From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3mp-Qiv3-tw

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

so welcome once again to the DA Medina

center and Joshua Tree California and

this evening Ponte vanilla Ramsey will

be giving a talk on machine and nicaya

number 77 the greater discourse to stock

a new diam the moffa sucker man died

sometime the reason I choosing this suit

that tonight is because it has all 37

requisites of it awakening in it thus if

I heard on one occasion the blessed one

was living in raja gahanna bamboo grove

the squirrel sanctuary now on that

occasion a number of well-known

wanderers were staying in a peacock

sanctuary the wanderers park

then when it was morning the blessed one

dress than taking his bowl and outer

robe went into Raja half for alms then

he thought it's still too early to

wander for alms in raja gaha suppose I

went to the wanderers south sac ulu who

died in in the peacock sanctuary the

Wanderers park then the Blessed One went

to the peacock sanctuary the Wanderers

park now on that occasion the wanderer

who Diane was seated with a large

assembly of Wanderers who are making an

uproar loudly and noisily talking many

kinds of pointless talk ok 76

such as talk of kings robbers ministers

armies dangers battles food drink

clothing beds Garland's perfumes

relatives vehicles villages towns cities

countries women heroes streets wells the

dead the trifles of the origin of the

world the origin of the see whether

things are are so or not so when no

wonder who died and saw the blessed one

coming in the distance seeing him he

quieted his only old assembly thus

serves be quiet sirs make no noise here

comes the Rekluse Gautama this venerable

one likes quiet and commends quiet

perhaps if he finds our assembly a quiet

one he will think to join us then the

Wanderers became silent the blessed one

went to the wanderer udayan who said to

him let the blessed one come venerable

sir welcome to the blessed one it is a

long time since a blessed one found an

opportunity to come here let the blessed

one be seated this seat is ready the

blessed one sat down on the seat made

ready and the wanderer Diane took a low

seat and sat down at one side he this Oh

Diane it was a very very popular leader

of an order and for him to take a low

seat to the Buddha is his way of showing

respect and saying you are the teacher

is being very humble at the time when he

had done so the blessed one asked him

for what discussion are you sitting

together here now Diane and what was

your discussion that was interrupted

venerable sir let the discussion for

which we are now sitting together here

but let be the discussion for which we

are now seated here together the blessed

one can well hear about it later in

recent days venerable sir the recluses

and brahmins of various sects have been

gathering together and sitting together

in the debating hall the topic this

topic has arisen it is a game for the

people of anga and magid aha it is a

great game for people of anga and moga

da hah that these recluses and brahmins

heads of orders heads of groups teachers

of groups well known and famous founders

of six regarded by many as Saints have

come to spend the rains retreat at raja

gaha and then he goes through a lot of

the major teachers there is this piranha

kassapa the head of the order the head

of a group the teacher of a group of the

well known and famous founder of a sect

regarded by many as a saint he has come

to spend the reins at roger gaha there's

also Micheli go sala a dot to a jot

all of these different names and they

got that no putas the head of an order

the head of a group the teacher of a

group well-known famous founder of a

sect regarded by many as a saint nagata

Napata is the one that started the Jain

order and that dream chains are very

popular to this day in India he too has

come to spin the reins at raja gaha

there is also the Rekluse Gautama the

head of an order the head of a group a

teacher of the group the well known and

famous founder of a sect regarded by

many as a saint he too has come to spend

a reigns at raja gaha now among these

worthy recluses and brahmins and heads

of orders regarded by many as Saints who

was honored respected revered and

venerated by his disciples and how

honoring and respecting him do they live

in dependence on him there upon some say

the piranha casa pies the head of the

order and regarded by many as a saint

yet he is not honored respected revered

and venerated by his disciples nor to

his disciples live in dependence on him

honoring and respecting him wats purana

kassapa was teaching us dhamma to an

assembly of several hundred followers

then a certain disciple made of his

maiden oyes thus sirs did not ask

piranha kossoff ah this question he does

not know that we know that ask us that

question we will answer it for users it

happened that purana kassapa did not

get his way though he waved his arms and

whale be quiet sirs make no noise they

are not asking you sirs they are asking

us and we will answer them indeed many

of his disciples left him after refuting

his doctor and thus you do not

understand this Dhamma and discipline I

understand this Dhamma and discipline

can you imagine doing that to a teacher

how could you understand this Dhamma and

discipline your way is wrong my way is

right I am consistent you are

inconsistent which should have been said

first you said last which should have

been said last you said first what you

had so carefully thought up has turned

up inside out your doctrine is refuted

you are proven wrong go and learn better

or disentangle yourself if you can the

sporadic a sofa has not honored

respected revered venerated by his

disciples nor to his disciples had live

in dependence on him honoring and

respecting him indeed he is scorned by

the scoring shown it to his dhamma and

then it goes through all of the other

teachers that in the same way and some

said this the Rekluse Gautama is ahead

of an order the head of a group but

group the teacher of a group the well

known and famous founder of a sect

regarded by many as a saint he is

honored respect revered and venerated by

his disciples and his disciples live in

dependence on him honoring and

respecting him once the Rekluse Gautama

who is teaching his

to an assembly of several hundred

followers and there a certain disciple

of his cleared his throat thereupon one

of his companions in the holy life

nudged him with the knee to indicate be

quiet venerable sir make no noise the

Blessed One the teacher is teaching us

Adama when the recluse Gautama is

teaching the Dhamma to an assembly of

several hundred followers on that

occasion there is no sound of his

disciples coughing or clearing their

throats for then that large assembly is

poised in expectancy let us hear the

Dhamma the Blessed One is about to teach

just as though man word a crossroads

pressing out pure honey and a large

group of people were poised in

expectancy so too when the repose

Gautama is teaching Adama to an assembly

of several hundred followers on that

occasion there's no no sound of it ovens

disciples coughing or clearing their

throats for then that large assembly is

poised in expectancy let us hear the

Dhamma the Blessed One is about to teach

and even those disciples who will fall

out of with their companions in the holy

life and abandoned training in return

and return to the low life even they

praise the master in the Dhamma and the

Sangha they blame themselves instead of

others saying we were unlucky we have

little merit for though we went forth

into the homelessness and such a well

proclaimed AMA we're unable to live the

perfect and pure holy life for the rest

of our lives having become having become

monastery attendance

or lay followers they undertake and

observe the Five Precepts thus the

Rekluse go to mazon ered respected

revered and venerated by his disciples

and his disciples live in dependence on

him honoring and respecting him but who

died in how many qualities do you see it

mean because of which my disciples honor

respect Revere and venerate me and live

in dependence on me honoring and

respecting me venerable sir I see five

qualities in the blessed one because of

which his disciples honor respect Revere

and venerate him and live in dependence

on him honoring and respecting him what

are the five first venerable sir the

blessed one eats little and commends

eating little this I see is the first

quality of the blessed one because of

that his disciples honor respect Revere

and venerate him and live in dependence

on him honoring and respecting him again

venerable sir the Blessed One is content

with any kind of robe and commends

contentment with any kind of rope this I

see is a second quality of the blessed

one again venerable sir the Blessed One

is content with any kind of alms food

and commence contentment with any kind

of alms food this I see is the third

quality of the blessed one again

venerable sir the blessed one is content

with any kind of resting place and

commends with any kind of resting place

thus I see this is the fourth quality of

the blessed one again venerable sir the

blessed one is secluded and committed

seclusion this I see is the fifth

quality of the blessed one venerable sir

these are the five qualities I see in

the blessed one because of which his

disciples honor respect Revere and

venerate him and live in dependence on

him honoring and respecting him suppose

a Diane my disciples honored respected

and revered and venerated me and lived

in dependence on me honoring and

respecting me with a thought the Rekluse

Gautama eats little and commends eating

little now there are disciples of mine

who live on a cupful or a half cup full

of food well I sometimes eat the full

contents of my alms Bowl even more the

Buddha would allow his bowl would be

filled up all the way and eat all of

that food so the people offering them

that offering that to them would get

more merit it wasn't because he was

hungry necessarily but it was because he

wanted them to have more of the special

merit that you get when you offer food

to the Buddha so if my disciples honored

me with the thought the Rekluse Gautama

eats little and commends eating little

than those disciples of mine who live on

a cup full of food should not honor

respect Revere and venerate me for this

quality nor should they live in

dependence on me honoring and respecting

me suppose a died and my disciples

honored respected revered and venerated

me in

independence on me honoring and

respecting me with the thought the

Rekluse Gautama is content with any kind

of rope and commends contentment with

any kind of rope now there are the

disciples of mine who are refuge rag

wearers wearers of course robes they

collect rags from the Charl ground

rubbish heaps and shops make them into

patchwork robes and wear them but i

sometimes wear robes given by

householders robe so find that the

pumpkin hair is coarse in comparison so

if my disciples honored me with the

thought the recluse Gautama is content

with any kind of robe and commends

contentment with any kind of rope than

those disciples of mine who are refuge

rag wearers that means they go on and

get it out of the rubbish that's being

thrown away wearers of course ropes

there was a lot of material that was

very coarse they made it out of tree

bark and things like that and the whole

idea with the ones that were that would

wear these kind of ropes was I don't

want to cause an impact on other people

around me so where are these these

course cheap robes and anytime they

scratch a little bit it's my my job to

be content with just having my body

covered

okay they should not honor respect and

venerate venerate me for this this

quality nor should they live in

dependence on me honoring and respecting

me I was in Singapore and somebody

offered me a silk robe silk is really

expensive and a set of silk robes cost

American about five hundred dollars and

because they were showing that respect

to me I had to accept it so I put these

robes on and I found out why you don't

want to wear silk ropes you need a

velcro to keep them on there's this they

slide all over the place it is that as

suffice said I took the robes off I

showed them that I was wearing them I

had it on for one day and I when I don't

want these things these are real

expensive it's real nice but I was a

forest monk I don't want these kind of

fancy things so after that day I went

back to my cotton robes and found

somebody that wanted to wear silk robes

so I watched them and gave them to them

I suppose who died in my disciples

honored respected venerated and revered

me and lived in dependence on me

honoring and respecting me with the

thought the recluse Gautama is content

with any kind of alms food and can

commence contentment with any kind of

ohms food now there are disciples of

mine who eat who are alms food eaters

who go on unbroken arms around from

house to house who delight in gathering

their food when they have entered among

the house they will not consent even

with being invited to sit down so being

an alms food-gatherer it means that you

only eat what is put in your bowl if

there's somebody that offers you a plate

of something and puts it down here you

don't touch it you only eat what's in

your bowl and I've been with monk said I

have done that so because I was as big

as I am and I didn't have black hair and

I had fair skin a lot of people gave me

a huge quantities of food I mean I

always had my bowl full and I had to

have another bag with me to carry all

the food so I would come back and I

would put the food out whatever I didn't

want I just put it out and one of the

ALMS food practitioners would come in

and I knew they liked a certain kind of

food so I would find it and I would put

it in their bowl for them so they got

they got their treats that way and

always I i gave the food

to the people what I didn't eat I put it

on a tray and then take it back to the

families that were poor so it wasn't

wasted food and somebody that that's an

goes from house to house with the ALMS

food they would never they could always

be invited to sit down have a drink have

some water or whatever and they would

never do that once they started on all

drown they went until they finished they

didn't even stop to talk into anybody

they would stop long enough to have the

food put in a bowl and give a blessing

and then he would carry on and that's

one of the special kind of austerities

that the monks can practice they don't

have to do that but they can but

sometimes I eat on invitation meals of

choice rights of many sauces and curries

so if my disciples honored me with the

thought the Rekluse Gautama is content

with any kind of alms food and commends

contentment with any kind of homes food

then those disciples of mine who are

alms food eaters should not honor

respect Revere and venerate me for this

quality nor should they leave and live

in dependence on me honoring and

respecting me suppose who died and my

disciples honored respect revered and

venerate me and live in dependence on

honoring and respecting me with the

thought the recluse Gautama is content

with any resting place and commends

contentment with any kind of resting

place now there are disciples of mine

who are tree root dwellers open-air

dwellers not use a roof for eight months

of the year this is another of the

ascetic practices sometimes they they

just they won't come inside they won't

go under a roof for any reason at all

they don't even go inside the monastery

where the images are they they only will

go to seema's I'll discuss that in just

a minute that are open air that they

don't have any roof over Asima is a

particular place that has been

consecrated by the monks for monk

business for a lot of different kinds of

discussion if somebody breaks a rule

they might have to go to the SEMA and

discuss why they did it that sort of

thing but also that's where on the new

moon and full moon all the mounts meet

anasema and listen to the rules of the

monks so being out in the open air for

for eight months of the year is it can

be hurt rather trying at times because

you get to places where there's a lot of

bugs and you can't have any you can use

your robe as your protection and that's

all the open air that that's the tree

root dweller the open air dweller

doesn't go where there's even any shade

of a tree and they use their bowl or

they use their robe with a couple of

sticks and they sit underneath that for

the day and so they don't go anyplace

where their shade I can't do that sort

of thing it's a little bit rough being a

fair skin ah well sometimes I live in

and gabled mansions plastered within and

without protected against the wind

secured by door bolts with shuttered

windows so if my disciples honored me

with the thought the Rekluse Gautama is

content with any kind of resting place

and commends contentment with any kind

of resting place then those disciples of

mine who are tree root dwellers and

open-air dwellers should not honor

respect revere and venerate me nor

should they live in dependence on me

honoring and respecting me suppose who

died in my disciples honor respect

revered and venerated me and live in

dependence on me honoring and respecting

me with the thought the Rekluse Gautama

is secluded and commend seclusion now

there are these disciples of mine who

are forest dwellers dwellers in remote

resting places who live withdrawn in

remote jungle thicket resting place

is in return to the midst of the Sangha

once each half month for the recitation

of the patty mocha the rules of the

monks I actually preferred that kind of

life to being in a very active monastery

or being in a town there's always people

around then i like i like being secluded

I'm just happy as a clam to be in in my

duty without anybody else around I can

be alone without being lonely and that's

what that practice is all about being

content with quiet although some people

question my being content with quietness

because I have things on my computer

that I have a program that reads back to

me but I sometime live surrounded by

monks and vicars and Baku knees by went

men and women followers by kings and

Kings ministers by secretary ins and

their disciples so if my disciples

honored respected me with the thought

the Rekluse Gautama secluded and

commenced seclusion then those disciples

of mine who are forest dwellers should

not honor respect revere and venerate me

for this quality they should not live in

dependence on me honoring and respecting

me that's who died and it is not because

of these five qualities that the

disciples honor my disciples honor

respect revere and venerate me and live

in dependence on me honoring and

respecting me however who died in there

are five other qualities because of

these my disciples honor respect

venerate me and live in dependence on me

honoring and respecting me what five

here who died in my disciples esteemed

me for the higher virtues us the Rekluse

Gautama is virtuous he's possesses the

supreme aggregate of virtue this is the

first quality because of which my

disciples honor respect them revere and

venerate me and live in dependence on me

honoring and respecting me again my

disciples sustain me for my excellent

knowledge and vision thus when the

Rekluse Gautama says I know he truly

knows when he says I see he truly sees

the Rekluse Gautama teaches the Dhamma

through direct knowledge not without

direct knowledge he teaches the Dhamma

with a sound basis not without a sound

basis he teaches the Dhamma in a

convincing manner not in an unconvincing

manner he is the second this is the

second quality because of which my

disciples honor me again who died in my

disciples esteemed me for a higher

wisdom thus the Rekluse Gautama is wise

he possesses the supreme aggregate of

wisdom it is impossible that he should

not foresee the implications of an

assertion or that he should not be able

to confirm confute with reasons excuse

me with reasons of current doctrines of

others I laughed with the word confute

because I had to look it up and I found

that I am a computer oppose the

straightening it out and explaining the

right way to you like in other words if

I confute with you it means you've

explained something me and I'm not going

to explain it to right way that's

computing yeah straightening out the

viewer what do you think who diet with

my disciples knowing and seeing this

break in and interrupt me no venerable

sir I do not expect instructions from my

disciples and variably it is my

disciples who expect instructions from

me this is the third quality because of

which my disciples honor me again who

Diane when my disciples have met with

suffering and become victim of suffering

prey to suffering they come to me and

asked me about the noble truth of

suffering being asked I explained to

them the noble truth of suffering and I

satisfied our minds with my explanation

they asked me about the noble truth of

the origin the noble truth of the

cessation the noble truth of the way

leading to the cessation of suffering

being asked I explained to them the

noble truths of all of these waze's and

i satisfy their mind with at my

explanation this is the fourth quality

because of which my disciples honor me

okay the way to develop wholesome States

now we get down to it the four

foundations of mindfulness again Oh

Diane I proclaimed to my disciples the

way to develop the four foundations of

mindfulness here amongst abides

contemplating the body as a body ardent

fully aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and brief for the world he

abides contemplating feeling as feeling

he abides contemplating mind as mind

yeah bytes contemplating mind objects

his mind objects ardent fully aware and

mindful having put away covetousness and

Brie for the world and thereby many

disciples of mine abide having reached

the consummation and perfection of

direct knowledge again boo dyan I have

proclaimed to my disciples the way to

develop the four kinds of effort here

amok awakens enthusiasm for the non

arising of on arisen evil unwholesome

states how'd he do that six art he makes

effort he arouses energy he exerts his

mind and he strives he awakens

enthusiasm for the abandoning of arisen

unwholesome states he awakens enthusiasm

for the arising of unreason wholesome

states

smile and bring up your object he

awakens enthusiasm for continuance non

disappearance strengthening increase and

fulfillment by development of arisen

wholesome states stayed on your object

of meditation and he makes effort

arouses energy and asserts his mind and

strives this is a little bit yeah it's a

little bit over-enthusiastic why can't

you that I mean you're saying you're

making your effort browsing energy

exerting your mind it didn't striving to

keep the wholesome States going well you

can say it but it especially in this

country I know I know but you just

explain I know what but in this country

what we have to do is get people back

off with trying okay no one here how

many people are there here and it gets

tricky the amount of effort that you

have to use it does it gets tricky with

the amount of energy you use to stay on

your object to meditation especially

when your object of meditation changes

every now and then then you have to

guster energy in different ways and

thereby many disciples of mine abide

having reached the consummation and

perfection of direct knowledge now in

another suit number 117 it's a suit

about the Eightfold Path and it's

continually talking about the three most

important factors of the Eightfold Path

effort mindfulness and what else

collectiveness yes you're right but I

just choose to use the different work

and you use those three things with

every one of the links or every one of

the folds excuse me of the Eightfold

Path ah the four bases of spiritual

power again a Diane I have proclaimed to

my disciples the way to develop the four

bases of spiritual power here a person

develops the base for spiritual power

consisting of collectiveness due to

enthusiasm and determined effort he

develops the basis for spiritual power

consisting of a consisting in

collectiveness due to energy and

determined effort he develops the basis

for spiritual power consisting of

collectiveness due to the purity of mind

and determine excuse me effort he

develops the basis for spiritual power

consisting of collect and collected

pneus due to investigation and

determined effort and there are my many

disciples of mine abide having reached

the consummation and perfection of

direct knowledge so we have four

foundations of mindfulness for right

efforts for basis of spiritual power

that's 12 then we have the five

faculties again who died and i am

proclaimed to my disciples the way to

develop the five faculté the spies

spiritual faculties here among develops

a faculty of faith which leads to peace

leads to awakening what is faith I

believe without knowing because you

start practicing and you see that this

works you have confidence that it does

work that's what faith is all about it's

not blind faith i'm going to i got to

believe this because somebody else told

me i have to believe it the faith in

Buddhism is the confidence you have

because of your own direct experience I

will give you the crew bodis

and email address and you can ask I look

at it you know like if i had was given

an Olympic coach to train for the

Olympics I would be expected to put my

faith in that coach to training yeah and

in that respect that definition I look

at the Buddha and I say the Buddha did

this and I'm going to put faith that

there really was something that he did

that's how I approached this then moved

it from faith I didn't know I did to the

other kind of faith of believing

something that I didn't know like in

Christianity I just did it more in

relationship to athletics feeling I had

to compare it with ya women when I

started I had no faith in the Buddha I'm

just looking for meditation because i

was suffering so much i wanted to get

rid of it and then when i started doing

it I started seeing how my attachments

worked and I started having faith that

what the Buddha was teaching was right I

had confidence even try what no I was I

was suffering I didn't care if it was

Hindu I didn't care if it was was Muslim

I didn't care of his Christian I just

wanted to find somebody that could

explain how to meditate and the only

people I really ran across was Buddhist

they gave good explanation so is real

interesting but I didn't have faith in

the Buddha I didn't even know what the

Buddha said I didn't care what the

Buddha said I just wanted to learn how

to meditate and once I learned then I

started learning about this is from the

Buddha and the Mohave saya dah book on

the progress of insight it gave you the

instructions pretty precise and how to

do it so I said

k and then 20 years later I found out

that my faith was put in the wrong thing

not saying that it was all a waste of

time it wasn't I did learn a lot by

doing that I learned what not to do as

well as what to do he develops energy

which leads to peace leads to awakening

once you start having confidence in the

practice you start adding your energy so

that you can see how this lets go of the

suffering as you develop your confidence

you have more energy to sit for longer

periods of time you have more energy to

watch how Minds attention works and

practice the meditation the Faculty of

mindfulness as you progress with your

energy your mindfulness naturally starts

to build and your mindfulness is

remembering to observe how Minds

attention moves from one thing to

another as you put in more energy into

watching then that mindfulness naturally

starts to pick up the Faculty of

collectiveness as your mindfulness

improves you start staying on your

object to meditation for a longer period

of time your mind becomes more and more

collected composed alert

the faculty of wisdom this is always one

that has been kicked around a lot but

the faculty of wisdom as you began to

see how the process works I remember

when I was in Germany and I asked some

people ask a fairly large group of

people what meditation was and they

really didn't have much in the way of an

answer and I said well meditation is

observing how minds attention moves from

one thing to another your mind is on

your object of meditation how did it get

over here thinking about this or that

how did that happen so what wisdom is is

learning how the process works and

seeing those links of dependent

origination feeling arises craving

arises clinging arises how all of this

stuff actually works and how to let go

so that these distracting hindrances

don't cause your mind to get off track

off that the train of meditation so

wisdom I too love that word because

you'd go and you'd listen to talk with

somebody talk about wisdom and they say

you need to develop your wisdom wisdom

is really really important the more

wisdom the health of better you are and

they never tell you what the heck

talking about they're using a word but

they're not giving you a definition and

it dawned on me the reason they don't

give the definition because they don't

know what it is so I try to give you as

many definitions as I can so that things

can be understood more easily there by

many disciples of mine abide having

reached the consummation and perfection

of direct knowledge so we had four

foundations for efforts for basis of

spiritual power now five faculties so

that's 17 right again I have proclaimed

to my disciples the way to develop the

five powers you're a monk develops the

power of faith of confidence how does it

become what's the difference between the

five faculties and the five powers the

power set is unshakable you're using it

you're not developing a facility that

has been developed and can be applied

upon willfully and it's a power that's

getting closer that's good enclose her

if you were going to go under that will

vary no it doesn't have to be

unshakeable that's the thing

that further what would you do blue

should one exactly what you said let's

just take the two steps one step for

that facility it becomes a power when it

becomes automatic what I did the bones

and roads what it's too easy while

you're working with it as a faculty but

then when it becomes to power it just

does it by itself and it starts to get

so that it'll reach the same ones start

to appear is the death of what the next

stuff you're going to talk about and

when you talk about them you're going to

hear these pieces again and then they're

going to work to become absolutely

balance like like those kids balanced

like that say and then it's going to

just open up the door to fall into the

station so meta karuna ladida and that

baby comma become a power of course of

course absolutely okay it's an actual

power that emanates out so there is a

powerful oh absolutely

okay here humph develops the power of

faith which leads to peace leads to

awakening he develops the power of

energy mindfulness collectiveness and

wisdom that leads to peace leads to

awakening and thereby many disciples of

mine about having reached the

consummation and perfection of direct

knowledge again udayan I have proclaimed

to my disciples the way to develop the

seven awakening factors here a person

develops the mindfulness awakening

factor which is supported by seclusion

dispassion cessation and results in

relinquishment what's the difference

between regular mindfulness and the

awakening factor of mindfulness that's

her question is not mine got awful quiet

in here it's applied with the other six

factors of awakening well yeah but

what's the difference between

mindfulness and the mindfulness

awakening factor for us it seems like my

phone is way

factors is remembering the six are and

what regular mindfulness just

remembering to watch the movement lies

attention I mean for us I guess I mean

Sarge it becomes a lot of that but of

course because when when you're

developing the mindfulness awakening

factor that's when it starts to become

not it becomes more of a flow of

observation and catching so you can six

are the six ours lead directly to

stronger mindfulness okay he develops

the investigation of experience

awakening factor that clear okay he

develops the energy awakening factor the

energy awakening factor is learning how

to adjust tiny bits at a time until

there's balance okay when you do that

then the joy awakening factor arises and

as you go deeper in your practice the

joy is not not so strong like it is when

you're in the first jhana our second

drama it's a different kind of of joy

this is one that it sends out little

bubbles of joy L through you you feel

happy and your mind is very alert and

agile being able to see how things work

the tranquility enlightenment factor

peaceful calm

the collectiveness enlightenment factor

I tell a lot of people you need more

stillness this is what I'm talking about

need to have mine is very still it to be

able to see tiny movements of mind minds

let's back off and say tiny movements of

mine the equanimity awakening factor

that's the balance now in see

must be 16 or seven not 1706

ah

on occasion monks when the mind becomes

sluggish it is timely to develop the

awakening factor of Investigation of

experience the awakening factor of

energy and the awakening factor of joy

for what reason because mind is sluggish

it is easy to arouse it with those

things okay on an occasion when a mind

went mine becomes excited it is untimely

to develop the awakening factor of

investigation of experience the

awakening factor of energy and the

awakening factor of joy why because the

mind is excited and is difficult to calm

it down with those things so on an

occasion when mine becomes excited it is

timely to develop the awakening factor

of tranquility the awakening factor of

collectiveness and the awakening factor

of equanimity for what reason because

mind is excited and it's easy to calm

down with those things so the awakening

factor factors have a very definite use

when your mind gets dull and sluggish

and it starts contracting and then you

start getting sleepy you bring up how

did that happen

when you start looking at how mines

attention gets dull then it takes a lot

of energy to do that you're using the

energy awakening factor and when you

finally let it go you have some joy in

there or when you have restlessness in

your mind you want to bring up the

feeling of peaceful tranquility bring up

the feeling of stillness bring up the

feeling of balance okay so that's one of

the uses for the awakening factors but

as you go deeper in your practice the

awakening factors start to balance by

themselves and when they get perfectly

balanced is when Nibhana arises okay so

it's real important to understand how to

use the awakening factors so that you

can have that balance of mind all the

time and the energy factor is really

really important as important as it is

tricky because you put a little bit too

much energy in it your mind just takes

off and it goes goes crazy with

restlessness and thinking you don't put

quite enough energy in it then your mind

dolls out you start getting dreamy and

and sleepy so as you go deeper in your

practice you want to be able to put

little tiny amounts of energy and

you put a little bit in not didn't help

much we need some more little bit more

oops that's too much we need to back off

but just tiny amounts of energy what the

the tendency is when people are sleep

there their mind get stalled out they

start slumping in their head starts

bobbing and then they go oh and then

they sit up real straight and really try

to stay on the object of meditation and

they forget now let's trying to trying

to adjust too fast see the thing is what

you want to really be able to do is see

how mine's attention moved from being

alert and on your object meditation to

dolling out so taking the energy to see

how that happens how can I describe what

sloth and torpor does well I can

describe it because I've had enough of

it in my life to know how it works

you're not staying with your object of

meditation very well and your mind

starts to get little tiny thoughts in it

and then mine starts to get a little

dreamy and then your posture starts

changing and you start slumping and

before long you're really lost and this

is a comfortable feels good you can

indulge in it pretty well

so what I tell you is there's a lot of

different I can get you a pair of pliers

so you can pinch your lobe that works

good but if you sit up a little bit

straighter not enough to hurt your back

but sit a little bit straighter so that

you'll notice when your body when your

back is starting to move then you have

to pick up your energy to sit up

straight and come back to your object of

meditation then you can start watching

how that little process actually does

work and the more interest you have in

how it works the more you put your

energy and balance and then it goes away

so that your awakening factors are

something that you can work with all the

way through your meditation and then

when you finally learn what that balance

is you can see sometimes at one of the

awakening factors is a little bit out of

whack with the others and you can adjust

the amount of energy it takes to either

get more of it or less of it and get

into that very nice balance of mine

if you have sloth and torpor and you see

your body's slump yes okay is the

question a question a little bit okay

then if you fall asleep then when you

finally wake up you know that you're

caught by the sloth and torpor to look

at your body and how its positions and

then straighten their body up and when

it starts to move back down and you

start to get dreamy and all of this

stuff you'll be able to recognize it so

you don't get caught for as long a

period of time then you start looking at

closer at how that works and you start

picking your energy up okay okay these

factors which are supported by seclusion

dispassion and cessation and result in

relinquishment and thereby many

disciples of mine abide having reached

the consummation and perfection of

direct knowledge okay so we had three

sets of four that was 12 then we had

five faculties five powers that is 22

and this is seven which is 29 then we

have the eight fold path and eight and

twenty seven is

829 choose me 37 these are the 37

requisites of awakening la repeat so it

doesn't matter but the 7 is 7 awakening

factors are real major ones especially

as you start getting deeper in your

practice you need to pick up energy a

release energy and you this helps you to

do that I have proclaimed to my

disciples the way to develop the Noble

Eightfold Path here among develops they

collect right view i call it harmonious

perspective they call it a bhikkhu Bodhi

calls it right intention and I really

don't like that definition it is

supposed to be right thought but I call

it harmonious imaging he calls it right

speech i saw i call it harmonious

communication he calls it right action i

call it harmonious movement calls it

right livelihood i call it right

lifestyle he calls it right effort i

call it harmonious practice he calls it

right mindfulness i call it harmonious

observation and he calls it right

concentration and I call it harmonious

collectiveness the reason I say

harmonious because anytime you're out of

harmony with any one of those it's

fairly easy to recognize the perspective

if you have a harmonious perspective

you're always saying things as being

impersonal it's not my anger it's not my

thoughts it's not my opinions it's not

my ideas it is just thoughts opinions

ideas dissatisfaction wanting whatever

it happens to be so that harmonious

perspective is the major part that needs

to be realized in everything everything

that arises is impersonal anytime you

take something personally that is the

cause of suffering so harmonious

perspective is something that we're

trying to develop as much as we can not

only with the practice but with

everything that arises I mean everything

that arises developing that balanced

mind means that you don't get knocked

off balance by any of the hindrances

okay no lust doesn't knock you off

balance a virgin hatred doesn't knock

you off balance sloth and torpor doesn't

knock you off balance when you have the

right perspective restlessness doubt

now what is one of the reasons I tell a

lot of people you need to laugh more why

because when you laugh at how crazy your

mind is you are no longer there you are

not there there's no I I'm mad I'm happy

I'm this I'm that when you laugh all of

a sudden it goes from I am that too it's

only this lust this anger with

dissatisfaction this sleepiness this

restlessness this doubt so laughing and

observing how crazy mine can become puts

everything back into the proper

perspective this is an impersonal

process that's easy to let go of this if

it's not mine it's real hard when it is

mine so the more you can see that

perspective in everything that occurs

the easier it is to allow it to be now

the harmonious what bhikkhu Bodhi calls

intention which I absolutely disagree

with it's a very poor definition of

tsongkhapa which is a poly word for

thought but I call it harmonious image

what kind of image do you hold on to I'm

poor I'm broke I'm good I'm bad

you know I'm good at this I'm not so

good at that all of these are images

that we hold on to and we manifest those

images in our life continually the whole

point with this harmonious imaging is to

learn to develop a harmonious image that

is wholesome that brings up wholesome

things a real strong image especially in

Missouri is I'm poor you're not poor

everybody is the same what kind of image

do they hold well I don't have so I must

be poor well I don't have I'm not poor

I'm prosperous what kind of an image do

you continually bring up and the

universe wants to give you what you can

den ually reinforce why does

loving-kindness work so well what kind

of an image are you holding what are you

giving you're practicing your generosity

you're giving kind thoughts and you're

giving it away so what kind of an imager

you're holding when you practice loving

kindness and uplifted image a happy

image and the universe wants to reward

you for having

that kind of an image so then you turn

out to be prosperous doesn't necessarily

have anything to do with quote money but

there's a lot of different kinds of

prosperity that you can call to yourself

as you wish happiness for other people

and it can manifest just as happiness

like that's not a good thing as you wish

other people happiness the happiness

comes back to you that's part of karma

to what you think and ponder on that's

the inclination of your mind so the more

you think and ponder on happy uplifting

thoughts and wishing other people

happiness the more your mind inclines

towards that that makes us the happy

ones so the next one is right speech and

I call it harmonious communication now

who do you talk with more than anybody

else in the world to yourself you do 20

good things in the day and you do one

thing that your mind says I shouldn't

have done that what do you think about

are you having harmonious communication

with yourself when you start developing

harmonious communication with yourself

you start developing harmonious

harmonious communication with others

around you you have to

learn how to appreciate yourself for

doing good things how much do you

criticize yourself because you're not as

good as you think you should be or how

much do you communicate in your thoughts

dissatisfaction with the way things are

is that being in harmony the more you

can communicate kindly to yourself the

more you communicate kindly to the world

around you really works that way the

next thing is if they call it a right

action I call it heart harmonious

movement now the reason i call this

harmonious movement is because this has

to do with meditation okay and it's the

movement of minds attention without

snapping it without jerking your mind

around without trying to suppress

something and stop it from coming up or

indulging in it and holding on to it too

tight it's learning how to be in harmony

with the movements you see the hindrance

come up and you don't like it what are

you trying to do right straight away

grab onto it and try to stop it but that

doesn't help it to go away or if you're

putting in too much energy the hindrance

comes up and your jai i'm going to force

this thing to stop what kind of movement

of Mines attention is that

I have to back away have to do it in a

natural way in a harmonious way so your

minds attention doesn't have to snap

around from one thing to another

although as you get deeper it's easier

to observe small little things first

starting to come up but if you put too

much energy and trying to stop it from

getting up further now you have

restlessness so it's observe relax come

back to that still point

the next part of the Eightfold Path is

always been kind of comical to me

because they say it's right livelihood

now think about this the Buddha gave

this discourse 25 ascetic bunks these

were pretty good guys they'd been real

serious with the practice at one time

they were helping the boot out a lot and

he comes and he talks to them about the

eightfold path and the definition in the

suit that's about right livelihood is

not selling poisons not killing not

stealing not taking any slaves or

selling slaves not dealing in at the

time of the Buddha would be arrows bows

swords things that can harm people now

how did these five and settings what did

that mean to them they weren't doing any

of that stuff so the right livelihood

has to be something different than what

the definition is in this in in the

books so I change this to harmonious

lifestyle what do you put in front of

your mind one time there was a girl that

came to me and complained about having

nightmares so I said why do you have

nightmares she said I don't know but it

always seems to happen after I go to see

a scary movie

so I said don't go see the scary movies

and she said oh but I love him I said

don't come to me and complain about

nightmares what is she putting in front

of her mind the more uplifting and

wholesome it can be the more your mind

tends towards that so it's real

important the next of the Eightfold Path

is called right effort and I call it

harmonious practice because that's what

the six ours are all about it's about a

harmonious seeing releasing relaxing

smiling come back the more you have this

imbalance the easier it is to stay with

your object of meditation the next part

of the Eightfold Path right mindfulness

that's harmonious observation and

remembering dessert observe how minds

attention moves from one thing to

another and the last one is they call it

right concentration I call it harmonious

collectiveness because I don't like the

word concentration because it implies

absorption or one pointed mind but

collectiveness if you look it up in a

dictionary it means a composed mind a

still night so it is a kind of

concentration it's just that I don't

like that word because of what it

implies

a mind that is very alert that stays

with her object of meditation but when

it starts to move off you're able to see

that see that and relax into it stay

with your object of meditation so the

Eightfold Path is something that's

really an amazing process because every

time you laugh you're practicing the

full path every time you smile you're

practicing the Eightfold Path not just a

couple of the of the polls you're

practicing all of them so you can apply

this in your daily life it's really

really important and the more you can

smile and the more you laugh but more

balanced your mind has in it the easier

it is to observe when your mind gets

heavy and you have the dissatisfaction

in it you can put loving kindness into

anything that's happening in your body

you stub your toe what's the first thing

you're mine does outside of going oh

that hurt then how much hopping around

in cursing that happens in your mind now

when you do that that makes that pain

stay there and it really does hurt but

when you can remember to let go of that

dissatisfaction and start developing a

wholesome might of putting love

into that pain that pain disappears

fairly quickly then I've told this story

I don't know how many times I have this

silver tooth here a guy in denniston

Burma decided he was going to do me a

favor and clean my teeth and he broke it

so they say okay we gotta do a root

canal now Burma from one one person to

the next the dentist does not clean

their tools okay absolutely they just

did and I had a friend that went to a

dentist and they didn't clean the tools

and he got all kinds of gum infections

and when he was really hurting for quite

a while so I said okay you gotta do a

root canal there's only a few things

that I insist on one you have to boil

your tools for at least 15 minutes to I

don't want a shot because I don't trust

the boiling of the AIDS is too easy to

get I don't want any needles in my mouth

so while you're doing the drilling I

don't want any painkiller now to be

honest it hurt and it was real and he'd

hit a spot and my hands all of a sudden

my knuckles were white and every muscle

in my arms and back and my buttocks and

my legs was tight so I noticed that and

I started relaxing and then I started

sending loving and kind thoughts to the

person that was causing me the pain

and then he had another spot when we'd

go through the whole thing again I think

he was enjoying doing that because I was

radiating this loving kindness to him so

he took a little bit longer than he

really needed to but when he was done I

didn't have any pain at my job and my

mind was uplifted and happy not because

the pain quit or because he stopped

drilling because I'd been spending so

much time with sending loving kindness

that my mind became happy and I walked

around being happy all that day well I

wasn't blaming him for causing me the

pain I was just accepting that that's

one of the things that had to happen and

I come back here and find out it's

really not a good idea to get root canal

so what can you do they probably did but

I didn't trust him not even restate take

me out so it's better to just go ahead

and relax into it as much as you can

know the reason that it was later that I

did that was because my friend had gone

to a dentist that didn't clean and he

really suffered a lot with bleeding gums

and all kinds of problems so I wasn't

about to let that happen for me and I

stood there in timed how long he boiled

the the tools

so it was a kind of an enlightening

experience to how quick pain can arise

in your mouth your muscles are right

there with it going right along with oh

boy that was really nice and then being

able to relax into that and combine down

and allow him to continue causing pink

and one of the interesting things with

pain that you have in your body is when

it arises it's telling you right then

and there I need love but what do we

generally give our pain version a

version and dislike and what happens not

only in your body but in your mind gets

tight and the tighter it gets the more

it hurts so I I have a wood burning

stove in my cabin it gets real hot and

sometimes when I put a piece of wood in

I accidentally hit something and i'll

get some birds that are pretty major

they really they're really quite painful

when it happens and i start sending

loving kindness and forgiveness into

that sensation and by the next day i've

forgotten that i did it because it does

there's no pain in there at all but it's

kind of amazing you know sometimes I

like to experiment and see whether

that's going to happen whether I put

loving kindness into it or not and I get

a burn and I I just say oh that really

hurts I don't like that I wish it would

stop and then I'd stop paying attention

to it it might take two weeks for that

to heal but when I put the

loving-kindness into it it doesn't

doesn't blister up so much and within

four or five days it's gone now what's

the difference the difference is the

Eightfold Path using it correctly or

using it incorrectly it's up to you

whether you do it that way or not but

the more you can use the Eightfold Path

and see the harmonious perspective the

harmonious imaging putting love into

that putting that image of forgiveness

love and healing into that harmonious

communication not cursing it not that

being upset by it harmonious movement

you better believe I harmoniously moved

right away from that name and lifestyle

I didn't dwell on it because when I put

that loving kindness into it I just kind

of forget about that it was there and

even the same day I'd look at it

sometimes and go I don't remember doing

that then I think back in the neck oh

yeah I did I remember it now but it's a

harmonious practice and observation and

collectiveness so it's it's dealing with

pains that arise in your body in a

harmonious way so relaxing into things

instead of resisting not liking wishing

it was different than it was it doesn't

matter whether it's physical pain or

mental pain we got to trade treat them

all the same way so the 37 requisites of

awakening are what the Buddha spent hold

his life time teaching us and how we can

be successful with our meditation when

we practice these different requisites

not necessarily all at one time but

remembering to bring up the awakening

factors when your mind is restless and

you bring up the tranquility your

stillness or equanimity when your mind

is starting to doll up to bring up the

investigation the energy the joy the

five faculties I mean when we win the

the Bodhisattva was practicing with

alors alors kalama and Rama butta he saw

that these teachers had the five

faculties in him they weren't the same

as these are exactly but he saw those

those qualities in his teacher and he

says they got those qualities i got

those qualities so i can get to the same

place he can get to and he did without

much without much effort in trouble but

it wasn't satisfied with it

so he kept on trying different things

some of the austerities that he did are

truly disgusting he was drinking his own

urine in eating his own feces until

there was no more that's right is laying

down on stickers and well think a thick

of laying down on one of these trai

cactus but he did that as part of the

austerity practice and there's there's a

lot of things that he did with was

really really disgusting and I wanted to

thank him so that I didn't have to go

through doing that kind of stuff it's

real real interesting anyway anybody

have any questions

if you are going to pick a suitor to

read a lot six sets of six memorize it

it's really not very difficult to

memorize because there's so much

repetition in it it's not difficult at

all as a matter of actually even started

working with memorizing made me proud

yeah this is what's your what's the best

definition of dukkha to just your

average person who asked because you

know there's a lot of conjecture many

teachers have it that we do is the

negative cop k KH a comes from the word

Conte Conte means patients do ah no

patience

we're going back into his crew okay

let's share something hey suffering one

must be suffering free in the pier strap

fearless meeting may the grieving [ __ ]

out green and male beams behind me they

are being careless merit that we have

that's fine with the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may beings can have

any space of dirt it has enough in my

tea powder sugar bear arms may they not

protect the Buddhist dispensation

Oh