Day 2 Setting in Motion the wheel of Dhamma -8 Fold Path

Three, four, and five. So what is three, four, and five? Three refuges, four noble truths, and five recollections. I'm sure some of you expected me to say five precepts, but the precepts are embedded in the four noble truths. So a lot of you have done this before, so you know what it means to wake up in the morning and take the refuges, take the precepts and do the recollections.

But have you wondered why we do that? Is it a ritual that we're doing or is it something more? Taking refuge is setting your mind up for success in the practice. It has nothing to do with whether you believe in the Buddha as your personal Lord and Savior. It has nothing to do with it. Instead, what we're doing when we're taking the refuges is we are being intentional with our day. We're being intentional with our life. We're being intentional with our practice.

When you say, the Buddha, what you're saying is you're taking refuge in what the Buddha represents, which is full awakening, the complete liberation of the mind, the freedom from the bondage of samsara. That's it. When you take refuge in the Dhamma, what you're saying is you're taking refuge in the teachings of the Buddha. And the Dhamma here is the full, complete understanding of what we call dependent origination.

Which means, really, if you were to look at what the Dhamma represents, it represents an understanding of karma. With the arising of this, there is the arising of that. With the cessation of this, there is the cessation of that. Which means that what I do has some kind of a reaction in my attention, my speech, and my actions.

Maybe I may not experience the fruits of that here and now, but at a future period of time, when the right causes and conditions are present, I may experience that. So we are taking refuge in that teaching, that we're standing by this teaching. What do we mean by, first of all, taking refuge? What does refuge mean? Sharanam.

That's the Pali or Saranam. Sorry, the Sanskrit. Or Saranam, which means in the Pali the same. Sharanagati. That is a word that you will hear a lot in schools of yoga and other Indian teachings. Specifically the Bhakti teachings. Sharanagati. In that context it means to take refuge in, to take shelter in, to surrender the mind, the heart, the spirit, the body, everything to a higher ideal.

So it is really understanding the importance of why am I doing this practice and what can I stand upon as a strong foundation. The Buddha represents, as I said, that ultimate liberation. The Dhamma here is the teachings, the Four Noble Truths. And the Sangha is the community of like-minded people. Here we are as a Sangha, temporarily.

For these next eight or nine days. And so we take refuge in the community. We take refuge in beautiful friendship. Ananda had said to the Buddha that it seems like beautiful friendship is an important factor for this path. And the Buddha says, do not say so, Ananda, do not say so. The entire path is beautiful friendship. What is the point having loving kindness and compassion and joy and equanimity if you cannot express it with the people in your sangha, with your friends?

You will see oftentimes in the suttas, they address one another as friend. That is what a sangha is. So taking refuge, in the community, that I can rely upon that foundation. How beautiful is that, to have that sense of security in the Triple Gem. The Four Noble Truths, that's the fourth one, right? So we'll get into that when we're talking about the Sutta I will be reading. while will know and recognize that this is a new addition to what you do in the morning when you take your precepts.

And I intended for this to be included because it really puts things into perspective. Right? You don't dilly-dally around. You know that you have limited time here, not only on retreat, but in this life. know what is going to happen the next moment. And it is a sort of kind of stoic attitude of realizing that indeed one day the people in my life will depart, whether through a broken relationship or through death, and that I am subject to the same things that they are subject to, illness and death and suffering and pain and so on. And that I am the inheritor of my karma. Whatever is happening in this moment, I can choose to decide whether I am beholden to it or I can be free from it.

The inheritor of karma, what does that actually mean? Karma is my inheritance. Karma is my family. Karma is my relatives. We didn't choose the karma that we're born with. We didn't choose the people in our life that we were born into. With family and relatives and so on. That's one aspect. But the second aspect is the only thing that you are in control of, so to speak, is how you choose to deal with the karma that comes in every given moment as it arises.

Do you choose to identify with it, take it personally, and cause yourself suffering? Or do you choose to see this as an impersonal process? Do you choose to see the identification and relax it? So that whatever karma is arising, arises and passes away without your input. Instead of your reaction, your reactivity that causes the further propagation of that karma, you take a pause.

And you respond with wisdom. That wisdom is rooted in the Four Noble Truths. So that's what we'll be talking about today. And I am going to be reading from the very first sermon of the Buddha after he became fully awakened. So this is Samyutta Nikaya 56.11, and it's called Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma. Thus have I heard on one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling in Varanasi in the deer park at Isipatana.

So whenever you hear thus have I heard, that is Ananda speaking to the council of arahants about what the Buddha has spoken, or if he was not present the Buddha would have told him. Ananda had a very good memory, he had a photographic memory, so he was able to retain all the information. Varanasi, this is right now, it's modern day Sarnath. Varanasi is a place in North India that is considered very auspicious and holy for many Indians, for many different reasons.

I would encourage all of you, if you have the mettle to do so, to visit Varanasi. It is a very interesting place, but you must be ready for it. You will see things that you would have never imagined, there is no room for you to recover while you're experiencing these things. What do I mean by this? Well, Varanasi is one of the holiest places for a lot of Hindus. It's a place where you have what are known as ghats. There are these different places on the shore, including something called Manikarnika Ghat, among others. And it's a place where 24-7, thousands of years, the cremation pyres have been burning. Because a lot of people, their last wish is that they be cremated there, because that's where there's a lot of merit to be had when you do that.

So if you want to practice the charnel ground practices, go to Varanasi and see the bodies burning over there. There is a book that I've written called Craving, which is the fifth, I think, fifth or sixth in the series of Dependent Origination. And if you see the cover of that book, it is taken with permission from Manikarnika Ghat. It is a body that's burning, a funeral pyre.

And you can see that. And among other things, Sarnath, which is more inland, in Isipatana, that's what it's called. It's the place that was where a lot of sages would gather. It was said to be a place that was sort of like a cosmic airport. All kinds of beings coming and going in that area. So the Buddha chose to stay there with the first five disciples.

And he gave two sermons specifically over there. The first sermon, which we're talking about now, and the second sermon, which is the sermon on anatta, or emptiness of self. There, the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus of the group of five thus, because these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone forth into homelessness. So when he says who have gone forth into homelessness, that's what he's referring to as going forth to become a monk or a nun. Because the idea is once you become that, your life is dependent on others.

You no longer have your own shelter, you no longer have your own possessions, you no longer have your own clothing or medicines or food. Everything that you do is done in accordance with the Dhamma, in accordance with the Vinaya, which are the precepts that the monastics follow. Monks follow 227 precepts. Be happy that you're following only eight. And the nuns have to follow a little more than that, 311 precepts.

So, here the monastics go into the homeless life, a life where they are wanderers, they are nomads, they continue to travel or continue to stay in a single place like Anathapindikas Park, a monastery that has been built for them. But they will go out for alms rounds, they will go out for food in the villages. And every year, at some point, new robes will be donated to them, will be given to them.

This is the merit economy that the Buddha set up. The idea is the monastics depend upon the lay people for their livelihood, for their survival. And the monastics in turn give to the lay people the teachings of the Dhamma. They're not to do anything else but to study and teach. Why do they study? So that they can meditate with understanding and insight.

Why do they meditate? So that they can attain full awakening. Everything else is a distraction. In fact, the Buddha has talked about wrong livelihood for the monastics. And one of them includes being a doctor. I get this question from doctors all the time. doing something wrong here? No, you're not. If you are a doctor, wonderful, that's great, because you're doing something of service to your fellow man.

But as a monastic, it's a distraction from their main goal, which is full awakening. So here it says, sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial, and the pursuit of self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, unbeneficial. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the Tathagata has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to nibbana. And what bhikkhus is that middle way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to nibbana. So first let's understand what these two extremes are.

is a path of extreme hedonism. And so the Buddha, as the Bodhisattva, before he became fully awakened, lived the life of a royal. He had all kinds of things catered to him. Never was exposed to the troubles of everyday life. And so what does that do to a person? Generally, let's say you have everything that you want and more. You have all the money in the bank that you want, maybe not enough, because for most billionaires it's never enough, but let's say you have all the money that you could have, so that you didn't have to work a day in your life, and for the next hundred years you never have to worry about paying the bills or anything. You can go on as many vacations as you want. You can go to all the exotic destinations you want.

You can eat all the most amazing foods that you've ever wanted to try. You can drive all the fast cars you've always wanted to drive. You have all the different gold chains and rings and watches and beautiful things and wonderful clothes and all of that. Pretty nice. And then what? And then what? Exactly. You never do anything meaningful, because your life is just in that space of dulling the senses.

You want to chase the next high. You want to chase the next dopamine hit. And you dull your mind in doing that. That's why it's considered ignoble. The other extreme is the extreme of self-mortification. And this is a very insidious one, because the more dramatic forms of self-mortification you can still see in India to this day. You go to places like Rishikesh and Varanasi and Haridwar, especially during the time of the Kumbh Mela, and you'll see all kinds of ascetics and sadhus, as we will call them, doing all kinds of things. They'll be keeping their hand up like this for many years until their hand withers, their entire arm withers, there's a way. They won't ever sit down.

They won't ever go to sleep lying down. They will do all kinds of mortification practices which are really strange and sometimes even dangerous. But life is such a very interesting thing that you see people who feel like they can do something slightly better by removing themselves of even basic means. So, for example, one question that sometimes pops up is, can I fast during the retreat? And I say, no.

It's not needed. It's not needed. In fact, it will cause all kinds of disturbances to the mind. It creates agitation in the mind. It creates a process in which the mind can go completely off the rails. Some people have this misguided idea that somewhere I have said, somewhere on YouTube land, that sleep deprivation is the path to awakening.

I don't know where they got that and how they got that, for their intelligence. The reality is you need enough sleep. You need to have a good night's sleep. And if you are not getting sleep, then you need to get extra rest through the day. That's why the schedule is created in such a way that you have a balance of everything. There's enough time for you to take a nap. There's enough time for you to rest. You make your own schedule.

Don't deprive yourself of anything. Self-deprivation actually leads to overindulgence in the long run. So don't sacrifice things in the name of meditation, in the name of progress. These are the kind of insidious ways that the biohackers and other people try to make things better. It's not needed. Work with what you have. Be content with what you have. That's part of the middle way.

Nobody here is depriving you of anything. So when we say the Tathagata, what does that mean, Tathagata? So Tathagata. Tata means that. That is the other shore. That is Nibbana. That is awakening. That is the unconditioned. Agatha. So it could be Agatha or Agatha. But basically Agatha or Agatha. Which means one who has thus gone there. Or one who has thus gone and come back from there. Either way it works. Basically one who has attained to that. To that unconditioned. Turn from there to open up the path. This is the Tathagata. So what is that middle way?

What do we mean by right view? Well, when you take refuge in the Triple Gem, when you take the precepts, when you do the five recollections, all of that is part of right view. You are understanding that karma is the way. Karma is the way in which samsara works. That's the basis of right view. If you want to get more technical, there is a mundane and a super mundane right view. The mundane right view is that there is meaning in what is offered. There is meaning in what is given. There is meaning in what is sacrificed.

Which means that there is no nihilism. There is meaning given to the things that we do in this life. When we give and we take, that is karma. That is the process of samsara. There's meaning in what is given, what is sacrificed, and what is offered, which means what? There's meaning in generosity. There's meaning in being generous with the things that we have, with the things that we possess, right? So that could be with our time, with our expertise, with our food, with our shelter, with our clothing, with our medicine, with our money, whatever it is.

So this is what is known as Dana. D-A-N-A, Dana. And that is part of what we were talking about in terms of the merit economy that the Buddha set up. Then he says that there is mother and father. What does this mean? That in order for us to exist in this life as we exist, we need mother and father.

That's one understanding. The other is that there is a sense of debt that is owed to our parents, because were it not for them, we would not exist here. And were we not to exist here, we wouldn't have the capacity or the potential to experience full awakening, to experience nibbana. Their abuse, if they've been abusive. In India, even up to now, there is this sense of filial piety.

In other words, there is a respect for one's elders, a respect for the elder relatives, a respect for the ancestors, and so on. We may not have that in this culture, and that's fine. It's not necessary. Is to acknowledge that our parents provided us with life and to have that gratitude. There is this world and the other.

Now, some people will take that and say that means that there is this world and there is a heaven and a hell. How do we know for sure? We don't. But what we can be certain about is that when we die, we'll all die at some point, newsflash. When we die, how do we want to die? Do we want to die in confusion and agony and pain and suffering?

Or do we want to die without any regrets when we look back on our lives? Because that will happen when we die. We will look back on all the pleasant moments and all the unpleasant moments. That is the real judgment day. Do you want to die where you can reflect back and see that you were a good person, you were kind, you were generous, you were happy, you were forgiving, you were compassionate?

Or do you want to die seeing the times that you were a jerk? Because you will feel bad about it, for the most part, unless you're a psychopath. But if you are on this path, you will have to understand that in order for you to make any kind of progress on this path, you have to adopt this right view insofar as understanding karma, because it all boils down to that understanding. What I do has an effect in the future. What I'm experiencing now is probably a result of something I did in the past. Shameful or guilty of the past.

Because you can't be sure that this has a direct effect on what you're doing now. And the reason I bring this up is because sometimes people have had, in the time of the Buddha, and even now, this idea that it was because of lifetime 452 that now I'm suffering this particular event. How does that matter? What are you doing now?

What are you doing with the information that's provided with you or to you? It's like the analogy of someone being shot by an arrow. Now, when they are shot by the arrow, are they wondering what is this arrowhead made out of? What is the wood that created the arrow? Who was the person who shot the arrow? Lineage? Where do they come from?

Or will they tend to the wound that they have? That's the same thing. Don't think about the karma in terms of how this caused this. Because as the Buddha says, your head will explode. Think about and reflect on how do I deal with the situation here right now? So when we say there is this world and the other, there is this world we're experiencing now, and there's the other, which has an effect in the future.

There is another level of understanding of this. There is this world that is the world of the five physical senses, and there is the other world, which is the world we inhabit or experience in meditation, and that is the world of the jhanas, which we experience in the mind. View is that there are beings who are spontaneously reborn.

Can we prove that? Do we know about that? Have we seen it? Maybe, maybe not. But what the Buddha here is stating is that there is this cosmology that you can be part of. You can understand that, being part of this greater cosmology, there is a system that is working in place here, that beings generate according to their karma.

This is what he saw when he saw the second knowledge. And finally, that there are those teachers who have experienced this path for themselves and can teach you, that can guide you on this path. Namely, the Buddha and the followers who have followed the path of the Buddha. Then we get into right intention. Right intention is threefold.

Right intention is, number one, nekkhamma, which is actually letting go. A sense of contentment. It's usually translated as renunciation. But what it really means is being satisfied and content with whatever is present. And letting go. Letting go of what? Letting go of ill will, harm. Ill will is the aversion that we have to someone or something that gets in the way of what we want or is irritating us. In other words, we are sitting in meditation and things are going wonderfully well. We're having a good time. The mind is going very deep. And then somebody opens the door loudly.

Now we have aversion to that person. But can we see that and let that go? And so many people will say the development of loving kindness leads to non-ill will. Yes, that is true. But just being in that space where aversion no longer takes hold. And non-harmfulness or non-cruelty, as it's sometimes known as. What is cruelty? Cruelty is adding to another being's suffering.

When you are in an argument with someone, you are suffering, and the other person is also suffering. And if you continue to exacerbate that argument by holding on to your point, and now making the other person your enemy, are unable to see the suffering of the other being. They're already suffering. And it is because they're suffering, they're acting out in that way.

But by us lashing back out, we're only further aggravating and propagating their suffering. But if we're able to recognize this and see this and learn how to de-escalate the situation, then we help ourselves by letting go of our suffering and we help the other person so that they don't suffer anymore. This is compassion in action. The development of compassion is the realization and recognition of suffering in ourselves and in the other.

And the desire and wish for ourselves and for the other to be free of that suffering. Then we come into right speech and right action. Right speech, there is a word that I use to understand what right speech is. It is the word THINK. It's an acronym, THINK. T-H-I-N-K. Before you speak, the wonderful thing is, for the most part, you guys are in noble silence.

Because sometimes you will go in pairs and talk about this or that and talk about whatever is going on. But for the most part, you should be in noble silence. So you don't have to think. Because noble silence is the best. It prevents you from being dishonest. It prevents you from being gossipy. It prevents you from being unkind. All of these things.

But when you come out of noble silence and you have to deal with people, how do you deal with them? How do you speak with them? That is the think. So what do we mean by think? T stands for timeliness. Is it the right time to say what I want to say? H is for honesty. Do I know what I'm going to say is honest or not?

Or can I preface with this is what I have heard. I don't know if it's true or not, but this is what I have been told. I is for intention. What is the intention behind what I want to say? N is for necessity. Is it necessary? Or am I speaking unnecessarily to fill the gap? And K is kindness. Can I say it with kindness?

Even when I'm admonishing someone, even when I'm reprimanding someone, is it coming from an attitude, an intention of kindness? So this is think, T-H-I-N-K, before you speak. That's right speech, right there. Right action is keeping the other precepts, not killing or harming other beings, not taking what is not given, and not indulging in sensual misconduct. So when we say not killing or harming other beings, I think that's pretty self-explanatory, right?

Not depriving life from others. When we say not taking what is not given, in other words, stealing. Being more mindful and conscientious about other people's belongings. And it's not about just their belongings, it's about their values stand and so on and so forth. Their time, their attention. Sensual misconduct. When we say sensual misconduct, we're saying in the pursuit of a sensual pleasure, am I breaking other precepts?

Right livelihood. Right livelihood is taking up any business, trade, career, job that does not cause the deprivation of one's own life or the life of another. That's simple. Let's simply put, that's how it is. And then we come into right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. Right effort is four things. The first is recognizing and or preventing the arising of unwholesome states.

Second right effort is to abandon those unwholesome states. The third right effort is to generate wholesome states. And the fourth is to maintain those wholesome states. So when you use the 6R's, that's what you're doing. When you recognize an unwholesome state in the mind, you have stopped it from further continuing. Relax, you have abandoned that unwholesome state. When you re-smile, you generate a wholesome state. And when you return back to your object, you're maintaining a wholesome state of mind.

And repeat whenever necessary. That's the process. That is right effort. Right mindfulness. What do we mean by mindfulness? Mindfulness is not McMindfulness. Mindfulness means smriti, to recognize, to recognize, recollect or remember. And what are we remembering? We are remembering to observe how mind's attention moves from one object to the other. We're noticing metacognition, noticing the awareness of awareness, how your mind moves from place to place in relation to whatever it is that is happening or whatever it is that you're doing or not doing.

Once this mindfulness is in place. If all of this is in place, then you're ready for right collectedness, samadhi. So when we talk about sila, that's what we're practicing in the morning, is to take the precepts and so on. That is part of right speech and right action and right livelihood. That all encompasses sila. When we talk about samadhi, that is right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness.

Samadhi here is a practice of cultivating the mind in meditation. And when we talk about Panna, Pragya, that's the insight, that's the wisdom, that umbrella consists of right view and right intention. Because what happens as you go through this, you get into the supramundane right view, of the Four Noble Truths. Not just the understanding. It's the understanding of what suffering is.

It's the abandoning of the causes and conditions of suffering. It's experiencing for oneself the realization of nirodha. And it's cultivating and perfecting the Eightfold Path in order to experience that. And here the right intention is letting go. That's it. Go. Non-identification with all processes and experiences. So right collectedness is something we will expand upon when we talk about jhanas. But jhanas are part of right collectedness.

So when we talk about birth is suffering, when we say birth is suffering, it means that when we are reborn into a new life, we are now subject to all the suffering of that life. It also means the birth of reaction. Our reactions to things causes the suffering. Aging is suffering. Illness is suffering and death is suffering.

Union with what is displeasing is suffering. Separation from what is pleasing is suffering. So the first part of this, birth, aging, illness, death, these are all suffering of suffering. Union with what is displeasing and separation from what is pleasing and not to get what one wants is the second category, viparinama. And the third is the five aggregates subject to clinging.

Why do we say this? What are the five aggregates? The form, the feeling that is experience, perception, the process of conceptualizing and labeling, I should say, the words, the words to certain things, like this is a table, this is a book, this is a cup, these are flowers, that's perception. Choices or sankhara, decisions that we make, and awareness itself. Of these as me, mine, or myself, therein lies the clinging and therefore the inherent suffering that is known as sankhara dukkha.

Now, this bhikkhus is the noble truth of the origin of suffering, the samudaya. It is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there. That is craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination. So what do we mean by craving? A lot of people say craving, there's craving for this, craving for that. And they mistake desire with craving. There is a difference between craving and desire or the intention to do something. Desire is the root of suffering. It's craving.

You all desire to come here. I hope so. You all desire to meditate. You all desire to progress on your path. Is that craving? Are you experiencing craving? This is what's known as chanda. It's a wholesome desire. It's a desire to do something for the benefit of yourself and others. Craving, chanda can become craving when you become obsessed with the path to the point of, am I experiencing this or am I not experiencing this? I want to experience this particular jhana. I want to experience nibbana.

The wanting is one thing. The desire is one thing. But the obsession around it, you don't want that. That is craving. You see what I just did? Subconsciously I just went that way when I said the obsession. I tightened my fist. That is craving. I must have this. If I don't have this, it is a problem.

I'm unable to accept the Dhamma of this moment, the reality of the situation as it actually is. Instead, I want to fight it. That's the pushing away. The craving for sensual pleasures, right? Identifying with the sensations that come up. There is a sutta called the Nibbedhika Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 6.63, where the Buddha says, it's not the pretty little things that is the sensual craving.

They will remain just as they are. These flowers will remain pretty. The sounds that are beautiful from a symphony will remain pretty. The scents of a wonderful place where it's very fragrant will remain pretty. But it's our relationship to it, how we relate to it, how we identify with it, that is the sensual craving. I must have these. These flowers cannot die. They should not die. But the truth is they will.

I must possess this. Otherwise, I won't be happy. That is craving. Craving for existence. This is what I was referring to. Craving for a certain kind of identity. I must progress on this path one way or the other. And if I don't, I will beat myself up. If I can't experience loving kindness, there must be something wrong with me.

If I can't get into jhana, there must be something wrong with me. Or craving for non-existence, extermination. I don't want to be on this retreat. Maybe not. If you don't, it's okay. You can leave. But I don't want to be here. That's the idea. Why do people commit suicide? Why do they attempt to commit suicide? Because life becomes so overwhelming, the sensations around them, the thoughts in their mind, the perceptions they have of the reality around them become so overwhelming that they feel like ending this life will be relieving.

That's craving for non-existence. Where does it come from? Identity. Identification. This is me, this is mine, this is myself. Now, because this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it. It is a process of non-identification, of non-attachment.

You can still experience the lovely things of life, but you have a different relationship to them. You know that these flowers will die, but in this moment you choose to enjoy them. Though they will die, you are no longer identified with the idea that they need to continue. You let go of that craving, of that identification, and in doing so your mind experiences dukkha nirodha, the cessation of suffering. Tanha nirodha is dukkha nirodha. The cessation of craving is the cessation of suffering. When you sit down for your practice and you're meditating, meditate like there's no one meditating.

Literally. That there's just a process of meditation going on. You are in the back seat, just observing and six-houring, and conditions are present. Trust in that. And let go of the desire to control how the meditation should be or shouldn't be. As you drop that, your mind will become more malleable. Your mind will be softer, gentler. And it will be rooted in wisdom, not rooted in craving. It will have that softness and that gentleness to go deeper. That's the only way you get into jhanas.

Anything else is a state of construction, a state of conceptualizing, a state of one-pointed focus that doesn't do anything but creates castles in the air of the mind. To truly get into jhana is to let go, to drop, to cease. The more you let go, the easier a mind is able to experience these things, because it's the causality of it.

When there are hindrances in the mind, when we try to fight them, we are identifying with them. We choose to be undisturbed. Not to ignore them, because ignoring them, to be indifferent to them, is pretending like they don't affect me. And pushing them away. But to have equanimity, to accept that indeed here is a hindrance. I recognize it, and I choose to let it go.

Now, bhikkhus, this is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. It is this noble eightfold path that is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. That is what you are practicing on this retreat. And every time you use the 6R's, because the 6R's are right effort, and right effort is the heart, the core, the essence of the Eightfold Path.

It is only through right effort that we go from the wrong view to the right view, the wrong intention to the right intention, the wrong speech to the right speech, the wrong action to the right action, the wrong livelihood to the right livelihood. When we recognize we are about to say something unwholesome and we choose to let that go and replace it with something wholesome, that's right effort. That's the totality of the entire Eightfold Path.

It is to be understood. To be seen that it has been understood. These are the three ways of regarding the noble truths. The acknowledgement that these are the noble truths. The understanding of them. Or the acknowledgement that they need to be understood. And the realization that they have been understood. So he says again. This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering. Thus, because in regard to things unheard before, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light. This noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be abandoned. Remember I told you before, to be understood, to be abandoned, to be realized, and to be cultivated.

This noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized. Now I know I need to experience it. This noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been realized. So there is the retrospective knowledge, the understanding. Indeed, I have realized it. This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering. So I've heard, I've understood, I've seen, I've been told, or an insight has arisen in the case of the Buddha, that this noble truth of the Eightfold Path is there, is present.

This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering, or this noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering, is to be developed, to be cultivated. So now I know what my mission is. I need to cultivate it. And once I have cultivated it, there is the understanding that this noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been cultivated.

This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, the bhikkhus of the group of five delighted in the Blessed One's statement. And while this discourse was being spoken, there arose in the Venerable Kondanna the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation. That is the moment he became a sotapanna. Kondanna was a teacher of the Buddha when he was a Bodhisattva, as a prince.

He was the one who taught him the Vedas and mathematics and other things. And now he came full circle, becoming a student of the Buddha, and attained the ultimate knowledge and experienced sotapanna. He understood that he understood dependent origination. When he says, whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation, whatever has a beginning has an end.

That was the marketing piece for the third matrix. That's where they took it from. This realization is not just intellectual. It's not just, oh, I've studied the text, I understood, I've seen it, and I've analyzed it, I've thought about it, I've reflected, I've contemplated. It's deeper than that. It is an insight that comes like a eureka moment, like, now I understand.

And the mind drops the first three fetters. It has total conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. It has let go of all rites and rituals, knowing that no rites and rituals can take you to Nibbana. And it has the full experiential understanding of the emptiness of self. Of the Dhamma had been set in motion by the Blessed One.

The earth-dwelling Devas raised a cry. At Varanasi, in the deer park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or Brahmin or Deva or Mara or Brahma or anyone in the world. Having heard the cry of the earth-dwelling Devas, the devas of Brahma's company all raised a cry: the Blessed One has set in motion the unsurpassed wheel of the Dhamma, which cannot be stopped by any ascetic or Brahmin or Deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world.

Thus, at that moment, at that instant, at that second, the cry spread as far as the Brahma world, and this 10,000-fold world system shook, quaked, and trembled, and an immeasurable glorious radiance appeared in the world, beyond the power of the devas. Then the Blessed One uttered the inspired utterance: Kondanna has indeed understood. Kondanna has indeed understood. In this way, the Venerable Kondanna acquired the name Anna Kondanna. Here he has understood, that Kondanna who has understood.

Any questions? 56.11. So the question is, what is the difference between knowledge and true knowledge that is being mentioned? Knowledge is the analytical, the intellectual knowledge, and true knowledge is the experiential knowledge, the realization of that. Yes. Good question. Is there a relationship between refuge and resort when we talk about the karma as my resort? Yes. Because the good merits that I possess are also my refuge.

It's not just about the bad karma. It's also about the good karma. So the question is you have continuity of awareness and mindfulness but then when it's coming time to eat, it's not there. Or it's difficult to maintain it. My simple answer to you is enjoy the food. That's it. Just enjoy every morsel. And pay attention to having a feeling of loving kindness with every morsel that you take.

Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free. Fear-struck, fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation.