Deerpark Retreat Day 5 'Right View' w/Delson Armstrong

So today we're going to be talking about right view in particular. Because when you experience nirvana for the first time, right view starts to become established in your mind. As I was saying yesterday, right view has many different levels. There's a mundane level and a super-mundane level. At a very mundane level, it's basically knowing what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. So when you experience a level of awakening, you get some insights, you get some clarity about how your mind works at the deepest level.

And how this whole process of samsara is created in your mind and through your experiences. And so I've been talking about karma and rebirth. And I've been talking about how karma is mechanized through the links of dependent origination. So at the very core of this, we are going to be talking about dependent origination. Yesterday, I gave you an introduction to the Four Noble Truths.

Traditionally and generally, we understand the Four Noble Truths to be suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. But actually, when we look at the Four Noble Truths, it is a toolkit. It is a framework. That is to say, you diagnose what is the issue, diagnose the cause of the issue, understand how to cease that issue, and what are the methods that lead to the cessation of that issue. So what we're going to find is you can actually apply the Four Noble Truths

to every link of dependent origination that arises. So I will begin and we will unravel this whole process. Thus have I heard. Thus have I heard, on one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park. There the Venerable Sariputta addressed the bhikkhus thus: friends, bhikkhus. Yes, they replied. The Venerable Sariputta said this: One of right view, one of right view is said, friends. In what way is a noble disciple, when he uses the term noble disciple, it comes from the word Ariya Savaka? Here Ariya denotes one who has experienced some level of awakening,

And in there, Ananda asks the Buddha, how do you define someone who has experienced awakening, at the very least who has experienced stream entry? And the Buddha says there is what is known as the mirror of Dhamma. And what he says there, he says, one who has unwavering confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. This is what is known as treatment, really. Yes, we talk about the other two fetters, sakkaya ditthi, which is self-view, and clinging to rites and rituals. But the core is unwavering, unshakable confidence and faith, conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. That is not something based on belief. That is not something based on, you have to believe this. That is based on experience.

Seeing for oneself how this process works and truly experiencing cessation and thereby experiencing nirvana. Coming to an experiential confidence that this path really works. So one of right view is one who has unwavering confidence in the Dhamma. And so they say, indeed, friend, we would come from far away to learn from the Venerable Sariputta the meaning of this statement. It would be good if the Venerable Sariputta would explain the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from him, the bhikkhus will remember it. Then, friends, listen and attend closely to what I shall say. Yes, friend, the bhikkhus replied. The Venerable Sariputta said this:

When, friends, a noble disciple understands the unwholesome and the root of the unwholesome, the wholesome and the root of the wholesome, in that way he is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has unwavering confidence in the Dhamma, and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what, friends, is the unwholesome? What is the root of the unwholesome? What is the wholesome? What is the root of the wholesome? Killing living beings is unwholesome. Taking what is not given is unwholesome.

is the mind that says, I want this, I need this. It grasps and wants more and more of things. Hatred is that which resists experiences, resists people, resists situations, pushes things away. From here there is ill will and aversion. Delusion is rooted in ignorance, ignorance of the Four Noble Truths, not being mindful, aware and applying the Four Noble Truths. You see, the Four Noble Truths, of course, it is a framework for understanding the time, but it is also, as I said, a mechanism for you to apply in your daily life, moment to moment, and I'll show you how that is.

The more you do this, the easier it becomes for you to see the Four Noble Truths and thereby establish right view deeper and deeper. And so, what is the wholesome? Abstention from killing living beings is wholesome. Abstention from taking what is not given is wholesome. Abstention from misconduct in sensual pleasures is wholesome. Abstention from false speech is wholesome. Abstention from malicious speech is wholesome. Abstention from harsh speech is wholesome. Abstention from gossip is wholesome. Uncovetousness is wholesome. Non-ill-will is wholesome. Right view is wholesome. This is called the wholesome. And what is the root of the wholesome? Non-greed is a root of the wholesome. Non-hate is a root of the wholesome. Non-delusion is a root of the wholesome. This is called the root of the wholesome. Non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion. In other words, letting go of craving of all types, letting go of aversion, and coming to the true Dhamma, coming to right view.

No longer being deluded by taking things personally. You realize the misperceptions that the mind has and start to let go of those misperceptions. In other words, what is impermanent, the mind would have a tendency to see as permanent. What is liable to cause suffering, the mind would have a tendency to see as a source of happiness. What is not self, the mind would have a tendency to take personally and say, this is really mine, myself. This is delusion. This is the ignorance that we're talking about.

So how do you come to the understanding of the three characteristics? By understanding dependent origination. By understanding that all things that are conditioned are impermanent, therefore liable to cause suffering, and all things are not self, including the body. So I'm going to explore this first. What is the wholesome and the unwholesome? This is another sutta, which is Majjhima Nikaya 41. So I'm starting from sutta number 41, which is Saleyyaka Sutta. And this is starting from part 7 and then going down until 17.

Here, someone kills living beings. He is murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, merciless to living beings. He takes what is not given. He takes by way of theft the wealth and property of others in the village or forest. He misconducts himself in sensual pleasures. He has intercourse with those who are protected by their mother, father, mother and father, brother, sister, relatives, who have a partner, who are protected by law, and even with those who are garlanded in token of betrothal, meaning those who are engaged.

That is how there are three kinds of bodily conduct not in accordance with the Dhamma, the unrighteous conduct. So, that is killing and harming living beings, taking what is not given, and sensual or sexual misconduct. And how, householders, are there four kinds of verbal conduct not in accordance with the Dhamma, unrighteous conduct? Here, if someone speaks falsely when summoned to a court, or to a meeting, or to his relatives' presence, or to his guild, or to the royal family's presence, and questioned as a witness thus, 'Good man, tell what you know,' not knowing, he says 'I know,' or knowing, he says 'I do not know,' not seeing, he says 'I see,' or seeing, he says 'I do not see.' In full awareness he speaks falsely for his own ends, or for another's ends, or for some trifling worldly end. He speaks maliciously: he repeats elsewhere what he has heard here in order to divide those people from these, or he repeats to these people what he has heard elsewhere in order to divide these people from those.

Thus he is one who divides those who are united, a creator of divisions, who enjoys discord, rejoices in discord, delights in discord, a speaker of words that create discord. He speaks harshly. He utters those words that are rough, hard, hurtful to others, offensive to others, bordering on anger, unconducive to concentration. He gossips. He speaks at the wrong time, speaks what is not fact, speaks what is useless, speaks contrary to the Dhamma and the discipline. At the wrong time, he speaks such words as are worthless, unreasonable, immoderate and unbeneficial. This is how there are four kinds of verbal conduct not in accordance with the Dhamma, unrighteous conduct. And how, householders, are there three kinds of mental conduct not in accordance with the Dhamma, unrighteous conduct? Here someone is covetous.

He covets the wealth and property of others thus. Oh, may what belongs to another be mine. Or he has a mind of ill will and intentions of hate thus. May these beings be slain and slaughtered. May they be cut off, perish, or annihilated. Or he has a wrong view, distorted vision, thus: there is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed, no fruit or result of good and bad actions, no this world, no other world, no mother, no father, no beings who are reborn spontaneously, no good and virtuous recluses and brahmins in the world who have themselves realized by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world. This is wrong view. This is very specific.

There is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. Meaning there is no merit in giving. There is no merit in generosity. There is no merit in gratitude. No fruit or result of good and bad actions. There's no consequence to our actions. No this world, no other world. Now formally this means that there is no meaning in this world and there is no afterlife.

There is no other world beyond. But I had somebody who talked about this, and it was an interesting interpretation. Which is, that there is no world in terms of the mundane, everything that we see around us and experience through the sense places. And no other world, meaning no possibility to attain jhana. Because that's the super mundane. The physical world is through our five physical sense spaces. To attain jhana, we meet the mind. The jhanas are associated with the brahma-lokas, because the different factors are associated with the brahma-lokas. But the idea is that there's no possibility to attain jhana. No possibility to attain a meditative state. This is an interesting interpretation that someone had.

No mother, no father. In other words, it's not saying that there is no such thing as a mom and a father. What it's saying is that we don't owe anything to our mother and father. There's no gratitude, no need to be grateful for our parents. Here the idea is one is respectful to one's parents. Now, in many different situations, parents are not ideal. Some parents are even abusive. Some parents, you know, are terrible to their children, absolutely terrible to their children. Having said that, perhaps one can still have an appreciation for one's parents insofar as the fact that they brought us into this life with the opportunity to experience the down in this life, that is a minimum

that can be appreciated at the minimum. No beings who are reborn spontaneously. So here there's the idea that there is no such thing as rebirth. That no beings are reborn from one consciousness to the next consciousness. Now we talked about rebirth and we asked do we need to believe in rebirth and things like that? And I said, no, you don't need to. But you should be open to the idea.

There's no need to believe in it. That's the thing about the Dhamma. It doesn't ask you to believe on faith. It asks you to test and see for yourself. And eventually you start to see for yourself how consciousness arises and passes away. And from that, the mind extrapolates that there is a possibility of rebirth. But closing off the idea that no, there is no such thing as rebirth doesn't allow you to go further and explore. So here we're talking about having a mind that is open.

Having a mind that is able to say, okay, I'm willing to see this and see if this is true or not. No good and virtuous recluses and brahmins in the world who have themselves realized by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world. This is basically having no conviction that the Buddha was there, or there was a Buddha, and arahants who experienced what the Buddha experienced. That is how there are three kinds of mental conduct not in accordance with the Dhamma. Unrighteous conduct. And then he talks about

And how householders, there are three kinds of body conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct. There are four kinds of verbal conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct. There are three kinds of mental conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct. And how householders are there three kinds of body conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct? Here, someone abandoning the killing of living beings abstains from killing living beings. With rod and weapon laid aside, gentle and kindly, he abides compassionate to all living beings.

He speaks such words as are gentle, pleasing to the ear, and lovable, as go to the heart, are courteous, desired by many, and agreeable to many. Abandoning gossip, he abstains from gossip. He speaks at the right time, speaks what is fact, speaks on what is good, speaks on the Dhamma and the discipline. At the right time, he speaks such words as are worth recording, reasonable, moderate and beneficial. That is how there are four kinds of verbal conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct. And how householders are there three kinds of mental conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, righteous conduct? Here is someone who is not covetous. He does not covet the wealth and property of others thus: Oh, may what belongs to another be mine. His mind is without ill will, and he has intentions free from hate.

And he says, may these beings be free from enmity, affliction, and anxiety. May they live happily. He has right view, undistorted vision. Thus, there is what is given, and what is offered, and what is sacrificed. In other words, there is merit in generosity. There is merit in giving, whether it is to a layperson or to the sangha of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis. There is fruit and result of good and bad actions. You see for yourself how there are consequences to your actions, mental, verbal, and bodily. There is mother and father. You have gratitude for your parents, no matter how they were, because they gave you an opportunity to be in this existence, to be able to experience the Dhamma.

There are beings who are, there is this world and the other world. So you see for yourself that there is this world, made up of its different sense bases, through which you experience this world. There is the other world, the possibility that there are other existences. And you see it for yourself. When we talk about different kinds of planes of existence, we already see one specific plane of existence beyond just a human plane.

We already see it. The animal existence. Animals have their own kind of existence, right? They're having their own experience through however they are experiencing through their sense-faces and the attributes that they possess. Beyond that, of course, there are other beings within the realms of existence, which, for the time being, some cannot see. But that there is a possibility of other beings there, the mind should be open about. And that there is a possibility of achieving the ability to see these things.

Listen to what he said. There is nutriment, there is the origin of nutriment, there is the cessation of nutriment, and there is a way leading to the cessation of these nutriments. By understanding this and being able to apply the Four Noble Truths in that way, one starts to establish right view. And what is nutriment? What is the origin of nutriment? What is the cessation of nutriment? What is the way leading to the cessation of nutriment? There are four kinds of nutriment for the maintenance of beings that already have come to be and for the support of those beings about to come to be. Nutriment here. Nutrition.

Food. Support. For those who are already existing and for those about to come into existence. Meaning those who are about to be born. What for? They are physical food as a nutriment, gross or subtle, contact as the second, mental volition as the third, and consciousness as the fourth. So these are the four kinds of nutriment. Physical food.

Obviously physical food, gross or subtle. So gross means the food that we eat. Subtle refers to foods that other beings would eat, higher beings would enjoy. But physical food for the nutriment of the body, for the sustenance of the body. Contact as the second. Contact. We're going to go deeper into contact. What contact means? The eye makes contact with the sight or the object of sight.

And the other sense faces make contact with the objects of their sense faces. So this is contact. Contact as nutriment gives rise to feeling. You need the initial spark, the touch, between the eye and the object, the color and form, the ears and sounds, the nose and odor, the tongue and an object, taste, the body and tangibles, mind and mind objects. When they make contact, then there is an experience, which is feeling. So with contact as nutriment, there comes feeling.

Mental volition as the third. Mental volition. Mental volition produces karma. You do not act mentally, verbally, or physically without first an intention being present. And then you act. There is an action. And mental volition here can also be understood as formations, as sankharas, which then give rise to consciousness. Consciousness as the fourth. Consciousness gives rise to name and form. Nama-rupa, mentality, materiality.

Consciousness is nutriment for the body to continue. There is an interdependency between mind and body and consciousness, which we will explore as we go deeper. But dependent on consciousness, the mind and body can function. But for consciousness to continue, it needs the anchor of mind and body. With the arising of craving, there is the arising of nutriment. Very interesting. With the arising of craving, there is the arising of nutriment. With craving, there arises physical food. With craving, there arises contact.

With craving, there arises mental volition. With craving, there arises consciousness. Because what it's saying here is craving, the identification process. Sensual craving, craving for existence, craving for non-existence. That gives rise to further rebirths in every moment of consciousness, plus from one life to the next. So craving is that which fosters the ability for new consciousness to arise. Craving is that which allows the contact to arise, in the sense that contact can be imbued with a craving mindset. You might have been inclined towards something already that says, I want this, or I don't like this, even before you actually experience it. And that is dependent upon mental volitions, which can be rooted in craving as well.

So these are what are known as the abhisankhara, karmic formations that are rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion. This is how craving manifests. Now, what about physical food? Craving manifests in terms of the production of food. We require food, we require sustenance, but there can be craving in relation to that food. There can be, as we talked about a couple of days ago, even yesterday a little bit, that one can become very obsessed with food.

One can enjoy food for the adornment of the body, for intoxication, for pleasure, and identify with that. Or one can understand food as what it actually is, the ability to sustain the body, and prevent the arising of new feelings of hunger. So just to satisfy the physical, biological hunger you have. With the cessation of craving, with the cessation of identification, with the cessation of aversion, there is the cessation of nutriment. The way leading to the cessation of nutriment is just this noble eightfold path. Now here is what I am going to propose that you do when you listen to this. What I would say is whenever it is said that the way leading to the cessation of an experience for anything from here on out, you can apply the process of right effort.

Because right effort is the heart of the eightfold path. Which means when he says the way leading to the cessation of a particular link, he's saying, use right effort. In other words, using the six R's. Remember yesterday what I said about the six R's. The six R's not only allow you to fulfill the right effort, the four right efforts, allow you to activate the enlightenment factors, but they also allow you to see and apply the four Noble Truths in every moment. Because in recognizing, you recognize here is the first Noble Truth. There is present this hindrance, or whatever it might be. Here I release and relax, and therefore abandon the source of this hindrance, which is the undue attention and identification of that hindrance.

Thereby, I experience the third of the truth, which is the cessation of that attention to that hindrance. And then I generate a wholesome experience through the smile and maintain that through meditation on my object, thereby fulfilling the fourth aspect, which is the application of right effort, and by extension, the noble eightfold path. So what he says, the way leading to the cessation of nutriment is just this noble eightfold path. That is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

So in other words, he abandons the underlying tendency to greed. So there are these seven underlying tendencies, which we'll go into when we explore Phelan. But the underlying tendency to greed completely eliminates that, which means there can no longer arise the potential for greed. He abolishes the underlying tendency to aversion. He lets go of the root of any kind of ill will and aversion.

He extricates the underlying tendency to the view and conceit of I am. Completely eliminates the idea of identifying with any process. And thereby comes to the right view. and thereby makes an end of suffering. In other words, when you abolish these three, when you exterminate these three, eradicate these three, then you come to full awake and make a complete end of suffering. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhu is delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they ask him a further question. But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma? There might be friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

In that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma. So, coming to the experience of the Four Noble Fruits. in and of themselves. And what is suffering? What is the origin of suffering? What is the cessation of suffering? What is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? Birth is suffering. Aging is suffering. Sickness is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair are suffering. Not to obtain what one wants is suffering. In short, the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging are suffering. This is called suffering. We already talked about this yesterday. What is the origin of suffering? It is craving, which brings renewal of being.

It is accompanied by delight in lust and delights in this and that. That is the craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being and craving for non-being. This is called the origin of suffering. And what is the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go, and rejecting of that same suffering. Letting go of craving. I'm sorry, rejecting of that same craving. So meaning, identifying that the mind is craving and letting it go, using right effort, using the six R's. This is called the cessation of suffering. What is the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble and full path. This is called the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

When a noble disciple has thus understood suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhus delight in and rejoice in Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they ask him a further question. But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma? There might be friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands aging and death, the origin of aging and death, the cessation of aging and death, and the way leading to the cessation of aging and death.

In that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. We've discussed this already. What is aging and death? What is the source of aging and death? What is the cessation of aging and death? What is the way leading to the cessation of aging and death? The aging of beings in the various orders of beings. Their old age, brokenness of teeth, grayness of hair, wrinkling of skin, decline of life, weakness of faculties.

Can you use the six R's? The six R's, aging and death. You can't prevent aging, you can't prevent death. You can't prevent certain kinds of suffering. We talked about this yesterday. Aging and death is part of that whole mass of suffering. So when they talk about aging and death in particular, they're talking about aging of the body, death of the body. But the whole mass of suffering, birth leads to that whole mass of suffering. With the arising of birth, there is the arising of aging and death. With the cessation of birth, there is the cessation of aging and death. But now, we are in earnest talking about dependent origination. We are going from the end, which is the twelfth one, and working our way back all the way to ignorance and beyond.

Now, when we talk about dependent origination, there are three ways we can understand dependent origination. Dependent origination in the form of one existence to the next existence. One life to the next life. Dependent origination in terms of the very micro level, which happens in every moment. When we talk about the arising and passing away of consciousness, we're talking about millions and millions and millions of iotas of arising and passing away of consciousnesses.

But consciousness is just one link in that series of dependent origination. So in that moment we are experiencing over and over and over again continuously contact, feeling, perception. We're experiencing formations, consciousness. We're experiencing nama-rupa. We're experiencing the sixth sense basis, contact, feeling, perception. And then depending upon that there's kamma, depending upon that there's the ignorance, and so on. We're experiencing that in every moment whether we know it or not. The Buddha has said that whether there is a Buddha or there is not a Buddha, there is always going to be this dependent origination, this cycling of experience through the different links of dependent origination.

But there are ways to recognize dependent origination at the experiential level as well. In day-to-day life you can recognize when contact happens. Right now, when I snap my finger, there was millions and millions and millions of contact going on in that moment. That sound, before you heard the sound, the snap, the snap led your ear to receive the sound. There was sound waves making contact with the instruments in your ears. Right? So that was contact. Then, the actual sound, which is the feeling. Knowing that it's the snap of the finger, that's the perception.

So you can recognize this in your experiences. Not only with the ears, but any of the sense faculties. Being able to be mindful in this way, being able to recognize in this way, allows the mind to be free from greed, hatred, and delusion. Allows the mind to be free from identifying with those processes. The moment you observe things, the moment you just observe your thoughts, you no longer become those thoughts. You no longer become that process of experience.

That separation allows a gap there. That gap is cushioning your mind from going into full-blown craving. This is why mindfulness is of the utmost importance. Having clarity of mind in every moment. When we are doing this meditation, we are starting to experience the mundane form of Nibbana, so to speak, because we are able to recognize when there is suffering in the form of the hindrance, in the form of irritation, in the form of taking things personally.

And we are able to let go of that through right effort. And just for those few micro moments, we are able to experience this spacious mind, empty of all craving, empty of all suffering. And just for those mindful moments, we're able to experience nibbana, experience Nibbana, the quenching of that thirst of greed, hatred, and pollution. So when that is all predicated upon mindfulness, full awareness of what's going on. When there is mindfulness, there is what is known as yoniso manasikara, attention rooted in reality, which sees everything as being an impermanent, impersonal process.

Seeing it in this way, the mind will not experience suffering, whether it's through a pleasurable feeling, a displeasurable feeling, or a neutral feeling. The delineation point is really between feeling and craving. The experience towards full-blown craving. And we're going to talk about that more as we get into it. But the reason I'm bringing this up is for you to understand that for us to be able to let go of suffering, it can happen right now, here, in this moment.

But all it requires is the mind being able to be 100% mindful in every moment. This is what you're training yourself to do in this process throughout these 10 days. You are going to notice the clarity of color around you. You're going to notice the clarity of sounds around you. You're going to notice the clarity of taste around you. The more mindful you become, the less identified with things you become. And because there is no impediment of identifying with situations, experiences, and feeling, you have clear experience of everything. Nothing filtering that process.

And because of that, you don't identify. Because of that, you don't take things personally. It really boils down to that, not taking things personally. That sounds very mundane, but if you really go at the root of that, you will realize that there is no underlying self in any experience. There is no permanent underlying self in any experience. This is the root of experiencing the cessation of suffering.

The more you're able to see this, the easier it becomes for you to experience things fully without the sense of me, mine, or myself. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question. But, friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands birth, the origin of birth, the cessation of birth, and the way leading to the cessation of birth, in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is birth? What is the origin of birth?

What is the cessation of birth? What is the way leading to the cessation of birth? The birth of beings and the various orders of beings. They're coming to birth, precipitation in a womb, generation, manifestation of the aggregates, obtaining the basis for contact. This is called birth. With the arising of being, there is the arising of birth. With the cessation of being, there is the cessation of birth.

The way leading to the cessation of birth is just this noble eightfold path. Now, when we talk about birth, the birth of the aggregates, in truth, in every moment there is the arising and passing away of consciousness. We talked about this before, but in truth your sense bases are also experiencing rebirth in every moment. They either become weaker or they become more sharp. They are experiencing a cycling through. Every time the eyes are experiencing something, there is a new process happening which revitalizes the eye faculty or weakens the eye faculty. Same with the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, or the mind itself. When we talk about birth in terms of the birth of a being, there are different kinds of orders of beings, different kinds of birth processes: through the process of being in the womb, through the process of being in an egg, through the process of moisture, or spontaneous generation, which is in relation to Devas and Brahmas, Helgames, and all the other things like that.

But for right here and now to understand birth, to be very practical about it, let's approach it from a different perspective, which is the birth of karma, the birth of action. The way to look at dependent origination is it cycles through, as we said, in every moment. The dependent origination is like a stream that turns into a river, and there are whirlpools and vortices and rapids. And each of these whirlpools creates a link of dependent origination. And then becoming, which we'll get to in a moment, this is the becoming into a new existence in the next moment. That then creates the circumstances for the birth of action. Mental action, verbal action, bodily action.

In that process of that river, the bending towards the waterfall, that bending is the becoming. And then the waterfall, going down the waterfall, is the birth of action. When there is birth of action, karmic action, when there's the birth of karmic action, there is suffering, because you're added to that repository of karma. And that is predicated upon being, which we'll talk about in a moment, as I said. But what I'm saying here is, as soon as you produce the action, there's no way for you to call it back. As soon as you speak the word, there's no way for you to call it back. As soon as you produce the action in your body, there's no way for you to call it back.

As soon as you think something or have an intention of something, there's no way for you to call it back. You will then experience the consequences of that action if it is rooted in taking things personally. There are two types of action here. For one who is fully awakened, that action does not produce any new karma, because it does not go through and is predicated through the processes of craving, clinging, and becoming.

That action that the Arahant, or the fully awakened being, produces is dependent upon the Noble Eightfold Path. Their speech will always be right speech. Their action will always be right action. Their effort will always be right effort. Their intention will always be right intention. And that doesn't produce any new karma that binds a being to samsara. Instead, it further lets go.

The more you do this, the easier it becomes, until it becomes the default mode of thinking in your mind. The default mode of being. The default mode in terms of how you think, how you speak, and how you act. So when we talk about the birth of action, we are saying that that is dependent upon becoming. That is dependent upon being. So we'll discuss how that's the case. When a noble disciple has thus understood birth, the origin of birth, the cessation of birth, and the way leading to the cessation of birth, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

Sense, sphere, being, fine material being, and immaterial being. With the arising of clinging, there is the arising of being. With the cessation of clinging, there is the cessation of being. The way leading to the cessation of being is just this noble eightfold path. So now we talk about birth of action. As soon as there is the birth of action, you cannot recall that action. You cannot six-hour away whatever it is that you've produced in the way of your mind, body, and speech. But before that, you can six-hour things. What is being? What is becoming? We use another word, another phrase for being, which is known as habitual tendencies. Sense, sphere, being, fine material being, and immaterial being.

Tendencies that lead towards these kinds of existences. Psychological states. We don't need to think about beings externally. Let's let go of that for a moment. We don't need to think about 31 planes of existence. But we can see that even in our present experience, in our present existence, we can have psychological states that are associated with Deva-like beings, that are associated with Brahma-like beings, that are associated with Hellish-like beings. Whenever there is anger, whenever there is hatred, whenever there is ill-will, the mind constricts and becomes like a hellish being. The psychological state produces suffering right there and then. And so the habitual tendencies rooted in that anger lead to a birth of action that is rooted in that anger.

Things boil up to the surface, and this boiling up is that process of dependent origination from craving, clinging to becoming. That habitual tendency. It's a library of different kinds of reactions that your mind gravitates towards almost automatically. When you are met with certain situations, you already prejudge what that situation is, never looking at it freshly. That is because of the habitual tendencies. A person who is generous, a person who is loving and kind. A person who is compassionate and forgiving.

They have a deva-like nature. And so the habitual tendencies there are more deva-like. A person who continues to practice jhana, remains in jhana, in whatever it is they're doing. Their psychological state is similar to that of a brahma-loka being. A person who goes into the immaterial planes of existence, that is to say infinite space, infinite consciousness. nothingness in neither perception or non-perception and their mind habituates towards that their psychological state is similar to those of the immaterial beings but regardless of where that mind is it still produces karma whether you're wholesome or unwholesome it still produces the birth of action the only way to let go of the production of new karma, is to stop taking any action personally.

Easier said than done. But we will see how that happens when you go into claiming and craving the preceding links. So habitual tendencies, it's a repository of reactions. You meet with somebody who you know, this person is always going to act this way. That's a habitual tendency. You don't give them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they are different. Now, a prime example of this is you meet a friend from high school after many, many years, but you still have an image of who that person is based on what you experienced in high school.

And so you expect them to be that same kind of person. And then when you meet them, you realize, oh, they are different. They're no longer that same person. That is similar to having habitual emotional tendencies. Certain kinds of reactions the mind just selects automatically, dependent upon the situation. So if your mindset, when you're stuck in traffic, your mindset is, I really hate this traffic. Every time you're met with traffic, you're going to have a mindset which says, I hate that traffic.

When you meet certain kinds of people, you prejudge those kinds of people. Maybe you met somebody who was treacherous, somebody who betrayed your trust. Now you meet a similar kind of person. Your habitual tendency will be, you prejudge and say, that person is this way. This is one layer of habitual tendencies. The other layer is the psychological states that are associated with the different realms, with the different lokas, through which you act because you identify with those states. You say, this is me, this is mine, this is myself.

Can you 6R habitual tendencies? Can you use the 6Rs to let go of habitual tendencies? Yes, you can. So, let's say you are met with a person who you prejudge and say, this person is going to betray me. They are untrustworthy. You can recognize that thought in your mind, release your attention from it, relax, let go of that, and recondition the tendency to say, I am willing to trust this person.

Or anything that might happen, where the mind automates towards some kind of reaction. You need that cushion, you need that gap, you need that pause for a few moments to recognize and say, oh, wait, here the mind is starting to tend towards this automatic reaction. And then let go of that processing. By doing this, you let go of the potential for renewal of karma through the birth of action.

So yes, you can change, recondition your habitual tendencies, and ultimately let go of all habitual tendencies. The fully awakened mind may have certain preferences dependent upon the body, but it won't have habitual tendencies. It sees everything fresh. It doesn't prejudge a person. It doesn't prejudge a being or a situation. Everything is fresh in the mind. Think about the quality of that mind.

There's a tendency, right, in the mind to always calculate. Should I do this? Should I do that? Where should I go? What should I do? Can I trust this person? Is this person going to trick me? Or I'm met in this kind of situation. Think about this. The first time you visit a new place, you go out of the country and visit a new place or a different city. The first time, everything is fresh. You don't have any prejudgments about that place. That's the perception of one who is fully awakened, qualitatively speaking. Everything is fresh. They don't make judgments about anyone. No habitual reactions. No habitual tendencies.

There is perception. There is feeling. There is contact. All that will be there. But everything is seen as it actually is: impersonal and impermanent. Therefore, not worth holding up to. When a noble disciple has thus understood being, the origin of being, the cessation of being, and the way leading to the cessation of being, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view, and has arrived at this true time.

Saying, good friend, the bhikkhu is delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Sariputta's words, and they asked him a further question. But, friend, might there be yet another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands clinging, the origin of clinging, the cessation of clinging, and the way leading to the cessation of clinging. In that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is clinging? What is the origin of clinging? What is the cessation of clinging? And what is the way leading to the cessation of clinging? There are these four kinds of clinging.

Clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rules and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self. With the arising of craving, there is the arising of clinging. With the cessation of craving, there is the cessation of clinging. The way leading to the cessation of clinging is just this noble eightfold path. So, clinging. Upadana. Clinging is that process in the mind that starts to make associations with an experience.

Clinging to sensual pleasures, that is creating an identity around an experience. So craving, that is saying, I like this thing, or I don't like this thing. Therefore, it makes associations. The process of making associations, the process of gathering what is your favorite and what are your dislikes, is the process of clinging to sensual pleasures. When you grow up as a little kid, somebody asks you what is your favorite color. You don't really have a favorite color as a little kid, but then you decide red is my favorite color. You like the color red and you make an association. So anytime you see the color red, you say, oh, that's my favorite color. You've created an identity as the person who says I like the color red. Somehow you don't like the color purple. Every time you see the color purple, there's another association that I don't like that.

Or you grow up eating a certain kind of dish, a certain kind of food that your mother makes. You crave for that kind of food, and then you cling and you say, this is my favorite kind of food. Or you have a certain kind of smell that you like, a certain kind of fragrance that you like. Certain kinds of smells that you're associated with negative experiences.

And every time that smell comes up, there is this clinging which says, I don't like this. And then from there, there is the becoming of the person who doesn't like this. From which then the person acts and says, I hate that. Pushes that over me. I don't know how it is here in the supermarkets here in India. And it used to be. I haven't been in the supermarket for some time. But in the U.S., like in Walmart and different places like that, it was that when you have the cereal aisle, you see all the different cereals. But all of the sugary, colorful cereals are down here at the lower level. Why? It's targeting the kids.

And so now the kids look at that and they say, oh, that's so colorful. I want that. And they take that. And they eat that and they like that. And they associate happy times with that cereal. You see commercials. You see advertisements. What is that? That is the production of clinging to sensual pleasures. You see an ad for a Mercedes or a BMW and you see this person who's all successful and, you know, everything is wonderful with their life. Now you associate that product with, this is what success is. And now you cling to that idea.

You cling to that sensual pleasure. You make those associations. So craving, when there's craving, you say, oh, I see that Mercedes. I want that Mercedes. Now you create a goal for that. Now you cling to that idea that I have to possess that Mercedes. And then you become that person. And then you produce action. How do I get that? How do I obtain that?

It can be as large as that, or very small things, minor things, when it comes to sensual experiences. When somebody's at a funeral, people try to, when the person is grieving, you know, they might put their hand on their shoulder and try to support them and say, it's all right, everything is fine. But now that rubbing of the shoulder, you've made an association.

And now you go to a birthday party and somebody does the same thing out of affection. But now the memory is that funeral. You've made the association. This is how trauma arises. People make associations with different kinds of traumatic experiences. And then they relive that because of the clinging. But you can fix our clinging. You can let go of clinging. You can recognize here is the mind starting to grasp onto something, starting to produce an identity around something, starting to become something through that contact. You can recognize it, release your attention from it, relax, and then replace it with something else.

Again, I say it's easier said than done. But as you start to sharpen your clarity of mind, as you start to sharpen your mindfulness, you'll be able to start to recognize when those times that the mind starts to make associations are and start to let go and disassociate. Then there is the clinging to views. This is really in reference to clinging to certain kinds of wrong views.

There are these 62 different types of wrong view. But don't worry, I'm not going to go through all of them. But what we're talking about here is clinging to certain kinds of views, like the six kinds of contemporary views that were present during the Buddha's time. I'll go through those briefly from the beginning time to a small section in the beginning time to. Then you can recognize for yourself if the mind possesses these kinds of views. So this is the view of a person named Puranakasaka, and he said, By the doer or instigator of a thing, by one who cuts or causes to be cut, by one who burns or causes to be burned, by one who causes grief and weariness, by one who agitates or causes agitation, who causes life to be taken, or that which is not given to be taken, commits burglary, commits robbery, lies in ambush, commits adultery, tells lies, no evil is done.

So here this view is saying there's no meaning anywhere. It's a nihilistic kind of view. If with a razor-sharp wheel one were to make of this earth one single mass and heap of flesh, There would be no evil as a result of that. No evil would accrue. If one were to go along the south bank of the Ganges, killing, slaying, cutting, or causing to be cut, burning, or causing to be burned, there would be no evil as a result of that. No evil would accrue. If one were to go along the north bank of the Ganges, giving and causing to be given, sacrificing and causing to be sacrificed, there would be no merit as a result of that.

No merit would accrue. In giving self-control, abstinence, telling the truth, there is no merit, and no merit accrues. This is a life of no meaning. It's a very nihilistic way of looking at things. And so here, the view is wrong view, right? Because it's saying, I can do as many evil things as I want, but I won't get caught on it. There will be no karma that will be accrued by it.

Yeah, sure, in this life we do see some people do get away with it. Some people get away scot-free. But at some point or another they will experience karma. Maybe not physically, but imagine they'll stay in their mind. You see, karma is not just the physical. Even guilt, even remorse, is a karmic reaction to the things that you have done.

Of course, when you talk about sociopaths and psychopaths, they don't have remorse either. But still, what we're talking about here is for every action that we do, good or bad, there is a result. So this particular view is in direct violation of what we see as right view. That there is actually meaning in giving. There is meaning in being generous. There is meaning in being wholesome.

And there are consequences when we are unwholesome, even at the very minuteness level of the mind. Then there is the view of Makali Gosala. He says, There is no cause or condition for the defilement of beings. They are defiled without cause or condition. There is no cause or condition for the purification of beings. They are purified without cause or condition. There is no self-power or other power. There is no power in humans, no strength or force, no vigor or exertion. All beings, all living beings, all creatures, all that lives is without control, without power or strength. They experience the fixed course of pleasure and pain through the six kinds of rebirth. There are 1,400,000 principal sorts of birth, and 6,000 others, and again 600.

There are 500 kinds of karma, or five kinds, and three kinds, and half karma, 62 paths, 62 intermediary eons, six classes of humankind, eight stages of human progress, 4,900 occupations, 4,900 wanderers, 4,900 abodes of Navas, 2,000 century existences, 3,000 hells, 36 places of dust, 7 classes of rebirth as conscious beings, 7 as unconscious beings, and 7 as beings freed from bonds. 7 grades of devas, men, goblins, 7 lakes, 7 great and 7 small protuberances, 7 great and 7 small abysses, 7 great and 7 small dreams, 8,400,000 eons, during which fools and wise run on and circle around till they make an end of suffering. Therefore, there is no such thing as saying by this discipline or practice or austerity or holy life, I will bring my unripened karma to fruition, or I will gradually make my ripened karma go away.

He's saying there is no possibility of that happening. Neither of these things is possible because pleasure and pain have already been measured out with a measure limited by the round of birth and death. And there is neither increase nor decrease, nor excellence nor inferiority, just as a ball of string when thrown runs till it has all unraveled. So fools and wise run on and circle round until they make an end of suffering. This is Niyantilada. This is fatalism. Predeterminism.

This is the view that says, whatever you do, it is already predestined. That view says that you don't have any control. You have no choice. Even your awakening is already predetermined. So what's the point of making any kind of effort? This is a kind of wrong view, because as we understand with the Dhamma, there is karma, there is action, there is consequence.

How do we let go of already ripened karma? Through right effort, through wisdom. So there is a way, in every given moment, there is a choice to be wholesome or unwholesome. If there was not, what are you guys doing here? What is the point of doing anything if that was the case? So this view is also in direct violation of the Dhamma. Now the third view is by Ajita Kesa Kambali. It's a very interesting name. Kesa Kambali means hair blanket, or blanket of hair. And he said

Your majesty, he's talking to Ajita. He says there is nothing given, bestowed, offered in sacrifice. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is not this world or the next. There is no mother or father. There are no spontaneously arisen beings. Already you're assuming this is wrong view. There are in no world no ascetics or brahmins who have attained, who have perfectly practiced, who proclaim this world and the next, having realized them by their own super damage. Now listen to this. This human being is composed of the four great elements, and when one dies, the earth part reverts to earth, the water part reverts to water, the fire part reverts to fire, the air part reverts to air, and the sense faculties pass away into space. They accompany the dead man with four bearers, and the bier as fifth. Their

footsteps are heard as far as the cremation ground. There the bones whitened. The sacrifice ends in ashes. It is the idea of a fool to give this gift. The talk of those who preach a doctrine of survival is vain and false. Fools and wise, at the breaking up of the body, are destroyed and perish. They do not exist after death. This is the view of materialism. This is the view that says there's no point in doing anything. You are just this body, so you might as well enjoy for the sake of the body, pursue all kinds of pleasures. It doesn't matter what it is and how you do it. Even if you have to take on a loan, that was one of the Uchin Indian understandings, if you have to live a good life, even if you have to steal, beg, borrow, steal, it's worth it because you are satisfying the senses.

But of course this view also is a direct violation of the Dhamma, of right view, because already he said there's no meaning given. There's no meaning in generosity. There's no meaning in austerities and all of these things. There's no meaning in being grateful for one's mother and father. Just enjoy. Eat, drink, and be merry. That's the view.

But that's the view that is predominant in the majority of the world now. Do you think the suffering is over now by doing that? The pursuit of happiness, that's one thing. But the pursuit of sensual pleasures to the point of degrading your senses, causing yourself suffering in that way. The pursuit of sensual pleasures by causing yourself harm, by taking on different kinds of loneliness. For what?

The pursuit of pleasure by harming other individuals. This is indirect violation of the Dhamma. So this is the third wrong view. The fourth wrong view is, he says, These seven things are not made, or of a kind to be made, uncreated, unproductive, barren, false, stable as a column. They do not shape, do not change, obstruct one another, nor are they able to cause one another pleasure, pain, or both. What are the seven? The earth body, the air body, the water body, the fire body, pleasure and pain, and the life principle.

These seven are not made. There is neither slain nor slayer, neither hearer nor proclaimer, neither knower nor causer of knowing. And whoever cuts off a man's head with a sharp sword does not deprive anyone of life. He just inserts the blade in the intervening space between these seven bodies. So here this is kind of talking about eternalism. That first of all, it's okay to kill beings because they're eternal anyway. Right? They possess something that is eternal. So if you kill them, you're not actually killing them. They're not actually destroying anything.

But the Buddha says that everything has a cause and condition. Everything that arises passes away. There is no one consciousness that is eternal that goes from lifetime to lifetime. Majjhima Nikaya 38 specifically says this. It says that consciousness arises dependent upon its cause and condition, just like the fire is known by its fuel. But here the assumption is that consciousness is all pervading and eternal. So, if you kill the body, it's okay. It's all good. But you are causing harm, because you are causing pain. You are inflicted in pain. So this is another kind of wrong view. Then the fourth wrong view is said, it says, "One is bound by a four-fold restraint."

What for? He is curbed by all curbs, enclosed by all curbs, cleared by all curbs, and claimed by all curbs. So this is talking about one who is self-controlled and self-established through austerity practices. When you talk about curbing, it's talking about this process that you need ascetic practices to do away with your karma. Really, this is what it's talking about. It's saying that in order for me to experience the cessation of my karma, I need to do certain kind of ascetic practices. The Buddha tried all kinds of ascetic practices and found that this is not the way leading to the end of suffering. What he did find was the middle path. Not the path of exorbitant luxury, not the path of extreme asceticism, but a balanced path, the middle of it, which was the Eightfold Path.

Now, this view is actually in terms of the philosophy that it's referring to. It's really referring to the philosophy of Jainism. Where the idea is, there is a soul, and that soul picks up karmic particles. And it doesn't matter whether there was an intention or not to produce that karma. Whatever action is done, the effects of that action are produced and collected as karmic particles that attach to that soul.

So there are certain things you need to do to purify the soul, ascetic practices and things like that. Now what the Buddha said is the way to let go of karma is not through austerities, not through ascetic practices. It's by understanding, acknowledging the karma and letting it go through experience. He says you cannot escape your karma. You cannot mitigate your karma.

You have to experience the effects of previous actions. But you can do it in such a way that does not add to the repository of further karma. And that is a process through wisdom attained through right effort. Acknowledging here is a pleasant feeling, which is old karma, or unpleasant feeling, which is also old karma. And then recognizing it, releasing any identification with it, taking it personally, and allowing it to fade away through its experiencing itself.

But the moment you react to it, the moment you identify with it, it only makes it worse. It only causes further aggravation. See for yourself in your own experience when you're dealing with increases in your meditation, when you're dealing with any kind of situations, you will see that it causes furthering of that experience. The more you put your attention to something and try to react in such a way, it only adds fuel to the fire.

But to let go of it is to acknowledge it, let it be, and let go of any reactions and identification to that process. Finally, there is a view that this is from Sanjaya Belataputta, who was the former teacher of Moggallana and Sariputta before they became disciples of the Buddha. And he says, if you ask me, is there another world? If I thought so, I would say so. But I don't think so. I don't say it is so, and I don't say otherwise. I don't say it is not, and I do not say it is not. If you ask me, is there another world, both worlds, neither, is there fruit and result of good and bad deeds?

Is it there? Is there both? Is there neither? Does the Tathagata exist after death? Does he not exist? Does he both exist and not exist? Does he neither exist nor not exist? I do not say it is so. I do not think it is so. I do not say it is so, and I do not say otherwise. These are called eel wrigglers. They're on the fence about everything. They have a lot of doubt about if it's like this or if it's like that. Should I do this, should I not do that? Indecision.

They were known as skeptics at that time. The idea is they didn't take any position for fear of being wrong. That's it. So they said, oh, I don't know. It could be, it couldn't be. We'll see how it goes. I don't really know. So that kind of process creates a lot of restlessness in the mind. It creates a lot of anxiety. It creates a lot of doubt.

So not being sure about that is also a kind of wrong view. If you're unsure about if there is karmic consequences, if you're unsure about whether the Tathagata existed, if you're unsure about the Dhamma, then that is a direct revelation of right view, which is the beginning of the Dhamma. So these are the clinging to the wrong kinds of view. They can also be clinging to right view itself, clinging to the Dhamma. Making an identity around the Dhamma, saying, I'm a great meditator, or I'm so-and-so. Or when you are challenged by someone, you become a Dhamma defender.

I'm not saying that you don't become a Dhamma defender. What I'm saying is notice the intention in your mind. Somebody says, what you're doing is wrong. Immediately there is a reaction that happens and says, that person is wrong and I need to prove to them that they are wrong. So the clinging to the Dhamma in this way, clinging to any aspect of the Dhamma. The Buddha has talked about the raft, the simile of the raft, right? You're on this side, and you're getting to the other shore, which is Nibbana. You use the raft, which is the Eightfold Path, and go from this side to that side. Once you have reached the other shore, you don't take the raft with you and carry it along.

You leave it aside. That doesn't mean you stop using the Eightfold Path. It just means stop having conceit and pride in relation to the God. Stop identifying with that, right? Once you experience Nibbana, you experience it. There is a sutta, the Dighanakha Sutta, which is Majjhima Nikaya 74. And there the Buddha is talking to, actually, a skeptic like this guy. And the skeptic says, I cling to nothing.

I don't cling to any views at all. I am free. And the Buddha says, but do you cling to the view that you don't cling to? And then he goes through the whole process of healing and so on. Sorry, but I was listening to him and fanning him, and then he realizes that the Buddha is not even interested in the Dhamma itself. He's not even clung to the Dhamma itself.

And in that realization, he attains arahatship. He lets go of his clinging to the Dhamma. So in other words, seeing your own mind, once you start to have right view, how do you identify with that right view? Do you identify it as a Buddhist? Do you identify it as anything that you have to defend? And then finally, clinging to different opinions about things. Having views and perspectives on this or that. Somebody challenges your view. Be open to be challenged. Be open to say, okay, let me hear what you have to say. Instead of immediately reacting and saying, no, that person is wrong.

This is also very mundane. It can be like, you have a favorite sports team. And everybody else who does not follow that sports team is an idiot. Right? So you go to watch the new cricket game or whatever is playing on TV, and you root for that team, right? And you hope the other team loses. This is all clinging to kinds of views.

Having favorites about this or that in relation to views. And then clinging to rites and rituals, clinging to rules and observances. So the clinging to rites and rituals is the idea of clinging to rites and rituals with the idea that they will take you to Nibbana. That's one aspect of it. Clinging to rites and rituals is also clinging to routine, getting so identified and caught up with your own routine that if anything causes a detriment to that routine, you get upset by it. No, it has to be this way. If I don't get my morning coffee at 7 in the morning, I'm not going to be in a good mood. If I don't have breakfast by 7.30, if I don't get into the car by 8, you start thinking about this, and that creates all kinds of restlessness.

Clinging to rites and rituals also means clinging to the idea that something will produce luck for you. If I only wear my lucky socks, today I'll be doing great in that meeting. Doing these kinds of things, because the idea that if I do this or if I do that, it's going to produce luck for me, it completely detracts from the view of karma, which is through self-effort, to making your own effort to let go of things.

Making your own effort to build wealth, making your own effort to get that position, whatever it is. So this is another kind of clinging to rites and rituals. And then finally, clinging to a doctrine of self. This is the sakkaya ditthi. This is the intellectual clinging to an idea of self in relation to the five aggregates. There are 20 kinds of self-view. That is, the five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness.

Form is this body that you have, or any form. Physical form. Feeling is sensation. Any kind of experience that you're having. Perception is the knowledge of what that experience is, the noting of it. Formations are rooted in the intentions that you have, and consciousness is the awareness of the experience. You can take any of these and say it is myself, that this is me, or I am in it, or it is in me, or I am possessed of it, or any other variation of that, or I am separate from it.

This kind of sakkaya ditthi goes away as stream entry. The intellectual belief in a personal self. There is still a residual of identifying with things. That is the instinctual aspect of the mind that still identifies with things. That is eradicated when mana, when conceit is eradicated, and arahatship. Now, clinging to sensual pleasures, when does that go away? When one becomes an anagami, clinging to sensual pleasures goes away. Clinging to views in terms of wrong view goes away at stream entry. Clinging to rites and rituals goes away at stream entry. When a noble disciple has thus understood clinging, the origin of clinging, the cessation of clinging, and the way leading to the cessation of clinging, he here and now makes an end of suffering.

In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true dhamma. Now, can you let go of clinging? In a moment. You can let go of it. You can recognize here is the mind starting to make associations with sensual experiences. Here is the mind starting to defend the position, trying to defend a certain kind of view. Here is the mind trying to identify with certain processes. Here is the mind trying to defend this rite and ritual with the idea that it will take you to nirvana. You can recognize that and you can let it go.

By letting that go, there won't be any becoming. There won't be any habitual reactions rooted in that action of association. And thereby, there won't be any birth of action dependent upon that kind of identity, because bhava, that is being, is also the concretizing of a self. It's the cooking up of a self where it's fully formed, from which there is the birth of action. So when we say birth of action, we're saying it's birth of self-ish action, not selfish in the form of greedy or selfish in that way, but self-rooted action, taking the action to be personal. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question.

With the arising of feeling, there is the arising of craving. With the cessation of feeling, there is a cessation of craving. The way leading to the cessation of craving is just this noble eightfold path. So when we talk about craving, now this is what we talk about: identifying with an experience. If it's a sensual experience, that is feeling, that is vedana. You take that vedana to be me, mine, and myself, and from there, craving arises. How do you go from feeling to craving?

The bridge between feeling and craving are the underlying tendencies that I spoke about yesterday. The seven types of underlying tendencies. There is the underlying tendency towards craving, towards grasping. The underlying tendency towards resistance, pushing away. The underlying tendency towards ignorance. The underlying tendency towards views. The underlying tendency towards doubt. The underlying tendency towards conceit. And the underlying tendency towards being or power. When there is a pleasant feeling, that pleasant feeling is just a feeling, but because you have a self-image in the mind, it relates that feeling to that sense of self and says, this feeling is good to me. And therefore there is the underlying tendency, the potential for craving to arise, and say, I want more of it. When that self-identification process is there, there can be the power that says, I want more of it, and I want to be more like that. There can be the conceit that says, I am that. There can be the view which defends and says, and has different kinds of opinions about that experience. There can be the doubt in relation to what is wholesome and unwholesome

regarding that experience. And there can be ignorance, not being aware of the four noble truths of that experience itself, not recognizing that this experience is actually impermanent, dependent upon causes and conditions, therefore not worth holding on to, and therefore not me, mine, and myself. This whole process of the three characteristics is very important to understand at the level of feeling.

Now when we talk about anatta, we're saying that which is not self. Here the Buddha is saying, let's say that there is a self. In ancient India, there was the concept of this self. And that self was said to be all-pervasive, eternal, and the source of happiness. And the Buddha says, we're going to use that as a touchstone. We're going to use that as a touchstone to see if what you're experiencing is actually self. Within your modalities of experience, through contact with the Madi, through feeling, through perception, through intentions, through awareness, what you realize is those are dependent upon causes and conditions. Which means, if they are dependent on causes and conditions, you take away the causes and conditions, then they're gone.

Which means that they are impermanent. Already you see that it is impermanent. If what is impermanent, if it is happy, if it's joyful, if it is impermanent, it is likely to change. Therefore there is inherent suffering in the pleasurable feeling. And of course, painful feeling in itself is also dukkha. So all of that being impermanent and liable to cause suffering means that these cannot be considered to be self. So the Buddha never talked about whether there is a self or whether there is not a self. All he pointed out to saying is, see that all conditioned experience does not belong to any kind of self.

There is no underlying permanent self in any experience there. Once you understand that, you take things in person. You don't see them as me, mine, or myself. When that happens, none of those underlying tendencies arise. And when none of those underlying tendencies arise, they cannot bridge to full-blown craving for sensual pleasures, which says, I want that, or I don't want that, or I identify with that, or craving for existence, which says, I want to be that, or craving for non-existence, which says, I don't want to be that. So can you, 6R, creeping?

That's the whole crux of the matter, right? You have to identify when the tightness and tension arises in relation to an experience, and you realize that the mind says, I want that, or I hate that, or I want to be that. When you can recognize that, you can see what craving is starting to come. You can recognize that, release your attention from that, relax the tightness and tension, come back to the smile, and be free of that craving. So this delineation point, everything from ignorance all the way up to feeling, all of that is old karma that you have inherited. The Buddha has said that karma is to be experienced and felt.

But now you have a choice after this experience or through this experience. You can choose to take that experience personally and therefore cause further suffering through the mechanics of craving, clinging, and habitual tendencies, and then act from there, causing yourself more suffering. Or you can recognize the craving and clinging and let it go before it becomes full-blown suffering.

Allow that feeling just to pass, because it will pass, whether it's a pleasant experience, an unpleasant experience, or a neutral experience. If you just understand this one thing, which is all things are impersonal. Don't take anything personal. Everything else will fall into place. If you stop taking things personally, all experiences will be fully experienced, but there won't be a thirst. There won't be that tanha, there won't be that craving for more of that experience. It will just be an experience, that's it. It will continue.

And the mind will remain free of any kind of underlying tendencies. The mind will be free of any kind of defilements. Free of any kind of fetters. A mind without craving, if you will. So to let go of craving, it requires the utmost attention. But you cannot force that attention either. You can't be like, I am going to be attentive 100%. That's already a feeling for existence, isn't it? I want to do it this way. Yeah, sure, you can have the wholesome inclination and say, I want to be more mindful.

But it's not a process of constructing that experience. It's a process of relaxing into it. Just relax into the moment. Allow the mind to observe everything as it actually is. Yatha bhuta nana dassana. Equanimity. Balanced mind, just watching everything with ease. Not letting the mind grasp onto this or that, just saying, as soon as you recognize the mind saying, oh, I really like that, that's really interesting to me. Now you're going to be like, oh, I want more of that. Or, that's really displeasurable, I hate that, I don't want that. As soon as you start to recognize these kinds of thoughts coming up to the surface,

you can just recognize them and let them go using the right effort. And in that moment you experience peace. Nothing else needs to be done with it. So when a noble disciple has understood craving, the origin of craving, the cessation of craving, and the way leading to the cessation of craving, he here and now makes an end of suffering. He here and now makes an end of suffering.

As soon as you 6R that, you have let go of suffering in that moment. There's nothing else to do after that. Then the mind is free. Of course it takes practice, because another thought comes up and says, oh, I'd rather like this. Or another clinging comes up, or another becoming comes up. So what do you do there? Keep six-guarding. Keep recognizing, mindfulness, let go, let go, let go.

When you get to that quiet mind, and some of you are already in quiet mind, what is the tendency of the mind? Oh, that's an interesting thought. Let me see where this goes. And then when that happens, what happens? More thoughts come up, and it all branches out. And now you're no longer in quiet mind. But if you just use quiet mind as your base, and let the thoughts just pass, there's no engagement with any thought. Then you're already free from that.

See, the mind, the Buddha, that's what the Buddha said. The mind is luminous. Luminous is this mind. The mind is naturally luminous. The mind is naturally aware. But the problem is when the mind starts to engage in its different contents. As soon as there's attention given to that, it makes the contents grow. But if you recognize that and let it go and come back to that relaxed mind, everything else falls into place. Nothing else to do. That's why I say there's nowhere to go, nothing to achieve, nowhere to be.

Feeling born of eye contact, born of ear contact, born of nose contact, born of tongue contact, born of body contact, born of mind contact. With the arising of contact, there is the arising of feeling. With the cessation of contact, there is the cessation of feeling. The way leading to the cessation of feeling is just this noble, painful path. When a noble disciple has thus understood feeling, the origin of feeling, the cessation of feeling, and the way leading to the cessation of feeling, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view, and has arrived at this true dhamma. You cannot 6R feel annoying.

But you can 6R your reactions in relation to that feeling, which are the underlying tendencies. The same way you cannot 6R the hindrance away. You can only recognize your reactions to that hindrance, whether it's pain or some kind of mental hindrance, and let go of your reactions, your reactivity to that, before it becomes a default one, craving, clinging, and becoming.

So this process of right effort is actually identifying what is happening in relation to any kind of experience, and letting go of the need to control that experience. Letting go of the need to identify with that experience. And letting it just be there. So you can't 6R a feeling. But you can 6R your reactions in relation to that feeling. And then just let the feeling be. The feeling arises and passes away dependent upon contact.

There are these six classes of contact. Eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, and mind contact. With the arising of the sixfold base, there is the arising of contact. With the cessation of the sixfold base, there is a cessation of contact. The way leading to the cessation of contact is just this noble eightfold path. Contact. It's the trigger that gives rise to the actual experience.

In a sense, you can cease feeling and you can cease contact. When you achieve Nirodha Samapatti, when you achieve the cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness, there is no more contact going on and therefore there is no more feeling going on, no more perception going on. No more awareness. Not even any awareness to know that you are in cessation, perception, feeling, and consciousness.

Remember, this is different from the asanyata means. Asanyata means that there is no perception there. True, it sounds the same as Nirodha. But the difference is, in the asanyata, when the mind comes out of that, there is no contact with the panna. There is no wisdom that arises. But with Nirodha, or Nirodha Samapatti, the mind becomes unconditioned, makes contact with the unconditioned, and experiences Nibbana. So you can cease contact.

It's not like you can cease contact, though. Because contact is happening all the time. That's contact right there. All the time. When you're hearing my voice, that's contact. And then the feeling and the perception of that voice. When you're seeing me, there's contact constantly. When you go into the realm of infinite consciousness and you see the arising and passing away of consciousness, you're seeing contact coming and going. Contact, contact, contact, contact. Because contact is made up of three components, right? It's the sense-based, the object of the sense-based coming together. Dependent upon that is the arising of the sense-based consciousness. And the joining of the three is contact.

Now that contact can be imbued with craving, because that's dependent upon formations, down up the link, up the links of dependent origination, which we're going to discuss in a minute. Do you guys want to take a moment to just stretch and take a little break? We're almost done. Can you just repeat the last three senses? So, the sense-based, the sense-based object, so the I in form, and the sense-based consciousness, dependent upon the two. Want to take a minute to just recover? When we release, isn't that sort of breaking your contact?

There are these six bases, the eye base, the ear base, the nose base, the tongue base, the body base, and the mind base. With the arising of mentality-materiality, there is the arising of the sixfold base. With the cessation of mentality-materiality, there is the cessation of the sixfold base. The way leading to the cessation of the sixfold base is just this noble eightfold path. So the sixth sense bases, that's what we're talking about here. From the sixth sense bases, there can be contact. So when we talk about contact, we need three things for contact, right? We need a sense base, we need the object of a sense base, and we need the consciousness of the sense base.

A person might still have their eyes, but they might be blind. There might be rupa, there might be stuff in front of them, but if there's no consciousness of the I, then there cannot be any contact. So if the sense base is impaired in some way, that might not give rise to contact. In this way, when there's the cessation of a sense base, there's the cessation of a feeling. But also, when you are in the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, it is understood that the faculties are clear. There is a question which we'll explore in a few days in one of the Suttas, which is, what is the difference between a dead person and one in cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness?

In one who is dead, the sense faculties are broken up, no longer functional. But in one who is in cessation, the sense faculties are said to be clear. Your sense faculties are always impeded by traffic of data packets of sensory information, constantly, constantly. Every time you're seeing something, it's just constant barrage of photons in the eye. Every time you're hearing something, it's constant barrage of sound waves. One who is in cessation, their sense faculties are clear, because there is no more impediment of receiving any kind of input.

Because there's no more consciousness there. The sixth sense bases are dependent upon mentality and materiality. Now, you can't 6R the sense bases themselves, but you can 6R all the way until you enter cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, and thereby no sixth sense bases are functional in that time period, so long as the mind has ceased. Now, in order for the sixth sense bases to function, they need mentality and materiality. In other words, the Sixth Sense Bases are part of mentality-materiality.

They are physical, right? The eyes, the ears, the nose, the body, the tongue, and then the mind, let's say the brain. They are physical. They are part of materiality. They are made up of the four great elements, the four states of matter. And in order for them to function, they require mental activity. They require mental input. That is the mentality-materiality.

If that is not there, the sixth sense basis will not function, and thereby there won't be any feeling, let alone craving, clinging, becoming, and so on. So when you 6R, you can 6R all the way until you have cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. And even there, the sense faculties are not active. There is no more contact. There is no more mentality going on.

And what is mentality-materiality? What is the origin of mentality-materiality? What is the cessation of mentality-materiality? What is the way leading to the cessation of mentality-materiality? Feeling, perception, volition, contact, and attention. These are called mentality. The four great elements and the material form derived from the four great elements, these are called materiality. So this mentality and this materiality are what is called mentality-materiality.

With the arising of consciousness, there is the arising of mentality-materiality. With the cessation of consciousness, there is the cessation of mentality-materiality. The way leading to the cessation of mentality and materiality is just this noble eightfold path. When a noble disciple has thus understood mentality and materiality, the origin of mentality and materiality, the cessation of mentality and materiality, and the way leading to the cessation of mentality and materiality, he here and now makes an end of suffering.

In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. Mentality. This is mind. Mind, in order to function, is dependent upon the body. In order for you to know you have a body, you need a mind. Mind is known by its faculties of contact, feeling, perception, intention, and attention. In essence, these are the five aggregates.

Through contact, you experience form. Through contact, you experience feeling. You experience perception. You have the formations through which intention arises. Or through intention, which formations arise. And then awareness or consciousness arises through attention. Wherever you put your attention, the spotlight of attention, that's where consciousness flows. So this is, in talking about the five aggregates, when you are in cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, you don't have a mind. And you don't have a mind to know that you have a body. Therefore, you don't have the sense basis. Because there is no consciousness.

Sure, functionally the sense bases are there. Functionally, the body is there. Functionally, the mentality is there. Now, with the upcoming research on what happens when you're in cessation, perception, feeling, and consciousness, from the University of Amsterdam, we'll get more clarity on what's actually happening in the brain in terms of is there perception, is there feeling, and so on. But the understanding here is that mentality allows you to have contact. Allows you to have feeling. Allows you to have perception. Allows you to have intention. Allows you to have attention. So the faculty of contact, which are the things in the brain or in the mind that allow you to perceive content, allow you to have the process of contact.

So there is the faculty and there is the process. The faculty of contact, which is, let's say, an organ or a receptor or some kind of function within the mind, that facilitates the process of contact to happen. The faculty of feeling which facilitates the process of feeling. The faculty of perception which allows the process of perception. The faculty of intention, the faculty of attention, which allow these processes to happen. This is what encompasses the mind. And the mind can be seen in different ways. There is the mano, the citta, and the vinnana. The vinnana is the consciousness. The citta is the mindset. And the mano can be understood as the physical organ of the brain.

But the mind also is not just limited to the brain or limited to the heart, as some traditions would say, or some people would say. The mind encompasses everything from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. And even beyond, this is why it is understood that the mind can perceive things outside of its own body on an extrasensory perception level, let's say. We won't get into all of that, but I'm just saying the mind, as we understand it, is understood through its process of contact, feeling, perception, intention, and attention. And this form that we experience, this body that we experience, this is made up of the four great elements. The earth element, the water element, the air element, and the fire element.

This is the solidity, the liquid state, the gaseous state, and the heat, the temperature in the body. In one who is in cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, heat and vitality are still present. So the four great elements which make up the body are still present. It's not like they cease in that sense. But here what Sariputta is pointing out is, if there is no mentality-materiality, if there is no mind, functional mind, if there is no functional materiality, and there cannot be any functional sense base,

if there is no functional sense base, contact would not be possible, and therefore feeling would not be possible, and the potential for craving, ending, becoming, and birth would not be possible. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhu is delighted and rejoiced in the medical site with those words, then they ask him a further question. What friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands consciousness, the origin of consciousness, the cessation of consciousness, and the way leading to the cessation of consciousness. In that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

And what is consciousness? What is the origin of consciousness? What is the cessation of consciousness? What is the way leading to the cessation of consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness. With the arising of formations, there is the arising of consciousness. With the cessation of formations, there is the cessation of consciousness. The way leading to the cessation of consciousness is just this noble eightfold path. When a noble disciple has thus understood consciousness, the origin of consciousness, the cessation of consciousness, and the way leading to the cessation of consciousness, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

Consciousness here is referring to the awareness of sensory experiences. Without consciousness, there cannot be the awareness of mentality-materiality. But without mentality-materiality, there cannot be the arising of consciousness. So they are interdependent. One cannot be without the other. So when there is consciousness, there can be contact. That contact is dependent upon the sixth sense base, which is dependent upon mentality-materiality. Now, there is another way of understanding consciousness as being the mindset, the citta, which is where we talk about mano, vinnana, and citta being synonymous in one way. There's a sutta in which the Buddha says there's a way in which sutta, vinnana, and mano have the same meaning but different terminologies and different meanings with different terminologies.

And this is in that sutta, this is where the word monkey mind comes from. The Buddha calls the mind like a monkey jumping from one branch to the other. So this mindset, if this mindset is tainted, think about the mindset like a window, the consciousness like the window. If the formations are rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion, then it will be defiled, that consciousness will be defiled. There are sixteen defilements that can defile that consciousness, things like envy, jealousy, hatred, stinginess, things like that can defile the mindset. Once the mindset is defiled, the inclination of the mind, which then shows or informs how the being is experiencing something, can give rise to full-blown craving. This is what I mean by craving being in each of the links of dependent origination. If the formations, that is to say, they are mental, bodily, and verbal sankharas, if they are rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion, they color the consciousness.

That consciousness then colors the way the contact is experienced and then the feeling is experienced. That can give rise to underlying tendencies, which can give rise to full-blown craving, clinging, and becoming. So it says, saying, Good friend, the bhikkhus delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they asked him a further question. But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When, friends, a noble disciple understands formations, the origin of formations, the cessation of formations, and the way leading to the cessation of formations. In that way, he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

And what are formations? What is the origin of formations? What is the cessation of formations? What is the way leading to the cessation of formations? There are these three kinds of formations: the bodily formation, the verbal formation, the mental formation. With the cessation of ignorance, there is a cessation of formations. The way leading to the cessation of formations is just this noble eightfold path. That is, when a noble disciple has thus understood formations, the origin of formations, the cessation of formations, and the way leading to the cessation of formations, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

So formations, sankharas or samskaras, they are carriers of information and carriers of karma. Like I said, if the formations are rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion, if they are dependent upon ignorance, they will taint the consciousness that arises and give the potential of craving to arise, provide the potentials for craving to arise. These are the abhisankharas. Now here's a question.

What links of dependent origination, if any, are present in the mind without craving? The feeling would be there. All the way up to feeling. All the way up to feeling. But no ignorance. But no ignorance. So ignorance is replaced by right view, wisdom. And then the formations are no longer rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion. So the consciousness is said to be clear, untainted. And then from there, the mentality-materiality gives rise to the six-sense base, the contact is not imbued with any craving, the feeling will have no underlying tendencies.

Like Sariputta says, he has extirpated the underlying tendency to conceit, I am, abolished the underlying tendency of aversion, and eradicated the underlying tendency towards craving. So for the mind that is fully awakened, there will be right view, formations will still be there, but they will not be giving rise to any greed, hatred, and delusion. Consciousness will be there, mentality-materiality will be there, the six-sense base will be there, contact will be there, feeling will be there. But because that mind is always mindful, there is no scope for craving to arise. Therefore, no clinging, no becoming, no birth, or new action. But a fully awakened mind produces actions, doesn't it?

It thinks, it speaks, it acts. So what is the difference there? Now there is no more ignorance. The ignorance here is the ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. That's gone. Now there's full wisdom. But the formations that arise, arise dependent upon contact. This is the other thing for you to understand. We see dependent origination as a linear process, but actually what's going on is there are feedback loops.

When contact arises, it feeds back to formations to give rise to a certain kind of consciousness that then allows you to be aware of the feeling. If that feeling is taken personally, it feeds back to the ignorance. But if there is none of that, then there will be a weakening of the ignorance. So now there are these two types of formations in terms of the synapses, right? The synapses that are rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion. If you continue to act out of greed, hatred, and delusion, if the intentions are rooted in greed, hatred, and delusion, then those formations will be strengthened, those formations will be activated, give rise to consciousness that is tainted, and give rise to the potential for further craving from feeling.

But if you become mindful and you let go of any kind of craving, you weaken those formations until there is only those formations that are purified, pure formations. These pure formations are just carriers of karma for the one who is fully awakened. That is why, in the case of Angulimala, he still experienced pain. In the case of Moggallana, he still experienced the effects of his unwholesome karma in the past, prior to full awakening. But he didn't produce any new karma. He's just experiencing the old karma facilitated by the formations.

So now these formations are dependent upon ignorance. Now we'll talk about that. Saying, good friend, the bhikkhu is delighted and rejoiced in the Venerable Sariputta's words. Then they ask him a further question. But friend, might there be another way in which a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma? There might be, friends. When a noble disciple understands ignorance, the origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading to the cessation of ignorance, in that way he is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. And what is ignorance? What is the origin of ignorance? What is the cessation of ignorance? What is the way leading to the cessation of ignorance? Not knowing about suffering, not knowing about the origin of suffering, not knowing about the cessation of suffering, and not knowing about the way that leads to the cessation of suffering.

This is ignorance. The mundane ignorance is not being able to apply the Four Noble Truths. Ignoring the Four Noble Truths. Then the level below that is the ignorance where you've never been introduced to the Four Noble Truths. There's nothing you can do about it. But once you're introduced to it, that ignorance goes away. But if you stop being mindful and not being able to apply the form of the truth, that ignorance continues to be strengthened. Now, with the arising of the taints, the asavas, there is the arising of ignorance. With the cessation of the taints, there is the cessation of ignorance. The way leading to the cessation of ignorance is just this noble eightfold path.

When a noble disciple has thus understood ignorance, the origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading to the cessation of ignorance, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way too, a noble disciple is one of right view and has arrived at this true Dhamma. When you go through the levels of awakening, you start to let go of levels and layers of ignorance. As you start to continue to apply wisdom that is facilitated by mindfulness, but every time you are not able to recognize when your mind takes something personally, it feeds energy back to that ignorance. That energy of ignorance then feeds back to the karmic formations, and down the links of dependent origination it goes.

At feeling, you still have the choice to take that personally again, or to see for what it is, that it is impermanent and impersonal, and let go of it, thereby not producing any craving, clinging, becoming, birth, action, or further suffering. So ignorance is dependent upon the taints, it says, the asavas. I will talk about what these asavas are.

What is the cessation of the taints? What is the way leading to the cessation of the taints? There are these three taints, the taint of sensual desire, the taint of being, and the taint of ignorance. With the arising of ignorance, there is the arising of the taints. With the cessation of ignorance, there is the cessation of the taints. The way leading to the cessation of the taints is just this noble eightfold path.

So the asavas, they are the subscribem for this whole process of one arising of dependent origination. What is the taint of sensual desire? Anytime you take personally a sensual experience, and feed into it through craving, you feed back to the taint of sensual desire, which then gives rise to further ignorance. Anytime you have a desire to become something, or not to become something, you feed back into the taint of the desire for being. And anytime you have a lack of mindfulness, you feed back to the taint of ignorance, which gives rise to further ignorance. Now, as you saw, ignorance is dependent upon the taints, but the taints are also dependent upon ignorance. Because at the very, very foundation of this, what it's talking about is, when there is a lack of attention, a lack of mindfulness,

there is going to be the arising of the taints and the arising of ignorance, from which then the rest of the contaminated woes of the penicillation arise. But every time you 6R, what are you doing? You recognize, you bring up mindfulness. You bring up the other enlightenment factors, and you let go of ignorance bit by bit through that mindfulness, through that right effort.

So if you catch yourself starting to have a desire to become something, you catch yourself with the thought that I want this or I don't want this, you notice that tightness and tension and you let it go, you are weakening the fetters. You are weakening the taint of sensual desire. Weakening the taint of being. You are weakening the taint of ignorance.

So this is the way to understand it. It all comes down to having attention, proper attention. As you continue to do this, bit by bit those taints go away. Now, in the case of one who becomes an anagami, they have completely destroyed the taint of sensual desire. In one who becomes fully awakened, they have completely destroyed the taint of ignorance and the taint of the desire for being.

That's why another name for an Arahant is khinasava, one who has destroyed the taints. And the way to destroy the taints, bit by bit, is to become mindful whenever the mind has sensual desire, a desire for being, or a general lack of attention. The more you understand this, the more you see this, the closer you start to get towards full awakening. The more you sit in meditation, in walking meditation, in any moment of your life, for those few moments you experience Nibbana. For those few moments your mind is fully awake. But what happens? Then another thing comes up. Then you just have to keep letting go. Keep letting go. Keep relaxing.

Until the mind becomes fully void, fully empty of any kind of craving, any kind of desire for being, any kind of ignorance, any kind of wrong view, any kind of conceit, any kind of identification process. When a noble disciple has thus understood the taints, the origin of the taints, the cessation of the taints, and the way leading to the cessation of the taints, he entirely abandons the underlying tendency to lust. He abolishes the underlying tendency to aversion. He extirpates the underlying tendency to the view and conceit 'I am.' And by abandoning ignorance and arousing true knowledge, he here and now makes an end of suffering. In that way, too, a noble disciple is one of right view, whose view is straight, who has unwavering confidence in the Dhamma, and has arrived at this true Dhamma.

That is what the Venerable Sariputta said. The bhikkhus were delighted and satisfied in the venerable's words. Questions? Yes, there are. So, Erisa, you're having three, four questions. Yeah. I'm happy to go later. So, I think one of them is about the structure of this sutta. I think one of the things that they've said is that the way they keep asking, is there another way to understand the same thing, like, you know, that but friend, might there be another way, in the last one of them, to attain right view. Yeah, so it doesn't mean that all of these sections and these definitions which are given about the themes, about aging, about God and all of these things.

That doesn't mean that they're essentially exactly the way you're trying to understand any one of them deeply, you know, it essentially gives you the understanding of the other way to the end because of the way it's been explained. Is that correct? Yes, because what he's doing is he's applying the Four Noble Truths in any situation of any of the links. When you understand it in one way fully, then you've completely understood it. But that means, there's a way of understanding this, that means you've fully understood that particular link, you've fully abandoned the causes and conditions for that link, okay, and you have attained the cessation of that process and fully perfected the way leading to the cessation of that process. If you've done this, in essence, what he's talking about over and over and over again is how to apply wisdom, which is to apply the form of the truths in whatever is arising. Got it, got it.

That makes sense. Another comment and one question which I had was that in the very first section about wholesomeness, I found that that definition seemed to be a little cyclic, like he was trying to define what is right view, then I think within that he went and he defined what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, and in what is unwholesome he said that having wrong view is unwholesome, so I found that to be, like, what to do. Yeah, welcome to Buddhism. It's a cycle within cycles within cycles. But actually, yeah, so the wholesome and the unwholesome, that's primarily what happens when you come to a certain level of right view, meaning now that right view is your conscience, the ability to tell what is wrong and what is right, what is wholesome and unwholesome.

But that also includes having wrong view. But that's a separate layer of what could be wrong view or what could be right view. So when he talks about right view, he's saying once you get to understanding what is wrong view and what is right view, you have a level of right view. Then when you understand what is the rest of the wholesome and unwholesome, and what is the origin of the wholesome and unwholesome, you have another level of right view. And then he gets into the application of the four noble truths, from starting from nutrient all the way down to ignorance and viasperas. And another one which is related to the point which you said, I think you said at one point, that during our practice we should just let our mind see the way things are.

Yeah. So, one of the things which I've been facing in relation to that has been that I feel that it just happens at very, very random times, that I would say around one third of the time, that I get this very strong tightness around my forehead, and no matter what I do, whether I let go, whether I don't let go, whatever it is that I do, it just seems to stay there. And it seems to go away on its own. So in a time like this, is it like, at least that part which you said about, let the mind watch what it wants with ease. So although I am, I don't know how to bring in the ease and do the practice when that happens.

What am I doing now? So well, the thing is, you want to see that that pain is not you, not yours, not yourself. That's really the crux of it. So just divorcing the idea that this pain belongs to me, creating that layer of distance between you observing and the pain itself, that tends to relax the mind automatically. The moment you look at the pain, you're relating to the pain with a self. And this is just my last question. I think one of the things that you said was that there is no need to analyze or to look at any of the entrances which do come up, but one of the things which I felt was that I couldn't help but notice that many of the entrances which did happen to come up seemed to point towards those things that I was usually worrying about.

In my mind, and it seemed to have a very strong pattern. So is that something that I should consciously try to stop thinking about? Well, that's the thing, right? You can apply this process and say why or how is that thought arising, and then you realize the origin of this thought is this, and then you need to let go of that. And it's like a domino effect. Everything then falls into place.

So doesn't it mean that it's all right to see these associations between these thoughts, or is that something that I should not look at at all? In the process of the practice, it will come to you. For you to try to analyze means you start to get caught up in that whole process. Allow it to happen naturally.

In this case, so it is alright if it comes to me, I don't need to find it. Exactly. Really, thanks. Thank you so much. Perception and feeling, they are both aggregates, but they are also mental formations. Yeah. Okay. So mental formations facilitate the process of feeling and perception. So they, like bodily formations, verbal formations, and mental formations. Body formations are related to processes of the body like inhalation and exhalation. Body formations have to do with thinking and examining thought. You see something, and then the mind takes that, analyzes it, perfects on it, and then wants to express what it is that it is seeing or experiencing.

The process of being able to feel and perceive something happens through mental formations. Now, actually, there's three layers of it. There's the mental formations that facilitate the process of feeling and perception. Then there's the faculty of feeling and perception in mentality and materiality. And then there's the process of feeling and perception. So mental formations, the reason why feeling and perception are tied to mental formations is because all feeling, all perception, even if it has to do with the five physical sense bases, it all is experienced by the mind in the end. And that's why it's said to be mental formation. This is where in the Dhammapada it says, mind is the forerunner of all states, mind is chief.

Because no matter what you're experiencing through any sense base, it all completely comes back to the mind. It's the mind that is interpreting what it is experiencing. It is the mind which is saying, this is the experience and this is what I'm experiencing. That's one question. Yesterday you mentioned Papancha, so where does that fit in this? Papancha is craving, clingy and becoming. Tomorrow we're going to go deeper into what Papancha is actually. But Papancha is basically when the mind thinks about something, takes that process personally and creates this whole, you know, sandcastle of ideas based on whatever it is it first experiences. The same as what will publish it? Not necessarily, it can include verbal formations, but not necessarily, because it includes the process of creating, thinking, and becoming.

Deva and Brahma-lokas are in that way, say, but by not having materiality. There is materiality in the Deva and Brahma-lokas. There is no materiality in the infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, and neither perception nor perception. I mean, the human life is the best to experience the dhamma, because you have just enough happiness and just enough suffering for even more to lead you towards the dhamma. How do we learn? Because Bandhiji has sometimes said that whenever there is a such Dhamma discourse going on, they say that Devas and Brahmas are there. You're going to have to ask him, if he's not going to have to ask him. I can't sleep for him. Whether it happens, like, for such discourse, do devas or brahmas, do they learn?

Do they learn? Yeah. You need to ask them if they learn anything. Okay. Oh, we had a cat yesterday, right? My request is, there is a contact of the consciousness and the experience arises, and the moment the experiences are personalized, they become the craving, and they lead to dukkha. So the whole message in this is that don't personalize the experiences so that it doesn't become about craving. Impersonalize whatever the experiences arise. Normally whatever the experiences arise, immediately the I comes. If I have a headache, I go to the doctor and say that I have a headache. Now the question is that, can you slightly give some more examples so that it really becomes very clear that yes, I think the experiences can be looked at or seen in an impersonalized way.

Yes. So also you have to understand, just on the very mundane level, if someone says, my head hurts, or I am feeling pain, the usage of the word me, mine, or myself, or I, doesn't always denote that they're taking it personally. Because even a fully awakened person, for transaction purposes, for interactive purposes, will use the words like me, mine, myself, and I. But what's happening there is, if you have a pain in the head, there's a self-image. That's the thing you have to see. The mind has grown up with creating a sense of self through many kinds of experiences.

Immediately it will think, how does this benefit me? How does this affect that sense of me? So that sense of self is ingrained in that mind. And so every time there is an experience, it naturally says, that somehow affects me. That is mine. That is myself. Or that is me. But if you start to see with wisdom, and that wisdom is basically the right view for the Dhamma, which allows you to see things as they actually are, which is looking at the source of how that arose.

The painful feeling, for example, let's say somebody has a headache. That headache happened because maybe it's a migraine headache, or maybe it's just a headache because they haven't slept well, or whatever it is. But in reality, if you look at that pain, you realize that pain arose due to some previous circumstances, due to some previous choices, due to some previous causes and conditions.

So the I that's there, that's involved in that process of this is my dream, it takes responsibility for that because it says, I decided to do this. This was my choice. But even that choice is predicated on previous causes and conditions. In other words, the ability to see anything as an experience, whether it's painful, pleasant, or neutral, is just being aware of it as it actually is, without adding to the eye.

There is a Sutta in which the Buddha is approached by Bahiya. This is a very short one. And Bahiya tells him, I need to know the Dhamma right now. I could just die in the next moment. So give me a teaching that is very simple and very short. And the Buddha says, In the seen, there is only the seen. In the heard, there is only the heard. In the sensed, there is only the sensed. In the cognized, there is only the cognized. When, Bahiya, there is no you in the seen, in the heard, in the cognized, in the sensed. There is no you in that. There is no you before that. There is no you after that.

Just that is the end of suffering. So it is a constant awareness of how the mind is looking at an experience. It's a constant awareness of seeing. Is the mind saying, this pain is mine? Is there an intrinsic idea that this pain belongs to me? Or are you able to separate the I from the pain? And that's a process of just taking a step back and observing. As soon as you observe, you realize everything that you observe is not you.

The observer is not the same as the observed. I can get a little more subtle than that and say that even the observer is the observed. But let's leave that aside. But the moment you become aware of something, you've already created a separateness. And so now you are able to have that space to see, oh, this pain does not belong to me. It's just pain. Or this pleasurable feeling does not belong to me. It's just pleasure.

Or this feeling in general is just feeling. If you can have the awareness and mindfulness to be able to see that, then there's nothing that we need to do. Then the pain is just there and it will subside when it subsides. Or the pleasure is there and the pleasure will subside when it subsides. But that self-image, that conceit, is intrinsic in all minds until they let go of it, until they become aware of it and let go of it. So all of that is predicated upon becoming aware every time the mind becomes or takes something personally. Becoming aware where the mind says, oh wait, I'm feeling this pain. And then using right effort to recognize that, release the attention, relax, and just observe.

There you will see that actually there is some relief there. Not from the pain, but relief from taking the pain in person. Is there a case which has that story which you just mentioned about the shortest lesson by the Buddha? Bahiya. Bahiya Sutta. B-A-H-Y-A. Bahiya Sutta. This is in the Udana. Udana, U-D-A-N-A, which is part of the Khuddaka Nikaya. To build on that, this chapter, the combination of the sutta and what you wrote, something clicked for me with anatta that I just had not clicked before. And anatta is one that I have, theoretically or logically, I said, okay, I should get this one, but something like this. But multiple times you said, when you practice the 6R's in this way, you know what first arose in the mind, then you know its origin, and you cannot go of the cause of that arising, but you said, so you start with what has arisen, understand it, let it go, then understand the origin of it.

So multiple times you talk about not just 6R'ing whatever is happening, but the origin beneath that being, if I understand correctly, taking it personal and creating and not identifying with it. Right, yeah. With that, as we're going through this process, whether we are sitting in meditation or whether we're out living life outside of meditation, as we are going through that effort, as we are 6R'ing, is there benefit to bring some sort of awareness to not just basically how I've been doing previous to this? If something comes up and it distracts me, then I sit down, like that, which is kind of an automatic response. But this sounds like having some moment of awareness as well, that

Not just am I 6R'ing something that is a distraction, but it's a distraction because of my underlying tendency to identify with it. Yes. Yes. So that's the function of that underlying tendency to become something, or the underlying tendency to identify with something. That's the undue attention that's being given to the hindrance. But as soon as you take your attention away from that and bring it back here, the undue attention that's continuing to cause that hindrance to continue, that's continuing to strengthen that hindrance, that undue attention being released, that hindrance no more arises.

So, outside of meditation, when we're just going through life, is there a benefit or do you have any suggestions? And you did mention one later here, I believe you said, when a feeling arises, pause and allow to let go of the idea that that feeling is related to me or something like that. You said you can make a practice of recognizing the three characteristics. So, in day-to-day, which is the majority of life that we're not sitting in meditation, adding in different practices that can assist us in these sorts of insights or awarenesses. So just having some sort of practice to disidentify or to recognize when you're identifying or something. Yeah. So that's, you might have seen that phrase, attention rooted in reality.

Right, yeah. Yeah. So that's my translation of Yoniso Manisikara, which basically means the attention that sees the origin of something. Yoni means the origin, the source of something. Manisikara actually literally means to take something to heart, paying attention to something. So being able to say, what caused this? What was the cause and condition for this? So if you are experiencing craving, if you are experiencing a hindrance in your day-to-day life, you can take a moment, step back, and say, what is causing this? And more often than not, you will see it's being caused because you're taking something personal.

And if you just let go of that, then everything just, that whole suffering around it just goes away. And then you see things as they actually are at that point, which is, it is actually impersonal, and it is actually impermanent. So the exercise is not to mentally repeat and say, this is impermanent, this is impersonal, but actually to use the 6R's in such a way to be able to say, oh, this arose because of cause and condition, and because I identified with it. If the mind just lets go, then there's no suffering around it. Now it actually sees that this has nothing to do with the me. It has nothing to do with I causing it or I controlling it.

And actually you will see there's relief in that. If you truly actually do it, you will find relief and you'll find that spaciousness in four of those few moments you'll experience in the world now. Is that what you meant in the previous chapter? I didn't quite understand where you said just being present or being in the moment is not all. Yeah, because being in the moment itself is a concept. If you try to be in the moment, you're causing yourself tightness and tension to say, I have to be in the moment. It's a matter of just relaxing into the moment. And then don't even say, I have to relax into the moment. Allow the mind to just settle down in the moment.

There, wisdom rises. The craving seems very far ahead in the game if we bring it back, and maybe catch it at a vibrational level? Where would vibration and sensory awareness, where does that drop in in the sequence? At the level of feeling. You can't do anything about your intention that was already there in terms of ignorance, formations, consciousness, all the way up to contact. But at the level of feeling, you can notice that subtle percolation of wanting to possess something, wanting to become something, wanting to push away something. If you notice it in the quality of the feeling itself, that's where you can let it go. That's the most, let's say, the tangible, the subtlest tangible level at which you can let go of the craving.

Okay, that's the first step, huh? Yeah. Okay. But then when you do that, what happens is in the next horizon of dependent origination, it weakens the ignorance, it weakens the formations, and so it becomes more automated for you to be able to recognize easier in subsequent moments when craving arises until it no longer arises. If one does recognize it, then is able to label it, such as wanting to become, reconstruct myself and still follows through on that action. And then it seems that my experience is maybe a fear of not becoming. So then I logically went to maybe fear of emptiness or nothingness.

And so, are there ways to become more comfortable with navigating in and out of non-becoming? So, that sense of fear that the mind is going to end or there's going to be an end of any kind of self is dependent upon a self-image that the mind holds. It's like a second sort of mind here somewhere that is constantly like, oh, this is me, this is mine, this is myself.

If you can notice, whether it's the essential craving, craving for existence, craving for non-existence, you're asking about the vibrational level. If you can notice any reactivity to an experience and let it go, then what remains is just a mind that's free. There's no notion of becoming or not becoming in that thing. Because the idea of becoming or not becoming is only tied to that second aspect of the mind, which says, this is me, this is mine, this is myself. And the word that just came up for me was arrogance. So it's another level of conceit. Conceit, exactly.

So what are the different types of conceit? There are, do you remember how many don't work? There's like a lot. Yeah. Like 77 types of conceit. Something like that. Ready? Never mind. I think it's less than that. Yeah, we're looking at if that's what's going on. I have a list I can send to you and maybe I can have Sora print that out if people are interested in seeing the different types of conceit. So it happens like there's these one, it's like numbered, one type of conceit all the way to something like 11 types of conceit or something. So you add all of that up together and those are the types of conceit that are possible in the mind.

So conceit in relation to, for example, conceit in relation to the five attributes. Conceit in relation to the feeling. Conceit in relation to what one possesses. Conceit in relation to one's own wisdom. Conceit in relation to pain and pleasure. Conceit in relation to praise and blame. Conceit in relation to loss and gain. Those kinds of things are there as well. So arrogance is a form of I exist, right? Arrogance is the conceit that is, it's the conceit of conceit. Yeah, of course. And we choose that one. Yeah. So if you can, I mean, if you can really try to practice this statement,

Experience everything fully. Experience everything fully, down to the most foundational level. Experience everything without adding any sense of mind. Try that as a practice. Then you'll get a preview of what that is. That conceitless mind. Experience everything fully, whether it's your eating, whether it's your walking, whether it's the meditation itself, whether it's a hindrance, whether it's painful, pleasure, pleasurable, whatever it is. Experience everything fully without adding a sense of I to it. Yeah, but it came with anatta. Yeah, exactly. So to focus on that more. Right. Can you talk a little bit more about how this self-image happened when we are a baby, a little baby? Little by little, this self-image is growing.

And also, there's one thing I don't know if it's in the Pali Canon, but in other traditions it's very important. It's called ahamkara, the I-maker. That's the conceit, the I-maker that you're talking about. I-making, me-making, my-making. Just another word for conceit. But this part I'm going to leave to a little bit about programming. That's how the sense of self works. Well, I mean, he's asking how does the sense of self arise when you're a baby? How does that happen? Yeah. This is just the

This is just kind of the scientific view, but it's another way of saying kamma, basically. That is that you're born with certain predispositions, and I call that program A. It's basically your evolved psychology. So, for example, babies are predisposed to be afraid of the dark. They're predisposed to obviously seek food and to latch onto their mother's breast, and this kind of thing. As humans, a lot of our evolved psychology is our social psychology. We've evolved in tribes for millions of years, so we really need that social approval.

And then as life goes on, everything that happens after birth is conditioning, which is program B. And that's all of our interactions with the environment, and that basically programs all sorts of habitual tendencies into us. You find out that the stove is hot, and so you burn your hand the first time, and you don't do that again.

Program B is built off of program A. So in other words, program A gives a predisposition to seek social approval, but then program B will tell you that a thumbs up on Facebook should feel good, and then you get a hit of dopamine from that. So program B is the conditioned mind, which is conditioned on top of the evolved mind, which you can think of as all your previous kamma from other lifetimes or from your ancestors, however you want to put it. And then program B is all of your kamma from this lifetime, and that's basically what we are: a collection of conditioned habits. Some of them are very ancient and deeply rooted, and then some of them are more conditioned, like collections of memories and associations throughout a lifetime. And then the good news is program C, which is our ability to basically reprogram the entire system, and that's meditation. That's the ability for us to observe the mind and observe programs A and B, and just that observation itself is enough to start to reprogram the system or to let go of identifying with it.

So that's kind of the three-program mind model, I guess, more of a scientific view of how the self gets conditioned. Okay, wow. I'll take the last three questions, so a few people. Since you mentioned these habitual tendencies of these programs, would it be right to say that a fully awakened mind will still have some habitual tendencies, just out of habit, not out of craving? Say he or she is used to walking in a particular way, like gait. Yeah, so that doesn't... the whole thing doesn't have to be reprogrammed, if I understand that more correctly? So there are some aspects of it which are

harmless in some way. So would that be correct? Yeah. In the suttas it talks about different kinds of arahants who had different kinds of, let's say, personalities, right? You had, who was a little bit more of a sterner character, you had, you know, you had certain arahants who had certain ways of speaking to people in terms of their use of words and language. So, for example, walking a certain way. There was one arahant who liked to skip from one rock to the other. It's just because he used to do that. He was childlike. And there's one, I don't know who, who loved to eat a lot of food.

So he used to eat a lot of food. So you could say those are remnants, those kind of personal traits, personality traits, might still be present. But it's just part of, let's say, the behavior. But habitual tendencies here have a very specific meaning in terms of reactivity to situations, how they react from an emotional standpoint more than anything else. But otherwise, they don't have their personalities. And, you know, when you were talking about us, Venerable Sariputta never faced in this. And, you know, I'm running out of adjectives to describe the way you put the whole talk together, and, you know, the fact that Sister Suga spoke today, you know, that speaks volumes about the kind of discourse that we had.

Yeah, I mean, I'm running all the boys as well, you know, I'm comfortably numb, can I say that? Yeah, I think everyone probably is. I have a question, a question related to feeling and craving. In this talk, I suddenly realized that I have a small tendency of six-hourly feeling. And I just noticed that even I am not allowing the feeling to manifest completely. Rather, I want to let go of that feeling in between. But you said, you shared that we cannot fix our feelings, feelings cannot be, feelings have to be felt, right? Yeah, yeah. The trying to let go of feeling has an adverse quality in the mind. That's what I'm saying, that exercise of experience everything fully, just don't add the I to it. That's it. Thank you.