From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7ViXUdMxZ1c

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

[Music]

so

the suit tonight is one that i haven't

done for a

really long time

this is the vachaca on

on fire

suit to number 72

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee and

jupiter's grove and then pinbicus park

then the wanderer vajragata

went to the blessed one exchanged

readings when this courteous and

immutable talk was

finished he sat down at one side excuse

me i got the hiccups for some reason

ah

and he asked the blessed one how is it

master gotama does master go to hold the

view

the world is eternal

only this is true and anything else

that's false

by chagata i do not hold that view

the world is in is eternal and

everything else is wrong

how then does master go to now hold the

view

the world is not eternal and only this

is true and anything else is wrong

bacha i do not hold the view

the world is

eternal and everything else is wrong

how is it master go to my does master go

to now hold the view the world is finite

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

gotcha i do not hold the view the world

is finite

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

how then does master go to now hold the

view the world is infinite

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

but i do not hold the view the world is

infinite

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

how is it master goes to mud does master

go to know hold the view

the soul and the body are the same

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

this is really a

interesting observation

because

that takes away the view of

reincarnation

it takes the view that

you are the soul

if everything is

impersonal how can there be a soul

how can be either

how can there be a everlasting thing

how can there be a continually happening

thing from one lifetime to the next

so this view is a very strong

indication

that there is only

the impersonal process

and everything is

changing

constantly quickly

so

i'd forgotten this

and when i read it again

it just brought all of that back to me

how how important it is to see the

impersonal nature

anything that you take personally

has a hindrance behind it

anytime you hold a view this is me i'm

sad i'm glad

whatever it happens to be

that means that there's a hindrance

behind what you're saying

and

you have a little bit of a guilty

feeling with breaking that hindrance

and that's why you take it personally so

it'll come back

so you can use that

as a reminder

that everything is in person

so

the world suffer suffers very greatly

from this false belief in a personal

self

and all the religions that i know of

they take

the personal view

and they try to

it in one way or another they try to

make it

fit their

needs at the time

so this is a very strong statement the

soul and the body are the same because

we take them to be the same continually

watch it i do not hold the view the soul

and the body are the same

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

now the idea of holding an idea as being

true

and anything else is wrong

is

just getting caught up in more

and more

judging

condemning

i don't like you because your view says

this and it doesn't match my view

so it's a real interesting thing

to

realize that 99.9

of the population has this view

and that's why the world is in the mess

that it's in right now

of course the world is always in a mess

because so many people wanted to be in a

mess

by holding on to their views

religious wars

what is it with a religious war

how can you have a religious war if it's

honest

no can do

no such a thing

there's only hindrance wars

that fight with each other

then how then master gotuma does master

gotena hold the view the soul is one

thing in the body another

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

that's almost comical after the

explanation that i just got through

that i do not hold the view the soul is

one thing and the body another

then what goes to heaven

or hell

well you go to your consciousness

goes to heaven or hell

because of your past actions either good

actions are bad

it still has that wrong belief in it

and i know there's so much confusion

about

the self

and i have to

i have to take care of these things i

have to make myself better

because of this view or that

and

the more wholesome you make your mind

by sitting in meditation and seeing the

impersonal nature of everything

the more wholesome you your mind becomes

the more your mind directs it to the

wholesome

that's why a lot of people

when they come and practice with me they

they leave and they say i've never felt

like this before

i actually feel happy

well yeah

why because you're not holding on to

that wrong view

of i am that

and you're not

consumed

by

craving

the start of i am that

so why

why are the 6r so important

well they're important because

of

letting go of the craving

that changes the entire practice

and i get

oh i tried the 6r and i used it and i

used it and i used it and it didn't work

of course it's not going to work

immediately on everything it depends on

how strong your attachment is to what

you are

trying to let go of

you might have to use the hours five or

six times but you don't use a one right

after the other

you do the six r's and you're back to

your object to meditation you get pulled

back to it

you use the six r's you come back to

your object to meditation with a happy

uplifted mind

then that attachment gets weaker and

weaker that obsession

with whatever it happens to be gets

weaker and weaker

until it just fades away on its own

and you didn't have anything to do with

it

it works on its own

how is it master gotama

does master go to hold the view after

death that tatagata exists

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

if you don't have any craving there is

no more becoming

if there's no more becoming how can you

say that you still exist after

there is death

interesting

when i was in asia one of the things

that i was continually arguing with but

not directly but i would argue in my own

mind sometimes

people would go to a buddha image and

pray to buddha to do

something well he's not here how can he

do anything

but

they they want to put their

their troubles they don't want to leave

it for somebody else to take care of

whether it's god or jesus or muhammad

yeshiva

and any of those

they want to transfer that so they can

have an excuse to act that way again

if there is

uh the conditions for it to be

so

no arahat

is still alive

after they die

there is no more

craving to

cause that to occur

watch i do not hold the view after the

death of the tatakata

after death a tataka exists

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

then how does master go to the hold the

view after death of tatagata does not

exist

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

now this is a real interesting question

because we hold the view that you have

to exist

well you do exist

but it's like building a sand castle

out of sand

very beautiful wonderful looking thing

and a wave comes and knocks it down

now all of those grains of sand are

still there

his

aggregates are still there

but they're not held together with

anything

can you put that sand castle back in

exactly the same way as if it was made

before well

anybody knows no not even close

so there is a consciousness that's

floating around

there is perception floating around

there are the formations floating around

but they're not attached to anything

and this leads to the scientists now

the astronomers and astrologers and

these kinds of folks not astrologers

excuse me

astronomers

they say that there is

energy

in space

of course there's energy in space

and they're now proving that even beings

can

be

born in space

they're not very big

but there are there are occurrences

where some of the aggregates get

together and it forms a little being

and after a period of time then it goes

on become bigger and until there's

beings around

so there's no beginning and no end

which is something that an awful lot of

people

they want to know where's the big when

what happened to the beginning of the

the world

there has to be a beginning what caused

the beginning well what caused the

beginning was a couple of these live

molecules got together and started

hanging out together more

until there's actual beings

so it's

the physics is actually starting to

catch up with

what the buddha's been talking about for

2600 years

real interesting

bacha i do not hold the view

after death of a tatakata does not exist

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

anybody that holds that idea that this

is true and anything else is wrong

is really suffering a lot

look at how much

christians suffer

because they want jesus to take it take

their sins away

i can't take your sins away you can't

take mine away

they're all caused because of our past

actions

and we have to take responsibility for

it

this is

a real important thing and it's a thing

that drew me to buddhism

because i wasn't

looking for outside

explanations of why this or why that

it made me look

closely at myself

first

when i first started doing meditation i

had no idea that that's what i was

really doing

but over the years it became more and

more obvious

that i was causing my own suffering

somebody in the family died

and i'm real sad

who said

well now i don't have that person to

talk to anymore

what person

you see what i'm saying

this is

real important

to understand

that everything we do

we have to be responsible for

for the good as well as the the

unwholesome

how is it master gotama does master

gotuma hold the view after death of a

total both exist and does not exist only

this is true and anything else is wrong

that is

mostly your brahman trying to twist

things around and make things confusing

i did not hold the view after the death

of a tatakata both exist and does not

exist only this is true and anything

else is wrong

then how does master go to hold the view

after death the tautoga to neither exist

nor not exist

well you're going to get the same answer

it doesn't apply

why look at these

deep philosophical questions

and you know what i think of philosophy

philosophies a lot of thoughts and a lot

of words

without any action behind it

so you can still keep going looking

outside of yourself

for the answers

and there was one thing that i read that

was it was

and

hindu

see if i can remember it

uh

the the head brahma

he was looking for a place

to hide the most sacred truth

that can be found

and he tried on mountaintops he tried

under the oceans he tried in the earth

he tried in outer space but he could

people always found out those things

so finally he got wise and he said i

know where to hide it

we'll hide it inside each individual

they'll never think to look there

that's really true

anyway

how is it then master gotama when master

gotama is asked each of these 10

questions he replies

i do not hold that view

what danger does master go to messi that

he does not

take up

any of these speculative views

facia the speculative view that the

world is eternal

[Music]

is a thicket of views

a wilderness of views

a contortion of views

a vacillation of views

a fetter of views

and that's all that is that's philosophy

it is beset by suffering

by vexation by despair by fever

and it does not lead to

disenchantment to dispassion to the

cessation

to peace

to direct knowledge to awakening

to nibana

so

that's all thinking about

and it's all

reinforcing obsessions and views

about everything

the speculative

view that the world is not eternal that

the world is finite it's infinite

that the soul and body are the same

that the soul is one thing in the body

another

that after death a tattagata exists

after death the tatanga does not exist

after death tatagata both exists and

does not exist

that after death the tatakata neither

exists or does not exist

this effective views a wilderness of

views a contortion vacillation of views

a fetter of jews

it is beset with suffering fixation by

despair

by fever

and it does not lead to disenchantment

to dispassion to cessation to peace

to direct knowledge

this is another reason i like to six

ours because it gives you direct

knowledge and when you have that direct

knowledge of how this process actually

does work in you

you become infinitely

more intelligent

that's one of the reasons i tell people

when they first come

[Music]

that after 10 days you're going to be a

lot smarter than when you start

and it's always true

if they follow directions and do the

practice

i do not take up any of these

speculative views

then master gotama does master go to

hold any speculative view at all

vatra

speculative view is something that the

tatakata has put away

for the target of atra has seen this

such as material forms such its origin

such its disappearance

such its feelings such its origin such

its disappearance

such its perception such its origin such

its disappearance

such are formations such their origin

such their disappearance

such is consciousness such its origin

such its disappearance

that's a big

[Music]

big

observation about

the five aggregates

therefore i say with the destruction

fading away cessation giving up

relinquishing of all conceivings

of all

x

cognition nations

all i making mind-making and the

underlying tendency to conceit

the titakata is liberated through not

craving and clinging

easy to say

takes a little while to realize it

though

when a monk's mind is liberated thus

master go to mount where does he

reappear after death

the term reappears does not apply vaccia

because it's like the same castle of

saint

of

sand

then he does not reappear

this turn does not reappear does not

apply vaccia

as the sand is still there

it just can't be put together in exactly

the same way

then he both reappears and does not

reappear master gautama

the term

both reappears and does not reappear

does not apply

then he neither reappears nor does not

reappear

master go to man the term neither

appears nor

does not reappear does not apply

when master gotuma has asked these four

questions he replies

the term reappears does not apply

the term does not reappear does not

apply

the term both reappears and does not

reappear does not apply

the term neither appears nor does not

reappear does not apply

here i have failed and i have fallen

into bewilderment

here i have fallen into confusion

and the measure of confidence i had

gained through previous conversations

with master gautama has disappeared

it is enough to cause you bewilderment

vaccia enough to cause you confusion

for this dharma is profound hard to see

hard to understand

peaceful sublime

unattainable by mere reasoning by mere

reasoning

subtle

to be experienced by the wise

that was just another

[Music]

interpretation of

the good qualities of the dhamma

and the only way you can interpret these

things

to be experienced by the wise

is by seeing how this process of

dependent origination

and its impersonal nature

occur

you don't have any control over it

these things happen by themselves

but i'm here

are you

or is that just a way of talking

it's when you drop the belief that

everything is yours personally

when you six are and let go of all

this

unwholesome nature of craving in all its

manifest forms it's when you let those

go

that you truly do become wise because

you see

life is part of a process

and it's impersonal

it's conditioned

one one

link

arises

fades away the next

link arises face-up fades away

and it happens really fast

so it's it's not something that's easy

to see and the only way you're able to

see it is when you slow down

and let go

of

that false belief in a personal self

uh there was a movie that was called

lucy

and she gave an example of a car

going along the road

and the car sped up and sped up and sped

up until it wasn't there anymore

what's the truth of it oh it's still

there

but you weren't able to discern it you

weren't able to see it

so when you start letting go of craving

and you really do let go of the craving

your awareness of how these links

becomes clearer and clearer

and you'll see this process and it seems

like it slows down but actually

your awareness is becoming

more used to

seeing with a clear mind

now all of this nonsense about

dependent origination being so difficult

to understand it's only difficult to

understand

if it's a philosophy

but when you start seeing it personally

and you start

being able to discern each one of these

links even though they are happening

very fast

it's not a philosophy anymore

it's just a process

so

it's hard for you to understand when you

hold another view

except the another teaching

approve of another teaching

persuade a different training

and follow a different teacher

so i question you

about this in return vaccine

answer as you choose

what do you think fatiha

suppose a fire were burning before you

would you know

this fire is burning before me

i would master gautama

if someone were to ask you vacca

what does this fire burning before you

burn independent on

being asked what would you answer

being asked master goatsman i would

answer the fire is burning before me

and it burns independence on the grass

and sticks

if that fire before you

were to be extinguished

would you know this fire before me

had been extinguished

i would master gautama

if someone were to ask you vaccia

when that fire before you was

extinguished

to which direction did it go

did it go to the east the west the north

or south

being asked thus

what would you answer

that does not apply master goatsman the

fire burned independence on its fuel and

grass and sticks

when that fire is used up if it does not

get any more fuel

being without fire

it is reckoned to be extinguished

reasonable i

suppose so too vacca the tatagata has

abandoned all material form by which one

describing the tatavata

might describe him

he has cut it off at the root

made it like a palm stump done away with

it so that there is no longer any

subject to future arising

the tatagata is liberated from reckoning

in terms of material form

bocce

he is profound

immeasurable

hard to fathom

like the

ocean the term reappears does not apply

the term does not

does not reappear does not apply

the term both reappears and does not

reappear does not apply

the term neither reappears nor does not

reappear

does not apply

the tatagata has abandoned that feeling

by which all describing

the tatagata might be just it might

describe him

so you're getting an idea of why i like

this suta because it is exclusively

talking about the impersonal nature of

everything

okay

uh and it has abandoned that perception

by which unwholesome

what what is unwholesome

right view is wholesome

and these ten things

are unwholesome and the other ten things

are wholesome

when a monk has abandoned craving cut it

off at the root made like a palm stomp

done away with it so that it is no

longer subject to future arising

then that monk

is an arahat with taints destroyed

one 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

apart from master gotama is there any

one monk master gotama's disciple

who by realizing for himself with direct

knowledge here and now enters upon and

abides in the deliverance of mind and

deliverance by wisdom

that are taintless with the destruction

of the taints

there are not only 100 vacca or two or

three or four or 500

but far more monks my disciples

who by realizing for himself with direct

knowledge here and now enter upon and

abide in the deliverance of mind and

deliverance by wisdom

that are taintless with the destruction

of the taints

apart from master gotama

the monks is there any one

bikuni

masters of this master gotama's disciple

who by realizing for herself with direct

knowledge here and now enters upon and

abides in the deliverance of mine

and deliverance by wisdom that are

taintless with the taints the

destruction of the tanks

there are not only a 100 or five hundred

but far more bikunis my disciples

who by realizing for themselves with

direct knowledge here and now

abide in the deliverance of mine and

deliverance by wisdom that are taintless

with the destruction of the things

apart from master gautama

and the monks

and the bikunis is there any one manly

follower master gotuma's disciple

clothed in white

leading a life of celibacy

who with the destruction of the five

lower fetters

will appear

spontaneously in the pure boats

and there attain final nibana without

ever returning from that world

there are not only a hundred or five

hundred but far more

lay followers my disciples clothed in

white

leading lives of celibacy

with the destruction of the five lower

fetters will reappear spontaneously in

the pure boats

and their final nibana was with

will attain final nibana without any

returning from that world

now this is something interesting that i

ran across in

indonesia malaysia

and asia and

and

mostly

that people were very much afraid

of becoming an hanagani

because they have this idea

that

because they won't have any

sexual desire

that they won't live a good family life

they're so attached to the idea of

having sexual activity they're afraid to

let it go

they don't see the true advantages

of being celibate

of not having that

that worry that anxiety come up

it's

real amazing to me

that they would stop their

their spiritual growth

because of fear

of not having sexual activity

there's a lot of coarseness in sexual

activity

you can still live with your family

imagine growing up with a family

say both a mother and father are

on a gummy

and they're raising a child

without any hatred

without any pride

without any

unwholesome things

now the child is still going to get into

problems

they're still going to get into

questioning and not liking and hating

and all of these kind of things

but by and large children mimic their

parents

how their parents handle a problem

that's how they wind up on handling a

problem

so a little child wants to

stick a

piece of metal in an electric socket you

don't want them to do that

you have to stop them

and explain

why they shouldn't do that

it will cause them a lot of pain that

could even cause them death

and they will have the tendency to

listen to that

so

a family that has

onigami's for parents

they wind up having more and more

harmonious reactions with each other

and as a result they don't suffer near

as much

so

i've i've always found this to be quite

interesting now i've been told

by

some

teachers in germany

dhamma teachers

that

there's no way

you can attain nibana

unless you become an ri

that's the only way you can you can get

to that lofty goal

and i said no that's not true

and they said

well show me in the suttas where it says

that

well this particular suit shows it out

clearly and they still wouldn't accept

it so okay you go on your way i'll go on

mine i don't need to talk with you

anymore

so it's a real interesting

thing

the views that people hold

and the fears and anxieties they hold on

to

because they're afraid of being too

wholesome

that to me that just doesn't make sense

so

apart from master gotama the bikunis and

bikus the men followers dressed in white

both

those leading lives of celibacy

and those enjoying sensual pleasures is

there any one womanly follower

of course the answer is yes

see

something that really it

is confusing to a lot of people

is

that

when you're talking about the spiritual

path there is no difference between men

and women

it's just that men have dominated for so

long they they say well

if you're a woman

you you can't even understand this

i had a female follower

and we went to a

big conference

and she got a hold of one of the

very big

monks

of thailand

and she started telling him

about what she knew of dependent

origination now she had had

a direct experience

and understanding of dependent

origination

and what she was telling him was right

but i wasn't with them at the time i'd

been talking to somebody else and i

looked over and i saw that she kind of

had this monk cornered

so i thought oh boy this is going to be

fun

so i went

over and as soon as he saw me

he ignored

the

the person that was talking to him the

female

and got in my face

and he said how dare you teach the

higher teaching to women

and i said

why do you say that

and

he was just

beyond himself he was just really angry

you can't teach these women they don't

understand

why did you do that

and i said because she could understand

and he got so flustered that he walked

off

oh well

and he looks like she's asleep

okay

apart from uh master gotama the bikunis

because the lay followers dressed in

white

both those leading

lives of celibacy and those enjoying

sensual pleasures

and the women lay follower dressed in

white

who carries out his instructions

responds to his advice and has gone

beyond doubt

become free from perplexity free from

intrepidity

and become independent of others in the

teacher's dispensation

there are not only a hundred or five

hundred with far more

women lay followers

men lay followers

bitcoins and

bakus

master gotama if only master gotama were

accomplished in this dhamma but no

bhikkhus were accomplished

and this holy life would be deficient in

that respect

but because master gotama and the monks

are accomplished in this dhamma

this holy life is thus complete in that

respect

if only master gotama and monks were

accomplished in this dhamma

but no bikini

bikunis were

accomplished

then this holy life would be deficient

in that respect

if only

master gotama bhikkhus and bikunis were

accomplished in this but no men

followers clothed and wide leaning to

the celibacy were accomplished

then this holy life would be deficient

in that respect

but because master gotamas monks and

bikunis

and lay followers dressed in white

and women followers dressed in white

and lay followers

men and women were dressed in white

then this holy life would be deficient

in that respect but because master

gotama monks and bikunis

men and women lay followers

i'm cutting out some of this

because it's just repetition

this

this path would be deficient

so

how many times have i i've been told by

monks

heard monks giving talks

that to attain nibana

it's impossible in this lifetime

if you're really good for the next

hundred lifetimes you might be able to

attain nibana

now what does that say

that says that what's being taught is

deficient it's missing something

and what is it missing

it's missing

the six r's

it's missing right effort

it's missing letting go

of and relaxing away

of

craving

so an awful lot of the dhamma talks you

hear are deficient

they might be good they might be

entertaining you might learn something

from them

but if they don't continually remind you

to let go of the craving

and can explain what craving is

and

how to let it go

and how to recognize it when it first

starts

if they don't put that in their dharma

talks

then it's all philosophy and it's

deficient according to the buddha's

teaching

just as the river ganges include

inclines towards the sea

slopes towards the sea flows towards the

sea

and extends all the way to the sea

so to master gotoma's assembly

with its homeless ones

and its householder inclines towards

nibana

oh

see there is hope

slopes towards nibana flows towards

nibana and extends to

all the way to nibana

magnificent master gotama magnificent

master gotama has made the dhamma clear

in many ways

as though he were turning

upright what was overthrown

revealing what was hidden

showing the way to one who was lost

or holding up a lamp in the dark for

those with eyesight to see forms

some people have this idea that you

do good action

but you don't share that merit of the

good action with other people

and the buddha said that that's not the

way to do things you should always be

sharing your merit with other beings

and he gave this example that there's a

village that didn't have any fire

they didn't none of the houses had light

and this one man came visiting and he

had a candle

and he went to each one of the

householders

and gave them light for their house

did he lose anything from doing that

did that fire change much

so you share your merit

every good action that you do

when i was working in a nursing home and

i was being with people that were dying

one of the last things that i did

to help their mind be uplifted

was i would tell them that every good

action that i have ever done in any

lifetime

i share that merit with them

quite often

their mind would become very happy

and their rebirth

was in

devaloka

in a very nice place

and that was really satisfying to me to

know that i could

help someone

and then share the merit of that with

somebody else

so sharing your merit

with everybody you see is a great thing

to do it's not just a good thing

this is how you practice your generosity

this is how you

help

the world

to lessen their suffering

so

then he said i go to master gotama for

refuge and to the dangan sangha

sangha of monks

i would receive the going forth under

master gautama he's asking to be

ordained

i would see receive the full admission

vaca

one who formerly belonged to another

sect

and desires to go forth and have the

full admission in this dhamma and

discipline

lives on probation for four months

at the end of four months

if the monks are satisfied with him they

give him the going forth and the full

admission to the monks

but i recognize individual differences

in this matter

venerable sir if those who formally

belong to another sect and desire to

going forth in full admission in this

dom and discipline

live on probation for four months

and at the end of that the monks were

satisfied

with their going forth

then i will live on probation for four

years

at the end of four years if the monks

are satisfied with me

let them give me the going forth in full

admission to the monks state

then the wanderer vacuum got to receive

the going forth under the blessed one

and receive full admission

not long after his full admission a half

a month after his admission

the venerable vaccigato went to the

blessed one

now this is only two weeks

after paying homage to him he sat down

on one side and told the blessed one

venerable sir i have attained whatever

can be attained by knowledge of the the

uh of a disciple in higher training

higher training here

means

meditation

by true knowledge

of a disciple in higher training

let the blessed one teach me the dhamma

further

in that case vaccinate develop further

two things

serenity and insight

what is serenity

it's letting go of craving so that your

mind has no excitement in it

so your mind can be peaceful and calm

and insight is always seeing how the

links of dependent origination work

when these things are developed

they will lead to the penetration of

many elements

to the extent that you may wish

may i will the various kinds of

supernormal power having been one

may i become many

i always thought that would be useful

that way i could be teaching here and in

asia at the same time

having been many

may i become one

may i go unhindered through walls

through an enclosure through a mountain

as though through

space may i dive in and out of the earth

as though it were water

may i walk on the water without sinking

now these are

powers that you can develop

i won't tell you how because you have to

spend the time with me

and it takes about 10 years to do

it so i'm not interested in teaching

that too much

why does it take so long

because of the pride of being able to

accomplish this

i i met a monk

that was

very adept at flying in the air

but he was not

uh

cautious with doing it

and

uh a bunch of lay people this was in

burma they saw him flying in the air and

all of a sudden he was an aurad

to

them and they were very poor village but

they

they gave everything they possibly could

to him

anyway i talked with him for a while and

he kept saying i don't know why these

people keep saying that i can do this

that i'm in arahat

he said well stop showing off stop

walk wherever you want to go don't fly

but he was attached to it

and he was very very worried that he was

he was breaking any rules of the monks

every new moon in full moon i would sit

down with the sangha and we would recite

the

all of the uh

all

of the verses

it's called the party mocha

all of all of the suit uh the

suit is on all of the rules of

discipline

of which there's

227

and they're recited in poly

so

it generally takes because they

in burma they're real big on doing

something so well that they can do it

fast

and it only took about a half an hour to

go through all of the

the different rules

and then we would sit around and discuss

what what if this rule was broken what

can you look forward to have it

happening happening to you

and

how can you understand it more deeply

and with him

he would catch me

and

on both the new moon and full moon

and go over the same questions over and

over again

hearing that he had broken one of the

rules

and eventually

he disrobed because he said it's just

too much pressure to keep all these

roles he wasn't understanding the depth

of

what the teaching was

and i couldn't help him any more than i

already did because i was a young monk

at the time i was

only oh i i must have been

eight range retreats eight eight years

a month

so i wasn't even an elder at that time

you don't get to be an elder monk until

you're in the sangha for 10 years

and now i've i've got the title that i

don't use

of maha

because i've been a monk for more than

20 years

anyway

he was very adept

at using the air element

so he could float around

and you you could see him

you know he'd be 100 200 feet in the air

flying from one place to another

there's stories in sri lanka that there

were so many monks that were good at

that

they were flying everywhere

and they blocked the sun

so the crops couldn't grow so they

couldn't feed the monks

i'm not sure i believe something like

that but it makes for a good story

anyway

uh walking on water

all they do is in their mind they

produce earth

and it is like they're walking on earth

when they're walking in the water

and there's there's other things that

that

i'm not going to talk about

that

you can do

you can become many

and if you're you're many that means

that you can

also

clean up the monastery in a short period

of time because there might be you might

make a hundred of you that's

cleaning and washing and doing all the

things that need to be done

so

may i will bodily mastery even as far as

the brahma worlds that means that they

can you can go and visit these different

realms and it's always interesting to do

that

and and talk with them

that's developing the divine eye and the

divine here i have some students that

are very good with that sort of thing

but that is because

of their own

abilities and how sensitive they are to

feeling

lucy lenanda

was one of the most brilliant men i've

ever met

but he was not very sensitive to feeling

it didn't mean he didn't feel but he

wasn't very sensitive to it

and i i used to tell him that he was

very much like sorry putta

who is not sensitive to feeling

and there's there's a story about him

sorry putu was sitting in the cessation

of perception feeling and consciousness

for a period of time

and there were a couple of devas that

came around and they saw him sitting

there

and one of the davis said i'm gonna

smack him in the head

and the other

davis said

not this monk don't don't be doing that

and it said that

he hit sorry putta so hard that it would

drop an elephant

which is a pretty good smack

and

mogulana happened to be walking by and

he saw this

this being

slapped sariputa

and right after that sorry buddha came

out of the meditation and

mongalano said did you feel that

and he said

sorry buddha said well what are you

talking

about he said well a

a being came down and smacked you in the

head really really hard

and

sorry putin said well i do have this

slight pain right here it's not not

anything to worry about

right after that being slapped sorry

puta

he was reborn into

a

hillbrow

so don't mess around with our hots be

nice to them

anyway

a lot of people

if they do develop these abilities i

very much

caution them

on using them in front of laymen because

all of a sudden

they're turned into something

really special and they can do these

kind of things

but they don't listen to the dhamma

so it's a distraction and there's this

service

i have

a lot of students that say well i wish i

could read somebody else's mind

and that has always confused me why

would i want to read somebody else's

mind

i got enough nonsense in my own mind i

don't need to listen to theirs too

what difference does it make

but there is that that situation

so

i try to talk people out of it as much

as i can

so this suit

it turns out to be quite long and goes

into all of the different

things like a divine ear and divine eye

and the divine here means that

if you put your attention

on wanting

to see me in person no matter where i am

in the world you'll be able to see me

and if you if you

want to

hear

what i'm saying

you'll be able to hear

what i'm saying

so that should be

caution enough for everybody to use good

speech don't use bad speech

but also

you can go and visit beings in other

realms you can go to the

the hungry ghost realm you can go to the

hell realms you can go to all of these

different realms you can go to heavenly

realms you can go visit

the

realms where there's only

onigami's and our hearts

and talk to them and see what they have

to say

you can do that sort of thing but that

is because of your sensitivity and

you're naturally being able to do that

it happens pretty spontaneously and i've

had some students that i don't believe

this stuff is real

and i ask them

well

did you plan on this happening

no it just happened

well i wouldn't doubt it then anymore i

think you're

you're developing the divine eye and

divine ear that's good

okay

so i'm gonna stop reading this

very lengthy suit does still

a lot more in it

because i've been talking for an hour

and 20 minutes as it is

so

what i'm going to do is ask you

please

do you have any questions

always the silence

uh you're

muted

there

yes

yes um

lots of talks including today on

dependent origination

um i'm thinking that if i'm getting this

right the way to really understand

dependent origination is

spend time in meditation and 6r it's not

a it's not a like a cognitive thing is

that right

that's it

the only way you could really know

dependent origination is by saying it

for yourself

anybody else have a question

yes ponte yeah

um so at the beginning of the suta they

kept on asking uh buddha um all the

different uh aspects and you know

speculations yeah and it's like you know

they were they wanted you know the

philosophy they wanted some sort of

concrete thing that were to happen

right and and that was being avoided

because of the

uh impersonal nature of everything

um

and that was the focus it seemed like on

on showing that everything changes

everything's impersonal nothing stays

the same and there's a lot of comma uh

that

conditions it and i've heard

um this term uh conditioned reality

right

what is it conditioned by

what happened right before it

that's the nature of dependent

origination

that's why they call it dependent

origination because it depends on the

link right before it

if that link doesn't come up then what

happens afterwards will not occur

uh so now the uh the individual

who

may get to the point where

uh is not craving

breaks that link

well every link

has some craving in it or it wouldn't

arise

okay

and that's why you get to the

unconditioned

when there's no more conditions

for

the arising of these links of dependent

origination they're not going to arise

let's see

it sounds tricky but it's not really

and i've i've always

uh for for many years i've understood

the links of dependent origination not

from direct practice but by just going

over it over and over and over again

and understanding as best i could

and

when you're able to see this as process

it's like you're waking up from a dream

and you become

completely alert

it's like

you lay down for a short nap and you

wake up and everything the colors are

more brighter and everything as

sounds are

more

clear

that's what happens when you start

seeing how dependent origination

actually works

and the idea that it's really hard to

understand this

is confounding to me i don't know why so

many

uh

teachers

well i do know why because they're

taking it from the visuti maga that says

that

if you and if you try to understand

dependent origination it's the weight of

all the oceans of the world on your head

and that's just nonsense it's so

practical it makes so much sense when

you start seeing how this process

actually does work

and see it and its impersonal nature

it arises because something else arose

to make that come up

oh why don't all the actions of

everything you've done in the past come

up right now well that's the way karma

works

when conditions are right it's going to

arise

if the conditions aren't there it's not

going to arise

and the more you purify your mind the

less likely you are

to have

hindrances come up

unmute andy

oh um so there i understand there's a

difference between

dependent origination and condition or

conditionality

can you elaborate on that a minute

well what do you

understand it to be because to me it's

the same thing it is conditioned

well that's what i thought but for some

reason i have heard that there's a

difference between conditionality

because conditionality seems kind of

obvious in so many ways a farmer would

know that right you know you have to

have good conditions for the farm to

happen right and but but i was given the

impression that that was too simplistic

an idea no it's not

that's why it gets so confusing because

so many other

teachers

are going to tell you over and over

again that you're not going to

understand it so why even try

but it's simple

because of this that occurs

if this doesn't arise then that's not

going to arise

so it it's

to me it's easy

and i don't know why so many

teachers

don't like that idea

you're on the right path

i see that

any other question

i have a question dante okay

um

the buddha himself when ananda

came to him and said

uh

this dependent origination

it's it's really very straightforward

it's really very simple i can see it

very clearly

the buddha said

say not so ananda say not so yeah this

dependent origination is very deep let

me explain this

please ananda

had been

a

sotapanna a long time

he was talking to the buddha

right after he got his fruition and he

really understood it

that's why he said that

now the buddha said this is hard to

understand it's hard to come up with and

understand it

that's what the buddha is talking about

because he was the first one of our era

to really understand how

dependent origination worked it's hard

to come up with that

he wasn't talking generally about it

being hard

and that's one of the misunderstandings

of that suta which i like very much

wonderful well thank you bonte

my pleasure

anybody else

wanted one more question if i could

please yes please

i noticed that the more i sit the more i

am able to

recognize things in my day-to-day life

for example someone says something that

makes me angry before the recording

starts and i go and go and go my

mindfulness catches it i can six are it

no well the other day this is my

question the other day i was driving to

work and a song came on

that i liked that stuck in my head and

during the day it was in the in my head

all day long and i kind of recognized it

as the same type of recording

is that type of thing to be six hard as

well as anger and frustration yeah

because you're taking it personally

that's why it stays there because you

like it

so this two sides of the same coin the

anger the frustration as well as

grasping and clinging to

things that you enjoy is that correct

yeah so you treat it's treated the same

way exactly

very good monte thank you very much

that's what makes this whole process

simple

but we like to make it complicated

indeed thank you very much mate okay

anybody else

i hope you enjoyed the suit as much as i

enjoyed giving it to you

so let's share some merit

may suffering one must be suffering free

and the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and male

beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've thus 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 buddhist

dispensation

and

i hope you all have a wonderful week and

i'll see you next sunday

thank you

thank you very much

yeah thank you so much

[Music]