Day 1-2 Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha- The Foundation to the Path

I want to welcome all of you to this retreat, and I want to go over a few things about the interviews, because the interviews will start tomorrow, and just an understanding of how that process will work so you're not coming in blind. Everybody can hear me okay? Yeah? Okay, good. When you come in for your interview, you have 10 minutes to talk about your practice.

Your first day will be about what has happened in your practice today, possibly the early part of tomorrow, and also maybe the late part of yesterday, but the majority of the practice that has happened is the last two and a half days. I just need to know that. I'm going to ask you some questions, and they're very simple questions, very basic questions.

If you feel like you need to remember them, if you have a notepad or a diary or something with you, you can write down some of the highlights of that sit so you don't forget. So what are the questions I'll be asking? Number one, what is your object of meditation? Now, there are only two objects of meditation here. There is the spiritual friend, or there are the six directions.

Now, I've gone over your forms, so I know we have a good mix of people who are starting for the first time with this practice, and people who have been doing this practice for a while. So I know it's a good mix of people. That's just the first question. Second question is, really tell me about your best sit. So what does that mean, your best sit?

Your best sit is the sit in which you felt like you were the least distracted, where you felt like things were flowing, very few hindrances and so on. So I'd like to know about what's going on there. If, you know, the mind is feeling expansive, if there's any feeling in the body, what is going on in that sit? Just give me something to work with so I understand where you are with your practice. And then I will ask you, how long was that best sit?

You want to sit for a minimum of 30 minutes, right? Is there a maximum limit? Generally I say no, but I know that some of you are quite eager to sit for long periods of time, and I generally would say three to four hours is the max, maybe four and a half, because anything beyond that and your mind will be sort of jelly. You don't want to just sit there and nothing is happening, and then at that point your mind is expecting something to happen, and it will just drive itself crazy. So this is what I would say: I would want to know how long was that best sit, and how did you use the six directions? What did you do to come back to your object of meditation when you got distracted? I'm asking you about five different questions, but this is really to get to the gist of what your experience is with your sits.

So number one, what was your object of meditation? Number two, tell me about your best sit. Number three, how long was that best sit? And number four, what did you do to get back to your object? Just don't tell me six directions, because that's a very easy answer. I want to understand how you're applying the six directions. Talk about that.

So what is this retreat all about? What are you doing here? Why are you here? Are you here because you need a break from life? Are you here because you heard about TWIM? Are you here because you've seen one of my podcasts? Are you here because of whatever it is? Try to understand what your intention is for this retreat. This retreat is meant to be relaxed. That is essentially the midpoint of the six R's, to relax. That's the crucial aspect of the entire path: to tranquilize bodily formations and tranquilize mental formations. Some of you might not know what I'm talking about, and that's okay, but we will understand it over the course of this retreat. What I want you to understand is that for these next nine days it's all about taking it easy.

It's all about relaxing. It's all about smiling. It's all about laughing. It's all about having fun, right? It's about understanding that life is already full of suffering. Don't add to your suffering by being morose, serious, and so dedicated to your practice that come what may, you know, I will do the best that I can. When you have that kind of attitude, you're going to find a lot of resistance.

You're going to be dealing with all kinds of hindrances. What are hindrances? Hindrances are essentially that which take you off of your object of meditation. There are five main hindrances, which we'll talk about at some point. But the idea here is that the more I push, the more pushback I get from my mind, because the more I push, the more my mind becomes activated.

And the whole purpose of the practice is to let go. We're not trying to let go. We're not making an effort in such a way that I have to let go, I have to do this. It's about seeing with wisdom: here my mind is distracted. I choose to see this distraction and let it go, and gently, that's the operative word, gently bring my mind back to its object.

What does it mean to be distracted? It means fully away from the object, whether it's loving kindness to yourself, loving kindness to a spiritual friend, or the six directions. When your mind's attention is fully away from it, in other words, if there are thoughts in the background while you're meditating, let them be. They're coming and they're going, but your attention is there with your object. It's only when you see, that's the first step, recognize, that you realize, oh, I was no longer on my object. Something was going on. So what do I do?

I release my attention from that object. I come back and relax. So what do I come back to? I come back to my object. So I'm recognizing I got distracted. I'm no longer meditating. I'm releasing my attention from that, and I'm relaxing back into the present moment. The relax step is the anchor to bring back your mindfulness.

And then I bring up a smile, because that is what uplifts the mind. It's a skillful means towards having an open, clear, luminous mind. When I smile, I come back to the object, whatever the object is, right? And then I repeat whenever I get distracted. So I want to go over a few things with regards to what you're doing in the mornings. Some of you may be aware of what this is, and some of you might be wondering, what is this all about? Why am I taking refuges?

What's with these recollections? What are these Dhammapada verses? If you have seen my videos, if you have seen my talks, if you've seen my podcasts, you know that I'm a guy who does not like dogma. I'm not a very dogmatic person. I'm more practical. I want to understand what's going on. That's the beauty of the Buddha Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha. He himself says, don't do something just because tradition has told you to do it. Don't do something because the elders tell you to do it. Don't do something because I, in other words, the Buddha has said that you should be doing this. See for yourself

and see how it works. Understand the process. This is not a ritual that you do in the morning. If you understand why this is so important as the key to your practice, then you will do it with much enthusiasm. You will understand that this is the foundation of everything. This is the foundation of the practice, of wisdom, of insight, of awakening.

So the first thing that we do, what is it? We take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. In Pali, it says, this is the operative word here. So in India, in ancient India, and even now, we have this understanding of Sharan Agatti. Sharan means to take refuge, to take shelter in something, and Agatti is to move into that.

So what do we mean when we say we take refuge in the Buddha? Is he our protector? Is he our refuge? Is he our shelter? What does it mean that we say we take refuge in the Dhamma? When we take refuge and shelter in the Sangha, are they the ones protecting us? And what are they protecting us from? That's one way of looking at it.

And why do we do it three times? What's the whole purpose of three times? You will see in the Suttas a lot of times, when you ask the Buddha something, the first time he will say, no. Second time he will say, no. And the third time he will say, yes. So, you know, if those of you, I don't know if anybody has ever seen Schoolhouse Rock.

It's a great show. But there's a song, right? Three is a magic number. So why do we do it three times? So let's get into this. You know, what do we mean by Sharnam? What do we mean by taking refuge? First of all, what does the Buddha represent? The Buddha itself, the word the Buddha, it means awakened. Buddha comes from the one who has awakened their intellect, Buddhi.

One who has awakened from the dream of conditioned existence. So what does that mean, to awaken from the dream of conditioned existence? The conditions that bind us to samsara, the conditions that bind us to our insecurities, to our pain, to our suffering, to our continuous behavioral patterns that we can't seem to shift out of. So the Buddha is the ideal, seen through all of it and experienced awakening in the context of the Buddha Dhamma, in the context of the Dhamma.

So he represents that ideal that we are all striving for, in which we are free from those patterns that cause us suffering. And moreover, of course, when you look at the Buddha and what he represents, he represents the fact that there was a person named Gautama Buddha, historically speaking, Siddhartha Gautama, who rediscovered the path. Because the deeper you get into the mechanics and the understanding of Buddhism and the teachings of the Buddha, you see that this Buddha, this particular Buddha, is not the first. He is in fact one of many Buddhas that have come before him.

And so what he represents is somebody who has opened up the path, who has reopened the path that leads to the liberation of the mind, to the freedom of the heart. We acknowledge that there is this capacity to experience this wonderful thing called awakening that we all aspire towards. That, right? It's to motivate us. It's to understand that we're not just here on some kind of retreat to just have peace of mind. If you're here for that, great, that's fine. But I think if you aim towards awakening, if you aim towards understanding the mechanics of how our mind works, because that is what mindfulness is, that's what liberates us.

That's what brings us clarity. That's what, that liberating insight, that's what allows us to live a life that is no longer enchained by our habits, by our unconscious drive towards things, what we call being or the desire for a certain kind of thing. So he represents that. He represents the freedom from that. The Buddha as a state of mind or state of existence, if you will, for lack of a better phrase.

He represents that. What is the Dhamma? What do we mean by Dhamma? There are three different contexts for what we mean by Dhamma. Dhamma is the Pali for the Sanskrit Dharma. The first is Dhamma represents the doctrine or teachings of the Buddha. It represents the philosophy, the mechanics of understanding how the mind works, and all of these wonderful things. So it's all basically just the teachings of the Buddha.

And then we have something called dhamma as the purpose of life. In India, this is very important to understand. In India, we talk about dharma. What is my dharma? What is my purpose? And that is essentially very much like ikigai, for those of you who know what that means. It's the point in which what I like to do and enjoy doing that provides me sustenance and contributes to the welfare of the world. That's my purpose. So that's one context.

And the third context is Dhamma in terms of phenomena. So when we say Dhamma, we're saying phenomenon. A that symbol that signifies the plural of phenomena. But when we're saying I take refuge in the Dhamma, we're saying we're taking refuge in the teachings of the Buddha. What do the teachings of the Buddha represent? What do they bring us? They bring us insight. They bring us wisdom. They bring us liberation.

If you were to encapsulate what the Dhamma is, it is what is known as dependent origination. A few days from now, we will talk about that. But that understanding of dependent origination at an experiential level brings us a lot of freedom because we see into the nature of reality. So when we say I take refuge in the Dhamma, I'm taking refuge in the teachings, that will liberate my mind.

And we say, I take refuge in the Sangha. What is the Sangha? Well, this is a Sangha. Sangha is a community of like-minded people who are geared towards the Dhamma, geared towards meditating for their own benefit and the benefit of all other beings. In the larger context, the Sangha represents the community of monastics, what we call bhikkhus and bhikkhunis.

Bhikkhus are the male monastics and bhikkhunis are the nuns. And we give respect to them. We give veneration to them. And the reason is because had it not been for them, the teachings would not continue. Had it not been for them, we would not be here talking about Buddha Dhamma, talking about meditation. So what I'm trying to make you understand is you're not here on some meditation retreat.

Meditation is definitely an important component of this practice. But before you even get to meditation, you need to clear up your space, even mentally, and emotionally. Maybe some of you are familiar with this: sila, samadhi, and panna. That's ethics, meditation, and wisdom. So when we say the Sangha, we're saying that I take refuge in the community, that I am here with like-minded people. I'm here with guides, and teachers, and trainers, other people who might be able to help me on my path.

And that should give you solace. In other words, you're not here doing it alone. The Buddha has talked about this. One time there was a discussion between the Buddha and his cousin and his kapia, his attendant, Ananda. And they were talking about friendship. And Ananda says, it sounds to me like friendship, or what they call beautiful friendship, kalyana mitta, is part of the path for awakening.

And the Buddha says, do not say so, Ananda, do not say so. The entire path is beautiful friendship. And taking refuge in the Sangha represents that beautiful friendship. That's the wonderful thing about this practice and about the larger context of what we're doing here. There is a romantic idea of going into the mountains and being secluded in the forest and meditating in a cave hut and just being alone.

I spoke to a very good friend of mine and a very wonderful and revered monk, Bhante Kusala, about this and he told me, he said, in Sri Lanka you can do that. You can go and be secluded in the forest, have your own hut and everything, but you still have to come back into the monastic area and do your duties. Why?

So that the other monks can keep an eye on you and make sure that you're not going crazy. Because if you're alone, that's not what the mind is built for. We are social beings. We need community. We need friendship. And so when we say, I take refuge in the Sangha, we're taking refuge in beautiful friendship.

Now, why do we do it three times? Why not just one time? Okay, I get it. I take refuge in this, I take refuge in that, and yada, yada, yada. No, there's a reason why we take it three times. When you take it three times, you are actually taking it. So when you're taking refuge three times, what you're doing is you are purifying your physical, verbal, and mental formations.

For those of you who don't know what formations are, we will get into it when we talk about dependent origination. But think about it this way. It's basically saying that physically, in my body, I am committing to the practice by taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha. Taking refuge in what is possible for my awakening. Taking refuge in the teachings and the path that will lead me there. And taking refuge in beautiful friendship.

Physically, I'm taking refuge in that. Verbally, so that my speech may reflect that. That I have taken refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. And the mental formations, so that my mind and my thoughts are purified by me taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. So this is about purification of the mind, even before you start sitting down for practice.

It's a beautiful thing to do that early in the morning, taking refuge. When you do it with this level of understanding, then you will see how it uplifts the mind. When you're in retreat, you take eight precepts. It's the five basic precepts that we all take wherever we are. The five basic precepts are not to kill, not to take what is not given, not to indulge in sexual misconduct or sensual misconduct, not to deal in lies and cheating and falsehoods and so on, and not to deal with drugs and alcohol, excuse me, not to consume drugs and alcohol because they dull the mind. So I think these are a given why we do this. We'll kind of understand more of why we do this.

When we take the precepts, we're purifying again our mind because when we break a precept, invariably at some point when we are meditating, hindrances arise. So what do I mean by this? When somebody has the intention to harm or kill another being, that is the intention of ill will. Just the intention itself, that ill will, poisons the mind. Thoughts and ideas that percolate in the meditation.

We think that when we're going to sit for meditation, everything is going to be great. I'm going to sit and I'm going to experience joy and happiness and I'm going to experience all of these things. First, we have to take out the trash. All that stuff that percolates, that comes up, is a result of at some point we've broken a precept.

When we've taken what is not given, in other words, stealing, it's a greedy kind of mindset. It's a restless kind of mindset. And those kinds of thoughts can arise. When we break the third precept, sensual or sexual misconduct, our mind is geared towards sensual craving. And so certain kinds of thoughts will arise. Now, do we beat ourselves up and say, oh, now this hindrance has come up. I feel so bad because I broke a precept in the past. No, we don't do that.

We realize, oh, this has arisen because it's old karma. What I have done in the past has arisen now in the present as an effect. Now, what I choose to do with that will either continue to proliferate those thoughts because of my undue attention to that, or I can choose to be still and quiet and let go, thereby weakening that particular hindrance.

Now, if I choose to be deceitful and speak in falsehoods, what's going to happen? I create doubt in other people, but I also create doubt in myself. I can't trust myself. I can't trust other people. So when I have experiences in the meditation, I feel I don't know what's actually happening. I feel doubt. That's a hindrance. And when I indulge or when I partake of drugs and alcohol, they do subdue the mind.

Please understand, the mind is a very sensitive thing. Very sensitive. And when we indulge in these kinds of intoxicants, they lead to what's known as heedlessness, negligence. And that results in me not realizing what I'm doing and I can break another precept. So for those of you who have gone on these plant medicine retreats and, whatever this wellness this and wellness that and ayahuasca and iboga and whatever it is, it's all well and good. You've done it in the past, but I would make a friendly suggestion that you stop. There's no replacement for observing your own mind and how it works for you to be liberated.

These things may only open up your awareness and clarity so that you can see for yourself. Where am I going wrong? What am I doing that's causing myself more suffering? Meditation is enough. Sitting down with your thoughts, sitting down with your mind is enough. Right? This is what mindfulness is. Sati. To remember to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other and seeing it as an empty process.

Seeing it as an impersonal process. Does that mean I have to be aware of every single thought that arises and I have to understand, oh, my mind went here and my mind went there and then so on and so forth? Not necessary, at least not in the beginning. When you get to more refined states of mind, you will see for yourself, ah, this is where the agitation is coming from. Ah, this is where the dullness is coming from.

Oh, this is what the mind is holding on to. And you learn to let go of that. So when you're going about your day tomorrow, make it a point to wake up with a smile on your face. The beautiful thing about this retreat is you don't have your phones. We're all plagued by social media. That's another intoxicant. It can be another intoxicant. We're all plagued by waking up in the morning. And what do we do first thing in the morning?

Check our phones. So the beauty is, for these nine days, you are on vacation. You are away from your phone. So what do you do? When you wake up, open your eyes. You have another day, that you are breathing with life. Smile. Be happy about that. And keep that going as best as possible. Because the smile is what brings your mindfulness at a high level.

It's so simple. People won't believe it. They're like, why are you saying that? How is it possible that the smile will bring my mindfulness? Because when you smile, you are uplifting the mind. And the mind likes to be attentive towards that which is uplifting. When you enter a room, when you exit a room, smile. Be with loving kindness.

When you sit down in your chair, be with loving kindness. Be with loving kindness. When you're in the bathroom, be with loving kindness. When you're walking, be with loving kindness. Is there water in here? Do you know? Good. When you're drinking water, be with loving kindness. When you do that, your mind becomes present. You want that presence of mind. And when you have that, you come to sit down for the practice.

And the Buddha says, he establishes mindfulness before him, or in front of him, depending on the language that you use. What does that mean? You know, what does that mean? It means, I sit down and I'm aware of what's going on in my body and in my mind. Sunday, I think it was, yeah, this last Sunday, I did a Dhamma talk on the four foundations of mindfulness.

It's a long sutta, so we've only done the first part. But this is what I say in that too, as it said in that sutta, he establishes mindfulness before him. So you're using your body, you're using your mind, you're using whatever is happening in the body to find out, okay, what is the state and nature of the body and the mind in this moment before I meditate, before I go into the practice?

Is my mind busy? Is my mind restless? Or is my mind content? Is my mind full of sensual craving or is my mind happy and has few desires? Is my mind dull or is my mind energetic? So you take a couple of minutes to go through the body from the top of your head down to the tips of your toes. Notice any tightness and tension and relax.

And then come back to the mind. See what's going on. Are any hindrances present? No, they're not. Great. Keep going. They are. See that. Recognize. Release. Relax. Re-smile. Come back to the object. Spiritual friend. Six directions. Whatever it might be. with the object of meditation. And now I start the practice. And the reason this is happening is because I have continued to maintain, right? As practitioners, we continue to maintain that mindfulness in everything that we do. We bring loving kindness to everything that we do. Why are we doing the five recollections? What is the purpose of the recollection? This is actually a newer addition into what we do. And I wanted it in there.

When we have these five recollections, first and foremost, we see, okay, I am subject to old age. I am not exempt from that. For those of us who are younger, we can be intoxicated by our youth. Youth is wasted on the young, that we don't realize that when we're young what wonderful energy that we have, what wonderful vitality we have. And there are some of us who, when we get old, take good care of ourselves, but the majority of the world experiences old age in a way that is feeble and that is causing pain and suffering.

So while we still have time, let's make the most of it with our practice. That's why we say, I am subject to illness. I am not exempt from illness. Look at me. I didn't expect myself to be in this space or in this state on the first or second day of this retreat. But here we are. What are you going to do about it? All of you are, I hope, quite healthy, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Be aware of that. Take advantage of it. Do the most you can with it. Because it feels very, when you're sick, or when you have a cold, or a fever, or whatever, you don't want to do anything. You can't even meditate. So realize this, I'm subject to illness. I'm not exempt from illness. One day I will get sick again.

So right now I have the time. I have the energy. I have the vitality. Let me make the most of it. I am subject to death. I am not exempt from death. Right? As soon as we are born, we have an expiration date. Every birthday is a year closer to our death. I don't know why we celebrate birthdays.

Right? Every time, every moment, every second is inching closer towards the ultimate demise of the body, to cause you anxiety. This is not meant to cause you stress. It's meant to make you realize that, hey, here I am. I have the best opportunity. I hope you guys realize how fortunate we all are to be able to do this. The luxury that we have of being able to sit here and talk about Dhamma and sit and meditate.

Of the what now? People in the world, how many actually get the potential to do something like this. The world out there, we all know, from our own life experiences and what we see on TV and what we hear about in the news and so on, is full of suffering, full of poverty, full of destruction and decay and destitution and people are suffering from hunger and thirst and so many different things.

And here we are, in this well-built Dhamma hall, with the luxury of being able to talk about these things and practice. This is meant to make you have the right perspective on things, these five recollections. This is impermanence. Whatever I have built up in terms of my life, whatever we have done in terms of the relationships that we've acquired and developed and cultivated, the things that we've possessed in our life, the money that we've made, the reputations that we've built, all of that that we identify with, all of that will go away at some point.

It arises and passes away. And this is meant to help us understand that the fewer requirements we need, the more content we become. And that's not to say that we need to be ascetics. That's not to say that we need to be fasting or doing this particular thing or that particular thing. It's just to understand that if I have contentment, that no matter what happens, people come and go in my life, things come and go in my life, relationships and experiences come and go in my life.

And that is the nature of the world, that is the nature of existence. Where we are here, right now, in this Dhamma hall, in Dhammasukha, it's a bubble. You are free from all of the stuff that's happening around out in the world. Right? Everything that we do here is for the benefit of ourselves and the benefit of the people around us. So, while we're here for the next nine days, we have very few desires. We have very few things that we need to look for or to take care of or do.

Right? The food is given to us, breakfast and lunch and tea, whatever else. We have our own cabins, temperature controlled, whatever it is. We have beautiful things around us with trees and forests. The animals haven't come out yet, but they will eventually. The deer and so on. So we're in a space where we don't have to worry about things coming and going.

Karma. What is karma? It's a big topic. Very complicated, complex topic. Something that I don't expect to talk about in depth on just the second day or the first full day of the retreat. But suffice it to say that if you truly want to progress in this practice, you have to understand action and consequence. Action being mental action in terms of our intention, verbal action in terms of how we say things and what we say, in terms of what we choose to do with this body.

And that it has an effect on us. Whatever good or bad karma, whatever that means to us, when we're sitting down for practice, somebody opens the door, forgets to close it gently, that's our karma. How do you choose to deal with it in that moment? When you sit down and you're having a wonderful meditation experience and the mind is very quiet and serene and tranquil, you hear the bell for lunch but you don't care. You just want to keep sitting.

That's your karma. That's your good karma. So you will experience karma firsthand on this retreat, that is. First and foremost, the hindrances in the mind are karma. Karma, in the sense that it's the consequence of actions that we've produced in the past. And now, here we are learning how to purify those hindrances so that we can learn how not to bring them up again by keeping the precepts.

And over a period of time, the more we start to keep the precepts, the more we continue to be ethical and wholesome. Ethics is very boring. Morality is very boring for the world around us. But boring is best. Boring is secure. It's safe. There's a word, kusala. It means wholesome. It means skillfully liberating. That which is skillfully liberating is wholesome.

When we cultivate wholesome thoughts, wholesome speech, wholesome action, that has a wonderful effect on our practice. So the more we keep the precepts, the more generous we are with our time, the more content we become because we are freeing ourselves from this illusion of this is me, this is mine, this is myself. The more we learn to trust in the beauty of every moment, no matter what it brings to us, is good, bad, or indifferent, the more peaceful we can become.

There will come a point in your mind and in your practice where no matter what is happening around you, there is this inner peace that has been not only cultivated, but uncovered through the practice that the mind can take refuge in. A wonderful equanimity that's there. And when you have that, then you will truly embody and understand what this fifth recollection is.

The Dhammapada verses. Mind is a forerunner of all evil states. Mind is a forerunner of all good states. Mind is chief. Mind made are the states. I just talked about this. If one speaks with an unwholesome mind, because of that, suffering follows one. If one has a pure mind, a mind that is wholesome, a mind that is skillfully liberating, then happiness follows one. I think this is pretty self-explanatory.

This is karma in action. He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me. In those who harbor such thoughts, hatred is not appeased. He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me. In those who do not harbor such thoughts, hatred is appeased. Hatred is never overcome by hatred in this world. Hatred is only overcome by love. This is an eternal law.

When we use the word abused, what we're saying is, when you go back to the Pali, what it's talking about is, he said bad things to me, or he said bad things about me. These kinds of things. So what is it saying? That when our mind ruminates over how come she said this? Why did she say it that way? Why did he do this? Why did he do that? I feel so helpless when that happened, or whatever it is.

There is the likelihood for the mind to experience ill will for that person. But if I let go of those thoughts, does that mean that I'm letting go of or justifying or excusing what that person did? No. But I'm choosing not to let what has happened control me anymore. Because if I choose to let what happened control me, then my mind will go towards unhappiness, will go towards hatred, towards ill will.

Whatever that person has done in the past to us, their karma will take care of it. We don't need to judge them. We don't need to do anything. How we choose to deal with what has happened is our karma. It doesn't mean that we suppress those thoughts. We are engaged with those thoughts in a skillful way. If I give free reign to those thoughts, then my mind becomes agitated and disturbed.

But if I understand that it is just a thought in this moment, and the emotional aspect of that thought is what is causing it to create suffering, and I create distance from that, and I let go of that. In that moment, I'm choosing to follow that eternal law. I'm choosing to let go of hatred. Might be difficult, but if I take one step further and I send that person loving kindness, at minimum I have forgiveness for them.

But if I send them loving kindness and compassion, come. And if they come, they're just thoughts. They don't have any emotional core to them anymore. In the unessential, we imagine the essential. In the essential, we see the unessential. Anyone who entertains such wrong thoughts never will realize the truth. What is essential, we regard as essential. What is unessential, we regard as unessential.

Anyone who entertains such right thoughts will realize the truth. What does that mean? Unessential and essential. Don't get caught up in the minutia of things. What is the essential here? The essential or the essence of the Dhamma is these three things. Sila, Samadhi, Panna. Ethics, meditation and wisdom. Don't get caught up in, oh, wasn't it this person who said this and this and this and this? And isn't it supposed to be this and this and this?

No. Come back to your mind and understand what is the essential aspects here. The essence of the Dhamma can be understood as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. of your practice. Anything that deviates from that, just let that go. That's unessential. If what I am doing is in concordance with the Dhamma, i.e., with the Eightfold Path, I'm on the right track.

If I'm getting caught up in, oh, what was my karma me to do this and that, if I'm getting caught up in the metaphysics of what happens in this jhana and what happens in that jhana, if I get caught up in the philosophy of the Dhamma. And I want to talk about the origin of the world and what is creation and how did we get here and what's the purpose of life and what's the meaning of life and does the soul exist and will I be there after I die? All of these things.

What does it do? It creates mental proliferation. You can do it. You can go ahead and make it an entire intellectual pursuit. But let me ask you, will you find the end of suffering when you find out what is the origin of the world? Will you find the end of suffering when you have mastered the metaphysics of the Dhamma? Will you find the end of suffering when you finally figure out the karma that led to this and that and the other?

So the essential is that which leads to the end of suffering. Anything else is just, there's the metaphor that the Buddha gives. Here are these handful of leaves, and here is the forest. The essential is the handful of leaves that I'm giving you. That's the Dhamma. You want to go frolic in the forest and think about this and that?

Go right ahead. But you're not going to get the end of suffering. of leaves will take you there. That's the essential. The Eightfold Path and Four Noble Truths. If you understand this and you make your decisions and you live your life as best as possible in concordance with that, then you are fulfilling the essential. And you will find a very deep contentment in that.

You won't even care about the unessential. Who cares what the origin of the world is? I'm free of suffering. That's good enough for me. Here one develops a mind that rejoices now and in the future one rejoices. In both states, the well-doer rejoices. One who rejoices a lot will be able to see the purity of their own deeds, speech, and thoughts.

When one is happy now, they will be happy in the future. In both states, the well-doer is happy. Thinking, I have done good in the past, he one becomes happy and will easily experience a blissful state of mind. So you find yourself in a happy mood. That's wonderful. You start to cultivate a mind that is full of joy. That's wonderful.

That is the purpose of this retreat. To cultivate a joyful mind full of ease, because that is sustainable. The mind will gravitate naturally to that which it feels is most satisfying. The problem that happens sometimes is that the mind gets comfortable in our own suffering. The mind gets comfortable in being a victim. It gets comfortable in unhappiness. Misery loves company, as they say.

More and more miserable thoughts accumulate. But the more we start to see that, let that go, and find the happy thoughts, find the beauty in relaxing, find the power in smiling and meditating, that going, then we will find that because our mind is at ease, no matter what's happening in the world, the joyful mind is present. That refuge that we have.

And because we continue to cultivate wholesome deeds, wholesome speech, wholesome thoughts, that in itself becomes our refuge. You can look back on the wonderful things that you've done in your life. The times when you helped somebody who was in need. The time when you shared your food with someone. The time when somebody was down on their luck and you helped them.

Those moments are so gratifying. Those moments are the moments that are meaningful in life. And when you look back on the wonderful things that you've done, it immediately uplifts the mind. And if you haven't done any of those things, then I would urge you as a friend to try it. The reward is amazing, infinitely satisfying. Accordingly, that heedless person is like a cowherd who counts others' cows.

They have no share in the fruits of the holy life. Though a person recites the sacred text very little, or not at all, but acts in accordance with the teaching, they give up lust, hatred, and delusion. They truly know what is good, and this leads to a mind that is free from suffering. They cling to nothing here and in the future. shares the fruits of the holy life.

You could have read all kinds of Dhamma books. You could have read all the suttas. You could have had intellectual debates about, no, this is what jhana is. This is what practice is. This is what the Buddha is saying. Right? You could have done all of that, but you haven't applied any of it. What happens? Pride. And you judge others.

And there's a certain conceit. You don't know anything about the suttas. You don't know anything about what the Buddha has said. But you practice. You have more wisdom than the one who just studies these. Don't worry about what the suttas say and how they're said and all of these things. If you're just applying the Eightfold Path. Because this is going to be the theme of the retreat. We are going to be exploring the Eightfold Path. We're going to be exploring the Dhamma in terms of dependent origination. We're going to be exploring jhanas. We're going to be exploring karma. We're going to be exploring the aggregates. We're going to be exploring many different things.

And if none of that, or very little of it, is retained in the mind, that's okay. That's okay. I don't intend to overwhelm you with a lot of information, but I have that tendency to just spill out a lot of things, right? Indulge me. It doesn't matter if you get it or not. You will eventually as you practice. You'll see it for yourself.

But just remember this. If you're doing that, if you're practicing, you have sila, samadhi, and panna. It's all that needs to be done. You have, as he says, the shares of the fruits of the holy life. In fact, the people who haven't a thing, progress more than the people who have all kinds of things to talk about when it comes to the Dhamma.

Because they have the beginner's mind. They come in fresh. That was one thing I found for myself. You know, I have never done more than one retreat in my life, except for the online retreat that the Honorable David Johnson presided over. Because I had beginner's mind and that helped with my progress. But guess what? The more I started to read the suttas and the more I got deeper into the Dhamma, I started losing sight of that.

Not because of the Dhamma itself, not because of going into the suttas, but because my mind intellectually was thinking about these things. Had I just been in that space before I entered retreat, had I been inundated with all this Dhamma information before I entered retreat, I wouldn't have made an iota of progress. Because my mind would continue to be like, oh, but in this Sutta it says this, so what do you mean when you say that? about it this way, but I read by this particular scholar that this, this, this, this, this. Where is the practice in that? So I'm very grateful for my intellectual ignorance that took me all the way to where I am now.

As for my understanding of the suttas and all of these other things, that came about later. I didn't even know what these suttas were in the Pali canon. It made no sense to me. But once I did the practice, once I made progress in the practice, and I went back and read the suttas, it all fit. It all made sense.

So commit to the practice. You've got nine days. So I wish you all a very happy retreat, a very relaxed retreat. And I will see you at your interviews tomorrow. Let's share some merit. So why do we share merit? Does anybody know what we're doing when we share merit? What does it mean to share merit? To share merit is to exercise love and kindness, is to exercise compassion. Because when you read these words, what you're saying is you are wishing for all beings to be free of suffering.

And whatever merit that you have acquired at this Dhamma talk, through your practice, by being a person of the Dhamma, so to speak, whatever merit that you have shared, or you have acquired, that you wish that others also partake in that. So it's an act of compassion. It's not just a prayer. It's not just something you do ritualistically.

That intention. So when you do this, let's do it with that intention. May suffering ones be suffering free, and the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief, and may all beings find relief. May all beings share the spirit that we have thus acquired, for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power, share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.