From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SKcYXsXV5Mg

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

[Music]

do

the suta today is the

sunyata

sutta

sit the number 105.

thus as i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in visali in the

great wood in the hall with the peat

roof

the reason they think that this is

unusual was they always had flat roofs

during the time of the buddha

so any any structure that was peaked

they thought that was

kind of special

now on that occasion a number of monks

had declared final knowledge in the

presence of the blessed one thus

we 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

sunyattakat

son of the lecca vs heard

a number of monks it seems have declared

final knowledge in the presence of the

blessed one thus

and then it goes through that whole

thing again

then

the son of the lecce

went to the blessed one and paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

said to the blessed one

i have heard venerable sir that a number

of monks have declared final knowledge

in the presence of the buddha

did they do so rightly or

are there some

here who declare final knowledge because

of an

overestimation of themselves

this is a problem

almost everybody

even from the very beginning stages

they

have the idea that they're much further

along than they actually are

so

when those monks

declared final knowledge in my presence

there were some monks who declared final

knowledge rightly

and there were some who declared final

knowledge because they overestimated

themselves

herein

when monks declare final knowledge

rightly

their decal declaration is true

when monks

declare final knowledge because of

overestimation that the target that

thinks

let me teach them the dhamma

thus it is in this case

that the tatagatha thinks

let me teach them the dhamma

but some misguided men

here formulate a question

come to the target and ask it

in that case

though

so the tagasa has thought let me teach

them the dhamma he changes his mind

the way that he asked the buddha

was very offensive

and he had a lot of

doubts

the thing is

he had been a monk before

and the only reason he wanted to be a

monk was so he could be close to the

buddha and look at him because he was

quite gorgeous

and finally the buddha said you have to

disrobe

so he developed some

anger and hatred towards the buddha and

i was always trying to trick him into

doing something different

this is the time blessed one this is the

time sublime one for the blessed one to

teach the dharma

having heard from the blessed one the

monks will remember it

then listen and attend closely to what i

shall say

yes venerable sir

the blessed one said this

there are these five chords of sensual

pleasure what five

forms cognizable by the eye that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire

and inviting lust

sounds cognizable by the ear odors

cognizable by the nose flavors

cognizable by the tongue

tangibles cognizable by the body

that are wished for desired agreeable

and likable connected with sensual

desire and inviting lust

these are the five chords of sensual

pleasure

it is possible

that some person here

may be intent on worldly material things

the reason he said that was because

that's what

the men had asked him that's what he did

he was he he was very interested in

material things only

when a person is intent on the worldly

material things only talk concerning

that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

and he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about the unperturbable is

going on

he will not listen to it and give ear

and exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person

and does not find

satisfaction through him

suppose a man had left his own village

or town

a long time ago

and he were to see another man who had

only recently left that village or town

you would ask that man whether the

people of the village or town were safe

prosperous and healthy

and that man would tell him whether the

people of the village or town were safe

prosperous and healthy

what do you think tsunamica

would that

first man listen to him give here and

exert his mind to understand

yes venerable sir so too

it is possible that some person here may

be intent on worldly material things

when a person is intent on worldly

worldly material things

he does not find satisfaction through

him

he should be understood to be a person

who is intent on worldly material things

it is possible that some person here

may be intent

on the imperturbable

now listen closely to this part

this is very interesting

because there's a rule that monks

don't talk about their own

progress in meditation

because other people hear about it then

they'll have doubts in him whether it's

really true or not and that sort of

thing

and it's a major offense

if he talks about something that he has

not experienced himself

and

people for a long time especially in the

west have this idea that means that you

can never talk about your

progress in the meditation

and

that is far from the truth

this is showing you that if this is

right

when a person is intent on the

imperturbable only talk concerning that

interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about worldly material

things is going on

he will not listen to or

give ear

and exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person and does not find interest

and

satisfaction through him

this is why when you talk about other

people and their meditation

uh

it's it's not interesting

you understand that they don't

understand

but you don't offend them

by saying you're wrong

this way is the right way you don't do

that

you allow them to go their merry way

thinking that you understand what they

were talking about

uh there has been

a lot of talk about

the

uh

lady from india

who

was an anagony your name was

bipama

and recently i've come across some

information

to show that

although she could sit for seven days

she was not an on a dummy she never

experienced the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

consciousness was always there

which means to say she did not

understand

about craving and how to let go of that

craving

she had great concentration there's no

doubt about that

but

she did not get off the wheel of sansari

she will have to experience that again

so

just as a yellow leaf that has fallen

from its stock

is incapable of becoming green again so

too

when a person is intent on the

imperturbable he has shed the fetter of

worldly material things

he should be understood as a person not

bound by the fetter of worldly material

things

who is intent on me and perturbable

it is possible

when some person here

may be intent on the base of

nothing when a person is intent on the

base of nothingness only talk concerning

that really interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person and finds satisfaction through

him

but when talk about the imperturbable is

going on

he will not listen to or give ear or

exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person

and does not find satisfaction through

him

just like a thick stone that has split

in two cannot be joined together again

so to tsunakata

when a person is intent on the base of

nothingness his fetter for the

imperturbable has been split

he should understand

as a person not bound by that fetter

of the imperturbable

who is intent on the base of nothingness

it is

possible that some person may be intent

on the base of neither perception or

non-perception

now this

particular state of mind

is much easier to attain

than most people doing other meditation

they might take five eight ten years

before they can get to that state

but

probably

more than 75 of my students in a 10-day

retreat attained to that level

but people that don't know about it

they'll say no that's impossible nobody

can do it that fast

but we know that it is

attainable it is

not

difficult

like it is if you practice without using

the six r's

and again i run across many people like

that

excuse me

and i don't

i don't argue with them about it

i listen attentively to what they say

it's not really very interesting what

they're talking about

but

i let them

do their past

now when they are in

the jhana

whatever jhana it happens to be

when they're in the jhana their mind is

pure because there are no hindrances

that arise

it's when they come out of that drama

and lose their concentration

that is when

the craving starts to come up and

there's no real personality change

because of that

the real personality change comes from

using the six r's

and it is quite interesting for me at

least

to see the change in personality and the

change in people's face

when

they have these kind of attainments

their face becomes bright and clear and

very radiant

and almost everybody that gets to that

state they start

talking to them about

how clear their their face is how how

they've lost years off of their face

and that's really beautiful

so

for me

that that

shows me that they're really doing the

work

they're really

doing the practice and they're being

successful with the practice because

their face is so

vital

and alive

and young looking

okay when a person is intent on the base

of neither perception or non-perception

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with other people that

have the same kind of

level of meditation

and they bet actually wind up teaching

each other

because one person can say well i tried

this and it didn't work and i don't know

what to do

and the person

that they're talking with will say well

i tried this and it seemed to work quite

well

so

maybe you ought to try doing it this way

so

the idea of not talking to other people

about your spiritual development

is really a false idea

it's not something that you need to

discuss with other people

but discussing with people that are

not necessarily at the same level but

close to it

then you can discuss with them and help

them clear up their

problems

and he finds satisfaction through them

and

of course you have satisfaction

that's why it's so much fun

for me to talk to people that have

already been here

because they understand what i'm talking

about

i know that people that just begin

it's a mystery what i'm talking

about well you're you're way too

advanced a teacher for me to understand

but what do i tell you when you first

come and do a retreat with me

the first day i always say something to

the effect that you're going to be a lot

smarter

when you get off the retreat than when

you're on the retreat when you're before

you get on the retreat

and they are

because they have direct experience

and i spend a lot of time telling people

that they are

teaching themselves through the direct

experience

because you know when you make a mistake

what to do with that how to take care of

that

you know for yourself be why because you

have the direct experience

so it's real important for under you to

understand there is no guru

and i'm not your teacher you teach

yourself

i guide

to make sure you're still on the path

to remind you of something that you've

forgotten

but

that's only being a guide

the buddha is our teacher

he's the one that came up with this he's

the one that

spent 45 years

telling people the same thing in

different ways

over and over and over and over again

the suttas are truly remarkable

and

one of the magical things about the

suttas

is

that

you can read the same suta over and over

and over again

and all of a sudden you get this insight

into oh that's what this means

and it's great fun

to read the suit this

not because you have to

but because it's fun to do

it really is

so it's amazing

to

see how much you understand

when you go and read it

over and over again

and it's really

wonderful

i don't know how to express it any other

way it is wonderful

anyway suppose a person

has eaten some delicious food

and thrown it up

what do you think

could that man have any desire

to eat that food again

not hardly

no venerable sir why is that

because that food is considered

repulsive

so too when a person is tent on the base

of neither perception or non-perception

is fetter of the base of neither

of of nothingness has been rejected

doesn't mean your mind won't go back to

that

it just means while your mind is in

neither perception or non-perception

that

you

don't have any interest in being in the

realm of nothingness

he should be understood as a person not

bound by the fetter of the base of

nothingness

who is intent on the base of neither

perception or non-perception

it is possible that some person may be

completely intent on nibana

when a person is completely intent on

nibbana

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about the base of neither

perception or non-perception is going on

he won't listen to it

or give ear

or exert his mind to understand

why you've already had that experience

it's that simple

i get quite a few complaints about this

being too simple

believe it or not

it is hard work especially if you have

to do a lot of

forgiveness or

whatever you keep forgiving yourself

you forgive other beings

it's simple to do

all you have to do is stay with your

objective meditation

but

it's hard work

because of the attachments you have to

that

situation or person

and letting go of that is not easy

but it's a simple process the buddha was

criticized often about things being way

too

too simple

there's stories about brahmanas that

would come to him with these naughty

kind of questions and he would stop them

and say listen i'm going to teach you

the dhamma

and he would answer their questions

through teaching the dominant

and he was remarkable because of that

he was really

interesting and fun

and good to be around

he does not associate with that kind of

person and does not find satisfaction

through him

just as a palm tree with the top cut off

is incapable of growing again

so too when a person is completely

intent on nibbana

now this is one of the things that i

want to

caution people about

and that is the very subtle fitter

of wanting to attain nirvana

if you want to attain it it's not going

to occur

it's that simple

why

because who wants to attain it

who's identifying with it as theirs

personally

who wants to make it happen

this is when i get a lot of complaints

about oh i'm bored

that's why i made it

a curse word

with the indonesians i said

you have to not tell me about your

boredom who's bored

who wants entertainment

who wants to see something just because

they've never seen it before

so i don't want to hear about boredom

go through it

let it be

there are some different stages of

meditation where boredom will come up

that's part of the practice

and that's just showing you that you

have this

amazing

attachment

that you have to let go of

so please don't ever talk to me about

boredom

okay

okay uh

when a person is completely intent on

nibana

his fetter of the base of neither

perception or non-perception has been

cut off

cut at the root

made like a palm stump done away with so

they're no longer subject to future

arising

one of the things that happens with the

tibetan

community

is they have this idea that there's this

poisonous tree

and if they use the poison

through

what do they call it

i can't think of it right now harmonious

use

that it could be a good thing

and they make fun of the people that are

terrified because they want to cut it

off at the at the root so there is no

more

and they say well they're not as good as

we are because we use that

and

it's a major problem

for the tibetans

they have a few major problems that come

along one of them is

the idea of reincarnating from one

lifetime to the next

just doesn't work

it doesn't go along with so good as

teaching at all

it is possible that some monk

here might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by a

recluse

a poisonous humor of ignorance

is spread around by desire and lust and

ill-will

that arrow of craving has been removed

from me

the poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on

nibana

because he falsely thinks thus

he might pursue those things that are

unsuitable for one completely intent on

nibana

that's what happens with people that

call themselves buddhists

but

don't know anything about craving

they don't understand craving

i was talking with david a little while

back

and i told him that i wanted him to put

something about this

in a uh

introduction to a book that we're just

finishing up right now

and

he said well actually what you're

talking about is the four noble truths

and as i thought about that i would be

yeah

this really is the four noble truths

that was an amazing insight that i had

so

when i'm talking to you about being able

to recognize what craving is

and what to do to let that craving go

that whole time i'm talking to you about

the four noble truths

so that can clear up some of the

thinking now i

i spent 12 years looking for somebody

that would give me that answer

and

nobody could tell me what craving truly

was i got a lot of the stack the

the standard answers

but no real answer

so when i found out for myself

i was truly thrilled

and excited

and i did a lot of practice because of

that

going off into a cave where

all i did was study

the sutures and

practice

10 or 12 hours a day that's all

that's not much compared to what i did

when i was doing the majasi method i was

doing that 16 hours a day

the only time i didn't do it was when i

was

taking care of bodily functions and

eating

so finding

[Music]

what

craving actually is and how to recognize

it and how to let it go when it comes up

was major insights for me

and that's what i've tried to give all

of you

these same insights so that you can see

for yourself

that what i'm saying is

complete

alignment with what the buddha is

teaching

it's really kind of fun

okay

now he might

pursue the sight of an unsuitable form

for the eye

he might pursue the unsuitable sounds

with the ear

unsuitable odors with the nose

unsuitable flavors with the tongue

unsuitable tangibles with the body

unsuitable mind objects with mind

when he pursues the sight of an

unsuitable form for the eye

or

ear

or

nose or tongue or body or mind

lust invades his mind

with his mind invaded by lust

it would never

it would incur death or deadly suffering

so oppose a man were wounded by an arrow

thickly smeared with poison

and as friends and companions and

kinsmen and relatives brought him to a

surgeon

the surgeon would cut out around the

opening of the wound with a knife

then he would probe for the arrow with

the probe

then he would pull out the arrow and

would expel the poisonous humor

leaving a trace

of poison behind

knowing that the trace was left behind

he would say good man the arrow has been

pulled out of you

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with a trace left behind

but it is incapable of harming you

one thought of craving is harmful to you

this is where you get to understand for

yourself that you are your own teacher

you you are your own

[Music]

refuge

you break a precept

you have hindrances arise

you think and ponder on these

unwholesome things and they keep coming

up

so that's a problem

it's a problem that we all have

that we have to let go of

and when i say we have to let go of them

in order to progress more spiritually we

have to do that

there are some people that are satisfied

where they are with their meditation

right now

so they quit meditating and they just

live their lives and they don't break

any precepts and everything is good for

them

but they don't progress any further

that's a choice they can make for

themselves

that's fine

they can do that

but don't come and try to do more

meditation of a different kind just

because you're curious

i wonder what this meditation will do

maybe i'll get some psychic abilities

from doing this meditation

yeah maybe

but it's a big so what

i'm only interested in the final

results

and that's what made me different when i

started teaching this

that made me very much different from

other

practices

well if i do this practice i can become

a healer yeah you can

so

what's the final result of your practice

well somebody gets healthy okay good

and that's honestly good

but it still is so what

getting off the wheel

letting go of these oceans and oceans of

suffering that we cause ourselves

letting these go is the reason that i

am here

to help you see that for yourself

and so you can experience it for

yourself

so this person that had the arrow taken

out

they can eat only suitable food do not

eat unsuitable food

or else the womb will separa uh separate

from time to time wash the wound from

time to time anoint the opening so that

pus and blood do not cover the

opening of the wound

do not walk around in the wind in the

sun

or else dust and dirt may infect the

opening of the wound

take care of your wound good man

see to it that the wound heals

that moon would that man would think the

arrow has been pulled out

the poison is humor has been expelled

with no trace

and it is incapable of harming me he

would eat unsuitable food

and the wound would separate

that means

not heal

he would not wash the wound from time to

time would not anoint its opening with

from time to time

and possum blood would cover the opening

of the wound

he would walk around in the wind and sun

and dust and dirt would infect the

opening of the wound

he would not take care of his wound

and would would see

nor would he see to it

that the womb heals

then

both because he does not

he is he is unsuitable

and

because the foul poison is humor is not

expelled with the trace of

me with a trace left

the wound would swell

and its swelling he would incur death or

deadly suffering

the buddha was a teacher but he was also

a healer

he taught us how to take care of these

things

but we have to do it for ourselves

and if we don't take care of it

ourselves

we're going to continue suffering and

not just a little bit

we will

suffer a lot

so too it is possible that some monks

here might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by the

recluse

the poisonous humor of ignorance is

spread about by him

desire lust and ill will will increase

that arrow of craving has been removed

from him

that poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am completely intent on nirvana that

just means

pointing your mind in the direction of

the wholesome

remembering to use your six arms and the

more you use your six hours

the more joy you have in your life

because he falsely thinks of himself

thus

he might pursue those things

that are unsuitable

for one completely intent on nibana

with his mind invaded by lust he would

incur death or deadly suffering

for it is the death of

the disciple of the noble ones

when one abandons the training and

reverts to the low life

and it is deadly suffering when one

commits that some defile offense

it is possible that some person

might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by the

recluse the poisonous humor of ignorance

is spread by desire lust and ill will

that arrow of craving has been removed

from me

the poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on

nibana

you can be intent on nibana

doing other practices

your intention is correct your intention

is pure

but

you still have this arrow sticking

through you with the poison of craving

so it's very

interesting

to see for yourself

how you cause your own pain and

suffering

and as you go deeper into practice you

start saying well i don't want to do

that to myself

and even if you become a sodaponder and

you happen to break a precept you're

going to feel very guilty

and you know that you have to do

something to

let that go

so you forgive yourself for making a

mistake

then

you take the precepts again you only

have five precepts

and i have 227 of them

and some of them are real minor little

breaks but they still make your mind

feel guilty

so

you have to let them go

then you make a very strong

determination i'm not going to do that

again i'm not going to cause myself this

suffering

doesn't make sense anymore

an amazing thing starts to happen to you

the people that are intent on causing

themselves suffering and causing

themselves so much pain

as friends they will start to fall away

on their own

they're just not interested in being

around you anymore

even though you might be

super strong in loving kindness and

compassion

they just won't be interested in being

around you

so

you start having more and more friends

that

act the same way that you do

that keep the precepts that keep their

practice going

why because you're comfortable with them

you want to be around them

and you have fun with them

i have a lot of fun with the students

that have come here that have done the

practice

and they want to do some more

i have a lot of fun with them and we

tend to laugh quite a bit

we tend to

enjoy each other's company a lot

so that's why i asked people why don't

you come back and do this again

this is good it's not because i'm

attached to you

i love you dairy

but

it's not

an attached kind of love

it's the kind of love

that is universal

i love everybody

even if they are

not

keeping their precepts very well

i can still love them

and have compassion towards them

doesn't matter

now you're starting to see more and more

the clarity of mind that you get

as you progress in the meditation

and the true fun you have with other

people that are doing the same thing

it's really

interesting

so

okay suppose a man were wounded by an

arrow thickly smeared with poison

and as friends and companions as kinsmen

and relatives

brought a surgeon

the surgeon would cut out the opening of

the wound with a knife

then he would probe for the arrow

with a probe

then he would pull out the arrow and

expel the poisonous humor without

leaving a trace behind

knowing no trace was left behind he

would say good man

the arrow has been pulled out from you

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with no trace of

poison left

and it's incapable of harming you

eat only suitable food

do not eat suitable and do not eat

unsuitable food

or else the wound may separate

from time to time wash the wound from

time to time

anoint its opening so pus and blood do

not cover the opening of the wound

do not walk around in the wind and sun

or else dust and dirt may infect the

opening of the wound

take care of your one good man

see to it

that the wound

heals the mad one think

the arrow's been pulled out from from me

we can't

rely on our karma not to have bad things

happen to us

we have all done things to cause these

kind of problems for other people

and because of that there is a balance

that needs to happen so you can have bad

things happen to you

you can die early you can die young

but

because of your practice you will be

reborn in

an uplifted state

where you have the opportunity to

continue on

a lot of a lot of beings in devaloka a

lot of beings in the brahmalokas

they still do meditation

and they purify themselves and they do

progress

and as they progress they will

eventually get off of the wheel of

samsara

they'll not be reborn as a human being

anymore

they will

be uplifted

and they're heck of a lot of fun to be

around i i can't stress that enough

i really really do enjoy very much being

around people that are spiritually

advanced

i wind up laughing a lot

not belly laughs

just kind of little troubles that happen

all the time

anyway

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with no trace left behind

and it's incapable of harming you

what is that poisonous humor

it is craving

it is the attachments

now more and more i've been telling

people they have to do forgiveness

meditation it's real important that they

do it

until they feel

true relief

it doesn't mean that some of the past

things that you've done

won't come back and bite you they will

but your attitude towards them changes

your attachment to that pain

goes away

and you won't have that problem ever

again

he would eat suitable food and the wound

would not separate

from time to time he would wash the

wound from time to time he would anoint

its opening

and possum blood would not cover the

opening of the womb

he would not walk around in the wind and

sun and dust and dirt

would not infect the opening of the womb

he would take care of his wound

and would see to it that the wound heals

then both because he does what is

suitable

and because the foul poisonous humor has

been expelled from

with no trace left behind

the wound would heal and heal fairly

fast

one of the things i noticed with myself

i have a wood burning stove

and every now and then

i touch something that's really really

hot

so what i do is i start forgiving that

for happen

i forgive myself for doing it to myself

i forgive the hot spot for being there

and when i forgive it

it heals in a day or two

now this is for real

if i don't sometimes i like to

experiment and not do anything to it

it's going to be that that

wound is going to be around for

oh 10 days two weeks maybe even longer

depending on the severity of the burn

and you've all heard me talk about

how i like to break my toes for some

reason or another

and when i put loving kindness into it

it doesn't hurt near islam and in three

or four days

it's healed

no pain

so

what is pain

pain is telling you that your body

needs loving kindness in that area

now forgiveness is a

form of loving kindness it's acceptance

and being grateful

for the opportunity to learn from

healing yourself

is important stuff

so the more you can remember to do that

the easier life becomes

and keeping your precepts is a kind of

protection for you

you really do protect yourself

from painful things when you keep the

precepts

and life becomes very much more

manageable and

fun

even when you have this kind of pain

that can arise from whatever your body

is up to

you put loving kindness and forgiveness

into that area

the blood naturally flows to that area

and it brings more oxygen and that heals

that area

very quickly

i mean i've i've had x-rays on my feet

when i broke the toe

just one time i did that because there's

nothing they could do for a broken dough

and i went back to the doctor

so he could check out how my toe was

doing

and i told him that i don't have any

more pain and he would grab my toes and

and

move them in all kinds of weird ways

just to test to see whether it healed or

not

and

it had

and he said what are you doing

oh i'm just loving my toe more and more

and they just shake their head and say

you're doing something and i don't

understand it

but it works so do it again if you have

that problem again

so the more you put loving kindness into

an area in your body that hurts

the less you will suffer

and you're not doing it as a stick to

make the pain go away

you're doing it so you accept the fact

that

that pain is there and it's okay for it

to be there

it's okay because that's the truth it's

there

it has to be okay

so the more you put your loving kindness

into that area

the less suffering you will do

and i don't care whether it's a mental

problem or a physical problem same

you treat it in the same way

there are times as somebody in the

family dies there is going to be grief

but when you forgive that pain for being

there

and allow it to be there without

resistance

that pain will go away and then you'll

only have memories of kindness and

helpfulness

when you remember that person that died

so you don't have to suffer

for years and years i've run across some

students that

they've been suffering for eight or ten

years

because a family member that they really

truly loved

had left

and of course i give them forgiveness

and they work with that and eventually

after a few days

that pain goes away and then their their

heart is so much more open

and their mind is so much more alert

and their progress in meditation is very

fast

i had one student on this last retreat

that i just got done with yesterday

she did forgiveness meditation for six

days which is it actually is a long time

and finally she let go of that pain for

whatever it was i don't care it doesn't

matter

and the next day

she was sitting in

[Music]

neither perception or non-perception i

mean she went through all of

brahmaviara's really really fast

and the day after that she had attained

nibana

it wasn't a shock to me

it wasn't surprising to me at all

because

she had learned

all of the things that she needed to

learn

it was wonderful

and the face

she went from looking like a a

sad old lady

to a radiant

happy young woman

and i look at a lot of your faces and i

see

oh your faces are so bright

your faces are

shining and i see that inner glow

god

that's just

it's remarkable it's wonderful

it's exactly the way it's supposed to be

so let's get back to the sutta

so too it is possible that some monks

here might think craving has been exp

has called an arrow by the blessed one

the poisonous humor of ignorance is

spread

about by desire lust and ill will

that arrow of craving has been pulled

out from me the poisonous humor of

ignorance has been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on me

bana

being one who really is completely

intent on nibbana

you would not pursue those things

unsuitable

for the complete

intent on

nibana because his mind is not invaded

by lust

he does not incur death or deadly

suffering

the three poisons the zen call this the

three poisons lust hatred and division

and that's just another definition

of what craving actually is

everything

that is

troublesome

is caused by gravy

the cause of it

and it's sad

it is a problem

but it's only a problem if you make it a

problem

so the more you can put loving kindness

and forgiveness into whatever

pains you have

the faster those will disappear

i have given assembly in order to convey

a meaning

the meaning here wound

is a term for the six internal bases i

your nose like that

poisonous humor is a term for ignorance

arrow is the term for craving

probe is a term for mindfulness

knife is a turn for noble wisdom the six

ours

surgeon is a term for the tatagata the

accomplished one

when among practices restraint in the

six basis of contact having understood

that attachment the the root is the root

of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not possible that he would

direct his body

or rouse his mind towards any object of

attachment

what relief

amazing

suppose there were a bronze cup of

beverage possessing good color good

smell and good taste

but it was mixed with poison

and a man came who wanted to live not to

die

who wanted pleasure and recoiled from

pain

what do you think tsunam tsunamica

would that man drink that beverage or

that cup of beverage

knowing if i drink that i will incur

death or deadly suffering

no venerable sir so too

when a monk practices restraint of the

six bases of contact and having

understood the attachment

is the root of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not not possible for

for he would direct his bodily and

arouse his mind towards this object of

attachment

suppose there were a deadly poisonous

snake and a man who wanted to live not

die

who wanted pleasure and recoil from pain

what do you think

would that man give that deadly

poisonous snake his hand or thumb

knowing if if i'm bitten

by him i will incur death or deadly

suffering

no venerable sirs so two when a monk

practices restraint of the six paces of

contact

and having understood that attachment is

the root of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not possible that he would direct

his body or arouse his mind towards any

object of attachment

that's what the blessed one said

the son of the lack of ease was

satisfied and delighted in the blessed

one's words

i like this suta

i've always had a bend towards healing

and

so any anything that has to do with

healing i have a tendency to

pay more attention to it

but putting forgiveness and love into

any part of your body

that is giving you troubles

will help overcome that problem

it doesn't mean that you don't go to the

doctor and and follow what the doctor

gives you to do

you do

but you can heal much faster

when

you add to that

your love and compassion towards

yourself and all beings

so i've been talking for a long time

do you have any questions

it's amazing how quiet it gets every

time i give a dumb as [ __ ]

my fiance

yes

hello um

hi uh yeah just a question about the

book you mentioned a new book any little

hints about what it will be about

uh it's going to be

the anupada suta suit the number 111.

it's my favorite suit in all of the

middle lane sayings

because it explains the difference

between

crates or between the five

uh

aggregates

and

the four foundations of mindfulness

it explains that there is no difference

between the two it's just a different

way of describing it

and

it shows you all the steps that you go

through to experience nibana

so i like that suit a lot i'm going to

be getting

a few hundred copies of it for the first

printing

and i'm going to be sending it to a lot

of my

meditation friends

that are teaching

uh

different kinds of meditation

and see if we can

[Music]

convince

those teachers because the more teachers

we have

the faster the buddha dhamma will

spread

and that's

my

my goal for this lifetime is to spread

as much

goodwill and happiness as i possibly can

so if you want some extra copies of it

we'll send you individual copies there's

no problem with that but if you want

extra copies to be able to give to your

friends

then

let me know and i'll send you those

copies

in april we're going to have a

a conference

of the teachers that are now teaching

worldwide

the

twin

and

we are making up cups

coffee cups

talking about that

and we'll send you as many cups as you

want

so you can give them out and just that's

another way of advertising this

particular kind of practice

and it's up to you i have no attachment

one way or the other

so

this was taken from uh

this book was taken from

a talk that i gave

that was

i think i might have been giving it

mostly to

ruth dennison when she was alive

i was giving it to everyone but i was

it seems that when i get around teachers

that have been really sincere in their

in their teaching

that when i give a dhamma talk it's much

more clear

more

good ideas come up from those talks

anyway that's one of the talks that i

gave

and

it is good

and i'm not saying that from an

egotistical point of view

because i get i get hooked on on

listening to some of my own dharma talks

as weird as it sounds

but it's good dhamma

and i really liked listening to it

there was one that it got cut short

because we ran out of tape and as we got

to the end i was going

where's the other tape that goes along

with this i want to hear more

anyway

yes

hello bunter hello

um

[Music]

i may speak for many people because

i have your books i listen to you on

youtube

but i have no direct

teacher

so i meditate and sit on my own

and doing forgiving meditation and

loving kindness meditation

and how can i

make sure

that i'm still doing the right thing

that i don't

navigate from the past

okay

one of the things that that can be very

useful to you is if you run across

something you don't understand

then write to david david always lets me

see the

what's written

to us

and we will

help you in any way we can

another thing that you can do was be do

an online retreat

so you've set aside

10 days

doing it at home

and

following the directions as closely as

you can you can be very very successful

we've had a lot of people that have been

extremely successful

some even be coming as far as an onigami

just and i never get to see them in

person

it's just

following what they're doing making sure

they're staying on track

and they're doing it all themselves

and you're certainly welcome to do that

anytime

of course i would like it if you came

here but that's not possible for a lot

of different reasons and that's

fine but i'm i i want to help you in any

way i can

okay thank you

okay

any other questions

i have a question yes

um how are you beautiful

oh thank you thank you very much um

um i have a thought which i'm very

attached to

and

then in between

i managed to let it go

but as soon as i talk about it to

someone it gets more power again

so

do your forgiveness meditation until you

feel relief from it

don't get involved in the story

of whatever it happens to be

just stay with i forgive you for causing

me pain

okay

and do that until you feel relief

and it's like somebody takes

big boulders off your shoulders and you

almost feel like flying because you have

so much joy and you're so light

sounds good

thank you okay

anybody else

yes

see

i joined

and i have this is a migraine pain

so that time also i can use the

forgiveness to

that part of the body

yes and it works quite well

i've never had problems with headaches

i did at one time i thought i did and i

was taking aspirin every day and then i

didn't run out of aspirin and then pain

went away

and i went oh look at that i don't need

that so i stopped taking the aspirin

but talk to your doctor about it

see what he suggests do we want to be

careful with all of these kind of

problems there can be

physical problems that need to be taken

care of with some kind of medicine

and that's fine

but it will be taken care of better when

you put your loving kindness into it and

your forgiveness for it being there

okay thank you

okay

i know that's a problem that a lot of

people have

but it's a simple solution

that's why i love buddhism because it is

so simple

okay

anyone else have a question

yeah

uh you have to um yeah yep

um last time you said that karma is only

um not thoughts but only deeds and

speech

that's difficult to understand because

sometimes thoughts can be very

bad or powerful or full of energy true

but if you don't act on them there is no

wrongdoing

it doesn't mean that you've given away

your

your craving for that

you still have it

and that's what you need to do with

forgiveness is forgive yourself for

having this thought disturb you

until

it goes away and then it won't bother

you again

okay

thank you

anyone else

last question

okay

good afternoon mountain i have a good

question

um in the suta you just given us uh it

said that the person intent on the base

of whatever the

level of meditation he has yeah

they basic of nothingness

the talk concerning him is only about

that level right so in in meditation you

might go toward that level that you've

been

yeah then you feel very comfortable

talking with them

okay

so in the meditation

practice when you sit down me meditate

you my own incline to that level so it

doesn't come back to the lower level

right

now when you get off retreat i don't

give instructions on what you should be

doing with your meditation

some people can do

a

mastery of vaginas

and work on that

some people if they're very sensitive to

feeling they can start working with

having the divine eye or divine ear

arise

other people want to continue on and go

higher with the practice

you can attain the ibana

at any time

it doesn't matter what you're doing

it can come up

sorry but was he was fanning the buddha

and he attained our hardship

so it can it can happen at any time with

any kind of

thing that you're doing at the time

taking a shower

washing the dishes

doing mowing the lawn whatever it

happens to be

when it's ready it will occur

all by itself

and at the moment that you see the link

of dependent origination that's when you

see it anymore it gets more and more

clear as you go deeper into your

practice

like when you become an

anagony

when it first occurs

when you get to that level with the

fruition

you will see

very clearly the links of dependent

origination arise and pass away three

times

and you'll completely not completely but

almost completely

understand it

you don't completely understand it until

you become an arab

but it will be so very clear to you and

how it arises

with everything

yeah

did that help

yes

it does thank you one thing okay

okay

okay another question

at

what point

of your practice do you recommend

starting reading the sutas

i

after you have become a sodapana is when

it starts getting more and more clear

there are some suitas that are very

clear you think

but when you start going more deeply

into it you'll see how how much more

clear it becomes

so

if there's some suit is that you use

that you

stay familiar with

that's good

it's just that your understanding is

going to change as you

go deeper and see for yourself how this

process actually works

it's because when you start reading the

sutas it's like a big forest with many

many trees and you don't know where to

go through

yeah

yeah that's a good signal

that works quite well

thank you

okay

anyone else have a question

okay

then let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've just acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may beings and habiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power

share this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

dispensation

okay well i will see you all hopefully

next week

thank you very much

we will be happy

thank you bente

thank you david

[Music]

you

[Music]

do

the suta today is the

sunyata

sutta

sit the number 105.

thus as i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in visali in the

great wood in the hall with the peat

roof

the reason they think that this is

unusual was they always had flat roofs

during the time of the buddha

so any any structure that was peaked

they thought that was

kind of special

now on that occasion a number of monks

had declared final knowledge in the

presence of the blessed one thus

we 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

sunyattakat

son of the lecca vs heard

a number of monks it seems have declared

final knowledge in the presence of the

blessed one thus

and then it goes through that whole

thing again

then

the son of the lecce

went to the blessed one and paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

said to the blessed one

i have heard venerable sir that a number

of monks have declared final knowledge

in the presence of the buddha

did they do so rightly or

are there some

here who declare final knowledge because

of an

overestimation of themselves

this is a problem

almost everybody

even from the very beginning stages

they

have the idea that they're much further

along than they actually are

so

when those monks

declared final knowledge in my presence

there were some monks who declared final

knowledge rightly

and there were some who declared final

knowledge because they overestimated

themselves

herein

when monks declare final knowledge

rightly

their decal declaration is true

when monks

declare final knowledge because of

overestimation that the target that

thinks

let me teach them the dhamma

thus it is in this case

that the tatagatha thinks

let me teach them the dhamma

but some misguided men

here formulate a question

come to the target and ask it

in that case

though

so the tagasa has thought let me teach

them the dhamma he changes his mind

the way that he asked the buddha

was very offensive

and he had a lot of

doubts

the thing is

he had been a monk before

and the only reason he wanted to be a

monk was so he could be close to the

buddha and look at him because he was

quite gorgeous

and finally the buddha said you have to

disrobe

so he developed some

anger and hatred towards the buddha and

i was always trying to trick him into

doing something different

this is the time blessed one this is the

time sublime one for the blessed one to

teach the dharma

having heard from the blessed one the

monks will remember it

then listen and attend closely to what i

shall say

yes venerable sir

the blessed one said this

there are these five chords of sensual

pleasure what five

forms cognizable by the eye that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire

and inviting lust

sounds cognizable by the ear odors

cognizable by the nose flavors

cognizable by the tongue

tangibles cognizable by the body

that are wished for desired agreeable

and likable connected with sensual

desire and inviting lust

these are the five chords of sensual

pleasure

it is possible

that some person here

may be intent on worldly material things

the reason he said that was because

that's what

the men had asked him that's what he did

he was he he was very interested in

material things only

when a person is intent on the worldly

material things only talk concerning

that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

and he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about the unperturbable is

going on

he will not listen to it and give ear

and exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person

and does not find

satisfaction through him

suppose a man had left his own village

or town

a long time ago

and he were to see another man who had

only recently left that village or town

you would ask that man whether the

people of the village or town were safe

prosperous and healthy

and that man would tell him whether the

people of the village or town were safe

prosperous and healthy

what do you think tsunamica

would that

first man listen to him give here and

exert his mind to understand

yes venerable sir so too

it is possible that some person here may

be intent on worldly material things

when a person is intent on worldly

worldly material things

he does not find satisfaction through

him

he should be understood to be a person

who is intent on worldly material things

it is possible that some person here

may be intent

on the imperturbable

now listen closely to this part

this is very interesting

because there's a rule that monks

don't talk about their own

progress in meditation

because other people hear about it then

they'll have doubts in him whether it's

really true or not and that sort of

thing

and it's a major offense

if he talks about something that he has

not experienced himself

and

people for a long time especially in the

west have this idea that means that you

can never talk about your

progress in the meditation

and

that is far from the truth

this is showing you that if this is

right

when a person is intent on the

imperturbable only talk concerning that

interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about worldly material

things is going on

he will not listen to or

give ear

and exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person and does not find interest

and

satisfaction through him

this is why when you talk about other

people and their meditation

uh

it's it's not interesting

you understand that they don't

understand

but you don't offend them

by saying you're wrong

this way is the right way you don't do

that

you allow them to go their merry way

thinking that you understand what they

were talking about

uh there has been

a lot of talk about

the

uh

lady from india

who

was an anagony your name was

bipama

and recently i've come across some

information

to show that

although she could sit for seven days

she was not an on a dummy she never

experienced the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

consciousness was always there

which means to say she did not

understand

about craving and how to let go of that

craving

she had great concentration there's no

doubt about that

but

she did not get off the wheel of sansari

she will have to experience that again

so

just as a yellow leaf that has fallen

from its stock

is incapable of becoming green again so

too

when a person is intent on the

imperturbable he has shed the fetter of

worldly material things

he should be understood as a person not

bound by the fetter of worldly material

things

who is intent on me and perturbable

it is possible

when some person here

may be intent on the base of

nothing when a person is intent on the

base of nothingness only talk concerning

that really interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person and finds satisfaction through

him

but when talk about the imperturbable is

going on

he will not listen to or give ear or

exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person

and does not find satisfaction through

him

just like a thick stone that has split

in two cannot be joined together again

so to tsunakata

when a person is intent on the base of

nothingness his fetter for the

imperturbable has been split

he should understand

as a person not bound by that fetter

of the imperturbable

who is intent on the base of nothingness

it is

possible that some person may be intent

on the base of neither perception or

non-perception

now this

particular state of mind

is much easier to attain

than most people doing other meditation

they might take five eight ten years

before they can get to that state

but

probably

more than 75 of my students in a 10-day

retreat attained to that level

but people that don't know about it

they'll say no that's impossible nobody

can do it that fast

but we know that it is

attainable it is

not

difficult

like it is if you practice without using

the six r's

and again i run across many people like

that

excuse me

and i don't

i don't argue with them about it

i listen attentively to what they say

it's not really very interesting what

they're talking about

but

i let them

do their past

now when they are in

the jhana

whatever jhana it happens to be

when they're in the jhana their mind is

pure because there are no hindrances

that arise

it's when they come out of that drama

and lose their concentration

that is when

the craving starts to come up and

there's no real personality change

because of that

the real personality change comes from

using the six r's

and it is quite interesting for me at

least

to see the change in personality and the

change in people's face

when

they have these kind of attainments

their face becomes bright and clear and

very radiant

and almost everybody that gets to that

state they start

talking to them about

how clear their their face is how how

they've lost years off of their face

and that's really beautiful

so

for me

that that

shows me that they're really doing the

work

they're really

doing the practice and they're being

successful with the practice because

their face is so

vital

and alive

and young looking

okay when a person is intent on the base

of neither perception or non-perception

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with other people that

have the same kind of

level of meditation

and they bet actually wind up teaching

each other

because one person can say well i tried

this and it didn't work and i don't know

what to do

and the person

that they're talking with will say well

i tried this and it seemed to work quite

well

so

maybe you ought to try doing it this way

so

the idea of not talking to other people

about your spiritual development

is really a false idea

it's not something that you need to

discuss with other people

but discussing with people that are

not necessarily at the same level but

close to it

then you can discuss with them and help

them clear up their

problems

and he finds satisfaction through them

and

of course you have satisfaction

that's why it's so much fun

for me to talk to people that have

already been here

because they understand what i'm talking

about

i know that people that just begin

it's a mystery what i'm talking

about well you're you're way too

advanced a teacher for me to understand

but what do i tell you when you first

come and do a retreat with me

the first day i always say something to

the effect that you're going to be a lot

smarter

when you get off the retreat than when

you're on the retreat when you're before

you get on the retreat

and they are

because they have direct experience

and i spend a lot of time telling people

that they are

teaching themselves through the direct

experience

because you know when you make a mistake

what to do with that how to take care of

that

you know for yourself be why because you

have the direct experience

so it's real important for under you to

understand there is no guru

and i'm not your teacher you teach

yourself

i guide

to make sure you're still on the path

to remind you of something that you've

forgotten

but

that's only being a guide

the buddha is our teacher

he's the one that came up with this he's

the one that

spent 45 years

telling people the same thing in

different ways

over and over and over and over again

the suttas are truly remarkable

and

one of the magical things about the

suttas

is

that

you can read the same suta over and over

and over again

and all of a sudden you get this insight

into oh that's what this means

and it's great fun

to read the suit this

not because you have to

but because it's fun to do

it really is

so it's amazing

to

see how much you understand

when you go and read it

over and over again

and it's really

wonderful

i don't know how to express it any other

way it is wonderful

anyway suppose a person

has eaten some delicious food

and thrown it up

what do you think

could that man have any desire

to eat that food again

not hardly

no venerable sir why is that

because that food is considered

repulsive

so too when a person is tent on the base

of neither perception or non-perception

is fetter of the base of neither

of of nothingness has been rejected

doesn't mean your mind won't go back to

that

it just means while your mind is in

neither perception or non-perception

that

you

don't have any interest in being in the

realm of nothingness

he should be understood as a person not

bound by the fetter of the base of

nothingness

who is intent on the base of neither

perception or non-perception

it is possible that some person may be

completely intent on nibana

when a person is completely intent on

nibbana

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about the base of neither

perception or non-perception is going on

he won't listen to it

or give ear

or exert his mind to understand

why you've already had that experience

it's that simple

i get quite a few complaints about this

being too simple

believe it or not

it is hard work especially if you have

to do a lot of

forgiveness or

whatever you keep forgiving yourself

you forgive other beings

it's simple to do

all you have to do is stay with your

objective meditation

but

it's hard work

because of the attachments you have to

that

situation or person

and letting go of that is not easy

but it's a simple process the buddha was

criticized often about things being way

too

too simple

there's stories about brahmanas that

would come to him with these naughty

kind of questions and he would stop them

and say listen i'm going to teach you

the dhamma

and he would answer their questions

through teaching the dominant

and he was remarkable because of that

he was really

interesting and fun

and good to be around

he does not associate with that kind of

person and does not find satisfaction

through him

just as a palm tree with the top cut off

is incapable of growing again

so too when a person is completely

intent on nibbana

now this is one of the things that i

want to

caution people about

and that is the very subtle fitter

of wanting to attain nirvana

if you want to attain it it's not going

to occur

it's that simple

why

because who wants to attain it

who's identifying with it as theirs

personally

who wants to make it happen

this is when i get a lot of complaints

about oh i'm bored

that's why i made it

a curse word

with the indonesians i said

you have to not tell me about your

boredom who's bored

who wants entertainment

who wants to see something just because

they've never seen it before

so i don't want to hear about boredom

go through it

let it be

there are some different stages of

meditation where boredom will come up

that's part of the practice

and that's just showing you that you

have this

amazing

attachment

that you have to let go of

so please don't ever talk to me about

boredom

okay

okay uh

when a person is completely intent on

nibana

his fetter of the base of neither

perception or non-perception has been

cut off

cut at the root

made like a palm stump done away with so

they're no longer subject to future

arising

one of the things that happens with the

tibetan

community

is they have this idea that there's this

poisonous tree

and if they use the poison

through

what do they call it

i can't think of it right now harmonious

use

that it could be a good thing

and they make fun of the people that are

terrified because they want to cut it

off at the at the root so there is no

more

and they say well they're not as good as

we are because we use that

and

it's a major problem

for the tibetans

they have a few major problems that come

along one of them is

the idea of reincarnating from one

lifetime to the next

just doesn't work

it doesn't go along with so good as

teaching at all

it is possible that some monk

here might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by a

recluse

a poisonous humor of ignorance

is spread around by desire and lust and

ill-will

that arrow of craving has been removed

from me

the poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on

nibana

because he falsely thinks thus

he might pursue those things that are

unsuitable for one completely intent on

nibana

that's what happens with people that

call themselves buddhists

but

don't know anything about craving

they don't understand craving

i was talking with david a little while

back

and i told him that i wanted him to put

something about this

in a uh

introduction to a book that we're just

finishing up right now

and

he said well actually what you're

talking about is the four noble truths

and as i thought about that i would be

yeah

this really is the four noble truths

that was an amazing insight that i had

so

when i'm talking to you about being able

to recognize what craving is

and what to do to let that craving go

that whole time i'm talking to you about

the four noble truths

so that can clear up some of the

thinking now i

i spent 12 years looking for somebody

that would give me that answer

and

nobody could tell me what craving truly

was i got a lot of the stack the

the standard answers

but no real answer

so when i found out for myself

i was truly thrilled

and excited

and i did a lot of practice because of

that

going off into a cave where

all i did was study

the sutures and

practice

10 or 12 hours a day that's all

that's not much compared to what i did

when i was doing the majasi method i was

doing that 16 hours a day

the only time i didn't do it was when i

was

taking care of bodily functions and

eating

so finding

[Music]

what

craving actually is and how to recognize

it and how to let it go when it comes up

was major insights for me

and that's what i've tried to give all

of you

these same insights so that you can see

for yourself

that what i'm saying is

complete

alignment with what the buddha is

teaching

it's really kind of fun

okay

now he might

pursue the sight of an unsuitable form

for the eye

he might pursue the unsuitable sounds

with the ear

unsuitable odors with the nose

unsuitable flavors with the tongue

unsuitable tangibles with the body

unsuitable mind objects with mind

when he pursues the sight of an

unsuitable form for the eye

or

ear

or

nose or tongue or body or mind

lust invades his mind

with his mind invaded by lust

it would never

it would incur death or deadly suffering

so oppose a man were wounded by an arrow

thickly smeared with poison

and as friends and companions and

kinsmen and relatives brought him to a

surgeon

the surgeon would cut out around the

opening of the wound with a knife

then he would probe for the arrow with

the probe

then he would pull out the arrow and

would expel the poisonous humor

leaving a trace

of poison behind

knowing that the trace was left behind

he would say good man the arrow has been

pulled out of you

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with a trace left behind

but it is incapable of harming you

one thought of craving is harmful to you

this is where you get to understand for

yourself that you are your own teacher

you you are your own

[Music]

refuge

you break a precept

you have hindrances arise

you think and ponder on these

unwholesome things and they keep coming

up

so that's a problem

it's a problem that we all have

that we have to let go of

and when i say we have to let go of them

in order to progress more spiritually we

have to do that

there are some people that are satisfied

where they are with their meditation

right now

so they quit meditating and they just

live their lives and they don't break

any precepts and everything is good for

them

but they don't progress any further

that's a choice they can make for

themselves

that's fine

they can do that

but don't come and try to do more

meditation of a different kind just

because you're curious

i wonder what this meditation will do

maybe i'll get some psychic abilities

from doing this meditation

yeah maybe

but it's a big so what

i'm only interested in the final

results

and that's what made me different when i

started teaching this

that made me very much different from

other

practices

well if i do this practice i can become

a healer yeah you can

so

what's the final result of your practice

well somebody gets healthy okay good

and that's honestly good

but it still is so what

getting off the wheel

letting go of these oceans and oceans of

suffering that we cause ourselves

letting these go is the reason that i

am here

to help you see that for yourself

and so you can experience it for

yourself

so this person that had the arrow taken

out

they can eat only suitable food do not

eat unsuitable food

or else the womb will separa uh separate

from time to time wash the wound from

time to time anoint the opening so that

pus and blood do not cover the

opening of the wound

do not walk around in the wind in the

sun

or else dust and dirt may infect the

opening of the wound

take care of your wound good man

see to it that the wound heals

that moon would that man would think the

arrow has been pulled out

the poison is humor has been expelled

with no trace

and it is incapable of harming me he

would eat unsuitable food

and the wound would separate

that means

not heal

he would not wash the wound from time to

time would not anoint its opening with

from time to time

and possum blood would cover the opening

of the wound

he would walk around in the wind and sun

and dust and dirt would infect the

opening of the wound

he would not take care of his wound

and would would see

nor would he see to it

that the womb heals

then

both because he does not

he is he is unsuitable

and

because the foul poison is humor is not

expelled with the trace of

me with a trace left

the wound would swell

and its swelling he would incur death or

deadly suffering

the buddha was a teacher but he was also

a healer

he taught us how to take care of these

things

but we have to do it for ourselves

and if we don't take care of it

ourselves

we're going to continue suffering and

not just a little bit

we will

suffer a lot

so too it is possible that some monks

here might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by the

recluse

the poisonous humor of ignorance is

spread about by him

desire lust and ill will will increase

that arrow of craving has been removed

from him

that poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am completely intent on nirvana that

just means

pointing your mind in the direction of

the wholesome

remembering to use your six arms and the

more you use your six hours

the more joy you have in your life

because he falsely thinks of himself

thus

he might pursue those things

that are unsuitable

for one completely intent on nibana

with his mind invaded by lust he would

incur death or deadly suffering

for it is the death of

the disciple of the noble ones

when one abandons the training and

reverts to the low life

and it is deadly suffering when one

commits that some defile offense

it is possible that some person

might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by the

recluse the poisonous humor of ignorance

is spread by desire lust and ill will

that arrow of craving has been removed

from me

the poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on

nibana

you can be intent on nibana

doing other practices

your intention is correct your intention

is pure

but

you still have this arrow sticking

through you with the poison of craving

so it's very

interesting

to see for yourself

how you cause your own pain and

suffering

and as you go deeper into practice you

start saying well i don't want to do

that to myself

and even if you become a sodaponder and

you happen to break a precept you're

going to feel very guilty

and you know that you have to do

something to

let that go

so you forgive yourself for making a

mistake

then

you take the precepts again you only

have five precepts

and i have 227 of them

and some of them are real minor little

breaks but they still make your mind

feel guilty

so

you have to let them go

then you make a very strong

determination i'm not going to do that

again i'm not going to cause myself this

suffering

doesn't make sense anymore

an amazing thing starts to happen to you

the people that are intent on causing

themselves suffering and causing

themselves so much pain

as friends they will start to fall away

on their own

they're just not interested in being

around you anymore

even though you might be

super strong in loving kindness and

compassion

they just won't be interested in being

around you

so

you start having more and more friends

that

act the same way that you do

that keep the precepts that keep their

practice going

why because you're comfortable with them

you want to be around them

and you have fun with them

i have a lot of fun with the students

that have come here that have done the

practice

and they want to do some more

i have a lot of fun with them and we

tend to laugh quite a bit

we tend to

enjoy each other's company a lot

so that's why i asked people why don't

you come back and do this again

this is good it's not because i'm

attached to you

i love you dairy

but

it's not

an attached kind of love

it's the kind of love

that is universal

i love everybody

even if they are

not

keeping their precepts very well

i can still love them

and have compassion towards them

doesn't matter

now you're starting to see more and more

the clarity of mind that you get

as you progress in the meditation

and the true fun you have with other

people that are doing the same thing

it's really

interesting

so

okay suppose a man were wounded by an

arrow thickly smeared with poison

and as friends and companions as kinsmen

and relatives

brought a surgeon

the surgeon would cut out the opening of

the wound with a knife

then he would probe for the arrow

with a probe

then he would pull out the arrow and

expel the poisonous humor without

leaving a trace behind

knowing no trace was left behind he

would say good man

the arrow has been pulled out from you

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with no trace of

poison left

and it's incapable of harming you

eat only suitable food

do not eat suitable and do not eat

unsuitable food

or else the wound may separate

from time to time wash the wound from

time to time

anoint its opening so pus and blood do

not cover the opening of the wound

do not walk around in the wind and sun

or else dust and dirt may infect the

opening of the wound

take care of your one good man

see to it

that the wound

heals the mad one think

the arrow's been pulled out from from me

we can't

rely on our karma not to have bad things

happen to us

we have all done things to cause these

kind of problems for other people

and because of that there is a balance

that needs to happen so you can have bad

things happen to you

you can die early you can die young

but

because of your practice you will be

reborn in

an uplifted state

where you have the opportunity to

continue on

a lot of a lot of beings in devaloka a

lot of beings in the brahmalokas

they still do meditation

and they purify themselves and they do

progress

and as they progress they will

eventually get off of the wheel of

samsara

they'll not be reborn as a human being

anymore

they will

be uplifted

and they're heck of a lot of fun to be

around i i can't stress that enough

i really really do enjoy very much being

around people that are spiritually

advanced

i wind up laughing a lot

not belly laughs

just kind of little troubles that happen

all the time

anyway

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with no trace left behind

and it's incapable of harming you

what is that poisonous humor

it is craving

it is the attachments

now more and more i've been telling

people they have to do forgiveness

meditation it's real important that they

do it

until they feel

true relief

it doesn't mean that some of the past

things that you've done

won't come back and bite you they will

but your attitude towards them changes

your attachment to that pain

goes away

and you won't have that problem ever

again

he would eat suitable food and the wound

would not separate

from time to time he would wash the

wound from time to time he would anoint

its opening

and possum blood would not cover the

opening of the womb

he would not walk around in the wind and

sun and dust and dirt

would not infect the opening of the womb

he would take care of his wound

and would see to it that the wound heals

then both because he does what is

suitable

and because the foul poisonous humor has

been expelled from

with no trace left behind

the wound would heal and heal fairly

fast

one of the things i noticed with myself

i have a wood burning stove

and every now and then

i touch something that's really really

hot

so what i do is i start forgiving that

for happen

i forgive myself for doing it to myself

i forgive the hot spot for being there

and when i forgive it

it heals in a day or two

now this is for real

if i don't sometimes i like to

experiment and not do anything to it

it's going to be that that

wound is going to be around for

oh 10 days two weeks maybe even longer

depending on the severity of the burn

and you've all heard me talk about

how i like to break my toes for some

reason or another

and when i put loving kindness into it

it doesn't hurt near islam and in three

or four days

it's healed

no pain

so

what is pain

pain is telling you that your body

needs loving kindness in that area

now forgiveness is a

form of loving kindness it's acceptance

and being grateful

for the opportunity to learn from

healing yourself

is important stuff

so the more you can remember to do that

the easier life becomes

and keeping your precepts is a kind of

protection for you

you really do protect yourself

from painful things when you keep the

precepts

and life becomes very much more

manageable and

fun

even when you have this kind of pain

that can arise from whatever your body

is up to

you put loving kindness and forgiveness

into that area

the blood naturally flows to that area

and it brings more oxygen and that heals

that area

very quickly

i mean i've i've had x-rays on my feet

when i broke the toe

just one time i did that because there's

nothing they could do for a broken dough

and i went back to the doctor

so he could check out how my toe was

doing

and i told him that i don't have any

more pain and he would grab my toes and

and

move them in all kinds of weird ways

just to test to see whether it healed or

not

and

it had

and he said what are you doing

oh i'm just loving my toe more and more

and they just shake their head and say

you're doing something and i don't

understand it

but it works so do it again if you have

that problem again

so the more you put loving kindness into

an area in your body that hurts

the less you will suffer

and you're not doing it as a stick to

make the pain go away

you're doing it so you accept the fact

that

that pain is there and it's okay for it

to be there

it's okay because that's the truth it's

there

it has to be okay

so the more you put your loving kindness

into that area

the less suffering you will do

and i don't care whether it's a mental

problem or a physical problem same

you treat it in the same way

there are times as somebody in the

family dies there is going to be grief

but when you forgive that pain for being

there

and allow it to be there without

resistance

that pain will go away and then you'll

only have memories of kindness and

helpfulness

when you remember that person that died

so you don't have to suffer

for years and years i've run across some

students that

they've been suffering for eight or ten

years

because a family member that they really

truly loved

had left

and of course i give them forgiveness

and they work with that and eventually

after a few days

that pain goes away and then their their

heart is so much more open

and their mind is so much more alert

and their progress in meditation is very

fast

i had one student on this last retreat

that i just got done with yesterday

she did forgiveness meditation for six

days which is it actually is a long time

and finally she let go of that pain for

whatever it was i don't care it doesn't

matter

and the next day

she was sitting in

[Music]

neither perception or non-perception i

mean she went through all of

brahmaviara's really really fast

and the day after that she had attained

nibana

it wasn't a shock to me

it wasn't surprising to me at all

because

she had learned

all of the things that she needed to

learn

it was wonderful

and the face

she went from looking like a a

sad old lady

to a radiant

happy young woman

and i look at a lot of your faces and i

see

oh your faces are so bright

your faces are

shining and i see that inner glow

god

that's just

it's remarkable it's wonderful

it's exactly the way it's supposed to be

so let's get back to the sutta

so too it is possible that some monks

here might think craving has been exp

has called an arrow by the blessed one

the poisonous humor of ignorance is

spread

about by desire lust and ill will

that arrow of craving has been pulled

out from me the poisonous humor of

ignorance has been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on me

bana

being one who really is completely

intent on nibbana

you would not pursue those things

unsuitable

for the complete

intent on

nibana because his mind is not invaded

by lust

he does not incur death or deadly

suffering

the three poisons the zen call this the

three poisons lust hatred and division

and that's just another definition

of what craving actually is

everything

that is

troublesome

is caused by gravy

the cause of it

and it's sad

it is a problem

but it's only a problem if you make it a

problem

so the more you can put loving kindness

and forgiveness into whatever

pains you have

the faster those will disappear

i have given assembly in order to convey

a meaning

the meaning here wound

is a term for the six internal bases i

your nose like that

poisonous humor is a term for ignorance

arrow is the term for craving

probe is a term for mindfulness

knife is a turn for noble wisdom the six

ours

surgeon is a term for the tatagata the

accomplished one

when among practices restraint in the

six basis of contact having understood

that attachment the the root is the root

of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not possible that he would

direct his body

or rouse his mind towards any object of

attachment

what relief

amazing

suppose there were a bronze cup of

beverage possessing good color good

smell and good taste

but it was mixed with poison

and a man came who wanted to live not to

die

who wanted pleasure and recoiled from

pain

what do you think tsunam tsunamica

would that man drink that beverage or

that cup of beverage

knowing if i drink that i will incur

death or deadly suffering

no venerable sir so too

when a monk practices restraint of the

six bases of contact and having

understood the attachment

is the root of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not not possible for

for he would direct his bodily and

arouse his mind towards this object of

attachment

suppose there were a deadly poisonous

snake and a man who wanted to live not

die

who wanted pleasure and recoil from pain

what do you think

would that man give that deadly

poisonous snake his hand or thumb

knowing if if i'm bitten

by him i will incur death or deadly

suffering

no venerable sirs so two when a monk

practices restraint of the six paces of

contact

and having understood that attachment is

the root of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not possible that he would direct

his body or arouse his mind towards any

object of attachment

that's what the blessed one said

the son of the lack of ease was

satisfied and delighted in the blessed

one's words

i like this suta

i've always had a bend towards healing

and

so any anything that has to do with

healing i have a tendency to

pay more attention to it

but putting forgiveness and love into

any part of your body

that is giving you troubles

will help overcome that problem

it doesn't mean that you don't go to the

doctor and and follow what the doctor

gives you to do

you do

but you can heal much faster

when

you add to that

your love and compassion towards

yourself and all beings

so i've been talking for a long time

do you have any questions

it's amazing how quiet it gets every

time i give a dumb as [ __ ]

my fiance

yes

hello um

hi uh yeah just a question about the

book you mentioned a new book any little

hints about what it will be about

uh it's going to be

the anupada suta suit the number 111.

it's my favorite suit in all of the

middle lane sayings

because it explains the difference

between

crates or between the five

uh

aggregates

and

the four foundations of mindfulness

it explains that there is no difference

between the two it's just a different

way of describing it

and

it shows you all the steps that you go

through to experience nibana

so i like that suit a lot i'm going to

be getting

a few hundred copies of it for the first

printing

and i'm going to be sending it to a lot

of my

meditation friends

that are teaching

uh

different kinds of meditation

and see if we can

[Music]

convince

those teachers because the more teachers

we have

the faster the buddha dhamma will

spread

and that's

my

my goal for this lifetime is to spread

as much

goodwill and happiness as i possibly can

so if you want some extra copies of it

we'll send you individual copies there's

no problem with that but if you want

extra copies to be able to give to your

friends

then

let me know and i'll send you those

copies

in april we're going to have a

a conference

of the teachers that are now teaching

worldwide

the

twin

and

we are making up cups

coffee cups

talking about that

and we'll send you as many cups as you

want

so you can give them out and just that's

another way of advertising this

particular kind of practice

and it's up to you i have no attachment

one way or the other

so

this was taken from uh

this book was taken from

a talk that i gave

that was

i think i might have been giving it

mostly to

ruth dennison when she was alive

i was giving it to everyone but i was

it seems that when i get around teachers

that have been really sincere in their

in their teaching

that when i give a dhamma talk it's much

more clear

more

good ideas come up from those talks

anyway that's one of the talks that i

gave

and

it is good

and i'm not saying that from an

egotistical point of view

because i get i get hooked on on

listening to some of my own dharma talks

as weird as it sounds

but it's good dhamma

and i really liked listening to it

there was one that it got cut short

because we ran out of tape and as we got

to the end i was going

where's the other tape that goes along

with this i want to hear more

anyway

yes

hello bunter hello

um

[Music]

i may speak for many people because

i have your books i listen to you on

youtube

but i have no direct

teacher

so i meditate and sit on my own

and doing forgiving meditation and

loving kindness meditation

and how can i

make sure

that i'm still doing the right thing

that i don't

navigate from the past

okay

one of the things that that can be very

useful to you is if you run across

something you don't understand

then write to david david always lets me

see the

what's written

to us

and we will

help you in any way we can

another thing that you can do was be do

an online retreat

so you've set aside

10 days

doing it at home

and

following the directions as closely as

you can you can be very very successful

we've had a lot of people that have been

extremely successful

some even be coming as far as an onigami

just and i never get to see them in

person

it's just

following what they're doing making sure

they're staying on track

and they're doing it all themselves

and you're certainly welcome to do that

anytime

of course i would like it if you came

here but that's not possible for a lot

of different reasons and that's

fine but i'm i i want to help you in any

way i can

okay thank you

okay

any other questions

i have a question yes

um how are you beautiful

oh thank you thank you very much um

um i have a thought which i'm very

attached to

and

then in between

i managed to let it go

but as soon as i talk about it to

someone it gets more power again

so

do your forgiveness meditation until you

feel relief from it

don't get involved in the story

of whatever it happens to be

just stay with i forgive you for causing

me pain

okay

and do that until you feel relief

and it's like somebody takes

big boulders off your shoulders and you

almost feel like flying because you have

so much joy and you're so light

sounds good

thank you okay

anybody else

yes

see

i joined

and i have this is a migraine pain

so that time also i can use the

forgiveness to

that part of the body

yes and it works quite well

i've never had problems with headaches

i did at one time i thought i did and i

was taking aspirin every day and then i

didn't run out of aspirin and then pain

went away

and i went oh look at that i don't need

that so i stopped taking the aspirin

but talk to your doctor about it

see what he suggests do we want to be

careful with all of these kind of

problems there can be

physical problems that need to be taken

care of with some kind of medicine

and that's fine

but it will be taken care of better when

you put your loving kindness into it and

your forgiveness for it being there

okay thank you

okay

i know that's a problem that a lot of

people have

but it's a simple solution

that's why i love buddhism because it is

so simple

okay

anyone else have a question

yeah

uh you have to um yeah yep

um last time you said that karma is only

um not thoughts but only deeds and

speech

that's difficult to understand because

sometimes thoughts can be very

bad or powerful or full of energy true

but if you don't act on them there is no

wrongdoing

it doesn't mean that you've given away

your

your craving for that

you still have it

and that's what you need to do with

forgiveness is forgive yourself for

having this thought disturb you

until

it goes away and then it won't bother

you again

okay

thank you

anyone else

last question

okay

good afternoon mountain i have a good

question

um in the suta you just given us uh it

said that the person intent on the base

of whatever the

level of meditation he has yeah

they basic of nothingness

the talk concerning him is only about

that level right so in in meditation you

might go toward that level that you've

been

yeah then you feel very comfortable

talking with them

okay

so in the meditation

practice when you sit down me meditate

you my own incline to that level so it

doesn't come back to the lower level

right

now when you get off retreat i don't

give instructions on what you should be

doing with your meditation

some people can do

a

mastery of vaginas

and work on that

some people if they're very sensitive to

feeling they can start working with

having the divine eye or divine ear

arise

other people want to continue on and go

higher with the practice

you can attain the ibana

at any time

it doesn't matter what you're doing

it can come up

sorry but was he was fanning the buddha

and he attained our hardship

so it can it can happen at any time with

any kind of

thing that you're doing at the time

taking a shower

washing the dishes

doing mowing the lawn whatever it

happens to be

when it's ready it will occur

all by itself

and at the moment that you see the link

of dependent origination that's when you

see it anymore it gets more and more

clear as you go deeper into your

practice

like when you become an

anagony

when it first occurs

when you get to that level with the

fruition

you will see

very clearly the links of dependent

origination arise and pass away three

times

and you'll completely not completely but

almost completely

understand it

you don't completely understand it until

you become an arab

but it will be so very clear to you and

how it arises

with everything

yeah

did that help

yes

it does thank you one thing okay

okay

okay another question

at

what point

of your practice do you recommend

starting reading the sutas

i

after you have become a sodapana is when

it starts getting more and more clear

there are some suitas that are very

clear you think

but when you start going more deeply

into it you'll see how how much more

clear it becomes

so

if there's some suit is that you use

that you

stay familiar with

that's good

it's just that your understanding is

going to change as you

go deeper and see for yourself how this

process actually works

it's because when you start reading the

sutas it's like a big forest with many

many trees and you don't know where to

go through

yeah

yeah that's a good signal

that works quite well

thank you

okay

anyone else have a question

okay

then let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've just acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may beings and habiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power

share this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

dispensation

okay well i will see you all hopefully

next week

thank you very much

we will be happy

thank you bente

thank you david

[Music]

you

[Music]

do

the suta today is the

sunyata

sutta

sit the number 105.

thus as i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in visali in the

great wood in the hall with the peat

roof

the reason they think that this is

unusual was they always had flat roofs

during the time of the buddha

so any any structure that was peaked

they thought that was

kind of special

now on that occasion a number of monks

had declared final knowledge in the

presence of the blessed one thus

we 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

sunyattakat

son of the lecca vs heard

a number of monks it seems have declared

final knowledge in the presence of the

blessed one thus

and then it goes through that whole

thing again

then

the son of the lecce

went to the blessed one and paying

homage to him sat down at one side and

said to the blessed one

i have heard venerable sir that a number

of monks have declared final knowledge

in the presence of the buddha

did they do so rightly or

are there some

here who declare final knowledge because

of an

overestimation of themselves

this is a problem

almost everybody

even from the very beginning stages

they

have the idea that they're much further

along than they actually are

so

when those monks

declared final knowledge in my presence

there were some monks who declared final

knowledge rightly

and there were some who declared final

knowledge because they overestimated

themselves

herein

when monks declare final knowledge

rightly

their decal declaration is true

when monks

declare final knowledge because of

overestimation that the target that

thinks

let me teach them the dhamma

thus it is in this case

that the tatagatha thinks

let me teach them the dhamma

but some misguided men

here formulate a question

come to the target and ask it

in that case

though

so the tagasa has thought let me teach

them the dhamma he changes his mind

the way that he asked the buddha

was very offensive

and he had a lot of

doubts

the thing is

he had been a monk before

and the only reason he wanted to be a

monk was so he could be close to the

buddha and look at him because he was

quite gorgeous

and finally the buddha said you have to

disrobe

so he developed some

anger and hatred towards the buddha and

i was always trying to trick him into

doing something different

this is the time blessed one this is the

time sublime one for the blessed one to

teach the dharma

having heard from the blessed one the

monks will remember it

then listen and attend closely to what i

shall say

yes venerable sir

the blessed one said this

there are these five chords of sensual

pleasure what five

forms cognizable by the eye that are

wished for desired agreeable and likable

connected with sensual desire

and inviting lust

sounds cognizable by the ear odors

cognizable by the nose flavors

cognizable by the tongue

tangibles cognizable by the body

that are wished for desired agreeable

and likable connected with sensual

desire and inviting lust

these are the five chords of sensual

pleasure

it is possible

that some person here

may be intent on worldly material things

the reason he said that was because

that's what

the men had asked him that's what he did

he was he he was very interested in

material things only

when a person is intent on the worldly

material things only talk concerning

that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

and he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about the unperturbable is

going on

he will not listen to it and give ear

and exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person

and does not find

satisfaction through him

suppose a man had left his own village

or town

a long time ago

and he were to see another man who had

only recently left that village or town

you would ask that man whether the

people of the village or town were safe

prosperous and healthy

and that man would tell him whether the

people of the village or town were safe

prosperous and healthy

what do you think tsunamica

would that

first man listen to him give here and

exert his mind to understand

yes venerable sir so too

it is possible that some person here may

be intent on worldly material things

when a person is intent on worldly

worldly material things

he does not find satisfaction through

him

he should be understood to be a person

who is intent on worldly material things

it is possible that some person here

may be intent

on the imperturbable

now listen closely to this part

this is very interesting

because there's a rule that monks

don't talk about their own

progress in meditation

because other people hear about it then

they'll have doubts in him whether it's

really true or not and that sort of

thing

and it's a major offense

if he talks about something that he has

not experienced himself

and

people for a long time especially in the

west have this idea that means that you

can never talk about your

progress in the meditation

and

that is far from the truth

this is showing you that if this is

right

when a person is intent on the

imperturbable only talk concerning that

interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about worldly material

things is going on

he will not listen to or

give ear

and exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person and does not find interest

and

satisfaction through him

this is why when you talk about other

people and their meditation

uh

it's it's not interesting

you understand that they don't

understand

but you don't offend them

by saying you're wrong

this way is the right way you don't do

that

you allow them to go their merry way

thinking that you understand what they

were talking about

uh there has been

a lot of talk about

the

uh

lady from india

who

was an anagony your name was

bipama

and recently i've come across some

information

to show that

although she could sit for seven days

she was not an on a dummy she never

experienced the cessation of perception

feeling and consciousness

consciousness was always there

which means to say she did not

understand

about craving and how to let go of that

craving

she had great concentration there's no

doubt about that

but

she did not get off the wheel of sansari

she will have to experience that again

so

just as a yellow leaf that has fallen

from its stock

is incapable of becoming green again so

too

when a person is intent on the

imperturbable he has shed the fetter of

worldly material things

he should be understood as a person not

bound by the fetter of worldly material

things

who is intent on me and perturbable

it is possible

when some person here

may be intent on the base of

nothing when a person is intent on the

base of nothingness only talk concerning

that really interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person and finds satisfaction through

him

but when talk about the imperturbable is

going on

he will not listen to or give ear or

exert his mind to understand it

he does not associate with that kind of

person

and does not find satisfaction through

him

just like a thick stone that has split

in two cannot be joined together again

so to tsunakata

when a person is intent on the base of

nothingness his fetter for the

imperturbable has been split

he should understand

as a person not bound by that fetter

of the imperturbable

who is intent on the base of nothingness

it is

possible that some person may be intent

on the base of neither perception or

non-perception

now this

particular state of mind

is much easier to attain

than most people doing other meditation

they might take five eight ten years

before they can get to that state

but

probably

more than 75 of my students in a 10-day

retreat attained to that level

but people that don't know about it

they'll say no that's impossible nobody

can do it that fast

but we know that it is

attainable it is

not

difficult

like it is if you practice without using

the six r's

and again i run across many people like

that

excuse me

and i don't

i don't argue with them about it

i listen attentively to what they say

it's not really very interesting what

they're talking about

but

i let them

do their past

now when they are in

the jhana

whatever jhana it happens to be

when they're in the jhana their mind is

pure because there are no hindrances

that arise

it's when they come out of that drama

and lose their concentration

that is when

the craving starts to come up and

there's no real personality change

because of that

the real personality change comes from

using the six r's

and it is quite interesting for me at

least

to see the change in personality and the

change in people's face

when

they have these kind of attainments

their face becomes bright and clear and

very radiant

and almost everybody that gets to that

state they start

talking to them about

how clear their their face is how how

they've lost years off of their face

and that's really beautiful

so

for me

that that

shows me that they're really doing the

work

they're really

doing the practice and they're being

successful with the practice because

their face is so

vital

and alive

and young looking

okay when a person is intent on the base

of neither perception or non-perception

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with other people that

have the same kind of

level of meditation

and they bet actually wind up teaching

each other

because one person can say well i tried

this and it didn't work and i don't know

what to do

and the person

that they're talking with will say well

i tried this and it seemed to work quite

well

so

maybe you ought to try doing it this way

so

the idea of not talking to other people

about your spiritual development

is really a false idea

it's not something that you need to

discuss with other people

but discussing with people that are

not necessarily at the same level but

close to it

then you can discuss with them and help

them clear up their

problems

and he finds satisfaction through them

and

of course you have satisfaction

that's why it's so much fun

for me to talk to people that have

already been here

because they understand what i'm talking

about

i know that people that just begin

it's a mystery what i'm talking

about well you're you're way too

advanced a teacher for me to understand

but what do i tell you when you first

come and do a retreat with me

the first day i always say something to

the effect that you're going to be a lot

smarter

when you get off the retreat than when

you're on the retreat when you're before

you get on the retreat

and they are

because they have direct experience

and i spend a lot of time telling people

that they are

teaching themselves through the direct

experience

because you know when you make a mistake

what to do with that how to take care of

that

you know for yourself be why because you

have the direct experience

so it's real important for under you to

understand there is no guru

and i'm not your teacher you teach

yourself

i guide

to make sure you're still on the path

to remind you of something that you've

forgotten

but

that's only being a guide

the buddha is our teacher

he's the one that came up with this he's

the one that

spent 45 years

telling people the same thing in

different ways

over and over and over and over again

the suttas are truly remarkable

and

one of the magical things about the

suttas

is

that

you can read the same suta over and over

and over again

and all of a sudden you get this insight

into oh that's what this means

and it's great fun

to read the suit this

not because you have to

but because it's fun to do

it really is

so it's amazing

to

see how much you understand

when you go and read it

over and over again

and it's really

wonderful

i don't know how to express it any other

way it is wonderful

anyway suppose a person

has eaten some delicious food

and thrown it up

what do you think

could that man have any desire

to eat that food again

not hardly

no venerable sir why is that

because that food is considered

repulsive

so too when a person is tent on the base

of neither perception or non-perception

is fetter of the base of neither

of of nothingness has been rejected

doesn't mean your mind won't go back to

that

it just means while your mind is in

neither perception or non-perception

that

you

don't have any interest in being in the

realm of nothingness

he should be understood as a person not

bound by the fetter of the base of

nothingness

who is intent on the base of neither

perception or non-perception

it is possible that some person may be

completely intent on nibana

when a person is completely intent on

nibbana

only talk concerning that interests him

and his thinking and pondering are in

line with that

and he associates with that kind of

person

he finds satisfaction through him

but when talk about the base of neither

perception or non-perception is going on

he won't listen to it

or give ear

or exert his mind to understand

why you've already had that experience

it's that simple

i get quite a few complaints about this

being too simple

believe it or not

it is hard work especially if you have

to do a lot of

forgiveness or

whatever you keep forgiving yourself

you forgive other beings

it's simple to do

all you have to do is stay with your

objective meditation

but

it's hard work

because of the attachments you have to

that

situation or person

and letting go of that is not easy

but it's a simple process the buddha was

criticized often about things being way

too

too simple

there's stories about brahmanas that

would come to him with these naughty

kind of questions and he would stop them

and say listen i'm going to teach you

the dhamma

and he would answer their questions

through teaching the dominant

and he was remarkable because of that

he was really

interesting and fun

and good to be around

he does not associate with that kind of

person and does not find satisfaction

through him

just as a palm tree with the top cut off

is incapable of growing again

so too when a person is completely

intent on nibbana

now this is one of the things that i

want to

caution people about

and that is the very subtle fitter

of wanting to attain nirvana

if you want to attain it it's not going

to occur

it's that simple

why

because who wants to attain it

who's identifying with it as theirs

personally

who wants to make it happen

this is when i get a lot of complaints

about oh i'm bored

that's why i made it

a curse word

with the indonesians i said

you have to not tell me about your

boredom who's bored

who wants entertainment

who wants to see something just because

they've never seen it before

so i don't want to hear about boredom

go through it

let it be

there are some different stages of

meditation where boredom will come up

that's part of the practice

and that's just showing you that you

have this

amazing

attachment

that you have to let go of

so please don't ever talk to me about

boredom

okay

okay uh

when a person is completely intent on

nibana

his fetter of the base of neither

perception or non-perception has been

cut off

cut at the root

made like a palm stump done away with so

they're no longer subject to future

arising

one of the things that happens with the

tibetan

community

is they have this idea that there's this

poisonous tree

and if they use the poison

through

what do they call it

i can't think of it right now harmonious

use

that it could be a good thing

and they make fun of the people that are

terrified because they want to cut it

off at the at the root so there is no

more

and they say well they're not as good as

we are because we use that

and

it's a major problem

for the tibetans

they have a few major problems that come

along one of them is

the idea of reincarnating from one

lifetime to the next

just doesn't work

it doesn't go along with so good as

teaching at all

it is possible that some monk

here might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by a

recluse

a poisonous humor of ignorance

is spread around by desire and lust and

ill-will

that arrow of craving has been removed

from me

the poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on

nibana

because he falsely thinks thus

he might pursue those things that are

unsuitable for one completely intent on

nibana

that's what happens with people that

call themselves buddhists

but

don't know anything about craving

they don't understand craving

i was talking with david a little while

back

and i told him that i wanted him to put

something about this

in a uh

introduction to a book that we're just

finishing up right now

and

he said well actually what you're

talking about is the four noble truths

and as i thought about that i would be

yeah

this really is the four noble truths

that was an amazing insight that i had

so

when i'm talking to you about being able

to recognize what craving is

and what to do to let that craving go

that whole time i'm talking to you about

the four noble truths

so that can clear up some of the

thinking now i

i spent 12 years looking for somebody

that would give me that answer

and

nobody could tell me what craving truly

was i got a lot of the stack the

the standard answers

but no real answer

so when i found out for myself

i was truly thrilled

and excited

and i did a lot of practice because of

that

going off into a cave where

all i did was study

the sutures and

practice

10 or 12 hours a day that's all

that's not much compared to what i did

when i was doing the majasi method i was

doing that 16 hours a day

the only time i didn't do it was when i

was

taking care of bodily functions and

eating

so finding

[Music]

what

craving actually is and how to recognize

it and how to let it go when it comes up

was major insights for me

and that's what i've tried to give all

of you

these same insights so that you can see

for yourself

that what i'm saying is

complete

alignment with what the buddha is

teaching

it's really kind of fun

okay

now he might

pursue the sight of an unsuitable form

for the eye

he might pursue the unsuitable sounds

with the ear

unsuitable odors with the nose

unsuitable flavors with the tongue

unsuitable tangibles with the body

unsuitable mind objects with mind

when he pursues the sight of an

unsuitable form for the eye

or

ear

or

nose or tongue or body or mind

lust invades his mind

with his mind invaded by lust

it would never

it would incur death or deadly suffering

so oppose a man were wounded by an arrow

thickly smeared with poison

and as friends and companions and

kinsmen and relatives brought him to a

surgeon

the surgeon would cut out around the

opening of the wound with a knife

then he would probe for the arrow with

the probe

then he would pull out the arrow and

would expel the poisonous humor

leaving a trace

of poison behind

knowing that the trace was left behind

he would say good man the arrow has been

pulled out of you

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with a trace left behind

but it is incapable of harming you

one thought of craving is harmful to you

this is where you get to understand for

yourself that you are your own teacher

you you are your own

[Music]

refuge

you break a precept

you have hindrances arise

you think and ponder on these

unwholesome things and they keep coming

up

so that's a problem

it's a problem that we all have

that we have to let go of

and when i say we have to let go of them

in order to progress more spiritually we

have to do that

there are some people that are satisfied

where they are with their meditation

right now

so they quit meditating and they just

live their lives and they don't break

any precepts and everything is good for

them

but they don't progress any further

that's a choice they can make for

themselves

that's fine

they can do that

but don't come and try to do more

meditation of a different kind just

because you're curious

i wonder what this meditation will do

maybe i'll get some psychic abilities

from doing this meditation

yeah maybe

but it's a big so what

i'm only interested in the final

results

and that's what made me different when i

started teaching this

that made me very much different from

other

practices

well if i do this practice i can become

a healer yeah you can

so

what's the final result of your practice

well somebody gets healthy okay good

and that's honestly good

but it still is so what

getting off the wheel

letting go of these oceans and oceans of

suffering that we cause ourselves

letting these go is the reason that i

am here

to help you see that for yourself

and so you can experience it for

yourself

so this person that had the arrow taken

out

they can eat only suitable food do not

eat unsuitable food

or else the womb will separa uh separate

from time to time wash the wound from

time to time anoint the opening so that

pus and blood do not cover the

opening of the wound

do not walk around in the wind in the

sun

or else dust and dirt may infect the

opening of the wound

take care of your wound good man

see to it that the wound heals

that moon would that man would think the

arrow has been pulled out

the poison is humor has been expelled

with no trace

and it is incapable of harming me he

would eat unsuitable food

and the wound would separate

that means

not heal

he would not wash the wound from time to

time would not anoint its opening with

from time to time

and possum blood would cover the opening

of the wound

he would walk around in the wind and sun

and dust and dirt would infect the

opening of the wound

he would not take care of his wound

and would would see

nor would he see to it

that the womb heals

then

both because he does not

he is he is unsuitable

and

because the foul poison is humor is not

expelled with the trace of

me with a trace left

the wound would swell

and its swelling he would incur death or

deadly suffering

the buddha was a teacher but he was also

a healer

he taught us how to take care of these

things

but we have to do it for ourselves

and if we don't take care of it

ourselves

we're going to continue suffering and

not just a little bit

we will

suffer a lot

so too it is possible that some monks

here might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by the

recluse

the poisonous humor of ignorance is

spread about by him

desire lust and ill will will increase

that arrow of craving has been removed

from him

that poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am completely intent on nirvana that

just means

pointing your mind in the direction of

the wholesome

remembering to use your six arms and the

more you use your six hours

the more joy you have in your life

because he falsely thinks of himself

thus

he might pursue those things

that are unsuitable

for one completely intent on nibana

with his mind invaded by lust he would

incur death or deadly suffering

for it is the death of

the disciple of the noble ones

when one abandons the training and

reverts to the low life

and it is deadly suffering when one

commits that some defile offense

it is possible that some person

might think thus

craving has been called an arrow by the

recluse the poisonous humor of ignorance

is spread by desire lust and ill will

that arrow of craving has been removed

from me

the poisonous humor of ignorance has

been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on

nibana

you can be intent on nibana

doing other practices

your intention is correct your intention

is pure

but

you still have this arrow sticking

through you with the poison of craving

so it's very

interesting

to see for yourself

how you cause your own pain and

suffering

and as you go deeper into practice you

start saying well i don't want to do

that to myself

and even if you become a sodaponder and

you happen to break a precept you're

going to feel very guilty

and you know that you have to do

something to

let that go

so you forgive yourself for making a

mistake

then

you take the precepts again you only

have five precepts

and i have 227 of them

and some of them are real minor little

breaks but they still make your mind

feel guilty

so

you have to let them go

then you make a very strong

determination i'm not going to do that

again i'm not going to cause myself this

suffering

doesn't make sense anymore

an amazing thing starts to happen to you

the people that are intent on causing

themselves suffering and causing

themselves so much pain

as friends they will start to fall away

on their own

they're just not interested in being

around you anymore

even though you might be

super strong in loving kindness and

compassion

they just won't be interested in being

around you

so

you start having more and more friends

that

act the same way that you do

that keep the precepts that keep their

practice going

why because you're comfortable with them

you want to be around them

and you have fun with them

i have a lot of fun with the students

that have come here that have done the

practice

and they want to do some more

i have a lot of fun with them and we

tend to laugh quite a bit

we tend to

enjoy each other's company a lot

so that's why i asked people why don't

you come back and do this again

this is good it's not because i'm

attached to you

i love you dairy

but

it's not

an attached kind of love

it's the kind of love

that is universal

i love everybody

even if they are

not

keeping their precepts very well

i can still love them

and have compassion towards them

doesn't matter

now you're starting to see more and more

the clarity of mind that you get

as you progress in the meditation

and the true fun you have with other

people that are doing the same thing

it's really

interesting

so

okay suppose a man were wounded by an

arrow thickly smeared with poison

and as friends and companions as kinsmen

and relatives

brought a surgeon

the surgeon would cut out the opening of

the wound with a knife

then he would probe for the arrow

with a probe

then he would pull out the arrow and

expel the poisonous humor without

leaving a trace behind

knowing no trace was left behind he

would say good man

the arrow has been pulled out from you

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with no trace of

poison left

and it's incapable of harming you

eat only suitable food

do not eat suitable and do not eat

unsuitable food

or else the wound may separate

from time to time wash the wound from

time to time

anoint its opening so pus and blood do

not cover the opening of the wound

do not walk around in the wind and sun

or else dust and dirt may infect the

opening of the wound

take care of your one good man

see to it

that the wound

heals the mad one think

the arrow's been pulled out from from me

we can't

rely on our karma not to have bad things

happen to us

we have all done things to cause these

kind of problems for other people

and because of that there is a balance

that needs to happen so you can have bad

things happen to you

you can die early you can die young

but

because of your practice you will be

reborn in

an uplifted state

where you have the opportunity to

continue on

a lot of a lot of beings in devaloka a

lot of beings in the brahmalokas

they still do meditation

and they purify themselves and they do

progress

and as they progress they will

eventually get off of the wheel of

samsara

they'll not be reborn as a human being

anymore

they will

be uplifted

and they're heck of a lot of fun to be

around i i can't stress that enough

i really really do enjoy very much being

around people that are spiritually

advanced

i wind up laughing a lot

not belly laughs

just kind of little troubles that happen

all the time

anyway

the poisonous humor has been expelled

with no trace left behind

and it's incapable of harming you

what is that poisonous humor

it is craving

it is the attachments

now more and more i've been telling

people they have to do forgiveness

meditation it's real important that they

do it

until they feel

true relief

it doesn't mean that some of the past

things that you've done

won't come back and bite you they will

but your attitude towards them changes

your attachment to that pain

goes away

and you won't have that problem ever

again

he would eat suitable food and the wound

would not separate

from time to time he would wash the

wound from time to time he would anoint

its opening

and possum blood would not cover the

opening of the womb

he would not walk around in the wind and

sun and dust and dirt

would not infect the opening of the womb

he would take care of his wound

and would see to it that the wound heals

then both because he does what is

suitable

and because the foul poisonous humor has

been expelled from

with no trace left behind

the wound would heal and heal fairly

fast

one of the things i noticed with myself

i have a wood burning stove

and every now and then

i touch something that's really really

hot

so what i do is i start forgiving that

for happen

i forgive myself for doing it to myself

i forgive the hot spot for being there

and when i forgive it

it heals in a day or two

now this is for real

if i don't sometimes i like to

experiment and not do anything to it

it's going to be that that

wound is going to be around for

oh 10 days two weeks maybe even longer

depending on the severity of the burn

and you've all heard me talk about

how i like to break my toes for some

reason or another

and when i put loving kindness into it

it doesn't hurt near islam and in three

or four days

it's healed

no pain

so

what is pain

pain is telling you that your body

needs loving kindness in that area

now forgiveness is a

form of loving kindness it's acceptance

and being grateful

for the opportunity to learn from

healing yourself

is important stuff

so the more you can remember to do that

the easier life becomes

and keeping your precepts is a kind of

protection for you

you really do protect yourself

from painful things when you keep the

precepts

and life becomes very much more

manageable and

fun

even when you have this kind of pain

that can arise from whatever your body

is up to

you put loving kindness and forgiveness

into that area

the blood naturally flows to that area

and it brings more oxygen and that heals

that area

very quickly

i mean i've i've had x-rays on my feet

when i broke the toe

just one time i did that because there's

nothing they could do for a broken dough

and i went back to the doctor

so he could check out how my toe was

doing

and i told him that i don't have any

more pain and he would grab my toes and

and

move them in all kinds of weird ways

just to test to see whether it healed or

not

and

it had

and he said what are you doing

oh i'm just loving my toe more and more

and they just shake their head and say

you're doing something and i don't

understand it

but it works so do it again if you have

that problem again

so the more you put loving kindness into

an area in your body that hurts

the less you will suffer

and you're not doing it as a stick to

make the pain go away

you're doing it so you accept the fact

that

that pain is there and it's okay for it

to be there

it's okay because that's the truth it's

there

it has to be okay

so the more you put your loving kindness

into that area

the less suffering you will do

and i don't care whether it's a mental

problem or a physical problem same

you treat it in the same way

there are times as somebody in the

family dies there is going to be grief

but when you forgive that pain for being

there

and allow it to be there without

resistance

that pain will go away and then you'll

only have memories of kindness and

helpfulness

when you remember that person that died

so you don't have to suffer

for years and years i've run across some

students that

they've been suffering for eight or ten

years

because a family member that they really

truly loved

had left

and of course i give them forgiveness

and they work with that and eventually

after a few days

that pain goes away and then their their

heart is so much more open

and their mind is so much more alert

and their progress in meditation is very

fast

i had one student on this last retreat

that i just got done with yesterday

she did forgiveness meditation for six

days which is it actually is a long time

and finally she let go of that pain for

whatever it was i don't care it doesn't

matter

and the next day

she was sitting in

[Music]

neither perception or non-perception i

mean she went through all of

brahmaviara's really really fast

and the day after that she had attained

nibana

it wasn't a shock to me

it wasn't surprising to me at all

because

she had learned

all of the things that she needed to

learn

it was wonderful

and the face

she went from looking like a a

sad old lady

to a radiant

happy young woman

and i look at a lot of your faces and i

see

oh your faces are so bright

your faces are

shining and i see that inner glow

god

that's just

it's remarkable it's wonderful

it's exactly the way it's supposed to be

so let's get back to the sutta

so too it is possible that some monks

here might think craving has been exp

has called an arrow by the blessed one

the poisonous humor of ignorance is

spread

about by desire lust and ill will

that arrow of craving has been pulled

out from me the poisonous humor of

ignorance has been expelled

i am one who is completely intent on me

bana

being one who really is completely

intent on nibbana

you would not pursue those things

unsuitable

for the complete

intent on

nibana because his mind is not invaded

by lust

he does not incur death or deadly

suffering

the three poisons the zen call this the

three poisons lust hatred and division

and that's just another definition

of what craving actually is

everything

that is

troublesome

is caused by gravy

the cause of it

and it's sad

it is a problem

but it's only a problem if you make it a

problem

so the more you can put loving kindness

and forgiveness into whatever

pains you have

the faster those will disappear

i have given assembly in order to convey

a meaning

the meaning here wound

is a term for the six internal bases i

your nose like that

poisonous humor is a term for ignorance

arrow is the term for craving

probe is a term for mindfulness

knife is a turn for noble wisdom the six

ours

surgeon is a term for the tatagata the

accomplished one

when among practices restraint in the

six basis of contact having understood

that attachment the the root is the root

of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not possible that he would

direct his body

or rouse his mind towards any object of

attachment

what relief

amazing

suppose there were a bronze cup of

beverage possessing good color good

smell and good taste

but it was mixed with poison

and a man came who wanted to live not to

die

who wanted pleasure and recoiled from

pain

what do you think tsunam tsunamica

would that man drink that beverage or

that cup of beverage

knowing if i drink that i will incur

death or deadly suffering

no venerable sir so too

when a monk practices restraint of the

six bases of contact and having

understood the attachment

is the root of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not not possible for

for he would direct his bodily and

arouse his mind towards this object of

attachment

suppose there were a deadly poisonous

snake and a man who wanted to live not

die

who wanted pleasure and recoil from pain

what do you think

would that man give that deadly

poisonous snake his hand or thumb

knowing if if i'm bitten

by him i will incur death or deadly

suffering

no venerable sirs so two when a monk

practices restraint of the six paces of

contact

and having understood that attachment is

the root of suffering

it is without attachment liberated by

the destruction of attachment

it is not possible that he would direct

his body or arouse his mind towards any

object of attachment

that's what the blessed one said

the son of the lack of ease was

satisfied and delighted in the blessed

one's words

i like this suta

i've always had a bend towards healing

and

so any anything that has to do with

healing i have a tendency to

pay more attention to it

but putting forgiveness and love into

any part of your body

that is giving you troubles

will help overcome that problem

it doesn't mean that you don't go to the

doctor and and follow what the doctor

gives you to do

you do

but you can heal much faster

when

you add to that

your love and compassion towards

yourself and all beings

so i've been talking for a long time

do you have any questions

it's amazing how quiet it gets every

time i give a dumb as [ __ ]

my fiance

yes

hello um

hi uh yeah just a question about the

book you mentioned a new book any little

hints about what it will be about

uh it's going to be

the anupada suta suit the number 111.

it's my favorite suit in all of the

middle lane sayings

because it explains the difference

between

crates or between the five

uh

aggregates

and

the four foundations of mindfulness

it explains that there is no difference

between the two it's just a different

way of describing it

and

it shows you all the steps that you go

through to experience nibana

so i like that suit a lot i'm going to

be getting

a few hundred copies of it for the first

printing

and i'm going to be sending it to a lot

of my

meditation friends

that are teaching

uh

different kinds of meditation

and see if we can

[Music]

convince

those teachers because the more teachers

we have

the faster the buddha dhamma will

spread

and that's

my

my goal for this lifetime is to spread

as much

goodwill and happiness as i possibly can

so if you want some extra copies of it

we'll send you individual copies there's

no problem with that but if you want

extra copies to be able to give to your

friends

then

let me know and i'll send you those

copies

in april we're going to have a

a conference

of the teachers that are now teaching

worldwide

the

twin

and

we are making up cups

coffee cups

talking about that

and we'll send you as many cups as you

want

so you can give them out and just that's

another way of advertising this

particular kind of practice

and it's up to you i have no attachment

one way or the other

so

this was taken from uh

this book was taken from

a talk that i gave

that was

i think i might have been giving it

mostly to

ruth dennison when she was alive

i was giving it to everyone but i was

it seems that when i get around teachers

that have been really sincere in their

in their teaching

that when i give a dhamma talk it's much

more clear

more

good ideas come up from those talks

anyway that's one of the talks that i

gave

and

it is good

and i'm not saying that from an

egotistical point of view

because i get i get hooked on on

listening to some of my own dharma talks

as weird as it sounds

but it's good dhamma

and i really liked listening to it

there was one that it got cut short

because we ran out of tape and as we got

to the end i was going

where's the other tape that goes along

with this i want to hear more

anyway

yes

hello bunter hello

um

[Music]

i may speak for many people because

i have your books i listen to you on

youtube

but i have no direct

teacher

so i meditate and sit on my own

and doing forgiving meditation and

loving kindness meditation

and how can i

make sure

that i'm still doing the right thing

that i don't

navigate from the past

okay

one of the things that that can be very

useful to you is if you run across

something you don't understand

then write to david david always lets me

see the

what's written

to us

and we will

help you in any way we can

another thing that you can do was be do

an online retreat

so you've set aside

10 days

doing it at home

and

following the directions as closely as

you can you can be very very successful

we've had a lot of people that have been

extremely successful

some even be coming as far as an onigami

just and i never get to see them in

person

it's just

following what they're doing making sure

they're staying on track

and they're doing it all themselves

and you're certainly welcome to do that

anytime

of course i would like it if you came

here but that's not possible for a lot

of different reasons and that's

fine but i'm i i want to help you in any

way i can

okay thank you

okay

any other questions

i have a question yes

um how are you beautiful

oh thank you thank you very much um

um i have a thought which i'm very

attached to

and

then in between

i managed to let it go

but as soon as i talk about it to

someone it gets more power again

so

do your forgiveness meditation until you

feel relief from it

don't get involved in the story

of whatever it happens to be

just stay with i forgive you for causing

me pain

okay

and do that until you feel relief

and it's like somebody takes

big boulders off your shoulders and you

almost feel like flying because you have

so much joy and you're so light

sounds good

thank you okay

anybody else

yes

see

i joined

and i have this is a migraine pain

so that time also i can use the

forgiveness to

that part of the body

yes and it works quite well

i've never had problems with headaches

i did at one time i thought i did and i

was taking aspirin every day and then i

didn't run out of aspirin and then pain

went away

and i went oh look at that i don't need

that so i stopped taking the aspirin

but talk to your doctor about it

see what he suggests do we want to be

careful with all of these kind of

problems there can be

physical problems that need to be taken

care of with some kind of medicine

and that's fine

but it will be taken care of better when

you put your loving kindness into it and

your forgiveness for it being there

okay thank you

okay

i know that's a problem that a lot of

people have

but it's a simple solution

that's why i love buddhism because it is

so simple

okay

anyone else have a question

yeah

uh you have to um yeah yep

um last time you said that karma is only

um not thoughts but only deeds and

speech

that's difficult to understand because

sometimes thoughts can be very

bad or powerful or full of energy true

but if you don't act on them there is no

wrongdoing

it doesn't mean that you've given away

your

your craving for that

you still have it

and that's what you need to do with

forgiveness is forgive yourself for

having this thought disturb you

until

it goes away and then it won't bother

you again

okay

thank you

anyone else

last question

okay

good afternoon mountain i have a good

question

um in the suta you just given us uh it

said that the person intent on the base

of whatever the

level of meditation he has yeah

they basic of nothingness

the talk concerning him is only about

that level right so in in meditation you

might go toward that level that you've

been

yeah then you feel very comfortable

talking with them

okay

so in the meditation

practice when you sit down me meditate

you my own incline to that level so it

doesn't come back to the lower level

right

now when you get off retreat i don't

give instructions on what you should be

doing with your meditation

some people can do

a

mastery of vaginas

and work on that

some people if they're very sensitive to

feeling they can start working with

having the divine eye or divine ear

arise

other people want to continue on and go

higher with the practice

you can attain the ibana

at any time

it doesn't matter what you're doing

it can come up

sorry but was he was fanning the buddha

and he attained our hardship

so it can it can happen at any time with

any kind of

thing that you're doing at the time

taking a shower

washing the dishes

doing mowing the lawn whatever it

happens to be

when it's ready it will occur

all by itself

and at the moment that you see the link

of dependent origination that's when you

see it anymore it gets more and more

clear as you go deeper into your

practice

like when you become an

anagony

when it first occurs

when you get to that level with the

fruition

you will see

very clearly the links of dependent

origination arise and pass away three

times

and you'll completely not completely but

almost completely

understand it

you don't completely understand it until

you become an arab

but it will be so very clear to you and

how it arises

with everything

yeah

did that help

yes

it does thank you one thing okay

okay

okay another question

at

what point

of your practice do you recommend

starting reading the sutas

i

after you have become a sodapana is when

it starts getting more and more clear

there are some suitas that are very

clear you think

but when you start going more deeply

into it you'll see how how much more

clear it becomes

so

if there's some suit is that you use

that you

stay familiar with

that's good

it's just that your understanding is

going to change as you

go deeper and see for yourself how this

process actually works

it's because when you start reading the

sutas it's like a big forest with many

many trees and you don't know where to

go through

yeah

yeah that's a good signal

that works quite well

thank you

okay

anyone else have a question

okay

then let's share some merit

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear struck fearless be

may the grieving shed all grief and may

all beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that

we've just acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

may beings and habiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power

share this merit of ours

may they long protect the buddha's

dispensation

okay well i will see you all hopefully

next week

thank you very much

we will be happy

thank you bente

thank you david

[Music]

you