Deerpark Retreat Day 9 Upanisa Sutta - Full Dependent Origination w/Delson Armstrong

So today we're going to be reading from Samyutta Nikaya 12.23, called Proximate Cause. And this is known as the Upanisa Sutta in Pali. So we talked about dependent origination for quite a bit, understanding dependent origination, elaboration of the first and second noble truths. This sutta discusses the transcendental dependent origination, which is the path leading to the cessation of suffering, which means this is the elaboration of the third and fourth noble truths.

So it begins: Ad-savati, bhikkhus, I say that the destruction of the taints is its passing away. Such are volitional formations. Such their origin. Such their passing away. Such is consciousness. Such its origin. Such its passing away. It is for one who knows, for one who sees, that the destruction of the taints comes about.

So, understanding the impermanent nature of the five aggregates. These are the modes of our experience: form, feeling, perception, intentions, and consciousness. Understanding their impermanent nature leads to understanding that they are not worth holding on to, which means that they are not to be considered me, mine, or myself. When you truly experience this, when you truly know this for yourself and see it, when you understand the links of dependent origination by actually experiencing them after you come out of cessation and let go completely, then the destruction of the taints is possible, which means arahatship. I say bhikkhus that the knowledge of the destruction in regard to destruction has approximate cause. So there is the knowledge that the taints have been destroyed, actual destruction of the taints.

It should be said, dispassion. Dispassion. Remember we talked about dispassion as detachment by Ravya. Right? That is a mind that is in a bubble, unaffected by whatever is going on. Remember that story of holding onto the bowl of oil and just watching that? not being affected by what's going on around you. So staying with the mind, not letting, even things are bombarding the mind, not letting the attention sway there. You become aware, okay, there's a lot of stuff going on, but if you keep your attention on your mind, then dispassion is present, being unaffected by what's going on.

I say because that dispassion too has proximate cause. Lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for dispassion? It should be said revulsion, disenchantment. Remember what disenchantment is. You've had too much of that chocolate cake, or you've had too much of that favorite meal of yours. You've seen too many of these thoughts in the mind and you're claiming it's tiresome. You want to do away with them. You're done with them. So if they keep coming up, care. You're just disenchanted with them. You're staying with the quiet mind.

The perception of equanimity leads to the perception of disenchantment. The perception of disenchantment leads to the perception of dispassion. The perception of dispassion leads to the perception of cessation. If your mind is starting to plunge towards cessation but it's not getting there completely, there's not enough dispassion. If there's not enough dispassion, move one step backward. Go to the disenchantment.

If the disenchantment is not strong, go to the equanimity. What if the equanimity is not too strong? Now we'll see. Samadhi. A collected mind. If your mind is not collected enough, that means there won't be equanimity. So if you don't have equanimity, that means you need to strengthen your collectedness. How do you strengthen your collectedness? Now we'll see. I say because that concentration too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. And what is a proximate cause for concentration? It should be said happiness.

Happiness here is translated from the word sukha. Comfort. Everything. Being in the mind, in the body, as it is. No discomfort. But what if there's no discomfort? What do you do then? Or rather, what if there is no comfort? I say because that happiness too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for happiness? It should be said, tranquility.

Relaxation. Passaddhi. If the mind is not comfortable, there's agitation. If the body is not comfortable, there's agitation. Pull back your attention a little bit. Relax. Soften. Remember: drop, or push, soften, and smile. Relax. But what if you're not relaxed? Then what do you do? I say because that tranquility too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for tranquility? It should be said rapture, joy, piti. There's not enough enjoyment in the process.

If you get too technical, am I in this jhana? Do I have enough of this factor? Am I staying with my object in meditation? Are the hindrances present? Did I do the six hours correctly? Get too technical. There's not enough enjoyment. Let go of that thinking mind. Try to analyze what's going on. Just come back and enjoy the process. Come back to the present moment of the experience and allow joy to come up. So now I should also say what we are looking at is the development of the enlightenment factors as well. Why?

Because what is dependent upon the disenchantment? Or rather, what is disenchantment dependent upon? Equanimity. So the enlightenment factor of equanimity is present. Dependent on concentration, the equanimity arises. So you need the concentration factor. Dependent on sukha, the concentration is there. And dependent upon relaxation, the tranquility factor, the sukha is there. Dependent upon the joy factor, the tranquility is there.

Remember when we're doing the six R's. What are we doing? We are recognizing, so bringing up the mindfulness, bringing up the investigation of states, releasing, balancing the energy, relaxing, having tranquility, coming to the smile, bringing up joy, coming back to your object, concentration, and equanimity throughout. Well, let's say you don't have joy, then what do you do?

I say because that rapture too has approximate cause. It does not lack approximate cause. And what is the approximate cause for rapture? It should be said, gladness. This is pamojja in Pali. This is happiness in the Dhamma. What are you guys here for? What have you been doing for the last 10 days? The wisdom that brings up the equanimity. Then that brings up disenchantment. That brings up dispassion. That brings up cessation.

But let's say you don't have gladness either. Then what do you do? I say because that gladness too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for gladness? It should be said faith, and bhikshin. You all came here out of some kind of faith, the willingness and openness to see what this practice is about.

That's the first level. Now as you cycle through this process, you will go through cycles as you have each attainment, as you have each cessation. Then the faith will be stronger. There will be experiential confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. In that process, then you do the right effort. When you do the right effort, you experience relief from the hindrances. Knowledge.

But let's say you don't have faith. Then what happens? I say because that faith too has approximate cause. It does not lack approximate cause. And what is the approximate cause for faith? It should be said suffering. You haven't suffered enough. You see, when somebody experiences suffering, two things can happen. Either they find a way out, which is where the sun day comes from, or they just continue on with their lives.

Until there's an actual pain point, people won't change. That's why it makes no sense to go back into the real world and start to evangelize this practice. When people actually experience and see for themselves that, oh, this person is calm, non-advocated, what's going on with them? And they come to you, then you can say, hey, this is what I've been doing. Then if they're interested, they can check it out for themselves. But no point in being a Dhamma evangelist.

Let your actions, let your words, let your thoughts inspiration. This is transcendental dependent origination. There's more to this, because then it goes into the mundane dependent origination. I'll just go through that quickly. I say bhikkhus that suffering too has approximate cause. It does not lack approximate cause. And what is the approximate cause for suffering? It should be said birth. I say bhikkhus that birth too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. Lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for birth? It should be said habitual tendencies. I say bhikkhus that habitual tendencies too have a proximate cause. They do not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for habitual tendencies?

It should be said, you guys remember? Clinging. I say bhikkhus that clinging too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for clinging? Craving. I say, bhikkhus, that craving too has a proximate cause. It does not lack a proximate cause. And what is the proximate cause for craving? It should be said...

Feeling. Feeling and perception. For feeling, it should be said... What is the proximate cause of feeling? What is the approximate cause of contact? Six-sense basis. What is the approximate cause of six-sense basis? Mentality, materiality. What is the approximate cause for mentality, materiality? Consciousness. What is the approximate cause for consciousness? Formations. What is the approximate cause for formations?

Ignorance. Ignorance. Thus, bhikkhus, with ignorance as proximate cause, what comes to be? Formations come to be. With formations as proximate cause, consciousness comes to be. With consciousness as proximate cause, mentality, materiality. With mentality, materiality as cause, six sense bases. With six sense bases as cause, contact. With feeling as cause. With craving as cause. With clinging as cause. With habitual tendencies as cause.

With growth as cause. With suffering as cause. Let's see how well you guys listen to it. Faith. With faith as cause. Gladness. With gladness as cause. Rapture. With rapture as cause. Tranquility. Tranquility. Tranquility as cause? Sukha. Comfort. With happiness as cause? Dispassion. Concentration. Concentration. Concentration as cause? Equanimity. Equanimity. Equanimity as cause? Disenchantment. Disenchantment. With disenchantment as cause? Dispassion. Dispassion. With dispassion as cause? Cessation. Cessation. This is the whole path. The whole of the four humble priests. Just as bhikkhus, when rain pours down in thick droplets on a mountain top, the water flows down along the slope and fills the cleft, gullies, and creeks. These being full, fill up the pools. These being full, fill up the lakes.

These being full fill up the streams. These being full fill up the rivers. And these being full fill up the great ocean. So too, in the same way, all of these fill up one after the other. So with ignorance, in comes formation, consciousness, nama-rupa, and so on. So it just keeps going. So to understand where you are in your practice, to understand what you need to do, the transcendental dependent origination.

This is what you have been doing for the last nine days. Following the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is interwoven in that. The Enlightenment factors are interwoven in that. Right effort is interwoven in that. All of the 37 requisites for Enlightenment are interwoven in that. But for simplicity's sake, required in your meditation based on that series of links of transcendental dependence. If you're having a problem with your meditation, go back one step.

Develop that. Then come back. This is how you do it. This is how you problem solve in your own meditation. This is how you troubleshoot your meditation. Now there is another sutta similar to this, which are 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5. They're all the same, but I'm going to just read 10.1. It's very similar to this. But there's a little bit of a difference, and you'll see what I'm talking about. So this is from, let's see, Anguttara Nikaya 10.1, which is called, What Purpose? Blessed have I heard, on one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park.

Then the Venerable Ananda approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him, Bhante, what is the purpose and benefit of wholesome, virtuous behavior? Ananda, the purpose and benefit of wholesome, virtuous behavior is non-regret. Keeping your precepts leads to non-regret, a mind that is not educated. A mind without any regret or remorse.

And what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of non-regret? The purpose and benefit of non-regret is gladness. Pamoja. So here, in the first sequence we saw, faith leads to gladness. But that faith requires effort. What is that effort? The right effort of letting go where you have enough energy. What is the energy coming from? Keeping the precepts. Your mind becomes purified at one level when you keep the precepts. Your intentions become purified when you keep the precepts. From there, there is non-regret. From that non-regret, there is pamoja. And what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of pamoja? The purpose and benefit of pamoja is rapture. Joy, and what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of rapture? The purpose and benefit of rapture is tranquility, and what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of tranquility? The purpose and benefit of tranquility is sukha, and what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of sukha? Concentration, and what, Bhante, is the purpose and benefit of concentration?

The purpose and benefit of concentration is the knowledge and vision of things as they really are, equanimity. The purpose and benefit of equanimity is disenchantment. The purpose and benefit of disenchantment is dispassion, and the purpose and benefit of dispassion is the knowledge and vision of liberation. Thus, Ananda, wholesome virtuous behavior progressively leads to the foremost. That's it. That's the path.

That's all you have to do when you get off the retreat. Make sure you keep the... So, you know, Bhante would say, you know, if you take care of the Dhamma, the Dhamma will take care of you. Which means, if you keep your precepts, then everything else falls into place. Just keeping your precepts, your mind remains pure, your mind remains pure. Your intentions remain pure. Your intentions remain pure. You won't get caught up or catch yourself in doing things that cause regret.

Because of that, your mind remains steady. Maybe not fully steady, but steady enough to start the process of meditation, of samadhi. From there, that leads to the knowledge and vision of things as they are, which is insight and wisdom. So the tools that you have now, the loving kindness, the compassion, the empathetic joy, the equanimity, the forgiveness, the six R's, this is stuff you can apply in every moment.

You find yourself stuck in a situation that can aggravate the mind. What do you do? Six R. Bring up equanimity. You find a situation where a person comes and berates you and gets angry at you. What do you do? Before you react, what do you do? Take a couple of moments. Bring up love and kindness. Bring up compassion. Then respond.

You find yourself in a situation where you find envy coming up. What do you do? Recognize them. Let go of them. It brings up empathetic joy. You find yourself in a situation where you're holding on to something. You feel terrible about something. What do you do? Forgiveness. So this is practical Dhamma. This is how you cultivate the mind of an awakened being. and kindness. Keep the precepts. Generate love and kindness. Generate compassion.

Generate mudita. Generate upekkha. Be patient. Be forgiving. Now you are in a retreat setting. It's much easier to do these things. Now the real test is what you do off retreat. That's a lot of times what people ask me. What do I do off retreat? And I say there is never any off retreat. It's just a mentality. You can still be on retreat while off retreat. It'll be a little more challenging, that's all.

But make it like a game. Be like a little child, make it like a game. Now you understand what happens when you take things personally. Now you understand what happens when you identify with situations. Now you understand how craving arises. In recognizing that, you're able to let go. You're able to six R. And as you do this, other people become motivated and inspired by that. of continuing the old patterns of an eye for an eye, he said that to me, she said that to me, I'm going to get back at them. How could they say that to me? Why did they do that?

Instead of all of those habitual tendencies, you can now recognize them, let them go, and apply the tamo. Be a peacemaker. De-escalate situations. Be more aware. Be more mindful. Be more attentive. That's the key. Attention to everything. Relaxed attention to everything. I'm trying to focus and figure out things. In the relaxing of it, everything presents itself. You just have to be there, present.

That's all I have now. I'm done. The other day you spoke where you mentioned that you would teach some things that some teachers don't encourage you to speak about, but you were going to. Did you address them? Yeah, I did. Okay, I was just curious. And which, so which were those? Majjhima Nikaya 43 and 44, talking about how this process of cessation happens. And what happens after cessation. This might just be my perspective.

This might just be my lack of sufficient knowledge about other traditions, but it seems like a lot of meditation traditions are kind of hush-hush about the path. Well, the one that I'm more familiar with as a kid was Zen. So Zen in particular. But even in some other traditions, they don't want to quite tell you the full story before you maybe have to be like a couple years into your practice. Do you think that's accurate? And why do you think they do that? Why is that? I can only speak from how I would understand, which is that, you know, I think not sharing everything, like I didn't really share with you guys, and I'm not going to share with you guys, what happens when you see dependent origination.

Because that can influence how the mind sees it, or looks for it. But you have to then come back and tell the guide, like, this is what happened, and then the guide, from their experience, can confirm this is how things happened. So for that reason, I think it's not about, like, keeping the teachings secret, I think it's about...

Because here, basically, we've just discussed the whole path. For the last seven or eight days, we've been discussing the Eightfold Path, how things happen, dependent origination, basically, how to let go of your consciousness from one thing to the other, with when we did 143 and so on. So the only thing I would not discuss is because I don't want to influence your minds. that and then come back and report so I think based on that intention maybe that's the intention of other traditions. Just one other thing, are there any other traditions that have this specific relaxing step? I think it's very similar to the practicalities of and especially Xochitl, resting awareness. - Possibly even Shikantaza.

- Yes, yes, definitely. Because you're just watching my doing what it's doing without getting engaged in it. - So what you said was that possibly also what? Shikantaza, just sitting. - Shikantaza Zen practice. I am really admiring your compassion while answering the questions. So, my first question is, what is anyone should reflect before posing a question? These are the meta questions. Not meta, but M-E-T-A. Yes.

Please go ahead. are hypothetical. It just causes all intellectually debate and deviation from practical application. Yeah, this is something we didn't really discuss in the beginning of the retreat, but yeah, I think that's something that's important to understand. When you ask the question, and I think you guys have been doing pretty well with that, which is asking the question because you're experiencing something. Can you give any clarification of what it is you're experiencing or how to get to the next step? So be practical.

in your questions. The theory aspect, the hypotheticals, the what if this happens or what if that happens, that leads into speculation and intellectualism of things. So, try to stay practical with your questions. Maybe my question is sometimes I feel that people just want to learn without going to a retreat from our experience. Or they just want to provoke or debate something which either won't help them.

And the other part I read in Sutta where I think the Buddha had told when we could to in fact elaborate more so that people could do it. If you find that you're getting yourself caught into debates, stop. Don't get into debates. Then the mind of defending what it is that you're clinging to in terms of a viewpoint where the trauma or whatever gets in an independent resolution and then causes suffering in the end.

So any question that's asked to you, take some time. Four or five seconds, let the mind absorb that question. And then let the mind come up with it. Let your intuition guide you. And then the question will be, or the answer will be, answering maybe not the question, but the heart of the question. Sometimes people will ask questions not knowing what they're asking.

but your intuition will know and penetrate to the core of what it is they are asking and the answer will still be an answer. Next is how to discern and whether to apply algorithms or intuition by taking any decision. I like this question. This is a really good question. You know, that's what I was talking about earlier. The Dhamma is like filled with algorithms. Right? Because it's got everything. It's got the Eightfold Path, it's got the Dependent Origination, the Four Noble Truths. If this happens, that happens. It's got causality, conditionality. It's got cessation. It's got every answer for every particular question.

So, but your intuition will be the guiding force to see if in the memory banks of your mind, through your experience, if you can bring that knowledge and then use that as an answer to the question. Or if it doesn't, your intuition will still guide you. So always use your intuition. The algorithms are set there. But the intuition is that which is able to sift through the library and say, this is the answer. And it gives the answer. So always go with the intuition.

You can examine the intention behind that action. You can see, is this coming from a place of craving or is it coming from a wholesome intention that's going to truly help myself or other people? Sometimes when people ask me questions, I don't give the same answer to that question. And sometimes I give a non-answer too. So, yeah, it's basically, even if you go to the memory banks of your mind, it's not like you're, if you're using intuition, it's not like you're just using the same old rhetoric of whatever it is that you keep. And the other thing is, this is the key. If you want to be a good guide, if you want to be a good teacher, you should be able to answer the same question a hundred times.

There have been times you've noticed when the opinion retreats in Namaskar, where people will apparently ask similar questions that were asked before. The question was asked to me, which is, don't you get tired of those questions? No, because I don't notice that the questions have been asked before. I just listen to the question and answer the question. That's it. It's like someone hit play on a recording of Delcenate. She gives the same answer, sometimes the same answer, but it's with the same enthusiasm that was asked. So this is what we're planning to do, actually, right? We're going to be recording all of my answers. and if somebody asks a question, just hit play. That's it.

In 2030, there's just going to be a hologram of Delsa. Just go through the library and stop answering. That's the algorithm we're working on. Will you please go back more into dispassion of people in the mentee? Because there's something in my mind. As I kind of parse into it the way that the Buddha has, I just think of equanimity being equanimous with everything, right? Everything is neutral and I don't have any responses or reactions to it. Right, right. Equanimity is the knowledge and vision of things as they are, which means just seeing things as they are. When you have equanimity, you don't add stuff to it.

Whether it's painful or pleasant or neutral, you just see things as they are. It's in your own mind, it's like this commentator saying, oh, this is a pleasant feeling, oh, this is a painful feeling. But beyond that, there's no holding on to or trying to push away. That's the real equanimity, when it's just unaffected by these things. When you have that equanimity, when you have that in your mind and you're just watching quiet mind, if you truly have that equanimity, stuff that bombards you, sankharas that keep coming up, it just flows through your attention. Your attention is just here in quiet mind. That naturally builds up the disenchantment which says, alright, I'm tired of seeing these things so I'm not going to even look up anymore.

I'm just going to be here. And that naturally leads to that dispassion which is like, that's the thing. It's just only looking at that. Now that's different from being single pointed or one pointed. It's more like the mind is just resting there. It's like being able to sleep through anything. You know, being able to sleep, there's sounds here and there and whatever it is, but you're still able to just sleep. Because your mind is just wanting to sleep the same way your intention and mind is just wanting to stay there. So these things naturally happen and you will see a little bit of an overlap in between equanimity and disenchantment and between disenchantment and dispassion.

but it starts with first having the collected mind, let's say, having a mind that stays with its object. From there, equanimity naturally arises. And I'll just put out there one thing from my personal experience, which has been very briefly during just several months. And, I mean, your example, you speak and share the Dhamma and the teachings and the practice, they all go together so nicely and so well. And then we have other examples besides yourself of other people and students who share that they've had different experiences that you speak about, that the Buddha spoke about 2,500 years ago. And it all just feels so nice that the mind partly says, this is too good to be true.

Because it's just incredible to think that this practice, which is so simple, that you can teach to people in 10 days and they can experience things which previous to not very long ago, I didn't realize was even possible in this day and age. And no one in the West that I'm aware of is really speaking of these things actually occurring. We speak about knowledge. We speak about learning and things about actual changing who you are at a core level. That's not really discussed.

And I find it really incredible that something this simple, which was taught to hundreds of thousands of people at that time and spread through all these different countries, could have gotten changed into all of these different practices which are still under the umbrella of Buddhism, which also bring about great benefit, it seems, but last for tens of years or maybe never come to these attainments, like it doesn't seem like most anyone else is teaching this very simple practice it the mind is just like this it just seems incredible that this could happen different strokes for different folks but yeah I mean you know this is just one practice that you're welcome to keep practicing and that's what I keep saying it's just welcome try out see for yourself and if it works for you do it but if it not if it doesn't keep looking that's really it thank you all for your example i'm sure

Yeah, taking that forward, I would take this opportunity on this basis to thank you, and the way it has been put, Venirvanathanda's style of giving examples, quoting stories, giving data, which we as such like more, and your way of explaining these things in such a simplified and practical manner, because if you really read the book, it's like if you read for the first time, just can't make out. This is my first experience of any sort of retreat, or exposure to Buddhism at all. So I really thank you for that. So putting in such a lucid manner, and in practical terms also, as we will be going back together in a, I mean, this is the reality, now we'll be going to pursue reality tomorrow.

So it will be a total different thing, but yeah, so how to deal with that, so that was a really. I would also like to thank the support staff because I don't think Mr. Pramiji is here, and the kitchen staff there is always food for thought, but food for stomach was always there, and evening time was the best time of meditation practice. I would be going with a bowl of soup and with no hard feelings to those who are taking the food, but I would be looking at the sandwiches there and me with the soup here, and then I think the meditation practice started. Just a sandwich. Don't pursue it. Don't have formations. Let go, let go.

So, by the way. And this is really, just look at the person taking the sandwich there. And I just never fast in my life. Only if I don't get food when I was working as a student. But otherwise, I'm not into fasting of any sort. But yeah, this was a good experience. And yeah, that was a really good feeling. I would like to share with you a small scientific experiment, what the bells cause initially. We have that morning bell of breakfast, afternoon bell of lunch, and evening bell of soup, so-called dinner. Pavlov was a scientist, we had this study way back in the first family days, and this is called a conditioned reflex.

dogs as samples and this was a salivation reflex they were studying. So they used to offer him food and salivation was induced because the dogs were here, so they would naturally salivate. What he started doing is just whenever they offered food he also started ringing the bell, right? So he continued doing that for some time, and one fine day he removed the food, only the bell, and then also the salivated. So that reminded me, I mean, I was reminiscent of the same thing, the bells ringing every time, and it took me back to Pavlov. Pavlov found it way back. Anyways, it was a very good experience. And coming to that, I've got my own sort of bit of data. I'm a little bit clinging to heart rates. I would say that word is more clinging only, so what I generally put on my watch

for us other than bathing or that sort of thing. So we continuously monitor my heart rate. Lots of people know what resting heart rate is, but let me still elaborate. What is the resting heart rate? Resting heart rate is your heart rate when you're very rested. Say, for example, after you get up from an afternoon nap, you're absolutely calm with no tension, and you measure your heart rate. That's a resting heart rate. Or you're just reading a book and calm without any stimulation. I took my resting heart rates throughout these days, and I started monitoring from last Monday. I didn't monitor on Saturday and Sunday because we were coming out of the stress of travel. And what happened is, I took my average heart rates and the impact just before it came.

So I wasn't that good. I just worked out and I had a pretty routine shift, nothing ups and downs. So average heart rate has gone down by about 10, which is a big number for you. So that has gone significantly down. That's the average heart rate. The other factor is whenever you measure day heart rate and night heart rate, resting heart rate. At night you are the most relaxed. So generally the night resting heart rates are the minimum. So heart rate is the minimum when you are resting absolutely at night. So day heart rates went down, night heart rates went down. First three days, the day heart rate was still higher than the night heart rates.

meditation thing, you would be knowing that. And then after 4:50 I got into that groove, and after the 4:50, what happened is the day resting heart rate was lesser than the night resting heart rate, which I found amazing. I mean, I have got my day time, I can just... it's 56, 57 at night, 55, 56 at night, 52, 55 at night. So the day, while meditating, the heart rate went even below what it was at night. So that was, maybe I will keep more track of it, but yeah, that was fantastic objective data, right? This is when we're talking about subjective data also, like what we see and what we feel, but this is what is objective as far as that goes. And that's what I talked with you about: why don't you get some good data on yourself, taking fluids and monitoring the vitals and everything? When you go in, you know, that would be fantastic, because today people believe more in data and studies rather than telling little things like suttas and Kamma.

Even I am of that kind of cataract. I won't be objective about doing that. But it's a good thing if we have good studies. That would be one way which people will be inclined toward, more than the spread of knowledge, which always works. But yeah, still. So that was a fantastic thing I discussed in the interview. This was one thing which I was amazed by, that my day resting heart rate was going below the night resting heart rate.

and then questions. Yes, so the object of meditation. So when we go back again, say normally I practice, I don't get that angry, then one fine day I can sit down and practice. So should it always go from... So let's say you have a gap in your practice, then start with metta, sending out metta in the six directions, and let it gradually progress through that. And you might find, even if you start with metta, it might just, as you said, paraglides, skip over some of the stages and go directly into nothingness and equanimity, or even tribal mind or quiet mind. But always start with metta when you start out the practice.

Now, if you're in the flow, let's say you maintain a consistent practice, practising an hour to a day, and so on, then just when you're sitting down, ask the mind where it wants to start. Does it feel like compassion today? Does it feel like equanimity today? Does it feel like joy? And the mind will then just start to send out that particular brahmavihara. For the first 20 to 30 minutes that might happen, and then you go into quiet mind. Now the thing is, as you get into daily life, there's going to be a lot more bombardment of sensory stimulation.

So maybe the first 30 minutes is going to be just taking out all the garbage from the mind. That's okay. It's a process. After that, you get into the groove of things, and then you continue with your practice. Another thing I would want to ask: whatever we say, we are genetically quite different. A person may be anxious, a person may be happy-go-lucky, even from birth. The child does show the traits.

So, can the object of meditation be customised according to personality traits? Yes. Yes. This is why they put that in the kammatthana, which is like a different, 40 different meditations, at least 40 different kinds of meditation subjects or objects. So, for a certain kind of mindset, he would, kind of like prescriptions, prescribe, okay, you do this kind of practice. Where is this called? I don't know if this is in the suttas exactly, but I know it's within the Dhamma, which is like, you know, for example, if somebody has a speculative mindset, then anapanasati is good. If somebody has a more irritated mindset, then metta is good. And if somebody has more agitation, then, you know, equanimity is good, and so on and so forth.

So just search kammatthana, I think. Best would be a teacher guiding what exactly we need. I mean, that would be, we should tell ourselves and share our experience. And then, as you did, at least in my case, I know how it helps, so I think that would be a better option rather than seeing, studying something and trying to implement it. Yeah, yeah. And one more general question: are there any guidelines for child upbringing in the suttas, or say, a lot of cultures have a lot of things for children to do, right? They say the children should go to gurukul, or children should do this and do that, prayer. Yes, yes, yes.

a parent, how you should treat your spouse and how they should treat you, how you should treat your employees. So there's a whole list of stuff in terms of relationships, and then even about financial advice: how do you save, what do you invest in, and all these other kinds of things. But that's very general advice that the Buddha gives, and the basis of that is making sure that the child understands the five. And also, for example, the Buddha's son, Rahula, he was a monk at a very young age.

And there's a... it's in the suttas actually, it's in Majjhima Nikaya. I'll tell you the number, I'll tell you the story. There the Buddha, now we don't know whether it was because Rahula was... the Buddha was telling lies, but what the Buddha was saying is, you know, he gave an example. He took a bowl of water, a large bowl of water, and he said, if this water was dirty, would you wash your feet with it, and so on. In the same way, if your mind is dirty, you won't be able to do anything with it. And then he kicked away the bucket of water, or whatever, to show as an example that this is what would happen if your mind was dirty.

Consequences. So the idea is, you know, being able to explain to a child action and consequence. So, causality and conditionality. Being able to explain in very, very mundane terms. Like, if you were to tell a lie, what would happen? What would you feel like if you told a lie? If you did this, what would you feel like? So, guiding the child in that way. So that sutta, I'll tell you, because there's a few suttas that he has with Rahula. I'm trying to find the number. Oh, yeah, 62. Majjhima Nikaya 62. Let me make sure that's the right one. No, actually, it's not that one. That one, he shows him the different four elements and things like that.

But there is one sutta. Cularahulovada, maybe. Cula? Have you seen the story when he was small? Yeah, let's see. Yeah, you can Google it, but just search for Rahula and telling lies. Yeah, CulaRahulovada Sutta actually, that one is about, he guides him all the way to arahant. He has a tendency to lie, something. That sutta you are referring to? No, that sutta, the Cularahulovada Sutta, that's Majjhima Nikaya 147, that's much later. He finds out that the mind is ripe enough to attain arahant, so he guides him through it. It's here somewhere. Anyway, my point being that the Buddha did explain to his son the consequences of what would happen if your mind was this way or if your mind was that way.

It could be 61. Yes, it's 61. This is called... Advice to Rahula at Ambalatthika. So, there's some examples of how to guide children. Oh, you have enough questions? And a little bit carrying that forward. If there is some grievous thing, say like stealing something, or maybe a child, maybe a death, is there any sort of punishment other than assertiveness given by Buddha or not? You mean for a child? To let them face the consequences and suffer the consequences in order for them to learn the lesson.

So if they were stealing and they got caught, they have to suffer the consequences of getting caught. Or if they've been indulging in alcohol or something like that, they have to know the consequences. Like they will know the consequences of drinking too much alcohol in the morning. But sometimes it's not enough. But yes, as parents, you have to be there to guide them and say, hey, what you're doing is, you know... And yeah, you, as parents, have the ability to punish them. Whatever that punishment might be, it shouldn't be in a way that causes them to feel like they're being, you know, hurt or harmed or something. But some kind of punishment, you know, that maybe takes away their privileges.

Those kinds of things as well. That's what I wanted to ask. Yeah, yeah. I think with meditation, you know, what was the youngest that Bhante taught? Do you remember? What was the age of those two children? I don't remember, right? It was seven. Was it seven? I think that's the youngest that they were saying one could learn. And there was an 11-year-old that had a lot of success with the practice. Right. But I think generally, you know, maybe at around the age of 10, 11, 12, like that. As they start getting into pre-teen and teenage, that's when they're starting to interact with the world and wondering what's going on here. Also, you don't want to make it a chore for them at all.

They might see you practicing, get curious about it, or do a bedtime ritual like sending love and kindness to your family members together. Bhante would recommend that with kids. My friend and my assistant, he deals with children a lot because he babysits them. He has grandchildren of his own who are very young. They're like six months, one year, two years, that kind of thing. But even kids who are like five or six years old, he'd be taking care of them. And he'd be meditating.

And they would wonder what he's doing. And then after a few weeks, they would come and sit with him and start meditating. And then they would be curious. What is it to do now? The one-year-old that's there, every time she comes to his house, she sees the Buddha statue, and she sees the Mind Without Craving book, and she's able to make a connection, even though it's a different angle. So it's become a ritual. Every time she visits the house, the first thing she's got to see is the Buddha statue, and touch it, and see the book. And then very often you come across a question and you just want to find an answer in the books.

The content, the table of contents, aren't very helpful, like we just saw. So what's the index in the end? On these books the index is not so good. Subject or this topic? Yes. Then how do you Google it? SuttaCentral.net. I found it to be very helpful. It's like the Google of Suttas. You can search by topic or you can search by terms, and it'll take you to all the Suttas which have that term. It's very helpful. SuttaCentral.net. Access to Insight? Access to Insight is also a good resource.

Yeah, SuttaCentral is a little bit, I would say, more like Google in that sense. And you can search by terms and you can search by concepts. And then, for example, if you want to know about the five aggregates, you click there and it'll give you all of the major Suttas that discuss that particular topic.

So SuttaCentral, S-U-T-T-A-C-E-N-T-R-A-L. SuttaCentral. Didn't you have another book? Didn't you have another book coming out soon? Actually, they've come out already. What happened is David Johnson was very eager for the Dependent Origination books to come out, and they are in their unedited form. So this is like the first draft, and he's just gone ahead and published it. So people can go search for those books and read them. If you find typos, or if you find things you're unclear about, send us an email. That's going to help us to refine it. But you just want it out there, because we're going to have the Dependent Origination Workshop in May, so people can start to look at it.

And he's putting, well, indirectly, it's just a joke, but he's indirectly putting pressure on me to finish Craving. So now that the book on birth, the book on suffering, on birth, on being, and on clinging, those are out. Craving is still missing. So I'm working on it, guys. I'm working on it. Yeah, they're available on Amazon. They're available on Flipkart. They're available everywhere. Amazon in every country or? Amazon in every country.

Kindle version. Kindle version and softcover. So is the Craving book different from your book here? Yeah, so these books that we're talking about, like Mind Without Craving, is what you guys read now, but this one is like an in-depth discussion on each of the links of Dependent Origination, just one book on Dependent Origination. But then what happened is, as I was writing each chapter, each chapter became a book of its own. So that's what's going on. By any stroke of luck, are you guys planning to do an audio version of any of these books for people who can't read? Yes, we are planning that. We're planning that, and we're planning a braille version, or a version where even people can't hear us.

So it's in the works somewhere. Another quick one. Are you supposed to smile during quiet mind? Sometimes what happens is the smile kind of softens or disappears. So when you do find a distraction, at that point you just relax and come back to the object. You don't have to do the whole sequence. Just relax and come back. Five, ten minutes with radiating a little bit, even if it means you want to radiate in all directions for the first five minutes. Then allow the mind to settle down into quiet mind. The reason is because it balances your energy. If you get a quiet mind immediately, there's a tendency for mind to become sloth and torpor. So generally what happens is I start with the entire process of six directions and get into that, and then I abruptly, or sometimes take a break from meditation for a few minutes, and then just quickly get into it.

That's fine. I think a little bit ago there was a small discussion that after we go back and how do we perhaps put everything, how we use all these tools and use XR. My take from this is that, for myself, that I have had so much. So much. All very good. And real life, most of the times, is very spontaneous. At the moment, you don't start thinking that, in short, I hope you all understand it. Real life is very spontaneous. When I go back, this is my own view on this. I let everything that I have heard settle down at the bottom of my mental lake.

That's not to say that just put it aside. I'm conscious. That's how you imagine that everything is settled down, and at the right time, if you are simultaneously following the other steps in life, practice, and also the steps that can be easily followed, mindfulness, etc. Then the right input will bubble up and will help you at that point of time. But I don't think there is a conscious way of learning. Am I right? Yes.

The only thing is that you want to have the ability to apply what you learned in as many situations as you can. Yeah, this I'm talking of just ongoing life, but there are, of course, whenever you are confronted with a situation where you have time to think, contemplate, get back, there you can no doubt use many of these truths. Right. And if I was to boil down to simplify everything so that you don't have to be like, what do I do? Do I bring up this or that?

In any situation where you're met with difficult, challenging possibilities. If you just remember to relax, that's it. Just relax in that moment. Then allow things to happen. It'll be fun. And may I also say something? I don't know if it's allowed. I thought it was said that questions should be carefully asked. So, like you said, and I'm sure for everybody, it has been a great retreat. And for me, also personally, it has been a great experience in terms of my practice, in terms of my learnings. I think on my meditation path, I have really gone ahead significantly. My process has been speeded up because of the experience and the techniques that you learn from you.

And both of you have been excellent teachers, and both of you will be on my list of gratitude for the future. And I'll share today's experience for the last three, four days. I'm having good meditations. This morning also I had a great meditation. And then I went down, I went to the washroom, and as I was just turning back and trying to come out, my head suddenly hit the top beam of the door. So when it happens like this, you boom!

That's the moment of awakening, disappears, and my goodness. So I also had my moment of awakening, and I realized life is here. And once in a while it will knock you down. So you'd better be careful about your mindfulness practice. And this last, this light comment, I have great respect and admiration for all those fellow participants who only had soup for dinner.

On the contrary, I suffered from temptation, you never use this word here, and slightly overate because the food was so delicious. Thank you. All the best to everybody. I wish you a great way ahead. Thank you. Sunday was the day when there was a lot of good stuff for me, which wasn't the serving. So I had a lot of, I think it was sunny side up and fries, and after that there was some buddhi raita and cakes. So that day, for a diet thing, my resting heart rate was quite high, significantly till the evening session of the day. So I was thinking that maybe these high fat, high sugar foods increase my heart rate. I should need more insight on that.

But yeah, that was one day when the stats changed a bit. And that was a day when I ate too much. And lastly, I would also like to thank this whole crowd. And I'm not joking, but on the fourth or fifth day, my all metta objects had gone off, all the mountains, all the views, everything had gone off. So I was wondering what I should take as object. And literally for two sessions, I took metta for all of us. And I could see everyone's face. I'm not in the WhatsApp group, but we joined late, since only the last few days we joined. So we didn't know who were coming by the WhatsApp chat. But it's not just that I'm saying.

I could see everyone's face in my mind, and that was metta for that day. That two sessions. So thank you. Thank you. Keep an eye on the eye, says Delson sir. Just six are there, says Delson Sir. I didn't even know that you have to have an empty mind to be mindful. I didn't even know that you have to have an empty mind to be mindful. Secession is the best, says Delson Sir. I don't know whether I will get to the stage of Nibbana anytime in my life. I don't know whether I will get to the stage of Nibbana anytime in my life. Thank you so much, sir.

I've never written in my life. I don't know how it came. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Hi. So before my question, let me continue the included thank yous. As both you and Metananda, sir, know, there was something that unblocked for me during our conversations and the reading of the book. I think that's amazing. I don't think I look back, really my life would have changed if I continued the process of the book. Okay, so now my question is around fetters. So when I was reading, I noticed that in the attainment, the fetters are different in the four, the four levels, four solutions, right? And my question was, if I'm not into Nibbana, I'm not really interested in getting attainment, but I want to get rid of certain fetters, and let's say conceit, which is an arahant fetter to get rid of, right?

Does it move sequentially or jump? The understanding in the sutras is it is sequential. You can't pick and choose, unfortunately. So it'd have to be that I'll have to completely get a look and see this. Anyone else? Yes. Is this the first time you speak before? It is, yes. I saved my questions. I saved my questions. Could you speak about this enchantment, detachment, this passion in relation to others?

Like when you're speaking to a person, it doesn't sound great, you get this passion like that. When you're speaking to a person, you're speaking about them. You're speaking to them. So is it the idea of them? I'm becoming dispassionate about it. Yes, you don't want disenchantment or dispassion towards a person. You always want loving kindness and compassion towards them. But the idea of the person and everything else, you become dispassionate about your mind's reactions to how the person is talking or how the person is causing you to react.

Not the person itself. That makes more sense. And also, how does an arahant relate to others? I know this is probably going to be a paradox question. So it's basically the same, just no more craving and conceit. An arahant can tell jokes, an arahant can interact, an arahant can laugh, can empathize, can send compassion, can even play practical jokes, things like that, just be a normal person. The only difference is there's no more craving, there's no more identification with that process.

And in relation to, say, love, or obviously romantic love, friendship love, all the love that we know, is not there. And yes, I was wondering how you relate to that. There's this movie. It's an Indian movie. It's one of the few Indian movies I recommend. It's called PK. And in that there's a song, it's Love is a Waste of Time.

So, romantic love, if you ask me personally, or just me. Yes, there's no interest in all of that because they just see it as being, it's... The romantic love gives rise to creation of relationships, and when you have two people together there's always going to be different kinds of boundaries met, different kinds of things going on. There's just no interest in all of that. Yes, I get that. That's not there. Why that would be a good thing, but is there a sense of deep connection, interpersonal connection? I wonder what would be in place of that. Compassion would be in place of it. Cool, thank you. And being friendly, that's all, having friendliness. What's the replacement for oxytocin in cortisol as a practice?

Romantic love also creates a lot of oxytocin, right? We talked about dopamine and serotonin. Yes. Love and kindness and compassion also create a lot of oxytocin. It's not serotonin practice only? No, it's also oxytocin. That's why actually Bhante would tell, he told one person, he said to him, be careful when you're with love and kindness, and you see a woman, she might mistake it for, you know, you flirting with her. That's why the same gender. Huh? That's why the same gender. Well, I mean, that's from the Subhimagra and things like that, but yes. What is your take on... If there are families following Dhamma, then we'll leave the good sort of another. So there's a relation, and not having interest in one plus one is okay.

But what about how do you say about families where Dhamma is followed? Because family structure is going to be there. Yes, that concept of the Kulam Kula Subakana, which means from clan to clan, family to family, which means they start taking rebirth in families that follow the Dhamma. So sometimes when there are families that get together, they get introduced to the Dhamma later on in their life, and then they start following the Dhamma. Or, and there's nothing wrong, this is what I'm trying to explain here, there's nothing wrong with romantic love, but if you're asking if an arahant can have romantic love, it's impossible for them to have it. It's impossible for an anagami to have romantic love.

But a stream-enterer or a sakadagami, they can still get into relationships. As soon as that lust goes away, there is no capacity for seeing anyone in a sexual way. That's the thing. So, families that have cultivated the Dhamma and they produce arahants, absolutely. Through cultivation and practice, inspiring the child. And then the child decides, hey, I want to take this all the way forward. And they leave the home life and become bhikkhus and become arahants. We saw that day, from Majjhima Nikaya 44, the couple, Visaka and Dalmedina. Visaka became an anagami, and then Dalmedina said, I'm inspired and I want to go see the Buddha. Is it possible in Iraq to continue working in the occupation?

No, I don't think so. Because why are we working? What are we working for? What's the intention behind working? I think they could apply the Dhamma. I think arahants would be the best CEOs because of their ability to just see things as they are. They don't get disturbed by this or that. But they no longer have intentions rooted in working for passion, working for money, working for this or whatever it might be. They become secluded.

And at best, they might teach. But even then, they don't really have an inclination. They just are okay with their practice, okay with being secluded and continuing to cultivate. So that means that they have to be part of a sangha or something, or a community or something like that? Yes, they need support. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, there are no Pacheca Aramans. as we call it. One last question. So it is a bit technical question. So can you just give a difference between quiet mind neither perception nor non-perception and signless collectiveness. In terms of experience. So neither perception or non-perception is that state where you feel like you're awake and asleep at the same time. And there's all of these different patterns in the background and you can't really make sense of what's going on.

That's neither perception or non-perception. But that is the background of the mind. So is the quiet mind is like in all three states there is a quiet attention to quiet mind, right? there is no quiet mind. Quiet mind dissolves. That's the thing. Sightless awareness means objectless awareness. The mind is looking, but not even looking at itself, or looking outward, not looking anywhere.

Can I say, like, quiet mind comes first in either perception or non-perception, or other way around? Other way around. Thanks. Just a quick question. Can an anagami still maintain their profession? Yes. Yes. We have an example in the sutras of Chitta of the Anagami. He was a millionaire, but he was an amazing meditator, and he would even teach the monks. Can you please list the genres, the secrets? So neither perception or non-perception is that state where you are awake and asleep at the same time.

Quiet mind is the object that the mind takes. The awareness just rests on the mind. We call it quiet mind, but of course quiet mind is not always altogether quiet. There's always stuff going on. But it just rests on the awareness of the mind. So this jhana 1, 2, 3, 4, 10? I would also like to thank you all. Yes, before I speak, anyone who has not spoken at all or shared, would like to come and share.

Anyone who has not spoken. I'm being very, very brave. I have no idea what I'm going to say. Gratitude, of course, for this unexpected experience, which is really unexpected. I've been asked by a very, very special person to experience the Vipassana, particularly the Burma style, and of course going to Burma wasn't an option, and I got so fond of Deerpark, and this came along, and of course I signed up for it. Not at all. I have to say, it has a lot felt like being on a rave, you know, being with a whole bunch of movies with everyone, you know. It really has felt like that. I'm just like, wow. And then, of course, going to such depths, surrendering to this process, trusting completely, not bringing in my current practice or years of other explorations and experiences that I've had.

It just, of course, became a very, very intuitive process. And as it turns out, I don't know, speaking about experience, I'm not going to go there, but it was indeed very deep. I can't believe the things I saw. Seeing my own face, seeing the face of mine, seeing, yes. So, I don't know, I'm just going to see what happens now, I guess. Thank you so much for this incredible experience.

It is truly a wonderful opportunity to be a human being. Ripening, and it's time working. Thank you. I know that. Okay. Yes, I think this evening sort of came probably, I think seeing that the people felt probably the noble silence had been heavy and everyone talking around, he said that let us close the retreat formally this evening. So we all agreed, yes. But that doesn't mean that tomorrow morning session would not be there. It would be there, and after the breakfast it would be closed informally, because today we are closing formally. Well, I think there is a teaching of the Buddha which is called the Four Seals, and the first sentence in that is that all the composite phenomena come to impermanence.

So I think the retreat also is a composite phenomenon. We all gathered here in this hall and it's bound to come to an end. I think that is what the reality is. The question, I think, which has really struck me during this entire process of meditation is why my mind is holding what it is holding. Why should I hold this?

Can I really look into it, observe it? I think that insight I really found was very powerful. I shared this story with my previous retreat groups. I think Tabushi, Vedant and all the people were there. I want to share a story. There was a farmer who was plowing the field, and while plowing the field, he found some very bright things which he really found. And he thought that these were diamonds. And he kept them, sometimes hiding them in his pocket, sometimes under his pillow. And that really disturbed him, you know. The thief may come and take them away. Then he met one of his friends who was a gemologist. He said, look at these, I found these.

Can you test it in your laboratory? His laboratory tested, and he found that these are only colored stones, and he told his friend, these are not diamonds, these are only colored stones. The moment he heard that, all stones were dropped by him, because it was no more enlightened. So the question is, what we hold in our mind? I think if we don't really observe and see why it is really there, it always keeps on creating a problem.

It's like, you buy a beautiful shoe and there's a small stone inside there. How is the walk? It's always pinching. So I think this is probably the question I'm really caring about, when I'm seeing what is, why, what my mind is holding, why am I holding that? Teachers, my teachers, they always said, your real meditation begins when you open your eyes.

I think that is a great challenge for all of us. How we can sustain this and how we can carry that. Another teacher saying that it's not enough just to sit on the cushion. What you are doing off the cushion. I think another challenge for all of us. I think that challenge will be met if we are really respecting the Dhamma and valuing it. Otherwise, we are going to lose it very shortly. There's a beautiful story.

I think J.R.D. Tata had a friend, and his friend told him, "I want to buy a very cheap pen because I keep on losing." And J.R.D. Tata, he was a great thinker, visionary. He said, "No, you buy the costliest pen." He said that. After six months, Jayadita told him, "Did you lose your pen?" He said, "No." "Why?" "Because I value it." "Because it's so valuable." "So can we keep this Dhamma practice with full value so that it really continues?" A difference. I can see in my own life how this really makes a difference. It gives a lot of strength to bear the situations which are very difficult.

Yeah, I think having said that, I really would like to thank Damacharya and Delsindhi for coming here, sharing his wisdom in a very practical and in a very guided way. I would say that more like a Dhamma class, but he is a Dhamma mentor who is really holding the hands and really telling them, okay, walk, walk. What is going to the next? Be careful what is going to the problem. I think it has been really wonderful. Down the line we are going to see him in India. So young, so passionate, so calm.

We always look forward for the visit and the teaching here. With that, I think I'll request Prashant. In fact, I really would like to say that a person like me, I am notionally the president of the real part. But Prasanthi is a person who has really brought it up right from 2006 onwards, who has been always behind the scene. I request Prasanthi to offer Bhante our shawl and a hematial cap, which is the tradition. I think Prasanthi would be good if you open it up and offer that. Put on the hat. Yeah. Please. Now. Then, Dwanji, who is the director here, to offer

our small offering on behalf of your partner and all the persons here too. Dhammacharya Jail Sinti, to offer a very small token of our appreciation to Sora, who has been very gently coordinated with us. Yeah, with that, I really would like to thank once again both the teachers, all the heart-strengths. Because your coming here leaves a different kind of energy.

Let's see, if you keep a lot of flowers in this house, in this room, if all the flowers are taken out, what happens? The fragrance still remains. So I think the meditation fragrance will continue here. In the next batch, who are going to come shortly, I think they will feel fragrance of the meditation that you have read here. They would be very objective. And I also like to say that we are very happy that the participation from the side of the Indians is really coming up. Our Ramachay wants that.

More and more Indians should come here, feel this place. 2006 when we started, I think hardly any Indians. Even we used to stay in the hotels and come here for the teaching. Because from here, if we can really send some kind of an inspiration, like the Bombay for instance, it was mentioned by Sora, they have open institutions there.

And I'm told that Guruji is one of the trustees. Bharat Agarwal, his wife Pur Agarwal, they came here many times. And they felt so good that they thought that something should be really done, a similar thing. And I think probably it's a really good karma of the Bombay, that's such an institution that's really set up there. Of course, that doesn't mean that you are not to come here. We would welcome you. Yeah.

And it is very interesting that, I don't know how I really feel that the Bombay and this place, or the Maharashtra and this place, seems to be getting somewhat very closely connected. Even in Pune University, there is a course which was started based on the collaboration from here. And it is such a wonderful course. It's for one year. And all the people who are working, they attend this course during the weekend. And I really found that their understanding and the sincerity is really deeper. And it has affected their children also. And one of the persons who came here, his students said that now, I want to become the translator, the Pali Sanskrit English.

So such a kind of inspiration has really gone there. The red light area of the Bombay Camp. Oh, it was so wonderful to see them. So happy, jumping, hugging each other. I think this is the place we have created where you could feel that life is something more than what we've taken. So keep on coming. This place is all for you. And we are all there. Whatever manner, we can make you stay comfortable. And in doing so, I need to really thank my staff.

Particularly, I think, Diwanji, Praveen, you have met him, you have talked to him. And BM, who is our kitchen manager, who always tries, experiments, whatever the best food he can really. And he said that if we had given potato once, he would not like to repeat that again. So I don't know whether you have observed that or not. With that, I think our audio visual head, who comes here, sits 10 o'clock, and he has a small baby, and even he has to, he sleeps here. I think it's really wonderful. With that, I wish all of you a very smooth journey forward.

With the key in your hand, observe, let go in the technology of six hours. See you next week. Thank you very much. Probably you might know that Delson Ji is going to Kalimkong, right? We have a beautiful center in Kalimkong near Darjeeling. The center is called Buddha Pada Institute, Buddha's feet, Buddha Pada Institute. So we will be very privileged to have Delson Ji there. The retreat there, and the dates are from 17 to 27 November, if you really want to benefit from this retreat from these teachers. I would really suggest, if you can attend this time again, please follow, and you can enjoy that time there. You will be in good hands there. And also, I was talking to some of our fellow seekers here.

If you are here, if you can make your time, we will have Venerable Ajaan Amaro from Thai Forest Tradition. He is a British monk, but he is the direct lineage holder of Ajaan Chah's tradition from the Thai Forest Tradition, to host him here. The dates are from 5th to 10th December. So if you can pick, it's a highly recommended retreat here. It's a very rare opportunity to receive such a great master here. So please, you can consider. And tomorrow morning, we are planning to go to Jomsar Monastery. As I mentioned, the monastery here, then the monastery was moved there in 2004, so that monastery is under my teacher. Around five to six hundred monks are staying there. Then you will see, and that monastery is considered as one of the biggest monasteries in northern India. So we will visit tomorrow, and we are planning immediately after breakfast, so 7:30 we will leave. How many of you wish to visit? Again, we will count the hands again.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, five, eight, ten, fifteen, sixteen. Okay, so number is really grown up. Okay, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Okay, so we will arrange the taxi supporting thing. But each will be punctual, seven, thirty. Ajit sir has already mentioned, but honestly, behind this program, Saurabh ji is the one who really brought this program here. We were not really, we didn't know all Dalsal ji, Meitarangla ji, and anyone else. Saurabh ji is the one who, a couple of years back, connected, and we should bring this trim retreat here, and then we will have, we hosted, and sister came here, and in that continuation we had this. So behind us, all kind of set up. So thanks everyone for all the hard work that you did.

When I would attend retreats with Bhante and Sister Kema, I would feel blessed at the end of it with so much gratitude for the teachings. And at the last retreat, I was wondering if this can be matched. Bhante is not coming back. Can we get a teacher as good? And it's not fair to make comparisons like this, but I have been blown away by this retreat. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm so glad that folks in India now have three more retreats ahead of them. There are people who are going to be with Delson, attending all of them. There are going to be many others for whom it's going to be a first or second time retreat.

The next one's going to be in Bodhgaya. After that, there's one in Jethavan. In fact, we have Gautam Bansodji, who's from the family that runs the center. I'd probably go for that after what I've seen here. Just a reminder, I've put the details for the donation up on this board and that one. If you haven't, and you'd like to make it, please do that.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you for all of you attending this retreat. It has been a lot of fun. That was the goal of this retreat. So you guys had amazing journeys from beginning to end. I'm sure that everyone can speak to that as well since both of us had an opportunity to interview all. Said, if you take care of the Dhamma, the Dhamma takes care of you. So just remember that.

Thank you all, and thank you for Saurabh for doing all what he was doing, and Praveen, Rajinder, Prashant, and Rivan, and of course the kitchen staff. Bhante would say, when I met Bhante in November, last November, I wasn't actually planning on doing any retreats, but it just somehow happened that we were going to start doing this. And he said, as teachers, it's so easy for us. It's just like they tell you to go here and you go there and you talk and you give the retreat. And then they tell you to go there and you go do that and you do the retreat there. But everything seems so seamless.

But what makes that seamless is the team in the background. That everything is running smoothly and you guys have done an amazing job. So thank you very much. Would you like to say a few words? Yeah, I feel very grateful to be invited here to help Dhammacharya teach. And, as he said, you all made it easy, both the staff that supported us throughout, as well as the students who followed directions. The greatest part for me, the greatest reward is just seeing all the happy faces. And you can really tell in a lot of people, the transformation appears in their physical features. You might notice it yourself, either for yourself in the mirror or just looking around, that some people have physically anti-aged somehow.

So don't let the secret get out that we have the anti-aging cure. But seriously, I'm very, very grateful to be a part of this. And I wish you all much success on your journeys. And one of the things that makes the TWIM community special, I think, is that people come again and again for their retreats. And so you get to know the same people and faces and get to see people evolve. can all continue to support each other as a Sangha.

Thank you all. Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free, and the fears shall fearlessly. May the free beings share 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 inhabit in space and earth, day was and night as a mighty power, share this merit at most. May they long protect within us this compensation. you