Talk 13 -Closing Talk- Dependent Origination Conf. with Delson Armstrong

We studied the four links. We looked into dukkha, we looked into birth, we looked into bhava, we looked into clinging. And then we explored karma and consciousness. We explored the transcendental dependent origination, equally important, if not more, with cessation and Nibbana. So my parting message to you is essentially, if you felt overwhelmed by what we've done in the last few days, it's only natural, because there is so much information with regards to the Dhamma. In Majjhima Nikaya 28, Sariputta talks about this, and he says, one who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma. One who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination.

So, seeing dependent origination, what does that mean? Seeing dependent origination. It can mean seeing the links of dependent origination when you experience, or after you come out of cessation and experience Nibbana, and start to see the links arise. But beyond that, it's important to recognize the links in your everyday life. See what work is left to be done, what bhava is remaining, if there's any kind of clinging remaining, if there's any kind of craving remaining, any process of identification or conceit that goes on. Attention, presence of mind, staying here and now, understanding what is going on. When you are able to do that, you will be able to recognize if any unwholesome states are present.

And if there aren't, and you're just remaining present, you are remaining attentive, that's good enough. It is also a wholesome state. A mind that is free of any greed, hatred and delusion in that moment is also a wholesome state worth paying attention to, worth being mindful of. So when you go out from this event into your daily lives, just remember to just be here. Remember to pay attention. That is mindfulness. Remembering to pay attention. Remembering to see how mind's attention moves from one object to the other. Everything else will take care of itself. Because you have the tools. And you have used the tools. And you have seen success with the tools. But now you have to have a greater commitment to always maintaining that mindfulness.

And to always use the 6R's whenever required. And this is my message for the last few days. If you want to get to the other shore, if you want to experience Nibbana and end suffering once and for all, if you want to eradicate rebirth, then you need absolute dedication, absolute commitment, nothing less. So just remember, when I say that, it doesn't mean that I'm asking you to make extended amounts of effort. I'm saying that there has to be dedication in the form of continually paying attention to: are you following the precepts? How is your meditation going? Your ability to recognize how mind works? Are you able to discern which jhana you're in? Are you able to discern the transition from one jhana to the other?

When you are in those highly refined states of the seventh and eighth jhana, especially in quiet mind, remember what I told you to do. Don't do anything, right? Anything. Don't try not to do anything either. Just stay there. Remain present. And the more attentive you are there, the more your discernment will grow, providing you with the ingredients for you to go into cessation and experience Nibbana. So when you get to the signless, what do you do?

Nothing. Remember what I've told you. When you do this practice, you are engaging that part of the mind that feels like it has to make some kind of an effort. You're engaging that part of the mind that is craving, and you're soothing it. You're soothing it by using the 6R's. You're allowing the mind to be purified by these wonderful jhanic realms. And once that's done and you come to the signless, there's nothing to do there. Just rest in that clarity. And what you will notice is, as you keep doing this, you'll be able to bring out that clarity outside of the formal sitting. The signless is just utterly quiet. No object, nothing going on there at all.

And you just rest in that. And as you do that, you start to practice how it is to be like an arahant. Because you are just in the seeing, there is the seen. In the hearing, there is the heard. In the sensing, there is the sensed. In the cognizing, there is only the cognized. And the more you do this, it will translate into your meditation practice, where you are just meditating. There is no meditator. There is only meditation happening. And the more you pull back and just remain in that mindset of observing and six-houring whenever necessary, the more progress you will make on the path. And the ability to see the links of dependent origination is dependent upon having that discernment, that ability to look closely, not look hard, not to push and look hard, but to look closely into what is happening, just being attentive.

And the more you do that, are you guys going? Oh. The more you're able to do that, the easier it becomes for you to be able to recognize the links of dependent origination throughout the day as well. What is arising? So don't worry if you haven't observed all of the information that was provided to you in these last few days. There's a lot. And as I said, I could take an entire month to break down each of the links, bit by bit. But what's the use of that? Unless you actually practice and are able to identify them in your own experience, in your own conditioned experience. That will happen, but it would be quite the commitment.

But until then, just remember that the more you pay attention, the more mindful you become, the easier your mind will be able to recognize these different states, these different links. And the final message here is to use your intuition. Intuition is the key. Because the more you are in your intuition, the more naturally you are walking the path. The more automatically you are walking the path. The whole process of intuition is where the mind is quiet. And from that quiet space, intuition arises. Listen to it. And you will be able to do what is required for every situation in the most effective way and efficient manner. You have to use less energy to try to think about something, to try to rationalize and to try to analyze and all of these other things.

If you use your intuition, and how do you know you're using your intuition and it's not just thinking? Here's the key. When you're using intuition, the mind is open and clear and spacious. When you're thinking about a problem and trying to think about a solution, the mind starts to contract, starts to converge onto the problem. But when the mind remains open, clear and spacious, it is able to pick up more and come up with the exact answer that is required for the exact moment. This is how you use your intuition. And the more you're able to stay with that intuition, the less craving arises. The less conceit arises. Because intuition is beyond craving. Intuition is beyond ignorance.

Intuition is beyond conceit. So that's my final message to you guys. I'm very happy that you were all able to make it and have the patience to listen to me all day long. Remember what I said the first day. Some of you find me pleasant, but some of you might find me unpleasant. And that might switch. So let me know at the end how it happened. Meet in the middle. Meet in the middle. You neither like me nor dislike me. I'll take one or two questions if anybody has any questions.

A couple of, seven or eight years ago, Doug published the book Buddha's Map, which is a real wonderful, readable book on the 6R's, and the jhanas and your experience, personal experience. And what I've really come to see is that this dependent origination coupled with transcendental dependent origination is another way of looking at Buddha's map. - Right. - From a very introspective, yes. And there's this graphic on the website. It's kind of like a swirl. And I thought it was just really wonderful. I don't know where I found it, but I found it. And it's a wonderful way of remembering that. And I'm going to send it out to everybody just as a sort of a memoir.

You know, I have the 12-linked regular deal, and temples, that's the good news. Oh, here's the problem. Here's the solution. And so, that's the tautology. And that's the other piece of Buddha's map. So you'll get an email that will say, "Buddha's map, we visited." Great, great. And so thank you for doing the original, Doug. I probably have bought and given away 30 of those things. Yes. Do we grow that? Apart from just trying it and being wrong sometimes, I guess, how do we do it? So intuition, as I said, intuition happens when the mind is quiet and the heart is full, which means one of the things you can do is you ask the question or you present the problem to your mind, you let it go and you bring up loving kindness.

Because as soon as you bring up loving kindness, now you're in the heart, and then you let that go too, and at some point, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the insight will arise. We're not, yes, we're not directing loving-kindness towards the answer. We're just to ourselves. That's right. That's right. Yes. I'm not understanding why the heart is full. I would assume that you want the heart to be open or empty, because if something is full, the concept is that you cannot take in more if it's fully full. So I'm a little confused when you said have the heart being full. The heart is open. Fully open. Fully open. There you go. We'll meet in the middle and say fully open.

So again, I just want to thank every one of you for coming. We will. I just want to offer my gratitude to everyone, especially Jordan for organizing. Master at this. And I remember this whole process started actually while I was still in Cambodia. The formations of the birth of this event began in Cambodia. I remember talking to Khun and to Kin about the idea of doing a dependent origination retreat. Here we are two and a half years later. Just very happy. Very happy for all of you being here. Thank you so much. 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 earth of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.