Day 6 -2022 10 Day June Retreat - SN 12.32 Pt.2 Dependent Origination

We're going to go a little deeper into dependent origination today. We're going to be reading from the Samyutta Nikaya 12.32, and it's called the Kalara at Savatthi. Then the Bhikkhu Kalara, the Katya, approached the Venerable Sariputta and exchanged greetings with him. When they had concluded their greetings and cordial talk, he sat down to one side and said to the Venerable Sariputta, Friend Sariputta, the Bhikkhu Moliya Faguna has abandoned the training and returned to the lower life. Moliya Faguna was a troublesome fellow.

You see him in Majjhima Nikaya number 21, which is the simile of the saw. And he's the guy who had a lot of attachment to the Bhikkhunis. And if the Bhikkhunis were around and somebody said something to them or about them that was negative, he would get upset by it. That was the beginning of the simile of the saw. So it looks like Faguna was not happy with the life of a monk and he actually disrobed and went back to being a layperson.

I understand. Destroyed is birth. What had to be done has been done. There is no more for this state of being. That's how he interpreted what Sariputta said. Sariputta said, I have no perplexity and I have no doubt. And Kalara took that to mean that Sariputta was declaring final knowledge, declaring the fruition of arahatship, as we always hear about the lion's roar, that big statement: destroyed is birth, the holy life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.

So then the Blessed One addressed a certain Bhikkhu thus, Come Bhikkhu, tell Sariputta in my name that the teacher calls him. Yes, Venerable Sir, that Bhikkhu replied, and he went to the Venerable Sariputta and told him, Yes, friend, the Venerable Sariputta replied, and he approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, and sat down to one side.

When he asked him, has the Venerable Sariputta attained solace in the Dhamma and discipline, he says, I have no perplexity, friend. Perplexity here is another synonym for doubt. In other words, Sariputta had complete experiential confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. And then when he asked him, but as to the future, friend, he says, I have no doubt, friend. In that case, what Sariputta is saying or implying is that there is no doubt that he has attained what he has attained. He has attained final knowledge. So Kalara took that, interpreted it in that way, and reported it to the Buddha. And so now the Buddha is asking, have you said that? And Sariputta says, well, I didn't say it exactly in that way.

But there's a way that a person understands that they have attained arahatship, and they understand it, and they'll report it in their own terms. So the Buddha said, in whatever way, Sariputta, a clansman declares final knowledge, what he has declared should be understood as such. Venerable Sir, didn't I too speak thus? So the Buddha, the reason he's asking this is for a very specific purpose. And Sariputta is not getting the gist of what the Buddha wants him to do, but he will very soon. So the Buddha says, and so now Sariputta gets the Buddha's intention. He wants to know from Sariputta, how did you get to this arahatship? How did you understand the Dhamma?

So first let's discuss what birth is. When we talk about birth, what is that? It is understood at the macro level, from one lifetime to another. It is the coming together of the sense bases. It is the coming into being into a new existence. It is the coming together of the aggregates. It's the birth of a new life. This is one way of understanding it. That is birth. Birth of action is mental action, verbal action, or bodily action. So that means birth of what? Birth of karma. Birth of action. Mental action is an intention that gives rise to an intentional thought. When you speak, you have an intention to say something. Birth of physical action or bodily action is when you want to do something.

You intend to walk, you intend to sit down, you intend to eat, you intend to breathe in and out, whatever it might be. So this kind of birth of action is something that happens upon its cause or its condition, which is habitual tendency. We'll get into that a little bit. But the question to understand is, can you 6R birth?

Can you 6R birth of action? You cannot. Because as soon as the action is produced, you cannot call it back. As soon as you have released the arrow, you can't call back the arrow. As soon as you have said something, you can't take it back. As soon as you have thought something, you can't take it back. So the way to look at dependent origination is that there's this cascading of different streams and rivulets that go into and form a river.

And these whirlpools, these vortexes that are there, are each of the links of dependent origination. And then there is the becoming, the habitual tendencies, existence, which is the bend of the river that goes into a waterfall. The waterfall, the falling of that river, the waterfall itself, is birth. It's the birth of action. Once you go beyond becoming and actually take the action, you cannot go back. You cannot go upstream of a waterfall. And so the Buddha says, but Sariputta, if they were to ask you, but friend Sariputta, what is the source of birth, what is its origin, from what is it born and produced? Being asked thus, how would you answer? If they were to ask me this, venerable sir, I would answer thus: birth, friend, has existence, or habitual tendencies. Habitual tendencies is another way we describe bhava.

So birth is the birth of action or the birth of a being. Becoming, is being, is existence, is habitual tendencies. At the level of becoming, you become someone or you become something. It's where your sense of identity becomes most concrete. So whenever Sariputta is described, or anyone in the suttas is described as bhava, they talk about it in terms of the threefold existences.

There is the existence in the sensual realms, there's the existence in the form realms, and there's the existence in the formless realms. Here what they're talking about is how the habitual tendency is inclined to a certain kind of existence. If your habitual tendencies are rooted in being attached to sensory pleasures, information. You have a tendency to incline to exist in a sensual realm.

And in that sensual realm, there can be different kinds of habitual tendencies. So what are habitual tendencies? Habitual tendencies are basically those reactions that the mind has held onto as a storage device. It picks it up whenever it's met with some kind of an experience, and naturally, almost automatically, reacts in a certain way. That automatic reaction is the habitual tendency.

So if you are met with certain choices, your mind will incline to certain choices automatically. That inclination is the habitual tendencies. So if a mind reacts with a lot of anger, the habitual tendencies are rooted in that anger and cause birth in a realm, that is to say, in the mind, psychologically. If you are suffering and you have a lot of anger and irritation, if you have a lot of anger and you have a lot of irritation and frustration, bitterness, all of these other unwholesome, very bleak ways of reacting in your mind, then that's a very hellish way of living in your mind.

So then, in that case, psychologically, when your habitual tendencies are rooted in that, where will you have birth of action? In a hellish atmosphere. If you continue to act with anger, you will only receive more anger. You will only create more habitual tendencies rooted in that anger. But if somebody is generous, if somebody is happy, if somebody is clear and calm, if somebody keeps the precepts, then their inclinations or their habitual tendencies will incline towards wholesome ways of reacting to a situation.

And so that bhava leads to a deva kind of atmosphere, a deva-like psychology, or a higher existence, so to speak. If the mind experiences any of the first four jhanas, the rupa jhanas, and has the ability to go into those jhanas very easily, then their mindset is habituated towards those jhanic experiences. And so because of that, wherever they are, they will experience that jhanic realm psychologically. If you continue to cultivate the first jhana, when you continue to walk around and everything in the first jhana, and you experience the joy of the first jhana, you experience the clarity and the relief from the hindrances from that first jhana. So your mind is void of those hindrances. It has joy. It has sukha. It has comfort and ease in the body. And then likewise with the second jhana, it has further. It is more comfortable, more at ease, more tranquil.

And finally, with the fourth jhana, it's more equanimous. So if you continue to develop jhana, cultivate jhana, your habitual tendencies will incline from jhana or jhanic state of being. In other words, whatever you are met with when you are in that jhana, you will respond from there. That is to say, because you are happy, there won't be any of the hindrances there in your mind.

So you will respond in a way that is rooted in wisdom, in compassion, in joy, and so on. Likewise for the second, third, fourth jhana. And the formless realms. If a being continues to cultivate and develop the arupa jhanas, continues to be in infinite space tied with the compassion, continues to be in infinite consciousness, tied with the empathetic joy, if a person continues to be in nothingness, tied with equanimity, or neither perception or non-perception, tied with quiet mind, then however they respond will be rooted from the habitual tendencies, rooted in that jhana, or in that realm.

So in other words, psychologically, you will have more compassion if you're in infinite space. You'll respond with more compassion. Psychologically, you will respond with more empathetic joy when you're in infinite consciousness. Psychologically, you will experience or respond from more equanimity when you're in nothingness. Or your mind will be quiet when you're in either perception or non-perception. And then on the macro level, this also results in where if somebody has throughout their life been unwholesome, or jealous, or envious, or angry, or frustrated, or violent, or whatever unwholesome states of mind there might be.

Because of the habitual tendencies, there will be something that will react in a way when they are about to die. Their stream of consciousness, if you will, whatever arises in their mind, will be inclined towards the unwholesome. Regrets for things that they did. They'll have anger or bitterness towards people, or something will arise which is unwholesome, and their reaction to that will give rise to a certain formation or set of formations, which give rise to a certain consciousness, and then that consciousness will then incline towards a new nama-rupa in a new existence, in a new state of being, where the birth will occur there, and that will correspond with the kind of inclinations that they have.

So likewise, if somebody has been very wholesome, always been generous, always kept the precepts, always been loving and kind and patient and compassionate, equanimous, and so on. Then when they're about to die, the tendency will be for the mind to look at the things that were wholesome, the wholesome actions that they did, the wholesome speech that they had, wholesome intentions that they had, that will make their mind uplifted, that will keep their mind happy. And because of that, there will be a formation rooted in that, which will give rise to a corresponding consciousness, which will then descend into a new nama-rupa in a new birth corresponding with those wholesome states of mind. This is becoming. Because through that habitual tendency, likewise, if somebody's cultivated the jhanas, they will enter into a jhanic realm, rupa brahmalokas.

Or in regards to the arupa states, they will then take existence or take birth into a new existence that is in one of the arupa realms. So this is becoming, this is being, this is existence, dependent upon your actions, dependent upon your intentions, which then creates this sense of habitual tendencies. These habitual tendencies, just to emphasize, can be changed because they can be 6R'd.

If you notice that the mind is about to react in a certain way and you recognize that and you release your attention from that, relax, and then come back to something wholesome, then you are actually weakening habitual tendencies in unwholesome states of mind, in unwholesome intentions. So that instead of reacting from negative or unwholesome tendencies, you respond in a wholesome manner. So you weaken those habitual tendencies and you replace them with positive or wholesome habitual tendencies.

It's the fuel for existence. It's that which fuels or nourishes existence. There are certain types of clinging. There's the clinging to sensual pleasures. There's the clinging to rites and rituals. There's the clinging to certain kinds of self-view. And then there's clinging to certain kinds of wrong view, or clinging to views in general. So, clinging to sensual pleasures.

When you have a sensual experience, whatever experience it might be, your mind, if it has craving in it, will incline towards that and say, I want that. It grasps at it and says, I want that. And it says, I want that because it makes me feel good. The because is the rationalization, which is the clinging to sensual pleasures.

I want that because it makes me feel good. That makes me feel good is the concretizing of the sense of self in habitual tendencies. So the association with how these things make you feel good, or why they make you feel good, or why they don't make you feel good, is the clinging. The clinging is digging your heels deeper into, I want it because of so-and-so, or I don't like it because of so-and-so. So sensual pleasures, it's where you create the sense, the repository of favorites of your sense experiences.

You have a favorite type of music, you have a favorite type of movie genre, you have a favorite type of cereal, you have a favorite type of food, you have a favorite type of perfume, you have a favorite type of bed sheet or favorite chair or favorite drink or whatever it might be. All of these things arise because you start to rationalize why you like these things. Personalizations are clinging. And that's the clinging to sensual pleasures.

So if somebody says red is my favorite color, they've grown up thinking red. They associate red with something that makes them feel good. And so that association makes them cling to the color red. And so now it's like, this is my favorite. And if it's my favorite, it is me. It is mine. It is myself. That it is me, it is mine, it is myself, is the bhava of tendencies.

So the clinging to sensual pleasures only goes away when you have attained anagami. Because there, there is no more sensual craving, and therefore there won't be any more clinging to sensual pleasures. Clinging to rites and rituals. Clinging to rites and rituals with the idea that these rites and rituals will take you to nibbana. That's one way of looking at it. But clinging to rites and rituals with the idea that certain kinds of practices will lead you somewhere. Like praying to a certain deity will get you wealth. Praying to a certain deity will get you health. Or, if I carry my lucky handkerchief, it'll be a good day. If I do certain things, if I do certain rituals, my day will go well.

If I don't do those rituals, I feel awful. Now the whole day is gone, bad, just because I wasn't able to do those rituals, I wasn't able to do it a certain way. Everything has to be a certain way, right? This is a kind of clinging to rites and rituals, because it's like, if I don't do it this way, something's going to go bad, but if I do it this way, everything is going to be fine. If you stand or if you have a standpoint on that, that is a clinging to rites and rituals. The clinging to rites and rituals goes away when you become a stream-enterer. That's one of the fetters, the clinging to rites and rituals.

The clinging to self-view is the idea, well, there are these 20 types of self-views. They are basically the five aggregates multiplied by the four types of self-view. So what are the five aggregates? Form, consciousness. The different types of self-view is: these aggregates are self. These aggregates are in self. Self is in the aggregates, or the self is a possession of the aggregates, or sometimes the self is separate from the aggregates.

So that means that my body is me, or the feelings I'm experiencing is me. Or the perceptions that I have, is it me? Or the intentions that I have, is that me? Or the consciousness, the awareness of whatever is happening, is me? This is a type of self-view. Or that the me, the sense of me, the sense of I, is in the body.

Or it's in the feeling. Or it's in perception. Or it's in the intention. Or it's in the consciousness. Or that this self is larger than the aggregates and they are in the self. In other words, the self is one with existence and the aggregates are functioning within the self. Or the self is separate. The self is one thing and the aggregates are another. Or that they are possessed by the self. They are faculties of the self. Touchstone of what does it mean to be a self in the ancient Indian context. The idea is that that self is imperishable and that it's permanent and a source of happiness. But now if you look at all of the aggregates, we understand that each of these aggregates is dependently arisen.

The body, as we understand it, is nama-rupa, mind and body. Or rather, the five aggregates are nama-rupa. So there is the body, which is dependent upon consciousness in order for it to function. But it's also dependent upon food. And it grows, and it's changing. It's subject to change. If it's dependently arisen, that means it's impermanent.

If it's impermanent, there's no point in holding on to it, because it will cause suffering. So therefore, it should not be seen as me, mine, or myself. It cannot be seen as me, mine, or myself. What about feeling? Any experience you're having right now. You're here right now and that's the experience. You're listening to my voice. That's an experience.

I stopped speaking. The voice doesn't continue. The sound doesn't continue, or didn't continue at that moment. It changed. The experience keeps changing in every moment. Now you're here in the Dhamma Hall. Now you're going to walk outside. That is different. You hear the air conditioner, the air conditioner goes silent. That's a different experience. So all of the different experiences that you're having, these are all feeling. These are all Vedana.

So if they're always changing, then that means it's impermanent. Feeling is impermanent. And if feeling is impermanent, it means that it can change and therefore it is liable to cause suffering. There can be suffering in that feeling. Therefore, how can it be considered to be me, mine, or myself? Perceptions. We understand perceptions to be rooted in memory.

But memory is very fickle. There's so many times that people can implant false memory just by adding certain kinds of details into whatever it is that they're talking about. Oh, yeah, that's right. He was wearing a red shirt, not a pink shirt. Suddenly people now think about that and their perceptions change. Or the perceptions of your memories before that you had might change as you grow up. Before you thought your parent was being very strict and being this and that. But then when you yourself become a parent, you realize, oh, they were really being... careful. They were being compassionate. They were trying to keep me safe. The perceptions change.

So if perceptions change, how can they be considered to be self? Because the self is supposed to be that which is not subject to change. If perceptions change, good, bad, or indifferent, they can be liable to cause suffering. And if that's the case, you cannot consider them to be me, mine, or myself. There can't be a self in a perception.

Perceptions can't be part of a self. Perceptions or feeling can't be part of a self. Likewise with formations. Formations continue to arise and pass away. Those of you who have been in either perception or non-perception can testify to this. You can see the bubbling up of formations just coming and going, coming and going continuously until you become disenchanted with them. And you have no control over them.

You have no control over what experience you're going to have. You have no control over how the body will change, when the body will die, and all of these other things. If the body will have this sickness or that sickness. You have no control over whether these perceptions will continue to be this way or a different way. Same with the intentions. They continue changing, dependent upon whatever is arising.

Whatever choices you are met with, those are the choices that are conditioned by whatever the experience is. And your intention, which drives forward the formations, changes dependent upon that intention. So formations also cannot be seen as self. Awareness or consciousness arises, remember, dependent upon sense bases and their objects. So if that changes, if the feeling changes, the perception changes, so does the awareness that is tied to that feeling and perception. How can it be self? How can there be a self in there?

How can it be related to a self? So this clinging to self-view is the understanding that everything that is conditioned and even the unconditioned is not self. You understand that there is no controller here. When you come to that understanding, when you have the experience of stream entry. When you first experience cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, and the mind comes out from that, and then experiences the links, it realizes, oh, this reality arises because of these causes and conditions. Everything is impersonal.

So there is this experiential understanding of the impersonal nature of all things. And that eradicates the clinging to self-view. There'll still be conceit. There'll still be this intrinsic taking of things personal. There'll still be this intrinsic sense of identifying with the five aggregates, but on an experiential understanding, in the sense of your mind. You understand intellectually, more than intellectually, it is intellectual, but it's also dependent upon a deep experience. You understand that this is... there is no core in these things.

And so you let go of all self-views. This is known as Sakkaya Ditthi. Ditthi or Drishti in Sanskrit, which means the view, the perspective. Your perspective on the self changes. Your perspective on the concept of a self is eradicated where it takes anything as being a core essential perspective. Self at stream entry. So this is the clinging to self views. What about the clinging to views?

There are these 62 types of wrong view. No, no, I'm not going to go over all 62. Don't worry. But we'll go over them. The view of skepticism, the view of asceticism, where you had to purify your karma by doing certain ascetic practices. These are all, in some way or another, violating the laws of karma, as we understand it from the Dhamma.

Or violating the understanding of what reality actually is, in terms of the self, and not-self, and so on and so forth. So, these are the different kinds of clinging to wrong views. But if you let go of all wrong views and your mind becomes established in right view, which happens at stream entry, there can still be clinging to right view. There can still be clinging to the Dhamma itself.

Remember yesterday we talked about how the mind can cling to the idea of dependent origination. And so it's the idea of the raft. It doesn't let go of the raft after it's gotten to the other shore. on its shoulders. So the clinging to the Dhamma, the identification with the Dhamma, that's the conceit that arises saying, I know the Dhamma and I am a Dhamma defender. You become part of that view. You identify with that view. Somebody says something against the Dhamma, you have an inclination to defend it.

And if there's any pride in the Dhamma, that is another kind of clinging to the Dhamma. Clinging to right view. So that is completely eradicated. Clinging to the wrong views is eradicated at stream entry, because now you have right view established. But clinging to the Dhamma itself, clinging to right view, is completely eradicated at arahatship. So these are the types of clinging.

That's the kind of sensual craving, sensual aversion. If your mind enjoys some kind of food and it sees that food and says, oh, I really like that food, or it tastes a wonderful piece of candy and immediately says, I want more of that candy, there is craving there. Craving is recognized, remember this, craving is recognized as tightness and tension in mind and body. Anytime the body and the mind recoil at an experience, there is craving there. There's a difference though. Sometimes there can be reflexes, but there's other times where the mind just gravitates towards something. So to clarify, reflexes are things like the body immediately protects itself, so to speak. If it sees a fire or if there's heat, it will pull its hand away.

If a snake strikes it, it will jump. It will protect itself. That's one thing. But you have to notice, was there fear there? Was there anger there? Was there irritation there? Was there craving there? So it's the two darts principle, the two arrows. There's the physical, which is the reflex. And then there's the mental, which says, because it affected me in this way and so on and so forth. That I don't like it, that mental aspect is the craving there.

So we talked about this in terms of the 6R's. So you can 6R becoming. You can 6R habitual tendencies. You can 6R clinging. When you notice the mind trying to rationalize why it likes a certain thing, you can recognize that and let that go. Stop digging your heels into trying to say, I like it because of this, said so and so and so on.

Or whatever kind of clinging you notice. Whatever kind of rationalization you notice for the craving that you have. You can recognize it and 6R let it go. Same with the craving. You recognize that the mind starts to become tight and tense because it wants something. It's trying too hard to get something, like loving kindness or any meditation object. And you can 6R that. Let go of that. Or you notice that it gets irritated that it's not in a certain jhana and you can recognize that and let go of that. Speaking of jhana, that's the craving for existence. I want to be in this jhana. Why am I not here yet?

I'm waiting for Nibbana to happen. I'm waiting for Nirodha to happen. Why am I not there yet? I've been meditating for four hours and nothing is going on. This is the craving for an experience. And it will arise in your mind in the form of all of these rationalizations. Maybe I should go for a walk. It's been very long. I've been sitting for three hours.

Maybe I should go get up and take a walk. Or nothing's really happening here. I'm bored. That was Bhante's most hated word, let's say. Bored. That's the bad word. The B word. Bored. Don't ever say you're bored in front of Bhante. So that boredom that arises. Nothing's going on here. That's another kind of craving for existence. I want something to happen. So what does the mind do? The mind seeks stimulation. So it's going to throw up all of these things. All of these formations. Restlessness. Sloth and torpor. What do you have to do? Stay calm. Stay equanimous. 6R it. Let that go. Come back to the quiet mind, or whatever it might be. The craving for non-existence.

You're in a certain jhana, but you don't want to be in that jhana. That's another kind of way. Or craving for non-existence in the sense, I am here, and I don't want to be here. I'm part of this family. I don't want to be part of this family. I'm in this country. I don't want to be in this country. I want to go somewhere else.

I don't want to be poor or I want to be rich. These are the two sides of that coin of craving for existence, craving for non-existence. At the very extreme, craving for non-existence can lead to suicide. People really get so bogged down by their experiences. They get so deeply affected by their experiences that the mind is seeking a way out of it. And it feels like the only way out is to end one's life.

That's the most extreme craving for non-existence. So anytime you recognize this sense of I want this, or I don't want this, or I am this, or I want to be this, or I don't want to be here, or I don't want to be this, recognize that as a form of craving.6R it, and experience relief.

The idea is when I see a piece of chocolate cake, the mind will say, that chocolate cake is really nice. That's the feeling. But then there's this tension that comes up in the mind and body. It says, I want that chocolate cake. That's a nice piece of chocolate cake is one thing, but I want that. The body experiences tightness and tension. This is also a kind of response in the biology of the fight or flight or freeze.

It's like, I need to possess that. And so that tension causes the mind to say, okay, if I take that and I satisfy that craving, I will feel relief. So what happens? You start to condition the mind in such a way that the only way to experience relief is to act upon my craving, is to act upon my aversions.

Somebody says something really terrible to you, and your mind and your body start to recoil, they have tightness and tension, and you want to say something back at them, and you have real anger towards them, and then you act on that anger, what do you feel after a little while? Just in that moment, you feel relief. to them. I feel relief in that moment. I relieved my anger by acting on it.

So then you recondition your mind thinking, every time I get angry, if I act on it, I'll feel relief. But what if you felt relief before acting on it? That's the whole purpose of the six R's. You're noticing there's craving arising. You're noticing there's aversion arising. You recognize it. Release your attention from that. Relax the craving. Relax the tightness and tension. Feel relief right there and then. Replace it with something wholesome.

Now you don't act on it. You've already felt relief. Your mind is expanded. It's become less contracted. Your body is loose and relaxed. It's tranquilized. So now you don't act out of craving, wisdom. Now, instead of getting angry at the person, you 6R and you realize that person is suffering. So why should I add to their suffering? Let me either stay quiet or de-escalate the situation by addressing their concerns, not giving into their anger or their hatred. Maybe I enjoy a piece of chocolate cake and I want another one and I look at it and I say, I feel like having another piece of chocolate cake, but I know it's not going to satisfy me because I've already eaten it.

I've already eaten one piece. So I recognize that. I let go of that. I feel ease when I relax. I feel an expanded mind. And I replace it with equanimity. I come back to the smile, replace it with equanimity and say, I'm okay. I don't need this chocolate cake. And I go away. So I won't suffer the consequences of eating another piece of chocolate cake, could result in a sugar rush or worse diabetes, some kind of suffering.

So different ways of dealing with craving and aversion, different situations, or rather different situations, but the same way of dealing with them, which is the six R's. So the six R's aren't just for your meditation, but they're for your daily practice. This is right effort. Leads you to right mindfulness, right concentration in daily life, wisdom and compassion. Or sometimes not respond at all. That might be the wisest thing to do, is not to respond at all.

Being asked thus, venerable sir, I would respond in such a way. So, feeling. The Buddha has talked about different kinds of feeling, up to 108 different kinds of feeling. But the three basic understandings of feeling are pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. There's the pleasant feeling which makes you feel good. There's the unpleasant feeling that makes you feel not so good. And there's a neutral feeling where you neither feel good or bad. It's just a feeling. Just an experience. So there can be mental feeling and there can be physical feeling. There can be feeling related to the six sense bases, that's the physical feeling, or the five physical sense bases, or there can be the feeling in the mind, irritation in the mind, or feeling of joy in the mind, feeling of the jhanic factor of sukha in the mind, comfort in the mind, and so on.

Now, in these feelings can arise, or embedded in these feelings, through how you respond to them, through how you perceive them, are underlying tendencies. So, in the case of a pleasant feeling, it can give rise to the underlying tendency towards craving for that pleasant experience. In the case of an unpleasant feeling, it can give rise to an underlying tendency aversion towards that unpleasant experience. Aside from these kinds of underlying tendencies, there can be the underlying tendency to ignorance, to have the lack of mindfulness of seeing what it actually is, or ignorance of the Four Noble Truths and the Three Characteristics of Existence. There can be the underlying tendency towards doubt, unaware of how to deal with the situation in terms of what is. They can arise the underlying tendency towards some kind of a view, to take up a certain kind of view dependent upon that experience, to take up a certain kind of opinion about something.

Opinions and views can give rise to violence, can give rise to wars. We've seen this throughout the eons. This is how the Buddha says there arises the taking up of the sword and the stick. It arises from clinging to certain kinds of views. So if there's an underlying tendency to a view in regards to a feeling, in regards to an experience, that can give rise to full-blown craving or aversion and clinging to views and so on.

So I said there's the underlying tendency to craving, the underlying tendency to aversion, ignorance, the underlying tendency towards doubt, the underlying tendency towards a view, there can be the underlying tendency towards conceit, that is, to identify with an experience, say, this experience is me, mine or myself. There can be the underlying tendency of bhava, of becoming. I want to be this person, you see, or I want to have that. That initial inclination of becoming or being that person or being that thing. This is also the underlying tendency. So these, when acted upon, can give rise to full-blown craving or aversion or full-blown identification, which then can give rise to clinging, which then can give rise to becoming, and so on.

So when you have a pleasant feeling, see it for what it actually is. It is pleasant. That yellow flower is beautiful. That's fine. That's a very pretty flower. I wonder if these flowers are there in Austria. That's all pleasant feeling. I want that flower. I want to possess that flower. That is the underlying tendency towards craving. And then acting upon that is craving.

This piece of chocolate tastes really good. That's a pleasant feeling. I wonder where you get this chocolate. That's an understanding. Oh, where did you get this chocolate? I want more of this chocolate. I want to buy up more of this chocolate and eat more than my fill. Now you have craving. An unpleasant feeling. There's this bad smell in the air. Oh, that's a terrible smell. That's a feeling. That's a perception of the unpleasant feeling. You get irritated by that and ask, how did this unpleasant experience happen? And you get upset by it. Now there's aversion.

Likewise, somebody says something to you that's negative. That's an unpleasant experience. Somebody criticizes you. That's an unpleasant experience. That slight tinge that you feel is the underlying tendency towards aversion. If you act upon that and then say, I want to say this to this person, now you have full-blown aversion. But if you recognize that tinge, you let go of it using the six R's, replace it with compassion, with equanimity.

Now you're not acting upon that underlying tendency. And so then the Buddha says, Thus, how would you answer? If they were to ask me this, venerable sir, I would answer thus. Friends, there are also, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neither painful nor pleasant feeling. These three feelings, friends, are impermanent. Whatever is impermanent is suffering.

When this was understood, delight in feelings no longer remained present in me. Being asked thus, Venerable Sir, I would answer in such a way. In other words, for those underlying tendencies not to arise, to be fully eradicated, and they get eradicated in stages as you get to the levels of attainment. But when you eradicate all of them, you see things as they are. Which means when you have an experience, you see it just as Sariputta described. Here is a pleasant feeling. Here is a pleasant experience. Here is an unpleasant experience. Here is a neutral experience.

This experience is impermanent. And so therefore I'm not going to hold on to it because it's not worth holding on to. It is subject to change. So there's no reaction to that feeling, to that experience that causes craving and aversion to arise. That will cause further clinging and becoming, birth, of action and the whole mass of suffering.

Good, good, Sariputta. This is another method of explaining in brief that same point. Whatever is felt is included within suffering. Let's unpack that statement a little bit. Whatever is felt is included within suffering. Sometimes this is interpreted to say that everything is suffering. If that is the case, then why are you meditating? What are you meditating for? Why are you bringing up loving kindness? Why are you bringing up compassion? Why are you bringing up equanimity?

Isn't that too suffering? What the Buddha is referring to is that everything is subject to change. Everything is subject to change, therefore don't hold on to things. If you hold on to things, that's what's going to cause you suffering. If you hold on to the loving kindness and the loving kindness disappears and you say, what happened? That's going to cause you suffering.

If you hold on to this pleasant experience and it goes away, that's going to cause you suffering. Obviously, if you hold on to an unpleasant feeling, that's already suffering right there and then. Or a neutral feeling, you have equanimity. And you hold on to equanimity and it goes away, what happens? That can cause suffering if you hold on to it. By the way, what is the other opposite or the other side of equanimity? There's equanimity as a neutral feeling. But there's another kind of neutral feeling that you want to be aware of and not have and let go of. And that is indifference.

Equanimity is that mindset that sees things as they are but doesn't get pulled in one direction or the other. But indifference has apathy in it. There's a certain level of aversive quality in that. It's wanting to ignore whatever is arising. Being indifferent to it. I don't care about it. So you're not actually seeing reality as it actually is. You're just projecting this idea that I don't care about it. I don't need to see it. I have apathy towards it. So you have to let go of it. If you let go of that, then you see things as they are and you start to develop equanimity.

Friends, through an internal deliverance, through the destruction of all clinging, I dwell mindfully in such a way that the pains do not flow within me and I do not despise myself. Let's unpack that. He says, is that mind of the arahant, which is empty, which is signless, and which is immeasurable. Because it is void of any kind of greed, hatred, or delusion.

The formations that arise in that mind are not rooted in greed, hatred, or delusion. So that mind is always experiencing deliverance. Meaning, it is always experiencing relief. That mind is free from any kind of greed, hatred, or delusion. And so it rests within itself, and that is the internal deliverance that is there. Through the destruction of all clinging, doesn't grasp at anything, doesn't cling to any experience in any way whatsoever, doesn't identify with any experience in any way whatsoever, everything as it is. Everything that is experienced through the Sixth Sense basis is like this hyper-aware, hyper-dimensional, hyper-vivid, multi-sensory movie.

You're not attached to anything. You're just seeing things flowing. You're experiencing things flowing, not clinging or grasping at anything. I dwell mindfully in such a way that the taints do not flow. In other words, he doesn't have to intend to dwell mindfully. He just dwells mindfully. As an arahant, the mind is automatically, its default mode is to function from the Eightfold Path. Which means it's always having right mindfulness. It's always observing where its attention goes from one thing to the other.

Because it always has mindfulness, there is no ignorance in that mind. Ignorance is the ignorance of the Four Noble Truths, not being aware of the Four Noble Truths. A lack of mindfulness feeds back to that ignorance. That ignorance is dependent and conditions as well the three taints, the three fermentations of the mind, the three asavas, as they're called in Pali.

That is, the fermentation or taint of sensual desire. The taint or fermentation of being. And the taint and fermentation of ignorance. So that sensual desire arises every time the mind acts upon with craving or aversion towards a sensual experience. That's eradicated for the Anagami. Still there, craving to be in this jhana or that, this existence or that, and so on.

That feeds back energy to the taint of being. But for the arahant, they have destroyed that taint of being. They have destroyed that taint of ignorance because they're fully aware at all times. They're fully mindful at all times. So when they are fully mindful, there's no way craving can arise. and therefore there's no way that it can be added to any kind of fuel for the taints, which can give rise to ignorance, which can then tinge the formations that can be rooted in greed, hatred, or delusion, can be rooted in conceit, in craving, and ignorance.

And since those formations are purified in the mind of the arahant, any consciousness that arises will not be rooted in that greed, hatred, or delusion. Therefore, any experience of the nama-rupa through the Sixth Sense basis in contact, feeling, and perception will always be seen mindfully as this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself. That all feeling is subject to change and impermanent, therefore not worth holding on to.

And I do not despise myself. Very easy. I have loving kindness for myself. When you don't have loving-kindness for yourself, you cannot give loving-kindness to others. When you don't have compassion for yourself, you cannot give compassion to others. So he dwells mindfully with loving-kindness inherent in that mind, always with wisdom. But it can also respond with compassion, with equanimity, with joy.

It will celebrate in other people's joys. The arahant can have a good sense of humor or sometimes a corny sense of humor. But in either case, they will always be joyful. They will always try to be happy and make others happy. And they will always have loving kindness and compassion. Being thus asked, Venerable Sir, I would answer in such a way.

Good, good, Sariputta. This is another method of explaining in brief that same point. I have no perplexity in regard to the taints spoken of by the ascetic. The ascetic here is the Buddha because here the way it's written is with a capital A. So when they say recluse with a capital R or the Brahmin with a capital B or ascetic with a capital A, they're referring to the Buddha.

I do not doubt that they have been abandoned by me. So the perplexity here is in regards to what are those taints and the doubt here is in reference to I have no doubt that they have been abandoned. In the arahant, there's no doubt. It's like, are the taints still there in me or not in me? You will know for sure that the taints are no longer in you. You'll know for sure. And so that's why it's known as the irreversible, unshakable liberation of mind. And that's why the mind of the arahant can proclaim in whatever words that lion's roar of birth is destroyed. What had to be done has been done. This is what the Blessed One said.

Having said this, the fortunate one rose from his seat and entered his dwelling. There's a second part to this. Then soon after the Blessed One had departed, the Venerable Sariputta addressed the bhikkhus thus, Friends, the first question that the Blessed One asked me had not been previously considered by me. Thus I hesitated over it. Meaning, when the Buddha asked him, have you actually attained final knowledge, he hesitated because he didn't understand first and foremost what the Buddha's intention was behind that. But when the Blessed One approved of my answer, which is in regards to dependent origination, when the Buddha says, how do you declare this? He says it because I understand when this arises, that arises.

When this ceases, that ceases. So when he understood dependent origination and explained, because I understand dependent origination through and through, I can say that I have final knowledge. But that final knowledge, remember, you can have an understanding of dependent origination through each of the different attainments. But he has a full understanding as an arahant, which is to say he can explain it in different ways because he has experienced the reverse order and the forward order and so on and so forth. And he has understood that certain links are no longer present in his mind. The reactivity in the form of birth, the becoming, the state of being or existence or habitual tendencies, the clinging, the craving are no longer there in the arahant.

The ignorance is gone. The taints are gone. And therefore the formations rooted in ignorance, craving and conceit are gone. And any consciousness rooted in that is gone. So there will still be formations, but they are now tethered by right view, tethered by wisdom. And so whatever formations arise, they give rise to pure consciousness, consciousness that does not take delight in this or that. And so whatever is experienced, whatever arises in the form of an experience, is seen as it actually is. So when he understands it in this way, he can declare final knowledge.

And so he said, of my answer, it occurred to me, if the Blessed One were to question me about this matter with various terms and with various methods for a whole day, for a whole day I would be able to answer him with various terms and with various methods. If he were to question me about this matter with various terms and with various methods for a whole night, for a day and night, for two days and nights, for three, four, five, six, or seven days and nights, for seven days and nights I would be able to answer him with various terms and with various methods. In other words, an arahant is never bored by talking about the Dhamma.

You can talk about the Dhamma, but not be attached by it. So if you're questioned about the Dhamma in different ways, the arahant can describe it in different ways. Maybe the arahant has no inclination to teach, but they can speak from experience, and that speaking from experience itself is a teaching. So an arahant might possess different kinds of Siddhis, different kinds of powers, or they might not possess different kinds of powers. They might possess the four analytical knowledges, or they might not possess the four analytical knowledges. Regardless, ask an arahant about dependent origination, ask them about the Dhamma, and they can talk about the Dhamma all day long, all night long. It doesn't matter.

So in other words, if the arahant can talk about dependent origination, they understand the First and Second Noble Truth. They have understood the First Noble Truth, they have abandoned the Second Noble Truth, Eightfold Path. They can talk to you about the transcendental dependent origination. They discuss it in different ways. Talk about how to do this particular part of the Eightfold Path, whatever it might be. And so they understand, they have experienced and realized for themselves the Third Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering. And therefore, they have cultivated and perfected the development of the Eightfold Path. That's the Fourth Noble Truth.

In other words, to put it simply, they have understood suffering, they have abandoned the craving that leads to suffering, or the links of dependent origination that lead to suffering. They have realized and experienced for themselves the cessation of suffering, Nibbana, here and now, because they have understood and cultivated and perfected the Eightfold Path, which is intertwined with the seven requisites of enlightenment which are intertwined with the transcendental links of dependent origination. And they have developed them and perfected them.

So much so, and so much so that they recondition their mind in such a way that they seem to act spontaneously or speak spontaneously because they don't have any projections of how it should be or how it ought to be. But however they speak, act, or intend will always be rooted in the Eightfold Path. Bhikkhu, the Venerable Sariputta, has thoroughly penetrated that element of the Dhamma by the thorough penetration of which, if I were to question him about that matter with various terms and various methods for up to seven days and nights, for up to seven days and nights he would be able to answer me with various terms and with various methods. Thus endeth the lesson.