Dependent Origination Pt 1 with Delson Armstrong-July Retreat

Dependent origination is really the core of the Buddha's teachings. There's a Sutta, which is Majjhima Nikaya 28, where Sariputta is talking about the five aggregates, and he talks about how in it he says, who sees dependent origination knows the Dhamma. So dependent origination can be understood in a lot of different ways at many different levels of understanding.

If you look at the links of dependent origination, we will go over them in reverse, about a little less than halfway for today, and tomorrow we'll continue with the rest. But with this process of dependent origination, what it is, is an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths, specifically the First and Second Noble Truth. So the Four Noble Truths, that is really what the Buddha rediscovered in his awakening. In his full awakening, before he became fully awakened, he was on a search to understand what is suffering and how do I let go of the suffering. He spent some years doing all kinds of practices until at some point he realized there has to be a different way here. And so that story of the Buddha is

He then goes into his memory of when he was a child and so on, and then he goes through this process of discovering, or rediscovering for this eon, for this age, the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. So what are the Four Noble Truths? So there is dukkha, that is suffering. And there are causes and conditions for that suffering. That's the Second Noble Truth.

and that has been abbreviated in the form of craving, tanha. And there is a cessation of that suffering. That is, with the cessation of that craving, there is a cessation of that suffering. That is nirodha, dukkha nirodha, tanha nirodha, dukkha nirodha. The way to that experience of no more suffering in this life is by following the Fourth Noble Truth, which is the Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. That is encapsulated into one way of experience, which is the process of the 6R's. Because the 6R's are essentially right effort.

And the way it's understood from Majjhima Nikaya 117, it says that one goes from the wrong factors of the wrong path to the factors of the right path, by first having right view and using right mindfulness in a way to mindfully let go of the wrong factors and come to the right factors. And that process is right effort.

So there's a sutta called Sammaditthi Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 9, where Sariputta is talking to monks about the different kinds of understanding of right view. Really, the ultimate right view is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. And when you look at the Four Noble Truths, they are actually a template. A template of understanding what is present in the form of suffering, in the form of craving, in the form of whatever it is. That's the first part. And the Second Noble Truth, which is the cause and condition for that being there, for that suffering to be there, for that clinging to be there, for that craving to be there.

And by letting go of that cause or condition of that particular suffering or craving or clinging, one experiences the cessation of that suffering, clinging, or craving, whatever it might be. And one does that through the process of the Eightfold Path, the Fourth Noble Truth. So how do you do that? You use the 6R's. So keep this in mind as templates to understanding any problem.

It's like a diagnostic template for you to understand what is the condition, what is the issue, what is the underlying condition for that issue, how do you let go of it, and what happens when you let go of it. Once you understand this as a template, you can use this template and apply it for each of these links of dependent origination. Now, when you understand dependent origination, you have developed wisdom, panna, as it's understood. When you understand how this process works after having experienced nibbana, then wisdom settles into the mind, and you have begun to establish right view bit by bit in place of ignorance.

The forward order of dependent origination is showing you how suffering arises. So that is showing you the first two noble truths, the suffering and how the conditions of suffering bring up that suffering. The cessation of these links, you are understanding the third noble truth, nirodha, the cessation of suffering, by applying the 6R's. So in that regard, we are going to go backwards. We don't need to understand how suffering arises from one thing to the other. We want to understand: there is suffering now, how do I let go of that suffering?

So first we understand what is suffering. Here it is. It's generally understood as jara marana, right? That is aging and death. It says aging and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. This whole mass of suffering. So when we talk about suffering, there are different levels of suffering, categories of suffering. There is dukkha dukkha, which is the suffering of suffering. There is viparinama dukkha, which is the dukkha of change, the suffering of change. And there is the sankhara dukkha, which is the existential suffering.

So what is the suffering of suffering? That is the general suffering you would experience in the form of pains in the body, mental grief and despair, sorrow, lamentation, aging, illness. Now, all of these things are part and parcel of our existence in this life. We can't just six R's death away. We can't just six R's aging away. We can't just six R's illness away. But what we can six R is our relationship to these things, our perceptions of these things, our taking personally these things, our identification with these things.

Aging and death are a natural part of life. When you are born, you are born with an expiration date. At some point, we will all die. This body will cease to exist, depart. The five aggregates will dissolve. But the reason why it is suffering is because we identify with these five aggregates. We identify with the body as this is me, this is mine, this is myself.

We identify with our experiences through the sixth sense basis as this is me, this is mine, this is myself. We identify with the choices that we apparently make, which are in essence conditions. And we identify with even our consciousness and awareness, which is dependently arisen. When we identify with these things, invariably we experience the suffering. We are afraid of death. We are afraid of aging. We are afraid of illness and what it could do to us with these processes.

So the way to let go of that suffering is not to identify with it, but to understand here is a process where the mind is saying, this is me, this is mine, this is myself. And using the 6R's to recognize that, release your attention from that, relax the tightness and tension, and bring up a wholesome state of mind. In this case, what would be the wholesome state of mind? With relief, because when you experience that relief you have total acceptance of everything as it is. When you have that relief, your mind does not gravitate towards something else as a replacement. For you to experience joy, you experience joy and happiness born of that relief,

letting go of all parameters that the mind can kind of cling to. So there is the viparinama dukkha, the suffering that is of change, that is getting what you don't want or not getting what you do want. And so when we take things as being permanent, we're experiencing a very good time with our loved ones. We're having a good celebration with our loved ones. And time passes on, and soon the celebration has to end. How do we feel?

That is the suffering of change. The suffering of things being unexpected. These things are not in our control. Whatever happens in our reality is not in our control. What you have any level of control over is how you take it, how the mind perceives it, how the mind creates associations, or how we let go of them. So the suffering of change is inherent in the nature of all things that are conditioned, everything that is conditioned, that is dependently arisen. That is even our five aggregates, even the five physical sense spaces, even the mind. All of that is dependently arisen.

Being dependently arisen, when those causes and conditions that brought about it go away and it ceases, the nature of that means that it is impermanent. So that impermanence is what gives rise to the nature of change in our lives. When we have something that is pleasurable in our lives, something that is pleasant, the tendency for the mind is to hold on to it, to wish that it never ends. When we have a new relationship, we don't want it to end. We try to hold on to that person, try to hold on to this experience that we're having with that person. But time marches on.

Things change. People change. That is the nature of reality. When you come to terms with this and accept it and realize it for yourself through true knowledge and wisdom, then anything that happens is experienced right there and then as pleasant or unpleasant. If it's pleasant, the mind enjoys it. That's fine. myself. The mind is in the flow of these experiences. So the viparinama dukkha is essentially arising due to us taking things personally.

And then there is sankhara dukkha, which is in essence the suffering that is inherent in life through these five aggregates. Whenever the mind takes personally and says one or more of these five aggregates belongs to a sense of self, or that a sense of self resides in them, or they reside in a sense of self, or that they are separate and void from the sense of self, there can arise suffering, because the mind is always looking for security. There is this sense of, I have to own something. I have to be something. Something has to be me, in essence. There is something that the mind is always seeking as, this must be me, or this must be mine, or this is myself.

Every time the mind starts to look for these things, in the form of security and the essence, it is unable to find it, and it experiences the suffering of existence. So really, the crux of the matter when it comes to suffering, any kind of suffering, aging, death, illness, mental grief, despair, desolation, anxiety, anything, it all is dependent upon the mind looking for a self in that which is not self, which is impermanent, looking for happiness in that which is ultimately leading you to suffering. So what is suffering dependent upon? So now we know the first noble truth, this is suffering. What is the cause and for the suffering, for this aging and death? Birth is the second noble truth: birth is the cause for aging and death and that whole mass of suffering. With the cessation of birth, there is the cessation of aging and death. The way leading to the cessation of aging and death is using right effort, it's the 6R's. So first now we need to understand what is birth.

What do we mean by birth? There are different layers of understanding when it comes to birth. Birth in the form of coming into being in this existence through the assumption of these five aggregates, through the accumulation of the sense basis for the purposes of experiencing this existence. Birth that happens on a moment-to-moment basis, and that is the arising and passing away, the birth and death of consciousnesses, of individual awarenesses that are tied to the contact, feeling and perception of whatever it is that is arising. And in between the two there is what is known as the birth of action, the birth of karmically active action, or karmically producing action. That birth of action happens because the mind says, I want to do this, this is me, this is mine, this is myself.

And so that birth of action can happen in three forms: through thought, through speech, and through physical action. Now, you cannot 6R birth. Obviously you're already born in this existence, and the consciousness that arises in every moment keeps passing, keeps arising and passing away. You can't just six art it. It is arising dependent upon causes and conditions. Likewise, you can't just six are the birth of action, because once you have done the action you can't recall it back. Once you think the thought you can't recall that thought back. Once you say whatever it is that you say, you can't recall it back. Once you do whatever it is that you do, you can't recall it back. So the way to understand dependent origination is that it's like a river, and each of these links are like whirlpools that gather up energy and momentum like rapids. They continue to push that river forward. And then there is a bend of that river, and there is a waterfall. That waterfall is the birth of action. That waterfall is the birth

the birth of beings, the birth of consciousness arising and passing away, and the birth of action. And the consequences of what happens when you fall through that waterfall is the suffering, is the dukkha. You can't try to climb back up the waterfall. It's already been done. So now, in the context of the Four Noble Truths, we say that there is birth.

Giving rise to birth is what? Becoming, or habitual tendencies. That's the second noble truth. With the cessation of bhava, there is the cessation of birth. The way leading to the cessation of birth is using the 6R's. So what is bhava? Bhava essentially means to come into being or the cooking up of the sense of self. It can mean existence, it can mean being, it can mean to become. And on a practical level it's really habitual tendencies. It's at this level, just before you enter the waterfall, the bend of the waterfall, where you can try to scrape your way back before you crash. So you can 6R bhava by 6R-ing habitual tendencies.

The way it's understood in the suttas is that this becoming, this existence, is threefold. There is existence in the sense-based realms, there is existence in the luminous form realms, and there is existence in the formless realms. What does existence in the sense-based realms mean? The hell realms all the way up to the sixth Devaloka. These all have to do with sensual experiences.

Luminous form has to do with the first Brahmaloka all the way up to the fourth Brahmaloka. And formless realm has to do with all the way from the infinite space to neither perception nor non-perception. We don't need to believe in rebirth for these existences to be there, or whatever it might be. All we have to understand is the scope of each of these different kinds of existences, which already reside in our minds.

If you become more violent, if you become more envious, if you become more greedy, more jealous, in this existence, because of your mindset, if you are jealous and stingy and don't want to share and are always looking for the next best thing, always grasping over things, your mindset is like a hungry ghost. If you're only looking for food, sex, drugs and rock and roll, there's nothing wrong with rock and roll, but if you're always just in your sense basis, always trying to satisfy your base appetites, then you're more animalistic. I mean, just look at Duke, right? He's resting one moment, you go into the dining hall and he's just resting on the sofa. As soon as he sees people in the dining hall with plates of food, what does he do? Food, food, food, food, food, right? Just looking around everywhere. So his mind, any animal's mind, is just revolving around food and reproduction and survival. Of course. So if your mindset is like that, then you have a more animalistic mindset. If you are generous, and if you are forgiving, and if you are kind, and you are compassionate

then your mindset is more deva-like. You become more deva-like in your existence. The people that you see who are living very carefree lives, where they have a lot of wealth and they don't have to work a day in their lives, and you're just living their lives and having adventures and doing what they feel like, that's very much a deva lifestyle. And that could arise due to past efforts that they've done, both in this life and in previous lives, and the kind of perfections that they've cultivated in the form of being very generous, being charitable, being kind and forgiving. Now, what they choose to do with what they have is another story entirely. That continues to produce karma.

But in essence, when you have that kind of mindset, live that kind of lifestyle, at least psychologically, and then later on at a physical level, in this very life too. Now, when you start to cultivate the jhanas and you start to learn how to master the jhanas, the first four jhanas, these correspond with the mentality of the four Brahma lokas. The first jhana has to do with the first Brahma loka. The second has to do with the second Brahma loka, that's the Abhasara beings. The third jhana has to do with the third Brahma loka, which are the Subhakinna beings. And the fourth, which are the gods of the great fruit, Vehapphala. So these correspond to the four Brahma lokas. Now, if you start to cultivate a mindset rooted in these jhanas, and you start to learn how to master them, and the mind continues to be attached to them, then what's going to happen? In this life you will have that kind of mindset. You'll always be joyful, you'll always be happy, you'll always be comfortable.

If you move on to the second jhana, you'll have fewer thoughts and verbalizations, and you'll have more joy and happiness. As you get into the third jhana you have more tranquility, more peace, more contentment. As you get into the fourth jhana you have more equanimity, more mindfulness, less attachment to things. And then when you start to cultivate the arupa states, the arupa jhanas, there your mind can have infinite space or infinite consciousness tied to that. Each of the brahmaviharas, compassion or joy, or when you have the experience of nothingness, you have more equanimity. When you're in neither perception nor non-perception your mind is very still. You have that thoughtless awareness, the signless collectedness of mind. So habitual tendencies are related to these psychological states. So what do we mean by habitual tendencies? There are sometimes when you're met with a certain kind of experience, your mind already has an inclination towards a certain kind of reaction to that experience, because it has been habituated towards that choice.

And so your mind has a collection of habitual tendencies, a library of different kinds of reactions to different kinds of situations. Who shouts at you and who says terrible things to you, your mind will incline towards defending yourself and getting upset at that person, because it's been habituated to do so. Or when you are met with a choice of chocolate ice cream or strawberry ice cream, you choose chocolate ice cream, because you're habituated to do so.

Right, so these habitual tendencies can be reconditioned. This is the beauty and power of this whole teaching: things are always in flux. So the habitual tendencies that you might have that are rooted in the unwholesome can be let go of, so that there is no renewal of karma through the birth of new action dependent upon that particular choice.

So you can actually replace the negative and unwholesome habitual tendencies with that which is wholesome, that is cultivated and rooted in the Dhamma. Now, these habitual tendencies: when you notice that the mind starts to create inclination to a certain choice that is unwholesome, before you act, you can recognize. And when you recognize, you give a pause. When you have that pause, you can release your attention from that reaction, before it becomes fully fledged into a birth of new action. Then you relax, and then you uplift the mind and you replace it with another choice in that moment. You are given a choice in every given moment. You are given a choice. You are presented with different choices.

How you choose to act is dependent upon the habitual tendencies your mind inclines towards. If you become aware of this, if you have mindfulness and proper attention, then you can notice these things and recondition those tendencies and let go of those that don't serve you in this existence anymore. So now, these habitual tendencies, what are they dependent upon? So now we have habitual tendencies. That is the first noble truth. What is the cause and condition for habitual tendencies?

Clinging. With the cessation of clinging, there is the cessation of habitual tendencies. And the way leading to the cessation of those habitual tendencies is using the 6R's. So then what is that clinging that we talked about? Habitual tendencies are dependent upon this process, this active process of rationalizing and creating stories and concepts and ideas for why it is that we think we like something, or why it is we think we don't like something, or why it is we think we are something.

So there are four kinds of clinging. There's clinging to sensual pleasures, there's clinging to views, there's clinging to rites and rituals, and there's clinging to self, or self-views. So when we talk about clinging to sensual pleasures, what does that mean? We start to create associations to certain kinds of experiences, whether they are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. We start to create favorites around our personality: our favorite kinds of foods, our favorite bands, our favorite perfumes, our favorite line of clothing, our favorite kind of cars, our favorite kind of choices, related to any kind of sense base. And so we create rationalizations for why it is that we like something, or why it is we don't like something. Right? Maybe you grew up with your mom making a certain kind of dish, and every time that dish is there you remember the good old days. And you associate all kinds of happiness with that particular dish.

When you look at all of the kind of marketing that we have around us, on television, on social media, it's all referring to sensual experiences or the idea of being a certain kind of person if I acquire this particular product or service. A certain kind of clothing makes me a certain kind of person in my head. That's clinging. If I drive a certain kind of car because the marketing tells me this is the kind of person that drives this car, I create this image of myself in relation to that. That is clinging. Now, on the flip side of that, we talk about traumatic experiences, and the reason those traumatic experiences create anxiety in us, in which we have panic attacks and we have PTSD, is because of the kinds of associations that we've made to those experiences. Anytime any kind of remotely similar trigger arises that reminds us of that trauma, we go into a certain mode of way. We go into a certain mode of thinking.

And we panic or we have anxiety. Let's say, for example, somebody loses their friend or their family member, their loved one. And there's somebody to comfort them. They pat their shoulder. Now, just that simple act of experiencing somebody patting their shoulder, now the association is made with grief. That same person goes somewhere else where they're having a celebration, and somebody pats their shoulder to show their support. But because they've associated that with the grief and the pain of that experience, what does it do immediately as a result of that? The mind goes there. It's a trigger. So clinging is really the bringing up of all kinds of triggers, or the creating of different kinds of triggers in our mind, related to sensory experiences.

This is the clinging to sensual experiences. When we talk about clinging to views, this is clinging to opinions that we have about things. If you think about opinions, if you think about your ideas of the world, they aren't at all original. They aren't at all yours. You have just inherited these concepts because our parents thought that way, our friends taught that way, or our teachers told us this is how life is, how existence is. The mind has no way of interacting with the world except through concepts.

That is why Nibbana is also understood as nipapancha. The letting go of proliferation. The letting go of conceptualization. Coming to a point where the mind holds no concepts at all. The problem is you can't imagine your way to it. You can't think of what non-conceptuality looks like, because that in itself is a concept. So the views and opinions you have about the world: to a certain religion I belong, to a certain race I belong, to a certain country I belong, to a certain political affiliation, this is my favourite sports team, or whatever it might be. These are all different kinds of views and ideologies and opinions that you inherit, and you create associations around those views. The attachment to those views then conditions the habitual tendencies that you have, which then give way to, or give rise to, a certain kind of birth of action.

There's also a clinging to different kinds of wrong views. The Buddha talked about 62 different types of wrong view in the Digha Nikaya, in the first Sutta in the Digha Nikaya. But at the time of the Buddha, in accordance with the Dhamma, there were essentially six main views that didn't jive or gel with the understanding that we have through the Dhamma. Why? Because some of those views are basically conflicting with the idea that there is a possibility of liberation.

Some of those views conflict with the idea of kamma and cause and effect, action and consequence. Some views conflict with the idea of morality, which is essential to this practice. It's non-negotiable. It's not because some creator tells you that you must do this. It's not because there's some commandment that thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and so on and so forth. It's because you come to the understanding that if I want to live a life that is peaceful, I want to make sure that nobody comes and harms me, tries to kill me, tries to steal from me, tries to cheat me, tries to lie to me, tries to do all kinds of things, because they're intoxicated to me. So really, the understanding of sila is so essential, because you understand that if you do unto others as you would do unto yourself, then the world would actually be a better place.

That's the ideal. But you can't change people. You can't do anything about the world around you, but you can focus on yourself. You can focus on what kind of mindset you want to cultivate, through either cultivating the precepts or not cultivating the precepts. So there are views that were present during the time of the Buddha which were essentially nihilistic, which said it doesn't matter one way or the other. Morality doesn't matter. Morality is relative.

So these are the views that one could have in terms of clinging to certain kinds of views. Then, when we talk about clinging to rites and rituals, that means there is clinging to certain rites and rituals with the idea that they will take us to Nibbana. What are the certain kinds of rites and rituals that were present during the time of the Buddha and sometimes are present now? One of them is animal sacrifice, the clinging to any kind of animal sacrifice, because that causes harm to another being. The clinging to the idea that if I do this particular prayer, if I chant this so many different times, it will get me this particular kammic result.

In other words, you're bypassing the understanding of self-effort. You're bypassing the understanding of action and consequence, with the idea that if I just wear this lucky charm or if I do this particular thing on this particular day, then I'll get what I want. That's another kind of clinging to rites and rituals. A kind of routine with the idea that if I don't do things in a certain way, then my day will go bad. Everything has to be in a certain order. I have to wake up at a certain time. I have to do things at a certain time. This needs to be made at certain hours of the day. I have to work for a certain amount of time.

All of these things. I have to meditate for so many hours in the morning. I have to meditate for so many hours in the evening, and all of these things. Clinging to a certain kind of routine. Life doesn't work that way. At the time of the Buddha, yes, they kept time. They kept time according to when the sun rises, where the sun is in the sky, and then cycles of the moon. But outside of that, did they really have time in the sense of, I'm going to meditate for three hours and 20 minutes?

No. It was just, I'm going to do the day's abiding, which is however long it's going to be. So clinging to the idea that I have to meditate and push myself to a certain kind of meditation and to a certain amount of meditation, that can also be a clinging. And that can result in very ineffective and unskillful habitual tendencies and suffering. When we talk about clinging to self, or clinging to self-view, now that clinging to self means we take one of these five aggregates in a certain way. There are 20 different types of self-view, and the way it's understood is you have the five aggregates, and the four body as self, or the body as possessed of self, or the body being in self, or the body being separate to a self.

You take feeling, perception, choices, awareness as self, or you take them as being possessed of self, or you take them as being in self, or you take them as being separate from self. These kinds of views create agitation in the mind, because as soon as these views come to be, now the mind is always using that self-view, or that concept of self, and comparing everything else around it.

Now, that's a self-view, which means it's an intellectual belief. It's an intellectual understanding or misunderstanding of reality, taking what are not self as self. So when we talk about these four types of clinging, how do we let go of them? Using the six R's. You recognize every time the mind starts to make an association with some kind of sensual pleasure or any kind of sensual experience, and you let go of identifying with them and just say, present right now, this pleasant experience or unpleasant experience or neutral experience. That is how you let go. Using mindfulness, you replace the identification process with mindfulness and proper attention. When you have attachments to ideas and concepts and views and opinions, you can notice this, you can recognize it, let go of that, and just see the situation. Not coming to immediate conclusions about who a person is or what this experience is, just being open all the time. You can let go any time your mind starts to create a set routine and says, oh, it starts to feel agitated if that routine is not being met.

Or whenever you have this idea that if I just do this, I'll get that, and you let go of that and just see things as they are and allow things to be as they are. And then when you notice the mind starting to take things personally and identifying with the body, and it starts to become possessive of experiences or of choices or awareness itself, you can let go of that. Ultimately, as you have the different attainments, you let go of these types of clinging all together. For example, when you enter the stream, you let go of any clinging to self-view. You let go of any clinging to rites and rituals with the idea that they will take you to Nibbana.

And you let go of any kind of wrong view. When you become an anagami, you let go of any clinging to any sensual pleasure. Clinging is the first noble truth. So what is the cause and condition for the arising of that clinging? Tanha, craving. With the cessation of that craving, there is a cessation of that clinging. The way leading to the cessation of that clinging is using the six R's. So now, what is that craving, tanha? There are three types or categories of craving. There's sensual craving, there is craving for existence, and there is craving for non-existence. Sensual craving means identifying with a sensual experience and saying, I really like it and I don't want it to stop, or I don't like this and I want it to stop, or with that sensual pleasure.

As this is me, this is mine. Being possessive of it. And how does that craving manifest? It manifests as tightness and tension in the mind and body. Every time there is some kind of tightness and tension, that means that the mind is seeking something. It's always on the lookout for possessing something. And then when it possesses it, when it acquires it and satisfies its craving, what does it experience? It experiences relief. And so the mind continues to condition this idea that if only I satisfy my cravings I will experience relief. That is the wrong view. But if you can experience relief

then what's the point of craving? If you can bring that relief from after the craving to before the craving even arises, then craving will not arise at all. So how do you experience that relief? Six R's. You continue to recondition your mind in such a way that you notice the tightness and tension where the mind is seeking something. The mind wants to possess it with the belief that if I only possess this, I will be happy. If I only have this, I will be in relief.

You six are that tightness and tension. You six are that seeking. And now you come to a point where the mind is free of that craving. The mind finds relief there. And instead of acting upon cravings, in trying to possess whatever it is that object is, the mind understands: is this object actually required in this moment or is it not required?

And acts with wisdom instead of acting out of obsession over possessing that, or through having aversion towards something that is seemingly unpleasant. This main fundamental core concept: that if I experience relief in every moment, then everything else that is happening in terms of pleasant experiences is just a cherry on the top. I don't have to look for happiness outside of that relief. Happiness just adds to my happiness. That object is not possessed of happiness. I am already happy whether I have it or not. I already experienced relief whether I have it or not. And the way to recondition the mind from trying to acquire things to where you are always happy

whether it's there or not, is using the six R's. Recognizing any time the mind says, I want this, I like this, I don't want it to stop. Recognizing that tightness and tension, releasing your attention from that, relaxing that tightness and tension, uplifting the mind, and staying with that mind in relief. That in itself is a wholesome state. Rest in relaxing, or if you want, cultivate loving-kindness, cultivate equanimity, cultivate compassion, whatever it might be. That is a wholesome mental state of being, independent of that object that is causing that craving. The same with the aversion. The same with the identification process. What about craving for non-existence? How does craving for existence manifest? Pushing too hard in your meditation. I have to experience this jhana. I have to experience nibbana. I have to experience liberation. I'll understand this. There's a difference

between the intention and inclination towards nibbana and being obsessed by nibbana. Because the obsession for nibbana is what prevents you from nibbana. There's that comic strip of a man sitting on a park bench and he's thinking, I want happiness. In this comic strip, a monk or the Buddha is walking by, and he looks at the thought cloud and he says, there is a way to happiness. All you have to do is erase the I and erase the want, and what's left is happiness. So letting go of the identification process of wanting it, letting go of wanting it, gets you to it

That's the beautiful secret. You already have it, you just don't realize it. So the craving for existence can manifest in different ways, where the mind says if I only had a million dollars I would be happy. If I only was manager of this company I would be happy. If I only had this relationship, I would be happy.

If I only had grandkids, I would be happy. All kinds of ideas. If I only had this degree, if I only had this career, if I only made this amount of money. If only I had that particular tombstone, I'd be happy. People even plan all the way to that. So the craving for existence can also mean craving for jhana, craving for arupajhana, craving for having a certain kind of lifestyle, and so on. And of course, craving for liberation itself. The inclination for liberation is a different thing. You see, when you have the inclination and you realize there's suffering here, there must be a way out of that suffering.

How do I find that way out? That's the inclination. It's like when you're on a plane or on a ship, and the captain or the people on the ship set a certain course in a certain direction towards their destination. And then they just let it go in that direction. Once in a while they make tweaks and adjustments. That's what you do in the practice.

But they don't keep thinking, oh, am I going to be there yet? Are we actually going to reach there? How long is it going to take? And all of these things. They know a little bit of the information. They know whatever information they need to know. And then they set it on autopilot. The same way you incline your mind towards nibbana, in the sense that you understand the way leading to nibbana is being wholesome in your mind. You make efforts to be wholesome.

The way leading to nibbana is to let go of craving, let go of identification. You make every effort to let go, but you don't keep saying, are we there yet? Are we there yet? Don't be that annoying kid on the road trip that keeps asking, we'll get there when we get there, you should have used the bathroom two miles ago. So that's the craving for existence, craving for non-existence. That's the opposite: I don't like being where I am, so I don't want to be here. I don't like being part of this family. I don't like being part of this club. I don't like being part of this job. I don't like being part of this country. I don't like being part of the city, whatever it might be. I don't like, I don't like, I don't like. You see, you have to notice how your mind makes up, in the sense of, I like it. That is the craving for existence, or sensual craving.

I don't like it or I don't want it, that is the aversion and craving for non-existence. I like it because, that word because, that is the clinging, the rationalization of why it is you like it or why it is you don't like it or why it is you identify with it. going to do this or I am this.

That's the being. That's the habitual tendency. And then the acting upon that choice in that library of habitual reactions is the birth of action. But you can let go of that craving by identifying it and seeing it and recognizing it, and then relaxing the tightness and tension associated with it. So we'll stop here, because there's a lot more to unpack prior to craving. This is all of the bad stuff that we have to deal with in life. This is all of the stuff in relation to craving, where I don't like it because of so-and-so, or I like it because of so-and-so. All of these things can be six R's.

You get closer towards birth of action, and it gets a little bit more difficult. The moment you can notice your mind say I like it and I want to possess it, or I don't like it, I hope it stops, you can let go of it right there and then. But if your mindfulness is not there and it slips into clinging, where it starts to make associations, but if you can notice that, you can let go of that. But if your mindfulness slips and you start to make all kinds of habitual actions and all kinds of choices and inclinations, you can recognize that and you can let go of that. But if your mindfulness slips from there, there is no pause, and there's an immediate reactivity, then there's the birth of action, the birth of new karma, which you can't stop, which you cannot recall.

But the moment you stop craving, you stop clinging, becoming, birth and suffering. If you can't stop it there, the moment you stop clinging, you stop becoming after it. You stop the birth of new action after it. You stop suffering after it. The moment you stop becoming, in that moment, you stop any kind of birth of new action and any kind of suffering as a result of that action. If you understand this principle, and that mindfulness and the six R's are the key to letting go of that suffering

and the ingredients of that suffering. Then, bit by bit, your mind is reconditioned from the unwholesome to the wholesome. Any questions? Who wants the talking stick? So what are the two types of thought that are like examining thought that we are active in the first jhana? Thinking and examining thought. Are those activities that occur in the upadana? No. Where would that be happening? That's at the level of intention, which is much, much earlier.

The thing is there, because I'm thinking of the practice and how we're developing and cultivating wholesome states of mind, and part of that at a certain stage involves wholesome thoughts as well. We're generating those, we're fabricating these, and they have this wholesome intention. So how does that fit into the links of dependent origination? Well, if you think about cultivating wholesome states of mind, that in itself is a birth of new action, but it's a birth of wholesome action.

Prior to that, you cultivate habitual tendencies that are wholesome. Prior to that, you don't cling to anything unwholesome. Prior to that, you incline your mind towards the wholesome. And so that process of inclining your mind happens at the level of intention, which is happening in contact with an experience. So if you look at this chart that we're looking at here, it's really happening at the level of mentality-materiality. The other thing you have to think about when we discuss dependent origination is, although it looks linear in this way, and it can be, there's a lot of feedback loops that are happening.

And there's a lot of interconnections also that are happening. So if you have the wholesome chanda, that happens at the level of craving. You replace the tanha with the wholesome intention. Thank you. So with habitual tendencies, if the habitual tendency is something positive, like being kind is a habitual tendency, then is the problem that you're doing it without thinking, or does it need, it just requires more of a choice, and not like a conscious choice in that moment.

So if you have wholesome habitual tendencies, that leads you to birth of wholesome actions. But that still leads you into a place that is impermanent, which means by default, when it ends, it'll cause suffering. So the way out of that is to let go of all becoming altogether. Nibbana also means bhava nirodo, which means the cessation of all becoming, the cessation of all habitual tendencies. That doesn't mean that the mind just becomes like a robot and doesn't act, but it just means that there's no longer taking those habitual tendencies that might be wholesome as me, mine, or myself. It means it doesn't take any pride in being wholesome. It's just that's the nature of the game.

Okay, thank you. In the morning, when we take the three refuges, and then we take the precepts, and then we read the five recollections and the sanctum of the Dhammapada, I'm wondering how come the first two, like David will read it, and then we read it back? And then the second two, we just all read it together. I'm just curious about that. That's a good question. Why is that, David? Yeah, we can all thank him for that. Yeah, like, the first two is like, we'll say, please give us this. And then we repeat it. And then the last two, we all read it together. I'm just like, I wonder why. This is very new.

It just flows better when you read it. It's just a reminder, it's like the Dhammokas. But the others are, I abstain from this. You get that, right? I abstain from this. It's kind of a clarification that you understand. And it might seem like it's a ritual, right? It might seem like, oh, I'm doing this every morning. But it's also a cultivation of wholesome states of mind more than a ritual.

You can look at it as a ritual, but it's really just a process of making a commitment to remind yourself you are here, right? You're here because you want to let go of suffering. In the case of the recollections and in the case of the Dhammapada verses, the way to understand that is by actually cultivating what you need, which is the refuges and the precepts. So this whole process of you asking for the precepts, or for the refuges, it's a commitment that you're making, and there are witnesses around you about that. And then the recollections and the Dhammapada verses are essentially all of us just being aware of the fact that we are all liable to experience old age, we're all liable to experience the passing away of our loved ones, we are the inheritors of our karma, and so on and so forth. That we needed to get a Buddha into the meditation room, because the precepts are not coming from me or Nelson or anybody.

They're coming from the Buddha who's saying, take refuge in me. How are you going to do that? And that's, we're committing to the Buddha. So it's not just anybody. That's why a monk is really supposed to get these precepts, because you're committed to the Buddha and the monastic order. I have a follow-up question. So have you run into people, say, like atheists or non-Buddhists, who didn't want to take the precepts, not the precepts, just the refuges, because they might believe in something and meditate? It's just, yeah, I'm just curious. So here's a way of understanding the taking of the refuges. It's more than anything that's religious or anything like that. When you take the refuges, you are actually just contemplating the understanding that there was a person who really discovered this path, and we are offering our appreciation for that. In this case, that's the one who actually came up with this whole understanding of dependent origination, of the Four Noble Truths, of the Eightfold Path, of the jhanas, of everything that we are doing here on retreat.

And so it's a formal appreciation for that when we say we take refuge in Buddha. When we take refuge in the Dhamma, what we're doing is saying that we are going to make an effort to understand and practice this process so that we can cultivate an experiential understanding of this process. And then when we talk about taking refuge in the Sangha, what we're saying is there has been an order of monastics and those who have experienced attainments through this practice that are able to continue this order forward, able to continue these teachings forward. And we are just saying that we appreciate that, and we're recognizing that indeed it is possible to have one of those attainments.

It is possible for us to actually practice the Dhamma and come to a point where we all become part of the noble Sangha. I'll add one more thing. This is a great discussion. Of ordinations here, you know, Bhante, Satchananda and Kusla do them as well, and what happens in the ordination is you become a samanera or a novice monk. And guess what precepts you take? The ones that you're taking now. There's eight. We've kind of combined a few things, but we've left out high and luxurious beds, because that's really not you. You have the bed that you have. So it's the same precepts that a monk would take. So for this time, you've all gone through a ceremony every morning of becoming a monk or a nun.

And so you've joined the order for a little while. And if you keep the five precepts, you'll join a little bit less stringent of an order for the rest of your life, and you'll become a Sangha member. - Yeah. - Generally, since we are not Duke or a tree, when we leave here or when we get our cell phone back on Saturday or Sunday, life happens. - Yeah. - And we have to do what we have to do, members of the society, family, whatever.

So really those are not part of this. Maybe if you're eating to live, that's one story, or if you're living to eat, then you have these six hours and whatever else you need to do. So there can be mundane things, there can be routine things, your work things that may fall into it, may not fall into it. So the bottom line really is doing anything like nishkama karma without unattached action is basically the gist of it. Because anything could fall into it, anything could not fall into it. The trap is getting too attached or looking for what am I gaining? What is in it for me? Could be something very simple. Then you've got a problem.

Right. Could be a major problem or a minor problem or every second problem. Depends on how evolved or not you are. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it, because nishkama karma, nishkama karma, which is really this understanding of unattached action, what that means, and that is actually rooted within the context of the Eightfold Path in right intention, which is you let go of any attachment to any action that you do with the idea that this action is me, mine, or myself. So you are renouncing any kind of identity or identification with that action.

As soon as you do that, and this is what happens with somebody who's fully awakened, because the question always arises: if somebody is fully awakened, can they still speak? Can they still act? Because if they've let go, for somebody who's fully awakened, there is no more suffering in the form of mental suffering. There is no more birth of action in the form of new karma. There are no more habitual tendencies that can give rise to new karma. There is no more clinging, there is no more craving, and there's no more ignorance. So how do they function? They function according to previous karma, through the momentum of previous karma, which is experienced as a present state of being in the form of a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral experience.

Wisdom and a fully awakened person, a fully awakened mind, will never identify with any of the experiences, will never have any kind of expectation from any of those experiences, because they have right intention rooted in their mind. So whatever it is they're doing, it's never going to cause new karma. But until that happens, the mind has to practice this process of nishkama karma, which is this process of letting go of me, mine, or myself to every intention and every experience that arises. Is there a term like chanda is wholesome desire for tanha?

But in Buddhism, is there a term or a concept of, you know, in the West, we talk about personality or ego development, a healthy sense of itself. Right. So a child needs to say, I made this. Yeah. It's developmentally appropriate. To say they didn't would be very confusing. Yes. Right. So is there a term, though, like in Buddhism, addressing personality or ego structure? Because clearly, the characters in the suttas had personality. Yeah. Unique and distinct. But there's no-- and I understand there's not this stable, separate self. But there is a personality that everyone has. Is there a concept within? Yes, there is. It's called attabhava. Attabhava. Yeah. Attabhava means the personality, in essence. Everybody has a certain kind of personality.

I mean, even arahants in the time of the Buddha had certain kinds of personality. You had cranky arahants, you had hungry arahants, you had strict arahants, you had loving and kind arahants. That's because of their attabhava. Is that karma? Yes, it's due to karma. Past and previous karmic actions. Okay, so this may be addressed tomorrow or at another time if it's too difficult. Our conditioning leads to thoughts, actions, speech, which creates karma. Why is the thoughts and the speech and actions creating karma? How does that go?

So that's what karma is. The Buddha had explained from his understanding that karma is, in essence, intention. Because everything that we speak with intention, or everything we say, has a repercussion. Every action that is intended has a repercussion. So karma means a couple of things. One is activities. Beings are able to think, speak and act, and it also means the consequences of those activities, rooted in those intentions. Now, there's other things that human beings do but they don't do it intentionally, like bodily processes, but that's not karma, that's kriya. Just a quick question about upadana and tanha. Did you mention anagamis eradicate upadana but not tanha?

No, no. As I was saying, with the sensory clinging, anagamis let go of, and they let go of craving for sensual pleasure. Oh, sensual. Yes. But still they may crave for existence. Existence, yeah. Very cool. Thanks. A little confused, well, probably more than a little confused, but when it gets... I can't kind of distinguish between the craving and the clinging. They seem to be... so the craving is essentially a certain reaction to an experience, so it's the immediate reaction of me, mine, or myself to an experience. And then the clinging is digging your heels into that identification process. In essence, it's like, I really want this because of so-and-so.

So you can go from... you can have craving, but stop it, so that you don't. But you still have the craving. No, once you let go of craving, then you've also let go of all of that whole series, because you don't create any associations to why it is that you crave something. But if you let go of clinging, you still have craving. You've had craving.

You've experienced that craving. But because you've let go of clinging, now that momentum stops. Do you want to give an example, maybe? Chocolate ice cream, I see it. Yeah, chocolate ice cream. All right, I guess I'm going to go a little bit towards what we're going to talk about tomorrow, because it does involve other problems. So let's say you find out that, you know, Rose has made some homemade chocolate ice cream with, you know, whipped cream and fudge and brownie bits in it, for dessert. And you're like, oh, great. I'm looking forward to that, right? So hearing about that, the initial hearing about that is the contact. Arises the experience of thinking about that and wondering about that. That is the feeling, like, oh, that's a pleasant feeling, having chocolate ice cream with all of those goodies. Right now, while you're meditating, you're thinking about that, and you're saying, I really want that. But what happens if I'm last in line and there's only so many?

That's the craving, right? And then the clinging, which is, I really got to get that chocolate ice cream. You have to do something. Maybe I should get in line first, or maybe I should end my meditation right now and just pretend to do some walking meditation around the dining hall, so that when the lunch bell... and then I can go into the dining hall first and get it.

And then the habitual tendency is, oh, I've always loved chocolate ice cream, so I'm definitely going to go and get it. So it's like I'm going to do whatever I can to go and get that chocolate ice cream. Now, let's say while you're doing that, you go in there and you're standing in line and you're expecting chocolate ice cream to be there. You make that action of not cutting in line, system, by going first, and then you're taking the food, but all the while your mind is like, chocolate ice cream, chocolate ice cream, and you look around you and you see, oh wait, there's no chocolate ice cream, it's vanilla today. That's the suffering: your expectation that there was going to be chocolate ice cream, and your whole processing of, I really want that chocolate ice cream, is the craving. That whole clinging of making associations and stories around it, and habitual tendency of walking towards it and making the action of standing first in line, all to see that there is no chocolate ice cream.

Why? Because there was no chocolate ice cream at the store. Or there were no ingredients for chocolate ice cream at the store. So Rose had to basically make vanilla instead. And you don't like vanilla. And so your suffering is to eat vanilla ice cream. This is one way of understanding it. So craving is where your mind is always grasping towards something. And then the clinging is all of the obsession around that.

All of the ideas and thoughts, the mental proliferation, the conceptualization of what you will do to acquire it. Or once you have acquired it, what will you do to protect it and keep it? And the habitual reaction is, 'Is mine.' Nobody gets it. Right? And if somebody tries to get it, what do you do? You have a birth of action. You push them away. And what does that create? It creates arguments and retaliation from the other person. So that's the suffering.

There may not be any last questions. Yeah, I had one related to yesterday's discussion. Is there a distinction between consciousness and awareness? So we say, like, timeless awareness, and then we say cessation of consciousness. Yeah, I mean, these words are used interchangeably. There's no real distinct difference, but there can be. I'll talk about that when we get to Consciousness. Okay, cool. Thank you.

Anything else? One last question there. So, sometimes this may be related to, like, craving for Dhamma, but sometimes I get really paranoid about, I need to act in a wholesome way. And if I don't do that, I get really upset. Is that another form of clinging? Yeah, because you basically... first of all, you wanting to be wholesome is one thing. But if you are not wholesome and you get upset by that, it's another thing.

You wanting to be wholesome is chanda. It's a wholesome inclination, right? But being upset that you weren't able to be wholesome is the suffering that you experience as a result of not being wholesome. So that's just another thing to let go of? Forgive. Okay, I made a mistake. I did that. I intend to not do it again. That's it. There are many circumstances in the suttas where a monk or somebody had done something where they broke a precept, and they go to the Buddha and say, I've done this. And so the Buddha says, okay, make it a point not to do it again. That's it. Retake the precept and make it a point not to do it again.

But the, say, the intention of taking the precept and not breaking that. And then something happens, and the clinging to keep that precept, is that another clinging? No, that's not clinging. The obsession around, if I don't keep the precept, this is what's going to happen. That's going to irritate you. That's going to bother you. But why do you have to be paranoid about that?

What is the cause for that paranoia? If you're wholesome, if you're not breaking a precept, you're doing good. You're doing fine. It's only when you are met with a situation where there's a possibility of breaking a precept that then, at that moment, you say, I am not going to break this precept. Until then, you're doing fine. There's nothing to worry about. So that's just restlessness. You just have to let that go. Just like you said with the chocolate ice cream, I think of a scenario of breaking the precept, and I get really anxious over that. Yeah. I mean, you just have to forgive yourself for it. That's it. And just let that go. OK. Let's share some Eric.

May suffering once be suffering free and the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit 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.