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And some of it creates pleasant feelings and some of it creates unpleasant feelings, but that too doesnt matter.

Thats all just on the surface of our lives.

The depth is to be found in the jhana.

And thats where we experience the inner reality, that what we always knew, either consciously or subconsciously, that we do carry it within, most people know it subconsciously, some people know it consciously, and that most people dont get it just because theyre not shown the way or because they dont practice or whatever it may be.

And the equanimity, have already explained that what it means in daily life, that it means that although there is a warmth of feeling and a caring for others, there is no dependency upon the happenings that go on around us because the warmth and the feeling for others is not affected by that.

Neither is the warmth and the feeling for oneself affected by it.

Whether somebody finds us lovable or not, that remains their viewpoint and their opinion.

And that means that were no longer a victim, but that we have taken our own emotions in hand.

And when we take our own emotions in hand, then of course we have security.

The name came up by the name means security.

So we gradually and progressively let go of the different factors of the jhanas until were only left with one-pointedness.

Now this one-pointedness does not have then the interruptions that we sometimes even get still in the second jhanas.

And it is, like to compare it to a deep well where in the beginning at the stage of contentment, we might be sitting on the top of it dangling our feet into the well and being contented.

But as we become more and more concentrated and peaceful, we go down into the well, successfully, gradually, progressively, until eventually we may be at the bottom of the well.

But you can see already from this simile that it is essential to let go of any self-assertion.

Here in the fourth one, even the observer who observes all that is minimized.

Its not disappeared, but its minimized because it is such a deep state of relaxation.

This is the state barring the eighth jhana which brings the greatest energy, rejuvenation and regeneration to the mind.

It makes it therefore a mind which is clear and sharp, which can see the connections, which can see things as they really are.

mind which does not have that kind of one-pointedness and does, because of that, does not have the ability to have that regeneration and rejuvenation will not be able to see the depth of the teaching.

The depth of the teaching is even difficult for people who can do the jhanas.

Never mind for those who cant, because the depth of the Karm is intrinsically connected to the depth of the insight.

mind which scurries around on the surface remains on the surface.

We can philosophize and we can think and we can logically deduce, but that is not going to bring freedom.

The only way were going to get freedom is when we can actually feel it, and the feeling comes from this kind of experience.

The Force One has as an effect their equanimity, but it also has as an insight the understanding that by letting the self-assertion go and making as much self-surrender as is necessary to go into the Force means that we can actually gain real peace.

So here we have already a taste of what it means to do not have the self always in the front wanting and disliking and being in charge of the whole life situation.

So again we have a very profound insight from that, and because all direction is to use these for gaining that kind of insight, they are far deeper going than just the understanding because we actually have bitten into the mango.

We know what it tastes like to be without this self-assertion.

The Force is then that simile where the person lies down under the tree in the shade completely at peace with him or her and the world and being totally at rest.

Because the mind is totally at rest, as much or similar to the eights, the eights might be just a fraction more rest, it has the greatest regeneration aspect, and the mind, because it gets used all the time, needs to be regenerated.

Anybody who has watched him or herself and has been thinking all day knows how tiring that is, how all one wants is to just skip the whole thing.

And so what does one do in ordinary life when goes to bed hoping to sleep But thats not the answer either, because at night we dream.

The only answer is to go into the fourth genre.

Then we can skip the whole thing.

Actually all that thinking that were doing is totally unnecessary, as every meditator should know, because its nothing but a disturbance.

At times naturally there has to be something that we have to attend to, but because we can attend to it with mindfulness its not that tiring.

Its the discursiveness of the mind, the restlessness and the worry, the hoping and the wanting that makes it so tiring.

And because of that we have to have that regeneration.

Thats a simile for the fourth genre again.

Oh yes, one of the things which is said also is that its a pure bright mind.

It is the purest of those four, because of the fact that all the other factors, the joy and the rapture are initial and the sustained apricot are gone.

Only one pointedness is left, so thats the purest of those four states of course, and of course also the deepest.

And therefore it brings also the greatest brightness of mind.

Great King, suppose a person were to be sitting covered from the head down by a white cloth, so that there would be no part of the entire body, not suffused by the white cloth.

In the same way Great King, the meditator sits of choosing the body with a pure bright mind, so that theres no part of the entire body not suffused by a pure bright mind.

Well again, the body is used as, for the simile, just as it is used in the other simile that one lies down under the tree, because its all we have.

At that time the body is not felt, but the completeness of being totally wrapped in the peacefulness is the meaning of this being completely covered with the white cloth from head to toe.

Nothing is left out, one is totally in it.

So its a suffusing the body with this pure bright mind, the purity of the mind is the one pointedness, and the brightness comes from the peacefulness.

The peacefulness is not dull, that also has to be remembered when one does these jhanas.

The peacefulness is bright, but bright does not mean that its light opposed to dark, not necessarily anyway.

It means totally aware, totally there, thats what brightness means.

Its not a dullness, this utter peacefulness has complete awareness in it, and yet it doesnt have that much movement as the others have.

It still has movement, but not as much movement, mind movement as the other three had.

It is either possible to just move from one to the other because the mind does it, but it is just as valuable to determine to move.

The Buddha says that also, because one realizes that the one one is in is still not as fine, as subtle as it could get.

And since one knows where one is moving to, one also knows how to do that.

Theres also a misconception that one shouldnt know about it.

If dont know where want to go, its highly unlikely Im going to get there.

Ones got to know where one is going.

And theres no reason to make this a secret.

The Buddha certainly didnt make any secret out of it.

We have many statues of the Buddha where he is depicted with his left hand, and the palm, the left palm turned out over his left knee.

And that mudra means that he has taught with an open hand and not a closed fist.

They have always taught with an open hand, not a closed fist, never kept anything secret.

So the teaching is certainly there to be known and to be used.

One word that may be necessary for those that have not done the jhanas yet, please dont look for anything.

First one has to become concentrated.

If one is concentrated, the rest happens.

Now the first one comes from the seclusion of, from the seclusion from the unwholesome states.

So it is quite helpful to make that determination to see that in oneself, that at this point in time theres no unwholesomeness at all.

And then just keep on being concentrated, thats all.

Whenever thoughts arise, let the mind quickly go back to the meditation subject.

Recognize the fact that thoughts are connected with the world.

And the world cannot give total satisfaction.

Everything weve ever looked for, its all within us.

All of us are all that we ever want to be.

Weve just got to get at it.

All right, thats enough on the first four.

Do the javas blend together Are they more like, say, a rainbow where the colours blend into each other than like a stair step where theres a distinct jump from one to the other No, theyre quite different.

One is quite, theyre all quite different from each other.

But you cant really point and say, this is where the red in the orange begins.

It just sort of slides into the other colour.

Well, would say that as one slides, one doesnt know, but when one has arrived, one knows ones a different spot.

So like if you slip down a rainbow, you would see the red and then we would know that youd slip into the green.

But at the moment of sliding, one wouldnt be so aware of that sliding.

Unless the sliding doesnt happen, then one can do it deliberately.

Ones stuck to the red long enough.

Okay, what else Remember, questioning is part of the pathway, yes.

Id like to know what the recommendation is for a male practice, time with a male practice and a mature practice, in order to get to this, you know, crisis, fall in line.

How much practice to do in everyday life, you mean Well, but for a certain time, have mature practice.

As much time as youve got, suppose, dont know, minimum, minimum two hours a day.

Thats just enough to keep the state going that one has achieved in a retreat.

Whatever one has, however far one has got, one can just keep that going with two hours a day in daily life.

So maybe one, if the more retreats one can teach, the more retreats one has.

It also has a lot to do with ones karma, how long it takes.

Its got a lot to do with that and a lot to do with ones devotion, all sorts of things.

And you can be quite sure that in all the courses give, the people eventually all get to it, even though they might not do so in the first course they take, but eventually they all get to it.

So, youre supposed to interrogate, said somewhere along the line here, didnt it