Day 4 "Dependent Origination Part 1" Oct 26-Nov2 Retreat at St Francis

So yesterday we spoke about transcendental dependent origination and what I said was really if you look at the links of transcendental dependent origination, they are the blueprints for awakening. All of the ingredients are there for the recipe of awakening. And what are those ingredients? Let's review them so we have the context. First there is faith and/or virtue, which leads to relief and non-regret. This leads to joy. This joy leads to tranquility. This tranquility leads to ease. This ease leads to collectedness. This collectedness leads to seeing things as they actually are. This leads to disenchantment, then dispassion, then liberation, and finally the knowledge of liberation. This is the entire path. In this you will find the Eightfold Path.

In this you will find enlightenment factors. In this you will find all the other 37 requisites for awakening. But if you use this as the spine, then you have everything you need for the purpose of waking up. As I was saying, the transcendental links of dependent origination are the elaboration of the third noble truth. The third noble truth is the cessation of suffering and the fourth noble truth is the Eightfold Path, so it's an elaboration of that. Today we're going to look at the first two noble truths, suffering and the causes leading to that suffering. But just like we will go through it in reverse, we will go through it in reverse, and we will see how Nibbana is possible with the cessation of each of these links. So it's not just about recognizing the link if it's present in the mind. It's also about releasing it and letting it go so that what is left is Nibbana.

What is left is Nibbana. What is left is the cessation of suffering, and that, as I said, is like the clear, cloudless blue sky, vast and expansive, limitless and without borders. So let's explore the twelfth link, and this will probably take two days. So we'll complete today with craving, and then we'll finish the rest of the series tomorrow, because there is a lot there. Now, why would you need to know dependent origination? What is the purpose of dependent origination? Is it an academic exercise? Is it just more theories to fill up in your head, to be a good theoretical student? No. Dependent origination is the spine. It is the spine of the Dhamma. It is the Dhamma in the shorter discourse on the elephant's footprint, in the Majjhima Nikaya. I think it's 28, if I'm not mistaken. Majjhima Nikaya 28.

There Sariputta says the Buddha has said that one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination, and one who knows dependent origination knows the Dhamma. So what do we mean by seeing dependent origination? What does it mean to see? What does it mean to know dependent origination? So actually the Dhamma means attention. It's actually an active principle, so it is mind doing something. And whatever mind does, it attends to it, pays attention to it. So many people have called this wise attention, proper attention. I call it attention rooted, because it's looking at the origin of all things in reality. And the origin of all things is, in some sense, what is it that preceded the experience? What is it that preceded a particular link? But on a larger, or even on a more nuanced and subtle level, it's referring to Nibbana, an attention that allows us to enter into Nibbana.

So let's start with Nibbana. Let's start with the twelfth link. The twelfth link is jara-marana, which means old age and death, but this is just a small part of a larger set of dukkha. So we'll explore what it's important to understand. It's important to understand what we mean by dukkha, what we mean by suffering. Dukkha means, quite literally, the thing that is unstable. It doesn't move, right? In the old days it was about a wheel or an axle that's just a little off-center, so when the chariot is being driven, it's a little wobbly. It's like when you go to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods or any of these fancy schmancy grocery stores, or even a regular grocery store, there's always going to be, invariably, that one cart, that one cart whose wheel is just a little wobbly. That one cart along, you know, just trying to be patient with it. This is dukkha. Things are just not right.

And just trying to be patient with it. This is dukkha. Things are just not right. And dukkha has many different categories and subsets, but the three primary categories are dukkha-dukkha, that's the original recipe, dukkha. Then we have the parinama dukkha, that's the dukkha of change. And then we have something known as sankhara dukkha, an inherent dukkha related to the five aggregates. So dukkha-dukkha. What is dukkha? Dukkha is the things that we experience in everyday life: aging, death, sickness, grief, sadness, desperation, despair, lamentation. All of these, really, you know, frightening, terrible, uncomfortable things. And they are not escapable. We have to experience them. The only way out is through. And there's a very important understanding of karma as well.

In order for us to burn our karma, as it were, is to experience it. It's the only way, or to remove the causes and conditions for it. But once the karma starts, you either keep engaging with it, which means it keeps getting stronger, or you learn how to manage with it and disengage from it, so that it runs out its course and then dissipates. This is the purpose of right effort. The purpose of the 6R's. The purpose of the four R's. The purpose of Relax is to be in the present moment, because the present moment is where karma arises. Not in the past, not in the future. Right here, right now. This is where karma arises. How and what we choose to do with that karma determines the next phase. That karma may increase. The karma we're dealing with is pain. We're dealing with craving. We're dealing with aversion, we're dealing with sloth and torpor.

Our reaction to the mind having those experiences is, get that away from me, and we use the 6R's like a whack-a-mole. We use it as a fly swatter. But that's not how it's to be used. It's to acknowledge: here is a hindrance, and I accept it, I invite it, I'm okay with it. Here's a terrible emotion, I'm okay with it. It's okay with it. So when I utilize them, practice in this way, I'm directly dealing with karma, both in the meditation and outside. Please understand this. If you just take this from the retreat, and you fully understand it, you can leave tonight. It's so important to understand this.

This is the core of everything. This is how we deal with life. Awakening is not going to solve your problems. Awakening is not going to give you never-ending bliss. Awakening is not going to allow you to experience, you know, the things that you have been avoiding, and asleep to it. It will make you present with all of the terrible things. Now the key is what do you do with that? How do you choose to deal with it? So the awakened mind is not perfect.

you will make mistakes you will make mistakes you will fail you will fail you will fail you will falter all these things will still be there the grumpiness the grumpiness the grumpiness the you know reaching for the coffee at 5 a.m. the tiredness the achiness the achiness all of that will still be there so what is the purpose of awakening what is the point of awakening what is the point of awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening awakening allows us to better navigate through all of the horrible things in our life in such a way that they are not repeated from us in such a way that they are not repeated from us but the energy of the energy of all those horrible things start to dissipate and never return but in such a way that the buddha himself went through many difficult situations so the buddha here denoting the fact that he was awakened not the bodhisattva but the buddha his own cousin wanted to kill him there was a woman who accused him of improper behavior

and accused him of improper behavior and accused him of impregnating him of impregnating him all kinds of things were said about him people misrepresented him all the time not to mention he had to deal with so many students all the time the patience that was required sometimes he lost his patients so what did he get in the end what did he get in the end what did he receive in the end he understood what the cessation of suffering is when we say cessation of suffering it denotes this certain level of permanence to it but that's another an idealization it's an idealization in our minds it's a fantasy that we all want to live about no more suffering it's a fantasy that we all want to live about no more suffering no more suffering but the truth of it is he understood how to accept his suffering acceptance is the cessation of suffering understanding complete full unadulterated acceptance which means no resistance to what's happening

When he is old and aging and fragile, that's what you care about. That's what you care about. So the Buddha was very much aware of his own mortality, his own fragility. He's very much aware of that, and he accepted it. And so what did he say about dukkha? He said these things are unavoidable. He said these things are unavoidable. Viparinama dukkha, the dukkha of change, is when things happen unexpectedly. Accidents can happen. The unexpected death of a loved one, the sudden breakup of a relationship, all of these are viparinama dukkha. Then there is sankhara dukkha. Sankhara dukkha is the inherent dukkha that's present in each of the five aggregates. And this dukkha is inherent because of our identification with each of these five aggregates, seeing form as self, or self in form, or self as well as with feeling, perception, intentions and awareness. So when we identify with any of these five aggregates, we start to experience the inherent sankhara dukkha. How the Buddha

was using his intuition to figure out this whole process of dependent origination. How did he figure out this whole process of dependent origination? How did he figure it out? He said, okay, there is this dukkha. There is jara marana. There is depression. There is anxiety. There is all of these really terrible things. But how do they start? What are their conditions? And it came to him that jati, birth, is the condition for these things. Why birth? Why birth? What does it mean when we say birth? Well, at the outside it means the birth of beings, the birth of the aggregates, the birth of the sense bases, and the renewal of those in every moment. But it also means birth of action, birth of karma, birth of intention. So what I'm getting at is, dependent origination is helping us to understand the keys and the mechanics of karma.

Because that was the whole process of the Dhamma, of the journey of the Buddha. Why do beings suffer? How do we let go of the suffering? And he understood it was karma, karma and choices, intention and action, and the fruits of those actions. And the fruits of those actions is what keeps the carousel moving, and there you go around, running the samsara, changing over and over and over. Or if we don't have to go look at that, just in our own lives we keep repeating the same things over and over in our lives that we don't want

We want to escape from that, yet we find ourselves in those same situations. But if we understand dependent origination, then we understand how to come out of those patterns. Now, the birth of karma, that's the premise here that we have to understand. When birth of karma ceases, dukkha ceases. What do we mean by birth of karma? A birth of karmic action, because there is a difference between karmic action and selfless action. And when I say selfless, I'm not talking about an unselfish act. I'm talking about an action in which there's no sense of self there. It is an action that flows and is fluid, is appropriate for the situation at hand.

In every given moment, that action is non-productive of further karma, and therefore non-productive of further suffering. And how does one do that action? How does one have that kind of action? So it's not the birth of karmic action. Letting go is effortless action. It's quite the paradox. It's like we know, and we can see, and we are aware of all the sensations that are coming and going. And then we're aware of something deeper. Right now, in this moment, we can do that. We are aware, right? Pay attention. Listening to the sound of my voice, listening to the humming, whatever is humming. Gathering your thoughts, observing your thoughts, feeling the pressure in your chair, feeling the pressure from the back. All of these sensations are happening, and there's an awareness behind that.

And in that awareness there is a sense of self. I am aware of this. Now, how do we let go of that? That's the thing we try to let go of. We try to do something. We try to do something. But we just relax. Relax all trying, relax all effort. The more we try to do something, the more we try to do something. Do the action.

When we meditate, we meditate with a desire for an outcome for that meditation. No matter how much we lie to ourselves and say, "No, I'm just sitting. I'm just going to see what's going to happen." That's why, when you allow the mind to come in and you ask the mind, "What do you feel like today?" you're surrendering your will. You're surrendering your intention to the intuition.

And that meditation is effortless. That meditation is actionless. That meditation doesn't have a goal in mind, doesn't have an outcome that we're trying to control. And so in the meditating, there's only the meditation. Just a few minutes ago, I asked you to just be aware, right? Just sit and be aware, listening to the sound of my voice, listening to the hum, gathering your thoughts, feeling into your chair, and so on and so forth.

But you did that, and when you did that, there was a sense of self. Now, if you do it, and you see, there's only listening going on. There's only sitting going on. There's only thinking going on. There's only thinking going on. That changes the whole dynamic of that flow. This is the shortest and most potent discourse of the Buddha, when he gave it to Bahiya. That in the seeing, there's only the seen. In the hearing, there's only the heard. In the sensing, there's only the sensed. In the cognizing, there's only the cognized.

Just work with that. Just work with that. And you will have the cessation of suffering. Nothing beyond that. That's where we're all heading towards. In the meditating, there's only meditating. Give up your own intention. And trust in the higher mind. Allow it to lead. Allow it to lead. Allow it to lead. And see where it takes you. And see where it takes you.

And then you will see that hindrances are less. And when the hindrances are there, the mind can immediately let them go. Effortless. Free-flowing. So the cessation of karma is the cessation of suffering, which means the cessation of intentional action. The cessation of a self-induced or self-centred action. It's not about selfish or unselfish. It's about an action with identity attached around it. And how you know that is when there is a motivation for the fruit of that action.

When you let that go, and there is just the action, then it doesn't matter what happens after that. The action itself is the reward. The meditation itself is the reward. The meditation itself is Nibbana. The path itself is the goal. This is why I say there is nothing to do. Nowhere to be. No one to become. Nowhere to go.

Just this. Just this. So this birth of action. So this birth of action. What does it have as its condition? What does it have as its condition? Something known as bhava. B-H-A-V-A. Bhava. And bhava is translated into existence, into habitual tendencies, into becoming, into being, and so on and so forth. But the best way of understanding what this is, is that it is a library of preset actions.

And reactions over a period of time. When we are met with the same kind of people, or similar kinds of people, when we are met with the same kinds of situations, we have accumulated a whole library. A whole library. An assortment of different reactions for each situation. For each situation. And the way we act is unconscious. As soon as the stimuli arises, we just act.

Our mind immediately goes to the jukebox of all of these different things, and picks one out, and then it plays that. And it's the same record. And it's the same record, playing over and over and over and over again. And so certain kinds of habits. And so certain kinds of habits. Certain kinds of habitual tendencies

relating to certain kinds of different states of existence. At the lowest level, states of hell. A violent mindset, an aggressive mindset, a mindset that has the desire to harm oneself and/or others. And above that is a more hungry ghost mindset. The Forbes list is full of hungry ghosts. You know, always never satisfied, never content, always want more, more, more, more, more. And above that is the mindset of an animal.

Which means all we're here to do is gather as many resources as we can and live on through our children and their children's children and so on. But that's a very basic sort of life, and it's very animalistic in its thinking. And above that is humans. But how do we define what humans are? Because we're also animals. We're social animals.

We also have those urges that animals have. We can say we have the ability to self-reflect. We can say we have the ability to be aware of our actions and the consequences of our actions. But those are all learned things, over a period of time. So that is really important to ask: what is it that makes us human? What is it that separates us from the rest of the animals on this planet? What is it that makes us human? What is it that makes us human? What is it that makes us human? What is the fuel that ejects the specific intention, thought, idea, word, deed that leads to the birth of karma?

So when that ceases, the birth of that karma ceases. And any potential suffering related to it also ceases. This becoming or habitual tendencies is dependent upon and conditioned by what's known as clinging. Clinging comes from the word upadana. It's the fuel. It's the accumulation of many different acquisitions that we bring together.

And it's the associations that we produce. It's the rationale behind why we think we like something. The rationale behind why we think we hate something. And so this clinging is of four types. Clinging to sensual pleasures. Clinging to rites and rituals.

Clinging to views. And clinging to self. These are the four kinds of clinging. And so I have associations about chocolate cake. So I cling to that. Clinging to sensual pleasures can mean some kind of smell reminds us of a traumatic incident. And we start reliving those things. We can't escape from those things. Because every time we have that, it engages us with those traumatic experiences.

So how do we break that? How do we break that down? How do we free ourselves from that? Because let me say this. When suffering ceases, when dukkha ceases, in that moment, there is nirvana. And that tiny window of nirvana is what we are after.

So that we can drop into that and let that become part of our life process. When we let go of the intentional action from the sense of self. And we drop all of that. And there is a flow of action. There is just a flow of seeing, hearing, thinking, tasting, touching, whatever it is. Then in that too, there is nirvana. This is what it means. This is what it means when the Buddha says, in the seeing there is only the seeing. And when there is no self there. That itself is the cessation of suffering.

That itself is nirvana. Nirvana in action. Nirvana in daily life. It is not something where the clouds are going to rift apart. And the angels and devas are going to come to you and crown you and say, welcome to Nirvana. That's not going to happen. Trust me.

It's so ordinary. And yet so transcendent. So with the cessation of those habitual tendencies. With the cessation of this desire to act from that sense of self. There is relief in that. And that relief is nirvana. So when I find myself after chocolate cake. And mistake chocolate cake for nirvana. And I find myself suffering. Because the chocolate cake, I act towards that chocolate cake. With the motive for that chocolate cake.

And so I am in that patterning of samsara. I am in that mini samsara. That mini rebirth. But as soon as I see that. And I disengage. My mind is content. My mind is free of chocolate cake. My mind is in Nibbana. True Nibbana. Here and now. So if I let go of the habitual tendency in that moment.

There is that slight sliver of a window where Nibbana is present. And all I have to do is drop into it. So with clinging it's the same thing. I notice this form of association going on with a particular sensual activity. And my mind says I want that. Or I don't like that. Or I am that. And I go after it. Or whatever it is. And I work with it. But if I just disengage.

It says in the suttas. Through non-clinging his mind was liberated. By disengaging from that whole pattern. Of why it is that I like this. And I let go of that. In that moment. I have available to me. Nibbana. The clinging to rites and rituals. What do we mean by that? Clinging to different things. In our lives. That we feel. Give us some kind of comfort. Clinging to a certain kind of routine.

Clinging to wearing a certain kind of clothing. Clinging to a certain kind of. Clinging to views. Clinging to different kinds of opinions. People often ask me about this. Whenever I watch the news, I get stressed out. What do I do? I say stop watching the news.

It's as simple as that. But how will I keep informed? What do I do? intention and awareness in many different ways and This is completely gone at stream entry. Because you start to see everything as an impersonal process, you realize, oh, what I'm taking?

As myself is just an impersonal process, and you are better equipped to recover from that rather than getting caught up in the turmoil of this is me. This is mine. This is myself. Clinging to rites and rituals also goes away at stream entry because you realize that the path to liberation is simpler than just doing certain kinds of rituals. It's about walking a certain path, and that path is the eightfold path. Clinging to sensual pleasures happens over a period of time, and clinging to views. That's a very difficult one, very sticky. It just depends on what are the things that you want to still hold on to?

It could also be somebody who's like what they call the skeptics during the time of the Buddha, where they say that we hold on to no views. Well, that's a view, and the Buddha even talked about it. Sariputta's cousin or nephew, Diganaka, the one with long nails. That's what he was called. He approached the Buddha and he said so proudly, I hold a view that I have no views. And so the Buddha said this guy is very close. But then he asked him, but do you hold on to the view that you have no views?

And so then the Buddha deconstructs that process. This is Majjhima Nikaya 74 by the way, Diganaka Sutta. And that he goes through the process of seeing each sensation and feeling and perception, and showing Diganaka that when we have views about every experience, that causes suffering. But when we let go of that, there is still identity around the experience. That when we let go of completely, then we are free. Then there is just feeling going on. Then there is just sensing going on. Then there is just feeling in the way. And this is the truth. And this is the thing. And this is the thing that took Sariputta all the way. Sariputta it is said was fanning the Buddha while he was giving this discourse to Diganaka. And Sariputta realized the Buddha doesn't even have any attachment to the Dhamma itself.

So if somebody were to desecrate the Dhamma and say something against the Dhamma, he wouldn't be upset by it. And this is his Dhamma. And so upon realizing that Sariputta attained the Dhamma. And this is the full awakening. So this clinging, these different kinds of clinging, these associations, these rationales behind what we do, why we do, what we do, this is dependent on something known as craving. Conditioned by craving. Now if we were to let go of that clinging that moment and recognize, oh, I'm getting caught up in my opinions. I'm getting caught up in trying to defend my views to this case. I'm getting caught up in clinging to this particular sandwich. Or this particular piece of chocolate cake. Or I'm getting caught up in identifying with this particular process.

I'm getting caught up in, oh, I have to do it this way. It has to be done that way. These rites and rituals. I'm getting caught up in this particular process. So I'm getting caught up in the way. I'm getting caught up in this particular situation. So I'm getting caught up in this particular process. So let's not vilify the links. Let's understand that the links themselves can be a pathway to nirvana when we're able to disengage from each link. Now craving. The big one.

This is the thing that sets the whole chain. This is the thing that sets the whole chain. What is craving? What is craving? Craving. Craving is a level of obsessing over something. Because when we look at something that's beautiful, we can say, oh, that's wonderful. Great. But then there's a desire to possess it. And in the desire to possess it, there's an obsession around it. There's an obsession around it. It must be this way. I want it. I need it. Or if it's something that's unpleasant, we say, oh, how annoying is that. Just whatever it is. And we move on. But then it's like, no, no, this thing actually just disturbs a deep sense of me. And I become obsessed by that. And I want it to go away. Or just a plain identification with something. That this is me. This is who I am. I?

And they can come in the form of a faster heart rate, or actual tenseness in the body. Whatever it is. But how do we recognize that? How do we recognize that? How do we recognize that there is craving? It is the gatekeeper of mindfulness. And why we call it a gatekeeper is that it is keeping away all of the links that result in the proliferation of new karma. When we come back into our bodies, check in. Literally just doing that. Check in. How am I feeling right now? What is going on?

I'm feeling anger. Okay. Accept the fact that I'm feeling anger. I'm feeling sadness. Okay. Accept the fact that you're feeling sadness. Okay. Accept the fact that you're feeling sadness. I'm feeling happy. Okay. Accept the fact that you're feeling happy. Okay. Accept the fact that you're feeling happy. Be there with it. Now. Allow it to run its course. In your mind, is there any attachment to it?

Or are you trying to control how it should be? This is crazy. The obsession. The obsession. Around controlling. I want this more. This has to continue. But when it fades away, I feel bad. I don't like this. I want it to stop. I don't like this. I want it to stop. I don't want any more of it. But when it doesn't go away, we feel aversion, the mirror of craving. As soon as we recognize this. As soon as we recognize this. As soon as we recognize this. And we let this go. And we let this go. In that moment, there is a cessation of craving. And that cessation of craving. And that cessation of craving is the cessation of dukkha. And the cessation of that dukkha is Nibbana. So now this craving is conditioned by feeling. But that we'll get into tomorrow. And that we'll get into tomorrow. And that we'll get into tomorrow.