Levels of Consciousness

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:01]Hello. Um hopefully this is coming through. YouTube's telling me um this stream is uh not receiving enough enough signal.

[00:00:27]Computer's being blocked, too.

[00:00:45]Okay, hopefully uh hopefully this is working.

[00:00:51]Let me know in the chat if there's any issues.

[00:00:58]Good.

[00:01:00]I think it looks like the video is going to be glitchy, but if the audio is fine, that's the main thing.

[00:01:10]Okay. Um I'm going to um be I've got some uh travel plans coming up, so I'm going to be missing a few of these uh live streams.

[00:01:25]Then um tomorrow I'm leaving for Poland to teach a retreat uh there and in July I'm going to Missouri.

[00:01:38]So the next uh next uh live stream after this one will be um Thursday the I think it's the 11th of June. Yeah, the 11th. Thursday the 11th of June.

[00:01:55]So there'll be a I'll be missing the next two.

[00:02:00]Okay. So let's get going.

[00:02:02][clears throat] Okay. So, um two weeks ago I talked about consciousness and AI and last week I talked about some uh uh issues around defining consciousness.

[00:02:36]So I'll finish off this uh short kind of sequence by um talking today about the different levels of consciousness and there are different ways of uh approaching that.

[00:02:52]Uh to begin with um let's look at the way it's defined in the abidama.

[00:02:59]uh chitta in abidama is analyzed into 89 types of chitta and they're cross referenced in a couple of ways. There's uh those chittas that are cus or skillful, those that are unskilloful, those that are functional.

[00:03:17]Um [clears throat] cutting across that division there are four levels or boomies of consciousness and that's [clears throat] what I want to focus on.

[00:03:32]Uh these are um the uh kama boomi, the sense level, the um rupumi the level of form, the arupi uh the formless and [snorts] nibbana as the fourth.

[00:03:54]Nebana of course is outside of the other three. All the other three are conditioned and part of the samsaric process.

[00:04:05]Now the kama which are or kamaboomi um sense desire or sense probably better would be to say sense experience realm uh is uh the realm the default level of consciousness for human beings.

[00:04:24]And for for all of these for the first three of these uh levels um uh they there there's two aspects.

[00:04:34]There's aspect as a state of mind and aspect as a state of being which then brings in the the various levels of the cosmology.

[00:04:48]Uh the kama bumi as a state of being is the the widest and the most diverse and has the the highest number of beings.

[00:05:00]It includes all the beings from the hell realms up to the highest sensual dewa realms. So it includes also humans and animals.

[00:05:11]The defining characteristic of this uh level is that the beings uh residing here are primarily primarily relate to the world through their physical senses, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and um uh that's how they get their information. That's where their uh the basis of their desires and fears are found. And most of the most of our thought forms are based on sens sensory objects.

[00:05:49]So we're very much tied into the sens sensory apparatus.

[00:05:59]So as a a level of consciousness, it's the ordinary or default level of consciousness.

[00:06:06]uh but uh it exists on on quite a spectrum.

[00:06:14]Uh it isn't all one of a piece. As as human beings, um every every day, every 24-hour cycle, we experience at least three totally different modes of consciousness.

[00:06:31]There's a waking consciousness, a dream sleep, and deep sleep.

[00:06:38]Uh, which are all quite different from one another.

[00:06:43]Uh, deep sleep is um consciousness at the bare minimum.

[00:06:51]Consciousness you could say, uh, idling in neutral.

[00:06:56]uh it's a it is a continual stream of banga.

[00:07:03]Now banga is a another term from abidhama and it refers to uh the minimal state of consciousness and even during the course of of the day uh we we're constantly relapsing into banga we um if we practicing uh mindfulness if we're trying to to awaken then we should we should be trying to minimize the reversions into banga but the ordinary day-to-day consciousness of human beings they're constantly falling in and out of banga um the mind in uh rising out of banga takes an object it vibrates with the presence of an object emerges from banga and takes that object in the vipasana meditation for example um if it if it's if it's in a uh an advanced state [snorts] then the meditator spends little or no time in banga but it's continually aware of each object as it arises all these modes of consciousness muchness is quite interesting um to to uh contemplate what's basically happening in dreams is that the faculty of perception sya is uh let loose let's say it's it's not tightly bound down to the um sense organs as it is in waking consciousness.

[00:09:05]So instead of perceiving objects derived from sense consciousness, it uh manufactures objects based on fragments of memory or imagination and um simulates an entire world that seems quite realistic. When you're in the dream state, generally you don't know it. Um, [snorts] this seems like a real existence to you is and uh basically when we're awake uh we're still in a sense dreaming.

[00:09:49]uh SA is still operating to create a simulation but it's tightly bound by the input of the senses. So it creates a uh a simulation that is a good representation of the external universe.

[00:10:07]Um [clears throat] good enough to allow us to function.

[00:10:21]The next uh abidama level of consciousness is um the rupumi the realm of form and it's named this to distinguish it from the arupumi the formless uh in terms of existence or uh beings it represents the the Brahma deities.

[00:10:49]So this uh this is the default mode of consciousness for brahas. You can say rupi.

[00:10:57]Um the brahas have only the functional senses of sight and hearing and they don't uh they don't have sense desire as such.

[00:11:12]So they they still seek uh pleasure in meditative bliss.

[00:11:19]So for and for us as humans on our level although as I said kamaboomi is our default mode of consciousness we can experience a rupumi uh in Janna and Janna is the equivalent uh uh at the human in the human existence of Brahma consciousness.

[00:11:43]So it's a uh a quantum step from sense desire realm of existence. That's why um the hindrance of uh sense desire is such an obstacle to Janna because as long as you're uh working through the senses in uh and uh then this this blocks you from transcending the sense desire realm. You know when we say uh the hindrance of sense desire it doesn't just mean obvious gross uh desires like uh for sex and food. It's also the uh subtler forms when the mind is taking interest or um uh kind of diversion through through the sense objects.

[00:12:51]The uh seclusion from the senses is is a key to experiencing Janna because it is a transcendence of that that whole level.

[00:13:08]This is really um one of the prime benefits of having some experience of Janna because what um what you've done when you when you're sitting in Janna is you've temporarily shed an entire level of uh samsara and um and in a very noisy demanding troublesome It is the rupumi is not a state of perfection.

[00:13:47]Uh there's still uh underlying forms of tanha. The desire to to be is still present in the mind of a brahma or in the mind of a uh someone in Janna that has not been transcended. So this is also tells us that at our ordinary level of consciousness defilements related to the senses are the noisiest and demand the most attention but they're relatively superficial.

[00:14:20]Uh once they're suppressed or eliminated there still remains deeper levels of desire. The desire to be and the desire it's its negative form the desire not to be. Um, and these are are deeper and more fundamental and harder to transcend than sense desire.

[00:14:41]But as long as sense desire is operative, you don't really notice those because sense desire is so noisy and demanding of attention.

[00:14:56]>> [snorts] >> So the mind in the rupumi whether it's in meditation or in existence as a Brahma is free of the hindrances of sense desire and ill will.

[00:15:11]It's a it's a um greatly purified relative to the the mind in in the kamabi but it still has um uh is still not liberated. No.

[00:15:28]The third level is the arupumi which is the realm of the formless uh where there's a dissociation not just from the senses but from the body as a whole existence in this form is uh uh in the arupa level means that the being is mind only without any physical substructure.

[00:15:53]So there's they're also called the four kind of beings because they don't have the kind of rupa of body.

[00:16:01]Um so um uh this is even more refined level of consciousness than than the the rupi and there are levels here you know there's levels in in also in the ruponi but in the aruponi there's u recognize four levels the level of boundless space boundless consciousness nothingness and neither perception or non-perception.

[00:16:36]We could say that the level of neither perception or non-perception is the the subtlest and most refined form of conditioned existence.

[00:16:45]It's samsara brought down to a bare minimum.

[00:16:50]It's still not uh liberated.

[00:16:53]It's only uh nabana that represents a true liberation because the the mind in consciousness in lab in nabana is very hard to define.

[00:17:04]one of the um passages that that's used spoken by the Buddha in a in a couple of places uh talks about a liberated mind as being luminous, boundless and without footing meaning not having a Kent or the literal translation would be finds no footing meaning it's not dependent on anything.

[00:17:32]So it's it's liberated. It's not based on anything else.

[00:17:37][snorts and clears throat] So those are the that's the basic structure of levels of consciousness as uh discussed in the abidama.

[00:17:49]There are some variations and refinness of that in later Buddhism. In yoga Buddhism, we have for example the uh concept of a liaunana or the the um foundation consciousness which is kind of an underlying consciousness that stores the seeds of of karma.

[00:18:20]Um [clears throat] so basically a a lot of what we are doing in our practice we're trying to uh elevate our level of consciousness and transcend the um transcend the the limitations of the um uh subjugation to the senses. First of all, and this is one, this is really the important uh aspect of of Janna is that you're now temporarily experiencing a mind that's uh liberated from the senses. So liberated from a big part of samsaric conditioned existence.

[00:19:12]And this gives you the benefit uh amongst other things. Well, one of the benefits that the Buddha said is a pleasant divide in here and now. Um, the blameless pleasure divorced from the senses.

[00:19:24]But another benefit is that having experienced that, you come back from it with a new understanding of the the sense desired level because now you've been outside it and you can see um you can see things in a new light. you can understand things better.

[00:19:52]A metaphor would be if you're living in a a village or a town at the bottom of a a big hill or a mountain and you've lived in this town for years and you've wandered the streets. You think you know it really well, but until you've climbed up on on the top of the mountain and looked down at the town from above, you don't have a full understanding of it. And then you can see the whole thing perfectly because you're seeing from the outside.

[00:20:31]This has an analogy with the um uh with the mind of a Brahma who the Brahma gods are are said to be able to contemplate thousands of world systems just as a man might hold sesame seeds in the palm of his hand.

[00:20:48]They're they're above and transcended that whole level.

[00:20:59]Even within the um the sense desire realm, there's a whole spectrum.

[00:21:06]It's not it's not just um uh a black and white picture. There there's a shading. There's a gradation, you know, and we see this in the the um progression through the through the the heavenly uh levels, you know, that the the sense desires become more subtle and refined as one goes up. And we can see this in ordinary human existence that for any kind of sense desire whether it's food or music or whatever it might be and there there's a whole spectrum of um coarse level sense experience and more refined subtle levels until at the very end at the at the peak very subtle sense experiences are more easily transcended to emerge into the um uh the realm of form.

[00:22:04]They're not as as binding on the mind.

[00:22:13]There's also the negative aspect of sense experiences, pain and fear.

[00:22:19]And just as we have a whole spectrum going upwards, we have a whole spectrum going downwards all the way down through the lower realms to the very bottom as a witchy hell. The name a witchi means um inter uh um continuous or non-intermittent.

[00:22:39]There's no no break in a witchi hell.

[00:22:41]It's just continual torture.

[00:22:45]And in in the human level, we're sort of in the middle. And uh this is this works to our benefit for seeking liberation because we have enough suffering in the human realm to see that there's a there's an issue.

[00:23:02]uh whereas the daywise live in such pleasure they don't have feel any urgency but we also have um enough uh ease and um contentment you know in an ordinary human life you know there's a mix of pleasure and pain and and and peace and strife and we can find enough space to practice and to to to work towards liberation.

[00:23:36]So, I'll leave it at that and see I can see there's chat is kind of busy. I'll go on the chat and see what uh what I can deal with here.

[00:23:48]Does consciousness during sleep go somewhere? Can it still be considered located in the body? Some other explanation. If it goes out, how's the body rope it back like a feder? Um, that's a good question. Uh it's an interesting one and I I think uh most of the time it it just stays in the body but there is um experiences of uh out of body experiences with what's sometimes called astral travel where the the mind can actually uh exit the body in a in an astral form.

[00:24:25]And this is another kind of layers of of being you know the there's the physical form and then there's a a more subtle uh astral form. It's it's list it's in mentioned in the the vasudi maga as one of the psychic powerups is of the mindmade body that um emerges from the body and can travel around and how does it rope it back um there there's still remains a kind of a psychic connection and it will return to the body I've learned from your other talks that brah So sight and hearing is a different kind of sense from ours since they're not in the kam movie.

[00:25:12]Um well their their sight at least is is very keen. I mean they can they can uh observe things in the lower realms that are going on from tremendous distance.

[00:25:25]Um uh I take that these senses for them are functional. So they know so they can uh and we're speaking about first level Brahas that still have thought formation.

[00:25:38]So they still have some activity and uh they they need to be able to navigate in the world. So they need sense, sight and hearing. But they don't eat food. So they have no reason for taste. And their bodies are a very subtle form. So they don't really have even the sense of touch.

[00:26:01]But they don't have desire for even visual pleasant visual objects. They're just uh it's a functional sense for them.

[00:26:13]Uh if two-part question, if a person has a cat and becomes anagami, would he still take care of the cat out of compassion or find it a new home?

[00:26:24]Uh I don't know. Um, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to keep to take care of the cat.

[00:26:35]Um, would having a cat prevent one from attaining to anam means we should be feeding the senses indulging in sense pleasure playing with the cat, petting it, admiring how adorable it is. Um yeah, I think that um becoming an anagami would probably change your relationship with the cat uh entirely. Um there is certainly in keeping pets there is certainly a an amount of of sense desire involved in that can be more or less.

[00:27:17]What is the consciousness level or part of the mind that panics when you enter Janna and fears death and insanity if you stop meditating?

[00:27:26]Um that's u a hindrance hindrance of um uh ill will and and also of uncertainty.

[00:27:41]Um, it's a lack of it. It really is a it's a lack of I think underlying that it's a lack of faith of Sabah. You have to have faith in the process that it's not going to do you any harm. You're going to be fine and just keep going.

[00:27:59]Uh, subjugation to the senses is not really the problem for me. It's more about ignorance and how to practice well in unfavorable conditions, thoughts. Um there a kind of a two twofold approach here. One is that uh uh to do everything within your means and ability to find or make for yourself favorable conditions. There's no no reason to impose unfavorable conditions on yourself. But then the the second part of that is there's going to be a certain amount of of uh discomfort or unfavorability in any condition. Nothing is perfect in this world. And so you have to try and uh find that inner strength to be able to practice in in less than perfect conditions.

[00:28:57]Is reaching genre similar to discovering a new library full of higher information?

[00:29:03]Um, it's not really like that. It's not like a a bunch of new information. It's like a new perspective, a new way of seeing things that you already know.

[00:29:13]Could be senses beyond the 666 accessible to other beings.

[00:29:26]animal. Well, the six senses, the system of the six senses really refers to the human level.

[00:29:33]And we know that in the animal um kingdom there are various uh different sensory apparatus. You mentioned electrical sense of a shark.

[00:29:47]Um, I've also read that platypus has a electrical sensors in its in its flat duck bill. That's the reason that it evolved that and it buries that in the mud and it sense little animals hiding in the mud.

[00:30:04]Um, there's a magnetic sense that that some animals migrate with. They they can sense the magnetic field of the earth.

[00:30:15]birds and some other migratory animals.

[00:30:22]Is a mindmade body similar to body one can create an imagination?

[00:30:27]Um, no. It's not it's not like that. It's um it's not like you imagine it. It's like the the uh the mind generates a a kind of a copy, you know, they thought in some traditions they call the astral body. It's kind of a a shadow body that that this has all the features of the the real physical body.

[00:30:59]Is dreaming different experience from enlightened people? That's a that's an interesting question because I'm not sure. Uh there's some indication that our hunts don't dream, but that's not the not that's not agreed on. There's a different different school of thought on that. Uh um if one uh has you know a lesser degree of enlightenment like an anagami would not I would think logically with what we know about the characteristics of nanogami and what the filements remain and what are transcended that there would be no sensual dreams.

[00:31:51]Is giving up drinking as a result from practicing the dharma a sure sign of stream entry? No, that's not that's not a that's not a sure sign. I mean, it's it's good thing good thing to do to be encouraged, but stream entries is a lot more than just abstension from alcohol.

[00:32:16]Okay.

[00:32:26]Okay. So, we'll uh we'll leave it there.

[00:32:30]And um we got one more. Maybe I'll just take this last question. When I enter first Janna, I'm drawn to investigate what is there based on many books I've read. Be new to absorption. Will it will it pass when suka or second genre begins? Yeah, there won't be any in second genre. You won't be um doing any investigation or contemplation.

[00:32:59]You said something interesting last week about the possibility of past, present, and future existing at the same time.

[00:33:06]Does this mean that future is 100% predetermined?

[00:33:10]Um, I think that's another kind of a big question. I don't uh I don't think it means predetermined in in the way that um in the way that Western philosophy thinks of of predestination.

[00:33:31]It's not like it's it's fixed.

[00:33:35]I I see it more as kind of a probabilistic that um uh it it doesn't become fixed as a as a determinate actual event until it occurs in the present.

[00:33:52]But in the future there's a range of possibilities.

[00:33:56]Um but there's limitations to that. It's probabilistic like it's you can think that you know certain things are very likely to happen some certain things are almost certain to happen other things are possible but unlikely and as I said I'll see you in uh couple of weeks time on the uh the Thursday the June the 11th.