From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=l8njClpw1pU

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

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at zawati in

jettas grove and athenpendika's park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

general will sir they replied the

blessed one said this

here monks a monk makes a declaration of

final knowledge

thus i understand birth is destroyed the

holy life has been

lived what had to be done has been done

there is no more coming to any state of

being

that monks words should not be approved

or disapproved

without approving or disapproving

a question should be put thus friend

there are four kinds of expression

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows

and sees accomplished and fully awakened

what for telling the scene

as it is seen telling the herd

as it is heard telling the sensed

as it is sensed telling the cognized

as it is cognized

these friend are the four kinds of

expression

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he

see regarding these four kinds of

expression

so that through not craving and clinging

his mind is liberated from the taints

when a monk is one with taints destroyed

who has lived the holy life done what

had to be done

laid down the burden reached the true

goal

destroyed the fetters of being and is

completely

liberated through final knowledge

this is the nature of his answer

regarding the scene i abide unattracted

and

repelled independent detached free

dissociated with a mind grid of barriers

regarding the herd i abided unattracted

and repelled and dependent

detached free dissociated with a mind

rid of barriers

regarding the sensed i abided

unattracted and repelled

and dependent detached free

dissociated with the mind rid of

barriers

regarding the cognized i abide

unattracted unrepelled and dependent

detached free dissociated with the mind

rid of barriers

it is by

knowing and seeing thus

regarding these four kinds of expression

that through not craving and clinging my

mind is liberated from the taints

saying good one made the

one made delight and rejoice in that

monk's words

having done so a further question may be

put thus

friend there are these five aggregates

affected by craving and clinging now one

of the things that i want you to realize

is the five aggregates are not always

affected by craving and clinging

they may be affected by craving and

clinging

that is if there is still

some craving left in the person's

awareness

but it's not always

what five they are material form

aggregate now this is talking about

being

affected by craving and clinging and if

you're trying to

find out if a person is an arahat or not

you talk to them about that

and you find out what their

observations are with each one of these

different

aggregates

the feeling aggregate affected by

craving and clinging the perception

aggregate

affected by craving and clinging the

formation

aggregate affected by craving and

clinging

and the consciousness aggregate affected

by craving

and clinging these friend are the five

aggregates which may or may not be

affected by craving and clinging

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he

see regarding these five aggregates

which may be

affected by craving and clinging

so that through not craving and clinging

his mind is

liberated from the taints

monks when a monk is one

with taints destroyed and is completely

liberated through final knowledge this

is the nature of his answer

friend having known material form to be

feeble

fading away and comfortless

a destruction fading away and

cessation giving up and relinquishing

of attraction and clinging craving and

clinging

regarding material form

of material uh mental

standpoints adherences and

underlying tendencies regarding material

form

i understand that my mind is liberated

friend having known feeling having known

perception having known formations

having known

consciousness to be fable fading away

and

comfortless now we're talking about

anitra at this point

how everything is in a state of change

it's

it's not permanent

with the destruction fading away

cessation

giving up and relinquishing of

attraction

and craving and clinging towards one of

these

aggregates of mental standpoints

adherences and underlying tendencies

regarding consciousness

and the other aggregates i have

understood

that my mind is liberated

it is by knowing thus seeing thus

regarding these five aggregates which

may or may not be

affected by craving and clinging

that through not craving and clinging my

mind is liberated from the taints

saying good one might be light and

rejoice in that monk's words

having done so a further question may be

put thus

friend there are these six elements

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

what six they are the earth element

the water element the fire element

the air element the space element

and the consciousness element

these friend are the six elements

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he see

regarding these six elements so that

through not craving and clinging his

mind is liberated from the taints

monks when a monk is one whose taints

were destroyed

and is completely liberated through

final knowledge

this is the nature of his answer

friends i have treated the earth element

as not-self with no

self based on the earth element

this is the impersonal nature of

everything

and this is something that's

very confusing for an awful lot of

people and i don't really

understand why because

of the false belief in a personal self

that is associated with craving

people get confused and they say well if

this

is not myself then where is myself

there is no self there's

only the observation now this is

why it's so important to understand the

six

r's recognizing that your mind is

distracted

while you're sitting releasing

the distraction now this is really

important

and an awful lot of people get confused

by this

don't keep your attention on

what is distracting your attention

let it be there by itself don't

feed it with your attention

and when you do that and then you relax

the tightness

caused by that misconception when it

arises

then you're very clear you don't have

distracting thoughts you don't have

thoughts at all you're just

able to observe clearly without any

craving in your mind

you're observing with a pure mind

the

whatever it is that um

is is arising

now you need to bring up something

wholesome that's what smiling is about

the more you smile the lighter your mind

becomes

the clearer your mind becomes the

sharper your mindfulness becomes

and this is extremely important

now you bring that pure clean

mind that's uplifted a little

to your objective meditation and stay

with your objective meditation

so the six r's

are another way of describing

the four noble truths

and the eightfold path

keep following with the six

hours keep relaxing

letting go of that false belief in the

personal self

now why do you have distractions come up

because in the past you broke a precept

now i know talking about precepts and

and morality

is not very popular in america

or in the west because it's been pushed

very strongly by the

the catholic religion

about having a guilty feeling and

needing to go through somebody else to

get rid of that guilty feeling

but the honestly what's

most important is for you to realize

that

the whole reason you're here

is because of breaking precepts

when you break a precept you feel guilty

when you feel guilty you take it on

personally

and you start saying this is me this is

mine

this is who i am

and when you do that

you have the false belief in a personal

self

and the only way to let go of that false

belief in a personal self

is by using the six r's

and i say it's the only way i really

mean that

you have to be able to relax and let go

of the craving that's the most important

part of the six

hours because

that is the second noble truth

and letting go of that is the third

noble truth

so

please understand that any time

you have an identification with the

thoughts with the feelings with

sensations when they come up when you

take them personally

you are feeding

that false belief in a personal self

so when you let go of that

when you relax and let it be then your

mind becomes clear

this is the main difference in what most

people are teaching in meditation

because an awful lot of people that do

different kinds of meditation they don't

recognize

the

the hindrances when they come up

they have an idea that hindrances they

stop you from meditating you're supposed

to

really stop it push it away

suppress it make it so it doesn't come

up anymore

but as i said last week i have a friend

that's been teaching for 50 years

and from the very beginning of his

practice

he has had fear and you can still hear

fear in his in his voice when he's

talking

that says something about not being able

to recognize

hindrances when they come up taking the

hindrances

personally trying to stop and

try to try to push him down try to not

bother you but the truth

is there is tightness in your head

in your mind and you need to have the

six

r's so that you can let these

go

now it doesn't matter when

you are whether you are sitting in

meditation

or you're having your daily activities

anytime a hindrance arises

the truth is it's there

anytime you try to push it away anytime

you try to stop it

you are causing yourself more

and more suffering

you cause your own suffering

you can't blame somebody else for

uh something that they said or did you

can't blame them

for the cause of your suffering

you are the cause of your own suffering

and the more you stop getting involved

with it

the more you start relaxing into it

the clearer your mind becomes the

happier you become

and you're going to learn by stages

going through this

now when you are doing your practice

and you are letting go

of that craving you see

more and more clearly

how you cause your own suffering

the way things are going

in the world today is to look for blame

in

anybody else but yourself

and the truth is nobody else can

by doing what they say or doing

uh unwholesome things

that is not the cause of your suffering

your suffering is caused by yourself

the importance of keeping the six r's

can never be overstated it can't be

stated enough

you need to be be able to practice this

all the time

and keeping your precepts without

breaking them is exceptionally

important anytime you break a precept

you have a guilty feeling

now that's going to come up while you're

trying to calm your mind down

it's going to make your mind very active

and you need to let that go

you need to be able to use the 6rs so

that they will not

the the hindrance will go away by itself

as soon as you let go of

that tight mind as soon as you

relax

quite often people will tell me

well i can't do that because i'm busy i

have to work i have to do this i have to

do that

this takes a fraction of a second

when you get good at keeping your

precepts

so don't make excuses for breaking your

precepts don't make excuses for

not letting go of the hindrance

just do it

again it doesn't take very long

and the more you can recognize when that

tension

and tightness is in your head in your

mind

and you let it go the more uplifted your

mind

becomes the happier you become

now when i'm teaching a retreat

quite often i tell people to turn their

thoughts and feelings into a game

play with it don't get over serious

one of the biggest problems that people

have

when they are

practicing meditation is

getting over serious and then start

criticizing yourself because you made a

mistake

instead of laughing with yourself

because

your mind's going crazy

you would rather get serious with

yourself

and beat yourself up

and cause yourself an immeasurable

amount of pain

well that's

you doing that to yourself

if you play with it if you laugh with

yourself

because your mind goes crazy and it does

that sometimes

then you will become more and more

clear and you're going to keep your

precepts

more and more without breaking them

when you do that your mind naturally

becomes more tranquil

quite often during the start of a

retreat almost everybody has a bad day

or two to start with

well why because

you didn't keep your precepts as well as

you could

you have a lot of disturbance in your

mind

your mind is still active like it is

when you're

out doing this and that

and then when you come in to start

sitting at the retreat

it takes a day or two to settle down

once it starts settling down now you're

starting

to teach yourself more and more

and the thing with meditation that you

really

do need to understand deeply is

you are your own teacher

you know where your soft spots are

you know where you make mistakes

the trick is to be kind to yourself to

be

gentle with yourself not to be critical

with yourself

using the six hours teaches you that

and it's not a maybe it really does

work this way

a lot of people start complaining to me

about this is too simple

it can't be this easy it's got to be

more complicated than this

and it's not

this is the way it actually works the

trick

is that you have to remind yourself over

and over and over again

until you start putting

into practice the six r's

and it becomes more automatic

and this leads to an uplifted mind

this leads to more happiness for you

that you can give away

you can give this happiness away

to everybody else around you

have you ever walked into a room where

somebody's depressed

and you feel like turning around and

walking out because they're so depressed

well they're giving you a negative

you want to help change their mind you

don't have to talk to them you don't

have to try to convince them of anything

what you have to do is start sending

loving and kind thoughts

to that person that's depressed this is

called compassion isn't it

and the more you practice it

the better you get at it until

you walk into a room and people just

automatically they start smiling a

little bit

and they're happy to see you and the

talk that you have with them

is more uplifted

more kind more gentle that's the whole

point of doing the meditation

do this enough use the six r's

enough and it will start to be

automatic over a period of time

and the more automatic it becomes

the more enjoyable life

becomes so it's a real

important thing for you to understand

so i'm going to get back to the suit and

find out more about the questions you

need to ask

someone that says i am an art

i know there are some people that they

claim

there are hats and

they actually are not

because they're not able to answer these

kind of questions this particular

suta is very important to understand

so you can discern whether you think

somebody is an

arab or not you can tell for yourself

are there arahats in the world

i'm not sure maybe

but whether they are in our heart or not

doesn't really matter it's what i'm

doing with myself

it's the clarity of mind that i have

and the understanding that i have that's

most important

okay friends i have treated the earth

element as

not self with no self based on the earth

element and with the destruction

fading away cessation giving up and

relinquishing of attraction

and the craving and clinging based on

the earth element

of mental standpoints adherences

underlying tendencies based on

the earth element i have understood that

my mind is liberated

how do you have that kind of thing

automatically arise

when you have done enough work with the

6rs

you will get into a state that is

pure intuition intuitive mind

intuitive mind is always correct

it's always right

and there's no um

trying to come up with answers

the answers will come up by themselves

automatically

quickly

friends i have treated the water element

the fire

element the error element the space

element

and the consciousness element as not

self

but where is the self there is

no self there

is only process

everything is part of a process

it's not me it's not mine it's not

myself

in the six sets of six that's drummed

into you

over and over this is not me this is not

mine this is not

myself

when you start to

do what i did for i did it for about six

months

i spent

every time i had a thought arise

i started questioning is this me

is this my thought did i ask this

thought to come

up did i ask this feeling to come up

did i ask this process to begin

and the answer was always no it's not me

it's not mine i might pick up some

thoughts from other people

is that mine no it's just

thoughts you don't

make them personal

after i did that for about six months i

had a deep realization

that all of the stuff that arises

doesn't matter what i was doing at the

time

everything that arose it wasn't me it

wasn't mine

there's no controlling there's no trying

to force your mind to be

something that you think it should be

there's only realization

that this is part of a process and that

process

is called dependent origination and

that's how it works

so the more you start realizing that

these crazy thoughts that arise this

extreme liking and disliking and wanting

and not wanting

and all of these things that come up

they're not yours

you don't take them personally when you

don't take them personally you see

the the true nature of them

which is just an arising and passing

away of phenomena

but we've had so many

lifetimes that we've taken things

personally and this is me and this is

mine and this is who

i am and i like this and i don't like

that

and i'm angry and i'm happy and all of

these different things that arise

and we take it all so personally that we

completely lose sight

of the way things actually are

and we'll fight for we'll fight to say

no

this is me and i'm right to be

upset about this or that because they

said this and they did that

and it's not

helpful to your own happiness to your

own balance of mind the whole thing

with using the six r's is

the equanimity that you are able to have

in your mind without getting

upset because it didn't happen the way i

wanted it to or you

didn't do what i asked you to do

you start to have more balance

you're more at ease

and you

naturally develop a kind of

happiness that stays with you

so the emotional upsets

now that's part of uh

bhava in pali and i call it habitual

tendencies

and the habitual tendency is always when

we get

caught in trying to think of feeling

okay you can't think your feelings

because feelings are one thing and

thoughts are something else

but you get caught in trying to control

your feelings with your thoughts

and the more you do that the more pain

you cause yourself

the more upset you become with yourself

the more you beat yourself up

and that's unwholesome that's being

caught in the unwholesome not just a

little bit

but a lot and that's the reason that you

get depressed that's a reason you get

angry

you get afraid you have anxiety

worry all of these

different things

arise

because we don't use the 6rs

we don't recognize this as part of

an impersonal process we start

recognizing it as this is my process

this

is me this is who i am

and you don't develop your kindness to

yourself

you get caught up in emotional upsets

and cause yourself a lot of pain

so it's real important to understand

how this process works and see the

process

in while it's working and that's what

the six

hours do it helps you to be

more clear and

truly understand how this process

works

the more you understand this deeply the

more

you get close to becoming an r

right

don't get caught up in your likes and

dislikes

they're not so important

and it's easy to forget

that's why you need to keep practicing

using the six r's

that's why you need to start practicing

smiling

more and more

this is an all the time

practice excuse me

and the more you

remember

the more uplifted your mind becomes

the easier it is to get a

be with other people that might be

completely disagreeable but you don't

have to disagree

with them you don't have to argue with

them you don't have to fight with

them you just allow them to

have their own personal view

now i've been with some people that were

very staunch

tibetan monks very staunch mahayana

monks

and we can sit down and discuss what the

buddha is talking about without getting

angry

with each other without disagreeing with

each other

just accepting what the other person

says and see if

that works for you or it doesn't

you don't have to argue with them

and try to convince them that they're

wrong and you're right

that's why the politics of the day

is let's fight with each other i'm right

you're wrong

well that's nonsense stuff that's just

getting caught up in your habitual

tendencies

of trying to convince other people that

you know

the right way to do things and they

don't

most times that gets other people angry

at you

now you're fighting with them now you're

you're taking it

all personally and you're causing

yourself suffering

developing your sense of humor to be

able to laugh with people

and have fun with people

is the way to

[Music]

uplifted mind to happy mind

who says that you're right and somebody

else is wrong

that's just an opinion it's not for real

it can be right it can be wrong so what

but as you start to let go of your

attachment and your craving of

i'm always right and you're always wrong

there is some friends that i have in

indonesia when i first started teaching

them they'd just gotten married

and the man's uh

father got a hold of the guy that was

getting married

and right before he got married he said

do you want a successful

wedding or a successful marriage

and of course he said yes and he said

then don't fight

she's always right let her be right

and play and then come up with solutions

without

fighting about it they've been married

10 years

they haven't had a fight yet they don't

get angry with each other

they wind up laughing with each other

about

well she's right even though she's not

but then you can start discussing

instead

of holding a position where i'm right

and you're wrong

and we're gonna have this disagreement

now who's attached at that time

who is causing themselves suffering

because of a personal opinion about it

ought to be this way not that way

you see what i'm trying to say

the more we can agree

to disagree but not fight about it

the easier it is to come up with a

solution

that's agreeable to everyone

so

with the destruction fading away

cessation

giving up relaxing and relinquishing

of attraction and the craving and

clinging

based on that element

letting go of the mental standpoint so

this is the way it's

got to be adherences

underlying tendencies based on

one of these elements i've understood

that

my mind is liberated so there's no

disagreement

in yourself

when you become an arab

there's no beating yourself up there's

no

hanging on to a particular belief

this is one of the beauties of

buddhism that i've found

is it's mental development

it's not religion it's not you got to do

it this way because it says in this book

or that book that that's the way it

ought to be

there's none of that there is only

dealing with yourself and relaxing into

it

and not causing yourself

undue suffering

it is by knowing thus and seeing thus

regarding these six

elements that through not craving and

clinging my mind

is liberated from the taints

think about the relief that you would

cause for yourself

when you don't have any craving and

clinging arising

the relief that you have

it's truly remarkable

saying good one might delight and

rejoice in that monks words

having done so a further question may be

put

thus but friend

there are these six internal and

external bases

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees

accomplished and fully awakened what six

they are the eye and forms the ear

and sounds the nose and odors the tongue

and flavors

the body intangibles and mind and mind

objects

these friends are the six internal and

external bases rightly proclaimed by the

blessed one who knows and sees

accomplished and fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he

see regarding these six internal and

external bases

so that through not craving and clinging

his mind is liberated from the taints

when a monk is one with

taints destroyed and is accomplished

completely liberated through final

knowledge

this is the nature of his answer

friend with the destruction fading away

cessation giving up and relinquishing of

desire lust and delight

craving attraction and clinging

of mental standpoints adherences

and underlying tendencies regarding the

eye in

forms i and i consciousness

and things cognizable by mine through

the eye consciousness

i have understood that my mind is

liberated

sounds pretty reasonable doesn't it how

much do you get attached to what you see

or hear and you want more of that

or less of that

when you actually see the way

things are there is no attachment to it

there's no craving that arises

until there is the thinking about

it

once we get caught and thinking about

guess who has a hindrance in their

in their mind

guess who causes himself suffering

that doesn't happen for an hour

he sees and understands these six cent

stores

as they actually are and there's

nothing to be attached to there's

nothing to

hold on to

that's why the six artists are so

important you hear me

pushing that a lot why

because you need to hear it over and

over and over again

until you hear it so much you actually

start to understand it

without true understanding that means

the direct experience

of seeing how useful the six r's are

and you start using them all the time

then

you're just going to understand by

surface knowledge

with the destruction fading away

cessation

giving up and relinquishing of desire

lust and delight craving

attraction craving and clinging

and of mental standpoints adherences and

underlying tendencies

in regard to the ear and sounds and ear

consciousness

and things cognizable by the mind

through the

air consciousness

regarding the nose and odors knows

consciousness then things cognizable by

the mind through the nose consciousness

regarding the tongue and flavors to

consciousness

and things cognizable by mind through

the tongue consciousness

regarding the body tangibles body

consciousness

and things cognizable by the mind cut

by the mind through body consciousness

regarding mind mind objects mind

consciousness

and things cognizable by

mind through mind consciousness

i have understood that my mind is

liberated

that means understanding that each one

of these sense doors

is not you it's not yours

it is just part of a phenomena that

arises

it is by knowing thus seeing thus

regarding these six internal and

external bases

that through not craving and clinging my

mind

is liberated from the taints

what a heavy weight we carry around with

us all the time

because we identify so strongly with

one of the sense doors

with our own understanding

with our own wrong ideas

of how these things actually occur

[Music]

but friend how does a venerable one know

and see how does

uh how so that

in regard to this body with its

consciousness and

all external signs i making mind-making

and the underlying tendency to conceit

have been eradicated in him

how do you eradicate these things it's

simple

use the six r's recognize when your mind

is distracted

let that distraction be there by itself

don't feed it don't feed

whatever it is that arises

let it be by itself and relax as soon as

you relax

you're not attached to it anymore

you're seeing it the way it actually is

then smile

and go back to doing what you were doing

with a mind that is not clouded

that doesn't have a hindrance in it

that's not restless

that's not dulled out

the two biggest hindrances that you have

is restlessness

and sloth and torpor actually it's not

sloth so much as it is torpor

torpor means dullness

and the way that you

observe and use the six

r's is the way that you let go of this

burden

of this pain that we keep causing

ourselves because we keep getting

involved with all of these different

things

and taking them personally

no eye making no mind making

that's what the impersonal nature is

all about it's seeing the true nature of

everything that arises

and letting it be

friends formally when i lived the home

life i was

ignorant or his disciple

taught me the dhamma on hearing the

dhamma i

acquired faith in the tatakata

possessing that faith i considered thus

household life is crowded and dusty

life gone forth is wide open

it's not easy while living in a home to

lead the holy life utterly perfect and

pure

as a polish shell

suppose i shave off my hair and beard

and put on the yellow robe and go

forth from the home life into

homelessness

on a later occasion abandoning small or

large fortune abandoning a small or

large circle of relations

i shaved off my hair and beard and put

on the yellow robe and went forth from

the home life into homelessness

having gone forth and possessed the

monks

training and way of life

i purified my doubt my my mind from

all hindrances

having abandoned these five hindrances

imperfections of mine that weaken wisdom

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states i

entered upon and abided in the first

jhana

now this goes through all the dramas

what are jhanas that's something that's

very much misunderstood

almost everybody when you talk to them

about jhana they say it's some form

of concentration and that's not

a good definition the definition that i

give you

right now is the one that works best

and easiest every

genre is a different level of your

understanding

of how this process works

it's different understanding

each genre actually is a different kind

of meditation because the

results of each genre is a little bit

different

when you're in the first genre it's

different than being in the second genre

when you're in the second genre it's

different than being in the third drama

so there are different kinds of

meditation but it's still

using the six r's

and that's how you start developing your

wisdom you start seeing

more and more clearly how mind works

differently when you're in a different

genre

and it gets to be quite interesting

when my collected mind was thus purified

bright unblemished

rid of imperfections malleable wieldy

steady

and attained to imperturb ability i

directed it to

the destruction of the taints

i directly knew as it actually is

this is suffering this

is the origin of suffering this is

the cessation of suffering this

is the way leading to the cessation of

suffering

i directly knew as it actually is

these are the taints this is the origin

of the taints this is the cessation of

the taints

this is the way leading to the cessation

of the taints

when i knew and saw thus my mind was

liberated from the taint of sensual

desire

from the taint of habitual tendencies

from the taint of ignorance

when it was liberated there came the

knowledge

it is liberated i directly knew

birth is destroyed the holy life

has been lived what had to be done has

been done

there is no more coming to any state of

being

it is by knowing thus seeing this

friends

that in regard to this body with its

consciousness

and all external science i making

mind-making

and the underlying tendency to conceit

have i yeah to conceit

have been eradicated in me

saying good the monks may be delighted

and rejoice in the monks words

having done so one should say to him

it is a great a grain a gain

for us friends it is a great gain

for us that

we see such a companion in this holy

life

as vinner as the venerable one

that's what the blessed one said the

monks were satisfied and delighted in

the blessed one's words

so this gives you an idea of

the way you have to develop

your own

observations

a lot of people they say well you have

to have

insight knowledges and there's these 16

insight knowledges that you need to have

well that's not necessarily true

inside knowledges is you're

seeing how you cause yourself suffering

and learned how to let it go that's

inside knowledge

and there's not any set number of those

it's seeing how the links of dependent

origination actually occur

and understand deeply

that's inside knowledge

not

seeing fear or anxiety or

uh anitra do god not

now you will get to see those as you go

deeper

into your drama practice and you will

see them personally you'll see how

everything

actually does work it's not an opinion

so you get to see that

and understand it deeply

that's the kind of practice that we need

to be doing

so i've been talking for a while do you

have

any questions

yes hello

you have to turn on your uh

unmute you have to hello can you hear me

okay any any question

hello yes can you hear me

yes hello wanted um i have a question

about determination

uh how to make it properly should i

always go

through all brahmavicharas or i can

start

when i want it no a determination just

means that you're going to

point your mind in a particular

direction that you wanted to go

you can make a determination that i'm

going to sleep for 15 minutes and then

wake up very alert and then you try to

do that you follow that

a determination can also be that you

want to be in one particular genre or

the other

you can do that it takes practice to be

able to do that

but you will be able to it's just

pointing your mind in the direction you

wanted to go

at that time okay i i i'm able to start

whatever where i want uh to start if i

want to start in compassion it's not a

problem

if i want to start the equivalency it's

all it's not a

problem or even higher usually i

meditate without

any technique just close the eyes and go

deeply into my mind

and i've read on the website that

i should start the termination with

practicing all brahmadiharas so i should

start with metta

karuna and so on until

represents nor perception and then take

determination

to get into particular jannah and emerge

when after some time

okay one of the things i want to caution

you with

with determinations is if you make a

strong determination to get in a

particular

genre and you don't hit it right away

then you're starting to put in too much

energy and you start

not being able to get into any drama at

that time

so a determination has to be

a gentler

kind of suggestion for your mind

okay um

okay so should i start from the meta

or i can yeah and go through all the

stages

and then took one of the stages to go

well you when you make a determination

you just stay

in that okay because

i tried uh i have tried a few times and

i've noticed that

for example if i go to joy i think you

you're

quite right because i felt like

something like too much tension

when i tried to stay in a particular

genre right you're pushing too hard

you're trying too hard you have to back

off okay

now i teach people how

to get mastery of going in and out of

the jaundice at any time and that works

a lot with

determination

i generally don't teach people that

unless they're successful with their

meditation

because it is it is a little more

difficult

but it has to do with starting out and

making a determination that you're going

to be in this genre for this length of

time and then try to hit exactly

going in and out of that drama

okay i've i've tried that kind of few

times

a few times i hit the time it was a five

ten minutes

but few times i i missed or for a few

minutes so

it takes practice okay you have to you

have to stay with the same drama

for the same length of time until you

hit it exactly

four or five times in a row okay and

then you change

to another another length of time

okay but my you know my main question is

should i uh always go first through the

all stages because i've read um

instruction and there was before you

start determination you should go

through all the stages well you go

through all the stages

as you learn the mastery of going in and

out of jhana

then you can go to say you're walking

down the street and you see a baby cry

you want to send some joy to them

you make a determination i'm just going

to go to this

joy and send them some happiness

for two or three minutes

and then you do that and you'll see the

change that happens

or you can go visit somebody that's

depressed

and you say well i'm gonna i'm just

gonna stay with compassion

and radiate loving kindness to them the

whole time

i'm in the room okay i i know

and uh i do practice like that

i try not always remember about it but

when i'm in a situation that

i'm angry i'm in some fight with

something for example

at work i use this this compassion so i

try to wait

i try to go into compassion and radiate

compassion towards them i

also practice um joy and then community

for example

when i have lots of my mind is really

busy

and i have lots of stress at work

i try to get and work with a community

and speak with people with the community

right now when you have uh

an excess of uh restlessness

it's very helpful for you to make a

determination

to bring up the feeling of tranquility

and radiate that to yourself and that

will help your mind settle down

i use this when i go in

neither neither perception nor

perception when i really dip

sometimes i have my mind starting

shaking because

it's bored and then i well that means

look at this

mindfulness is not very sharp if it

starts shaking

yeah the whole point of being in neither

perception or non-perception is sitting

with a quiet mind without any

disturbance at all okay

so you're not in that journal when you

have that restlessness

okay but you know the mind is fluid when

you know sometimes um

the state can change yeah

if they change that means you're not in

that genre anymore

okay okay so i'm out okay

i understand okay

okay thank you okay

anybody else

i have a question yes earlier

you said that the reason that we're here

is because we broke precepts in the past

right does that mean that's the reason

why we're born as human beings

or we have craving and we have clinging

yeah and the reason we have craving and

clinging

is because in the past we broke precepts

and we have that guilty feeling that's

why the hindrances arise

okay and that's

what that's why when somebody becomes an

arahat they don't have any craving and

clinging anymore

that means that they're not gonna be

reborn

okay okay thank you

okay

i i have a question thank you thank you

for your talk

uh just picking up a little bit on the

question that the first person

was asking so if someone if you know if

someone

is in neither perception or

non-perception

and their mind shifts they're no longer

in that genre

does that mean longer in the disturbance

does that mean you like drop down to the

jhana below

are you in no jhana at all or like what

happens if you when you come out of that

and

there's a disturbance does that mean you

drop down urbans you're not in the jhana

until you let go of that and then you

can go back into the drama

being in neither perception or

non-perception be

means being in the quiet mind without

disturbance

for long periods of time half an hour

hour two hours three hours like that

right so if you come out of that ghana

do you go down to

um nothingness no

you're just out of all janna's you have

a hindrance

you're in the hindrance i see

this is why i tell people a lot of the

time i

want you to sharpen your mindfulness so

you can see the very

very beginning of any movement of mind's

intention and relax

and stay with that quiet mind that way

you're not

you're not distracted for

more than a second or two

nice okay thank you okay

hello hello um i have two questions

today

okay it's related to the quiet mind

uh that my question is like

sometimes in my meditation

a small disturbance starts and

i will apply 6r and i can see that after

6r

the hindrance the disturbance has

bent away and there is relief i cannot i

can

feel that i

am continuing with my quiet mind

sometimes what happening is the next

distraction is coming

very early like one to two minutes again

the same thing i will apply and i will

continue with

quiet well that says that your

mindfulness

is not very sharp if it lasts for that

long

i want you to sharpen your mindfulness

so you can see the first

little tiny movement and let it be

and relax and stay with a quiet mind

that means that you have to take more

interest

in staying with the quiet mind

you have to sharpen your interest a

little bit more

and when i say a little bit i mean a

little bit just a tiny bit

and if that doesn't quite work as well

as it could then you add a little bit

more

but just learn how to adjust the amount

of energy you

need so you can stay on your object of

meditation

without losing

uh without being in the drama

okay stay with quiet mind as much as you

can

okay okay one day uh

another question

this is not related to meditation but uh

like when i was practicing before with

other technique

i at max i used to sit for one hour

but now i can able to sit for like one

and a half or

one hour 45 minutes without any

any pains why what is the reason that

i can able people can sit comfortably

such a long time well you can sit

comfortably longer because

you're using a six hours now

that's the real reason but why is

why the pains nothing is coming well

because you're not letting go of the

craving when you're using

another meditation

and if you don't let go of the craving

you don't really

recognize the hindrances when they start

to come up and they can catch you

and distract you very strongly

when you use the 6rs you are recognizing

the hindrance when it comes up and you

let it go more quickly

more easily more naturally

that's why okay and extend your sitting

if you have the time

extend your sitting so that you're

sitting more than two hours

there is no try there's only do

okay i need to wake up early then

okay okay thank you thank you for

answering my questions now

talk about the formations yeah

um but what do you need to know about

him

i'm familiar i understand the other

terms but

uh about dependent origination but

formations

i don't know that i have a good picture

of

what they are okay when you're looking

at the formations according to dependent

origination you're looking at the

potential

of the arising of body speech and mind

it's only the potential that you're

seeing

with formations

just like consciousness you're seeing

the potential for consciousness to arise

but it has to have more than just

the consciousness itself you have to

have consciousness of

something of one of the sense doors

okay okay so just we're talking about

potential

okay but it says it comes up

first so well the potential is there for

it to come up but it needs to have other

things arise

so that it will come up

okay all right let me think about that

for a while

okay thank you yeah

anybody else

hi bente yes um so i have a question so

for engineers and basically those

working in the science that got busy

mind and they develop this

problem-solving mind

so sometimes the mind is busy and it

takes time to

quiet the mind before you do the

meditation do you have any

recommendation on

how to quiet the mind before doing the

meditation

use the six hours i mean

you develop this habit of problem

solving with the work right i mean you

said that

the disturbances or hindrances is

because you broke a precept before but

what if somebody's job is

problem-solving i mean

mine gets oh welcome to the engineering

world

ask your intuition

ask yourself what is the easiest way for

me to have a quiet mind ask it just

once the answer will come to you

okay

but engineers they're the hardest ones

to teach because you've been

taught all through college to think

think think think think think think

yes and now you come to this

and you want to go well i don't want to

think now

but you have developed that habit so it

just takes a little bit more

energy and effort to understand

how to let it go and you

do need to ask your intuition

and your intuition will tell you

okay

thanks okay

also develop your sense of humor more

make your laugh more okay

okay anybody else

then let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless

at all grief and they all being true

[Music]

may they

okay i hope to see you all next week

thank you thank you thank you thank you

bronte

today thank you thank you okay

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at zawati in

jettas grove and athenpendika's park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

general will sir they replied the

blessed one said this

here monks a monk makes a declaration of

final knowledge

thus i understand birth is destroyed the

holy life has been

lived what had to be done has been done

there is no more coming to any state of

being

that monks words should not be approved

or disapproved

without approving or disapproving

a question should be put thus friend

there are four kinds of expression

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows

and sees accomplished and fully awakened

what for telling the scene

as it is seen telling the herd

as it is heard telling the sensed

as it is sensed telling the cognized

as it is cognized

these friend are the four kinds of

expression

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he

see regarding these four kinds of

expression

so that through not craving and clinging

his mind is liberated from the taints

when a monk is one with taints destroyed

who has lived the holy life done what

had to be done

laid down the burden reached the true

goal

destroyed the fetters of being and is

completely

liberated through final knowledge

this is the nature of his answer

regarding the scene i abide unattracted

and

repelled independent detached free

dissociated with a mind grid of barriers

regarding the herd i abided unattracted

and repelled and dependent

detached free dissociated with a mind

rid of barriers

regarding the sensed i abided

unattracted and repelled

and dependent detached free

dissociated with the mind rid of

barriers

regarding the cognized i abide

unattracted unrepelled and dependent

detached free dissociated with the mind

rid of barriers

it is by

knowing and seeing thus

regarding these four kinds of expression

that through not craving and clinging my

mind is liberated from the taints

saying good one made the

one made delight and rejoice in that

monk's words

having done so a further question may be

put thus

friend there are these five aggregates

affected by craving and clinging now one

of the things that i want you to realize

is the five aggregates are not always

affected by craving and clinging

they may be affected by craving and

clinging

that is if there is still

some craving left in the person's

awareness

but it's not always

what five they are material form

aggregate now this is talking about

being

affected by craving and clinging and if

you're trying to

find out if a person is an arahat or not

you talk to them about that

and you find out what their

observations are with each one of these

different

aggregates

the feeling aggregate affected by

craving and clinging the perception

aggregate

affected by craving and clinging the

formation

aggregate affected by craving and

clinging

and the consciousness aggregate affected

by craving

and clinging these friend are the five

aggregates which may or may not be

affected by craving and clinging

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he

see regarding these five aggregates

which may be

affected by craving and clinging

so that through not craving and clinging

his mind is

liberated from the taints

monks when a monk is one

with taints destroyed and is completely

liberated through final knowledge this

is the nature of his answer

friend having known material form to be

feeble

fading away and comfortless

a destruction fading away and

cessation giving up and relinquishing

of attraction and clinging craving and

clinging

regarding material form

of material uh mental

standpoints adherences and

underlying tendencies regarding material

form

i understand that my mind is liberated

friend having known feeling having known

perception having known formations

having known

consciousness to be fable fading away

and

comfortless now we're talking about

anitra at this point

how everything is in a state of change

it's

it's not permanent

with the destruction fading away

cessation

giving up and relinquishing of

attraction

and craving and clinging towards one of

these

aggregates of mental standpoints

adherences and underlying tendencies

regarding consciousness

and the other aggregates i have

understood

that my mind is liberated

it is by knowing thus seeing thus

regarding these five aggregates which

may or may not be

affected by craving and clinging

that through not craving and clinging my

mind is liberated from the taints

saying good one might be light and

rejoice in that monk's words

having done so a further question may be

put thus

friend there are these six elements

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

what six they are the earth element

the water element the fire element

the air element the space element

and the consciousness element

these friend are the six elements

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees accomplished and

fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he see

regarding these six elements so that

through not craving and clinging his

mind is liberated from the taints

monks when a monk is one whose taints

were destroyed

and is completely liberated through

final knowledge

this is the nature of his answer

friends i have treated the earth element

as not-self with no

self based on the earth element

this is the impersonal nature of

everything

and this is something that's

very confusing for an awful lot of

people and i don't really

understand why because

of the false belief in a personal self

that is associated with craving

people get confused and they say well if

this

is not myself then where is myself

there is no self there's

only the observation now this is

why it's so important to understand the

six

r's recognizing that your mind is

distracted

while you're sitting releasing

the distraction now this is really

important

and an awful lot of people get confused

by this

don't keep your attention on

what is distracting your attention

let it be there by itself don't

feed it with your attention

and when you do that and then you relax

the tightness

caused by that misconception when it

arises

then you're very clear you don't have

distracting thoughts you don't have

thoughts at all you're just

able to observe clearly without any

craving in your mind

you're observing with a pure mind

the

whatever it is that um

is is arising

now you need to bring up something

wholesome that's what smiling is about

the more you smile the lighter your mind

becomes

the clearer your mind becomes the

sharper your mindfulness becomes

and this is extremely important

now you bring that pure clean

mind that's uplifted a little

to your objective meditation and stay

with your objective meditation

so the six r's

are another way of describing

the four noble truths

and the eightfold path

keep following with the six

hours keep relaxing

letting go of that false belief in the

personal self

now why do you have distractions come up

because in the past you broke a precept

now i know talking about precepts and

and morality

is not very popular in america

or in the west because it's been pushed

very strongly by the

the catholic religion

about having a guilty feeling and

needing to go through somebody else to

get rid of that guilty feeling

but the honestly what's

most important is for you to realize

that

the whole reason you're here

is because of breaking precepts

when you break a precept you feel guilty

when you feel guilty you take it on

personally

and you start saying this is me this is

mine

this is who i am

and when you do that

you have the false belief in a personal

self

and the only way to let go of that false

belief in a personal self

is by using the six r's

and i say it's the only way i really

mean that

you have to be able to relax and let go

of the craving that's the most important

part of the six

hours because

that is the second noble truth

and letting go of that is the third

noble truth

so

please understand that any time

you have an identification with the

thoughts with the feelings with

sensations when they come up when you

take them personally

you are feeding

that false belief in a personal self

so when you let go of that

when you relax and let it be then your

mind becomes clear

this is the main difference in what most

people are teaching in meditation

because an awful lot of people that do

different kinds of meditation they don't

recognize

the

the hindrances when they come up

they have an idea that hindrances they

stop you from meditating you're supposed

to

really stop it push it away

suppress it make it so it doesn't come

up anymore

but as i said last week i have a friend

that's been teaching for 50 years

and from the very beginning of his

practice

he has had fear and you can still hear

fear in his in his voice when he's

talking

that says something about not being able

to recognize

hindrances when they come up taking the

hindrances

personally trying to stop and

try to try to push him down try to not

bother you but the truth

is there is tightness in your head

in your mind and you need to have the

six

r's so that you can let these

go

now it doesn't matter when

you are whether you are sitting in

meditation

or you're having your daily activities

anytime a hindrance arises

the truth is it's there

anytime you try to push it away anytime

you try to stop it

you are causing yourself more

and more suffering

you cause your own suffering

you can't blame somebody else for

uh something that they said or did you

can't blame them

for the cause of your suffering

you are the cause of your own suffering

and the more you stop getting involved

with it

the more you start relaxing into it

the clearer your mind becomes the

happier you become

and you're going to learn by stages

going through this

now when you are doing your practice

and you are letting go

of that craving you see

more and more clearly

how you cause your own suffering

the way things are going

in the world today is to look for blame

in

anybody else but yourself

and the truth is nobody else can

by doing what they say or doing

uh unwholesome things

that is not the cause of your suffering

your suffering is caused by yourself

the importance of keeping the six r's

can never be overstated it can't be

stated enough

you need to be be able to practice this

all the time

and keeping your precepts without

breaking them is exceptionally

important anytime you break a precept

you have a guilty feeling

now that's going to come up while you're

trying to calm your mind down

it's going to make your mind very active

and you need to let that go

you need to be able to use the 6rs so

that they will not

the the hindrance will go away by itself

as soon as you let go of

that tight mind as soon as you

relax

quite often people will tell me

well i can't do that because i'm busy i

have to work i have to do this i have to

do that

this takes a fraction of a second

when you get good at keeping your

precepts

so don't make excuses for breaking your

precepts don't make excuses for

not letting go of the hindrance

just do it

again it doesn't take very long

and the more you can recognize when that

tension

and tightness is in your head in your

mind

and you let it go the more uplifted your

mind

becomes the happier you become

now when i'm teaching a retreat

quite often i tell people to turn their

thoughts and feelings into a game

play with it don't get over serious

one of the biggest problems that people

have

when they are

practicing meditation is

getting over serious and then start

criticizing yourself because you made a

mistake

instead of laughing with yourself

because

your mind's going crazy

you would rather get serious with

yourself

and beat yourself up

and cause yourself an immeasurable

amount of pain

well that's

you doing that to yourself

if you play with it if you laugh with

yourself

because your mind goes crazy and it does

that sometimes

then you will become more and more

clear and you're going to keep your

precepts

more and more without breaking them

when you do that your mind naturally

becomes more tranquil

quite often during the start of a

retreat almost everybody has a bad day

or two to start with

well why because

you didn't keep your precepts as well as

you could

you have a lot of disturbance in your

mind

your mind is still active like it is

when you're

out doing this and that

and then when you come in to start

sitting at the retreat

it takes a day or two to settle down

once it starts settling down now you're

starting

to teach yourself more and more

and the thing with meditation that you

really

do need to understand deeply is

you are your own teacher

you know where your soft spots are

you know where you make mistakes

the trick is to be kind to yourself to

be

gentle with yourself not to be critical

with yourself

using the six hours teaches you that

and it's not a maybe it really does

work this way

a lot of people start complaining to me

about this is too simple

it can't be this easy it's got to be

more complicated than this

and it's not

this is the way it actually works the

trick

is that you have to remind yourself over

and over and over again

until you start putting

into practice the six r's

and it becomes more automatic

and this leads to an uplifted mind

this leads to more happiness for you

that you can give away

you can give this happiness away

to everybody else around you

have you ever walked into a room where

somebody's depressed

and you feel like turning around and

walking out because they're so depressed

well they're giving you a negative

you want to help change their mind you

don't have to talk to them you don't

have to try to convince them of anything

what you have to do is start sending

loving and kind thoughts

to that person that's depressed this is

called compassion isn't it

and the more you practice it

the better you get at it until

you walk into a room and people just

automatically they start smiling a

little bit

and they're happy to see you and the

talk that you have with them

is more uplifted

more kind more gentle that's the whole

point of doing the meditation

do this enough use the six r's

enough and it will start to be

automatic over a period of time

and the more automatic it becomes

the more enjoyable life

becomes so it's a real

important thing for you to understand

so i'm going to get back to the suit and

find out more about the questions you

need to ask

someone that says i am an art

i know there are some people that they

claim

there are hats and

they actually are not

because they're not able to answer these

kind of questions this particular

suta is very important to understand

so you can discern whether you think

somebody is an

arab or not you can tell for yourself

are there arahats in the world

i'm not sure maybe

but whether they are in our heart or not

doesn't really matter it's what i'm

doing with myself

it's the clarity of mind that i have

and the understanding that i have that's

most important

okay friends i have treated the earth

element as

not self with no self based on the earth

element and with the destruction

fading away cessation giving up and

relinquishing of attraction

and the craving and clinging based on

the earth element

of mental standpoints adherences

underlying tendencies based on

the earth element i have understood that

my mind is liberated

how do you have that kind of thing

automatically arise

when you have done enough work with the

6rs

you will get into a state that is

pure intuition intuitive mind

intuitive mind is always correct

it's always right

and there's no um

trying to come up with answers

the answers will come up by themselves

automatically

quickly

friends i have treated the water element

the fire

element the error element the space

element

and the consciousness element as not

self

but where is the self there is

no self there

is only process

everything is part of a process

it's not me it's not mine it's not

myself

in the six sets of six that's drummed

into you

over and over this is not me this is not

mine this is not

myself

when you start to

do what i did for i did it for about six

months

i spent

every time i had a thought arise

i started questioning is this me

is this my thought did i ask this

thought to come

up did i ask this feeling to come up

did i ask this process to begin

and the answer was always no it's not me

it's not mine i might pick up some

thoughts from other people

is that mine no it's just

thoughts you don't

make them personal

after i did that for about six months i

had a deep realization

that all of the stuff that arises

doesn't matter what i was doing at the

time

everything that arose it wasn't me it

wasn't mine

there's no controlling there's no trying

to force your mind to be

something that you think it should be

there's only realization

that this is part of a process and that

process

is called dependent origination and

that's how it works

so the more you start realizing that

these crazy thoughts that arise this

extreme liking and disliking and wanting

and not wanting

and all of these things that come up

they're not yours

you don't take them personally when you

don't take them personally you see

the the true nature of them

which is just an arising and passing

away of phenomena

but we've had so many

lifetimes that we've taken things

personally and this is me and this is

mine and this is who

i am and i like this and i don't like

that

and i'm angry and i'm happy and all of

these different things that arise

and we take it all so personally that we

completely lose sight

of the way things actually are

and we'll fight for we'll fight to say

no

this is me and i'm right to be

upset about this or that because they

said this and they did that

and it's not

helpful to your own happiness to your

own balance of mind the whole thing

with using the six r's is

the equanimity that you are able to have

in your mind without getting

upset because it didn't happen the way i

wanted it to or you

didn't do what i asked you to do

you start to have more balance

you're more at ease

and you

naturally develop a kind of

happiness that stays with you

so the emotional upsets

now that's part of uh

bhava in pali and i call it habitual

tendencies

and the habitual tendency is always when

we get

caught in trying to think of feeling

okay you can't think your feelings

because feelings are one thing and

thoughts are something else

but you get caught in trying to control

your feelings with your thoughts

and the more you do that the more pain

you cause yourself

the more upset you become with yourself

the more you beat yourself up

and that's unwholesome that's being

caught in the unwholesome not just a

little bit

but a lot and that's the reason that you

get depressed that's a reason you get

angry

you get afraid you have anxiety

worry all of these

different things

arise

because we don't use the 6rs

we don't recognize this as part of

an impersonal process we start

recognizing it as this is my process

this

is me this is who i am

and you don't develop your kindness to

yourself

you get caught up in emotional upsets

and cause yourself a lot of pain

so it's real important to understand

how this process works and see the

process

in while it's working and that's what

the six

hours do it helps you to be

more clear and

truly understand how this process

works

the more you understand this deeply the

more

you get close to becoming an r

right

don't get caught up in your likes and

dislikes

they're not so important

and it's easy to forget

that's why you need to keep practicing

using the six r's

that's why you need to start practicing

smiling

more and more

this is an all the time

practice excuse me

and the more you

remember

the more uplifted your mind becomes

the easier it is to get a

be with other people that might be

completely disagreeable but you don't

have to disagree

with them you don't have to argue with

them you don't have to fight with

them you just allow them to

have their own personal view

now i've been with some people that were

very staunch

tibetan monks very staunch mahayana

monks

and we can sit down and discuss what the

buddha is talking about without getting

angry

with each other without disagreeing with

each other

just accepting what the other person

says and see if

that works for you or it doesn't

you don't have to argue with them

and try to convince them that they're

wrong and you're right

that's why the politics of the day

is let's fight with each other i'm right

you're wrong

well that's nonsense stuff that's just

getting caught up in your habitual

tendencies

of trying to convince other people that

you know

the right way to do things and they

don't

most times that gets other people angry

at you

now you're fighting with them now you're

you're taking it

all personally and you're causing

yourself suffering

developing your sense of humor to be

able to laugh with people

and have fun with people

is the way to

[Music]

uplifted mind to happy mind

who says that you're right and somebody

else is wrong

that's just an opinion it's not for real

it can be right it can be wrong so what

but as you start to let go of your

attachment and your craving of

i'm always right and you're always wrong

there is some friends that i have in

indonesia when i first started teaching

them they'd just gotten married

and the man's uh

father got a hold of the guy that was

getting married

and right before he got married he said

do you want a successful

wedding or a successful marriage

and of course he said yes and he said

then don't fight

she's always right let her be right

and play and then come up with solutions

without

fighting about it they've been married

10 years

they haven't had a fight yet they don't

get angry with each other

they wind up laughing with each other

about

well she's right even though she's not

but then you can start discussing

instead

of holding a position where i'm right

and you're wrong

and we're gonna have this disagreement

now who's attached at that time

who is causing themselves suffering

because of a personal opinion about it

ought to be this way not that way

you see what i'm trying to say

the more we can agree

to disagree but not fight about it

the easier it is to come up with a

solution

that's agreeable to everyone

so

with the destruction fading away

cessation

giving up relaxing and relinquishing

of attraction and the craving and

clinging

based on that element

letting go of the mental standpoint so

this is the way it's

got to be adherences

underlying tendencies based on

one of these elements i've understood

that

my mind is liberated so there's no

disagreement

in yourself

when you become an arab

there's no beating yourself up there's

no

hanging on to a particular belief

this is one of the beauties of

buddhism that i've found

is it's mental development

it's not religion it's not you got to do

it this way because it says in this book

or that book that that's the way it

ought to be

there's none of that there is only

dealing with yourself and relaxing into

it

and not causing yourself

undue suffering

it is by knowing thus and seeing thus

regarding these six

elements that through not craving and

clinging my mind

is liberated from the taints

think about the relief that you would

cause for yourself

when you don't have any craving and

clinging arising

the relief that you have

it's truly remarkable

saying good one might delight and

rejoice in that monks words

having done so a further question may be

put

thus but friend

there are these six internal and

external bases

rightly proclaimed by the blessed one

who knows and sees

accomplished and fully awakened what six

they are the eye and forms the ear

and sounds the nose and odors the tongue

and flavors

the body intangibles and mind and mind

objects

these friends are the six internal and

external bases rightly proclaimed by the

blessed one who knows and sees

accomplished and fully awakened

how does a venerable one know how does

he

see regarding these six internal and

external bases

so that through not craving and clinging

his mind is liberated from the taints

when a monk is one with

taints destroyed and is accomplished

completely liberated through final

knowledge

this is the nature of his answer

friend with the destruction fading away

cessation giving up and relinquishing of

desire lust and delight

craving attraction and clinging

of mental standpoints adherences

and underlying tendencies regarding the

eye in

forms i and i consciousness

and things cognizable by mine through

the eye consciousness

i have understood that my mind is

liberated

sounds pretty reasonable doesn't it how

much do you get attached to what you see

or hear and you want more of that

or less of that

when you actually see the way

things are there is no attachment to it

there's no craving that arises

until there is the thinking about

it

once we get caught and thinking about

guess who has a hindrance in their

in their mind

guess who causes himself suffering

that doesn't happen for an hour

he sees and understands these six cent

stores

as they actually are and there's

nothing to be attached to there's

nothing to

hold on to

that's why the six artists are so

important you hear me

pushing that a lot why

because you need to hear it over and

over and over again

until you hear it so much you actually

start to understand it

without true understanding that means

the direct experience

of seeing how useful the six r's are

and you start using them all the time

then

you're just going to understand by

surface knowledge

with the destruction fading away

cessation

giving up and relinquishing of desire

lust and delight craving

attraction craving and clinging

and of mental standpoints adherences and

underlying tendencies

in regard to the ear and sounds and ear

consciousness

and things cognizable by the mind

through the

air consciousness

regarding the nose and odors knows

consciousness then things cognizable by

the mind through the nose consciousness

regarding the tongue and flavors to

consciousness

and things cognizable by mind through

the tongue consciousness

regarding the body tangibles body

consciousness

and things cognizable by the mind cut

by the mind through body consciousness

regarding mind mind objects mind

consciousness

and things cognizable by

mind through mind consciousness

i have understood that my mind is

liberated

that means understanding that each one

of these sense doors

is not you it's not yours

it is just part of a phenomena that

arises

it is by knowing thus seeing thus

regarding these six internal and

external bases

that through not craving and clinging my

mind

is liberated from the taints

what a heavy weight we carry around with

us all the time

because we identify so strongly with

one of the sense doors

with our own understanding

with our own wrong ideas

of how these things actually occur

[Music]

but friend how does a venerable one know

and see how does

uh how so that

in regard to this body with its

consciousness and

all external signs i making mind-making

and the underlying tendency to conceit

have been eradicated in him

how do you eradicate these things it's

simple

use the six r's recognize when your mind

is distracted

let that distraction be there by itself

don't feed it don't feed

whatever it is that arises

let it be by itself and relax as soon as

you relax

you're not attached to it anymore

you're seeing it the way it actually is

then smile

and go back to doing what you were doing

with a mind that is not clouded

that doesn't have a hindrance in it

that's not restless

that's not dulled out

the two biggest hindrances that you have

is restlessness

and sloth and torpor actually it's not

sloth so much as it is torpor

torpor means dullness

and the way that you

observe and use the six

r's is the way that you let go of this

burden

of this pain that we keep causing

ourselves because we keep getting

involved with all of these different

things

and taking them personally

no eye making no mind making

that's what the impersonal nature is

all about it's seeing the true nature of

everything that arises

and letting it be

friends formally when i lived the home

life i was

ignorant or his disciple

taught me the dhamma on hearing the

dhamma i

acquired faith in the tatakata

possessing that faith i considered thus

household life is crowded and dusty

life gone forth is wide open

it's not easy while living in a home to

lead the holy life utterly perfect and

pure

as a polish shell

suppose i shave off my hair and beard

and put on the yellow robe and go

forth from the home life into

homelessness

on a later occasion abandoning small or

large fortune abandoning a small or

large circle of relations

i shaved off my hair and beard and put

on the yellow robe and went forth from

the home life into homelessness

having gone forth and possessed the

monks

training and way of life

i purified my doubt my my mind from

all hindrances

having abandoned these five hindrances

imperfections of mine that weaken wisdom

quite secluded from sensual pleasures

secluded from unwholesome states i

entered upon and abided in the first

jhana

now this goes through all the dramas

what are jhanas that's something that's

very much misunderstood

almost everybody when you talk to them

about jhana they say it's some form

of concentration and that's not

a good definition the definition that i

give you

right now is the one that works best

and easiest every

genre is a different level of your

understanding

of how this process works

it's different understanding

each genre actually is a different kind

of meditation because the

results of each genre is a little bit

different

when you're in the first genre it's

different than being in the second genre

when you're in the second genre it's

different than being in the third drama

so there are different kinds of

meditation but it's still

using the six r's

and that's how you start developing your

wisdom you start seeing

more and more clearly how mind works

differently when you're in a different

genre

and it gets to be quite interesting

when my collected mind was thus purified

bright unblemished

rid of imperfections malleable wieldy

steady

and attained to imperturb ability i

directed it to

the destruction of the taints

i directly knew as it actually is

this is suffering this

is the origin of suffering this is

the cessation of suffering this

is the way leading to the cessation of

suffering

i directly knew as it actually is

these are the taints this is the origin

of the taints this is the cessation of

the taints

this is the way leading to the cessation

of the taints

when i knew and saw thus my mind was

liberated from the taint of sensual

desire

from the taint of habitual tendencies

from the taint of ignorance

when it was liberated there came the

knowledge

it is liberated i directly knew

birth is destroyed the holy life

has been lived what had to be done has

been done

there is no more coming to any state of

being

it is by knowing thus seeing this

friends

that in regard to this body with its

consciousness

and all external science i making

mind-making

and the underlying tendency to conceit

have i yeah to conceit

have been eradicated in me

saying good the monks may be delighted

and rejoice in the monks words

having done so one should say to him

it is a great a grain a gain

for us friends it is a great gain

for us that

we see such a companion in this holy

life

as vinner as the venerable one

that's what the blessed one said the

monks were satisfied and delighted in

the blessed one's words

so this gives you an idea of

the way you have to develop

your own

observations

a lot of people they say well you have

to have

insight knowledges and there's these 16

insight knowledges that you need to have

well that's not necessarily true

inside knowledges is you're

seeing how you cause yourself suffering

and learned how to let it go that's

inside knowledge

and there's not any set number of those

it's seeing how the links of dependent

origination actually occur

and understand deeply

that's inside knowledge

not

seeing fear or anxiety or

uh anitra do god not

now you will get to see those as you go

deeper

into your drama practice and you will

see them personally you'll see how

everything

actually does work it's not an opinion

so you get to see that

and understand it deeply

that's the kind of practice that we need

to be doing

so i've been talking for a while do you

have

any questions

yes hello

you have to turn on your uh

unmute you have to hello can you hear me

okay any any question

hello yes can you hear me

yes hello wanted um i have a question

about determination

uh how to make it properly should i

always go

through all brahmavicharas or i can

start

when i want it no a determination just

means that you're going to

point your mind in a particular

direction that you wanted to go

you can make a determination that i'm

going to sleep for 15 minutes and then

wake up very alert and then you try to

do that you follow that

a determination can also be that you

want to be in one particular genre or

the other

you can do that it takes practice to be

able to do that

but you will be able to it's just

pointing your mind in the direction you

wanted to go

at that time okay i i i'm able to start

whatever where i want uh to start if i

want to start in compassion it's not a

problem

if i want to start the equivalency it's

all it's not a

problem or even higher usually i

meditate without

any technique just close the eyes and go

deeply into my mind

and i've read on the website that

i should start the termination with

practicing all brahmadiharas so i should

start with metta

karuna and so on until

represents nor perception and then take

determination

to get into particular jannah and emerge

when after some time

okay one of the things i want to caution

you with

with determinations is if you make a

strong determination to get in a

particular

genre and you don't hit it right away

then you're starting to put in too much

energy and you start

not being able to get into any drama at

that time

so a determination has to be

a gentler

kind of suggestion for your mind

okay um

okay so should i start from the meta

or i can yeah and go through all the

stages

and then took one of the stages to go

well you when you make a determination

you just stay

in that okay because

i tried uh i have tried a few times and

i've noticed that

for example if i go to joy i think you

you're

quite right because i felt like

something like too much tension

when i tried to stay in a particular

genre right you're pushing too hard

you're trying too hard you have to back

off okay

now i teach people how

to get mastery of going in and out of

the jaundice at any time and that works

a lot with

determination

i generally don't teach people that

unless they're successful with their

meditation

because it is it is a little more

difficult

but it has to do with starting out and

making a determination that you're going

to be in this genre for this length of

time and then try to hit exactly

going in and out of that drama

okay i've i've tried that kind of few

times

a few times i hit the time it was a five

ten minutes

but few times i i missed or for a few

minutes so

it takes practice okay you have to you

have to stay with the same drama

for the same length of time until you

hit it exactly

four or five times in a row okay and

then you change

to another another length of time

okay but my you know my main question is

should i uh always go first through the

all stages because i've read um

instruction and there was before you

start determination you should go

through all the stages well you go

through all the stages

as you learn the mastery of going in and

out of jhana

then you can go to say you're walking

down the street and you see a baby cry

you want to send some joy to them

you make a determination i'm just going

to go to this

joy and send them some happiness

for two or three minutes

and then you do that and you'll see the

change that happens

or you can go visit somebody that's

depressed

and you say well i'm gonna i'm just

gonna stay with compassion

and radiate loving kindness to them the

whole time

i'm in the room okay i i know

and uh i do practice like that

i try not always remember about it but

when i'm in a situation that

i'm angry i'm in some fight with

something for example

at work i use this this compassion so i

try to wait

i try to go into compassion and radiate

compassion towards them i

also practice um joy and then community

for example

when i have lots of my mind is really

busy

and i have lots of stress at work

i try to get and work with a community

and speak with people with the community

right now when you have uh

an excess of uh restlessness

it's very helpful for you to make a

determination

to bring up the feeling of tranquility

and radiate that to yourself and that

will help your mind settle down

i use this when i go in

neither neither perception nor

perception when i really dip

sometimes i have my mind starting

shaking because

it's bored and then i well that means

look at this

mindfulness is not very sharp if it

starts shaking

yeah the whole point of being in neither

perception or non-perception is sitting

with a quiet mind without any

disturbance at all okay

so you're not in that journal when you

have that restlessness

okay but you know the mind is fluid when

you know sometimes um

the state can change yeah

if they change that means you're not in

that genre anymore

okay okay so i'm out okay

i understand okay

okay thank you okay

anybody else

i have a question yes earlier

you said that the reason that we're here

is because we broke precepts in the past

right does that mean that's the reason

why we're born as human beings

or we have craving and we have clinging

yeah and the reason we have craving and

clinging

is because in the past we broke precepts

and we have that guilty feeling that's

why the hindrances arise

okay and that's

what that's why when somebody becomes an

arahat they don't have any craving and

clinging anymore

that means that they're not gonna be

reborn

okay okay thank you

okay

i i have a question thank you thank you

for your talk

uh just picking up a little bit on the

question that the first person

was asking so if someone if you know if

someone

is in neither perception or

non-perception

and their mind shifts they're no longer

in that genre

does that mean longer in the disturbance

does that mean you like drop down to the

jhana below

are you in no jhana at all or like what

happens if you when you come out of that

and

there's a disturbance does that mean you

drop down urbans you're not in the jhana

until you let go of that and then you

can go back into the drama

being in neither perception or

non-perception be

means being in the quiet mind without

disturbance

for long periods of time half an hour

hour two hours three hours like that

right so if you come out of that ghana

do you go down to

um nothingness no

you're just out of all janna's you have

a hindrance

you're in the hindrance i see

this is why i tell people a lot of the

time i

want you to sharpen your mindfulness so

you can see the very

very beginning of any movement of mind's

intention and relax

and stay with that quiet mind that way

you're not

you're not distracted for

more than a second or two

nice okay thank you okay

hello hello um i have two questions

today

okay it's related to the quiet mind

uh that my question is like

sometimes in my meditation

a small disturbance starts and

i will apply 6r and i can see that after

6r

the hindrance the disturbance has

bent away and there is relief i cannot i

can

feel that i

am continuing with my quiet mind

sometimes what happening is the next

distraction is coming

very early like one to two minutes again

the same thing i will apply and i will

continue with

quiet well that says that your

mindfulness

is not very sharp if it lasts for that

long

i want you to sharpen your mindfulness

so you can see the first

little tiny movement and let it be

and relax and stay with a quiet mind

that means that you have to take more

interest

in staying with the quiet mind

you have to sharpen your interest a

little bit more

and when i say a little bit i mean a

little bit just a tiny bit

and if that doesn't quite work as well

as it could then you add a little bit

more

but just learn how to adjust the amount

of energy you

need so you can stay on your object of

meditation

without losing

uh without being in the drama

okay stay with quiet mind as much as you

can

okay okay one day uh

another question

this is not related to meditation but uh

like when i was practicing before with

other technique

i at max i used to sit for one hour

but now i can able to sit for like one

and a half or

one hour 45 minutes without any

any pains why what is the reason that

i can able people can sit comfortably

such a long time well you can sit

comfortably longer because

you're using a six hours now

that's the real reason but why is

why the pains nothing is coming well

because you're not letting go of the

craving when you're using

another meditation

and if you don't let go of the craving

you don't really

recognize the hindrances when they start

to come up and they can catch you

and distract you very strongly

when you use the 6rs you are recognizing

the hindrance when it comes up and you

let it go more quickly

more easily more naturally

that's why okay and extend your sitting

if you have the time

extend your sitting so that you're

sitting more than two hours

there is no try there's only do

okay i need to wake up early then

okay okay thank you thank you for

answering my questions now

talk about the formations yeah

um but what do you need to know about

him

i'm familiar i understand the other

terms but

uh about dependent origination but

formations

i don't know that i have a good picture

of

what they are okay when you're looking

at the formations according to dependent

origination you're looking at the

potential

of the arising of body speech and mind

it's only the potential that you're

seeing

with formations

just like consciousness you're seeing

the potential for consciousness to arise

but it has to have more than just

the consciousness itself you have to

have consciousness of

something of one of the sense doors

okay okay so just we're talking about

potential

okay but it says it comes up

first so well the potential is there for

it to come up but it needs to have other

things arise

so that it will come up

okay all right let me think about that

for a while

okay thank you yeah

anybody else

hi bente yes um so i have a question so

for engineers and basically those

working in the science that got busy

mind and they develop this

problem-solving mind

so sometimes the mind is busy and it

takes time to

quiet the mind before you do the

meditation do you have any

recommendation on

how to quiet the mind before doing the

meditation

use the six hours i mean

you develop this habit of problem

solving with the work right i mean you

said that

the disturbances or hindrances is

because you broke a precept before but

what if somebody's job is

problem-solving i mean

mine gets oh welcome to the engineering

world

ask your intuition

ask yourself what is the easiest way for

me to have a quiet mind ask it just

once the answer will come to you

okay

but engineers they're the hardest ones

to teach because you've been

taught all through college to think

think think think think think think

yes and now you come to this

and you want to go well i don't want to

think now

but you have developed that habit so it

just takes a little bit more

energy and effort to understand

how to let it go and you

do need to ask your intuition

and your intuition will tell you

okay

thanks okay

also develop your sense of humor more

make your laugh more okay

okay anybody else

then let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless

at all grief and they all being true

[Music]

may they

okay i hope to see you all next week

thank you thank you thank you thank you

bronte

today thank you thank you okay