The description for this August 26th Insight Timer live event followed by my notes:
Not full of cr*p. For those (interested in) practicing the Four Sublime Abidings of loving-kindness, compassion, vicarious joy/rejoicing & equanimity join this Mettāsahagata Sutta (SN 46.54) sharing where we penetrate into even higher release by examining various modes of repugnance & lack thereof
The three translations referenced for this talk:
- https://dharmatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN46_54.html
- https://suttacentral.net/sn46.54/en/bodhi
- https://suttacentral.net/sn46.54/en/sujato
This talk bounces back and forth between:
- technical
- comparative
- practical
Want to say the Pali word translated as “repulsive”, and my translation/use of “repugnant” is from:
- appaṭikūle
- appaṭikūlasaññī
With the “appa” defined as:
adjective & neuter
small, little; trifling; few; rare; iic: very little, next to nothing (almost equivalent to a negative) (neuter) a little, a small amount; a trifling thing
I didn’t immediately find translations for the rest of that Pali word
In practical daily life for greater and greater freedom of heart:
- Will come back to some of these at end again:
- “repugnant” seems more extreme may really get our attention, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu uses “(not) loathsome,” but “repulsive” and “unrepulsive” in daily life:
- people, groups, food, feelings, thoughts
- perception level
- David Lynch photos example
- seeing buddha nature and/or divinity in the characters in our lives
- respecting power in blasting noise pollution example
- in relationships noticing strong likes and dislikes in same person
- “repugnant” seems more extreme may really get our attention, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu uses “(not) loathsome,” but “repulsive” and “unrepulsive” in daily life:
From the Visuddhimaga:
- (vi) That which consists in dwelling perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive, etc., is called Noble Ones’ success, according as it is said: “What is Noble Ones’ success? Here, if a bhikkhu should wish, “May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive,” he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive in that … he dwells in equanimity towards that, mindful and fully aware” (Paþis II 212). [382] This is called “Noble Ones’ success” because it is only produced in Noble Ones who have reached mind mastery.
- For if a bhikkhu with cankers destroyed possesses this kind of success, then when in the case of a disagreeable object he is practicing pervasion with loving-kindness or giving attention to it as elements, he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive; or when in the case of an agreeable object he is practicing pervasion with foulness or giving attention to it as impermanent, he dwells perceiving the repulsive. Likewise, when in the case of the repulsive and unrepulsive he is practicing that same pervasion with loving-kindness or giving attention to it as elements, he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive; and when in the case of the unrepulsive and repulsive he is practicing that same pervasion with foulness or giving attention to it as impermanent, he dwells perceiving the repulsive. But when he is exercising the six-factored equanimity in the following way, “On seeing a visible object with the eye, he is neither glad nor …” (Paþis II 213), etc., then rejecting both the repulsive and the unrepulsive, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and fully aware.
- For the meaning of this is expounded in the Paþisambhidá in the way beginning: “How does he dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive? In the case of a disagreeable object he pervades it with loving-kindness or he treats it as elements” (Paþis II 212). Thus it is called, “Noble Ones’ success” because it is only produced in Noble Ones who have reached mind mastery.
Key translation differences
- “And how, monks, is awareness-release through goodwill developed, what is its destination, what is its excellence, its fruit, & its consummation?
- And how, bhikkhus, is the liberation of the mind by lovingkindness developed? What does it have as its destination, its culmination, its fruit, its final goal?
- ‘But reverends, how is the heart’s release by love developed? What is its destination, apex, fruit, and end?
Comparative paragraphs
“And how, monks, is awareness-release through goodwill developed, what is its destination, what is its excellence, its fruit, & its consummation?
“There is the case where a monk develops mindfulness as a factor for awakening accompanied by goodwill, dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in letting go. He develops analysis of qualities as a factor for awakening… persistence as a factor for awakening… rapture as a factor for awakening… calm as a factor for awakening… concentration as a factor for awakening… equanimity as a factor for awakening accompanied by goodwill, dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in letting go. If he wants, he remains percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome. If he wants, he remains percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome. If he wants, he remains percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome & what is. If he wants, he remains percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome & what is not. If he wants—in the presence of what is loathsome & what is not—cutting himself off from both, he remains equanimous, alert, & mindful. Or he may enter & remain in the beautiful liberation. I tell you, monks, awareness-release through goodwill has the beautiful as its excellence—in the case of one who has penetrated to no higher release.
Selection from https://dharmatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN46_54.html
“And how, bhikkhus, is the liberation of the mind by lovingkindness developed? What does it have as its destination, its culmination, its fruit, its final goal? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu develops the enlightenment factor of mindfulness accompanied by lovingkindness … the enlightenment factor of equanimity accompanied by lovingkindness, based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and in the repulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive and in the unrepulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘Avoiding both the unrepulsive and the repulsive, may I dwell equanimously, mindful and clearly comprehending,’ then he dwells therein equanimously, mindful and clearly comprehending. Or else he enters and dwells in the deliverance of the beautiful. Bhikkhus, the liberation of mind by lovingkindness has the beautiful as its culmination, I say, for a wise bhikkhu here who has not penetrated to a superior liberation.
Selection from https://suttacentral.net/sn46.54/en/bodhi
- I remember hearing somewhere in the Visuddhimaga practicing metta, compassion, and rejoicing for jhana can only result as high as the first three jhanas. If so, this doesn’t seem to add up with this sutta. What am I missing and/or getting wrong?
- How can we better identify and be mindful of repulsive and unrepulsive in daily life? How can we then work with these dynamics of repulsive/repugnant and unrepulsive/not repugnant / loathsomeness and what’s not loathsome?
- Everyday live areas for exploration and practice: people, groups, food, feelings, thoughts, public bathrooms, bad neighborhoods, politicians
May I, you and all of us come to know the true heart’s release
Some comments from the event:
- “A stressful work situation has many hidden beautiful moments” . . . . “I celebrate a win when I remain calm and easy in my mind when I’m stretched too thin. To see challenging coworkers as a being who is also learning and deciphering information. I can connect with my patients in small ways even when they present upset, angry.”
- “How do you deal with “repulsive” things that you cannot get away from? For example, when you have very toxic relationships with people you love? Can you become more tolerant towards repulsive things at some point? Is that healthy?”
Audio: Full of Love
listen via Insight Timer (app or website)
Also, listen to the full unedited version of Full of Love with or without the Wisdom App — https://join.wisdom.audio/H6r5
The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
homeless and welcome this is Josh to fold of integrating presence and today’s talk entitled full of love and the
description for this is you know for the title full of love not full of crap
for those interested in practicing the four Sublime abidings of loving kindness
compassion vicarious Joy rejoicing and Equanimity join this meta
Gata it’s SN 4654 and somebody well I
guess nobody can chime in pronouncing it right for me so um so join this The Suitor reading
sharing where we penetrate into even higher release by examining various modes of repugnance and lack thereof
just I need to get a chair that’s not as loud and Angela says hello I finally caught alive well cool Angela glad to
have you here Violet says hello from New York how’s it going violet so I just this brief uh reading and
there’s a few things I want to mention about it too but I’m probably back bounce back and forth this between some
technical things uh and some comparative things but then you know the the really
good part is the Practical part like how do we um how do we apply this in everyday life so I used repugnant here
um and lack of repugnance uh the suta uses uh repulsive
um and not repulsive and then I think famous arabiku uses uh loathsome and not
loathsome so we’ll see how we can go um kind of the main practice of this too
and this poly word is I don’t even know how to pronounce it here I’ll put in the chat I’m thinking this is the right one
for any people here that that study poly and then this APPA taikul APA taikula
Sani um so basically only the APA part is defined in the
um suit at suit to Central and it’s known as a it’s an adjective it means small little trifling few rare very
little next to nothing uh equivalent to negative a little small amount of trifling thing
um so anyway uh that’s what I’m taking the Liberty to translate is repugnant if
I’m getting that right so let’s just jump right into the suta and it’s uh I’ll just read Bonte sujato’s version
because it’s all kind of nicely condensed and boy my computer fans
really kicked on now um and it doesn’t do the dot dot dot so
a lot of times in these suit does it’s a kind of a tradition to put dot dot dot instead of just repeating things
um again but because the repeating things there’s a lot of repetition and that’s so people can memorize it and it
really drives it home kind of like a song you know a refrain or a chorus and a song we’ll just jump right into this
though um at one time the Buddha was staying in the land of the golians where they have a town called
how highlighted the vasana okay way off on those anyway there are several
minikits robed up in the morning and and taking their bowls and robes entered this town for alms it occurred to uh
then it occurred to him it’s too early to wander for alms and pilad of vasana
why don’t we go to the monastery of The Wanderers who follow other paths so they
went to the monastery of The Wanderers who follow other paths and exchange greetings with The Wanderers there when the greetings and polite conversation
were over they sat down to one side The Wanderers said to them the Buddha’s
followers reverence or reverence Reverend’s the ascetic gotima which was
the name of the the Buddha’s first name right teaches his disciples like this come and the kids give up these five
hindrances Corruptions of the heart that weaken wisdom and meditate spreading a Heart full of love to One Direction and
to the second to the third and to the fourth in the same way above below
across everywhere all around spread a Heart full of love to the whole world
abundant expansive Limitless free of enmity and ill will meditate spreading a
Heart full of compassion to One Direction and to the second to the third and the fourth in the same way below
across everywhere all around spread a Heart full of compassion to the whole world abundant expansive Limitless free
of enmity and ill will meditate spreading a Heart full of rejoicing to One Direction and to the second to the
third to the fourth in the same way above below across everywhere all around spread a Heart full of rejoicing to the
whole world abundant expansive Limitless free of Mt and ill will meditate
spreading a Heart full of equanimity in One Direction into the second into the
third into the fourth in the same way above below across everywhere all around
they spread a Heart full of equanimity to the whole world abundance expansive
Limitless free of enmity and ill will we too teach our disciples in just the same
way what then is the difference between the aseptic gautama’s teaching and instruction of ours those men that gets
neither approved nor dismissed that statement of The Wanderers who follow other paths they got up from their seats
thinking we will learn the meaning of this statement from the Buddha himself then after the meal they when they
return from the almonds round they went up to the Buddha about sat down to one side and told him what happened and the
Buddha said minikits when Wanderers who follow other paths say you should say
this let me start over with that one minikits when Wanderers who follow other paths say this you should say to them
but reverence how is the hearts released by love developed what is its
destination Apex fruit and end how is the Hearts released by compassion
developed what is its destination Apex fruit and end how is the heart’s release
by rejoicing developed what is its destination Apex fruit and end and
finally how is the hearts released by Equanimity developed what is its destination Apex fruit and end question
like this The Wanderers who follow other paths would be stumped and in addition would get frustrated why is that because
they’re out of their element I don’t see anyone in this world with its Gods Mars
brahmas This population with with its Aesthetics and brahmanas it’s gods and
humans who could provide us satisfaction a satisfying answer to
these questions except for the realized one or his disciple or someone who’s
heard it from them old school landline I just uh did about
three of these and I was like okay is the phone gonna ring and I even turn it off on some of them but forgot today so
all right continuing here it’s we’re way way over halfway done how is the hearts
release now now it goes into um each of the four Brahma viharas which
he translates here as love from me to our loving kindness and how is the
hearts released by love developed what is its destination Apex fruit and end
it’s when Amanda kit develops the heart’s release by love together with
the Awakening factors of mindfulness investigation of principles energy
Rapture Tranquility immersion and Equanimity which rely on seclusion
fading away and cessation and ripen as letting go if they wish may I meditate
perceiving the rep impulsive in the unrepulsive that’s what they do if they
wish may I meditate perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive well then that’s what they do if they wish may I
meditate perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and the repulsive that’s
what they do if they wish may I meditate perceiving the unrepulsive in the
repulsive and the unrepulsive that’s what they do if they wish may I meditate
staying Quantum us Mindful and aware rejecting both the repulsive and the
unrepulsive that’s what they do the apex of the hearts release by love is the
beautiful I say for a mendicant who is not penetrated to a higher freedom and
so just for uh repetition’s sake and to really drive this home I’m going to repeat it for the other three Brahma
vaharas because I feel this is really important and very useful to to to get
this because there is you know several things in here we’ve got the Awakening
factors you know you’ve got all the different combinations of um repulsive and unrepulsive and then
um you also have the formless genres in here so there’s a bunch but what we’ll do after this reading is I’ll kind of
distill it down to what’s uh kind of more most vital and practical and maybe a laylife okay so how is the hearts
released by compassion developed what is its destination Apex fruit and end it’s
when a mendicit develops the hearts release by compassion together with the
Awakening factors of mindfulness investigation of principles energy
Rapture Tranquility immersion and Equanimity which rely on seclusion
fading away in cessation and ripen as letting go if they wish may I meditate
perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive that’s what they do do and actually I I said this wrong uh there is
some dot dot Dots here so um I’m just gonna leave out the other combinations here
um and I’m going to post the link to uh in the chat in just a minute after I finish this paragraph So then there’s
two other ones and then um the the final one of the four if they wish may I meditate staying equanimous
Mindful and aware or actually no there’s three more but then the this final one
um May I meditate staying equanimous mindful in aware rejecting both the repulsive and the unrepulsive that’s
what they do or else going totally Beyond perceptions of form with the
ending of perceptions of impingement not focusing on perceptions of diversity
aware that space is infinite they enter and remain in the dimension of Infinite
Space the apex of the hearts release by compassion is the dimension of Infinite
Space I say from indicate who is not penetrated to higher freedom
so here is the link I don’t know if it’s going to show up as a link or not
um if somebody wants to chime in to say it showed up or maybe you just have to copy and paste it but
so we’ve got um two more here and actually I’ll just do the dot dot dot on the next one but
then again on the final one we’ll get the the all the different combinations without the dot dot dot just again in
case you’ve missed it and how is the hearts release by rejoicing developed what is its destination Apex fruit and
end when it’s when a minikit develops the heart hearts release by rejoicing
together with the Awakening factors of mindfulness investigation of principles energy Rapture Tranquility immersion and
Equanimity which rely on seclusion fading away and cessation that ripens as
letting go if they wish may I meditate perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive that’s what they do then the
dot dot dot if they wish me I meditate staying equanimous mindful aware reject rejecting both the repulsive and the
unrepulsive that’s what they do or else going totally beyond the dimension of
Infinite Space aware that Consciousness is infinite they enter and remain in the
dimension of infinite Consciousness the apex of the hearts release by rejoicing
is the dimension of infinite Consciousness I say from minikit who is not penetrated to a higher Freedom okay
last paragraph and how is the hearts released by Equanimity developed what is
its destination Apex fruit and end it’s when a mendica develops the hearts
release by Equanimity together with the Awakening factors of mindfulness investigation of principles energy
Rapture Tranquility immersion and Equanimity which rely on seclusion fading away in cessation and ripen as
letting go if they wish may I meditate perceiving the repulsive in the
unrepulsive that’s what they do if they wish may I meditate perceiving the
unrepulsive in the impulsive that’s what they do if they wish may I meditate
perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and the repulsive that’s
what they do and if they wish may I meditate perceiving the unrepulsive in
the repulsive and the unrepulsive that’s what they do if they wish may I meditate
staying equanimous Mindful and aware rejecting both the repulsive and the
unrepulsive that’s what they do or else going totally beyond the dimension of infinite Consciousness aware that there
is nothing at all they enter and remain in the dimension of nothingness the apex
of the hearts release by Equanimity is the dimension of nothingness I say from
mindikit who is not penetrated to a higher Freedom wow so I found this suit
um I was researching something else and it was like one of the I think a previous ones so
um or I can’t remember remember how I stumbled upon it but I hadn’t heard this before and it’s also titled by biku
Bodhi as accompanied by loving kindness um and then famous calls it good will
notes so he translates Mehta as Goodwill it’s translated loving kindness and I
think yeah Bonte sujata just calls it love here all right so the other few
things I wanted to mention about this before really digging in or um is why don’t we just start with the
Practical daily life of this um well maybe we oughta I guess get to the
kind of the the really the Crux of this and see kind of like well what is the
importance of this I mean I’m sure plenty of you here are probably familiar with you know loving kindness and the
brother the horrors of the loving kindness practice compassion practice uh rejoicing or sympathetic empathetic or
altruistic Joy rejoicing and then uh Equanimity and these are formal
practices that we can practice and cultivate and develop and they’re also just kind of natural qualities that
arise when they’re not really hindered in daily life these beautiful um also called Sublime abidings and also
um known as Limitless you know because there is really no limit to these uh
you know they’re not a scarce resource they can be cultivated so the Crux of
this for me that I found really liberating going Beyond even like the Brahma vaharas or incorporating them is
this notion of repulsive and unrepulsive and um for me I use repugnant because it
seems even more extreme than um uh repulsive okay so if we think of
something that’s really really repugnant it almost and speaking of that there’s a huge there’s been dump trucks going by
pretty much all day long and uh going really loud and strong and just kind of
spewing asphalt all over the road by me and however so the way I look at that is
um I don’t know if it’s it’s definitely um in a way repulsive um you know blasting the noise pollution
but the way I look at it is unrepulsive is it’s kind of an expression of power
so whoever’s driving that truck whether they’re conscious of it or not it’s a
huge powerful thing to drive a humongous truck like that with a lot of stuff in
it moving it with a lot of force and there’s probably a lot of money involved
there’s probably deadlines and stuff and so um it’s a kind of crying out to have
power respected and power noticed so that’s one way I look at as
unrepulsive I guess for something like that so now this is working on a perception level and there’s a filmmaker
David Lynch and I’ve heard this story once where he he would take photographs of really up close extreme
um things and they and he wouldn’t tell them initially people what they were and they were these uh they just look like
these beautiful abstract um I don’t know either paintings or photographs but they were photographs
supposedly and what they actually were like really extreme close-ups of like stuff that was so disgusting like pus
blood different bodily fluids and things and people if people didn’t really know that first it looked like a kind of a
beautiful abstract thing but once the perception comes in of what it actually is then some it changes like the whole
our whole feelings towards it so so where do we in our lives do we get a
chance to you know uh see the repulsive and unrepulsive if anybody would like to
chime in please feel free I mean some things that came to mind immediately for
this were with other people right I mean there’s other people we see that we find you know repulsive and some people we
find the extreme opposite of that very attractive and beautiful um so we’ll just say unrepulsive right
uh groups of people perhaps you know the are out groups of you know people that
aren’t in our in groups or circles we might find some of those types of people repulsive
um food is a huge one right I mean the preferences and way attitudes and
feelings behind food um and how other people see food uh you
know what we like and don’t like what we find repulsive and you you know just think of like I’ve eaten some really
repulsive things in my life just uh just to say I did it back before I was vegetarian like I had squirrel brains uh
that’s probably one of the most or fried possum and I would definitely say both of those are fairly repulsive
um and I think maybe my unrepulsive finding was just to be able to taste those at that time just to say uh
um however we want to interpret them and Angela says a stressful work situation has many hidden Beautiful Moments yes it
can Angela you can um if you’d like to expand on that um sharing how they’re beautiful you’re
welcome to so our feelings too um you know how many times do we feel things that we do not want to feel that
we find repulsive in ourselves or we notice feelings in others that are repulsive so just imagine how liberating
that can be if we could find something kind of to balance that out or view a
repulsive feeling as not repulsive right so I don’t really know how many uh
suggestions on how to do that I guess we could say something like well you know
in order to feel happiness it helps to have the reference point of feeling
opposite than that so whatever kind of feeling we’re having you know the the
polarity of that is the other end of the feeling too and I feel this is one way
to become a game Mastery over feelings too thoughts as well like especially in
kind of meditative communities and Buddhist communities at least at one time it seemed you know there was kind of this denial oh thoughts aren’t the
problem but you know this is how you get rid of them you know this is uh you know this is how you you don’t want you know
um basically saying that you know thoughts are okay but then going you know okay well if thoughts happen this
is how you deal with them this is what you do and just spending so much time actually trying to get uh you know deal
with them and I’m not saying don’t deal with them but I get it’s almost disproportionate of um you know instead
I’m not saying but I’m also not saying that we should you know totally put thoughts on a pedestal all
the time you know and say we should actually generate more and more and more thoughts no no so it’s just like uh the
balance and how we in our our feelings and attitudes and perceptions towards thoughts as well is it like
um we want more thoughts because we think we’re dumb or you know we’re just totally
um oh I don’t know identify with more intellectualism or we want to be kind of
more meditative and view them as okay I want failing in meditation because I’m having a lot of thoughts like this so
where’s the balance how do we view them how to respond to them um again the perception level uh a lot
of this deals with the perceptional level I feel I’m gonna uh view or read a few things from the really brief things
from the vasudi manga that uh kind of like puts in detail like really defines
how to do this and I would say that could be helpful but I would say well don’t stop there look at this in a
different ways is also what about seeing the Divinity in the characters in our
lives or the Buddha nature so we sometimes we just see characters like we write them off as even some people I
know I do it’s like not necessarily cartoon characters but okay well this is so and so this is how they are and
that’s how they behave and this is who they are this is how they act um you know they’re always late they’re always on time they’re this kind of
person not that kind of person right well instead can we see underneath that
to well this being has potential uh to become a Buddha someday or if we into
more Divinity paths like okay well how is um this is could this be an ex how can I
see this as an expression of divinity um and then of course in our relationships right we can have really
strong likes and dislikes towards the same person you know how many times or at least me where I can see such
beautiful lovely qualities and things that are really attractive and and then at other times see just such horrendous
things that are repulsive and uh disgusting and it’s like how the hell did this happen you know who is this
person kind of thing right and so that’s a beautiful way to um work with this uh
um freedom of the Heart by in our relationships is seeing these I mean I
kind of went to extremes there but just just things we like and don’t like about someone too okay so Angela says I
celebrate a win when I remain calm and Easy in my mind when I’m stretched too
thin to see challenging co-workers as being as a being who is also learning
and deciphering information I can collect I’m sorry I can connect with my
patients in small ways even when they present upset angry yeah it’s beautiful
right and um patience I don’t know the nature of your work but it sounds uh fairly
clinical and yeah and to to be that strong Rock Solid Center where can be
hold space for them to discover their own healing too and at the same time
benefit ourselves from holding such space too right and the ripple effect of
that happening goes beyond just the the clients and the space holder too right
because as we as healing happens it’s uh since we’re all interconnected it
benefits everybody we come in contact with and you I would say maybe even those we don’t you know since we’re all
interconnected we’re beautiful Angela okay so here’s what the vasuti Maga says about this repulsive unrepulsive thing
it’s just three little paragraphs here so this is I think it’s from the chapter on it might be the chapter on the
idipata which I also did a series about um it’s section 36 starts here that
which consists in dwelling perceiving the unrepulsive in the the repulsive Etc
is called Noble the noble one’s success according as it it is said what is Noble
one’s success here if a biku should wish may I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive
in the repulsive he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive and the repulsive that dot dot dot he dwells in Equanimity
towards that Mindful and fully aware um this is called the noble one success because it is only produced in Noble
ones who have reached mind Mastery and then 37 for if a beaku which basically
means a male monk but uh some people translate it as well anybody practicing um into this type of stuff and
practicing studying for IFA biku with cankers destroys destroyed possessed
this kind of success than when in the case of a disagreeable object he is
practicing provision with loving-kindness or giving attention to it as elements dwells perceiving the
unrepulsive or when in the case of an agreeable object he is practicing
provision with foulness or giving attention to it as impermanent he dwells
perceiving the repulsive likewise when in the case of the repulsive and unrepulsive he is practicing that same
pervasion with loving-kindness or giving attention to it as elements he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive and when in
the case of the unrepulsive and repulsive he is practicing that same pervasion with foulness or giving
attention to it as impermanent he dwells perceiving the repulsive but when he is
exercising the six-factored Equanimity in the following way on seeing a visual object with the eye he is neither glad
nor dot dot then rejecting both the repulsive and the unrepulsive he dwells in Equanimity Mindful and fully aware
and I’ll come back to that but there’s only one short paragraph here for the meaning of this is expounded in the
Hira in the I don’t know how to pronounce it sorry in the in the way beginning how does he dwell perceiving
the unrepulsive and the repulsive in the case of a disagreeable object he pervades it with loving kindness or he
treats it as elements thus it’s called The Noble one success because it’s only producing the noble ones who have
reached my Mastery so basically kind of repeating there so the key things to this are okay so if something’s
disagreeable you know our obvious default mode is to not you know maybe
have ill will or wanting to get rid of it at least or push it away not wanting to have anything you know um fond or
loving kindness or Goodwill towards it so that’s the antidote they actually do the exact opposite so if we encounter
something disagreeable one way is to practice loving kindness with it or giving attention as elements so instead
of you know uh usually we see something and then it’s not that big a deal anymore we’re now focused on how we feel
about it our thoughts about it that’s the overriding element because if you just look at something that triggers all
the thoughts and emotions it’s actually usually a form right or a memory uh some kind of thought form or an actual
physical object and so that in and of itself really isn’t that um challenging
right because so the way to do it instead of focusing on what it brings up in us in our kind of way we’re way
reviewing it and maybe even responding to it that we go into the four elements so okay the the hard uh the the Earth
element where is the hardness or softness in this focusing on that where is the um smoothness or roughness
um so it’s more like a scientific approach and then what’s the other like the heaviness or the lightness of it the water element
um what parts of it especially within our body it’s easier to notice you know what parts are um cohesive cohesive uh
flowing or maybe dissolving and then the Air elements where is the supporting where’s the movement where’s the space
also like where is the pressure possibly and then the uh Fire Element just
basically uh heat hot or cold you know is there where is the the heat in the
coldness of them so that’s uh so they just kind of it when we’re bringing more
attention to that it just there’s really not much room to to go into stories to go into reactions to view it certain
ways oh I wish so and so wouldn’t have done that can you believe so and so did this so if you’re just you’re viewing
them as elements like the the like that type of thing um the other thing
uh the foulness so if we find it it’s the opposite so we find something really alluring and pleasing well how can we
view it as foul just to balance out how we might maybe get ourselves into
trouble if we find something to um you know agreeable Pleasant and I’m
sure we’ve all you know maybe eaten a tub of ice cream when we just wanted to have like a little bite or maybe a whole
loaf of bread or something like that or maybe an adult situations um beyond that right so um found this so
we can look at okay well you know um can I see this person as the you know you
just peel away the layer of skin and look at all uh what what’s all the stuff in there you know how many like miles of
intestines and what’s all in there you know we kind of overlooked that because it’s hidden pretty well right or like
what about the belly ache I’m gonna have from eating a tub ice cream a brain freeze um so then the what’s the the uh
the other thing here um the foulness oh impermanence too so
something we find really agreeable will that last forever you know
is going to change it’s not constant it can’t be
satisfying in the long term and the way we want it all the time okay so that’s
that Daniela says how do you deal with repulsive things and you cannot get away
from for example when you have a very toxic relationships with people you love
can you become more tolerant towards repulsive things at some point is that
healthy uh really good questions it uh I mean this depends on a case-by-case
basis okay so I really kind of have to know more about the individual relationships you’re talking about I
think some guidelines here are the obvious ones are boundaries right so establishing healthy boundaries
um but so the ones you cannot get away from um so I would say that pretty much in
all situations there can be some kind of boundaries made you know and the the
biggest thing is if you’re in a toxic relationship especially an abusive
relationship you have to do whatever you can to get out of it at least temporarily I know in my experience I’ve
had um I’ve had some really challenges with certain people in my life
um but when I when I just um when I put those boundaries up what what happened is we both realized that
uh how much we really appreciate each other and maybe how much we were really
treating um each other badly and also um like treating myself badly too and
didn’t realize that until that space was established and those boundaries were established and then uh in that time
away it just gave more appreciation now I’m not now sometimes the most
compassionate thing we can do is create strong boundaries and maintain them and
send kind of compassion from a distance and that could last the rest of our lives right uh in other cases it’s kind
of a temporary measure but you have to look at harm if if harms involved then
you know abuse is involved then have to do whatever you can to get out of that and even if it’s a huge inconvenience uh
you know that’s not going to last forever so that’s what I would say about that um can you become more tolerant towards
repulsive things at some point yes and you know this is just what this whole thing is uh and it’s a practice too you
know finding um uh the uh the unrepulsive in the repulsive
um and then is that healthy well it depends is it going to free your heart more or is it just gonna make your heart
more upset you know um so and I think it’s it can also be and feel it’s a gradual practice right
so you can’t go from let’s say where wherever we are now to complete utter
Liberation uh with no more problems ever I mean you know the Buddha said this is possible nibana right I mean maybe
that’s my distorted way to look at it but it’s the full liberation of the heart you know um there’s so many
synonyms for it but it’s a practice and I mean some people um can get you know it seems seemingly
closer to it uh in less time than others but there’s whole reasons for that but we we start where we are and we practice
where we are and I would suggest reaching out to a real Buddhist teacher you know officially and studying with
them if you find any of this stuff interesting for me you know I don’t have any formal qualifications other than
um I invite people to um call me out and correct me because that’s how I learning
grow and self-correct too and not put out distorted stuff as well so
um and it also depends the repulsiveness is it is it harming you uh in actuality
or is it just a perception we have of repulsion right like I was saying like I might find you know a dirty bathroom
repulsive a public restroom okay but if I if I don’t spend much time in there
and really get involved in a dirty bathroom in public then it’s not really harming me directly right but in my mind
my mind is reacting to it and maybe emotions saying oh this is horrible I can’t believe this is disgusting a lot
of these people so filthy while they just clean this up I can’t believe I have to use this now so so that kind of
thing is not healthy my reaction to it but in all actuality you know you just
uh you could just put on you know rubber gloves and maybe a mask if you have to
if it smells that bad and just go you know clean it so that’s one example now
I would look at harm for as far as the healthy if harms involved then no yeah
for me any kind of harm is really not healthy I mean there’s a maybe a few exceptions like if you’re trying to save
someone’s life and some you know harm needs to be involved in order to just so we get into more ethical implications
but just kind of use our Common Sense on that so I hope you it’s something of that from useful with me rambling here
um so I just wanted to go into a few more things here the key differences in these translations and this is more
technical things and I would just uh mention that I’ve done some work and um
you’re welcome Daniela uh some work and some translation things but with some Chinese translations however it’s I
wouldn’t really consider it much help because I don’t really know any Chinese but my little contribution when I’m not
getting in the way of other people’s more significant contributions and that’s not just me looking down on
myself because if I knew Chinese it would be different right I could actually contribute more but my small
contribution is getting a literal literal word by word translation where
it doesn’t make all that much sense in English and then um uh kind of Translating that literal
translation is something that sounds more natural and kind of fits to the
overall feel uh intent um and color of the entire thing that’s
being translated also it’s very helpful when doing translations like I’m going to do here is to compare it with other
people’s existing translations and see the differences and then draw I mean a
lot of it’s on preference but drawing what seems helpful what seems more eloquent what seems more true to the
actual intent of the thing that’s being translated so the the um I’ll just read
two different key paragraphs here and let’s see the first one is from bikubody
I think in this and how monks is aware no I’m sorry this is from Thanos rbq and how monks is
awareness released through Goodwill developed what is its destination what
is its Excellence its fruit its consummation and how because is the
liberation of the Mind by loving kindness developed what does it have as its destinations culmination it’s fruit
and final goal but reverence how is the hearts released by love develop what is
its destination Apex fruit and end see here’s the other one and how monks is
awareness released through Goodwill developed what is its destination what is its Excellence its fruit it’s
consummation okay so this is from thanosaur and how months is awareness
released through Goodwill developed with its destination what is its destination what is its Excellence its fruit it’s
consummation there’s the case where a monk develops mindfulness is a factor of Awakening Company by Goodwill dependent
on seclusion dependent on dispassion dependent on cessation resulting in
letting go he develops analysis of qualities and I’m just going to go the dot dot dot uses persistence Rapture
calm concentration Equanimity as a factor for awakening accompanied by Goodwill depended on seclusion dependent
on dispassion dependent on cessation resulting in letting go if he wants he
remains precipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome
loathsome if he wants he remains recipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what
is loathsome if he wants he remains precipient of alone loathsomeness in the
presence of what is not loathsome and what is if he wants he remains
precipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome loathsome
and what is not if he wants in the presence of what is low sun and what is
not cutting himself off from both he remains quonimus alert and mindful or he
may enter and remain in the beautiful Liberation I tell you Monk’s awareness release through Goodwill has has the
beautiful as its excellence in the case of one who has penetrated to no higher
release this breaks down the loathsomeness and unlosomeness and we
see how he uses that word there instead of um repulsive unrepulsive and course
instead of fading away here he uses cessation right um so it’s another key difference and
then uses what is its destination its Excellence it’s fruit it’s consummation
and then the one I read from before uses destination Apex fruit and end so this
is subtle word changes here um but you know some will resonate with
some in better ways and vice versa so let’s see bikubody I’ll just read the
same paragraph really briefly and how because is the liberation of Mind by loving kindness developed what is it
what does it have as its destination it’s culmination it’s fruit it’s final goal here because ibiku develops
enlightened factors of mindfulness accompanied by loving kindness the enlighteness factor of equanimity
accompanied by living kindness based on seclusion I’m sorry there’s a dot dot dot so it goes through the seven factors
Awakening the enlightenment factor of equanimity accompanied by loving
kindness based on seclusion dispassion and cessation maturing in release if he
wishes may I dwell perceiving the repulsive and the unrepulsive he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein if he
wishes may I pers may I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive and the repulsive he
dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein if he wishes may I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the
unrepulsive and in the repulsive he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein
if he wishes may I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive and in the
unrepulsive he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein if he wishes
avoiding both the unrepulsive and the repulsive may I dwell quantumlessly
Mindful and clearly comprehended then he dwells therein equanimously Mindful and
clearly comprehending or else he enters and dwells in the Deliverance of the
beautiful because the liberation of mind my loving kindness has the beautiful as
its culmination I say for a wise biku here who is not penetrated to a superior
Liberation okay so that is the one on loving kindness and then of course it
goes into compassion and the compassion has the
um the base of the Infinity of space as its culmination so that corresponds with
what people call the um the first formless or the fifth genre of the
boundless space and so how that corresponds how compassion corresponds
with that one and the next one altruistic Joy or it’s called um what is
it called help me out here um oh not opeka is uh so it’s uh wow I’m
blanket on that um anyway if I think of it here I’ll I’ll give the poly um but the altruistic Joy
um because the liberation of mine of altruistic Joy has the base of Infinity of Consciousness as its culmination so
the next genre up would be the uh if people are giving them numbers so that’s the sixth one
um boundless Consciousness and how that can be associated with that and of course the the last one though
um that with Equanimity it says because the liberation of my Equanimity has the
base of nothingness as its culmination I say so this is the seventh
um genre or the um you know the four of the third formless so uh one before the
last one of neither perception or non-perception and this uh nothingness
or no thingness so and then it’s interesting here you know of all this uh
freedom of heart this release of heart it’s still this one obviously is not
well not maybe obviously but for those who haven’t penetrated into Superior Liberation so yes even the next higher
Janna is more liberating in a way the the base of neither perception or
non-perception but going even beyond that of course is the goal here nabana and um you know that is uh the ultimate
goal I guess we could say here all right well I’m going to start wrapping this up here those are just kind of uh technical
notes um again all this stuff is um easily online and probably more clear
from other teachers this is you know the kind of some of the higher higher
teachings of this The Awakening factors those seven that are listed there the dependence on you know seclusion and
cessation those type of kind of conditions that help bring about this kind of thing uh and then of course
these higher levels they were defined states of absorption known as the janas
are associated here too but the takeaway from this the more practical thing in
our our daily lives I feel is this noticing this repulsiveness in this
unrepulsiveness in life you know the easier way even than that I mean maybe it’s related or not is just Pleasant and
unpleasant this hedonic tone that’s emphasized a lot in Buddhism so um but this has kind of more of a charge
and more immediate if we look at it as repugnant or repulsive or loathsome and not that way right it’s just kind of
makes it more binary instead of the three vadana which is the pleasant
unpleasant and then the third one neither Pleasant nor unpleasant and that deals with Equanimity so again in our
daily lives so I’ll leave you with this uh question here how well before I do that let me just um I just want to point
out another quick technical note that I I couldn’t be wrong so please reach out and connect me but I want to say that I
that said in the vasuti Maga that that said that uh met uh compassion and
rejoicing can only um if we’re doing these as formal practices to enter johnnas uh that they
can only get to like the second third uh first second third and maybe fourth I’m
not sure but from what I want to mention or what I remember is that either the
city market said it’s not possible to use those as a formal practice to enter into the formless Jonas but it’s
interesting how this suit uh um unless I’m reading the suit the wrong uh and they’re not associated but it
does have them right next to what I just went over before this right so I’d be interested in the kind of the
explanation of that or someone correcting me of all know that the city Maga does say that you can do that into
the formless Realms or whatever anyway okay now back to the Practical part to leave you guys with here
so how how can we better identify and be mindful of repulsive and unrepulsive in
daily life right uh how many times do we notice repulsive right or well I mean
maybe not okay so if I’m more of an aversive personality type I’m probably going to remember uh or notice more
repulsive things they stick out more they get my attention more but if I’m more into the maybe greed or lust
personality type I’m just going to look over the uh the repulsive stuff and focus just on the unrepulsive stuff so
how can we notice both of these better in our lives I’m sure we probably maybe lean one way or the other more than the
other um so you know what are we not being mindful of do we not notice
repulsiveness as much um or do we not notice unrepulsiveness
as much in daily life um and then we when we do notice these things how are we noticing them you know
what kind of wakes us up to be aware of that and then also kind of what is our
ensuing behavior when we do find something repulsive or unrepulsive and
then what is it like when we actually know that some things we identify and
see and know something is repulsive and how does that change when we just on autopilot and don’t notice how
something’s repulsive or unrepulsive usually when we recognize that there’s more wisdom available to how we view it
and respond to it and then how can we work with these dynamics of repulsive and repugnant and unrepulsive
or not repugnant or loathsomeness and not loathsomeness you know viewing
um one in the other the other and the other are one in both of them or the other and both of them right and
actually I wonder if thanosaur biku puts it a way that’s different and adds new
light on it here yeah the percipient so just one example here if he wants he
remains recipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome so
that’s a different way to language this and I’ll just read the rest here anyway if he wants he remains precipient of
unlosomeness in the presence of what is loathsome if he wants he remains
precipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome and
what is if he wants he remains precipient of unlossiveness in the
presence of what is loathsome and what is not if he wants in the presence of what is loathsome and what is not
cutting himself off from both he remains a quantumless alert and mindful so that
remaining precipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome
what’s not so precipient they just give the dictionary definition for this basically means happy it says having a
good understanding of things and perceptive so when we really know something have an understanding and can
perceive it then we can focus more on whichever quality we want when in the
presence of the other so it’s it’s kind of like an energetic game bringing more attention and awareness to the opposite
uh at least starting off I think it’s easiest just to look at as almost like dualistic here um and then can go into
the the trinary of you know focusing on one when in the presence of both
unrepulsive repulsive anyway yeah I welcome you all to try this out and see
how much um liberation of heart it results in or what it brings up and in you and how it
might be useful or not and how we might address to whatever happens when in your
practice of perception with this and this can be done formal meditation everyday life too it could be done again
in people groups you know around food around the feelings and thoughts we have uh again the public bathrooms I know
maybe a little bit too graphic on that one uh what about bad neighborhoods too if you go into a bad neighborhood or a
good neighborhood you know a really plush Swank neighborhood luxurious
neighborhood uh politicians you know politicians you might like or uh uh in
my case um uh pretty much all the politicians are the other way for me you know how am I going to see the unrepulsive in that
all right well thank you guys for joining and may I you and all of us come
to know the true hearts release
English (auto-generated)
Integrating Presence 
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