Apr 3 2021 - Snp 1.8 - Metta Sutta - The Path of Metta towards Nibbana

Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, everybody. So I'm going to be reading from Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of Sutta Nipata 1.8. And this is the Metta Sutta, also known as the Karaniya Sutta. Since this is a short one, I was thinking I'm going to read all of it at once and then read it again and break down the different elements of this sutra. Advice and gentle without arrogance.

And he basically explains to them that metta is a protector. One who is able to develop metta for oneself and for other beings essentially creates for oneself a defense against yakkhas and other spirits and so on. But coming back to this particular passage, let's break it down. So first it says, in talking about metta and radiating metta and feeling metta, the Buddha prefaces this with saying that this is what should be done by one skilled in the good, which means before you go into radiating metta, before you go into experiencing metta for yourself and sending it out to others, you have to get your precepts right. Maintain, cultivate, and not break the precepts.

It's about tilling the soil of your mind and putting in those seeds, which are about following the precepts, which are about maintaining the precepts. And that brings to fruit this metta, this capacity to be able to have a mind that is clear and collected naturally. And the reason why is because when one breaks their precepts, when one has unwholesome states of mind, one is no longer creating for themselves the right intention, no longer being able to follow right speech and right action.

By following the precepts, one has the right intention. One experiences, lets go of attachment and identifying with sensory craving and any ill will. So that is really what nekkhamma is, renunciation, renouncing attachment to the senses and the sensory experiences, not identifying with them. And of course, cultivating at the very least non-ill will and non-cruelty or non-violence. And that means cultivating loving kindness and cultivating compassion. So the more one is able to follow the precepts, the more one is able to be wholesome in mind, speech and action, the more one weakens formations that were there present because of not following the precepts, because of not following the eightfold path, because of not having right intention, not executing right speech and right action, not having right livelihood.

And so the more one is able to notice, for example, if one is in a conflict or one finds oneself in an argument, one should be present and mindful of what one is going to say and what the intention behind that speech is. If the conflict is continuing because one has identified with their viewpoint and one would rather be right than get it right, then one is practicing wrong intention and cultivating unwholesome states of mind. So using that example of being in an argument, being in a debate, and seeing that the conflict is continuing, realize, recognize that the mind is not in a wholesome state of mind. The mind is in an unwholesome state. Let go of that and come back to the mind and body and relax, and intention, and cultivate loving kindness for oneself.

Perhaps the smile might not work because it could aggravate the person, thinking that the smile is sarcastic or whatever it might be. It's best to be mindful of that and be able to cultivate the right speech in order to resolve that conflict, for example, and to come to an agreement or come to a point where everybody involved in that argument settles down and there comes to be a conclusion to that conflict.

And so one can use the filters of speech to make sure what one is going to say is wholesome. One can use what is called THINK, think before speaking or think before acting. And this T-H-I-N-K is based on the Buddha's advice related to the filtrations of speech, thinking before speaking. So T is timeliness. Is what you are going to say or do the right time to say or do? Is it the right time to say what you want, or is it not the right time?

Is it honest, H? Is it true? Is it based in fact? Is it accurate? Is it precise? And if you know it not to be accurate or precise, you can obviously preface what you're going to say with the understanding and the caveat that whatever you're going to say might not be true, but this is what you have heard, as long as the intention is not to harm. Which comes back to I, which is: is the intention unwholesome or wholesome? And then, is it necessary for the benefit of the conversation, for the people in that conversation including yourself? And finally K: is it kind? Is it coming from loving kindness and compassion? And are the words that you're going to be using rooted in right speech, meaning are they cultivated in loving kindness, and they are not harsh or abusive, and obviously not idle chatter? So this is something you can use on a practical level for any time you find yourself in an argument or some uncomfortable situation.

but the more you come into these situations consider these opportunities have aversion towards them don't have ill will towards them that's the other aspect of right intention non-ill will and of course non-cruelty meaning not reacting in an unwholesome way so consider these as opportunities to be able to exercise wholesome states and being able to exercise the six r's so that you can come back to a wholesome state of mind and let go of the unwholesome formations and the unwholesome states that might cause one to speak in a way that would be harsh or to act in a way that would be unmindful and careless.

So the more you do this, the easier it is for loving kindness to sprout out from your heart. The easier it is for you to be kind naturally. The easier it is for you to be naturally compassionate and empathetic. And so he says, having made the breakthrough to that peaceful state, that peaceful state here is in reference to nibbana. So here it can be understood to be the nibbana in the super mundane level, but if you look at the 6R's, or the four right efforts, when you take your attention away from the unwholesome states of mind and bring your attention back on mind and body and relax, that is a manifestation of the hindrance.

Notice what happens after the relax step. There is a mind that is clear. There is a mind that is naturally radiant, that is naturally bright, and that is filled with compassion. There is a mind that is filled with loving kindness, which is naturally relaxed and joyful. And this is that experience of the mundane nibbana. So if you go through this step, it is easier for you to cultivate a more joyful, a more happy, a more peaceful and more loving and kind state of mind.

One should be able, upright and very upright, amenable to advice and gentle without arrogance. One should be able. That means one should have the capacity to know what is wholesome and unwholesome, and this can be brought to fruition by understanding what the precepts are, what the wholesome states are, what the states are that are conducive to one's development towards nirvana, and what the states of mind are that pull one's inclinations away from nirvana. So once you get your rudder correct in the direction of the far shore, in the direction of the other shore, then you have to be upright and very upright. Upright meaning you have the intention of upholding those precepts, upholding the wholesome qualities of mind, and very upright meaning continuing to maintain them and being mindful whenever there is a potential to break one or more of the precepts. So it's a matter of still cultivating that mindfulness. Amenable to advice.

So here it's talking about someone who might have a lot of knowledge of the suttas or might have a lot of knowledge about the precepts, about the meditation, but there should not be any pride in that. There should not be any attachment in that. One should be aware that when there's another person who might be more knowledgeable, who might be wiser, providing information, providing advice, providing suggestions and recommendations, one should be mindful that the mind does not resist such advice. So one should not be stubborn and obstinate. Once you have a mind that is open to such advice, one should be able to at least listen to what is being said and then understand it and reflect on it and see if for oneself it makes sense, if it is conducive for better practice, for higher practice, and which leads to nibbana. And gentle without arrogance. So, gentle: one should be gentle with one's actions wherever one goes. One should be gentle with their speech. One should be gentle with their intentions. One should have a

a predominantly jovial mindset, a mindset that is free of any sort of resistance, free of any sort of ill will, and that is conducive to loving kindness. Without arrogance here refers to mana, to conceit. One should not take pride in one's maintenance of precepts. This is also part of that attachment to rites and rituals. With it, one should understand this as stepping stones towards nibbana, stepping stones towards having samadhi, having a mind that is collected and able to cultivate love and kindness. But one should see it all as an impersonal process and not identify with it. Then he says one should be content and easily supported, of few duties and a frugal way of living.

So contentment is very important. Contentment can be cultivated through generosity and gratitude. So you can be generous with your smile, first and foremost. You can be generous with your time. You can be generous with your efforts to help other people in whatever way they need help. And you can cultivate for yourself gratitude for all the wholesome states of mind that you possess, so to speak, of all the wonderful opportunities that you have to cultivate these states of mind. The more you cultivate gratitude for the dharma, for the practice, for the triple gem, for the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha, that immediately uplifts the mind. It creates in the mind the state that is conducive for natural loving kindness.

Easily supported, you are one who is few of wants. In the case of a bhikkhu, they have their four requisites and they are satisfied whenever they are required. In the lay life, it's important to make sure that the wants don't become desires that are craved for, that one's needs are met first and foremost. One can have a comfortable life. One can have a life that is conducive to meditation, conducive to upholding the precepts, and conducive for a mindset that is headed towards insight.

So it's about having few duties and a frugal way of living. to gratify the senses, gratify the mind. Maybe one wants a large mansion or, you know, an amazing car or whatever it might be. And, you know, using the stereotype, let's say, the stereotypical example of a teenager with their first credit card, one buys things they don't need with money they don't have.

And that creates for a person a lot of responsibilities to pay off that debt. So it's best to have a mind that is few of wants and rarely just satisfying one's needs that are conducive for the practice. There's nothing wrong with having wealth and there's nothing wrong with having a comfortable lifestyle. But at the same time, one wants to be mindful of whether those possessions or the things that one has start to create craving in a mind. And if that craving arises, does it create clinging and so on, and ultimately creates suffering for oneself.

So that is why this frugal way of living is suggested. Of peaceful faculties and judicious, courteous without greed when among families. Of peaceful faculties: a mind that does not get agitated because one becomes mindful of one's needs. And when one's needs are satisfied, one doesn't have more desires and more craving, and therefore the mind does not become restless.

Because one maintains one's precepts, one's mind doesn't become restless. And judicious: one is careful in one's choice of words, one's actions are careful and prudent, and one's livelihood is careful and prudent. Courteous without greed when among families. Courteous should be a given: one should be polite and one should be gentle, one should be even-minded. One should understand why one should be compassionate, because it is by having compassion for another being that one can have understanding of that other being. But the moment you become not courteous, the moment you become rude, the mind becomes closed down. It closes down and closes off compassion, and is unable to understand viewpoints of other beings.

Without greed, when among families. So this is directed towards the bhikkhus, obviously. So it's about when one goes on alms round and sees families, one doesn't become attached to the lay life or have regret for having gone forth. But amongst lay people it should be understood as: when you are with your family, what expectations do you have of family members? There are people in family life who are unable to provide perhaps the mental and emotional needs that you require. It's important to understand your expectations of people and have a compassionate and understanding mindset towards them. So if there are certain expectations that are not met, one can voice them, one can talk to one's family members and be gentle and courteous and be filled with loving kindness when one speaks.

When there are certain expectations that are not met, this can cause craving, this can cause aversion, and this can cause resentment amongst family members. And that is an environment that is not conducive to a mind that is wholesome, not conducive to a peaceful nature. So if one finds oneself in such a circumstance, one ought to essentially figure this out and resolve it with family, be gentle, be genuinely concerned, be genuinely having loving kindness for one's family, and have the open-mindedness to understand their viewpoint.

One should not do anything, however slight, because of which otherwise people might criticize them. So this is really about maintaining the precepts to the point that one understands it's not only for oneself but also for others. It can inspire other people to also want to maintain precepts, because when one maintains precepts one is able to lead by example, and when one leads by example one inspires others to also want to follow the precepts. And of course this is also referring to bhikkhus who have to uphold a certain standard according to the vinaya, the discipline, the rules and regulations, and the many hundreds of precepts that they must follow for states of mind that are conducive for the holy life.

And that it does not criticize or defame the Sangha at large. And then the Buddha says, may all beings be happy and secure. May they be inwardly happy. So now he's talking about that wish, that selfless wish that naturally arises when you maintain precepts, in right intention, when you let go of sensory craving, when you have a lifestyle that is in alignment with right livelihood, when you speak with right speech, when you act and behave with right action, the mind is naturally relaxed, the mind is naturally joyful, and it's much easier and quite natural for that loving-kindness to emerge.

So again, this is in reference to having a wish of loving kindness that is without boundaries, that is basically open to all beings, whether one knows them or doesn't know them, whether one sees them or doesn't see them, whether they are living with oneself, around oneself, or living far away, whatever it might be, whether they are alive now or will come to be later. One still has loving kindness for all beings. Beings be inwardly happy. You wish to have the same happiness for other beings as you have for yourself, the same wish to be happy. No one should deceive another, nor despise anyone anywhere. So, deception: no one should deceive another. This is about not speaking falsehoods, that's also part of right speech, not having a mindset that is deceptive towards others. And one should not despise anyone anywhere.

Obviously that's referring to ill will. If you find that ill will pops up because of certain circumstances, use the 6R's process to recognize it, let your attention go away from it, come back to the mind and body and relax it, and come back to a more wholesome state of mind, and then cultivate loving kindness. Because of anger and thoughts of aversion, no one should wish suffering for another. Here the Buddha is talking about the fact that when one is angry, when one has thoughts of ill will or aversion, there is an aversion that is projected out onto other beings and onto people, onto situations and circumstances, and it can go to the extent that one wishes harm on another. This is wrong intention, and one might then, upon that intention, act in a way that causes intentional harm to those beings. So this is referring to letting go of that anger, recognizing it, letting go of it, and replacing it with peace, replacing it with loving kindness, replacing it with non-ill will, replacing it with compassion and forgiveness and understanding.

Just as a mother would protect their child, their only child, with her own life, so one should develop toward all beings a state of mind without boundaries. So this is a very interesting statement. It talks about the love a mother has for her child. This is one way of interpreting it. And when you take a look at the love that a parent will have for a child, in modern neuroscientific perspective, it creates in the mind a certain neurochemical known as oxytocin, not to be confused with oxycontin, which is a derivative of an opiate. Oxytocin emerges naturally when we are with people who we have love and affection for. It can arise among animals as well.

A connection with them, this oxytocin naturally arises. And so when one is able to cultivate loving kindness, when one is able to have loving kindness for oneself and then for one's family members, they are building up this oxytocin. The flip side of oxytocin is that it can cause certain boundaries. So it can cause attachments to the point that one becomes defensive and protective of one's family or friends, and that can lead to ill will. So one needs to develop it to the point that one has loving kindness for all beings without boundaries.

Another way to understand the statement is just as a mother would protect her child, one should protect the precepts, the maintaining of the precepts, just as a mother would do whatever she could to make sure her child was safe and secure and out of harm's way. One should develop the skills and qualities and states of mind that are conducive to loving kindness and ultimately conducive to nibbana. So this is another way to understand how one can create for oneself this boundless mind of loving kindness. It's by upholding the precepts and having that same care and concern for upholding those precepts, for upholding that state of the wholesome states of mind, the same way a mother would have concern for her child's safety.

And toward the whole world, one should develop loving kindness, a state of mind without boundaries, above, below, and across, unconfined, without enmity, without adversaries. And so, without boundaries, you have no boundaries to who this loving kindness can go to. In practice there is an intermediary practice: first one develops loving kindness to oneself and then to a specific spiritual friend. When that feeling of loving kindness comes up into the head, what is happening is one starts to lose sensory awareness of the body, and that experience of loving kindness is felt in the head. It's not tense and it's not tight. It's just this glowing feeling that one has. It's very comfortable.

That's when there will be instructions for a separate practice, which is to start to make this loving kindness that one feels for one spiritual friend, for more spiritual friends, and then for family members and for acquaintances and for enemies. And these enemies don't have to be enemies that you consider to be enemies. At that point, you have to let go of that aversion towards enemies.

It can be people who you find difficult to work with or deal with, or people who find difficulties with you. And if there comes a point where you find it challenging, you can always go back to forgiveness practice and let go and heal the mind from any grudges, any deep holding on to these grudges, or having any kind of deep anger and aversion towards these people. When the mind is ready, you can come back to send loving kindness to those same people. After that intermediary practice, when there is no sense of enmity anywhere, one's mindfulness is so sharp and one's mind is so open that that loving kindness can now be radiated in different directions and in all directions at the same time.

And it starts to become spacious and boundless, and then one comes to that experience of infinite space and so on. Whether standing, walking, sitting or lying down, as long as one is not drowsy, one should resolve on this mindfulness. So this is really referring to the four foundations of mindfulness, and in particular understanding the postures, but not just understanding the postures, understanding where mind is in relation to using loving kindness as an object. So when you do walking meditation, for example, you're not paying attention to the walking. You are obviously mindful of where you are going, but you're more attentive to your object, which is loving kindness. And you can send this loving kindness to everyone you might see while you're walking down the park, you know, towards people walking around and people who might be sitting or whatever it might be, and then send it out even further across.

You can have loving kindness while you're just standing or sitting, loving kindness while you're driving a car, for example, and lying down. You could. Some people like to meditate while they're lying down, but that's one thing I would recommend there. As it says here, as long as one is not drowsy, you need to unify your attention a little bit more and be a little more attentive to the loving kindness if you're lying down. And this they call a divine dwelling here. So essentially you have brought a heavenly state of mind.

In your own mind you have brought heaven on earth. You have based the brahmaviharas, vihara meaning abode and brahma meaning brahma realms. You are cultivating a practice in which you have brought heaven into your mind. You are essentially bringing into that moment a state of being, a state of mind that is void of any attachments, any aversion or ill will. Not taking up any views, possessing good behavior, endowed with vision, having removed greed for sensual pleasures, one never again comes back to the bed of a womb.

So now that you cultivate this loving kindness and you go through the jhanas, you go through the jhanas with insight, which means you are open enough where your mind is spacious and open, and it doesn't close down with absorption practice, which means that the mind is attentive enough to see when hindrances arise and is able to let go of them with the 6R's process, and attentive enough whenever insights arise. So not taking up any views here refers to the views of eternalism, the views of annihilationism, or any views other than right view. Right view being really truths, understanding the four noble truths and experiencing the four noble truths. So view is also in reference to eternalism and annihilationism, is views of self. Having any kind of a self view can be detrimental to one's practice. Possessing good behavior is maintaining one's precepts. Endowed with vision is the experience of knowledge and vision of wisdom of seeing the links of dependent origination.

So loving-kindness being the basis, one then projects from there into the experience of infinite space and consciousness and nothingness, and also transcends loving-kindness into compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity, and ultimately rests mind in itself, watching the quiet mind itself, and then experiences cessation and then nibbana, and gets endowed with the understanding of the links of dependent origination. There, then, after that, if one removes the greed for sensual pleasures, here it's referring to when one removes any craving for that relief one has experienced, post-nibbana, post-cessation. One never again comes back to the bed of a womb. This is in reference to an anagami. So an anagami will not take rebirth again in the human state, but will go to the pure abodes.

So if one practices in such a way, it is quite possible in not having delight in that practice, meaning not identifying with the jhanas, not attaching the craving for the jhana, but allowing the mind to watch things as they are and adjust accordingly with the six-hour process, with the four right efforts, and allow the compassion and allow the loving kindness and then compassion and so on to emerge from the mind and then allow that to be radiated just watching like a spectator allowing the progress through the jhanas to happen naturally with an open mind so one is open to the insights and one is open enough to let go of the hindrances one might recognize and then allow that mind to gradually get deeper and deeper consciousness of suffering of not self and then ultimately going into nothingness and then resting that mind in itself in that radiant quiet mind what happens is the subtle formations arise and pass away and one just has the natural inclination to let go of them without having to come out of neither perception or non-perception if one notices them one is no longer in either perception or non-perception

And one lets go of it, comes back, returns to the quiet mind and stays in that eighth level, and then finally one doesn't delight in cessation. One doesn't delight for nibbana. The expectation for nibbana is also what hinders one from experiencing cessation. So if one then experiences cessation, one does not attach to that experience, one does not crave for that experience. There can be a tendency after the first time to want to experience that again. But there is quite a lot of energy and joy, and it's difficult sometimes for someone to come back into the meditation and do it again without having attachment towards it. But it is possible where one can just let go of that craving, understand that to be craving, and let it go.

And then when one has an experience again, one does not crave for that relief and experiences, becomes an anagami, attains anagami. And then ultimately, when one continues and doesn't identify with it at all, one becomes an arahant. Questions? Comments? Hello, may I ask you a question here or do you want it on the chat room? You can ask the question here if you want. Thank you. of comprehension you attain?

I'm sorry? May one ask you what level of comprehension, of understanding of the Dhamma, you attain? I think everyone here can be the judge of that. OK, thank you for that. And just a second question. Understanding of the Dhamma and when we pass nibbana and the other stages of comprehension of understanding, sorry, is there, could you be irritated again in your life, could you feel anger again in your life or not? Up until the level of sakadagami there is still a subtle level of craving, subtle level of aversion.

But then when one has that experience and attains anagami, then there is no craving or aversion that will arise anymore. Okay, so this person could no more feel negative feelings, even a little one, for others? No. Thank you for your answer, Desa. So there was a question that was asked: in lay life on the Dhamma path, how could we deal with possessions? So basically, understanding that possessions are temporary and impermanent, so if you are in the lay life and you have a household to maintain and so on and so forth, not having the mind become fettered by the possessions of householdership, a mind that is basically conducive towards nibbana if that is your inclination. Ultimately, not allowing the mind to become attached to these possessions is more important than obtaining them. There is no injunction against building wealth as a householder so long as that wealth is rooted in right intention and rooted in the Dhamma, so essentially right livelihood. So such a person who has right livelihood would not deal in meat, trade in poisons, in alcohol, in weapons, and in people.

So there are in fact some suttas in which the Buddha talks about what is a good business person, what is a good shopkeeper, for example, what are the good qualities of a shopkeeper and what are the bad qualities of a bad shopkeeper, and so on. So there's no injunction about not having possessions. As a lay person, a person who is a householder, they are encouraged to build wealth so long as it is the correct way of building wealth.

But ultimately, one sees through this, through one's practice, and lets go of their attachments to the fetters of householdership. I have a question. Regarding practicing loving kindness and following this advice that you brought up in the talk, like in a situation where, for instance, within a family or out with strangers, someone is mean to someone else or behaves really badly to someone. I find that it could be a risk, that before you are on a higher level, you become a bit confused and perhaps passive in a situation where you normally would react and stand up, for instance, for another person with anger, against the person who is behaving badly.

And I just wanted to hear your comment on that, how to not become passive and just observing a situation where there is need for compassionate action without bringing up aggression or hatred or ill will. Yeah, so one should understand that as one progresses through the path, one becomes passive. One can still be quite energetic and quite active, but there won't be any aversion towards a person or any persons. Rather, one will see that there's an opportunity to resolve that conflict. You can stand up for the person who is being attacked verbally or whatever, and also be able to try to resolve that situation, try to make peace with that situation.

And you want to prevent the other person, the attacker, from creating further negative karma for themselves. So that is the perspective that you would have if you were seeing that person. You wouldn't just be passive and walk on by, but you would try to resolve the situation for the benefit of both parties. - Yeah, but if I may, before you have that ability to stand up in a non-violent or a non-aggressive way. That's what I mean. Then, at least for me, I find it kind of confusing because the old pattern is using the frustration and the irritation and anger and so forth in order to have the force of standing up against the person who is behaving badly.

And I find that, yeah. Come back to the present, come back to understanding where your feelings are, come back to being mindful of where your sensations are. And if you see that your intention comes up from anger and comes up from frustration, let go of that and understand that there is a deeper feeling of wanting to help the other person. If there's hatred arising for the attacker, let go of that and understand that should be something that is not going to help the situation, because then you'll find yourself now being in that conflict and then being the person who is trying to defend that other person and then coming into conflict with the attacker. But if you try to first come back and see where your mind state is, where your emotions are, process to neutralize that and to let go of the anger and frustration.

It's a matter of just a few moments of coming back, taking that pause, and instead of reacting, becoming mindful, letting go, and then responding with the intention of resolving that conflict. Thank you. Question. I thought that there was no question, so I'll put a question here. This is my kind of just trying to develop some understanding. So metta is taken as, I think, it has been expanded from a brahmavihara practice. Now the last paragraph is saying a bridge between metta and liberation, correct? So what is the kind of... so Buddha has said, develop the compassion, the metta, and then you relinquish all the views, basically stilling of all the formations and all these.

So this is a kind of transition. This paragraph is saying, yeah. So is this something that this sutta is giving, or is this purely for now, focus on metta, and when you develop your understanding then you will... this is for later? Is there another sutta, or how is it more inclusive? Or is this just for lay people so they can be kind? The context behind it is it's for bhikkhus, but at the same time it's inclusive because it can be helpful for someone in the lay life, coming through the understanding of having developed the metta and then coming to the other, the higher understanding. The practice that one is doing here is basically holistic, so it's all integrated into the practice itself, which means as you progress through the path, as you progress through the jhanas, you're also cultivating certain insights that come up. So for example, at the level of infinite consciousness you cultivate the insight into impermanence, into suffering, and into not-self, into anatta.

So it's basically all built into itself. It's not just the metta, although if somebody wanted, they could just have metta while walking, while sitting and so on. But in fact, in that whole process, he talks about mindfulness. So your understanding there is how the mind moves and drifts from its object, meditation. Every time you see that, then you cultivate right practice, right effort, the sub-sars, and every time you're doing that you are also generating the capacities for the enlightenment factors. When you do that you're also generating the ability to have insight and so on. So it's all built into itself if the practice is done according to how we understand it. Thank you. And about the formations, the formations are weakened by the practitioner, correct? So it's kind of, even from the very beginning, as soon as you start to radiate the metta, you are kind of weakening the unwholesome nature of the formations and bringing up the wholesome. Yeah, so it's kind of you are tranquilizing the formation with the metta.

Yes, definitely. Yes, definitely. When you continue to develop the metta or compassion, in this case let's say just the metta, what you're also doing is every time you come to a circumstance where there's a potential for the mind to act in an unwholesome manner through speech and action, you become mindful and you replace that intention, that inclination, that impulse to act in that way with loving kindness.

So it weakens those impulses, weakens those formations and strengthens the impulse or response to act out of loving kindness. itself is useful in letting go of a variation. Thank you, Delson. Thank you. Hi Delson, yeah, I've got a very simple question, a basic one. So the sutras tell us to abandon sensual pleasures, right? But how do we understand this, because we all, at least I have, the desire to eat good food, have a good scenery, like there's a beach where I always go to, or say to make good friends and things of that sort. So how does this need to be taken care of from the context of the practice?

So should we abandon them or what should be done about it? So it's not abandoning the sensual pleasures themselves. It's not abandoning the unpleasant feelings or the pleasant feelings. It's about abandoning the perception that causes one to crave for it, the sensual pleasures itself. As long as those sensual pleasures are not rooted in something that is unwholesome, that is rooted in harm and rooted in breaking the precepts and so on. But when you're talking about things like good food or pleasant environment.

Now, good friends are a different thing altogether. There's a whole thing about good friends. What kind of friends are they? Are they friends that help you with your practice, help you to be a better person, so to speak? Or are these people who get you to break the precepts? So that's completely different. That's not really... it is related to sensual pleasures to the extent that they create attachment towards sensual pleasures because of it. But coming back to sensual pleasures themselves, there's nothing wrong or inherent with the sensory experience, whether it's pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. What one needs to be mindful of is one's reaction to the mind's understanding, the mind's identifying with it, the mind's personalizing of it. If the mind identifies with it and has attachment towards it, once more of it, it causes this delusion of the mind, this ignorance of not seeing the form of the truths, and letting go of the craving. That's where one needs to pay attention and let go, and use right effort, uses ours to let go of that attachment. Could you also elaborate on friendships?

How does that come into place in the context of practice? Yeah, you want to be with friends like these, the people we have around us right now. You definitely want to have that kind of a friendship, people who help you with your practice, who can help you and give suggestions, tips and tools to better your meditation, who might be knowledgeable in the sutta levels or whatever it might be for your practice.

But generally, you want to have a friendly attitude towards people and you want to have the discernment of where your friends intentions are outside of this meaning there are certain friends who might start to lead you towards a path that causes you to be unwholesome in your actions and speech become mindful of that you don't have to be you don't have to stop being friends with them you can still have a friendly attitude towards them but at the same time you don't want to follow their advice you don't want to follow their example you want to let go of that And you can discern when friends are actually wanting the best for you, have good wishes towards you, protect you and help you and defend you and are able to provide you with comfort in the mind.

You can go to them for solace. You can go to them for advice and so on. And they can provide you with advice that is wholesome. They can provide you with examples. They are amenable to advice. If they notice that you are going down a path that causes unwholesomeness, they are there to correct you. They are there to point it out in a way that helps you to see, acknowledge it, and let it go. And they're able to put your direction back on the full side. - Yes, that makes sense.

Thank you, Delson. And thanks for clarifying the sensual pleasure, because I was listening to a lot of suttas which are talking about sensual pleasures, and I was thinking, am I supposed to abandon them? Is my understanding about it wrong? Thanks for clarifying that. Remember, again, I have to reiterate that it's not about the sensual pleasures themselves but the sensual pleasures, if they are rooted in something that is unwholesome, then you have to let go of those sensual pleasures. But more importantly, you have to pay attention to what your reaction to sensory pleasures are, or even unpleasant sensory experiences or unpleasant mental experiences.

Yes. Thank you, Nelson. Time for one more question. We'll wait for a few seconds to see if anyone has any other questions or comments. Yes. One, please. Is there a possibility you come to do a live retreat in New York maybe in these years that are coming? If the conditions are right, yes. That means if travel is possible, both coming out of where I am and coming into wherever I'm going to, and if the conditions are right and if there is interest, definitely. 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 shed this merit that we have thus acquired 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.