From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AaOsX1G07oo

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

good afternoon

i hope everything is going well for you

and you're having a good day

yes

so i'm going to do suta number 115.

excuse me for many kind of

elements this is a suit

that i've done before but it's been a

long time since i've done it

so

thus have i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at zawati and

jessica's girl venethan pendicas park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

venerable sir they replied the blessed

one said this

monks whatever fears arise

all arise because of the fool

not because of the wise man

whatever troubles arise all

arise because of the fool

not the wise man

whatever calamities arise

all arise because of the fool

not because of the wise man

just as a fire that starts in a shed

made of rushes or grass

burns down even a house

with a peak roof with walls plastered

inside and outside

shut up shut off secured by

bars with shutter windows

so too

whatever fear arises all arises because

of the fool not because of the wise man

thus the fool brings fear

the wise man brings no fear

the fool brings trouble the wise grant

man brings no trouble

the fool brings calamity

the wise man brings no calamity

no fear comes from the wise man no

trouble comes from the wise men

no calamity comes from the wise men

[Music]

you therefore train thus

we shall be wise men

we shall be inquirers

there's a lot of people

that are having fear arise in their

meditation

and when you inquire into what it really

is look at the clock david

david david look at the clock

okay

and

there are times when you're sitting in

meditation

fear can arise

so first thing we want to look at is

what is fear how does it arise

fear is the painful feeling

to start off with

next we take that fear

or that that painful feeling

and you make it yours personally this is

me

this is mine this is myself

then you get involved in your thoughts

and opinions and ideas

about this kind of feeling that you're

taking personally

and you feel tightness in your back you

feel

tightness in your buttocks you feel like

running away

then you get into

the habitual

emotional tendency

because it starts as a fear

it starts as a feeling

now you have five aggregates that you're

made of

you have body

feeling perception these two always

are conjoined you have thoughts

and you have consciousness

when that fear comes up you start

thinking about it

and you try to make the fear go away

by your thoughts

but feeling is one thing

and thoughts are something else

you can never control a feeling

with your thoughts

so what am i actually saying

here fear

is only a fear

the fastest way to make

this feeling

[Music]

go away is

by stopping getting

involved and making a big deal about

that feeling

stop taking it personally what's the

fastest way to do that

laugh sounds odd

but you go from

[Music]

i am that fear

i am afraid i don't like that

fear i want it to stop and go away

all of those thoughts make the fear

bigger and more intense

but i don't like that feeling i want it

to stop

when you laugh you go from i

am afraid to

it's only

a feeling it's only fear it's not even

my fear did i ask this fear to come up

did i sit and say you know i haven't

been afraid of stuff for a long time i

might as well be afraid of it now

no you don't do that

it comes up you start identifying with

it

you start trying to change that feeling

with

your thoughts and the more you think of

feeling

the bigger and more intense that feeling

becomes

so we have to

start changing our perspective

of that feeling

we have to start allowing that feeling

to be

there but don't make a big deal out of

it

it's not yours so why do you want to

control it

oh it's only my habitual tendency

my habitual reaction

to a feeling that comes

and your habitual reaction

is taking it personally

this is me this is mine i don't like

this

i want it to stop i'm really afraid

now every time you

have this kind of sensation arise

you are really causing yourself

much more pain and suffering

okay and you're doing it to yourself

why is this such a big deal

it is such a big deal because

you make it a big deal

well but all the muscles in my back are

tight

or my buttock

and i i'm really afraid and the hair

on my on my arms or back of my neck

stand up

okay so did you ask for any of that to

occur

did you say now i need to have all of my

muscles

tighten

or do you feel those muscles tighten and

that makes you think

even more and take it personally

and fight with it

the more you think and ponder

on that is the inclination

of your mind you think and ponder

on fear

and you're gonna have it come up much

more often

well what's the cause of the fear we

don't care

what you do with what arises in the

present dictates what happens in the

future

if you re-act

or act like you always do when fear

arises

you can look forward to having a fear

come up often

because that's what you think and ponder

on

and that's what you try to control with

your thoughts

and that causes all kinds of

suffering in other ways

and you become

frustrated you become angry you have

all kinds of emotional

trigger points that arise

just because a fear

arose and i don't like that food

just because a feeling arose

and i don't like that fear

anything you make a big deal out of

anything that you identify closely with

as being yours that's the cause of

suffering

okay so we have the first two noble

truths right there right

so how do you get to the third noble

truth

left

you can use the six r's but you

have to understand the six r's are not

a stick to beat away that

feeling you can't use it to suppress

that feeling or force that feeling to go

away

the six r's are simply

so that your mindfulness gets better and

you can see

how you're causing pain

and how you're causing pain just by not

following the six hours completely

well this painful feeling came up and

i'm afraid

okay what what is really happening

why do we do this to ourselves

why do we cause this pain to be such a

big deal

well it's old habit

it's a feeling that you don't like

there's no difference between fear

and depression it's still a feeling

it's a little different kind of a

feeling

and i don't like that

and i get caught in my opinions and

ideas

about what it is and how i don't like it

and

how i can make it stop but that's

getting caught

in your thinking

and then you want to control the

feeling with the thoughts

you see how much

pain and suffering you cause

yourself

and the solution is simple

it's a feeling okay

what's the second r of the six

arms release how do you release

you don't keep your attention on

that feeling

if you keep your attention on the

feeling you're feeding that feeling so

it gets bigger and more intense

but i hate that feeling i don't want

that feeling i want to run away

okay you can do that

and you can suffer a lot more it's up to

you

remember i'm not your teacher i am a

guide

and i'm showing you thr your way through

a very naughty situation

that is can be big if you make it

big can be painful

if you make it painful to yourself

when you stop keeping your attention on

it

okay it's a painful feeling

so

i had a root canal without any

painkiller you think that didn't hurt

do you think that feeling was

pleasurable like you want all

all feelings to be when they come up

well welcome to real life the first

noble truth is there's going to be

suffering

the second noble truth is the one

and it's your choice

the cause of the suffering is taking

it personally and feeding it

and causing your mind to get

really involved with

making it stop making it go away

and to be quite honest if you look at it

objectively

it's just your mind going crazy and

that's funny

your mind wants to distract you you're

getting too close

to some kind of a thing

that your mind doesn't really want to

look at

so

your choice get involved with it

feed it make it bigger and suffer

a long and hard time

or let it be

don't keep your attention on it's

only a painful feeling

and it's not even yours

don't you see that that's funny

that you're taking it personally

that you're causing yourself all of this

suffering

you're causing it to yourself

you can't blame somebody else for your

painful feelings

and isn't that funny

i had one lady come up to me and she

told me that she

was really afraid

and i said well okay

use the 6rs they don't work

oh okay

then smile into it

laugh with it she said

it's not funny

and as soon as she said that it was such

an absurd statement that i started

laughing

and when i started laughing she started

laughing

and then i said

how's your mind feel now

oh i feel a lot better i'm not afraid

anymore

now this is in in the span of maybe one

minute

this is why i like when the buddha is

talking about the good qualities

of the dhamma

the second quality is a kaliko

that says that the dhamma

is immediately affected

and it is when you use the dhamma

in the correct way

now there's there's starting to be

translators that are saying that

it means that the the dhamma is always

around

no that's not what al kaliko means

so they're changing the translation

to suit their purpose but it's not the

actual translation

of the word akalico

is quickly

immediately effective

it works and it works fast

now everybody here probably

knows that i've done an awful lot of

vipassana

meditation i did it for about 20 years

i've done

many years of deep practice

and that is not what i call

immediately affected

i give retreats now for 10 days

when people come for a retreat whether

they've ever done

meditation before or they're very

advanced in their meditation

in 10 days they will understand the

dhamma

more deeply than they ever have before

because of the six hours

not feeding the

uh hindrance whatever

immigrants it happens to be

not taking it personally seeing

that everything is fine

when you use the six r's and trust it

you have to trust the six arts

you can't use the six r's as a stick

to beat stuff away and make it stop

coming up that's not

what it's for

the six r's are

how to let go of the cause

of suffering

that means letting go of craving

relax relax that tightness in your head

in your mind when you

relax your tightness in your head in

your mind

that also starts to relax

the entire body

now you'll get to certain places in your

meditation where you don't even feel

your body

anymore

and this is good you don't you won't

feel it

unless

a feeling arises and you start taking it

personally and you say

oh i've got a pain in my back for my

knee or wherever it happens to be

and when you come to me and i start

talking to you

about if you're at this level

of meditation

you don't have a body everything

is mental remember the dhammapada

mind is the forerunner of all states

my maid they are

so this pain in your knee or your back

or

your your bottom

when it comes up

and you're in the higher

realms of meditation where you're in the

different states

not where your uh

not not where you're still

in the lower jaws the first four jobs

you're in the higher states

you don't have a body

the only way you feel the body is when

there is

contact with something else

a fly lands on your on your

face you will feel that because the

contact is there

but it doesn't make your mind shake

it doesn't make your mind run to it and

make it wanna go away

quick

now let's look at what happens when a

fly lands on your face what happens

first

oh there's a feeling

i don't like that feeling

i wish this fly would go away i wish it

would stop

every thought about the fly

encourages the fly to stay longer and

cause

more suffering

what's the difference between a fly

and a feeling of fear or

anxiety what's the difference

when you look at it objectively

there isn't any real difference a

feeling is a feeling is a feeling

sometimes they're pleasant feelings

sometimes they're painful feelings

but you're not in control of it you

don't ask these feelings to come up

you need to allow the space

for them to be there by themselves

but i don't like that feeling i don't

care

it's not yours so what what's there to

like or dislike

but i feel it

and it makes me so afraid i want to cry

sometimes

who is causing that suffering

who is making themself

unhappy

well i can blame the movies

i went to a horror movie and it scared

me so much i couldn't hardly

sit

well what's the difference between that

and the fear that comes up when you're

by yourself someplace

and fear comes up

there's no difference it's a feeling

and it's not a pleasant feeling

and it's okay for it to be there

one of the things that i found is being

more and more i'm

teaching it more and more

is that when you have any

hindrance arise i don't care what it is

any distraction away from your object

and meditation

practice your gratitude for it being

there

when these kind of hindrances arise

they come up because

in the past you broke a precept

and you felt guilty and you took it

personally

this is me this is mine this is who i

am

that's the whole reason for hindrances

arising

now when it arises it's your teacher

it's telling you where you have an

attachment

be thankful be grateful

your mind is trying to help you

see how you cause yourself

pain and when you

use the six hours properly by

not making a big deal out of whatever

that feeling

is

then

it will go away by

itself when you use this it's

ours

now it might not go away right away

but every time you use the six

hours and you have that relaxed step in

it

and you smile and you come back to your

object

to meditation and your mind gets pulled

away back to

that feeling that hindrance

that is not the same hindrance

than it was when that you got drawn away

at first it's a different hindrance

why do i say that because

when you let go of that identification

when you let that

craving fade away your mind is pure

but that hindrance has some attachments

into it that might have been around for

a long time and been bothering you for a

long time so it comes up

again you have to keep

using the six hours

not as a control mechanism

just as a way to let go of that

craving and desire

for things to happen the way you want

them

to happen

so you keep

using the six r's every time your mind

get is distracted if it doesn't go

away right away you'll be back on your

object of meditation and it comes up

again

okay so what

oh but i don't want it to be there i

already started

well okay

so what do it again

there is a movie

by woody allen and it was

called play it again sam

and that's what we have to do with the

six

arts

it's not exactly the same hindrance that

you let go of

when you six arctic the first time

but the attachment is still there with

it

so you have to do it again don't make a

big deal out of it

don't get over involved

with it just do it again

well there's some attachments that can

be really big

and they can last for quite a while

okay so

keep

allowing it to be there but don't get

involved in the content of that feeling

relax let it be

now this suta is a great suita

but i got carried away talking about

fear so much that it's gonna i'm not

gonna be able to go all the way through

the suitcase

because i get scolded if i last for more

than an hour

[Laughter]

but we'll we'll try again

when this was said the venerable last

the venerable

ananda asked the blessed one in what way

venerable serve can a monk be called a

wise man

and an inquirer

when ananda a monk is killed in the

elements skilled

in the bases skilled

independent origination skilled

in what is possible and what is

impossible

in that way he can be called a wise man

and an enquirer now you see why i like

this toothpick

because it gives you a lot of answers

now we're going to talk about the

elements

but venerable sir in what way

can a monk be called skilled in the

elements

here ananda these 18

elements the i element

the form element the i consciousness

element the ear element

the sound element the ear

consciousness element the nose

element the odor element

the nose consciousness element

the tongue element the flavor

element the tongue consciousness element

the body element the tangible

element the body consciousness element

mind element the mind object

element the mind consciousness element

when he knows and sees these 18

elements a monk can be called skilled in

the

elements see how simple this is

and knowing how

the process works

and it's not a personal process

this is just the way this process

here works

but venerable sir might there be another

way

in which a man a monk can be called

skilled

in the elements

yes there is ananda

there are anon of the six elements

the earth element the water element

the fire element the air element

the space element and the consciousness

element when he knows

and sees these six elements

a monk can be called skilled in the

elements

now you you might have heard on some of

the other

discourses that i've given about the

water element

this is a good example of

how you let things be without getting

involved with them

how you let the fear be by itself

when water is going downstream

it's going to come across some rocks is

that water going to push that rock

out of the way

what does it do it just simply goes

around

it without making a big deal about it

that's what you do with fear that's what

you do with

anxiety that's what you do with sadness

allow it to be there

lightly six are

and come back to your object of

meditation

with whatever distraction

is there

now i don't mean me necessarily laughing

out loud and having a belly laugh

i mean having a light mind about it

not taking it personally

allowing that to be there just

let it be there by itself and go around

it

stop feeding it

so make your mind like water

the second art is release

whatever it is that distracted you

and let that let your mind just kind of

go around it not make a big deal

out of it not

try to push that rock out of the way

that's what people do when they don't

understand how mind actually works

that's why so many people become

depressed

because it's a painful feeling that

arises and they don't like it

and then they start getting involved in

their opinions and ideas about it

and then they get caught in their

habitual tendency of trying to control

a feeling with thoughts

and this is all done personally this

is me this is who i am i am

in control actually there's nothing to

control so how can you say you're

intentional

there's just a bunch of phenomena

arising and passing away i just read

some of that phenomenon to you

you don't take it personally you see it

as an

impersonal process

now some years ago when i was a young

mom

i didn't have a teacher that spoke

english

so i got this idea that

well what i'm going to try to do now is

just try to look at every thought

and feeling that comes into my mind

and see where it came from

is it mine did i ask these thoughts and

feelings to come up

and i did it all day with all the

activities that i was doing

and i did it for about six months

and there was great benefit

in taking a look at your thoughts and

feelings and see was that my thought

where'd that come from

i was just kind of minding my own

business walking down the street and

these thoughts came up

whose thoughts are these

i didn't plan for that thought to come

up i didn't plan for that feeling to

come up

so i must not be the one that's in

charge of them

so why make it a big deal

just because it arises doesn't mean

you have to take part in that

you have to allow the space for it to be

by itself

relax into it now

every time you relax

there's no clinging that arises there's

no

opinions there's no eye any ideas

and if there's no opinions and there's

no

ideas then your habitual

tendency won't arise

if your habitual tendency doesn't arise

that's all

your emotional garbage

if that doesn't arise then the birth of

action doesn't arise and if the birth of

action doesn't arise

sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair

will not arise

what does that say that says that your

mind

is clear at that time

your mindfulness is strong at that time

so

when you use the 6rs

you are purifying yourself of the

lengths of dependent origination you're

gonna see

that more and more clearly as you go

deeper into your meditation

now a lot of students here they

are doing the six directions

with whatever their objective meditation

is starts with loving kindness

goes to compassion goes to joy goes to

equality

each step is like a different

kind of genre

each step teaches you

major incidents and lessons

about how this process

actually occurs

so now you're starting to get more and

more of

a feeling

that

when feeling arises it's impersonal it's

not yours

i don't care whether it's a painful

feeling or a pleasant feeling

i don't care if it's a neutral feeling

it doesn't matter what you

do with what arises in the present that

dictates what happens in the future

when you use the six hours

property you don't feed that feeling

you don't make a big deal out of that

feeling

you don't try to control that feeling

but you allow it to be there by itself

without keeping your attention on

it

then you

are starting to purify your mind

and when you purify your mind enough

you start to have more and more

fun in your life

your mind is more uplifted

your mind is happier

your mind has great balance in

it's all because you make the decisions

for what you keep your attention on

so i don't know what time do we start

1 15. oh i still got another few minutes

ago okay

can you

well we'll see

maybe i have time to get more done i'm

not gonna

i'm probably not gonna get all the way

through it

but i can continue it next week

anyway

make your mind like water

water always finds a way around an

obstruction

without complaining about it without

making it into

a big deal

stop identifying with painful feelings

and thoughts

have fun

geez i i i wonder how many times i have

to say that before people actually

hear it and start practicing it

life is supposed to be a game

make it a fun game change your

perspective

from i'm serious

and whatever is happening in the world i

have to worry about it because

nobody else is going to take care of it

what you want to affect the world

around you in a positive way

have fun smile

be grateful to other people that cause

you problems because they're

they're your teacher how can you get

angry at that

okay so

but venerable sir might there be another

way

in which amma can be called skilled in

the

elements yes there is ananda

there are another the six elements

the pleasure element

the pain element

the joy element

the brief element

the equanimity element

and the ignorance element

when he knows and sees these six

elements a monk can be

called skilled in the elements

isn't that amazing okay

at first he was talking about physical

elements

and now he's talking about mental

elements

the joy the grief the equanimity the

ignorance

these are all mental elements

and what is he what is he describing

here for real

but what actually is he describing

he's just breaking down

how craving actually

works

the pleasure element the pain element

i like it i don't like it

oh isn't that saying something about

craving

the joy element that's the pleasure

that's the mental

the grief element well there's no

difference between the pleasant element

and the joy element and the

painful element and the grief element

except one is mental one is physical

it's pretty easy to understand and then

you get into

the equanimity element now that's where

there's the balance

and the ignorance element what is the

ignorance

element that's not

understanding in depth

how the four noble truths are in

everything

the four noble truths are not just this

thing to be thinking about and yeah yeah

yeah i know about that

this this is really deep every link of

dependent origination

has the four noble truths in it

and i can show you that in a lot of

other sutures

where it says that

but it's so popular

that people just say it and they go yeah

yeah yeah okay

i know the four noble groups let's go on

to something better

more entertaining

but when you see that it's in every

different

aspect of your mind and body

and when you see and deeply understand

that that

leads to the cessation of suffering

so but venerable sir

might there be another way in which a

monk can be called skilled in the

elements

yes there is ananda there

are these six elements

the sensual desire element

the renunciation element

the ill ill-will element

the non-ill will element

the cruelty element

and the non-cruelty element

when he knows and sees these six

elements

a monk can be called skilled in the

elements

this is just more the same thing just

different ways of looking at it

that one of the things that i really

like about the buddha and the way that

he teaches

is he'll he'll give you the same lesson

with different words

but he's always talking about four noble

truths

he's always talking about the four noble

truths

but how many people really don't

understand that that's what he's saying

but venerable sir might there be another

way in which a monk can be called

skilled in the elements

yes ananda there are

there are these three elements

the sense sphere element now this

is what i call habitual tendency

element

this is talking about

uh baba

the pali word bhava

i talked with my teacher

using ananda about this and i told him

that for practical purposes i want to

call it

tendency or a habitual emotional

tendency to be one

and not add these other two parts

to it and he agreed

and then i started listening to other

monks talk

about these above is these three

different

uh aspects of it

and i started replacing it with the

words

habitual tendency and it made perfect

sense

so that's why i use that it's not

complete

the other part of bhava

is the different kinds of

genre and states that you can experience

the element of the fine material

okay

what is a fine material that that's a

heavenly realms that's the brahman

realms

that's when you practice

meditation and you

can experience even

the first jhana

when you die that is such

strong merit that you're going to be

reborn in a heavenly realm

or brahmara

okay

and you have the potential

to attain nibana in this lifetime

i just had a student today that attained

nibana

she went from a very serious mind

to a happy mind that truly

understands the different aspects

of the teaching

made me very happy

it can happen for you

if you follow the directions

one of the fetters that you get rid of

when you attain nibana

is doubt

no longer have any doubt what the real

path is

you know for yourself that this

is it and i'm gonna keep going with this

until i get off the wheel

and that's one of the fetters that

completely disappears

this is why i like this kind of

meditation because it teaches

you in the right way

and you can experience this

if you follow the directions

precisely don't add anything

don't subtract anything

okay so there is the fine material

element which is the first four

genres

and the immaterial element

which is the next four states

infinite space infinite consciousness

nothing neither perception

or non-perception

when he knows and sees the three

elements

a monk can be called skilled in the

elements

are you

but venerable sir might there be another

way in which your mom can be called

skilled in the elements

yes amanda there are

ananda there are these two elements

the conditioned element

and the unconditioned element

when he knows and sees these two

elements

a monk can be called skilled in the

elements

conditioned elements everything in the

physical world

everything unconditioned

the only way you get to an unconditioned

is by

experiencing demand

that is the unconditioned state

and as i just got through saying you

can experience this

in this lifetime

a lot of people that come and practice

with me

are able to verify

what i'm saying

i'm not saying it as some kind of thing

that i'm some kind of great teacher

i'm not the teacher

is the buddha and i read

these every night

when you come for retreat

and your progress is going to be fast of

course i see

you every day

for a short period of time and ask you

questions about your meditation

make sure you're staying on the right

path

and i'm going to be

staying here all year round

except for when we were in california

easter time

but venerable sir in what way can a monk

be

called skilled in the bases

there are another the six internal

and external bases

the eye and forms the

ear and sounds the nose

and odors the tongue and flavors

the body of tangibles

mind and mind objects

when he knows and sees these six

internal

and external bases

a monk can be called skilled in the

bases

this is seeing the internal and

external forms of your sense

bases all of your sense bases

are in your head

but venerable sir in what way can a

month be

called skilled independent origination

here and on the amount knows thus

when this exists

that comes to be with the arising of

this

that arises

when he does

when this does not exist

that does not come to be

now i just gave you an example of that

when you use the six r's correctly

you don't have clinging you don't have

habitual tendency you don't have birth

of action you don't have sorrow

lamentation

pain grief and despair you don't have

that aging and it won't arise

with the cessation of this that

ceases say it's the same thing

that is with ignorance as condition

formations come to be with formations as

condition consciousness

comes to be with consciousness as

condition

mentality materiality comes to be

with mentality materiality as condition

the six-fold base comes to be

with the six-fold base as condition

contact comes to be with contact as

condition feeling comes to be

with feeling as conditioned craving

comes to be

with craving as condition clinging comes

to be

with clinging as condition habitual

tendency comes to be

with habitual tendency as condition

birth of action comes to be

with birth of action as condition aging

and death sorrow lamentation pain grief

and despair come to be

such is the origin of this whole mass of

suffering

sounds familiar you want to hear that

more often

go to suit to number 38

in youtube there's many of them

but with the remainderless fading away

and cessation of ignorance comes

cessation of formations

with a cessation of formation cessation

of consciousness

with the cessation of consciousness

cessation of mentality materiality comes

to be

with the cessation of mentality

materiality cessation of the six-fold

base

with the cessation of the six-fold base

cessation of contact

with the cessation of contact cessation

of feeling

with the cessation of feeling cessation

of craving

with the cessation of creating cessation

of clinging

with the cessation of cleaning cessation

of habitual tendency

with the cessation of habitual tendency

cessation of birth of action

with the cessation of the birth aging in

death sorrow lamentation

pain grief and despair cease

such is the cessation of this whole mass

of suffering

in this way ananda a monk can be called

skilled

independent origination

now i i when i was in burma i went to a

monastery

and the only kind of mental development

they had

was reciting the links of dependent

origination

over and over and over

and over and we would do it sometimes

for two or three hours

and they did it every day

and you say well they're not really

meditating they are

it's just a different kind of meditation

can they become sodapana by doing that

yes they can can they become socrates

the second stage of awakening

by reciting this over and over again and

understanding how it works

yes they can can they become

anagami the third stage of awakening by

doing this

no they have to have

deeper concentration they have to have

deeper kinds of understanding

and insights a lot of people

say that vipassana just means insight

well the

[Music]

vapasana and the serenity

practice they go

hand in hand they're yoked together

too many times people unyoke them

and they spend a lot of time on insights

but not so much time on having a

collective mind

now if you have have a ox cart

and those oxen aren't yoked together

you're not going to go anywhere one is

going to go one place and one is gonna

go another but they're not gonna be

going together at the same time

so you have to yoke them together

now if one of the oxen

is particularly strong and the other

oxen is weak the strong one is going to

dictate

and you're going to go around in circles

okay if the other one is dictating then

you're going to go around circles the

other way

they have to be pulled equally together

that means john jonah practiced and

inside practice

at the same time

that's the only way it works that's what

it says in the surplus

so the strong

attachment to insight without

developing a collected mind

with understanding of how each of the

genres

work and genres are

a step ours

a level of understanding

okay there's the level of understanding

it's not oh this is strong concentration

i better do my vipassana first

now you do them together

and that's what the buddha taught in

many many

suttas

the reason that so many people are doing

straight vipassana

and think that it's the only way

is because of the book

that was written a thousand years after

the buddha died called the vasudi maga

it was written by a monk called

brutagosa

and at the time well let's put it this

way

right after the buddha died all of a

sudden

there were 17 different buddhist sects

and they were all watching over

different parts of the suttas

in the vineyard the disciplinary

rules

so a thousand years after the time of

the buddha

these these different sects have kind of

gone on their own way

and they emphasize different parts of

buddhist practice but they didn't really

have an organized

thing

and buddha gosu went to sri lanka

and his task was to take

four of these different sects

and their commentary which was written

in sri lankan

and turn it into

a poly text

now he was

a vedic scholar he had memorized

all of the vedas

before he became a buddhist monk so he

still had some ideas that were

very brahmana and you could call it

hindu

now

so he didn't know much in the way of

meditation

he was a scholar

and when it got to the part where he

started talking about

meditation well

he didn't know much about it but he knew

that meditation was around and

meditation was meditation right they're

all the same thing

so he put his understanding of what it

said in the

vedas he put that

into the surimaga

as if it came from the buddha

and it actually didn't and he left out

some very important things like

what what he wound up doing was

let's say

with uh

equanimity karuna or

or karoon which is compassion

he would take one of those words and he

would divide it up

into eight or ten different

ways that it can be used

and that caused a lot of confusion

there's

uh another word was the sadhana of

faith well there's there's nine

different kinds of faith

what he did was he broke all of these

different parts of the buddha

teaching into separate little baskets

there's nine of this there's eight of

that

there's ten of the say opaque

ten kinds of opaque

well that's good for intellectual

knowledge

but it's not good for practice

but over the years that's been taken as

the practice people consider the suti

manga the encyclopedia of meditation

and it's taken from

the vedas the type of meditation that he

taught

and he was also taking a lot of

information

from different commentaries

a commentary is

one person's opinion of what he

thinks the buddha was talking about

okay that's that monk's opinion that's

not necessarily

the buddha's opinion

and that's what a lot of the surimaga

is about it's about one monk's

impression about what he thought the

buddha was talking about

and that's not as correct as it could be

it's the reason that there's so much

division between people that practice

straight great davasana

and people that practice samata

vipassana now i call

it twin tranquil

wisdom insight

meditation

that's what twin stands for and that's

what you're actually practicing when you

practice with me

that means you practice and fix art

you practice right effort

every time you use the six r's

you are following the entire eightfold

path

at that time

right then right there immediately

affected

so it's important that you understand

that

if you start dividing this and that

and taking one part of this and then

adding it to one part of that

it's going to become confused and it's

not going to work as well

i can tell you that for sure because i

had 20 years of doing that

and it didn't work

but as soon as i figured out that

relaxed death

as soon as i finally understood that

my entire meditation changed

my understanding changed

my ability to read a suta

and see what the buddha is talking about

changed

because i didn't have this facility

manga in the background that was always

pushing me towards it

now i just use the suit

and in this way

i can help you

to be successful with your meditation

because i'm following what the buddha

said

i'm not making up stuff

and you hear me right now you're hearing

me read all of the different stuff

that's in asuka

it's not my ideas

it's coming from the buddha

now we we're 2500 years after the voted

it's actually more like 2600 years after

the buddha's

and the dhamma is in reasonably good

shape

it doesn't mean it's 100 percent correct

with every

there's still some interpretations that

are put in

that are not necessarily

good adaptations of what the buddha was

trying to teach

but there's enough in the suit as

themselves that you can still be

successful

and you can see that for yourself

don't believe anything i'm saying don't

believe a word of it

check it out see for yourself

see whether you're smiling

all day whether that improves your

mindfulness or not

see for yourself

when you turn life into a game instead

of being serious with

it see what it does to your perception

see how it changes

so now we go to the

possible and the impossible

but venerable sir in what way can a monk

be called

skilled in what is possible and what is

impossible

here ananda a monk understands it is

impossible

it cannot happen that a person a person

possessing right view

could treat any formation as permanent

there's no such a possibility

and he understands it is possible

that an ordinary person might treat some

formation as permanent

i i can remember when i was in college i

used to go by this church and they had a

sign outside

and it said jesus christ

the same now and always

that's saying that this

jesus christ is permanent

god is permanent and it's not

actually the way things work

the only thing that's permanent in the

entire

universe is

impermanence that's the only thing that

that is that is impermanent

and that means that everything is in the

state of change

i mean when when i'm giving you a

retreat and i tell you

that sound of my snapping my finger

is about a hundred thousand arising and

passing away of

hearing consciousness

and you will be able to get to that

state

and see that for itself and you're going

to see

individual consciousnesses arise and

pass away

now you think you're hearing me and

seeing me at the same time

but it's not happening that way

hearing consciousness keeps arising and

passing away

and then every now and then the same

consciousness arises and pass away

and then they they're happening so fast

that you think it's happening at exactly

the same time

so

he understands it is impossible

it cannot happen that a

person possessing right view

can treat any formation

as pleasurable there is no

possibility

and he understands it is possible that

an ordinary

person might treat some

formation as pleasurable

there is such a possibility

he understands it is impossible it

cannot happen that a person possessing

right

you

could treat anything as self

but we do that all the time we get

caught in

what was i talking about before

we get caught in hindrances

why do we get caught in hindrances

because we broke precepts in the past

and we have guilty feeling and we took

it personally i did this this

is me

don't see the impersonal nature until

you use this xrs correctly

and he understands it is possible that

an

ordinary person might treat something

as self well that happens almost all the

time

everybody is taking their thoughts and

their feelings and sensations personally

this

is mine this is who i am

and we cause ourselves immeasurable and

immeasurable

amounts of suffering because of that

he understands it is impossible it

cannot happen

that a person possessing right view

right view that's the first

noble or the first

part of the eight

eight-fold path

and what does that mean i call it

harmonious

uh

perspective

perspective thank you it was coming

harmonious perspective

but what does that mean a harmonious

perspective

is one that sees everything

as being part of a process

it doesn't have any me my or i

in it

everything on the physical plane

is part of

right you when you see it as being

impersonal

ah

and actually this goes on for quite a

bit

and i think this is a good place to stop

so if you want to go take a look at this

this is pseudo1 number 115 where it's

section number 12 the possible

and the impossible

so do you have any questions

if i keep going with the suta

it's going to take another hour to an

hour and a half to finish it

this is a long suit though there's a lot

to it

so that's why i want to stop now

because i've been talking for an hour

and a half

one day i have two questions yes

you always have good questions i like

that thank you thank you thank you

first of all thank you for uh this

i enjoyed it the first question was

related to

dependent origination yeah

and i like in

some other places i listened that

dependent origination is divided into

three lives yes that's this

that's buddha dosa and this

yeah so but sometimes and like

in your some of your talks you say that

every time the consciousness arises and

passes away

this is rebirth right

then do we have to see the dependent

origination like

whenever there is rebirth is happening

the whole

chinese whole process is happening yes

that's right

and it happens very fast and the

understanding

of three lifetimes is not the same as

the ordinary thinking

it's the lifetime of the consciousness

and it arises and passes away

and another one arises and passes away

and you're seeing that as three

different lifetimes

yeah okay so it's not this big

gross idea of i have to live

however many years for one lifetime

this is that's why the misunderstanding

on

in the visumaga causes a lot of

suffering

because so many people take it to mean

three actual lifetimes but they're not

saying

it as a lifetime of the consciousness

that arises and passes away

okay and uh like

sub question for this one like the link

in this link there is one one link of

birth

but is always birth of action right

right

okay uh i can jump into my next question

okay the next question is um

[Music]

like can i say something like this

[Music]

without knowing the links of

without knowing the four noble truths

it is impossible that a person can gets

liberated

this is saying i'm because that's that's

that's a difficult

thing because uh

there are some people that all they have

to do is

hear it one time and they understand it

and they can attain nirvana from that

they don't have to memorize it and they

don't have to go over it and over and

over it

but it depends on the insights

that a person has on their own

it depends on what happened

in past lifetimes they might have done

massive amounts of meditation

and had very deep understanding but

didn't quite put it all together

and then they can hear a dhamma talk

especially when it's done by a buddha

and they can attain

ibana from that without

quote

knowing the four noble truth

but they understand how the process

works

so they don't divide it into four

different things they just see it

as as it's occurring

and understand deeply

yeah this is suffering there's a cause

there is a cessation

in the way to it

they might have to just now this is

during the time of the buddha

not so much now

all i have to do is hear what the buddha

is saying

and understand it deeply

and they cannot attain nibbana that way

it's a question to this one

so once uh once a person

attains nirvana then after that can he

appreciate the four noble truths

oh yes absolutely he'll have a deep

understanding of it

you can't attain nirvana without a deep

understanding

of it

okay

those two are my questions thank you for

answering

okay anybody

i'm not understanding your question

are you are you a businesswoman

i'm still not understanding are you able

to hear me

okay try one more time

are you able to hear me now

i am able to hear you now but i'm not

able to grasp what you're asking

i just wanted to tell you that uh during

this process of meditation

uh the first thing that's happened that

when you come for a meditation retreat

we are understanding something about the

first noble truth

that's the reason that you are inquiring

to build someone

right and uh as we go on

to this

and how it had affected us all our lives

the second model yeah yeah the third

mobile switch was like uh we understand

succession

or the nirvana association

and why we are reflecting that whatever

we have been doing all this

time was the actually we were practicing

the nobel laureate

so uh after the experience nibbana we

are understanding

uh the whole of the four noble system is

uh detailed like uh how this this

suffering is working over here how it is

yes as long as you're using the six

hours you're practicing it correctly

six ours are the last noble truth

the way to the cessation of suffering

if you're practicing with the six hours

you are practicing it correctly

whatever your objective meditation

happens to be

okay yeah thank you

okay

quite often people they they tell me

this is too simple it's got to be more

complicated than this

but that's one of the beauties of the

buddha's teaching is he made it

simple on purpose

there are stories about the brahmanas

coming that were

highly educated and they started asking

him a question that might go

for 15 or 20 minutes is the question

and it's full of all kinds of very deep

ideas and then the buddha which and

they'd say

do you think this is correct and then

the buddha would say i'm going to give

you the dhamma

he would do it in such a simple way

that they would walk away just shaking

their head they couldn't believe it can

be

that simple

i say it's simple it's not always

easy when you have fear

it's not sometimes easy to let it go and

laugh

with it but

as you do it over and over again

you are letting go of the suffering

okay so now i'm going to share some

merit

it means suffering ones be suffering

free and the fierce drought fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief then may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

just acquired

for the acquisition of all kinds of

happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

dispensation

you all have a good fun week

smile and be happy thank you thank you

thank you

thank you thank you mandy

you