May 22, 2021– DN 33 – The Chanting Together – First Recitation

Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. I hope everything is doing well. Today I'm going to be reading from the Digha Nikaya number 33. This is known as the Sangeeti Sutta, the chanting together. The translation I'm going to be using is Bhikkhu Bodhi's, and this will be the first recitation. It's quite a long sutta, and there's a lot of enumeration of different lists and categories of things divided into numbers, so it's sort of like a very micro version of the Anguttara Nikaya if you think about it. So we'll finish with the first recitation today, that should give us enough time to see if anyone has questions. So I'll start now. Thus have I heard. Once the Lord was touring in the Malla country with a large company of about 500 monks. He arrived at Pava, the Mallas' capital, and he stayed in the mango grove of Cunda the smith.

Now at that time a new meeting hall of the Mallas of Pava, called Ubhataka, had recently been built, and it had not yet been occupied by any ascetic or brahmin, or indeed by any human being. Hearing that the Lord was staying in Cunda's mango grove, the Mallas of Pava went to see him. Having saluted him, they sat down to one side and said: "Lord, the Mallas of Pava have recently erected a new meeting hall called Ubhataka, and it has not yet been occupied by any ascetic or brahmin, or indeed by any human being. May the Blessed Lord be the first to use it. Should he do so, that would be for the lasting good and happiness of the Mallas of Pava." The Lord consented by silence.

Noting his assent, the Mallas rose, saluted him, passed out to his right, and went to the meeting hall. They spread mats all around, arranged seats, put out a water pot and an oil lamp, and then, returning to the Lord, saluted him, sat down to one side, and reported what they had done, saying: "Whenever the Blessed Lord is ready." So you already noticed there's an interesting difference in the translation between the suttas we usually read in the Majjhima Nikaya and this one. That is because you have the other translator, Maurice Walshe I believe, who also worked on this. So let me just continue. Then the Lord dressed, took his robe and bowl, and went to the meeting hall with his monks. He washed his feet, entered the hall, and sat down against the central pillar facing east. The monks, having washed their feet, entered the hall and sat down along the western wall facing east, with the Lord in front of them. This is very similar to the sutta where the Buddha goes to Vesali to inaugurate, so to speak, the meeting hall there.

So it looks like he was doing quite a bit of this, inauguration for halls, and then giving a Dhamma talk there afterward. The Pava Mallas washed their feet, entered the hall, and sat down along the eastern wall facing west, with the Lord in front of them. Then the Lord spoke to the Mallas on Dhamma far into until far into the night, instructing, inspiring, firing and delighting them. Then he dismissed them, saying: "The night has passed away. Now do as you see fit." "Very good, Lord," replied the Mallas. And they got up, saluted the Lord, and went out, passing him by on his right.

As soon as the Mallas had gone, the Lord, surveying the monks sitting silently all about, said to the Venerable Sariputta: "The monks are free from sloth and torpor, Sariputta. You think of a discourse on Dhamma to give to them. My back aches. I want to stretch it." "Very good, Lord," replied Sariputta. Then the Lord, having folded his robe in four, lay down on his right side in the lion posture, with one foot on the other, mindful and clearly aware, bearing in mind the time to arise.

Now at that time Nigantha Nataputta had just died at Pava. Nigantha is the name for Mahavira, who was the founder of the Jain sect. The Jains were a different group of wanderers who believed in something very different to Buddhism. They believed in kamma, but it was a very different kind of understanding of kamma. They believed that austerities, doing certain kinds of austerities like fasting and so on, would burn off their kamma, and they believed in a soul and so on, which is not the practice of Dhamma. They also had a very interesting doctrine where it was accepting of all different ideas. So they were not completely rigid in what they taught and what they accepted.

But at the same time, there was this core line of thinking in regards to kamma, in regards to purifying the soul and entering a certain realm, what they called Kevala Nana, which is omniscience. So their goal was to get into a state where they knew everything all at once. Their understanding was that Mahavira, their founder, had reached this. And they had other ideas of past such-like leaders, such leaders like Mahavira, who had attained that same or a similar state.

It says: "And at his death the Niganthas were split into two parties, quarrelling and disputing, you would have thought they were bent on killing each other. Even the white-robed lay followers were disgusted when they saw that their doctrine and discipline was so ill-proclaimed, having been proclaimed by one not fully enlightened, and not with its support, and now with its support gone, without an arbiter. The Venerable Sariputta addressed the monks, referring to the situation, and said: 'So ill-proclaimed was their teaching and discipline, so unedifyingly displayed, and so ineffectual in calming the passions, having been proclaimed by one who was not fully enlightened. But friends, this Dhamma has been well proclaimed by the Lord, the fully enlightened one, and so we should all recite it together without disagreement, so that this holy life may be enduring and established for a long time, thus to be for the welfare and happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare and happiness of devas and humans.'" So Sariputta is using this example, where the different parties of the Jain sect are at different quarrels about philosophy.

And different aspects of their Dhamma, of their teaching. Indeed you see that now in modern day, where you have different schools of thought within Jainism. The Dharma itself is not immune to this. You see that there are different schools of thought within Buddhism as well. But going back to what Sariputta is saying, he is edifying all the different understandings of the Dharma, all of the different teachings and all of the different concepts within the Dharma, as he's about to know. So he says: "And what is this Dhamma that has been well proclaimed by the Lord? There is one thing that was perfectly proclaimed by the Lord, who knows and sees, the fully enlightened Buddha. So we should all recite together for the benefit, welfare and happiness of devas and humans. What is this one thing? All beings are maintained by nutriment. Secondly, all beings are maintained by conditions."

So here we have nutriment, ahara. Nutriment means food, that is, physical food. It means contact. It means consciousness, and it means intention. Later on, when he goes into the sets of four, he will talk about these different nutriments, but simply put, food here is nutriment for the body. It provides body nourishment and strength. Contact provides the ability to have some kind of an experience. So dependent upon contact you have feeling and perception. It is through contact, that is to say, for example, the eye faculty joining with the light hitting off of a form, and then dependent upon those, the eye consciousness arises, and there is then an experience, a felt experience, that is then perceived as unpleasant or neutral. So contact is the nutriment of experience. Consciousness here, you would have two understandings. Number one, you have consciousness in regards to a consciousness that arises based on conception and then birth. So you need the union of the ovum and the sperm, and the consciousness, in order for life to be activated. This is the macro understanding of consciousness.

The quantum, or the micro level, is to understand consciousness arising and passing away, giving rise to different experiences dependent upon contact. But another understanding is to see that consciousness is related to attention. Wherever you put your attention, there consciousness will flow. So if your attention is on the improper, on the unwholesome, then more unwholesome states will arise because of the energy of that attention. However, if you let go of your attention to the unwholesome states, to the hindrances, as one does through the 6R's process, when they first recognize that there is an unwholesome state, and release their attention from it, bring it back to relaxing, and then generate a wholesome state, that is changing the attention. Attention meaning changing the flow of consciousness or awareness, or cognizing the unwholesome and moving it to the wholesome. And based on that, it feeds whatever one is attending to, whatever one is attentive of. And then you have intention. So this comes in the form of formations as well. Formations are pockets of experience that give rise to the quality of experience. Formations, certain type of consciousness, on the macro level, formations give

rise to a rebirth-linking consciousness and evolving consciousness that then gives rise to the next birth, to the next conception. But formations are also intention. Whatever one intends, that one does, speaks or thinks. So for example, it's a hot and sunny day, and you see that there's a tree and there's a really nice shade. Now, based upon the contact of seeing, there's an intention that arises. The formations arise and give the idea of going under the shade, and that intention then gives rise to expression, to action, which is moving towards the shade of the tree. So intention also is what drives forward birth, or bhava. It drives forward the sense of what existence or being will be. That's why there are two levels. The first level is the intention carried forward by the fettered formations, which then create a new consciousness in a new rebirth. And there is the micro level, in which intention gives rise to one state of thinking, to a different state of thinking, one state of being to a different state of being. Another way of looking at it is when you have a certain intention

Let's say you have an intention to do something, but you go and do something else. If that intention is strong enough, it will always create an impression in the back of your mind that you need to get this done, so it will drive you to urge getting whatever it is that the intention is done eventually. So these are the four nutrients. All beings are maintained by conditions. These are sankhara, and the other way to understand sankhara is all that is constructed, all that is conditioned. So you have the sankhata, which is the conditioned, and everything that arises in samsara is conditioned by different causes, by previous choices made in the past. So every time you make a choice with these sankhara, which are fettered with some kind of identification, some kind of conceit, some kind of craving, it will give rise to the different links up until contact, where there's still a personalizing going on, and that feeling, that experience, that perception of that experience will be taken as personal. When that happens, then you create craving. You have craving, then you have clinging, which

which solidifies that craving, and then you have being, which is the accumulation of the different tendencies, and then rebirth, and so on. So all beings within samsara, even for one who is fully liberated, are still bound by their previous kamma before liberation of mind. So whatever past kamma there was, they will have to experience it right there and then, so they are still maintained by that kamma. There's of course the ayu sankhara that maintains the longevity of beings, and so on. So this is another way of understanding how all beings are maintained by conditions. There are sets of two things that were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord.

Which are they? Mind and body. This is nama-rupa. This is mentality, materiality. So we already understand that mentality is the faculty for contact, for feeling, for perception, for intention, and for attention. And body is essentially form. It's the form that is made up of the four great elements, that are the different kinds of molecular structures. You have the earth, which is the solid matter. You have the water, which is the liquid. You have the air, which is the gaseous, and you have fire, which is plasma in relation to electricity and the forces that create thought, and so on and so forth, through the nervous system, of interacting with different components of the body. So

this mind and body really is also the five aggregates, if you look at it. You have form, in relation to the form aggregate, that is the body. You have feeling, in relation to the feeling faculty. You have perception, in relation to the perception faculty. You have formations, in relation to intention, because it is through intention that those formations arise and are driven forward. And then you have the consciousness aggregate, which is related to attention. Wherever you're attending, there the consciousness will arise, dependent upon that, in attention, ignorance, and craving for existence. So ignorance here has two levels. There is not knowing on an intellectual level, not being introduced to the Dhamma, and then once you are introduced to the Dhamma, there is the ignorance of the four noble truths, which is to say you have no understanding of the four noble truths in the beginning. And then later on, as you understand the four noble truths on an intellectual level and you try to apply them, the ignorance that is there

ignorance link that is there doesn't allow the mind to fully see or comprehend the four noble truths in every link and in every moment, which means the mind is not able to understand that there is dukkha, that suffering has arisen. The mind is not able to recognize that the craving is there, which it needs to abandon if it's present. The mind therefore is not able to use right effort, which is the 6R's process. The 6R's process is the encapsulation

of the path, the eightfold, the noble eightfold path, which is the fourth noble truth. Doing so, utilizing that, you then have the experience of nirvana, the cessation of suffering. When you relax the mind, you experience the tranquil mind, which is free of all conditions. In that moment it is that mundane kind of nirvana. Craving for existence, this is bhava tanha. This is the idea that I have to get somewhere, I have to become someone, I have to be someone, I want to be so and so. So it's not a craving in relation to kama tanha, which is really the craving for sensual experience, meaning when you are eating something really delicious, you have craving for it again and again and again, because it's really to the taste buds. Or when you watch a really great movie, you want to watch it again and again because it excites you. That is through the eye and ear faculty, and the mind, of course, just taking in what it's seeing and being mesmerized by it. So it's in relation to the sixth sense basis that is kama tanha.

But bhava tanha is really about being somewhere I want to go to, this country, I want to visit these places, I want to experience. I want to let go of all conditions. I wanted, excuse me, I want to be in this jhana. I want cessation. All of these different desires for experiences or different kinds of existences, in every moment, is bhava tanha done. That happens when there is conceit, this sense of I am. This present where I am is this sense of identity that wants to experience something in the outside world. So this is a Dhamma belief in continued existence and belief in non-existence. This is known as bhava ditthi and vibhava ditthi. This is really the concept of the two different views, the two extreme views. There is the eternalist view, which is related to the idea that there is an underlying soul, an eternal soul, that reincarnates

from time to time, or goes to a permanent heaven somewhere or a permanent hell somewhere. So it's that eternal soul, that eternal self, that belief that then gives rise to the idea that one or more of these five aggregates is self. Likewise, that happens in relation to belief in non-existence, which is the annihilationist view. The annihilationist view says that the self is present in the body, it's in one or more of the different aggregates, in relation to feeling, perception, and so on. And when this body is gone, when there's a dissolution of the body, there's also dissolution of the self. So in both views there is self-view present, but the difference is there's the idea of an eternalist, an eternal identity that continues on, whereas in non-existence, in the belief in annihilationism, the self is destroyed right there and then in relation to the dissolution of the body. These are the two different views. These two different views lack of moral shame and lack of moral dread

So that's hiri and ottappa. We talked about this last time in one of the suttas, and yes, you could say it's shame, and you can say it's moral dread. But another way of understanding it is you have this compass. So hiri is sort of like this compass that allows you to... it's a moral compass that allows you to be in alignment with precepts, allows you to be in alignment with Dhamma. And that moral dread is knowing the consequences of what would happen if you broke a precept, what would happen if you broke any of the precepts, and the consequences of that is really the moral fear or the moral dread that this is being referred to. So the lack of this, the lack of this moral compass, and the lack of this understanding of the consequences of being immoral, and then there is the moral shame, which is the moral compass and the moral understanding of consequences: that if you break a precept, what would be the consequences. So there's a lack of these, and there is present these

roughness and friendship with evil. So roughness is really having an abrasive personality, having an ingratiating, creating personality, someone who is rough with their words, rough with their speech, rough with their actions, rough with their thinking. And that manifests because of just the way that someone has been brought up, but it can be uncomfortable for others. And so others don't really necessarily enjoy being around a person who is abrasive. It doesn't mean that they're necessarily having wrong intention, although it could be where they have ill will and they have cruelty, they have an intent to be cruel, but not all the time. But it's more about understanding that it makes more sense to be gentle with your words. It makes more sense to be loving and kind in how you express yourself, to be able to teach or to be able to convey information in a way that people understand and want to understand from you, because

learning from someone who is an abrasive teacher is more difficult, because it just gets in the way of the teaching. It gets in the way of communicating information. And of course, friendship with evil in this case is being friends with people who don't have your best interests at heart. They basically make you break precepts. That's having friendship with, quote-unquote, evil people, people who don't help you progress in the Dhamma. Gentleness and friendship with good. So gentleness here again is being imbued with that loving kindness, being soft, being sweet with your words, being intentionally kind with your words

knowing what is the right time to say something and what is not the right time to say something, obviously being honest with your words, and so on. So it's just having a demeanor that is conducive for people to be around you, so that you can convey the Dhamma to them, and also be gentle enough to be able to see when you make mistakes. In the case of someone who's abrasive, they might not be able to see the mistakes they're making, and may shut down when somebody tries to point out a mistake to them. Someone with a gentle personality will be open to seeing that there's a mistake made here, accept it, move on, and make sure that it doesn't happen again. And friendship with good. So these are people who have your

best interests at heart, people who want to make sure that you follow the Dhamma. So a community like this is a group of Dhamma friends. This is good friendship, this is kalyana mitta, as they say. It's the friendship which makes sure that people within that community don't break that. They help them with regards to understanding Dhamma. They help them with regards to understanding how to meditate. Make sure one understands the different precepts and upholds them in a way that is gentle, skill in knowing offenses and the procedure for rehabilitation from them. So this is an understanding that, you know, especially the monastic community has, knowing that there was an offense made. And so every two weeks there will be the time in which the monastic community will come together and basically ask for forgiveness and understanding.

And this is the process, one of the processes. Of course, sometimes the offense is happening before that or after that, and someone points it out, and so they make amends for it and basically adhere to the idea that they won't do it again. That in itself is good rehabilitation, meaning you know the mistake that you made, and you commit to not making it again by wisdom and understanding as to why that mistake was a mistake, what prompted that mistake, and how you can avoid making that mistake again. Skill in entering and returning from jhana. So this can be in relation to just being able to enter a jhana, come out of it at will, being able to do it in terms of the determinations, being able to time how you basically enter jhana and when you come out of a jhana, and being able to skip through different jhanas. The ability to do that unhindered is also a skill, which means as soon as you sit down for meditation

and you close your eyes, it takes very little time for you to get into jhana, and eventually it'll take you no time to go into the first jhana and then onwards. Skill in knowing the 18 elements and paying attention to them. So the 18 elements here is referring to the triad, and this triad is really in relation to the six sense bases. In other words, you have the eye, you have forms, and you have eye consciousness. You have the ear, you have sounds, and you have ear consciousness. You have the nose, you have smell or odour, and you have nose consciousness. You have the tongue, you have taste, and you have tongue consciousness. You have the body, you have tangibles, and you have body consciousness. You have the mind, you have mind objects like thoughts, and you have mind consciousness. For the six sense bases, that is the six internal sense spaces and the six external sense spaces, which is to say the objects, the six sense objects, and the corresponding consciousness of the six sense spaces. These make up the 18 elements.

And so paying attention to them means having yoniso manasikara, that is to say, attention rooted in reality, utilizing mindfulness to be able to pay attention to what is arising in the way of forms, what is arising in the way of the eye and eye consciousness, so that one notices if there is any kind of sense of I am, any sense of conceit, any sense of craving arising, and being able to then use the 6R's to let that go through mindfulness. Skill in knowing the 12 sense spheres and dependent origination.

So that is to say, the 12 sense spheres are now the eye and form, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and tangibles, the mind and mind objects. And of course one knows dependent origination on an intellectual level, but there is a further and deeper knowing of seeing how this process arises in the moment. So how does that happen? You can go as far as seeing how the intention created an attention, who are seeing, an experience of one or more of the six sense bases. So in other words, using the example of a hot day, you see, you feel the hot day, that is an experience. The contact with that heat, that temperature, brings about and you see the formations that give rise to the intention

of going to the shade of a tree, to the contact of the tree with the eye. The feeling, the seeing, experiencing of seeing the tree, gives rise to the intention to go there. So you're seeing how there is intention arising, how there is awareness or consciousness arising, how this gives rise to the experience of the six sense bases and the corresponding consciousness, as well as their corresponding external objects. Then you see if there's present any fetters of conceit, of ignorance, any fetter of craving, and when you notice it you let that go. So if you start to see that you've already come into craving and now you're starting to create all kinds of stories around it, this is clinging. If you notice that, then you can let that go, and then not be able to have the rest of the links of dependent origination arise. If you have becoming, where you start to see the accumulation of tendencies, where you're about to act from a sense of self, then you let go of that and there is no rebirth then.

If you're about to act and you just stop there, then you let go of that rebirth as well. So this is one way of understanding dependent origination on the level of daily life: being able to see how intention arises, where your attention is flowing in relation to seeing what the experiences of the six sense spaces are, and then being able to see if there's craving present or not.

is present. Did it go to clinging, or did it stop at craving when you recognized it? If there was clinging, did it go on to bhava, into being, or did you stop it at the level of clinging? If there was bhava, or being, did you see it there and let it go, or did you act in a way that caused you further suffering, that caused you further dukkha? And then you also understand how dukkha arises in each of the six sense spaces, as well as each of the links of dependent origination. So you're able to see the four noble truths in each link. When you recognize that there has been dukkha present in one of the links, for example in feeling, or of course in craving, you abandon that suffering by abandoning the cause, by misperceiving the situation through craving for existence, craving for that sensual pleasure, or craving it for not wanting it, or identifying with that. Then you have utilized the 6R's. You have utilized

the noble path through the process of the 6R's. So you have fulfilled the fourth noble truth, and you have experienced nirodha, the cessation of suffering. You can see this in relation to each link. You have the arising of feeling, for example. You notice that feeling is there, fettered by craving. You let go of the craving, and therefore there is the cessation of craving before it arises through the process of the 6R's. So this is how you do it. Skill in knowing what are causes and what are not causes. So causes here, causes and conditions in relation to, of course, dependent origination, which gives you the understanding of how craving arises and how that craving then gives rise to suffering, but also understanding some karmic causes, understanding how your choices in this moment will create new choices dependent upon what you choose to do. In other words, if you notice that there is an unwholesome intention arising in relation to an experience,

then you let go of that and change your choice from reacting in an unwholesome manner to acting in a wholesome, mindful manner that is rooted in wisdom. This then gives rise to a set of effects dependent upon the cause of you acting in that moment in a wholesome manner. So anything you're experiencing right now, the present dukkha or the present karma that you're experiencing right now, arose because of a series of causes and conditions, and they arose because of certain choices you made at a previous time. Seeing it in this way, you can just let go of possessing that kamma in the way of identifying with it, let go of craving for whatever is arising in the way of feeling, which is the present dukkha, so that you prevent the next set of effects, which could be more dukkha, which could be more suffering, and another set of choices, another set of vedana, which will be rooted in dukkha and rooted in that suffering, in that craving. Straightforwardness and modesty. So straightforwardness is basically being very direct with what you want to say, not beating around the bush.

Essentially, whatever it is that you want to clarify, you ask the question directly. Whatever it is in the way of how to answer it, you answer it directly. Of course, that directness can be related to using metaphors to clarify, using similes to clarify, but essentially getting to the heart of the matter, the root of the matter. It is you don't, or whatever it is that you've experienced. If you've had an attainment experience like stream entry or sakadagami or anagami, you then have an understanding that that was present, but there is no arrogance present there. There is no pride, there's no sense of I have attained this. Or, even lower than that, if you've experienced the third jhana, the fourth jhana, if there's a pride there, it can get in the way of understanding further, because it is tied to conceit, it is tied to mana. So having modesty about what you do know and what you don't know, having modesty of what you have experienced and what you haven't experienced.

Patience and gentleness. So patience here is having the ability to bear things. In other words, whatever dukkha arises in the way of vedana, in the way of asa, in the way of contact, feeling and perception, that you have patience about it. You don't react in a way that causes further dukkha. You forbear it. You understand it as it is, and that is aided with the understanding of the three characteristics: that whatever is arising, good, bad or indifferent, pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, whatever is arising is impermanent, and so not worthwhile holding on to, because if you do hold on to it, it will cause you further dukkha. And therefore, whatever has arisen, you had no say in how it arose and why it arose, and so on and so forth. So in that moment it arose, but you didn't want it to be there, or you didn't say that you wanted it to be there. Therefore it was not in direct control of a sense of self. So, not to take it personally, understand that it is impersonal.

So in essence, the patience is dependent upon seeing that all of this is impermanent, because it is bound to pass away, because it is arising due to conditions, and therefore they are not worth holding on to, and that they are impersonal. And gentleness. Gentleness, again, is another way of understanding being gentle in the way you respond to situations, not having knee-jerk reactions to situations, which will then cause you to create further suffering, immediately make stories around it, immediately jump to conclusions. Just understand, take a pause, relax, and see what is the truth of that moment. Letting go of any kind of wrong intention, that is to say holding on to that situation, or that interaction, or that person, or whatever it might be, and having loving-kindness and compassion towards the situation as it presents itself. Through that gentleness, when you have that right intention, comes gentle speech and politeness. So again, having right speech. Gentle speech here meaning not having harsh speech, not having abusive speech, obviously not gossiping, and, you know, not speaking in a way that is dishonest.

Knowing what is right and what is wrong, and knowing what is the right and wrong time, and how to say that. And politeness. Politeness is really just being courteous, having respect not only for yourself but for other people around you, other beings around you, knowing that other beings also have suffering, really understanding that from compassion, and therefore not having this intention to cause harm to other beings, because they're already in dukkha, they're already in suffering. So making their day better in some way, making their time better in some way, being generous with your time, generous with your words of support, being generous in other ways that you can support them. And therefore, just even a small smile is enough to have the generosity. A smile can make a person's day. If a person has been spending all their time thinking about the wrong things in their life and not having gratitude, and maybe they had a bad day or a bad interaction, and then they see you smile, they immediately smile, and that starts to uplift their mind. So politeness is as simple as having a smile that you can share with others.

Non-harming and purity. So not harming is the avihimsa, which is the Pali for ahimsa, which is non-cruelty, having compassion. And purity is purity of thought, purity of mind, purity of speech, and purity of body. That is to say maintaining the precepts: right speech, utilizing right action, and having right livelihood, doing things that don't break precepts and neither cause others to break precepts. Lack of mindfulness and of clear awareness, and mindfulness and clear awareness. The mindfulness here is sati. That is to say remembering to know where your mind's attention is in every given moment, understanding how your mind moves from one thing to another. The comprehension, that is the clear awareness, the ability to see that yes, the mind has moved. So mindfulness is the pure awareness that the mind has moved from one object to the other, and the clear comprehension is how it moved and what caused it to move. So for example, when you're meditating, you have the mindfulness, the attention on your object, meditation

like loving-kindness, suddenly a hindrance arises and your mind is no longer on its object. Then you have recognition that the mind is no longer on its object. That's the mindfulness present. You understand that there is some kind of hindrance present. That understanding that hindrance caused you to no longer be mindful is the clear comprehension, the ability to know what it is that caused the lack of mindfulness, or caused the movement of mind from one object to the next. In eating, and guarded sense doors, and restrained in eating. So unguarded sense doors is the lack of mindfulness as well, not being able to have the attention to see when there is a sensual experience or mental experience that arises.

That if it is unguarded, that is to say there is a lack of mindfulness, there is a lack of attention, then there is the potential for craving to arise. You have mindfulness, you have presence of awareness in every moment that the vedana is arising, and being able to let go whenever you recognize that there's craving popping up, when there is identification popping up. Non-restraint in eating and restraint in eating. That is to say, when you're eating your food, this is one of the central pleasures that is difficult for some people to let go of. They really relish their food, they really enjoy their food. When we talk about mindfulness of eating, it's not in relation to enjoying the food by the sense of taking it and craving more for it or identifying with it, saying this food is delicious and I love it, and so on and so forth. You can enjoy the food in relation to knowing that it is a pleasurable experience, it is a pleasant experience, but also being aware

in relation to how the mind is responding to that food, whether it's eating more than it requires in of the body, or whether the mind is aware that it is actually full, and if it's actually full, it stops eating, knowing that it has had enough. So this is really a restraint in eating. Powers of reflection and mental development. So this is in relation to reflecting, that is to say the ability to investigate, the ability to discern what is happening in the moment.

Now, there's two ways to do it. One is by investigating things, just by analyzing them and reflecting on them, or while you're mentally developing the mind, which is to stay meditating, having mindfulness, just discerning as things arise and pass away. So you notice, okay, mind has drifted, now the attention has gone somewhere else, this is also to its object. You notice how the mind is filled with this loving-kindness. Then you start to notice the different states of the jhanas, sorry, the different factors of the jhanas that arise. This is reflection in that moment, as things arise and pass away, with and dependent upon observation, instead of reflecting and analyzing on an intellectual level, which can create some clarity. But the best clarity is to be able to see it as it arises and passes away.

Powers of mindfulness and concentration. So this mindfulness and concentration, or collectedness, which is samadhi: you have the understanding of how to utilize mindfulness, and how samadhi is created, or dependent upon that mindfulness, being able to keep the mind unified on an object, where the mind becomes collected, or it starts to take something as an object, and that attention is steady and flowing but not absorbed in that process. There's enough awareness, there's enough mindfulness in that collectedness to be able to notice if the mind moves from its object to something else. Calm and insight. This is samatha and vipassana. This is another way of understanding TWIM, Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation. The tranquil wisdom insight, that's the calm, and the insight. Having the practice of that starts to cease the different sankhara formations, starts to calm the mind, and having the insight in that moment as things arise and pass away, as things arise and pass away.

To be able to see what is arising in the way of hindrances, and how to let that go, and what happens when you let it go. So the insight that's being built up through this calmness of the jhana process is the insight ultimately of the four double, the sign of calm and grasping the sign. So the sign of calm here is a mind that is tranquil, a mind that is free of any kind of hindrance, essentially a mind gravitating towards jhana, having no hindrance, no restlessness present, especially in its mind. And grasping the sign is the ability to see what is arising in the way of the mind. But then another way of understanding it is a mind that holds on to that object. So you don't want to hold on to the object in a way that causes the mind to become absorbed.

But being able to just be collected enough to understand what is arising, if something arises and distracts the mind away from it. Exertion and non-distraction. So exertion here is making the effort, being able to make the effort to see whenever the mind gets distracted and bring it back to a state of collectedness in meditation. Non-dispersal here is in relation to non-distraction. Non-dispersal is another way of understanding that is to say the attention goes in all kinds of different directions. So for example, if you are meditating and you hear a car honking, your mind might just listen to it, and the attention doesn't really go away. It still stays with the loving-kindness. It's aware enough to listen to the honking. But the dispersal of thought, or the distraction, is when the attention completely moves away. So as long as your mind is collected and unified, then you have non-distraction, or non-dispersal. Attainment of morality and right view.

So here, the morality is the sila, having the effort to maintain the precepts. You take the precepts and maintain them, established right view. First there is the mundane view of understanding that there is meaning in giving, there's meaning in generosity, meaning in having gratitude for one's teachers, for one's parents. There's meaning in understanding that there's a world here and there's a world here after. And then also having the understanding that there are people, or beings, or sages, another way of saying it, people who have the wisdom and are able to see, and recognize those who have wisdom and are able to listen to them. So this is really the basis of right view, and purifying that view is basically continuing to practice the precepts and continuing to practice your generosity, continuing to practice your gratitude.

Failure of morality and view is the opposite of that: not being able to maintain the precepts, not being able to have the right view become established. The purity of morality and view is again coming back to seeing the effect of how the precepts create a mind that is balanced and rid of barriers, rid of hindrances. Whenever you see a hindrance, it arises because of a time in which the mind did not follow a precept. But the more you maintain the precepts, the more you have the intention, and continue to activate that intention by keeping the precepts, the more you cultivate a mind that is free of those hindrances, and the easier it is then to purify that view, to be able to see the benefit.

of maintaining that right view, the mundane right view, and ultimately establishing that right view through purifying it, so that is purity of view and the effort to attain it. So that purity of view arises at stream entry, when you start to see how the three characteristics are present in reality, when you start to see how the four noble truths arise in reality, when you start to see how dependent origination causes this whole process of existence both at the micro and macro level. That establishes the super mundane right view of the four noble truths. Being moved to a sense of urgency by what should move one, and the systematic effort of one so moved, of urgency, that is samvega: seeing the different elements of samsara, seeing the benefits of not being attracted to samsara, and seeing the burdens that samsara has, and being moved by that. That is to say, when you attain this samvega, this sense of spiritual urgency to find a way out of dukkha, you no longer

take things in the same way anymore. Now you're looking for a way out. So that systematic effort of one so moved is that open-mindedness to look for something, in this case the Dharma, that can help you to alleviate suffering and completely eradicate it at a certain point. So there is that sense of urgency that moves one towards wanting to find the true Dharma. And then, when one finds the true Dharma, there is then to actually practice it: purify thoughts, purify the mind, purify speech, purify action, be able to know how to utilize the Noble Eightfold Path, be able to recognize whenever there is craving, be able to release your attention away from it, be able to relax the tension that is a manifestation of craving, be able to return, be able to smile and uplift, and return to your object or return to a mind that is more pure

repeat whenever is necessary. So this is that systematic effort, that is the 6R's process, the four right efforts, which is really the core of the Eightfold Path, because it enables you to know when there is wrong speech and make the effort to move it to right speech; know when there is wrong intention and move it to right intention; know when there's wrong view and move it to right view; know when there is wrong action and move it to right action; know when there is wrong livelihood and move it towards right livelihood; and know when there's wrong mindfulness and be able to move it to right mindfulness. Know when there is wrong samadhi, that is to say a mind that becomes absorbed. Notice that's not the way to do it, and move towards right samadhi, having a collected, unified mind that is open enough to be able to make some kind of transformative change. Be able to see when there is arising some kind of hindrance, and to be able to let it go instead of suppressing it and pushing it down, being content with wholesome acts and not shrinking from exertion

so, not being content with wholesome acts; that is to say, there is a fruit of having wholesome acts, acting in a wholesome manner, but not stopping right there, because having wholesome actions, maintaining the precepts, provides you that field which is purified, that is nourished by those wholesome acts, which causes the ground of that mind to be pure and to be balanced and to be stable. That is perfect for samadhi, perfect for meditation. And so when you notice that, it's important to have the right exertion, the right effort to be able to meditate, have the intention, and don't be lazy to not meditate

when your mind is purified, that automatic will also arise. But if there is laziness present, notice it, let it go, and make the right effort to actually meditate. Just sit down, close your eyes, and for the next few minutes just see how things arise and pass away, and notice how the intention to bring loving kindness comes about, and loving kindness arises, and then just keep watching it, keep observing it, and make the effort to 6R's whenever the mind is no longer with the loving kindness. Knowledge and liberation knowledge, here translated from vijja, that is the opposite of avijja, knowledge of the four noble truths; liberation, that is liberation of the mind, the liberation of the mind from the fetters and ultimately the taints that defiled the mind; knowledge of the destruction of the defilements and of their non-reoccurrence. So in the case of the arahant, they already know that the mind is free of all the taints, and once in a while they will review their mind and be able to see that there are no taints present by doing so

that creates in that mind that is inclined towards nibbana just the mere understanding and awareness of a mind that is without taints, mind that is without craving, without being without ignorance, is enough for that mind to incline towards nibbana. These are the sets of two things that were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord, so we should all recite them together. There are sets of three things, which are: they are the three wholesome roots, of sorry, and the three unwholesome roots of greed, hatred and delusion. So that is craving, ill will and delusion. Here is not being able to see, the mindfulness in reacting, having reactivity in that process, rather than taking a pause and responding with mindfulness and being able to let go if craving is present, and therefore

shedding off that ignorance every time one recognizes the four noble truths whenever it appears in the process of experience, and the other links of dependent origination. Delusion, so that is to say, the mind without creating, the mind without any ill will, so the mind without craving arises because of wholesome thoughts, because of thoughts from nekkhamma, that is to say thoughts that are essentially not attached to experience of the senses or mental experiences. Nekkhamma is the ability to renounce, or the renunciation of sensual pleasures, not being

infatuated with them and then causing the mind to crave. Non-hatred: here is the non-ill will, the loving kindness and the compassion that one cultivates. And non-delusion is that mindfulness, that awareness of seeing how what arises in the way of craving, and how to let go of that craving if it has arisen. Three kinds of wrong conduct in body, speech and thought: so this is wrong action, wrong speech and wrong intention. That is to say, a mind that is violent, a mind that has violent speech, a mind that has violent thoughts, a mind that has violent actions, the intention to harm another being, harsh speech, abusive speech, gossiping, inflicting pain on other people, taking what is not given, and having sexual misconduct. In the case of wrong thought, that is having these intentions of harm and ill will. Three kinds of right conduct in body, speech and thought. This is in reverse order: right action, right speech and right intention or right thought. Three kinds of unwholesome thought: of sensuality, of enmity, of cruelty

So, of sensuality, that is to say a mind or thoughts related to sensual pleasures, thoughts that are attached to sensual pleasures, pleasures that cause craving to arise for more of those sensual pleasures. Enmity here is ill will. Cruelty here is violence or the intent to harm. Three kinds of wholesome thought: of renunciation, nekkhamma, as we said; of non-ill will or non-enmity; and non-cruelty, a cultivation of loving kindness and compassion.

wholesome motivation, again this is related to right intention. Motivated by sensuality, motivated by cruelty, motivated by ill will, motivated to cause harm, motivated to attach to things. And three kinds of wholesome motivation through not renunciation, non-enmity and non-cruelty. Three kinds of unwholesome perception of sensuality, of enmity, of cruelty. Say that you perceive that there is sensuality, and that causes you to want more of something, or you see present in another person ill will, and that causes you to create ill will for yourself and to the other person. Likewise with cruelty. Three kinds of wholesome perception: renunciation, non-enmity and non-cruelty. Here you do see again, let's say, sensuality, but now you understand, perceive it to be possessed of the three characteristics, meaning you let go of it because you see it's impermanent and it's impersonal. Non-enmity: so if somebody still has ill will towards you, you recognize that and you send loving-kindness to them. Non-cruelty: you send compassion because you see that person is suffering

three unwholesome elements: sensuality, enmity, cruelty. So this is in relation to dhatu, that is to say an element or a property of something. So the property of a feeling could be sensual, and so that you could create craving for yourself if you attach to it. If a formation has the property of ill will, that can create for you ill will for yourself and for others, causing harm for yourself and for others, and that is the cruelty. Three wholesome elements, that is to say renunciation, non-enmity and non-cruelty. If the formations are rooted in renunciation, then whatever you see in the way of sensual pleasures, or even something that is causing pain, that is unpleasurable, that has or is unpleasant, or has any kind of neutral feeling that you identify with, because the formations are rooted in letting go, you let go of that, and you don't have further craving, further clinging, further being, and so on. You have loving kindness in your intentions. You have non-cruelty, or compassion, in your intentions. So anytime you develop and cultivate this loving kindness and compassion, you're always understanding of the other person's

mental state that is to say if they are acting in a way that is harmful to themselves and harmful to you you understand that that is their problem and it's rooted in some kind of ill will some kind of cruelty and you have compassion them you have loving kindness and understanding and you try to get them out of that three more elements the element of sensual or sense desire the element of form the formless element so these are the properties of the sensual realms that is to say sense desire so that is in relation to the sixth sense basis that's the kamadhatu then you have rupadhatu which is the element that makes up or the property of the realms of form the luminous form of the brahma realms of the abhassara realms of the sunakena realms and of the behalf of that realms and the arupa tattoo that is the property of mentality in relation to the foremost realms of infinite space infinite consciousness nothingness and neither perception or non-perception three more elements the element of form the property of form which is in relation to the four great elements

The property of the formless element, that is to say the property of the formless realms, but also the formless states of mind. So the other way to understand this is not only in the way of the four great elements but also in relation to the form jhanas, the rupa jhanas. The formless element is the property of the arupa jhanas. And the element of cessation is the cessation of suffering, understanding the third noble truth completely. So, having that property of relaxing and experiencing the cessation of suffering, three more elements: the low element, the middling element, the sublime element, that is to say hina dhatu, majjhima dhatu and panita dhatu. So there are different ways of understanding this. This is to say the low element, that is to say the lower elements or the lower realm; the middling element, that is to say the central realms; and the sublime element, that is to say the realms of the jhanas and the arupa jhanas. But on the vertical plane there is also the understanding that there are different kinds of world systems.

There is the thousand world system, that's one way the Buddha describes it. There is the thousand times thousand world system, which is a million world systems, and there is the thousand times thousand times thousand, or thousand cubed, that is the billion world system. So the Buddha talks about how he's able to radiate all the way up, in terms of being able to communicate with beings; his radiance spreads immeasurably. But another way of understanding it is through the process of seeing how it radiates to the million world systems or the billion world systems. So that's on the vertical plane, that's another way to understand that. It could be understood as right now, here, in the physical form, and then beyond into the luminous form, and then beyond that into the formless realms or the immeasurables, which is to say radiating out, for example, loving kindness all throughout the universe, all throughout existence. That is the sublime element. Three kinds of craving: essential craving, craving for becoming, craving for extinction.

So sensual craving, as we understand it, is the craving for any kind of sensual pleasure, or having aversion to painful experiences. Craving for becoming is having that sense of "I want to do something, I want to be someone", and also that misunderstanding of an eternal self. The craving for extinction is the craving for non-being. The idea that, for example, suicide comes in the form of craving: this is the idea that there is a self tied to this physical form, and by ending it one ends dukkha, because that dukkha is only in the physical form. But that is rooted in wrong view, because all of them presuppose some kind of underlying, pervasive, permanent self. Three more kinds of craving: craving for the world of sense desires, craving for the world of form, craving for the formless realm.

So in this case, this is to say, craving for this kind of world that we're experiencing, the sensual realms; craving for being born in the luminous form realms, in the realms of the brahmas; and having some kind of craving for being in the formless spheres of existence. Three more kinds of craving: for the world of form, for the formless world, and for cessation. So on a different level, this is understood as craving for jhana, craving for the ayatanas, which are the arupa jhanas, and craving for cessation of suffering, or the cessation of perception and feeling. Three fetters: personality belief, doubt, attachment to rites and rituals. So these three fetters cause birth in the lower realms. This is the realms of duggati, that is to say the bad destinations. If there is personality belief, that is to say there's a view that there is some kind of self that is equated or somehow related, in some way or another, with one or more of the five aggregates, that is the personality belief.

There is doubt: doubt in oneself, doubt in the teachings, doubt in the practice. And that arises because of all kinds of thoughts related to self-doubt. And attachment to rites and rituals is in relation to the idea that there is some kind of rite and ritual that will lead one to nibbana. So when one enters the stream, one sees firsthand that there is an arising and passing away of consciousness. One sees that this whole process is impermanent, so there cannot be a permanent self present. So there is this understanding, a deeper understanding of the impersonal nature of reality. Then there is also the [ending] of doubt, because one has made the effort to see this through and experience stream entry. And finally one sees that nothing will lead to nibbana except the eightfold path, so understanding the four noble truths completely will lead to nibbana. So with the eradication of these three fetters, one enters the stream and therefore has a one-way ticket to complete enlightenment, awakening. Three corruptions, that is the asavas: of sense desire, of becoming, of ignorance.

So sense desire here, that's the kamasava, then the [asava] of becoming, bhavasava, and avijjasava. So this is related to the taints, then giving rise to the ignorance, then giving rise to the formations that are fettered, then giving rise to fettered consciousness, giving rise to fettered nama-rupa, and then the whole experience that is fettered. So it's these fetters from which the taints arise. That is to say, there is the craving for sensual experiences, that kind of fetter; then there is the fetter of becoming, of being, of conceit.

So this conceit of "I am, I want to experience this", and of course the underlying ignorance where one is unable to see the four noble truths. Anytime you exercise it in this way it will continue to strengthen the asavas, and it will continue to pump dependent origination with these fetters and the fettered formations through the process of ignorance. But every time you let go of sensual craving, every time you let go of the idea of "I am", every time you let go and see the four noble truths, you are whittling away at the fetters as well. And so the next set of formations that arise have less of those fetters, and so every time you see this, it's weakening the taints as well. And eventually, when one becomes an arahant, they are completely cut off, they're completely destroyed, and now there's no longer any ignorance, and there's no longer the abhisankhara, the fettered formations, that can cause one to continue to crave, continue to identify, and continue not to be able to see the four noble truths.

Three kinds of becoming: in the world of sense desire, of form, and in the formless realm. So that is kama bhavo, rupa bhavo and arupa bhavo. So this sense of wanting to be something in this world, in the sensual planes, or wanting to be born or have an existence in the realm of the jhanas, the realm of the brahmas, and then the formless realms. Three quests, which are for sense desires, for becoming, and for the holy life. So here the mind pursues more sensual pleasures; there are sensual experiences and the mind wants more of that, and so that is rooted in craving. The mind wants to become better than it is right now. So maybe a person is poor now and they want to become rich. A person is happy and they want to become happy. So this idea of becoming, this person wanting to achieve something in the way of their identity, is the quest for becoming. But there is a different kind of quest, which is rooted in chanda, rooted in cultivated intention,

born from samvega, born from spiritual urgency, which is the quest for the holy life, the quest for coming out of this suffering: understanding, cultivating, developing the noble eightfold path so that you can fulfill the understanding of the rest of the four noble truths. Three forms of conceit: I am better than so and so, I am equal to so and so, I am worse than so and so. See, this presupposes this identity view, this identity that there is an "I am" present always, and it is better than someone, or it is equal to someone, or it is less than someone. Even having this sense of equality presupposes that there is identification with one or more of the five aggregates. So letting go completely of identifying with any concept of self, let go of conceit. Three times: past, future and present; that's pretty simple to understand. Three ends: personality, its arising and its cessation.

So personality, that is sakkaya, that is the view of having self in one or more of the five aggregates, in relation to one or more of the five aggregates. So that is thinking of self in relation to any of the five aggregates. Then the arising of it, which arises any time one takes something personal, when there is the arising of the five aggregates in the way of contact, feeling and perception, in the way of attention, in the way of intention: "is mine" or "I identify with it". In that process is the arising of that personality. The cessation of that is the wisdom in seeing the impermanent nature, the dukkha nature and the impersonal nature of each of the five aggregates. Three feelings: pleasant, painful and neither. Three kinds of suffering: as pain inherent in formations, and due to change.

So there are three kinds of dukkha: there is dukkha-dukkha, there is sankhara-dukkha, and there is viparinama-dukkha. Dukkha-dukkha is essentially the dukkha that we understand as the first noble truth of dukkha, that is the jara-marana that is present in dukkha, that we see in the twelfth link of dependent origination. In this understanding we see that rebirth is dukkha, we see that old age is dukkha, we see that illness is dukkha, we see that death is dukkha. So this is the primary kind of dukkha that we experience, in the form of physical, emotional and mental pain, whenever there is an unpleasant feeling or an unpleasant mental experience present. Sankhara-dukkha is a very subtle, pervasive kind of dukkha. This is the dukkha that you see in the five aggregates when you take personal any of the five aggregates, especially the formations, the sankhara, which is your intention.

And then it's this kind of dukkha that is all pervasive, in the sense that there is a general unease about life, that life is constantly inconstant, life is constantly changing. This is the impermanent nature, and so this spills over into viparinama dukkha. But the sankhara dukkha really is on a philosophical level. It's the mental dukkha that can lead to a sense of meaninglessness in life, that can lead to nihilism and philosophical pessimism. That is to say, what's the point of doing anything if everything is suffering? So that's a wrong way of thinking. That kind of sankhara dukkha leads one to be very extreme, suicidal: that if there is this kind of dukkha present, then I might as well just kill myself. That kind of dukkha creates further wrong views, further wrong actions, and can lead one to lower realms because of suicidal actions, and

all kinds of things. So this inherent dukkha in formations are also those inherent fetters within those formations: that sense of I am, that sense of conceit, that sense of ignorance, that sense of craving. And viparinama dukkha is really when you are experiencing something that is pleasant, experiencing something that is pleasurable, and suddenly it ceases, it changes. So for example, you've just prepared a really nice meal and you're about to sit down and you want to eat that meal, and suddenly the phone rings and it's an emergency. That is the dukkha present: that you cannot enjoy your meal because of certain circumstances. Or you plan on taking a trip for your vacation and something strikes and the flight gets delayed or even cancelled. Constancy in life is viparinama dukkha. So that is the part of the dukkha present when the Buddha says that union with the unpleasant is dukkha, and the separation from the pleasant is dukkha, and getting or not getting what you want, meaning having this idea that I don't want to be born, or in another realm, or may I not be ill anymore

you need to take certain to treat your illness and so on so forth you can't just think about it and it snaps and there is no more of that illness or that pain so this is also part of that ripari nama dukkha free accumulations evil with fixed result good with fixed result and indeterminate so this is in relation to the fruition of comma so that is to say that if you do evil deeds there is a possibility that there will be evil fruition of those deeds that is to say there is an evil cause and therefore an evil effect likewise for wholesome activities that create wholesome situations and indeterminate is where it can happen that there is neither a wholesome or unwholesome deed that is happening it's just it's just arises not dependent upon something that is pleasant or unpleasant in the way of one's actions or wholesome or unwholesome in the way of one's actions three obscurations one hesitates vacillates is undecided is unsettled about the past the future the present so this vacillation this indecision

this unsettled mind is the restlessness and doubt that causes one not to exert be able to have the ability to practice the eightfold path the ability to cultivate one's precepts and be able to go into samadhi and experience insight so anytime you have certain restlessness about the future or you have worries about the future or you have nostalgia about the past or you have worries about the current situation these will get in the way of a mind that can be calm it it creates a shadow over the mind and this manifests in where you for the first few minutes or even up to the first 20 minutes there's some background activity in the mind before it can actually get into Samadhi before we can actually get into some kind of Jana and this is that restlessness that arises because of thoughts about the past that's about the future that's about the present moment it's not that you're necessarily then but these are the effects of having worried about it the the constant mental activity and shatter related to the past future or present

Three things the Tathagata has no need to guard against. The Tathagata is perfectly pure in bodily conduct, in speech and in thought. There is no misdeed of body, speech or thought which he must conceal, thus anyone should get to hear about it. Three obstacles: lust is craving, hatred or aversion, delusion or ignorance, not being able to pause and respond with mindfulness, and instead have reactivity to a situation. Three fires, that is to say: lust or craving, hatred or ill will or aversion, and delusion or ignorance or not being able to see the Four Noble Truths. Three more fires: the fire of those to be revered, of the householder, of those worthy of offerings.

So this is to say the fire. These are the physical fires of those that are revered, of the brahmins and the priests and so on, of the householder who maintains a fire, and of those worthy of offerings. So here this can also be related to the arahant, but in this case the fire of an arahant is not the fire of craving or hatred or delusion. It's really the light of wisdom, the light of awareness, the light of mindfulness. Three-fold classification of matter: visible and resisting, invisible and resisting, invisible and unresisting. So this is in relation to the kinds of matter that one can see and the kinds of matter that make impact or don't make impact. So the visible and resisting is in relation to all that you see here. Invisible and resisting is in relation to the form realms, certain luminosity that one cannot see with

to go beyond this realm into other realms, they can start to see the luminous forms. And then the formless realms, which is the invisible, because it's no longer related to form. And unresisting, meaning it's just not bound by any kind of form, it's not bound by any kind of matter, it's just completely formless. So it's all rooted in the mentality, karmic formation: meritorious, demeritorious and imperturbable. So these kinds of formations: the meritorious lead one to the higher sensual realms or the Brahma realms, demeritorious relating to the lower realms, and the imperturbable relating to the realms of the formless realms, that is to say the realms beyond the fourth jhana. Three persons: the learner, the non-learner and the one who is neither

So the learner here is one who is still in training, as is, that is to say, someone still developing and cultivating the path, as well as someone who has entered the stream and continues to progress until they become a non-learner, that is to say an arahant. So a non-learner is actually an arahant, because they have completely learned all that needs to be learned in the way of their practice, because it's their practice and their intuition, dependent on their experiences and the practice that informs them of their understanding of the Dhamma, in relation to the suttas, in relation to Dhamma discussions and so on. And the one who is neither, that is to say someone who has not been introduced to the Dhamma, someone who is not practising the Dhamma. Three elders: an elder by birth, in Dhamma and by convention. So an elder by birth would be someone like your relative, like an aunt, an uncle, an older cousin, an older brother, your parents of course. In Dhamma, is someone who is a Dhamma teacher, but someone in the monastic community who has been longer as a monk than you have been, or a

bhikkhu longer than you have been. And by convention, meaning by seniority in terms of conventional transactional purposes, like you have your superiors in terms of your workplace, you have your managers, your supervisors, things like that. Three grounds based on merit: that of giving, of morality and of meditation. So there is merit based on generosity, there is merit based on maintaining precepts, and there is merit based on samadhi. There is merit when you get into jhana, into the right samadhi. There is merit of giving, in the way of giving, of course food and clothing and shelter, and of course giving the teaching as well, so there's merit in that. Three grounds for reproof, based on what has been seen, heard or suspected. So a reproof here is trying to correct somebody based on what they've seen someone doing, heard of someone doing, and trying to correct their behavior, or suspected that they're doing something wrong, and bringing it up and clarifying the situation

Three kinds of rebirth in the realms of sense desire. There are beings who desire what presents itself to them, and are in the grip of the desire, such as human beings, some devas, and some in states of war. There are beings who desire what they have created, such as the devas who rejoice in their own creation. There are beings who rejoice in the creation of others, such as the devas having power over others' creations. So this is just the different classification of beings within the sensual realms. You have the lower beings, you have the human realm, the animal realm, the asura realm, the realm of the 33, the cloud devas, the yamas and so on and so forth. Then you have the realm of those who enjoy their creation, delight in their creation, and then the other devas who rejoice in the creation of others. So this is all of the sense fear, the sense realms, all the way from the different hell realms to the sixth central heavens.

Three happy rebirths. There are beings who, having continually produced happiness, now dwell in happiness, such as the devas of the Brahma group. There are beings who are overflowing with happiness, drenched with it, full of it, immersed in it, so that they occasionally exclaim, oh what bliss. Such are the radiant devas, that are the abhassaras. There are beings immersed in happiness who, supremely blissful, experience only happiness, such as the lustrous ones, the subakinas. So this is in relation to the experience of the jhanas. The beings who attain the first jhana go to the Brahma realms and the mahabha realms. The beings who have attained the second jhana go to the imposter realms, and there is the piti and the sukha that they experience. And there is a different kind of sukha that they experience when they enter the third, the subakina realms. There is this constant sukha, this comfort, this sense of ease that is always present. In the case of the abhassara, who feed on that joy, on that piti, it's very exciting. So there is that explanation of what bliss.

And in this case that perfect happiness is that perfect tranquil calm of sukha that one experiences in the subakina realms. Three kinds of wisdom: of the learner, of the non-learner, and of the one who is neither. So the wisdom that arises when one becomes a stream-enterer and sees for the first time how this process happens through the Eightfold Path, and through seeing the links of dependent origination for the first time. Having attained nibbana for the first time. Of the arahant who sees how to let go completely of all the fetters of existence and the taints, and of who is in need of, one who is neither. Is this conventional wisdom? The knowledge of certain things in relation to one's work, in relation to, you know, things like doing one's taxes or how to write a book, very conventional practical things that are not related to the Dhamma. Three more kinds of wisdom, based on thought, on learning or hearing, on mental development or meditation.

So three more kinds of wisdom. That is based on thought, based on lists, on reflecting on what one has listened to, and on looking at things and observing, reflecting and analyzing. Based on hearing, based on a Dhamma talk or reading the suttas and being able to learn from there. And based on mental development. Your practice will give you a lot more scope for understanding than the other two, because your practice informs you firsthand of how to let go of a hindrance, and then you confirm it when you go to how it's explained in the suttas, when you experience the jhanas, and then when you experience nibbana you come back to the suttas, or you come back to the Abhidhamma. It completely changes your perspective and it deepens the layers of understanding of just that one talk or that sutta. Three armaments: what one has learned, detachment, and wisdom. That is to say, armaments here is really like three protections.

That is to say, someone that is protected from sensual craving, protected from greed, hatred and delusion. So one who has learned through the suttas, through one's experience, through meditation, detaching, that is to say letting go, and having viveka, having the inclination towards seclusion for meditation and for nibbana. And wisdom, the knowledge and wisdom that arises of reality as it actually works, that is to say dependent origination. Three faculties of knowing: that one will know the unknown, of highest knowledge, and of the one who knows. So the three faculties here are in reference to the faculties of wisdom, of knowing, that is to say knowing that one will know the unknown, so having the capacity to learn what one doesn't know. Of highest knowledge, that is to say of having the highest wisdom, of having seen for oneself the truth of reality, the seeing, the vision and knowledge of things as they really are. And of the one who knows. So having come back from that experience, there is the person who actually truly knows and can then be able to review that process and see that that has actually happened.

So it's the reviewing faculty. Every time you go into jhana, no matter what kind of meditation practice you're doing, whether it's brahmaviharas, quiet mind, sending it out to your spiritual friend, whatever it might be, after you come out of your meditation there is that sense of not knowing, or knowing the unknown, that one will know the unknown. So you're just ready to see what happens in the jhana or see what happens in the meditation practice. And then the highest knowledge here can be kind of understood in the prospect, the process and context of jhana practice, of knowing what has arisen in the way of the jhana practice. And then the one who knows is that reviewing practice.

Where you actually come out of your sitting practice. Every time you come out of your sitting, spend a few minutes to review what happened, what arose, how did you deal with hindrances, what were the types of hindrances that were predominant, and so on and so forth. Doing this is going to help you with your practice a lot, because then you're not going to be of the mindset to look for how the factors arise of the different genres, because you know that you'll be doing it when you review the process. So it's important to review the process after every sitting. Three kinds of training: in the higher morality, that is sila, higher thought, and higher wisdom. So that is to say, the higher teaching, the higher practice of one who has entered the stream, continues to develop their understanding, continues to develop their insight and their wisdom through continually following the Eightfold Path. Three kinds of development: of the emotions, of mind, and of wisdom.

So here, of the emotions, it's translated as kaya bhavana, that is to say the body that is made up of emotions, that is to say the different types of feelings that arise. In the sense not of sensations but the kinds of intentions that arise in the way of unwholesome emotions and wholesome emotions, because this is experienced through the mind, yes, but it's also experienced through the mind-made body, so to speak. So these emotions, for example loving-kindness or hatred, and so on. Developing the kind of loving-kindness that is required to let go of hatred, developing the extent of compassion to let go of suffering and let go of cruelty.

Chitta bhavana is of the mind, which is when you get into jhana practice and you actually develop the mind to be able to see when the mind starts to drift away, and then use the six-R process to come back. And the wisdom development, the panna development, arises after one has a deep experience and sees for oneself how the links of dependent origination arise and pass away. It has the insight into the three characteristics of nature. Three unsurpassables: of vision, of practice, and of liberation. So of vision is in relation to seeing, of actually understanding how this process works. Of practice is in relation to practicing the actual Eightfold Path in all its different ways, and then having that translate or transform into liberation of the mind, the complete destruction of the taints. Three kinds of concentration, or collectedness: with pondering, with thinking, and pondering. Which is to say you have the vitakka and vicara, but in this case it's the application of mind towards having the intention of bringing up something and applying the mind towards that, and

without pondering and without thinking. So that's of the second genre. Now the mind has become so collected that it lets go of the mental images, lets go of the verbalizations that brought up the feeling of loving-kindness, and neither, which is to say the complete cessation of vitakka and vicara, where now one is in the third and fourth jhana, and so on. Three more kinds of collectedness: on emptiness, the signless, and the desireless. So we touched upon this in the last couple of weeks. So we have emptiness, which is the seeing of the emptiness of the five aggregates, and that brings about a collected mind. The signless, which is not taking any object and letting the mind just rest in nothing. That's not to say nothingness, because with the concept of nothingness there is a perception of nothingness as an object, but here the signless is where one lets go of even the quiet mind and the mind continues to observe without its light of attention landing anywhere. And the desireless arises from having seen that all things are essentially impermanent.

Or, sorry, all things are essentially dukkha, because the impermanent nature brings about the signless state: that if all objects are conditioned then they are impermanent, and if all objects are impersonal then they are empty. So one has the sense of the emptiness of collectedness. The desirelessness is in relation to seeing that all things are subject to suffering, so why hold on to anything? And the mind doesn't incline towards anything with a sense of self, with a sense of being. So this is the upper up on the heat of samadhi, the desireless samadhi. Three purities of body, speech and mind: that is the purification of a mind that is essentially having right intention, speech that is rooted in right speech, that is rooted in right action. Three qualities of the sage as to body, speech and mind. So the sage here is in reference to the muni, the muni is one who is silent. So in terms of silent mind, having noble silence, both practically meaning not speaking

and having no thoughts in the mind, and in terms of no movement of the body. So these are the qualities of a person who is in meditation, but specifically a person who is in meditation without any kind of thinking and without any kind of verbalization. Three skills in going forward and going down, and means to progress. So in going forward is in relation to moving forward with the path, going forward through the progression of the jhanas, through the progression of the path. Going down is

that which actually causes you to not be able to move forward, but start to move in the other direction, start to see craving and have craving, and so on and so forth. And means to progress is the way of using the different elements of the Dhamma to continue to fuel that progress, so continuing to deepen one's progress by continuing to deepen one's knowledge, and so on. Three intoxications: with health, with youth, and with life. So this intoxication is the attachment to one's health, meaning one wants to always be happy or healthy, and essentially when illness arises it causes pain, it causes dukkha. One wants to be ever youthful. So there are different ways people do this, they get different kinds of surgery to appear youthful, but essentially

aging is still a process of the body, it's still dukkha, and we see this on a biological level, that it is a natural progression of the body, rooted in the DNA, rooted in what is known as the telomeres of the chromosomes. This is what creates the process of aging, so it is inherent to one's existence. So intoxication with youth is rooted in delusion. It's rooted in this sense of personalizing, taking personal identity and identifying with the body and with life itself. One basically thinks that life is all that there is to it and doesn't really progress further and has no sense of seeing this as all completely suffering. So there's this sense of, be merry and happy and don't worry about tomorrow, and so on and so forth. You can do that with the Dhamma in the sense of being happy and joyful, born of samadhi practice, but this is in relation to having this idea that one wants to continue having a life and longevity, but one understands that there is going to be an end to all this, and therefore

Having intoxication with life that is influences oneself, the world and the Dhamma. So the three predominant influences relate to what one essentially thinks about oneself, what one understands of oneself, and essentially thinks about whether this is right or wrong, whether I should be doing this or not be doing this. So these ideas of self, thoughts which create this idea of choice and intention. Then there is the world around, the relationships you have with people that influence how you make your choices. And then there's the Dhamma in relation to knowing what choices are rooted in the Noble Eightfold Path.

Three topics of discussion: talk may be of the past. That's how it used to be, the good old days. That's the nostalgia one has: it used to be like this, in our times we had so and so. These kinds of talks of the future: that's how it will be. Speculating what's going to happen with the stock market, speculating is there going to be war, speculating the price of something, speculating what kind of technology we are going to have in the future. Of the present: that's how it is now. Talking about politics, present right now. Talking about the news, talking about the weather, talking about sports, things like that. Free knowledges of one's past lives, of the deceased and rebirth of beings, of the destruction of the options. This is the threefold knowledge. Three abidings: deva abiding, brahma abiding and the Aryan abiding.

So the deva abiding is the abiding into the realms of the jhanas, which is to say the different jhanas that correspond to the different higher deva realms. The brahma abidings are in relation to the brahmaviharas, which is to say loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Aryan abiding is in relation to, on a broad level, the experience of nibbana, of the stream-enterer and so on. But it's also that special state of cessation of experience that one has as an arahant, which is to say the arahant's experience of nibbana, taking nibbana as an object, so to speak. Three miracles of psychic power. So these are different kinds of powers in relation to clairvoyance, clairaudience, being able to see other beings, communicating with different beings, and different kinds of psychic powers: of telepathy, of being able to read other people's minds and emotions; of instruction. So this is the power of being able to provide the Dhamma, conveying it in a way that people will be able to understand.

These are the sets of three things, so we should all recite together for the benefit, welfare and happiness of devas and humans. Now we come to the final set for today's talk, which is the sets of four. So I'll go through this because we've already gone through understanding much of this, but we will discuss it as we go on. These are the sets of four things which were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord for foundations of mindfulness: here a monk abides contemplating body as body, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world. He abides contemplating feelings as feelings. Abides contemplating mind as mind.

Abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects, ardent, clearly aware and mindful, having put aside hankering and fretting for the world. So we know this as right mindfulness: being able to observe what is arising in the way of body as it arises, and seeing if there's any craving or identification present, and letting that go. Likewise for one's feelings, experiences mentally and through the senses. The mind itself, in relation to how the mind is processing things and the mindset: what kind of mind do you have, expanded, unliberated or liberated? A mind in jhana, out of jhana. A mind that is angry or upset, a mind that is pure and peaceful, and so on and so forth.

And then mind objects here are the phenomena, the dhammas, in relation to the five hindrances, the awakening factors, the four noble truths, and so on. The four great efforts. Here one rouses his will, makes an effort, stirs up energy, exerts his mind and strives to prevent the arising of unarisen evil unwholesome states. He rouses will and strives to overcome evil unwholesome mental states that have arisen. He rouses his will and strives to produce unarisen wholesome mental states. He rouses his will and strives to maintain wholesome mental states that have arisen, not to let them fade away, to bring them to greater growth, to the full perfection of, so this is the 6R's process. When you recognize, you prevent the further arising of unwholesome states. When you release and you relax, you let go of those unwholesome states. When you smile, you bring up a wholesome state. And when you return, you continue to generate and maintain that wholesome state. And then of course you repeat that process whenever another hindrance arises. Or roads to power, which is the iddhipada, that is to say the basis of

you could say psychic powers, but also the basis for success. It is translated, or it can be translated, as success. So here a monk develops concentration of intention accompanied by effort or will, concentration of energy, consciousness, and concentration of investigation accompanied by effort of will. So here it's talking about cultivated intention. There's an intention to do something, to succeed, especially in the Dhamma, specifically in the Dhamma. There is the energy, the effort that one makes. There is the sort of joyful interest that one brings to that situation. And consciousness here is one's attention, using one's mind to be able to direct it towards the goal. And the concentration of investigation, which is to say the discernment of different states as they arise and pass away in the moment that they arise and pass away, not looking for them but just seeing when they do arise, letting them go if they're unwholesome, and so on. Or jhanas. Here a monk, detached from all sense desires, detached from unwholesome mental states, enters and remains in the first jhana, which is with thinking and pondering, born of detachment.

Filled with delight and joy, and with the subsiding of thinking and pondering, by gaining inner tranquility and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without thinking and pondering, born of collectedness, filled with delight and joy. And with the fading away of delight, remaining imperturbable, mindful and clearly aware, he experiences in himself that joy of which noble ones say, happy is he who dwells with equanimity and mindfulness. He enters and remains in the third jhana. And having given up pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of former gladness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana, which is beyond pleasure and pain, purified by equanimity and mindfulness. So these are the four jhanas as we understand them.

Or concentrative meditations, or collected meditations. This meditation, when developed and expanded, leads to happiness here and now, gaining knowledge and vision, mindfulness and clear awareness, and destruction of the corruptions. How does this lead to the happiness here and now? Here the monk practices the four jhanas. How does it lead to the gaining of knowledge and vision? Here a monk attends the perception. He fixes his mind to the perception of day by night, as by day, by day as by night. In this way, with a mind clear and unclouded, he develops a state of mind that is full of brightness. So this is in relation to the kasinas and in relation to seeing that light. Now, there are experiences of people who have experienced light, but that light is born of this concentrated absorption state. It's a light that kind of clarifies things. But I would like to understand it in this way: it's the light of equanimity, of seeing things as they really are when you're fully equanimous.

You are completely present in the moment, and it sheds a light on that present moment of what is arising. And so there you have knowledge and vision, knowledge and vision of things as they really are. How does it lead to mindfulness and clear awareness? Here a monk knows feelings as they arise, remain and vanish. He knows perceptions as they arise, remain and vanish. He knows his thoughts as they arise, remain and vanish. So this is in mindfulness practice when you are practicing things that arise and pass away, but also in jhana practice when you see, as they arise, the arising of certain factors, as they remain, those factors being present, when they vanish, how they go away. There's no investigation present here. It's just watching, just observing and being present. How does this practice lead to the destruction of the corruptions? Here a monk abides in the contemplation of the rise and fall of the five aggregates of grasping: this is material form, this is its arising, this is its ceasing. These are feelings. This is perception. These are mental formations. This is consciousness, this is its arising, this is its ceasing.

So being able to see how things arise and pass away in relation to contact: in relation to the sense, the sensory contact, the body contact; in relation to experiences in the way of feelings, in the way of perceptions, memory and learning, in the way of formations and intention, how it arises and how it passes away; and in relation to attention, cognition, of seeing how things are, how the mind is aware of something, and then when that awareness is gone, there is something else that arises after it passes away. So this constant contemplation, which is the constant observation, the constant observing of the arising and passing away of the different aggregates, in relation to these, that is form, feeling, perception, intention

and cognition, one then lets go of identifying with any of this. When one lets go of identifying with any of this, there is no more craving. When there is no more craving, mind is no longer agitated. When the mind is no longer agitated, it sees things as they really are, and as it does that, it becomes liberated, and from that liberation is the destruction of the and the knowledge of that destruction. And so one knows that there is no rebirth, there is no more renewal of being, this is the last life, there is what had to be done has been done. Or boundless states. So here a monk, with the heart filled with loving-kindness, pervades first one quarter, then the second, the third and the fourth. Thus he stays, spreading the thought of loving-kindness above, below and across, everywhere, always with a heart filled with loving-kindness, abundant, magnified, unbounded, without hatred or ill will. Likewise with compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity. Or formless jhanas, or the ayatanas. Here a monk, by passing entirely beyond bodily sensations, by the disappearance of all sense of resistance, and by non-attraction to the perception of diversity

seeing that space is infinite reaches and remains in the sphere of infinite space and by passing entirely beyond the sphere of infinite space seeing that consciousness is infinite he reaches and remains in the sphere of infinite consciousness and by passing entirely beyond the sphere of infinite consciousness seeing that there is no thing he reaches and remains in the sphere of no thingness and by passing entirely beyond the sphere of nothingness he reaches and remains in the sphere of neither perception or non-perception so these are the four ayatanas as we know them or supports here a monk judges that one thing is to be pursued one thing is to be endured one thing avoided and one thing suppressed

So what is to be pursued? That is to say, the experience of the path is to be pursued. What is to be endured? That is to say, the unwholesome states. Understanding be present and not having aversion for them. One thing to be avoided is the craving. One thing suppressed, I wouldn't say suppressed but letting go and abandoning of the different fetters of conceit, of craving and of ignorance. So, establishing wisdom through this process. For Aryan lineages, here a monk is content with any old robe, praises such contentment, and does not try to obtain robes improperly or unsuitably.

He does not worry if he does not get a robe, and if he does, he is not full of greedy, blind desire, makes use of it aware of such dangers and wisely aware of its true purpose. Nor is he considering about being thus content with any old robe, and he does not disparage others. One who is thus skillful, not lacking, clearly aware and mindful, is known as a monk who is true to the ancient, original Aryan lineage. Again, a monk is content with any alms food he may get, content with any old lodging place, and being fond of abandoning, rejoices in abandoning, and being fond of developing, rejoices in developing.

is therefore not conceited, and one who is thus skillful, not lacking, clearly aware and mindful, is known as a monk who is true to the ancient or original Aryan lineage. So someone who is satisfied with what one gets in the way of the requisites, and is fond of letting go of any craving that arises for them, and develops the mind through jhana practice, lets go of conceit. One who is skillful in their practice of mindfulness, one who is aware of efforts: the effort of restraint, that is restraint, abandoning, development and preservation. What is the effort of restraint? Here a monk, on seeing an object with the eye, does not grasp at the whole or its details, striving to restrain what might cause evil, unwholesome states, such as hankering or sorrow, to flood in on him.

So whatever is arising in the way of the different senses, he guards it. He doesn't allow the mind to become infatuated with it, creating craving or aversion or identifying. Thus he watches over the sense of sight and guards it, similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and thoughts. What is the effort of abandoning? Here a monk does not ascend to a thought of lust or hatred or cruelty that has arisen, but abandons it, dispels it, destroys it, makes it disappear. What is the effort of development? Here a monk develops the enlightenment factor of mindfulness, based on solitude, detachment, extinction, leading to maturity of surrender. He develops the investigation of states, of energy, of joy, of tranquility, of collectedness, of equanimity, based on solitude, detachment, extinction, leading to maturity of surrender. What is the effort of preservation? Here a monk keeps firmly in his mind a favorable object of collectedness

which has a rigid arisen such as a skeleton or a corpse that is full of worms, blue, blue-black, full of holes, loaded. So it's interesting, he says that the favorable object of collectedness would be a skeleton or a corpse, but it can be anything. That is to say, it could be love and kindness, it could be compassion, it could be joy, it could be the quiet mind, or knowledges: knowledge of Dhamma, of what is consonant with it, knowledge of others' minds, conventional knowledge, or four more. Now, before you continue, knowledge of the Dhamma, that is to say, knowledge of the path and what is consonant with it, which is to say, what are the different components of it, what are the things that support the Dhamma, what are the things that are in alignment with the Dhamma? Knowledge of others' minds: this is telepathy, being able to read other people's minds and emotions. Conventional knowledge: this is the knowledge of, for example, training in the workplace, knowledge of how to do taxes and so on. Or more knowledges: this is the knowledge of suffering, its origin, its cessation

and the path leading to the cessation. So that is the four noble truths. Four factors of stream attainment: association with good people, hearing the true Dhamma, thorough attention, or yoniso manasikara, attention rooted in reality, and practice of the Dhamma in its entirety. So the way leading to stream entry is essentially having a support system of like-minded individuals in the Dharma, people who propagate keeping of the precepts, people who support you in your meditation, providing your advice and so on. Hearing the true Dharma, going and reading the suttas, listening to Dharma talks and so on. Wise attention, or thorough attention, or attention rooted in reality, that is having the mindfulness of the present moment and seeing what is arising in the way of craving or not craving. And the practice of the Dhamma in its entirety is practicing the entire Eightfold Path that leads to the process of nibbana, the experience of nibbana, and then one has established the super-mundane right view and thus enters the stream. Here, four characteristics of a stream winner.

Here the Aryan disciple is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Buddha: this blessed Lord is arahant, a fully enlightened Buddha, endowed with wisdom and conduct, the welfarer, knower of the worlds, incomparable trainer of men to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, enlightened and blessed. He is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Dhamma, thus well proclaimed by the Lord as the Dhamma, visible here and now, timeless, inviting inspection, leading onward, to be comprehended by the wise. Himself, he is possessed of unwavering confidence in the Sangha: well directed is the Sangha of the Lord's disciples, of upright conduct, of the right path, on the perfect path, that is to say the four pairs of persons, the eight kinds of people. The Sangha of the Lord's disciples is worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, in the world. And he is possessed of morality near to the noble ones, unbroken, without defect, unspotted, without inconsistency, liberating, praised by the wise, uncorrupted, and conducive to collectedness or fruits of the ascetic life, the fruits of stream entry, of the once returner, of the non-returner, of our hardship or elements

earth, water, air and fire. So that is to say, the modern understanding as we know it: solid molecules, liquid molecules, gaseous molecules and plasma molecules, or nutrients. We spoke about this a little earlier: material food, gross or subtle, that is to say food for the humans and the animals and so on, and food for the devas, because they have a subtle kind of energy. Then contact, how contact gives rise to an experience. Mental volition or intention, which gives rise to an expression of action, speech or thought. And third, consciousness. As fourth, we talked about how the descent of consciousness gives rise to new life, as well as the inclination of one's attention gives rise to energizing a specific thing, whether it's an unwholesome state or a wholesome state, or stations of consciousness.

Consciousness gains a footing either in relation to materiality, with materiality as object and basis, as a place of enjoyment, or similarly in regard to feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and there it grows, increases and flourishes. So how does that happen? It gains a footing through craving. It has some kind of identification process that arises in relation to materiality, in relation to the body or in relation to other material objects, in relation to enjoying that, or similarly with one's feelings, with the sensory and mental experiences, with knowledge of the past, with perceptions, with memory, perceiving things, and then getting rooted in that and having craving or identifying with it. Or the intentions are fettered with that craving and identification process, and so because of this it will grow, increase and flourish. Four ways of going wrong: one goes wrong through desire

hatred, delusion and fear. So these unwholesome states can lead one astray from the path, or arousals of craving. Craving arises in the monk because of robes, alms, lodging, being and non-being. That is to say, the arousal of craving for being in a jhana, or for the arousal of not being in a [state] that is uncomfortable. All kinds of progress: a painful progress with slow comprehension, painful progress with quick comprehension, pleasant progress with slow comprehension, and pleasant progress with quick comprehension. So the best of these is obviously pleasant progress with quick comprehension, and this happens every time you are able to exercise your wholesome state of mind. Or more kinds of progress: progress with impatience, patient progress, controlled progress and calm progress. Four ways of Dhamma without hankering, without enmity, with right mindfulness and with right collectedness, or ways of undertaking Dhamma. There is the way that is painful in the present and brings painful fruit, pleasant future results. Was pleasant in the present and brings painful future results, and pleasant in the present and brings pleasant future results. So this is an understanding of how

there are effects of different actions, so the cause of different actions can be, or the effect of different actions, and give rise to certain kinds of results, because it's not just kamma, but there are other factors in play that lead to whether a cause of one's action will actually cause pleasant results, unpleasant results, or whether something that is painful will cause pleasant results or unpleasant results.

Four divisions of Dhamma. Morality, that is to say keeping one's precepts. Concentration, that is to say collectedness or samadhi. Wisdom, that is to say understanding and seeing the links of dependent origination. And liberation, that is to say the destruction of the taints, or powers of energy. Mindfulness, collectedness and wisdom: that energy is right effort, that mindfulness is being present in the moment and observing, that collectedness is having a mind that is unified with its object, and that wisdom arises through insight. Four kinds of resolve: to gain wisdom, to gain truth, to gain relinquishment and tranquility. Four ways of answering questions

the question to be answered directly requiring an explanation requiring a counter question or to be set aside depending upon the question it can be answered directly or it can require further explanation through simile and metaphor or it could require a question counter question to clarify the question and clarify the meaning of the question or to be set aside because that question is not relevant to the dhamma which is to say it's not relevant to understanding suffering and the cessation of suffering four kinds of comma there is black comma with black result right comma with bright result black and bright comma with black and bright result comma that is neither black nor bright with black nor bright result leading to the destruction of comma

The first three kinds of kamma are in relation to the fruition of choices and effort made in the past. You could have done something unwholesome, and that relates to something that creates an unwholesome situation. You could have done something that was wholesome, and that creates a wholesome situation. You could have done something that was mixed, in terms of it had an intention but it was unwholesome in the way it was performed, or something like that. That can create something that is mixed. The thing about the complexity of kamma is that it's just not that it happens right then, and then in the next set of effects it can happen in the next moment. It can happen after a week, it can happen after a year, it can happen after a lifetime or after many lifetimes. You can't really say when it will happen, but there will

be some kind of effect. It's the fourth, which is the complete destruction of kamma. You have to understand that's the old kamma, that's the effects of the choices made in the past that you're experiencing in the way of vedana, experiencing in the way of contact, feeling and perception, and that is the old dukkha that you're experiencing. So instead of taking it personally, craving for having a version or identifying with it, which will cause further kamma to arise, let it be experienced without any involvement, and bit by bit that kamma is reduced, if not altogether completely gone. Or things to be realized by seeing former lives, to be realized by recollection, passing away and re-arising to be realized by the divine eye. The eight deliverances are to be realized with the mental body, that's the eight jhanas and the four arupa jhanas. The destruction of the corruptions, the disruption of the taints, is to be realized by wisdom, that's the liberation of the mind through insight, complete letting go and abandoning of all taints or floods: sensuality, becoming, wrong views and ignorance.

This is in relation to the taint of sensuality. Sensual craving, craving for becoming, is the taint of bhava. Wrong views and ignorance are in relation to the taint of ignorance. Or yokes, it's the same, or unyokings, that is, from sensuality the unyoking or the separation or destruction from sensuality, from becoming, from views and from ignorance. Views also are in relation to the two kinds of views: eternalist view and the annihilationist view. The bodily tie of hankering, that means identifying with the body of hankering

which is to crave of ill will, that is of hatred or aversion, of attachment to rites and rituals. Rites and rituals, dogmatic fanaticism, so just holding on to something and saying this is the only way, this is my way, all other ways are ineffective and so on so forth. Before clingings: clinging to sensuality, clinging to sensual experiences, to the different views as we talked about, to rites and rituals, to rules and rituals, and to the ego belief, that is to say the different kinds of clinging in relation to self-view and the five aggregates. Four kinds of generation, that is to say rebirth or conception from an egg, that can be from reptiles and birds, from a womb, that is to say from animals and humans, certain animals and humans, from moisture, that is to say from maggots and things like that

and spontaneous rebirth, which happens in the deva and brahma realms. Fourth happens with a Bodhisatta. He knows when he enters the womb, he knows how long he's staying in the womb, and he knows when he leaves the womb, and this can happen when you are able to see the different past lives, you can see when you came out of the womb, you can see when you were in the womb, and you can see how it arose that you went into the womb. Four ways of getting a new personality. There is an acquisition of personality that is brought about by one's own volition, not another's; another's, not one's own; both; and neither. So the acquisition of personality, that is to say the sense of being that arises, the accumulation of tendencies that arises because of one's own intentions or because of somebody else's actions that cause one to have this accumulation

or not, or both: there's an intention from you and there's an intention from another. An example of this would be somebody gives you a new role in a project, now you become project manager, or somebody gives you a role as, you know, a supervisor, or whatever it might be. So this is the accumulation of identifying with that kind of a role, for example. And neither: it can happen that somehow the process works where neither somebody asked for it nor you asked for it or had intention for it, but you just somehow entered into this process of accumulating a sense of being of

because of certain causes and conditions, maybe it was an accident that caused it, maybe it was some kind of move that you had to make internationally, or some kind of thing that happened in the world or around you that caused you to have a new kind of identity. For example, you have a kind of personality when you go out into the office and you deal with people, but when you're now in the COVID situation, a lot of people are doing Zoom calls and they have a certain kind of personality that they have when they're doing Zoom calls and such, so on and so forth. That's a very mundane example, but that's a way of understanding how circumstances beyond one's own intention of doing something or another's intention can lead you to develop a personality around those circumstances

or purifications of offerings. There is the offering purified by the giver but not by the recipient, that is through their intention, or by the recipient but not by the giver, that is to say by the gratitude of the receiver, by neither, and by both. There is no purification going on by neither or both. One is generous, and that is the giver, and the other is the receiver who is grateful. Or bases of sympathy: generosity, pleasing speech, beneficial conduct and impartiality, that is to say the four bases of having a sense of understanding among other people. You're generous with your time, we're generous with your resources, you speak well, you speak kindly, you have good conduct, and you're impartial when it comes to making decisions. Or Ariyan modes of speech: lying, slander, abuse and idle gossip; or Ariyan modes of speech: refraining from lying, slander, abuse and idle speech; or more Ariyan modes of speech: claiming to have seen, heard, sensed, known what one has not seen, heard, sensed or known. So that is again misconstruing or misrepresenting what one has experienced.

or more modes of speech stating that one has not seen heard sense known what has not seen what one has not seen heard since the known essentially being truthful about the matter or more on arian modes of speech claiming not to have seen heard since known what one has seen heard since known that is withholding certain information for the purposes of intentionally harming another person or more arian modes of speech stating that one has seen heard since known what has what had one has seen heard sensed and known again keeping the truth or persons here a certain person torments himself is given to self-tormenting tormenting others forments himself and others torments neither himself nor others thereby he dwells in this life without craving release cool enjoying bliss becoming as brahma so one who torments himself one who has all kinds of practices that create pain in the mind and body is given to self tormenting performance others as ill will towards others makes things makes the life difficult for others makes life difficult for himself and others and neither makes life difficult for himself and others and thereby

he has the right path, which is the eightfold path, leading to release, leading to nibbana. Or more persons: here a man's life benefits himself but not others, others but not himself, neither, or both. So one actually does something to help himself or oneself but not for others, or is able to help others but not himself, in giving wisdom to others but not for himself, and neither doesn't help himself or others

and both: in giving wisdom to himself he gives wisdom to others as well, and vice versa. That reminds one that he is not an arahant, but when he gives the understanding of the five aggregates in relation to self, he attains arahatship, and others around him will listen to it and gain arahatship as well. Or more persons: living in darkness and bound for darkness; living in darkness and bound for the light; living in the light and bound for darkness; living in the light and bound for the light. In this case, one is having unwholesome states of mind in action and is bound for unwholesome states of existence. Living in unwholesome states but makes a decision to go towards wholesome states; having unwholesome states but then makes a decision to do unwholesome things; and living in wholesome conditions, wholesome states of mind, and is bound for wholesome states of existence. Or more persons: the unshakable ascetic, the blue lotus ascetic, the white lotus ascetic and the subtly perfect ascetic. That is to say, the unshakable ascetic is one who is a stream enterer because

they have completely let go of the fetters that will no longer make them be born in lower realms, so now they are bound for arahatship, they're bound for complete enlightenment. The blue lotus ascetic is a sakadagami, one who has lowered their craving and lowered their aversion, and the white lotus ascetic is one who has let go of those colors of craving and let go of the colors of aversion. In the first case, the blue lotus means there's still some color of craving, still some color of aversion. In the white lotus, they have completely eradicated, and so that's an anagami. And the subtly perfect ascetic, that is to say they have perfected every aspect of the and know the subtle keys of the path in and out, and therefore our other house. These are the sets of four things which were perfectly proclaimed by the Lord, so we should all recite them together for the benefit, welfare and happiness of devas and humans. This is the end of the first recitation.

How is everyone feeling? Is anybody up for questions and comments? Dhamma is said in different ways. I feel like once we practice, the understanding of practice is more profound, and the practice cannot be explained in some limited text. I mean, the text is so limited, even though it is explaining different aspects of what we are practicing.

But I enjoyed a lot this sutta because it's saying so different things and in details. And I'm happy that many of the people who are here actually know what you are speaking. And that is so great, right? It is great. It's a wonderful thing. Yeah, yeah. And we are able to understand it because many people who are here are practicing it. And I'm sure if there is no understanding aspect, I'm sure people might not continue to listen to this one. This is so great. You can imagine. It is wonderful. Imagine this is just a recitation. Of course, there was a lot of explanation going on and so on, but just the recitation, you can imagine the patience of those listening and just being able to understand, verify and confirm for them how this practice is working, because what Sariputta is doing in this sutta, and in fact even the next sutta, which is a similar kind of approach, is compiling the entire Dhamma in these different sets of lists and looking at the Dhamma in different angles, as you rightly put it.

And the only way to really have that patience is through practice, to be able to actually know and verify for yourself how this process works. Thank you, Nelson. You're welcome. Does anybody have any questions? Anything they want to comment on? I would love to add some comments, Delson. It is. Yeah. This recitation part one, you had a great patience. This is an incredible patience on your side to stick with the text and provide such a profound explanation. And yeah, this is amazing. It has uncovered many aspects that we didn't even know.

So it's wonderful. And thank you so much for your time. I would like to ask two questions. One about the composition of formations. Formations is said to be sankhara, which we invariably term as being a conditioner or something that prepares some sort of composes and stuff like that. And these, you mentioned about the pure formations and the fettered formations.

What sort of composition does the formation itself have? And how do we understand it in such an easy way to understand, manner? This is the first question. Okay, you want me to respond to the first craving first? How craving and formations are linked? Okay, yes. Okay, so one of the simplest ways of understanding formations on a very practical level is to see choice and consequence. That is to say that in every present moment, in every moment that is provided to you, there's an opportunity to act with craving or to act with mindfulness, because every time you make certain choices, they will continue to condition the next set of formations. So far, in the sense of one who is not yet an arahant, there are formations that are always fettered, but because of continually following the path, continually making choices in the moment, in the present moment, the next set of moments you will have formations that are weaker with those fetters. Those are the abhisankharas. They're known as karmic formations.

Or formations that are fettered by the conceit, fettered by the craving. Essentially they're influenced by the taints, and the taints are always strengthened by the choices you continue to make in the present moment, if it is unwholesome, if it is rooted in craving, rooted in identification, rooted in lack of mindfulness. But every time you have the mindfulness, you're able to see how. Just think about it in this way: when you actually maintain the precepts, you see a result of that directly in a mind that is pure, in a mind that is purified for the practice of Samadhi. It's essentially that when you don't have a mind that is pure because of breaking of certain precepts, you see that in your meditation as well, in the way of hindrances. So these hindrances are a result of having not done something. So formations are actually related to intention, number one, which is the choice that you make, and number two, the result of kamma.

The wonderful thing about formations, or sankharas, as a word is that it has so many multiple contexts and meanings, but the simplest way to understand it, for the purposes of understanding how to process the Dhamma, is to see how you can reprogram your choices every time, and thereby let go of further kamma, let go of further kamma that is rooted in those abhisankharas, and formulating or strengthening the formations that are rooted in the path. Ultimately, the pure formations are those formations that are karmic in nature, by the very fact of them having arisen because of something that happened before the mind became fully awakened. They arise because of certain contact. But so long as that mind is liberated, and so long as that karma is experienced at the level of experience of sensation or mental experience, there won't be any further craving. There will just be the letting go of, or not even the letting go, just the seeing of that, and the dissipation of that bit by bit, until all the formations are completely

experienced, let's say, in that moment, because there won't be further strengthening of those formations that were fettered, because they're no longer present. So pure formations means they're formations void of any craving, formations void of any ignorance and formations void of any conceit. - So the craving is kind of exciting or the catalyst, at least for the formation to be recycled and regenerated again and again. So by relaxing or diffusing the craving itself, the formations are getting... the actual regeneration process is calmed or stilled. That's what the stilling of the formations is that we are trying to do. So this is why the Buddha is calling the stilling of all formations

is actually the nibbana experience, right? Yes, yes. That's one way of understanding it, but it's also the tranquilizing of the formations. In relation to when you get into jhana, the verbal formations stop, the physical formation stops, and the mental formation stops. That is great. Thank you so much. Um, second question, about the liberation of mind. Here, I think I have a call in Anguttara Nikaya, the first sutta. What they're saying is that the mind is intrinsically luminous, and it is defiled by some sort of defilements and stuff. So mind is intrinsically bright and luminous on all sides, and then this implies that the liberation is kind of getting rid of, or being devoid of, anything that latches onto the mind.

It's like the covering. So you have got like a mind, I'm imagining like a sphere, and those defilements are stuck on the kind of that. How do we understand this liberation? Just again, this is for the simplest illustration or understanding. Yeah, when the Buddha says the mind is luminous, he's really referring to a mind that is aware. The mind is naturally aware, mind is naturally cognizant, because within the context of ancient Indian thought, consciousness is understood to be a kind of fire, to be understood as a kind of light that illuminates certain things. So when you have eye consciousness, it illuminates the forms, so to speak. It's aware of the forms, it's cognizing in that sense. The consciousness, when it is fettered by these formations, is defiled because of the taints, and then because of ignorance, and then because of the fettered formations. So because that consciousness is already defiled,

then anything that arises in the way of contact, feeling and perception, will also be defiled. But if you make the choice to let go of it, then bit by bit you're letting go of the defilements and come back to a consciousness that is pure. That does not mean a pure consciousness in the way of some kind of a pervading consciousness, but it just means that that consciousness is purely seeing without projecting onto it any kind of associations, any kind of identity or conceptualizations, no longer proliferating what it is cognizing. That's one way to understand it.

So this liberated mind is a pure consciousness that doesn't have any object, in the sense that this is the experience of three contacts, right? The emptiness contact. Yes. The objectless contact, and what is the other one? The desireless. The desireless contact. Yeah. So it is free from all sort of bonds, any sort of inclinations, and it is completely independent.

Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. And I appreciate your time and patience. Thank you. You're welcome. So I want to thank you all for sticking around for this long. I'm glad you guys are still here. Let's share some merit. May the 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, almighty power, share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha dispensation. Thank you, Delson. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Delson, and I hope. Thank you. Thank you.