8 Dec 2021 Q & A with Delson Armstrong first session

Welcome, everybody, to the third and final Q&A of this retreat. Welcome to ask any questions you'd like, so we would like to begin. I think one of the quickest ways to get a mind that's blank is to ask people, do you have any works? Every time works every time. Yes, you're saying with vipassana in the first time one, but this time, sorry, yeah. People, people like Anathapindika, they became very quickly. So in these days also, I see people, it takes a long time to become... well, I could only... Delson, could you repeat the question for it, please?

Becoming sotapannas and getting stream entry, but they don't move forward, or it takes quite some time for them to move forward to a second and so on. Is that right? Is that the question? Is that right? Yes. So I can only give you my understanding of it, or how I would probably look at it. It's quite possible that those who do gain sotapanna quickly had a very, very clear mind to be able to see the Dhamma and then be able to listen to it and then experience stream entry without meditating. Meaning, they probably became sotapannas upon hearing the Dhamma, and so they didn't move forward, because maybe they didn't practice samadhi, maybe they didn't continue to develop bhavana, continue to develop samadhi. So that's one possibility. Another possibility is that for some people it takes time. Some people it does just naturally take time. It's just a matter of how quickly you're able to let go of things and how clearly you're able to see dependent origination

how clearly you're able to see the impersonal nature of things, and the more you let go, the easier it becomes for you to experience the next attainment. So that would be my understanding. What is your understanding about this concept of the paramitas? So the paramis, yeah, what is my understanding of that? I see those as qualities of mind to be developed, regardless of whether you are... if somebody is taking the bodhisatta vow and continues to develop them over lifetimes, or whether you develop them in one lifetime just as a non-bodhisatta. If you think about it, in the case of the Buddha

or the bodhisatta who becomes a Buddha, they have to develop each of the paramis. I think it depends upon the Mahayana tradition, and there are... the truth, we'll stick to the Theravada for the time being, where there are certain qualities like patience and loving kindness and compassion, generosity and truthfulness, and so on, that have to be developed and ultimately perfected. In fact, the paramis or paramitas mean perfection. It's a mind that is perfected in all the wholesome qualities, or the main fundamental wholesome quality. That to me also indicates, and this is just my putting forward the idea, that for one to really make progress

in this practice or one to really make a significant development in this practice and for want to essentially make the mind ripe for an attainment it is actually very important to develop these pyramids because you require certain aspects of the mind like sila which is including you know taking the precepts and maintaining the precepts including generosity including gratitude and whatever else it might be you know for in order for you to progress in order for you to haven't taken them so we see also for the you know the two chief disciples of buddha moglana and sariputta they too had to develop the parameters to an extent but not as long as

the bodhisatta had to in order to become a Buddha. But I think generally speaking it's important to develop these qualities. The more you do, the easier it becomes for you to have a pure mind, and the purer your mind, the easier it is for you to see dependent origination. Therefore, Delson, can you, sort of continuing with this, that question, can you talk a little about also karma, and the times we live in, in terms of people successfully achieving attainments? Yeah, yeah. Remember I asked Bhante one time, and he said that if you are a sotapanna, you'll come in as a sotapanna. If you've been... you'll come in the next, at the next, in your next life you'll come in as a sotapanna already. Although it seems like that is a little... I always felt like that's a tricky question. Yeah, well, I would agree with that, because I see that based in the suttas, where if you do become a sotapanna, you have up to seven lifetimes before you attain arahatship and then get off the wheel of samsara.

I think there are certain individuals who do become sotapannas in a previous life, and then when they come to this practice, there is just this immediate understanding, there's this immediate quality of mind that's able to see the effectiveness and the wonderful nature of the practice of the Dhamma, and so they already have some kind of understanding in it. Now it is interesting that you mention it, because when you talk about stream entry, that is really the destruction and elimination of the first three fetters. So for a being to be born as a sotapanna in a new life, in a next life, would mean that they already have some kind of faith and conviction in the Dhamma, the Buddha and the Sangha. So that to me would indicate that they probably grow up, or are born, in a family that is Buddhist perhaps, or has some connections to the Dhamma, and they don't have beliefs and rites and rituals, which means that

they probably have a mindset already which doesn't get bogged down by certain kinds of ceremonies and rites and rituals. And then the belief in the personal self, that's an interesting one. So for a being to be born in a condition where they don't have a belief in a personal self would be very interesting for that mind. So that mind doesn't really have an idea of a soul, or doesn't come to a point where they can conclude that there is a permanent self. So I think it is possible. I think such a mind would be very pure, at least in terms of not getting bogged down or distracted away from the Dhamma. Of course, they will still be craving and aversion and so on. Now, when we talk about karma, depending upon the way that the mind responds to situations, and the way that the experience has been for the attainment in a previous life, that sotapanna could be

either a sotapanna that has seven lifetimes, or what is known as a kolamkola sotapanna, which is to say family to family or clan to clan, and they can go up to three lifetimes. And then you have what is known as an ekabija sotapanna, that means a one-seeder, that means they only have one more lifetime before they attain arahatship. And that's a question to be asked, which is: what is the difference then between a one-seeder and one who is a sakadagami? Really the difference is, for a sotapanna it's a little more difficult to let go of craving and aversion than it is for a sakadagami. And more importantly, even for a one-seeder, even for an ekabija, they will take a little more time to recover from the effect of that craving and from the aversion. In other words, with the sakadagami, they might recognize the craving arising, coming up, or having already arisen, and then letting it go quickly, quicker than a one-seeder sotapanna would be able to.

So I think karma here, we have to see it in twofold. One is, as I always say, old karma and new karma, taking it from the suttas. Old karma is the effect of previous choices. I mean, the technical term is, I believe, vipaka, which is the fruition of previous karma. So everything that you experience in this life up until this point is old karma, and new karma is what one chooses to do with it. So if the feeling that is experienced is pleasant, painful or neutral, and there is any kind of identification with it, taking it personal, and then causing craving and aversion to arise, that taking it personal in itself is new karma, and that can cause craving to arise, and then if that is not understood and let go of, that can cause clinging and becoming and so on. So that deviation point, or that delineation point, let's say, is between feeling and craving. That's where the choice you have is. In that moment you decide if you want to take it personal, or you want to see it as being impermanent

and therefore not worth holding on to, and being impersonal. If you're able to see that in every moment, then you don't produce new karma. Instead, all the old karma that is experienced is just experienced and felt, and fades away. I always go back to the context of the meditation. When you look at it in the meditation, you see hindrances arising. Hindrances arising are basically old karma. They are the effects in the mind, based on choices of breaking precepts at a previous moment, at some point in time in the past. So when they arise, if there is any other reaction other than right effort, which is to say that the mind takes that hindrance to be personal, identifies with it, pushes it, resists it, does anything with it except for seeing it for what it is and letting it go, then that mind is liable to produce new karma, and that's why it strengthens that hindrance. Whereas if you, sorry, if you relax and let it go

then it fades away. It might come back again, but it's much weaker. So in both the context of the meditation and in daily living, any old karma that's experienced and that's abandoned might be experienced again, but it won't be as strong a force in the mind as it was before. Anyone else? Sorry, that was very muffled. I wasn't able to. Forgiveness, yeah. I heard, was forgiveness meditation? I think it's just my... sorry, how does forgiveness practice help in the process? Yes, okay. How does forgiveness practice help in this process? So forgiveness, as I see it and as I understand it, is a great way to let go of certain kinds of emotional blocks that are preventing the heart from experiencing loving kindness, that prevent the mind from experiencing, and being able to send out loving kindness to oneself and to others.

And if you think about forgiveness, it is different than the loving kindness practice, because you stay in the first jhana, because you're verbalizing. You know, I forgive myself for not understanding, or I forgive you for not understanding, or even when you're walking, I forgive you, you forgive me. In that process of forgiveness, the feeling that is there is release. It's a pure form of just letting go. It's just relaxing and letting go through that forgiveness practice. Now, I know Bhante has had a couple of different ways of when he's talked about forgiveness. There was, let's say, one certain model that was there, in a different model, and then the newest model, which is the relax and forgive. But the forgiveness itself is a process of letting go. In that moment of saying, I forgive myself for not understanding, there is an experience of letting go. There's an experience of, okay, I did that, now I'm letting go. There's no more judgment.

uh in my mind about what it is that i did or did not do likewise for the individual that the person might be forgiving and it is also something that helps in terms of you know i always say or i've begun to say that one two of the things that i've noticed with uh in terms of common uh challenges in the practice for meditators when they're starting out is that they try too hard they push too hard and the second is they don't accept themselves as they actually are they don't accept the moment they don't accept reality they don't accept their mind as it actually is that non-acceptance is in itself is a block of the practice so in forgiving yourself for not understanding for certain things in forgiving others you're letting go of that non-acceptance and you're coming to a point where the mind is saying okay this is how the mind is and i'm okay with it i accept it let it go and then continue on so there's a lot of relief to be experienced with forgiveness practice but i see it as being secondary i see it as being a

a practice that's pres that's prescribed like a prescription you know where okay yeah you can't and loving kindness do forgiveness for a couple of days see how you feel and then come back i wanted to say something about the forgiveness too um it seems to me so i was doing forgiveness and uh and then was done and i cleared out some really great things but then it just sort of came back and i i i find even though knowing exactly what you said you know trying too hard and um i don't even know if this is going to question not accepting oneself even knowing that and keeping that kind of like i know okay i'm gonna not try too hard in this retreat i mean that's really what i was doing and i mean i could just see myself saying okay i have one day left now or what am i what about my next retreat my next sitting it was always like that and i would just try to relax it but it was just like this intense wanting to get somewhere

I don't, I don't know what you can say, but well, from what you're saying, it brings up an interesting point, that if I tell you not to try too hard, if anybody tells anybody not to try too hard, it's important not to try too hard, to not to try hard. Yeah, can I just add something? Something that I found really is helpful, seems to be helpful with people trying too hard, is to really clearly identify it as being unwholesome, and somehow that it's like, oh, it's not, it's that it's filled with craving. And it's really to say it's unwholesome. What you're doing is unwholesome, and somehow that it sort of like trips a switch a little bit for people to understand, oh, I see, and they kind of get it. I don't know if that's helpful, that may, I don't know if that's helpful, but yeah, actually that's pretty vital. Yeah, yeah, because you also see the consequence of trying too hard already, which is, you know, that when you try too hard, restlessness arises, tension arises, tightness in the head arises, and, you know, one of the things to that point, which is

How do you notice the difference between what is wholesome and unwholesome? What is unwholesome will always cause tightness and tension in the head. So if your intention is unwholesome, you will find tightness, you will find tension. If it's wholesome, your mind is open and spacious and clear and filled with joy, or any other wholesome quality of mind. So trying too hard, yeah, I think that's a great way of looking at it. If you see trying too hard as being unwholesome, then you can just see it as another distraction, as ignorance, let it go, and then pull back a little bit, and then continue on. I have a follow-up question to that. And that's really good, I like that idea. I had not thought of it as being unwholesome.

But how, everyone is saying, you know, we'll say, well, just tell yourself it doesn't matter what happens, you know, I don't care what happens, you're not, and that's what it seems, that a lot of people who will come to retreats will have sort of like this beginner's luck, because they don't know what to expect. It's like they just do great, and they have no idea that this is possible. And whereas, you know, those who have kind of, you know, been there and now we know what to expect, or you know what to look for, so now it's, is there an answer to that? Can, how, how to not

How, how to let go of the expectation? Maybe it's... I think maybe, I think it's the same thing, really. It's, it's seeing that expectation, seeing that anticipation as being a hindrance, and saying, and so recognizing that moment of expectation, oh, here's a signpost towards cessation. Here's a signpost towards this. Seeing that and saying, okay, that's just another hindrance, I'm going to let that go, and coming back to the practice. Yeah, obviously the attitude should be of a beginner's mind, and it is easier said than done, but

If you really, generally, just allow the mind to say to itself, okay, I don't really care what happens, and just sit down for the sake of sitting down, sit down for the enjoyment of practice, sit down for really looking at everything. So having that kind of perspective, as well as, sort of like, a scientific perspective, which is like, okay, I'm going to look at this and see what this is all about, what's going on here. So in other words, when you do that, you're bypassing that whole thing of, oh, I recognize this signpost and I'm anticipating this is what's going to happen. Yeah, the attitude of, okay, let's just see what's happening now. Let's just see what's happening now. Let's just see what's happening now. Let's just see what's

Happening now. So I think the simplest and the most practical part of that is using that whole process of seeing it as a hindrance when you recognize that you're having an expectation, and it jolts you out of, you know, getting deeper into the practice. See it for what it is and let it go. Six. Okay, thank you, Delson. Can you hear me okay? Yes, I can. And I don't know if this at all is helpful or not, or just to me, but I often start my meditations with a few verbalizations to set myself on the right track, and one of them is, may I let go, and depending on what it is, sometimes it's hindrances, sometimes a sense of self, but often is actually expectation, because it's a big one for me as well as just

Especially you get to a certain point and then you expect something. Well, I sense of, I expect this next thing to happen, or the same thing to happen again. And that really is another hindrance, like you say. And sometimes verbalizing that at the very beginning, or even sometimes verbalizing a few times during my sit, I found to be very helpful as a reminder to watch out for the expectation as a hindrance all by itself.

Yeah, that's a great practice, I think. Especially when you start off with verbalizing and saying, you know, I don't, you know, let's just see what happens. I don't have any expectations of what's going to happen. It is really just, you know, one of the analogies that I use is, when you have your favorite show and there's a new episode that comes on and you have no idea what happens, so your mind is really pinpointing what's going on. You have that kind of attitude and say that every meditation session is just a new episode in this season of TWIM. Now let's see what happens. Like, I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm so, so happy, and we have a new show, we have a new episode. Just pay attention to everything. You know, that's another way of looking at it. Whatever helps, just see what helps. You have to experiment.

And see what kinds of ways little things here and there help you to let go of those expectations. As a patient, I have a question that might be related to this line of questioning, but earlier you mentioned patience. And sometimes I think of patience as really closely related to equanimity. So, you know, accepting yourself as you are, instructing others as they are, accepting things as they are.

But it seems as though in my mind only the context is different. So can you do you have any thought on patience and how it relates to equanimity? So, equanimity, I see as being a quality of mind in the sense that it is a mind that has basically no expectations. It's not anticipating it. That's really what it is. When you look at the Upanisa Sutta, there's 23 different links over there that talk about dependent origination to that which causes suffering, the transcendental dependent origination that is in a sense I call dependent cessation, that leads towards the cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness and the experience of nibbana. And you will see that towards the end of that, towards nibbana, towards freedom of mind, it says in Pali

that is to say the knowledge and vision of things as they really are and i equate that to equanimity you're just plainly seeing things as they really are without any reaction to without any response to them just seeing things as they really are that's really what equity is it's complete balance either being affected on it on a positive level or or on a negative level or even on a neutral level just seeing it as it really is out identifying with patients I see as being a let's say in an an antidote in a sentence or that expectation for that anticipation of something patience is just just waiting not even waiting waiting would be a wrong word because if you're waiting for something you're not actually having patience that's the way i see it you're waiting in line you don't have patience but if you're just in line in the queue doing your thing then

you have patience. You're just there. You don't have any expectation of what's going to happen, and you're waiting in that sense. But waiting for nibbana is in itself a type of craving. It's the craving to be, the craving to have something, craving to possess something. So patience is also a deterrent against that craving: craving to be something, craving to become something, craving to possess something. So hopefully that clarifies the distinction. Yeah, thank you. Somebody asked a question in the chat: do you have any opinion about the authenticity of Jataka and Cariya Pitaka? Do you believe that those are authentic words of the Buddha? So the Jataka is, I guess, the Jataka tales, the rebirth stories of the Bodhisatta, but I don't think I've come across this word, Cariya Pitaka. What is that? Oh, there is another book. Yeah.

i believe these are all part of the kutaka nikai i think they're part of the minor yeah yeah yeah the minor collection so i know that in some parts of the minor collection especially as you get into the later stages you have something known as uh the but these some some beta yeah yeah so that's like uh and it's very abhi not adamic in nature if you think about when you read it or when you see it it's like having a bunch of lists and analyzing things to the very very very minutest level so i would say that uh take them as being stories of inspiration stories of uh you know being able to inspire yourself to see what it is possible that a bodhisattva goes through to become a buddha the jettaka tales i see as that very but that i can't really comment on but if it's something that is to in the kudakunikaya uh it's the 50 50 thing you know kudakunikaya is there are some real gems in there uh you know like the suta nipata The Sutta Nipata, the Udana and things like that.

Some really nice things there. But the Khuddaka Nikaya is very interesting because it is the list. It is a collection of minor discourses, but it could be like this big, that whole book. Like there's so many discourses in there. And some of them are attributed to the Buddha and some are attributed to Sariputta and some attributed to others. So I don't really, I wouldn't really say if they are necessarily all the Buddha's words. Either way. All right, Delson. Yes. Just, it's not really a question, it's just a request. Could, after this is over, could you spend some time and stay on the call with me? I have just a question about something that arose today in the personal practice that I would like to discuss with you, if that's okay. Sure, sure, thank you.

Another kind of a question. This retreat has been really good for me, in that I got back to sitting for long periods, and I'm really happy for that. And before this, I was really enjoying reading a whole lot, so during the retreat I've read a lot less than I normally read, out of suttas, and I find that in a lot of ways I just have so much enjoyment and happiness, and the suttas, it just sets my mind straight somehow. And maybe I'm being lazy, but I don't enjoy the meditation as much. I am now, I think, because I've kind of gotten back into it more, but the meditation is like, oh, I'll do like an hour, but reading is what I really enjoy. And so I wonder, maybe that's just at different times in your practice, maybe you do different kinds of things. But I guess I'm wondering, how far can you go with reading the suttas as your main practice for

taking you there, so to speak? I would say it should not be a main practice. It should be a supplementary practice. The meditation you should always look forward to, so you should always say, oh great, I get to meditate now. Oh, one hour isn't enough, but I'll make do with one hour, it's fine. That's all I have right now. So meditation should be the main practice, it'd be the major practice, and then the suttas help to kind of give you clarity on certain things, and then the meditation itself also gives you clarity on certain things. But of course, if you can enjoy reading the suttas, that's a wonderful thing, that's very, very great, because especially that means that your meditation is helping you inform and clarify some things, so that, because when you start off on the path, in the beginning, with anybody who's a beginner who starts off on the path, they read the suttas, it is like a secret code, and there's a lot of things that are just undecipherable until you have the experience.

If you're finding yourself enjoying the suttas, then that means that the practice, the major practice of meditation, is helping you inform what the suttas are talking about. There's understanding going on, but you have to see that as being like a sliver in that whole routine of the practice. The practice should mostly be meditation, of course, some walking meditation if you can do it, and then some of the reading of the suttas, and ultimately you want to be able to be in a meditative state of mind no matter what it is that you're doing. So still be with your objective meditation while you're walking, while you're eating, whatever it might be. Okay, great, thank you.

Here's a question. Does an arahant have the capability of knowing everything about anything, like different languages and technologies? I would say that the arahant does not have omniscience. It doesn't have the ability to know everything all at the same time, but I would say that their mind, being rid of barriers, makes it easier for them to learn things, makes it easier for them to be able to absorb information, because there's no hindrance, there's no craving, there's nothing there that hinders the mind's ability of understanding something. So I would say no, they wouldn't have the ability to know everything all at the same time, but it's easier for them to

plus another thing you have to understand about the arhans mind is that they have an intuitive mind they're always using their intuition so if there's something that they uh you know they don't uh know then they use their intuitive mind and it's like you know since i love star wars i'm going to use the star wars analogy um it's like using the force getting connected to the force and understanding what's going on with the person's mind understanding what choice or what decision would be best for the situation coming in attunement with reality and seeing what is best for everybody involved and that is really using intuition understanding on a different level not based on an analyze analyzing or rationalizing or reasoning out something but just using this feeling using the force using intuition come to an experience or to a decision that is going to always serve that mind or that person well always and you'll see that the answers that you get from the intuitive mind just come like an insight and they make complete sense there's no there's not one uh

Can I ask you one question? It is very, you know, in, I think it's near the area, I would say, for a, not, not for, for arahant, of course. It's maybe the person who's been practising a lot, in how that impacts the memory. It's a lot to do with the attention too, right? Because, for example, I've been meditating two, three hours a day, daily, so it is not more than normal people, right? And I'm currently in the training, nothing really sticks. It's all passing through me. So I was wondering, what is happening? However, I think I can piece it together, and then later on I can probably use it. But in terms of memory, it's like, because I can really feel it, it's like, kind of like

you know, it's all going on and just zone out kind of thing. The mind just wants to be quiet, that's it. And so it's a normal, nothing to come to, can be normal, it's super normal. But actually, when you think about memory, what is memory? Memory is really the recognition of something. That is to say, it's the perception of something. It's the sanna. So vedana and sanna are always intertwined, feeling and perception are always intertwined, so memory is really, or perception is really, rooted in memory. But I see memory as being automatic. Now, feeling and perception still continue to be there for the liberated mind, which means there's still memory going on. There's still an experience of being able to remember things, whether it was in a past life or if it was a previous time in this life, or you know, so you're always making new memories. But those new memories then don't stick in the way of craving, don't stick in the way of personalising and identifying.

So when nothing sticks in the mind, that means that mind is rid of any kind of barriers for that time. So there's no craving there, there's no grasping. The stickiness, the sticky quality of the mind, is because of the grasping. But they can still understand what's going on and develop or produce memories based on what they've experienced, but again, like I said, those memories won't be taken to be personal. Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

Any more questions? Before we end this, and here's some merit, I'd like to thank you all for participating. Thank you for all of the efforts that you're doing for your own practice. It makes my work easier. And thank you to Suttavada for facilitating this, and of course for sil during the afternoon sessions. So, thank you everyone. Share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering-free, and the fear-struck, fearless be; may the grieving shadow grieve, and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisitions of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, divers and naga of so mighty power, share this merit of ours. May the long protective Buddha dispensation... sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. Thank you so much, Delson. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, thank you, Delson. It's been great. Thank you all, nice to see you all. Thank you.