Apr 6 2025 Sunday Suttas "Origin of Suffering" AN 6.63 Penetrative Discourse w/Delson Armstrong

Can all of you see this? Yeah, looks good. All right, so let me start. Today we're going to do a sutra that I've done a few times before, and I always consider it to be a very, very helpful sutra in many respects, and you'll see why. It's Anguttara Nikaya 6.63, the Nibbedhika Sutta, or the Penetrative Discourse. 'Bhikkhus, I will teach you a penetrative exposition of the Dhamma. Listen and attend closely, I will speak.' 'Yes, Bhante,' those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this: 'And what, bhikkhus, is that penetrative exposition of the Dhamma?'

Perceptions should be understood. The source and origin of perceptions should be understood. The diversity of perceptions should be understood. The result of perceptions should be understood. The cessation of perceptions should be understood. The way leading to the cessation of perceptions should be understood. The taints should be understood. The source and origin of the taints should be understood. The diversity of the taints should be understood.

The result of the taints should be understood. The cessation of the taints should be understood. The way leading to the cessation of the taints should be understood. Karma should be understood. The source and origin of karma should be understood. The diversity of karma should be understood. The result of karma should be understood. The cessation of karma should be understood. The way leading to the cessation of karma should be understood.

There are, bhikkhus, these five objects of sensual pleasure. Notice the Buddha says five, it's not six. The sixth sense is the mind. But here we're talking about five physical, sensual objects. Forms cognizable by the eye that are wished for, desired, agreeable, pleasing, connected with sensual pleasure, tantalizing. So any pleasant experience of form. Sounds cognizable by the ear that are pleasant. Odors cognizable by the nose that are pleasant. Tastes that are cognizable by the tongue that are pleasant. And tactile objects cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable, pleasing, connected with sensual pleasures, tantalizing. However, these are not sensual pleasures in the noble one's disciple. These are called objects of sensual pleasure. A person's sensual pleasure is lustful intention.

This is so important to understand. So the form itself, whatever we see in terms of form or color, whatever we experience in terms of sound, a beautiful symphony, the sound of a baby's laughter, the sound of birds chirping in the morning, or whatever it is that is pleasing to the ear, the smell of freshly ground coffee in the morning, or the smell of roses, or the smell, my personal favorite smell, the smell of petrichor. I don't know if you guys know what petrichor is, but petrichor is the smell of the dry earth after a long time of rain. There's that certain kind of smell that arises for me that's very pleasing. Things that are pleasing to the body, that is to say in terms of touch: a warm blanket on a cold day.

The feeling of a cool breeze on a hot summer day. All of these are different kinds of pleasant sensations. But they are just objects of sensual pleasure. They are not the sensual pleasures themselves. In other words, it says here, a person's sensual pleasure is their lustful intention. What do we mean by lustful intention? They are not sensual pleasures, the pretty things in the world. A person's sensual pleasure is lustful intention. The pretty things remain just as they are in the world, but the wise remove the desire for them. So when we say lustful intention, we're saying intention rooted in craving. What do we mean by craving here? It's a very pleasant sensation. They often use chocolate cake, right? I love chocolate cake. Standing in line at damasuka, I heard that Rose has baked a special

amazing chocolate cake, and I'm looking forward to it, but me looking forward to it is just my thinking about it. And then I started to get obsessed by it. I can't wait until I have that chocolate cake. I'm there giving interviews, listening to people talk to me about their meditation, and in the back of my mind I'm thinking chocolate cake, chocolate cake, chocolate cake. Now the craving starts to arise. Now I'm having craving. Now I'm thinking about it, and I'm standing in line now. I wait for everybody else to get in line, and then I go and stand, and then I wait. And what happens? There's no chocolate cake. I wanted that chocolate cake so bad. The object of craving has disappeared, but the craving remains. And how does the craving arise? The craving arises in the form of being upset, being disagreeable to people. I really wanted that chocolate cake, so my intention rooted in craving is a desire to own, the desire to have, the desire to be

basically being obsessed. But this is another way of looking at craving: we are afraid of losing the things that are pleasing to us, and we're afraid of the continuation of things that are displeasing to us. So this desire to own and captivate and capture and hold on to is manifested as tightness and tension. That is the craving, the lustful intention. The chocolate cake remains as it is, whether I like it or not. It remains just as it is. One person's chocolate cake is another person's strawberry ice cream, right? So it's whatever it is that seems pleasing to the senses, and then our desire to own it and hold on to it, our obsession, that leads to tightness and tension, and it leads to further clinging and mental proliferation. This is what we need to be aware of. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a big piece of chocolate cake. There's nothing wrong with

going on vacation, enjoying the sights, whatever it is that we do that is pleasing, going to an art museum and enjoying and looking at the different art pieces in the gallery, going for a walk in the park and listening to children playing around, enjoying that sound of their laughter and the breeze that's coming and going. All of that is just pleasing to the senses. They're objects, but the moment we try to want to hold it, the moment we try to create a snapshot of it and want that snapshot of that reality to continue

What happens is we're no longer in the present moment. Actually, we're no longer in the presence of mind of the experience. We're now obsessed with it. How long can I hold on to this? How long can this continue? How long can this go on? That means we are always towards the future: I hope this continues in the future, I hope it's there in the future. We create castles in the air regarding it. So this is the lustful intention. How do we let go of it? Through the Six R's. We let go of it through the process of recognizing. Every time I get obsessed by chocolate cake, there's contact with chocolate cake. Now my mind is like, oh, that's great, I want that, and then I'm looking at it, I'm getting obsessed by it. Instead of listening to people in their interviews, I'm thinking about chocolate cake. So what do I do? I 6R on that. I recognize it. I release my attention from it. Relax any tightness, intention, and I come back to the present moment of what it is that is actually going on when I'm actually enjoying my chocolate cake.

Am I actually enjoying it, or am I thinking about, I hope I get another piece, or I think about another piece of chocolate cake in the future? I'll save this for later, right? I'll say, I'll keep this part and hide it in the other fridge that no one else has access to. All of these thoughts and ideas that are there, that obsession is the central lust, is the central pleasure. So I'm going to repeat that they are not central pleasures, the pretty things in the world. A person's central pleasure is their lustful intention, the intention rooted in craving, in the desire to hold on

The pretty things remain just as they are in the world, but the wise remove the desire for them. What are we removing from here? We're removing the obsession. We're removing the tightness, intention. We're removing everything that takes us away from fully experiencing what is happening in every moment. Removing the desire means we're removing the craving, we're removing that desire to hold on or that desire to push away if there's aversion, or that desire to hold on to some kind of an identity: this is me, this is mine, this is myself. And it manifests in tightness, intention in the head. So we remove the desire by relaxing the tightness, intention, and we replace it with something more wholesome, which is as simple as being present. Because when we have that presence of mind, now we have mindfulness. That mindfulness is remembering to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other. Ultimately that leads to discernment. Ultimately that leads to equanimity, dispassion, and we're just there, fully experiencing everything without identifying with it. So, bhikkhus, what is the origin of sensual pleasures? Contact. Very rightly so, you cannot

Have an experience without contact? As soon as David told me that Rose is making chocolate cake for lunch, that's the ear contact that arose. He told me about it, so now there's hearing, oh, chocolate cake. And then the mind listens to it and interprets it, the idea of chocolate cake comes up. There's the contact of the idea of chocolate cake with the mind, and then from there is the experience. And if I have the good fortune, if I have good karma enough, to have one piece of chocolate cake after everybody else has theirs and I enjoy it, I'm enjoying the experience of the contact that arises. My taste receptors make contact with the chocolatiness of the chocolate cake, with the sweetness and all of that, and I'm enjoying it. I'm experiencing that, I'm tasting it. But I can't taste it unless there's contact there, that initial touch. It's interesting that the word contact in Pali is phassa, p-h-a-s-s-a, which in Sanskrit is sparsha, and sparsha means to touch.

So it's whenever the sound touches the ear, whenever the light touches the eye, whenever the smells touch the nose, whenever taste or flavors touch the taste receptors on the tongue, or there is some pressure on the body, internally or externally. So when we have that initial touch, that initial contact, which is what? Three things. First, it is the sense base. Second, is the sense space object. And third, it's the sense space consciousness. So David telling me about chocolate cake means first there was the sound from David's voice that then made contact with my ear, and then there was an underlying ear consciousness, which is what my attention goes to, that sound. And then there is the feeling of listening and the perception of interpreting what was said. And then, along, we go.

And what is the diversity of sensual pleasures? Sensual desire for forms is one thing. Sensual desire for sounds is another. Sensual desire for odors, still another. Sensual desire for taste, still another. And sensual desire for tactile objects, still another. This is called diversity of sensual pleasures. So in other words, the desire can be in many different directions. In this case, my craving for chocolate cake was first when I heard it, so now there's a desire to have that. Then I interpreted it in my mind, and there was a desire to have it from then. And then I actually see it, and now there's a desire for it, to own it. This is me, this is mine, this is myself. And when I taste it, I'm thinking, oh, this is great, I have to save some more for later. It's another kind of desire. So the diversity of sensual pleasures is the experience of the actual desire for things in the different ways: of form, or form and color, of sounds, odors, tastes and touch.

And what is the result of sensual pleasures? One produces an individual essence, existence, that corresponds with whatever sense pleasures one desires, and which may be the consequence of either merit or demerit. This is called the result of sensual pleasures. So what is the result of sensual pleasures? One produces an individual existence that corresponds with whatever sense pleasures one desires. So another way of looking at it is, whatever one thinks about, one becomes. Becoming is the process of bhava, habitual tendencies, over and over and over. I think about chocolate cake, chocolate cake, chocolate cake. Eventually, somehow, because of, as a consequence of previous karma, I'm led in the right direction towards chocolate cake. Now that could be my good fortune or my misfortune, because either I was really looking for a chocolate cake and I have it,

or I have it and I get a sugar rush and it's uncomfortable for me. So the consequence of that might not be the best. I thought I was enjoying it, but then the demerit of that, that unwholesome karma, is the sugar rush, and my reaction to it leads to further reactions and reactivities, and so on. So the individual existence can be as simple as just the obtaining of that particular object. But let's say that my time to leave this planet, or leave this existence, has arisen, and in my mind I never had chocolate cake as good as the one that Rose made that day.

And so it comes to mind just before I pass on: oh, that was great chocolate cake. What's going to happen? My mind clings to those formations. The formations that arise just before death, they arise, and my mind goes towards an existence, not necessarily chocolate cake heaven, but a place where it's easily available to have chocolate cake. Maybe in the deva realms, if I've had good enough wholesome intentions, if I've had good enough wholesome actions, maybe I'll go to one of the deva realms where maybe the devas make it for me, or I'm there and I just think about it and it arises and there's chocolate cake. So this is so important to understand: when we meditate, we are meditating because it prepares us for our final moments.

If we are to take into account, at this level, for some people at the level of faith, and at the level of analysis, that indeed there might be rebirth, or that there is rebirth, then my final moments should be to let go of any possibility of future existence. This is why there has been an emphasis in so many of the traditions that understand karma and that teach karma, to be wholesome all the time, even those who don't talk about karma in the way that it's taught in the Dhamma in Buddhism, or the way that it's taught in larger Indic understanding, through, you know, from India. Even in Judaism or Christianity it's there. It's said that one who does these good deeds, it takes them to heaven, it takes them to a higher place, a higher existence. So there is this intrinsic understanding, belief and idea that in our last moments, what we think about is what we become in the next life. Therefore the emphasis on being good and doing good and speaking good is so important.

because then that leads us to a higher plane of existence but ultimately the Buddha saw that even that is temporary even that is impermanent and so he said if we just let go of all identification altogether there will be no more becoming so meditation is a process of letting go of all formations that arise and we do this especially on retreat on the more intensive retreats we go through the process we go through the eight genre and we start to see formations and we keep letting go keep letting go until there's nothing left and there's total cessation so in our final moments before we pass on we should all remember to just keep letting go this is not me this is not mine this is not myself people crying around me is just sound easier than none because we have had a lifetime if not more than one lifetime of

continuous identification with sensual experience but the process of the six hours the process of the eightfold path the process of meditation gets us that much closer to letting go until nothing arises And what is the cessation of sensual pleasures? With the cessation of contact, there is a cessation of sensual pleasures. This Noble Eightfold Path is the way leading to this cessation of sensual pleasures, namely right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood right effort right mindfulness and right concentration right collectedness so what does it mean when we say cessation of contact

Cessation of contact is, very plainly speaking, the cessation of attention given to the particular experience. If you guys, I don't know how many of you have ever heard of this show, but there's a show called Rick and Morty. It's a very fun show. Mostly people my age watch it, so I don't know if anyone has seen it, but it's this cartoon show which is extremely, it's just very bizarre, and it's got all kinds of conundrums that the characters have to go through. And there's this guy named Rick who's a scientist, and all he says is, just don't think about it, just stop thinking about it. Basically the advice is: take your attention away from it, take your attention away, release your attention from the unwholesome object, and bring it back to the wholesome. So the cessation of contact is, what it is, a cessation of the underlying sense-based consciousness, which is driven forward by our attention to that particular sense-based object.

If I take my attention away from that, that's the cessation of contact with that sense-based object. And therefore, no more of that sensual pleasure arises. And the way to do it is the Eightfold Path. The heart of the Eightfold Path is right effort. What is right effort? Recognizing the whole unwholesome, letting go of the unwholesome, bringing up the wholesome, and maintaining that wholesome. We're doing it through the 6R's, and you need all of these aspects of the Eightfold Path. Right view: the basis of right view is karma. What I do has an effect in the future. I'm talking in a very abbreviated sense, there's a lot more to it, but I'm just saying the essence of right view is the understanding of action and consequence. Right intention: this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself.

Right speech: think before you speak. Is it timely? Is it the right time? Is it honest? What is the intention behind it? Is it necessary, and can I say it with kindness, even if I'm reprimanding someone? Right action: keeping the precepts. Right livelihood: don't indulge in any kind of career or trade that causes harm to others. Right effort: the 6R's. Right mindfulness: having the presence of mind to be in the present moment, and remembering to observe when your attention moves from one thing to the other.

Right collectedness: your mind eventually becomes unscattered and collected, and then enters jhanas. When a bhikkhu, a noble disciple, thus understands sensual pleasures, the source and origin of sensual pleasures, the diversity of sensual pleasures, the result of sensual pleasures, the cessation of sensual pleasures, and the way leading to the cessation of sensual pleasures, he understands this penetrative spiritual life to be the sense, the cessation of sensual pleasures, the cessation of what, the cessation of sensual desire, letting go of that craving, the desire to own and possess. When it was said sensual pleasure should be understood, and so on, it is because of this that it was said. When it was said feelings should be understood, and so on, for what reason was this said?

There are, bhikkhus, these three feelings: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neither painful nor pleasant feeling. So these are the three kinds of feeling the Buddha has talked about. There are up to 108 different kinds of feeling, but the basis for all of them is these three: pleasant feeling, unpleasant or painful feeling, and neither painful nor pleasant feeling. What do we mean by that? A pleasant feeling is an experience that is pleasing to the sense base, and we ourselves perceive it to be pleasing or pleasant. Something that is unpleasant or painful is that which we perceive as painful. Neither painful nor pleasant is something that is neutral. We are just aware, yes, that it's pleasant, but we let go, and we're just with total equanimity. Equanimity is essentially a neutral feeling. The opposite, or the shadow side of that, is indifference. There's a sense of, I don't want to look at that.

It's different from don't think about it. It's more like, I don't want to look at it, because there's a certain sense of aversion. Whereas don't think about it means I'm looking at it and I'm letting go of my intentions that are rooted in craving and aversion. That means I'm letting go of my attention from this and bringing it to something wholesome. What is the source and origin of feelings? Contact again. So feeling, vedana. Vedana means to experience something big enough to know, to see, to understand, to know, or to experience. And for any feeling to arise, you need contact. And what is the diversity of feelings?

There is worldly pleasant feeling. There is spiritual pleasant feeling. There is worldly painful feeling. There is spiritual painful feeling. There is worldly neither painful nor pleasant feeling. There is spiritual neither painful nor pleasant feeling. This is called the diversity of feelings. What is a worldly pleasant feeling? Anything to do with the five senses, the five physical sense pleasures. What is a spiritual pleasant feeling? The experience of jhana, loving kindness, joy, relief. There is worldly painful feeling: anything to do with the five physical sense experiences. Spiritual painful feeling: craving, aversion, sloth and torpor, doubt,

restlessness, any hindrance, anything that arises to distract you from a collected mind. There is worldly neither painful nor pleasant feeling. This is indifference. There is spiritual neither painful nor pleasant feeling. This is equanimity. What is the result of feelings? One produces an individual existence that corresponds with whatever feelings one experiences, and which may be the consequence either of merit or demerit. This is called the result of feelings. Again, what is the result? I have an experience, and I don't want that experience to stop, and my mind gets clung to that experience. As a result of which, I start to create an existence, whether in this life or a next life, where more of those feelings come about, based on and dependent upon

my residue of kamma, and if the causes and conditions are ripe enough for that to arise. What is the cessation of feelings? With the cessation of contact there is cessation of feeling. This noble eightfold path is the way leading to the cessation of feelings. So when you let go of your attention to an experience, that experience fades away, because now your attention is somewhere else. You do this using the eightfold path, namely right effort, the 6R's. When, because a noble disciple thus understands feeling, the source and origin of feelings, the diversity of feelings, the result of feelings, the cessation of feelings, and the way leading to the cessation of feelings, he understands this penetrative spiritual life to be the cessation of feelings.

Just as we have sankharas, we have sanna. Sanna means that which we label, that which we conceptualize, that which we take as: this is red, this is blue, this is pink, this is Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, this is the flavor of coffee, this is the smell of sandalwood, whatever it is. Or in my mind I'm perceiving things, I'm imagining things, I'm thinking about the future, I'm thinking about what's there for dinner right now. Right? That's all perception. There's the experience and there's a perception. Feeling, perception and consciousness: these three run around each other.

When there's a feeling, there's an experience. There's a mind that labels that. That aspect of that mind is perception, and there is a knowing of that, which is vinnana, consciousness, cognizance. So the perception is the thing that labels whatever is being experienced. And what is the source and origin of perceptions? Contact. Contact again. Why? Because when we have contact, we have experience or feeling, and tied to that experience and feeling there is a perception. As soon as we see the color yellow, we recognize it as the color yellow.

As soon as we hear our favorite piece of music, we immediately recognize it. So perception is the process of re-cognizing that which we have previously cognized. And that only happens through contact. And what is the diversity of perceptions? The perception of forms is one thing. The perception of sounds is another. The perception of odors, still another. The perception of tastes, still another. The perception of tactile objects, still another. And the perception of mental phenomena, still another. This is called a diversity of perceptions.

And what is the result of perceptions? I say that perceptions result in expression. In whatever way one perceives something, in just that way one expresses oneself: I was percipient of such and such. This is called the result of perception. This happens specifically, but I'll be more general, but specifically with regard to verbal formations. We see the color red, or whatever it is, and our mind immediately goes to it, and we say, hey, look at that red car, or look at that oak tree. We are expressing verbally because of verbal formations.

but even more generally we're expressing it to ourselves oftentimes when people are in the neither perception or non-perception or when they're in quiet mind more specifically they'll tell me that you know i'm letting go of everything i'm relaxing everything but there's always just this mind that's like okay there goes this there goes that what do i do about that that commentator that's the process of perception i am percipient of this being present and i'm just letting go of the thing that is present but the you cannot you cannot six are the thing that is percipient, that only ceases when nothing else is left. And it happens on its own when the causes and conditions are right.

So one expresses to oneself, or expresses to another, I was percipient of this or that. So that commentator in your mind is that process of expressing to oneself: this is what I'm experiencing right now. What is the cessation of perceptions? With the cessation of contact there is cessation of perceptions. This noble eightfold path is the way leading to the cessation of perceptions. When, because a noble disciple thus understands perceptions, the source and origin of perceptions, the diversity of perceptions, the result of perceptions, the cessation of perceptions, and the way leading to the cessation of perceptions, he understands this penetrated spiritual life to be the cessation of perceptions. When it was said perceptions, and so on, should be understood, it is because of this that this was said.

When it was said the taints should be understood, and so on, for what reason was this said? There are these three taints: the taint of sensuality, the taint of existence, and the taint of ignorance. The taint of sensuality. So we were talking about taints last week. The taints are essentially, as I said, I like to call them viruses. They get imprinted in the mind through continuous ignorance and rebirth, and they become the seed, the germination of the seed. The seed grows into the roots of greed, hatred and delusion, and then that gives rise to further iterations, into full-blown craving and so on and so forth. So the taint of sensuality is one, right? That's the desire for sensual pleasures.

The taint of existence is another: the desire for a specific kind of existence. And the taint of ignorance, which is imprinted because of a lack of mindfulness in any given moment. What is the source and origin of the taints? Ignorance is their source and origin. This is also said in Majjhima Nikaya 9, Samma Ditthi Sutta, Right View, where Sariputta is talking about dependent origination. And he says: what is the origin of ignorance? The taints are the origin of ignorance. What is the origin of the taints? Ignorance is the origin of the taints. Why? Because ignorance is the lack of mindfulness of the Four Noble Truths in every given moment, which then results in the further strengthening of taints in further iterations.

So what is the diversity of the taints? There are taints leading to hell. There are taints leading to the animal realm. There are taints leading to the realm of afflicted spirits. There are taints leading to the human world. There are taints leading to the devil world. This is called the diversity of the taints. Why? Well, because taints are what cause rebirth continuously.

When there are taints, there's ignorance, and from that ignorance there's rebirth from one life to the next, depending upon what particular taint is present. If there's a taint for sensual desire, then there are further iterations of sensual craving, clinging, becoming, and then there's a rebirth, or a birth of action, that might cause one to harm another in anger, because that particular source of what one wants has been taken away. And so one wants to destroy the person who brought that block, or took away the origin of that. So sensual desire, sensual misconduct, is breaking any of the other precepts, because I really want this, or I really want that particular existence.

Somebody wants to be, you know, a very wealthy person. They do it in so many different ways that can cause harm to oneself and cause harm to another. This could lead to a lower existence, not only in this life but possibly in future lives. And of course, the taint of ignorance. So when these taints are present, they can give rise to any of these particular existences in the six realms, starting from the hell realms all the way up to the devil realms. Interestingly enough, though, when one becomes a stream enterer, what is closed off are the hell realms and the animal realms. Why? Because one starts to see the Four Noble Truths. The mindfulness becomes sharper still. There is some sensual desire still, there is some ignorance still, there is a desire for existence.

However, those particular taints will only lead one to a further human life or further deva life, until they become an anagami. At which point, what happens? The taint of sensuality goes away completely. And then the remaining two taints go away when one becomes fully awakened. And what is the result of taints? One immersed in ignorance produces a corresponding individual existence, which may be the consequence either of merit or demerit. This is called the result of taints. So immersed in ignorance means that I don't have mindfulness of what's going on. And when I don't have mindfulness, then I cannot keep at bay the craving that arises, the identification that arises, the ignorance that arises. And if I don't get aware of that, or become aware of that, clinging arises.

And if I'm not aware of that, becoming arises. Habitual tendencies arise. And if I'm not aware of that, then there is a certain kind of action that leads me to a certain kind of existence that is rooted in further suffering. And dependent upon my karmic storehouse and the causes and conditions that are ripe enough, a certain kind of karma will come to fruition.

That coming to fruition is called vipaka, and I then suffer the consequences of that particular karma. What is the cessation of the taints? With the cessation of ignorance there is cessation of the taints. Once I have fully understood what suffering is, once I have fully abandoned all the causes and conditions for suffering, namely craving and ignorance and so on.

And once I fully realized nibbana for oneself, and perfected the cultivation of the Eightfold Path, no more ignorance arises. And therefore, no more peace, and therefore no more rebirth. This noble Eightfold Path is the way leading to the cessation of the taints. Rightly so, when a noble disciple thus understands the taints, the source and origin of the taints, the diversity of the taints, the result of the taints, the cessation of the taints, and the way leading to the cessation of the taints, he understands this penetrated spiritual life to be the cessation of the taints.

When it was said in this way, it is because of this that this was said. When it was said karma, and so on, should be understood. For what reason was this said? It is volition, bhikkhus, that I call karma. For having willed, one acts by body, speech, or mind. Volition. Chetana. That is also sometimes known as intention. In other words, I have an intention to say something or to do something or to think about something in some way.

That intention itself is karma. Even before I execute the action, the intention itself is karma. And what is the source and origin of karma? Contact is its source and origin. Interesting. So why is contact always the case? In the book that I wrote, A Mayuda Craving, I say that there's a section which says contact is the key. And this is the reason why, because it's only through contact that an experience arises.

And that experience is old karma. But there's new karma in terms of how I perceive that old karma and take it personally. If I take it personally, I crave, I have aversion or identify with it. That leads to clinging and so on, and therefore new karma, which is the rebirth of the next karma. So everything that I experience, from ignorance all the way up to feeling, vedana,

is old karma. It is inherited karma. It is what is known as vipaka, the fruition of previous actions. And everything I do in terms of reacting to that karma, taking it personally, clinging to it, having habitual tendencies around it, and then acting from there, is the intention that leads to further karma. So this is the cycle that we need to break. And how do you break that cycle? We will see, but spoiler alert, it's the 6R's. So contact is the key all the time. Why? Because it's through contact we have the experience of the old karma. So whenever we experience something, this is why I said experience everything fully without the sense of I, me or myself, because when I do this or when this happens, I don't take anything personally. And when I don't take anything personally, no craving can arise. I have full mindfulness of the experience. I'm fully immersed in the experience, whether it's in jhana or whether it's in central experience,

but there is no more of, like, I wish there were more, I wish this wasn't like this, or whatever it is that leads to craving and clinging and so on. What is the diversity of karma? There is karma to be experienced in hell. There is karma to be experienced in the animal realm. There is karma to be experienced in the realm of afflicted spirits. There is karma to be experienced in the human world. There is karma to be experienced in the deva world. This is called the diversity of karma.

So different kinds of karma that we experience. The interesting thing is we can also experience the result of previous lives in this particular life. There's another interesting understanding of karma from the idea of what's known as sanchita karma, prarabdha karma, and agami. This is usually found in non-Buddhist texts, but it's still very useful to understand because of how we see karma in terms of old karma and new karma. The Buddha simplified it into old and new. But basically what it's saying is sanchita karma is the storehouse of all of the karma that we have experienced or we are yet to experience.

Sanchita literally means warehouse or storehouse. Prarabdha is the karma that you have to experience in this life. And that could be anything from how tall you are, whether you're male or female. You're born, with male or female organs. You're born in a certain country. You're born in a certain status of wealth and so on. You have access to certain kinds of education. All of the stuff that you're born with in this life is that particular karma. And certain things in terms of karma, another way to understand it is they are released in packets of about 8 to 12 years.

So if you look back in your own life you will see this, that there are certain karmic junctures where, yeah, this happened at this age and this happened at this age, because this is the unpacking of certain karma due to the causes and conditions being present there. But the moment I look at that and I take it as me, mine or myself, whatever karma arises and I take it personally and I react to it from that sense of self, then I'm adding to the storehouse of agami karma. Agami, anagami, and anagami means no more returning. Agami means the return of that karma. You will continue to have the renewal of that karma until you learn your lesson from it.

Many people, they will travel in different parts of the world, but yet they will attract the same kinds of people in their lives, the same kind of relationships, same kind of work colleagues, the same kind of situations. Why? Because that is their karma, until they learn their lesson from it, which is what to let go of taking things personally. And the more you do this, the less of that karma arises, and as less of that karma arises, eventually it weakens and no longer will come up. So this is one way of understanding karma. A really interesting perspective that I have on this, and I've spoken to other people about it in India, one of the very, we talk about astrology in many different ways, but in India the understanding is that our birth chart essentially is the snapshot of our past life and the pending karma that we have to experience in this present life. So in the case of, for example, Siddhartha Gotama, the sage who saw into his life understood that he could be one of two things

a wheel-turning monarch or a Buddha. The great sage saw it based, and then other astrologers saw it based on his chart, and so it was a snapshot of all the karma that was yet to be experienced in this present life and all the karma that he had already experienced. So it's a juncture in which there's a snapshot of whatever planets are there in that moment that you are born, and give rise to specific things that you are born with in terms of qualities. So the bodhisattva, through many, many eons of different lifetimes, had to go through the cultivation of the paramis, and he had to perfect them. And so whatever karma of perfecting them was present could be seen in the chart, and that was what he was bringing into

his final life, in which he would become either a wheel-turning monarch or a Buddha. What is the result of karma? The result of karma, I say, is threefold: to be experienced in this very life, or in the next rebirth, or on some subsequent occasion. This is the result of karma. So karma will arise depending upon the seed and the circumstances and causes and conditions that give rise to that seed to come to fruition.

So it could be experienced in this very life or some other subsequent life, or it might never arise because there's no proper nutrition or causes and conditions for it to arise. What is the cessation of karma? With the cessation of contact, there is a cessation of karma. What do we mean by that? We mean we let go of our attention to that experience, and we let go of our identification with that experience.

And we do that. The Eightfold Path is the way leading to the cessation of karma. We do that using the 6R's. We let go of our reactivities to that particular experience. And as we let go of it, the experience might arise again, but it will be weakened, and our reaction to it will be weakened. Eventually, we'll have no more reaction. We have learned our lesson and let go of the identification with it, and no more of that karma has to rise. When a bhikkhu is a noble disciple thus understands karma, the source and origin of karma, the diversity of karma, the result of karma, the cessation of karma, and the way leading to the cessation of karma, he understands this penetrative spiritual life to be the cessation of karma.

sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection and anguish are dukkha dukkha. Not to get what one wants is viparinama dukkha. I'm expecting something to happen, but it doesn't happen the way I want it, therefore I suffer, and I have an identification with one or more of the five aggregates, and therefore there's an intrinsic clinging to an experience, and therefore there's sankharatuka. What is the origin of suffering? Craving. So here we are, second noble truth, craving. Craving is the abbreviation for dependent origination, for ignorance, for clinging, for becoming, for rebirth, and so on. What is that craving? That craving is the desire to own something, the desire to be repulsed by something, the desire to identify with something. It is the tightness, intention, that arises that we need to relax.

And what is the diversity of suffering? There is extreme suffering, there is slight suffering, there's suffering that fades away slowly, there's suffering that fades away quickly. This is called the diversity of suffering. There are some illnesses that fade away very quickly, there are illnesses that fade away very slowly. Aging happens slowly for some people, for some it happens overnight. There is birth that arises, labor pains throughout many hours until the being is born, and then there's the trauma of birth itself. Here I was for nine or ten months in the safety of my world, where I had food, I had shelter, and I was protected, and then after nine or ten months I come out and there's a whole other world with all these strange-looking people, and I'm wondering, where am I now? That is suffering. That's the first kind of trauma you experience in this very life.

That can be immediate, that can be slow, and so on. So different kinds of suffering, different temperaments and intensities of suffering. What is the result of suffering? Here, someone overcome by suffering, with a mind obsessed by it, sorrows, languishes and laments, he weeps, beating his breast, and becomes confused, or else, overcome by suffering, with a mind obsessed by it, he embarks upon a search outside: who are who knows one or two words for putting an end to this suffering? Suffering, I say, results either in confusion or in a search. This is the result of suffering. Some people suffer for many, many years and they numb it with all kinds of ways, through all kinds of addiction, through addiction to food, addiction to sex, addiction to drugs and alcohol, substances and so on. Or they just while away their time doing things that are just not productive, or they feel are productive but just lead to further suffering. Others might be like, wait, there's, there must be something more to than than just this merry-go-round. Right, there must be a way out of the suffering, and that search arises.

For me personally, that search arose... how old am I now? 35, so about 19 years ago. So I had immense suffering that was happening, and I started on my adventure to look for a way out of that suffering. Now, was I tempted by the dark side of confusion and sex, drugs and rock and roll? Of course I was, but still I was motivated by getting a way out of suffering, so I did all kinds of things. Eventually I came across Bhante's videos on YouTube. So people who go through suffering now have the convenience of searching online: what is the end of suffering? And lo and behold, here is Bhante's videos. So it's much easier for our generation, not to just suffer, or people born or living in this generation, not to just suffer, but also to find a way out of it through an actual search, literally a Google search.

What is the cessation of suffering? With the cessation of craving there is a cessation of suffering. Letting go of my desire to control an outcome, letting go of my identification with an experience, letting go of my desire to hold on to something. When I let go, no more suffering arises. This eightfold path is the way leading to the cessation of suffering, and so the heart of that is the six R's. So keeping your precepts is important, being honest to yourself and others, using think before you speak, having the right intention of letting go of identifying with all experience, understanding my actions have consequences, eventually leading to samadhi, eventually leading to insight or wisdom, panna. But it all starts with the right view, and ultimately it is further propagated through the process of the six R's. When, because a noble disciple does understand suffering, the source and origin of suffering, the diversity of suffering, the result of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to the cessation of suffering, he understands this penetrative spiritual life

to be the cessation of suffering. When this was said, suffering should be understood, and so on, it is because of this that this was said. This because is that penetrative exposition of the Dhamma. Any questions? Wow, that's such a good discourse, I gotta tell you. All right, we got a question. John, thank you so much for the talk today, it was really good. On the issue of, when you said that last week you talked about the taints, in this specific context the taint of sensual pleasure, is the taint of sexual, excuse me, is the taint of sensual pleasure just simply the capacity to form craving? In other words, if you finally uproot the taint of sensual pleasure, does that simply mean that you no longer have the capacity to form craving?

You still experience nice things in chocolate cake, but it's just not possible for craving to arrive. Is that what that means? Yes. So you can still enjoy chocolate cake. You can still enjoy a good movie. You can still enjoy whatever it is that you used to enjoy or continue to enjoy but no more craving will arise based on that that's right there's gentle anticipation does that fall within the sort of safe zone i mean anticipation can easily you know there's like a there's like a bound there and i'm not this is again an academic kind of thing it's like you know i'm looking forward to chocolate cake but i'm not if it doesn't happen i'm fine it is pretty anticipation is craving because you think about it this way when we are in the eighth genre for example i mean for the people who are meditating in this way and you're basically in the waiting room of nirvana which means you're anticipating any time now the mind will cease and that's what gets in the way of the mind experiencing the box so even a little little

Okay, fair enough. All right, thank you. Bill, hi. I found it interesting that the sensual pleasures he did not include the mind, because for me, I think that's the thing I have the most sensual craving around: ideas, and reading about Buddhism, or doing my work and programming. It's sort of obsessive for me. So why does he leave the mind objects, or the mind, off of the sensual pleasures? Actually, that is what's known as mental proliferation, what in Pali is understood as papancha. It's this process of the mind taking the experiences of the sensual pleasures, whether it was in the past, in the present, or anticipation of the future, or just being sort of bogged into all of these kinds of thoughts and ideas and concepts, and then thinking and continuing to obsess over it. That process itself is its own thing, which is known as papancha, mental proliferation. Thank you. Okay, Quilly.

Whose translation is this, Delson? Is this Bhikkhu Bodhi? Yes, I believe so, because, yeah. So I'd like to get a little practical. Right now in the United States, there was a humongous protest yesterday over what the government is doing. And I've been watching in my community, we get together and make signs, and we're developing, where you've gotten, there's a lot of what I consider negative, or like it's going to create more problems, by holding up a big sign and holding in your heart, more importantly, resist. Or I'd just like to hear you speak about some practical ways of having an effect, if that is even possible, or if that is even the point of the protesting, because can you see any of that practical use of all this information? Because yeah, I think, I think the general perspective on protesting is, one, is the mind wants to express its displeasure of the way things are. Exactly right. Just, I don't like this and I want it to stop, or I wanted, I wanted to change.

And that's fair enough. I mean, that's just the way the mind works, and, you know, the United States is one of the many countries which allows for that process to happen, where people can express their displeasure at the government or anything else for that matter. But I, I, I think that aside from the fact that everybody has that right, in some certain countries, how do we effectively use that? And if it is possible, is the question here, because as much as we want to express our displeasure,

it's not necessarily always going to change things. We look at, for example, the idea of the civil rights movement, or Mahatma Gandhi in India, or any other Nelson Mandela. It's actually through their so-called failures that any change actually happened. In other words, through the non-violent practices that Mahatma Gandhi espoused, eventually all of that came to reality.

And there were a few other things that happened non-violently. It was still a protest, but it was a very effective protest that led to the fall of British control in India. There were other reasons for it aside from that. But Martin Luther King Jr. got inspired by that and also continued to use that. But it was only after he was assassinated that things changed. I mean, yes, he had the "I Have a Dream" speech and everything, but he never resisted. He resisted non-violently in a way that was shedding light on the injustices. The same with Nelson Mandela. He spent decades in prison but eventually came out triumphant.

So what we define as failure or success is really dependent upon how we define it. It's not anything else, but, like, certain karma arises, certain circumstances come to the forefront, and the right causes and conditions lead to that particular change. Does that mean that what we do in terms of protest or expression of freedom of speech goes in vain? No, it could be the thing that lights the fire and causes that change. So we should look at our intention behind how we do that and how we express, instead of just giving rise to anger, giving rise to hate, calling for hate, using language, things that are hurtful or harmful. It's only going to cause more aggravation, it's only going to cause more resistance. The more we resist, there's going to be more resistance from the other side. In that way, one thing I would say is, how do we do that? And that's really dependent upon the individual. And the second point is, welcome to samsara. Samsara is a hellhole, right? This earth that we experience is the most beautiful hell.

or the most disgusting heaven. That's what it is. It's just a place where we are allotted our karma, but we also have our own efforts that we make. And so that's why, for the Buddha, we can call him an escapist, but he's escaping from all of that because he has seen it over and over and over again, and eventually he said for him the answer is just to let go of the whole thing entirely. Except life is more complicated than the time of the Buddha. There's so much more information out there. I don't think we were meant to be having access to so much information that we do through the internet and social media, that we become bogged down by so much happening. So if you just focus first on ourselves, and then have the capacity then to have compassion for our neighbors and the people around us, and then see how that grows, that might be a better approach. But that's just my take on it. Well, that comes back to John's question about anticipation, because

I find for this heart, when I'm wishing something or otherwise I'm suffering, and so I... but there are, like, I'm not screaming and yelling, I want it differently. So there's a certain progress, and sometimes it feels like I'm there, but I know that isn't true. So it's a gradual awakening, I guess, is what I'm saying. So it's very nourishing to go on these protests. It nourishes my heart. And so, yeah.

And the Vietnam War. You know, we've seen, my generation has seen change, and now we're seeing it changing back. And so there's a really loud scream going on here. No, we this was permanent. Yeah, yes, thank you, thank you, Delson. Okay. Um, I also feel that there's a tendency to view being a follower of the Buddha as a passive thing. You just accept everything, and yes, you do, but, you know, where do you intervene? And I think, being a medical person, I intervene for wellness, you know, and if I resist, I'm resisting unnecessary suffering. And relating to Quilly, because that's what's going on in my world, I marched yesterday. Larry made a sign and I liked his sign because it was a practical thing, like, why should we not be happy about this, you know? Like, we don't want to pay more taxes, you know, something like that. Some common ground, because I think fomenting hateful feelings is the biggest problem, but finding common ground seems wholesome.

You know, and so that's where I like to march in that. Anyway, I just think we shouldn't all lay down and be doormats for anything. Just then, oh, absolutely, absolutely, I agree. Um, there comes a time when one needs to be quiet and there comes a time when one needs to speak up and take action, and especially in the lay life we have a responsibility to do that. Even monks have done that. I mean, we just talked about protesting the Vietnam War and stuff like that, the civil rights movement. Monks have done that in their own ways, but regardless

I think that is also dependent upon intuition. It always comes back to intuition: is it the right time for me to say what I want to say, or is it the right time to just wait and see how things play out and then act? Hmm, I guess nothing else. Oh yeah. Let's share some merit then. May suffering ones be suffering free, and the fear-struck fearless being. May the grieving shed all grief, and may all beings find relief.

May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. Sadhu, sadhu. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. See you later. Bye-bye.

So we're going to do about a 30-minute meditation. But in the meantime, I will share one thing here. Back to this page, and over here. If you want to talk to Delson more about practice or your specific problems or issues, you can actually talk to him directly. He has consultations and a way to get a hold of him, and you can do one-on-one and get your own consultations. So anyway, that's it, DelsonArmstrong.com. So that's out there for people.