Day-2 QA - Online 10-day Retreat (Nov-17) with Delson Armstrong

Let's begin So I had a question about unwholesome states and in one of the scooter it says that one should abandon unwholesome states and I was wondering if abandoning means suppressing or if it's okay if they come up and one can just let them go without like reacting towards other people or how to deal with like really negative emotions in a way that are coming up yeah you never want to suppress the emotions you never want to suppress any of the hindrances that might arise so if it's in the meditation process you notice certain hindrances or distractions or strong emotions arising let them be there and then in the process of preventing what you're doing is when you recognize you have stopped it from further flowing out you've stopped it from further distracting you causing unwholesome states now the arisen wholesome states that have are currently present you want to abandon and that's by releasing your attention that something will grow so the more you're able to put your attention on the loving kindness or whatever the Brahma Vihara might be

you will be able to allow it to expand and change in whatever way it does so the mind will be able to do that but in likewise when you have your attention on hindrances in the meditation you're releasing your attention from it by taking it away from the distraction and coming back and coming back to mind and body when you're doing that you're exercising the rest of mindfulness being aware of the mind and body and then relaxing it meaning letting go of the craving or the tension that might have arisen because of that and then of course to replace what you have let go which is the unwholesome state of mind you come back to your smile which then generates that wholesome quality of mind and then continue on with your object meditation and let that continue to flow so this is how you're incorporating and the text in the text in the text in the material and might have seen it in the video already if not you'll see that

there's a lot of value in just pausing allowing the mind to gather itself before reflexively reacting from an unwholesome state from an unwholesome reaction so instead you want to wait see where the mind is at if it is agitated you know that the mind is agitated if it's upset you know the mind is upset so now you're exercising mindfulness so now you're exercising mindfulness you recognize that and then you're exercising mindfulness you recognize that and then you release your attention away from it and then relax it and then relax it and then come back to at least a neutral starting point if not a wholesome starting point when you're interacting with people or dealing with difficult situations i have a great idea and then i have a question about something i have a question about something i noticed in the suttas which is um i hope i get this right um there there is

contact contact feeling and consciousness that's also a recurring team in some of the things you might notice for me i sometimes have a bit of difficulty separating the three so i get contact first for feeling and consciousness to arrive sometimes sort of put those last two in the same category so to speak is there a way i can have a way i can easily differentiate you two yeah so on the on the on the theoretical level on the intellectual level on the intellectual level what you want to see is that contact is the stimulation of the sensory basis meaning when the light hits the eye when it hits the eye meaning the the photons hit the photoreceptors that is contact the stimulation of the eye or the stimulation of the eye or the auditory nerves or the stimulation of the olfactory nerves or whatever it might be that is contact immediately after contact feeling arises which is the sensation which is the sensation the actual sensory experience which is where you then see the light which is where you then see the light

now you mentioned consciousness there is the consciousness of the stimulation happening when the light hits the eye and there's also the consciousness of the feeling the sensory experience itself of seeing of seeing of seeing of seeing of seeing of seeing the eye seeing the eye seeing the light but then there's perception which is recognizing what is being seen in the way of visual form recognizing is rooted in memory or learning you start to conceptualize things based on your upbringing so i use the example of the color blue right so you see a color but you don't know it's blue until somebody tells you it's blue or you have an understanding that it's blue or you have an understanding that it's blue or you have an understanding that it's blue now that's in your memory that's in the formations now every time you see the color blue now every time you see the color blue number one you have contact with that light which shows blue which is the contact the stimulation the feeling which is seeing the blue

and then the perception which is recognizing that that's the color blue and all of these might seem to happen all together at one time at the same time but there is a very micro second time span between each occurrence but there is a very micro second time span between each occurrence of what is happening but there is a very micro second time span between each occurrence of what is happening it's it can be quite difficult to separate the perception from the feeling because as soon as you see it you recognize it which is the perception aspect of it what's important to see is really noticing in your experiences at least at the very level of feeling meaning the sensations meaning the sensations that are happening is to make sure that the mind is to make sure that the mind is not identifying with the sensory experience the mind doesn't attach to it the idea that there is an ego experiencing it that I am experiencing it or that the mind immediately is attracted

to it which will then create craving or the mind finds it displeasurable or unpleasant so it will have aversion towards it so it will try to run away from it so the main point here is to once you recognize what is happening in the way of the sensory experiences don't allow that to get into mental proliferation don't allow that to get into mental proliferation don't allow to cause the mind to become agitated by it or become attracted towards it the moment you notice this you're using mindfulness to let go of it because as soon as you notice it then you notice that you can use the process of seeing it taking your attention away from it relaxing and then coming back to a more balanced state of mind you can use the process of seeing it taking your attention away from it relaxing and then coming back to a more balanced state of mind see thank you that wasn't clear

thanks thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you you know air being the gaseous state you know air being the gaseous state and fire being the plasma state and fire being the plasma state of the body so what you're seeing is that this body is made up of the different elements of existence of the universe it's made up of different carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms and various different things but in that whole process what you're seeing is that there is no what this body is and what it is made out of in terms of in terms of the earth and what it is made out of in terms of in terms of other materials and what is made out of in terms of other materials and what that helps you with understanding is that this body has no sense of personal self there's no controller here it's just happening on its own biological processes and in the same way as

the earth material the solid material can be in the same way in the same way in the same way in the same way that there is a sense of self that arises through causes and conditions the same way that there is a sense of self that arises through causes and conditions the same way that there is a sense of self that arises through causes and conditions and the same way that there is a sense of self there are distractions in the mind there are hindrances in the mind there are hindrances that arise it's the hindrance of sensual craving for example and what you have to see is when they arise as soon as you recognize it you have to see it and let it go by not paying attention to it and just coming back to the mind and body and relaxing the mind and body coming back to the smile and then staying with your loving kindness or what you have to see with your loving kindness or whatever your object of meditation or whatever your object of meditation might be now that doesn't mean that the hindrance may completely dissipate

all at once it might arise again but this time it will have a weaker hold on the mind so it's a process of continually recognizing whenever your attention gets distracted by the unwholesome desire and then the more you're able to let go of the more you're able to let go of it through the six-hour process or through right effort the easier it becomes for you to recognize it much more quickly and the less of an effect it has on the mind and its ability to have distractions in the mind so it's essentially on a practical level continually making sure that you release and let go of the wholesome desire of the wholesome desire of the wholesome desire of the wholesome desire unwholesome desire and replace it with the wholesome object of meditation so it's come it's like a cycle you have to continue to do it so that it will weaken its hold on the mind until it finally just it's completely abandoned and it completely dissipates thank

you thank you so it's a change in the quality of the feeling meaning maybe it started to turn into something else you want to talk about how your attention was your ability to continue to keep your attention on the feeling or whatever the object of meditation is and what you did and how you used the six-hour process to be able to come back to your object so really you want to talk about these things and then of course any problems you might be facing in the meditation you might be facing the same way and what would that or perhaps more emphasis on this relaxing step and what's its role and its correlation between the body and the mind and its correlation between the body and the mind I'd be curious to know what you have to say about this yeah so if you consider when unwholesome states of mind arise or in the way of something that might be wholesome and then the mind gets attracted towards it and craves it and craves it and starts to let's say focus that also creates tension in the mind

But let's just talk about the unwholesome. When you have craving or aversion, there is a sensation in the body that sort of has a tensing of the body. It's a tensing of the body, and it's very subtle. It can happen because of, in more modern terminology, that fight or flight situation. So if you're averting or have aversion towards it, the mind starts to want to get away from it, and as soon as it happens, it happens on a physical level, where the blood pressure rises, the heartbeat rises, and all kinds of things. The muscles tense up, and it can be very subtle. It can be quite subtle.

And this is really the formations, the physical formations that are coming into action, coming into play. So when you are relaxing, number one, you're tranquilizing the bodily formations. You're relaxing the effect of the craving, whether it's an attachment or aversion, and then you are replacing it with a wholesome. Secondly, you are retraining the mind to come into a state of tranquility. Whenever any kind of unwholesome state arises, you're coming to a level of non-reactivity, non-reaction to what's occurring. You're allowing that pause to happen, so that the tension doesn't clutch on to that unwholesome state of mind. So by doing that, what you're also effectively doing is you are exercising the awakening factor of tranquility. By relaxing, you're coming into understanding how that works at a coarser level, and then of course on subtle levels of mind.

so that's the importance of the relaxer level and i just want to say thank you for making your presence available today so that's the importance of the relaxer level and i just want to say thank you for making your presence available today and i just want to say thank you for making your presence and i just want to say thank you for making your presence and i just want to say thank you for making your presence thank you for making your presence thank you for making your presence thank you for making your presence the other side of the other side of it if the body is too energetic that too can cause restlessness likewise if the body is sluggish the body can uh the mind can be sluggish and if the mind is sluggish the body can uh the mind can be sluggish and if the mind is sluggish the body might have no motivation to move and do anything so there is definitely a very uh concrete connection between the body and mind and i can hear the ninjas yeah but it can influence the ninjas too as well as well right thank you

I also just want to add the importance of the relax step again, in terms of tranquilizing the body formations. That in and of itself is such a wholesome quality of mind: the feeling that arises from having relaxed attention. The feeling that arises from having relaxed the craving is really a preview for nibbana, for completely letting go. So that naturally inclines the mind towards letting go and then coming back into a wholesome state of mind.

I was wondering about the seven factors of awakening and how the usual sequence is, for example, joy right before tranquility, but it seems like in some other place, like dhyana vana sati sutta, the Buddha will talk about relaxing before cultivating the joy. And so it seems like these two things kind of look like they're working together. Yeah, what do you think? Does the joy calm the body or the mind, or does the calm bring up joy? You know, the interesting thing about the Dhamma, and a lot of the different elements of the Dhamma, is that there's always this interconnectivity. There's always this interdependency, if you will. Even within the links of dependent origination, you have the Dhamma is that there's always this resulting in tranquility. In the same way, if there is tension or agitation in the mind or in the body, and you relax it, and you have tranquility, there's a natural joy that emerges as a response to that tranquility, as a natural

wholesome reaction to having let go sad and you have to have a natural feeling and going through the materials and going through the materials I found that to be I found that to be drawn into my head a lot I found that to be drawn into my head a lot I found that to be drawn into my head a lot I found that to be drawn into my head a lot I almost wondered if it was counterproductive it had that feel about it that it was that way I would have a lot I would have a lot I would have a lot I would have a lot I would have a lot I would have a lot to have a lot of things to think about and reflect on and if that gets in the way of the meditation practice I would have a lot of things to think about and reflect on and if that gets in the way of the meditation practice I would have a lot of things to think about and reflect on and if that gets in the way of the meditation practice I would always suggest to

take a break from reading it and spend more time in having the experiences within the practice, because that will allow you to come back to the book at a later stage, and more importantly to the suttas at a later stage, and you'll be able to recognize things from the suttas which you aren't able to recognize before, let's say

and you'll be able to see certain elements and say from experience that yes, I understand that now, or I see that now. So my general suggestion is that if it feels like there might be too many things going on there, which will cause the mind to reflect and then go into mental proliferation, take a pause from the book and just come back to your practice. Let's share some merit. I believe I will do the honors for sharing merit. I will give you one moment. This merit of ours, may they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. Have a successful retreat, everybody. Thank you.