MN 2 Sabbasave Sutta-Taints -Sunday Series with Delson Armstrong

Since we are going to be continuing our journey through the Majjhima Nikaya, we're going to continue from where we left off, which was the end of Majjhima Nikaya 1. And so here we are on 2, the taints. Sabba means all, and asava means the taints. That's the taints. What are the taints? We will go through that. The taints are basically what continues the process of rebirth from one lifetime to the other, and also the process of becoming in one life. There's still craving for existence, craving for non-existence, craving for sensual pleasures, and there's ignorance.

In this sutta, the Buddha is going to go through how to restrain the taints in many different ways. How to, in other words, let go of the taints. Pindaka's park. There he addressed the bhikkhus thus: 'Bhikkhus.' 'Venerable sir,' they replied. The blessed one said this: 'Bhikkhus, I shall teach you a discourse on the restraint of all taints.'

Listen and attend closely to what I shall say. Yes, venerable sir, the bhikkhus replied. The blessed one said this, sees, not for one who does not know and see, who knows and sees what? Wise attention and unwise attention. When one attends wisely, unarisen taints arise, and arisen taints increase. When one attends wisely, unarisen taints do not arise, and arisen taints are abandoned.

Because there are taints that should be abandoned by seeing, developing, so we'll go through these different ways in which the taints are abandoned. I want to go through what the taints themselves are. There are predominantly three taints, but sometimes they're known as the four taints, the four asavas. Why do we call them asavas? Asava comes from the word ashrava, which in Sanskrit has the root shru, which is to flow. It's a stream. It's not the same kind of stream in which you enter as a stream enter, but it's a stream.

It's a fermentation. It's an intoxicant. It's a corrosive. It's something that, what I call, is a virus. When I was writing A Mind Without Craving, this is originally what I wanted to call or translate asavas, as viruses. I was writing during the time of the pandemic. And so the first early readers of the book said, are you sure you want to call them viruses given the climate? I said, I don't really care, but I will submit to your concerns.

So at some point I will retranslate them as viruses. Viruses in what way? What are viruses? Talk about viruses in terms of biological viruses, or viruses in terms of a computer virus: something that infects the mind and starts to control the mind in such a way that the operating system is unable to function in the way that it was intended to function.

This is very much akin to what the Buddha said in Anguttara Nikaya 1, where he says: 'Luminous is the mind, monks, luminous is the mind. Due to adventitious defilements, the mind becomes covered up. That luminous mind, that luminous mind is a mind free of any ignorance. A mind without craving. A mind that is established in Nibbana. A mind free of suffering.'

The adventitious defilements means that the mind has all of these impeding forces through the sense bases, which it misperceives as: this is me, this is mine, this is myself. And this is where we get into the territory of wise attention and unwise attention. What are the four taints? Four taints are ignorance itself, the taint of sensual craving, the taint of existential craving, and the taint of wrong views. That's the fourth, that's sometimes the fourth that's mentioned. Sometimes ignorance and the fourth, which is the wrong views, come together.

Wrong views here are basically views that are not right view. Simple as that. Anything that is not part of right view is wrong view. And what is right view? Right view is the understanding of action and consequence, karma. That there is meaning in what is given, there is meaning in what is offered, there is meaning in what is sacrificed.

That there is mother and father, that they are the cause of our existence in the relative world, in samsara. That there is this world and the other. That there is this world in the form of the sixth sense basis that perceives consensus reality, and then there is the other in terms of experiencing meditative states in the form of jhanas and super mundane states. Of course that can also be interpreted as other realms and things like that, but let's just focus on the life in this experience. And that there are those who have experienced this for themselves and can teach this, can guide one, can show the way to the Dhamma. So this understanding of right view, once it is established, in stream entry, wrong views are gone. Perception of craving as something to be done, rather than letting go, then one experiences destruction of craving.

And when there's a destruction of craving completely, there's a destruction of the taint of sensual craving. And finally, when one tries or doesn't try, I should say, to control the outcome of an action, to control the outcome of the jhanas or whatever it might be, that means there is no longer a craving for existence in the form realm. So existential craving is destroyed.

And dependent on all of that is ignorance. What is ignorance? Ignorance, or avidya, is the lack of knowledge and understanding of the Four Noble Truths. The understanding of the Four Noble Truths is the super mundane right view: suffering, the cause and conditions of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the way leading to that cessation of suffering.

When one sees this continuously, eventually ignorance gives way and is destroyed. For practical purposes, ignorance is akin to unwise attention, to lack of mindfulness. What is mindfulness? The recognition of the here and now. It is the recognition, or remembering, to stay with one's object, remembering to observe how the mind's attention moves from one place to the other. Ultimately, for practical purposes, that means that you are aware where your mind is at all times, or for almost all times, as best as you can. So this is part of sati sampajanna. So why is it wise attention and unwise attention? This is yoniso manasikara. What do we mean by yoniso? Yoni is the womb, the source, the origin point.

Yoniso is that which directs the mind towards the source of things. The mind here is the manasikara, that which takes to heart, quite literally. The mind is applying wise attention. Misperception of reality, or misperceiving or misapprehending that which is impermanent as permanent, that which is suffering as happiness, and that which is empty of self as me, mine, or myself.

When this is present, ignorance is present. But when this is not present, and so this is why, for one who knows and sees wise attention and understanding, wise attention, there is a destruction of the taints. And so what are the taints to be abandoned by seeing? Here, because an untaught ordinary person who has no regard for noble ones, and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, who has no regard for true men, and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, does not understand what things are fit for attention and what things are unfit for attention. Since that is so, he attends to those things unfit for attention and he does not attend to those things fit for attention. So when we say someone who is an untaught ordinary person who has no regard for noble ones is unskilled and undisciplined in the Dhamma, and so on, it doesn't mean they have any kind of disrespect towards the Dhamma. It's just that they are puthujjanas. They are of the world. They're not introduced to the Dhamma.

They don't know what it means to have the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, and so on and so forth. They're just still plugged into the matrix, continuing to enjoy their juicy piece of steak, but rather just do that instead of unplugging from the matrix. So that's obviously just their prerogative. That's just they don't know. And so if they don't know, they don't know. What are the things unfit for attention that he attends to?

This is how he attends unwisely. Okay, this is very important now. This is what he attends unwisely. Future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I become in the future? Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the present, thus: Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I?

Where has this being come from? Where will it go? So it basically means that one shouldn't attend to things about the past, things about the future, or things about the present. But look carefully at what he's saying. What is the commonality among all of these questions? What is the one commonality about all of these questions? It's the I, the sense of I. There is still a thought stream of the past, which one clings to through identification.

There's still a thought stream of the future in which one still clings, with a sense of being in the future or becoming in the future. There's still a sense of self in relation to the things about the present. Is it possible for the mind to still have thought streams and be awakened? Yes, it is. So what is the difference, then, between one who is not awakened and one who is awakened? They realize that thoughts are just thoughts, that in the cognizing there's only the cognized, in the sensing there's only the sensed. They realize that there is no me in that, it's just a series of different constructs which the mind conceives and perceives. First sutta, which is the root of all things. In there, the unenlightened mind, the unawakened mind, the mind that is higher in training, seeks to let go of. In the earth there's just the earth, and there's no perception or conception of anything beyond that, with the view of a self or a sense of self. When we talk about this matrix of the six sense bases, they all come together into the mind.

The mind is that which creates experience. The mind is that which creates perception. The mind is that which continues to provide some kind of interaction with this simulation that we call consensus reality. But it's no big deal for the awakened understanding, for the awakened mind, so to speak. Why? Because they understand that thoughts are just thoughts. In the same way that you can see, that you don't have to identify with the eye, in terms of the eyes, and you don't have to identify with the object of the eyes, or the object of the ears, or the nose, the tongue, the body. Same way, you don't have to identify with the object of the mind.

Thoughts continue just as they are. Those are passive thoughts. And the mind wisely attends to them as this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself. As this is just thought. That this is just construct. That this is just process. And when he attends unwisely in this way, one of six views arises in him. This speculative view, Bhikkhus, is called the thicket of views, wilderness of views, the contortion of views, the vacillation of views, the fetter of views. Fettered by the fetter of views, the untaught ordinary person is not freed from birth, aging, and death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair. He is not freed from suffering, I say.

Look at these six views, self-views. Exists for me, so this is the eternalist view, that there is an atman and therefore that self exists. Or the view that no self exists for me, this is also an eternalist view. Or in some sense it could be said that the self here is that I don't believe in the atman, but it's a materialist view. What there is is just this body, made up of atoms that will decay, and that's it, that's the end of it. This is the view of the, or what's also known as the Lokayatas, I think, Tantra Lokayatas. And the Charvaka was actually the founder of this view, which is that there's no meaning in giving, there's no meaning in sacrifice, there's no meaning in what is offered.

There is no causality and causation and conditionality, that there is just eat, drink, and be merry, and there is just this body. And once this body is destroyed, gone at death, nothing else is there. And so that view that no self exists for me, there's no atman. It's just a series of atoms that are doing whatever they're doing. And I don't have to care about the consequences of my actions because ultimately there's not going to be any kind of rebirth.

Or the view, I perceive self with self. I perceive not self with self. Or I perceive the self of mind that speaks and feels and experiences, and they're the result of good and bad actions. So these are the more eternalist views, right? These are the views that say there is a self, and I'm able to perceive that not self with the self, or I'm able to perceive that self with not self, or that the self is consciousness, it's the atman, it's the thing that is subject to the karma, the result of good and bad actions, that it's permanent and eternal, not subject to change, that it will be eternal all the time. This is the view of the atman. In some cases in Vedanta, this is the view that the atman, or the jiva atman, which is another kind of intermediary, experiences the results of the good and bad actions, and that the atman itself is stainless and pure, and therefore it's one with Brahman, and therefore Brahman is that eternal element or substrate of the universe.

So anytime we have any kind of mind that has thoughts of reflecting from that sense of self, that identification with the thought streams, there can arise any of these different views. However, a well-taught noble disciple who has regard for noble ones and is skilled in their Dhamma, who has regard for true men and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma, understands what things are fit for attention and what things are unfit for attention. As that is so, he does not attend to those things unfit for attention, and he attends to those things fit for attention.

So what is it that he attends to? He attends wisely. This is the origin of suffering. He attends wisely. This is the cessation of suffering. He attends wisely. This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. When he attends wisely in this way, three fetters are abandoned in him: identity view, doubt, and adherence to rules and observances. These are called the taints that should be abandoned by seeing. Look at this. He's talking about attending wisely to the Four Noble Truths. Do you see anywhere in the Four Noble Truths the I, the me, the mine, the myself? It is just, this is suffering. There is suffering going on right now. What is the cause of that suffering?

Abandon it. How do you abandon it? Through the Eightfold Path. Now, you can have the conventional, transactional sense of this is mine, this is me, this is I, and so on. But in reality, if you look at it from the absolute lens, there's just the understanding of suffering and the cessation of suffering. Remember what the Buddha was after as the Bodhisattva. There is a lot of suffering going on in the world in terms of grief and sorrow and lamentation and pain and so many different things. What was his journey for was not to say, is there an atman, is there a self, is there a universal consciousness? He set out to ask, how do I let go of the suffering, what is the suffering, and how does one be free of that suffering? And so the ultimate understanding that he came to when he attained Buddha is the Four Noble Truths. He understood suffering: that suffering is in the form of painful feeling, is in the form of unpleasant feeling, mental and physical, in the form of old age

in the form of dying, in the form of getting what you didn't want or not getting what you wanted, in the form of sickness and grief and sorrow and lamentation, and that all of these arose dependent upon certain causes and conditions. With the arising of this came the arising of the suffering. With the arising of that came the arising of that suffering. With the cessation of this was a cessation of suffering. That's Nirodha. Six hours.

There is pain in this moment in the form of a certain expectation that is causing a resistance to the present moment. It's causing an obsession of controlling how this present moment should be, controlling how outcomes should be, because there's identification with that. So what is the move here? Release and relax. That is the central point of the Eightfold Path: to let go through non-clinging. His mind is liberated. In that release and relax, there is mundane nirvana. And you can stay there, only one.

Because if you're truly in mundane nirvana, there's no me there. There's no I there. There's just this. The more we do this, the more the mind becomes reconditioned towards inclining towards nirvana, towards letting go. What are we letting go? We're letting go of the misidentification and misapprehension of the sense of self that is projected onto all experience.

Namely, we're letting go of ignorance. We're letting go of craving. We're letting go of wrong views. Every time you six are and you let go, for that moment in which there is the sky-like mind, we had empty cognizance. There's no you, there's no karma, there's no rebirth, there's no becoming, there's nothing there. And the idea is to let the mind naturally be in that space, so that it continues to prolong, until your whole time that you're interacting with the world there is just the end of suffering going on, there's just cessation going on. Taints to be abandoned by restraining, what taints should be abandoned by restraining? Eye faculty restrained, while taints, vexation, and fever might arise in one who abides with the eye faculty unrestrained. There are no taints, vexation, or fever in one who abides with the eye faculty restrained. Reflecting wisely, he abides with the ear faculty, nose faculty, tongue faculty, body faculty, mind faculty. While taints, vexation, and fever might arise in one who abides with these faculties unrestrained, there are no taints, vexation, or fever in one who abides with the faculties restrained.

These are called the taints that should be abandoned by restraining. What do we mean by restraint? Samvara. Samvara. Hold on, we have to control, we have to tighten our control over the senses, and if you do that it might work for a while, but you're just suppressing. Restraint here is again part of wise attention. It's wise restraint. Let's say it's apprehending the senses in the right way, seeing the eye faculty for what it is, as an instrument, or any of the sense-based faculties as instruments, and that when there is attention given to a specific object, there arises the corresponding faculty consciousness: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind consciousness. And these three form the contact, and therefore there is an experience that arises dependent upon these. The moment you start to see life and existence in this way, there's nothing you have to hold on to and there's nothing you have to let go of. That right view is okay. There is just this experience. What's there to hold on to? There's just this experience. What's there to let go of? It's impermanent. It rises and passes away.

As soon as I hold on to it in such a way that I need to control it, now I cause suffering. The I causes suffering. The identification with the experience causes suffering. It's just experience. The I thought, the thought that this is me, mine, myself, is not the problem. It's what's underlying the problem, underlying the thought that's the problem. The thoughts can be there. This is me. This is mine. This is myself. Transactionally, conventionally, in the relative world, we may think and see this.

But the fixation of I own this. This is mine. This is me. There's something to defend. There's something to resist. This is me versus the outside world. There is me and there is others. If one restrains the senses by just seeing sense experience as sense experience, initially as part of the training, there is the understanding that one lets go of the things that are causing one vexation, the things that are unwholesome, the things that are frightening, the things that are too stimulating to the mind or dulling to the mind, and so on. But over a period of time, through wisdom of seeing every experience as nothing more than experience dependent upon contact with the sense bases, which are nothing more than made up of the four great elements.

That this is just sound. That what I'm seeing is just made up of different kinds of materials. Then what is there to hold on to? It's just process. It's like I've given this example sometime before. It's like, I go to, you know, Austria or Germany, and I'm visiting there for a retreat, and I accidentally, I'm not looking, and so I accidentally knock over something in someone's hand, and I keep walking. And I know that this person is upset, but they're speaking in German and I don't know exactly what they're saying, because it's just sound to me. It's just vowels and consonants. They come together to create, through that person's expressions, through that person's tone of voice, that this is what's going on.

But the words themselves don't have any meaning for me. So when you see experience like this, that it has no meaning for me. See, I'm not saying that there's meaninglessness in the universe. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that if he can come to a space where the layers of construction, right, are peeled until there's just the base experience as experience itself, then why do anything? There's no identity there. These are the taints to be abandoned by using. What taints should be abandoned by using? Here, bhikkhu, reflecting wisely, uses the robe only for protection from cold, or protection from heat, or protection from He is a man of contact with gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, the sun, and creeping things, and only for the purpose of concealing the private parts.

Reflecting wisely, he uses alms food neither for amusement nor for intoxication nor for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness, but only for the endurance and continuance of this body, for ending discomfort, and for assisting the holy life, considering thus: I shall terminate old feelings without arising new feelings, and I shall be healthy and blameless and live in comfort. Reflecting wisely, he uses the resting place only for protection from cold, protection from heat, protection from contact with gadflies and mosquitoes, wind, the sun, and creeping things, and only for the purpose of warding off the perils of climate and for enjoying retreat, for protection from arisen afflicting feelings, and for the benefit of good health.

While taints, vexation, and fever might arise in one who does not use the requisites thus, there are no taints, vexation, or fever in one who uses them thus. These are called the taints that should be abandoned by using. Now, this is obviously specifically for the monastic community, because they are only given the four requisites. For the lay community, we can simplify how we view clothes, how we view shelter, food and medicine, and we simplify why it is that we earn money. Because the name of the game in samsara, if you're a lay person, is earn money to earn a living, make money to live. Right? Money denotes these four that are important and vital and necessary for survival. And to what things are we indulging in a way that identifies further with the things that complexify and complicate the mind? Right? So are we utilizing the resources we have in the way that is for our survival?

Now, of course, the Buddha has said for lay people they can earn money and enjoy the fruits of their labor, but this specifically is saying for the monks, especially those who are in the holy life of brahmacharya, which doesn't mean celibacy. It just means the life that is lived by practicing the eightfold path for the purpose of enlightenment and awakening, that one utilizes resources in a way that is beneficial and non-harmful for oneself and for others. What taints, bhikkhus, should be abandoned by enduring?

Here, bhikkhu, reflecting wisely, bears cold and heat, hunger and thirst, and contact with gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, the sun, and creeping things. He endures ill-spoken, unwelcome words and arisen bodily feelings that are painful, wracking, sharp, piercing, disagreeable, distressing, and menacing to life. If one does not endure such things, there are taints, vexation, or fever. There are no taints, vexation, or fever in one who endures them. These are called the taints that should be abandoned by enduring.

I'm just giving this example as an illustration, not to poke fun at anyone in particular. But I remember when I, in 2024, had taken the year off to work on the book on craving. That's the, in the origination series. And I had different students, different practitioners, come and join me. One particular practitioner had all kinds of complaints. They were sleeping downstairs and there was the noise of footsteps upstairs. The food wasn't made in the proper oil. There were too many mosquitoes everywhere. There's just no way to meditate with all this noise and sound and so on. And what happened to endurance? I mean, that person is very much used to a life of luxury, and they have their own views about things. But I will just say that when I was in the mountains early on in my life, there was no knowledge of when we would have our next food, our next meal. We lived like that.

What my teacher said was: a bhikkhu is one who takes pindapata, that is food that is freely given. And that's how we lived, even though we weren't wearing robes or whatever. We traveled on foot, hitchhiked everywhere, and just ate once a day, sometimes not, because we just didn't get food. Sometimes we would get to an ashram and sleep there, whatever was available. Sometimes we would be sleeping with a hundred people in one hall. Sometimes we'd be sleeping in the rain, covered in just a tiny blanket. So I'm not trying to say this to show off. I'm trying to give you an example. In India, if you go to India and you want the real stuff, you want the real deal, come to India. See what it's like. You go to Dhamasuka, it's wonderful, it's comfortable by every measure when you compare it to India. You have air conditioning.

Of all things, you have air conditioning in the heat. Come to India in March, April, and May and try to do that. So we have it good. Okay, wherever we are, we have it really good, and we should understand that a little inconvenience, like flies in the room, or somebody closing and opening the door in the wrong way, and all of these things, endure it. See how your mind relates to them, and see if you can let go of your expectations of how things should be. When you do this, you are letting go of immense suffering.

There are three types or levels of expectations, as rightly put by Albert Ellis, the founder of REBT, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. He said there's the expectations of ourselves, of how we ought to be. And when we don't uphold that, we cause ourselves suffering. There is the expectations of the people around us. Our friends should be this way with us. Our family should be this way. They should never say this stuff to us. They should not behave in this way. And when those expectations are not met, we suffer. And the world around us: the world should be free of any kind of idiotic politicians running the world.

The world should be free of, you know, this, that, and the other. But hey, that's the world. And when it's not met, we suffer. So best to let go of expectations. Live right here, right now. See what's going on. Endure what is there that is unpleasant, and pay attention with gratitude to that which is pleasant. You want a quick pathway to loving kindness and the other brahmaviharas?

Gratitude. And I'm not talking about writing a list of, you know, I'm grateful for this and I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful for so and yada, yada, yada, yada. No, I'm talking about reflecting for 20 minutes on how you feel in the body. There are pleasant sensations in the body. I'm grateful for that. Reflecting on the good health of the body, good digestion of the body, reflecting on the relationships that are meaningful in one's life, the relationships I have with my friends, with my partners, with my family, with my siblings, with my parents, with whatever, with the world.

That I have food in my belly, the fridge. When you start to do this, it has a verifiable effect on your brain, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex, which allows us to make better decisions. You could say, to simplify and not to overgeneralize, but when the prefrontal cortex is on, our mindfulness is there. One of the quickest ways to gain mindfulness is gratitude, and through that gratitude there naturally comes loving kindness. Through that gratitude there actually comes compassion, because you see those who are suffering and you have compassion for them. It naturally comes: gratitude, because you see those who are happy like you, and you celebrate in their happiness. You see, you have gratitude, and so you see the things that are bothersome, and you have equanimity towards that.

Taints to be abandoned by avoiding. What taints, bhikkhu, should be abandoned by avoiding? Here, a bhikkhu, reflecting wisely, obviously avoids a wild elephant, a wild horse, a wild bull, a wild dog, a snake, a stump, a bramble patch, a chasm, a cliff, a cesspit, a sewer. I think it's wise to avoid all of these things. In the world you are, it's always good to avoid these things. Reflecting wisely, he avoids sitting on unsuitable seats, wandering to unsuitable resorts, and associating with bad friends, since if he were to do so, wise companions in the holy life might suspect him of evil conduct. While things.

There are no taints, vexation, and fever in one who avoids them. These are called the taints that should be abandoned by avoiding. So, what are unsuitable seats? Really, this is for bhikkhus. There were seats that were there for the purpose of intercourse. Obviously, bhikkhus should not be sitting on those seats. Sitting with a woman, or someone of the opposite sex, unaccompanied, alone. This is a no-no for all bhikkhus. And so that would not be suitable. Wandering to unsuitable resorts. You don't want to go to places which are not conducive to retreat, that are not conducive for one's ethics, for one's sila, for one's samadhi, or development of the mind, bhavana, wisdom.

And obviously, associating with bad friends, people who say, why are you meditating? Come watch a show with us. You can meditate later. People who say, why do you show up to that guy Delson's Sunday talks or to Kirsten's Tuesday meetings? Why? Just go and do something else. These are bad friends. These are very bad friends. So, the friends that don't support you in your practice, in your cherishing of the Dhamma, who don't help you, who are not beautiful friends, ultimately.

Stay away from them. What taints, bhikkhu, should be abandoned by removing? Here, a bhikkhu, reflecting wisely, does not tolerate an unarisen thought of sensual desire. He abandons it, removes it, and annihilates it. He does not tolerate an arisen thought of ill will or an arisen thought of cruelty. He does not tolerate arisen, evil, unwholesome states. He abandons them, removes them, does away with them, and annihilates them.

While taints, vexation, and fever might arise in one who does not remove these thoughts, there are no taints, vexation, or fever in one who removes them. These are called the taints abandoned by removing. What is the Buddha referring to here? He's talking about sensual desire, ill will, and cruelty. Sensuality, or sensual desire, is the opposite of contentment, nekkhamma. It's renunciation. What are we renouncing? We are renouncing the particular sensual desire. We're letting go of ego identification with that sensual experience. What is ill will? Ill will is anger towards someone, the desire to harm someone, and this is let go of through training in loving kindness. What is cruelty? Adding to one's own suffering or adding to another's suffering. The recognition of this allows one to experience and develop compassion. And evil, unwholesome states, these are the ten unwholesome actions. We let go of those. Ultimately that's reduced down to the five precepts. Keeping the five precepts, he abandons those things that cause him harm and cause others harm, because that creates vexation. Vexation leads to bad meditation, to unruly, troublesome, tempestuous, impetuous meditation.

Taints to be abandoned by developing. What taints should be abandoned by developing? Here, reflecting wisely, he develops the mindfulness enlightenment factor by seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, and ripens in relinquishment. He develops the investigation of states enlightenment factor, the energy enlightenment factor, the rapture enlightenment factor, the tranquility enlightenment factor, the collectedness enlightenment factor, and the equanimity enlightenment factor, all these which are supported by seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, and ripen in relinquishment. And fever might arise in one who does not develop these enlightenment factors. There are no taints, vexation, or fever in one who does develop them. These are called the taints that should be abandoned by developing. How does one develop mindfulness? The right effort through the six R's, through letting go.

How does one develop investigation of states, or discernment? Through mindfulness. Mindfulness leads to discernment. Discernment, when you come back into the recognition of the here and now, you know what is present in the mind. Is there a wholesome state or an unwholesome state? How do you develop energy through discernment? You realize, I have too much energy, and so you release that. You realize, I need more energy, and so you balance it. Once you have that, through the joy of letting go, you experience rapture. Your mind and body are tranquil.

Once they are tranquil and at ease, you have collectedness. And once you have collectedness, your mind can see things as they are without getting troubled one way or the other. And that is equanimity. Abandoned by restraining. The taints that should be abandoned by using have been abandoned by using. Those taints that should be abandoned by enduring have been abandoned by enduring. The taints that should have been abandoned by avoiding have been abandoned by avoiding. And the taints that should have been abandoned by removing have been abandoned by removing. When the taints that should be abandoned by developing have been abandoned by developing, then he is called a bhikkhu who dwells restrained with the restraint of all taints.

He has severed craving, flung off the fetters, and with the complete penetration of conceit, he has made an end of suffering. Complete penetration of conceit, which means what? It is the process of letting go of identification with all experience. That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's words. Does anybody have any questions or comments?