Purity of Metta Dhamma

Adam Mizner's Dhamma Talk on Purity of Metta Dhamma. Adam Mizner has dedicated many years to the in-depth study of Daoism, western Hermetics and the Buddha Dhamma, is initiated into and teaches methods from these traditions. He is a senior lay disciple of Ajahn Jumnien in the Thai Forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This deep spiritual background has a large influence on his approach to internal development teaching.

Please note: This track was recorded live and may contain background noises

Transcript

In the most simple of ways the path is broken down into Sila,

Samadhi and Pannya.

In regards to Meita practice,

The cultivation of Meita could be considered Sila.

It's our conduct,

The way we behave internally and externally,

The way that we develop the mind and the way that we develop our actions.

In the practice we cultivate mental qualities,

Skillful mental quality,

We accept the good and we reject the negative.

Cultivate the positive,

Reject the negative.

An example of the positive is Meita.

An example of the negative is ill will.

Any chance throughout the day we cultivate Meita towards ourself,

Acceptance and goodwill towards ourself and towards all beings that we interact with.

The feeling in the mind,

The concept and the feeling arises in the Jita.

But we must also accompany it by action.

Just the concept and the feeling does not benefit beings.

So it has no use if you feel the idea and the concept of being kind but we're not actually kind to beings.

This is why it can be considered Sila because it's conduct,

The way we behave in reference to other beings.

Accept,

Cultivate the good and reject the negative.

If you have a glass of pure water and you just put a little bit of polluted water in there,

Just a bit,

The glass of pure water is already polluted.

It has no use.

It can no longer be drunk,

Can't be used for medicine,

It's now poisonous.

Even a little bit of negativity in the mind will destroy any positive quality that was previously there.

You cannot allow even a little bit of ill will to arise.

There's no such thing as a little bit of ill will existing amongst a mind of Meita.

The moment ill will arises all Meita is destroyed.

The negative destroys the positive instantly,

Instantly.

Just like putting a little bit of polluted water in the clean water.

But if you reverse that and you have a bottle of polluted water and you put a little bit of clean water in there,

It doesn't make the bottle of water drinkable or that's suitable for medicine.

You have to keep loading clean water in,

Clean water in,

Loading it in and washing out the polluted water.

Only when it's completely pure can it be drunken.

So it's not equal.

Cultivating the good,

Accepting the good continuously and rejecting the bad continuously is the first part of the practice.

Whatever arises that's dark,

Negative,

Selfish,

Rooted in self ill will,

Abandon it immediately.

Immediately.

As you abandon it,

Cultivate the positive quality,

Cultivate Meita,

Compassion,

Cultivate appreciative joy,

Cultivate equanimity.

Meita karuna mudita upeka.

The four divine abidings which are positive qualities for the mind.

Their opposite qualities destroy the divine abidings.

They destroy the positive qualities.

Ill will destroys Meita instantly.

Just a drop of ill will destroys all your good work,

All your good works of Meita.

Just a little bit of cold-heartedness destroys your compassion instantly.

A little bit of jealousy destroys your appreciative joy instantly.

A little bit of preference or emotional disturbance destroys your equanimity instantly.

In the same way that the poison,

A little bit of polluted water destroys the bottle of pure water instantly.

Do not allow the negative to arise in the mind.

And most importantly,

Do not allow the negative to arise in your actions.

We are nothing but mind and body.

Nothing but that which is known and matter.

We function and we know.

That which perceives and that which is perceived.

Cultivate the positive qualities in both mind and body.

Name and form.

Thila.

If we divide it into three,

You cultivate the positive.

You let go and you release into emptiness as the second.

And you penetrate through to anatta,

To not self as the third.

You could say this is the path,

Very simple.

Cultivate the good,

Abandon the evil.

Let go,

Empty and penetrate through to not self.

But we have to do this in mind and action.

It is not just concept.

It must be carried out.

The four divine abidings are action and mental quality,

Not philosophy.

They are a doing.

It's no good to talk about,

Think about,

Contemplate and feel kindness.

But the moment somebody does something we don't like,

We turn completely ill will.

That little bit of ill will destroys everything positive we've ever done.

Instantly we're nothing but poison.

Must abandon the negative and cultivate the positive.

But we have the second part which is the samadhi part.

Empty the mind,

Let go.

Empty the mind,

Let go.

In practice often we'll cultivate goodwill towards beings.

We'll go out of our way to help beings.

Sometimes they're close to us,

Sometimes they're distance from us.

Give them everything,

Our time,

Money,

Help.

And they turn around and spit it back in your face or show no appreciation.

That's okay.

Then we utilize the second part,

Let go,

Empty the mind.

That's their story.

It's not our story.

It's not our function.

Our story is to cultivate matter.

What they do with it,

That's their story.

If you get caught up in that,

That's me and mine.

And me and mine is the cause of all suffering.

But I was kind to him.

Why isn't he repaying me?

That's not universal loving kindness.

That's ordinary clinging.

It's not universal.

It's not divine.

It's ordinary.

Even an animal will be kind to its owner.

Nothing divine about that attachment.

It has to be universal and without question.

So you give.

One manifestation of metta is dana,

Giving.

Practice giving daily.

Give,

Give,

Give,

Give.

You have it,

You give it.

Somebody takes it the moment they take it,

You're finished.

You let go empty.

Give,

Let go empty.

If you give and then contemplate what's he going to do with what I gave him,

He's unappreciative.

That little bit of poisonous spoilt,

Spoilt everything.

There's no merit,

There's no cultivation of matter.

It's poison.

It's ordinary.

It's of the world.

The four divine avaitans when cultivated correctly lead to ariya.

They are the path to ariya.

They lead to the noble attainments.

But when they're cultivated in the worldly sense like being kind to those we like but not being kind to those we don't like,

Giving because we want something in return,

Giving because we want them to appreciate us,

Giving because we want them to gain in a specific way.

There's nothing special about that.

That is the world.

Lokaya,

Metta lokaya.

That doesn't lead to lokuttara.

It is not super mundane,

It is mundane.

Even a great villain has kindness towards the people close to them.

Honor amongst thieves.

He's really nice when you get to know him.

That doesn't mean anything.

Everybody's really nice when you get to know them.

Because everybody's really nice to the people close to them.

That is not special.

It's not fitting for a practitioner of the Dharma.

We need universal kindness.

You practice in this way giving whether it's material,

Whether it's your time,

Whether it's just giving a smile,

Giving your kindness,

Metta in energy,

Metta in thought,

Metta in action.

But then the moment they receive your job is complete let go,

Release,

Let go,

Release.

Do not even let the mind rest on what happens after that.

Don't follow it up.

Give,

Let go,

Give,

Let go.

Kindness,

Let go.

Don't do it for resolve.

I'm kind to him so he's kind to me.

You're kind because that's your function.

You're kind because you're a Dharma practitioner.

You're kind because being kind makes you happy.

When you're kind you feel good.

When you're kind but you demand something in return you feel awful.

Because it's not kindness,

It's just desire.

Oh but I did this for him,

I did that for her.

No,

That's not kindness,

That's not goodwill,

That's desire.

You must separate these qualities within your own understanding.

Make the quality pure because a little bit of poison destroys all the purity.

You might think you're cultivating metta but if it's stained by me and mine you're not cultivating metta,

You're cultivating clinging.

Self,

Atta,

The past duhkha.

The third stage is anatta penetrating through to the understanding of not-self.

Stage one,

Metta,

The first component of the practice is the good quality.

Any of the four divine abidings.

The second stage,

Empty the mind.

Let go,

Drop it,

Stop,

Cease,

Let go,

Finish.

That's his story,

This is our story.

Don't get involved with their problems,

Okay,

Okay,

No problem.

The third stage,

There is no me.

There's just kindness.

There's no need to get the benefit of their returned gratitude.

Penetrate through to not-self.

In this way the four divine abidings leave directly to the super mundane,

Directly to ariya,

Directly to the noble attainments.

The enemies of the divine abidings are close at hand.

Love destroys metta.

When metta becomes personal,

Me and mine,

It's destroyed.

We call it love.

From the worldly point of view it's something good.

From the dharma point of view it's me and mine,

It's the cause of suffering.

Pitti destroys compassion.

Pitti.

English word Pitti.

Yeah,

Not not the Fali word Pitti.

Pitti is not compassion.

Compassion is the ability to feel or to understand directly the pain of others.

It's not looking down a poor him,

A separation between self and others.

Poor him in his lowly painful position.

That's not compassion,

That's Pitti.

Compassion is all beings suffer.

The understanding of the universal nature of suffering.

The personal component which we call Pitti destroys compassion.

We need to cultivate me,

Her and compassion.

When you see suffering we feel the suffering of all beings and then we use our kindness to try and alleviate suffering.

This is the practice in the physical.

You see somebody fall over you pick them up.

You know somebody can't eat you give a meal.

This is metta in action.

This is compassion in action.

Compassion is the initiating component of feeling their suffering.

Mehta is the action to relieve it.

The kindness,

The doing,

The function.

And then we let go into emptiness.

Letting go is extremely important.

Many people cultivate what they consider to be a good quality of giving,

A good quality of charity,

Of helping.

And to a certain extent it is,

But it's stained by me and mine.

It's stained by control.

The moment you stain it it's poison.

A little bit of poison destroys the whole.

What is it?

One bad apple destroys the whole bunch.

This is very true.

So when you practice it,

When you go and do something to help somebody you just observe in yourself if you want something in return compared to when you do something truly selflessly.

Which one feels better?

Which one creates pithy,

The Pali word,

In yourself?

Which one creates bliss?

Which one creates longing and desire?

Long,

A desire for feedback.

How many people do we know that do everything wanting feedback?

They want emotional return.

Some of the nicest,

Conventionally nicest people I've ever met.

Every single action they do is a desperate attempt at getting emotional feedback.

So every action although it appears nice externally is actually poisoned by me and mine.

Me and mine the cause of Dukkha.

If you can relinquish me that's the third step,

Anukkha.

Not self.

If there's not self what can be mine?

How can nothing own something?

No me no mine.

Happiness is right there instantly immediately right here right now no me and no mine.

Finished.

But the good function that you do for example giving or kindness still creates within the Jita and within the body pleasure.

Pleasure in the here and now.

So this pleasure arises when you do good.

I feel good I'm pleasurable.

That's ata,

That's self.

Lokeya.

Worldly Meha.

The ariyat way,

The noble way,

You do good.

Pleasure arises,

Pity arises,

You see pity but the pity is not self.

The pity doesn't belong to anybody.

There's no me no mine.

There's just pity.

Lokuttuva.

Super mundane pity.

So close yet so far.

When you cultivate it in the three stages of the action of emptying the mind and of penetrating through the not self then it can truly be universal.

Then it can truly be vast.

Without that it will never be vast.

It gets destroyed by the reactions of others.

When there's no me and mine it doesn't matter if they appreciate it or not it makes no difference.

That's their story.

We're already in pity from the action.

The benefit is already there.

How they react has nothing to do with us.

Why would you get caught up in their story in their infinite karma?

Trying to get caught up in their problems don't we have enough problems of our own?

One practice I like to do especially in Bangkok is to give to the beggars because there's beggars everywhere.

Go ten meters there's a beggar.

You go another 15 meters there's a beggar.

You go another two meters there's a beggar.

Say you just have some money or whatever.

Every beggar give give give universally.

Don't judge oh this beggars got a more cut off arm than the other one.

Or this beggar looks like an alcoholic so I better not give to him or I give to him.

You make sure you don't drink all that money I just gave you.

That poisons the action.

When you give to when you give like giving to the beggar you give finished.

The moment you release finished.

Finished.

The rest is their story.

So we don't discriminate.

One person's there with the small baby we give them a hundred baht.

The next person's obviously addicted to Yabhar and alcoholic.

We give them a hundred baht.

Universal meta equal equal.

Then you know this person's gonna drink it.

You see him the five minutes later at the bottle shop buying his alcohol.

Oh nothing arises this is a beggar in the equanimity.

That's their story.

He's blowing my heart and money on alcohol I knew I shouldn't have given it to him.

Finished.

What's your goodwill then?

Judgment,

Ill will,

Regret,

Me and mine.

So your little ounce of goodwill turns into ten ounces of negativity.

You must be very careful.

When you cultivate good always empty the mind afterwards and try to penetrate through the not self.

Cultivate the positive quality empty the mind penetrate through to Anatta.

This is the way it goes.

If you don't do this we only cultivate worldly qualities and the mind and body which is all we are is here in Samsara completely dependent on nourishment.

If you don't nourish the body what happens?

It ceases.

Now our consciousness is dependent or our mind is dependent on nourishment.

Not food.

Not food.

But merit and sin or positive and negative karma.

That's what nourishes them the consciousness.

Vinyana is nourished by Bunanbha.

So if me and mine are cultivating this kind of merit me and mine we're nourishing the consciousness to be stuck in Samsara.

So it's worldly meta.

This is the meta that leads to the heavenly planes.

We have the conventional world the heavenly planes and Nibbana.

The conventional world is our action cultivating meta in the conventional world.

Samadhi letting go into emptiness emptying the mind letting go making it a divine quality that that leads us to the heavenly planes.

It's heavenly.

Penetrating through to not self that's Nibbana.

Conventional world heavenly plans Nibbana.

Cultivate the good quality empty the mind penetrates within our self.

That sounds almost like if somebody asks for something they should do.

Regardless of what is asked for and regardless of what is done with the donation.

So for example somebody could ask him for a gun and I would just hand him the gun because I want him to be happy obviously.

So I would just give the gun without further asking.

Or for example if I know somebody would use the money I give him to create further harm for himself and others.

If I know that I would do better to give him some food maybe.

Sure I mean it doesn't mean you abandon all logic or reasoning.

It's a quality that you have to develop.

If you've got a gun to be asked for in the first place you're already in the wrong place.

Or making a effort to organize something.

The wrong thing you're already in the wrong circle it's already twisted.

If you set yourself up and you have the right kind of circumstances and you're the right people around you things like that become only a philosophical argument not a reality.

I'm yet to be asked for anything right now.

Usually what I'm asked for is something to help people eat.

Most of the time that's what most people want.

They want food and shelter.

Or your time.

Your time is very common.

Can you help me do this?

Yes sure sure sure sure.

Just do.

Most of the time it's better just to give.

It's incorrect to think that you understand people's motivations.

Even if it seems like somebody has the best motivations a lot of the time we find out later that they didn't.

You don't know.

You don't know.

How many charities have built up?

I was talking to a student recently about charity in Africa.

And there's a Christian group and they all accumulate all this money and they're supposed to give it to these four little bloated skinny Africans.

And they go over and visit them and the charity group are there in luxury with their flat screen TVs and leather couches.

And in the room next door all the little African gives a chance in like sardines.

So it seems from the outside like they're going to do it for good.

But we just don't know.

But the person back in Australia that gives the money to the charity group if they do it out of good intention they're still cultivating the pure quality.

The problem is the story of the charity group.

That's their problem.

How they misuse it is their karma.

If you get caught up in the causal chain of karma if we were connected to everything it would be impossible to become liberated.

You can't do that.

But once there would be knowledge that this money is being put into negative use we should of course not.

Sure you choose the better place to put it.

You don't abandon reasoning.

No.

Most of the time it's not going to be people coming up asking you for something to do that.

It's going to be more like somebody wants to,

You know,

Begging.

The most common one is begging.

And other than that it's the people that we come into in daily life.

So you just go out of your way to help the people in your daily life.

Cultivate the feeling,

The mental quality of kindness.

If you cultivate the idea of kindness in yourself like we just did in the meditation then the feeling arises,

Pity arises,

The bliss of matter arises.

Then you reinforce that with physical action.

When you reinforce it with physical action the bliss becomes stronger and the mental quality becomes stronger.

Then you let go.

Then you let go.

Emptiness,

Stillness,

Samadhi.

The bliss is not self.

Anakkam.

Do this over and over.

So you're always reinforcing these three qualities.

The conventional world,

Cultivating merit through to the heavenly planes and penetrating through to Nibbana.

Cultivating pure mind and good at pure action.

Cultivating samadhi,

Emptiness of mind,

Letting go and penetrating through to not self.

One,

Two,

Three.

Siva Samadhi Panya.

The path broken down.

Three components.

Appreciative joy or mudita is another one that's very important to practice.

And it's easy in Thailand because if you just look around,

Thais have mastered it.

You speak two words of terribly pronounced Thai to a Thai and they light up with a massive smile in absolute joy that you've made an effort.

And they say,

How skilled you are at the Thai language.

In fact,

You're hopeless.

Everything you just said was wrong.

They probably didn't even understand it.

But they still are filled with joy at your effort.

And that leads to pity.

The bliss arises in them.

This practice is very difficult for Westerners.

Its enemy is jealousy.

Now his skill is higher than mine.

She's more beautiful than I am.

He's more handsome than I am.

He's got what I want.

She's got what I want.

There with who I want.

Jealousy destroys mudita.

Appreciate the gain of others.

Appreciate the gain of yourself.

When you practice first,

Allow the joy to arise.

When you have good meditation,

Allow it to arise.

When you do good action,

Good conduct,

Allow joy to arise.

Appreciative joy is positive.

And the feeling arises,

Then empty,

Let go,

Penetrate through to not self vipassana.

Emptiness not self.

Nirvana.

When you're training,

Your training partner,

They're getting it,

You're not getting it,

You can get frustrated.

That just poisons your mind even further,

Tightens up the body and you don't get the technique.

Instead have appreciation for your partner that's getting it.

That relaxes the body,

Releases tension from the body,

Makes you feel blissed out.

You feel better,

The mind becomes clear.

Then you empty,

Empty the mind,

Samadhi penetrates to do not self,

I guarantee you'll get it.

It works every time.

Whenever we get caught up in me and mine,

We suffer.

We don't only suffer but we become very stupid.

We make very poor decisions all the time.

Me and mine equals poor decisions.

Poor decisions equal suffering in the conventional world.

If you're suffering in the conventional world,

You're already in big trouble.

At the very least we should be able to be relaxed and cool.

Bare minimum.

I'm not even talking about exalted states of jhana or penetrating through to not self.

Just a normal function of mind and body as we interact with other beings.

At the very least we should be relaxed,

Cool.

We say,

He's cool.

There's a lot of wisdom in the common sayings.

He's cool means he isn't hot.

He's not hot tempered,

He's not uptight,

He's not angry,

He's cool.

Jai-yen-yen.

So we need to cultivate these qualities.

Not sit down and visualize and imagine all this higher minded stuff all the time but actually do it.

When you go down to the shop,

You buy something,

You know,

You can smile at the person at the counter.

That's metta,

That's dana.

It's giving.

It's giving kindness.

It's cultivating metta.

The moment you do it,

You feel better.

But then you don't walk out thinking,

Gee,

I'm a good guy.

Did you see the way I smiled at her?

It seems like a giggle but people do it.

You let go and empty the mind.

Penetrate through it and not self let go and release emptiness.

These three.

Abandon the evil,

Cultivate the good.

That's the first one.

You can't just cultivate the good and not abandon the evil.

It doesn't work.

One drop of poison will destroy all the clean water.

You must with effort abandon the evil.

Whatever arises in the mind,

The moment it arises a negative trait,

Simply wash it,

Wash it,

Wash the mind out.

Like pumping the clean water through the bucket of dirty water.

You have to keep pumping it through,

Pumping it through until eventually there's no dirty water left in there.

Then you can drink it,

Then it's pure.

If something arises in the mind that's not pure,

It's negative.

Jealousy,

Ill will,

All these qualities.

The moment you see it,

Just wash it out,

Wash it out,

Wash it out,

Let it go,

Let it go.

Then replace it with positive qualities,

With the divine quality.

Replace it,

Replace it.

When you replace it,

You see instantly pleasure arises.

When pleasure arises,

Then let go,

Empty the mind,

Sit in emptiness,

Enjoy emptiness.

Pleasure emptiness,

The pleasure is not self,

Pleasure is not self.

Don't attach to the pleasure.

The pleasure is good,

Pity is positive.

Sukha and pity are positive.

Cultivate five qualities in the mind.

Clarity,

Emptiness,

Purity.

They're the first three qualities of the consciousness.

Clarity,

Emptiness and purity.

And then manifested in the jita as a result of those three and your positive actions is sukha and pity.

Which is pleasure in the mind and pleasure in the body.

Bliss and pleasure.

These five.

Empty,

Clear,

Pure,

Blissful and pleasurable.

Sounds alright to me?

Three qualities of vinyana,

Three qualities of jita.

Then the mind becomes light and free and the body feels good too.

Because when the mind is light and free and filled with positive qualities,

The body feels good too.

The body will become healthy,

The body will heal,

Becomes relaxed.

It nourishes your tissue.

Mehta nourishes the tissue.

One of the benefits of mehta is good looks,

Good health.

People that are bitter,

Well you can see it,

Can't you?

They're ugly.

They have all the lines on their faces of an ugly person.

They look angry,

They're dark.

Dark face.

But somebody that's loving all the time,

You can see it.

They have the lines on their face or the shape of somebody that smiles,

The full cheeks of somebody that smiles all the time.

Somebody that's filled with joy.

When you're relaxed and happy,

The body is soft.

The blood flows freely,

The chi flows freely,

You're healthy.

But when you're stressed out and hateful,

You're not soft,

You're tight.

When you're tight,

The blood doesn't flow,

The chi doesn't flow,

You're unhealthy.

The mind becomes light,

The body becomes healthy.

Happy in the body,

Happy in the mind.

It's not a matter of abandoning the body.

Cultivate the mind and cultivate your action.

Action is carried out in the body.

We only have mind and body.

Cultivate the pure and relinquish to evil in the mind and the body.

And the body.

Which means end your actions.

Karma is action.

Action in thought,

Action in word,

Action in deed.

All three should be pure.

When something negative arises in the mind,

That's already negative karma on the mental plane.

Let it go.

Cultivate the positive quality of kindness.

That replaces,

You use the matter to wash out the negative quality in the mind.

It's washed out,

Then you don't dwell on it,

Then you relax into emptiness.

Okay,

Relax,

Relax,

Empty,

Empty not self.

But if a little poison arises in the mind,

We don't wash it out.

Then we allow it to manifest on the physical.

So we speak harsh words for example.

Then we've manifested karma on the physical plane.

That's a whole another story.

Much more powerful negative karma.

How are you gonna wash that away?

That's etched in stone.

You've already said it.

You've already done it.

The mind is so impermanent,

What we consider self,

The mind is so impermanent.

This second you're happy,

This second you're sad,

One thought arises,

One thought falls away,

Nothing changes.

Nothing stays the same,

Sorry,

For even one second in the mind.

Nothing.

So something negative arises,

You can wash it away,

Done.

Simple.

Very quick.

Just replace it,

Just let go,

Finish.

Here it comes negative,

Ah,

Let go,

Release,

Finished.

Not self,

Empty,

Happy.

But when you speak,

It's different.

The moment you bring it into speech,

You've manifested reality,

You've manifested physical action.

And the third step is actual physicality,

Actual deed beyond words.

If you go that far,

Then the karma is,

You're really in trouble,

You're really manifesting bad karma.

It's gone from mind to speech to body.

We need to be quick,

Our mindfulness needs to be quick enough to catch it while it's in the mind.

If we catch it while it's in the mind,

We can wash the mind,

Purify the mind.

If we're too slow when it comes to speech,

Not so good,

Then we need to try and purify that.

We can rectify what we've done,

We can make a vow not to do it in the future,

We can purify our speech.

If we've done an action,

Then we have to,

You know,

Try to reverse that too,

Cultivate the positive to wash away the negative.

We can't stop,

We can't undo what we've done.

The actions we've done in speech and body are etched in stone.

What arises in the mind is only drawn in the sand.

It just keeps changing.

If the wind blows,

It changes.

As other thoughts come and change,

It changes.

But speech and body are etched in stone,

That karma is coming.

That karma is coming,

But we can wash it out.

We can't change it,

But we can wash it out by changing the balance,

Cultivating the positive qualities in speech and action.

Even when we have a negative quality arise in the mind,

We can still cultivate a positive quality in speech and action.

We all feel negative sometimes,

We all feel ill will sometimes.

That's arising in the mind.

But if we allow it to become speech,

That's got nothing to do with what we felt in the mind.

That's simply not being mindful.

Why you bastard?

That's when you let the mind become speech and action.

Then you've created real karma.

Instead the negative quality comes,

You're thinking you bastard,

But you just say very kindly you sir.

And you give them a smile.

So we cultivate positive karma now in mind,

Body and action.

We wash away the negative and replace it with the positive.

If you do this long enough and never allow the negative to arise in the mind,

Then happiness is always there no matter what.

Nobody can take that away from you.

Nobody can take that away from you.

Unending happiness,

Not even penetrating through to enlightenment.

Just the functioning of the world here and now is being kind.

Kind people are happy.

People that are kind are happy and they're at ease in heart.

People that are at ease in heart enter samadhi easily.

They attain jhana easily.

People that are bitter and have ill will do not attain jhana easily.

They don't attain peace because of their ill will.

So we have to cultivate in mind and body.

In mind and body.

If you can't get it in the mind,

Do it in the body.

Somebody taught me once and I think it's very skillful,

Fake it till you make it.

Fake it till you make it.

So you're feeling bitter inside.

You really don't want to go help this person but you go do it anyway.

You go do it anyway.

When you're doing it anyway,

A good feeling starts to arise because you're actually doing something good.

Oh this isn't so bad.

You start to feel good mentally about it.

So you started from the other end.

We don't always start with the positive quality in the mind.

It's like how people can be transformed by community service,

By things like that,

By helping people.

When you do good in the body,

It cultivates good qualities in the mind.

If you cultivate good qualities in the mind,

You must express them in your action in the body.

The four divine abidings in mind and body.

Mind,

Speech and body.

When it doesn't go your way then,

Upeka,

Equanimity.

Upeka,

Equanimity,

Let go,

It's okay.

That's their story.

This part is very important.

That's their story.

When you do good with a condition,

But you have to be this,

But you have to do that,

But I need this payback,

But I need this.

I tell you I've been there.

It's a great suffering.

You teach them this,

You give them that and you want something in return.

Misery,

Endless misery.

Nobody ever lives up to your expectations.

Nobody.

That is the path to misery for yourself.

And not only that,

All the good you thought you were doing is actually poison.

It's not good,

It's poison with a mask of good.

There's no good in it,

It's just poison.

You have to do it without condition.

They call it unconditional love,

Unconditional.

It's pretty simple what that means.

It means no conditions,

No deals.

Just do it.

How do you just do it?

That means the moment you do it,

You stop.

Do it and then empty the mind.

The opposite of just doing it is doing it and then dwelling on it.

Doing it then sticking on it,

Doing it and becoming attached to it,

Doing it then attaching to the outcome,

Attaching to the.

.

.

How they react,

How they feel about it.

Did somebody see me make that donation?

Poison.

If you feel like that even a little bit,

A tiny little bit,

I strongly suggest every donation you make,

You make it in private.

Go out of your way to do it so nobody sees it.

This is the practice.

We have to find our own way,

Use your own mindfulness,

Use your own creativity to find your own error.

Where is my error?

Do I want people to see me make this donation?

Most people,

Yes.

So you know,

You tell somebody about it,

You do it in front of somebody,

Erase that,

Wash it out,

Wash the negativity out.

Replace it with goodness.

If you can't do it in the mind,

Then force yourself to do it in action.

So when nobody's looking,

Make the donation and then make a personal vow.

I'm not going to let anybody know I did that.

If you do that for long enough,

The mind changes.

The body can change the mind,

The mind can change the body.

Mind and body,

That's all we have.

Nothing else.

Cultivate those two.

Cultivate the good,

Empty the mind,

Penetrate through the not-self.

Sila samadhi banyanibhana.

Liberation is right there,

Right at hand.

Or at least happiness in mind and body,

Here and now.

Anyone?

Is it possible to really almost clarify the completely?

Would it be possible to in any other way than in deeds that are physical to purify physical karma that has been done?

Some mystical schools believe that you can use visualization and mental skills to purify physical karma.

It's questionable,

In my opinion.

The karma that we receive in our body,

For example,

Knee pain,

Hip pain,

Back pain,

Headaches,

Sickness,

Stomach aches,

Illness,

Short life span,

Lack of physical coordination.

These are karmas of the body.

They're created from karmas of the body.

Our negative action in body creates karma in the body.

Our negative action in speech creates karmas in the speech.

Our negative action in mind creates karmas in the mind.

When we think negatively over and over,

Or in past life cycles,

That's when we get a negative mental state.

Depression,

Mental karma,

Pain,

Physical karma.

Part of the practice is to endure karma.

One of those ways is to not take painkillers.

This is one of the practices.

So you get sick,

You take medicine to heal,

But you endure the suffering.

Because when you don't endure,

The karma is still there.

You're hiding from karma.

You can't hide from karma.

It just comes back in a different way.

So you take the painkillers over and over and over to avoid the headache,

Over and over and over,

And the painkillers destroy your bones.

You could say that's science,

How the painkillers rot your bones.

Yeah,

They do.

But that's the karma returning two or threefold.

You can't escape it.

Instead,

Endure.

Endure.

Cultivate endurance.

Patient endurance.

We cultivate,

We endure.

Cultivate a positive mental quality.

It's okay.

Pain is not self-pain is not self-penetrate through to not self-emptiness happy.

Do the same mind and body.

The mind is the ruler.

Cultivate the mind.

The body is the servant.

Cultivate the body.

Order the body.

Order the body.

Don't listen to the body's complaints.

Pain,

Pain,

Pain,

Pain.

Tell the body what to do.

It's no big deal.

Like right now,

Knee pain,

Knee pain.

There's knee pain.

Okay.

Sitting here,

There's knee pain.

What's the big deal?

The moment you get up,

The knee pain goes away.

Doesn't it?

Didn't you have knee pain last time we were sitting in meditation?

Where is it now?

It's gone.

What's the big deal?

Why do we make such a big deal about it?

There is suffering.

It arises,

Exists,

It falls away.

Falling away,

Extinguishing.

That's Nibbāna.

When something extinguishes,

That's Nibbāna.

The ending.

The ending of Dukkha,

That's Nibbāna.

Nothing else.

People say,

What's Nibbāna?

What's Nibbāna?

Is it heaven?

Is it a mysterious person?

You know,

People,

It's like they don't,

I don't even know if I want it.

Like it doesn't,

It sounds awful.

Like there's no self,

It's empty.

Well,

You want to move your leg when you have knee pain.

That means you want Nibbāna.

You want it.

When you want pain to end,

That is the desire for Nibbāna.

That's it.

Something which is you want to scratch it,

Right?

There's pain you want it to end.

There's stress you want it to end.

That's Nibbāna.

Nibbāna is nothing but the ending of pain.

That's all it is.

We all want it desperately.

Desperately.

That's it.

It's not a heavenly plane,

Something at the end of Dukkha,

Something outside of this and that.

Right here,

Right now,

At the end of suffering,

That's Nibbāna.

So there's four things you can do with Dukkha.

None of us want Dukkha.

Dukkha arises.

You flee Dukkha,

That's the first one.

Flee the Dukkha.

Second one is you create change,

You try and change.

For example,

You have a beer.

You try to change the state.

You change it away from Dukkha.

The third one is you wait for the Dukkha to cease on its own.

But more Dukkha just arises.

These three are all wrong.

They don't work.

You flee it,

It comes back again.

You change it,

It comes back again.

You wait for it to cease,

It arises again.

The fourth one is you cease Dukkha yourself.

You annihilate the Dukkha in the here and now.

Extinguish Dukkha,

Nibbāna Dukkha.

The extinguishing of Dukkha.

How do you do that?

You see,

Whatever it is,

Is not self.

Vipassana,

Vipassanayān.

Feeling,

There is feeling.

Feeling is not self.

No me,

No mine.

What's the problem?

This pain is not mine.

It does not belong to me.

What's the problem?

No problem.

Extinguish Dukkha here and now.

Right here,

Right now.

That's Nibbāna.

Waiting for it to end?

No.

Running away from it?

No.

Trying to change it?

No.

The first three reactions are the reactions of the world.

The last reaction is the reaction of the noble ones.

Cultivate,

Extinguish,

And do something you do.

Just watching and waiting for Dukkha to end does not cut it,

Because it just arises again in the next moment.

It's right there around the corner waiting for you again.

In fact,

There's nothing good enough.

It's too hot,

It's too cold.

It's never just right.

Nothing's just right.

You eat,

You're too full,

Or you're hungry.

You're never just right.

You sleep too much or not enough.

You're never just right.

Trying to refine your life to make it perfect doesn't work.

There is no just right.

There's only the two extremes,

The two extremes which are both unpleasant.

They're never just right.

There's no just right.

We never experience it.

Trying to master our posture so we feel perfect in the body,

It's never going to happen.

The body will never feel just right.

It doesn't happen.

Just quickly change the aircon.

Can you turn it up a couple degrees,

Then you get up and move.

No,

It's not right anymore.

Now I'm too hot.

Turn it down again,

Then you sit still.

Now it's too cold.

Turn it up again.

Crazy.

Trying to adjust life to fit.

Trying to make sukha.

Instead,

Extinguish Dukkha.

This is the path.

Right here,

Right now,

See the extinguishing of Dukkha.

If you have Dukkha in your life,

You can think,

This is rotten for me.

I'm the only one that's ever suffered.

I'm the only one.

Nobody else has ever suffered.

I'm special.

I can't tolerate this pain.

I can't tolerate this suffering.

Fixating on Dukkha.

Or you can extinguish Dukkha right here,

Right now.

Dukkha is a gift.

Without Dukkha,

You can't extinguish Dukkha.

The first noble truth is Dukkha.

To know Dukkha.

To know Dukkha.

To realize Dukkha does not mean know Dukkha,

As in there is no Dukkha.

It's to know Dukkha,

Not know Dukkha.

You must know suffering.

So suffering is the first noble truth,

Not something to hide from.

Not something to hide from.

You don't have to make it either.

It will come and find you right away.

Sit still,

Suffering will find you.

Walk,

Suffering will find you.

Communicate with somebody,

Suffering will find you.

Whatever you do,

Suffering will find you.

The first noble truth will find you.

Then you look at the second noble truth.

What's causing this suffering?

Every time,

Every time it's the same thing.

Me and mine,

Clinging to me and mine,

Create suffering every time.

There is no deviation from this truth.

You could say,

No,

No,

It's him hacksawing my arm off that's making the suffering.

Yeah,

My arm.

My arm.

You take the my out,

There's no problem,

There's no suffering.

Every time.

To universal truth,

The noble truth.

Noble truth.

There's a possible cessation to this suffering.

The cessation of clinging to me and mine,

The cessation of self.

Cessation of me and mine is the cessation of suffering.

The third noble truth.

How do we achieve this cessation?

The eightfold noble path.

The ariya path,

The noble path.

Why is it called the noble path?

What is the definition of noble?

Noble ariya is somebody that's penetrated through to not-self.

So,

You know,

Right speech,

Right action,

Right livelihood,

All that,

All the way up through to right concentration is right concentration,

The concentration jhana that is not imbued with self.

Bliss but no self.

There's nobody in the bliss.

Action but there's nobody in the action.

The eightfold path imbued with the recognition of not-self and emptiness is the noble eightfold path.

The eightfold path not imbued with the recognition of not-self is the worldly eightfold path.

The noble eightfold path is the cause of the cessation of suffering.

The four noble truths.

In short,

Not-self vipassana.

Recognize,

See clearly,

Not-self.

In practice cultivate the good,

Abandon the evil.

Empty the mind,

Let go,

Penetrate through to not-self,

Not-self nirvana.

Okay.

Thank you.

Reviews

Very helpful talk on metta.