From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ir_yYTazk6M

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

there's been a lot of translations of

this particular suit death and what

they've been doing is saying that the

first foundation is the body in the body

and that's not a good definition it's

not very good it's supposed to be the

body as the body if you use a

translation of the body in the body then

that leads you to a different place so

you have to be careful with this when

that's how they heard on one occasion

the blessed one was living in the kuru

country where there was a town of the

Guru's named Thomas Adama he addressed

the monks thus monks venerable sir they

replied the Blessed One said this monks

this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for the

surmounting of sorrow and lamentation

for the disappearance of pain and grief

for the attainment of the true way for

the realization of Nibbana namely the

four foundations of mindfulness what are

the four here monks a monk a bhai's

observing the body as a body ardent

fully aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world he

abides observing feeling as feeling

ardent fully aware and my

having put away covetousness and grief

for the world he abides observing mind

as mind ardent fully aware and mindful

having put away covetousness and grief

for the world he abides observing mind

objects as mind objects ardent fully

aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world now

we're gonna go to the mindfulness of

breathing and how monk does amok abide

observing body as a body here a monk

gone to the forest or to the root of the

tree or an empty hut sits down having

folded his legs crosswise that's one

thing that I kind of object to you know

it's real funny because when you go to

India everybody sits on the floor they

all sit cross-legged for about 20

minutes

so when I have them sitting in chairs

they find out that their legs don't hurt

him so much and they kind of liked that

idea so he sets his body erect and

establishes mindfulness in front of him

ever mindful he breathes in mindful he

breathes out now this is the instruction

for mindfulness of breathing breathing

in long he understands I breathe in long

or breathing out long he understands I

breathe out long

breathing in short he understands I

breathe in short or breathing out short

he understands I breathe out short now

did you hear me say focus or put your

attention only at your nostril tip or

your abdomen why because that's not in

the instruction the key word for these

two sentences is he understands you know

when you take a long breath and you know

when you take a short breath you know

when you're fat breath is fast you know

when it's slow you know when your breath

is very gross and where it's very subtle

it doesn't say focus on the breath it

just says you know that this is what the

breath is doing so you don't over focus

on the breath now we get into the actual

instruction he trains this key words now

this is what you need to do I shall

breathe in experiencing the whole body

not body of breath not focusing on the

breath

experiencing the whole body heat rains

thus they shall breathe out experiencing

the whole body heat rains thus I shall

breathe in tranquilizing the bodily

formation okay so on the in-breath you

tranquilize a bodily formation he trains

thus I shall breathe out tranquilizing

the bodily formation again you're using

the breath as the reminder to relax that

tension and tightness now when you let

relaxed attention and tightness here

it not only relaxes here it relaxes your

whole body the meninges I was talking

about the other day that goes around

your brain is like a bag but it goes all

the way down your spine so when you

relax your tension and tightness here

you're actually relaxing the whole body

a lot of people in in the West they

consider the body from the neck down and

mind is from the top of the neck up but

this is part of your body too now when

you use the six hours and you relax that

tension and tightness not only are you

relaxing your body but you're relaxing

your mind at the same time okay so this

is this is a practice that an awful lot

of people are doing but they're not

following these four simple sentences

they're not following the directions

they're told to put their attention and

focus on the breath or put your

attention on your abdomen and focus on

the in and out breathing and nowhere

does it say to focus what it's actually

saying is you're using the breath as the

reminder to relax

so it doesn't matter I practiced for a

long time when they were talking about

you need to see the first part of the

in-breath in the middle of the in-breath

and the end of the in-breath and the

pause and you have and you have to focus

to see this but it doesn't say that here

you understand what the breath is doing

you understand when it's long or short

but you use the breath as the reminder

to relax and if you start focusing on

just the breath now you're starting to

get into your one-pointed concentration

and that's why an awful lot of people

they do meditation for a while and then

they stop doing it because they they

just don't progress it's because they're

not following the directions that the

Buddha gave they're following the

directions that a teacher gave who isn't

following the suit death

just as a skilled lathe operator or his

apprentice when making a long-term

understands I make a long turn or when

making a short turn he understands I

make a short turn again it doesn't say

focus on it it just you understand so -

breathing in long a monk understands I

breathe in long breathing out long the

understands I breathe out long and so on

he trains thus I shall breathe in

experiencing the whole body doesn't mean

you focus on the body but you experience

it you see that it's there body is there

until you get to a certain place in your

meditation and then you don't feel the

body anymore it's all mental feeling

that arises it trains this I shall

breathe in tranquilizing a bodily

formation I shall breathe out

tranquilizing the bodily formation so

in this particular interpretation

translation it has what they call

insights now this is taken from

commentary and the insights that they're

talking about excuse me is taken from

the commentary where you're over

focusing or you're over concentrating

just on the breath so I'm not gonna read

these these insights because it's very

confusing and the way it's written it it

does what the commentary does is it

breaks it up and do separate little

pieces instead of a flow

so

okay he abides independent not craving

and clinging to anything in the world

that is how a monk observes the body as

a body then it gets into the four

postures and I've always thought that

this is kind of funny do you know when

you're sitting and when you're standing

do you know when you're walking or

you're lying down that's all I was

talking about but when I was practicing

the Mohave method I was told that when I

was walking I was putting my attention

on my feet that was walking very slowly

and then when I stopped it at the end of

a walking area I was told to mentally

tell myself that I was standing as if I

didn't know why I was Stanley so I've

always been confused by this because

it's such a general kind of

knowing what you're doing while you're

doing it again

a monk is one who acts in full awareness

when going forward and returning who

acts in full awareness when looking

ahead and looking away who acts in full

awareness when flexing and extending his

limbs who acts in full awareness when

wearing his robes and carrying his outer

robe and bowl who acts in full awareness

when eating drinking consuming food and

tasting who acts in full awareness when

defecating and urinating who acts in

full awareness when walking standing

sitting falling asleep waking up talking

and keeping silent awareness of what

awareness of what mind is doing when

you're doing these activities and 6rn

when your mind starts thinking about

other things

okay now this next part of the sati

batalla suit talks about the foul nests

and the body parts this is a meditation

that you should only do with a teacher

because you start realizing that the

this is made up of a lot of stuff that's

really disgusting and your mind can go

towards a version very easily and become

completely disgusting I know some monks

that give this meditation to students

that have just gotten married and you

don't want to think about the foul mass

of the body when you're married not to

start off with anyway but I had I had a

lot of college students that were just

getting they were 20 21 22 years old and

they were very easily distracted by

beautiful bodies and then that sort of

thing and they had a lot of lust coming

up so they asked me what what am I

supposed to do with this and I said well

when you see somebody that you're

attracted to and you start thinking

about them with lustful thoughts what

you need to do is turn their body inside

out in your mind and tell me what's

beautiful about it oh you have a

beautiful liver your intestines are

wonderful what's beautiful about that

and there are other things that are in

the body a thisis bile phlegm pus blood

sweat tears grease spittle snot oil of

the joints and urine well if you start

thinking of the body in that way while

you're sitting in meditation there's

nothing to be admiring the body is truly

disgusting in a lot of ways but we don't

think of it that way we get caught up in

our mind and get caught up in the lust

but when you turn the body inside out

there's nothing that is beautiful and

what that does is it puts your mind into

balance

so you can overcome lust very easily

that way this particular practice is not

not an easy practice you it takes about

a hundred and sixty-five days to do this

practice it to do it correctly so and

you do need to be around the teacher to

keep your mind in balance so you don't

become so repulsed by the body you want

to get rid of it now it it goes into

journal ground contemplations and in

India they have places that they put

bodies after after they die they put

them in certain places and they wait for

the family to come and take care of the

body sometimes they did sometimes would

be a year later but that that's where

you would go to see bodies that are

rotting and that the whole point of that

is to keep your mind and balance and not

be attached to this

now we go to the observation of feeling

and how does a monk abide observing the

observing feeling as feeling here when

feeling a pleasant feeling a monk

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

when feeling a painful feeling he

understands I feel a painful feeling now

the key word here again is understand

don't make a big deal out of these kinds

of feeling when feeling a neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a neither painful nor

Pleasant feeling when feeling a worldly

Pleasant feeling he understands I feel a

worldly Pleasant feeling what is a

worldly Pleasant feeling

I know you know the answer but I'm not

letting on

I'm waiting for people other people to

answer every time you will answer it

what is a worldly Pleasant feeling yeah

it can be but it's a pleasant feeling at

one of the cent stores okay it can be

food it can be sites it can be sounds it

can be whatever at the cents doors the

reason that it's worldly is because you

don't have the strong mindfulness to see

it as it actually is and you have a

tendency to have a feeling come up and

then get distracted with thoughts about

the feeling and then your thoughts just

kind of carry away and you go to other

things so this is just an ordinary

person that doesn't do any meditation

that's a worldly kind of feelings that

they experience when feeling an

unworldly Pleasant feeling he

understands I feel an unworldly Pleasant

feeling now unworldly

is talking about being in jhana okay

and when one of the sad stories come up

and you're in the jhana it's not a

distraction to you it's just something

that comes up by itself and you don't

get carried away thinking about it I

told you before you you have these five

aggregates you have body you have

feeling you have perception you have

formations or thoughts and consciousness

feeling and perception are always

together always as soon as the feeling

comes up your mind says that's nice

that's that's pleasant that's that's a

happy feeling or if it's a painful

feeling comes up your mind says that's

painful so perception is a part of your

brain that names things now when we

think we only think and concepts

what's a concept

well

what's a car

is a car the wheels is it the motor is

it the windscreen is it's a bumper where

is a car a car is a concept made up of a

lot of different little tiny things put

together to make up this idea of a car

or this is a chair well where is the

chair is the chair of the arms is it the

legs is it the seat is it the back was

made up of all of these things to make

this concept and we only think in

concepts so when you start getting

deeper and deeper into your meditation

and you get to a place where there's no

distraction at all your mind is very

quiet your mind is really still for

periods of time you are getting close to

the experience of Nirvana

and one of the definitions that you can

use for the Nibbana experience is the

realm of no concepts so when you're

feeling in a out an unworldly pleasant

feeling you're feel you have feelings

that still come up but these kind of

feelings it can be pleasant

very nice but you're not taking it

personally and you're not getting

distracted away from that feeling you're

staying with that feeling as long as

it's there you stay with your object of

meditation and the feeling when it

arises all right yeah no okay

and you have to speak up a little I'm

not sure I can

David can you say it you don't take it

personally you don't get lost in in

distracting thoughts okay and that's why

it's called unworldly because you're in

a jhana when that happens now a jhana is

a word that's much misunderstood people

will say well that means you're

practicing concentration know the word

JAMA means a level of your understanding

now everybody comes for their interview

and I start I talk about you're starting

to teach yourself very well because

you're starting to understand more and

more clearly how this process works so

it's a level of your understanding and

you get into the first jhana you

understand a very little bit about how

this process works but you get into the

second jhana you start understanding

more and you start getting confidence

and you start feeling like you're really

it's it's really working and

that makes you happy then you get into

the third jhana your mind starts to

develop this equanimity and you you have

a deeper understanding about this

process and how to handle any hindrances

when they come up you know what to do

with them now we know how to learn from

them so when you're feeling an unworldly

feeling it means that you're you're

you're having a feeling that's there it

can be pleasant or painful either one

but you're not taking it personally

you're not saying this is my feeling

like you could control it do you ask a

pleasant feeling to come up no it comes

up by itself the joy is there by itself

the comfortable feeling the happiness is

there by itself because your mindfulness

is getting sharper your observation of

how mine's attention moves becomes more

precise so you'll stay with your object

of meditation for a longer period of

time when feeling a worldly painful

feeling he understands I feel a worldly

painful feeling stub your toe what do

you do with that

painful feeling gums up and all of a

sudden you're thinking about how much

you hate that feeling and taking it

personally and wanting it to be

different than it is and wanting to run

away from the painful feeling but a

painful feeling is a painful feeling now

I have a lot of tooth problems now I

didn't used to have so many though when

I was in Burma I had a dentist he won't

really wanted to do me a favor so evil

he clean my teeth and he broke one of

the teeth and I had to have a root canal

the thing in Burma and I had friends

that have gone through this experience

they don't clean their tools from one

person to another

they don't sterilize all of their they

just use the tools and I had a couple

friends that they got real bad

infections in their mouth because of

that so I'm not about ready to let them

just stick these things in my mouth and

this aids was very prevalent in Burma at

the times and no you're not going to put

any and I got a freak me with one of

those needles because you don't clean

them very well so I allowed him to do a

root canal without any painkiller and

you bet it was painful sometimes he he'd

hit a spot and I begged my whole body

jump but while he was he was working on

me I would take a look at my body and I

was all tensed up so I started relaxing

the tension and tightness in my body and

let go of all the tight muscles and that

sort of thing and I had enough time to

start sending loving and kind thoughts

to him well he was working on me he was

the guy that was causing the bane

now after a period of time he was

satisfied that he'd gone deep enough it

felt like he was going all the way

through my skull at the time but that's

okay but as soon as he stopped causing

the pain I got a real good opportunity

see how that pain wasn't mine it was

just because the conditions are right

and when they stopped those conditions

then the pain disappeared and my mind

was very peaceful and calm right after

that so

painful feeling pleasant feeling the

same coin different sites and you treat

them both in the same way you use the

Sixers and allow that feeling to be

there without getting an involved in it

without getting distracted by your

liking this and disliking that and when

you do that you start developing very

strong equanimity balance of mind so you

don't get your mind doesn't start

wobbling and run try to run away when

it's a painful feeling so it's it's a

real interesting phenomena that we tend

to take our feeling as this is me this

is mine this is Who I am

but when your mindfulness starts to get

sharper the like and dislike becomes

less and less and with that there's more

balance in your mind

so when feeling an unworldly painful

feeling that is a meditation pain oh but

it hurts so bad

you start telling me about the pain you

have in your knee or pain you have in

your back when you get to a certain

place in the meditation you don't have a

body anymore

you're in a mental realm completely

mental realm

and the reason that the hindrance arises

is because of some past action and when

you see it as it actually is it's just a

feeling you don't tighten around it

because you start seeing it as it is

this feeling is there yeah that's true

you're not fighting with the truth

you're not trying to control the truth

you're not trying to make the truth be

the way you want it to be you allow it

to be there and don't resist it and

don't keep your attention on it let it

be there by itself relax

smile come back to your object of

meditation

so anytime that you're taking a painful

feeling or Pleasant feeling personally

and you try to hold on to that pleasant

feeling but it's not gonna be there all

the time it's gonna go away everything's

impermanent everything is in a state of

change and that changes a lot faster

than you realize

but when you're in the jhana you're not

taking things personally so now you're

seeing the unworldly feeling and how

that's different from the worldly

feeling when feeling a worldly neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a world lead neither

painful nor pleasant feeling what is a

worldly neither painful nor pleasant

feeling that's when your mindfulness is

weak and you're indifferent to whatever

it is you just don't see if you don't

pay attention to it when feeling an

unworldly neither painful nor pleasant

feeling he understands I feel an

unworldly neither painful nor Pleasant

feeling the unworldly neither painful

nor pleasant feeling is equanimity so

when you're when you start out on your

meditation your mind is flip-flopping

like this as you start to get deeper

there's less movement of mind's

attention there's more attention on your

object of

datian for longer periods of time when

you get to the fourth jhana which just

has equanimity in it and tranquility

both your mind is not flip-flopping

anymore it's not moving in such radical

ways now you start to get where your

mind is vibrating and it's pretty easy

to see as you go deeper in your

meditation that vibration becomes less

and less and harder to recognize until

you get to neither perception nor

non-perception where you can't really

tell whether there's movement of minds

attention at all equanimity is the

highest feeling that you can have okay

that is the highest feeling so your mind

doesn't move in shake when a pleasant

feeling arises or a painful feeling

arises you just recognize it that's

that's what's happening right now and

it's okay for it to be there right

so this is how you observe feeling as

feeling whatever kind of feeling arises

don't take it personally don't get

caught up in it don't try to hold on to

it it doesn't matter whether it's a

painful feeling or a pleasant feeling it

doesn't matter you have that balance of

mind and it's okay for that to be the

like that now when you get off retreat

you're gonna get back into your regular

life your mind is gonna have more of a

sense of balance in your daily life

you're not the things that used to get

you very angry

it's not going to get you so angry

anymore

the things that you really hold on to

and enjoy you're not gonna have as much

joy it's like when you start doing the

meditation your mind is on a

rollercoaster ride okay it's real happy

then is real painful then it's happy and

it's painful in it in your daily life

you go through that but as you gain more

and more understanding about how mind

works as you have more and more balance

in your mind the highs and the lows are

not gonna be so radical it's gonna turn

out more like little waves you're still

going to have them but they're not gonna

take you away and you stay

angry for a week because something

happened yes it's your gonna see it do

you even recognize that your mind is not

so much in balance and you start using

the six artists and then it mellows out

now another thing that helps your mind

to stay with equanimity and balance is

by keeping your precepts without

breaking them it's really important you

take that you take the precepts every

day as a reminder to not break them and

make a determination I'm gonna I'm gonna

go through the whole day without

breaking a precept at all and after you

do that for a period of time your mind

gains more and more a sense of balance

and your mindfulness gets sharper okay

now we're gonna go to the observation of

mind and how monks does a monk abide

observing mind as mind here a monk

understands mine affected by lust as

mind affected by lust and a mind

unaffected by lust as a mine unaffected

by lust he understands mine affected by

8 as a mine affected by hate or he call

it a version whatever and a mine not

affected by hate as a mine on an affair

goodbye hate he understands mine

affected by delusion what is delusion I

don't want you answering well it's

taking things personally

that is a deluded mind because that

starts pulling you away and gets you to

all kinds of hindrances and you're not

seeing things as clearly as you can no

lust I like it

hatred I don't like it

delusion that's where you start

identifying and taking things personally

with the light and the dislike whatever

it happens to be in other words lust

hatred and delusion is craving it's

another way of describing craving and

now you start to see more and more the

importance of using the six R's and

relaxing and letting go of that crave he

understands contracted mind as

contracted mind what is a contracted

mind mind that pulls together it's tight

do you know

save again

aha no not really that has craving in it

of course but a contracted mind is a

mind that has sloth and Dorper now you

get a fresh loaf of bread out of the

oven and you go to put some butter on it

then the butters been in the

refrigerator and the sloth and torpor

mind is like the butter and it just

doesn't spread it's just it tears

everything it does all kinds of strange

things so your mind has a tendency to

contract and then you start getting

sleepy and one of the causes of sloth

and torpor arising is not taking enough

interest in staying with your object of

meditation more interest

and when you start paying attention you

can start seeing what happens first what

happens after that what happens after

that when you start having a the sloth

and torpor arising if you take interest

in it then you're not going to be caught

by it for very low now one of the things

I always tell the students to do is

don't lean heavily in the chair when you

have sloth and torpor you want to

straighten your back up a little bit

more than is comfortable and then when

the sloth and torpor comes naturally

you'll start slumping and you'll be able

to catch it more quickly if you eat that

nice and straight and

it won't stay around as long because

you're paying more attention to it

you're starting to see how the process

works because that's the way my mind has

a tendency to be I know it very well

I can see when I'm trying to stay with

my object of meditation and I start

having these little quiet thoughts and

then they start getting bigger and

bigger and then my mind starts to get a

little bit dreamy and I'm not with my

object meditation anymore I'm starting

to slump and then your head starts Bobby

now in the suit does it talks about

different ways of letting go of sloth

and torpor but the the most effective

way is by being able to recognize it

when it first starts to come up and take

more interest in how your mind is doing

that you don't have such strong interest

in your object of meditation and you'd

have like a dual mind you have the mind

that's on your object of meditation kind

of but you have these little little

thoughts then they just start to build

after a while so you have less attention

on your object of meditation to say your

spiritual friend or one of the brahma

vihara and then you just kind of lose

your object of meditation and all of a

sudden you're in dreamland and

your your body just starts to slump so

when you start by sitting straighter by

sitting with your back a little

straighter than is comfortable when your

mind starts to let go and your body

starts to slump a little bit you can

catch it quite quick and then you don't

snap your body straight again and run

back to your object of meditation you do

this in a 6r way you don't have to push

it just notice that that's what's

happening straighten their mind up jump

back to your object of meditation after

you smile after you practice all six

hours you let it be there by itself it

is just a feeling and it's all right for

that feeling to be there it has to be

because that's the truth when it's there

it's there so you allow it to be there

by itself but you don't keep your

attention on that feeling

you relax a tightness caused in your

head and don't over relax it sometimes

some people will get kind of involved

with whatever hindrance it is that they

have and it could be quite big it can be

quite painful and they forget the six

artists and they try to do it with two

R's and that is release relax release

relax release relax and then you come to

me and you say you know this doesn't

work well if I give you a recipe for

making cookies and you leave out the

main ingredients it doesn't come out so

good it's gotta be lousy tasting cookies

it's like not adding the sugar that you

need for the for the cookies or not

adding the nuts or whatever it happens

to be so you have to use all six R's

every time but as you become more

familiar with it it starts to be more

automatic and you'll get to a place

where you'll just notice a hindrance

starting to come up in your mind all of

a sudden does it by itself and comes

back to the object of meditation

that's kind of fun when that happens so

the contracted mind is a mind that that

it just pulls together and does doesn't

want to let go and relax into it into

whatever it is it wants to go to sleep

that's a problem and he understands a

distracted mind as distracted now what

is a distracted mind you have to speak

up louder

a distracted mind is a- restless and

you've got to be friends with

restlessness and sloth adore per because

they're gonna stay around till you

become an RI so you better be friendly

with them one of my friends as a teacher

he said you know the whenever a

hindrance comes up you should be

grateful for it being there be grateful

for that

that entrance coming up because that's

showing you where your attachment is

don't fight hindrances don't try to

control distractions whatever they

happen to be if you do then your your

restlessness is going to get very much

stronger

[Applause]

now one of the things you've heard me

say a few times is before you start

you're sitting you should tell yourself

I don't care what happens next it

doesn't matter what happens next

my job is only to observe not to control

not to make something come up because if

you try to make it come up you're gonna

have lovely meditation and you're doing

it to yourself so a distracted mind is

easy to let go of

especially when you recognize that

there's it it is a painful feeling and

it is a restless feeling so when it

comes up it says in the suit does to

bring up a feeling of peace and calm

feel peaceful feel calm and bring that

feeling to your object of meditation

that will overcome the Restless feeling

very quickly but the Restless feeling it

mostly comes up because we were trying

to control there trying to make

something be the way you want it to be

oh I had a really good sitting last time

I wanted to happen now well that's a

fastest way to have restless mind the

gods yourself all kinds of problems

that's why I say tell yourself before

you sit too

develop your equal intimate equanimity

to such a degree that it doesn't matter

what happens next

your job is only to observe now they

would let me talk for a little bit more

I'll get to you in just a minute one of

the things that happens when it's

getting time for the retreat to get done

is the planning mind what am I gonna do

when I get off retreat and the planning

mind is part of restlessness but it's it

is a pleasurable feeling and you'll have

repeat thoughts over and over again oh

I'm gonna see this person and I'm gonna

say this to them and it never happens

the way you plan it anyway so it's just

a waste of time so when you get close to

the end of the retreat you start telling

yourself when the Restless mind comes up

you tell your mind I don't need to think

about this right now

I don't need to continually have these

thoughts of what I'm gonna do when I get

off retreat tell yourself I don't need

to think about this right now my job is

only to observe what's happening here

and your mind will pretty much pay

attention to it but you have to mean it

okay

controlling

well of course there's intention to stay

with your object of meditation but don't

over emphasize it because if you do then

you're gonna be putting in too much

energy and you're gonna get restless

right and the thing with equanimity is

you can have it for a period of time in

your mind is really balanced and nice

and then all of a sudden something

changes a little bit and then you start

trying a little bit and you start

getting the restlessness and when you'd

recognize that then you have to relax

let it be and back off now if you start

sitting with the idea that you're gonna

have a good meditation and you really

want to stay with your object of

meditation that thought is big enough

and strong enough that you're gonna have

loves ecity you're not going to stay

with your object of meditation at all

and then what happens in your mind is oh

I'm gonna try harder I really want this

quiet night and you wind up having

really a very difficult time because

your your restlessness is so strong and

when you see that happen back off and

laugh at yourself oh I got caught again

this mind is really crazy and it's okay

to be crazy it's not my mind anyway

right

so you have to learn to adjust now there

could be another time when your mind

just starts to get a little bit lazy and

as you start to get the sloth and torpor

then you have to pick up your energy a

little bit by taking more interest in

how the process works

this is a very fascinating process I

mean I've been a monk for 33 34 years

something like that and I'm never bored

ever this process is interesting and

there's always new ways of seeing things

and having these insights come up at you

oh that's how that happens that's what

I've been doing because myself suffering

so you start noticing when you have

repeat thoughts and you go ah look at

that

there's too much energy in this one and

I'm making too much of a big deal out of

it so I have to start backing off from

that but laughing with yourself is the

fastest way that I know of to let go of

restlessness of distractions you go from

and I mean it can be any of the

emotional upsets it can be fear it can

be anxiety it can be aversion whatever

the catch happens to be but when you

laugh you go from I am that let's say

anger I'm mad and I don't like this and

then you laugh and your mind goes

well it's only this anger do I want to

carry this around with me for a while

I'm not that stupid let it go so

developing your sense of humor about

yourself is very skillful so do you have

any other question well it doesn't have

to be on that point any any point well

God will continue here okay he

understands an exalted mind as exalted

what is an exalted mind this is a kind

of language we haven't heard before

an exalted mind is a mind that gets into

the first four dramas okay

your mind is exalted its uplifted and

it's very wholesome because you're not

taking things personally you're not

being distracted away by this by

hindrances you're staying with your

object of meditation that's why they

call it exalted because it is raising

your mind up and that's why they call it

unworldly because most people don't have

that sort of thing okay he understands a

surpassed mind as surpassed what is this

or past mind it's a mind that has the

practices the brahma vihara z' the the

in pali they call it the Rupa

us and an Aruba Java means that you're

getting into a mental realm that you

don't have a body anymore everything

that comes up is mental you know to be

quite honest you don't even have IND

anymore

so where's I consciousness I don't know

I can't give you an answer on that one

so having a surpassed mine means

practicing the brahma vihara z-- your

there's times when your mind is gonna be

with loving-kindness there's times when

your mind is gonna be with compassion

and you'll feel expansion in your head

there's times when you're gonna have joy

arrives but this is a different kind of

joy than you've experienced before this

kind of joy is the awakening factor of

joy it doesn't have the excitement that

the the lower dramas have it's a real

happy feeling

so the whole time that you're practicing

this way you are teaching yourself more

and more subtleties about the jhanas and

about these different states that you

can experience and you'll have insights

into him you know you'll see now we're

going to start to get into dependent

origination tomorrow and this is the

process of how this all works how it

arises so you're gonna see more and more

subtleties as you start going deeper in

how this is a process there's nothing to

be taken personally it's just arising

and passing away of phenomena and

everything is impersonal when conditions

are right for this do arise it's gonna

motor dies but you'll start seeing it on

deeper and deeper levels and it gets

real interesting when you do that

okay he understands a collected mind as

a collected mind what is a collected

mind it's a mind that's very composed a

- gets still it's like concentration but

I prefer to call it stillness because

concentration means really focusing and

your mind is very very alert

you're still gonna hear things you're

still gonna see things but you can have

very strong balance of mind while you're

doing that my teacher was Lucille Ananda

he was a Burmese teacher he was very

famous and in Burma highly educated I

mean he was really smart he memorized

this many books and even up until he

died he could recite from those books

and be correct he didn't make any

mistakes but he didn't believe that you

could sit and meditate you could do your

walking meditation or your daily

activities with strong equanimity in

your mind he didn't believe it because

he was a scholar more than he was a

practitioner and I finally convinced him

to start practicing and he saw it for

himself and he was completely blown away

I mean he was so surprised it was

unbelievable the thing with Lucille

Ananda and my relationship with him

is that he was my teacher there was no

no doubt about it

and he was very good at reading minds

and somebody would come up and they

would ask him a question and my mind

would say oh it's this and instead of

him answering he would say you answered

this one

but he was also my friend and we could

talk about personal things very deeply

and get good understanding from each

other from with whatever we were going

through so I had and I was always

playing jokes on him

I love to make him laugh out loud the

Burmese when when you hear somebody

laugh in Burma if they're what they

consider educated when they laugh they

just lightly chuckle and they think

Americans and they that wouldn't when

they were here the he used to call me

toza

which means a mountain boy which means

uneducated because I would laugh out

loud and things but I got him a few

times

so it's a real interesting thing to

understand that mind is not your mind is

here

it's not part of the body although it's

connected with the body

and for him to see that he could walk

with equanimity and the only thing that

he felt when he was walking was the

bottom of his feet because there was

contact

and sometimes a win would come up and

you he would feel that but when there

was contact with something he would feel

it but because the equanimity was so

strong it didn't make his mind shake and

go to it it just noticed that it was

there and okay that's there that's

enough not make a big deal out of it so

this is a real interesting part of the

observation of mind that is not really

talked very well with people that are

doing straight Vipassana so we're gonna

go to the last part which is the

observation of mind objects and the

first part of that is dealing with the

hindrances now which says that this is a

very important part of the practice it's

not something that you push down and

push away it's something that you use as

your your teacher to show you where your

your attachments are

and how does a monk abide observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five hindrances here there being sensual

desire and him a monk understands there

is sensual desire in me or there's no

central desire in him so he understands

there's no sensual desire in me and it

goes through the hatred then the

delusion then they goes through the

whole thing

then it says he also understands how

there comes to be the arising of the

un-- arisen sensual desire and how there

comes to be the abandoning of the arisen

sensual desire and how there comes to be

the future non arising of abandoned

sensual desire now that's a complicated

way of looking at it so we'll go through

this again he understands how there

comes to be the arising of an arisen

sensual desire how does that come to be

your mindfulness gets weak and you start

having distraction

okay that's the start of the hindrances

doesn't matter which hindrance it is

that's why I just call them distractions

and how their comes to be the abandoning

of the arisen sensual desire how do you

let it go use the six hours right and

how there comes to be the future non

arising of the abandoned sensual desire

how does that come to be

stay on your object of meditation

that's that simple so you know how it

comes up why it comes up you know that

because of past actions and past

briefing of a precept but you don't have

to know exactly what precept it is that

you broke just that this is how this

process works when my mindfulness gets

weak when I'm not staying with my object

of meditation then my endurance is gonna

come up and it's a necessary part of the

practice to be able to recognize the

hindrance and know what to do with the

entrance when it arises uses six hours

and stay with your object of meditation

stay with what you're doing in the

present okay

and you do that with all of the

entrances you know how many times do you

hear me say don't make a big deal out of

things what am I saying

keep your mindfulness sharp understand

when these things happen and use your

six hours to take care of them the thing

that's real important is to carry that

with you in your daily life so when a

hindrance comes up of course they're

gonna come up your mindfulness is not

gonna be that sharp all the time

so of course you're gonna see luster

hatred or so you'll get sleepy or you'd

be restless or you have anxiety or you

have fear but you have to know that you

have the tools to not take them

personally so you won't get caught free

with them for so long and if it's a big

entrance then ask your intuition why am

I so attached with this why am I taking

this so personally you'll get the answer

again a monk abides observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five aggregates when they are affected

by craving and kinging here a monk

understands such as material form first

noble truth such as its origin second

noble truth such its disappearance third

noble truth such as the way to that

disappearance fourth noble truth using

the six artists such as feelings such

its origin such as disappearance and the

way to that disappearance such as

perception such as origin such its

disappearance and the way leading to the

cessation such are the formations such

their origin such their disappearance

such the way to the disappearance such

as consciousness such is or its its

origin such its disappearance and the

way leading to that disappearance then

we go to the sixth sense basis again the

monk abides observing mind objects as

mind objects in terms of the six

internal and external basis or external

mind objects fuse me

here a mock understands the eye he

understands form and he understands the

fetter that arose dependent on both you

have you see coloring form you have a

good working eye easy color in the form

I consciousness arises there's a feeling

that arises with that of I like it or I

don't like it that craving comes up and

you have to be able to use the six hours

and allow it to be by itself without it

any attachment no taking it personally

he also how there he understands how

there comes to be the arising of the an

arisen fetter why does it come up

because you've lost your mindfulness and

how there comes to be the abandoning of

the arisen fetter using the sixers and

how there comes to be the future non

arising staying with your object of

meditation whatever that happens to be

he understands the year he understands

sounds he understands the knows he

understands odors he understands the

tongue he understands flavors he

understands the body he understands

tangibles he understands mind he

understands mind objects and he

understands the fetter that arises

dependent on both and also understands

how there comes to be that the arising

of the inner is

fetor how there comes to be the

abandoning of the arisen fetter

how there comes to be the future non

arising of the abandoned fetter

now we get to the awakening factors

again a monk abides observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

seven awakening factors now the

awakening factors is the mindfulness

awakening factor the investigation of

your experience

awakening factor the energy awakening

factor the joy awakening factor the

tranquility awakening factor the

collectiveness awakening factor and the

equanimity awakening factor now these

these awakening factors will happen one

at a time and as you improve your

mindfulness you'll start seeing these

more and more Theory now the thing is

with the sloth and torpor it says in the

suit is the way you overcome sloth and

torpor is by examining your experience

how does this arise what happens first

what happens after that what happens

after that and as you do that you

naturally start picking up your energy

and when you pick up your energy your

mind becomes lighter and you start to

have

happy feeling also when you have

restlessness you bring up the feeling of

tranquility the feeling of stillness or

just the feeling of equanimity and that

will always put your mind in balance

that's what the awakening factors are

for now the the awakening factors will

arise and be in perfect balance when

your mind is ready to experience new

bhana that's one of the things that

happens in your mind

so these awakening factors you can use

them to help overcome hindrances and

also too if you'd notice that one of the

awakening factors is a bit weak you can

add a little bit more energy into it so

now we're gonna get to the conclusion

and that is monks if anyone should

develop these four foundations of

mindfulness in such a way for seven

years one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here and

now that means becoming a Nara hot or if

there is a trace of craving and clinging

left non return that means being in the

Hana Gani let alone seven years if

anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for six years five years four three two

one

one of two fruits can be expected for

him either final knowledge here in now

or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left non return let alone one

year if anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for seven months six months five four

three two one half of month one of two

fruits can be expected for him neither

final knowledge here and now or if

there's a trace of craving and clinging

left not return let alone half a month

monks if anyone should develop these

four foundations of mindfulness in such

a way for seven days how long have in

you one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge hear him

now or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left non return so it was with

reference to this that it was said monks

this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for surmounting

sorrow and lamentation for the

disappearance of pain and grief for the

attainment of a true way for the

realization of Nirvana namely the four

foundations of mindfulness that's what

the Blessed One said the monks were

satisfied and delighted in the Blessed

and once words so now you've heard all

of the four foundations but you've heard

it in a different way than you might

have heard from other teachers but you

see that what I'm showing you is

straight from the book and it does have

to do with your being able to experience

jhanas and have a pure mind and the way

you get that is by practicing the six

hours with whatever rises let your

Samaritan main suffering ones be

suffering free and the fear struck

fearless be me the grieving at all grief

and may all beings find relief may all

being shared as merit that we've thus

acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may beings inhabiting

space and earth navies and not as a

mighty power share this merit of ours

may they don't protect the Buddhist

dispensation

[Music]

you

there's been a lot of translations of

this particular suit death and what

they've been doing is saying that the

first foundation is the body in the body

and that's not a good definition it's

not very good it's supposed to be the

body as the body if you use a

translation of the body in the body then

that leads you to a different place so

you have to be careful with this when

that's how they heard on one occasion

the blessed one was living in the kuru

country where there was a town of the

Guru's named Thomas Adama he addressed

the monks thus monks venerable sir they

replied the Blessed One said this monks

this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for the

surmounting of sorrow and lamentation

for the disappearance of pain and grief

for the attainment of the true way for

the realization of Nibbana namely the

four foundations of mindfulness what are

the four here monks a monk a bhai's

observing the body as a body ardent

fully aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world he

abides observing feeling as feeling

ardent fully aware and my

having put away covetousness and grief

for the world he abides observing mind

as mind ardent fully aware and mindful

having put away covetousness and grief

for the world he abides observing mind

objects as mind objects ardent fully

aware and mindful having put away

covetousness and grief for the world now

we're gonna go to the mindfulness of

breathing and how monk does amok abide

observing body as a body here a monk

gone to the forest or to the root of the

tree or an empty hut sits down having

folded his legs crosswise that's one

thing that I kind of object to you know

it's real funny because when you go to

India everybody sits on the floor they

all sit cross-legged for about 20

minutes

so when I have them sitting in chairs

they find out that their legs don't hurt

him so much and they kind of liked that

idea so he sets his body erect and

establishes mindfulness in front of him

ever mindful he breathes in mindful he

breathes out now this is the instruction

for mindfulness of breathing breathing

in long he understands I breathe in long

or breathing out long he understands I

breathe out long

breathing in short he understands I

breathe in short or breathing out short

he understands I breathe out short now

did you hear me say focus or put your

attention only at your nostril tip or

your abdomen why because that's not in

the instruction the key word for these

two sentences is he understands you know

when you take a long breath and you know

when you take a short breath you know

when you're fat breath is fast you know

when it's slow you know when your breath

is very gross and where it's very subtle

it doesn't say focus on the breath it

just says you know that this is what the

breath is doing so you don't over focus

on the breath now we get into the actual

instruction he trains this key words now

this is what you need to do I shall

breathe in experiencing the whole body

not body of breath not focusing on the

breath

experiencing the whole body heat rains

thus they shall breathe out experiencing

the whole body heat rains thus I shall

breathe in tranquilizing the bodily

formation okay so on the in-breath you

tranquilize a bodily formation he trains

thus I shall breathe out tranquilizing

the bodily formation again you're using

the breath as the reminder to relax that

tension and tightness now when you let

relaxed attention and tightness here

it not only relaxes here it relaxes your

whole body the meninges I was talking

about the other day that goes around

your brain is like a bag but it goes all

the way down your spine so when you

relax your tension and tightness here

you're actually relaxing the whole body

a lot of people in in the West they

consider the body from the neck down and

mind is from the top of the neck up but

this is part of your body too now when

you use the six hours and you relax that

tension and tightness not only are you

relaxing your body but you're relaxing

your mind at the same time okay so this

is this is a practice that an awful lot

of people are doing but they're not

following these four simple sentences

they're not following the directions

they're told to put their attention and

focus on the breath or put your

attention on your abdomen and focus on

the in and out breathing and nowhere

does it say to focus what it's actually

saying is you're using the breath as the

reminder to relax

so it doesn't matter I practiced for a

long time when they were talking about

you need to see the first part of the

in-breath in the middle of the in-breath

and the end of the in-breath and the

pause and you have and you have to focus

to see this but it doesn't say that here

you understand what the breath is doing

you understand when it's long or short

but you use the breath as the reminder

to relax and if you start focusing on

just the breath now you're starting to

get into your one-pointed concentration

and that's why an awful lot of people

they do meditation for a while and then

they stop doing it because they they

just don't progress it's because they're

not following the directions that the

Buddha gave they're following the

directions that a teacher gave who isn't

following the suit death

just as a skilled lathe operator or his

apprentice when making a long-term

understands I make a long turn or when

making a short turn he understands I

make a short turn again it doesn't say

focus on it it just you understand so -

breathing in long a monk understands I

breathe in long breathing out long the

understands I breathe out long and so on

he trains thus I shall breathe in

experiencing the whole body doesn't mean

you focus on the body but you experience

it you see that it's there body is there

until you get to a certain place in your

meditation and then you don't feel the

body anymore it's all mental feeling

that arises it trains this I shall

breathe in tranquilizing a bodily

formation I shall breathe out

tranquilizing the bodily formation so

in this particular interpretation

translation it has what they call

insights now this is taken from

commentary and the insights that they're

talking about excuse me is taken from

the commentary where you're over

focusing or you're over concentrating

just on the breath so I'm not gonna read

these these insights because it's very

confusing and the way it's written it it

does what the commentary does is it

breaks it up and do separate little

pieces instead of a flow

so

okay he abides independent not craving

and clinging to anything in the world

that is how a monk observes the body as

a body then it gets into the four

postures and I've always thought that

this is kind of funny do you know when

you're sitting and when you're standing

do you know when you're walking or

you're lying down that's all I was

talking about but when I was practicing

the Mohave method I was told that when I

was walking I was putting my attention

on my feet that was walking very slowly

and then when I stopped it at the end of

a walking area I was told to mentally

tell myself that I was standing as if I

didn't know why I was Stanley so I've

always been confused by this because

it's such a general kind of

knowing what you're doing while you're

doing it again

a monk is one who acts in full awareness

when going forward and returning who

acts in full awareness when looking

ahead and looking away who acts in full

awareness when flexing and extending his

limbs who acts in full awareness when

wearing his robes and carrying his outer

robe and bowl who acts in full awareness

when eating drinking consuming food and

tasting who acts in full awareness when

defecating and urinating who acts in

full awareness when walking standing

sitting falling asleep waking up talking

and keeping silent awareness of what

awareness of what mind is doing when

you're doing these activities and 6rn

when your mind starts thinking about

other things

okay now this next part of the sati

batalla suit talks about the foul nests

and the body parts this is a meditation

that you should only do with a teacher

because you start realizing that the

this is made up of a lot of stuff that's

really disgusting and your mind can go

towards a version very easily and become

completely disgusting I know some monks

that give this meditation to students

that have just gotten married and you

don't want to think about the foul mass

of the body when you're married not to

start off with anyway but I had I had a

lot of college students that were just

getting they were 20 21 22 years old and

they were very easily distracted by

beautiful bodies and then that sort of

thing and they had a lot of lust coming

up so they asked me what what am I

supposed to do with this and I said well

when you see somebody that you're

attracted to and you start thinking

about them with lustful thoughts what

you need to do is turn their body inside

out in your mind and tell me what's

beautiful about it oh you have a

beautiful liver your intestines are

wonderful what's beautiful about that

and there are other things that are in

the body a thisis bile phlegm pus blood

sweat tears grease spittle snot oil of

the joints and urine well if you start

thinking of the body in that way while

you're sitting in meditation there's

nothing to be admiring the body is truly

disgusting in a lot of ways but we don't

think of it that way we get caught up in

our mind and get caught up in the lust

but when you turn the body inside out

there's nothing that is beautiful and

what that does is it puts your mind into

balance

so you can overcome lust very easily

that way this particular practice is not

not an easy practice you it takes about

a hundred and sixty-five days to do this

practice it to do it correctly so and

you do need to be around the teacher to

keep your mind in balance so you don't

become so repulsed by the body you want

to get rid of it now it it goes into

journal ground contemplations and in

India they have places that they put

bodies after after they die they put

them in certain places and they wait for

the family to come and take care of the

body sometimes they did sometimes would

be a year later but that that's where

you would go to see bodies that are

rotting and that the whole point of that

is to keep your mind and balance and not

be attached to this

now we go to the observation of feeling

and how does a monk abide observing the

observing feeling as feeling here when

feeling a pleasant feeling a monk

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

when feeling a painful feeling he

understands I feel a painful feeling now

the key word here again is understand

don't make a big deal out of these kinds

of feeling when feeling a neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a neither painful nor

Pleasant feeling when feeling a worldly

Pleasant feeling he understands I feel a

worldly Pleasant feeling what is a

worldly Pleasant feeling

I know you know the answer but I'm not

letting on

I'm waiting for people other people to

answer every time you will answer it

what is a worldly Pleasant feeling yeah

it can be but it's a pleasant feeling at

one of the cent stores okay it can be

food it can be sites it can be sounds it

can be whatever at the cents doors the

reason that it's worldly is because you

don't have the strong mindfulness to see

it as it actually is and you have a

tendency to have a feeling come up and

then get distracted with thoughts about

the feeling and then your thoughts just

kind of carry away and you go to other

things so this is just an ordinary

person that doesn't do any meditation

that's a worldly kind of feelings that

they experience when feeling an

unworldly Pleasant feeling he

understands I feel an unworldly Pleasant

feeling now unworldly

is talking about being in jhana okay

and when one of the sad stories come up

and you're in the jhana it's not a

distraction to you it's just something

that comes up by itself and you don't

get carried away thinking about it I

told you before you you have these five

aggregates you have body you have

feeling you have perception you have

formations or thoughts and consciousness

feeling and perception are always

together always as soon as the feeling

comes up your mind says that's nice

that's that's pleasant that's that's a

happy feeling or if it's a painful

feeling comes up your mind says that's

painful so perception is a part of your

brain that names things now when we

think we only think and concepts

what's a concept

well

what's a car

is a car the wheels is it the motor is

it the windscreen is it's a bumper where

is a car a car is a concept made up of a

lot of different little tiny things put

together to make up this idea of a car

or this is a chair well where is the

chair is the chair of the arms is it the

legs is it the seat is it the back was

made up of all of these things to make

this concept and we only think in

concepts so when you start getting

deeper and deeper into your meditation

and you get to a place where there's no

distraction at all your mind is very

quiet your mind is really still for

periods of time you are getting close to

the experience of Nirvana

and one of the definitions that you can

use for the Nibbana experience is the

realm of no concepts so when you're

feeling in a out an unworldly pleasant

feeling you're feel you have feelings

that still come up but these kind of

feelings it can be pleasant

very nice but you're not taking it

personally and you're not getting

distracted away from that feeling you're

staying with that feeling as long as

it's there you stay with your object of

meditation and the feeling when it

arises all right yeah no okay

and you have to speak up a little I'm

not sure I can

David can you say it you don't take it

personally you don't get lost in in

distracting thoughts okay and that's why

it's called unworldly because you're in

a jhana when that happens now a jhana is

a word that's much misunderstood people

will say well that means you're

practicing concentration know the word

JAMA means a level of your understanding

now everybody comes for their interview

and I start I talk about you're starting

to teach yourself very well because

you're starting to understand more and

more clearly how this process works so

it's a level of your understanding and

you get into the first jhana you

understand a very little bit about how

this process works but you get into the

second jhana you start understanding

more and you start getting confidence

and you start feeling like you're really

it's it's really working and

that makes you happy then you get into

the third jhana your mind starts to

develop this equanimity and you you have

a deeper understanding about this

process and how to handle any hindrances

when they come up you know what to do

with them now we know how to learn from

them so when you're feeling an unworldly

feeling it means that you're you're

you're having a feeling that's there it

can be pleasant or painful either one

but you're not taking it personally

you're not saying this is my feeling

like you could control it do you ask a

pleasant feeling to come up no it comes

up by itself the joy is there by itself

the comfortable feeling the happiness is

there by itself because your mindfulness

is getting sharper your observation of

how mine's attention moves becomes more

precise so you'll stay with your object

of meditation for a longer period of

time when feeling a worldly painful

feeling he understands I feel a worldly

painful feeling stub your toe what do

you do with that

painful feeling gums up and all of a

sudden you're thinking about how much

you hate that feeling and taking it

personally and wanting it to be

different than it is and wanting to run

away from the painful feeling but a

painful feeling is a painful feeling now

I have a lot of tooth problems now I

didn't used to have so many though when

I was in Burma I had a dentist he won't

really wanted to do me a favor so evil

he clean my teeth and he broke one of

the teeth and I had to have a root canal

the thing in Burma and I had friends

that have gone through this experience

they don't clean their tools from one

person to another

they don't sterilize all of their they

just use the tools and I had a couple

friends that they got real bad

infections in their mouth because of

that so I'm not about ready to let them

just stick these things in my mouth and

this aids was very prevalent in Burma at

the times and no you're not going to put

any and I got a freak me with one of

those needles because you don't clean

them very well so I allowed him to do a

root canal without any painkiller and

you bet it was painful sometimes he he'd

hit a spot and I begged my whole body

jump but while he was he was working on

me I would take a look at my body and I

was all tensed up so I started relaxing

the tension and tightness in my body and

let go of all the tight muscles and that

sort of thing and I had enough time to

start sending loving and kind thoughts

to him well he was working on me he was

the guy that was causing the bane

now after a period of time he was

satisfied that he'd gone deep enough it

felt like he was going all the way

through my skull at the time but that's

okay but as soon as he stopped causing

the pain I got a real good opportunity

see how that pain wasn't mine it was

just because the conditions are right

and when they stopped those conditions

then the pain disappeared and my mind

was very peaceful and calm right after

that so

painful feeling pleasant feeling the

same coin different sites and you treat

them both in the same way you use the

Sixers and allow that feeling to be

there without getting an involved in it

without getting distracted by your

liking this and disliking that and when

you do that you start developing very

strong equanimity balance of mind so you

don't get your mind doesn't start

wobbling and run try to run away when

it's a painful feeling so it's it's a

real interesting phenomena that we tend

to take our feeling as this is me this

is mine this is Who I am

but when your mindfulness starts to get

sharper the like and dislike becomes

less and less and with that there's more

balance in your mind

so when feeling an unworldly painful

feeling that is a meditation pain oh but

it hurts so bad

you start telling me about the pain you

have in your knee or pain you have in

your back when you get to a certain

place in the meditation you don't have a

body anymore

you're in a mental realm completely

mental realm

and the reason that the hindrance arises

is because of some past action and when

you see it as it actually is it's just a

feeling you don't tighten around it

because you start seeing it as it is

this feeling is there yeah that's true

you're not fighting with the truth

you're not trying to control the truth

you're not trying to make the truth be

the way you want it to be you allow it

to be there and don't resist it and

don't keep your attention on it let it

be there by itself relax

smile come back to your object of

meditation

so anytime that you're taking a painful

feeling or Pleasant feeling personally

and you try to hold on to that pleasant

feeling but it's not gonna be there all

the time it's gonna go away everything's

impermanent everything is in a state of

change and that changes a lot faster

than you realize

but when you're in the jhana you're not

taking things personally so now you're

seeing the unworldly feeling and how

that's different from the worldly

feeling when feeling a worldly neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he

understands I feel a world lead neither

painful nor pleasant feeling what is a

worldly neither painful nor pleasant

feeling that's when your mindfulness is

weak and you're indifferent to whatever

it is you just don't see if you don't

pay attention to it when feeling an

unworldly neither painful nor pleasant

feeling he understands I feel an

unworldly neither painful nor Pleasant

feeling the unworldly neither painful

nor pleasant feeling is equanimity so

when you're when you start out on your

meditation your mind is flip-flopping

like this as you start to get deeper

there's less movement of mind's

attention there's more attention on your

object of

datian for longer periods of time when

you get to the fourth jhana which just

has equanimity in it and tranquility

both your mind is not flip-flopping

anymore it's not moving in such radical

ways now you start to get where your

mind is vibrating and it's pretty easy

to see as you go deeper in your

meditation that vibration becomes less

and less and harder to recognize until

you get to neither perception nor

non-perception where you can't really

tell whether there's movement of minds

attention at all equanimity is the

highest feeling that you can have okay

that is the highest feeling so your mind

doesn't move in shake when a pleasant

feeling arises or a painful feeling

arises you just recognize it that's

that's what's happening right now and

it's okay for it to be there right

so this is how you observe feeling as

feeling whatever kind of feeling arises

don't take it personally don't get

caught up in it don't try to hold on to

it it doesn't matter whether it's a

painful feeling or a pleasant feeling it

doesn't matter you have that balance of

mind and it's okay for that to be the

like that now when you get off retreat

you're gonna get back into your regular

life your mind is gonna have more of a

sense of balance in your daily life

you're not the things that used to get

you very angry

it's not going to get you so angry

anymore

the things that you really hold on to

and enjoy you're not gonna have as much

joy it's like when you start doing the

meditation your mind is on a

rollercoaster ride okay it's real happy

then is real painful then it's happy and

it's painful in it in your daily life

you go through that but as you gain more

and more understanding about how mind

works as you have more and more balance

in your mind the highs and the lows are

not gonna be so radical it's gonna turn

out more like little waves you're still

going to have them but they're not gonna

take you away and you stay

angry for a week because something

happened yes it's your gonna see it do

you even recognize that your mind is not

so much in balance and you start using

the six artists and then it mellows out

now another thing that helps your mind

to stay with equanimity and balance is

by keeping your precepts without

breaking them it's really important you

take that you take the precepts every

day as a reminder to not break them and

make a determination I'm gonna I'm gonna

go through the whole day without

breaking a precept at all and after you

do that for a period of time your mind

gains more and more a sense of balance

and your mindfulness gets sharper okay

now we're gonna go to the observation of

mind and how monks does a monk abide

observing mind as mind here a monk

understands mine affected by lust as

mind affected by lust and a mind

unaffected by lust as a mine unaffected

by lust he understands mine affected by

8 as a mine affected by hate or he call

it a version whatever and a mine not

affected by hate as a mine on an affair

goodbye hate he understands mine

affected by delusion what is delusion I

don't want you answering well it's

taking things personally

that is a deluded mind because that

starts pulling you away and gets you to

all kinds of hindrances and you're not

seeing things as clearly as you can no

lust I like it

hatred I don't like it

delusion that's where you start

identifying and taking things personally

with the light and the dislike whatever

it happens to be in other words lust

hatred and delusion is craving it's

another way of describing craving and

now you start to see more and more the

importance of using the six R's and

relaxing and letting go of that crave he

understands contracted mind as

contracted mind what is a contracted

mind mind that pulls together it's tight

do you know

save again

aha no not really that has craving in it

of course but a contracted mind is a

mind that has sloth and Dorper now you

get a fresh loaf of bread out of the

oven and you go to put some butter on it

then the butters been in the

refrigerator and the sloth and torpor

mind is like the butter and it just

doesn't spread it's just it tears

everything it does all kinds of strange

things so your mind has a tendency to

contract and then you start getting

sleepy and one of the causes of sloth

and torpor arising is not taking enough

interest in staying with your object of

meditation more interest

and when you start paying attention you

can start seeing what happens first what

happens after that what happens after

that when you start having a the sloth

and torpor arising if you take interest

in it then you're not going to be caught

by it for very low now one of the things

I always tell the students to do is

don't lean heavily in the chair when you

have sloth and torpor you want to

straighten your back up a little bit

more than is comfortable and then when

the sloth and torpor comes naturally

you'll start slumping and you'll be able

to catch it more quickly if you eat that

nice and straight and

it won't stay around as long because

you're paying more attention to it

you're starting to see how the process

works because that's the way my mind has

a tendency to be I know it very well

I can see when I'm trying to stay with

my object of meditation and I start

having these little quiet thoughts and

then they start getting bigger and

bigger and then my mind starts to get a

little bit dreamy and I'm not with my

object meditation anymore I'm starting

to slump and then your head starts Bobby

now in the suit does it talks about

different ways of letting go of sloth

and torpor but the the most effective

way is by being able to recognize it

when it first starts to come up and take

more interest in how your mind is doing

that you don't have such strong interest

in your object of meditation and you'd

have like a dual mind you have the mind

that's on your object of meditation kind

of but you have these little little

thoughts then they just start to build

after a while so you have less attention

on your object of meditation to say your

spiritual friend or one of the brahma

vihara and then you just kind of lose

your object of meditation and all of a

sudden you're in dreamland and

your your body just starts to slump so

when you start by sitting straighter by

sitting with your back a little

straighter than is comfortable when your

mind starts to let go and your body

starts to slump a little bit you can

catch it quite quick and then you don't

snap your body straight again and run

back to your object of meditation you do

this in a 6r way you don't have to push

it just notice that that's what's

happening straighten their mind up jump

back to your object of meditation after

you smile after you practice all six

hours you let it be there by itself it

is just a feeling and it's all right for

that feeling to be there it has to be

because that's the truth when it's there

it's there so you allow it to be there

by itself but you don't keep your

attention on that feeling

you relax a tightness caused in your

head and don't over relax it sometimes

some people will get kind of involved

with whatever hindrance it is that they

have and it could be quite big it can be

quite painful and they forget the six

artists and they try to do it with two

R's and that is release relax release

relax release relax and then you come to

me and you say you know this doesn't

work well if I give you a recipe for

making cookies and you leave out the

main ingredients it doesn't come out so

good it's gotta be lousy tasting cookies

it's like not adding the sugar that you

need for the for the cookies or not

adding the nuts or whatever it happens

to be so you have to use all six R's

every time but as you become more

familiar with it it starts to be more

automatic and you'll get to a place

where you'll just notice a hindrance

starting to come up in your mind all of

a sudden does it by itself and comes

back to the object of meditation

that's kind of fun when that happens so

the contracted mind is a mind that that

it just pulls together and does doesn't

want to let go and relax into it into

whatever it is it wants to go to sleep

that's a problem and he understands a

distracted mind as distracted now what

is a distracted mind you have to speak

up louder

a distracted mind is a- restless and

you've got to be friends with

restlessness and sloth adore per because

they're gonna stay around till you

become an RI so you better be friendly

with them one of my friends as a teacher

he said you know the whenever a

hindrance comes up you should be

grateful for it being there be grateful

for that

that entrance coming up because that's

showing you where your attachment is

don't fight hindrances don't try to

control distractions whatever they

happen to be if you do then your your

restlessness is going to get very much

stronger

[Applause]

now one of the things you've heard me

say a few times is before you start

you're sitting you should tell yourself

I don't care what happens next it

doesn't matter what happens next

my job is only to observe not to control

not to make something come up because if

you try to make it come up you're gonna

have lovely meditation and you're doing

it to yourself so a distracted mind is

easy to let go of

especially when you recognize that

there's it it is a painful feeling and

it is a restless feeling so when it

comes up it says in the suit does to

bring up a feeling of peace and calm

feel peaceful feel calm and bring that

feeling to your object of meditation

that will overcome the Restless feeling

very quickly but the Restless feeling it

mostly comes up because we were trying

to control there trying to make

something be the way you want it to be

oh I had a really good sitting last time

I wanted to happen now well that's a

fastest way to have restless mind the

gods yourself all kinds of problems

that's why I say tell yourself before

you sit too

develop your equal intimate equanimity

to such a degree that it doesn't matter

what happens next

your job is only to observe now they

would let me talk for a little bit more

I'll get to you in just a minute one of

the things that happens when it's

getting time for the retreat to get done

is the planning mind what am I gonna do

when I get off retreat and the planning

mind is part of restlessness but it's it

is a pleasurable feeling and you'll have

repeat thoughts over and over again oh

I'm gonna see this person and I'm gonna

say this to them and it never happens

the way you plan it anyway so it's just

a waste of time so when you get close to

the end of the retreat you start telling

yourself when the Restless mind comes up

you tell your mind I don't need to think

about this right now

I don't need to continually have these

thoughts of what I'm gonna do when I get

off retreat tell yourself I don't need

to think about this right now my job is

only to observe what's happening here

and your mind will pretty much pay

attention to it but you have to mean it

okay

controlling

well of course there's intention to stay

with your object of meditation but don't

over emphasize it because if you do then

you're gonna be putting in too much

energy and you're gonna get restless

right and the thing with equanimity is

you can have it for a period of time in

your mind is really balanced and nice

and then all of a sudden something

changes a little bit and then you start

trying a little bit and you start

getting the restlessness and when you'd

recognize that then you have to relax

let it be and back off now if you start

sitting with the idea that you're gonna

have a good meditation and you really

want to stay with your object of

meditation that thought is big enough

and strong enough that you're gonna have

loves ecity you're not going to stay

with your object of meditation at all

and then what happens in your mind is oh

I'm gonna try harder I really want this

quiet night and you wind up having

really a very difficult time because

your your restlessness is so strong and

when you see that happen back off and

laugh at yourself oh I got caught again

this mind is really crazy and it's okay

to be crazy it's not my mind anyway

right

so you have to learn to adjust now there

could be another time when your mind

just starts to get a little bit lazy and

as you start to get the sloth and torpor

then you have to pick up your energy a

little bit by taking more interest in

how the process works

this is a very fascinating process I

mean I've been a monk for 33 34 years

something like that and I'm never bored

ever this process is interesting and

there's always new ways of seeing things

and having these insights come up at you

oh that's how that happens that's what

I've been doing because myself suffering

so you start noticing when you have

repeat thoughts and you go ah look at

that

there's too much energy in this one and

I'm making too much of a big deal out of

it so I have to start backing off from

that but laughing with yourself is the

fastest way that I know of to let go of

restlessness of distractions you go from

and I mean it can be any of the

emotional upsets it can be fear it can

be anxiety it can be aversion whatever

the catch happens to be but when you

laugh you go from I am that let's say

anger I'm mad and I don't like this and

then you laugh and your mind goes

well it's only this anger do I want to

carry this around with me for a while

I'm not that stupid let it go so

developing your sense of humor about

yourself is very skillful so do you have

any other question well it doesn't have

to be on that point any any point well

God will continue here okay he

understands an exalted mind as exalted

what is an exalted mind this is a kind

of language we haven't heard before

an exalted mind is a mind that gets into

the first four dramas okay

your mind is exalted its uplifted and

it's very wholesome because you're not

taking things personally you're not

being distracted away by this by

hindrances you're staying with your

object of meditation that's why they

call it exalted because it is raising

your mind up and that's why they call it

unworldly because most people don't have

that sort of thing okay he understands a

surpassed mind as surpassed what is this

or past mind it's a mind that has the

practices the brahma vihara z' the the

in pali they call it the Rupa

us and an Aruba Java means that you're

getting into a mental realm that you

don't have a body anymore everything

that comes up is mental you know to be

quite honest you don't even have IND

anymore

so where's I consciousness I don't know

I can't give you an answer on that one

so having a surpassed mine means

practicing the brahma vihara z-- your

there's times when your mind is gonna be

with loving-kindness there's times when

your mind is gonna be with compassion

and you'll feel expansion in your head

there's times when you're gonna have joy

arrives but this is a different kind of

joy than you've experienced before this

kind of joy is the awakening factor of

joy it doesn't have the excitement that

the the lower dramas have it's a real

happy feeling

so the whole time that you're practicing

this way you are teaching yourself more

and more subtleties about the jhanas and

about these different states that you

can experience and you'll have insights

into him you know you'll see now we're

going to start to get into dependent

origination tomorrow and this is the

process of how this all works how it

arises so you're gonna see more and more

subtleties as you start going deeper in

how this is a process there's nothing to

be taken personally it's just arising

and passing away of phenomena and

everything is impersonal when conditions

are right for this do arise it's gonna

motor dies but you'll start seeing it on

deeper and deeper levels and it gets

real interesting when you do that

okay he understands a collected mind as

a collected mind what is a collected

mind it's a mind that's very composed a

- gets still it's like concentration but

I prefer to call it stillness because

concentration means really focusing and

your mind is very very alert

you're still gonna hear things you're

still gonna see things but you can have

very strong balance of mind while you're

doing that my teacher was Lucille Ananda

he was a Burmese teacher he was very

famous and in Burma highly educated I

mean he was really smart he memorized

this many books and even up until he

died he could recite from those books

and be correct he didn't make any

mistakes but he didn't believe that you

could sit and meditate you could do your

walking meditation or your daily

activities with strong equanimity in

your mind he didn't believe it because

he was a scholar more than he was a

practitioner and I finally convinced him

to start practicing and he saw it for

himself and he was completely blown away

I mean he was so surprised it was

unbelievable the thing with Lucille

Ananda and my relationship with him

is that he was my teacher there was no

no doubt about it

and he was very good at reading minds

and somebody would come up and they

would ask him a question and my mind

would say oh it's this and instead of

him answering he would say you answered

this one

but he was also my friend and we could

talk about personal things very deeply

and get good understanding from each

other from with whatever we were going

through so I had and I was always

playing jokes on him

I love to make him laugh out loud the

Burmese when when you hear somebody

laugh in Burma if they're what they

consider educated when they laugh they

just lightly chuckle and they think

Americans and they that wouldn't when

they were here the he used to call me

toza

which means a mountain boy which means

uneducated because I would laugh out

loud and things but I got him a few

times

so it's a real interesting thing to

understand that mind is not your mind is

here

it's not part of the body although it's

connected with the body

and for him to see that he could walk

with equanimity and the only thing that

he felt when he was walking was the

bottom of his feet because there was

contact

and sometimes a win would come up and

you he would feel that but when there

was contact with something he would feel

it but because the equanimity was so

strong it didn't make his mind shake and

go to it it just noticed that it was

there and okay that's there that's

enough not make a big deal out of it so

this is a real interesting part of the

observation of mind that is not really

talked very well with people that are

doing straight Vipassana so we're gonna

go to the last part which is the

observation of mind objects and the

first part of that is dealing with the

hindrances now which says that this is a

very important part of the practice it's

not something that you push down and

push away it's something that you use as

your your teacher to show you where your

your attachments are

and how does a monk abide observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five hindrances here there being sensual

desire and him a monk understands there

is sensual desire in me or there's no

central desire in him so he understands

there's no sensual desire in me and it

goes through the hatred then the

delusion then they goes through the

whole thing

then it says he also understands how

there comes to be the arising of the

un-- arisen sensual desire and how there

comes to be the abandoning of the arisen

sensual desire and how there comes to be

the future non arising of abandoned

sensual desire now that's a complicated

way of looking at it so we'll go through

this again he understands how there

comes to be the arising of an arisen

sensual desire how does that come to be

your mindfulness gets weak and you start

having distraction

okay that's the start of the hindrances

doesn't matter which hindrance it is

that's why I just call them distractions

and how their comes to be the abandoning

of the arisen sensual desire how do you

let it go use the six hours right and

how there comes to be the future non

arising of the abandoned sensual desire

how does that come to be

stay on your object of meditation

that's that simple so you know how it

comes up why it comes up you know that

because of past actions and past

briefing of a precept but you don't have

to know exactly what precept it is that

you broke just that this is how this

process works when my mindfulness gets

weak when I'm not staying with my object

of meditation then my endurance is gonna

come up and it's a necessary part of the

practice to be able to recognize the

hindrance and know what to do with the

entrance when it arises uses six hours

and stay with your object of meditation

stay with what you're doing in the

present okay

and you do that with all of the

entrances you know how many times do you

hear me say don't make a big deal out of

things what am I saying

keep your mindfulness sharp understand

when these things happen and use your

six hours to take care of them the thing

that's real important is to carry that

with you in your daily life so when a

hindrance comes up of course they're

gonna come up your mindfulness is not

gonna be that sharp all the time

so of course you're gonna see luster

hatred or so you'll get sleepy or you'd

be restless or you have anxiety or you

have fear but you have to know that you

have the tools to not take them

personally so you won't get caught free

with them for so long and if it's a big

entrance then ask your intuition why am

I so attached with this why am I taking

this so personally you'll get the answer

again a monk abides observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

five aggregates when they are affected

by craving and kinging here a monk

understands such as material form first

noble truth such as its origin second

noble truth such its disappearance third

noble truth such as the way to that

disappearance fourth noble truth using

the six artists such as feelings such

its origin such as disappearance and the

way to that disappearance such as

perception such as origin such its

disappearance and the way leading to the

cessation such are the formations such

their origin such their disappearance

such the way to the disappearance such

as consciousness such is or its its

origin such its disappearance and the

way leading to that disappearance then

we go to the sixth sense basis again the

monk abides observing mind objects as

mind objects in terms of the six

internal and external basis or external

mind objects fuse me

here a mock understands the eye he

understands form and he understands the

fetter that arose dependent on both you

have you see coloring form you have a

good working eye easy color in the form

I consciousness arises there's a feeling

that arises with that of I like it or I

don't like it that craving comes up and

you have to be able to use the six hours

and allow it to be by itself without it

any attachment no taking it personally

he also how there he understands how

there comes to be the arising of the an

arisen fetter why does it come up

because you've lost your mindfulness and

how there comes to be the abandoning of

the arisen fetter using the sixers and

how there comes to be the future non

arising staying with your object of

meditation whatever that happens to be

he understands the year he understands

sounds he understands the knows he

understands odors he understands the

tongue he understands flavors he

understands the body he understands

tangibles he understands mind he

understands mind objects and he

understands the fetter that arises

dependent on both and also understands

how there comes to be that the arising

of the inner is

fetor how there comes to be the

abandoning of the arisen fetter

how there comes to be the future non

arising of the abandoned fetter

now we get to the awakening factors

again a monk abides observing mind

objects as mind objects in terms of the

seven awakening factors now the

awakening factors is the mindfulness

awakening factor the investigation of

your experience

awakening factor the energy awakening

factor the joy awakening factor the

tranquility awakening factor the

collectiveness awakening factor and the

equanimity awakening factor now these

these awakening factors will happen one

at a time and as you improve your

mindfulness you'll start seeing these

more and more Theory now the thing is

with the sloth and torpor it says in the

suit is the way you overcome sloth and

torpor is by examining your experience

how does this arise what happens first

what happens after that what happens

after that and as you do that you

naturally start picking up your energy

and when you pick up your energy your

mind becomes lighter and you start to

have

happy feeling also when you have

restlessness you bring up the feeling of

tranquility the feeling of stillness or

just the feeling of equanimity and that

will always put your mind in balance

that's what the awakening factors are

for now the the awakening factors will

arise and be in perfect balance when

your mind is ready to experience new

bhana that's one of the things that

happens in your mind

so these awakening factors you can use

them to help overcome hindrances and

also too if you'd notice that one of the

awakening factors is a bit weak you can

add a little bit more energy into it so

now we're gonna get to the conclusion

and that is monks if anyone should

develop these four foundations of

mindfulness in such a way for seven

years one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge here and

now that means becoming a Nara hot or if

there is a trace of craving and clinging

left non return that means being in the

Hana Gani let alone seven years if

anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for six years five years four three two

one

one of two fruits can be expected for

him either final knowledge here in now

or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left non return let alone one

year if anyone should develop these four

foundations of mindfulness in such a way

for seven months six months five four

three two one half of month one of two

fruits can be expected for him neither

final knowledge here and now or if

there's a trace of craving and clinging

left not return let alone half a month

monks if anyone should develop these

four foundations of mindfulness in such

a way for seven days how long have in

you one of two fruits can be expected

for him either final knowledge hear him

now or if there's a trace of craving and

clinging left non return so it was with

reference to this that it was said monks

this is a direct path for the

purification of beings for surmounting

sorrow and lamentation for the

disappearance of pain and grief for the

attainment of a true way for the

realization of Nirvana namely the four

foundations of mindfulness that's what

the Blessed One said the monks were

satisfied and delighted in the Blessed

and once words so now you've heard all

of the four foundations but you've heard

it in a different way than you might

have heard from other teachers but you

see that what I'm showing you is

straight from the book and it does have

to do with your being able to experience

jhanas and have a pure mind and the way

you get that is by practicing the six

hours with whatever rises let your

Samaritan main suffering ones be

suffering free and the fear struck

fearless be me the grieving at all grief

and may all beings find relief may all

being shared as merit that we've thus

acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may beings inhabiting

space and earth navies and not as a

mighty power share this merit of ours

may they don't protect the Buddhist

dispensation

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