0:00

The following talk

0:03

was given

0:05

at the

0:07

Insight Meditation

0:10

Center in

0:12

Redwood City

0:15

California. Please

0:19

visit our

0:22

website at

0:26

audiodarma.org. Next

0:29

talk on Samadi. We're

0:31

talking about the fourth

0:33

Jana. And it's not

0:36

something that people will

0:38

experience often and regularly

0:40

in life and maybe

0:43

occasionally it's experienced in

0:45

very particular circumstances, something

0:48

like this. But even

0:50

a meditation is not

0:52

something that is easy

0:54

to enter into and

0:56

abide. But one

0:59

of the ways maybe to

1:01

get a feel for it

1:03

is through the imagination and

1:06

through some of the characteristics

1:08

of it which might appear

1:11

in ordinary life. And one

1:13

of those is there's a

1:15

deep effortless quality that is

1:18

highlighted in the fourth Jana.

1:20

Before entering into Samadi, there

1:22

is a kind of effort

1:24

that's being done in practice,

1:26

sincere effort, and hopefully an

1:28

effort that you enjoy doing,

1:30

that you find a way

1:32

that it's enjoyable and satisfying,

1:35

you look forward to, just

1:37

like you would forward to

1:39

certain kinds of activities that

1:41

are fun to do, like

1:43

playing an instrument or maybe

1:45

cooking if you enjoy that, or

1:47

sometimes you put a tremendous amount

1:50

of effort into... you know, some

1:52

sport or something, go for a

1:55

hike in the hills and it

1:57

takes a lot of energy. But

2:00

there's a pleasure, there's a

2:02

joy, there's a kind of,

2:05

maybe a kind of effortless

2:07

quality in the sense that

2:09

we're not having to work

2:12

hard against ourselves. So as

2:14

we really enjoy the practice,

2:16

and then to begin finding

2:19

a way that to a

2:21

deeper settling, deeper quieting, calming,

2:23

and while being... deeply centered

2:26

and unified and really feel

2:28

like we're fully here in

2:30

the present moment here, centered

2:33

here in this time and

2:35

place. And then as we

2:37

go through the deepening Samari,

2:40

slowly, there's sometimes sometimes with

2:42

kind of big jumps, but

2:44

slowly there's a transition from

2:46

how much effort we have

2:49

to make and how much

2:51

effortless effort there is, how

2:53

much there's the practice, rather

2:56

we doing the practice, the

2:58

practice is doing us. And

3:00

so to go along with

3:03

that, to feel that shift,

3:05

so we're not overriding the

3:07

effortless part, overriding the way

3:10

the practice practices us, because

3:12

we think it's always up

3:14

to us. We're pushing and

3:17

striving and doing. There's an

3:19

art to knowing when to

3:21

let up. And just enough

3:23

but to stay really present.

3:26

Not so much that the

3:28

mind drifts off, but not

3:30

too much so that there's

3:33

a strain. And so this

3:35

art of kind of knowing

3:37

how to make this shift

3:40

gradual transition until there's less

3:42

and less effort from us

3:44

needed because there's no wondering

3:47

off. We're just here. We're

3:49

entered and abided. We're arrived

3:51

here. And the

3:54

Janas, the four Janas,

3:56

are one way of

3:58

understanding them. Yesterday I

4:00

talked about... progressive stages

4:02

of calming, another way

4:05

of understanding them, it's

4:07

a progressive entering and

4:09

abiding in an effortless

4:11

awareness. Lessenless effort is

4:13

needed. And until we

4:16

get to the fourth

4:18

jana, and it seems

4:20

like there's really no

4:22

effort at all. And

4:24

it can seem like

4:27

there's no effort in

4:29

the third jana, for

4:31

example. But from the

4:33

point of view, the

4:35

fourth jana, there's still

4:38

a little bit orientation

4:40

of the mind towards

4:42

the happiness, towards the

4:44

good qualities of it.

4:46

And so in the

4:49

fourth jana, kind of

4:51

the joy of clear

4:53

recognition, the joy of

4:55

the happiness of awareness,

4:57

the happiness that's a

5:00

little bit activated energy,

5:02

quiet down even more.

5:04

And so there's quite

5:06

a deep feeling of

5:08

effortlessness, but it's effortlessness

5:10

that seems to leave

5:13

what's left is a

5:15

broad, unbounded, sense of

5:17

awareness, of clarity, of

5:19

knowing, of sensing, of

5:21

sensing. of just being

5:24

that maybe has very

5:26

little characteristics to it.

5:28

It's almost, and it's

5:30

like that the awareness

5:32

is aware of itself.

5:35

It's kind of like,

5:37

you know, I'm near-sighted,

5:39

and so if I

5:41

kind of, I've complicated,

5:43

I say no. Without

5:46

my glasses, I don't

5:48

see so well and

5:50

certain distances. all blurry

5:52

and but when I

5:54

put on my glasses

5:57

it's everything is clear

5:59

and I can see

6:01

in certain certain directions

6:03

certain distances and and

6:05

the seeing it's kind

6:08

of like the seeing

6:10

sees its own clarity.

6:12

Well is the object

6:14

that's there that I

6:16

see clearly But there's

6:18

a feeling that it's

6:21

not so much about

6:23

the objects, there's almost

6:25

a feeling that the

6:27

eyes themselves now have

6:29

cleared, there's the eyes

6:32

see their own clarity

6:34

almost. And so the

6:36

awareness knows its own

6:38

clarity, knows its own

6:40

purity, or maybe there's

6:43

some deep, deep, nonverbal

6:45

knowing that knows these

6:47

things. It's a deep

6:49

knowing of something very,

6:51

of what is really

6:54

special, this effortless awareness

6:56

that's clear, it's unruffled,

6:58

there's no waves, there's

7:00

no judgments, and so

7:02

it's very equanimous, and

7:05

it's not reacting to

7:07

anything, so a lot

7:09

of things disappear. because

7:11

part of what the

7:13

mind is, is an

7:16

alarm system. We're alert

7:18

and vigilant for all

7:20

kinds of things, for

7:22

what we're afraid of,

7:24

what we don't want,

7:27

what we want, and

7:29

that kind of vigilance

7:31

falls away. Feeling of

7:33

deep, deep safety. Generally,

7:35

the Janas are very

7:37

hard to experience unless

7:40

somehow we provide our

7:42

whole psychophysical system with

7:44

the reinsurance of a

7:46

deep kind of safety

7:48

in that time. Because

7:51

that's another way of

7:54

describing the jaundice is

7:56

a progressive state of

7:58

feeling more and more

8:00

safe so safe that

8:02

they didn't safety and

8:04

danger disappears entirely and

8:06

we're just there and

8:09

with his clarity with

8:11

his purity with his

8:13

feeling very clean very

8:15

still very quiet there's

8:17

no thoughts at all

8:19

though there might be

8:22

still a little bit

8:24

just in the faint

8:26

kind of nonverbal knowing

8:28

that you know it's

8:30

really you're not involved

8:32

in it just It's

8:34

kind of floats there

8:37

a little bit gently,

8:39

quietly. It has no

8:41

power, there's no energy

8:43

behind it. And the

8:45

mind feels very clean,

8:47

as I've said, and

8:49

one of the characteristics

8:52

of it in the

8:54

description, in my translation,

8:56

I said, disappearance of

8:58

mental happiness and mental

9:00

suffering. It's hard to

9:02

know how to translate

9:04

these two words from

9:07

Polly. Dumanasana and... su-dah,

9:09

su-dah, su-manasana, do-manasana. And

9:11

basically it's kind of

9:13

means good mind and

9:15

bad mind. And it

9:17

might mean something like

9:19

a really elated mind

9:22

or a deflated mind.

9:24

And so the emotional

9:26

tenor, quality of the

9:28

mind, is neither elated

9:30

nor depressed, neither inspired

9:33

nor dispirited, neither sad

9:35

nor, you know, inspired.

9:37

And it can seem

9:39

like that's an amazing

9:41

dullness, amazing blandness. Why

9:43

would anybody want that?

9:45

Well to be in

9:47

it it just feels

9:49

like this is really

9:51

good. It feels so

9:53

pure, so nice, so

9:55

clear, so peaceful, that

9:57

maybe describing it as

9:59

a profound peace, that

10:01

waits almost as if

10:03

that's what's all that's

10:05

left. And maybe we're

10:07

still there in some

10:09

kind of way with

10:11

some kind of attention,

10:13

but the degree to

10:16

which there's any self-centeredness

10:18

or self- involvement, because

10:20

almost if not entirely

10:22

kind of disappeared. an

10:24

effortless awareness and effortless

10:26

peace that we abide

10:28

in. We feel safe

10:30

and we feel comforted

10:32

in. And like wrapping

10:34

ourselves after a nice

10:36

refreshing bath in a

10:38

wonderful bath towel that

10:40

just sit and be

10:42

completely content and happy

10:44

content and be completely

10:46

content and happy content

10:48

and happy content and

10:50

happy content and happy

10:52

content and happy content

10:54

and happy content and

10:56

happy content and happy

10:59

content and happy content

11:01

and happy content and

11:03

happy content and happy

11:05

content and happy content

11:07

and happy as we

11:09

wrapped in the clean,

11:11

clean, a towel, clean

11:13

body, refreshed body, everything

11:15

vibrating with a open,

11:17

clear, equanimous mind awareness.

11:19

So I'll read you

11:21

the description of the

11:23

Fourth Jana. Letting go

11:25

of pleasure and pain.

11:29

with the disappearance of

11:31

mental happiness and mental

11:33

suffering, when enters and

11:36

abides in the purity

11:38

of equanimous awareness of

11:40

the fourth Jana. Once

11:43

it's pervading this body

11:45

with a pure clear

11:47

mind, so that no

11:50

part of the entire

11:52

body is untouched by

11:54

the pure clear mind.

11:57

by the clean clear

11:59

mind. And

12:02

this is

12:04

a mind

12:07

which is

12:09

unpreoccupied with

12:11

itself. Unpreoccupied

12:13

with desires

12:15

and aversions.

12:18

Unpreoccupied by

12:20

fears and

12:22

distress. And

12:24

this makes

12:26

the mind.

12:30

phenomenally ready for

12:32

a transformation because

12:34

as soon as

12:36

the mind is

12:38

preoccupied by something

12:40

it can't, it's

12:42

the hard for

12:44

it to shift

12:46

and change and

12:48

be ready for

12:50

what comes. So,

12:52

so the fourth

12:54

Jana. So we

12:56

have one more

12:58

talk. on

13:01

this fourth John I

13:03

and the Johnos in

13:06

general and I'll kind

13:08

of bring it to

13:10

a kind of conclusion

13:13

tomorrow and talk a

13:15

little bit about what

13:18

follows the Johnas. So

13:20

thank you very much

13:23

and may this day

13:25

be a day that

13:27

you feel the preciousness,

13:30

the joy, the deep

13:32

satisfaction of the way

13:35

that your heart and

13:37

mind can be effortless

13:39

as it moves through

13:42

the day. Don't sacrifice

13:44

the depth of who

13:47

you are by making

13:49

too much effort. Let

13:52

the mind be at

13:54

ease. Thank you.