Day 4 The Buddha's Awakening Part 1

NDE NTHAYAM CHAGKUMAHEKARÁJA HARISSAVANNO PATAVIPPA BHAASAM TAM TAM NAMAS SAMI HARISSAVANNAM PATAVIPPA BHAASAM TAYANJA GUNDHAVI HARE UDIVASAM YEM BRAHMENAH VEDAKU SAMPUDHAVE TEME NAMOTECAMAMPANAYANTU. What a better occasion than this particular retreat, I find, to explain a little bit about the Buddha's awakening, how it happened, how it took place. And first of all, I would like to ask permission of my seniors to give the first portion of this talk.

It actually touches on a few points that we discussed today, which I think will be really interesting to hear. And since I'm the joy advocate in this particular teaching, I'll take the lead into the aspect of the awakening of the Buddha, which involved discovering the jhanas. And this kind of jhana and joy was the way to awakening, which was a major discovery on his path. Especially for us here, I think we practice very closely to this.

For many of you here, I think, know this already. This touches upon a sequence that I call the gladness-to-collectedness sequence, which is found in very many suttas, in fact, where the Buddha is explaining. This is found in Digha Nikaya No. 2, Samaññaphala Sutta, the fruits of the monastic life, or anybody that really devotes themselves to this path, and the next 11 suttas after that. But it is sometimes overlooked because in the Pali edition it's written dot dot dot, peyyala, meaning repetition, so people don't tend to put a lot of emphasis on that particular, extremely important passage.

In the Pali it says, this is the sequence here. And it says, basically, for one who's abandoned these five hindrances of the mind, then pamojja arises. In my own translations, I very often translate pamojja as relief. Because if we look at the simile right before that, the Buddha explains this as being free from debt, free from slavery.

Discovering an oasis in the desert, so we can imagine that's kind of relieving, and it really beautifully illustrates what this is meant to bring up in us. Then he says, once this relief happens, because of this relief, then there's joy. There's piti. There's gladness about this. And because of the joy, the body itself becomes calm. It calms down.

Of course, we can help it along and calm it down a little bit further. But technically, this is what happens. And from a calm body, one experiences sukkah, or ease, or happiness. And sukhi no chittang samadhi yati. That means the happy mind becomes collected, becomes samadhi. And so here, this is very vital for us to understand this. Because this samadhi, this is how it's attained. many, many, many different opinions have arisen about how to attain samadhi.

But when we look at the suttas, this is how the Buddha explained it. And this directly correlates with the seven supports of awakening, the seven bojjhangas. Without further ado, I usually cut the beginning of this because it's talking about this encounter with Saccaka, basically, and Aggivessana. And they have a bit of that kind of debate.

But the section you were speaking of is in that section. Basically, now the Buddha is encountering Saccaka. Saccaka is a clever debater. He is the son of a very famous spiritual tradition, which is the Jaina tradition, the Nigantha. He's the son of the Nigantha, basically. And he was very famous. He was known to crush everyone else's opinions with his mind.

And so he really liked debating, and he encounters the Buddha and he starts speaking about how some people develop the body, some people develop the mind, and that the Buddha was mostly developing the mind but not the body, and such and such. I'm not going to go into great details because it's not really the core of what we want to be speaking of tonight. Has there never arisen in Master Gautama a feeling so pleasant that it could invade his mind and remain?

Has there never arisen in Master Gautama a feeling so painful that it could invade his mind and remain? Why not, Aggivessana? Here, Aggivessana, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened bodhisattva, I thought, household life is crowded and dusty. Life gone forth is wide open. It is not easy while living in a home to lead the holy life utterly perfect and pure as a polished shell. Suppose I shave off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robes, and go forth from the home life into homelessness.

And here we just basically make it complete. It's two different suttas, which is the Noble Search and the Maha Saccaka Sutta. So they're the two main discourses on awakening of the Buddha. Later, while I was still young, a black-haired young man, endowed with the blessing of youth in the prime of life, though my mother and father wished otherwise and wept with tearful faces, I shaved off my hair and beard, put on the yellow robe, and went forth from the home life into homelessness, having gone forth because in search of what is wholesome, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, I went to Alara Kalama and said to him, "Friend Kalama, I want to lead the holy life in this Dhamma and discipline."

Alara Kalama replied, "The venerable one may stay here. This Dhamma is such that a wise man can soon enter upon and abide in it, realizing for himself through direct knowledge his own teacher's doctrine." And see, here, this loops through yesterday when we talked about somebody gaining faith, unwavering faith, and not needing any other support than his own faith, not even the teacher's. So we can see that this was actually already kind of in place before this concept of stream entry. I soon quickly learned the Dhamma, as far as mere lip reciting and rehearsal of his teaching went, we would probably say theoretical understanding, and I could speak with knowledge and assurance, and I claimed, "I know and see," and there were others who did likewise.

I considered, it is not through mere faith alone that Alara Kalama declares, "By realizing for myself with direct knowledge I enter upon and abide in this Dhamma." Certainly Alara Kalama abides knowing and seeing this Dhamma. Then I went to Alara Kalama and asked him, "Friend Kalama, in what way do you declare that by realizing for yourself with direct knowledge you enter upon and abide in this Dhamma?" And here, Dhamma means so many things, so we need to put a little bit of context here. This particular context probably means a state. This Dhamma is probably more like a state of particular meditation practice or understanding, so it's not just a teaching, but it's probably a state he's referring to. So how does he enter upon and abide in that state, basically?

In reply, he declared the base of nothingness. I consider, not only does Alara Kalama have faith, energy, mindfulness, collectedness, and discernment, I too have faith, energy, mindfulness, collectedness, and discernment. Suppose I endeavor to realize this state that Alara Kalama declares he enters upon and abides in by realizing for himself with direct knowledge. And that also points to an aspect that we were speaking about today, realizing this for yourself also. So it's not only just following blindly. We have to actually practice and figure it out on our own.

I soon quickly entered upon and abided in that Dhamma by realizing for myself with direct knowledge. Then I went to Alara Kalama and asked him, "Friend Kalama, is it in this way that you declare that you enter upon and abide in this Dhamma by realizing for yourself and by direct knowledge?" "That is the way, friend." "It is in this way, friend, that I also enter upon and abide in this Dhamma, in this state, by realizing for myself with direct knowledge."

It is a gain for us, friend. It is a great gain for us that we have such a venerable one as our companion in the holy life. So the Dhamma that I declare I enter upon and abide in by realizing for myself with direct knowledge is the Dhamma that you enter upon and abide in by realizing it for yourself with direct knowledge.

It's a bit thick here. But really, all this means is that they're kind of confirming each other's state, and they're basically saying, well, yeah, I've seen this, I've experienced that, what you just said, and I also experience it. And now he's been invited to lead with Alara Kalama his whole sangha, basically, to give him the position of a teacher, which was very high for him at just beginning his homeless life, the life of a samana. Thus Alara Kalama, my teacher, placed me, his pupil, on an equal footing with himself and awarded me the highest honor.

You know, this is already quite profound here when we're speaking about the base of nothingness and attaining this. And the Buddha right away noticed that, hey, this is not Nibbana. And his intuition was amazing. It was just like, I don't even, I can't probably even imagine, but his intuition was such that he knew that there was a deeper release from that. There was an actual, completely, utterly more transcending liberation.

Because in this particular space, the plane of nothingness, there is still awareness. In fact, we see this kind of teaching nowadays being quite popular, also when we talk about the self being just this pure awareness self. This is a very common teaching. I followed that for a while, so I know what this is.

But it doesn't actually bring about the full cessation of dukkha, of the Four Noble Truths, and the cessation of consciousness, also dependent origination. And this is very, very profound. We need a very sharp discernment to actually see that. And the Buddha is just beginning, and he's just saying no, there's something deeper than this still in search, because of what is wholesome, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, very high ideals. I went to Udaka Ramaputta and said to him, "Friend, I want to lead the holy life in this Dhamma and discipline." Udaka Ramaputta replied, "The venerable one may stay here. This Dhamma is such that a wise man can soon enter upon and abide in it, himself realizing through direct knowledge his own teacher's doctrine."

I soon quickly learned the Dhamma as far as mere lip reciting and rehearsal of his teaching. I could speak with knowledge and assurance, and I claimed, I know and I see, and there were others who did likewise. And so now I'm just going to skip over this, because this is exactly the same format, and he's only saying, basically, that he declared the base of neither perception nor non-perception. Instead of nothingness, he went a little step further, where there's that strange kind of state where there's even the letting go of this continual awareness. And then there's neither perception nor non-perception. But there's not a full breakthrough to Nibbana, really.

So the Buddha, again, is not satisfied. And besides that, this is not enough. Thus, Alara Kalama, my companion in the holy life, placed me in the position of a teacher, and accorded me the highest honor. But it occurred to me, this Dhamma does not lead to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana, but only leads to reappearance in the base of neither perception nor non-perception. Not being satisfied with that Dhamma, disappointed with it, I left.

Still in search because of what is wholesome, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, I wandered by stages through the Magadhan country until eventually I arrived at Uruvela at Senanigama. There I saw an agreeable piece of ground, a delightful grove, a clear flowing river with pleasant smooth banks, and nearby a village for alms resort. I considered: this is an agreeable piece of ground, this is a delightful grove, of clear flowing river with pleasant smooth banks and a nearby village for alms resort. This will serve for the striving of a clansman intent on striving, and I sat down there thinking, this will serve for striving. This is the first section that I find very inspiring, because he was not just looking for, I guess, a boring place to be in.

He was looking for a place where there was quite a lot of natural beauty, in fact, and he was very inspired when he saw Bodh Gaya, which was not bearing that name at that time. He was inspired by its smooth banks, its beautiful river and the tree, and decided this will serve for striving. So there's a certain element of comfort. Even though there's not really strong attachment to this, it definitely does help. It does help to be surrounded by this beauty. And here we are in Bodh Gaya with the little remains of what this means. It's a little dry, but this area is well watered. So we have it. This was actually a forest in the past.

So it was quite that all of Bihar, I hear, was much more luxurious. Is that the word, the luxurious or the luscious? Luscious, yes. I knew there was something wrong. This will serve for striving, and so this reminds me of where I live in Sri Lanka. It is a very beautiful forested area where a lot of monks really do resonate with that also, and I know there are many of us here, actually, that do resonate with this natural beauty and seeking this beautiful silence of the forest and finding it quite supporting for our practice, actually, very much. Now, these three similes occurred to me spontaneously, never heard before. Suppose there were a wet, sappy piece of wood laying in the water, and a man came with a fire stick, thinking, I shall light a fire.

So that's very interesting, just this statement here. And we really see he's starting to draw the map of his own awakening here by determining where the boundaries are. And these sensual desires, we say sensual desires a lot, but it's just engaging the mind in so many things. And we're really good at that nowadays with phones and technology. It's not just craving for ice cream, it's also just engaging the mind all the time, engaging, engaging, engaging. And there's never any viveka, disengaging from it. So this is very important. Again, Aggivessana, a second simile occurred to me, spontaneously, never heard before. Suppose there were a wet, sappy piece of wood laying on the dry land, far from water.

So this is something that I did. I studied adventure tourism, so I studied how to guide people in the wilderness and climb mountains and go on canoe trips and things like that. So this is what I did in the past. And we had these survival courses. And one of these things was to learn to light a fire with two sticks. It's actually a really hard thing to do. And you really need very dry wood to do this. It's completely impossible if you have any kind of wet or sappy wood. So I just love how the Buddha had actually this knowledge, very earthy, down-to-earth, like India 2,600 years ago. As a prince, he would learn all these things, how to, when you're stuck in the jungle, what do you do?

You just light a fire and try to survive. He probably had this kind of knowledge also before doing all this. So he's thinking of this as he goes. So to Aggivessana, as to those recluses and Brahmins who live bodily withdrawn from sensual pleasures, but whose sensual desires, affection, infatuation, thirst, fever for sensual pleasures, constantly engaging their minds, has not been fully abandoned and let go internally: even if those good recluses and brahmins feel painful, wracking, cursing feelings due to exertion, they are incapable of knowledge and vision and supreme awakening.

And even if those good recluses and Brahmins do not feel painful, piercing feeling due to exertion, they are incapable of knowledge and vision and supreme awakening. This was the second simile that occurred to me spontaneously, never heard before. And of course here he is really relating to this Jain practice of, basically, that karma needs to be purified through painful action. And that's what a lot of people signed up for at this time, was this idea that the purification of mind and karma came through the self-mortification or self-penance.

Even if those good recluses and brahmins feel piercing, painful feeling due to exertion, they are capable of knowledge and vision and supreme awakening. And even if these good recluses do not feel racking, cursing feelings due to exertion, they are still capable of knowledge and vision of supreme awakening. This was the third simile that occurred to me spontaneously, never heard before. These are the three similes that occurred to me.

So it's quite eloquent how he's saying, well, however much you torture yourself, if you're still engaging in all of these activities, then your mind is never going to get calm. It's never going to experience peace. You're never going to be able to go deeper enough to actually get to Nibbana. So that is the ground, that is the basis upon which we can build a really wholesome practice afterwards. So it's not about just lust and craving and all these things, it's actually about constantly engaging the mind in many things of the senses.

And here he goes on to describe all the tata that he's done, all the painful austerities that he's actually practiced. Now he started with his two teachers, and they showed him the way to nothingness and neither perception or non-perception, which I call the limit of awareness, basically. And so he was dissatisfied because he thought this is not leading to Nibbana, not the full release.

And there are, I think I've heard, countless theories about what these are and how these teachers taught these. I've heard that this was like that one-point concentration yogi practice. I've heard that. Personally, I think that when he talks about mere lip reciting and theories and things like that, I hear a lot of teachers nowadays that talk about non-dualism and all these things, and they say very, very similar things to that, where you just sit in satsang, basically, and through listening to always what the teacher would say, you would continually get that state, basically, where there's just that pure awareness kind of thing.

That's my personal understanding of it. It could be anything, but honestly, we don't have the proof for any of that. So we'll just leave it as pure imagination for them. I thought, so now he's disenchanted with his teacher's teaching, and he's thinking, well, I'll just go all in to the Jain practice, and I'll be with these five ascetics, and we'll just practice together, and we'll just support each other. Because, especially as Samanas, as people who go forth and leave everything behind, having others who do the same thing is quite a big thing for us to be supported in what we do.

For example, in monastic life, being alone all the time is really good, good but there is always time where you need you would need help or you know you would kind of you want to talk about what you discovered or you know make progress so it's kind of it's like very very hard on your own uh even though it's like a balance we try to strike so now he's going into all these austerities suppose with my teeth clenched and my tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth, I beat down, constrain, and crush mind with mind. So with my teeth clenched and my tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth, I beat down, constrained, and crushed mind with mind.

While I did so, sweat ran from my armpits, just as a strong man might seize a weaker man by the head or shoulders and beat him down. That's a little violent. Constrain him, and crush him. So too, with my teeth clenched and my tongue pressed on the roof of my mouth, I beat down, constrained, and crushed mind with mind, and sweat ran from my armpits. But although tireless energy was aroused in me, and unremitting mindfulness was established, really forcing this, my body was overwrought and uncalm, because I was exhausted by the painful striving.

But such painful feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain. And so, actually, it's interesting to know that a lot of us will go through that. A lot of us, and I can take myself as an example, there was a time where I was practicing other kinds of practices, and I pushed myself very hard in a very painful lotus pose. And my legs are very thick, so I really have to crank my ankles up. And I blew my knee. And I wasn't able to meditate for two, three months. And through all the pain, I realized, well, that's kind of pointless. If I'm going to do that and wreck my body, then what's the point?

And then I did that many times. And then I finally understood that, well, maybe that's not the way. So I like that the Buddha is actually, he's not the only one. And I've heard many, many, many stories of people injuring themselves and pushing their practice so far, and they had to back off. And thinking, Ajahn Viradhammo is also another monk who's talking a lot about this, how he was, so many years he's tried to push meditation, push meditation, push meditation to the point of hurting. And that's, after so many years, you just know, no, no, I'm not doing this anymore. This is not the way. There's got to be another way.

And this is exactly what the Buddha is going through. It's such a universal truth. So many people actually go through this thing. I thought, again, suppose I practice the breathless meditation. So I stopped the in-breaths and out-breaths through my mouth and nose. Great idea. While I did so, there was a loud sound of wind coming out from my ear holes.

Everything. When pabbajja, ever since he left everything, his mind was so determined that he was just in this very powerful direction. And sometimes when pabbajja is done properly, when the going forth is done properly with the really good intention, very genuine intention. People really do notice this, that it's a very big commitment and a lot of the baggage that was before doing this is actually left behind.

So that's just, I guess, an interesting parenthesis on the power of this kind of determination. Suppose I practiced further the breathless meditation, so I stopped the in-breaths and out-breaths through my mouth, nose, and ears. Great. I don't know how to do this. While I did so, violent winds cut through my head. Just as a strong man were to crush my head with the tip of a sharp sword, so too while I stopped the in-breaths and out-breaths through my mouth, nose, and ears, violent winds cut through my head. But although tireless energy was aroused in me and unremitting mindfulness was established, my body was overwrought and uncalmed because I was exhausted by the painful striving.

But such painful striving, such painful feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain. So he was just pushing his body so much, even though his mind was so strong and determined. It didn't invade his mind, but he couldn't actually, even though he was the Buddha, he had all the 32 characteristics of a great man, and he was basically described as a superhero, almost like the way he's described: the torso of a lion, the legs of an antelope. That's pretty intense. And even pushing his perfect body to the limit, he realized, I can't do this. There's no way I can break through like this. So this is really interesting.

Eyes sunken in the sockets and everything. So apparently this wasn't enough. Then he turns towards food, he thinks. And then it must be food. And the thing that's missing, that I'm just greedy for food, that's what my problem is. I thought, suppose I practice entirely cutting off food. Then deities came to me and said, Good sir, do not practice entirely cutting off food. If you do so, we shall infuse heavenly food into the pores of your skin, and you will live on that. I considered, if I claim to be completely fasting while these deities are infusing heavenly food into the pores of my skin, and I live on that, then I shall be lying. So I dismissed those deities, saying, "There is no need."

So, very virtuous, also. I thought, "Suppose I take very little food, a handful each time, whether of bean soup, lentil soup, or vetch soup, or pea soup." So I took very little food, a handful each time, whether of bean soup, lentil soup, vetch soup, or pea soup. While I did so, my body reached a state of extreme emaciation. Because of eating so little, my limbs became like jointed segments of vines or bamboo stems.

Because of eating so little, my backside became like a camel's hoof. Because of eating so little, the projections on my spine stood forth like corded beads, like a malla in the spine. Because of eating so little, my ribs jutted out as gone to as crazy rafters on an old roofless barn. Because of eating so little, the gleam of my eyes sank far down in their sockets, looking like the gleam of water that had sunk far down in the deep well.

Because of eating so little, my skull shriveled and withered as a green bitter gourd shrivels and withers in the wind and sun. Because of eating so little, my belly skin adhered to my backbone. And thus, when I touched my belly skin, I encountered my backbone. And if I touched my backbone, I encountered my belly skin. Because of eating so little, if I defecated or urinated, I fell over on my face right there. Because of eating so little, I tried to ease my body by rubbing my limbs with my hands. And the hair, rotted at the root, fell from my body as I rubbed. So that's not looking really nice.

Now when people saw me, some said, the recluse Gautama is black. Other people said the recluse Gautama is not black, he is brown. Other people said the recluse Gautama is neither black nor brown, he is golden-skinned. Because this used to be his actual color, his skin. So much had the clear, bright color on my skin deteriorated through eating so little.

And then his realization. I thought, whatever recluses and brahmins in the past have experienced painful, racking, piercing feelings due to exertion, tapas, this is the utmost. There is none beyond this. And whatever recluses and brahmins in the future will experience painful, racking, piercing feelings due to exertion, this is the utmost. There is none beyond this. And whatever recluse is in the present, experiencing painful, racking, piercing feelings due to exertion, this is the utmost. There is none beyond this.

But by this racking practice of austerities, I have not attained any superhuman states, any distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the Aryas, the Noble Ones? Could there be another path to awakening? For those who have been through some of these practices, I think this is a bit what the general understanding afterwards comes. And so, being the Buddha, like I said, he had all these amazing qualities about his body, and he was a very strong person. The bull who could bear the load, as they say, as he was a Taurus, I believe.

I think you're a Taurus, too, aren't you? No. Oh, OK. What's your born in March? Yeah. OK, nine? Yeah. That's not Taurus? It's Pisces. Pisces, well, I'm on the cusp, too. Pisces, Aquarius. Sorry, discussing zodiac science here. He's not a Taurus. I thought he was. Born in March. Ah, moon and Taurus. There you go. Yes, whatever that means. And this is where all of this comes to this point. So pay attention to this very particular place in the sutta, because this is where he actually remembers a time in his life. And all of this striving with all of his features, the five ascetics, all of this painful austerity has come down to this moment of realization.

I considered, I recall that when my father, the Sakyan, was occupied while I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose apple tree, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I entered upon and abided in the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought with joy and happiness born of letting go. Could that be the path of awakening? Then, following on that memory, came the realization that is, indeed, the path to awakening. So, that's why I say that if he was taught the jhanas before, then this wouldn't really make sense. So, that's why I kind of tend to lean towards that. And in other suttas, it's said that the Buddha who discovered jhana. And I'm not sure exactly the ins and outs of everything around this.

But to me, I think that the Buddha is quite genuine in bringing up this new kind of understanding, where in the first jhana we have the joy and happiness that comes from letting go of engaging all the time. The mind and everything. There are other meditation practices that do actually engage the mind all the time, so it's a very different kind of practice. So there are many different kinds of meditation practices out there, but this one is really when all the hindrances we let go of them, we detach, viveka. So all unwholesome states, we let go, we detach from that, we disengage, and all sensory engagement, we basically let that go, release, relax. In TWIM terms we would say 6R's, but this is also universal in the suttas.

Basically, the 6R's are the Anapanasati Sutta principles, and they're just organized in a way that it's really easy to understand. That's it. That's really what it comes down to. And so he remembered, when he was a child, with very few worries on his mind. His father is plowing the field. The king is plowing the field. And that's like a festival, it's a happy time in his village. Everybody's kind of like, hey, look at the king found the field. And he's just under the tree, and he just has all these really good conditions in his life, good karma. And he just sees that, but he's a kid, so he doesn't really know what's going on.

But after all this, this memory comes back to him, and it's like, wow, this was really profound, actually. And I should look into this. Thank you. And this is also a part that I quite affectionate, quite a bit too. And I thought, why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensual desires and unwholesome states? Why am I afraid of this? Like, there's nothing wrong with this. It's a pleasure to be enjoyed. Like, why can somebody find something to blame about this? He's just sitting there, listening out. Alright, I don't think there's something more wholesome. So I thought, well, I am not afraid of that pleasure since it has nothing to do with sensual pleasures and unwholesome states.

I considered it is not easy to attain that pleasure with a body so excessively emaciated. Suppose I ate some solid food and some boiled rice and porridge. Now, at that time, five bhikkhus were waiting upon me. They're called bhikkhus even though the sasana wasn't started yet. But that's another interesting information, that it was still present at that time. So when I ate the boiled rice and porridge, the five bhikkhus were disgusted and left, thinking, the recluse Gautama now lives in luxury. He has given up his striving and reverted to luxury. So that's a pretty hard blow. He wasn't breathing nor eating, and then he just found this amazing path, and he just thought, well, I kind of need to eat, because it's really, I don't feel good right now.

It's like, it's going to be really hard. And that's actually why we tell people to sit in chairs for the longer sits, because if you experience too much pain by pushing a sitting practice and your knees really hurt, it's going to be really hard for you to discover the depth, the real depth of letting go, to that depth of what he discovered too, because there are ways to work with the pain which are really close to understanding the deeper aspects of early dependent origination, and how contact arises, feeling arises. Feeling is mental. This has got nothing to do with a person or self. It's just happening, and we create tension around that. We automatically, it's like in our kind of internal biological system. There's a lot of research about this, actually, that it's almost a visceral thing. When we experience pain, we just crisp, we just, no, we just don't want it. And it's very, very subtle work to do, to let go of that really intuitive kind of pushing away at that level, so we don't want to

we don't want to force a painful approach. There are ways we can understand the pain, and then it can actually dissolve, and then we can actually see that it's completely impersonal, that pain is a feeling and it arose in the mind, and that's it. And if we don't feed it, then it actually fades away. But to say, just sit and go through it, is sometimes, it sometimes creates more problems. And so we really encourage people to sit in chairs, be comfortable, and it's so much more worth it to not have that pain, and the mind will go much much much much much deeper

Sitting for four hours becomes something that is in the realm of the possible, whereas for me, if you ask me even to sit for four hours cross-legged, I know when it's going to be really painful. So in the chair it's manageable, and it's enough to actually see and break through. So he's eating some food, and then the five ascetics say, we're done with this one. Now when I had eaten solid food and regained my strength, then, quite secluded, letting go of sensory engagement, letting go of unwholesome states, I entered upon and abided in the first jhana, which is accompanied by thinking and imagination, or thinking and reflection, with the joy and happiness born of letting go.

but such pleasant feeling that arose in me did not invade my mind and remain so see he's still he's still not attached to this he's just like oh this is this is happening naturally but he's he's he's not actually uh he's not making a big deal out of it he's just like well this is nice and this is like releasing my mind but he's not actually clinging to it with distilling of thinking and reflection, I entered upon and abided in the second jhana, with the fading away as well of stronger joy, I entered upon and abided in the third jhana, with the abandoning, But the calming of disagreeable and agreeable sensations, the perception of these two extremes, basically the awareness when it becomes very steady and equanimous, and these sharp contrasts of really painful or really pleasant feeling, it smooths out.

So how are you feeling? Are you feeling for some super power explanation, or we just skim over it and then go right to the Asalakayas? This is 36. 36, yeah. Maha Saccaka Sutta, the greater discourse to Saccaka. Mahasaccaka. Yes, you did not read this one? Read? Okay, okay, okay. Very good, so we've decided there was a consensus. Very good. Let's explain all these people. Tevijja, just three, four knowledges, and this is basically what the Buddha had to go through to understand the law of karma, to understand his own previous past lives, so that he saw that samsara was without beginning. It came back, it went to a point where there was no beginning. There was no beginning to it.

He couldn't find it. He couldn't find the beginning to where he was like... There was no first place. Yes, there was this big bang theory. There was nothing before, and then dependent origination emerged. So he saw that, he saw all of his past life, and this is obviously coming with quite a bit of detachment, I would say. When you see yourself being born, having a particular kind of set of karma that's pushing you into that birth, and then seeing that you get these causes and conditions because of your previous karma, and then you die, and then you're reborn again because of certain causes and conditions, you revert, whether you're in the deva realm or you're in the mirayas or in the hell realms, it doesn't matter. It's the same law of karma, whatever you've done, and this all really ends up how the mind is really

Karma is really in the mind, technically. How the mind is: if it's heavy at the end of the life, then it sinks, and if it's light and uplifted and it has done much good, then it floats up naturally. It's just that, that's it. And so for him to see that, because he didn't know that before, he had to see all of his past lives and then see the same principle applying for all beings, basically. And so it makes it very universal. And then bringing this understanding of karma, dependent origination, to the asavakkhaya nana that we call the destruction of the taints, which I call the complete stilling of either the effluence, the flowings of the mind, and everything in the river of being, the river of conceit, the river of everything that we might flow down, allow our mind to flow down towards.

Then he was able to dry up the streams, basically, and that's another simile that he uses. Because asava comes from the root sru, it's just the flow. So basically, drying up the effluence. That's another way that it's being translated. I recollected my manifold past lives, that is one birth, two, one birth, two births, three birds... Oh, actually it's ellipsed. Yup, so I would have to go to another... Super 4, yeah. 27.

Thus, with their aspects and particulars, I recollected my manifold past lives. This was the first true knowledge attained by me in the first watch of the night: ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose; darkness was banished and light arose, as happens in one who abides diligent, ardent, and resolute. When my collected mind was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfections, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of passing away and reappearing of beings.

It's interesting to notice that it seems to happen all at once for the Arahants. I'm not sure. I can't tell out of direct experience. But from what one can read in the suttas, it seems like it's actually happening in one night. And so, because we were talking about this today, the Tevijjas and how they happen. So I'm just curious to know if he actually did have some ideas, if he did. Because usually people will recollect their past lives kind of gradually. Like they'll see things gradually and they'll put the puzzle together and, like this. But in here, it seems very good. It has clarity to be able to see in the screen.

Fortunate and unfortunate. I understood how beings pass on according to their actions. Thus, these worthy beings who were ill-conducted in body, speech and mind, revilers of the Ariyas, the noble ones, wrong in their views, giving effect to wrong views in their actions, on the dissolution of the body after death, have reappeared in a state of deprivation, in a bad destination, in perdition, in hell, in the nirayas, to say the actual word. But these worthy beings who were well-conducted in body, speech, and mind, not revilers of the Ariyas, with right views, giving effect to these right views in their actions, on the dissolution of the body after death, having reappeared in the good destination,

Basically, that's what we're doing. We're drying up the defilements in our minds. So it's not only something that happens on the third watch of the night, even though it does, but it's also here and now, what everybody has been doing for this retreat and in their practice. So basically, what you're saying is you don't need the first two knowledges for the third watch.

Well, some Arahants do go through full Arahantship using the tevijja, the three knowledges, but some don't, and I think that the most common thing, whether they do or they don't, I think what they're like, the finding line, is basically the last one, and the last one is even more interesting because it's actually a practice at the same time, it's not just a result. So that's why I kind of like to usually just mention that, because I'm also from the Western context and people in the West really like the scientific... I'm not really a huge fan of past lives and things like that, so I am, but I understand that it's really not that popular where I'm from. So, well, it is, but we keep quiet.

When I knew and saw thus, my mind was liberated from the tendency of sensual desires, from the tendency of beingness, and from the tendency of lacking awareness or ignorance. I'm kind of doing a little bit of a remix here, because this is usually what I use in my own translations, but they're not available to me right now. I directly knew birth is destroyed. The holy life has been lived. What had to be done has been done. There is no more coming to any state of being.

In the West, when I say that, it sounds pretty terrible. The destruction of birth. People don't really like it. But so I usually say something a little bit softer, which is more like the end of coming into being, kind of thing, or the end of coming into this constant beingness. Beingness is a word that I kind of like to use.

Which is why he still resorts to remote jungle thickets, resting places in the forest. But you should not think thus. It is because I see two benefits that I still resort in a remote jungle thicket, resting places in the forest. I see a pleasant abiding for myself here and now, and I have compassion for future generations. And so that's why the way we behave also is very important, because the Buddha is saying he has compassion for future generations. That's also what Kassapa said, Maha Kassapa, Bhante. When he was asked, well, you're like a full hour hunt, you're probably the eldest leading member of the Sangha when the Buddha passed, and why do you still go and spend so much time in your cave in the hill by yourself?

And he's actually just saying the same thing, and he's saying I'm leading by example, basically. That's what he's saying, because if people see me just walking around, just like it's got nothing to do with anything, and then they just think that that's what it means to be awakened. So it's... And I see this beauty in the Sangha and in the way that this is being preserved through the ages, which is such a wonderful gift to us all.

Indeed, it is because Master Gautama is an accomplished one, a fully enlightened one, that he has compassion for future generations. Magnificent Master Gautama, magnificent Master Gautama. Master Gautama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gautama for refuge, and to the Dhamma, and the Bhikkhu Sangha. From today, let Master Gautama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life. And this is how the sutta ends.

and so i think um from here He, because there's so many suttas on awakening, on his awakening, and it's not just one thing. He's actually, he went through a lot of understandings, and they don't, just don't do it in one sutta. So you have to know exactly where to, you have a question. Yes, yes, go with it. So, yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to explain.

before in that section was that we don't actually have the real basis like what did what do they mean by he attained the base of the plane of nothingness because they don't actually say that it was through the jhanas they they talk about mere lip reciting and rehearsal theoretical understanding of whatever teaching that was but they never speak of any jhanas per se so some people advance that that was jhana and that was like absorption jhana personally I've heard probably a dozen different versions that people think that's what it was and but the reality of it is they only say the plane of nothingness and they don't say how they got there and then the next one is the same the plane of neither perception or non-perception we don't actually know what his teaching was.

How did he get there? And he only says, now you know what Rama knew, which is also really interesting. So basically, for me, from what I understand, because I practiced quite a bit of Hinduism and yoga, and I've studied the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and the Bhagavad Gita was my bible for a while, and so you know, I've kind of had this also, the dip in that kind of world vision or understanding. And I think that there are teachings that actually do point out to that, but in a very different way, not through the jhanas. And it's like the brahmaviharas, the brahmaviharas. The Buddha didn't make that up. It was already there, because Brahma was known to abide in these, only in these four states.

That's all. And so that's known to be how Brahma, in the West I guess we would say God, abides. And this was such a profound understanding at that time that he kind of took this, because it was extremely wholesome. And it's also, you know, the way to Brahma. He taught brahmins how to actually become in union with Brahma. So he's not actually, it's not that far. You know, when we talk about the Buddha's teaching, there's so many things that are very, very close. And I think that's another thing that he even talks about the Gayatri mantra in one of the suttas. You know, of all the hymns, the guy, the guy is the highest. So he's very close to the Vedas all the time. He knows all of that. So it's, to me, I just feel like, because if you know the Vedas, if you know the Upanishads, and you know that there's not really any mention of first of samadhi, there's not really mention of jhana, except actually in the Gayatri mantra, which, John, what's his name?

No one who made the one who has the website, SuttaCentral, Sujato, actually has really good things to say about that, that the root "dhi" that is found in the Gayatri mantra. What's the Gayatri mantra? I forgot it. Yeah. Very good, very good. Yes. So he comes back twice in the Gayatri mantra. And so some people think that he actually got that from there, because the word jhana, it comes from dhi, really. It comes from that same word, jhana, in Sanskrit. And I think that's probably what makes the most sense from what I've heard so far. And then he comes with the notion of samadhi, which was taken again, much later, integrated by, you know, people like Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras, and his elaborate scheme of that progression, which you're familiar with also.

But as far as we know, if you really are, you know, you really know the suttas and everything, it's impossible to know. It's impossible to know exactly how he got there. And I've heard a lot of different stories about it, but we cannot really confirm. And since in other suttas they tend to say that the Buddha actually awoke to jhana, which is, can you corroborate this?

I think it's one or two suttas where it's said that the Buddha, he who awoke to jhana, he who discovered jhana. Now I would have to, I'd have to do some research again, but anyhow, so that's very good, yes. Yes, about all these things in the future. What happened to you? Sutta's explaining to people's signs are the sixteen signs of Buddha. That was not spoken at all in this particular sutta, because he was reduced as content because of practicing sitism. And by half hours of courage, he did not something spoke in the sutta. The great signs of Buddha, 16 or 32, are there, 32 of them. They were not spoken at all. There was only black, brown, like that.

Yes, well, we could go into that, but that's actually these 32 marks were seen by the people who came at his birth to declare the prophet, basically, that came to tell his future, and they said that he has all the 32 marks of a great man. And he's either going to be a fully awakened Buddha or he's going to be a wheel-turning monarch, a Dhamma Raja. And then, of course, his father, the king, wanted him to be a king. But these 32 great marks, they were something that were very well-known at that time. You know, it was really like if you look for someone really, really good, then you look for that. And he just happened to have them all.

And quite curious ones also, just mentioning. Yeah, like his tongue can reach. Yeah, and like Mick Jagger's tongue kind of thing. Like he could touch his forehead and go like this. Sounds like an interesting thing. And from there, I guess I was saying that there are so many suttas, and, you know, there's seven trees. If you want to know more about this, there are, you know, when he awoke, there is a succession of events where he sat down under the Bodhi tree, and then he stood up, and then he sat down under these various trees, and had these various kinds of moments for seven days under each. Each place.

And when we, Delson and I, were walking to the tree today, I just thought we would do a little collab on this, because this is just such an amazing opportunity, being in Bodh Gaya. And for me, I think one of the most beautiful, deepest suttas on the rest of his awakening is a sequence that is found first in the Maha Vagga of the Vinaya Pitaka, which is very well-known. It's very well-known in monastic life, where some schools, like the Pahok schools, for example, will recite that quite a lot, the dependent origination up and down, basically the arising and the cessation of dependent origination. And there's quite a neat little verse at the end where he's telling about his insight upon that.

And you can just, so I basically, we were talking about like, so who's going to do who, which one. And I think Delson is definitely the, I'm more like the joy advocate. And Delson is like the leading edge of dependent origination. So I thought that would be a good one for him to actually lead. And you can just imagine the Buddha. He's under the Bodhi tree. And he's probably, he's just broken through, basically. He's just like, saw nibbana, which means the complete blowing out of not only greed, hate, and delusion, lobha, dosa, moha, but also of consciousness through the removing of all sankharas. Without any sankharas, consciousness cannot arise. And that comes from true knowledge, which is basically vijja.

And he's kind of like seeing this, and he's playing with it, and like we said, the computer rebooting, and seeing this happening, and up and out, and up and out. And he's like, yeah, this is how it works. And so, I'll forgive you, please, Delson. So, does anybody want to take a quick bathroom break? Yeah, please. So, I'm going to go to the next one. *sad music*