[Applause] the reason the reason why it's the reason why underst it's hard to develop because in order to do it wanted to know what must be understood so it might sound like you're self-explanatory but the point is it's not understanding takes repetition so one needs to make the effort of drilling a topic a theme it needs to be clarified the one wants to develop clarity in regard to and in order to do that you need to know what to look for you need to know what how to how to approach it and what understand so
getting information about it it's absolutely necessary but information in itself as vast as it can be that is not understanding and that's also another thing that sometimes people would confuse knowing a lot about something does not mean you understood what that means specially when it comes on to nature of things the nature of feelings the nature of intentions the nature of experience as a whole so when it comes to practicing the Dharma see most people would either just mystify mystified as in go after after the experience of the novelty or or some energy release or
something new and then they will refer to that as understanding but if you cannot explain an experience whatever that is to yourself at least or make it intelligible to yourself or to to somebody else you should not think you understood it now of course you might be you're free to use your own words so to speak you don't have to use templates of descriptions and so on but the point is you will still be able to convey the meaning if you understood that experience in its nature and that's the crucial factor here meaning of the
experience meaning of the whatever it might have happened to you that you think was somehow word in your practice in your meditation or in any other area of life of the matter and that's when you realize that most of the time actually when things you think you understood upon which you act and you choose and you live your life you haven't actually understood the meaning behind you just do it it made sense or what is the Buddha said you would be doing these things a whole industry simply because it pleases you that's the sole criteria
for most people I find the idea of this pleasing and that's why I defend their view and that's why I defend these actions or I do them work and so on either way there is an understanding of those same things and that's the important difference that we're trying to highlight here basically it's not it's not about the experience that you might have or you might get it's about understanding it and if understanding is the focus that's when you realize the content of the experience doesn't matter as much as long as it's wholesome as long as
it's based on the restrained her virtue then yours is the understanding the matters understanding of any experience that's were the results in freedom from suffering debts were resulted fulfilling the the practice of Dhamma and and that's what the Buddha said himself like when he said whether the five aggregates when they're fully understood one is one is a finish to finish the work and said it doesn't matter so it doesn't matter what what content of the five aggregates he would see will say there's a matter of past future present far near up down below behind any
shape or form it's going to be within the experience as a whole which means going to be within the 500 and there is something that a person has understood so the it the reason where this practice is harder than to just sit and sort of try develop calmness or some Pleasant abiding through the practical considerations because he can resolve it will result in ischl e in in sort of causing doubt restlessness in your mind and that's that's how you do it properly by working through these things whereby you learn to be imperturbable in the face
of the thinking mind not other way around you are afraid of the thinking mind because if it disturbs you and then you you try to stop the thinking you try to concentrate on at all on a little when a little point so you then have to think about anything else it's it's it's you who should develop strength in order to be in battle will not control the content that disturbs you deterg-- so it's important to to then obviously read the suitors and get the idea as to what needs to be understood but very often comes
down to that tedious ambiguous heavy drilling drilling if you thought like like you sit down I don't know if you read a suit though that they was talking about for example feelings and intentions say intentions you you said only ask yourself I mean obviously done quietly don't don't be in a crowded environment and so on just have some environmental control so to speak there won't be any disturbances phones ringing and so on and ask yourself intention intention what is intention do I know what intention is for me for myself in my own experience when I
say intention to you to anybody what do I refer to is it understood is it what is it whatever it is to understand it or I'll just go sort of float on the surface of the meaning of intention vague meaning that I kind of had how would you explain it engine try try write it down what is intention and then afterwards read that and see if it makes any sense to you if he does then push the questions further so in this case yes so what is intent what is my intention like now I have
intention to be seated here and contemplate on the nature of intention what is their intention that's making me do this what is it is it a fleeting thought well it isn't because I'm still seated trying to contemplate these things which means that thought is present throughout these more particular actions that I'm doing that I'm trying to contemplate I remain seated I still haven't switched on my phone I still haven't opened my door to the world so all these other things I do I do through or on the basis of simultaneously present more general intention which
is to ponder on the nature of intention or the nature of feeling with nature five aggregates so how else would you then describe that presently enduring intention easy the thought this is the some sort of easy to see it is because if it weren't you wouldn't be able to talk about you wouldn't be able to designate him for yourself left off for others so it's a it's a peripheral thought it's you're not see when you're like in this case we have intention to sit down and contemplate you're not seated you don't have to keep it
in front of your mind as in while you're sitting while you're contemplating you then to keep saying to yourself I want to sit I want to sit upon to contemplate that's my intention no because these actions already carry that intention that's how intentions work that's why I keep saying the most important thing for somebody who wants to start the practice or somebody with all the developing is to their full transparency in regard to presently enduring motivations behind the smallest action that's how you get to discern the the the fundamental aspect of wholesome or unwholesome bad
and good good and bad and especially to discern where your actions are routed at because if you're not aware of this peripheral thought of your intention that sort of direct all of your particular actions while in the news you're not aware of it of where that action those actions are rooted that's why intention is wholesome and wholesome or it can be neutral as well but for practical sake just look for wholesome in a horse if it's unwholesome avoided if it's awesome don't try to deny it or fear it just just let it be that he
didn't do either way they arise on their own but your responsibility is not try to prevent them from arising your responsibility is to try to prevent yourself from acting out of it so as I said even if you're a beginner sit down quietly semi protected environment you're not distracted and and pick up pick up things you're doing pick up things you want to do bring them forward to your mind and then think about why why you want to do it oh it's because of this this is yeah well why is this this is this a
reason for me to do these things why did I choose that to be the reason it's always a new intention is always your responsibility that's why the Buddha said every action is intention you can't commit an action without having it been rooted in intention to commit that action and that's why beings are owners of direction only you nobody else which means you are fundamentally always responsible so it's not negotiable or optional so you sit down here quietly ask yourself what is the nature what is intention when I say intention intention what am i referring to
in this experience as a whole so we kind of established it's sort of a biggest peripheral thought the idea context of all these little things I'm doing you don't have to keep staring a little things that you're doing in order to discern intention why because the attention only comes first structural simultaneous the intentions and actions through your intentions are present but intention is more profit more more mode it's deeper so to speak it's only to have the intention and then the actions you have intentions and you have your environment in regard to which you have
intentions but that's when you recognize that these intentions determine the course of my action and for that I'm responsible for saying yes or no to it so we establish that intention in the most fundamental most basic the most straightforward description it's a it's a thought drive thought ad thought basically so you have a thought that gives the context to your present actions but if you're unaware of that thought means you're unaware of the nature of it whether the nature is wholesome or unwholesome and if that is the case that means you will not know whether
your actions are rooted in good or bad through avoiding responsibility for your intentions you end up avoiding responsibility for your actions down the line that's why the Five Precepts a precepts that's where sila and virtue always has to come first like you can avoid responsibility only you're allowed to but not a lot but you you have to start narrowing down your avoidance of responsibility someone who doesn't keep the precepts he avoids responsibility left and right and there is no base for them or whatsoever then you start keeping the precepts five precepts eight precepts or more
that's when you create a basis okay I might avoid responsibility here and there until I would work investing of work into that and rectified but at least I will not avoid responsibility past this point past the five precepts or eight and so on so that's it just kind of start rounding up that avoidance of responsibility for your actions today clarify your responsibility for your actions that can then bring further clarity that you're actually your responsibility goes even beyond that and it rests on the responsibility for welcoming the thought of greed the thought of a version
you will cruelty the thought of distraction that's where the Buddha would say the noble disciple the one with the right view who has developed clarity in regard to the nature of his intentions he all he has to do is not tolerate and not delight and not welcome the unwholesome thoughts and all he has to do is not be ignorant and distract himself from Folsom thoughts so I mean unwholesome intentions arise he's aware of it but he doesn't need to do anything all he needs to do is abstain from doing anything on account of it so
he knows I do not welcome this and I will not entertain this thought to stay even a second longer if their attitude is present he is be he will be unable to opt out of it that's just impossible the only way you can act out of unwholesome intentions is if you ignore them to be unwholesome as soon as you are aware of their unwholesomeness you cannot act so it's mutually exclusive you must ignore unwholesome in order to act out of it and that's exactly why ignorant is the most plural word and it's it's kind of
as fundamental prerequisite for anything unwholesome and also I guess you could mention that ignorant as you can see now it's not it's not a metaphysical sort of secret mystery it's this very act of ignoring ignoring responsibilities avoiding transparency avoiding the recognition of your choice in regard to the present intentions that signal ignorant that's why you care it you perpetuate it through your own actions if you learn actions perpetuate ignorance because of which actions are ignorant so it's a vicious circle but you can break through it if you start accepting that responsibility if you start looking
at the motivation behind direction and then developing clarity in regard to its nature as I said what is the nature of intention when I say intention what they refer to it they refer to a specific thought or general thoughts do I refer to mu the feeling what what is it the main problem is not necessarily not being able to give an answer right away the main problem is not even attempting to think about it in the first place which is what most people do because there is it's so ambiguous initially then our thinking is used
to thinking about the positive categories things that are in front of you so you trying to step back from that without losing sight of it you trying to step back from that without losing sight of it it's gonna take quite some effort because we are used to just being focused on the content but now you have to be discerning the nature in regard to the present content so that's that's why this kind of thinking requires constant constant drilling and in lots of setups in prerequisite of virtue and sense restraint in order to take the route
otherwise it just it just won't happen you're just floating from one content on to the other so you can pick up anything you can also pick a lock the aggregation feeling for example you can ask yourself what do i what I feel right now what is the nature of the feeling how could I describe it oh is it like this is it like that yeah but what am i describing now if I say oh I feel light and well are those feelings or those perceptions of lightness and so on feeling is as this what to
say pleasant unpleasant neutral so all these perceptions I'm talking about I feel lighter feel heavier I feel this is a vertical where would they be routed fundamentally presently is it - isn't unpleasant or neutral so let's say I start clarifying the feeling you realize most of often most often things we think feelings are it's actually talked about perceptions and thoughts and concepts and you will be talking about those things for as long as you don't make the effort to think about what the actual feeling is so you could see that practice of right understanding practice
of of the developing the right view it's not about as I said building on this this great system they will then culminate in the release of energy and some mystical experience through a practice and effort it's really about undoing the state of patina which is the starting point for everyone so it's not building something new on top of the state of protrusion is just simply obliterating everything that makes you go to Jannah that's how you become a soda bun so lack of understanding replaced with understanding means all the wrong views are gone lack of understanding
in regard to what in regard to the nature of your experience Nagata five aggregates in regard to the suffering freedom from it in regard to pick up any topic from the suitor fully understand it you will you would have you would have been undone your your ignorance that was keeping you there was maintaining you a protege they're just they just hide work to pretty much so so in terms of a meditation again you don't have to you have to start with some excessively complex topics relationship between Amuro convenient even on another loop and so on
just just pick up things you think you know and then really investigate and by that I mean contemplate rightly know just think about information you have about it so pick up things you know and see whether you really know that so don't don't pull any punches don't don't be afraid of what you might discover but like really dedicate yourself towards clarifying the meaning which means make yourself open to a possibility of doubt which can be very unpleasant the way you're gonna deal with a doubt is well it's going to be self-evident if you had if
you have had your seal established beforehand if your virtue if you've been living virtuously and you recognize the necessity of virtue well they will take care of the the unpleasantness of doubt and restlessness and so on but you have to go through with it so the longer a person who wants to produce them avoids it the heart is going to be to do it later on so you can just just just ask yourself about things you think you understood whatever that is whatever so did I do you think you made sense question it or even
ask yourself what you wanted what you want to what do you want to get out of the practice I'll give you one piece how would you define peace do you have clarity in regard to what peace means maybe I want to be peaceful what does it mean peaceful means non disturbed okay so take it step further what is the disturbance then how are you disturbed are you disturbed when you experience things you don't want to experience are you disturbed when you don't experience things you want to experience what's in common to any form of disturbance
the common is suffering it's unpleasant if disturbance is not unpleasant it wouldn't be a disturbance so then you want peace which is freedom from disturbance which means peace is freedom from unpleasant feeling so freedom from suffering so peace equals absence of suffering altogether now we of course that makes sense but by going through these motions of reflexive drilling you are actually clarifying it layer by layer so next time when something bothers you you suffer on account of it you realize well I'm not automatically disturbed by things that bother me I'm only disturbed when I start
suffering on account of things that bother me so peace is not not having anything come your way peace is about not being disturbed not suffer on account of whatever comes your way ultimately sickness aging and death will come your way that's not negotiable so these little layers that you will be undoing through reflection that's all it matters that's how you practice gradually bit by bit by bit so then again other suitors will start making more sense as well so when the Buddha says that the root of suffering is your own craving not the conditions in
regard to which you that you realize okay so you end up you're affected by disturbance of any kind because you disturb yourself nobody else nothing else and that that can sound almost were quite blunt in a way but at the same time it's the best possible news you can receive because if suffering were truly rooted in circumstances or other people's actions you can't control that you can't even access that so you wouldn't be able to free yourself from it but it isn't and that's the good news so like the world is teaching it should be
really consider like a like a very strict form of optimism it's recognizing the problem and knowing exactly what to do about it so when you recognize that the problem of you being disturbed by things which make you non-peaceful which is a problem which is what you don't want lies in you craving craving for what craving for the presently pleasant feeling to stay longer or simply do to stay craving for the pleasant presently unpleasant feeling to go away as soon as possible and craving for the neutral feeling to be ignored practically those are the three attitudes
that perpetuate the your liability to suffering so in order to stop craving in there are these feelings you have to learn how to discern these feelings over there and that brings us to the point we discussed feeling feeling what is feeling do I when I say feeling I feel this what am i referring to what is the phenomenon what is the thing present in my experience as a whole that I designate by saying feeling I feel pleasure what is it how would you describe your pleasant feeling don't necessarily job answering ER I describe you like
this just pause ask yourself the question let the question endure for as long as you if your mind starts wandering away ask a question again and then try to think about it a little bit more but don't necessarily rush into an answer why it's because you don't want to be producing the answer you want to be discerning it work because that present feeling is press you don't need to answer it in order for that feeling to be there the failure you were able to designate it means it's there but it's your preconceived notions about the
feeling that's what obscures you understanding its nature that's what Mullaperiyar suta it describes that all the conceiving is you do on account of their recent experience not before there is an experience so it's clearing out of misconceiving zorkin ceilings and discerning it for what it is if you can discern the nature the present enduring feeling for what it is you will be unable to crave it that's when the standing automatically results in freedom from assumption and craving
