Samma Ditthi Sutta MN 9 with Delson Armstrong - The Personality Oct 20, 2021

So this sutta is going to have a lot of information, so I want you all to just listen and attend carefully. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in Jetavana Grove, Anathapindika's Park. There the Venerable Sariputta addressed the bhikkhus thus: "Friends, bhikkhus." "Friend," they replied. The Venerable Sariputta said this: "One of right view, one of right view is said, friends. In what way is a noble disciple one of right view, whose view is straight, who has unwavering confidence in the Dhamma and has arrived at this true Dhamma? Indeed, friend, we would come from far away to learn from the Venerable Sariputta the meaning of this statement."

It would be good if the Venerable Sariputta would explain the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from him, the bhikkhus will remember it. Then, friends, listen and attend closely to what I shall say. "Yes, friend," the bhikkhus replied. So now we're going to explore what right view is. Right view has two levels. There's the mundane level and there's the super mundane level.

The mundane level has to do with understanding karma, understanding rebirth, understanding that one has gratitude for one's elders, gratitude for one's parents, understanding that there are people out there who know this stuff, and that you can go to them and learn it and teach yourself while they guide you through that path. So right view is really about getting your conviction straight.

So when you establish right view, it means that you have experienced for yourself the path. It's not on a basis of blind faith. It's on a basis of seeing for yourself how this whole process works. And then you establish super mundane right view. Excuse me, the supreme super mundane right view has to do with the four noble truths. When somebody experiences nibbana, they get closer to understanding what these four noble truths are all about. Every time you use the 6R process you are applying the four noble truths. And I'll explain how that works.

And once you start to 6R and let go of craving further and further and experience the different levels of attainment, ultimately you experience arahatship and you have right view completely embedded in your mind. So there's no longer any doubts or any clarifications that are needed for you to understand the path at that point in time. When you get your view straight, then you also get the other factors of the path straight, and we'll go through what those factors are.

This is called the unwholesome. So right away you see breaking the five precepts is practicing the unwholesome. Anytime you break the precepts, you're liable to cause hindrances to arise in your mind. So if you've broken a precept, make a determination that you won't do it again. Take the precepts again and resolve to continue. That's all you have to do. The whole point of this practice is to understand what is the unwholesome. As we understand breaking the basic five precepts, indulging in certain kinds of unwholesome activities as was laid out here, that leads to one's mental downfall. That leads to a restless mind. That leads to a mind filled with doubt. That leads to a mind with craving. That leads to a mind with ill will.

But when you understand what is the wholesome and you replace the unwholesome actions, and actions aren't just deeds, they're not just physical actions, they mean mental, verbal and physical actions. So in other words, watch your thoughts, observe what the quality of your thoughts are, watch your intention when you're about to speak, and watch your intention before you actually act. And what is the root of the unwholesome? Greed is a root of the unwholesome. Hate is a root of the unwholesome. Delusion is a root of the unwholesome. This is called the root of the unwholesome: greed, hatred and delusion. These are the three fires that are extinguished at the experience of nibbana. Nibbana means no fire. It's the quenching of the fire, the quenching of the heat that comes from the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.

And what is the wholesome? Abstention from killing living beings is wholesome. Abstention from taking what is not given is wholesome. Abstention from misconduct in sensual pleasures is wholesome. Abstention from false speech is wholesome. Abstention from malicious speech is wholesome. Abstention from harsh speech is wholesome. Abstention from gossip is wholesome. Uncovetousness is wholesome. Non-ill will is wholesome. Right view is wholesome. This is called the wholesome.

So every time you take the precepts in the morning, you're committing in your mind to follow the precepts. You're establishing the wholesome in your mind when you begin the day, and that translates into a good practice most of the time. You'll still have hindrances here and there, but you see those hindrances as a result of breaking precepts in the past. You let them go. That's just old karma that you just let go. This whole process of the 6R's, as I said, is the eightfold path. So when we continue with the sutta, you're going to see a lot of repetition. And what Sariputta is doing is he's going to take you through each of the links of dependent origination and contextualize it through the four noble truths.

So you're going to understand how the link arises and how it ceases, and you're going to understand how the eightfold path is basically the 6R's. So anytime it's said that the cessation of this link is through the eightfold path, understand that to mean that the cessation of this link is through the 6R's, and I'll explain that.

And what is the root of the wholesome? Non-greed is a root of the wholesome. Non-hate is a root of the wholesome. Non-delusion is a root of the wholesome. This is called the root of the wholesome. When a noble disciple has thus understood the unwholesome, the wholesome and the root of the unwholesome, the wholesome and the root of the wholesome, he entirely abandons the underlying tendency to lust.

So what does he mean when he says he entirely abandons the underlying tendency to lust? That's craving. That's the mind that says, I like this and I want more of this. That's the mind that gets disturbed when it experiences something that's pleasurable and grasps onto it. In your meditation experience, when you have joy coming up, or when you have equanimity coming up, or any of the different factors of the jhana coming up, and you take that to be your object, you swerve from the loving kindness, you swerve from any of the Brahma Viharas or the quiet mind. Know now that the mind is clutching and grasping onto the factors of the jhana, because it's a pleasant feeling.

The jhanas are pleasant feelings, mental pleasant feelings. But if you hold on to the factors of the jhanas, you're only bringing up the underlying tendency to craving. Notice this: 6R it and let it go. 6R it and come back to your object of meditation. When you notice a hindrance, it can bring up, because it's an unpleasant feeling, it can bring up the underlying tendency to aversion.

You see a hindrance and you say, I don't like it. And you try to push it, you try to suppress it, you wrestle with it. This causes further aversion. This causes further restlessness in the mind. When this happens, you are no longer on your object of meditation, and you're no longer meditating. When you recognize that there is an attachment to this hindrance, there is an aversion to this hindrance, 6R it and come back to your object of meditation.

When you look at the object of meditation itself and you say, this is great, I really like this, that's wonderful. But as soon as you say, I am radiating loving kindness, I am experiencing the loving kindness, I am experiencing the factors of the jhana, you have the underlying tendency to conceit. So what we're really talking about is these three different levels of craving, these three different shades of craving: the I-like-it mind, the I-don't-like-it mind, and the mind that says this is me, this is mine, this is myself. That's the underlying tendency to conceit. When you see that the mind becomes attached to the object and says that this is mine, this is me, this is myself, recognize it, let go, pull back a little bit and just watch mind meditating.

You're not meditating, you're watching how the mind is meditating. All you're doing here is observing and anytime the mind starts to detract from its object, you're six aren't and you're coming back and you continue to observe. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoice in the venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question, but friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands nutriment, the origin of nutriment, the cessation of nutriment, and the way leading to the cessation of nutriment, in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

Now we're getting into understanding the four noble truths. So before we continue on, I want to explain why Sariputta started with the wholesome and the unwholesome. That's the way to eradicate doubt. Doubt is understood, number one, as doubt in the practice, doubt in the Dhamma, doubt in the Buddha, doubt in the Sangha. It can be understood as doubt in terms of one's own practice, one's own experience with the practice, and so on. But there is another level of doubt, which is to say indecisiveness, not understanding whether this is wholesome or unwholesome.

When you see that there is tension and tightness in the mind, then you are tending to the unwholesome. When you let go of that, you're maintaining your precepts, you see that there's a natural clarity of mind. That is the wholesome. This is the way to recognize it. Whenever your mind is clear, whenever your mind is quiet, whenever your mind is relaxed, it is tending to the wholesome. Whenever your mind is agitated, whenever your mind is tense, whenever your mind is tightening, then it is unwholesome. It's tending to the unwholesome.

Now he says we're going to understand the origin of nutriment, the cessation of nutriment, and the way leading to the cessation of nutriment. So here, when we talk about the Four Noble Truths, it's traditionally understood as: there is suffering. Not that life is suffering. You've got to get that out of your head if you have that. Not that life is suffering. If that was the case, then what's the point of meditating? What's the point of doing any of this?

There is suffering in life. There will be some kind of suffering or another. But there is a way out of that suffering. And first you understand: how did that suffering arise? That suffering arose because of craving, because of clinging, because of identifying, because of conceit, because of wrong view, because of ignorance. So the second noble truth is the cause.

The third noble truth is the cessation of suffering, or the cessation of that particular link. The fourth noble truth is the path. That is the six R's process. That's the eightfold path that allows you to let go of the cause of that suffering, whether it's a hindrance, whether it's a link of dependent origination or whatever unwholesome state is there currently, whatever it might be, a distraction, whatever it is. You see it as being dukkha. You see it as being the first noble truth.

Now you see that the cause of that is because you're holding onto it. You're attaching to it. You're fighting with it. You're doing something with it that causes it to aggravate the situation. That causes the hindrance to arise over and over and over. And your reaction to it: if your reaction to it is filled with attachment or aversion, that's going to cause you further suffering in the form of more and more hindrances. But if you 6R, you recognize that the hindrance is there. You have stopped that flow of hindrance.

You let go by releasing your awareness from it. You relax the tension that's there in the mind and body. You re-smile, you cultivate joy, you cultivate something wholesome in the way of your smile. You return to your object of meditation and you repeat. Every time you do that six R's process, you're using the fourth noble truth of the eightfold path to experience the cessation of suffering, which in this case is the cessation of that hindrance.

And what is nutriment? What is the origin of nutriment? What is the cessation of nutriment? What is the way leading to the cessation of nutriment? There are four kinds of nutriment for the maintenance of beings that already have come to be and for the support of those about to come to be. What for? They are physical food as nutriment, gross or subtle.

Contact as the second, mental volition as the third, and consciousness as the fourth. With the arising of craving, there is the arising of nutriment. With the cessation of craving, there is the cessation of nutriment. So these four nutriments, we talk about food. Food nourishes the body, but there can be craving for food, and that can cause further suffering because you're not mindful of whether your body is hungry or not. And there can be attachment towards it. Contact as the second: you don't have an experience without contact. In other words, now you're listening to my voice, you're seeing me here. There is contact between the ears and the sound, and so with that contact there arises the experience of, here is Delson speaking.

That is the feeling and the perception. When you see me, the light bounces off of my body, hits the retina, and that is contact. Because of that contact, there is an experience of seeing Delson here sitting in this chair. So contact gives rise to feeling. The body is nourished by food, gross or subtle. When you say gross or subtle, we're talking about physical food, and subtle means deva food.

And deva food is food given by devas. There was a story that David told me, where, I think it was in Thailand, there was this monk who was meditating, and somebody came and offered him some food. It was just plain rice and some vegetables or something like that, and he ate a little bit of that food and he said, wow, this is amazing, this is just amazing food. It was just boiled rice and some vegetables and a little bit of chili paste. And he gave it to his friend, his other monk friend, and he said, here, try this. He tried it and he said, I don't know what you're talking about, what's the big deal, this is just rice and vegetables. So they went to the teacher, and he told the teacher what had happened, and the teacher said, oh yeah, I've had that experience before.

What happened was that the person who came and offered him food gave it and walked away, and when he looked around, that person was no longer there. He vanished. That was a deva who offered him food, and so it came in the form of rice and vegetables and chili paste, but there was subtle food there that nourished him and that made him feel satisfied with just one morsel. So there are experiences like that people can have. And this kind of food, whether it's gross or subtle, is nourishment for the body. That's why it's known as nutriment. When you have an experience, the nourishment of that is contact, meaning you can't have an experience without contact.

When we talk about volition, mental volition, that is intention or inclination. This is really about formations. When you have an intention to do something, that arises because of contact. You go and you express your words through speech, or your actions through your physical actions, or you have thoughts that arise. This is because of intention. This is because of formations. Otherwise, if you had no intention, you wouldn't act, you wouldn't have any thoughts, you wouldn't have any verbal thoughts or verbal speech, and you wouldn't do anything. So if there is craving there, it enables the mind to go and personalize that and act from a sense of self.

The fourth is consciousness. When we talk about consciousness, we're talking about two levels of consciousness. There is cognition. So when you are seeing me, when you are listening to me, when there's contact with the light and your eyes, there is the arising of eye consciousness. There is the cognizing that here is Delson. There is the cognizing that the sound coming is Delson's voice. So that is cognition. That's the bare awareness of what is happening. That is tied to feeling and to perception.

The other kind of consciousness that we talk about is basically what nourishes the nama-rupa, the mentality and materiality that arises at birth. If there was no consciousness to descend into an embryo, there would be no continuing life. There would be no continuing existence. And that consciousness arises dependent upon craving. When a person at their previous life dissolves, when they die, they have certain kinds of experiences in their mind. And this causes the mind to, if there is craving, if there is conceit, if there is ignorance, latch on to whatever last thought there is. And that last thought arises because of formations.

Formations continually arise, but these formations are developed and cultivated because of certain actions. So if a person has been unwholesome throughout their life, there is a higher likelihood that their last thoughts will be rooted in the unwholesome. Because of that, those thoughts will be clung to, and that craving gives rise to a new consciousness that continues on in rebirth and descends into a new nama-rupa, into a new mentality, materiality.

Likewise, if a person has been wholesome their whole life, but they still have identification with that wholesome. What does that mean when we say identification? It means, oh, I'm making this a big deal. I really like this. I like that I'm following the precepts. I like that I'm meditating. I like that. So that conceit that's there, that pride that's there, that attachment to that, that causes craving as well. That causes clinging as well. And so that is liable to create a new rebirth, a new consciousness that descends into a new mentality materiality. When we say mentality materiality, we're talking about mind and body. So when there is craving, there is consciousness.

And when consciousness arises, there is nama-rupa. And dependent upon nama-rupa, there is the sixth sense basis. When there is that, there is contact, the potential for contact. When there's contact, there's feeling, there's perception. When that feeling is taken to be self, when that feeling is taken personally, in the form of, I really like this, and I want more of it, or I don't like this, and you're trying to push it away, or I am this, then it is liable to cause craving. And we will see how that whole chain works through dependent origination.

The way leading to the cessation of nutriment is just this Noble Eightfold Path. That is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Now, we talk about the Eightfold Path in these different path factors, but I said earlier that the six R's are basically the Eightfold Path. The six R's fulfill the ability to see the Four Noble Truths and be able to let go of suffering. You've already experienced this in your meditation practice. You have noticed when a hindrance has arisen, that hindrance was suffering. You saw it and you let go of it. You've relaxed. You re-smiled. You came back to your object of meditation. When you did that, you were fulfilling the Four Noble Truths and you were exercising the Eightfold Path.

Now, let's understand each of the factors of the Eightfold Path. There is right view. As I said, we have the mundane and the super mundane. The mundane has to do with the understanding that actions have consequences. If I do unwholesome actions, there will be unwholesome consequences. If I do wholesome actions, there will be wholesome consequences. There is the understanding of what is rebirth in the process of continuing to fuel the hindrance.

Every time you pay attention to it and cause undue attention to it, you cause the rebirth of that hindrance to arise over and over again. So rebirth is really the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. But if you don't tie to it, if you don't attach to it. If you don't have aversion to it and you just let it go using the six Rs, then that hindrance becomes weaker.

Reflect back on your own meditation. Perhaps a hindrance arose and it was really adamant, but you just saw it there, you recognized it, you used the six Rs, and it weakened. The next time around it came, it was less intense. The next time it came again, it was less intense than that. Eventually, it faded away. It disappeared altogether.

So right view, as I said, the super mundane right view is the complete understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Right intention is basically threefold. Renunciation, non-ill will, and non-cruelty. Renunciation doesn't just mean renouncing the home life and things like that. Renunciation is on a mental level. It's on a level of thought, letting go of your attachment to hindrances, letting go of your attachment to any kind of thoughts, any kind of ideas, any kind of concepts. This is true renunciation. And whenever you are using the six R's, you're applying right intention in that way. When you cultivate loving kindness, you have non-ill will. The antidote to ill will is loving kindness.

When you radiate compassion, you have non-cruelty. Non-cruelty is basically having a mindset that is wanting to inflict damage on other people, mentally, verbally, emotionally, whatever it might be. But if you have compassion, true compassion to understand the other person and seeing that they are suffering, why would you want to add to their suffering if you have true compassion?

So this compassion is the fulfillment of non-cruelty in right intention. Then there's right speech. And right speech is essentially abstaining from false speech, abstaining from harsh speech, abstaining from foul speech, abstaining from gossip, abstaining from idle chatter, talking about unnecessary things. So when you practice noble silence, you are actually practicing a higher form of right speech because there is no possibility for you to slip up and say something that you didn't mean. Now, there's an acronym that I use to be able to understand whether that speech is going to be right speech or not.

And that is think before you speak. That's T-H-I-N-K. T stands for timeliness. Is it the right time to say what you want to say? If it's not, don't say it. H is honesty. What you're going to say, do you know that it is true? Do you know that it is a space in reality? If it's not, you can preface it by saying, this is what I heard, or this is what I've been told, and so you give that preface. I is intention. What is the intention there? Is it intentionally wholesome or is it intentionally unwholesome, what you're about to say? And is it necessary for that person to know what you're about to say? Is it necessary for you to be able to tell them? And K is, of course, kindness. Can you say what you're going to say with kindness? Can you say what you're going to say with loving kindness? So anytime before you speak, think, use these filters. And then we'll be able to understand whether what you're going to say is in alignment with right speech.

Can we ask questions as we go, or would you prefer at the end? Go ahead. Well, just the necessary component. Of course, a lot of friendships are based around sharing the necessary stuff. Yeah, yeah. So that's a little bit, can you explain a little bit more about necessary? Yeah, necessary meaning is it necessary for that moment? Is it necessary for that person to hear it? Maybe they need to be informed about something. Or it's not necessary because it's not the right time. Or it's not necessary because it's part of idle chatter. Like, can you go without having to talk about the weather? Can you go on without having to talk about politics and things like that?

Because that's unnecessary talk. Sometimes people will have, among friends, certain kinds of discussions and things like that. That's fine. But you have to understand for your own mental health, for your own understanding, is what you're going to say going to add any kind of value to the conversation? Or is it just idle chatter, chit-chat, not really adding any kind of value?

That's the way I understand necessary. Yeah. Yeah, I always wondered. A lot of the students started with some of the approaches to Buddha, like they change greetings, and then, yeah, it's like what's called small talk. Yeah, well, that's fine. I mean, like, hey, how are you, how's your health, how's the weather where you are, all that. Yeah, but basically what I'm saying is there's something to be said about that small talk, which is polite and, just, initially it's kindness to the person. But if you're going to be talking about the weather and you're going to be talking about other things that are unnecessary for the betterment of that person or yourself, then

Exactly, exactly. That kind of small talk that arises, it arises because of some kind of aversion, some kind of unnecessary, well, or rather I can say, some kind of discomfort with silence. You want to fill the void, you want to fill the silence with something. That's what I'm talking about. Is that clear? So right action. Right action is abstaining from killing and harming beings. Right action is abstaining from taking what is not given. Right action is abstaining from sexual and sensual misconduct. It should also include abstaining from drugs and alcohol, anything that intoxicates the mind, anything that veers away from your mindfulness. But that's implied in right mindfulness. If you see that drugs and alcohol dull the mind and lead to sloth and torpor, the different kinds of precepts also lead to the different kinds of breaking of the precepts, which lead to different kinds of hindrances. For example,

if you are somebody who uses false speech, you will have the hindrance of doubt, because you start to doubt other people, and that can translate into self-doubt, doubt in the practice, and so on. If you take what is not given, that is liable to cause restlessness, because now you're thinking, is my stuff safe? And that doesn't just mean physical possessions. That also means trying to take credit for things, trying to take attention away from somebody, all those other kinds of things when it's not given. That can cause restlessness in the mind. Like I said, when you take intoxicants, that can lead to sloth and torpor. When you have ill will, when you harm somebody with your speech, when you harm somebody with your actions, with your thoughts, it's liable to cause ill will.

Now, sexual misconduct, that also implies sensual misconduct. That means you're indulging in something, and you're identifying with it, and you're thinking about it, and you're obsessing over it, and it just becomes part of your habitual patterns. That's liable to cause the hindrance of sensual craving. So this is the way to understand that every time you make a commitment to stay with the precepts, you're letting go of any potential hindrances from arising.

The reason why hindrances arose in your meditation is because you broke one of the precepts before, and now you see the connection. Then we have right livelihood, and that's abstaining from certain kinds of business practices, abstaining from certain kinds of trade. That is to say, trade in alcohol. Not selling alcohol, not selling weapons, not selling people, not selling poisons, and not dealing in the killing of animals for meat.

Then there's right effort. Now what I want to explain to you is right effort is the heart of the path. Right effort is actually the six R's. Right effort is fourfold. Right effort means you are preventing the arising of hindrances. You're abandoning whatever hindrances arose before. You're generating a wholesome state and you're maintaining that wholesome state. Now, how does that happen with the six R's?

When you recognize that there is a hindrance, it stops the flow of energy of that hindrance right there and then. Now you recognize this hindrance is here. When you release and you relax, you abandon that hindrance completely. When you smile, you generate a wholesome state because the smile is anchored in that loving kindness. And then when you return and you repeat, you are maintaining that wholesome state. So this is why the six R's are basically the Eightfold Path, and right effort is the heart of the path. It's only with right effort that you go from wrong view to right view, wrong intention to right intention, wrong speech to right speech, wrong action to right action, wrong livelihood to right livelihood, wrong mindfulness to right mindfulness, and wrong meditation to right meditation.

We talk about now right mindfulness. Every time you recognize, you are starting to apply your mindfulness. Every time you continue to observe your object of meditation, not trying to push it, and not trying to suppress it, you're not trying to hone in on your object, you're just observing. You're observing how mind's attention is moving whenever it gets distracted, or whenever some kind of hindrance arises. This is mindfulness. Now when we talk about mindfulness, we talk about the fourfold, or the four foundations of mindfulness. You talk about the body, you talk about feeling, you talk about mind, and you talk about phenomena.

When you're doing the meditation, you're already fulfilling the four foundations of mindfulness one way or another. You sit down, you become aware of the body, you become aware of the warmth of the loving kindness. At that point, there's mindfulness of the body. When you experience the loving kindness, there's mindfulness of feeling. When you see that that experience of loving-kindness is continuing, you're seeing how mind's attention is moving, and that is seeing how mind is working. This is how consciousness, or citta, it's called citta in Pali. And when you see a hindrance arise, or when you see an enlightenment factor arise, you're seeing phenomena. They call that Dhamma. Dhamma, meaning D-H-A-M-M-A with the long vowel A, because that indicates the plural.

Hindrances, enlightenment factors, the four noble truths. When you recognize a hindrance, you are applying the foundation of mindfulness of seeing how phenomena arise. So all of this is already being done in the meditation. You just don't see it, but now you're starting to see it once I'm explaining it to you. And of course, right collectedness is going through the practice of the jhanas. You go through the first, second, third, and fourth jhana. Now, what's interesting to note is when you're in the fourth jhana and you go to infinite space, when you go to infinite consciousness, when you go to nothingness,

when you go to neither perception or non-perception, that's still in the fourth jhana. So the arupa jhanas, or what I call the ayatanas, the bases, the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness, the base of neither perception or non-perception, All of that is rooted in the fourth jhana. So when you are in jhana, you are practicing right samadhi. You are practicing right collectiveness. When a noble disciple has thus understood nutriment, the origin of nutriment, the cessation of nutriment, and the way leading to the cessation of nutriment, he entirely abandons the underlying tendency to greed. He abolishes the underlying tendency to aversion.

Samudaya, which is the cause, which is craving. Nirodha, which is the cessation. And the path leading to the cessation of suffering. And so he says, what is suffering? What is the origin of suffering? What is the cessation of suffering? What is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? Birth is suffering. Aging is suffering. Sickness is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering. Not to obtain what one wants is suffering. In short, the five aggregates affected by clinging are suffering. This is called suffering.

So there are three different kinds or categories of suffering, let's say. There is what's known as Dukkha Dukkha, there is Viparinama Dukkha, and there is Sankhara Dukkha. Dukkha Dukkha is basically what you're talking about here. Birth, aging, sickness, death, and sorrow, and so on. These are inevitable. Birth, you have already taken birth in this life, that's inevitable.

Aging is inevitable. You can try to prevent aging in whatever way you want, but it is going to happen. Illness is inevitable. Somewhere or another, you're going to have some kind of illness. And death is inevitable. This is Dukkha Dukkha. Viparinama Dukkha is the Dukkha of change, the instability of life, the unexpectedness of life. Something happens, like somebody dies in your family, completely unexpected. That's Viparinama Dukkha. You go on a vacation, you book your flight, and you're on your way to the airport, and the flight gets canceled.

That was out of your control. That was unexpected. That's viparinama dukkha. You'll go take a shower. It's a nice hot shower. Suddenly, the hot water is cut off, and now it's freezing cold. That's viparinama dukkha. It changed. That's the instability of life. Sankhara dukkha is the dukkha that is inherent in life in the form of the five aggregates affected by clinging. What we have to understand is the five aggregates themselves are not clinging. It's the clinging that is in the process of identifying with them. Taking this body to be mine. Taking this feeling to be mine. Taking this perception to be mine. Taking this intention or formations to be mine. Taking this awareness or cognition to be mine.

This is what is liable to cause further suffering. Because you have expectations of it. And those expectations are not met, and that can cause suffering. Yeah, the five aggregates themselves are not inherently suffering. It's when we identify. Exactly. Like, this is mine. But there's inherent suffering in them, because the body changes. The body ages and experiences.

Yes. And what is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that. That is the craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. This is called the origin of suffering. We'll go into a little bit more about what craving is, but basically, when we talk about craving for sensual pleasures, we're talking about craving, not just attracted to them, not just attached to them, but having aversion towards them or identifying with them. There is sensual pleasures where you see that piece of chocolate cake and you're like, I really want that piece of chocolate cake. You eat it, but you're not satisfied. You want more of it, and eventually you have suffering in the way of a tummy ache. Or you are meditating and you hear some kind of buzzing outside. Somebody has a lawnmower on or something that irritates you, and that is also craving. You want to push that away. That feeling of wanting to push away causes that

tightness and tension in the head. That's the aversion, that's the aversion towards a sensual experience. Or if there's just an experience that's going on and you identify with it, identify with the feeling and saying this is my feeling, this is my meditation practice, this is my experience of jhana, this is my experience of loving kindness, you're going to cause yourself craving for it. So that's another way of experiencing craving: craving for being, craving for non-being. Craving for being is, I want to get to that jhana, I want to experience compassion, I want to experience infinite consciousness, I want to experience so and so. That is the longing. That longing for nibbana is what is deterring you away from experiencing Nibbana.

That non-being is, I really don't like it here right now. You're meditating and your butt hurts and you're like, I really don't like it. And that aversion to it is the craving for non-being. Meaning, I don't want this to be here right now. But you can't do anything with it. It's the reality of the situation. It's the truth of the moment that is the truth. You cannot fight with the truth. That is the dharma of the moment. Accept it, understand it, and let it go. Let go of the identification with it. Let go of the attachment to it and the aversion to it.

And what is the cessation of craving? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing. The giving up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of that same craving. This is called the cessation of suffering. So the cessation of suffering is the letting go. It's the releasing, the relinquishing of that craving. Now craving manifests as tightness and tension in the head. When you relax, when you tranquilize those formations, when you relax, you experience an open awareness. You experience a clear, quiet, bright, luminous mind. That is the experience of mundane nibbana. That is the experience of the third noble truth of the cessation of suffering. So this is how you're fulfilling the third noble truth every time you relax, every time you let go of craving. What is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is this noble eightfold path, the process of the six hours.

This is called aging. The passing of beings out of the various orders of beings, their passing away, dissolution, disappearance, dying, completion of time, dissolution of the aggregates, laying down of the body. This is called death. So this aging and this death, or what is called aging and death, with the arising of birth there is the arising of aging and death. With the cessation of birth there is the cessation of aging and death. The way leading to the cessation of aging and death is just this noble eightfold path. Now, what we're not saying is that the 6R's are going to make you youthful, that the 6R's are going to prevent you from dying. But what we are saying is there can be identification with the aggregates, which can cause you a lot of suffering.

You see now in today's world, people want to get Botox, they want to get hair color and other kinds of things to prevent that process of aging. But that process of aging is not yet preventable. On the cellular level, it's just not preventable. It's just a fact of existence, biological existence. But if you accept this fact, if you accept the fact that death is inevitable and you let go of it, then it doesn't frighten you anymore. It doesn't make you anxious anymore. It doesn't cause you pain and suffering. So every time you see that there is an attachment to the body and you see in the mirror, oh, I got this new gray hair, or I got a few more wrinkles.

Notice that as being aging and death. Notice that as being identifying with the body. Let go of it, six are it, and come back to a more calm and peaceful mind, and you won't have that bothering you anymore. This is really the way to understand it. When a noble disciple has thus understood aging and death, the origin of aging and death, the cessation of aging and death, he here and now makes an end of suffering.

This is called birth. With the arising of being or habitual tendencies, there is the arising of birth. With the cessation of being or habitual tendencies, there is the cessation of birth. The way leading to the cessation of birth is just this noble eightfold path, the 6R's. We understand birth in the context of birth of the body, birth of the mentality, materiality and so on, but there's a different way of understanding birth, which is known as birth of action, birth of karma, birth of intention. So you can look at it, now we're going to be going through each of the links of the dependent origination. You can look at dependent origination like a river, and all of these different links are like whirlpools that continue the momentum and the rapids in the river, but eventually there's a waterfall. And when there's that waterfall, the crest, the just that border point of the waterfall, is being or habitual tendencies. Acting from there is birth of action. That's when you plummet down the waterfall.

There's no way coming back from there. In other words, once you have said the word, you can't call it back. Once you have thought the thought, you can't call it back. Once you have acted in a way, you can't call it back. So in the same way, if you have somebody who is irritating you and you start to notice that there is this anger arising, this aversion arising, that can first come in the form of tension and tightness. That's the craving. If you recognize it there, you can let go of it and then have wholesome speech. Use the thinking process before you speak.

But if you're not able to recognize it there and you cling, now you're clinging to the idea of how can this person talk to me? I don't like the way this person is talking to me right now, and all these other ideas. This thinking process of, okay, I'm going to get back at them right now. Thinking of how am I going to react to them? What am I going to say in place of what they're saying to me as a response?

This is clinging, thinking about it, making assumptions, making ideas and concepts. Now you say, how dare they speak to me this way? I am so and so, I... or you might feel sad by it. You start to feel like I'm the victim here, and how can they act like this? This sense of I am this, the sense of they shouldn't be talking to me this way. This is habitual tendencies, because habitual tendencies are the repositories in which it creates the sense of identity. When you act from there, then you say something mean back, you can't call it back. Now you have caused yourself further aggravation. Now you have caused yourself further suffering. But what I'm saying here is, you can notice it at craving. You can notice that clinging. You can notice it at being or habitual tendencies. When you notice them and let them go, then you let go of the potential for further suffering. You let go of the potential of new karma arising. But if you act, you have caused further karma, you have caused further suffering.

There is no going back from there. There's no 6R-ing in action, right? When a noble disciple has thus understood birth, the origin of birth, the cessation of birth, and the way leading to the cessation of birth, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma. Saying, "Good friend," the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma?" "There might be, friend. When a noble disciple understands being or habitual tendencies, the origin of habitual tendencies, the cessation of habitual tendencies, and the way leading to the cessation of habitual tendencies,

in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma." And what is habitual tendencies? What is the origin of habitual tendencies? What is the cessation of habitual tendencies? What is the way leading to the cessation of habitual tendencies? There are these three kinds of being or habitual tendencies: the sense-sphere, the fine-material, and the immaterial. With the arising of clinging, there is the arising of habitual tendencies. With the cessation of clinging, there is the cessation of habitual tendencies. The way leading to the cessation of habitual tendencies is just this noble eightfold path, the 6R's.

So imagine how much faster this whole process is when you talk about it. So with the arising and lighting up of synapses, it's as fast as that when one link arises. So when you notice the craving, you let go of that. But if you don't notice that, you have clinging. When you notice that you're starting to think about these things and it's aggravating you further, you let go of that. You don't have being or habitual tendencies. But habitual tendencies, as I said, is that idea of the self. It's what creates the image of yourself. You have an image of yourself as being somebody, that I have this important position at work, or I am a great meditator, or I am a wonderful parent, or I am a wonderful sibling. Or the other way around, you have negative images about yourself.

I'm not good enough. I don't know how to do these things. I'm stupid. I'm not intelligent. These are all parts of habitual tendencies. When you have that image, that I'm making, that my making, that idea of a self, and you act from there, you cause further aggravation and suffering. You cause further karma. Now, I'm going to talk about karma a little bit after we continue with feeling, because there's a delineation point in karma where you have old karma and you have new karma. And we'll talk about that a little bit later.

But what I'm trying to say here is, with being or habitual tendencies, notice when the mind says I, when the mind says mine, when the mind says me, when it personalizes something, and then there's this reaction or this need to react from there. The need for reacting from there is where the launch pad of birth of action happens. That's the habitual tendencies.

Now, the being, when you talk about the sense-sphere of being, we're talking about this realm, the human realm, and the six sensual heavens. That's another way of understanding existence. So on the, let's say, macro level, being or habitual tendencies, bhava, as it's known in Pali, gives rise to a new experience, a new existence, depending upon how you've clung or craved for something.

If at the dissolution of the body, the mind starts to tend towards a jhanic state of mind, it can cause rebirth in one of the brahma lokas. If it tends towards a rupa jhanic state of mind, it can cause rebirth in one of the arupa or formless realms. If it has aggravation, if it has ideas or thoughts about animals, it can cause the potential for rebirth in the animal realm. If it has thoughts of jealousy, thoughts of remorse, it can cause rebirth in the hungry ghost realm. If it has thoughts of hatred, thoughts of ill will, thoughts of violence and remorse and things like that, thoughts of wrong view, it can cause rebirth in the hell realms.

So this is one way to understand it on the macro level. So I'm giving you both levels, the macro and the micro. The micro is here on the day-to-day level, moment-to-moment level, which is the habitual tendencies. Saying, "Good friend," the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: "But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma?" "There might be, friend. When a noble disciple understands clinging, the origin of clinging, the cessation of clinging, and the way leading to the cessation of clinging, in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma." And what is clinging? What is the origin of clinging? What is the cessation of clinging?

What is the way leading to the cessation of clinging? There are these four kinds of clinging. Clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rules and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self. With the arising of craving, there is the arising of clinging. With the cessation of craving, there is the cessation of clinging. The way leading to the cessation of clinging is just this, the Noble Eightfold Path, the 6R's. When a noble disciple has thus understood clinging, the origin of clinging, the cessation of clinging, and the way leading to the cessation of clinging, he here and now makes an end of suffering.

In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. So we're just going to spend a little bit more time talking about clinging. Like I said, in general terms, clinging is about thinking about things, creating ideas and conceptions about things. And so when we talk about clinging to sensual pleasures, you think about in your own life when you started growing up as a kid. Starting from birth itself, you think about when an infant is born, they're introduced to the mother. And the first thing that they experience is the scent of the mother. They see that as a way of associating comfort and security.

Or then they have the taste of the mother's milk or formula or whatever it might be. And now they think that this is, this taste is great and this is good. And so they cling to that. Because when you start introducing new foods to a baby, what's the first thing that they do? They spit it out. Because they say, what is this? I don't like this. This is not what I'm used to. This being used to something, this clinging to it, this is really what we're talking about when we talk about sensual pleasures. Then eventually that toddler has certain ideas. I only like red colored foods, but I hate green colored foods. The mashed potatoes can't touch the steak, these kinds of things.

This is another kind of clinging. So, favorite colors. When you go into kindergarten, you have this idea of what's your favorite color, or what's your favorite piece of music, or all of these other things. There's nothing inherently wrong with having favorites. What I'm trying to make you understand is this process, this ideation process of creating assets of what is considered to be me, mine, and myself.

This collection of assets that create this false notion of self, this process itself is clinging. Now, when you go to the grocery store, when you go to the supermarket, what's the first thing you see when you go to the cereal thing? I don't know if you've ever noticed, but all of the sugary cereals are at the bottom. That's because all the kids are attracted by that, with the bright colors and things like that. That's a form of clinging. They see that and they say, I want that, and this is mine, this is my favorite kind of cereal. So you look at advertising. Advertising is all about creating that sense of craving, creating that sense of identity, that I like this, I'm this kind of person.

I drive a BMW. I don't like Mercedes, you know, or I only use this cologne, but I hate that kind of cologne. This idea of creating that sense of self, this is the clinging. This is the clinging to sensual pleasures. The flip side of that is, of course, you know, aversion. Like we said, you know, I really don't like the smell of something, and I hate the smell of rotten fish, or a fish market, or I hate cold weather, or, you know, this eye, eye, eye, eye, eye, eye. This, when you notice this, you realize that you're starting to cling. When you notice that, you let it go. This is clinging to sensual pleasures.

Then there's clinging to views. Now, when we talk about views, we're talking really about wrong view. There is the right view and there's the wrong view. When you go to Digha Nikaya number one, the Brahmajala Sutta, there are up to 62 different types of wrong view. I'm not going to go through any of those today, don't worry. I'm just going to talk about six particular views, because it's important to understand: if the mind has any kind of inclination to any of these views, it helps you understand and hone in on what is exactly right view. And these six views stem from what was at that time the different schools of thought during the Buddha's time.

So the first view was amoralism. That's the idea that morality doesn't really matter. There's no meaning to giving. There's no meaning to being charitable. There's no meaning to being kind. It doesn't matter. It doesn't have a consequence. So this is already in direct violation of the understanding of the Dhamma, because we understand that with our own experience with meditation, you see the hindrances having arisen. That is a direct result of having broken precepts. When you start to create and cultivate an intentional loving kindness, you start to see that loving kindness grow. That's cause and effect. So your unwholesome states of mind are a result of your unwholesome actions. Your wholesome states of mind are a result of your wholesome actions.

So amoralism is the first type of wrong view. The second type of wrong view is known as, in Pali, it's lokiyata, I think. And there's also another school of thought called charvaka. It's the same one. It's basically materialism. All there is to do is eat, drink, and be merry. That's the point of life. It's basically, there's no meaning to anything beyond this. It's complete nihilism, complete annihilationism.

But when you experience the jhanas, you're experiencing a higher form of pleasure beyond the five physical senses. And what you will notice is, as you start to cultivate your experience of jhana, as you start to cultivate and deepen your practice of jhana, you start to get disenchanted with sensual pleasures. And you realize that there is something beyond just having to feed into the craving for those sensual pleasures.

So this is another form of wrong view, this identification with the body as being the reality, with the body and the six sense bases or the five physical senses and that experience being reality. The third type of wrong view is called fatalism or predeterminism. And that's the idea that there's no meaning in doing anything because it's all predestined anyway. Like, I am bound to suffer. I am bound to experience this. I am bound to experience even enlightenment. So why make any kind of effort? But again, that's in direct violation of the understanding of the Dhamma. You have seen it for yourself in the meditation.

When you start to cultivate a mind that is filled with love and kindness, you start to experience jhana. It just didn't happen. It happened because of a series of causes and conditions. There is cause and effect. There's something to be said about causation, but there's something to be said about in that moment, there is a choice. There is a choice either to be wholesome or there's a choice to be unwholesome.

If that choice was not provided to you, then what is the point of you practicing? What is the point of you doing any of this? Really, predeterminism says there is no effort, there is no process. So it actually negates the idea of karma entirely. Because the basic understanding of karma is cause and effect. When I do an action, that's the cause, and there is an effect of that action. So this is the third type of wrong view.

The fourth type of wrong view is what's known as eternalism. That's the idea of a belief in a personal self, that is an internal consciousness. Now, specifically, in that time, they were talking about there were these seven elements. And this particular view says there were these certain seven elements which were eternal. And that is the mind, the body, the consciousness, pain, pleasure, any kind of feeling and perception, if I remember correctly. But basically the understanding is all of this is eternal. And so if you kill somebody, you're not actually killing them. There is a soul there that will continue to transmigrate into another being. So this directly violates the understanding of the precepts. If you think that if you kill somebody and that doesn't actually destroy them, and there is still something that's remaining in the way of a soul, fine.

But then you actually broke a precept by harming and killing a living being. So, eternalism is this idea of feeling being permanent. But we already understand that feeling comes and goes dependent upon contact. Or perception, which is joined with that feeling, arises and passes away with contact. So that completely negates that particular wrong view. Consciousness, as we understand, is the cognition tied to the experience, tied to the feeling. That cognition, being tied to it, will arise and pass away. Some of you have already seen in infinite consciousness certain kinds of things. There might be flickers or flickers in the ears or something or another. And these are the arising and passing away of individual consciousnesses.

And you're seeing it for yourself, the impermanent nature of consciousness. So that negates this particular kind of view of eternalism. That's the fourth type of view. The fifth type of view is known as self-mortification. At the time of the Buddha, there was a person called Mahavira. And he, in the text, was also known as Niganta Nataputta. Now, the understanding is either he was his direct student or he was actually Mahavira, the founder of Jainism.

And what Jainism says is there is a soul, there is karma, there is not rebirth but reincarnation. And the soul starts to pick up the effects of its karma. And karma is seen as dust particles. And what it is, is this soul transmigrates from lifetime to lifetime and has to experience the effects of its karma. And by restraining the body, self-mortification, you purify that karma. So you're experiencing pain in order to experience pleasure, future pleasure. But we already heard, I think, two or three nights ago, Bhante was talking about how there's different understanding of there is immediate pain and then there is pleasure later. Or there is pleasure and then pain later, and so on.

So this is what it's pointing at. The idea that if I modify, if I do some kind of ascetic practices, then that's going to purify my karma. Now the Buddha asked the Jains or these people that question, well, how do you know what the balance of karma is? Can you feel for yourself the purification of that karma? They were not able to answer that. So the understanding of karma is really this. Karma is cause and effect, action and consequence.

There is the old karma and there is the new karma. Now, according to this particular view, the cessation of old karma is through the process of mortification. But actually, it's purifying your mind through sila. Purifying your mind through taking the precepts. Purifying and cultivating the mind through mental development, bhavana, through the process of samadhi. And purifying your view through insight.

That is panya, that is experiencing an understanding for yourself how this process of dependent origination works. When you understand that, then you see that old karma is everything up until the experience itself. Everything right now is old karma. How you choose to react to it is new karma. So the cessation of old karma, the cessation of old feelings is not to identify with them, not to crave for them, not to have aversion towards them. The moment you take it personal, you are causing yourself new karma. But the moment you see this process as being impermanent,

seeing this process as being impersonal and not taking it personally, then your actions will be rooted in the Eightfold Path. Your speech, your actions, your thoughts will be rooted in the Eightfold Path. And it is understood that the cessation of old karma happens through the process of the Eightfold Path. So whatever action you do, whether it's in how you speak, in how you think, or how you do an action, if it's rooted in understanding at that level of feeling as being impersonal, then it's not liable to cause further suffering. It's not liable to cause new karma. So this is how this particular view is negated. It really sounds like Goenka is a Jain. Yeah. He thinks that you have to work off that.

Yes. The Buddhist Goenka is really a Jain. Yeah. That whole process of sitting for 10 hours or 6, 7, 8 hours and just... You're just working off all of this. I've read his Light of Asia and he's talking about working off stuff and you have to get through all this and it's just you can throw all your past karma in it. With each sensation, sankhara is coming up. Sankhara is coming up, causing that karma. So then they get swept away each time. If you're equanimous with the sensation arising, then that karma dissolves. Well, but then usually what happens is if you're sitting for that long without knowing how to relax, then you're mortifying the body.

You're causing pain. And what's happening is in your mind, instead of thinking about or being equanimous, as you said, you're thinking about, I hope this pain goes away, right? You're thinking about other things to distract yourself away from that pain. But when you go back to the 6R's, when you go back to relaxing, now remember the 6R's is not the way to let go or stop the pain. It's letting go of the craving and the clinging to the pain. Seeing all the links up until feeling is the old karma, so a painful feeling itself is old karma. If you react to it by taking it personal, by thinking about it or trying to think your way out of it, then you're causing yourself craving. Now craving, clinging, being this is the new karma.

This is the action that causes you suffering. But if you see in that moment that there is craving arising, you're not liking what's happening and you let go of it, then you're not reacting to it. You're not acting further towards causing further suffering. Instead, that suffering ceases right there and then, that craving ceases right there and then, and there is no potential for new karma to arise.

And I'll talk about how that happens when we get to feeling, because there are certain things that are happening at feeling which are known as underlying tendencies, and I'll get to that. So that was the fifth view. The sixth view is the view of the skeptic. They were known as eel wrigglers, because they were like, I don't know if there is a right view or there isn't a right view. I don't know if there is a Buddha or isn't a Buddha. So that causes a lot of doubt and a lot of confusion and a lot of restlessness in the body and the mind.

So this view is eliminated when you actually see for yourself and experience the actual path leading to Nibbana, and you realize there is karma. There is a process of rebirth. We're not talking about just rebirth on the macro level, but a process of rebirth of, find yourself in certain situations that seem to have the same kind of patterns, that seem to have the same kind of people, but seem to have the same kind of ideas and associations. That's rebirth as well. You find yourself in those same situations, and if you continue to act in the same old way, you're causing yourself further rebirth. But if you see it, you become mindful and stop acting in the way that causes further patterns of that, then you let go of that rebirth.

So this is another way to understand rebirth. You see for yourself that this is the path, and you no longer have that view of the skeptic. This is that sixth wrong view. Now the right view itself you can cling to as well. You can take this whole process of the four noble truths, you can take this whole process of dependent origination, you can take this whole process of taking the precepts, you can take this whole process of knowing and studying and reading the suttas and knowing about the Dhamma, and become conceited about that, making it a big deal

seeing it as something that belongs to a self. I have practiced this jhana. I love this jhana, and I need everybody else to know about this. That kind of idea of attaching yourself to it. The idea that everybody needs to know about the 6R's, and I've got to tell everybody and push everybody to do it. That's the kind form of clinging to the Dhamma. Instead of trying to tell people about the 6R's, use it, and let people ask you, what changed? What did you do? You look different, you're acting differently, what is going on? And if they're really interested, then you can talk about it, but there's no clinging there.

So clinging to the Dhamma really is all of these different ideas, clinging to the idea that this is what Nibbana really is, or this is really the way it's supposed to be, instead of having that open mind, a mind that is willing to say, okay, there might be another way here. Let's explore, let's experience, let's experiment, and use the four noble truths as the litmus test. Does it allow you to understand suffering? Does it allow you to understand the cause of suffering? Does it allow you to understand the cessation of suffering? And does it give you the tools to experience that cessation of suffering? So clinging to the Dhamma, that happens at the level of the Anagami.

When you let go of that clinging, then you go from wrong view to right view to identifying with no view, not even right view. So that's the metaphor that we understand, the simile that we understand, where you're using the raft to get to the other shore, but you're not carrying it with you once you get to the other shore. You're using the Eightfold Path. You're using the 6R's. But you're not making it a big deal. You'll read yours. What group do you see in today's world that might be in that category? I can think of one.

That would be, there's a skeptic society. Right, the skeptic society. I can use the English word, fence-sitter. You know, so when it sits on the fence... Oh, sits on the fence. That's a good way of looking at it. It's like, oh, I'm a huge fence sitter. I'm always like, oh, I don't want to make a choice because I can't go back in the path in time. And so I sit on the fence and I'm like, what about this one? What about that one? Yeah. Well, maybe I can extrapolate all the possibilities of what would happen in the future and know what's going to happen. Yeah. And to that point, it's basically that you have this apprehension to actually do anything.

That kind of doubt and indecisiveness to do something, to take an action, is this kind of eel wriggling. A moral terror. Yeah. So anytime you see yourself in a process of indecision, know that to be restlessness, know that to be doubt, and you can 6R it. And when you 6R it, you come to that mind that is relaxed, and then you make a decision from there, because that decision will inevitably come from the Eightfold Path. It'll come from a wholesome state of mind, rather than just trying to resolve that indecision by taking a decision for the sake of letting go of that. That can cause all kinds of pain and suffering in the future. So there's something to be said about contemplating and knowing whether I should do this or that, but then there's something else to be said about, which is that eel wriggling of spending days and months about one little thing, and just thinking, should I be doing that or should I not be doing that?

So when you see it in the practice, when you see the idea, well, am I actually in jhana or am I actually cultivating loving kindness or should I be doing this or should I be doing that? All of that is a form of mental eel wriggling. By the way, historically, that's called the path of logos. Of? Logos. The idea that logic is going to work your way out. It's from the Greeks, but we know that there's something to be said about logic, and there's something to be said about action, actually doing something. I can't imagine anybody joining such a group.

We don't really... we're skeptical of everything. We don't know. Maybe there's somebody else, but I'll tell you why they joined, why they did it. The reason is because they were afraid of coming to a view and being proven wrong. That was really it, because they didn't have anything further to add to that situation, to be like, I have conviction about this and I can back it up by experience. I can back it up by understanding and analysis. But they were afraid to land on any kind of view because they didn't want to defend it.

We're better than you because we don't know. We're not willing to go that far because there's really no proof. And we know... yeah, you did get into this, look how tasty these eels are, but you haven't even taken a bite. How do you know? Exactly. I think we do get a lot of eel wrigglers in the comments. How do you know all this? What is the blah blah blah people want? Yeah, well, there's that healthy skepticism in the beginning, I think, right? Yeah, that's a different thing, yeah. But then you're talking about how the arahant isn't attached to any view at all. So it occurs to me that the view that you're... when you're adopting right view, it's not as an ontology, it's as a toolkit to get you across the river. It's not as, like, a worldview even. It's just as, like, I need, like, a path.

Right. So I'm going to walk on this path. Right. Not exactly the Buddha's doctrine of freedom. That's why the Buddha said, see for yourself. The Dhamma is welcoming: see for yourself, experience for yourself, and then know for yourself. That conviction. I wouldn't use the word faith. I would use the word conviction. You're convinced after having that experience that this is the path leading to the cessation of suffering. And about the ontology, that's a good point, because the Buddha doesn't make remarks or claims about whether there is a self or not a self, whether the world is eternal or not eternal. All he teaches, as he says, is suffering and the cessation of suffering.

So there's no worldview that you need to adopt. There's just an understanding of how to let go of suffering. And that's really it. You were asking a question, or? You were asking? I'm actually good. Oh, okay. So this is really clinging to views, clinging to rites and rituals. So, rites and rituals: taking the precepts is not a rite and ritual. It seems like it could be, but it's not. It's making a commitment in the beginning of the day to stay wholesome. And if that helps you to develop your sila, to develop your morality, it helps to clarify the mind, cultivate the mind for samadhi practice, and ultimately leads to insight, to the true knowledge of things as they really are. When we talk about rites and rituals, what we're saying is the belief in the eye, or the idea that there are certain rites and rituals that will take you to nibbana. And that doesn't mean that you have to stop chanting if you like chanting, and if it makes

you feel uplifted, by all means do it. If you like lighting a candle and going to church, if it keeps you uplifted, do that. Like going to a temple or whatever it is that you do, do it. But understand that that is not the path leading to nibbana. It's just a process of keeping your mind uplifted. It's one of the ways your mind becomes uplifted. There's another level of understanding clinging to rites and rituals, and that's this belief in luck. In other words, having a four-leaf clover in your pocket, or keeping a rabbit's foot, or a horseshoe, or these kinds of things, completely violates the idea of karma. Because what you're saying is, I'll just keep this four-leaf clover with me and I'm going to win the lottery, or I'm going to be successful in my business, but I'm not going to make an effort to do anything about that business. Karma really means action and consequence. If you take the right actions, you get the right consequences.

So the belief in that, the idea that, I'm wearing my lucky underwear today, so I'm not going to get into a car accident or something like that, all of these kinds of ideas completely violate the idea of causation and completely violate the idea of karma. And that's a kind of clinging to rites and rituals, a kind of clinging to the idea that if I just do this, then I'm going to get that. Now, you see some people who are wealthy, and it seems like they inherited that wealth, or they just seem to make it out of nowhere and now they're enjoying it, and things like that. Well, there's something to be said about the fact that they made some effort. If not in this life, the understanding is that they were generous in a previous life. Act generously. If you continue to act generously, you will start to see the fruits of that in one way or another. And the first way to act generously is to smile, keep sharing your smile wherever you go.

I had a student who was in the retreat in September. He was from the Mahasi tradition, so he was like the Visuddhimagga, very serious. When he came the first day, he had the three puckers on the forehead and not a smile on him, and very stressed out. And then he started smiling. He started letting go. He started doing the six R's, and then by the end of the retreat he was like a little child. He was glowing, going out into the field and walking, enjoying the sunrise, enjoying the sunset. And I got an email from him the other day, and he was saying that, I was in Milan and I was coming out of the train and I saw this woman smiling at me, and I thought of smiling back.

But what I didn't realize was I was already smiling. So smiling not only uplifts your mood, but you're generous in uplifting other people's mood as well. So that's the clinging to rites and rituals. And finally, clinging to the doctrine of self. That's the identity view, the idea of who am I, the idea of what is the self. And this comes into 20 different categories of self-view. It's basically the five aggregates multiplied by four different kinds of views. So you take any of the five aggregates as being self, as self being in one or more of the five aggregates, as the five aggregates being in self, or as the self being separate from the five aggregates.

So these are the different kinds of self-view. And the way to understand and let go of the clinging to those self-views is to see the three characteristics of existence in each of the five aggregates. Understanding that form is impermanent. Understanding that feeling is impermanent. Understanding that perception is impermanent. Understanding that formations are impermanent. Understanding that cognition is impermanent. Because these are all dependent upon prior causes and conditions. And when those causes and conditions fall away, so do these aggregates.

And whatever is permanent is liable to cause suffering or create suffering, because it disappears and can cause suffering. And whatever is suffering is not worth holding on to, and therefore not worth considering as self. This is the way to let go of any kind of clinging to self-doctrine. So when you have the first attainment of sotapanna, stream entry, you see for yourself immediately that consciousness rises and passes away, and so on. But then there is an understanding that this whole process is impersonal. I like to use the word impersonal because it takes away any confusion about what is self and not self. The whole idea is to understand everything is impersonal. Once you have that kind of understanding, then you don't take things as seriously anymore.

Then you don't react from any kind of craving. Then you don't react from any kind of identification and ignorance. So this is the clinging to the doctrine of self. Now we're going to move to craving, the big one, the big link. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question. But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be friends. When friends, a noble disciple understands craving, the origin of craving, the cessation of craving, and the way leading to the cessation of craving, in that way, he is one of right view, and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

And what is craving? What is the origin of craving? What is the cessation of craving? What is the way leading to the cessation of craving? There are these six classes of craving: craving for forms, craving for sounds, craving for odors, craving for flavors, craving for tangibles, craving for mind objects. With the arising of feeling, there is the arising of craving. With the cessation of feeling, there is the cessation of craving.

The way leading to the cessation of craving is just this noble eightfold path, the six R's. When a noble disciple has thus understood craving, the origin of craving, the cessation of craving, and the way leading to the cessation of craving, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. Now, whenever we do the relaxed step, we are letting go and abandoning craving. Now, when you notice that mind that's there, after having relaxed, it experiences mundane nibbana. It experiences a mind without craving. It's like a deep open sky without any clouds, silence, nothing there at all.

Now, I want to give you a couple of examples, or a way to understand why we're doing the relaxed step. This is how I started to understand it. And this is the way maybe you can understand the importance of the relaxed step, which is: think about what that craving is, in the way of tightness and tension in the mind. It's because the mind is identifying with the body. It's identifying with the nama-rupa. Now, that's the base craving, which is that identification process.

When it sees something that it likes in the way of a pleasant feeling, going back to chocolate cake, for example, there's a tension that arises, and then it craves for that chocolate cake. It eats that chocolate cake, and what does it feel? It feels satisfaction at that point in time. It feels relaxed. It feels nice. Or, let's use another example.

Maybe you're out walking about and you see a snake on the path and you suddenly get scared or you get kind of anxious. That's a form of craving. There's tightness and tension there. That's the fight or flight movement in the body is happening. As soon as you walk away or run away, you feel relieved. You feel relaxed.

So what I'm getting at is this. There's a stimuli. There's the feeling. That feeling causes some kind of craving. And you act upon that craving. But in this case, when you're running from the snake, that's a good thing. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. You should be running away from the snake if it's poisonous. I'm giving an example just to understand what I'm saying here. You have the feeling, and then you have the reaction to that feeling in the way of either I like it or I don't like it. Because you're identifying with the body. You're taking it personal.

But as soon as you satisfy that craving, there's a feeling of relaxation. But what if you could just notice that unpleasant feeling or pleasant feeling and relax and don't have to crave? So you're taking this relax you feel from satisfying the craving and moving it ahead of craving so that you don't have to crave. So when you do that, you're reconditioning the mind so that it doesn't go towards trying to feel that relaxation by satisfying the craving, by acting on the craving. Instead, you are becoming mindful when you do the six R's, and you recognize the craving and you let go of it. And you recondition the mind to be able to be satisfied and content and relaxed without the need to satisfy that craving.

So that craving can come in the form of any of the six sense bases. That craving can come in the form of identifying. That craving can come in the form of, I don't like this situation right now, you know, I don't want the situation to go away. That's the craving for being and the craving for non-being. Saying, "Good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: 'But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma?' 'There might be, friends. When a noble disciple understands feeling, the origin of feeling, the cessation of feeling, and the way leading to the cessation of feeling,

in that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is feeling? What is the origin of feeling? What is the cessation of feeling? What is the way leading to the cessation of feeling? There are these six classes of feeling: feeling born of eye contact, feeling born of ear contact, feeling born of nose contact, feeling born of tongue contact, feeling born of body contact, feeling born of mind contact. With the arising of contact, there is the arising of feeling. With the cessation of contact, there is the cessation of feeling. The way leading to the cessation of feeling is just this Noble Eightfold Path, the Six R's. When a noble disciple has thus understood feeling, the origin of feeling, the cessation of feeling, and the way leading to the cessation of feeling, he here and now makes an end of suffering.

In that way too, a noble disciple is one of wrong view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. So I was talking about underlying tendencies and feeling. You see, the pleasurable feeling, or the pleasant feeling, the painful feeling, or the neutral feeling, they themselves are not what causes the craving. It's how you take that feeling. If you take that feeling to be personal, and you act from there, then it causes further craving. Now, there are different kinds of underlying tendencies. There are seven different kinds of underlying tendencies, but we'll take the first three. I'll just name them, and I will go through the first three. There's the underlying tendency to craving, the underlying tendency to aversion, the underlying tendency to views, the underlying tendency to doubt, the underlying tendency to conceit, the underlying tendency to bhava or habitual tendencies, and the underlying tendency to ignorance, towards ignorance.

So when we talk about the aversion and we talk about the craving and we talk about the ignorance, what we're saying here is you have a pleasant feeling. Underlying that pleasant feeling is a potential for craving if you act upon the underlying tendency towards craving. You see that pleasant feeling as mine or myself and you act from there, you cause yourself craving. If you see a painful feeling and there is an underlying tendency of aversion, when you act upon that, you have aversion towards that painful feeling. If it's a neutral feeling and you say that this is my feeling, then you're acting from conceit. You're acting from ignorance. You're taking it personal and taking it permanent and acting from there.

So every time you are hearing my voice, that's a feeling. Now, whether my voice is pleasant or unpleasant or whatever it might be, that's just a feeling. How you react to it is what activates the underlying tendencies, bridging the gap between the feeling link and the craving link. So if you notice the arising of that and you let go of it using the Six R's, then you won't have further craving. You won't have further aversion, and neutral feeling will not bring up any tension. Right? It can still bring up tension in the way of personalizing it, taking it personally. Can I ask a question about the Six R's, that relax step? So when you do the Six R's, sometimes I think I am relaxing, but I still have the tension.

So, did I actually do it properly then? Or I go through all the steps, and then it's still there. I still have the tension in my head. And if that tension is there, is it taking you away from the object or do you return back to the object? I return, but I do have some doubt. Why is this not... why do I still have the tension? So then I say, oh, I must have not done the Six R's, I didn't do the Six R's right, or I'm not getting the... now that I'm answering my own question, I have doubt. I think I'm not relaxing properly.

Right. As you always say, you have to roll the R's. Just allow that process to happen. Come back to your object and see what happens. If it starts to create more tension and it starts to pull your attention away from there, then do the Six R's again. Only when your mind is pulled away from the object do you do the Six R's. If you don't pay attention to that tension that's there and it's not pulling you away, let that be. It will relieve itself. It will go away on its own. But I would also see, or I would ask, the mind: is the mind trying too hard to relax? Is it expecting certain things from that relax step, instead of just doing it and then watching how that relax step happens?

So, of course, you don't want to pause between each process. You just want to let it become like a wave. You want it to be very fluid. So just ask yourself, in your intuition, is it because there's doubt, or is it also because you're trying too hard to anticipate the feeling of relaxing the tension? Saying, "Good friend, the bhikkhu is delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Sariputta's words." Then they asked him a further question: "But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma?" "There might be, friends.

When, friends, a noble disciple understands contact, the origin of contact, the cessation of contact, and the way leading to the cessation of contact, in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is contact? What is the origin of contact? What is the cessation of contact? What is the way leading to the cessation of contact? There are these six classes of contact: eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact. With the arising of the sixfold base there is the arising of contact. With the cessation of the sixfold base, there is the cessation of contact.

The way leading to the cessation of contact is just this Noble Eightfold Path. When a noble disciple has thus understood contact, the origin of contact, the cessation of contact, and the way leading to the cessation of contact, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. So from ignorance, or I would say from formations, to consciousness, to mentality-materiality, to the sixfold base, to contact and feeling, all of that is old karma.

You can't do anything about it. All you can do is experience it. So that contact, when it comes about, there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can actually do to cease it. It ceases when there's cessation of perception and feeling, because there's no contact. Cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. But when there's contact, there's nothing you can do about it. But what you have to understand is contact is basically the meeting of, let's say, the eye and the form. In the joining of those two, there is the arising of eye consciousness,

cognition of the experience. The cognition of that experience can be tinged by the roots of the unwholesome in the formations. When that happens, it is liable to filter the way you perceive reality. It's like you've put on some kind of sunglasses in the way you're seeing reality. So if in a previous choice you identified with something, took something to be personal, started to have craving or started to have aversion towards it, in your next arising of the experience the mind will tend towards seeing that thing a certain way. So think about it: when you have an experience with a friend or a co-worker or whoever it might be, you have certain ways that you see them. Like, this person is always like this. You don't have any other expectations of them except for that. This is that filtration process, this is that projection process that happens through contact, feeling and perception, because of previous choices of seeing that person a different way. The mind that is fully liberated

Every moment is fresh. They don't make judgments, they don't make pre-judgments on how a person is. They just see a person, or they just see the form, and whatever happens, happens. But as soon as you take it and you start to project ideas upon it and see that person a certain way, then in the next arising of contact, feeling and perception, your mind inclines towards seeing them that way. Let go of that and just see them for being whatever they are in that moment.

Don't allow all of these ideas of what they did in the past, how they behaved in the past, to influence the way you perceive them now in this moment. So that's one way of understanding how contact can influence feeling and therefore influence intention and perception. Saying, "Good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: 'But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma?' 'There might be, friends.'"

'The way leading to the cessation of the sixfold base is just this noble eightfold path. When a noble disciple has thus understood the sixfold base, the origin of the sixfold base, the cessation of the sixfold base, and the way leading to the cessation of the sixfold base, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.' Now, the sixfold base, there's nothing you can do about it. You've inherited the way your eyes see, you've inherited the way your ears hear, and everything else. But also understand that the sixfold base is old karma.

So you still have an influence on the next arising of the sixfold base. And what that means is, if you hear music at too loud a volume, eventually you start to lose your hearing. If you start to look at the computer screen for too long, eventually in the next arising, your eyes become tired. If you eat spicy food, in the next arising your tongue becomes numb. Well, you experience fiery hotness, but then eventually it just becomes numb. So there is an understanding that right now how you are experiencing reality is dependent upon your sixfold base. There's nothing you can do to change how it came about, but if you do certain actions

if somebody cuts off the ear, there's no longer that sixfold base of, you know, the ear base. For example, if somebody does something to harm one of the sixfold bases, it will change the experience of the sixfold base in a future time. So this is the way to understand: your choices now will determine how the sixfold base is experienced at a future time, and then that will also give rise to a certain kind of contact, feeling and perception. Now, the sixfold base is also part of mentality-materiality, because the sixfold base is part of the physicality of the body, which is the materiality aspect, and then the contact that arises, the feeling, the process and all that, is in the mentality. And we're going to talk about that now. Saying, 'Good friends, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: what friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands mentality-materiality, the origin of mentality-materiality, the cessation of mentality-materiality,

and the way leading to the cessation of mentality-materiality. In that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is mentality-materiality? What is the origin of mentality-materiality? What is the cessation of mentality-materiality? What is the way leading to the cessation of mentality-materiality? Feeling, perception, intention, contact and attention. These are called mentality.

The four great elements and the material form derived from the four great elements. These are called materiality. So this mentality and this materiality are what is called mentality-materiality. With the arising of consciousness, there is the arising of mentality-materiality. With the cessation of consciousness, there is the cessation of mentality-materiality. The way leading to the cessation of mentality-materiality is just this noble eightfold path.

So, materiality is form. When you have contact with form, you have feeling, you have perception, you have formations, which are driven forward through some kind of an intention, and you have attention, which is what you cognize through. So, the awareness is one thing, and the attention is the direction in which that awareness is being driven forward. Mentality-materiality is nothing more than really the five aggregates. That's one way to understand it. The other thing is, we just talked about how, with the arising of consciousness, there's the arising of mentality-materiality, so this is talking about it on the macro level. Mentality-materiality is in the womb. That's the embryo. When the consciousness descends, it gives activity to the mentality-materiality, then there is further arising and passing away of consciousnesses after it descends.

So that consciousness that descends into the embryo dissipates. And then when there's new content, when there's new feeling, when there's new perception of that embryo, there is new consciousnesses arising and passing away in the womb. So what that means is there is an interdependence between consciousness and mentality-materiality. Mentality-materiality cannot function without cognition or awareness or consciousness, and consciousness cannot arise or is tied to an experience, and the only way to have an experience is through mentality-materiality. So this negates the idea of some kind of Brahman, some kind of independent consciousness, because all consciousness that arises is dependent upon the experience of mind and body. It's tied to it. Saying, 'Good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words.'

'What is the way leading to the cessation of consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness. With the arising of formations, there is the arising of consciousness. With the cessation of formations, there is the cessation of consciousness. The way leading to the cessation of consciousness is just this noble eightfold path. When a noble disciple has thus understood consciousness, the origin of consciousness, the cessation of consciousness, and the way leading to the cessation of consciousness, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.' Now, consciousness comes from the word, or is translated from the word, vijnana, which basically means: jnana means knowledge and vi means divided.

So the knowledge that is divided by the experience of the sixth sense base, the bare cognition of the sixth sense base. But consciousness itself can be fettered and hindered by different kinds of things, like ignorance and craving and conceit. And there are 16 different kinds of upakilesas, they're called. And depending upon how you react in one moment, the next moment can cause a certain kind of consciousness to arise that is filtered by that previous action, causing you to see reality in a certain way. So you're not being aware of reality as it is, but you're being aware dependent upon your previous actions, dependent on your previous thoughts and ideas about it.

So, yes, there is a consciousness tied to the experience of the sixth sense base. There is the consciousness on the macro level that then gives a rise to the nama-rupa. But what we're trying to understand is that consciousness itself can be affected by the arising of formations. Formations can be fettered, as we'll see when we go to the next level, the next link. But with the arising of certain kinds of formations that are fettered in certain kinds of craving, let's say, or conceit, or certain things like that, it can corrupt, so to speak, or influence the arising of a certain kind of awareness, which then adds contact. That's the same awareness that arises at contact, where the joining of the eye and the form gives rise to eye consciousness.

That's what filters how you perceive, and how you perceive that experience. So the contact then gives rise to the feeling. That feeling gives rise to a perception. But because that consciousness has already been fettered by craving, it can perceive it through the lens of craving, or through the lens of identifying, or whatever it might be. So when you notice that, what do you do?

You six out it. You let it go. Then, in the next moment, the consciousness is clear, free of any kind of craving for that moment. Saying, 'Good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question: But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands formations, the origin of formations, the cessation of formations, and the way leading to the cessation of formations.'

In that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what are formations? What is the origin of formations? What is the cessation of formations? What is the way leading to the cessation of formations? There are these three kinds of formations: the bodily formation, the verbal formation, the mental formation. With the arising of ignorance, there is the arising of formations.

With the cessation of ignorance, there is the cessation of formations. The way leading to the cessation of formations is just this noble eightfold path. When a noble disciple has thus understood formations, the origin of formations, the cessation of formations, and the way leading to the cessation of formations, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. So as we said, there are three types of formations: bodily formations, verbal formations, and mental formations.

Bodily formations are traditionally understood to be connected with breathing. But it's also the intention to move. When you have an intention to move, the bodily formations activate and you start moving. Verbal formations are the thought patterns that arise in the way of what you want to say. So the thoughts that you have just before you're about to say those thoughts are the verbal formations.

Mental formations are what give rise to feeling and perception, give rise to experiencing what you are experiencing. So these formations cease at different levels. When you have the cessation of any kind of verbalizing going on, there is a cessation of verbal formations at the second jhana. When you start to tranquilize your body and it becomes where you start losing awareness of the body, there's a tranquilizing of the bodily formations. And then finally, when you start to let go of all formations that are arising now at the quiet mind, those are formations that are mental, that give rise to mental feeling and perception. When you let go completely of those, then that is the cessation of feeling, perception and consciousness. So the cessation of mental formations equals the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness.

And these formations can be fettered through previous actions. And what I mean when I say fettered is that they are interconnected or interlinked with craving. If you choose to act with craving in a previous moment, your mind will incline towards acting with craving in the next moment. This is why we're talking about this whole process of reconditioning through the eightfold path, through the 6R's of letting go of craving in those choices. When you let go of craving in those choices, you're bit by bit whittling away at those fetters that are chained to those formations, that then give rise to choices that will incline to those formations. When you then have more wholesome actions, more wholesome choices, then the formations that arise will be pure.

And when I say purer, they're more purified of the craving, more purified of the ignorance. And how does ignorance influence the formations? We'll see that now. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question. But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends.

When, friends, a noble disciple understands ignorance, the origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading to the cessation of ignorance, in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is ignorance? What is the origin of ignorance? What is the cessation of ignorance? What is the way leading to the cessation of ignorance? Ignorance:

Not knowing about suffering. Not knowing about the origin of suffering. Not knowing about the cessation of suffering. Not knowing about the way leading to the cessation of suffering. This is ignorance. With the arising of the taints, there is the arising of ignorance. With the cessation of the taints, there is the cessation of ignorance. The way leading to the cessation of ignorance is just this noble eightfold path, the 6R's. When a noble disciple has thus understood ignorance, the origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading to the cessation of ignorance, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

So there are two levels of ignorance. There's the intellectual ignorance where you just don't know about the Dhamma. You don't know about the four noble truths. But then there's a subtle ignorance, where every time you take a feeling as being mine and myself, as taking it personally, you are feeding into ignorance, because you're not knowing the reality of the situation right there and then. And how do you let go of that? You 6R it. Every time you 6R it, you are letting go of ignorance. So in other words, lack of mindfulness leads to the next arising of ignorance. But if you are mindful and don't take the feeling as personal, you are letting go of ignorance bit by bit, because you're becoming aware of the four noble truths of that situation.

So every time you 6R, with the understanding, with the mindfulness, here is an underlying tendency towards craving. Here is the aversion. Here is the clinging. Every time you see that and you let go of it, you are strengthening wisdom and you're weakening ignorance. You are practicing for yourself the four noble truths, the understanding and application of the four noble truths. So lack of mindfulness equals ignorance, mindfulness equals development of wisdom.

And what are the taints? What is the origin of the taints? What is the cessation of the taints? What is the way leading to the cessation of the taints? There are these three taints: the taint of sensual desire, the taint of being, and the taint of ignorance. With the arising of ignorance, there is the arising of the taints. With the cessation of ignorance, there is the cessation of the taints. The way leading to the cessation of the taints is just this noble eightfold path, the 6R's. When we talk about taints, they come from this root word in Pali, which is asavas. Asavas are translated in different ways. They're translated as fermentations of the mind.

They're translated as the inflows or the outflows, and different ways of understanding them. But let's just talk about what they are really in the scope of dependent origination. They are the remnants of previous actions, which then continue to influence and start that momentum of the dependent origination to cause further craving and cause further suffering. When you have the taint of sensual desire, that arose because you took the sensual experience as me, mine, and myself, and had craving or aversion towards it. When you acted in that way, you had lack of mindfulness. You didn't use the 6R's, and so it caused a further strengthening of the taint of sensual desire. Anytime you identify with a feeling, or let's say in your practice you are in a jhana, and you say, I don't want to be here anymore.

I want to move forward, or I want to stay here and I don't want to move forward. I really like this. You are collecting or adding to the taint of being, because you have craving for being or craving for non-being, which adds to the taint of being. Ignorance, and that happens because again of lack of mindfulness. The taint of ignorance is basically the fact that you were not mindful in that moment. So in other words, this is why ignorance gives rise to the taints. Every time you don't 6R, every time you don't become mindful of the experience and see what is happening, observing your mind's attention, becoming distracted, there is liable to cause further arising of taints in future moments.

But every time you become mindful and you don't take a process personally, you don't take the experience as personal, then you are whittling away at those taints. The momentum of craving starts to weaken, the momentum of ignorance starts to weaken, the momentum of identification starts to weaken, and it unravels and loosens. Ultimately, at a certain point in time, you experience a final attainment of arahatship and you destroy the taints, and you no longer take anything that you're experiencing as personal.

You see everything as being an impersonal process. And because of that, the arahant's mindset, the arahant's way of functioning, their default mode of functioning, is the Eightfold Path. The process of the 6R's, the process of using the Eightfold Path over and over and over and over again, has reconditioned their minds so that they no longer take anything as personal. They no longer see anything from a sense of, I need this, and I want this, and I like this, or I don't like this and I'm trying to push this away. They no longer identify in those ways, and therefore anything that arises with the old karma of feeling, they see it right there and then as just impersonal and impermanent. And so, because of non-reaction to that, through the proper action of the Noble Eightfold Path, they're not having to let go of anything, because they're not holding on to anything.

And therefore there is no new karma of craving, clinging, or being that arises. And that's why an arahant can say there is no more birth. Birth is destroyed. There is no more coming to being. The holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, because now all they are experiencing is the arising of old karma, not adding to new karma, and therefore not adding to the fuel for further rebirth. Once you understand this whole process in this way, you will not only understand but experience it in this way, and let go and abandon all of the fetters. When a noble disciple has thus understood the taints, the origin of the taints, the cessation of the taints, and the way leading to the cessation of the taints, he entirely abandons the underlying tendency to lust.

I have a question about the formations. Breathing is seen as kind of an example of the bodily formation, but the fact is that when there is cessation, there is no mind, there's no tension. Now we're getting into the world of vital formation, so what is happening? I'm so glad you brought that up. If Bhante is going to be reading MN43, maybe he will, you'll come across this word called vital formations.

And what it says is that in cessation of perception, the question is, what is the difference between somebody who is in cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, and somebody who's dead, because they appear to be one and the same, complete stillness? The difference is that there is still heat and vitality in the being or the meditator who is in cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness. And that heat and vitality is dependent upon vital formations. So when we talk about vital formations, that's really things that you don't actually feel

in the way of cellular metabolism, in the way of how your body digests food, in the way of how your body makes nutrients through that food or fuels the cells, in the way of how the heart beats and things like that. All of these are dependent upon the vital formations, but they are separate from mind, in which you have the bodily formations, the intention to move and physical activity, the verbal formations to speak and the mental formations to feel and to perceive.

That's why it's said that when you are in cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness, the mind is one thing and the vital formations are another, because you don't actually feel or experience the vital formations. Because if you did, and you ceased the vital formations, that's the dissolution of the body. That is death. And that would be a problem. But you can make an intention to breathe harder or softer. You can, yeah. Yeah, that's still part of physical formations there, when you intend to breathe.

But the automatic breathing process... I mean, you go to sleep at night and there's no intentions happening. Exactly. It's kind of a mixture. It's a mixture. So, formations are seen as two. One is intention that can influence the next formations, but the formations also can influence the next set of intentions. So you can't control how you feel and perceive in the sense of whatever is coming in the way. And that's being made possible by the mental formations that allow you to be able to perceive.

So formations are really the building blocks of experience. But at the same time, they are influenced by how you choose in that moment to perceive something. And so the next set of formations will then create a different kind of experience for you. An experience that is rooted more in craving, or rooted less in craving. The fact that you are breathing is a formation. It's a formation, exactly. So maybe that's really where there's no intention there. There's no intention there. Right, in the formation. In the Anapanasati Sutta, he's not controlling the breath, it's just breathing is happening. There's a long breath or a short breath or whatever, but he's tranquilizing the bodily formations.

That doesn't mean he's stopping breathing. He's just relaxing the body, relaxing the craving there. So the automatic breathing is made possible by physical formations as well. But there can be an intention to breathe a certain way. Now think about it this way. When you have a choice and you start to get angry at something, what happens to your breathing? It quickens.

That's because you've influenced the next set of physical formations to start to make the breath faster. But when you're more relaxed, especially when you're in the fourth jhana, your breathing becomes imperceptible, and it's almost non-existent there, because the body is so calm. The tranquilizing of the formations equals the manifestation of these things, the calming of the breath, the calming of feeling, the calming of mental reactions, and so on.

Yeah? Is it just out of curiosity, is that why there's a lot of focus and other practices on breath meditation? Because it's sort of like a way to get into that part of the chain, so to speak? I can tell you from prior experience with Kriya Yoga, for example. Their idea is that the breathing is dependent upon emotions. And so if you can change your breathing, you can change your emotions.

Or you can change how you react to those emotions. But then what you're doing there is tying your dependency upon the breathing itself. And there comes a point when they say you get to a breathless state and then you've detached from all kinds of feeling. But that's wrong understanding because what you're saying there is the breath is so important that your consciousness is tied to that breath as well. And how you perceive reality is tied to the breath as well. So, the control of breathing and yoga and things like that comes from that kind of an understanding.

Which only adds to the illusion of identifying self. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Because you're trying so hard, you're becoming one-pointed, you're pushing, and you're saying that this is affecting a sense of self, this is affecting a me. You're not really not doing it, it's happening on its own when actually you're just lying to yourself. Any other questions?

I think everybody is pretty much ready to go, right? I'm ready for bed, no. That's the only question I have. No more formations. No more formations. Alright. Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free and the fears struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have 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 Buddha's dispensation. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu.