Day 4 2022 MN 10 Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta -July Retreat - -with Delson Armstrong

There are four noble truths, with four noble truths of suffering. So today we're going to read from Majjhima Nikaya 10, the Satipatthana Sutta, the foundations of mindfulness. where there was a town of the Kurus named Kamasadhamma. Kamasadhamma is where modern-day Delhi is. There he addressed the Bhikkhus thus, Bhikkhus, Venerable Sir, they replied. The Blessed One said this, Bhikkhus, this is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realization of Nibbana, namely the four foundations of mindfulness.

When he says this is the direct path, what he's saying is that taking this path leads to one thing and one thing only, which is Nibbana. We talk about the four foundations of mindfulness. This is often discussed in a lot of different places, but the four foundations of mindfulness, sati-patthana. It can mean foundations of mindfulness, or it could also mean places in which mindfulness is established.

He abides contemplating mind as mind, ardent, fully aware and mindful, having put away covetousness and grief for the world. He abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects, ardent, fully aware and mindful, the world. So these are the four. The body, feeling, mind, and mind objects. Fully aware and mindful. Ardent, fully aware, and mindful. So these three, they mean one and the same thing in some ways, and different things in different ways. And we'll discuss that.

Contemplating. The word contemplating. That denotes that we have to investigate, we have to analyze, we have to think about. But I would say that that's not the case. You're not contemplating anything. You're observing. Observing things as they are, as they come into your field of mind's vision. Not trying to control this or that, not trying to figure out what's going on, not trying to investigate in the sense of the word investigate.

Just aware of what is present and aware of what is not present. That is, when you recognize, that is the first step of the 6R's. When you recognize, that's when you bring up mindfulness. You have recognized what is present and you have recognized what is not present. When your mind is distracted, you have recognized mind is distracted meditation. You don't have to further investigate beyond that. What is the cause of this distraction? Where did this distraction come from? Why am I distracted? What kind of distraction is it? Mind is distracted. That's all you need to know.

And then you use the rest of right effort to come back to your object. You recognize, you release your attention from it, you relax, you re-smile, and you return. And you repeat whenever you get distracted. So having put away covetousness and grief for the world. Having put away covetousness and grief for the world. Covetousness here is sensual desire.

Sensual craving. And grief here is aversion. Ill will. Irritation. something. You have let go of those when you are mindful. When you become mindful, recognizing that there is present a hindrance, and then by doing so, you are cutting off that flow of covetousness, cutting off that flow of grief, cutting off that flow of sensual desire and of aversion.

And how, bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu abide contemplating the body as a body? So now this is one of the first ways that the Buddha talks about when contemplating, when observing body as body, when understanding body as body, when being aware of body as body. So this is the first step, which is mindfulness of breathing. First of all, let's clear up one thing. has described the four foundations of mindfulness are not steps.

They are different ways in which the mind becomes mindful of something, can be mindful of the body, can be mindful of feeling, can be mindful of mind, can be mindful of phenomena, depending upon where the mind's attention moves. We talk about mindfulness as remembering to observe how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other, even deeper as we progress. But understand all we are doing is observing. Mind is now paying attention to a bodily feeling. Mind is now paying attention to a mental feeling. Mind is now paying attention to mind being in this state of mind. Or mind is paying attention to that there is present a hindrance and so on. So that's all.

It's not like you have to first be mindful of the body and then be mindful of the mind or the feeling and then be mindful of mind and then be mindful of mind objects. Buddha is just listing them out from order of what is coarse all the way to what is subtle. So it's not a step-by-step process. It's just categorizing it for your understanding.

So what he's talking about here are different ways in which the mind becomes mindful of body. The different ways in which mind becomes mindful of feeling. Mind becomes mindful of mind and of phenomena. So in one case, there's mindfulness of breathing. And how, bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu abide contemplating the body as a body? Here a bhikkhu, gone to the forest or to the root of a tree or to an empty hut, sits down. Having folded his legs crosswise, set his body erect and established mindfulness in front of him, ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out. He trains thus, I shall breathe in, experiencing the whole body. He trains thus, I shall breathe in, tranquilizing the bodily formations.

He trains thus, I shall breathe out, tranquilizing the bodily formations. Just as a skilled lathe operator or his apprentice, when making a long turn understands, I make a long turn. Or when making a short turn understands, I make a short turn. So too, breathing in long, a bhikkhu understands, I breathe in long, and so on. And he thus trains, I shall breathe in or breathe out, tranquilizing the bodily formations.

Nowhere here does it say that the person, the one who's meditating, is controlling the breath. Nowhere here does it say anything about observing the breath in such a way that you're focusing here on the nostril or just below the nostril. It doesn't say anything about that. Just observing how breath is happening. And in that process, breathing in, you relax. Breathing out, you relax.

So when you're relaxing what you are doing is tranquilizing bodily formations but you're also tranquilizing in turn mental formations. The reason being is because there's an intention to relax. That intention is mental and so you're relaxing body and mind both. So there's nothing about controlling the breath here. It's just observing what is happening. Now this is a type of meditation object but this is not the type of meditation object you are doing. We are working with the brahmaviharas, so make sure that you don't mix and mingle the breath with loving kindness. Loving kindness is one thing, the brahmaviharas is one thing, and the breathing practice is another. For the purpose of this retreat, for the purpose of this practice, we use the brahmaviharas. Why?

Because it feels good. It feels good naturally. It uplifts the mind naturally. It allows the mind to feel and hone in on something that feels pleasant. That helps you to get into jhana. That helps you to experience a mind that is collected. A mind gets more collected with things that are more pleasurable, more pleasant. This is why we talk about the many kinds of feeling.

There are up to 108 different types of feeling, and in some cases they have to do with the mind, or in some cases they have to do with the body, or bodily experiences. But jhana, the experience of jhana, is a pleasant feeling beyond sensual pleasures. The brahmaviharas also are mental pleasant experiences beyond the sense pleasures. The feeling of loving kindness feels good and because of that the mind wants to stay with it. And it stays with it for longer periods of time.

So this mindfulness of breathing is one way of understanding body as body. But it's not the practice we're doing right now. But just for the purposes of understanding, here it is. And so then he talks about the insight about this. He says, in this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally. Or he abides contemplating the body as a body externally.

Or he abides contemplating the body as a body both internally and externally. So what is internally? It's your own body. Observing how the body is internally, externally. Observing other bodies. Observing how this body and another body is similar in terms of the way it functions, internally and externally. So you're observing how body is just body. There's no sense of self there. You're just seeing body as body. The arising and passing away of body, which is the next insight. Or else he abides understanding in the body its nature of arising.

Or he abides understanding in the body its nature of vanishing. Its nature of both arising and vanishing. What is he seeing here? He's seeing dependent origination. He's seeing how the body arises dependent upon factors and when you take away those factors the body ceases. What is the body dependent upon? There are a few things the body is dependent upon but primarily in the understanding of the context of craving, in the context of the body, in the context of consciousness, and so on. The body is dependent upon food. You need food in order for the body to survive.

You need a consciousness for the body to be dependent on that consciousness to move and to understand. So when you take away that, the body vanishes. The body disappears. The body passes away. So what are you looking at? It is dependently arisen in relation to the body. The body being dependently arisen is impermanent. So you are seeing impermanence right there and then.

Seeing impermanence, you realize that the body is not worth holding onto as a self. Because holding onto it, when the body changes, if the body experiences something pleasant or unpleasant or neutral, it keeps changing. To be the same is a fool's errand because the body is always changing. Even on the microscopic level, the body is always changing.

So if the body is always changing, how can you take that as self? How can you take it personal? It's arising and passing away dependent upon causes and conditions. That's dependent upon the weather. That's dependent upon food. So many different things in relation to the body. So having seen this, the mind becomes equanimous. And so that's where the Buddha says, or else mindfulness that there is body is established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness.

In other words, there is the bare awareness that is seeing things as they are. Here is present this body in this state. Equanimity. That equanimity means that you are not affected one way or the other. You're not taking personal the body that causes you to experience pleasant experiences which then you crave for and you get pulled in that direction. Or it causes you painful experiences which then you crave, you have aversion towards and then that causes you to have resistance and tighten up the mind even further.

Or just simply with the body when it's neutral. So this is equanimity, seeing the body as it is. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body. He abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. Not clinging to anything in the world. That means not identifying with in the world, not taking it personally, seeing the body as not-self.

Again, bhikkhus, when walking, a bhikkhu understands, I am walking. When standing, he understands, I am standing. When sitting, he understands, I am sitting. When lying down, he understands, I am lying down. Or he understands accordingly, however his body is disposed. Whenever they use the word understand or whenever they use the word full awareness, it comes from the Pali word sampajnana. Sampajnana means clear comprehension.

That's it. Just comprehending what is happening in that moment. It's not trying to say, okay, while I'm walking, I'm paying attention to how I'm walking. While I'm standing, I'm paying attention to how I'm standing. Full awareness has to do with certain factors. There's full awareness of the intention behind standing. Full awareness of the intention behind walking. Of the intention behind sitting or lying down or whatever it might be.

So this full awareness is seeing intention and seeing intention as being impersonal. Intention is not you. It's not your intention. It's not the intention that arises because of you. The intention arises dependent upon contact, dependent upon what is arising through the links of dependent origination. We're going to go into dependent origination tomorrow in full swing, but this is starting to help you understand how mindfulness allows you to observe, or remember to observe, how mind's attention moves from one thing to the other. This is seeing dependent origination.

Because when you observe how your mind's attention moves, condition. So when we're talking about he understands when he is sitting, that he is sitting, and so on and so forth. They're talking about full awareness, not of the postures themselves, but full awareness of understanding the impersonal nature of these processes. There is also the full awareness of the experience itself. Just, okay, fine, here I am sitting.

But for the purposes of this retreat, in the context and setting of this retreat, there's a third understanding of the full awareness. And that is the full awareness of your object of meditation. When you sit down, do you have loving kindness? When you stand up, do you have loving kindness? When you lie down, do you have loving kindness?

When you're walking, do you have loving kindness? This is full awareness. This is understanding. And finally, the fourth understanding of full awareness comes through wisdom, through natural insight that arises dependent upon your experiences through the jhanas and after cessation, which is the links of dependent origination. Understanding fully how dependent origination arises. And it's not about investigating into dependent origination.

It's about seeing it as it comes about. There's no investigation process going on here at all. There's no analytical process here going on at all. Just observing, like a pure scientist, everything that comes together. That's it. And the insights arise based on that observation. Insights do not arise dependent upon reflection, dependent upon thinking about things. An insight, by the very nature of it, is like a eureka moment. It's a light bulb that turns on.

It just arises because you see it. You see it for yourself. You're not contemplating it, reflecting it, and all of these other things. You're actually seeing it as it actually is. And so, in this way, he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, externally, both internally and externally. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That, too, is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body. Externally, seeing others walking, observing how the walking process happens, observing how you sit down, observing how you lie down, observing how you stand up.

But not just for the purpose of becoming collected around that. Understanding where the intention arose when you stood up, understanding when the intention arose when you sat down. Is it your intention? Or did the intention arise as a series of causes and conditions? As a result of a series of causes and conditions. So you have to let go of this idea that this intention is yours. Let go of this idea that this intention comes from a sense of self.

Intention here is not self. Intention here is dependent upon causes and conditions. And so now we get into full awareness. Again, bhikkhus. A bhikkhu is one who acts in full awareness when going forward and returning. Who acts in full awareness when looking ahead and looking away. Who acts in full awareness when flexing and extending his limbs. Who acts in full awareness when wearing his robes and carrying his outer robe and bowl. Who acts in full awareness when eating, drinking, consuming food and tasting.

So in everything that you do for the purpose of this retreat, walking, sitting, eating your food, hopefully keeping silent and not talking. And anything else that you're doing, where is your mind? What is it thinking about? Or is it thinking about something? Or is it with its object of meditation? Where is your mind when you are eating your food?

See, when we talk about mindfully eating, what does that mean? Are you tasting your food? Are you paying attention to how many times you thought about this thought as the fork landed on the food and it went into your mouth and you start tasting things? It's not about that. It's about staying with your object of meditation. So we talk about the four kinds of full awareness in the practice that we're doing. We're talking about the third, which is in relation to staying with your object of meditation. And so mindfulness here

is the full awareness of that object. And then mindfulness is also seeing that your mind is no longer on the object. So recognizing that you are no longer on the object, that's the first step. Then you use the rest of right effort. You release your attention from that distraction that took you away from the object. Distraction, you come back to the re-smile that anchors you back to loving kindness, and you return back to your object. Now, that object can be loving kindness. It could be compassion. It could be joy. It could be equanimity. It could be quiet mind. It could be forgiveness. Whatever it is, that's the object. So pay attention to that. How often are you with your object in meditation? If you have to talk, let's say you're doing whatever it is in the kitchen and you have to talk, are you talking just for the sake of talking, in order to instruct, what's going on, to communicate, or imbuing it with loving-kindness? How often are you with loving-kindness out of the day? How often can you stay with loving-kindness out of the day?

Every time you stay with your object you are in a meditative state. You are practicing right effort, right mindfulness, and right collectedness. Because the practice, when it comes to the meditation, to bhavana, to mental development, encompasses these three: right effort, right mindfulness, right collectedness. These three go around each other, always, all the time. Fine, you got distracted, no big deal. What did you do to get out of that distraction? You use right effort. You use the 6R's.

Coming back, you have also utilized mindfulness. Coming back, the mind collects itself around its object of meditation. Now, when we talk about collectedness, what does that mean? A mind that is collected. We talk about staying on your object of meditation, right? For some people, that means they have to be super concentrated. But here, we're not talking about that. The simile of the egg.

We talk about keeping hold of the egg. Right? You're just holding on to it. You're just staying with it. If you become super concentrated, what happens? You constrict your mind and now your mind becomes an omelet. It becomes scrambled. Right? So you need a light touch here. An open, light awareness with your object. Stay with it. Stay around your object. For some of you who might be parents, or some of you who've ever done babysitting, or taking care of relatives or kids or whatever, let's say you take them to the park and they go around in the playground and they're playing and they're doing their stuff, but while you're talking to a friend or while you're this or that, hopefully you still have some awareness of where that child is.

This is the meditation. You have full awareness. You're staying with your object. Even if thoughts come, they come and go in the background. Your mind is staying with the object. Your mind is staying with that child. There's always that one eye, always looking what's going on. So staying there. Right? When you get distracted, where you're no longer on your object, that's when you 6R. Recognize, oh, I got distracted. Release the attention to that distraction.

Relax the tightness and tension. Re-smile. Come back to the smile. Anchor it to the loving kindness or whatever the object is, and return back to the object. And repeat any time you're distracted. Now, the next part is what's known as the foulness meditation, the asubha practices. You don't have to do this practice, but this is a practice that is sort of like prescribed for people who have a lot of lust, a lot of bodily lust.

Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reviews this same body up from the soles of the feet, down from the top of the hair, skin, as full of many kinds of impurities thus, in this body there are head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, contents of the stomach, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, and urine.

How lustful is that? How beautiful is that? Just as though there were a bag with an opening at both ends, full of many sorts of grains, such as hill rice, red rice, beans, peas, millet, and white rice, were to open it and review it thus. This is hill rice. This is red rice. These are beans. These are peas. This is millet. This is white rice. So, too, a bhikkhu reviews the same body in the same way.

In other words, in this practice, the mind is just contemplating the body or understanding the body by seeing all the different elements of the body in terms of the organs, the hairs, the joints, all of the things that are there in the body. When you start to see that, it's like you take the body like a bag of skin and you turn it inside out and you see all of these things.

So now you no longer have lust for these bodily feelings. You no longer have lust for seeing a beautiful person in front of you because you realize that they're all comprised of all of these things in the body. So now the lust for the body starts to dissipate. So this is a prescriptive meditation for people who have bodily lust.

So when we talk about the elements, we can refer to them as seeing this body made up of different molecules, different states of matter. The earth element is the solid state of matter. The fire element is the liquid state of matter, the air element is the gaseous state of matter, and the fire element is the heat, the temperature of the body, the plasma state of matter. So plasma in terms of heat and fire energy, not in terms of the blood.

So you see that the body is just made up of molecules. And once you start to see this, how do you take that personally? Solid is the same as this body. Whatever is the external water element that is liquid is the same as what is part of this body. Likewise with the air. Likewise with heat or fire.

So you stop taking this body personally. You start to realize that it's made up of tiny molecules and atoms. Seeing this, you realize that this body arises and passes away dependent upon inputs. So the cells change and decay according to inputs. The atomic structure of the body changes. However minutely, it continues to change. So you see the impermanent nature of this body. Seeing the impermanent nature, you stop taking it as self. You stop taking it personally.

And you can see them in different states. You can see them bloated. You can see them green. You can see them gray. You can see them oozing. You can see them in different kinds of ways. And then you can see how they become skeletons. And you realize that this body is just a body. You realize that it's just made up of this meat, this flesh and bones. And you stop taking it personally.

And more importantly, you realize that the same nature of that body that's there, that corpse, is the same as this body. One day this body too will decay. One day this body too will meet its expiry date. And then it too will decompose. It too will turn into rancid flesh. It too will turn into a skeleton. And so on. So it is, it's nothing. We're all just walking corpses.

A skeleton without flesh and blood held together with sinews. So these are the different stages of decay of the body. Disconnected bones scattered in all direction. Here are a hand bone. Here are a foot bone. Here are a shin bone. Here are a thigh bone. Here are a hip bone. Here are a back bone. Here are a rib bone. Here are a breast bone. Here are an arm bone. Here are a shoulder bone. Here are a neck bone. Here are a jaw bone. Here are a tooth. Here are the skull.

Now we will get into feeling, into vedana. And how does a bhikkhu abide contemplating feeling as feelings? Here, when feeling a pleasant feeling, a bhikkhu understands, I feel a pleasant feeling. When feeling a painful feeling, he understands, I feel a painful feeling. When feeling a neither painful nor pleasant feeling, he understands, I feel a neither painful nor pleasant feeling.

When feeling a worldly pleasant feeling, he understands, I feel a worldly pleasant feeling. I feel an unworldly pleasant feeling. When feeling a worldly painful feeling, he understands, I feel a worldly painful feeling. When feeling an unworldly painful feeling, he understands, I feel an unworldly painful feeling. When feeling a worldly neither painful nor pleasant feeling, he understands, I feel a worldly neither painful nor pleasant feeling. When feeling an unworldly, neither painful nor pleasant feeling, he understands, I feel an unworldly, neither painful nor pleasant feeling. So we'll take this part. When we talk about feeling, we're talking about vedana.

Feeling is any experience that is felt. So that could be any experience that you have. And that feeling can be pleasant, painful, or neutral. So a pleasant feeling is a pleasant experience. Seeing something that makes you happy, makes the mind uplifted. A painful feeling could be a bodily painful feeling or a mental painful feeling. Something that makes you feel aversion, or can make you feel aversion. But generally, an unpleasant or painful feeling is just a painful feeling.

When we talk about dependent origination tomorrow, we will talk about how a pleasant feeling or an unpleasant feeling or a neutral feeling brings up what's known as underlying tendencies. And these underlying tendencies, if clung to, if grasped at, can give rise to full-blown craving, aversion, or identification with the process, which can ultimately lead to suffering if not recognized and released and relaxed.

So when we talk about a worldly pleasant feeling, what do they mean by that? A worldly pleasant feeling is any pleasant feeling born of the five physical senses. Feeling something beautiful is a worldly pleasant feeling. Hearing a beautiful symphony, that's a worldly pleasant feeling. Smelling a very beautiful fragrance, that's a worldly pleasant feeling. Tasting some scrumptious food, that's a worldly pleasant feeling. A very bitter cold night, that's a worldly pleasant feeling. Nothing wrong with any of those pleasant feelings. They're just pleasant feelings.

But as soon as you see them and say, I want more of that, as soon as you cling to it, as soon as you grasp to it, and how do you know if you're grasping to it? Take it away. How do you react? Say you're in the shower and it's nice and warm in there, steaming hot. You feel pleasant. It's a pleasant feeling.

Suddenly the hot water goes out and it's cold. How do you react? Do you get attached to it? And by getting attached to it, does it cause further craving and finally aversion when that feeling changes? So this is a worldly pleasant feeling. What about a worldly unpleasant feeling. What happens there? It could be back pain. It could be shoulder pain when you're meditating.

That's just an unpleasant feeling. But how do you react to that feeling? You take it personally and say, I wish this feeling would stop. I wish I could do something about this back pain. If there's something you can do, you make adjustments, sit in a more comfortable position, do whatever you can to get more comfortable. But what about if you're meditating and your sit is really good, and then you hear somebody coughing, disturbs your meditation.

That's an unpleasant feeling. Or somebody is walking around, or somebody is turning on a lawnmower outside, or there's a fly in here just buzzing around your head. That can be a distracting experience. So that's an unpleasant, worldly feeling. So how do you choose to deal with it? It is just an experience, just a feeling. And so if you notice that the mind starts to get irritated by it, starts to get upset by it, starts to wish it wasn't this way, recognize that.

Release your attention from that. Relax the tightness and tension. Come back to the smile. Resume, return back to your object. And then repeat whenever you get distracted again. That's it. So what about a worldly neutral feeling? A worldly neither painful nor pleasant feeling. What would that be? Like indifference. You don't really notice it. It doesn't make a difference to you.

But indifference has this quality of wanting to just ignore it. So this is the opposite side of what is known as equanimity. Indifference is a sense of apathy, a sense of don't care, could care less, careless or whatever it is. So that kind of apathy is a worldly neutral feeling. It does have a tinge of aversion if you still act upon it and try to push things away. But just at the onset of it, it's just neutral.

And so now he says, he understands, I feel an unworldly pleasant feeling. What could that be? Jhana. It could be loving kindness, it could be compassion, it could be joy, it could be any of the factors of the jhanas. When we talk about the world, when the Buddha talks about the world, he says this world is understood through these sense bases. The mind has nothing to do with the sense pleasures.

It's a mental experience. So an unworldly pleasant feeling is jhana, is being in meditation. What is an unworldly painful feeling? What do you 6R? How do you 6R? Why do you 6R? Hindrances. Craving, aversion, restlessness, sloth and torpor, doubt. These bring about an unworldly, unpleasant feeling. What about an unworldly, neither painful nor pleasant feeling?

Equanimity. When you have equanimity, you are not pulled in one direction or the other. Your mind is filled with balance, clarity, calmness. Just here, present, right here, as things are. Not affected one way or the other. This is an unworldly, neither painful nor pleasant feeling. So here, when we're talking about mindfulness, when we're talking about full awareness, you're just aware, okay, here is present a hindrance. Or you're aware, okay, here is present equanimity. Or you're aware, okay, here is present a fly buzzing around. Whatever it is.

Okay, here is present, this jhana factor. I'm feeling joy. I'm feeling happiness. I'm feeling tranquility, whatever it is. But the key here is not to get attached to any of these things, not to resist any of these things, seeing them as they are. And so in this way, he abides contemplating feelings as feelings internally, or he abides contemplating feelings as feelings externally, or he abides contemplating feelings as feelings both internally and externally.

Internally is for yourself. Externally is feelings of others. How others are experiencing things. Or else he abides contemplating in feelings their nature of arising. Or he abides contemplating in feelings their nature of vanishing. Or he abides contemplating in feelings their nature of both arising and vanishing. How do you understand the impermanence of feelings? Are feelings permanent or impermanent?

Why are they impermanent? Because of contact. Feeling is dependent upon contact. When we talk about contact, we're talking about when you see something, it's the photons bouncing off of something and then hitting the retina. That receives the information and there is feeling. You close your eyes and the photons no longer hit your retina. So you're no longer seeing it.

When you're hearing music or when you're hearing whatever it is, it's the sound waves, the vibrations hitting whatever part of the ear receives that information. That contact then gives rise to the feeling of hearing. Cover your ears and you stop hearing that. So contact gives rise to feeling. Take away contact, feeling goes away. Whatever is dependently arisen, remember this, whatever is dependently arisen is bound to be impermanent because you take away the conditions and the feeling no longer exists.

And so whatever is dependently arisen is impermanent, therefore not worth holding on to, because holding on to it will cause suffering, liable to cause suffering. And so it should not be seen as me, mine, or myself. It should be understood as being impersonal. You have a very deep understanding of this in infinite consciousness. Yesterday you watched a video about the jhanas and the formless realms, and in one of them, in infinite consciousness, you experience the arising and passing away of consciousness.

You experience the arising and passing away of I-consciousness, your consciousness, however it is that you might experience. You might see the flickering, you might hear clicking, you might experience other things. You are seeing for yourself how things arise and pass away dependent upon causes and conditions. You're seeing the impermanent nature of all conditioned things. Seeing that, you realize that this is tiresome. There's no controller here. I can't control the flickering. I can't control the clicking. It's just happening because of the series of causes and conditions. anything. And you realize there's no controller here, so you stop taking it personally.

What happens then? It gives rise to equanimity at the level of nothingness. So seeing and understanding things as dependently arisen, therefore conditioned, or another way of understanding is everything that is conditioned is impermanent. This perception, this understanding, not the contemplation of it, not the practice of trying to investigate it. Just seeing, just observing, understanding it as it happens.

That leads to the understanding of suffering, of dukkha. Then that leads to the understanding of anatta, the impersonal nature of things. Seeing this, the mind becomes quiet. The mind experiences equanimity. Experiencing equanimity, the mind then has disenchantment. Disenchantment is where the mind is like Teflon. Everything just glides through the mind. Not holding on to anything. You get to a point in your meditation where you're starting to see the percolations of thoughts. And these are formations. These are sankhara, how thoughts are dependently arisen.

So you say, I've seen this before. You have total equanimity, and therefore you don't get caught up in that. And there's a level of just disenchantment. Okay, fine, whatever. And then that leads to dispassion. This dispassion is like you are in a bubble. Being in that bubble, nothing affects you. Completely detached from everything. So when that happens, the mind is utterly quiet, utterly still.

And at some point, it ceases. And so there is cessation. Now this is not an experience or a process that you can control. This is not a process that you can say, okay, here it is. Give me Nibbana. Right there and then. It arises when it arises. It happens when it happens. When the causes and conditions are right for equanimity to arise, it will happen.

You just have to be present. Your attention has to be there. I've said this before. I could save you guys two hours by just telling you two things. Observe and 6R. Observe your object in meditation. Stay with your object in meditation. If you wander off your object of meditation, 6R, come back, stay with your object of meditation. Observe like you're observing a movie. Just watch the movie. See how things unfold.

This gives you clarity. This gives you wisdom. This gives you insights. The tranquility part is being collected. The wisdom and insight is observing. Just being aware. Just being present. Ultimate insight into dependent origination. You see things as they are when they arise. So if you just observe, stay with your object, that's all you have to do. Notice you got distracted? No big deal. Don't beat yourself up for it. 6R. Okay, come back. Now you're back and you're staying with your object, continue.

It will unfold. It's a natural process that unfolds. Or else mindfulness that there is feeling is simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness. So just aware. Okay, here is a pleasant feeling. I am aware, or the mind is aware, that there is now present loving kindness, or there is now present equanimity, or now there is quiet mind. It is.

And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. This is a word you heard when Bhante was talking about the jhanas. Independent. Not attached to anything. Not clinging to anything. Not identifying with anything. Seeing things as they are. Okay, this is what it is. Fine. That is how a bhikkhu contemplates feeling, abides contemplating feeling as feeling. Now we will talk about mind.

And how does a bhikkhu abide contemplating mind as mind? Here a bhikkhu understands mind affected by lust as mind affected by lust, and mind unaffected by lust as mind unaffected by lust. He understands mind affected by hate as mind affected by hate, and mind unaffected by hate as mind unaffected by hate. He understands mind affected by delusion as mind affected by delusion, and mind unaffected by delusion as mind unaffected by delusion.

So when they say he abides contemplating mind as mind, what they're talking about is just perceiving, just understanding what is present in the mind. Is there present in the mind lust? Is there present in the mind craving? When you recognize the mind is holding on to something, you recognize there is present craving. When you notice the mind is irritated by something, you recognize the mind is irritated by something. When you notice that the mind is taking something personal, you notice, you recognize, oh, I'm taking this personal.

When you notice that the mind is free of that craving, when you relax and you come back, you notice your mind is now free of that craving or free of that irritation or free of taking something personal. That's it. Greed, hatred, delusion. What are they? Greed, craving, hatred, irritation, aversion, delusion, personalizing things, taking things personally, identifying with them.

He understands contracted mind as contracted mind and distracted mind as distracted mind. So contracted mind, what kind of mind would that be? This is sloth and torpor, a mind that is dull. Distracted mind, what would that be? Restlessness. A mind that has restlessness or even doubt, perplexity. You see, another way of understanding doubt is a mind that is distracted.

Because when we see the understanding of the hindrance of doubt, we understand that it has no confidence in what is wholesome and unwholesome. It's unaware of states, unaware of wholesome states. understanding it. Confused of what is right and wrong. Confused of what is wholesome and unwholesome. So when there is this whole bombardment of thoughts arising, there can arise doubt. Not sure where the mind is right now.

But as soon as you recognize, you have cut off that. And then you release your attention from that. Relax the tightness and tension. Come back to the smile. Come back to your object. Repeat whenever necessary. He understands exalted mind as exalted mind and unexalted mind as unexalted mind. What is an exalted mind? A mind in jhana. A mind that is staying with its object in jhana.

What is an unexalted mind? A mind that is not in jhana. He understands surpassed mind as surpassed mind and unsurpassed mind as unsurpassed mind. What is surpassed mind? Infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception or non-perception. What is unsurpassed mind? Not being in these states. He understands collected mind as collected mind and uncollected mind as uncollected mind. So a collected mind means a mind that is with its object.

Uncollected, distracted, no longer on its object of meditation. So every time you do the 6R's, you're already understanding what your state of mind is. You don't have to investigate. You don't have to think about, oh, what kind of distraction is present in my mind? You just have to realize, okay, mind is distracted. Okay, mind is no longer on its object.

Okay, mind is uncollected. And then come back. And now you understand mind is being collected. You understand mind is being exalted. You understand mind is being surpassed. Or in other words, you understand mind is on its object. You understand mind is in jhana. You understand mind is an infinite space or infinite consciousness or whatever it might be.

He understands liberated mind as liberated mind and unliberated mind as unliberated mind. Liberated mind. Now, the commentaries talk about liberated mind as understanding that the mind is in a certain kind of jhana. And that's valid to an extent because jhana is also temporary liberation. The reason being is that the jhana is liberated, or the mind, when it's in jhana, is liberated from the hindrances.

There are no hindrances present. But there's another understanding of this. If and when you guys have some kind of an experience where there is an attainment, let's say, you have to understand for your own mind, is the mind liberated from this fetter? Or not? Or what is left to be done? So is the mind actually achieving Sotapanna? Is the mind actually achieving Sakadagami? Is the mind having any kind of doubt about the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha? Is the mind having any kind of self-view? Is the mind having any kind of clinging to rites and rituals with the idea that they will take them to nibbana?

Or is the mind liberated from those things? Does the mind still have sensual craving? Or is it liberated from that? Does the mind still have aversion, or is it liberated from that? This is another way of understanding what is a liberated mind and an unliberated mind. In this way, he abides contemplating mind as mind internally, or he abides contemplating mind as mind externally, or he abides contemplating mind as mind both internally and externally.

So here again, you see your own mind, or you see another person's mind, or you see your mind and the other person's mind. You see that they all work the same. It doesn't matter what part of the world you're from. All minds work essentially in a similar manner. All minds experience craving. All minds experience irritation. All minds experience sloth and torpor. All minds experience whatever it might be. This is why you're able to communicate what you are experiencing and another person fully understands what you're saying.

Because such an experience is to an extent universal. Sure, maybe the shades of it might be different, but you're still able to experience it. nature of both arising and vanishing. So when he talks about this, he's talking about mind that is dependently arisen. Now, the word mind here is translated from the Pali word citta. Citta is synonymous with the word vinnana.

Vinnana means consciousness. Consciousness in dependent origination is dependently arisen. It arises dependent upon the arising of formation, and it arises dependent upon nama-rupa, mentality-materiality. So if it's dependently arisen, you understand consciousness or mind to be impermanent, and therefore you understand it to be impersonal, because you understand taking it personally will cause you suffering, because it is liable to change all the time. The Buddha talked about citta in such a way that he said it is difficult to bring up a simile that can fully help you comprehend the speed at which mind arises and passes away.

He's talked about it in terms of picture shows. When you turn the picture around in the light and you see the arising of different images. In modern day, that would be movies, the arising and passing away of different frames, individual frames, frame rate. You start to see the movement of that movie. Same way with mind. So seeing that, you understand that there's no control there. It's just happening. So any thoughts that arise, they're not yours. They just come. They come because of some context, some kind of causes and conditions.

Contemplating this, or understanding this rather, you don't take it personally. Whatever thought happens to arise, it will pass away. Let it drift on by. Don't hold on to it. Or else, mindfulness that there is mind is simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in this world. That is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating mind as mind. Dhammas or mind objects or phenomena.

There is no longer any present sensual desire. Once you have let go of it, it's no longer present. How do you let go of it? So he talks about it. He says, and he also understands how there comes to be the arising of unarisen sensual desire. The arising of unarisen desire, sensual desire. Having recognized it, you cut it off.

That flow no longer flows, that sensual desire no longer flows. Having then released your attention from it and relaxed, he then comes to understand the abandoning of arisen sensual desire. And how there comes to be the future non-arising of abandoned sensual desire. When you re-smile, you then generate a wholesome state of mind. This is the third right effort.

Having done that, you then come back to your object of meditation. You maintain that wholesome state of mind. And so that is the fourth right effort. The four right efforts. Recognizing when an unarisen, unwholesome state arises. Abandoning the arisen, unwholesome state, generating a wholesome state, and then maintaining a wholesome state. When you do the 6R's, you are exercising right effort.

And when we say right effort, it doesn't mean you have to push, you have to make a determined striving, you have to make an exertion. It's as simple as, oh, here's a present hindrance. Okay, release your attention, relax. Recognizing that there was a hindrance, that's the first right effort. Abandoning it by releasing and relaxing, that's the second right effort. Generating a wholesome state by coming back to the smile, that's the third right effort.

Returning back to your object, staying with it, that's the fourth right effort. And you repeat whenever necessary. Likewise, there being ill will in him, there being sloth and torpor in him, there being restlessness and remorse in him, a bhikkhu understands there is doubt in me or there is restlessness in me or sloth and torpor or ill will or whatever it might be. Or there being no ill will, there being no sloth and torpor, there being no restlessness, there being no doubt. He understands these hindrances are not present.

Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects in terms of the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging. How does a bhikkhu abide contemplating mind objects as mind objects in terms of the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging? Form, such its origin, such its disappearance. Such is feeling, such its origin, such its disappearance.

Such is perception, such its origin, such its disappearance. Such are formations, such their origin, such their disappearance. Such is consciousness, such its origin, such its disappearance. So, the five aggregates. You have form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Understanding when form arises. How does form arise? Form arises, its origin of arising is through food. The body is made up, this body is made up of food.

It's made up of nutrition, all kinds of nutrients. These are the nutrients that we're talking about. How does it disappear? It disappears when life is gone from it. Feeling is dependent upon contact. Perception is also dependent upon contact because feeling is the experience. Perception allows you to understand what it is that you are experiencing. Feeling allows you to know that there is present this experience. I am seeing this green leaf.

Knowing that it is a leaf and that it is green is perception. Being able to recognize what it is that you are seeing is perception. So when contact arises, that is the eye, so the photon hits or bounces off of that green leaf, comes into the retina, and now you see there is a seeing of the green leaf.

Knowing that it is a leaf and that it is green is the perception tied to the feeling. So these are dependent upon contact. I don't see the green leaf. Feeling has disappeared. Or the perception as well has disappeared. Formations. Formations arise dependent upon contact. They also arise dependent upon ignorance. They also arise dependent upon intention. Intention is what drives forward formations. Formations, we will talk about when we talk about dependent origination. But just understand, they too are dependently arisen.

So when formations are dependently arisen, they are also impermanent, and therefore they are to be seen as not me, not mine, not myself. Consciousness arises dependent upon formations. Consciousness also is dependent upon mind and body, mentality, materiality, for it to flow. Take away those, there is no consciousness. So now you also see how consciousness is also impermanent, is also not liable, or rather is liable to suffering, and therefore not worth holding on to, and therefore not to be seen as me, mine, or myself.

Now, affected by craving and clinging, what is that part? Affected by craving and clinging meaning that you are identifying with one or more of these five aggregates. You're seeing in some way or another that form, or feeling, or perception, or formations, or consciousness, is me, or it's mine, or I am them, or they are separate to me, or whatever it might be.

So there is the eye and there is the form. I see the green leaf. The eye is the internal. The green leaf is the form, the external. The fetter between the two. The craving. The craving for it, the identification process with it. Likewise, he also understands how there comes to be a rising of the unarisen fetter and how there comes to be the abandoning of the arisen fetter and how there comes to be the future non-arising of the abandoned fetter. Again, the four right efforts. The green leaf, I want that green leaf. I'm grasping at it. I recognize the desire for it, the sensual desire. I release my attention from that, relax the tightness and tension.

By recognizing that, I understand that there is present this fetter. By releasing and relaxing, I abandon that fetter. By then re-smiling or bringing up a wholesome state and staying with it, I generate a wholesome state and maintain that wholesome state. Likewise, he understands the ear, he understands sounds, he understands the nose, he understands odors. He understands the tongue, he understands flavors. He understands the body, he understands tangibles. He understands the mind, he understands mind objects. And he understands the fetter that arises dependent on both, the internal and the external sense bases, to be the arising of the unarisen fetter, how there comes to be the abandoning of the arisen fetter, and how there comes to be the future non-arising of the abandoned fetter.

There being the investigation of states enlightenment factor in him, there being the energy enlightenment factor in him, the rapture enlightenment or joy enlightenment factor in him. There being the tranquility enlightenment factor in him. There being the collectedness enlightenment factor in him. There being the equanimity enlightenment factor in him. A bhikkhu understands there is this enlightenment factor in me. Or there being no enlightenment factor in me understands there is no enlightenment factor in me. And he also understands how there comes to be the arising of the unarisen enlightenment factor and how the arisen enlightenment factor comes to fulfillment by development. So let's break this apart.

There is a way of understanding mindfulness, or rather the enlightenment factors, in a linear fashion. Mindfulness leads to investigation of states. Investigation of states leads to energy. Energy leads to joy. Joy leads to tranquility. Tranquility leads to collectedness. And collectedness leads to equanimity. There is a way to activate these enlightenment factors. When the mind is in samadhi, when the mind is collected, there comes to be these enlightenment factors. In jhana, there is the non-presence of the five hindrances, but there is the presence of the enlightenment factors.

The enlightenment factors can also be seen in some way as antidotes for the five hindrances. For restlessness, you can have tranquility or equanimity. For doubt, you have investigation of states. Investigation of states doesn't mean that you're trying to analyze what is present and what is not present. It's just knowing. The same way as feeling is the experience and perception is the labeling of what it is as that experience.

So seeing a green leaf and then knowing that it is a green leaf. Seeing is the feeling, knowing that it is a green leaf is the perception. In the same way mindfulness is knowing that the mind is in this state. Or mindfulness is knowing that the mind is no longer in this state. The perception, the knowing that it is no longer in that state. So mindfulness is aware that the mind has moved.

Remembering to observe how mind's attention moves. It has moved somewhere. Now your mind has gone from an undistracted or collected state to a distracted state. Knowing that the mind is is the investigation of states. But not knowing it is doubt. Doubt is here the misunderstanding or not understanding at all of what is present in the mind because it is completely here and there.

It is perplexed. It has no idea what is going on. But the investigation of states is knowing what is present, understanding what is present. This is why I call investigation of states as understanding in that moment what is present. This is an antidote for doubt. With sensual craving, with sensual desire, equanimity can be an antidote, but also joy can be an antidote, because that joy is not a joy dependent upon sensual experiences.

When you experience a greater joy, which is the mental joy, the joy factor, or the joy factor of jhana, or the mind is inclined towards that experience of joy and it forgets about this lesser joy of sensual desire. So this is another antidote for sensual desire. So with sloth and torpor, what do you need for sloth and torpor? Energy. What is energy? That is effort.

Again, that's not striving, that's not pushing, that's not exertion. Just six-arring that brings up and balances the energy, and let go of the sloth and torpor. So now when you get into quiet mind, what's going to happen? When you get into quiet mind, there is a feeling of boredom. That boredom can translate as restlessness, or it can translate as sloth and torpor. You have to balance the mind.

Mind is saying, oh, what am I doing here? What's going on? I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about that, or I'm really bored, falls asleep. When there's restlessness, that means there's too much energy. Mind is trying too hard. So you balance it out by using collectedness, by using tranquility, by using equanimity. When the mind has sloth and torpor, there's not enough interest going on. So you bring up the joy. You bring up the energy. You bring up a little bit more collectedness.

Because it's like a camera lens, right? You bring in a little bit more. You tighten up a little bit more. If you're too loose, your mind has sloth and torpor. If you're too tight, your mind has restlessness. So just rest, just relax into the quiet mind. If you're too relaxed and you're not paying attention, bring in a little bit more energy, bring in a little bit more interest in whatever it is that you're watching, in whatever it is that you're observing. If you're pushing too much and you have restlessness, back off, relax a little bit. This is the balancing that you do using the enlightenment factors.

Now as you progress through the jhanas, the first four jhanas, the enlightenment factors become present. And so when we talk about that, you see in the fourth jhana it says that the mindfulness, the purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. Because not only is the enlightenment factors or the different factors happening in a linear fashion as well. In other words, as the mindfulness leads to investigation of states, the investigation of states leads to energy, and the energy leads to joy, joy leads to tranquility, tranquility leads to collectedness, collectedness leads to equanimity, the equanimity further strengthens the mindfulness.

So your enlightenment factors become more deep, or they become more apparent as you get through each of the jhanas. Now, when you are distracted, you don't have enlightenment factors. When you are distracted, when there are hindrances, there are no enlightenment factors. So what do you do to bring them back into alignment? The 6R's. Using the 6R's, you bring up the enlightenment factors naturally.

When you recognize that the mind is distracted, you have mindfulness and investigation of states present. Oh, I am distracted. And knowing that you are distracted is the investigation of states. Releasing your mind from that distraction is the effort that you put into it. That's the energy. Relaxing the tightness and tension is the tranquility factor. Coming back to the smile is the joy factor. Returning back to your object of meditation is the collectedness factor. is the equanimity factor.

Again bhikkhus, a bhikkhu abides contemplating mind objects as mind objects in terms of the four noble truths. And how does a bhikkhu abide contemplating mind objects as mind objects in terms of the four noble truths? Here a bhikkhu understands as it actually is, this is suffering. He understands as it actually is, this is the origin of suffering.

He understands as it actually is, this is the cessation of suffering. He understands as it actually is, this is the way leading to the cessation of suffering. These are the Four Noble Truths. The first noble truth of suffering. When you release your attention from that and relax, you have let go of the second noble truth of the origin of that hindrance, which is your attention to it. Releasing your attention to it takes away the fuel for that hindrance.

And then you relax the tightness and tension, the craving, and you experience the third noble truth of the cessation of that hindrance. When you relax, you experience this spacious mind. And in that moment, you are experiencing nirvana. In that moment, you are experiencing the mundane form of nirodha, the cessation of suffering. And by relaxing and then coming back to the smile and staying with your object, you are fulfilling the cultivation of the fourth noble truth, which is the Eightfold Path. We'll get into the Eightfold Path later. The heart of the Eightfold Path is Right Effort. And so the 6R's, being Right Effort, allow you to cultivate the Eightfold Path, allow you to understand there is present the Fourth Noble Truth.

So the 6R's not only activate the enlightenment factors, but they also allow you to see the Four Noble Truths as and when they are presently thus. The hindrance is suffering. Of suffering, release from that, relaxing it, is the third noble truth of the cessation of suffering, and applying the right effort, applying the 6R's and coming back, is the fourth noble truth of the way leading out of suffering.

And yes, okay, fine, the mind goes to the body, you're seeing body as body. Mind goes to mind object, you're seeing that mind object as mind object. But so long as you six are using right effort, mindfulness and bring it back to the object of meditation, then that is how you are developing it. If he develops it in such a way for seven years, one of two fruits could be expected for him. Either final knowledge here and now, that is arahatship, or if there is a trace of clinging left, non-return, meaning becoming an anagami, so there could still be some clinging. Let alone seven years bhikkhus, if anyone should develop these four foundations of mindfulness in such a way for six years, for five years, for four years, for three years, for two years, for one year, one of two fruits could be expected for him, either final knowledge here and now, or if there is a trace of clinging left, non-return, let alone one year, bhikkhus.

May suffering ones be suffering free. May 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.