June 23, 2023 MN 128 Upakilesa Sutta Day 2 Distractions

Today, we're going to be talking about hindrances. That's what you've been dealing with today. Lots of it. I'm reading from... This is Majjhima Nikaya 128, Upakilesa Sutta, Imperfections. The word upakilesa has different connotations depending upon the context, because there are upakilesas which are 16 in number, which are mentioned in another sutta, and these are the defilements of mind, defilements of consciousness. Here, when we're talking about upakilesas, they are essentially hindrances, different types of hindrances you will encounter in your meditation. I heard on one occasion the Blessed One was living at Kosambi in Gosita's park.

Now on that occasion, the bhikkhus at Kosambi had taken to quarreling and brawling and were stabbing each other with verbal daggers. Then a certain bhikkhu went to the Blessed One and after paying homage to him, he stood at one side and said, Venerable Sir, the bhikkhus here at Kosambi have taken to quarreling and brawling, and are deep in disputes, stabbing each other with verbal daggers.

It would be good, Venerable Sir, if the Blessed One would go to those bhikkhus out of compassion. The Blessed One consented in silence. Then the Blessed One went to those bhikkhus and said to them, Enough bhikkhus. Let there be no quarreling, brawling, wrangling or dispute. When this was said, a certain bhikkhu said to the Blessed One, Not good.

He's basically saying to the Buddha, you don't know what you're talking about. Let us deal with this. For a second time, for a third time, the Blessed One said, Enough, Bhikkhus. Let there be no quarreling, brawling, wrangling, or dispute. And for a second time, and a third time, that bhikkhu said to the Blessed One, Wait, Venerable Sir, we are the ones who will be responsible for this quarreling, brawling, wrangling, and dispute.

Then, when it was morning, the Blessed One dressed, and taking his bowl and outer robe, entered Kosambi for alms. When he had wandered for alms in Kosambi and had returned from his alms round, after his meal he set his resting place in order, took his bowl and outer robe, and while standing, uttered these stanzas. When many voices shout at once, none considers himself a fool. None thinks himself to be at fault.

You'll see this in not just disputes with the Sangha, but disputes anywhere. When you have so many different viewpoints and people are attached to those viewpoints, nobody thinks themselves to be wrong. In storytelling, for example, the greatest villain is the one who basically thinks that they're justified in doing what they're doing. That's what makes a good villain in storytelling, a compelling villain. But that's the truth of human nature, is we get attached to our viewpoints. And because of that, quarreling can happen. Disputes can happen. And those attachments to views can even lead all the way to murder and war and destruction.

They have forgotten thoughtful speech. They talk obsessed by words alone. Uncurbed their mouths, they bawl at will. None knows what leads him so to act. In other words, they have forgotten to be mindful of their speech. And they're obsessed by words alone. They hold such an attachment to their words, to their point of view, to their argument.

And this is what was happening with the bhikkhus here in Kosambi. First of all, the story behind the whole Kosambi thing is so ridiculous. It's basically between a Vinaya monk, somebody who was attached to the Vinaya, and somebody else who couldn't care less. have done that. And then it just became overblown and it created quite a ruckus. To such an extent that the Buddha basically said, I'm leaving this place. And he left.

And having left, the people at Kosambi were upset by that. And they stopped giving alms to the bhikkhus there. Now you will recognize this. He abused me. He struck me, he defeated me, he robbed me. In those who harbor thoughts like these, hatred will never be allayed. Sounds familiar, right? For in this world, oh, he abused me, he struck me, he defeated me, he robbed me. In those who do not harbor thoughts like these, hatred will readily be allayed. You see this all over Facebook and spiritual memes, right? They misquote the Buddha by saying hatred is never destroyed by hatred but by love alone. That is the eternal law or some version of that.

But it's true. Those others do not recognize that here we should restrain ourselves. But those wise ones who realize this at once end all their enmity. Sometimes you get into a fight with someone and you forget what you were fighting about. But you still hold on to your side. Families fight with other families for generations. The cause: we hate those people, we've always hated those people, so we're continuing to hate those people, and our children hate those people. Why? I don't know, but I just hate them, right? Ingrained in those people because of not understanding, through lack of wisdom. If you really had proper wisdom, you would be able to see for yourself: does this make sense? Does this cause mind, or does this cause agitation?

Anything that causes agitation in the mind should be discarded. That could be attachment to views, that could be attachment to practice, that could be attachment to sensual desires. We have the five basic hindrances. Sensual craving, that's attachment to sensual pleasures. Ill will, that's attachment in the sense of having aversion towards something. Doubt. Doubt can arise because you're not sure what is the actual viewpoint here. What is the real view? What is the right view? That's confusion about what is wholesome and unwholesome. mind due to contact and then sloth and torpor, we're just not paying enough attention to what's going on. I'll explore all of these in greater detail, but it starts with understanding. See those others who do not recognize, that's literally the first step of the 6R's process. Those who do not recognize, which means those who have slipped up on their mindfulness, have lack of attention of what is going on.

They do not recognize that here we should restrain ourselves. There's that little voice in your head, right? The moral compass that says, maybe I shouldn't be doing that. Does it make sense to actually retaliate? And oftentimes because of emotions, because of craving and clinging, the mind becomes so ruffled by it that that little voice that says that maybe I shouldn't do it becomes muffled.

That little voice becomes drowned in that sea of different kinds of thoughts that this is me, this is mine, this is myself. And so there's lack of restraint. When we talk about restraint, it doesn't mean to suppress. It doesn't mean to hold. It doesn't mean to push down. Restrain simply means to understand and to let go. But those wise ones who realize this at once and all their enmity.

If you have wisdom, if you have proper attention, you realize this doesn't make sense. I shouldn't be doing this. And you six are. And you let go. And all it takes is just a moment or a couple of seconds to see that. It's going from reactivity to response rooted in wisdom and compassion. Reactivity just sees that, clings to it, says this is me, this is mine, this is myself.

Holds on to it. And from there it just makes snap judgments. From there, it just, whatever it is, it just reacts. But if you give just one or two seconds, pause, and allow wisdom to arise, allow compassion to arise, then you have a response that's rooted in the Eightfold Path, that's rooted in letting go, that's rooted in understanding and in the Four Noble Truths.

Breakers of bones and murderers, those who steal cattle, horses, wealth, who pillage the entire realm, when even these can act together, why can you not do so too? What an interesting statement. So he's basically saying that these monks here can't even get together. Riots, people who steal and pillage. They're organized and they work together. Why can't you?

If one can find a worthy friend, a virtuous, steadfast companion, then overcome all threats of danger and walk with him content and mindful. This is your spiritual friend. These are your companions in the holy life. These are your true friends. Those who show you the way out of suffering. Those who point out, maybe you shouldn't be doing this.

And those who help you, guide you to the right path. Lead you towards the end of suffering. So we have that community, right, amongst us. We have a group of people within the TWIM community who help each other. And there are different subsets and subgroups and things like that all over the internet and so on. And we come together and we communicate and we answer each other's questions.

We ask questions and we get them answered. And people help one another. And that's a wonderful thing, but it's rare. But if one finds no worthy friend. So if you're unable to find worthy companions in the holy life, better to walk alone. Better to study on your own. Understand the suttas. Read the suttas. Understand virtue. Understand the precepts.

Understand what is wholesome and unwholesome. And walk the path of the wholesome on your own. At the end of the day, you are your own teacher. Your mind is your own teacher. Use your intuition. Start to get in line with your intuition. Start to understand how your intuition works. The womb of intuition is a mind that is clear and quiet.

When the mind is free of all kinds of thoughts, and the mind is quiet, then that intuition rises rooted in wisdom automatically. And if you listen to that, it will not lead you astray. And how do you use your intuition? It's as easy as just asking a question. What should I be doing in my meditation? What is the cause of this hindrance? experiencing this resistance?

What is the cause of this meditation pain? And just go about your day. And when you least expect it, the answer will arise like a eureka moment that this is what I have to let go of. Or this is what is leading me to that particular hindrance. And when you know that, you can understand it and let it go with wisdom.

It never fails. But you have to come into a mind that is collected and calm and quiet and then ask the question. And then go about your day and the answer will come. So your mind is your own teacher. As the Buddha has said, be an island unto yourselves. Many of you have been studying this for years. You know what the Eightfold Path is. You understand some level of what the Suttas are talking about.

Your own experience has taught you what is right and effective and what is wrong and ineffective. So don't doubt yourself and your abilities. Trust in the mind. Trust in the ability of the mind to use intuition. Use the force. When the Venerable Gavampati saw the Blessed One coming in the distance, he prepared a seat and set out water for washing the feet.

I am keeping well, Blessed One. I am comfortable. And I am not having any trouble getting alms food. This reminds me of what Bhante Kusala was saying when he met Bhante yesterday. Despite everything, Bhante Vimalaramsi asked Bhante Kusala, is everything well? Is there anything you need? His mind was still uplifted, still filled with generosity and concern. Then the Blessed One instructed, urged, roused, and gladdened the Venerable Gavampati with talk on the Dhamma, after which he rose from his seat and went to the Eastern Bamboo Park. Now on that occasion, the Venerable Aniruddha, the Venerable Nandiya, and the Venerable Kimbila were living at the Eastern Bamboo Park. The park keeper saw the Blessed One coming in the distance and told him, Three clansmen here seeking their own good.

Do not disturb them. Obviously, the park keeper could not recognize that this was the Buddha. This happens many times in the suttas where the Buddha is not recognized as the Buddha, because he too was just like the other monks in terms of how he looked, with the shaven head, wearing the robes. There's one instance where one of the kings seeks the Buddha's advice, and he goes to the forest and he sees all of these monks. And the Buddha is among those monks. And he asks, which one of you is the Buddha? Because they all look the same.

Another one, which is actually one of my favorites, is a little cheekier, because the Buddha is spending the night somewhere. And there is another disciple of the Tathagata who is also spending the night there. The Buddha asks that person, who is your teacher and what does he teach? And here this monk is talking to the Buddha about the Buddha and about his teachings. And the Buddha, being cheeky, keeps asking questions, not revealing that he is the Buddha.

The Venerable Anuruddha heard the park keeper speaking to the Blessed One and told him, Friend park keeper, do not keep the Blessed One out. It is our teacher, the Blessed One, who has come. Then the Venerable Anuruddha went to the Venerable Nandiya and the Venerable Kimbila and said, Come out, Venerable sirs, come out. Our teacher, the Blessed One, has come.

Surely, Venerable Sir, we are living in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing. But Anuruddha, how do you live thus? Venerable Sir, as to that, I think thus. It is a gain for me. It is a great gain for me that I am living with such companions in the holy life. I maintain bodily acts of loving kindness towards these venerable ones, both openly and privately. I maintain verbal acts of loving kindness towards them, both openly and privately. I maintain mental acts of loving-kindness towards them, both openly and privately.

I consider, why should I not set aside what I wish to do and do what these Venerable Ones wish to do? Then I set aside what I wish to do and do what these Venerable Ones wish to do. We are different in body, Venerable Sir, but one in mind. The Venerable Nandiya and the Venerable Kimbila each spoke likewise, adding, Good, good, Anuruddha. I hope that you all abide diligent, ardent, and resolute. Diligent, ardent, and resolute. What does that mean?

Using right effort. Having mindfulness. Practicing with right effort. Surely, Venerable Sir, we abide diligent, ardent, and resolute. But, Anuruddha, how do you abide thus? Venerable Sir, as to that, whichever of us returns first from the village with alms food prepares the seats, sets out the water for drinking and for washing, and puts the refuse basket in its place. Whichever of us returns last eats any food left over, if he wishes. Otherwise, he throws it away where there is no greenery, or drops it into water where there is no life. He puts away the seats and the water for drinking and for washing. He puts away the refuse bucket after washing it, and he sweeps out the refectory.

Whoever notices that the pots of water for drinking, washing, or the latrine are low or empty takes care of them. If they are too heavy for him, he calls someone else by a signal of the hand, joining hands. But because of this we do not break out into speech. They maintain noble silence. But every five days we sit together all night discussing the Dhamma. That is how we abide diligent, ardent, and resolute.

Good, good, Aniruddha. But while you abide thus diligent, ardent, and resolute, have you attained any superhuman states, a distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones, a comfortable abiding? So, have you attained any super-mundane states? Have you attained any kind of powers or knowledges? Have you attained jhana? Venerable Sir, as we abide here diligent, ardent, and resolute, we perceive both light and a vision of forms.

Soon afterwards, the light and the... So when he talks about light and a vision of forms, the way I look at this is, what is the light that they talk about? So there is another sutta that talks about the different kinds of light. There is the light of fire. That is called obhasa. The obhasa of fire. The obhasa of the moon, the obhasa of the sun, and the obhasa of panna, of wisdom. And there is a fifth obhasa. That is Venerable Obhasa sitting right there. So here when we talk about light, we're talking about the light of awareness, of wisdom, of attention, of knowledge, that's there, and a vision of forms.

Here, I would say that this really is talking about staying with your object of meditation, whether that's loving kindness, compassion, joy, or equanimity. You should discover the cause for that, Anuruddha. Before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened bodhisattva, I too perceived both light and a vision of forms. Soon afterwards, the light and the vision of forms disappeared. In other words, my attention went away, my wisdom went away, and the object disappeared.

So what is doubt, when we talk about doubt? Doubt about what is wholesome and unwholesome. Doubt is also being unaware of what mental states are present. So how do you let go of doubt? Investigation of states lets you see through that doubt and let it go. So here we're starting to talk about the enlightenment factors. It starts with mindfulness.

It starts with recognizing that the mind is distracted. And in that recognition, dhamma vicaya arises, the investigation of states. When we talk about dhamma vicaya, we're talking about discerning, comprehending, understanding what has arisen and what has not arisen. And that happens every time you recognize. When you recognize, you bring up mindfulness, you bring up the investigation of states. These two factors.

And then you become aware of what is present and what is not present. The mind is distracted. This is your awareness of that. This is your discernment that the mind is distracted. And you let go of that. You release your attention from that. You relax, you smile, you come back to your object of meditation. As Anuruddha, I was abiding diligent, ardent, and resolute. I perceived both light and a vision of forms.

I shall so act that neither doubt nor inattention will arise in me again. So what is inattention? This comes from the word amanasikara. Manasikara means to be attentive. Heart. To be aware of something. To pay proper attention. A manasikara means that the mind doesn't have proper attention. And why doesn't the mind have proper attention? Because it has a lack of mindfulness.

Why does it have a lack of mindfulness? Because it has a lack of right effort. So how do you get that mindfulness again? Again, you recognize that the mind is distracted, that the mind is not paying attention, and you let go, and you release, you release, and you let go, and then you relax any tightness and tension.

You come back to your smile, come back to your object of meditation. What is sloth and torpor? Again, it comes because of lack of attention, that you are paying attention to your object of meditation. You think that you're meditating, and then there are these gaps that start to come into your attention. For a moment your mind was somewhere else and you have no idea what was going on, and then those gaps start to become wider and wider, and your mind becomes heavier and heavier, and you become more drowsy and sleepy, like some of you here right now.

Why is that? Because you're not paying proper attention. And why are you not paying proper attention? Because you don't have enough energy. That is the next factor of enlightenment. So there's mindfulness, there's investigation of states, and then there's energy. How does this energy arise? Through proper effort, through right effort. You see, each of the steps of the six R's brings into balance each of the enlightenment factors.

When you recognize, you bring up mindfulness and investigation of states. When you let go, when you release, in that moment, you have balanced effort. You have balanced energy. Because you are doing something that doesn't suppress and hold on to. The moment you suppress a hindrance, the moment you try to push it down, what's going to happen? As soon as you let go of it, fine, you feel happy, you feel elated, you feel relaxed for that time being in the meditation.

You go out into your world and you're doing stuff and it feels great and you feel like you're floating and so on and so forth. And then boom, you make contact with something that erupts that hindrance and it comes out with full force. with it in that moment. light on that and instead of suppressing and pushing them away you acknowledge them and you say okay, I see you, and you gently let them go, and this is how you bring in balanced energy by releasing. Now, with sloth and torpor, sloth and torpor can arise because you haven't had enough sleep. Like I haven't. I've been awake since yesterday morning.

But I do not recommend any of you do that. At all. So how do you make sure that you have enough sleep? Make sure you're having the proper amount of sleep. And the proper amount of sleep essentially means having enough cycles of sleep. Usually with cycles of sleep, they're about 90 minutes each. You do the math on that. You want six hours of sleep, seven and a half hours of sleep, nine hours of sleep.

And take naps if you need to. But don't take long, drawn-out naps. In the last retreat, somebody came into the interview and I said, how is your meditation going? And he said, you know, I have a lot of sloth and torpor. And I said, do you take naps? And he said, yeah, I do take naps. I said, how long are your naps? Oh, two or three hours.

He had the luxury of taking two or three hour naps. But that's not the way to do it. Take 15 to 20 minutes. 20 minutes at the most. As you get into the 30 minute mark, you're starting to get into groggy sleep. And you don't want to go there. This is what's known as, I think it's called, non-deep sleep rest, NDSR.

So 15 to 20 minutes starts to bring the mind back, alert the mind. I don't recommend caffeine. Don't drink extra coffee. That's just going to make you more anxious and jittery. Just take a nap if you have to. Now, the other thing you can do is if you notice that the mind has sloth and torpor, make sure you're meditating in good amounts of light. Weather is okay, it's not too hot, go out into the sun or go out into the daylight and meditate. You can meditate in the gazebo or wherever.

And another trick is to walk backwards. When you're doing your walking practice, walk backwards. Because when you walk backwards, what happens? You're paying more attention to every step that you're taking. And when you start to pay more attention to every step you're taking, that attention strengthens. Do this for 20 minutes, then come back to your sit, and you'll see that the mind is more collected in its practice.

As Aniruddha, I was abiding diligent. I considered thus, fear arose in me, and because of fear, my collectedness fell away. When my collectedness fell away, the light and the vision of forms disappeared. Suppose a man set out on a journey and murderers leaped out on both sides of him. Then fear would arise in him because of that.

So too, fear arose in me. The light and the vision of forms disappeared. I consider thus, I shall so act that neither doubt, nor inattention, nor sloth and torpor, nor fear will arise in me again. So fear can be a big thing too. So when we talk about fear, what does that mean? Fear or terror or panic or anxiety.

So this is closely related to restlessness. When the mind is unable to focus on one thing for a longer duration of time, it starts to look at a myriad of thoughts in quick succession. And because of that quick activity, the mind starts to become anxious. And then from that restlessness, anxiety can arise. And sometimes even panic and fear and terror.

Now, there's nothing to fear here. There's nothing to be afraid of over here because you're all sitting here in the Dhamma Hall. Last I checked, there are no ghosts here. But I could be wrong. But even if they are, they're harmless. They're not going to do anything. Because you have loving kindness. It protects you. So fear, that terror, that panic, the panic attack that you get, how do you let go of that?

You need more tranquility. You need more equanimity. You need more collectedness. Because the restlessness and anxiety and the panic arise, my mind is making up things. What if this happens? What if this happens? this way, will it turn out that way? It's basically worry about the future. So how do you deal with that? Start to relax into the moment.

Start to space out your thoughts by relaxing, by tranquilizing. And that is the next enlightenment factor, tranquility. There's joy and there's tranquility. Joy and tranquility are interdependent. When your mind is tranquil, when your body is tranquil, you are naturally joyful. When your mind is experiencing happiness and joy, the body is naturally relaxed and tranquil. So when you relax, so after you've released and you've relaxed, what are you relaxing?

You're relaxing the tightness and tension that's there in mind and body. Tightness and tension in mind and body is a manifestation of craving. It's a manifestation of the mind that says, I like it, I don't like it, or I am it. It's the mind that says, I want more of it, or I want it to stop, or I identify with it. This is me, this is mine, this is myself. So when that happens, when the mind has those kinds of thoughts, what happens is it naturally starts to become tense.

Think about the last time you were genuinely scared. If you go back in the physiology of the body, there was a tightness that came up. There was an immediate reaction to hold on to something. And that is a manifestation of that. Go and you can tranquilize now. You are reconditioning your mind from reacting in those situations with panic, terror and fear to responding with equanimity, with tranquility, collectedness, by relaxing into the present moment, just as I said earlier. Just that little pause that you give means a lot.

It allows the mind to come back to wisdom and compassion. From a neuroscientific perspective, what's going on is if you give that pause for a few seconds, you're allowing every part of the brain, your prefrontal cortex, to come into activation. And instead of starting to work from an emotional reactivity, at and saying, oh, it's only this, let me let go of that.

Or, does it really make sense for me to argue with this person? Does it really make sense for me to continue to think about these things? And you start to rationalize and let go. As Aniruddha, I was abiding diligent, I consider thus, elation. The light and the vision of forms disappeared. That's interesting. So elation is here seen as a distraction, as a hindrance, as something to be dealt with.

Elation can be a byproduct of the mind being collected, but it could be too concentrated. And if it's too concentrated, there can arise too much joy. And when there is too much joy, the mind can feel agitated. And what happens is sometimes people mistake the joy for the loving kindness. So that they concentrate so much on the joy that when it disappears, we will. The second jhana and the third jhana, the joy dissipates.

They think my loving-kindness is not there. It's disappeared. No. It's because you have mistook the joy for loving-kindness. So what is the difference between the joy and loving-kindness? Loving-kindness, remember, is that warmth in your heart, that feeling of appreciation for yourself, that appreciation and wishing well for all beings, if you're radiating in the six directions. But joy is a factor that arises as a byproduct of the mind being collected.

And it can arise in different ways. It can arise as heat throughout the body. It can arise as just feeling happy, feeling brighter in the mind. It can arise as vibrations in the body. This is piti. This is another form of joy that can arise. But if the mind starts to take that as the object, then the mind is distracted.

So whatever factors arise, in whatever jhana that arises, just let them be there in the periphery of your mind as signposts of where you are in the practice. That's it. Something you have to listen to. So it's like this. If you're having a conversation with somebody in a public place, let's say you're at a restaurant, and there's ambient music taking place.

Now, if that ambient music starts to become louder, you're unable to focus and pay attention to what it is your friend is saying. Music, the sound around you, are the factors of the jhanas that come together. The moment you start getting excited about that and you look at that and you say, oh, there's the joy, oh, there's the sukha, oh, there's the collectedness, now you're distracted.

Yes, you can discern and be aware that it's there in the background, it's there in the periphery, that it's allowing you to know, okay, there is progress being made. Now you stop paying attention to your object. So elation, that joy that arises, can be a distraction. If you notice the mind starting to get excited about things that arise, let go. Recognize it. Release your attention from it. Relax. Now when you relax, that tightness and tension, when you let go of that tanha, that craving, in that moment, you experience tanha nirodha, the cessation of craving, the third noble truth.

And for those few moments, you experience a mundane form of Nibbana. The mind feels like a clear blue cloudless sky, unattached, unaffected. And it lasts only for a moment, but it's so great that you can't help but smile. And when you smile, you bring up, in balance, the joy factor. Not to the point that it becomes excitement, but there is a pleasant joy that arises because of that smile.

And with your mind anchored to that smile, you bring up your object of meditation, return back to your object of meditation. What is inertia? Not making any effort at all. Just being there. Oftentimes people will think, if I just sit there and don't do anything and let the mind just sink in, I'll get to quiet mind. This is a deception, because you think that your mind is quiet. You think your mind is collected, but really what's going on is that your mind is starting to feel heavier and starting to waver towards sloth and torpor, because you are not making the right effort. And that right effort arises not only through the six Rs, and this is why I recommend to all of the advanced practitioners

that you have to radiate something for the first 15 to 20 minutes. Radiate loving kindness, radiate compassion, radiate joy, radiate tranquility, radiate whatever it is that you're radiating. Allow it to be spread out in all directions. When you do this, you are making the proper effort. You are starting the process. You have put in the key and you start the ignition. Will run, and that's the only way the car will drive forward.

That's the only way you will progress. You have to take the steps. You can't just sit there and wait for something to happen. You have to radiate. And because of excess of energy, my collectedness fell away. Inertia, no excess of energy will arise in me again. What is excess of energy? You're trying too hard. This is one of two things that people always have problems with. One is lack of acceptance of the present moment.

They can't deal with the Dhamma of the present moment. There's a resistance to what's going on in terms of a hindrance that arises. Or there's a lack of self-acceptance. And if that's the case, then I will offer you to do the forgiveness practice. Now, if I give you the forgiveness practice, don't take it as a punishment. It's not a timeout at all. It is a very powerful supplemental tool. It basically lets go of all of that grime and drudge of any kind of resentment that might be there, any kind of hatred that might be there, any kind of lack of understanding that might be there, a lack of compassion that might be there. The forgiveness goes through all of that.

Let go of all of that, and your mind is able to experience even greater degrees of loving kindness and compassion for yourself and for other beings quite naturally. Many times I'll give forgiveness even when people are in the seventh or eighth jhana. Why? Because they're trying too hard. There's too much anticipation going on. There's too much expectation going on. I'm in the eighth jhana. Cessation is just around the corner.

So I say, all right, take a break. Why don't you do a little bit of forgiveness, let go of all of that and come back. And what happens? When they least expect it, cessation happens. They've let go of all of that anticipation. So that can arise too. That anticipation can be rooted in something deeper. So, if I give you forgiveness, understand that I'm just helping you boost your practice.

It's not a punishment. So, excess of energy. When we talk about excess of energy, what does that mean? It's trying too hard. Your mind is super focused. It's like, I will do this. I will sit here. You have super determination. To the point it's just pure madness. You're just sitting down and you're like, okay, I'm not getting out from this chair until I have cessation. Guess what? You will never have cessation, right? You have to have the balanced approach of practice. That means you bring up your object of meditation and you stay with it. That's it. Just be aware of it. Let your awareness rest in it.

The moment you start to see you're distracted, you relax. Six Rs. You recognize, you release, you relax. That's all you have to do. Six Rs, and observe. Now, if excessive energy arises and you're trying too hard, what are the signs that you're trying too hard? Restlessness arises in the form of a myriad of thoughts that come and go.

You're just unable to stay focused. And there is a tension that arises right around here, like a crown. It means you're trying too hard. You're pushing too much. And if you push too much, then I will punish you. I'll give you a break. I'll tell you, no meditation for today. And go out, take a walk, enjoy nature, sit by the lake, and then come back later.

And what you realize, what people will realize when that happens, is actually they were meditating. They thought they were on a break. Friends, remember? Ross and Rachel, we were on a break. But not really. Your mind was calm and collected and relaxed. And because of that, you were in the moment. You had presence of awareness. That, when you have that, when you have relaxed presence of awareness, even if there are thoughts in the background, like wisps.

That's okay. That means your mind is collected. But the moment you push and the mind feels tight and too solid and you feel that ring of tension and there's too many things going on in the mind, what do you do then? You recognize that. You release it. You relax. You re-smile. You return. And when you return, you pull your attention back a little. It's like the aperture of the camera. When you see the lens, you focus a certain amount. Too focused, and you don't see the whole picture.

Not enough focus, and the picture is blurry. So the excess of energy, trying too hard, is where the aperture is too tight. So how do you do it? Just loosen it up a little. Relax. Pull back your energy a little bit. Literally, just in your mind, take a step back and just observe. So what does this mean?

So this is the opposite of that. When you're trying too hard, there's an excess of energy, excess of effort. You have to balance it with tranquility and equanimity. When there's not enough attention being given, not enough interest in your object of meditation, then there's a deficiency of energy. So how do you balance that? You bring in a little joy. Microdose with your mind a little bit of joy.

This you'll see especially happening when you get into quiet mind. Because there's a delicate balance. You try too much and the mind starts to become restless. When that happens, pull back, relax, come back. When the mind has boredom and sloth and torpor, it comes to where there's not enough energy, bring a little bit of joy. Tighten the focus a little bit on your object of meditation.

This is how you resolve that. This is how you have balanced effort. What does loose focus feel like? We talked about how too much energy is where there's a tension around the head and there's a tightness and these restless thoughts that arise. But what about loose focus? What about not enough energy? You will start to become inattentive. And here the mind will start to gravitate towards boredom and sloth and torpor. There's a sense of apathy in the practice.

There's a sense of lack of freshness in the practice. It's because you've lost interest in the object. And all that means is you need to bring more attention. That's it. Just little amounts of attention. Be more attentive. What is going on here? And as you start to do that, your mind starts to balance itself out. And now you come to the proper level of collectedness. The proper level of Samadhi. Longing arose in me. In that longing, my collectedness fell away. When my collectedness fell away, the light and the vision of forms disappeared.

I shall so act that neither doubt, nor inattention, nor deficiency of energy, nor longing will arise in me. What is longing? Craving. Longing is craving, coveting, greed. I want more of this. Why did this stop? There were such great amounts of joy. Why did that go away? I want more of that. There was so much tranquility and equanimity that stopped.

Just let the mind progress through the jhanas. Don't try to hold on to anything that arises. The sixth sense basis that includes the mind in terms of mind objects, in terms of your object of meditation, in terms of the factors of the jhanas. All of that is conditioned. Being conditioned, it is subject to change, subject to disappearance. It is impermanent and not worth holding on to. Your object of meditation.

Just let the awareness rest in it. Let it be attentive to it. But the moment you hold on to it, you are doing wrong effort. Just let the awareness rest in it. I've used this analogy before: the orbiting. Your object of meditation is the planet. And your attention is the satellite that orbits the planet. This is meditation. When there is proper orbit going on, there is correct meditation going on.

But what happens? Sometimes the satellite goes out of orbit because there's not enough energy. So how do you bring it back? The six Rs. And you bring it back into proper orbit. And what happens if you're too close to the planet? If you're too close to the object of meditation, if you become one-pointed to the object of meditation, what happens? The satellite crashes and your mind breaks.

That can happen, by the way. If you become one-pointed, too focused, you can rupture your mind. Not a good place to be in. If you notice that, how do you notice that the satellite is getting too close for comfort? When there's tightness and tension. Use the six Rs, let go of that, and bring the attention back into proper orbit.

What does that proper orbit feel like? A relaxed, open, present awareness of loving kindness, of radiating loving kindness, or compassion, or joy, or equanimity. Then there is longing in terms of: when will I have cessation? When will I experience Nibbana? As soon as you have thoughts like that, you are far from Nibbana. You really have to understand this statement, when I say that cessation happens when you least expect it.

Break that down in your mind. What does that mean when you least expect it? To expect something is to be in samsara. Most of samsara, all of samsara, I should say, is produced from craving. And another form of craving is to wait. And that is all samsara is. That's what we're doing all day long. We're waiting. We're waiting in line.

We're waiting at the cashier. We're waiting for our food to heat up in the microwave. We're waiting for Netflix to load so we can watch that show. We're waiting, waiting, waiting. Why? Because the mind is looking forward towards something. Let go of that. Let go of the idea of what cessation looks like, the idea of what nibbana is, and just be here with the beginner's mind, with just plain pure simple presence of awareness. The more you do that, the greater your equanimity will be. The greater your equanimity is, the deeper your disenchantment will be. We'll get deeper into what that means, but disenchantment means your mind doesn't care what happens. It is just there. Present.

The greater you have disenchantment, the greater your dispassion is. What is that dispassion? The mind doesn't cling to anything. Nothing sticks to the mind. The mind becomes like Teflon. And before you know it, there is cessation. So if you're longing for cessation, recognize that. Let that go. Come back to equanimity. Make sure you have good equanimity, which naturally progresses and evolves to disenchantment, which naturally progresses and evolves to dispassion.

And when you least expect it, cessation. As Aniruddha, I was abiding diligent, I considered thus. Perception of diversity arose in me, and because of diversity, my collectedness fell away. What does that mean? Perception of diversity. Paying attention to sensory impressions. By what's happening outside of your meditation. You hear the birds chirp. You hear the frogs croak. You hear the lawnmower going.

You hear dogs running and barking. If you're doing any of that, you're not meditating, because your mind is now going to perceptions of diversity. It's paying attention more to what's going on outside and whatever is being fed back in through the receptors of the five physical sense bases. So this is very closely related to sensual craving. The mind thinks about hearing something and now starts to go down a rabbit hole of different thoughts and ideas related to that, just because of that one thing that arises because of that.

So how do you let go of that? You need tranquility. You need collectedness, and you need equanimity. These are the final factors. So we have mindfulness. We have discernment of states. We have right effort or energy. We have joy. We have tranquility. We have collectedness. And we have equanimity. You need enough tranquility, enough collectedness, enough equanimity, so that the mind can remain within the scope of the meditation.

Not scattered. The attention is not scattered in different directions, looking here and there, so to speak. When you start to notice this, 6R, and come back to your object. But do it gently. Just relax into it. Allow the mind to just rest in it. The more you do this, the deeper the practice will become. As Aniruddha, I was abiding diligent, I considered thus. Excessive meditation upon forms arose in me.

And because of excessive meditation upon forms, my collectedness fell away. When my collectedness fell away, the light and the vision of forms disappeared. I shall so act that neither doubt, nor inattention, nor perception of diversity, nor excessive meditation upon forms will arise in me again. What does that mean, excessive meditation upon forms? Sometimes you will experience what's known as meditation in fatigue.

Some people just go retreat after retreat after retreat after retreat. And when they do that, their mind becomes blah. It's just like, why am I doing this? There's no more newness, no more freshness to it. It's just too much meditation going on. So you need to balance that. As the days progress, I will tell you to sit longer. It was amazing. Last retreat, I told somebody just off the cuff, like he asked, how long should I sit? I just had six hours.

And he did it. And he had a great sit. Now, I won't tell anyone here to sit for six hours. Not yet, at least. But you will sit for longer periods of time as the days progress. So, obsessed by the meditation, that you become concentrated or focused and you are trying too hard. This is another form of trying too hard, trying to meditate for as long as you can, where things are starting to get stale. If you notice that that's starting to happen, let go and go for a walk. Walk for 20 minutes, do something else, go into nature. Look at the trees, look at the birds. It's fine.

Do that for about 20 minutes and then come back to sit again. There's a newness, a freshness to the practice. And the reason why you experience retreat fatigue and meditation fatigue is because you're having expectations that it's going to happen the same thing again. No two meditations will ever be the same unless you have some kind of determinations going on. But that's a whole other story.

But no two meditations will ever be the same. So treat every meditation like a new episode in a new season of a show that you're looking forward to. Just pay attention to every detail, every character, what's going on. And there's a freshness that's there. Hindrances arise. That's part of the drama of the meditation. Deal with it. 6R. Let it go. Come back to your object.

Big deal. You weren't able to stay with your object in meditation. So what? It's fine. Stop beating yourselves up for that. Let go of that. Come back to your object. Now you're there for longer periods of time. You got distracted again. What do you do? 6R. Come back. Now you're there for even longer periods of time. Eventually that distraction fades away completely, and it doesn't again. That's because you are using right effort in the form of the six hours. When under Rudha I understood that doubt is an imperfection of the mind. I abandoned doubt, an imperfection of the mind, when I understood that inattention, sloth and torpor, fear, elation, inertia, excess of energy, deficiency of energy, longing, perception of diversity, excessive meditation

is an imperfection of the mind. I abandoned all of those imperfections. So what is he doing? He recognized that they were there and he abandoned them and knew that they had gone. Using right effort. The 6R's are right effort. See forms. I saw forms, but I did not perceive light, even for a whole night, or a whole day, or a whole day and night. I thought, what is the cause and condition for this? Then I consider thus, on the occasion when I do not attend to the signs of forms, but attend to the sign of light, I then perceive light, but do not see forms. On the occasion when I do not attend to the sign of light, but attend to the sign of forms, I then see forms, but do not perceive light, even for a whole night or a whole day or a whole day and night.

So let's break down what that means. I perceived light, but I did not see forms. In other words, I had awareness, but I did not bring up an object of meditation. And I was not attentive to that object of meditation. The light of awareness was there. My attention was starting to become collected, but it was not collected around something initially.

So on the occasion I do not attend to the sign of forms. In other words, I do not pay attention to the object of meditation, but my mind is attentive. There is just this awareness, but nothing in particular. Light, but attend to the sign of forms, I then see forms but do not perceive light. In other words, I become one-pointed and I'm not paying attention to what's going on in my mind.

You need to have that balanced approach, where the mind or the attention of the mind is open enough so that it's aware of the object of meditation and it's aware of what it's doing in relation to its awareness. In other words, it's a metacognition. Not cognition of loving kindness. Metacognition. The cognition of cognition. The awareness of awareness.

Being attentive to your own attention. Because the moment you start to become focused, the moment you start to become one-pointed, there is not enough space for you to notice when hindrances arise. Meditation is essentially this. Having enough presence of mind around an object for the mind's attention to be anchored on something, so that it doesn't go here and there. Open enough so that if a hindrance arises, it can deal with it in that moment.

Because the whole purpose of this path is to recondition the mind from the unwholesome to the wholesome. So the real work is not just the meditation, not just the sitting practice and the walking practice, but doing this process every time, in every moment. Noticing where your mind is. Having a meditative state of mind. Right? Meditation is life. Life is meditation.

Being aware of your object, whatever it is you're doing, having open awareness so that if something arises in the form of a hindrance, you can recognize and let go of it. And by doing that, you're reconditioning your mind's responses to those hindrances, from having resistance and craving and agitation to responding with wisdom and proper attention, so that eventually there is the remainderless fading away of those hindrances. For all.

Even for a whole night or a whole day or a whole day and night. So limited and immeasurable. When we're talking about limited, we're talking about within the scope of the first four jhanas. The mind remains with its spiritual friend, or it remains with loving kindness towards itself, or just loving kindness in general. But it's within the scope of the first four jhanas. That is where it is limited. The awareness is limited to that. The object of meditation remains limited to that.

The moment you start to radiate in the six directions, now you have what is known as the immeasurable liberation of the mind. Where the mind starts to radiate immeasurably in every direction, loving kindness, or compassion, or joy, equanimity. And so there, the limit, the immeasurable light are the ayatanas. What are the ayatanas? They are infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception nor non-perception.

And what are the forms? Radiating loving kindness, radiating compassion, radiating joy, radiating equanimity, and in coming to quiet mind and signless awareness of mind. We'll talk about that a little later tomorrow. When Anuruddha, I understood that doubt is an imperfection of the mind and had abandoned doubt, an imperfection of the mind. When I understood that inattention is an imperfection of the mind and had abandoned inattention, abandoned sloth and torpor, abandoned fear, abandoned elation, abandoned innerliness, abandon excess of energy, deficiency of energy, longing, perception of diversity, excessive meditation, all imperfections of the mind, then I thought, I have abandoned those imperfections of the mind.

And my mind developed collectedness in three ways. Now, when the mind is letting go of hindrances, it starts to experience jhana. How is that? It says here, thereupon Anuruddha, I developed collectedness with applied thought and sustained thought. That's the first jhana. What is the applied thought and the sustained thought? Bringing up the object of meditation is the applied thought.

Staying with the object is the sustained thought. And, along with this, the mind is secluded from unwholesome states, no hindrances are present. Quite secluded from sensual pleasures is not paying attention to what's happening in terms of the five physical sense bases. It's just in mind. Then, I develop collectedness without applied thought, but with sustained thought only. You just have the object of meditation that you're just sustaining with your attention.

So here you're still in the first jhana because there's still verbalizing going on, still a process of effort of trying to stay with your object of meditation. I developed collectedness without applied thought, without sustained thought. Now you're starting to get into the second jhana. In the second jhana, the verbalizations go away, the imaging of whatever you want to bring up, to bring up that loving kindness, goes away.

I develop collectedness with rapture. Now joy arises. So first, in the first jhana, the joy arises because of relief from the hindrances. As a result of abandoning and letting go of the hindrances, the mind experiences relief and there is piti that arises dependent upon that. Then the joy further arises because the mind becomes more collected in the second jhana. I developed collectedness without rapture.

Now you're getting into the third jhana, which is sukha. There's a sense of comfort, a sense of happiness that's there. I develop collectedness accompanied by enjoyment. So what does that mean? Enjoyment. Now there's a level of self-confidence. I know what's going on here. That happens from the second jhana onwards. And that transitions into contentment in third jhana. A tranquil, I developed collectedness accompanied by equanimity. In the fourth jhana, you have purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. What does that mean, purity of mindfulness due to equanimity? So when you are in jhana, there are no hindrances, but there are present enlightenment factors. In each jhana, you're cycling through the enlightenment factors. You have developed and cultivated your mindfulness that leads to discernment, that leads to energy, that leads to joy, that leads to tranquility, collectedness, equanimity.

That further cycles back to a deeper level of mindfulness, a deeper level of discernment, a deeper level of energy and joy and tranquility and collectedness and equanimity. Nothing left but purity of mindfulness. The mind has total equanimity, total mindfulness. It is clear, sharp, and the mind is just content and satisfied to be in there, able to see what is going on.

This is a signature of the fourth jhana. Thought and sustained thought accompanied by equanimity and so on. The knowledge and vision arose in me. My deliverance is unshakable. This is my last birth. Now there is no renewal of being. This is very abbreviated because there is another sutta which goes into much more detail of what actually happened on the night of the Buddha's awakening.

Because he went through the four jhanas and then from the fourth jhana, he went into seeing his past lives. Seeing into his past lives, he started to understand at a deeper level how this process of karma and dependent origination works. He went even deeper in the second knowledge by seeing the arising and human way of beings according to their karma.

And as a result of which, he then directed his mind towards the taints, the asavas, the first link of ignorance even arises. They are the viruses that are encoded, incorrectly encoded into the software of your mind due to continual misbehavior and unwholesome states of mind. And he saw into that and he let go of the taints, that he has awakened.

And that is why then he says, my deliverance is unshakable. This is my last birth. Now there is no renewal of being. He has destroyed any further renewal of further karma. He has become fully awakened, self-awakened, the first arahat of that age, of this age. And he has understood the Four Noble Truths. He has understood what suffering is. He has fully abandoned all origin of suffering in the form of craving, conceit, wrong views, ignorance.

And he has experienced and fully realized Nibbana, the cessation of craving, by perfecting the cultivation of the Fourth Noble Truth, which is the Eightfold Path. The middle way. And every time you use the six Rs, you are doing exactly that, bit by bit by bit. Every time you recognize that there is a hindrance, you are seeing suffering right there and then. Every time you let go of it, you are abandoning the origin of suffering in the form of that craving or wrong attention, and for a split second you are experiencing Tanha Nirodha, the cessation of craving.

And every time you 6R, the 6Rs are right effort, right? And right effort is the heart of the 8-fold path. The 8-fold path starts with right view. But in order for you to have right view, first you have to understand what is right view and wrong view, and use right effort to go from wrong view to right view. Likewise, with wrong intention to right intention.

You use right effort to go from wrong intention to right intention, from wrong speech to right speech, from wrong action to right action, from wrong livelihood to right livelihood, from wrong mindfulness to right mindfulness, and then your mind becomes further collected. So the six R's are essentially the Eightfold Path. Every time you utilize that, you are cultivating. Any questions?

Let's share some merit. May the fearstruck be fearless. May the grieving shed all grief, and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisitions 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.