Day 4 Apr Retreat DN 22 (5)- The Foundations of Mindfulness - 4 Noble Truths - D. Armstrong

Today I thought we'd go and explore a little bit more about the Four Noble Truths. And this is from actually Digha Nikaya 22, Maha Satipatthana Sutta. And there's a section in here which is section 5 on the Four Noble Truths. And it's one of the better elaborations on each of the Four Noble Truths.

Again, monks, a monk abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects in respect of the Four Noble Truths. How does he do so? Here, a monk knows as it really is. This is suffering. He knows as it really is. This is the origin of suffering. This is the cessation of suffering. He knows as it really is, this is the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering.

And what, monks, is the noble truth of suffering? Birth is suffering. Aging is suffering. Death is suffering. Sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress are suffering. Being attached to the unloved is suffering. Being separated from the loved is suffering. Not getting what one wants is suffering. In short, the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging are suffering. And what, monks, is birth?

In whatever beings of whatever group of beings, there is birth, coming to be, coming forth, the aggregates, the acquisition of the sense bases. That, monks, is called birth. So we talked about birth here from the macro level, the birth of the acquisition of the aggregates, what happens when a being is born in a physical realm. But there's also, as we talked about, the birth of action.

The birth of action is affected by habitual tendencies, let's say conditioned by the habitual tendencies that incline the mind towards a specific kind of action. And that action is liable to cause suffering because that action is rooted in craving, is rooted in holding on to things, and is rooted in this is my way or not. It has to be my way or it cannot be. of I am, the sense of this is me, this is mine, this is myself, leads towards a birth of action, birth of personalized action, which leads to suffering.

And then we talk about the acquisition of the aggregates. We also talk about the acquisition of the sense bases. There's birth, death, birth, death, birth, death in every moment. The arising and passing away of eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness. What that means is your physical sense bases are changing in every moment as well. It's not just the experiences. It's not just consciousness dependent upon the eye and the other sense bases. It's not just feeling dependent upon the other sense bases. Your sense bases themselves changing in every moment, that means your entire nama-rupa, your mentality materiality, is changing in every moment. That is the process of aging, which we'll look at. But that means that there is a birth, a renewal of being, for each of the sense bases in every moment. So how could you say this is my eye? Which eye are you talking about? Is it the eye right now, or the eye that was there just a split second ago, or the eye that's to come to be a split second from now?

Same with any of the six sense bases. If those are seen as being conditioned and those are seen as being impermanent in every moment, why would anyone take them as personal? Why would anyone take them as me, mine, or myself? If you truly see this, if you truly experience this, then nothing is worth holding on to. Nothing is worth clinging to.

It's all just creating suffering by holding on to it. But if you see things as it really is, as they really are, then there's no grasping, then there's no clinging, and hence no suffering. This insight cannot happen through just reflection. This insight has to arise from true knowledge and vision, the impermanence of all conditioned things, namely the six sense bases and the five aggregates.

And what is aging? In whatever beings of whatever group of beings there is aging, decrepitude, broken teeth, gray hair, wrinkled skin, shrinking with age, decay of the sense faculties, that amongst is called aging. We're all aging. It's inevitable. Some are aging one way and some are aging another way. Some are experiencing baldness. Some are experiencing wrinkled skin. Some are experiencing the brokenness of teeth. Some have to go to the dentist. Some have to go to this doctor. Some have to go to that specialist. This all results because of the decline of the faculties.

That happens as a result of aging. And that aging can be sped up or it can slow down, but it will always be there. You can't prevent aging. You can slow aging if you wanted to with the right diet and so on and so forth, but that doesn't stop it. So aging is a fact of life as much as birth is a fact of life and as much as death is a fact of life.

Now, even if somewhere off into the future we were able to understand how to lengthen our telomeres, which enable us to age depending upon the length of the telomeres, even if we were able to do that, there would still be aging in the form of mind, in the form of the decline of faculties, how one perceives things. That aging in the mind. Aging is not only physical or mental, but you see aging in the form of decline in the world. This world will one day no longer exist. In the grand scheme of existence, in the grand scheme of the universe, one day the sun will become larger and larger and larger and consume this earth. Eventually that sun that used to give us life will actually give this planet death, and then that sun will turn into a black hole. Galaxies will age. They will decline. Nothing in this universe is permanent. Everything is in a state of flux towards decline.

Even if scientists say, well, there's the proton, there's something called proton decay. It might happen over quintillions of years. But it's still decaying. So decaying, decline, aging. This is just the nature of existence. Now, you can read all about it. You can listen to Dhamma talks about it. played it, and all of these things. But unless you see it as it actually is, through your own experience, really get deep down into understanding that everything that arises passes away. And that process of passing away from birth to death is aging, is declining. And you totally understand it and accept it, then you will be at peace. Because you won't hold on to anything.

You won't cling to anything. You won't grasp at anything. Because of that, you don't personalize anything. You don't see anything as me, mine, or myself. And so you won't crave for anything. You won't cling to anything. You won't become anything. And therefore, you won't experience further suffering. And what is death? In whatever beings, of whatever group of beings, there is a passing away, a removal, a cutting off, a disappearance, a death, a dying, an ending, a cutting off of the aggregates, a discarding of the body. That, monks, is called death.

Death is the end of one life. There's always the birth and death that we experience in one life. So on the macro level, death is the end of one seemingly continuous life. At the moment level, we see this. We understand this when we see infinite consciousness. Contact arises, passes away. Consciousness arises, passes away. Feeling arises, passes away. Perception arises, passes away. Body arises, passes away in every moment.

So, when we talk about death at the macro level, what we're talking about is the ending of that life. Now, within the experience of that life, and what we see as the legal or medical definition of death, we see it as the stopping of the heart, stopping of the respiration, and the ending of brain activity. But there's a process of unfurling, unfolding after that happens. And what that means is, within the context of one death to the next birth on a macro level, there's a process of decline of the sense basis.

So when the body is seemingly dead, certain elements diminish. First, the air element diminishes. Then the fire element diminishes. Then the water element diminishes. And then finally the earth element diminishes. In terms of the sixth sense basis, sense of smell, then the sense of taste, then the sense of sight, then the sense of touch, and then finally the sense of hearing.

And then beyond that, the sense of the mind. So the mental experiences are still going on because there's still mental consciousness going on. And whatever is arising in the form of mental images, if that is clung to, that will activate through the fuel of craving a new formation that then gives rise to a new consciousness that results in a new nama-rupa, in a new mentality materiality, that then descends into that new mentality materiality.

So this process of death, it can be either when life is cut off in the medical definition, or if you go beyond that and the decline of the elements and the diminishing of the elements and the cutting off of the sense basis. End. And when that's the end, it doesn't mean it's the end, because when there's craving there, it can give rise to further birth. It can give rise to renewal of being. And hence that death is just, if there's craving in there, that death just leads on to more suffering, because now you come back into this realm or you come back into another realm, and you experience the same things you experience again, the pain and the pleasure, depending upon where you are, in which realm, and so on.

And you experience the impermanence, the impermanence of the nature of samsara. And so samsara itself is inherently impermanent, and therefore inherently dukkha, and therefore inherently impersonal. Now, a person who sees this, a worldling who sees this, will be quite intimidated by it, because they say, well, if everything is impermanent, and if everything is dukkha, and if everything is therefore not myself, then what's the point of living?

This happened in some cases where the Buddha was talking about impermanence, talking about the impersonal nature of things. And that led to some people misinterpreting that and then killing themselves because they thought that meant annihilationism. But that's not what we're talking about here. What we're saying is there is suffering in existence. But there is also a way out of that suffering in existence. There is pleasant feeling. And yes, that pleasant feeling is inherently suffering because it's impermanent.

But there's categories of pleasant feeling. There's the base pleasant feeling of the sense bases, of the sensual experiences. But then beyond that, there is the mental pleasure born from seclusion from the unwholesome states. Exclusion from the sense experiences. And that mental pleasure is jhana. And beyond that, there is the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. And beyond that, there is nibbana. It's the bliss of no feeling.

And that experience allows you to see everything as impermanent. But this time, you don't see it from a sense of self. Now you realize everything is impersonal. Now you realize, oh, it is impermanent. There is nothing worth holding on to, because if I do hold on to something, if the mind grasps at something, it's going to cause renewal of being. And that renewal of being can come in the form of feeling the same emotions, experiencing the same kinds of situations with people, having interactions with the same kind of people, attracting the same kind of relationships, and so on. That might be detrimental, or that might be okay, but eventually it will end. And the fact that they end is also suffering.

Once you see the impermanent nature from that angle, from that perspective, rooted in wisdom, rooted in the wisdom of the impersonal nature of all things, then you don't take it so seriously. You don't go towards annihilationism. You don't go towards eternalism. There is the middle road, the middle path, which is the understanding of how the sense of self arises through the process of dependent origination, how suffering ceases through the cessation of the links of dependent origination using the Eightfold Path, using the tools that the Buddha has given us. And we'll see that soon.

And what is sorrow? Whenever by any kind of misfortune anyone is affected by something of a painful nature, sorrow, mourning, distress, inward grief, inward woe, that, monks, is called sorrow. So sorrow is whenever you are met with some kind of unpleasant feeling, there's that tinge of sadness, the tinge of sorrow, the tinge of, I don't like this.

That little tinge of, oh, I missed my flight. That tinge of, oh, I didn't get that last piece of cake that was there. Or even greater sorrow, oh, this person died. I couldn't say what I wanted to say to them. Or a painful feeling arises. You know, a wasp stings you, and you feel that, and that's sorrowful. It's like, oh, that slight tinge that you feel internally, that's sorrow.

And what is lamentation? Whenever, by any kind of misfortune or unpleasant feeling, anyone is affected by something of a painful nature, and there is crying out, lamenting, making much noise for grief, making great lamentation, that amongst is called lamentation. So sorrow and lamentation and the rest that follow it are that second dart. The first dart is the pain that you experience, the physical pain.

Has affected me, that's the lamentation, the crying out, ouch, that hurts, right? But it's not just the words, it's the tinge of feeling, the tinge of experience behind those words, because even a person without the second dart might say ouch, but then they don't see that as this is my pain. They just know, oh, there was an unpleasant feeling, a painful feeling there, and that's it. And what is pain? Whatever bodily painful feeling, bodily unpleasant feeling, painful or unpleasant feeling results from bodily contact, that, monks, is called pain. And so that pain can also come in the form of disease, in the form of sickness, in the form of illness. In the form of pain: you stub your toe, that's pain. You get up in the morning and you stretch and then you pull a muscle.

That's pain. You go out somewhere and you catch a cold and you come back and you experience cold and fever. That's bodily pain. Now, those are all impersonal causes and conditions. Yes, you stubbed your toe, but you didn't cause it; you didn't mean to stub your toe. It just happened. And it was because your toe made contact with the rock or made contact with the corner of the bed. And so that was painful.

You went out and you caught a cold. Well, you were in an area where there was some rhinovirus going around and you caught it. And so now that's the cold. That's the bodily pain. How do you deal with it? Do you say, oh, woe is me, and I hate this. This sucks. Right? Do you say that, or do you say, okay, here is the cold. Here is the illness. Now, how do I deal with it? Dependent upon whether you see it as myself or me or mine, or you see it as here's a painful feeling. How do I let go of this painful feeling? First and foremost, how do I let go of the craving or aversion towards that painful feeling?

And then is there a way to fix this painful feeling? If I break my toe, I can go to the doctor and get it fixed. If I catch a cold, I can take some rest, get some extra sleep, get some extra vitamins and allow the body to do its processes in whatever it might be. Or I can moan about it and groan about it and feel all this sorrow and lamentation about it. But what's that going to do? It's going to cause me more suffering. It's going to cause me to go in this cycle of continual suffering. But if you stop that cycle and see it as, okay, this is a problem to be solved in a rational manner, in an impersonal manner, then the mind goes from all of this sense of habitual tendencies of blaming that painful feeling or blaming oneself for that painful feeling to then wisdom and compassion and saying, how do I let go of this painful feeling and how do I alleviate this painful feeling?

And so you're more oriented towards solving the problem rather than adding to the problem with your making it personal or taking it personal. And what is sadness? Whatever mental painful feeling, mental unpleasant feeling, painful or unpleasant sensations result from mental contact, that, monks, is called sadness. So when he talks about pain, he's talking about physical pain, bodily pain, pain through the five cords of stimulation.

The eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, and the body. But when he talks about sadness, he's talking about mental pain through the mind. When you have an experience where you're thinking back about something, the memory of a loved one who's gone, right? There's sadness there. When you think about the good days, the good old days that have gone by, there's nostalgia there, but it's tinged with sadness and bittersweetness. Or when you think about something that you didn't get, and so you're thinking about that, causes you pain, mental pain. That's sadness.

And what is distress? Whenever by any kind of misfortune anyone is affected by something of a painful nature, distress, great distress, affliction with distress, with great distress, that, monks, is called distress. So sometimes this could also be understood as anxiety, right? Don't want. Something happens that was unexpected. And you can deal with it through sadness, by beating yourself up, or you can deal with it by having anxiety. Like, what do we do now? That distress, that restlessness that arises. How do we deal with the situation? What can we do? That feeling of helplessness, because you see this as something that's me, mine, or myself. Take away that thorn of personalizing things, and you create a distance, a space between the mind and the problem.

And now that problem is no longer my problem. That problem is, it's just a problem to be solved. It's a situation to be solved. It's not my situation. It's just, here it is. How do we deal with it? And what, monks, is being attached to the unloved? Here, whoever has unwanted, disliked, unpleasant sight objects, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, or mind objects, or whoever encounters ill-wishers, wishers of harm, of discomfort, of insecurity, with whom they have concourse, intercourse, connection, union, that, monks, is called being attached to the unloved. So being attached to the unloved basically means having aversion towards a painful experience through the sixth sense basis, dealing with criticism, dealing with people saying no to you, dealing with what you perceive as people being angry at you, what you perceive as people being intentionally harmful to you. Maybe they are actually being harmful to you?

Or is it that your mind is projecting onto these situations and people a certain idea of what they are or what they're doing? And so you have to look at that. Are you making the situation? Are you taking the situation personally? And whatever arises that is unpleasant in the way of the sixth sense basis, do you see that as something affecting a sense of you? Or do you see it as just impersonal, vibrations and molecules.

There's the unpleasant sound of the lawnmower, right? It hasn't been there for the last two days, but let's say there's the unpleasant sound of the lawnmower. Do you take that as, oh, don't they know I'm meditating? Why are you doing this right now? Or do you see it as just vibrations in the air? What's the difference between that and the vibrations of the air coming from the song of birds, or from some beautiful music? Just different vibrations, different sound waves. Or when you smell something sweet, what's the difference between that and something that you smell that's garbage? Just different odor molecules.

When you taste something that's bitter and you taste something that's sweet, what's the difference? Just different molecules. These are all just impersonal data packets that arise in your sense bases. Your sense bases are receivers that just receive this information. And it's just impersonal sensory data. And if you take it personally, then you're going to cause yourself suffering. And what is being separated from the loved? Here, whoever has what is wanted, liked, pleasant sight objects, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, or mind objects. So it's a really cold day outside, and you go back to the shower, and it's really nice and warm, or you take a nice, long, hot shower, and then suddenly the hot water goes away, and now suddenly there's just ice-cold water coming onto you.

That is the separation from the loved, right? Or you meet a friend after a long time, and you have a great time, and you have a great connection and everything, and they have to go. That slight tinge of sadness from separating from them. Or you go back to your family for the holidays. Maybe it might be unpleasant first as you discuss with them politics or this or that or whatever it might be. But there's a sense of connection there. There's a sense of this is my relative. This is my family member.

And then you make a connection and it's warm and heartfelt. And then the holidays are over and then you have to leave. There's that slight tinge of, oh, I'm leaving home now. Right? The separation from what is loved. And that's because you take all of that personally. That hot water that comes in, that's affecting me. It feels good to me. It goes away. Oh, no. It's gone.

That friend that I met, they make me feel good. I feel good being with them. They go away. That slight tinge of separation. It's because you take that personally. When you're separated from family members, you have to go back wherever you're going now that the holidays are over. That slight sense of separation, that tinge, that is dukkha.

And what is not getting what one wants? In being subject to birth, monks, this wish arises. Oh, that we were not subject to birth, that we might not come to birth. You've come to birth. Can you wish that you were never born? You've already been born. But this cannot be gained by wishing. This is not getting what one wants. In being subject to aging, to disease, to death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness and distress, wish arises. Oh, that we were not subject to aging, to disease, to death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress, that we might not come to these things. But this cannot be gained by wishing. This is not getting what one wants.

Having expectations of something and then being met with the reality of the situation where you don't want that to happen. The moment you start fighting with the present moment, you cause yourself suffering. That fighting with the present moment is craving and aversion and identification. The moment that happens, there's this tinge of craving, that tightness and tension that arises in mind and body. And then there's that wish, I wish things were different.

I wish I never met that person before. I wish I hadn't said that. And so on and so forth. All of these are forms of dukkha. And how, monks, in short, are the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging suffering? They are as follows: affected by craving and clinging. The aggregate of consciousness affected by craving and clinging.

These are, in short, the five aggregates of grasping, or the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging, that are suffering. The five aggregates affected by craving and clinging: the form, the feeling, the perception, the formations, and the consciousness. The form affected by craving and clinging is the form taken personally. This is my body. This is my hand. This is my arm. These are my legs. This is my face. These are my sixth sense bases. Taking that personally, and if anything is affected in the sense that this does not feel good to the body, this does not feel pleasant to the body, if there's craving there, there will be suffering. With feeling, you cannot change the feeling.

Feeling here is related to pleasant feeling, unpleasant feeling, neutral feeling. When a pleasant feeling goes away, there is dukkha there because it's gone, it's changed. When an unpleasant feeling arises, there is dukkha there because it has arisen. it personally and grabs onto it, holds onto it. But when it fades away, it's seen as dukkha. And so there can be ignorance there, there can be craving there, there can be attachment to views there, there can be clinging to being there and so on from feeling.

So whatever you're experiencing right now is all feeling through the sixth sense basis. But if there is craving there, if there's clinging there, it's going to cause you dukkha. Perception is rooted in memory. Maybe you associate a certain kind of smell with grief. Maybe you associate a certain kind of taste with some kind of pleasure. And so the perception of what that taste is can also bring up, if that perception is taken as me, mine, or myself, can bring up this feeling of grief, this experience of grief, this experience of pleasure. Perception being rooted in memory, it arises and passes away, and if what is impermanent is held onto and taken as self, that will cause you dukkha, because when it goes away, if it's a pleasant perception, now it's gone. If it's an unpleasant perception that arose and you cling onto it, you feel pain because of that, you feel grief because of that, you feel sorrow and lamentation, or experience sorrow and lamentation, because of it.

So perceptions can change, right? The perception of pain, what was painful once, can somehow be pleasurable. The perception of what was pleasurable once can be painful depending upon clinging and association. There was one individual who was meditating and they had a terrible bodily pain. They had to be on a shoulder sling and all of that. This pain, it was difficult for them to meditate, but as soon as they realized that it was not the pain that was the problem, it was how they took the pain, how they personalized the perception of the pain, the six are that they accepted that there was that pain. And then the funny thing about that is when they had a cessation experience, the pain turned to pleasure suddenly. They said those waves of pain turned to waves of joy.

They're experiencing... So perception is so fickle, it changes depending upon situations. So if you take that as me, mine, or myself, you have clinging and craving to it, it's going to let you down one way or the other. And then formations. We talk about mental formations. Mental formations give rise to feeling and perception. Verbal formations give rise to speech, and bodily formations give rise to bodily actions. Those formations continue to change and are influenced and conditioned by previous choices you've made. So your intentions, the cetana, the intention, the inclination towards something, can influence the next set of formations that arise. And so your choices are also fickle because they're dependent upon the situation. Formations. Contact gives rise to intention.

Contact gives rise to feeling. Contact gives rise to perception. Contact gives rise to intention. It gives rise to karma. So whatever you see, in the way, in the form of your sixth sense basis or through your sixth sense basis, that can give rise to a particular kind of intention that inclines in some way. And dependent upon that inclination, certain formations will arise.

And so if those formations, those choices, are taken as personal, then you might say, I made this choice. I cling to this choice. And I can't let go of this choice. Then later on, that same choice causes you harm. You have regret for that choice. You have aversion for that choice. But that choice was conditioned by impersonal formations, which were in turn conditioned by previous choices. So they are always changing, arising and passing away and changing depending upon the inclinations of the mind. So the moment you start taking that as personal, as me, mine, or myself, and then identify with those choices and the effects of those choices, that's liable to cause dukkha.

And finally, consciousness affected by craving and clinging. We talked about the arising of consciousness dependent upon formations. When formations arise, and if they are rooted in craving, rooted in greed, hatred, or delusion, there's a certain kind of consciousness that arises. If you crave or cling to that consciousness as me, mine, or myself, you're going to further create more craving, more clinging, more becoming, more birth of reactions, and therefore more suffering. But if you see this, oh, here is a consciousness that arose that makes the mind see the world in a certain way. And if you have the mindfulness, and if you have the right attention to see it as impersonal, you can let go of it before it turns into craving, before it turns into clinging and becoming.

And then you let go of suffering in that way. So the non-identification with the five aggregates leads to the cessation of suffering. The non-identification cessation of the craving and clinging and identifying with the five aggregates. And that, monks, is called the noble truth of suffering. And what, monks, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering? It is that craving which gives rise to rebirth, bound up with pleasure and lust, or aversion, that is to say craving or aversion, finding fresh delight now here, now there. That is to say, sensual craving, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence.

So sensual craving, that's the tightness and tension that arises when you see something that you like and say, I want that. That grasping onto it and saying, I really like that and I want that, can give rise to personalizing it, making it personal, can give rise to clinging and saying, this is me, this is myself, and can give rise to a sense of self in habitual tendencies, causing you to react in a way which says, I want more of that. And in doing so, causing yourself suffering. Because what if there is no more of that? Or what if it ends, that sensual experience? And on the flip side of that, if that sensual experience is unpleasant, and you see it as growing, and you identify with it and say, I don't want that, and you resist to it, there's that tightness and tension, because you're hearing that lawnmower and you're saying, I don't want this sound to be there right now.

There's nothing you can do about it in that moment. But what you can do is recognize that aversion. Recognize that tightness and tension. Release your tension from it. Relax it. Let it go. And experience relief in that moment, and is now no longer affected by craving because you were applying the 6R's, applying the right effort. So that's the sensual pleasures, the craving or aversion for sensual pleasures. What about the craving for existence?

There's the chanda which says, I incline my mind towards the wholesome, and therefore I observe and allow the mind to go into jhana by having an object of meditation. So there's a wholesome inclination to be with the object of meditation. But once you're there, now there's this whole desire to stay there. And now it's like, if I don't stay here, it's going to be a problem. That kind of craving for existence. If that craving is there, that expectation that my mind will stay there no matter what arises, and then the tension goes away, the mind beats itself up for having become non-attentive.

And now you're dealing with that hindrance by not allowing the hindrance to be there, but now you're fighting with it. You're fighting with the present moment. Again, you use the 6R's to recognize that and let it go and then come back to your object of meditation. But if you have this craving to be with the object of meditation and you just see the distraction, push it away and then come back to the loving kindness, come back to whatever it is, that hindrance is going to grow further and further and further and it's going to eat away at the object of meditation and you're going to have lots of restlessness, doubt or sloth and torpor or whatever it might be.

So the craving for existence is this idea that I will sit here until I get Nibbana. There's craving in that. But if you just say, all right, let's just see what happens. You're inclining the mind with wholesome intention, seeing what happens and relaxing and just allowing the mind to be there. Now the mind might want to get up, right? And after three hours, the mind says, all right, that's enough of that. It starts to lose energy or it starts to see, okay, maybe I can do something else. Why does it do that?

Because the mind is bored. Mind is seeking some kind of stimulation. And then what happens there? Mara comes and brings sloth and torpor. Or Mara comes and attacks you with all of these different restless thoughts. Because the mind is trying to create for itself some kind of activity that it can just seek. And so that craving for existence, that I need something here so that I can occupy my mind.

If you see it and recognize it and say, I see you Mara. And then release it and relax and come back. Just soften the mind. Soften the restlessness. Soften the need to do something. And just observe in six hour whenever distractions arise. That is right collectedness. So this desire for existence, this craving for existence comes from that. The craving that I have to become the best meditator in this retreat, to get my determinations right. I have to become a stream-enterer. I have to become an anagami. All of these kinds of ideas. That's not going to lead you anywhere. But if you have the wholesome inclination that, okay, let's relax the mind, allow the mind to experience the cessation of suffering, the cessation of craving, and allow the mind to observe how it works, then wisdom naturally arises.

And when there is serenity and insight yoked together, there is the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. So you cannot incline the mind towards cessation. Not in the beginning, at least, because there's a lot of craving in that inclination. But you can incline the mind towards the intention of letting go. And by letting go, there is release. Release is a cessation of suffering. You can't just say, let the suffering go, let the hindrances go. You have to allow the mind to see it, recognize it, and let it go. The process of letting go is not about pushing it away and ignoring it. The process of letting go is saying, here it is, I'm holding it in the palm of my hand, and I'm going to let it just go.

Then the craving for non-existence, right? So the craving for non-existence is, why am I stuck in this jhana? Why can't I go forward? I don't want to be in this jhana right now. I don't want to be here in this retreat right now. Why did I sign up for this? Whatever it might be. Or I don't want to be living in this particular vicinity. I don't want to be here.

Whenever you have this kind of statement, or a variation, that I don't want to be, that's the craving for non-existence. And it can be so painful sometimes that a person is so overwhelmed by their life situations that it can result in the ultimate craving for non-existence, which is the craving to kill oneself, the craving for suicide, because they're so overwhelmed with so many ideas of what things should be and shouldn't be, and the fact that their worldview doesn't match the way they're feeling. They're so overwhelmed that they don't want to be in that situation, and the only relief that they think they can feel is by ending this life. That is the ultimate craving for non-existence, annihilationism. And where does this craving arise and establish itself?

Wherever in the world there is anything agreeable and pleasurable, there is craving. There this craving arises and establishes itself. All right, we have to unpack this. Let's just talk about craving, but we can also talk about aversion after that. But first, when you talk about craving, sensory craving, it says here, wherever in the world there is anything agreeable and pleasurable, you see something beautiful, towards that object. That pull is the underlying tendency towards craving. Then acting upon it and then thinking, I want that, is the full-blown tanha, the craving, the kama tanha, the sensual craving.

Or you smell something really bad in the air and you say, oh, that is really bad. I don't like that. That initial tinge of the underlying tendency, that arises from experiencing that unpleasant odor, that tendency towards aversion. If you act upon that and then react mentally by saying, I don't want that, that grasping, that tightening is the aversion that arises.

So whatever arises can be just seen as an unfolding of sensory data packets. This is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself, and therefore no craving or aversion will arise. Or it can be seen as something affecting this sense of me. As soon as that happens, there's identification there. And as soon as that identification is there, there is further craving and further clinging and further becoming, if not recognized and let go of.

So that craving arises and establishes itself. So that craving arises, that underlying tendency towards craving arises, in the pleasant feeling. And it establishes itself with the decision, the intention, the inclination to say and think, this is affecting me and therefore I like it. That's how it gets established as soon as you identify with it. And what is there in the world that is agreeable and pleasurable?

The eye in the world is agreeable and pleasurable. The ear, the nose, agreeable and pleasurable, and there this craving arises and establishes itself. So the eyes themselves can be pleasant, the ears themselves can be pleasant. There can be conceit: I have the most beautiful eyes in the world. I have the sharpest ears in the world. I have the sharpest sense of smell. I have a great sense of taste. This feeling of identifying with the sixth sense basis can cause craving to rise and establish itself in it.

Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects in the world are agreeable and pleasurable. And there this craving arises and establishes itself. Now we already talked about it. So the eyes make contact with the form that is beautiful, a beautiful symphony. The nose makes contact with a beautiful fragrance.

The tongue makes contact with a delicious piece of food. The body makes contact with the softest fabric you've ever felt. The mind makes contact with a pleasurable memory. As soon as those experiences arise and the mind says, "Oh, that's great. I really like it," that tendency towards craving and then grabbing onto it and saying that I want this. I don't want this to stop.

I hope this continues. That is the craving. And if it does stop, how do you react? That hot shower that you're having, it suddenly stops. How do you react? The food that you're going, that last piece of cake, you're really looking forward to that last piece of cake, and then suddenly somebody clutches it and takes it away.

How do you feel? You recognize, you have to have the ability to find out where did that thought arise first. Did that thought, how did a thought arise? It arose because of some kind of contact. Maybe you smell something in the air and there's contact, but that gives rise to a memory. But that memory, you didn't cause that memory to happen.

It just arose because of a series of contacts with the sense bases. Or even if that was not the case and you were sitting around and you were just thinking about things. And as you were thinking about things, something arose. But did you cause yourself to think about that? Do you cause yourself to want to think about painful memories?

Do you cause yourself to want the disappearance of pleasant memories? They go away when they go away. They arise when they arise because of causes and conditions. The moment you start to see thoughts as impersonal, by seeing, oh, this thought arose because of this contact, I didn't cause this thought to happen, then you start to disengage. And then you just see the thoughts as a flood of stream, or a stream of passing by, you know, like a river. Or you see them as clouds in the sky, and you disengage from them. So you have to see that. But if you get caught up in the story of that thought, and that getting caught up in the story is already clinging.

First the thought arises, and then the thought makes contact with the mind, there is the feeling of, oh, here is an unpleasant memory. Do you catch the mind saying, oh, he abused me and he attacked me? Or do you say, well, that was a memory that happened, but it's not happening right now? You cause yourself suffering when you relive that same memory with that same amount of craving and that same amount of clinging.

So it depends on how tired you are of that. Do you like indulging in negative thoughts? Do you like indulging in unwholesome memories? Or is there something in the mind that says it takes comfort in indulging in that? And that is the process of that sense of security and comfort, because no one can read your mind and say, oh, I know exactly what you're thinking. But you can be in your mind and make up all of these stories and make up all of these ideas, and possibly even those memories might not be the same way that you thought about them. Memories can be very fickle.

The way you perceive memories can be dependent upon your mood. The way you saw someone when you're angry is one way, and then when you have loving kindness is another way. When you have compassion is another way. He abused me. He said those things to me. And you say that in anger. But then when you have loving kindness and you realize that person was in pain.

That's why they said it. It had nothing to do with me. It had to do with them and how they were dealing with the problem in that moment. So when you see that, then you realize thoughts are also fickle. Thoughts are just arising and passing away. And you create that space. And then in the same way, you see the strawberry ice cream and realize, oh, that's just strawberry ice cream. created this association of, I want that strawberry ice cream because of so and so. The same way you create associations with memories because those are the only things the mind can hold onto for a sense of security and comfort. But if the mind experiences something that's pleasurable, like jhana, then that is more beneficial than indulging in the thoughts that cause pain.

And eventually, because of the imbuing of the mind with kindness and compassion and forgiveness, those thoughts change. The shade and content of that thought changes. Or rather, the content might be the same, but the angle, the perspective in which you see that content changes, and it's more in that sense. So eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness. That's the awareness that arises dependent upon the eye meeting with form, the ear meeting with sound, and so on and so forth. craving in it, or if that has the sense of identification in it, then that can give rise to identifying with the feeling. And taking that as personal, they can be craving for it more and more, or there can be aversion if it's not pleasurable, if it's unpleasant.

Eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact in the world is agreeable and pleasurable. And there this craving arises and establishes itself. So even in eye contact or ear contact or nose contact or tongue contact or body contact or mind contact, there can be craving. If that contact is immediately seen and there's that tinge of this is affecting a sense of me and therefore I want it or I don't want it, there is where the craving establishes itself. And that's dependent upon how the consciousness arose. Consciousness is dependent upon how the formations were rooted. Were the formations rooted in craving, greed, hatred, delusion, views, identification, conceit, ignorance?

And if there were, then what kind of consciousness arises, which then influences the way the contact is seen? Because in that contact itself, there can be a sense of I am. I am experiencing this. Color really irritates my eyes. There's a contact, you recognize that contact, and then there's this, oh, I don't like that. Or that sound, as soon as I hear it, there's like, oh, look at that. Listen to that, that beautiful sound, right? That initial impingement of the sense bases, that contact, if it's clung to, if it's identified with, there can be craving.

In that contact there can be tightness and tension that arises when you were meditating all wonderfully and there was just complete quiet mind, complete silence, and then there's a lawnmower that arises. That contact: oh my god, what happened? You know, that initial spark, that tightening, there's a tension there, that craving there. If you recognize that and you 6R that and you let go of that, that sound of the lawnmower will still be there, but now you'll be able to see it with equanimity and understand that it is the reality of that moment, but now your mind is disenchanted with it, dispassionate towards it, and comes back towards its object. Eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact, in the world, is agreeable and pleasurable.

And there this craving arises and establishes itself. So we talked about eye contact, which is the initial impingement of the sights, the sounds, the smells, and so on, on the sense basis, when it makes initial contact. Experience. Now you're experiencing something and it's pleasurable. If you allow the mind to say, oh, this feels great, that's fine. But then you say, I hope this doesn't stop.

That's where the craving arises. I'm really enjoying being in this jhana. I hope it doesn't stop. That's the craving. Or, you're in a difficult situation and you say, oh, this is very unpleasant. I wish it would stop. That's the craving. That's the aversion. Or I'm getting very distracted. I wish these distractions would stop. That's the aversion. Rather than, oh, here is a distraction. It's quite unpleasant.

I'm going to let that go and experience the relief from that distraction. So if you're in an unpleasant situation, what can you do about it? You can't change it in that moment. You can only 6R your reaction to it. You can only say, oh, here I'm perceiving it in this way, but that's causing me trouble. That's causing me suffering. When I take this personally, and I see this, and I'm having aversion to it. That's causing me suffering.

And then you'll learn from it using the six R's, seeing the suffering, letting go of the craving to that suffering, experiencing the relief from that suffering because you used the right effort. Then you're training yourself. You're teaching yourself in that moment whenever you let go. smells, of tastes, of tangibles, of mind objects in the world is agreeable and pleasurable. And there this craving arises and establishes itself.

So now the perception. The perception is the labeling of what that is. This is pleasant, this is unpleasant. Fine. Or you label this is the color red or this is the color blue. But as soon as you say, oh, that's the color red and I hate red, because of whatever reason. That because is that clinging. Or there's lights flickering somewhere, you know, and it's irritating you. There's a perception that there's this light that's turning on and off, on and off. As soon as you say, oh, that's really annoying.

And then you say, I wish that would stop. There's the aversion there. Or there's a perception of how beautiful this flower is. And you want to keep it for yourself. And then you realize that the next day it's gone. And you feel bad about it. That's the craving there. Somebody says something really nice about you. They praise you. And it might be worth praising you for whatever it is that you did.

And then you hold on to that. Oh yeah, I can't believe they said that. That's wonderful. You obsess over it. And then you think about it, and then you go back to that person. What was it that you said yesterday about me? It was somebody else. That's the craving. Yeah, because there's this sense of attachment to that idea, but then that idea was there in that moment and you're just trying to recreate that same experience over and over, but all that's doing is just further identifying with it, right? And then that can create conceit, that can create all these other things. Now, there's nothing wrong with being grateful for the things that people have said. You can keep all the different cards of all the wonderful things that people have sent you, all the wonderful letters, as a sign of gratitude, as a sign of appreciation. That's fine. But if your identification gets caught up in that.

And something happens where those cards are burned up. Oh no! Right? It's the getting caught up in that. It's the getting caught up because you value that as a sense of self. I think it's Dhammapada. I think the verse says, just like the wind doesn't move the mountain, the wise person doesn't move by praise. Just as the wind doesn't move the dancing, the wise person isn't moved by criticism. That's the goal, I guess. And sometimes that same person who was praising you on that day, the next day they say something about you and you're like, how could they say that? And so if you get moved by that, then there's no wisdom there, flying like the kite in the wind, swaying here and there.

And that causes suffering. Volition in regard to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects in the world is agreeable and pleasurable. And there this craving arises and establishes itself. Volition is the intention, the inclination towards something. If that is tinged by craving, that's dependent upon previous choices to make choices, to crave for that. If you don't recognize that and see that, oh, there is an inclination from craving to go towards that because of previous choices, then you're not using mindfulness. There's lack of mindfulness there. Mind's attention moves from one thing to the other.

The inability to do that then creates further craving. So now the craving arises and establishes itself in that intention further as soon as you make that choice. Because once you make that choice or further incline your compass towards that choice, then the next set of intentions that arise are already tinged by that craving, already tinged and influenced and conditioned by that choice. If you see, oh, here comes the craving, now I'm looking at this, I'm looking out for this person to say something good about me because yesterday they said something great about me, right? And you let go of that, then there's no seeking out, there's no grasping, there's no acquisition, there's just equanimity.

You don't get swayed by this or that. Likewise, with some memory that you have of a wonderful film or, you smell something beautiful, something fragrant, or you see something beautiful, or you hear something beautiful, and the intention that arises is to immediately look at that and grab onto it, and hold onto it so that it doesn't change.

If you recognize that, and you let go of it, and see it as me, not mine, or not myself, because you see, oh, it arose because of a series of causes and conditions. It gave rise to an intention to go and grab onto it. If you recognize there's an intention to grab onto it, then you'll also recognize that there will be suffering in there because that beautiful sight will one day fade in one moment.

And if you recognize, oh, there is a craving and you let it go, that's fine. But then there's a tendency for the mind to say, this feels really good, this craving for it itself. Like, I like being in a craving mindset. It gets so used to being in a craving or aversive mindset, there's a comfort there. The same way people indulge in reliving their wonderful memories and in craving for that, there's a sense of comfort there. They somehow are comfortable with, even though they don't like those painful memories, it still arises and there's some sense of comfort there. It's like some sense of security there.

Shopping, yeah. I just got some money, so now I need to figure out what am I going to buy with it. What am I going to want? Seek the wanting. Like, what is it that I want? I want more of what I want. Just go look, constantly looking. Yeah. I might find something I want. Yes. Yeah.

I might crave something. You never know. I don't have any money, so charge it. Oh, there you go. I'll just take out a loan for it. People pick up a menu and go, I don't know what I want. Yes. Or you hear somebody else wanting that. So it's like, oh, you know what? I changed my, I think I'm going to have that instead. Thinking and pondering.

This is actually vitakka vicara. Thinking and examining thought, which creates mental proliferation, thinking about it, obsessing over it. Obsession of, let's say, unrequited love, right? It's like, I have to think about my object of affection, my object of infatuation, and they're constantly obsessing over that, but there's a sense of craving for it, like, even though it's painful, I'm still thinking about it, right? So this constant thinking about it, constant obsession over it, that causes tightness and tension in the mind and body. You can stop that cycle of suffering in there by just recognizing it, and it just stops it right there, right? It just is like, oh, you come out of that whole cloud of delusion, this obsessing over something, and then you release your attention from it and you relax it.

You feel like the clouds just part and there's this spaciousness in the mind. There's clarity in the mind. It might come up again because it's an obsessiveness that arises. But eventually it starts to weaken and weaken and weaken. And you replace all of that obsession with wholesome attitudes. A wholesome way of looking at that and letting go.

Craving for existence. I want to be the world's most powerful president. I want to be is a statement which says, I want to be. Whenever you have that statement, I want to be, that stems from craving for existence. I don't want to be. That's craving for non-existence. I want to be. Would a corollary be like, I want things to be this way? Would a corollary to that be like, I want things to be this way? Also craving for existence. Yeah.

And that, monks, is called the noble truth of the origin of suffering. And what, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the complete fading away and extinction of the suffering. It's forsaking and abandonment, liberation from it, detachment from it. The process of relaxing is allowing the experience of cessation of suffering to happen in that moment.

And that's why you experience for yourself these noble truths in your meditation. Here is a distraction. That is the first noble truth of suffering. You hold on to it. You wish it would change. That's the craving in a very towards it, that's the second noble truth, but if you use right effort, you use the six Rs, you're applying the fourth noble truth, so that you can recognize, release your attention, relax, and in that relax experience the third noble truth of the cessation of suffering, the mundane Nirvana, the mundane Nirodha. When you do that, then you're experiencing the third noble truth.

And how does this craving come to be abandoned? How does its cessation come about? So it repeats the same thing over. I'll just go through it. Whatever in the world there is anything agreeable and pleasurable, there its cessation comes about. And what is there in the world that is agreeable and pleasurable? The tongue, the body, the mind, the eye consciousness, the ear consciousness, the nose consciousness, the tongue consciousness, the body consciousness, the mind consciousness, sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects, eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact.

The perception of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mind objects. Intention in relation to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects. Craving for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects. Thinking and pondering of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mind objects in the world is agreeable and pleasurable, or disagreeable and displeasurable. That comes to an end. And how does it come to an end? By recognizing it and then releasing your attention from it and then relaxing it. So the cessation of suffering is brought up by the cessation of craving. And that happens, we just saw, that happens when you forsake it and abandon it, when you detach from it. Drop it like it's hot. You held onto it, and then you let go of it.

Letting go of it is the softening of the mind, is the relaxing of the mind, relaxing of the tightness and tension in mind and body. And therefore, you experience the cessation of suffering. But how does that happen? What do you do to do that? So there the cessation comes about, and that, monks, is called the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.

And what, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering? Mindfulness and right collectedness. And what, monks, is right view? It is the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of the origin of suffering, the knowledge of the cessation of suffering, and the knowledge of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. This is called right view. Every time you get distracted, it's an opportunity for you to see right view. Here's the hindrance in the form of suffering.

Here's the craving that's holding on to it. And here's the letting go of it by applying the right effort. So whenever you use the practice, that's the practice of establishing right view, seeing the Four Noble Truths. Now there is the mundane right view, which is the understanding that there is a cause and consequence. There is mother and father. There are teachers and so on and so forth. We've talked about that before. Basically, it boils down to the openness to see that there is karma, that there is a process of rebirth, that there is a cause and consequence.

But this right view, you're seeing for yourself the Four Noble Truths every time you apply the six R's, every time you recognize that there's a hindrance, every time you release your attention and relax, every time you re-smile and re-collect, or return rather. Recognize, you're recognizing the first noble truth of the suffering in form of that hindrance. When you release your attention and you relax, you're abandoning that tension and tightness by relaxing, by first releasing your mind's attention from that and bringing it back to relaxing the craving, relaxing the tightness and tension, and thus experiencing the third noble truth. And when you re-smile, you're bringing up and cultivating joy. You're bringing up the feeling, whatever it might be.

When you return, you're bringing up the feeling of loving kindness. Or you come back to the quiet mind, or whatever it might be, whatever the object is. You're coming back to right collectedness. So when you use the six Rs, you are seeing the Four Noble Truths in that process. So you are establishing right view, bit by bit.

And what is right intention? The intention of renunciation, of non-ill will, of harmlessness. This is called right intention. When we talk about renunciation, we're not talking about just physical renunciation. We're talking about mental. We're saying that this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself. It's the intention to see every process as being impersonal. You're basically adding to your experience that lens of this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself. It's not a practice of saying it verbally. It's a practice of seeing in the moment as it arises that this is an impersonal process.

And that happens only through the process and application of the six R's. Continually doing that, you are letting go of the unwholesome formations that cause you to crave and identify. And you're replacing them with the wholesome formations that allow you to see with wisdom and compassion. Non-ill will. How do you get to non-ill will? That's through loving kindness.

Harmlessness or non-harmlessness. Compassion. When you see another person suffering, you wish that they not suffer. That wish for not having a person suffer. Because you know what it feels like to suffer. You know what it feels like to be in pain. Why would you wish upon someone else that pain? That's harmlessness. But the wishing that they were no longer in pain, that their pain ceased, that their suffering ceased, is the compassion, is the non-harmlessness.

And what is right speech? Refraining from lying, refraining from slander, refraining from harsh speech, refraining from frivolous speech. This is called right speech. Remember I was telling you about the acronym THINK, T-H-I-N-K. Is it the right time to say what you want to say? Is it honest? What is the intention behind it? Is it necessary and beneficial for that purpose? And can you say it with kindness?

Frivolous speech means that it's unnecessary speech. To lie means that it's not truthful. Abusive speech or harmful speech is. There's an intention to harm there. And it's not kind. Right, exactly. Frivolous speech is like speaking for the sake of speaking. It's just like, I have nothing else to do, so I'm just going to talk. Hopefully this Dhamma talk doesn't come off as frivolous speech.

But frivolous speech, there's a Pali word for it. It's such an interesting word. I can't remember it, but it's an onomatopoeia. It sounds like frivolous speech. It's like blah, blah, blah. If you ignored it, it would be weird. Yeah, exactly. It's just small talk. But not just... You just kind of get... Yeah. Frivolous speech is like... Yeah, I mean, you talk about the weather. That's not frivolous speech. It's just like... trying to bond with somebody, just trying to get a sense of, when you see in the suttas, a person comes to see the Buddha or some other monk, and then initially they talk about how are you doing, how's everything going, everything going good with your family, what's going on in the village, that kind of stuff. And then, all right, let's get back to what we're talking about. I mean, this is just being social, right? Being kind and polite and talking about this or that. And then you get to... That's just the way minds are structured socially.

It's kind of getting a sense of, are you friendly or not? The frivolous speech is like talk of kings and talk of this or talk of that. Like, did you hear about what happened in that country that day? Oh, absolutely. You see it in the media, right? All of that stuff, like talking about other people's lives.

And slander and gossip. Gossip is basically talking about a person which either you know not to be true or not to be accurate, or talking about them behind their backs. So how do you know if it's gossip? This is what Bhante would say. How do you know if it's gossip? Would you say the same thing about that person if they were there right in front of you?

And what, monks, is right action? Refraining from taking life. Refraining from taking what is not given. Refraining from sensual or sexual misconduct. This is called right action. So, not breaking the precepts. The first precept, not harming or killing on purpose. The second precept, not taking what is not given. The third precept, speech. That happens with right speech. And then the fourth precept, refraining from sexual misconduct.

Well, for the purpose of the retreat, all sexual activity. But when you get back off retreat, sexual misconduct. So sexual misconduct is cheating on someone or infidelity. And if it causes them harm or causes yourself harm, being with someone who is under the protection of their parents or who is betrothed, and things like that.

And then sensual misconduct is where, again, you have that craving for something and it causes you to break other precepts in the pursuit of that sensual experience. Now, it doesn't say anything about intoxicants, but the indulging in intoxicants will lead you, or can lead you, to break the other four precepts. So it's implicit. And what is right livelihood?

Here, the noble disciple, having given up wrong livelihood, keeps himself by right livelihood. Well, we talk about right livelihood in the mundane example, which is refraining from those five things, right? Trade in human trafficking, trade in intoxicants, trade in poisons, trade in weapons, and trade of butchering. But for the noble disciple, that's the idea that they don't deal with palmistry and astrology and reading the signs and telling the future, and even medicine, because they're here for the purpose of liberation of the mind. They went forth in order to liberate the mind, not for all of these other things.

And what, monks, is right effort? Here one rouses his will, stirs up energy, and exerts the mind to prevent the arising of unarisen... Yeah, this word prevent. We've gone back and forth about this. But basically, what it is, is recognizing that there is an unwholesome state there. As soon as you recognize that there's an unwholesome state there, it no longer grabs onto the mind, because now you've recognized it. Strives to overcome evil, unwholesome mental states that have arisen.

So, that's really weird language, but basically what that really is, is one makes the right effort to abandon the unwholesome state. So that's the second right effort. And you abandon it by releasing your attention to it and relaxing the tightness and tension, the craving around that unwholesome state. And exerts his mind to generate or produce unarisen, wholesome mental states.

So when you smile, you uplift the mind. When you smile, you bring up a wholesome state of mind. You bring up joy. So first, when you relax, you experience clarity. That's a wholesome state of mind. And then you bring up the smile to bring up an uplifted mind. That's a wholesome state of mind. You generate the wholesome state of mind.

And then he makes an effort, stirs up energy and exerts his mind to maintain wholesome states of mind that have arisen, not to let them fade away, to bring them to greater growth, to the full perfection of development. So when you return back to your object of meditation, you're in a collected state of mind. That's a wholesome state of mind. Whether it's loving-kindness, whether it's equanimity, whether it's quiet mind, whatever it is, you have to push in order to stay there. Just observing and keeping your attention will cause the object of meditation to develop and grow. You don't have to change it. You don't have to do anything with it. Just your mere observation, just your mere attention, fuels the arising of loving-kindness to go into compassion, the arising of compassion to go into joy, and then to equanimity, and then finally all of that goes away and there's just a quiet mind.

Right? There's no, now I'm going to go from loving-kindness to compassion. It's not like you're changing it. It's just a natural, organic progression. Well, what's happening is when you're doing the six R's, you're not only developing the right effort, but you're also developing enlightenment factors. You're activating them to come into being. And just by doing that and then coming back to collectedness, when you return, it continues developing that on its own. The moment you start to apply right effort, the moment you start to apply the Eightfold Path, these other things come into development automatically. The enlightenment factors, and we might go through this at some point, the five faculties, the five powers, the four bases of psychic power, all of that.

And so the enlightenment factors are already implied when you use this process of right effort. And then you come to collectedness. And then there's no pushing or pulling while you're collected on your object of meditation. And because there's no pulling or pushing, that means there's equanimity in it. Equanimity naturally is developed just by purely observing. This process begins with observing, which is mindfulness, and then the investigation of states, which discerns what it is that's being observed, and you rouse up the energy, the effort to continue observing. That doesn't mean you push, just staying there. And then joy naturally arises because mind is secluded from unwholesome states. Secluded meaning there is no hindrance present. So mind feels relief from that, and there's joy there.

And then from that joy, there's tranquility. And then from that tranquility, there's collectedness. And then from that collectedness, there's the equanimity. It is interlocked, interconnected when you do this. But it's also linear and cyclical. It's linear and cyclical, yes. Because by the time you get to the fourth jhana, you have the mindfulness, the purity of mindfulness conditioned by equanimity.

And so this is called right effort. And what, monks, is right mindfulness? Here, monks, a monk abides contemplating body as body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world. He abides contemplating feelings as feelings. He abides contemplating mind as mind. He abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world. Of how mind's attention moves from one object to the other, without craving for this or that, without resisting this or that, just seeing things as they really are, the observation of things as they are, right? So that allows you then to be collected, because then you can recognize, is the mind collected or not collected?

And you bring it back to being collected. And what, monks, is right collectedness? Here, a monk detached from sense desires, detached from unwholesome mental states, enters and remains in the first jhana, which is with thinking and pondering, born of seclusion, filled with delight and joy. And with the subsiding of thinking and pondering, by gaining inner tranquility and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without thinking and pondering, born of collectedness, filled with delight and joy. And with the fading away of delight, remaining equanimous, mindful and clearly aware, he experiences in himself the joy of which the noble ones say, Happy is he who dwells with equanimity and mindfulness.

He enters the third jhana. And having given up pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of former gladness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana, beyond pleasure and pain and purified by, and mindfulness, purity of mindfulness and equanimity. This is called right collectedness. So that's what you guys are practicing right now, right? Getting into jhana. That happens naturally. The reason is because you've been observing how your mind's attention moves from one place to another and using right effort to come back to a collected mind. And you're able to recognize when hindrances arise. You're able to release them, able to relax the craving, and therefore you are developing right view. And when you have the right intention to let go of things and see them as they are, which is impersonal, and then having cultivated loving-kindness, cultivated compassion, you are cultivating right intention.

And then when you see that there is a need to say something that is not truthful or harmful, or whatever it might be in the way of wrongdoing speech, you're recognizing that and letting that go and only speaking that which is right speech, and you're keeping the precepts and therefore you are having right action. So the Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right collectedness. You're already doing all these things on retreat. The ability to use right effort means recognizing when there's wrong view and coming back to right view. Recognizing when there's wrong intention and coming back to right intention. Recognizing when there is wrong speech and coming back to right speech.

Recognizing when there's wrong action and coming back to right action. Recognizing when there is wrong livelihood and coming back to right livelihood. Recognizing when there's wrong mindfulness. What is wrong mindfulness? Not being observant. Not recognizing how a mind's attention moves from one thing to the other. But you're coming back when you recognize. What is wrong collectedness? When you're pushing, when you're trying to hold on to the jhana, instead of observing what's happening through right effort. Coming back to the jhana with right effort. So right effort, the six Rs, are the heart of the Eightfold Path.

Because it's only through right effort that you go from the wrong path to the right path, and the utilization of that is the utilization of the fourth noble truth: to recognize suffering, to let that go by letting go of the craving, and thus experiencing relief, the third noble truth. And the more you do this, the more you see that, and the more you do that, the more you see suffering. The more you understand suffering, the more you abandon craving, the more you experience relief, and finally, the more you perfect and cultivate the Eightfold Path, the entire practice.

And so this is the talk on the Four Noble Truths. What sutta number is that? Digha Nikaya 22, Maha Satipatthana Sutta. It's section 15. That was one section. I think it's the only sutta which has that much of an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Right, of the dependent origination and right view. But this one is like each of the Four Noble Truths. Are you all satisfied and delighted? All right. Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free, and fear-struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief, and may all beings find relief. 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.