Day 10 Last Day - AN 10.1 - The Path from Suffering to Awakening

Today is our last day. And tomorrow you will be going back into the world and try to figure out what do I do from here? Well, I've told you all in your interviews that discipline and consistency are the most important thing. What do we mean by discipline? Discipline is the commitment to do the thing even when you don't feel like you want to do it. You see, when meditation stops becoming a chore, and becomes something that you look forward to, now you have discipline.

And consistency, that is the key to discipline. That is the ability to practice every single day, no matter what. Even if it is a so-called bad meditation. In other words, there's stuff going on, I can't seem to 6R these things, or they're just rampant, they keep coming and coming. Every kind of meditation session will only make you better because it will give you the experience of how to deal with different situations at different times.

But when we talk about discipline and consistency, it's also about repeating what you have learned here on retreat in the last nine days. In other words, there's nothing different except for the fact that the environment has changed. You're taking five precepts tomorrow and that, you'll be dealing with other people. You'll be using your phone. You'll be having work-life situations.

There'll be a lot of things that are different: your intention and inclination to follow, number one, the precepts, number two, the discipline to practice, and number three, the desire to cultivate wisdom so that you get insights. So if there was one sutta to take with you back into the world, it is a sutta that refers to the entire path in terms of its benefits and how everything that you've been doing so far on retreat is the path, is not something that you're doing because we decided that we were going to do it in terms of myself or other teachers or that this is some new technique or this is something revealed by God or all those other things.

What we have formulated here in terms of this retreat is based and rooted based on and rooted in the suttas. If you've ever seen Bhante Vimalaramsi's talks he will always read from the suttas and explain it. So everything that we do is rooted in the suttas and the suttas are in that sense the ultimate authority here when it comes to understanding practice, understanding the path, and what is wisdom.

So here it is. This is from Anguttara Nikaya. That is the numbered discourses, the book of tens. And it is the first sutta in that section. It's called Benefits. Well, the section is called Benefits, and the sutta is called What Purpose? Thus have I heard, on one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savati in Jetta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. So oftentimes you will hear this start, thus have I heard.

This is Ananda speaking to the council, saying, this is what I have heard from the Buddha. This is where it took place. So the Blessed One refers to the Buddha, Bhagavan, as it's known in Pali, was dwelling at Savati or Shravasti. This is a place in Uttar Pradesh in India. In Jetta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. This is a place where it's still around. You can actually go there and see Anathapindika's Park. And it's beautiful, well-maintained.

The old structures of the place where the Buddha would reside and meditate. Structures of where Moggallana and Sariputta would reside. They're all there. And there's a lake that's there where the monastics would bathe. And just beautiful trees. So this was the place that the Buddha mostly resided in for most of his life. And I can see why. Because it's just so beautiful and secluded and peaceful. Ananda Bodhi tree there, a sapling from the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya was taken from there and planted there. So there is a Bodhi tree that you'll see.

Then the Venerable Ananda, Ananda is the Buddha's attendant, approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him and sat down to one side and said to him, Bhante, Bhante means Venerable One, Venerable Sir. What is the purpose and benefit of wholesome, virtuous behavior? What is wholesome, virtuous behavior? Sila, keeping the precepts. Ananda, the purpose and benefit of wholesome, virtuous behavior is non-regret.

Oh, look. Non-regret. Somebody got an insight right there. What do we mean by non-regret? Well, it means that because you keep the precepts, your mind remains in a relatively pure state. There's nothing for you to worry about. There's nothing for you to be afraid of. There's nothing for you to be, wait, I told that white lie. Now I have to continue keeping up that lie. I have to do this and I have to do that. Or there's no stealing that you've done, so you don't have to worry that somebody's going to catch you. You won't have any regrets about it. You haven't harmed anyone, so you don't have remorse, because you haven't harmed anyone. You don't have these thoughts of, oh, I shouldn't have done that, right?

Non-regret. The one thing that some people struggle with is the intoxicants part, where it's like, well, what about just a glass of beer or a small little glass of wine? Well, I mean, if you're serious about practice, you will start to see for yourself as your mind becomes more sensitive and as your mind starts to see, okay, when I take this, this is how it affects my mind. When I take that, this is how it affects my mind. Then you will see for yourself that this isn't really beneficial, right? That is that when someone is in a drunken stupor, they are liable to break other precepts because of their negligence and carelessness.

So keeping the five basic precepts, that's really the non-negotiable, being able to do that every day. When you start your morning, whatever time you wake up, if you start the morning with just taking the refuges and the five. And if possible, the five recollections. But these two things, it will set your entire day up. Because what you have done, as I was saying the other day, you have kept your word. You have said, I am going to do this. And then when you find situations where you could break a precept, you remember what you said in the morning.

What are you going to do then? Are you going to break your own word? Or are you going to see the satisfaction of keeping that precept? And hence the non-regret. And what Bhante is the purpose and benefit of non-regret? The purpose and benefit of non-regret is gladness, relief. Pamoja or Pramodha. Pamoja is the gladness in having taken refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Having taken refuge in your own virtue.

The gladness that I kept to my word. I kept the precept. I feel good about it. There's relief. There's nothing for me to be agitated about. There's nothing for me to be upset about. There's nothing for me to be doubtful of. I am in gladness, Pamoja. That sense of relief that we've been talking about when one is free of the hindrances, this is what you experience.

And what Bhante is the purpose and benefit of non-regret? The purpose and benefit of non-regret is, as I said, Pamoja. And what Bhante is the purpose and benefit of Pamoja or gladness? The purpose and benefit of gladness is joy. Joy. This is the piti. Your mind is elevated. Your mind is uplifted. It's not a prideful joy that, oh, here I am keeping the precepts. It's not a moral righteousness of if you have in you. Moral perfectionism and moral righteousness.

Both come from conceit. Just keeping the precepts, that's it. Okay, yeah, I'm keeping to that. I feel good about it. That's the gladness. And when I sit down for meditation, my mind easily gets to joy. I can easily bring up kindness in my mind. I can easily bring up compassion. I can easily come to the mind that is quiet. I can easily come to just staying in tranquility. I can easily come to a mind that has no craving and is just completely present here and now. And the beauty of that is as I continue to keep the precepts, as I continue to have non-regret, because my mind is non-agitated, it is easier for my mind to experience insight for intuition to awaken.

It's easier for my mind to be attentive to what is happening in the present moment. And when I'm stuck in a rut, meditationally or in life, something comes up. Ah, that's what I should be doing. Follow that. That is your inner GPS. That is your wisdom mind telling you, okay, this is what should be done. This is what should not be done.

The whole purpose of meditation is to keep the channels to that intuition open. Right? That's how you have a life that is in alignment with the Eightfold Path. It's less about trying to do something and more about being seamlessly doing it without any effort, without any kind of forethought. It becomes your natural state of being. And that intuition will never be wrong.

It won't be the answer you're looking for. It won't be the choice you might be wanting. A path that leads to liberation. You can use this intuition in such a way that if you are met with a series of decisions to make and you don't know what decision that you have to take, you can just ask your intuition, okay, where should I go? What should I do? Ask the question in the mind and then let it go. Walk away. Do anything else. Don't try to think about it. Don't try to analyze it. Don't try to do any of that.

Just walk away. Do whatever it is you're doing. Go into meditation if you want. But don't meditate on the problem. Just be with your object. And whenever it happens, when you least expect it, the answer comes to you. That's what's the decision I should be making. That's the path I should be taking. That's what I should not do.

There are times when you meet a person and you get the little sort of discomfort when you're there and you're meeting with them. You have a bad feeling about them. Now, a lot of people say, well, what if it's just prejudice? What if it's just I have this idea of this person based on my past experiences?

Well, that might be so. Fine, but listen to your mind when it's clear, not when the mind has any kind of fear or any kind of hesitation. Listen to it when it is quiet. You may later on get the feeling, after meeting this person, maybe this deal is not going to go well. Maybe this person should not really interact with me. Maybe I shouldn't be in this situation.

When your mind is clear and free of any kind of anxiety about it, and it comes up, that's different. So try to discern that. See how that intuition leads you into a direction that keeps you safe and secure and happy. And what Bhante says is the purpose and benefit of joy? The purpose and benefit of joy is tranquility. So when your mind is uplifted, when your mind is elevated, you have tranquility. Your mind is relaxed.

When you are laughing with your friends, if you're wholeheartedly laughing, like a belly laughter, like you're just let go of the stresses and anxiety of the day. There's nothing in the back of your mind about, oh, I should be doing this, I should be doing that. You're just with your friends, and you're happy, and you're cracking jokes, and you're laughing with them. How do you feel?

You're relaxed. You're tranquil. And a person who is stressed, a person who has fear, a person who has anxieties about things, it's very difficult for them to laugh. It's difficult for them to be able to just let go. Laughter is a kind of letting go. It's a way of being in a space where the mind is genuinely happy, genuinely clear. And this is interesting, if you can ever notice, when you do laugh, you have mindfulness enough to know that when you do laugh, no thoughts exist in that laughter.

The mind is free of any kind of thought. Now, there you go. You see, the mind is completely let go. Completely let go. And because of that, there is the passambhaya, the passaddhi, the tranquility, the relaxation. And Bhante says the purpose and benefit of tranquility is ease. Ease in the mind and ease in the body.

When you are relaxed, when you are happy, your body is comfortable. Your mind is at ease. You can't meditate with a mind that is uneasy. And if you're meditating because you want to bring ease to your uneasy mind, that's not the way to do it. Meditation should not be used as a swatter for different states that you're like, okay, I'm angry, I should go and meditate. Well, guess what? You're going to close your eyes and all thoughts that arise are going to be only about why you're angry and how you're justified in your anger and how the other person deserves your anger, right? And you're just going to be in anger meditation.

That's it. But if you're able to notice that anger and be able to release it and relax it, find that space of ease, that relief, from dropping that anger. That is meditation itself. You don't have to do anything else. In that moment, you have practiced right effort. You have practiced the path of letting go. Easier said than done. It's the nature of the mind to hold on. It's the nature of the mind to look here and there.

But laugh at it. Laugh with it. See the mind for its silliness. The mind is not a serious thing. Don't make it serious. The moment you start to see that the mind is just this silly little puppy going from here to there, a little infant crawling from here to there, then you have natural loving kindness for your mind.

You have this sense of, okay, this is what the mind is. Compassion for the mind. Anger arises. Oh, there it goes again. Instead of frustration. Because the anger only gets worse when you stop trying to be angry. You force yourself to stop trying to be angry. You force yourself to be happy. Happiness is not forced.

It's natural. It comes naturally. Anger is let go of. But there is an insidious idea that when I let go of anger, in other words, when I'm trying to let go of anger, all I'm doing is trying to push it away. No, no, no, I'm not pushing it away. I'm seeing the danger in continuing to be angry instead of seeing the justification of why I should be angry, and I drop it.

That is what dependent origination is, the ability to see the consequence of if I hold on to this, this is what will happen. The Buddha has talked about this numerous times. He calls it seeing the danger and the escape from it. The danger is if I continue to hold on to this unwholesome mindset or this state of emotion or mind, it will only be for further suffering.

But if I drop it, if I let it go, I experience relief. What do I actually want? The reality is most people like to hold on to their anger. Most people like to hold on to their resentment. They say, no, no, I want to learn of a way to let go of it. No, you don't. You want to be comfortable in it. You find comfort in it.

Because if you didn't, then you would let it go. You find comfort in your habits. If you didn't, you would have let it go. So find something that's more comfortable than the anger. More pleasing than the habits that you want to let go of. And develop that. And the mind will incline to that, and realize this anger is no longer valuable to me.

These habits are no longer valuable to me. This causes me more happiness. This causes me more delight. And the mind starts to shift in that direction. And what Bhante says is the purpose and benefit of ease, and the benefit of ease is collectedness, is samadhi. You see the trend? When I have and cultivate wholesome habits, when I keep the precepts, see, you can think of the precepts as keeping new habits.

Maybe precepts is too religious of a language for you. Call it habits. I'm cultivating wholesome habits. It's not a commandment, something that I'm doing for the betterment of my life. So doing that, my mind experiences non-regret. My mind experiences, ah, I'm in relief. It experiences gladness. I'm happy to do this. This feels good to me. It experiences joy. When I sit down for meditation, joy comes to me easily.

It experiences tranquility. I feel relaxed in that joy. It brings up ease in the mind and body. I feel comfortable. And when I have these, my mind is collected, naturally collected. And what Bhante says is the purpose and benefit of collectedness? The purpose and benefit of collectedness is the knowledge and vision of things as they really are. Yatha bhuta nana dassana. This means seeing things as they actually are.

And this is the beginning of, or equanimity is the beginning of this. When you have collectedness, then you have equanimity. Your mind doesn't go in this direction, or in this direction, or in that direction. It has complete, tranquil balance. Oh, here is a hindrance. It's no longer like agitated. Oh, here is a hindrance. I need to do something about it. Oh, here is a hindrance. Let me let that go.

Oh, here are nimittas coming up. Here are lights coming up. Here is joy coming up. Okay, great. But I don't need to get pushed or pulled in a certain direction. When we're on retreat for the first time or even in the umpteenth time, these states mesmerize us. These different things that come up, they mesmerize us. But they're all signposts.

Because all kinds of things that mesmerize you are conditioned. What we're looking for is the unconditioned. That which is unfabricated. That which is non-conceptual. That which is uncreated, without origin, outside of dependent origination, nibbana. And so the more we let go, the less we fabricate. The more we let go, the less we create. The more we let go, the less we originate something.

In other words, we keep letting go, keep letting go. Be in this practice. Wonderful. Remain in it, but let go of the desire to keep it going. Just be with it when it is there. When it goes away, that's fine. This is the knowledge and vision of things as they actually are. At a deeper level, what it means is you're starting to see when certain things come up, they arose due to causes and conditions.

And because of that, they are impermanent. them, my mind experiences suffering. So just let them be where they are. And I have no control over whether they'll be there or not be there. So I see anatta. And that's the reason why my mind is equanimous. At an even deeper level, when I start to do this process, I start to see that in the impermanence of objects, in the instability of objects, I let go of trying to hold on to any objects. And so I am in the animitta, in the signless, in the objectless.

I notice that any desire to control or intend a certain way at that point creates tension. I notice that at any point I try to control and direct my mind somewhere. In the beginning, we have to do it in order to cultivate the states. As we get to the quiet mind, any kind of efforting, any kind of thing leads to tension.

And so that is the realization of suffering. So what do I do? I keep my mind undirected. I notice that any time I try to do something in terms of a control, any time I try to identify something, it's not that. The object is not me. You see, anything that you can experience is not self. By virtue of the fact that there is a subject and there is an object.

You can say, technically, that the object may belong to the subject, but that's also not the case. The object only exists dependent upon the subject. But vice versa is true as well. The subject arises when it sees something. So when I let go of trying to control, when I let go of trying to be the meditator, when I let go of the control of trying to be the experiencer, the seer, the hearer, the cognizer, then I realize emptiness.

I understand there's no control here, so I let go. Purpose and benefit of the knowledge and vision of things as they really are. The purpose and benefit of the knowledge and vision of things as they really are is disenchantment and dispassion. I let go of all effort. I let go of all control. I let go of any kind of schemes and plots that my mind makes to say, oh, let me do this. Let me do that. Maybe I should just be in this bliss for a while. Maybe I should just be holding on to this for a while. Maybe I should do this. Maybe I should do that.

That's just the mind playing with itself. Tricking itself into, oh, the mind thinks it's smarter. Maybe I should do that. And so then we try it. We go ahead with that. And what happens? We find ourselves again in the same loop. Any trying, any efforting, anything at that point in time leads to further enchantment. What does it mean to be enchanted?

You're caught up in it. It feels like a tractor beam. You're just pulled into it without realizing, into the flow of thoughts and ideas and concepts and distractions. But eventually you see through it, the knowledge and vision of things as they actually are. You see through it and say, aha, I'm not going to play that old trick anymore. You drop everything.

That's the disenchantment. And no matter what comes up, your mind remains dispassionate. Nothing sticks to it. Okay, you want to do the same old thing, keep doing it. The other day I told you about this movie called Little Buddha. And there's a beautiful scene in which the Buddha is sitting under the tree and Mara's army launches a thousand spears and arrows and so on. And as they come through the field around the Buddha, they turn into lotuses. The next scene after that is very interesting because this is the point of the Buddha's enlightenment. He looks at this pool and he sees his reflection in the pool.

And he reaches out into the water and pulls his reflection out of the water. And so now you have the Buddha here and his reflection. And he says, I see you, architect. You can build no more. That's the disenchantment and dispassion. I see the trick of the mind. It's just a reflection. But you can no longer build here. I've let go of it.

And what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of disenchantment and dispassion? The purpose and benefit of disenchantment and dispassion is the knowledge and vision of liberation. What does it mean to have the knowledge and vision of liberation? I see through the identification with the aggregates. I see this is how form arises. I see this is how form passes away, along with perception and choices and awareness.

I see the reflection of the I, which is nothing more than just a reflection. And my mind lets go of any identification with it. And my mind knows it is free of any suffering when that happens. This process that you've just heard happens in terms of every time you let go, happens when you have a fruition, it happens when you have an experience of awakening.

Thus, Sananda, wholesome virtuous behavior progressively leads to the foremost, leads to Nibbana. Okay, let us share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free and the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired 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. Okay. I'm officially off the clock now. That's part of it.