You want a ghost story?
That was a dark and stormy afternoon
and this English girl was visiting,
sorry this Australian girl was
visiting England
You know that one already?
Okay here's another one then.
There was a friend of mine
years ago
and he bought a nice
townhouse in London
three or four stories
and he bought it very very cheaply
Why?
And the agent was pretty honest with him
he said people thought
there was a ghost in the house
these old English houses
there are lots of ghosts
He said "really" okay. but he doesn't
believe in ghosts: "I will take it anyway"
So the very first night when he
got his new house
and his furniture was coming
the following morning
so he got a camp bed and slept
on the ground floor
In the middle of the night
he was woken up
wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap
he thought what was that
He thought he just imagined it
so he turned over and tried
to sleep again and he heard again
wrap wrap wrap wrap
So he got out of bed,
he checked all the windows
they were all closed
the doors were closed
there were no mice,
it was a very well kept house,
there was no logical explanation
for anything making the noise
in that room.
So he thought, it's just
imagination.
He turned around to go back to bed
and he heard it much louder this time
"wrap wrap, wrap wrap" it's coming
from upstairs - second storey.
So he went upstairs, turned on the light,
looked everywhere for any scientific
cause for that sound.
He couldn't find anything.
He was getting a little bit concerned
by this time
but you know just giving up:
imagination can play tricks on you.
Then he heard it coming from the
top floor really loud
"wrap wrap wrap wrap".
So he went up to the top floor,
turned on the lights,
he was shaking a bit now,
Doesn't matter; people say they are not
afraid but when supernatural things happen
you actually do get a bit scared.
He checked everything in that
third story but couldn't find any
logical reason for anything
making that noise.
He was about to go downstairs
and he heard it loud as ever
"wrap wrap.." coming from the attic.
He didn't have any lights in the attic
so he quickly went down to get his flashlight
and there was a little ladder that you can
go to get up into the attic.
He climbed up the ladder and he
shone the flashlight in the attic:
it was full of rubbish, cobwebs
and dust like attics are,
and he turned around trying to
find the source of this noise
and then suddenly he heard
it right behind him,
loud as ever "Wrap Wrap Wrap Wrap".
He turned around and he saw it
he saw with the flashlight.
It was an old piece of
wrapping paper!
That's a terrible joke:
wrapping paper
goes "wrap wrap"
[Ajahn Laughs]
That's going online
overseas, has it ?
My goodness I do apologize.
People made me do that,
that's not my fault.
Okay there is another 1 or 2 minutes
before we start.
I lost the monk somewhere
anywhere I am sure he will find me.
Clock says it's 3 o'clock
so we may actually start now.
So let's start with the Namo Thassa.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Buddham, Dhammam, Sangham namassami.
Very Good.
So as you all know by now
this is the fortnightly Sutta Class
second and fourth Sundays of the month
outside the Rains Retreat
one of the senior monks takes
a Sutta and discusses it.
But instead of doing the Suttas
most of which we have done before
and are available on the internet
I am using the opportunity to read out a
re-translation of the "Word of the Buddha".
This was a document which was first
printed in German.
I did some research recently;
in 1906 in German,
translated into English in 1907.
So the translation does need
to be updated,
updated for several reasons,
first of all some of the words,
the language, is a bit outdated,
stilted, and makes it hard to understand.
Also that some of the translations
we can do much better
than the first attempt at translating
Pali words into English;
and thirdly, it's something which
I learnt from when I learned Pali
from Professor A.K. Warder
who is another Cambridge guy,
because of it he must be okay.
He taught me; you do not
translate word by word,
you translate phrase by phrase
or sentence by sentence
because the unit of language
is a phrase, it's not a word.
So words only have meaning
in the context of what goes before
and what goes after them.
So we never should translate,
(but many people do)
word for word:
should be sentence for sentence,
or phrase by phrase,
and that's what I have
attempted to do here.
So it's a different translation
than you had before.
So far I have got reasonably
good feedback:
that people find it much more
easy to understand.
It takes away much of the repetition
which you find if you read
the existing translations
and it makes it a little bit
more powerful
because you are not distracted by
things like repetition,
you are not sort-of distracted by
words meaning is a bit weird and strange.
We try and use ordinary words
which are common in 2017.
So that's the reason I am doing this.
I should mention to anyone coming
for the first time
that this is based on the Buddha's
teachings from the Suttas.
It's an Anthology where we take
this Sutta or part of this Sutta
and part of another Sutta and we string
that together along a theme
and the theme is the
Four Nobles Truths.
And with the Four Nobles Truths
we also have the last of those
Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path
and this is where we are right now.
We're just, almost, completing
the first of the Eightfold Path
called Right View.
And Right View is many many things
but here we get to that part of
Right View
that if one really penetrates
the Right View
and here is actually
what they say there
Diṭṭhipatho -- diṭṭhi means the right view
'Patho' means achieved (right view).
If you are one who has achieved
right view
then that's a simile for being
a Stream-Winner.
So this is no small thing,
it's the view when it gets corrected
which makes the person
a Sowan a Stream-Winner.
So this is where we are
at the moment.
The Sotāpanna or Stream-Winner.
This is from Majjhima Nikāya 22.
I give the references so anyone can
go and check-up the other
translations which you may find in
books by Bhikkhu Bodhi which is
much more academic
or you can even better learn some Pali and
look it up in the original, which is the best.
"When you contemplate in this way,"
(and what we were doing before
the contemplating no-self)
"when you are contemplating in this way
three fetters are abandoned in you"
And the word fetter it's what a
policeman would put on you
like handcuff, balls and chains,
it means something which stops
moving, which stops you being free.
"three fetters are abandoned in you:
a view of a permanent essence"
(otherwise known as a soul
but to make it more accurate an essence,
an essence of this body and mind
which you take to be you, which is
permanent, which goes from life to life,
that's a view which is abandoned
at Stream-winning: a permanent essence.
"...skeptical doubt and belief that rites
and rituals are sufficient in themselves
to reach enlightenment. Those who
have abandoned three fetters are all
stream-enterers, no longer subject
to rebirth in a lower realm
and headed for full enlightenment."
So the view of a permanent essence is the
core of those wrong views which are overcome.
The skeptical doubt: all skeptical doubt can
only be overcome with direct experience.
So this is not something you just
believe that there is no self,
just like you may believe in
like a Jesus or Allah or something.
This is actually a direct experience
which means all skeptical doubt,
all doubt, is totally abolished.
And it has to be a strong experience,
not just a little understanding.
This is an experience which has to come
when in the Buddhist way
of looking at things
five hindrances which are what
stops and blocks wisdom arising,
when those five hindrances are overcome,
when the five hindrances,
they call them hindrances:
it's a good word.
What are they hindering: wisdom
They block it.
It's like looking through a mist:
you are not being able to see clearly.
So those hindrances, it's the purpose of deep
meditation to overcome those, so you can see clearly.
Then of course once it's seen clearly
with pre or post Jhana mind
then no skeptical doubt left at all.
That's a very powerful experience.
And also the belief that
rites and rituals are
sufficient in themselves to
reach enlightenment,
it may seem why do we have that
as a fetter or a wrong view
when most people in the Western World
we don't really do much
of rites and rituals
but still there are many many
people even alive today
who still believe that by doing chanting
or by doing this ritual or that rite
that you can actually say you are
a stream-winner or whatever.
And of course it's not a something
to be gained by rites or rituals
like say a marriage or like...
what's another rite and ritual..
marriage is the best one.
This is something which is
beyond rites and rituals,
it's something which comes
from deep meditations.
So these are the three things
which are abandoned
and the most important one of them is the
view of a permanent essence: a soul.
And those who abandon these three
fetters are all Stream-enterers,
no longer subject to rebirth in a lower realm
which means you are never going to be
reborn as an animal, as a hungry ghost
which goes "wrap wrap"
in the middle of the night,
never reborn in any hell realm.
Even though one may have bad kamma
just like in the time of the Buddha
there was this gentleman called Angulimala,
a serial killer and he managed to avoid being
reborn in lower realms as a result of his murdering,
and of course it really needs us to
actually inquire the question why
why is like kamma which is such an
important part of Buddhism,
you know if you do bad things
you have to pay the consequences,
why is it for stream-winners
they get out of jail free: why?
And I have mentioned this in
many of the talks before,
it's because, this is not here
this is Ajahn Brahm
when you have a sense of self
you haven't seen non-self,
then you will always have guilt
it's very hard to
forgive yourself
when you think there is a self there.
So forgiveness, it's actually based
on an identity
Sorry, not forgiveness, guilt, sorry.
Guilt is based on your very deep belief
that there is an identity there,
a being continuous from that time:
you did that deed till now
which needs to be punished.
This is one of the wonderful
things about Buddhism,
I have said this many times:
we don't have punishment
because the Buddha saw non-self.
There is no need to punish yourself now
for something you did a long time ago.
There is no need but we still do it
because we haven't penetrated non-self.
Once you see this truth,
that there is no permanent essence
within you
then that makes it very easy
to let go of the past.
It's not your past; even though someone
by your name perpetrated that bad deed.
It overcomes guilt
and once guilt is let go of
(in other words real true forgiveness
of yourself)
then there is no reason to send yourself
to any lower realm.
And for those people who say
lower realms, hells and heavens,
these are the same as other old
Abrahamic religions is it just a myth,
when we understand
what these places are
you understand why they
are not a myth at all:
you create your heavens and hells
they are not some place waiting
for you like Bali or like London
you just travel there
and there it is.
You create these places,
these are mind-made realms
and once you understand
the power of this mind
with lots of meditation you understand
how these realms are created,
created to suit you
however much you want to be punished.
That's how much you create the pain
of that realm: you do it yourself.
Whatever you think you
need to be rewarded for,
you think you have been
a good person,
that's how you create your
heaven accordingly.
So that's why rebirth in a lower realm
is shut out for you,
you don't need that anymore.
And headed for full enlightenment.
In how many lifetimes do you
have after you become a stream-winner,
Nicholas you are banned from answering
this question because you know the answer,
some people say seven
some people say six.
Put your hand up for
seven more lifetimes.
Put your hand up for
six more lifetimes.
All the ones for six more lifetimes
you have listened to me before
because in Buddhism this
lifetime is number one,
so six more as well as this one.
Just the same way that many of you
who are Asian or know Asian friends:
I was born in 1951 in August so I am now
65 years and a half in sort-of Australia
but in Asia I am 66.
This is my 66th year.
It's one of the reasons why
in Asia you can retire one year earlier
drive a car one year earlier,
go to the pub one year earlier - no you can't do that,
they count earlier: as soon as
you are born you are one.
So this is the same here,
the way of counting means
this is one life, you have six more
lives after this; at most. Maximum.
Now sometimes people ask
what if you are a stream-winner
you only got this life plus six more, what
happens if you decide out of compassion
to actually not to have six more
lives but have six hundred lives.
What if you want to be
Bodhisattva?
Put off your Enlightenment from here
on in so that you can teach other people.
Any comments? Yes Ananda.
(comment not audible)
Exactly you can't; there is no one
in there to make the choice.
This is an automatic process.
You can't delay it, you can't rush it,
you can't do anything.
It's just the same as if I am
going to Canberra tomorrow morning.
If when I am going to Canberra,
I usually travel Virgin Airlines
because Virgin is the appropriate
airline for a monk,
So when I am travelling,
suppose I ask the pilot and say:
look I always wanted to see
asphalt from the air can you please
sweeping down pass the asphalt
just go round a few times just for me.
Would they do that? Of course not
because he has got a schedule,
he has to go to Canberra,
he can't just stop just for me.
So this is the same as trying to
put off your enlightenment
at that particular time, once
you are a stream-winner; it's too late.
You can't put off anything anymore.
Your sense of self is gone.
You can't control, it's too late.
Whether you like it or not
six more lifetimes at most.
Now we have, I very rarely do this
because I want to have this
as the Word of the Buddha
but Bhikkhu Bodhi did an
excellent commentary
trying to bring everything together
on the Noble Ones and the 10 fetters.
So I'm going to read that out now.
"On entering the irreversible path
to attainment of Nibbāna,
That's what I said irreversible,
once you are on that path that's it.
You are on the bus,
it doesn't do a U-turn.
On entering the irreversible path
to the attainment of Nibbāna,
one becomes a noble person
called ariyapuggala
Ariya means a noble one
puggala means a person
I do know that in Nazi Germany
they started to take that word Ariyan
and give it meanings which it
didn't really deserve
they even took the swastika, turned it
the other ways around
and used that as their symbol.
So sometimes when you
use the word Ariya
sometimes people say
hey what you are talking about
But Ariya is a very old word
means a noble person
and in this particular
case it refers to a person
who is stream-winner or above.
the word “noble ariya" here
denoting spiritual nobility.
and just to make sure you understand
why we never tell anybody,
it's against our monastic rules
to tell anybody who is a
stream-winner, who is a once-returner
non-returner or Arahant
Many times you ask me that,
I usually say no,
I can't tell you
it's kept a secret,
the reason why is because we
don't want to split the Sangha
into the two classes
High class; these are the stream-winners
non returners
and the riff raff
And the story is, because honestly
if you all know which monk
in Bodhinyana Monastery and Nuns
which was an Arahant
which was the stream-winner
which was this riff raff
suppose one of the riff raff monks
was coming to give the talk
I am not going to listen to him
he is only riff raff
Not only that
My first year in Thailand
very bad food
one morning a big Ute came
a pick-up truck
In the back was full of pots
and pans you could smell it
from the refectory; delicious
food they were bringing that day.
And I could see it through the
window and I thought
Wow today I am going to get a nice meal
We only had one meal a day
just one chance
And the driver came out and
went into the halls
those days 42 years ago may be
only 50 monks 60 monks there
including Ajahn Chah
came in and said
'Is Ajahn Chah here today'
he wasn't, he was in somebody's house
doing a blessing
He is not here today? and I said 'no'
Then he got in the car
and drove away
He never gave us any of that food
When you are only 23 really hungry
that hurts
And it was just because
they never thought
young monks, you don't get much merits
for that food.
Ajahn Chah he gets much more merit.
They invest in places where
they get greater returns
That's actually true and that's
why we never say
There is also the old joke;
if we did say splitting up the two monks;
two types of monks
the ordinary monks and the
nobility
it would create not the Ariyastocracy
not the Aristocracy, the Ariyastocracy
you know the big shots
so we don't do that, we try and keep
everybody equal, everyone respected
Also please do that with yourself
as lay people
Don't go around telling other
people 'I am a stream-winner'
Ah! that's nothing, I was a
stream-winner two years ago
I am a once-returner
Once-returner; that's nothing
I am a non-returner
that's nothing I am an
Arahant
that's nothing, I got psychic powers
that's noting
Don't get into that spiritual pride
So anyway
So we always keep it quite
it's not an attainment
your ego, your sense of self
is supposed to be diminishing
not increasing
you are seeing non-self
not something you are proud of
So on entering the irreversible path
to the attainment of Nibbāna,
one becomes a noble person (ariyapuggala),
the word “noble” (ariya) here
denoting spiritual nobility.
There are four major types of
noble persons.
and each stage is
divided into two phases:
the path and its fruition.
In the path phase,
one is said to be practicing
for the attainment of a
particular fruition,
which one is bound to
realize within that same life;
in the resultant phase, one is said
to be established in that fruition.
Thus the four major types of
noble persons
actually comprise four pairs
or eight types of noble individuals.
As enumerated these are:
one practicing for the realization
of the fruit of stream-entry
and the stream-enterer,
one practicing for the realization
of the fruit of once-returning
and the once-returner
one practicing for the realization
of the fruit of non-returning,
and the non-returner
one practicing for arahantship,
and the Arahant (fully enlightened)
The first seven persons are
collectively known as sekhas
or trainees or
disciples in the higher training;
only the arahant is called
the asekha, the one beyond training.
The reason why we say that
is because
any of you who do the
standard chanting
Ithipiso Bagawa
when you get to the third
quality of the Sangha
Supatipanno Bhagavato sāvakasangho
it goes on to
Esa Bhagavato sāvakasangho
what was it then
cattāri purisa yugāni
Attha purisa puggalā
the four people,
the eight pairs
no; the four pairs
the eight people
this is where that comes from
four pairs is the
and the eight people
Stream-winner, Once-returner
Non-returner, Arahant
then divided into pairs
the one on the path and then got to the goal.
The four main stages themselves
are defined in two ways:
by way of the defilements
eradicated by the path leading
to the corresponding fruit;
and by way of the destiny
after death that awaits one
who has realized that particular fruit.
In other words
by what's been abandoned: and what's
going to happen to you after you die.
So the Stream-enterer abandons the
first three fetters
the view of a soul that's, the view of a
truly existent permanent essence
either as identical with the
five components of existence
that's the five Khandas
or as existing in some relation
to the five Khandas
So basically no where can you
find a sense of a self
a permanent essence either
identical with the five Khandas
or existing in some relationship to them.
doubt about the Buddha, the Dhamma,
and the Saṅgha, and the training;
and the wrong grasp of rules and
observances that's the belief that
mere external observances,
particularly religious rituals
and ascetic practices,
can lead to liberation.
And the example of that
from the Suttas is the Buddha
once met;
this is in the Dheega Nikaya
I haven't mentioned
it here
Once mentioned these two
ascetics in India
one was a cow ascetic and
one was a dog ascetic
And the cow ascetic went
around on all fours,
ate grass, slept with cows
and went moo
and the dog ascetic
acted like a dog
and they came up to the Buddha
they were actually quite good friends
these are human beings,
if you ever been to India
and you see some of the stuff
which goes on there
maybe you can
actually believe that
And they asked the Buddha
'what happens, we were told that this;
a very hard thing to do,
imagine the endurance you need
to do that, survive
and they said 'what would happen
to us after we die'
'Are we going to be Arahants?'
because we are giving up so much
And the Buddha said
please don't ask me
when they pressed him, He said
Well if you act like that
then after death you will be reborn
as a dog and you be reborn as a cow.
He didn't like to give that answer at all.
But people actually do those
rites and rituals thinking that
by such practices, they are
going to get somewhere.
And the Stream-enterer
that's what they give up
the destination is assured of
attaining full Enlightenment
at least in a six more existences
which would take place either
in the human realm or the heavenly realms
The stream-enterer will never undergo
an eighth existence
the present existence is counted as the first
and is forever freed from
rebirth in the three lower realms
the hells, the realm of afflicted with
spirits (ghosts), and the animal realm.
Remember this is Bhikkhu Bodhi
The once-returner does not
eradicate any new fetters.
He or she has eliminated the three
fetters that the stream-enterer
has destroyed, and additionally
weakens the
three unwholesome roots—
wanting, aversion, and delusion.
So these wanting and the will-ill
(aversion) they have been weakened
but not fully abandoned yet.
so that they do not arise often
and, when they do arise,
do not become obsessive.
As the name implies, the once-returner
will come back to this world
only one more time and
then make an end to suffering.
The non-returner eradicates
the five 'basic fetters'.
I call them basic fetters because this is
the base by which we keep getting reborn.
that's, in addition to the three fetters
eliminated by the stream-enterer,
the non-returner eradicates two
additional fetters,
the desire for the five senses,
and anything to do with the five senses
that's wanting to do with seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting and touching
are totally abandoned.
and aversion.
Because non-returners have eradicated
desire for the five sense world,
they have no ties binding
them to this world.
Thus they take birth in the 'pure abodes'
(suddhāvāsa) only for non-returners.
Another mind-made realm.
That's all they got left; the mind.
They attain final Nibbāna there,
without ever returning to rebirth in
the worlds of the five senses.
The non-returner, however, is still
bound by the five 'higher fetters':
attachment to Jhāna, and here I
always say okay I admit that you can be
attached jhānas but it only means
you can't make that last step
from non-returner to an Arahant yet.
So it's one of those attachments
which is not really worth talking about
at this stage.
Later on when you become a
non-returner then we can talk about that.
But be attached to the jhāna till
you get there first.
and attachment to the
immaterial attainments,
which are based on the jhānas
And now we have the conceit
The conceit here is a Pali word
is a conception
it's not the same as the idea of
conceit we have in English
It's the thought or perception
‘I am’ sometimes arises:
I am better; I am worse; I am the same
Now we are going to later on
we have an example of that
which I put in here of what this
really means
but we will come on to that later.
Restlessness and deluded
thoughts or perceptions.
Your views have been straightened out
These are thoughts of perception
which are basically old habits
based on the views you had had
a long time ago.
Those who cut off the five higher fetters
have no more ties binding
them to existence.
These are the Arahants,
who have destroyed all defilements
and are completely liberated
through final knowledge.
Now I put this one in because
having said attachment to Jhāna is bad
only in one particular context; you know
stops you going from that last step
from being a non-returner to
full enlightenment; but
it also has its advantages.
And this is the Jhāna anāgāmī
Jhānānāgāmī
This is; three is a shortcut
Between being a stream-winner and
going to Enlightenment
and this is it.
This is from the Anguttara
“Just as, in the autumn,
when the sky is clear and cloudless,
the sun, ascending in the sky,
dispels all darkness from space as
it shines and beams and radiates,
so too, when the dust-free,
stainless Dhamma-eye arises in you,
then, with the arising of vision,
you abandon three fetters
the view of a permanent essence,
doubt, and wrong grasp of
behaviour and observances.
There the Buddha being a bit poetic
Afterwards, when you restrain two states,
wanting and aversion,
then, totally secluded from the
five senses,
secluded from the five hindrances,
you enter and dwell for a while
in the first jhāna,
which consists of rapture and pleasure
born of freedom from the five senses,
accompanied by movements of the
mind onto the bliss and holding the bliss.
that's you enter First Jhana
This is the important part
If you should pass away while
thus in Jhāna,
there’s no fetter bound by which
you might ever return to this world.
Bhikkhu Bodhi's commentary
This phrase normally denotes
the attainment of non-returning.
The commentary, however,
identifies this disciple
as a “Jhāna non-returner”
a Jhānānāgāmī.
that's, a stream-enterer or
once-returner who also attains Jhāna.
Though such a practitioner
has not yet eliminated the two fetters
of sensual desire and aversion,
by attaining Jhāna he or she is
bound to be reborn in the Jhāna realm
and attain Nibbāna there,
without taking another
rebirth in the sense sphere.
So in other words if you are a
stream-winner and you get into the Jhanas
There is another Sutta which says
just do Jhanas often or you die in a Jhana
then you get promoted to be
Anāgāmī
In that Jhana Realm which you
continue on after your death
then when that fades away
so do you.
That's it. You Nibbāna from the
Jhana realm
That's is pretty cool.
So it makes us
once you get to see non-self
and do lots of Jhana
then basically that's it.
You die ..... how many aeons in the
Jhana realms
blissing out
and then when it fades away
you fade away too.
Nibbāna from there.
The Jhānānāgāmī.
Why that happens again is
because
there is nothing to come
back to
No ties, you are letting go so much
when the Jhana disappears
so do you.
And now, what it feels like to be
a non-returner
They have seen there is no self
But it's said on the top here
that they still have this conceit
sometimes,
'I am' based on old habitual
thoughts or perceptions
Fortunately there is a nice Sutta
of this monk called Khemaka
who was an ānāgāmī a non-returner
and monks asked him basically
what it's like to be a non-returner
Why you got so far why can't
you go the last step
to become fully-enlightened
And this is what the simile the
Buddha uses
which I did adapt but basically
keeping the essence
this is called the scent of
I am
The scent of I am
So this is the monks talking to
one of their friends, Venerable Khamaka
“Friend Khemaka, when
you speak of this ‘I am’ …
what is it that you speak of as ‘I am’?”
He replies: “Friends,
I do not speak of form (that's rupa) as ‘I am,’
nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form.
I do not speak of experience (vedanā)
as ‘I am’ …
nor of perception as ‘I am’ …
nor of volition as ‘I am’ …
nor of consciousnesses as ‘I am,’
nor do I speak of ‘I am’
apart from consciousnesses.
Not in the five Khandas,
not outside of them
Friends, although the thought ‘I am’
has not yet vanished in me
in relation to these
five components of existence,
still I do not regard anything
among them as ‘This I am.’
And he gives a simile
“Suppose, friends,
there is a scent of a lotus.
Would you be speaking rightly
if you were to say,
‘the scent belongs to the petals,’
or ‘the scent belongs to the stalk,’
or ‘the scent belongs to the pistils’?”
“No.”
“And how, friends, should you answer
if you were to answer rightly?”
“You should answer:
‘The scent belongs to the flower.’
“So too, friends,
I do not speak of form as ‘I am,’
nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form.
I do not speak of experience, perception,
will or consciousnesses as "I am"
nor do I speak of ‘I am’
apart from consciousnesses.
Friends, although the thought
‘I am’ has not yet vanished in me
in relation to these five
components of existence,
still I do not regard anything
among them as ‘This I am.’
"Friends... (got another simile which is
better but down below)
“Friends, even though a noble disciple
has abandoned the five basic fetters,
still, in relation to the five
components of existence, the Khandas
there lingers in them
a residual thought ‘I am,’
a desire ‘I am,’
an underlying tendency ‘I am’
that has not yet been uprooted.
“Sometime later they grow contemplating
dependency on causes
of the five components of existence--
‘Such is form (body), such its origin,
such its passing away;
such is experience,
such is perception
such is will
such are the six consciousnesses
such their origin,
such is their passing away.
As they dwell contemplating dependency on
causes of the five components of existence,
the residual thought ‘I am,’
the desire ‘I am,’
the underlying tendency ‘I am’
that had not yet been uprooted—
this comes to be uprooted.
And this is the killer simile
which I adapted
“Suppose you washed a cloth
in a washing machine,
rinsed, and spun it,
and then put it in a drier.
Although that cloth would be clean,
still it might retain the residual
smell of the soap powder.
Then you would hang it
out in the sun to air, and
after a while, the residual smell
of the soap powder would vanish.”
In the original simile
if you read if
the washer women,
take it to the river
and they bang it
with lye or cow dung
That's how they used to wash
in those days
and after washing it, it will still
have the smell of the lye
or the cow dung
With a simile like that
what happens is people just
the whole meaning of the simile
is overwhelmed by the weird way
people used to wash cloths in those days.
This is how we are washing
these days.
and still keeps the essence of the simile
You all have done that, washing
something in the washing machine
and after it got the smell
of the soap powder
That's like you have washed away
most of the defilements
still got the smell of
'I am' there
That's the non-returner
“So too, friends, even though a noble
disciple has abandoned
the five lower fetters,
washed clean
still, in relation to the five Khandas
there lingers in them
a residual thought ‘I am,
the desire ‘I am,’
an underlying
tendency ‘I am’
that has not yet been uprooted.
But as you dwell contemplating
dependency on causes
of the five components of existence,
the residual thought ‘I am,
’ the desire ‘I am,’
the underlying tendency to ‘I am’
that had not yet been uprooted
this comes to be uprooted.
So what had happened there
is the habitual tendencies
The other simile which I was
talking about
because I have seen this
many times
people say smokers
smoke cigarettes
they know it's bad for your health
they got right view of the
danger of cigarettes
But they can't really get rid of
it yet
so it takes them awhile
until the view actually starts to
penetrate into their behaviour
the way they perceive
and think totally
otherwise sometimes there is
some lingering desire for cigarettes
But after the view how dangerous and
yucky it's to really penetrate into them
then there is no way they are going
to take a cigarette anymore.
They have abandoned it.
So once you get your views straight
you have understood something
Alcohol is bad for you or
whatever
it doesn't mean straight away you
are going to give up sort-of the
bad habits.
they linger awhile until the
new view, the correct view becomes
so strong, it actually washes away
even the old sense or the smell
of the old views.
the old habits.
I hope that's clear because it's
a very important point there.
So I am going to pause for a moment
to see whether there are any questions
on what we have done so far on the
stages of Enlightenment.
yes
Question--... the stream-enterer cannot be
reborn in a lower form, even if they have
murdered somebody in a past life. Because
they have given up the view of self
But presumably they wouldn't kill
anyone again.
Ajahn--Indeed because one as a
stream-winner
this was a question.... who asked me this
sometime ago ... I think it was actually
Bhante G.
He was trying to test me out
And he asked me; he said stream
winner can they break the five precepts
And the answer was Yes.
But they know straight away
what they have done
so they can't hide it.
They can't sort-of just no no no
no no no
So they still got bad habits
from the past
So those bad habits from the past
It's like you have seen something,
you have seen that smoking or drinking
alcohol is not good for me
but it doesn't mean they
have given up straight away.
It takes a time for you to
train your perceptions and thoughts
Question-So it has to be that realization
that there is no self
that kind of drains the life
out of any kind of misbehaviour
Ajahn It drains the life out of it
but like anything
if you are draining a tank it
takes a little while for
all the water to come out.
And at the very very end
there is a little bit of water left
So if we are cleaning a water tank
at Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine
yes that's what you have to do
drain the first water
takes those big water tanks sometimes
it takes a day to drain it out.
Then you go in there with a sponge
to get that last little bit of water
with the dirt in it out.
So that's a nice simile.
Draining it out. Good
Question-Ajahn with the Jhānānāgāmī
is that a person doing the all four Jhānās
or have to be in Arupa-Jhānā
when they die
to actually go to that Jhānā realm
rather than a Deva realm
Ajahn-It has to be .. actually any Jhānā
would work
but obviously the deeper the Jhānā
faster it would be
the more letting go there is
So any Jhānā. it's an really amazing thing
once you understand what the
Jhānās are you can say
wow that's a very very good point.
Because in the Jhānās; basically
in the Jhānās there is no sense of self
you can't actually feel or see
you are gone
so one of the reasons why
I think I mentioned this to
monks a few weeks ago
that in history there were two
people, two Catholic monk or a nun
when I read that it looked like they
have attained the first Jhānā
That was Theresa of Avila
who used to levitate
and St. John on the Cross
Just reading some of what they
have said it's very hard
because of the translation
in English
don't know what they really
meant to say but
there was an indication they
may have got into the Jhānās
But one of the reasons why
they would get into First Jhānā
is because of their methodology;
they believe in total surrender
to their God.
And that was 100% surrender
not keeping anything back for them.
They were surrendering their will
their choice, they were letting-go
because of the belief -
God take over
That you can see that type of
letting go
I can understand how that would
get a person into the First Jhānā
But of course the view they had
afterwards, Jhānā would not be enough
to break through that view.
Which they didn't have any other
alternative for that
but I can see just how that degree of
letting go would go into that
so when you are in that Jhānā state
no self of an independent self
They would experience that as an
union with God.
They are gone, totally.
So you could understand in the Jhānās
there is no sense of me left
That's why you can't get into
those states by doing stuff
that's too much of an ego,
too much of me, doing stuff
They are literally stages of
letting go of doing, will
that's why they are so still.
And the me which creates all
that willing.
So that's why in such a state
Yes you haven't totally abandoned
desire and ill will
but you have suppressed it
so much
that when you come out afterwards
basically there is nothing
really to get you reborn.
That makes any sense?
Anything else?
Question-So really because doing stuff
really just enhances your sense of self ?
Ajahn--correct
Question--so that's why
it doesn't work.
Ajahn-Exactly, Thank you
I have been trying to bang
at that point for 30 years
Yes behind you
Question-so if the mind punishes
itself for things it has done
you get reborn in the lower
realms and same for the higher realms
but what if you want to be
reborn as a human?
Ajahn - As a human, yeah if you
want to be reborn as a human
and you have enough kamma
to be reborn as a human
that's where you end up doing
The simile is; say you want to
go to Bangladesh, Dhaka
you need to have two reasons
to end up in Bangladesh
number one you want to go there
number two you got the money and the visa
if you got those two things
then you end up there.
If you don't want to go there
you may have the money and the visa
but you don't want to go there
of course you don't end up there.
You want to go there but you
can't afford it
you don't end up there.
So the wanting and the kamic
wherewithal
those two come together and
that means you get reborn there
okay
So you got another one ok
Questions--I suppose you have to
delete the sense of achievement as well
Ajahn--Exactly, these are not .
Ajahn Chah kept on saying this so many times
we meditate to let go
not to attain
not achieving things but to
abandon things
that's why anyone who understands
this stuff never think it's an achievement
I am a stream-winner, look at me
I am a stream-winner
I am much better than you riff-raff
that's called spiritual materialism
which is very gross
and know why people do that ..
because they don't really understand
what's going on
These are stages of letting go
of disappearing
Thank you Ajahn Brahmali because that book
the Art of Disappearing which is one of my favourites
some of my talks in there
he chose the title
The Art of Disappearing, I thought wow
that's a brilliant title
because that's what meditation
that's what the path is--disappearing
vanishing
that's why when I wrote the introduction
to that preface
I said all about there
this is about losing things not
about gaining things
not attainments
So at the very end I said
May you all get lost!
(Ajahn Laughs) and that was a
compliment
I thought that the people publishing it
wouldn't get it
but they got it straight away
they said 'yeah, this is great'
So they didn't delete it
So that's my wish for each one of you
May you all get lost
May you all be losers
Spiritual losers, not gainers
It using words in a different way
which makes it funny
okay so we go to
Free from All Speculative Views
So we are still on Right View ok
so this is why we are on these stuff
Then does the Buddha hold
any speculative belief at all?
Speculative belief is stuff like
the aliens have you ever seen an alien
you can speculate,
well the universe is so big
there must be some somewhere
May be they are siting among us
who knows?
So speculative beliefs are things
that people love to think about
even like the origin of the universe
where it all began if it did begin
anywhere
speculation
‘Speculative belief’ is something
that the Buddha has put away.
For the Buddha has seen this:
Just basic five Khandas
just focusing on message
Such is form, such its origin,
such its disappearance;
such is experience, its origin,
its disappearance;
such is perception, its origin,
its disappearance;
such is will, its origin,
its disappearance;
such are the consciousnesses,
such their origin, such their disappearance.
It's just talking about the
five Khandas
The fact that none of them are
permanent
they arise because of other
things
and when other things vanish
they all vanish
perception, experience,
consciousness every one of them
is impermanent, it arises
and totally disappears for a while
Therefore, I say, with the destruction,
fading away, cessation,
giving up, relinquishing of all
conceptual proliferations,
it's one of the great words
papañca
conceptual proliferations
once we get an idea it
just takes off
like some weeds in your
garden,
just like some virus in your
body
or some malware in your
computer
It affects more and more
it expands
This is what is called
conceptual proliferation
or maybe you should call
conceptual viruses
to show how they affect
keep going and going
That's why we are thinking
there is no end to thinking
No end to philosophizing
this conceptual proliferation
Put that away, just seeing
Not thinking about this and
working all out
but seeing the basic five
components of existence
Seeing there is nothing there
So with destruction, fading away
cessation, giving up and relinquishing
of all conceptual proliferation
all philosophizing
all I-making, we make ourselves
make this idea of a self
mine-making, we construct the
idea of possession
and the underlying tendency
to assuming a permanent essence,
it's an underlying tendency
we have been doing
this for such a long time
it's just a habit
try and make something
out of nothing
that somewhere, some place
there is a me.
the Buddha is liberated through
exhausting the fuel that drives rebirth.
I like that translation
The fuel that drives rebirth
Your car has not got no more petrol
in its engine anymore
it can't move.
Can't get to rebirth anymore
And that fuel is the view that
there is some person in there
some essence, some mind which is
not sort-of impermanent
something; some soul, some ground of
all beings, something
that it becomes a fuel which
makes you get rebirth, reborn
when you exhaust all that fuel
then there is no way you can
make an I or a mine anymore
That's why the Buddha
No speculative views anymore
you have seen through all of this.
The Three Characteristics of Existence
Whether Buddhas arise or not,
there persists that law,
that stable Dhamma,
that fixed course of the Dhamma:
All phenomena that arise
from a cause are impermanent,
suffering and not a
permanent essence.
All phenomena that arise
from a cause are impermanent,
In other words;
they arise from a cause
and they must be able to disappear
and they are suffering, and
not a permanent essence
The Buddha awakens to this
and breaks through to it,
and then explains it,
teaches it, proclaims it,
and establish it, discloses it,
analyses it, and elucidates it.
In other words that's actually Nicca
that's not anicca, that
is niccha.
that law persists
And what is it that the wise
in the world
agree upon as not existing,
of which I too say that
it does not exist?
any form (body) that's permanent,
stable, and eternal, not subject to change
this the wise in the world
agree upon as not existing,
and I too say that it does not exist.
Any experience, Perception, Volition,
any type of consciousness
that's permanent, stable, and eternal,
not subject to change:
this the wise in the world
agree upon as not existing,
and I too say that it does not exist.
it's impossible and inconceivable
said the Buddha
that a person who is enlightened
or even on the path to being enlightenment
could consider any phenomena
that arises from a cause as permanent,
as pleasurable and as a soul—
there is no such possibility.
But there is a possibility that an
unenlightened worldling might
consider some phenomena that
arise from a cause as permanent,
as pleasurable and as a soul—
there is such a possibility.
This is where we make a soul
an original being, a ground of all being
an essence; anything.
it's a tendency of human
beings to do that
to find an ultimate
retirement home for you.
Therefore any kind of form whatsoever
any kind of experience whatsoever
any kind of perception whatsoever
any kind of will whatsoever
any kind of consciousness or Citta
or mind whatsoever;
those three are synonyms
whether past, future or present
once own or others, gross or subtle
inferior or superior; far or near
all forms, all experiences,
all perceptions, all will
all mind
should be seen as it really
is with correct wisdom thus
‘This is not mine, this I am not,
this is not my permanent essence.
And now one of my
favourite quotes,
This is, so sure this is not what the
Buddha said
we put it in here anyway,
because it's really cool
This is very famous from
the Visuddhimagga
Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found.
The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there.
If you understand this, that's where
you don't need to have any punishment
The deed is but not the doer.
Nibbāna is, but not a person who enters it.
Not a being, not a mind, not you
Nibbāna everything gone
And last
The path is, but no traveller on it's seen
In other words if you travel the
Eightfold Path you get nowhere
you have to disappear
and then the path becomes as wide
as a 20 lane highway
even wider, you can't miss it
but when you are travelling that path
when you are doing the meditation
you are doing, sort-of whatever
then the path disappears
The path is, but no traveller on it is seen.
Nibbāna is but you don't
attain it, you don't enter, you can't
You have to disappear and vanish
And the more you vanish,
the closer you get
I love that
Anyway
Any questions?
Yes.
Question: If they have no self, they don't
commit themselves to any punishment
for what they do.
But in the case of Sotāpanna killing
another person
regardless of whether they create
the hell or not,
they still got that Kamma to receive
Aren't they?
Ajahn- Ah..have they?
They got some Kamma there
You know a stream-winner or a
once returner or something
kills somebody they go to jail.
Yes you can't use it as a legal
defense in Australia that it
says in the suttas that such
stream-winners are not subject to
such punishments.
That doesn't work in the Jury trial
or judge trial.
But no, there is some consequences
there but those consequences
don't arise in a future life.
Angulimala apparently people
threw stones at him
and scolded him
So he did get some suffering
as a result of what he did
but no future life suffering.
So you are not punishing yourself
other people punish you. But not you.
Question-So could the
Sotāpanna then reborn
in the first life of seven or six lives;
reborn into an unsatisfactory life
for some period of time
for that kamma.
Ajahn-Not at all. The reason is
because no one sends you to
your next destination.
you send yourself there.
you choose literary
where you are going next.
But sometimes we do make
stupid choices.
because we are not wise.
Because people feel they
deserve to be punished
Even in this life, ask any
psychologist
people who have a strong
sense of guilt
will actually deny themselves
of happiness or success.
Question-but doesn't the Kamma
actually pull the Sotāpanna to that...
Ajahn--No no Kamma is very personal
you are the owner of your kamma
in many ways
Ok ... yes
go on..
Question-What exactly is
meant by consciousnesses
Ajahn-consciousnesses,
I added a plural there
because this is translating according
to the definition
whenever the Buddha ever uses the word viññāna
He says there are six types of viññāna
Site, hearing, smell, taste, touch and knowing
the mind the citta
these are the six consciousnesses
I used that plural because it
makes the word much more powerful.
This is not me changing Buddhism,
this is using a word and translating it
according to its meaning.
Six different types and that changes
the whole ball game.
Not consciousness because
so often people think
that's me, that's my essence
there are six different types of them
which one is you? said the Buddha
and then you find out
when there is one there,
the others are gone
they arise according to causes
consciousness, that sixth consciousness
mind, its synonym is citta
the mind, each one of these
consciousnesses arises because of a cause
when that cause disappears,
the citta vanishes
that's the third Satipatṭhāna
to see the rise and the fall
of the citta
rice and fall means, gone disappear
so it cannot be a permanent thing
and what I just read out here
all types of consciousnesses
which includes all types of citta
should be seen, past, future or present
once own or others, gross or subtle
inferior or superior, far or near
all consciousnesses which includes
all mind, all citta
should be seen as it truly is
not me, not mine, not a self.
that's just the requirement for
being an Ariya, for being a stream-winner
without that you are not a
stream-winner
Question-Sorry Ajahn because John
was saying, doesn't Kamma cause a self
and it just occurs to me that the
self, the sense of self is a
bit like a black hole exerting
huge power
and it's creating everything
including hell realms and
everything you can think of
and without a self everything
just melts away,
Isn't that an attraction?
Ajahn-yes indeed, that's the
whole point of this
to have you melt away
the whole point of this Sue
is to get rid of you
Get rid of Sue, the
sense of self, the sense of me
it's to lose things not to
gain things
not to enhance yourself
by being called a saint,
just look how great I am
okay over there
Question-what is being reborn?
is that a some form of energy that's being
discharged into the air at the time of
Ajahn--no it's not energy, there is nothing
continuing from one moment to another
it's cause and effect.
We are going to go into that in a few
moments because ... I was just scrolling down
we got dependent origination coming
soon which is how the Buddha would
answer your question.
But we would just go on a bit further
here because time is running out
okay what do we got here,
Oh this is Yamaka
Sutta Nipata 44 after the 'traveller on it's seen...'
it is those who do not understand
form as it really is …
who do not know and see its origin,
its cessation,
and the way leading to its
cessation
that think: ‘An Enlightened One (Arahant)
exists after death,
or does not exist after death,
or both exists and
does not exist after death,
or neither exists nor
does not exist after death.’’
It's those who do not see experience,
as it really is
who do not know and see perception,
as it really is
Who do not know and see will
as it really is
who do not know and see the
consciousnesses including mind,
including citta as they really are
and do not know and see their origin
their cessation, and the way
leading to their cessation,
These are the people who think
An Arahant or an Enlightened one
exists after death,
or does not exist after death
or both exists and does not
exist after death,
or neither exists nor does not
exist after death.
This is one of the questions
what happens to an Arahant
after they die
And this is the beginning of
one of the best answers
clearest answers.
One who knows and sees the
five components of existence
the five khandas as they really are
who knows and sees where they
come from, their origin
according to causes
their cessation
causes stop,
these things vanish
and the way leading to
their cessation
they do not think
either of these possibilities
They don't even think
An Enlightened One exists
after death or does not exist after death
or both exists and does not exist
after death,
or neither exists nor
does not exist after death.
And this is a really beautiful Sutta
What do you think; this is in the Saṃyutta Nikāya;
the Khandha Saṃyutta
“What do you think, Yamaka”, asks Sariputta,
“Do you regard the body, experience,
perception, will or consciousnesses
as an Enlightened One?”
No, Venerable.
Do you regard an Enlightened One
as in the body, as in experience,
as in perception, as in will or
as in consciousness
somehow contained in
these five khandas
No Venerable.
Do you regard an Enlightened One
as apart from the body, something separate
as apart from experience,
as apart from perception
as apart from will
as apart from consciousnesses
like apart from the mind
apart from the five khandas
Is the Enlightened One
something separate from the five khandas?
No Venerable.
Do you regard the body, experience, perception,
will and consciousness, all taken together
as an Enlightened One
No Venerable
Do you take an Enlightened One
as one who is without a body
without experience, without perception
without a will, without any consciousnesses
No Venerable
But, Yamaka, when an Enlightened One
specially the Buddha, right in front of you
when an Enlightened One
is not apprehended by you
as real and actual here
in this very life
is it fitting for you to declare that an
Enlightened One is annihilated and perishes
with the break-up of the body
and does not exist after death?
It's not annihilated there is
nothing here now.
just a process, here and now
so you can't see anything there.
any essence,
any enlightened essence there.
either as any one of those
five khandas
as in those five khandas
as apart from those five khandas
as five khandas taken together
So, Yamaka, if they were to ask you
what happens to an Enlightened One
with the break-up of their body,
after death,
What happens to an Arahant
when they die?
I would answer that the
body is impermanent;
what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has
ceased and passed away.
that's all.
Experience is impermanent;
what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased
and passed away.
Perception is impermanent;
what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased
and passed away.
Will is impermanent;
what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased
and passed away.
Consciousnesses; each one of them
like citta, like the mind is impermanent
what is impermanent is suffering
what is suffering has ceased and
passed away.
the process has just stopped
Nothing being enlightened
Nothing has been annihilated, sorry
it's just a process
stopped
Good, Yamaka. Good!
says Sariputta
That's one of the most powerful
teachings of the fact about
when people say 'is there
something outside the five khandas,
outside the five components of
existence
which you can take to be
your essential self
very clear.
The answer of course is no
So the Buddha who is very very
clever, smart
to cut off all possible angles of escape
people always like to find out
a little hole where they can exist
fortunately the Buddha was
too smart for you.
If there is the view,
‘The soul and the body are the same,’
there is no living of the holy life;
The reason is because once you die
the soul dies anyway
so what's the point of this
if there is the view,
‘The soul is one thing, the body is another,’
there is no living of the holy life;
Because it doesn't matter
what you do
the soul is just independent of you
Without veering towards either
of these extremes,
the Buddha teaches the Dhamma
by the middle:
Dependent Origination and
Dependent Cessation
I remember once reading the Bhagavad Gita
as a young student
and there I think it was Krishna
talking to Arjuna
And Arjuna was not wanting to go
into battle to fight
because it's going to kill people
and Krishna
was saying
'you are not killing anybody
just killing bodies that's all'
No soul, the soul is totally independent
you can't stop a soul with a sword
So you know, that actually put me off
Hinduism because there is no real
you can't really kill anybody
because the soul is indestructible
ant that didn't make
any sense to me.
That's not really putting down
Hinduism
because that's only one
tiny part of it.
but I remember that as something
I couldn't never accept
if the soul is totally independent
of the body no matter what you do
you can't kill a soul or
harm it or hurt it
it's independent.
So there is no holy life
the Buddha is saying here.
So if the soul is one thing,
the body is another
or if the soul and the body
are the same
there is no living of the holy life
Not veering to either of those
extremes, the third way
the Buddha teaches the Dhamma
by the middle,
Dependent Origination and
Dependent Cessation
And this is another definition
of the right view
One who sees dependent origination
and cessation sees the Dhamma;
the one who sees the Dhamma
sees dependent origination.
So it's not just
you can't say sort-of seeing non self
but what is it that we take to be
this self
and this is where dependent
origination comes in
And this of course answers your
question about how rebirth can happen
nothing getting reborn
not energy
but Cause and Effect
With delusion as a cause,
volition comes to be;
especially the delusion of me.
as long as there is a me
then I do stuff
when you disappear
your will goes
because your will, the doer,
volition
that is just a sign of a me
there is always a me behind it
with volition as cause comes the
consciousnesses;
this always has to be
in your future life
with consciousness as the cause,
the objects of consciousnesses come
these are the sheaves or reeds simile
the way that farmers in the old days
would dry the reeds or the hay
they would make a sheaf
two sheaves or hay
and lean them up against
each other
you take one away the
other one falls down
so objects of consciousness and
consciousness-they have to come together
If there are no objects of consciousnesses
consciousness vanishes
if there are no objects of the mind
citta vanishes, disappears
that's in the Nidāna Saṃyutta
with name-and-form as the cause, the objects:
you get the six sense bases;
with the six sense bases,
sensory contact;
with sensory contact as cause,
causes experience;
Now this is not the sense of
A leads to B and
few seconds later then C
these things always have to be there
together
and with experience as a cause
wanting
with wanting causes the fuel
the Upādāna
and with fuel as a cause
states of existence
which I mentioned, you create these
with some place to go to
you cause rebirth
and with rebirth as a cause
ageing-and-death, sorrow, crying, pain,
unhappiness, and distress come to be.
Such is the origin of this whole
mass of suffering.
No God, no Brahma can be called
the maker of life;
Empty phenomena roll on,
dependent on conditions all.
rolling on
cause and effect
empty conditions
no being, no energy
nothing there, empty conditions
But when a meditator has
abandoned delusion
and aroused true knowledge
then, with the fading away of delusion
and the arising of true knowledge,
you do not generate a
meritorious volition,
or a demeritorious volition,
not even a neutral volition.
You don't generate anything because
there is no one there to do the generation
So the arising of true knowledge
Sometimes I have heard that
some people say
Ah Dependent origination it cuts at
the gap between this and that
that's so much ko mayan
remember the word ko mayan?
ko mayan: ko is the bull; mayan is what comes
out from the back end of a bull
Buddha never says that
It's always delusion; when that's abandoned
that's when this
causal sequence gets stopped.
With the remainderless fading away
and cessation of delusion
comes the cessation of will;
Woo hoo that's powerful.
When you realize there is
no one there
then actually you can
stop the will
Beforehand you suppress the will
but when you see there is no one there
three is nothing to do the
willing anymore
That's one of the reasons why a
stream-winner
can't get reborn that many times.
The will is gone.
with the cessation of will, cessation of
consciousnesses; in your next life.
Nothing to get you reborn
cessation of consciousnesses, the objects
of consciousness disappear
sense bases, sensory contact, experience
wanting, fuel, states of existence, rebirth
the whole thing stops.
House builder..- this is from the
Thera Gatha
Many monks, nuns use this phrase
House builder, you have now been seen.
You shall build no houses again.
Your rafters have been broken
and your gables all torn.
Thrown off course, the Citta will be
destroyed right here
without any doubt citta; you
shall be destroyed.
That's the mind; the House builder
Once you have seen that
it's not who you are
It's just empty phenomena
rolling on, your mind, the citta
That's in the Thera Gatha
House builder, you have now been seen.
You shall build no houses again.
Your rafters have been broken
and your gables all torn.
Thrown off course, the Citta will be
destroyed right here -- Thera Gatha
That's was your house builder
No more rebirth
phew
okay that actually comes to
a nice stop
That's the end with a
really big bang of Right View
according to the Word of the Buddha
okay looks like we got some
questions from overseas
So let's deal with those before
I ask any more questions from here
Here we go
From Malaysia - Dear Ajahn is there any
distinction between making merit and Kamma
Ajahn-Kamma includes making merit
and making bad kamma as well
so kamma, you can make good merit
you can make ... never heard the word bad-merit
making merit's like good kamma
so good kamma is merit and
bad kamma is demerit ... ok thank you
They have over here, you have
demerits when you have long week-ends
you get double demerits
so basically kamma is just how
merits and demerits are made
From Santa Barbara-is there a way to
get rid of the results of the bad kamma
with education and understanding
or is suffering necessary?
With bit of faith you can lessen the
results of bad kamma
and I don't like to say this but
The Buddha said this so
have to admit
the other way of overcoming
bad kamma is
not overcoming it but diluting it
the reason I don't like
saying this is because
many monks and places use it ..
as a great way to raise funds.
Sometimes monks and monasteries
get too rich
especially that one in Thailand which
is being shut down now at last.
But yes the Buddha said
in the simile of salt
If you take a table full of salt
and you put it in my glass of water
and you stir it up
it means you can't drink the
whole glass
it's so salty
But if you put in a rain water
tank of thousand liters
and you stir it up
then you drink that water,
you can hardly taste it
because it really dilutes
And the Buddha said it's the same
with bad Kamma
If you got a certain amount of bad kamma
and you only got a little bit of good kamma
you are going to really taste
that bad kamma.
But if you dilute it by making lots of
good kamma
then you want even taste it.
So unscrupulous monks they does some
bad kamma
well I think that's like a thousand
dollars to the nuns' monastery
and that will probably dilute it
It just opens the door to really
unscrupulous practices.
so that's why ..
Let's do good kamma anyway.
Not just to abandon the bad Kamma
Some people do that
they sort-of go out on a Saturday night
and they come to the temple on
Sunday morning to dilute the bad kamma
they did on Saturday night.
That's really just a bit unscrupulous
But it's true.
You can; not get rid but dilute the results of
bad kamma by doing a lot of good kamma
But the best way is actually
to become a Stream-winner
And lastly from Penang
Can a person know for
sure he or she is a Sotāpanna
that's a wonderful question.
There is a lot of people
you can know a person is not
a Stream-winner
you can't know if a person is
So you... so many people get deluded
They want to be a Stream-winner or
Once returner or Non returner so much
that they just delude themselves.
The desire, the craving is one of the
five hindrances
that means they don't see things
that clearly.
The monks know this story
I went to see this great monk
Ajahn Thate many years ago
and had to wait in line
and as I was waiting he was
taking to this other
Indonesian girl, very very wealthy
and she was talking about
her meditation
She said, I was meditating
and you know my mind went so still
went blank, things disappeared
that was Fourth Jhana
wasn't it?
And then Ajahn Thate said
no it wasn't, you were just sleepy.
Then she said you know
this is what happened first of all
and then it was.. Fourth Jhana
wasn't it; she asked again.
No no no
And then she asked again
she asked about
four or five times
It was Fourth Jhana
wasn't it
No no no no
I was listening to this
She asked again
and he said Urhh..
and she smiled and
went out
and she told everybody
afterwards
my Jhāna has been confirmed
Ajahn Thate said Urhh...
and that means yes; it's true
And I saw that
this is one of the problems
people want these things
so much
they want it confirmed by
somebody else
And even in this one Sutta
where Ananda asked the Buddha
All these people who come up
to you, the greatest teacher
that they have faith in
and they claim to be Stream-winners
Once-returners, Non-returners Arahants
Are all those attainment real? true?
And the Buddha said
some are, some aren't
And I read from that even the
Buddha couldn't convince a person
they are deluded.
So that's just how powerful these
delusions can be
people think they are
stream-winner, once-returner
even Arahants
and not even the Buddha could
dislodge them from that
the power of the sense of self
creates, manipulates and
just anything else
they would just push aside
no no no I am still a stream-winner
I am still a once-returner
so it's very dangerous
which is one of the reasons why
that number one, you don't tell people
about your attainments
because they could be wrong.
Number two check them out
from what the Buddha said
This is the only real place
you can actually get some
authority.
Not from me
not from any other monk or nun
but from this..
how the Buddha taught.
Basic thing, a Stream-winner
they can't have a sense of self
It's much easier to see if a
person is an Anāgāmī or not
a non-returner.
Because a non-returners don't
have any lust or ill-will
you cannot make a non-returner
angry.
which is one of the reasons we
test people
If anybody says they are a
non-returner
Mahesha is just laughing over there
I think I told this before Mahesha
If you say you are an Anāgāmī
I would say "No way can a Sri Lankan
Girl become a non-returner
that's impossible
May be in your next life when
you become a boy,
then you can"
you know me..I don't believe
in that sort-of stuff
but I say that to try and
irritate her
get her upset, find her weak point
If she "what you misogynist, I
believed in you, I thought you
regarded everybody equal.
you are a modern monk"
Sorry you failed the test.
So you find peoples' weak points
and try make them angry.
If they do get angry.
Yes, the test is being concluded
And I don't mind these days
because you should find
these things out yourself
A stream-winner, there is a little test
it's in one of the commentaries
I had to read this because
if a monk or a Bhikkhuni say
they are a Stream-winner
and they are not, it can be
like a capital offence
they have to be disrobed
if they know they are lying
if they are just boasting it
and they are not
So sometimes we have to
find out
are they or are they not
So there is a little test
one of those tests
two questions you have to ask
for being a Stream Winner
is; when and where did it happen?
When?
what time of the day?
Where?
What were you doing?
because it's an event
It's not something you just
goes on
Yeah I have faith in non self now
and don't know exactly when
that happened
yeah.. just understand it now
it's an event.
stream-winning
That's a powerful thing to know
Now I blown it with you guys now
if you do want to sort-of fake
stream-winning
you would say... it happened at
Dhammaloka Centre
when Ajahn Brahm was doing the
Sutta Class
so there are other ways to
find that out .
So yeah that's how you can know it
for sure
when did it happen?
where did it happen
and honestly check it out
with the Suttas
is there any idea that there is
self which is going to..
a citta, an essence, anything
which will survive
a death of an Arahant
okay that actually finishes good
I wanted to finish it
a bit early
because it's Full-Moon Day today
and have to go back to the monastery
for the Patimokkha ceremony
and also
tomorrow morning I am going to Sydney
not Sydney to Canberra
But coming up next is the
Second Factor
which you can see on the board there
is not Right Intention
but I am calling it
Right Motivation
And I am sticking by this
as the word Saṅkappa
and it's explained
or it's translated
by how it's defined
Not by it etymology
In other words you take the word
and you split it up
or see how it's used in other places
by how it's used this particular
function
as being number two in the
Eightfold Path
The Right Motivation
And that actually opens up the
Eightfold Path
in a much more interesting
understanding
But that will come in a couple of weeks
or may be in four weeks time
because I will be in Hon Kong
in two weeks time
but this is what coming next
Now finished with Right View
So hope you enjoyed that
it's put online so if you want to
go over it afterwards
you can recall, get online
and listen to it online again
and just get more into it.
Thank you for listening
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu
okay now pay respects to the Buddha