Day 6 DN 16 'Take Care of the Dhamma... Delson Armstrong

There's a statement in the Buddhavamsa, if I'm not mistaken, the Buddhavamsa, which is not the chronicles of the Buddha, but it's more about the different Buddhas that have existed up until Gautama Buddha. And in there, there's a statement that says, which means, the Dhamma protects those who protect the Dhamma. The Dhamma protects those who protect the Dhamma. In Sanskrit, there's another statement very similar to that, which says, which means one who adheres to Dharma, the Dharma protects.

And so this is the theme of what we want to imbibe in our own lives, is how do we continue adhering to the Dharma? How do we continue living embodiments of the Dhamma. So there is a Sutta here where this is Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Sutta number 16, Digha Nikaya 16. And it's in section 2 of this. The Mahaparinibbana Sutta is the longest Sutta in the entire Pali canon. And it is a Sutta that details the last days of the Buddha before he attains Mahaparinibbana, before he attains Nibbana for one last time.

And so there are a lot of great events and stories and interesting ideas that are mentioned in here. But specifically, there is something here that is, I think, very practical and very useful for all of us. So I'm going to read from it. Just to give you a little bit of background, the Buddha is talking with his attendant, Ananda.

And he's telling Ananda, all right, well, Ananda, this particular monk has attained stream entry, this particular monk has attained anagami, this particular person has become an arahant, or this particular person has gone to this particular heaven, or this particular section of heaven, and he's destroyed these many fetters, so far he's yet to come in this life, and all of these things he says. And then later on he says, Ananda, it is not remarkable that that which has come to be should die, but that you should come to the Tathagata to ask the fate of each of those who have died.

That is a weariness to me. In other words, I'm tired of telling you where everybody is. Therefore, Ananda, I will teach you a way of knowing Dhamma. This is called the mirror of Dhamma, whereby the noble disciple, if he wishes so, can discern for himself, I have destroyed hell, animal rebirth, the realm of ghosts, all downfall, evil fates and sorries, states. I am a stream winner, incapable of falling into states of woe, certain of attaining Nibbana. Very useful to know, right? Very useful to verify.

And what is this mirror of Dhamma by which he can know this? Here, Ananda, this noble disciple is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Buddha thus. Unwavering confidence in the Buddha, in the Dhamma and in the Sangha. And how is this so? First, we should understand what do we mean by unwavering confidence? We're not talking about faith. We're not saying we must believe in the Buddha as our Lord and Savior.

We're not saying that we must believe in the philosophy of the Dhamma or that we must believe in the spirit of beautiful friendship. It's not about believing. To test out for yourself and come to a level of experiential conviction is another. And this can only be done when you actually walk the path. And then for yourself, you can conclude that you do have this conviction in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and Sangha. And what is that conviction? This is about the Buddha.

And then it says about the Sangha, The right path, on the perfect path. That is to say, the four pairs of persons, the eight kinds of humans. The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples are worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of veneration, an unsurpassed field of merit in the world. This Ananda is the mirror of Dhamma, whereby a noble one can discern for himself, I have destroyed the lower realms and rebirth in the lower realms. Which means the mirror of Dhamma allows us to see for ourselves whether the mind confirms for itself that it is a stream winner. And it needs these four components.

Total conviction in the Buddha, total conviction in the Dhamma, and total conviction in the Sangha. And unshakable morality, to keep the precepts all the time. So what do we mean by total conviction in the Buddha? Again, we're not talking about just the so-called historical Buddha. We're talking about the possibility of what that means. You know, in the mornings when you take the three refuges, I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dhamma. I take refuge in the Sangha. What do we mean by that, taking refuge? Sharanam. It's an interesting word.

One of the best ways, most effective ways, to negate karma is through sharanam. Sharanam means to surrender. It means to let go of the ego. So I bow to the Buddha, not out of the idea that I feel weakened by that, but the idea that I am grateful for such a person that existed in history known as Gautama Buddha. of what is available to each and every being here.

That is full awakening. Because that's what the Buddha represents. His name is not Gautama Buddha. His name is Siddhartha Gautama. Buddha is the title, say, that was given to him. The Buddha. The one who has awakened. The Tathagata. The Tathagata means Tatha is suchness. It is that emptiness. It is that place of the unconditioned. Gata. He has gone there and returned.

He has entered that field of Nibbana and returned. But he was the first one of this eon, or this particular age of Gautama Buddha. The first one to do so, to rediscover the Dhamma, rediscover dependent origination, rediscover the Four Noble Truths. Therefore he is given the status of the first arahant. And one who follows that path that he has laid out in terms of the Eightfold Path, one who follows that Dhamma, which is the Four Noble Truths, the understanding of dependent origination, and perfects the development and cultivation of the Eightfold Path, destroys the taints of mind, is an arahant. Somebody who has done the same thing the Buddha has done. The Buddha had to figure it out and then lay it out in the way it is in the matrix of the 37 requisites for enlightenment, and then his followers walk that path, and when they are able to perfect sila, ethics, perfect samadhi, mental development, meditation, collectedness, and have perfection of wisdom, that's the panna, then they are arahants.

So what we are saying is we take refuge in that possibility of full awakening. And that is converted through our application of the path as experiential confidence that I have walked the path and I know what that means. Initially, as a stream winner, I have a glimpse of what that looks like. And I have confidence now that I will attain full Nibbana, full awakening at some future point. But I have had a glimpse into it. And I see for myself this is the case.

And when I do that, I have full confidence in the Dhamma, because what have I done? The Dhamma is the Four Noble Truths. I have begun to understand what suffering is. I have begun to see and recognize how suffering arises. And I have learned how to abandon those conditions that lead to suffering, and realized the experience of the cessation of suffering by cultivating the Eightfold Path.

Because when I do that, I'm able to understand dependent origination. What is the Eightfold Path? It's important to understand the Eightfold Path because that is your roadmap. will enter into Nibbana. It is, if you will, the path to Nibbana. Available behind you somewhere. Which leads to a mind without craving. Oh yeah. What is the Eightfold Path?

You've heard me say this many times, but it's worth really allowing it to seep into the mind. Right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right collectedness. Right view on a mundane level is the understanding of karma. That action, intentional actions have consequences. That's the basis of mundane right view.

But on a more profound level, it is the recognition of the four noble truths. The realization that these truths are available to everyone. That they are there whether you believe in them or not. You can choose to not believe in suffering and you can continue to suffer. You can choose to ignore a craving and still be muddied in it.

Of course, you can choose to ignore Nibbana and you won't experience and you can choose not to follow it. But it is a systematic process that works every time. So this is the right view that you get, the right view that becomes established when you enter the stream. And that leads to right intention. What is right intention?

Three things. Contentment, non-ill will, non-cruelty. Developing that nature of this is enough. Whatever is happening right now, this is enough. Total acceptance of everything that's arising. An inner renunciation. And that is developed because you would take refuge in something greater than the ego and greater than yourself. That is the possibility of full awakening, the Dhamma itself, and the community of like-minded practitioners.

The TWIM Network. No comment. get or you develop is through the understanding of seeing everything as an impersonal process. And the non-ill will is cultivated through the practice of loving kindness. The non-cruelty is cultivated through the practice of compassion. So it's not like you need to be loving and kind all the time, but it also means that you don't hold any ill will towards anything or anyone.

It doesn't mean you need to have compassion all the time, but it means that you recognize your suffering and the suffering of others, and therefore you don't add to their suffering, which is cruelty. Then we come to right speech. Right speech is abstaining from speech that is false, gossip. Speech that is malicious and harmful. Speech that is unnecessary. Things that don't really provide any kind of satisfaction to the mind.

So I came up with an acronym, right? Think before you speak. Before you speak, see whether what you're about to say is timely or untimely. T for time. Whether it's honest or dishonest. H for honesty. What is your intention? behind what you want to say? I. Is it necessary for you to say what you need to say?

Then this leads to right action. Right action is abstaining from killing living beings. Abstaining from harming and killing living beings. Abstaining from taking what is not freely given. Abstaining from sensual and sexual misconduct. And then we have something known as right livelihood. Right livelihood is taking up work or trade that doesn't cause harm to yourself or cause harm to another living being.

That's the most simplified way of putting that. When you take care of this part, right speech, right action, right livelihood, you are purifying your mind, whether you know it or not. Because your mind starts to become relaxed. Your mind becomes empty of regrets, and through non-regret the mind experiences relief, which is known as pamojja. Through that relief there's joy, which is piti. Through that piti there is tranquility, relaxation.

Through that, or passaddhi, as it's known in Pali, there is sukha, comfort and ease in the mind and body. Through that there's collectedness, there's the ability to see things as they actually are, which is the development of equanimity, the disappearance of expectations and anticipation, which leads to disenchantment, freedom from being ensnared by things, and dispassion, and finally liberation.

So it starts off with making sure you've got your thoughts, words, actions, and livelihood in alignment with the Dhamma. This is how you protect the Dhamma. When you do this, now you have the equipment for samadhi, for the practice of meditation, which is right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. Right effort is the six R's. Right effort is the...

recognition and prevention of unwholesome states, of unarisen unwholesome states. It is the abandoning of arisen unwholesome states. It is the generating, bringing up, cultivating of wholesome states of mind, and the maintenance of those wholesome states of mind. When you do the six R's, you're doing all of this. When you practice, where you recognize an unwholesome state and you let that go and experience freedom from that unwholesome state, and you bring up or relax into a wholesome state and keep your attention there, this is what you're doing.

This allows for right mindfulness. What do we mean by right mindfulness? It is to have the mind be available right here, right now, to whatever is going on. The ability to see where mind's attention is at any given time. Monty would say, remembering to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other. It is the application of your awareness and attention and the ability to discern what is present in the mind.

Sati and sampajanna, they make up right mindfulness. Sati is memory. It's to remember to observe. Sampajanna is what? To observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other. The discernment of what mind is experiencing in any given moment. And so we have four foundations of mindfulness, the Satipatthanas. I look at them as anchors to bring the mind back to the present, the now.

You may use the body, you may use feeling, you may use mind, you may use mind states or phenomena. And the Buddha has given an entire discourse on this. Various methodologies to anchor the mind back into awareness of what is happening right here, right now, in relation to that particular field of knowledge. In other words, being able to bring your mind towards where its attention is at any given moment.

So when you have these two, your mind is naturally collected. This is known as sama samadhi. Right? Collectedness. Samadhi. Sama means same. Balanced. Constitute sama-samadhi, right collectiveness. So our job is to observe and let go. We're not trying to make anything happen. We are letting go of the improper causes and conditions, the hindrances. The Buddha has said, luminous is the mind. Luminous is the mind.

But due to adventitious defilements, the mind is obscured. The nature of mind is to be luminous. That is the reality of the mind. To be naturally luminous. And yet due to adventitious defilements. What does that word mean, adventitious? I had to go into the dictionary to find out what that means. It means that which is not part of the mind. That which is not part of yourself, of itself. It's outside.

Because the contact with the outside world leads to us interacting with the world by taking it personally. When we take the world personally, we become greedy, we become hateful, we become deluded. There's a story again in the Digha Nikaya about these beings called the Abhasara beings that come from the second Brahma Loka. During the beginning of a new creation, the beginning of an expansion of a new universe, those beings fall into the first Brahma Loka, and some of them become Brahma beings. But others fall into the earth plane. And they start to indulge in this nourishment that's there on this earth.

And eventually they become greedy. They become hateful. They become, they want to acquire more and keep for themselves and store it up. And now they identify with the protection of this, the defense against this, and so on. And communities are created. And this story is a story about how humans develop, how the mind, which is naturally luminous, becomes greedy, hateful, and deluded.

Because it overindulges in the outside world. And now it starts to say, these clothes are me, these clothes are mine, this house is me, this house is mine, these relationships are me, this relationship is mine, this is who I am. It creates this defense mechanism in the form of the action of conceit, the activity of conceit. It's important to have boundaries.

But what happens is the mind takes everything as, you know, me, mine, or myself, and thereby creates a whole proliferation of concepts and ideas. And that's where the birth of the separate, independent, personal self notion arises. The proliferation of that. There's nothing for us to do except to get out of the way, to bring up the right causes and conditions by letting go of the causes and conditions that tie our mind to this world, the mundane world.

So we start the process of letting go and observe. And through our observation, through our mindfulness, letting go is the right effort. Through observation, that is the right mindfulness. We come to the state of collectedness. We make tiny adjustments, which is the letting go process: to observe and to let go. And as we do this we start to learn how the mind creates its own suffering, and how when we let go there is the cessation of suffering.

And we go deeper and we start to uncover those obscurations by going deeper into each jhana. These are levels of cessation until the mind comes to the unconditioned. The natural luminosity that has been obscured through eons of defilements. And when the mind recognizes that and sees that, it experiences relief. But then what happens is the mind takes that relief and says, can this continue?

What next? What do I do? There's nothing to do. Just keep letting go. Every idea of, what do I do next? What next? What next? What next? Just let go of that. And as you do this, you cultivate what is known as sammanana. Right knowledge. Right wisdom. Right insight. Go to the core of the Four Noble Truths and see for yourself how dependent origination truly works.

How karma truly works. And thereby you have sammavimutti. Right liberation. The knowledge that the mind is liberated. These two are like DLCs of the Eightfold Path. Once you work with them for a while, you get these as bonuses at the end of the game. Right wisdom and right liberation. And then you have what's known as the tenfold path, as it's called in Majjhima Nikaya 117.

So if there's one thing to do, there's actually two in your practice: to observe and to let go. That's it. And it's just not in meditation. It's with life. This life that you experience is this movie that you're unfolding into. And when there are difficult scenes, very emotional scenes, you don't get caught up in the movie. You realize, oh, this is a movie. And you let go. And just sit back and watch.

Let's share some merit. May suffering ones be suffering free and the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share 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.