2025 SN 12.63 'Sons of Flesh' with Delson Armstrong Sunday Series

Okay, let's take it over to the sutta. I have the sutta here, and I can share the screen with the sutta so everybody can see that. I just want to check one thing: is this the Bhikkhu Bodhi version? Yeah, it is. Okay, can you make it bigger? Yeah, big enough, I can read it. Yeah, okay. So this is called, this is Samyutta Nikaya 12.63. It's from the Nidana Samyutta, or the Connected Discourses on Causation, so you'll find that this particular series of discourses relates mostly to dependent origination in one way or the other, because of nidana. Nidana also means links of dependent origination. But here we're going to be talking about the four kinds of nutriment, which is an interesting collection of understanding.

You'll find the four kinds of nutriment also in Majjhima Nikaya 9, which I often talk about, which is the Right View, the Sammaditthi Sutta. It's a very comprehensive sutta, because you have Sariputta going through, talking about discerning between wholesome states and unwholesome states and discerning the four kinds of nutriment, and then going into the links of dependent origination. Anyway, without any further ado, here we are: 12.63, Sons of Flesh at Savatthi. Because there are these four kinds of nutriment for the maintenance of beings that have already come to be, and for the assistance of those about to come to be. Four kinds of nutriment. What does that mean? Four kinds of fuel, yeah, nutriment, like food, things that give energy for the sustenance, for the maintenance of beings. That is to say, that continues to keep the beings that are here, or about to be here, in this wheel of samsara, in this cycle of rebirth. And what are the four? Nutriment: edible food, gross or subtle. So edible food, anything from sushi to pizza to hot dogs to curry to whatever we eat

usually in our daily life. That's gross food, not gross in terms of it's disgusting, gross in terms of it is physical food. Subtle food, which can be seen in a couple of ways: that could be food eaten by higher beings, consumed by higher beings like devas, or subtle in the sense of what we experience through the sense bases. You know, that too is some kind of sustenance that we experience, food that we experience. Second, contact. What is contact? That's when you have three things: you have the sense base, you have the sense base object, and you have the sense base consciousness coming together, giving rise to contact. And it requires attention for contact to arise.

And how should the nutriment, edible food, be seen? Suppose a couple, husband and wife, had taken limited provisions and were travelling through a desert. They have with them their only son, dear and beloved. Then, in the middle of the desert, their limited provisions would be used up and exhausted while the rest of the desert remains to be crossed. The husband and wife would think: our limited provisions have been used up and exhausted, while the rest of this desert seems to be crossed, remains to be crossed rather. Let us kill our only son, dear and beloved, and prepare dried and spiced meat. By eating our son's flesh, we can cross the rest of this desert. Let not all three of us perish.

Then the husband and wife would kill their only son, dear and beloved, and prepare dried and spiced meat. And by eating their son's flesh, they would cross the rest of the desert. While they're eating their son's flesh, they would beat their breasts and cry, where are you, our only son? Where are you, our only son? What do you think, bhikkhus? Would they eat that food for amusement, or for enjoyment, or for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness? No, venerable sir.

Wouldn't they eat that food only for the sake of crossing the desert? Yes, venerable sir. It is in such a way, bhikkhus, that I say the nutriment of edible food should be seen. When the nutriment edible food is fully understood, lust for the five cords of sensual pleasure is fully understood. When lust for the five cords of sensual pleasure is fully understood, there is no fetter bound by which a noble disciple might come back again to this world. So what are we talking about when we talk about the nutriment of edible food? He's using this analogy of this couple that go through the desert with their son, and so on. Crossing the desert is the metaphor for crossing from where we are in samsara towards nibbana. In order for us to continue to live in this world until we experience nibbana, and for the sustenance of this body, we use edible food. So the idea here is for bhikkhus to basically acknowledge that there are these pieces of food, and they're not for entertainment, they're not for my enjoyment necessarily. They're just to sustain this

body. And when you understand edible food as being, as form, external form, this food goes into my mouth, enters into my body, and becomes the same form as this particular form of this body. So the internal form and the external form, they are the one and the same. When I understand it to be this way, then I let go of the idea that I'm eating this for only good taste, or that I'm relishing in the food for the sake of wanting more and more and more and having more than my fill, and thereby identifying with form, internal or external. Thereby the lust for the five cords of sensual pleasure is fully understood, which is: oh, this is just food.

It's impermanent. Being impermanent, therefore it can cause suffering. By causing suffering, I can see it as not me, not mine, not myself. When this is understood, there is no fetter bound by which a noble disciple might come back again to this world. This is very interesting, because it could mean either an anagami or an arahant: an anagami, because they've let go of all sensual lust, or sensual desire, or sensual craving, as per the 10 fetters; or an arahant, who has also seen through with wisdom and thereby let go of total ignorance of the Four Noble Truths, and thereby let go of the ignorance of the three characteristics. And so if food is seen as just form, that it is made up of these elements, and therefore they are entering into our body as these elements and making up our body, which are made up of the same kinds of elements, we don't have to make it more than that.

We don't have to make it into an object of craving, an object of enjoyment. Of course, I don't always follow the advice that I give. I just came back, I came to this place after demolishing four slices of pepperoni pizza. And I will be unashamed to say I fully relished it. I fully enjoyed that pizza. But now I've had my fill. I'm okay with it. So he says, "And how, bhikkhus, should the nutriment of contact be seen? Suppose there is a flayed cow. If she stands exposed to a wall, the creatures dwelling in the wall would nibble at her. If she stands exposed to a tree, the creatures dwelling in the tree would nibble at her.

If she stands exposed to water, the creatures dwelling in the water would nibble at her. If she stands exposed to the open air, the creatures dwelling in the open air would nibble at her. Whatever that flayed cow stands exposed to, the creatures dwelling there would nibble at her." So he's using the metaphor or the analogy of this cow that has been skinned, and it's still alive, and some part of its skin has been peeled off, let's say flayed, and therefore it has exposed the sinews and the tendons and the muscle and inner skin and so on. That can be quite painful for anybody who has scraped their outer skin. When you make contact with the world, with the ground or with something, it can feel painful.

So I intend to pay attention to the screen. My eyes make contact with the screen. Therefore, my eyes are the sense base, the screen is the sense base object, and the awareness of what I am seeing, the attention given to it, and the awareness of that is the sense base consciousness. These three constitute the eye contact, and thereby I have an experience, a feeling, a vedana, of seeing the screen. It could be pleasant, it could be unpleasant, or it could be neutral. So when we talk about contact in this way, as the Buddha is talking about it, what he's saying is there is almost like a struggle for our attention, especially in today's world, where we are hyper-aware of so many different kinds of media.

We have the news, we have social media, we have Instagram, we have Facebook, we have TikTok, we have all kinds of ways in which our attention is being pulled in different directions. And this is why I say our greatest currency in today's world especially is our attention. Where do we decide to put our attention? Do we decide to look at something and start to crave for it, thereby the contact that arises is already in some sense defiled by the upakilesas? For those of you who have attended or seen the dependent origination symposium videos and might be able to recall where I talked about the 16 kinds of defilements, the 16 kinds of upakilesas that defile a kind of consciousness that feeds through contact, this is what we're talking about.

It can give rise to the underlying tendencies in a pleasant feeling, in an unpleasant feeling, or in a neutral feeling. And if those underlying tendencies are not seen, are not understood, if they are present, then they can push into and bridge the gap between feeling and craving. So this is what the Buddha is referring to: one should understand these three types of feeling. When they're understood, there's nothing further you need to do. Why? Because you're remaining vigilant. You are being mindful. You have attention, you have proper attention, that is yoniso manasikara. When you are attentive to an experience, you're experiencing it without any sense of craving, because you have total mindfulness. That mindfulness is the gatekeeper that prevents the arising of craving or aversion or identification with an experience, with a vedana, with a feeling.

So if we understand contact as in some sense inescapable, because right now, if you even stay silent and still and sit in meditation and you block out the entire physical world in one way or the other, you close your eyes, there's darkness. You're in a dark room. You put your plugs in your ears, you block off all sound. Guess what? You're still dealing with contact internally through the mind. What you're thinking about, what thoughts are rising, what kind of objects are rising in the mind, that too is contact. So where are you choosing to place your attention? Are you choosing to place your attention in the thoughts and memories that pull you away from your object of meditation, or are you being mindful of your attention? This is what is known as metacognition, being aware of your own attention.

And thereby, that is mindfulness: recognizing where your mind's attention goes from object to object, remembering to observe how your attention moves from one object to the other. And thereby redirecting, by releasing your attention away from that hindrance and relaxing the tension and tightness, coming back to the smile, directing the attention back to the object. Now you are practicing mindfulness. Now you're practicing meditation. Now you're equipped with right effort. So contact is, insofar as this world is concerned, inescapable. The only escape is the total cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, and thereby touching the Nibbana element. So now, in this context, we have the food, which in this sense represents form. Then we have contact, which this gives rise to feeling and perception.

In the Anguttara Nikaya 6.63, the penetrative discourse, there, the Buddha talks about how perception arises. Feeling arises dependent upon contact. Intentions arise dependent upon contact. And perceptions arise dependent upon contact. Because where there is feeling, there is perception. These two are tied together. When you see the screen, there is a seeing. That is the feeling. When you are reading what is on the screen, when you are aware of what is being read on the screen, there is the awareness, the consciousness of what is being seen. And there is a perception, which is the knowledge, the labeling, the conceptualizing that is rooted in the memory of what is already learned through experience. Therefore, when you read, you are actually perceiving what it is that you are reading, what you are seeing.

When you see the color red, you recognize that it's red. That is a process of perception, and that is dependent upon contact as well. So the feeling is followed by the perception, but these two find root in contact. So now we have form, we have feeling, and we have perception. And how, because, should the nutriment, mental volition be seen? This is intention, which is synonymous with formations. And I'll explain how. Suppose there is a charcoal pit deeper than a man's height, filled with glowing coals without flame or smoke. A man would come along wanting to live, not wanting to die, desiring happiness and averse to suffering. Then two strong men would grab him by both arms and drag him towards the charcoal pit.

The man's volition would be to get far away. His longing would be to get far away. His wish would be to get far away from the charcoal pit. For what reason? Because he knows, I will fall into this charcoal pit, and on that account, I will meet death or deadly suffering. It is in such a way, Bhikkhus, that I say the nutriment mental volition should be seen.

When the nutriment mental volition is fully understood, the three kinds of craving are fully understood. When the three kinds of craving are fully understood, I say there is nothing further that a noble disciple needs to do. There is a sutta called the Pathama Bhava Sutta and the Dutiya Bhava Sutta. I don't remember the number of the sutta or where exactly it is, but it's also called intention or bhava. In that sutta, Ananda asks the Buddha, in what way could there be an arising of a being in these three states? That is to say, in the sensual state, the form state, and the formless state. And he said, whenever there is intention driven forward by any kind of craving, in other words, formations give rise to intention, and you know the quality of formations based on what kind of intention is there.

If there's an intention with craving attached to it, then you know the formations that have arisen have been tied or conditioned by some kind of craving in the past. So the intention drives forward those formations. Those formations give rise to consciousness, that is the sense-based consciousness, which gives rise to nama-rupa. That nama-rupa gives rise to the six sense bases, or mentality, materiality gives rise to the sixth sense basis. Those sixth sense bases give rise to contact. That contact gives rise to feeling. That feeling, when we choose to hold onto it, that's another kind of intention that is rooted in craving, and taking it personally or having aversion to words will give rise to one of three kinds of craving.

What are the three kinds of craving? Craving for sensual pleasures. Craving for this sense-based experience to continue. Craving for existence. Craving for existence means I like being in this state of the first jhana. I don't want to go beyond that and I want to hold on to it. Or I'm in the first jhana, but I want to get to the second jhana and I'm obsessed by attaining the second jhana, instead of letting things happen in the natural due course of experience, letting them unfold with your mind being collected. Or craving for non-existence: I don't like the state I am in and I want to push it away. These three kinds of craving. So mental volition here is very strong, intention can be very strong.

If it is rooted in craving, we don't even recognize it immediately. We only recognize it, most of the time, at the level of feeling. Before we even can find where our intention is, we already want something. We already desire something. We already want to grab it. We want to crave it. So in order for you to recognize that, pay attention to how your mind relates to a feeling, how your mind relates to any kind of experience. And how, because, should the nutriment consciousness be seen? Suppose they were to arrest a bandit, a criminal, and bring him before the king, saying, 'Sire, this man is a bandit, a criminal. Impose on him whatever punishment you wish.' The king says to them, 'Go, men, in the morning strike this man with a hundred spears.'

In the morning, they strike him with a hundred spears. Then at noon, the king asks, 'How is that man?' 'Still alive, sire.' And the king says, 'Go and at noon strike him with a hundred spears.' At noon, they strike him with a hundred spears. Then in the evening, the king asks, 'How's that man? Still alive, sire?' 'Then go and in the evening strike him with a hundred spears.' In the evening, they strike him with a hundred spears. What do you think? Because with that man being struck with 300 spears, does he experience pain and displeasure on that account? What do you guys think? I would think, probably so. It's a pretty basic question. I mean, anyone who's experienced that will probably also experience pain and displeasure.

Venerable sir, even if he were struck with one spear, he would experience pain and displeasure on that account, not to speak of 300 spears. It is in such a way, because of that, that I say the nutriment consciousness should be seen. When the nutriment consciousness is fully understood, name and form, or mentality materiality, is fully understood. When name and form is fully understood, I say there is nothing further that a noble disciple needs to do. Here I was looking at the footnotes about this one, because this is a very intriguing one about consciousness, and I tend to agree with this when I look at it, which is that if you think about how he's placing this whole idea, he's talking about somebody who's arrested a criminal.

So that is, let's say, the being. The king here is karma. Our karma, our karmic formations. Now, when the king decides to say that, go in the morning and strike this man with a hundred spears, what is he saying? Our karmic formations give rise to a kind of consciousness. Now we're talking at the macro level. We're talking about it from one life to the next, one birth to the next, one rebirth to the next rebirth. In that experience, what happens? The mind is experiencing a passing away. But as it's experiencing a passing away, what happens? Karma arises in the form of memories, in the form of ideas, in the form of images. And when karma arises in this way, if the mind has no level of training, if the mind doesn't see with full awareness and mindfulness, it will look at it and say, if it's pleasant, I want more of this.

If it's unpleasant, might have regret because of that unpleasant memory, or might just identify with one memory or the other by clinging to this life. And by doing so, that fuel of that activity, that intention to hold on or to push away or to identify with projects, that new consciousness comes out, which is the rebirth-linking consciousness. And because of the command of the king, which is the karmic formations propelling that consciousness forward, it then matches a new name and form, a new mentality-materiality, through which new iterations of arising and passing away of consciousnesses can come to be. And they are assaulted with all of the karmic formations that arise, and thereby are assaulted by all of the suffering that arises from one existence to the next existence to the next existence. So when the Buddha says that this nutriment consciousness should be seen, he's talking about the fifth aggregate here. Not only is he talking about the sense-based consciousness, the sensory consciousness, but he's talking about consciousness insofar as the rebirth-linking consciousness that gives rise to further existences, whether it's in this life or the next life.

And so when you understand consciousness as an impersonal process and let go of your craving by 6R-ing any tightness and tension, by 6R-ing any craving, aversion or taking things personally, by recognizing and acknowledging the mind is leaning towards craving, leaning towards identifying with something, leaning towards taking it personally, and relax and be in that space of no action, be in that space of just total complete presence of mind, there is a wisdom that arises that sees everything as impersonal and therefore remains non-reactive. And due to that non-reactivity, any form of karma that might arise is stunted. Therefore, no new consciousness arises, which can give rise to further craving in this life itself as well, because consciousness continues to arise and pass away.

But that consciousness can be defiled by one or more of those 16 upakkilesas. But if there is in that moment an understanding of the craving arising, and then the letting go of it using the 6R's, then the next iteration of the arising of the next consciousness that might come to be may remain undefiled, or less of those defilements will cling to that consciousness that will arise. Which means that any contact that rises won't be so defiled, which means the feeling won't have such a strong pull from the underlying tendencies, which means any craving that might arise is weaker. And so the more we start to use this process of right effort, of the 6R's, we are cleaning up the formations. We are transforming those formations in every iteration, until that consciousness becomes undefiled, and being undefiled eventually lets go of all craving, lets go of all fuel, lets go of all karmic propensities, all karmic propulsions in which new rebirth can arise, whether it's in this life or between one life and the

next. And thereby one can also understand mentality-materiality. Why? Because there is an interdependency between consciousness and mentality-materiality. Without consciousness, mentality-materiality cannot function, but without mentality-materiality, consciousness cannot be given any expression through the process of the sixth sense basis, contact, and feeling, and so on. So mentality-materiality here is also the five aggregates. In what way is the materiality? The rupa, which is the form. The mentality is made up of contact, feeling, perception, intention, and attention. Contact gives rise to the feeling and perception, as well as intention, which drives the formations.

Attention is what drives the consciousness in a certain direction or path, which is what I was talking about earlier. Where we decide to pay attention to is where contact will give rise. If I decide to pay attention to this cup, all my attention goes here, and thereby the eye makes contact with the cup. And there is an awareness of that, and thereby a seeing of the cup, and thereby a perception that that is a cup. So once you understand consciousness, you understand mentality-materiality, and you understand the interdependencies between both of them, whether it's on the micro level in this life, moment to moment, or at the macro level, from this life to the next, and so on.

I will stop there. We'll see if you have any questions. Yeah, I do, Delson. Yes, for example, let's say I'm going to have dinner. I'm in the kitchen, I'm just standing there, my attention immediately goes to, maybe, the cabinet, then to the salt shaker, then to the refrigerator, then my hand goes to open the refrigerator, it's slightly opening, then it's looking inside, attention goes to the ketchup, it goes to the eggs. I don't see how you can constantly, moment to moment, watch how your attention is going. I can kind of get it if I'm going for a walk. I can notice my attention is going to a tree, I'm noticing it goes to the birds flying. But sometimes the attention goes so fast to so many different objects that it doesn't seem possible to watch your attention moving every moment. Is what I'm trying to say. Practice, practice, practice, practice. Oh, not that again. You slow things down. You will notice how, as you start to practice this process of paying attention, of being mindful, which is paying attention to where your attention is going.

Eventually, things kind of slow down. They feel like they're slowing down. And as they slow down, you become more aware of what you're doing in every present situation, or in every present moment of every situation. And it becomes one continuous flow in which it's less staccato and more like a free flow of awareness from one moment of attention to the next moment of attention. And we can find this happening, actually, in meditation itself. As we get very deep in the process of meditation, we get to see the arising and passing away of individual consciousnesses. And those are actually the contacts that are happening internally over and over and over, arising and passing away. But it is very much possible, but it requires patience and practice.

Yeah, because there are times when it does slow down, and I'm really with the present moment, seeing my hand move to my arms, or my hands grabbing something very slowly, moving it to another place. Those kind of times happen very, very much in the present moment, watching moment to moment. But so many times it's just all over the place, you know. Yeah. Oh, Delson, I have one more question about the jhanas. When you're talking about those... I don't understand. If you're in no mind, if you're meditating and you're in empty mind, let's say, have you transcended all the jhanas at that point, or are you in one that I don't know about? Or how do the jhanas relate to being in contentment in meditation, and using that as your object, and you're in contentment or in no mind? And so the vehicle, your vehicle is your mind itself. Let's say that the mind is traveling from one territory to

another, and the elements of each territory are the factors of the jhanas, and each area or territory is a jhana. So you can use loving-kindness, you can use contentment, you can use any object as a vehicle for your attention, a vehicle for your mind to traverse through any of these territories, which are the jhanas. So the factors of the jhanas, like the joy, the equanimity, the tranquility, the vitakka, vicara, the thinking and examining thought, or the self-confidence, or infinite space, is sort of the background. It's where you are in that area. It's not something that you embody. It's not something you necessarily become. If you do, then you're one-pointed. But if you're aware, okay, now joy is arising.

Okay, now there's this. Okay, now there's a sense of spaciousness. Okay, now there's an arising and passing away of consciousness. That can be utilized through loving-kindness, through equanimity, through the quiet mind. Very seldom done, but it can be done. So think of it that way. Like the jhanas are the background in which you are traversing through the territories. Anyone else? Anne? Could the sluggishness, or, you know, what Brian described, going into his refrigerator, trying to keep track of everything, is it necessary every item? I mean, is naming everything, which I would think would be perception, like ketchup, eggs, could it just be viewed as a field of awareness until the object of intention, you know, you make contact?

I need eggs, you know. So you open the fridge. It isn't that you're not seeing things. It's sort of, you know, like when you're sitting in the Dhamma hall, you're not deaf to any noises. You know when someone opens the door. You just don't get all caught up. You don't stoke that perception. And so I wonder if the naming of things, like having to name every object or thinking you should, is a

impediment. It's what some would call noting. You know, like, okay, now here's this, now here's that, now here's this. It's not necessary. Just the sheer or mere recognition of, oh okay, I like, there's an understanding, there's a, like you say, a field of awareness, so to speak. That's what happened, and that's enough. That's enough. So if I'm opening the fridge and looking at the ketchup and the eggs, I don't have to say, okay, now I'm getting the eggs, and now I'm getting the ketchup, or there's ketchup, there's eggs. It's just there's an awareness of the movement. There is the mindfulness of the experience, the mindfulness of picking up the ketchup, mindfulness of picking up the eggs. And this goes back to the Satipatthana Sutta, where the Buddha is talking about mindfulness of the body, that is also bodily actions, in terms of movement, in terms of walking, in terms of standing up, in terms of sitting down, in terms of lying down, getting up, wearing your clothes, taking off your clothes, whatever it is. There is a recognition or remembering to

observe how the attention moves, but you don't need to perceive, in so far as labeling everything, necessarily. Okay, if there's nothing further, maybe we can share some merit and we'll move on to a sitting. Let's see. 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. Okay, thanks very much. All right, thank you guys. I'll see you around next week. Another word next week, or are we going to stay with the same one? Word of the year, right? Word of the year. Okay. Bye-bye, Delson.