Discipline and Freedom – Q and A

0:00 And so this time is available for questions or things you want me to discuss or whatever. Please Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:24 feel free. Notice the reaction when I say any questions and how your mind goes quite blank. Report an error in the passage at 0:24 Highlight the passage at 0:24

0:45 That's what meditation is for. It's like the conditioned mind is, I mean, one can have, what Report an error in the passage at 0:45 Highlight the passage at 0:45

1:04 is the question? A disciplined mind. How do you make a disciplined mind out of an undisciplined mind? How do you make, how do you discipline your mind if your mind isn't disciplined? Report an error in the passage at 1:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04

1:24 And I think that's the... That's why, you know, there's so much mental confusion in the world because we tend to get conditioned through, you know, either through cultural conditioning, religious conditioning, then we're educated so we, you know, we learn to read and write and we read books and we learn all kinds of things in schools and universities and then present time. Report an error in the passage at 1:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24

2:25 Where we are very strongly emotional more than intellectual. And so we tend to experience life through emotions, through feelings. And then there are the others that experience life through ideas and concepts and reason and logic. So training your thinking mind to be reasonable and logical, scientific, is one. Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:53 one of disciplining the mind on the intellectual level then emotional level Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:02 is even more difficult because sometimes a battle goes on between the intellect and the emotions the intellect is reasonable and the emotions are not. Report an error in the passage at 3:02 Highlight the passage at 3:02

3:18 So nobody can have reasonable emotions. Report an error in the passage at 3:18 Highlight the passage at 3:18

3:24 So you tend to judge the emotions as being unreasonable. Speaking for myself, I tended to see my emotions in terms of just wanting to get rid of them or suppress them. They're not reasonable. They seem childish or stupid. I don't want to be an emotional person. I want to be a reasonable one. So, you know, speaking for myself, the background for me was to be reasonable about life. And the emotional world was suppressed. Report an error in the passage at 3:24 Highlight the passage at 3:24

4:06 And so then the emotions are, you know, you can only suppress them for so long, then they kind of erupt, sometimes in very embarrassing ways. And so... You know, you feel very confused because reasonably you've got it figured out emotionally. You don't know where you are, what you're doing. And so then suppressing the emotions and developing reason and logic is how many people try to live their lives, discipline their mind. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:44 But in meditation, you get this different perspective on the mind. For example, with the emphasis on mindfulness, that you're actually, what we mean by mindfulness is not a condition that you acquire, it's an ability that we tend to forget or not use except maybe in extreme situations. Report an error in the passage at 4:44 Highlight the passage at 4:44

5:15 So we can live our lives very much just reacting emotionally or trying to fit all of life into logical, reasonable structures. So we feel threatened by the emotional world, by feelings, and we would like to fit life into some reasonable scientific structure, intellectual structure, and then there's a battle between the two. Report an error in the passage at 5:15 Highlight the passage at 5:15

5:45 I've talked to many people over the years about how they feel guilty about their emotions and they see their emotions as childish and why do they cry when they know that it's silly to cry and they should be reasonable about things. So there's a kind of self-condemnation over what their emotions are doing. Report an error in the passage at 5:45 Highlight the passage at 5:45

6:10 But then in terms of mindfulness now, you're getting a different perspective that includes both at the same time. So mindfulness is not choosing one over the other by dominating with reason your emotional world or believing all your emotions and being a kind of helpless victim of feeling all the time. Report an error in the passage at 6:10 Highlight the passage at 6:10

6:31 And this is where Vipassanā meditation is. Insight practice is to begin to see that the reason, the thinking mind, and the emotional habits are conditions. They arise and cease. They're anicca, dukkha, natta, or impermanent. Like anicca is impermanent, dukkha is unsatisfying, and natta is non-self. Now, these are the three characteristics that All conditioned phenomena have in common, whether it's a reasonable, intelligent thought or a crazy emotion, a totally wacky emotion and a very reasonable, intelligent thought. Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

7:22 What do they have in common? They're both anicca dukkha natta. So then your awareness, you see, you're learning to trust more this awareness. Because awareness is not emotional and it's not reasonable. It transcends the intellectual thinking, critical mind and the emotional feeling experience. And by transcending, it doesn't mean it's getting beyond and ignoring, but it's putting into perspective these experiences as we have them. Report an error in the passage at 7:22 Highlight the passage at 7:22

8:04 So like you're reflecting on the... Report an error in the passage at 8:04 Highlight the passage at 8:04

8:18 be angry. You should be more compassionate. critic or the inner tyrant, the judge, is always saying, You shouldn't be the way you are. You should have more mettā, loving-kindness for others. And the fact that you want to hate everybody at this moment, this is bad. And then that's the judgment. And then say right now you're feeling I hate everybody in the world, wish they'd all dead. Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:47 And then you think that's bad, judging from the intellect. And the emotions are like this. So what mindfulness allows you to actually get them in perspective. They're both, they both are what they are. So wanting to... You know, hate everybody on the planet is like this, and being reasonable about everything is like this. Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

9:12 And so you're, you know, because the conditions change and move in the consciousness. So what you're doing is you're getting back to the original consciousness, the pure consciousness before its condition. And it's non-critical, but it's where wisdom can operate in your life. Where you begin to discern. And through that kind of discernment, you're letting go of the causes of suffering. And then you find that through this, through determination, after a while, through this kind of practice, you actually find your real rest in mindfulness rather than in the conditioned habits. Report an error in the passage at 9:12 Highlight the passage at 9:12

10:03 So I've been giving some talks on the observance night. I like this quote. I found this years ago of a Roman philosopher of the 5th or 6th century AD, Botius. And it goes something like this. If it sticketh to the constancy of the supernal mind that... needs not move, it is superior to Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:40 Now, me, what it means to me is if it sticketh to the constancy of the supernal mind, which needs not move, that's mindfulness, my experience, as you're aware and going to recognize recognize awareness, mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

11:03 It sustains itself. It's not a creative state that's depending on peaceful conditions or anything. It's once you begin to recognize it, then you cultivate that. It sticketh to the constancy of the supernal mind that doesn't move. It is a kind of center point in which you can begin to see the necessities of fate, which are the conditions happening to you right now, this body is a necessity of fate, having been born 75 years ago nearly. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:46 This is the fate of having been born. Or whatever's happening, the necessity of fate is, you know, when people, you know, praise you or criticize you or you're getting prizes and accolades or you're being condemned and persecuted, whatever, it's seen as necessity of fate. Or in Pāli terms, it's vipaka kama, resultant karma. Report an error in the passage at 11:46 Highlight the passage at 11:46

12:22 karma past actions so I mean this way but this If it sticketh to the constancy of the supernal mind that need not move, it is superior to the necessity of faith. Well, that's from a Roman philosopher, but that's very Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 12:22 Highlight the passage at 12:22

12:45 came first. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

12:50 But it is wisdom. Wisdom isn't Buddhist per se. It's universal. Buddhist teachings are pointing at wisdom. So it's not that Buddhism is wisdom and all the others are not. That's having views and opinions. But Buddha was pointing at ultimate truth or the truth of the way it is. And we call that dharma. Bothius was... Report an error in the passage at 12:50 Highlight the passage at 12:50

13:20 I don't know, I've never heard of him before, but I certainly like that statement. It proves to me he had an insight into, and superior to the necessity of faith. It doesn't mean in a structure of superior, inferior. Like that's your thinking mind. It's always about... This is better than that. And how this word superior functions is it's transcending. It puts into perspective the necessity of fate in this present moment. Report an error in the passage at 13:20 Highlight the passage at 13:20

13:54 And that's what I call reflection. And I found, you know, like in my own experience over the years, just this kind of practice. Now the mind's very still, naturally still. It's not like I have to make it that way. or, or, um, I spent a lot of time kind of doing things to, you know, in silent meditation. Report an error in the passage at 13:54 Highlight the passage at 13:54

14:20 Once you begin to recognize that stillness and value it, then you cultivate from there, and then it actually, you begin to, that becomes a stronger, that's your reality, and the tendency, the necessities of fate you experience lose their ability to take you over. Or even if they do take over, not for as long as they used to. Does that make sense? Like in our lives, you know, we still have to deal with the necessities of fate or vipakakama. Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

15:06 So, you know, even in a monastic life, you know, where I've been a monk for over 40 years, you still have vipakakama arising. rising so conditions arise and then you feel like this or uh you know so sometimes it's a bit Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:25 But the difference is that awareness of them, say before, I could be easily kind of lost in strong feelings and, you know, strong emotions for quite a long time. But now there's this sense of it is what it is and not to, you know, keep cultivating this awareness of it and non-attachment to it. So more and more you find this sticking to the constancy. And then there's, you know, in the Majjhima Nikaya, one of the teachings of the Buddha, Majjhima Nikaya, the middle-length saint, There's a sutta I like very much called the Bodekarati Sutta. And it's translated, Bodekarati Sutta is translated as the one fortunate attachment. Report an error in the passage at 15:25 Highlight the passage at 15:25

16:28 And so, what is the one fortunate attachment? And he said, you're not supposed to be attached to anything. Non-attachment. And then, the title of this chapter is Bodekarati, which is... One fortunate attachment, and what is that? It's sticking to the constancy of the supernal mind that needs not move. Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:55 That's the, like, sticking to this, you know. I've used this for many years, this particular saying, but, you know, this sticking to this, this recognizing it, and then... I'm sticking to it so that you're using it all the time no matter what's happening in your life on a personal level or any contingency that you might have to experience so that you keep referring to this. Report an error in the passage at 16:55 Highlight the passage at 16:55

17:30 That's where I use sound of silence because to me that functions as that supernal consciousness. It's like consciousness where I can Ajahn put into perspective there the uh... Report an error in the passage at 17:30 Highlight the passage at 17:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

18:19 about it. Report an error in the passage at 18:19 Highlight the passage at 18:19

18:25 It's like they're trying to encourage, like, because they're living in a monastic community. And, of course, there's a lot of emotional reactions and things just like anywhere else. And when you're living, you know, your lives with each other in a group like this, so it, what they say, presses the buttons. Report an error in the passage at 18:25 Highlight the passage at 18:25

18:54 Pushes the buttons and the emotional vipakakamma comes up and things like this. And then there's a lot of righteous feelings of right, of how things should be right and how to improve. Like the Western mind tends to want to always improve Theravāda Buddhism. So it's kind of ingrained in the cultural. Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:47 think. And so we have human rights and all these people talk about rights and advancement and progress. And this is the mindset of modern Western people. It's very much based on these ideas of we're advanced and improving. And I'm not saying that it's not true, I'm not contesting that, but what I'm trying to do is put that kind of thinking into perspective. Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

20:20 And the only way one can do it is through this awareness, through this recognizing this supernal consciousness, like with consciousness is not culturally conditioned. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:41 Like it's natural, isn't it? Consciousness is not about me. I put myself into consciousness. So I think I am Ajahn Sumedho. I create that sense of I am Ajahn Sumedho. And then I operate from that perception. Then that's the sakayuddhiti, the sense of myself. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

21:11 but consciousness doesn't have any titles it's it's uh and it's the same for all of us consciousness is one you know it's not me and not in you or i have Report an error in the passage at 21:11 Highlight the passage at 21:11

21:25 than you have. For me now, it's more helpful, I find, to see consciousness as unlimited, you know, so we're all experiencing consciousness. It's the same. That's where oneness is, where we're one. And then the thinking mind will divide it into I, Ajahn Sumedho, you're different. Report an error in the passage at 21:25 Highlight the passage at 21:25

21:52 And so then that functions on a conventional level, you know, of living in the conventional world. But as reality, it's not ultimately true. And so when you... You're different. Report an error in the passage at 21:52 Highlight the passage at 21:52

22:07 And so without this, like in the Four Noble Truths, the basic, the kind of essential teaching of the Buddha, the Second and Third Noble Truths are, you know, very skillful. Well, they're all skillful, but if you take those two, the causes of suffering and the end of suffering, and not through grasping these ideas or grasping the teachings, but through putting them into practice in your In your own experience, then you begin to recognize, realize this awareness and that kind of sudden recognition. Report an error in the passage at 22:07 Highlight the passage at 22:07

22:49 It's this. That's why I can't describe it. I can't, you know. It has no quality that I can define it. But it's recognizable. So the Third Noble Truth is all about You know, the ending of suffering through recognizing this, this pure conscious awareness, and to stick it to the constancy of this, which Report an error in the passage at 22:49 Highlight the passage at 22:49

23:23 needs not move, then the moving things are, you know, the pakakama, you know, the body and the emotional tendencies and the views, opinions, memories. Arise and cease in consciousness. consciousness. so the more you begin to appreciate this, the more you do feel a oneness with the whole universe. You know, it's not like, you know, you recognize the animal world is the same consciousness, it? Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

23:56 Like the dogs and the birds and so forth. Consciousness isn't different. You know, but human conceit can make, human consciousness is superior to that of a dog. It is the conceit we create through thinking we're a higher evolved animal or we're not even an animal. We're outside the animal kingdom. And this is, we create this sense of a sound. Or consciousness, then we start looking at the way it is, a dog or a cat or a bird. Report an error in the passage at 23:56 Highlight the passage at 23:56

24:32 It's conscious through a form, just like we are. We're conscious through this human form. Now the human form has this Buddha nature, in other words, or this ability to reflect. That's why the human birth is a very fortunate one, because we're not just helpless victims of the forms we have, like the animals. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

25:03 They have the form and the karma and the instinct and that too, but the consciousness is the same, but they don't reflect on their behavior. They can't make moral agreements about non-killing, like the cats and the birds in this monastery. We tried to get the birds and the cats together to... Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:34 Agree on non-killing. It's impossible. Because cats are supposed to kill birds. They're made for that. And there's nothing bad. We might not like it, but that's the karma, the necessity of fate of a cat. Well, we can also be killers. We're better at killing than any of the animals. We can also agree not to. And we can reflect on the result of wanting to kill something. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

26:15 Is that peaceful or is it suffering? You know, if I have a murderous impulse going on in my mind, is that bringing me peace and contentment or is it making me increasingly more angry and upset? Report an error in the passage at 26:15 Highlight the passage at 26:15

26:32 And of course, the answer is obvious. You know, if I attach to this or suppress it, you know, I shouldn't think such a terrible thought, then that's also not peaceful. You know, trying to get rid of it through fear and aversion is not peaceful. But recognizing it is what it is, like wanting, impulse to want to kill somebody is like this, and you don't act on it, but you observe it, and then you let it go, you let it be what it is, it'll naturally, Go away. Nature is to cease. And so like the cessation of a condition is where the reality or recognition of this supernal mind that needs not move, or the unborn unconditioned, or it's like nibbāna, or you have all these words in Pāli Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 26:32 Highlight the passage at 26:32

27:32 They all mean the same thing, the unborn, uncreated, unformed, unconditioned, nibbāna, anattā, sunyata. It's all negation of the conditions. It's not attachment. It's non-attachment, non-desire. But it's not an annihilation. It's not a discrimination like desire, we should get rid of them. That's like... Report an error in the passage at 27:32 Highlight the passage at 27:32

27:57 Taking a stand about desire is bad and we should get rid of them, or we shouldn't have any desires, but recognizing desire. So that which recognizes desire isn't desire. Report an error in the passage at 27:57 Highlight the passage at 27:57

28:13 There's certainly intelligence. It's discerning. It knows desire, but it's not saying desire is something I should, or it's inferior to non-desire. It's just making no problem about it. It's like this, desire for something. To get rid of something is like this. So this is the human birth. You know, this is what the Buddha was pointing to, this value of being, you know, they call it in some schools of Buddhism, Buddha nature or Buddha mind. Report an error in the passage at 28:13 Highlight the passage at 28:13

28:47 In Theravāda we take refuge in the Buddha. So like we, you know, one of the traditional ceremonies is taking refuge in Bhutan Sarnangacami. What does that mean? Is that just Pāli jargon? To me, Bhutan Surnam Gacchami is reminding me of this, this awareness, being in this, putting myself into this, letting go of the causes of suffering to be this awareness itself that I can't claim as some kind of personal achievement, because the self doesn't work there. It's not like, I'm, you know, I'm an enlightened person or anything like that. It's not like claiming that, but it's because then I'm making it into sakya-ditti again, into a sense of I've achieved something or I've become something, where it's more letting go of the self-view, where these things no longer need to claim anything on that level of I am or me and mine. Report an error in the passage at 28:47 Highlight the passage at 28:47

29:58 Your sense of trust in Buddha Dhammasanga increases and strengthens and gives you that constancy, that strength that is stronger than any of your emotions or worldly conditions. Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:14 You know, once you begin to recognize it and trust it and value it, then, you know, it's stable, where the rest, you know, the... Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:47 have crashed, you know. For a Buddhist, that's just normal. For someone who thinks of progress only, we want to make the world better and better, better and better, progress, progress, progress, and make everybody democratic, go into Iraq and make them all like American Democrats. And we want to Americanize the Middle East so that they don't threaten us so much because we don't understand what they're talking about. Report an error in the passage at 30:47 Highlight the passage at 30:47

31:22 So we're trying to straighten things out on the condition plane, but it just gets more confusing, more violent, more frightening as we're endlessly trying to manipulate the conditions. They call it arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Report an error in the passage at 31:22 Highlight the passage at 31:22

31:49 That's what most people do, you know, something that's doomed anyway. You're just busy in your life trying to decide where you want the chairs, the deck chairs. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:03 Yes? Report an error in the passage at 32:03 Highlight the passage at 32:03

32:12 Well, like love is a word that can mean so many things. So it is where you have to clarify what you mean by it. I mean, I like the word, but it also can mean, you know, because we use it for... Loving fish and chips or something. Learning to use language more skillfully. You like fish and chips, maybe. Maybe you don't like them, I don't know. Like and love, what is the difference? Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:55 And then loving somebody else can mean you maybe just... but Report an error in the passage at 32:55 Highlight the passage at 32:55

33:14 Conditioned love is not about, know, I'll love you as long as you do what I want. But when you don't, then I don't love you anymore. That's conditioned. That's not love. That's a kind of blackmail. But in the... Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14

33:33 Unconditioned love, and that is consciousness itself. As you begin to recognize that in yourself, the consciousness receives everything all equally. It's non-judgmental. It doesn't like one thing better than another. That's where equality lies on the conditioned plane. and yet Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

34:04 So like mettā practice in Buddhism, we have this mettā meditation, loving kindness. You take that loving kindness to the end, it's really just total unconditioned love, which embraces everything. And then compassion comes from that, you know, your sense of... Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:49 life is muditā, appreciate, you know, you begin to experience a natural joy of being that comes through muditā. And then upeka is equanimity. So these four Brahma-biharas, they're called the divine abodes, and they sound like they're somewhere up in heaven, but I find those teachings more valuable as what comes from consciousness consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 34:49 Highlight the passage at 34:49

35:17 of How would an Arahant respond to somebody else's suffering? You know, if Ajahn is a perfectly enlightened human being, and so then would they just be indifferent? That's a karma necessity of fate. And dismiss it? Or is that a... Or what comes from that pure awareness is a compassion, you know, karuṇā, muditā, and then upeka, the balance. Report an error in the passage at 35:17 Highlight the passage at 35:17

35:51 You're not constantly in those states of... But like mettā and... Upeka work together very well. In Theravāda Buddhism, their barhamitas, in those ten barhamitas, Mettā and Upeka are in that category, where Karuṇā and Muditā are more coming from a contingency, a particular situation, a response to suffering you've seen here and now. Report an error in the passage at 35:51 Highlight the passage at 35:51

36:23 Or a response of joy to the beauty that you're experiencing. Does that clarify anything? Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

36:42 Well, when you focus all your attention on one person, it is very dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

36:57 But also, not to be afraid of it, but to begin to see that the more you want something from that person, Report an error in the passage at 36:57 Highlight the passage at 36:57

37:20 arise so so this is where you know to try to to get in touch with that pure pure state of of unconditioned love and be able to discern the difference when it starts becoming personal you know and and and caught in in all kinds of emotional reactions but that that's also inevitable but also to see that as uh to To be be able able to to have have the calm. Report an error in the passage at 37:20 Highlight the passage at 37:20

37:52 when you're in a relationship with somebody that you're in love with, it's not like shouldn't or there's anything wrong with it, but it's also an opportunity to experience love and to discern the purity of that before the other starts creeping in. Report an error in the passage at 37:52 Highlight the passage at 37:52

38:16 most of us have learned know very painfully in love and then getting very controlling and demanding Report an error in the passage at 38:16 Highlight the passage at 38:16

38:32 you know, you're afraid to get caught in that one very often. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

38:38 In that, you know, is it just ignorant, besotted greed and attachment for somebody else? Or I would prefer to think of it as a kind of, you know, a sign to us of ability we have to love. It might be particularly triggered off by another person, but you can't sustain that without dealing with With your own, say, emotional habits and tendencies that arise in that relationship. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

39:16 And so this is where the awareness is, you know, as you trust yourself more to reflect, then you, you know, when you see it on a personal level, then it is frightening because you're really opening yourself to somebody. Report an error in the passage at 39:16 Highlight the passage at 39:16

39:50 of that, that we never, know, we just remove ourselves from contact with people is the other extreme. But what I encourage is reflecting on it, learning. Report an error in the passage at 39:50 Highlight the passage at 39:50

40:03 we learn from these experiences. You know, we learn what we need to learn. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:17 that what you did, Maggie? Report an error in the passage at 40:17 Highlight the passage at 40:17

40:45 ha, ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

40:56 don't see, you know, from I can tell. directly. Consciousness doesn't die. conditions that support consciousness, like the body will die. Report an error in the passage at 40:56 Highlight the passage at 40:56

41:13 I'm experiencing consciousness from this body, so I'm looking at you as something separate over there. So you're that person there and I'm this one here. Now there's consciousness, but then there's also thinking, sight, I see you, and from the sight, That is conscious, then you're separate. Now my sight is getting worse. Pretty soon I won't be able to see you. Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:49 But still, it's consciousness. And then, you know, this is a kind of, because many question this, the way I use this word consciousness. Because in the scriptures, It's usually put into the five categories, five khandhas, as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self. So we learn, like through Vipassanā meditation, we learn that consciousness is impermanent and not-self and unsatisfactory. Report an error in the passage at 41:49 Highlight the passage at 41:49

42:30 But then in terms, that's in a context of the five khandhas. That has a particular function. That's not a kind of basic doctrine. That's a more expedient way of categorizing conditioned phenomena in order to see it, to be able to separate from it. Now, there are references in the Digha Nikaya that do the Vinyanang, Anidasanang, goes on like that, the unborn, uncreated consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

43:09 And they use the word vijnana, which is the Pāli word for consciousness. And then consciousness in terms of the elements, like there's six elements that they use in Pāli Buddhism, the earth, fire, water, and air, the four elements that make up the conditioned world, and then space and consciousness are the other two. Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:35 So, now this is very... Useful to emphasize space and consciousness in so much of what is taught. From what I can tell in Vipassanā meditation, they don't emphasize. They use earth, fire, water and air impermanent. The five khandhas are impermanent. The six ayatanas, the six senses are impermanent. Everything is impermanent is the message you get. But then there's also these other two. Report an error in the passage at 43:35 Highlight the passage at 43:35

44:09 Space and Consciousness consciousness in a space you know, usually perceived through sight, but it's here and now, you know, it's not something abstract, is it? I mean, why just say, look, there's space and you begin to look at space. How do you look at space? You have to let go of your interest in the things in the space to get the perception of space is like this. Report an error in the passage at 44:09 Highlight the passage at 44:09

44:37 space has no no boundary. boundary. You might think it's bounded by the walls, but the walls are in the space. So in terms of you, at your experience right now, sitting where you are, looking at space, you're experiencing spaciousness, which is here and now. It's not an abstract, mystical, esoteric... Report an error in the passage at 44:37 Highlight the passage at 44:37

45:05 idea at all or a philosophical concept that's real then and so but space has no boundary consciousness also is unlimited so you have the immeasurable uh unlimited consciousness then then vijnana is the Pāli word for consciousness and we experience consciousness Now, what I... Assume is when the body dies, then the form is no longer conscious, but consciousness is still operating. Now what comes when you don't have a body to be conscious through? Report an error in the passage at 45:05 Highlight the passage at 45:05

45:45 I'm often wondered. But what this does to me is it makes you not be afraid of death because on the logical level there's birth and death. and and death is the end of everything birth is the beginning and that's what we tend to you know what we're conditioned to to believe in is reality is birth and death and birth is you know what we tend to favor we like being born and and babies and youth and the beginning of things you know when things are interesting and Report an error in the passage at 45:45 Highlight the passage at 45:45

46:42 then we're no longer interested in them, so we look for another rebirth again. So what happens in society is we're always looking for a rebirth in some form. As soon as we get bored with something, we look for something to eat or something... You know, to distract ourselves, to find something interesting to do, or to just go to sleep, annihilate ourselves in sleep, and then get up in the morning and look for something, you know, something to eat, something interesting. Report an error in the passage at 46:42 Highlight the passage at 46:42

47:15 And then when it gets, you know, uninteresting, then we look for something else. So we're caught in this kind of whirlpool, vortex of continuous rebirth. You know, which is both mental, emotional, and physical. So, then in Vipassanā meditation, as you develop, as you have the insight into the noble truth, then the third noble truth, you're actually recognizing this unlimited consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 47:15 Highlight the passage at 47:15

47:48 Deathless. The deathless. It's real. It's here and now. It's reality. It's not a Buddhist philosophical concept or some kind of Report an error in the passage at 47:48 Highlight the passage at 47:48

48:00 point, it's to be seen here and now. Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:10 discussions endlessly with Dawkins and Hitchens and people like that that are atheists and they say they don't, there's no God and whatnot. But they don't, you know, you can prove there isn't any God on a rational level because you can't get hold of it say, You say, God, come and prove yourself, and nothing happens. But in mystical forms of religion, it's more awakening to reality. Report an error in the passage at 48:10 Highlight the passage at 48:10

48:44 Well, that must mean what they mean by God at the end of the day. That must be it, because that's the real. But in Buddhism, you don't have... The Buddha worked on almost the opposite end of the spectrum from the theistic side. It's not atheistic, but it's taking something ordinary like suffering, human suffering, calling it a noble truth, pursuing that, investigating that, till you realize deathless or ultimate reality or dharma. Report an error in the passage at 48:44 Highlight the passage at 48:44

49:21 So in Buddhism, you say, dharma would be, I'm just speculating now. Probably be the equivalent to what Christian mystics mean by their realizing God in a direct way. Because I'm not a Christian. But to me, that would be what religion is for, is to all religions, if they're not pointing at that ultimate reality, whatever you call it, it isn't so... Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

49:57 It's important as long as you realize it, recognize it. So in Christian terms, you have things like knock on the door and it'll be open and God is within you, the kingdom of heaven is within you, things like this. They usually apply more to mystical forms because the thinking mind always perceives God as some patriarchal figure up in the sky or it sees a God is something separate and remote rather than here and now. Report an error in the passage at 49:57 Highlight the passage at 49:57

50:33 awakening and cultivating this awareness, then for me this is reality. This is not just wishful thinking or a fantasy I've created. Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

50:49 is knowing directly and it's not, but it's something you have to I can't tell you what it is. But I can certainly recognize and know. And then that's where the Buddha realized he could not, you know, make his disciples enlightened. All he could do was to point, keep pointing to this reality. And so like the Four Noble Truths, for me, was a very skillful, expedient teaching. Report an error in the passage at 50:49 Highlight the passage at 50:49

51:24 Pointing, you know, if you pursue that. And use it skillfully, then it will. You'll realize this for yourself. You'll know directly beyond doubt or the thinking mind. You're transcending your thinking, so you're no longer trying to figure it out, but you're opened on an intuitive plane of universal intelligence where wisdom can operate through you as an individual. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

52:23 Buddha, you know, it's called, what they call, we chant this every day. The dharma is to be experienced individually by the wise. You know, it's something I can't give you, but you can experience it. and so i can say wise things and to you but that's not it you think so you can you know that's where the like the meditation or this awareness practice puts you into that where you recognize this it's natural it's not created or fantasy or a high it's it's up it's uh it's reality it's Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

53:17 yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:29 Everything belongs. Everything belongs. Yes, I mean, it's like people have mystical experiences. You know, like I had one when I was about 19 that I didn't know what it was either. You know, I wasn't a Buddhist then either, but I didn't know what it was, and I didn't have any way of talking about it. Report an error in the passage at 53:29 Highlight the passage at 53:29

53:59 So when I tried to tell people, they thought I was... I was in the Navy at the time. They thought I was crazy. You know, I'm going off a bit. Because nobody could understand it. And then maybe the terms I used made it sound really foolish. So I decided I better not talk about it. But it was, looking back, it was an awakening sense of ultimate reality in which the... Report an error in the passage at 53:59 Highlight the passage at 53:59

54:32 This individual self had disappeared. And at 19, I think, you know, young people at 19 are very self-conscious and, you know, you really suffer a lot through, you know, at least I did, because you're growing up, you know, you're not really fully adult and you're no longer a child and then you're in the military, which is another kind of traumatic reality you have to deal with. Report an error in the passage at 54:32 Highlight the passage at 54:32

55:03 And so then I remember this thing with the self-consciousness completely dissolved and there's just pure awareness, conscious awareness. And I had no way of understanding it then. And then through that, a couple of years later I came across Buddhism. And suddenly that, I thought, probably this is what you have to do to get that again. Report an error in the passage at 55:03 Highlight the passage at 55:03

55:32 I remember thinking, I kept thinking then, you know, oh, if I could stay like this all the time. But then I had to go back to the naval base that night, and of course the old necessity of fate took over. Report an error in the passage at 55:32 Highlight the passage at 55:32

55:48 Maggie? I've had three experiences of this overwhelming love. Usually in a situation where people are suffering, and I can't do anything about it. and I was telling Adam Tsuchiko once, and I said, can you tell me what that is? He said, that's normality. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:09 That's a good answer. Report an error in the passage at 56:09 Highlight the passage at 56:09

56:13 It is. That's what normality is. Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:25 Well, that's a good point. What you're left with is a memory of it. And then that creates a desire to have it. You know, so I remember I didn't... Because I didn't know what it was, I didn't have any, I really didn't know what had happened. But it did give me, something had changed in me at that moment, but I didn't really know that at the time. Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:53 And then in monastic life, I remember the first year, I spent alone in this little hut. I had very powerful insights and that sense of oneness that year. And then the second year, I went to train with Lungpho Chah. The second year, I kept remembering the first year and then trying to get through memory those states again and nothing worked. Report an error in the passage at 56:53 Highlight the passage at 56:53

57:33 Everything went... Crazy for me. That second, third year were the worst years by me trying to repeat these through memory. And then Lungphat Chai told me that the first time it was spontaneous. It happened. You weren't remembering it. You weren't chasing after memory. It's just something. And then you had this realization. But then after that, the mind will remember and want it again. Report an error in the passage at 57:33 Highlight the passage at 57:33

58:12 And so then I could see the value of monastic life then because then it's more, you're not trying to get things through memory. You're just dealing with the practice of living, breathing and eating and basic kind of grounding lifestyle. lifestyle, simple lifestyle that helps. You can have, through concentration practices, you can think you're fully enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 58:12 Highlight the passage at 58:12

58:59 Enlightened and you... And some monks do that, you know, they think I'm now an Arahant and go out and announce themselves. And that's called Vipassanubha Kilesa, which is defilements gained through practicing Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 58:59 Highlight the passage at 58:59

59:19 So this is where the, you know, that's where this sense of a self needs to be really recognized. Like, I'm enlightened now is a self-view. You know, so, you know, I think the monastic life, for me, monasticism leads towards humility rather than me trying to become an arahant and get somewhere in monastic life, become an important monk and be, you know, get a following and become famous and all that. Report an error in the passage at 59:19 Highlight the passage at 59:19

59:57 That would be sakayaditti. But the whole aim of monastic life is towards letting go of the self, totally. So you're just merely saṅgha. It's one who's practicing in the right way. And that's where I see the gift of the monastic form is helpful in that way because you can see in so many people who want to become meditation teachers or things like this, they get into meditation and there's a sense of attainment or... Report an error in the passage at 59:57 Highlight the passage at 59:57

1:00:56 See, that word means almsmanikin, one who depends on the kindness of others. So that's putting yourself, talking about putting yourself in a difficult position, that you're dependent on goodwill of other people is, you know, something that, but not as an ego thing, just a matter of faith and to simplify. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:56 Highlight the passage at 1:00:56

1:01:22 And so then this humility, this, if you, you know, when you take refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, the self drops away. And what's left is a consciousness. And then you, you know, your life is just, you do what you have to do. The necessity of fate will, the momentum of that will carry you through to death. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22 Highlight the passage at 1:01:22

1:01:42 But it's not about becoming. And this is, this is what's so difficult to get across in the Western world where Meditation is another attainment. And they speak about meditation as an attainment. Attaining stream entry or attaining arhatship or Buddhahood or whatever. I don't like those terms. I don't like to use attainment. Because when you really look at, this is all about relinquishing, letting go. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:42 Highlight the passage at 1:01:42

1:02:16 You know, not about getting more and more. And then the big challenge for you all is the self-view, the ego. Because most of us start with the idea that I am an unenlightened person, mentally confused, need to practice meditation in order to become a better person or an enlightened person in the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:16 Highlight the passage at 1:02:16

1:02:46 So this is, now that is a... That's in the Pāli term sakya-ditti, self-view. So Buddha actually, right from the very start, is getting us to, you know, we're drawn in to the self-sense of I need something I don't have yet, or I've got to get something, and I'm not good enough the way I am. So that brings us into maybe meditation of some sort. But then... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:46 Highlight the passage at 1:02:46

1:03:15 The Buddha's teaching is one where you're challenging the self-view. And so it's not that I am perfect the way I am and there's nothing wrong with me and I don't need to do anything, because that's another self-view. It's more just learning to recognize the Sakyadity, which is caused through thinking, through memory, through identity, with the body, with the... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:15 Highlight the passage at 1:03:15

1:03:43 With your memories, with your emotions, you create this sense of your separate self, and whether you're attained or not attained, or a good meditator or not a very good meditator, or whatever, or you think you're not even a Sotāpanna, or you might think you're an Arahant. It's all Sakya Diti. But if you see through that, begin to recognize this awareness, then... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:43 Highlight the passage at 1:03:43

1:04:14 Then you have perspective on the way you create yourself, the way you see yourself as a physical being or personality or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:14 Highlight the passage at 1:04:14

1:04:44 Yeah, because I developed a lot of the concentration practices in the early years, which are very dependent on controlling the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:44 Highlight the passage at 1:04:44

1:05:01 You know, but then I'd, when I'd lose control and I'd fall apart. You know, so this is where I had malaria. You know, I went to this place up in the north of Ubon province in the mountain. Beautiful place with caves and everything. And I was going to really get my meditation together there. And I had special permission from Ajahn Chah to stay there. And I was really getting some places. I thought, I'm really getting Samādhi concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:01 Highlight the passage at 1:05:01

1:05:40 And then I woke up one day and I was incredibly ill and feverish. And what happened? I found out I had malaria. So then, and I had this terrible kuti, that little hut, with the floor slanted down like this. It's in a cave. It's a very crude. crude structure, and the floor is slanted. So when you're lying down on a slanted floor, you tend to slide down a fever. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:40 Highlight the passage at 1:05:40

1:06:08 And I was so angry and upset. And Ajahn Chah came up. He traveled about 80 kilometers from the main monastery to this place. And I said, I can't practice. I just can't practice anymore. He said, your practice is malaria. And suddenly I got it. It was right. It's malaria. There was this idea of practice was getting the samādhi. And malaria was in my way. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:08 Highlight the passage at 1:06:08

1:06:56 And he's just saying, now your practice is malaria. That changed. You know, suddenly I started observing my fear of the disease. You know, because like, for me, malaria meant the rest of your life you're going to, or you could go crazy. It goes to your brain and you have to be institutionalized. Or through the rest of your life you have terrible attacks. And that's how my perception of malaria was at the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:25 But when I actually started being mindful of it, it wasn't so bad. In fact, it had certain moments I quite liked. So suddenly, rather than just being averse and frightened, I started just contemplating it. And then I had repeated attacks for about a year, and I haven't had any since. I did take the medicines they gave at that time. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:25 Highlight the passage at 1:07:25

1:07:57 with and that kind of thing. But I've never had any since and that was Report an error in the passage at 1:07:57 Highlight the passage at 1:07:57

1:08:06 years ago or so. I've always remembered that, like Po Chau Tien, malaria is your... so I've used situations like sickness, disappointments, losses, grief, always. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:27 This is my meditation. This is what I'm experiencing is this. And to relate to it with this open receptivity rather than thinking, how can I get rid of this malaria so I can get my practice back? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:27 Highlight the passage at 1:08:27

1:08:43 Which was my personal tendency. How can I get rid of this? Give me a pill that will completely destroy this malaria so I can get back to my practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:43 Highlight the passage at 1:08:43

1:08:56 That, I guarantee, will get you nowhere, that attitude, if one just operates from that, you know. I've got to get rid of this in order to get to the real practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah. The self, out of ignorance, you're always trying to control, out of desire for gain or fear of some sort. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:12 Highlight the passage at 1:09:12

1:09:27 Well, I think I will end here. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:27 Highlight the passage at 1:09:27