The Sangha US 145 12 07 24

Video

Transcript

Dhammarato: So welcome. It’s Saturday morning, Thai time, Friday evening in the US. What is this? The 6th of December? 7th. 7th of December. And that today, let’s talk about Annapanasati. In fact, the Anapanasati Sutra. It’s one of the most important sutras in all of the Tripitica. And one of the most interesting things about it is, is that it is not harped on in all of the other suttas. And part of the reason that you could say for that is that all of the other suttas. Talk about a bit here and a piece here, but they’re all referring back to the Anapanasati sutta. Another thing, by the way, this is Majama Nikaya number 118, Maja Munichaya number 118. It was done late in the life of the Buddha. You can exit out if you want. Pardon?

Speaker B: Sorry, having technical difficulties. Just give me one second.

Dhammarato: All right. So this sutta actually looks interesting in an importance kind of way, in the sense that it starts out talking about what a large group of monks are there. Part of the reason for this was, is because the Buddha actually summoned them. He says next month we’re going to do something big and special. And so all of the monks in the entire vicinity were there for this sutta and that. He talks about it in the sense that we have this teacher and that teacher. This is part of the reason why it can be considered late is because by this time he actually had a university. He was the dean and he had all of these professors with all of these large classes. Some of the teachers, by the way, the names of them was Seriputa and Mahakkasapa, Mahakachana Chana, and many other monks. They’re actually listed there in the suttas with some of them having 20 students, some have 30 students, some have 40 students. Now, in that regard, the students actually lived with the teacher when? Way long ago, in, let us say, in the middle ages, probably 17th, 16th century, like that, the universities were set up so that the teacher and the students lived together in certain places, like at MIT when they’re doing a research project. The same is true. And so this has been a tradition in the Bhikkhu saga, is that the students actually live in close vicinity with their teacher. Like I lived at Watson Mok and I saw John Po every day. And so the next one is, is that he talks about the kinds of people, of the groups of people there in the sense of what they were practicing. He talked about those who were practicing the four Brahmavaharas and like meta, karuna, mudita, upeka, he talked about those who were practicing the jhnas. He talked about the fact that there was many there who already knew the Dhamma quite well, talking about Sotapan and Sotagami, Amagami, etc. But then as he introduces the sutta, he talks about it in a way of, guys, listen to me. This is the Anapanasati sutta. And if you practice it, you will get great fruit, great benefit. Almost as if those who were practicing various other things were not really getting what the Buddha said. And then he starts off talking about it in the sense that the Anapanasati sutta is practiced for the fulfillment of the Satipatthana, for the four foundations of mindfulness. Now, the four foundations of mindfulness are also mentioned in many, many different suttas. There’s two sutras actually dedicated to the satipatthana. And he says then that the Anapanasati sutta is for the fulfillment of these four foundations of mindfulness. In the Pali, that’s Kaya nupasana, veda nu nupasana, chitta nupasana, and Dhamma nupasana. And what that means is mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of the feelings, mindfulness of the mind and what the mind states are, and mindful of what’s happening, including what’s happening inside the mind. And then we practice the four foundations of mindfulness for the fulfillment of the Sambhujana. Hello, Robert. Great to see you. We practice the Sambojana, the seven factors of enlightenment, because the seven factors of enlightenment are in fact the fulfillment of the Eightfold Noble Path. A lot of people don’t make the connection that the Eight Full Noble Path is what we’re practicing. And when we practice the eight Full Noble Path, we’re actually practicing the Anapanasati as the way or the method of practicing the Eightfold Noble Path. And we practice the Anapanasati for the fulfillment of the Eightfold Noble Path. And that fulfillment then is called the Sambhojana, or the seven factors of awakening. And then we practice the seven factors of awakening for the fulfillment of knowledge and deliverance. And that. I use the word here, the Western word. They use the word enlightenment without even knowing what it means. And so I’ll give you a working definition of what it means right now. The word light is. Is the operative in enlightenment. And we have two different kinds of light. One is shine a light on it, daylight, being able to see, setting things up in a way, so that you can really look and see what’s going on. And by doing so over and over and over again, that brings upon knowledge. And then we continue to look and to continue to look. It’s all about observation, not drawing any conclusions. But every time you look, you’ll see something that is heavy. And so the second part of enlightenment is the deliverance from that by setting it down, relinquishing it, throwing it off at the shrugged. What does atlas shrug means is that everybody is carrying the entire weight of their world around on their shoulders, mostly between the ears and atlas. Each one of us is atlas is shrugging that whole world, throwing it all, putting it down. If we see how heavy our burden is, we would set it down. Christianity has it is that all the burden is light. Keep carrying it. Don’t look at it. But the teachings of the Buddha is, it says, no, take a look at all of that crap that you’re carrying around and set it down. And how do we look at it? We look at it through the lens in of an upanna sati. So one of the mistakes that many people make with anapanasati is by thinking that the order in which it is mentioned or the order in which it is taught is the order in which it is to be practiced. And that’s certainly not the case. It’s not at all chronological. That in fact, if you want to look at the chronological aspect of it, the.

Speaker B: Did Koh Pungyong lose Internet?

Dhammarato: Logical order to look at. There he is. Looks like your Internet’s back on. How long was the Internet off? About 15 seconds. It’s still recording? Yep. All right, so where did. Where did we leave off when the Internet went away?

Speaker B: You were.

Dhammarato: It’s not to be practiced chronologically.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Dhammarato: Oh, okay. So the Internet didn’t go away but a second. All right. Yes. The Anapanasati sutta is not to be practiced in the order that it is mentioned, that it’s mentioned in the order of the four foundations of mindfulness. But it’s practiced in a different way. That in fact, the best way of thinking about practicing anapanasati is whatever comes up one at a time, one by one, as they occur. Now, a chronological order would be the sambojana in the sense of unremitting mindfulness. Mindfulness or sati, comes first in chronological order. And what is sati? What is the chronological order? It is to remember, to practice, to remember to practice, to keep practicing over and over again, to remember, to practice, look at all of the various ordinary skills throughout the world. People can become musicians. Kids can play the piano and take lessons for a couple of years or three and then they’ll give it up when they’re adults. But those who practice every day and keep practicing and keep practicing will become world class musicians simply because they keep practicing. I’ve got two stories about that. One story is the story of Franz Liszt. He lived as a monk, I think in fact he was ordained. He lived in a chapel and he had three things that he did all day long. One is that he practiced meditation for about eight hours a day. He practiced the piano and the organ about eight hours a day and left everything else in the last eight hours a day, eating and sleeping. But he was practicing and practicing and practicing. That’s why he wound up with the, let us say, the reputation of being the best pianist of all time. There’s another one that’s good to know and that is Arthur Rubenstein. He had in the 1970s when he was in his 90s, they did an interview and they says, now that you’re a world class musician and are practicing, not just practicing, but giving performances on a regular basis, do you practice anymore? And he says, if I miss one day of practice, I’ll notice, I’ll know it. If I mention, if I miss two days of practice, the housekeeper will know it. If I mention, if I miss three days of practice, the dog will know it. Okay, if you’ve got a dog, Rocky, if you’ve got a dog, Robert, you need to remember that the dog knows when you’re practicing or not. And here another one would be martial arts kids who do icchi satchi and do the movements and have the horse stance and all of this kind of stuff in karate, if they stop doing it, they can’t do it anymore. But the masters keep practicing day after day after day. The problem I think that Westerners have is that when they talk about an arahant, someone who is completely accomplished, they think that he doesn’t practice anymore because he’s already made it. The answer to that is that he’s made it because now the only thing he’s got left to do is to practice, to look. And so this is what we mean by inner unremitting mindfulness is to remember, to look. Now the Buddha also says looking, that’s the number one item. We have to look, we have to research. Don’t come to conclusions, just do more investigations. Is sort of like Santa Claus. This is Christmas time. Santa Claus is opening his bag and he takes a look at it and he takes a toy out. And then he looks again in the bag and takes another toy out. And then he looks again in the bag and takes another toy out. This is exactly the way that we should practice and that we need that skill to do that all the time. Now, many people want to get started by doing it for just one time a day. I would recommend that you start thinking about doing it at least once an hour to keep coming back, keep coming back, keep coming back over and over and over again. The real practice, if you’re going to be a master of your own self, you’ve got a practice, you gotta keep going over it over and over and over again. And so the third item of the SAT of the Sambojana is that when you practice like this, instead of it becoming an effort, beginners like beginning piano students, it’s quite an effort. Karate is quite an effort for the beginner, but for the master, it’s muscle memory. For him, he remembers and then he can practice. And it’s effortless, energetic even. So, the. In the eight full noble path, we have just covered the first three basic items. Unremitting, remembrance, to keep coming back, unremembering, remitting, keep coming back over and over and over again. Keep coming back to look, to see, and then to take the effort, the right noble effort, to make the change, to throw the unwholesome thoughts out of the mind. And when we do that over and over and over again to get the skills of doing that, then it’s actually easy to do because we’re practicing, we’re in the habit of practicing. So this is the Sambojana. When we do that, it automatically has then the unremitting joy, the pleasure. The next one is peace. You have unremitting relaxation. You also have unremitting collectedness of the mind, so that you’re whole. And then you also have opaque, unremitting, I don’t give a damn. Unremitting. Everything is okay already. It doesn’t need to be fixed. And the reason for that is because we’re ready to relinquish. We’re ready to give up anything that we can see. Just like Santa Claus, when he see looks in that bag, he finds something to take out of that bag. The bag never does get quite empty. There’s always something in there. If nothing’s left, there’s only angel dust. Take the bag, turn it upside down and empty that too. So this is the practice of the Sambojana. That’s what. What leads then to the knowledge and the Deliverance, the enlightenment, you can see what needs to be done. You have knowledge of what’s to be done because you remember to look over and over and over and over and over again. So now that we’ve gotten the preliminaries out of the way, let’s start looking at some of the items on the Anapanasati list. But in fact the sambhojana, excuse me, the Satipatthana, the four foundations of mindfulness, you can see that it’s going to be grouped in fours and that the four things then in Adyana Panasati Sutra are broken down into four items for each one of them. So it’s a four by four list, given a total of 16. Now it is actually quite useful and positive to think of each of the four foundations of mindfulness, to break it into two groups. The first two and the second two of the body, the first two and the second two of THE. The first two and the second 2 of the chitta napasana. And the first two and the second two that in fact you can say the beginner does the first two. And then when we get the skills we could do the second and the third. Let’s give an example of that. With the body in the beginning, we at least can remember to breathe in long and to remember to breathe in and out long and short. Those are the first two items, the second, excuse me, the third item. And the fourth item is a little bit more advanced in the sense that by watching the breath, by looking at the breath, we become knowledgeable of the body. We can actually see what the body is doing. We can see what tensions and anxieties and angers and things that are that way in the body so that we could do the fourth item, which is to relax. The same thing is true with the Vedana in the sense that the first two items of the Vedana is the sukha and the piti, which means joy and overjoyed. And then the second two would be to investigate, to see how things are interrelated in the sutta, the way that is described as conditioners, to see how our feelings condition the mind, to see how the mind conditions the feelings. And then the last item of the Vedana is going to be to relinquish or to break up or to actually manage those conditioners so that you’re free from those conditioners. So for instance, if your body is in pain, it doesn’t make you feel bad. And then in the mind, the first two items is to investigate the mind that’s step Number nine and step number ten would be to gladden the mind. But in the last two, it’s going to be to unify the mind and to liberate the mind. Now, in the Dhamma Nupassana, the first two are, is to see how everything is changing. And in that way we can see that some things go up and some things go down. And in fact, anything that changes, anything that goes up has got to go back down. But the last two is that not only does everything go down, but it rots, everything dies, everything gets old. And then the very last step of Annapadi is to therefore throw it out. The word is often used relinquish. Okay? There’s a statement that came from Charlton Heston, I think, when he was the head of the nra. He’s, you’re going to. If you get his gun, you’re going to have to take it away from him with his hold dead hands still holding on to that gun, right? That’s how we often live our lives. We. We keep our cold, dead hands wrapped around whatever it is that we don’t need anymore. And so it’s almost like with the. Relinquishing is an active act of taking it away. Now, in the west we have the phrase of let it go. Letting it go is not an option. You can let something go. For instance, you’ve got a bobcat clawing on your arm, nibbling on your hands. You can’t just hold a hand out and let the bobcat go. You gotta sling that dude off. You gotta relinquish it, you gotta throw it off. This is actually where, right. Noble effort comes in. And for the beginning, even throwing off a negative, unwholesome thought has to be thrown out. Even a negative thought has to be thrown out. A negative feeling has to be thrown out. Yes, Ivan, go right ahead.

Speaker C: Yeah, I was thinking, like, is it, Is it also possible to just starve it? Like, because the Buddha say, you know, everything needs food to survive, right? So this unwholesome home, you can at least I see as Khaleesa, so the farmers, I just have to starve it. Like, I don’t know. Sometimes I’m just curious because, like, throwing out is like a very active thing, right? It’s like a very. I was just thinking, like, being aware of it and just let it die by itself.

Dhammarato: I don’t know. I’m not able to follow you. Mikey, can you help me understand what Ivan is saying?

Speaker D: Is it possible to starve out the chelices? Is it possible to stop feeding Them, yes, absolutely.

Dhammarato: That when you let us say that when you starve them out, they’re easy then to get rid of. But in fact, the not feeding it, the starving it out, is actually actively getting rid of it. You don’t give it any energy. So you could say then that I lost my girlfriend. Oh, poor me, she betrayed me. If we have that thought, we’re feeding it. But if we can have the. The thought and says, oh, I got along without her before I met her, I can get along without her now. Wow, I don’t need that girlfriend. Wow, she caused me so much trouble and now I am free. I’m a whole lot better off now. And so we keep having wholesome thoughts and not feed that she betrayed me kind of thought. And pretty soon, pretty soon, like three, four or five centuries or maybe three or four or five decades, or maybe three or four or five years later, we don’t even remember her. Why? Because we starved out those thoughts. We didn’t feed her, we relinquished those thoughts, we threw them out. But when we have those thoughts, when she first left, oh, poor me, she betrayed me, she lied to me, she told me she’d love me forever, and then she left. Oh, poor me, those feelings are hard to throw out, but we have to take the right noble effort to throw those thoughts out and put something else in the mind. So that’s a way of starving them. You don’t want to keep feeding those thoughts. So every time that girlfriend comes up, just one little tiny thought, just an image of her, maybe you’re looking through your sock drawer and you find her panties, you throw those things out. You don’t snip them and put them back in the sock drawer. You throw them out. That’s what we mean by relinquishment. Throw those things out. It takes an effort to do that. This is what we mean by the relinquishment. Are you good with that, Ivan? All right, so let’s continue on then with the anapanasati sutta. One of the things that we can see by the way that it’s structured is that the entire anapanasati sutta is designed around the first jhana. Not all the jhanas, just the first jhana. That in fact, in the higher jhnas, it actually has less of those 16. But if you’re practicing correctly, all 16 items of the anapanasati sutta, by practicing that, it brings us to the first jhana. This is an important point about the Vedana that we cannot in fact see how the Body and the mind and the feelings are conditioned. Until you learn to control those feelings that you can in fact throw those unwholesome thoughts of poor me feelings out and have the thought of, hey, I’m better off without her. Wow, what a relief it is. I don’t need her anymore. I’m okay. She left. Goodbye. And so we have then the feeling of sukha, I’m okay without her. That’s the satisfaction. So we practice that sukha. It’s a skill to be developed. In fact, all of the items of the Anapanasati, except for the first two, talk about it in the sense thus, one trains oneself. This is all about practice. It’s about training, it’s about skill development. Yeah, Robert, go ahead.

Speaker B: Sure. Just to add to this, and also responding to Ivan’s question as well, sometimes actions can be even better than thoughts and terms of starving the chilesas. So, for example, if you really yearn for the ex girlfriend, you can think, that’s not worth my time to think about. And instead I’m gonna go for a walk with my dog. Or I’m gonna go to the language class instead of thinking about this, which is totally not worth my time. So I think action can also really help action in a more positive direction.

Dhammarato: Mm. Actually, we could use the English language word diversion here. Do something to get away from those kind of thoughts. Don’t listen to the favorite song that the two of you shared. Go listen to something happy. This is the way that we would practice that. So in this regard, we’re talking now about the gladdening of the mind. Because we investigate the mind. This is item number 9 and 10. And you can say that often. This is the very first thing that the beginner has to do is to learn to see how bad he feels when he’s thinking about the lost girlfriend. He thinks how bad he feels when he just sees the laptop die. And recognizing it is dead meat, whatever that is. Go do something else. Go think of something else.

Speaker B: Yes, and the way the mind works too, is it really seizes on the initial stimulus. But always when you let a little time pass, that stimulus doesn’t look so stimulating. The. The laptop dying is. Is the worst, right? When it dies, but you give it 10 minutes, even. Even 10 minutes, let alone the next day, it’s not gonna. It’s not that big a deal. It’s the same with any other loss.

Dhammarato: Yeah, we go shopping for a new one.

Speaker B: So might as well let some time pass, Go do something else, think about something else, work on something else.

Dhammarato: So this is the way that we practice correctly. We practice correctly by seeing all of the stuff that is in the mind. And then we change it, we throw it out, we go divert it, we go do something else. And that the Buddha recommends that the thing to do is to do something that gladdens the mind, brightens the mind, having thoughts that are better. Let’s have some wholesome thoughts in this regard. Then we’re actually tying the Anapanasati Sutta with the Eightfold Noble Path. It’s funny, that one is 118, the Anapanasati Sutta, and the great 40 that actually discusses in detail the Eightfold Noble Path path. Guess what? That’s number 117. So you can take those as twin suttas. One hundred and seventeen is the eight full Noble Path and number. Excuse me, 117. And then 118 is the Anapanasati Sutta, which is practiced then for the fulfillment of the eight Pole Noble Path. And that fulfillment is called then the Sambhojana, where you have unremitting mindfulness, you keep doing it. You have unremitting investigation, you keep doing it. You have unremitting effort, you keep putting in the effort, and soon it becomes energetic. You have unremitting joy. You keep coming back to the joy over and over again. You keep coming back, then to the peacefulness, you keep coming back to the unification of mind. You’re not scattered anymore. But in fact, when you’re alone, you’re unified. When you’re there with your mind, with the girl that’s not there now, the mind is scattered. Me, her, me, her, me, her. And there’s always that selfishness that’s built into it, always that dissatisfaction. Oh, poor me, look what they did to me. Oh, they criticized me. Oh, they did this and that to me. So there is that duality. Let’s not have duality. Let’s have unification. And when the mind is unified, it’s easy enough just to let that stuff go, to throw it out. So the beginner has to throw it out in the beginning. It takes effort. But if you develop that skill, here’s an example of this would be in karate, that when the beginner starts off, his power is weak, he can punch you, and you hardly even know it. But if you’ve been practicing throwing punches over and over and over again, then they’re strong because you’ve been practicing. So you can practice that way. In fact, I’ll give you an old story that when I was a beginner, in fact I was already a green belt. So I’d been into it for about six months and we were learning to do arm blocks to go pow, like that. And that there happened to have been a student who had been in prison. And he got out of prison and he went to the Xinzai and he says, I want to start practicing again. And Xinzai says, okay, but you got to start over again as a white belt. And so by the time he had graduated, I mean, white belt this week, yellow belt next week, green belt the next week after that. And now I’m here and I’m practicing blocking with him. And it felt like that I was blocking a lead pipe or a two before. His arm was strong. Almost broke my poor little arm because his arm was so strong when I blocked him. Why? Because he had been practicing all of that time, all of those years, his arm was strong. Okay, so we’re practicing here also to make the mind strong. We have to practice over and over and over again of throwing those unhealthy, unwholesome thoughts out. And pretty soon you’ve got a mind that’s strong enough to do it. They’re gaining strength, you’re gaining skills by repetitive practice over and over and over again. So this is where we begin. We begin by brightening the mind grab gladdening the mind, giving the mind a little bit of strength over and over and over again. We begin to see that all of those thoughts that we have are just rotting away. The unwholesome thoughts we have is because we don’t like things changing. We want it to be the same all the time. We’re not willing to let it go yet. So that’s where the, the pain and discomfort comes in, is that she’s going to die, our relationship is going to die, the laptop is going to die. Everything is going to die. You’re going to croak. Are you ready for that? You’re going to die. Everything dies. Now, one of the ways that I would talk about it in is that if you lost a girlfriend, think about it in this regard. What if you had kept her and you had married her and now both of you were really, really. And you’ve been married for 75 years and then she dies, how are you going to feel about that? You had her for 75 years and now you’ve lost her. Wow, that would be pretty heavy duty. Maybe it’s better that you lose her the first year so you don’t have to cling so much. So this is the way that we practice we practice in the way of everything. You’re going to lose, you’re not going to be able to keep anything. So part of the practice is the practice of throwing it out, letting it go, burying the dead. Literally it’s dead. Take the effort that it takes, get your shovel out, throw that dead body in the dirt and cover it over. That’s what we mean by relinquishment. It’s not just a matter of letting it go, it’s a matter of burying the dead. We have to take the right noble effort to do that. And so this is the entire score of the Anapanasati Sutta. It’s the whole practice that leads one to, to the first Jhna over and over and over and over again so that you can begin to enjoy your life free from suffering then. In fact one of the ways of saying it is, is that in Sutta number 36 in the Maja Manikya the Buddha talks about it. It’s the story that’s quite famous. Remember this story by the name of the rose apple tree. When the Buddha was a teenager, he was actually able to do the first Jhna when he was still at his father’s home. They were doing a planting ceremony and he went and sit under a tree and chilled. So later, after he is out as a wanderer, he’s practicing on getting good at all four JHNAs. He was able to do stuff that people weren’t able to do. And he recognized that the four JHNAs did not give him the answer to the question of what he was looking for. Why? Because when he came out of the four JHNAs he was still miserable. So he then went to practice with the Jains and he practiced the austerities. Oh well, I’ve got to beat the poison out of myself self flagellation. The Buddha is actually quite good at starving himself. And he became thin and emaciated. In fact there’s still statues around of they call it the Starving Buddha. It wasn’t the Buddha who was starving, it was the Bodhisattva who was starving. It was Gautama who was starving. And then he woke up to the fact that he would be starving himself. He’s not got the effort or the energy to put in to become enlightened. And it was then that he reflected upon the rose apple tree and the episode and recognized for sure that the path to enlightenment, the method of enlightenment is the first Jhna, unremitting first Jhana. You keep coming back and coming back and coming Back to the first jhana, why the Westerners are all into high numbers. I mean, you know that the Wall street folks, the bosses, they want a high salary, they want a big number. And so that whole mentality of the west is getting a high score. We passed the test at a C. Why can’t we go through school with a C? That’s good enough. We graduated. Hot dog, I’m free. But oh, no, we want an A. We want an A plus, we want an outstanding. We want a high score. We want to take the SAT and make 1600. We really want these high numbers. And so when these folks that have all of that ordinary I want a big one comes in to Buddhism, they think that, oh, there’s four jhnas, let’s go get them all. Let’s go get those high numbers. In other words, what they’re doing is they’re not doing as the Buddha teaches, they’re doing what the Buddha did when he was screwing up. Wanting these high jhanas is not the path. But when someone becomes really skilled at the first jhana, the second jhna is easy enough to get. But 90% or more of the work is getting that first jhana and being able to establish it. And the path to doing that is laid out in the Eightfold Noble Path and the Anapanasati Sutta, to get the mind stable enough so that you can see what’s left in the bag. Just like Santa Claus, he looks in that bag and the first thing he finds is something big. He takes that out and he finds something almost as big, and he takes that out and he finds something else almost that big. And he takes it out. And pretty soon he’s looking for small stuff in there because that’s all that’s left in the bag. And pretty soon after that, he’s got the strength to turn that bag upside down and inside out and empty it completely. But we go for the big stuff first. That’s why it’s also effort. We have to take the right effort to throw that girlfriend out of the mind. She’s heavy, she’s fat, weighs 150 kilos heavy. So this is the way that we practice. We practice first with the heavy stuff because we can see it first. But as we take that out, there’s little things that we can do to take that out too, so that we’re no longer in a problematic state. But guess what? The first jhna is being able to get ourselves into that state of emptiness, to get ourselves into the state of right now, my Bag is empty. Yeah, it’ll get full again. But I’ll have the skills to empty it then too. So this is the Anapanasati sutta. I’ve touched all 16 points. There’s no reason to hassle with each one of them. But the key ones are going to be to look at what the mind is doing. Investigate the mind. Make sure that you can see that the kind of thoughts that you’re having are unwholesome. So that you can in fact throw them out. Gladden the mind. If you can gladden the mind over and over and over again and get satisfied, fairly soon you’ll hit one of those peaks. Wow. I can really do this. And that’s where the pity comes in. That’s part of the first Jhna. Later on we’re going to be able to have that sukha full time without having to be at that high point. We’re just. Everything is okay the way that it is, just in the state of satisfaction. So this is the way that we have it. We come to that steady state simply by practicing really liking what we’re doing, bringing on that satisfaction, gladdening the mind, brightening the mind over and over and over again. If you do that, then all of that stuff will come. All of that stuff will come. In fact, there’s a Bible verse about that. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things other than that will be okay. So this is how we would practice is Seek ye first. Having your mind cleaned out so that there’s no difficulties, there’s no problems, there’s no worries, there’s no flurries. Don’t worry, be happy. And if we can get ourselves into that state over and over and over and over and over and over again, then life’s a joy. You find out that it’s not about a bank account. It’s not about this or that or the other thing. It’s about can you keep bringing your mind back to a place to where everything is okay? Samantha, do you have any questions about this? You can probably hear me now. Go ahead. I don’t.

Speaker B: I don’t really have any questions earlier today.

Dhammarato: All right, so practice over and over again. Ivan, do you have any questions?

Speaker C: Oh yeah, just a quick one. Well, it’s less of a question. I just, you know, sometimes I find myself like, you know, maybe I caught some duka or whatever and then suddenly my mind goes to, oh, I need to meditate really strivingly for the next 20 minutes or 30 minutes. But I was thinking like that’s like the wrong effort. Right. That’s too much effort. There’s this, like, I’m not taking it light and easy, so that’s usually where I mess up.

Dhammarato: You use the word lightly. It always reminds me when I hear that word that it is said that the reason that angels can fly is because they take themselves so lightly. So if you take everything lightly, then you’re okay. You can fly. Nick, do you. Do you have anything to say?

Speaker B: No, nothing to say.

Dhammarato: How about you? Dama Das.

Speaker B: Oh, no, just chilling. Thank you.

Dhammarato: You’ve heard this before, I’m sure.

Speaker B: Good. Good to see you. Damadas. It’s been a while.

Dhammarato: Oh, you’re awesome.

Speaker B: Robert. Good to see everybody. Yeah. Great to see all of you.

Dhammarato: So, Paul, do you have anything to say? Once again, thanks a lot for the teachings.

Speaker C: Some really good things for me to work with there.

Dhammarato: Thank you. All right, we’ve got two Michaels. Michael Michener. How did. What you up to? Oh, let’s try the other. Michael. How about you, Michael? Michael Smith. We got somebody new called. Eat your vitals. Eat your. Eat your vitamins. What do you think?

Speaker B: I.

Dhammarato: That was quite technical, but I think I understand. Well, it’s something that needs to be gone over and over and over again when First. When people do their first algebra class, nobody understands. You got to keep after it and keep going. Yeah. Your first class at music school does not make you a virtuoso. You got to keep practicing, keep doing it over and over again. Yeah. Thank you. So, Lars, you have anything to say? Yeah, I know. I thought the thing about the girlfriend was sort of just an analogy, but I know that I had some challenges in my life with girlfriends, but I feel like I’m too old now for any of that, so life is too easy for me. I don’t know.

Speaker B: It’s just.

Dhammarato: I can’t believe that, you know, Funny, when we are four years old, we don’t seem to need women. And then hormones click in, and then the hormones. And then we get over that, too. I tried. I. I offered my girlfriend 120 if.

Speaker B: She was going to lose 10 pounds.

Dhammarato: And everybody thinks that was the worst thing they ever heard that anybody ever came up with. But that was a long time ago. Even though it doesn’t seem that long ago. All right, so it’s been a big crowd today. We’ve got 12 people on the call. Isn’t that marvelous? Michael, are you there yet? All right, Mikey, why don’t you take this thing home?

Speaker D: Yeah. Thank you, everyone, for being here today.

Dhammarato: Robert, go ahead.

Speaker D: You have something to say? Yes, I’m here.

Speaker B: Sorry, but I’m not here as well. Go ahead, Michael, and then I’ll go.

Speaker D: Okay. So, yeah, if you watch this, you know. Good to see you, too.

Speaker B: I’m at work.

Dhammarato: Hi. Good to see you guys.

Speaker B: I was just listening.

Dhammarato: Wow, a lot of people are talking all at once. Robert, go ahead.

Speaker B: Yeah, sure. Yeah. I just wanted to back you up on what you were saying about how you practice, practice, practice, and then it becomes effortless, and it’s not even practice anymore. It’s just living your life, you know? And I’ve been a friend and loyal student d’amarados for years. And I have to say, I’ve been practicing now for years to the point where a lot of this just feels like it is who I am. So, you know, I’ve had a very interesting legal situation in the last few years. Domorado knows a lot about it, and I was telling him the other night how it’s been so validating and wonderful how just me being myself when I go to deal with various officials here and there works so wonderfully. You know, I’ve been really pleased with the friendship I’ve been able to develop with many various people during my situation. And I said me being myself. The reason I use those words is because for so long now I’ve been practicing. Right speech. I’ve been practicing respect and kindness, you know, loving kindness, you know, meta. All these different things that just kind of. A lot of this stuff just feels like who I am now, I can’t deal with God knows who. I make friends with them really fast and they really want to help me. I’m not even trying. It’s not like I’m thinking, oh, I’m going to make friends. No, no, I’m just being me. I’m just being me. It’s like how I live now and years and years of doing this stuff, you know? And that’s why I say, like. Like, yes, we can use all the esoteric Buddhist language to talk about these things, which is very precise and technical and helpful. But if you do, just keep. The Eightfold Noble Path is like a North Star. Like, that’s your kind of goal, you know, for your end state. And you just kind of like. Like you’re lost in the woods, right? Imagine you’re lost star. You go, go to the North Star. Go to the North Star. You don’t even have to meditate, necessarily. But if you do that over and over and over again, walk to the North Star, the Eightfold Noble Path. Eventually, you just kind of are living that. You don’t even think about going to the North Star because that’s the way you walk. And it’s really lovely. And it’s not that complex. It’s not like that great of a thing. You just kind of realize it one day, oh, wow. I’m just being me. Not. I didn’t call Colorado and say, wow, I’ve been practicing. So great. No, this is. I’m getting these results. No, I said, wow, I was just me. And that’s going really well. And I love that. You know, eventually just becomes who you are. So that’s my little testimony there.

Dhammarato: All right. You mentioned something, Robert, about being lost in the woods. You know something? You can’t get lost in the woods. What you can do is say, I’m lost in the woods simply because I want to be someplace else, and I can’t find it. Wanting something that you can’t have is, in fact, being lost wherever you are. So if you are satisfied with where you are in the woods, then you’re not lost. Here you are. And that’s about what you’re saying. Yeah, here we are. This is it.

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, and that’s the thing, too. If you take that North Star and that Eightfold noble path you keep running with that, if you can find the North Star, you’re never going to be lost in the woods because you know where north is. Right. And that no Eightfold noble path can help you navigate any woods, any wilderness by not even feeling the need to navigate because you have the North Star. That Eightfold noble path can be your North Star. And may it be. May it be.

Dhammarato: Excellent. Excellent story. Good concept. The Eightfold noble path is the North Star. You follow that North Star. Keep following it. I know that we turn around and we go south for a while, but if we can remember that we can turn around and see that North Star, we can keep going in the right direction, and pretty soon we’re right there in the lap of Santa Claus.

Speaker B: Well, sometimes you can go so far south that you end up north.

Dhammarato: I don’t think that people can survive that trip, though.

Speaker B: I sure did.

Dhammarato: So, Michael, do you have something to say? You turn your mic on. Can you do it again?

Speaker B: I. I don’t have anything to say. I just wanted to say hello because you were. You were calling on me. So, hi.

Dhammarato: Yeah, I’ll call on you. Just like the Dama keeps calling on you.

Speaker B: Yes, it does.

Dhammarato: Okay, Mikey, take this thing.

Speaker D: All right. If you’re watching this on YouTube. Go ahead and check out the YouTube description for various links. To join our Sangha, first go to opensongafoundation.org Sign up for an account, make some friends, post some posts, check out the groups, and yeah, just play around with it. There’s all sorts of cool pages, resources, videos, books, etc. Maps, things like that. And also we have a somewhat new group called One on One Dhamma Calls. If you’re a seasoned practitioner, please feel free to join this group as well. If I haven’t already added, you and any newcomers and friends are all welcome to join our One on One Skype Dhamma Calls group. You can set up a One on one call there with another practitioner. And we encourage recording these calls so that you may watch them later for your benefit and for the benefit of others. So yeah. Thank you everyone for being here today. And thank you, Damarato, for going over the Anapanasati Sutta once again.

Dhammarato: My pleasure, as you can see. All right, well, thank you all so much for coming. It’s been a joyful day for me. I hope it’s been a joy, joyful day for you. It continues that way. All right, so folks, we’ll see you later.

Speaker C: Thank you. See you.

Speaker B: Ciao. Thanks for the nice guitar, Lars. Take care, everyone.

Summary of this Dhamma Talk

Dhammarato’s talk focuses on the Anapanasati Sutta (Mindfulness of Breathing), one of the most important suttas in the Pali Canon. He emphasizes that this sutta is not just about breathing but is a comprehensive method for practicing the Eightfold Noble Path and achieving Enlightenment. The talk is structured around the 16 steps of Anapanasati, which are grouped into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (body, feelings, mind, and phenomena). Dhammarato explains that the practice is not chronological but should be approached as things arise in the mind. He stresses the importance of relinquishment (letting go of unwholesome thoughts and feelings) and practice (repetition leading to mastery). The ultimate goal is to achieve the first Jhana (a state of deep meditative absorption), which is the foundation for further progress on the path.

Outline of this Dhamma Talk

**

1. Introduction to the Anapanasati Sutta

[0:07 - 1:05]

• Dhammarato introduces the Anapanasati Sutta as one of the most important suttas in the Pali Canon.

• He notes that it was taught late in the Buddha’s life and is unique because it consolidates teachings scattered across other suttas.

• The sutta is Majjhima Nikaya 118

2. Context of the Sutta

[1:05 - 3:36]

• The Buddha summoned a large group of monks for this teaching, indicating its importance.

• By this time, the Buddha had established a “university” with many teachers and students living together, similar to modern research institutions.

• The sutta is designed for fulfilling the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which in turn fulfill the Seven Factors of Enlightenment and the Eightfold Noble Path.

3. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness

[3:36 - 7:11]

• The Four Foundations are:

  1. Mindfulness of the Body (e.g., breathing).

  2. Mindfulness of Feelings (e.g., joy, dissatisfaction).

  3. Mindfulness of the Mind (e.g., investigating mental states).

  4. Mindfulness of Phenomena (e.g., observing impermanence).

• These foundations lead to the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, which fulfill the Eightfold Noble Path.

4. The Practice of Anapanasati

[7:11 - 11:09]

• The 16 steps of Anapanasati are not to be practiced in a fixed order but as things arise in the mind.

• The practice is about observation and relinquishment (letting go of unwholesome thoughts and feelings).

• Dhammarato emphasizes the importance of repetition and practice to develop mastery.

5. Relinquishment and Letting Go

[11:09 - 19:00]

• Relinquishment is an active process, not passive. It involves throwing out unwholesome thoughts and feelings, not just letting them go.

• Metaphor: If a bobcat is clawing at your arm, you don’t just let it go—you actively throw it off. Similarly, negative thoughts must be actively discarded.

• Story: A man loses his girlfriend and feels betrayed. Instead of feeding the thought “poor me,” he starves it by focusing on wholesome thoughts like “I’m better off without her.”

6. The Role of Practice and Repetition

[19:00 - 25:00]

• Practice leads to mastery, just as musicians or martial artists become skilled through repetition.

• Story: Arthur Rubenstein, a world-class pianist, said that if he missed one day of practice, he noticed; if he missed two days, his housekeeper noticed; and if he missed three days, his dog noticed.

• The same applies to meditation: consistent practice leads to effortless mastery.

7. The First Jhana and Enlightenment

[25:00 - 30:00]

• The first Jhana is the foundation for Enlightenment. It involves unremitting mindfulness, joy, and peace.

• Metaphor: Santa Claus emptying his bag of toys—first the big items, then the smaller ones, until the bag is completely empty. Similarly, we start by relinquishing the heaviest burdens in our minds.

• The first Jhana is not about achieving a high state but about stabilizing the mind and seeing clearly what needs to be relinquished.

8. The Eightfold Noble Path as the North Star

[30:00 - 35:00]

• The Eightfold Noble Path is like a North Star—it guides us through the “woods” of life.

• Metaphor: If you’re lost in the woods, you’re only lost because you want to be somewhere else. If you’re content with where you are, you’re not lost.

• By following the Eightfold Noble Path, we navigate life without feeling the need to “get somewhere.”

9. Q&A and Practical Applications

[35:00 - End]

• Dhammarato answers questions and provides practical advice:

  • Starving Unwholesome Thoughts: Don’t feed negative thoughts; replace them with wholesome ones.

  • Diversion: Engage in positive activities (e.g., walking the dog, learning a language) to divert the mind from unwholesome thoughts.

  • Gladdening the Mind: Focus on thoughts that bring joy and satisfaction.

Detailed Explanations of Stories, Metaphors, and Analogies

1. The Bobcat Clawing Your Arm

1. Context: Used to explain the active process of relinquishing unwholesome thoughts in meditation practice.

2. Literal Description: Imagine a bobcat is clawing at your arm, biting and scratching you. You wouldn’t just passively hold out your arm and hope the bobcat lets go. Instead, you’d actively throw it off to free yourself.

3. Deeper Meaning: The bobcat represents unwholesome thoughts or feelings (e.g., anger, jealousy, sadness). Actively throwing it off symbolizes the need to actively discard these thoughts, not just passively let them go.

4. Practical Application: When a negative thought arises, don’t just observe it passively. Actively replace it with a wholesome thought or redirect your attention. For example, if you’re feeling angry, think, “This anger is not helpful. I’m better off letting it go,” and then focus on something positive, like gratitude or kindness.

5. Clarifications: This metaphor emphasizes that relinquishment is an active process. It’s not enough to just “let go” in a passive way; you need to take action to free yourself from unwholesome mental states.

6. Connections: This metaphor ties into the broader teaching of Anapanasati (Mindfulness of Breathing) and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which involve observing and releasing mental burdens.

2. Santa Claus Emptying His Bag

1. Context: Used to explain the gradual process of relinquishing mental burdens in meditation practice.

2. Literal Description: Santa Claus has a bag full of toys. He reaches in, pulls out a toy, and sets it aside. He keeps doing this until the bag is empty.

3. Deeper Meaning: The bag represents the mind, and the toys represent mental burdens (e.g., worries, attachments, negative thoughts). Emptying the bag symbolizes the gradual process of letting go of these burdens.

4. Practical Application: Start with the heaviest burdens (e.g., major worries or grudges) and work your way down to smaller ones. Practice mindfulness to identify and release these burdens one by one.

5. Clarifications: This metaphor is not about materialism but about mental and emotional weight. It emphasizes that relinquishment is a gradual process, not something that happens all at once.

6. Connections: This metaphor ties into the broader teaching of Anapanasati and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which involve observing and releasing mental burdens.

3. Lost in the Woods

1. Context: Used to explain the importance of contentment and mindfulness in navigating life.

2. Literal Description: Imagine you’re lost in the woods. You feel lost because you want to be somewhere else—you’re not satisfied with where you are. But if you’re content with where you are, you’re not really lost.

3. Deeper Meaning: The woods represent life or the mind, which can feel confusing or overwhelming. Feeling lost comes from dissatisfaction—wanting something you don’t have or being somewhere you don’t want to be.

4. Practical Application: Instead of focusing on what you lack or where you want to be, focus on being present and content with where you are. For example, if you’re stuck in traffic, instead of feeling frustrated, use the time to practice mindfulness or enjoy the moment.

5. Clarifications: This metaphor highlights the importance of contentment and mindfulness. If you’re always chasing something else, you’ll feel lost. But if you’re satisfied with the present moment, you’ll feel at peace.

6. Connections: This metaphor ties into the broader teaching of the Eightfold Noble Path, which guides us through life’s challenges.

4. Arthur Rubenstein’s Practice

1. Context: Used to emphasize the importance of consistent practice in meditation and skill development.

2. Literal Description: Arthur Rubenstein, a world-class pianist, was asked in his 90s if he still practiced. He said, “If I miss one day of practice, I notice. If I miss two days, my housekeeper notices. If I miss three days, my dog notices.”

3. Deeper Meaning: Practice is essential for mastery, whether in music, meditation, or any skill.

4. Practical Application: Consistency is key. Even if you only meditate for a few minutes a day, do it regularly. Over time, it will become effortless and natural.

5. Clarifications: This story emphasizes the importance of repetition and consistency in meditation. Just as a musician must practice daily to maintain their skill, you must practice mindfulness regularly to develop mastery.

6. Connections: This story ties into the broader teaching of Anapanasati and the Eightfold Noble Path, which require consistent practice to achieve mastery.

How to Practice

• Practice Anapanasati Daily: Focus on mindfulness of breathing, but also observe feelings, mind states, and phenomena as they arise.

• Relinquish Unwholesome Thoughts: Actively discard negative thoughts and feelings rather than passively letting them go.

• Starve Negative Thoughts: Replace unwholesome thoughts with wholesome ones (e.g., “I’m better off without this”).

• Use Diversion: Engage in positive activities to divert the mind from negativity.

• Gladden the Mind: Focus on thoughts and activities that bring joy and satisfaction.

• Follow the Eightfold Noble Path: Use it as a guiding principle in daily life.

• Practice Repetition: Consistent practice leads to mastery, whether in meditation, music, or martial arts.

• Aim for the First Jhana: Stabilize the mind through mindfulness and joy, which is the foundation for further progress.

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