From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=umMw8BjjBKc

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

there he addressed amongst us monks

venerable sir they replied the Blessed

One said this monks sorry Buddha is wise

sorry puta has great wisdom sorry puta

has wide wisdom sorry

puta has joyous wisdom sorry Buddha has

quick wisdom sorry

Buddha has keen wisdom sorry Buddha has

penetrative wisdom now all of these

different things are talking about how

sorry food is able to see the links of

dependent origination and put it

together during half a month monk sorry

puta gained insight in two states one by

one as they occurred now sorry put does

insight in two states one by one as they

occurred was this here monks quite

secluded from sensual excuse me secluded

from sensual pleasures secluded from

unwholesome States secluded from sensual

pleasures means letting go of the six

six sense doors not being drawn to the

sense doors and indulging in that sense

whether it's hearing or smelling or

tasting or touch

or feeling or thinking being secluded

from unwholesome states means that he

didn't have any hindrances arise at that

time

sorry puta entered upon and abided in

the first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought with joy

and happiness born of seclusion and the

states in the first jhana the thinking

the examining thought the joy the

happiness the unification of mind

now this next little bit is very

interesting because this is the

description of the five aggregates okay

the five aggregates and the four

foundations of mindfulness are just

different ways of saying the same thing

yeah five aggregates you got the body

you have feeling you know perception you

have thoughts you have consciousness

four foundations of mindfulness you have

body same feeling same perception is

part of feeling and it's also part of

consciousness and you have Damas and you

have consciousness so those four

foundations of mindfulness and the five

aggregates are just different ways of

saying the same thing so the point being

these states in the jhana while you're

in jhana you are able to practice the

four foundations of mindfulness at

exactly the same time

now the way that this is described is a

little bit different than the five

aggregates instead of body it says

contact here because when you get into

the later jhanas you don't feel your

body unless there is contact okay when

you get to the fourth jhana you're not

going to be able to radiate

loving-kindness from your heart anymore

because you won't feel it

the feeling of loving-kindness will come

up into your head the only thing that

you will feel in your body is if there

is contact if something touches so they

just use his contact and changes it with

changes body into contact because of the

later meditations okay the contact

feeling perception thoughts in mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared now this little statement

right here is saying that he's seeing

impermanence he's seeing things change

they were there they were for a period

of time they disappeared that is

impermanent

he understood thus so in the these

states not having been come into being

having been they vanish regarding those

states here maybe he abided unattracted

he didn't hold on to anything

unruhe Pelt he didn't push anything away

independent he saw that these are

impersonal processes that arise and pass

away detached freed associated with the

mind rid of barriers a mind rid of

barriers is a mind that doesn't have any

hindrances in them he understood there's

an escape beyond this and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is yes these these

different things occur while he is on

his object of meditation he is able to

observe these different things if he's

detached then he's not interested in

what arises all right so he is aware

that these things are happening it's

mine he's not really like right it's not

going to them okay

again monks with the stilling of

thinking and examining sorry puta

entered upon and abided in the second

jhana which has self-confidence

stillness of mind without thinking and

examining thought with joy and happiness

born of collectiveness when you get into

the second jhana

well when you get into the first jhana

you have joy arise

okay there's five different kinds of joy

that can arise the first three kinds of

joy can arise for anyone at any time

when the conditions are right the last

two kinds of joy only arise through

mental development the first kind of joy

is goosebumps and you have a happy

feeling and then it goes away

the next kind of joy is like a flash of

lightning it's there it's real intense

for a short period of time it goes away

the next kind of joy is call as like

standing in the ocean and then having a

wave of joy come over and then another

wave of joy come over again these three

kinds of joy can happen to anyone at any

time

it doesn't matter whether they have men

mental development or not the next kind

of joy is called uplifting joy this is

what you experience in the first two

jamas this kind of joy mind is very

light your body feels very light it is a

very happy feeling and it has excitement

in it okay on the first jhana you

experience that a little bit in the

second jhana it's quite a bit more you

feel much much lighter in your mind much

lighter in your body so much so that you

feel like you're floating the last kind

of joy is the awakening factor of joy

and that's called all-pervading joy it's

like taking a cup and filling it full

full of water and just keep pouring and

pouring and pouring there's no part of

the cup that's not untouched by this joy

this kind of joy doesn't have the

excitement in it it is a very happy

feeling but it's it's not it's not doing

this with your mind it's not moving so

much

when you experience the second jhana

every time you try to make a verbalize a

wish in your mind

it causes tightness in your mind okay so

you have to let go of that tightness if

you do that a couple of times and that

tightness comes up every time then drop

the verbalization of the wish just bring

up the feeling of the wish this is where

the Buddha talked about it being having

noble silence because you have to drop

your your verbalization in your mind now

you just bring up the feeling of peace

or happiness or joy whatever it happens

to be okay

now you have self-confidence when you

get to the second jhana you start to

feel very strongly that now you're

starting to understand how this stuff

works you're starting to understand that

these hindrances when they arise are not

your enemy to fight with you're starting

to understand that when you let them go

and use the six hours and come back to

your object of meditation they're

actually helping you to go deeper into

your practice so you start to feel more

confident now I feel like I know what

I'm doing and this happens not only

while you're sitting but it also can

happen with your daily active

now there is a belief and it comes from

people that practice one-pointed

concentration or absorption

concentration that the only time you can

experience jhana is when you are sitting

in meditation this is not true you can

experience joy when you're walking down

the street right you can have a lot of

joy arise and you can radiate

loving-kindness to everybody you meet

when you're walking or while you're

doing something watching dishes taking a

bath you can get into it jhana

at any time and this happens all the way

up to the realm of nothingness and we'll

get into that a little bit

so you you start to have more confidence

that what you're doing is a good thing

it's radiating the loving-kindness and

you radiate it to everybody around you

while you're doing your daily activities

you start to see them smile and be happy

I get a big kick out of going into big

stores grocery stores or whatever and I

start looking for little kids that are

crying okay and then I go up and I stand

by them and I start radiating

loving-kindness to them and then they

get this shocked look on their face and

then you stop crying and then they start

smiling now what am i doing by doing

that I'm practicing generosity okay this

was a real shock in Asia every time I

brought it up because they only talk

about generosity as giving material

things the generosity is a lot bigger

than that you practice generosity with

your body you practice generosity with

your speech you practice generosity with

your mind when you're smiling you're

practicing generosity because you're

giving that smile to other people when

you say things that make them make them

and you happy you're practicing

generosity with your speech quite often

after the little baby start stops crying

mom is standing right beside her for him

and quite often I will start talking

with mom about

what a nice little baby it is now what

does that do for her one I have helped

her to calm down a crying baby and two

I've given her compliments what does

that do to her mind so you practice your

generation and your generosity and all

different kinds of ways when the Buddha

talked about meditation he talked about

practicing three things he talked about

first practicing your generosity when

you practice your generosity you get out

of yourself and you take notice of

people around you and you start

radiating loving-kindness to people

around you that's a way of practicing

your generosity so you get out of

yourself and you start paying attention

to other people and help them to be

happy you say things that make other

people happy no speech is not only an

external thing speech is also an

internal thing okay has to do with your

thinking so being kind to yourself and

wishing yourself well you're practicing

your generosity to yourself

but you're also able to give that good

feeling away

the second part of meditation is what we

do in the morning we're taking the

precepts and keeping the precepts this

is an important part of the practice now

an awful lot of people in the West have

have had the word morality shoved down

their throat and it kind of gets caught

don't really like it but when you keep

your precepts you are practicing

morality it's not a sometime thing it's

something that you need to practice all

the time why when you break a precept

you knowingly are causing yourself a

guilty feeling

and then you have remorse when you break

a precept it will affect you because

hindrances arise because you break a

precept so keeping the precepts and

keeping them very closely what it does

is it helps you to know what you're

going to do before you do it and then

you can back away from killing living

beings I'm spraying that nasty stuff

that gets into the ground like all these

farmers are doing right now and they're

they know they're killing living beings

by doing it and they're harming a lot of

other beings around

you don't take something that's not

given how does it feel when somebody

steals something of yours

why would you do that to somebody else

you refrain from having wrong sexual

activity what is wrong sexual activity

wrong sexual activity is sexual activity

with another person's mate sexual

activity with someone that's too young

in essence it's any kind of sexual

activity that causes you or anyone else

around you to not be happy anyone

involved the next precept is a hard one

to keep because it has to do with speech

it's real easy to let things slip it's

real easy to get caught up in cursing

it's real easy to get caught up in

gossip

what is gossip gossip is saying

something about somebody else and making

up stories about them does it have

anything to do with reality

the last precept is not taking any drugs

or alcohol if you keep these precepts

without breaking them your mind becomes

hindrance free okay

I've taught people that if they've

really kept their precepts very closely

and they come and they want to meditate

the first day of the meditation they can

get into a dramas very easily because

they don't have the hindrances coming up

and knocking them out of out of what

they're doing mine becomes very peaceful

and calm when you keep the preset mind

becomes disturbed when you break the

precepts there's I have go to a certain

website and there's a lot of discussions

of little different things there's some

quite a few healing ideas that come up

and that sort of thing and there's two

or three people on that site that insist

on cursing and

a person that curses often is telling

everyone around them that they are

lowborn their course and this kind of

language makes everybody else back away

from that person I don't want to be

around somebody that's using the f-word

all the time I don't want to be around

somebody that gets angry and starts

cursing every time some little thing

that happens why because their

mindfulness isn't good at that time

they're breaking a precept and that will

come back and cause problems for them

but it also causes problems for me if I

have to read this or listen to it I

don't want to be around it so keeping

the precept of right speech at times can

be somewhat difficult little white lies

are lies you're not saying something

that's true so don't do that it's better

to say nothing than it is to say

something that you know that's not true

it's better to keep silent rather than

express your anger through cursing at

something else and this affects your

meditation here and now okay you can you

can have the practice of or the habit of

cursing and then you come and you want

to practice meditation and have progress

but because of breaking that precept

it affects the way your meditation

occurs right now you're not going to be

able to go as deep there's nobody that's

going to stand over you and throw down

lightning bolts or

thing like that because you broke a

preset but you know you broke it and

therein lies the problem because that

causes remorse to arise in your mind

that causes you to see things happening

in the world in a different way because

it clouds your mind okay I'll get off me

the last part of meditation is daily

activity practice plus city so those

three kinds of practice are meditation

it's not separate one thing from another

these are interconnected in a woven okay

and the states in the second jhana the

self confidence the joy the happiness

the unification of mind again you have

the four foundations of mindfulness

expressed as the five aggregates contact

feeling perception thoughts and mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared now this decision that the

sorry could does saw the decision is

what your free will is all about you

have a choice

whether it 6r or not whether to relax

and let go of something or not if you

hold on to it

that choice is going to come back as

this is going to arise over and over and

over again until you let it go or you

choose to use the six hours and relax

and let go of that false ID and a

personal self and then your mind gets

more and more clear so you have a choice

of what you do with what arises in the

present moment and what you do with that

dictates what happens I have in the

future this is karma this is the way it

works and it's a subtle form of Karma

it's not a big gross thing okay and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there's still more to do

so even though you go and start going

through these different genres you still

have the realization yeah there's more I

still have more more to experience but

things start getting easier when you get

into the second jhana and it gets easier

when you get into the third jhana

because you're starting to really

understand that the hindrances are there

to teach you where your attachment is to

teach you how to let go of these

attachments and when you let go of

attachments you let go of suffering so

it's real important to understand this

again monks with the fading away of joy

sorry put abided in equanimity

mindful and fully aware still feeling

happiness with the body he entered upon

and abided in the third jhana on account

of which noble ones announced he has a

pleasant abiding who has equanimity and

is mindful so what happens when you get

into the third jhana is joy doesn't

arise anymore you feel really

comfortable in your mind and in your

body you have very nice equanimity

starting to come up that means a sound

happens or a sensation arises in your

body it doesn't make your mind shake and

go to it you have this balance of

minuses okay that happened that sound is

there it's okay for it to be there that

feeling is okay now as you go deeper

into this particular jhana you start

losing feeling in different parts of

your body and you're sitting with your

hands together and all of a sudden you

don't feel your hands but if you put

your attention on your hands you will

feel it otherwise of just you just won't

feel it and it'll start to happen in

different parts of the body as you lose

tension in your mind you lose feeling in

the body so all of a sudden you're

sitting there and you go oh I don't feel

my legs it's not there put your

attention on oh yeah they're still there

but when you stay with your object of

meditation then you just won't notice

your body so much anymore this is where

a lot of tension and tightness is in

your body is let go of and you start

your circulation gets better things like

that and the states in the third jhana

the equanimity the happiness the

mindfulness the full awareness and

unification of mind again the five

aggregates the contact feeling

perception thoughts and mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared he understood this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there's still more to do

again with the abandoning of pleasure

and pain with the previous disappearance

of joy and grief sorry food to entered

upon and abided in the fourth jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

when you get to the fourth jhana the

feeling of loving kindness that

radiating feeling in your heart

disappears and it manifests in your head

so you're not going to be feeling

anything from your neck down

unless you put your attention on it when

you get to the fourth jhana the

equanimity that you experience is very

strong you feel very strong balance of

mind your awareness is much sharper than

ever before when you get into the fourth

jhana there can still be sensations that

arise in your body but it doesn't make

your mind shake and go to them

the equanimity that you experience in

the fourth China is the highest form of

equanimous the highest feeling that you

can experience as a human being

equanimity although there's different

levels of equanimity when you get to

equanimity this is the highest feeling

that you'll be able to experience when

you get to the fourth jhana that's when

I will come to you or you'll come to me

and tell me about it and I will tell you

now you have become an advanced

meditator now you understand how mine

actually does work and I will change

your meditation from sending

loving-kindness to just one person to a

variety of different beings and in

different ways when you're able to do

that then I will tell you to start

sending loving-kindness in the six

directions in front of you behind you to

the right to the left above below five

minutes in each direction you're sending

loving-kindness to all beings and then

you send loving-kindness to all beings

in all directions at the same time this

is when the meditation starts to get

real fun because your understanding is

starting to grow very very quickly and

you understand how mind works you

understand that when your mindfulness

gets a little weak then you're gonna

have a hindrance arise but you start

seeing hindrances as a helper for you

they're your best friend even though you

might not think about it at the time

they're teaching you you're where your

attachments are they're teaching you how

to let go of those attachments it's

helping your mindfulness get stronger so

that the hindrances are real necessary

part of the practice and the states in

the fourth jhana the equanimity the

neither painful nor pleasant feeling the

mental unconcerned due to tranquility

the purity of mindfulness and

unification of mind the contact feeling

perception the formations and mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known he

disappeared and he understood that

there's still more to go and with the

cultivation of that

tainment he confirmed that there is so

even though you get to the fourth jhana

you know that there's still more to do

with your practice you know what you

have to start getting your enthusiasm up

you want to keep going this is okay this

is alright I like this this jhana is as

high as you can experience with

loving-kindness okay this is as high as

you go with loving-kindness now you're

going to start practicing what is called

the brahma vihara this Brahma God godly

vihara home

okay so these are the heavenly realms

now when you are sitting and you get

into one any one of these first four

Jonah's it's time to get up and do your

walking you keep your Jonah going while

you do your walking meditation you stay

with your object to meditation you keep

the John on going when you get into the

fourth jhana it gets a little bit weird

because you don't feel anything unless

there's contact so when the winds not

blowing you walk you feel the bottom of

your feet because there's contact when

you touch the ground you feel nothing

between the bottom of your feet and your

the rest of your body excluding the head

you still will feel the head you still

be able to radiate a loving kindness how

so you're able to do it doesn't matter

what other thing that you're doing you

can have very strong equanimity while

you're taking a bath or washing the

dishes or cleaning the house or watching

the car whatever it happens to be it

takes practice to be able to get into it

and keep it there but what I'm doing

with this retreat for you is there used

to be a book out I think it was in the

60s it was called the crack in the

cosmic egg what I'm doing is putting

that crack in your eggs

I'm giving I'm showing you the

experience you still got to get out of

the egg still have to bust out but this

weakens that so it's easier to bust out

okay okay now these first four Jonna are

called the material jhanas now we're

going to start experiencing the

immaterial jhanas again monks with the

complete sore mounting of gross

perceptions of form with the

disappearance of gross perceptions of

sensory impact aware that space is

infinite sorry puta entered upon and

abided in the base of infinite space

what happens when you get in a base of

infinite space is the feeling of loving

kindness changes and a feeling of

compassion arises okay now what you're

going to feel in your mind you're going

to feel an expansion going out and out

and out and doesn't stop which is this

is infinite space and it just keeps

going out and all the directions at the

same time is just expansion there's no

center point there's no me there's no

mind there's just this feeling of

expansion and the feeling of compassion

the Mahayana have really focused

very much on compassion they use the

word compassion when they should be

using the word loving guidance and may

get caught up in the Buddha experienced

infinite compassion well there's a

little problem with that in that

everyday the Buddha sat in meditation

when he first got up and he practiced

compassion and infinite space okay so

the Mahayana what they did was they just

took the infinite out in in that place

and said this is infinite compassion but

it's compassion and infinite space

and the states in the base of infinite

space the perception of the base of

infinite space and the unification of

mind the contact feeling perception

formations and mind so you still have

the four foundations of mindfulness even

though you're in an immaterial jhana the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared he understood this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there's still more to do

now you'll be an infinite space for a

period of time and your mindfulness for

whatever reason will get weak and now

you have another entrance arise and you

six are the hindrance and your

mindfulness starts to get better and you

start going deeper into your practice

and then that feeling of compassion will

change to a feeling of joy again monks

by completely surmounting the base of

infinite space aware that consciousness

is infinite so reboot to enter Devon and

abided in the base of infinite

consciousness what happens now is a

feeling of compassion or the feeling of

compassion fades away the feeling of joy

Rises the feeling of that infinite space

passes away and at each one of the sense

doors you will see individual

consciousnesses arise and pass away now

that was roughly a hundred thousand

arising and passing away and you're

going to be able to see each one of

those individually you'll see it arrives

and pass away arise and pass away it

doesn't matter what sense door it is a

lot of people notice it very much at the

eyes and it's like watching a movie

that's going too slow and you're seeing

a picture and you're seeing a blank spot

and you see a picture and a blank spot

and that happens at the ear at the nose

at the tongue feeling at the body and

mind it's just a rising passing away

continually very quick now when you get

into these states you start to realize

that yeah everything is impermanent you

see that there's no doubt in your mind

that everything arises and passes away

very quickly

and you get kind of tired of seeing the

arising and passing away of everything

and that's a form of dukkha

unsatisfactoriness because there's no

stillness in this your mind can't be at

ease because it's always coming up and

going away coming up in

going away so fast and you start to see

and realize directly that there is no

controller there is no self that makes

these things happen they happen by

themselves there's nobody home

so you're seeing directly impermanence

suffering and the impersonal nature of

everything and you start to lose that

tight grip of thinking that I'm in

control and I can do anything I'm not

there it's happening by itself and the

states in the base of infinite

consciousness the perception of the base

of infinite consciousness and

unification of mind the contact feeling

perception formations and mind so you

still have the five aggregates there you

still have the four foundations of

mindfulness there the enthusiasm

decision energy mindfulness equanimity

and attention these states were defined

by him one by one as they occurred known

to him those states arose known they

were present known they disappeared when

you get to infinite consciousness and

tell me about it

one of the things they generally tell

people to do is start looking at that

space in between the consciousnesses

what is that what's there

what is that space so with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirm there's still more to go and you

know this you know that I got to go

deeper this is this is happening but if

that gotta go see what's behind that

again monks by completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing sorry

buta entered upon and abided in the base

of nothing this is where this is where

mind stops looking outside of itself and

you start to see how mind arises and

passes away but there's no more

physicality at all

this is a really incredibly interesting

state to be in there's all kinds of

interesting things that happen in this

state for one thing if you try to stay

oh I forgot to tell you when you get to

nothingness the feeling of joy changes

to a feeling of very amazing equanimity

very deep and as you I can tell somebody

comes in for the interview well how you

doing today any new stuff happening no

mine is just very very balanced now when

you get into this state if you try to

ravy that feeling of equanimity your

mind is gonna have restlessness in it if

you don't put enough energy into staying

with that your mind is gonna get dull

so when you get into the state this is

where you're actually learning how to

adjust little tiny bits at a time you

start to notice that the restlessness

starts to come up you six are that and

you back off on your energy you're

trying too hard

starts to dull out a little bit and six

are that then you add a little bit more

energy now the thing is all the way

through the meditation from day one

you're learning how to do this balancing

act okay

at first this quite gross but as you go

deeper in your practice it gets more

subtle and it's easier and see when you

start meditating your mind flip flops

from one thing to another and as you

start going into the jhanas it doesn't

flip-flop so much anymore and when you

get to the fourth fourth jhana it's not

flip-flopping anymore it's vibrating

as you go into the arrow pajamas the

vibration becomes less and less and less

so you start to see things in a more and

more subtle way your mindfulness becomes

extremely sharp your mind becomes very

alert still have to smile still have to

have fun doing this generally when

people get into the realm of nothingness

they have a tendency to get a little bit

serious your progress is much faster

with a light mind the serious mind means

heaviness let go of that have fun with

this stuff by this time the six R's are

becoming more and more automatic it's

like something starts to come up and

instead of intentionally saying oh I got

a six are that mine we'll just start

doing it a little bits at a time and the

states in the base of nothingness the

perception of the base of nothingness

and the unification of mine the contact

feeling perception formations and mine

now you're still experience of four

foundations of mindfulness we still have

the five aggregates this is as far as

you'll be able to recognize these

because the vibration now is very slight

and as you go to the next stage of the

meditation it's difficult to tell

whether there's anything there or not

it's too subtle to be able to recognize

okay and he understood with the

cultivation of that attainment there's

still more to go again monks by

completely surmounting the base of

nothingness

sorry Buddha entered upon and abided in

the base of neither perception nor

non-perception neither feeling nor non

feeling neither

consciousness nor non consciousness

having done so he contemplated the

states that had passed ceased and

changed what happens when you get into

this state is it's like being a slave to

sleep and being aware at the same time

mine becomes so subtle that it's hard to

tell whether it's really there or not

when you come out of that state then you

reflect on what happened while you were

in that state and 6r whatever it is that

comes up in your mind this is

exceptionally deep practice and as you

become familiar with it and you keep you

stay in that state you start to see

subtle tiny little minut vibrations

coming up and six are those and when you

six are one of these vibrations that

come up then you get into what I call

the exquisite stillness your mind will

get still and it will stay still for a

very long period of time an hour

and if something starts to all rise

you'll be able to see it like it's from

a long distance away and you start 6rn

right then these little tiny things that

arise are the different links of

dependent origination you've let go of

the gross ones now you start to see mind

and body you start to see consciousness

you see formations this is exceptional

exceptionally subtle states of mind I

have a student in Indonesia that I've

had almost beter because she would get

into that state and she'd be in there

for an hour hour and a half and she said

well nothing's happening and she break

her sitting and I know don't do that

this is where you purify it your mind is

pure there's no other way around it your

mind is absolutely pure why is it pure

there's no craving there's no vibration

there's no movement to speak of it it's

so subtle that you can't even tell

whether there's any vibration at all

you don't break a sitting because well I

need some excitement I gotta go do

something and it was a problem and it

took me a while to get her to stop doing

them that's really it

you know that's really the what you want

to be experiencing

okay and he understood there's an escape

beyond this this is where some people

get a little bit confused about what

Navona is and they think that they've

experienced navona but they haven't

quite yet again monks buy completely

surmounting the base of neither

perception nor non-perception sorry puta

entered upon and abided in the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and his tanks were destroyed by his

seeing with wisdom so what happens mine

lets go of everything just like you turn

the light switch off you don't know

you're in this state till you got out

there is no perception there is no

feeling there is no consciousness when

you come out of that state you'll be in

it for five minutes seven minutes ten

minutes like that when you come out of

that seat you will see the links of

dependent origination how they arise and

how they cease and because you see this

so clearly and so directly your mind has

a big oh wow that's how it how it really

does work and there is no more condition

for things to arise you will experience

niba that's what nirvana is it's the

unconditioned State every link of

dependent origination it has a cause for

the next link to arise when there's no

more causes there's no more conditions

when there's no more conditions you

experience new bottom when you come out

of that you will be happy then I mean

you will be happy and you come and tell

me and I say oh good go six are that and

six more

but what happens is you're so happy and

it's such a amazing feeling that it's

hard to sit and you'll stay like that

for quite a well quite a while quite a

few days

and he emerged mindful from that

attainment having done so he recalled

the states that past ceased and changed

so indeed these states not having been

came into being having been they vanish

regarding those states he abided and

attracted unrep elde independent

detached freed associated with a mind

rid of barriers he understood there is

no escape beyond this and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is not monks

rightly speaking were to be said of

anyone he has attained mastery and

perfection and Noble virtue mastery and

perfection and Noble collectiveness

attained mastery and perfection in noble

wisdom attained mastery and perfection

in noble deliverance it is of sorry

Buddha indeed that rightly speaking this

should be said monks rightly speaking

were to be said of anyone he is the son

of the Blessed One born of his breast

born of his mouth born of the dhamma

created by the dhamma and air in the

dhamma not an heir in material things it

is of sorry putas indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said monks the

matchless wheel of dhamma set rolling by

the tataka 'the is kept rolling rightly

by sorry boot death that is what the

Blessed One said the monks were

satisfied and do

in the Blessed ones words sorry puto was

second in wisdom to the Buddha he was

second to the Buddha and his

understanding of how the links of

dependent origination actually do work

he experienced all of the jhanas and saw

the links of dependent origination every

link of dependent origination has the

Four Noble Truths in it so he also saw

and realized the Four Noble Truths

is it possible to experience this in

this lifetime absolutely will you become

a Nara hot in this lifetime I have no

idea wait and see but even getting into

some of the lower stages of awakening is

it's a good thing okay does anybody have

any questions first noble truth is there

is suffering we don't have to really be

told that because we already know it

there's a lot of suffering that happens

the second noble truth is there is a

cause of suffering what is the cause of

suffering craving

the third noble truth is there is the

cessation of suffering

what is the cessation of suffering

letting go of craving the fourth noble

truth is the Eightfold Path it's the way

leading to the cessation of suffering I

will give you a Dhamma talk on that a

little later so you'll be able to

understand the full path more clearly is

that good yes

anybody else he was kind of slow no it

doesn't does it

no it talks about him becoming in our

eyes when you practice the four

foundations of mindfulness and I'll read

this to you one of two things can be

expected

either you become a Nara hot here and

now or if you still have a little bit of

craving and clinging left you will

become a Nanami the two lower stages can

be experienced just by understanding the

Dhamma not necessarily by practice you

can't become a non Nogami RNR heart

without sitting and doing your

meditation but by listening to the

Dhamma by listening to me

Aria what's what the Buddha said and

understanding what the Buddha said and

you have a very attentive mind you can

become either a sword upon ax or a sock

becoming second stage

now and the proof of that is when the

Buddha gave his first discourse and he

started talking about the Noble

Eightfold Path and acid G just by

listening to him became a soda pop just

by listening and understanding that's

the key having an attentive mind not a

mind this is tired of listening you know

when the Buddha would give a Dhamma talk

he might go all night huh and people

complain because I give a Dhamma talk

these two hours long

but a lot of people getting a lot of

benefit from

yes because nobody uses the phrase

identification no I get that

and hey I praised him for using that

instead of a cognate because that word

is very much misunderstood and it's

mistranslated a lot and people are

continually trying to break the word

down iike means one so that means one

pointed of mine and his unification of

mine it's the coming together of your

mindfulness and your full awareness

things like that actually more complete

yes it is it's a much better translation

because there is a unifying and uni

means one but it's a pulling together of

of your understanding and your

mindfulness and your full awareness you

could say it's not so much pulling

together it's just everything just

coming kinda yeah yeah

in the new book socket baton of the

author Alejo talks about Samadhi as

being not concentration right

collectiveness in one of his footnotes

he got a copy of my book and he was very

much impressed with it I wrote he there

was an article about him doing that in

tricycle maybe I don't remember what

Megan magazine it was and it had his

email address so I wrote it and told him

who I was he said I know you very well

I've been using your book and I'm

starting to practice the way you're

teaching

so he used collectiveness it's it's

actually very close to the way that I

teach in a lot of ways

I mean for academics because this

argument has been persistent yeah he

does he does an experiment and stuff

though I talked to him he came to the

school where I was lecturing and to do

joining together a Homburg University

and the University I was working at in

Sri Lanka and I got to talk to him a

little bit I mean he does experimenting

with things it's not like he's he's more

an academic thing as a meditator

everybody does experiment with things so

he's experimented with a lot of what

Bundy does but he's not it's not totally

practicing that way ok but he's he's

pretty he's experimented with it leaning

in that direction you have to read the

book you'll see Joseph Goldstein has a

series of forty six one-hour Dhamma

talks on the society piccata suta and he

all the way through their credits a lot

of his inspiration for that

yeah I don't quite understand the

there's four or five words that are used

to describe the mental condition of the

Venerable sorry Jesus are but they sound

like sort of an aggregate of the seven

factors well it's in in the one right

after this well this is attributed to

him because of his understanding and his

sharp awareness of everything that

happens while you're in that jhana

and it does happen one by one as they

occur and it does each one of these

things if you're really alert you will

be able to see them for yourself and

that is yes the enthusiasm you know that

the decision you have to make the in the

decision to do it the energy the

mindfulness equanimity and

attention the attention is another word

for mindfulness it just which is nice

because they clarifies what bhakti says

mindfulness and awareness because

mindfulness is the observing the minds

attention the awareness is the awareness

our you see yes that's just going in

that direction if you look at that if

you look at that group of words it kind

of talks about specifically how he was

practicing absolute the suit is not just

a description of what happened it's also

a very specific description of exactly

precisely how he was practically effort

yes the enthusiasm he kept distance I

mean read the words again don't you read

that thing in this I think that's honest

yeah at the time no send me to nakiya

about how you're supposed to be

practicing and all those words appear in

that little suit about exertion and all

the words that describe how you're

supposed to be applying yourself and

then there they are in that suit time

that's kind of cool

yeah and attention and mindfulness if

you are looking at the word mindfulness

and take it as the awakening factor the

awakening factor of mindfulness is very

precise exact on how the links of

dependent origination work if you take

the word attention it's broader it's not

quite so specific to attend to

interesting stuff well you have to

attend that you have to attend to things

right but that doesn't necessarily mean

picking out each tiny little thing but

the mindfulness as described here is

that that awakening factor of my

influence so that the wisdom arises

maybe if he didn't have his attention

operating right he who had never seen

those aggregates levels well he was

attending that that's why he had the the

aggregates there he was attending the

aggregates he was seeing that they were

there and when the aggregates are there

the four foundations of mindfulness are

absolutely there so so through the

meditation process he's refining the

mindfulness is cultivating that

awakening factor of mindfulness right so

would you say that all the other factors

are cultivated equally yes yes

absolutely

and how do you make your mindfulness

it's stronger for myself today yesterday

I've seen it I know it's true I know its

flavor most have you seen it do you know

I can't give you that kind of answer

okay monks can't give that kind of an

answer I can give you an answer this way

I have taught probably close to 2

there he addressed amongst us monks

venerable sir they replied the Blessed

One said this monks sorry Buddha is wise

sorry puta has great wisdom sorry puta

has wide wisdom sorry

puta has joyous wisdom sorry Buddha has

quick wisdom sorry

Buddha has keen wisdom sorry Buddha has

penetrative wisdom now all of these

different things are talking about how

sorry food is able to see the links of

dependent origination and put it

together during half a month monk sorry

puta gained insight in two states one by

one as they occurred now sorry put does

insight in two states one by one as they

occurred was this here monks quite

secluded from sensual excuse me secluded

from sensual pleasures secluded from

unwholesome States secluded from sensual

pleasures means letting go of the six

six sense doors not being drawn to the

sense doors and indulging in that sense

whether it's hearing or smelling or

tasting or touch

or feeling or thinking being secluded

from unwholesome states means that he

didn't have any hindrances arise at that

time

sorry puta entered upon and abided in

the first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought with joy

and happiness born of seclusion and the

states in the first jhana the thinking

the examining thought the joy the

happiness the unification of mind

now this next little bit is very

interesting because this is the

description of the five aggregates okay

the five aggregates and the four

foundations of mindfulness are just

different ways of saying the same thing

yeah five aggregates you got the body

you have feeling you know perception you

have thoughts you have consciousness

four foundations of mindfulness you have

body same feeling same perception is

part of feeling and it's also part of

consciousness and you have Damas and you

have consciousness so those four

foundations of mindfulness and the five

aggregates are just different ways of

saying the same thing so the point being

these states in the jhana while you're

in jhana you are able to practice the

four foundations of mindfulness at

exactly the same time

now the way that this is described is a

little bit different than the five

aggregates instead of body it says

contact here because when you get into

the later jhanas you don't feel your

body unless there is contact okay when

you get to the fourth jhana you're not

going to be able to radiate

loving-kindness from your heart anymore

because you won't feel it

the feeling of loving-kindness will come

up into your head the only thing that

you will feel in your body is if there

is contact if something touches so they

just use his contact and changes it with

changes body into contact because of the

later meditations okay the contact

feeling perception thoughts in mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared now this little statement

right here is saying that he's seeing

impermanence he's seeing things change

they were there they were for a period

of time they disappeared that is

impermanent

he understood thus so in the these

states not having been come into being

having been they vanish regarding those

states here maybe he abided unattracted

he didn't hold on to anything

unruhe Pelt he didn't push anything away

independent he saw that these are

impersonal processes that arise and pass

away detached freed associated with the

mind rid of barriers a mind rid of

barriers is a mind that doesn't have any

hindrances in them he understood there's

an escape beyond this and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is yes these these

different things occur while he is on

his object of meditation he is able to

observe these different things if he's

detached then he's not interested in

what arises all right so he is aware

that these things are happening it's

mine he's not really like right it's not

going to them okay

again monks with the stilling of

thinking and examining sorry puta

entered upon and abided in the second

jhana which has self-confidence

stillness of mind without thinking and

examining thought with joy and happiness

born of collectiveness when you get into

the second jhana

well when you get into the first jhana

you have joy arise

okay there's five different kinds of joy

that can arise the first three kinds of

joy can arise for anyone at any time

when the conditions are right the last

two kinds of joy only arise through

mental development the first kind of joy

is goosebumps and you have a happy

feeling and then it goes away

the next kind of joy is like a flash of

lightning it's there it's real intense

for a short period of time it goes away

the next kind of joy is call as like

standing in the ocean and then having a

wave of joy come over and then another

wave of joy come over again these three

kinds of joy can happen to anyone at any

time

it doesn't matter whether they have men

mental development or not the next kind

of joy is called uplifting joy this is

what you experience in the first two

jamas this kind of joy mind is very

light your body feels very light it is a

very happy feeling and it has excitement

in it okay on the first jhana you

experience that a little bit in the

second jhana it's quite a bit more you

feel much much lighter in your mind much

lighter in your body so much so that you

feel like you're floating the last kind

of joy is the awakening factor of joy

and that's called all-pervading joy it's

like taking a cup and filling it full

full of water and just keep pouring and

pouring and pouring there's no part of

the cup that's not untouched by this joy

this kind of joy doesn't have the

excitement in it it is a very happy

feeling but it's it's not it's not doing

this with your mind it's not moving so

much

when you experience the second jhana

every time you try to make a verbalize a

wish in your mind

it causes tightness in your mind okay so

you have to let go of that tightness if

you do that a couple of times and that

tightness comes up every time then drop

the verbalization of the wish just bring

up the feeling of the wish this is where

the Buddha talked about it being having

noble silence because you have to drop

your your verbalization in your mind now

you just bring up the feeling of peace

or happiness or joy whatever it happens

to be okay

now you have self-confidence when you

get to the second jhana you start to

feel very strongly that now you're

starting to understand how this stuff

works you're starting to understand that

these hindrances when they arise are not

your enemy to fight with you're starting

to understand that when you let them go

and use the six hours and come back to

your object of meditation they're

actually helping you to go deeper into

your practice so you start to feel more

confident now I feel like I know what

I'm doing and this happens not only

while you're sitting but it also can

happen with your daily active

now there is a belief and it comes from

people that practice one-pointed

concentration or absorption

concentration that the only time you can

experience jhana is when you are sitting

in meditation this is not true you can

experience joy when you're walking down

the street right you can have a lot of

joy arise and you can radiate

loving-kindness to everybody you meet

when you're walking or while you're

doing something watching dishes taking a

bath you can get into it jhana

at any time and this happens all the way

up to the realm of nothingness and we'll

get into that a little bit

so you you start to have more confidence

that what you're doing is a good thing

it's radiating the loving-kindness and

you radiate it to everybody around you

while you're doing your daily activities

you start to see them smile and be happy

I get a big kick out of going into big

stores grocery stores or whatever and I

start looking for little kids that are

crying okay and then I go up and I stand

by them and I start radiating

loving-kindness to them and then they

get this shocked look on their face and

then you stop crying and then they start

smiling now what am i doing by doing

that I'm practicing generosity okay this

was a real shock in Asia every time I

brought it up because they only talk

about generosity as giving material

things the generosity is a lot bigger

than that you practice generosity with

your body you practice generosity with

your speech you practice generosity with

your mind when you're smiling you're

practicing generosity because you're

giving that smile to other people when

you say things that make them make them

and you happy you're practicing

generosity with your speech quite often

after the little baby start stops crying

mom is standing right beside her for him

and quite often I will start talking

with mom about

what a nice little baby it is now what

does that do for her one I have helped

her to calm down a crying baby and two

I've given her compliments what does

that do to her mind so you practice your

generation and your generosity and all

different kinds of ways when the Buddha

talked about meditation he talked about

practicing three things he talked about

first practicing your generosity when

you practice your generosity you get out

of yourself and you take notice of

people around you and you start

radiating loving-kindness to people

around you that's a way of practicing

your generosity so you get out of

yourself and you start paying attention

to other people and help them to be

happy you say things that make other

people happy no speech is not only an

external thing speech is also an

internal thing okay has to do with your

thinking so being kind to yourself and

wishing yourself well you're practicing

your generosity to yourself

but you're also able to give that good

feeling away

the second part of meditation is what we

do in the morning we're taking the

precepts and keeping the precepts this

is an important part of the practice now

an awful lot of people in the West have

have had the word morality shoved down

their throat and it kind of gets caught

don't really like it but when you keep

your precepts you are practicing

morality it's not a sometime thing it's

something that you need to practice all

the time why when you break a precept

you knowingly are causing yourself a

guilty feeling

and then you have remorse when you break

a precept it will affect you because

hindrances arise because you break a

precept so keeping the precepts and

keeping them very closely what it does

is it helps you to know what you're

going to do before you do it and then

you can back away from killing living

beings I'm spraying that nasty stuff

that gets into the ground like all these

farmers are doing right now and they're

they know they're killing living beings

by doing it and they're harming a lot of

other beings around

you don't take something that's not

given how does it feel when somebody

steals something of yours

why would you do that to somebody else

you refrain from having wrong sexual

activity what is wrong sexual activity

wrong sexual activity is sexual activity

with another person's mate sexual

activity with someone that's too young

in essence it's any kind of sexual

activity that causes you or anyone else

around you to not be happy anyone

involved the next precept is a hard one

to keep because it has to do with speech

it's real easy to let things slip it's

real easy to get caught up in cursing

it's real easy to get caught up in

gossip

what is gossip gossip is saying

something about somebody else and making

up stories about them does it have

anything to do with reality

the last precept is not taking any drugs

or alcohol if you keep these precepts

without breaking them your mind becomes

hindrance free okay

I've taught people that if they've

really kept their precepts very closely

and they come and they want to meditate

the first day of the meditation they can

get into a dramas very easily because

they don't have the hindrances coming up

and knocking them out of out of what

they're doing mine becomes very peaceful

and calm when you keep the preset mind

becomes disturbed when you break the

precepts there's I have go to a certain

website and there's a lot of discussions

of little different things there's some

quite a few healing ideas that come up

and that sort of thing and there's two

or three people on that site that insist

on cursing and

a person that curses often is telling

everyone around them that they are

lowborn their course and this kind of

language makes everybody else back away

from that person I don't want to be

around somebody that's using the f-word

all the time I don't want to be around

somebody that gets angry and starts

cursing every time some little thing

that happens why because their

mindfulness isn't good at that time

they're breaking a precept and that will

come back and cause problems for them

but it also causes problems for me if I

have to read this or listen to it I

don't want to be around it so keeping

the precept of right speech at times can

be somewhat difficult little white lies

are lies you're not saying something

that's true so don't do that it's better

to say nothing than it is to say

something that you know that's not true

it's better to keep silent rather than

express your anger through cursing at

something else and this affects your

meditation here and now okay you can you

can have the practice of or the habit of

cursing and then you come and you want

to practice meditation and have progress

but because of breaking that precept

it affects the way your meditation

occurs right now you're not going to be

able to go as deep there's nobody that's

going to stand over you and throw down

lightning bolts or

thing like that because you broke a

preset but you know you broke it and

therein lies the problem because that

causes remorse to arise in your mind

that causes you to see things happening

in the world in a different way because

it clouds your mind okay I'll get off me

the last part of meditation is daily

activity practice plus city so those

three kinds of practice are meditation

it's not separate one thing from another

these are interconnected in a woven okay

and the states in the second jhana the

self confidence the joy the happiness

the unification of mind again you have

the four foundations of mindfulness

expressed as the five aggregates contact

feeling perception thoughts and mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared now this decision that the

sorry could does saw the decision is

what your free will is all about you

have a choice

whether it 6r or not whether to relax

and let go of something or not if you

hold on to it

that choice is going to come back as

this is going to arise over and over and

over again until you let it go or you

choose to use the six hours and relax

and let go of that false ID and a

personal self and then your mind gets

more and more clear so you have a choice

of what you do with what arises in the

present moment and what you do with that

dictates what happens I have in the

future this is karma this is the way it

works and it's a subtle form of Karma

it's not a big gross thing okay and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there's still more to do

so even though you go and start going

through these different genres you still

have the realization yeah there's more I

still have more more to experience but

things start getting easier when you get

into the second jhana and it gets easier

when you get into the third jhana

because you're starting to really

understand that the hindrances are there

to teach you where your attachment is to

teach you how to let go of these

attachments and when you let go of

attachments you let go of suffering so

it's real important to understand this

again monks with the fading away of joy

sorry put abided in equanimity

mindful and fully aware still feeling

happiness with the body he entered upon

and abided in the third jhana on account

of which noble ones announced he has a

pleasant abiding who has equanimity and

is mindful so what happens when you get

into the third jhana is joy doesn't

arise anymore you feel really

comfortable in your mind and in your

body you have very nice equanimity

starting to come up that means a sound

happens or a sensation arises in your

body it doesn't make your mind shake and

go to it you have this balance of

minuses okay that happened that sound is

there it's okay for it to be there that

feeling is okay now as you go deeper

into this particular jhana you start

losing feeling in different parts of

your body and you're sitting with your

hands together and all of a sudden you

don't feel your hands but if you put

your attention on your hands you will

feel it otherwise of just you just won't

feel it and it'll start to happen in

different parts of the body as you lose

tension in your mind you lose feeling in

the body so all of a sudden you're

sitting there and you go oh I don't feel

my legs it's not there put your

attention on oh yeah they're still there

but when you stay with your object of

meditation then you just won't notice

your body so much anymore this is where

a lot of tension and tightness is in

your body is let go of and you start

your circulation gets better things like

that and the states in the third jhana

the equanimity the happiness the

mindfulness the full awareness and

unification of mind again the five

aggregates the contact feeling

perception thoughts and mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared he understood this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there's still more to do

again with the abandoning of pleasure

and pain with the previous disappearance

of joy and grief sorry food to entered

upon and abided in the fourth jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

when you get to the fourth jhana the

feeling of loving kindness that

radiating feeling in your heart

disappears and it manifests in your head

so you're not going to be feeling

anything from your neck down

unless you put your attention on it when

you get to the fourth jhana the

equanimity that you experience is very

strong you feel very strong balance of

mind your awareness is much sharper than

ever before when you get into the fourth

jhana there can still be sensations that

arise in your body but it doesn't make

your mind shake and go to them

the equanimity that you experience in

the fourth China is the highest form of

equanimous the highest feeling that you

can experience as a human being

equanimity although there's different

levels of equanimity when you get to

equanimity this is the highest feeling

that you'll be able to experience when

you get to the fourth jhana that's when

I will come to you or you'll come to me

and tell me about it and I will tell you

now you have become an advanced

meditator now you understand how mine

actually does work and I will change

your meditation from sending

loving-kindness to just one person to a

variety of different beings and in

different ways when you're able to do

that then I will tell you to start

sending loving-kindness in the six

directions in front of you behind you to

the right to the left above below five

minutes in each direction you're sending

loving-kindness to all beings and then

you send loving-kindness to all beings

in all directions at the same time this

is when the meditation starts to get

real fun because your understanding is

starting to grow very very quickly and

you understand how mind works you

understand that when your mindfulness

gets a little weak then you're gonna

have a hindrance arise but you start

seeing hindrances as a helper for you

they're your best friend even though you

might not think about it at the time

they're teaching you you're where your

attachments are they're teaching you how

to let go of those attachments it's

helping your mindfulness get stronger so

that the hindrances are real necessary

part of the practice and the states in

the fourth jhana the equanimity the

neither painful nor pleasant feeling the

mental unconcerned due to tranquility

the purity of mindfulness and

unification of mind the contact feeling

perception the formations and mind the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known he

disappeared and he understood that

there's still more to go and with the

cultivation of that

tainment he confirmed that there is so

even though you get to the fourth jhana

you know that there's still more to do

with your practice you know what you

have to start getting your enthusiasm up

you want to keep going this is okay this

is alright I like this this jhana is as

high as you can experience with

loving-kindness okay this is as high as

you go with loving-kindness now you're

going to start practicing what is called

the brahma vihara this Brahma God godly

vihara home

okay so these are the heavenly realms

now when you are sitting and you get

into one any one of these first four

Jonah's it's time to get up and do your

walking you keep your Jonah going while

you do your walking meditation you stay

with your object to meditation you keep

the John on going when you get into the

fourth jhana it gets a little bit weird

because you don't feel anything unless

there's contact so when the winds not

blowing you walk you feel the bottom of

your feet because there's contact when

you touch the ground you feel nothing

between the bottom of your feet and your

the rest of your body excluding the head

you still will feel the head you still

be able to radiate a loving kindness how

so you're able to do it doesn't matter

what other thing that you're doing you

can have very strong equanimity while

you're taking a bath or washing the

dishes or cleaning the house or watching

the car whatever it happens to be it

takes practice to be able to get into it

and keep it there but what I'm doing

with this retreat for you is there used

to be a book out I think it was in the

60s it was called the crack in the

cosmic egg what I'm doing is putting

that crack in your eggs

I'm giving I'm showing you the

experience you still got to get out of

the egg still have to bust out but this

weakens that so it's easier to bust out

okay okay now these first four Jonna are

called the material jhanas now we're

going to start experiencing the

immaterial jhanas again monks with the

complete sore mounting of gross

perceptions of form with the

disappearance of gross perceptions of

sensory impact aware that space is

infinite sorry puta entered upon and

abided in the base of infinite space

what happens when you get in a base of

infinite space is the feeling of loving

kindness changes and a feeling of

compassion arises okay now what you're

going to feel in your mind you're going

to feel an expansion going out and out

and out and doesn't stop which is this

is infinite space and it just keeps

going out and all the directions at the

same time is just expansion there's no

center point there's no me there's no

mind there's just this feeling of

expansion and the feeling of compassion

the Mahayana have really focused

very much on compassion they use the

word compassion when they should be

using the word loving guidance and may

get caught up in the Buddha experienced

infinite compassion well there's a

little problem with that in that

everyday the Buddha sat in meditation

when he first got up and he practiced

compassion and infinite space okay so

the Mahayana what they did was they just

took the infinite out in in that place

and said this is infinite compassion but

it's compassion and infinite space

and the states in the base of infinite

space the perception of the base of

infinite space and the unification of

mind the contact feeling perception

formations and mind so you still have

the four foundations of mindfulness even

though you're in an immaterial jhana the

enthusiasm decision energy mindfulness

equanimity and attention these states

were defined by him one by one as they

occurred known to him those states arose

known they were present known they

disappeared he understood this and with

the cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there's still more to do

now you'll be an infinite space for a

period of time and your mindfulness for

whatever reason will get weak and now

you have another entrance arise and you

six are the hindrance and your

mindfulness starts to get better and you

start going deeper into your practice

and then that feeling of compassion will

change to a feeling of joy again monks

by completely surmounting the base of

infinite space aware that consciousness

is infinite so reboot to enter Devon and

abided in the base of infinite

consciousness what happens now is a

feeling of compassion or the feeling of

compassion fades away the feeling of joy

Rises the feeling of that infinite space

passes away and at each one of the sense

doors you will see individual

consciousnesses arise and pass away now

that was roughly a hundred thousand

arising and passing away and you're

going to be able to see each one of

those individually you'll see it arrives

and pass away arise and pass away it

doesn't matter what sense door it is a

lot of people notice it very much at the

eyes and it's like watching a movie

that's going too slow and you're seeing

a picture and you're seeing a blank spot

and you see a picture and a blank spot

and that happens at the ear at the nose

at the tongue feeling at the body and

mind it's just a rising passing away

continually very quick now when you get

into these states you start to realize

that yeah everything is impermanent you

see that there's no doubt in your mind

that everything arises and passes away

very quickly

and you get kind of tired of seeing the

arising and passing away of everything

and that's a form of dukkha

unsatisfactoriness because there's no

stillness in this your mind can't be at

ease because it's always coming up and

going away coming up in

going away so fast and you start to see

and realize directly that there is no

controller there is no self that makes

these things happen they happen by

themselves there's nobody home

so you're seeing directly impermanence

suffering and the impersonal nature of

everything and you start to lose that

tight grip of thinking that I'm in

control and I can do anything I'm not

there it's happening by itself and the

states in the base of infinite

consciousness the perception of the base

of infinite consciousness and

unification of mind the contact feeling

perception formations and mind so you

still have the five aggregates there you

still have the four foundations of

mindfulness there the enthusiasm

decision energy mindfulness equanimity

and attention these states were defined

by him one by one as they occurred known

to him those states arose known they

were present known they disappeared when

you get to infinite consciousness and

tell me about it

one of the things they generally tell

people to do is start looking at that

space in between the consciousnesses

what is that what's there

what is that space so with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirm there's still more to go and you

know this you know that I got to go

deeper this is this is happening but if

that gotta go see what's behind that

again monks by completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing sorry

buta entered upon and abided in the base

of nothing this is where this is where

mind stops looking outside of itself and

you start to see how mind arises and

passes away but there's no more

physicality at all

this is a really incredibly interesting

state to be in there's all kinds of

interesting things that happen in this

state for one thing if you try to stay

oh I forgot to tell you when you get to

nothingness the feeling of joy changes

to a feeling of very amazing equanimity

very deep and as you I can tell somebody

comes in for the interview well how you

doing today any new stuff happening no

mine is just very very balanced now when

you get into this state if you try to

ravy that feeling of equanimity your

mind is gonna have restlessness in it if

you don't put enough energy into staying

with that your mind is gonna get dull

so when you get into the state this is

where you're actually learning how to

adjust little tiny bits at a time you

start to notice that the restlessness

starts to come up you six are that and

you back off on your energy you're

trying too hard

starts to dull out a little bit and six

are that then you add a little bit more

energy now the thing is all the way

through the meditation from day one

you're learning how to do this balancing

act okay

at first this quite gross but as you go

deeper in your practice it gets more

subtle and it's easier and see when you

start meditating your mind flip flops

from one thing to another and as you

start going into the jhanas it doesn't

flip-flop so much anymore and when you

get to the fourth fourth jhana it's not

flip-flopping anymore it's vibrating

as you go into the arrow pajamas the

vibration becomes less and less and less

so you start to see things in a more and

more subtle way your mindfulness becomes

extremely sharp your mind becomes very

alert still have to smile still have to

have fun doing this generally when

people get into the realm of nothingness

they have a tendency to get a little bit

serious your progress is much faster

with a light mind the serious mind means

heaviness let go of that have fun with

this stuff by this time the six R's are

becoming more and more automatic it's

like something starts to come up and

instead of intentionally saying oh I got

a six are that mine we'll just start

doing it a little bits at a time and the

states in the base of nothingness the

perception of the base of nothingness

and the unification of mine the contact

feeling perception formations and mine

now you're still experience of four

foundations of mindfulness we still have

the five aggregates this is as far as

you'll be able to recognize these

because the vibration now is very slight

and as you go to the next stage of the

meditation it's difficult to tell

whether there's anything there or not

it's too subtle to be able to recognize

okay and he understood with the

cultivation of that attainment there's

still more to go again monks by

completely surmounting the base of

nothingness

sorry Buddha entered upon and abided in

the base of neither perception nor

non-perception neither feeling nor non

feeling neither

consciousness nor non consciousness

having done so he contemplated the

states that had passed ceased and

changed what happens when you get into

this state is it's like being a slave to

sleep and being aware at the same time

mine becomes so subtle that it's hard to

tell whether it's really there or not

when you come out of that state then you

reflect on what happened while you were

in that state and 6r whatever it is that

comes up in your mind this is

exceptionally deep practice and as you

become familiar with it and you keep you

stay in that state you start to see

subtle tiny little minut vibrations

coming up and six are those and when you

six are one of these vibrations that

come up then you get into what I call

the exquisite stillness your mind will

get still and it will stay still for a

very long period of time an hour

and if something starts to all rise

you'll be able to see it like it's from

a long distance away and you start 6rn

right then these little tiny things that

arise are the different links of

dependent origination you've let go of

the gross ones now you start to see mind

and body you start to see consciousness

you see formations this is exceptional

exceptionally subtle states of mind I

have a student in Indonesia that I've

had almost beter because she would get

into that state and she'd be in there

for an hour hour and a half and she said

well nothing's happening and she break

her sitting and I know don't do that

this is where you purify it your mind is

pure there's no other way around it your

mind is absolutely pure why is it pure

there's no craving there's no vibration

there's no movement to speak of it it's

so subtle that you can't even tell

whether there's any vibration at all

you don't break a sitting because well I

need some excitement I gotta go do

something and it was a problem and it

took me a while to get her to stop doing

them that's really it

you know that's really the what you want

to be experiencing

okay and he understood there's an escape

beyond this this is where some people

get a little bit confused about what

Navona is and they think that they've

experienced navona but they haven't

quite yet again monks buy completely

surmounting the base of neither

perception nor non-perception sorry puta

entered upon and abided in the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and his tanks were destroyed by his

seeing with wisdom so what happens mine

lets go of everything just like you turn

the light switch off you don't know

you're in this state till you got out

there is no perception there is no

feeling there is no consciousness when

you come out of that state you'll be in

it for five minutes seven minutes ten

minutes like that when you come out of

that seat you will see the links of

dependent origination how they arise and

how they cease and because you see this

so clearly and so directly your mind has

a big oh wow that's how it how it really

does work and there is no more condition

for things to arise you will experience

niba that's what nirvana is it's the

unconditioned State every link of

dependent origination it has a cause for

the next link to arise when there's no

more causes there's no more conditions

when there's no more conditions you

experience new bottom when you come out

of that you will be happy then I mean

you will be happy and you come and tell

me and I say oh good go six are that and

six more

but what happens is you're so happy and

it's such a amazing feeling that it's

hard to sit and you'll stay like that

for quite a well quite a while quite a

few days

and he emerged mindful from that

attainment having done so he recalled

the states that past ceased and changed

so indeed these states not having been

came into being having been they vanish

regarding those states he abided and

attracted unrep elde independent

detached freed associated with a mind

rid of barriers he understood there is

no escape beyond this and with the

cultivation of that attainment he

confirmed that there is not monks

rightly speaking were to be said of

anyone he has attained mastery and

perfection and Noble virtue mastery and

perfection and Noble collectiveness

attained mastery and perfection in noble

wisdom attained mastery and perfection

in noble deliverance it is of sorry

Buddha indeed that rightly speaking this

should be said monks rightly speaking

were to be said of anyone he is the son

of the Blessed One born of his breast

born of his mouth born of the dhamma

created by the dhamma and air in the

dhamma not an heir in material things it

is of sorry putas indeed that rightly

speaking this should be said monks the

matchless wheel of dhamma set rolling by

the tataka 'the is kept rolling rightly

by sorry boot death that is what the

Blessed One said the monks were

satisfied and do

in the Blessed ones words sorry puto was

second in wisdom to the Buddha he was

second to the Buddha and his

understanding of how the links of

dependent origination actually do work

he experienced all of the jhanas and saw

the links of dependent origination every

link of dependent origination has the

Four Noble Truths in it so he also saw

and realized the Four Noble Truths

is it possible to experience this in

this lifetime absolutely will you become

a Nara hot in this lifetime I have no

idea wait and see but even getting into

some of the lower stages of awakening is

it's a good thing okay does anybody have

any questions first noble truth is there

is suffering we don't have to really be

told that because we already know it

there's a lot of suffering that happens

the second noble truth is there is a

cause of suffering what is the cause of

suffering craving

the third noble truth is there is the

cessation of suffering

what is the cessation of suffering

letting go of craving the fourth noble

truth is the Eightfold Path it's the way

leading to the cessation of suffering I

will give you a Dhamma talk on that a

little later so you'll be able to

understand the full path more clearly is

that good yes

anybody else he was kind of slow no it

doesn't does it

no it talks about him becoming in our

eyes when you practice the four

foundations of mindfulness and I'll read

this to you one of two things can be

expected

either you become a Nara hot here and

now or if you still have a little bit of

craving and clinging left you will

become a Nanami the two lower stages can

be experienced just by understanding the

Dhamma not necessarily by practice you

can't become a non Nogami RNR heart

without sitting and doing your

meditation but by listening to the

Dhamma by listening to me

Aria what's what the Buddha said and

understanding what the Buddha said and

you have a very attentive mind you can

become either a sword upon ax or a sock

becoming second stage

now and the proof of that is when the

Buddha gave his first discourse and he

started talking about the Noble

Eightfold Path and acid G just by

listening to him became a soda pop just

by listening and understanding that's

the key having an attentive mind not a

mind this is tired of listening you know

when the Buddha would give a Dhamma talk

he might go all night huh and people

complain because I give a Dhamma talk

these two hours long

but a lot of people getting a lot of

benefit from

yes because nobody uses the phrase

identification no I get that

and hey I praised him for using that

instead of a cognate because that word

is very much misunderstood and it's

mistranslated a lot and people are

continually trying to break the word

down iike means one so that means one

pointed of mine and his unification of

mine it's the coming together of your

mindfulness and your full awareness

things like that actually more complete

yes it is it's a much better translation

because there is a unifying and uni

means one but it's a pulling together of

of your understanding and your

mindfulness and your full awareness you

could say it's not so much pulling

together it's just everything just

coming kinda yeah yeah

in the new book socket baton of the

author Alejo talks about Samadhi as

being not concentration right

collectiveness in one of his footnotes

he got a copy of my book and he was very

much impressed with it I wrote he there

was an article about him doing that in

tricycle maybe I don't remember what

Megan magazine it was and it had his

email address so I wrote it and told him

who I was he said I know you very well

I've been using your book and I'm

starting to practice the way you're

teaching

so he used collectiveness it's it's

actually very close to the way that I

teach in a lot of ways

I mean for academics because this

argument has been persistent yeah he

does he does an experiment and stuff

though I talked to him he came to the

school where I was lecturing and to do

joining together a Homburg University

and the University I was working at in

Sri Lanka and I got to talk to him a

little bit I mean he does experimenting

with things it's not like he's he's more

an academic thing as a meditator

everybody does experiment with things so

he's experimented with a lot of what

Bundy does but he's not it's not totally

practicing that way ok but he's he's

pretty he's experimented with it leaning

in that direction you have to read the

book you'll see Joseph Goldstein has a

series of forty six one-hour Dhamma

talks on the society piccata suta and he

all the way through their credits a lot

of his inspiration for that

yeah I don't quite understand the

there's four or five words that are used

to describe the mental condition of the

Venerable sorry Jesus are but they sound

like sort of an aggregate of the seven

factors well it's in in the one right

after this well this is attributed to

him because of his understanding and his

sharp awareness of everything that

happens while you're in that jhana

and it does happen one by one as they

occur and it does each one of these

things if you're really alert you will

be able to see them for yourself and

that is yes the enthusiasm you know that

the decision you have to make the in the

decision to do it the energy the

mindfulness equanimity and

attention the attention is another word

for mindfulness it just which is nice

because they clarifies what bhakti says

mindfulness and awareness because

mindfulness is the observing the minds

attention the awareness is the awareness

our you see yes that's just going in

that direction if you look at that if

you look at that group of words it kind

of talks about specifically how he was

practicing absolute the suit is not just

a description of what happened it's also

a very specific description of exactly

precisely how he was practically effort

yes the enthusiasm he kept distance I

mean read the words again don't you read

that thing in this I think that's honest

yeah at the time no send me to nakiya

about how you're supposed to be

practicing and all those words appear in

that little suit about exertion and all

the words that describe how you're

supposed to be applying yourself and

then there they are in that suit time

that's kind of cool

yeah and attention and mindfulness if

you are looking at the word mindfulness

and take it as the awakening factor the

awakening factor of mindfulness is very

precise exact on how the links of

dependent origination work if you take

the word attention it's broader it's not

quite so specific to attend to

interesting stuff well you have to

attend that you have to attend to things

right but that doesn't necessarily mean

picking out each tiny little thing but

the mindfulness as described here is

that that awakening factor of my

influence so that the wisdom arises

maybe if he didn't have his attention

operating right he who had never seen

those aggregates levels well he was

attending that that's why he had the the

aggregates there he was attending the

aggregates he was seeing that they were

there and when the aggregates are there

the four foundations of mindfulness are

absolutely there so so through the

meditation process he's refining the

mindfulness is cultivating that

awakening factor of mindfulness right so

would you say that all the other factors

are cultivated equally yes yes

absolutely

and how do you make your mindfulness

it's stronger for myself today yesterday

I've seen it I know it's true I know its

flavor most have you seen it do you know

I can't give you that kind of answer

okay monks can't give that kind of an

answer I can give you an answer this way

I have taught probably close to 2