Talk 4 -Jati (Birth) Dependent Origination with Delson Armstrong-4K

Today we'll talk about birth, and I'll just read from what the Buddha says in Digha Nikaya 22, Maha Satipatthana Sutta, and what, monks, is birth? In whatever beings of whatever group of beings there is birth, coming to be, coming forth, the appearance of the aggregates, the acquisition of the sense bases, that amongst is called birth. So what is the word for birth? It's Jati. J-A-T-I.

Jati. And so it says the word Jati comes from the Sanskrit word Jata, which means to come into existence or to be born. But nowadays that word is used as a way to denote one's caste in India. When they ask you, what is your caste? They ask you in Hindi, jati. Jati is really the classification of existence, whether it's human, animal, hungry ghost, deva, or Brahma. It has nothing to do with your caste. And so this is how the Buddha addressed that. At the time of the Buddha also there were these castes. There was the Brahmins, there was the Kshatriyas, there was the Vaisyas and there were the Shudras. So the Brahmins were the highest or said to be the highest.

They were the class of teachers and priests. Then the Kshatriyas were the kings, the military generals and soldiers. The Vaisyas were business people and merchants and things like that. And Shudras were essentially low-level workers, people who were doing the odd jobs here or there. And so, in the interest of trying to be as concise as I can, instead of reading the Sutta, I'm going to summarize the Sutta I'm going to read, which is called Digha Nikaya 27, the Agganna Sutta. And there, what happens is there are these two Brahmins that come to visit the Buddha, Vashishta and Bhardwaj. And Vashishta basically goes to the Buddha and he says to Vashishta, you two are Brahmins born and bred.

The Blessed One says this, Vashishta, you two are Brahmins born and bred and you have gone forth from the household life into homelessness from Brahmin families, meaning you have now ordained. Do not the Brahmins revile and abuse you? Indeed, the Brahmins do revile and abuse us. They don't hold back with their usual flood of reproaches. Well, Vashistha, what kind of reproaches do they fling at you? What the Brahmins say is this: The Brahmin caste is the highest caste. Other castes are base. The Brahmin caste is fair. Other castes are dark. The Brahmins are purified and non-Brahmins are not. The Brahmins are the true children of Brahma, born from his mouth, born from Brahma, created by Brahma, heirs of Brahma, and you have deserted the highest class and gone over to the base class of shaveling petty ascetics, servants, dark fellows born of Brahma's foot. It is not right, it is not proper for you to mix with such people.

That is the way the Brahmins abuse us. And this is what the Buddha says. Then the Brahmins have forgotten their ancient tradition when they say that. Because we can see Brahmin women, the wives of Brahmins, who menstruate and become pregnant, have babies and give stock. And yet these womb-born Brahmins talk about being born from Brahma's mouth. They misrepresent Brahma, tell lies and earn much demerit. And then he talks about the ascetics, as I talked about, and he says sometimes these ascetics can take life, take what is not given, commit sexual misconduct, tell lies, indulge in slander, harsh speech and idle chatter, and grasp to malicious or wrong views. These things are immoral and considered so, blameworthy and considered so, to be avoided and considered so, ways unbefitting for a noble person and considered so.

Dark with dark results and blamed by the wise are sometimes to be found among all of the different castes, but sometimes too these ascetics will refrain from taking life, refrain from taking what is not given, refrain from committing sexual misconduct, refrain from telling lies, indulging in slander, harsh speech or idle chatter, and do not grasp at malicious or wrong views. These things are moral and considered so, blameless and considered so, to be followed and considered so, ways befitting a noble person and considered so, bright with bright results and praised by the wise, and are sometimes to be found among these different castes. Now, since both dark and bright qualities, which are blamed and praised by the wise, are scattered indiscriminately amongst the four castes.

The wise do not recognize the claim about the Brahmin caste being the highest. Why is that? Because, Vashishta, anyone from the four castes who becomes a monk and an arahant who has destroyed the taints, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the highest goal, destroyed the fetter of becoming and become emancipated through super knowledge, such a one is proclaimed supreme by virtue of Dhamma, not of non-Dhamma. Dhamma is the best thing for people in this life and the next life as well. And so he says, all of you, though of different birth, name, clan and family, who have gone forth from the whole household life into homelessness, if you are asked who you are, should reply: we are ascetics, followers of the Sakyan, he whose faith in the Tathagata is settled, rooted, established, solid, unshakable by any ascetic or brahmin, any deva or Mara or Brahma, or anyone in the world, can truly say: I am a true son of the Blessed One, born of his mouth, born of Dhamma, created by Dhamma, and heir of Dhamma.

Why is that? Because this designates the Tathagata. The Tathagata is the body of the Dhamma. And that is the body of Brahma. Or he has become Dhamma. That is, he has become Brahma. So the notion that the Brahmins are the highest caste because they're born from Brahma is a wrong notion, and here the Buddha is replacing the idea of Brahma with the Dhamma. So, the Dhamma: if you are born from that, if you have attained stream entry and beyond and ultimately destroyed the taints, then you are beyond any caste system. So here is how he overturns the idea of the caste system. He says you are not defined by what family you are born into.

You are defined by the actions that you produce. You are defined by your intentions. That is the classification for someone in terms of that word jati, classification. Now we'll talk about first and foremost lifetime to lifetime rebirth. And it's going to be very short because there's not much to it. When we talk about lifetime to lifetime rebirth, we're really essentially talking about choices leading to different states. And we touched upon this in the previous talk, where unwholesome choices lead to unwholesome states, and wholesome choices lead to wholesome states. So as I mentioned before, at the moment of death, what can arise is a life review process, and the sign of a destination.

I'll give you an example. When my grandfather was passing away, a few days before he was passing away, he too had cancer. And he was very sick and he was in the hospital. And my grandmother came to visit him and he said, I saw that angel over there. She came into the room and she was helping me and saying soothing words. And it was amazing. And she said, what are you talking about? There's nobody here. But he obviously saw some kind of being. And a few days later, he passed. So the sign of destination. There will be beings of your future rebirth coming in as either a representation of your relatives, if it's a human birth, or a representation of devas or brahmas or whatever it might be.

And so that is the lifetime-to-lifetime rebirth. Now, when we talk about rebirth, we're not talking about reincarnation. There is a difference here. Reincarnation means there is only one soul that reincarnates, that goes from one lifetime to the next, and it's the same soul. Here, the Buddha is talking about rebirth in terms of causes and conditions coming to be, to give rise to a new existence dependent upon formations and a new consciousness. Think about it from the transference of candlelight. I have a candlelight, and I have a candle that is lit, and I go ahead and light your candle. Now, that light that goes on that candle is not of the same light. It's not the same light.

It's a different light, but it's possessed of the qualities of the previous fuel, which is the previous candle. The same way from lifetime to lifetime, the new existence is not different, nor is it the same from the previous existence. The new existence is dependent upon the conditions of the previous existence, namely the formations that arise at the moment of death. And if those formations are clung to, that gives rise to a kind of awareness, a kind of consciousness, that projects forward into the new nama rupa of the next existence.

So that's why there is again that emphasis that this practice that we do is a preparation for our dying moment. How are we going to deal with that? Are we going to cling to anything, or are we going to let go, and not experience any rebirth at all? And there are these six classifications of rebirth. There is the unwholesome to unwholesome, unwholesome to wholesome, unwholesome to nibbana, wholesome to unwholesome, wholesome to wholesome, and wholesome to nibbana. So unwholesome to unwholesome, that's essentially where a being is born into circumstances that lead to difficult choices, that lead to further states

of deprivation. So somebody is born in an existence where there is a lot of poverty, there is no ability to actually have any kind of prosperity or abundance. Or they're born in a culture which is warring, in a culture that is always at war, always fighting or whatever it might be. They're not born in a family or a culture that allows them to see ethics and to understand ethics. They might have their own set of ethics, but that ethics could deal with killing and stealing and other things like that. But if they don't see a way out, that can just lead to further unwholesome states of mind. And that can lead to them dying in an unwholesome state of mind.

So that is the unwholesome to unwholesome. The unwholesome to wholesome is somebody is again born into an unwholesome existence, but they have inspiration from people around them who might be wholesome, or they might find information around that inspires them to be wholesome, realize that they can come out of their poverty by being generous in whatever way they can. And they make, through their own self-effort, prosperity and abundance for their lives. And they give back to society. And then they inspire others and are respected in society. And so they go from unwholesome states of mind in that existence to a more wholesome state of mind. Because now they are inspiring others and they are uplifted and they follow the precepts and so on.

What about unwholesome to Nibbana? That's a very interesting one. That could be somebody like Angulimala, for example. He's in an unwholesome state of mind. He comes into an existence where he kills. And there are stories around why he kills and all of that. But when the Buddha saw that he has an opportunity to attain Nibbana, as long as he didn't kill his mother, which he was going to, Buddha comes and intervenes. And then Angulimala attains arahatship and comes to the Dhamma. So in an unwholesome state of mind, you're trying to find a way out. Maybe you are inspired and you see there's suffering everywhere. There must be a way out. You try all kinds of things.

And finally, you come to the Dhamma and you get inspired. And with your effort, you continue to practice. You start to become uplifted. You start to become generous. You start to practice meditation. You start to attain stream entry and so on. You experience Nibbana now. Wholesome to unwholesome: somebody is born as a prince or in a rich family, somebody is born in a well-to-do family, and what do they do? They squander that wealth. They don't utilize that wealth for a proper means. They get into partying and drugs and alcohol and all kinds of problems. Some of them go into prison for different kinds of things, for breaking different precepts. And so what does that lead to? Unwholesome states of mind and a very confused state at the moment of death. And then wholesome to wholesome.

They inspire others through their wealth and through their abundance and through their generosity, and they continue to do good for society. They have different foundations that they open up. They have different kinds of charities that they open up, and they inspire others. And they have philanthropy. That's what they do, and that's wholesome to wholesome. And they might even be interested in being introduced to the Dhamma, but not necessarily be interested in meditation. But then finally, when they go from wholesome to the Dhamma, wholesome to Nibbana, they decide they want to further learn the Dhamma, meditate, attain stream entry, and then maybe even go forth from the home life to the homeless life and become a bhikkhu, and then attain arahatship and attain the Dhamma fully. So these are the different classifications of existence or rebirth, from one state to the other.

Then I want to talk about sentient beings and non-sentient beings, because first let me talk about the definition of what a sentient being is. This is from the Samyutta Nikaya 23.2, the Sata Sutta. Sata here comes from the word sattva in Sanskrit, which means a being, or a creation, or a creature, or something that exists. At Savatthi, sitting to one side, the Venerable Radha said to the Blessed One, "Venerable Sir, it is said a being, a being. In what way, Venerable Sir, is one called a being?" "One is stuck on Radha, is tightly stuck in desire, lust, delight, and craving for form. Therefore, one is called a being. One is stuck, tightly stuck, in desire, lust, delight, and craving for feeling, for perception, for volitional formations, for consciousness."

Therefore, one is called a being. Suppose, rather, some little boys or girls are playing with sandcastles. So long as they are not devoid of lust, desire, affection, thirst, passion, and craving for those sandcastles, they cherish them, play with them, treasure them, and treat them possessively. But when those little boys or girls lose their lust, desire, affection, thirst, passion, and craving for those sandcastles, then they scatter them with their hands and feet, demolish them, shatter them, and put them out of play. So too, rather, scatter form, demolish it, shatter it, put it out of play. It doesn't mean destroy the form physically. I'll explain. Practice for the destruction of craving, scatter feeling, perception, volitional formations, consciousness.

Demolish them, shatter them, pull them out of play. Practice for the destruction of craving. For the destruction of craving, rather, is Nibbana. So that is the definition of a being. Definition of a being is whenever there is identification with one or more of the five aggregates. And that identification means that such a being takes that form or that feeling or that perception or their choices or consciousness as me, mine or myself, from which there is defending, from which there is possessing, from which there is craving and clinging and becoming. That's the definition of a being. More importantly, this is what I put forth: that sentience here, when we talk about a being, is one who can produce karma with intention.

Now, we know that plants and trees, for example, have consciousness. We know about bacteria. We know about protozoa. We know about fungi. We know about viruses. Well, viruses is sort of a different thing. But we know of all of these different kinds of, quote-unquote, beings that are conscious and alive. And it's not like the Buddha was not aware of them. Otherwise, maybe he would have included them. But he did not. He did not include them in the definition of the beings that one can be reborn in. Because at the time of the Buddha, you had the Jains. And the Jains believe that you can reincarnate as bacteria. You can reincarnate as a tree.

You can reincarnate as a plant. When you look at trees, when you look at plants, sure, they have consciousness. They have a form aggregate, but do they really have intention that is as complex as animals do or as humans do or as devas do? So here the idea is that the difference between a sentient being, one who has full sentience, is that sentient beings have intention and ability to produce karma, while non-sentient beings do not have intention and ability to produce karma.

So when we talk about beings being reborn, they are reborn due to their karma. They are reborn due to the intentions that they have, whether it is in this life or another life. So the ability to be reborn is dependent upon the intention that might be rooted in craving or aversion or conceit. Then we will talk about the four modes of conception. So here it comes from the Majjhima Nikaya 12, which is the Mahasihanada Sutta, sections 32 to 33. "Sariputta, there are these four kinds of generation. What are the four? Egg-born generation, womb-born generation, moisture-born generation, and spontaneous generation. What is egg-born generation? There are these beings born by breaking out of the shell of an egg.

This is called egg-born generation. What is womb-born generation? There are these beings born by breaking out from the womb. This is called womb-born generation. What is moisture-born generation? There are these beings born in a rotten fish, in a rotten corpse, in rotten porridge, in a cesspit, or in a sewer. This is called moisture-born generation." That's like maggots and things like that. "What is spontaneous generation? There are gods and denizens of hell and certain human beings and some beings in the lower realms. This is called spontaneous generation. These are the four kinds of generation." So when we talk about egg-born generation, beings born from the egg, like reptiles, certain reptiles, certain birds, and so on and so forth.

When we talk about womb generation, mammals and marsupials and those things. And then when we talk about moisture-born, we're talking about gnats and flies and things like that that stick around in certain unclean conditions. And actually, if you think about it, they are born from eggs, even though it says moisture-born. But the conditions for them are these particular conditions. And then spontaneous generation, that's a very interesting one. How does spontaneous generation happen? So the way that rebirth would work is, it's spontaneous anyway, spontaneous rebirth. It's not like there is an intermediate between one birth and the next existence. It's not like you're in some waiting room that you have to wait in for a long period of time.

It's more like that waiting room happens in the mind of the being. And that waiting room happens in the form of formations that come to be, and in the form of different kinds of memories that the mind starts to clutch onto, cling to. And that gives rise to certain karma that then creates the causes and conditions for that particular nama-rupa. So in other words, the karmic formations of the being in a previous existence give rise to the consciousness. And let's just simplify it for the sake of just humans in this case. That karma, or those formations, are an exact match for the genetic material that is required for the propagation or the fruition of that karma.

So, if you remember in Majjhima Nikaya 38, the one that is the greater, the destruction of craving sutta, Sati, son of a fisherman, and so on. There the Buddha says, in order for there to be the gandhabba, which is the consciousness, the ongoing consciousness, you need the mother and father, both. So you need the sperm and the genetic material, and there needs to be consciousness. If there's no consciousness that could descend into it, then there is no birth, there is no conception. But if there is consciousness that descends into that, and that doesn't have to mean from just the normal sort of sexual intercourse, that can also happen through IVF. The consciousness can descend where the sperm meets the ovum, right?

It meets with the egg and the consciousness descends there. And if the consciousness descends there, what it's bringing forward with it is all of the streams of karmic formations, that is, the data packets of karma, and they have an exact match with the genetic material that's available through the mother and father. And so that's when we talk about gene expression and epigenetics and so on. This is also part of karma, but that's the old karma, dependent upon previous intentions and actions and choices.

So these are the four modes of conception. So with spontaneous generation, what happens is the same thing: the karmic formations create some kind of nama-rupa. If it's in a brahma loka, if it's in a deva loka, or if it's in a hell realm or a hungry ghost realm, it creates some kind of body, some kind of nama-rupa, mentality, materiality, dependent upon the formations that are karmically rooted in whatever behaviors were done in the previous existence. And those formations will actually literally create the physicality of that brahma being, or the physicality of that deva being, or the physicality of the hell being, or the hungry ghost, or whatever it might be.

So this is how you can understand spontaneous generation, any kind of generation, is that there's always karma at play that is creating whatever that nama-rupa is. Now when it comes to the Arupalokas, there is birth there as well. There is coming into existence there as well, as we'll see. But there's no rupa there. It's only nama, namely contact, feeling, perception, intention, and attention.

But there is no four great elements present. Now we're going to get a little bit into the book, because I'm going to talk about what's called the catalyst for rebirth in the sensual realms. So we'll talk about the rebirth in the sensual realms starting from hell, then the animal realm, then the ghost realm, then the deva realm. The first we'll start with page 35 in the Jati book. I won't go through all of it, but I will just give you the cliff notes version so that we have enough time.

But it's a rebirth in Niraya, which is the hell realms. In Niraya or the hell realms, there are three categories of beings. Yama, not to be confused with the Yama Deva, who is the clerk of these realms, the inflictors of punishment and those who are to experience the punishment as a result of their unwholesome choices. When a being dies in one life, if they see manifestations of torture and dread and their mind is filled with fear, anger and regret, the formations rooted in these unwholesome states will give rise to a consciousness that then transports these karmic formations that spontaneously generate a body with a mentality rooted in unwholesome states. They possess all five aggregates and six sense bases and their nervous system is enhanced for experiencing a greater level of pain.

Pretty bad. I'll talk to you about how do you become a yama. For those of you interested, how do you become a clerk of hell? This is on page 39. Those beings who are designated to the post of yama have mixed karma. On one hand, they do not have such karma as to warrant punishment in the hell realms, but because they had judged beings wrongly or took personal their post of being a judge and inflicted unjust sentences, they are here with regret and remorse. At death their formations transport them to the hell realms, but because they were morally upright and fatally proud of it, they become yamas, suffering the boredom of being a clerk. Sounds like the DMV, doesn't it? And the pain of having to welcome every being destined for punishment, and at the same time they are not inflicted with such punishments themselves.

You have to understand the Yama himself doesn't say you're going to have this punishment, he's just a clerk. He gives a questionnaire and then finally the beings are transported to their own personal hells, which are created by their karma. The Nirayapala have their own karma to deal with. In this way they are shown that there is no central moral judge who inflicts punishments, and one has to let karma play out for each being without passing self-righteous judgment. The Nirayapala have their own karma to deal with. They were torturers in a past life and enjoyed their role as a warden or jailer or some form of prison employee. Because of abusing prisoners and inflicting pain on them, at death they suffer great mental pain and fear, and their formations send them to the hell realms to take on employment there.

Another cause for a rebirth as a Nirayapala is dealing in deceit and treachery, leading people astray from the idea of karma itself and the teachings of the Buddha. There is very little recourse for a Nirayapala to make good karma because they enjoy inflicting pain on others, but if they have remorse and show even an inkling of empathy, which is absolutely rare, that and any good karma from previous lives will help them leave the hell realms when all negative karma in that realm is exhausted. As for the beings who come into the hell realms to suffer torture there, their primary actions of ill will, hatred, harsh speech, causing violence and being generally unforgiving and holding a grudge lead them there.

Enjoying the act of killing as a, not really a butcher, but an abattoir actually. And routinely inflicting pain and death on animals and humans. Raping and torturing other beings are additional catalysts. The defilements of hatred, anger, proneness, quarreling, stubbornness, hypocrisy, and carelessness can lead a being towards the hell realm, rejecting right view or perverting it so as to lead a life that causes one to continue seeing life as meaningless and therefore not having any interest in keeping precepts or practicing generosity or gratitude can lead one to the hell realms. Having wrong view in general can cause rebirth in the hell realms. Falsely accusing pure monastics would be another cause. It must be stated that for a being to possibly take rebirth in Niraya, the unwholesome intentions must be intense.

Which means they are predicated by the becoming, existence, that is to say if the actions are habitually committed over and over and over again, they will strengthen certain underlying tendencies leading to the gradual certainty of a particular rebirth. If a being with habitually wholesome intentions and choices commits unwholesome actions, if they make amends or they experience the effects of such karma in the present life, then that can be the end of it. Even if a wholesome action was counteracted by an unwholesome action, that doesn't mean it will result in taking birth in a lower realm in the next very life. Other factors, such as the bhava or habitual tendencies, as well as the predominant thoughts present during the death process, come into play to determine the exact location of one's immediate next rebirth.

The effect of the unwholesome actions may come to fruition in a subsequent life, and the degree of that effect may appear minor compared to taking birth in a lower realm. Broadly speaking, and the purpose of illustrating this, take the example of someone having punched another person with the intention to harm. This action may not directly result in a lower realm, but the attacker may experience facial pain in another human life, or in that very life, in some way or in the other, and thus suffer the consequences without having to take birth in a lower realm. Very mundane example. However, there are five specific unwholesome actions that undoubtedly cause one to take rebirth in the hell realms in the very next life and prevent one from attaining stream entry.

These are intentionally killing one's father or mother, killing an arahant, drawing the blood of a Buddha with malintent, and creating a schism in the Sangha. These five actions will immediately lead one to rebirth in a hell realm. Because the action is so drastic, so terrible, that the level of remorse that happens at the death, that process, that's all that's there predominant in the mind. And that will cause immediate rebirth in the next life. Then we'll go to rebirth in the animal realm. This is called the Tirachanayoni, which means one who is horizontal. These animals are basically walking on fours, majority of them. The womb of a creature, or one that functions horizontally, as it is translated, is fraught with a lot of pain and helplessness.

You think about wildlife and animals in general, it's a lot of suffering, a lot of dukkha. It's defenseless, it's helpless. There's wildlife, the topmost predator is the one that's king of the jungle, whatever that might be. And they just have to continually survive as best as they can. It's a terrible world out there. Although the translation is womb for the word yoni, as we have seen earlier, conception in this birth can happen one of three ways: egg, womb, or moisture. The predominant root for rebirth as an animal is delusion. Kilesa here, that's the word, root. That means the predominant roots that are there in the formations, that's delusion or ignorance, taking things personally, can give rise to rebirth in an animal realm.

A being whose primary goal in life is to live merrily without thinking of tomorrow, thus having wrong view, especially the view of nihilism and hedonism, and who doesn't believe in karma, can take birth in this realm. When a being has indulged in sensual grieving and especially indulged in sex, intoxicants, sleep, and food, their primary senses of touch and taste become more sensitive at the time of death. Think about it. The more you indulge in your body and physicality, the more predominantly you will feel it. The more you will be sensitive to it, the more the mind will crave for further replenishment of that central pleasure, whether it's for food or for whatever it is for the body, the sense of touch.

And therefore, during the process of dying, the being may think about its pets, who become objects of deep attachment, which can create formations that carry over into the next life, into the genetic material of a being that is the same species as their pets. If there are certain practices, and this is what the Buddha talks about in one of the suttas, he says, as there used to be in ancient India, where a being acts like a certain animal, the formations rooted in those intentions will give rise to a consciousness that will carry them forward into the genetic material of the animal they kept behaving like. Likewise, if a being commits animal sacrifices, they are more likely to have regret for habitually having done them, and at the point of dissolution, they can suffer the consequences similar to those of the animals that they killed.

Indulging in cruelty towards animals, one begets the same circumstances through a rebirth in the realm of the animals. Suppose a person's mind has been beset by the defilements of self-infatuation, deceit, stinginess, and carelessness. In that case, they may suffer rebirth in this realm as animals, having to deal with the karma of being tricked and trapped into servitude and for entertainment. Those who deal in spiritual practices that impair a person's view on karma can have the potential for subsequent rebirth in the animal realm, for not only possessing wrong view but leading others away from right view as well. Beings who indulge in idle chatter and gossip can also have the potential for rebirth in this realm.

Depending on the type of animal, certain sense faculties may be sharper in them, like the nose and ear faculties in canines, the eye faculties in falcons and eagles, and the touch faculty in snakes and other reptiles. And all these animals will have all of the five aggregates present. They will still have form, feeling, perception, intention and consciousness, or formations and consciousness. Now here's an interesting thing. Some who take rebirth here also enjoy some good karma, in that they have more comfortable lives or better food as pets among people who may even treat them like family members.

Duke. Duke and Suk. There is little an animal can do to make good karma here, and usually it is much likely that there will be repeated rebirths in this realm until all the karma that causes rebirth here is exhausted, or for one to fall to a lower realm of existence until all karma is exhausted there, and one can take a rebirth in a higher realm. Here's another interesting thing. Animals who listen to the Dhamma, or pets in households of Dhamma followers, may attain good fortune through these associations and may even delight in being among monastics.

Interesting. This can provide them with an opportunity to somehow serve or help such beings following the Dhamma, creating some good karma to merit a future human life or even a Deva life. Now we'll talk about the hungry ghosts. Birth into Petaloka, or the realm of the hungry ghosts, is determined by certain defilements and actions. The predominant root that leads one to this realm is greed. In a previous life, beings who committed actions born from greed, as well as defilements of covetousness, jealousy, stinginess, competitiveness, deceit, disparagement of others, hypocrisy, self-infatuation, conceit, arrogance, stubbornness, and carelessness, and became habituated to thoughts, speech, and actions that developed and strengthened formations rooted in these defilements, are liable for rebirth in this realm.

Beings in the human realm who gave false promises, never expressed generosity, cheated and told lies, spoke ill of others, used abusive and harsh speech, did business by deception and treachery, bore false witness, took what was not given, and other such deeds in a habitual manner, so that they always looked over their own shoulders and trusted no one, are more likely to develop formations suited for the Hungry Ghost realms. Now, these formations will give rise to images of suffering, regret, restlessness, discomfort, and deep craving. The being at their deathbed may see Hungry Ghosts as a sign of their destination and feel terrible hunger or thirst. At death, the new consciousness then transports the formations of craving and defilements to generate a body of the hungry ghost into the new realm.

The hungry ghosts generally look sickly, pale and with disheveled hair, large beady eyes, and have large pot bellies and long thin necks that are barely able to fit a morsel of food, and mouths as small as the width of a hair. Some appear stick-like and skeletal, and others large and monstrous with titanic bodies, possessing mouths on their heads and eyes sticking out of their heads. A lot of gruesome stuff. Some hungry ghosts have mixed karma, which means that during half of the time they suffer the consequences of their past negative actions, and the other half they enjoy the fruits of their past positive actions. One such hungry ghost is Yama of the Hell Realms, which is why hungry ghosts will refer to their realm as the realm of Yama.

They possess all five aggregates and six sense faculties, and their nervous system is enhanced for experiencing great hunger and thirst. There is minimal possibility of them doing any sort of merit or committing good karma, but when relatives of theirs from previous lifetimes offer gifts to monastics and dedicate their merit to them, they find some relief and have a possibility of a better rebirth when the effects of the karma they committed that caused them to come to that loka have been exhausted. So this is why you have, in different Asian cultures and Buddhist Asian cultures, the concept of a certain time of the year where the families get together and they

donate all kinds of things to the monastic community and then they dedicate that merit to their family members. There's a story of somebody that I knew in Cambodia. Actually, they were a student of one of the three-day retreats, and that retreat was going on during the Pchum Ben festival, which is that festival where they dedicate merit. And this lady was talking about how she went with her family and she offered alms to the monastics and other things. And she prayed for her ancestors. And while she came out and went back to her room, she saw a light being in her chair, thanking her, and it just disappeared. Very interesting stuff. Now finally, we'll talk about the Deva Loka, but we won't go too much into it.

The Deva Loka, or heavenly realms, are diverse and populated by beings that are humanoid, but also display some otherworldly features. So certain defilements, as well as the fetters of sensual craving and aversion, may still be present for such a being, but their formations will be rooted in a majority of wholesome choices. These wholesome choices would be rooted in the parami or perfections, that is, generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, honesty, resolution, loving-kindness, equanimity. At the dissolution of their life, the formations rooted mostly in habitually activated wholesome and morally perfect choices will transfer the new consciousness, which will become established in a spontaneously generated deva body, which is luminous and still human-like in appearance. As one progresses through the higher deva realms, their bodies become more refined.

All of them possess all five aggregates and sense bases, and their nervous system is enhanced to experience greater pleasure and continues to be further refined for celestial pleasures when a being takes birth in the celestial realms. The bodies are sensitive to certain emotions, such as anger, and if a deva becomes extremely angry, the energy of that anger can burn out their nervous system and destroy their bodies, leading to their death. A deva can also be killed by being beheaded or cut into two. But if their limbs are harmed or cut off, they are able to generate them.

Possessing mostly good karma rooted in the varying degrees of the perfections, with slight defilements of jealousy, quarrelsomeness, self-infatuation, arrogance, conceit, and carelessness, can lead a being to the terrestrial deva world. That means in the context of this cosmology, this terrestrial deva world is the realm of the four great kings. And so they are still rooted on this earth plane. It's not like they are celestial in nature, which exists around the mystical mountain of Suneru on earth, parallel to the human realm. The realm of the four great kings and the realm of the 33 gods are part of the terrestrial deva world, and rebirth here happens on the ratio of defilements to excellent karma. Having a greater degree of defilements leads to a rebirth in the realm of the four great kings, where the asuras also reside.

As the ratio changes with more moral perfections being present and habitually exercised in defilements, they will take rebirth in the realm of the 33 gods. Depending on that being's inclinations and their level of generosity, they can take rebirth as a specific deva as part of the 33 gods. For example, being prone to enjoying sensual pleasures, having leadership qualities that they dedicate to the Dhamma, and building monasteries and meditation centers can be bound for the realm of the 33 gods and take on the post of Sakka, the king of this realm. Generally, anyone who offers housing to monastics, provides them with a monastery, and conducts building projects for the welfare of the society can be reborn here.

The current king Sakka in this realm is bound for the pure abodes as an anagami. The horse who carried the bodhisattva towards the forest took rebirth in Tavatimsa after he passed away, as soon as the bodhisattva entered the forest. Later on he gained stream entry, and after having learned from the Buddha, will continue on to the pure abodes, after which he will exit samsara. The greater degree of moral perfections that are present in the actions of a being, the greater their capacity to enter the celestial heavens, which are far above the realm of the 33 gods. These include the Yama devas, to Tusita, where the current bodhisattva resides; the Nimanarati, or where the devas enjoy their own creations; and Parinimitta Vasavati, or where the devas enjoy others' creations.

Beings who maintain the precepts and continue to feed, clothe, and provide shelter and medicines to the needy, as well as monastics, and have inclinations of service to their fellow beings, are reborn in these realms. Beings who have taken rebirth in these realms have offered food to previous Buddhas, kept all five or eight precepts, and were meditative in their inclinations, but had not yet reached jhana. Because if they did, there's a possibility of rebirth in the Brahma Loka, which I'll get to. There are also sotapanna and sakadagami beings who will also have the capacity to take rebirth in these realms. A relative majority of them reside in the higher celestial realms, with the rest in Tavatimsa, the 33 gods.

Because sensual craving and aversion have not yet been eradicated in them, they will continue with their practice to be able to eradicate it by listening to the Dhamma and applying it. When a being in the human realm recollects the Buddha, Sangha and Dhamma and rejoices in that, they generate wholesome intentions that further strengthen the wholesome formations which will give rise to rebirth in the higher deva realm. When they pass on, because of their continual rejoicing in the triple gem, they have a greater propensity to take rebirth in the celestial

realms. At the highest realm, that is the highest celestial realm, due to their good karma in previous lives and their inclination to develop the Dhamma practice, beings here are born with psychic faculties and are able to use them for all sorts of purposes. Most celestial beings are wholesome in inclination, most, but a few are mischievous and even have unwholesome intentions. Usually, devas are keen on helping monastics and other beings practicing the path when they're inclined, and for this they continue to generate wholesome karma that maintains or elevates their position in subsequent rebirths within the celestial realms, but the majority would rather spend their time immersed in all sorts of sensual pleasures.

Taking rebirth in the devarams doesn't ensure one will continue to be wholesome. One may develop inclinations rooted in defilements and strength in craving, conceit, and ignorance. And if one hasn't attained stream entry in a previous birth or a current deva life, one has a potential to take rebirth in a lower realm of misfortune and pain. Here's an interesting one. There is one deva who resides in the highest sensual realm, Mara, who continues to generate unwholesome intentions while enjoying the pleasures of his current position in Nimanarati. He likes to defy the lord of the highest realm and has his own band of rebels, who he rules over in a pocket within this realm. A being who has done a lot of good karma and has mainly wholesome intentions, but isn't one inclined towards the spiritual path, even though one offers to the monastics and practices kindness to all beings, is one at the dissolution of life whose formations will result in visions of the highest heavenly pleasures, and will die with a smile on their face, at ease and unburdened.

But due to their defilements of infatuation, conceit, arrogance, carelessness, and the strengthened fetter of craving present in the mind, the formations will be tainted by these qualities. And so the being who takes rebirth in the highest realm, sensual realm, will also have a streak of rebelliousness and arrogance. With all these factors in play, the being who takes rebirth here will more often than not take on the office of Mara. The current Mara enjoys life here, but he thinks lowly of the cultivation of the path and especially jhana practice. He thinks of such practice as a waste of time, and like a child who doesn't eat the cake of wisdom and won't let others eat it too, he goes around the realms harassing meditators by inflicting objects of craving in the form of thoughts of laziness and sensuality.

He even tries to bicker with them and blames them for things that they haven't done, all to irritate them and thus make them lose interest in the path or cultivate more sensual-based formation so that they remain in the sense-based realms. In his mischievousness, he might even frighten them. But one who is mindful and prone to abandoned craving recognizes Mara's ways and continues on the path. Mara is like the crabs in a pot of boiling water who try to pull down the crabs seeking freedom so that they will suffer like the rest who are still trapped. He wants to make sure no beings leave samsara. Due to his antics at the end of his tenure, he will succumb to a lower realm and another being will assume the post of Mara.

Moggallana, who was one of the Buddha's chief disciples, used to be a Mara. Now we'll talk about the human birth. Very important, since we're all human here. I'll read parts of the book, but first, I want to read a sutta to help you understand the rarity of a human birth and how precious it actually is. This is from Samyutta Nikaya 56.48. This is the Duthiya Chigala Yuga Sutta. Bhikkhu, suppose that this great earth had become one mass of water, and a man would throw a yoke with a single hole upon it. An easterly wind would drive it westward. A westerly wind would drive it eastward. A northerly wind would drive it southward. A southerly wind would drive it northward.

And there was a blind turtle which would come to the surface once every hundred years. What do you think, Bhikkhus? Would that blind turtle, coming to the surface once every hundred years, insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole? It would be by chance, Venerable Sir, that the blind turtle coming to the surface once every hundred years would insert its neck into that yoke with a single hole. So too, Bhikkhus, it is by chance that one obtains the human state, by chance that a Tathagata, an Arhat, a perfectly enlightened one, arises in the world, by chance that the Dhamma and discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata shines in the world. You have obtained that human state. A Tathagata and Arahat, a perfectly enlightened one, has arisen in the world.

The Dhamma and discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata shines in the world. Therefore, Bhikkhus, an exertion should be made to understand this is suffering. This is the origin of suffering. This is the cessation of suffering. This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. Now, when they use the word chance, it doesn't mean that it's random. That's not what it's talking about. He's referring to the rarity of a human birth. It is so rare to become a human. More often than not, the karma that arises will lead to more in the hell realms and lesser in the deva realms. Now, when it comes to a human birth, it is a very beautiful hell or an extremely terrible heaven, right?

Because you have the best of both here, or the worst of both, however you see it. You have sensual pleasures, you have pleasant experiences, but you also have enough unpleasant experiences. So you have enough to keep the mind and body comfortable for you to be able to practice the Dhamma, but enough painful experiences to motivate you to come out of suffering. That's not what happens in the Deva realms. In the Deva realms, nobody's motivated. Everyone's partying 24-7. Like it's the end of the world. But it's not for them. They don't think it's the end of the world. And in the hell realms and lower realms, it's more difficult for a person or a being to generate any kind of karma.

They're just exhausting whatever unwholesome karma that they have experienced. It's only in the human realm. This is very important to understand. It's only in the human realm that you can produce karma that can lead you to different states of existence. Some animals can do that. There are examples of that happening, as I talked about earlier. But in the Devalokas, they're just basically living out their karma. They might have the karma to become a stream entry, like Saka.

Or they, if they're in the Brahma Lokas, they have no karma there except for the karma that they're exhausting as a Brahma Loka. So in that case, the human realm is perfect for understanding the Dhamma. The rarity, so you have to understand in this way. First of all, the rarity of a human birth is one thing. Then the rarity of a Buddha arising on this planet around this eon, wherever he arose in India, and being in that eon where the Dhamma is still available, is also very rare. If you truly understood that, you guys will be practicing 24-7. If you just understood that, the level of dedication that you would have would just go up.

This human birth is precious. This human existence is absolutely precious. Extremely precious. And then being introduced to the path. It's not to be taken for granted. Not to be taken lightly. And when you experience stream entry you understand that, and so you're motivated to continue the practice, you're motivated to learn more about the practice, you're motivated to. And then you might say, you know, if you become a stream mentor, and I'll talk about that a little bit, you might say, well, I become a stream mentor, it's just seven more lifetimes.

That's a lot of lifetimes still. That's a lot of suffering. And then when you become a Sakadagami, you might say it's only one more lifetime, it's still dukkha. And when you're in an Anagami, you say, oh, that's great, I'm not going to be here, but you're still in samsara, you're still in the pure abodes. So best to aim for arahatship. That's right. But I've told you all of these different realms and births and realms, not because you guys are going there, but to understand the psychological manifestations that can happen in this plane of existence itself. In other words, whether or not you want to believe in these other realms and the existence of these other realms, it's important to understand the psychological manifestation of these realms.

I talked to you about the different defilements and the different roots that can lead to these realms. For example, if a being is jealous and greedy and hungry all the time, what kind of mindset is that? A hungry ghost mindset. If a being is violent, terrorizing others, inflicting punishments on others, what kind of mindset is that? A hellish being. If a being is only interested in food, sex and television, what kind of being is that? It's an animal. That's what they indulge in: eat, produce, survive. Eat, produce, survive. That's it.

But if a being has the perfections or starts to have the perfections, if they have sila, if they keep the precepts, if they're generous, if they're kind, if they're forgiving, if they're patient, if they have loving kindness and they have equanimity and compassion, what kind of mindset is that? You've brought heaven on earth with that kind of mindset. You're like a deva. And you continue to attract those kinds of states of mind because of your continual intended efforts to be generous. A lot of people have, not a lot, but I will just say some people have something against rich people. They'll say, oh, those rich people, they must have had that money because of something they did that was immoral or something like that.

Who are we to judge that? It might be that they are in that life with that wealth because in a previous life they were very generous. Or from a very early point in life they were very generous. Not only with their resources, but with their kindness and their compassion and their ability to be sociable to others. Of course, once they get the money and what they do with it will determine whether they continue to be wealthy or they squander it and become arrogant and conceited.

So you can have a deva kind of lifestyle if you have those kinds of qualities. Now, I'll talk a little bit about the rupa and arupadhatu. You can see in the books later on what kind of bodies they have and what kind of aggregates are present and so on and so forth. But just as a general understanding, what we should see is that anyone who has continually developed and cultivated the jhanas, so the first jhana corresponds to the first brahmaloka, the second jhana corresponds to the second brahmaloka, the third with the third brahmaloka, the fourth with the fourth brahmaloka, and then finally the arupadhatus. So that is to say, one who's cultivated infinite space goes to infinite space, infinite consciousness, infinite consciousness nothingness, to nothingness, neither perception non-perception, to neither perception

non-perception. If they have not become a stream entry or a sakadagami, they can go to these realms and come back out of it because of the exhaustion of their karma. But if they have attained stream entry or sakadagami, and through the cultivation of jhana they can go to those realms, they never return back to the sensuous realms from there. They can continue on to attain full enlightenment, full awakening. So how do you get to these realms? It's by continuously practicing the jhanas. That's really

it so. But of course, if you have an attachment to the jhanas, that's what's going to take you to those realms. If you understand jhanas for what they are, they are basically byproducts of the practice, and that there's no attachment there, then it will not take you to that brahmaloka and from which you will descend. So what I'm referring to is that unless a person understands this and continues to become attached and obsessed by being in that jhana constantly, they will be reborn in that brahmaloka. And from there there is no recourse for what could happen, because with the exhaustion of that karma, any other karma that comes to be, in the form of whatever last thought there is before they wink out, will give rise to whatever that particular karma is going to generate for them. So it's quite possible somebody goes to jhana loka or brahmaloka, and from there they descend into an animal realm or they descend into a hell realm, because it's all dependent upon whatever karmic formation was present just prior to them being winked out from that particular brahmaloka.

So finally, I'm going to talk to you about the rebirth for noble ones. What happens for a rebirth for a stream-enterer, for a Sakadagami and an Anagami? So the rebirth for Sotapannas and Sakadagamis. This is from the Anguttara Nikaya 3.87, which is the Pathama Sikkha Sutta, on training. Bhikkhus, every half month, more than 150 training rules come up for recitation. Clansmen who desire their own good train in these. These are all comprised within these three trainings. What three? The training in the higher virtuous behavior, the training in the higher mind, that's meditation, and the training in the higher wisdom, understanding dependent origination. These are the three trainings in which all this is comprised. Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu fulfills virtuous behavior, but cultivates concentration and wisdom only to a moderate extent.

He falls into offenses in regard to the lesser and minor training rules and rehabilitates himself. For what reason? Because I have not said that he is incapable of breaking those offenses. But in regard to those training rules that are fundamental to the spiritual life, in conformity with the spiritual life, his behavior is constant and steadfast. Having undertaken the training rules, he trains in them. With the destruction of the first three fetters, he is a seven-times-at-most attainer. This is also known in Pali as sattakkhattuparama. When you become a stream-enterer, you can have up to seven lifetimes in any of the sensual heavens, from the human realm all the way up to the highest level.

One who, after roaming and wandering among the devas and humans, seven times at most, makes an end of suffering. With the utter destruction of the three fetters, he is a family-to-family attainer, a kolankola, who, after roaming and wandering on among good families two or three times, makes an end of suffering. With the utter destruction of three fetters, he is a one-seed attainer, an ekabiji, who after being reborn once more in human existence, makes an end of suffering. With the utter destruction of three fetters, and with the diminishing of greed, hatred, and delusion, he is a once-returner, or Sakadagami, who after coming back to this world only one time, makes an end of suffering. So for the stream-enterer, they can come up to seven lifetimes or three lifetimes.

What is a three-lifetime attainer? This is somebody who was a stream-enterer in a past life and comes into a family that is close to the Dhamma and attains more steadiness in the Dhamma. That's why it's called kolankola, from one family to the other. And then you have what is known as, I like to call it, the super-sotapanna, which is the ekabiji, the one-seeder, who only after one lifetime attains final Nibbana. But then what's the difference between a Sotapanna and a Sakadagami? Because both of them are, in essence, once-returners. The key difference is for the ekabiji sotapanna, he or she comes back in the human existence. Whereas for a Sakadagami, they can come back in a human existence or in a deva existence.

Secondly, a Sakadagami's mindfulness is much sharper than an ekabiji sotapanna. They will still have craving, they will still have aversion, and they might take a little time to recover from that compared to a Sakadagami, who was able to be mindful of the seeds coming up and being able to let them go. Or if they do indulge in that craving or aversion, they're able to fully recover from it faster. And then we talk about the Anagamis. There are different types of rebirth for the Anagami.

It's very interesting here. He says, let me start with the name of the Sutta. It's Anguttara Nikaya 7.55. It's the Purisa Gati Sutta. Bhikkhus, I will teach you seven destinations of persons and attainment of Nibbana through non-clinging. Listen and attend closely. Yes, Bhante, those Bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this. And what, Bhikkhus, are the seven destinations of persons? Here, Bhikkhu, a person is practicing thus. It might not be, and it might not be mine. It will not be, it will not be mine. I am abandoning what exists, what has come to be. He obtains equanimity. He is not attached to existence. He is not attached to origination. He sees with correct wisdom there is a higher state that is peaceful, yet he has not totally realized that state. He has not totally abandoned the underlying tendency to conceit.

He has not totally abandoned the underlying tendency to lust for existence. He has not totally abandoned ignorance. So this is somebody who has the destruction of the five lower fetters, an Anagami. He becomes an attainer of final Nibbana in the interval. So let's just break this down for a minute. So he's practicing thus, it might not be, it might not be, and it might not be mine. It will not be, it will not be mine. I am abandoning what exists, what has come to be. He obtains equanimity. He is not attached to existence. He is not attached to origination. He sees with correct wisdom there is a higher state that is peaceful, yet he has not realized that state. This is somebody who has become an Anagami and understands that they have become an Anagami.

At the moment of death, they let go of everything, and they let go of any clinging to identity. They let go of any conceit. They understand the Four Noble Truths and attain Pari Nibbana. So they become an Arahant and attain Pari Nibbana in those moments. That's the first way. Then a bhikkhu is practicing thus, it might not be, and it might not be mine, and so on. And here again, with the utter destruction of the five lower fetters, he becomes an attainer of Nibbana in the interval. For example, when an iron bowl has been heated all day and is struck, a chip might fly off, rise up, and be extinguished. So too, a bhikkhu is practicing thus, and he becomes an attainer of Nibbana in the interval. This can happen again in the dying process, but it happens right at the moment of death. It's almost like there is an intermediary between this life and the next, and there's still a little bit of fuel for further existence, but in the very final moment, just before that existence can arise, that mind lets go completely and is extinguished.

But in order to extinguish that fuel, there has to be a little bit, so there's no exertion there, but there's just a little bit of carrying forward of their karma. And just through their process of reflecting on the Dhamma and meditating, they attain arahatship and final Nibbana. This is without exertion. Then there is one who becomes an attainer of Nibbana through exertion. And here it says, when an iron bowl has been heated all day and is struck, a chip might fly off, rise up, and then fall upon a wide pile of straw or sticks. There it would produce a fire and smoke, but when it has exhausted that wide pile of straw or sticks, if it gets no more fuel, it would be extinguished.

So here he's talking about a wider pile of straw or sticks, which means there's a wider pile of karma present for that being, which means they have to make further exertion. In the first case, without exertion, just by closing their eyes and meditating, they attain final Nibbana. In the second case, they close their eyes, they have to meditate a little bit, reflect on the Dhamma further, and with some exertion, with some letting go of conceit, letting go of ignorance, they attain final Nibbana. And then finally, there is, with the utter destruction of the five lower fetters, he becomes one bound upstream, heading toward the Akanitha realm. For example, when an iron bowl has been heated all day and is struck, a chip might fly off, rise up, and then fall upon a large pile of straw or sticks.

There, it would produce a fire and smoke, and when it has exhausted that large pile of straw or sticks, it would burn up a wood or a grove until it reaches the edge of a field, the edge of a road, the edge of a stone mountain, the edge of a water or some delightful piece of land, and then if it gets no more fuel, it would be extinguished. So that means if somebody is an Anagami and goes to the pure abodes, they still have to go further upstream to each of the pure abodes. It doesn't mean that they won't have further rebirth in those pure abodes. There will still be opportunity, but liability of rebirth in those pure abodes over and over and over until they let go of all of the fuel.

So this is the arahant in this life itself. I'm going to talk a little bit more about the pure abodes, because each of the five realms in the pure abodes has to do with the five faculties and powers. This is on page 90, and it's a second paragraph. It says, dependent upon the faculty most developed in their mindset before the dissolution of the body, certain formations will give rise to a consciousness influenced by that faculty, which then takes birth in one of the five planes of the pure abodes. If an anagami has developed the faculty of faith, joyful and aware of the three recollections of the pure gems, triple gems, then they are bound for the Aviha plane in the pure abodes.

If they have developed energy and effort to the extent that it is radiant within their mindset, and they have a bright mind, then they are bound for the Atappa plane. So that's the second realm. If they have developed mindfulness to the extent of diminishing carelessness to an iota, they are bound for the Sudassa plane. If they have developed samadhi or meditation and have attained mastery of each jhana and ayatana, as well as spend a lot of time in nirodha-samapatti, then they are bound for the Sudassi plane. Finally, if they have developed panna or insight to the greatest extent possible for an anagami, they are bound for the Akanittha plane. These are the five faculties and the five powers: faith, energy or effort, mindfulness,

meditation, and insight. And all of these, each of these correspond to each of the five planes in the pure abodes. So the last thing I'll cover here is about rebirth in terms of what happens here on a moment-to-moment basis. This can be seen at infinite consciousness. When you go through infinite consciousness, infinite consciousness, what you will see is the arising and passing away of eye consciousness, or your consciousness, or any of the sense-based consciousness, really, because it can happen in the form of flickering lights, where you're starting to see the arising and passing away of infinite consciousnesses. It can happen in the form of flickers in the ears, in vibrations in the body, seeing spaces amongst different thoughts, things like that.

And when you see this, what you're seeing is the arising and passing away, not only of infinite consciousness, but also of infinite contact, feeling and perception. Because it's just contact, contact, contact, contact, and the attention is given. So there's infinite amounts of attention being given. Now, to that extent, what you are seeing is that in every moment, there is no solid flowing state of a being. It's just continually arising and passing away.

Once you really see this, then you let go and realize all conditioned things are impermanent, and it becomes tiresome. It gets boring, and you see dukkha, and you realize that there is no controller over here. And so you realize that this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself, which leads to that equanimity in nothingness, for example. So what about rebirth in the form of what we talked about earlier, dealing with similar kinds of behaviour patterns over and over and over again, dealing with the same kinds of relationships or similar kinds of situations? How do you deal with that? The Eightfold Path, which is encapsulated in the 6R's. You somehow might manifest or attract, seemingly, the same kind or similar kinds of relationships.

Even though you are out of one relationship, you seem to attract the same kind of person with the same kind of relationship. Even though you leave one country and go to another country, you seem to find yourself in similar kinds of situations. Even if it's a different culture or different language, whatever it is, still the similar kind of situations.

Or you have certain kinds of behaviour patterns that continue to manifest in different ways. So how do you deal with that? 6R's. You can't 6R the relationship away. You can't 6R the person away, no matter how much you want to. You can't 6R the situation away. You can't 6R the experiences or the patterns. What you are in is your attachment to them, the ignorance in seeing them as this is me, this is mine, this is myself. You're letting go of your attachment to them or your aversion to them or your identification with them. That's how you break the patterns. Once you learn from that and you start to let go, maybe those patterns will arise again, but they won't be as difficult as they were before.

They won't be as challenging as they were before. And you learn from it again, and you continue to let go. It's the same process. You do it over and over again. And all of a sudden you realize, wow, I am no longer in these similar kinds of situations, no longer in these kinds of behavioural patterns. This is what it means when you start to let go of unwholesome states of mind. You are being reborn into wholesome states of mind. And ultimately, you let go of being reborn in those wholesome states of mind by stopping identifying with them as well. So the practice is really a three-step ladder. The first step is to abandon the unwholesome.

The second step is to cultivate the wholesome. And the third step is to let go of any identification or taking personally of those wholesome states. This is how you would do it. In order for you to eradicate rebirth on a micro level, on a level from day to day, moment to moment, month to month, is to pay attention to what patterns are present in your life. And start to 6R, or let go of your identifications with that, your resistance to it, your aversions to it, your attachments to it. And because there's no more fuel being given to those patterns, those situations, those relationships in the form of that attachment, aversion or identification, bit by bit they will burn away until there is nothing left.

Thus ends the talk. Let's 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 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.