From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=90pj99eY7jE

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

[Music]

good afternoon

or good evening wherever you may be

tonight or today i'm going to do

the chunky suta

now this has a lead up

about protocol

on who should invite who and

how to pay respect

as if i heard on one occasion the

blessed one was wandering in the kosalan

country with a large sangha of monks

and eventually he arrived at the kosalan

brahman village

named oppasada

there the blessed ones stayed in the

gods grove

the salla tree grove in the north of

oppasada

now on that occasion brahman chanky was

ruling over oppasada

a crown property abounding with living

beings

rich in grassland and

lands waterways and grain

a royal endowment as a sacred grant

given to him by king passanati of kosala

the brahmanan householders of oppasada

heard the recluse gotama

was residing in oppasada and

the the grove at oppasada

when the brahmin householders of

opassada set

from the opposite in groups and bands

and headed north to the gods grove the

sala tree grove

now on that occasion the brahmin chunky

had retired to his upper upper story

story in the palace for his midday rest

then he saw the brahmin householders of

oppasada

setting out fourth from oppasada

in groups and bands and heading

northwards to the gods grove the

solitary grove

when they saw them he asked the minister

good minister why are the brahmana

householders of oppasada

setting forth from oppasada in groups

and bands

and heading northward to god's grove

sir there is the recluse go to

the son of the zakians who went forth

from the sake and clan

who had been wandering in the kosalin

country

then good minister go to the brahmana

householders of oppasada and tell them

sirs

the brahman chanky says this

please wait sirs the brahmin chalky

will

also go to see the recluse gotema

now during the time of the buddha the

brahmanas were

basically rulers

they're the ones that everybody had to

pay respect to

and that's where this part

take place

yes sir the the minister replied he went

to the brahmana householders of

oppasada and gave them the message

now on that occasion 500 brahmanas from

various

states were were staying at oppasada for

some business or other

they heard the the monk or the brahmin

chalky

it is said is going to the recluse go to

ma

then they went to the brahman chanky and

asked him

sirs is it true that you're going to go

see

the recluse go to ma

so it is sirs i'm going to see the

recluse go to my

now this is where their objection

because they were brahmanas

uh this is where it starts sounds kind

of like political

uh disagreements

do not go to see the recluse go to my

it is not proper for master go

go to mouth for you to go see the

recluse go

rather it is proper for the recluse go

to month

to come see you for you sir

are well born on both sides

with pure maternal and paternal

descent seven generations back

unassailable and impeccable in respect

to birth

since that is so master cho master

chalky it is not proper for you to go

see the recluse gotoma

rather it is proper for the recluse

goats to mutt to come see you

you sir are rich with great wealth and

possessions

you sir our master of the three vedas

with their vocabularies

literary liturgy

phonology and etymology and the

histories as the fifth

skill in philology and grammar

you are fully versed in natural

philosophy

and in the marks of a great man

you sir are handsome comely and graceful

possessing supreme beauty of complexion

with sublime beauty and sublime presence

remarkable to behold you sir

are virtuous

mature in virtue possessing

mature view virtue you

sir are a good speaker with good

delivery

you speak words that are courteous

distinct

flawless and communicate the meaning

you sir teach the teachers of many

and you teach the recitation of the

hymns to 300 brahmana students

you sir are honored respected revered

venerated and esteemed by king bosokosan

personality of kosala

you sir are honored respected revered

narrated esteemed by the brahman

pokhara sati

you sir rule over opus

opposada a crown property abounding with

living beings

a sacred grant given to you by king

passanati of kosala since this is so

master a chunky it is not proper

for you to see the recluse gotoma

rather it is proper for the recluse go

too much to come see

you

when this was said the brahman

chalky told those

brahmanas now sirs here why

it is proper for me to go see the master

gotama

and why it is not proper for master

gautama to come see

me sirs the recluse gotama is well born

on both sides both

of of pure maternal and paternal

dissent seven generations back

unassailable and impeccable in respect

of

birth since this

is so it is not proper for master gotama

to come see me rather it is proper for

me to see

master gotama serves the recluse go

to my went forth abounding

abandoning much golden bullion

stored away in vaults and depositories

sirs the recluse go tomorrow went forth

from the home life

into homelessness

[Music]

while still young black-haired youth

endowed with the blessings of youth

in the prime of his life

serves the recluse coat not

shaved off his hair and beard

put on the yellow robe and went forth

from the home life into homelessness

though his mother and father wished

otherwise and wept with tearful faces

so as the recluse go to my is handsome

calmly graceful possessing supreme

beauty of complexion

with supreme beauty sublime presence

remarkable to behold serves the recluse

go to my's virtuous

with noble virtue with wholesome virtue

possessing wholesome virtue

sir is the recluse go tomorrow is a good

speaker with good delivery

he speaks words that are courteous

distinct flawless and communicate the

meaning

sir the recluse go tomorrow as a teacher

of teachers

sir the recluse go to my is free from

sensual lust

and without personal vanity

sir the recluse gotema holds the

doctrine of moral

efficacy of action

the doctor of moral efficacy of

deeds he does not seek

any harm for the line in for the line

of brahmans now this is an important

thing

he didn't try to convert anyone

he didn't try to talk people into

following him

all he did was state

the dhamma and let people decide for

themselves that's why he wasn't

[Music]

seeking any harm to anyone else he just

gave

the dhamma and that's something to be

remembered

sir as the recluse gotama went forth

from an aristocratic family

from one of the original

noble families

[Music]

the supposedly

during the time of the buddha the the

most educated

was the brahman class

he was born in the warrior class

and those were the two different

highbrow families

that ruled

his father was a king of a very big area

and uh king passanati was the king of an

a different area that was very big

but they were considered equally

important

the warrior class were the ones that

deep that

protected the brahman class

so serves the recluse gotama went forth

from a rich family

from a family of great wealth and great

possessions

sir's people come from remote kingdoms

and remote districts to question the

recluse go to sir

many thousands of deities have gone for

refuge for life to the riku's go to ma

sirs a good report of the recluse

has been spread to this effect that the

blessed one is accomplished fully

awakened

perfect in true knowledge and conduct

sublime knower of worlds incomparable

leader of persons to be tamed

teacher of gods and humans awakened and

blessed

serves the recluse go to mob possesses

32 marks of a great man

sir king bimbasara of magadaha

and his wife and children have gone

forth

for refuge for life to the recluse go to

ma

sir's king passanati of kosala

and his wife and children have gone

forth

for refuge for life to the riku skota ma

serves the brahmana poco

rasatti and his wife

and children have gone forth for refuge

for life to ricochet

[Music]

serves the recluse gotama has arrived at

oppasada and is living in opusara in the

gods grove the salla tree grove

to the north of oppasada

now any recluses or brahmanas that come

to our town are our

guests and guests should be

honored respected revered and venerated

by us

since the recluse gotama has arrived at

oppasada

he is our guest and

as our guest should be honored respected

revered

venerated by us

since this is so sirs

it is not proper for master gotama

to come see me rather it is proper

for me to go see master gautama

sirs this much is the praise of master

gotama that i have learned

but the praise of master gautama is not

limited to that

for the praise of master go to my is

immeasurable

since master gotoma possesses

each one of these factors it is not

proper for him to come see

me rather it is proper for me to go see

him therefore sirs

let all of us go to see the recluse go

to ma

then a brahman chanky together with a

large company of brahmanas

went to the blessed one and exchanged

greetings with him

when this courteous and amiable talk was

finished

he sat down at one side now on that

occasion the blessed one was

was seated finishing some amiable talk

with some very senior brahmanas

at the time sitting in the assembly

was a brahmana student

he was young shaven head

16 years old he was a master of the

three vedas

and that's quite unusual to be a master

of

three vedas so early in life

with their vocabularies liturgy

phonology etymology and the histories

as a fifth skilled and philology and

grammar

is fully versed in the natural

philosophy and in the marks of a great

man

while the very senior monks were

conversing with the blessed one

he often broke in and interrupted their

talk

now the way and this is for

buddhist monks too the junior monks

no matter they have something important

to say

are silent the senior monks when they

get together they discuss

things the junior monk

just listens and that's the way it was

from the time of the brahmanas

to have a 16 year old boy break in

and say no it doesn't quite like that

because this the

suit there the the text says this or

that

and he was correct uh

the senior monks knew

him to be quite

intelligent so they allowed him

to have conversation with them

then the blessed one rebuked the brahman

student let not the venerable brahmana

sudan break in and interrupt the talk

of the very senior brahmanas

while they are conversing let the

venerable student

wait until the talk is finished

when this was said the brahman chalky

said to the blessed one

let not master go to my rebuke the

brahmana student

it's a brahmana student of cape villas

thinka is a klansman

he is very learned he's he has good

delivery and he's wise

he's capable of taking part in this

conversation

with master gautama

then the blessed one thought surely

since the brahmanas honor him thus

the brahman student must be

accomplished in in the scriptures of the

three vedas

then the brahmana student thought when

the master gotama

catches my eye i shall ask him a

question

then knowing with his own mind

the thought of the brahmana student

the blessed one turned his eye towards

him

then the brahmana student thought the

recluse go to

turn towards me suppose i ask him a

question

this suta is going to

give you a very systematic way

of teaching

and learning

i gave a talk to a lot of college

professors

and as soon as i got with that got the

done with the talk they

asked me where they could get a copy of

it so that they could start teaching

in that way because they saw the

practical

application of

this method of teaching and that's why i

wanted to give it to you today

because it is very good

then the bless then he said to the

blessed one

master go to mine in regard to the

ancient

brahmanic hymns

that have come down through oral tremen

transmission and in the scriptural

collections

the brahmanas have come to the definite

conclusion only this

is true and anything else is wrong

that is really a heavy state

statement but that is the belief of a

lot of religions

only this is true anything else no

it's wrong

so the buddha's answer to that is

how then a student among the brahmanas

is there even a single brahman

who says thus i know this

i see this only this is true

and anything else is wrong

and the student answered no master

gotima

how then student among the brahmanas is

there even

a single teacher or a single teacher's

teacher

back to the seventh generation of

teachers who says thus

i know this i see

this only this is true and anything

else is wrong no

master gotima how then

student the ancient brahmana

seers the creators of the hymns

the composers of the hymns

those ancient hymns that were

formally chanted uttered and compiled

the brahmas nowadays still chant and

repeat

repeating what was spoken and reciting

what was recited

did even these ancient brahman seer

say thus we know this

we see this only

this is true and anything else is wrong

no master gotema

so student it seems that among the

brahmanas

there is not even a single brahmana who

says thus

i know this i see this

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

[Music]

and among the brahman there

is not even a single teacher or a single

teacher's teacher

back to the seventh generation of

teachers

who says this i

know this i see this only this

is true and anything else is wrong

and the ancient brahmana seers the

creators of hymns the composer of hymns

even these brahman seers

did not say thus we know this we

see this only this is true and anything

else is wrong

suppose there were a file

of blind men each

in touch with the next the first

does not see the middle one does not see

the last one does not see

so too brahman in regard to their

statement

the the brahmanas

seem to be like a file of blind men

the first one does not see the middle

one

does not see and the last one does not

see

what do you think student

that being so does not faith

of the brahmanas turn in to be

groundless

this is working or

teaching how to not blindly

follow whatever is being said

even in the suttas there can be mistakes

when you one of the reasons

that this meditation that i'm teaching

is becoming more and more

more popular is because people

don't blindly believe anything and i

encourage

them don't believe a word that i say

your job is to experience it for

yourself

to see whether it's true or not

so the word faith in

pali is

and it's always described as faith

i don't like that definition i'd rather

use the definition

of confidence

because when you go through this

experience

you have confidence that

it really does work and you start

getting a little excited by it

so many people are doing so many kinds

of meditation

and they they hit a wall they just hit a

place where they can't progress

very much after that

i have friends that have been doing

meditation for up to 50 years

and they they're very devoted to their

kind of meditation

but they really don't have much progress

in the meditation and

in the understanding of the buddha's

teaching

a lot of that is because they use

commentaries

and a commentary is one monk's opinion

of what he thinks the buddha was talking

about

it can be correct it could be not

correct

part of it could be right part of it can

be wrong

but when you have the direct experience

you don't have any any doubt at all

whether this is correct or not

so that's why i don't like the word

faith because

other religions rely on blind faith

and you'll see the answer that the

buddha gives here

and you'll see that it has to do with

direct

experience so

the brahmanas honor not only

out of faith master gotama

they honor it as oral tradition

now a lot of people have heard that

buddhism is an oral tradition

and it's an oral tradition

when you hear me

reading out of the suttas and

repeating things over and over again

if you have a book in front of you and

you're following what i'm saying

that goes to one place in your brain

but when you just listen that goes to

another

place it goes to your long-term memory

and because i respect

things over and over again it gets

lodged in that long-term memory so you

can remember

what the buddha was talking about when

i'm reading directly from the suttas

i have considered

reciting each one of these sutas

so you can pick up

without the dot dot dot

in the book so you can pick it up as

an oral tradition

but an awful lot of westerners they hear

something two or three times then they

go i've already heard that i don't need

that anymore

it's because they're used to

putting the information that they have

in a different place

in their brain

and as a result

it's it's like eating fast food you get

you get the food it satisfies you for a

little while

and then you get hungry again

so practicing

oral tradition even though it seems

old-fashioned is the best way to

learn the suttas now there are some

sutas that i highly recommend that you

memorize

and these are easy sutas

that i recommend to memorize

the chichaka suta number 146

in imagina nikaya is very

easy to memorize

i had a student that when she came to me

she said i don't have good memory

i can hardly remember anything

so at the time i was she was uh

driving me around the country 17

000 miles or so

to the west coast and then up into

seattle and then back

down and

i proved to her that she could remember

now what i taught her first was the five

aggregates

it's only five it should be easy to

memorize

so i had her repeat this over

and over and over and over

for at least three hours at a time

and then i had her memorize the poly

by the time we got done with the trip

she had memorized

the five aggregates the five aggregates

in poly

and the eightfold path now this is

she said she couldn't remember this kind

of stuff

and i proved to her that she could

then one time i was going from

california back home to missouri

and i had her reciting

the chichaka suta she would do it two or

three times

in the morning and two or three times in

the afternoon

in four days she had it memorized

without any mistakes

so if you really are interested

in

knowing some of those sutas and how

helpful they can

be she would get into

a discussion with somebody

and they were describing what they

thought the buddha was talking about and

then she would

recite some of the information from the

chuchaka suta and say

this is what the buddha said and she had

it with her

that's the whole advantage of doing that

and there was a time that i was in japan

with her

in december i think it was

and it was cold and no no getting around

it

the eyes on the ground

and they wanted the monks to walk about

a half a mile

and then up about 300 steps

now the student she

was prone to have cramps

and in cold weather she was always

complaining about

her legs cramping up

so while she was walking and going

up the steps she was

to herself was reciting the chachaka

suta

and when she got to the top she realized

that she didn't have

a cramp because she was focusing

on the buddha's words

so it's it can be very helpful in a lot

of different

ways to memorize

either the chichaka suta or the anathen

bendika suta

both of those very easy to memorize

won't take you very long

but it will help you with your sitting

the information that you have

and your understanding of

this is not me this is not mine this is

not myself

so you have a lot of different kinds of

traditions that are very helpful

with your practice and in your daily

life

so

student first you took the stand

on faith now you speak of

oral tradition there are five

things student that may turn out

in two different ways here and now

what five faith

approval oral tradition

reason cogitation and reflective

acceptance

of a view

these five things may turn out in two

different ways

here and now now something may be

fully accepted out of faith

yet it may be empty hollow and

false but something

else may not be fully accepted

out of faith and yet it may be factual

true and unmistaken

again something may be

fully approved of or well

cogitated or may be reflected

upon yet it may be empty

hollow and false but something else

may not be well reflected upon

yet it may be factual true and

unmistaken under these conditions

it is not proper for a wise man

to preserve truth to come to the

definite conclusion

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

but master go to the in what way is

there the preservation of truth

how do you how does one preserve truth

interesting question

we ask master gotama about the

preservation of truth

if a person person has faith student

he preserves truth when he says

my faith is thus

but does not yet come to the definite

conclusion

only this is true and anything else is

wrong

in this way there is the preservation of

truth in this way he preserves truth

in this way we describe the preservation

of truth

but as yet there is no discovery

of truth now we're getting into

what you teach yourself when you're

meditating

remember that you are your own teacher

and it's important for you to realize

that when you see something for yourself

you can't be talked out of it

right you saw it you know that this is

correct

because the results are what is

uh spoken of

by many other students

if a person approves of something

if he receives an oral tradition

if he reaches a conclusion based on

reason cogitation

if he gains a reflective acceptance

of the truth he preserves

truth when he says

my reflective acceptance of the truth is

thus but he does not yet come to the

definite conclusion

only this is true when anything else is

wrong

in this way too student there

is the preservation of truth in this way

he preserves truth in this way

he he describes the preservation of

truth

but as yet there is no discovery

of the truth now we're getting right

down to it

the direct experience of

your meditation

in that way master go to mother is the

preservation

of truth in that way one preserves truth

in that way we recognize the

preservation of truth

but in what way master gotama is there

the discovery of truth

in what way does one discover truth we

ask

master gotama about the discovery of

truth

here student a monk

may be living independence on some

village or town

then a householder or a householder's

son goes to him

and investigates him in regard to three

kinds of states

in regard to states based on greed

in regard and states based on hate

in regard to states based on delusion

now you've maybe some of you have heard

me give

domino talks about greed

lust hate

delusion what is that describing

i like it i don't like it

i am that

that's another way uh in

zen practice they call it the three

poisons

but actually it's not three poisons it's

actually just one poison called

craving and this

is the importance of

using the six r's often

when you recognize that your mind is

distracted you release the distraction

this is a hard one for a lot of people

because they get so

involved in their own opinions and ideas

and concepts

and they take it personally

but when you release

one of those kinds of thoughts

and relax the tightness caused by that

thought

now this happens every time you have

a hindrance and where do hindrances come

from

hindrances arise because of breaking

precepts

so the more you stop

breaking precepts and

you start developing your

morality so that it's more clean

more pure

you won't have as many hindrances

arise you won't have as many

difficulties arise

while you're doing the meditation you're

not going to have

you're going to have some of the

hindrances they're still going to come

up but they're not going to be as big

or as troublesome

any time you have repeat

thoughts that you

in your mind you repeat just like they

were on a tape deck

there is attachment there there is

craving there there is i don't like this

i want it to be different than it is

i want this to stop

i i i

where does i come from

it comes from breaking a precept and

feeling

guilty and having remorse

of breaking that precept

that's where the false belief in a

personal self

actually starts

what is craving craving is the i like it

i don't like it mind

i like it i don't like it

and that's where attachment comes from

so when you are talking about

going and they're talking here about

investigating

three kinds of states it's actually

investigating one kind of state

that's broken up into three different

different things so it's easier to

comprehend

so

after a person has gone to do

the monastery

are and ask are there

in this venerable one the monk that's in

the head of the monastery any states

based on greed

such that with his mind obsessed

by those states

while not knowing he might say i know

or while not seeing he might say

i see

or he might urge others to act in that

way

that would lead to their harm and

suffering

for a long time now

when you're looking for a teacher this

is something that you need to look at

and make sure you just don't blindly

follow because other people are

following

as he investigates him he comes to know

there are no such states based on greed

in this venerable one

the bodily behavior and the verbal

behavior of this venerable one are not

those

of one affected by greed

and the dhamma that this venerable one

teaches is profound hard to see

and hard to understand peaceful and

sublime

unattainable by mere reasoning

subtle to be experienced by the wise

this dhamma cannot easily be taught by

one affected

by greed

and that basically goes through the same

thing

again when he has investigated him

and seen that he has purified

his from states based on greed

he next investigates him

in states regarding

hate are there in this venerable one in

these states based on hate such that his

mind is obsessed by those states

he might urge others to act in that way

that would lead to their harm and

suffering

for a long time as he investigates him

he comes to know there's no such states

based on hate

in this vulnerable one

his bodily behavior and verbal behavior

of this planet

venerable one

are not those of one affected by hate

and the dhamma that this venerable one

teaches is profound to be experienced by

the wise

this dhamma cannot be easily

taught by one affected by hate

when he has investigated him and has

seen that he is purified from these

states based on hate

he next investigates him in regard to

states based on delusion

are there in

this venerable one any states based on

delusions such that

with his mind obsessed by those states

he might urge others to act in

in a way that would lead to their harm

and suffering

for a long time

it's interesting that i have quite a few

students

that really do not understand the idea

of no self anata

they think there has to be an atta

before there can be

no otta well there already

is octa every time you have broken a

precept you have created this false idea

of a personal self

now the relaxed step

is the key to the six

ours

when you relax

your mind is clear your mind is bright

there are no

thoughts arising in your mind

as a result you can say that your mind

is pure

at that time so the relaxed step

and the smile step

are extremely important

the more you smile with your meditation

the sharper your mindfulness becomes

the clearer your mindfulness becomes

i had a student in australia that have

been doing a

a kind of practice that pretty much

follows the visudi maga

which means it was a one-pointed kind of

concentration

he'd practiced it for seven years and

then he wrote to me

and he said i've been doing this

practice for seven years and i don't see

any personality

change i still get as

angry as i used to i still

have all kinds of emotional upsets

and it doesn't seem that the meditation

actually

works it works while i'm sitting

in the concentration and i can get into

a stage of bliss

and it's wonderful

as long as i'm meditating

but when i get out of the meditation and

start living my life

i still have the same amount of

suffering

that i had before i got into the

meditation

can you teach me a different way

now he was doing mindfulness of

breathing

so i told him how to do the mindfulness

of breathing

with the six r's

but he kept for forgetting to use the

6rs because his concentration would get

so deep

nothing else would arise

so there was a problem with that

so i told him how to do it and after a

week or so

he wasn't having any any progress in his

meditation

and he kept on saying well i i don't see

any progress

i'm going to go back to the old way of

doing it.

and finally i got tired of listening to

him complain

so i said okay i'm going to give you a

different meditation

you don't know what's going to happen

with this meditation so it's going to be

completely new

and you start from the start

and i gave him loving kindness

and when he got into the loving kindness

he didn't really understand the six

r's he

started saying well i i get attacked by

so many hindrances

my mind is is all over the place what am

i supposed to do with that

i'm going to go back to do a meditation

the way i know

i said no don't do that

so finally i got tired of him

complaining

so i said i don't want you to meditate

for one week

i don't want you to sit down quietly

for one full week

what i want you to do

is smile

all day from the time that you

wake up to the time you go to bed i want

you to smile

and when you can't smile i want you to

laugh

and i didn't hear from him for a week

so finally he wrote to me

and he said

i want to tell you my experience

of not meditating which he really was

doing he was meditating

but just smiling he said always

before i started smiling

when i walked anywhere i walk with my

head down

and i was in my own hell realm

and when i started smiling my posture

started changing while i was walking

and i started looking around and the

most amazing thing happened

as i was smiling walking around people

they started smiling back

and that never happened before

and he said even when i didn't feel like

smiling i smiled

and i found great benefit in smiling my

mind got more uplifted

more happy

and i wrote back to him and i said do

you notice any difference in mindfulness

and he said i've been practicing

supposedly a mindfulness meditation for

seven years and i didn't even know what

mindfulness

was now i see

it is an observation power

so the smiling is real important to the

practice

it helps your mind to be light

it helps your mind to be more alert and

you can start to see the

mud as it starts to

get caught in the mud of emotional stuff

and you can let go of it more quickly

the fastest way to let go of an

attachment

is to laugh

you're not going to run across

meditation teachers that tell you to

laugh

as a matter of fact i have some

meditations students

that have practiced with me for a little

while and then they go to somebody else

and they start smiling and they they

have this little chuckle when they

notice that their mind is going crazy

and they get kicked out of the retreat

we don't allow

people to smile in this retreat

uh well okay

don't i didn't for 20 years i

understand the the consequences of this

but if that's what the way you want to

practice then you practice that way

when you smile and your mindfulness

gets sharper your observation

power of watching how this process

works

your mind naturally tends to

have more equanimity

in it so you don't have this

roller coaster ride of emotions

i like this i hate that i like this i

hate that you do that all day

and then you you're so exhausted at the

end of the day i gotta lay down and

sleep i mean

i had to work hard today

well as you start developing your

mindfulness

you're still going to have some ups and

downs

but they're not going to be as radical

and you're not taking them

as personally that

impersonal nature is anata

okay

so the importance of using the six

r's can never be overstated

it's real important that you use the 6rs

even during your daily activities

so

as he investigates him he comes to see

there's

no such state based on delusion in this

venerable one

the bodily behavior and verbal behavior

of this venerable one

are not those of one affected by

delusion

and the dhamma that this venerable one

teaches is profound

to be experienced by the wise

again we have that in that statement

to be experienced by the wise

seeing how this process works

seeing how the links of dependent

origination

actually occur

this dhamma cannot easily be taught by

one affected by delusion

when he has investigated him and seen

that he is

purified from states based on delusion

then he he places faith

in him confidence

in the teacher filled with faith

he vis he visits him

and pays respect to him

having gained respect to him he gives

ear

when he gives ear he hears the dhamma

having heard the dhamma he memorizes it

and examines the meaning of the teaching

as he memor has

has memorized

when he examines their meaning he gains

a reflective

acceptance of the teaching when he has

gained a reflective acceptance of the

teachings

enthusiasm springs up

you start seeing for yourself

that this really works and it starts to

be fun

it's not so hard anymore

the more you practice

having an uplifted mind

the easier it is to understand

what the meditation is all about

when enthusiasm is brought up

he applies his mindfulness having

applied his mindfulness

he scrutinizes looks closely

at how this process works

having scrutinized his strives

now strives here means the six hours

okay and i'll show you that in just a

minute

or not i'm going very long

again

resolutely striving he realizes

with the body the ultimate

truth and sees it by penetrating it

with wisdom in this way

student there is the discovery of truth

in what way master gotama is

there is the discovery of truth

in that way one who dis discovers

truth in that way

we recognize the discovery of truth

and what way master go to my is they're

the final

arrival of truth

in what way does one finally arrive at

truth

we asked master gotama about the final

arrival

at truth what do you suppose a final

arrival of truth is

seeing for yourself

that this works

i have so many students

that come to me with this great smile

and radiance on their face

and they say you know this really

works and they're surprised because

they've been practicing years

a different form of meditation

and i have a lot of students that

their progress in the meditation i only

give 10-day retreats i don't need you

for any longer than that

you will understand more buddhism

than you ever dreamed possible

in 10 days because of your direct

experience

and the interviews that i give and

the reading of the suttas

and you are going to realize the truth

now not everybody experiences

becoming a soda panaris octagomi or an

onigami

quickly sometimes you have to come back

for one or two visits

but as you follow the directions

that the buddha gives

in the suttas and you're sincere

with doing it

you will be successful

i promise you will be

able to be in one of the genres

very quickly

i have one student here today

he just came three days ago and he

became an advanced meditator

in three days that means he got to the

fourth channel

not bad for three days meditation

he followed the directions very sincere

he was

curious about how this process worked

and he's starting to have fun

he's starting to sit back and and just

smile because it is so easy

well i won't say it's easy it's simple

sometimes it's hard

but most of the time especially as you

start going deeper and deeper

it gets easier and easier to

understand how this process

works

the final arrival at truth student lies

in the repetition

development and cultivation

of those things that i just read above

in this way there is the final arrival

of truth

in this way one finally arrives at truth

in this way we describe the final

arrival of truth

so i've been talking for an hour and 15

minutes

and i get scolded for talking so long

but this is this last section

maybe we can print up this section on

section 20. and

put it on our website because that's

that's the way

you learn and are able to teach

the best okay

so i'm not going to be able to finish

the suit

it basically just repeats itself again

do you have any questions

yes greetings from central pennsylvania

greetings is it cold there now

uh we're actually having a warm humid

day today oh wonderful

martin t-shirt weather good for you

about missouri

uh it's about the same it's about 80

degrees

okay yeah yeah um i have a couple

questions i actually wanted to share

something with you first that

i did not mention today but i had asked

you about

um maybe about a month ago about the uh

the release step

um and i realized that i

was going on to the the relaxed step

without actually having released the

thoughts and i it

i had this insight that that doesn't

actually work like it doesn't work if

you try to relax when your mind is still

sort of

right you have to use a whole formula

right yeah so i finally realized that so

i wanted to share that with you because

that was uh

excellent i think that happened good

lesson yeah

um so okay so my first question is about

the precepts

um i'm wondering if if the precepts

are like is it something

in is there something inherent in the

human nature and the human mind

about the precepts like is it like if

you if you

grew up never hearing about the precepts

and if you learned

a different code of morality where

actually you know lying is a good thing

or killing is a good thing i mean

is that kind of guilt still going to

arise or is there something inherent in

the precepts yes

the progress in meditation is very very

slow

when you have broken precepts and speech

is

the one that gets broken the most

telling lies

uh using foul language

trying to divide one group from another

and the king is gossip

and gossip is basically making up

stories about somebody else

and spreading that rumor

that happens so much these days it's

just

[Music]

remarkable

and it happens in buddhist groups

one group will spread

gossip about somebody else that's

teaching the buddhist teaching but

there's

jealousy and all kinds of things that

happen because of that

so you have to be particularly

mindful of what you're going to say

before you say it

and mindful about what you're going to

do

before you do it

and when you keep the precepts

over a period of time

it turns into a protection for you

and this protection stops other people

from

uh causing problems for you

and it can be a protection from

an accident being in an accident i've

been in in two cars

that have crashed and not been hurt

so keeping the precepts is a very good

thing for you to do

it's learning how to

break old habits of thinking

and develop new uplifting

thoughts

and the more you can do that the more

other people

like you and they start trusting you

i met a lady at one time

she had such a sweet voice

and as i got to know her she wouldn't

even consider

breaking a precept

and i i went into her shop she had a

a cassette duplication set up

so she i had a lot of uh

cassettes that i was giving out of toxin

that sort of thing

and when i the first time i went in

there

i felt like i could trust her no matter

what

and as i spent more time hanging

out with her waiting for the things to

get

done i really

developed a true honest uplifted feeling

thinking about her so when you can keep

your precepts without breaking them

people will naturally start trusting you

and trusting your judgment so you can be

helpful

and give away your

wholesomeness so other people we

will be inspired to do the same thing

okay thank you fonte

okay i have one more question

okay um

so this this idea of self i think i'm

still

and not self i think i'm still sort of

coming in with

some perhaps some some

not correct understanding so i mean

you know if they're and i'm hoping you

can kind of help clear this up for me a

little bit

um if so if there's no self then what is

it that's

that is remembering that's accumulating

karma

and knowledge that's uh being reborn i

mean what

if fast actions is causing that

that's why you're here because of

breaking precepts and past lifetimes

and how do you get off this wheel of

sansara

by using the meditation the way the

buddha taught it

and that is practicing your generosity

give your smile away help

other people to smile

practice your generosity in that way

keeping your precepts without breaking

them

when you do that your

your general mindfulness becomes much

sharper

and you will be able to

see what you're going to do before you

do it now you have a thought of

telling a lie to someone your mind will

say

watch this are you going to do this or

not

and why would you tell somebody a lie

so you let it go so it helps your

general mindfulness with your daily

activities

and as you start gaining a reputation of

someone that's going to be honest

then other people will start coming to

you

with things that you can help them solve

okay

okay thank you very much okay

anybody else have a question fonte

thank you for your talk i have a quick

question um

talked about investigating a teacher

based on the three poisons

how do we bounce between investigating a

teacher and not judging him

or her because no one's perfect and if

he picks hard enough i'm sure we could

find something that the the teacher is

not doing right

so how do we balance investigating and

not judging a teacher

trust your intuition

i've talked about intuition fairly often

trust your intuition your intuition says

follow him then do that

but still make sure that he's not caught

up

in lust or hatred or delusion

they can still make mistakes and you can

be forgiving of that

as long as it's not a habitual

tendency

okay

okay thank you okay

yeah hi hi i have today one question and

one sharing

okay my question is

for like

once you said that you train successful

students

to enter into janna and stay in the

janna for some time right

the fixed amount of time right

can it possible that

a person can enter into neither

perception nor

perception and stay

stay for some time is it possible

i have one student that stays in it for

seven hours a day

he meditates four hours in the morning

the whole time

he is in neither perception or

non-perception

and he does that three hours in the

evening

and the rest of the time his mind is

very very strong in equanimity

very strong balance of when he's doing

his daily activities

the reason i asked the question was the

reason i asked this question was like

based on my experience i feel like from

nothingness

to neither perception nor perception

there is no control right

well there's still attention you still

have attention

right you're paying attention your

mindfulness has to be observing how this

works and

if there's any slight movement you have

to relax and come back so there's still

a tension that's there

okay but

there is a lot of relief

in being able to sit

in neither perception or non-perception

and you're not making any

bad merit you're making only

good merit while you're sitting in there

okay okay so it's a real

important step yeah

okay i will i'll go to next one i want

to share

one of my experience okay

in these days i am able to read the

sutas and understand

very easily see like

means uh perfect

and i can say that this i just practiced

like

two three to three months i think

i have been practicing film for three

months

and the progress is you are

sorry how lucky you are

yes i am feeling very lucky and i am

feeling that

in these three months i progressed a lot

means i am i'm able to just open a

random sukta and a and

i'm able to read it and i can understand

it

yes pretty awesome yes

you're right it's very much fun every

now and then i

i give a suit to david

that he'd never read before and he gets

real excited about that

it's fun yeah and

i'm very thankful to you bante for

answering lot of my questions

happiness to be able to help you

thank you thank you that's what my

reward is

i get a lot of happiness

and that's all monday that was my

sharing okay

how are you liling i haven't seen you

for a long time

are you going to come to the next

california retreat

yes i would love to hopefully it will

be um available that we won't be in

lockdown

in california well are

it's gonna be around easter when it

happens so yes

i think it'll be okay by then yes

also i am doing well

are you doing well um

i'm doing all right okay yes

can you smile for a full day

yes i will

indeed okay

anybody else have a question ante it's

elizabeth

hello hello um

you know i've just joined your zoom

meetings or your zoom

sutra classes and they're just

absolutely marvelous thank you

so much oh thank you yeah

and i you've probably already shared

this

and it's okay if it's not appropriate i

know it's not gonna happen today but

i was um if you've already done this

with the group then

that's okay but i thought about you so

much in india and i thought about

all the uh experiences you must have had

and

the obstacles you had to overcome and

and

and i wondered if maybe sometime in the

future would you would share

with us what was what that was like for

you and maybe it was a walk in the park

but i don't

i don't know i don't think so maybe it

was

you know you know it's it's a real

interest

it's an interesting thing that i do

have very good food kernel so i don't go

hungry

and people found out that i was there

i i was staying at a a compound that had

150

apartments in it but there was only 10

people in that compound

oh wow and they found out that i was

there

and all of a sudden they're they're

bringing me food every day

so it was pretty much a walk in the park

i mean there's no difference between

being

uh

quarantined that

then it is doing a retreat

[Music]

so it was pretty easy okay

i only in 150 days of being in

quarantine

i only went outside two times

the rest of the time i was doing other

things

so it was not that big a deal to me

yeah thank you

i'm not surprised

[Laughter]

thank you okay

hi annie

hit the unmute or hit the mute

hi good to see you yes it's been years

i know but i think of you all the time

oh i'm always grateful for my teachers

how are you and your husband getting

along

is everything very good you're very good

we

we have a sweet bubble in this world

perfect

i i was a little bit concerned when i

heard of some of his health problems

yes he really did have a close call in

2000

2015 was a rough time but he

is very resilient and he's doing

fantastic

well it makes me very happy to see you

again

same here

okay anybody else have a question

yes bondi i have a question please

um i had hoped to be able to ask you in

person this week

that my travel did not work out okay

but i don't want to take up too much

time

at the end here so i wanted to ask you

if i might write you a letter with my

question

okay send it to david david will give it

to me

oh thank you very much okay thank you

thank you okay do some

sharing sharing of 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 thus

acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

devas and nagas of mighty power share

this merit of ours may they long protect

the buddhist dispensations

saad i don't

you