From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yAB28oYRBHQ

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

good evening and welcome to this evening

vitamin C will be given the evening

Dhamma talk on June 16th 2012 and the

number for it is the Mishima nakiya

number 59 the BAA who made the neon suit

top the many kinds of feel

that's have I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in Swati in

jeta's grove anathapindika's park then

the carpenter pangäa congo went to the

venerable who died and after paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

asked him then rolls venerable sir how

many kinds of feeling have been stated

by the Blessed one three kinds of

feeling have been stated by the Blessed

One householder Pleasant feeling painful

feeling and neither painful nor pleasant

feeling these three kinds of feeling

have been stated by the Blessed one now

you'll notice it's not talking about

emotional feeling it's just talking

about feeling itself not three kinds of

feeling have been stated by the Blessed

One venerable Udayan two kinds of

feeling have been stated by the Blessed

One pleasant and painful feeling this

neither painful nor pleasant feeling has

been stated by the Blessed One as a

peaceful and sublime kind of pleasure a

second time in a third time the

venerable who died and stated his

position a second and a third time the

the carpenter pancha konga stated his

the venerable who died and could not

convince the carpenter panja kanga and

nor could the carpenter pancha kanga

convinced in our Balu Dian the venerable

Ananda heard their conversation then he

went to the Blessed One after paying

homage to him he sat down at one side

and reported to the Blessed One the

entire conversation between the

venerable Udayan and the carpenter panja

konga when he finished the Blessed one

told the venerable Ananda Ananda it is

actually true it is actually a true

presentation that the carpenter panja

kanga

could not accept from who Diane and it

was actually a true presentation that

who Diane would not accept from the

carpenter poncho kanga I have stated two

kinds of feeling in one presentation I

have stated three kinds of feeling in

another presentation I have stated five

kinds of feeling in another presentation

now the five kind just breaks it up a

little bit more in poly it's suka Duke

doe Manasa

so Manasa so Manasa doe Manasa and

Deepika what that means is you have a

pleasant physical feeling you have a

painful physical feeling you have a

pleasant mental feeling you have a

painful mental feeling and you have

equanimity so that's five kinds of

feeling okay I have stated six kinds of

feeling in another presentation and this

is all of the sense doors the eyes the

ears the tongue the nose the body and

mine now this is the the kind of feeling

that I was talking with you about this

morning when that consciousness arises

there is a feeling that's either a

pleasant feeling or painful feeling and

right after that tightness happens in

your mind and right after that thoughts

arise and then your habitual tendency of

I always think of it in this way so

in order to see you'd have to have a

good working I there has to be color and

form the good working I it's the color

inform eye-consciousness arises the

meeting of these three things is called

eye contact with eye contact as

condition don't sit with your legs

crossed please sorry with eye contact as

condition I feeling arises I feeling is

pleasant if it's a pleasant sight

painful if it's an unpleasant sight or

neither painful nor pleasant with I

feeling has condition I craving arises

what is craving every time a feeling

arises in your mind there occurs right

after that feeling arising a tightness

that happens in your brain this is how

you recognize craving when it arises

okay now physically there is a membrane

that goes around your brain it's called

the meninges and it contracts every time

a feeling arises when craving arises

with craving as condition clinging

arises what is clinging all of your

thoughts all of your opinions all of

your ideas all of your concepts all of

your story about why you like or dislike

that feeling

and this is where you really start

identifying with that feeling and those

thoughts you start taking them

personally this is my thought this is my

idea this is Who I am okay craving is

the I like it I don't like it mind if

it's a pleasant feeling I like it if

it's painful feeling I don't like it

this this happens really fast so then

there's this tightness in your head and

now you have thoughts and you have a

habitual tendency when this kind of

feeling comes up these kind of thoughts

arise I always act that way

for instance depression is a big deal

it's a big thing right now a lot of

people are getting very depressed for

any number of reasons

how does depression arise what happens

first a painful feeling arises I don't

like it I start thinking about it and I

start saying this is my depression this

is Who I am right now

and then your habitual tendency arises

now you're made up of five different

things you have a physical body you have

feeling pleasant painful

neither-pleasant-nor-painful

you have perception perception as a part

of your mind that names things it comes

up with concepts you look at this and

you say this is a book perception as a

part of your mind that named that okay

then you have thoughts and then you have

consciousness now when a painful feeling

arises our tendency is to try to think

the feeling away but thoughts are one

thing and feeling as something else and

the more you try to control the feeling

with your thoughts the bigger and more

intense that feeling becomes so what can

we do when that painful feeling arises

what can we do about it we have to

realize that you didn't all of a sudden

make up your mind you know I haven't

been depressed for a few days I might as

well be depressed now it came up because

the conditions were right for it to

arise now the tricky part of this is it

isn't yours it's just a feeling that's

why I told you to laugh as you go from

this is me this is mine this is Who I am

I'm depressed and I don't like it and

when you laugh it goes too oh it's only

this depression let it go so it goes

from being very personal and when it's

personal there's craving in your mind

and when there's craving in your mind

that is the cause of suffering so when

you laugh you relax and when you relax

it changes your perspective from I'm

depressed

- it's only depression so you can let it

go

so understanding how feeling arises is

takes practice takes practice and

sitting sometimes you'll be able to

recognize when a feeling arises

sometimes you won't sometimes you can

recognize when craving arises

sometimes you don't you get caught up in

your thoughts about it you don't

recognize it for a period of time or

your habitual tendency of trying to

control your feeling with your thoughts

but when you're learning how to meditate

and you stay with your spiritual friend

you'll be able to see more clearly how

this process works okay and as you see

how this works

that's when you start practicing the six

R's you recognize when the distraction

is there you release the distraction

that means don't keep your attention on

those thoughts and feelings there are

only thoughts and feelings they're not

yours

and the more you feed that with your

thoughts and your mind the bigger and

more intense it becomes the more you

suffer so you let that feeling you let

those thoughts be there by themselves

you don't keep your attention on them

you don't try to push them away you

don't try to stop them

you just don't keep your attention on it

now you relax that tension and tightness

in your head now I was saying that every

time craving arises there's this tension

and tightness so when you relax you'll

feel

an expansion that happens in your head

and you'll notice something real

interesting right after that don't have

any thoughts you have this very pure

mind you have this mind that's very

alert now you bring up something

wholesome smile

we call it Reece mile just to keep it in

with the arse and then you return to

your object of meditation and you repeat

staying with your object of meditation

for as long as you can that's the six

artists the six ARS are not individual

things to be done there are flow so when

you notice that you have a distraction

your mind's pulled away you let it be

relaxed or you recognize really relaxed

re smile return repeat so it's kind of a

flow it's like rolling your arms so you

don't do each one individually oops

and you don't label them but I'll tell

you about everybody that that starts

practicing they do they do that for a

little while till they get used to it

then you start noticing you do it much

faster when you don't get the

verbalization in the way so when you let

go of craving your mind is bright your

mind is alert and your mind is pure so

you bring that pure smiling mind back to

your object of meditation so what you're

really doing is and you'll get

distracted again if it's a strong

attachment you'll go back and do it

again okay fine what you're doing is

you're starting to teach yourself how

this process works feeling a there's

contact there's feeling there's craving

there's clinging there's a virtual

tendency birth of action and suffering

that's how it works

so

repetition is something that's very much

needed you have to do it over and over

and over again as you become familiar

with it it gets easier to recognize and

to let it go it's just like anything I

mean Tiger Woods didn't get to be a

great golfer just by picking up a club

and swinging it he had to swing it a lot

of times in a lot of different

situations and he had to continually

work with that over and over and over

until he got good at it and even when

he's really good at it sometimes the

ball doesn't go where he wants it to go

so the thing with these six kinds of

feeling is being able to recognize when

that feeling arises and it's not easy to

recognize not at first you feel like

there's so many different things that

you have to do when you're when you're

sitting with your meditation I haven't

got time to look at this stuff closer as

your mind starts to settle down as you

start to stay with your object of

meditation for a longer period of time

it gets much easier to recognize how

this process works now a couple days ago

I gave you a talk on the hindrances and

I told you over and over again they're

not enemies to fight with it's just a

distraction you have to expect

distractions to happen you're not going

to be perfect at sitting with having a

mind quiet because you're not used to it

but as you become more familiar with it

it gets easier and easier

and eventually you'll start seeing more

subtle little things happen right before

you got taken away and then you start

sick sorry and then so you start at

first you're not on your object of air

of meditation very much at all 10-15

seconds before your mind takes off but

you use the six artisan come back you

don't criticize yourself because you

think you're supposed to be better than

you are you let go of all expectations

of what you think meditation is and just

use the six RS and come back to your

object to meditation and then you fly

away again and it might be a minute or

two minutes before you go oh I forgot

but as you do it over and over again

that starts improving your mindfulness

what is mindfulness mindfulness is

remembering to observe how Minds

attention moves from one thing to

another it's remembering to observe so

the whole thing is as you become more

familiar with how your mind runs away

you start catching it a little bit

quicker and then you start staying with

your object of meditation for a little

bit longer okay now you start to gain

some momentum some momentum and instead

of being trapped by your thoughts and

feelings and all of this other stuff for

two minutes then it cuts down to a

minute and a half then it's a minute

then it's 50 seconds and then it's 30

seconds but the length of time that you

start staying with your object to

meditation

it goes from 15 seconds to 30 seconds to

a minute to a couple minutes as you

become familiar with this process now

every distraction that pulls your

attention away from your object the

meditation is called a hindrance the

hindrances are your teacher the

hindrances are telling you where your

attachment is what is attachment these

are the thoughts and feelings that arise

that I take personally what causes a

hindrance to arise past action every

morning I have you reciting the precepts

now that's this is not an empty write

and ritual okay I undertake to keep the

precept to abstain from killing or

harming living beings on purpose I

undertake to keep the precept to abstain

from taking what is not given I

undertake to keep the precept to abstain

from all sexual activity because you're

on retreat but when you take the five

precepts it's wrong sexual activity I

undertake to keep the precept to abstain

from telling lies using harsh speech

that's cursing which a lot of the young

people there that's just their way of

talking no they don't consider it

cursing or offensive language but it is

no slander trying to divide this group

from this group no gossip what is gossip

gossip is making up stories that aren't

true and telling it like it is true

no taking drugs and alcohol doesn't mean

you don't take medicine you can't it

means you don't have a beer just to take

the edge off because it dulls your mind

and you have a tendency to break one of

the other four precepts after your mind

gets a little bit loose so keeping the

precepts is a real important part of the

practice and it's an all the time

practice

why does a hindrance arise because in

the past you broke a precept now you

have to work with that until you can

purify that and it will go away by

itself so hindrances will arise and it's

you broke a precept in the past do you

know which one it was did you know do

you know what you did not necessarily

it's just a hindrance right now so you

let the hindrance be and you're relaxed

and smile and you come back to your

object of meditation as you do that over

and over again and don't feed that

hindrance with your attention it starts

to get weaker because there's nothing

pushing against it down because you're

not paying attention to it so it starts

to get weaker and weaker and weaker and

then finally it fades away when it fades

away you have an immediately immediate

sense of relief right after that joy

arises the kind of joy I'm talking about

is the uplifting joy you feel really

light in your mind and there's a lot of

excitement it

good stop fire to be doing this more and

you feel light in your body when the joy

fades away you will feel very

comfortable and very tranquil and this

is what the Buddha called happiness and

right after that your mind just stays on

your object of meditation without much

problem at all now I just described the

first jhana and we'll get into that

again in a minute okay I have stated 18

kinds of feeling in another presentation

I have stated 36 kinds of feeling in

another presentation I've stated a

hundred and eight kinds of feeling in

another presentation that is how the

Dhamma has been shown by me in different

presentations when the Dhamma has thus

been shown by me in different

presentations it may be expected of

those who will not concede allow and

accept what is well stated and well

spoken by others that they will be

quarreling brawling disputing and

stabbing each other with verbal daggers

it may be expected of those who concede

allow accept what is well stated and

well spoken by others that they will

live in Concord with mutual appreciation

without disputing blending like milk and

water viewing each other with kindly

eyes now what this is really referring

to is your attachment ideas well I heard

him say there's three kinds of feeling

well I heard him say there was two and I

you're wrong I'm

so it's letting go of that and is saying

okay we'll see this is what's happening

a lot in the world right now I have an

opinion of the way the world really is

and I'm going to hold on to that and

I'll even go to war just to prove that

I'm right and you're wrong so that kind

of goes a little bit against what the

Buddha's teaching is is to be accepting

as you have that opinion you can have

your opinion that's fine I don't have to

accept it but you have the right to have

whatever you want and we can still be

happy that's the attitude that the

Buddha was continually trained to teach

people over and over and over again

Anandi there are these five cords of

sensual pleasure what are the five forms

cognizable by the eye that are wished

for desired agreeable unlikeable

connected with sensual desire and

inviting lust sounds cognizable by the

ear that are wished for desired

agreeable and likeable connected with

sensual desire and inviting lust odors

cognos cognizable by the nose that are

wish for desired agreeable unlikeable

connected with sensual desire and

inviting lust flavors cognizable by the

tongue that are wished for desired

agreeable and likeable connected with

sensual desire and biting lust tangibles

cognizable by the body that are wished

for desired agreeable and likeable

connected with sensual desire and

inviting lust these are the five cords

of sensual pleasure now the pleasure and

joy that arise dependent on these five

cords of sensual pleasure are called

sensual pleasure should anyone say that

this is the utmost joy and pleasure that

beings experience I would not concede

that to him why is that because there's

another kind of pleasure loftier and

more sublime than that pleasure and what

is that other kind of pleasure here

Ananda quite secluded from sensual

pleasures secluded from unwholesome

States

what are unwholesome States hindrances

anything that pulls your attention away

a person answers upon and abides in the

first Jonah Jonah is a pali word that is

very much misinterpreted by almost

everyone they interpret Jonah as meaning

concentration Jonah means a level of

your understanding which is accompanied

by thinking and examining thought with

joy and happiness born of seclusion this

is that other kind of pleasure loftier

and more sublime than the previous

pleasure so when you sit and you get

into this very peaceful calm alert state

you had to work to get there and the

work is noticing every time your mind is

distracted using the six artisan coming

back

well you are in this jhana no

disturbances will bother you no

hindrances will arise your mind is pure

you're very alert you'll be able to sit

for a few minutes and experience this

and then your mindfulness gets weak for

whatever reason then you have another

hindrance come up now you have to work

with this entrance and it's kind of

funny because everybody especially when

they get into the first jhana they get

up and they do their walking and you do

do walking and then they say well I'm

gonna go sit and get into that state and

do that some more I was really good and

with that expectation you put in too

much energy to try to get to it and it

that state doesn't come so you put more

energy into it and your mind gets

restless and you think well this isn't

working so you put more energy into it

and your mind gets more restless and

then you come crying to me and saying I

had such a good sitting and as that was

so lousy right after that what do I say

you're trying too hard you're expecting

the meditation to be like it was and

you're putting too much energy into it

so

back off you don't need more energy you

need less

should anyone say that is the utmost

pleasure enjoy the beings that

experience I would not concede that to

him why is that there's another kind of

pleasure loftier and more sublime than

that pleasure and what is that other

kind of pleasure here Ananda with the

stilling of thinking and examining

thought a monk enters upon and abides in

the second jhana which has

self-confidence and stillness of mind

without thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of

collectiveness this is that other kind

of pleasure loftier and more sublime

than the previous pleasure so you had

this hindrance and it was there and now

you're starting to get the idea of how

to let it go and because of that you

start to feel more confident now I

really feel like I know what I'm doing

now you start to get a little bit more

enthusiastic now you don't have any

discursive thinking at all when you're

in this jhana

this is where noble silence dwells in

the second jhana

if you try to make a wish for a

verbalize a wish for your spiritual

friend start to get a headache so you

have to let go of the verbalization in

your mind now you feel the wish and put

that feeling in your heart and ready to

your spiritual friend you don't

verbalize it all when you do that the

joy you experience is much stronger and

you feel much lighter in your mind

and in your body the difference between

joy and happiness to say you're in the

desert and you haven't had any water for

a long time and you see in Oasis just

seeing that Oasis your mind becomes

happy now I can go get a drink and

there's some excitement in it right and

the closer you get the happier you feel

how I'm finally going to get rid of this

dry taste and you go up to this pool of

water and you jump in the water and the

water is exactly the right temperature

and your mind goes oh and your body goes

oh that's happiness okay so the joy has

some excitement in it it's not as stable

as it could be but the happiness is just

like a placid lake peaceful very

comfortable

when the when the joy arises in the

second jhana you actually feel like

you're floating I've had some students

oh I'm I'm floating I think I'm going to

hit the ceiling so they open up their

eyes and see they're sitting on the

ground or a chair or whatever okay this

is that other kind of pleasure loftier

and more sublime than the previous

pleasure should anyone say that this is

the highest and best sublime state I

would not agree with that what is the

other pleasure that's higher and loftier

than the previous pleasure here Ananda

with the fading away of joy a monk

abides in equanimity mindful fully aware

still feeling happiness with the body

he enters upon and abides in the third

jhana on account of which noble ones

announce he has a pleasant abiding who

has equanimity and is mindful this is

the other kind of pleasure loftier and

sublime more sublime than the previous

so when you get into the third jhana

what happens is you don't feel any more

joy you feel really comfortable in your

mind and in your body and you have this

balance of mind now you're still going

to hear things you're still going to

have to feel ants coming across or

somebody with a motorcycle comes by

you're going to hear it but it doesn't

make your mind shake you'll know it

happened you'll know it was there but

just okay fine

that's what equanimity is all about this

is a time when quite often meditators

come and they start complaining because

they don't have anymore joy because it's

real easy to get hooked on the joy it's

a nice feeling it's been the excitement

is real good

but now your mind is peaceful calm as

you lose tension in your mind you lose

tension in your body

and when you lose tension in your body

you're not going to feel parts of it

you're going to say I'm sitting and I

don't feel my ends myleik went away I

don't feel my shoulder this is natural

as you let go of tension in your mind

you let go of tension in your body when

you let go of tension in your body all

of those tight places in your bodies

start relaxing so the blood circulation

is a little bit better and you feel very

very comfortable

should anyone say this is the highest

and loftiest state I would not agree

with him and what other kind of pleasure

is better than the previous he ran on

know with the abandoning of pleasure and

pain with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief a person enters upon and

abides in the fourth jhana which has

neither pain nor pleasure and purity of

mindfulness due to equanimity when you

get to the fourth jhana you're not going

to be able to feel the radiation in your

heart anymore that feeling is going to

come up into your head and you're not

gonna feel anything

in your body unless there's contact if I

come up and touch you you would feel it

but your mind has such strong balance in

it you know it happened but so what it

doesn't shake and this is when I will

start giving you some other instructions

in the meditation but not until then

when you get to the fourth jhana you

actually become an advanced meditator

now most people in the world are

practicing a different kind of

meditation than what I'm teaching you

and to get to the fourth jhana can take

years the way they practice

if you follow the directions the way I'm

showing you it can take seven or eight

days well when I was in Thailand they

said you get to the fourth jhana 15

years that's how long you have to

practice before you can do it

and in Sri Lanka ten years practice with

the Buddha's drawing is here a week

sometimes faster it's because they're

practicing a different kind of

meditation they're practicing one

pointed concentration what is one

pointed concentration your mind is on

your object of meditation and it gets

distracted the instructions are

immediately let go of that distraction

and come back to your object of

meditation the force of the

concentration becomes so strong that it

suppresses the entrances which you think

is a good thing at the time but when you

lose that concentration and you go back

out into your daily life there's no

personality development the hindrances

come in your daily life just like they

always did you get just as mad or matter

when somebody says something or does

something you don't like because you're

not able to recognize how the process

works because of the force of the

concentration now when you're practicing

what the Buddha is teaching your mind is

on your object of meditation same your

mind gets distracted same you let go of

the distraction same now you relax that

and tightness in your head and smile and

come back to your object to meditation

now what's the difference between the

two one of them brought craving back and

one of them didn't and when you don't

bring the craving back to your object to

meditation your progress is very fast

that's just the way it works

I've given two-week retreats that there

were so many people that were so close

to attaining nirvana

it was shocking and that's in two weeks

and they're just talking about getting

to a few jhanas taking years one of the

things when the when the Buddha talks

about the Dhamma the way that things are

he says that this is immediately

effective immediately effective means

pretty quick but these other people

they're going years know I bet I had 20

years of straight food pasta now I

understand what that practice does it

took me five years to figure out what

the meditation wasn't if where I started

out just started to figure out what it

was five years not so good not what I

would call immediately effective

so when you get to the fourth jhana now

you have become an advanced meditator

and you're able to start to see how the

feeling when the feeling arises and how

mine starts to tighten around it and

you'll be able to Rach relax more

quickly and more easily so when you're

when you're first starting out with your

meditation your mind is flip-flopping

and as you go deeper in your meditation

it stops moving quite so much when you

get to the fourth jhana now as starting

to vibrate and you're seeing the

difference you're starting to see and

you're teaching yourself how this

process works should anyone say this is

the highest pleasure I would not concede

that and what is another kind of

pleasure here Ananda with the complete

surmounting of gross perceptions of

forms with the disappearance of gross

perceptions of sensory impact aware that

space is infinite a monk enters upon and

abides in the base of infinite space now

what are we talking about here when

you're practicing loving-kindness

meditation you'll be able to sit for

15-20 minutes 30 minutes without having

any distraction in your mind and then

you'll notice that the feeling of loving

kindness change it changed into

something else

and what happens is naturally your mind

develops compassion and with that you

will feel an expansion happening in your

mind and in all directions at the same

time it just keeps going out and out and

out and out and out there's no limit to

it it just keeps getting bigger and

that's what they call infinite space you

don't feel your body unless there's

contact you would still hear a sound but

you'd have such strong equanimity at

your in your mind it doesn't really

distract you at all that you can hear it

and this is that other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the

previous hearin and by completely

surmounting the base of infinite space

aware that consciousness is infinite

among enters upon and abides in the base

of infinite consciousness now when you

get to infinite consciousness things

change again the feeling of compassion

changes into a feeling of joy and you

don't feel the expansion but now you're

starting to see individual

consciousnesses arise and pass away

arise and pass away arise and pass away

that was a hundred thousand or so okay

but you're gonna hear you're gonna see

individual consciousnesses and it's like

watching a movie but it's going a little

bit too slow and you're gonna see the

picture and there's off the picture and

off picture enough and that happens at

every one of the sad stories so that's

you're seeing a really truly amazing

thing and you're seeing that everything

is in a state of change it's there and

then it disappears it's there and it

disappears it's there and it disappears

so you're seeing everything is

impermanent and because it's always

changing like that it's a form of

suffering because we're all looking for

something that's permanent

and now because you're seeing how this

happens you're seeing there is no

controller there's no me there's no mind

there's no hi in that it's happening by

itself there's only the observation of

how this process happens it's quite

interesting and the joy you experience

is not the same kind of joy you

experienced in the lower jhanas this is

a happy feeling not so much excitement

in it and when you get to that state

then I'll tell you I want you to look at

what happens in between each of those

consciousnesses arising and passing away

tell me what that is

he ran on dub I completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing a monk enters upon

and abides in the base of nothingness

now the feeling of joy will fade away

and very strong equanimity occurs and

it's real easy for me to tell when you

have that kind of equanimity cause you

come in and talk to me and I say well

how's it going fine everything is fine

see anything exciting no everything is

fine

it's just perfect what happens now is

mind is not looking outside of itself

now you're starting to see much more

subtle little tiny things that can arise

in mind now the whole time that you're

learning how to meditate you're learning

how to balance your energy so you could

stay with your meditation when you get

to this state

this is like doing a tightrope on a

spiderweb a little bit too much energy

and watching you get restless not quite

enough you get dull so you have to learn

how to tweak your energy and your

attention so that you have perfect

balance and there's all kinds of this is

probably the most interesting state of

mind or the state to experience in all

meditation it's really interesting and

there's nothing

but now you start to sit for longer

periods of time and you start to see

more and more subtle tiny little things

that I won't describe to you you have to

describe it to me you'll be able to sit

for 45 minutes or an hour without having

any disturbance in your mind at all

and it's still interesting here Ananda

by completely surmounting the base of

nothingness a person enters upon in the

base of neither perception nor

non-perception so what happens is you'll

get to such a subtle state of mind that

you'll be sitting for a period of time

and you come and you say to me is it

possible to be asleep and aware at the

same time now before your mind was

vibrating as you go deeper that

vibration becomes less and less and less

until it's hard to tell whether it's

even there or not

now what happens is I will tell you

right after that after you come out of

that state I want you to reflect on what

happened while you were in that state

and there's colors and there's different

shapes and there's different things that

can arise as soon as you see that you

use the six arms so what you're doing

basically is from the first time you

start meditating you're flip-flopping

you become more and more quiet and then

your mind is just vibrating and that

gets to be less and less because you're

relaxing more and more until it's hard

to tell whether there's any vibration at

all when you come out of that and you

six hours of shapes you'll be able to

sit for long periods of time without any

disturbance in your mind at all and if

there's any kind of vibration or

movement you'll be able to see it

immediately in these six art and let it

go now is when you start seeing the more

subtle parts of the links of dependent

origination what I was telling you

before about feeling and craving and

clinging action or birth and and the

suffering okay those are gross what

happened before the thing feeling there

was contact what happened before the

contact there was mind and body this is

a kind of an interesting thing that the

Buddha came up with that he was the only

one that came up with this because

everybody else was practicing

one-pointed concentration and they would

lose their body they didn't have any

feeling a rise in their body

their mind was just stuck on one thing

but the Buddha said you can't have mind

without body they're interconnected

their inner woven so this is an insight

but you will be able to see that insight

you'll be able to see that and recognize

it and then right before that you'll see

the potential for consciousness now

these disturbances these vibrations get

smaller and smaller and smaller then

you'll see the formations and you'll see

that eventually there are no more

conditions arising and when you get to

that that is the unconditioned State

that's what the Buddha called Nirvana

how do you talk about Nirvana I don't

know I've been with monks I'd like to

discuss that term but it's an

unconditioned State and all we can talk

about is conditioned concepts and

opinions these are all conditioned how

can you talk about something that's

unconditioned

so that's how one attains nirvana by

going through all of these different

states and you're teaching yourself more

and more about how this process works

and how to let it go and relax more and

more and more until it gets really

suicidal you can't tell whether you're

there or not but when you come out then

you start 6re anything that happened

while you're in there and then you have

this exquisite peace and calm

you can sit for a hour and a half two

hours without ever having any kind of

vibration or disturbance and your

equanimity is very strong and balanced

of mine

some people say well what's the

advantage of that not to have any

disturbance in your mind at all means

there is a lot of relief and it's a kind

of happiness

so Arenado by completely surmounting the

base of neither perception nor

non-perception a monk enters upon and

abides in the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness this is that

other kind of pleasure loftier and more

sublime than the previous one so we keep

on getting subtler and subtler and these

are loftier and more sublime and that's

really true because you you go from

having this gross mind and being able to

see how this process works more and more

clearly and that's how you attain

nirvana by understanding that this is

the way the process works and it's such

a startling thing that you go into an

unconditioned State and you'll be there

for a while and then you come out you

will be happy and you will be happy for

a long time and you look out at the

trees and everything is very very sharp

and clear and wherever you put your

attention and you see the - details of

everything and it's like before you were

wearing glasses that were a little bit

steamy and now they're clear and you see

that in everything now what's the

advantage of attaining Nibbana well if

you get to the first stage you never

have any more doubt arise as to what is

the correct path no doubt ever again

you let go of the idea that rites and

rituals lead to new mana and the idea of

a personal self aids away no more so

that's a pretty good advantage to start

out with now I was telling you about the

precepts after you attain nirvana you

will not break up reset for any reason

on purpose and that's one of the ways

you test whether you really attain

nirvana by saying I'm gonna say

something that I know is false and you

try to say it and your mind says nope

nope you're not gonna say that so this

is how you start purifying your mind so

there's a lot of real advantages to

practise this and the thing is people

think meditation is just while you're

sitting and all of your life is part of

meditation what what your mind does how

you cause your own pain

how does restlessness arise in your

daily life how does worry and anxiety

come up how did all of these things that

caused suffering how do they arise and

you start recognizing these and you

start using the 6 RS and you start

relaxing into these things and there's

personality development which you

normally would have done it's ok it's

just a little thing you'll do it

you won't break a precept I know that

there's a lot of people especially in

this country that they object to quote

morality because it's been pushed down

their throat and it's starting to happen

in other countries too in sri lanka the

monks only talked about keeping your

precepts they don't talk about anything

other than that so when somebody comes

along and they start teaching teaching

the Dhamma they get really excited I've

always wanted to hear something other

than morality but morality is an

important part of the practice the

meditation has three parts to it

the first part of meditation is

practicing your generosity

what does generosity meet guard your

pocketbook No generosity is smile and

give that smile to somebody else say

something nice help somebody that needs

help

practice your generosity means giving of

yourself helping other people so they

don't have to suffer so much what relief

how does that make your mind feel real

uplifted and then keeping your five

precepts

when you keep your Five Precepts what

does that do people feel that you're a

trustworthy person worthy of respect

they know that they can ask you

questions you'll give him an honest

answer I've in Asia I was there for 12

years

all the businessmen said you have to lie

or you're not going to be successful

well I'm sorry you have a reputation of

being a liar when you lie then how can

they trust you be honest and that brings

respect the last part of meditation is

doing the sitting but also carrying your

meditation with you all the time you're

walking down the street what are you

doing with your mind wish somebody

happiness smile if nobody's there

wish the birds happiness they like it

it's learning how to train your mind so

that your mind is uplifted all the time

the Buddha talked about there's real

advantage there's great benefit when you

do that and you can do it or not it's up

to you there's nobody that's gonna zap

you with a bolt of lightning cause you

screwed up cuz you forgot well get up

and start over again learn from your

mistakes you're gonna make them

everybody does and it's okay to make

mistakes just don't repeat the mistakes

over and over again a big thing on the

internet right now is the definition of

insanity doing the same thing over and

over again and expecting a different

outcome that's insane

okay I've been talking for a long time I

really have anime

I get carried away sometimes have any

questions

I do want you to sit in the morning said

meditation not be distracted by somebody

else talking if they start talking it's

okay to get up and go someplace quiet so

you can sit I need you to sit at least

six hours a day

which is really you have no idea how

I've mellowed when I came back from Asia

I was taking four hours sleep at night

my teacher said why are you sleeping so

much cut it down to two hours did that

for three months all I did was meditate

and I was meditating sixteen or eighteen

hours in a day and I'm telling you six

and I don't recommend only taking two

hours sleep at night if you walk around

and you're tired all the time lost a lot

of weight it was amazing because I

weighed about 200 pounds when I went

there and after this three-month stretch

I had to leave the country and I weighed

160 pounds and I was eating I have a

bowl that I eat out of I was eating

three bowls of rice in the morning and I

would fill that bowl up with food and

rice in the afternoon and I was losing

weight left and right this is not a not

a thing that I recommend it takes a lot

of energy to stay up that long and it

takes a while to get used to staying up

that long but the teacher I had at the

time was into putting in a lot of effort

and what do I tell you to do don't try

so hard back off but I had to go through

the tough experience to find out what

was on the other side and I did that

kind of practice I didn't always sleep

for two hours it was only for three

months only when I got I left the

country I was sleeping like you couldn't

believe I get up in the morning I'd go

out on almsround

I'd eat my food and then I go oh let's

it's about time for a nap and I'd sleep

until five o'clock in the afternoon and

this is when they brought some juice so

I drank the juice wander around for a

little while maybe it's time to go to

bed it took me six weeks to recuperate

so that I felt like a regular person and

yet not being tired all the time

so I'm not putting you through that kind

of experience I didn't find it useful it

was okay to go through it just to see

what it was on the other side but I

would never do that for anybody else

that's no good

the hardest job that I have is teaching

people to stop trying so hard and stop

being serious smile this is a fun game

keep it fun when you get serious you

have an attachment so let go laughs okay

okay let your some merit may suffering

ones be suffering free and the fear

struck fearless be may the grieving shed

all grief and may all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness may beings

inhabiting space under Ava's and Nagas

of mighty power share this merit of ours

may they long protect the Buddha's

dispensations

good evening and welcome to this evening

vitamin C will be given the evening

Dhamma talk on June 16th 2012 and the

number for it is the Mishima nakiya

number 59 the BAA who made the neon suit

top the many kinds of feel

that's have I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in Swati in

jeta's grove anathapindika's park then

the carpenter pangäa congo went to the

venerable who died and after paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

asked him then rolls venerable sir how

many kinds of feeling have been stated

by the Blessed one three kinds of

feeling have been stated by the Blessed

One householder Pleasant feeling painful

feeling and neither painful nor pleasant

feeling these three kinds of feeling

have been stated by the Blessed one now

you'll notice it's not talking about

emotional feeling it's just talking

about feeling itself not three kinds of

feeling have been stated by the Blessed

One venerable Udayan two kinds of

feeling have been stated by the Blessed

One pleasant and painful feeling this

neither painful nor pleasant feeling has

been stated by the Blessed One as a

peaceful and sublime kind of pleasure a

second time in a third time the

venerable who died and stated his

position a second and a third time the

the carpenter pancha konga stated his

the venerable who died and could not

convince the carpenter panja kanga and

nor could the carpenter pancha kanga

convinced in our Balu Dian the venerable

Ananda heard their conversation then he

went to the Blessed One after paying

homage to him he sat down at one side

and reported to the Blessed One the

entire conversation between the

venerable Udayan and the carpenter panja

konga when he finished the Blessed one

told the venerable Ananda Ananda it is

actually true it is actually a true

presentation that the carpenter panja

kanga

could not accept from who Diane and it

was actually a true presentation that

who Diane would not accept from the

carpenter poncho kanga I have stated two

kinds of feeling in one presentation I

have stated three kinds of feeling in

another presentation I have stated five

kinds of feeling in another presentation

now the five kind just breaks it up a

little bit more in poly it's suka Duke

doe Manasa

so Manasa so Manasa doe Manasa and

Deepika what that means is you have a

pleasant physical feeling you have a

painful physical feeling you have a

pleasant mental feeling you have a

painful mental feeling and you have

equanimity so that's five kinds of

feeling okay I have stated six kinds of

feeling in another presentation and this

is all of the sense doors the eyes the

ears the tongue the nose the body and

mine now this is the the kind of feeling

that I was talking with you about this

morning when that consciousness arises

there is a feeling that's either a

pleasant feeling or painful feeling and

right after that tightness happens in

your mind and right after that thoughts

arise and then your habitual tendency of

I always think of it in this way so

in order to see you'd have to have a

good working I there has to be color and

form the good working I it's the color

inform eye-consciousness arises the

meeting of these three things is called

eye contact with eye contact as

condition don't sit with your legs

crossed please sorry with eye contact as

condition I feeling arises I feeling is

pleasant if it's a pleasant sight

painful if it's an unpleasant sight or

neither painful nor pleasant with I

feeling has condition I craving arises

what is craving every time a feeling

arises in your mind there occurs right

after that feeling arising a tightness

that happens in your brain this is how

you recognize craving when it arises

okay now physically there is a membrane

that goes around your brain it's called

the meninges and it contracts every time

a feeling arises when craving arises

with craving as condition clinging

arises what is clinging all of your

thoughts all of your opinions all of

your ideas all of your concepts all of

your story about why you like or dislike

that feeling

and this is where you really start

identifying with that feeling and those

thoughts you start taking them

personally this is my thought this is my

idea this is Who I am okay craving is

the I like it I don't like it mind if

it's a pleasant feeling I like it if

it's painful feeling I don't like it

this this happens really fast so then

there's this tightness in your head and

now you have thoughts and you have a

habitual tendency when this kind of

feeling comes up these kind of thoughts

arise I always act that way

for instance depression is a big deal

it's a big thing right now a lot of

people are getting very depressed for

any number of reasons

how does depression arise what happens

first a painful feeling arises I don't

like it I start thinking about it and I

start saying this is my depression this

is Who I am right now

and then your habitual tendency arises

now you're made up of five different

things you have a physical body you have

feeling pleasant painful

neither-pleasant-nor-painful

you have perception perception as a part

of your mind that names things it comes

up with concepts you look at this and

you say this is a book perception as a

part of your mind that named that okay

then you have thoughts and then you have

consciousness now when a painful feeling

arises our tendency is to try to think

the feeling away but thoughts are one

thing and feeling as something else and

the more you try to control the feeling

with your thoughts the bigger and more

intense that feeling becomes so what can

we do when that painful feeling arises

what can we do about it we have to

realize that you didn't all of a sudden

make up your mind you know I haven't

been depressed for a few days I might as

well be depressed now it came up because

the conditions were right for it to

arise now the tricky part of this is it

isn't yours it's just a feeling that's

why I told you to laugh as you go from

this is me this is mine this is Who I am

I'm depressed and I don't like it and

when you laugh it goes too oh it's only

this depression let it go so it goes

from being very personal and when it's

personal there's craving in your mind

and when there's craving in your mind

that is the cause of suffering so when

you laugh you relax and when you relax

it changes your perspective from I'm

depressed

- it's only depression so you can let it

go

so understanding how feeling arises is

takes practice takes practice and

sitting sometimes you'll be able to

recognize when a feeling arises

sometimes you won't sometimes you can

recognize when craving arises

sometimes you don't you get caught up in

your thoughts about it you don't

recognize it for a period of time or

your habitual tendency of trying to

control your feeling with your thoughts

but when you're learning how to meditate

and you stay with your spiritual friend

you'll be able to see more clearly how

this process works okay and as you see

how this works

that's when you start practicing the six

R's you recognize when the distraction

is there you release the distraction

that means don't keep your attention on

those thoughts and feelings there are

only thoughts and feelings they're not

yours

and the more you feed that with your

thoughts and your mind the bigger and

more intense it becomes the more you

suffer so you let that feeling you let

those thoughts be there by themselves

you don't keep your attention on them

you don't try to push them away you

don't try to stop them

you just don't keep your attention on it

now you relax that tension and tightness

in your head now I was saying that every

time craving arises there's this tension

and tightness so when you relax you'll

feel

an expansion that happens in your head

and you'll notice something real

interesting right after that don't have

any thoughts you have this very pure

mind you have this mind that's very

alert now you bring up something

wholesome smile

we call it Reece mile just to keep it in

with the arse and then you return to

your object of meditation and you repeat

staying with your object of meditation

for as long as you can that's the six

artists the six ARS are not individual

things to be done there are flow so when

you notice that you have a distraction

your mind's pulled away you let it be

relaxed or you recognize really relaxed

re smile return repeat so it's kind of a

flow it's like rolling your arms so you

don't do each one individually oops

and you don't label them but I'll tell

you about everybody that that starts

practicing they do they do that for a

little while till they get used to it

then you start noticing you do it much

faster when you don't get the

verbalization in the way so when you let

go of craving your mind is bright your

mind is alert and your mind is pure so

you bring that pure smiling mind back to

your object of meditation so what you're

really doing is and you'll get

distracted again if it's a strong

attachment you'll go back and do it

again okay fine what you're doing is

you're starting to teach yourself how

this process works feeling a there's

contact there's feeling there's craving

there's clinging there's a virtual

tendency birth of action and suffering

that's how it works

so

repetition is something that's very much

needed you have to do it over and over

and over again as you become familiar

with it it gets easier to recognize and

to let it go it's just like anything I

mean Tiger Woods didn't get to be a

great golfer just by picking up a club

and swinging it he had to swing it a lot

of times in a lot of different

situations and he had to continually

work with that over and over and over

until he got good at it and even when

he's really good at it sometimes the

ball doesn't go where he wants it to go

so the thing with these six kinds of

feeling is being able to recognize when

that feeling arises and it's not easy to

recognize not at first you feel like

there's so many different things that

you have to do when you're when you're

sitting with your meditation I haven't

got time to look at this stuff closer as

your mind starts to settle down as you

start to stay with your object of

meditation for a longer period of time

it gets much easier to recognize how

this process works now a couple days ago

I gave you a talk on the hindrances and

I told you over and over again they're

not enemies to fight with it's just a

distraction you have to expect

distractions to happen you're not going

to be perfect at sitting with having a

mind quiet because you're not used to it

but as you become more familiar with it

it gets easier and easier

and eventually you'll start seeing more

subtle little things happen right before

you got taken away and then you start

sick sorry and then so you start at

first you're not on your object of air

of meditation very much at all 10-15

seconds before your mind takes off but

you use the six artisan come back you

don't criticize yourself because you

think you're supposed to be better than

you are you let go of all expectations

of what you think meditation is and just

use the six RS and come back to your

object to meditation and then you fly

away again and it might be a minute or

two minutes before you go oh I forgot

but as you do it over and over again

that starts improving your mindfulness

what is mindfulness mindfulness is

remembering to observe how Minds

attention moves from one thing to

another it's remembering to observe so

the whole thing is as you become more

familiar with how your mind runs away

you start catching it a little bit

quicker and then you start staying with

your object of meditation for a little

bit longer okay now you start to gain

some momentum some momentum and instead

of being trapped by your thoughts and

feelings and all of this other stuff for

two minutes then it cuts down to a

minute and a half then it's a minute

then it's 50 seconds and then it's 30

seconds but the length of time that you

start staying with your object to

meditation

it goes from 15 seconds to 30 seconds to

a minute to a couple minutes as you

become familiar with this process now

every distraction that pulls your

attention away from your object the

meditation is called a hindrance the

hindrances are your teacher the

hindrances are telling you where your

attachment is what is attachment these

are the thoughts and feelings that arise

that I take personally what causes a

hindrance to arise past action every

morning I have you reciting the precepts

now that's this is not an empty write

and ritual okay I undertake to keep the

precept to abstain from killing or

harming living beings on purpose I

undertake to keep the precept to abstain

from taking what is not given I

undertake to keep the precept to abstain

from all sexual activity because you're

on retreat but when you take the five

precepts it's wrong sexual activity I

undertake to keep the precept to abstain

from telling lies using harsh speech

that's cursing which a lot of the young

people there that's just their way of

talking no they don't consider it

cursing or offensive language but it is

no slander trying to divide this group

from this group no gossip what is gossip

gossip is making up stories that aren't

true and telling it like it is true

no taking drugs and alcohol doesn't mean

you don't take medicine you can't it

means you don't have a beer just to take

the edge off because it dulls your mind

and you have a tendency to break one of

the other four precepts after your mind

gets a little bit loose so keeping the

precepts is a real important part of the

practice and it's an all the time

practice

why does a hindrance arise because in

the past you broke a precept now you

have to work with that until you can

purify that and it will go away by

itself so hindrances will arise and it's

you broke a precept in the past do you

know which one it was did you know do

you know what you did not necessarily

it's just a hindrance right now so you

let the hindrance be and you're relaxed

and smile and you come back to your

object of meditation as you do that over

and over again and don't feed that

hindrance with your attention it starts

to get weaker because there's nothing

pushing against it down because you're

not paying attention to it so it starts

to get weaker and weaker and weaker and

then finally it fades away when it fades

away you have an immediately immediate

sense of relief right after that joy

arises the kind of joy I'm talking about

is the uplifting joy you feel really

light in your mind and there's a lot of

excitement it

good stop fire to be doing this more and

you feel light in your body when the joy

fades away you will feel very

comfortable and very tranquil and this

is what the Buddha called happiness and

right after that your mind just stays on

your object of meditation without much

problem at all now I just described the

first jhana and we'll get into that

again in a minute okay I have stated 18

kinds of feeling in another presentation

I have stated 36 kinds of feeling in

another presentation I've stated a

hundred and eight kinds of feeling in

another presentation that is how the

Dhamma has been shown by me in different

presentations when the Dhamma has thus

been shown by me in different

presentations it may be expected of

those who will not concede allow and

accept what is well stated and well

spoken by others that they will be

quarreling brawling disputing and

stabbing each other with verbal daggers

it may be expected of those who concede

allow accept what is well stated and

well spoken by others that they will

live in Concord with mutual appreciation

without disputing blending like milk and

water viewing each other with kindly

eyes now what this is really referring

to is your attachment ideas well I heard

him say there's three kinds of feeling

well I heard him say there was two and I

you're wrong I'm

so it's letting go of that and is saying

okay we'll see this is what's happening

a lot in the world right now I have an

opinion of the way the world really is

and I'm going to hold on to that and

I'll even go to war just to prove that

I'm right and you're wrong so that kind

of goes a little bit against what the

Buddha's teaching is is to be accepting

as you have that opinion you can have

your opinion that's fine I don't have to

accept it but you have the right to have

whatever you want and we can still be

happy that's the attitude that the

Buddha was continually trained to teach

people over and over and over again

Anandi there are these five cords of

sensual pleasure what are the five forms

cognizable by the eye that are wished

for desired agreeable unlikeable

connected with sensual desire and

inviting lust sounds cognizable by the

ear that are wished for desired

agreeable and likeable connected with

sensual desire and inviting lust odors

cognos cognizable by the nose that are

wish for desired agreeable unlikeable

connected with sensual desire and

inviting lust flavors cognizable by the

tongue that are wished for desired

agreeable and likeable connected with

sensual desire and biting lust tangibles

cognizable by the body that are wished

for desired agreeable and likeable

connected with sensual desire and

inviting lust these are the five cords

of sensual pleasure now the pleasure and

joy that arise dependent on these five

cords of sensual pleasure are called

sensual pleasure should anyone say that

this is the utmost joy and pleasure that

beings experience I would not concede

that to him why is that because there's

another kind of pleasure loftier and

more sublime than that pleasure and what

is that other kind of pleasure here

Ananda quite secluded from sensual

pleasures secluded from unwholesome

States

what are unwholesome States hindrances

anything that pulls your attention away

a person answers upon and abides in the

first Jonah Jonah is a pali word that is

very much misinterpreted by almost

everyone they interpret Jonah as meaning

concentration Jonah means a level of

your understanding which is accompanied

by thinking and examining thought with

joy and happiness born of seclusion this

is that other kind of pleasure loftier

and more sublime than the previous

pleasure so when you sit and you get

into this very peaceful calm alert state

you had to work to get there and the

work is noticing every time your mind is

distracted using the six artisan coming

back

well you are in this jhana no

disturbances will bother you no

hindrances will arise your mind is pure

you're very alert you'll be able to sit

for a few minutes and experience this

and then your mindfulness gets weak for

whatever reason then you have another

hindrance come up now you have to work

with this entrance and it's kind of

funny because everybody especially when

they get into the first jhana they get

up and they do their walking and you do

do walking and then they say well I'm

gonna go sit and get into that state and

do that some more I was really good and

with that expectation you put in too

much energy to try to get to it and it

that state doesn't come so you put more

energy into it and your mind gets

restless and you think well this isn't

working so you put more energy into it

and your mind gets more restless and

then you come crying to me and saying I

had such a good sitting and as that was

so lousy right after that what do I say

you're trying too hard you're expecting

the meditation to be like it was and

you're putting too much energy into it

so

back off you don't need more energy you

need less

should anyone say that is the utmost

pleasure enjoy the beings that

experience I would not concede that to

him why is that there's another kind of

pleasure loftier and more sublime than

that pleasure and what is that other

kind of pleasure here Ananda with the

stilling of thinking and examining

thought a monk enters upon and abides in

the second jhana which has

self-confidence and stillness of mind

without thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of

collectiveness this is that other kind

of pleasure loftier and more sublime

than the previous pleasure so you had

this hindrance and it was there and now

you're starting to get the idea of how

to let it go and because of that you

start to feel more confident now I

really feel like I know what I'm doing

now you start to get a little bit more

enthusiastic now you don't have any

discursive thinking at all when you're

in this jhana

this is where noble silence dwells in

the second jhana

if you try to make a wish for a

verbalize a wish for your spiritual

friend start to get a headache so you

have to let go of the verbalization in

your mind now you feel the wish and put

that feeling in your heart and ready to

your spiritual friend you don't

verbalize it all when you do that the

joy you experience is much stronger and

you feel much lighter in your mind

and in your body the difference between

joy and happiness to say you're in the

desert and you haven't had any water for

a long time and you see in Oasis just

seeing that Oasis your mind becomes

happy now I can go get a drink and

there's some excitement in it right and

the closer you get the happier you feel

how I'm finally going to get rid of this

dry taste and you go up to this pool of

water and you jump in the water and the

water is exactly the right temperature

and your mind goes oh and your body goes

oh that's happiness okay so the joy has

some excitement in it it's not as stable

as it could be but the happiness is just

like a placid lake peaceful very

comfortable

when the when the joy arises in the

second jhana you actually feel like

you're floating I've had some students

oh I'm I'm floating I think I'm going to

hit the ceiling so they open up their

eyes and see they're sitting on the

ground or a chair or whatever okay this

is that other kind of pleasure loftier

and more sublime than the previous

pleasure should anyone say that this is

the highest and best sublime state I

would not agree with that what is the

other pleasure that's higher and loftier

than the previous pleasure here Ananda

with the fading away of joy a monk

abides in equanimity mindful fully aware

still feeling happiness with the body

he enters upon and abides in the third

jhana on account of which noble ones

announce he has a pleasant abiding who

has equanimity and is mindful this is

the other kind of pleasure loftier and

sublime more sublime than the previous

so when you get into the third jhana

what happens is you don't feel any more

joy you feel really comfortable in your

mind and in your body and you have this

balance of mind now you're still going

to hear things you're still going to

have to feel ants coming across or

somebody with a motorcycle comes by

you're going to hear it but it doesn't

make your mind shake you'll know it

happened you'll know it was there but

just okay fine

that's what equanimity is all about this

is a time when quite often meditators

come and they start complaining because

they don't have anymore joy because it's

real easy to get hooked on the joy it's

a nice feeling it's been the excitement

is real good

but now your mind is peaceful calm as

you lose tension in your mind you lose

tension in your body

and when you lose tension in your body

you're not going to feel parts of it

you're going to say I'm sitting and I

don't feel my ends myleik went away I

don't feel my shoulder this is natural

as you let go of tension in your mind

you let go of tension in your body when

you let go of tension in your body all

of those tight places in your bodies

start relaxing so the blood circulation

is a little bit better and you feel very

very comfortable

should anyone say this is the highest

and loftiest state I would not agree

with him and what other kind of pleasure

is better than the previous he ran on

know with the abandoning of pleasure and

pain with the previous disappearance of

joy and grief a person enters upon and

abides in the fourth jhana which has

neither pain nor pleasure and purity of

mindfulness due to equanimity when you

get to the fourth jhana you're not going

to be able to feel the radiation in your

heart anymore that feeling is going to

come up into your head and you're not

gonna feel anything

in your body unless there's contact if I

come up and touch you you would feel it

but your mind has such strong balance in

it you know it happened but so what it

doesn't shake and this is when I will

start giving you some other instructions

in the meditation but not until then

when you get to the fourth jhana you

actually become an advanced meditator

now most people in the world are

practicing a different kind of

meditation than what I'm teaching you

and to get to the fourth jhana can take

years the way they practice

if you follow the directions the way I'm

showing you it can take seven or eight

days well when I was in Thailand they

said you get to the fourth jhana 15

years that's how long you have to

practice before you can do it

and in Sri Lanka ten years practice with

the Buddha's drawing is here a week

sometimes faster it's because they're

practicing a different kind of

meditation they're practicing one

pointed concentration what is one

pointed concentration your mind is on

your object of meditation and it gets

distracted the instructions are

immediately let go of that distraction

and come back to your object of

meditation the force of the

concentration becomes so strong that it

suppresses the entrances which you think

is a good thing at the time but when you

lose that concentration and you go back

out into your daily life there's no

personality development the hindrances

come in your daily life just like they

always did you get just as mad or matter

when somebody says something or does

something you don't like because you're

not able to recognize how the process

works because of the force of the

concentration now when you're practicing

what the Buddha is teaching your mind is

on your object of meditation same your

mind gets distracted same you let go of

the distraction same now you relax that

and tightness in your head and smile and

come back to your object to meditation

now what's the difference between the

two one of them brought craving back and

one of them didn't and when you don't

bring the craving back to your object to

meditation your progress is very fast

that's just the way it works

I've given two-week retreats that there

were so many people that were so close

to attaining nirvana

it was shocking and that's in two weeks

and they're just talking about getting

to a few jhanas taking years one of the

things when the when the Buddha talks

about the Dhamma the way that things are

he says that this is immediately

effective immediately effective means

pretty quick but these other people

they're going years know I bet I had 20

years of straight food pasta now I

understand what that practice does it

took me five years to figure out what

the meditation wasn't if where I started

out just started to figure out what it

was five years not so good not what I

would call immediately effective

so when you get to the fourth jhana now

you have become an advanced meditator

and you're able to start to see how the

feeling when the feeling arises and how

mine starts to tighten around it and

you'll be able to Rach relax more

quickly and more easily so when you're

when you're first starting out with your

meditation your mind is flip-flopping

and as you go deeper in your meditation

it stops moving quite so much when you

get to the fourth jhana now as starting

to vibrate and you're seeing the

difference you're starting to see and

you're teaching yourself how this

process works should anyone say this is

the highest pleasure I would not concede

that and what is another kind of

pleasure here Ananda with the complete

surmounting of gross perceptions of

forms with the disappearance of gross

perceptions of sensory impact aware that

space is infinite a monk enters upon and

abides in the base of infinite space now

what are we talking about here when

you're practicing loving-kindness

meditation you'll be able to sit for

15-20 minutes 30 minutes without having

any distraction in your mind and then

you'll notice that the feeling of loving

kindness change it changed into

something else

and what happens is naturally your mind

develops compassion and with that you

will feel an expansion happening in your

mind and in all directions at the same

time it just keeps going out and out and

out and out and out there's no limit to

it it just keeps getting bigger and

that's what they call infinite space you

don't feel your body unless there's

contact you would still hear a sound but

you'd have such strong equanimity at

your in your mind it doesn't really

distract you at all that you can hear it

and this is that other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the

previous hearin and by completely

surmounting the base of infinite space

aware that consciousness is infinite

among enters upon and abides in the base

of infinite consciousness now when you

get to infinite consciousness things

change again the feeling of compassion

changes into a feeling of joy and you

don't feel the expansion but now you're

starting to see individual

consciousnesses arise and pass away

arise and pass away arise and pass away

that was a hundred thousand or so okay

but you're gonna hear you're gonna see

individual consciousnesses and it's like

watching a movie but it's going a little

bit too slow and you're gonna see the

picture and there's off the picture and

off picture enough and that happens at

every one of the sad stories so that's

you're seeing a really truly amazing

thing and you're seeing that everything

is in a state of change it's there and

then it disappears it's there and it

disappears it's there and it disappears

so you're seeing everything is

impermanent and because it's always

changing like that it's a form of

suffering because we're all looking for

something that's permanent

and now because you're seeing how this

happens you're seeing there is no

controller there's no me there's no mind

there's no hi in that it's happening by

itself there's only the observation of

how this process happens it's quite

interesting and the joy you experience

is not the same kind of joy you

experienced in the lower jhanas this is

a happy feeling not so much excitement

in it and when you get to that state

then I'll tell you I want you to look at

what happens in between each of those

consciousnesses arising and passing away

tell me what that is

he ran on dub I completely surmounting

the base of infinite consciousness aware

that there is nothing a monk enters upon

and abides in the base of nothingness

now the feeling of joy will fade away

and very strong equanimity occurs and

it's real easy for me to tell when you

have that kind of equanimity cause you

come in and talk to me and I say well

how's it going fine everything is fine

see anything exciting no everything is

fine

it's just perfect what happens now is

mind is not looking outside of itself

now you're starting to see much more

subtle little tiny things that can arise

in mind now the whole time that you're

learning how to meditate you're learning

how to balance your energy so you could

stay with your meditation when you get

to this state

this is like doing a tightrope on a

spiderweb a little bit too much energy

and watching you get restless not quite

enough you get dull so you have to learn

how to tweak your energy and your

attention so that you have perfect

balance and there's all kinds of this is

probably the most interesting state of

mind or the state to experience in all

meditation it's really interesting and

there's nothing

but now you start to sit for longer

periods of time and you start to see

more and more subtle tiny little things

that I won't describe to you you have to

describe it to me you'll be able to sit

for 45 minutes or an hour without having

any disturbance in your mind at all

and it's still interesting here Ananda

by completely surmounting the base of

nothingness a person enters upon in the

base of neither perception nor

non-perception so what happens is you'll

get to such a subtle state of mind that

you'll be sitting for a period of time

and you come and you say to me is it

possible to be asleep and aware at the

same time now before your mind was

vibrating as you go deeper that

vibration becomes less and less and less

until it's hard to tell whether it's

even there or not

now what happens is I will tell you

right after that after you come out of

that state I want you to reflect on what

happened while you were in that state

and there's colors and there's different

shapes and there's different things that

can arise as soon as you see that you

use the six arms so what you're doing

basically is from the first time you

start meditating you're flip-flopping

you become more and more quiet and then

your mind is just vibrating and that

gets to be less and less because you're

relaxing more and more until it's hard

to tell whether there's any vibration at

all when you come out of that and you

six hours of shapes you'll be able to

sit for long periods of time without any

disturbance in your mind at all and if

there's any kind of vibration or

movement you'll be able to see it

immediately in these six art and let it

go now is when you start seeing the more

subtle parts of the links of dependent

origination what I was telling you

before about feeling and craving and

clinging action or birth and and the

suffering okay those are gross what

happened before the thing feeling there

was contact what happened before the

contact there was mind and body this is

a kind of an interesting thing that the

Buddha came up with that he was the only

one that came up with this because

everybody else was practicing

one-pointed concentration and they would

lose their body they didn't have any

feeling a rise in their body

their mind was just stuck on one thing

but the Buddha said you can't have mind

without body they're interconnected

their inner woven so this is an insight

but you will be able to see that insight

you'll be able to see that and recognize

it and then right before that you'll see

the potential for consciousness now

these disturbances these vibrations get

smaller and smaller and smaller then

you'll see the formations and you'll see

that eventually there are no more

conditions arising and when you get to

that that is the unconditioned State

that's what the Buddha called Nirvana

how do you talk about Nirvana I don't

know I've been with monks I'd like to

discuss that term but it's an

unconditioned State and all we can talk

about is conditioned concepts and

opinions these are all conditioned how

can you talk about something that's

unconditioned

so that's how one attains nirvana by

going through all of these different

states and you're teaching yourself more

and more about how this process works

and how to let it go and relax more and

more and more until it gets really

suicidal you can't tell whether you're

there or not but when you come out then

you start 6re anything that happened

while you're in there and then you have

this exquisite peace and calm

you can sit for a hour and a half two

hours without ever having any kind of

vibration or disturbance and your

equanimity is very strong and balanced

of mine

some people say well what's the

advantage of that not to have any

disturbance in your mind at all means

there is a lot of relief and it's a kind

of happiness

so Arenado by completely surmounting the

base of neither perception nor

non-perception a monk enters upon and

abides in the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness this is that

other kind of pleasure loftier and more

sublime than the previous one so we keep

on getting subtler and subtler and these

are loftier and more sublime and that's

really true because you you go from

having this gross mind and being able to

see how this process works more and more

clearly and that's how you attain

nirvana by understanding that this is

the way the process works and it's such

a startling thing that you go into an

unconditioned State and you'll be there

for a while and then you come out you

will be happy and you will be happy for

a long time and you look out at the

trees and everything is very very sharp

and clear and wherever you put your

attention and you see the - details of

everything and it's like before you were

wearing glasses that were a little bit

steamy and now they're clear and you see

that in everything now what's the

advantage of attaining Nibbana well if

you get to the first stage you never

have any more doubt arise as to what is

the correct path no doubt ever again

you let go of the idea that rites and

rituals lead to new mana and the idea of

a personal self aids away no more so

that's a pretty good advantage to start

out with now I was telling you about the

precepts after you attain nirvana you

will not break up reset for any reason

on purpose and that's one of the ways

you test whether you really attain

nirvana by saying I'm gonna say

something that I know is false and you

try to say it and your mind says nope

nope you're not gonna say that so this

is how you start purifying your mind so

there's a lot of real advantages to

practise this and the thing is people

think meditation is just while you're

sitting and all of your life is part of

meditation what what your mind does how

you cause your own pain

how does restlessness arise in your

daily life how does worry and anxiety

come up how did all of these things that

caused suffering how do they arise and

you start recognizing these and you

start using the 6 RS and you start

relaxing into these things and there's

personality development which you

normally would have done it's ok it's

just a little thing you'll do it

you won't break a precept I know that

there's a lot of people especially in

this country that they object to quote

morality because it's been pushed down

their throat and it's starting to happen

in other countries too in sri lanka the

monks only talked about keeping your

precepts they don't talk about anything

other than that so when somebody comes

along and they start teaching teaching

the Dhamma they get really excited I've

always wanted to hear something other

than morality but morality is an

important part of the practice the

meditation has three parts to it

the first part of meditation is

practicing your generosity

what does generosity meet guard your

pocketbook No generosity is smile and

give that smile to somebody else say

something nice help somebody that needs

help

practice your generosity means giving of

yourself helping other people so they

don't have to suffer so much what relief

how does that make your mind feel real

uplifted and then keeping your five

precepts

when you keep your Five Precepts what

does that do people feel that you're a

trustworthy person worthy of respect

they know that they can ask you

questions you'll give him an honest

answer I've in Asia I was there for 12

years

all the businessmen said you have to lie

or you're not going to be successful

well I'm sorry you have a reputation of

being a liar when you lie then how can

they trust you be honest and that brings

respect the last part of meditation is

doing the sitting but also carrying your

meditation with you all the time you're

walking down the street what are you

doing with your mind wish somebody

happiness smile if nobody's there

wish the birds happiness they like it

it's learning how to train your mind so

that your mind is uplifted all the time

the Buddha talked about there's real

advantage there's great benefit when you

do that and you can do it or not it's up

to you there's nobody that's gonna zap

you with a bolt of lightning cause you

screwed up cuz you forgot well get up

and start over again learn from your

mistakes you're gonna make them

everybody does and it's okay to make

mistakes just don't repeat the mistakes

over and over again a big thing on the

internet right now is the definition of

insanity doing the same thing over and

over again and expecting a different

outcome that's insane

okay I've been talking for a long time I

really have anime

I get carried away sometimes have any

questions

I do want you to sit in the morning said

meditation not be distracted by somebody

else talking if they start talking it's

okay to get up and go someplace quiet so

you can sit I need you to sit at least

six hours a day

which is really you have no idea how

I've mellowed when I came back from Asia

I was taking four hours sleep at night

my teacher said why are you sleeping so

much cut it down to two hours did that

for three months all I did was meditate

and I was meditating sixteen or eighteen

hours in a day and I'm telling you six

and I don't recommend only taking two

hours sleep at night if you walk around

and you're tired all the time lost a lot

of weight it was amazing because I

weighed about 200 pounds when I went

there and after this three-month stretch

I had to leave the country and I weighed

160 pounds and I was eating I have a

bowl that I eat out of I was eating

three bowls of rice in the morning and I

would fill that bowl up with food and

rice in the afternoon and I was losing

weight left and right this is not a not

a thing that I recommend it takes a lot

of energy to stay up that long and it

takes a while to get used to staying up

that long but the teacher I had at the

time was into putting in a lot of effort

and what do I tell you to do don't try

so hard back off but I had to go through

the tough experience to find out what

was on the other side and I did that

kind of practice I didn't always sleep

for two hours it was only for three

months only when I got I left the

country I was sleeping like you couldn't

believe I get up in the morning I'd go

out on almsround

I'd eat my food and then I go oh let's

it's about time for a nap and I'd sleep

until five o'clock in the afternoon and

this is when they brought some juice so

I drank the juice wander around for a

little while maybe it's time to go to

bed it took me six weeks to recuperate

so that I felt like a regular person and

yet not being tired all the time

so I'm not putting you through that kind

of experience I didn't find it useful it

was okay to go through it just to see

what it was on the other side but I

would never do that for anybody else

that's no good

the hardest job that I have is teaching

people to stop trying so hard and stop

being serious smile this is a fun game

keep it fun when you get serious you

have an attachment so let go laughs okay

okay let your some merit may suffering

ones be suffering free and the fear

struck fearless be may the grieving shed

all grief and may all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness may beings

inhabiting space under Ava's and Nagas

of mighty power share this merit of ours

may they long protect the Buddha's

dispensations