From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZAF7RWhv2Ac

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

[Music]

the suit today

is the simile of the snake

this is a long suta but i'm going to

try to make it

a little bit shorter

okay

and see how it goes

that's what i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatee in

jettas grove vanessa and pinbicus park

now on that occasion a pernicious view

had arisen in a monk

named

arita

formerly of the

vulture killers

i don't know why they want to kill

vultures but

i i don't know that much about that

country

as i understand the dhamma taught by the

blessed one

those things called obstructions

hindrances

by the blessed one

are not able to obstruct one who engages

in them

so that's just basically saying

don't pay attention to the five precepts

at all

several monks having heard about this

went to the monk arita

and asked him friend aretha is it true

that such a pernicious view has arisen

in you

that's always an interesting question

it's like me coming up to you and saying

do you have this stupid view

that you're holding on to

that's basically what they're saying

exactly so

as i understand the dhamma taught by the

blessed one

those things called obstructions by the

blessed one

are not able to obstruct one who engages

in them

then these monks desiring to detach him

from that pernicious view

pressed and questioned and cross

questioned him

friend

do not say so

do not misrepresent the blessed one it's

not good to misrepresent the blessed one

the blessed one would not speak thus

for in many discourses the blessed one

has stated

how obstructive things are obstructions

and how they are able to obstruct one

who engages in them

the blessed one has stated how sensual

pleasures

provide little gratification much

suffering and much despair

and how great is the danger in them

with the simile of the skeleton with the

simile of the pieces of meat etc

with the simile of

a grass torch

or

a pit of coals

or of dreams

now this is kind of interesting i get

questioned about dreams every now and

then

people wanting me to interpret them

and

i don't know

yes but

uh

if you can interpret this dream does it

mean it's going to be true or not

i don't know

and honestly i don't much care

it doesn't have anything to do with

the meditation or how you interpret

things

so

with the assembly of the tree laden with

fruit

or as a slaughterhouse

or a snake a sword stake

or

a

snake's head

the blessed one has stated how sensual

pleasures provide

little gratification much suffering

and much despair and how great it is the

danger in them

yet although pressed and questioned and

cross-questioned by them

in this way

the monk formerly of the four vulture

killers

still obstinately adhered to their

pernicious view

and continued to insist upon it

since the monks were unable to detach

him from that

pernicious view

they went to the blessed one after

paying homage to him

sat down at one side

and told them all that had occurred

adding

venerable sir since we could not detach

the monk

formerly of the vulture killers

from this pernicious view

we have reported this matter to the

blessed one

then the blessed one addressed a certain

monk thus come monk tell that monk

formerly of the vulture killers

in my name that the teacher calls him

yes venerable sir he replied and he went

to that monk

and told him the teacher calls you

friend

yes friend he replied he went to the

blessed one after paying homage to him

sat down at one side

the blessed one then asked him

aretha

is it true

that the following pernicious view has

arisen in you

as i understand the dhamma

taught by the blessed one

those

things called obstructions by the

blessed one are not able to obstruct one

who engages in them

now when you're doing your meditation

and you have a

hindrance that keeps coming up

you're engaging

you're making a big deal out of it in

your mind

and as a result it keeps getting bigger

and

keeps coming around

i don't care what the hindrance is

this keeps

occurring

now there's a lot of people especially

in asia

that have fear

they're really afraid of

from the time they're

they're

uh born until they grow up they're told

that

if they aren't good then uh a hungry

ghost is gonna come and eat them up or

some other

thing like that

so when i'm teaching in asia where i

have a lot of asian students

they ask questions about this sort of

thing and i tell them continually

the way you overcome fear

is by laughing at how silly it is

and they say well they do it one time

and it didn't work

well how strong is that attachment to it

you have to do that every time the fear

comes up

without making it into a big deal

and eventually

it might take a few days it might take a

few weeks who knows

but eventually it will fade away and not

come back

and trouble you anymore

so your fears and anxieties

we have a tendency to make a big deal

out of it and we cause our own suffering

because of it

we make ourselves sad

because we make it into a big deal and

we really try to

control

and make it go away

but that doesn't work

that's getting involved with it that's

making it a big deal

that's causing a lot of suffering that

you're doing to yourself and you don't

take responsibility for it

one of the reasons that i was so drawn

to buddhism

was because you can't blame anybody else

for your problems

your problems are your own

and what you do with them

dictates what happens in the future

if you keep making a big deal out of

them

then they're going to continue on

if you six are them even though they're

gonna it's gonna come back so what

but the six r's are not a stick to beat

away these things it's not a stick to

make these things stop

the six r's

are simply to let go of craving

and craving is the cause of these things

arising

so you're getting rid of the

cause without getting involved with the

story about why you have this

obstruction

well exactly so as i understand the

dhamma taught by the blessed one those

things called obstructions by the

blessed one are not able to obstruct one

who engages in them

wonder where he got that idea

that's really bizarre

misguided man to whom have you ever

known me

to teach the dhamma in that way

misguided men in many discourses i have

stated that how

obstructive things are obstructions

and how they're able to obstruct one who

engages in them

i have stated how sensual pleasures

provide little gratification

much suffering

and much despair

how great is that danger in them

with the simile of

the skeleton the pieces of meat

the grass torch

the pit of coals

dreams

borrowed goods

tree laden with fruit

slaughterhouse

uh

a sword steak

uh snake's head

i have stated how sensual pleasures

provide little gratification

and much suffering and much despair

and how great is the danger in them

but you misguided men have

misrepresented us by your wrong grasp

and injured yourself

and stored up much demerit

for this will lead to your harm and

suffering for a long time

have less than one address amongst us

this is this is an interesting thing

that i get asked

about sometimes if somebody does

something wrong

and breaks one of the precepts

can you

[Music]

nullify the bad karma that can come from

it

quite often i tell people

if it's big

sometimes women come and tell me about

they had an abortion

and they're feeling very guilty for a

very long time because they don't want

to tell anybody about it

or they've done something that in their

mind it's a real big thing

can they

nullify the bad karma of doing

that and i tell them yes

go out and buy an animal that's going to

be killed

and let it go free

and as you're letting it go free you let

go of the guilty feeling of having

committed that offense

or that obstruction

uh

for instance this isn't a big thing but

it is a big thing

there was a woman in malaysia she liked

to keep a very clean kitchen

and she prided herself and always

cleaning everything off and it was

always pristine

and one day she saw a row of ants

walking across her kitchen

cabinet

so she very quick uh very uh carefully

swept those ants off and took them

outside and let them go free

and when she got back there was another

row of ants there

and

this happened a few times

and finally she went and got the insect

killer and killed the ants

now before she did that

she was sitting four hours a day

had great meditation

very advanced meditation

after she killed all those ants

she couldn't sit for more than 20

minutes

now i had gone to indonesia the first

time i went to indonesia

and i was gone for six weeks and she had

this problem

and she she told me

i cannot sit more than 20 minutes that's

my limit

so

i said okay

when i came back

i told her you have to sit for

no less than one hour

and

what precept did you break

she said i didn't break a preset

i said fine you have to you have to sit

at least one hour until you see what the

problem is caused by

and she called me up the next day and

she said i can't sit more than 20

minutes i'm gonna quit meditating

and again i said what precept did you

break then she told me the story about

the ants

fine

there's no judgment on my part that's

just something that she did

i told her in in malaysia at the uh

the market the meat market they killed

animals there

and they killed

they

chop off the head of the

chickens if you want a chicken and

take the feathers off and that sort of

thing

so i told her to go buy a couple of

chickens

and

take them into the forest

and let them go free

and she had a five-year-old and a

three-year-old daughter

and she had to go with them

and they kept on questioning her as she

went into the forest to let him go free

why are we doing this mom doesn't make

sense why do you want to let these

chickens go free

and they didn't understand

but

she let them go for the chickens go free

in

the uh chickens they went off about

oh five or ten feet

and turned around and looked her

straight in the eye

and they were

very happy

now you have to understand what's going

through the chicken's mind

it's in a tight space there's a lot of

other chickens and the chicken sees

every chicken that's pulled out they die

so they have the fear of death

and they're full of anxiety

and then

the butcher comes and he grabs one

oh man this is it i'm gonna die

and

the

butcher ties and ties the feet up

and gives them to this lady now she the

chicken is still thinking that well

they're just taking me away and i'm

gonna die someplace else

and

when they got to the forest and

the lady

cut the string that was holding the feet

together

and

let them go free

now they went from the fear of death

this being the worst day in their life

to the best day in their life

because they're going to keep living

so they really let go of a lot of

anxiety and fear and

dissatisfaction

and

when they turned around and looked at

her

the lady said she could feel the loving

kindness coming to her from the chickens

chickens aren't smart enough to radiate

loving kindness

oh yeah they are

they can do that

so the kids got so excited they said mom

let's go do that again

so for a period of time every week they

would go and let a couple chickens go

free and they said well the chickens

don't have anything to eat let's take

some corn and give them some corn to eat

so they did that

but

the first time when she let go of this

being that was full of fear and anxiety

and knew they were going to die

and let them go

with letting go of the killing of the

ants that

um

bad feeling that that she had when she

did that

it disappeared

and she felt exceptionally happy a lot

of joy coming up

so yes you can do that sort of thing

and it doesn't matter the bigger the

animal is

the more relief there is

sometimes i tell people well if we can

find a whale and you can let it go free

that would be good

but

it doesn't matter

so it's a real important thing to know

that you

can overcome

any kind of hindrance

fear anxiety sadness

you can overcome these obstructions

by giving life that's one of the highest

gifts you can give there's only one

higher gift

and that's giving down

so it's a real important thing for you

to understand

that the more

you have hindrances bother you there is

a remedy

you can buy fish and let them go free i

know some people like to buy lobsters

and let them grow free

strange sounds coming from the

microphone here

uh

but the thing is when you let them go

free

even when you let fish go free

they'll go out a little ways in the

water turn around and they'll look you

in the eye

it's a darndest thing i've ever seen

i didn't believe it till i started doing

it myself and every time

whatever animal i let go free

they came back and thanked me basically

it's kind of fun

so

then the blessed one addressed amongst

us

monks what do you think

has this monk

aretha

formerly of the vulture killers

kindled even a spark of wisdom in this

dhamma and discipline

how could they venerable sir no

venerable sir

when this was said the monk

formerly of the vulture killer sat

silent dismayed with shoulders drooping

and head down

glum and without response

he had to give up an idea that he was

holding very dear and that was hard for

him to do

then knowing this the blessed one told

him misguided man

you will be recognized by your own

pernicious view

and we're still recognizing

recognizing him

2600 years later

so holding on to these kind of wrong

views can be troublesome for you

i shall question the monks on this

matter

then the blessed one addressed amongst

us

monks do you understand the dhamma

taught by me

as this monk aretha formerly of the

vulture killers does

when he misrepresents us by his wrong

grasp and injures himself and stores up

much demerit

any self-respecting monk that would be a

joke kind of

why would i

go along with that kind of view

no venerable sir for many discourses the

blessed one has stated how obstructive

things are obstructions

and how they are able to obstruct one

who engages in them

the blessed one has stated how central

pleasures provide little gratification

much suffering and much

despair and how great is the danger in

them

with the simile of the skeleton the

snake's head

and how great is the danger in all of

these different things

good monks

it is good that you understand the

dhamma taught by me thus

for in many discourses i have stated how

obstructive things are obstructions

and how they're able to obstruct one who

engages in them

i have stated sensual pleasures provide

little gratification

much suffering and much despair

and how great is the danger in them

one of the things that you'll start

noticing as you go deeper into your

practice

is that you will have disenchantment of

material things

you still have you still have to do

things

but they don't cause excitement

one of the things that

in asia in particular

is food

well if you eat this food first and this

one next and this one next

it's really really good that way

and what happens when you start going

deeper in your meditation

is you

really start not to be excited by food

you have to eat food because you need

energy to continue on

but

it's nice to get your favorite food but

it's nothing to get excited about it

doesn't make your mouth water anymore

thinking about food

and that happens with your daily

activities too

you have a lot more equanimity you don't

get so excited with emotional upsets

and you let people alone that have the

emotional upsets and the best thing to

do

is to practice your generosity and

radiate loving kindness to that person

that's all excited

that saying things that don't make sense

that saying things that are hurtful to

other people

so

this is the true advantage

of doing the meditation and keep your

meditation going all the time

using your six r's

anytime your mind starts to get a little

excited

and you'll get a lot more confidence in

the eightfold path because that's what

doing the six hours leads to

so

you get more of a

feeling of how

all of this stuff is interconnected

it's really a shame i gave the talk

yesterday

and

i was telling them that

it's really a shame

that buddhism is considered a religion

because it's not

it's mental development

it's how

to live a wholesome life

how to live a happy life

and you watch things as i say on the

television or videos or movies

they're always

exemplifying

the suffering

oh this is really something there's a

lot of suffering going on there it makes

you feel good right

doesn't really it just gets you excited

so the whole reason

of

keeping your precepts

leads to disenchantment

and balance

and people around you

will start to have that same sort of

thing happen with them because you're

being the example

so

okay now we're going to get to the

simile of the snake

here amongst some misguided men

learn the dhamma discourses

stanzas expositions versus exclamation

sayings and birth stories

marvels and

answers to questions

that's kind of cute my name is marvel

my late name

anyway

but having learned the dhamma

they did not examine the meaning of

these things of these teachings with

wisdom

what does that mean that means examining

things with this disenchantment

somebody doesn't have to be

a meditator to teach dhamma

and teach it correctly

but they do study

and they deeply understand and they have

a lot of confidence in the buddha's

teaching

one of the things that david just ran

across in an old book

is

that

people that have complete confidence in

the buddha

they will be reborn

in the earth bound spirits for a period

of time and then they'll go up

step by step all the six six or seven

steps

of the deva locus

and then they'll be reborn as a human

being and in that lifetime

they will be a pacheco buddha

so there are different ways of

experiencing this

and there's no right and wrong

in the angutra nikaya it says very

specifically that

people that practice meditation people

that are studying

they should get along

and agree with each other

when it comes to dominant

but that doesn't happen these days

oh he's only

studying suit this he doesn't know

anything

i'm a meditator

well you can have a lot of wrong views

doing the meditation

and the person doing the studying can

have a lot of right views

so why is there disagreement

sometimes there's

some disagreement

with

how

the

um

i just

i can't think of it it just slipped my

mind

that happens these days

don't get old i'm telling you it's not

worth it

the eightfold path

now some

people that are doing meditation

a lot of meditation that doesn't include

the six r's they're doing one point in

concentration

they say that

right speech

right action right livelihood

they're all part of morality and you

don't have to worry about that because

when you're meditating you're keeping

your morals

but

what happens when you're not meditating

you could be breaking those

precepts

so it's only

a

five-fold path not an eight-fold path

and that's that's a disagreement with

uh

some monks that think

that you don't need to include

right right

speech right action right livelihood

you don't need to

include that when you're sitting in

meditation

and of course i don't agree with that

and i've i've said that many many many

many many times

that i don't agree with that

but

it's not a reason

to

be attached to it it's just an opinion

everybody can have their own opinion it

doesn't really matter

you be the example

and it doesn't matter at all

oh okay

but having learned the dhamma

that some people they do not examine the

meaning of those teachings with wisdom

not examining the meaning of those

teachings with wisdom

they do not gain reflective acceptance

of them

instead they learn the dhamma

only for the sake of criticizing others

and for winning and

debates and they do not experience the

good for the sake of which

they learn the dhamma

those teachings

being wrongly

grasped by them

conduced to their harm and suffering for

a long time

so you don't have to argue with anybody

that's their own problem

why is that

because the wrong grasp of those

teachings

suppose a man needing a stake

seeking a snake wandering in search of a

snake

saw a large snake and grasp it

grasp its coils

or tail

it would turn back on him and bite his

hand or his arm

or one of his limbs and because of that

he would come to death or deadly

suffering

why is that

because of his wrong grasp of the snake

so too

some misguided men learned the dhamma

and because of that wrong grasp

they

suffer greatly

here's some klansmen learns the dhamma

the discourses the answers to questions

and having learned the dharma they

examine the meaning of his teachings

with the wisdom

examining the meaning of those teachings

with wisdom

they gain a reflective acceptance of

them

last week i suggested something and i

was wondering if people actually

tried it

and we're talking about getting in the

realm of nothingness and

every time a thought comes up in your

mind

you ask where did that come from whose

thought is that

did you do that

it's really an interesting experience if

you do that

it doesn't matter what feeling arises

where did that come from

who caused that to arise

well it's from past experience and past

breaking precepts

so you're doing it to yourself

because of your attachments

and i suggested that i did it for six

months i don't i'm kind of fanatic with

things

and i want to go to the end of it and

see what happens

and i did it for six months

now i didn't do it every time i had

thoughts come up and i got caught by

them

but finally when i remembered

to ask myself the question why am i

doing this to myself why

am i looking for an answer to something

when there's no real

what am i doing

why

am i

so involved with nonsense thoughts and

feelings

whose feelings are they

so i suggested that last week

now some of you listened to it last week

some of you didn't

but

i was just wondering if anybody tried

because it is an interesting experience

where did that thought come from

why am i holding on to this kind of idea

where'd that come from

and when you see that

you naturally start six hours you're

just letting go of the craving that's

what six r's are all about

so

it's a way of purifying yourself

and it can be fun

and it can definitely help your sense of

humor because your mind is crazy

it comes up with some of the most

bizarre thoughts and feelings and

opinions and ideas

wow

that's one of the reasons i wanted to

call this an old wow meditation

because there's so many oh wows that you

can give yourself

and these are insights

into your true nature

of how you get attached to things and

how

you won't let them go

oh i've got to think about this

no you don't

anyway we'll get back to the suit

they do not

learn the dhamma for the sake of

criticizing others

or winning debates

they experience the good for the sake of

which

they learn the dhamma

those teachings

being rightly grasped by them conduce to

welfare happiness and for a long time

why is that

because right grasp of those teachings

suppose a man meeting the snake

seeking a snake wandering in search of

the snake

saw a large snake

and caught it rightly by the with a

cleft stick

or having done so grasp rightly by the

neck

then although the stake might wrap its

coil around your hand

or arm or limbs

still it would not come to death or

deadly suffering because of that why

because of his right grasp of the snake

this is why this is called the simile of

the snake

here are some klansmen learn the dhamma

why

because of the right grasp of those

teachings

there are four monks

when you understand the meaning of my

statements remember this accordingly

and when and you do not

understand the meaning of the statements

then ask either me

ask me about it or those monks who are

wise

but trust your intuition

that's something that people forget a

lot

they forget about their intuition

their

regular

nonsense thoughts coming through are

very loud

your intuition is quiet

your intuition is always right

always

but you have to learn how to interpret

them correctly

okay we have assembly of the raft

i will show you how the dhamma is

similar to the raft

being for the purpose of crossing over

not for the purpose of

craving and clinging

listen and attend closely to what i

shall say

monks suppose a man in the course of a

journey

saw a great expanse of water

whose near shore was dangerous and

fearful

and whose

further shore was safe and free from

fear

but there was no ferry boat or bridge

going from to the far shore

then he thought

there's a great expanse of water who's

sure is dangerous and fearful

and who's further sure is safe and free

from fear

but there's no

ferry boat or bridge going across to the

far shore

suppose i collect grass twigs branches

and leaves

and bind them together into a raft

and suppose by the raft

making an

effort with my hands and feet

i got safely across the far shore

then the man collected grass twigs

branches and leaves and bound them

together into a raft

and supported by the raft making an

effort with his hands and feet he got

safely across the shore

that must have been a very small raft

that he made

then

when he got across and arrived at the

far shore he might think thus

this raft has been very helpful to me

since supported by it and making an

effort with my hands and feet i got

safely across the four far shore

suppose i were to hoist it in my hand

and load it on my shoulder

excuse me

and then go wherever i want now monks

what do you think by doing so

would that man be doing

uh

be doing what should be done with the

raft

no

you don't need to carry it around that's

carrying around an obstruction isn't it

and that's causing more suffering isn't

it

by doing that the man would be doing

what he should have done with the raft

here monks when a man got across

and arrived at the far shore he might

think this raft has been very helpful to

me

since supported by it

making an effort with my hands and feet

i got safely across the far shore

suppose i were to haul it onto the dry

land

or set it adrift in the water

and go

wherever i wanted

now monks it is by doing so that a man

would be doing what he should be done

with the raft

i have shown you how the dhamma is

similar to the raft

being for the purpose of crossing over

not for the purpose of craving and

clinging

when you know the dharma to be similar

to a raft you should abandon even good

states

you naturally abandon good states when

you get to the realm of

equanimity

you don't hold on to these good states

you don't get

over

over joyful

overexcited by good states

you can still experience them and that's

nice

but it's not anything to hold on to your

mind just will just say

that was nice

oh it disappeared okay let's go and do

something else

amongst there are six standpoints of

view

what are the six

here monks and on to untaught ordinary

person who has no regard for noble ones

that's the person that has done the

study

but they don't do the meditation

but they live an exemplary life they

live a life free from

obstructions they can be a very very

effective teacher

or

it can be a meditator it can be a noble

one somebody that's successful with

their practice

or there's someone who has no regard for

true men

and unskilled and disciplined in their

dominant

regards material form thus

this is mine this i am this is myself

now that's what i was talking about just

a minute ago when you start going

where'd that dog come whose thought is

that

why is that not there

why am i paying attention to it

and i've talked with

a few of my students in a very deep way

about their own personal practice and

what happens with their mind

do they have

weird thoughts coming in

no

they can sit for

long periods of time without having any

disturbing thoughts who still have

thoughts and feelings that can come in

but it would be

feelings that are

that that you verbalize in your mind

a feeling can come up you can feel a fly

or you can feel

a pain in your body

but you just have that thought one time

and

you're not attached to it

so you can sit for long periods of time

with a clear mind

that's very observant

without having any obstructions

and that happens to me quite often i'll

sit for sometimes an hour hour and a

half two hours and then i start thinking

well i better get up and do something or

it's going to be

a nothing day

so

that is the sign of a well-trained mind

a mind that doesn't get excited

because some emotional stuff comes up

and the links of dependent origination

depend on having some kind of

obstruction causing it

it's all conditioned right

right

yeah

but when you sit with a quiet mind and

you don't move

um

i read a story about

aboriginals in australia

they sometimes would sit for hours

without moving

and then they would

get up and

make a basket or do whatever they had to

do

but they did it without obstructing

thoughts

that's to be admired

so

the more you keep your practice going

with your daily activities the more

clear your mind is going to become

and there's a lot of relief and the kind

of

satisfaction

and clarity

that happens in your mind

so that's

part of the advantage of why you're

doing this

he regards feelings thus this is mine

this i am this is myself

he regards perceptions thus this is mine

this i am this is myself

it regards formations thus this is mine

this i am this is myself

he regards what is seen

heard

sensed cognized

encountered

sought

mentally pondered thus

this is mine this i am this is myself

and this standpoint of views namely

this is myself this is the world

after death i shall be permanent

everlasting eternal

not subject to change do you know

anything that isn't subject to change

there is an answer for this

you can say no

but the only thing

that's not subject to change is change

itself

tricky enough

there's always change

that's always going to be there

i shall endure as long as eternity

well that's some people's view and it's

okay for them to have that view doesn't

matter

that's only

philosophy

but

when you're talking about impermanence

everything is impermanent everything is

subject to change

and

it will continue to be like that

monks a well-taught noble disciple who

is regard for the noble ones

is skilled and disciplined in their

dhamma

who has regard for true men and is

killed and disciplined in their dharma

regards material form thus

this is not mine this i am not this is

not myself

i run across people that

they don't want to use the word i or me

or mine

and it's awkward talking

well i'm i'm

i'm being

impersonable when i do that no they're

not

they're being attached as anybody else

but

when you know and see

that this is not me it's not mine it's

not myself

you don't even think about it

you just see the impersonal nature of

what it is

and there's real relief in that

he regards

perception

feeling

formations and consciousness

he regards what is seen heard since

cognized

encountered sought

mentally pondered on this is not mine

this i am not this is not myself

you don't think about whether you're

you're

talking

about

impersonal or not you don't think about

it you just are

and that's a mistake a lot of people do

in practice

well i ask a question when somebody

comes up and they they have an

attachment one of the favorite

attachments when you get deeper in your

meditation is boredom

and my question always is who's bored

who's taking that personally

oh i'm seeing it in an impersonal way no

you're not

you can't fool me

you are doing it in a personal way

go through it it's not you it's not

yours

why are you making a big deal out of it

so

and the standpoint of views namely the

self and the world are the same

after death i shall

be permanent

everlasting eternal not subject to

change

this is one of the beliefs that a lot of

people that

are into other religions

they're looking for something to be

permanent so they say god is permanent

and

again they can do that that's okay

it's interesting

okay since he regards them thus his mind

is not agitated about what is

non-existent

why would you get agitated about things

this is having the equanimity and the

disenchantment

in your daily life

okay now we're going to talk about

agitation

when this was said a certain monk asked

the blessed one venerable sir

can there be agitation

about what is

non-existent externally

there can be monks

here among someone who thinks

alas i had it

alas

i have no

longer

alas

i have it alas

i

do not get it

then sorrow breathes and laments he

weeps being his breasts and becomes

distraught

that is agitation about what is

non-existent externally

venerable sir

can there be no agitation about what is

non-existent externally

there can be monk

here

someone does not think us alas i had it

alas i have i have it no longer

alas may i have it alas can i

can i not get it

then

he does not sorrow grieve and lament

does not weep beating his breasts and

become distraught

this is how there is no agitation about

what is non-existent externally

venerable sir can there be agitation

about what one is non-existent

internally

there can be monk

hear the monk

someone has the view

this itself

this is the world after death i shall be

permanent everlasting eternal

not subject to change

i shall endure as long as eternity

it's one of the things i found real

interesting about most of the religions

they talk about eternal

but they don't have a real sense of the

time

you can be in a realm for

expansions and contractions of the

universe

so time doesn't really have anything to

play with buddhism

it's just something that happens and

this is how it works

he hears the tatakata or the disciple of

the detox teaching the dhamma

for the elimination of all standpoints

decisions obsessions

adherences

and underlying tendencies

for distilling of all formations

for the relinquishing of all attachments

for the destruction of craving

for dispassion

cessation

for nibana

he thinks thus

i shall be annihilated

so i shall perish

so

i shall be no more

then sorrows breathes and laments

weeps beating his breasts and becomes

distraught

that is how there is agitation about

what is non-existent

internally

venerable sir can there be no agitation

about what is non-existent in internally

there can be

here

someone does not have the view

the self and the world are the same

i shall endure as long as eternity

he hears it's a target or his teacher

or the disciple of the tatakata teaching

the dhamma

for the elimination of all standpoints

decisions obsessions adherences

and underlying tendencies

for the stilling of all formations

for the relinquishing of all attachments

for the destruction of craving

for dispassion for cessation for nibana

here

he does not think i shall be annihilated

what is there to be annihilated

what is there to die

it's just a continuation

of

things happening isn't it

it's all impermanent

so how could you be annihilated

so i shall i shall perish i shall be no

more

then he does not sorrow breathe and

lament

he does not weep beating one his breasts

and become distraught

this is how there's no agitation about

what is

non-existent and internally

impermanence and not self

ah this is going to be interesting right

you may well

acquire that

possession

that is permanent everlasting eternal

not subject to change

and that might endure as long as

eternity

but do you see

any such possession

no venerable sir

good

i too do not see any possession that is

permanent everlasting eternal

not subject to change

and that might endure as long as

eternity

you may well

crave and cling to the doctrine of self

that would not

arouse sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair

and one who

craves and clings to it

but you do see and do you see any such

doctrine

of self

no venerable sir

i too do not see any doctrine of self

that would not arouse sorrow

lamentation pain grief and despair

and one who clings to it

you may well take as support

that view

that would

not arouse sorrow lamentation pain grief

and despair and one who takes it as a

support

but do you see any such support of views

no venerable sir

i too do not see any supportive views

that would arouse

that would not arouse sorrow lamentation

pain grief and despair

and

in one

there being a self

would there be what belongs to myself

yes venerable sir

or there being what belongs to a self

would there be myself

yes venerable sir

senses self and what belongs to itself

are not

apprehended as true established truly

established

then the statement for views

the self the world as the same

or death

i shall be permanent every lasting

eternal not subject to change

i shall endure as long as eternity

would it be

an untruth

and completely foolish teaching

what else

could be venerable sir

it would be an utter and completely

foolish

teaching well that pretty much uh

eliminates a lot of the religion doesn't

it

what do you think is material form

permanent or impermanent

impermanent venerable sir

is what is impermanent suffering or

happiness

suffering venerable sir

is what is impermanent suffering and

subject to change

fit to be regarded thus

this is mine this i am this is myself

no venerable sir

what do you think is feeling permanent

or impermanent

and then it goes on to perception and

formations and consciousness

therefore amongst any kind of material

form whatever whether past future or

present

internal or external gross or subtle

inferior or superior far or near

all material form all feeling all

perception

all formations all consciousness

should be seen as it actually is with

proper wisdom thus

this is not mine this i am not this is

not myself

seeing thus

a well-taught noble disciple

becomes

disenchanted

with material form disenchanted with

feeling disenchanted with perception

disenchanted with formations

disenchanted with consciousness

being this

disenchantment he becomes dispassionate

through dispassion his mind is liberated

when it is liberated

there comes the knowledge it is

liberated

he understands 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

what relief

with that kind of realization

so i've been talking for a long time and

i'm only about halfway through the suta

if you want to i would suggest you get

the majama ninkaya suit to number 22 and

look at the rest of it for yourself

because it's it would take me another

two hours

to get through this particular suta it

is long

but it basically keeps saying the same

thing over and over again

i guess i will

uh

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 inhabiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty powers share

this merit of ours may they long protect

the buddha's dispensation

happy new year

[Music]

you