Knowing The dhamma – AM Reflection

0:00 Reflecting on the way it is, here and now, pachubana dhamma, there's a pause when I think these thoughts, just observing. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:17 It's a puto position of knowing. It's not knowing about anything, it's knowing, direct knowing. We tend to associate knowing with knowing about all kinds of things. Now on the internet you can know... All about everything. My diet didn't understand what extra virgin olive oil is. Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

0:49 And then they looked it up on the internet. And balsamic vinegar, I didn't have a clue where that came from. Now I know somebody found on the internet all about balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

1:09 There's knowing about these things, which is fair enough. It's nothing. Wrong, but to discern the difference between knowing about and knowing the reality. So the way it is, this is a position from the unconditioned, unborn. So it's not fixing on any condition. That's why I keep emphasizing this kind of wide open perspective rather than trying to get samādhi through focusing on particular objects. Report an error in the passage at 1:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09

1:45 You see, there's a difference between samatha meditations around concentrating on an object. And then in vipassanā, you're using mindfulness, which is including everything, all conditioned phenomena. It's not specifying, you know, choosing one condition to concentrate upon. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

2:13 So that's why it's easier to teach samatha meditation because it... You know, it's very prescriptive, and you can point to a definite object and then focus on it, concentrate upon the object. Report an error in the passage at 2:13 Highlight the passage at 2:13

2:32 But vipassanā tends to be a bit mysterious. We're always looking for something to do, something to focus on, because that's the conditioning of the mind, desire to get something, get rid of something. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:50 Operating from the... Sakyaditi position, I've got to get something I don't have or get rid of my defilements. So, you know, getting rid of your kilesas, killing the kilesas, getting rid of your bad habits and trying to become a better person and so forth. These are the Sakyaditi. Now, some of you will assume that I'm condemning this. I'm not. Report an error in the passage at 2:50 Highlight the passage at 2:50

3:22 I'm pointing it out, discerning. What Sakyaditi is, I'm not against, I'm not trying to annihilate my ego or this personal sense of self. Just recognize it. Be able to see it, to know it, rather than to take... You know, it's still Sakyaditi if I want to get rid of my personality and get rid of my defilements. Report an error in the passage at 3:22 Highlight the passage at 3:22

3:49 It's still Sakyaditi. I'm somebody who has defilements that I have to get rid of. You see, it's a whole, it's a conditioned process, a kind of insidious kind of commitment to delusion. Report an error in the passage at 3:49 Highlight the passage at 3:49

4:09 So the vipassanā, insight meditation, you're observing. It's not judging. It's not criticizing personality or taking a position, I'm somebody who doesn't have to do anything, because that's still sakya-diti. Report an error in the passage at 4:09 Highlight the passage at 4:09

4:30 It's recognizing a deeper level of awareness where you're not operating from the sakya-ditti, silabata-bhara-masa, vichy-kiccha, the first three fetters. And so these are the fetters that blind us to the Eightfold Path. When we talk about the Eightfold Path, and it's based on samaditti, right understanding, And no matter how many years you practice with Sakya Ditti as your modus operandi, you'll always end up with Dukkha as a result because you haven't really found the path. Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

5:18 You know, you haven't had that insight into the middle way. The middle way is mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 5:18 Highlight the passage at 5:18

5:30 And then to really cultivate the middle way, develop it in daily life, then one needs to really examine the first three fetters as they arise and cease in your own consciousness. So sakya, ditti, silabata, brahma, sa, vichy, kiccha. So then it's like sodapanna or stream entry in this terminology, the first stage. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

6:02 This is, you know, we... You know, when we think of it from the ego level, from the sakya-ditti level, what happens when you think, am I a sodapanna or not? Who is a sodapanna? That is still operating from sakya-ditti, isn't it? Can my personality ever become a sodapanna? I can fool myself. I can delude myself into thinking I'm a sodapanna. Many do. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:36 Or you delude yourself thinking you're not. Some of you are so self-disparaging that you're afraid of kind of, you know, thinking, well, I'm not a Sotāpanna, but I'm still a Bhattuchana, which means you're unenlightened, still wallowing in ignorance. After 40 years of meditation, how would you feel if I said I'm still a Bhattuchana after 40 years? Report an error in the passage at 6:36 Highlight the passage at 6:36

7:08 A monastic life. Well, it's sakya ditti, isn't it? It's because it's a sense of self, of me, of attainment or lack of attainment, or Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:25 kind of diffident, afraid I might make a mistake or I might inflate my ego if I start thinking of myself as a sodapanna or an arahat or whatever. So those four stages are not for ego positioning. The ten fetters and the four stages is merely an expedient teaching. It's a very skillful teaching to observe, to use with mindfulness for development or cultivation of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

8:08 So you can never, you know, it's an impossibility to To become a sodapanna or attain it on a personal level. But there is a recognition of it. Report an error in the passage at 8:08 Highlight the passage at 8:08

8:25 If you really spend this retreat examining the first three fetters as not intellectual concepts or definitions from books, but observing the conditioning that you're experiencing during this time. Whatever it is. Whether you're full of faith and hope and happiness and goodwill and mettā and love and bliss or miserable, doubtful, angry, bored, fed up, confused, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

9:07 Or whatever opinions you have, opinions and views that we hold about how things should or shouldn't be. or you know what Then this is being able to observe, this which is aware of the mental objects or the objects of the senses. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:32 So then the putto, tammo, Buddha, it's Buddha knowing dhamma rather than me knowing all about the dhamma. You see the difference? Ajahn Sumedho knows all about the dhamma. It's still Sakyaditti, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 9:32 Highlight the passage at 9:32

9:52 You know, people know all about the Dhamma. There's scholars and experts in universities, PhDs, knowing all about different schools of Buddhism, the history, and Pāli, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan, the whole lot, and still don't know Dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

10:17 So just studying Buddhism as a subject in university, you might know all about Buddhism. But not know the Dhamma. So knowing the Dhamma isn't operating from views about Dhamma, but entrusting in the awareness, the putto position of mindfulness, which includes everything. So whatever ever you're feeling at this time, through the senses, through the body, through the emotional habits, through... Report an error in the passage at 10:17 Highlight the passage at 10:17

10:56 Mental states welcome it all. There's a sense of wide open embracing of conditioned phenomena rather than trying to resist it or get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:13 Things that which is happening now that don't arouse personal sense of me as a separate person which is what we call natural phenomena. Phenomenal. The... Report an error in the passage at 11:13 Highlight the passage at 11:13

11:29 The breath, the body. So these are, we don't create them. The breath is a natural condition operating according to laws of nature. I don't personally create my breath. I can make, I can, you know, think my breath and so forth, but that's not necessary. The body still breathes whether I claim it or don't. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:58 Whether I notice it or not, or whatever mental state I'm in, if I'm absolutely stark raving mad, I'm still breathing. The body's still breathing. And then the body is here and now. It's the sitting or standing, walking or lying down. Report an error in the passage at 11:58 Highlight the passage at 11:58

12:18 So in this, the way it is, these are like gamatana or foundations for mindfulness because they're so obvious. And they're not to be seen in terms of, you know, the vanity, like the body. We might see our bodies in terms of the critical faculty, vanity. Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:43 You know, so we identify with it, with its appearance, its beauty or lack of beauty or whatever. The complexion, the age, the gender. Report an error in the passage at 12:43 Highlight the passage at 12:43

12:59 The size, whether you're fat or thin, black or white, male or female, young or old. So then we create a self around it, isn't it? That we identify with the body. So this is where, you know, to just see the body as the body. Report an error in the passage at 12:59 Highlight the passage at 12:59

13:27 Sitting here, it's like this. There's no, you know, need to... criticize it, or It's here and now. Sitting here like this, breathing. To do this, you're not trying to figure it out or think about it. You're just noticing its immediate attentiveness to what's so obvious that's happening on a gross level. The body is the rūpa, the coarsest khanda. Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

14:04 It's physical. It's heavy. If there's anything you can claim as a personal thing, it's your body. You know, your mental states are kind of fleeting and changeable, but the body seems to have a kind of solidity to it. So it's easy to identify with it. But that which is aware of the body is consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 14:04 Highlight the passage at 14:04

14:37 The body is in consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 14:37 Highlight the passage at 14:37

14:41 So when we're mindful and we're not creating any conditions into consciousness, we're resting in consciousness observing the condition. The body is like this at this moment. And then the thinking mind, what am I supposed to do next? I see the body, now what am I supposed to do? Then you start thinking again and trying to Make it into some kind of concentration practice. Should I concentrate on the body for how long and so forth and get into the entanglement of proliferating with thoughts or doubts. Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

15:31 That's vichikicha, isn't it? Doubt, skepticism. And then the breath, inhaling, exhaling. And then the sound of silence as you... You begin to notice this resonating background sound of consciousness. There is not a sound of vibration. Report an error in the passage at 15:31 Highlight the passage at 15:31

15:58 These are not created. I'm not creating them. I'm just noticing them. So this sense of observing, noting, this is bhutto, puru, the knowing, that which knows, the dhamma. So this is the body then in terms of, we're seeing it in terms of dharma rather than in terms of personality or sakya-ditti. Report an error in the passage at 15:58 Highlight the passage at 15:58

16:31 We're seeing it from the putto-tammo refuge rather than from the personal, cultural positioning, which includes all sakya-ditti, sīla-bhata-bhara-masa, vichy-kechya. Report an error in the passage at 16:31 Highlight the passage at 16:31

16:48 Using the sound of silence, I found this very helpful way of practicing because once you start observing and kind of staying with it for a while, to be with the sound of silence, you stop thinking. The proliferating thoughts stop. But then you try to use it as a kind of Vipawadana practice to stop thinking. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:21 You don't want to think, so you're... Going to sound of silence to stop thinking. Notice that that doesn't work either. Just trying to get rid of thinking through ignorance and vipa-vadana, trying to get rid of something. Maybe your thoughts are negative or silly or foolish or endlessly kind of obsessed and you want to stop it. Report an error in the passage at 17:21 Highlight the passage at 17:21

17:50 Ajahn Sumedho says, sound of silence will stop the thinking process. So you're operating from ideas again, from the self-view, grasping something you've heard me say, and then interpreting from a sakya-ditti level of trying to get rid of or stop the thinking process. Report an error in the passage at 17:50 Highlight the passage at 17:50

18:13 So that's where this insight into these three kinds of desires is so useful. It's not a matter of getting rid of thought. It's just, you know, or using, taking something I say and grasping it. Report an error in the passage at 18:13 Highlight the passage at 18:13

18:35 You know, Ajahn Sumedho says, and then using that as a kind of position you take on practice. But it's learning to awaken and observe. Even if you do things like that, you can observe it. Report an error in the passage at 18:35 Highlight the passage at 18:35

18:55 You know, you can observe the way you grasp what you hear me saying. So then the investigation, that which is aware of the breath, you know, like just with Ānāpānasati, there's, you say, bring attention to, say, the nostril to the nose, the inhalation, exhalation. Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

19:23 Then investigation of that, that which is aware of the breath. Now, the breath, inhalation, is impermanent, isn't it? It inhales, you inhale, and then it stops, and then you exhale. So, I mean, the breath is, you know, obviously a Nietzschean impermanent condition. But that which is aware of the breath, so this awareness then puts you in this position of the unconditioned. Report an error in the passage at 19:23 Highlight the passage at 19:23

20:01 Or you're recognizing it, realizing the uncondition is this, awareness, and the breath is not self. It is what it is. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. It's not trying to make it into anything or create a problem or ignore it, but just use it as a way of reflecting on the way it is. So that you're more and more Instructing yourself, informing yourself, this is awareness, awareness of the breath. And then you start thinking, well, awareness is impermanent too and not self. Report an error in the passage at 20:01 Highlight the passage at 20:01

20:41 Then you're starting thinking again. Is mindfulness impermanent? And sati, is that impermanent and not self? So then you grasp the words again in the Pāli scriptures. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

20:59 And so you grasp words like nibbāna and sodapanna and arahant. And then they're grasping out of ignorance, not out of discernment. So they're just interpreted from sakya-ditti, silabatabara-masa level. So it's a hopeless... You're stuck then. When you're caught in the saṃsāra and... It just doesn't seem to be any way out. So just by struggling and resisting saṃsāra or conditions, trying to change them or rearrange them or control them, it's just a hopeless task. Report an error in the passage at 20:59 Highlight the passage at 20:59

21:46 That's why people are so frustrated and stressed because they're trying to control everything, the conditioned realm. Trying to make it ordered and neat and clean and, you know, I'd like to have it nicely arranged, in control, where Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:10 I feel, you know, if I feel I'm in control and everything is clearly stated and arranged properly, then personally maybe I have a hang-up around this. I need to feel safe by having control. And have it ordered in the way that makes me feel safe. But then the awareness of that, the desire to control everything, fear of getting out of control, fear of chaos, of the unknown, of the dark, the shadows, the black holes, the mysteries. Report an error in the passage at 22:10 Highlight the passage at 22:10

23:01 So we can live on a very superficial level of just neatness, cleanliness, order, and controlling everything as best we can. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:14 But even if we were fairly successful at that, it's still very threatening. The world around us is very threatening because you can't control everything. So you get into all these problems that we have of immigrants, Illegal immigrants and European countries are now the movement of people from poor third world countries into the wealthier ones. Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:47 We want to control it because we don't want a lot of poor poverty stricken foreigners making us feel insecure. It makes us feel uncertain, insecure. These Muslims are... Hindus and people you don't know, you know, can't even speak English from Africa or wherever, you know, coming in here and they don't know what's going to happen. Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:19 We'll lose control. And so we panic and we do terrible things to each other because of this Sakya Ditti Silabatabara Masa Vichy Kecha. Report an error in the passage at 24:19 Highlight the passage at 24:19

24:35 So, you know, we can live an ordered life, with everything under control, but then there's always something, the unknown factors, the meteor from outer space, the bolt of lightning, or the, you know, the ghost, or the poltergeist, or the revolution, the war, and on and on like this, where, you know, when you look at the history, Report an error in the passage at 24:35 Highlight the passage at 24:35

25:09 It's all about migrations of populations, one group dominating another, one group exploiting or enslaving another group, trying to control everything to make one feel superior or safe or in control. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:34 That's why the world is like this. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

25:42 Trying to control the conditioned realm. It's not it. That's Samatha meditation. But Vipassanā is embracing all conditioned phenomena. And of course, you can't do that from a personal position. I, as a person, can't embrace. I get the idea. I can grasp the idea of it. I must embrace life and face reality. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

26:10 And open to the wonder of the universe. I can say all those inspiring words. But if I'm still operating from Sakyaditi, I might be able to think inspiring thoughts and say marvelous things. But still I can't do it from that position, from Sakyaditi. Because Sakyaditi is dependent on other conditions. Report an error in the passage at 26:10 Highlight the passage at 26:10

26:37 So when I'm in a kind of grand visionary mood of Embracing life and loving everybody, I can convince myself that's what I'm doing. But when conditions change, isn't it? When things aren't so nice and I don't feel so well, it's hard to generate that sense of embracing life. Report an error in the passage at 26:37 Highlight the passage at 26:37

27:02 And so one gets confused. You get confused by your emotional realities and your ideals. So this is the war that goes on inside the individual, isn't it? Between the ideal world, the logical, reasonable thought process and the emotional realities that one is experiencing in the present. Report an error in the passage at 27:02 Highlight the passage at 27:02

27:34 So how many of you really resist when your emotions don't live up to your standards of of what you want how many you know you get confused or you start resisting or hating yourself or feeling guilty so Report an error in the passage at 27:34 Highlight the passage at 27:34

27:50 you know one feels tremendous guilt sometimes around one's emotional that what one is emotionally experiencing because you know on the level of of the critical factor i may not like what i'm feeling i don't want to feel like this i don't want to feel petty and mean and angry and And resentful, frightened. I don't want that. On an ideal level, I want to be brave and strong and grand and magnanimous and full of loving kindness, compassion, all the best. Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

28:32 So that's the ideal realm. And then the emotional realm is not ideal. It's like this. You know, how we actually might feel. Report an error in the passage at 28:32 Highlight the passage at 28:32

28:45 Emotional... The mood we're in is like this. So then we're seeing it in terms of putto tamo because Buddha knows dhamma. So even a nasty, mean, miserable emotional state is still seen in terms of dhamma rather than in terms of self. When it becomes self, then you tend to resist it or follow it. Believe it or try to suppress it. So this is just good psychotherapy, really. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:28 Learning to stop the kind of just struggling, endless struggling with the emotional realm, the emotional karma we have, by noticing it. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:43 But noticing it not in a critical way, not in terms of should or shouldn't, good or bad, but it's like this. And so this, you know, feeling depressed or angry or whatever is like this. So it's changing from the sakaditi, which is going to judge it. I don't feel very good, you know, I'm going through a bad time and I'm really down and going through a bad time and it's rough, going through a rough patch. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:25 All this is, you know, put in terms of Sakyaditi, or using it. It's like this. Rough patch is even too much, isn't it? It's still a value judgment. This awareness and discernment has no critical function at all. It's not rating it in terms of good or bad, right or wrong. It's just observing, discerning it. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:57 The emotional energy that I recognize now is like this, the way it is. The sage Buddha Dasa, one time he said, when they asked him if he was stranded on a desert island, what would he like to have with him if he was just... I was like that because that's the most helpful reminder, you know, whatever way it is. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:58 The way it is, it's not, it's not a, it's not, a kind of passive resignation. Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:07 like it can sound like oh this is the way it is what can you do about it you just have to put up with it and bear with it and it'll change you know things will get better i hope later on but just you know be patient and endure and this is all sacerdity isn't it Report an error in the passage at 32:07 Highlight the passage at 32:07

32:25 Don't make a scene. Don't be a nuisance. Things will change. You'll be better. Next year you'll feel much better. Just bear with the misery, you know. And so this is a Silabhata Baramasa kind of thing, isn't it? Culturally, you know, stiff upper lip here in the UK. The idea of, you know, get on with life, don't make a scene, bear with it. Report an error in the passage at 32:25 Highlight the passage at 32:25

32:55 Life is difficult, but we have to put up with it. Or it can be just resignation to misery. What can I do? It's like, the world's like this. It's rotten, but you've got to put up with it. That is still Sakyaditi. The way it is, is not a, is not, coming from Sakyaditi, it's a skillful use of thought to remind yourself. Report an error in the passage at 32:55 Highlight the passage at 32:55

33:23 It's like this. So even if it's miserable, and you're experiencing going through a rough patch, it's like this. Now when I do this, and I'm, I'm embracing, I'm allowing the emotion to be what it is. I'm not struggling with it or trying to convince myself, well, just be patient and it'll go away eventually. Report an error in the passage at 33:23 Highlight the passage at 33:23

33:53 Or just say, well, my stiff upper lip, get on with life. Tomato, don't make a scene. Just, you know, life is like this. So you've just got to bear with it and put up with it until you drop dead. That's Sakya Ditti. But this isn't Sakya Ditti, this is Puto Tamo, or Sankho, Supatipanno. So it's really learning from the conditions you're experiencing, from the karma, from what you're feeling now, physically, mentally, emotionally. Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:39 It's like this. Report an error in the passage at 34:39 Highlight the passage at 34:39

34:44 Now, discerning, like this, what I call sound of silence, it has no boundary. It just seems I don't create it. It's just, you know, it's not something I create out of desire or ignorance. It's just like this. Report an error in the passage at 34:44 Highlight the passage at 34:44

35:03 It's nothing fantastic like Hallelujah Chorus or anything like that. It's ordinary, you know, it's nothing special. But in the terms of this present moment, pachubhana nama, the body, the breath, sound of silence, I use these three as references because I don't create them. They're natural to this present moment. Consciousness is natural. You don't create consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 35:03 Highlight the passage at 35:03

35:46 It's not sakya-ditti. And we don't tend to create sakya-ditti around consciousness. We identify with the conditions that we experience through consciousness. So, like, when you contemplate your body, the reality of your body sitting here, it's in consciousness, isn't it? It's consciousness that's aware of the... Report an error in the passage at 35:46 Highlight the passage at 35:46

36:21 Simple reality of this body sitting here. You don't create that consciousness. It has no name. It's not European or Asian. It's not Buddhist even. It's natural. Dhamma, tamachat. The word for nature is tamachat. It's just natural. It's like this. It's not a... Report an error in the passage at 36:21 Highlight the passage at 36:21

36:54 Something that one creates out of ignorance in Sakya Ditti Sīla Bhattamasa, which he teaches, just like this. Sound of silence is just like this. Report an error in the passage at 36:54 Highlight the passage at 36:54

37:06 Space, visual space, is just like this. Now space and consciousness then are, they're unbounded, they have no form. These are that, you know, the forms, Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

37:28 Arise and cease, come and go in space and consciousness. Where forms created condition phenomena, they all have shape and form, beginning and ending. Report an error in the passage at 37:28 Highlight the passage at 37:28

37:44 That's why you can draw anything. In the created world you can draw or you can fantasize. You can create fantasies of form, color, shape. Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:01 So this is the uncreated, unborn, unconditioned. So it's discerning, you know, in the elements, six elements, earth, fire, water, air, space and consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:19 So then your space and consciousness, it's here and now, isn't it? It's not something, it's just, you know, something that you have to find. It's just awakening to it. Report an error in the passage at 38:19 Highlight the passage at 38:19

38:36 The body's in the space. The body's in the consciousness. The breath, sound of silence and consciousness seem to go together. When I let go of the forms and the habit tendencies, when I let go of my habits, then there's this sound of silence, consciousness, space, then the awareness of the breath, which has form. Report an error in the passage at 38:36 Highlight the passage at 38:36

39:13 It has an inhalation-exhalation. Aware of the body, which has a form. It's sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. Aware of the thoughts, of emotions, of feelings, pleasure, pain, neutral sensations, of sensory impingement, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. All this is then observed in terms of dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 39:13 Highlight the passage at 39:13

39:44 Knowing of the way it is. But as soon as we forget this, then we go back into the sakya-ditti level of life, which is, I like and I don't like, and this is mine, and it should or shouldn't be, whatever. Then we easily fall back into the conditioning process. Because it's habit. We're creatures of habit. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:12 We become so conditioned and primed, We've lost that wisdom. We've forgotten it. So we believe in all the illusions that we create. Report an error in the passage at 40:12 Highlight the passage at 40:12

40:30 Not trying to get rid of them, but know them. You can be an expert on these three fetters. Anything I think I don't believe anymore. What my emotions do, I'm aware of them. But I don't have any... Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:53 to grasp or follow them or believe in them. accepted, they're recognized, they're not rejected or suppressed, they're acknowledged, they're like this. Report an error in the passage at 40:53 Highlight the passage at 40:53

41:08 emotional world is like this. views and opinions i can still have views and opinions about what i think is good bad right wrong should or shouldn't be We'll be right back. Report an error in the passage at 41:08 Highlight the passage at 41:08

41:27 I'm not going to operate, act, and try to refrain from speaking too much on these opinions and views. Because if you explore this, investigate this, you can see the suffering caused through grasping, through being heedless and grasping the conditioned phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 41:27 Highlight the passage at 41:27

41:58 It's just, it always takes you to dukkha. So in the paticcasamuppada, dependent origination, avicca, bhajya, saṅkhāra, avicca is the big problem, isn't it? This is the delusion. And with anything that, you know, if one is coming from avicca, ignorance of dhamma, then the result's always going to be sokaparite vatukatomanatupayasa. Report an error in the passage at 41:58 Highlight the passage at 41:58

42:29 Grief, sorrow, lamentation, despair. Life is going to be disappointing. And then inevitably you die. All that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise, will become separated from me. So there's always this sense of loss, fear of loss, of death. Death is the unknown. And from the Sakya Ditti, Silavata Brahmastavichi Kecha, Report an error in the passage at 42:29 Highlight the passage at 42:29

43:04 Then, you know, we're always struggling with our fears of the unknown, of death, and trying to hold on and protect what we have to make us feel safe, but inevitably all that is mine, beloved and pleasing, will become otherwise. Report an error in the passage at 43:04 Highlight the passage at 43:04

43:26 That can make you depressed if you take it personally. I'm going to lose everything. I'm just going to get old and die and... And lose everything in the end. And that can be quite depressing if you're operating from Sakyaditi, clinging to Sakyaditi as the way you experience life from the personal view. Report an error in the passage at 43:26 Highlight the passage at 43:26

43:52 So instead of this invitation of the Buddha to awaken, wake up, then these teachings, Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, the Ten Fetters and Four Stages, all of these are skillful means, helpful tools to use to investigate and explore experience. Because they're wisdom teaching. They're not to be grasped on a personal level. They're not to reinforce Sakyadity, but to, you know, reminders, helpful, expedient means. Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:43 To examine experience, to really look and observe and remind ourselves when life does get fraught and personal and rough and difficult and disappointing and so forth. And we have a way of looking at it rather than just stiff upper lip, get on with life, don't make a scene or just getting lost in despair and depression. Report an error in the passage at 44:43 Highlight the passage at 44:43

45:14 They have, you know, it reminds you to wake up, pay attention, even when everything is out of control, when everything in your life is going wrong. Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:31 That's not an obstruction to awareness, to enlightenment. So Siddha Bhattabharamatha then, as I've said before, is like cultural conditioning. Report an error in the passage at 45:31 Highlight the passage at 45:31

45:48 Assumptions we make from cultural attitudes, from class identities, from ethnic identities, racial identities, sexual identities, and that it's all, you know, these are all human beings created, these out of... Avicca, ignorance. So it is culture, it's personality, it's ego, it's language. Report an error in the passage at 45:48 Highlight the passage at 45:48

46:32 It's not tamacat and they're not natural conditions. Like breathing is natural. The body is nature. Consciousness is natural. But the sense of yourself is an artificial creation, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 46:32 Highlight the passage at 46:32

46:54 Me and mine, I'm my body, I'm good, bad, male or female, monk or nun, Buddhist to Christian, or whatever, you know. I am, these are artifices that we create out of ignorance, not having examined and looking into things in terms of the way they are. We merely operate from the cultural conditioning that we have. You know, so, you know, we... Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:25 This is what we get from our parents, from our class, from our ethnic identities in whatever country or ethnic group or whatever you're born into. You pick up those assumptions, those attitudes. And it's not a judgment against them, it's just noticing. Some are good, some aren't. Some are right, some are wrong. Report an error in the passage at 47:25 Highlight the passage at 47:25

47:55 It's not about right and wrong, it's the ignorance and clinging that is the cause of suffering. So in this wake-up call of the Buddha, the gates to the deathless are open. Report an error in the passage at 47:55 Highlight the passage at 47:55

48:19 That's quite a marvelous statement. The gates to the deathless are open. Now right now, it's not, you know, The gate to the deathless, what is that here and now? And of course, putting it into scriptural language, it's sati sampacanya. Report an error in the passage at 48:19 Highlight the passage at 48:19

48:45 The deathless, you can't imagine that, but that's your true nature, because it's uncreated, unborn, it's not self, it's anattā, it's nibbāna. Report an error in the passage at 48:45 Highlight the passage at 48:45

49:01 And it's reality, it's real, but unrecognized when we're bound into the conditioned realm, when all we know is the sense of me and mine and my likes and dislikes, my views and opinions. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:21 So one is caught into that vortex of conditioned phenomena, but then just awakens the way it is. Suddenly we're stopping trying to control or believe or get rid of, but just observe the way it is. Life right now, the difficult problems, it's like this. Feeling that life is difficult is like this. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

50:00 Feeling that I can't take anymore, you know, I'm fed up, I've had enough is like this. Creating Believing your opinion of Amaravati or Chiters is like this. Or views about monks or nuns, about Ajahn Sundra, Ajahn Chandrasiri, Ajahn Tanya and all is like this. They're views, memories about Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Aryasilo, Ajahn Majiro. These are not real people. Report an error in the passage at 50:00 Highlight the passage at 50:00

50:35 These are views or memories or assumptions. So, you know, suddenly we're switching on the floodlight of awareness. So that's different than, you know, believing our views and opinions without investigating them, without seeing what we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 50:35 Highlight the passage at 50:35

51:03 One can still have views and opinions, but you know it. You know they're views and opinions. They're not truth or reality. They're merely what I... Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:49 Be full of righteous indignation, because my view is right. I can prove it according to scriptural authority, Ajahn Chah said, and on and on like this. And then you counter that, and then I think you're a heretic, or you're not a real Buddhist, or you're a Mahāyāna type, or you're just a Christian disguised as a Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

52:26 And this is what religion does, it gets very righteous, you know, who's a heretic and who's teaching the true dharma and who's the best teacher, which is the, you know, the best form of Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 52:26 Highlight the passage at 52:26

52:45 You know, still I can have opinions and views, but I know them. I know what it is. I no longer... Believe in them anymore. Don't know which is the best form of Buddhism. Don't need to know that. But in terms of knowing dharma, this is an encouragement, the invitation to know dharma, not Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:17 And in my own viewpoint, I realize the pain of clinging to my opinions about things. It's really... You know, it makes me very, puts me in a, I feel like I have to defend myself or prove I'm right or prove you're wrong. You know, there's a sense of me trying to do what I think and I've got to defend it by converting you or convincing you or if you don't go along with it, just expelling you. Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

54:00 You know, you're a heretic. And that's all thinking, isn't it? Because it's divisive. The thinking process, its function is division. That's what it does. When you attach to thinking, you're caught in the dualistic position of right and wrong, good and bad. Report an error in the passage at 54:00 Highlight the passage at 54:00

54:35 When you let go, of thinking, when you just trust the awareness, then this is where discernment operates. You're seeing the way it is rather than what you think it should be or shouldn't be. Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

54:53 That's why I encourage you to explore thinking. Listen to yourself with your strong views about right and wrong, good or bad. What I like and what I think is right and how things should be is like this. What I don't like or what's wrong is like this. Report an error in the passage at 54:53 Highlight the passage at 54:53

55:16 And that which is aware of right and wrong, is that right or wrong? It is what it is. It's like this, the way it is. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16