From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BE5h1LputXA

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

today is july

19th

2012.

damasuka meditation center the suta

tonight is the mahavida

the greater series of questions and

answers

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jettas grove anathen penbika's park

then when it was evening the venerable

mahakohita rose from meditation went to

the venerable sariputta

exchanged greetings with him

when this courteous and amiable talk was

finished he sat down at one side and

said to the venerable sariputta

one who is unwise

one who is unwise friend

with reference to what is this said one

who is unwise

one does not wisely understand one does

not wisely understand friend

that's why it was said one who is unwise

and what does one what doesn't one

wisely understand

one doesn't wisely understand this is

suffering

okay in the same nikaya

number 14 for this is called the

brahmans and

aesthetics and brahmas

monks as to those ascetics and brahmanas

who do not understand these things

that is the first noble truth

the origin of these things that is the

second noble truth the cessation of

these things third noble truth

and the way leading to the cessation of

these things now what are these things

they do not understand whose origin they

don't understand whose cessation

they don't understand in a way leading

to whose cessation they don't understand

they do not understand aging and death

it's origin its cessation and the way

leading to its cessation

they do not understand birth

see they go going through all of the

links of dependent origination each link

has

the previous link as the origin

or as as the suffering

and the origin is the previous link and

the cessation is

six r's

okay

now here is a key

key phrase

those who do not understand

i do not consider to be ascetics among

ascetics or brahmanas among brahmanas

these venerable ones who do not by

realizing it for themselves with direct

knowledge in this very life

enter and dwell in the goal of

asceticism and the or the goal of

brahminhood

now what does that say

that says that if you don't see the

links of dependent origination you're

not going to attain nibana

it's pretty plain

which is

very much missing in 95 of the people

that practice for 99 of the people that

practice meditation they miss this

connection

you hear me talking a lot about

dependent origination about feeling and

contact and clinging and habitual

tendency

because that's the backbone of the

teaching

this is

the essence

of the teaching this is the only way

that will lead you

to nibana

by seeing and recognizing these links of

dependent origination

so

one who is in unwise

and what doesn't one wisely understand

one doesn't wisely understand this is

suffering

every link is suffering

one doesn't wisely understand this is

the origin of the suffering the previous

link

is the origin of that link arising

now i make such a big emphasis on

craving

why

because that's the start

of your ego

identification with everything that

arises that's the very start of it

everything before that

arises because of

past action

then when you get to craving

i've given you the key about the tension

and tightness in your head

what happens when you let go of that

tension and tightness

clinging doesn't arise

and if clinging doesn't arise habitual

tendency won't arise

if habitual tendency doesn't arise and

birth doesn't arise

if birth doesn't arise

sorrow and lamentation pain grief and

despair don't arise

it's that simple

now there's there's

two different kinds of nibana

one is the mundane kind of nibana and

one is the super mundane nibana

the mundane nibana you will experience

many thousands many hundreds of

thousands of times before you get to see

the super mundane nibana

i wrote about this on a website there

was a

i was joined up with a group that was

into meditation and that sort of thing

and i came out and said that and they're

they were all shocked

where did you hear that how do you know

that

well

i practice it

and

this is how monks teach

so

one does not wisely understand this is a

cessation of suffering what does that

mean

now you can say that there

is

craving there's the origin of craving

there's the cessation of craving in the

way leading to the cessation of craving

what is that

come on

six ours

and that's true too i mean

but i was looking for a specific

one does not wisely understand

this is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

one does not wisely understand one does

not wisely understand friend that is why

it is said one who is unwise

saying good friend the venerable maha

kohita

was

foremost in the buddhist asana in

sitting in meditation that's all he did

so the venerable maha kohita

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words then he asked a

further question

one who is wise one who is wise is said

friend

with reference to what was this said one

who is wise

one wisely understands one wisely

understands friend

that's why it is said one who is wise

what does one wisely understand

one wisely understands this is suffering

one wisely understands this is the

origin of suffering

one wisely understands this is the

cessation of suffering

one wisely understands

this is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

one wisely understands one wisely

understands friend that's why it is said

one who is wise

now this is one of the reasons that i

say every time you hear wiser wisdom

it's talking about the links of

dependent origination

one of the problems that we have

especially

in english

is that we have

standard definitions

but the definitions

for buddhism are decidedly different

like

ignorance

the word ignorance everybody thinks

you're stupid

and that doesn't have anything to do

with that

it means you're ignoring the four noble

truths

so

uh there's a special kind of language

that you have to be able to

if you want to teach you have to be able

to show other people this language

that's one of the reasons i'm i'm more

interested in definitions

because

there are very specific definitions and

meanings for

these words that are used here

but if the person isn't taught that

you go and you say well

what is

i went to a church one time

and this minister talked for 15 minutes

about developing wisdom

and he never told you what wisdom was

wow

so you you talk to the ordinary person

it just they'll give you

the definition just like for mindfulness

it means to be mindful

what is wisdom means to be wise

what does that mean

so

having very specific definitions is is a

really important part of this practice

consciousness consciousness is said

friend with reference to what is

consciousness said

it cognizes

it cognizes friend that's why

consciousness is said

what does it cognize

it cognizes

this is pleasant

it cognizes this is painful

it cognizes this is neither painful nor

pleasant it cognizes

now when you

recognize

that means you're using your memory

and you're not in the present moment

the only time you can actually cognize

anything is when you're in the present

moment

and you see something similar then you

start thinking oh i've already seen

something like this before

so you're recognizing and you're out of

the present moment because

you're getting into

your conceptual thinking

every thought is a concept

direct experience doesn't have anything

to do with thinking

being in the present moment means you

see and you cognize what's happening in

that moment

this is why

consciousness has said

wisdom and consciousness friend

are these states conjoined or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

wisdom and consciousness friends these

states are conjoined not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

for what

one wisely understands

remember wisely is talking about the

links

that one cognizes

and what one

cognizes that one wisely understands

easy right

it's only taken me 15 years to figure

all this stuff out not bad

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

so

mahakohita just got told

you can't separate them

okay

next question

what's the difference

between wisdom and consciousness these

states that are conjoined not disjoint

the difference friend between wisdom and

consciousness these states that are

conjoined not disjoint is this

wisdom is to be developed

and consciousness is to be fully

understood

see how you can you can't have one

without the other

is said friend

with reference to what is feeling said

it feels

it feels friend

that is why feeling is said what does it

feel

it feels pleasure it feels pain it feels

neither pain or pleasure it feels it

feels friend

that's why feeling is said

perception

perception friend

is said friend with reference to what is

perception say it said

it perceives

it perceives friend

that is why perception is said

what does it perceive

it perceives blue in other words you're

starting to get into your conceptual

uh naming of things

it perceives yellow it perceives red it

perceives white it perceives it

perceives friend

that's why perception is said

feeling

perception and consciousness friend are

these that these these states conjoined

or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the other

in order to describe the difference

between them

feeling perception and consciousness

friend these states are conjoined not

disjoined

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the others in order to

describe the difference between them

for what one feels

that one perceives

and what one perceives

that one cognizes

now think about the five aggregates

you have body

feeling

perception formations

and consciousness

but actually these three

are conjoined

so if you want to be

absolutely

precise

there aren't five aggregates there are

three aggregates body

feeling perception and consciousness and

formations

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoined and it is impossible to

separate each of these states from the

others in order to describe the

difference between them

friend

what can be known by purified mind

consciousness

released from the five faculties

friend by purified mind consciousness

released from the five faculties

the base of infinite space can be known

thus

space is infinite

the base of infinite consciousness can

be known thus

consciousness is infinite

the base of nothingness can be known

thus

there is nothing

now

what are we talking about here we're

talking about the arupa-janas

because that is a mind state

okay

friend

with what does one understand the state

that can be known

friend one under state understands a

state that can be known with

the eye of

wisdom

what does that mean

what is the eye of wisdom

close but no cigar the faculty developed

no cigar

what is the eye of wisdom

the thing that actually sees

consciousness

unfold

getting closer

the eye of wisdom is what cognizes

and you can only cognize when there is

no craving in your mind at that time

that's what the eye of wisdom is all

about

friend what is the purpose of wisdom

the purpose of wisdom friend is direct

knowledge

its purpose is full understanding

its purpose is abandoning

makes sense huh

what are you

abandoning any belief that whatever

arises

is personal

and that means no more craving

friend how many conditions are there for

the arising of right view

friend there are two conditions for the

arising of right view

the voice of another person

and wise attention

why do you need the voice of another

person

because you can't figure it out on your

own

that's actually the truth

and what voice do we use

we use the buddha's voice

because he's the one that figured it out

doesn't have anything to do with me i'm

too dumb to figure this kind of stuff

out

these are the two conditions for the

arising of right view

friend by how many factors is right view

assisted

when it has deliverance of mind for its

fruit

deliverance of mine for

um

deliverance of mine for the path

and deliverance of mine for

the fruit

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path and deliverance by wisdom for

its path and

and fruition

never a dull moment around here

friend right view is assisted by five

factors when it has deliverance of mind

for its path

deliverance of mind for its path and

fruition

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path

and deliverance by wisdom for its path

and fruition

here friend

right view is assisted by virtue

learning

discussion

serenity

and insight

right view is assisted by these five

factors

right view assisted by these five

factors has deliverance of mind for its

path

deliverance of mind for his path and

fruition

it has deliverance of

by wisdom for its path

deliverance by wisdom for its path and

fruition

friend

how many kinds of

distractions

are there

there are these three kinds of

distraction friends since fear

distraction

material

fine material

distraction and immaterial distraction

now i changed the word from being

because that's not really as close as

distraction is

now these these three kinds of

distraction

since fear is a big distraction

getting into jhana

can be a big distraction

and getting into the material genres

even though it's not much

it's still some distraction it still

pulls you away

friend how is a renewal of

uh distraction in the future generated

friend renewal of destruction in the

future is generated through the

delighting in this and that

on the part of beings who are hindered

by ignorance

and fettered by

craving

you see how all the teaching i've been

giving you they're just kind of weaving

together

just like a fine cloth

friend how is renewal

of distractions in the future not

generated

friend with the fading away of ignorance

with the arising of true knowledge

and with the cessation of craving

renewal of distractions in the future is

not generated

so you have to go up to the

these factors for right view and look at

that again

because

where'd they go

it was on page before

that was on this one

over these five factors

it is assisted by virtue keeping your

precepts without breaking them

learning

from direct knowledge

discussion

serenity and insight

okay

that's how dis

distractions

are not brought into the future

first jhana friend what is the first

jhana

here friend quite secluded from sensual

pleasures secluded from unwholesome

states

a monk enters upon and abides in the

first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought with joy

and pleasure born of seclusion

this is called the first jhana

friend how many factors does the first

jhana have

friend the first drama has five factors

here when a monk has entered upon the

first jhana

there occur

thinking examining thought joy happiness

and unification of mind

now in pali

they use the word

ekagata

and if you look up the definitions of

ikagata there's a lot of different

definitions

poly

scholars generally

they will break

ikaga to down

ika means one

and

means path or way

so there's one way

now they take this to mean

one pointed concentration

and it doesn't mean that

you look at the next word down in the

poly dictionary and it says ikaga

not ikagata

they take the ta off

and it says ikaga means tranquility

means

coming together of the mind so that

that's unified and stays on your object

of meditation without a lot of

distraction

or without any any distraction

so

the

um

almost

everybody in the terravato world will

give the definition

of

a one-pointed

mind

and it's not that

even though your mind can be very

tranquil and be on the object of

meditation without

any distraction

that is a unified mind your mind is

pulled together

everything is very nice

but it's not one pointed because one

pointed infers

that you've been practicing a kind of

meditation where you haven't seen

grieving

and one pointed concentration does not

lead to nibana

if you have one pointed concentration

you never go deep enough

with your understanding

to see

and when you practice vipassana

they are very big on

seeing impermanence suffering and not

self

they don't know what not self is for the

most part

but it says in the mahavaga which is a

book of discipline

it says you can see one or all of these

three characteristics without ever

seeing dependent origination

but when you see dependent origination

you always see these three

characteristics

so the the over emphasis on just seeing

anitra duka anata

is

surface knowledge still

and that's one of the things that blew

my mind because i went to burma for two

years i was very successful at the

practice

i understood impermanence very well

and i wasn't satisfied with the end

result

what they said was nibana i didn't feel

right

so i came back to

malaysia and i started teaching

loving-kindness meditation because i

couldn't teach

with a clear mind i couldn't teach

straight vipassana the way it was being

taught

and

um

i

happened to be at the biggest monastery

in malaysia

and the head monk there

is extremely famous

and every friday night he would give a

talk and he had got so popular that

between three and 500 people would come

and listen to his talk

when i got invited there

the head monk said i'm getting old

i want you to teach every other every

other friday night talk

so

i started getting more and more of a

reputation reputation reputation

of

being successful at teaching

loving-kindness meditation

a monk came through from sri lanka and

stayed there

got up after giving a talk he came down

we started talking about what i was

talking about the night before

and he said i understand you teach

meditation how do you teach it

and i told him

and he said well you're teaching the

meditation right

but you're using the language of the

visuri maga

put down the vesuri maga

put it on the shelf

and just go to the suttas which is

well yeah of course you know

but always before when i'd gone to the

suttas i didn't understand it because

the understanding of the vasudi maga is

different and i was using that as my

main book

so when i put down the vasudi maga

i started reading the suttas i

understood what the suttas were saying

and i also understood

that

people that were practicing straight

vipassana had no

relaxed step

and when i

even to this day i can go up to very

famous teachers

they've been

successfully in their eyes successfully

teaching vipassana meditation for 40 45

years

and i ask them what is craving

how does craving manifest how are you

supposed to recognize it it's talked

about all through the book

and

the basic answer i got from everybody is

desire

and that's not even close to it how are

you supposed to see desire what does

that mean

so when then i start talking to them

about how i see it manifest as tension

in tightness and head

they kind of shrug me off and we go our

separate ways

now

i was a very advanced meditator

and

as soon as i started practicing with

that relaxed step i knew i was going so

much deeper than i ever had before it

was remarkable

so i went

i told the head monk that i was gonna go

out and be by myself for a couple of

weeks i was gonna go to thailand

and i told him where i was going because

there was a

big cave there that i really liked

and

i was

reading a suta in the morning

and then practicing all the rest of the

day

and it got so

interesting

that after two weeks i said i can't quit

i got to keep going

and i wound up doing a self retreat for

about three months

and

then he sent a monk to come get me

so i had to stop

but just by adding this one little tiny

extra step

of relaxing that tension and tightness

that you have in your head

it changed the entire meditation

it went from

one pointed concentration

to an awareness

seeing things start to come up from a

long ways away

and you start to see eventually you

start seeing the links of dependent

origination

and i was in new territory

this book had just come out

and i didn't know anything about this

book

and

somebody said well we just got a whole

bunch of copies of this and

i'll give you a copy of it

and as soon as i started reading the

suit as

everything made sense

and you can tell when a suit that

doesn't fit

you can tell where there's mistakes

if you have the direct practice

now what i tell people when they when

they practice with me for any length of

time i don't want you to read anything

because you read about buddhism you're

just going to get confused

you practice

you listen to dom talks and you practice

i told kema she had to do that for a

year because she was an avid reader of

everything and boy was her mind confused

about buddhism

and then after a year

then i would give her a little tiny

pamphlet to read

and get her to come back and tell me

what it meant

after two years i was giving her

smaller books

after three years i was giving her big

books

and she still complains because i give

her way too much to read she doesn't

have time to read it

but she understands it she understands

it very well because of the practice

when you get around quote buddhist

scholars

they don't know what they're talking

about

because they're using their intellectual

knowledge to try to get answers

and intellectual knowledge is so slow

compared to direct knowledge

so

i don't know why i went off on that

tangent but we'll

continue on now

friend how many factors are abandoned in

the first genre and how many factors are

possessed

friend in the first john of five factors

are abandoned and five factors are

possessed

what are the five factors that are

abandoned

the five hindrances

one of the things that people when they

practice one pointed concentration their

mind goes so deep and

it suppresses any of the hindrances so

they're not able to recognize them when

they get out of that

but the hindrances are your teacher

they're your best friend they're showing

you where your attachment is

and they're helping you to improve your

mindfulness because you have to be able

to recognize it

release it relax smile and come back

and this is not done verbally

this is done in a flow

i gave a talk one time and i was talking

about the six hours or a flow and this

lady said oh you mean we have to roll

our r's

and that was it exactly

here when a monk has entered upon the

first jhana sensual desire is abandoned

ill will is abandoned sloth and torpor

are abandoned restlessness and anxiety

are abandoned

doubt is abandoned

and there occur

thinking examining thought joy happiness

and unification of mine

now how do you tell when you're when

you're in a jhana how do you tell when

you get out of the genre

because a hindrance arises

your mindfulness wasn't sharp enough and

all of a sudden the hindrance is there

how did that happen

how did that arise

when you start looking at how these

things occur

rather than why they occur because why

does it matter

it's all impersonal anyway it's all just

stuff

so you don't need to

get involved in the thinking about why

that's for psychologists to work with

when you start looking at how all of

this stuff happens you start going

deeper into your practice

and it becomes incredibly interesting

and fun

and you want to keep going you don't

want to stop

this is how the first jhana has five

factors are abandoned and five factors

possessed

friend

are these five faculties each

no

friend these five faculties each have a

separate field

a separate domain and do not experience

each other's field and domain that is

the i faculty air faculty knows faculty

tongue faculty

body faculty

now these five factors

each having a separate field a separate

domain do not experience each other's

field in domain

you don't see a smell

right

it's separate

what is their resort

what experiences their fields and

domains

friend these five faculties each have a

separate field a separate domain and do

not experience each other's field and

domain

that is the high faculty year faculty

knows faculty tongue faculty and body

faculty

now these five faculties each having a

separate field a separate domain

not experiencing each other's field and

domain

have mined as their resort

and mine

experiences their fields and domains

friend

as to these five faculties that is the

eye ear nose tongue and body faculty

what do these five faculties stand

independence on

friend

as to these five faculties that is the i

ear nose tongue and body faculty

these five faculties stand independence

on vitality

friend what does vitality stand

independence on

what does it depend on

vitality stands independence on heat

friend what does heat stand independence

on

heat stands independence on vitality

got it

uh just now friend we understood the

venerable sorry put to have said

vitality stands independence on heat

and now we understand him to say

he stands independence on vitality

how should the meaning of these

statements be regarded that's a

reasonable question when you say

in that case friend i shall give you a

simile for some wise men here understand

the meaning of a statement by means of a

simile just as when an oil lamp is

burning

its radiance is seen independence on the

flame

and its flame is seeing independence on

its radiance

can't have one without the other

they depend on each other or you

wouldn't be able to see it

right

okay

vital formations

friend are vital formations things that

can be felt

or are vital formations one thing

that can be felt

one thing and things that can be felt

another

vital formations are not things that can

be felt

if vital formation were things

that can be felt

then a monk who has entered upon the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

would not be seen to emerge from it

they'd be dead

because vital formations are one thing

and things that can be felt another

a monk who has entered upon the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

can be seen to emerge from it

you can sit in

the cessation of perception feeling in

consciousness when you become an onigami

or an

for up to seven days

that's not

seven days of

squirming around

that's not seven days of wanting a drink

of water

or eating food

it's all turned off

heartbeat goes down

very very low

no respiration in the lungs

through the skin

there's no consciousness

one uh suta

where this one

ascetic

got into a deep

state of uh

absorption concentration

and he was sitting behind a

beside a stream of water

and there was 500 bullet carts that went

by him

and he said he didn't even he didn't

even know that that happened

so

the person he was talking to went to the

buddha and said yeah that's pretty good

what do you think

and the buddha said well

i was sitting in neither perception

feeling perception or consciousness

and i was in a barn and there was some

lightning that struck right beside the

barn and killed

an oxen and two people

and i didn't know that it happened

why because there was no feeling

perception or consciousness

until you come out

so you can say well these two states are

very close to being the same but they're

not

because this other this other ascetic

was sitting there he was breathing he

was doing all the things that

keep the body going

it was pretty noisy i mean 500 carts

bullet carts going through some water

right beside you this is going to be a

noisy thing

but there was still

he had the awareness that it was there

but he didn't pay attention to it

but the buddha

didn't even know that happened until he

got out of that state

and he got out of the barn and there's

all these people rushing around doing

this and that with the different bodies

and that sort of thing and what

happened oh somebody got struck by

lightning

killed him

oh okay

friend

when this body is bereaved of how many

states is it then discarded forsaken

left lying senseless like a log

friend when a body is bereaved of three

states

vitality

heat

and consciousness

it is then discarded and forsaken left

lying senseless like a log

friend

what is the difference between one

who is dead

who has completed his time and a monk

who has entered upon the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

friend

in the case of one who is dead

who has completed his time his bodily

formations have ceased

and subsided

his verbal formations have ceased and

subsided his mental formations have

ceased and subsided

his vitality is exhausted

his heat has been dissipated

and his faculties are fully broken up

in the case of a monk who has entered

upon a cessation a perception feeling

and consciousness

his bodily formations have ceased and

subsided

as verbal formations have ceased and

subsided his mental formations have

ceased and subsided

but his vitality is not exhausted

his heat has not not been dissipated

and his faculties became exceptionally

clear

anytime you see somebody that is

exceptionally clear and they're glowing

give them a gift

do yourself a favor it'll come back to

you a lot of times in a lot of wonderful

ways

this is the difference between one who

is dead who has completed his time and a

monk who has entered upon the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment of neither

painful nor pleasant deliverance of

mind

there are four conditions

for the attainment of neither painful

nor pleasant deliverance of mind we're

talking about the fourth jhana

here

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

with the previous disappearance of joy

and grief

a monk enters upon and abides in the

fourth jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

these are the four conditions

for the attainment of neither painful

nor pleasant deliverance of mind

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment of the signless

deliverance of mine what is a signless

deliverance of mine

there are these two conditions for the

attainment of the signless deliverance

of mind

non-attention to all signs and attention

to the signless element

these are the two conditions for the

attainment of the

signless deliverance of mine

friend how many conditions are there for

the persistence of the signless

deliverance of mine

there are three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverer

little deliverance of mine

non-attention to all signs attention to

the signless element

and the prior

determination of its duration

now i

have you making determinations and

getting up at night

getting up or what time to get up in the

morning and

waking up smiling and happy you do that

every day this is a lightweight

determination

but your mind gets used to it after a

while and you can hit the time exactly

so you don't need an alarm clock you you

just set in your mind i'm gonna sleep

for

until

this time

and then you get up

when you make uh

determinations in

gaining mastery of the jonas

you do this by

making a determination for 15 minutes

okay

i'm gonna sit in the first i'm going to

sit no higher than the first jhana

4 14 minutes and 51 seconds

for

15 minutes and eight seconds

when you can hit that every time

then

you do it for

29 minutes and

19 seconds

and you can hit that every time then you

do it for an hour

after you do it for an hour

you make a determination that you're

going to go in and out

of that drama in six seconds

and when you can hit that every time

then you go to the second job

so you start working with your

determinations that way

that is

takes a lot more skill

but

there are real advantages to do that

because you can get into any genre that

you want to point your mind at

you know you you get with somebody

that's highly emotional or they're

getting close to death

you want them to feel peaceful and calm

you make a determination to be in a

fourth journal while you're there with

that person

you're fully awake you can talk to them

you can do all kinds of different things

so being able to use these genres

whenever you want is a very nice skill

okay

these are the three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverance

of mine

friend how many conditions are there for

the emergence from the signless

deliverance of mind

friend there are these two conditions

for the emergence of the signless

deliverance of mine

attention to all signs and non-attention

to the signless element

these are the two conditions

for the emergence of the signless

deliverance of mind

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

the signless deliverance of mind

are these states different in meaning

and different in name or are they one in

meaning and different in name only

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

the signless deliverance of mind

there is a way in which these states are

different in meaning and different in

name

and there is a way in which they are one

in meaning and different in name only

friend

what is the way in which these states

are different in meaning and different

in name

here are monkabai's pervading one

quarter of their mind imbued with loving

kindness likewise the second likewise

the third

likewise the fourth

so above below around and everywhere

and to all as to himself

sound familiar

six directions

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

world with a mind imbued with loving

kindness

abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill will

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind with compassion

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind with altruistic joy

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind imbued with equanimity

the brahma viharas

likewise the second likewise the third

like

like likewise the fourth so above below

around and everywhere

as to all himself

to all as to himself

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

world with a mind imbued with equanimity

abundant exalted immeasurable without

hostility and out without ill will

this is called the immeasurable

deliverance of mine

and what friend is a deliverance of mine

through nothingness

here with the complete surmounting of

the base of infinite consciousness

aware that there is nothing

a monk enters upon and abides in the

base of nothingness

this is called the deliverance of mind

through nothingness

and what friends is a deliverance of

mine through voidness

here a monk gone to the forest or to the

root of a tree or an empty hut reflects

thus

this is void of a self

or of what belongs to a self

this is called the deliverance of mind

true voidness now what are we talking

about here

developing a mind that has

no craving

not me it's not mine none of this stuff

that comes up in other words when you

you get to that state

you start getting dispassionate

yeah it's there but it's not mine

came up by itself

it's just stuff

and what friend is the signless

deliverance of mine

here with a non-attention to all signs

a monk enters upon and abides in the

signless collectedness of mind

this is called the signless deliverance

of mind

and this is the way in which these

states are different in meaning and

different in name

and what friend is a way in which these

states are one in meaning and different

in name only

lust is a maker of

measurement hate is a maker of

measurement

delusion is a maker of measurement

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm tree

or palm stump

done away with so they are no longer

subject to future arising

what is lust hatred and delusion

another way of describing

gravy

i like it

i don't like it i

that's what delusion is

see that's another definition that you

don't you don't get outside of buddhism

because delusion means you're deluded

you haven't got a clue well with

any time you take something personally

you don't have a clue

everything is part of an impersonal

process

of all the kinds of measurement

deliverance of mine

all

of all the kinds of immeasurable

deliverance of mine

the unshakable deliverance of mine is

pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust

void of hate

and void of delusion

it's void of craving

lust

is a something

hate

is a something

delusion is a something

if a monk whose taints are destroyed in

a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so that there are no longer subject to

future arising

of all the kinds of deliverance of mind

through nothingness

the

unshakable deliverance of mine

is pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

lust is a maker of signs

hate is a maker of signs

delusion is a maker of signs

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so they are no longer subject to future

arising

of all the kinds of signless deliverance

of mind the unshakeable deliverance of

mine is pronounced the best

now that unshakeable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

that is the way in which these states

are one in meaning and different in name

only

that is what the venerable sorry buddha

said the venerable mahakahito was

satisfied and delighted in sorry putta's

words

so that gives you some idea

about what cognition is

and how

cognition feeling and perception are

intertwined

now in the book it only talks about

feeling and perception and i add end

consciousness

because these are conjoined

not disjoint

so you can't have just these two by

themselves you have to have the

consciousness along with it

okay

you have any questions

okay what exactly is a sign

anything any kind of distraction

but it's caused by craving

it does and i can't remember

exactly what it is

i'll have to go back and look in the

books again

well did they use the wrong word

clearly

no but what they do is

they take ika i mean they try to make it

a compound word and it's not supposed to

be it's supposed to be ikagada

but because they want to get fancy with

their uh

intellectual pursuit they

break it apart

yeah the second or third translation of

uh ikagata

is tranquility

but i like the word unification of mine

now look at the word unification uni

one pulling together

everything coming together

and think of the word universe

uni

verse

what is that saying

one song

cute

okay

let's share some merit then

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving should all grief and

male beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

new beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and naga's mighty powers share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddhist

dispensation

you

today is july

19th

2012.

damasuka meditation center the suta

tonight is the mahavida

the greater series of questions and

answers

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jettas grove anathen penbika's park

then when it was evening the venerable

mahakohita rose from meditation went to

the venerable sariputta

exchanged greetings with him

when this courteous and amiable talk was

finished he sat down at one side and

said to the venerable sariputta

one who is unwise

one who is unwise friend

with reference to what is this said one

who is unwise

one does not wisely understand one does

not wisely understand friend

that's why it was said one who is unwise

and what does one what doesn't one

wisely understand

one doesn't wisely understand this is

suffering

okay in the same nikaya

number 14 for this is called the

brahmans and

aesthetics and brahmas

monks as to those ascetics and brahmanas

who do not understand these things

that is the first noble truth

the origin of these things that is the

second noble truth the cessation of

these things third noble truth

and the way leading to the cessation of

these things now what are these things

they do not understand whose origin they

don't understand whose cessation

they don't understand in a way leading

to whose cessation they don't understand

they do not understand aging and death

it's origin its cessation and the way

leading to its cessation

they do not understand birth

see they go going through all of the

links of dependent origination each link

has

the previous link as the origin

or as as the suffering

and the origin is the previous link and

the cessation is

six r's

okay

now here is a key

key phrase

those who do not understand

i do not consider to be ascetics among

ascetics or brahmanas among brahmanas

these venerable ones who do not by

realizing it for themselves with direct

knowledge in this very life

enter and dwell in the goal of

asceticism and the or the goal of

brahminhood

now what does that say

that says that if you don't see the

links of dependent origination you're

not going to attain nibana

it's pretty plain

which is

very much missing in 95 of the people

that practice for 99 of the people that

practice meditation they miss this

connection

you hear me talking a lot about

dependent origination about feeling and

contact and clinging and habitual

tendency

because that's the backbone of the

teaching

this is

the essence

of the teaching this is the only way

that will lead you

to nibana

by seeing and recognizing these links of

dependent origination

so

one who is in unwise

and what doesn't one wisely understand

one doesn't wisely understand this is

suffering

every link is suffering

one doesn't wisely understand this is

the origin of the suffering the previous

link

is the origin of that link arising

now i make such a big emphasis on

craving

why

because that's the start

of your ego

identification with everything that

arises that's the very start of it

everything before that

arises because of

past action

then when you get to craving

i've given you the key about the tension

and tightness in your head

what happens when you let go of that

tension and tightness

clinging doesn't arise

and if clinging doesn't arise habitual

tendency won't arise

if habitual tendency doesn't arise and

birth doesn't arise

if birth doesn't arise

sorrow and lamentation pain grief and

despair don't arise

it's that simple

now there's there's

two different kinds of nibana

one is the mundane kind of nibana and

one is the super mundane nibana

the mundane nibana you will experience

many thousands many hundreds of

thousands of times before you get to see

the super mundane nibana

i wrote about this on a website there

was a

i was joined up with a group that was

into meditation and that sort of thing

and i came out and said that and they're

they were all shocked

where did you hear that how do you know

that

well

i practice it

and

this is how monks teach

so

one does not wisely understand this is a

cessation of suffering what does that

mean

now you can say that there

is

craving there's the origin of craving

there's the cessation of craving in the

way leading to the cessation of craving

what is that

come on

six ours

and that's true too i mean

but i was looking for a specific

one does not wisely understand

this is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

one does not wisely understand one does

not wisely understand friend that is why

it is said one who is unwise

saying good friend the venerable maha

kohita

was

foremost in the buddhist asana in

sitting in meditation that's all he did

so the venerable maha kohita

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words then he asked a

further question

one who is wise one who is wise is said

friend

with reference to what was this said one

who is wise

one wisely understands one wisely

understands friend

that's why it is said one who is wise

what does one wisely understand

one wisely understands this is suffering

one wisely understands this is the

origin of suffering

one wisely understands this is the

cessation of suffering

one wisely understands

this is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

one wisely understands one wisely

understands friend that's why it is said

one who is wise

now this is one of the reasons that i

say every time you hear wiser wisdom

it's talking about the links of

dependent origination

one of the problems that we have

especially

in english

is that we have

standard definitions

but the definitions

for buddhism are decidedly different

like

ignorance

the word ignorance everybody thinks

you're stupid

and that doesn't have anything to do

with that

it means you're ignoring the four noble

truths

so

uh there's a special kind of language

that you have to be able to

if you want to teach you have to be able

to show other people this language

that's one of the reasons i'm i'm more

interested in definitions

because

there are very specific definitions and

meanings for

these words that are used here

but if the person isn't taught that

you go and you say well

what is

i went to a church one time

and this minister talked for 15 minutes

about developing wisdom

and he never told you what wisdom was

wow

so you you talk to the ordinary person

it just they'll give you

the definition just like for mindfulness

it means to be mindful

what is wisdom means to be wise

what does that mean

so

having very specific definitions is is a

really important part of this practice

consciousness consciousness is said

friend with reference to what is

consciousness said

it cognizes

it cognizes friend that's why

consciousness is said

what does it cognize

it cognizes

this is pleasant

it cognizes this is painful

it cognizes this is neither painful nor

pleasant it cognizes

now when you

recognize

that means you're using your memory

and you're not in the present moment

the only time you can actually cognize

anything is when you're in the present

moment

and you see something similar then you

start thinking oh i've already seen

something like this before

so you're recognizing and you're out of

the present moment because

you're getting into

your conceptual thinking

every thought is a concept

direct experience doesn't have anything

to do with thinking

being in the present moment means you

see and you cognize what's happening in

that moment

this is why

consciousness has said

wisdom and consciousness friend

are these states conjoined or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

wisdom and consciousness friends these

states are conjoined not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

for what

one wisely understands

remember wisely is talking about the

links

that one cognizes

and what one

cognizes that one wisely understands

easy right

it's only taken me 15 years to figure

all this stuff out not bad

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

so

mahakohita just got told

you can't separate them

okay

next question

what's the difference

between wisdom and consciousness these

states that are conjoined not disjoint

the difference friend between wisdom and

consciousness these states that are

conjoined not disjoint is this

wisdom is to be developed

and consciousness is to be fully

understood

see how you can you can't have one

without the other

is said friend

with reference to what is feeling said

it feels

it feels friend

that is why feeling is said what does it

feel

it feels pleasure it feels pain it feels

neither pain or pleasure it feels it

feels friend

that's why feeling is said

perception

perception friend

is said friend with reference to what is

perception say it said

it perceives

it perceives friend

that is why perception is said

what does it perceive

it perceives blue in other words you're

starting to get into your conceptual

uh naming of things

it perceives yellow it perceives red it

perceives white it perceives it

perceives friend

that's why perception is said

feeling

perception and consciousness friend are

these that these these states conjoined

or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the other

in order to describe the difference

between them

feeling perception and consciousness

friend these states are conjoined not

disjoined

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the others in order to

describe the difference between them

for what one feels

that one perceives

and what one perceives

that one cognizes

now think about the five aggregates

you have body

feeling

perception formations

and consciousness

but actually these three

are conjoined

so if you want to be

absolutely

precise

there aren't five aggregates there are

three aggregates body

feeling perception and consciousness and

formations

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoined and it is impossible to

separate each of these states from the

others in order to describe the

difference between them

friend

what can be known by purified mind

consciousness

released from the five faculties

friend by purified mind consciousness

released from the five faculties

the base of infinite space can be known

thus

space is infinite

the base of infinite consciousness can

be known thus

consciousness is infinite

the base of nothingness can be known

thus

there is nothing

now

what are we talking about here we're

talking about the arupa-janas

because that is a mind state

okay

friend

with what does one understand the state

that can be known

friend one under state understands a

state that can be known with

the eye of

wisdom

what does that mean

what is the eye of wisdom

close but no cigar the faculty developed

no cigar

what is the eye of wisdom

the thing that actually sees

consciousness

unfold

getting closer

the eye of wisdom is what cognizes

and you can only cognize when there is

no craving in your mind at that time

that's what the eye of wisdom is all

about

friend what is the purpose of wisdom

the purpose of wisdom friend is direct

knowledge

its purpose is full understanding

its purpose is abandoning

makes sense huh

what are you

abandoning any belief that whatever

arises

is personal

and that means no more craving

friend how many conditions are there for

the arising of right view

friend there are two conditions for the

arising of right view

the voice of another person

and wise attention

why do you need the voice of another

person

because you can't figure it out on your

own

that's actually the truth

and what voice do we use

we use the buddha's voice

because he's the one that figured it out

doesn't have anything to do with me i'm

too dumb to figure this kind of stuff

out

these are the two conditions for the

arising of right view

friend by how many factors is right view

assisted

when it has deliverance of mind for its

fruit

deliverance of mine for

um

deliverance of mine for the path

and deliverance of mine for

the fruit

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path and deliverance by wisdom for

its path and

and fruition

never a dull moment around here

friend right view is assisted by five

factors when it has deliverance of mind

for its path

deliverance of mind for its path and

fruition

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path

and deliverance by wisdom for its path

and fruition

here friend

right view is assisted by virtue

learning

discussion

serenity

and insight

right view is assisted by these five

factors

right view assisted by these five

factors has deliverance of mind for its

path

deliverance of mind for his path and

fruition

it has deliverance of

by wisdom for its path

deliverance by wisdom for its path and

fruition

friend

how many kinds of

distractions

are there

there are these three kinds of

distraction friends since fear

distraction

material

fine material

distraction and immaterial distraction

now i changed the word from being

because that's not really as close as

distraction is

now these these three kinds of

distraction

since fear is a big distraction

getting into jhana

can be a big distraction

and getting into the material genres

even though it's not much

it's still some distraction it still

pulls you away

friend how is a renewal of

uh distraction in the future generated

friend renewal of destruction in the

future is generated through the

delighting in this and that

on the part of beings who are hindered

by ignorance

and fettered by

craving

you see how all the teaching i've been

giving you they're just kind of weaving

together

just like a fine cloth

friend how is renewal

of distractions in the future not

generated

friend with the fading away of ignorance

with the arising of true knowledge

and with the cessation of craving

renewal of distractions in the future is

not generated

so you have to go up to the

these factors for right view and look at

that again

because

where'd they go

it was on page before

that was on this one

over these five factors

it is assisted by virtue keeping your

precepts without breaking them

learning

from direct knowledge

discussion

serenity and insight

okay

that's how dis

distractions

are not brought into the future

first jhana friend what is the first

jhana

here friend quite secluded from sensual

pleasures secluded from unwholesome

states

a monk enters upon and abides in the

first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought with joy

and pleasure born of seclusion

this is called the first jhana

friend how many factors does the first

jhana have

friend the first drama has five factors

here when a monk has entered upon the

first jhana

there occur

thinking examining thought joy happiness

and unification of mind

now in pali

they use the word

ekagata

and if you look up the definitions of

ikagata there's a lot of different

definitions

poly

scholars generally

they will break

ikaga to down

ika means one

and

means path or way

so there's one way

now they take this to mean

one pointed concentration

and it doesn't mean that

you look at the next word down in the

poly dictionary and it says ikaga

not ikagata

they take the ta off

and it says ikaga means tranquility

means

coming together of the mind so that

that's unified and stays on your object

of meditation without a lot of

distraction

or without any any distraction

so

the

um

almost

everybody in the terravato world will

give the definition

of

a one-pointed

mind

and it's not that

even though your mind can be very

tranquil and be on the object of

meditation without

any distraction

that is a unified mind your mind is

pulled together

everything is very nice

but it's not one pointed because one

pointed infers

that you've been practicing a kind of

meditation where you haven't seen

grieving

and one pointed concentration does not

lead to nibana

if you have one pointed concentration

you never go deep enough

with your understanding

to see

and when you practice vipassana

they are very big on

seeing impermanence suffering and not

self

they don't know what not self is for the

most part

but it says in the mahavaga which is a

book of discipline

it says you can see one or all of these

three characteristics without ever

seeing dependent origination

but when you see dependent origination

you always see these three

characteristics

so the the over emphasis on just seeing

anitra duka anata

is

surface knowledge still

and that's one of the things that blew

my mind because i went to burma for two

years i was very successful at the

practice

i understood impermanence very well

and i wasn't satisfied with the end

result

what they said was nibana i didn't feel

right

so i came back to

malaysia and i started teaching

loving-kindness meditation because i

couldn't teach

with a clear mind i couldn't teach

straight vipassana the way it was being

taught

and

um

i

happened to be at the biggest monastery

in malaysia

and the head monk there

is extremely famous

and every friday night he would give a

talk and he had got so popular that

between three and 500 people would come

and listen to his talk

when i got invited there

the head monk said i'm getting old

i want you to teach every other every

other friday night talk

so

i started getting more and more of a

reputation reputation reputation

of

being successful at teaching

loving-kindness meditation

a monk came through from sri lanka and

stayed there

got up after giving a talk he came down

we started talking about what i was

talking about the night before

and he said i understand you teach

meditation how do you teach it

and i told him

and he said well you're teaching the

meditation right

but you're using the language of the

visuri maga

put down the vesuri maga

put it on the shelf

and just go to the suttas which is

well yeah of course you know

but always before when i'd gone to the

suttas i didn't understand it because

the understanding of the vasudi maga is

different and i was using that as my

main book

so when i put down the vasudi maga

i started reading the suttas i

understood what the suttas were saying

and i also understood

that

people that were practicing straight

vipassana had no

relaxed step

and when i

even to this day i can go up to very

famous teachers

they've been

successfully in their eyes successfully

teaching vipassana meditation for 40 45

years

and i ask them what is craving

how does craving manifest how are you

supposed to recognize it it's talked

about all through the book

and

the basic answer i got from everybody is

desire

and that's not even close to it how are

you supposed to see desire what does

that mean

so when then i start talking to them

about how i see it manifest as tension

in tightness and head

they kind of shrug me off and we go our

separate ways

now

i was a very advanced meditator

and

as soon as i started practicing with

that relaxed step i knew i was going so

much deeper than i ever had before it

was remarkable

so i went

i told the head monk that i was gonna go

out and be by myself for a couple of

weeks i was gonna go to thailand

and i told him where i was going because

there was a

big cave there that i really liked

and

i was

reading a suta in the morning

and then practicing all the rest of the

day

and it got so

interesting

that after two weeks i said i can't quit

i got to keep going

and i wound up doing a self retreat for

about three months

and

then he sent a monk to come get me

so i had to stop

but just by adding this one little tiny

extra step

of relaxing that tension and tightness

that you have in your head

it changed the entire meditation

it went from

one pointed concentration

to an awareness

seeing things start to come up from a

long ways away

and you start to see eventually you

start seeing the links of dependent

origination

and i was in new territory

this book had just come out

and i didn't know anything about this

book

and

somebody said well we just got a whole

bunch of copies of this and

i'll give you a copy of it

and as soon as i started reading the

suit as

everything made sense

and you can tell when a suit that

doesn't fit

you can tell where there's mistakes

if you have the direct practice

now what i tell people when they when

they practice with me for any length of

time i don't want you to read anything

because you read about buddhism you're

just going to get confused

you practice

you listen to dom talks and you practice

i told kema she had to do that for a

year because she was an avid reader of

everything and boy was her mind confused

about buddhism

and then after a year

then i would give her a little tiny

pamphlet to read

and get her to come back and tell me

what it meant

after two years i was giving her

smaller books

after three years i was giving her big

books

and she still complains because i give

her way too much to read she doesn't

have time to read it

but she understands it she understands

it very well because of the practice

when you get around quote buddhist

scholars

they don't know what they're talking

about

because they're using their intellectual

knowledge to try to get answers

and intellectual knowledge is so slow

compared to direct knowledge

so

i don't know why i went off on that

tangent but we'll

continue on now

friend how many factors are abandoned in

the first genre and how many factors are

possessed

friend in the first john of five factors

are abandoned and five factors are

possessed

what are the five factors that are

abandoned

the five hindrances

one of the things that people when they

practice one pointed concentration their

mind goes so deep and

it suppresses any of the hindrances so

they're not able to recognize them when

they get out of that

but the hindrances are your teacher

they're your best friend they're showing

you where your attachment is

and they're helping you to improve your

mindfulness because you have to be able

to recognize it

release it relax smile and come back

and this is not done verbally

this is done in a flow

i gave a talk one time and i was talking

about the six hours or a flow and this

lady said oh you mean we have to roll

our r's

and that was it exactly

here when a monk has entered upon the

first jhana sensual desire is abandoned

ill will is abandoned sloth and torpor

are abandoned restlessness and anxiety

are abandoned

doubt is abandoned

and there occur

thinking examining thought joy happiness

and unification of mine

now how do you tell when you're when

you're in a jhana how do you tell when

you get out of the genre

because a hindrance arises

your mindfulness wasn't sharp enough and

all of a sudden the hindrance is there

how did that happen

how did that arise

when you start looking at how these

things occur

rather than why they occur because why

does it matter

it's all impersonal anyway it's all just

stuff

so you don't need to

get involved in the thinking about why

that's for psychologists to work with

when you start looking at how all of

this stuff happens you start going

deeper into your practice

and it becomes incredibly interesting

and fun

and you want to keep going you don't

want to stop

this is how the first jhana has five

factors are abandoned and five factors

possessed

friend

are these five faculties each

no

friend these five faculties each have a

separate field

a separate domain and do not experience

each other's field and domain that is

the i faculty air faculty knows faculty

tongue faculty

body faculty

now these five factors

each having a separate field a separate

domain do not experience each other's

field in domain

you don't see a smell

right

it's separate

what is their resort

what experiences their fields and

domains

friend these five faculties each have a

separate field a separate domain and do

not experience each other's field and

domain

that is the high faculty year faculty

knows faculty tongue faculty and body

faculty

now these five faculties each having a

separate field a separate domain

not experiencing each other's field and

domain

have mined as their resort

and mine

experiences their fields and domains

friend

as to these five faculties that is the

eye ear nose tongue and body faculty

what do these five faculties stand

independence on

friend

as to these five faculties that is the i

ear nose tongue and body faculty

these five faculties stand independence

on vitality

friend what does vitality stand

independence on

what does it depend on

vitality stands independence on heat

friend what does heat stand independence

on

heat stands independence on vitality

got it

uh just now friend we understood the

venerable sorry put to have said

vitality stands independence on heat

and now we understand him to say

he stands independence on vitality

how should the meaning of these

statements be regarded that's a

reasonable question when you say

in that case friend i shall give you a

simile for some wise men here understand

the meaning of a statement by means of a

simile just as when an oil lamp is

burning

its radiance is seen independence on the

flame

and its flame is seeing independence on

its radiance

can't have one without the other

they depend on each other or you

wouldn't be able to see it

right

okay

vital formations

friend are vital formations things that

can be felt

or are vital formations one thing

that can be felt

one thing and things that can be felt

another

vital formations are not things that can

be felt

if vital formation were things

that can be felt

then a monk who has entered upon the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

would not be seen to emerge from it

they'd be dead

because vital formations are one thing

and things that can be felt another

a monk who has entered upon the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

can be seen to emerge from it

you can sit in

the cessation of perception feeling in

consciousness when you become an onigami

or an

for up to seven days

that's not

seven days of

squirming around

that's not seven days of wanting a drink

of water

or eating food

it's all turned off

heartbeat goes down

very very low

no respiration in the lungs

through the skin

there's no consciousness

one uh suta

where this one

ascetic

got into a deep

state of uh

absorption concentration

and he was sitting behind a

beside a stream of water

and there was 500 bullet carts that went

by him

and he said he didn't even he didn't

even know that that happened

so

the person he was talking to went to the

buddha and said yeah that's pretty good

what do you think

and the buddha said well

i was sitting in neither perception

feeling perception or consciousness

and i was in a barn and there was some

lightning that struck right beside the

barn and killed

an oxen and two people

and i didn't know that it happened

why because there was no feeling

perception or consciousness

until you come out

so you can say well these two states are

very close to being the same but they're

not

because this other this other ascetic

was sitting there he was breathing he

was doing all the things that

keep the body going

it was pretty noisy i mean 500 carts

bullet carts going through some water

right beside you this is going to be a

noisy thing

but there was still

he had the awareness that it was there

but he didn't pay attention to it

but the buddha

didn't even know that happened until he

got out of that state

and he got out of the barn and there's

all these people rushing around doing

this and that with the different bodies

and that sort of thing and what

happened oh somebody got struck by

lightning

killed him

oh okay

friend

when this body is bereaved of how many

states is it then discarded forsaken

left lying senseless like a log

friend when a body is bereaved of three

states

vitality

heat

and consciousness

it is then discarded and forsaken left

lying senseless like a log

friend

what is the difference between one

who is dead

who has completed his time and a monk

who has entered upon the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

friend

in the case of one who is dead

who has completed his time his bodily

formations have ceased

and subsided

his verbal formations have ceased and

subsided his mental formations have

ceased and subsided

his vitality is exhausted

his heat has been dissipated

and his faculties are fully broken up

in the case of a monk who has entered

upon a cessation a perception feeling

and consciousness

his bodily formations have ceased and

subsided

as verbal formations have ceased and

subsided his mental formations have

ceased and subsided

but his vitality is not exhausted

his heat has not not been dissipated

and his faculties became exceptionally

clear

anytime you see somebody that is

exceptionally clear and they're glowing

give them a gift

do yourself a favor it'll come back to

you a lot of times in a lot of wonderful

ways

this is the difference between one who

is dead who has completed his time and a

monk who has entered upon the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment of neither

painful nor pleasant deliverance of

mind

there are four conditions

for the attainment of neither painful

nor pleasant deliverance of mind we're

talking about the fourth jhana

here

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

with the previous disappearance of joy

and grief

a monk enters upon and abides in the

fourth jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

these are the four conditions

for the attainment of neither painful

nor pleasant deliverance of mind

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment of the signless

deliverance of mine what is a signless

deliverance of mine

there are these two conditions for the

attainment of the signless deliverance

of mind

non-attention to all signs and attention

to the signless element

these are the two conditions for the

attainment of the

signless deliverance of mine

friend how many conditions are there for

the persistence of the signless

deliverance of mine

there are three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverer

little deliverance of mine

non-attention to all signs attention to

the signless element

and the prior

determination of its duration

now i

have you making determinations and

getting up at night

getting up or what time to get up in the

morning and

waking up smiling and happy you do that

every day this is a lightweight

determination

but your mind gets used to it after a

while and you can hit the time exactly

so you don't need an alarm clock you you

just set in your mind i'm gonna sleep

for

until

this time

and then you get up

when you make uh

determinations in

gaining mastery of the jonas

you do this by

making a determination for 15 minutes

okay

i'm gonna sit in the first i'm going to

sit no higher than the first jhana

4 14 minutes and 51 seconds

for

15 minutes and eight seconds

when you can hit that every time

then

you do it for

29 minutes and

19 seconds

and you can hit that every time then you

do it for an hour

after you do it for an hour

you make a determination that you're

going to go in and out

of that drama in six seconds

and when you can hit that every time

then you go to the second job

so you start working with your

determinations that way

that is

takes a lot more skill

but

there are real advantages to do that

because you can get into any genre that

you want to point your mind at

you know you you get with somebody

that's highly emotional or they're

getting close to death

you want them to feel peaceful and calm

you make a determination to be in a

fourth journal while you're there with

that person

you're fully awake you can talk to them

you can do all kinds of different things

so being able to use these genres

whenever you want is a very nice skill

okay

these are the three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverance

of mine

friend how many conditions are there for

the emergence from the signless

deliverance of mind

friend there are these two conditions

for the emergence of the signless

deliverance of mine

attention to all signs and non-attention

to the signless element

these are the two conditions

for the emergence of the signless

deliverance of mind

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

the signless deliverance of mind

are these states different in meaning

and different in name or are they one in

meaning and different in name only

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

the signless deliverance of mind

there is a way in which these states are

different in meaning and different in

name

and there is a way in which they are one

in meaning and different in name only

friend

what is the way in which these states

are different in meaning and different

in name

here are monkabai's pervading one

quarter of their mind imbued with loving

kindness likewise the second likewise

the third

likewise the fourth

so above below around and everywhere

and to all as to himself

sound familiar

six directions

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

world with a mind imbued with loving

kindness

abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill will

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind with compassion

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind with altruistic joy

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind imbued with equanimity

the brahma viharas

likewise the second likewise the third

like

like likewise the fourth so above below

around and everywhere

as to all himself

to all as to himself

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

world with a mind imbued with equanimity

abundant exalted immeasurable without

hostility and out without ill will

this is called the immeasurable

deliverance of mine

and what friend is a deliverance of mine

through nothingness

here with the complete surmounting of

the base of infinite consciousness

aware that there is nothing

a monk enters upon and abides in the

base of nothingness

this is called the deliverance of mind

through nothingness

and what friends is a deliverance of

mine through voidness

here a monk gone to the forest or to the

root of a tree or an empty hut reflects

thus

this is void of a self

or of what belongs to a self

this is called the deliverance of mind

true voidness now what are we talking

about here

developing a mind that has

no craving

not me it's not mine none of this stuff

that comes up in other words when you

you get to that state

you start getting dispassionate

yeah it's there but it's not mine

came up by itself

it's just stuff

and what friend is the signless

deliverance of mine

here with a non-attention to all signs

a monk enters upon and abides in the

signless collectedness of mind

this is called the signless deliverance

of mind

and this is the way in which these

states are different in meaning and

different in name

and what friend is a way in which these

states are one in meaning and different

in name only

lust is a maker of

measurement hate is a maker of

measurement

delusion is a maker of measurement

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm tree

or palm stump

done away with so they are no longer

subject to future arising

what is lust hatred and delusion

another way of describing

gravy

i like it

i don't like it i

that's what delusion is

see that's another definition that you

don't you don't get outside of buddhism

because delusion means you're deluded

you haven't got a clue well with

any time you take something personally

you don't have a clue

everything is part of an impersonal

process

of all the kinds of measurement

deliverance of mine

all

of all the kinds of immeasurable

deliverance of mine

the unshakable deliverance of mine is

pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust

void of hate

and void of delusion

it's void of craving

lust

is a something

hate

is a something

delusion is a something

if a monk whose taints are destroyed in

a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so that there are no longer subject to

future arising

of all the kinds of deliverance of mind

through nothingness

the

unshakable deliverance of mine

is pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

lust is a maker of signs

hate is a maker of signs

delusion is a maker of signs

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so they are no longer subject to future

arising

of all the kinds of signless deliverance

of mind the unshakeable deliverance of

mine is pronounced the best

now that unshakeable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

that is the way in which these states

are one in meaning and different in name

only

that is what the venerable sorry buddha

said the venerable mahakahito was

satisfied and delighted in sorry putta's

words

so that gives you some idea

about what cognition is

and how

cognition feeling and perception are

intertwined

now in the book it only talks about

feeling and perception and i add end

consciousness

because these are conjoined

not disjoint

so you can't have just these two by

themselves you have to have the

consciousness along with it

okay

you have any questions

okay what exactly is a sign

anything any kind of distraction

but it's caused by craving

it does and i can't remember

exactly what it is

i'll have to go back and look in the

books again

well did they use the wrong word

clearly

no but what they do is

they take ika i mean they try to make it

a compound word and it's not supposed to

be it's supposed to be ikagada

but because they want to get fancy with

their uh

intellectual pursuit they

break it apart

yeah the second or third translation of

uh ikagata

is tranquility

but i like the word unification of mine

now look at the word unification uni

one pulling together

everything coming together

and think of the word universe

uni

verse

what is that saying

one song

cute

okay

let's share some merit then

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving should all grief and

male beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

new beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and naga's mighty powers share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddhist

dispensation

you

today is july

19th

2012.

damasuka meditation center the suta

tonight is the mahavida

the greater series of questions and

answers

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jettas grove anathen penbika's park

then when it was evening the venerable

mahakohita rose from meditation went to

the venerable sariputta

exchanged greetings with him

when this courteous and amiable talk was

finished he sat down at one side and

said to the venerable sariputta

one who is unwise

one who is unwise friend

with reference to what is this said one

who is unwise

one does not wisely understand one does

not wisely understand friend

that's why it was said one who is unwise

and what does one what doesn't one

wisely understand

one doesn't wisely understand this is

suffering

okay in the same nikaya

number 14 for this is called the

brahmans and

aesthetics and brahmas

monks as to those ascetics and brahmanas

who do not understand these things

that is the first noble truth

the origin of these things that is the

second noble truth the cessation of

these things third noble truth

and the way leading to the cessation of

these things now what are these things

they do not understand whose origin they

don't understand whose cessation

they don't understand in a way leading

to whose cessation they don't understand

they do not understand aging and death

it's origin its cessation and the way

leading to its cessation

they do not understand birth

see they go going through all of the

links of dependent origination each link

has

the previous link as the origin

or as as the suffering

and the origin is the previous link and

the cessation is

six r's

okay

now here is a key

key phrase

those who do not understand

i do not consider to be ascetics among

ascetics or brahmanas among brahmanas

these venerable ones who do not by

realizing it for themselves with direct

knowledge in this very life

enter and dwell in the goal of

asceticism and the or the goal of

brahminhood

now what does that say

that says that if you don't see the

links of dependent origination you're

not going to attain nibana

it's pretty plain

which is

very much missing in 95 of the people

that practice for 99 of the people that

practice meditation they miss this

connection

you hear me talking a lot about

dependent origination about feeling and

contact and clinging and habitual

tendency

because that's the backbone of the

teaching

this is

the essence

of the teaching this is the only way

that will lead you

to nibana

by seeing and recognizing these links of

dependent origination

so

one who is in unwise

and what doesn't one wisely understand

one doesn't wisely understand this is

suffering

every link is suffering

one doesn't wisely understand this is

the origin of the suffering the previous

link

is the origin of that link arising

now i make such a big emphasis on

craving

why

because that's the start

of your ego

identification with everything that

arises that's the very start of it

everything before that

arises because of

past action

then when you get to craving

i've given you the key about the tension

and tightness in your head

what happens when you let go of that

tension and tightness

clinging doesn't arise

and if clinging doesn't arise habitual

tendency won't arise

if habitual tendency doesn't arise and

birth doesn't arise

if birth doesn't arise

sorrow and lamentation pain grief and

despair don't arise

it's that simple

now there's there's

two different kinds of nibana

one is the mundane kind of nibana and

one is the super mundane nibana

the mundane nibana you will experience

many thousands many hundreds of

thousands of times before you get to see

the super mundane nibana

i wrote about this on a website there

was a

i was joined up with a group that was

into meditation and that sort of thing

and i came out and said that and they're

they were all shocked

where did you hear that how do you know

that

well

i practice it

and

this is how monks teach

so

one does not wisely understand this is a

cessation of suffering what does that

mean

now you can say that there

is

craving there's the origin of craving

there's the cessation of craving in the

way leading to the cessation of craving

what is that

come on

six ours

and that's true too i mean

but i was looking for a specific

one does not wisely understand

this is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

one does not wisely understand one does

not wisely understand friend that is why

it is said one who is unwise

saying good friend the venerable maha

kohita

was

foremost in the buddhist asana in

sitting in meditation that's all he did

so the venerable maha kohita

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words then he asked a

further question

one who is wise one who is wise is said

friend

with reference to what was this said one

who is wise

one wisely understands one wisely

understands friend

that's why it is said one who is wise

what does one wisely understand

one wisely understands this is suffering

one wisely understands this is the

origin of suffering

one wisely understands this is the

cessation of suffering

one wisely understands

this is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

one wisely understands one wisely

understands friend that's why it is said

one who is wise

now this is one of the reasons that i

say every time you hear wiser wisdom

it's talking about the links of

dependent origination

one of the problems that we have

especially

in english

is that we have

standard definitions

but the definitions

for buddhism are decidedly different

like

ignorance

the word ignorance everybody thinks

you're stupid

and that doesn't have anything to do

with that

it means you're ignoring the four noble

truths

so

uh there's a special kind of language

that you have to be able to

if you want to teach you have to be able

to show other people this language

that's one of the reasons i'm i'm more

interested in definitions

because

there are very specific definitions and

meanings for

these words that are used here

but if the person isn't taught that

you go and you say well

what is

i went to a church one time

and this minister talked for 15 minutes

about developing wisdom

and he never told you what wisdom was

wow

so you you talk to the ordinary person

it just they'll give you

the definition just like for mindfulness

it means to be mindful

what is wisdom means to be wise

what does that mean

so

having very specific definitions is is a

really important part of this practice

consciousness consciousness is said

friend with reference to what is

consciousness said

it cognizes

it cognizes friend that's why

consciousness is said

what does it cognize

it cognizes

this is pleasant

it cognizes this is painful

it cognizes this is neither painful nor

pleasant it cognizes

now when you

recognize

that means you're using your memory

and you're not in the present moment

the only time you can actually cognize

anything is when you're in the present

moment

and you see something similar then you

start thinking oh i've already seen

something like this before

so you're recognizing and you're out of

the present moment because

you're getting into

your conceptual thinking

every thought is a concept

direct experience doesn't have anything

to do with thinking

being in the present moment means you

see and you cognize what's happening in

that moment

this is why

consciousness has said

wisdom and consciousness friend

are these states conjoined or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

wisdom and consciousness friends these

states are conjoined not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

for what

one wisely understands

remember wisely is talking about the

links

that one cognizes

and what one

cognizes that one wisely understands

easy right

it's only taken me 15 years to figure

all this stuff out not bad

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoint

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the other in order to

describe the difference between them

so

mahakohita just got told

you can't separate them

okay

next question

what's the difference

between wisdom and consciousness these

states that are conjoined not disjoint

the difference friend between wisdom and

consciousness these states that are

conjoined not disjoint is this

wisdom is to be developed

and consciousness is to be fully

understood

see how you can you can't have one

without the other

is said friend

with reference to what is feeling said

it feels

it feels friend

that is why feeling is said what does it

feel

it feels pleasure it feels pain it feels

neither pain or pleasure it feels it

feels friend

that's why feeling is said

perception

perception friend

is said friend with reference to what is

perception say it said

it perceives

it perceives friend

that is why perception is said

what does it perceive

it perceives blue in other words you're

starting to get into your conceptual

uh naming of things

it perceives yellow it perceives red it

perceives white it perceives it

perceives friend

that's why perception is said

feeling

perception and consciousness friend are

these that these these states conjoined

or disjoined

and is it possible to separate each of

these states from the other

in order to describe the difference

between them

feeling perception and consciousness

friend these states are conjoined not

disjoined

and it is impossible to separate each of

these states from the others in order to

describe the difference between them

for what one feels

that one perceives

and what one perceives

that one cognizes

now think about the five aggregates

you have body

feeling

perception formations

and consciousness

but actually these three

are conjoined

so if you want to be

absolutely

precise

there aren't five aggregates there are

three aggregates body

feeling perception and consciousness and

formations

that is why these states are conjoined

not disjoined and it is impossible to

separate each of these states from the

others in order to describe the

difference between them

friend

what can be known by purified mind

consciousness

released from the five faculties

friend by purified mind consciousness

released from the five faculties

the base of infinite space can be known

thus

space is infinite

the base of infinite consciousness can

be known thus

consciousness is infinite

the base of nothingness can be known

thus

there is nothing

now

what are we talking about here we're

talking about the arupa-janas

because that is a mind state

okay

friend

with what does one understand the state

that can be known

friend one under state understands a

state that can be known with

the eye of

wisdom

what does that mean

what is the eye of wisdom

close but no cigar the faculty developed

no cigar

what is the eye of wisdom

the thing that actually sees

consciousness

unfold

getting closer

the eye of wisdom is what cognizes

and you can only cognize when there is

no craving in your mind at that time

that's what the eye of wisdom is all

about

friend what is the purpose of wisdom

the purpose of wisdom friend is direct

knowledge

its purpose is full understanding

its purpose is abandoning

makes sense huh

what are you

abandoning any belief that whatever

arises

is personal

and that means no more craving

friend how many conditions are there for

the arising of right view

friend there are two conditions for the

arising of right view

the voice of another person

and wise attention

why do you need the voice of another

person

because you can't figure it out on your

own

that's actually the truth

and what voice do we use

we use the buddha's voice

because he's the one that figured it out

doesn't have anything to do with me i'm

too dumb to figure this kind of stuff

out

these are the two conditions for the

arising of right view

friend by how many factors is right view

assisted

when it has deliverance of mind for its

fruit

deliverance of mine for

um

deliverance of mine for the path

and deliverance of mine for

the fruit

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path and deliverance by wisdom for

its path and

and fruition

never a dull moment around here

friend right view is assisted by five

factors when it has deliverance of mind

for its path

deliverance of mind for its path and

fruition

when it has deliverance by wisdom for

its path

and deliverance by wisdom for its path

and fruition

here friend

right view is assisted by virtue

learning

discussion

serenity

and insight

right view is assisted by these five

factors

right view assisted by these five

factors has deliverance of mind for its

path

deliverance of mind for his path and

fruition

it has deliverance of

by wisdom for its path

deliverance by wisdom for its path and

fruition

friend

how many kinds of

distractions

are there

there are these three kinds of

distraction friends since fear

distraction

material

fine material

distraction and immaterial distraction

now i changed the word from being

because that's not really as close as

distraction is

now these these three kinds of

distraction

since fear is a big distraction

getting into jhana

can be a big distraction

and getting into the material genres

even though it's not much

it's still some distraction it still

pulls you away

friend how is a renewal of

uh distraction in the future generated

friend renewal of destruction in the

future is generated through the

delighting in this and that

on the part of beings who are hindered

by ignorance

and fettered by

craving

you see how all the teaching i've been

giving you they're just kind of weaving

together

just like a fine cloth

friend how is renewal

of distractions in the future not

generated

friend with the fading away of ignorance

with the arising of true knowledge

and with the cessation of craving

renewal of distractions in the future is

not generated

so you have to go up to the

these factors for right view and look at

that again

because

where'd they go

it was on page before

that was on this one

over these five factors

it is assisted by virtue keeping your

precepts without breaking them

learning

from direct knowledge

discussion

serenity and insight

okay

that's how dis

distractions

are not brought into the future

first jhana friend what is the first

jhana

here friend quite secluded from sensual

pleasures secluded from unwholesome

states

a monk enters upon and abides in the

first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought with joy

and pleasure born of seclusion

this is called the first jhana

friend how many factors does the first

jhana have

friend the first drama has five factors

here when a monk has entered upon the

first jhana

there occur

thinking examining thought joy happiness

and unification of mind

now in pali

they use the word

ekagata

and if you look up the definitions of

ikagata there's a lot of different

definitions

poly

scholars generally

they will break

ikaga to down

ika means one

and

means path or way

so there's one way

now they take this to mean

one pointed concentration

and it doesn't mean that

you look at the next word down in the

poly dictionary and it says ikaga

not ikagata

they take the ta off

and it says ikaga means tranquility

means

coming together of the mind so that

that's unified and stays on your object

of meditation without a lot of

distraction

or without any any distraction

so

the

um

almost

everybody in the terravato world will

give the definition

of

a one-pointed

mind

and it's not that

even though your mind can be very

tranquil and be on the object of

meditation without

any distraction

that is a unified mind your mind is

pulled together

everything is very nice

but it's not one pointed because one

pointed infers

that you've been practicing a kind of

meditation where you haven't seen

grieving

and one pointed concentration does not

lead to nibana

if you have one pointed concentration

you never go deep enough

with your understanding

to see

and when you practice vipassana

they are very big on

seeing impermanence suffering and not

self

they don't know what not self is for the

most part

but it says in the mahavaga which is a

book of discipline

it says you can see one or all of these

three characteristics without ever

seeing dependent origination

but when you see dependent origination

you always see these three

characteristics

so the the over emphasis on just seeing

anitra duka anata

is

surface knowledge still

and that's one of the things that blew

my mind because i went to burma for two

years i was very successful at the

practice

i understood impermanence very well

and i wasn't satisfied with the end

result

what they said was nibana i didn't feel

right

so i came back to

malaysia and i started teaching

loving-kindness meditation because i

couldn't teach

with a clear mind i couldn't teach

straight vipassana the way it was being

taught

and

um

i

happened to be at the biggest monastery

in malaysia

and the head monk there

is extremely famous

and every friday night he would give a

talk and he had got so popular that

between three and 500 people would come

and listen to his talk

when i got invited there

the head monk said i'm getting old

i want you to teach every other every

other friday night talk

so

i started getting more and more of a

reputation reputation reputation

of

being successful at teaching

loving-kindness meditation

a monk came through from sri lanka and

stayed there

got up after giving a talk he came down

we started talking about what i was

talking about the night before

and he said i understand you teach

meditation how do you teach it

and i told him

and he said well you're teaching the

meditation right

but you're using the language of the

visuri maga

put down the vesuri maga

put it on the shelf

and just go to the suttas which is

well yeah of course you know

but always before when i'd gone to the

suttas i didn't understand it because

the understanding of the vasudi maga is

different and i was using that as my

main book

so when i put down the vasudi maga

i started reading the suttas i

understood what the suttas were saying

and i also understood

that

people that were practicing straight

vipassana had no

relaxed step

and when i

even to this day i can go up to very

famous teachers

they've been

successfully in their eyes successfully

teaching vipassana meditation for 40 45

years

and i ask them what is craving

how does craving manifest how are you

supposed to recognize it it's talked

about all through the book

and

the basic answer i got from everybody is

desire

and that's not even close to it how are

you supposed to see desire what does

that mean

so when then i start talking to them

about how i see it manifest as tension

in tightness and head

they kind of shrug me off and we go our

separate ways

now

i was a very advanced meditator

and

as soon as i started practicing with

that relaxed step i knew i was going so

much deeper than i ever had before it

was remarkable

so i went

i told the head monk that i was gonna go

out and be by myself for a couple of

weeks i was gonna go to thailand

and i told him where i was going because

there was a

big cave there that i really liked

and

i was

reading a suta in the morning

and then practicing all the rest of the

day

and it got so

interesting

that after two weeks i said i can't quit

i got to keep going

and i wound up doing a self retreat for

about three months

and

then he sent a monk to come get me

so i had to stop

but just by adding this one little tiny

extra step

of relaxing that tension and tightness

that you have in your head

it changed the entire meditation

it went from

one pointed concentration

to an awareness

seeing things start to come up from a

long ways away

and you start to see eventually you

start seeing the links of dependent

origination

and i was in new territory

this book had just come out

and i didn't know anything about this

book

and

somebody said well we just got a whole

bunch of copies of this and

i'll give you a copy of it

and as soon as i started reading the

suit as

everything made sense

and you can tell when a suit that

doesn't fit

you can tell where there's mistakes

if you have the direct practice

now what i tell people when they when

they practice with me for any length of

time i don't want you to read anything

because you read about buddhism you're

just going to get confused

you practice

you listen to dom talks and you practice

i told kema she had to do that for a

year because she was an avid reader of

everything and boy was her mind confused

about buddhism

and then after a year

then i would give her a little tiny

pamphlet to read

and get her to come back and tell me

what it meant

after two years i was giving her

smaller books

after three years i was giving her big

books

and she still complains because i give

her way too much to read she doesn't

have time to read it

but she understands it she understands

it very well because of the practice

when you get around quote buddhist

scholars

they don't know what they're talking

about

because they're using their intellectual

knowledge to try to get answers

and intellectual knowledge is so slow

compared to direct knowledge

so

i don't know why i went off on that

tangent but we'll

continue on now

friend how many factors are abandoned in

the first genre and how many factors are

possessed

friend in the first john of five factors

are abandoned and five factors are

possessed

what are the five factors that are

abandoned

the five hindrances

one of the things that people when they

practice one pointed concentration their

mind goes so deep and

it suppresses any of the hindrances so

they're not able to recognize them when

they get out of that

but the hindrances are your teacher

they're your best friend they're showing

you where your attachment is

and they're helping you to improve your

mindfulness because you have to be able

to recognize it

release it relax smile and come back

and this is not done verbally

this is done in a flow

i gave a talk one time and i was talking

about the six hours or a flow and this

lady said oh you mean we have to roll

our r's

and that was it exactly

here when a monk has entered upon the

first jhana sensual desire is abandoned

ill will is abandoned sloth and torpor

are abandoned restlessness and anxiety

are abandoned

doubt is abandoned

and there occur

thinking examining thought joy happiness

and unification of mine

now how do you tell when you're when

you're in a jhana how do you tell when

you get out of the genre

because a hindrance arises

your mindfulness wasn't sharp enough and

all of a sudden the hindrance is there

how did that happen

how did that arise

when you start looking at how these

things occur

rather than why they occur because why

does it matter

it's all impersonal anyway it's all just

stuff

so you don't need to

get involved in the thinking about why

that's for psychologists to work with

when you start looking at how all of

this stuff happens you start going

deeper into your practice

and it becomes incredibly interesting

and fun

and you want to keep going you don't

want to stop

this is how the first jhana has five

factors are abandoned and five factors

possessed

friend

are these five faculties each

no

friend these five faculties each have a

separate field

a separate domain and do not experience

each other's field and domain that is

the i faculty air faculty knows faculty

tongue faculty

body faculty

now these five factors

each having a separate field a separate

domain do not experience each other's

field in domain

you don't see a smell

right

it's separate

what is their resort

what experiences their fields and

domains

friend these five faculties each have a

separate field a separate domain and do

not experience each other's field and

domain

that is the high faculty year faculty

knows faculty tongue faculty and body

faculty

now these five faculties each having a

separate field a separate domain

not experiencing each other's field and

domain

have mined as their resort

and mine

experiences their fields and domains

friend

as to these five faculties that is the

eye ear nose tongue and body faculty

what do these five faculties stand

independence on

friend

as to these five faculties that is the i

ear nose tongue and body faculty

these five faculties stand independence

on vitality

friend what does vitality stand

independence on

what does it depend on

vitality stands independence on heat

friend what does heat stand independence

on

heat stands independence on vitality

got it

uh just now friend we understood the

venerable sorry put to have said

vitality stands independence on heat

and now we understand him to say

he stands independence on vitality

how should the meaning of these

statements be regarded that's a

reasonable question when you say

in that case friend i shall give you a

simile for some wise men here understand

the meaning of a statement by means of a

simile just as when an oil lamp is

burning

its radiance is seen independence on the

flame

and its flame is seeing independence on

its radiance

can't have one without the other

they depend on each other or you

wouldn't be able to see it

right

okay

vital formations

friend are vital formations things that

can be felt

or are vital formations one thing

that can be felt

one thing and things that can be felt

another

vital formations are not things that can

be felt

if vital formation were things

that can be felt

then a monk who has entered upon the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

would not be seen to emerge from it

they'd be dead

because vital formations are one thing

and things that can be felt another

a monk who has entered upon the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

can be seen to emerge from it

you can sit in

the cessation of perception feeling in

consciousness when you become an onigami

or an

for up to seven days

that's not

seven days of

squirming around

that's not seven days of wanting a drink

of water

or eating food

it's all turned off

heartbeat goes down

very very low

no respiration in the lungs

through the skin

there's no consciousness

one uh suta

where this one

ascetic

got into a deep

state of uh

absorption concentration

and he was sitting behind a

beside a stream of water

and there was 500 bullet carts that went

by him

and he said he didn't even he didn't

even know that that happened

so

the person he was talking to went to the

buddha and said yeah that's pretty good

what do you think

and the buddha said well

i was sitting in neither perception

feeling perception or consciousness

and i was in a barn and there was some

lightning that struck right beside the

barn and killed

an oxen and two people

and i didn't know that it happened

why because there was no feeling

perception or consciousness

until you come out

so you can say well these two states are

very close to being the same but they're

not

because this other this other ascetic

was sitting there he was breathing he

was doing all the things that

keep the body going

it was pretty noisy i mean 500 carts

bullet carts going through some water

right beside you this is going to be a

noisy thing

but there was still

he had the awareness that it was there

but he didn't pay attention to it

but the buddha

didn't even know that happened until he

got out of that state

and he got out of the barn and there's

all these people rushing around doing

this and that with the different bodies

and that sort of thing and what

happened oh somebody got struck by

lightning

killed him

oh okay

friend

when this body is bereaved of how many

states is it then discarded forsaken

left lying senseless like a log

friend when a body is bereaved of three

states

vitality

heat

and consciousness

it is then discarded and forsaken left

lying senseless like a log

friend

what is the difference between one

who is dead

who has completed his time and a monk

who has entered upon the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

friend

in the case of one who is dead

who has completed his time his bodily

formations have ceased

and subsided

his verbal formations have ceased and

subsided his mental formations have

ceased and subsided

his vitality is exhausted

his heat has been dissipated

and his faculties are fully broken up

in the case of a monk who has entered

upon a cessation a perception feeling

and consciousness

his bodily formations have ceased and

subsided

as verbal formations have ceased and

subsided his mental formations have

ceased and subsided

but his vitality is not exhausted

his heat has not not been dissipated

and his faculties became exceptionally

clear

anytime you see somebody that is

exceptionally clear and they're glowing

give them a gift

do yourself a favor it'll come back to

you a lot of times in a lot of wonderful

ways

this is the difference between one who

is dead who has completed his time and a

monk who has entered upon the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment of neither

painful nor pleasant deliverance of

mind

there are four conditions

for the attainment of neither painful

nor pleasant deliverance of mind we're

talking about the fourth jhana

here

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

with the previous disappearance of joy

and grief

a monk enters upon and abides in the

fourth jhana

which has neither pain nor pleasure and

purity of mindfulness due to equanimity

these are the four conditions

for the attainment of neither painful

nor pleasant deliverance of mind

friend how many conditions are there for

the attainment of the signless

deliverance of mine what is a signless

deliverance of mine

there are these two conditions for the

attainment of the signless deliverance

of mind

non-attention to all signs and attention

to the signless element

these are the two conditions for the

attainment of the

signless deliverance of mine

friend how many conditions are there for

the persistence of the signless

deliverance of mine

there are three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverer

little deliverance of mine

non-attention to all signs attention to

the signless element

and the prior

determination of its duration

now i

have you making determinations and

getting up at night

getting up or what time to get up in the

morning and

waking up smiling and happy you do that

every day this is a lightweight

determination

but your mind gets used to it after a

while and you can hit the time exactly

so you don't need an alarm clock you you

just set in your mind i'm gonna sleep

for

until

this time

and then you get up

when you make uh

determinations in

gaining mastery of the jonas

you do this by

making a determination for 15 minutes

okay

i'm gonna sit in the first i'm going to

sit no higher than the first jhana

4 14 minutes and 51 seconds

for

15 minutes and eight seconds

when you can hit that every time

then

you do it for

29 minutes and

19 seconds

and you can hit that every time then you

do it for an hour

after you do it for an hour

you make a determination that you're

going to go in and out

of that drama in six seconds

and when you can hit that every time

then you go to the second job

so you start working with your

determinations that way

that is

takes a lot more skill

but

there are real advantages to do that

because you can get into any genre that

you want to point your mind at

you know you you get with somebody

that's highly emotional or they're

getting close to death

you want them to feel peaceful and calm

you make a determination to be in a

fourth journal while you're there with

that person

you're fully awake you can talk to them

you can do all kinds of different things

so being able to use these genres

whenever you want is a very nice skill

okay

these are the three conditions for the

persistence of the signless deliverance

of mine

friend how many conditions are there for

the emergence from the signless

deliverance of mind

friend there are these two conditions

for the emergence of the signless

deliverance of mine

attention to all signs and non-attention

to the signless element

these are the two conditions

for the emergence of the signless

deliverance of mind

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

the signless deliverance of mind

are these states different in meaning

and different in name or are they one in

meaning and different in name only

friend the immeasurable deliverance of

mind

the deliverance of mind through

nothingness

the deliverance of mind through voidness

the signless deliverance of mind

there is a way in which these states are

different in meaning and different in

name

and there is a way in which they are one

in meaning and different in name only

friend

what is the way in which these states

are different in meaning and different

in name

here are monkabai's pervading one

quarter of their mind imbued with loving

kindness likewise the second likewise

the third

likewise the fourth

so above below around and everywhere

and to all as to himself

sound familiar

six directions

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

world with a mind imbued with loving

kindness

abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill will

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind with compassion

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind with altruistic joy

he abides pervading one quarter of his

mind imbued with equanimity

the brahma viharas

likewise the second likewise the third

like

like likewise the fourth so above below

around and everywhere

as to all himself

to all as to himself

he abides pervading the all-encompassing

world with a mind imbued with equanimity

abundant exalted immeasurable without

hostility and out without ill will

this is called the immeasurable

deliverance of mine

and what friend is a deliverance of mine

through nothingness

here with the complete surmounting of

the base of infinite consciousness

aware that there is nothing

a monk enters upon and abides in the

base of nothingness

this is called the deliverance of mind

through nothingness

and what friends is a deliverance of

mine through voidness

here a monk gone to the forest or to the

root of a tree or an empty hut reflects

thus

this is void of a self

or of what belongs to a self

this is called the deliverance of mind

true voidness now what are we talking

about here

developing a mind that has

no craving

not me it's not mine none of this stuff

that comes up in other words when you

you get to that state

you start getting dispassionate

yeah it's there but it's not mine

came up by itself

it's just stuff

and what friend is the signless

deliverance of mine

here with a non-attention to all signs

a monk enters upon and abides in the

signless collectedness of mind

this is called the signless deliverance

of mind

and this is the way in which these

states are different in meaning and

different in name

and what friend is a way in which these

states are one in meaning and different

in name only

lust is a maker of

measurement hate is a maker of

measurement

delusion is a maker of measurement

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm tree

or palm stump

done away with so they are no longer

subject to future arising

what is lust hatred and delusion

another way of describing

gravy

i like it

i don't like it i

that's what delusion is

see that's another definition that you

don't you don't get outside of buddhism

because delusion means you're deluded

you haven't got a clue well with

any time you take something personally

you don't have a clue

everything is part of an impersonal

process

of all the kinds of measurement

deliverance of mine

all

of all the kinds of immeasurable

deliverance of mine

the unshakable deliverance of mine is

pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust

void of hate

and void of delusion

it's void of craving

lust

is a something

hate

is a something

delusion is a something

if a monk whose taints are destroyed in

a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so that there are no longer subject to

future arising

of all the kinds of deliverance of mind

through nothingness

the

unshakable deliverance of mine

is pronounced the best

now that unshakable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

lust is a maker of signs

hate is a maker of signs

delusion is a maker of signs

in a monk whose taints are destroyed

these are abandoned cut off at the root

made like a palm stump done away with

so they are no longer subject to future

arising

of all the kinds of signless deliverance

of mind the unshakeable deliverance of

mine is pronounced the best

now that unshakeable deliverance of mine

is void of lust void of hate and void of

delusion

that is the way in which these states

are one in meaning and different in name

only

that is what the venerable sorry buddha

said the venerable mahakahito was

satisfied and delighted in sorry putta's

words

so that gives you some idea

about what cognition is

and how

cognition feeling and perception are

intertwined

now in the book it only talks about

feeling and perception and i add end

consciousness

because these are conjoined

not disjoint

so you can't have just these two by

themselves you have to have the

consciousness along with it

okay

you have any questions

okay what exactly is a sign

anything any kind of distraction

but it's caused by craving

it does and i can't remember

exactly what it is

i'll have to go back and look in the

books again

well did they use the wrong word

clearly

no but what they do is

they take ika i mean they try to make it

a compound word and it's not supposed to

be it's supposed to be ikagada

but because they want to get fancy with

their uh

intellectual pursuit they

break it apart

yeah the second or third translation of

uh ikagata

is tranquility

but i like the word unification of mine

now look at the word unification uni

one pulling together

everything coming together

and think of the word universe

uni

verse

what is that saying

one song

cute

okay

let's share some merit then

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving should all grief and

male beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

new beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and naga's mighty powers share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddhist

dispensation

you