Delson's 1st talk: 8 Fold Path Series-RIGHT VIEW

This is going to be a series of talks that go on into April, talking about all the aspects of the Eightfold Path, just starting at number one. And I think we can get started. We've got one more. All right. Here's Delson. I'm going to go ahead and spotlight him for you. Delson, you have the screen.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. It's all good to see you all. Well, I don't know. Most of you, I don't probably know. But in any case, it's good to see you all. So I'm going to start on the Eightfold Path. And I want to explain to you why we want to do the Eightfold Path as a study series. So the Eightfold Path is actually the fourth noble truth. When we talk about the four noble truths that the Buddha has talked about, he said that there is suffering, right, and there are causes and conditions for that suffering. That's the second noble truth. There is a cessation of suffering and there is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

So suffering in of itself can be a whole topic, a whole discussion or series of discussions, because it's divided up into different facets and different variants. When we talk about the causes and conditions for suffering, we can discuss dependent origination, which we've done in the past, and we've talked about it quite often in the retreats and in the symposium and so on. And then the cessation of suffering is essentially nirodha, right? And so when we talk about nirodha, nirodha can mean the cessation of perception, feeling and consciousness, but here we're talking about dukkha nirodha, which is the cessation of suffering. And so this can be synonymous with nibbana, the experience of nibbana.

So what is nibbana? Nibbana is essentially the cessation of greed, hatred and delusion, the seeds of suffering. These are the roots that cause the mind to create all kinds of mental proliferation that create all kinds of craving, different types of craving, clinging, becoming, and then finally the birth of suffering, birth of action, and then suffering. So when we look at nibbana, what we're saying is it is the unwinding of that process every time the mind experiences the world if it doesn't have the tools necessary, essentially the Eightfold Path, and that is synonymous with right effort, or encapsulated in right effort in the 6R's. If we don't have that, then the mind will continue to create suffering through craving, clinging and being, and birth of new action, and so it succumbs to old karma, karmic choices and intentions that were done through the mode of craving, which leads to further craving, which leads to further suffering, which leads to further karma. So the idea here is to unwind all of that, and the way we do that is to recognize

that there is something arising in the form of craving. There's a tension or tightness in the head and in the body, or that we see that there is this craving for becoming happening, or that there is this attachment to an outcome happening. We recognize that. Right in the meditation, we recognize any of the hindrances, and so those hindrances are also suffering. We recognize that, we release our attention from that. It's the attention to those hindrances, or to that aspect of suffering, that keeps it going, that perpetuates it. So we take away that attention by releasing our mind's attention from it, bringing it back to the mind and body, and then relaxing and letting go of any type of intention.

The moment we do that, we experience the mundane form of nibbana. And then we come back to the re-smile, which is to generate a wholesome object, a wholesome mind object. And then from that, we continue with our object of meditation, primarily loving kindness, but it can be compassion. It could even be the breath, it could be whatever it is that you're taking as your object in meditation, and then we repeat whenever necessary. So this process of the 6R's is essentially right effort, and the right effort that we're talking about is really the heart of the Eightfold Path. So you'll notice in the schedule that we have, we're not really going to discuss right effort, because it's encapsulated in the Eightfold Path. It's an encapsulation of the Eightfold Path, but it's also interwoven through the entire Eightfold Path, and you'll see how.

So that comes to, you know, the Eightfold Path as being the way leading to the cessation of suffering. So when the Buddha talked about the Middle Way, in his first discourse, his very first discourse at Sarnath, at the Deer Park, he spoke to the first five disciples, and he said that there is a middle way. There is the way of excess. There is the way of indulgence, and that does not lead to anything noble.

And then there is the way of asceticism. There's the way of causing pain and tension and suffering in the mind and body with the idea that that's going to lead us out of suffering. So what he said was neither of these two extremes is going to take us to where we want, which is ultimately the freedom of mind, ultimately cheto vimuti, ultimately freedom from the bondage of samsara, liberation. And so that's when he introduces in this discourse the Eightfold Path. So it's called the Noble Eightfold Path because it is what leads one to becoming noble. A noble person is somebody who is awakened, who's reached at least the first level of awakening, right, and so on.

So the first factor of the Eightfold Path is what we're going to discuss today. That is sammaditthi. So sammaditthi is generally translated as right view. But I want to first bring an understanding to this word, sama, because some translations have it as right, some have it as proper, and so on. So sama, which is in Pali, comes from the Sanskrit samyak.

And samyak, depending upon the context, can mean that which is proper, that which is fit to follow, that which is essentially effective in the sense that it is effective for leading you towards nibbana. But even the word right, when we use the word right, it's actually not only an ethical way of looking at it, that is to say it's a wholesome path. When we say right view, it's a wholesome view. When we say right intention, it's a wholesome intention, and so on. But if you go back to the root of the word right, that too comes from a word called ritta in Pali and Sanskrit.

Rita, that's r-t-a. Rita means that which is harmonious, that which is in harmony with the cosmic order, that which aligns with nibbana, that which aligns with what is required to experience and attain nibbana. So once you have this context, then you understand that the Eightfold Path is essentially a blueprint. It's a guideline. It is the way leading to nirvana. And so when we talk about sammaditthi, right, now the word ditthi, which is the Pali, or drishti, that can mean to gaze at something, that could mean view, that can mean vision, to look out at something, a perspective, whatever you want to call it. But essentially, when we say right view, we're talking about two levels. So when we're going to explore each of these different facets of the Eightfold Path, we're going to be looking at it at two levels.

One is the mundane level, and the second is the super mundane level. The mundane level is essentially when you start out on the path, there are certain things that are required for you to actually have that mundane right view. And these elements actually allow for a more wholesome state of mind. It's actually psychologically beneficial to have these different facets of mundane right view when you start out on the path. And then that will take you ultimately to the super mundane right view.

So I'm going to use Majjhima Nikaya 117 as my source material. I'm not going to read the whole thing. I'm just going to pick out certain elements from there to discuss each of these different facets. And so this is Majjhima Nikaya 117, the great 40. So here's the mundane right view. So here the Buddha says, and what, bhikkhus, is right view that is affected by the taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions?

There is what is given, and what is offered, and what is sacrificed. There is fruit and result of good and bad actions. There is this world and the other world. There is mother and father. There are beings who are reborn spontaneously. There are in the world good and virtuous recluses and Brahmins who have realized for themselves by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world. This is right view affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions. So what does he mean by this, affected by the taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions? So when he says affected by the taints, he's talking about the asavas. So we have three primary asavas. Sometimes they're listed as four, but they're actually three.

So the first asava is the asava of ignorance. The second asava is the asava of becoming, and the third is the asava of craving, sensual craving. So affected by these, in other words, you haven't actually rooted out any of the asavas yet. There is still sensual craving. There is still some level of desire for becoming. There is still some level of ignorance. Although you have been introduced to the Eightfold Path, although you've been introduced to the Four Noble Truths and the Dhamma and so on, there is work to be done, because you can't just say, I know it, and now it's done. A certain level of ignorance is gone once you understand the Four Noble Truths, but when you start applying them and you actually root out the ignorance, then that particular asava is gone.

But it happens in a certain order as well. First, you let go of any kind of sensual craving. Then you let go of the desire for existence, the desire for becoming something, right? These are the habitual tendencies. These are the different ways that the mind says, I want to be so and so, even wanting to be a great meditator. It's a great aspiration to have, but becoming obsessed by it, becoming obsessed by having a certain level of achievement, that can also be the desire for a certain type of existence. And then finally, ignorance itself. When we talk about ignorance, we're really talking about not knowing, not understanding, and not applying the Four Noble Truths in every moment.

So the best way of looking at ignorance is that it is a lack of mindfulness. A lack of mindfulness of the Dhamma. A lack of mindfulness of the Four Noble Truths. A lack of mindfulness of the moment in general. So this is what it means when it is affected by the tints. So there's work to be done.

Partaking of merit. In other words, you're still producing karma. You're still producing effects of various actions. So what this means is when the mind is free from all craving, free from all desire for any kind of renewed existence, free from all ignorance, then any of the links, dependent origination, that start from craving onwards disappear for that particular mind. That is the mind without craving. That is the mind of somebody who is fully liberated.

And when that mind is fully liberated, they are still beckoning to the call of previous karma, but they're not producing any new karma. Therefore, they're not partaking of any merits. They're not partaking of any effects of good or bad actions taken prior or continuously being taken because they have let go of any kind of fuel for new karma.

But any kind of old karma that arises, arises in the form of being made contact through the sixth sense basis. So experiencing a pleasurable feeling, experiencing a painful feeling, it's all karma. It's all a result of previous actions that were taken prior to full awakening. In other words, these actions were rooted in an intention that was guided by craving.

These actions were motivated by craving, motivated by the desire for existence, the sensual desire, motivated by ignorance or fueled by ignorance. So all of that is now having to come through at some point or another if the causes and conditions are right. But for the arahant, for somebody who is fully liberated, those actions or the effects of those actions stop right there and then in terms of the experience, in terms of the feeling.

Now, there is no identification process with that action. There is no identity in relation to the effect of those previous actions. And therefore, there is no more fuel. So that kind of partaking of merit is essentially somebody who hasn't let go fully, somebody who still has work to be done. And then finally, it says. Ripening in the acquisitions.

So when we say ripening in the acquisitions, acquisitions here can be another word for clinging. So when we talk about clinging, we talk about four different types of clinging. But essentially, when we say clinging, we're saying there's still ripening in the identification process with even right view. So that means that the mind says that I am the one who has right view. This right view is mine.

I am a good meditator. I'm a good follower of the Eightfold Path and so on and so forth. The identity is what ripens in acquisitions, and this identity then gives rise to further acquisitions and so on. So now we'll get into the mundane right view. There is what is given and what is offered and what is sacrificed.

So when we say offered and sacrificed, these can be used interchangeably depending upon the context. But let's go back to given. Given here means dana. Something that is given, this means the exercising of generosity. So when we give to another person we are exercising generosity. The Buddha has stated that if you understood the significance, the vitality, the importance of generosity, if you understood how much it provides you in terms of what you get back when you exercise generosity, you would not hesitate. You would not waste a moment to share whatever it is that you have. Every meal that you have, you would want to share something of your meal with another person. That is the level of importance that is given to generosity. And when we talk about generosity, there are different ways of being generous. We can offer money, but that's a very basic kind of generosity. We can offer food, we can offer shelter, we can offer medicines, we can offer clothing, but the fundamental level of generosity is offering our loving kindness.

Being generous with our good will towards others, being generous with our compassion, being generous with our empathetic joy, being generous with our equanimity and patience. And it all starts with the smile. That is the importance that's given here in this practice of the 6R's: the Relax and then the Re-smile. Every time you smile you come back to the present moment. Every time you smile you bring greater awareness, you bring greater mindfulness. And every time you share your smile with another person, every time you share a good joke with another person, every time you uplift another person's heart, every time you laugh with another person, you make somebody laugh. You are being generous, right? It's as simple as that. When you talk about what is offered and what is sacrificed, let's just take the word offer here. We're really specifically talking about what is offered to the community, that is the sangha, and primarily the bhikkhus and the bhikkhunis.

Because what is offered to the bhikkhus and the bhikkhunis is seen as being offered to the entire sangha, right? That's what the Buddha has said. He has said that when you offer to me as the Buddha, or you offer to any of the bhikkhus, you are offering to the entire sangha, and that is the merit that you're receiving by offering to the sangha. Now, there is another sutta which talks about the different levels of offering. It talks about offering to somebody outside of the Dhamma. It talks about offering to animals. It talks about offering to even people who aren't following the precepts. There is still something received in terms of merit. And then, of course, in the giving there is a purification of that process through one who is giving, in the mind of one who's given and giving, and in the mind of one who is receiving. But when we offer to the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, what we're doing is we're having an opportunity to essentially transfer that merit to our loved ones and especially to those who have passed on.

In different parts of Asia you'll see this. For example, when I was in Cambodia, there was this celebration called Chonban, and in there, it's essentially all the laypeople going to the monasteries and offering food, offering shelter, offering robes, offering even money. What they're doing is, in this offering, they are essentially praying that the merit of this offering may go to my loved ones who have passed on. You will see in a lot of stories in the peta vatthu, for example, the peta vatthu is a story of the hungry ghosts.

It talks about how if somebody is a hungry ghost, somebody who has no ability to do anything in terms of producing new actions because they are beholden to the effects of their previous actions from past lives, but they have no ability to even generate any good actions that can cause them to experience a higher level of rebirth, they are essentially helpless. So they have to wait many, many, many thousands of years, even hundreds of thousands of years sometimes, but generally thousands to ten thousands of years, to let that karma burn out. Then whatever good karma is there standing in line is accrued, and that provides them the ability to go into a new higher rebirth. But there is a way out of that. That's a little faster, a little quicker.

And what that is, is essentially the hungry ghost's relatives who are still alive in the human realm. What they will do is they will offer to the bhikkhus and the bhikkhunis, and they will then dedicate that merit to those relatives. Now, you know, not everybody knows where their relatives are. Some might be devas, some might be in another life in the human existence, they might be hungry ghosts, it might be whatever they are. But in offering to the monks, to the bhikkhu sangha, and then transferring that merit, dedicating that merit, if there are those who are in the hungry ghost realm they will receive that and they will have a better opportunity, a faster opportunity, to get out of there and then go into possibly a human realm or even the devaloka.

So this is the understanding of what is offered. When we say what is sacrificed, the word sacrificed in Pali comes from the word yitta. And in Pali, yitta comes from the Sanskrit yajyati. Yajyati means a yagya, and a yagya is essentially a fire sacrifice. It's oblations. So the idea here is certain kinds of ceremonies, certain kinds of rituals, certain kinds of offerings that we do in terms of praying to the Buddha. We don't actually pray to the Buddha. But what we're doing is we're offering our goodwill to everybody. And we're saying and accepting that there was somebody known as the Buddha who essentially founded this path.

And now we are offering our thanks. We are offering our gratitude for that. But in some parts of Asia, you'll also see what's known as dhatu puja. It's called dhatu puja. And what that is, is they will take the relics of the Buddha, or they'll take relics of a supposed arahant or a monk or whoever it is, but essentially it would be the Buddha or a supposed arahant. And they will do what's known as dhatu puja, and that's essentially a ceremony and a ritual that is, like, kind of like an oblation. So what that means is if somebody starts out on the path and they are new to the path and they haven't really acquired right view yet in terms of the experience of it.

And they still pray to the devas or they still do certain kinds of ceremonies. Maybe they light candles or they light lamps in the temples or whatever it is. It's fine, completely fine. The idea here is that we're not saying that a person needs to pray. We're not saying a person needs to be worshipping something. What we're saying is it's the attitude that is brought up, brought out by a person when they do these kinds of things. And that's essentially the beginning of some kind of faith, right? Some kind of willingness to try and see for oneself what this path is all about. So the ability to have faith in something is then essentially transformed into experiential confidence when we walk this path.

So I would say it's better to believe in something than not at all, because it gives you a certain level of gladness in the mind. It gives you a feeling of being uplifted. There is a famous professor, a neuroscience professor, let's say his name is Robert Sapolsky. He talks about how atheists are probably one of the most depressed people on this planet, because they have nothing to believe in. But people who have a certain kind of belief system, people who believe in something, doesn't mean that they have blind faith necessarily. It doesn't mean that they're gullible, but they have a certain level of faith in something. It actually is beneficial and healthy for them from a neuroscientific perspective.

So when somebody has even that basic level of some kind of belief in something outside of ourselves, whether you want to call them the devas, or god, or whatever it is that might be there, and once it's there and you start walking the path, you see that that faith starts to renew itself into faith in the Dhamma and the Sangha, the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. And that faith is not something where we have to say we have to believe in something, we have to subscribe to an idea, or whatever. The Buddha has always said, see for yourself. See an experiment and see for yourself by walking the path. Once you walk the path, then you have established the experiential confidence.

So this is the understanding of what is sacrifice. It's the idea that there is some belief in a world outside, and we'll get to that as well, and that in that world outside, there are other beings and so on. There is fruit and result of good and bad actions. So this is essentially karma. When we talk about karma, there is a whole level of complexity about karma, because there is karma which means the intention to do something, there's karma in terms of the effect of that intention, and there's karma which is just pure action. Right? It's not motivated by craving. But there is fruit and result of good and bad actions. This is also very important psychologically speaking, because if you don't have this understanding, then whatever you do, it's a very nihilistic way of looking at the world. You will say that whatever I do has no meaning, whatever I'm thinking,

whatever I'm saying, whatever I'm doing has no meaning. So it doesn't matter if I lie, it doesn't matter if I cheat, it doesn't matter if I steal, doesn't matter if I kill, because there's no result of any good and bad actions. In fact, this is one of the wrong views that the Buddha has pointed out, and in that wrong view, it's been our world, and roll it up into one mass of flesh, and if I was to cut that mass of flesh up, there would be no result from that. But actually, we do see in our world and in our experience of the world that our actions do have consequences.

Our actions that are rooted in certain kinds of intentions have consequences. And therefore, what I say, what I do, what I think about has a direct effect in the future. It might not happen immediately, but it could happen 10 years down the road. It could happen in another life. It could happen in a life that's 10 lives down the road. It doesn't matter, but what the Buddha is saying here is that all of our actions have some kind of consequence, good, bad, or indifferent. So when you have this understanding of karma, then you become more

mindful of your intentions. You become more mindful of the kinds of words that you use. You become more mindful in your interactions with beings around you, and so the idea is, if you see that there are consequences to your actions, then you will prevent yourself from harming other individuals, harming other beings, because that can have a direct result on your future. You may be having to face that same kind of treatment down the road. And so that's where the understanding of the precepts comes into place, right? So the idea that I will not cause harm to other living beings because I don't want to be harmed. I don't want to lie to other beings because I don't want to be lied to, right? I don't want to have any kind of sensual misconduct because I don't want people to act in a way that is going to disturb me. So in other words, when we talk about sensual, sexual, or sensual misconduct, it's the pursuit of sensual pleasures to the making of the other precepts.

Or I don't want people to steal from me, so I will not steal. So the idea is, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is the understanding of there is fruit and result of good and bad actions. There is this world and the other world. Now, this is a very interesting statement. It can mean that there is this world that we experience in terms of this existence, and that there are other layers of existence.

From a cosmological standpoint, when we talk about the Indian cosmology, and particularly Buddhist cosmology, there are many different levels of existence. There are layers to those different realms, right? So we have, you know, the six central heavens above us. There is the four brahma lokas, but within those four brahma lokas there are three subdivisions. There are the four arupa lokas, and then below us is the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, the niraya, or the hell realms, and within those hell realms there are different subsets depending upon the crime and punishment, and so on. But that's something that not everybody can necessarily subscribe to, because they haven't seen it for themselves.

And so we don't need to subscribe to it. We don't need to blindly follow that this is the case. But what we can say is that there is something beyond just our limited human understanding that we can't see, that we cannot interpret even, because this world that we have is defined by the matrix of our five physical sense spaces. Everything we see through the eyes, everything we hear through the ears, everything we smell and taste, every everything that we feel through the body. All of that is essentially different kinds of sensory data points. The eyes pick up photons, the ears pick up vibrations, the nose picks up odor molecules, the tongue picks up taste molecules, the body picks up different kinds of variations in heat and temperature and vibration, internally and externally, and then that is interpreted as perception.

As in, I'm seeing the color red, or I'm seeing the color blue, or I'm hearing Beethoven's Fifth, or I'm smelling this particular perfume, or I'm tasting this curry, or I feel hot, or I feel cold, or I feel a stomach ache going, or I feel a headache. All of these are essentially different sensory data points, and this is the world that is defined by those sense bases. We cannot see anything outside of it for the time being, unless we're able to cultivate extrasensory perception, and that happens through the cultivation of various different kinds of psychic faculties, and that can happen through the attainment of the jhanas and understanding how the jhanas happen, and so on.

But what is the other world that we're talking about? The other world, yes, it can be outside of the scope of our limited sensory experiences. But the other world can also be the mind itself, and primarily the super mundane experience of the mind. What does that mean? So we can say that this world is the mundane. This world is right here, right now, through our sense bases. But the other world is super mundane. It is elevated. It is beyond our sense bases.

And that is the experience of jhanas. So the first jhana, the second jhana, the third jhana, the fourth jhana, and then the arupa jhanas, or the ayatanas, can be understood as the super mundane that is beyond just the sense-based experiences. And then the ultimate super mundane, so to speak, would be the experience of nibbana itself. So there is this world and the other world. There is this world that I'm experiencing now through my sense bases, but there's a possibility of transcending this world through meditation, through the process of collectedness, and going into these high states of experience, these altered states, in the sense that they are altered because they're not based in any kind of thought.

They're not based in any kind of thinking, right? Initially in the first jhana, when we talk about the first jhana, we have thinking and examining thought to the point that we bring up an object and we sustain our attention on it, but immediately after that we let go of that, and then we're cruising through in the second jhana, the third and the fourth, and now we're experiencing that which is super mundane. And so therefore this is the right view affected by things, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions.

This is all part of the mundane. Now we'll talk about the super mundane right view. Before I continue with this, this particular passage is different in the sense that usually when we talk about the super mundane right view, what we're saying is it comes about at stream entry. It comes about when somebody experiences the first level of awakening, and now they have established experiential confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. They've let go of any kind of wrong view, and they've let go of any kind of belief in rites and rituals, with the idea that they will take you to nibbana.

In the Maha Parinibbana Sutta there is a passage where Ananda asks the Buddha, when you are gone, because he's already announced that he's going to be going in three months, he's going to be attaining parinibbana. So Ananda says, how are we to know, how are we to see, how are we to understand when somebody experiences stream entry? It's very interesting, because the Buddha doesn't talk about letting go of wrong views, although it is there. He doesn't talk about letting go of attachments to rites and rituals, or the idea that they'll take you to nibbana, although it's there. But he specifically points out the mirror of the Dhamma. Ananda is to see if someone has total conviction and confidence in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha.

So what does it mean when we say conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha? First and foremost, we're talking about the faith in the Buddha, the faith in the idea that there was somebody there who experienced for themselves nibbana and brought up the ability, or showed the way, to experience that nibbana. When we talk about the Dhamma, the Dhamma itself is essentially understanding dependent origination and following the Eightfold Path. And when we talk about the Sangha, the Sangha is essentially the community of people that you have who are practicing the same thing you are. So that's the bhikkhu Sangha and the bhikkhuni Sangha. That's the ariya Sangha, that is the Sangha of those beings who have experienced the levels of awakening. And then there is the Sangha that is, you know, the entire Sangha of those who follow the Buddha's ways.

So, before I go on, looks like there's some other ones that I've skipped here. So then there is mother and father. So when we say there is mother and father, what the Buddha is saying is we have to understand and acknowledge the people that took care of us. It doesn't necessarily have to be our biological parents. It could be people who brought us up. It could be our caregivers. It could be, you know, our cousins who might have brought us up. It could be our aunts and uncles. It could be our grandparents. It could be whoever it was. But the idea is that we cannot return the debt that our parents gave us, even if our parents were not as loving as we wanted them to be, even if they were not as accepting as maybe we wanted them to be. The fact is they brought us into this world, and bringing us into this world allows us the potential to experience nibbana, and for that alone

we can have some level of gratitude. And then we acknowledge all of those people who have taken care of us as we've grown up, so that we understand how the world functions. And perhaps, and perhaps not, they've introduced us to the Dhamma. Whether or not they have, we still acknowledge that they were able to bring us up into this world to a certain point, so that we do come to the Dhamma. And then finally, well, there's a couple of things here. It says there are beings who are reborn spontaneously. So when we say there are beings who are reborn spontaneously, we're saying

that rebirth, there's a potential for rebirth. Now, this is also in alignment with what I said earlier about this world and the other. It's not like we have to blindly believe that there is rebirth. We should have a level of openness to say that potentially it could be rebirth. But as we start to experience the Dhamma for ourselves, what we start to see is that in fact rebirth is happening at every moment, because what we talk about as consciousness is not one consciousness that is there, pervasive throughout. It is the arising and passing away of individual consciousnesses, individual sense-based consciousnesses.

Even the life that we have in this world, or in this existence, in this particular birth, is impermanent. It arises and passes away. There is, in that sense, what is known as jivitindriya, which is the life faculty. And that could be understood as a level of consciousness that comes into existence when it joins with the embryo. The mother and father join together. And then there is the gandhabba, that is the descending consciousness that then gives life to that particular biological or organic material.

And so this consciousness then gives life to the series of the arising and passing away of sense-based consciousnesses. But when that being dies, that consciousness too departs. It's not the same consciousness. It goes through layers and layers of changes, and that's happening in every moment. So if we start to see it in this way, and then we finally start to experience it in this way, then we say there's actually spontaneous rebirth.

There is the idea that even within the understanding of rebirth there might be an interval, there might be what's known as antarabhava. So that's basically kind of like a purgatory, or an intermediate state between this world or this life and the next life. But all of that actually is happening at the level of mind.

You think about our own identities, the identities that we've built up. They are spontaneously generated. They spontaneously arise and pass away. They continue to change all the time. You're not the same person you were, you know, 10 years ago, or five years ago, or three years ago, or a year ago. You're not the same person you were six months ago, a month ago, a week ago. You're not even the same person you were when this talk started, because new information potentially has been given to you. And now your identity chooses to take it or not to take it. But in essence, your consciousness continues to arise and pass away. So this is what is meant by there are beings who are reborn spontaneously.

There is no pause between the arising of one consciousness and the arising of the next consciousness, or let's say the passing away of one consciousness and the arising of the next consciousness. It is seamless. It happens like that. And then finally, part of the mundane right view: there are, in the world, good and virtuous recluses and Brahmins who have realized for themselves by direct knowledge and declare this world and the other world. So this is essentially talking about the Buddha and arahants, essentially people who have walked the path for themselves, done the work, done what had to be done, experienced nibbana for themselves, and walked the path to the end. So doing so, they can actually guide others. They can say that this is the way I have done it, this is the way that I have learned it, and so try and see for yourself. So when we acknowledge that and we say, indeed, that there are teachers, there are guides.

Maybe they haven't walked the entire path, but there are still teachers and guides who have walked some of the path, who know some of the map. And so when we acknowledge that, then we can just follow in their instruction and then start to practically apply it. And we will see for ourselves whether it works or not.

Now, I'll come back to the super mundane right view. And it's talking about how that really is the understanding of right view as being experiential confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. And that's the way it's understood in most suttas, and primarily the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. It's not just I know that there is suffering. I know that there are causes and conditions for the suffering. I know that there's a way out of the suffering. I know that there is a path that leads to the end of the suffering. It's not just I know this by rote. I know this in my mind. It's more that I have applied the Four Noble Truths.

And therefore, I'm able to see the Four Noble Truths and utilize the Four Noble Truths for whatever is arising. So the ultimate understanding of right view, therefore, is that you fully understand what suffering is. You fully abandon all of the different causes and conditions for that suffering. You fully realize the end of that suffering, which is nibbana. And you fully develop, cultivate and perfect the way leading to that end of suffering, which is the Eightfold Path.

But as I said earlier, in this particular sutta it's a little different. And this is what the Buddha says. "And what, bhikkhus, is right view that is noble, taintless, super mundane, a factor of the path, the wisdom, the faculty of wisdom, the power of wisdom, the investigation of states, the enlightenment factor, the path factor of right view in one whose mind is noble, whose mind is taintless, who possesses the noble path and is developing the noble path? This is right view that is noble, taintless, super mundane, a factor of the path." So this is the super mundane right view. It is noble because it is being exercised by somebody who is a stream enterer and above.

It can be taintless because it's being exercised automatically, spontaneously, by somebody who is an arahant. It's super mundane because it transcends the rebirth into future existences. It transcends all the way towards nibbana. So these factors, the wisdom, the faculty of wisdom, and the power of wisdom. What does it mean when we say wisdom? So when we say wisdom, we're talking about wisdom as the understanding of the Four Noble Truths, but it's also the understanding of dependent origination.

And not just the understanding, it's the application, the realization, the experiencing, the observing of dependent origination. When you experience nibbana, what happens is the mind makes contact with the nibbana element. And when the mind makes contact with the nibbana element, that contact is said to be empty, empty of any kind of self. It's undirected because there is no direction, there is no desire.

And it's said to be signless because it's not an object that's being taken. Nibbana cannot be considered as an object, even though we say there is this idea of the nibbana element. It's just words that we're using to specify something, but in reality it's this experience that is beyond any condition. It is the absolute. It is the unconditioned experience. And in that unconditioned experience, from that there arises this contact, which gives rise to feeling. That feeling is conditioned by that unconditioned contact. And that feeling then can give rise to seeing the links of dependent origination. Indeed, when you see the feeling or experience the feeling, and you start to see the other links in whatever way you are, that is basically a projection of your mind's ability to see it in whatever way it sees it.

It doesn't matter how you see it. What matters is your mindfulness is so sharp that you're able to see, in fact, that there is no person here. There is no self here that is guiding this whole process. It is all a series of impersonal experiences, impersonal input, impersonal processes that are happening. And when you see that, that's when you develop the wisdom. That's when you touch upon wisdom. That is wisdom.

And when we talk about the faculty of wisdom and the power of wisdom, the faculty of wisdom is the ability to discern between what is wholesome and unwholesome, the ability to understand what is the path leading to nirvana and what is not the path leading to nirvana. The power of wisdom is the immediate ability to use your intuition. Another way of looking at wisdom is that, yes, it comes from the word panya, which means insight.

But wisdom here can also be intuition. And when we talk about intuition, that is the ability to spontaneously know what needs to be done in that moment, and that is appropriate for that moment. It is not preconceived. It is not conditioned. It just arises because that mind, which is now taintless, which means it has experienced full awakening, that mind is functioning all the time from intuition.

And the way to develop your intuition is to see for yourself how your mind works. You can exercise your intuition by seeing how the mind works, by giving it a question. Maybe you have a problem that you're trying to solve, maybe there are decisions that you need to make, certain choices that you need to make, but that part of the mind that is, let's say, the thinking mind, the mind that is conditioned, the mind that is still rooted in some level of ignorance, that is still having chitter chatter, that is still restless, is trying to deal with the situation in a way that is not necessarily fully effective. It can use all kinds of analysis, it can use all kinds of logic to come to some kind of rational conclusion, but that's a limitation, or that is limited. When you use intuition it bypasses all of that. Intuition is essentially surrendering.

The mind to the moment, surrendering the mind to the synchronicity of what is around you, of what is available. So essentially, when you quieten the mind, when the mind becomes completely quiet, and the heart is awake, the heart is open, at that point in time, there is intuition. So when you say the heart, what we're saying is the ability to feel, not in terms of feeling, but the ability to actually pick up on messages. And those messages aren't necessarily coming from some universe or god or whatever. These messages that come up in the form of thoughts, that can come up in the form of pictures or ideas or even visions, whatever they are, are guiding the mind to the synchronicities that it can experience, and that is appropriate for the solutions that are required in that.

So this is intuition. This is the ability to exercise intuition. So you can start off small. You can start off very mundane. You can say, I have these choices to make. Either I do this or do that, but I'm not going to think about it. I'm going to quieten my mind. I'm going to present that mind with the choices and I'm going to let it go and just walk away from it.

And all of a sudden, when you least expect it, this is the very important thing to understand: when you least expect it, in other words, when there is no craving involved, when there is no attachment to an outcome involved, when there is no expectations involved, then the true answer will come to you and it will hit you like a eureka moment. And when you take that choice, when you make that decision, it might not be the decision you personally want to make, but it will be the decision that is effective and appropriate for the situation. And then ultimately it takes you in a direction that leads you towards the Dhamma, leads you towards right intention, right speech, right action, and so on and so forth, which we'll explore later.

So the mind that is able to exercise the eightfold path in every moment is exercising the faculty of wisdom. So they have possessed some level of wisdom in seeing for themselves how this is an impersonal process when they see the links of dependent origination, but then they start to exercise, in other words, they utilize right effort, they utilize right mindfulness, they become mindful of the Dhamma in every moment, they understand what is going on. When they do that, they're open, they are surrendering to the moment, they are taking refuge in the moment. When they do that, then the power of wisdom cultivates, and then it becomes automatic, and that power of wisdom is intuition, spontaneous intuition, and that is the mind of one who is fully awakened, complete spontaneity. Spontaneity, not in the sense that, you know, I'm going to do this today or all of a sudden I change my mind, I'm going to do this instead. It's more of like there is no required thinking needed, because that mind functions automatically from the eightfold path. So whatever that mind does, it will always

be rooted in the eightfold path. It will always be rooted in the Dhamma, and therefore it won't produce new karma, it won't produce any new rebirth, any potential for further existence. It will just stop right there and then, but it will exercise right speech, right action, right livelihood in a way that is appropriate. It might say that my mind might say I don't need to speak right now, or these are the words I have to say in this particular order for people to understand what needs to be done. The Buddha obviously was a master at that, right? He understood and he surveyed the minds and he was able to see what is required, and then use the right exposition, right usage of words, to penetrate to the innermost core of their minds.

Oftentimes you'll see in the suttas, where it starts off where the Buddha is, he might be going out for alms round and he says it's too early for alms round. And maybe he sits down and meditates. And then all of a sudden he gets a thought, it says a thought occurred to him that maybe I should go to this place, or maybe I should go see the Sakians or the Mullins or whoever it is, and then he goes there, and it's appropriate for him to go there because it was needed for that moment or needed for that time, so that he could give a discourse or so that he could interact with them and help liberate people. So this is the power of wisdom: the investigation of states, enlightenment factor.

This is called, or in Pali, this is called dhamma vicaya. Dhamma, of course, are the phenomena, the states. Vicaya here is to investigate. But the word investigate denotes the idea that we have to rationalize, we have to analyze, we have to think about it, we have to penetrate by continuously analyzing, but that's not how we're doing it. The way I would look at it is investigation of states is really the understanding of what is happening in every given moment. So this is dependent upon the component of the preceding enlightenment factor, which is mindfulness.

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is remembering to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other. Mindfulness comes from the word sati. Sati comes from the word smriti, which means to remember. What are we remembering? We're remembering the Dhamma in every moment. Remembering to see where is my mind in this moment? Is my mind in a wholesome state? Or is my mind thinking and proliferating all of these different kinds of ideas? Is my mind content in this moment? Or is my mind worrying and restless and anxious about what's going to happen?

Right? So that ability to see and discern, another word for this discernment of what states are present in the mind, is also part of this super mundane right view and the path factor of right view in one whose mind is noble. So one whose mind is noble would be somebody who is a stream enterer with fruition, whose mind is taintless, somebody who is an arahant who possesses the noble path, somebody who's walking the path, and one who is developing the noble path. So this could be somebody who is a faith follower, somebody who is a Dhamma follower, somebody who is walking the path but hasn't yet experienced stream entry, but the fact is they're starting to utilize the different aspects of the eightfold path. They're starting to utilize right effort, they're starting to utilize mindfulness, and starting to see for themselves how mind works. So all of these are factors of the mundane right view. Therefore this is the view, or this is right view, that is noble, taintless, super mundane, a factor of the path.

So I'm going to stop there. Give everybody a minute to collect themselves, and then you can ask whatever questions you want. So if you've got a question, just say unmute yourself and go for it. Hello, hello. Hey, thank you Delson. Thank you David. Thank you. Hey Mario. Hello. I have a question regarding mundane right view on rebirth. I have a friend that is very atheistic, but then suddenly, through watching YouTube, he began to listen to stuff about near-death experiences, and for the first time in his life, maybe he started to contemplate the possibility of something like that. Never before had he thought about the possibility of there being rebirth or something after or before. But the great thing about that is that he's not practicing the Buddhist teaching or starting the Buddhist teaching, but he derived a lot of peace and psychological benefit just from not being shut up from the idea that there is the afterlife. So the question is, what do you attribute those benefits to, even being open to the possibility of rebirth

And the benefits of that. So when you, yeah, this is a good question. Actually, I know of some people who've had near-death experiences like you've mentioned, and they've seen for themselves that indeed there's an experience outside of just this mundane existence, or they've been connected with other beings or their ancestors or whatever it is, and that does indeed bring up a lot of joy in their minds. Of course that depends. If they've been very wholesome, then that's going to lead them to there, but if they've been unwholesome, for some people they experience the opposite of that. But then there too they're kind of motivated, and they say, oh, there might be a hell, there might be a rebirth where I would be beholden to my bad actions, and that might start to change them into wanting to be wholesome and wanting to generate better actions and being a better kind of person to people. So the psychological benefit of that really is

Not necessarily just the belief in it, because the belief is one thing, but the understanding that it actually takes you to the other understanding, which is that there are consequences to my actions. So it starts to make you somebody who is more mindful of their actions. It starts to make you more mindful of the things that you do, the things that you say, how you interact with people. And even the Buddha has talked about this, and he said, let's say there is no other life, let's say there is no other existence, just for the sake of argument. The fact is, if we have been wholesome throughout our lives, we build up a certain kind of reputation in this life alone.

That this is a person that I can trust, this is an ethical person, this is a moral person, this is somebody that I can deal with, and so on. And at the end of my life I will look back and I'll say, I did lead a good life. That in itself is the beauty of being virtuous, of being wholesome. But you add that other layer of the potential of rebirth to happen, then there is another degree of happiness, which is that now, because of my past good actions, I'm going into a new existence that is possibly, potentially better than this. So these can be motivating factors. The belief of rebirth or the belief of other existences can be motivating factors for people to be a good person, to essentially follow the precepts.

To that extent they are useful. But the ultimate understanding is to transcend even all of that. - Hi, Delson. - Hi. - Thank you for the talk. I had this question: if some person experiences a stream entry, going forward, if they don't practice in the next life or if there are subsequent lives, do they know that they have attained it?

And is it like a passive process which leads ultimately to nirvana, or is there some active stuff going on, like they have insights or they need to do some other work to attain it? Yeah. So somebody who's become a stream enter, the idea of somebody who's a stream enter is they will have up to seven lifetimes before they attain final nirvana, but they can have up to three lifetimes, or maybe just one more lifetime. Now, in some cases, in these cases where somebody is a stream enter and they're born a stream enter, it's not necessary that they know that they're a stream enter. However, you will see that early on in their life, and this is basically based on the experience of others, so it's not necessarily in the suttas. But if somebody is a stream enter, you will see that early on in their life they have a very keen interest in the spiritual arts. They're very keen in meditation.

They're not interested necessarily in what's going on around them in terms of materialism and trying to make a big name for themselves and all of this other stuff. They're more interested in the inner world. They're more interested in that also. So there can be situations where, when they do see for themselves the idea of a personal self, they don't subscribe to that idea. They've never subscribed to that idea, and they're more like, they don't necessarily say that's an impersonal process, but they realize that they don't take things personally in that way. So once they're reintroduced to the Dhamma, they might confirm for themselves that in fact, I've already gone through this process, right? So they, for themselves, can say, okay, possibly I'm a stream enter, but even if that's the case, stream enter is great, but you know what's even better? Once returner, and you know what's even better than that? A non-returner, and you know what's better than even that?

Full arahantship. So it doesn't matter. What really matters is when you do come to the Dhamma, how do you interact with it? You might quickly pick it up, right, and it all just makes sense to you, right? In any case you still continue to exercise the same facets of the Eightfold Path, continue to experience the bana and so on. So no meditation is required after that? No meditation required after that, after say stream entry, it will happen automatically? Oh no, of course you need meditation. You need meditation all the way up to arahantship, and even our hearts are set to continue to meditate, not because they have to, but it's a good place to be in, to meditate. So you need meditation all the time, every time. Hi Delson, I wanted to ask about, you were talking about, the development of intuition, and I think that as we develop it, it's a gradual development.

It's not something that just, you have it. So there's this period where you intuitively respond appropriately to a situation. And then, or not, maybe you intuitively inappropriately respond. But there's this reflective quality that comes in after the experience. And sometimes maybe you've done something that you're like, really, that was the right thing to do. And yet, somewhere, there's a knowing that it was okay, it was the right thing, even though it's against the rules, or something. Because intuition seems a little bit beyond the rules, like the rules are handy to know, okay, don't kill, but at some point

It's sort of beyond that. I mean, the way, yeah, the way I would look at it is when we look back on certain decisions that we've made, it seems like it was the right thing to do because it somehow led to the appropriate situation or the place that we want to be in. I mean, you could say that that's prior intuition, but I think the way to look at it is, when we look at karma, there's so many streams, there's so many different pathways

that can be taken to lead into that situation. That's another way of looking at it. But when you talk about intuition, it does go beyond the thinking mind. It goes beyond the conceptual mind. It goes beyond that which is conditioned. But intuition will still have that layer of making sure that it's appropriate enough that it doesn't cause harm. It doesn't mean to cause harm. It doesn't intend to cause harm one way or the other. So it will not cause us to intentionally say something that could be harmful to another, because we can say something and we don't have any intention to be harmful, like being aggressive towards someone or saying something that hurts their feelings.

That part they're responsible for. And so in that sense, yeah, it does transcend that. But it still tries to be. It is within the confines of making sure that there's no intention to harm or to cheat or to lie and so on. So in the aftermath, on the reflecting, the value, what one would do is investigate that.

Investigate that. Yes, right, so the decision that I took or the choice I made in that moment, what was it motivated by? Where did it come from? And was there maybe another choice that could have taken me to the same place? So that's also the investigation into, was could there have been a better way? If not, then that was probably the best way to deal with the situation that would have led to this particular moment. It's even a little tricky because in this second maybe there's a moment of harm, but then in this next few moments it turns out really good. So what, that a good, yeah? So that's what I'm saying. So that's where we have to look back and say, do I have an intention to be harmful there, or was it unintentionally harmful to that person? But ultimately, for example, the decision to leave somebody or the decision to say something to someone because it's needed in that moment

But we can't be responsible for how they feel. Only they can be responsible for how they feel, but we know that we have to say it in order to come out of the situation, or we know that we have to leave them in order to find a better outcome, right? So in those situations we're not motivated by any kind of ill intentions. We're just motivated by trying to free ourselves, liberate ourselves from that. And so when we look back and we see, okay, it might have seemed harmful in that moment, but possibly when we look back, yes, that person might have felt harmed, that person might have felt like we were being unjust, whatever it was, but ultimately it was the best outcome for them too, right? So for them too it was like, oh yeah, that was good, that was fine, I'm a better person for that to have happened.

It's awfully complicated, because by when you know what I mean, it's like, and then it keeps going. That's yeah, that's why what I said, we try to look at karma in all those ways. It is a literal mind blower, so best to just work in the present moment. Yeah, thank you. Who else do we have? I have a question. Yes. First of all, thank you for the talk. This is about the 6R's, the tension that happens, and we release the tension. I know, I think, in the

We mentioned it's because of the craving, we see the tension. So is it that we are catching it after the craving arises and we are stopping the becoming, or is it just that we are holding, catching the defilements and preventing the craving? I'm trying to be very granular as to where it fits in the dependent origination links. If you can elaborate there, that would be very helpful. Craving is the cause of tension, but craving is also tension, so craving can be identified by tension and identified as tension.

And so we are catching it. Oh, so craving and tension are the same thing, and we let go of the craving, so we let go of the becoming then, right? Okay, but so we have to get to a point where we feel no tension then at all, right? And then you can even become more granular, since we're talking about this, and we can notice just before the tension arises what is the intention behind it, what are the underlying tendencies that come up, and then we can choose to let go of those two before it goes into full-blown craving, before it becomes, you know, complete suffering.

Thank you. Hi Delson, I have one more question. In the process of meditation, sometimes we see that there's no agency, things happen by themselves. There's no free will per se, for example. In walking meditation, you might always be putting your left foot forward, and then you kind of see that, and then you realize that you are actually creating the narration that you move this foot forward. So is there any free will per se? Or is it free will only if you are mindful enough?

So there is no free will. There is a conditioned intention that arises. So when we talk about free will, what we're saying, first of all, is that the phrase free will has so many different connotations. It can give rise to the idea of determinism, predeterminism, all of these different ways of looking at it. But let's just simplify it and understand that in every given moment there is a choice presented, and however the chain of reactions that have arisen, however they arise, will give some kind of automatic, or almost automated, inclination towards a particular choice. And this is where then Venerable Metananda would say you have what's known as free won't. You always have the choice in every given moment to notice

that energy of continuous reactions that now come and project into wanting to take this choice, and then the utilization of seeing that and saying, no, I'm choosing not to do that, letting go of that and going to, let's say, from the unwholesome to the wholesome. In that there is the free won't, there is the ability to say I won't do this. You could say that that's free will, but actually no, because that's conditioned by understanding the Dhamma, being introduced to the Dhamma. So there's always conditions

that are going on. But if we say there's no free will, there can be the misunderstanding that then means there is no meaning to the actions that we're taking. But we're not saying that either. We're saying that every action that is being taken is a consequence of previous intentions, which are consequences of previous habitual tendencies, which are consequences of previous choices and formations, and so on. And that's continuing to be conditioned until you come out of that and you experience the unconditioned, the absolute, which is Nibbana. So to that extent, that is outside the scope of even seeing that as free will or not free will. All it is, is it's just conditions arising and conditioning other conditions, and so on.

So the only way to have free will is to be mindful, then. That's right. That's the attention rooted in reality. That's what I call it. That's the yoniso manasikara, the proper attention being given to the moment and understanding what is present. And that's why I say there's also the react versus respond. When you go to a choice automatically, you're reacting.

The mind is reacting based on previous information and the chain reactions. But when it's responding, because of that mindfulness, because of that attention, you're taking a pause for a few moments, making the mind collected, and then being able to then discern what choice should be made. And therefore, then that free want comes about. delson another question um there's right view but then uh it is said that the other hand also has right knowledge right uh and to my mind they sound a little bit separate in both so why would it be a distinction the right knowledge would be like a full accomplishment of the right view or or how is that understood yeah i'll i'll actually go more in detail later on but right knowledge so we have two actually right knowledge and right liberation so right knowledge comes from the word samanyana that's right insight so that knowledge or that wisdom is the full

understanding, the full observation, the full experience, the full unbridled unadulterated experience of seeing all facets of dependent origination. That is what right knowledge is, which then informs the establishing of the super mundane right view. And that thing is connected to the power of wisdom, the faculty for wisdom, but 100 full on. So in that way they are connected. That's right. I have a question, and thank you very much, Delson, for speaking with us today. My question is around when one is going in meditation through this 6R's process and letting go of the thoughts that arise, the distractions, and so on, presumably letting go of, instead of the attachment to craving, is there a point where one is moving, I've heard it said, at that point, through the links of the dependent origination closer in the direction of ignorance? So I'm not really sure. My experience is letting go of the thoughts, letting go of the craving, but as one progresses into deeper jhanas

or um you know the higher uh rupa jhanas there it changes and i'm just wondering what exactly is going on there is it craving that we're letting go of there are there other aspects yeah i think the way to look at it is when you when you see uh when you see like different facets of craving you're seeing them because your mind becomes more and more collected as you get into higher levels so when When you get into the arupas, you're actually starting to look at consciousness, right, in infinite consciousness. You're starting to see how the arising and passing away of consciousness happens. When you go into neither perception or non-perception, you're actually starting to go into the level of formations and starting to see the proto-thoughts.

That's what I call formations, the proto-thoughts. Just before the thought can be fully formed, you're able to let go of them. You're able to just, they just cascade out, you know, instead of becoming fully formed into a thought, they're basically just let go of. And so it is in that sense, going, reversing through dependent origination all the way towards ignorance. But in this case, ignorance, when you experience, or when you go have, when your mind experiences the cessation, perception, feeling, and consciousness, it replaces the ignorance.

And in that moment when the mind comes out, instead of ignorance being there, it's Nibbana. And when it's Nibbana, in that moment, whoever is experiencing that for that split moment, their mind is free completely. Their mind is the mind of an Arahant. But what happens is, once you start to see the links and then you have attachment to, oh, that was an experience, I wonder what that was, the sense of self comes up, the craving comes up, then all of that comes back through the next arising of the links. So whatever is let go is let go of, but whatever is remaining is remaining. So for the mind of the arahant, how they get through that is they experience nirvana and nothing but nirvana. They don't take anything personally, they don't attach any sense of self to any of that, therefore just for all the fuel is that burned out.

Just a follow up question around that. Just wondering about that process of dropping some of the fetters in touching the nirvana element. How do you know that that has taken place? You'll only know through a long period of experimentation, putting yourself in different situations to see if craving is still arising, to see if mental agitation is arising, to see if the mind is getting irritated by something, and so on. So you have to expose the mind back into the world and see how it's taking it.

Thank you for all your sharing. And I just have two related questions. It's so fun to be here and be a learner. And I still am just wondering, is the whole point of ultimately being a non-returner, because that would mean you then no longer contribute to harm? And then secondly, if you have created karma and created harm or violated a precept, is there anything in this life that would disable its virulence for others? Because when we harm another, it sets in motion their harm for another, and so on and so on. Is loving kindness meditation a way to disrupt that? Or do we just need to surrender and trust in the beauty and benevolence of karma as we let it work its wonders in our growth?

Yeah, so first I'll just say the ultimate should be, the ultimate goal should be, to attain arahatship. Because even if you become a non-returner, you're not coming back into the central realms, but in the cosmology you would go through another realm where you're there for many, many, many, many eons before you become an arahant over there. So yes, it's a wonderful goal to have if you want to be a non-returner, but I'd say, why not just go all the way? Just try to become an arahant as fast as possible.

But aside from that, your question about the past actions that were taken prior to full awakening, so that might set up a whole series of chain reactions, but the reactions that happen are primarily being experienced by the mind that had those intentions. So yes, it might harm others, and that's their karma to experience that. But how they choose to then behave accordingly will be their future karma. But now let's say the arahant has put a stop to all of that, so whatever they're experiencing as an effect of what they've done in the past, they're just dealing with it right there in that moment.

And so they're only here in this moment, allowing things to happen. There was, for example, the story of Moggallana, which is a really good one, because in his story, in a previous life, he had done some terrible things. He had done what was known as one of the five immediately effective karmas, which is killing one's parents. He did that, and he experienced the effects of that by going into the lower realms and all that. But that karma was so great that even a small stain of that was still there to be experienced, even as an arahant. At what point it was basically what killed his body, which resulted in, or which came about from, people basically bashing him. He tried to evade them using his psychic faculties, but that ran out. Again, that was karma, and then he had to be beholden to that experience.

Now the question is, okay, that was done, but what about those people who beat him up? Now they're experiencing their karma. They could have chosen not to do that. So that was their intention. Wasn't that because he had to experience that karma, that they had to do it? Causes and conditions were such that they came and intersected with each other, right? That's the beauty of this matrix. Things come together in such a way to fulfill certain kinds of karmic ripening. But if you allow that ripening to happen and don't react to it, that's it. That's the end of it, right there and then. So our goal should be to always be mindful of the feeling, that is to say the experiences that we're having in this moment, and noticing how we're taking it. If you start to take it personally, then there is repercussion of possible further renewal of that karma. But if you choose to see it as an impersonal process and detach from that, right, and not be affected by that, by using the 6R's, using loving kindness and so on, then none of that will arise again.

Now, you talked about the virulence of that karma, any particular karma. The Buddha talked about this as well. He gave an example. You take a tablespoon of salt and you put it in a glass of water, and you drink that water, it will be salty. But somebody who has attained stream entry, or somebody who's practicing loving kindness for that matter, when they do that, you take that same tablespoon of salt and you put it in a gallon of water, it's not as salty anymore. So the idea is when you experience the first level awakening, or even when you are treating that experience with loving kindness, it dilutes the effect of that particular karma. Thank you. Hello, and I asked something, yes. So, when you have the realization that

It, the self, it's not a thing, it's not real. So how you interact with the other person, because at one moment you understand that they don't contain the self. So to whom, to what, do you send loving kindness? To processes, to conditions? Because at one moment the mind senses something is not quite okay. It's empty. You've sent in emptiness, so it's okay, my understanding. And how to? At one moment I tried to convince myself that around me are many persons, and I sent loving kindness to them. But something is not right, I think. This is my feeling. Something is not right? In what way? It's not... true, let's say, in accordance with the Dhamma.

Can you elaborate what you mean by that? So I understand anatta, so it's applying to me and also it's applying to others. So to whom you send loving kindness is not a self outside, to whom you wish happiness, or yeah, sometimes I can, sometimes I cannot. Okay, so first let's understand anatta, right? The word anatta is actually coming from two things. An means not, and atta means self. In Pali, atman. And the idea is not that there is no self. This is really important to understand.

Many times the Buddha has been asked, is there a self or is there no self? And in either case he has said nothing. He has chosen to remain silent, because if you were to say that there is no self, what is that self that knows that there is no self, right? And then if you were to say that there is a self, then you're going to start to take things personally. So instead what he talked about was anatta, which means that which is not self. Why does he say that? Because

he understood the Indian mindset at that time, which at the time of the Vedas and the Upanishads and so on, there was this idea of a self, an atman, who was the seer behind the scene, the hearer behind the herd, the one who is experiencing everything, and that this experiencer was permanent and was the source of happiness, and therefore the self. So the Buddha said, okay, fine, let's say that you're saying that this is the case. Let's take all of our facets of existence and, taking this as the touchstone, let's put that and as on trial and see if that matches that idealistic self.

That's why then he says all of the aggregates that we see, they're impermanent. That which is impermanent is liable to cause suffering, therefore it cannot be seen as self. So what we're saying is that which is not self. Loving kindness also is not self. The intention to send out loving kindness also is not self, right? Whether or not they've experienced it or not, that's not our concern. The exercise to send out loving kindness is not for their sake. The exercise to send out compassion is not for the other person's sake. It's to purify the mind, it's to engage the mind into a level of collectedness. So whether or not they're receiving it doesn't matter. It should not matter to you. What should matter is, are you experiencing loving kindness, and is your mind having loving kindness for others? That's it.

So let's not confuse this idea of anatta as no self. Let's understand anatta means we're letting go of all processes that are conditioned and impermanent, and we're letting go of them and saying that they are not me, not mine, not myself. And that the loving kindness that we're experiencing is essentially for the purification of our own mind. Hello, Darsan. Thank you for the nice talk. I have a quick question regarding the relaxed step. Sometimes we have this very strong heart disease that comes up, let's say some strong desire, where the mind just grasps so tight, right, that no matter how much we relax, it just doesn't want to let go. I think the suttas refer to this as the mind gets caught up or gets entangled.

So it grasps, sees the sense of object, or it grasps the sign and features and just gets entangled in this proliferation. And when I do the relaxed step, if I see the intention just arising and I do the relaxed step, then I feel the relief. Let me get right in the mind. It's that sense of, oh, I overcame this. But sometimes the tendency of the mind, maybe it has some very strong habitual tendencies that will probably enforce through a lot of action, that the mind just doesn't want to let go. I don't feel that relief, and I still feel the sensations, right, that craving in the body.

Now, every time I apply, even then, if I apply the relax, I do feel that diminishing a bit, but there is still there and it's really bothering you. So do you have any advice? What can one do in terms of what you call craving interventions? You said that 6R is like craving intervention, right? Which works most of the time, but sometimes when the mind gets caught up in that proliferation, it's very hard to calm down those formations. So maybe you have some advice. But they had the best advice, which was laugh at it. Laugh at the whole thing. You know, just make it a joke. Like, oh man, this mind, look at it, there it goes again, getting caught up. You know, trying to do things. Just laugh at it, make it a joke, make it fun. We oftentimes forget that this is supposed to be a fun process. So that's one. And then secondly, take a break from it, you know, just take a break from it and just go out and do something else, and then come back to the practice and see how your mind is.

Hi, go ahead. Thank you very much. I'm curious. Thank you for this talk, by the way. How does the detached offering to the bhikkhus and the bhikkhunis in the sangha pass merit on? You described, you know, a lot of people in my world who are not followers, not acquainted with the Dhamma, perhaps only personally, I fear, may have become hungry ghosts. I'd be very interested in how I might help them as you described.

Yeah. So the mechanism of how that works, you know, that's something that is working at a different level, let's say, which we'll do at the end of this whole session. We're going to be doing what's known as sharing merit. So this sharing merit that we do is essentially sending loving kindness to all beings. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free of suffering and so on and so forth. That is wonderful. But the idea, the mechanism behind this, is that what we're saying is with the bhikkhus, so this is, again, going back to the exposition of offerings that I was talking about earlier. When you give to a certain level of mindset, that mindset, let's say it's somebody who is a stream enterer or a once returner or whatever, their receiving of it purifies the gift.

And the merit of that then can be transferred on to whoever it is that you want to. You can dedicate that merit. But as to how that mechanism works and why it works and so on, it's just like karma. You try to fathom it, you know. And so that's why you could take it up on faith and say, you know, I really wish that this merit that I'm receiving by giving is dedicated to this particular individual, and that this liberates them from that existence and takes them to a higher existence. So to that level, you could say it's on faith, but also it purifies your own mind. It's like, okay, you have a certain level of, ah, I'm doing this for that person.

And my hope, my faith, is that it will genuinely affect them in a positive manner. So I think we'll just take a few more questions. Who's got a juicy one? Well, I have another one. Somehow Delson's gone. Where's Delson? I know, but I just don't see him, so let me fix that. I'm seeing you, David. Delson, I don't know if you've run into IFS therapy, internal family systems therapy.

I'm running into it a lot in my work. And what it is, is it's a way of describing the different aspects of the um personality really like you get you have a trauma and you um maybe you have a responding voice in the mind so there's these different voices and um it's it i'm not really feeling skilled in how to deal with that as it or how to align it with my with the Dharma.

It seems, we all have these aspects, our little girl aspect, our big strong person, all these different aspects, but I'm not sure how to meet someone who's and sometimes there's even entities that take over the mind in that way and I'm wondering if you could speak to it at all or maybe it's too off topic. Yeah, I'm not too familiar with IFS, but I've been hearing about this through the community in my different retreats when people come to interviews and I've done it for themselves or they've explored it, all of that, so I can't really necessarily comment on how we could reconcile that system with the Dhamma, but I think what you're talking about there, where you take on different identities, I'm not sure if that's something that you explore in IFS.

But if it is, that's probably a first way of introducing the Dhamma, because that is what it is, right? With anatta, we take up different kinds of identities, or the mind has a tendency to say, in this moment I am this big macho person, in this moment I'm so and so, and that's all conditioned by our previous experiences. How we deal with how we attach ourselves in different relationships is also dependent upon the trauma that we've experienced, right? We can be too anxious, so we can be avoidant, we could be this or that or whatever it is. So looking at that and understanding everything as a series of causes and conditions might be the first stepping stone, along with understanding the different identities dependent upon those previous conditions, whether they're trauma-based or otherwise. Well, do you think there's value in exploring that? I don't really, it all comes down to the same point of... yeah. Okay, thank you.

I have another question, Delson, regarding, let's say, the Buddha as a teacher, right? So there are all these different pedagogical approaches he may take, right? And sometimes I wonder if, let's say, they're part of, like, a more curricular, right? He may teach, you know, the factors of enlightenment and the faculties, but apparently there is a kind of the temperament of the person, the quality of the mind of the person, is more coinciding with a certain way of relating, right? So the different ways of pointing the picture come up as a, like, the consonant approach for that, fine. So for example, you have the five aggregates or the six sense bases, and you can look at the same process in one, looking at the aggregates or looking at six sense bases, you're kind of looking at the same thing, but the same thing, right, with the faculties and with the path. So there is this, and related to the thing of the right view, there's the Noble Eightfold Path, appears to be

A more complete kind of thing, but again, what couldn't make the argument that the faculties, like the false faculties, are also another way of seeing the whole picture? So I just wanted to comment about that. So, the way to look at this whole experience, first of all, when the Buddha was teaching, in that moment he was teaching according to that person's mindset. So I would say that these lists that we have within Buddhism, whether it's the enlightenment factors, the five aggregates, the six sense bases

The five faculties, the five powers, basically the 37 requisites. That's the ultimate, like, that's the whole package. The 37 represents for enlightenment, right. That includes all of that that you've mentioned, the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on. So all of that is, I would say, something that the bhikkhus after the time of the Buddha, in other words post his parinibbana, at different councils, may have created these lists as a way of compiling all of his teachings, because in that moment he was just teaching whatever he was teaching. Whether it was the enlightenment factors, whether it was the four foundations of mindfulness, whether it was the five aggregates or the sixth sense basis, it was all dependent upon his students, whoever was there that was listening. So

But what's interesting about that is that every sutta that you read is essentially an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths. That's all it is. Either he's talking about the first two Noble Truths, which is suffering and how the suffering arises, so dependent origination, or he's talking about the cessation of suffering and how to let go of that, so using the four foundations of mindfulness, letting go of the six sense spaces, the Eightfold Path, and so on and so forth. So if you were to boil it down to one thing, it's just the Four Noble Truths. He started off with the Four Noble Truths, then every other discourse after that is just an elaboration of his first sermon. That's it.

and he himself has said i teach two things suffering and the end of suffering so it's like the elephant's footprint uh simile right is is that uh yeah it makes a lot of sense thank you hi delson i have a question yeah uh so even after a say for instance for a stream mentor, what happens is that the greed and hatred is not ended. In fact, it's not even attritioned. So, I mean, they do create a lot of karma because of, you know, habitual behaviors and stuff. Even though there is free bond, it's not always available to exercise, right? They do kind of behave you know so can this derail the process of you know final unwinding or you know is it okay

So Mahanama had this question too with the Buddha. The Buddha saw him and he said, "What are you so stressed about?" And Mahanama said, "If I'm a stream enterer, does that mean that there's a possibility for me to unwind this and then go back into like a lower realm or something?" And the Buddha said no, because once you become a stream enterer, what happens is all the different karmas that are related to you going into a lower realm are

are mitigated, for lack of a better word. In other words, the karmas are still there, but using that same analogy that I used before, that the Buddha talked about, which is that salt in the glass of water is different than the salt in the gallon of water. So that's what happens when you become a stream enterer. You're still beholden to your karma, just like an arahant is, but because you, as a stream enterer, have the Dhamma, you can let go of it a little bit. You can let go of it a little bit more when you're a once returner, and so on. Sometimes you forget about it, and so there's lack of mindfulness. You will have lack of mindfulness. There will be lack of mindfulness of greed, hatred and delusion for the stream enterer. There will be lack of mindfulness of that for the once returner. There will be lack of mindfulness for delusion for the non-returner, but there won't be any lack of mindfulness for the arahant.

I have a question. Hi Delson. Hi. About, so there's the process, let's say for someone who's a stream enterer or a sakadagami or something, and there's still a lot of trauma-based or other-based personality stuff, and that is clearly very, very visceral suffering, very, very much causes obstacles in the life and so on, and just difficulties for others and so on. So I'm curious: there's the path of go for our hardship and practice for our hardship, and at the same time, a lot of people have complementary therapy that they do to work out these other things, to make the life more wholesome and so on. So I wonder if you could just speak a little bit about that, that sort of balance of how much to worry about fixing this personality versus just get the thing over with and let the chips fall where they may, kind of thing.

Yeah, I mean, definitely we don't want to spiritually bypass anything, definitely not. So what I would say is, with these complementary therapies, that's the main thing: the therapies ought to be complementary, which means they don't result in you taking things personally. They don't result in you still having your suffering. There are therapies that might be in alignment, that might fit with what we're doing here with the 6R's, what we're doing in terms of the Dhamma and the Eightfold Path. One of them, I would say, and I always talk about, is CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, or REBT, rational emotive behavioral therapy, because what it is, is it's essentially looking at all of your different cognitive distortions

and noticing how it is that you take things personally, or how it is you magnify things out of proportion, or how it is that whatever it is. And so these cognitive distortions are likened to, in the Dhamma, the upakkilesas, right? That is to say, the defilements of greed, hatred, delusion, jealousy, this, that or the other. And what you do in CBT is you notice that you rationalize it by saying, this is not who I am, let it go, or however you do it, and you replace it with something that's wholesome. Same thing that you're doing in the 6R's. So I would say that you can always use complementary things that help you in your practice and help you to let go of suffering, right? Even the Buddha has talked about anything that you do that is letting you let go, that is allowing you to let go and see for yourself, can be understood as being part of the Dhamma or helping you get to the Dhamma. Thank you, that's very helpful.