Day 8- 10 Day Retreat June 2022 MN 43 Voidness and Vital Formations

So today we're going to be reading from Majjhima Nikaya number 43, the Maha Vedalla Sutta, the greater series of questions and answers. Thus have I heard, on one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savati in Jetta's Grove, Anathapindaka's park. Then when it was evening, the Venerable Maha Kotthita rose from meditation, went to the Venerable Sariputta, and exchanged greetings with him. When this courteous and amiable talk was finished, now, this dialogue is between two arahats, Sariputta and Maha Kotthita. So, he's asking these questions, not to clarify things, but for helping his students understand. So oftentimes you have these, let's say, fireside chats where you'd have two arahats talking together and you'd have an audience listening. And so this is what was going on.

One does not wisely understand. One does not wisely understand, friend. That is why it is said, one who is unwise. And what is it that one does not wisely understand? One does not wisely understand this is suffering. One does not wisely understand this is the origin of suffering. One does not wisely understand this is the cessation of suffering.

One does not wisely understand this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. One does not wisely understand, one does not wisely understand. That is why it is said, one who is unwise. So whenever they talk about being wise or having wisdom or wisdom in general, they're referring to the understanding of the links of dependent origination.

When you understand the links of dependent origination, you have obtained wisdom. Here, Sariputta is saying one who does not understand suffering, one who does not understand the cause of suffering, one who does not understand the cessation of suffering, and one who doesn't understand the way leading to the cessation of suffering. In other words, one who does not 6R is one who is unwise.

Why is that? Because when you recognize what you are doing, you are understanding that there is suffering present. That suffering arises in the form of a hindrance, in the form of an unwholesome state, in a form of craving or aversion towards a pleasant or unpleasant feeling. When you recognize that, you say, this is suffering. You understand: here is a hindrance present.

When you release and let go of that hindrance, take your attention away from it, you are abandoning the cause of that, and when you relax you are letting go of the craving, so you are abandoning the second noble truth, and in that moment you experience the third noble truth of the cessation of suffering. See it for yourself when there is a hindrance present, when there's tightness and tension present, and you 6R it and you let it go. What happens? You feel relief in that moment.

And that relief manifests as a mind that's calm, cool, collected, spacious, open, like a cloudless sky. And then when you re-smile, come back to your object, repeat, you're cultivating the Eightfold Path. Right effort, which is the core of the Eightfold Path. Remember, it's from right effort that you go from the wrong factors of the wrong path to the right factors of the right path.

So this is how you understand the Four Noble Truths in every moment, you 6R. This is how you are teaching yourself. If you effectively 6R, then you are letting go of craving, of that, by cultivating the Eightfold Path. That is why it is said, one who is wise. What does one wisely understand? One wisely understands this is suffering.

One wisely understands this is the origin of suffering. One wisely understands this is the cessation of suffering. One wisely understands this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. One wisely understands, one wisely understands, friends. That is why it is said, one who is wise. So wisdom is developed every time you 6R. Every time you're able to recognize craving, every time you're able to recognize aversion, every time you're able to recognize any of the hindrances, any time you're able to recognize the mind's desire to react out of craving and aversion, you are developing wisdom. Use the rest of the path to let go of it. Use the rest of the four right efforts, in the form of the rest of the 6R's, to let go of it and then to generate wholesome states of mind.

And these wholesome states of mind include loving kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity, patience, and khanti, which is patience, and forgiveness, and generosity and so on and so forth. Along with that, you're also cultivating the seven enlightenment factors because as we understand it, when you 6R, you are also activating each of the seven factors of enlightenment, each of the seven factors of awakening.

When you recognize, you bring up mindfulness and you bring up investigation of states. You let go using release. You bring up effort, which is energy. And then when you relax, you bring up tranquility. When you smile, you bring up the factor of joy. And when you return back to your object, you bring up collectedness. And through that process, you are developing equanimity.

And so this is how you cultivate and activate the enlightenment factors as well. And as you do this, you start to develop more and more wisdom. You start to penetrate the Dhamma, which is the understanding of dependent origination, and letting go of suffering, letting go of craving, and experiencing Nibbana here and now. Consciousness. Consciousness is said, friend, with reference to what is consciousness said?

It cognizes. That is why consciousness is said. What does it cognize? It cognizes this is pleasant. It cognizes this is painful. It cognizes this is neither painful nor pleasant. It cognizes. It cognizes, friend. That is why consciousness is said. So here when we talk about consciousness, we're talking about the aggregate of consciousness, or the link of consciousness, which is the cognition of something, the awareness of something, the knowing that this experience is painful, the knowing that this experience is pleasant, the knowing that this experience is neither painful nor pleasant.

So cognition is just a bare knowledge of something. This is how it is understood. It has nothing to do with an all-pervasive consciousness. It has nothing to do with an all-pervasive self tied to this all-pervasive consciousness. Wisdom and consciousness, friend. Are these states conjoined or disjoined? And is it possible to separate each of these states from the other in order to describe the differences between them? Look at the question that he's asking.

When you experience the links of dependent origination, there's already consciousness there. When you come out of cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, there's already consciousness there because it makes contact with the Nibbana element. That contact is understood to be signless, to be void, to be undirected. When that contact arises, it means there is already consciousness present, and there's consciousness present in the states thereafter, in the feeling of joy and relief. There's consciousness there when you see the links of dependent origination.

In order for you to even see or know something, in order for you to understand something, there needs to be consciousness present there. So it's not that there's this consciousness that sees everything. With the arising of the links, there arises consciousness dependent upon those links. So whether you are in jhana, let's say infinite consciousness, what are you seeing? You're seeing individual links of consciousness arising and passing away, dependent upon internal contact.

When you see the flickering in the eyes, when you hear the flickering in the ears, when you feel the vibration on the body, or electricity, or whatever it might be, what you are seeing is the individual consciousnesses arising dependent upon individual contact internally. And it all goes into the experience of the mind. It is the mind that is chief, it is the mind that is the forerunner of all states. It is through the mind that you experience, even when you are seeing me, your mind is creating the image. When you are listening to me, your mind is creating or interpreting that sound, is aware of me speaking, aware of seeing me speaking, aware of hearing me speaking.

But that mind is understood synonymously with consciousness. Mind and consciousness and cognition. The Buddha says these are used interchangeably. And they can be used interchangeably because mind is like a monkey. This is where the origin of the monkey mind comes from. From the suttas. Whenever you hear the monkey mind, that's actually in the suttas. In one of the Samyutta Nikaya suttas. In the Nidana Samyutta: mind, synonymous with consciousness, synonymous with awareness, or however you want to put it, that jumps from one branch to the next like a monkey. It's not the same branch, it's not the same consciousness. It keeps jumping from one thing to the other dependent upon its fuel. So consciousness is that which understands, but consciousness in of itself is not a self.

It allows the mind to understand. It goes from one state to another. But it arises with the arising of one state and it dissipates or ceases with the cessation of that one state. And another consciousness, like a monkey, grabs onto another branch with the arising of another state. What is the difference, friend, between wisdom and consciousness, these states that are conjoined and not disjoined? Just now, Sariputta said, these states are conjoined, not disjoined, and it is impossible to separate each of these states from the other in order to describe the difference between them.

And yet, here is Maha Kotthita asking, well then, what is the difference between these two, wisdom and consciousness? The difference, friend, between wisdom and consciousness, these states that are conjoined, not disjoined, is this. Wisdom is to be developed. Consciousness is to be fully understood. What does that mean? Wisdom is to be developed. What is that wisdom? Right view.

What is right view? The understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Consciousness is to be fully understood. What is that consciousness? It is the aggregate of consciousness, the link, dependent origination of consciousness. Wisdom is to be developed by understanding consciousness. And what does it mean to understand? It means to actually see. Cognized. You have become aware of. You have experienced it.

You have observed it. So wisdom here is in reference to right view. Consciousness here is in reference to the quality or the link of dependent origination that is consciousness. Also the aggregate of consciousness. Feeling. Feeling is said, friend, with reference to what is feeling. It feels. It feels, friend. That is why feeling is said. What does it feel? It feels pleasure.

It feels pain. It feels neither pain nor pleasure. It feels. It feels, friends. That is why feeling is said. When we talk about feeling, Vedana, the feeling that is the actual experience. When it says feeling, what is it in reference to that it is called feeling? It is that which feels. Now that makes it sound like there's some kind of a feeler, that there is a self that feels. But here it is in reference to the faculty of feeling as a mental factor of nama-rupa.

Consciousness allows the mental factor of contact, feeling, and perception to be understood. The mental factor of contact gives rise or allows for the experience of contact to happen. In other words, when you have the nama, the mentality factors, which is the contact, feeling, perception, intention, attention, contact, the feeling, and the perception. When the sixth sense basis, dependent upon the mentality, materiality, make contact, the faculty of contact at mentality is activated.

And dependent upon that, the faculty of feeling allows the mind to experience whatever it is experiencing. So dependent upon the link of contact, there is the link of feeling. The process of feeling, which is activated, which is given rise to by the mental factor of feeling. So the faculty that's there in nama-rupa is feeling, that which feels, that which allows the feeling process to happen. In other words, there's the feeling factor, faculty at the level of mind or the level of mentality, which then allows for the process of feeling to be understood at the process level of feeling that arises after contact in that scheme of dependent origination, from contact and feeling, from the sixth sense basis to contact to feeling.

Perception. Perception is said, friend, with reference to what is perception said. It perceives. It perceives, friend. That is why perception is said. What does it perceive? It perceives blue. It perceives yellow. It perceives red. And it perceives white. It perceives. It perceives, friend. That is why perception is said. Perception is re-cognition. When you first cognize something, you are aware of the quality of an experience for the first time. That it becomes part of your memory bank.

When you see it again, now you perceive it as what it is, dependent upon what you experienced before. So you are recognizing it from your memory. When a child first learns about the color red, that this is called red, first cognize that this is the color red. Now it is in their memory. The next time they see the color red, their mind immediately perceives, oh, that is red.

When children learn about the seasons, when children learn about how to tell time, when the children learn about how to spell something or how to read or whatever it might be, something. First time they're learning, becoming aware of things. And that becomes part of their memory. So the next time that they do it, they're perceiving it. They're recognizing it. It's arising from their memory.

For what one feels, that one perceives. And what one perceives, that one cognizes. That is why these states are conjoined, not disjoined. And it is impossible to separate each of these states from the others in order to describe the difference between them. Where there is feeling, there is a perception, conjoined with that feeling and an awareness of that feeling. Where there is perception, there was feeling present there and a consciousness that is present, conjoined with that perception. Where there is consciousness, there is an experience or feeling of that consciousness and a perception or labeling of what that experience is. So these three states run around each other. What you feel, that you perceive. What you experience, your mind immediately projects a concept to it.

Earlier, there was an interesting comment given by one of the meditators about a pen. To us, we see a pen and we write with it. So our experience is holding the pen. Our experience is that this pen helps us write. But to Duke, he has no idea what that pen is. For him, it's a chew toy. So he perceives it as a chew toy. So it's dependent upon how we project our reality onto it, how we project our conceptualizations about what this is, the utility of what this is. So what you perceive is dependent upon your experience, your feeling. And perhaps we can all agree that this is the color red, but perhaps the way you experience red might be slightly different from how I experience red or how another person experiences red.

But we all have this consensus that that's the color red. So this perception, these concepts that we have, this is part of mental proliferation. Perception, which then, when identified with, causes craving, clinging and becoming. So the understanding here, or the takeaway here, is to see that these states are all interdependent and there's no controller here. They're arising dependent upon faculties, dependent upon factors. Friend, by purified mind consciousness released from the five faculties, the base of infinite space can be known thus.

Space is infinite. The base of infinite consciousness can be known thus. Consciousness is infinite. And the base of nothingness can be known thus. There is nothing. So what he's talking about is what can be known by purified mind consciousness. That is mind consciousness that is purified from the five hindrances. There's no hindrances present. No obstructions present. Released from the five faculties. The five physical sense bases.

Part of the body. That is just mind alone. What is it that can be known? What can be known is infinite space, infinite consciousness and nothingness. When you are in these arupajhanas, these are the reason why they're called arupa. They're also known as ayatanas, which means the base or the realm or the dimension of infinite space, of infinite consciousness, of nothingness. The level of mind consciousness.

That is why I'm saying when you experience the infinite space, it's not happening at the level of the body. It's being experienced as a mental experience. When you see infinite consciousness, or you see the arising and passing away of consciousnesses, they're all happening at the level of mind. Even though you think that they're flickering at the eye, even though you think you're hearing flickering at the ear. These are all internal contact that's happening dependent upon mind or happening through mind.

And nothingness, the perception of nothingness, is also happening at the level of mind. Nothing to do with the body. This is why they're called arupa. You transcend the body. You transcend contact with the body. You transcend that and now you are just in mind. So even the notion that you're sending out loving kindness or compassion from the head, that's a physical feeling.

Just forget about that. Forget about where you're radiating the loving kindness from, whether it's the body or the head. Just radiate. That's the mental experience to experience. That's the mental experience that the mind perceives, right? That you're radiating from the head, you don't need to hold on to that. Let that go. Just radiate. Whether it's love and kindness, compassion, joy, or equanimity.

Friend, with what does one understand a state that can be known? Friend, one understands a state that can be known with the eye of wisdom. This eye of wisdom is also known, from the Pali, as panna cakkhu. That's the eye of wisdom. So this panna cakkhu is just this level of mind that understands and sees dependent origination.

But that eye of wisdom is not some kind of permanent entity. It arises dependent upon experiences. When one link arises, it sees the arising of that link. When that link passes and arises the next, then with that, it arises and passes. It's not stationary. Friend, what is the purpose of wisdom? Yeah, we talk a lot about wisdom. We talk a lot about being wise.

What's the big deal? Why are we talking about this? The purpose of wisdom, friend, is direct knowledge. Its purpose is full understanding. Its purpose is abandoning. So the purpose of wisdom is to abandon craving and thereby have direct knowledge of the liberation of mind, and understand and experience Nibbana of suffering. Friend, how many conditions are there for the arising of right view?

Friend, there are two conditions for the arising of right view. The voice of another and wise attention. These are the two conditions for the arising of right view. The voice of another is the voice of the Buddha, now in the suttas. That voice allows you to know what is right view and what is wrong view. Wise attention is yoniso manasikara. Paying attention, being aware, being mindful at what it is that you're listening.

Wisdom comes from panna vimutti, liberated by wisdom. In the case of liberated by wisdom, it happens through the first four jhanas. In the case of liberation of the mind, it happens through the first four jhanas and the arupa jhanas. From any of the jhanas, you can go into cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, and then experience the links of dependent origination when you come out and develop wisdom and understanding.

So he's asking, what are the factors that lead to right view and also come to fruition in the form of the jhana practice? Here, friend, right view is assisted by virtue, assisted by sila, keeping your precepts. Learning. Learning means to read the suttas, to listen to Dhamma talks. Discussion. To discuss the Dhamma amongst yourselves. To discuss different aspects of the Dhamma. To have questions and answers about the Dhamma.

There are these three kinds or categories of habitual tendencies, friend. Sense-sphere habitual tendencies, fine-material habitual tendencies, and immaterial habitual tendencies. Sense-sphere, that means habitual tendencies rooted in the sensual realm. The sensual realm includes the six sensual heavens, the human realms, the hungry ghost realms, the animal realms, and the hell realms. These are all constituted by the six sense bases. Primarily the five physical senses.

And so anytime the habitual tendencies are rooted in sensual experience, then there is a correspondent existence that arises at the birth of action or at the birth of reaction. So if your habitual tendencies are rooted in a psychology related to the deva realms, You keep the precepts you're forgiving your kind your compassionate your patient and You continue to be this way then the habitual tendencies that arise will lead into an existence Rooted or related to those factors So if you are deva like in your psychology deva like in your actions deva like in the way you make your decisions

People who are very generous seem to never have any kind of lack in their lives. And people who are generous, not only in terms of their money or wealth, but in terms of mind and speech, people who are generous by sending loving kindness, people who are generous by paying compliments, really speaking right speech to people, being appreciative of people, being grateful, in these ways you can be generous. People who do that are never void of anything in terms of mind, body and speech. They're always taken care of in one way or the other, always.

People who are patient, people who are kind, will always experience patience and kindness. And when they are met with impatience, when they're met with a lack of kindness, they don't get affected by it. In fact, because of their responses, because of their reactions, those who are impatient, those who are unkind, start to become patient, start to become kind.

People who maintain the precepts never get into trouble, rarely ever get into any kind of trouble because they're never getting into any kind of conflict through the cultivation of ill will. They're never getting into any trouble by trying to seek for things that are not given, whether that's physical possessions or for credit, when credit is due, or just seeking attention. They never get into trouble in those ways.

They don't get into trouble because they don't gossip. They don't speak ill of others. They don't speak falsehoods. They don't get into trouble because they don't have sexual misconduct. If they are in a relationship, they remain loyal. And sensual misconduct. Their minds are balanced and equanimous. And people don't indulge in intoxicants. They don't get in trouble. When they are met with trouble, they're immediately able to see that and escape from that trouble, so to speak.

So they might have to face it karmically, but because they face it and they keep the precepts, they don't get so much entangled in that trouble that it completely derails their mind, completely derails their physical safety, and so on. So keeping the five precepts is a type of protection for the mind, for the body, and for speech.

So if you have habitual tendencies that are rooted in keeping precepts, rooted in being generous, and so on and so forth, then your life will be deva-like in this very life. On the opposite end of that spectrum, if there are people who are always angry, people who are always irritated, people who are always frustrated, let alone them going physically into a hell realm, they cause hell for themselves right here and now in their mind.

When they're waiting in line and they become impatient, when they start to feel frustrated about something not working, when they get angry at somebody, what are they met with? They're met with those same things. People who have very animalistic natures as well, they start to become very animalistic. They become very rooted in sloth and torpor. They become very rooted in fulfilling their hunger, fulfilling their different kinds of craving for food and sex and so on.

And people who are greedy, people who are stingy, people who don't like to share, when that happens, those people are like hungry ghosts. They go from one place to the other, never satisfied with anything. And there's a certain kind of energy, let's say, that they give off. It's not physical energy. It's just the way that they behave that puts people off.

And so they become like hungry ghosts. And so anytime you have these kinds of habitual tendencies, they can lead to a sensual realm existence. When you start to develop jhanas, the habitual tendencies rooted in that jhana experience start to make you feel like you are in a brahma loka, in a fine-material realm. It's known as celestial walking. You walk around and you feel good all the time.

And same with the arupa jhanas. You can be in infinite space and still walk around. You can be in consciousness and still walk around. You can be in nothingness and still walk around. You can be in quiet mind and still walk around. There was one person at one of the Easter retreats. This person, at one of the interviews, said, I've never experienced my mind so quiet before. And they started crying because of the level of depth of quiet that they experienced. Not a single thought in their mind. Complete clarity.

Imagine that. When you are like that, then you are definitely living here and now like in arupa brahma. Completely content. Completely satisfied. Friend, how is renewal of habitual tendencies in the future generated? In other words, when there is an experience and you start to identify with that experience because of ignorance, lack of mindfulness, and you have craving, therefore dependent upon that, then there is liable to be clinging and there is liable to be habitual tendencies from which you act.

And therefore, a new existence in every moment in this life here and now. Friend, how is renewal of habitual tendencies in the future not generated? Friend, with the fading away of ignorance, with the arising of true knowledge, and with the cessation of craving, renewal of habitual tendencies is not generated. With the fading away of ignorance, having mindfulness, observing how your mind's attention moves from one thing to the other, recognizing when craving arises, recognizing when aversion arises.

Ignorance is a lack of mindfulness. But when you are mindful and you have attention rooted in reality, things as they are, that is, that they are all dependently arisen, therefore impermanent, therefore not worth holding on to, and therefore not to be seen as me, mine, or myself, this leads to disenchantment, this leads to dispassion, this leads to not clinging, and therefore that mind, through not clinging, is liberated from craving. Because as soon as it is attentive in that way, no underlying tendency towards craving, towards identifying, towards ignorance, towards aversion, towards doubt, towards views, and so on, arises. And therefore, no full-blown craving or aversion or clinging or being or habitual tendencies can arise.

And the arising of the true knowledge, so the cessation of craving arises or happens, let's say. The cessation of craving is due to a mind that is fully mindful in every moment. And from that arises true knowledge. That is the true knowledge of the liberation of mind. Every time you 6R, when you recognize craving, you liberate your mind from craving. And there is the true knowledge of the liberation of mind from that craving for that moment.

And the more you do it, the more your mind becomes liberated. Until finally you 6R, until there's nothing to 6R. And now you have a mind without craving. So that mind is void of craving, void of conceit, void of ignorance. It is a mind that has true wisdom, true knowledge in every moment. Friend, what is the first jhana?

Here, friend, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. This is called the first jhana. So what is the first jhana? Secluded from sensual pleasures, quite secluded from sensual pleasures. You close your eyes, and now you're secluded from any kind of vision, visual activity.

You start to keep your mind on some kind of an intention, and so you stop paying attention to what's going on in terms of the experience of the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body, and now you are just in mind. Secluded from unwholesome states. What are unwholesome states? The five hindrances. You let go of any kind of sensual craving. Let go of any kind of aversion. Let go of any kind of restlessness. Let go of any kind of doubt. Let go of any kind of sloth and torpor. And then you have entered upon the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, which is the thinking and examining thought. What is the thinking aspect?

You bring up a wholesome image. You bring up wholesome verbalizations: may I be happy, may I be free of suffering, may I have loving kindness. You bring up a wholesome image that allows you to feel happiness in that moment. Then you continue staying with the object that comes up, which is the love and kindness. This is the thinking and examining thought, the applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. When you are free from the hindrances, there is a relief there.

That relief gives rise to the joy of jhana and the sense of feeling comfort in the body and in the mind. You feel at ease. This is the happiness. This is the sukha that's known in Pali. And so this is called the first jhana. Friend, how many factors does the first jhana have?

Friend, the first jhana has five factors. Here, when a bhikkhu has entered upon the first jhana, there occur applied thought, sustained thought, rapture or joy, pleasure or comfort and ease, and unification of mind. This is how the first jhana has five factors. Unification of mind comes from the word ekagata. And more often than not, it is translated as one-pointedness.

But here, ekagata means a mind that is unified, a mind that is collected around its object of meditation. It's not one-pointed in the sense that it just stays with the object and suppresses everything else. One of the ways to look at it is that the object is a planet, and the mind orbits it. And so it stays in orbit so long as you are aware of the feeling of loving-kindness.

Eventually it starts to go out of orbit. So what do you do? Use the 6R's and bring it back into orbit. And you'll let it stay in orbit. Friend, how many factors are abandoned in the first jhana? Friend, in the first jhana, five factors are abandoned and five factors are possessed. Here, when a bhikkhu has entered upon the first jhana, sensual desire is abandoned. Ill will is abandoned. Sloth and torpor are abandoned. Restlessness and remorse are abandoned. And doubt is abandoned. And so these are the five hindrances that are abandoned.

And there occur the applied thought, sustained thought, rapture, pleasure, and unification of mind. So these are the five factors of the jhana we were talking about. That is how in the first jhana five factors are abandoned and five factors are possessed. Friend, these five faculties each have a separate field, a separate domain, and do not experience each other's field and domain.

That is the eye faculty, the ear faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue faculty, the body faculty. Now, of these five faculties, each having a separate field, a separate domain, not experiencing each other's field and domain, what is their resort? What experiences their fields and domains? The eyes will always experience forms. The ears will always experience sounds. The nose will always experience fragrances. The tongue will always experience flavors. The body will always experience tangibles.

But there is a condition called synesthesia in which you hear tastes or you see sounds and so on. But even there, you're still experiencing form in some way. Even there, you're still experiencing the ear faculty. So even though it feels like you're hearing numbers, or you're smelling tastes, or you're tasting forms, or whatever it might be, they're still individualized according to their separate faculties and domains. So the eyes will always still experience forms. The ears will always still experience sounds. But even though they feel like they're experiencing sound subjectively, they're experiencing the sound in the form of a color. They're still experiencing a sound. So if they're experiencing a note, they'll say I experienced C, the C note, but I also experienced the color purple tied to that C note, you know, and so on and so forth. So they'll still experience those faculties and domains that are tied to those particular

Friend, as to these five faculties, that is the eye faculty, the ear faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue faculty, and the body faculty, what do these five faculties stand in dependence on? What are they dependent upon? Friend, as to these five faculties, that is, the eye faculty, the ear faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue faculty, and the body faculty, these five faculties stand in dependence on vitality. What is vitality? Life energy, or life force, or all of these different ways. Really what vitality is, is the different electrical currents that are running around the nervous system. This is how you feel like you have some kind of experience going on. The neurons that are firing, the electrical activity that runs through the mind, through the brain, and through the circuitry of the nervous system.

This is vitality. It's understood that this vitality in Pali is also understood as that which gives energy to the faculties. So how do you experience the faculties? What gives energy to the sixth sense basis? It is through the electrical firing that there is an experience of the I and form, and so on. They stand in dependence upon vitality. If you shut off the entire nervous system, you wouldn't be able to experience any of the sixth sense bases. If you shut off the entire nervous system, you wouldn't be able to experience whatever is happening in terms of the external objects of the sixth sense bases. Friend, what does vitality stand in dependence on?

Vitality stands in dependence on heat. What is heat? This comes from the word ushna in Sanskrit. This is heat. This is the fire energy. This fire energy is also known as metabolism. Metabolism of the body. When there is cellular metabolism going on, then everything functions properly and therefore you can experience things in the proper way. If you don't have proper metabolism, or there is an inefficiency in metabolism, then the vitality cannot function correctly.

Friend, what does heat stand in dependence on? What do you think that might be? Heat stands in dependence on vitality. We understood the Venerable Sariputta to have said, Vitality stands in dependence on heat. And now we understand him to say, Heat stands in dependence on vitality. How should the meaning of these statements be regarded? In that case, friend, I shall give you a simile.

For some wise men here understand the meaning of a statement by means of a simile. Just as when an oil lamp is burning, in dependence on its flame, and its flame is seen in dependence on its radiance, so too, vitality stands in dependence on heat, and heat stands in dependence on vitality. When you light up an oil lamp, whether it's an oil lamp or a ghee lamp, what do you see? You see that flame that's there.

But you see the radiance around that flame. Have you ever noticed it? It's very sparkly around the flame. That's the radiance. Because of that radiance, you are able to perceive the flame itself. But that radiance is given off by the flame itself as well. In the same way, it's the metabolism that allows the proper functioning of vitality, the nervous system. But the nervous system allows cells to function properly as well.

So there is an interdependency happening within the body that allows the proper functioning of the sense faculties, so that we perceive things in the right way, or in the way that the senses perceive them. Friend, are vital formations things that can be felt, or are vital formations one thing and things that can be felt another? Vital formations, friends, are not things that can be felt.

If vital formations were things that can be felt, then a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness would not be seen to emerge from it. Because vital formations are one thing and things that can be felt another, a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness can be seen to emerge from it. This is from the Pali word ayu-sankhara.

Ayu-sankhara means formations related to longevity. These are the processes in the body that allow everything else to properly function. So when you are in cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, there's no subjective experience of contact, feeling, perception, or consciousness. The internal heat and vitality. The nervous system continues to function. The metabolism continues to function. The cellular activity continues to function. So ayu-sankhara in one way are understood to be telomeres, those that allow the cells to function and separate, and so on and so forth. So these processes are not dependent upon the feeling and perception and so on. They will continue on when you have cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, up to seven days.

After seven days, the heat and vitality leave, and you are now kaput. You're dead. So the idea, or the understanding, is that when you are in cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, don't be afraid, because you will just drop into cessation for a brief moment, beef that will be. A lot of people have this instinctual fear before they get into cessation because the conceit in the mind says, I'm going to die.

I'm going to no longer exist. But that's dependent upon all of these other fetters and formations and so on. So far, in my experience, I have never heard of anybody who has gone into cessation and never come back out. So far. So don't worry. You will come out. For you to be able to stay in cessation for a longer period than just a few brief seconds, you really need determinations.

To be able to even stay for up to a minute, you need to have determinations. In order for you to even be able to stay for 30 seconds, you need to have determinations. So don't worry. You'll be fine. Allow the mind to let go completely and experience cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. The body will take care of itself. There's new research coming up on cessation. It's going to come up maybe in the next six months. We'll see how long it takes. But there it's seen that other functions and vital functions of the body continue. They continue to keep the body alive while the mind is completely shut off.

So the vital formations related to cellular metabolism and so on continue, which means the body doesn't go limp, the body doesn't go dead. What goes, or completely ceases, in that period is all of the mental formations, all of the verbal formations, all of the bodily formations related to contact with the body. So there's no longer any kind of contact. But if you slap somebody in cessation, they're not going to feel it. If you scream at them, they're not going to hear it, because there's no longer any feeling there, no longer any perception there, no longer any awareness present.

Friend, when this body is bereft of how many states is it then discarded and forsaken, left lying senseless like a log? Friend, when this body is bereft of three states, vitality, heat, and consciousness, it is then discarded and forsaken, left lying senseless like a log. This is the dying process. When the body starts to dissolve, when there is no longer any consciousness, no longer any vitality, there's no longer any heat. For a little while the body continues in terms of the cellular activity. For a little while the body continues in terms of some kind of neural or nervous system activity, but that too shuts down completely. The heat and vitality completely shut down, and there's no more consciousness also present. So in terms of the dying process of the body, there are certain senses that dissolve one after the other, and there are certain elements that dissolve one after the other.

In the case of the six sense bases, the first thing to start to dissolve is the sense of smell, then the sense of taste. Then there goes the sense of sight. Then the sense of touch. Then the sense of hearing. And then finally, the mind consciousness. These all dissolve one after the other. In terms of the energies or the elements, the first to go is the fire element. The temperature goes away. Or rather, the air element and then the fire element.

So the respiration stops, the temperature lowers, it cools down, and then the water element goes, and then finally the earth element dissolves. So in the case of somebody who is fully dead, they won't have any more vitality, they won't have any more heat, and they won't have any more consciousness. Friend, what is the difference between one who is dead, one who has completed his time, and a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness?

Friend, in the case of one who is dead, who has completed his time, his bodily formations have ceased and subsided. That means there's no more contact with the body. His verbal formations have ceased and subsided, no more activity in terms of expressing speech. His mental formations have ceased and subsided, meaning now there is no more feeling and perception present.

His vitality is exhausted, and his heat has been dissipated, and his faculties are fully broken up. No more nervous activity in terms of the nervous system. No more metabolism. And no more activity of the sixth sense basis. There's no way for the sixth sense basis to receive any more information. They've become broken. They've become like a blind person and a deaf person and so on. Even though you shine a light in their eyes, they will not be able to see the light, hear what you're saying, and so on.

They're always being impinged upon by sensory data through photons, sensory data through vibrations, through taste molecules, through odor molecules, through air pressure, and so on and so forth. But when there's no feeling and perception at all, all of that information highway that receives those data packets becomes cleared of those data packets. They are exceptionally clear. They have the potential to function, meaning they're not disconnected from the mind, meaning they're no longer broken up. But because there's no more information in the form of sensory data being received, they are exceptionally clear. There's no traffic jam of sensations going on. It's completely free of any kind of sensory traffic.

This is the difference between one who is dead, who has completed his time, and a bhikkhu who has entered upon the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. Friend, how many conditions are there for the attainment of the neither painful nor pleasant deliverance of mind? This is talking about the fourth jhana. Friend, there are four conditions for the attainment of the neither painful nor pleasant deliverance of mind. Here, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the fourth jhana, which has neither pain nor pleasure, and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.

These are the four conditions for the attainment of the neither painful nor pleasant deliverance of mind. What do they mean when they say purity of mindfulness due to equanimity? When you experience the jhanas, you are also cultivating the seven factors of awakening. Mindfulness leads to investigation of states. Investigation of states leads to energy. Energy leads to joy. Joy leads to tranquility. Tranquility leads to collectedness, and collectedness leads to equanimity. In the fourth jhana, that continues throughout the jhanas, that continues to cycle through, and eventually by the fourth jhana there is mindfulness, the purity of mindfulness due to equanimity, purified by equanimity. So it cycles through. Then there is a stronger equanimity, a stronger investigation of states, stronger collectedness, deeper and deeper and deeper until it becomes very collected. Not concentrated, mind you. Collected, unified.

It is signless, which comes from the Pali animitta. Animitta is a sign. Animitta is an object. Any objects, doesn't hold on to any objects. At this point, even quiet mind becomes coarse, and you let go of the edges of all mind itself. And there is the signless, which is that it doesn't take any object. It's like when you flash, or you turn on a flashlight and you point it up to the sky, and it just continues up into space, never landing on anything.

In the same way, it is your mind's attention turned on and just looking through things, not looking at them, not getting caught up in them. So there's strong disenchantment here. There's strong dispassion here. Everything becomes translucent in terms of whatever objects arise, whatever formations arise, at all in particular. Eventually, the batteries of the flashlight run out and the light disappears.

In the same way, the fuel for the attention runs out because there's no object that it grasps onto. And then there is the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. Friend, how many conditions are there for the persistence of the signless deliverance of mind? Friend, there are three conditions for the persistence of the signless deliverance of mind. Non-attention to all signs, attention to the signless element, and the prior determination of its duration.

These are the three conditions for the persistence of the signless deliverance of mind. So if you want, you can actually determine to go into the signless deliverance of mind once you have actually been there, and then make a prior determination to stay there for however long, up to seven days. Each of the jhanas and cessation and so on, up to seven days.

Friend, how many conditions are there for the emergence from the signless deliverance of mind? There are two conditions for emergence from the signless deliverance of mind. Attention to all signs and non-attention to the signless element. These are the two conditions for emergence from the signless deliverance of mind. So in other words, if you want to get out of the signless state, pay attention to something.

Or are they one in meaning and different only in name? Friend, the immeasurable deliverance of mind, the deliverance of mind through nothingness, the deliverance of mind through voidness or emptiness, and the signless deliverance of mind. There is a way in which these states are different in meaning and different in name, and there is a way in which they are one in meaning and different only in name.

Friend, what is the way in which these states are different in meaning and different in name? In other words, they are called different things and they each mean a different thing. Each word or each name or whatever you call it relates to a certain thing. And that is, here a bhikkhu abides pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with loving-kindness.

Likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth, so above, below, around, and everywhere, and to all as to himself. He abides pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness. Abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill-will. He does the same with compassion, joy, or equanimity. In other words, radiating in the six directions and in all directions at the same time.

This is known as the immeasurable deliverance of mind. So every time you're radiating in the six directions, you are experiencing the immeasurable deliverance of mind. And what, friends, is the deliverance of mind through nothingness? Here, with the complete surmounting of the base of infinite consciousness, nothing, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the base of nothingness. This is called the deliverance of mind through nothingness.

In other words, the seventh jhana, the base of nothingness. You go through infinite consciousness and you start to see wider and wider gaps, and then the consciousnesses stop and there is just a perception of nothingness. State, when you enter into the dimension of nothingness, this is known as the deliverance of mind through nothingness. And what, friend, is the deliverance of mind through voidness or emptiness?

Here, a bhikkhu gone to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty hut reflects thus: this is void of a self or of what belongs to a self. In other words, he contemplates, he understands, he observes, he sees, and experiences each of the five aggregates, internal, external, past, present, future. And he understands all of them to be anatta. He understands all of them to be empty of any kind of permanent self.

Because of this, he understands emptiness, a type of emptiness. There are three kinds of emptiness. There is the emptiness of that which is not present, and that which is present is not emptiness. In other words, when you are in infinite consciousness, that state is empty of infinite space. When you are in nothingness, that state is empty of infinite consciousness, and so on.

The second type of emptiness is the emptiness understood as this, the emptiness liberation of mind, the emptiness deliverance of mind. And the third emptiness we'll get to in just a bit. And what, friend, is the signless deliverance of mind? Here, with non-attention to all signs, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the signless collectedness of mind. This is called the signless deliverance of mind. We just talked about this. This is the way in which these states are different in meaning and different in name; in which these states are one in meaning and different only in name? In other words, how are these states synonymous with each other? How do they point to the same thing?

How does the signless state or signless deliverance of mind, the emptiness deliverance of mind, the deliverance of mind through nothingness, and the immeasurable deliverance of mind, how do they all point to the same thing? Lust is a maker of measurement. Hate is a maker of measurement. Delusion is a maker of measurement. In a bhikkhu, whose taints are destroyed, the asavas are destroyed, these are abandoned, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, they are no longer subject to future arising. Of all the kinds of immeasurable deliverance of mind, the unshakable deliverance of mind is pronounced the best.

Now, that unshakable deliverance of mind is void of lust, void of hate, void of delusion. The mind of an arahant. Because what does it mean when we say that lust is a maker of measurement, hate is a maker of measurement, and delusion is a maker of measurement? What does it mean, measurement? To measure, to compare. This is me, this is you, I am better than you, you are better than me, or I have so and so attainment and you have so and so attainment.

All of these ideas, these are part of conceit. There are these 40 kinds of conceit, which I will not get into now. Don't worry, I won't get into it. But conceit comes from the word mana. Mana means to measure something. So lust, craving for something. Hatred, I don't like you. There's some kind of a sense of I'm better than you. You are better than me. I'm jealous of you because you're better than me. And delusion, taking something personally.

Of all the kinds of deliverance of mind through nothingness, the unshakable deliverance of mind is pronounced the best. Deliverance of mind is void of lust. Void of hate. Void of delusion. Lust is a something. Hatred is a something. Delusion is a something. In other words, craving creates an object to hold on to. Right? There's an object of craving. There's an object of hatred. There's an object of identification.

But when you let go of that, you experience nothingness. The mind doesn't project an idea of something out there. The mind of an arahant will experience everything as it is. They'll see people for who they are. They'll see things for what they are. But there's no longer any of this cascading of projecting that I like this person because they are so and so. I don't like this person because they are so-and-so. Or I am this kind of person because of so-and-so. All of these ideas are gone in the mind of the arahant.

There is this and I don't like that. When there is some kind of an object and the mind starts to identify with it, it takes that as a sign, as an object. But when that craving is gone, there is no object of craving. When that hatred is gone, there is no object of hatred. When that delusion is gone, of delusion. Everything is seen as it actually is. There's no longer conceptualizing things, right? There's no way of adding a sense of me, mine, or myself to an object. It is as it is, without any further proliferation of ideas and concepts, dependent upon a sense of personality, a sense of a personal self. So when these go away, there are no more signs of these states of greed, hatred or delusion.

No more objects dependent upon craving, hatred and delusion. And so the mind of the arahant is also signless. And of course it is empty, void, because it is empty of any kind of sense of self. That's the third emptiness. Empty of greed, hatred, and delusion. That is what the Venerable Sariputta said. The Venerable Maha Kodita was satisfied and delighted in the Venerable Sariputta's words. May suffering ones be suffering free. May the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief. 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. you