From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-DkK4DOzdrs

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

[Music]

so this suit is going to have a lot of

information so i want you all to just

listen and attend carefully

thus have i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at salvati in

jettas grove

anatapindakis park

there the venerable sari put their

address to because thus

friends because

friend they replied

the venerable sariputta said this

one of right view one or right view is

said friends

in what way is a noble disciple one of

right view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dhamma

and has arrived at this true dharma

indeed friend we would come from far

away to learn from the venerable

sariputta

the meaning of this statement

it would be good if the venerable

sariputta would explain the meaning of

the statement

having heard it from him the beakers

will remember it

then friends listen and attend closely

to what i shall say

yes friend the beakers replied

so now we're going to explore

what is

right view

right view has two levels there's the

mundane level and there's the super

mundane level

the mundane level has to do with

understanding karma understanding

rebirth understanding

that one has gratitude for one's elders

gratitude for one's parents

understanding that there are people out

there who know this stuff and that

you can go to them and

learn it and teach yourself

while they guide you through that path

so right view is really about getting

your

your conviction straight

so when you establish right view it

means that you have experienced for

yourself the path

it's not on a basis of blind faith it's

on a basis of seeing for yourself how

this whole process works

and then you establish that super

mundane right view

the mundane right view excuse me

the supreme super mundane right view has

to do with the four noble truths

when somebody experiences nibana they

get closer to understanding what these

four noble truths are all about

every time you use the six hour process

you are applying the four noble truths

and i'll explain how that works

and once you start to 6r and let go of

craving further and further and

experience the different levels of

attainment

ultimately you experience arahat ship

and you have right view completely

embedded in your mind

so there's no longer any

doubts or any

clarifications that are needed

for you to understand the path at that

point in time

when you get your views straight

then you also get the other factors of

the path straight and we'll go through

what those factors are

so i'll begin

when friends a noble disciple

understands the unwholesome and the root

of the unwholesome

the wholesome and the root of the

wholesome

in that way he is one of right view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dharma

and has arrived at this true dhamma

and what friends is the unwholesome

what is the root of the unwholesome

what is the wholesome

what is the root of the wholesome

killing living beings is unwholesome

taking what is not given is unwholesome

misconduct in sensual pleasures is

unwholesome

false speech is unwholesome

malicious speech is unwholesome

harsh speech is unwholesome

gossip is unwholesome

covetousness

is unwholesome

ill will is unwholesome

wrong view is unwholesome

this is called the unwholesome

so right away you see breaking the five

precepts

is

practicing the unwholesome

anytime you break the precepts you're

liable to cause hindrances to arise in

your mind

so if you've broken a precept

make a determination that you won't do

it again

take the precepts again and resolve to

continue that's all you have to do

the whole point of this practice is to

understand what is the unwholesome as we

understand breaking the basic five

precepts

indulging in certain kinds of

unwholesome activities as was laid out

here

that leads to

one's mental downfall that leads to

a restless mind that leads to a mind

filled with doubt

that leads to a mind with craving

that leads to a mind with ill will

but when you understand what is the

wholesome and you replace the

unwholesome actions and actions aren't

just deeds they're not just physical

actions mean

mental verbal and physical actions

so in other words watch your thoughts

observe what the quality of your

thoughts are

watch your intention when you're about

to speak

and watch your intention before you

actually act

and what is the root of the unwholesome

greed is a root of the unwholesome

hate is a root of the unwholesome

delusion is a root of the unwholesome

this is called the root of the

unwholesome

greed hatred and delusion these are the

three fires that are extinguished at the

experience of nibana

nirvana means no fire it's the quenching

of the fire quenching of the heat that

comes from the fires of great hatred and

delusion

and what is the wholesome

abstention from killing living beings is

wholesome

abstention from taking what is not given

is wholesome

abstention from misconduct and sensual

pleasures is wholesome

abstention from false speech is

wholesome abstention from malicious

speech is wholesome

abstention from harsh speech is

wholesome

abstention from gossip is wholesome

uncovetousness is wholesome

non-ill will is wholesome

right view is wholesome this is called

the wholesome

so every time you take the precepts in

the morning you're committing in your

mind to follow the precepts

you're establishing the wholesome in

your mind when you begin the day and

that translates into

a good practice most of the time you'll

still have hindrances here and there but

you see those hindrances as a result of

breaking precepts in the past

you let them go that's just old karma

that you just let go

this whole process of the six hours as i

said is the eightfold path

so when we continue with the suta you're

going to see a lot of repetition and

what sorry put that is doing is he's

going to take you through each of the

links of dependent origination

and contextualize it through the four

noble truths

so you're going to understand how the

link arises

and how it ceases and you're going to

understand how the eightfold path

is basically the six r's

so anytime it's said that the cessation

of this link

is through the eightfold path understand

that to mean that the cessation of this

link

is through the six r's

and i'll explain that

and what is the root of the wholesome

non-greed is a root of the wholesome

non-hate is a root of the wholesome

non-delusion is a root of the wholesome

this is called the root of the wholesome

when a noble disciple has thus

understood the wholesome of the root

i'm sorry when a noble disciple has

understood the whole unwholesome and the

root of the unwholesome the wholesome

and the root of the wholesome

he entirely abandons the underlying

tendency to lust

he abolishes the underlying tendency to

aversion

he extirpates the underlying tendency to

the view and conceit i am

and by abandoning ignorance and arousing

true knowledge here he here and now

makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dhamma and has arrived at this true

dhamma

so what does he mean when he says he

entirely abandons the underlying

tendency to lust

that's craving

that's the mind that says i like this

and i want more of this that's the mind

that gets disturbed when it experiences

something that's pleasurable and

grasps onto it

in your meditation experience when you

have joy coming up or when you have

equanimity coming up or any of the

different factors of the jhana coming up

and you take that to be your object you

swerve from the loving kindness you

swear from any of the brahmaviharas or

the quiet mind

know now that the mind is clutching and

grasping on to the factors of the jhana

because it's a pleasant feeling the

jhanas are pleasant feelings mental

pleasant feelings

but if you hold on to the factors of the

jhanas you're only bringing up the

underlying tendency to craving

notice this six are it and let it go

six are and come back to your objective

meditation

when you notice a hindrance

it can bring up because it's an

unpleasant feeling

it can bring up the underlying tendency

to aversion

you see a hindrance and you say i don't

like it

and you try to push it you try to

suppress it you wrestle with it

this causes further aversion

this causes further restlessness in the

mind

when this happens you are no longer on

your objective meditation

and you're no longer meditating

when you recognize that there is an

attachment to this hindrance there is an

aversion to this hindrance six are it

and come back to your objective

meditation

when you look at the object in

meditation itself

and you say this is great i really like

this that's wonderful but as soon as you

say

i am radiating loving kindness i am

experiencing the loving kindness i am

experiencing the factors of the jhana

you have the underlying tendency to

conceit

so what we're really talking about is

these three different levels of craving

these three different shades of craving

the i like it mind the i don't like it

mind and the mind that says this is me

this is mine this is myself

that's the underlying tendency to

conceive

when you see that the mind becomes

attached to the object and says that

this is mine this is me this is myself

recognize it let go pull back a little

bit and just watch

mind meditating

you are not meditating you are watching

how the mind is meditating all you're

doing here is observing and anytime the

mind starts to detract from its object

you're sick sorry and you're coming back

and you continue to observe

saying good friend the bikus delighted

and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dhamma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands nutriment the origin of

nutriment the cessation of nutrient

and the way leading to the cessation of

nutriment

in that way he has won a right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

now we're getting into understanding the

four noble truths

so before we continue on i want to

explain why did cyprus start with the

wholesome and the unwholesome

that's the way to eradicate doubt

doubt is understood number one as doubt

in the practice doubt in the dhamma

doubt in the buddha in the sangha

it can be understood as doubt in terms

of one's own practice one's own

experience with the practice and so on

but there is another level of doubt

which is to say indecisiveness

not understanding whether this is

wholesome or unwholesome

when you see that there is tension and

tightness in the mind then you are

tending to the unwholesome

when you let go of that you're

maintaining your precepts you see that

there's a natural clarity of mind

that is the wholesome this is the way to

recognize it

whenever your mind is clear whenever

your mind is quiet

whenever your mind is relaxed

it is tending to the wholesome whenever

your mind is agitated whenever your mind

is tense

whenever your mind is tightening

then it is unwholesome it's tending to

the unwholesome

now he says we're going to understand

the origin of nutriment the cessation of

nutrient

and the way leading to the cessation of

nutrient

so here when we talk about the four

noble truths it's traditionally

understood as

there is suffering

not that life is suffering you got to

get that out of your hand if you have

that

not that life is suffering if that was

the case then what's the point of

meditating what's the point of doing any

of this

there is suffering in life there will be

some kind of suffering or another

but

there is a way out of that suffering

and first you understand how did that

suffering arise that suffering arose

because of craving

because of clinging because of

identifying because of conceit because

of wrong view

because of ignorance

so the second noble truth is the cause

the third normal truth is the cessation

of suffering

or the cessation of that particular link

the fourth noble truth is the path that

is the six hour process that's the

eightfold path that allows you to let go

of the cause of that suffering whether

it's a hindrance whether it's a link of

dependent origination or whatever

unwholesome state is there currently

whatever it might be a distraction

whatever it is

you see it as being dukkha you see it as

being the first novel truth

now you see that the cause of that is

because you're holding on to it you're

attaching to it you're fighting with it

you're doing something with it that

causes it to

aggravate the situation that causes the

hindrance to arise over and over and

over and

and your reaction to it if your reaction

to it is filled with attachment or

aversion

that's going to cause you further

suffering

in the form of more and more hindrances

but if you six are you recognize the

hindrance is there you have stopped that

flow of hindrance

you let go by releasing your awareness

from it you relax the tension that's

there in the mind and body

you re-smile you cultivate joy you

cultivate something wholesome in the way

of your smile

you return to your object to meditation

and you repeat

every time you do that six hour process

you're using the fourth noble truth of

the eightfold path to experience the

cessation of suffering which in this

case is the cessation of that hindrance

and what is nutriment what is the origin

of nutriment what is the cessation of

nutrient what is the way leading to the

cessation of nutrient there are four

kinds of nutrient for the maintenance of

beings that have already

that already have come to be

and for the support of those about to

come to be

what for

they are physical food as nutriment

gross or subtle

contact as the second mental volition as

the third

and consciousness as the fourth

with the arising of craving there is the

arising of nutriment

with the cessation of craving

there is the cessation of nutrient

so these four nutriments we talk about

food

food nourishes the body

but there can be craving for food and

that can cause further suffering because

you're not mindful

of whether your body is hungry or not

and there can be craving towards there

can be attachment towards it

contact as the second

you don't have an experience without

contact

in other words now you're listening to

my voice

you're seeing me here

there is contact between

the ears

and the sound

and so with that contact there arises

the experience of here is delson

speaking that is the feeling and the

perception

when you see me

the light bounces off of my body

hits the retina and that is contact

because of that contact there is an

experience of seeing delson here sitting

in this chair

so contact gives rise to feeling

the body is nourished

by food growth or subtle when you say

gross or subtle we're talking about

physical food

and subtle means deva food

and deva food is

food given by devas it can happen that

uh

there might be there was a story that

david told me where

i think it was in thailand

where there was this uh monk

and uh he was meditating and somebody

came and offered him some food

and it was just plain rice and some

vegetables or something like that

and he ate a little bit of that food

and

he said wow this is amazing this is just

amazing food it was just boiled rice and

some vegetables and a little bit of

chili paste

and he gave it to his friend his other

monk friend and he said here try this

and he tried it and he said i don't know

what you're talking about and what's the

big deal this is just

rice and vegetables

and so they went to the teacher and he

told the teacher what had happened and

the teacher said oh yeah i've had that

experience before

what happened was that the person who

came and offered him food

gave it and walked away and when he

looked around that person was no longer

there he vanished

that was a deva who offered him

food and so it came in the form of rice

and vegetables and chili paste but there

was subtle food there that nourished him

and that made him feel satisfied with

just one morsel

so there are experiences like that

people can have um

and

this kind of food whether it's gross or

subtle is nourishment for the body

that's why it's known as nutriment when

you have an experience

the nourishment of that is contact

meaning you can't have an experience

without contact

when we talk about volition

mental volition that is intention or

inclination

this is really about formations

when you have an intention to do

something that arises because of contact

you go and you express your words

through speech or your actions through

your physical actions

or you have thoughts that arise this is

because of intention this is because of

formations

otherwise if you had no intention you

wouldn't act you wouldn't have any

thoughts

you wouldn't have any

verbal thoughts or verbal speech and you

wouldn't do anything

so if there is craving there it in it

it enables the mind to go and

personalize that and act from a sense of

self

the fourth is consciousness when we talk

about consciousness we're talking about

two levels of consciousness there is

cognition

so when you are seeing me when you are

listening to me when there is contact

with the light and your eyes

there is the arising of eye

consciousness there is the cognizing

that here is delsin there is the

cognizing that this is the sound that is

coming is delson's voice

so that is cognition that's the bare

awareness of what is happening

that is tied to feeling and to

perception

the other kind of consciousness that we

talk about is basically what

nourishes the namarupa the mentality and

materiality that arises at birth

if there was no consciousness to descend

into an embryo

there would be no continuing life

there would be no continuing existence

and that consciousness arises

dependent upon craving

when a person at their previous life

dissolves when they die

they have certain kinds of experiences

in the mind and this causes the mind

to if there is craving if there is

conceit

if there is ignorance to latch on to

whatever last thought there is and that

last thought arises because of

formations

formations continually arise

but these formations are developed and

cultivated because of certain actions

so if a person has been unwholesome

throughout their life there is a higher

likelihood that their last thoughts will

be rooted in the unwholesome

because of that those thoughts will be

clung to

and that craving gives rise to a new

consciousness

that continues on in rebirth and

descends into a new

namarupa into a new mentality

materiality

likewise if a person has been wholesome

their whole life but they still have

identification with that wholesome

what does that mean when we say

identification it means

oh i'm making this a big deal i really

like this i like that i'm following the

precepts i like that i'm meditating i

like that you know so that conceit

that's there that pride that's there

that attachment to that

that causes craving as well that causes

clinging as well and so that is liable

to create a new rebirth

a new consciousness that descends into a

new mentality materiality when we say

mentality materiality we're talking

about mind and body

so when there is craving there is

consciousness

and when consciousness arises there is

namarupa and dependent upon namarupa

there is the sixth sense basis

when there is that there is

contact the potential for contact

when there is contact there is feeling

there's perception

when that feeling is taken to be self

when that feeling is taken to be

personally

in the form of i really like this and i

want more of it or i don't like this and

you're trying to push it away or i am

this

then it is liable to cause

craving and we will see how that whole

chain works through dependent

origination

the way leading to the cessation of

nutriment is just this noble eightfold

path

that is right view right intention

right speech right action right

livelihood right effort right

mindfulness and right collectiveness

now we talk about the eightfold path in

these different path factors but i said

earlier that the six

r's are basically the eightfold path the

six r's fulfill the ability to see

the four noble truths and be able to let

go of suffering you've already

experienced this in your meditation

practice you have noticed when a

hindrance has arisen that hindrance was

suffering you'll saw it and you let go

of it you relaxed you re-smiled you came

back to your object to meditation when

you did that you were fulfilling the

four noble truths and you were

exercising the eightfold path

now let's understand each of the

eightfold the the factors of the

eightfold path

there is right view as i said we have

the mundane and the super monday the

mundane has to do with the understanding

that actions have consequences

if i do unwholesome actions there will

be unwholesome consequences if i do

wholesome actions there will be

wholesome consequences

there is the understanding of

what is rebirth in the process of

continuing to fuel the hindrance

every time you pay attention to it and

cause undue attention to it you cause

the rebirth of that hindrance to arise

over and over again

so rebirth is really the definition of

insanity doing the same thing over and

over again and expecting a different

result

but if you don't tie to it if you don't

attach to it if you don't have aversion

to it and you just let it go

using the six hours

then that hindrance becomes weaker

reflect back on your own meditation

perhaps a hindrance arose and it was

very adamant but you just

saw it there you recognized it

you used the six hours and it weakened

the next time around it came

it was less intense

the next time it came again it was less

intense than that eventually it faded

away it disappeared altogether

so right view as i said super mundane

right view is the complete understanding

of the four noble truths

right intention

is basically threefold

renunciation

non-ill will

and non-cruelty

renunciation

uh doesn't just mean renouncing the

homeless life the home life and things

like that renunciation is on a mental

level

it's on a level of thought

letting go of your attachment to

hindrances letting go of your attachment

to any kind of thoughts any kind of

ideas any kind of concepts this is true

enunciation and when whenever you are

using the six r's you're applying right

intention in that way

when you cultivate loving kindness you

have non-ill will

the antidote to ill will is love and

kindness

when you radiate compassion

you have non-cruelty

non-cruelty is basically having a

mindset that is

wanting to inflict damage on other

people mentally verbally emotionally

whatever it might be but if you have

compassion true compassion to understand

the other person and seeing that they

are suffering

why would you want to add to their

suffering if you have true compassion

so this compassion is the fulfillment of

non-cruelty in right intention

then there's right speech

and right speech is essentially

abstaining from false speech abstaining

from harsh speech

abstaining from foul speech abstaining

from gossip abstaining from talking

about

idol chatter talking about unnecessary

things

so when you practice noble silence

you actually practicing a higher form of

right speech because there is no

possibility

for you to slip up and say something

that you didn't mean

now there's an acronym that i use to be

able to understand whether that speech

is going to be right speech or not

and that is think before you speak

that's t h i n k

and t stands for timeliness

is it the right time to say what you

want to say if it's not

don't say it

h honesty is what you're going to say do

you know what you're going to say is

true do you know that is a space in

reality if it's not you can preface it

with saying this is what i heard or this

is what i've been told and so you you

give that preface

i is

intention

what is the intention there is it

intentionally wholesome or is it

intentionally unwholesome what you're

about to say

and is

is it necessary

for that person to know what you're

about to say is it necessary for you to

be able to tell them

and k is of course kindness

can you say what you're going to say

with kindness can you say what you're

going to say with

loving kindness

so anytime before you speak think

use these filters

and we'll be able to understand

whether what you're going to say is in

alignment

with right speech

i mean of course a lot of friendships

are based around

sharing the necessary stuff yeah

yeah

so that's a little bit

explain a little bit more but necessary

yeah necessary meaning is it necessary

for that moment is it necessary for that

person to hear it you know maybe they

need to be informed about something or

it's not necessary because it's not the

right time or it's not necessary because

it's part of idle chatter like can you

go without having to talk about the

weather can you go on without having to

talk about politics and things like that

because

you know that's unnecessary talk

sometimes people will have you know

among friends certain kinds of

discussions and things like that that's

fine but you have to understand

for your own mental health for your own

understanding is what you're going to

say going to add any kind of value to

the conversation or is it just idle

chatter chit-chat

not really adding any kind of value

that's the way i understand necessary

yeah yeah i always wondered uh you know

a lot of the students started with you

know someone approached the boot and

like they changed greetings and then

yeah it's like

you know what's called uh

small talk yeah well that's fine i mean

like hey how are you how's your health

how's the weather where you are you know

all that's fine

like i don't know yeah but basically

what i'm saying is

there's something to be said about that

small talk which is polite and just you

know initially

it's kindness the other person but if

you're going to be talking about the

weather and you're going to be talking

about other things that are unnecessary

for

the betterment of that person or

yourself

then

exactly exactly that kind of small talk

that arises is is the arise it arises

because of

some kind of aversion some kind of

unnecessary

uh

well or rather i can say some kind of a

discomfort with silence

you want to fill the void you want to

fill the silence with something

and that's what i'm talking about

is that clear

so right action right action is

abstaining from killing and harming

beings

right action is abstaining from

uh taking what is not given

right action is

uh abstaining from sexual and sensual

misconduct

and

it should also include in their

abstaining from drugs and alcohol

anything that intoxicates the mind

anything that

veers away from your mindfulness but

that's implied in right mindfulness

that drugs and alcohol if you see they

dull the mind and they lead to [ __ ] and

torpor

the different kinds of precepts also

lead to the different kinds a breaking

of the precepts lead to different kinds

of hindrances for example

if you are somebody who uses false

speech you will have the hindrance of

doubt because you start to doubt other

people and that can translate into

self-doubt doubt in the practice and so

on

if you take what is not given that is

liable to cause restlessness because now

you're thinking is my stuff safe you

know

and that doesn't just mean physical

possessions that also means trying to

take credit for things

uh trying to take attention away from

somebody all those other kinds of things

when it's not given that can cause

restlessness in the mind like i said

when you take intoxicants that can lead

to slot and torpor

when you have ill will when you harm

somebody with your speech when you harm

somebody with your actions with your

thoughts

it's liable to call a cause ill will

now sexual misconduct that also implies

sensual misconduct that means to say

that means

you're indulging in something and you're

identifying with it and you're thinking

about it and you're obsessing over it

and it just becomes part of your

habitual patterns

that's liable to cause

the hindrance of sensual craving so this

is the way to understand that every time

you make a commitment to stay with the

precepts

you're letting go of any potential

hindrances from arising

the reason why hindrances arrows in your

meditation is because you broke one of

the precepts before and now you see the

connection

then we have

right livelihood and that's abstaining

from certain kinds of business practices

abstaining from certain kinds of trade

that is to say trade from alcohol not

selling alcohol

not selling weapons

not selling people

not selling poisons

and

not

dealing in the killing of animals for

meat

then there's right effort

now what i want to explain to you is

right effort is the heart of the path

right effort is actually the six hours

right effort is fourfold right effort

means

you're a ban you are preventing the

arising of hindrances you're abandoning

whatever hindrances arose before

you're generating a wholesome state and

you're maintaining that wholesome state

now how does that happen with the six

r's

when you recognize that there is a

hindrance it stops the flow of energy of

that hindrance right there and then now

you recognize this hindrances here

when you release and you relax

you abandon that hindrance completely

when you smile you generate a wholesome

state because the smile is anchored in

that loving kindness

and then when you return and you repeat

you are maintaining that wholesome state

so this is why

six r's are basically the eightfold path

and right

effort is the heart of the path

it's only with right effort that you go

from wrong view to right view wrong

intention to right intention

wrong speech to right speech

wrong action to right action wrong

livelihood to right livelihood

wrong mindfulness to right mindfulness

and wrong meditation to write meditation

we talk about now right mindfulness

every time you recognize you are

starting to apply your mindfulness

every time you continue to observe your

object of meditation

not trying to push it

you're not trying to suppress it you're

not trying to hone in on your object

you're just observing

you're observing how mind's attention is

moving whenever it gets distracted

or whenever some kind of hindrance

arises

this is mindfulness now when we talk

about mindfulness they talk about the

fourfold or the four foundations of

mindfulness you talk about the body talk

about feeling you talk about mind and

you talk about phenomena

when you're doing the meditation you're

already fulfilling the four

foundations of mindfulness one way or

another

you sit down you become aware of the

body you'll become aware of the warmth

of the loving kindness at that point

there is mindfulness of the body

when you experience the loving kindness

there's mindfulness of feeling

when you see that that experience of

loving kindness is continuing you're

seeing how mind's attention is moving

and that is seeing how mind is working

this is how consciousness or chitta

it's called

and when you see a hindrance arise or

when you see an enlightenment factor

arise you're seeing phenomena they call

that dhamma

dhamma meaning d-h-a-m-m-a

with the long vowel a because that

indicates

the plural

so hindrances enlightenment factors are

four noble truths when you recognize a

hindrance you are applying the

foundation of mindfulness of seeing how

phenomena arise

so all of this is already being done in

the meditation you just don't see it but

now you're starting to see it once i'm

explaining it to you and of course right

collectedness is going through the

practice of the genres you go through

the first third first

second third and fourth jhana now what's

interesting to note is when you're in

the fourth genre and you go to infinite

space when you go to infinite

consciousness when you go to nothingness

when you go to neither perception or

non-perception that's still in the

fourth genre

so the aru pajamas or what i call the

ayathanas the bases the base of infinite

space the base of infinite consciousness

the base of nothingness the base of

neither perception and non-perception

all of that is rooted in the four channa

so when you are in jhana you are

practicing

right samadhi you are practicing right

collectedness

when a noble disciple has thus

understood nutriment the origin of

nutriment the cessation of nutriment and

the way leading to the cessation of

nutrient

he entirely abandons the underlying

tendency to greed

he abolishes the underlying tendency to

aversion

he extirpates the underlying tendency to

the view and concede i am

and by abandoning ignorance and arousing

true knowledge he here and now makes an

end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dharma and has arrived at this true

dharma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoice in the venerable

sorry with those words

now you have to get used to this part

because they're not satisfied actually

they say

then they ask them a further question

and this goes on for quite some time

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands suffering

the origin of suffering the cessation of

suffering and the way leading to the

cessation of suffering in that way he is

one of right view and has arrived at

this true dharma so now we are coming to

the four noble truths as we understand

them

suffering

samudaya which is the cause which is

craving

nirodha which is the cessation

and the path leading to the cessation of

suffering

and so he says what is suffering what is

the origin of suffering what is the

cessation of suffering what is the way

leading to the cessation of suffering

birth is suffering

aging is suffering

sickness is suffering death is suffering

sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair are suffering

not to obtain what one wants is

suffering in short

the five aggregates affected by clinging

our suffering this is called suffering

so there are three different kinds

or categories of suffering let's say

there is what's known as dukkha

there is vipari namaduka and there is

is basically what you're talking about

here birth aging

sickness death and sorrow and so on

these are inevitable

birth you have already taken birth in

this life that's inevitable

aging is inevitable

you can try to prevent aging in what way

whatever way you want but it is going to

happen

illness is inevitable some way or

another you're going to have some kind

of illness and death is inevitable this

is

the dukkha of change the instability of

life the unexpectedness of life

something happens in the way of

somebody dies in your family completely

unexpected that's riparian

you go on a vacation you

book your flight and you're on your way

to the airport and the flight gets

canceled

that was out of your control that was

unexpected that's vipari namaduka

you'll go take a shower it's a nice hot

shower suddenly the hot water is cut off

and now it's freezing cold

that's repairing

it change that's the instability of life

sankara dukkha is the dukkha that is

inherent in life in the form of the five

aggregates affected by clinging what we

have to understand is the five

aggregates themselves are not clinging

it's the clinging

it's the clinging that is

in the process of identifying with them

taking this body to be mine taking this

feeling to be mind taking this

perception to be mind taking this

intention of formations to be mine

taking this awareness of cognition to be

mine

this is what is liable to cause further

suffering because you have unexpected

you have expectations of it and that

those expectations are not met

and that can cause suffering

yeah so the five aggregates themselves

are not inherently suffering right when

we

identify them exactly like this

yeah

yeah but there's inherent suffering in

them because the body changes the body

ages and experiences

yes

and what is the origin of suffering it

is craving which brings renewal of being

is accompanied by delight and lust and

delights in this and that

that is the craving for sensual

pleasures

craving for being and craving for

non-being this is called the origin of

suffering

and we'll go into a little bit more

about what what craving is

but basically when we talk about craving

for sensual pleasures we're talking

about craving not just attracted to them

not just attached to them but having

aversion towards them or identifying

with them there is essential pleasures

where

you see that piece of chocolate cake and

you're like i really want that piece of

chocolate cake you eat it but you're not

satisfied you want more of it

and eventually you have suffering in the

way of a tummy ache

or you know you

you are meditating and you hear some

kind of buzzing outside you know

somebody has a lawnmower on or something

that irritates you

and that is also craving you want to

push that away

that feeling of wanting to push away

causes that tightness and tension in the

head

that's the aversion that's the aversion

towards the sensual experience

or if there's just an experience that's

going on and you identify with it

identify with a feeling and saying this

is my feeling

this is my meditation practice this is

my experience of jhana this is my

experience of loving kindness

you're going to cause yourself craving

for it

so that's another way of experiencing

craving craving for being craving for

non-being craving for being is

i want to get to that jonah i want to

experience compassion i want to

experience infinite consciousness i want

to experience so and so

that is the longing that longing for

nibana

is what is deterring you away

from experiencing divana

that

non-being is

i really don't like it here right now

you're meditating and

your butt hurts and you're like i really

don't like it

i want i and that aversion to it

is the craving for non-being

meaning i don't want this to be here

right now but you can't do anything with

it it's the reality of the situation

it's the truth of the moment

that is the truth you cannot fight with

the truth that is the dharma of the

moment accept it understand it and let

it go let go of the identification with

it

let go of the attachment to it and the

aversion to it

and what is the cessation of craving it

is the remainderless fading away and

ceasing the giving up relinquishing

letting go and rejecting of that same

craving

this is called the cessation of

suffering

so

the cessation of suffering is the

letting go it's the releasing the

relinquishing of that craving now

craving manifests

as tightness and tension in the head

when you relax when you tranquilize

those formations when you relax you

experience an open awareness

you experience a clear quiet bright

luminous mind

that is the experience of mundane nibana

that is the experience of the third

noble truth

of the cessation of suffering

so this is how you're fulfilling the

third noble truth every time you relax

every time you let go of craving

what is the way leading to the cessation

of suffering it is this noble eightfold

path the process of the six hours

this is called the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

when a noble disciple has thus

understood suffering the origin of

suffering the cessation of suffering and

the way leading to the cessation of

suffering he here and now makes an end

of suffering in that way too a noble

disciple is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dharma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sorry put those words like i said they

didn't say satisfied they still want to

know more

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands aging and death the origin

of aging and death the cessation of

aging and death the way leading to the

cessation of aging and death in that way

he is one of right view and has arrived

at this true dharma

and what is aging and death

what is the origin of aging and death

what is the cessation of aging and death

what is the way leading to the cessation

of aging and death

the aging of beings in the various

orders of beings their old age

brokenness of teeth grayness of hair

wrinkling of skin decline of life

weakness of faculties

this is called aging

the passing of beings out of the various

orders of beings they are passing away

dissolution disappearance dying

completion of time dissolution of the

aggregates

laying down of the body this is called

death

so this aging and this death are what

what is called aging and death

with the arising of birth

there is the arising of aging and death

with the cessation of birth

there is the cessation of aging and

death

the way leading to the cessation of

aging and death is just this noble

eightfold path

now what we're not saying that the six

r's are going to make you youthful that

the six r's are gonna prevent you from

dying but what we are saying is

there can be identification with the

aggregates which can cause you

a lot of suffering

you see now in today's world people want

to get botox they want to get you know

hair color and other kinds of things to

prevent

that process of aging but that process

of aging is not yet preventable

on the cellular level it's just not

preventable it's just

effect of existence biological existence

but if you accept this fact if you

accept the fact that death is inevitable

and you let go of it then it doesn't

frighten you anymore it doesn't make you

anxious anymore it doesn't cause you

pain and suffering

so every time you see that there is an

attachment to the body and you see in

the mirror oh i got this new gray hair

or i got a few more wrinkles

notice that as being aging and death

notice that it's being identifying with

the body

let go of it six are it and come back to

a more calm and peaceful mind

and you won't have that bothering you

anymore this is really the way to

understand it

one noble disciple has thus understood

aging and death the origin of aging and

death the cessation of aging and death

he here and now makes an end of

suffering in that way too a noble

disciple is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dharma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sahibuta's words then they asked him a

further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dhamma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands birth

the origin of birth

the cessation of birth and the way

leading to the cessation of birth in

that way he is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dharma

and what is birth what is the origin of

birth what is the cessation of birth

what is the way leading to the cessation

of birth

the birth of beings in the various

orders of beings they're coming to birth

precipitation in the womb generation

manifestation of the aggregates

obtaining the basis for contact

this is called birth with the arising of

being or habitual tendencies

there is the cessation of sorry there is

the arising of birth

with the cessation of being or habitual

tendencies there is the cessation of

birth

the way leading to the cessation of

birth is just this noble eightfold path

the six r's

and we understand birth in the context

of birth of the body

birth of the mentality materiality and

so on

but there's a different way of

understanding birth which is known as

birth of action

birth of karma birth of intention

so

you can look at now we're going to be

going through each of the links of

independent origination now you can look

at the penetration nation like a river

okay and all of these different links

are like whirlpools that continue the

momentum and you know the rapids in the

river

eventually there's a waterfall

and when there is that waterfall the

crust the just that border point of the

waterfall is being or habitual

tendencies acting from there

that is birth of action that's when you

plummet down the waterfall there's no

way coming back from there

in other words once you have said the

word you can't call it back

once you have thought the thought you

can't call it back

once you have acted in a way you can't

call it back so in the same way

so if you have somebody who

is irritating you and you start to

notice that there is this anger arising

this aversion arising that can first

come in the form of tension and

tightness that's the craving if you

recognize there

you can let go of it and then

have wholesome speech use the think

process before you speak

but if you're not able to recognize it

there and you cling now you're clinging

to the idea of how can this person talk

to me you know i don't like the way this

person is talking to me right now and

all these other ideas this thinking

process of okay i'm going to get back at

them right now thinking of how am i

going to react to them what am i going

to say

in place of what they're saying to me as

a response

this is clinging thinking about it

making assumptions making ideas and

concepts

now you say how dare they speak to me

this way i am so and so you know i i or

you might feel uh sad by it you start to

feel like i'm the victim here and how

can they act like this this sense of i

am this the sense of they shouldn't be

talking to me this way

this is

habitual tendencies

because habitual tendencies are the

repositories in which it creates the

sense of identity when you act from

there

then you say something mean back

you can't call it back now you have

caused yourself further aggravation now

you have caused yourself further

suffering

but what i'm saying here is

you can notice it at craving you can

notice that clinging you can notice that

being or habitual tendencies

when you notice them and let them go

then you let go the potential for

further suffering

you let go for the potential of new

karma from arising

but if you act

you have caused further karma you have

caused further suffering there is no

going back from there there is no sex

houring in action

right

when a noble disciple has thus

understood okay thus understood birth

the origin of birth the cessation of

birth and the way leading

to the cessation of birth he here and

now makes an end of suffering in that

way too a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dhamma

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sorry put those words then they asked

him a further question but friend might

there be another way

in which a noble disciple is one of

right view and has arrived at this true

dharma there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands being or habitual tendencies

the origin of habitual tendencies the

cessation of habitual tendencies and the

way leading to the cessation of habitual

tendencies in that way he is one of

right view and has arrived at this true

dharma

and what is habitual tendencies what is

the origin of habitual tendencies

what is the cessation of habitual

tendencies what is the way leading to

the cessation of habitual tendencies

there are these three kinds of being or

habitual tendencies the sense fear

the fine material and the immaterial

with the arising of clinging

there is the arising of habitual

tendencies

with the cessation of clinging there is

the cessation of habitual tendencies

the way leading to the cessation of

habitual tendencies is just this noble

eightfold path

the six hours

one a noble disciple has thus understood

uh habitual tendencies the origin of

habitual tendencies the cessation of

habitual tendencies and the way leading

to the cessation of habitual tendencies

he here and now makes an end of

suffering in that way too a noble

disciple is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dharma

now when we talk about habitual

tendencies like i said this is the

repository this is where the mind

automatically reacts to something

without thinking without considering

without reflection

when there is a lack of mindfulness at

what is happening in feeling it is

liable to cause craving

if the mind continues to attach to that

craving it will cause clinging and it

happens just like that it there's no

there's no pause here

when we talk about you know this being a

hundred thousand year consciousnesses

that's just one link

independent origination so imagine how

much faster this whole process is when

you talk about it so with the arising

and lighting up of synapses it's as fast

as that when one link arises

so when you notice the craving you let

go of that but if you don't notice that

you have clinging when you notice that

you're starting to think about these

things and it's aggravating you further

you let go of that you don't have being

or habitual tendencies

but habitual tendencies as i said is

that idea of the self

it's what creates the image of yourself

you have an image of yourself as being

somebody that you know i have this

important position at work

or i am a great meditator

or you know i am a wonderful parent or i

am a wonderful sibling

or the other way around you have

negative images about yourself you know

i'm not good enough you know i don't

know how to do these things i'm stupid

i'm not intelligent

these are all parts of habitual

tendencies when you have that image that

i'm making that my making

that idea of a self

and you act from there you cause further

aggravation and suffering

you cause

further

karma now i'm going to talk about karma

a little bit after we continue with

feeling because there's a delineation

point in karma where you have old karma

and you have new karma we'll talk about

that a little bit later

but what i'm trying to say here is with

being or habitual tendencies

notice when the the mind says i when the

mind says mind when the mind the mind

says me

when it personalizes something and then

there's this

this reaction or this this need to react

from there that need from reacting to

there is where the launch pad of birth

of action happens that's the habitual

tendencies

now the being when you talk about the

sphere being we're talking about this

realm the human realm

and the six sensual heavens that's

another way of understanding existence

so on the

let's say macro level

being or habitual tendencies bhava as

it's done in pali gives rise to a new

experience a new existence depending

upon

how you've clung or craved for something

if

at the dissolution of the body the mind

starts to tend towards a giant

state of mind

it can cause rebirth in one of the

brahmalokas

if it tends towards a a rupagenic state

of mind it can cause rebirth in one of

the

arupa or formless realms

if it has aggravation if it has

ideas or thoughts about animals it can

cause the potential for rebirth in the

animal realm

if it has thoughts of jealousy thoughts

of remorse it can cause

uh rebirth in the

hungry ghost realm

if it has thoughts of hatred thoughts of

ill will thoughts of violence and

remorse and things like that thoughts of

wrong view

it can cause rebirth in the hell realms

so this is one way to understand it on

the macro level so i'm giving you both

levels the macro and the micro the micro

is here on the day to day level moment

to moment level which is the habitual

tendencies

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friend

when friends a noble disciple

understands clinging the origin of

clinging the cessation of clinging and

the way leading to the cessation of

clinging in that way he is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

and what is clinging

what is the origin of clinging what is

the cessation of clinging what is the

way leading to the cessation of clinging

there are these four kinds of clinging

clinging to sensual pleasures

clinging to views

clinging to rules and observances

and clinging to a doctrine of self

with the arising of craving

there is the arising of clinging

with the cessation of craving

there is the cessation of clinging

the way leading to the cessation of

clinging is just this

the noble eightfold path the six hours

when a noble disciple has thus

understood clinging the origin of

clinging the cessation of clinging and

the way leading to the cessation of

clinging he here and now makes an end of

suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

okay

so we're just gonna spend a little bit

more time talking about clinging

like i said in general terms clinging is

about

thinking about things creating ideas and

conceptions about things

and so when we talk about clinging to

sensual pleasures you think about in

your own life when you started growing

up as a kid i mean starting from birth

itself

then you think about when an infant is

born they're introduced to the mother

and the first thing that they experience

is the scent of the mother that's

they see that as a way of associating

comfort and security

or then they have the taste of the

mother's milk or formula or whatever it

might be and now they think that this is

you know this taste is great this is

good and so they cling to that because

when you start introducing new foods to

a baby what's the first thing that they

do

they spit it out

because they say what is this i don't

like this this is not what i'm used to

this being used to something this

clinging to it this is really what we're

talking about when we talk about sensual

pleasures

then eventually that toddler has certain

ideas i only like red colored foods but

i hate

green colored foods

the mashed potatoes can't touch the

steak

you know these kinds of things this is

another kind of clinging so you know

favorite colors when you go into

kindergarten you have this idea what's

your favorite color you know or what's

your favorite piece of music or all of

these other things there's nothing

inherently wrong with having favorites

what i'm trying to make you understand

is

this process this ideation process of

creating assets of what is considered to

be me mine and myself

this collection of assets that create

this false notion of self

this process itself is clinging

now when you go to the grocery store

when you go to the supermarket what's

the first thing you see when you go to

the cereal thing i don't know if you've

ever noticed but all of the sugary

cereals are at the bottom

that's because all the kids are

attracted by that with the bright colors

and things like that

that's a form of clinging they see that

and they say i want that and this is

mine this is my favorite kind of cereal

so you look at advertising advertising

is all about

creating that sense of craving creating

that sense of identity that i like this

yeah i'm this kind of person i drive a

bmw i don't like mercedes you know or i

only use this cologne but i hate that

kind of cologne this idea of creating

that sense of self this is the clinging

this is the clinging to sensual

pleasures the flip side of that is of

course you know aversion

like we said you know i really don't

like

the smell of something you know and i i

hate the smell of rotten fish or a fish

market or uh i hate cold weather or you

know this i i i

this when you notice this

you realize that you're starting to

cling when you notice that you let it go

this is clicking essential pleasures

then there's clinging to views

now when we talk about views we're

talking really about wrong view

there's the right view and there's the

wrong view

when you go to

diganakaya number one the brahmajala

suta there are up to 62 different types

of wrong view

i'm not going to go through any of those

today don't worry i'm just going to talk

about six particular views because it's

important to understand

if the mind has any kind of inclination

to any of these views it kind of helps

you understand and hone in on what is

exactly right view

and these six views stem from

what was at that time the different

schools of thought during the buddha's

time

so the first view was immoralism

the idea that morality is doesn't really

matter there's no there's no meaning

to giving there's no meaning to

uh you know being charitable there's no

meaning to be kind it doesn't matter it

doesn't have a consequence

so

this is already in direct violation of

the understanding of the dharma because

we understand

that

with our own experience with meditation

you see the hindrances having arisen

that is a direct result of having broken

precepts when you start to create and

cultivate an intentional loving kindness

you start to see that love and kindness

grow that's cause and effect

so your unwholesome states of mind are a

result of your unwholesome actions your

wholesome states of mind are a result of

your wholesome actions

so amoralism is the first type of wrong

view

the second type of wrong view is known

as

uh in pali it's lokiata i think and

there's also another school of thought

called charvaka it's the same one it's

basically materialism

all there is to do is eat drink and be

merry that's the point of life it's

basically there's no meaning to anything

beyond this it's complete nihilism

complete annihilationism

but when you experience the jhanas

you're experiencing a higher form of

pleasure

beyond the five physical senses

and what you will notice is as you start

to cultivate your experience of jhana as

you start to cultivate and deepen your

practice of jhana

you start to get disenchanted

with sensual pleasures

and you realize that there is something

beyond just

having to

feed into the craving for those sensual

pleasures

so this is another form of

wrong view this identification

with the body as being

the reality with the body and the sixth

sense faces or the five physical senses

and that experience being reality

the third type of wrong view is called

fatalism

and or predeterminism and that's the

idea that you know there's no meaning in

doing anything because it's all

predestined anyway

like i am bound to suffer

i am bound to experience this i am bound

to experience even enlightenment so why

make any kind of effort

but again that's in direct violation of

the understanding of the dharma

you have seen it for yourself in the

meditation

when you start to cultivate a mind that

is filled with love and kindness

you start to experience jhana it just

didn't happen

it just it happened because of a series

of causes and conditions there is cause

and effect there's something to be said

about causation but there's something be

said about in that moment there is a

choice

there's a moment there's a choice either

to be wholesome

or there's a choice to be unwholesome

if that choice was not provided to you

then what is the point of you practicing

what is the point of you doing any of

this

so really

predeterminism says there is no effort

there is no process so it actually

negates the idea of karma entirely

because the basic understanding of karma

is cause and effect

when i do an action there will be a con

that's the cause and there is an effect

of that action

so this is the

third type of wrong view

the fourth type of wrong view

is

what's known as eternalism

that's the idea of a belief in a

personal self that is an internal

consciousness

now specifically that in that time they

were talking about there were these

seven elements i mean this particular

view says there were these certain seven

elements which were eternal and that is

the mind the body

the uh the consciousness

pain pleasure

uh any kind of feeling and perception

if i remember correctly but basically

the understanding is all of this is

eternal

and so if you kill somebody you're not

actually killing them there is a soul

there that will continue to transmigrate

into another

being

so this

directly violates the understanding of

the precepts i mean if you think that if

you kill somebody and that doesn't

actually destroy them and there is still

something that's remaining in the way of

a soul

fine but then you actually broke a

precept by harming and killing a living

being

so eternalism is this idea of feeling

being permanent but we already

understand that feeling comes and goes

dependent upon contact or perception

which is joined

with that feeling arises and passes away

with contact

so that's that completely negates that

particular wrong view

consciousness as we understand is the

cognition tied to the experience tied to

the feeling

that cognition

being tied to it will arise and pass

away some of you have already seen

in infinite consciousness certain kinds

of things there might be flickers or

flickers in the years or something or

another and these are the arising and

passing away of individual

consciousnesses and you're seeing it for

yourself the impermanent nature of

consciousness

so that negates this particular kind of

view of eternalism

that's the fourth type of view

the fifth type of view is known as well

it's basically self modification

at the time of the buddha there was a

person called mahavir and he in the in

the text was also known as niganta

nataputta now the understanding is

either he was his

uh direct uh student or he was actually

mahavira the founder of jainism

and what jainism says is there is a soul

there is karma there is

not rebirth but reincarnation and the

soul starts to pick up

uh the effects of its karma and karma is

seen as dust particles

and what it is is this soul

transmigrates from lifetime to lifetime

and has to experience the effects of its

karma and by restraining the body

self-mortification you purify that karma

so you're experiencing pain

in order to experience pleasure future

pleasure

but we already heard i think uh two or

three nights ago bonte was talking about

how there's different understanding of

there is immediate pain and then there

is pleasure later or there is pleasure

and then pain later and so on so this is

what it's what it's pointing at the idea

that

if i modify if i do some kind of ascetic

practices

then that's going to purify my karma now

the buddha asked the jains or these

people that question

well how do you know what the balance of

karma is can you feel for yourself the

purification of that karma they were not

able to answer that

so the understanding of karma is really

this

karma is cause and effect action and

consequence

there is the old karma and there is the

new karma now according to this

particular view the cessation of old

karma is through the process of

mortification

but actually it's purifying your mind

through sila

purifying your mind through taking the

precepts

purifying and cultivating the mind

through mental development bhavana

through the process of samadhi

and purifying your view through insight

that is panya that is experiencing an

understanding for yourself how this

process of dependent origination

works

when you understand that then you see

that all karma is everything up until

the experience itself

everything right now is all karma

how you choose to react to it is new

karma

so the cessation of old karma the

cessation of old feelings is not to

identify with them not to crave for them

not to have aversion towards them

the moment you take it personal you are

causing yourself new karma but the

moment you see this process as being

impermanent seeing this process as being

impersonal and not taking it personally

then your actions will be rooted in the

eightfold path

your speech your actions your thoughts

will be rooted in the eightfold path and

it is understood that the cessation of

old karma

happens through the process of the

eightfold path so whatever action you do

whether it's in the word in your and how

you speak

uh in how you think or how you do an

action if it's rooted in understanding

at that level of feeling as being

impersonal

then it's not liable to cause further

suffering it's not liable to cause

new karma

so this is how

this particular view is negated

now

it really sounds like galwinka is a

giant

yeah he thinks that you have to work off

yeah yes

i mean

the buddhist

winker is really a chain yeah

that whole process of sitting for like

10 hours or six seven eight hours and

just

all of this yeah i've read his light of

asia and he's talking about working off

stuff yeah you have to get through all

this and it's just

yeah it's like you through all your past

karma yeah with each sensation

it's coming up sankara is coming up

causing that karma

well but then usually what happens is if

you're sitting for that long without

knowing how to relax yes

then you're mortifying the body

you're causing pain

and what's happening is in your mind

instead of thinking about or being

equanimous as you said you're thinking

about i hope this pain goes away

right you're thinking about other things

to distract yourself away from that pain

but when you go back to the six hours

when you go back to relaxing

now remember the six hours is not the

way to let go or or stop the pain

it's letting go of the craving and the

clinging to the pain the see

all the links up until feeling is the

old karma so a painful feeling itself

is all karma

if you react to it by taking it personal

by thinking about it or trying to think

your way out of it then you're causing

yourself craving now craving clinging

being this is the new karma this is the

action that causes you suffering but if

you see in that moment that there is

craving arising you're not liking what's

happening and you let go of it

then you're not reacting to it you're

not acting further to towards causing

further suffering

instead that suffering ceases right

there and then that craving ceases right

there and then and there is no potential

for new karma to arise

and i'll talk about how that happens

when we get to feeling because there are

certain things that are happening at

feeling

which are known as underlying tendencies

and i'll get to that

so that was the fifth view the sixth

view is

the view of the skeptic they were known

as ill wrigglers because they were like

i don't know if there is a right view or

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

there is a buddha or isn't a buddha so

that causes a lot of doubt and a lot of

confusion and a lot of restlessness in

in the body and the mind

so this view is uh eliminated when you

actually see for yourself and experience

the actual path leading to nibana and

you realize

there is karma

there is a process of rebirth we're not

talking about just rebirth on the macro

level but a process of rebirth of

you know you find yourself in certain

situations that seem to have the same

kind of patterns that seem to have the

same kind of people that seem to have

the same kind of ideas and associations

that's rebirth as well

you find yourself in those same

situations and if you continue to act in

the same old way you're causing yourself

further rebirth but if you see it you

become mindful and stop acting in the

way that causes further patterns of that

then you let go of that rebirth

so

this is another way to understand

rebirth you see for yourself that this

is the path and you no longer have that

view of the skeptic this is that sixth

strong view

now the right view itself

you can cling to as well

you can take this whole process of the

four noble truths you can take this

whole process of dependent origination

you can take this whole process of

taking the precepts you can take this

whole process of

knowing and studying and reading the

sutas knowing about the dhamma and

become conceited about that

making it a big deal

seeing it uh seeing it as something that

belongs to a self

i have i have practiced this jhana i i

love the shana and i need everybody else

to know about this that kind of idea of

attaching yourself to it

uh you know

the the idea that everybody needs to

know about the six r's and i gotta tell

everybody you can push everybody to do

it

that's the kind form of clinging to the

dharma instead of trying to tell people

about the six hours use it

and let people ask you

what changed what did you do like what

is you know you you look different you

you're acting differently what is going

on

and if they're really interested then

you can talk about it but there's no

clinging there

so clinging to the dhamma really is all

of these different ideas you know

clinging to the idea that this is what

nibana really is or this is really the

way it's supposed to be

instead of having having that open mind

instead of having a mind that is willing

to say okay there might be another way

here let's let's explore let's

experience let's experiment

and use the four noble truths as the

litmus test to understand

does it

allow you to understand suffering does

it allow you to understand the cause of

suffering does it allow you to

understand the cessation of suffering

and does it give you the tools to

experience that cessation of suffering

so

you know clinging to the dhamma that

happens at the level of the anagami when

you let go of that clinging

then you go from wrong view to

right view to

identifying with no view not even

right view

so that's that

metaphor that we understand the simile

that we understand where you're using

the raft to get to the other shore but

you're not carrying it with you once you

get to the other shore you're using the

eightfold path you're using the six r's

but you're not making it a big deal

um

what

what group do you see in today's world

that might

be in that category i can think of one

that would be there's a skeptic's sign

right the skeptic says

english word defense

you know someone sits on oh sits on the

fence yeah that's a good way of looking

at it it's like oh i'm a huge fan sitter

i'm always like

oh i don't want to make a choice because

i can't go back in the pattern time or

like

you know i so i sit on the fence and i'm

like what about this one what about that

one yeah well maybe maybe i can like

extrapolate all the possibilities of

what happened in the future and know

what's going to happen

yeah

no and to that point it's basically that

you have this

this apprehension to actually do

anything

that kind of doubt and indecisiveness to

do something to take an action

is this kind of ill-wriggling

so anytime you see yourself in a process

of indecision know that to be

restlessness know that to be doubt and

you can stick art and when you're six

hours you come to that mind that is

relaxed and then you make a decision

from there because that decision

will inevitably come from the eightfold

path it'll come from a wholesome state

of mind rather than

just trying to resolve that indecision

by

taking a decision for the sake of

letting go of that that

that can cause all kinds of pain and

suffering in the future so

there's something to be said about

contemplating and knowing you know

whether i should do this or that but

then there's something else to be said

about which is that eel wriggling of

spending days and months about one

little thing you know and just thinking

should i be doing that or should i not

be doing that you know

so when you see it in the practice you

know you see

when you see the idea well am i actually

in genre or you know am i actually

cultivating loving kindness or should i

be doing this or should i be doing that

all of that is a form of mental ill

wriggling oh by the way historically

that's called the path of logos

of

logos

there's something to be said about logic

and there's something to be said about

action actually doing something rather

than results yeah

yeah

i can't imagine anybody

uh joining such a group

we don't really you know we're skeptical

of everything we don't know it's

okay maybe there's somebody else that

should i'm not only a member of the

president

but i'll tell you why they joined why

they did it the reason is because they

were afraid of coming to a view and

being proven wrong that was really it

okay

because they didn't have anything

further to add to that situation to be

like i have conviction about this

and i can buy back it up by experience i

can back it up by

you know understanding and analysis

but they were afraid to land on any kind

of view because they didn't want to

defend it

we're better than you because we don't

you know we don't know

we're not willing to go that far you

know there's really no proof and we know

yeah you

how do you know

exactly i think we do get a lot of ill

wrigglers in the comments

yes how do you know all this i mean what

is you know the love of love

yeah well there's that healthy

skepticism in the beginning i think

right yeah yeah that's a different thing

yeah but then you're talking about how

that r has

isn't attached to any view at all so it

occurs to me that

the view that you're when you're

adopting right view

it's not as a

ontology it's as a tool kit to get you

across the river it's not as like a

world view even it's just as like i need

like a path right so i'm going to walk

on this path

that's why

that's why the buddha said see for

yourself the dhamma is welcoming to see

for yourself experience for yourself and

then know for yourself that conviction

i wouldn't use the word faith i would

use the word conviction you're convinced

after having that experience that this

is the path leading to the cessation of

suffering and about the ontology that's

a good point because the buddha doesn't

make remarks or claims about whether

there is a self or not a self whether

the world is eternal or not eternal all

he teaches as he says all i teach is

suffering and the cessation of suffering

so

there's there's no there's no world view

that you need to adopt there's just an

understanding of how to let go of

suffering and that's really it

you're asking a question or

you're asking

oh okay

so this is really clinging to views

clinging to rights and rituals

so rights and rituals you know taking

the precepts is not a right and ritual i

mean it seems like it could be but it's

not it's making a commitment in the

beginning of the day to stay wholesome

and if that helps you to develop your

sela to develop your morality

it helps to clarify the mind cultivate

the mind for samadhi practice and

ultimately leads to insight to the true

knowledge of things as they really are

when we talk about rights and rituals

what we're saying is

the belief in the i or the idea that

there are certain rights and rituals

that will take you to nibana

and that doesn't mean that you have to

stop chanting if you like chanting

and if it makes you feel uplifted by all

means do it

if you like lighting a candle and going

to church if it keeps you uplifted do

that you like going to a temple or

whatever it is that you do

do it but

understand that that is not the path

leading to nibbana it's just a process

of keeping your mind uplifted it's one

of the ways your mind becomes uplifted

there's another

level of understanding clinging to

rights and rituals

and that's this belief in luck

in other words you know having like a

four leaf clover in your pocket or

keeping a rabbit's foot or you know

horseshoe thing or you know these kinds

of things

completely violate the idea of karma

because what you're saying is

i i'll just keep this four leaf clover

with me and i'm going to win the lottery

or you know i'm going to be successful

in my business but i'm not going to make

an effort to do anything about that

business

karma really means that action and

consequence if you take the right

actions you get the right consequences

so the belief in that the idea that you

know i'm wearing my lucky underwear

today so i'm not going to get into

you know a car accident or something

like that

um

all of these kinds of ideas is complete

uh completely violating the idea of

causation completely violating the idea

of karma

and that's kind of clinging to rights

and rituals kind of clinging to the idea

that if i just do this then i'm going to

get that now you see some people who are

wealthy and it seems like you know they

inherited that wealth or you know they

just seem to make it out of nowhere and

now they're enjoying it and things like

that

well there's something to be said about

the fact that they made some effort if

not in this life the understanding is

that they were generous in a previous

life

act generously if you continue to act

generously you will start to see the

fruits of that in one way or another

and the first way to act generously is

to

smile

keep sharing your smile

wherever you go

i had a student who was

in in the retreat in september he was um

he was from the mahasi tradition so he

was like vasude maga very serious when

he came the first day

he had like you know the the three

puckered puckers on the forehead and

not a smile on him and very stressed out

and then he started smiling he started

letting go he started doing the six

hours

and then by the end of the retreat he

was like a little child he was glowing

and going out into the field and walking

enjoying the sunrise enjoying the sunset

and i got an email from the other day

and he was saying that you know i was in

milan and i was coming out of the train

and i saw this woman smiling at me

and i thought of smiling back but what i

didn't realize was i was already smiling

so

you know smiling is it it not only

uplifts your mood but you're generous in

uplifting other people's mood as well

so

that's the clinging to rights and

rituals and finally clinging to the

doctrine of self

that's the identity view the the idea of

who am i the idea of what is the self

and this comes into 20 different

categories of self-you and it's

basically the five aggregates multiplied

by four different kinds of views so you

take any of the five aggregates as being

self

as self being in one or more of the five

aggregates

as uh the five aggregates being in self

or as the self being separate from the

five aggregates

so these are the different kinds of self

view and the way to understand and let

go of the clinging to those self-views

is to see

the three characteristics of existence

in each of the five aggregates

understanding that form is impermanent

understanding that feeling is

impermanent

understanding that perception is

impermanent understanding that

formations are impermanent understanding

that cognition is impermanent because

these are all dependent

upon prior causes and conditions and

when those causes and conditions

fall away so do these aggregates

and whatever is permanent is liable to

cause suffering or create suffering

because it disappears and can cause

suffering and whatever is suffering is

not worth holding on to and therefore

not worth

considering as self

this is the way to let go of any kind of

clinging to self doctrine

so when you have the first attainment of

the sort of stream entry

you see for yourself immediately that

consciousness arises and passes away and

so on but then there is an understanding

that this whole process is

impersonal

i i like to use the word impersonal

because it takes away any confusion from

what is self and not self the whole idea

is to understand everything is

impersonal

once you have that kind of understanding

then you don't take things as seriously

anymore then you don't react from any

kind of craving then you don't react

from any kind of identification and

ignorance

so this is the clinging to the doctrine

of self now we're going to move to

craving the big one the big link saying

good friend the beak was delighted and

rejoiced in the venerable side with his

words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

and has arrived at this true dhamma

might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands craving

the origin of craving the cessation of

craving and the way leading to the

cessation of craving

in that way he is one of right view

and has arrived at this true dhamma

and what is craving what is the origin

of craving

what is the cessation of craving

what is the way leading to the cessation

of craving

there are these six classes of craving

craving for forms craving for sounds

craving for orders

craving for flavors craving for

tangibles craving for mind objects

with the arising of feeling

there is the arising of craving

with the cessation of feeling there is

the cessation of craving

the way leading to the cessation of

craving is just this noble eightfold

path the six hours

when a noble disciple has thus

understood craving

the origin of craving

the cessation of craving and the way

leading to the cessation of craving

he here and now makes an end of

suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

now whenever we do the relaxed step we

are letting go and abandoning craving

now when you notice that mind that's

there

after having relaxed

it experiences mundane nibbana it

experiences a mind without craving it's

like an

it's like a deep open sky without any

clouds

silence nothing there at all

now i want to give you a couple of

examples or a way to understand why

we're doing the relaxed step this is

this is how i started to understand it

and this is this is the way maybe you

can understand the importance of the

relaxed step

which is think about

what that craving is in the way of

tightness and tension in the mind

it's because the mind is identifying

with

the body it's identifying with the nama

rupa

now that's the that's the base craving

which is that identification process

when it sees something that it likes in

the way of a pleasant feeling going back

to chocolate cake for example there's a

tension that arises

and then it craves for that chocolate

cake

it eats that chocolate cake and what

does it feel

it feels satisfaction at that point in

time

it feels relaxed

it feels nice

or

let's use another example

maybe you're out

walking about and

you know you see a snake on the path and

you suddenly get scared or you get kind

of anxious that's a form of craving

there's tightness and tension there

that's the

fight-or-flight

movement in the body is happening

as soon as you walk away or run away you

feel relieved you feel relaxed so what

i'm getting at is this

there's a stimuli there is the feeling

that feeling causes some kind of craving

and you act upon that craving

but in this case when you're running

from the snake that's a good thing i'm

not saying that's a bad thing you should

be running away from the snake if it's

poisonous i'm giving an example just to

understand what i'm saying here

you have the feeling

and then you have the reaction to that

feeling in the way of either i like it

or i don't like it because you're

identifying with the body you're taking

it personal

but as soon as you satisfy that craving

there's a feeling of relaxation

but what if you could just

notice that unpleasant feeling or

pleasant feeling

and relax

and don't have to crave

so you're taking this relax you feel

from satisfying the craving and moving

it

ahead of craving

so that you don't have to crave

so when you do that you're

reconditioning the mind

so that it doesn't go towards trying to

feel that relaxation by satisfying the

craving by acting on the craving instead

you are becoming mindful in your 6r and

you recognize the craving and you let go

of it and you recondition the mind to be

able to be satisfied and content and

relaxed without the need to satisfy that

craving

so that craving can come in the form of

any of the sixth sense bases that

craving can come in the form of

identifying that caring craving can come

in the form of i don't like this uh

situation right now or you know i don't

want the situation to go away that's the

craving for being and the craving for

non-being

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sarikuta's words then they asked him a

further question but friend might there

be another way in which a noble disciple

is one of right view and has arrived at

this true dhamma there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands feeling

the origin of feeling the cessation of

feeling and the way leading to the

cessation of feeling in that way he is

one of right view and has arrived at

this true dharma

and what is feeling what is the origin

of feeling what is the cessation of

feeling

what is the way leading to the cessation

of feeling

there are these six classes of feeling

feeling born of eye contact

feeling born of your contact feeling

born of nose contact

feeling born of tongue contact feeling

born of body contact feeling born of

mind contact with the arising of contact

there is the arising of feeling

with the cessation of contact there is

the cessation of feeling

the way leading to the cessation of

feeling is just this noble eightfold

path the six hours

one a novel disciple has thus understood

feeling the origin of feeling

the cessation of feeling and the way

leading to the cessation of feeling he

here and now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of wrong view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

so i was talking about underlying

tendencies and feeling

you see

the

the pleasurable feeling or the pleasant

feeling the painful feel feeling or the

neutral feeling

they themselves are not what causes the

craving it's how you take that feeling

if you take that feeling to be personal

and you act from there then it causes

further craving now there are different

kinds of underlying tendencies there's

seven different kinds of underlying

tendencies but we'll take the

the the first three i'll just name them

and i will go through the first three

there's the underlying tendency to

craving the underlying tendency to

aversion the underlying tendency to

views the underlying tendency to doubt

the underlying tendency to conceit the

underlying tendency to power or habitual

tendencies and the underlying tendency

to ignorance towards ignorance

so when we talk about the aversion and

we talk about the

craving and we talk about the ignorance

what we're saying here is you have a

pleasant feeling

underlying that pleasant feeling is a

potential for craving if you act upon

the underlying tendency to words craving

you see that pleasant feeling as mind

as mine or myself

and you act from there you cause

yourself craving

if you see a painful feeling and there

is an underlying tendency of aversion

when you act upon that you have aversion

towards that painful feeling

if it's a neutral feeling

and you say that this is my feeling then

you're acting from conceit you're acting

from ignorance you're taking it personal

you're taking it permanent and acting

from there

so every time you are hearing my voice

that's a feeling now whether my voice is

pleasant or unpleasant or whatever it

might be

that's just the feeling

how you react to it is what activates

the underlying tendencies bridging the

gap between the feeling link and the

craving link

so if you notice the arising of that and

you let go of it

using the six r's

then you won't have further craving you

won't have further aversion

and neutral feeling will

not bring up any tension right

it can still bring up tension in the way

of personalizing it making it taking it

personally yeah yeah yeah

yeah

can i ask a question about the six hours

yeah that relaxed step

so when you do the six hours sometimes

um

i think i am relaxing but i still have

the tension

so did i actually do it properly then

so you know so i or you know i go

through all the steps and then um

but it's still there i still have the

tension in my mind

and uh

if that tension is there

is it taking you away from the object or

you return back to the object

um

i return but i i do have some doubt like

why is this not

why do i still have the tension

yeah so then i say oh i must have not

done the 6r i i didn't do the six hours

right now i'm not getting the relation

now that i'm asked i'm answering my own

question um i have doubt i think i'm not

relaxing properly right

you have to

as we always say you have to roll the

r's just allow that process to happen

come back to your object see what

happens if it starts to create more

tension and you it starts to pull away

your attention from there

then 6r again only when your mind is

pulled away from it from the object your

6r

if you don't pay attention to that

tension that's there and it's not

pulling you away

let that be it will believe itself it

will go away on its own but i would also

see

or i would ask the mind is the mind

trying too hard to relax

is it expecting certain things from that

relaxed step instead of just doing it

and then watching how that relaxed stuff

happens

so you know of course you don't want to

pause between each process you just want

to let it

become like a wave you want it to be

very fluid

so just ask yourself in your intuition

is it because there's doubt or is it

also because you're trying too hard to

anticipate the feeling of relaxing the

tension

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words then they asked him a

further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of wrong

of right view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands

contact

uh

understands content the origin of

contact the cessation of contact and the

way leading to the cessation of contact

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dhamma

and what is contact what is the origin

of contact what is the cessation of

contact what is the way leading to the

cessation of contact

there are these six classes of contact

eye contact ear contact nose contact

tongue contact body contact mine contact

with the arising of the six-fold base

there is the arising of contact

with the cessation of the six-fold base

there is the cessation of contact

the way leading to the cessation of

contact is just this noble eightfold

path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood contact the origin of contact

the cessation of contact and the way

leading to the cessation of contact he

here and now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

so this this all so far so from

ignorance or i would say from formations

to consciousness to mentality

materiality

to the six-fold base to contact and

feeling all of that is old karma

you can't do anything about it all you

can do is experience it

so that contact when it comes about

there's nothing you can do there's

nothing you can actually do to cease it

it ceases when there's cessation of

perception and feeling because there's

no contact but

uh

cessation perception feeling

unconsciousness but

when there's contact there's nothing you

can do about it but what you have to

understand is

contact is basically the meaning of

let's say the i and the form

and the joining of those two

there is the arising of eye

consciousness cognition

of the experience

the cognition of that experience can be

tinged by

the roots of the unwholesome

in the formations

when that happens it is it is liable to

filter the way you perceive reality it's

like you've put on some kind of

sunglasses in the way you're seeing

reality

so if you in a previous choice

identified with something took something

to be personal started to have craving

or started to have a version towards it

in your next arising of the experience

the mind will tend towards seeing that

way or certain that's seeing that thing

a certain way

so think about it when you have an

experience with a friend

or a co-worker or whoever it might be

you have certain ways that you see them

like this person is always like this

you know you don't have any other

expectations of them except for that

this is that filtration process this is

that projection process that happens

through contact feeling and perception

because of previous choices of seeing

that person a different way

the mind that is fully liberated

every moment is fresh they don't make

judgments they don't make

prejudgments on how a person is they

just see

a person or they just see the form

and whatever happens happens but as soon

as you take it and you start to project

ideas upon it and see that person a

certain way then in the next level and

the next arising of contact feeling and

perception your mind inclines towards

seeing them that way

let go of that and just see them for

being whatever they are in that moment

don't allow all of these ideas of what

they did in the past how they behaved in

the past influence the way you perceive

them now in this moment

so that's one way of understanding how

contact can influence

feeling and therefore influence

intention and perception

saying good friend the bikus delighted

and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which

a noble disciple is one of right view

and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands a six-fold base the origin

of the six-fold base the cessation of

the six-fold base and the way leading to

the cessation of the six-fold base in

that way he is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dharma

and what is the six-fold base

what is the origin of the six-fold base

what is the cessation of the six-fold

base

what is the way leading to the cessation

of the six-fold base

there are these six spaces the i-base

the air base the nose base the tongue

base the body base the mind base

with the arising of mentality

materiality there is the arising of the

six-fold base

with the cessation of mentality

materiality there is the cessation of

the six-fold base

the way leading to the cessation of the

six-fold base is just this noble

eightfold path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood the six-fold base the origin

of the six-fold base the cessation of

the six-fold base and the way leading to

the cessation of the six-four base he

here and now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dhamma

now the six fold base there's nothing

you can do about it you've inherited the

way your eyes see you've inherited the

way your years here here and everything

else

but also understand that the six-fold

base

is old karma

so you still have an influence on the

next arising of the six-fold base and

what that means is if you hear music at

a too loud volume

eventually you start to lose your

hearing

if you start to

look at the computer streaming for too

long eventually in the next arising your

eyes become tired

if you eat spicy food in the next

arising your tongue becomes numb well

you experience fiery hotness but then

eventually it just becomes numb

so there is a there is an understanding

that right now how you are experiencing

reality is dependent upon your six-fold

base

there's nothing you can do to change

about how it came about but if you do

certain actions

if somebody cuts off the year there's no

longer that

six-fold base of you know the the year

base for example if somebody does

something to harm one of the six-fold

bases

it will change the experience of the

six-fold base in a future time

so this is the way to understand your

choices now

will determine how the six-fold base

is experienced at a future time and then

that will also give rise a certain kind

of contact feeling and perception

now the six-fold base is also part of

mentality materiality because the

six-fold base is part of the physicality

of the body which is the materiality

aspect

and then the contact that arises the

feeling the process and all that is in

the mentality and we're going to talk

about that now

saying good friends the bhikkhu's

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sariputta's words then they asked him a

further question but friend might there

be another way in which a noble disciple

is one of right view and has arrived at

this true dharma there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands mentality materiality the

origin of mentality materiality the

cessation of mentality materiality and

the way leading to the cessation of

mentality materiality

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what is mentality materiality what

is the origin of mentality materiality

what is the cessation of mentality

materiality what is the way leading to

the cessation of mentality materiality

feeling perception intention

contact and attention these are called

mentality

the four great elements and the material

form derived from the four great

elements these are called materiality so

this mentality and this materiality are

what is called mentality materiality

with the arising of consciousness there

is the arising of mentality materiality

with the cessation of consciousness

there is the cessation of mentality

materiality the way leading to the

cessation of mentality materiality is

just this noble eightfold path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood mentality materiality

the origin of mentality materiality

the cessation of mentality materiality

and the way leading to the cessation of

mentality materiality he here and now

makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

when we talk about mentality materiality

what we're talking about really are the

five aggregates

so materiality is form

when you have contact with form you have

feeling you have

perception

you have formations which

are driven forward through some kind of

an intention

and you have attention which is what you

cognize through

so

the awareness is one thing

and the attention is the direction in

which that awareness is being driven

forward so

mentality is nothing more than just

really the five aggregates that's one

way to understand it

the other thing is we we just talked

about how consciousness

with the arising of consciousness

there's the arising of mentality

materiality so this is talking about it

on a macro level mentality materiality

is in the in the womb that's the embryo

when the consciousness descends it gives

activity to the mentality of materiality

then there is further arising and

passing away of consciousnesses after it

descends so that consciousness that

descends into the embryo that dissipates

and then when there's new content when

there's new feeling when there's new

perception of that embryo there's new

consciousnesses arising and passing away

in the womb

so what that means is there is an

interdependence

between

consciousness

and mentality materiality

mentality materiality cannot function

without cognition or awareness or

consciousness

and consciousness cannot arise

or

is tied to an experience and the only

way to have an experience is through

mentality materiality

so this negates the idea of some kind of

brahman some kind of independent

consciousness

because all consciousness that arises

is dependent upon the experience of mind

and body

it's tied to it

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sorry put those words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dhamma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands consciousness

the origin of consciousness the

cessation of consciousness and the way

leading to the cessation of

consciousness in that way he is one of

right view and has arrived at this true

dhamma

and what is consciousness what is the

origin of consciousness what is the

cessation of consciousness

what is the way leading to the cessation

of consciousness there are these six

classes of consciousnesses

consciousness eye consciousness your

consciousness nose consciousness tongue

consciousness

body consciousness and mind

consciousness

with the arising of formations there is

the arising of consciousness with the

cessation of formations there is the

cessation of consciousness the way

leading to the cessation of

consciousness is just this noble hateful

path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood consciousness the origin of

consciousness the cessation of

consciousness and the way leading to the

cessation of consciousness he here and

now makes an end of suffering in that

way too a noble disciple

is one of right view and has arrived at

this true dhamma

now consciousness comes from the word or

is translated from the word vidyana

which basically means

means knowledge and v means divided so

the knowledge that is divided by the

experience of the sixth sense basis the

bare cognition of the sixth sense basis

but consciousness itself can be fettered

and hindered by different kinds of

things like ignorance and craving

and conceit and there's like 16

different kinds of upperculasas they're

called and depending upon how you react

in one moment the next moment can cause

a certain kind of consciousness to arise

that is filtered by that previous action

causing you to see reality in a certain

way

so you're not being aware of reality as

it is

but you're being aware dependent upon

your previous actions dependent on your

previous thoughts and ideas about it

so yes there is a consciousness tied to

the experience of the sixth sense basis

there is the consciousness on the macro

level that then gives a rise to the

non-arupa

but

what we're trying to understand is

consciousness itself can be affected by

the arising of formations formations can

be fettered as we'll see when we go to

the next level but to the next link

but with the arising of certain kinds of

formations that are fettered in certain

kinds of let's say craving or conceit or

certain things like that it can corrupt

so to speak or influence

uh the arising of certain kind of

awareness which then add contact that's

the same awareness that arises at

contact where the joining of the eye and

the form gives rise to eye consciousness

that's what filters how you perceive and

how you perc how you perceive that

experience

so the contact then gives rise to the

feeling that feeling gives rise to a

perception but because that

consciousness has already been fettered

by craving

it can perceive it through the lens of

craving or through the lens of

identifying or whatever it might be

so when you notice that what do you do

you 600

you let it go

then in the next moment the

consciousness is clear free of any kind

of craving for that moment

saying good friend the beak who's

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sorry put those words then they asked

them a further question but friend might

there be another way in which a noble

disciple is one of right view and has

arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands formations the origin of

formations

the cessation of formations and the way

leading to the cessation of formations

in that way he is one of right view and

has arrived at this true dhamma

and what are formations what is the

origin of formations what is the

cessation of formations what is the way

leading to the cessation of formations

there are these three kinds of

formations the bodily formation the

verbal formation the mental formation

with the arising of ignorance there is

the arising of formations with the

cessation of ignorance there is the

cessation of formations

the way leading to the cessation of

formations is just this noble eightfold

path

when a noble disciple has thus

understood formations

the origin of formations the cessation

of formations and the way leading to the

cessation of formations he here and now

makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

so as we said there are three types of

formations bodily formations verbal

formations and mental formations

bodily formations are traditionally

understood to be connected with

breathing but it's also the intention to

move

when you have an intention to move the

body formations activate and you start

moving

verbal formations are the thought

patterns that arise in the way of what

you want to say

so the thoughts that you have just

before you're about to say those

thoughts are the verbal formations

mental formations are what give rise to

feeling and perception give rise to

experiencing what you are experiencing

so these formations cease at different

levels when you have

the cessation of any kind of verbalizing

going on there is a cessation of verbal

formations

when

at the second genre when you start to

tranquilize your body and it becomes

where you start losing awareness of the

body

there's a tranquilizing of the bodily

formations

and then finally when you start to let

go of all formations that are arising

now at the quiet mind those are

formations that are mental that give

rise to mental feeling and perception

when you let go completely of those then

that is the cessation of feeling

perception and consciousness

so the cessation of mental formations

equals the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

and these formations can be fettered

through previous actions and what i mean

when i say feathered what i mean is they

are

they are interconnected or interlinked

with craving

if you choose to act with craving in a

previous moment

your mind will incline towards acting

with craving in the next moment

this is why we're talking about this

whole process of reconditioning through

the eightfold path through the six hours

of letting go of craving in those

choices

when you let go of craving those choices

you're bit by bit whittling away at

those fetters that are chained to those

formations that then give rise to

choices that will incline to those

formations

when you then have more wholesome

actions more wholesome choices

then the formations that arise will be

pure and when i say purer they're more

purified of the craving more purified of

the ignorance and how does ignorance

influence the formations we'll see that

now

saying good friend eb

the beak who's delighted and rejoiced in

the venerable say put those words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view and has arrived at this true dharma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands ignorance

the origin of ignorance the cessation of

ignorance and the way leading to the

cessation of ignorance in that way he is

one of right view and has arrived at

this true dharma

and what is ignorance what is the origin

of ignorance what is the cessation of

ignorance what is the way leading to the

cessation of ignorance ignorance

not knowing about suffering

not knowing about the origin of

suffering

not knowing about the cessation of

suffering

not knowing about the way leading to the

cessation of suffering

this is ignorance

with the arising of the taints there is

the arising of ignorance with the

cessation of the teens there is the

cessation of ignorance

the way leading to the cessation of

ignorance is just this noble eightfold

path the six hours

one a noble disciple has thus understood

ignorance the origin of ignorance the

cessation of ignorance and the way

leading to the cessation of ignorance he

here and now makes an end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view and has arrived at this

true dharma

so there's two levels of ignorance

there's the intellectual ignorance where

you just don't know about the dharma you

don't know about the four noble truths

but then there's a subtle ignorance

where every time you take a feeling as

being mine and myself as being as taking

it personally

you are feeding into ignorance

because you're not knowing the reality

of the situation right there and then

and how do you let go of that your six

6r every time you see art

you are letting go of ignorance

so in other words

lack of mindfulness

leads to the next arising of ignorance

but if you are mindful and don't take

the feeling as personal

you are letting go of ignorance bit by

bit because you're becoming aware of the

four noble truths of that situation so

every time you 6r with the understanding

with the mindfulness here is an

underlying tendency towards craving here

is the aversion here is

the clinging every time you see that and

you let go of it

you are

strengthening wisdom

and you're weakening ignorance

you are practicing for yourself the four

noble truths the understanding and

application of the four noble truths

so lack of mindfulness equals ignorance

mindfulness equals

development of wisdom

and lack of six r's is lack of

mindfulness

the use of the six r's is return to

mindfulness and the cultivation of

wisdom

saying good friend the beak was

delighted and rejoiced in the venerable

sight with those words

then they asked him a further question

but friend might there be another way in

which a noble disciple is one of right

view

whose view is straight

who has unwavering confidence in the

dhamma and has arrived at this true

dhamma

there might be friends

when friends a noble disciple

understands the taints

the origin of the taints the cessation

of the taints

and the way leading to the cessation of

the taints in that way he is one of

right view

whose view is straight who has

unwavering confidence in the dharma and

has arrived at this true dharma

and what are the things what is the

origin of the teens

what

what is the cessation of the tense what

is the way leading to the cessation of

the tense

there are these three taints

the taint of sensual desire the taint of

being and the taint of ignorance

with the arising of ignorance there is

the arising of the taints with the

cessation of ignorance there is the

cessation of the tense the way of

leaving to the cessation cessation of

the teens is just this noble eightfold

path the six r's

when we talk about teens they come from

this root word in pali which is asavas

asavas are

translated in different ways they're

translated in fermentations of the mind

they're translated as the

the inflows or the outflows and

different ways of understanding them but

let's just talk about what they are

really in the scope of dependent

origination they are

they are the remnants of previous

actions which then continue to

uh influence

and start that momentum of the

independent origination to cause further

craving and cause further suffering

when you have the taint of sensual

desire that arose

because you took

the sensual experience as me mine and

myself and had craving or aversion

towards it when you acted in that way

you had lack of mindfulness

you didn't use the six r's and so it

caused a further strengthening of the

taint of sensual desire

anytime you identify with a feeling or

let's say in your practice you are in a

jhana

and you say i don't want to be here

anymore i want to move forward

or i want to stay here and i don't want

to move forward i really like this

you are

collecting or adding to the taint of

being because you have craving for being

or craving for non-being which adds to

the taint of being

ignorance and that happens because again

of lack of mindfulness

the taint of ignorance is basically the

fact that you were not mindful in that

moment

so in other words this is why ignorance

gives rise to the teens

every time you don't six r every time

you don't become mindful of the

experience

and see what is happening observing your

mind's attention becoming distracted

there is

liable to cause

further arising of gains in future

moments

but every time you become mindful and

you don't take a process personal

you don't take the experience as

personal

then you are whittling away at those

teens and the the the momentum of

craving starts to weaken the momentum of

ignorance starts to weaken the momentum

of identification starts to weaken and

it unravels and loosens and ultimately

at a certain point in time

you experience

final you know attainment of arahat ship

and you destroy the taints

and you no longer take anything that

you're experiencing as personal

you see everything as being an

impersonal process and because of that

the arahat's mindset the arahat's way of

functioning

their default mode of functioning is the

eightfold path

the process of the six hours the process

of using the eightfold path over and

over and over and over again

has reconditioned their minds so that

they no longer take anything as personal

they no longer see anything from a sense

of i need this and i i want this and i

like this or i don't like this and i'm

trying to push this away they no longer

identify in those ways

and therefore

anything that arises

with the old karma of feeling they see

it right there and then as just

impersonal and impermanent and so

because of non-reaction to that

through the proper action of

the noble eightfold path

they're not having to let go of anything

because they're not holding on to

anything

and therefore there is no new karma of

crea of craving clinging or being that

arises and that's why an arahat can say

there is no more birth birth is

destroyed there is no more coming to

being

the holy life has been lived what had to

be done has been done

because now all they are experiencing is

the arising of old karma

not adding to new karma and therefore

not adding to the fuel for further

rebirth

once they understand this whole process

in this way

will not only understand but experience

it in this way and let go and abandon

all of the fetters

when a noble disciple has thus

understood the things the origin of the

taints the cessation of the tints and

the way leading to the cessation of the

taints he entirely abandons the

underlying tendency to lust he abolishes

the underlying tendency to aversion he

extirpates the underlying tendency to

the view and conceit i am

and by abandoning ignorance and arousing

true knowledge he here and now makes an

end of suffering

in that way too a noble disciple is one

of right view whose view is straight who

has unwavering confidence in the dharma

and has arrived at this true dhamma

this is what the venerable sariputta

said

the beku's war

finally

satisfied and delighted in the venerable

site with those words

i have a question about the

formation yeah um

you know breathing is seen as kind of

the example of the bodily formation yeah

but the fact is that when there is

cessation

there is no mind there's no intention

but

now we're getting into the world of

vital formation yes

i'm so glad you brought that out

uh if panty is going to be reading mn43

maybe he will you'll come across this

word called vital formations

and what it says is that in cessation of

perception well the question is what is

the difference between somebody who's in

cessation of perception feeling

unconsciousness and somebody who's dead

because they appear to be one in the

same complete stillness

the difference is that there is still

heat and vitality in the

being or the the meditator who is in

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

and those vital uh those that heat and

vitality is dependent upon vital

formations so when we talk about vital

formations that's really

things that you don't actually feel

in the way of cellular metabolism

in the way of how your body digests food

in the way of how your body

makes nutrients through that food or

fuels the cells

in the way of how

the heart beats and things like that all

of these are dependent upon the vital

formations but they are separate to

mind in which you have the bodily

formations

the intention to move and physical

activity

the verbal formations to speak and the

mental formations to feel and to

perceive

that's why it's said that when you are

in cessation perception and feeling and

consciousness

that

the mind is one thing and the viral

formations are another because you don't

actually feel or experience the vital

formations because if you did and you

cease the vital formations

that's the dissolution of the body

that is death

and that would be a problem

yeah

but you can make an intention to breathe

harder or softer you can yeah yeah

that's still part of

that's still part of physical formations

there when you intend to breathe

but the automatic breathing process

exactly it's kind of a

mixture it's a mixture so formations are

seen as two one is intention

that can influence the next formations

but the formations also can influence

the next set of intentions

so you can't control how you feel and

perceive in the sense of whatever is

coming in the way

and that's being made possible by the

mental formations that allow you to be

able to perceive

so formations are really the building

blocks of experience

but at the same time they are influenced

by how you choose in that moment to

perceive something and so the next set

of formations will then

create a different kind of experience

for you or

an experience that is rooted more in

craving or rooted lesson craving

the fact that you are breathing is a

formation it's a formation exactly

that's really where there's no intention

there's no intention there

yeah yeah

so like uh in the anapanasati right he

he's not controlling the breath it's

just breathing is happening there's a

long breath or a short breath or

whatever

but he's tranquilizing the bodily

formations that doesn't mean he's

stopping breathing he's just relaxing

the body relaxing the craving there

so the automatic breathing is made

possible by

physical formations as well but

but there can be an intention to breathe

a certain way now think about it this

way

when you have a choice and you start to

get angry at something what happens to

your breathing

it quickens

that's because you've influenced the

next set of physical formations to start

to make the breath faster

when you're more relaxed especially when

you're in the fourth jhana

your breathing becomes imperceptible

it's almost non-existent there because

the body is so calm the tranquilizing

the formations equals

the manifestation of these things the

calming of the breath

the calming of feeling the calming of

mental reactions and so on

yeah

is it just out of curiosity is that why

there's a lot of focus and other

practices on breath meditation because

it's sort of like a way to get into

the that part of the chain so to speak

yeah i can tell you from experience

prior experience for with kriya yoga for

example their idea uh is that

the the breathing is dependent upon

emotions and so if you can change your

breathing you can change your emotions

or you can change how you react to those

emotions but then what you're doing

there is you're tying your dependency

upon the breathing itself and there

comes a point when they say you get to a

breathless state and then you're you've

you've detached from all kinds of

feeling

but that's wrong understanding because

what you're saying there is

the breath is so important that your

your consciousness is tied to that

breath as well and how you perceive

reality is tied to the breath as well

so

yeah the control of breathing and yoga

and things like that

comes from that kind of an understanding

which only adds to the illusion of

identifying

yes

exactly

exactly because you're trying so hard

you're becoming one pointed you're

pushing and you're saying this is

affecting a sense of self this is

affecting me

it's you know what's happening

to yourself yeah

any other questions

i think everybody

is pretty pretty much ready to go all

right

all right

let's share some merit

my suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

have thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may human beings inhabiting space and

earth devas and naga's mighty power

share this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

dispensation sadhu their

good

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