Last Talk of the Retreat with Delson Armstrong July 1

So I'm going to give you some tips on what you can do off a retreat. Because all of you are quite advanced in your practice. So this will be helpful in understanding how to apply the practice in daily life. This is a sutta that is Majjhima Nikaya 74. It's called the Diganaka Sutta. Diganaka. So Diganaka is actually a nickname which means long nails.

And it was given to a wanderer who was part of the eel wrigglers, the ones who were students of Sanjaya Belaputta. And his real name is, and he was said to be either the cousin or the nephew of Sariputta. So when Sariputta and Moggallana had the experience of disenchantment, which all of you have had, where they actually were in the same village and they heard that there was a coming into town, you know, like circus performers and things like that. And they were interested in going to the show, and they went the first day, and they were so happy and elated by it. And they said, let's go every single day, you know, and check out the show.

And the second day was great, but not as great as the first time. And then the third day, and then this happened for about a month. So by the end of it, they had disenchantment and they said there must be something beyond just satisfying the five physical sense bases. So they decided to go forth from the home life to the homeless life as wanderers.

And they joined the group under the teacher, Sanjaya Belaputta, eel wriggler, skeptics, philosophical skeptics. That is to say, they don't really have a conclusion to anything. It could be this, it could be that. It could be this, it couldn't be this. It's that kind of thing. Very much on the fence. And the idea was not to hold on to any views. They joined the Buddha's group of monastics after Assaji, who was a student of the Buddha, was walking around and they saw him and he was glowing and very calm and collected, and they asked who is your teacher and what does he teach, and he gave them just basically a quatrain about cause and conditionality, and the gist of it is dependent origination.

And upon hearing that, they had stream entry and later on joined the Buddha's group of monastics. But Aggivessana, or Diganaka, was still part of the group under Sanjaya Belaputta. So with that introduction, let me start. The Blessed One was living at Rajagaha in the Boar's Cave on the mountain Vulture Peak. I've been here. It is an amazing place to check out.

So while we were in Bodh Gaya, we traveled up to what is now known as Rajgir, but it actually was known as Rajagaha. And in Rajagaha, you have all these other places like the mangoes grow, the bamboo grow, all of the different kinds of places that you see described in the suttas. Jivaka's Grove and so on. And one of the places on the way to Rajagaha actually is Vulture's Peak.

And it's quite the hike up. And you go there and on the way up you see a couple of caves and you see the places where Ananda meditated, Buddha meditated and Kassapa meditated. And then you go up there and there's this amazing little kuti over there, kind of like the base of a kuti. And you have the entire view of Rajagaha and the forest underneath you. And it's understood that there were many Paccekabuddhas at the time. So when you go meditate there, you really feel the energy. It is sublime. In other words, what this means is, I have let go of all views. Nothing is acceptable to me as a view.

So, this is what the Buddha says. This view of yours, Aggivessana, nothing is acceptable to me. Is not at least that view acceptable to you? In other words, you have this idea that nothing is acceptable to me. No views. So the question is, do you hold on to the view that you have no views? If this view of mine were acceptable to me, Master Gautama, it too would be the same. It too would be the same.

Well, Aggivessana, there are plenty in the world who say it too would be the same. It too would be the same. Yet they do not abandon that view. Aggivessana, nothing is acceptable to me. And there are some recluses and Brahmins whose doctrine and view is this. Something is acceptable to me. Something is not acceptable to me. Among these, the view of those recluses and Brahmins who hold the doctrine and view, everything is acceptable to me, is close to lust, close to bondage, close to delighting. So what is he talking about when he says this?

Well, before I continue, let me continue here. It says, when this was said, the wanderer Diganaka remarked, Master Gautama commends my point of view. In the way the Buddha is saying, there's this tetralemma, you know, these four statements. This exists, this does not exist, this both exists and does not exist. And there's another view. This neither exists nor not exists. So the idea is the Tathagata exists, meaning the Tathagata exists after death. The Tathagata does not exist after death. The Tathagata both exists and doesn't exist after death. And the Tathagata neither exists nor not exists after death. Those are the ones that are usually talked about.

And so what the Buddha is referring to when he says, everything is acceptable to me, he's talking about the first idea, that this exists. So this is the idea of everything is existing, and everything doesn't stop existing after death. So this is the view of eternalism. When you have this view, that view leads closer to bondage, closer to delighting.

But then when you say that this does not exist, this is actually more of an annihilationist view. But when you let go of the idea that nothing exists after death, it is closer to letting go of craving, letting go of bondage, letting go of delighting. All the Buddha is saying is if you let go of the idea of a self that is ever existing, then it is much easier for you to let go of craving, much easier for you to let go of any identification process, much easier to let go of any kind of views.

Why? Because you let go again of those elements that you would call as self. You start to let go of the idea that there is some kind of a permanent self that exists afterwards or is still existing. Once you let go of that, you stop identifying with it, and as you stop identifying with it, you'll let go of taking things personally. Therefore you have less craving, you have less aversion, you have less clinging, you have less becoming. And what about the fourth view, which is neither exists nor not exists?

Then he truly understands with proper wisdom that this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself. He lets go of attachment to views in general and specifically to all views, including, in the case of somebody who has right view, letting go of clinging to the Dhamma. Once you let go of clinging to the Dhamma, then don't take up any other views.

That's all. The moment you cling to the Dhamma, the moment you make something out of the Dhamma, the moment you start to become attached to the Dhamma, then vexations can start, then defending can start, then identification can start. When we talk about dependent origination, understand dependent origination as a series of concepts to understand how mind works, but we do not make dependent origination a thing to hold on to.

We do not make it a doctrine to hold on to. We understand it for what it is that allows us to understand where craving arises and letting go of it. That allows us to understand how ignorance arises and let go of it. That allows us to see things as they actually are. Now at this point, while the Buddha is speaking, in the mind of Dighanakha, he understood, "Okay, I have to let go of any attachments to views."

Now that his mind is well prepared for that, then the Buddha continues. He says, "Now, Aggivessana, this body made up of material form consisting of the four great elements, procreated by a mother and father and built up out of boiled rice and porridge, is subject to impermanence, to be worn and rubbed away, to dissolution and disintegration. It should be regarded as impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumor, as a dart, as a calamity, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as void, as not-self."

When one regards this body thus, one abandons desire for the body, affection for the body, subservience to the body. A lot of you are experiencing this. Disenchantment. Disenchantment with the body. Disenchantment with the sixth sense basis. Disenchantment with the mind. Disenchantment with food. Disenchantment with activities of the body, seeing that this body really is just an impersonal process, subject to change.

And you start to let go of identifying with the body and identifying with the five physical sense bases, including the mind after that. In addition to that, the mind. Aggivessana, there are three kinds of feeling. Pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neither painful nor pleasant feeling. On the occasion when one feels pleasant feeling, one does not feel painful feeling or neither painful nor pleasant feeling.

On that occasion, one feels only pleasant feeling. On the occasion when one feels painful feeling, one does not feel pleasant feeling or neither painful nor pleasant feeling. On that occasion, one feels only painful feeling. On the occasion when one feels neither painful nor pleasant feeling, one does not feel pleasant feeling or painful feeling. On that occasion, one feels only neither painful nor pleasant feeling. That's pretty self-explanatory.

If you have a pleasant feeling, there is no pain in the system. If you feel pain or painful feeling, you can't feel a pleasant feeling. Pleasant feeling, Aggivessana, is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and ceasing. Painful feeling, too, is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen, subject to destruction, vanishing, fading away, and ceasing.

Neither painful nor pleasant feeling, too, is impermanent. So what does this mean? When you are having any kind of experience, you have to have proper wisdom, proper attention and mindfulness. How do you have that mindfulness? You have sati and sampajanna. What is the sati? How mind's attention moves from one object to the other. What is sampajanna? Knowing where mind is at all times. How do you do that? By stopping to identify with the mind and its processes.

In other words, when you are meditating, there is orientation going on. You create a gap. You create a space. You create this buffer, where there is an observing going on of mind meditating. There's an observation of mind experiencing craving. There is an observation that mind is experiencing joy or whatever it is that it's experiencing, whether it's in meditation or whether it's in daily life.

If you go from that standpoint, the idea of just being an observer, in just observing what is arising without judgment, without opinion, without identification. Just that is the cessation of suffering. You will notice when you do that, when you observe things as they actually are. If you're walking and talking, you create a space and you see the mind is coming up with words to speak. The mind is controlling the way the body is moving as it's walking, and there is no opinion about what is going on. When the mind is listening to somebody's words, there is just listening going on. There's no opinions about that. When there is eating, there is feeling and perception going on, that mind is experiencing the taste and flavors, in that it is pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.

There is just this experience going on. When you observe in this way, when you observe in a way that is not tied up to covetousness and grief for the world. Covetousness and grief for the world, that means there's opinions, there's views. When you let go of that, then there is full experience. There is no judgment. Just noticing and observing what's going on.

Once you start to see this in your daily life as you're practicing, then you start to let go of taking it personally. It is just a feeling, a pleasant feeling. It is just a painful feeling. neutral feeling. There is just this experience going on. Once you start to see that, you understand this has dependently arisen. Seeing it as dependently arisen, you stop letting go of the idea that this is going to last long, whether it's a pleasurable feeling. Because if you start with the idea that it's going to last long and it fades away, if the mind identifies with it, what is it going to do? Try to recreate that experience.

Try to hold on to that experience, get agitated when that pleasurable experience fades away. If it's a painful experience, what does the mind do? If it's painful to me, then I want it to stop and I want it to go away. If there is just identification with the neutral feeling, what arises there? The I, the me, the mind can arise. Pride and conceit can arise. Indifference can arise. Taking things personally can arise. The mind getting caught up in the experience can arise, a lack of attention, lack of mindfulness, which can give rise to clinging to views about the experience.

But if the mind sees it for what it actually is, that it is dependently arisen, and sees that it is actually impermanent, then from that standpoint, from that perspective, it will not hold on to anything. In this moment, there is a pleasant feeling. In this moment, there is a pleasant taste. In this moment, there is a pleasant sound. In that moment, the mind experiences it fully. And in the next moment, when it fades away, it fades away because it understands this feeling is not mine. This feeling doesn't stem from me. This feeling is not myself. It is just feeling.

And all things that you experience is feeling. That is feeling. When you reflect on what is being said, that is feeling. When you feel contact with the chair, that is feeling. When you feel your heartbeat, that is feeling. When you taste food, that is feeling. When you remember something, that is feeling. When you feel the breeze, that is feeling. When you hear the door open and close, that is feeling. When you smell something fragrant, that is feeling. You are having feeling. Whether you want it or not, you are just having experience.

And it seems inescapable, so you might as well be okay with it. Good, bad, or indifferent. This is what you should take away from this retreat, is understanding that all experience is conditioned and therefore not something to be held on to. And the understanding that all experience is conditioned and not worth holding onto as a view should also be not held onto and be let go of.

And how do you do that? Just be present. Allow the mind to just observe. And the 6R's are: whenever craving arises, aversion and identification arises, just observe in the 6R's. Meaning, don't look for anything in particular. Don't try to identify anything in particular. Don't try to investigate anything in particular. Don't try to analyze anything in particular. Whatever arises, arises. If there is craving, let it go. Whatever passes away, passes away. If there is aversion, let it go. Whatever is in the moment is in the moment. If there's identification, let it go.

Just this is the path. If you just do this and understand this and then let go of trying to create a view around it and philosophy around it, then you come to the experience of seeing things as they actually are. Seeing thus, a well-taught noble disciple becomes disenchanted with pleasant feeling, disenchanted with painful feeling, disenchanted with neither painful nor pleasant feeling. Being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate.

Through dispassion, his mind is liberated. When it is liberated, there comes the knowledge it is liberated. He understands birth is destroyed. The holy life has been lived. What had to be done has been done. There is no more coming to any state of being. Once you start to experience life in this way, then you don't take anything personally.

Then it's all the same. A pleasant feeling is a pleasant feeling. A painful feeling is a painful feeling. A neutral feeling is a neutral feeling. And it all is the same, arising and passing away. Seeing this, the mind gets disenchanted and doesn't hold on to it. From that disenchantment, the mind remains dispassionate, doesn't cling to anything. Nothing sticks in the mind, and the mind is liberated from identifying with it.

So whatever views the mind has about the Dhamma in relation to what does the mind of an arahant look like, or what does it mean to be fully liberated, or how do I let go of things, all of these things are just concepts in the mind. Let go of all of that. When Sariputta was asked, what is the practice that you do? Or before that, he asked, what is the practice that somebody should do to get on the path?

And he said, four foundations of mindfulness. And so he does, and so someone does that. And he asked, what is it that somebody does when they become a sotapanna? Four foundations of mindfulness. He's really talking about what you're doing here. Because whenever you observe and 6R through the practice, this is what you're doing. When you do one element of the practice, you incorporate all the other elements of the 37 requisites, as we talked about day before yesterday.

Then somebody asks, what does somebody who becomes a once-returner do? How do they practice? Four foundations of mindfulness. Then they ask, how does a non-returner, an anagami, practice? Four foundations of mindfulness. Then it's asked, how does a fully liberated being, an arahant, see the world? Four foundations of mindfulness. In other words, you are basically, whenever you do this, by seeing things as they are and letting go of the sense of I to an experience. No craving.

No clinging. No becoming. No ignorance. Full on attention with proper wisdom thus. This is not me. This is not mine. This is not myself. But the problem is you need to practice. You have that experience for a moment and then something catches your attention. And then you have to come back. And so you keep doing this, keep doing this, keep doing this until you let go more and more and more. And when you have a path-entering experience, when you have a fetter-breaking experience or a fetter-weakening experience, a fetter-breaking or fetter-weakening experience, that is basically entry into a path. And then you have fruition. And what do you do? The same thing over and over again.

until mindfulness is there a hundred percent, observing without the sense of I, which means observing without judgment, observing without input, without any kind of clinging, any kind of grasping. So in that sense, you use the tools of the Dhamma, that is the Eightfold Path, the understanding of the Four Noble Truths, foundations of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the four bases for spiritual power, and so on and so forth. You use all of this whenever it is required, all basically done through the cultivation of right effort. 6R'ing when craving arises, and just observing.

Every time you do this, you experience in that moment a mind free of greed, hatred, and delusion. There is clarity there. The emptiness of self that is there. But then don't hold on to the view of the emptiness of self. Have the emptiness of emptiness. All things are empty. Even the view of emptiness is empty. Just allow things to be as they are.

This is your lifelong practice. The more you do this, the better your meditation will become. And the sharper your mindfulness and clarity. And the easier you're able to let go, identify and let go of any kind of craving, clinging and becoming. And as your meditation becomes stronger, the more you see this in daily life. This is how to do the practice.

Now, yes, we can talk about routine. We can talk about schedules. We can talk about what should I do? What should I do? We can talk about all of that. And that's all wonderful. Remember, there is one main non-negotiable. Keep your precepts. Everything else will follow suit if you incline the mind to observing and 6R'ing, because that is meditation.

Meditation is seeing things as an impersonal process and letting go every time mind's attention moves with craving. The jhanas are just byproducts of that. are deconstructive in this practice. Not constructive in the sense that when you let go of things, the jhanas become the signposts. Not that you have to create the jhanas, that you have to create the factors, bring up the factors to create the experience of jhana. Because jhana is not the goal.

Nibbana is the goal. Of greed, hatred, and delusion is the goal. And what does that look like? Well, you know it for yourself what that looks like. Every time you 6R and you relax, you know exactly what it looks like. It's that spacious mind that is content, empty, relaxed, clear. And from that mind, intuition grows. Allowing you to give the answers to things that you didn't think you knew.

Because it's from that mind and that mindset, which is rooted in the Eightfold Path, that allows the mind to know what is required in that situation, and either has the intention necessary for that situation, spontaneous speech or action required for that situation. This is situational awareness. Understanding what is required from that sense of a mind without craving.

That mind without craving, mind without ignorance, mind without conceit. You know, that could be a trilogy, actually. A mind without craving, a mind without conceit, a mind without ignorance. Yet more work for myself, and just keep adding it on, piling it on. Anyway. A mind without conceit. Says it all. Says it all. But having that, you know exactly what it feels like.

You've all seen it for yourselves. Every time you let go of any hindrance, that few seconds where the mind feels relief. That's what it feels like all the time. So tap into that. And how do you tap into that? Observing and 6R'ing. So in terms of a routine, in terms of a schedule, I've given you individually what you can do. You know what to do because you've done this before. You know how much practice you require in terms of the sitting practice. In terms of the walking practice.

But remember, keeping your precepts. When you keep your precepts, everything else will take care of itself, because when you take care of the Dhamma, the Dhamma takes care of you. So non-negotiably, all five precepts. Not four, five. And then observing and 6R'ing. A bhikkhu, whose mind is liberated thus, Aggivessana, sides with none and disputes with none. He employs the speech currently used in the world without adhering to it.

Someone whose mind is fully liberated doesn't hold on to one opinion or the other. Whatever is required for that situation, they continue on with. That a mind that is fully liberated is the ultimate slacker. It doesn't do anything, doesn't think anything, doesn't say anything. But whatever conditions arise for the process of that situation, there is something that happens in terms of action. Otherwise you have a fully liberated being sitting somewhere, and they will just sit.

But such a being is motivated by the actions and interests of others. You know, there's the four kinds of coming to be, or the four kinds of understanding of intention. Let's say, Atabhava, Pratilabha, this is called. There is when it arises due to your own intention. When it arises due to another's intention, and when it arises due to your intention and another's intention.

And when there is neither one's own intention or another's intention. That's where the fully liberated mind is. It doesn't have their intention and doesn't hold on to another's intention. Just moves around in accordance to the situation. on to any identity. You don't hold on to any views about the world, about people, about their actions, about their words. Whatever is required for that situation is said, is spoken, is done, is thought about.

That is why they use whatever words they need to use. They use the words I, me, myself. They use the words of whatever is required for people to understand own words. When the Buddha spoke, he spoke the Dhamma, but he never held on to any words that he spoke about Dhamma. It was just whatever arose required for those minds is what he spoke.

But he never held on to them. He never said, this is what should be done. For example, when Sariputta was ready to have Nibbana, he realized it is now my time to go into Parinibbana. He went to the Buddha and he said, Venerable Sir, it is time for me to go into Parinibbana. And the Buddha neither said yes or no. He said, do what you feel is appropriate.

There is a lot of disturbance in the mind when you hold on to things. There's a lot of tension and tightness. Too much energy is exerted when you try to hold on to opinions. And what are opinions? What are views in general? They are inherited. They are conditioned. You take them on because your parents had those views, or your siblings had those views, or friends in your group had those views, or your country has those views, or your society has those views.

But they're not your own views. You're taking things that are not even yours and saying that this is me, this is mine, this is myself. In the same way, all experience, all feeling that is not yours, you're taking and saying, this is mine. It's easier to take that because it's so visceral, right? Because it feels so visceral, this mind and body system. It feels like this is so solid.

Not true. The mind has become so conditioned to think that the entire world is just this sixth sense basis. Not true. Once you let go of that, and then see things as they are, and then you let go of trying to hold on to things by seeing how they are, then you have total freedom. Now, on that occasion, the Venerable Sariputta was standing behind the Blessed One, fanning him. Then he thought, the Blessed One indeed speaks to us of the abandoning of these things through direct knowledge.

The Sublime One indeed speaks to us of the relinquishing of these things through direct knowledge. So here, the understanding of Sariputta was, the words that the Blessed One speaks, he does not even hold on to them. He has taught us the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, through direct knowledge and experience, the understanding of dependent origination through direct knowledge and experience.

But he has abandoned any attachment and identification with those things as well. As the Venerable Sariputta considered this, was liberated from the taints. In fanning the Buddha, realizing the Buddha doesn't even hold on to his own doctrine, and doesn't even hold on to the pride of not holding on to any doctrine. He let go. And in letting go, his mind became liberated.

In the wanderer Diganaka, the spotless, immaculate vision of the Dhamma arose. All that is subject to arising is subject to cessation. He understood in that moment, conditioned experience is impermanent. The wanderer Diganaka saw the Dhamma, attained the Dhamma, understood the Dhamma, fathomed the Dhamma. He became a sotapanna. He crossed beyond doubt, did away with perplexity about what is wholesome and unwholesome. Gained intrepidity and became independent of others in the teacher's dispensation. Then he said to the Blessed One: Magnificent Master Gautama, Magnificent Master Gautama, Master Gautama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost. Yes.

Yes, you can. Any last questions? Good. May suffering ones be suffering free and the fear-struck fearless be. 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.