What Gives Rise to Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension (Satisampajanna)

0:00 Okay, so I remember giving a talk on Sati Sampajanya last time and also mentioning that we will continue on this topic because it's quite an important one and so I hope today maybe to talk a little bit more about Sati Sampajanya. in the meditation practice because last talk was more about sati sampajanya in our day-to-day life how that can help us which is a very very important aspect of sati sampajanya but sati sampajanya or mindfulness and clear comprehension is also a very important factor driving our meditation as well Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:55 And also hopefully talk a bit about how to develop Sati Sampajanya, both for outside of the formal meditation for day-to-day life, as well as for during meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:12 So in order to do that, or before doing that, I want to talk a little bit more. I want to take a step back. And see the big picture and to sort of see where does Sati Sampajanya really fit in? How does it really come about? Because maybe a few weeks back, I also was talking about a sutta call. The name of the sutta was Sati Sampajanya Sutta from, I think, Ganguttara Nikaya Numerical Discourses 883, maybe 881. Report an error in the passage at 1:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12

1:50 And in there, Satish Samparajan, your mindfulness and clear comprehension was the starting point. However, it can't really be the starting point, right? Because it's quite a developed state. So it has to have other things that come. I mean, this is how it is. Sometimes it's time and place, context and who the Buddha is talking to. So this sutta obviously is probably spoken to people who are already on the path, who are already, you know, meditators and reminding them about various aspects. Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

2:22 So in order to do that, I want to ask this fundamental question. Just bring to your mind, ask yourself, why are we still here? Why are we still here in what we call in Buddhism, in saṃsāra, this endless process of birth and death, life after life, going around, sometimes happiness, sometimes suffering, on and on and on. Report an error in the passage at 2:22 Highlight the passage at 2:22

2:53 Why are we still here? So when you bring that question into mind, And if you also know the teachings, and if you even reflect back a little bit, you will understand we are here because we have ignorance. We are quite largely deluded. The Buddha says why we are here, what takes us on and on in life after life is our craving, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:23 Our craving pulls us through from one life to the next. And to the next and to the next. And what are these cravings? We crave for sensual pleasures. We crave to exist. We want to experience things, right? And sometimes we have enough and then we want to end our life. So that's also another kind of craving. Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:47 So in Pāli, these kinds of cravings or strong desires for the sensual world is called kamatana. and all these cravings to exist is called bhavatana and all these cravings to non-exist that is almost like suicidal thoughts is called the bhavatana whichever it is all of these things just pull us through life after life and why do we crave for things because we have a bit of a distorted perception because of Ignorance, right? We first of all think that there is somebody in here. We feel a sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 3:47 Highlight the passage at 3:47

4:30 We feel a sense of agency inside of us. We can't help it. We feel that I'm here. I'm the one who is talking. I'm the one who is feeling. I'm the one who is experiencing. All of those things, we feel something. We forget that it is a conditioned process, but at the moment we feel that I am. Yeah. And once I have, when I am here, then I want things, right? This is the thing. So once you are there, then you want things. Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

5:01 You constantly want. What do you want? To be happy, to be peaceful, right? In order to, in our pursuit of happiness, we are trying to get this, get that, and all crave for this, desire that. And that craving just keeps us going. So this is in a very brief form explaining the problem. So once you have a sense of self, that is delusion or ignorance, and also then all of these things that we crave for. Report an error in the passage at 5:01 Highlight the passage at 5:01

5:32 We also have given many talks in the past talking about even mentioning sensual pleasures should really be called sensual sufferings, right? We've gone through that because a lot of these things that we... There is gratification in these things, the food we eat, the music we hear, the dance that we watch or the movies we watch or whatever else, the holidays we go. Report an error in the passage at 5:32 Highlight the passage at 5:32

5:58 Of course, there is some kind of enjoyable part to it. But if you really evaluate it or measure it, you know, the amount of energy, amount of suffering that you have to invest in order to get that little bit. It's not fair. There is gratification, but the danger in the sensual pleasure is great. That's the real problem. So that is why inherently they are difficult. Report an error in the passage at 5:58 Highlight the passage at 5:58

6:27 So anyway, but because our distorted perceptions tend to sort of push away, it has a very narrow vision. It amplifies the little bit of gratification into a big thing and we just crave. So we are distorted. Our distorted perception is another aspect of this, what we call as ignorance or delusion. So this is, I mean, these things, dharma talks in themselves, I can go really deep into these things, this problem, but that's not the purpose of today's dharma talk. Report an error in the passage at 6:27 Highlight the passage at 6:27

7:02 This is just to bring into mind about the reason why we are still here and why we still keep going. Because of delusion, because of ignorance. And the Buddha also wanted to find out when was the starting point of this ignorance. When did it start? Because ignorance is clearly the problem why we are all here. But when did it start? When did it start? Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:33 So Buddha has the psychic ability with meditation. I mean, anybody can... develop this psychic ability to through deep meditation which is called and that is your ability to see your previous lives so he went back so many lifetimes he went up to 91 eons that's a long long long time right in a previous talk we mentioned what an eon is like an eon is In simple terms, if you have a cart of mustard seeds, and if you take one mustard seed out every 100 years, an eon would finish, but the mustard seeds would be finished, but the eon hasn't ended. Report an error in the passage at 7:33 Highlight the passage at 7:33

8:26 So that's how long an eon is. So he went back 91 eons and that is so many, many lifetimes. And so many lifetimes and he still could not find the beginning point. And he said that no starting point could be found for ignorance. He didn't say there isn't a starting point, but he said no discoverable starting point could be found. Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

8:52 And he stopped there. Then he asked the question. But is there like a nutriment for this? Is ignorance there because of a reason, because of a condition? What gives rise to ignorance? Now that's a better question. Instead of asking when was the starting point, as Buddhists we know conditionality, right? So conditionality. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:14 What conditions, what gives rise to ignorance? This big problem that keeps us in saṃsāra. And then when he asked that question, the answer came that it is the five hindrances. So this talk, I'm only going to mention things and we have addressed some of these in previous talks or we can do them in the upcoming talks, but here I'm only going to mention them. Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:43 So what are the five hindrances? The five hindrances are the sensuality, ill will, Sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. As long as these five things are there, when these things are present, the ignorance is kept up. It's like the fool for ignorance. That is how our perceptions get distorted. These five hindrances distort our perceptions and sort of makes us feel when there isn't a self. Report an error in the passage at 9:43 Highlight the passage at 9:43

10:18 But we have a feeling of a sense of self or a sense of urgency. When there is just suffering, we only see pleasure. When there is impermanence, things are constantly changing, but we try to see something permanent in these things. These are the distortions and they are kept up by these five hindrances. Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:46 Then the Buddha asked the question, okay, what gives rise to these five hindrances? Why are the five hindrances there in our mind? And the cause and condition for the five hindrances to be there is the misconduct by body, speech, and mind. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

11:08 So when we are doing things that are immoral, like we go around killing or stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, All of those things, all of those things that we do that are unskillful, that are harmful to oneself and others, all of those things, when they are there, the five hindrances are kept up. I'm going to first go through the sequence and maybe if we have time, we will see how this works. So then the Buddha asked the question, so what gives rise to, why do we do this, you know, misconduct bad things or unskillful things by our body speech and mind when we should know better right we should know better not to do things but we we we are sometimes unable right we are unable to do and why do we do these things what what gives rise to the misconduct and the the why it happens is uh uh sense restraint not having enough Unable to, not having sensory strength. So when our eye faculty is not guarded, we see things maybe we like and we don't have the money and we want to steal. Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

12:29 Or it's somebody else's partner, but we have lots of strong desires and then when we want to have that. Or it's somebody who we don't like. When the eye faculty is left unguarded, when the ear faculty is left unguarded, when you hear things and you don't understand, you can't restrain yourself, that is when we break into actions by body, speech and also mind that are unskillful. Report an error in the passage at 12:29 Highlight the passage at 12:29

13:02 So not having sense restraint gives rise to our misconduct by body, speech and mind. And misconduct by body, speech and mind is what keeps up the five hindrances. And when the five hindrances are kept up, ignorance is kept up and we roam around in saṃsāra. So then the Buddha asked the question, so what then? Report an error in the passage at 13:02 Highlight the passage at 13:02

13:28 then is the nutriment what gives rise to not being Why is it difficult to restrain the sense faculties? And the reason for that is not having mindfulness and clear comprehension. Sati and Sampajanya. So this is our topic, right? So our topic is right in the middle of the sequence because there are still many more steps to go. Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:57 So now when you don't have mindfulness and clear comprehension, right? Instead... You are unmindful. When we are unmindful, then we don't realize what to do, right? When you see something, we forget to restrain our eye, restrain our ear, yeah? We forget to restrain our mind and we get carried away and unwholesome states come about, yeah? And as a result, we break into all these bad actions by body, speech and mind and ignorance is kept up. Report an error in the passage at 13:57 Highlight the passage at 13:57

14:30 So it's very important. So sati sampajanya or mindfulness and clear comprehension is extremely important. It's like the guard. It's like the supervisor who informs us to guard our sense faculties. When we see things, hear things, touch things, feel things or when ideas come to our mind. All of these things. Mindfulness and clear comprehension. Report an error in the passage at 14:30 Highlight the passage at 14:30

14:58 It's a very important aspect. So then the Buddha asked the question, so what, why, what takes away our mindfulness and clear comprehension? Why are we not having it? What is the cause and condition that, you know, takes it away? And that is not having wise attention. In Pāli, it is called So unwise attention, when we attend unwisely, when we attend on things, we give the attention to things in an unwise way, that is when our mindfulness is not there, clear comprehension or wisdom aspect is not there. Report an error in the passage at 14:58 Highlight the passage at 14:58

15:43 So unwise attention is what gives rise to not having mindfulness and clear comprehension. And when you don't have mindfulness and clear comprehension, Report an error in the passage at 15:43 Highlight the passage at 15:43

15:54 Faculties are left unguarded. When they are not guarded, you break into actions by body, speech and mind that are unskillful and this keeps up the hindrances and that keeps up your ignorance. Ignorance prevails and you are traveling in saṃsāra. So wise attention is another extremely important subject. Report an error in the passage at 15:54 Highlight the passage at 15:54

16:20 And hopefully I will get to address it here today. And if not, we will talk about it more even in the future talks. But this is important because this is... The nutriment. So unwise attention. What's the reason that we have unwise attention? Why do we attend on things in the wrong way that gives rise defilements? Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:43 When we attend unwisely, what happens? Defilements come up. When we attend unwisely, when we see something, either desire comes up or ill will and negativity comes up. Yeah, all of this negative or unskillful mind states defilements come up when we attend unwisely. So where does that come from? And the reason for that is not having confidence. Yeah, not having faith. Report an error in the passage at 16:43 Highlight the passage at 16:43

17:16 Yeah, not having faith in the teaching, but having faith in the other stuff, like about the world. What the world says is wonderful and beautiful and you must have. These are based on defilements. These are based on wrong understandings. So not having confidence is when you don't have the vice attention. Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:42 And how do you not have confidence? Faith. In the teachings of the Buddha. The reason is because you have heard what is not the dharma, what is not the teachings. And instead we hear about all these advertisements, things you have to buy, the holidays you need to go. All of those things are what is not the dharma, right? Not the teachings. This is what the world says, what the economy says. Report an error in the passage at 17:42 Highlight the passage at 17:42

18:11 So and then the Buddha asked the question, so why? How do we hear this what is not the dharma? And that is when we associate the fools or the unwise people. So many months ago, we also gave a dharma talk about the importance of who we associate, right? The danger of associating the wrong kind of people and the benefit of associating the wise people. Report an error in the passage at 18:11 Highlight the passage at 18:11

18:39 So it all goes down to there. And that is the starting point. And the reverse is also true. I started like that just going backwards because that's how this comes about. And if you are interested, this is directly from the word of the Buddha. And this sutta is in the numerical discourses, chapter number 10, sutta number 61 called ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 18:39 Highlight the passage at 18:39

19:03 So it is starting from ignorance, goes back to see what gives rise to ignorance. And it is clearly seen that associating with the When you associate unwise people or the fools, then they tell you all kinds of things. This is good for you, that is good for you. But these are things that lead you in the wrong direction, in the direction of being on and on in saṃsāra. They said you need to crave this, have that, do this, all of those things. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:34 So that is you hear what is not the teaching of the Buddha, but the opposite. When you hear those things, then you have confidence in those things, but not the teachings. So the Buddha says sensual pleasures are dangerous and they're suffering. The danger in them is great. They take a lot of time. They take a lot of energy. But the world says otherwise. Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

20:00 The world calls them sensual pleasures. Just a small example. So when we have confidence in the wrong thing, then we attend on things unwisely. When we attend on things unwisely, there is no mindfulness and clear comprehension. Our sense faculties are left unguarded. When they are left unguarded, We break into body, speech and mind, actions by body, speech and mind that are unskillful, that keeps up the five hindrances and then it keeps the ignorance going. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:36 So then the other reverse sequence is also true. So what is the reverse sequence? That is starting from a wise person. If you associate the wise people, who are these wise people? Wise people are the people whose instructions when you listen to, They take you towards wholesomeness, towards skillfulness, towards ending of all suffering, way out of saṃsāra, way away from... Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:08 from unwholesome states or lower realms and things like that, yeah, keeps you in morality, keeps you in virtue, yeah, keeps you in wholesome minds. So people who help you with that, those are the people that you can consider as wise people. So when you associate the wise people. The best kalyanamitta, the best friend or the wisest person would go back to being the Buddha or any of the enlightened beings. Report an error in the passage at 21:08 Highlight the passage at 21:08

21:39 Or at least people who talks about the teachings of the Buddha. So as you associate these wise people, then you get to hear the teachings of the Buddha. The teachings, the wise teachings. So when you hear wise teaching, Then you might reflect on them. And that makes sense, actually, when we actually talk about, for example, the idea of impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 21:39 Highlight the passage at 21:39

22:05 We say, is anything in the world permanent? We know that it is not true, right? We know everything in this world is impermanent, even though we have a notion of permanence. So like that, when we reflect the teachings, when we hear and when we reflect. We realize there is some truth to these things and then we can even apply them. When we apply them and when we reap some results, then our confidence starts to grow. Report an error in the passage at 22:05 Highlight the passage at 22:05

22:38 So this is how in the Buddhism, how the faith or confidence starts to grow. It's not like a blind faith, just purely believing your teacher, but you can take it on board in the beginning, but then you apply yourself. And the teachings, when you apply the results, are directly visible here, right? Straight away, you can start to see, you can start to experience results. Report an error in the passage at 22:38 Highlight the passage at 22:38

23:03 So when you experience peace, when you let go, when you meditate, how do you do, all of those things, then you get confidence, you get faith. When you have confidence, then confidence gives rise to... Wise attention. You remember when you see something. You remember when you see something that is attractive. You remember, oh, these things actually don't last too long. Report an error in the passage at 23:03 Highlight the passage at 23:03

23:32 They're going to break up. They're going to vanish. They're going to disappear. They're going to come to an end. So if I invest so much of my energy and time and desire these things, long for these things, I'm going to only reap suffering. So Yoniso Manasikara sort of reminds you of the teachings and you attend on something in the right way. So when you see something that is attractive that you want to buy and you remember the actual reality of these things, then that is that way of wisely attending on things. Report an error in the passage at 23:32 Highlight the passage at 23:32

24:10 Even if you see somebody who you dislike, if the anger and irritation starts to come up. Then Yoniso Mansikara, the vice attentions, informs you the danger of having ill will and negativity. It also reminds you there is no point, you can't achieve anything useful by getting angry and irritated. Instead, ask the question, why? Report an error in the passage at 24:10 Highlight the passage at 24:10

24:34 Why is this person doing this thing that is not good or which is irritating? And then you come to understanding, okay, they might not know, that's their worldview, whatever it is, you are able to make peace with it or deal with it in a much better way than just getting angry, yeah? Because getting angry is not a solution, yeah? You need to find a good solution with wisdom and wisdom comes about when you're not angry, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:02 All of these things are coming from wise ways of attending, so wise attention. So Yoniso Manasikara. It is a very big subject, so I'm probably going to spend another dharma talk maybe on Yoniso Manasikara, but this wise attention. So wise attention, the Buddha says, is what gives rise to mindfulness and clear comprehension. Sati and Sampajanya. Report an error in the passage at 25:02 Highlight the passage at 25:02

25:29 So this is our topic. Mindfulness and clear comprehension comes about from So I'll speak a lot more about this a bit later, but I want to just finish the sequence to how it goes. So once you have mindfulness and clear comprehension, then you are able to guard your sense faculties. When you see something, you know how to do your mindfulness says, or you are seeing this. Report an error in the passage at 25:29 Highlight the passage at 25:29

25:58 Yeah, this is what is going on. Because sometimes you don't even have the mindfulness. But once you have the mindfulness, the job of the mindfulness tells you this is what is happening. And this is, yeah, that is what is going on. And sampajanya aspect, that's the wisdom aspect, tells you what you should be. Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:15 Doing about it or you should restrain yourself. You should not do, you know, get carried away. You should not have desires. Instead, you need to let go. You need to turn around, whatever it is. Yeah, so wisdom aspect. So that helps you to guard your sense faculties. So when the sense faculties are guarded, then you don't do anything unskillful by body, speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 26:15 Highlight the passage at 26:15

26:43 Instead, The satipatthanas. We spoke about satipatthanas also a few weeks back, a couple of dharma talks. So the satipaṭṭhāna practice. So mindfulness of body, speech, mind and dhammas. That comes about when you are able to guard your sense faculties. So once you have the satipaṭṭhāna, the four foundations of mindfulness, that leads to... Report an error in the passage at 26:43 Highlight the passage at 26:43

27:13 That gives rise to the seven enlightenment factors. And seven enlightenment factors is what leads to full enlightenment. That's the job of enlightenment factors. So that is how you are liberated. That is how the ignorance is ended. That is how the craving comes to an end and suffering ends and no more rebirths. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:38 So this is just in a very nutshell, even though it took a while, this is just the big picture, right? This is just seeing the whole big scheme of things, why we are here and what the process is and also to see where our today's topic fits in. So mindfulness and clear comprehension. So the nutriment for that, what gives rise to mindfulness and clear comprehension is So I promised that I will talk a little bit more about meditation today. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

28:19 So now take a moment to just bring your attention into how you meditate. Yeah, we had a sit not long ago. We meditated for a little while. You can close your eyes again even and just bring that meditative state. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 28:19 Highlight the passage at 28:19

28:45 So when you Reflect when you try to see these things in operation. Sati is the one that reminds you to keep the breath in mind. If you were doing breath meditation, for example, or if you were going to keep your attention on the touch sensations, then to keep your mind on the touch sensations. Because you know how easy it is when you're trying to meditate, the mind runs away into the future and into the past, into thinking. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:22 And that is not meditation, that is just sitting and thinking, right? Meditation is about, not just about sitting, but sitting and not thinking. Instead, keeping the mind pointed on one object, whatever object that is. So very often we do the breath meditation and then the mind is to be only on the breath. But it is the mindfulness, the sati, the job of the sati is to keep the breath in mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:56 Tells you, okay, now your mind is running into future. Now your mind is running into past. But you're supposed to be watching the breath. Now see how weak our mindfulness is most of the time, right? That is why breath meditation is not necessarily for everybody at every time, yeah? You need quite a developed mindfulness to be able to stay with the breath, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 29:56 Highlight the passage at 29:56

30:26 So it is important. So we need to do a little bit more work so that our sati is established on the breath. So hopefully I'll speak about what we need to do so that we can meditate a bit more effectively. So having said that the job of the sati is to keep the breath in mind, then the job of sampajanya, which is the wisdom aspect, is to remind you why it is important. Report an error in the passage at 30:26 Highlight the passage at 30:26

30:56 Why it is important to remind you the drawbacks if you don't meditate, if you waste your time, if you allow the hindrances to come up. Just to remind in the meditation process, the job of the Sampajanya is to remind you what to do and how to do it and why you are doing it as well, why you are meditating, why is it important, all of those things. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:25 So that is sati and sampajanya. So you can see that in operation next time when you are meditating or after your meditation when you do that looking back, reflecting back at that time you can see how the sati and sampajanya was present in the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 31:25 Highlight the passage at 31:25

31:47 So how is this yoniso manasikara coming into place? Because that too is there, right? Because yoniso manasikara or vice attention is what feeds satya and sampajanya because that's the nutriment. And satya and sampajanya in return will feed your vice attention. But vice attention itself is the nutriment for mindfulness and clear comprehension. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:12 So wise attention in this occasion of meditation, meditating on the breath, would be to keep the mind with the breath, that attention on the breath. Just attending on the breath itself is one aspect. Because this Pāli word yoni is a very interesting one, very important one, how it's used. The simple word yoni means womb. Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:41 It's the word for womb. But when it is yoni so, it is not directly just the womb. It has much broader understanding. It is the source of things, the starting point of things, the beginning of things. But it also refers to wisdom, to understanding. standing to Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:04 to causes conditions all of those things yeah yoni so is a very big word hopefully um i'll talk a little bit more about it a little later but yoni is like going into the source going into the starting point going into understanding to investigate to stay alert all of those things are there and attention Report an error in the passage at 33:04 Highlight the passage at 33:04

33:29 is giving attention and again I just to remind how do you attend yeah so if I tell you what can you smell right now when I make that suggestion you can see suddenly your mind attends to your nose yeah you and then try to see whether you can smell something and then if I ask the question what can you taste then you can see your mind attending to your tongue Report an error in the passage at 33:29 Highlight the passage at 33:29

33:59 Just a few moments ago when I was just giving the dharma talk, you were mainly either paying attention to hearing and maybe seeing, but you didn't pay attention to smelling or tasting. But with making that suggestion, you saw how your mind attended to different places. From hearing, you shifted to smelling, to tasting. Report an error in the passage at 33:59 Highlight the passage at 33:59

34:24 So this is how the mind moves. That is giving attention. So in the same way, you can attend on the brain. So attention. So attention, keeping attention there. So when it comes to meditation, it's a very, very simple one. When it comes to outside of meditation and other types of meditation, not the breath meditation. Report an error in the passage at 34:24 Highlight the passage at 34:24

34:47 Yoniso Manasikara can be a bit more broader and it might have more things into there but when it comes to breath meditation for example it's quite simple it's that very simple attending keeping your attention into the natural flow of your breath. Just there, not attending to anything else, not attending to the eye, not attending to the ear, not to the nose, not to the tongue, not to the rest of the parts of the body, but just where the breath is happening, just with the flow of the breath, just being there, attending there and just seeing, you know, just as that as just a very simple place. Report an error in the passage at 34:47 Highlight the passage at 34:47

35:36 So then how do you keep that? Because we find it's really hard, right? So this is where, you know, what gives rise to yoni somana sikara, yeah? And that is that faith and confidence. So this is very important. So you can see it goes down to not having enough confidence that we are not able to meditate or do the breath meditation properly. Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

36:02 I was much more interested in many other types of meditation. meditation than breath meditation breath meditation seemed a bit boring too simple too ordinary yeah i didn't have enough confidence yeah and this is the case for many people very often we don't understand we don't give enough value So it is important sometimes. This is the whole point. Report an error in the passage at 36:02 Highlight the passage at 36:02

36:52 of dharma talks, listening to teachings or reading about the teachings. So understand how can the breath get you enlightened. So then once you understand how that happens, then you will start having confidence. So this is why what gives rise to confidence is hearing good teachings and going back to the wise teacher. So when the Buddha had said, do the breath meditation even the Buddha got enlightened watching the breath even though breath is not the only way to meditate to get enlightened breath is a very good way he says it's a good vehicle he says to carry you through all the way Report an error in the passage at 36:52 Highlight the passage at 36:52

37:32 And it's an easy one, he says. It's quite a good, very easy to do, easy to instruct one, which is why it's one of the most common ways of meditation. Anapana, Satya, or breath meditation is the most widely used meditation techniques. So how does it work? How does it work? This is how. So once you are able to keep your mindfulness, just the mind in one object, when the mind gets one pointed in one thing, then it doesn't go here and there, right? Report an error in the passage at 37:32 Highlight the passage at 37:32

38:13 So when it is one pointed, when the thinking stops, your mind starts to get energy. Yeah, we know that it is the thinking that tires us, especially negative thinking, yeah? Negative thinking is what makes us feel really tired and really exhausted. If you ask many people, why are you so tired? Did you do a lot of heavy work, carry lots of stuff or, you know, things like that? They haven't done anything, but they feel exhausted. Report an error in the passage at 38:13 Highlight the passage at 38:13

38:44 Why? Thinking, thinking a lot, yeah? So thinking. But instead, when you put your mind in just one place and keep it there, not in a very strong willed way, like you don't use willpower, right? You just allow it to settle. You just allow it to become still. You just allow it to become a naturally still and settle onto the breath. Report an error in the passage at 38:44 Highlight the passage at 38:44

39:11 That's why in the beginning we start. you know by relaxing and giving attention to something a little bit much more tangible like your sensations of your palms or something like that and relaxing and once the mindfulness starts to gather a little bit energy that is when we go into the breath yeah so allowing it to Gently settle onto it. Not like willful, you know, gritting your teeth and focusing. We don't even use the word focus to watch the breath. Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:44 You just allow the breath to come to you and settle into it. So when that happens, when the mind finally gets, you know, one point just on the breath without thinking, it starts to gather a lot of energy. And then... When the mind just settles down and becomes still, the hindrances settles down. So when the mind is just on the breath, there is no time or place for desires to come up. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:15 So sensual desires are gone for that time. ill will and negativity there's no time to get angry angry thoughts are not there because thoughts is what keeps you your anger going right if you're attending and thinking in a certain way that is when the anger is kept up right now and when you're meditating on the breath your mind is just on a process a physical process and no thinking is happening so no possibility to get angry And you know, when the mind is alert like that, then sleepiness also doesn't come about. When the hindrances are going down, when the body starts to rest, when the mind starts to rest, sloth and torpor also goes away. Report an error in the passage at 40:15 Highlight the passage at 40:15

40:59 So sometimes the remaining ones from the day's activity might have to settle down. You might be a little bit drowsy in the beginning, but after a while, the energy comes back and you wake up and you become very alert. And then restlessness and worry again is the process of thinking. And when there is no thinking, when you are attending on the breath, restlessness and worry also isn't there. Report an error in the passage at 40:59 Highlight the passage at 40:59

41:24 And doubt doesn't come up also because again doubt is also related to thinking about things and stuff like that. So when the hindrances are not there, then you are able to see things clearly. This is called in Pāli. The whole reason why we can't see, why we have distorted perception is precisely because of these hindrances. So with breath as an object, when we keep our mind, our attention just on the breath for a long period of time, when these hindrances, the five hindrances, sensuality, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry and doubt, when these things settle down, Then we are able to see the world, to see the reality as it truly is. We are not fooled by the world. Report an error in the passage at 41:24 Highlight the passage at 41:24

42:23 So this is, you know, so the ignorance then can be eliminated. So this is just in a very simple way saying a very, you know, a very profound thing. But this is how the breath can get you enlightened. It prepares the mind. It gives the right energy. It brings up very powerful mindfulness that is required to see reality for what it is. It's not so simple. Report an error in the passage at 42:23 Highlight the passage at 42:23

42:50 Even though we can see things when we say something, yeah, things are impermanent, things are not within our control, things are suffering, we can all shake our head and agree. But do we get disenchanted with these things? Do Nibbida happens? Do we turn away from them? Not at all, right? We still... We still have our cravings, we still have our desires, we still want to exist. So it's not such a simple thing. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:19 So to really truly see them in a way that your mind really turns back, you know, never to turn back again to these things, needs a very powerful mind. And the breath can give you that mind if you stay long with it. And then you would have, after a while, when you meditate, when you become proficient with it, you would have experiences of the mind becoming powerful, of the mind having enough mindfulness, even starting to have some insights yourself. Report an error in the passage at 43:19 Highlight the passage at 43:19

43:54 So when this happens, when you have your own experience by following this, then your confidence, the level of confidence goes to another degree. So that is when... Then you are able to stay with the breath because you know breath meditation works. You know how to do it. This is like that pasiddhati. This is you have confidence in it. Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:17 Then when it comes to time for meditation, you are very happy. Yeah, this is the time to become peaceful. This is the time joy would come up. Rapture would come up. I will have insights. My suffering would lessen. Yeah, you have a very positive attitude towards it. So it is really important. So hearing good teachings by associating wise people, you get to hear these teachings and then you apply yourself. Report an error in the passage at 44:17 Highlight the passage at 44:17

44:48 And the way you apply is through wise attention. That is your part. Yoniso manasikara. Yoniso manasikara or wise attention is an incredibly important thing. Okay. So, uh... Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:06 In order to emphasize the importance of yoniso manasikara or wise attention, I'm going to read out from Connected Discourses, Sangita Nikaya, Bhojanga Sangita, that is chapter 46, sutta number 13. Buddha says, because this is the forerunner and precursor of the rising of the sun. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:36 So two bhikkhus, for a bhikkhu, this is the forerunner and precursor of the arising of the seven factors of enlightenment, that is, careful attention or wise attention. When a bhikkhu is accomplished in careful attention or wise attention, it is to be expected that he will develop and cultivate the seven factors of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

46:06 So you can see how the seven factors of all of them, all seven, the nutriment for that is vice attention. And then I read another sutta just to emphasize the importance of vice attention. This is from Numerical Discourses, Chapter 1. Buddha says, Because I do not see even one other thing says that The denourishment of doubt occurs by giving wise attention to wholesome and unwholesome qualities, to blamable and blameless qualities, inferior and superior qualities, dark and bright qualities with their counterparts. Report an error in the passage at 46:06 Highlight the passage at 46:06

46:55 For one who attends wisely, an arisen doubt does not arise. An arisen doubt is abandoned. bend. So this is just showing only these are all worthwhile their own dharma talk and hopefully in the coming weeks we can talk about them. And again, this is from Sanyuttanikaya chapter 4, sutta number 4. Because by wise attention, by wise right striving, I have arrived at unsurpassed liberation. This is the Buddha saying here. I have realized unsurpassed liberation. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:41 You too, bhikkhus, by wise attention, by wise right striving, must arrive at unsurpassed liberation, must realize unsurpassed liberation. So in all of these three, and there's so many suttas, everywhere it's there. It's very clear the purpose, yeah, in order to get enlightened, to do this process, vice attention is a critical factor. Report an error in the passage at 47:41 Highlight the passage at 47:41

48:11 In fact, anybody who wants to get deep meditation, anybody who wants to even enter the first level of enlightenment called stream winning or sotapana, there are four factors called sotapati anga. The four factors are the first two. First one is the association of the wise person. Second one is hearing the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 48:11 Highlight the passage at 48:11

48:38 Third one is wise attention. Fourth one is living according to these teachings. So, wise attention is just like the first part. If you get started with these first few things, The rest happens. It's like a snowball. It's like an avalanche. Once you get started, it goes to the end effortlessly. So the important point is finding wise people, listening to good teachings, and putting wise attention. Report an error in the passage at 48:38 Highlight the passage at 48:38

49:12 So having confidence in the teachings by reflecting, by understanding and applying it, taking on board, trying it out. And as you try out, if you get results, then you get confidence. When you get confidence, you will do more. Like when you have more wise attention, when you attend wisely, then the rest of the path actually happens. Report an error in the passage at 49:12 Highlight the passage at 49:12

49:37 So once wise attention is there, then... Sati and Sampajanya, mindfulness and clear comprehension, gathers momentum, develops and becomes strong. So if you want to build up mindfulness and clear comprehension, which is our main subject, then we need to become skilled with what is. Yoniso Manasikara. Wise attention. And it's a really big subject. It's quite vast. And there are many, many aspects. Report an error in the passage at 49:37 Highlight the passage at 49:37

50:11 Today we only just touched a little bit about those things, how they interact and how they play together at breath meditation. But that too in a very superficial, small way. These are not things that are easy to be spoken, but my job is to really encourage you and sort of point into where you need to attend to understand. Report an error in the passage at 50:11 Highlight the passage at 50:11

50:36 And this brings results. This dharma talk becomes a benefit to you when you do your own work. So remember next time when you meditate. Report an error in the passage at 50:36 Highlight the passage at 50:36

50:49 After your meditation, after when you reflect back to see how these things were, or in the beginning, you can mention, you can remember or recall how to start the meditation process. How to sort of encourage yourself, remind yourself the benefits and importance of breath meditation, how it should be done. Report an error in the passage at 50:49 Highlight the passage at 50:49

51:10 Remind yourself all of those things and then put it all to one side and then allow the process to happen. And afterwards, look back and then you can see, you will see how all these things are in operation in the meditative state. And you can see where you're lacking. Like I saw that my biggest problem was I didn't have enough confidence in breath meditation. I had a lot of confidence in doing That is my favorite one. I like to do meditation on impermanence. So, but then nowadays I really, really enjoy breath meditation too, because I see actually it's also very powerful. Report an error in the passage at 51:10 Highlight the passage at 51:10

51:51 It's quite nice. You know, it's very calming. It's easy to, you know, reasonably easy and a good way of doing it as well. So once you start to see the benefit, once you start to see, get confidence in the breath. Then you are able to meditate well. So giving it importance, giving it priority, give the meditation priority, not all these other things in your life at the time when you have to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 51:51 Highlight the passage at 51:51

52:19 So all of these things, then you can see how you can help yourself, how you can improve your own meditation, how these things actually work. And it goes all the way. In fact, Yoniso Manasikaran, Sati Sampajanya are the working force. How even you do satipaṭṭhāna, how you do everything, pretty much the whole path, that is the driving force. So it's really very important for us to understand. Report an error in the passage at 52:19 Highlight the passage at 52:19

52:50 All the different aspects of these things. And hopefully in the coming weeks, we will talk more about Yoniso Manasikara, Vice Attention, together with Sati Sampajanya. But today's talk, I think I'm going to end here. We are almost come to end one hour, but I would like to still open up for some questions, comments and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 52:50 Highlight the passage at 52:50

53:14 So you are welcome to unmute and ask or put into. into the chat. Report an error in the passage at 53:14 Highlight the passage at 53:14

53:24 Oh, yeah, Nicola here. Hello. I've been thinking a lot recently about wrong view. Could you talk about, so you've just said that Yoniso Manasikara and Sati Samparajanya, that the path, the whole path is driven by those two processes. How I've got a feeling somehow that links into wrong view, but I can't make that connection. Ah, yes, absolutely. Thank you for bringing that up. Because when we say associating the wise, what the wise people say, like the teachings are all the right view. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

54:09 Yeah. So right view is what gives rise to confidence. And that is what is leading to Yoniso Manasikara, or wise attention. So you can see how right view pulls wise attention. So in the same way, in wrong view pulls wrong attention, Ayoniso Manasikara. So when you have wrong view, for example, the wrong view tells you, okay, you know, listening to music is great. Report an error in the passage at 54:09 Highlight the passage at 54:09

54:43 I mean, there's nothing immoral about it. But if you are a meditator, you know how problematic that can get, right? Because that will be a disturbance. That's why we have in the eight precepts, like listening to too much music that echoes in your head. And then, you know, that is going into sensual world too much. Report an error in the passage at 54:43 Highlight the passage at 54:43

55:00 Then it is hard to calm down and become peaceful. So, you know, if the wrong view says, oh, this is enjoyable, go and do this. you know whatever wrong view that is that's we spoke about you know how when we have wrong view we you know go into the sensual world very easily even when we know to be do better we are unable to restrain our eyes restrain our ear restrain our tongue yeah all of this is resulting from wrong view because wrong view tells us these things are great these things are enjoyable they are pleasurable they last a long time go and get them yeah so this is how Then we attend to them. I want, I like, these are good. That's the wrong way of attending into things instead of going into right view. So this is how wrong view gives rise to wrong way of attention called Ayonisomanasikara. Report an error in the passage at 55:00 Highlight the passage at 55:00

55:57 And when you have Ayonisomanasikara, it leads to not having mindfulness. The mind is scattered with all the cravings and desires and ill will and negativity and worry and all of those things. So now you can see how Wrong view leads in the wrong direction. So wrong view is the problem. But that is what you get to hear when you associate the fools or the unwise people. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:21 When you associate unwise people, what you hear is wrong view. So that is where it is. So even the word wrong view didn't come up in that sequence where it is called the dhamma or what is adhamma. That is where right view and wrong view is. I hope that makes sense. And then you can work out all the dots. Thank you. Okay, welcome. We will be continuing this topic so you can do your reflections, you can do more homework and ask more questions next time and we will dig deeper. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

57:04 We will go more into this vice attention, right view and all of those things that we are really getting into the nitty gritty. of the dharma path to real dharma in a big way but also in a practical way as well so that will be coming up next okay Report an error in the passage at 57:04 Highlight the passage at 57:04