DO Series - Guided Meditation 6 sets 6 & Nibbana Explained

Let me spotlight John to get us going here. Hey, John. Great. Hi, everybody. In each of these series of talks, I've started it out by introducing different aspects of Delson's growing social media and Internet presence. And today is the final talk, the goal, and there's just one more piece of the puzzle to complete the picture, and that's the newly developed Patreon that Dustin is announcing. So I'll just share that. Right, so when you go on to Patreon, and I'll be putting the link into the description, into the chat here in a moment, you go on to Patreon. This is sort of a crowdsourcing type website for those who are not familiar with it. So when you go to his site, you'll see a wonderful welcome from Delson, a video that he's created. And then when you go over to the content, the main page, these support levels have been in existence for quite some time already, and we're very grateful for the people who have supported Delson through those.

These have all been general support. So it's basically just a way to support Delson. Now we've added six new tiers, which offer ways to interact with Delson online. And so depending on the level, there are various benefits that you get in line with Patreon's way of doing things. So for the $50 a month, you get access to Patreon-only vlogs, four times a month, short little vlogs, and you can ask questions via the chat. And then the benefits increase as you go through the tiers: making requests for content, access to live monthly one-hour Zoom gatherings, and making requests for Zoom gatherings via Patreon chat, and the list goes on. So the details of all this are at the link that I'll be adding in a second.

And so everyone's invited to come and check it out. And that's all I have for now. So over to David and Delson. Thank you. There you are. Thank you. Okay. Welcome, Delson. Go ahead. Thank you. Okay, guys. I thought I'll do a little meditation today to start off. Since we're talking about Nibbana, I wanted to get a sense of the entry point into Nibbana, which is essentially experiencing both Samatha and Vipassana, which is what we do with TWIM, Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation. The meditation will be simple enough. I want to keep it short, so we'll go for about 10, maybe 15 minutes. We'll start off with a little bit of loving kindness to ourselves, and then let that loving kindness keep going until we have a little bit more stability in our mind. And then I just want you to follow my voice, because I'm going to do a sort of my take, or an abbreviated version, of the six sets of six. For those of you who are not familiar with the six sets of six, that is Majjhima Nikaya 148.

It's a very powerful sutta. And in many of the retreats Bhante Vimalaramsi has, in the past, read that. I've done that a few times. I've had some students do it a few times, and it's really powerful because it gets you into that zone of disenchantment, into equanimity, disenchantment and dispassion, having cessation experiences. But my aim for this is for you to really understand this, because that's the entry point. And this dispassion, for me, is essentially disengagement. So it's disengaging from that particular experience. You allow that experience to continue and arise and pass away, and then this dispassion, I always say, is the

Teflon pan, the Teflon mind. It's like Teflon, where everything just glides over, and so the mind remains unaffected. And as a result of which, as the sutta says, the mind becomes liberated. It ceases and experiences, at the very least, a temporary kind of liberation from all conditioned experience. So with that, then, we'll go into talking about Nibbana. I was thinking of reading an excerpt from the latest book on craving, which has a section on Nibbana. This might be information that you don't come across everywhere, because it's sort of my understanding of it, my intuition about it, and it of course has its basis in the suttas. But there's a lot there that maybe you might have not heard of in the way that it's contextualized. So I'd like you to please find a good comfortable sitting position that works for you, and we'll get started. So I'd like you to close your eyes and relax. Take a deep breath, slowly exhale, and as you exhale, just feel the body, feel your entire body. You take another deep breath.

And as you slowly exhale, try to be in the body and feel all your body starting to relax. Notice any tightness and tension in the head, in the neck, in the shoulders, in the back, in the upper back, lower back, the waist, the legs. Just relax. Take another deep breath. Exhale softly, gently, slowly, and feel the entire body just relax and soften. I'd like you to put a little smile on your face, smile in your heart, smile in your eyes, and you can use phrases like: may I be happy, may I be well, may I be free of suffering, may I be filled with loving kindness. You can think about the things that you might be grateful for,

or, a lot of people find what works is to think back to your childhood. Just try to imagine yourself as a little child, as an infant, so your cute little baby version in front of you, and you can see your baby version smiling back at you, and just rest in that. You can feel this warmth, this glowing warmth in your heart area, and I would like you to just rest in that. Just hold the baby in your arms and feel the loving kindness. There's nothing to do and nowhere to be.

Just keep your awareness and your attention with the feeling of loving kindness. Thank you. Distracted, and you find your mind wandering around, just notice that, recognize it, and release your awareness from it. Come back to the mind, back to the body, and relax any tightness, tension that might be there. As you find the body and mind relaxing, notice the joy, the relief that it brings, and smile. And then come back to the feeling. You need, you can come back to the visual or the feeling of holding your baby self in your arms, sending yourself loving kindness. The mind basks in that. Thank you. Thank you. Now just relax, keep your mind relaxed.

And just follow my voice, just follow the instructions of my voice. I want you to pay attention to your eyes. Realize that the eyes are dependent on the mind and the body, on mentality, materiality, and that the eye's object is form and color. Dependent upon the eyes and the eye object, there arises eye consciousness. These three, the eye, the eye object, the eye consciousness, form eye contact. Dependent upon eye contact there arises feeling, and then upon feeling there arises craving. All of these elements, being dependent and conditioned by the previous conditions, arise and pass away. When those conditions disappear, they too disappear. When the mind and body disappears, the eye disappears, forms disappear, eye consciousness disappears, eye contact disappears. With the disappearance of eye contact there is the disappearance of eye feeling, with the disappearance of eye feeling there is the disappearance of eye craving. Seeing this, you understand that all of these causes and conditions are impermanent. Being impermanent, they are subject to change. Being subject to change, they are liable to cause suffering, because they will end. If they are pleasant sensation, they will change.

Therefore they are liable to suffering. The eye, or the eyes, are not me, not mine, not myself. Forms are not me, not mine, not myself. My consciousness is not me, not mine, not myself. My contact is not me, not mine, not myself. My feeling is not me, not mine, not myself. My craving is not me, not mine, not myself. When one sees thus, one is disenchanted with the eyes, disenchanted with the eye, with the forms, disenchanted with eye consciousness, disenchanted with eye contact, disenchanted with eye feeling, disenchanted with eye craving.

One disengages with the eye. One disengages with the form. One disengages with eye consciousness. One disengages with eye contact. One disengages with eye feeling, and one disengages with eye craving. Disengaging, one experiences this dispassion. One remains unaffected by the eye, one remains unaffected by form, one remains unaffected by eye consciousness, one remains unaffected by eye contact, one remains unaffected by eye feeling, one remains unaffected by eye craving. Being unaffected, one is liberated. Now I would like you to bring your attention to your ears. Dependent on mind and body, the ear arises. The object of the ears are sounds. Dependent upon the ear and sound, your consciousness arises. These three constitute your contact. Dependent upon your contact, your feeling arises. Dependent upon your feeling, your craving arises. When you see that with the disappearance of the mind and body the ear disappears, when you see with the disappearance of the ear your contact disappears, when you see with the disappearance of your contact your feeling disappears, when you see with the disappearance of your feeling ear craving

disappears. You see the arising and passing away of the ear, the arising and passing away of your contact, the arising and passing away of your feeling, the arising and passing away of your craving. Seeing this, you see that the ear is subject to change and subject to suffering. The sounds are subject to change and subject to suffering. Your consciousness is subject to change and subject to suffering. Your contact is subject to change and subject to suffering. Your feeling is subject to change and subject to suffering. Your craving is subject to change and subject to suffering.

Seeing this, you see that the ear is not me, not mine, not myself. Sounds are not me, not mine, not myself. Your consciousness is not me, not mine, not myself. Your contact is not me, not mine, not myself. Your feeling is not me, not mine, not myself. Your craving is not me, not mine, not myself. Seeing this, one becomes disenchanted with the ear, disenchanted with sounds, disenchanted with your consciousness, disenchanted with your contact, disenchanted with your feeling, disenchanted with your craving. Being disenchanted, one disengages from the ear, disengages from sounds, disengages from your consciousness, disengages from your contact, disengages from your feeling.

Disengages from ear craving. Disengaging, one experiences dispassion for the ear. This passion for sounds, this passion for ear consciousness, this passion for ear contact, this passion for ear feeling, this passion for ear craving becoming. This passionate one becomes unaffected by the ear, unaffected by sound, unaffected by ear consciousness, unaffected by ear contact, unaffected by ear feeling, unaffected by ear craving. Being unaffected, one experiences liberation. Now, I would like you to pay attention to the nose. With the arising of the mind and body, the nose arises. The object of the nose are odors. With the arising of the nose and odors, nose consciousness arises. These three constitute nose contact. With the arising of nose contact, nose feeling arises. With the arising of nose feeling, nose craving arises. With the disappearance of the mind and body, the nose disappears. Sound, smells or odors disappear. Nose consciousness disappears. Nose contact disappears. With the disappearance of nose contact, there is the disappearance of nose feeling. With the disappearance of nose feeling, there is a disappearance of nose craving. Seeing thus, one sees the arising and passing away of the nose, the arising and passing away of

odors, the arising and passing away of nose consciousness, the arising and passing away of nose contact, the arising and passing away of nose feeling, the arising and passing away of nose craving. One understands the impermanence of the nose, the impermanence of odors, the impermanence of nose consciousness, the impermanence of nose contact, the impermanence of nose feeling, the impermanence of nose craving. Seeing this, one sees the nose subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees odors subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees nose consciousness subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees nose contact subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees nose feeling as subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees nose craving subject to change, subject to suffering. When one sees thus, one understands that nose is not me, not mine, not myself. Odors are not me, not mine, not myself. Nose consciousness is not me, not mine, not myself.

Nose contact is not me, not mine, not myself. Nose feeling is not me, not mine, not myself. Nose craving is not me, not mine, not myself. Seeing this, one becomes disenchanted with the nose, disenchanted with odors, disenchanted with nose consciousness, disenchanted with nose contact, disenchanted with nose feeling, disenchanted with nose craving. Being disenchanted, one disengages from nose, disengages from odors, disengages from nose consciousness, disengages from nose contact, disengages from nose feeling, disengages from nose craving. Being disengaged, one experiences dispassion. One becomes dispassionate for the nose. One experiences dispassion for odors, dispassion for nose consciousness, dispassion for nose contact, dispassion for nose feeling, dispassion for nose craving.

Being dispassionate, one experiences being unaffected by the nose, unaffected by odors, unaffected by nose consciousness, unaffected by nose contact, unaffected by nose feeling, unaffected by nose craving. Being unaffected, one experiences. Now put your attention on the tongue. With the arising of the mind and body, there is the arising of the tongue. The object of the tongue are flavors. With the arising of tongue and flavors, there is the arising of tongue consciousness. With the arising of tongue consciousness, there is the arising of tongue contact. With the arising of tongue contact, there is the arising of tongue feeling. With the arising of tongue feeling, there is the arising of tongue craving. With the disappearance of the mind and body, there is the disappearance of the tongue. There is the disappearance of flavors. There is the disappearance of tongue consciousness.

There is the disappearance of tongue contact. With the disappearance of tongue contact, there is the disappearance of tongue feeling. With the disappearance of tongue feeling, there is the disappearance of tongue craving. Seeing this, one sees that the tongue is subject to change, subject to suffering. Flavors are subject to change, subject to suffering. Tongue consciousness is subject to change, subject to suffering. Tongue contact is subject to change, subject to suffering. Tongue feeling is subject to change, subject to suffering. Tongue craving is subject to change, subject to suffering. Seeing this, one understands the tongue is not me, not mine, not myself. Flavors are not me, not mine, not myself.

dispassion. One is dispassionate about the tongue. One experiences dispassion for flavors, dispassion for tongue consciousness, dispassion for tongue contact, dispassion for tongue feeling, dispassion for tongue craving. Being dispassionate, one remains unaffected by the tongue, unaffected by flavors, unaffected by tongue consciousness, unaffected by tongue contact, unaffected by tongue feeling, unaffected by tongue craving. Being unaffected, one experiences liberation. Now, bring your attention to the body, internal or external, any part of the body, or if you can, feel the entire body.

Dependent on mentality and materiality, the body arises. The object of the body is touch. With the arising of the body and external sensations or internal sensations, there is the arising of body consciousness. These three constitute body contact. With the arising of body contact, there is the arising of body feeling. With the arising of body feeling, there is the arising of body craving. With the disappearance of the mentality materiality, there is a disappearance of body. With the disappearance of the body, there is also the disappearance of tangibles. There is a disappearance of body consciousness. There is the disappearance of body contact. With the disappearance of body contact, there is a disappearance of body feeling. With the disappearance of body feeling, there is the disappearance of body craving. Seeing this, one understands the impermanence of the body, the impermanence of tangibles, the impermanence of body consciousness, the impermanence of body contact, the impermanence of body feeling, the impermanence of body craving.

Seeing this, one sees the body subject to change, subject to suffering. Tangible, subject to change, subject to suffering. Body consciousness, subject to change, subject to suffering. Body contact, subject to change, subject to suffering. Body feeling, subject to change, subject to suffering. Body craving, subject to change, subject to suffering. Seeing this, one understands the body is not me, not mine, not myself. Tangibles are not me, not mine, not myself. Body consciousness is not me, not mine, not myself. Body contact is not me, not mine, not myself. Body feeling is not me, not mine, not myself. Body craving is not me, not mine, not myself. When one understands this, one experiences dispassion for the body, disenchantment for the body, disenchantment for tangibles, disenchantment for body consciousness, disenchantment for body contact, disenchantment for body feeling, disenchantment for body craving.

Being disenchantment, one disengages from the body, disengages from tangibles, disengages from body consciousness, disengages from body contact, disengages from body feeling, disengages from body craving. Being disengaged, one experiences dispassion for the body, dispassion for tangibles, dispassion for body consciousness, dispassion for body contact, dispassion for body feeling, dispassion for body craving. Being dispassionate, one is unaffected by the body, unaffected by tangibles, unaffected by body consciousness, unaffected by body contact, unaffected by body feeling, unaffected by body craving, being unaffected by one experiences. Now bring your awareness to the mind itself. Wherever the mind is, the head, the heart, about the body as awareness, whatever it might be, with the arising of mentality materiality, mind arises. With mind, there are mind objects. With the arising of mind and mind objects, there is mind consciousness. These three constitute mind contact.

In fact, there is the arising of mind feeling. With the arising of mind feeling, there is the appearance of mind objects. There is the disappearance of mind consciousness. With the disappearance of mind contact, there is the disappearance of mind feeling. There is a disappearance of mind craving. Seeing this, one sees the mind subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees mind objects subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees mind consciousness subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees mind contact subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees mind feeling subject to change, subject to suffering. One sees mind craving subject to change, subject to suffering. Seeing this, one understands the mind is not me, not mine, not myself.

Mind objects are not me, not mine, not myself. Mind consciousness is not me, not mine, not myself. Mind contact is not me, not mine, not myself. Mind feeling is not me, not mine, not myself. Mind craving is not me, not mine, not myself. Being this, one becomes disenchanted with the mind, disenchanted with mind objects, disenchanted with mind consciousness, disenchanted with mind contact, disenchanted with mind feeling, disenchanted with mind craving. Becoming disenchanted, one disengages from the mind, disengages from mind objects, disengages from mind consciousness, disengages from mind contact, disengages from mind feeling, disengages from mind craving. Being disengaged, one is dispassionate with mind, is dispassionate with mind objects, dispassionate with mind consciousness, dispassionate with mind contact, dispassionate with mind feeling, dispassionate with mind craving.

Being dispassionate, one is unaffected by the mind, unaffected by mind objects, unaffected by mind consciousness, unaffected by mind contact, unaffected by mind feeling, unaffected by mind craving. Being unaffected, one experiences liberation. I'd like you to just remain in this space for a while. See how the mind is. See how clear and spacious the mind is. Just rest in that clarity of mind, in the spacious, clear, sky-like mind. I'd like you to bring your attention back to the body. Take a deep breath. Feel the body as you slowly exhale. When you're ready, you can open your eyes. Thank you. So, what is Nibbana? There are many different ways the Buddha has described Nibbana, but he always starts off with understanding things as they actually are, seeing with wisdom.

Disenchantment. That is, the mind becomes disengaged with all experience. Being disengaged, one experiences dispassion. One remains unaffected by any experience. This is what happens in the meditation. When you meditate for a certain amount of time, doesn't matter the amount of time, but as you start to experience more and more clarity and stability in the mind, as you start to develop more equanimity, the mind starts to become quieter and quieter, and it's almost like there is no object that the mind is taking anymore. It's resting in itself, and it becomes disenchanted. Whatever arises, the mind has had enough of it and just disengages from all of that, and eventually it becomes dispassionate. Things come and go, but the mind remains unaffected. When everything comes into balance, when you least expect it, remember, expectation is another word for craving, when you least expect it, the mind completely ceases and is liberated in that moment from any experience and touches the unconditioned dhatu, the unconditioned.

element what is this unconditioned element that we talked about nibbana dhatu it is in some sense a substrate for lack of a better word what does that mean it means that when you start to go into the meditation practice and as you get into the jhanas you start to experience liberation you start to experience what is known as temporary liberation these are levels of understanding of how mind works levels of understanding of the different qualities that emerge as you start to let go and as you start to let go at deeper and deeper levels or layers the mind experiences deeper and deeper levels of cessation until all contact feeling perception intention consciousness awareness everything just

ceases there's a blank but there's no knowledge that there was a blank until you come out of it when you come out of it your mind has touched in the most ideal sense of the word because we're going to just talk about that about the nibbana experience the mind makes contact with the nibbana that is the ultimate layer of the luminous mind luminous is the mind amongst luminous is the mind this is what the buddha says but due to adventitious defilements the mind becomes defiled it becomes layered it becomes covered in other words wisdom is already inherent in the mind the ability to be wise the ability to be compassionate is already apparent inherent but adventitious defilements adventitious means that which is not inherent to the mind.

They arise due to previous karma. Yes, the mind experiences it because it's the process through which mental formations that allow you to feel and perceive are experienced. Mind is chief. Mind is the forerunner of all states and therefore you're experiencing all of this through the mind. But inherent to the mind is nirvana. Once you uncover and start to dig deeper into the layers, your mind makes contact with Nibana Dhatu. Now this Nibana Dhatu is empty. This contact with the Nibana Dhatu is seen as being signless, as undirected, as empty. What does that mean? Signless means animita from the Pali animita. Animita means objectless. Nibbana is not something. It's not something you can put your mind or wrap your mind around.

It's neither an experience nor not an experience. But you know about Nibbana because you feel immense relief. And so it's an objectless experience, a signless experience. Why? Because you realize that all conditioned experience is impermanent so all objects that are within conditioned reality are also impermanent so you have a mind that has an objectless experience it's undirected what do we mean by undirected the mind doesn't incline one way or the other because it understands any intention to incline one way or the other is subject to change anything that is subject to change is subject to suffering this is not me this is not mine this is not myself that's the understanding of the empty contact we talk about the uninclined so the uninclined right the uninclined basically says

that this is subject to suffering anything i hold on to is subject to suffering the mind doesn't inclined to anything with that realization it lets go of taking things personally it sees this is not me this is not mine this is not myself and it disengages it lets go detaches it becomes unaffected therefore there is the empty contact with the nibbana element but nibbana is also the mind of somebody fully awakened somebody who is fully awakened experiences these states all the time they remain unaffected with the world inside and around them so to speak they are in the flow of all experience and so that is the mundane kind of nibbana whenever you six are whenever you relax there is an experience where you feel relief from the relaxing because you've let go of tightness intention you've let go of the

craving and in that moment you have what is the mind without craving it's the sky mind it's the mind that is experiencing mundane nibbana it's a preview into the super mundane nature of nibbana and this super mundane nibbana is an experience that can happen anytime the mind least expects it but it's important to have a collected mind a janic mind so that it is able to see with wisdom the nature of all reality, through the lens of the three characteristics, by seeing first and foremost that all condition experiences this. And once it just drops, it is liberated. And in that liberation, that is Nibbana. The Buddha has used other kinds of words, like 33 different kinds of words for Nibbana.

He's called it the island, the refuge, the shelter, the auspicious, the uninclined as i said the the unconditioned it remains unaffected unconditioned by any other experience if you just allow the mind to rest right here right now without trying to do anything without trying to hold on to anything and allowing the flow of experience to be as it is, like a river flowing, you experience a great sense of relief. And this relief is a signature of that Nibbani mind. So Nibbana, as much as a lot of people say a lot of things about it, and they say, oh, it's unattainable, it's here, it's there. It's a space out there somewhere.

It's a dimension to access it's a poor part of our true nature and all of these things the reality is that the the truth of nibbana the the real experience of nibbana is always felt as the third noble truth nirodha not nirodha samapati not the cessation of perception feeling and consciousness but the experience of letting go as a result of letting go but this doesn't mean that you have to focus on letting go all the time because what happens when you try to focus on letting go you make the six r's into an aversive swat swatter right you keep swatting everything it's a whack-a-mole you have to let go of letting go as well that's a paradox what that means is just be with whatever is present and just relax into the experience allow the experience to be as it is just this is the end of

suffering you've all often seen me quote bhaiya sutta because there's so much depth in that particular suta so much clarity in that suta the instructions of the buddha in the seeing there's only the seen in the hearing there's only the heard in the sensing there's only the sensed in the cognizing there's only the cognized when you see this there is no you in it when there's no you in it there's no you after it before it by it whatever it is just this is the end of suffering that end of suffering is nibbana and why is it called a shelter why is it called a refuge why is it called an island because you can access it any time when once you're able to once you have rid the mind of the advantageous defilements the continuous bombardment of traffic which is a result of essentially misperception that's all misperception what are we misperceiving we are misperceiving that which is impermanent as permanent that which is suffering as a source of happiness that which is impersonal as me mine or

myself but as we start to as we start to relax into the experience as we start to abandon and let go of the tightness intention then we start to see actually yeah this isn't permanent this is subject to change this is subject to suffering this isn't me this isn't mine this isn't myself so nibbana is available to everyone and all it requires is two things it requires seeing things as they actually are which is what happens when you meditate that's the aspect of samatha and letting go right that's the aspect of actually that's the aspect of samatha seeing things as they actually are is the aspect of vipassana so don't get caught up in trying to realize what nibbana is whatever you think nibbana is is not it because what happens is the mind conceptualizes the idea of nipana is this nimana is that all i can do is be like the finger pointing to the moon problem is the mind has a habit of making the finger the moon right the words the description is not the experience

itself it can only explain you know the sides of what it is or what it isn't or and so on and so forth but it gives you an experience of relief it gives you an experience of letting go a sense of relinquishment a sense of cessation from suffering that is as close to as the experience of nimana as you can be in and so a mind without craving that is a frictionless mind a mind that has no friction what does that mean a mind that isn't resistant to anything it is always in the flow of all experience this is why hindrances arise this is why craving arises because the mind feels like it can control what's going on the mind feels that i am in control that i know better but the awakened mind that is experiencing nibbana all the time is intuitive it is able to experience intuition to such a degree that it doesn't have to think about anything and when it does think about something it experiences synchronicity what is synchronicity an example of synchronicity is maybe you think about something that you haven't heard from a long

while and then the next hour or maybe the next day you hear a phone call from them or you get an email from them and you say i was just thinking about them the other day but this is a small aspect of it there are no coincidences in the dhamma the magic of this whole process is the intuition that you gather and the best way to practice this intuition is to just do it right now if you have things that you are worried about if you have decisions that are impending or pending that you have to make and you don't know what choice to make just relax and come back into your mind and ask the mind the question what do i do what should i do and then let it go don't analyze don't rationalize don't try to justify which thought which choice is better or which choice is not as good or whatever just go about your day and when you least expect it like a eureka moment the insight will flash this is the direction to take this is the decision to make this is what i should be

doing, and it might not be the choice, the decision or the action that you are looking for, but it is what will lead you in the right direction. It will be appropriate and synchronistic with what you are looking for, and appropriate and synchronistic with everyone involved. So don't worry about getting to Nibbana. You will get to it as long as you continue to see things as they are, as long as you continue to meditate and keep letting go of the desire for seeing something. Because another term for Nibbana is Nipapancha. Nipapancha is non-proliferation. What is non-proliferation? It means that there is no more thinking about something, no more creating an image about that thing, no more conceptualizing about an experience, no more projecting ideas about what it should be or what it shouldn't be.

When you let go of this proliferation, you are in non-proliferation. You are in that Nibbana, a place of total, complete, infinite potentiality. There's no idea of me, mine, myself, they or me or the other. It all just collapses, and the mind is in total flux. It's always just flowing with whatever is going on. This is the process of Nibbana. This is what is creating or experiencing Nirvana in daily life. I call it nirvanaizing life. Being able to bring that to every moment, and it's available to you as long as you stop the resistance, as long as you relax into the experience. So I'm going to read from a small section. I haven't read this version. I have the version that I've read to a few people, which is the unedited format.

But now I have the published version. So let's see how it's come out. And I'm going to read to you the section on Nibbana. Let me open this up. So this is a final sort of understanding of Nibbana and craving and so on. But there's a lot of layers to it, so I wouldn't worry too much about how much you can take in. But it should give you some clarity on the Nibbana Dhatu and the understanding of Nibbana as an experience. And not just as an experience, but also beyond, which is the Nibbana Dhatu that is all-pervasive. I want to make sure that you understand that I'm not talking about any kind of permanent or eternal consciousness here.

I'm not talking about a Brahman-like experience. Which is to say that there is a universal consciousness that is all-pervasive. This is different, and there's a subtlety in the difference. So let me read this, and then I'll continue. If we take into account rebirth at the macro level, where there is a transfer from one life to the next, we can see that craving is what runs all the engines of samsara. It is the craving, whether in the form of grasping, repelling or identifying, that fuels the formations rooted in greed, hatred and delusion to arise and create a new consciousness that becomes the carrier of all the karma from one life to the next. At an even more macro level, we can understand craving as the reason for the beginning of one cycle of expansion of a universe.

When, at the previous contraction, the universe and all that is contained in it go back into a single point of potentiated karma, it remains there for some amount of humanly measured and perceived time, even though time as an element is no longer present. That which triggers the arising and expansion of one universe is the craving from the previous iteration of another universe or a previous universe. This craving then solidifies at various levels. So consider the following levels. Level zero for the substrate of the Nibbana Dhatu or the unconditioned element. Level one for the arising of one particle just after the first movement of expansion of the universe.

Level two for when one, when more than one particle arises. Level three for when there are further complexities or particles creating worlds and beings in those various worlds. Level zero is the unconditioned principle or element that neither changes, decays, increases nor decreases. It is at total stillness and no vibration. Level one is when craving arises due to previous iterations of karma and is the beginning of a single vibration. This vibration causes the layering of further particles, and now, with consciousness present in the first particle and there being a second, there is now conceit that says I am between the two particles and the corresponding consciousnesses. So this is level two. At level one there was a consciousness that arose as a non-reflective awareness, dependent upon having touched the unconditioned element.

So just to give you an understanding, when we talk about the non-reflective awareness, this is a word in Pali known as the vinyanam adhin anidasana. It's used a few times in the suttas, and it's the non-manifestative consciousness. It is a consciousness that is dependent upon the unconditioned experience. It's just the reflection that the mind was in Nibbana. Now with level two there is the reflective or manifestative consciousness in each of these two particles. At level three, dependent origination has taken full swing, and now the dendrites of the asavas latch onto every particle that then forms the worlds and the beings inhabiting those worlds. Now craving courses through every single aspect of creation in this iteration of the universe. At level one the vibration reverberates to bring about level two, and by level three there are many frequencies of vibrations, which are the formations of every world and its inhabitants. In other words, when we talk about formations, they're not just related to consciousness in regards to one particular being, but formations in terms of formations that create all experience. These vibrations are the various potentiated karma now turned kinetic.

Level zero remains unaffected. That is the Nibbana Dhatu, which remains unaffected as the substrate of every arising and passing away of a universe. All these various vibrations interact and are interdependent, resulting in countless various intentions, beings and actions from those various potentiated karma now turned kinetic. For one who is in this iteration of a universe, they go through the process of craving at what seems like a personal level. But as we understand, even craving is impersonal. It is the dendrites of the asavas that make it seem personal. What are the asavas? The asava of ignorance, the lack of mindfulness. The asava of kama, or sensual craving. The asava of bhavatanha, or the craving for an outcome, for craving for existence.

This is what makes it seem personal. Therefore, the conceit that is I am or me, mine, or myself, having been innately present at this level, now becomes part of every aspect at level three. When one understands it, one understands this, sees through it, abandons the craving at every level, from the internalized sense of self to the projection of self onto other experiences, they become fully awakened from the dream of so-called existence. They have not only touched the unconditioned element but become an embodiment of it. In other words, the Nibbana Dhatu is always present in that mind. Everything that flows through somebody who is an arahant is intuitive because they are spontaneous. They are responding to every situation with Nibbana as sort of the main base or the center.

The mind of the arahant is the same as the unconditioned element that remains independent. So this is very important to understand. Not only is Nibbana unconditioned, but is independent. It is outside of the scope of dependent origination at what we can consider as level zero. At level zero, there is no consciousness or sentience, but there is neither unconsciousness nor incentience. We can only go as far as to say that there is an intelligence that is the projection of the unconditioned element, which is the impetus of all iterations of creation. In other words, the consciousness, the intelligence that arises, is dependent upon the independent element of Nibbana. Therefore, when we look at the four possibilities, that an arahant exists after death, doesn't exist after death, both exists and doesn't exist after death, or neither exists nor not exists after death, none of them can apply.

The arahant no longer is a being in that their mind no longer identifies with any of the aggregates. Therefore, it cannot be said that they exist after that, because there isn't even a series of formations that bring about new consciousness to speak of. But it can't be said that they don't exist, because they are the embodiment of the unconditioned element. However, it can't be said they both exist and don't exist, or that they neither exist or not exist, because the unconditioned element is outside the purview of existence and non-existence. One can venture to say that the unconditioned is its own element outside of the purview of what are really the seven elements: that is solidity, liquidity, gaseousness, heat, space, mind, and time.

The unconditioned is without any quality, mentality, time, or shape. The mind can only interpret it as timeless, unconditioned, the absolute, and so on. The reality is it is as undefinable as dividing a number by zero. It's not comprehensible. Suffice it to say that the arahant's mind as the unconditioned and the unconditioned in total outside of the purview are one and the same. So if this is the case, then that would mean one is outside the designation of the four possibilities of the aforementioned rationales. So the arahant, the awakened one, is at level zero. What remains as fuel is burned out by the momentum of karma that arises through the interactions of other vibrations, until they run out, and the vibrationalness as the mind of the arahant sinks into the vibrationalness as the unconditioned substrate, just as the waves sink back into the ocean. That is why the arahant truly sees, understands and realizes, with experience, the end of the universe. That's another way that the Buddha has talked about it, where somebody asks him what is the end of the world.

And the Buddha explains that it is the disappearance of name and form and limits of all notions of existence and non-existent beset by the fuel of craving. And this is best stated by the Buddha in Dhammapada 154. House builder, you are seen, you will build no more. Your rafters are broken the roof destroyed the mind having gone to the unconditioned has attained the destruction of craving so i know that's a lot to take in but you know you can always check out the book and try to analyze it yourself but essentially what we're saying is you know don't worry about nibbana right don't if the more you worry about trying to get to nibbana the less you're going to achieve it just relax into every experience and when you know it you will know it you least expect it it will happen and you will understand for yourself so i'm going to open it up for a few questions because i'm sure you guys will have some questions so david take it away yeah so if you can raise your hand.

We will go ahead and take your question. This is some pretty heavy stuff, Delson. I don't know. You know, I put some of these chapters through the AI for proofreading. And at one point, I think the AI just stopped. And it became an Arahant AI. So it ceased. It just went, "What?" Virgil, go ahead. Yes, hello. So I have a question regarding the meditation, the guardian meditation. So regarding that phrase with the disappearing of body and mind, and let's say the disappearing of eye, it says the disappearing of body and mind. So is that actually referring to the death of the physical body, or to the momentary disappearing by seeing the impermanence of that content? Both?

materiality but at the micro level which is at every experience of what we're we're having moment to moment it's also the momentary disappearance of the mind and body because it is continually changing all the time yeah and that kind of got me thinking about there is a story uh that david said about uh bante uh how he found the six the relax step and he gave the story with the mangoes where he was eating the mangoes And I was wondering, is this supposed to be done while you're actually having an experience of one of the six sense bases? Like when he was eating the mangoes, he was observing contact and then how feeling arises and how craving arises.

Or is it supposed to be done like a city meditation when you go to all six sense bases? Actually, you could use this as a guided meditation, right? Could you, if you listen to the six sets of six, for example, you could use that? Or when you're meditating, you can actually go to each of the sense doors and then do it in this way by disengaging. But regardless, I mean, you could also do it in that moment. That's what you, well, I say should, but that's what should be happening whenever you notice that there's an attention given to a particular sense space, and with that there's the arising of a feeling or a sensation, and with that there's the arising of craving. The moment you relax it, you notice with the disappearance of that sensation or the disappearance of the attention given to that experience, the craving also ceases. And I have one just very small tiny question, and that is in regard to metta and the Nibbana. So I think there is a lot of misconception in the Theravada space regarding metta and they

They say that the metta itself, meditation, the metta does not lead to awakening. That is a universal acceptance. I know Bhante was against that, so I'm wondering if you can shed some light on that. And also, maybe you can tell us what is metta cetovimutti, like liberation of mind through loving kindness. Does that refer to cessation, or just the attainment of jhanas? Okay. That's more than a tiny question, my friend, but I'll still answer it. The understanding that metta doesn't lead to Nibbana, actually nothing leads to Nibbana. This is really important to understand. If you read the Metta Sahagata Sutta, it talks about how the limits of metta are essentially the fourth jhana. And the limits of compassion are infinite space.

The limit of joy is infinite consciousness, and the limit of equanimity is nothingness. So it's not like this particular, like breathing, for example, like taking the breath as an object, is going to take you to Nibbana. No object will take you to Nibbana. It's a matter of letting go. So actually, when you're doing this process of metta, what it helps you to do is get closer and faster to the fourth jhana, right? When you're doing it in this way, you experience the joy, you experience the sukha or the comfort of the second jhana, and then you experience the tranquility and then the equanimity of the fourth jhana. And then you switch gears when the instructions are given to you.

So actually what you're doing is four different kinds of meditation objects, one in succession after the other, when it's the appropriate time. Eventually, you come into the quiet mind, and the quiet mind takes mind as the object itself. You continue to let go at deeper and deeper layers until, just by letting go, the mind ceases. And that's the idea. Now, metta cetovimutti. Cetovimutti means freedom of mind. It's the mind that is completely liberated. But there are other contexts. For example, there is animitta cetovimutti, there is metta cetovimutti, there is appanihita cetovimutti, and so on and so forth. And what that's referring to is liberation of the mind through loving kindness, at one level, means that you are liberated from ill will, because the antidote for ill will is loving kindness.

So the mind is liberated from ill will. The second aspect is cetovimutti, where it's the ultimate freedom of mind, because you started off with metta, but that's not what took you to Nibbana. It allowed your mind to become stable with an object. And then eventually the mind let go completely and then experienced nirvana. Zoe, we haven't heard from you. Why don't you go ahead? Yes, hello. Thank you. Yeah, the book excerpt you read, it was very good to hear. It made me think of the question then. So it has two parts. When you describe the mind of the Arahant, I was wondering what happens then. How would you characterize the mind of a partially liberated person?

Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami, like how, if you could expand based on what you said about the Arahants. And also the question arose, what about a liberated or partially liberated person with Bodhisattva vows? I know that's maybe outside of the purview of your usual teaching, but yeah, I feel like there's a lot of questions in my mind about that.

How it, yeah, at the fundamental level of mind, how that would maybe hook or not hook at the zero level. So, thank you. Yeah. The way to look at it is, with a fully awakened mind all adventitious defilements are gone. That's the way to look at it. In other words, all defilements that are not inherent to the mind, because the mind is already in that sense free. I know this sounds very, very outside of the purview of what is usually taught, but in reality that's the actual nature of the mind. As the Buddha says, the pabhassara, that's the luminosity of the mind. The mind is always aware. The mind is always mindful. This is why, when somebody asked, sorry, Buddha, what is your practice now, all he says is it's the four foundations of mindfulness, because the mind is always mindful, it's always aware, because there is no more lack of mindfulness, there is no more ignorance. That's how you define somebody fully awakened. So to that extent, by using that understanding, what you can say is that the sotapanna has

let go of, let's say, 25 of any of the defilements, and then the Sakadagami 50, the Anagami 75, and the Arahant all of it. So it's a very simplistic way of understanding, but it's essentially that the partially awakened person still has some defilements to deal with, which they have to let go of until the mind becomes fully stable in Nibbana. In there's a sutta, which is the four foundations of mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta. In there, the Buddha says, let alone a month, let alone six months, a month, and so on. He says, let alone a week, when one does this in one week one can experience arahatship. However, if his mind is not fully stabilized in it, he will go into Anagami. What does he mean by that? Meaning the mind hasn't fully stabilized into the experience of Nibbana, because there is still an inkling of craving, as I am, an inkling of identification with that process. So that partial defilement of the conceit is yet to be destroyed, and when that's destroyed then you have arahatship.

This thing about the Bodhisattva and so on, the understanding within the twin context is that in order for you to fully succeed in this practice as it is, you cannot be a Bodhisattva. I know that sounds a little jarring for people who might be coming from the Mahayana tradition. The idea is somebody who is a Bodhisattva is first and foremost somebody who has taken a vow to become a Buddha, a future Buddha, and they've taken that vow in front of the Buddha, and then it's up to that particular Buddha to say yes or no. They will look forward into the eons and say this person has a potential and can become a Buddha and will be a Buddha. So if that's the case, then they have the Bodhisattva vow, and they go through the development of the paramitas. They go through the development of understanding what patience is, what forgiveness is, what loving kindness is, what equanimity is, what generosity is, and so on and so forth. So

the person who's fully awakened isn't a Bodhisattva. The person who turns, or the mind enters into the stream and becomes a sotapanna, they are not a Bodhisattva, right? Because the Bodhisattva ideal is that I will go through the full perfection of the paramitas in order to experience full Buddhahood, right? Not to confuse you, and I might be mistaken about this, so maybe if I need to, I can have David clarify this, because he is a master of the ancient texts. I can see David's leg. There is an understanding that for somebody who becomes a Buddha, they have to let go of arahatship in order to become a fully awakened Buddha. But that could be. I'm not sure. David, are you aware of that?

I think I came across something like that. Maybe I'm mistaken. Let's go with whatever you're thinking. I think that's right. Okay. Yeah. But I would not, I wouldn't, I mean, that's, that's something that I might've come across in one of the old texts somewhere, but it's not something to take as, you know, doctrine. But the way to look at it is, if you're a bodhisattva, then it prevents you from experiencing the levels of awakening and takes you to full Buddhahood in your final life. That's the idea. Okay, next question from Brian. Hi, Dawson. Hello. Can you give us an example of seeing things as they are and not seeing things as they are? All right.

Not seeing things as they are essentially means that your mind starts to hanker after it. Your mind starts to say, this is me. This is mine. Your mind starts to say, think about it. It creates different kinds of ideas around it. It starts to proliferate all kinds of concepts around it. But seeing things as they actually are, it's aware of what's going on. In other words, seeing things as they are, even if the mind is muddled or there is no mindfulness, is seeing that the mind is having a lack of mindfulness. There's a return to mindfulness, and therefore you're seeing things as they are. But if your mind gets caught up in all of these ruminations and proliferation, then it's not seeing things as they are. And you can also be mindful of when your mind is kind of projecting, too. Right, right. So it's saying, right now mind is projecting, and then because of that you let go of it and you relax into it, and it stops. So mindfulness is a key.

Again, and one more question. Uh, if there's no psychological suffering, like in this moment, is that liberation? Is that somewhat close to nirvana? Is that getting things done or accomplished, that sort of thing? Yes, whenever you let go, whenever you let go and you relax in that moment, you're not psychologically suffering, right? So the key difference is that it's available to you all the time, but it needs practice. It needs continuous letting go until there's nothing left to go, and the mind is always in relief that it's available in every moment, right? Yeah, that's happening. Is that available on Amazon Prime? Thank you.

Perfect. Oh, let's see. Well, we have a chat question. Where is the chat? I think John raised his hand. Did he, or was that by mistake? I did, yeah. Sorry, I put it down because it was, so I just wanted to follow up on the, not to get off track too much, but on the bodhisattva vow question, because I know there are people from my own experience, if you've taken the bodhisattva vow and it's been central to your spiritual practice for years, and then someone tells you, well, okay, your vow is invalid, then that sort of feels like, oh, I've been wasting my time. So I wonder if you could speak to how to skillfully take the wholesome intent of that aspiration to help others and to awaken for the sake of everyone and fold that into practice rather than in terms of doctrinal issues, but as a spiritual inspiration, shall we say?

Yeah. So do you want me to comment on that, you said? Yeah. Could you please just, how would one sort of keep it relevant, keep one's practice relevant, not feeling like we've sort of wasted all our time or something? Yeah, because at the end of the day, I also want to say, the designation of sotapanna, the designation of bodhisattva, the designation of arahants and all that. These are all, again, just concepts. These are labels for the mind to kind of understand the map, right? Understand, okay, this is where it is now. This is where it is now. I really would say it's not important for the practitioner to really figure out where they are, because all it does is it creates more proliferation.

And now somebody's declared a sotapanna and it's like, oh, great. Now I have to strive to become sakadagami. I have to strive to become an anagami. I have to strive to become an arahant. And that striving itself is craving. It's an element of craving. So the best is to really let go and try to just feel into every experience by seeing it as it is, right? So as I was saying, just looking into what is your mind craving for when it looks at these questions about arahatship, about bodhisattva, about all of these things. Because it's another kind of craving for an outcome. It's another kind of craving for existence. But the moment you are just present and available to whatever is arising, there is no more craving for an outcome.

And in that moment, your mind is touching upon nibbana. In that moment, your mind is touching upon arahatship. So, relax with the labels. Okay. Hamit. Hey, Dalton. I had a question, kind of riffing off something John said about the journey, the practitioner journey, in the phrase like the straw that breaks the camel's back, there's an understanding that there's nothing special about that last straw. It just happens to be the last straw that was put there. And I'm wondering if you can speak to that in the context of your own journey, maybe helping us illuminate, like, different practitioners' journeys, and like, how do you think about making, I don't want to say, I have this feeling that as I say the question, it's going to sound nonsensical even to me, but is there a way to make sense of, like, what that process is, and how much importance to place on a particular practice or a particular something, just because it happened to be, proceed, an experience? I'm going to stop.

There, if I were to tell you that, and it's not the case, but I'm just giving a hypothetical, if I were to tell you that I maybe, maybe not, experienced cessation because I took a cold shower at 6:30 in the morning, and I sat exactly 10 minutes after that, in a temperature set at 72.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and I was sitting in a particular kind of chair, and then my mind just experienced cessation, what are you going to do? You're going to try to repeat those same parameters, right? So my point is, you can't. It's not repeatable. You can only just let go and keep letting go. And when you let go of any expectations or idea of how it should be done, that's when it happens.

I mean, when you least expect it. This is what I always say, when you least expect it. Because there is no one particular size that fits all for somebody to experience cessation. It will happen when it happens. And as Bhante would have said, it's when conditions are right, it will happen. When everything is in balance, when all the enlightenment factors are in balance, the mind lets go completely and then there's cessation. So it's not something that is particularly helpful to discuss in that regard. Right. Which, if I mean, just in that context, how does one even think about a path, or how, sorry if this feels sacrilegious, but how do you decide that the TWIM method is the method that you personally feel, oh, I'm, this is going to, I feel confident sort of talking about this method, even as a method.

So there is no real faith or confidence except through experience, right? And so if you've had an experience, then you become more stabilized with confidence in that particular practice. And so I might speak from experience. Others might speak from experience, and they feel that they have the experience. Now, who is to judge whether that experience is right or wrong? You can use the suttas as the context. You can use the words of the Buddha as per the Pali Canon as to what it said, and you can see whether it matches to what is said or not, right? And then by that experience, you can say, okay, this is what it is, this is what it is. But even then I would say it's a matter of trial and testing. It's a matter of continuing to, when you least expect, putting the mind through different kinds of situations, and then being able to see whether it's able to do this or not, whether it's able to let go, whether it's able to be unaffected, and so on and so

Forth. Interesting question in the chat. If the mind is very relaxed, can there still be a constant subtle tension in the body, like in a hard throat area, or really anywhere? Oh yeah, body, yes. Yes, there can, and it has happened where people have experienced tension in the head, and it could be for different kinds of reasons. And sometimes what we'll prescribe is forgiveness, and it just helps to kind of clear away that tension. And sometimes it's due to physical aspects, like dehydration or lack of electrolytes, or you didn't sleep enough, or you're sometimes trying too hard and you're pushing, and that can happen too. So that happens with the head, but there can be subtle tension felt in the body, in the heart or throat area. And sometimes this is what's known as meditation pain, where the mind becomes very contracted, and as a result of that it just feels, especially around the shoulder area, around the chest area, very tight and tense, and when you move, it just goes away.

Right, but if it was real tension, if it was real tightness, a real pain, it would not go away. So it's really just a mental barrier that's causing that subtle tension, or it can be, it's not necessarily that's what it is, but there are different reasons why there can still be some tension in the body. You'll have to see what works. And if it's just a matter of dehydration or something, then you take some electrolytes, or if it's because of a headache, then you take it easy, take a nap, and have something that helps with the headache. Okay, thank you. I think that's enough questions. I don't see anything further. Delson, thanks so much for this series and ending with Nibbana.

An amazing talk and the guided meditation. I think we will definitely have that recorded and use that in the future. So that will be available on YouTube, and everybody can practice that once again. So, any further thoughts before we share merits? Just to say thank you to Damatsuka for facilitating this, and to David for being David, and for John to do these announcements, and to all of you for attending and having the patience to listen to me ramble. So thank you for sticking it through for these last, eight weeks, seven, eight weeks, whatever it's been.

Yeah, let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free. May the fear-struck be fearless. 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. Thank you, everyone. See you when I see you. Bye. Thank you, thank you, thank you.