Day 2 AN 50 'Blocks to the Luminous Mind' - Delson Armstrong

In the Anguttara Nikaya, the Book of Tens, starting with the sutta number 50, 51 and 52, I believe. The Buddha says, luminous is the mind, monks. Luminous is the mind. But due to adventitious defilements, the mind remains undeveloped, remains obscured. So what are those adventitious defilements that the Buddha is referring to? The word adventitious here, I had to look it up in the dictionary. It means that which is not inherent to something.

So the defilements are not inherent to the mind. The defilements are just coming because of whatever has happened. And instead of trying to figure out where the defilement came from, how did this defilement arise, just be aware, here is a defilement. What do we mean by defilement? We mean distraction, a hindrance. There are many different lists of hindrances and defilements and distractions.

In the context of what the Buddha was saying about adventitious defilements, he was calling them upakilesas, which means the 16 different kinds of defilements. You don't need to know all that. All you need to know is, am I on my object of meditation? What is your object of meditation? For those of you who are starting out, for the first 10 minutes, and then it's loving-kindness to your spiritual friend. Now you all know what that is. I don't have to repeat that.

And then for you guys who are more advanced, it is radiating loving-kindness in all directions, or radiating compassion, or whatever it might be. Does that mean you can start off with quiet mind? Okay, does that mean you can start off with just mind-watching mind? No. The people who've done this before, the advanced folks, don't do that, because that is sloth and torpor. When you just watch mind that way without doing any kind of radiating, in 20 minutes you will fall asleep.

Now all of you will have that challenge in the first couple of days because you're adjusting to the environment, to the schedule, you're adjusting to the travel that has taken you to come here and so on. So it might take a day, it might take two days. You may have restlessness or you may have sloth and torpor, and that's okay.

There is a way of dealing with these distractions, and in the twin practice it is the 6 Rs. Recognize, release, relax, re-smile, return. And then repeat was added later, but it's intrinsic. Repeat whenever the mind gets distracted. Basically what we're saying is, what is a distraction? A distraction is something that pulls your attention away from your designated object of meditation. Say that you have loving-kindness for yourself. You bring up the feeling of loving-kindness and you're staying with the feeling of loving-kindness for a while, but you also notice there are some thoughts in the background. You're thinking about this or that, but you're not consciously thinking of it. You're not actively participating in that thinking process. It's just background noise, but your mind is still, your attention is still, with the feeling of loving-kindness. Or whatever the object is, that's not a distraction. But say that you're staying with your object, the feeling of loving-kindness, and your mind notices the background thoughts, and then there is a specific thought that your mind looks at, and now you start going down that train.

You're going down that road of thinking about that thought, and the thought that leads to the next thought, and the thought that leads to the next, and the next, and the next. Now you are distracted. So any distraction is one that takes your attention away completely from the feeling of loving-kindness, or whatever your object is.

So when that happens, you may be distracted for a while. You may not be, but if you are distracted for a while, at some point you recognize, oh, I'm not on my object. That's the first step, recognizing that you're distracted. As soon as you recognize, my mind is distracted, you release. It means you take the gas pedal off. You take your foot off the gas pedal.

Of the distraction, of staying with the distraction. You slow down, you release your attention from that. Consciously relax back into the body, back into the awareness of the present moment. Here you're using the body as an anchor to be in the present moment. And then you bring up the smile. The smile is to uplift the mind. When you relax, back into the body, you're doing a couple of things. One is you are bringing mindfulness back into the present moment. And the second is, as soon as you relax any tightness or tension in the body, you are experiencing what we would call mundane Nibbana.

In that moment, your mind is clear. It is like a cloudless blue sky, free of any kind of craving, any kind of ill will, any kind of distraction. And with such a purified mind, you come back to the smile to uplift it further, and then return back to the object. The smile is another anchor for your mindfulness to become more established.

And this isn't something you have to think about. It's not something that you have to say, oh, okay, now I'm recognizing. Now I'm releasing. Oh, okay, now I have to relax. Now I'm coming back to my smile. Now I'm returning. It is a flow that happens. Recognize, oh, I got distracted. Release. Feel the relaxation. Feel the smile. If you're already smiling, great. Come back to the object. Let your mind relax back into the feeling of loving-kindness, or in the radiating, or whatever it is that you'll be doing for the practice.

Generally, there are five different types of distractions or hindrances. They are obstacles or obscurations for the luminous mind. Our minds are naturally luminous. This is what you should understand. They are naturally luminous. And what do we mean by that, luminous or natural luminosity? That the mind is effortlessly mindful. It is effortlessly aware. The nature of mind is to be aware.

We as humans, what is the difference between human beings on this planet? We overthink. Somewhere along the way, God made a mistake when creating humans. He added this little thing of, oh, let them self-reflect. And then there's all this me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Thinking about, what do I do now? Where do I go here? What do I do here, right? Reflecting, am I doing it correctly? Am I doing it incorrectly? What did he say when he said this? You know, all of these thoughts that are just reflexive in nature.

There are two kinds of thoughts. There is the thought that is just like the grain of the grass, or the heat that you feel outside. You cannot change the color of the grass. You can't change the temperature outside. It is whatever it is. And these are all sense experiences. You can't change the green to be blue. You can't change 90 degree weather to be 70 degrees. It is what it is. It's the same with thoughts.

A specific kind of thought, and that's the stream of thoughts that come and go. You can't change what kind of thoughts come up in your mind. And the second type of thought is an intentional process of thinking. It's when you bring up an object of meditation, that's an intentional thought. When you choose to look at the thoughts that arise and then get caught up in them, that is the second type of thought. Now you have chosen to pay attention to that thought, or in other words, you have chosen not to pay attention to the object. So this process of overthinking, we are learning how to rein that in, not to suppress it, not to push it down.

But learning how to navigate through it. You are not the thoughts. You are not the thinker. You are not the thinking. This is all just an impersonal process that's going on. When you sit down to meditate, you sit in the position that's comfortable for you, and you spend a couple of minutes just being centered. Just noticing, is there any tension in the body? Doing a swift scan through the body, is there any tightness or tension? And relaxing that tightness and tension.

And what the Buddha says is, before himself, establishes mindfulness before himself. What that means is he brings presence of mind. Just relax. There's nowhere to go, there's nothing to do, there's nowhere to be, there's nothing to achieve. It is your mind learning how to slow down. And when you do this and you just relax into the object, the object is coming up, the feeling of loving-kindness is coming up, great.

It's not coming up, great. It's okay. It may take longer. It may take some time. This practice is teaching you how to be patient. Patient with yourself, with existence. There is nothing to achieve here. It's all about letting go of our expectations. Letting go of our desire to control the outcome of whatever it is that we think we need to achieve, based on conditions of what we may have learned in the past, based on ideas and concepts of what the supposed goal is, and based on what our intentions are for this retreat.

Maybe not all of us want enlightenment. Maybe not all of us want awakening. Maybe we're just here to have a little vacation from all the busyness of the world outside. Maybe we're here to just take it easy, have a little bit of peace of mind, have a little quiet. That's fine too. At the end of this retreat, nobody is going to get a certificate of enlightenment, right? So when you come into the interviews, I'm not judging you. I don't have a mark sheet. It's going to say, today it's 70 out of 100 for this person. Tomorrow we'll see, okay, what happens. Oh, today it's 95%. No.

So there's nothing for you to prove to me or to yourself. [The Buddha] was saying, these are obstacles to the mind. And they're all stemming from this human condition that's called overthinking. The process of over-reflecting on what is happening. There are five basic hindrances: craving, aversion, restlessness, sloth and torpor, and doubt. Don't have to remember any of them. Just know, how do I deal with them when they come?

When craving arises, what does it mean? The mind is distracted on a different object at this point. It has become uninterested in the feeling of loving-kindness, too stale for the mind. Because the mind doesn't have enough patience to stay with it and remain with it. Because the mind gets easily bored. It needs variety. It needs novelty all the time.

So craving is the mind that has found staleness in its depth. designated object of meditation and is now looking for that same level of excitement in something else. But what you will see is as you continue to meditate, you will start to recognize that there are states of elevation of mind. States of joy that arise. I'm not talking about a great fireworks kind of joy. I'm just talking about a feeling of upliftedness, a feeling of, like, the mind feels satisfied. The mind feels content.

The mind feels gladness. It feels comfortable in this moment. And the more you do that, the less interesting craving is. The less interesting is what is happening outside of the meditation. The less interesting becomes whatever other objects of mind there might be around the feeling of loving kindness or whatever the object is. That's why the smile is so important because it brings that clarity of joy to the mind.

In this retreat, it's about learning how to be, or relearning how to be, like a child again. Smiling, laughing, finding beauty in the small things. And you go out and walk around. You see the butterflies, you see the hummingbirds. If you stand very still, you'll see a dozen hummingbirds coming to the watering hole. And you start to notice each of their personalities. You pet the cat.

You play with the dogs. All of these are expressions of the brahmaviharas. Expressions of loving kindness. Expressions of joy. Expressions of compassion. Being still and watching the hummingbirds. The expression of equanimity. Of tranquility. Don't make the meditation homework. Don't make it a task that I have to get over with. And don't make it into work that I have to do.

The meditation is the days abiding, as it's mentioned in the suttas. One eat, in the case of the Buddha or any of his disciples, they would go out for alms round, eat their breakfast or their lunch, and then come back, find the root of a tree or an empty hut or a cave, somewhere secluded, and sit for the days abiding.

Not because they had to, but because it was a respite from the activities of the senses. Sit down and enjoy the practice. When you do this, when you treat the practice like that, then craving as a form of distraction seldom arises. And when it does, you can immediately recognize it, let it go, and find something more gratifying, which is the object, which is the process of meditating.

Aversion, or ill will, is when the mind gets disturbed. Somebody coughing, shifting in their chair, somebody opening and closing the door, no matter how slowly and gently they may do so. Hearing the lawnmower, whatever it is that distracts the mind, supposedly distracts the mind. The only reason is because you choose to get irritated by it. That's the desire for that thing to stop.

And the reason that happens is because you make the meditation serious. I have to feel loving kindness. I have to feel joy. And once I experience it, I can't let go of the feeling anymore, because it's become so serious. Okay, there was a distraction. The more lightly you take it, the distraction is just a distraction. The sound is just a sound. The thought is just a thought. You notice for a moment your mind went somewhere. Chances are, if you treat it gently and lightly and softly, that when somebody opens the door, when somebody coughs, when somebody shuffles, when the lawnmower goes, it passes right through your mind.

And so it's less of a distraction and more of background noise because your mind is still with the feeling. So the more you hold on to something, the more you try to control how it's supposed to be, the higher the chances of you experiencing aversion. Because aversion, or ill will, or anger, or resentment, or whatever you want to call it, arises because something gets in the way of your object of desire.

And you get upset at the thing that gets in the way of your object of desire. You wish to remove the obstacle. And the only reason is because you want it too much. You want the object of meditation too much. You want to hold on to it too much, in the feeling of loving-kindness, knowing that it's present.

In Majjhima Nikaya 19, which is also known as the Dvi-Vitaka-Sutta, or Dvadi-Vitaka-Sutta, which means the two types of thoughts, the Buddha talks about, where he gives an analogy, and he says, in the beginning, it's important for the mind to stay with its object, and reflect on whether it's on its object or not. And it's just like a person tending to the cows and making sure the cows don't go into the fields and start chewing on the hay, start chewing on the crops, lest the person be punished.

In the same way, in the beginning, we are staying with our object, making sure our mind is there. But once we are with the object, then we are like the cow herd in the second analogy, which is he rests at the foot of a tree, lying down, watching once in a while where the cows are, but knowing the cows are in his vicinity.

Maybe he might need a stick once in a while to make sure that they're there, poke around, aren't going anywhere. And so once you have the feeling, you don't need to do anything else. Just rest. Relax. Bask in the experience, in the object. Don't try to control the cows where they're supposed to go or what they're supposed to do.

If you have that kind of quality of mind, where the mind is just basking in it, then aversion will not arise, because at that point any sound that happens, any sensation that occurs, passes right through you. You don't jump because you're not trying so hard. Likewise, with restlessness, this can happen where the mind is trying too hard. Guess what happens? When we try to hold on to one particular thought, there is a flurry of other thoughts that come in tandem to it. And the mind becomes overly excited.

The mind will have more energy than is required. And this can create tiredness and dullness. If you're just resting and basking in the feeling, in the object, then no restlessness will arise. Because restlessness is a mind that wishes that something was different. Actually, if you think about the word, the Pali, restlessness, it's two things, restlessness and remorse.

Restlessness is anxiety about the future. So you're not fully present with your object. You're trying to control how the object should go, how the meditation should go. And therefore, somewhere in the mind, it is worried about how things should be. And the mind has restlessness. Or remorse, which is actually just thinking about the past. So the mind will be like, well, my meditation was great an hour ago.

Or this sit before the interview was great. But now it's not so great. Why? And your mind becomes restless. Your mind becomes agitated. Every sit is its own sit. If you truly sit like that, you will be in a space that is timeless. It doesn't matter how long you sit. 30 minutes or 2 hours. It doesn't matter.

Because your mind has no expectations. And no comparisons to what was a great sit 10 minutes ago or 10 years ago. It's fully present with what's happening right here, right now. Sloth and torpor is a mind that is overly concentrated, or results from a mind that is overly concentrated. Because you're using too much energy. And energy is getting wasted, and the mind starts to dip.

It starts to go into a space where things are not as clear. There's a fogginess in the mind. And sometimes it's not because of that. Sometimes it's because of lack of sleep or a change in your sleep schedule. So when you start to adjust accordingly, you will start to see that your mind gets sharper and sharper and sharper. So this is why I want to make sure that you guys get enough sleep, and you supplement that with small, short naps.

No more than 20 minutes. Whenever you require it. The Buddha has given all kinds of ways in which you can deal with the sloth and torpor. Or a walk, sit in the sunshine. That's a little difficult. But this is why the lights are on. The lights should never be off in this Dhamma home when you're meditating. You want to sit in brightness. That's the point.

Or he says, go for a walk. Get your heart pumping so you get some more energy. You come back and the mind starts to balance. Wash your face with cold water. And if all else fails, go to sleep. Go for a nap. So you have to make the adjustments. This is your laboratory. These next seven or eight days is your time to experiment in the laboratory that is your mind and your body.

You've been given the tools. You've been given the experiment, which is the object, the meditation, and the tools, which are the 6R's. Use them wisely, use them accordingly. The final hindrance is something known as doubt. What do we mean by doubt? Doubt actually is the inability to know what is going on in the mind. It is the lack of discernment or discrimination between what is wholesome and unwholesome. You're not sure whether there is loving kindness or not. You're not sure if the mind is distracted or not.

This can happen, and it's fine. Fixed or resolved through something known as, in Pali, dhamma vichaya, which is usually translated as investigation of states, but I like to use the word discernment. When we say investigation, it means there's a conscious, like, oh, what's going on right here, right now? And it's more of an activity that can cause the mind to become agitated.

But when I say discernment, it's just bringing your mind back to the present moment. So now you recognize what's going on right here, right now. Is my mind with the object? Yes, it is. Great, nothing more to do. Is my mind not with the object? No, it's not. Okay, recognize that. Release, relax, sweet smile, come back. You don't need to know that. Am I distracted? No. Don't do anything.

Am I distracted? Yes, I am distracted. Bring your mind back to its object. The reason why we use the 6R's and the way we do it is because it is fulfilling the four right efforts as ascribed or prescribed by the Buddha in right effort. The first one is to recognize and prevent the arising of unarisen, unwholesome states.

So when you recognize the mind is distracted, that whole flow of distractions that are coming in the chain before or after the next distraction stops. As soon as you recognize that, that whole house of cards of distractions that are yet to come collapses. That's the first. The second is to let go or abandon the already arisen unwholesome states.

So when I release my attention from that and relax, I'm doing that third right effort, which is to generate a wholesome state of mind. And so as I've generated this wholesome state of mind, I bring up a feeling of loving kindness or whatever the object is, and I return to it and I stay with it. And that's the fourth right effort, which is to maintain that wholesome state of mind.

Beyond that, the six R's also helps us to balance the awakening factors. When I recognize that I am distracted, mindfulness is immediately established before me. And I have discernment that I was distracted. When I release my attention from the object and I relax, I'm balancing my energy and I have tranquility. When I come back to the smile, I have joy.

When I come back to the object, I return. I have collectedness. And I develop equanimity through that process. I'm not bothered by the fact that I was distracted. I'm not elated by the fact that I'm with my object. I have equanimity through that process. It is just something that's happening. I got distracted. No big deal. I'm with my object. Meditation, no big deal.

It's all the same for the mind. And the more you do this, the more equanimity is present in your mind, the less expectations that are present. And Nibbana happens when you least expect it. So I'll stop here and see if anybody has any questions. Yes. This is so interesting. We always think, because of our modern understanding, the mind is here.

Because we think that the mind is the same or is similar to where the brain is. But the ancients, even during the time of the Buddha, were here. So they call it the heart mind, the chitta. So it doesn't matter where it is. Just if you feel the feeling, that's all you need to know. Let's share some merit.

May suffering ones be suffering free and the fear struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation.