7:2:2024 - Fourth Noble Truth • Mindfulness Meditation and Dharma Talk with Venerable De Hong.pptx

7/2/2024 - Fourth Noble Truth • Mindfulness Meditation and Dharma Talk with Venerable De Hong

1. Fourth Noble Truth Ven. De hong Jul. 2, 2024

2. Ironwood State Prison

3. Couple Issues Some of their family members didn’t like it when they came to meditate One guy’s wife One guy’s mother and sister Korean War (Jun. 25, 1950-Jul. 27, 1953) ended almost 71 years ago. This one person: parents came from South Korea, born in California; he witnessed his parents constantly fighting, one time his mom used a knife to cut his father; another occasion, at 5 years old, she drove him and purposely crashed into a building. He joined a gang, committed his crime, incarcerated since 2011, parole hearing next year. His friends yelled at him for going to meditation in the chapel. NOTE: Look into “Intergenerational trauma.”

4. outline Starting 2024: The Four Noble Truths Jan. 2024: The First Noble Truth (last month) Feb. 2024: The Second Noble Truth & Craving/Addiction Mar. 2024: The Third Noble Truth & Buddhist Psychology Apr. 2024: The Fourth Noble Truth//8Fold Path Part I May 2024: The Fourth Noble Truth//8Fold Path Part II Jun. 2024: The Fourth Noble Truth//8Fold Path Part III Jul. 2024: The Fourth Noble Truth//8Fold Path Part III continues

5. The Fourth Noble Truth or The Eightfold Path Moral Compass Mental Clarity

6. The Eightfold Path Wisdom Skillful Understanding (Right View). Skillful Thinking (Right Intention) Morality (Moral Compass) Skillful Speech (Right Speech) Skillful Action (Right Action) Skillful Livelihood (Right Livelihood) Concentration (Mental Clarity) Skillful Effort (Right Effort) Skillful Mindfulness (Right Mindfulness) Skillful Concentration (Right Concentration)

7. Review Right Effort 1. Preventing Negative States of Mind 2. Overcoming Negative States of Mind 3. Cultivating Positive States of Mind 4. Maintaining Positive States of Mind

8. Right Effort N e g ative a n d un w holeso m e thoughts (five hindra n ces a n d ten fetters) harm the m ind. T hey should be opposed w ith skillful effort and overco m e. Overcoming the five hindrances (already covered briefly before) Greed (Sensual Pleasure) Ill will Dullness & drowsiness Restlessness & worry Doubt

9. The Ten Fetters Fetters overcome to reach the 1 st stage of enlightenment 1. Believe i n the existence of a permanent self or soul 2. D oubt in the message of the Buddha 3. B elief in rites and rituals Fetters o vercome to reach the 2 nd & 3rd stages of enlightenment 4. Greed for sensual pleasures 5. Hatred Fetters overcome to reach the 4th stage of enlightenment 6. S ubtle desire to exist in fine material form 7. S ubtle desire to exist in immaterial form 8. C onceit, or underlying perception of self-identity 9. R estlessness and worry 10. Ignorance

10. All negative mind states are rooted in Greed, Hatred, a nd Ignorance. Greed, in combination with ignorance, manifests as ten deep, powerful psychic irritants called “the fetters.” One must study and apply the Buddha’s teaching (4 Noble Truths, Three Marks of Existence, Five Aggregates, Karma, Dependent Origination with meditation practice)! Fetters overcome to reach the F irst Stage of Enlightenment 1. Belief in the existence of a permanent self or soul: one may believe that the five aggregates and the soul are identical. Or the soul is one thing, and the five aggregates are separate, unrelated to the soul. One may also belief that his or her soul existed from previous life. Ultimately, one believes that the soul is permanent, eternal, and never changing.

11. Fetters overcome to reach the F irst Stage of Enlightenment 2 . Doubt in the message of the Buddha: doubt the practice of cultivating, morality, concentration, and wisdom will bring lasting happiness. One may question about the past and future (such questions: did I exist before birth? Is there life after death? Will I be reborn? Do I exist? Who am I?) Such questions lead us to further confusion and make us forget to pay attention to what is really important. We must have faith in the practice (of morality, concentration, and wisdom) in order to achieve lasting happiness.

12. Fetters overcome to reach the F irst Stage of Enlightenment 3. Belief in rites and rituals: one believes the highest happiness can be attained by performing ceremonies, engaging in celebrations, making offerings to the Buddha or deities, chanting, praying, and reciting mantras instead of meditating and applying the Buddha’s message to daily life.

13. Fetters overcome to reach the Second & Third Stages of Enlightenment 4. Greed for sensual pleasures: desire for any sensual pleasures: sights, sounds, smell, tastes, and tangibles, even the physical body; also including thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and opinions. 5. Hatred: aversion to anything unpleasant.

14. Fetters overcome to reach the Fourth Stage of Enlightenment 6. Subtle desire to exist in fine material form: refers to the will to live, to exist in some form, any form. 7. Subtle desire to exist in immaterial form: refers to the desire for existence in a more refined form, some kind of ethereal body or higher gods. 8. Conceit, or underlying perception of self-identity: the experiential quality of seeming to exist as someone.

15. Fetters overcome to reach the Fourth Stage of Enlightenment 9 . Restlessness and worry: worry is due to expected future impact of having even the most subtle unwholesomeness remaining in the mind. Worry causes restlessness and keeps the mind fluttering like a banner in the wind. 10. Ignorance: A persistent blindness to the nature of suffering, ignorance of the Four N oble T ruths.

16. The functioning of these chains is subtle and insidious, but with mindfulness, you can discern how it happens. Mindfulness can help you discriminate between the senses, sensory objects, and the fetters as they arise. When the fetters come up, use mindful effort to overcome them. When they disappear, be mindful of that state as well.

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18. Mental Clarity Right Mindfulness Mindfulness means clear understanding every single physical and mental movement we make throughout every waking hour of every day-being here, now; aware of our sensations and experiences as they are, without the distorting coloration of socially conditioned responses or habitual reactions. Wisdom is the crown of insight. Opening the wisdom eye is the real purpose of mindfulness, for insight into the true nature of reality is the ultimate secret of lasting peace and happiness. Through mindfulness, the secret of happiness is revealed as the layers of impurities are peeled off through wisdom.

19. We begin to understand how each of the five aggregates comes into being, grows, matures, decays, and dies. Noticing the impermanence of all phenomena gives us that opportunity to see the dissatisfaction that change engenders. We see how everything is slipping away; we gain insight into the cause of our dissatisfaction and unhappiness: attachment to things that we are constantly in flux. Reality is our ever-changing experience of the ever-changing world-the world within us and the world we perceive through our senses. To deeply develop right mindfulness, one must make use of one of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Mindfulness of the Body, Mindfulness of Feeling, Mindfulness of the Mind, and Mindfulness of the Dharma (Mental Objects). To be covered in th e future if it’s requested.

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21. Mental Clarity Right Concentration Skillful concentration is wholesome; it goes into very deep and powerful levels of one-pointed focus; and it incorporates the use of mindfulness to develop wisdom. It helps us pierce through the superficial appearance of the mental objects to a clear perception of their impermanence, the dissatisfaction they bring, and their lack of a permanent or unchanging self or identity. The first step in establishing skillful concentration is to make sure your practice is wholesome by blocking hindrances from the mind.

22. Full concentration is always wholesome, one-pointedness, and undistracted focus. The goal of concentration practice is to sustain awareness so that concentration flows into each succeeding moment of mind, consecutively, without gaps. A moment of mind is so small that it is almost unimaginable. Full concentration has a number of stages or levels. We will limit our discussion to the first four levels (to be covered in the future, if there’s an interest).

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24. Compassion practice Mental ability to wish yourself well, healthy and happy. Or t houghts of goodwill (per Thanissaro Bhikkhu) The antidote to anger and hatred. Mental training of the mind. May I recognize any stress and difficult issues that I experience. May I not react to any of them. May I not say or do anything to harm myself and others. May I love myself unconditionally May I be calm and peaceful

25. Meditation practices Breathing Meditation (July 2023); Body Scan (Aug. 2023) Sense Door Practice (Sept. 2023); Window of Tolerance (Oct. 2023) Concentration meditation (Nov. 2023); Mindfulness of Feelings (Dec. 2023) Gratitude (Mar. 2024); Loving-kindness (Apr. 2024) Compassion (Jun. 2024)

26. Transfer of merits May the merits of this class and everyone’s practice benefit all sentient beings everywhere!