From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xPJyHH2nyI8

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

because we're working with the kind of

meditation that is a feeling kind of

meditation i thought we would

look at the suit called the many kinds

of feelings

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jetta's grove and up in bendiga's park

then the carpenter poncho congo went to

the venerable udayan and after paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

asked him

venerable sir how many kinds of feeling

have been stated by the blessed one

three kinds of feeling have been stated

by the blessed one householder

pleasant feeling painful feeling and

neither painful nor pleasant feeling

these three kinds of feeling have been

stated by the blessed one

not three kinds of feeling have been

stated by the blessed one venerable who

die and two kinds of feeling have been

stated by the blessed one

pleasant feeling and painful feeling

this neither painful nor pleasant

feeling has been stated by the blessed

one as a peaceful and sublime kind of

pleasure

a second time and a third time the

venerable udayan stated his position

and the second and the third time the

carpenter ponja conga stated his

but the venerable udayan could not

convince the carpenter panchakanga nor

could the carpenter panchakanga convince

the venerable udayan

the venerable ananda heard their

conversation

then he went to the blessed one after

paying homage to him he sat down at one

side and reported to the blessed one the

entire conversation

between the venerable udayan and the

carpenter panchakanga

when he had finished the blessed one

told the venerable ananda

ananda

it was actually a true presentation

that the carpenter pancha congo would

not accept from udayan

and it was actually a true presentation

that udayan would not accept from the

carpenter panda conga

i have stated two kinds of feeling in

one presentation

i have stated three kinds of feeling in

another presentation

i have stated five kinds of feeling in

another presentation five kinds of

feeling

physical

uh it's

let's do it this way in pali it's dukkha

sukkah dominosome

dukkha

is a painful physical feeling

sukha

is a pleasant physical feeling dominasa

is a painful mental feeling

somanasa is a pleasant mental feeling

upeka is equanimity

i have stated six kinds of feeling in

another presentation

the six kinds of feeling

are at each one of the scent stores

when the feeling arises at the eye at

the ear nose tongue body mind

i have stated

18 kinds of feeling in another

presentation

i have stated 36 kinds of feeling in

another presentation

i have stated 108 kinds of feeling in

another presentation i'm not going to go

into these

that is how the dhamma has been shown by

me in different presentations

when the dhamma has thus been shown by

me in different presentations it may be

expected of those who will not concede

allow and accept what is well stated and

well spoken by others

that they will take to quarreling and

brawling and disputing

stabbing each other with verbal daggers

but it may be expected of those who

concede allow and accept what is well

stated and well spoken by others

that they will live in concord with

mutual appreciation without disputing

blending like milk and water

viewing each other with kindly eyes

what we're talking about here

stabbing each other with verbal daggers

seems to be the way that a lot of people

discuss buddhism and what the buddha

taught

and everybody has their own

um philosophy

they have their own ideas of what they

think the buddha taught

one of the reasons that i spend so much

time

reading the suttas

is so that you get the the idea that

it's not my philosophy

it is not my ideas this is not my way of

doing anything this is what the buddhist

said

and this is as close as we can come

to the actual teaching of the buddha

the more we go back to the original

teaching

and start looking at

all of the instruction that the buddha

gave

we

will begin

to

have

a practice that is immediately effective

and it's easy

to see

that the buddha's path

is

a way of developing and changing your

personality so that it becomes softer

more open

more accepting kinder

the whole point of

the buddha and his teaching

was

to show people how to have an uplifted

mind not how to quarrel with each other

during the time of the buddha

he was teaching not only nobles

and kings and princes and all of these

rich families

but he was also teaching common

farmers now what he taught

had to be understood very easily

by the farmers

or else they would not have tried the

practice it had to be

easy to understand

and it had to work fairly quickly or

else they wouldn't trouble themselves

now i've read in some commentaries that

from the time the buddha started until

he died which was 45 years later

that

he affected

somewhere around 60 million people

with his teaching

it wasn't all just the buddha it was the

the

monks that went out and they were

teaching the buddha's path too

but they didn't teach the buddha's path

until they saw directly

what the buddha was teaching

and their confidence became so strong

that it was unshakable

right now

there's an awful lot of people that want

to be

teachers

but

they'll study for a little while they'll

do a few retreats and then else they'll

claim that they're a teacher

and the only true teacher that i know of

is the buddha

and when you go back to the original

teaching

then

everything starts to become more and

more clear this is one of the reasons

that i'm continually reading the south

because

the buddha

is the teacher

i'm not the teacher

i'm a guide

i can understand and i can see what's

happening with your practice

but we can always go back to the sutas

to see what the buddha said about that

so the buddha is the teacher

and

the closer we can stay

with the teachings in the suttas

the easier

and faster our progress becomes

the deeper your understanding will

become

because of

the buddha's teaching

you don't need to add anything

you don't need to subtract anything

all you need to do

is go to the original teaching and

follow the directions as closely as

possible

so

when the buddha was giving all of these

discourses he gave a lot of discourses

to monks

he gave a lot of discourses

to laymen

the monks he would generally spend a

little bit more time with and go into

more depth

because

that's the profession of being a monk

being a monk means that you have more

time to study you have more time to

practice you have more time to see for

yourself what the buddha was talking

about

it is

a real

good idea

that any time anyone is

using a commentary

to take that commentary and compare it

with what it says in the suttas

themselves

if the commentary does not agree with

what the sutas say

it's best not to use that commentary

very much it might have some great

points in it

but if by and large there are mistakes

when you compare it with the original

teaching

then it will only cause confusion

and cause more

misunderstanding about what the emphasis

of the practice is

so if you take the suit if you take the

commentaries and you put them on the

shelf where they belong

just as reference to c

and go to the original teachings

you might find that the kind of practice

that you've been using for

however many years

doesn't really agree so well

with

what the suit does for teaching

an example of this is

the

sativatana

suta and the directions

in the mindfulness of breathing in that

suta

and i'll read to you what the sati

patana sutta says

this is not my interpretation this is

what

the suit that says

it says

contemplation of body mindfulness of

breathing this is section number four in

suit the number 10 in the middle links

things and how monks does a monk abide

contemplating the body as a body

here a monk gone to the forest or to the

root of the tree or empty hut sits down

having folded his legs crosswise set his

body erect and establishes mindfulness

in front of him

ever mindful he breathes in mindful he

breathes out

breathing in long he understands i

breathe in long or breathing out long he

understands i breathe out long breathing

in short he understands i breathe in

short breathing out short he understands

i breathe out short

now this the first two sentences here

are talking about

understanding that you know what the

breath is doing

it's nothing to do with breath body

it has to do with the breath itself

you understand when you take a long

breath you understand when you take a

short breath

it does not say to focus only on the

breath it does not mention your nostril

your nostril tip your upper lip or your

abdomen

it just says you know when you take a

long breath then when you take a short

breath

now we get into the actual

instructions on the meditation

he trains thus these are key words

because this is how you train yourself

i shall breathe in experiencing the

whole body

he trains thus i shall breathe out

experiencing the whole body

this is not body of breath this is the

entire body

now

he trains thus i shall breathe in

tranquilizing the bodily formation

he trains thus i shall breathe out

tranquilizing the bodily formation

so it's saying that on the in-breath

you tranquilize the bodily formation on

the out breath you tranquilize the

bodily formation what does that mean

it means that there is if there is any

tension or tightness anywhere in your

body you relax it on the in-breath and

you relax it on the out breath

this step has been

forgotten

not used

with a lot of people that are practicing

meditation today

this step is a very very important part

of the meditation

there is a tightness that is very subtle

that occurs

in the head

around your brain

there's a membrane around your brain

that kind of holds your brain all

together

every time

there is any kind of distraction it

contracts

and with that contraction there's a

tension or tightness

that arises

on the in-breath you relax that tension

or tightness on the out breath you relax

that tension or tightness

when your mind becomes distracted

you notice that your mind is distracted

you

let that distraction be there by itself

and relax the tension or tightness

caused by mind's attention moving to

that distraction

the more

you

become familiar with how

that tension or tightness arises the

easier it is to see that

now what is this tension or tightness

that arises

this tension or tightness that arises is

craving

and

every time you let go of craving

you feel

your mind expand

and then become calm

every time you let go of craving

your mind is pure at that time

your awareness is very sharp

there are no thoughts

there's just this pure awareness

and you bring this pure awareness

back to your object of meditation

so every time you let go of tension and

tightness you are letting go of craving

which happens to be the second noble

truth the cause of suffering is craving

when you let go of that craving

that purity of mind at that moment

is

the cessation of suffering

and

you do this on the in-breath

and you do this on the out breath

there's a distraction you let the

distraction be you relax

bring that pure mind back to your object

of meditation

and relax some more

these kind of instructions

need to be followed very closely

now this is what i was reading from the

the sativatana suta

just as a skilled lathe operator or as

apprentice when making a long turn

understands i make a long turn or when

making a short turn understands i make a

short turn that means that he's not

thinking about

he's just doing he understands

so too breathing in long a monk

understands i breathe in lung

so

when we start following the directions

of

the buddha

with the mindfulness of breathing

we can also carry these same directions

over to

the practice of loving kindness

anytime there is a distraction

and your mind's attention moves from

the feeling of loving kindness and

making a wish for happiness

to

that distraction whatever it happens to

be

there is tension and tightness that

arises at that time

you allow the feeling to be there by

itself

and relax

bring that

clear pure mind back to the feeling of

loving kindness making a wish for

happiness

when you're practicing loving-kindness

meditation

you want to feel the wish that you are

making

may i be happy you know what it feels

like to be happy

take that happy feeling put it in the

center of

your heart and radiate that feeling

to yourself or to your spiritual friend

you know what it feels like to be

peaceful and calm

feel that peace and calm put that

feeling in your heart and surround

yourself with that feeling and radiate

that feeling

there are times when your mind can feel

kind of dull

or cloudy

so you make a wish

for a very clear mind

an observant mind

an accepting mind whatever wish you make

you want to feel that wish

bring it into your heart

and radiate that wish out

when you're

radiating loving-kindness to your

spiritual friend

you want to put your spiritual friend

right in the middle of your heart

make a wish for their happiness feel

that wish surround them with that

feeling and give them a great big heart

hug

and then radiate that feeling

so when we're talking about the many

different kinds of feeling and this

meditation is not an intellectual kind

of meditation this is a feeling

meditation

when you're doing this practice you want

to practice smiling

you want to smile with your mind smile

with your eyes even though your eyes are

closed

put a little smile on your lips and a

smile in your heart

anytime you see that you are not smiling

you

don't criticize yourself you don't come

down on yourself because you forgot all

you do is start over again

this is a practice of play it again

so the more

you can

notice when you're

staying with your meditation and smiling

the easier the practice becomes

and the more fun you start to have with

this practice

i know it's kind of an unusual thing to

talk about meditation and fun in the

same breath

because

we've had this idea brought to this

country that meditation is serious stuff

and we better be serious right along

with it

but actually

it's more fun to have fun

it's more fun

to radiate a happy feeling and it's much

easier to radiate that happy feeling

when you're having fun doing it

so

getting back to the suit

and this

one of the things that i've noticed over

the years of since coming back from asia

is

that not only are there a lot of people

that

are super serious

and they have a tendency to

argue about what the buddha taught

but

they

tend to

take the practice of sitting meditation

as the only real form of meditation

meditation is a practice of watching how

mind's attention moves from one thing to

another

it's an all-the-time practice it's not

just while you're sitting

while you're doing your sitting

meditation that's your close examination

time of how mind's attention moves

from one thing to another

but when you get up from your meditation

that doesn't mean that you let go of

your meditation you stop watching what

your mind does and just act like you

normally act

meditation is

mental development all of the time

and the closer you can stay

with your smile

and practice of giving your smile away

with uplifted thoughts

the easier life becomes all the way

around

you start having more and more balance

in your life

and that's what the buddha was teaching

us

how to have equanimity

with whatever arises

not getting caught in the emotional

roller coasters

now an interesting thing about this

particular suta

is that

the buddha starts describing all

different kinds of feelings

and we start first at sensual pleasures

he he calls these kind of

low and uh

not very

profitable

and then he goes through all of the

different genres

now ghanas are

not states of concentration

jhana is a pali word

and it means a level

of

understanding

and the understanding comes

from your being able to observe

how mind's

distractions pull our attention away

from our object of meditation

i'll get more into that in a little bit

ananda there are these five chords of

sensual pleasure what are the five forms

cognizable by the eye that are wished

for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire and

provocative of lust

sounds cognizable by the ear that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with central desire and

provocative of lust

odors cognizable by the nose that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire and

provocative of lust

flavors cognizable by the tongue that

are wished for desired agreeable and

likable connected with sensual desire

and provocative of lust

tangibles cognizable by the body that

are wished for desired agreeable and

likable connected with central desire

and provocative of lust

these are the five cords of sensual

pleasure

now the pleasure and joy that arise

dependent on these five chords of

sensual pleasure are called sensual

pleasure

i'm glad he made that clear

should anyone say that this is the

utmost pleasure and joy

that beings experience

i would not concede that to him

why is that

because there is another kind of

pleasure loftier and more sublime than

that pleasure

and what is that other kind of pleasure

here ananda quite secluded from sensual

pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states

a monk enters upon and abides in the

first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of seclusion

this is that other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the

previous pleasure

now what happens when you're practicing

meditation

is that there are these five things that

are called hindrances

that arise and they

uh

when they arise they take your full

attention away from your meditation

when you first start meditating you can

have your mind

become

uh

distracted for

fairly long periods of time two or three

or five minutes before you actually

notice that your mind is distracted

but as soon as you notice if you

let

that distraction be there by itself what

that means is you don't continue

watching it you don't continue thinking

about it you don't continue trying to

control it you just let it be there by

itself

take your attention away from that

what you do then is relax the tension

and tightness caused by mind's attention

moving

over to that distraction

now

you

smile

and redirect your attention back to your

object of meditation which is the loving

kindness the feeling of radiation in

your heart

making a wish for your

your friend's happiness

and smiling into that

that is how you

purify your mind

this is part of the eightfold path that

the part that's called right effort

by most people i call it harmonious

practice

right effort is

noticing that your mind is on an

unwholesome object

letting go of that unwholesome object

and relaxing

bringing up a wholesome object smiling

and directing your mind to a wholesome

object

a loving kindness

and

keeping that wholesome object going

this is

the part of the meditation

that is purifying your mind so that you

will be able to experience these deeper

states of getting into genres

the way you get into a jhana is

by noticing that these hindrances

have

something in common

they are all

where your false belief

in itself

arises

a hindrance when it arises we have a

tendency to take it personally

and hold on to it and try to control

the feeling

with our thoughts

now we're made up of of the

psychophysical processes made up of five

different things

you have a physical body

you have feeling pleasant

unpleasant neutral

you have perception perception is the

part of the mind that names things

you see these and your mind says these

are glasses

that was a part of your mind

that

recognized this

it also has to do with memory

now you have thoughts and then you have

consciousness so these five things make

up the psychophysical process

what our mistake always is

is when

a feeling arises let's say it's a

painful feeling

what we immediately try to do is think

the feeling

and control the feeling with the

thoughts

but that doesn't work

what happens is when you try to control

the feeling with the feeling with the

thoughts

the feeling starts to get bigger and

more intense

and then you try to control even more

now this is how

depression arises this is how anxiety

arises this is how all of our negative

emotional states arise

the feeling arises

and then we try to control the feeling

with our thoughts

but it doesn't work we know that for a

fact

so what we what we need to do is

first let go

of

the thoughts

let the thoughts be

don't keep your attention on all of

those thoughts

stories

concepts ideas

let the thought be

and relax

now you'll see that the feeling

is there it's a painful feeling and you

have this tight mental fist wrapped

around the feeling

the tight mental fist is aversion

you don't want that feeling to be there

you don't like that feeling you want it

to be different than it is

but the truth is

when a feeling arises it is there

what you do with what arises in the

present moment dictates what happens in

the future

if you're fighting with what arises in

the present moment

you can look forward to a lot of

suffering

not only

now

but in the future

or

if you see the feeling as it really is

it's a painful feeling yes so what so

it's painful

by your allowing that feeling to be

there

and not trying to control the feeling

with the thoughts

that feeling

loses its emergency it loses

the

want to change it right here right now

and it takes a lot of the suffering out

of

the

want to control

you let go of them go on to control you

allow the feeling to be there now you

relax the tension and tightness caused

by that craving like that

i don't like it mind

now you bring this pure mind back to

your objective meditation

now what happens is that

hindrance

is not going to go away right away

it's going to continue

arising because of our attachment to it

what is the attachment the belief that

this is me this is mine this is who i am

every time you see the hindrance arise

your attention gets drawn to it

the test of the meditator

is to

learn

how

to see

how

mind's attention moved from

being very peaceful and calm on your

object to meditation over to that

hindrance

how did that happen

it didn't all of a sudden just jump

there

it happened

in a

very orderly way actually

it happened

as a part of a process

the tutor

and it always happens in the same way

now your job as a meditator

is to begin to recognize how that works

so as you take more interest in how this

process works

as you become more familiar

with

bouncing back and forth between your

your hindrance

and your object of meditation you start

to recognize little things that happen

before your mind got pulled away

from that

object

that from that hindrance

so you start recognizing it more quickly

you start letting it go a little bit

more quickly

and eventually you start noticing what

happened right before then and what

happened right before then

as you begin to let go of your

hindrances

whatever hindrance it is that arises

it becomes weaker and weaker

as you don't identify with it anymore

as you purify your mind

until finally that hindrance becomes so

weak

that

it just won't arise anymore when that

happens

you will feel a very strong sense of

relief

right after that relief you feel

very strong joy

and this joy is

an

uplifting joy is what it's called you

feel very light in your mind and you

feel very light in your body

when this feeling arises

what do you do when it first happens you

grab on to it and say this is great

stuff i love it i want it to stay

the harder you hold on to it the faster

it disappears

so what is your job your job as a

meditator is to notice that this is a

different kind of feeling

now it's a pleasant feeling

so now you

let that feeling be

and you come back to your object to

meditation

that feeling will eventually change and

it will fade away when it does

you feel very very strong tranquility

very peaceful very calm

and you feel more comfort in your mind

and your body

both than you had before

your mind stays on your object of

meditation very nicely very easily

without any effort

you can still have distracting thoughts

arise

but you'll see them after one thought

let it be relaxed come back without any

effort at all

what i have just described to you is

what the the suta has just described and

that is the first job

that is what you can learn to expect

to have happen

this happens

because

you're beginning to understand how the

process of mind's attention

is moving from one thing to another

you're starting to see it more clearly

and every time you let go of the tension

and tightness caused by that

mind's

mind's attention moving

you are letting go of cravings

so

should uh

see

that is the other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the plevy

previous pleasure

should anyone say that is the utmost

pleasure and joy

that

experience i would not concede that to

him

why is that

because there's another kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than that

pleasure

and what is that other kind of pleasure

here ananda

with the stilling of thinking and

examining thought

a monk enters and abides

in the second geno which has

self-confidence

and stillness of mind

without thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of composure

or collectedness

this is that other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the

previous pleasure

so as

you

are in the first genre

you have all of this joy and then you

experience the happiness and peace of

mind

eventually your mindfulness is going to

slip it's going to get weak

and when it does you have another

hindrance arise

now you get to work with this hindrance

and as you start to teach yourself more

and more how mind's attention moves

you start letting go of that hindrance

more easily

you start

letting go of your attachment

to those thoughts and feelings that you

used to hold as yours

and

as you do that

you start seeing this process

happening again and you start

recognizing it you start letting go a

little bit more easily

until

that hindrance

fades away again

and when that hindrance fades away

another sense of relief and the joy you

experience is much stronger

the uplifting feeling is

much lighter you feel like you're almost

floating in the air when this happens

because you're starting to understand

more and more clearly how the process of

the meditation works you start to gain a

lot of confidence

and with that confidence

you begin to lose your doubt

that this is the right path

with that confidence you start to feel

more and more sure

that this really is the right way to do

it

now when you get into the second genre

before you were making your verbalizing

a wish

for

your spiritual friend's happiness

but now what you what happens is you try

to make a wish

and you start to feel tension and

tightness arising in your head

so at this point you have to let go of

verbalizing the wish

now you just bring that feeling

of peace

or

tranquility or clarity or happiness and

put that in your heart without

verbalizing

this is called in buddhist terms

true noble silence

because you don't need to verbalize

anymore that doesn't mean that you won't

have verbalization

you still can have some but these are

observation thoughts

my mind has got a lot of joy in it right

now

thoughts of observing your observation

or thoughts are thoughts about what is

happening in the present moment

it's not what you would like to see

happen in the future it's not about what

happened in the past it's only

a single thought and it's an observation

thought of this is what i'm experiencing

right now

that's that's okay for those kind of

thoughts

after your period of joy

then that will fade away and the

tranquility is much stronger

you feel more and more comfort in your

mind and in your body

you feel very composed and collected

your mind stays on your object of

meditation very easily

so eventually what happens is your

mindfulness again will begin to slip a

little bit because it's not very strong

at this point

and when it does you have another

hindrance arise now you can start to

begin to get a feel of the importance

of

having hindrances arise

because this is where your attachment is

and when you let go of the hindrance

you let go of the attachment you go

deeper into your meditation

so it's a real important aspect of the

meditation

there are a lot of people that are

practicing a kind of meditation

that's called absorption concentration

and this also includes access or

neighborhood concentration

when this kind of concentration or

one-pointedness is developed the force

of the one-pointedness

stops the hindrances from arising

it suppresses the hindrances it pushes

them down

so the meditator doesn't have the

opportunity to see

how the hindrances arise

when they get out of their sitting

meditation

they can be attacked by the hindrances

and

not really

understand how it happened

see the thing with the way the buddha is

teaching us to meditate

is that we

recognize these kind of

hindrances when they arise

and we become familiar with

the process of the hindrances

we do that when we're sitting

but

as we all know hindrances arise any time

of the day or night

and when you start to see that process

and become more and more familiar with

it

you start letting go of the hindrances

in your daily life

and that's the advantage of the buddhist

meditation

over the absorption kinds of

concentration

so this is a very important aspect of

the buddhist teaching and in the sati

patana sutta when we're talking about

the

mindfulness of mind objects the first

thing that that suits it talks about

is the five entrances and how to handle

them

and it always comes back to

recognizing an unwholesome state

letting go of that unwholesome state and

relaxing bringing up a wholesome state

smiling

and staying with that wholesome state

and it's that way with every one of the

hindrances

so the hindrances are a very necessary

part of our practice because they are

teaching us

where our attachments are

and it's teaching us how the process

of their arising occurs

and this process

is definitely

an important aspect

of the teaching

it's called

the process of dependent origination

and this is where you get to see the

four noble truths in action

we'll go into that

at a later time

ah

and

should anyone say

that this is the utmost pleasure and joy

that beings experience i would not

concede that to him

why is that because there's another kind

of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than that

pleasure

and what is that other kind of pleasure

here ananda with the fading away as well

of joy

a person abides in equanimity

mindful

and fully aware

and still feeling happiness with the

body

he enters upon and abides in the third

jhana

on account of which noble ones announced

he has a pleasant abiding who has

equanimity and is

mindful this is that other kind of

pleasure loftier and more sublime than

that previous pleasure

so what happens now is

you'll be sitting and you have this

hindrance and you're working with the

hindrance and you're understanding it

much more easily and you're you're not

so involved with it but you're letting

it go and relaxing

and it fades away you still have that

sense of relief but you don't have the

joy arise anymore

you start to feel your mind has a very

strong sense of balance in it

and

your mindfulness

is very sharp you see

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another very easily

you have full awareness of what is

happening around you

you'll hear people talk but it doesn't

make your mind shake because you have

equanimity in it

you hear cars go by you hear doors slam

and it doesn't make your mind shake

you

have this balance of mind

and you still have feeling in the body

you feel if there's an ant walking on

you you would feel it but it doesn't

make your mind necessarily go to it

it doesn't matter

as you

begin to relax more and more

and you stay with your object of

meditation for longer periods of time

that happy feeling a comfortable feeling

becomes so comfortable in your mind

that you start losing all tension in

your mind when you lose tension in your

mind you lose tension in your body

when you lose tension in your body

there's parts of your body that you

won't feel

unless there is contact

now by that i mean you'll be sitting and

all of a sudden you say i don't have any

legs

i don't feel anything

but if i were to come up and touch you

you would feel that

there has to be contact

as you lose tension in your mind you

lose tension in your body when you lose

tension in your body what you're

actually doing

is

not having

the feeling in your body so strong

anymore

and

eventually you will so that you don't

have any feeling arising in your body

now this is

what happens in the third jhana you're

still practicing your loving kindness

but when you start losing feeling in

your body

that feeling of radiation in your heart

disappears too

now you start feeling the radiation

coming out of your head

you're still practicing your loving

kindness

why don't we stop and change

you

because we're working with the kind of

meditation that is a feeling kind of

meditation i thought we would

look at the suit called the many kinds

of feelings

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jetta's grove and up in bendiga's park

then the carpenter poncho congo went to

the venerable udayan and after paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

asked him

venerable sir how many kinds of feeling

have been stated by the blessed one

three kinds of feeling have been stated

by the blessed one householder

pleasant feeling painful feeling and

neither painful nor pleasant feeling

these three kinds of feeling have been

stated by the blessed one

not three kinds of feeling have been

stated by the blessed one venerable who

die and two kinds of feeling have been

stated by the blessed one

pleasant feeling and painful feeling

this neither painful nor pleasant

feeling has been stated by the blessed

one as a peaceful and sublime kind of

pleasure

a second time and a third time the

venerable udayan stated his position

and the second and the third time the

carpenter ponja conga stated his

but the venerable udayan could not

convince the carpenter panchakanga nor

could the carpenter panchakanga convince

the venerable udayan

the venerable ananda heard their

conversation

then he went to the blessed one after

paying homage to him he sat down at one

side and reported to the blessed one the

entire conversation

between the venerable udayan and the

carpenter panchakanga

when he had finished the blessed one

told the venerable ananda

ananda

it was actually a true presentation

that the carpenter pancha congo would

not accept from udayan

and it was actually a true presentation

that udayan would not accept from the

carpenter panda conga

i have stated two kinds of feeling in

one presentation

i have stated three kinds of feeling in

another presentation

i have stated five kinds of feeling in

another presentation five kinds of

feeling

physical

uh it's

let's do it this way in pali it's dukkha

sukkah dominosome

dukkha

is a painful physical feeling

sukha

is a pleasant physical feeling dominasa

is a painful mental feeling

somanasa is a pleasant mental feeling

upeka is equanimity

i have stated six kinds of feeling in

another presentation

the six kinds of feeling

are at each one of the scent stores

when the feeling arises at the eye at

the ear nose tongue body mind

i have stated

18 kinds of feeling in another

presentation

i have stated 36 kinds of feeling in

another presentation

i have stated 108 kinds of feeling in

another presentation i'm not going to go

into these

that is how the dhamma has been shown by

me in different presentations

when the dhamma has thus been shown by

me in different presentations it may be

expected of those who will not concede

allow and accept what is well stated and

well spoken by others

that they will take to quarreling and

brawling and disputing

stabbing each other with verbal daggers

but it may be expected of those who

concede allow and accept what is well

stated and well spoken by others

that they will live in concord with

mutual appreciation without disputing

blending like milk and water

viewing each other with kindly eyes

what we're talking about here

stabbing each other with verbal daggers

seems to be the way that a lot of people

discuss buddhism and what the buddha

taught

and everybody has their own

um philosophy

they have their own ideas of what they

think the buddha taught

one of the reasons that i spend so much

time

reading the suttas

is so that you get the the idea that

it's not my philosophy

it is not my ideas this is not my way of

doing anything this is what the buddhist

said

and this is as close as we can come

to the actual teaching of the buddha

the more we go back to the original

teaching

and start looking at

all of the instruction that the buddha

gave

we

will begin

to

have

a practice that is immediately effective

and it's easy

to see

that the buddha's path

is

a way of developing and changing your

personality so that it becomes softer

more open

more accepting kinder

the whole point of

the buddha and his teaching

was

to show people how to have an uplifted

mind not how to quarrel with each other

during the time of the buddha

he was teaching not only nobles

and kings and princes and all of these

rich families

but he was also teaching common

farmers now what he taught

had to be understood very easily

by the farmers

or else they would not have tried the

practice it had to be

easy to understand

and it had to work fairly quickly or

else they wouldn't trouble themselves

now i've read in some commentaries that

from the time the buddha started until

he died which was 45 years later

that

he affected

somewhere around 60 million people

with his teaching

it wasn't all just the buddha it was the

the

monks that went out and they were

teaching the buddha's path too

but they didn't teach the buddha's path

until they saw directly

what the buddha was teaching

and their confidence became so strong

that it was unshakable

right now

there's an awful lot of people that want

to be

teachers

but

they'll study for a little while they'll

do a few retreats and then else they'll

claim that they're a teacher

and the only true teacher that i know of

is the buddha

and when you go back to the original

teaching

then

everything starts to become more and

more clear this is one of the reasons

that i'm continually reading the south

because

the buddha

is the teacher

i'm not the teacher

i'm a guide

i can understand and i can see what's

happening with your practice

but we can always go back to the sutas

to see what the buddha said about that

so the buddha is the teacher

and

the closer we can stay

with the teachings in the suttas

the easier

and faster our progress becomes

the deeper your understanding will

become

because of

the buddha's teaching

you don't need to add anything

you don't need to subtract anything

all you need to do

is go to the original teaching and

follow the directions as closely as

possible

so

when the buddha was giving all of these

discourses he gave a lot of discourses

to monks

he gave a lot of discourses

to laymen

the monks he would generally spend a

little bit more time with and go into

more depth

because

that's the profession of being a monk

being a monk means that you have more

time to study you have more time to

practice you have more time to see for

yourself what the buddha was talking

about

it is

a real

good idea

that any time anyone is

using a commentary

to take that commentary and compare it

with what it says in the suttas

themselves

if the commentary does not agree with

what the sutas say

it's best not to use that commentary

very much it might have some great

points in it

but if by and large there are mistakes

when you compare it with the original

teaching

then it will only cause confusion

and cause more

misunderstanding about what the emphasis

of the practice is

so if you take the suit if you take the

commentaries and you put them on the

shelf where they belong

just as reference to c

and go to the original teachings

you might find that the kind of practice

that you've been using for

however many years

doesn't really agree so well

with

what the suit does for teaching

an example of this is

the

sativatana

suta and the directions

in the mindfulness of breathing in that

suta

and i'll read to you what the sati

patana sutta says

this is not my interpretation this is

what

the suit that says

it says

contemplation of body mindfulness of

breathing this is section number four in

suit the number 10 in the middle links

things and how monks does a monk abide

contemplating the body as a body

here a monk gone to the forest or to the

root of the tree or empty hut sits down

having folded his legs crosswise set his

body erect and establishes mindfulness

in front of him

ever mindful he breathes in mindful he

breathes out

breathing in long he understands i

breathe in long or breathing out long he

understands i breathe out long breathing

in short he understands i breathe in

short breathing out short he understands

i breathe out short

now this the first two sentences here

are talking about

understanding that you know what the

breath is doing

it's nothing to do with breath body

it has to do with the breath itself

you understand when you take a long

breath you understand when you take a

short breath

it does not say to focus only on the

breath it does not mention your nostril

your nostril tip your upper lip or your

abdomen

it just says you know when you take a

long breath then when you take a short

breath

now we get into the actual

instructions on the meditation

he trains thus these are key words

because this is how you train yourself

i shall breathe in experiencing the

whole body

he trains thus i shall breathe out

experiencing the whole body

this is not body of breath this is the

entire body

now

he trains thus i shall breathe in

tranquilizing the bodily formation

he trains thus i shall breathe out

tranquilizing the bodily formation

so it's saying that on the in-breath

you tranquilize the bodily formation on

the out breath you tranquilize the

bodily formation what does that mean

it means that there is if there is any

tension or tightness anywhere in your

body you relax it on the in-breath and

you relax it on the out breath

this step has been

forgotten

not used

with a lot of people that are practicing

meditation today

this step is a very very important part

of the meditation

there is a tightness that is very subtle

that occurs

in the head

around your brain

there's a membrane around your brain

that kind of holds your brain all

together

every time

there is any kind of distraction it

contracts

and with that contraction there's a

tension or tightness

that arises

on the in-breath you relax that tension

or tightness on the out breath you relax

that tension or tightness

when your mind becomes distracted

you notice that your mind is distracted

you

let that distraction be there by itself

and relax the tension or tightness

caused by mind's attention moving to

that distraction

the more

you

become familiar with how

that tension or tightness arises the

easier it is to see that

now what is this tension or tightness

that arises

this tension or tightness that arises is

craving

and

every time you let go of craving

you feel

your mind expand

and then become calm

every time you let go of craving

your mind is pure at that time

your awareness is very sharp

there are no thoughts

there's just this pure awareness

and you bring this pure awareness

back to your object of meditation

so every time you let go of tension and

tightness you are letting go of craving

which happens to be the second noble

truth the cause of suffering is craving

when you let go of that craving

that purity of mind at that moment

is

the cessation of suffering

and

you do this on the in-breath

and you do this on the out breath

there's a distraction you let the

distraction be you relax

bring that pure mind back to your object

of meditation

and relax some more

these kind of instructions

need to be followed very closely

now this is what i was reading from the

the sativatana suta

just as a skilled lathe operator or as

apprentice when making a long turn

understands i make a long turn or when

making a short turn understands i make a

short turn that means that he's not

thinking about

he's just doing he understands

so too breathing in long a monk

understands i breathe in lung

so

when we start following the directions

of

the buddha

with the mindfulness of breathing

we can also carry these same directions

over to

the practice of loving kindness

anytime there is a distraction

and your mind's attention moves from

the feeling of loving kindness and

making a wish for happiness

to

that distraction whatever it happens to

be

there is tension and tightness that

arises at that time

you allow the feeling to be there by

itself

and relax

bring that

clear pure mind back to the feeling of

loving kindness making a wish for

happiness

when you're practicing loving-kindness

meditation

you want to feel the wish that you are

making

may i be happy you know what it feels

like to be happy

take that happy feeling put it in the

center of

your heart and radiate that feeling

to yourself or to your spiritual friend

you know what it feels like to be

peaceful and calm

feel that peace and calm put that

feeling in your heart and surround

yourself with that feeling and radiate

that feeling

there are times when your mind can feel

kind of dull

or cloudy

so you make a wish

for a very clear mind

an observant mind

an accepting mind whatever wish you make

you want to feel that wish

bring it into your heart

and radiate that wish out

when you're

radiating loving-kindness to your

spiritual friend

you want to put your spiritual friend

right in the middle of your heart

make a wish for their happiness feel

that wish surround them with that

feeling and give them a great big heart

hug

and then radiate that feeling

so when we're talking about the many

different kinds of feeling and this

meditation is not an intellectual kind

of meditation this is a feeling

meditation

when you're doing this practice you want

to practice smiling

you want to smile with your mind smile

with your eyes even though your eyes are

closed

put a little smile on your lips and a

smile in your heart

anytime you see that you are not smiling

you

don't criticize yourself you don't come

down on yourself because you forgot all

you do is start over again

this is a practice of play it again

so the more

you can

notice when you're

staying with your meditation and smiling

the easier the practice becomes

and the more fun you start to have with

this practice

i know it's kind of an unusual thing to

talk about meditation and fun in the

same breath

because

we've had this idea brought to this

country that meditation is serious stuff

and we better be serious right along

with it

but actually

it's more fun to have fun

it's more fun

to radiate a happy feeling and it's much

easier to radiate that happy feeling

when you're having fun doing it

so

getting back to the suit

and this

one of the things that i've noticed over

the years of since coming back from asia

is

that not only are there a lot of people

that

are super serious

and they have a tendency to

argue about what the buddha taught

but

they

tend to

take the practice of sitting meditation

as the only real form of meditation

meditation is a practice of watching how

mind's attention moves from one thing to

another

it's an all-the-time practice it's not

just while you're sitting

while you're doing your sitting

meditation that's your close examination

time of how mind's attention moves

from one thing to another

but when you get up from your meditation

that doesn't mean that you let go of

your meditation you stop watching what

your mind does and just act like you

normally act

meditation is

mental development all of the time

and the closer you can stay

with your smile

and practice of giving your smile away

with uplifted thoughts

the easier life becomes all the way

around

you start having more and more balance

in your life

and that's what the buddha was teaching

us

how to have equanimity

with whatever arises

not getting caught in the emotional

roller coasters

now an interesting thing about this

particular suta

is that

the buddha starts describing all

different kinds of feelings

and we start first at sensual pleasures

he he calls these kind of

low and uh

not very

profitable

and then he goes through all of the

different genres

now ghanas are

not states of concentration

jhana is a pali word

and it means a level

of

understanding

and the understanding comes

from your being able to observe

how mind's

distractions pull our attention away

from our object of meditation

i'll get more into that in a little bit

ananda there are these five chords of

sensual pleasure what are the five forms

cognizable by the eye that are wished

for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire and

provocative of lust

sounds cognizable by the ear that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with central desire and

provocative of lust

odors cognizable by the nose that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire and

provocative of lust

flavors cognizable by the tongue that

are wished for desired agreeable and

likable connected with sensual desire

and provocative of lust

tangibles cognizable by the body that

are wished for desired agreeable and

likable connected with central desire

and provocative of lust

these are the five cords of sensual

pleasure

now the pleasure and joy that arise

dependent on these five chords of

sensual pleasure are called sensual

pleasure

i'm glad he made that clear

should anyone say that this is the

utmost pleasure and joy

that beings experience

i would not concede that to him

why is that

because there is another kind of

pleasure loftier and more sublime than

that pleasure

and what is that other kind of pleasure

here ananda quite secluded from sensual

pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states

a monk enters upon and abides in the

first jhana which is accompanied by

thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of seclusion

this is that other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the

previous pleasure

now what happens when you're practicing

meditation

is that there are these five things that

are called hindrances

that arise and they

uh

when they arise they take your full

attention away from your meditation

when you first start meditating you can

have your mind

become

uh

distracted for

fairly long periods of time two or three

or five minutes before you actually

notice that your mind is distracted

but as soon as you notice if you

let

that distraction be there by itself what

that means is you don't continue

watching it you don't continue thinking

about it you don't continue trying to

control it you just let it be there by

itself

take your attention away from that

what you do then is relax the tension

and tightness caused by mind's attention

moving

over to that distraction

now

you

smile

and redirect your attention back to your

object of meditation which is the loving

kindness the feeling of radiation in

your heart

making a wish for your

your friend's happiness

and smiling into that

that is how you

purify your mind

this is part of the eightfold path that

the part that's called right effort

by most people i call it harmonious

practice

right effort is

noticing that your mind is on an

unwholesome object

letting go of that unwholesome object

and relaxing

bringing up a wholesome object smiling

and directing your mind to a wholesome

object

a loving kindness

and

keeping that wholesome object going

this is

the part of the meditation

that is purifying your mind so that you

will be able to experience these deeper

states of getting into genres

the way you get into a jhana is

by noticing that these hindrances

have

something in common

they are all

where your false belief

in itself

arises

a hindrance when it arises we have a

tendency to take it personally

and hold on to it and try to control

the feeling

with our thoughts

now we're made up of of the

psychophysical processes made up of five

different things

you have a physical body

you have feeling pleasant

unpleasant neutral

you have perception perception is the

part of the mind that names things

you see these and your mind says these

are glasses

that was a part of your mind

that

recognized this

it also has to do with memory

now you have thoughts and then you have

consciousness so these five things make

up the psychophysical process

what our mistake always is

is when

a feeling arises let's say it's a

painful feeling

what we immediately try to do is think

the feeling

and control the feeling with the

thoughts

but that doesn't work

what happens is when you try to control

the feeling with the feeling with the

thoughts

the feeling starts to get bigger and

more intense

and then you try to control even more

now this is how

depression arises this is how anxiety

arises this is how all of our negative

emotional states arise

the feeling arises

and then we try to control the feeling

with our thoughts

but it doesn't work we know that for a

fact

so what we what we need to do is

first let go

of

the thoughts

let the thoughts be

don't keep your attention on all of

those thoughts

stories

concepts ideas

let the thought be

and relax

now you'll see that the feeling

is there it's a painful feeling and you

have this tight mental fist wrapped

around the feeling

the tight mental fist is aversion

you don't want that feeling to be there

you don't like that feeling you want it

to be different than it is

but the truth is

when a feeling arises it is there

what you do with what arises in the

present moment dictates what happens in

the future

if you're fighting with what arises in

the present moment

you can look forward to a lot of

suffering

not only

now

but in the future

or

if you see the feeling as it really is

it's a painful feeling yes so what so

it's painful

by your allowing that feeling to be

there

and not trying to control the feeling

with the thoughts

that feeling

loses its emergency it loses

the

want to change it right here right now

and it takes a lot of the suffering out

of

the

want to control

you let go of them go on to control you

allow the feeling to be there now you

relax the tension and tightness caused

by that craving like that

i don't like it mind

now you bring this pure mind back to

your objective meditation

now what happens is that

hindrance

is not going to go away right away

it's going to continue

arising because of our attachment to it

what is the attachment the belief that

this is me this is mine this is who i am

every time you see the hindrance arise

your attention gets drawn to it

the test of the meditator

is to

learn

how

to see

how

mind's attention moved from

being very peaceful and calm on your

object to meditation over to that

hindrance

how did that happen

it didn't all of a sudden just jump

there

it happened

in a

very orderly way actually

it happened

as a part of a process

the tutor

and it always happens in the same way

now your job as a meditator

is to begin to recognize how that works

so as you take more interest in how this

process works

as you become more familiar

with

bouncing back and forth between your

your hindrance

and your object of meditation you start

to recognize little things that happen

before your mind got pulled away

from that

object

that from that hindrance

so you start recognizing it more quickly

you start letting it go a little bit

more quickly

and eventually you start noticing what

happened right before then and what

happened right before then

as you begin to let go of your

hindrances

whatever hindrance it is that arises

it becomes weaker and weaker

as you don't identify with it anymore

as you purify your mind

until finally that hindrance becomes so

weak

that

it just won't arise anymore when that

happens

you will feel a very strong sense of

relief

right after that relief you feel

very strong joy

and this joy is

an

uplifting joy is what it's called you

feel very light in your mind and you

feel very light in your body

when this feeling arises

what do you do when it first happens you

grab on to it and say this is great

stuff i love it i want it to stay

the harder you hold on to it the faster

it disappears

so what is your job your job as a

meditator is to notice that this is a

different kind of feeling

now it's a pleasant feeling

so now you

let that feeling be

and you come back to your object to

meditation

that feeling will eventually change and

it will fade away when it does

you feel very very strong tranquility

very peaceful very calm

and you feel more comfort in your mind

and your body

both than you had before

your mind stays on your object of

meditation very nicely very easily

without any effort

you can still have distracting thoughts

arise

but you'll see them after one thought

let it be relaxed come back without any

effort at all

what i have just described to you is

what the the suta has just described and

that is the first job

that is what you can learn to expect

to have happen

this happens

because

you're beginning to understand how the

process of mind's attention

is moving from one thing to another

you're starting to see it more clearly

and every time you let go of the tension

and tightness caused by that

mind's

mind's attention moving

you are letting go of cravings

so

should uh

see

that is the other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the plevy

previous pleasure

should anyone say that is the utmost

pleasure and joy

that

experience i would not concede that to

him

why is that

because there's another kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than that

pleasure

and what is that other kind of pleasure

here ananda

with the stilling of thinking and

examining thought

a monk enters and abides

in the second geno which has

self-confidence

and stillness of mind

without thinking and examining thought

with joy and happiness born of composure

or collectedness

this is that other kind of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than the

previous pleasure

so as

you

are in the first genre

you have all of this joy and then you

experience the happiness and peace of

mind

eventually your mindfulness is going to

slip it's going to get weak

and when it does you have another

hindrance arise

now you get to work with this hindrance

and as you start to teach yourself more

and more how mind's attention moves

you start letting go of that hindrance

more easily

you start

letting go of your attachment

to those thoughts and feelings that you

used to hold as yours

and

as you do that

you start seeing this process

happening again and you start

recognizing it you start letting go a

little bit more easily

until

that hindrance

fades away again

and when that hindrance fades away

another sense of relief and the joy you

experience is much stronger

the uplifting feeling is

much lighter you feel like you're almost

floating in the air when this happens

because you're starting to understand

more and more clearly how the process of

the meditation works you start to gain a

lot of confidence

and with that confidence

you begin to lose your doubt

that this is the right path

with that confidence you start to feel

more and more sure

that this really is the right way to do

it

now when you get into the second genre

before you were making your verbalizing

a wish

for

your spiritual friend's happiness

but now what you what happens is you try

to make a wish

and you start to feel tension and

tightness arising in your head

so at this point you have to let go of

verbalizing the wish

now you just bring that feeling

of peace

or

tranquility or clarity or happiness and

put that in your heart without

verbalizing

this is called in buddhist terms

true noble silence

because you don't need to verbalize

anymore that doesn't mean that you won't

have verbalization

you still can have some but these are

observation thoughts

my mind has got a lot of joy in it right

now

thoughts of observing your observation

or thoughts are thoughts about what is

happening in the present moment

it's not what you would like to see

happen in the future it's not about what

happened in the past it's only

a single thought and it's an observation

thought of this is what i'm experiencing

right now

that's that's okay for those kind of

thoughts

after your period of joy

then that will fade away and the

tranquility is much stronger

you feel more and more comfort in your

mind and in your body

you feel very composed and collected

your mind stays on your object of

meditation very easily

so eventually what happens is your

mindfulness again will begin to slip a

little bit because it's not very strong

at this point

and when it does you have another

hindrance arise now you can start to

begin to get a feel of the importance

of

having hindrances arise

because this is where your attachment is

and when you let go of the hindrance

you let go of the attachment you go

deeper into your meditation

so it's a real important aspect of the

meditation

there are a lot of people that are

practicing a kind of meditation

that's called absorption concentration

and this also includes access or

neighborhood concentration

when this kind of concentration or

one-pointedness is developed the force

of the one-pointedness

stops the hindrances from arising

it suppresses the hindrances it pushes

them down

so the meditator doesn't have the

opportunity to see

how the hindrances arise

when they get out of their sitting

meditation

they can be attacked by the hindrances

and

not really

understand how it happened

see the thing with the way the buddha is

teaching us to meditate

is that we

recognize these kind of

hindrances when they arise

and we become familiar with

the process of the hindrances

we do that when we're sitting

but

as we all know hindrances arise any time

of the day or night

and when you start to see that process

and become more and more familiar with

it

you start letting go of the hindrances

in your daily life

and that's the advantage of the buddhist

meditation

over the absorption kinds of

concentration

so this is a very important aspect of

the buddhist teaching and in the sati

patana sutta when we're talking about

the

mindfulness of mind objects the first

thing that that suits it talks about

is the five entrances and how to handle

them

and it always comes back to

recognizing an unwholesome state

letting go of that unwholesome state and

relaxing bringing up a wholesome state

smiling

and staying with that wholesome state

and it's that way with every one of the

hindrances

so the hindrances are a very necessary

part of our practice because they are

teaching us

where our attachments are

and it's teaching us how the process

of their arising occurs

and this process

is definitely

an important aspect

of the teaching

it's called

the process of dependent origination

and this is where you get to see the

four noble truths in action

we'll go into that

at a later time

ah

and

should anyone say

that this is the utmost pleasure and joy

that beings experience i would not

concede that to him

why is that because there's another kind

of pleasure

loftier and more sublime than that

pleasure

and what is that other kind of pleasure

here ananda with the fading away as well

of joy

a person abides in equanimity

mindful

and fully aware

and still feeling happiness with the

body

he enters upon and abides in the third

jhana

on account of which noble ones announced

he has a pleasant abiding who has

equanimity and is

mindful this is that other kind of

pleasure loftier and more sublime than

that previous pleasure

so what happens now is

you'll be sitting and you have this

hindrance and you're working with the

hindrance and you're understanding it

much more easily and you're you're not

so involved with it but you're letting

it go and relaxing

and it fades away you still have that

sense of relief but you don't have the

joy arise anymore

you start to feel your mind has a very

strong sense of balance in it

and

your mindfulness

is very sharp you see

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another very easily

you have full awareness of what is

happening around you

you'll hear people talk but it doesn't

make your mind shake because you have

equanimity in it

you hear cars go by you hear doors slam

and it doesn't make your mind shake

you

have this balance of mind

and you still have feeling in the body

you feel if there's an ant walking on

you you would feel it but it doesn't

make your mind necessarily go to it

it doesn't matter

as you

begin to relax more and more

and you stay with your object of

meditation for longer periods of time

that happy feeling a comfortable feeling

becomes so comfortable in your mind

that you start losing all tension in

your mind when you lose tension in your

mind you lose tension in your body

when you lose tension in your body

there's parts of your body that you

won't feel

unless there is contact

now by that i mean you'll be sitting and

all of a sudden you say i don't have any

legs

i don't feel anything

but if i were to come up and touch you

you would feel that

there has to be contact

as you lose tension in your mind you

lose tension in your body when you lose

tension in your body what you're

actually doing

is

not having

the feeling in your body so strong

anymore

and

eventually you will so that you don't

have any feeling arising in your body

now this is

what happens in the third jhana you're

still practicing your loving kindness

but when you start losing feeling in

your body

that feeling of radiation in your heart

disappears too

now you start feeling the radiation

coming out of your head

you're still practicing your loving

kindness

why don't we stop and change

you