Deerpark Retreat Day 4 Noble Truths w/Delson Armstrong

So today we're going to talk about the Four Noble Truths. I'll be reading from Digha Nikaya, number 22. This is from the Maha Satipatthana Sutta. We have a nice guest here. And this is section 5 on the Four Noble Truths. So this is in the section that discusses mind objects. 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. He knows as it really is: 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? 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 clinging are suffering. These are the four noble truths. So the first two have to do with suffering, and the other two have to do with the cessation of suffering. So whenever the Buddha talks about different aspects of the Dhamma, he's always talking about these two things, suffering and the cessation of suffering.

Tomorrow we're going to be talking about dependent origination. And in dependent origination, what we see is how suffering arises. And through its reversal, and through its letting go and abandoning, we also understand how suffering ceases, the causes and conditions for that suffering, how it ceases. So today, as an understanding of, or to get a better understanding of dependent origination, to prepare you for that, I thought it best to discuss the Four Noble Truths. Because that is really what the Buddha has talked about over his many, many years and decades of teaching in his life.

Everything that he's talked about in the Sutta has been an elaboration of these Four Noble Truths in one way or the other. He talks about the four foundations of mindfulness. That is to say, the four aspects of observation on which the mind rests. It could be the body and different aspects of the body, different understandings of the body, like how the body is made up of different organs, how the body is made up of the different elements.

It could be in relation to feeling. It could be in relation to mind or mind states, like a contracted mind. He knows a contracted mind as contracted mind. He knows a distracted mind as a distracted mind. He knows an exalted mind as an exalted mind, and so on. Now, the Buddha, and then of course the last is mind objects or dhammas, phenomena. And so these phenomena include the five aggregates, seven enlightenment factors, and the Four Noble Truths, among others. Oh, including the Five Hindrances.

And so the Buddha delineates different aspects of experience for us to understand the coarser aspects and then the more subtle aspects. But all of these arise in tandem. So when you're observing what is happening with the body, you're also observing the feeling tied to the body. You're observing your reaction tied to that feeling, the perceptions, and so on.

And then finally the Buddha gets into the Four Noble Truths. And so he talks about the Four Noble Truths, and he says that there are these Four Noble Truths: that there is suffering, there is an origin to this suffering, there is the cessation of suffering, and there is a way leading out of that suffering. There is a way leading to the cessation of suffering.

So basically, he gives a diagnosis. Here we have suffering. And then he goes to what is the cause and condition for the suffering. Then he says there's a cure to the suffering, like a doctor. And he says, here are the prescriptions for letting go of suffering. So now we're going to explore that more in detail. So he starts off with saying that birth is suffering. Aging is suffering. Death is suffering. 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 clinging are suffering. And now he's going to unpack: what is birth, and why is it suffering?

And what, monks, is birth? Whatever beings, of whatever group of beings, there is birth, coming to be, coming forth, the appearance of the aggregates, the acquisition of the sense bases. That is called birth. So first let's talk about the different types of dukkha, the three categories of dukkha: there is dukkha dukkha, viparinama dukkha, and sankhara dukkha. We see this in terms of birth and aging and death and illness and so on. So when we talk about birth over here, we're not only just talking about birth in terms of birth of a new being.

Of course, that is suffering, because now you have brought that being into a new existence where suffering is possible through the impermanence of pleasurable feelings, through painful feelings, and so on and so forth. In the birth of beings, we're talking about the acquisition of the sense bases. Depending upon where you are in that chart of the 31 realms of existence, you may have certain sense bases fully functional. Or you may not even have form at all, in terms of the formless realms, where there's only mind. And you may have certain aggregates present, and certain aggregates won't be present.

And so, the coming into being: there are different ways in which a being is generated, through the womb, through moisture, through egg, and through spontaneous generation. So these are the different ways in which beings come into being. This is the way in which beings are born into some sort of an existence or sphere of existence. But when we talk about birth, we also talk about birth in terms of rebirth in every moment, how rebirth arises in terms of the arising and passing away of consciousness.

So when we talk about the arising and passing away of consciousness, we see it for ourselves at infinite consciousness, like we talked about yesterday. And then you see the impermanence of existence. By seeing the impermanent nature of existence, because it's conditionally dependent, you realize that it's not worth holding on to, which is impermanent, it slips away. And therefore, it is liable to cause dukkha. It is liable to cause suffering.

And therefore, it should not be seen as me, mine, or myself. But there's another way of understanding birth in terms of what happens in our daily lives: the birth and arising of new consciousnesses in every moment, but also the birth of action. When we talk about dependent origination, the way to look at dependent origination is that it is like a stream or a river. And different bends of that stream and that river, or different whirlpools and rapids within that river, denote the different links of dependent origination.

And then becoming, going into birth, is the waterfall. Once you go over the waterfall, you go down. Going down is the birth of action. So you cannot recall the birth of an action. In other words, once the arrow has been shot, you cannot recall the arrow back, in terms of your mental action, in terms of your verbal action, in terms of your physical action.

So birth of action, the reason why you call this birth of action is because it continues to add to the repository of karma. Whatever we inherit, we inherit from our previous choices that were done at some point in the past, and what we are experiencing now in the present moment is a result of those choices. How we choose to react will cause the birth of further reactions, the birth of further karma, or will cease that karma, or seize packets of that karma.

In your meditation, when you are met with hindrances, what is happening? The hindrances are old karma, that which you inherit in the present moment as a result of previous choices. Now you could choose to identify with that hindrance, and pull that hindrance choose to react in a way that causes further suffering that's the further birth of action which then leads to that whole mass of suffering or you can understand in that moment what that hindrance is that hindrance arose because of prior causes and conditions therefore it is impermanent not worth holding on to and not yours seen as me, mine, or myself.

When you recognize that hindrance, you stop it in its tracks. You let go of your reaction to it, bring it back to the present moment, relax the tightness and tension, and then generate a wholesome state through the smile, and keep that going through your meditation on metta. When you do it in this way, then you are letting go of that old karma in the form of that hindrance. But what happens? That hindrance comes back again, with weaker force, in the next moment. So you do the same thing. You use right effort to let go of that hindrance, and then that hindrance comes back yet again, but it's much weaker. Again, you're able to quickly recognize that hindrance. This time around, eventually that hindrance fades away: the ceasing and remainderless fading away of that hindrance.

So the birth of action here is one aspect of it. Another way of looking at birth, or rebirth, is the same definition as for insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. You will find in your life that you have come across certain kinds of people, certain kinds of situations, certain kinds of relationships that seem to have similar kinds of patterns. And so you go through a process of rebirth with those same or similar kinds of experiences, with those similar kinds of relationships, with those similar kinds of situations, until you learn to let go and have wisdom from them. When you learn to let go, instead of reacting to them, you stop adding further to that repository of further patterning and re-patterning of certain kinds of situations.

You will still continue to have that until you learn to let go. And once you let go, you will find that you have greater clarity about certain situations. And you won't repeat the same mistakes. You won't repeat the same kind of reactions to deal with those similar situations. So this is one way of understanding birth: again, expecting a different result.

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, monks, is aging. Until scientists discover a way to prevent aging, we all have to experience aging. There are some people who are so afraid of the aging process that they will do Botox.

One of the side benefits is they'll keep smiling all the time. Or, you know, they'll color their hair or they'll get a wig or they'll do something or another, and they'll see themselves in the mirror and look at themselves and say, oh my God, here's a wrinkle, here's a gray hair, and then that frightens them.

Because their self-image is tied up with the body. Their conceit is tied up with the body. The craving for the body and sense experiences causes, or identification with it as well, causes the mind to suffer when it sees signs of aging. The sense faculties decay. Our eyes grow weaker. Our ears grow weaker. Our limbs grow weaker. We aren't able to have the same kind of energy as we had before as we get older.

But that's just a normal process of the body. But if you identify with the body, if you see this body as me, mine, or myself, then you will have suffered in the form of aging. So if you see what aging is, and accept it, understand it as a natural process of human existence and indeed many other kinds of existences, then you will not suffer because you won't identify with the body anymore. You will see what the body actually is. The body is made up of different states of matter, made up of the four great elements. greater detail. But the body is just made up of the food that we eat, the nutrition we have. The body is made up of the different intakes that we have through our different senses and so on and so forth.

So if you identify with the body, you will cause yourself suffering. Likewise with death. And what is death? In whatever beings or 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 a natural part of life. This is something that we all have to accept. Some people aren't able to accept it and experience great amounts of anxiety about it. One day their life is going to end. Everything they did on this earth, everything that they achieved, none of that can they take with them after death. And they get afraid of that. Because their self-image is tied to their achievements. Their self-image is tied to the body. Their self-image is tied to the things that they have, the things that they possess, the things that they have

created the relationships that they have fostered and so on. And they are afraid of losing all of that. And sometimes people aren't afraid of their own deaths. They are afraid of the deaths of their loved ones, of their parents, of their siblings, of their relatives. And there is the grief that arises. We'll talk about grief in a moment. But when we grieve, we do not grieve for those who are dead. We grieve for ourselves because those who are dead have left an empty space in our lives. We grieve out of selfishness because we attach a sense of self to the relationships we had with those people who have passed on.

We grieve because those people are no longer in our lives, no longer able to maintain the relationships that we want. And so when there is impending death of a loved one, we can experience anticipatory grief. And there can be a lot of anxiety around that. But understanding and accepting that death is natural and a normal process, and letting go of your identity tied to yourself in terms of the body, are permanent in the body, tied to the idea of a relationship that is long-lasting with a person, tied to the other person in relation to you and who you think you are with that person. All of these ideas tied with that self-image cause suffering when death arises.

And there can arise what is known as death anxiety. A form of death anxiety and death denial comes in the form of one who inflicts violence on others because they are so afraid of death that they will kill other beings, thinking that they have control over death. This is how their mind works on a subconscious level when they inflict violence on others.

So understanding death, and understanding how death arises, how death happens, understanding that you one day will die, whenever that may be, that's fine, that's okay. In fact there is a lot of freedom in that, not that there is craving for non-existence, but that all that you do here, all that you have garnered here, all that you have. You truly understand that and you unravel that self-image tied to that experience. You experience freedom.

Otherwise, the mind is always thinking about how to maintain an image, how to maintain an identity, how to maintain the perception of how others see you. But if you know everything is going to end, it doesn't really have much of a bearing on how you behave. Then you realize that you are free. That doesn't mean you go about being unwholesome. But what it means is you no longer spend all of your mental energy on trying to create a persona. Because that persona will end. You just live life as it actually is. Without expectations.

Total freedom. Total liberation. Until then, and when the mind continues to identify with the body and its relationships and so on, there will be suffering because of death. 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, here it is sadness, grief, despair. We talked about it in relation to death, in relation to things ending. Because remember, death also can mean the death of a relationship. Right? The death of a relationship in terms of breaking up with someone. You've invested so much time into that relationship, so much emotional energy into that relationship.

And then it ends. You can experience grief from that as well. You can become sad. First of all, you have to understand what is sadness? What is grief? What is this war that you experience? It's an unpleasant feeling. When you experience it, there is nothing wrong with it. Understand this. There is nothing unwholesome or wrong about experiencing grief, about experiencing anxiety. Don't judge yourself. Don't judge your mind for experiencing these things.

If you have criticism for your own mind, for experiencing these things, then do the forgiveness practice. Forgive yourself. Not for experiencing these things. Forgive yourself for criticizing your mind for experiencing these things. It's a natural part of life. It's a natural part of existence to be there. What is key is how do you respond to that grief? How do you respond to that sadness?

How do you react? Do you identify with that sadness? Do you identify with that grief, and which continues that grief, which continues that sadness? Or do you see it as arising because of causes and conditions? Once you understand that, then you can start to let go of that sadness. Then you can start to let go of that grief through wisdom.

That wisdom, which is rooted in reality, is the understanding of whatever is arisen through causes and conditions, whatever is dependently arisen, is impermanent, therefore not worth holding on to, therefore not to be seen as me, mine, or myself. Likewise with lamentation. And what is lamentation? By any kind of misfortune anyone is affected by something of a painful nature, and there is crying out, lamenting, making much noise for grief, making great lamentation. That, monks, is called lamentation.

So lamentation is crying out. Now people can cry for different reasons, right? Tears can arise for different kinds of reasons. People can cry out in the form of belief of letting go of suffering. People experience this loving kindness and sometimes they cry because of experiencing such great joy. There was one person I remember at the Easter retreat, the retreat that I had done in San Francisco or near San Francisco. And this person said that they had never experienced such joy, and the last time they experienced such joy had been 40 years.

And they cried. There were tears of joy. So there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with crying out of sadness either. When you do the forgiveness practice, there's a lot of release going on, and you experience crying there as well. So the lamentation is suffering insofar as you continue to identify with it. But if you see it as a natural process, causes and conditions, and then let it go, don't let it continue, through wisdom and compassion, then you won't suffer further. Then he comes to pain, and he says: What is pain? Whatever bodily pain, whatever bodily painful feeling, bodily unpleasant feeling, painful or unpleasant feeling that results from bodily contact, that, monks, is called pain of suffering.

When you sit for a long period of time, you may experience pain in the knees, pain in the chest, pain in the neck, pain in your hips, pain wherever it might be. And so that painful feeling is dukkha. It is suffering. It's an unpleasant feeling. But how do you deal with it? How do you react to it? That's what's important. If you pay attention to that painful feeling, the more you identify with that painful feeling, and use the 6R's in such a way that you use it like a whip, trying to whip away that feeling, the more that painful feeling is going to arise.

But if you understand your mental reaction to the pain, if there is aversion to the pain, and let go of the aversion, relax, then even if the pain is there, it's not such a big deal. The Buddha talked about two darts or the two arrows. The one who is still under some kind of delusion will feel some kind of bodily pain. But there will be also a mental pain associated with it. That is to say, there will be irritation because of that pain. There will be some kind of aversion because of that pain. There will be some kind of grief because of that bodily pain. But one who has attained wisdom will not experience the second arrow.

Which is to say they will still experience bodily pain. They will still experience some kind of discomfort. But there won't be any irritation in their mind. Their mind won't be affected by that pain so as to cause that mind further suffering. So there won't be any reactivity to that pain. The response will be, here is pain. I understand there to be pain. And if there is aversion, one lets it go. But the fully awakened mind won't have any aversion to it. They will see that pain for what it actually is. In the same way, all things that are arisen through causes and conditions are impermanent, not worth holding on to. If they are held on to, they are liable to cause suffering.

be seen as impersonal. Not me, not mine, not myself. And what is sadness? Whatever mental painful feeling, mental unpleasant feeling, painful or unpleasant sensation results from mental contact. That, monks, is called sadness. This can be depression. People have depression for multiple reasons. It could be a chemical imbalance in the brain. Through grief, through loss, through whatever it might be.

But the understanding is not to judge yourself for that depression. That depression is there. Okay, fine. What do you do with it? How do you respond to it? How do you react to it? That depression can come and go, right? It might not be there all the time. You might have little bouts of joy here and there, little bouts of happiness here or there. And depression arises because of causes and conditions. This allows you to stop identifying with that depression, causing you further suffering in the form of judgment and criticism.

If sadness is there, if depression is there, let it be. It's fine. But understand how you react to it, how your mind responds to it. And what is distress? Whenever by any kind of misfortune, by something of a painful nature. Distress, great distress. Affliction with distress, with great distress. That, monks, is called distress. So another word for that would be anxiety. Maybe even just general anxiety. People sometimes have panic attacks. And so when people have panic attacks, what's happening is they are overwhelmed by a lot of stimulation around them. Mental and physical sensory stimulation.

Their thoughts start to pace at a very fast rate. And they feel like they're out of control in terms of what's going on. And so they can experience panic attacks. They can experience anxiety. Maybe they're worried about the future. Worried about how they're going to pay their bill. Worried about how they're going to do anything, really. Whatever it is that they have a goal for, they can be restlessness tied to that. And so this distress, this anxiety, again, it's there. Allow it to be there. It's fine. How do you deal with it? If you identify with that anxiety, you're only going to further continue that anxiety. But if you are able to understand that this anxiety is arising because of some kind of cause and condition, it's due to some kind of condition.

Condition and that anxiety. And that anxiety starts to dissipate. Of course, there can be some anxiety which requires further help and further medication. That's fine too. But understand how you react in that moment when you're having anxiety. When you have anxiety, everything is blown out of proportion already. So it feels like everything is going to be worse off than it actually is. Pause, relax, let go. Things start to slow down. Allow things to start to slow down. Then you have greater clarity, and soon your thoughts stop pacing at a faster rate. Your thoughts start to slow down. Your bodily activity, in terms of heart rate, starts to slow down. And then your mind says, oh, it's only this, it's okay, everything is fine, and you start to let go. I say this from people's experiences who've had panic attacks or are unable to then just be in the moment and let go of all of the thoughts that they're having in the periphery. That's further strengthening that anxiety.

They start to come here into the moment and realize, okay, everything is fine. Just let go of that. Don't pay attention to those thoughts there. Let go of that. Don't pay attention to that flow. Come back to the mind. Relax. Let go. Slow down. The more you do this, the easier it becomes, and eventually you see that anxiety is just arising because of causes and conditions as well. Of insecurity, with whom they have concourse, intercourse, connection, union, that monks is called being attached to the unloved.

So that can arise in the form of different kinds of unpleasant experiences, unpleasant feelings, unpleasant sensations, unpleasant relationships, and all kinds of things like that. That as just an unpleasant feeling arising due to contact. When you are able to actually see this, then your mind stops identifying with that feeling. Now when the contact arises, there is a painful feeling if it is unpleasant. What underlies that painful feeling is the underlying tendency towards aversion, different types. And then that gives rise to full-blown craving or aversion in this case. Mother or father or brother or sister or younger kinsmen or friends or colleagues or blood relatives, and then is deprived of such concourse, intercourse, connection or union, that, monks, is called being separated from the loved. Here there is a pleasant experience. There is a pleasant sensation.

There is a pleasant relationship. There are pleasant situations. Then all of a sudden that changes. The relationship ends. The person dies. The experience of the pleasant sensation changes, goes away, ends. This is impermanence, right? Knowing this, understanding this, and seeing this allows you, allows the mind, to let go of any identification with any feeling, unpleasant or neutral.

And thereby, when they do this, no underlying feelings tied to underlying tendencies tied to that feeling can give rise to full-blown craving, aversion, or identification. So these different things, we're going to get more into that. 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. But this cannot be gained by wishing.

That is not getting what one wants. In being subject to aging, to disease, to death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress, this wish arises. Oh, that we were not subject to these things, that we might not come to these things. But this cannot be gained by wishing. Getting what one wants. So in other words, you are in some kind of an experience that is unpleasant. You can't just wish your way out of that experience.

You can't just say, oh, here I am stuck in traffic, I wish I could get out of this traffic. You can't. You can't just magically transport yourself out of that traffic. Here I am within this boring conversation with someone. It would be impolite to just walk away, right? You just have to listen. You can't just wish yourself out of it.

Here I am in this party that I don't want to be, but I'm here because my friends want me to be here. Yeah, sure, you can take an action and go away and things like that. But in that moment, wishing yourself away, you can't do that. Somebody has a debilitating disease. Somebody has cancer. Somebody has an underlying disease that goes on for life.

It would be great if they could just wish themselves out of that disease, out of that illness. But that's not always the case. They have to do something. They have to take medication. Sometimes that medication doesn't help. Sometimes whatever regimen they're doing doesn't help. And there is suffering in that. Not being able to get what you want.

Or the very mundane things, like I wish I had that job. I wish I had that position. Or I wish I was recognized for what I did. It doesn't happen. There's suffering in that when you identify a self-image with these kinds of achievements and things. In short, are the five aggregates affected by clinging suffering. They are as follows: the aggregate that is form, that is feeling, that is perception, that are mental formations, that are consciousness, affected by clinging. These are, in short, the five aggregates affected by clinging that are suffering. And that, monks, is called the noble truth of suffering. So the five aggregates, in and of themselves, are not suffering. What we are talking about here is that process of identifying with one or more of the five aggregates, the self-view that causes suffering, the sakkaya ditthi. We will talk more about this, but there are in general 20 kinds of self-view, that is to say the five aggregates multiplied by the four kinds of identification.

You may see in your mind that the mind identifies with these aggregates as being self, as self-possessing these aggregates, as self-being in these aggregates, or as these aggregates separate from self, or variations of this. aggregates. The very nature of the aggregates is that they are impermanent, liable to cause suffering. And because you see it in that way, you should not cling to them with self-view.

But because a person does that, when there is change in the form of the impermanence of feeling, of perception, of form, of consciousness, of intentions, through mental formations, then it can cause suffering. Now, earlier I mentioned these three categories of suffering: the dukkha dukkha, the viparinama dukkha, and the sankhara dukkha. So let me explain how you can categorize what we just talked about under these three categories.

So in the first case, the dukkha dukkha is the apparent dukkha, the dukkha that is right now understood as birth, as illness, as aging, as death, as sorrow, as pain, as lamentation, as sadness, and distress. That dukkha is there. When you experience grief, it is extremely apparent that there is present this dukkha. Viparinama dukkha is the dukkha of change.

That is, being attached to the unloved, being separated from the loved, not getting what one wants. This is all part of the process of change. Some of you were, I know at least one person was going to be here, right? But their flight got delayed. They were experiencing viparinama dukkha. It's a good thing that their flight didn't get cancelled. They would experience more viparinama dukkha, right? Cold morning, right? You turn on the geyser, and you turn on the shower, and it's nice and warm, and it's steaming, and you're experiencing great comfort. Suddenly, the geyser goes off, and there is cold water. That is viparinama dukkha, the dukkha of change.

And then sankhara dukkha. That is the five aggregates. Those are the five aggregates affected by clinging. Part of sankhara dukkha. Here when we talk about sankhara dukkha, we're talking about a very subtle kind of dukkha that is inherent in existence itself. And that arises when there is identification, when there is craving for existence, craving for non-existence. And there is craving in terms of identifying with one or more of the five aggregates through the different types of wrong self-view.

So that was just the first noble truth. 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, finding fresh delight now here, now there. That is to say, sensual craving, existence and craving for non-existence. Here's an important question. And where does this craving arise and establish itself?

Wherever in the world there is anything agreeable and pleasurable, there this craving arises and establishes itself. Now here the Buddha is talking in terms of craving, but the flip side of craving is aversion. You think about a coin. On one side is craving, on the other side is aversion. And then there's a third aspect to that, which is the side of the coin, or the rim of the coin, let's say, which is the identification process.

That is also part of craving. When there is a pleasant experience, there is expectation for that pleasant experience to continue. Whether it is a pleasant sensation, a pleasant relationship, a pleasant circumstance, whatever it might be, there is this inherent expectation that that will continue. And because of that, the craving establishes itself in that pleasant experience. Or there is a painful experience, that this painful experience will never end.

And because of that, there is aversion to that experience. Or there's a neutral experience, but there's identification with that, saying that this is me, this is mine, this is myself. And so that is the ignorance that's there. And that can give rise to further suffering. And what is there in the world that is agreeable and pleasurable, or disagreeable and not pleasurable?

Eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness in the world is agreeable and pleasurable or disagreeable and not pleasurable. And there this craving or aversion arises and establishes itself. Eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact in the world is agreeable and pleasurable or disagreeable and not pleasurable. And there this craving or aversion arises and establishes itself in regard to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects. They can be agreeable and pleasurable, or they can be disagreeable and displeasurable. And there this craving or aversion arises and establishes itself.

Before I continue, let's just talk about these different ones. First he talks about the sense bases themselves, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body and the mind. These can be agreeable. In what way can they be agreeable? You can say, oh, what beautiful eyes I have, what beautiful ears I have, and you can start identifying with them, or you feel your self-image is tied to a low self-esteem in relation to your sense bases. And then you can identify with that. Identifying with the sense bases creates further craving or aversion in relation to them.

And then that causes the suffering. Or there are objects, that is to say the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the tangibles for the body and the thoughts. When you are meditating, what are you experiencing? You're experiencing all kinds of thoughts arising and passing away. But there is somewhere in your mind a tendency to say, that thought is mine.

That thought belongs to me. That thought is me. And because of that, there's aggravation. Why doesn't this thought stop? It should stop. But the very fact that you cannot make it stop shows that it is actually impersonal. Just be there, let them flow like traffic. When the hindrances arise, you identify with them, causing yourself further suffering. When you experience loving kindness and the feeling goes away, you experience dukkha because you say, where did my loving kindness go? Where did the loving kindness that I generated go? You're identifying with that process. Or if you experience the factors of the jhanas, you say, oh, it changed, it changed. Everything that arises through causes and conditions, that which is dependently arisen, is impermanent, has the nature of changing, is inconstant.

So stop identifying with it. Let it go. Observe everything. Be that observer. Be that witness that sees everything that arises and passes away and remains unaffected. Good, bad, or indifferent, whatever it might be, remains unaffected by that. So that means even with the sense-based experiences, the sights, the sounds, the touches, the smells, whatever it might be. What about the sense-based consciousnesses? There is an awareness tied to each sense-based. When there's an identification with the awareness that arises dependent upon the sensation, there too can there be craving.

And from that craving there can be further clinging, further becoming, further birth of action, leading to that whole mass of suffering. So what is I-consciousness? What are these sense-based consciousnesses? about the contact that he talks about afterwards. He says the eye contact, ear contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, mind contact. What constitutes contact? There is the eye and there is the form and color.

Dependent upon these there is an awareness of that experience, an awareness of the eye. That is to say the physical eye. Or there is an awareness of the ear when there is the contact between the two, and dependent upon the sense base and the sense base object, these are the 12 ayatanas, the internal sense bases and the external sense bases. The 12 ayatanas. When these two meet there is awareness of that. These three together constitute the eye contact, the ear contact, the nose contact, the tongue contact, the body contact and the mind contact.

When there's identification with those experiences, whether it's the contact or the awarenesses arising from that, or even the feeling born from that contact, there is craving. That craving, when it establishes itself, there can arise clinging. When we talk about clinging, we'll talk about it tomorrow. But there are four types of clinging as well, with habitual tendencies. A person then reacts from that and causes themselves further suffering.

Then he says the perception of these things. What is the perception of these things? Remember, feeling is the experience. Everything you're experiencing right now is the sensation, is the feeling. But the perception of being able to know and is being said, what you are seeing, that is perception. Knowing this is the color blue, knowing the language that I'm speaking, understanding the words that I'm saying, registering them in your mind, creating all of these ideas and concepts around that. This is the process of perception. And if you identify with that perception, saying that I am the perceiver or this perception arises from me, then you will cause yourself dukkha. Because if you do not understand this, you will think that that perception being you, when it goes away, when it is changed, you can cause yourself suffering.

You hold on to a certain kind of perception, a certain kind of idea, a certain concept about reality. When that is challenged, you experience cognitive dissonance, suffering in your mind. Because now there's new information to challenge that perception. But you've identified with that perception. So when you identify with it and it's challenged, it seems to challenge your sense of self, your self-image.

And that leads to suffering. Volition in regards to sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects. So volition, what is that? That is the intention, the inclination of a mind in regards to what it is experiencing. If you identify with the choices that you make, you identify with the decisions that you make, you identify with the intentions that the mind makes in relation to what's going on. See, when you have contact with the outside world, when there is contact with the sense bases and their objects, that also gives rise to feeling and perception, right? But it also gives rise to intention, or it can give rise to an intention. It's hot outside. You see a tree over there, you decide to go get the shade of that tree. The decision-making of that is the volition. Now, if you identify with that choice, let's say you go under that tree and you identify with the intention and you say, what an idiot I am to have done that, right?

Or you do something, any choice that you've made in the past, any choice, good, bad, or indifferent, that leads to some kind of circumstance that you did not want, what's the first thing that happens? You feel regret. You feel remorse. But this is very subtle, right? It's very challenging for the mind not to identify with choices. Because they are so ingrained with the sense of I. That I made this decision. This was my choice. Then comes the idea, okay, you say that, then what about free will?

There has not been a retreat that we've conducted where the question of free will doesn't come about. So before it comes about, let me deal with it now. When we talk about free will, that's the idea: that there is some kind of agency, there is some kind of person that is independent from causes and conditions that has free will.

But all of your choices arise based on what is presented to you. So they arise dependent upon causes and conditions. Does that mean that you don't have free will? You don't have free will either. What you have is a conditioned will. Or as Venerable Matananda would talk about, you have a free won't. In other words, when you realize that your mind is trying to make this choice, you can stop at any given present moment and change that choice. Usually your mind projects, automatically or semi-automatically, a choice towards a specific kind of intention, but if you are able to 6R's, that is, recognize that and not do that if it's an unwholesome intention, then you have freedom in every given moment to let go of that. But that freedom, or that ability to choose, is dependent upon having new information, you being introduced to the Dhamma, being introduced to right view, being introduced to what is right and wrong, what is wholesome and unwholesome.

So that choice too is dependent upon causes and conditions. Therefore, don't think that you don't have a choice. But don't think that you do have a choice either. See every given moment as an opportunity to start to recondition the choices towards the wholesome. Let go of identifying with the wholesome. But if you do identify with these choices, that can cause suffering. That is a form of craving.

Thinking of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, mind objects. Pondering on sights, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mind objects. So thinking and pondering, this can be part of craving. So that is mental proliferation. That is Papancha. We'll talk about Papancha in a couple of days, but mental proliferation is where the mind is agitated by things that it's experiencing and reflecting on them in such a way that it causes further analysis, further identification, further thinking about this or that in relation to an experience.

Just consider the amount of energy and time that is expended in the thinking process, in the process of reflection, in the process of undue thinking and undue reflection, I should say. That identification process with that and further doing that causes suffering, further craving for it, further clinging in relation to it, becoming from it and acting out of that, that causes suffering.

And that, monks, is called the noble truth of the origin of suffering. So in short, these three types of craving: craving for sensual experiences, craving for continued existence, and craving for non-existence. Craving for sensual pleasures, we already know what that is. We see that we identify with an experience and we want more of it. And then there is this tightness and tension around in the mind and body in preparation for wanting more of that, in preparation for satisfying that craving.

Or there is something that is disagreeable and unpleasant. And the mind identifies with that sensual experience and says, I don't want it. I don't like it. And it tenses up to push it away. Or there's craving for existence. Craving for continued existence. I want things to be the way they are. I like right where I am. I'm very comfortable. I'm in my comfort zone.

When you have that kind of idea that I want everything to be the way it is, or dissatisfaction with the way things are and saying I don't want to be here but I want to be something else. I want to be a great meditator. I want to have that particular jhana. Again, that can be chanda, but becoming obsessed by that.

Having an expectation and anticipation of saying, I have to get to Nibbana before the retreat ends. That's a craving for existence. Craving for non-existence. I don't like this retreat, the way it's going. I don't want to be here. Let me leave. Please. This is a craving for non-existence. Any situation which is unpleasant and the mind feels agitated and says, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be. I don't want to become. When you catch yourself in your mind saying, I want to be this or I don't want to be this, this is craving for existence, craving for non-existence.

The most extreme form of craving for non-existence is the desire for suicide. People who have that notion of wanting to end their lives, it's because they are overwhelmed with everything that's happening in their life. They've identified with so many different things, so many painful feelings that they're unable, they feel out of control, but they feel like they need to be in control and they're out of control.

But if you have wisdom and realize that you are never in control, there's freedom in that. So, letting go of the idea for the need to control things, even as mundane as having to go here or having to go there or having to do this. Just let's see and observe how mind responds in relation to these things. And let go of the craving and aversion in relation to these things.

The desire for being in a certain state, not being in a certain state, being overwhelmed and saying, "I can't take it anymore." If you watch your mind and relax and let go, take that pause and just allow things to be. On a neuroscientific level, what's happening is when you take that pause, initially what's happening is your reptilian brain, the deeper levels of your brain, are in that fight or flight mode and they're like, "I don't like this, or I want more of that," and it starts to shake up. But if you just pause, allow the limbic system to come into place, allow the cortex to arise and then make the decision, your decisions will be rooted in wisdom and compassion rather than being made out of haste.

So this craving that arises, the deepest roots of craving, is from that identification with the body and saying, I don't like this, I don't want this, or I like this and I want this in relation to the body, because it makes me feel good or it makes me feel bad. Take a pause, allow the wisdom mind to come up, use the right effort with the six Rs to let go, and then from there, when you act, you're not going to cause yourself further suffering in the form of renewed being and karma. There won't be further birth of action. Instead, that action will be non-productive of any kind of karma.

It will be ineffective karma in that sense, because you will not be reacting and adding energy to what it is that you're experiencing. But you will be letting go. And the momentum of that karmic energy will start to dissipate, start to slow down. Again, but this time it will be weaker and weaker and weaker until it goes away.

And what, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the complete fading away and extinction of this craving, its forsaking and abandonment, liberation from it, detachment from it. And how does this craving come to be abandoned? How does its cessation come about? This is an important question. Whatever in the world there is that is agreeable and pleasurable or disagreeable and displeasurable, there its cessation comes about.

And so what are these things in the world that are disagreeable or agreeable, pleasurable or displeasurable? The eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind, its objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mind objects. The eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness. The contact in relation to the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, and the mind.

The feeling that arises in relation to it, the intentions, the perceptions, the thinking, the pondering, all of these different things. If there is a cessation of identification with that process, then there is the cessation of craving. When you do the six Rs, we talked about how the six Rs fulfill the four right efforts, the six Rs activate the seven enlightenment factors.

But the six Rs also get you in touch in that moment with the four noble truths of that moment. How is that? When you recognize that the mind is distracted and there is a hindrance, that hindrance is suffering. You recognize there is the first noble truth, that this is suffering. You might not inherently know it, but when you recognize the hindrance, you see that there is suffering in the mind.

When you release your attention from it and relax, you let go of the origin of that hindrance, which is its undue attention to it. You take your attention away from that hindrance and you bring it back to mind and body. And then when you relax the tightness and tension, you cease the craving. You experience relief, and then when you generate the smile, you bring up the smile. Stay with the object in meditation. You continue to cultivate the path leading to the cessation of suffering. So recognizing is the first noble truth, releasing is the second noble truth, relaxing and experiencing cessation, and then smiling and coming back to your object to develop the path that leads to the cessation of suffering.

That's what we're going to get to now. So he says, and what, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering? It is just this noble eightfold path, namely, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. And what amongst is right view? It is amongst 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.

Now, right view, sammaditthi. There's the mundane right view and there is a super mundane right view. The super mundane right view has to do with knowing. The mundane right view has levels to that as well. There is the mundane right view of knowing what is right view and what is wrong view. There is the mundane right view of understanding what is wholesome and what is unwholesome.

There is the mundane right view of understanding that there is action and consequence, that there is a reaction to your actions. And then there is the super mundane right view, which arises once you have established the path, once you have stream entry and so on and so forth, which is you start to come to an experiential understanding rooted in other words. You have recognized and understood what is suffering fully. You have abandoned the origin of suffering fully. You have experienced that cessation of suffering fully, and you have cultivated and perfected the path, that is the eightfold path leading to that cessation of suffering completely. And what, monks, is right intention? The intention of renunciation, the intention of non-ill will, and the intention of harmlessness.

This, monks, is called right intention. So right intention is made up of three things: nekkhamma, which is renunciation, non-ill will, and non-cruelty, as being an impersonal process. Not taking it personally. Non-ill will arises when you have loving kindness. When you perfect loving kindness to the point that there is no more ill will at all. And non-cruelty when you perfect karuna or compassion.

Recognizing the suffering in others, which means you do not want to add suffering to them, further suffering to their suffering. Because you recognize that you're suffering and others are suffering. So why would you want to add to their suffering? Adding to their suffering is a form of cruelty. So non-cruelty happens through the cultivation and perfection of compassion.

And what, monks, is right speech? Refraining from lying, refraining from slander, refraining from harsh speech, refraining from frivolous speech. This is called right speech. Remember a couple of days ago I talked about think before you speak. T-H-I-N-K. Is it the right time to say what it is that you want to say? Is what you are going to say honest? Is it true? What is your intention behind what you want to say? Is it wholesome or unwholesome? Is it necessary for you to say what you want to say? And can you say it with kindness? Think before you speak.

When you do it in this way, you will operate with right speech. And what, monks, is right action? Refraining from taking life, refraining from taking what is not given, refraining from sexual misconduct, that is called right action. Precepts. So that includes right speech and right action, both. Now, of course, he doesn't talk about refraining from indulging in intoxicants.

But when you indulge in intoxicants, it can lead you to negligence. It can lead you to dullness, which can lead you to breaking the other precepts. And what, monks, is right livelihood? Here, monks, the Aryan disciple, having given up wrong livelihood, keeps himself by right livelihood. So for the monastics, there are certain kinds of livelihood that they should not have.

That is to say, things like dealing in astrology and palmistry and reading tea leaves and all these other kinds of things. Also becoming a doctor for some reason and all these other things. But basically, the idea is if you become a monastic, you have entered the homeless life for one thing and one thing only, for the attainment of Nibbana. Doing anything other than that, that does not lead to Nibbana, is wrong livelihood. Now for lay people, when we talk about wrong livelihood, it is any livelihood that deprives another of their happiness and deprives you of your happiness. Causes another harm and causes yourself harm. Causes someone to break precepts or causes yourself to break precepts.

That would be wrong livelihood. So these things include, like, dealing in arms, dealing in poisons, dealing in alcohol, these kinds of things. Drugs and so on. And what, monks, is right effort? Here, monks, a monk rouses his will, makes an effort to prevent the arising of unarisen, evil, unwholesome mental states. He makes an effort to overcome evil, unwholesome mental states that have arisen. He makes an effort and strives to produce unarisen, wholesome mental states. He makes an effort to produce wholesome states that have arisen, not to let them fade away, to bring them to greater growth, to full perfection of development. This is called right effort.

In summary, the four right efforts is to prevent any unarisen, unwholesome states from arising, to abandon already arisen unwholesome states, to generate or bring up unarisen, wholesome states, and to maintain the already arisen wholesome states. In other words, you are doing the six R's. When you recognize that there is an unwholesome state in your mind, there is present a hindrance, that whole momentum of thoughts that give rise to that hindrance stops in that process. And so you prevent any further arising of that unwholesome state.

When you release your mind, your attention from that unwholesome state, back to mind and body and relax, you abandon the already arisen unwholesome state. That is to say, the hindrance and your reaction to that hindrance. When you come back to your smile, you generate a wholesome state of mind. And when you make an effort to come back to the object of meditation, you maintain and bring to greater development that wholesome state of mind.

And so in a sutta, I think it would be Majjhima Nikaya 117, if I'm not mistaken, the Buddha talks about how one goes from wrong view to right view, wrong intention to right intention, wrong speech to right speech, wrong action to right action, wrong livelihood to right livelihood, wrong mindfulness to right mindfulness, wrong meditation to right meditation. Part of this process is right effort. One has the right view of knowing what is wrong and what is right first and foremost. Mindfully, that is through right mindfulness, one makes the right effort to go from wrong view or wrong intention or wrong speech to right view, right intention, right speech, and so on and so forth.

This right effort, the six R's, is following the Eightfold Path inherently, is developing and cultivating the Eightfold Path inherently. Whenever you do the six R's, you are generating the right effort, you are cultivating the Eightfold Path, you are rousing up the enlightenment factors, you are understanding the Four Noble Truths. And what, monks, is right mindfulness? This is called right mindfulness. So when we talk about right mindfulness, we're talking about remembering to observe how mind's attention moves from one object to the other. In other words, in relation to body, in relation to feeling, in relation to mind, in relation to mind objects, the mind observes, is there craving present? Is there aversion present? If there is one, let's go of that using the six R's.

Meditation, the tools that you use to go into meditation are threefold. Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Right effort leads to right mindfulness. Right mindfulness leads to right concentration. Every time you let go of that concentration, you come back to right effort, which leads further to mindfulness, which leads further to concentration or collectedness. And what, monks, is right collectedness or concentration?

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 detachment, 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 concentration, filled with delight and joy. And with the fading away of delight, remaining imperturbable, mindful and clearly aware, he experiences himself the joy of which the noble ones say, happy is he who dwells with equanimity and mindfulness. up pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of former gladness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana, which is beyond pleasure and pain, and purified by equanimity and mindfulness.

This is called right concentration. And that, monks, is called the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering. In meditation, it means entering into these jhanas. When you go into the first jhana, your mind starts, as we said yesterday, to experience joy, to experience pleasure with the body. Let's go of the hindrances, let's go of unwholesome states.

Then it lets go of the thinking and examining thought, experiences the second jhana. Then it lets go of the joy, experiences the third jhana. jhana experiences deep equanimity in the fourth jhana then in the fourth jhana experiences infinite space infinite consciousness nothingness neither perception non-perception now from the first jhana onwards you can experience the cessation of perception feeling and consciousness and experience nibbana if you have the right insight that insight is the understanding that even these jhanas are volitionally produced and therefore letting go of that you experience But having the right collectedness also means that from this right collectedness there comes insight, vipassana. So that means you are yoking together inevitably the samatha and vipassana. So you need the entirety of the eightfold path in order for you to experience awakening. And it all starts with right view. It all starts with understanding. understanding what is suffering, recognizing the causes and conditions of that suffering, letting them go and experiencing the cessation of that suffering through the development of the Eightfold Path.