Day 5: Dependent Origination Part 1 Netherlands

Today we're going to discuss dependent origination, the heart of the Dhamma. In Majjhima Nikaya 28, Sariputta says that the Buddha has declared that one who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma. And one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination. So yesterday we spoke about transcendental dependent origination, or dependent liberation, which is understanding the different factors leading up to awakening, to freedom. Now we're going to be talking about how it is that the mind causes itself suffering. So the four noble truths are all ingrained in each of the links of dependent origination. The process, the four R's or the six R's or whatever you want to call them, we are essentially understanding the four noble truths.

So in Majjhima Nikaya 9, which is the Sammaditthi Sutta, there Sariputta talks about right view. Sammaditthi means right view. And he has asked constantly, what is right view? Is there a way to understand right view? Is there another way to understand right view? And Sariputta says, yes, if you understand suffering, you understand the cause of suffering, you understand the cessation of suffering, and you understand the way leading to the cessation of suffering. If you understand birth as suffering, the first noble truth, if you understand the cause of birth, which is bhava or becoming, you understand that the cessation of becoming is a cessation of birth. And the way leading to that cessation is the Eightfold Path.

contextualize it. You use the Four Noble Truths as a device, as a system, as a method of identifying what is present that is causing suffering, letting go of the causes and conditions for that, experiencing relief from that. And letting go is the Fourth Noble Truth. The process that leads you to letting go is the Fourth Noble Truth. And that is the four R's or the six R's or right effort. So anytime you hear the cessation of this is so-and-so, and the way leading to the cessation of this is the Eightfold Path, that means that they're talking about using right effort. Or it should be understood in that way, because it is through right effort that you go from the wrong factors of the path to the right factors of the path.

So what are the links of dependent origination? What are the 12 links of dependent origination? They are avijja or ignorance, sankhara or formations, vinnana or consciousness, mentality-materiality or nama-rupa, the six sense bases or the salayatana, phassa or contact, vedana or feeling, tanha or craving, upadana or clinging, bhava or becoming or habitual tendencies, jati or birth, and dukkha or suffering, or jara marana. Jara marana is really aging and death. Jara is aging, marana is death. So there are a few ways to understand dependent origination. One is from lifetime to lifetime; this is basically the wheels, the mechanics of rebirth, how one life ends and another begins. This is the mechanics of rebirth at the macro level.

Another way of understanding dependent origination is that it is happening in every moment. There's contact, contact, contact. There's feeling, feeling, feeling, craving, clinging, becoming, and so on. That's one way of understanding. Another way of understanding is that it is the mechanics for karma. Once you understand what karma is in relation to dependent origination, then you know how to cease karma. So the Buddha has talked about karma in two ways. There is old karma to be inherited. What do we say in the morning? Karma, I am the inheritor of my karma. Karma is my relative, and so on and so forth. We inherit old karma as a result of previous choices we've made in the past.

Dependent origination, and the new karma, which the Buddha has talked about, the reaction to the old karma, which perpetuates that karma to continue. So once you understand the delineation point, once you understand where karma can be ceased, at what point, then you're able to let go of any further arising of future karma. That's the beauty of dependent origination. It's not just something that's theoretical. It's something that can be applied and understood in every moment of our daily living and in our practice. So let's explore the different links of dependent origination. And we will start from the ending and work our way back. We will start with suffering, with dukkha. So this word dukkha, what does it actually mean?

Dukkha. Du means bad or negative or unwholesome or the lack of. And kh is the Pali from the word sth in Sanskrit, which means stable. So dukkha is instability. Dukkha is inconstancy. Dukkha is where, when you go to, and I like to use this because this is the best way of understanding it. And it's the same analogy that the Buddha has used, but it's a little bit updated for our times. It's when you go to the market, to the supermarket, right? And you take one of those shopping carts and you're walking around with a shopping cart. One wheel in the shopping cart that just is a little off balance. It's always spinning around, or you're trying to move it around and it just doesn't move the way you want it to. That's dukkha, because dukkha is where the axle of the wheel isn't really matching and there's some kind of instability over there. This is what dukkha is. So it's manifested in different ways. There are different categories of dukkha.

We have dukkha-dukkha, which is the pure generic kind of dukkha. Then we have the viparinama dukkha, which is the dukkha of change. And then we have sankhara dukkha, which is more of an existential kind of suffering. So what is dukkha-dukkha here? That kind of dukkha is illness, is aging, is death, is grief, mental despair, sorrow, lamentation, anxiety. All of these are part of dukkha. Viparinama dukkha is the dukkha of change: getting what you don't want and not getting what you do want. Things continually change.

Sankhara dukkha, the existential dukkha, is the dukkha of existence itself, which is when we identify with one or more of the five aggregates. That's why the Buddha has said that the five aggregates affected by craving and clinging are dukkha. The five aggregates themselves aren't, but the identification with them is what is the dukkha. At the links of dependent origination, we can understand that you can actually 6R some of the links to a certain extent, but not all of them. And here's the reason: you cannot just 6R aging away. It'd be wonderful if you could. It'd be a great marketing device, right? Hey, come and see for yourself and de-age with the 6R's. Not possible.

But what you can 6R, what you can 4R, what you can let go of, is your attachment, your identification with the aging process. The fear of aging, the fear of the decay that happens through the aging process. You can let go of identifying with the body. And what is aging? It is one's ability to use and engage with the six sense bases, right? The energy starts to decline and so on. And that is a natural process of life. All beings go through the process of aging. Even when we talk about Buddhist cosmology, the devas, the higher beings, go through a process of aging. Is that they enjoy the fruits of their previous actions in the human realm, and they're enjoying, they're having a great time, and then all of a sudden they start to notice that the leaves around them are falling, the rose petals are starting to become dried up, and then before they know it, they're aging, and they're gone.

There's nothing they can do about it. So all beings within Buddha's cosmology are subject to this process of aging. When you talk about illness, illness is definitely preventable. But there are certain illnesses that we inherit. There are certain illnesses that come because of our lifestyles. There are certain illnesses that come due to predispositions and so on and so forth. Again, if we could just let go of illness right there and then, that would be amazing. It's a miracle. You can 6R your cold away, your COVID away. How wonderful would that be? But not possible. But you can let go of your fear of illness. You can let go of your aversion to the painful feelings that illness brings.

And that creates relief in the mind. That's where we have the analogy of the two darts or the two arrows. It's something like this: pain is unavoidable, but suffering is optional. So the pain that is experienced in terms of physical pain, in terms of illness and so on, that is the reality of the situation. Nothing we can do about it. However, our perception of that pain, our perception of that illness, we can let go of if it is unwholesome, if it is causing us mental suffering. So we can recognize our aversion and we can let go of it. And we can cultivate a wholesome state, maybe equanimity or compassion for ourselves and others. So we talk about aging, we talk about illness, we talk about death.

Death, again, is a natural part of life. Everything that arises passes away due to causes and conditions, no longer being able to function. That's just the way it works. And so we have to come to acceptance with this. We have to come to terms with this understanding. And we talk about the dying process. It happens through different ways, right? But the dissolution of the elements of the body happens a certain way. The dissolution of the sense bases happens a certain way, consciousness, our mind. And in that sense, it's important to cultivate a mind that is rooted in the wholesome. So we talked about before, what is the importance of keeping precepts? Is it because we are going to be met with some kind of moral judge at the end of our lives?

Perhaps, perhaps not. We'll have to see. is a life review process. That's just the way that the mind will unravel things as we continue to fall apart in the dying process. And perhaps the things that are brought up in that life review process, if they have been primarily unwholesome, will bring up unwholesome memories. Highlights, karmic highlights of that life. But if we've been wholesome, then the karmic highlights will be also wholesome. That's why the unwholesome leads to further unwholesome states, because we have regret, we have remorse, we have fear, we have confusion of why is this happening, what's going on. And because of that, it creates a mindset, it activates certain kinds of formations, which we'll talk about later, that activate a certain kind of consciousness that drifts from this life and goes into the next life, primarily unwholesome.

But if it has been wholesome, then there is attachment to that wholesome. There is a sense of elation in that wholesome. And from there, it activates a certain set of formations. It activates a certain consciousness that then drifts into the next life, which is primarily wholesome. Dying. Dying is just a natural part of life. But what we can let go of is our fear of that. The anxiety around the ending of something. There can be the death of the body. There can be the death of a relationship. There can be the death of events, the death of situations, and the death of friends, the death of people that we love. When the mind identifies with the body so much, the five aggregates so much, the fear of death is ingrained in that. The fear of the ending of any kind of relationship. The fear of loss is a terrible thing. As Master Yoda would say, the fear of loss is a path to the dark side. What does that mean? It means the more that we are afraid of losing something, the more we self-fulfill that prophecy of losing that thing.

And we act in unwholesome ways to keep grasping to it from that fear of loss. And in doing so, ultimately, tragically, we lose it. So how do we let go of that fear of loss? Well, again, using Master Yoda's quote, he says, somebody asks him, that fear of loss. And he says, train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose. Let go of the identification process with everything. This is my family. This is my set of friends. This is my father. This is my mother. This is my brother. This is my sister. This is my girlfriend. This is my boyfriend, my husband, my wife. This is my body. This is my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my.

This is all me, mine, myself. You let go of that. And what remains? Just whatever it is. This person here is there right now. But one day it will all go. The relationship will go. This body will go. This mind will go. That's the power of these five recollections that we do in the morning. It makes us understand that indeed there is nothing in this world worth holding on to. Because all of it is dependently arisen. Being dependently arisen, it has impermanence in it. When it arises, it will also pass away when the causes and conditions go away for it to rise.

And by that very nature, it is also dukkha. Even if it's a pleasant experience. Right now, we might have a pleasant experience of being with our family members, being with our friends, or being with a community where everything is wonderful, or celebrating some life event. But it will not continue. It will change. It continues to change. Conditioned are liable to cause dukkha. And therefore, they should not be seen as me, mine, or myself. And I'll get more into what that means when we talk about the five aggregates. And then, of course, we have the mental suffering that arises in the form of grief, in the form of anxiety, in the form of sorrow and lamentation.

These are all conditions of the mind that arise due to something that is unpleasant. Does that mean grief is a bad thing? Does that mean sadness is a bad thing? Does that mean being in sorrow and lamenting is a bad thing? I say no. It is just an experience of the mind. Why judge it? Why fight it? It's okay. It's there. To be not okay with it is the issue here. To want it to change is the issue here. Fine. The mind is in grief. It's okay. If you accept it, if you allow that grief to be there and understand through the principles of the Dhamma that this grief too shall pass, then you allow it to be there, you allow it to be processed, and it goes on.

And it goes away. Likewise, with any kind of mental experience, it is just an experience. Hindrances: suffering, sensual craving, aversion, restlessness, sloth and torpor, doubt. It's there. Okay. So the first layer of that is to recognize it and to accept that it's there. Stop trying to fight with it. Stop trying to engage with it by reasoning with it. Can you just go away, please? Trying to push it down. Push it away. Let it be there. It's okay.

Fine. What I'm choosing to let go is my taking it personally. What I'm choosing to let go is that process of identifying it as mine. And most importantly, I'm choosing to let go of my undue attention to the hindrance. My attention has wavered from the object and gone to the hindrance. I'm choosing to redirect my attention by letting go and coming to a sense of relief and bringing my attention back to my object. Then we talk about viparinama dukkha, the dukkha of change. Accept change itself. We want things to be the same always. We are in this jhana and we want this jhana to continue. We have a lot of peace in the mind. I hope this peace of mind continues.

I hope it continues in my next sitting. And you come back to your next sitting and there's a lot of activity in the mind. And how do you feel? Terrible. Why? Because you expect everything to be the same. You don't like change. We don't like change as humans. All beings, even though we can adapt to change, our bodies can adapt to change, and so on and so forth. Mentally, we want everything to be the same. Why? Because it's comfortable. We don't want to stray from our comfort zone. So we don't get what we want or we get what we don't want. And so when we have this experience of joy, we say, wow, this joy is great.

I hope it continues. And we try to lock into that joy and say, oh, I'm going to stay here. And the more we lock into the joy, guess what happens? The joy drifts away. Anything you chase after, it wants to be chased. And so you just keep playing that game of chasing. But as soon as you let go and you just stay here, what happens? The joy just comes to you. The loving kindness comes to you. The equanimity comes to you. It's a process of relaxing into it. Any kind of pushing is a kind of craving. Any kind of locking in is a kind of craving. Just being available to loving kindness. Being available to joy.

Which means there is an intention there, of course. The intention is to let go of any of our expectations and just to be present here and now. I'm open for loving kindness to come. But at the same time, I'm not waiting. Because waiting is just another synonym for craving. One time, this was probably last July, somewhere around then. I was with Venerable Mettananda and we were on our way to Boston.

And we were at St. Louis Airport. And we were waiting in line to check into the airport. And I told Venerable Mettananda, you know what? Samsara, the majority of samsara is nothing but just waiting. We're always waiting for something. We're waiting in line. We're being waited on for our food. Even if we're preparing the food, we're standing there watching the microwave and the food rotating for a minute or two. We're waiting. But then the food is too hot. So we're waiting for the food to cool down a bit. There's always some kind of waiting that's going on. And that waiting is samsara. Waiting for the next best thing. Waiting for jhana to happen. Waiting for peace of mind.

Waiting for security. Waiting for this, that, or the other. It's just another word for samsara. For craving. That's why boredom arises in the meditation. You're just sitting there and you're meditating and it's very deep. It's wonderful. It's a new sensation in the mind. Great. I'm very deep now. Now what? So if you can have this level of disenchantment and equanimity and just stay there without being in the waiting room for Nibbana to happen, without being in the waiting room for jhana to happen, then before you know it, when you least expect it, it happens. That's what Venerable Mettananda would say.

Expectations are dukkha under construction. So let go of expecting things. Just be present. That's it. Just be available. And when you do that, whatever changes happen are accepted as they are. This is the true meaning of equanimity. Whatever changes are happening, there is absolute acceptance of it. Then there's no suffering of change. Then there is no viparinama dukkha. Whatever comes, comes. Whatever goes, goes. Be it pleasant, be it unpleasant, be it neutral. And then finally we have this sankhara dukkha, this existential suffering that arises when we identify with one or more of the five

aggregates. What are the five aggregates? Form, feeling, perception, formations and consciousness. So what is form? Form means any kind of form, internal or external. The forms of our body, the forms of this phone, the form of these books, the form of these flowers. All is form, rupa, in different levels. So in different mixtures of the different elements, they make up that form. Internally we have our organs, which are forms. Externally there's the tree, that's a different kind of form. So any kind of form. Near or far. Subtle or gross. Feeling. When we talk about feeling, feeling can be internal or external. A feeling is essentially not related to emotion. A feeling can be related to sensation, but it is any and all experience.

That's why I like to use the word experience for feeling, for vedana. Any kind of experience that you're having. It can be pleasant, it can be unpleasant, or it could be neutral. We talk about perception. What is perception? Perception comes from the word sanna. So, sanna means to perceive, to label that which is being experienced. So, when you're in grade school, you learn the letters of the alphabet. You learn the numbers. You learn the different kinds of colors. There's red, there's black, there's blue, there's white, there's yellow, there's green, and so on and so forth. And as you learn all of these different things, then they're rooted in your memory. And so the perception happens automatically, concurrent to the experience.

It labels the experience immediately. This is a microphone. I point to this, you are seeing the microphone, that's the feeling. Knowing that it is a microphone is the perception. So that perception can be far, that perception can be near, that perception can be external, that perception can be internal, that perception can be subtle, that perception can be coarse. And then we have formations.

Now we'll delve deeper into formations, when we discuss formations as a link. But formations are anything related to our intentions and choices. We think that we are the ones who make that choice, but those choices are all conditioned by different kinds of causes and conditions, internal and external. And then we have consciousness, the big one. In a different tradition that thinks that consciousness is all-pervading and permanent and that is all that there is, it is just an idea that is present in the mind. But when we talk about consciousness in terms of the context of the Dhamma, we're talking about consciousness that arises dependent upon contact. Eye consciousness arises because there is something that the eye makes contact with.

When there is ear consciousness, it's when the sound makes contact with the ear. When there is nose consciousness, it's because the odor or fragrance makes contact with the nose. Likewise with tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness. So when you see any and all of these five aggregates, you realize that these five aggregates arise dependent upon causes and conditions. That which is dependently arisen is impermanent because it is liable to change. Therefore, taking it personally will cause dukkha at some point. Now, why is it that we say that these five aggregates are not me, not mine, not myself? Why is it that we say all conditioned experience is not me, not mine, myself? Because at the time of the Buddha, let's say even now, up until this point, but even before the time of the Buddha, there was the idea of the atman. In Sanskrit we have the concept of atman. This is in Vedanta, this is in other Indian philosophy, and so on. And what is the concept of the atman?

The atman is that which is self. The atman is me. It is the indestructible self. The atman is that which is all-pervading. The atman is that which is permanent. The atman is that which is a source of happiness. Now, let's say that there is such a thing as the atman for the sake of understanding and clarity. We take that atman as the touchstone, and then we take all of our experiences and we see bit by bit: is form permanent or impermanent? Is feeling permanent or impermanent? Is perception permanent or impermanent? Is choice permanent or impermanent? Is consciousness permanent or impermanent? And as we start to see all of these different aggregates as being conditionally arisen, we realize that they have the nature of arising and passing away.

But wait, the atman is permanent. The atman is indestructible. The atman never changes. But each of these five aggregates changes. The atman is the source of happiness, permanent happiness. Aggregates can be liable to cause suffering even if they are pleasant in that moment. The fact that they change is also suffering, and that is what we mean when we say anatta, that which is not self. And so the dukkha that arises is when there is identification, a supplanting, a projecting of this sense of self

onto that which is impermanent. That which is inconstant. That which is conditionally arisen. That which is liable to cause dukkha. And that's how we experience dukkha. Every time we identify. That's the existential dukkha. But as soon as you let go of the identification process, then everything is as is. Then there is no dukkha. There is no thinking of what was I in the past. Who was I? What will I be? Who will I be? Who am I? All of those notions go away, because you understand everything as dependently arisen. So these are the different kinds of elements of dukkha. But what is the cause and condition for dukkha or jara-marana? It is said that birth is the cause and condition for jara-marana.

Now, when we talk about birth, jati, it's understood as the different types of classification of birth. The main types of classification of birth are threefold, which is being in a sensual realm, being in a form realm, and being in a formless realm. These are the different classifications of birth. There can be spontaneous birth, there can be birth through how we are born as humans, there can be birth through the egg, different kinds of birth, different kinds of generation, as it's understood in the suttas. And so this is one layer or level of birth. But for practical purposes, we are already born. So we can't do anything about it. We can't just six ourselves out of existence.

Now we are born. Now what do we do with this? How do we deal with this? There is another kind of birth to be understood. In every moment we are reborn, and we continue to change in every moment. And then there is the birth of karma. The rebirth of karma. The rebirth of action. The birth of action is what we're talking about here for practical purposes. The birth of action is essentially intention.

There's an intention to think about something, there's an intention to say something, or there's an intention to do something. The Buddha has talked about karma as action, but karma is also intention, what we intend to do. And so in order to understand this, what we should see is that dependent origination is like a river that's flowing, but actually it starts out much deeper than that, which we'll get into tomorrow. But let's say it just starts out at ignorance. And it streams out, and it continues to flow in streams through the river. And each of the links are like whirlpools in the river. And eventually, there is a waterfall that happens. Now, the bend of the waterfall is what's known as bhava.

Which we'll get into shortly. But the birth of action is dipping into the waterfall. Once you go past the bend and down the waterfall, there's no way for you to swim upstream. There's no way for you to boat upstream. You just go down. That is the birth of action. Once you think of something, you can't recall that. Once you say something, you can't recall it. You cannot recall it. And therefore, you have to be beholden to the effect or results of that intentional action that's rooted in taking it personally. Rooted in having some kind of craving as a motivation. Some kind of aversion as a motivation.

So there's no way to six-hour birth. Both macro level and micro level. You can't recall what it is that you just said or thought or did. But now here we can start the 6R's, which is at the level of bhava. What is bhava? Bhava can be understood as existence. It can be understood as being. It could be understood as becoming. It could be understood as where the personality is fully cooked up. Or it could be understood as habitual tendencies. When you talk about bhava as existence, we're talking about the three layers of existence. There's the sensual realm or the sensual lokas. There's the form realms or the formless realms. And so we identify one or another with this.

In other words, we talk about the sensual realms. Every time there's an identification with a certain kind of habit pattern or habitual tendencies. What are habitual tendencies? When you are met with a series of choices, when you are met with a series of decisions in reaction or wanting to react to a situation, your mind has the general tendency to automatically incline towards a choice without even thinking about it. If you are met with chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream and you grew up liking chocolate ice cream, your choice would be inclined towards the chocolate ice cream. That's your bhava. That's your habitual tendency.

If somebody shouts at you, the tendency is to try to defend yourself and shout back at them. That's the automatic inclination that happens. And so when we talk about bhava, there are certain kinds of habitual tendencies, certain kinds of habit patterns, that are associated with certain kinds of existences. Now let's just set aside the idea of the Buddhist cosmology of the different realms, and look at the psychological states that can be identified with these different realms. In other words, if somebody is generous, if somebody is forgiving, if somebody is kind, if somebody is compassionate, if somebody is joyful and grateful, then their psychological state is very deva-like. If somebody is jealous, somebody is greedy, somebody is always grasping at things, then their mindset is like a hungry ghost.

If somebody is only about food and sex and the indulgence of the sense pleasures, then they're very much animalistic. If somebody is violent, if somebody inflicts violence on others, is angry all the time, psychological state it's like hell but if somebody is always in a state of being happy and joyful and in jhana then their psychological state is identified with being like in the form realm being like a brahma or somebody continues to cultivate the arupa states then their mindset is likened to be in a formless realm Being in infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception or non-perception. So these habitual tendencies, they can be wholesome and they can be unwholesome. You can continue to recondition the habitual tendencies from being unwholesome.

How? Using right effort. Notice what the intention is that's arising. And if you catch yourself going towards the unwholesome, six R, four R, let it go. And replace it with the wholesome. When you do this, you change karma also. Now the birth of action is not the same. Now the birth of action is different. And bit by bit you eradicate that unwholesome karma. So at that waterfall, the bend of the waterfall, you are still able to struggle upstream, and you can still go upstream. But it's a little more difficult. But it's easier just before that, which is clinging. Now you can, with right effort, let go of clinging. Clinging is fuel, which is attachment. And there are four kinds of clinging.

There is sensory or sensual clinging. There's clinging to views. There's clinging to rites and rituals. And there's clinging to self-view. What is sensual clinging? What is clinging in general? Let's understand that first. It is rationalizing why it is you think you like something, or why it is you think you hate something, or why it is you think you identify with something. It is the associations that you make. So in your mind, when you think about this, when you say this is pleasant, that's a pleasant feeling. I like it and I want more of it. That's craving, because of so-and-so, or the stories that you make around it, is the clinging. And so is the personality that is developed at becoming, or habitual tendencies, and from which you act.

This is the mental process that happens in your mind. And so the associations that you make, when you talk about sensory clinging, you have a series of favorite things that you like or things that you abhor, right? For example, we all have a favorite type of music. The music that we like is the best music. But the music that this generation likes is all trash. Right? Why? Because we grew up liking a certain kind of music. And we associate good memories and feelings with that music or with that genre. We have a certain kind of taste that we like. We like a certain kind of flavor of food.

But we associate that because of the memories that we have with it. We have a favorite kind of fragrance. We have a favorite kind of texture that we enjoy. And so these favorites, these ideas, these stories that we create is clinging, sensory clinging. I don't know how it is here in Europe, but when you go to, for example, Walmart or any of the supermarkets, you will see that all in the cereal aisle, cereal is all at this height. Why? Because you have toddlers toddling away and looking at the different cereals and enamored by the color and the characters on the box and they say, I want that, right? So marketers and advertisers are the best at creating this clinging for us.

They create all kinds of advertisements that say, if I only owned this kind of car, I am a success. I am validated. If I own this type of clothes, I project a certain kind of personality. We have social media. We project a certain kind of idea about ourselves on social media. Clinging and bhava, personality development. So every time you notice that there is clinging there, every time you notice you're making an association, you're rationalizing why it is you think you like something, you can catch yourself doing that. And you can let go of that. And when you let go of clinging, you let go of the rest of the series in the domino, which means there won't be any further habitual tendency, there won't be any further birth of action, and therefore there won't be a renewal of karma, which is suffering, really.

So that's one type of clinging. Clinging to views. There's clinging to wrong views. So what are wrong views? Wrong views are anything that is not right view. So what is right view? Right view is understanding that there is action and consequence. Right view is understanding that there is this world and the other. When we say this world and the other, what are we talking about? There is this world of the sensual experience and there is the other, which is a mental super mundane experience that is possible for us. That there is mother and father. In other words, there is an appreciation for our parents because we understand that they brought us into this world with the potential for us to be able to experience awakening.

have gratitude. That there is this process of karma and that there is meaning in giving. There is meaning in sharing. There is meaning in what is offered. In other words, these are all part of uplifting the mind by being open, by being generous, by keeping the precepts. There is meaning in all of this. That there are those who have walked the path and can show the path. This is all part of mundane right view. Super mundane right view is the understanding of the four noble truths. That one understands what is suffering. One abandons what is the causes of suffering. One experiences the cessation of suffering. And one cultivates the path leading to the cessation of suffering.

That's right view. So wrong view has to do with anything that conflicts with this. And it causes us harm. It causes us suffering. Clinging to views can also be clinging to our opinions, clinging to ideas, clinging to concepts, clinging to ideologies. When we cling to views, what happens? You read Majjhima Nikaya 18, the Honeyball Sutta, the Buddha says, disturbances. One can become so attached that it can lead to wrong speech and wrong action, even to the taking up of the stick and sword. We see this for ourselves now in our reality. We've seen this for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years that this has happened. There's a clinging to some kind of idea.

I am right and you are wrong and therefore you don't deserve to live. So clinging to opinions, somebody had said once, I wake up and make my coffee and I turn on the TV and I'm watching the news and it gives me all kinds of anxiety and all kinds of suffering. So what should I do? I said, stop watching the news.

Most of the news that we watch, especially in America, I'll say, the news that we watch is all just opinions. Just a bunch of talking heads giving their opinion about the reality, the so-called reality that we're experiencing. And what happens? We take that and we identify with it and we say, oh, this makes sense to me. So some of us identify as conservatives, some of us identify as liberals, some of us identify as this or that. Identity, identity, identity. That is the clinging that happens. And then we defend that because we have identified with it. And now in the habitual tendencies, based on that kind of clinging, we will react to a situation. So if you find the mind starting to cling to becoming opinionated about something, you can let go of that.

Because there's tension there. It creates a habitual pattern. It creates a habitual tendency from which we react. And of course, there's also clinging to the Dhamma itself. Becoming a Dhamma defender. We're doing this practice or we're doing some kind of practice and we say, oh, this is a great practice. Everybody should be doing this practice. Why? Happy with what you're doing. From your actions, from your behavior, people will be inspired. And then they'll come to you and ask you, what are you doing? And if you feel like you want to talk about it, you talk about it. Why be a Dhamma evangelist? Why defend the Dhamma? The Dhamma doesn't need any defending. The Dhamma is the Dhamma.

When you identify with the Dhamma, when you cling to the Dhamma, then it is just. It's like you having taken the raft from one shore to the other shore and then carrying that raft with you while you're walking up. Just leave it. You have utilized the Dhamma for its purposes, which is freedom of mind, which is the cessation of suffering, the ultimate happiness. So why cling to it? If it is giving you peace of mind, why cling to it? The thinking itself is disturbing you from that peace of mind. Somebody asked at one point, there comes a point where the mind has no thoughts at all. And I said, yeah, there comes a point where the mind has no thoughts at all, except the thought, but hey, there's no thoughts at all.

So that's what you have to let go. That last part is the identification with that too. But if you hold on to that, then what happens? You generate more thoughts. The same way you hold on to the Dhamma, what happens? You generate more suffering for yourself. Stop identifying with things. Just let them go. Use them for the purposes of what they're required for.

So that's clinging to views. Then we have clinging to rites and rituals. This is a corny joke from Bhante Sujato. It's not mine, it's Bhante Sujato's. I'm just giving you that caveat. He talks about clinging to rites and rituals, and that comes from the word sila, right, and pabata, and upadana. Actually means rock. And pamata means to move forward. So what we're clinging to is rock and roll. So we let go of all rock and roll music. But really, what does clinging to rites and rituals mean? Rites and rituals with the idea that they will take you to Nibbana. So we cling to this idea that if I only chanted this 108 times, or if I only light 10,000 candles, or if I only wear my lucky ring, or wear my lucky color, everything will turn out fine.

These different kinds of rites and rituals. What does it create in the mind? It creates identity. It creates all kinds of ideas that we cling to. When we come to take refuge, when we come to take the precepts and all of that, some people can say, oh, isn't that a rite and ritual? Sure, it could be. But it's only a rite and ritual if you're just doing it mechanically. But if you truly understood the reasoning behind why you're doing what you're doing, like why the power of the precepts matters, what it means when we take refuge, what does it mean when you take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha? What does it actually mean?

The way I see it, when we take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, we're taking refuge not in the persona of the Buddha. We're taking refuge in what is possible. In terms of Nibbana, in terms of Arahatship, in terms of full awakening. When we take refuge in the Dhamma, we're saying we're taking refuge in this moment. We are surrendering our identity and accepting everything as it actually is. That is the Dhamma of the moment, the reality of the situation. When we take refuge in the Sangha, what are we saying? We're not taking refuge to a particular Sangha. We're not taking refuge to a particular person in the Sangha. We're taking refuge in what the Sangha represents, which is the community.

of fellow practitioners, the security of knowing that we can talk to others, we can discuss the Dhamma with others. We are taking refuge in that idea. But the greatest of this is to take refuge in the moment, take refuge in the Dhamma. Because it is through the Dhamma that we are able to liberate the mind. This is the way I see it. Taking refuge in the Buddha and the Dhamma and the Sangha is allowing or letting go of our sense of selves, of identifying with things, and allowing the Dhamma to flow through the Sangha. Because we are part of the Sangha, which means we allow the Dhamma to flow through whatever is going on, even if it seems like it is counterintuitive or contradictory to what we expect.

There goes that word again, expect. But we allow things to be as they are. And so we let the Dhamma flow through us. We become harbingers of the Dhamma. We become an embodiment of the Dhamma. Through our actions, through our speech, through our meditation, through our sharing of merit, through all of the actions that we produce in alignment with the Dhamma. So it's more than just saying, for the first time I take refuge in the Buddha, for the first time I take refuge in the Dhamma, and so on. It is a conviction, it is a commitment to surrender the ego that identifies with things and to let it go. And of course, you know the whole understanding of the precepts, the power of the precepts.

So it's not a rite and ritual in that way. It is actually an empowerment of the mind and the body. It's an empowerment of the mind to be ready to do the work, which is what? Letting go. And then we have what is clinging to self-view. What is self-view? There are 20 different kinds of self-view. And what it means is it's the five aggregates multiplied by the four types of views. The view that one or more of the five aggregates are me, or that I am in one or more of the five aggregates, or the five aggregates are in me, or that I am separate from the five aggregates. These are the different kinds of self-view.

Experience in relation to any of the five aggregates, if you catch the mind doing that, you can let that go and see it as an impersonal process. So when are these different clingings fully eradicated? The clinging to sensual pleasure is fully eradicated when one becomes an anagami. Clinging to views becomes fully eradicated when first and foremost at stream entry, when one establishes right view, but fully eradicated when you let go of even defending the Dhamma. When you become an arahant you let go of all clinging to rites and rituals, or eradicate it when you become a stream entry, and you let go of the intellectual belief in a personal self, the clinging to that idea. So, clinging is the rationalizing of why it is what we think we want, or what we don't want, or what we identify with.

Clinging has a cause and condition. What is that? Craving, tanha. What does tanha mean? Tanha literally means thirst. It's to thirst for something. Being a millennial, I find it quite funny that we have a word like thirst now in our, let's say, slang. To be thirsty. For millennials, you know what that means, for those who understand that. So we've come full circle now.

So what is this thirst? What is this tanha we're talking about? Craving. Sensual craving, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence. Another way of looking at craving is I like it, I don't like it, or I identify with it. So sensual craving is related to any of the five physical sense bases. I identify with this, or I like this pleasant experience, or I don't like this pleasant experience and I push it away. That's the sensual craving. The craving for existence means craving to be something. The craving to be in a kind of jhana, the craving for nibbana itself, the craving for wealth, the craving for status, the craving for being in a certain kind of realm.

These are all craving for existence. That craving and chanda. What is chanda? Chanda is a wholesome inclination. So there's a difference between the chanda towards nibbana, which means the analogy here is you set the course for nibbana, right? You set the rudder in the direction of nibbana. But in that process you don't get obsessed. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? That's the craving. So you can incline your mind towards the wholesome. You can incline your mind towards the Dhamma. Completely fine. But getting obsessed by every step of the way, that's the craving that you have to let go of. Craving for non-existence, right? I don't like what's going on right now. I don't like this hindrance being present in the mind.

I don't like being here on this retreat. I don't like being part of this family. I don't like being in this country. I don't like, I don't like, I don't like being. So every time you notice I want something, I don't like something, or I want to be something, or I don't want to be something, these are all elements of craving.

Now, craving can manifest as tightness and tension in the mind and in the body. But it can be subtler than that. It can be manifested as different kinds of residues in the mind. You know, some kind of emotional knot that's there in the energy system and so on. So the idea here is to think about craving as that which is the fight or flight response. That's one way to look at it. You are met with an experience and you fight or flight. Let's say you fight. You want to get something. You grasp at it. Or you flee from it. You go away from it. When, let's say, you have an object of craving, chocolate cake for this example.

And you see the chocolate cake and you say, I want a piece of chocolate cake. I really want it really bad. And you take it and you eat the chocolate cake. And how do you feel? You feel satisfied. You feel relieved. Or you find yourself in a position where you're talking to somebody that you don't want to talk to. They come and see you and, hey, how's it going? And you really don't want to talk to them. You really don't want to be there with them. But then as soon as you leave or as soon as you find an escape route to go away from them, how do you feel?

Relief. Relieved. So what I'm getting at is this relief is what we're after, actually. To experience that relief is the craving. The pushing away of something in order to experience that relief is the craving. But if you use the six R's, if you use four R's, if you use the right effort, you experience relief right there and then. So what need is there for craving? What need is there for aversion? What need is there for identifying with something? How does craving arise? According to the links of dependent origination, the cause and condition for this craving is feeling, Vedana, experience. But how can that be? An experience is just an experience. What is it that leads one from experience to craving?

So, as I mentioned, just as you would see dependent origination as a river and each of the links as vortices, as whirlpools, underneath that are different kinds of underlying tendencies. So now let's explore feeling and then what we mean by underlying tendencies. When we use the word feeling, which comes from Vedana, we're not talking about an emotional feeling. We're talking about a sensation, or we're talking about an experience. Anything that you experience right now, right here, is feeling, is Vedana. So what are the different types of experience?

Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and thinking. It's just an experience. It's all a processing of different kinds of stimulation or stimuli. And the process of that being stimulated gives the experience. That process that says that it is pleasant or unpleasant or neutral, that process that says that this is red or this is chocolate cake or this is sweet or this is an unpleasant odor, that is perception. When feeling arises, tied to it, concurrent with it, is perception. Now, how does experience go from that to craving or aversion or identification? It's the underlying tendencies. There are seven kinds of underlying tendencies. When there is a pleasant experience, a pleasant sensation, a pleasant feeling, there is the underlying tendency towards craving, an inclination towards craving.

I'm sorry, when there is an unpleasant feeling, then there is the underlying tendency towards aversion. When there is a neutral feeling, there is the underlying tendency towards ignorance. Then, those are the three. Underlying tendency towards craving, underlying tendency towards aversion, and underlying tendency towards ignorance. What about the other four? There is the underlying tendency towards doubt, towards existence or becoming, the underlying tendency towards conceit, and the underlying tendency towards views. These can underlie any kind of experience. So what do we mean by underlying tendency towards craving? We'll take the example of the chocolate cake. So now I see that there is chocolate cake, seeing it. Or, better yet, I hear that chocolate cake is being served at lunch.

Great. So what happens? Now, there is the feeling, the hearing about chocolate cake. Then, while I'm interviewing each and every one of you, what is my mind thinking about? Chocolate cake. There's going to be chocolate cake at lunch. Wow, I can't wait for this chocolate cake. So I'm pretending to interview you guys, but in my mind I'm obsessed by chocolate cake. So what is that? It's the craving for chocolate cake. I want chocolate cake. Why do I want chocolate cake? Oh, because my mother used to make the best kind of chocolate cake. Growing up, I had the best memories of eating chocolate cake at my birthday. So that's the association, that's the clinging.

Therefore, I am this person who loves chocolate cake. That's my habitual tendency. So now, my underlying tendency towards chocolate cake, towards craving, is the obsession around that chocolate cake. Then lunchtime comes, and we go to lunch. And we go there, and guess what? Kabir has decided he's going to make strawberry cake and not chocolate cake. How do I feel? The birth of action is, darn it, there's no chocolate cake. How do I feel?

Grief, sorrow, lamentation, and despair. There is no chocolate cake. So it's easy. It's as simple as that. These different kinds of underlying tendencies. Underlying tendency is a tendency to aversion. I don't like this, so I want to push it away. That's the underlying tendency towards aversion. And pushing it away is the aversion in that creation. Underlying tendency to ignorance. What does that mean? It underlies a neutral feeling. What is a neutral feeling? Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It is just neutral. It is just a feeling. But if I identify with that feeling or I have a lack of mindfulness in regards to that feeling, that is the ignorance. I forget to be mindful about not taking this feeling personally.

And what happens? Then I identify with it, and that's a different kind of craving. What about the underlying tendency towards doubt? The underlying tendency towards doubt is confusion about whether this is a wholesome state or an unwholesome state. Being scattered in your mind about whether it's wholesome or unwholesome. Underlying tendency towards conceit. This is my experience. This experience is me. I am experiencing this. The underlying tendency to views. I have an opinion about this experience. I have a view about this experience. The underlying tendency towards bhava or becoming. I like this experience and I want more of this experience, and I want to become this experience. So I'm thinking in the future about how I can replicate this experience.

In that way, I'm obsessed by it. Did I cover all of that? Underlying tendency to conceit, identifying with it, right? Taking it personally. So whenever this happens, ultimately what we're talking about is anytime the mind takes something personally, any of these underlying tendencies can arise and give rise to craving. Now, what is an experience? Can you 6R an experience? You can't. You can't just let go of seeing or hearing or thinking or whatever it is. What is all of that? All of that is the inherited karma that you have. So the Buddha has said, we're going to stop soon, but the rest of the links we'll talk about tomorrow. But the Buddha has said, ignorance, or all the way from ignorance to formations, to consciousness, to mentality, materiality, feeling, all of that is old karma to be felt and experienced, to be inherited as a result of previous choices we've made in the past. How do we perpetuate that? By craving, by clinging, by becoming, which gives rise to the birth of new action, which gives rise to further suffering, to further rebirth, to further experiencing of that particular experience.

How do we let go of that? Right effort. And that starts with mindfulness. Mindfulness is the gatekeeper. That's why the Buddha has said in Samyutta Nikaya 35.95, in the Malunkyaputta Sutta, he says, when mindfulness is muddled, then there is craving, then there is aversion. It's not the Buddha, but Malunkyaputta says that. Mindfulness of what? Mindfulness of the experience. But it is a mindfulness that this experience is not mine, is not me, is not myself. It is just an experience. If you are able to fully experience everything eye to it, then that itself is the end of suffering. This is what the Bahiya Sutta says. In the Bahiya Sutta, which is a great sutta because it's so short and compact, there is the understanding of how to deal with suffering. Bahiya was somebody who was a meditator, somebody who came from the Upanishads, who says that there is a seer behind the scene.

There is that which hears. There is that which senses. There is that which cognizes. And that is the way to freedom. And so Bahiya thought, I have understood it. But a deva goes to Bahiya, who was a relative of his, and says to him, Bahiya, you need to go to the Buddha to clarify what you know, because this doesn't mean that you become fully awakened. So Bahiya goes to the Buddha and he tells the Buddha that he wants to know, please give him wisdom. Please give him a teaching that he can immediately grasp so that he can alleviate all of his suffering. What does the Buddha say? I'm on my lunch break, come back later.

And so Bahiya says, for a second time, please, please, I might die. You have to give me some teaching. Again, the Buddha says, come back later. I have to go eat. So for the third time, Bahiya says to the Buddha, please, just give me a short statement, whatever you can. And so the idea is, if you ask a Buddha something three times, he's bound to give it to you. So the Buddha sighs and he sets his bowl aside and he says to Bahiya, you after that. Just this is the end of suffering. Bahiya fully understood. He let go, became an arahant. And then he walked away. He forgot to look both sides of the road and got hit by a bull and died right there on the spot.

But he became an arahant. So there's that. But what is this teaching talking about? It's saying that all experience, whether it is seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, thinking, all experience is just that. There is no one doing it behind that. It is just a process that's going on. When the mind projects that sense of self onto it, suffering arises. But when you let go of that identification process with mindfulness, then there is no craving, no clinging, no becoming, no birth, no suffering. So in the meditation, how do you deal with it? A hindrance arises. What is a hindrance? It's a painful feeling. How do you deal with it? Do you have the underlying tendency towards aversion towards it?

Towards doubt or ignorance or whatever it might be that's grasping at it and leading you to push it away or to crave more of it or to identify with it? Or do you see it for what it actually is? That that hindrance is just a feeling. It is just an experience. And thereby letting go of it and just coming back, redirecting the attention back to the object of meditation. So treat all experience as just that. It is just an experience. The mind has been so ingrained, so habituated to think that all experience is me, is stemming from me, is mine. And that is just the conceit aspect. It's the survival mechanism that says I need to own this because I need some sense of security in something.

And so when there is fear in the meditation, when there is fear of losing something, it is because we feel like we are not going to be secure if we let this go. But with wisdom, seeing with proper wisdom thus, through yoniso manasikara, which means attention rooted in reality. Manasikara is attention. Yoniso is the source of something. Attention thus, with wisdom thus: this isn't me, this isn't mine, this isn't myself. So why get scared about it if it goes away? So when you start to see the world in this way as an impersonal process, then your security is not in the process, your security is not in the experience, your security is not in the craving.

Your security is in wisdom that sees it for what it actually is. And thereby, nothing can affect you. Nothing can disturb you. So we'll end it here for now. We'll explore the rest of it tomorrow. Are there any questions? What did I say? Yeah, your security is not in the process. It's not in the experience. It's not in the ideas. It's not in any sense of self. Your security is in wisdom that understands everything as not me, not mine, not myself. I'm still thinking how to elaborate this question in a way that it makes sense. But the gist of it is that in certain meditations, it feels when the mind calms down, there is the perception that there is a watcher, right?

Or somebody who is watching the meditation and observing the mind's movements, so to speak. And for example, in the tradition of Ramana Maharshi, he's asked, who is it that is watching, right? This is a classic question of that tradition. And what you just said before, like in the hearing there is only the heard, and I'm kind of wondering what is the, is there a kind of relationship between these two contexts? Like there is a watcher, but then the Buddha says in the hearing there is only the heard, but that kind of contradicts my experience in a way that I can actually feel that there is a difference. The Buddha used those words because, like I said earlier, Bahiya came from the tradition of the Upanishads, which says that there is a watcher behind this.

Having seen in his mind that this is the case, the Buddha said, if you just see an experience as an experience and you let go of identifying or projecting self in that experience, that is the end of suffering. He's not saying that there is no self in the experience. All he's saying is, let go. You can observe all you want. That's fine. But let go of taking it personally. Let go of identifying with it. And then the process just flows as it is, without renewal of any further karma, without renewal of any further suffering.

So the sense of the observer, the sense of the witness, and all of it, these are all helpful tools for the mind to experience metacognition. That's all it is. It's just metacognition. Being aware of the processes of the mind. And that is guided by and dependent upon the intention to see it in that way. But the other thing is, we can't just say, oh, this is me, this is not me, this is not mine, this is not myself. We can't do it like a mantra. We have to relax. The way to do it is to relax into the experience. And realize, actually, there's just experience going on, because it's dependent upon contact between the eyes and light, contact between the ears and sound, and so on.

There's no controller here. It's just happening because of the causes and conditions. Therefore, the supplanting of the self in it is where the ignorance is. And this process of doing that is conceit. There are different types of conceit. There's something like up to 40 different types of conceit. There is a sheet, I don't know if you have that available, but maybe we can make it available at some point, which talks about the different kinds of conceit. There's the conceit in relation to our body, the conceit in relation to our friends, in relation to relationships, in relation to knowledge, in relation to wisdom, in relation to possessions, in relationship to the sixth sense basis, in relationship to anything.

So these kinds of conceits are all basically the mind saying, this is me, this is mine, this is myself. So if there's anything to let go of, it's to let go of the sense of ownership, the sense of identifying with something. It is what it is, and that's it. The mind trying to find the self because it's looking for that security. Again, it's looking for something that is stable in a world that is inherently unstable. The ultimate security arises by having let go of the need to be secure in anything, including the sense of self. Does that answer your question, or is there more that you wanted to know? It does, it does. I guess it is an experiential understanding that I am definitely missing there, but maybe one day.

Thank you. Thank you. Form of what I later know is a lamp and a wall, and I can see form and color, but I have no idea what it is. And I look down and I see the shape of a body, but I have no idea what it is. It probably only lasts, I don't know, 10, 20 seconds, but it seems like a long time. And there's no completely neutral experience. And then something will happen, like I'll see the cord leading to the lamp, and something will go. And as the labels increase, fear arises from the point of neutrality. So it's completely neutral and then goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, and then boom, Charlie. And then I'm back.

And I can't work out what that was and why it came from the arising of awakening from sleep. Could you shed light on that, please? This is the process of perception that's going on, right? So the mind is first just seeing color and form, and then starting to create perception. Oh, this is the lamp, this is the light, this is so and so, and so on. But that's why we're saying perceptions also are fickle. The perceptions are rooted in our memory of what we think of ourselves to be, or what we think certain kinds of experiences or possessions are, or objects are. That's why, when you let go of all proliferation, this is what is known as conceptual proliferation, where the mind takes it and proliferates an idea and generates an idea.

So one of the ways that Bhante Vimalaramsi would illustrate this is, you take a chair, for example. You take a chair and you take one leg of the chair away, is it still a chair? Or you take a book and you tear one cover, is it still a book? So everything that is there is a composite of different concepts that the mind looks at. If I take, for example, let's say I take some kind of a water bottle, and I see it as a water bottle, which I can use to pour water in and drink it. But that's my conceptual proliferation of that. But the dog takes that and sees that as a chew toy.

So it's all dependent upon memory and what we conceptualize. And this process of conceptualizing is how samsara is made. How we create samsara around us. Mind itself is samsara. This is what I will talk about much deeper tomorrow with mentality and materiality. But mind itself is samsara. Everything we experience as samsara is all made in concepts. That's why a synonym for nibbana is ni-papancha, meaning non-conceptual proliferation. No more concepts. The non-conceptual mind. So that neutrality that you're talking about is the mind that is free of all concepts. And in that space, you can still see, not only is there no seer, but there's no projection of a concept to what is seen. Likewise with the other experiences. Thank you for that explanation. A follow-up question: why does it happen so rarely, and why is it always just when I wake up from sleep? Yeah, because that's when you're most relaxed. When you wake up from your sleep, your mind is actually pretty free of everything in that moment.

But then now, when it starts to take in sensory data, now the perception aspect of the mind that's rooted in identity view, rooted in whatever it is, starts to take all that, formulate it, and create some kind of a concept or perception or experience related to the sense of self. But as you start to deepen the practice and as you start to let go of it, you wake up, it is whatever it is. You might still say lamp. You might still say, okay, cord. You might still say, okay, bed. You might still say all of these things. But there won't be further elaboration of thoughts in relation to that, with the idea that this is me, this is mine, this is myself.

There is a wonderful sutta called Majjhima Nikaya 1, the Root of All Things. It's very interesting, because if somebody were to ask me, what would I start off with in terms of the suttas, reading suttas, I would say start off with Majjhima Nikaya. That's this brown book here, the Middle Length Discourses. But do not start off with Majjhima Nikaya 1. Because when you read it, it is the most subtle, complex, complicated sutta ever. I decided to put that as the first one. But regardless, don't start with that. Because that one has that same understanding. The Buddha says, one who is a puthujjana, one who is a worldling, one who is not in practice, when they relate to the world, they relate to the world with that sense of self.

They see earth as earth, but in relation to a self, and so on and so forth. To see earth just as earth, without the sense of self. One who has completed the training, like an arahant, and one who is a Buddha, sees just earth as earth, but never a sense of self projected onto it. So which means there can still be feeling, there can still be perception, but it is a non-conceptual experience, a non-conceptual perception. And that only arises through continuous relaxing, training, and letting go. So train yourself, when you wake up, to just see things as they are. And catch the first time that the mind says, oh, this is mine, and let go.

And see if you can maintain that non-conceptual awareness throughout the day. Yeah. I'm trying to find the answer from the Buddha on violence. Trying to find? The answer from the Buddha on violence. On violence. On self-defense. On self-defense, yeah. You should not be a doormat, we say. Yeah. To defend itself is seen as good. It doesn't work. It is not Buddha, I think. Right. So there is a sutta called the Simile of the Saw. Yeah. And it's a very interesting sutta, because it talks about there is this guy, this monk, who spends a lot of time with the nuns, and whenever somebody says something to the nuns, he gets offended by that, and he tries to defend them.

And so the Buddha then gives him a discourse, which is the Simile of the Saw, and he says that if one were to abuse you or verbally attack you, what would you do? You would just see it as it actually is. It's just sound, rather than getting offended by it. And he goes to even more extreme lengths. If one were to even saw you, saw your leg or saw your limbs, to what extent would you have loving kindness and so on? Now, this is a very interesting sutta, because the way I see it is that it is directed primarily to monastics. There's another similar sutta where one of the disciples of the Buddha decides he wants to go to a different city and meditate over there.

Buddha says, that city is not friendly to us monastics or to our Sangha. So what would you do if you were to go there? And if they were to say something to you, then he says, it would be okay, because I would say in my mind, at least they did not hit me. And then the Buddha says, but what if they did hit you? What would you do? And then he says, well, at least they didn't stab me. Well, what if they did stab you? Well, at least they didn't cut off my fingers, and so on and so forth. This is really, I would say, in my understanding, primarily directed towards monastics, that they have to be completely free of any kind of violence or any kind of defense against themselves.

But I'll give you another illustration, which is from Bhante Vimalaramsi. He was talking about, there was this woman who was a student of Munindra, and she was practicing loving kindness. She was, I think, in India, and she had her umbrella because it was raining, and she was in an autobus. And when she was getting off the bus, somebody was grabbing onto her and manhandling her. And she was sending him loving kindness, and she tried to escape from the situation. She went to Munindra and she said, what should I have done? You know, he was doing this. Should I have just let him do whatever he wanted to do? So was I right?

You should have done is you should have taken that umbrella and smacked him with loving kindness. But when we talk about conflict, when we talk about situations, because there's a lot of people involved in this, and there's a lot of identity view there, a lot of clinging to opinions and ideas and ideologies, so it's a very complex and complicated situation, whatever conflict that we talk about. But I think the general is that self-defense, to the extent, when we talk about from individual to individual, self-defense to the extent that we are defending from being harmed, but also evading the attack, so that the one who is attacking doesn't break the precept of harming.

Of harming, the first precept. In other words, we defend, but we don't inflict damage to them. We evade. So that not only are we protected, but we protect the other one from harming us. But this is a very complex issue. This is something that's very complicated when you have more people involved, more ideologies and views involved in this process. But I think if you look back in the suttas, the general understanding is we have to be loving and kind. I would say everyone does have a right to live, and everyone has a right to defend themselves, but in what way does that happen? You can't do that either, because if you do that, yeah, if you let someone kill you, you're allowing them to break the precept of killing you.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think very difficult questions and difficult answers. All the Buddhist sanghas in Israel are very confused right now, because everybody, because it's clear what the simple answers are, but it's not clear what the practical ones are. But I'd like you to comment about karma, which is like generational karma or historical karma, because I think that sometimes we stay, what is the how much are we, how do you say it, have responsibility? So this is like the samsara you were talking about, but it's also karma, that if we want to think of at least temporary solutions, sometimes the solutions are not only the two conflict sides, it's the greater picture of historical karma, you know, that brought people to a certain place and made them do bad karma to others.

people and religious ideas and then if we want to think of peaceful solutions for the whole world, then how do we look at the broader picture of karma? Yeah. From the Buddhist context, this is very interesting about karma, since you brought this up. What the Buddha has said is karma is just one aspect of it, and karma is always an individual thing. We speak of generational karma or ancestral karma or karma of a group of people or society and things like that. But actually what it is, is different levels of individual's karma coming together. Secondly, what the Buddha has said, and this is because at the time of the Buddha, people took that understanding of karma and said, oh, so then everything is karma.

Everything that is happening is karma. And the Buddha said, that is one way to look at it, but actually, karma is just one element. There are the consequences of action, but there's also unintended consequences that happen. And part of this is the different mechanics that are involved. For example, he says, there are other things aside from karma. For example, the environment, the sociopolitical structure, one's health, the climate, accidents that happen. So he also takes into account that when we have accidents, that's a result of unintended consequences. And so when we talk about karma, we can only talk about karma in relation to what is happening here and now. Yes, we can take into account that there were causes and conditions, but trying to navigate through those causes and conditions only leads to further suffering, only leads to further confusion because there are so many viewpoints about that.

And so how to deal with that is here and now in the present moment. What seems to be most appropriate in the present moment. Now what you're talking about is more complex because it's like there are other parties involved in a certain kind of conflict or there are situations involved and there are other countries or other societies, other governments and so on. And to what extent might they be responsible for this or might they be beholden to help? And I would say again, that depends upon the individual. We know that there is a right or wrong, or there is a wholesome and there is an unwholesome. But for whatever reason, when we talk about these conflicts, there's always these complexities about where the wholesome is and where the unwholesome is, because there's always this gray area.

can be some kind of a solution that can fit every situation or that can satisfy all peoples. But what is it that can help navigate people to such an extent that it alleviates their suffering? If people came together with the understanding of the Four Noble Truths and said, okay, I come from this side and this person comes from this side and that person comes from their side and so on, to a mutual agreement using the Four Noble Truths and understanding what is the mutual suffering that we're all experiencing in this moment? And can we come to a point where we can say these are the causes and conditions? And can we come to an agreement to decide to alleviate it by letting go of these causes and conditions?

And then finally, can we come to an agreement to apply the steps to relieve and alleviate that suffering? That's one way of looking at it. But that means that everybody should be available to come and talk and understand. Now I understand that I didn't use the word, the word karma was not the right word, but maybe I want to say, first of all, thank you for what we said, but just to continue my question, I think that when you were talking about, for example, habitual tendencies? Historical trauma, that I was born, I didn't have any trauma, but my grandmother, almost all her family died in the Holocaust. So I was, maybe through my practice, I'm able to reduce the impact of this trauma and the way I will behave or I will see reality.

But in other cases, it can affect action and intention. Right, so it's a thing that didn't happen to you but you inherited it from, right, from other people. Yeah, so you're not responsible only, so you're responsible to bring awareness, yeah, to get free from that. Yes. But this is, I thought this was karma, but now I understand that. Yeah, I see what you're saying, because that's a very interesting point that you bring up. We'll talk more about because even in terms of the things we inherit, in terms of even generational or genetic inheritance, because even the pain and suffering that's there from our grandparents or great-grandparents can go down that genetic line and be experienced by us.

Absolutely true. This happens all the time. We also have certain traits that skip a generation or multiple generations and then are met by that particular individual. But the understanding is the same there in terms of, now what do I do with it? I can do forgiveness. I can go back and try to heal the wounds that are present in me that I've inherited. But moving forward, what do I take from it? And how do I maybe learn from it? Or how do I deal with it so that it is not perpetuated? And that's where wisdom comes in. That wisdom is informed by compassion, or sometimes it's informed by equanimity, or sometimes it's informed by empathetic joy, because that's also important, being able to share in the joy of other people.

Dealing with that kind of inheritance of that kind of karma, let's say, is really always to do with what we can do in the present. That's the only way to deal with it. But that requires the wisdom to know what is appropriate and what is required for the present moment circumstances, which means that it will not always be the same. It means it won't always be universal. It will change depending upon individual circumstances. I just want to say last sentence. If I take all my questions together, what I hear from you is that my way to try to at least alleviate suffering as much as I can in my lifetime is increase people's awareness.

So the more people that will be more mindful and aware and be able to have the skill of compassion, then at the moment where there is a choice of people to go this side or that side, then there will be maybe a little bit more chance for the wholesome. Yes. And that's what we can do as individuals. That's right. Every given moment is an opportunity for us to make our world internally and externally a better place by choosing towards the wholesome, which means we are responsible in that moment for our own actions in terms of whether we cling to a view, whether we cling to an identity, or whether we let go of that and see what is better for not only ourselves but appropriate for the greater good. Thank you.

I have noticed that whenever people, whether it's two people or 20 or 40, meditate together in a room, there seems to be an energy that occurs and that helps the general practitioner who's in the room, to meditate better. It's sort of something that lifts you up. I've often noticed this, and I was wondering if you could maybe share some thoughts about it. Yeah, absolutely.

I think you might have seen it for yourselves when you guys did the Metta Circle, how you could have felt like people sharing Metta to you, or when you shared Metta to them, how they were responding to it. So there is something to be said about this, which is that the metta is not only for ourselves, but if we can actually be able to generate it to such an extent that it is affecting our larger vicinity, then we are actually creating change through our metta towards others. Now, the choice lies in whether those people want to accept the matter or not. That's the other thing. So we have some illustrations in the stories of the Buddha where he goes and he uses metta, and then he stops the raging elephant with his metta, and the elephant is at peace.

I wouldn't recommend any of you try that, please. But you can see for yourself that when you come from a level of metta towards a person who is angry, towards a person who is upset, and you start radiating metta to them, perhaps they are accepting it. Perhaps now it's starting to create some kind of peace in their mind. If it's not, at the very least, because you are generating metta, your actions, your demeanor and your speech infused with that metta has some kind of an effect on them that causes them to calm down as well. So there is something to be said about the power of radiating and sharing this metta or this compassion or equanimity or whatever it might be.

to come together to meditate because there is a wonderful vibrancy and energy that's there in the hall when everybody is meditating together. And some of you might be more sensitive to that and see it, and maybe it might take a little bit more time, but you can experiment and see when you meditate alone how your sits are compared to when you meditate in a group that's doing this together. Okay. Let's share some merit. dispensation. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.