlightenment factors
mindfulness investigation of states
energy
joy
tranquility
collectedness and equanimity
right
every time remember what i said every
time you use the six r's what are you
doing you're activating the
enlightenment factors
when you recognize
you become mindful
you
remember to observe that mind's
attention is moving
remember to observe how it's moving
every time you recognize you're also
having the investigation of states
because now you recognize that the mind
is distracted it went from being
collected to becoming distracted
that's all investigation of states is
that's why the investigation of states
is the antidote to the hindrance of
doubt
what is the hindrance of doubt
am i doing this correctly
what state am i in
uh
do i have a wholesome state or an
unwholesome state what kind of you know
what's going on here when you have
investigation of states you know for
yourself what's actually going on
you know that you're doing it correctly
you know that you are in a wholesome
state of mind you know if you're
distracted or not distracted and so on
what about energy when you release your
attention from that distraction
you're letting go of that distraction so
you're using effort
so energy is another word for effort
they call it striving they call it this
and that but i would just call it effort
it's just
applying right effort the application of
right effort
when you relax
you're activating tranquility when you
re-smile you're activating
joy
when you return to your object or
meditation you're activating
collectedness
now notice there there was tranquility
and then there was joy instead of the
other way around i said this before joy
and tranquility can be interchangeable
when there is joy the mind is relaxed
when the mind is relaxed it's able to
experience joy
if the mind is constricted if the mind
is anxious if the mind is worried if the
mind is sad
it can't experience joy but as soon as
you relax the mind and open it up
it can experience joy
and when you feel joyful
you're also
relaxed
you're also happy and relaxed
and when you return you'll have
collectedness what about equanimity
equanimity is fulfilled by the
application of the six r's because
you're seeing things as they are not
getting pulled by the hindrance not
getting distracted by the hindrance not
getting uh pushed by the hindrance not
having any craving or resistance towards
you just seeing oh here's a hindrance
6r
that's how equanimity is fulfilled
so right effort
the activation of
the enlightenment factors is part of
right effort
and therefore that is how it comes to
fulfillment through the noble eightfold
path
these two things serenity and insight
occur in him yoked evenly together which
means
if you have the eightfold path if you
are cultivating the eightfold path
you're keeping your precepts
you're maintaining those precepts you're
committing to keeping them
and then you have right mindfulness and
right collectedness using right effort
and you develop and perfect right view
with insight with understanding that
means you have evenly yoked together
serenity and insight
so you need that collectedness you need
the meditation you need samadhi
oftentimes there will be a question
which is
can you have uh insight without samadhi
right can you have insight without
collectiveness
without meditation without going into
jhana
the simple answer to that is it's called
the eightfold path not the seven-fold
path right so it's inherent
it's implicit it's important it's
imperative
that you have jhana that you have
collectors that you have the right kind
of genre in order for you to experience
liberation in order for you to
experience
awakening
he fully understands by direct knowledge
those things that should be fully
understood by direct knowledge he
abandons by direct knowledge those
things that should be abandoned by
direct knowledge he develops by direct
knowledge those things that should be
developed by direct knowledge
he realizes by direct knowledge those
things that should be realized by direct
knowledge
and what things should be fully
understood by direct knowledge the
answer to that is
the five aggregates affected by craving
and clinging
that is the material form aggregate
affected by craving and clinging the
feeling aggregate affected by craving
and clinging
the perception aggregate affected by
craving and clinging
the formations aggregate affected by
craving and clinging
the consciousness aggregate affected by
craving and clinging
these are the things that should be
fully understood by direct knowledge
whenever they say the word understand or
understood
it means to actually see things as they
are
to experience them as they are
seeing the arising and passing away
doesn't mean you have to investigate and
look at it
like okay when is the arising of this
when is the passing away of this
it's just
observing
letting the mind observe
and then it will be apparent to the mind
when the collectedness is good when the
mindfulness is sharp and clear
that is why when you get into infinite
consciousness what do you see you see
the arising and passing away of
consciousnesses because you're not doing
anything there your mind is just letting
go
mind is letting go on subtler and
subtler levels and your mind is
collected
even deeper and your mindfulness is even
sharper and so now you're starting to
see the arising and passing away
you don't intentionalize that you see it
you don't do anything there you're just
being aware
you're just watching the movie
so what are you watching the movie of
here the arising and passing away of the
aggregates you understand for yourself
as it actually is that this form that
you have is impermanent
that this feeling that you have is
impermanent
that this perception that you have is
impermanent that the formations that are
there are impermanent and consciousness
is impermanent what does that lead to
that leads to the perception of dukkha
that leads to the perception of the
impersonal nature
of all things
that leads to equanimity seeing things
as they are
that leads to disenchantment and that
leads to dispassion
and that leads to
cessation
and what things should be abandoned by
direct knowledge
ignorance and craving for being
these are the things that should be
abandoned by direct knowledge
so what is ignorance
ignorance is not knowing about the four
noble truths
once you start to
access
right effort and apply right effort once
you start to cultivate the six hours
you start to become more mindful you
start to become more attentive
you start to see things as they are and
ignorance
starts to be well whittled away
what about the craving for being what
does that mean
so right now what the buddha is talking
about is
there is that person who is uninflamed
by lust and aversion
so that is the anagami
so that is why he's saying what has to
be abandoned by direct knowledge is the
craving for being
so first you eliminate sensual desire
sensual craving and aversion
then the craving for being goes away
what is the craving for being
the craving to be in a certain state of
mind craving to be in the jhana the
craving for existence the craving to be
this or that
you let go of that
and what things should be developed by
direct knowledge
serenity and insight
these are the things that should be
developed by direct knowledge and what
things should be realized
by direct knowledge
true knowledge and deliverance
these are the things that should be
realized by direct knowledge
so what is true knowledge and
deliverance
when you experience cessation of
perception feeling and consciousness
then the mind emerges from that makes
contact with nibana
experiences release
and therefore is delivered
from certain kinds certain kinds of
feathers
eventually it's fully delivered that is
to say it is fully released it is fully
liberated and there is the true
knowledge what is the true knowledge
the wisdom the insight into the
impersonal nature of things the wisdom
and insight of dependent origination
and then there is the true knowledge
that mind is liberated
rebirth is ended
there is no more coming to be
what had to be done has been done
that is what the blessed one said the
bekus were satisfied and delighted in
the blessed one's words
questions
all right
oh yeah
all right let's go through this so this
is uh
this is the maha sakula sakul udayi suta
the greater discourse to
sakulu dain
sutha number 77 majamenikaya 77 this is
page 638
section 8 starting from number
22. again
i have proclaimed to my disciples
the way to develop the eight liberations
so i'll read it first and we'll go
through it
possessed of material form one sees
forms
this is the first liberation
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally this is the second
liberation
one is resolved upon the beautiful this
is the third liberation
with the complete surmounting of
perceptions of form with the
disappearance of perceptions of sensory
impact
with non-attention to perceptions of
diversity
aware that space is infinite one enters
upon and abides in the base of infinite
space this is the fourth liberation
by completely surmounting the base of
infinite space
aware that consciousness is infinite one
enters upon and abides in the base of
infinite consciousness
this is the fifth liberation
by completely surmounting the base of
infinite consciousness
aware that there's nothing one enters
upon and abides in the base of
nothingness
this is the sixth liberation by
completely surmounting the base of
nothingness
one enters upon and abides in the base
of neither perception nor non-perception
this is the seventh liberation
by completely surmounting the base of
neither perception nor non-perception
one enters upon and abides in the
cessation of perception feeling and
consciousness
this is the eighth liberation
and thereby many disciples of mine abide
having reached the consummation and
perfection of direct knowledge
so let's talk about the first liberation
possessed of material form one sees
forms
that kind of makes sense right possess
the forms
possess the material forms one sees
forms
this is actually talking about going
through the asuba practices
so
you look at the body you look at the
different elements of the body so
possessed of material form
one sees the different forms
one sees the body one sees the skeleton
the bones one sees the lungs one sees
the heart one sees all of these
different things
this is the first liberation liberation
from
sensual craving liberation from
identification
it's not the first journal
then not perceiving form internally once
these forms externally
what does that mean
how do you see forms
how do you not see internally but see
externally
casinos that's exactly it
yeah
so not perceiving form internally once
these forms externally
in other words
now
you have taken that casino and you have
expanded it first of all the word casino
right a lot of people take that to mean
i have to take this casino i have to
take for example
the the fire element i look at the
candle flame i take the flickering flame
and then i put it here and then i see
into it and it's a nimita
and then
i become concentrated on it and then i
go into it
and then i experience whatever it might
be
but
comes from the sanskrit word kritsna
k-r-i-t-s-n-a
krits na
which means expansion which means whole
w-h-o-l-e
so we're actually taking this
whatever casino it is the red casino the
blue casino the yellow casino the white
casino the fire casino the water casino
whatever casino it is
and you're expanding it so what does
that mean you're expanding it what are
you doing
you're radiating
you're expanding it you're starting to
get into infinite space
so this allows you to go into infinite
space
right
as long as you're not one pointed the
other the other
the other way of doing it
which is
basically the concentration part of it
which is you take that and you become
super focused on that
and then you develop
how would you expand a red circle
just by looking at it you look at it and
it just expands
yeah
instead of becoming pinpointing on it
and this is the process that they
actually did
yeah
if you go to one two one majamenikai one
two one the buddha talks about the
perception of earth and so on so there
he's referring to the earth casino
in any expense
and then you go into infinite space so
surmounting perceptions of form and so
on
this is the second liberation one is
resolved only upon the beautiful
what's the beautiful
jhana
first four genus but specifically the
fortuna
so this is
the third liberation
the fourth jonah
with the complete surmounting of
perceptions so the rest you know infant
space infinite consciousness
nothingness neither perception
non-perception cessation of perception
feeling and consciousness
this looks
like a concentration path
not
i mean the first steps
the first step is the asuba practice
right that is looking at the different
parts of the body and and so on and so
forth
as well
that's first the body
yeah
body as body yeah
so before i answer that let me answer
his question
so what you're asking is
the asuba practice the concentration
path
well so far i haven't heard of anyone
doing the asuba practices of you in the
twin practice
so
maybe we could i mean somebody could you
could contemplate the idea and just know
the nature of the body you don't need to
concentrate right you just know there's
skin there's
and at some point
inside arises like that's awful
yeah
so well
the first one i agree but the casinos
part how can you do it i don't know
is the one that it looks to me a
concentration
uh because that's that's the way it's
been taught which is you take that and
then you make that a nemeta and then you
just concentrate on it
and let it just expand
especially
radiating out keeps the mind expensive
rather than
concentrating
yeah so it could be a
you want to try it
i believe it's better
uh so the question was about the
beautiful
yeah
what was the question
because there's truth soother references
to talking about he inclines the mind to
the beautiful which is the fourth
channel
no just the fourth only the fourth
have you heard some of the burmese they
talk about
liberation by beauty or liberation by it
ugly and i wonder if that's like the
city wagon stuff
uh liberation bio liberation from
i've only heard it i tried to research
it
it sounds like it's getting to
equanimity liberation from that which is
beautiful and ugly that is to say
not getting
uh craved for or not getting any
aversion towards
i did hear it described as
dedicating yourself to see the beauty
and everything or dedicating yourself to
see that ugly or the future
so that could be seeing the repulsive
and the unrepulsive the unrepulsive and
the repulsive
which we talked about a few days ago
which was like
you know being able to see that and then
letting go of any
greed for it or hatred for it and so on
for the first three genres because if
three was four
where the first three go
the first three giants he enters the
wesley to the fourth
yeah
what happened towards the right
ten goes directly
it's not that these these liberations uh
so okay let's first understand what he
means by liberations here
when you say liberation doesn't mean in
terms of entertainment it's it's a
temporary liberation
whenever you get into jhana whenever you
get into collectedness whenever you get
into a formless attainment
that means your mind is
rid
of the five hindrances it is liberated
from the five hindrances
so this is one way the buddha talks
about the liberations he's talked about
it in here he's talked about it in
uh dignikaya
a couple of times a few times in
dignikaya and what he's talking about
here is that there's different ways to
liberate the mind why is this the first
liberation
seeing the asuba practice because it's
liberating from liberating you from the
attachment to the body liberating
you from the central craving to the body
the
casino practice how does that liberate
you
it liberates you from
the the the sense of form
right it's liberating you from
any sense of form it's expansive
the fourth genre what is it liberating
you from
now actually since you bring this up
each of the eight ghanas are also
temporary liberations what is the first
jhana liberate you from
the five hindrances it liberates you
from the five hindrances
it liberates you from having to talk
because you don't talk when you're in in
in the first channel
what about the second genre what does it
liberate you from
verbal formations
now you let go of intentionalizing
things it's just everything is flowing
what about the third genre what does it
liberate you from
joy
because joy can be seen two course
of a feeling
the fourth jana liberates you from
sukkah so now you have just equanimity
a unified mind it's it means a mind that
is
is orbiting its object
so ekagata is present but that's just
basically a mind that is
uh single-minded that means it's just
staying with its object that's all it is
it's being collected
so what about the uh
what else is the fortuna liberating you
from though yes it's liberating you from
let's say the
the the joy and the sukkah
body
[Laughter]
so when i say that the genres are levels
of cessation
they're basically levels of cessation
because they cease certain formations
and what are the three types of
formations
verbal bodily mental formations
so when you're in the first jhana you
stop talking
in the second genre you let go of the
verbal formations
in the third genre you let go of the joy
in the fourth genre you let go of bodily
formations
right and then
in the fifth jhana you let go of
anybody itself it's just mine
letting go of any contact
not paying attention non-attention to
that
the sixth genre or
infinite consciousness you're no longer
perceiving infinite space
in nothingness you're no longer
perceiving
infinite consciousness neither
perception or non-perception you're no
longer perceiving nothingness
cessation of perception feeling
unconsciousness
that ceases neither perception
non-perception but it ceases
mental formations
the cessation of perception and feeling
which means
mental formations are feeling and
perception so mental formations
completely cease at the eighth journal
sorry at the cessation of perception
feeling and consciousness
okay let's try it let's see what it says
here
again udayan i have proclaimed to my
disciples the way to develop the eight
basis for transcendence
perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally limited fair and ugly
by transcending them one sees one
perceives thus i know i see
this is the first base for transcendence
perceiving forms
internally one sees forms externally
immeasurable fair and ugly by
transcending them one perceives thus i
know i see
this is the second base for
transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally limited fair and ugly
by transcending them one perceives thus
i know i see
this is the third base for transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
immeasurable
fair and ugly by transcending them one
perceives thus i know i see
this is the fourth base for
transcendence
not perceiving forms internally one sees
forms externally
blue of blue color
blue in appearance with blue luminosity
just like a flax flower which is blue a
blue color blue in appearance with blue
luminosity or just like banars cloth
smoothen on both sides which is blue
of blue color blue in appearance with
blue luminosity
so too not perceiving forms internally
one sees forms externally with blue
luminosity
by transcending them one sees thus i
know i see
this is the fifth base for transcendence
not perceiving form internally once
these forms externally
yellow
of yellow color yellow in appearance
with yellow luminosity
like a kanikara flower which is yellow
of yellow color yellow in appearance
with yellow luminosity or just like
bernar's cloth smoothened on both sides
which is yellow of yellow color yellow
in appearance with yellow luminosity
so too not perceiving form internally
one sees forms externally with yellow
luminosity
by transcending them one perceives thus
i know i see
this is the sixth base for transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
red of red color red in appearance with
red luminosity just like a hibiscus
flower
which is red of red color red in
appearance with red luminosity or just
like benares cloth smoothened on both
sides which is red of red color red in
appearance with red luminosity
so too not perceiving form internally
one sees forms externally with red
luminosity
by transcending them one perceives thus
i know i see
this is the seventh base for
transcendence
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
white of white color white in appearance
with white luminosity
just like the morning star which is
white of white color white in appearance
with white luminosity or just like
benares cloth smoothen on both sides
which is white of white color
white in appearance with white
luminosity
so too not perceiving form internally
once these forms externally with white
luminosity by transcending them once
perceives thus
i know i see
this is the eighth base for
transcendence and thereby many disciples
of mine abide having reached the
consummation
and perfection of direct knowledge
so somebody made notes on this right the
other day
what are those notes
the new color monitor by apple or
something
i'm
sorry
what was it about the eight basis for
transcendence this is what it's called
so uh what was the
notes
all right let's let's do this
[Laughter]
perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
limited fair and ugly that's the first
one
perceiving form internally once these
forms externally
immeasurable fair and ugly that's the
second one
not perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally
limited fair and ugly
that's the third one not perceiving
internally perform internally
one sees forms externally immeasurable
fair and ugly
so these are the four let's talk about
these four
perceiving form internally one sees
forms externally limited fair and ugly
the way i'm looking at this is when we
talk about limited
that is to say limited by form
when he talks about
immeasurable
he's talking about that which is
outside of form but here he's talking
about the immeasurable which is
the brahmaviharas
so when he talks about perceiving form
internally one sees forms externally
externally limited fair and ugly this is
the first four janus
when he says fair and ugly he's talking
about with equanimity
not getting pulled or pushed
by that which is beautiful or ugly
when he talks about perceiving form
internally once he's externally
immeasurable fair and ugly here he's
talking about the brahmaviharas
that's a magic trick
yeah
not perceiving forms internally once
these forms externally
limited fair and ugly
this is the third base not perceiving
form internally one sees forms
externally
immeasurable
fair and ugly
so in this case also he's talking about
janna's the first four jonas but when he
talks about the immeasurable here he's
talking about the formless attainments
so first you have the first four janas
then you have the four viharas
and you have the four genres again and
then you have the four formless states
uh formless attainments
what about the
red yellow
or the blue yellow red and white
what does that mean
[Laughter]
what he's talking about is the
attainments
the four attainments
so the blue represents the soda panna
the yellow represents the sakuragami the
red uh
uh
is the onigami and the white is the
arahat
those are primary colors
i think yeah blue uh
blue
yellow and red
oh rgb yeah
okay
so
there's a reason why he uses these
colors and we're talking about it in
this way because
the buddha refers to these
noble persons
as ascetics
there are the blue lotus aesthetics
there are the yellow lotus aesthetics
there are the red lotus aesthetics and
there are the white lotus aesthetics
so
the blue represents the sodapanas
the
excuse me the yellow represents the
sakuragamis
the red the onigami's
and the white the arhats
so why why lotus though
lotus wow in the mud
and remains untainted by
the mud
was there
that was there a
it's it's more of a cultural
cultural thing in the cultural thing
which is
you have these different colored lotuses
and the buddha primarily said about
these particular may beings inhabiting
space and earth devas and nagas of
mighty power share this merit of ours
may they long protect the buddha's
dispensation
[Music]
so
[Music]