Day 9 2022 MN 44 Cullavedalla Sutta -July Retreat - -with Delson Armstrong

There are four Noble Truths, one of the Lord, Noble Truth of Suffering. So today we will be doing Majjhima Nikaya 44, Cullavedalla Sutta, the shorter series of questions and answers. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Rajagaha in the bamboo grove, the squirrel's sanctuary. Then the lay follower Visaka went to the bhikkhuni Dhammadina, and after paying homage to her he sat down at one side and he asked her. So Visaka and Bhikkhuni Dhammadina, so Dhammadina used to be Visaka's wife. She noticed one day, when she was still a layperson, that after Visaka had gone to visit the Buddha, when he came back, Visaka had changed. He was no longer somebody who was interested in sharing the same bed with her, because he had become an anagami, and he was silent and at peace and relaxed.

And she wondered what it is that has changed him in such a way. So she asked him, and he told her about the Buddha and what the Buddha told him and so on. And so she was interested in knowing more about this, and she visited the Buddha and was inspired to become a monastic, to become a bhikkhuni. So she did become a bhikkhuni, and then she became an arahant. For those who think, or somehow there has been this misperception, or this idea, this really nonsensical idea, that women cannot be fully awakened, that they cannot be fully enlightened: Dhammadina is one of the foremost of the female arahants. In fact there is an entire section in the Khuddaka Nikaya, I believe, which is known as the Therigatha. These are the sayings of the female arahants. So there's a lot of wonderful wisdom in that Therigatha, a lot of wonderful wisdom about the practice, about nibbana, how to get to nibbana, and so on. So Dhammadina was one of the foremost, as you'll see

as you'll hear what's said in the sutta. So Visaka, now still a lay person, goes to his former wife, who is now a bhikkhuni, and so now they go into a dialogue. He says, "Lady, identity is said. What is called identity by the Blessed One? What is identity, meaning what is a person, how is a person defined, what is an individual, what is a personality?" Friend Visaka, these five aggregates affected by craving and clinging are called identity by the Blessed One. That is the material form aggregate affected by craving and clinging, the feeling aggregate affected by craving and clinging, the perception aggregate affected by craving and clinging, the formations aggregate affected by craving and clinging, and the consciousness aggregate affected by craving and clinging. These five aggregates affected by craving and clinging are called identity by the Blessed One. There's a word in Pali, satta, s-a-t-t-a, in Sanskrit that is sattva. So the word satta is also in, for example, bodhisatta or bodhisattva.

And satta means person, or more specifically satta means being. There is a sutta called the Satta Sutta in which a bhikkhu asks the Blessed One, the Buddha, when you talk about being in the sense of being, what is a being? What is the definition of a being? And the Buddha says a being, or there being a sense of the being, is what occurs when the mind clings or identifies with one or more of the five aggregates.

In other words, a being is defined by their craving for the five aggregates, by their identification with the five aggregates. So anytime there is said to be an identification process going on with the form, with the body, with experience, feeling, with recognition of what it is you're experiencing, perception, intentions and actions dependent upon formations, your choices dependent upon formations, and your awareness, your cognition, anytime you take any of that personally, whether it is through meditation practice, whether it is through radiating the brahmaviharas, whether it is through walking meditation, whether it is just simply living, anytime you have this inherent sense of identifying with any of those five aggregates,

there is said to be being. There's said to be this satta, this sense of identity. And so for one who becomes fully awakened, there is no more being. There is no more problem. There's no more process of creating a sense of self through acquiring different kinds of ideas and clinging to different kinds of ideas that then culminate in habitual tendencies, that culminate in certain kinds of existence. That's gone, and the sense of being as well, and the sense of satta is gone as well. So sometimes I will ask the question: is an arahant a being or not a being? Because you cannot... It's like an undefined concept for an arahant. If you say that they are no longer a being, how can you say that? Because there are still the five aggregates there. But what has gone away is that sense of being in relation to the five aggregates, that sense of personalizing the five ideas. The five aggregates continue as they would.

The body continues as it would. Experiences continue as they would. Perceptions continue as they would. Formations continue to arise and pass away as they would. And cognition arises and pass away as they would. But now, there is no more of that craving, no more of that clinging, no more of taking it personally. So then this is what Visaka asks. First he says, saying, good lady, the lay follower Visaka delighted and rejoiced in the Bhikkhuni Dhammedina's words. Then he asked her a further question. Lady, origin of identity, origin of identity is said. What is called the origin of identity by the Blessed One. Friend Vissaka, which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that.

That is craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. This is called the origin of identity by the Blessed One. So, as we said, the identity is the five aggregates. that is form feeling perception formations and consciousness that definition of a being from the word satta is the identification process with that the craving for that now he's asking how does how does that being originate how does the identity originate it is through craving And as we understand, there are three types of craving. Craving for sensual pleasures. There is an experience that happens in whatever is going on. It's a pleasant feeling.

And you look at it, or you experience a pleasant feeling, and immediately you want to grasp it. You want to own it. You want to cling to it. You want to make it part of who you are, or who you think you are. And that is the craving for sensual pleasure. It manifests as this tightness and tension.

Craving for existence and craving for non-existence. Craving for existence is: you are in jhana, and it's not going the way you want it to go. You want to go to this jhana or that jhana. Or the meditation isn't working the way you expect it to work. That is craving for existence. Craving for non-existence: you don't want to be in this jhana, you don't want to be in this realm. Remember, the most extreme form of craving for non-existence is the desire for suicide. Why does the desire for suicide happen?

The mind becomes so overwhelmed by all kinds of experiences, mental and sensual experiences. And it thinks about this and that. It identifies with this and that, and it becomes overwhelmed. It says, "This is too much for me. I need to end it all. I can't deal with it. I just can't deal with it anymore." That kind of thought process is craving for non-existence, and that can result in the mind wanting to end it all. So there's still an identification process with whatever is occurring.

So when that happens, when people commit suicide, the kind of thought processes that arise in that mind before suicide is that of regret. Prior to the suicide, they say, "This is relief. If I just end this life, everything will be fine." But as soon as they end their life, as soon as they take that poison, or slit their wrists, or slit their throat, or whatever it is they do to commit suicide, the last thoughts that arise are, "What have I done?"

"What have I done?" It's regret. And where does that lead you? It leads you into a hell realm. It leads you into pain, into suffering, and remorse. So understand, when somebody feels like they want to commit suicide, it's because they're getting overwhelmed by a lot of experiences. That's the extreme form of that. But on a very mundane level, before all of that happens, you may still feel overwhelmed and you just want things to end. You might not want to commit suicide, but you just don't want this to be here anymore. Whenever you hear the word, "I want this" or "I don't want this," that's some kind of a craving. When you hear the words, "I want to be, whatever that is," that's a craving for existence.

Whenever you hear, "I don't want to be," that's the craving for non-existence. And then when you say, "I don't want to be" or "I want to be," because... That because is the rationalization of why you want this or why you don't want it. That's the clinging. That's the reasoning, that's the reason you put in your head: this is why I don't like it, therefore I'm going to act in this way. That therefore I'm going to act in this way is the habitual tendencies, and the actual action is the birth of action. So pay attention to your thought processes, the words that you use. They will help you identify where you are: craving, clinging, becoming, birth of action.

"Lady, cessation of identity is said. What is called the cessation of identity by the Blessed One?" Friend Visaka, it is the remainderless fading away and ceasing, the giving up, relinquishing, letting go and rejecting of that same craving. This is called the cessation of identity by the Blessed One. "Lady, the way leading to the cessation of identity is said. What is called the way leading to the cessation of identity by the Blessed One?"

Friend Visaka, it is just this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. So what have we gone through when we talk about identity? The Four Noble Truths. Understand that the Four Noble Truths initially allow you to understand suffering, but it also is a formula for understanding what is present, what is the origin of what is present, what is the cessation of what is present, and what is the way leading to the cessation of what is present. The Fourth Noble Truth is always going to be the Noble Eightfold Path. The same way, any question you ask, the answer will always be the 6R's.

The fourth noble truth will always be the eightfold path. The third noble truth will always be cessation, nirodha, the cessation of suffering, the cessation of identity, the cessation of craving, the cessation of clinging. The second noble truth will be the origin of that. What is it that is fueling what is present? And the first noble truth usually is suffering, but you can use the four noble truth formula to understand. If you are clinging, there is clinging present. What is the source of that clinging? Craving. How do you let go of clinging? Let go of craving. Relax the craving. That's the third noble truth. How do you do that? Using the 6R's, which is the fourth noble truth.

So every time you use the 6R's to identify, oh, there is becoming present in my mind, there are habitual tendencies present in my mind, or there's clinging in my mind, or there's craving in my mind, there's identification in my mind, you recognize that. That's the first noble truth. You recognize that, you release your attention from that, and relax the tightness and tension. That is abandoning the second noble truth. And then you experience relief.

That is the third noble truth. And you do this by using the 6R's and smiling and coming back, because the 6R's are right effort. And so now the eightfold path is what we will discuss in detail. Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right effort, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. What are these? What is right view?

There are levels of right view. There is the mundane right view, which is the understanding of what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. Of what is right view and what is wrong view. Of what is right intention and what is wrong intention. So when you come here to Dhammasukha, you are learning that mundane right view: what is wrong and what is right according to the Dhamma.

What leads to Nibbana and what leads to suffering according to the Dhamma. That's the very mundane right view, and there are levels to that. There is the right view which understands karma. Every action has a consequence. Every intention has a consequence. There is the understanding of there is mother and father. There is gratitude for one's parents because they brought you into this life, into this existence, for you to experience the potential of Nibbana. There are teachers, there are ascetics and Brahmins who know the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

And there is this world and the other, that there is a potential of being here, and there is a potential of life after this existence. There is a potential for that to happen. And remember, there was the other understanding, which is really interesting, which is that there is the mundane world, which is you, which is what you experience through the five physical sense bases, and there is a super mundane world, which is through the jhanas. So there is a way of letting go of this world by getting through levels of cessation. Jhanas are levels of understanding, stages of meditation, and levels of cessation.

We'll get into that when we talk about right collectedness. Then there is the super mundane right view, which is the full understanding of the four noble truths: completely understanding what is dukkha, what is suffering, fully abandoning all kinds of origin of that suffering, craving, conceit, ignorance, pava, and so on and so forth, and then experiencing relief in the form of nirodha, in the form of nibbana, and by perfecting the development of the eightfold path, which then becomes the default mode of functioning for that mind. That's the unhackable operating system in that mind, unshakable.

Based on this right view, there is right intention. Now, right intention is made up of three things: nekkhama, non-ill will, and non-cruelty. Nekkhama means renunciation, a mind that lets go, a mind that doesn't hold on. Understand that when you are doing the correct form of jhana, the way you are practicing here, it's not about constructing an experience. It's not about holding on to some kind of an experience. You experience jhana because you let go. The first jhana arises because you let go of the five hindrances, because you let go of attachment to sensual experiences, and then you let go of the vitakka and vicara and you experience the second jhana, and so on and so forth. So it's about continually letting go. This is the right intention. Non-ill will: what is non-ill will? How do you get to non-ill will? Cultivating loving-kindness. When you cultivate loving-kindness, you have a mind free of ill will. Non-cruelty.

How do you have non-cruelty? Through the cultivation of compassion. Why? Because why does a person harm another being? Because they are suffering. The person who suffers inflicts suffering on another being, but they are not in tune with the knowledge of their own suffering, because if they knew that they were suffering, then they would also know that others are suffering.

So why would they want to add to another being's suffering? That is cruelty. But having compassion, understanding your own suffering and therefore empathizing with another's suffering, is compassion. When you develop compassion, you have non-cruelty, the intention not to harm. This is right intention. The mundane version of that intention is to cultivate a mind that continues to have the intention to let go, has an intention to cultivate loving-kindness, has an intention to cultivate compassion.

But then the super mundane is a mind that is automatically having that intention, has nothing to let go of, anyone, because it has six art to the point that there is nothing left to six are. It has perfected loving-kindness, so that it always responds, whatever situation is required, with loving-kindness or with compassion. Then there is right speech.

Right speech means abstaining from harsh speech, abstaining from false speech, abstaining from abusive speech, abstaining from speech that divides, abstaining from slander, abstaining from gossip. So, false speech: speech which you know to be false. Speech which you know, this isn't true. Why would you speak that? Harsh speech: the way you speak. What is the intention behind that? Abusive speech: speech intended to inflict pain and suffering on another, using negative terminology, using verbiage that is negative and unwholesome.

Slander and gossip. What is gossip? Talking about another person in a way that you don't know to be true or untrue, and sometimes criticizing that person in front of others. So how do you know if you're gossiping? If you're talking about a person, this is what Bhante would say: if you're talking about a person, and you might be criticizing that person, and if you are criticizing that person to somebody else, would you say the same thing about that person while they were in the room with you?

If you wouldn't, then that's gossip. So don't speak about others in a critical manner, especially if you know that to be hurtful to them, if you know that's going to be harmful for them. There's a very simple form of understanding right speech, and this is the acronym THINK. Think before you speak. T-H-I-N-K. The T stands for timeliness.

Is it the right time to say what you want to say? H is for honesty. Do you know what you're going to say is going to be true or untrue? I is for intention. What is the intention? Is it a wholesome intention or an unwholesome intention? When you're going to say whatever it is you're going to say, what is the intention behind that? N is for necessity.

Is it necessary for you to say what you're going to say? Is it going to be beneficial? So in other words, there is restless speech, that speech that just is speaking for no reason at all. That would be unnecessary speech. So N is: is it necessary to say what you're going to say? And K is kindness.

Can you say what you are going to say with kindness? T-H-I-N-K. Think before you speak. And so the mundane form of right speech is to cultivate this kind of speech. Always think before you speak what you're going to say. And then the super mundane is for that fully awakened person, the noble disciple, who continually has right speech on an automatic level.

Right action is basically following the precepts: abstaining from killing and harming living beings, abstaining from taking what is not given, abstaining from sexual misconduct. So when we talk about abstaining from ill will, abstaining from harming other beings, that is because that cultivates an intention of non-ill will, an intention of loving-kindness. It lets go of ill will.

When we talk about not taking what is not given, abstaining from taking what is not given, meaning abstaining from stealing, that allows us to let go of restlessness and cultivates a mind that is non-agitated. And sexual misconduct also means sensual misconduct. What is sexual misconduct? It's basically cheating on another person. Sexual misconduct means having a sexual relationship with somebody who is betrothed to another, who is in a relationship with another, or who is protected by another.

So in other words, if you are in a throuple, that's different. If you are in any kind of relationship, it doesn't matter what kind of relationship you're in. It's about whether you are cheating on your partners. So you could have whatever agreement you have, but it's about cheating the other person or persons, whoever they might be. So that also includes sensual misconduct. Sensual misconduct is getting attached to a sensual experience which will cause you to break other precepts.

In the pursuit of that last piece of chocolate cake, you push somebody aside and you hurt them. That's sensual misconduct. And then implied there in right mindfulness is abstaining from intoxicants, taking any kind of intoxicants like alcohol and drugs and things like that, because they dull the mind. They cause sloth and torpor. So if you let go of that and overindulge in anything, having a weekend binge of the latest season of the Netflix show, right? How do you feel after doing that? Your mind becomes very dull.

Or reading for a long period of time, or browsing the internet, or social media, just scrolling endlessly. How do you feel after that? Dull. So overindulgence in anything: let go of that. Be practical. Be moderate. Right use your common sense. And then there are two levels. There's the mundane level and there is the super mundane level. The mundane level is to do with somebody who is cultivating this eightfold path, which means they are continuously making the effort to keep the precepts, and then eventually it becomes automatic for a noble disciple. That's the super mundane level.

And there are some other elements too: right intention, right speech and right action, which include the supramundane level. But on the very surface of it, it's about keeping precepts, having a mind that is filled with wholesome intentions. What is right livelihood? That's not dealing in certain kinds of trade, certain kinds of businesses, certain kinds of practices that engage in selling intoxicants or alcohol, that deal in selling poisons, that deal in selling weapons, that deal in human trafficking, that deal in selling people, and that deal in meat.

And that has nothing to do with eating meat here. That has nothing to do with purchasing meat or anything like that. That is causing a person to, that is dealing with the process of killing for the purpose of meat. But when you eat meat here, that's a different case entirely. You haven't intentionally killed a being for that meat.

So, dealing with practices that are dealing with certain kinds of trades and businesses that cause harm to other beings, that is what you're abstaining from. For the monastics, that includes a whole host of things that they cannot do. That includes being doctors, because that's not their primary thing. That includes telling fortunes, being fortune tellers, reading palms, reading the signs in the sky, using astrology, you know, telling, reading palm leaves, and seeing, you know, what is that person's future, and this and that, selling amulets and creating amulets, and all of these other things. You know, a monastic is not there to do anything except to practice the Dhamma.

So anything that gets in the way of practicing the Dhamma is wrong livelihood for a monastic. Their whole purpose for why they went into the homeless life is for the Dhamma, is for attaining Nibbana. Everything else is a waste of, is wrong livelihood. So following the practice, following the precepts, following the patimokkha and the vinaya and so on, for the purpose of purifying the mind so that it is ripe for samadhi, so that you gain insight and experience freedom of mind, vimutti, and attain arahantship. Right effort. So now right effort is the heart of this practice. Right effort is the six R's. Right effort is made up of four components.

Recognizing any kind of unwholesome states that arise. Abandoning those arisen unwholesome states. Generating a wholesome state of mind and maintaining that wholesome state of mind. This is right effort. So the six R's are right effort. Because when you recognize that there is a wholesome state of mind present, you are utilizing that first right effort. When you release and relax, you are abandoning that unwholesome state of mind.

So that is the second right effort. When you re-smile, that means either coming back to the smile or having the intention to generate a wholesome state of mind. That is the third right effort, generating a wholesome state of mind. And then when you come back to your practice, come back to the meditation, come back to loving kindness, come back to quiet mind, you are maintaining that wholesome state of mind. And then when you repeat, you're obviously repeating right effort.

So, right effort is the core of the Eightfold Path. It is the heart of the Eightfold Path. Because it is only through right effort that you know what is wrong view. You can recognize what is wrong view, let that go, and come to right view. You can recognize what is wrong intention, an intention that wants to hold on to things, an intention that is not friendly, has ill will, or an intention that wants to harm. You can recognize that, let that go, and then generate right intention.

You can go from wrong speech, the intention to have wrong speech. You recognize you want to say something terrible to this person, you let that go, relax, uplift the mind, and then utilize right speech. Likewise, you recognize the intention to break a precept, you can recognize that, let that intention go. Generate a wholesome state of mind and practice right action.

Right livelihood. Notice what your intentions are. What kind of trade are you doing? What kind of business are you in that leads to the suffering of others? You can recognize that, let that go, and then utilize right livelihood. What about right mindfulness? And before we get into right mindfulness, when it comes to right effort, in the mundane level, this is about utilizing the four right efforts, utilizing the six R's.

But then in the supramundane level, you have six R's to the point that you don't have to do anything. It's effortless. The Eightfold Path becomes effortless. So, right mindfulness and wrong mindfulness. So what is right mindfulness? There are the four foundations of mindfulness that we went through: seeing body as body, seeing feeling as feeling, seeing mind as mind, seeing mind objects as mind objects, or phenomena as phenomena. So right mindfulness is understanding, having the full awareness of how your mind moves from one thing to the other. So it's remembering to observe how your mind's attention moves from one thing to the other.

Getting absorbed in something, getting absorbed in walking mindfully, getting absorbed in mindfully eating, getting absorbed in mindfully standing, mindfully sitting, mindfully driving. That is not right mindfulness. Right mindfulness leads you to right collectedness. Through the process of right effort, you go into the process of right mindfulness, which leads you to right collectedness. So when you are doing bhavana, when you are in meditation, these three are continuously there: right effort, right mindfulness, right collectedness. The mundane form of right mindfulness is just being aware, being attentive, having attention to whatever it is that's going on. When you're meditating, you're doing a walking meditation, whatever it is. What is the quality of your mind? How do you utilize full awareness?

Remember, we talked about full awareness being the full awareness of your object of meditation for the purpose of this retreat. How are you, in terms of your mindfulness, in regards to how well you keep your attention on your object of meditation? So right collectedness culminates or is cultivated through the practice of the four jhanas. So you bring up the intention of loving kindness. That's right intention.

You make the effort when you recognize that you're no longer on the object of meditation. So you use the six R's and now you have cultivated further mindfulness. Dropping the hindrances, dropping attachment to sensual pleasures. Your mind feels relief, your mind feels elated, it feels uplifted, it feels nice, warm, cozy with that loving kindness. And so from there comes the joy in the first jhana. So you have the vitaka and the vichara.

The vitaka is the thinking thought. The vichara is the examining thought. Remember what Madhi Satchananda was talking about: thinking and examining thought. That's bringing up the intention of loving kindness. That's the vitaka. The vichara is to sustain, that is to stay with your object. Once you bring up the object through verbalizing, through a wholesome image, through a wholesome memory, whatever it might be, then the feeling comes up and you make the intention to stay with that. You let go of the vitaka, then you let go of the vichara. Then you get into the second jhana, where now the loving kindness is flowing. Your attention is flowing now. You have self-confidence.

And you have, from the first jhana, the ekaggata, the mind that is unified. That means using the analogy, let's say, here is the object, which is the planet, and here is your attention, which is the satellite orbiting the object. The unification of mind is the gravitational field around that object. Staying there, staying in orbit. When your mind doesn't become unified, what happens? It goes out of orbit. So what do you do? You use the six R's to bring it back into orbit, so that you stay with your object.

So the ekaggata is that. Now that's there in the second jhana. And you have further collectedness. Now your mind is very collected, staying there. Because of that, there's elation, there's joy, and there's further comfort in the body. Then as you get into the third jhana, the joy tapers off and there's only sukha, there's only peace, there's only contentment, there's only tranquility, comfort in the body.

Then even that fades away and there's only equanimity. There's the purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. Why is that? Because the jhanas are not just the letting go or the non-presence of the five hindrances, but it is also the activation and the presence of the seven enlightenment factors. So you cycle through the enlightenment factors as you go through jhanas. And so now your mindfulness becomes so clear that there's purity of mindfulness due to the equanimity. The mindfulness leads to investigation or the interest, which leads to energy, which leads to joy, which leads to tranquility, which leads to collectedness, which leads to equanimity. And it cycles through, becoming stronger and stronger and more stabilized.

so as you go through these jhanas then you have an experience of infinite space which is part of the fourth jhana the ayatanas the spheres the realms the dimensions the base of infinite space the base of infinite consciousness the base of nothingness the base of neither perception or non-perception these are all part of the fourth jhana so your mind is still very stable and now your mind becomes expansive experiencing infinite space you start to see the arising and passing away of consciousness in infinite consciousness you start to see that there is nothing at all and now there's equanimity tied to it further equanimity tied to it and so now you are in nothingness and then you are mind resting on mind which is neither perception or non-perception when you are in mind resting in mind don't do anything don't look for anything don't even try to observe anything just stay with mind that's it any intention of anything beyond that now you come out of neither perception nor non-perception

So the only thing you have to do is, when your mind becomes bored, when you have restlessness or sloth and torpor, that's when you start to bring up the enlightenment factors. At the eighth jhana, or the realm of neither perception nor non-perception, now, jhanas in right collectedness, they are levels of cessation. Why? Because in the first jhana, what ceases is the five hindrances, the attachment to sensual pleasures ceases. In the second jhana, what ceases is the vitaka and vichara, the thinking and examining thoughts cease. In the third jhana, what ceases is the joy. In the fourth jhana, what ceases is the contentment, the tranquility, the sukha ceases. In the fifth jhana, what ceases is infinite space. What ceases is the contact with the body. Now you don't, you're no longer with the body. Now the mind is expansive, and that doesn't mean you're radiating just from your head. There's no, don't think about it from that perspective. Just radiate. Just radiate, that's it. Now there is little contact with the body, if at all.

So what ceases is the body or contact with the body. What about infinite consciousness? The perception of infinite space ceases in infinite consciousness. What about nothingness? The perception of infinite consciousness ceases, and then in neither perception or non-perception the perception of nothing ceases, and then you have total cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness. When we say neither perception or non-perception, why are we saying that? Because when you are in that state there are these proto thoughts that arise. These are the formations that start to cook up fully formed thoughts, but you're not able to recognize them, so you're not able to fully perceive what those thoughts are. But it's neither non-perception, because you are seeing something there but you're not able to fully grasp and interpret what it is that you're seeing. And then eventually all perception ceases, all feeling ceases, and you have cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness.

Now, right view. Having the right view starts with knowing what is wholesome and unwholesome. So keeping the precepts and so on leads to right intention, cultivating loving kindness, cultivating a mind that lets go, which leads you to have right speech and right action and right livelihood. Because of that, the mind is able to have right effort, which is rooted in that right intention. That leads to right mindfulness, which leads to right collectedness, which leads to the cessation of identifying with any process.

So whenever you do the six R's, you're doing a few things. You are activating the enlightenment factors. Why? Because when you recognize, you are mindful, and you are aware of what's going on. That's the investigation. When you release, you have energy. You have the right effort. When you relax, you have tranquility. When you re-smile, you have joy.

When you return, you have collectedness. And when you repeat, you have equanimity. When you're doing that whole process, there's equanimity because you're not pulled in one direction or the other. You're just staying with whatever is going on. When you use the six Rs, you're also understanding the four Noble Truths. As I said earlier, you recognize the first Noble Truth. You release and relax. You release the second Noble Truth. And you experience the cessation of that second Noble Truth by relaxing the tightness and tension. And when you re-smile and return and repeat, you're cultivating the fourth Noble Truth.

Because you are using the six R's, you're using right effort, which allows you to go from the wrong factors of the wrong path to the right factors of the right path, which is the Eightfold Path leading to Nibbana. And so, now Visakha asks a very, very interesting question. Lady, is that craving and clinging the same as these five aggregates that are affected by craving and clinging?

Or is the craving and clinging something apart from the five aggregates that are affected by craving and clinging? And so Dhammedina says, friend Visaka, that clinging is neither the same as these five aggregates affected by that clinging, nor is the clinging something apart from the five aggregates affected by that clinging. It is the desire and lust in regard to the five aggregates affected by clinging that is the clinging there. In other words, if you were to say that the five aggregates are the same as craving and clinging, if you 6R the craving and clinging, if you use the 6Rs to let go of craving and clinging, then you've let go of the five aggregates too.

That means you've 6R'd your form. You no longer have the body, you no longer have the feeling, you no longer have perception, you no longer have formations or consciousness. But if you were to say that the craving and clinging were separate from the five aggregates, then why are you 6R-ing anyway? Because they're separate. You don't have to deal with them at all.

But what it is, is the personalizing of the five aggregates. Taking personal, identifying with the five aggregates that you have to let go of. The craving in relation to what arises in regards to the feeling, in regards to the perception, in regards to the formations, in regards to the awareness and contact with the body, of course. Lady, how does identity view come to be? So this is self-view. This is Sakaya Ditti, one of the fetters, the first fetter. Sakaya Ditti, taking on a personal view of self.

Here, friend Visaka, an untaught, ordinary person who has no regard for noble ones and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, who has no regard for true men and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, regards material form as self. That's the first view. Or self as possessed of material form. That's the second view. Or material form as in self. That's the third view. Or self as in material form. That's the fourth view. These are the 20 different types of clinging to self view we talked about earlier, or he regards feeling as self or self as possessed of feeling or feeling as in self or self as in feeling, he regards perception as self or self as possessed of perception or perception as in self or self as in perception, he regards formations as self or self as possessed of formations or formations as in self or self as in formations.

He regards consciousness as self or self as possessed of consciousness or consciousness as in self or as self or self as in consciousness. This is how identity view comes to be. Taking any of these as self one way or the other. That's on an experiential intellectual level. There's this idea that this is self or that is self or self is separate from these things.

And how does identity view not come to be? Here, friend Visaka, a well-taught noble disciple, that is somebody who becomes a stream enter and so forth, who has regard for noble ones and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma, who has regard for true men and is skilled and disciplined in their Dhamma, does not regard material form as self, or self as possessed of material form, or material form as in self, or self as in material form. He does not regard feeling as self, or self as possessed of feeling, or feeling as in self, or self as in feeling. He does not regard perception as self, or self as possessed of perception, or perception as in self, or self as in perception.

You can understand the impersonal nature of things on an intellectual level, on a mental level, on an experiential level. But there can still be conceit that is still having this intrinsic identification. You can have the Sakayaditi gone, the self-view gone, but there can still be this I, me or mine in relation to the five aggregates. This has nothing to do with whether there is a self or not a self.

Remember yesterday I said the Buddha was asked, is there a self or is there not a self? He didn't answer in either way. He talked about dependent origination. Because if he said that there is a self, then the mind will say, okay, then there must be a self and identify with that. And that causes all of this craving to arise. If he said that there is no self, then there is a self that thinks that there is no self.

There's still a self there. There's a self to be annihilated. But understanding that the arising and passing away of the links of dependent origination means the arising of a sense of self whenever you crave, cling and become and act with that sense of self. So it's about not-self. Anatta, the impersonal nature of things, is about what is not-self.

Because as we understand, all conditioned things are impermanent, therefore not worth holding on to, therefore not to be considered as me, mine, or myself. So this form, this body, changes. Why would you take that as a self? Feeling continues to arise and pass away. Perception continues to arise and pass away. Tied to that feeling, intentions and choices based on those formations continue to arise and pass away.

Awareness, cognition arises and passes away, as you see in infinite consciousness. Seeing these, how can you take them to be self? Having seen this, then the conceit goes away, where the mind doesn't land on anything as self. First, the self-view goes away. But there can still be taking things personal from the sense of this is me, this is mine, this is myself. But when the conceit goes away, then there is no view, there is no landing on a sense of self in anything intrinsically.

Everything is seen as impersonal. There's no projection of this is me, this is mine, this is myself on anything whatsoever, not even the Dhamma. Everything is seen as impersonal. Lady, what is the Noble Eightfold Path? We just went through it. Friend Visaka, it is just this Noble Eightfold Path that is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. Lady, is the Noble Eightfold Path conditioned or unconditioned?

What do you guys think? Is it conditioned or unconditioned? Conditioned. There is only one thing that is unconditioned. That is Nibbana. That is the unconditioned. When you have the cessation of all conditions, that is the unconditioned. Where you decondition the mind completely of all dependently arisen phenomena, then there is Nibbana. Non-greed, non-hatred, non-delusion, these are part of Nibbana. That mind without craving, does that sound familiar?

That is the unconditioned. A mind that is not conditioned by things, that doesn't project onto things. But you require the Eightfold Path, which leads you to be unconditioned, which allows you to decondition this whole process. Using the Eightfold Path you understand and come to the unconditioned. So the wheel of samsara is mechanized through dependent origination, but the wheel of Dhamma is mechanized through the Eightfold Path. Then the wheel of Dhamma replaces the wheel of samsara, and that arises, or that gives rise rather, to right insight and right liberation.

Samanyana, that is the right knowledge or right vision or right insight into the Four Noble Truths, which gives you complete liberation of mind. Samavimuti, that is the tenfold path of one who becomes fully awakened. Then that means that they have let go of all the taints, let go of all of the fetters. So they have come from the conditioned, using the conditioned to come to the unconditioned.

It's like when you step on a thorn. You take another thorn to prick out the thorn in your foot, and you let go of both thorns. The same way, when you are using the raft to get from one side to the other, you don't carry the raft with you after you get to the other side. You let go of the raft.

So the Eightfold Path doesn't mean you let go of the Eightfold Path. It means you let go of any attachment to the Dhamma. You have utilized the Dhamma for the purpose of what it is, which is freedom of mind, which is freedom from suffering, the cessation of suffering. And then you continue on your way, because your mind has now been completely purified, and now it is functioning automatically using the Eightfold Path. And so she says, friend Visaka, the noble eightfold path is conditioned, lady. Are the three aggregates included by the noble eightfold path, or is the noble eightfold path included by the three aggregates? Here, when she talks about aggregates, sorry, when Visaka talks about aggregates, he's not talking about the five aggregates. You have to understand where the word aggregate comes from. Skandha or khandha, which just means heaps, categories.

That's it. So the five categories of experience are the five khandhas, the five aggregates. The three categories here are sila, samadhi, and panya. That's what they're referring to. The three aggregates are not included by the Noble Eightfold Path, friend Visaka, but the Noble Eightfold Path is included by the three aggregates. In other words: right speech, right action, and right livelihood. These states are included in the aggregate of virtue, or sila, when you keep the precepts. Right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. These states are included in the aggregate of collectedness, samadhi. What did I say? What meditation is. Right effort leads to right mindfulness, right mindfulness leads to right collectedness, and they circle around each other. This is samadhi. Right view and right intention. These states are included in the aggregate of wisdom, or panya. Why? Because you get to the understanding of the four noble truths. That's the right view. You use the right intention, which is the super mundane right intention. That super mundane right intention is the understanding of what is wrong and right, is of letting go.

It's of investigating in the proper way. It's of cultivating wisdom. It's of cultivating the faculty of wisdom. It's of seeing the links of dependent origination that lead you to that clear wisdom, to the Dhamma. Lady, what is collectedness? What is the basis of collectedness? What is the equipment of collectedness? What is the development of collectedness? Unification of mind, friend Visaka, is collectedness, ekagata, that orbiting around your object of meditation. This is collectedness, an attention that is non-dispersed.

In other words, the light of your attention doesn't go through a prism and disperse. Instead, it unifies around an object of meditation. That gravitational field, staying within that gravitational field, is collectedness. That is the ekagata. The four foundations of mindfulness are the basis of collectedness. Why? Because right mindfulness leads to right collectedness. Right collectedness is dependent upon right mindfulness. When you recognize you are no longer on your object, then you come back to it, and now you are back in collectedness.

The four right efforts are the equipment of collectedness. These are the tools that you use to come back to a collected mind: the 6R's. Remember, the four right efforts are recognizing an unwholesome state, abandoning the unwholesome state, generating a wholesome state, and maintaining a wholesome state. Recognizing that there's an unwholesome state present, abandoning that unwholesome state, bringing up the smile that generates a wholesome state, and staying with your object of meditation, which is the maintaining of that wholesome state. These are the tools to get you to collectedness, to get you into meditation.

The repetition, development, and cultivation of these same states is the development of collectedness therein. The continual use of right effort, the continual coming back to observing how your mind's attention moves, using right effort to come back. This is how you develop collectedness. This is mental development, bhavana. And by continuously having that process of orbiting around your object in meditation, having that ekagata, you have clear collectedness. Now we're going to get even deeper.

Lady, how many formations are there? Sankhara. How many sankharas are there? There are these three formations: friend Visaka, the bodily formation, the verbal formation, and the mental formation. But lady, what is the bodily formation? What is the verbal formation? What is the mental formation? In-breathing and out-breathing, friend Visaka, are the bodily formation. That's the breath. You inhale and exhale, and that's connected to the body. But that also includes movement, walking around. That's connected to bodily formations.

Anything related to the body is a bodily formation, except for ayu sankhara. Ayu sankhara is completely different. That is to do with the aging process. That is on the cellular level and the metabolic level. You don't have any control over that. Applied thought and sustained thought, meaning thinking and examining thought, are the verbal formations. The verbalizing is the verbal formation. Perception and feeling are the mental formation.

But lady, why are in-breathing and out-breathing, also bodily movement, part of the bodily formation? Why are thinking and examining thought the verbal formation? Why are perception and feeling the mental formation? Friend Visaka, in-breathing and out-breathing are bodily. These states are bound up with the body. That is why they are the bodily formation. Anything related to the body, in terms of movement, inhalation, exhalation, and so on, tied up with the body, is a bodily formation, or is part of the bodily formation.

First, one thinks about something, and then examines that, and then subsequently one breaks out into speech. That is why thinking and examining thought are the verbal formations. When you bring up a wholesome intention, when you bring up a verbalization, may I be happy, may I be well, may I be at peace, may I be filled with loving kindness. What is that? Utilizing verbal formations.

When you see something and you want to say what that thing is, you're thinking about it, you're examining it, and then you come up with what you want to say. This verbal formation allows you to do that process and express it in speech. Perception and feeling are mental. These states are bound up in the mind. That is why perception and feeling are the mental formation.

Even if you're having a physical sensation, it's bound up in the mind. Whatever it is that you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking, it all culminates in the process of the mind. Because you have the contact, feeling, perception, intention, attention. This is how you know mind. Mind is chief. Mind is the forerunner of all states.

So when you feel and perceive, it all culminates in the mind. That's why the mental formations allow you to feel and perceive, whether it's through the mind or the five physical sense spaces. Lady, how does the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness come to be? Friend Visaka, when one is attaining the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, it does not occur to them, I shall attain the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. Or, I am attaining the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. Or, I have attained the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. But rather, their mind has previously been developed in such a way that it leads them to that state.

In other words, when you get into cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness through the process of jhanas, you're not thinking, let me get into cessation. When you are in cessation, there's no thought whatsoever, so you're not having that. And when you come out of cessation, you don't think, I just was in cessation. Many times when you come out of cessation, the first thought that arises is, what was that? What just happened?

You have no idea what just happened. So what is that previous development of the mind? It's utilizing the Eightfold Path. That is how you previously developed the mind to come to cessation. Utilizing the 6R's, developing right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right collectedness, leads you to liberation of the mind when your mind ceases.

That cessation is completely no thought, no feeling, no perception, no consciousness. It happens for a millisecond. You just have a gap and you have no idea what happened. And when you come out, you realize your mind went somewhere. Something happened. And then you have contact with Nibbana, and so on and so forth. Lady, when one is attaining the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, which formations cease first in him? The bodily formation, the verbal formation, or the mental formation?

Friend Visaka, when a bhikkhu, or when one is attaining the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, first the verbal formation ceases, then the bodily formation, then the mental formation. Why? Because as you're progressing through the jhanas, remember, in the first jhana what ceases? The hindrances cease. Attachment to sensual experiences ceases. Then in the second jhana, what ceases? Verbal formations, because you're no longer having to apply intention to think about this or that. Now the mind is just flowing. Then bodily formations cease. Where do they cease? At the fourth jhana. From the fourth jhana onwards, contact with the body dissipates. It's not that you stop breathing, it's just that contact with the body dissipates. And the mental formation, when does that cease? When you have cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. Friend Visaka, when a bhikkhu, or when one is emerging from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness...

So you don't have this idea that I have just emerged from the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness. You've developed your mind to such an extent that it ceases, and then it comes out from that attainment. Now, in order for you to remain in that, there's another word. There's the attainment, and there's the remaining in cessation. These are two different things. The attainment happens when you are naturally progressing through the meditation. The remaining of that is the intention of going into cessation, which you can do as an anagami or an arahant. So that happens through prior determination of going into cessation. But even there, there's no prior determination that I will attain the cessation. It's just certain kinds of determinations that you do, and you have an intention for how long you'll be in that.

And then after that time goes, you then arise from that. You come out of that. The mind comes out or emerges from that attainment. But that is a process of remaining in cessation through prior determination. Here when you're talking about the attainment, they're talking about when you're just practicing on a retreat, for example. Lady, when a bhikkhu is emerging from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, which states arise in him first? The bodily formation, the verbal formation, or the mental formation? What do you guys think arises first? Mental formations. Friend Visaka, when the bhikkhu is emerging from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, first the mental formation arises, then the bodily formation arises, then the verbal formation arises.

Why? Because when you come out of cessation, your mind is completely pure, absolutely pure, and then it makes contact, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But the feeling that arises is obviously coming from a mental formation. That joy and relief that you feel, that disgust of joy that you feel, that relief that you feel, it's a feeling that's coming from a mental formation.

Then you say, "What was that?" That is a verbal formation. But before that happens, you feel that in the body. So that's the bodily formation. You feel light. You feel uplifted. And then you say, what was that? That's the verbal formation. So it happens like that very quickly. These formations arise. Now here's the important part. Lady, when a bhikkhu has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, how many kinds of contact touch him? Friend Visaka, when a bhikkhu has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, three kinds of contact touch him. Voidness contact, signless contact, and desireless contact.

This is Nibbana. Why is it void? It is void of any kind of self there. Nibbana is void of any kind of self. Why is it signless? Because Nibbana is not an object. You don't take that as an object. When we say signless, we mean objectless. Animitta, no nimitta, no object. And desireless, why? Because there's no inclination one way or the other. When you come out of cessation, your mind is so pure, completely pure.

It doesn't have an inclination to go here or there. It's just there is the unconditioned. It makes contact with the unconditioned, which is empty of self, which is desireless, which is not an object. And right from there comes the feeling of joy and relief. Now, what happens? You experience the joy and relief, and the mind says, that was amazing. I want more of that. So from that feeling, there comes craving.

So that initial point, the mind is pure. When the mind makes contact with Nibbana, for that split second, the mind is like an arahant's mind. There are pure formations that come up, pure consciousness that comes up, the contact that arises is pure, and then the feeling is there that's pure, joy and relief. But then what happens? Oh, I love that feeling.

That was amazing to me. So what does that mean? Now the conceit has arisen. I want more of that. The craving has arisen. So the next arising of the links are now fettered still by that craving, fettered still by that conceit, fettered still by that ignorance. When you have the next attainment, you have let go of some craving, let go of some aversion, because you continue to utilize the six R's to recognize when craving and aversion happen.

So the next time it happens, you make contact with Nibbana again. But still, there's still personalizing going on. Not to such a strong extent, but still there's some identification going on. And you feel that joy and relief. It might not be as explosive as it was the first time around, let's say. But then you still take it personally.

But because you continue to purify your mind to be able to recognize sensual craving and aversion, it has reduced at the level of the sakadagami. Then when you have the attainment of anagami, again you make contact with the Nibbana element. Now the feeling is very equanimous, very quiet, very peaceful, very calm. You don't have any craving there. But guess what? I have attained Nirvana. That 'I have' is the conceit. That conceit is still there. Conceit, restlessness, craving for jhana, craving for formless jhanas, ignorance, that's still there. So for that moment it's pure, and then you still have a clinging somewhere. And then the next arising of the links are fettered by conceit and by ignorance. And then when you'll become an arahant, you have that experience again, but you don't take anything personally now. There's no more fuel for any kind of clinging to 'I', 'me' or 'mine' to arise. So that means then the next arising is still pure. You still have a very balanced mind. The next arising will have formations that are completely pure as well.

Purified, unfettered from ignorance, unfettered from clinging to self, unfettered from any kind of conceit, unfettered from any kind of wrong view or clinging to the Dhamma. Because of that, the consciousness is pure, which means that the consciousness doesn't taint your reality. There's no grasping going on anymore. And so the nama-rupa, when it experiences this reality around it, doesn't grasp at anything. The feeling is pure. The perception is pure. There's no potential for the link of craving to arise. The ignorance is now replaced by right view, the wisdom, and so the formations that arise are conditioned by right view. So they don't take anything personally. They don't have any craving. They don't have any intention to harm anyone.

So then the consciousness too, therefore the nama-rupa, therefore the six ten spaces, therefore even that contact that arises. And the feeling that arises is just old karma to be experienced and felt. But no new karma is produced, because you don't have any of the craving, any of the clinging, any of the becoming or habitual tendencies that create the birth of reaction rooted in a sense of self.

So what kind of action does the arahant produce? Spontaneous action rooted in the Eightfold Path. That mind's intention is right intention. That mind's speech is right speech. That mind's action is right action. It's effortless. You have completely deconditioned the mind from all kinds of suffering, reconditioned with the Eightfold Path, so that it is unconditioned by any greed, hatred, or delusion. Lady, when a bhikkhu has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, to what does their mind incline? To what does it lean? To what does it tend?

Friend Visaka, when a bhikkhu has emerged from the attainment of the cessation of perception, feeling, and consciousness, their mind inclines to seclusion, leans to seclusion, tends to seclusion. The word seclusion comes from the word viveka. Now, viveka, yes, it can mean seclusion, but there is a different way of understanding this word viveka. It means discernment. To know, to understand.

And what is it that it knows and understands? What is it that it discerns? Insight, wisdom, dependent origination, the Dhamma. Because the mind emerges from cessation, experiences Nibbana. As a result, there is the feeling, and then seeing the links of dependent origination. So the mind inclines towards seeing the links. This is what is meant when it says seclusion. Seclusion should actually say viveka, which is discernment, understanding, wisdom.

Lady, how many kinds of feeling are there? Friend Visaka, there are three kinds of feeling. Pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neither painful nor pleasant feeling. But lady, what is pleasant feeling? What is painful feeling? What is neither painful nor pleasant feeling? Friend Visaka, whatever is felt bodily or mentally as pleasant and soothing is pleasant feeling. Whatever is felt bodily or mentally as painful and hurting is painful feeling. Whatever is felt bodily or mentally as neither soothing nor hurting is neither painful nor pleasant feeling. That's it.

Lady, what is pleasant and what is painful in regard to pleasant feeling? What is painful and what is pleasant in regard to painful feeling? What is pleasant and what is painful in regard to neither painful nor pleasant feeling? Friend Visaka, pleasant feeling is pleasant when it persists and painful when it changes. That is why you don't hold on to pleasant feelings.

That is why they are liable to cause suffering, because they change. Painful feeling is painful when it persists, and pleasant when it changes. You have a cramp in your leg, that's a painful feeling, like I have a cramp in my leg right now. But when that goes away, that's going to be pleasant for me, right? Neither painful nor pleasant feeling is pleasant when there is knowledge of it. You're aware of it.

That is the pleasantness of that. But when it is painful, there is no knowledge of it. You have lack of mindfulness, lack of attention to it. That is the painful in the neutral feeling, in the neither pleasant nor painful feeling. Lady, what underlying tendency underlies pleasant feeling? What underlying tendency underlies painful feeling? What underlying tendency underlies neither painful nor pleasant feeling?

So when we talk about underlying tendencies, these arise at the link of feeling. They underlie the feeling. They underlie the experience. So, Friend Visaka, the underlying tendency to craving towards lust, towards grabbing, underlies the pleasant feeling. You see something that is beautiful, you want to possess it. You have that piece of chocolate cake, you want another piece of chocolate cake. You hear a beautiful piece of music, you want to hear more of that, and so on and so forth.

So that underlying tendency, if clung to, gives rise to full-blown craving. The underlying tendency towards aversion, towards ill-will, towards hatred, towards frustration, towards irritation, underlies the painful feeling. So, you see something that isn't beautiful. You smell something that is just very smelly. You smell something that is not fragrant, like garbage or something. There is this underlying tendency in that experience which clings to, like saying, I don't like that. If you cling to that, you're going to have full-blown aversion.

The underlying tendency to ignorance underlies the neither painful nor pleasant feeling. How is that the case? If you don't pay attention to a neutral feeling, that is lack of mindfulness, which then acts upon the underlying tendency towards ignorance. Now, the underlying tendency towards ignorance, by the way, can also underlie pleasant feeling and painful feeling. There are these seven underlying tendencies. Underlying tendency towards craving, underlying tendency towards aversion, underlying tendency towards ignorance. The underlying tendency towards views, having views about what you are experiencing.

It's a pleasant feeling, now you want it and you have a view about it. You have an opinion about it. Underlying tendency towards doubt. It causes doubt in your mind. Is it wholesome or is it unwholesome? Should I take it? Should I not take it? Am I breaking a precept if I act on it or am I not breaking a precept?

The underlying tendency towards conceit. This is me. This is mine. This is myself. The underlying tendency towards bhava, towards becoming. I want to be that. And of course, the underlying tendency towards ignorance, which is the lack of awareness, the lack of mindfulness. So the seven are towards craving, towards aversion, towards ignorance, towards views, towards doubt, towards conceit, and towards becoming.

then you are aware of what's going on. You have mindfulness there. You have full awareness of what's going on. So the underlying tendency towards craving won't necessarily arise. These underlying tendencies arise because there's a lack of mindfulness. There's lack of attention at the feeling or at the experience that you're having. Only when there is this ignorance can the underlying tendency towards craving arise in relation to a pleasant feeling, or an underlying tendency towards aversion arise in relation to a painful feeling, or an underlying tendency towards ignorance arise in relation to a neither pleasant nor painful feeling.

Lady, what should be abandoned in regard to the pleasant feeling? What should be abandoned in regard to the painful feeling? What should be abandoned in regard to neither painful nor pleasant feeling? So in other words, what do I have to let go in relation to the pleasant feeling? If I'm having a pleasant feeling, is there anything I have to let go? If I'm having a painful feeling, is there anything I have to let go? If I'm having a neutral feeling, is there anything I have to let go? And she says, friend Visaka, the underlying tendency to craving should be abandoned in regard to pleasant feeling. The underlying tendency towards aversion should be abandoned in regard to painful feeling.

The underlying tendency to ignorance should be abandoned in regard to neither painful nor pleasant feeling. So, when you are 6R-ing, when you are using the 6R's, there is a painful feeling when you are meditating. Are you 6R-ing the pain away, or are you 6R-ing the underlying tendency towards aversion for that pain? You can't 6R the pain away, but you can 6R your reaction to that pain.

You can 6R the inclination to grasp at a pleasant feeling. How do you 6R the ignorance? Just by recognizing, oh, you're no longer mindful in relation to a neutral feeling. So it's all about developing your mindfulness to be able to observe how your mind is moving, how your mind's attention is moving. That way you can identify if there is an underlying tendency.

The underlying tendency to ignorance doesn't have to be abandoned in regard to all neither painful nor pleasant feeling. And why is that? Here, friend Visaka, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, having abandoned the hindrances, one enters upon and abides in the first jhana, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, thinking and examining thought, with joy and comfort born of seclusion. With that, he abandons the craving, and the underlying tendency to craving does not underlie that. Jhana is a pleasant experience.

You don't have to let go of any underlying tendency towards that, but you can, because you might have craving for that jhana or clinging to that jhana. But you have let go of the underlying tendency in relation to the sensual pleasures by coming into the first jhana. Here one considers thus: when shall I enter upon and abide in the base that the noble ones now enter upon and abide in?

In one who thus generates a longing for the supreme liberations, grief arises with that longing as condition. With that, he abandons aversion, and the underlying tendency to aversion does not underlie that. This is in relation to chanda, wholesome desire, wholesome inclination. Your mind inclines towards awakening, towards nibbana, but the key here is it doesn't obsess over it. If your mind says, I want nibbana, that's one thing. But if your mind says, I will do everything I can to attain nibbana, and I will just sit here until I attain nibbana, you're going to crave for that. That's craving, so let go of that. So the longing that's there, the grief, as it's put, it's the chanda, it's the samvega, the dismay of having seen suffering. You don't have to let go of the aversion to that. You have to let go of any kind of propagation, proliferation of that, that leads to aversion. But if you have the chanda, if you have the wholesome inclination, if you have the samvega, you understand that there is suffering, and you incline your mind towards following the path, and you follow the path, that's more than enough.

Don't let the mind obsess over, when will I get enlightenment? When will I get enlightenment? When will I, you know, have nibbana? You're not going to get there. Here, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, one enters upon and abides in the fourth jhana, which has neither pain nor pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. With that, he abandons ignorance.

So there's no ignorance there. The mind is completely aware, completely attentive, like in the preceding jhanas. But now there's total equanimity, which is a neither painful nor pleasant feeling. But the underlying tendency towards ignorance does not underlie that experience. Why? Because there's full awareness there, clear comprehension of what is happening. Anytime there's lack of mindfulness, there's ignorance or the underlying tendency towards ignorance.

Lady, what is the counterpart of pleasant feeling? Counterpart. This word is very crucial to understand. In some contexts, it says it means the opposite, of in the spectrum. In some cases, it means what does one lead to the next? So, patipada, meaning how does this lead to that? So, we will see in terms of context how this is answered. Friend Visaka, painful feeling is the counterpart of pleasant feeling. So, in other words, what is the opposite of pleasant feeling?

Painful feeling. What is the counterpart of painful feeling? What do you guys think is the counterpart of painful feeling? Pleasant feeling. Pleasant feeling is the counterpart of painful feeling. What is the counterpart of neither painful nor pleasant feeling? Ignorance is the counterpart of neither painful nor pleasant feeling. Why? It's not that it's the opposite of a neither painful nor pleasant feeling. It's that if you have a neither painful nor pleasant feeling, there can be the underlying tendency towards ignorance that can arise. Patipada, a succession. This can lead to that.

But now he goes back and he says, what is the counterpart of ignorance? Now he's saying, what is the opposite of ignorance? What is it? Wisdom, true knowledge, is the counterpart of ignorance. What is the counterpart of true knowledge? Don't say ignorance, please. Now he's talking about patipada. What is the succession of true knowledge? What does it lead to? Liberation, deliverance of mind, is the counterpart of true knowledge. That is cessation. Mind gets into the unconditioned. What is the counterpart of deliverance? What does it lead to? Nibbana is the counterpart of deliverance, Lady.

What is the counterpart of nibbana? Friend Visaka, you have pushed this line of questioning too far. You are not able to grasp the limit to questions for the holy life, friend Visaka. This whole process that we're doing is grounded upon nibbana, culminates in nibbana, ends in nibbana. If you wish, friend Visaka, go to the Blessed One and ask him about the meaning of this. As the Blessed One explains it to you, so you should remember it.

Then the lay follower Visaka, having delighted and rejoiced in the Bhikkhuni Dhammedina's words, rose from his seat and after paying homage to her, keeping her on his right, he went to the Blessed One. After paying homage to him, he sat down at one side and told the Blessed One his entire conversation with the Bhikkhuni Dhammedina. When he finished speaking, the Blessed One told him, The Bhikkhuni Dhammedina is wise, Visaka. The Bhikkhuni Dhammedina has great wisdom. If you had asked me the meaning of this, I would have explained it to you in the same way that the Bhikkhuni Dhammedina has explained it. Such is its meaning, and so you should remember it.

This is what the Blessed One said. The lay follower Visaka was satisfied and delighted in the Blessed One's words. Satisfied and delighted. There you go. Especially if they're chocolate chip cookies. May suffering ones be suffering free. May the fear struck be fearless. May the grieving or grief, and may all beings should find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation.