Six Element

Adam Mizner's Dhamma Talk on Six Element. Adam Mizner, who 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.

This talk was recorded live, could contain background noises.

Transcript

We take refuge in the Buddha,

Dharma and the Sangha.

Buddha is knowing.

That's all it is,

The quality of knowing.

After the Buddha attained awakening and he was wondering to see his teacher he was asked by a passerby,

Are you a deva,

Are you an angelic being?

No.

Are you a god?

No.

Are you this,

Are you that?

No.

I am knowing.

I am Buddha.

It simply means the knowing quality.

The sixth element,

Consciousness element.

When we are at heart,

The deeper part is the eye of knowing.

We call Yana,

The knowing quality.

Practicing to know,

To unify with the knowing quality is vipassana.

We take refuge in the Buddha,

The knowing quality.

We take refuge in the Dharma.

That means that the Buddha knows the Dharma,

The knowing of the Dharma.

And what is the Dharma?

The six elements are Dharma.

Earth element is Dharma.

Knowing earth element for earth element is taking refuge in the Dharma.

Knowing water element for water element.

Knowing air element for air element.

Knowing fire element for fire element.

Knowing space element for space element.

What knows these?

Consciousness element knows the other elements.

The knower in that which is known.

The six elements are Dharma.

Knowing the five khandhas,

The five khandhas are Dharma.

Name and form,

That which is known and that which knows.

Name and form is Dharma.

There is no Dharma of self.

Self is not a Dharma.

There is no Dharma of Adam.

Adam is not a Dharma.

There is no Dharma of politics.

Politics are not a Dharma.

There is no Dharma of family.

Family is not a Dharma.

There is no Dharma of all the aggregations of things.

When things come together,

We bring the elements together and we call it me,

We call it mine.

These are not Dharmas.

The elements are Dharmas.

There is no Dharma of timber,

Like the timber floor you're sitting on.

There is the earth element quality,

The quality of matter which you're sitting on.

The temperature existence there within the quality of matter,

The fire element,

The temperature element,

The moisture within it,

The space existing in.

These elements are true.

They're Dharmas.

They can be known directly.

They are real.

When they come together and we call it timber,

That's a fabrication of mind.

That's not Dharma.

So when we run to things that are fabrications of mind,

That are coming together of things,

That is not taking refuge in the Dharma.

But when we see things clearly for what they are in their separated state,

In their Anatta state,

When we pull things apart,

That is taking refuge in the Dharma.

The Buddha knowing the Dharma.

I take refuge in the Buddha,

The knowing quality,

The sixth element.

When Yana taught,

Taking refuge in Dharma,

In knowing the way things truly are.

Knowing the way things truly are,

Not knowing the way we perceive things or the way that things are labeled or the way we're conditioned to see things.

We're conditioned to see me,

The person Adam here,

My body,

The bones,

The flesh,

The skin,

The eyeballs,

The blood,

The fluid,

The saliva,

The secretions,

The air I breathe in and out,

The space I exist within and the temperature.

But if you pull those elements apart,

You're left with nothing but matter,

Matter devoid of heat.

When the temperature dissipates,

It's dead matter.

When the fluids dry up and it doesn't breathe anymore.

When death comes and this thing that we call ourselves,

The body temperature begins to fade,

We become cold.

If you've ever been around extremely old people or dying people,

They become very cold.

And then so the fire element leaves them.

Their fluids start to dry up or start to leave their body against their will.

They can't control their bladder,

Can't control saliva.

Blood barely flows or it stops flowing.

The air stops moving in and out of the lungs and temperature leaves the body,

Leaving you with nothing but dried up earth element.

And you cremate the body and you're left with gray mundane ashes,

Nothing but earth element,

Devoid of temperature,

Devoid of fluid,

Devoid of breath,

Existing within space and no known quality to be had.

Even when you burn the bodies of the aria of the noble ones,

You still get left only with earth element.

Sure,

It crystallizes into relics.

That's the earth element of a noble one.

It's still just the earth element,

An excellent element,

Venerable element,

But it's just earth element,

Left with nothing but earth element.

But earth element is impermanent.

Eventually it will decay,

It will fall to bits and dissolve.

Still we attach to these elements as if they're a self.

My earth element is aging.

My water element is not under control,

It's not doing what I want it to do.

I can't breathe properly,

The air element is playing up.

And outside of the body,

A skilled craftsman can control the elements to a certain degree.

You can sculpt things controlling the earth element.

You can use water to do this and to do that.

You can use temperature under your will.

You can use air as a tool.

Controlling the elements on the outside is possible to a degree,

But ultimately these elements follow their own nature.

They don't follow our will,

They follow our own nature,

Their own nature,

Sorry.

Fire is hot,

That's its nature,

You can't make it cool.

You can use its heat,

Sure.

But if you use it your own way,

Forgetting about its own nature,

It won't listen to you.

Anyone that's done carpentry knows they can work with timber in a certain way in accordance with the nature of the timber,

The nature of the earth element.

When the water element is less in that timber,

It reacts in a certain way,

When it's more,

It reacts in a certain way.

And you have to work in accordance with the nature of the elements outside of you.

Now these elements are outside of us and they don't follow our will,

They don't follow our command.

But we expect the elements inside us to follow our command.

The fact is they do it even less.

You can sculpt a piece of wood and make it beautiful,

Then it decays.

You leave it in the sun and it goes all grey,

Just like a person.

You leave in the sun for too long.

It starts off beautiful and shiny,

You leave it in the sun too long and it looks hideous.

You do the same with a person.

They start off all pale and nice and moist skin,

You leave them in the sun for too long and they get damaged.

But you can just,

You can refinish the timber,

You can't refinish the earth element of the body.

The timber outside of us,

The earth element outside of us,

Surely that doesn't belong to us,

It's not ours,

It's not mine,

It's not me and not mine.

But we can still control it to some degree.

But we can't control the earth element of our own body.

But we still cling to it being me and mine.

You can't stop it from aging,

You can't make it beautiful,

You can't do anything,

It will follow its own nature.

The same goes for all the elements inside the body.

The elements are not me and not mine.

Clinging to them as me and mine is not taking refuge in Dharma.

Because there is no Dharma as me.

There is no Dharma as mine.

These are simply concepts of the world,

Concepts of delusion,

Concepts of ignorance,

Not seeing the way things are.

The temperature in your body,

It's usually hot if you live in Thailand,

So make it cold.

It's much easier to turn on the air conditioning and change the temperature in a room.

So once again it's easier to change the temperature of the outside elements than it is to change the temperature of what we consider to be me and mine.

This is me,

This body or at least it belongs to me,

Surely my divine spirit owns this body.

Surely it's the servant.

If it's the servant,

Make it cool now.

It's not so easy.

So these things follow their own nature,

They follow their own Dharma.

Because the elements are Dharma's.

In the same way the aggregates,

The Khandhas are Dharma's,

They follow their own nature.

If you get caught up,

If the knowing quality gets caught up,

Caught up,

Entangled with,

Attached to the elements,

There is Dukkha,

There is suffering.

Right now we're sitting,

The earth element is there,

The legs,

The knees,

The bones.

The water element is there,

The blood flowing or not flowing so well through the knees,

It's following its nature.

Its nature is when it gets dammed up it stops flowing,

Just like the water element outside.

When you fold your knee,

The water element of the blood stops flowing.

You will command it all you will,

Flow,

Flow,

Flow through to my feet,

It doesn't change it,

It will follow its own nature.

So we take refuge in that,

We see that that's normal,

That's a normalcy,

It's nothing special,

It's not a problem.

When you stand up,

The water element will flow again,

Just like when you undam it,

It will flow again.

So earth,

Water,

Air and fire,

They cannot be relied upon,

They follow their own nature.

Arising,

Existing,

Falling away,

They die,

They die.

Space element,

Well it doesn't die,

But it has no knowing quality,

It's just empty space,

Just empty space.

The knowing quality is permanent,

The knowing quality is permanent.

Buddha,

The knowing quality,

The sixth element,

Take refuge in the knowing.

Know the nature of earth element,

Know it directly for what it is,

Not for what you want it to be,

Then you see clearly the way it is.

What's the big deal?

It's going to follow its own nature,

What's the big deal?

If you leave a piece of timber outside and it weathers in the sun,

Well that's what happens when you leave timber in the sun.

If you find that shattering and depressing,

Well you're a crazy person,

Right?

You're a crazy person.

That's what happens to timber in the sun.

This is a normal reality.

It's a normal reality that what happens to the earth element in the body.

We need to see things for the way they are.

Refuge in Sangha,

I take refuge in the Buddha,

The knowing,

I take refuge in the Dharma,

The Dharmas,

The elements,

The khandhas,

Etc.

I take refuge in the Sangha.

Sangha is somebody that walks the middle way,

Walks the middle path,

That practices the middle path.

Somebody that takes refuge in the previous two is the Sangha.

Becoming the Sangha yourself is the most genuine refuge in the Sangha.

When we sit down to practice and we practice an element meditation,

The first component could be considered Shamatha or the practice of Samadhi,

Of resting the mind on an object,

Of focusing the mind.

So you rest the mind just on earth element.

You recognize the bones,

The flesh,

The matter inside the body and just recognize it,

Rest the mind on it.

And you build power of mind,

Mental power or Samadhi,

Focus,

One pointed focus on earth element.

But Samadhi is not yet pleasing to the Blessed One.

You also need Vipassana.

The knowing quality has to know the true nature,

Know the Dharma of the earth element.

Fixating on it is Samadhi.

Being still on it is Samadhi.

Knowing its true nature,

Knowing that it is not self,

Earth element is not self.

It is suffering.

It is impermanent and most importantly it is not me and not mine.

This is Vipassana.

Seeing directly the separation between the six element,

The knowing quality and any other chosen element,

Example the earth element is Vipassana,

The correct practice.

With Samadhi you can achieve great things,

There is no doubt.

There is no doubt.

Just like the focus of a carpenter can achieve beautiful artwork with timber with the earth element.

If you develop strong Samadhi you too can control the elements inside your body to a certain degree.

We used to practice Tummo which is a practice of accumulating or developing the temperature,

The fire element inside the body.

When you do this you can endure cold weather.

So you go to a very cold place where there is a cold pool and jump in the pool and the body goes into shock and then you use Samadhi to build and concentrate on the temperature element,

On the fire element.

So with great Samadhi you can also control the elements to a degree.

Recently I hurt my neck quite badly.

Although the main healing skill I used was Vipassana and letting go into not self,

I also had to use Prana to use energy to change the earth element,

To heal the earth element because the damage was done to a disc in my spine that's the earth element.

So I was able to fix myself within a month which the doctor said would take two years.

That's the power of Samadhi.

But it's not an ultimate power.

It's only a worldly power.

It's of the world,

It's Lokya,

It's subject to cessation,

It fades,

It's unreliable.

I've also got another injury in my wrist which has been plaguing me for about three years.

It arises,

I use control over the earth element and Prana to heal it.

I can heal it,

I've healed it many times but then it comes back again.

It's impermanent because the earth element will follow its nature.

I can use my skill to a certain degree but I can't change it.

Some things,

Sure,

They're healable,

Some things they're not.

That's the way of the world.

It follows its own laws.

There's no ultimate power over it.

There's only ultimate realization in separation from it.

So I've been looking into it.

I thought,

Yeah,

I can heal this,

I can heal that.

Anyone that hangs around me long enough knows I've suffered quite a chain of injuries.

That's part of their life and they're healable most of the time with the power of Samadhi.

But this little nothing injury in my wrist,

Not even a tenth as severe as my neck injury,

I've been unable to heal it in three years.

I heal it,

It goes away for a month,

It comes back.

I heal it again,

It goes away for a day,

It comes back.

I heal it again,

It goes away for three weeks,

Three months.

Randomly it will come back out of nowhere.

I'm not even using my hand.

That's the nature of it.

Ultimately,

These things cannot be controlled.

I was contemplating where,

Why,

Where and why this happened.

It's the first time I've experienced something that I can't control with Samadhi,

Can't heal with Samadhi.

When I was practicing many years ago and looking back into past life cycles and I look back into a previous life cycle as a martial artist,

Very serious kind of martial artist,

The kind that don't exist in this day and age.

Of course that excited me because I'm a martial artist so I started to look deeper into it.

And when you look deeply into these things you can awaken powers from those life cycles.

So I've born the fruit of that.

But with the fruit of that you also bear karma.

So perhaps that's why I've got this reoccurring injury that comes back like karma out of nowhere arising on its own.

That's the nature of karma.

It just calms.

The karma of the body,

The karma of the body manifests in the body.

We can't change that.

In the same way we can't change the timber from weathering,

The water from drying up.

The elements will follow their nature.

Sitting down the elements follow their nature,

Walking the elements follow their nature,

Speaking the elements follow their nature.

I keep speaking,

Eventually I get a dry throat,

The water element runs out in my mouth.

That's the water element following its nature because of the fire element following its nature.

If we get caught up in liking,

Wanting the elements to be a certain way,

That's bhava tanha.

It's a kind of clinging.

Clinging to that which we like.

If we get caught up in not liking it,

That's bhava tanha.

Clinging to,

Nonbecoming,

Clinging to not liking.

The aversive quality,

Aversion,

Wanting it to go away.

Things arise,

We like them,

That's craving.

They arise,

We don't like them,

That's craving.

The middle way is the middle way of emptiness,

To let go into emptiness between liking and disliking.

If you like something just a little bit,

That's tanha.

If you dislike it just a little bit,

That's tanha.

It's clinging,

It's craving.

Craving to like,

Craving to dislike.

Walk the middle way between like and dislike,

Follow your function.

We have things to do,

Sitting down is the function of the body,

Speaking in the class is the function of the body.

If we get caught up,

I don't want to teach the class tonight,

That's suffering.

I really want to teach the class tonight,

That too is suffering.

Just teach the class tonight,

There's no suffering,

There's no suffering in function.

You just follow your function empty,

Just do it,

Just empty,

Don't make any issue,

Don't make any problem,

The middle way between like and dislike.

Every form of liking causes suffering,

Every form of dislike causes suffering.

Just do what you need to do,

Relaxed and easy.

Don't make an issue,

We make an issue out of the elements.

I need to do a wee,

I really need to do a wee.

So do a wee,

Don't make an issue out of it,

That's just the water element,

That's just the water element.

If you made a big issue about it,

Life would be extremely stressful every time you have to do a wee.

That's the water element following its nature.

When you're cold,

You're cold,

Big deal.

It's just cold.

In fact,

You're not cold,

It's just cold existing.

Is the knowing quality cold?

Can the knowing quality feel temperature?

No,

All it can do is know.

So when you see the separation between the knowing quality and the elements,

You have separation from suffering.

Detachment from suffering,

Nibbāna,

Unbinding or being unbound,

Untied,

Released from,

Relinquished from suffering.

That's what Nibbāna is.

People say,

What is Nibbāna?

Is it a mystical heaven?

Is it this,

Is it that?

I don't know if I want it.

You all want Nibbāna,

We all want Nibbāna,

Just how you want to move your knees when you're sitting in meditation.

There's pain you want to change,

There's pain I want to change,

There's an itch I want to scratch it,

I'm thirsty,

I want to drink.

You want suffering to cease.

Everyone wants suffering to cease all the time.

That's the desire for Nibbāna.

Nibbāna is nothing but the cessation of suffering,

Nothing else.

There's no need to think about it being this exalted state,

That exalted state,

This heaven.

If I practice through the eight jhanas and then I break through at the end,

There's got to be a higher plane called Nibbāna,

It's not that.

Nibbāna is the cessation of suffering.

How do you cease suffering?

You extinguish suffering in the here and now through the knowing quality,

Taking refuge in Dhamma,

Taking refuge in Buddha and Dhamma,

Doing it here and now,

Becoming Sangha,

Taking refuge in Buddha,

Dhamma and Sangha.

Vipassana,

The eye of knowing,

Knowing this is the earth element,

This is the water element,

Not getting caught up in the function,

Let them function,

They follow their own function,

We follow our function,

They follow our function,

That's just nature,

A natural way,

No problem.

If you try to resist the natural way,

Things become very difficult,

Very stressful.

If you got caught up and really stressed out because you knew night time was coming,

That would be awful.

Night time is going to come whether you like it or not,

Day and night alternate over and over,

That's the nature of the function of day and night,

That's their nature,

Their function.

If you try to stop it,

Well,

You're going to go insane.

Trying to stop things from changing impermanence,

Trying to stop things from ending impermanence,

That's insane.

Night time comes,

Day time comes,

Night time comes,

Day time comes,

Day time comes,

Heat comes,

It changes to cold,

Cold comes,

It changes to heat.

The earth element,

It's smooth,

It's rough,

It's pleasant,

It's unpleasant,

It dissolves,

It decays,

It ends,

It dies,

That's its nature.

Trying to get up control,

Ultimate control over the body,

It's just the same as wishing that night time would never come and using all your power and will to stop it from happening,

That's a mad person.

And what happens in the end,

He fails,

Night time comes,

You fail,

You die.

The water element dries up,

Earth element becomes brittle,

Air element dissipates,

Temperature dissipates,

You get left with nothing of the body but dried up old earth element which eventually dissolves.

The known quality separates from the other elements.

What's that?

Separates,

It already was separate.

The suffering comes from the delusion of thinking it's not,

From thinking it is one,

From thinking that we are these other elements,

We're not these elements.

Forget the other elements,

Observe them for what they are and take refuge in Buddha,

Take refuge in knowing.

That's the practice.

There are many ways to do that.

The Buddha laid down many different models.

One model is the six elements which we just worked on.

The five khandas is another element,

Sorry,

Another model.

Any of them will do.

They are dharmas,

They are truth.

The knowing quality,

Seeing directly and knowing the Dharma is a way to relinquish suffering.

Don't take refuge in your own suffering.

It's not a refuge,

It's a sinking ship.

I is not a Dharma,

Adam is not a Dharma,

Adam is sad is not a Dharma,

Adam is ecstatic is not a Dharma.

There's no Adam.

There's no such Dharma.

So we could take refuge every time we come in front of a statue,

Every time we see a monk before us,

We can,

We chant the Pali,

But that's not seeing the Dharma.

Take refuge in the knowing quality.

The only reliable thing is the knowing.

The only thing that doesn't change is the knowing.

I challenge you to watch anything that you consider yourself,

Be it any of the elements in the body,

Be it any emotional quality of the mind that arises and falls away,

Be it any imagination,

Any exalted state,

Any image of God,

Anything you can conjure up and see if it changes.

I guarantee it changes,

Aka falls away,

Dies,

It can't be relied upon.

Isn't it crazy to rely upon something that is destined to fall away?

Shouldn't we rely upon the only thing that is not going to fall away?

A refuge,

It's like a refuge in a storm somewhere safe.

If it's going to sink with everything else in the ocean,

That's not a refuge.

Make an island of yourself,

Take refuge in the knowing quality.

Vipassana jnana,

Vipassana,

The knowing quality,

Consciousness,

Dājñāna,

Nirvāṇa,

Same thing,

Same thing.

This is the practice.

Become part of the sangha by manifesting the other two refuges in reality here and now.