From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tS42kxZiYC0

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

[Music]

yeah so today we are going to be

discussing majime nikaya number nine

which is the samadith suta or right view

so i want you all to pay very close

attention because we're going to be

detailing a lot of the a lot of

information

regarding each of the links of dependent

origination

and as you'll see it's

using the

formula of the four noble truths

as a way of understanding

what that link is and how to use the

eightfold path

to cease that particular link

and anytime you hear the noble eightfold

path

understand that to be

talking about the six r's

thus have i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at savathi in

jettas grove anata pindakis park

there the venerable sariputta addressed

the bhikkhu's dust

friends beakers friend they replied

the venerable sariputta said this

one a right view one or right view is

said friends

in what way is a noble disciple one of

right view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dharma

and has arrived at this true dhamma

indeed friend we would come from far

away to learn from the venerable

sarikuta the meaning of this statement

it would be good if the venerable

sariputta would explain the meaning of

the statement

having heard it from him

the bekuz will remember it

then friends listen and attend to what i

attend closely to what i shall say

yes friends the beakers replied

so when we talk about right view that is

the first factor of the noble eightfold

path

and right view has two understandings

there is the mundane and there is the

super monday

the mundane has to do with the

understanding of karma and rebirth

in other words one understands that our

actions have consequences

wholesome actions have

wholesome consequences

unwholesome

unwholesome actions have unwholesome

consequences

there is also the understanding that we

came into this world

we came into this existence

and we should be grateful for those who

brought us into this existence

and that there is the dhamma and that

there are those who know and understand

the dharma and we should pay respect to

them

this is really part of the mundane right

view

the super mundane right view has to do

with the four noble truths

that is to say

the first noble truth of suffering of

zuka

the second noble truth of the cause of

suffering which is craving

the third noble truth of the cessation

of suffering

and the fourth noble truth of the noble

eightfold path

when somebody

enters right view that is to say attains

nirvana and enters the stream

they attain right view

they have an understanding of what

suffering is

they abandon craving

experience and realize for themselves

the cessation of suffering

and they have used the eightfold path in

doing so

and that is the use of the six hour

process

then the venerable sariputta said this

when friends a noble disciple

understands the unwholesome

and the root of the unwholesome

the wholesome and the root of the

wholesome

in that way he is one of right view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dhamma

and has arrived at this true dhamma

and what friends is the unwholesome

what is the root of the unwholesome

what is the wholesome

what is the root of the wholesome

killing living beings is unwholesome

taking what is not given is unwholesome

misconduct in sensual pleasures is

unwholesome

false speech is unwholesome

malicious speech is unwholesome

harsh speech is unwholesome

gossip is unwholesome

covetousness is unwholesome

ill will

is unwholesome

wrong view

is unwholesome

this is called the unwholesome

so what sariputta is referring to here

are the ten courses of unwholesome

action

and you'll immediately recognize that

the very first five are breaking of the

five precepts

so anytime you break a precept you are

cultivating unwholesome mind states

and what is the root of the unwholesome

greed is a root of the unwholesome

hate is a root of the unwholesome

delusion is a root of the unwholesome

this is called the root of the

unwholesome

so anytime there is craving present

anytime there is a version present

anytime the mind takes

what is arising as personal

sees it as personal sees it as a

personal self

that is the root of one breaking the

precepts that is the root of one acting

in an unwholesome manner in mind body or

speech

and what is the wholesome

abstention from killing living beings is

wholesome

abstention from taking what is not given

is

wholesome abstention from misconduct in

sensual pleasures is wholesome

abstention from false speech is

wholesome

abstention from malicious speech is

wholesome

abstention from harsh speech is

wholesome

abstention from gossip is wholesome

uncovetousness

is wholesome

non-ill will is wholesome

right view is wholesome

this is called

the wholesome

and what is the root of the wholesome

non-greed is a root of the wholesome

non-hate is a root of the wholesome

non-delusion is a root of the wholesome

this is called the root of the wholesome

so as you understand the five precepts

maintaining your precepts is the

wholesome

having

a good mindset having a wholesome

mindset having wholesome thoughts

thoughts of loving kindness

thoughts of compassion thoughts of

equanimity thoughts of joy

and

having good speech

using

words that are loving and kind using

words that are kind to yourself and kind

to others

and acting in a way that

benefits others in a wholesome manner

so maintaining the precepts keeping the

precepts that is the core of the

practice that is the foundation of the

practice

otherwise you are not going to have a

good meditation

as soon as you break a precept you start

to see how your mind starts to wonder

there's all kinds of restlessness that

arises or slot and torpor or any of the

other hindrances

this is how the hindrances arise anytime

you break a precept

so when you do break a precept

take it again

make the determination that you're not

going to do it again

and then go back with your practice

and when it says non-greed is a root of

the wholesome non-hate is a root of the

wholesome non-delusion is a root of the

wholesome

that means that you're not taking what

is arising as personal

whether it's good or bad whether it's

pleasurable or painful or neutral you're

not identifying with the experience

you're seeing it as an impersonal

process

and anytime you start to take it as a

personal process

you use the six hours and you let go and

experience the cessation of suffering

when a noble disciple has thus

understood the wholesome

and the root of the unwholesome

i'm sorry

when a noble disciple has thus

understood the unwholesome

and the root of the unwholesome

the wholesome and the root of the

wholesome he entirely abandons the

underlying tendency to lust

he abolishes the underlying tendency to

aversion

he extirpates the underlying tendency to

the view and conceit i am

and by abandoning ignorance and arousing

true knowledge

he here and now makes an end of

suffering

in that way too a novel disciple

is one of right view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dharma and has arrived at this true

dharma

here sariputta is talking about the

noble disciple

the noble disciple is one who has

entered the stream or at the very least

entered the stream

and he has understood the unwholesome

the root of the unwholesome wholesome

and the root of the wholesome

in doing so he abandons the underlying

tendency to lust

in other words when there is an arising

of a pleasurable feeling his mind

doesn't gravitate to that feeling and

start to crave towards it

we'll talk about this a little later but

there are certain underlying tendencies

when there's an experience when there is

a feeling

and one of them when there's a

pleasurable feeling is the underlying

tendency to craving which then

if acted upon if reacted on will lead to

a full-blown craving and thus the whole

process of suffering and so he abandons

the underlying tendency to lust

abolishes the underlying tendency to

aversion

this is the other side of the coin

craving isn't just

being attracted to something and letting

your mind pull into something but it's

also pushing

it's something that's that i don't like

it mindset so it's the i like it which

is craving

and i don't like it which is aversion

he extirpates

the

underlying tendency to the view and

conceit i am

so this conceit i am

this is the residue of taking things

personally

seeing in that moment

that this thing that is arising is

personal

that this is me this i am this is myself

anytime you have an experience in the

meditation whether good or bad and you

start to look at it in the view of a

self

and you say here is this loving kindness

and this is my loving kindness

or i am experiencing this loving

kindness or a hindrance arises and you

say why is this hindrance coming up to

me

in all those times you're taking it

personal

instead of letting it be not making it a

big deal seeing it for what it really is

just a result of impersonal causes and

conditions

the loving kindness or any of the

objects meditation that you cultivate

arises because of your intention

but that intention itself

is impersonal as we'll see

so when someone sees this and lets go of

the personalization of this process and

experience

then they are grinding away at the

fetter of conceit

they are no longer identifying with the

situation in every moment

and by abandoning ignorance

ignorance here is the ignorance of the

four noble truths

and we'll get deeper into that but

essentially

every time you become mindful

meaning every time you recognize

that there is an unwholesome state of

mind

that there is craving arising

and you use the 6r process

you are cultivating the knowledge of the

four noble truths

and you are whittling away at ignorance

because of your mindfulness

because of the six-hour process

and arousing true knowledge he here and

now makes an end of suffering

you see it for yourself when you use the

six hour process

there's all of this tension in the mind

tension in the body

but as soon as you recognize it as soon

as you

release your awareness from it as soon

as you relax the tension

you cultivate the wholesome through your

smile

and you come back to your object

there is a purity of mind especially

after the relaxed step that is where you

experience the cessation of suffering

the mind is completely pure completely

collected completely calm

saying good friend the riku is delighted

and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands nutriment

the origin of nutriment

the cessation of nutriment

and the way leading to the cessation of

nutrient

in that way he is one of right view

and has arrived at this true dharma

and what is nutriment

what is the origin of nutriment what is

the cessation of nutrient what is the

way leading to the cessation of

nutriment

there are four kinds of nutriment for

the maintenance of beings

that already have come to be

and for the support of those about to

come to be

what for

they are physical food as nutriment

gross or subtle

contact as the second

mental volition as the third and

consciousness as the fourth with the

arising of craving

there is the arising of nutriment

with the cessation of craving

there is the cessation of nutrient

the way leading to the cessation of

nutriment is just this noble eightfold

path

that is right view

right intention right speech

right action right livelihood

write effort right mindfulness and right

collectedness

so you hear sorry for those talking

about

the four kinds of nutriment number one

is physical food that is what builds up

the body that's what builds up form

the second is contact with contact you

have feeling

you have perception and you have the

arising of formations

the way that happens is when you see

something

using david's example yesterday of the

ice cream tub

you see the strawberry ice cream

and there is contact with the eye and

the form and color of the ice cream

bucket

ice cream tub

the joining of these gives rise to the

awareness of that that is the eye

consciousness

from there there is the experience and

perception the feeling of seeing the ice

cream

and the perception of understanding that

that is the ice cream now an intention

arises

and the intention arises because of

formations

so intentions drive forward the

formations for you to act so like for

example the physical formations which

will then have the intention

for you to move forward towards that ice

cream if you want it and in that there

can be craving as we've seen

so contact gives rise to feeling

perception and formations

the physical food gives to form so now

what we're talking about really is the

five aggregates and then we have

consciousness which then also gives rise

to namarupa as we will see or mentality

materiality

and how is it that the craving with the

arising of craving there is the arising

of nutrient

craving is what brings renewal of being

craving is what brings rebirth

whether it's in every moment or whether

it's from lifetime to lifetime

it is the craving that arises

at the end of one life

that leads

for a consciousness to arise

and then transport it to a new life and

dissipate

so craving is really what gives rise to

this renewal of being it gives rise to

these four nutrients

but as soon as you let go of craving

you cease craving with the six hour

process

you let go of your attachment

your sense of i am

to these five aggregates and to these

nutrients

now we'll talk about the eightfold path

a little bit

and i'm going to

explain it in the way one understands

through

what one has read and experienced

as we said right view

that is the understanding of the four

noble truths that is the super mundane

right view

right intention here intention can

sometimes mean that there's a

intention to hold on

so we can probably use the word

inclination here

and that is to say we are letting go

that is the right intention the

intention is what is known as

renunciation and that renunciation

is not taking things personal

and letting go of any attachments

letting go of any kind of craving

non-ill will and non-cruelty is part of

right intention

so every time you cultivate loving

kindness

every time you cultivate compassion

you are

using right intention you have the right

intention

right speech

so right speech is abstaining from false

speech

abstaining from harsh speech

abstaining from gossip

abstaining from any kind of speech that

divides

and the way i like to instruct people

about this is to use an acronym that is

to say think

think before you speak

t h i n k

t is for timeliness is it the right time

to say what you want to say

h is honesty is it truthful

is it not false speech

i is the intention

is the intention wholesome

n is necessary is it necessary

for the other person to know what you're

about to say

and k

kindness can it be said with kindness

can it be said with loving kindness

and so if you meet these five parameters

only then you can speak

otherwise maintain noble silence

right action

this is again following the precepts

abstaining from killing

abstaining from taking what is not given

abstaining from sexual and sensual

misconduct

now it's not mentioned here

traditionally speaking but it's implied

through the practice of right

mindfulness

which is that you abstain from taking

intoxicants abstain from drugs and

alcohol because it dulls your

mindfulness

it dulls the mind and makes it uh prone

towards slot and torpor

right livelihood

right livelihood here is also about

right behavior that is to say

a

a career or a choice of lifestyle in

which you're not harming other beings so

you abstain from

selling uh poisons selling weapons

selling people selling meat

and

selling poisons selling weapons

selling

meat uh killing

yes

killing

and uh

there was a fifth one but it's cr it's

gone out from my mind but uh i'll say it

again

selling

poisons

selling people

trading in weapons

and

killing me killing for meat

okay

there was a fifth one but maybe

it's the intention to do it yes yes

right effort this is the six hour

process

so right effort is basically preventing

unwholesome states from arising that's

the first right effort

second right effort is to abandon the

already

unwholesome states that have arisen

the third right effort is to generate a

wholesome state and the forthright

effort is to maintain it

now the reason why we say the six r's is

really the eightfold path is because

right effort is at the heart of the

eightfold path

you use right effort from to go from

wrong view to right view

to go from wrong intention to right

intention to go from wrong speech to

right speech

to go from wrong action to right action

to go from wrong livelihood to right

livelihood to go from wrong mindfulness

to right mindfulness and to go from

right wrong collectedness to right

collectiveness

so

how are using the 6rs and how are they

able to

fulfill this right effort

every time you recognize

that there is a hindrance or an

unwholesome state arising

you are preventing the flow of that

hindrance from continuing

you have recognized it and it stops

right there when you release your

attention from it

and put it towards relaxing the mind and

body relaxing the formations

you are abandoning that unwholesome

state you are abandoning that hindrance

when you come back to your smile when

you re-smile

you are generating a wholesome feeling

because it cultivates joy

and when you return to your objective

meditation you are maintaining that on

that wholesome state and you repeat that

process every time a hindrance arises

right mindfulness

so right mindfulness here is

understanding as we understand my

definition of mindfulness is

observing mind's attention

and seeing

where it moves

in every moment

so observing how mind's attention moves

from one object to the other

when you're when you're actually using

mindfulness then you're able to

immediately recognize the hindrance and

let it go using the six hour process

right mindfulness also incorporates the

four foundations of mindfulness

and

that is to say that the mind is

understanding what is arising

as it's collected

so when you're meditating when you're

with your object in meditation whether

it's loving kindness or radiating to the

six directions or whatever it might be

you don't have one pointed concentration

when you have one pointed concentration

the mind becomes suppressed

and there there is wrong mindfulness

there there's actually no mindfulness

there

but if there is an open awareness

and openness to the mind a mind that is

fresh

seeing things as they arise

then the mind is collected

and only when the hindrance arise arises

the mindfulness is there to see it to

recognize it and to let it go using the

six hour process

right collectedness israeli the genus

the first and the first second third and

fourth chana and within the four channel

are the

experiences of the aru pajamas

when a novel disciple has thus

understood nutriment the origin of

nutriment the cessation of nutriment and

the way leading to the cessation of

nutrient he entirely abandons the

underlying tendency to greet

he abolishes the underlying tendency to

aversion

he extirpates the underlying tendency to

the view and conceit i am

and by abandoning ignorance and arousing

true knowledge he here and now makes an

end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view

whose view is straight who has

unwavering confidence in the dhamma and

has arrived at this true dharma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sarikuta's words then they asked my

further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands suffering

the origin of suffering the cessation of

suffering and the way leading to the

cessation of suffering these are the

four noble truths in that way he is one

of right view

and has arrived at this true dharma

and what is suffering

what is the origin of suffering

what is the cessation of suffering

what is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering

birth is suffering

aging is suffering

sickness is suffering

death is

death is suffering

sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair are suffering

not to obtain what one wants is

suffering in short the five aggregates

affected by clinging are suffering

this is called suffering

so birth aging sickness and death

this is the physical components of

suffering it's inevitable everybody will

experience it

everybody experiences birth everybody

experiences aging everybody experiences

sickness at one point and everybody will

experience death

but what is

avoidable

what is

possible to completely cease altogether

is the sorrow lamentation pain

grief and despair this is part of the

mental suffering

this is the suffering that arises

because you take something personal this

is the suffering that arises because you

crave for something or you have aversion

towards it

not to obtain what one wants is

suffering or wants is suffering that

also is part of mental suffering

so there are three kinds of dukkha that

are understood to be there

that is

this understanding of the basic

suffering that we have in terms of the

physical and mental suffering

vipari namaduka

that one experiences when there is

change

you have a pleasant feeling that arises

again using the example of the

strawberry ice cream

you go and see the ice cream

and you're ready to go and eat it

and then suddenly

uh

it falls over the counter top and the

ice cream falls to the floor it changed

it's no longer edible

so

the transformation of something from

pleasant to unpleasant is the the parent

it's the dukkha that you feel when

you know you're on your way to

taking a vacation

and your flight gets cancelled

it's unexpected it wasn't in your

control but

that's what happens

sankhara dukkha is a deeper layer of

dukkha

that's related to the five aggregates

affected by clinging

that is inherent in beings in terms of

having a sense of dissatisfaction with

life

a sense of dissatisfaction with

existence

and

it's within the five aggregates in so

far as

when a person identifies with the five

aggregates and clings to them

and takes it personal takes them

personal this sankhara arises because

there is the understanding that these

aggregates are impersonal are

impermanent

and therefore they are liable to change

and so that is part of the parinamat

but it is inherently dukkah in that

sense

but i want to point out that we have to

understand that not all life is

suffering

there's nothing wrong with having a

pleasurable feeling

when you meditate and when you have

loving kindness when you have compassion

when you have joy

when you have equanimity those are all

pleasurable states to be in and there's

nothing wrong with it you're cultivating

your mind when you do that

and you're cultivating your mind towards

the dharma

so

enjoying that

you know piece of apple pie or taking a

nice warm shower all of those things

are enjoyable and there's nothing wrong

with enjoying them

the problem is when things change

and we expect things to be permanent

we expect them to be everlasting

that misconception or reality

is one of the causes of suffering

and what is the origin of suffering

it is craving which brings renewal of

being

is accompanied by delight and lust

and delights in this and that

that is craving for sensual pleasures

craving for being and craving for

non-being

this is called the origin of suffering

this is the big one the craving

craving manifests as tension

every time you have a pleasurable

feeling

and you don't want it to stop

and you attach a sense of self to it

there is a tightness that arises there

is a reaction within the mind a reaction

within the body

that tightens

when you recognize that that is the

craving that you have to let go of

this sensual craving craving for sensual

pleasures is related to the experiences

that happen through the sixth sense

basis

primarily the five physical senses

because

those are known as the chords of sensual

stimulation but even mentally

if the mind has a very good thought and

it starts to obsess over it or it starts

to obsess over

some kind of nostalgic memory that feels

good and that brings about

unwholesome states of mind that is a

form of craving

any kind of movement of thought any kind

of movement like that that causes the

mind to tense up it causes the body to

tense up is craving

the craving for

being and the craving for non-being this

is the bhavatana and the

the craving for being is the sense of i

want to do something

i have made it a point in this retreat

that i am going to enter the stream that

is the craving for being

i am going to enter the quiet mind that

is the craving for being

or the craving for non-being is again

that i don't like it attitude i don't

like being in this state i don't like

this mindset where there are hindrances

i want to i want this to stop

this is the craving for non-being this

agitates the mind this makes the mind

restless

and therefore causes the mind to suffer

what is the cessation of suffering

it is a remainderless fading away and

ceasing the giving up relinquishing

letting go and rejecting of that same

craving

this is called the cessation of

suffering

and what is the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

it is just this noble eightfold path the

six hour process

you experience a hindrance in the mind

you experience some kind of disturbance

in the mind that is the suffering

your undue attention to it your i don't

like it attitude to it that is the

craving

when you use the six hour process you

let go of the hindrance and that is the

cessation of that hindrance

when a noble disciple has thus

understood suffering the origin of

suffering the cessation of suffering and

the way leading to the cessation of

suffering he here and now makes an end

of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked them a further question

but friend might there be yet another

way in which a noble disciple is one of

right view and has arrived at this true

dharma so the disciples

they're not yet satisfied they want to

know more

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands aging and death the origin

of aging and death the cessation of

aging and death and the way leading to

the cessation of aging and death in that

way he is one of right view

and has arrived at this true dhamma

and what is aging and death what is the

origin of aging and death what is the

cessation of aging and death

what is the way leading to the cessation

of aging and death

the aging of beings in various orders of

beings their old age brokenness of teeth

grayness of hair wrinkling of skin

decline of life

weakness of faculties

this is called aging

the passing of beings out of the various

orders of beings they're passing away

dissolution disappearance dying

completion of time dissolution of the

aggregates that's the five aggregates

laying down of the body this is called

death

so this is aging and this is death

sorry so this aging and this death are

what is called aging and death

in today's modern world

we have a lot of ways to

let's say delay aging or the appearance

of aging

we have plastic surgery we have botox we

have

wigs and

you know hair color and all kinds of

things

but that is the attachment to the body

whenever you use that you're identifying

with the body and that agitation

that you're not satisfied because the

body is aging causes suffering

death is inevitable for all beings all

beings that come into existence

will die

that is just the nature of life

so

when one says that the

process of the eightfold path or the six

hours

is the way leading to the cessation of

aging and death it's leading

to the cessation of identifying

with that aging and death process

identifying with the body

identifying with not liking the fact

that you see a gray hair not liking the

fact that you're starting to see wrinkly

skin and all of those things

you completely accept the truth

of the situation that is the reality of

the situation that there is aging

and when you see that the mind

doesn't like it

you six are it let go of it stop

identifying with the body stop

identifying with the aging process

and when you die

there's

fear of death and so on

that fear of death arises

because there is still a belief in a

personal self

there is still a belief that there is a

personal permanent self and so this

death how can there be this death

but if you understand that death is

natural

you understand it through the process of

the eightfold path and through wisdom

you won't be afraid of death either

when a noble disciple has thus

understood aging and death the origin of

aging and death the cessation of aging

and death and the way leading to the

cessation of aging and death he here and

now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands birth the origin of birth

the cessation of birth and the way

leading to the cessation of birth in

that way he is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dhamma

and what is birth what is the origin of

birth what is the cessation of birth

what is the way leading to the cessation

of birth the birth of beings in the

various orders of beings

they're coming into birth

precipitation in a womb

generation manifestation of the

aggregates obtaining the basis for

contact

is called birth

with the arising of being or habitual

tendencies

excuse me

there is the arising of birth

with the cessation of being or habitual

tendencies

there is the cessation of birth

the way leading to cessation of birth is

just this noble eightfold path so when

we talk about birth we're talking about

number one the physical birth the birth

of beings whether it's in this realm or

another realm

and birth really is the

the arising of the five aggregates the

arising of the sense basis for contact

but there is another understanding of

birth which is the birth of action

this whole process of dependent

origination

on the level of day-to-day moment to

moment

leads to the birth of action which can

lead to suffering

if you look at dependent origination

like a river

when you have the river bend and it goes

into the waterfall that waterfall is the

birth of action

that birth of action when you

have an action when you intend an action

whether it's in mind body or speech

it's unretrievable

it's like having shot the arrow and you

can't call it back anymore

but there is this whole momentum of

dependent origination that causes that

kind of an action

so at the birth of action one has to

realize what happened and one has to

realize what is it that caused that

birth of action and it's the bhava that

we'll talk about it's this process of

being or the habitual tendencies or the

habitual emotional tendencies

when a noble disciple has thus

understood birth the origin of birth the

cessation of birth and the way leading

to the cessation of birth he here and

now makes an end of suffering in that

way too a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dhamma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands being or habitual tendencies

the origin of being the cessation of

being and the way leading to the

cessation of being

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is being what is the origin of

being what is the cessation of being

what is the way leading to the cessation

of being

there are these three kinds of being

sense sphere being

fine material being an immaterial being

with the arising of clinging there is

the arising of being

with the cessation of clinging there is

the cessation of being the way leading

to the cessation of being is just this

noble eightfold path

so here we're talking about bhava

bhava can be understood as

the library of different reactions

there's a certain way that you tend

towards seeing things or

interacting with people or reacting to

situations

it's this storehouse of reactions that

are automated or almost automated

so that leads to the birth of action

so perceiving a person a certain way

having certain kinds of prejudices about

them

thinking about them a certain way this

is all habitual tendencies

these reactions that you have

this person is always going to be this

way

you know i don't like this person being

that way because they always have a

tendency to do something like this all

of these thoughts all of these ideas all

of these concepts

are part of the bhava

and it's also part of where the identity

is most

solidified the idea of a personal self

is most solidified and it's from this

sense of self that you act

so when we talk about the sense fear

being what we're talking about is the

sensual realm what we're talking about

now is

this plane of existence that we have

here as well as the central davao realms

and so on

when you act in a way that causes you to

crave for sensual sensual things for

sensual experiences

you start to cultivate a mindset start

to cultivate a behavioral tendency a

habitual tendency to gravitate towards

it and so your birth of action is

dependent upon these tendencies towards

that sensual experience

when you are in jhana or the arupa janas

there that is related to the material

the fine material and which is to say

the luminous form

and or the brahmana realms and the arupa

that is to say the realm of infinite

space infinite consciousness nothingness

and neither perception or non-perception

if you have an attachment to

the factors of these genres this will

tend to create

further identification with the jhanas

and will not help you to move forward

so wherever you are at your

practice

if you tend to make a big deal out of

whatever is happening in terms of the

jhana or the arupa jana it's going to

prevent you from going further and that

is your habitual tendency that you're

cultivating because you're continually

identifying with those factors you're

continually making those factors a big

deal

so you have to let go of that and allow

the process to happen

naturally

and it will happen as long as you don't

have that power

so bhava is a really complex thing

because every time you act out a bhava

what you're doing is you're it's a

feedback loop so we see dependent

origination as a linear process but it's

also cyclical and it also has certain

kinds of feedback loops every time you

react from habitual tendencies it feeds

back energy to the formations it feeds

back energy to the taints that we'll

talk about later but just understand

that every time you act out of the you

have the birth of action or act out of

the habitual emotional tendencies

you're going to further feed the

formations that are going to be rooted

in those tendencies

and so all you're doing is digging

deeper and deeper into that process and

this is really rebirth doing the same

thing over and over again and expecting

a different result that's the definition

of insanity but that is also rebirth not

seeing and understanding that there is a

way out

by seeing the fact that there is an

identification with this process

letting go of that identification

process letting go of craving for this

whole experience and seeing it as

impersonal and just observing

observing without judgment observing

without expectation of observing without

any intention

leads you to detach from this power

lead you

in a state of mindfulness very sharp

mindfulness so that your intention and

your actions

are rooted in wisdom rather than rooted

in craving

saying good friend

the beak was delighted and rejoiced in

the venerable sariputta's words

then they asked them a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands clinging the origin of

clinging the cessation of clinging the

way leading to the cessation of clinging

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is clinging what is the origin

of clinging what is the cessation of

clinging what is the way leading to the

cessation of clinging

there are these four kinds of clinging

clinging to sensual pleasures

clinging to views clinging to rules and

observances and clinging to a doctrine

of self

with the arising of craving there is the

arising of clinging

with the cessation of craving there is

the cessation of clinging the way

leading to the cessation of clinging is

just this noble eightfold path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood clinging

the origin of clinging the cessation of

clinking and the way leading to the

cessation of clinking he here and now

makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

now we're going to spend a little more

time here with clinging because we're

talking about the four kinds of clinging

the clinging to sensual pleasures the

clinging to views the clinging to rights

and rituals and the clinging to a

doctrine of self

the clinging to sensual pleasures arises

when there is craving for central

pleasures

it arises from the moment you're born

and even before you are born when you

are in the womb

you're kind of used to being there from

for nine to ten months you're used to

being there and you're really enjoying

it because your food is delivered to you

and you don't have to worry about a

thing

and then in that process there is birth

and there is the suffering of birth

and now you are exposed to a whole new

world you're exposed to all kinds of

lights and people and all of these other

things and now you hate it

because the mind has clung to the womb

has clung to the comfort of the womb

but then it's introduced to the mother

it's introduced to the scent of the

mother

and the being

immediately recognizes that scent clings

to the scent of the mother clings to the

taste of her breast milk or to the taste

of milk or whatever you know is

nutrition is the nutrition for that baby

and it gets used to that and it craves

for that and you see that with babies

all the time they cry because they want

food they want milk

and so they know if i cry

i will get milk so there is this

embedding of craving in there there is

this embedding to the clinging of that

food

eventually you wean the baby off of the

milk and they don't like that either

because they have clung and they have

become attached to that milk now they

don't like solid foods different kinds

of foods that they're being introduced

to

eventually they think about this food

and they start to select what are their

favorite foods i only like white colored

foods and green color foods but i don't

like orange colored foods i only like

sweet tastes but i hate better tastes

these ideas these opinions about

flavors about smells

about sites

uh things that you hear about mindsets

and and thought processes

setting your favorites creating all of

these thoughts about it this is the

process of clinging

this process of clinging creates that

sense of identity in pala

as you grow up the same thing happens

you replace the old foods for new foods

or you replace old tastes for new tastes

you grow you grow up listening to a

certain type of music you grow up

listening to a certain type of or

watching a certain type of show and

those are your favorite shows those are

your favorite genres of music and so on

and this clinging this identifying with

that process if it becomes strong enough

and you don't have what you cling to it

can cause

a unwholesome reaction in your body and

in your mind which can cause you to have

a birth of unwholesome action

because that whole process of developing

these favorites in that clinging

and you see marketing and you see

advertising all around us i mean they

use bright colors and certain kinds of

music and they use certain kinds of

smells when you go to the grocery store

all of this is intended to create a

sense of clinging

i only buy this kind of brand of potato

chips because i like the way it tastes

and i associate it with my childhood

you know so this associations

of different experiences to the sensory

pleasures or even sensory uh

displeasures

there's an example of somebody who

was at a funeral and their parents had

died one of their parents had died

and in order to comfort them they

they would rub their shoulder and so

they associated that that experience of

rubbing the shoulder

with that painful feeling

and later on when somebody else did it

and it was a happy event they

immediately went to that memory so this

association processes with these

experiences

and with those sensory experiences the

sensual experience

is where that clinging arises

so trauma people who experience

different kinds of trauma it's because

they associate

certain experiences with certain actions

certain feelings or emotions with

certain sensual experiences

and to let go of the clinging one has to

see and identify that there is clinging

going on

that arises through a further tensioning

of the mind

that arises from further craving so when

you use the six hour process every time

you notice that the mind is starting to

react from this process of clinging

starting to react from this process of

association

you let it go you use the six-hour

process and you let it go

so the next one is uh

clinging to views

so clinging to views really first and

foremost we talk about views in terms of

just general opinions about things

if you adhere to those views you need to

adhere to those

opinions

that is liable to cause you suffering

and it might seem very trivial but the

idea of having a favorite sports team

you know having a favorite

basketball team or football team or

whatever

it can get quite aggravated you know and

people can become very attached

to different kinds of games and and

their you know i like this and you know

you're wrong because you are you're a

fan of the other sports team or whatever

it might be that's a very trivial

understanding of you know attachment to

views and opinions

but you stem you you create uh ideas

about politics you create ideas about

religion you create ideas about

societies and you you adhere to these

views

and these opinions

and you act from there this is what

causes

violence this is what causes violence in

the mind mentally causes violence in

speech when you speak causes violence

and actions when you physically assault

somebody because you adhere to those

views

so there's something known as

confirmation bias and cognitive

dissonance

confirmation bias is where you'll only

adhere to those views

that seem to be okay with the views that

you're currently holding

and cognitive dissonance is where

somebody gives you new information

and it can eradicate those views but you

your attachment to those views are such

that you're not able to cognize it

correctly there is that dissonance and

you still hold on to that view

holding on to such views even holding on

to the dhammas we'll talk about in a

little bit

but i want to talk about the different

kinds of wrong views this is really

talking about the different kinds of

wrong views

and there are up to 62 types of wrong

views

and these are all detailed in the

brahmajala suta indiga nakaya number one

i'm not going to go through all 62 views

don't worry

but i want to talk about the six

main views that were there around the

buddha's time

and you might be able to recognize these

kinds of views even in today's society

through different cultures and different

understandings of reality

so the first view was the view of

amoralism the idea that your actions

don't really matter so there's no need

to be moral there's no need to be

ethical

there's no need to maintain the precepts

but we've already seen through the

dharma that

there is a need for that because we see

through the process of karma

that our unwholesome mindset

states or unwholesome mindsets

cause unwholesome actions

which then cause unwholesome

consequences

so there is something to be said for

keeping the precepts

so amoralism is in direct violation of

the dhamma it's a view that you cannot

hold to because

you already see for yourself every time

you break a precept your meditation is

not so good

you know and and so when you maintain

that precept you take the precept again

your mind becomes uplifted and your

meditation becomes smoother becomes much

easier

the second type of view was

the view what we can consider now is

materialism

or as we understand now in modern day

advanced capitalism

in the sense that

it's all about

gratifying the senses

do whatever you can to gratify the

senses

and this particular view had a certain

kind of belief that

take up loans and do whatever you have

to because it doesn't matter all you

have to do is

gratify the senses

but this view is in direct violation of

the dhamma as well

the nama doesn't say that you should not

feel pleasurable feelings

but rather let go of the attachment to

those pleasurable feelings let go of the

identification with those pleasurable

feelings let go of the expectation that

these pleasurable feelings will continue

on

so

when you get into jhana what you realize

is

you're secluded from sensual pleasures

you're secluded from unwholesome states

in the first jhana

and this immediately

brings to the mind the understanding

that it's not just material

gratification it's not just gratifying

the senses because in trying to gratify

the senses

you cause the mind to identify and you

can agitate the mind and

it can start breaking precepts because

if it thinks that all there is is to you

know gratify the senses then i'll do

anything i can to do that

but once you start to see that there is

a wholesome

super mundane let's say pleasurable

feeling a mental feeling through the

process of jhana

your attachment to the sense pleasures

starts to weaken

and you start to see correctly that

there is an identification with the

sensual pleasures and so you start to

use a six hour process to let that go

so materialism here

is in direct violation of the dhamma in

that sense anytime there's attachment

there

the third wrong view that was there and

that was held at that time was something

known as

in pali that means

fatalism or determinism

and this idea is that i don't have to do

anything

you know my suffering has been meted out

for me

and also my cessation of suffering has

been made it out for me

so i don't anything i do

anything i intend has no consequence

because it will lead to

the cessation of suffering whenever it

will lead to

but obviously this is in direct

violation of the dhamma as well because

as we see

every time we have an intention to do

something it helps us

to

create an action that causes certain

kinds of consequences

so it's not that we don't have

free will according to fatalism it's not

that we don't have some kind of choice

we always have a choice in the moment

either

to cultivate the wholesome or to

cultivate the unwholesome and the

cultivation of either of those

consequences

and we see this in our everyday lives

every time we speak badly to somebody

else we see the pain and suffering in

that person and they may react in the

same way that is immediately showing

that we

have

a and we have our intention

that can create some kind of consequence

it's not like there is just a meted out

set of events that are going to happen

in our lives

so this idea of fatalism

is in direct violation of the dhamma as

well because it's saying that you have

no choice in the matter but indeed the

whole point of the dhamma the whole

point of the noble hateful path is that

you have right intention you have right

action you have right speech

you're doing it with intention you're

doing it with choice so there is choice

in every given moment

the only difference is there are

conditions to those choices or

conditions leading to those choices as

we'll talk about

in other words

if you continue to cultivate unwholesome

states of mind

your choices will deviate towards the

unwholesome choices

your intentions will deviate to the

unwholesome choices

but you still have a choice in that

moment to say stop

take a pause

recognize this let it go and make the

choice to cultivate the wholesome

so you have the choice to actually

root out the unwholesome choices root

out the unwholesome intentions

and you have the choice to cultivate

them and replace them

and this is what is known as

weakening the unwholesome formations

and strengthening the wholesome

formations through your choices and

through acting from those choices

so that is uh that is the disputing of

the

third view that is the fatalism

the fourth view is

eternalism

that is what we were talking about

yesterday the idea that there is this

consciousness this soul

that runs through this thread of lives

just one unifying consciousness that

continues from one lifetime to the next

so that's really reincarnation

but it goes a step further in in this

particular view which says that if

everything is eternal

then if i kill somebody or somebody

kills me i won't really die

so one is liable to break the precept of

killing with this idea one is liable to

break the precepts

in general with this idea because if

everything is eternal

then what is the point of me having to

do anything i'm going to live on anyway

so i don't really have to face any

consequences

so this view

is also in direct violation of the

dharma because as we understand it

all conditioned things are impermanent

and therefore the idea of a self being

dependent upon conditioned things like

the links that depend origination

is also impermanent and therefore liable

to cause suffering and therefore not

self

so this idea of eternalism comes about

because of the brahmanical views that

were there during ancient india the idea

that there was an atman a soul

and therefore this soul was the one that

was navigating throughout this whole

samsara

but as i just said if we understand the

three characteristics of existence and

we see the four normal truths we

understand that nothing is nothing

conditioned

is permanent

so

that is the

fourth

view that is disputed

the fifth view is the view of restraint

it's also the view of what was known as

at that time

the negantas and they were the negantas

are basically the predecessors to what

we know as jains in today's modern day

jainism is a particular belief system

that says that there is a soul

and that there is karma and all these

other things but the way to purify that

karma

is through

painful ascetic

practices so you do certain things in

your life that cause you pain and that

somehow purifies your karma

purifies your unwholesome karma

but the buddha actually asked a question

about this he said okay i understand

what you're saying

but then

how do you know that you're purifying

the karma like is there some kind of an

exchange rate is there some kind of bank

balance and you're are you able to sense

that you have purified your karma

and obviously they didn't really have an

answer to that

so the idea that you need to restrain

yourself so this idea of

within the practice as well

i have to do really well i have to be

super concentrated i have to

try as hard as i can

that is also part of that you you have

to let go of that you have to relax

the kinder you are to yourself the

gentler you are with this practice the

softer you are with this whole process

the more advancements you are going to

make

and the way that this view is disputed

is the understanding that there is

something known as old karma and there

is something known as new

karma old karma is the sense of the

effects of previous choices you have

made in the past

and the this old karma is everything

from formations all the way up to the

experience of feeling independent

origination

and ananda has said in one of the sutas

that the way and it's it's in response

to this particular view the way to

purify

the old karma

is to understand the process of sila

samadhi and panya

cultivating the precepts

and maintaining the precepts

meditating and getting into a collected

mind state so that you understand with

wisdom this whole process as being

impersonal

when that happens you no longer have

attachments or identifications

with the old karma

because anytime you react to the feeling

you are producing new karma and that new

karma is in the form of craving clinging

being or habitual tendencies

and the birth of action

and every time you do that you are only

perpetuating that karma

and so ananda said

the way to let go of the old karma is to

not react to it and the way you don't

react to it is through insight that you

have through the four noble truths

through the practice of sela through the

practice of samadhi

so anytime there's a painful feeling any

time there's a pleasurable feeling if

you have a reaction to it with craving

if you have a reaction to it with

personalizing

you're liable to cause new karma you're

liable to produce new karma but if you

see and you sense the arising of that

and you sixth are and you let it go

you are cultivating the eightfold path

and the buddha said that the eightfold

path is the cessation of old karma

so that means

in the practice when a hindrance arises

that hindrance is old karma that

hindrance arose because you broke a

precept at some point in your life or

previous lifetimes

that hindrance being all kama arising in

your mind

if you react to it if you say i don't

like this or you have attachment to it

then you're further strengthening that

hindrance with your reaction but if you

use the eightfold path through the

six-hour process and you let it go what

you will notice invariably in your

practice is the hindrance will go away

and it might come back again

but this time it will be weaker

and it might come again but you use the

six hours and it gets weaker and weaker

and weaker until it completely fades

away and this is what is known as the

cessation of old karma this is the way

to understand

how to let go of your attachment to

whatever is happening in the way of

feeling

so this is the

did i say the fourth

the fourth uh

the fifth view okay

the sixth view is that of skepticism

and that is to say oh well i don't know

if there's a right view i don't know if

there's a wrong view i don't know if

there's a buddha

i don't know if there's karma and all

these other things so it's a view that

that the buddha or at that time they

called them eel wrigglers

because they always just use different

kinds of words and techniques to kind of

not come to some kind of conclusion and

that's in direct violation of the dhamma

because that causes doubt and that doubt

will cause you suffering and will take

you away from the dharma take you away

from experiencing nibana

so these are the six different views

that i wanted to explain to you that was

present at the time of the buddha and

which

you might recognize once in a while and

if you do you can let it go and come

back to the dharma

then there is the clinging to rights and

rituals or clinging to rules and

observances

and this is really clinging to the idea

that certain rights and rituals are

going to take you to nirvana

so chanting or lighting a candle or

doing this or that is going to take you

to nibana and this is dissipated when

you become a stream enter when you

become a solar panel because you see for

yourself how this process works and you

see that the path that led you to

the experience of nibana is the

eightfold path it had nothing to do with

chanting it had nothing to do with

observing rights and rituals

so this clinging to rights and rituals

will cause you suffering because you're

going further and further away from

nibbana every time you have this idea

that if i chant if i pray or whatever

there's nothing inherently wrong with

chanting there's nothing inherently

wrong with doing whatever it is that you

want to do

if it uplifts the mind so be it but have

the understanding that this is not going

to take you to nibana so you have to let

go of that clinking

the clinging to the doctrines of self

there are 20 types of self view

and the way to understand these 20

different types of self you is to

understand the five aggregates

multiplied by the four kinds of view of

self

so that is the idea that the five

aggregates are self

that there is uh the five aggregates

within self

that the self is in the five aggregates

or that the self is separate

to the five aggregates

so

in other words

you multiply the five aggregates by

those views and you have the 20

different self use

and

first we have to understand what does it

mean when they say self because the self

during that time in the brahminical

tradition was the idea of a soul the

idea of this permanent consciousness

but if you think about the five

aggregates you see them to be

impermanent

form decays over time

feeling in that moment arises and passes

away perception along with it

formations along with them and

consciousness as well you see the

arising and passing away of

consciousness in the six john

in the realm of infinite consciousness

and this immediately

shows you the truth of anichah it shows

you the truth of impermanence and

therefore

you no longer believe that the

consciousness

is

self

or is some kind of permanent self

likewise with the other four categories

of views the idea that there is a self

in the aggregates

would mean that

when the aggregates are gone the self is

also gone because itself is dependent

upon those aggregates so this is also a

misguided view

the idea that the aggregates are in the

self

assumes

that the the aggregates themselves are

permanent as well

and then the idea that there is a self

separate to the aggregates

assumes that there is some kind of

ethereal permanent self

that

doesn't belong to the aggregates

aggregates or not connected to the

aggregates but as we understand the this

experience of a so-called self

is rooted in mental experience and

mental experience is a feeling and

feeling is impermanent and therefore it

is also conditioned and this cell this

self-view is also false

but i want to

also make you understand it through the

process of the practice

whatever your object of meditation is

whether it's loving kindness or

radiating to the six directions or

whatever it might be

that is a mental experience

that is a mental feeling and perception

if you take that to be self

then you're going to cause yourself

suffering if you say this is my love and

kindness if you say this loving kindness

belongs to me or i am in this loving

kindness you start to personalize it you

start to make this a personal process

and when you do that

the mind becomes agitated and the mind

starts to lose mindfulness because now

it's taking it personally and now when

it changes you think what's going on

when you take any of the factors of the

jhana as self

when you take the joy and you see that

itself and it fades away your mind

becomes agitated and wonders what's

going on

so the whole point here is not to take

any of the object in meditation whether

as self

whether as being in self whether as self

being in them or whether it's self

watching

this process of the object of meditation

it's all an impersonal process your

intention to bring up the loving

kindness the loving kindness coming up

it's all arising because of impersonal

causes and conditions

once you see it with that understanding

then you won't get attached you won't

make it a big deal whatever is happening

whether it's compassion whether it's the

quiet mind whether it's the experience

of cessation itself and nibana you won't

make it a big deal and because of that

you won't be liable to suffer you won't

be liable to crave that experience again

because you see that as impersonal

so

my suggestion here would be in your

practice

whatever is arising see it as an

impersonal process no matter how

wonderful it is no matter how

amazing it feels

see that it arose

and by the fact that it arose it is also

liable to cease that is the nature of

reality whatever arises is bound to

cease

this is the understanding that opens up

the eye of the dharma and that is what

takes you to stream entry

but

to put it back to the practice just look

at the object of meditation as being

impersonal

rest your mindfulness on it allow your

mind to just keep observing it don't

have any other intentions don't have any

other inclinations don't have any other

attachment

just keep observing and just 6r every

time you see some kind of hindrance

arise

anytime you see the mind starting to

deviate away and starting to take the

hindrance as an object use the six r's

and come back to your original object of

meditation

so this is basically the clinging to the

self doctrine

saying good friend the biku is delighted

and rejoice in the venerable sahibuta's

words

then they ask them a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dhamma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands craving the origin of

craving the cessation of craving and the

way leading to the cessation of craving

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is craving what is the origin

of craving what is the cessation of

craving what is the way leading to the

cessation of craving

there are these six classes of craving

craving for forms craving for sounds

craving for orders craving for flavors

craving for tangibles craving for mind

objects

with the arising of feeling there is the

arising of craving

with the cessation of feeling there is

the cessation of craving i'm sorry with

the cessation of feeling there is a

cessation of craving

the way leading to the cessation of

craving is just this noble hateful path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood craving the origin of craving

the cessation of craving and the way

leading to the cessation of craving he

here and now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

so we already touched upon craving a

little bit but let's just revisit it

because it's always good to understand

craving

as we said craving is that tightness

that you experience every time the mind

takes an experience to be personal

every time the mind says i like that and

i want more of it or every time the mind

says i don't like that and i don't want

any more of it or anytime the mind just

makes something a big deal and says

this is me this is myself

this is craving and you can see it in

the manifestation of tension in the mind

and in the body

so when you notice this what do you do

you use the eightfold path

you use the 6r process to recognize it

release it relax it re-smile

return to your object and repeat the

process again whenever craving arises

so as i said there's the craving for

sensual pleasures there's a craving for

wanting to be

and there's a craving of not wanting to

be so this craving or wanting to be is

you know why am i not in quiet mind yet

this wanting to be and why am i not

experiencing equanimity yet you know

this this longing for it

is

is that craving

and when you notice this all you have to

do is let it go 6r relax

the more you relax the more you six arm

the easier your flow of meditation is

going to be the easier you're going to

traverse through the genres

all the way up to quiet mind and so on

and again the idea of craving for

non-existence or craving for non-being

this is to say that i don't like this

hindrance here right now i don't like

being in the situation right now and so

on and so forth when you see that

hindrance remember

hindrances are your teachers they shed

light on where your attachments reside

so be grateful for them see them as

being teachers and let them go

every time you let go a hindrance you're

letting go of that particular attachment

related to that hindrance

so see it in that way and you will also

let go of that craving for non-being

because you're no longer attached to it

you're no longer having aversion towards

it

saying good friend the biku is delighted

and rejoiced in the venerable sorry put

those words

then they asked him a further question

they still want to know more but friend

might there be another way in which a

noble disciple is one of right view

and has arrived at this true dhamma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands feeling

the origin of feeling the cessation of

feeling and the way leading to the

cessation of feeling in that way he is

one of right view

and has arrived at this true dharma

and what is feeling

what is the origin of feeling

what is the cessation of feeling

what is the way leading to the cessation

of feeling

there are these six classes of feeling

feeling born of eye contact feeling born

of ear contact

feeling born of nose contact

feeling born of tongue contact

feeling born of body contact feeling

born of mind contact

with the arising of contact there is the

arising of

feeling with the cessation of contact

there is the cessation of feeling

the way leading to the cessation of

feeling is just this noble hateful path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood feeling the origin of feeling

the cessation of feeling and the way

leading to the cessation of feeling

he here and now makes an end of

suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

so here we understand the six basic

types of feelings related to the sixth

sense spaces feeling born of contact

with the sixth sense spaces and their

sense objects

there are up to 108 different types of

feeling

i'm not going to be listing them out so

don't worry but just understand

that

feeling is impersonal

feeling is impermanent

you have painful feeling you have

pleasurable feeling and you have neutral

feeling

and this feeling is conjoined with

perception

and along with that the awareness of

that feeling

now every time the mind takes that

feeling to be personal

it is giving rise to one or more of the

seven underlying tendencies

you have the underlying tendency towards

craving the underlying tendency towards

aversion the underlying tendency towards

views the underlying tendency towards

doubts the underlying tendency towards

being the underlying tendency towards

conceit and the underlying tendency

towards ignorance

and how do these underlying tendencies

arise

every time you have lack of mindfulness

every time you see this pleasant feeling

or pleasurable feeling

whether it's in meditation or

out and about in your daily life

if there is lack of mindfulness if there

is lack of understanding that this

feeling is impermanent

and therefore impersonal and not worth

holding on to

there is going to arise one or more of

these underlying tendencies so if it's a

pleasant feeling and you take that to be

personal and you say i like that you are

now giving rise to the underlying

tendency towards craving and this is

your bridge

or this is the bridge let's say between

the link of feeling and the link of

craving

where every time you have the mindset of

i don't like it you have the underlying

tendency towards aversion and this is

causing you

causing the mind to have craving in the

form of aversion

likewise without like likewise with

views likewise with ignorance conceit

every time you take it personal

there's an identification process with

that feeling going on in general

it will give rise to doubt it will give

rise to views it will give rise to

ignorance it will give rise to some kind

of conceit what will give rise to a

desire for

being

so how do you eradicate it using the six

hour processes

seeing

that the mind is starting to take this

experience starting to take this feeling

and perception personally

starting to and when you start to notice

that you start to see the tension or you

start to see that there are kinds of

thoughts arising around it and this is

the underlying tendencies that are

starting to arise which can come into

full-blown craving where the mind is now

super tight and just

closed and there's no way for the mind

to

react out of or respond let's say out of

wisdom

when you use the eightfold path when you

use the six hour process you're letting

go of the underlying tendencies and that

feeling which as i said is the old karma

dissipates right there and then

because of your non-reaction to it

because of your letting go of it if you

have reacted to it

it

is not going to cause any more new karma

in the form of craving clinging being

and birth of action and further

suffering

so this is the way to let go

of old karma that happens in the form of

hindrances

painful pleasant or neutral feelings

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend

might there be another way in which a

noble disciple is one of right view

and has arrived at the true dharma there

might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands contact the origin of

contact the cessation of contact and the

way leading to the cessation of contact

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is contact what is the origin

of contact what is the cessation of

contact what is the way leading to the

cessation of contact

there are these six classes of contact

eye contact ear contact nose contact

tongue contact body contact mine contact

with the arising of the six-fold base

there is the arising of contact

with the cessation of the six-fold base

there is the cessation of contact the

way leading to the cessation of contact

is just this noble hateful path

when a noble disciple has thus

has thus understood contact the origin

of contact the cessation of contact and

the way leading to the cessation of

contact

he here and now makes an end of

suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

contact

you're having contact right now when

you're hearing my voice my voice which

is the sound

is meeting with the year faculty and the

conjoining of those two gives rise to

the year consciousness when you see me

you're seeing this color and form that

is meeting with the eye faculty and with

the arising of that is the eye

consciousness

likewise with the other faculties and so

this contact being dependent upon the

six-fold base

contact will not be able to arise

for example if the eyes are

non-functional you won't be able to see

if the years are non-functional you

won't be able to hear there won't be an

experience of seeing there won't be an

experience of hearing

so understanding this and seeing the

fact that these six fold this these six

sense bases

are all also impermanent therefore that

contact is also impermanent now what

happens is when the arising of that

consciousness is there dependent upon

contact between let's say

the eye

the eye faculty and the form and color

there is a link of consciousness that we

understand to be cognition the awareness

of the sixth sense basis

and that then gives rise to namarupa and

then the experience of the six-fold

basis in the form of contact feeling and

perception

it's that same consciousness but if that

consciousness

is imbued with an unwholesome state of

mind

then that's going to filter the way you

perceive reality as well in other words

if the awareness has corruptions that is

to say the defilements the upachileses

as they're known

and they are tainted by that then the

consciousness too

when it arises in terms of eye

consciousness your consciousness and

everything else will be liable to take

that personally will be liable to take

that as permanent and does cause

suffering

so how does one let that go

seeing in that moment when the arising

of contact happens

that this is impersonal

and if the mind starts to crave towards

it if the mind has aversion towards it

if the mind starts identifying towards

it seeing that and recognizing the

tension

that manifests as a result of that using

the six hour process to let that go

you seize that kind of contact you seize

a contact that is filtered

by that sort of defilement in the

consciousness that arises based on that

contact

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sahibuta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a normal disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands the six-fold base

the origin of the six-fold base

the cessation of the six-fold base

and the way leading to the cessation of

the six-fold base

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is the six-fold base what is

the origin of the six-fold base what is

the cessation of the six-fold base what

is the way leading to the cessation of

the six-fold base

there are these six bases the eye base

the air base the nose base the tongue

base the body base the mind base

with the arising of mentality

materiality there is the arising of the

stressful base

with the cessation of mentality

materiality

there is the cessation of the six-fold

base

the way leading to the cessation of the

six-fold base is just this noble

eightfold path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood the six-fold base the origin

of the six-fold base the cessation of

the six-fold base and the way leading to

the cessation of the six-fold base he

here and now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

now the six-fold base is really just the

eye the ear the nose the tongue the body

and the mind

these are dependent upon mentality

materiality mentality materiality is

essentially

materiality is essentially the four

great elements or let's say the four

states of matter which make up this form

which make up this body

mentality is the is the process of

contact feeling perception

intention and attention

and this is all part of the processes

that happen in the form of

the mind the mano as we say

the mono is really basically

equated or equivalent to the brain

so

this whole mind-body process that we

have the brain that we have the nervous

system through which we experience

contact feeling perception

all of this gives rise to the experience

of the sixth sense basis gives rise to

the feeling gives rise to the perception

and so on

since this whole process of nama rupa is

impermanent and therefore conditioned

and dependent upon other factors causes

and conditions

so too are the six-fold base

the six-fold base is again when we

talked about the delineation between all

karma and new karma

the six-fold base is old karma

how you how you have your eyes how you

have your ears how you have your nose

and so on is dependent upon

choices you made in the past whether

it's in previous lifetimes or whether

it's in this particular lifetime

something that could have caused an

accident to your eyes something you did

mistakenly or you know you were reckless

in the way you were doing doing

something might have caused

you to lose your urine and so on so

your choices can still influence a

six-fold basis in that sense but what

you have to really understand here is

not to take the six-fold basis or the

experience of the six-fold basis as

being

permanent as being personal the moment

you do

the mind is liable to suffer and the

moment it does

you have to use the six-hour process to

let that go

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked them a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands mentality materiality the

origin of mentality materiality the

cessation of mentality materiality and

the way leading to the cessation of

mentality materiality

in that way he is one of right view

and has arrived at this true dharma

and what is mentality materiality

what is the origin of mentality

materiality what is the cessation of

mentality materiality

what is the way leading to the cessation

of mentality materiality

feeling perception

it says volition but

it was crossed out and says observation

contact and attention these are called

mentality

the four great elements and the material

form derived from the four great

elements

these are called materiality

so this mentality and this materiality

are what is called mentality materiality

with the arising of consciousness there

is the arising of mentality materiality

with the cessation of consciousness

there is the cessation of mentality

materiality the way leading to the

cessation of mentality materiality is

just this noble hateful path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood mentality materiality

the origin of mentality materiality

the cessation of mentality materiality

and the way leading

sorry the way leading to the cessation

of mentality materiality he here and now

makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

so mentality materiality and

consciousness are actually

interdependent

one way to understand this is when

when you have consciousness descending

into the womb

it gives life it gives activity to the

mentality materiality which is the name

rupa that is to say the mind and body

but without the mind and body there can

be no consciousness either so

consciousness arises dependent on an

experience

so when there is birth of a being there

is a descent of that consciousness into

the tamarupa

once that nama rupa is active then there

is consciousnesses that arise and pass

away dependent upon that nama rupa

there is no independent consciousness

there is no consciousness independent of

mentality materiality

now when we talk about the factors of

mentality here it says it's feeling

perception

observation

contact and attention

i also like to see it in the way of the

five aggregates in the sense that

you have

materiality which is form you have

feeling you have perception

you have volition or observation but

that's through the process of

formations and you have attention

through which your consciousness flows

let's say so whatever you put your

attention to

that is where your cognition will

cognize

so if you have the object of awareness

of loving kindness

there your awareness will reside there

your mindfulness will reside

so how does this process work in the in

the process of meditation

there is contact between the mind

and the loving-kindness

there is an intention or there is an

observation

of seeing that loving-kindness

there is a feeling and perception of

that loving-kindness and mind's

attention

stays on that loving kindness this is

the experience of mentality when it is

in meditation whatever the object of

meditation might be

now all of these are potentials there's

nothing you can do about it in terms of

whatever arises because whatever arises

in the way of contact feeling and

perception is what you can actually see

in terms of whether the mind is

identifying with it to an extent you can

because you can identify with the body

or you can have

thoughts about the body or thoughts of

the contact feeling and perception but

those are dependent upon again the

mentality of materiality itself and so

if those thoughts are unwholesome or

those thoughts are liable to cause

craving then you six are those thoughts

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands

consciousness

the origin of consciousness the

cessation of consciousness

and the way leading to the cessation of

consciousness

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is consciousness what is the

origin of consciousness

what is the cessation of consciousness

what is the way leading to the cessation

of consciousness

there are these six classes of

consciousness

i consciousness your consciousness

knows consciousness tongue consciousness

body consciousness mind consciousness

with the arising of formations

there is the arising of consciousness

with the cessation of formations there

is the cessation of of consciousness

the way leading to the cessation of

consciousness is just this noble

eightfold path

when a noble

disciple thus understood consciousness

the origin of consciousness the

cessation of consciousness and the way

leading to the cessation of

consciousness he here and now makes an

end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

as i just said consciousness is the bare

awareness of something it's the

cognition

of the sixth sense based experiences

so we have feeling we have perception

and we have consciousness

and these three run

around

in the sense that when there is feeling

there is a perception of that feeling

so when i am seeing you

i am seeing a crowd of people

that is the feeling

but now when i recognize

that there's david here there's bonte

here and there's other people here

that is the recognition that is the

perception that is the understanding of

what that feeling is

the awareness of that experience the

cognizing of that is consciousness

so if there is consciousness there will

be a feeling tied to it because

consciousness is only going to arise

dependent upon an experience of the

sixth sense basis

when there is perception there is a

feeling tied to it because recognition

can only arise when there is a feeling

it can only recognize something when it

arises in the form of an experience

and therefore you can only be aware of

something when there is an experience of

a feeling so this is how these three are

conjoined and so when you have the

cessation of perception and feeling

what you're having is actually the

cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

because the consciousness is dependent

upon the feeling and perception

when you get to the very minutes levels

of the meditation that is the quiet mind

and you start to let go of any

formations that are arising

those are the mental formations giving

rise to and we'll see that in a little

bit those are the mental formations

giving rise to feeling and perception

letting go of those letting go of your

identification with them letting go of

your experience of them

there comes a point

where there is no more feeling there is

no more perception and therefore there

is no more consciousness

and that is that cessation experience

when you

come back up online so to speak when the

mind comes back online and there is then

the experience of seeing the links of

dependent origination

there is a cognizing of that

there is a feeling of that and there is

a perceiving

so the consciousness that arises is

dependent upon the experiencing of

seeing of the links of dependent

origination

so the question always arises is

what is it that sees the links of

dependent origination and there is an

assumption that it is some kind of

consciousness

some kind of awareness and that goes

into the territory of some kind of

personal

permanent consciousness

but the way one can understand it is

that consciousness is like this ray of

light or a ray of sunlight

it seems like it's one fluid

consciousness

but it's made up of trillions and

trillions of photons and these

individual photons are the individual

consciousnesses

so when you see the links of dependent

origination that is the cognizing of the

links that depend origination

it is the cognition dependent upon the

arising of one link and passing away

then the arising of a new consciousness

dependent upon that link and arising

arising and passing away

so this is the way it's seen but it

seems like it's one fluid motion

so

you will have this experience when you

get to infinite consciousness you will

see for yourself that there is flickers

in the eye or the ear or whatever it

might be and you will start to see that

consciousness is not permanent that

there is

millions and millions of consciousness

throughout your day arising and passing

away arising and passing away actually

more than that

and eventually you start to see it and

then you become tired of this

and this tiredness of it is that

suffering

because you see that this is

not going to stop and you have no

control over it and not having control

over it you're seeing into anata you're

seeing into the impersonal nature of the

arising and passing away of

consciousness

so

when we talk about consciousness in

the context of dependent origination all

we are saying is the awareness

dependent upon the feeling awareness

dependent upon the experience of the

sixth sense basis

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands formations

the origin of formations the cessation

of formations and the way leading to the

cessation of formations

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what are formations what is the

origin of formations what is the

cessation of formations what is the way

leading to the cessation of formations

there are these three kinds of

formations the bodily formation the

verbal formation the mental formation

with the arising of ignorance there is

the arising of formations

with the cessation of ignorance there is

the there is the cessation of formations

the way leading to the cessation of

formations is just this noble eightfold

path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood formations the origin of

formations the cessation of formations

and the way leading to the cessation of

formations he here and now makes an end

of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

how do formations cease we just talked

about bodily formations verbal

formations and mental formations

let's start with verbal formations

verbal formations are the thinking

process that process of

thinking about something and formulating

something to say to express

and so their verbal verbalizations

verbal thoughts about something which

causes the mind to intend to speak

when you're in the second jana

your verbal formation cease

you no longer have any verbalizations

there's no longer the thinking and

sustained thought

the bodily formation is traditionally

associated with the breathing processes

and it is said that at the fourth jhana

the breathing stops but i would say the

breathing becomes quite imperceptible

but i would link bodily formations

generally to the entire physicality of

the body meaning you have an intention

to move

you're moving the body the intentions

drives forward the bodily formation

giving rise to an action or giving rise

to an experience of the body

so when you are in the for jhana what is

happening is you're starting to lose

awareness of the body

and so what's happening is you're

starting to cease the bodily formations

the mental formations are related to

mental feeling and perception

feeling and perception as we understand

the feeling is the actual sensation or

the experience and perception being the

recognition of that

at the eight ghana when you start to

cease

letting go

when you start to let go of all of these

formations in the form of different

kinds of thoughts when you're in either

perception and non-perception

there comes a point that all formations

cease and those formations that are

ceasing

are the feeling and perception are the

mental formations and so the cessation

of that mental or those mental

formations is the cessation of

perception feeling and consciousness

now formations also can be understood as

that which activates consciousness it

gives rise to a kind of consciousness

and formations can be rooted and the

unwholesome and can be rooted in the

wholesome how do you recognize the

quality of your formations

you recognize it by the quality of your

inclinations

is the mind inclining to the wholesome

or is the mind inclining to the

unwholesome

that's the way you see how formations

are

in terms of the wholesome and the

unwholesome

and what you see in this whole process

is that the formations themselves are

impermanent

formations give rise to consciousness

and rebirth on the macro level from one

lifetime to the next because what

happens is at the point of the

dissolution of the body something arises

in the way of an experience the mind

clutches to it the mind gravitates

towards inclines towards it and that

activates con that activates a kind of

formation

and the quality of those formations

activate a certain type of consciousness

that then takes root in the new nama

or a new nama

but on the

general day-to-day level what we're

saying here is that the formations are

constantly arising and passing away in

the same way

so we have to clarify

that

we already said that the consciousness

is impermanent and therefore it's not

one thread of consciousness going from

one lifetime to the next

in the same way it's not one set of

formations that are traversing from one

life to the next or from one moment to

the next they're in constant flux that

is why the buddha said in his final

words

that all

conditioned things that is to say all

formations are impermanent

be mindful of this fact

because if you start to make the

the formations permanent

then you're getting towards wrong view

and the formations are impermanent

because they're always changing

dependent upon actions

they are changing dependent upon our

mental verbal and physical actions

the more you gravitate towards the

wholesome

the more you're strengthening the

wholesome formations and the less and

the and the more you're weakening the

unwholesome formations and what that

does is

we were talking about choice in every

given moment

and sometimes there's a choice that

deviates or gravitates towards a

specific choice whether it's wholesome

or unwholesome and that's dependent upon

the formations that are strengthened so

the formations are fettered by ignorance

if they are fettered by craving if they

are fettered by conceit the mind is

liable to have no mindfulness at the

experience of feeling and take it

personal take it permanent and thus

cause

suffering

but taking away the ignorance with the

cessation of ignorance with the

cessation of craving with the cessation

of conceit those formations no longer

being fettered by ignorance craving and

conceit

are pure

formations will always arise doesn't

matter what because formations arise

based on contact in the conditioned

experience

but these formations will give rise to

the right intention if they are pure if

they are not influenced by ignorance if

they are not influenced by craving if

they are not influenced by conceit

and so

what i'm saying here is in order for you

to recognize your formations

recognize your mindset

understand where it is your mind

deviates towards be mindful of the

choices you're making in every single

moment and there is where you have let's

say quote unquote the power in the sense

that now you see that if you have

mindfulness

then you can make the choice and say

i choose not to be unwholesome but i

choose to be wholesome i choose to see

this

process as being impersonal and

therefore

i am experiencing the cessation of

suffering and i have a mind that is calm

collected clear and quiet

saying good friends a good friend the

because delighted and rejoiced in the

venerable sariputta's words then they

asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands ignorance

the origin of ignorance the cessation of

ignorance

and the way leading to the cessation of

ignorance in that way he is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

and what is ignorance what is the origin

of ignorance what is the cessation of

ignorance what is the way leading to the

cessation of ignorance

not knowing about suffering

not knowing about the origin of

suffering

not knowing about the cessation of

suffering

not knowing about the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

this is called ignorance

with the arising of the taints

there is the arising of ignorance

with the cessation of the taints there

is the cessation of ignorance the way

leading to the cessation of ignorance

is just this noble hateful path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood ignorance the origin of

ignorance the cessation of ignorance and

the way of leading to the cessation of

ignorance he here and now makes an end

of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dialogue

[Music]

you