From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=kc_NiY_-oq4

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

[Music]

so today

we will be going over transcendental

dependent origination

so

in some sutas like

samyutta nikaya

uh 12.20

which is

the upanisa that's not what we're going

to do today but in that suta

it shows

all of the 11 links related to

or leading to awakening

the way we understand dependent

origination the one that we've gone

through so far

that is the elaboration of the second

noble truth

how suffering arises what are the causes

and conditions for suffering

the transcendental dependent origination

allows us to see the elaboration of the

third noble truth

how does suffering cease

and how do we get there to the cessation

of suffering so it deals with the third

and fourth noble truths

so the suit that i'm reading today

this is from the anguttara nikaya the

book of tens

number three so 10.3 anguttara nikaya

10.3

it's called virtuous behavior

now

in the upanisa it talks about 11 links

here in

this particular suta it talks about 10.

it joins together a couple of those

links into one

one link and i'll explain how that is

because

for an immoral person for one deficient

in virtuous behavior

non-regret lacks its proximate cause

so here we're starting with

what happens when you don't have these

different links

if you don't have the first link in

transcendental dependent origination it

will not lead to the next link

so here we're talking about an immoral

person somebody who does not follow the

precepts

so here the first link is virtue

keeping your precepts

being virtuous

that is refraining from harming

or killing beings

refraining from taking what is not given

refraining from sensual and sexual

misconduct refraining from refraining

from using false speech gossip slander

and so on

and of course refraining from

intoxicants

so

keeping the precepts results in

non-regret

so non-regret is a mind that is rid of

any kind of restlessness

if you keep your precepts for

a long and continuous period of time

your mind becomes collected

your mind becomes calm

naturally

which means you don't have regret when

you break a precept what happens the

conscious in your mind the conscience it

says

i shouldn't have done that

and it agitates the mind

and now that agitation leads to

restlessness and remorse and anxiety

worry and so on

but if you keep your precepts if you're

not harming yourself if you're not

harming other beings

then there's nothing for you to be

restless about

you are content you're free from any

kind of

non-virtuous behavior from any kind of

unethical behavior any kind of immoral

behavior

because of that your mind naturally lets

go of that restlessness

and your mind naturally has non-regret

now in the upanisa suta the 12.23

samyutta nikaya

there the first link is actually

suffering

leads to faith

the reason being is

everyone who came upon this path

came upon it because of

suffering they've had enough of

suffering

so what happens suffering you have

dukkha

one of two things can happen

one is you find a way out of that

suffering through

all kinds of ways of distracting

yourself from that suffering

using intoxicants watching movies plays

all these other things trying to just

distract your mind away from the

suffering

or two

you search a way out of the suffering so

you might go on youtube and search for

montevide ramsay

and now

you found the path

right now you know about meditation you

learn about meditation you learn about

dependent origination so

suffering is the beginning

the suffering if you have enough

suffering it will lead you to some vega

some vega means

a mind that wants out of that suffering

it's not aversion it just realizes wow

i've had enough of the suffering and

it's related to disenchantment

so it's called dismay

so now you have that dismay and you look

for a way out of that suffering you come

across somebody who is talking about the

dhamma

and now you listen to them

you lend your ears to them and you're

listening to the dharma

now you're bringing up faith

so now that faith that you have

results in your mind letting go of what

it thought was the right way

you start to develop

what is known as saddha in in pali

you start to develop a

let's just see what happens kind of

attitude let's try it you're open to

seeing what this whole process is about

and so from there that results into the

next link which we'll talk about

but in this case here it's saying

when there is no non-regret meaning when

the mind has restless and remorse

restlessness and remorse and anxiety

when the mind has that because it's not

keeping its precepts

joy

lacks its proximate cause so when there

is no non-regret

for one deficient in non-regret joy

lacks its proximate cause here the joy

is not referring to pithi

in pali it's referring to pamoja

so pamoja is the joy of the dharma

some of you might be listening to a

dhamma talk and you go into a meditative

state or you start to experience a lot

of joy that comes up from listening to

the dharma

that joy is pamoja

when you see for yourself your mind is

free of any kind of hindrances

because you are keeping your precepts

when you see that your mind is collected

and calm

and not restless

the natural resultant of that is the

pamoja

the joy of the dharma

but if you don't keep your precepts and

you have non-regret

then you don't have joy and so for when

there is no joy

for one deficient in joy

rapture

lacks its

approximate cause

in other words when there is no joy

there is no rapture now that rapture

is the pt that we're talking about

so now this pt

that results from the joy of the dharma

comes from the mind becoming starting to

become collected

comes from the mind starting to

see the mind is free of hindrances

secluded from unwholesome states of mind

being secluded from unwholesome states

of mind

you're now also

fairly secluded from

the sense basis now your mind becomes

very collected starts to become very

collected and then the joy arises

now this joy also

is

a factor it's an enlightenment factor

so what we're going to see is how the

enlightenment factors interweave

through these transcendental links of

dependent origination the first link or

the first factor rather is mindfulness

how do you become mindful how do you

gain your mindfulness how do you gain

full awareness how do you gain clarity

you know you need a mind that is

non-agitated

how do you get a mind that is

non-agitated

you keep the precepts

when you keep the precepts your mind

becomes naturally more mindful

and of course the quick way of doing

that is starting to realize oh

there's hindrances present here

then you 6r you use the six r's

you regain your mindfulness

having done that you have energy

and so now that energy

you know keeping the precepts actually

takes energy right it takes effort it

takes effort for your mind to see that

you have a choice either

to keep that precept or to break it

now the right effort is to recognize

your mind's inclinations

and let go of the wrong unwholesome

inclinations that lead down the wrong

path that lead to suffering

and you make the effort to let go of

that

and come to the right path

come to keeping that precept

leading to further clarity of mind

which leads to that pamoja

which leads to that joy to that pity

so now we have mindfulness

and based on that mindfulness we have

investigation of states

dependent upon that investigation of

states we have effort or energy

dependent upon that energy there comes

joy

so now what is that investigation of

states

investigation of states comes from the

word dhamha vichea

dhammavichaya means

basically knowing what is present what

phenomena are present

so in other words you're recognizing

what phenomena is present in your mind

if you're recognizing that there is a

unwholesome state of mind

you're investigating to that extent that

there is an unwholesome state of mind

that's all the investigation you need

you don't need to go into how did this

happen why did this happen you know all

of these other

uh

processes of reflection contemplation

analysis

just know oh

mind is distracted

so the awareness of mind being

distracted is one thing that's the

mindfulness and knowing that the mind is

distracted that's the investigation of

states

then releasing your attention from that

is the effort that you bring up so now

you have mindfulness

then you have investigation of states

now you have energy and that leads to

joy

the pt the rapture

when there is no rapture for one

deficient in rapture tranquil

tranquility

lacks its proximate cause so what is

tranquility

that is the relaxed step

so you relax your mind your mind

naturally becomes tranquil

so when you keep your precepts

you're mindful of what is present and

what is not present

you're investigating what is wholesome

what is not wholesome

you make the effort to let go of the

wholesome and come to let go of the

unwholesome and come to the wholesome

experience the pamoja

have that joy that arises

and now your mind is tranquil

your body is tranquil

so now that is the

the next factor the next enlightenment

factor you require

the next awakening factor that you

require

that is the tranquility factor the

relaxation

now the as i said before the seven

enlightenment factors can be activated

through

using the six r's

when you recognize that your mind is

distracted you bring up mindfulness

knowing that your mind is distracted you

bring up investigation of states

releasing your attention from that you

bring up the the right effort the right

energy

now when you relax you bring in the qual

the tranquility when you re-smile you

bring up the joy the pithy

and then when you return back to your

object you bring up the collectedness

and the equanimity is present whenever

you use the six ours not becoming

agitated pulled in one direction or the

other

about what what you need to do

so when there is no tranquility for one

deficient in tranquility pleasure lacks

its proximate cause here the pleasure

that we're talking about is the bodily

pleasure

that is to say

you know when you experience the joy

coming up you experience sukkah in

tandem with that joy

not the cat remember

although he does bring a lot of sukkah

to people

so

you know that can be experienced in the

body you feel like your body is very

comfortable

just the right temperature everything's

going well everything is relaxed

and the mind also feels comfortable

because the body is comfortable

so that's the sukkah that's the pleasure

in the body

when there is no pleasure one for one

deficient in pleasure right

collectedness lacks its pr proximate

cause

so now so where are we now so first we

kept the precepts

we were mindful

of what is wholesome and what is

unwholesome

we knew what is wholesome and what is

unwholesome

through the investigation of states we

made the effort to let go of that

so now we have the right energy we have

the pamoja the joy of the dharma the

gladness that arises

and in the joy that arises from that now

the mind is tranquil

now that the mind is tranquil the mind

can become

happy

comfortable the body becomes comfortable

and happy

now the mind is ripe for collectedness

now you have the ekagata

so what is a kagata

kagata is generally translated as one

pointedness

but that

that gives a connotation that your mind

has to be super super focused

like a laser

a kagata is really unification of the

mind

it's

the chitta eghagata which is the unified

mindset

in other words

what's the mindset i'm like a mood right

when you have a certain kind of mood

it's a collection of emotions that you

have throughout the day

you are in a happy mood because you have

predominantly happy emotions

you're in a

lousy mood because you have

predominantly sad or angry or irritated

emotions

in the same way the mindset is a

collection of similar thought patterns

when you have a mindset that is

collected

your mind is filled with thoughts of

gladness

thoughts of happiness

thoughts of tranquility

thoughts of loving kindness

thoughts of compassion and so on

because that that feeling is so nice

and because those thoughts

orientate orient themselves towards

something that's so nice in terms of its

pleasant experience

the mind naturally collects itself

around that experience

so this is a natural collectedness that

arises not something you have to

construct

once your mind is relaxed

then the collectedness comes to fruition

but if you d if you're constructing that

process then you're going into that

laser-focused one-pointedness

if your mind is letting go of hindrances

letting go of unwholesome states of mind

as the joy is is relaxed then it will

naturally just orbit

around the object

which is a beautiful experience

the loving kindness is a beautiful

experience the compassion the joy the

equanimity the quiet mind

when the mind collects itself around

that it's orbiting it right loving

kindness is like a planet

and your attention

orbits around that

when it comes out of orbit now it gets

distracted by something you use the six

r's to bring it back into orbit

and now you stay with the object of

meditation this is right collectedness

that results from that tranquility

when there is no right collectedness

for one deficient in right collectedness

the knowledge and vision of things as

they really are lacks

its proximate cause

the knowledge and vision of things as

they really are

yata bhutta nyana

that's what it is in pali

it's quite the mouthful but basically

it's

it's it's denoting equanimity

equanimity is being able to see things

as they are

and not being affected by them pulled in

one direction or the other

just seeing things as they are plainly

not getting affected one way or the

other

that is equanimity so now we have

the equanimity factor present

we started with the mindfulness

mindfulness of what is wholesome and

unwholesome

letting go of the

or recognizing what is unwholesome and

wholesome so now you're investigating

letting go of that so now you have the

effort the right effort the energy

that brings up the tranquility and the

joy that leads to collectedness

now that collectiveness leads to

equanimity so that equanimity is a

brahmavihara but it's also an

enlightenment factor

that equanimity is a

mindset

this is what is meant by when i say

experience everything fully

don't run away from it don't try to

grasp onto it

don't land on it just experience it

fully

whether it's pleasant

unpleasant or neutral

but without the sense of i

you're just looking at that experience

there is no

feel and there is no experiencer there

there is just the experience

there is no one feeling it there is just

the feeling

there's no one perceiving it there's

just the perception

there's no one intending it there's just

the intention

there is no meditator there is just the

meditation

so from that

standpoint

so to speak

there is equanimity this is true

equanimity not being bothered by

anything because you're not taking

anything personally

when there is no knowledge and vision of

things as they really are for one

deficient

in the knowledge and vision of things as

they really are disenchantment and

dispassion

lack their proximate cause

so the disenchantment and dispassion are

two things but here in this suta they

they've

they've put it into two into one

category

but they are unique

from themselves so

the this enchantment

right that's the mind that says i've had

enough of this

that's the mind that says i'm tired

of all of these formations that are

coming up in the mind

becoming disengaged with those things no

longer interested

in trying to figure out this or that

many times the meditators are in the

quiet mind

some kind of formation will come up and

they'll say oh i saw this brilliant

white light

or i saw this pathway leading to a past

life

or i saw this really interesting picture

i saw this really interesting shape i

saw all of these different things

now the mind is enchanted by that now

the mind wants to go and just and try to

figure out what is that thing

so it's interested in that

what has happened the mind has become

distracted

from its object of meditation

so if you see if you catch yourself if

you catch the mind starting to become

interested in something else

this has happened a lot with meditators

who suddenly will see a formation and it

leads to some kind of past life and now

they want to explore that and they go

down that path and think about this

and try to figure out what was i in a

past life what was i doing there why did

that happen and so on

that's not the meditation

that's just curiosity you don't need

that kind of curiosity that's not going

to be for your benefit

so the curiosity that arises you need to

let go of that

you need to balance that you need to

temper that with this enchantment

so another uh wonderful benefit of this

enchantment is if you have walked this

path before

now your mind becomes interested and now

it remembers it recognizes oh here are

the stepping stones towards that

experience again

and as soon as it becomes alerted by

that stepping stone or those stepping

stones

now there is no more equanimity

you see

now the mind becomes too agitated by

recognizing that stepping stone towards

cessation

so what you have to do is come back and

let go of that

and redevelop reignite re-cultivate your

equanimity bring up some doses of

equanimity let go

relax

bring up the equanimity become collected

and then just keep watching without any

kind of

engagement with that process

okay cool

it's happening so what

right once you have that kind of an

attitude in your mind when you come when

it comes to the meditation so what

it's no big deal

that's the true disenchantment

now what about this passion

this this enchantment naturally leads to

dispassion

this passion is that mind that is in

that bubble doesn't get affected by

anything in the form of getting

interested here or there so the

disenchantment is the mind that is like

a teflon you know kind of like

everything kind of glides through it

but now here with the dis passion the

mind becomes

alone

it's wrapped in this bubble that it's

sort of like just protected

by that dispassion

it's not interested it's detached

completely detached from all formations

it sees the formations from afar but

it's just just kind of noticing it but

not really engaging with

it's like when you're eating your food

at lunch and duke comes to you trying to

get some food

and you're just aware he's there but

you're still eating your food

not really paying attention to him

as soon as you pay attention to him what

happens

you get enamored by those puppy dog eyes

and now you want to give him food now

you're feeding him attention

now you're no longer on your object in

meditation

but you're aware okay duke is there it's

fine it's cool it's all right

eventually duke gets tired and realizes

okay i can't win with this person so he

goes to the next person

right the same with the formations they

just go away because they don't have the

you don't have the

the

the attention on those formations

so now you have this passion now your

mind is completely quiet

no vibrations everything is just

very very still

when there is no disenchantment

and dispassion for one

deficient

in disenchantment and dispassion

the knowledge and vision of liberation

lacks its proximate cause so again

they've they have packaged this into two

so what actually happens is once you

have that dispassion eventually because

there are no more formations

there are no more mental formations

arising the mind ceases

and now there's

cessation

and then from that cessation the mind is

unconditioned

because you have let go

of all

conditions

as you're going through this process of

jhanas

don't think of them as you climbing up

somewhere

think of it as you diving deep down

into the mind

think of it as not as bringing up

experiences

but think of it as letting go of

experiences the genres are levels of

cessation

in the first jhana what happens

you let go of the hindrances the

cessation of the hindrances

leads to being in a giant state of mind

so that jonic state of mind

is now starting to get into the first

journal now you become collected around

loving kindness

you have the vitika and vichara the

intentionalizing of the loving-kindness

you bring it up

right you use a wholesome image

you use gratitude you use a wholesome

memory you use wholesome phrases

whatever works and you feel the loving

kindness that's the vitica and vichara

the thinking and examining thought

now when you then have that feeling of

loving kindness you let go of the

verbalizations

you let go of the wholesome image the

wholesome memory the gratitude now

you're staying with that feeling of

loving kindness

or you bring up the spiritual friend you

stay with a spiritual friend

and then what ceases in the second jhana

the vitica and vichara having let go of

that

the the vitika vichar ceases in the

second java and you have more joy that

comes up

you have more sukkah that comes up more

comfort in the body and in the mind

then as you progress into the third

genre what ceases the joy starts to

taper off

the pt starts to taper off and now

there's only the sukkah

and there's the ekagata the tranquility

the pleasant abiding as the noble ones

say

and then as you get into the fourth

jhana what happens

even the suka thesis and now your mind

is just very calm

very balanced

deep equanimity

that's why you have what's known as the

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

this is what's going on you cycle

through the enlightenment factors as you

get through each of the genres

and then eventually you have the

equanimity and then that leads to

further mindfulness

further collectedness

further deepening of equanimity

so now what also ceases in because you

have let go of the verbalizations

because you have let go of the

the wholesome image or the wholesome

memory or whatever it might be because

you have let go of the intentionalizing

the verbal formations

cease

because verbal formations are basically

the thinking and examining thought

which allow you to think about something

and then express that into words

that ceases

when you get into the fourth jhana

now the feeling of loving kindness is up

here in the head

starting to lose contact with the body

you might not even start to feel the

body body feels either very heavy or

feels very light

you will still have contact when let's

say a fly lands on your skin or if

you're meditating outside and there's a

light breeze you'll feel that

but otherwise you're not interested in

the body and for that reason

the bodily formations cease

now when you get into the fifth jana

which is actually the ayathana of

infinite space it's not really a jhana

because the four ayathanas infinite

space infinite consciousness nothingness

neither perception or non-perception

they are part of the fourth genre

the fourth genre is the foundation and

then you have the dimension or the base

of infinite space

when you are in the base of

infinite space what ceases

is basically the perception of the

equanimity the perception of the other

factors of the fourth china

now you are aware of infinite space

but your object is loving kindness or

compassion

then when you get into

infinite consciousness

the perception of infinite space ceases

and now you're seeing the arising and

passing away of individual

consciousnesses

and then tied to that can be the joy

and then when you get into nothingness

the perception of

infinite consciousness ceases

and then tied to that nothingness is the

experience of equanimity

and then when you get into neither

perception nor non-perception the

perception of nothingness ceases and now

you're in quiet mind and now you're

dealing with mental formations

and they arise in the form of that light

in the form of

words in the form of pictures in the

form of shapes

in the form of all of these different

kind of disconnected thoughts that just

don't make any sense at all

so you're in that little sort of like

dream like lol

you don't have slot and torpor your mind

is very attentive but it just feels like

it's going it's going through this like

star cloud

of all of these different thoughts

you're not fully aware of what's going

on this is neither perception nor

non-perception

and then eventually

once you develop that disenchantment so

now you have equanimity very strong in

nothingness and now you start to develop

a disenchantment where all formations

are just going through you

or your attention is going through them

not exactly looking at them

and in the dispassion

and eventually because all formation

cease

the mind ceases so that's the cessation

of mental formations

with the cessation of mental formations

there is a cessation obviously of

perception

feeling and consciousness tied to it

now when you come now because of that

you've let go of all formations

that's why nibana is also seen as

this is tranquil this is peaceful

namely the tranquilizing of all

sankharas the tranquilizing of all

formations

the dispassion

the relinquishing

and so the release the nibana

that's the unconditioned you have

deconditioned the mind of all things

going through the jaundice

and then the mind makes contact with the

unconditioned

so when the mind comes back up online

the first spark that happens is contact

spursha or fasa

with the nibbhana the nibbana dhatu

that's the nibana element

so that experience of nibana is

basically a mind that is completely

unconditioned

now once we understand dependent

origination with the arising of contact

there is the arising of

feeling

which means the feeling that arises from

contact with the nirvana element is the

feeling of joy and relief that you

experience

the feeling of equanimity that you

experience all of these other things

so then what happens so you have made

contact with the nibana element and you

and it feeds back into the pure

formations that arise those pure

formations

have no craving in them

they have no conceit in them they have

no ignorance in them they have no wrong

views in them those formations you start

to see in the form of dashes or lines or

spaces or

flickering or whatever it might be you

might see them you might not see them it

doesn't matter but what's going on is

the formations arise the pure

consciousness arises that gives rise to

the pure feeling of

that joy and that relief it's an

otherworldly joy and relief that you

experience

but then what happens is once you have

the experience once you have feeling

with the arising of feeling there is the

arising of

craving

what craving arises

oh that was great how do i experience

that again

i want that

i really like that

now you identify with it

which means

you know some of the feathers have

dropped like the first three fetters

but now there's still the cravings still

the aversion because now you have clung

to that feeling how do i bring about

that feeling again

so now you practice to get to the next

step

so now what are you doing to get to the

next step

rinse and repeat

go back to the first link of the

transcendental dependent origination

keeping the precepts

developing the confidence in the buddha

dharma and sangha now it's there

naturally

making the right effort to let go of

further unwholesome

aspects of the mind

experiencing the rapture the joy of the

dharma experiencing the rapture again

experiencing the pleasure experiencing

the tranquility or rather experiencing

the tranquility and the pleasure and

then the collectedness again so rinse

and repeat go through that whole process

again then it takes you again to further

disenchantment further dispassion

and that further leads you into the

experience of cessation

now depending upon how you six are how

frequently you let go and recognize

how frequently your mindfulness is sharp

it can bring about the next attainment

where you start to weaken the fetter of

craving

weaken the fetter of

hatred or aversion

and so now you have the entry into

sakadagami

now that you have that what do you do

go back again rinse and repeat the

transcendental links of dependent

origination

now as you're doing that it is also

dependent upon how often you six are

whenever you recognize craving

and aversion coming into your mind

in your daily life

so six hours is not only for the

meditation cushion or the meditation

chair

six hours also used for

daily life

noticing when recognizing when craving

comes up recognizing when conceit comes

up recognizing when that self-image

wants to grab on to something and

letting that go

the more you do that

the easier it becomes for you to go into

the next stage

stage of the anagami

so again you go through that whole

process

keeping the precepts having non-regret

the joy of the dharma

having pity

from that pity comes the

the tranquility

from that tranquility comes the sukkah

from that sukha comes the collectedness

from that collectedness comes the

equanimity seeing things as they are

from that comes the

disenchantment and a dispassion and then

again cessation

so then you experience cessation mind

becomes unconditioned

there is contact with the nibana element

but this time around because you have

continued to

whittle away at that fetter that

weakened fetter of craving and aversion

sensual craving and aversion

next time you have the feeling of joy

and relief it will be very subdued

you'll have more equanimity than joy

you'll have more clarity than joy

so the joy won't always be as

you know as vibrant as you experience it

the first time around

and so now you have more equanimity

you have more clarity of mind

now as you have that

your mind doesn't grasp grab onto or

grasp onto that feeling of joy that

feeling of

relief

now because of that there's no fuel for

further craving no fuel for further

aversion to arise

you've let go and that feather those two

feathers of craving and aversion have

dropped

so what's happening there

the mind makes contact with the nirvana

element then there is the feeling of the

joy and the relief or the feeling of

equanimity

so the contact with the demonic element

brings about pure formations

pure consciousness and in the feeling

because it's not grasped onto because

there's no sensual craving

then

the next arising of feathers sorry

formations that arise are not fettered

by that craving are not fettered by that

aversion

but they're still fettered by ignorance

they're still fettered by conceit why

because you're still taking it

personally

you're still your mind is still saying

i have experienced it

now there is pride in the dhamma

now there's conceit related to the

dhamma there is clinging to the dhamma

and so now you have to let go of that

conceit so how do you do that

do that same process again rinse and

repeat

continue to keep your precepts

continue to have the faith and the

confidence and conviction in the buddha

dharma and sangha

that develops further joy of the dharma

further

further pipi

further tranquility further sukkah

further collectedness further equanimity

and further disenchantment

dispassion and then cessation again

this time around when you have the

experience of nibana

it will be very interesting because now

your mind makes contact with the nibbana

element

pure formations arise pure consciousness

arise arises but there is no feeling

none of the underlying tendencies are

present

and the mind just sees what it is

because there's no more craving it

understands now that the the taint of

sensual craving was always already

destroyed at anagami but because it sees

it doesn't identify with anything the

taint of the bhava attained of the

craving for existence goes away

then it sees

that it is completely attentive

completely mindful

completely aware of what is going on

here

the taint of ignorance gets destroyed

because it understands and it sees for

itself

the four noble truths in that moment

and so now the ignorance goes away

the conceit goes away because there's no

more identifying with that process

it's no big deal

so now when that conceit goes away on

dependent upon that conceit

there is

restlessness that arises

there is craving for rupa janas craving

for arupa-janas

so in other words

the conceit when you destroy that

everything else just falls apart like a

house of cards

because when you have that sense of i am

when you have that sense of that

self-image

restlessness arises what is that

restlessness

it's not it's not necessarily just the

anxiety it's not necessarily just the

remorse it's not necessarily all of

those things

it's just mind movement

just a general mind movement

you know when you sit down for

meditation and there's still some

stirring going on

the mind of the arahat none of that is

there

that's gone the restlessness is gone

because there's no conceit

and then the craving for existence the

craving for the existence in a rupa

jannah or in brahmaloka goes away

dependent upon that conceit

and then the craving for our rupa lokas

that goes away and of course the

ignorance goes away completely

now is it as clear-cut as i've laid it

out for you no i'm simplifying the

process

it can take time this is a gradual

process this is a gradual training as

you go through the processes of

cessation

the fetters can start to weaken and they

can drop one by one or two by two

they can drop all together sometimes

of course that's very rare

for that to happen but usually it's a

graduated process and so these

delineation points are the four

attainments

that's the sodapana the sakuragami the

anagami and the arahat

so this is the path leading to nirvana

so interspersed interwoven through this

transcendental dependent origination

is also the eightfold path

because

now you have the right view that this is

the path leading to nibana now you

understand the you have some

understanding of the four noble truths

you've been introduced to them and

you're willing to try it willing to see

you for yourself

so now you have the mundane right view

then that leads to the right intention

which is the intention of letting go the

intention of contentment intention of

loving kindness intention of compassion

and now because of that you

make it a point to keep the precepts so

you exercise right speech you exercise

right action you exercise right

livelihood

and you're making the right effort to do

that so you're exercising right effort

using the zigzars

that gives rise to right mindfulness

which is interspersed through this

process

that gives rise to right collectedness

so from right mindfulness to right

collectedness

there are all of the enlightenment

factors being present the mindfulness

the investigation of states

the effort or energy the joy the

tranquility

the collectedness

and then

the equanimity

so as you go through right collectedness

you need right effort to stay there

so

when you are in samadhi you need three

of these you need right effort

you need right mindfulness and you need

right collectedness

so in other words it's not like okay now

i've done right effort and i'm in right

mindfulness now i'm in right mindfulness

now i'm in right collected a snow

it's a process

these three are the instruments to stay

in samadhi

the right effort right mindfulness right

collectiveness

and the sila

the keeping of the precepts that's

dependent upon

keeping right speech right action and

right livelihood

and then that leads to the samadhi which

is the right effort right mindfulness

right collectiveness and you continue

exercising those

as your mind gets more and more

collected

and then once you have cessation you

have the insight

and now you have panya

now that panya is the understanding of

dependent origination

and that brings about the super mundane

right view

once you have the super maintained right

view

from seeing dependent origination you

enter the stream and you close off any

possibility

of any kind of rebirth in any of the

lower realms

so now

that right that right view that super

mundane right view also has the right

intention or gives rise to the right

intention which is part of that panya

because you have let go

so this is the whole path this is the

this is the practice you guys have been

doing

throughout the retreat

this is what you have been doing when i

talk about these links of transcendental

dependent origination

cultivating the enlightenment factors

bringing about or practicing and

cultivating the eightfold path

and then going through this whole

process and then rinsing and repeating

that's all you're doing

and of course in tandem with that there

are other aspects like the 37 requisites

of enlightenment

which have to do with basically or let's

say 37 requisites for enlightenment

rather which are also interwoven in the

eightfold path

which include the seven enlightenment

factors which include the four

foundations of mindfulness which include

the four right efforts and so on and so

forth

so

you don't have to try to figure out what

it is you're doing if you're just doing

it allowing this process to unfold

naturally

then you will have

the fruits of that effort

which is the right insight

the samanyana

and the right liberation

the sum of the

now

it says here the knowledge and vision of

liberation so what happens is your mind

becomes liberated

and it knows that it's liberated

so when your mind enters the stream it

knows that something happened

so when you come out of cessation right

what happens the formations come up

in a certain order

in the reverse order that they ceased so

what ceased first the verbal formations

then the bodily formations

then the mental formations

in this case you experience first the

arising of mental formations in the form

of feeling that joy and relief

and in the bodily formations where you

feel it in your body going all

throughout your body

and then the verbal formation which says

what was that

what just happened

wow look at that

so that's how these formations arise

in that order after you come out of

cessation

and that results in the knowledge of the

release of the mind in the knowledge of

the mind being liberated from certain

fetters and ultimately at the very end

liberated from all the fetters and the

tints

suppose there is a trees deficient in

branches and foliage

then its shoots do not grow to fullness

also its bark soft wood and heartwood do

not grow to fullness

so too for an immoral person

one deficient in virtuous behavior

non-regret lacks its proximate cause

when there is no non-regret

for one deficient in non-regret

joy lacks its proximate cause

when there is no joy for one deficient

in joy

rapture lacks its proximate cause

when there is no rapture for one

deficient in rapture

tranquility lacks its proximate cause

when there is no tranquility for one

deficient in tranquility pleasure lacks

its approximate cause

when there is no pleasure for one

deficient in pleasure right

collectedness lacks its proximate cause

when there is no right collectedness for

one deficient and right collectedness

the knowledge and vision of things as

they really are

lack its proximate cause

when there is no knowledge and vision of

things as they really are for one

deficient in the knowledge and vision of

things as they really are this

enchantment and dispassion lack their

proximate cause

when there is no disenchantment and

dispassion

for one deficient in disenchantment and

dispassion the knowledge and vision of

liberation lacks its proximate cause

because

for a virtuous person for one whose

behavior is virtuous

non-regret

possesses its proximate cause when there

is non-regret

for one possessing non-regret

joy possesses its proximate cause

when there is joy for one possessing joy

rapture possesses its proximate cause

when there is rapture for one possessing

rapture tranquility possesses its

proximate cause

when there is tranquility for one

possessing tranquility pleasure

possesses its proximate cause

when there is pleasure for one

possessing pleasure

right collectedness possesses its

proximate cause

when there is right collectedness for

one possessing right collectedness the

knowledge and vision of things as they

really are

possess its proximate cause

when there is the knowledge and vision

of things as they really are

for one possessing the knowledge and

vision of things as they really are

this enchantment and dispassion possess

the approximate cause

when there is disenchantment and

dispassion

for one possessing disenchantment and

dispassion the knowledge and vision of

liberation possesses its proximate cause

suppose there is a tree possessing

branches in foliage

then its shoots grow to fullness

also its bark soft wood and heartwood

grow to fullness

so too for a virtuous

for a virtuous person one whose behavior

is virtuous

non-regret possesses its proximate cause

when there is non-regret

for one possessing non-regret joy

possesses its proximate cause

when there is joy for one possessing joy

rapture possesses its proximate cause

when there is rapture for one possessing

rapture tranquility possesses its

proximate cause

when there is tranquility for one

possessing tranquility pleasure

possesses its proximate cause

when there is pleasure for one

possessing pleasure right collectedness

possesses its proximate cause

when there is right collectedness for

one possessing right collectedness

the knowledge and vision of things as

they really are possesses its proximate

cause

when there is the knowledge and vision

of things as they really are for one

possessing the knowledge and vision of

things as they really are disenchantment

and dispassion possess

possess its possess their proximate

cause

when there is disenchantment and

dispassion for one possessing

disenchantment and dispassion

the knowledge and vision of liberation

possesses its proximate cause

here endeth the lesson

all right let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free may

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

have thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness may beings

inhabiting space and earth devas and

nagas of mighty power share this merit

of ours may they long protect the

buddha's dispensations