From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=J2yhy2oV2Ps

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

good evening welcome to damasuke

meditation center this evening auntie

vimala ramsay will teach the suta the

majima nakaya number 53

the disciple in higher training

and tonight

it is

january the 19th

2011

at damasuke center

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in the sakian

country of capilovactu

in the grota's park

now on that occasion a new assembly hall

had recently been built for the sakians

of capilovatu

and it had not yet been inhabited by any

recluse or brahman or human being at all

then the sakians of kapilavatu went to

the blessed one after paying homage to

him sat down at one side and said to him

venerable sir

a new assembly hall has been built here

for the sakins of capital of atu

and it has not yet been inhabited by any

recluse brahman or human being at all

venerable sir let the blessed one be the

first to use it

when the blessed one has used it first

then the sakions of capital evolved to

will

use it afterwards

that will lead to their welfare and

happiness for a long time

the blessed one consented in silence

then

when they saw that he had consented they

got up from their seats

after paying homage to him keeping them

on the right

they went to the assembly hall

they covered

they covered it completely with

coverings and prepared seats

and they put out a large jug of water

and hung up an oil lamp

oil lamps are the only kind of lamps

they had at that time

and they don't throw off very much light

but it's not completely dark

the sri lankans

before a

special occasion

will

uh

they will

make a big deal out of lighting the oil

lamp

what it is is it's a set of they're kind

of like five plates

and they have a little holder for a wick

and you it sticks out over that but it

sticks in the water and then they lie it

sticks in the oil and they light it and

then that way it'll stay lit for the

whole time

then they went to the blessed one after

paying homage to him stood at one side

and said venerable sir the assembly hall

has been covered completely with

coverings

seats have been prepared a large

water drug has been put out

in an oil lamp hung up

let the blessed one come at his own

convenience

then the blessed one dressed taking his

ball and outer rope

went to the sangha of monks to the

assembly with the assange sangha of

monks to the assembly hall

he arrived he washed his feet then he

entered the hall

sat

at the center

pillar

facing the east

he always sat facing the east

because

there's uh when you face the east you

have a lot more energy

when you

go to sleep you want to sleep with your

head to the north if you can and that

way you'll sleep

because the energy is much less towards

the north

and the monks washed their feet and

entered the hall and sat down

by the western wall facing the east so

they sat on the western wall looking at

the buddha

and the sakians of cape villa vatu

washed their feet and entered the hall

and sat down by the eastern wall facing

the west

with the blessed one before them

so they were sitting at his back

basically

then when the blessed one had instructed

urged roused and gladdened the sakians

of capulevatu with the talk on the

dhamma

for much of the night he said to

venerable ananda

ananda speak to the sakians of

capilavatu

about the

discipline

in higher training

that means

who has entered upon the way

my back is uncomfortable i will rest it

so he laid down basically

now the what this

suit says is that this was towards the

end of his life

and his back would start bothering him

yes venerable sir the venerable ananda

replied then the blessed one prepared

his patchwork cloak

folded in four lay down on the right

side

in the lion's pose

the thing that they don't they don't

really show you is he didn't lay with

his head like that

there was a pillow there

and he put his head on the pillow and he

kept his hand up because if you lay down

on your right side what are you going to

do with your right arm

so you just put it up like that

and this is how

monks are taught to sleep you always

sleep on your right side

if you sleep on the left side

the lungs push against the heart

and so you don't sleep very well

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware not noted

this is a formula

of every time he laid down

now

what this formula says is after noting

in his mind the time for rising

in other words

they're suggesting that he went to sleep

but in the sute he's listening to the

whole sute he's not sleeping

so this part of the formula is wrong

being here

then the venerable ananda addressed maha

nama the sake

noble disciple is possessed of virtue

guards the doors of his sense faculties

is moderate and eating

developed in wakefulness

he possesses seven good qualities

he is one who attains at will without

trouble or difficulty the four genres

that constitute the higher

mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now

and how is a noble disciple possessed of

virtue

hear a noble disciple of virtuous he

dwells restraint with the restraint

he dwells restrained with the restraint

of the potty mocha that's the you have

five or eight precepts to keep i have

227

he is perfect in conduct and resort and

seeing fear in the slightest fault he

trains by undertaking the training

precepts

that is how a noble disciple is

possessed a virtue

and how does a noble disciple guard the

doors of his sense faculties

on seeing a form with the eye a noble

disciple does not grasp at its signs and

features

sense

and you could almost you could change

that word grasp to

clean

or crave and clean

because if you crave and cling

at one of the sense doors then you start

thinking about it

and the more you think the further away

you get from

being here in the present moment

and you forget what you're doing

does that sound like

it's really

since if he left the eye faculty

unguarded evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

covetousness i like it i want it grief i

don't like it i don't want it

he practices the way of its restraint he

guards the eye faculty he undertakes the

restraint of the eye

faculty on hearing a sound with the ear

a noble disciple does not grasp at its

signs and features sense of he left the

year faculty unguarded

evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might might

invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the air faculty undertakes the

restraint of the air faculty

that doesn't mean that you try to shut

off

seeing or hearing it means that

you watch what your mind is doing

a period of time doing the meditation

you'll be able to stop and you'll see

something and you can be completely with

it for a period of time

and then okay let that go now your mind

is still in the present moment

and you you observe things without

thinking about them

and

you actually get to see it

in all of its different

different aspects of it

because you're not disturbed by

the thoughts

after doing a few

uh long retreats

i was in kuala lumpur and somebody took

me to the museum and it was quite

interesting the stuff i was looking at

so i would stand there and i would look

at it

and okay

now i've seen it so i'd start moving

away and it would make people jump

because they thought i was a mannequin

because it wasn't moving at all

so with your daily activities you don't

rock you don't

shake you don't

you

just

sit and do

on hearing a sound with the ear

a noble disciple does not grasp at its

signs and features

since if he left the

the

which one was i don't hear no smell

it says if he left

the nose faculty

unguarded evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might in need and

invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the nose faculty undertakes

the restraint of the nose faculty

on tasting a flavor with the tongue

a noble disciple does not grasp edit

signs and features since if he left the

tongue faculty unguarded

evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

he practices the way of its

restraint he guards the tongue faculty

he undertakes the restraint of the

tongue faculty

on touching a tangible with the body

a noble disciple does not grasp at its

signs and features

since if he left the body faculty and

guarded evil unwholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the body faculty he undertakes

the restraint of the body faculty

on

cognizing a mind object with mind a

noble disciple does not grasp it at

signs and features

that's the hard one in it

it's easy to get caught up in thoughts

and

not even know where you are for a long

time

since if he left the mind faculty

unguarded evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the mind faculty he undertakes

the restraint of the mind faculty

that is how a noble disciple guards the

doors of his sense faculties

and how is a noble disciple moderate in

eating

here reflecting wisely and noble

disciple takes food

neither for amusement nor for

intoxication nor for the sake of

physical beauty

and attractiveness

but only for the endurance and

continuance of the body

for ending discomfort and assisting the

holy life considering i shall terminate

old feelings

without arousing new feelings and i

shall be healthy and blameless

and shall live in comfort

eating is a rather

important thing to do

but when the buddha was eating he only

ate until half of his stomach was full

he drank fluids

a quarter of his stomach he left the

rest for

air when he would chew his food it said

he never

swallowed anything that wasn't chewed

in other words you chew your food until

it turns to liquid

when you do that your body stays very

healthy

it's pretty amazing

amazing that he knew that back then no

it's amazing that it works like that

if you have full confidence

in the buddha's teaching

and you believe that he was

fully awakened

your digestion is good

when you're eating

and you eat and chew the way that i was

just describing

your digestion is good

so all of these things

play into

the fact that you have a healthy body

now you don't eat in the evening

actually

most people that eat in the evening are

eating out of habit

when i was in australia

i got there and it was cold not quite as

cold as this

but

i left on june 21st longest day of the

year i went to australia shortest day

and it was cold

and

i was staying in a

trailer and it was not winterized

and it was cold

i was eating only one meal a day and i

never caught a cold

but it got to be the end of the range

retreat it started getting warm

and i started coming out and chit

chatting with monks while they were

eating and then i was taking a little

bit here and there and before long i was

eating a meal

immediately i caught a cold

i stopped eating only ate one meal a day

cold went away

so the whole thing with with eating a

lot of people they make up their mind

that they have to eat

certain times of the day

and actually you don't

oh you always need to have a good

breakfast

well what time is breakfast

for me it's 11 o'clock

it's breakfast and lunch at the same

time

i don't get sick very often

she's been with me for 11 years and the

times that she's seen me sick and sick

you can put on one hand

that's true

and when i when i start to feel sick i

don't eat

i will not eat anything at all all i do

is is take vitamins

and rest

there were people that were getting this

particular kind of cold and it was

lasting for three weeks to a month

i got it it lasted three days

but that's what your body is basically

telling telling you you have to rest

and

don't eat just take vitamins and

you can get up once in a while and

not do a lot of activity but you'll

start to feel tired and go lay back down

no problem

that means when taking rest that means

not reading a book

not listening to music

not turning on the television

it means rest

while you're awake

who needs a loving kindness most at that

time

okay

and how is a noble disciple devoted to

wakefulness

here during the day while walking back

and forth and sitting a noble disciple

purifies his mind of obstructive states

in the middle watch of the night

that's from

7 to 11 o'clock

while walking back and forth and sitting

he purifies his mind of obstructive

states

in the middle watch of the night he lies

down

on the right side in the lion's pose

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware

after noting his

in his mind the time for rising

after rising in the third watch of the

night three o'clock to seven

the middle watch is 11 2

3.

while walking back and forth and sitting

he purifies his mind of obstructive

states

that is how a noble disciple is devoted

to wakefulness

and how does a noble disciple possess

good seven good qualities

here a noble disciple has faith

he places his faith in the tatagata's

awakening thus

the blessed one is accomplished fully

awakened perfect and true knowledge and

conduct

sublime knower of worlds incomparable

leader of persons to be tamed

teacher of gods and humans awakened and

blessed

he has shame

he is ashamed of misconduct in body

speech and mind ashamed of engaging in

evil and wholesome deeds

he has fear of wrongdoing he is afraid

of misconduct in body speech and mind

afraid of engage engaging in unwholesome

speech

and deeds

he has learned much

remembers what he has learned and

consolidates what he has learned

such teachings as are good in the middle

good in the beginning good in the middle

and good in the end

with the right meaning and

phrasing and affirm a holy life that is

utterly perfect and pure

such teaching as these he has learned

much of

remembered recited verbally

investigated with the mind and

penetrated well by view

so this is

what you're starting to train to do

right now

what are unwholesome

things

what are unwholesome things to be afraid

of

taking anything personally

anytime i am that

i am suffering

and i am causing my own suffering

so it's a pretty amazing thing when you

when you get that insight that you're

causing your own problems

there's nothing out there that causes

your suffering

there's only

causing it to yourself

i don't like this i want that

see

i'm laughing because i'm doing it right

now

well don't do that

he is energetic in abandoning

unwholesome states

and then undertaking wholesome states

what does that mean

he talked to me about it earlier

in the kitchen

see what is

what is right effort

recognizing

when an unwholesome states arise

letting that wholesome state go

and

relaxing

bringing up a wholesome state

smiling

coming back to your object to meditation

staying with your objective meditation

staying with the wholesome

that's right effort

we'd just like to throw in a couple of

extra steps

he is steadfast firm in striving not

remiss in developing wholesome states

he has mindfulness he possesses the

highest mindfulness and skill

he recalls and recollects

what was done long ago and spoken long

ago

one of the things that's real

interesting when you do a retreat is

your short-term memory

starts to go out the window

because everything is the same

you know you can get a sense of balance

in your mind and it doesn't matter what

it is there's nothing

to hang your hat on

but major events go into your long long

term memories you will remember a lot of

things too

he is wise

what does that mean

he realizes the impersonal nature

of

conditioned states

of

dependent origination

dependent of rising

he possesses wisdom

regarding rise and disappearance that is

noble penetrative and leads to

the complete destruction of suffering

which verse is that please

17 17

that is how a noble disciple possesses

seven good qualities

so

when you're doing your practice and you

see that your mind has gone away

you practice the six hours

but the question you always ask is how

did these things arise

how

not why we don't care about why

how

did your mind

be on your object of meditation and all

of a sudden you're jumping over here

thinking this or that

it happened in a particular way

how did it happen

a feeling a rose that feeling is either

pleasant

painful either painful or pleasant

right after that arose

the i like it i don't like it mine arose

and there's tension and tightness this

is crazy

right after that arises then your story

your thoughts your opinions your

concepts your ideas

about why you like or dislike that

feeling

right after that you have your habitual

emotional tendencies arise

now you're trying to

control

the feeling

with your

thoughts but feelings are one thing and

thoughts are something else

they're not the same

they don't have the same domain

you have five aggregates you have body

perception

thoughts

consciousness

so when a feeling arises

and you either like it or dislike it and

you get caught up in your thinking about

and your emotional attachment to it

you are driving yourself

to

sorrow

lamentation

pain pain

grief and despair

you're causing yourself suffering

so

how do you let go of that suffering

that's right

not

using the six r's as some kind of a

stick to stop things from happening

six r's are for allowing only

just allow it to be there but don't keep

your attention

that is how a noble disciple possesses

seven good qualities

and how is a noble disciple one who has

attained at will without trouble or

difficulty

the four genres that constitute the

higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now

here quite secluded from sensual

pleasures

how do you become secluded from sensual

pleasures

regarding your senses by not

craving

or clinging

which one

both

you got one you got the other pretty

much they they come real close together

and that's close

but no cedar

secluded from unwholesome states what

are unwholesome states

anything that distracts your mind away

from the

object of meditation

now the buddha talked about the five

the five hindrances

they're all distractions

it doesn't matter what you call it

anything that pulls your mind away

what do you do with that

sorry

now you're getting the idea

and eventually

that hindrance

will become weaker and weaker and then

it fades away

when it fades away you will feel our

sense of relief

right after that you will feel joy

the kind of joy is talking to you about

down below

this kind of joy

is a very happy feeling

it has excitement in it you feel very

light in your mind and your body

when that fades away you feel very

strong tranquility

and you feel really comfortable in your

mind and body

you can stay on your object to

meditation pretty well for a period of

time before your mind gets distracted

what i just described to you is the

first jump

now i call the jonas

a level of understanding

not a level of concentration because

we're not practicing concentration

meditation

we're practicing

tranquil

wisdom

insight

meditation

now the thing with

the way that i'm teaching as opposed to

a lot of other teachers

is other teachers will try to make any

hindrance your enemy to fight with

push down and stop from happening

but what i teach you to do is observe

how it arose

okay now your mind is on your object to

meditation and a hindrance comes up

pulls your mind away

so you six are that

and then come back to your object to

meditation

and it does it again

now when you become familiar with

being on your object to meditation and

then getting pulled away

you'll see right before you really got

distracted there was something else

there

so the next time

you start six houring right then and you

don't get distracted for as long a

period of time

that just comes or do you need to apply

energy to

try to see how it does you start

observing and seeing how your mind's

attention moves and you will start

observing that there is something right

before you get

distracted

it takes strong interest

and a sense of play

okay

now when you start noticing that then

you'll start noticing that you stay on

your object to meditation for longer

and the distraction you know they don't

last for as long

so the hindrance is actually helping you

to strengthen your mindfulness your

observation of how things work

so it's not something to fight with

that is your teacher

and you are teaching yourself

okay

how strong is your attachment to

whatever that is

you'll get a chance to see yeah

surprisingly

strong sometimes surprisingly strong

yeah

but every time you six art and you come

back to your object to meditation

lightly

not holding on to that

you will

improve your mindfulness

just a little bit

just a tiny bit

over a period of time your mindfulness

starts

to get stronger

i had to sneeze and they just pushed it

back

that means it's gonna it's gonna be

coming strong here

anyway

the more

the hindrance comes

the more distracted you are

the stronger your mindfulness will

become when you remember to six are it

and it will stay around as long as that

attachment of i am that

is there

that's what all attachment is

i like it i want it i don't like it i

don't want it it's attachment

i

so the more you can

actually

have the hindrance come up

and six are that hindrance

you're teaching yourself

not only

how this process works you're starting

to see

some of the steps of dependent

origination

and you'll be able to recognize them for

yourself and we'll be going over

dependent origination before too long

but i already did

when i was talking about the feeling and

the craving and the clinging and the

your action and all of the pain and

other other stuff

i was talking about dependent

origination

that's how it works

but you have to realize how it works for

yourself so you have to be a very

observant to do it

what's the best way to

improve your mindfulness

being playfully interested in using the

six hours and

smiling that's why i like that

if you smile all day

long

that's good

i went through that i can't remember

that

that means you haven't been practicing

for a long time

you got to develop your muscles

so you continue smiling continue smiling

and you'll see

that you'll be able to notice when

you're not smiling and how the reason

you're not smiling is because there's

some kind of attachment there

so i want you to smile all the time you

already told me today

his face is starting to hurt

well that's bad i've just just been

trying to stick around

people mention that first i don't want

to complain about it

i've had people

have to attend a retreat they came with

a beautiful smile on their face and they

say it stuck

what am i gonna say good

i'll keep it that way

with the stilling of thinking and

examining thought

i don't want to do that

he enters upon and abides in the sec

second journal

which has self-confidence and stillness

of mind without thinking and examining

thought

with joy and happiness born of

collectedness

when you get into the second drama

verbalizing the wish for your spiritual

friend

when you do that you start noticing

tension and tightness in your head

so you let go of the verbalizing

you just bring up the feeling of the

wish

and radiate that wish to your friend

now when you get into the second jhana

what happened was

your mindfulness got weak when you were

in the first genre and then one of your

old friends and teachers came along

and the hindrance started arising again

now you have to work with that one

and as you do that

and as you finally

let it go

you start to get a lot of confidence

that yeah

i know i'm understanding this this is

good stuff

the joy you experience

is stronger

you feel so light in your mind and so

light in your body it almost feels like

you're floating

when that joy fades away

tranquility is there

and you feel more even more comfortable

in your body

feels very nice

you'll be able to stay on your object to

meditation for a longer period of time

five minutes six minutes eight minutes

like that

um

i feel like i experienced some of these

things

at that possible retreats

maybe it did maybe it didn't

doesn't really matter anymore does it no

not at all because you were doing a

different kind of practice if you would

have had the relaxed step in it

that would be the same as this but

without their relaxed step

you were experiencing

what we call absorption

concentration

with the fading away of joy

you abide in equanimity mindful and

fully aware still feeling

happiness with the body

you enter upon and abide in the third

jhana on account of which noble ones

announce

he has a pleasant abiding who has

equanimity and is

mindful when you get into the third

genre joy doesn't arise anymore

it's very easy to stay with your

your uh spiritual friend

you feel super comfortable

and you start to feel this very strong

balance of mind

now you're still fully aware of things

around you you would hear a fire if it

was crackling

you would hear a vehicle if it goes by

somebody comes into the room and they

say something you would hear it but it

doesn't make your mind shake it's just

there

now when you get into the third genre

and you start to go a little bit deeper

as you lose tension in your mind you

will lose feeling in your body

so you be sitting and all of a sudden

you don't feel your hands or you don't

feel your your feet or your legs or your

shoulders or whatever

don't be upset by that don't be

even wondering what it is it's just

okay fine that's the way it is stay with

your object and meditation

you'll be able to sit a little bit

longer now that's maybe 10 minutes or 12

minutes or 15 minutes without

having a distraction arise

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and the previous disappearance of joy

and grief

he entered upon and abides in the fourth

jhana which has neither pain nor

pleasure and purity of mindfulness due

to equanimity

when you get to this state what happens

with the loving kindness is you don't

even feel that here anymore

that feeling will come up into your head

by itself

you will have very

strong

equanimity

your mind is just very nicely balanced

nothing nothing is exciting anymore

when you get to the fourth jhana

that's when i'll come along and tell you

that you have become an advanced

meditator

up until then you still had your rookie

status

and there's all kinds of other neat

things that are going to happen for you

that i'm not going to tell you about

but

once you get to the fourth jhana

i will change your meditation so you

won't be staying with the same spiritual

friend anymore and i'll give you other

things to do

that is how a noble disciple is one who

attains at will without any trouble or

difficulty the four genres that

constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding hearing

now

when a noble disciple has thus

become one who is possessed of virtue

who guards the doors of his sense

faculties

who is moderate in needing

who is devoted to wakefulness

who possesses seven good qualities

who obtains that will without

trouble or difficulty the four genres

that constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding hearing

now he is called one in higher training

who has entered the way

his eggs are unspoiled

he's capable of breaking out capable of

awakening

capable of attaining the supreme

security from bondage

one of the things i tell people quite

often when when i'm teaching is

i'm putting a crack in their egg

okay you're you're all fro you're in

there

it's time to come out

and i put a crack in it

now you've got to get out

that's what happens when you come for a

retreat

i put a crack in your eggs

would you say the six hours is what's

doing the cracking

of course but i'm teaching you how to do

it

suppose there were a hen with 8 or 10 or

twelve eggs

which she has covered incubated and

nurtured properly

even though she did not wish

oh that my chicks might

pierce their shells

with the points of their claws and beaks

and hatch out safely

yet the chicks are capable of piercing

their shells

with the points of their claws beaks and

hatch out safely

so too when a noble disciple has thus

become one

who is possessed of virtue

he is called one in higher training

who has entered the way his eggs are

unspoiled he is capable of breaking out

capable of awakening

capable of attaining the supreme

security from bondage

based upon that

excuse me

okay

based upon that same security is supreme

mindfulness

whose purity is due to equanimity

with the divine eye which

is purified and surpasses the human

this noble disciple sees beings arising

and passing away

wait a minute

it's gotta be dead

when his collected mind is thus purified

bright unblemished rid of imperfections

malleable wieldy steady and attained to

imperturb ability

he directs it to the knowledge of the

recollection of past lives

he recollects his manifold past lives

that is one birth two three four five

ten twenty thirty forty fifty

a hundred a thousand a hundred 000

births

many eons of world contraction many eons

of world expansion

many eons of world contraction and

expansion

there i was so named of such a clan with

such an appearance

such was my food

such my experience of pleasure and pain

such my life term passing away from

there reappeared elsewhere

and thereto i was so named of such a

clan with such an appearance such

such was my food

such my experience of pleasure and pain

such my life term

passing away from there i reappeared

here

thus with their aspects and particulars

he recollects his manifold past

lifetimes

do you remember being an animal ever

yeah

and you remember who you were close to

and who you weren't you know you can

remember

some of the people in this lifetime that

you had other lifetimes with

that sort of thing happens

and it's not anything particularly

mysterious or mystical

it's just

remembering what you did in the past

you're just developing your memory

what did you do last week

past lifetime well all you do is keep

going further and further back until you

just pop into another lifetime

but you don't do that without getting to

the fourth journal

because we've all done things that are

not so nice

and remembering those things or pain

that we had because of

what somebody else did to us in a past

lifetime they can come up so you need to

have your equinementee

this

is his first breaking out

like that of the hint hands chicks from

their shell

based upon the same supreme mindfulness

whose purity is due to equanimity

with the divine eye which is purified

and surpasses the human

the noble disciples sees beings passing

away and reappearing

when his collected mind is thus purified

bright unblemished rid of imperfections

malleable wieldy steady and attained to

imperturb ability

he directs it to the knowledge of the

passing away and reappearance of beings

with the divine eye which is purified

and surpasses the human

he sees beings passing away and

reappearing inferior and

superior

fair and ugly fortunate and unfortunate

he understands how beings pass on

according to their

actions

karma

those worthy beings who were

ill-conducted in body speech and mind

revilers of noble ones wrong in their

views

giving effect to wrong view in their

actions

on the dissolution of their body after

death have reappeared in a state of

deprivation

in a bad destination even in hell

but these beings who

who were well conducted in body speech

and mind

not revilers of noble ones right in

their views

giving effect to right view in their

actions

on the desolution of the body after

death

every appeared in a good destination

even in the heavenly worlds

thus with the divine eye which is

purified and surpasses the human

he sees beings passing away and

reappearing

inferior and superior ugly and fair

fortunate and unfortunate he understands

how beings pass on according to their

actions

so when you get to this state your

divine eye is actually fairly strong and

you're able to see

other realms

hell realms heavenly realms hungry ghost

realms

all kinds of different stuff

which leads me to my favorite story

i can't help it

this guy guy died and he went to

up to saint peter

this is not buddhist particularly but he

went to saint peter and saint peter says

well you've lived a pretty good life i'm

going to give your choice of where you

want to go

let's go visit these different realms

and you can see

so he goes to this one realm and he sees

a couple people sitting around drinking

coffee laughing

having a good time

and then he takes him down to this real

one room

where

it really smells bad

and this room is filled with excrement

right up to the lower lid

and there's all these heads popping up

and they're whispering something to each

other

no

so

saying peter says which one do you want

do you want to go up to the heavenly

realm and sit around drink coffee and

have fun and listen to music and do

whatever

or you want to go down where these these

guys are

hanging out in all of this excrement

and this guy's curiosity is just really

strong and he starts thinking i wonder

what they're thinking

what are they saying

so finally he said the same peter i want

to go in the room

saying peter just gotta okay that's what

you want

so he goes in the room

and he gets close to somebody so he can

hear what they're saying to each other

and the guy sees him there and he says

don't

make

waves

so we had a lifetime of that

many times

based on that same supreme

uh mindfulness whose purity is

due to equinemnity

by realizing for himself with direct

knowledge

this noble disciple here and now enters

upon and abides in the deliverance of

mind and deliverance by wisdom

that is taintless with the destruction

of the taints

what did that just say

he saw

exactly all of the links of dependent

origination and how they arose

and how they ceased

and when he finally let go of the last

formation

there's no more conditions

so he goes enters in the conditionless

state

this is his third breaking out

like that of the

hens

chicks from their shells

when a noble disciple is possessed of

virtue

that pertains to his conduct

when a noble disciple guards the sense

faculties that pertains to his conduct

when one is moderately meeting that

pertains to his conduct

when he is devoted to wakefulness that

pertains to his conduct

when he possesses seven good qualities

that pertains to his conduct

when he is one who attains that will

without trouble or difficulty the four

genres that constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now that pertains to his conduct

when he recollects his manifold past

lifetimes with their different aspects

and particulars

that pertains to his true knowledge

so we can add everything up to that

is having to do with conduct

but when you start remembering past

lifetimes

you start realizing that karma is a real

thing

is it normal to kind of be afraid of

that

like not wanting

to know how responsible for my actions i

am

is that weird

you know this little voice i don't know

well

it's like myself

you know like not wanting to die off you

know it's like holding on

but

the advantage is that you get to see

exactly how karma works

and you get to see it not only for

yourself but you get to see it in other

beings too

in the other realm so that you

you know

that

all of the actions that you'd had in the

past and these other people had in the

past

the reason that they keep being reborn

is because

of taking all of those actions

personally

and when you realize that you're

purifying your mind

and letting go of that subtle i like it

i don't like it

there's a change in your perspective

and you start seeing that it's not such

a big deal

whether you've remembered your past

lifetimes or not

you have confidence that this is the way

it works

when with the divine eye he

sees beings passing away and reappearing

and understands

how these beings pass on and reappear

according to their actions

that pertains to his true knowledge

what this particular suit is doing is

there's there's three ways to attain

nibana

first you get to the fourth jhana

you go through all of the

arrow pajamas

and then you hit you have the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and when you come out you see the

lengths of dependent origination and you

attain the ibana that's one way

another way and this is this is for

it's it's said

this is for people that are that have

high intelligence

there are some people that are very

sensitive to feelings

they get to the fourth genre

and the

psychic abilities

start naturally

coming up by themselves

and

eventually you go through the the

being able to read minds and

fly in the air and dive in the earth and

stuff like that

but eventually you get to a place where

there is the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness when you come

back you will

know that to see the links of dependent

origination after that you attain nibana

now for those

who have a very strong mixture of both

being able to recognize feelings and

intelligence

that's what this is talking about these

are called the three true knowledges

and pali

you experience a fourth jhana you

remember past lifetimes you see

the disappearance and a rising of beings

and in different realms

eventually you go to you experience the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

you see the lengths of dependent

origination

you experience nevada

now this is really

key to understand

everything in the buddha's path

is about

learning

how dependent origination works

everything that the buddha taught

was

how to understand what your experience

actually is

so it's not a guess

and i've been to a whole bunch of

retreats

and sometimes you go up and ask a

teacher and they'll try to bluff their

way through it and tell you uh you don't

need to know that right now

well i don't go along with that i've

been told that

no one reaches nobody in this lifetime

i'm here to tell you that's not true

okay

i hear you

so you can take that for whatever it's

worth but

it's not true

the the reason that a lot of people

don't attain nibana is because they're

not following the directions that the

buddha gives in the suit

and that

letting go of craving is major

the relaxing continual relaxing of your

mind and body is really major

so

when you practice this way you will be

able to experience

nirvana when

whenever the conditions are right

but it can certainly be in this lifetime

i

i promise you that

when by realizing for himself with

direct knowledge he here and now enters

upon and abides in the deliverance of

mind and deliverance by wisdom see

seeing the dependent origination

that the taintless

says let's start that again here and now

enters upon and abides in the

deliverance of mine and deliverance by

wisdom that are taintless

with the destruction of the taints

that pertains to his true knowledge

so that's the third knowledge

this noble disciple is thus said to be

perfect and true

knowledge perfect in conduct perfect and

true knowledge and conduct

and this stanza was uttered by the

brahman

the noble clan is held to be the highest

of people in this as to lineage

but best of god's inhuman is one

perfect and true knowledge and conduct

now that stanza was well sung by the

brahmana son

kumara

ill sung

it was well spoken not ill-spoken

it has a meaning and is not meaningless

and it was approved by the blessed one

the blessed one rose and addressed the

venerable ananda thus

good and on the good

it is good that you have spoken to the

sakians of capilovatu

about the discipline and higher training

who has entered upon the way

that is what venerable ananda said the

teacher approved

the sakians of kapilavatu were satisfied

and delighted in the venerable anandas

so it's simple

not easy but simple

the more complicated somebody tries to

make the practice the more they don't

understand what the practice actually is

the instructions are absolutely simple

six are everything

stay with your object of meditation as

long as you can

smile

make it a game

don't be serious with this

just like when you were studying and you

really liked what you were studying and

you were having fun with it

that's the way you want you want to look

at this

all the time

see the whole idea of bringing up a

wholesome object and keeping a wholesome

object going is because

a wholesome object sees things as

impersonal

and there is no suffering when things

are impersonal

it's that simple

so it's very important

to

continue

having fun with what you're doing i mean

last night i was talking about

was it last night night before last

i was talking about

well

how do you

do this practice and the buddha said

first you gotta start with faith and all

the rest and then he says you gotta be

enthusiastic you gotta have fun

why because your mind is uplifted when

you have fun you have joy in your mind

when you're having fun

when you have joy in your mind it's real

easy to see when your mind doesn't have

it in it

so that improves your mindfulness

so the more you smile the more you

laugh with how crazy this thing can be

the easier it becomes

the faster your progress becomes

so we got any questions

okay the in higher training is somebody

who reaches forth john

no any of the genres oh any okay because

it

there there's

a disciple

you know

it's not it's not clear at all right in

that section where you where it says

and this is how the disciple reaches the

it's it just is never well what was the

whole text about

well it's a

well it's about

tv job

it was about the disciples

well but that that's just a progressive

thing

right well i was thinking well

because you get to the first genre

because you already covered the lower

jaws right but then the text says

so this is how

you

proceed okay

and how

and how is a noble disciple one who

attains at will without trouble or

difficulty the four genus that

constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now here quite secluded from sensual

pleasures so we're talking about the

first john and two

we're talking about all of the dramas

but it was there was

after you went through

yeah about the divine eye but then right

before that right before the divine eye

it seemed to indicate that

the progression

will

but okay

because there's three paths

number 39 asapura

it talks about being able to experience

nibana

once you've gotten any of the jobs so

the disciple in higher training is

somebody who's made that step to at

least the first job yes

without any trouble or difficulty

getting into it

so it can't be a beginner just

experience accident

it has to pretty much happen

as soon as you sit okay

and that can happen when you're walking

too

absolutely

happen while you're washing the dishes

it can happen when you're washing your

feet

are you gonna happen when you're going

in the toilet

you always look bad

well because it's in here it is

this is

why you're taking a shower it doesn't

matter

what are you doing with your mind

all the time all the time

you

good evening welcome to damasuke

meditation center this evening auntie

vimala ramsay will teach the suta the

majima nakaya number 53

the disciple in higher training

and tonight

it is

january the 19th

2011

at damasuke center

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in the sakian

country of capilovactu

in the grota's park

now on that occasion a new assembly hall

had recently been built for the sakians

of capilovatu

and it had not yet been inhabited by any

recluse or brahman or human being at all

then the sakians of kapilavatu went to

the blessed one after paying homage to

him sat down at one side and said to him

venerable sir

a new assembly hall has been built here

for the sakins of capital of atu

and it has not yet been inhabited by any

recluse brahman or human being at all

venerable sir let the blessed one be the

first to use it

when the blessed one has used it first

then the sakions of capital evolved to

will

use it afterwards

that will lead to their welfare and

happiness for a long time

the blessed one consented in silence

then

when they saw that he had consented they

got up from their seats

after paying homage to him keeping them

on the right

they went to the assembly hall

they covered

they covered it completely with

coverings and prepared seats

and they put out a large jug of water

and hung up an oil lamp

oil lamps are the only kind of lamps

they had at that time

and they don't throw off very much light

but it's not completely dark

the sri lankans

before a

special occasion

will

uh

they will

make a big deal out of lighting the oil

lamp

what it is is it's a set of they're kind

of like five plates

and they have a little holder for a wick

and you it sticks out over that but it

sticks in the water and then they lie it

sticks in the oil and they light it and

then that way it'll stay lit for the

whole time

then they went to the blessed one after

paying homage to him stood at one side

and said venerable sir the assembly hall

has been covered completely with

coverings

seats have been prepared a large

water drug has been put out

in an oil lamp hung up

let the blessed one come at his own

convenience

then the blessed one dressed taking his

ball and outer rope

went to the sangha of monks to the

assembly with the assange sangha of

monks to the assembly hall

he arrived he washed his feet then he

entered the hall

sat

at the center

pillar

facing the east

he always sat facing the east

because

there's uh when you face the east you

have a lot more energy

when you

go to sleep you want to sleep with your

head to the north if you can and that

way you'll sleep

because the energy is much less towards

the north

and the monks washed their feet and

entered the hall and sat down

by the western wall facing the east so

they sat on the western wall looking at

the buddha

and the sakians of cape villa vatu

washed their feet and entered the hall

and sat down by the eastern wall facing

the west

with the blessed one before them

so they were sitting at his back

basically

then when the blessed one had instructed

urged roused and gladdened the sakians

of capulevatu with the talk on the

dhamma

for much of the night he said to

venerable ananda

ananda speak to the sakians of

capilavatu

about the

discipline

in higher training

that means

who has entered upon the way

my back is uncomfortable i will rest it

so he laid down basically

now the what this

suit says is that this was towards the

end of his life

and his back would start bothering him

yes venerable sir the venerable ananda

replied then the blessed one prepared

his patchwork cloak

folded in four lay down on the right

side

in the lion's pose

the thing that they don't they don't

really show you is he didn't lay with

his head like that

there was a pillow there

and he put his head on the pillow and he

kept his hand up because if you lay down

on your right side what are you going to

do with your right arm

so you just put it up like that

and this is how

monks are taught to sleep you always

sleep on your right side

if you sleep on the left side

the lungs push against the heart

and so you don't sleep very well

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware not noted

this is a formula

of every time he laid down

now

what this formula says is after noting

in his mind the time for rising

in other words

they're suggesting that he went to sleep

but in the sute he's listening to the

whole sute he's not sleeping

so this part of the formula is wrong

being here

then the venerable ananda addressed maha

nama the sake

noble disciple is possessed of virtue

guards the doors of his sense faculties

is moderate and eating

developed in wakefulness

he possesses seven good qualities

he is one who attains at will without

trouble or difficulty the four genres

that constitute the higher

mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now

and how is a noble disciple possessed of

virtue

hear a noble disciple of virtuous he

dwells restraint with the restraint

he dwells restrained with the restraint

of the potty mocha that's the you have

five or eight precepts to keep i have

227

he is perfect in conduct and resort and

seeing fear in the slightest fault he

trains by undertaking the training

precepts

that is how a noble disciple is

possessed a virtue

and how does a noble disciple guard the

doors of his sense faculties

on seeing a form with the eye a noble

disciple does not grasp at its signs and

features

sense

and you could almost you could change

that word grasp to

clean

or crave and clean

because if you crave and cling

at one of the sense doors then you start

thinking about it

and the more you think the further away

you get from

being here in the present moment

and you forget what you're doing

does that sound like

it's really

since if he left the eye faculty

unguarded evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

covetousness i like it i want it grief i

don't like it i don't want it

he practices the way of its restraint he

guards the eye faculty he undertakes the

restraint of the eye

faculty on hearing a sound with the ear

a noble disciple does not grasp at its

signs and features sense of he left the

year faculty unguarded

evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might might

invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the air faculty undertakes the

restraint of the air faculty

that doesn't mean that you try to shut

off

seeing or hearing it means that

you watch what your mind is doing

a period of time doing the meditation

you'll be able to stop and you'll see

something and you can be completely with

it for a period of time

and then okay let that go now your mind

is still in the present moment

and you you observe things without

thinking about them

and

you actually get to see it

in all of its different

different aspects of it

because you're not disturbed by

the thoughts

after doing a few

uh long retreats

i was in kuala lumpur and somebody took

me to the museum and it was quite

interesting the stuff i was looking at

so i would stand there and i would look

at it

and okay

now i've seen it so i'd start moving

away and it would make people jump

because they thought i was a mannequin

because it wasn't moving at all

so with your daily activities you don't

rock you don't

shake you don't

you

just

sit and do

on hearing a sound with the ear

a noble disciple does not grasp at its

signs and features

since if he left the

the

which one was i don't hear no smell

it says if he left

the nose faculty

unguarded evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might in need and

invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the nose faculty undertakes

the restraint of the nose faculty

on tasting a flavor with the tongue

a noble disciple does not grasp edit

signs and features since if he left the

tongue faculty unguarded

evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

he practices the way of its

restraint he guards the tongue faculty

he undertakes the restraint of the

tongue faculty

on touching a tangible with the body

a noble disciple does not grasp at its

signs and features

since if he left the body faculty and

guarded evil unwholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the body faculty he undertakes

the restraint of the body faculty

on

cognizing a mind object with mind a

noble disciple does not grasp it at

signs and features

that's the hard one in it

it's easy to get caught up in thoughts

and

not even know where you are for a long

time

since if he left the mind faculty

unguarded evil and wholesome states of

covetousness and grief might invade him

he practices the way of its restraint

he guards the mind faculty he undertakes

the restraint of the mind faculty

that is how a noble disciple guards the

doors of his sense faculties

and how is a noble disciple moderate in

eating

here reflecting wisely and noble

disciple takes food

neither for amusement nor for

intoxication nor for the sake of

physical beauty

and attractiveness

but only for the endurance and

continuance of the body

for ending discomfort and assisting the

holy life considering i shall terminate

old feelings

without arousing new feelings and i

shall be healthy and blameless

and shall live in comfort

eating is a rather

important thing to do

but when the buddha was eating he only

ate until half of his stomach was full

he drank fluids

a quarter of his stomach he left the

rest for

air when he would chew his food it said

he never

swallowed anything that wasn't chewed

in other words you chew your food until

it turns to liquid

when you do that your body stays very

healthy

it's pretty amazing

amazing that he knew that back then no

it's amazing that it works like that

if you have full confidence

in the buddha's teaching

and you believe that he was

fully awakened

your digestion is good

when you're eating

and you eat and chew the way that i was

just describing

your digestion is good

so all of these things

play into

the fact that you have a healthy body

now you don't eat in the evening

actually

most people that eat in the evening are

eating out of habit

when i was in australia

i got there and it was cold not quite as

cold as this

but

i left on june 21st longest day of the

year i went to australia shortest day

and it was cold

and

i was staying in a

trailer and it was not winterized

and it was cold

i was eating only one meal a day and i

never caught a cold

but it got to be the end of the range

retreat it started getting warm

and i started coming out and chit

chatting with monks while they were

eating and then i was taking a little

bit here and there and before long i was

eating a meal

immediately i caught a cold

i stopped eating only ate one meal a day

cold went away

so the whole thing with with eating a

lot of people they make up their mind

that they have to eat

certain times of the day

and actually you don't

oh you always need to have a good

breakfast

well what time is breakfast

for me it's 11 o'clock

it's breakfast and lunch at the same

time

i don't get sick very often

she's been with me for 11 years and the

times that she's seen me sick and sick

you can put on one hand

that's true

and when i when i start to feel sick i

don't eat

i will not eat anything at all all i do

is is take vitamins

and rest

there were people that were getting this

particular kind of cold and it was

lasting for three weeks to a month

i got it it lasted three days

but that's what your body is basically

telling telling you you have to rest

and

don't eat just take vitamins and

you can get up once in a while and

not do a lot of activity but you'll

start to feel tired and go lay back down

no problem

that means when taking rest that means

not reading a book

not listening to music

not turning on the television

it means rest

while you're awake

who needs a loving kindness most at that

time

okay

and how is a noble disciple devoted to

wakefulness

here during the day while walking back

and forth and sitting a noble disciple

purifies his mind of obstructive states

in the middle watch of the night

that's from

7 to 11 o'clock

while walking back and forth and sitting

he purifies his mind of obstructive

states

in the middle watch of the night he lies

down

on the right side in the lion's pose

with one foot overlapping the other

mindful and fully aware

after noting his

in his mind the time for rising

after rising in the third watch of the

night three o'clock to seven

the middle watch is 11 2

3.

while walking back and forth and sitting

he purifies his mind of obstructive

states

that is how a noble disciple is devoted

to wakefulness

and how does a noble disciple possess

good seven good qualities

here a noble disciple has faith

he places his faith in the tatagata's

awakening thus

the blessed one is accomplished fully

awakened perfect and true knowledge and

conduct

sublime knower of worlds incomparable

leader of persons to be tamed

teacher of gods and humans awakened and

blessed

he has shame

he is ashamed of misconduct in body

speech and mind ashamed of engaging in

evil and wholesome deeds

he has fear of wrongdoing he is afraid

of misconduct in body speech and mind

afraid of engage engaging in unwholesome

speech

and deeds

he has learned much

remembers what he has learned and

consolidates what he has learned

such teachings as are good in the middle

good in the beginning good in the middle

and good in the end

with the right meaning and

phrasing and affirm a holy life that is

utterly perfect and pure

such teaching as these he has learned

much of

remembered recited verbally

investigated with the mind and

penetrated well by view

so this is

what you're starting to train to do

right now

what are unwholesome

things

what are unwholesome things to be afraid

of

taking anything personally

anytime i am that

i am suffering

and i am causing my own suffering

so it's a pretty amazing thing when you

when you get that insight that you're

causing your own problems

there's nothing out there that causes

your suffering

there's only

causing it to yourself

i don't like this i want that

see

i'm laughing because i'm doing it right

now

well don't do that

he is energetic in abandoning

unwholesome states

and then undertaking wholesome states

what does that mean

he talked to me about it earlier

in the kitchen

see what is

what is right effort

recognizing

when an unwholesome states arise

letting that wholesome state go

and

relaxing

bringing up a wholesome state

smiling

coming back to your object to meditation

staying with your objective meditation

staying with the wholesome

that's right effort

we'd just like to throw in a couple of

extra steps

he is steadfast firm in striving not

remiss in developing wholesome states

he has mindfulness he possesses the

highest mindfulness and skill

he recalls and recollects

what was done long ago and spoken long

ago

one of the things that's real

interesting when you do a retreat is

your short-term memory

starts to go out the window

because everything is the same

you know you can get a sense of balance

in your mind and it doesn't matter what

it is there's nothing

to hang your hat on

but major events go into your long long

term memories you will remember a lot of

things too

he is wise

what does that mean

he realizes the impersonal nature

of

conditioned states

of

dependent origination

dependent of rising

he possesses wisdom

regarding rise and disappearance that is

noble penetrative and leads to

the complete destruction of suffering

which verse is that please

17 17

that is how a noble disciple possesses

seven good qualities

so

when you're doing your practice and you

see that your mind has gone away

you practice the six hours

but the question you always ask is how

did these things arise

how

not why we don't care about why

how

did your mind

be on your object of meditation and all

of a sudden you're jumping over here

thinking this or that

it happened in a particular way

how did it happen

a feeling a rose that feeling is either

pleasant

painful either painful or pleasant

right after that arose

the i like it i don't like it mine arose

and there's tension and tightness this

is crazy

right after that arises then your story

your thoughts your opinions your

concepts your ideas

about why you like or dislike that

feeling

right after that you have your habitual

emotional tendencies arise

now you're trying to

control

the feeling

with your

thoughts but feelings are one thing and

thoughts are something else

they're not the same

they don't have the same domain

you have five aggregates you have body

perception

thoughts

consciousness

so when a feeling arises

and you either like it or dislike it and

you get caught up in your thinking about

and your emotional attachment to it

you are driving yourself

to

sorrow

lamentation

pain pain

grief and despair

you're causing yourself suffering

so

how do you let go of that suffering

that's right

not

using the six r's as some kind of a

stick to stop things from happening

six r's are for allowing only

just allow it to be there but don't keep

your attention

that is how a noble disciple possesses

seven good qualities

and how is a noble disciple one who has

attained at will without trouble or

difficulty

the four genres that constitute the

higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now

here quite secluded from sensual

pleasures

how do you become secluded from sensual

pleasures

regarding your senses by not

craving

or clinging

which one

both

you got one you got the other pretty

much they they come real close together

and that's close

but no cedar

secluded from unwholesome states what

are unwholesome states

anything that distracts your mind away

from the

object of meditation

now the buddha talked about the five

the five hindrances

they're all distractions

it doesn't matter what you call it

anything that pulls your mind away

what do you do with that

sorry

now you're getting the idea

and eventually

that hindrance

will become weaker and weaker and then

it fades away

when it fades away you will feel our

sense of relief

right after that you will feel joy

the kind of joy is talking to you about

down below

this kind of joy

is a very happy feeling

it has excitement in it you feel very

light in your mind and your body

when that fades away you feel very

strong tranquility

and you feel really comfortable in your

mind and body

you can stay on your object to

meditation pretty well for a period of

time before your mind gets distracted

what i just described to you is the

first jump

now i call the jonas

a level of understanding

not a level of concentration because

we're not practicing concentration

meditation

we're practicing

tranquil

wisdom

insight

meditation

now the thing with

the way that i'm teaching as opposed to

a lot of other teachers

is other teachers will try to make any

hindrance your enemy to fight with

push down and stop from happening

but what i teach you to do is observe

how it arose

okay now your mind is on your object to

meditation and a hindrance comes up

pulls your mind away

so you six are that

and then come back to your object to

meditation

and it does it again

now when you become familiar with

being on your object to meditation and

then getting pulled away

you'll see right before you really got

distracted there was something else

there

so the next time

you start six houring right then and you

don't get distracted for as long a

period of time

that just comes or do you need to apply

energy to

try to see how it does you start

observing and seeing how your mind's

attention moves and you will start

observing that there is something right

before you get

distracted

it takes strong interest

and a sense of play

okay

now when you start noticing that then

you'll start noticing that you stay on

your object to meditation for longer

and the distraction you know they don't

last for as long

so the hindrance is actually helping you

to strengthen your mindfulness your

observation of how things work

so it's not something to fight with

that is your teacher

and you are teaching yourself

okay

how strong is your attachment to

whatever that is

you'll get a chance to see yeah

surprisingly

strong sometimes surprisingly strong

yeah

but every time you six art and you come

back to your object to meditation

lightly

not holding on to that

you will

improve your mindfulness

just a little bit

just a tiny bit

over a period of time your mindfulness

starts

to get stronger

i had to sneeze and they just pushed it

back

that means it's gonna it's gonna be

coming strong here

anyway

the more

the hindrance comes

the more distracted you are

the stronger your mindfulness will

become when you remember to six are it

and it will stay around as long as that

attachment of i am that

is there

that's what all attachment is

i like it i want it i don't like it i

don't want it it's attachment

i

so the more you can

actually

have the hindrance come up

and six are that hindrance

you're teaching yourself

not only

how this process works you're starting

to see

some of the steps of dependent

origination

and you'll be able to recognize them for

yourself and we'll be going over

dependent origination before too long

but i already did

when i was talking about the feeling and

the craving and the clinging and the

your action and all of the pain and

other other stuff

i was talking about dependent

origination

that's how it works

but you have to realize how it works for

yourself so you have to be a very

observant to do it

what's the best way to

improve your mindfulness

being playfully interested in using the

six hours and

smiling that's why i like that

if you smile all day

long

that's good

i went through that i can't remember

that

that means you haven't been practicing

for a long time

you got to develop your muscles

so you continue smiling continue smiling

and you'll see

that you'll be able to notice when

you're not smiling and how the reason

you're not smiling is because there's

some kind of attachment there

so i want you to smile all the time you

already told me today

his face is starting to hurt

well that's bad i've just just been

trying to stick around

people mention that first i don't want

to complain about it

i've had people

have to attend a retreat they came with

a beautiful smile on their face and they

say it stuck

what am i gonna say good

i'll keep it that way

with the stilling of thinking and

examining thought

i don't want to do that

he enters upon and abides in the sec

second journal

which has self-confidence and stillness

of mind without thinking and examining

thought

with joy and happiness born of

collectedness

when you get into the second drama

verbalizing the wish for your spiritual

friend

when you do that you start noticing

tension and tightness in your head

so you let go of the verbalizing

you just bring up the feeling of the

wish

and radiate that wish to your friend

now when you get into the second jhana

what happened was

your mindfulness got weak when you were

in the first genre and then one of your

old friends and teachers came along

and the hindrance started arising again

now you have to work with that one

and as you do that

and as you finally

let it go

you start to get a lot of confidence

that yeah

i know i'm understanding this this is

good stuff

the joy you experience

is stronger

you feel so light in your mind and so

light in your body it almost feels like

you're floating

when that joy fades away

tranquility is there

and you feel more even more comfortable

in your body

feels very nice

you'll be able to stay on your object to

meditation for a longer period of time

five minutes six minutes eight minutes

like that

um

i feel like i experienced some of these

things

at that possible retreats

maybe it did maybe it didn't

doesn't really matter anymore does it no

not at all because you were doing a

different kind of practice if you would

have had the relaxed step in it

that would be the same as this but

without their relaxed step

you were experiencing

what we call absorption

concentration

with the fading away of joy

you abide in equanimity mindful and

fully aware still feeling

happiness with the body

you enter upon and abide in the third

jhana on account of which noble ones

announce

he has a pleasant abiding who has

equanimity and is

mindful when you get into the third

genre joy doesn't arise anymore

it's very easy to stay with your

your uh spiritual friend

you feel super comfortable

and you start to feel this very strong

balance of mind

now you're still fully aware of things

around you you would hear a fire if it

was crackling

you would hear a vehicle if it goes by

somebody comes into the room and they

say something you would hear it but it

doesn't make your mind shake it's just

there

now when you get into the third genre

and you start to go a little bit deeper

as you lose tension in your mind you

will lose feeling in your body

so you be sitting and all of a sudden

you don't feel your hands or you don't

feel your your feet or your legs or your

shoulders or whatever

don't be upset by that don't be

even wondering what it is it's just

okay fine that's the way it is stay with

your object and meditation

you'll be able to sit a little bit

longer now that's maybe 10 minutes or 12

minutes or 15 minutes without

having a distraction arise

with the abandoning of pleasure and pain

and the previous disappearance of joy

and grief

he entered upon and abides in the fourth

jhana which has neither pain nor

pleasure and purity of mindfulness due

to equanimity

when you get to this state what happens

with the loving kindness is you don't

even feel that here anymore

that feeling will come up into your head

by itself

you will have very

strong

equanimity

your mind is just very nicely balanced

nothing nothing is exciting anymore

when you get to the fourth jhana

that's when i'll come along and tell you

that you have become an advanced

meditator

up until then you still had your rookie

status

and there's all kinds of other neat

things that are going to happen for you

that i'm not going to tell you about

but

once you get to the fourth jhana

i will change your meditation so you

won't be staying with the same spiritual

friend anymore and i'll give you other

things to do

that is how a noble disciple is one who

attains at will without any trouble or

difficulty the four genres that

constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding hearing

now

when a noble disciple has thus

become one who is possessed of virtue

who guards the doors of his sense

faculties

who is moderate in needing

who is devoted to wakefulness

who possesses seven good qualities

who obtains that will without

trouble or difficulty the four genres

that constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding hearing

now he is called one in higher training

who has entered the way

his eggs are unspoiled

he's capable of breaking out capable of

awakening

capable of attaining the supreme

security from bondage

one of the things i tell people quite

often when when i'm teaching is

i'm putting a crack in their egg

okay you're you're all fro you're in

there

it's time to come out

and i put a crack in it

now you've got to get out

that's what happens when you come for a

retreat

i put a crack in your eggs

would you say the six hours is what's

doing the cracking

of course but i'm teaching you how to do

it

suppose there were a hen with 8 or 10 or

twelve eggs

which she has covered incubated and

nurtured properly

even though she did not wish

oh that my chicks might

pierce their shells

with the points of their claws and beaks

and hatch out safely

yet the chicks are capable of piercing

their shells

with the points of their claws beaks and

hatch out safely

so too when a noble disciple has thus

become one

who is possessed of virtue

he is called one in higher training

who has entered the way his eggs are

unspoiled he is capable of breaking out

capable of awakening

capable of attaining the supreme

security from bondage

based upon that

excuse me

okay

based upon that same security is supreme

mindfulness

whose purity is due to equanimity

with the divine eye which

is purified and surpasses the human

this noble disciple sees beings arising

and passing away

wait a minute

it's gotta be dead

when his collected mind is thus purified

bright unblemished rid of imperfections

malleable wieldy steady and attained to

imperturb ability

he directs it to the knowledge of the

recollection of past lives

he recollects his manifold past lives

that is one birth two three four five

ten twenty thirty forty fifty

a hundred a thousand a hundred 000

births

many eons of world contraction many eons

of world expansion

many eons of world contraction and

expansion

there i was so named of such a clan with

such an appearance

such was my food

such my experience of pleasure and pain

such my life term passing away from

there reappeared elsewhere

and thereto i was so named of such a

clan with such an appearance such

such was my food

such my experience of pleasure and pain

such my life term

passing away from there i reappeared

here

thus with their aspects and particulars

he recollects his manifold past

lifetimes

do you remember being an animal ever

yeah

and you remember who you were close to

and who you weren't you know you can

remember

some of the people in this lifetime that

you had other lifetimes with

that sort of thing happens

and it's not anything particularly

mysterious or mystical

it's just

remembering what you did in the past

you're just developing your memory

what did you do last week

past lifetime well all you do is keep

going further and further back until you

just pop into another lifetime

but you don't do that without getting to

the fourth journal

because we've all done things that are

not so nice

and remembering those things or pain

that we had because of

what somebody else did to us in a past

lifetime they can come up so you need to

have your equinementee

this

is his first breaking out

like that of the hint hands chicks from

their shell

based upon the same supreme mindfulness

whose purity is due to equanimity

with the divine eye which is purified

and surpasses the human

the noble disciples sees beings passing

away and reappearing

when his collected mind is thus purified

bright unblemished rid of imperfections

malleable wieldy steady and attained to

imperturb ability

he directs it to the knowledge of the

passing away and reappearance of beings

with the divine eye which is purified

and surpasses the human

he sees beings passing away and

reappearing inferior and

superior

fair and ugly fortunate and unfortunate

he understands how beings pass on

according to their

actions

karma

those worthy beings who were

ill-conducted in body speech and mind

revilers of noble ones wrong in their

views

giving effect to wrong view in their

actions

on the dissolution of their body after

death have reappeared in a state of

deprivation

in a bad destination even in hell

but these beings who

who were well conducted in body speech

and mind

not revilers of noble ones right in

their views

giving effect to right view in their

actions

on the desolution of the body after

death

every appeared in a good destination

even in the heavenly worlds

thus with the divine eye which is

purified and surpasses the human

he sees beings passing away and

reappearing

inferior and superior ugly and fair

fortunate and unfortunate he understands

how beings pass on according to their

actions

so when you get to this state your

divine eye is actually fairly strong and

you're able to see

other realms

hell realms heavenly realms hungry ghost

realms

all kinds of different stuff

which leads me to my favorite story

i can't help it

this guy guy died and he went to

up to saint peter

this is not buddhist particularly but he

went to saint peter and saint peter says

well you've lived a pretty good life i'm

going to give your choice of where you

want to go

let's go visit these different realms

and you can see

so he goes to this one realm and he sees

a couple people sitting around drinking

coffee laughing

having a good time

and then he takes him down to this real

one room

where

it really smells bad

and this room is filled with excrement

right up to the lower lid

and there's all these heads popping up

and they're whispering something to each

other

no

so

saying peter says which one do you want

do you want to go up to the heavenly

realm and sit around drink coffee and

have fun and listen to music and do

whatever

or you want to go down where these these

guys are

hanging out in all of this excrement

and this guy's curiosity is just really

strong and he starts thinking i wonder

what they're thinking

what are they saying

so finally he said the same peter i want

to go in the room

saying peter just gotta okay that's what

you want

so he goes in the room

and he gets close to somebody so he can

hear what they're saying to each other

and the guy sees him there and he says

don't

make

waves

so we had a lifetime of that

many times

based on that same supreme

uh mindfulness whose purity is

due to equinemnity

by realizing for himself with direct

knowledge

this noble disciple here and now enters

upon and abides in the deliverance of

mind and deliverance by wisdom

that is taintless with the destruction

of the taints

what did that just say

he saw

exactly all of the links of dependent

origination and how they arose

and how they ceased

and when he finally let go of the last

formation

there's no more conditions

so he goes enters in the conditionless

state

this is his third breaking out

like that of the

hens

chicks from their shells

when a noble disciple is possessed of

virtue

that pertains to his conduct

when a noble disciple guards the sense

faculties that pertains to his conduct

when one is moderately meeting that

pertains to his conduct

when he is devoted to wakefulness that

pertains to his conduct

when he possesses seven good qualities

that pertains to his conduct

when he is one who attains that will

without trouble or difficulty the four

genres that constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now that pertains to his conduct

when he recollects his manifold past

lifetimes with their different aspects

and particulars

that pertains to his true knowledge

so we can add everything up to that

is having to do with conduct

but when you start remembering past

lifetimes

you start realizing that karma is a real

thing

is it normal to kind of be afraid of

that

like not wanting

to know how responsible for my actions i

am

is that weird

you know this little voice i don't know

well

it's like myself

you know like not wanting to die off you

know it's like holding on

but

the advantage is that you get to see

exactly how karma works

and you get to see it not only for

yourself but you get to see it in other

beings too

in the other realm so that you

you know

that

all of the actions that you'd had in the

past and these other people had in the

past

the reason that they keep being reborn

is because

of taking all of those actions

personally

and when you realize that you're

purifying your mind

and letting go of that subtle i like it

i don't like it

there's a change in your perspective

and you start seeing that it's not such

a big deal

whether you've remembered your past

lifetimes or not

you have confidence that this is the way

it works

when with the divine eye he

sees beings passing away and reappearing

and understands

how these beings pass on and reappear

according to their actions

that pertains to his true knowledge

what this particular suit is doing is

there's there's three ways to attain

nibana

first you get to the fourth jhana

you go through all of the

arrow pajamas

and then you hit you have the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

and when you come out you see the

lengths of dependent origination and you

attain the ibana that's one way

another way and this is this is for

it's it's said

this is for people that are that have

high intelligence

there are some people that are very

sensitive to feelings

they get to the fourth genre

and the

psychic abilities

start naturally

coming up by themselves

and

eventually you go through the the

being able to read minds and

fly in the air and dive in the earth and

stuff like that

but eventually you get to a place where

there is the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness when you come

back you will

know that to see the links of dependent

origination after that you attain nibana

now for those

who have a very strong mixture of both

being able to recognize feelings and

intelligence

that's what this is talking about these

are called the three true knowledges

and pali

you experience a fourth jhana you

remember past lifetimes you see

the disappearance and a rising of beings

and in different realms

eventually you go to you experience the

cessation of perception feeling and

consciousness

you see the lengths of dependent

origination

you experience nevada

now this is really

key to understand

everything in the buddha's path

is about

learning

how dependent origination works

everything that the buddha taught

was

how to understand what your experience

actually is

so it's not a guess

and i've been to a whole bunch of

retreats

and sometimes you go up and ask a

teacher and they'll try to bluff their

way through it and tell you uh you don't

need to know that right now

well i don't go along with that i've

been told that

no one reaches nobody in this lifetime

i'm here to tell you that's not true

okay

i hear you

so you can take that for whatever it's

worth but

it's not true

the the reason that a lot of people

don't attain nibana is because they're

not following the directions that the

buddha gives in the suit

and that

letting go of craving is major

the relaxing continual relaxing of your

mind and body is really major

so

when you practice this way you will be

able to experience

nirvana when

whenever the conditions are right

but it can certainly be in this lifetime

i

i promise you that

when by realizing for himself with

direct knowledge he here and now enters

upon and abides in the deliverance of

mind and deliverance by wisdom see

seeing the dependent origination

that the taintless

says let's start that again here and now

enters upon and abides in the

deliverance of mine and deliverance by

wisdom that are taintless

with the destruction of the taints

that pertains to his true knowledge

so that's the third knowledge

this noble disciple is thus said to be

perfect and true

knowledge perfect in conduct perfect and

true knowledge and conduct

and this stanza was uttered by the

brahman

the noble clan is held to be the highest

of people in this as to lineage

but best of god's inhuman is one

perfect and true knowledge and conduct

now that stanza was well sung by the

brahmana son

kumara

ill sung

it was well spoken not ill-spoken

it has a meaning and is not meaningless

and it was approved by the blessed one

the blessed one rose and addressed the

venerable ananda thus

good and on the good

it is good that you have spoken to the

sakians of capilovatu

about the discipline and higher training

who has entered upon the way

that is what venerable ananda said the

teacher approved

the sakians of kapilavatu were satisfied

and delighted in the venerable anandas

so it's simple

not easy but simple

the more complicated somebody tries to

make the practice the more they don't

understand what the practice actually is

the instructions are absolutely simple

six are everything

stay with your object of meditation as

long as you can

smile

make it a game

don't be serious with this

just like when you were studying and you

really liked what you were studying and

you were having fun with it

that's the way you want you want to look

at this

all the time

see the whole idea of bringing up a

wholesome object and keeping a wholesome

object going is because

a wholesome object sees things as

impersonal

and there is no suffering when things

are impersonal

it's that simple

so it's very important

to

continue

having fun with what you're doing i mean

last night i was talking about

was it last night night before last

i was talking about

well

how do you

do this practice and the buddha said

first you gotta start with faith and all

the rest and then he says you gotta be

enthusiastic you gotta have fun

why because your mind is uplifted when

you have fun you have joy in your mind

when you're having fun

when you have joy in your mind it's real

easy to see when your mind doesn't have

it in it

so that improves your mindfulness

so the more you smile the more you

laugh with how crazy this thing can be

the easier it becomes

the faster your progress becomes

so we got any questions

okay the in higher training is somebody

who reaches forth john

no any of the genres oh any okay because

it

there there's

a disciple

you know

it's not it's not clear at all right in

that section where you where it says

and this is how the disciple reaches the

it's it just is never well what was the

whole text about

well it's a

well it's about

tv job

it was about the disciples

well but that that's just a progressive

thing

right well i was thinking well

because you get to the first genre

because you already covered the lower

jaws right but then the text says

so this is how

you

proceed okay

and how

and how is a noble disciple one who

attains at will without trouble or

difficulty the four genus that

constitute the higher mind

and provide a pleasant abiding here and

now here quite secluded from sensual

pleasures so we're talking about the

first john and two

we're talking about all of the dramas

but it was there was

after you went through

yeah about the divine eye but then right

before that right before the divine eye

it seemed to indicate that

the progression

will

but okay

because there's three paths

number 39 asapura

it talks about being able to experience

nibana

once you've gotten any of the jobs so

the disciple in higher training is

somebody who's made that step to at

least the first job yes

without any trouble or difficulty

getting into it

so it can't be a beginner just

experience accident

it has to pretty much happen

as soon as you sit okay

and that can happen when you're walking

too

absolutely

happen while you're washing the dishes

it can happen when you're washing your

feet

are you gonna happen when you're going

in the toilet

you always look bad

well because it's in here it is

this is

why you're taking a shower it doesn't

matter

what are you doing with your mind

all the time all the time

you