Day 10 2022 MN 143 Anathapindikavado Sutta -July Retreat - -with Delson Armstrong

There are four Noble Truths. Four Noble Truths of Suffering. Today is the final day of the retreat. And so I thought I would read a special sutra today in honor of Rex, who passed. This is Majjhima Nikaya 143, Anathapindika Vada Sutta, the advice to Anathapindika. Thus have I heard, on one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savati in Jettus Grove, Anathapindika's park.

Now, on that occasion, the householder, Anathapindika, was afflicted, suffering, and gravely ill. Then he addressed a certain man thus: Come, good man, go to the Blessed One, pay homage in my name with your head at his feet, and say, Venerable Sir, the householder, Anathapindika, is afflicted, suffering, and gravely ill. He pays homage with his head at the Blessed One's feet.

Homage with his head at the Blessed One's feet. Then go to the Venerable Sariputta, pay homage in my name and with your head at his feet and say, Venerable Sir, the householder Anathapindika is afflicted, suffering and gravely ill. He pays homage with his head at the Venerable Sariputta's feet. Then say, it would be good, Venerable Sir. Anathapindika, that was not his real name, actually. It was a name given because of his generosity. Anathapindika means one who gives dana, one who gives alms to the unprotected. Anatha means people who have no refuge.

And Pindika is one who provides alms to those people. His real name, his birth name, was Sudata. And he was a millionaire. He was a very, very wealthy man. And one day he had an opportunity to listen to the Buddha. And he got inspired by the Buddha's words and became a sotapanna. So he decided that he wanted to buy some land in order to make a monastery for the Buddha.

So there was a wonderful little grove that was there. And it wasn't little, but it was pretty expansive. And this grove was known as Jetta's Grove. That's why it says, at the Pindika's Park. So Jetta was the son of King Prasanjit, and Jetta was a prince who had this land. And he was actually somebody who, King Prasanjit was somebody who didn't actually like the Buddha initially.

And the reason is because when the Buddha was a prince in his own right, before he became a Buddha, was part of the Sakya clan, which were rivals of King Pasanjeet's people. And so that enmity, that rivalry, was still ongoing, even after the Buddha became the Buddha. Of course, the Buddha didn't care, but Pasanjeet was very much unhappy with him.

And by extension, so was Jetta. under one condition, if you can take, if you can fill this entire land, if you can, this whole piece of land, if you can fill it up with gold coins from one end to the other in all directions, I'll give you the land. So Anathapindaka said, sure, I'll do that. And he got his servants to bring up, you know, loads of gold coins.

And they basically threw them all on the ground and covered the entire ground with that. And when Jetta saw that, he said, wow, there is something to the Buddha if this man is so committed to buying this piece of land. So he said, okay, the land is yours. And he took the money, all of that gold coin, and then he used that to create a barrier for Jeta's Grove. And then Anathapindika used more of his money, more of his wealth, to build this wonderful monastery. And I think it's still there in India. You can still go and see it.

Of course, it's not probably as prominent as it was before, but you can still see the original place that the Buddha would go and sit and meditate. Kuti, the perfume chamber, as it was called. And so Anathapindika was the chief patron of the Buddha. So he was a big supporter of the Buddha, and he made sure that everybody was well-fed and well-supported and so on.

Yes, sir, the man replied, and he went to the Blessed One, and after paying homage to the Blessed One, he sat down at one side and delivered his message. Then he went to the Venerable Sariputta, and after paying homage to the Venerable Sariputta, he delivered his message, saying, It would be good, Venerable Sir, if the Venerable Sariputta would come to the residence of the householder, Anathapindika, out of compassion.

The Venerable Sariputta consented in silence. He went to the residence of the householder Anathapindika with the venerable Ananda as his attendant. Having gone there, he sat down on a seat made ready and said to the householder Anathapindika, I hope you are getting well, householder. I hope you are comfortable. I hope your painful feelings are subsiding and not increasing, and that their subsiding, not their increase, is apparent. I am not getting well. I am not comfortable.

My painful feelings are increasing, not subsiding. Their increase and not their subsiding is apparent. Just as if a strong man were splitting my head open with a sharp sword, so too violent winds run through my head, cut through my head. I am not getting well. Just as if a strong man were tightening a tough leather strap around my head as a headband, I wonder if he was crying too hard while meditating.

I am not getting well. Just as if a skilled butcher or his apprentice were to carve up an ox's belly with a sharp butcher's knife, so too violent winds are carving up my belly. I am not getting well. Hot coals, so too there is a violent burning in my body. I am not getting well. I am not comfortable. My painful feelings are increasing, not subsiding.

Their increase and not their subsiding is apparent. So he's dying. He is ready to go. His painful feelings and all of the different conditions he has suggest that he is not doing well. And so here is what Sariputta says. Consciousness will not be dependent on the nose. I will not cling to the tongue, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the tongue.

I will not cling to the body, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the body. I will not cling to the mind, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the mind. Thus you should train. That's a very interesting statement, because as we understand dependent origination, we know that consciousness gives rise to nama-rupa. Nama-rupa gives rise to the sixth sense basis.

Sixth sense basis gives rise to contact. But what is contact? The eye meets with the form, and dependent on these, there is eye consciousness. And the three constitute eye contact. Likewise with the ear, the sound and the ear make contact, and dependent upon them there is ear consciousness, and the three of them make up ear contact. Likewise with the nose and odors, tongue and tastes, body and tangibles, mind and mind objects, they make contact. The joining of those two give rise to that particular sensory consciousness, that particular kind of contact.

So how can you have a consciousness that is not dependent upon the sixth sense basis or contact itself? So what is he saying here? First he's saying, I will not cling to the sixth sense basis. In other words, I will not identify with the sixth sense basis. My consciousness, what is consciousness here translated from? Vinnana. And what is another element of consciousness? Attention.

I will not put my attention on these particular sensations. I will not put my attention on that particular sixth sense base, or on that particular sense base, rather. Because if we understand mentality, we know mentality is made up of contact, feeling, perception, intention, and attention. So the faculty of contact allows us to experience the link of contact. The faculty of feeling allows us to experience the process of feeling.

The faculty of perception allows us to perceive. The faculty of intention allows formations to arise. Because wherever you incline, your formations will go there. Manasikara literally means to take something to heart. Manasikara, to put your mind onto something. And so when you have attention, that's where consciousness flows. So what is he saying here? He's saying, I'm not going to put my attention, I'm not going to identify with the sixth sense basis, and I'm not going to put my attention on the sixth sense basis.

Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to forms. I will not cling to sounds. I will not cling to odors. I will not cling to flavors. I will not cling to tangibles. I will not cling to mind objects. And my consciousness will not be dependent on forms, dependent on sounds, dependent on odors, dependent on flavors, dependent on tangibles, and dependent on mind objects. train.

So now my attention is not going to pay attention to the form or to the sound or to the taste or to the smell or to the feeling on the body, the touch or to the mind objects themselves. So where is your attention going to be? That's the question here. My attention is not going to be in the eyes, it's not going to be in the ears, it's not going to be on the nose, it's not going to be on the tongue. It's not going to be on the body. It's not going to be outside with the external sixth sense spaces. It's not going to be on forms. It's not going to be on sounds or odors or tastes or tangibles or mind objects.

So where is it going to be? Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to I-consciousness, and my consciousness will not be dependent on I-consciousness. I will not cling to your consciousness. And my consciousness will not be dependent on your consciousness. Be dependent on mind consciousness. Now that's interesting. So my consciousness will not be dependent upon these sense-based consciousnesses.

So there is the I itself, there is the form, and there is the I consciousness, like we said. So the attention is not going to be on the I itself, it's not going to be on the form, it's not going to be on the attention to the feeling either. It's not going to be on the attention to the consciousness tied to that feeling.

It's not going to be tied to any of that. So in other words, Sariputta is leading Anathapindika to somewhere. But what he's leading him to, we will see. He's saying, don't put your attention on the eye. Don't put your attention on the form. Don't put your attention on eye consciousness. Don't put your attention on the ear. Don't put your attention on the sound. Don't put your attention on the sound consciousness. Don't put your attention on the nose. Don't put your attention on the odor. Don't put your attention on nose consciousness.

Don't put your attention on the tongue. Don't put your attention on the taste. Don't put your attention on tongue consciousness. Don't put your attention on the body. Don't put your attention on the tangibles. Don't put your attention on body consciousness. Don't put your attention on mind. Don't put your attention on mind objects, and to put your attention on mind consciousness. So what are the sensory consciousnesses? Just being aware of that. Don't direct your attention there either. How do you not direct your attention to that? Six are it. Your attention is on the eye, six are that. Your attention is on the form, six are that. Your attention is on the consciousness of it, six are that.

Let go of landing your attention on these things. Now he's talking about contact. So what is contact? The joining of the two itself, that experience itself of contact. The tree and hits the retina. That's the contact right there. Don't pay attention to that. How do you sense contact? How are you able to perceive contact? At infinite consciousness. What's happening at infinite consciousness? You're seeing the arising and passing away of eye consciousness, or ear consciousness, or nose consciousness, or tongue consciousness. How do you perceive these things? You see the arising and passing away of the flickering, right? Sometimes you'll see the flickering of lights, or sometimes you'll see a ringlet of lights, or sometimes you'll just see a blank white screen, and then ringlets and other things that come up.

Sometimes you'll hear the flickering, or sometimes you'll pay attention to the nerve endings in your ear, or sometimes you'll pay attention to the nose. You might smell phantom odors. You might taste phantom tastes. You might feel an electricity going out through your body. You might feel vibrations. All of these are part of mind contact because it's happening internally.

Everything runs its course through mind eventually. So when you're seeing infinite consciousness, what you're seeing actually is the arising and passing away of sensory contact. So when you come to that, what do you do? Don't pay attention to that. Don't get your mind enamored by that. It to be a process. Stay with your object of meditation. So, if you get intrigued by the arising and passing away of eye consciousness or ear consciousness, you see the flickering, you hear the clicking, you smell phantom smells, you taste phantom tastes, or you have vibrations in the body, you have heat in the body, or whatever it might be, or you see your thoughts and they start to slow down.

Or you might hear something in the distance and it starts to slow down. You hear every other word or every other sound. Or even when you're just walking around, suddenly everything slows down and you start to see the frames, individual frames of reality. People move like that, as if they're under a strobe light. So all of these things, this is seeing contact as it arises and passes away. Consciousness.

But don't get your attention there. Don't let your attention be attracted by that. If you see that, what do you do? 6R. Let that go. Come back to your object of meditation. Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to feeling born of eye contact, and my consciousness will not be dependent on feeling born of eye contact. I will not cling to feeling born of ear contact, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the feeling born of ear contact. I will not cling to feeling born of nose contact, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the feeling born of nose contact. I will not cling to feeling born of tongue contact, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the feeling born of tongue contact.

I will not cling to feeling born of body contact, and my consciousness will not be dependent on feeling born of body contact. I will not cling to feeling born of mind contact, and my consciousness will not be dependent on feeling born of mind contact. Thus you should train. So now we're talking about feeling itself. The eye. Your attention is not on the form. Your attention is not on the awareness of any of the sixth sense bases. Your attention is not in the contact.

Your attention is not even in the hearing or the seeing. Remember, in the seeing, there is only the seeing. In the hearing, there is only the hearing. In the tasting, there is only the tasting. In the touching, there is only the touching. In the smelling, there is only the smelling. In the thinking, there is only the thinking. You should not even go there at this point. This is what Sariputta is saying to Anathapindika, who is going through the dying process.

He's telling him to let go of these different processes. He's walking him through dependent origination and saying, don't put your attention on that. Don't allow your attention to get pulled in that direction. So when there is just the seeing, when there is just a hearing, the attention that's there is pure, meaning there is no sense of self there.

There's no sense of self superimposed on that. Remember when the Buddha tells Bahiya, in the hearing there is only the heard, and so on. But when there is no you before that, and there is no you after that, and there is no you in that, there is the cessation of suffering. So don't put your attention there. Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to the air element, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the air element. I will not cling to the space element, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the space element. I will not cling to the consciousness element, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the consciousness element.

Thus you should train. So now the body is made up of the four great elements. You have the earth element. You have the air element. You have the fire element. You have the water element. These constitute what? What is the earth element? The solidity of the body. My attention will not go there. What is the water element?

It's the liquid of the body. The blood and so on. All of the different liquid aspects. My attention will not go there. What about the air element? The gas in the body. My attention will not go there. What about the fire element? The heat of the body, the metabolism of the body, the temperature of the body. My attention will not go there. What about the space element? Those are the different spaces in between different apertures of the body. My attention will not go there.

What about the consciousness element? What is the consciousness element? My consciousness element. The consciousness element is related to the mind itself, because you have the body and then the mind that allows you to experience things. My attention will not be there either. My attention will not be on this awareness or the awareness of that particular element.

My attention will not be on attention itself. In other words, I let go of the need to try to pay attention to something. Oftentimes when you're meditating, what happens? I have to stay on my object of meditation. And this creates the sense of, I am the one who's paying attention. But if you have this awareness, this metacognitive awareness, which is watching, which is mind-watching mind, not mind-becoming mind, just mind-watching. Any stream of thoughts that are coming on is just like a stream.

When you're out by the stream, are you trying to capture the water of the stream, or are you just watching the stream go by? When you see the birds in the air and the clouds in the air, are you trying to grasp onto the clouds and the birds, or are you just watching them go by? When you watch the traffic on the road, do you go in the middle of the traffic and try to stop a car?

Or do you just watch the traffic go on by? The same way, the stream of consciousness, the thoughts, just let them go on by. Remember, the very first time I said, when you have your object of meditation and there are thoughts in the background, no problem. You don't need to pay attention to that. You don't need to 6R that. Goes to that, that you 6R and come back to your object. You're distracted when you're never on your object. That's it. Your attention is pulled away from your object, and now it's thinking about something else. So the stream is one thing, but getting caught up in the stream is the other. So when you're in quiet mind, the formations come up, things come up.

Do you get upset by that, or do you just say, let it continue? Your goal, your whole process there, is to do nothing. Don't do anything. Let mind rest in mind. Everything else will take care of itself. Just trust in the mind's ability to relax. When you get pulled in the direction of something, then you relax it, soften it, come back to the mind. Come back to paying attention to mind. That's it. So don't pay attention to the streams of consciousness.

Then you're going to identify it. The clinging is the identifying. The consciousness becoming dependent upon it is paying attention to it. Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to material form and my consciousness will not be dependent on material form. I will not cling to feeling, and my consciousness will not be dependent on feeling. Thus you should train.

So I will not cling to material form. What does that mean? I will not identify with the body. The body is just the body. The body is just made up of the states of matter. This is not my body. Sometimes we say, this is my body. Or sometimes we say, I have a body. Or sometimes we say, this is me. All of that is clinging to body.

When we have this idea in ourselves, don't cling to the body. Now, when we're talking about the paying attention part, this is the consciousness not dependent upon the body, meaning it's not paying attention to the body. Why is that? Why is he saying that my consciousness will not be dependent upon these things? Because he's saying the attention should not go anywhere. Why?

Because attention is that which fuels what it sees. If your attention is on loving kindness, it continues to fuel the loving kindness. If your attention is on the craving, it will continue to fuel that craving. If your attention is on a hindrance, it will continue to fuel that hindrance. That's why when we say six Rs, recognize the hindrance. Release your attention from that hindrance.

Relax the mind and body. From that. Because if you put your attention there, you're fueling that. So any kind of suffering, the origin of that is said to be craving. But that kind of craving is attention. Whenever your attention moves from something, there can be craving there. If your mind is staying with its object, it is fueling the energy of that object in meditation. But if it gets distracted, there is craving present in the form of any of the five hindrances.

Sensual craving, aversion, restlessness, sloth and torpor, doubt. So now your attention is on the doubt, thinking about this or that. Am I in a wholesome state or unwholesome state? Is this right or is that right? What am I doing? Is that correct? I don't know if this is right. Maybe I'm trying too hard. Maybe I'm not trying enough.

So all of these kinds of thoughts, now your attention is on there. And you're just continuing to feed all of that. And then that gives rise to further restlessness. Now what about sloth and torpor? Sloth and torpor is a feeling. The mind feels dull. Your mind is now there instead of with its object. And it gives rise to further dullness.

So now it's also because your attention is very loose. Up your attention a little bit. Instead of defocusing so much, keep your attention on the object. Come back to the object by using the 6R's. Then the sloth and torpor goes away. What about sensual craving? You're meditating and maybe you're meditating at home and somebody's in the kitchen making freshly baked cookies. And now you smell those cookies.

And then you're thinking, "To lunch I'm going to have a couple of those cookies, and I hope I can save them for later. I wonder what kind of cookies they are. They smell like chocolate chip, but maybe they might be macadamia. I don't know." All of these thoughts happen, right? So now your attention is on all of these thoughts and it's fueling further those thoughts. So long as your attention is there, it's like a spotlight. Your attention is the spotlight on wherever it is, and it continues to shed light on that. But if you recognize that, release your attention from that. Revert the spotlight away from that. Relax the tightness and tension.

Come back to the re-smile and put your spotlight back on your object of meditation. Then you have let go of that sensual craving or aversion, whatever that might be. So the feeling is also a hindrance. I will not identify with that hindrance. I will not identify with this experience. Somebody is shouting at you. Don't identify with that experience.

It's feeling cold outside. Now you feel irritated by that. Don't identify with that experience. Whatever the experience is, it is just an experience. So don't cling to the feeling. That means don't identify with the feeling. Don't pay attention to that. Don't let your attention go there. Perception. You think back to your memories. Those are also feelings, but they're also perception.

You think back to the nostalgia. Oh, those were the days. I wonder how it was back then, and I wish it was like this again. All of these kinds of thoughts. You see a green tree, and it's a particular type of tree, and now you're in that stream of consciousness with that perception. So if you recognize that and let go of that using the 6R's, then your attention is no longer there.

So don't cling to the perception either. Don't cling to the memories. Don't cling to the labeling. What is name? What is your name? When you say, my name is so and so, or this is my name, what is that? That's a perception. You identify with that name. You identify with this is me, this is who I am. title.

This is me. This is who I am. How can they talk to me this way? I am the boss of so-and-so or the CEO of so-and-so, or I am this type of person. These are all kinds of perceptions of self. Don't cling to that idea. Let go of that. Don't put your attention on that. When you see that your mind is identifying with these kinds of names and titles and things like that, let go of that.

Don't put your attention on that. And then when he talks about formations, your intentions, your choices. Fine, you made a terrible choice in the past. Why are you beating yourself up for it now? Why let your guilt eat you up like this? Maybe you made great choices. Why be proud of those choices? Why identify with them? Why cling to them?

Formations are related to choices. Remember, we said there are mental formations, verbal formations, bodily formations. But it's through the inclination, through the chetanam, through the intention that these formations run through. I made certain choices. Fine, it was a terrible choice. guilt eat you up. Don't pay attention to that. Forgive yourself for that. Be kind to yourself.

Be happy. Be accepting. So you notice that your mind is getting eaten up by guilt. It's thinking about this or that. And so that was an intention you made. That was a choice you made. You're dealing with it now, here in the present moment, as guilt. What is guilt? Guilt is a karmic effect of a choice that you made. Why add to that guilt by having further guilt? Let go of it. You're experiencing the effect of your choices, and you're seeing that as a karmic fruition in the form of that guilt.

So what do you do? Understand it is there and let go of it and forgive yourself. Come back to a wholesome state of mind. made or in the choices you're going to make. That leads to indecision, right? You become indecisive about something. Use your intuition. Oh, if I do it this way, this might happen. But if I do it that way, this might happen. And then you get into this whole analysis paralysis.

If I don't do it that way, maybe I should do it that way. And you have all of these flow charts going on in your mind about what you should do or what you shouldn't do. But use your intuition. Let go of all of that using the 6R's. And then use your intuition and make a choice. But make the choice not dependent upon fear, not dependent upon anxiety, not dependent upon, oh, it happened that way, so I shouldn't do it again. How do you know it's going to happen again the same way? Just make the decision based on your intuition.

How do you use your intuition? You ask the mind this question, what should be done here? And then wait. Don't analyze, don't reflect, don't contemplate. Just wait for the answer. Maybe the answer might come right away, or the answer might come after a few days. But it will come when you least expect it. Just like Nibbana comes when you least expect it, the intuitive experience will come when you least expect it. You've asked the mind the question, it's doing whatever it's doing, and then it'll bring up an answer. It'll become in the form of a eureka moment. Oh, that's what I should be doing. And you make the choice based on that. This is the spontaneous intention, speech and action that arises when you live from the Eightfold Path.

So don't get bogged down by your intentions which you made in the past or intentions you intend for the future. Let your attention not rest on that. So what does it rest on? We'll get to that. I will not cling to consciousness and my consciousness will not be dependent on consciousness. Again, don't cling to the attention itself.

Don't cling to the idea that I have to meditate in this way. I have to be collected in this way. My attention has to be super sharp in this way. Don't identify with that process. Whatever you're paying attention to, don't identify with that process. Whether it's writing an email, whether it's walking, whether it's meditating. There is just meditating going on.

And don't let your attention become bogged down by it. Your attention is there and that's more than enough. Don't think, overthink it. Does my attention need to be more here or more there? Just let it be there. Don't let your attention become bogged down by its own attention. Don't try to pay attention to your attention. Just pay attention. That's it. People will do that when they're meditating. Am I paying attention?

I wonder if I'm paying attention right now. What do you think? Are you paying attention if you're going to think if you're paying attention or not? Actually, you're paying attention to that whole thought process of whether you're paying attention or not. So what do you do when that happens? The 6R's. Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling.

to the base of infinite space, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the base of infinite space. I will not cling to the base of infinite consciousness, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the base of infinite consciousness. I will not cling to the base of nothingness, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the base of nothingness. I will not cling to the base of neither perception nor non-perception, will not be dependent on the base of neither perception nor non-perception.

Thus you should train. So when you go through these formless attainments, infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception or non-perception, what's going on? What is the object there? Is the object the infinite space or infinite consciousness or nothingness or neither perception or non-perception? compassion, the joy, the equanimity, the mind itself. So notice if your mind gets distracted by the expansiveness of space and don't cling to that.

One way you cling to it is, I'm not there yet and I want to be there. And what do you do? You push out the feeling of loving kindness. You push out the feeling of compassion. That's not what you have to do. Attention fuels whatever it is paying attention to. So if you're sending out loving kindness in this direction or in that direction or whatever direction it is, you're just paying attention in that direction.

Your attention will bring up the loving kindness and it will flow. Think of the object like a sail and your attention as the wind, and it's just moving the feeling of loving kindness. You're not moving it. It's just moving in each of the directions and in all directions. Then don't cling to the expansion itself. Oh, I don't know how expanded my mind is. Maybe it's just up until here, or maybe it's up until here, or maybe it's just up until somewhere. But it doesn't matter whether it's expanded here or it's expanded out towards the outer limits of the galaxy. It doesn't matter. That's just an experience. the background of your mind.

Don't cling to the jhanas themselves. Don't cling to the jhana factors themselves. Don't pay attention to that. The jhana factors and these experiences of the fullness attainments, they're just the ambience of what's going on. If you pay attention to the ambience, you're having a conversation with a person and there's ambient noise. If the ambient noise grows larger and your attention goes there, you're no longer paying attention to the person that you're talking to, or they're talking to you.

That is the object of meditation. So pay attention to the object. Let your attention rest on the object. Everything else is just ambient noise. And let it be there, whatever it is. It doesn't matter. Infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception or non-perception. It's just ambient noise. Don't let your attention get bogged down by that. And if it does, 6R's. Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to this world, and my consciousness will not be dependent on this world. I will not cling to the world beyond, and my consciousness will not be dependent on the world beyond.

Thus you should train. So now he's leading Anathapindika away from all of these things. What is he talking about? Anathapindika. Towards something. But what is that towards something? Not this world or the world beyond. This world. What is this world that we experience? This world is made up of the six sense spaces and their experiences. My attention will not be there. And what is the world beyond? There's two ways of understanding it. An existence in the future.

Or an existence somewhere else after this existence, or an existence in a jhana realm, meaning being in jhana, being in a super mundane state. My consciousness will not depend on those things. I won't look forward to an existence. I won't look forward to a future existence, whether it's here in this life or another life. At all. And then he's saying, Householder, you should train thus. I will not cling to what is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, encountered, sought after, and examined by the mind, and my consciousness will not be dependent on that.

Remember, whenever he says, I will not cling to, means I will not identify with it. I will not say, this is me, this is mind, this I am. So, I will not identify with what is seen, with what is heard, with what is sensed through the other six sense spaces, with what is cognized, with what is understood, with what is encountered, with whatever is experienced, sought after, and examined by the mind.

Meaning, even when your mind is paying attention, when you have the investigation of states, knowing that it is distracted, you don't get caught up in that. My mind does not get caught up in that. My attention doesn't get rooted in that. And my consciousness will not be dependent on, meaning my attention will not be in any of these things. Thus you should train.

There is another sutta, just so you understand the context of what Sariputta is leading Anathapindika towards. There is another sutta where Ananda goes to Sariputta and says, is there a perception or is there a cognizing of a state which is not on the sensed, which is not on the felt, which is not on perception, which is not on the five aggregates, which is not in the four jhanas, which are not in the formless realms, which are not in the Devalokas, which are not in this world or beyond.

And Sariputta says, yes, there is. And Ananda asks him, what is that? And he says, bhava nirodha, the cessation of existence. That is what I perceive in every moment, the cessation of existence. What does he mean by that? He's talking about Nibbana. So he's a sneaky monk. Sariputta is taking Anathapindika away from all of the conditioned states and leading him to the unconditioned. Bhava nirodha. Cessation of existence.

And arahant always sees the cessation of existence. Because whatever arises and passes away, they always tend towards the cessation of it. The trouble is when people's minds look at what is arising, and they get caught up in that. In that whole stream, they get caught up in the stream. In that traffic, they get caught up in the middle of that traffic instead of just seeing it and letting it cease and tending to the cessation of that.

So bhava nirodha doesn't mean the cessation of all existence. Bhava nirodha just means seeing cessation right here and now. The cessation of what? Cessation of suffering. Meaning the mind doesn't stick to anything. The mind doesn't identify with anything. The mind doesn't cling to anything. It doesn't land anywhere. It just is. When this was said, Ananda thinks that maybe Anathapindika might be in pain and he's ready to go very soon. Such a talk on the Dhamma. Now this is interesting what Sariputta says. He says, Such talk on the Dhamma, householder, is not given to lay people clothed in white.

Such talk on the Dhamma is given to those who have gone forth. So what Sariputta is saying is that usually the monastics are the ones who are the audience of the Buddha. So such talk is given to them. It's not talking about some kind of secret, esoteric teaching here. Because you have to understand the context behind everything that the Buddha says or the arahant say. They're speaking and teaching their fellow monastics 99% of the time. The rest of the time they're talking to lay people and usually it's about keeping precepts and sometimes going into jhana and also talking about how to lead a good household life, how to generate generosity, to lead a life filled with happiness, that lay kind of happiness.

In some suttas, the Buddha talks about how to be a good store manager. So it depends on his audience, depends on the context. Well then, Venerable Sariputta, let such talk on the Dhamma be given to lay people clothed in white. There are clansmen with little dust in their eyes. Tusita is the place where the future Buddha is, the present Bodhisattva, that is the Maitreya Buddha.

He's over there chilling. And all the people who are very devoted to the Buddha, meaning who have been with the Buddha and been very devoted as lay followers mostly, end up in Tusita Heaven when there is this very big devotion for the Dhamma, the Buddha. Not necessarily that you train your mind, but you just have very large amounts of faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. They have a tendency to get to see the heaven because that's where the future Buddha is. It's a nice place to be. Nothing wrong with it, but there's better.

And these are the words that you should go with when you leave the retreat. By action, knowledge, and Dhamma. By virtue and noble way of life. By these are beings purified, not by lineage and by wealth. Or by wealth. By action, what does that mean? By your efforts. So your karma. Remember, karma is intention, by your intentions.

By knowledge, studying the suttas or the Dhamma, understanding dependent origination. By virtue and noble way of life, by virtue, keeping the precepts. Keep your precepts when you leave. The more you do this, the clearer your mind will become. And the easier it is for you to follow the noble way of life, the noble way of life being the noble eightfold path. Keeping the precepts protects you.

Keeping the precepts keeps your mind calm and collected. Be generous. And when I say be generous, it doesn't mean be generous just with your money. Be generous with your time. Be generous through compassionate listening. Oftentimes people want to talk to you and just listen to them. Just listen without an agenda. Just listen and don't have anything formulating in your mind to try to come up with something. Listen to them.

That's a form of compassion. Be generous in that manner. Be generous with your time. Be generous with your efforts. Be generous with your smile. Smile all the time. Smile and the world will smile back at you. There was this one individual who was there at the Netherlands retreat and he was a very hard-pressed, very, very rigid practitioner of Vipassana and Mahasi-style practice.

And he was very technical about the Abhidhamma. He talked about the different types of mental factors and this Abhidhamma and that Abhidhamma and so on. And as he was doing the retreat over a couple of days, he was doing the loving-kindness, he was smiling more, and he realized he was taking a walk and he was looking at the sunrise and looking at the glorious mountains and the hills, and he realized, oh, wow, how beautiful is that? And for the first time, he experienced all this joy, all of this happiness.

And then he sent an email to me later, and he said, I was in Milan at the train station, and I was walking around, and I realized this woman was smiling at me. And I looked at her, and I wanted to smile back at her, but I realized I was already smiling at her. So you smile to such a level that you're just smiling all the time. Be generous with your smile.

That is what the young God, Anathapindaka, said, and the teacher approved. Then the young God, Anathapindaka, thinking the teacher has approved of me, paid homage to the Blessed One, and keeping him on his right, he vanished at once. When the night had ended, the Blessed One addressed the Bhikkhus thus: Bhikkhus, last night, when the night was well advanced, there came to me a certain young God, of beautiful appearance, who illuminated the whole of Jata's Grove.