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So I guess we can start. 
So I don't know, don't really 

2
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have any Easter talk for you. 
I don't do. 

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Do you want an Easter talk? 
I was going to talk about a 

4
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actually fairly profound subject
of the Denmark talking about 

5
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impermanence, and I think maybe 
that suits Easter quite well. 

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Easter is kind of a time of 
impermanence as well. 

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Yeah. 
The in Christianity, not that I 

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know much about Christianity, 
but kind of a vague memory about

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things being impermanent there 
too. 

10
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And this is one of those very 
fundamental ideas in Buddhism 

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known as Anitsha in the Pali 
language. 

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And it's really profound that it
very often it is like at the 

13
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,840
very foundation of how we think 
about the Buddhist teachings. 

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00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,760
So Anitsha, the idea of 
impermanence is something that 

15
00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,600
you can use from the very 
beginning to kind of give you a 

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boost of understanding, a boost 
in your meditation. 

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00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:04,760
And it all something that goes 
all the way to the very end of 

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the path. 
You take it with you all the way

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here, and you kind of get a 
deeper and deeper and deeper 

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appreciation of what this 
actually means. 

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And sometimes the word 
impermanence may not be the 

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ideal translation of anicha. 
Yeah. 

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I don't know. 
When I think about impermanence,

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it leaves me a little bit cold. 
Impermanence. 

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Yeah, sure. 
Things come and go. 

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Things are changeable. 
It is much more profound than 

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that. 
And I often think about ideas 

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such as things being unreliable.
Yeah. 

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Unreliability to me is much more
an emotionally charged word than

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impermanence, because 
unreliable. 

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This is something that of course
we don't want things to be 

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unreliable because we'd like to 
rely on things. 

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So unreliable goes against kind 
of some of the really 

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foundational desires that we 
have as human beings. 

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So unreliability, I think, is a 
nice way of thinking about 

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impermanence. 
There's nothing that we can hold

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00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,480
onto, nowhere you can really 
stand and just relax. 

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00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,000
Yeah. 
Once you start to relax, 

39
00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,080
unreliability comes and start to
shake things up. 

40
00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:18,000
So this is kind of how why this 
is very often so problematic. 

41
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:20,520
Yeah. 
So this is the idea of Anita, 

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00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,520
something which is not always 
there, something which comes and

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goes, something which not only 
is impermanent and reliable, but

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something which fades away here 
and eventually it ceases 

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00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,160
completely here. 
It doesn't exist after a while. 

46
00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,720
Yeah, it comes into existence 
and it disappears without a 

47
00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:40,880
trace. 
This is the idea of 

48
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,240
unreliability and impermanence 
kind of when looked, kind of 

49
00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:47,920
seen fully for what it actually 
is. 

50
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,880
And it is a very important 
teaching. 

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00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,440
And one of the ways to gauge the
importance of certain teachings 

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00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,640
in Buddhism is to see where the 
Buddha talked about these 

53
00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:04,560
things. 
And the very last teaching of 

54
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,560
the Buddha. 
Do you know the very last 

55
00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,480
teaching of the Buddha? 
Anyone knows it? 

56
00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:11,440
No, you don't. 
You don't know it. 

57
00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:12,600
OK, Very. 
Thank you for being 

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00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,440
straightforward about that. 
That's good. 

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00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,320
I know some of you know the very
last teaching of the Buddha, but

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00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:20,680
you can imagine the very last 
teaching. 

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Yeah, this is found in one of 
the suta. 

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00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:27,320
Suta is one of the discourses of
the Buddha, if you like, and 

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00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,760
this is called the 
Mahaparunibhana Suta. 

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It is the discourse that talks 
about the very last days of the 

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Buddha's life. 
And the Buddha is kind of 

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travelling through India on 
this. 

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He knows that his last journey, 
he knows that he's going to die 

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fairly soon. 
I think sometimes, you know, 

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that when you get very old, 
especially if you are a Buddha, 

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00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,400
it helps to have a really clear 
mind, obviously. 

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00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,160
And so he's on this journey 
here. 

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And because, you know, he's 
coming to the end of his life, 

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00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,560
some of the most powerful 
teachings of the Buddha, some of

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the ways to kind of let the 
community know how we're 

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supposed to live after the 
Buddha passes away. 

76
00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,560
Yeah. 
This is all, all the stuff that 

77
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,640
comes out in this particular 
discourse. 

78
00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:10,440
So because of that, it is very 
significant. 

79
00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:12,200
Yeah. 
For the future of Buddhism, for 

80
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how to survive without the 
Buddha and all of these kind of 

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things. 
So you can imagine the last word

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00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,120
of the Buddha is going to be 
extraordinary significant. 

83
00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:26,960
That kind of sets the tone for 
everything that is taught. 

84
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,600
It's like a summary of a 
lifetime of teaching the Buddha.

85
00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,640
I said to have taught for 45 
years. 

86
00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,360
Yeah, he lived when he was 18, 
and he basically taught till the

87
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last moment of his life, the 
last breath of his life. 

88
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,040
That was kind of how what the 
Buddha was like. 

89
00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,040
Why shouldn't you be allowed to 
die peacefully? 

90
00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,160
Yeah. 
Well, how how can you teach till

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the very last breath? 
Well, that's what was the Buddha

92
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,680
was. 
That's what his life was about. 

93
00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,240
His life was about teaching. 
Yeah. 

94
00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,320
That's what kind of the idea of 
awakening is. 

95
00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:03,000
Awakening is an understanding of
the nature of the human, what it

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00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,000
is to be a human being and then 
teaching others because you 

97
00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,480
understand, then you can also 
have the solution for everyone 

98
00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,120
else around you. 
And for the Buddha, there was no

99
00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,040
other purpose to life apart from
this. 

100
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,080
And because that was the only 
purpose, he would then teach to 

101
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his very last breath. 
Yeah, there was even. 

102
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,840
There's a nice story about this 
wanderer. 

103
00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:25,280
Buddha was. 
India was famous for all the 

104
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Wanderers, all these people 
wandering around. 

105
00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:29,400
Yeah. 
Having various kind of 

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teachings, following various 
kind of people and having some 

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ideas about what the holy life 
or the spiritual life was about.

108
00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,160
Because kind of very interesting
time, ancient India with all 

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these variety of ideas and 
philosophies and religions and 

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00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,400
then meeting for debates and 
they will come to the Buddha. 

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00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,680
And there was, I'm going to 
overthrow your doctrine in 

112
00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:51,120
Buddha. 
What do you say? 

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00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,680
But I said, OK, let's have a 
let's have a discussion about 

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this. 
And this was kind of ancient 

115
00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:58,760
India, very interesting time to 
be alive. 

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00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:04,080
We think that today we have like
a multiplicity of religions and 

117
00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,600
a variety of choices. 
But in those days, it was 

118
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:08,480
probably even more than it is 
now. 

119
00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,080
Sometimes we underestimate these
ancient societies. 

120
00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,120
Anyway. 
So this fellow called Subada, he

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comes to the Buddha and he says,
oh, he wants to approach the 

122
00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,160
Buddha. 
But then he stopped Venable 

123
00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,320
Ananda, who's the Buddha. 
That tends to stop. 

124
00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:27,760
The Buddha is dying. 
You want to ask a question, you 

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00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:29,800
know, leave him alone. 
Leave him at peace. 

126
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:31,800
You know, he just, he wants to 
chillax. 

127
00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,800
It's the wrong time to ask the 
Buddha profound question. 

128
00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,560
And I guess the wonder thing. 
Oh, yeah, maybe you have a 

129
00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:38,480
point. 
Yeah. 

130
00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:41,640
But then the Buddha overhears 
this conversation. 

131
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:46,480
The Buddha says no, I don't 
block people who are have a 

132
00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,400
serious and a sincere desire to 
understand the teaching of the 

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00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:51,960
Buddha. 
Don't block them from 

134
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approaching. 
Yeah, I can tell that Subhada is

135
00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,600
an honest person. 
He really seeking for the truth.

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00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,720
He hasn't come just to trouble 
me and to have an argument with 

137
00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,560
me. 
He actually wants to listen to 

138
00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,080
this teaching. 
So And then Subhada comes. 

139
00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:06,440
Yeah. 
And he allows Subhada. 

140
00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,080
This is on his deathbed, right? 
This is how the Buddha works. 

141
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,240
And then he teaches Subhada. 
And it's actually the teaching 

142
00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,200
that he tells Subhada is very 
beautiful. 

143
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:21,680
Do you know the teaching? 
He taught Subhada? 

144
00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:23,640
You don't. 
OK. 

145
00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:25,960
It's a nice teaching. 
Actually. 

146
00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:27,680
It's very interesting teaching. 
It's kind of one of those 

147
00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,320
teaching that are really special
in Buddhism. 

148
00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:32,600
Yeah. 
And am I going to tell you 

149
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:37,160
tonight, if I tell you 
everything, there's no reason to

150
00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,520
come back, right? 
So this will be a secret. 

151
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,480
So next time we come, like, I'll
tell you about Subbada, whatever

152
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:43,120
it was. 
Subbada. 

153
00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:46,240
So let's now stay on the idea of
impermanence. 

154
00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,120
This is how you get more kind of
people coming here. 

155
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:50,120
This is kind of the trick. 
Yeah. 

156
00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,960
So then the Buddha kind of 
teaches to Buddha. 

157
00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,080
And then time kind of goes on 
and all the people around that, 

158
00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,880
they come to pay their respect 
to the Buddha, said the final 

159
00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,680
goodbye. 
And then the Buddha knows that 

160
00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:07,560
he is just about to pass away. 
And at this point, when he just 

161
00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:10,960
passed away, he says to the 
monks, first of all, he asked, 

162
00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,000
is there any last question that 
anyone has? 

163
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,280
And then of course, the monks 
say, no, we don't have any last 

164
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,960
questions. 
We have we understand the 

165
00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,280
teaching of the Buddha and then 
come the last words of the 

166
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,040
Buddha. 
Yeah, the probably the summary 

167
00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,320
of his entire teaching career 
come in this last words. 

168
00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:33,840
How many words do you think it 
needs to summarize entire 

169
00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,480
teaching here? 
Can you imagine how many words 

170
00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:41,400
108 eight words says have you 
hear down there? 

171
00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:46,080
8 words. 
OK, 8 words, 100,004 words. 

172
00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:47,600
Yeah. 
Is really the summary of his 

173
00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,520
teachings in these words are as 
follows. 

174
00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,760
Are you ready? 
OK, Vaya dama sankara apamadena 

175
00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:02,760
sampadeta. 
Now you know this is the parley 

176
00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:04,480
language, right? 
I'm going to translate for you. 

177
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,360
I promise I'm going to translate
even into English to make it 

178
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,800
even more easy for you. 
So this is the powder language. 

179
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,600
This is actually probably very 
similar to what the Buddha said.

180
00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:19,320
Vaya Dhamma sankara. 
All phenomena have the nature to

181
00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,880
come to an end. 
All phenomena have the nature to

182
00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:24,200
come to an end. 
Yeah. 

183
00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:30,680
APA madena sampadeta. 
Strive on with hatefulness, with

184
00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:31,760
carefulness. 
Yeah. 

185
00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,760
Practice carefully because of 
that. 

186
00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,080
Those are the last words of the 
Buddha. 

187
00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:40,800
And what you will notice that is
two things, one thing after the 

188
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,240
other. 
The first one is all things have

189
00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,080
an end. 
All things kind of are subject 

190
00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,480
to cessation, if you like, or to
impermanence. 

191
00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:50,880
Yeah. 
And that is like the right view,

192
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,200
that is the way to think about 
the world, right? 

193
00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:55,600
This is how we should see 
everything. 

194
00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,320
Yeah. 
And the consequence of seeing 

195
00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,640
things in the right way, 
according to the way the Buddha 

196
00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:04,520
has seen in the world, is that 
you strive on, you put an effort

197
00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,400
with diligence, with 
hatefulness, with carefulness. 

198
00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,280
Because if you understand the 
problem properly, that actually 

199
00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,840
leads you automatically to 
practising this path. 

200
00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,680
That gives you an idea of the 
profundity of this teaching. 

201
00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:22,320
Yeah. 
If you understand the idea of 

202
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,280
impermanence, the problem of 
nothing really being reliable in

203
00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,080
this world, the fact that 
everything comes to an end. 

204
00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:33,320
That's powerful, right? 
Everything comes to an end. 

205
00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,760
There is nothing solid. 
There is nowhere to stand. 

206
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,000
There's nothing to hold onto. 
The consequences of 

207
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,840
understanding that is that you 
start practising, you start 

208
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:44,880
taking the spiritual path 
seriously. 

209
00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:48,280
You don't hold on to all the 
phenomena in the world that are 

210
00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,160
never going to be reliable 
there. 

211
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,480
That is kind of the consequence 
of this. 

212
00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,960
So This is why it is such a 
profound and such a beautiful 

213
00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:56,600
teaching. 
Yeah. 

214
00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:01,080
And it needs to be contemplated.
These are the last words of the 

215
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:03,360
Buddha. 
So don't forget that. 

216
00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,000
Are you going to forget it? 
No. 

217
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,920
OK, OK, excellent. 
Thank you for saying that. 

218
00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:11,960
But I'll, I'll test you later on
there and see. 

219
00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,680
So this is the idea of the 
Buddha. 

220
00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:17,960
Yeah. 
This is the insight of the 

221
00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:22,360
Buddha and the consequences of 
that insight there, and one of 

222
00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,160
the kind of extraordinary 
things. 

223
00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,240
It's a very simple idea, right? 
All things are impermanent, 

224
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,400
everything has an end, 
everything must cease. 

225
00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:35,040
It's a very simple idea, but it 
is also very profound. 

226
00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:40,200
And sometimes we underestimate 
or we overestimate our ability 

227
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:41,880
to understand these simple 
things. 

228
00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,840
If you ask an ordinary person 
about impermanence, there was a 

229
00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:47,800
yeah, yeah, I get if things are 
changeable. 

230
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,720
Of course, everyone knows that. 
No, you don't know that. 

231
00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,160
That's the whole point. 
You know, it may be in a 

232
00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,400
superficial way, but you don't 
really appreciate what is going 

233
00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:58,800
on there. 
And there was an experiment that

234
00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,480
was done a while ago, some kind 
of research. 

235
00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:03,880
And now we're coming into modern
times. 

236
00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:08,120
We're leaping 2500 years forward
from the time of the passing 

237
00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:09,640
away of the Buddha to the modern
day. 

238
00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,160
And I may have said this before,
but it's a really nice kind of 

239
00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:17,080
piece of research that was done 
about human beings and the 

240
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,200
ability to see impermanence. 
Yeah. 

241
00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:23,640
To see the future, what the 
future is going to be like. 

242
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:28,480
And what they did, they asked 
this group of people, I don't 

243
00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,360
know how how many hope, but it 
was a a significant sample. 

244
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:32,800
Is that right? 
How long? 

245
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,160
It has to be significant sample,
otherwise it doesn't work, 

246
00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:36,120
right. 
So reason has to be done 

247
00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,480
properly. 
So I'm not sure how, how well it

248
00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,360
was conducted, but hopefully it 
was a significant, statistically

249
00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,720
significant sample of otherwise 
it doesn't work. 

250
00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:48,040
Yeah. 
And they asked them, well, if 

251
00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,600
you think back on yourself today
compared to what you would like 

252
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,720
10 years ago, can you what 
happened? 

253
00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:56,760
Can you see the change? 
Can you see that how you're 

254
00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:58,000
changed? 
And everyone said, yeah, I can 

255
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,040
see the change. 10 years ago I 
was a really dodgy character. 

256
00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,160
And now I've really got my act 
together. 

257
00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:05,720
I understood the Buddhist 
treating instead of practising 

258
00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,600
well, I became having a good 
heart, treating other people 

259
00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,840
well, speaking the kind words. 
Now I can see the change. 

260
00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,080
Or maybe someone otherwise who 
started out really nice and they

261
00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,560
became dodgy after a while. 
That also happens, right? 

262
00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:23,480
So usually when we look back in 
time, we can see the evolution 

263
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,960
and the change now character, 
either for the better or for the

264
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,480
worse or maybe for stability for
most people. 

265
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,040
And so they could tell, yeah, 
this change, I say, yeah, I'm a 

266
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,440
different person now from what I
was 10 years ago. 

267
00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:42,280
And then they asked the same 
people to try to look into the 

268
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:43,640
future. 
Yeah. 

269
00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,480
What are you going to be like 10
years from now? 

270
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,720
And they were saying, yeah, 
yeah, you know, there may be a 

271
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,000
little bit of changes. 
Maybe I become a little bit more

272
00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:54,800
kind. 
Maybe I become a bit more 

273
00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,040
wealthy because I've worked 
really hard. 

274
00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,440
Maybe, you know, things will 
happen, but essentially, I will 

275
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,080
be the same person. 
Essentially, there won't be any 

276
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,280
real difference. 
And So what this research 

277
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:13,800
pointed to is that when we look 
into the past, we are able to 

278
00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:15,240
see change. 
Why? 

279
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,920
Because it's bleeding obvious. 
Yeah, we can see things 

280
00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,280
happening. 
Yeah, it actually has changed. 

281
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,160
So you can't really avoid seeing
change when you look into the 

282
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:28,680
past because it has happened. 
But when we try to look into the

283
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,560
future, we are incapable of 
seeing change in the same way. 

284
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:35,280
Yeah, we are stuck with the 
present. 

285
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,120
We think the present will 
continue. 

286
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,960
Somehow the way it is now is 
also the way it will be into the

287
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:45,600
future. 
And that tells you right there 

288
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,080
the significance of 
contemplating the idea of 

289
00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,480
impermanence and change, the 
significance of contemplating 

290
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:57,360
the idea of nothing really being
solid, nothing being reliable. 

291
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,560
It is significant because we 
don't really understand it. 

292
00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,960
We don't get it. 
Our sense of self, sense of 

293
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,120
solidity of in the world tricks 
us into thinking the future 

294
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,640
basically is a continuation of 
the present. 

295
00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,080
But of course that is wrong. 
View is the wrong way of 

296
00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,880
thinking about things and is 
rooted large part. 

297
00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,200
This is again, kind of very 
profound part of the Buddhist 

298
00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,880
teaching. 
It is rooted in the sense of 

299
00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,680
self. 
The sense of self doesn't allow 

300
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,880
you to see change because the 
sense of self forces you to see 

301
00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,400
things as permanent in one way 
or another. 

302
00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:35,760
Yeah, it's a continuation of who
you are. 

303
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,640
And that is the reason why we 
can't see these things. 

304
00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,320
This is why contemplating 
impermanence is such such a 

305
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:47,880
powerful thing to do. 
And so that gives you a little 

306
00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,560
bit kind of of the overview of 
what I kind of why this really 

307
00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:54,640
matters. 
Yeah, why this is really 

308
00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,680
important. 
And in many ways the, you know, 

309
00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,200
as we have seen from the 
Buddha's last words, etcetera, 

310
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,520
in many ways this is perhaps the
foundational contemplation in 

311
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:07,120
Buddhism. 
Apart from meditation practice 

312
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,840
where you watch your breath or 
whatever. 

313
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,720
This is a kind of contemplation 
that enhances the meditation 

314
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,680
practice the more you see this 
impermanence. 

315
00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,760
What is the consequences of 
seeing impermanence? 

316
00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,960
Why does this matter? 
Why should we do this? 

317
00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,640
And the answer is because it 
allows you to let go. 

318
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,360
Yeah, you can. 
If you see things are 

319
00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,920
impermanent, you understand 
actually there's nothing really 

320
00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,560
worth holding onto in this. 
Because when you see things are 

321
00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,800
impermanent, you understand they
are problematic. 

322
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,760
You understand they will lead to
suffering down the track. 

323
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,040
Why? 
Because if you hold on to things

324
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,640
that are impermanent, it's going
to be painful when it gets taken

325
00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,360
from you. 
And this is basically the nature

326
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:51,240
of reality. 
And so seeing impermanence, you 

327
00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:55,400
don't even have to be told, you 
know straight away that this is 

328
00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,080
an aspect of suffering. 
This is one of the problems in 

329
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,440
the world. 
And because you know it is one 

330
00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:03,080
of the problems in the world, 
you start to let go. 

331
00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,000
You start to have what is called
the Nekama Sankapa. 

332
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,920
Nekama is like renunciation. 
Yeah. 

333
00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:12,760
You let go a little bit. 
You take a step back. 

334
00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:16,920
You allow things to be more. 
You don't get so involved in the

335
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,440
world in all of these, all of 
these things in the world 

336
00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,640
because you know, involvement is
going to lead to suffering in 

337
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,160
the future. 
So seeing impermanence, yeah, 

338
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:30,280
which seems so easy and simple. 
As you develop that perception, 

339
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,680
you start to understand the 
problems in the world. 

340
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,560
When you understand the problems
in the world, that leads you 

341
00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:40,520
also to seeing a little bit into
this idea we call non self in 

342
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,680
Buddhism. 
And all of this together helps 

343
00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,120
you to let go. 
Then that feeds back into the 

344
00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:48,760
meditation. 
It gives rise to more joy and 

345
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,640
happiness as a consequence. 
Yeah, kind of weird thing. 

346
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,640
It sounds like contemplating 
impermanence is going to be 

347
00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:57,800
terrible, right? 
Seeing everything as coming and 

348
00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,640
going, nothing being reliable. 
It sounds awful, actually leads 

349
00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,280
to happiness. 
This is the extraordinary thing 

350
00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,640
on this path. 
So this is kind of how these 

351
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:13,920
things develop together, I 
should say always as a matter of

352
00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:17,040
care and a matter of kind of 
being careful with these things.

353
00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:22,400
If things are too painful to 
observe or contemplate, if you 

354
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,360
find that thinking about 
impermanence is very difficult 

355
00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:28,600
and it leaves you sad and 
depressed or whatever, please 

356
00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,280
don't contemplate it. 
The Buddhist path is not the 

357
00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,360
path where we want to encourage 
sadness and depression. 

358
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,680
We want to. 
We want to allow people to come 

359
00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:38,560
out of sadness and depression 
there. 

360
00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:42,440
So always develop positive 
qualities and there's more 

361
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:44,800
deeper insights developing them 
together. 

362
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,600
So you have some kind of basis 
upon which you can stand to 

363
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,560
actually contemplate this deeper
things. 

364
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:52,560
Yeah. 
If I see you looking too 

365
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,960
depressed in the audience, then 
I will kind of encourage you to 

366
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,320
do something else. 
Otherwise you're going to be 

367
00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,680
stuck in kind of in something 
terrible. 

368
00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:02,880
Yeah. 
Please come afterwards and 

369
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,560
complain about me if I if it's 
too depressive, so I can change 

370
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,920
the tack. 
But the idea is to help you, you

371
00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,600
have to come out of this. 
The Buddha has some very 

372
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,920
beautiful similes to describe 
the importance of this 

373
00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,360
perception of impermanence. 
It's a perception. 

374
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,000
Part of this is like the 
developing a right view, seeing 

375
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,240
the world in the right way. 
Yeah. 

376
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:29,400
The Buddha says that as you 
develop this idea of 

377
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:33,640
impermanence or unreliability in
the world, you cut off all the 

378
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,040
roots, all the roots of 
suffering. 

379
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,120
Yeah. 
And when you cut off all the 

380
00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:41,520
roots of suffering, suffering 
can no longer arise. 

381
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,960
It's like cutting off the roots 
of a plant. 

382
00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:48,720
Yeah, this is kind of the end 
point of this contemplation of 

383
00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,960
impermanence, cutting off all 
those foundational problems or 

384
00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:57,560
definements, Yeah, that drive 
the suffering in the world and 

385
00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,280
drive the suffering in your own 
life. 

386
00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:05,360
The Buddha says that in the same
way as Jasmine, the the scent of

387
00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:09,600
Jasmine is the most beautiful, 
considered the highest scent of 

388
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,160
flowers. 
You know what Jasmine smells 

389
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,400
like? 
Yeah, Jasmine is very strong, 

390
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,560
powerful, beautiful smell. 
You walk through a kind of a 

391
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,120
Bush of Jasmine flower. 
It's like, wow, this is great. 

392
00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:22,880
OK, I'll hang around here for a 
while. 

393
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,760
Yeah, it's a kind of very strong
and beautiful smell. 

394
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,360
When you when you. 
We have a few of those in the 

395
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:29,560
moment. 
That's why I know otherwise I 

396
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,360
would never have known. 
But now I now I know. 

397
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:36,920
I'm no flower expert. 
And in the same way as Jasmine 

398
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,880
is the best smell of flowers, in
the same way the perception of 

399
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,440
impermanence is like the peak, 
yeah, the highest kind of 

400
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,760
perception that we can develop, 
it takes everything else with 

401
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:49,680
it. 
Everything else kind of is 

402
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,720
derived from that in a certain 
way, in the same way as the 

403
00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,000
rafters of a house meet in the 
peak. 

404
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,320
Yeah, the meet in the top in the
same way. 

405
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,200
This is the top kind, top most 
kind of perception that we can 

406
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,040
develop, and it brings 
everything else along with it. 

407
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,320
This is some of the ways this is
described in the suitors. 

408
00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,760
So this is the idea of 
developing the perception of 

409
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:16,200
impermanence and reliability. 
How can we do this in practice? 

410
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,240
And it's incredibly simple to do
in practice, at least as we 

411
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,280
start out. 
And I've talked about this in 

412
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:27,040
many ways here before, but I am 
going to repeat myself probably 

413
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,120
a lot tonight. 
I love to repeat myself. 

414
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,720
And so please forgive me for 
that. 

415
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,160
But this is kind of par for the 
course. 

416
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,120
But the very simple idea of 
contemplating impermanence is 

417
00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,160
just to see what is happening in
the world around you. 

418
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:50,000
Yeah, especially to see the 
world kind of at large, seeing 

419
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,760
the ideas, what you see the news
on television, seeing the 

420
00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,360
problems with wars in the world,
seeing the problems with the 

421
00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:01,360
refugee crisis in the world, 
seeing the economic problems. 

422
00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:05,080
I just came back from Sri Lanka.
I had 10 days in Sri Lanka, just

423
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,880
came back a few days ago. 
It was a wonderful trip, by the 

424
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,360
way. 
Beautiful. 

425
00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:12,080
It's a beautiful island. 
Yeah. 

426
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,360
It was so green. 
This is tropical beautiful. 

427
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:16,680
Everyone is a Buddhist. 
Yeah. 

428
00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:18,800
You feel like you belong in Sri 
Lanka. 

429
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,040
You look like this. 
Everyone sort of understands who

430
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:22,960
you are. 
In Australia, it's a bit more 

431
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,280
dodgy. 
You never know whether someone's

432
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:26,760
going to take you as a the real 
deal or they're going to think 

433
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,040
you are a Hari, Krishna, 
whatever. 

434
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,160
It's kind of Australia, very 
uncertain. 

435
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,120
Sri Lanka, you fit right in. 
It's kind of nice. 

436
00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:35,520
Yeah. 
And actually, I love to be a 

437
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:36,960
monk in Australia. 
It's great. 

438
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,720
But it's a different feel when 
you go to Buddhist country. 

439
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,480
Yeah, it's a very beautiful 
place and I really enjoyed it. 

440
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,880
But they too have been through 
some very difficult times in 

441
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,440
recent years. 
A very big economic crisis in 

442
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,160
Sri Lanka, and you start looking
around the world and you see all

443
00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:54,600
of this instability. 
Yeah. 

444
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,600
They say that the modern 
generation, the new generation 

445
00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,760
are kind of, you know, getting 
more sad and depressed because 

446
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,160
the world seems to be going 
wrong or whatever. 

447
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,120
And they may have a point. 
Yeah. 

448
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,240
And the blame maybe the older 
generation, people like me. 

449
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:08,560
And they say, what have you 
done? 

450
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,920
Yeah, you're destroying the 
world. 

451
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,240
So I'm trying to set this right 
now by giving this time a talk. 

452
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:18,360
Yeah. 
So remember that this is the 

453
00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:21,240
contemplation of impermanence in
the world at large. 

454
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,400
This will eventually lead you to
joy and happiness. 

455
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,040
Yeah, because you understand 
something profound. 

456
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,800
As you understand something 
profound about the reality of 

457
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,080
the world, you start to let go 
of that. 

458
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,280
You start to look for a 
happiness where happiness really

459
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,840
can be found. 
The reason why you get upset 

460
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,840
when you see all of these 
terrible things, when you read 

461
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,360
the news or you watch the news 
on TV or whatever. 

462
00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:45,520
Whatever it is, you get your 
news. 

463
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,560
Don't get your news from this 
kind of news feeds because it's 

464
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,040
crap news. 
Get your news from real places. 

465
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:56,000
But when you get your news, 
Yeah, in from the world, when 

466
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,040
you see what's happening in the 
world, Yeah, it actually leads 

467
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,920
to a turning away. 
It leads to turning to something

468
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,600
more profound, something real, 
the spiritual practice where 

469
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,520
something actually can be found.
Real happiness, real joy, real 

470
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,800
meaning, real purpose, a real 
goal, something that actually 

471
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,720
matters in life. 
This it is the beauty of 

472
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,440
contemplating things in the 
right way. 

473
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,480
It makes you a better person. 
Is anyone here who doesn't want 

474
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,960
to be a better person? 
If you don't want to be a better

475
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,120
person, you might be in the 
wrong place. 

476
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,440
Everyone who comes here wants to
be a better person, right? 

477
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,840
And you are already good, 
otherwise you wouldn't be here. 

478
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,200
So congratulations. 
So this is the idea of the 

479
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,400
beginning of contemplating 
impermanence. 

480
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,560
And you know that you haven't 
contemplated it enough. 

481
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:48,840
If you turn on the TV or you see
the news and you think, oh, no, 

482
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,360
another war. 
Oh, no, more people died. 

483
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,000
Oh, no, another tsunami. 
Oh, no more refugees. 

484
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,080
Oh, no, Oh, no. 
Oh, no. 

485
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,440
If you think, oh, no, it means 
you haven't really understood 

486
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,400
impermanence. 
If you say, Oh, yeah, I expect 

487
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:07,520
another war, I don't say it like
that. 

488
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,640
That's kind of bit kind of too 
aloof and then cold maybe. 

489
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:16,080
But yeah, if you expect the 
unexpected, as I like to see 

490
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,960
here, you say expect the 
unexpected. 

491
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,240
You don't know there's going to 
be another word, but you know, 

492
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:23,600
unexpected things are going to 
happen there. 

493
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,400
If you expect the unexpected, 
then you are wise. 

494
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,800
And when you turn on the TV and 
you see weird things, bad 

495
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,840
things, climate change, whatever
happening, you know, of course, 

496
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,960
this is part for the course. 
This is the nature of the world.

497
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,880
I expected that. 
I'm already turning away from 

498
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,320
that world because I know it is 
inherently unreliable there. 

499
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,160
That is how you know, whether 
you are attached or not, what 

500
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,440
your reaction is when you see 
those news. 

501
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:53,640
So this is like the beginning. 
Yeah. 

502
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,240
This is the starting point of 
understanding impermanence in 

503
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,920
the world. 
And this is already very, very 

504
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,160
powerful there. 
If you can do this much already,

505
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,200
you're kind of very much on the 
right track. 

506
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,120
Yeah, and you can see this also 
in many of the institutions in 

507
00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:09,760
our society. 
Yeah, yeah. 

508
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,080
Australia is, I would say, a 
good place to live. 

509
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:16,480
I, I don't really know that much
about Australia. 

510
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,400
That's kind of embarrassing. 
I live it for 30 years. 

511
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,000
It's half my life in this 
country. 

512
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,520
But I've been tucked away in 
this monastery here down in 

513
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:24,040
Serpentine. 
I don't know anything about 

514
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:24,920
them. 
OK. 

515
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,200
I come here and then I go to the
airport. 

516
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:28,840
I'm just joking. 
Today I get that. 

517
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,160
The third, the place I visited 
most in Australia #1 is 

518
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,360
Bodhinana Monastery. 
Number 2 is Damaloka Buddha 

519
00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:40,480
centre #3 is Perth Airport. 
That's kind of where I hang out 

520
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,560
the most. 
Yeah, Perth Airport is a distant

521
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,400
third, but still, you know, You 
know what? 

522
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,880
It's like this kind of the monks
life for you in a nutshell. 

523
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,560
So but it's kind of a it's a 
good society in general. 

524
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,320
I mean, lots of improvements can
be done, of course, but it's not

525
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,800
bad when you kind of compare it 
to most societies in the world 

526
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,560
and that sort of thing. 
Yeah, but how stable are our 

527
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,040
institutions? 
How stable is our healthcare 

528
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,760
system? 
How stable is, I mean, you look 

529
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,240
at the divide between the rich 
and the poor in Australia has 

530
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,520
been growing enormously over the
last 50 years. 

531
00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:18,200
And generally speaking, if you 
ask a psychologist for people 

532
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,080
who understand human happiness, 
I said that's bad for human 

533
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,320
happiness. 
The more division you have in 

534
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:28,080
this way, you create kind of an 
A class and AB class, you create

535
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,440
people who don't really 
understand each other anymore. 

536
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,360
You get people who go to elite 
schools and people who go to 

537
00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:36,800
ordinary schools and it creates 
divisions in our society and 

538
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,840
divisions are always bad. 
It leads to conflict, it leads 

539
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,680
to misunderstandings, it leads 
to all of these kind of things. 

540
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,040
So how stable are our 
institutions? 

541
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,880
And you will see that over time 
things change. 

542
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,160
Yeah, sometimes they change 
dramatically. 

543
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,000
Now we're getting closer to 
home. 

544
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,600
Now we're coming right here to 
Perth. 

545
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,320
Yeah, where we rely on the 
institutions. 

546
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,760
We're very lucky to live in 
Perth or WA It's a very wealthy 

547
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,880
part of the world. 
So the services we get are 

548
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:06,440
usually pretty good. 
Yeah. 

549
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,880
But it won't last. 
Yeah, it's kind of uncertain. 

550
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,000
It's unreliable, It's already 
shaking. 

551
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,720
We don't know how long these 
things are going to be stable 

552
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,200
for. 
And then you start to understand

553
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:22,120
the nature of impermanence. 
One of the ways that I like to 

554
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,920
think about impermanence is that
impermanence is really about all

555
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,880
kind of causes and conditions 
building up out of sight. 

556
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:35,120
Yeah. 
It is like things happening. 

557
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:36,560
You can't really see them 
happening. 

558
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,000
They're kind of happening behind
the scenes sometimes. 

559
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:43,080
And the way to think about it is
a bit like how earthquakes work.

560
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,000
Yeah. 
How does an earthquake work? 

561
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,320
An earthquake is like this. 
Tectonic plates. 

562
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,560
Yeah. 
Plate tectonics about this kind 

563
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:54,280
of giant parts of the crust of 
the Earth moving in comparison 

564
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,040
to each other. 
And then as they move a little 

565
00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:01,400
bit, there is this tensions 
building up underground, tension

566
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,440
building up, building up, 
building up. 

567
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,920
Causes and conditions happening 
out of sight. 

568
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,240
You don't really know what's 
happening until one day the 

569
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:13,640
cause and conditions are so 
strong it leads to an earthquake

570
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,160
or it leads to a volcano. 
Yeah, bang. 

571
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,840
It happens. 
I don't know if you've seen 

572
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,400
those pictures from Iceland. 
Have you seen the picture from 

573
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,600
Iceland? 
They're pretty cool, but pretty 

574
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,720
scary at the same time, right? 
It's kind of interesting 

575
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,400
combination there. 
And this is how our world works.

576
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,360
Things building up out of sight,
cause and conditions suddenly 

577
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,160
comes through. 
It comes through in the war in 

578
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,720
Ukraine, the war in the Middle 
East, climate change, whatever 

579
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,240
is suddenly out of control. 
Yeah, bang. 

580
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,680
Impermanence and reliability. 
Uncertainty happens. 

581
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,840
This is why we should always 
expect the unexpected. 

582
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:52,720
This is kind of how the world 
works. 

583
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:58,320
So the world at large, our 
society right here in Perth, is 

584
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,920
far more uncertain than we think
it is. 

585
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,280
Yeah. 
Don't rely on nothing. 

586
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:04,200
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

587
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:05,640
Actually rely on nothing. 
Yeah. 

588
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:07,760
That's the one thing you can 
rely on, right? 

589
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:09,800
But don't rely on anything. 
Yeah. 

590
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,000
Nothing is OK. 
Anything is not OK. 

591
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,120
Yeah. 
Does that make sense? 

592
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:17,280
Yeah. 
OK, good. 

593
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:18,760
I'm glad. 
So you have understood the kind 

594
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:20,560
of the Buddhist. 
Buddhist. 

595
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:22,080
Not finished yet, Eddie. 
So hold on. 

596
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,880
Hold on your applause there. 
So. 

597
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,120
But then we come even closer to 
home. 

598
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:30,000
Yeah. 
In permanence. 

599
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,200
It has to do with our kind of 
very who we are as human beings,

600
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:38,120
our family, our own bodies, our 
job, all of these kind of 

601
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,400
things. 
Yeah, life and death, illnesses,

602
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,760
all the age, all of these kind 
of things that is in premise, 

603
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:46,240
that comes very, very close to 
us. 

604
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,520
As the Buddha says in the suit 
does, everything that is dear 

605
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:54,160
and beloved to us will become 
otherwise will become separated 

606
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,360
from us. 
It's a very powerful idea of 

607
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:58,240
impermanence. 
Yeah. 

608
00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:02,280
Everything dear and beloved to 
me will become otherwise will 

609
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:06,160
become separated from me. 
It's kind of hard to bear even 

610
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,640
thinking that thought. 
But if we don't think it, if we 

611
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,560
don't deal with it now, we're 
going to have to deal with far 

612
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:14,520
more when we eventually it 
happens. 

613
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,360
If we deal with it now, if we 
try to understand what it means,

614
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,280
maybe we can get onto the 
spiritual path, think about 

615
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,440
these things in a new way and 
encourage ourselves to actually 

616
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,800
practice, do some things that 
counteract these kind of big 

617
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,120
problems in life. 
But we know everything in our 

618
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,840
life, yeah, is impermanent in 
this way. 

619
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,720
That would have started off 
talking about rebirth all day, 

620
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:40,240
sickness, death. 
Yeah. 

621
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,520
These are all of these things 
that matter so enormously here, 

622
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:46,680
and all of these things are 
aspects of the idea of 

623
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,360
impermanence. 
You can now see why the idea of 

624
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,200
anicha is so profound. 
Yeah, because it brings in all 

625
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,600
of these other contemplations 
that we have on the Buddhist 

626
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:58,840
path. 
Death contemplation is one of 

627
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,480
the most important things that 
we have in Buddhism. 

628
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,720
The Buddha teaches this a lot. 
Please do death contemplation. 

629
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,400
Please remind yourself on the 
regular basis that you're going 

630
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:10,960
to die. 
Yeah. 

631
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,440
Wake up in the morning. 
The first thing you should think

632
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:14,800
is I'm going to die. 
Yeah. 

633
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,440
That's a good start of the day, 
right. 

634
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,240
That is the best start of the 
day. 

635
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,680
Yeah. 
I'm not really joking. 

636
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,840
Even there a lot of people I 
know that do death contemplation

637
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,000
the first thing in the morning. 
Yeah. 

638
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:31,480
And if you do it in the right 
way, it sets the stage for the 

639
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,440
day. 
What matters during that day? 

640
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,440
OK, I could die today. 
What does that mean? 

641
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:36,960
It means I'm going to treat 
people well. 

642
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,000
I'm going to be kind to others. 
I'm going to be kind to myself. 

643
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,480
I'm going to do the right thing.
I'm going to say goodbye to my 

644
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:44,440
family. 
And when I'm going to say 

645
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,120
goodbye in a good way, not after
an argument. 

646
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,720
Because if I'm going to die, I 
don't want to die after an 

647
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:51,000
argument. 
That's crazy. 

648
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:55,360
If you are on a deathbed, are 
you going to argue with people 

649
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,800
around here? 
Imagine being deathbed. 

650
00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,960
Yeah, I could. 
Haven't had that argument yet. 

651
00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:00,560
Yeah. 
OK, better. 

652
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,520
Let's have this argument before 
I die quickly. 

653
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:03,760
I'm going to die soon. 
Let's have it. 

654
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,000
That's the last thing, right. 
If you're about to die, you can 

655
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:08,680
say, OK, leave it. 
Let it be. 

656
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:10,160
I'm how do. 
I don't want to argue with 

657
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,800
anyone. 
And so the idea of contemplating

658
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,840
death makes us better people. 
Impermanence makes you a better 

659
00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,160
person. 
Why? 

660
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,480
Because you remember what really
matters. 

661
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,720
You get your priorities right. 
This is what this really is 

662
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,320
about, yeah. 
Understanding and permanence in 

663
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,000
the world as a whole. 
Then on the kind of intermediate

664
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,400
scale in our city of Perth. 
Then on your personal scale, in 

665
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:39,120
the family, with yourself, with 
your own body, that you too are 

666
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,240
going to die and get sick before
you know it. 

667
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,960
These things that are so 
uncertain and all of these 

668
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:49,120
things, if you do them in the 
right way, they have a very, 

669
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:53,280
very powerful consequence. 
The consequence of turning away 

670
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,480
from what I would call the world
of the five senses. 

671
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,600
All the things I have explained 
are really about the world of 

672
00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:03,440
the five senses and instead 
turning on to the spiritual 

673
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,160
life, turning towards that 
because that is where you find 

674
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:12,440
the respite, the safety, the 
refuge from all the problems in 

675
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,639
the world. 
Let me welcome back a little 

676
00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:18,400
bit. 
I spoke before about the 

677
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,600
Buddha's final days. 
Yeah. 

678
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:23,960
So again, very, very beautiful 
teaching that you find in the 

679
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,480
sutas called the Mahapanibana 
Suta. 

680
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,880
It means the greater discourse 
in the passing away of the 

681
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:31,239
Buddha. 
That's what it means. 

682
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,199
And it's very beautiful. 
And I really recommend you to 

683
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,239
study that suta, if you're 
interested in the Buddha's 

684
00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:40,360
teachings. 
We did a series of talks. 

685
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,239
Actually, I did a series of 
talks right here at the Damaloka

686
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:46,000
Centre on this particular suita.
Yeah. 

687
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,639
It is only goes on for about 20 
hours or so because it's such a 

688
00:34:49,639 --> 00:34:51,040
long suit and such a beautiful 
thing. 

689
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,600
So it goes on for a long time. 
But if you're interested, you 

690
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:55,280
can listen to that. 
But that means you have to be 

691
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,640
really committed because 20 
hours, I recognise it's quite a 

692
00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:00,520
bit of investment for most 
people there. 

693
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,400
But anyway, in this suita. 
Yeah. 

694
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,560
Where the Buddha is about to 
pass away. 

695
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:10,720
Yeah, as he gets close to his 
passing away, he also has some 

696
00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:14,480
very severe illnesses. 
And as he has his very severe 

697
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:19,880
illnesses, Venerable Ananda, who
is his attendant, he recognised 

698
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,960
that the Buddha is coming to the
close to the end of his 

699
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:26,560
lifetime, that Venerable Ananda 
has been with the Buddha for. 

700
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:28,760
Well, actually, they are family.
Yeah. 

701
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,480
So they go back to even before 
they became monks. 

702
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,000
Right. 
But he has been his personal 

703
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,720
attendant for 20 years. 20 
years. 

704
00:35:37,720 --> 00:35:38,920
Yeah. 
And he's always been with the 

705
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,440
Buddha, listening to everything 
the Buddha has to say. 

706
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:44,680
Yeah. 
Because he is the one who 

707
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:48,160
memorized the teachings of the 
Buddha, always being there to 

708
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,280
support the Buddha. 
Always being there if the Buddha

709
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:56,200
needs, you know, is that needs 
something or whatever, Ananda is

710
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,960
always there. 
And you can imagine if you are 

711
00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:03,400
with somebody all the time, 
someone who has the qualities of

712
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:07,920
the Buddha, endless kindness, 
endless compassion, endless 

713
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,640
wisdom, always has a word to say
about whatever the situation 

714
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,440
might be here. 
Imagine having had that person 

715
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:15,880
in your life for your whole 
life. 

716
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:18,960
Difficult to get a husband or 
wife like that, right? 

717
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:24,680
So, yeah. 
But yeah, I I'd best not to look

718
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:26,880
for a husband or wife quite like
that because you might, you 

719
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,240
would never, you might as well 
become a monk straight away or 

720
00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:31,520
non straight away because we're 
the only way to find that. 

721
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,200
But anyway, that's the, that's 
kind of bit of PR for the 

722
00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,160
monastic life anyway. 
So, Ananda. 

723
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,800
Yeah, you can imagine how 
distraught is. 

724
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,920
Yeah. 
The Buddha is about to pass 

725
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:45,160
away. 
He recognises this. 

726
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,600
And then he goes to the Buddha 
and he says the Buddha. 

727
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,360
Oh, I'm seeing, Venerable Sir, 
that you are sick. 

728
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,600
Yeah. 
And because I see your sickness,

729
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,240
I can't, I'm at the directions 
are unclear to me. 

730
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,880
I can't remember the teachings 
or anything like that. 

731
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,520
Yeah, I your mind is completely 
all of the place. 

732
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,800
You're feeling deluded, 
basically, And I'm sure many of 

733
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:07,600
you will know what that means. 
If you're full of grief and 

734
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,560
sadness, you might just. 
You'd lose the plot a little 

735
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:11,720
bit. 
Yeah. 

736
00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:14,240
Is anyone here who has never 
lost the plot a little bit? 

737
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:17,040
Everyone has lost the plot 
sometimes, Right. 

738
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,840
This is just kind of part of 
what it means to be human. 

739
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,040
And so he loses the plot a 
little bit. 

740
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,320
And then the Buddha says to him,
and this is kind of what is 

741
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:28,080
interesting. 
Yeah. 

742
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:29,480
Yeah. 
It comes a little bit later in 

743
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:33,320
the same suta, but the Buddha 
says to him, haven't I told you,

744
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,920
Ananda, that everything that is 
dear and pleasing to you must 

745
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:42,720
become otherwise, must become 
separated from you, Ananda. 

746
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,080
Yeah. 
If you're going to, if you want 

747
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,000
a refuge in the world, you 
should take yourself as a 

748
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,240
refuge. 
You should take the Dhamma as 

749
00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:52,760
refuge. 
You should be at the deeper 

750
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,920
Dhamma, deeper, just teaching a 
bit of Pali on the way here, at 

751
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,240
the deeper Dhamma, deeper 
yourself as a refuge, the Dhamma

752
00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:02,240
as a refuge. 
Why? 

753
00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:05,160
Because if you take refuge in 
the world outside, you will 

754
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:09,160
always be disappointed. 
Even the Buddha has to has to 

755
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:12,440
pass away. 
So what does it mean to take 

756
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,080
yourself as a refuge? 
What does it mean to take the 

757
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:16,760
Dhamma? 
The Dhamma is a teaching of the 

758
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,920
Buddha. 
What does it mean to take that 

759
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,560
as a refuge? 
And then he explains what it 

760
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,960
means to take that as a refuge 
is to meditate. 

761
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,680
When you meditate properly here,
this is called Satya Patana in 

762
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,280
the power language. 
When you do the proper 

763
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:36,200
meditation, you go within. 
And when you go within, when you

764
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:40,560
let go of that world of the five
senses that is so unreliable and

765
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,720
so uncertain, when you let go of
that, that is where you find the

766
00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:47,920
stability inside. 
You find the joy inside. 

767
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:52,640
You find the peace inside. 
You find the meaning inside, you

768
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:56,600
start to realise how devoid of 
meaning the world of the five 

769
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,720
sentences is. 
Yeah, you start to understand 

770
00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:02,800
how hollow it is. 
There is no nothing to hold 

771
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,560
onto. 
It is just kind of this turmoil 

772
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,640
all the time going on. 
There's nowhere to doesn't lead 

773
00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:10,800
anywhere. 
And so it is fundamentally 

774
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,800
problematic. 
But when you start to feel the 

775
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,400
peace inside, when you start to 
feel the joy and happiness that 

776
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:19,440
comes from letting go of those 
things. 

777
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,080
And that's precisely why we have
to contemplate them a little 

778
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:23,560
bit. 
So we can't let go of them. 

779
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:28,720
As you do that, the peace and 
happiness and joy start to build

780
00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:31,040
up within. 
That becomes the refuge. 

781
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,480
Why? 
Because it is worthy of being 

782
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,120
called a refuge. 
Yeah. 

783
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:38,640
Away from the world. 
Meaning. 

784
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:41,800
And all of these positive 
qualities being built up inside.

785
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:45,800
That should be your refuge. 
And if you understand what I 

786
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,520
mean, and some of you will 
understand because some of you 

787
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:52,080
have been meditators for a long 
time, you have an idea what 

788
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:54,720
these things are like. 
And because of that, you have 

789
00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:57,640
some idea what that refuge 
actually means. 

790
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:00,600
And it is so delightful. 
Yeah. 

791
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:02,240
It is such a beautiful thing. 
Yeah. 

792
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,880
And you start to understand why 
giving up the world is actually 

793
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:09,680
the only sensible thing to do. 
Yeah. 

794
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,760
Giving it up in the sense of not
being attached to it, not giving

795
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:15,400
it up in the sense of not 
caring. 

796
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,240
You should always care, but you 
should be less attached. 

797
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:23,800
That is the right attitude. 
And then? 

798
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,240
When you then come onto the path
of meditation, yeah, which this 

799
00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:31,640
really is about, you're starting
to find the refuge from the 

800
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,280
world outside, giving up the 
five sentences a little bit, 

801
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:39,480
loosening the grip on that world
so you can be more at ease and 

802
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,360
more relaxed. 
Yeah, the meditation starts to 

803
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,360
deepen. 
And as the meditation starts to 

804
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,760
deepen, you start to understand 
the idea of impermanence and 

805
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:53,000
unreliability in an even more 
profound way. 

806
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:55,480
We only scratched the surface so
far. 

807
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:58,360
You know, even now, you're 
starting to meditate. 

808
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,440
You're starting to kind of find 
joy and peace from a Buddhist 

809
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,520
point of view, from the point of
view of what the Buddha taught. 

810
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:09,320
Still, only scratching the 
surface isn't that kind of cool.

811
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:14,800
Because if joy and peace is 
scratching the surface, wow. 

812
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:16,920
What on earth could be further 
down the track? 

813
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:19,160
Yeah, yeah. 
And this is kind of the nice 

814
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,880
thing about this Buddhist path. 
It is just more joy, more 

815
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:25,400
happiness, more peace building 
up till you come to the very end

816
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,680
of this path. 
And so as you practice in this 

817
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:33,880
way, and as you start to 
meditate more, you start to 

818
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,120
understand the idea of 
impermanence and reliability in 

819
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,640
an even more profound way. 
You start to experience it in 

820
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,880
your own mind, what it means to 
give you an idea and very 

821
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,280
obvious idea. 
The first time you become really

822
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:52,720
peaceful in meditation, you 
realise thinking has gone. 

823
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,600
Thinking has gone. 
Maybe some of you didn't realise

824
00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:57,680
that was possible. 
Yeah. 

825
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,320
I often hear about people say, 
oh, I think all the time. 

826
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:01,440
Yeah, all the time. 
I think, yeah. 

827
00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:03,400
And I think, wow, I feel sorry 
for you. 

828
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,520
Too much thinking is dukkha. 
Suffering is a problem. 

829
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:11,000
We know if the mind starts to 
kind of go too fast, it's 

830
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:11,880
terrible. 
Yeah. 

831
00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:14,880
It feels very restless. 
It feels very, very, very bad. 

832
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:20,440
Then one day in meditation, no 
thinking, just peace and 

833
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:21,400
clarity. 
Yeah. 

834
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,240
Nothing else going on. 
Wow. 

835
00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:28,000
Now I start to understand. 
Thinking can disappear. 

836
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,120
Yeah. 
Then you understand the 

837
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:33,960
impermanence of thinking. 
You are not the thinking. 

838
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,760
When the thinking is gone, you 
are more present. 

839
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,760
You are more alive. 
You feel better about yourself 

840
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:41,720
precisely because the thinking 
is gone. 

841
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:46,880
One of the main reasons why we 
value the thinking so much is 

842
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:49,400
because it feels like the 
thinking is coming from you. 

843
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:53,360
These aren't my thoughts. 
Have you noticed that in 

844
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:54,320
meditation? 
Yeah. 

845
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:58,000
When you sit down and close and 
feel the thinking and it feels 

846
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:02,920
like they are your thoughts 
until one day the thinking is 

847
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,320
gone and you are more happy and 
you're really, actually you 

848
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:07,960
weren't those thoughts at all. 
Yeah. 

849
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:10,520
Getting rid of the thinking is 
blim and marvellous. 

850
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:12,600
Yeah. 
Get rid of those stupid 

851
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:16,400
thoughts. 
Rid of them, yeah. 

852
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:17,280
No more thinking. 
Yeah. 

853
00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:19,920
And actually, you feel all the 
better for it. 

854
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:25,160
And so the insight that arises 
from that is that first of all 

855
00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:30,040
part of the mind is impermanent.
And because that impermanence 

856
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:34,040
leads to more happiness and joy,
you understand the suffering of 

857
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:37,280
the thinking mind. 
And also you understand because 

858
00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,400
the thinking mind is gone and 
you are still there and you are 

859
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:44,520
better off as a consequence, 
that thinking is non self. 

860
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:46,520
It hasn't got nothing to do with
you. 

861
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:48,320
You are not really your 
thoughts. 

862
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,560
You are something far more 
profound than the thinking mind.

863
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,000
You are like the peaceful 
awareness. 

864
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:56,480
I'm not saying you are this, but
this is what it feels like at 

865
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,720
that time. 
You are some kind of peaceful 

866
00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:00,440
awareness full of joy and 
happiness. 

867
00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,760
That is much better to attach a 
little bit to that than to 

868
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:09,080
attach to the thinking mind. 
And in this way, meditation, as 

869
00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,560
the meditation becomes more and 
more peaceful, more and more 

870
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:16,120
joyful, more and more happy, as 
you abandon more and more things

871
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:20,720
in the world, you start to see 
the impermanence of the mind 

872
00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:24,720
itself giving things up. 
And the more things you give up 

873
00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:27,640
in the mind, the less that 
actually remains. 

874
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,320
The better you feel, the more 
happiness you have. 

875
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,800
One of the strange things in the
world, giving up, renouncing, 

876
00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:38,480
letting go is the best thing 
that ever happened to you in 

877
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,560
your life. 
That is the weird thing about 

878
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:44,320
the Buddhist path. 
And this is what you see in this

879
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,840
process of impermanence as I go 
through this. 

880
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,240
So this is the Buddhist idea of 
impermanence. 

881
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,320
And you carry on observing this,
you carry on observing this 

882
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,960
unreliability, you carry on the 
idea of ending in cessation. 

883
00:45:02,240 --> 00:45:06,680
Yeah, deeper and deeper and 
deeper to see how deeply it is 

884
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,760
possible to go. 
Yeah, this is the idea. 

885
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:14,000
And the deeper you go, the more 
powerful this becomes as you go 

886
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,920
along, and the more insight you 
get and the more understanding 

887
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:23,880
you get of the meaning of life. 
So let me finish off by giving 

888
00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:27,200
you some similarly that the 
Buddha had about the idea of 

889
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:31,080
impermanence of a human being, 
just to give you some idea how 

890
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,560
the Buddha explained this and to
give us an idea of how to think 

891
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:37,720
about these things. 
And the Buddha gave a similarly 

892
00:45:37,720 --> 00:45:40,120
of the impermanence of the body.
Yeah. 

893
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:43,400
What is the body? 
And the Buddha said the physical

894
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:47,440
body, he said, is like a lump of
foam on the River Ganges. 

895
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:50,680
If you go to a large river, I 
don't know about the Swan River,

896
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:52,960
but maybe the Swan River has, 
too, you can somehow see little 

897
00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:54,800
lumps of foam. 
They're coming down. 

898
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,680
And the Buddha says that is your
body. 

899
00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:03,280
And then he asked, well, what? 
What is the substance in a bit 

900
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:06,040
of foam? 
Obviously no substance, right. 

901
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:09,840
In the same way as a lump of 
foam, the body is the same. 

902
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:12,080
A lump of foam is always 
changing. 

903
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:16,000
Yeah, lumbar foam is that there 
are bubbles arising, bubbles 

904
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:17,240
disappearing. 
Yeah, yeah. 

905
00:46:17,240 --> 00:46:21,440
And eventually one day, the 
whole bunch of foam will be 

906
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:26,400
completely gone, changing shape,
shifting over time and 

907
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,480
eventually completely gone. 
That is the physical body here. 

908
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,000
And, you know, the physical 
bodies like that. 

909
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:32,920
Yeah. 
We change. 

910
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,680
And we kind of start off when we
are small and when we grow up, 

911
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:37,640
become big, sometimes become a 
little bit too big. 

912
00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:39,520
Yeah. 
And then you, you know, you have

913
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:40,880
all these kind of things. 
Yeah. 

914
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,720
And then you get old and you get
wrinkly and then you get really 

915
00:46:43,720 --> 00:46:46,320
kind of, you know, nothing works
anymore after a while, that 

916
00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:48,320
shaping and then, bang, you're 
out of here. 

917
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,560
Yeah. 
The bubbles are completely gone.

918
00:46:51,040 --> 00:46:54,160
This is the body for you. 
It's a beautiful metaphor for 

919
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,520
the body, or similarly for the 
body, the lump of foam on the 

920
00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:01,720
River Ganges. 
OK, lump performer. 

921
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:06,880
Are you all right there? 
It's hard to see, isn't it, 

922
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:08,640
sometimes? 
But that's kind of the reality 

923
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:11,800
here. 
Then, the symbol for feelings. 

924
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,440
These are the symbols for the 
five kind of groups of 

925
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:16,480
personality that we have as 
human beings. 

926
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:18,920
The symbol for feelings. 
Like a bubble. 

927
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,200
Yeah. 
Bubbles that come and go on the 

928
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:25,640
River Ganges or on the River 
Swan or wherever it might be, a 

929
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:28,400
bubble forms. 
And as soon as the bubble form, 

930
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:30,160
before you know it, it is gone 
again. 

931
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:34,440
Another bubble arises, and that 
bubble too, is gone before you 

932
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:37,320
know it. 
This is the idea of feelings. 

933
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:41,160
Feelings are so incredibly 
uncertain and reliable. 

934
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:44,800
And yet feelings are the most 
important thing to us in this 

935
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:46,920
world. 
Yeah, We live to have a good 

936
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:49,600
feelings. 
We live to be able to be happy. 

937
00:47:49,720 --> 00:47:51,680
We live to be able to enjoy the 
world. 

938
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:54,960
Positive feelings and avoiding 
the negative is really what life

939
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,200
is about. 
This is what everyone in the 

940
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:59,680
world wants to do. 
This is what craving and desire 

941
00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:03,560
in the world really concerns. 
The idea of pursuing positive 

942
00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:05,280
feelings and avoiding the bad 
ones. 

943
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:09,160
And yet when you look at them, 
they are so incredibly 

944
00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:12,200
ephemeral. 
The last but a fraction of a 

945
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:14,560
moment and another feeling 
arises. 

946
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:17,200
Yeah. 
When you are in this room, maybe

947
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:20,000
you look, you think actually 
it's quite a nice room. 

948
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:21,520
Yeah. 
Quite attractive. 

949
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:23,200
And so you have a good feeling. 
Yeah. 

950
00:48:23,600 --> 00:48:26,360
And then maybe you, something 
else happens. 

951
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:27,560
I don't know. 
Maybe you hear something you 

952
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:29,640
don't like too much 
impermanence. 

953
00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:30,760
Yeah. 
You don't like hear more about 

954
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:32,280
impermanence. 
OK, Don't like that. 

955
00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:37,080
Then negative feeling, right? 
Arises 1 moment, a good feeling.

956
00:48:37,360 --> 00:48:38,960
The next moment, a negative 
feeling. 

957
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:41,840
I hope you don't have too many 
negative feelings about 

958
00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:44,760
impermanence, because then I 
make me feel really bad. 

959
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,920
Yeah. 
What to do? 

960
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:53,600
I hope you're OK. 
And this way, feelings arise. 

961
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:56,400
You hear something you don't 
like, you taste something you 

962
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,200
like, you smell something you 
don't like, you touch something 

963
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,360
painful. 
Feelings come and go so fast, 

964
00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:06,040
completely out of control. 
And this is the reality of 

965
00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:09,120
feelings in this world. 
We try to control the 

966
00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:11,120
uncontrollable. 
That is the message of the 

967
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,320
Buddha. 
Then there is the idea of 

968
00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:17,440
perception. 
And the idea of perception in 

969
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:21,120
Buddhism is basically perception
means our ability to make sense 

970
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:22,640
of the world around us. 
Yeah. 

971
00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:25,880
Perception is something very 
simple, like you see a person 

972
00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:29,800
and you think friend or enemy. 
Yeah, yeah, I can see if I can 

973
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:35,920
find any enemies in here. 
No enemies, right? 

974
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:37,960
Isn't that great? 
Actually, we shouldn't really 

975
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:39,840
have enemies as good Buddhist. 
If you want to be a good 

976
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:43,240
Buddhist, have zero enemies. 
Don't worry about what other 

977
00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:45,200
people think about you, but you 
don't have any enemies. 

978
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:50,400
That's what I really recommend. 
But yeah, so perception is these

979
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:52,280
kind of things, how we make 
sense of things. 

980
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:54,320
This is a room. 
These are human beings. 

981
00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:56,520
This is a microphone. 
This is a chair. 

982
00:49:56,520 --> 00:49:58,040
This is a carpet. 
Yeah. 

983
00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:00,120
We make sense of the world. 
This is a friend. 

984
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:01,960
This is the government. 
Yeah. 

985
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:04,240
These are perceptions. 
These are labels. 

986
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:06,440
It's the way we understand the 
world. 

987
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:10,720
And the Buddha describes 
perception as a mirage. 

988
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,240
Yeah, you know a mirage, right. 
When you drive on the highway in

989
00:50:15,240 --> 00:50:18,760
Perth, sometimes it's really hot
and it looks like there's water 

990
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:21,040
on the bitumen. 
Have you seen that? 

991
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:24,200
Yeah, it's kind of interesting. 
And of course, there is no water

992
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:25,640
there. 
You come close, you realise it's

993
00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:27,680
just hot air or something like 
that. 

994
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:31,720
There was nothing there. 
And the way we perceive the 

995
00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:35,560
world, the way we think about 
people in them as a friend, it's

996
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:39,720
like a mirage. 
It can be shifted like that if I

997
00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:42,360
look at someone's bad qualities.
Yeah. 

998
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:44,440
Let me think about Conrad for a 
second. 

999
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:46,280
What are the bad qualities in 
Conrad? 

1000
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,760
Now that's impossible. 
Let's see. 

1001
00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:52,440
If you look at someone's bad 
qualities, Yeah. 

1002
00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:55,040
Something negative can happen 
inside of you. 

1003
00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:58,960
Then you shift your perception 
in a fraction of a second, 

1004
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:01,760
focusing from the bad to the 
good qualities. 

1005
00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:03,520
The perception can change just 
like that. 

1006
00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,400
And suddenly someone is your 
friend. 

1007
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:08,840
Yeah, and that is such a 
beautiful thing. 

1008
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:12,400
When that happens, you're moving
your perceptions around and they

1009
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:15,520
are so utterly unreliable, so 
utterly uncertain. 

1010
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:19,000
Everything we think of in the 
world, we think of thing as 

1011
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:21,040
fixed. 
We think of things being in a 

1012
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:23,760
certain way, we have ideas about
the world. 

1013
00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:27,200
Those ideas are very far more 
ephemeral than we think they 

1014
00:51:27,520 --> 00:51:30,080
they are. 
And there's something very 

1015
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,000
interesting about that, 
something very important about 

1016
00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,360
that. 
First of all, we shouldn't rely 

1017
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:36,840
on this thing. 
We shouldn't rely on the 

1018
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,400
perceptions we have of the world
because we don't really know. 

1019
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:43,320
We should be far more unsure 
about ourselves. 

1020
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:46,040
People in the world are far too 
sure about themselves. 

1021
00:51:46,040 --> 00:51:47,680
Right? 
I know this is true. 

1022
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:49,760
This is wrong. 
This is good reality. 

1023
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:50,960
You are wrong. 
I'm right. 

1024
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:52,880
We are not. 
We should be more humble. 

1025
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:54,320
Yeah. 
And I think the Internet makes 

1026
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:56,920
us particularly stupid when it 
comes to these kind of things. 

1027
00:51:57,560 --> 00:52:00,680
Please don't be that stupid. 
And then when you are more 

1028
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:03,520
humble and more kind of, you 
realise the uncertainty of your 

1029
00:52:03,520 --> 00:52:07,400
own judgements and knowledge of 
the world, actually it makes you

1030
00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:09,280
more easygoing as well. 
Yeah. 

1031
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:12,000
You become less prickly. 
There's less to defend in your 

1032
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,120
life because actually you don't 
have that certainty about you. 

1033
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,040
Not having so much certainty to 
me is a sign of wisdom. 

1034
00:52:18,440 --> 00:52:21,280
Someone who's really certain 
about themselves all the time, I

1035
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:23,040
reckon they haven't got that 
much wisdom. 

1036
00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:26,600
But it also means, and this is 
kind of the beautiful thing 

1037
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:30,800
about this, if perception is a 
very uncertain thing, yeah, if 

1038
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:35,040
it is subject to change all the 
time, if we can can change it 

1039
00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:38,480
precisely because of that, it 
means that we can't change the 

1040
00:52:38,480 --> 00:52:41,520
way we think about people, the 
world around us. 

1041
00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:44,000
We can have more kindness and 
care. 

1042
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:47,400
We can have more meta and love 
and friendliness to everyone 

1043
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:50,160
around us. 
And this is the beauty of this. 

1044
00:52:50,160 --> 00:52:53,560
We don't have to be stuck in 
anger, in ill will, in 

1045
00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:56,600
negativity, because these things
are not solid. 

1046
00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:00,040
They are just an idea built up 
in our mind which doesn't have 

1047
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:03,200
any foundation. 
It can be changed just like that

1048
00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:06,680
if we know how to do it. 
And what a marvellous thing that

1049
00:53:06,680 --> 00:53:09,720
is. 
Don't buy into this idea that 

1050
00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:11,640
these things are permanent. 
They are not. 

1051
00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:13,760
They are like a mirage, says the
Buddha. 

1052
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:17,280
That is but just about as 
impermanent as it possibly can 

1053
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,240
get. 
And this is the beautiful upside

1054
00:53:20,240 --> 00:53:22,880
of these teachings. 
It means that you can start 

1055
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:24,640
shifting your perceptions 
around. 

1056
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,000
You can start to look at people 
in a new way. 

1057
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:30,280
You can build up this beautiful 
ideas of the world, of the 

1058
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,880
people around you. 
And as you do that, not only 

1059
00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:37,600
does everything become easier in
your life, but you start to feel

1060
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:41,240
much, much better about yourself
as well as a consequence of 

1061
00:53:41,240 --> 00:53:44,360
that. 
This is if you like the upside 

1062
00:53:44,360 --> 00:53:48,240
of impermanence. 
Impermanence is seeing the 

1063
00:53:48,240 --> 00:53:52,120
danger in the world, seeing the 
danger within yourself, 

1064
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:55,920
understanding that so much of 
our existence is like a mirage. 

1065
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:57,880
It can be turned around just 
like that. 

1066
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:02,400
One of the ideas of being an 
Arrowhead to fully awaken being 

1067
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:06,440
in Buddhism is the precisely the
idea that you can change your 

1068
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:08,840
perceptions like that. 
You can see something as ugly 

1069
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:12,400
and then seeing as beautiful in 
the next moment, just as an act 

1070
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:15,960
of will. 
So you is in the idea of 

1071
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:18,680
impermanence. 
Not believing that there is a 

1072
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:22,840
solid person inside, that we are
some kind of inherent being 

1073
00:54:23,240 --> 00:54:27,920
allows us to practice this path.
Remember, the future is not set 

1074
00:54:28,480 --> 00:54:32,000
when you may think that the 
future is just an extension of 

1075
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:33,840
the present. 
No, it isn't. 

1076
00:54:34,080 --> 00:54:36,560
The future's going to be 
dramatically different from what

1077
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:40,240
you think it's going to be here,
and your job is to make sure 

1078
00:54:40,240 --> 00:54:43,120
that you are going to be a 
better person through that 

1079
00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:47,600
process into the future. 
And don't think that there is a 

1080
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:49,400
limit to how good you can be 
here. 

1081
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:53,280
You can build up your inner 
qualities to an extraordinary 

1082
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:57,840
level to become a person who is 
extremely kind and caring and 

1083
00:54:57,840 --> 00:55:00,440
has a sense of love and 
compassion for the whole world. 

1084
00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:04,680
That is possible on this path, 
and everyone here can do it if 

1085
00:55:04,680 --> 00:55:07,880
you are committed. 
Don't believe the sense of self 

1086
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:10,600
inside of you that says no, you 
are stuck. 

1087
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:13,280
You are stuck in depression. 
You will always be depressed or 

1088
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:15,280
you're stuck in sadness. 
You'll always be sad. 

1089
00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:20,000
That isn't the way the world is.
Things can happen, you can 

1090
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:22,280
change, and it's really up to 
you to make it happen. 

1091
00:55:22,720 --> 00:55:25,880
But first of all, you have to 
believe in this path and believe

1092
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:30,040
in the idea of impermanence. 
And then as you practice in this

1093
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:33,640
way, you start to see the 
miracle of change inside of you.

1094
00:55:34,120 --> 00:55:37,520
You start to see the miracle of 
impermanence in a positive light

1095
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:42,480
when you do become someone else.
And one day you see your life is

1096
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:45,320
completely transformed. 
You are a different person. 

1097
00:55:45,880 --> 00:55:48,360
In one way, you are still the 
same because you have the same 

1098
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:50,720
history here. 
But another way, you're also bet

1099
00:55:50,720 --> 00:55:53,640
you're also much better. 
And you feel far better about 

1100
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:56,840
yourself as a consequence. 
And then you become a real 

1101
00:55:56,840 --> 00:55:59,400
blessing for yourself. 
And when you become a blessing 

1102
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:03,040
for yourself, you also become a 
blessing for the world around 

1103
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:07,200
you. 
OK, enough. 

1104
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,600
OK, everyone. 
So that is just a little bit 

1105
00:56:20,600 --> 00:56:23,960
about impermanence. 
I'm glad no one walked out. 

1106
00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:26,280
I'm always scared people walk 
out in this kind of talks. 

1107
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:29,160
I'm very pleased with that. 
So that doesn't mean you're not 

1108
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:30,640
allowed to walk out. 
You are. 

1109
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:35,000
But nevertheless, anyone like to
ask any questions or comment on 

1110
00:56:35,000 --> 00:56:37,920
what we talked about today? 
Yes, please. 

1111
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:39,080
Over there. 
Yeah, fire away. 

1112
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:41,800
Hi, thanks. 
Thanks very much for the talk. 

1113
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:47,240
I've been contemplating 
permanence for a while, so I'm 

1114
00:56:47,240 --> 00:56:49,800
just going to kind of maybe riff
on some stuff that I've been 

1115
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:52,160
thinking about and reflecting on
in your talk. 

1116
00:56:53,320 --> 00:57:00,680
So a niche, I mean, it is, is 
the ease and the peace that we 

1117
00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:05,520
experience through meditation, 
through letting go is the 

1118
00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:09,600
initia, is it seeing that we 
don't exist from your 

1119
00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:12,840
perspective? 
Like is it that you just see 

1120
00:57:12,840 --> 00:57:15,080
that you're nothing so that 
you're everything? 

1121
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:20,560
Or is it is, is there is 
impermanence, a principle of 

1122
00:57:20,560 --> 00:57:23,800
harmony? 
Is there a way that things flow?

1123
00:57:24,160 --> 00:57:27,480
And if we let go, we fall into 
the flow of that. 

1124
00:57:28,720 --> 00:57:32,600
Yeah, I would say both of those 
things ultimately, but take it 

1125
00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:34,440
slowly. 
Don't try to go too fast, right?

1126
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:36,080
Because if you try to go too 
fast, you're going to stumble 

1127
00:57:36,080 --> 00:57:38,840
and fall over and hurt yourself.
So be careful with that one. 

1128
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:43,160
But yes, it is a principle of 
harmony in the sense that a lot 

1129
00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:47,080
of the reasons why we have 
conflict in the world is because

1130
00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:50,080
we hold onto things. 
Yeah, we hold onto my opinion on

1131
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:53,920
my way or whatever. 
And if we are able to go with 

1132
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:57,160
the flow instead and kind of 
move with things, actually, it 

1133
00:57:57,160 --> 00:57:59,240
tends to create less problems in
the world. 

1134
00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:03,760
It tends to create more harmony.
So that's absolutely true when 

1135
00:58:03,760 --> 00:58:06,360
it comes to the idea of 
impermanence in meditation 

1136
00:58:06,360 --> 00:58:10,600
practice. 
It is, I mean, the idea of non 

1137
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:13,200
self on coming to the point 
where you see that everything is

1138
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:15,080
important, that's extremely 
profound. 

1139
00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:18,200
Yeah. 
And you know, see what happens 

1140
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:20,240
as you go along. 
The Buddha says yes, at the end 

1141
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:22,560
of the day, there is no self. 
There is just emptiness. 

1142
00:58:22,960 --> 00:58:25,160
And emptiness is the most 
beautiful thing, the most happy 

1143
00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:28,040
thing in the world. 
In the meantime, just use the 

1144
00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:30,920
idea of impermanence to deepen 
your meditation. 

1145
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:34,360
Use it as a support. 
You have to make meditation to 

1146
00:58:34,360 --> 00:58:36,960
let go more because you 
understand that things in the 

1147
00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:39,280
world are not really reliable. 
The word of holding on. 

1148
00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:43,840
Then come inside of yourself. 
Then start to observe your mind.

1149
00:58:44,080 --> 00:58:47,360
And as you observe your mind and
your body, yeah, if you go into 

1150
00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:49,800
a nice meditation, your body 
starts to disappear. 

1151
00:58:50,080 --> 00:58:52,080
And you think, actually, Jeep, 
as the body is gone and I feel 

1152
00:58:52,080 --> 00:58:54,520
much better, obviously the body 
is a problem. 

1153
00:58:54,560 --> 00:58:56,320
Yeah. 
You start to let go of the body.

1154
00:58:56,320 --> 00:58:59,320
The mind has far more potential 
for happiness than the body has.

1155
00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:03,080
And so in this way you gradually
see impermanence and more and 

1156
00:59:03,080 --> 00:59:05,960
more things, and there's less 
and less things remaining. 

1157
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:08,280
Yeah, until there's only bliss 
kind of remains. 

1158
00:59:08,280 --> 00:59:12,680
And when only bliss remains, So 
what happens after that? 

1159
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:15,920
That's kind of exciting, right? 
What is beyond bliss, so to 

1160
00:59:15,920 --> 00:59:17,880
speak? 
Yeah, That's kind of where the 

1161
00:59:17,880 --> 00:59:19,600
real kind of deal starts to 
happen. 

1162
00:59:19,600 --> 00:59:22,480
The real profundity of the 
Buddhist path, like emptiness 

1163
00:59:22,480 --> 00:59:23,480
and these kind of things. 
Sure. 

1164
00:59:30,680 --> 00:59:33,520
Does the bliss? 
I mean is the is the is the 

1165
00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:38,760
permanence to the bliss? 
Nothing is permanent, Yeah. 

1166
00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:42,560
So you have to go beyond, beyond
all things, is there? 

1167
00:59:46,480 --> 00:59:50,920
Is there something that 
perceives the that the the the 

1168
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:53,800
is? 
Or is it just elements moving as

1169
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:57,560
moving together and it's just 
always elements moving that 

1170
00:59:57,560 --> 00:59:59,840
perceives that there that there 
isn't? 

1171
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:02,880
Yeah, something. 
Yeah, there's this movement. 

1172
01:00:03,320 --> 01:00:06,160
I mean, there are, there are 
times when they go into states 

1173
01:00:06,160 --> 01:00:07,920
that can last for long periods 
of time. 

1174
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:10,360
You know, you can go go on for 
long periods of time, certain 

1175
01:00:10,360 --> 01:00:12,880
things, but in general they're 
just movement. 

1176
01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:21,440
Yeah, yes, please. 
My question is about different 

1177
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:27,680
types of contemplation and just 
when ideas get in the way of 

1178
01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:31,400
contemplation. 
So I was just thinking about 

1179
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:36,360
when it came to Anita and other 
ideas that come up in Buddhism, 

1180
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:42,280
that because of the overthinking
mind and that sense of self, 

1181
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:48,880
just going too far with like 
some of the ideas and just going

1182
01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:52,160
back to what are the simple 
things that the Buddha actually 

1183
01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:54,560
wants us to contemplate. 
Yeah, Yeah. 

1184
01:00:55,560 --> 01:00:57,640
Well. 
Yeah, there's a question. 

1185
01:00:57,720 --> 01:00:58,360
Sure. 
OK, good. 

1186
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:01,400
Yeah, I so, yeah, don't, don't 
overthink. 

1187
01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:04,520
Yeah, obviously the, the idea 
here, contemplation is more like

1188
01:01:04,520 --> 01:01:06,680
observing and learning from 
observation. 

1189
01:01:06,680 --> 01:01:09,520
Yeah. 
So you see the unreliability of 

1190
01:01:09,520 --> 01:01:11,480
the world. 
I mean, it's kind of staring in 

1191
01:01:11,480 --> 01:01:12,720
the face. 
You don't have to think too much

1192
01:01:12,720 --> 01:01:13,600
about it. 
Yeah. 

1193
01:01:14,040 --> 01:01:17,600
So it often one of the kind of 
beautiful teachings that Adam 

1194
01:01:17,600 --> 01:01:20,720
Bram's teacher told Adam Bram's 
teacher is a monk in Thailand 

1195
01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:24,520
called Adam Shah died 30 years 
ago, over 30 years ago. 

1196
01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:27,160
And one of his teachings was 
everything teaches you. 

1197
01:01:28,280 --> 01:01:29,880
Yeah. 
So when you move around through 

1198
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:32,720
your daily life, you can see 
impermanence around you at all 

1199
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:33,520
times. 
Yeah. 

1200
01:01:33,520 --> 01:01:37,480
It is all it is everywhere. 
Things, people dying, things 

1201
01:01:37,480 --> 01:01:41,280
change, people getting sick, the
world moving in various ways. 

1202
01:01:41,280 --> 01:01:44,400
So sometimes all you need to do 
is have your wits about you and 

1203
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:47,400
see what is going on. 
And as you do that impermanence 

1204
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:49,400
kind of, you start to really 
feel this thing. 

1205
01:01:49,400 --> 01:01:50,880
Yeah. 
And you start to feel actually, 

1206
01:01:50,880 --> 01:01:53,960
why am I relying on this world? 
Why am I getting upset when I 

1207
01:01:53,960 --> 01:01:55,840
get the bad news? 
I should really expect these 

1208
01:01:55,840 --> 01:01:57,720
things to happen. 
This is the nature of the world.

1209
01:01:57,720 --> 01:02:01,240
There's all these undercurrents 
building up, steam, waiting for 

1210
01:02:01,240 --> 01:02:04,600
those tectonic planes to bang, 
move, and then the earthquake 

1211
01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:06,960
happens. 
An earthquake is like a an 

1212
01:02:06,960 --> 01:02:09,720
example of this impermanence 
happening in reality here. 

1213
01:02:10,040 --> 01:02:12,960
So it's more like observing 
peacefully and allowing the 

1214
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:14,560
wisdom to sink in. 
Yeah. 

1215
01:02:14,600 --> 01:02:16,000
That's kind of what it really is
about. 

1216
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:19,320
And then you do that first of 
all by observing the world and 

1217
01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:23,600
then you do do the same thing in
your local kind of your personal

1218
01:02:23,600 --> 01:02:26,480
sphere and then ultimately in 
your meditation practice and. 

1219
01:02:27,760 --> 01:02:31,600
My final question would be is 
how would you know when you feel

1220
01:02:31,600 --> 01:02:37,120
like you have that wisdom sunk 
in where just because you're 

1221
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:42,320
always constantly observing and 
learning things, maybe that over

1222
01:02:42,320 --> 01:02:46,240
focus of like, oh, I've got to 
learn about a nature today, so 

1223
01:02:46,240 --> 01:02:47,840
I'm just going to look for that.
Yeah. 

1224
01:02:49,480 --> 01:02:52,440
When does that wisdom I just. 
Say it's a very good, very good 

1225
01:02:52,440 --> 01:02:54,040
question. 
Thank you for answering, asking 

1226
01:02:54,040 --> 01:02:55,360
a question. 
It's a really good question. 

1227
01:02:55,520 --> 01:02:58,280
And I think it's something that 
is of misunderstood in Buddhism.

1228
01:02:58,720 --> 01:03:02,880
The way, you know, is by the 
depth of your meditation because

1229
01:03:02,880 --> 01:03:05,600
if you understand impermanence, 
you will let go. 

1230
01:03:05,960 --> 01:03:08,160
Yeah. 
And when you let go, that is 

1231
01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:10,320
precisely what it means, that 
you're able to become more 

1232
01:03:10,320 --> 01:03:14,040
peaceful in meditation. 
So, you know, by the ability to 

1233
01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:16,480
achieve peace in meditation. 
That's how you know this things 

1234
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:17,160
actually work. 
Yeah. 

1235
01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:26,120
Yeah. 
Thank you. 

1236
01:03:26,800 --> 01:03:31,320
Thank you, John. 
I'm thinking, correct me if I'm 

1237
01:03:31,360 --> 01:03:36,400
wrong, craving is craving plays 
a key role in the whole thing. 

1238
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:43,840
Craving, reduced craving will 
improve your letting go and then

1239
01:03:44,120 --> 01:03:48,680
your understanding or acceptance
of the impermanence improves. 

1240
01:03:49,320 --> 01:03:52,360
Is that right? 
Say again, what craving? 

1241
01:03:52,800 --> 01:04:00,160
Craving, yeah, more craving more
stuck with the impermanence and 

1242
01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:02,200
then sadness and then suffering.
Right. 

1243
01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:04,920
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 
So reduce the craving first, 

1244
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:07,720
which is something we think kind
of the normal. 

1245
01:04:08,280 --> 01:04:10,200
Person. 
Yeah, but The thing is that if 

1246
01:04:10,200 --> 01:04:14,560
you if you do observe 
impermanence, one of the main 

1247
01:04:14,560 --> 01:04:17,000
points of that is that it does 
reduce craving. 

1248
01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:18,560
Yeah. 
Because you cannot crave for 

1249
01:04:18,560 --> 01:04:20,680
things that are unreliable and 
uncertain. 

1250
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:23,080
So you really go the other way 
around. 

1251
01:04:23,080 --> 01:04:26,080
You start with a contemplation 
that reduces the the craving and

1252
01:04:26,080 --> 01:04:29,800
the desire here. 
Yes, yes, yes. 

1253
01:04:29,920 --> 01:04:32,240
It helps, of course. 
Yes, yes, yes. 

1254
01:04:33,920 --> 01:04:35,000
Thank you, John. 
Yeah. 

1255
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:43,880
Thank you. 
I have a This may sound like a 

1256
01:04:43,880 --> 01:04:47,440
trick question, but it's not 
really intended to be a trick 

1257
01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:51,560
question. 
And the question is, would you 

1258
01:04:52,120 --> 01:04:56,080
say that the voters teachings 
themselves are impermanent? 

1259
01:04:56,280 --> 01:05:00,000
Like, how far does this idea of 
our teacher go? 

1260
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:03,400
And that's something that I've 
been thinking about for a long, 

1261
01:05:03,400 --> 01:05:04,480
long time. 
Yeah. 

1262
01:05:05,080 --> 01:05:08,240
So yes, of course they are 
impermanent. 

1263
01:05:08,240 --> 01:05:10,440
The other teachings are 
impermanent in the sense that 

1264
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:13,160
the Buddha teaches. 
It sets in motion the wheel of 

1265
01:05:13,160 --> 01:05:15,960
the Dumma, and the momentum of 
that wheel only goes for so 

1266
01:05:15,960 --> 01:05:17,600
long, and eventually it dies 
out. 

1267
01:05:18,000 --> 01:05:19,640
And then there is no Dumma in 
the world there. 

1268
01:05:20,360 --> 01:05:22,960
And this is one of the things 
that gets you kind of, you know,

1269
01:05:22,960 --> 01:05:24,320
to do the right thing. 
Yeah. 

1270
01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:28,040
Because you understand that 
actually right now we have it, 

1271
01:05:28,120 --> 01:05:30,280
and it will not last that long. 
One day it will be gone. 

1272
01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:34,120
That's kind of scary, you know, 
And imagine the darkness when 

1273
01:05:34,120 --> 01:05:36,480
you don't really have any really
good teachings to guide you or 

1274
01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:38,440
whatever. 
So that is true. 

1275
01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:40,280
But on the other hand, you could
say that there are. 

1276
01:05:40,840 --> 01:05:42,960
The principles of nature are not
impermanent. 

1277
01:05:43,760 --> 01:05:46,760
So there is one thing is the 
kind of the phenomena as they, 

1278
01:05:46,800 --> 01:05:49,480
as you observe them through the 
six sentences, those phenomena 

1279
01:05:49,480 --> 01:05:51,520
are always impermanent. 
But the principles that lie 

1280
01:05:51,520 --> 01:05:54,840
behind that, the laws of nature,
they are not impermanent. 

1281
01:05:54,840 --> 01:05:58,240
So impermanence itself is not 
impermanent. 

1282
01:05:58,240 --> 01:06:01,960
Yeah, impermanence is always 
there, dependent origination. 

1283
01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:04,600
The laws of causality are always
truer. 

1284
01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:06,400
Yeah. 
The four noble truths are always

1285
01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:08,960
also truer. 
So you need to distinguish 

1286
01:06:08,960 --> 01:06:13,080
between the phenomenon, the 
phenomena of the world, and the 

1287
01:06:13,080 --> 01:06:15,400
laws behind those phenomena. 
Yeah. 

1288
01:06:18,160 --> 01:06:21,080
OK. 
So anything else? 

1289
01:06:21,720 --> 01:06:23,120
Yeah, over there now. 
OK. 

1290
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:24,280
Yeah, please. 
Yeah. 

1291
01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:28,720
Hi, John. 
One of the issues I think I have

1292
01:06:28,720 --> 01:06:35,360
is when I think that I'm letting
go or not clinging onto 

1293
01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:40,120
impermanence, it's replaced by 
almost a feeling of apathy. 

1294
01:06:41,160 --> 01:06:46,920
And, you know, I don't know 
whether that is a positive. 

1295
01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:51,680
Probably not so positive. 
You don't know. 

1296
01:06:51,680 --> 01:06:53,200
You don't want to be too 
apathetic. 

1297
01:06:53,200 --> 01:06:54,680
Yeah. 
I mean, it's good to relax, 

1298
01:06:54,680 --> 01:06:56,160
right? 
And that's certainly, certainly 

1299
01:06:56,160 --> 01:06:58,640
useful. 
You need to try to build up some

1300
01:06:58,640 --> 01:07:01,400
some more joy in your 
meditation, something positive, 

1301
01:07:01,480 --> 01:07:03,880
something that brightens the 
mind up. 

1302
01:07:04,000 --> 01:07:07,120
Yeah. 
And the, the the way to do that 

1303
01:07:07,120 --> 01:07:09,800
is always kind of this is really
the foundation of the Buddhist 

1304
01:07:09,800 --> 01:07:10,120
path. 
Yeah. 

1305
01:07:10,120 --> 01:07:14,000
The idea of being kind and being
generous and this kind of thing 

1306
01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:16,800
is that to see what you can do, 
do with that in your life. 

1307
01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:17,560
Yeah. 
How can you? 

1308
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:19,040
I'm sure you are very good 
person already. 

1309
01:07:19,040 --> 01:07:20,920
I'm sure you had doing many of 
the right things. 

1310
01:07:20,960 --> 01:07:23,200
Otherwise it wouldn't be. 
It's kind of bleeding obvious. 

1311
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:27,720
But still, what more can I do? 
How can I have more compassion 

1312
01:07:27,720 --> 01:07:28,800
for people in the world? 
Yeah. 

1313
01:07:28,800 --> 01:07:31,400
I mean, I think one of the 
biggest dangers in life is to be

1314
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:35,160
judge mental over people around 
us in the world and to take 

1315
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:37,840
sides in the wars and say, ah, 
these are bad, these are the bad

1316
01:07:37,840 --> 01:07:39,560
guys, these are the good guys, 
that kind of stuff. 

1317
01:07:39,600 --> 01:07:41,760
Everyone is suffering. 
We're all just beating each 

1318
01:07:41,760 --> 01:07:43,520
other up in stupid ways in this 
world. 

1319
01:07:43,520 --> 01:07:46,040
Everyone is worthy of compassion
in one way or another. 

1320
01:07:46,680 --> 01:07:50,280
And once you see the whole world
as worthy of compassion, and 

1321
01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:53,400
many of those people worthy of 
compassion, they're also worthy 

1322
01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:56,640
of kindness and worthy of 
friendliness because they 

1323
01:07:56,640 --> 01:07:58,240
actually have good qualities as 
well. 

1324
01:07:58,240 --> 01:08:00,000
Yeah. 
Once you start to see things in 

1325
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:05,560
this way, then that really 
abolishes some of those 

1326
01:08:05,560 --> 01:08:08,320
definements and negative things 
in your mind that may, may 

1327
01:08:08,320 --> 01:08:09,680
arise. 
I don't know anything about your

1328
01:08:09,680 --> 01:08:13,080
mind, by the way, but I'm just 
kind of not the general trend of

1329
01:08:13,080 --> 01:08:14,520
human minds or what they're 
like. 

1330
01:08:14,520 --> 01:08:17,040
Yeah, just working from personal
experience. 

1331
01:08:18,439 --> 01:08:20,080
So do good things. 
Yeah. 

1332
01:08:20,080 --> 01:08:21,240
Do the right thing. 
Yeah. 

1333
01:08:21,240 --> 01:08:24,160
Treat people with kindness. 
Be generous whenever you can. 

1334
01:08:24,160 --> 01:08:27,240
Generosity often must mean small
little things in daily life. 

1335
01:08:27,240 --> 01:08:28,359
Yeah. 
Little, little things. 

1336
01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:31,720
Say a kind word. 
A kind word is a beautiful way 

1337
01:08:31,720 --> 01:08:34,200
of being generous. 
Because it's so easy. 

1338
01:08:34,200 --> 01:08:36,960
Yeah. 
And, you know, just tell someone

1339
01:08:36,960 --> 01:08:39,120
you appreciate them. 
I never told you before how much

1340
01:08:39,120 --> 01:08:40,720
I appreciate you. 
But actually, you know, you've 

1341
01:08:40,720 --> 01:08:42,000
been my friend for so long. 
Yeah. 

1342
01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:43,680
I feel so lucky to have a friend
like you. 

1343
01:08:44,479 --> 01:08:46,760
Something simple. 
Something really, really nice. 

1344
01:08:47,600 --> 01:08:51,640
And that is like giving a gift 
without, you know, just through 

1345
01:08:51,640 --> 01:08:53,399
through words. 
There's so much we can do in 

1346
01:08:53,399 --> 01:08:56,680
that area. 
And then you're building up 

1347
01:08:56,680 --> 01:08:59,920
those qualities that will 
eventually lead to hopefully, a 

1348
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:02,800
mind that is more bright as you 
meditate. 

1349
01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:06,439
Yeah, please, Sir. 
Yeah. 

1350
01:09:06,800 --> 01:09:09,760
Adriani, it was so good to hear 
that you went to Sri Lanka and 

1351
01:09:09,760 --> 01:09:13,720
had some good experiences. 
Would you be able to share with 

1352
01:09:13,800 --> 01:09:17,240
us anything that was either 
profound or any place that you 

1353
01:09:17,240 --> 01:09:20,600
found that was really. 
Yeah, of course, I'm very happy 

1354
01:09:20,600 --> 01:09:23,279
to do that. 
So first of all, I have to say 

1355
01:09:23,279 --> 01:09:25,240
that I really love going to Sri 
Lanka. 

1356
01:09:25,240 --> 01:09:27,720
I also love going to India. 
I find both India and Sri Lanka 

1357
01:09:27,720 --> 01:09:30,960
really nice places. 
I would guess that I've probably

1358
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:34,680
been a monk in Sri Lanka, maybe 
India as well before probably, 

1359
01:09:34,680 --> 01:09:37,600
and it's kind of nice idea. 
Maybe I was a nun in Sri Lanka. 

1360
01:09:37,600 --> 01:09:40,520
I don't know what I was hard to 
know, but I think there is a 

1361
01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:43,240
good some good reasons for 
thinking that. 

1362
01:09:43,439 --> 01:09:46,560
And so I feel kind of natural, 
kind of naturally natural over 

1363
01:09:46,560 --> 01:09:49,279
there. 
And we were in this beautiful 

1364
01:09:49,279 --> 01:09:51,439
meditation centre close to 
Candy. 

1365
01:09:51,560 --> 01:09:54,840
So I'm one thing I'm always 
afraid of in Sri Lanka is the 

1366
01:09:54,840 --> 01:09:55,840
heat. 
That's kind of the one thing 

1367
01:09:55,840 --> 01:09:58,320
that what worries me the most. 
But when they come up into the 

1368
01:09:58,320 --> 01:09:59,840
hills, it kind of gets quite 
nice. 

1369
01:10:00,480 --> 01:10:02,600
So morning temperature, just 
just beautiful here. 

1370
01:10:04,240 --> 01:10:07,000
And then one of the things I did
when I was there, I went to 

1371
01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:10,120
visit one of the small forest 
monasteries in Sri Lanka. 

1372
01:10:10,120 --> 01:10:13,720
I have a very close monk friend 
in Sri Lanka, Venable Damita, 

1373
01:10:14,120 --> 01:10:17,520
who is a beautiful monk, Sri 
Lankan monk has been to Perth as

1374
01:10:17,520 --> 01:10:19,080
well before. 
Stayed with us for the rains 

1375
01:10:19,080 --> 01:10:20,120
retreat. 
Really nice. 

1376
01:10:20,120 --> 01:10:22,680
He, he translated all my talks 
while I was there. 

1377
01:10:22,680 --> 01:10:28,120
He had a lot of work to do 
because I guess he talks and 

1378
01:10:28,760 --> 01:10:32,600
went to his monastery and has a 
small little forest monastery on

1379
01:10:32,600 --> 01:10:36,320
top of this hill and it kind of 
rice paddies and farms kind of 

1380
01:10:36,320 --> 01:10:37,800
round. 
Most of it is forest, but 

1381
01:10:37,800 --> 01:10:39,480
there's also this rice paddies 
there. 

1382
01:10:40,120 --> 01:10:42,160
Everything is so incredibly 
simple, right? 

1383
01:10:42,160 --> 01:10:45,200
Beautiful simplicity, nothing 
fancy at all. 

1384
01:10:45,640 --> 01:10:50,600
This is kind of, you know, basic
concrete walls and a tin roof 

1385
01:10:50,600 --> 01:10:52,920
and something like that. 
And you go inside is very bare 

1386
01:10:52,920 --> 01:10:56,320
and very simple and very, very 
attractive. 

1387
01:10:56,320 --> 01:10:58,560
And in the morning, I was only 
there for a few hours in the 

1388
01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:01,160
morning, you kind of go out with
your arms bowled. 

1389
01:11:01,160 --> 01:11:04,880
You go down the hill, you go to 
the local farms and they kind of

1390
01:11:04,880 --> 01:11:06,280
give you some kinder baat, 
right? 

1391
01:11:06,280 --> 01:11:08,640
You go on your arms around, you 
come back, you have your meal. 

1392
01:11:09,040 --> 01:11:12,840
Super simple and super, kind of 
very, very beautiful. 

1393
01:11:13,560 --> 01:11:16,080
And I asked him and I said to 
him, well, actually, you know 

1394
01:11:16,080 --> 01:11:19,120
what if monks from Boriniana 
wants to come and stay over 

1395
01:11:19,120 --> 01:11:19,760
here. 
Yeah. 

1396
01:11:19,800 --> 01:11:22,920
What do you think about that? 
We already, he already had some 

1397
01:11:22,920 --> 01:11:25,880
visited before from us actually.
But he thought that was a really

1398
01:11:25,880 --> 01:11:28,200
nice idea. 
And you know, he doesn't have 

1399
01:11:28,200 --> 01:11:32,760
that many cute is unfortunately,
but so maybe. 

1400
01:11:32,760 --> 01:11:35,520
So that is that was actually 
maybe the highlight of seeing 

1401
01:11:35,520 --> 01:11:36,440
that monastery. 
Yeah. 

1402
01:11:36,480 --> 01:11:37,680
Yeah. 
It was very, very nice. 

1403
01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:41,560
And and then I of course, lots 
of talks and that kind of 

1404
01:11:41,560 --> 01:11:43,920
things. 
But yeah, very, very beautiful 

1405
01:11:43,920 --> 01:11:55,040
trip back to the Sri Lanka. 
Thank you. 

1406
01:11:55,160 --> 01:11:56,400
Wow. 
I join Bromley. 

1407
01:11:56,840 --> 01:11:58,720
Yes, please fire everyone, 
Eddie, see what happens. 

1408
01:11:58,920 --> 01:12:00,800
Oh. 
Can I? 

1409
01:12:01,400 --> 01:12:06,320
Speak, yeah. 
I join Bromley. 

1410
01:12:06,400 --> 01:12:10,920
Yeah, Thank you for tonight's 
priceless stock. 

1411
01:12:12,920 --> 01:12:14,920
I repeat again, it's priceless. 
Yeah. 

1412
01:12:15,480 --> 01:12:18,880
Yeah. 
You not only cover impermanence,

1413
01:12:19,280 --> 01:12:24,040
you cover the heart of the 
Buddha's teaching tonight, you 

1414
01:12:24,040 --> 01:12:24,400
know. 
OK. 

1415
01:12:24,440 --> 01:12:24,960
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

1416
01:12:25,400 --> 01:12:27,920
I'd like to make a just quick 
comment. 

1417
01:12:27,920 --> 01:12:29,480
OK. 
And then the question. 

1418
01:12:29,480 --> 01:12:30,000
OK. 
Yeah. 

1419
01:12:30,640 --> 01:12:34,320
In my dealings with Buddhism, 
you know, the years of dealings 

1420
01:12:34,640 --> 01:12:37,880
will be seminar. 
I've been going round and round 

1421
01:12:37,880 --> 01:12:40,280
and round and round and round 
without finding the thing. 

1422
01:12:40,280 --> 01:12:45,640
OK. 
Not OK and I found it in what 

1423
01:12:45,640 --> 01:12:49,840
you meant your talk tonight 
that's why I found you know not 

1424
01:12:49,840 --> 01:12:50,960
tonight. 
I found it every. 

1425
01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:54,080
When you say this thing it just 
makes me feel. 

1426
01:12:54,080 --> 01:13:00,080
Oh, I see it clearly OK yeah, 
yeah, yeah and then The thing is

1427
01:13:00,080 --> 01:13:03,000
the. 
I refer to the Buddha's the 

1428
01:13:03,200 --> 01:13:09,240
Buddha's teaching. 
OK, let's hope that those there 

1429
01:13:09,240 --> 01:13:12,840
are more, the people with less 
dust in the eyes who can 

1430
01:13:12,840 --> 01:13:15,480
understand this. 
And we hope you can, you know, 

1431
01:13:15,760 --> 01:13:20,440
with those with dust, you know, 
we hope eventually there'll be 

1432
01:13:20,440 --> 01:13:23,400
less dust. 
They can see the teaching, which

1433
01:13:23,400 --> 01:13:26,120
you sit tonight, which is 
priceless. 

1434
01:13:26,440 --> 01:13:30,160
And I urge people to, I'm going 
to put this specially in the 

1435
01:13:30,160 --> 01:13:33,560
tape, OK, And refer to it all 
the time, especially. 

1436
01:13:34,240 --> 01:13:36,400
Yeah. 
Can I ask you, you know, you 

1437
01:13:36,400 --> 01:13:39,360
know the when you talk about 
contemplation, contemplation, 

1438
01:13:39,360 --> 01:13:41,120
short question, Yeah, 
contemplation. 

1439
01:13:41,400 --> 01:13:45,480
Yeah. 
Do we contempt like, you know, 

1440
01:13:45,640 --> 01:13:47,960
like when you're up, the time is
hard to contemplate, you know. 

1441
01:13:48,360 --> 01:13:50,640
So only when you're down, you're
looking for answer then, you 

1442
01:13:50,640 --> 01:13:54,320
know, you people to play this 
tape, you will see a lot of 

1443
01:13:54,320 --> 01:13:55,560
wisdom down there, I think, you 
know. 

1444
01:13:56,200 --> 01:13:58,920
So we should be contemplating on
the talk tonight. 

1445
01:13:58,920 --> 01:14:02,800
You know all most of the times 
in it, but you can't do it when 

1446
01:14:02,800 --> 01:14:04,760
you're up. 
Of course you can. 

1447
01:14:05,200 --> 01:14:07,000
You know. 
You can always do it. 

1448
01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:09,560
And this is the thing, you know,
sometimes, as you say, when 

1449
01:14:09,640 --> 01:14:11,360
things are going too well, you 
get complacent. 

1450
01:14:11,360 --> 01:14:14,120
You can become stupid because 
the world is going too well. 

1451
01:14:14,120 --> 01:14:16,120
And then only when you kind of 
things are going badly, you 

1452
01:14:16,120 --> 01:14:18,240
start contemplating. 
But we should we should learn 

1453
01:14:18,240 --> 01:14:19,920
from those experiences. 
We should learn. 

1454
01:14:19,920 --> 01:14:20,560
Yeah, Yeah. 
And then? 

1455
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:22,360
We should contemplate at any all
times. 

1456
01:14:22,360 --> 01:14:25,960
Yeah, We should put it in our 
mind all the time, OK itself. 

1457
01:14:25,960 --> 01:14:28,720
Like when you're going to shoot,
you dig the hole, you know, they

1458
01:14:28,720 --> 01:14:31,040
say, you know, and then you 
know, you should dig the hole 

1459
01:14:31,040 --> 01:14:33,640
in, you know, in advance this 
thing, you know, to help us 

1460
01:14:33,640 --> 01:14:35,880
through this thing. 
Thank you, Eddie. 

1461
01:14:35,880 --> 01:14:38,760
Thank you so very much. 
Priceless stock. 

1462
01:14:38,800 --> 01:14:41,840
OK, excellent. 
So this is Eddie. 

1463
01:14:41,840 --> 01:14:44,880
Eddie, the most famous Buddhist 
in Perth apart from the apart 

1464
01:14:44,880 --> 01:14:48,720
from. 
Anyway, let's go on. 

1465
01:14:48,720 --> 01:14:50,640
Question number one is from Sri 
Lanka. 

1466
01:14:51,640 --> 01:14:54,440
Dear Ajammade, is there a 
purpose behind Buddhist chanting

1467
01:14:54,440 --> 01:14:57,920
apart from tradition? 
I feel if it is done correctly 

1468
01:14:57,920 --> 01:15:00,640
it can hold great power. 
Thank you ever so much. 

1469
01:15:02,280 --> 01:15:05,560
Purpose of Buddhist chanting 
that the original idea of 

1470
01:15:05,560 --> 01:15:08,240
Buddhist chanting is to remember
the word of the Buddha. 

1471
01:15:08,240 --> 01:15:10,520
Yeah, that's why people chanted 
these teachings. 

1472
01:15:11,040 --> 01:15:14,320
So it really is a way of 
understanding the Buddhist 

1473
01:15:14,320 --> 01:15:16,240
teachings if it is done in the 
right way. 

1474
01:15:16,560 --> 01:15:20,160
That is the main purpose. 
Unfortunately, we often do the 

1475
01:15:20,160 --> 01:15:21,960
chanting in Pali. 
So that means you have to learn 

1476
01:15:21,960 --> 01:15:23,720
Pali. 
That's the only downside. 

1477
01:15:24,680 --> 01:15:27,720
Learn a bit of Pali or we can do
the chanting in English or 

1478
01:15:27,720 --> 01:15:30,400
whatever. 
Chanting. 

1479
01:15:30,400 --> 01:15:32,080
Apart from that, does it have 
any power? 

1480
01:15:32,080 --> 01:15:34,520
Probably, yeah. 
Because the world is a 

1481
01:15:35,200 --> 01:15:39,880
interesting place and sometimes 
you can kind of, you know, the 

1482
01:15:39,880 --> 01:15:41,680
mind is a very powerful thing. 
Yeah. 

1483
01:15:41,680 --> 01:15:44,600
And sometimes we can touch other
people just by our mind. 

1484
01:15:44,600 --> 01:15:48,080
So doing chanting and then 
develop in the mine at the same 

1485
01:15:48,080 --> 01:15:50,080
time can be very powerful and 
useful there. 

1486
01:15:50,240 --> 01:15:53,400
So the answer is yes, but don't 
do too much chanting. 

1487
01:15:53,400 --> 01:15:56,000
Yeah, sometimes you do too much.
You do too much, it becomes 

1488
01:15:56,000 --> 01:15:58,240
counterproductive. 
You just start yawning and 

1489
01:15:58,240 --> 01:15:59,560
falling asleep and this kind of 
thing. 

1490
01:15:59,560 --> 01:16:04,360
So question #2 this is from 
Martha in Germany. 

1491
01:16:04,360 --> 01:16:07,160
Hello, Martha. 
Hi, Venerbach and Ramali. 

1492
01:16:07,160 --> 01:16:10,920
What would be a useful thought 
at the moment of death? 

1493
01:16:11,000 --> 01:16:12,120
Thank you. 
Sadhu, Sadhu, sadhu. 

1494
01:16:12,600 --> 01:16:17,480
You thought Marvel is chillax? 
Yeah, That's the best kind of 

1495
01:16:17,480 --> 01:16:19,240
thought. 
When you're dying, just relax, 

1496
01:16:19,240 --> 01:16:24,800
take it easy, enjoy the journey.
Don't try too hard to think 

1497
01:16:24,800 --> 01:16:27,080
anything in particular. 
If you try too hard to think in 

1498
01:16:27,080 --> 01:16:28,880
a guaranteed, you're going to 
mess things up. 

1499
01:16:29,600 --> 01:16:32,640
Dying should be a peaceful, nice
process. 

1500
01:16:33,280 --> 01:16:36,080
I always, you know, sometimes 
you hear in the Theravada 

1501
01:16:36,080 --> 01:16:38,880
Buddhist circles the idea that 
when you die, you should have a 

1502
01:16:38,880 --> 01:16:41,120
good state of mind. 
You shouldn't kind of think 

1503
01:16:41,120 --> 01:16:44,080
anything bad. 
Yeah, but that creates a lot of 

1504
01:16:44,080 --> 01:16:45,640
pressure when you're dying. 
Yeah. 

1505
01:16:45,640 --> 01:16:46,920
Don't think any bad. 
I'm dying. 

1506
01:16:46,920 --> 01:16:48,440
No, I'm thinking bad thought. 
No. 

1507
01:16:48,440 --> 01:16:51,000
What am I going to do? 
You can imagine, you know how 

1508
01:16:51,000 --> 01:16:52,680
terrible this is Like saying 
something. 

1509
01:16:52,680 --> 01:16:55,680
Don't think about the white 
elephant you have. 

1510
01:16:55,680 --> 01:16:58,600
No, you have no choice, right? 
Don't think any bad thoughts. 

1511
01:16:58,600 --> 01:17:00,680
OK, You, you're going to think 
those bad thoughts. 

1512
01:17:01,240 --> 01:17:04,360
But I think that whole idea 
about thinking the right thing 

1513
01:17:04,360 --> 01:17:07,040
when you're dying is actually a 
misunderstanding of the Dumber. 

1514
01:17:07,360 --> 01:17:13,080
That's not what it is about 
because the death process is not

1515
01:17:13,080 --> 01:17:16,760
as it is found in the in the 
Abidama Pitika, it is not kind 

1516
01:17:16,760 --> 01:17:19,360
of 1 moment you are here, next 
moment you're in the next life. 

1517
01:17:19,360 --> 01:17:21,960
No, there is an intermediate 
life and all of these kind of 

1518
01:17:21,960 --> 01:17:24,160
things. 
And so there is time for that 

1519
01:17:24,160 --> 01:17:27,280
process to take shape. 
So just relax. 

1520
01:17:27,400 --> 01:17:28,760
Yeah. 
Just enjoy the journey. 

1521
01:17:29,040 --> 01:17:31,560
Dying is usually a very pleasant
thing to do. 

1522
01:17:31,920 --> 01:17:33,480
If you are ready. 
Yeah. 

1523
01:17:33,480 --> 01:17:36,000
If your mind is peaceful, you 
are at ease, you have lived 

1524
01:17:36,000 --> 01:17:38,560
Well, then dying is great. 
Why? 

1525
01:17:38,560 --> 01:17:41,000
Because most people who die, 
they have a miserable body. 

1526
01:17:41,000 --> 01:17:42,200
Yeah. 
The body is just really 

1527
01:17:42,200 --> 01:17:44,560
suffering. 
Many people, they want to go off

1528
01:17:44,560 --> 01:17:48,360
to these kind of clinics that 
kind of end your life anyway. 

1529
01:17:48,360 --> 01:17:50,640
Dignitas in Switzerland or 
whatever they're called. 

1530
01:17:50,680 --> 01:17:52,920
Yeah. 
So sometimes dying, if you do it

1531
01:17:52,920 --> 01:17:55,240
right, is very pleasant and very
nice thing. 

1532
01:17:55,240 --> 01:17:56,440
Yeah. 
You just have to make sure 

1533
01:17:56,440 --> 01:17:59,440
you're ready. 
What matters is what you do now 

1534
01:17:59,440 --> 01:18:02,880
in this life, not what you do at
the moment when you die. 

1535
01:18:04,120 --> 01:18:06,560
If you're going to really 
chillax, Yeah. 

1536
01:18:06,560 --> 01:18:09,520
When you die, then get someone 
to come to your hospital bed or 

1537
01:18:09,520 --> 01:18:11,040
whatever and tell you a few 
jokes. 

1538
01:18:11,760 --> 01:18:13,360
Yeah. 
Say, have you heard the one 

1539
01:18:13,360 --> 01:18:16,040
about the the Irishman, the 
Scotsman and the Englishman 

1540
01:18:16,040 --> 01:18:18,760
there or the Aussie and the 
Kiev? 

1541
01:18:18,760 --> 01:18:20,960
I don't know what what kind of 
how this is. 

1542
01:18:21,240 --> 01:18:22,040
Yeah. 
Anyway. 

1543
01:18:22,720 --> 01:18:24,640
And so, you know, this is kind 
of the thing. 

1544
01:18:24,640 --> 01:18:27,240
And Ajam Brahm always says that 
he goes to hospital and he kind 

1545
01:18:27,240 --> 01:18:28,560
of tells a joke on the hospital 
bed. 

1546
01:18:28,560 --> 01:18:30,560
No one else does that. 
Everyone else goes to cry. 

1547
01:18:31,120 --> 01:18:33,840
Ask those people to cry, not to 
come too close to your passing 

1548
01:18:33,840 --> 01:18:34,320
away. 
Yeah. 

1549
01:18:34,400 --> 01:18:37,200
Get those nice friendly people, 
those people who are kind of 

1550
01:18:37,400 --> 01:18:38,680
upbeat instead. 
Yeah. 

1551
01:18:38,680 --> 01:18:41,400
That's kind of the Buddhist 
ideal of dying. 

1552
01:18:41,400 --> 01:18:46,240
Yeah. 
Anyway, question from Bolivia. 

1553
01:18:46,240 --> 01:18:48,520
Hello, Bolivia. 
Not sure if that's your name, 

1554
01:18:48,520 --> 01:18:51,200
probably not. 
But anyway, what is sense 

1555
01:18:51,200 --> 01:18:53,520
restraint? 
If I restrain myself in asking 

1556
01:18:53,520 --> 01:18:56,440
someone about his university 
grades because I don't want to 

1557
01:18:56,440 --> 01:18:58,960
be jealous about that, is that 
sense restraint? 

1558
01:19:02,200 --> 01:19:09,240
Maybe The idea of a sense 
restraint is that you avoid 

1559
01:19:09,280 --> 01:19:13,240
doing things that would give 
rise to bad mental qualities. 

1560
01:19:13,760 --> 01:19:17,160
So if jealousy obviously is a 
bad mental quality. 

1561
01:19:17,360 --> 01:19:20,880
So if you do something to avoid 
jealousy, then it is good, 

1562
01:19:20,880 --> 01:19:22,920
right. 
I'm not sure if this is the 

1563
01:19:22,920 --> 01:19:26,200
right way to avoid jealousy. 
I would suggest that, you know, 

1564
01:19:26,400 --> 01:19:28,240
if someone gets better grades. 
OK. 

1565
01:19:29,080 --> 01:19:30,480
You know, have Mudita Have. 
Yeah. 

1566
01:19:30,560 --> 01:19:31,600
Wow. 
Well done. 

1567
01:19:31,600 --> 01:19:33,160
You did really well. 
I did much worse. 

1568
01:19:33,160 --> 01:19:34,520
Good on you. 
Yeah. 

1569
01:19:34,520 --> 01:19:36,440
Something like that. 
And it's OK to do worse. 

1570
01:19:36,440 --> 01:19:37,680
It's OK. 
There's always going to be some 

1571
01:19:37,680 --> 01:19:40,160
people who are smarter than you,
people who are more clever. 

1572
01:19:40,160 --> 01:19:42,480
And the world is full of, you 
know, these kind of things. 

1573
01:19:42,480 --> 01:19:44,960
So get used to not being the 
winner all the time. 

1574
01:19:44,960 --> 01:19:48,040
That's OK. 
Yeah, and then you're fine. 

1575
01:19:48,040 --> 01:19:51,160
The idea, since since it's a 
void, the bad qualities of mine 

1576
01:19:51,160 --> 01:19:54,680
from arising to be aware of what
is happening in the present. 

1577
01:19:54,680 --> 01:19:58,040
And then when you see bad 
qualities, especially anger 

1578
01:19:58,040 --> 01:20:00,760
arising, you take a 
countermeasure before it's too 

1579
01:20:00,760 --> 01:20:03,240
late. 
You see, you're getting angry 

1580
01:20:03,240 --> 01:20:05,640
with somebody, you remember 
their good qualities, and the 

1581
01:20:05,640 --> 01:20:09,880
anger is abolished like dew 
before the sun. 

1582
01:20:09,880 --> 01:20:14,600
All right. 
Next one also from Germany. 

1583
01:20:14,600 --> 01:20:18,080
So Germany is here today. 
Enforcer. 

1584
01:20:19,120 --> 01:20:22,080
Dear Azan, did the Buddha give 
instructions to lay or monastic 

1585
01:20:22,080 --> 01:20:24,440
patricians? 
About how many hours per day 

1586
01:20:24,600 --> 01:20:27,520
would be the ideal to do formal 
practice? 

1587
01:20:28,000 --> 01:20:30,400
How many hours did the Buddha 
meditate per day? 

1588
01:20:30,400 --> 01:20:39,080
Here the formal practice. 
I don't like this idea of formal

1589
01:20:39,080 --> 01:20:44,640
practice and informal practice. 
Practice is just what is what is

1590
01:20:44,640 --> 01:20:46,200
what is practice. 
Well, the main thing is just to 

1591
01:20:46,200 --> 01:20:48,840
be kind and to live well. 
You should do that all at all 

1592
01:20:48,840 --> 01:20:50,920
time is, is that informal, 
formal. 

1593
01:20:51,440 --> 01:20:53,640
It's just whatever it just is, 
you just do it. 

1594
01:20:54,360 --> 01:20:56,080
And then when you meditate, you 
sit down. 

1595
01:20:56,080 --> 01:20:58,120
You do your best to meditate. 
Don't make it formal. 

1596
01:20:58,120 --> 01:21:01,680
It sounds too, too tiring to me.
If everything's going to be 

1597
01:21:01,680 --> 01:21:03,880
formal, just just meditate. 
Just enjoy. 

1598
01:21:03,880 --> 01:21:05,760
Sit back, relax, watch the 
breath. 

1599
01:21:05,880 --> 01:21:08,120
Do whatever you have, whatever 
it needs. 

1600
01:21:08,360 --> 01:21:10,200
Do what you enjoy. 
Yeah. 

1601
01:21:10,200 --> 01:21:14,640
Don't do things that don't work 
as a minimum. 

1602
01:21:14,640 --> 01:21:18,120
Do maybe 15 minutes. 
Yeah, in the morning, whatever 

1603
01:21:18,120 --> 01:21:20,520
you can. 
It depends on how your mind 

1604
01:21:20,520 --> 01:21:24,880
state is like, depends on how 
developed you are through 

1605
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:27,200
previous practices. 
It depends on all of this kind 

1606
01:21:27,200 --> 01:21:28,840
of thing. 
Depends on how busy you are on 

1607
01:21:28,840 --> 01:21:31,840
that day. 
Don't have too many strict ideas

1608
01:21:31,840 --> 01:21:34,520
about what is appropriate. 
If you do, it's going to be 

1609
01:21:34,520 --> 01:21:35,720
really hard. 
Yeah. 

1610
01:21:36,160 --> 01:21:39,760
So don't, don't try. 
And then when things feel well 

1611
01:21:39,760 --> 01:21:41,440
and you're going really well, 
then you can extend the 

1612
01:21:41,440 --> 01:21:44,840
meditation a little bit. 
Don't try to have two fixed 

1613
01:21:44,840 --> 01:21:48,440
ideas about this, but say a 
minimum of 15 minutes a day, 

1614
01:21:48,440 --> 01:21:50,920
right? 
Every day or five days a week or

1615
01:21:50,920 --> 01:21:53,600
whatever it is that is 
convenient for you as a minimum.

1616
01:21:53,800 --> 01:21:57,280
If you can do more, great. 
How many hours you should do? 

1617
01:21:57,280 --> 01:21:59,920
There is no should do. 
How many hours are the Buddha 

1618
01:21:59,920 --> 01:22:01,440
meditate? 
We don't know. 

1619
01:22:01,440 --> 01:22:05,200
We have no idea. 
Probably he took every 

1620
01:22:05,200 --> 01:22:08,320
opportunity he had someone. 
He didn't give teachings. 

1621
01:22:08,320 --> 01:22:11,560
He would probably just close his
eyes and go into some deep bliss

1622
01:22:11,800 --> 01:22:14,400
very quickly. 
That's probably what the Buddha 

1623
01:22:14,680 --> 01:22:19,000
would do. 
So, yeah, remember, the path of 

1624
01:22:19,000 --> 01:22:22,880
meditation should be enjoyable. 
If it becomes stressful, you are

1625
01:22:22,880 --> 01:22:24,440
already on the wrong track. 
Yeah. 

1626
01:22:24,800 --> 01:22:28,760
So do what is enjoyable there, 
try to sit down and meditate 

1627
01:22:28,760 --> 01:22:32,520
everyday, but if it doesn't work
for whatever reason, then stop. 

1628
01:22:32,560 --> 01:22:35,480
Yeah, and don't, don't carry on 
pushing yourself through too 

1629
01:22:35,480 --> 01:22:38,920
much pain or too much problems 
or whatever sort. 

1630
01:22:41,000 --> 01:22:45,240
OK, Good luck with that and see 
what happens. 

1631
01:22:45,960 --> 01:22:47,680
So that is all for tonight 
everyone. 

1632
01:22:47,680 --> 01:22:50,880
So let's just pay homage to the 
Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.