Word of the Buddha (part 5) | Ajahn Brahm | 12 March 2017

You want a ghost story?

There 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 storeys)

and he bought it very very cheaply.

Why? The agent was pretty honest with him,

he said people report
there's 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

he hadn't moved his his furniture,
it 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 get to sleep 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 lights,

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 storey but couldn't find any

logical reason for anything
making a noise.

He was about to go downstairs

and he heard it loudest 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,

loudest 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! [laughter]

That's a terrible joke:
wrapping paper!

It goes "wrap wrap!"
[Ajahn Laughs]

That hasn't gone online,
overseas, has it ?

My goodness I do apologise.

People made me do that,
it's not my fault.

Okay there is another 1 or 2 minutes
before we start.

I've lost a monk somewhere,
anyway I am sure he will find me.

He's embarrassed - he couldn't stand my
humour so he's gone to another place.

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 dated,

stilted, and it 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 is something which
I learnt from when I learned Pali

from Professor A.K. Warder
who is another Cambridge guy,

because that means he must be okay.

He taught me that 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:

it should be sentence for sentence,
or phrase by phrase,

and that's what I've
attempted to do here.

So it is a different translation
than you've had before.

So far I've got reasonably
good feedback:

that people find it's 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
whose meaning is a bit weird and strange.

We try and use ordinary words
which are common in 2017.

So that is 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 is 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 Noble Truths.

And with the Four Noble 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.

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 is 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 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
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 handcuffs, balls and chains,

it means something which stops you
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 is a view which is abandoned

at Stream-winning: a permanent essence.

"...skeptical doubt and a 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.

It's the experience which has to come

when in the Buddhist way
of looking at things,

the five hindrances, which are what
stops and blocks our 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,
or not being able to see clearly.

So those hindrances,
that's the purpose of deep meditation,

to overcome those, so you can see clearly.

And of course, once it's seen clearly
with a pre or post Jhana mind

then no skeptical doubt is 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
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 that you are
a stream-winner or whatever.

And of course it's not a something
to be gained by a rite or a ritual

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 is something
which comes from deep meditations.

So those 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, [laughs]

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 that if you do bad things
you have to pay the consequences,

why is it for stream-winners they get
basically a get out of jail free card.

And I've mentioned this in
many of the talks before,

it is because (this is not here,
this is Ajahn Brahm)

that 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 is 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've 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 still 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 realms.

And for those people who say
lower realms, hells and heavens,

isn't it the same as these other old
Abrahamic religions? Is it just a myth?

When you 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've been
a good person,

that's how you create your
heaven accordingly.

So that is 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, 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 the 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 way 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, maybe only 50
monks, 60 monks there, including Ajahn Chah.

(He) 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 nothing'

Don't get into that spiritual pride.

So anyway, we always keep it quiet.

Tt'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 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 is, 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 nowhere 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 ttream-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 this wanting and ill-will (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; there 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 is, 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 it

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 clothes 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 a while

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's no way they're going
to take a cigarette any more.

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've 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
a day to drain 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 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
the faster it would be,

the more letting go there is.
So any Jhānā.

It's a 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 monks or a monk and 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 into 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 sense of an independent self.

They would experience that as a
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 kammic wherewithal

those two come together and
that means you get reborn there.

Okay.
So you got another one, okay.

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 are 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, the preface,

I said 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's 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,
this is why we are on this stuff.

"Then does the Buddha hold
any speculative belief at all?"

Speculative belief is stuff like
there are aliens.

Have you ever seen an alien?
You can speculate, "well the universe is

so big there must be some somewhere."

Maybe 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 is 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 say

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 literally
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
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:

Sight, 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.

Rise 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
one's 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 occured 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 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've 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
especially 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

and 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 ever 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 of reeds simile:

the way that farmers in the old days
would dry the reeds or the hay,

they would make a sheaf,
two sheaves of 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,
experience"

Now this is not the sense of A leads to B
and a 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 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 realise 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.

"with the 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 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 a 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 it in a rainwater 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 won't even taste it.

So unscrupulous monks they
do 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 cannot 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-winners, once-returners,

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 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. Maybe 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 to 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've 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 I have to go back to the monastery

for the Patimokkha ceremony and also

tomorrow morning I am going to Sydney,
oh, not Sydney, to Canberra.

But coming up next is the
Second Factor

which you can see on the board there

it's 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's 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 in
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 maybe in four weeks time

because I will be in Hon Kong
in two week's time

but this is what's 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.

Audience: Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu

Ajahn: Okay we can now
pay respects to the Buddha