Wrapping Up Sept 2024 Zoom Retreat With Delson Armstrong: The Final Discussion!

I think pretty much everyone is here, so we can get started. I'm going to give a small talk. I'll open it up for a few questions, and then I'm going to hand it over to John to give you a couple of announcements. And then in the end, we will all share some merit. So let me spotlight everyone.

So you guys made it. Looks like it all went well. Nobody dropped out. That's a good thing. With this practice, it is a lifelong practice, or it can be a lifelong practice. You know, when we talk about experiences like cessation, and jhana, and Yeroda, and all of these things that we talk about, there's a certain kind of mystique around it. What I want to try to do, if I can a little bit, is demystify what all of that is. Because the idea isn't to look for a special state of experience. Then all you're doing is chasing an outcome, chasing some kind of state. But that state is only a state, which means that it goes when it will go. There is something that remains, though. There's something that remains in the mind, and that is wisdom. And that wisdom is unshakable. Once you see into the nature of reality, you can't go back. Wisdom is known as panna in Pali.

It is the understanding and establishment of right view. So what is that right view? That right view is the understanding of the four noble truths: understanding suffering, understanding how suffering arises, understanding its cessation, and understanding the noble eightfold path. But more specifically, as it's put in the suttas, as it's mentioned, it's the understanding of suffering. It's the letting go of the causes and conditions for suffering, namely tanha. It's the experiencing and realization of nirodha, or the cessation of suffering, and the cultivation and ultimate perfection of the Eightfold Path. So if you want to start somewhere off your retreat, you start off with the Eightfold Path. And the core of the Eightfold Path are the, or however you want to put them, essentially the right effort.

What is right effort? Right effort is the ability to first and foremost recognize when an unwholesome state arises, to abandon that unwholesome state, and to cultivate a wholesome state. So abandon the unwholesome, cultivate the wholesome, and then maintain and keep that wholesome state going. So right effort is the heart of the practice. It's only through right effort that you go from wrong view to right view, wrong intention to right intention, wrong speech to right speech, wrong action to right action, wrong livelihood to right livelihood, wrong mindfulness to right mindfulness, wrong concentration or collectedness to right collectedness. And when you have all of these factors in play, and when you are developing them in such a way, then you experience insight and knowledge and ultimate freedom of mind.

Right. It's by no accident that the organization that's running this show is called Freedom of Mind, because that is what we came upon in agreement when I suggested it as a name, because it's a literal translation of ceto vimutti. Ceto is mind. Vimutti is freedom. So it is total freedom of mind. And this is possible in every moment. This is what you should understand. This freedom of mind is possible here and now, whenever you want it.

The running around on a hamster wheel of experiencing craving, letting go of craving, experiencing craving, letting go of craving, just samsara. You know, I've always said mind is samsara. What does that mean when I say mind is samsara? Because it's our mind, right? When we talk about the Dhammapada verses, mind is chief, mind is the forerunner of all states. It is mind that projects onto this, whatever this is, our reality. With the ears we think that we're smelling, with the nose tasting, with the tongue experiencing pressure and different feelings with the body. Actually, they're all being collected. They're the instruments through which all of these different vibrations are collected, and then they are perceived. They are felt and perceived at the level of mind. So mind is what makes up our samsara.

But when we let go of the projections, when we let go of the mental proliferations, when we let go of identifying with this, that, or the other, we stop making things a big deal. Even the successes, all of that. If we just see that it's not a big deal, then we come towards a mind that is free of any craving, because we let go of identifying with it. That I'm the one who experienced this, good, bad, or indifferent. I'm the one who is doing this. The sense of the experiencer in all experience is the

root of suffering, because it's from that identification process, it's from that egoic process, that craving arises. When you take something personally, then there is the sense of this belongs to me, mine, or myself. From there, when you act, there's craving, clinging, becoming, and so on. So the one thing to take away from this retreat, if at all, is that if we can start to understand this one nugget of wisdom: what we are experiencing is an experience. It is just plain experience. The one who is experiencing it is a thought. It's a concept. So in other words, it is not the experiencer who is bringing out the experience.

The experiencer comes from the experience. When you are seeing something, there is just the seeing. As a result of the seeing, the mind says, oh, I am seeing it. When there's a hearing going on, there is the idea that I am the one who's hearing this. If you just let go of that I am, then there's nothing for you to do beyond that. Then you're here always. There's just the experience, and it's just a flow. Moment to moment to moment. Just this is the end of suffering, as the Buddha says. This practice alone of seeing that, catching the mind whenever it projects an I, whenever it projects a me, whenever it projects this is me, this is mine, this is myself, onto the experience.

That is the task at hand. That is what needs to be done: to detect this, and to relax it, and let it go, and just relax back into the experience. So when you get off retreat, you can do, of course, your routine, and you can continue maintaining a routine practice. You can continue to wake up in the morning and take your precepts. Very important, very vital. These precepts are non-negotiable. Five precepts are non-negotiable, because these five precepts are everything that creates an order of civilization. You know, the word Arya, this is something new you might hear, but this is something that I'm introducing in my upcoming books. The word Arya, you know, it's an old Sanskrit word.

It was co-opted by, you know, the Nazis and taken as something else, Aryan and whatnot. Arya is usually translated in most English suttas, I mean English translated suttas, as noble, right? The Arya puggala, that is, the noble ones. I actually will say that Arya means civilized. We live in a world that is uncivilized, for the most part. We live in a world where people don't realize that they're acting uncivilized. And so for us to be noble, for us to be civilized, is to keep the five precepts. And this is not uniquely Buddhist. This you will find in every tradition. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's the golden rule.

You'll find that in the Rig Veda, of ancient Vedic Hinduism. You'll find that in Judaism. You'll find that in Christianity, obviously. Islam. Because it's not a religious ideal. It's not a spiritual ideal. It is our nature. We understand pain. We understand suffering. We understand how another being feels. This is why I've said that we are all like little children. The world around us is like little children. We pretend to be adults, but nobody knows what the heck is going on here. Everybody pretends to know. The world leaders pretend to know. The religious leaders pretend to know. They're trying their best. But actually, if we realize that we're just little children, then the inner nature, the true nature of our compassion, shines through. The true nature of our empathy shines through. And that's how we become civilized.

Keeping these five precepts. This is the core understanding behind why we keep the five precepts: to keep civilization going. So you hold a big responsibility when you keep the five precepts. When you do your part, when you do your duty to keep the five precepts, you're actually upholding civilization. It's a big thing. Don't take it lightly. So when you have these five precepts, when you keep these five precepts, what happens? Your mind starts to become more collected. Your mind starts to become calmer. Your mind becomes more attentive, less scattered, less divided.

And along with that, your mind starts to see for itself how this process works. It understands mindfulness as a process of being here. It does that. It applies that. And also understanding how mind is moving. This is the true utility of mindfulness. Now, along with the precepts and this understanding of mental development, one more thing to do is be generous. When you get off retreat, make it a point to be generous. And it's not just about sharing or letting go of money by donating to charities, giving to teachers, giving to sangha, and all of that. That's all well and good. But it's also about understanding the levels of generosity. You know, you can give money, and money will come to you.

Give time, and time never comes back to you. So how do you choose to spend your time? Who do you choose to give your time to? What do you choose to give your time to? So make it a point, at some point in your life, to give your time. Listen from your heart. Understand the other person. And the Buddha has said the highest kind of dana that you can give is knowledge. Dhamma dana. That is the dana, the generosity of the Dhamma. It doesn't mean that you have to teach. If you have the capacity to, you can teach. The best teachers, I think, are the ones who don't want to teach, because the ones who want to teach are filled with all kinds of ideas of what they think things should be.

But the ones who realize that they're not really interested in teaching have a lot more to teach, a lot more to show. So how do you express this, Dhamma dana? How do you express the generosity of the teaching? By being an example. When you're an example of the Dhamma, keeping the precepts, being generous, developing the mind, showing how you can be at peace even in the stormiest of days, that's how you're sharing the Dhamma. You become an inspiration to others. And people will see that and they will understand it and they'll want to know more. And when you're ready, you will show them. You will share with them. You will tell them about it. And the words will flow from you because you are keeping the precepts.

When you keep the precepts, your mind being unscattered, being undivided, you also have what's known as Vaksidhi. A little bit of that comes about every time you are truthful and honest in your speech. And sometimes it gets even more esoteric than that. Whatever you say comes to truth because you're always speaking truth. So be an example of the Dhamma. You're already an example of the Dhamma. This is what you need to understand. We are all the potential examples of the Dhamma. It's just that we need to come into our own and see for ourselves that every time we let go, every time we can be equanimous in the hurricane, every time we can be loving and kind when people are not loving and kind, every time we can be compassionate to those who need our compassion, every time we can share and celebrate in life and uplift others through our joy by magnifying their own joy.

We are coming into our own. We are becoming exemplars of Nana. So share that through your actions. Share that through your commitment to keep the precepts. Share that through your meditation routine. And that will be whatever works for you, right? If you can spare 30 minutes, great. If you can spare an hour, great. If you can spare two hours, great. But try to make sure that you have consistent practice. Consistency is key in the gradual training. And when you meditate, for those of you who are with a spiritual friend, keep going with a spiritual friend. When things change, write to Dhamma Sukha, write to Fear My Mind, or write to my contact. John will share my email with all of you, in chat, that you can access.

Contact at DelsonArmstrong.com. And then we'll give you further instructions whenever you're ready. And if you're doing the six directions, then you continue with the six directions. And use your intuition. Use your intuition to see what do I need for today? What does the mind need today? Does it need more loving kindness? Does it need more compassion? Does it need more joy? Does it need more equanimity? And just radiate that. Do it without any sense of an outcome, at the end of the meditation. You know, the word upekkha comes from the Sanskrit upeksha. The Pali upekkha comes from the Sanskrit upeksha. There's another word. One second.

There is another word in Sanskrit called apeksha. So there's the U-P-E-K. Here we're talking about A-P-E-K. So apeksha. And apeksha means expectation. There's an expectation of something. Upekkha, in that sense, is no expectations. That's why I keep saying to everyone it will happen when you least expect it, because you have enough equanimity and calm where you have no expectations of what's going to happen. I understand it's easier said than done. I totally understand that. But the more upekkha that you cultivate, the more equanimity you cultivate, the easier it will be for your mind to be disenchanted and dispassionate. And from there, it's as easy as becoming free. So just do that process and you will see the mind experience deeper and deeper levels of freedom.

Every time you let go of a thought that's bothering you, every time you let go of the desire to talk back at someone who is criticizing you, every time you decide to let go of a desire to break a precept, you are getting closer to Nibbana. And in that moment, you're experiencing Nibbana. Nibbana is the true nature of the mind. Nibbana means no fire. Nibbana also means no more forest. What does that mean? No more forest. trees and branches that root out through conceit and craving and delusion and greed and hatred. Nibbana is like the mind that is clear of all thoughts, free of any projections, any conceptualizations of me, mine, or myself. It is what I call the sky mind, a mind that is like the sky, Free of all clouds.

You know, whenever I'm in Dhamma Sukha and David and I would go out for lunch or just going down the road, driving down the road, I look up at the sky and if it's cloudless, I'll say, we have Nibbana today. You know, that's just our inside joke. We have Nibbana today. And then sometimes when there are clouds, we'll say, yeah, we're almost there. We're almost there with Nibbana. And then we're just waiting for the clouds to pass by.

Mind that's the nature of the mind, clear like a cloudless sky. The beauty of Nibbana is that you already recognize it when it happens, which means it's always there for you. It's already there. All that you've been doing with regards to this practice in meditation and letting go and going through the jhanas is to keep the mind that feels like it needs to do something busy, so you're occupying that kid-like nature of your mind and saying, okay, go play with these toys, go play with the jhanas, go play with these different factors. And eventually the mind says, okay, I get it, I feel it, I understand it, and now what emerges is the mind.

And this luminous mind is non-manifestative. It's non-reflective. Or it can become when it goes into the signless. And from there, the mind completely ceases. And when it emerges, it emerges from having touched the nibbana dhatu. And you have let go of an ocean of suffering, worry about where you are in your practice. Don't worry about what stage of enlightenment you're in. It's all to occupy, you know, the left brain. It's all to occupy that thinking nature of the mind. Where am I? What am I doing? Am I a sotapanna? Am I a sakadagami? Did I get to anagami? I don't know. Do I still have craving? Do I still have aversion? I don't know.

That's just, you know, occupying again, thinking mind. The intuitive mind, which is the mind of one who is fully awakened and is accessible, by the way, to everybody. Whenever you silence this part of the brain and you bring up this part of the brain, that is your intuition and creativity, the right part of your brain, you are coming into more contact with Nibbana. You're coming into more contact with understanding how this process works, coming into more contact with intuition. You'll see that in the Sutta, sometimes the Buddha will be meditating and it'll say, upon coming out of his meditation, a thought occurred to him. Why don't I go to so-and-so place? Why don't I go and meet so-and-so?

That's intuition right there. It just comes out of nowhere. Oh, this is maybe what I should be doing. So you'll find that more and more as your mind gets more in tune to letting go and experiencing this mundane nirvana. And to utilize intuition, it's as easy as asking the mind, what should I be doing right now? And not analyzing the answer, not looking for the answer. An answer again, when you least expect it, the answer will come to you. And as you become more and more in tune with this intuitive mind, you will experience what is called synchronicity. You thought about a person and at the end of the day you get a text message from them. That's a very basic form of synchronicity. You start to see all of these connections because you're tuned to the foundational fabric of existence, which is dependent origination.

What's the point of knowing about dependent origination? It's just another model. What's the point of knowing about the five aggregates? It's just another model. These are all just models to occupy the thinking mind so that it can be let go of, mental building blocks of creation. When you're in tune with that, then you have synchronous life, which becomes magical, seemingly magical. Then there is no mental suffering. You still feel pain. You still feel, you know, when you have to go out and it's too hot, you'll still feel the heat. It's too cold, you'll still feel the icy cold. If you get sick, you'll still get sick, right? Whatever it is, you'll still experience the physical components of suffering.

And things will still be annoying. Things will still be frustrating. But the second arrow, which dwells on that and projects samsara onto it, with all kinds of mental proliferation, that disappeared. So this is what is available to you now. Now that you have the tools, you have forgiveness as a tool, you have loving kindness as a tool, you have the Brahma Viharas as a tool, you have the quiet mind as a tool, you have intuition, you have the Eightfold Path, you have all of these things. Trust in your intuition. Just this afternoon, I got a message from a student on my Patreon, just talking about all of these things about gurus and avatars and this and that and the other.

And he was trying to figure out how to make sense of it. And I just said, your inner guru, your inner teacher is your intuition. People project that intuition onto, oh, teacher was present when I was meditating, or I saw this particular Deva, or I saw this particular situation in my mind. That's just your true nature, that's your intuition speaking. It's giving you a creative way of seeing that, because that's how you attune to it. That's what it is, but you all have that ability, and I would trust that you can always go to it whenever you need to. So with that, I'm going to close off and open it up for some questions.

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Go ahead. Okay, so I've got a few, but I'll go one at a time, so I don't hog everybody else's time. So insight. Is insight just the information you get from intuition, or what is insight? Insight, yes, exactly. Insight is that which you get from intuition. In other words, the intuition is the actual tool or the instrument, and the insight is a thought that arises as a message from them. All right, thank you. Eri, go ahead. Oh, I forgot to ask you yesterday, what is chitta sankhara in the Majjhima Nikaya 118? You talk about kaya sankhara and chitta sankhara, the second tetra. So based on the Sutta, my understanding is that the chitta sankhara is kind of the vedana part, right?

Is everything that you feel, it's more like emotion? Kaya sankhara is more like a physical feeling of the body. Sankhara become the emotions, like the piti, sukha, or your painful feelings involving that, and then you go to the third tetrad about citta, pati somewhere, and you just be mindful with the citta, right? So citta sankhara, I kind of had her understanding, it is emotional, right? So we have the three sankharas, the bodily, mental and verbal. And so the bodily has to do with the processes of the body, obviously. The verbal has to do with expression of speech or thinking about something and then expressing it in speech.

And the mental is feeling and perception. It allows you to experience feeling and perception. That can be emotional in nature, but that could also actually be anything to do with a painful feeling in the body, outside of the body, and so on. And the perception, which is the concept that's projected onto experience. Thank you. Back to you, Z. Oh, great. So I was wondering, trying too hard, what are some good tools to deal with detecting whether you're trying too hard? Because I found it to be very tricky. The mind can trick you into thinking you're not trying when it is actually trying very hard. Yeah. So trying too hard is, let's say in some sense, a left brain activity.

You know, I don't, I want, I mean, it's a very over, it's a very much an oversimplification of it. But basically what I'm saying is trying too hard is essentially the mind saying that I am doing something. I am in control. Right. So detecting when you feel like, I'm getting this, I'm in control, but then letting go of that and being like, okay, I'm just going to be allowing things to happen. And of course, the more apparent signs that you're trying way too hard is the tightness and tension in the body and in the mind. Or if you get meditation pain, it means that you're focusing too much. That's another kind of trying too hard.

But at the very, very basic level, also apparent in all processes of trying too hard, it's the idea that I need to get somewhere. If you still have this expression in mind that I need to get somewhere, then you're definitely trying too hard. Okay. Okay, that's great. Thanks. You've talked about cultivating the awareness of experience not being I, me or myself. I wonder how to actually apply that. And the reason why I'm asking this is, in one of the comments this week, I think you mentioned how perception evolves first from the realization of anicca and then dukkha and then anatta. So essentially that realization of experience not being I, me or myself is at the anatta stage, right?

So I'm curious how exactly to apply your advice. Is it at a conscious level in terms of the right effort? Or is it just to stick to that sequence of events where you first cultivate the awareness of anatta and that will eventually lead you to anatta? Yeah, and the sutta is what it mentions is that the destruction of conceit. First, let's understand what conceit is, the mana. So mana means to measure. It means to compare. So every time you're comparing, oh, I'm doing great. And just saying I'm doing great is a comparison to what other people might or might not be doing. Right? There's the I am that comes up. And what is mentioned in the suttas is that the destruction of conceit, the destruction of this notion of me, mine, or myself happens through the realization of impermanence.

Yes, in that sense, the impermanence or seeing that this is actually all impermanent. Why am I holding on to this? Then you let go. Why is this being seen as something that I need to hold on to when it's all impermanent? You let go of that. And then, of course, that comes to the realization of dukkha, which is what I'm holding on to will eventually end. And therefore, even if it's a happy moment, ultimately, when it ends, it will cause suffering. Because if I'm holding on to it, it causes me. You let go of that from that.

But the other thing is, practically speaking, when you have this notion of I look for that, look for that, when you're in that moment, that oh, I am taking this personally, and the moment you recognize that the flow of I stops, the flow of me, my, myself stops, and then you just relax into the experience, and then there's nothing to do after that. You just let go of it. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. Yeah, so I'm trying to understand a little better this sense of letting go of effort, but I think at the current stage it's a little confusing, because if I completely let go of effort, then I could be spacey or have torpor or something like that. And so should I think of it as as little effort as possible, or should I actually be going for no effort? So a couple of things here. So one is, when we talk about right effort, it's talking about the most minimal or the most

The most effective effort to make, which is just these four components of recognizing, abandoning, bringing up wholesome, maintaining the wholesome. To that extent you make the effort, anything much effort. Okay, yeah, go ahead. That's just the minimum possible effort contained in the six R's, but no more effort, right? But not no effort, they do need some effort, that's why they call it right effort. That's right. Okay. But then when you're out, when you're at the level of like quiet mind and stuff, then there's very little effort you need. Even the right effort is just relaxing, coming back.

Right. All right, we're going to take a couple more questions, and then we'll end it here. So, Harry, go ahead. Oh, sir, we're talking about the Ten Paramis. Do you come out of your head, do you know which sutta we're talking about? I thought this is from Visuddhimagga, but is there a sutta talking about the Ten Paramis? I'm going to have to get back to you on that, because I'm not sure which sutta this mentions. It could be in the Abhidhamma, or it could be in one of the later parts of the Khuddaka Nikaya. But regardless where it's from, it's a pretty good list of stuff to do. Thank you.

Ethan. Hello. You said a right effort is abandon or let go of the unwholesome state and bring up wholesome state, then to keep it. And in my meditation or day life, I always to check if I am in the wholesome state. Obviously check will let me tennis in my head. But you don't have to do that. How to keep? When I want to keep the wholesome state, to keep means control for me. So what should I do? If your mind is relaxed, that's already wholesome. If there's no unwholesome states in the mind, that's already wholesome. You don't have to do anything beyond that. Thank you. Oh, is it to check? No need to check. And check is a doubt.

If you have no greed, hatred, and delusion in that moment, nothing else needs to be done. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, thank you so much, Jason. If we are in equanimity, in deep equanimity, and the pain occurs, should we relax, or should we see the pain arising and passing away if we are comfortable to see that? Yeah, if there's no aversion to the pain, but the pain is there, you don't need to see the pain there, and you stay with your object. But if you notice that the aversion is there, where you're like, this pain is too much and I need to do something about it, then you use right effort to let go of the aversion, but the pain will still continue. What's now there is more equanimity towards the pain. You don't look at the pain. You keep your mind on the object as much as you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is happening with me. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Right. Did you have a question?

Is your hand raised for a question? Yeah, it's still raised for a question. Okay. Brian too? Brian too? Do you have another question? No. Okay. Z will be the last question. Go ahead. Okay. So, can I maybe bother you for two questions? I hope I'll make them brief. One is determination practice. Who is it good for? When would be a good idea to practice it? And the other one is, you mentioned something called uninclined samadhi. Would you mind giving me the Pali term and maybe any sort of reference and just a summary of what it's about?

Yeah. Okay. So, number one, with determinations, it's not really needed for everyone. It's not needed for anyone, actually. You know, determinations are something you can do much, much later. much later and there's no value in doing the determinations in a way that is like causing you to make too much effort it only happens when your mind is advanced enough and you're able to like really really let go and be able to keep keep in mind the timing and intention and so on and so forth so it's not required you know i i just don't think people really need determinations at this point in time you know when they are ready for it i will let them know but so far not no one yet so don't don't uh Don't reflect on that.

No need for it. Second is the uninclined. If I'm not mistaken, and I can be corrected if anybody knows this, I believe the uninclined is the apanihita. Apanihita. Basically, what it's saying is that we have these three classes of contact with the Nibbana element. When you understand the impermanent nature of things, take on any kind of object, and so that is the signless, that's the objectless, that is the animitta, and when you realize the dukkha aspect, which is that any effort that I make beyond just this, and anytime I make intention beyond this, it causes craving and suffering, then you let go of that, and your mind becomes notice the impersonal nature of things and understand the emptiness of things, you are in the sunyata aspect.

These are like the three doors to liberation kind of thing. And these three are mentioned in Majjhima Nikaya 43. And it's also mentioned in the Kamabhu Sutta. It's very specifically the uninclined samadhi is mentioned in what is known as the Bhikkhuni's residence. I don't know the name. I think it might be Samyutta Nikaya. I don't know the number, right off the top of my head, but I remember that it's called the nun's residence or the bhikkhuni's residence. All right. Thank you so much. All right, I'll give it to John now, and John, go ahead. Thank you, Delson. Thanks for this, and thanks to everyone for this wonderful event. So I just wanted to, that many people have asked how to keep in touch with Delson and how to continue carrying on from here with his guidance.

And so there's a couple of things that we've developed lately, and I'm just going to share those with you now. So first of all, there's the Patreon. There's a new Patreon, and Delson is putting up content here. You can see there's already two new videos up here. service as Delson transitions to a professional fees model to support his livelihood as a layperson. And I'm happy to answer questions about that. You can email me at the email I dropped into the chat if you want to ask more about this. It's a very important thing to keep Delson teaching and to keep us having access to his teachings. And so when you go to the Patreon here, and I'll drop this link into the chat in a moment. Then there's membership here, and there's different levels of membership and different ways of engaging that are there.

So I'll provide that in a moment. And then also there's the consultations on the website at delsonarmstrong.com, and you can sign up here. And this basically goes to the email that I've just put into the chat. But if you fill this out, then I'll get back to you with, there's some odd person there making it up. observation. Oh, that guy looks familiar. I think I've seen him before. And I would just say that, my endorsement is based on deep truth in myself. So that's why I'm doing this job. And so, yeah, you can go there and you can contact, set up a one-on-one with Delson if you like. And I think that's all I have for now.

So thanks. Well, I just want to also mention if you guys feel you want to donate to Freedom of Mind, there's also a site you can go because what we've done with this particular fundraising event is that a portion of it goes to Freedom of Mind and a portion of it goes to me. But if you want to continue supporting Freedom of Mind, Delson, I'll leave that up to you. Go ahead. Yeah, thanks. So yeah, Freedom of Mind, the website's up and Freedom of Mind will be a platform, a non-profit, not-for-profit platform. It already is a 501c3 in the United States since last December. And the purpose is to provide retreats for people to be able to have these wonderful experiences that we're having and set up by students who've had wonderful experiences with Delson in practice and Bhante in practice.

And so there's a wonderful bunch of people here and a couple of odd characters. that. Yeah. So if you go to here, I'll put this link in as well. And it's something that's going to grow a lot. And we're working really hard to make this a platform to help reduce mental suffering in the world. And how can they donate? How can they donate if they want to donate? Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Okay. So yeah, if you go here, we've got this thing called GiveButter. And it's a way to make donations here. And so if you just go onto that page, which I'll drop in the chat in a moment. And there's also a volunteer form here.

Yeah, that's another one. And I think that covers it then, right? Okay, great. Yeah, thank you very much. If you just give me a moment, Delson, to drop those into the chat before we... Yeah, yeah. So while you're doing that, I just want to offer my thanks to everybody here for attending. This was a wonderful retreat. You guys have been really great. Had a lot of fun. I was talking to John behind the scenes about how everybody's so sweet and filled with appreciation. And I really, really appreciate that. So a lot of thanks to you guys for attending.

And I want to give a special thanks, of course, to John for helping facilitate this, but as well as Freedom of Mind in general, because they're the ones who are essentially sponsoring the process in association with Damasuka. So I want to thank David and Kirsten for helping out in the signups and this whole process. So this has been a great retreat and I'm very happy you guys could attend. Okay, so if you look down in the chat you'll see that those links are there, and above that is the email, and you might just want to copy and paste those before we go or take a screenshot. Just opening up the sharing of them. I got it. I got it. Here we go. Oh, you got it there? Okay, good. All right, let me do that. All right everyone, thank you very much. Okay, thank you so much everyone. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, everybody. Thank you, thank you.