WEBVTT 02:05.952 --> 02:11.520 Good evening everyone, and welcome to our live broadcast. 02:23.298 --> 02:31.690 Tonight we're looking at Anguttara Nikaya Book of Threes, Sutta 136. 02:34.049 --> 02:36.933 or 137 in the Pali. 02:41.358 --> 02:52.873 And this teaching is one that we know very well in Thailand, in the monastery where I was ordained anyway. 02:54.696 --> 02:56.498 I'm not sure how common it is elsewhere. 03:00.603 --> 03:01.845 It's an important teaching. 03:03.901 --> 03:06.366 Important sutta to know about, to keep in mind. 03:11.777 --> 03:14.382 And we chanted often in the morning, or we used to. 03:14.642 --> 03:23.580 I don't know if they do anymore, but when I was newly ordained, the monk who led the chanting liked to recite this sutta. 03:26.024 --> 03:47.813 Upādāvā bhikkavē tathāgatānāṁ anuppādāvā tathāgatānāṁ tītāvasā tātudhamma tītātādhamma niyāmatā sambhe saṅkārā ni ca 03:48.822 --> 04:16.585 dāṅ tathāgato abhi-sambhujati abhi-samedhi abhi-sambhujitavā abhi-samedhvā ājīgati deśeti paññāpeti pāṭāpeti vibharati vibhajati tāne karuti sambhe saṅkhāra anicchāti 04:19.737 --> 04:20.538 That's the first one. 04:21.519 --> 04:22.160 And there's three. 04:23.762 --> 04:25.805 Some of you should recognize part of that. 04:25.825 --> 04:32.895 All sankharas, all formations are impermanent. 04:35.278 --> 04:40.345 What this sutta says is that it doesn't matter what changes. 04:43.598 --> 05:13.200 no matter what happens whether a Buddha rises in the world or not so this is a teaching that is independent of the Buddha now many of the Buddha's teachings are actually creations of the Buddha the Four Satipatthana for example the Eightfold Noble Path itself is a creation of the Buddha 05:15.526 --> 05:19.330 You can't go and find the Noble Eightfold Path in nature. 05:19.350 --> 05:22.253 There's nothing that says, go this way, go this way. 05:25.136 --> 05:30.922 But there are facts of life or laws of nature. 05:35.546 --> 05:36.788 Three laws of nature. 05:36.828 --> 05:40.251 There are many more, of course, but the three important ones are 05:42.458 --> 05:43.419 in this sutta. 05:44.481 --> 06:08.071 He says, dhamma titata, the fixed dhamma, the dhamma that stands, dhamma niyamata, the certainty of the dhamma, or that which has a nature of certainty, or no, the certainty of truth, certain truth. 06:10.535 --> 06:12.297 All formations are impermanent. 06:14.757 --> 06:15.819 This is the first one. 06:18.824 --> 06:20.587 What does it mean, all formations are? 06:21.148 --> 06:30.023 Asankhara is something that is formed, so meaning it's something that arises, something that is caused. 06:31.606 --> 06:40.140 All of our habits, for example, a really easy one is our modes of behavior. 06:41.470 --> 06:48.020 So when we see certain things or hear certain things, we have certain experiences, we react in certain ways. 06:48.620 --> 06:52.466 When pain arises, immediately we become upset. 06:54.108 --> 06:59.276 But when we hear certain people's voices or when people say certain things, we react as well. 07:01.079 --> 07:04.744 When we see certain things, some people see a spider and immediately they're afraid. 07:07.188 --> 07:12.434 Some people see a male, a masculine individual and become attracted. 07:12.534 --> 07:18.481 Some people see a female entity and become attracted. 07:22.085 --> 07:28.772 These are formations because they're not intrinsic to the object. 07:29.613 --> 07:30.394 They're formed. 07:31.195 --> 07:33.297 They're artificial. 07:35.318 --> 07:40.664 But everything, in fact this whole body is artificial, it's something that is formed. 07:41.986 --> 07:53.540 In fact it ends up referring to anything that arises, because anything that arises, arises based on causes and conditions. 07:53.560 --> 07:59.487 Nothing is an entity that is permanent or lasting, stable for all of eternity. 08:02.993 --> 08:08.619 And that's what this first one says, is that everything that arises is impermanent. 08:15.646 --> 08:24.314 It may seem somewhat innocuous or philosophical at best, so we think, oh yes, that's right, someday I'm going to die and that's impermanence, but that's not really it. 08:25.295 --> 08:26.476 That's not really sufficient. 08:29.159 --> 08:31.161 It's not really what's important about this. 08:32.879 --> 08:52.426 What's important about impermanence is that everything, everything that we cling to, either as good or as bad, only lasts a brief moment and then it disappears, or is made up of momentary experience. 08:53.347 --> 08:55.610 So when you feel pain, the pain is only momentary. 08:57.913 --> 09:00.777 When you feel pleasure, the pleasure is only momentary. 09:03.102 --> 09:04.788 Because the mind is moving so quickly. 09:04.808 --> 09:10.648 Each experience arises, ceases, the mind's gone somewhere else. 09:13.278 --> 09:19.085 We think of things as stable when we enjoy good food or a pleasurable experience. 09:19.105 --> 09:20.326 We think of it as lasting. 09:21.748 --> 09:34.162 But if you're mindful enough, if you're clear in the mind enough, you start to see that these things that we cling to, that we desire so much, actually can't satisfy us because the pleasure only arises. 09:35.163 --> 09:38.247 You eat a good meal, you're not enjoying it the whole time. 09:38.888 --> 09:40.129 The enjoyment is very brief. 09:42.218 --> 09:44.781 When you feel pain, it's not painful the whole time. 09:44.901 --> 09:46.163 It's only a painful moment. 09:47.244 --> 09:50.308 For a moment, and then your mind is somewhere else, and then your mind comes back. 09:56.436 --> 09:59.620 Furthermore, it's unstable, inconstant, uncertain. 10:00.981 --> 10:05.327 And this is what a meditator experiences just after a couple of days of meditating. 10:07.209 --> 10:12.175 You start to see that there's no good to come from clinging to anything. 10:13.572 --> 10:18.900 All of our experiences are in chaos, arising and ceasing, unpredictable. 10:20.062 --> 10:22.927 You can't predict what's going to happen from one moment to the next. 10:28.495 --> 10:29.657 Pleasure, pain, 10:32.253 --> 10:35.316 Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking. 10:36.558 --> 10:38.600 If you cling to anything, you suffer terribly. 10:38.740 --> 10:40.162 It's quite stressful, actually. 10:40.502 --> 10:47.510 This is what we find, is that we're clinging to so much, and it's causing us a great deal of stress. 10:49.192 --> 10:50.173 We're not flexible. 10:50.253 --> 10:52.696 We're not able to keep up with the experience. 10:52.716 --> 11:01.045 We cling to something as it passes, and when it's gone, we yearn for it. 11:04.096 --> 11:15.855 Or we cling to it and we fret about something that's already passed, or something that hasn't come yet, or upset, like or dislike. 11:15.875 --> 11:19.641 But our likes and dislikes are based on things that come and go in a heartbeat. 11:26.422 --> 11:27.804 That's the first orderliness. 11:27.864 --> 11:32.651 The second orderliness, of course, is that sabbe sankara dukkha. 11:33.092 --> 11:35.696 All sankaras are unsatisfying suffering. 11:37.579 --> 11:41.064 As a result, there's nothing that is true happiness. 11:42.146 --> 11:44.329 Happiness can't depend on a single thing. 11:46.958 --> 11:50.523 Usually we think our happiness depends on concepts, on constructs. 11:51.384 --> 11:53.046 Food, food makes me happy. 11:54.067 --> 11:55.749 Music, music makes me happy. 11:56.530 --> 11:57.812 These things don't even exist. 11:58.573 --> 11:59.835 They're not what's really happening. 12:00.816 --> 12:07.525 When you think of music and music making you happy, what you're actually talking about is an experience of hearing, right? 12:07.905 --> 12:12.291 And repeated experiences of hearing that provide you with pleasure. 12:14.347 --> 12:16.169 And it's that pleasure that we enjoy. 12:17.391 --> 12:19.013 We think that pleasure is happiness. 12:21.216 --> 12:26.462 When you eat good food, the taste that's delicious, that taste is pleasure. 12:27.424 --> 12:30.107 Or we think that pleasure is happiness. 12:33.411 --> 12:35.734 So the cold truth is that it's not happiness. 12:35.814 --> 12:39.739 If it were, we'd be happier because we've eaten so much and because we've listened to so much music. 12:39.779 --> 12:41.822 We'd be happier individuals. 12:43.135 --> 12:46.500 But people who listen to lots of music are no happier than people who haven't. 12:48.484 --> 12:50.427 Not necessarily. 12:51.509 --> 13:00.864 They're not happier than when they started listening to music, before they listened to music. 13:00.884 --> 13:07.014 At best these things are a distraction from the stress and suffering of ordinary life. 13:09.337 --> 13:09.818 But 13:11.317 --> 13:28.474 Like everything else, they're habitual, so the attachment to the things that we like grows, but of course our ability to get the things that we want can only grow so much, and eventually it's left unsatisfied. 13:29.975 --> 13:34.279 Eventually we're thrust back into ordinary experience. 13:34.299 --> 13:38.303 Another big thing we find when we come to meditate is how addicted we are to pleasure. 13:39.751 --> 13:41.475 how hard it is for us to just be. 13:43.519 --> 13:47.648 I always ask students, what's the difference between boredom and peace? 13:52.198 --> 13:53.380 It's a good question, I think. 13:54.844 --> 13:56.688 What is the difference between boredom and peace? 13:56.728 --> 13:57.810 It's not the experience. 13:59.292 --> 14:01.015 What would you say if you wanted to feel peaceful? 14:01.055 --> 14:03.078 Well, you'd go off into the forest and sit down. 14:04.440 --> 14:06.023 What would you do if you wanted to feel bored? 14:06.524 --> 14:07.525 Just about the same thing. 14:08.266 --> 14:09.108 Sit and do nothing. 14:09.448 --> 14:10.149 You'll feel bored. 14:11.211 --> 14:14.777 But if you want to feel peace, it's actually the same practice. 14:17.201 --> 14:19.965 Boredom comes from wanting to be doing something else. 14:21.828 --> 14:25.654 Boredom comes from a lack of contentment, discontent. 14:27.625 --> 14:29.669 Someone who is content can never be bored. 14:39.306 --> 14:45.377 Our stress and our suffering doesn't actually come from anything, but it comes from clinging to anything. 14:48.001 --> 14:51.287 When you cling to something, you suffer. 14:52.094 --> 14:52.374 Why? 14:52.454 --> 14:53.816 Because it's impermanent. 14:53.836 --> 14:56.279 It's uncertain, unstable. 14:56.799 --> 15:18.663 Once you learn to let go and learn to see that everything is, nothing can satisfy you, you stop stressing about things, stop obsessing about things, craving things, then true peace and happiness is second nature. 15:19.784 --> 15:21.426 It's the natural result 15:25.118 --> 15:25.940 That's number two. 15:26.020 --> 15:29.326 Number three, sabhi dhamma anatta. 15:29.346 --> 15:30.749 It switches to dhamma here. 15:31.330 --> 15:42.250 And that's for practical purposes, it's not really important, but it's an important technical distinction because nibbana is also not self. 15:46.752 --> 15:50.136 Now, not-self, what does it mean it's not-self? 15:50.156 --> 15:52.019 Well, it's not-self means it's not an entity. 15:52.079 --> 16:04.514 It's not something that is real in the sense of existing independent of causes and conditions, like existing from moment to moment as an entity. 16:06.156 --> 16:07.799 Things are just experiences. 16:08.299 --> 16:10.362 So when you see a cat, it's just seeing. 16:10.502 --> 16:11.463 It's not really a cat. 16:12.925 --> 16:15.308 When you hear the cat's meow, it's just hearing. 16:17.296 --> 16:19.899 And even the sound is not something that really exists. 16:19.959 --> 16:21.741 The sound arises and ceases. 16:25.805 --> 16:27.988 But it also means that you can't control things. 16:28.488 --> 16:31.992 It means that you can't turn things on and off. 16:32.012 --> 16:33.955 Everything is by cause and condition. 16:33.975 --> 16:38.600 Now that doesn't mean that you can't practice or you can't influence the future. 16:39.701 --> 16:41.663 It just means you can't control the present. 16:43.325 --> 16:45.227 When you feel pain, you can't turn it off. 16:46.523 --> 16:53.412 When you feel pleasure you can't hold down the button to keep the pleasure present. 16:56.536 --> 16:57.858 It's not under your control. 16:58.819 --> 17:01.623 The only way you can give rise to pleasure is if you work for it. 17:01.944 --> 17:04.086 And there's a certain type of work that leads to pleasure. 17:06.029 --> 17:09.994 If you want to avoid pain you have to do certain things to avoid pain. 17:11.156 --> 17:14.961 You can't just say, I'm going to do this thing but I'm not going to get the results of it. 17:16.865 --> 17:22.012 If you hit yourself and slap yourself in the face, you can say, I'm going to slap myself in the face but not feel it. 17:24.975 --> 17:29.061 If it was really belonging to you, if you were really in control, you could control these things. 17:30.082 --> 17:30.663 But we can't. 17:31.524 --> 17:36.390 We can just learn what causes lead to what effects and work from there. 17:41.376 --> 17:44.340 But most importantly, it means they should not be seen as self. 17:45.670 --> 17:47.352 We should let go of them. 17:47.673 --> 17:51.718 Don't think of the pain as me or mine, because when you do, then you've got to fix it. 17:51.758 --> 17:53.059 It's your responsibility. 17:54.061 --> 17:57.285 If you just see it as pain and let it go at that, it's not me, it's a man. 17:58.827 --> 18:00.068 It's not important. 18:00.088 --> 18:04.854 When you remove self from the picture, nothing can bother you, because it's not you. 18:06.156 --> 18:08.519 We worry about things that belong to us. 18:08.559 --> 18:13.585 We don't worry about things that belong to others, or things that have no owners. 18:17.750 --> 18:26.961 We don't worry about dead bodies, leaving a dead body out in the rain, or whether a dead body gets cut up or not. 18:27.802 --> 18:33.688 But we worry about our own body, if our own body gets cut, or we lose a finger because we cling to it itself. 18:35.931 --> 18:39.555 Likewise our possessions and our experiences. 18:40.835 --> 18:46.143 We get upset about the pain partially because we think of it as me, as I'm feeling pain. 18:47.325 --> 18:53.554 If you learn to just see it as pain, as a thing that just arises and ceases, it doesn't belong to anybody. 18:55.477 --> 18:57.780 It's quite easy to let go of it and be free from it. 19:00.730 --> 19:06.479 So these three things, this is really the base of what we're trying to learn in our practice of insight meditation. 19:08.161 --> 19:18.958 Trying to let go of the delusion that things are stable, certain, predictable, and thereby satisfying and controllable. 19:20.828 --> 19:23.892 in favor of seeing things as they are. 19:24.953 --> 19:46.058 As you practice meditation, you'll start to see that everything is uncertain, unstable, unpredictable, and thereby unsatisfying, not something that you can find happiness in, and therefore not worth clinging to as me is mine, not worth trying to control. 19:47.941 --> 19:49.823 Controlling only leads to suffering. 19:50.866 --> 20:19.928 stress and these three things according to this sutta the Upada Sutta we always call it the Dhammanayama Sutta these are the certain a certain nature certain or stable unchanging nature of reality so when everything else changes these three things never change no matter whether a Buddha arises or not 20:21.612 --> 20:29.140 But the only distinction is that a Buddha becomes aware of these things, becomes enlightened to these things. 20:29.420 --> 20:48.379 And having become enlightened to them, having awakened to them, having realized them, he tells, he teaches, he establishes, 20:50.857 --> 20:52.880 He initiates. 20:55.164 --> 20:56.987 He opens, uncovers. 20:58.128 --> 21:03.737 He explains. 21:06.021 --> 21:06.942 He makes clear. 21:10.347 --> 21:13.090 A Buddha doesn't create the truth, he just explains it. 21:13.250 --> 21:19.858 This is truth no matter, it's not dependent on Buddhism, not dependent on the Buddha. 21:19.878 --> 21:24.142 Impermanence, suffering, non-self. 21:24.162 --> 21:26.225 Basically seeing that nothing is worth clinging to. 21:27.786 --> 21:30.449 When you see that nothing is worth clinging to, then nothing can harm you. 21:31.010 --> 21:36.196 Your happiness is independent of experience and results. 21:36.216 --> 21:37.657 You don't need anything to be happy. 21:39.079 --> 21:40.000 You find true peace 21:43.000 --> 21:46.564 That's the Dhamma for tonight. 21:52.170 --> 21:57.096 Now we can go on to questions if anyone has them. 22:01.721 --> 22:02.682 We have Gloria here. 22:03.943 --> 22:04.984 Gloria, you want to say hi? 22:08.649 --> 22:09.970 She's just here for a few days. 22:11.840 --> 22:13.542 Tomorrow, two more meditators coming. 22:14.664 --> 22:21.813 Welcome. 22:21.833 --> 22:24.797 Okay, so Robin is here with me. 22:28.602 --> 22:30.264 I have questions. 22:30.284 --> 22:32.807 Oh, why isn't your video moving? 22:35.090 --> 22:36.632 Or maybe it is and I just don't see it. 22:38.283 --> 22:41.187 I'm not sure. 22:41.227 --> 22:52.221 Wait, wait, wait. 22:52.362 --> 22:53.723 Hold on a second. 22:53.743 --> 23:00.352 Oh, probably because I minimized it. 23:00.412 --> 23:04.097 Alright, go ahead. 23:06.600 --> 23:07.902 Your audio is breaking up. 23:09.147 --> 23:09.808 Oh, okay. 23:11.930 --> 23:15.794 I don't think it's, I think you might have to hang up and call again. 23:15.834 --> 23:37.739 Hang up and join the call again, maybe. 23:37.759 --> 23:38.800 Is that any better, Bonsai? 23:38.932 --> 23:39.553 That is better. 23:41.576 --> 23:42.057 Right. 23:42.718 --> 24:06.475 I mean, even among monks, it's not... 24:08.311 --> 24:11.077 not recommended to go about talking. 24:11.117 --> 24:23.485 I mean, it's the kind of thing you would only want to do with someone who's very close, someone who's not likely to, you know, 24:26.148 --> 24:46.654 misunderstand or i mean it's just there's there's big problems with talking about your meditation it's just a bad example if nothing else because it leads to you see so many people bragging about their attainments you know like it and it may not even seem like bragging to them but it's 24:48.642 --> 24:53.472 It's like putting themselves up as some big, on a pedestal. 24:54.213 --> 24:57.379 It's very easy for students to put people up on a pedestal. 24:58.482 --> 25:03.933 It's just a general humble practice of humility not to, I would say. 25:06.638 --> 25:08.642 It's nice that we can hide behind the rules, but 25:09.871 --> 25:17.838 By that I mean, so it's not like we're trying to be humble or something. 25:17.878 --> 25:24.764 It's not seen as being, because being humble is something you can be very conceited about. 25:25.725 --> 25:27.747 We have the rules, so we can just say, oh, it's the rules. 25:27.807 --> 25:32.131 But really I think the big thing is it's just a practice of humility. 25:34.653 --> 25:38.376 People should focus more on the teachings than on the teacher. 25:39.790 --> 25:50.281 And that's the other thing is that it falls into this kind of guru worship where people are looking at the finger, not at the path. 25:50.321 --> 25:54.373 The finger is pointing the way. 25:56.108 --> 26:20.258 So I'm sure there are examples where you would want to talk about these things to your fellow meditators or your students, but I would think they'd be few and far between, only for those who are really close to you or very serious about the practice. 26:20.278 --> 26:21.139 It's just too much. 26:21.219 --> 26:24.563 Everyone worries about, is my teacher enlightened or not enlightened? 26:26.939 --> 26:29.123 Well, none of us are the Buddha, even if we are enlightened. 26:29.183 --> 26:31.567 Even an Arahant can give wrong guidance. 26:31.607 --> 26:43.727 So focusing too much on the teacher is, I mean, heck, everyone says that our teacher, Ajahn Tong, is enlightened, but there's lots of people surrounding him who aren't. 26:43.767 --> 26:48.475 So it doesn't really help. 26:52.572 --> 26:58.119 It's important to remind people that what's most important is that they do it for themselves. 26:58.339 --> 27:06.289 If anyone asks you, Lumpo Jodo, he talks about this, he says, if anyone asks you, what did you get out of the meditation? 27:06.529 --> 27:08.492 Did you become enlightened and so on? 27:08.512 --> 27:11.736 You should say, whether I became enlightened or not, it's really not the concern. 27:11.796 --> 27:14.479 You should go and find out for yourself. 27:14.459 --> 27:16.541 Because it doesn't help you say, yeah, I became enlightened. 27:16.582 --> 27:18.884 Well, half the time they're just going to not believe you. 27:18.904 --> 27:24.951 I mean, I think, oh, this person's probably just overestimating or maybe they're even lying. 27:25.072 --> 27:27.274 I mean, it's just, it's more trouble than it's worth. 27:29.817 --> 27:30.738 That's my take on it. 27:32.100 --> 27:39.989 I mean, the people that you do see claiming to be this or that tend to be the most conceited, I think. 27:42.011 --> 27:42.492 Um... 27:44.378 --> 27:53.489 It's not to say that just because you don't means you're not, but those people who talk about it, it's really not very beautiful. 27:55.672 --> 27:57.093 Mahasi Sayadaw goes on about this. 27:57.134 --> 28:05.103 He says, anyone who claims they're an Arahant is probably just a charlatan. 28:05.824 --> 28:09.829 Because a true student of the Buddha should be humble and not... 28:11.733 --> 28:17.498 not talk about their own attainments even though they wish only for other people to gain the same thing that they've gained. 28:17.558 --> 28:18.860 That's basically what he says. 28:19.680 --> 28:21.282 I think at the start of the Salekha Sutta. 28:22.403 --> 28:30.431 Really good quote. 28:30.451 --> 28:40.440 In what case or for what use should a yogi practice kaya nupasana, hoidana nupasana, citta nupasana or agama nupasana? 28:40.741 --> 28:45.991 Does, for instance, the nupasana practice differ for each defilement? 28:46.011 --> 28:47.359 Could you explain this a bit? 28:51.338 --> 28:56.885 Well, there's the four vipalasa dhamma, which I've given a talk on them, I think. 28:58.527 --> 29:07.418 So I've answered this question before, but the four vipalasa dhamma are subha vipalasa, the perversion. 29:07.878 --> 29:11.843 Perversion here means a perception that is twisted. 29:13.145 --> 29:15.608 It's not like evil. 29:15.588 --> 29:25.717 You know, we say perversion, the word perversion in modern usage is like, ew, kind of thing, or like sick, that kind of thing. 29:26.338 --> 29:29.901 But perversion here simply means a distortion, basically. 29:30.421 --> 29:31.723 Maybe a distortion is better. 29:32.683 --> 29:35.726 So the distortion of beauty. 29:36.787 --> 29:45.595 And the second one is sukha vipalasa, the distortion of, or distorted perception. 29:45.575 --> 30:07.583 happiness the third one is the distorted perception of permanence and the fourth one is the perverted or the perversion distorted perception of self 30:08.896 --> 30:12.021 And each one of these corresponds nicely with the four Satipatthana. 30:12.041 --> 30:13.704 And I think this is in the commentaries. 30:13.784 --> 30:15.727 Maybe the Visuddhimagga that explains this. 30:16.769 --> 30:18.011 That's why the Buddha taught the four. 30:18.051 --> 30:21.597 Yeah, it's the commentary to the Satipatthana Sutta, I think. 30:22.819 --> 30:26.345 If you read the commentary, you should read the commentary to the Satipatthana Sutta. 30:27.207 --> 30:28.889 Because it will give you the answer you're looking for. 30:28.929 --> 30:31.714 I think. 30:32.926 --> 30:33.987 if I remember correctly. 30:36.690 --> 30:48.024 So the first Satipatthana Kayanupasana helps straighten up the mind in regards to subha, the idea that things are beautiful, the idea that there is beauty. 30:49.585 --> 30:54.171 It dispels that notion because the body is actually just experiences. 30:54.191 --> 30:57.735 There's nothing existing. 30:59.875 --> 31:01.637 There's nothing beautiful about the body. 31:02.658 --> 31:14.091 Vedanandupasana helps overcome the idea of sukha, of happiness, because you see the impermanence of feelings, and you see the suffering in the feeling. 31:16.514 --> 31:20.618 Nityavipalasa is overcome by jitanupasana, because the mind is so quick. 31:21.839 --> 31:26.845 When you focus on jitanupasana, you overcome the delusion of permanence. 31:28.225 --> 31:35.559 And atavipalasa, when you focus on dammanupasana, which is like the five aggregates, but even just the five hindrances, because that's the emotions. 31:38.425 --> 31:44.276 Our states of mind, you see that our states of mind are just that, they're just states. 31:44.296 --> 31:46.661 And arise and cease. 31:46.681 --> 31:49.727 But dammanupasana breaks everything up into dammas. 31:50.703 --> 31:52.888 So it overcomes the atavipala. 31:52.928 --> 31:54.351 So that's one way of understanding them. 31:55.013 --> 31:55.754 It's fairly common. 31:55.774 --> 31:59.723 The other one is by the modes of practice. 31:59.803 --> 32:04.313 So I've talked about this, or the types of practitioners. 32:04.434 --> 32:08.222 If someone is passionate, 32:09.367 --> 32:27.696 whether someone is passionate or analytical, and whether they have strong wisdom or weak wisdom, and then whether one has practiced samatha before, or whether one is purely practicing vipassana and has never really cultivated samatha. 32:29.262 --> 32:33.312 So if one is passionate with weak wisdom, one should practice kaya nupasana. 32:33.352 --> 32:38.243 If one is passionate with strong wisdom, one should practice vedana nupasana. 32:38.263 --> 32:42.834 If someone is analytical with weak wisdom, they should practice citta nupasana. 32:42.895 --> 32:47.305 If they're analytical with strong wisdom, they should practice dhamma nupasana. 32:48.635 --> 32:55.248 If someone has practiced Samatha before, Samatayanika, and they have weak wisdom, they should practice Gayanopasana. 32:56.531 --> 33:05.188 If they have practiced Samatha before and they have strong wisdom, they should practice Vedanopasana. 33:05.208 --> 33:10.879 If they have pure Vipassana and weak wisdom, they should practice Chittanopasana. 33:12.209 --> 33:15.954 And wisdom here might just be referring to one's mental faculties. 33:16.655 --> 33:21.901 So if someone is kind of a simple individual, it's not necessarily pejorative. 33:21.961 --> 33:25.546 Some of us are simple, some of us are very intelligent. 33:26.046 --> 33:27.027 Maybe that's a part of it. 33:28.089 --> 33:31.793 And intelligence isn't really an intrinsically positive state. 33:33.075 --> 33:39.583 And if someone has strong panya, then they should practice Dhamma and Vipassana, if they are Vipassana Yannika. 33:45.352 --> 33:47.915 But read the Satipatthana commentary. 33:48.856 --> 33:49.357 It's quite good. 33:55.144 --> 33:56.986 Do Buddhists believe in chakras? 33:58.808 --> 34:00.050 Oh, I think some probably do. 34:00.811 --> 34:01.091 I don't. 34:02.392 --> 34:08.299 Chakras are just a concept used to explain certain physical faculties. 34:08.340 --> 34:08.680 I don't know. 34:08.700 --> 34:12.945 It's a very different path, the idea of the chakras. 34:17.026 --> 34:28.410 Bhante, if effort and factors causing it is non-self, impermanent, and uncontrollable, then isn't the whole cycle of development of wisdom mostly by fate or chance? 34:29.833 --> 34:31.837 Thinking, thinking, thinks. 34:33.681 --> 34:33.921 No. 34:49.477 --> 34:51.660 You're still there? 34:51.680 --> 34:57.149 Yes, but I don't believe that's your whole answer. 34:57.169 --> 34:57.550 Why not? 34:59.232 --> 34:59.553 Okay. 34:59.593 --> 35:01.075 It was a simple yes or no question. 35:03.859 --> 35:08.687 True, but you usually have a lot to say about simple yes or no questions. 35:08.707 --> 35:09.028 Okay. 35:10.029 --> 35:12.473 Why don't you talk much about mindful prostration? 35:14.596 --> 35:15.418 What's to talk about? 35:15.458 --> 35:17.661 I mean, I don't talk much about walking or sitting either. 35:19.885 --> 35:25.136 Do I? 35:25.196 --> 35:33.473 Maybe because our online site is set up for walking and sitting, but it doesn't mention. 35:34.475 --> 35:37.742 We don't check off that we've done mindful prostration or anything like that. 35:39.140 --> 35:46.109 I mean, I think it was added later because people were doing, you know, prostrating already, so the idea was to make it mindful. 35:46.269 --> 35:51.316 Westerners don't prostrate, and we don't have that as a practice. 35:51.416 --> 35:53.779 But, you know, that's not an excuse. 35:54.020 --> 35:55.221 It's a great practice. 35:55.321 --> 35:57.104 Prostrating itself is a great practice. 35:57.144 --> 36:01.890 Mindful prostration is a great practice. 36:01.910 --> 36:02.271 I don't know. 36:02.391 --> 36:04.894 I mean, no one asks about it, so we don't talk about it. 36:06.798 --> 36:07.879 There's not much to say, really. 36:08.981 --> 36:09.741 Read the booklet. 36:09.761 --> 36:10.743 It's got a chapter on it. 36:13.446 --> 36:14.347 There's also a good video. 36:14.367 --> 36:17.170 I think that's one of the good videos to watch, the one on prostration. 36:21.896 --> 36:28.003 And then he just clarified a couple questions down, saying, why don't you talk much about it anymore? 36:31.747 --> 36:35.792 I didn't realize I'd stopped, or that I ever really did 36:42.893 --> 36:44.175 How do I practice at work? 36:44.856 --> 36:49.623 I'm a software engineer, so most of the time I'm absorbed in technical tasks. 36:52.567 --> 36:53.548 Yeah, well, that's tough. 36:53.828 --> 36:58.755 I mean, there's things we do that make mindfulness quite difficult. 37:00.718 --> 37:06.927 If you're dealing with constructs, logic, and so on. 37:09.826 --> 37:11.268 It's quite difficult. 37:11.288 --> 37:20.258 Not every type of work is going to allow you to, because many types of works require the mind to be otherwise engaged. 37:22.160 --> 37:25.784 If your mind is otherwise engaged, then it's not free to be mindful. 37:27.726 --> 37:33.893 The best thing is to take breaks and do short meditations in your breaks. 37:42.040 --> 37:50.251 When I'm listening to something I really want to listen to, such as music videos, I'm in a state of listening intently, and my mind gradually wanders. 37:50.271 --> 37:52.274 It's often intently listening to every word. 37:53.696 --> 37:57.481 I generally have my eyes closed, and I'm not generally aware of much else except what you are saying. 37:58.242 --> 37:59.063 Is this thinking? 37:59.764 --> 38:04.470 If I were noting, would I be noting hearing, thinking, understanding? 38:07.910 --> 38:09.773 If you're noting, you would note hearing, hearing. 38:11.295 --> 38:27.161 And you might note your reactions or your inadvertent reactions, like you might be sitting there and then you might get kind of bored or you might get annoyed at something else that's happening or upset at the pain of sitting still. 38:27.782 --> 38:29.344 I mean, if those things arise. 38:29.324 --> 38:41.727 If you're confused about something that's being said, or you doubt something that's being said, if you like something that's being said, you don't like something that's being said, you don't know all of that as well. 38:43.891 --> 38:46.235 But when you're listening, the big one is hearing. 38:48.559 --> 38:51.585 That's the thing, is again, when you're listening, you're trying to understand 38:53.455 --> 38:54.777 You can't always be meditating. 38:55.098 --> 39:00.688 It's good to listen as well and be mindful as well because the mind can be very quick about it. 39:02.031 --> 39:07.060 You don't have to be constantly trying to process during a talk. 39:14.785 --> 39:19.913 I remember one of your videos when you said something about thinking in relation to teaching. 39:20.534 --> 39:22.056 Most of my life I've been teaching. 39:22.116 --> 39:26.523 I've always had a compulsion to pass on whatever it is I've learned or am learning. 39:27.204 --> 39:31.911 So when I'm learning something, my mind is constantly seeking ways to explain that to someone else. 39:32.613 --> 39:35.116 Is that just thinking and to be noted as thinking? 39:35.517 --> 39:35.958 Thank you. 39:36.699 --> 39:40.084 Yes, that's just thinking and should be noted as thinking. 39:41.701 --> 39:46.928 If there's a desire to teach, which there often is, you should say wanting, wanting as well. 39:48.109 --> 39:49.671 So you have the compulsion to pass on. 39:49.751 --> 39:56.159 It tends to be a desire, wanting, excited about the idea of teaching to someone else. 39:56.179 --> 40:03.709 It's enjoyable to teach that kind of thing, just if that arises, if that appears as part of it to you. 40:10.355 --> 40:15.625 I am finding that the alarm bell starts my meditation but does not sound at the end of my meditation. 40:16.246 --> 40:19.131 Does anyone else have this issue or know how to resolve it? 40:20.774 --> 40:21.114 I don't know. 40:21.155 --> 40:23.058 Maybe someone in the chat can talk about it. 40:24.240 --> 40:25.202 I don't use the... 40:26.464 --> 40:28.368 I just set my time and then close the app. 40:29.229 --> 40:29.730 I don't know. 40:31.060 --> 40:32.942 It's not meant to be a real timer. 40:32.962 --> 40:38.308 It's very hard to do that in the form that it's in. 40:38.768 --> 40:41.711 You're better off using another app for your timer. 40:43.914 --> 40:45.516 Yeah, definitely on the phone. 40:45.576 --> 40:57.068 I've seen a couple of our IT volunteers mention that if you're using it on your phone, you're going to have to use a different app, at least at this time. 40:58.060 --> 40:59.102 Hello, Bonte. 40:59.182 --> 41:03.008 How far through the process of dying is one supposedly able to note? 41:03.048 --> 41:11.082 If the ability to note has some basis in brain activity, then one would think that this ability would be suspended at some point, yes? 41:11.843 --> 41:12.304 Thank you. 41:14.187 --> 41:15.670 No, it has nothing to do with the brain. 41:18.655 --> 41:19.917 As far as I can see. 41:28.807 --> 41:30.829 I don't know, I can't say too much else about that. 41:31.170 --> 41:40.621 I mean, I guess the assumption is that you could do it all the way through to the moment of rebirth and beyond. 41:46.227 --> 41:47.128 Good evening, Bhante. 41:47.428 --> 41:51.733 During my walking meditation today, I suddenly noticed I was thinking without noting it. 41:52.494 --> 41:57.480 The strange thing is that my feet were still moving according to the meditation instructions. 41:57.950 --> 42:12.904 Does that mean that through the brain, the mind can multitask, in my case thinking and walking, or that the mind has zero control over the experience once risen, thus the cause of suffering is the wanting to control the experience? 42:15.196 --> 42:16.980 It's not that the mind has zero control. 42:17.020 --> 42:20.767 The mind is involved, but the mind is also very quick. 42:21.308 --> 42:26.399 And so most of the mind activity is very slight. 42:27.201 --> 42:29.886 And so you don't really register that you're thinking. 42:30.046 --> 42:35.297 This is what people think of maybe as the subconscious, but it's not subconscious, it's just weak consciousness. 42:35.277 --> 42:37.843 Most of our daily life is weak consciousness. 42:38.645 --> 42:40.870 Mindfulness is a very strong consciousness. 42:41.671 --> 42:45.941 So what you're seeing now is the difference between a weak consciousness and a strong consciousness. 42:46.983 --> 42:48.547 A weak object and a strong object. 42:48.567 --> 42:53.117 The weak object doesn't really take your attention, but it's enough to keep you walking. 42:53.097 --> 43:00.888 And in fact, potentially, well, a great deal of the walking is done without interruption from the mind. 43:00.989 --> 43:05.215 It's just the brain and the body doing their thing. 43:07.158 --> 43:13.086 Much of our experience, I mean even speaking, it's not your mind that forces your lips to move. 43:13.126 --> 43:15.730 Your mind initiates and the brain does all the rest. 43:15.710 --> 43:18.516 It becomes like engrams, I think is the word. 43:18.556 --> 43:19.518 They're trained. 43:19.558 --> 43:24.168 The brain becomes trained to do certain things and the mind just has to say, I want to do that. 43:24.990 --> 43:27.054 And the brain takes over. 43:27.114 --> 43:35.372 And in fact the brain does a lot of it without interruption or input from the mind. 43:44.043 --> 43:47.150 After I meditate certain unknown feelings arise. 43:47.731 --> 44:00.079 Sometimes interactions with people limit influence on others or others on yourself. 44:00.099 --> 44:01.242 I don't see that question. 44:02.892 --> 44:12.180 Only part of it was tagged as a question, but if you open up the full panel above it, it says, After I meditate, certain unknown feelings arise. 44:12.620 --> 44:16.704 Sometimes interactions with people leave things more open for conflict. 44:17.564 --> 44:27.173 Is there a way to limit influence on others or others on yourself? 44:27.193 --> 44:27.833 Steve, no? 44:28.574 --> 44:30.896 After I meditate, certain unknown feelings arise. 44:30.916 --> 44:32.477 Okay, sometimes interactions with people. 44:37.165 --> 44:39.087 Is there a way to limit influence on others? 44:41.570 --> 44:42.330 I don't understand. 44:49.858 --> 44:53.182 Is there a way to limit influence on others or others on yourself? 44:56.485 --> 44:59.228 Well, I mean, influence has to do with reactions. 44:59.308 --> 45:06.075 So if you stop reacting or other people stop reacting, then it limits the influence. 45:07.287 --> 45:14.055 Of course, if you stop doing things that cause people to react, that's also possible, but you can't always do that. 45:14.095 --> 45:16.117 Sometimes people react to innocuous things. 45:16.178 --> 45:20.262 You might say something that you don't mean anything by it, and someone else might explode and get upset. 45:21.464 --> 45:24.367 The most surefire way is to learn how to not react. 45:30.595 --> 45:31.316 But that's the thing. 45:31.336 --> 45:35.100 You interact with ordinary people, they're most likely going to react. 45:40.025 --> 45:43.408 They may even react to the fact that you don't react. 45:43.428 --> 45:45.009 Sometimes that doesn't go over all that well. 45:47.231 --> 45:57.000 Okay, when a bhikkhu enters cessation of perception and feeling, is it the stream of takes nirvana as the object? 45:57.020 --> 46:07.809 Is it similar to a person who is in deep dreamless sleep, except that along that chittas have birth, kama nirvita as the object? 46:07.829 --> 46:08.530 I think you're 46:10.653 --> 46:12.115 That's the problem with Abhidhamma. 46:12.135 --> 46:16.079 No, Bhavangajita is a specific type of jitta that doesn't take an object, really. 46:17.901 --> 46:26.170 And what the object of a Bhavangajita is, I think it's something weird like the rebirth mind or something. 46:27.912 --> 46:30.995 The Lakutra jittas are specific types of jitta. 46:33.879 --> 46:37.082 It's a moment of jitta that has ceased. 46:39.796 --> 46:41.279 Stop studying the Abhidhamma. 46:41.299 --> 46:42.922 It's just making you confused. 46:44.765 --> 46:46.287 Sankhu's questions are awesome. 46:46.628 --> 46:49.213 Someday I will understand one of them. 46:49.233 --> 46:49.774 Not today. 46:49.834 --> 46:51.457 Yeah. 46:56.946 --> 46:57.868 Yeah, no, they're fine. 47:00.793 --> 47:03.438 But it's the kind of question that comes from studying Abhidhamma. 47:03.458 --> 47:04.740 It just kind of confuses you. 47:10.272 --> 47:12.555 With that, I think you're all caught up on that. 47:12.575 --> 47:14.317 Hey, we got 32 people on our site. 47:14.357 --> 47:15.819 That's like a record or something. 47:17.000 --> 47:17.601 That's great. 47:19.964 --> 47:21.485 How many people watching YouTube? 47:21.826 --> 47:22.467 47. 47:24.409 --> 47:26.592 And a whole bunch of chat going on over there. 47:31.097 --> 47:32.719 How's the YouTube chat going? 48:08.440 --> 48:12.398 Okay, well, that's it for this evening then. 48:12.558 --> 48:13.784 Thank you all for tuning in. 48:14.748 --> 48:16.978 Thank you, Robin, for helping out. 48:19.027 --> 48:19.750 Have a good night, everyone. 48:20.052 --> 48:21.237 Thank you, Bob. 48:21.257 --> 48:22.382 Good night.