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OK, everyone, so welcome once 
again and always nice to start 

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off with the homeless to the 
triple gem and the meta suit. 

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I kind of put in the right mood,
especially if you understand 

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what it it means. 
So it's nice to have the English

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translation there on the screen,
which is which is great. 

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So now time for a Dumber talk. 
I'm going to talk today about 

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how to distinguish real from 
fake, Dumber. 

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And this was a topic that was 
given to me actually quite a 

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while ago when I was in the 
United States that talked about 

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this. 
And I thought it would be a 

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suitable topic tonight because 
this is always very 

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controversial. 
Who teaches the real Dhamma? 

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Who does not? 
How do we know if someone is 

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teaching the real deal? 
Or maybe it's a bit dodgy? 

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Sometimes it can be very 
difficult to distinguish. 

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Some people are very 
charismatic, some people are 

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very convincing. 
It may seem like they are 

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teaching the right thing. 
I've just been teaching a nine 

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or eight day retreat or whatever
it was. 

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What did I say? 
Did I say things that were kind 

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of the real deal or was it a bit
dodgy or was it kind of, you 

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know what, what was the standard
of the content of my talk? 

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So today I'm going to justify 
why everything I said was 

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exactly correct then. 
So this is the way it usually 

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goes, right? 
And this is surprisingly 

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important in Buddhism, this idea
of actually knowing whether 

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things are real dumb or not, 
whether they are compatible with

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the teachings of the Buddha or 
whether they actually turn out 

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to be a bit kind of on the on 
the edge of what is acceptable. 

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And the kind of my favorite kind
of point to show how dangerous 

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it can be. 
This was from a conference, a 

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Buddhist conference that we had 
in Perth, I think 2016 or 

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something like that. 
And at this conference, one 

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speaker, yeah, after the other. 
And they came from various walks

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of life and their various parts 
of society in Australia, also 

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from overseas. 
And almost everyone, they had a 

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quote from the Buddha, right? 
So there was like a quote, 

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quotation marks, and then it 
said the Buddha underneath, 

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right? 
And I kind of watched these 

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quotes as they came up one after
the other. 

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Now I happened to be the last 
person on the speakers list of 

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that conference. 
And so when I kind of got got up

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on the stage, the very first 
thing I said, I said I've been 

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following these so-called Buddha
quotes throughout this 

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conference and not a single one 
of them, because I know my 

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suitors fairly well, not a 
single one of them is actually a

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quote from the Buddha. 
And so and that was kind of very

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interesting. 
Yeah. 

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And I realised at that point how
careful you have to be to 

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actually, you know, whether 
something really is from the 

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Buddha or not. 
Now, sometimes it may not matter

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because sometimes it may just be
an alternative way of looking at

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the world. 
It may be more modern kind of 

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outlook or whatever. 
Yeah, it may not matter, but 

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sometimes it may matter. 
Sometimes these so-called Buddha

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quotes may actually be 
misleading. 

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Then we kind of lead us in the 
wrong direction and they may be 

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really, really problematic. 
Yeah. 

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And after this conference, I 
discovered that there is a 

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Buddhist website that you may 
have heard about called Fake 

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Buddha Quotes. 
Yeah. 

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And this is like this 
investigate investigative 

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journalist. 
It's not a journalist, it's a 

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investigate investigative 
Buddhist monk. 

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And he kind of takes on people 
writing into him saying, well, 

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this I've, you know, found this 
on the Internet. 

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It's supposed to be from the 
Buddha. 

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Is it really from the Buddha? 
And then he investigates whether

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it is or not. 
And he has this long list of 

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fake Buddha quotes. 
And then he has some real Buddha

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quotes as well, right. 
Not every so-called Buddha quote

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is fake, but many 90% or 
something are. 

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It's kind of quite a bit 
disturbing sometimes. 

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So during this talk today, I'm 
going to put you to the test. 

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Are you ready for that? 
I've got some of these quotes. 

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Some of them are going to be 
fake. 

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Some of them are going to be 
real. 

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Yeah. 
I'm going to see how sharp you 

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are in the knowledge of the 
Buddhist teachings. 

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And it's just a little bit of 
fun. 

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If you don't want to take part, 
that's fine. 

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We'll see what see what happens,
but before I go and test you and

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kind of give you ABC or FMC and 
see what happens, what kind of 

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grade you end up with in this 
thing here, before I put you to 

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the test, I'm going to give you 
some guidelines here, how to 

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know whether something is a real
quote from the Buddha or not. 

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And then we put you to the test.
And then we will, after the 

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test, we will then talk a bit 
more about what are real, what 

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is real Buddhism and what is 
not. 

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Now, 1 of some of the things 
about the Buddhist teachings. 

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And one of the things that is a 
very obvious giveaway if 

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something is fake is that if it 
sounds too modern, yeah, it 

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sounds like it has been invented
in California in 2015 or 

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whatever, right. 
And that is always kind of a 

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giveaway. 
One of the beautiful things 

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about the Buddhist teachings is 
that they are so perennial. 

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Perennial means that they are 
always valid. 

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They don't have a use by day. 
They don't belong to one 

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particular society or one 
particular period of history 

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here. 
They're always valid. 

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They're applicable to all 
people. 

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At all times, and this is what 
is so beautiful about these 

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teachings. 
Because what that means is that 

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as Buddhism spreads out into the
world, as it comes to Australia,

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yeah, too far, far away on the 
kind of the southern hemisphere,

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it is still valid, it is still 
applicable, it is still useful 

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to us. 
And this is one of the things 

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that make you special. 
If Buddhism is too modern, if it

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fits kind of with our modern 
views and our modern ideas of 

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psychology and modern ideas of 
philosophy, our modern cultural 

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references, what whatever, 
there's something limited about 

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it. 
It is no longer applicable in 

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the broadest possible sense. 
And that to me is problematic. 

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Because these teachings should 
be about the deeper 

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psychological reality of human 
beings. 

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And these are universal 
characteristics, regardless of 

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culture, regardless of history, 
regardless of all of these 

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things that seem to divide us on
the surface, it's actually 

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wonderful that we are far less. 
When you look into the human 

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heart and the human mind, we are
far more unified that sometimes 

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the world will have it. 
And this is a great way of 

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actually creating a bit of sense
of unity in the world. 

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But the one of the things that 
always impressed me with the 

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Buddha and Buddhism is precisely
this idea that we're dealing 

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with a religion or a teaching 
that is universal there, that is

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perennial there. 
Yeah. 

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And that is very, very different
from almost all other religions 

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in the world. 
Almost all other philosophies in

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the world, the vast majority of 
religions and philosophy, they 

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arose in a particular historical
context and they belong to a 

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particular tribe, right. 
It was our God. 

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Our God is very parochial. 
It's very kind of small minded. 

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It belongs to our society. 
Yeah. 

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This is our God who protects us.
The neighboring tribe, they have

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their God. 
And we just as we fight each 

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other among the humans, the gods
up there fight each other. 

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Yeah. 
So whoever is kind of the 

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strongest God up in the heavenly
realm there. 

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And so there is this sense that 
religion very often is about our

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personal relationship with our 
God, and it's small and it's 

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kind of narrow in content. 
But in Buddhism we move to a 

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very different kind of view of 
the world. 

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And this is what makes Buddhism 
so powerful, one of many, many 

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things that makes Buddhism 
almost unique in the world. 

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It is universal. 
It is not narrowed down to 1 

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particular tribe, but one 
particular people. 

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It is not about the Indians in 
ancient India 2 1/2 thousand 

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years ago. 
It is about them too, but not 

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just about them. 
It is not about their 

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relationship to the Buddha. 
And when you start to read the 

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suit, as you start to look at 
how the Buddha expressed his 

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Dhamma, he actually says this in
the suitors. 

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Yeah. 
One of the things that we have 

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at the very beginning of 
Buddhism, we have the idea of 

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the Dhamma Chakka pavatana. 
Yeah, that's the first suit of 

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the Buddha and Dhamma. 
Chakka pavatana means the 

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setting in motion of the wheel 
of the Dhamma, the wheel of the 

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teaching here. 
And this idea of setting 

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something in motion, the wheel 
of the Dhamma, means that this 

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is something that will kind of 
keep on going in the world. 

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Yeah, you're setting, you're 
starting something, something 

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that is so compelling and so 
powerful now that once it gets 

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going in the world, it kind of 
carries on from one generation 

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to the next, from 1 century to 
the next, from one culture to 

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the next, from one nationality 
to the next. 

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And it doesn't stop because of 
force. 

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And the power of that Dhamma is 
so great that when people hear 

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it, they say, yeah, well, this 
is it, just like we do here, 

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right? 
Wow, this is the Dhamma. 

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OK, let's pass it on to the next
generation. 

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Let's practice these teachings. 
Let's realize their content in 

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our own experience. 
And then as you do that, you 

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pass it down the line. 
And this is what the Buddha knew

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when he started teaching people 
around him in that society. 

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He knew that he was setting in 
motion the wheel of the Dhamma. 

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He says that in the suitors. 
And because he knew that, he 

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knew that he would have to 
phrase the Dhamma in a way that 

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is not peculiar to the Indian 
context, peculiar to that 

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historical context, but in a 
universal way, so people even 

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today can understand these 
teachings. 

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So he specifically phrased his 
Dhamma in this universal way so 

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that anyone in the world can 
relate to these things. 

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And This is why when you open 
the suitors in the present day, 

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it doesn't feel all that alien. 
It doesn't really feel. 

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Sometimes it can feel like that 
if you look at the kind of 

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narrative content. 
But if you focus on the 

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teachings of the Buddha, they 
are not very tied to a 

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particular place or historical 
context. 

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The Buddha knew what he was 
doing. 

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He started something that would 
carry on into the future. 

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And so he phrased this teaching 
in universal terms. 

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So if you, and actually there's 
something very powerful about 

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that, I'd like to make this 
point when I teach retreats, for

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example, there's something 
extraordinarily powerful about 

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that because sometimes we think 
that these teachings, they were 

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given to the people around the 
Buddha, they were his real 

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disciples. 
They were the ones who took the 

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Buddha as their teacher. 
But if the Buddha phrases this 

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in a way to make it valid for 
future generations because he 

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wanted us to understand also in 
the present day, it means that 

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the Buddha did not just teach 
those people, but he's also our 

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teachers teacher because he had 
us in mind in a very literal 

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sense. 
Yeah, He knew about people in 

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the future. 
And so actually the Buddha is 

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your teacher in a very real way,
especially when you go back to 

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the suitors, you open those 
suitors and you feel like you're

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connecting with the Buddha 
through those teachings. 

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He is your teacher. 
And what that means if we start 

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to read these suitors, these 
ceilings by the Buddha, they 

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come alive in a way that 
otherwise they would not. 

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It's like if this is my teacher 
and he is now teaching me, it's 

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like you start to get 
goosebumps, right? 

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This is the greatest spiritual 
master in human history. 

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That's a bit of Buddhist 
propaganda for you, but it's 

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true, right? 
It's true as far as I'm 

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concerned, it's true. 
And so here he is talking to you

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directly because he knew that it
will be people in the future 

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listening to these teachings. 
And you start reading the 

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suitors in a new way here, 
because you don't no longer read

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them as something alien or 
foreign belonging to somewhere 

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else. 
No, these things belong to you. 

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You are a direct disciple of the
Buddha through these suitors. 

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And then you read them more 
carefully here. 

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You read them looking for the 
content in an entirely new way. 

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You ask yourself, well, what 
does this actually mean, right? 

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You investigate these things in 
deeper way. 

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You carry them away with you. 
After you have heard these 

228
00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,440
teachings, you look at them more
carefully. 

229
00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,120
You start to try to figure out 
what is actually going on here, 

230
00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:33,000
and then they come alive in your
own life. 

231
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,600
Then you start to apply them and
use them in your own existence, 

232
00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,280
and then they start to bear real
fruits, which leads to more 

233
00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:41,680
interest in those teachings 
going. 

234
00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:44,800
Back to the suit as again and 
gradually building up this 

235
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:48,680
powerful force in your life that
propels you forward in which 

236
00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:50,960
direction? 
Towards happiness and towards 

237
00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,800
the reduction in suffering. 
And what a wonderful thing that 

238
00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:55,720
is. 
And so. 

239
00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,800
The idea here, yeah, is to kind 
of understand that these 

240
00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:03,040
teachings are perennial in this 
way. 

241
00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:06,640
And so when you see a so-called 
Buddha quote that kind of quotes

242
00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,200
too much from whatever modern 
psychology where it sounds too 

243
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,600
good to be true, then probably 
it is too good to be true. 

244
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,880
This does not mean that the 
language can be modern. 

245
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,280
That language can sometimes be 
modern because sometimes a 

246
00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,720
translator prefers to use kind 
of modern jargon or modern 

247
00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:25,560
words. 
Yeah. 

248
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:29,520
And that is fine there, but it 
is the ideas, the cultural 

249
00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:32,440
references, the historical 
layers or whatever. 

250
00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:34,400
This is what has to be perennial
there. 

251
00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:37,040
And when you see it perennial in
this way, you know you're likely

252
00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,520
to be on the right track. 
Quite likely. 

253
00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,080
These are real Buddhist 
teachings. 

254
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:47,720
So this is the first one, right?
How to recognise real Buddhist 

255
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,360
teachings. 
The second thing here, and this 

256
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:55,520
is that these teachings are 
usually not personal. 

257
00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,800
Yeah, they're not kind of about 
individual people or groups of 

258
00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,600
people or nationalities or 
anything like that. 

259
00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,480
They're not given to individuals
as such, but they are give that 

260
00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:08,840
impersonal and again universal 
in. 

261
00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,160
Character. 
And sometimes we seem to think 

262
00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:15,440
that the Buddha was a master in 
tailoring his teachings to 

263
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,760
individuals. 
Yeah, the idea of skilful means.

264
00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,560
And he would look at you and he 
would read your mind. 

265
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:24,440
Would you like to have your mind
read? 

266
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:28,320
That's kind of. 
Scary, isn't it? 

267
00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,600
Sometimes we think it's actually
not scary at all, because Buddha

268
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:33,600
knows all minds and your mind is
just like all other minds. 

269
00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:34,400
Yeah. 
And that's that. 

270
00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:35,880
You don't have to be worried at 
all. 

271
00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,080
And if you think about killing 
someone, he's used to people 

272
00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,360
thinking about killing people. 
So you're, you're all right, 

273
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:45,400
even if you have a really kind 
of brutal ideas in your mind. 

274
00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,880
But so we have this idea that 
the Buddha cannot give very 

275
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,200
specific teachings to 
individuals. 

276
00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,240
And sometimes it does. 
Sometimes people come to the 

277
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,200
Buddha and they ask, please, 
Venerable Sir, please give me a 

278
00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:00,640
teaching for me so I can kind of
go off into the forest and 

279
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,320
meditate. 
And the Buddha will then give 

280
00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,800
teachings to that person. 
But when you look at the 

281
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,040
teachings that he gives, there 
are just extracts from the 

282
00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,360
Dhamma in general, right? 
They're not specifically, 

283
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,800
they're not kind of unique 
teachings for that person. 

284
00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,160
He just takes a particular part 
of the Dhamma and then applies 

285
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,520
that. 
And the reason for that is 

286
00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,800
because we are all the same. 
Yeah, we have all the same kind 

287
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:28,280
of definements. 
We have all the same kind of 

288
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:30,840
problems. 
We have the same kind of mental 

289
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,560
faculties and mental abilities 
and things that we need to 

290
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:35,400
develop and things that we need 
to avoid. 

291
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,440
We are pretty boring banished, 
you know. 

292
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,200
The world is far less exciting 
than you think it is. 

293
00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,360
You travel to far away countries
around the world. 

294
00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,000
Wherever you go in the world, 
people are essentially the same.

295
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,240
On the surface, you know, OK, 
you get this kind of food, that 

296
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,080
kind of food. 
And, you know, you get kind of 

297
00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,400
these kind of monuments, that 
kind of monuments, but actually 

298
00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:00,000
look a little bit below the 
surface, and you realise people 

299
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:04,080
are essentially the same. 
This is why it is possible for 

300
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:08,480
the Buddha to use his teachings.
Yeah, same teachings again and 

301
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,000
again. 
They're not really personalized.

302
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,520
They're always universal and 
impersonal in nature. 

303
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,360
And this is the other thing when
something sounds too 

304
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,040
personalized. 
This is valid for modern 

305
00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:23,000
Australian culture, right? 
OK, wait a minute, This is too 

306
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,280
personal for this culture or 
this is valid in Japan or valid 

307
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:28,880
in the United States or 
whatever. 

308
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,520
OK, this probably is a bit 
dodgy. 

309
00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:35,320
It's too localized it. 
Lacks that sense of being 

310
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:39,040
universal, again applying to all
the humanity across the border. 

311
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,240
So this is another kind of 
important point about the 

312
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,840
Dhamma. 
The Third Point about the 

313
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:48,120
Dhamma, which I like to bring 
out, is that the Dhamma is often

314
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,240
very simple and very straight to
the point. 

315
00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,400
It is not very fancy. 
The Buddha's point is to deliver

316
00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,840
a message, a message about 
happiness, a message about 

317
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,640
overcoming suffering, a message 
about joy and peace and all of 

318
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,800
these wonderful things in life. 
That is the Buddha's message. 

319
00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,920
And to be able to deliver that 
message successfully here, he 

320
00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:13,760
has to be clear, he has to kind 
of give the message without too 

321
00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,359
much embellishment, too much 
Floridaness and all of these 

322
00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,079
kind of things. 
So he kind of, and this is what 

323
00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:23,240
you find in the suit as a 
generally speaking, the word of 

324
00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,240
the Buddha is very simple, very 
straight to the point, not very 

325
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:31,360
hard to understand. 
And sometimes people think, oh, 

326
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:32,840
the suitor's too difficult to 
read. 

327
00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,520
I'd rather read some kind of 
modern teachers or whatever. 

328
00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,640
But actually the word of the 
Buddha is far more down to earth

329
00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,480
than many, many modern teachers,
much easier to understand. 

330
00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,840
The modern teacher may be very 
beautiful in the way they are 

331
00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:47,560
phrased and kind of using 
interesting words and all this 

332
00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:49,880
kind of thing. 
But the word of the Buddha is 

333
00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,120
far more precise, far more easy 
to understand. 

334
00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,920
When you put it all together and
you kind of look at it with 

335
00:17:55,920 --> 00:18:01,480
care, care, then it actually is,
to my mind, far more easy and 

336
00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,000
simple and straight to the point
than almost any other teaching 

337
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,400
here. 
And this is also one of the 

338
00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,080
things that distinguishes the 
early Buddhist suit as coming 

339
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,560
from the Buddha. 
Too much of later Buddhist 

340
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,160
literature, Later Buddhist 
literature is often very fancy. 

341
00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,120
It is often very Florida. 
It often has all kind of beings.

342
00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:24,000
It has like 10 pages of just 
kind of miracles and all these 

343
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,440
kind of things. 
Starting off, it kind of 

344
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,200
embellishes the myth of the 
Buddha, makes the Buddha into 

345
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,280
some kind of superhuman being, 
which actually to me detracts 

346
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,160
from the teachings because it 
makes the Buddha more distant 

347
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,640
from us. 
It no longer relates to us in 

348
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,080
exactly the same way here, but 
the early suitors are very 

349
00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,160
ordinary here. 
The Buddha comes across as 

350
00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,720
pretty much an ordinary human 
being, especially before his 

351
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,400
awakening here. 
The Buddha had defilements, the 

352
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,560
Buddha had wrong views. 
The Buddha was attaching to 

353
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,960
things in the world. 
He basically had the same kind 

354
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,960
of problems that we had. 
And because he had the same 

355
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,680
problems that we have in the 
present day, it means that he 

356
00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,520
was looking for solutions in the
same place we should look for 

357
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,120
solutions. 
And that is why his teachings 

358
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,920
are so interesting to us, 
precisely because he's a human 

359
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:19,160
being looking at the same 
problems, trying to find the 

360
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,920
same kind of solutions. 
So this is one way in which the 

361
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:24,480
suitors are really down to 
earth. 

362
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,480
The Buddha is a human being just
like us. 

363
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,960
OK, once he became the Buddha, 
you can argue if you wish, that 

364
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,120
he wasn't human in the ordinary 
sense anymore. 

365
00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,760
But prior to becoming the 
Buddha, he certainly was human, 

366
00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,800
very, very similar to what we 
are in the present day and 

367
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:44,920
anytime throughout history. 
And that is very, very, to me, 

368
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,040
very important. 
And again, it is one of those 

369
00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,560
things that make the Buddhist 
teachings pretty much unique in 

370
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,520
human history. 
Most religions in the world, 

371
00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:56,160
they have some kind of 
supernatural or something really

372
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,520
mystical and marvellous and 
strange. 

373
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,000
Buddhism again. 
We are down to earth. 

374
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,640
But it's not just the fact that 
the Buddha was human, but it's 

375
00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,040
also the nature of his teachings
as well. 

376
00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:11,160
They're also very down to earth,
Right. 

377
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,160
When we talk about Buddhist 
meditation, I'm almost eating 

378
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,200
the microphone. 
Be careful about that. 

379
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:22,960
It's not good for my digestion. 
So one of the things about 

380
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:23,640
Buddhism. 
Yeah. 

381
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,280
Like, for example, the 
meditation that is most common 

382
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,640
in the Buddhism is mindfulness 
of breathing. 

383
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:30,720
Yeah, yeah. 
Following your breath. 

384
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,160
The breath is one of those most 
natural things in the universe. 

385
00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,800
There's nothing fancy about it. 
There's no kind of massive 

386
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,560
imaginations and kind of 
imagining this or imagining 

387
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:43,160
that. 
It's kind of down to some very 

388
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,400
basic realities of life. 
The death. 

389
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,920
The breath is kind of grounding.
It doesn't take you off and kind

390
00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,600
of make potentially makes you go
crazy because you're looking at 

391
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,200
all of these kind of, you know, 
weird things in the world. 

392
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,240
It comes down to something very 
ordinary and simple that is all 

393
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,640
the way is available to us. 
And this, again, is kind of one 

394
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:04,440
of the beauties of the Buddhist 
teachings. 

395
00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,360
And the Buddha says himself that
this is the this is the 

396
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:10,760
meditation I use before my 
awakening. 

397
00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,880
This led to my awakening. 
He specifically says this is the

398
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,080
mindfulness of breathing. 
Yeah. 

399
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:18,720
So the Buddhist teachings are 
really simple. 

400
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,560
Yeah. 
And then what are the things 

401
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,160
that lead to that mindfulness of
breathing? 

402
00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:27,520
Well, it's morality, morality in
the broader sense of kindness. 

403
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,120
So kindness is the foundation 
for the Buddhist path. 

404
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,120
So you can argue that Buddhism 
is about two things, kindness 

405
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,800
and mindfulness of breathing 
here, and that is really all 

406
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,840
there's to it. 
Isn't that wonderful there? 

407
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:43,760
So simple. 
You don't have to worry about 

408
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:45,440
dependent origination. 
Yeah. 

409
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,840
You don't have to worry about 
all of these complex things. 

410
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,920
What is the meaning of nama 
rupa, or name and form? 

411
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:54,120
What exactly does that refer to?
And of course, you can mess up 

412
00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:55,840
your mind big time if you do 
that. 

413
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,200
I ended up the retreat that we 
had by talking about a 

414
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,840
consciousness and name and form 
and how they relate to each 

415
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:03,760
other. 
And I was a bit concerned. 

416
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,560
I bamboozled everyone, including
myself, by ending by ending up 

417
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,200
the retreat in such a kind of 
complicated ideas. 

418
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,520
But actually, if you're 
interested in those things, 

419
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:16,240
great. 
And they can be good fun and 

420
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,480
they can lead to greater 
appreciation of the Buddhist 

421
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,880
teachings and they can lead to a
sense of confidence that these 

422
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,680
teachings really work, that they
have the kind of holistic view 

423
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:28,680
of the world. 
That kind of everything really 

424
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,840
comes together in a nice way, 
but it's not really required. 

425
00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:36,160
And for those of you who already
have enough faith and confidence

426
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:38,040
and all you want to do is to 
live the. 

427
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,840
Path, Yeah, kindness and 
mindfulness of breathing is 

428
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,240
really all you need. 
A bit of right view is also 

429
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:46,560
helpful. 
I should add that of course, but

430
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,120
you have the right view already,
right? 

431
00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,520
That's why you are here. 
So you cannot get that right 

432
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,680
view sorted out. 
So that is the beauty of the 

433
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,320
Buddhist eating. 
Simple, straight to the point, 

434
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,160
nothing fancy here. 
You can actually forget about 

435
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,480
all of those fancy things. 
We don't need to be very 

436
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,400
philosophical anything like 
that. 

437
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,600
Have a good heart. 
And if you consistently have a 

438
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,040
good heart, your meditation is 
going to be very. 

439
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:16,080
Powerful as a consequence. 
So that is the the third thing 

440
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,960
about the the Buddhist and the 
fourth thing that I would just 

441
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:25,680
emphasise today, and that is 
that the Dhamma is not worldly 

442
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,600
in nature. 
Here, The Dhamma is spiritual in

443
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,240
nature here, and this is maybe 
the most important of all of 

444
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,320
these points that we're talking 
about today here. 

445
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,920
When you read the suitors, 
they're always pointing you in 

446
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,680
One Direction only, towards the 
spiritual path, towards the joys

447
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,560
and happiness that are outside 
of our ordinary worldly 

448
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,640
existence. 
And sometimes you read so-called

449
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,760
Buddha quotes and you think this
is just too worldly. 

450
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:52,920
Yeah. 
How to have a good family? 

451
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,080
I mean it's important to have a 
good family relationships, but 

452
00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:00,840
that is not usually what the 
Buddha focus is on how to enjoy 

453
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,880
your life to the maximum, right?
Sometimes you think these quotes

454
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,080
or how this is how you enjoy 
your life to the maximum. 

455
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,680
True if it is the spiritual 
life, but not true if it refers 

456
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:14,560
to worldly life. 
So the Buddha's teaching always 

457
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,200
have this kind of slightly 
otherworldliness about it, the 

458
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,120
idea of going beyond our 
ordinary life, because our 

459
00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:24,760
ordinary life, we know it 
already, it is fraught with 

460
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,600
problems, fraught with all kind 
of things. 

461
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,120
And the reason why we come to 
the Buddhist city is to elevate 

462
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:32,640
us a little bit out of that 
ordinary existence. 

463
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,080
That is the whole point. 
So Buddhism should have a 

464
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,560
slightly otherworldly and 
spiritual feeling. 

465
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,480
Yeah, that is what we should 
expect. 

466
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,320
And if some things are too 
ordinary, OK, maybe be a little 

467
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:49,640
bit sceptical about it. 
So now I have given you some 

468
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,960
criteria by. 
Which to judge whether we have 

469
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,440
real Buddhism or not. 
So now I'm going to put you to 

470
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,960
the test. 
So Are you ready for that? 

471
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:00,880
This is a bit of fun and games, 
right? 

472
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:02,960
We don't want to. 
I, I like a little bit of 

473
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,680
innovation in my done my talks. 
Not too much innovation. 

474
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,240
It has to be kind of aligned 
with the suitors, but a little 

475
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,600
bit of innovation. 
I wonder what the Buddha would 

476
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,280
have said with this. 
Maybe he would have told me off 

477
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,480
and said get, you know, don't do
that. 

478
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,160
Anyway, so this is so let's see 
what you what you think about 

479
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,360
this. 
So these are some of the things 

480
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,800
that I picked out of this fake 
Buddha quotes. 

481
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:36,520
You can't see. 
Sorry, I apologise, I'm being 

482
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:42,120
very naughty. 
OK, so this is this is one of 

483
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:44,480
these quotes, right? 
And it all of this, remember all

484
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,440
of these quotes, they have had 
the Buddha, Yeah, underneath it,

485
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:49,800
pretending to be the Buddha, 
Buddha quoter. 

486
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,920
And so this is the first one. 
This is very obvious. 

487
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,920
But anyway, I'll just start off 
in a kind way towards you. 

488
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:01,720
So have compassion for all 
beings, rich and poor alike. 

489
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:06,320
Each has their own suffering. 
Some suffer too much, others too

490
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:11,720
little. 
So who thinks that is a fake 

491
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:12,520
Buddha quote? 
Yeah. 

492
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:14,720
You're very wise. 
That's excellent. 

493
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,000
Well done. 
No one has ever heard of anyone 

494
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,800
who suffers too little, right? 
That's just completely UN 

495
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,720
Buddhist. 
And this doesn't work. 

496
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,040
Yeah. 
OK. 

497
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,920
Another one. 
As you walk and eat and travel, 

498
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,800
be where you are. 
Otherwise you will miss most of 

499
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,880
your life. 
Fake. 

500
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,080
OK Again. 
Yeah. 

501
00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:37,480
You are excellent. 
So this is what I think so. 

502
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,000
Yeah. 
You know intuitively what is 

503
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,080
Buddhism, right? 
You have this feeling you can't 

504
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:42,440
kind of tell straight away. 
Here. 

505
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,200
All things are perfect exactly 
as they are fake. 

506
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,240
Certainly the Buddha never says 
that, right? 

507
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,000
This is kind of a modern, maybe 
that's kind of some kind of New 

508
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,720
Age teaching, but not certainly 
not Buddhism. 

509
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:02,160
Yeah, the Buddha talks about 
dukkha. 

510
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,720
That's the kind of is famous for
that. 

511
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,600
And sometimes we need to remind 
people there is sukkah as well 

512
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:11,320
in life, unless we kind of get 
labeled as pessimistic 

513
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:15,640
Buddhists. 
OK, next one, a sweet friendship

514
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,240
refreshes the soul. 
Fake. 

515
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,360
Fake. 
Pretty, pretty obvious, right? 

516
00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,560
It's kind of a giveaway. 
The word soul is kind of. 

517
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:30,120
Yeah, that's kind of OK. 
All descriptions of reality are 

518
00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:33,160
temporary hypothesis. 
Fake. 

519
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,800
Yeah, it's fake. 
Yeah, because of course the 

520
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,120
Buddha has ideas about reality, 
right? 

521
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:41,520
There are certain things that 
are true. 

522
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,280
The Buddha talks about yatta 
Buddha and anadasana, seeing 

523
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,080
things accordance to reality. 
There are certain things that 

524
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,240
are real. 
Yes, there are things that are 

525
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,240
temporary, but there also are 
things that are real ways of 

526
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,760
looking at the world. 
OK, next one. 

527
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,040
Believe nothing, no matter where
you read it or who said it, no 

528
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:03,000
matter if I have said it, unless
it agrees with your own reasons 

529
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,320
and your own common sense. 
Fake. 

530
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,840
Yes, fake. 
Another fake one, but this one 

531
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,200
is getting closer right now we 
are getting closer to what the 

532
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,920
Kalama Sutra, the idea that you,
you shouldn't kind of just 

533
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,320
believe things in the world, but
it does not mean that you should

534
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,120
never believe anything. 
This is also kind of wrong. 

535
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:25,800
Once you have a degree of 
confidence in the Buddhist 

536
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,560
teachings, once you have 
listened to what he has to say, 

537
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:30,840
you. 
Build up a degree of confidence 

538
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,200
and faith, and then you start to
have faith in the Buddha. 

539
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:37,400
So if you are a Buddhist, it is 
reasonable to have a degree of 

540
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:39,440
confidence in things like 
rebirth. 

541
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,240
Why? 
Because the Buddha said it. 

542
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,520
People think that having faith 
in what the Buddha said 2 1/2 

543
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,920
thousand years ago is kind of 
crazy about rebirth. 

544
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,160
But remember, the Buddha is a 
teacher like any other teacher 

545
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:57,080
in the world, except that he's 
far more powerful, wise, all of 

546
00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:59,680
these kind of things. 
And when you go to school, do 

547
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:01,040
you believe what the teacher 
says? 

548
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,000
Generally, yes. 
Right. 

549
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,600
So if you believe, an ordinary 
school teacher should definitely

550
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,560
believe the Buddha, Right. 
So if the Buddha says there is 

551
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:11,280
rebirth. 
Yeah. 

552
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,280
OK, I'll, I'll at least I'll 
consider that very carefully 

553
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,120
before I reject it. 
The other thing which is a 

554
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,640
giveaway here is that believe 
nothing no matter where you read

555
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,160
it. 
Well, there was no much reading 

556
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,160
at the time of the Buddha. 
That's another kind of giveaway 

557
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,600
here. 
If if no matter where you saw it

558
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,520
on TV, that would have been 
another giveaway here. 

559
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:37,800
OK, so chaos is inherent in all 
compounded things. 

560
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:44,480
Strive on with diligence. 
Fake you say? 

561
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:45,920
Fake. 
Yes. 

562
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,680
OK, One fake there, another fake
over here and more fakes. 

563
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:50,880
A few more fake. 
OK, Wow, you are so wise. 

564
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,360
So this is again getting close 
to what the board I was talking 

565
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,520
about, right? 
It's if you don't get it right, 

566
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,760
I will forgive you because this 
is not so obvious, but the 

567
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,920
Buddha doesn't say chaos is 
inherent in all compounded 

568
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,400
things. 
What the Buddha says is that all

569
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,840
compounded things are subject to
vanishing or subject to 

570
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:13,880
impermanence. 
That is what he says. 

571
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,080
The world is not really chaotic.
The world exists. 

572
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,720
According to certain laws, one 
of the laws is the law of 

573
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,640
dependent origination, right? 
So there is a lawfulness in the 

574
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,400
world. 
It is impermanent, true, but 

575
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,160
there's a lawfulness to these 
things. 

576
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,800
So there's a slightly 
problematic this one here 

577
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,720
because if it is complete chaos,
how can we even practice a path?

578
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,680
Yeah, there must be a structure 
in the world for the path to be 

579
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:45,520
possible. 
OK, so now getting ready for 

580
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,000
this one, set your heart on 
doing good. 

581
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,680
Do it over and over again and 
you will be filled with joy. 

582
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,520
Wow, this is this is amazing. 
You are. 

583
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,960
This is kind of really that that
actually this is pretty much a 

584
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,360
true Buddha code, right? 
Yeah. 

585
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:06,560
So that's really, that's 
wonderful. 

586
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,880
This is, I think taken from the 
Damapada, I believe. 

587
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,640
And it is a little bit of a 
modern kind of translation. 

588
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,680
So maybe you haven't heard it 
exactly translated like that. 

589
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,960
But essentially this is exactly 
from the suitors and it's a 

590
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,560
beautiful code, right? 
Actually was so happy when I saw

591
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,360
that I thought, wow, I got to 
bring that one out. 

592
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:31,640
Set your heart on doing good. 
Do it over and over again and 

593
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:33,360
you will be filled with joy 
here. 

594
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,160
This is kind of the idea of 
kindness, right? 

595
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,240
Always be kind, always take 
every opportunity here. 

596
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:44,880
Every word that comes out of 
your your mouth should be kind, 

597
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:49,920
caring, compassionate, gentle, 
truthful, meaningful. 

598
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,920
Bringing harmony in the world? 
Yeah, anyway. 

599
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,360
Last one for today. 
Nothing can harm you as much as 

600
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:05,600
your own thoughts unguarded. 
All right, You are very well 

601
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,640
educated bunch. 
Congratulations. 

602
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,120
So you've got everything right, 
every single one. 

603
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:18,920
And what that shows you is that 
it is not that difficult to have

604
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:23,000
an idea Yeah. 
So when you see Buddha quotes in

605
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,600
the world, when you see. 
Kind of when you go to this kind

606
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,520
of conferences, I'm not sure if 
I would recommend this 

607
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,480
conference, but if you ever go 
to this conferences and you see 

608
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,640
Buddha quote the Buddha, be 
skeptical. 

609
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:36,840
Trust your own judgement. 
Yeah, don't go with the crowd 

610
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,400
because the crowd will say yay 
Buddha quote wonderful. 

611
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,920
Don't be be the educated 
Buddhist that you. 

612
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,680
Are and follow your own 
judgement because you have an 

613
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:50,200
idea of what is going on there. 
And it was very interesting when

614
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,680
I was in the US recently, I was 
in California as well in Silicon

615
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,600
Valley, which was kind of cool. 
I've never really been much to 

616
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,360
the US before, so it was kind of
nice. 

617
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,040
And it turns out Americans are 
much like people everywhere 

618
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:04,320
else, which is kind of nice when
you read the news, they get all 

619
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:06,800
these distorted feelings about 
other countries. 

620
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,280
But when you go to places, you 
get the feeling for the people, 

621
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:14,320
and usually people are people. 
And that's kind of nice to see, 

622
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:15,640
especially if you're a Buddhist 
monkey. 

623
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,720
People always treat you with a 
lot of kindness. 

624
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,280
And that's kind of one of the 
great benefits of being a 

625
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:26,160
monastic, by the way, here. 
So when I was there, I went to 

626
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,120
this Buddhist centre, 1 of the 
kind of larger Buddhist centres 

627
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,440
in Silicon Valley in a place 
called Redwood City. 

628
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:36,040
And, and it was kind of a large 
room downstairs where they gave 

629
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:37,800
Dumber talks. 
And then there were some offices

630
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,560
upstairs and upstairs. 
That was where they kind of the 

631
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,040
head of this group was based. 
His name is Guild Frondsdaler 

632
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,200
and he has done some 
translations of the Dumber 

633
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:47,760
paradigm, all of these kind of 
things. 

634
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:49,720
And he also has a Norwegian 
background. 

635
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:51,920
Yeah, so I kind of, OK. 
So we kind of got on really 

636
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:53,320
well. 
We spoke Norwegian with each 

637
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,160
other, although his Norwegian 
was a bit dodgy, I have to say, 

638
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,960
living abroad for too long. 
And he had this poster on the 

639
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,360
wall, right? 
And they had a picture of the 

640
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,680
Buddha and it had this quote and
it had the Buddha underneath. 

641
00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:10,360
It was a, you know, it was 
supposed to be a Buddha quote, 

642
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:14,120
right? 
And and the quote was pretty 

643
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:21,320
sure I never said that. 
And I thought, wow, this is a 

644
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,840
such a good one. 
This is the best one, right? 

645
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:26,080
It is not taken from the 
suitors, but if there's going to

646
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,679
be a fake Buddha quote, that's 
the best fake Buddha quote I've 

647
00:34:28,679 --> 00:34:29,480
seen. 
This is. 

648
00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:36,440
Really, really good one. 
So anyway, so you get an idea, 

649
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:40,320
yeah, of what actually are fake 
Buddha quotes in this world and 

650
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:42,480
what are not. 
I want to go a little bit 

651
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:44,400
further here. 
I want to talk a little bit 

652
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,719
about, first of all, about where
we find the real teachings of 

653
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,800
the Buddha. 
Yeah, this is actually very 

654
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,040
simple and something I talked 
about many times before, but I 

655
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,600
want to kind of reiterate it 
briefly because it's a very 

656
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,720
important point because very 
often we are presented with 

657
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,880
teachings and they are said to 
be suitors. 

658
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,960
Yeah, the word of the Buddha. 
And it's not just people who are

659
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,280
born in the West who are 
confused about this. 

660
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:11,680
People who are born in 
traditional Buddhist countries 

661
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,960
are also confused about this. 
I have traditional Buddhist 

662
00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:16,840
countries, but this is in the 
suitors. 

663
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:18,240
I said, no, it's not in the 
suitors. 

664
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:19,560
I know the suitors. 
Really. 

665
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,720
Well, this is from the 
commentary, this is from the 

666
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:24,200
giant Agatel, this is from the 
stories of the Buddha's 

667
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,480
lifetime. 
It is not from the suitors. 

668
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,400
The suitors are the things we 
call the word of the Buddha. 

669
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:34,080
Yeah, what the Buddha spoke and 
that which is not the suitors 

670
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,520
are later developments that have
been added later on, like 

671
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:40,160
commentaries and stories and all
of these kind of things. 

672
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:45,080
So to be able to find out what 
the suitors are, it is good to. 

673
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,960
Start with some of those things,
yeah, that are from the most 

674
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:54,200
kind of early layers of 
discourses, and see, well, how 

675
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:58,120
does the Buddha himself 
recommend that we should 

676
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,440
distinguish the real from the 
false? 

677
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:03,920
And one of the things that the 
Buddha says, it says that, well,

678
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,960
the thing that you should take 
as you're teaching after I pass 

679
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,200
away is the Dumber and Vinaya 
that I have proclaimed to you. 

680
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,040
Yeah. 
And So what he is saying, and 

681
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:19,760
this is a very important point 
right there, when we decide what

682
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,480
is real Buddhism, it is the word
of the Buddha that is primary. 

683
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,200
All other things in Buddhism are
secondary here. 

684
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,720
It doesn't mean we should reject
all other things, but it means 

685
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:32,800
that the word of the Buddha is 
where we should kind of find the

686
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:36,160
final answer to what is real 
Buddhism. 

687
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:40,120
And this is important because 
too often I hear or it doesn't 

688
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,840
matter where it comes from as 
long as it is true or whatever. 

689
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,720
But how on earth do you know if 
it is true if you have no idea 

690
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:49,200
where it comes from? 
A large part of what is called 

691
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:53,200
later Buddhism was handed down 
by anonymous people. 

692
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,000
Yeah, people, we don't know who 
they are. 

693
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,320
They wrote this kind of thing, 
and sometimes they seem really 

694
00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,360
fancy and really amazing or 
whatever. 

695
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,800
But there are anonymous. 
Can we trust anonymous authors 

696
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,160
to present us with a real dumb? 
And the answer is we just don't 

697
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:09,760
know. 
We have no idea. 

698
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,120
Maybe it is good, maybe it is 
bad. 

699
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,160
Sometimes it's very difficult to
distinguish the real teachings 

700
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,400
from the dodgy teachings, and 
sometimes it is therefore better

701
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,160
to leave it to one side. 
Yeah. 

702
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,160
And in the Theravada tradition, 
it is obvious that a lot of 

703
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,440
things we have in the Theravada 
tradition are are later than not

704
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:30,440
the word of the Buddha like the.
Abidama it is. 

705
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,800
It doesn't mean that all the 
abidama is wrong, but it means 

706
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,400
we don't really know who 
authored the abidama. 

707
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,800
We don't know why it was 
authored. 

708
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,000
We don't know whether it, you 
know, it has any adds anything 

709
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,080
to our understanding. 
And I would say it detracts from

710
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:46,440
our understanding. 
Why? 

711
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:51,320
Because it is too philosophical.
It is too much about building up

712
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:55,160
kind of systems and building up 
things that are really not all 

713
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:59,840
that relevant to our practice. 
And so I say it can be detract 

714
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:01,200
from understanding of the 
Dumber. 

715
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:03,680
The Jhataka tales is another 
one. 

716
00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:07,760
The Jhataka tales are often very
charming stories, but very often

717
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:11,760
they are not Buddhist at all. 
Sometimes the Jhataka are anti 

718
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,320
Buddhist. 
Yeah, they have morals in there.

719
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,040
They have ideas and they 
actually go against morality and

720
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,440
kindness. 
Yeah, I'd like the Buddha to be 

721
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:23,920
kind of giving away his children
and wife. 

722
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,120
What is that about giving away 
your children and wife? 

723
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:28,680
Is that kind of the right thing 
to do? 

724
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,080
Of course not. 
And yet sometimes we celebrate 

725
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,400
these things as if they are 
great acts of renunciation when 

726
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,440
really they are inappropriate to
do and so. 

727
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,000
Sometimes we need, again, it's 
actually very useful to remember

728
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:48,160
this distinction where we find 
the real Buddhist teachings to 

729
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:52,280
go back to those, take those as 
the gold standard, and then we 

730
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,680
have something that we actually 
can rely on and everything else 

731
00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,320
can then be understood in light 
of that gold standard. 

732
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,080
We have something safe, we have 
a safe harbour, if you like, 

733
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,800
where we can fight, where we can
judge whether something is real 

734
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,400
teaching or not. 
In that same place where the 

735
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,240
Buddha says you should follow 
the Dhamma in Vindhya that I 

736
00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:15,840
have laid down, he also says in 
that suta, and this by the way, 

737
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:20,360
is the Mahapar Nibhana Suta, the
16th Suta of the Long Discourse 

738
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,440
of the Buddha, the Diga Nikaya, 
and it is where the Buddha. 

739
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:26,840
In his last journey and he lays 
down the things that he wants 

740
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,920
the Sangha and the Buddhist 
community to remember after his 

741
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:31,840
passing away. 
Here and there. 

742
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:35,960
He also says that after my 
passing away you should take 

743
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,800
refuge in the Dhamma that I have
taught. 

744
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:43,200
What is that? 
It is the 37 bodipakia dhamas. 

745
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,000
These are the 37 aids to 
awakening. 

746
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,480
Here and this is like a summary 
of all the various teachings 

747
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,920
that he has given her. 
If you look at those 37 aids to 

748
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:56,560
awakening, what you find in 
there, the majority of those 

749
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,600
teachings are about mental 
cultivation. 

750
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:02,400
The last three factors. 
Of the noble and full path. 

751
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:07,120
Right action, not action, right 
effort, right meditation, right 

752
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,880
mindfulness and right stillness.
Right samadhi at the very end, 

753
00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:14,000
so. 
That is another very good 

754
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,400
pointer to what is real 
Buddhism. 

755
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:20,240
If it is about mental 
cultivation, and cultivation 

756
00:40:20,240 --> 00:40:23,360
here means developing good 
qualities, abandoning bad ones, 

757
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:24,640
that's really what it comes back
to. 

758
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,200
If it is about that, it is 
likely to be very closely 

759
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,440
related to early teachings, to 
what the Buddha taught. 

760
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:38,000
And that gives us a very nice 
guidance right there about what 

761
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,680
real Buddhism is about. 
Yeah, real Buddhism, and this is

762
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:44,880
something you see actually in 
many, many places in the Zutas, 

763
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:49,440
Real Buddhism are those 
teachings that lead you, when 

764
00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:53,240
you practice them, to better 
personal qualities and a 

765
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:55,800
reduction in bad personal 
qualities. 

766
00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,360
So any teachings that lead you 
in that direction build up the 

767
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,520
good things and lead to a 
decline in the bad things within

768
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:09,560
you. 
Those are likely, possibly not 

769
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:14,120
always, but possibly one way of 
judging whether something is an 

770
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:18,640
authentic Buddhist teaching or 
not, that is kind of a broad 

771
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,920
overview. 
So come back to those early suit

772
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,240
as a Buddhism. 
So what is it that the Buddha 

773
00:41:24,240 --> 00:41:29,520
taught if the Buddha says my 
teachings are primary because 

774
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:31,360
this is the gold standard for 
everything else? 

775
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:33,280
How do we know what the Buddha 
taught? 

776
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:37,080
And fortunately, we have very 
good reasons to think that we 

777
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,280
know pretty much exactly what 
the Buddha taught. 

778
00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,800
And this can be done through 
historical studies of the 

779
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,200
Surtas. 
Through inquiry into what? 

780
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,400
Unifies the Dhamma in certain 
ways. 

781
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,040
And what unifies the Dhamma, The
early Buddhism is that there are

782
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,640
certain ideas that are 
propounded or explained there. 

783
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,280
There's a certain kind of 
language that is used. 

784
00:41:57,280 --> 00:41:59,840
The Pali language changes over 
time. 

785
00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:03,120
The Pali language of the suit, 
as is one kind of Pali. 

786
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,000
Later Pali is slightly 
different. 

787
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:11,320
The grammar is a certain way. 
The the kind of the feeling of 

788
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,480
the language. 
Yeah, is has a certain feel to 

789
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:15,880
it. 
And that changes over time. 

790
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,720
For example, if you read English
language and you compare modern 

791
00:42:19,720 --> 00:42:23,680
English to the language of 
Shakespeare, very different kind

792
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:24,800
of language. 
Yeah. 

793
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,240
But even the language of 
Dickens, which is only about 150

794
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:31,760
years ago, is actually quite 
different from modern English. 

795
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:35,600
You feel that you're entering a 
different period and it's like, 

796
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:37,680
of course, all languages are the
same. 

797
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:39,600
It's exactly the same thing with
parley. 

798
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,480
You can feel that you're 
entering different eras of the 

799
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,720
use of the parley language. 
All you have to do is to read 

800
00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:52,000
parley. 
So you have to trust me, right? 

801
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:57,160
So do you trust me? 
So I so, but these are things 

802
00:42:57,160 --> 00:42:59,240
that can be figured out. 
That's the point. 

803
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,400
They can be investigated, they 
can be understood, and it's 

804
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:06,320
possible to point out what are 
the early Dhamma and what is the

805
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,240
latter, what is the real 
teaching of the Buddha? 

806
00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:11,280
And of course you all know 
probably what it comes down to. 

807
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:15,200
It comes down to the four main 
nikayas of Buddhists, the long 

808
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:17,560
discourse, the middle discourse,
the connected discourse and the 

809
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,280
numerical discourse, the Tiga 
Nikai, Majumalika, Sanguta 

810
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,720
Nikaya and Anguttara Nikaya. 
Those are really the main 

811
00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:25,120
things. 
You can add a bit from that, 

812
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,160
subtract a bit from that. 
That gives you a very kind of 

813
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,040
good starting point for deciding
what real Buddhism is. 

814
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:34,480
You can add the Damapada to that
because Damapada is such a 

815
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,400
beautiful collection. 
So to get a bit of inspiration, 

816
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:40,120
we can add a bit of monastic 
rules to that, the Patimoca 

817
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:41,640
rules amongst these kind of 
things. 

818
00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:44,720
But you have a good starting 
point right there. 

819
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:48,720
So that is a good starting 
point. 

820
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:54,920
So, but there is even deeper way
in which to understand the dumb.

821
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:57,720
I, I had to apologise for 
talking a bit fast today. 

822
00:43:57,720 --> 00:44:00,720
But I, I think what happens is 
that when I've been giving so 

823
00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:04,200
many teachings, after a while I,
you get a bit tired. 

824
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:05,880
And when I get tired, I speak 
fast. 

825
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:08,560
That's kind of weird, isn't it? 
That's what happens to me. 

826
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:11,440
I kind of lose my kind of cool 
or whatever. 

827
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:12,920
But anyway, that's what what 
happens. 

828
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:22,080
So the thing actually goes 
beyond this, and one way of 

829
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,360
thinking about the Dhamma is 
that we can also think about the

830
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:29,120
Dhamma, not just in terms of 
collection of books, yeah, but 

831
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:33,840
how to recognize the Dhamma 
again from the result that they 

832
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:38,240
actually give in your practice. 
And sometimes the Buddha does 

833
00:44:38,240 --> 00:44:40,200
exactly this. 
He gives you teachings. 

834
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,960
And he gave the teaching 1 to 
Mahapati Gautami, Yeah, the 

835
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:46,640
Buddha's stepmother, who became 
one of the first Arahat 

836
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:50,760
Bikanese, maybe the first one. 
And then also to Venable Uppali,

837
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:52,880
when Uppali was the Barber of 
the seconds. 

838
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:56,360
And he went forth and he became 
the number one expert on the 

839
00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:59,440
Vinaya, the monastic discipline,
the monastic regulations. 

840
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,800
And so both of them, they went 
to the Buddha and they asked 

841
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:07,400
him, how do we recognise the 
real Buddhist teachings? 

842
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:12,640
And because I can't remember 
verbatim what those things are, 

843
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:16,480
I have them on my laptop. 
So this is one of my few 

844
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,080
attachments in my life, is my 
laptop, because my excuse is the

845
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:22,080
Dhamma is there. 
So I got to, got to have it with

846
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:26,680
me here. 
So this is the Buddha's advice 

847
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:28,600
to Mahapajapati Gotome. 
Yeah. 

848
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:34,000
And he says, go to me, you might
know that certain things lead to

849
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,080
and then all these things they 
lead to. 

850
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:38,840
And this is then the summary of 
his teachings. 

851
00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:42,640
They lead to dispassion, not to 
passion. 

852
00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:46,760
Yeah. 
So passion is this feeling of 

853
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,400
desire really comes back to 
desire. 

854
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:51,720
It leads to the coolness of the 
mind. 

855
00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:55,320
This passion is a cool mind. 
Desire is a hot mind. 

856
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,320
Yeah. 
Desire is all of these 

857
00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:00,800
attachments and and involvement 
with the world. 

858
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:03,880
This passion is like standing 
back being cool. 

859
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:05,600
Observing what is going on 
there. 

860
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:08,920
This is one of the ways in which
you recognise the real dumba. 

861
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,600
It leads to being unfettered, 
not fettered. 

862
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:18,080
Fetter is a bind, Binding. 
It's like a rope. 

863
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:21,360
It binds you to the world. 
And you can feel sometimes the 

864
00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:24,680
mind withdraws from the 
attachments of the world. 

865
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:26,800
Yeah. 
You're no longer bound to things

866
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:29,040
in the world, bound to whatever 
it might be here. 

867
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:31,200
But you feel that you are 
released. 

868
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:33,200
The world no longer has a hold 
on you. 

869
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:36,680
It's like whatever happens in 
the world, actually, you can be 

870
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:39,360
cool about that. 
You don't have to be involved. 

871
00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:42,080
You don't have to suffer as a 
consequence of the changes in 

872
00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:45,160
the world, including changes in 
your family. 

873
00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:48,800
Yeah, one of the most difficult 
things in the world is to deal 

874
00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,760
with changes in the family when 
people get sick, when they die 

875
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:54,600
and these kind of things. 
But if you are really 

876
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:57,840
unfettered, you really untie it 
to the world. 

877
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:00,760
You can deal with those things 
as well in a reasonable way. 

878
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:04,240
This gives you an idea that 
Buddhism is quite profound, 

879
00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:07,240
withdrawing the attachments and 
the cravings. 

880
00:47:07,240 --> 00:47:13,520
In that world it leads to 
dispersal, not accumulation. 

881
00:47:14,280 --> 00:47:19,920
Not sure about dispersal. 
This is I shall not name the the

882
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:23,680
translator because. 
But dispersal means like giving 

883
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,400
up right? 
Not opposite of accumulation. 

884
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:30,960
This is another thing, you see 
that some people are great 

885
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:36,840
accumulators in life, but people
who are on the path in a very 

886
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:40,280
deep way, they want to give 
things up because they realise 

887
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:42,840
all of this accumulation 
actually just clutters the mind 

888
00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:45,600
and it clutters your life and it
makes life more complicated. 

889
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:49,800
So they tend to give things up. 
And This is why you see, like if

890
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,000
you have a really, really, some 
of these really good monastics, 

891
00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:55,040
they have nothing. 
Yeah, yeah, they have very, very

892
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:56,480
few things. 
They don't even have a laptop. 

893
00:47:57,840 --> 00:47:59,760
That to me is like a miracle, 
right? 

894
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:01,360
How is that possible? 
But. 

895
00:48:02,720 --> 00:48:06,480
But I remember that someone like
my very good friend Bantasujatu,

896
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:08,600
I remember many years ago, he 
was staying at Bodinana 

897
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:10,800
Monastery here. 
And one day he was leaving 

898
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,600
Bodinana Monastery here. 
And all he had this were all his

899
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:15,360
belongings. 
Yeah. 

900
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:17,600
He had nothing else. 
A shoulder bag, That was it. 

901
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:20,040
And he walked out of the 
monastery kind of into the 

902
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:23,440
sunset or whatever it is that 
you walk off into her. 

903
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,320
And that was really cool, right?
I think he may have had a laptop

904
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:32,600
in that shoulder bag, but but at
least it was only one shoulder 

905
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:34,840
bag, right? 
And actually, it is very 

906
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:37,680
inspiring when you see that 
because I get this feeling of 

907
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,920
lightness, some actor being 
unburdened, not holding onto 

908
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:43,680
things in the world, living in a
very simple way. 

909
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:47,280
And I, I must admit I don't live
up fully to that standard. 

910
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:48,960
I I have too many books in my 
queue. 

911
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:50,320
I did bring some books, by the 
way. 

912
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:51,200
I don't understand. 
No. 

913
00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:52,120
Yeah. 
You saw them there. 

914
00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:54,240
OK, good. 
That was my unburdening. 

915
00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:56,720
I passed them on to burden 
someone else instead. 

916
00:48:56,720 --> 00:49:01,440
No. 
But for the monastery, I think 

917
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:02,840
it's good. 
The monastery, I can have a few 

918
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:03,520
books. 
Yeah, That's. 

919
00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:04,320
That's all right. 
Yeah. 

920
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:05,320
Thank you for agreeing. 
Yeah. 

921
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:09,560
OK. 
The next one is. 

922
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:13,240
Fewness of desires, not more 
desires, right? 

923
00:49:13,240 --> 00:49:15,560
You don't actually want very 
much in the world. 

924
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,240
You kind of, you are. 
You live simply and you're happy

925
00:49:18,240 --> 00:49:21,120
with that. 
Very related to that is the idea

926
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:24,640
of contentment not being 
discontent. 

927
00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:28,080
You have the idea that you have 
enough, you're satisfied with 

928
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:31,640
the way things are and you work 
with that, and that is OK. 

929
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:35,040
Remember that beautiful verse, 
Madame Apada where the Buddha 

930
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:37,480
says contentment is the highest 
wealth? 

931
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:40,640
Because if you don't need 
anything more, that means that 

932
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:43,480
you are wealthy enough. 
But if you have really, really 

933
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:45,760
wealthy but you need more, well,
you're not wealthy enough. 

934
00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:48,240
So that that reason contentment 
is the highest wealth. 

935
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:52,520
It's a beautiful little saying 
right there, straight from the 

936
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:54,560
Damapada. 
Damapada is a very inspiring 

937
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:55,240
little book. 
Yeah. 

938
00:49:56,600 --> 00:50:02,120
It leads to seclusion, not to 
crowding or not to socialising. 

939
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:04,720
Yeah, yeah. 
The Dumber, if you live it in 

940
00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:08,640
the right way, it leads to 
wanting to be by yourself, 

941
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:11,640
wanting to enjoy your own 
company here, wanting to be 

942
00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:14,560
peaceful by yourself. 
It is another indication that 

943
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:16,560
you're dealing with a real 
Dumber. 

944
00:50:17,080 --> 00:50:19,800
Dumber where there's too much 
grounding, too much going on, 

945
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:24,280
too much socializing is OK in 
the beginning here, but it's not

946
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:26,360
where the Dumber leads to down 
the track. 

947
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:30,880
Yeah, it leads to being 
unburdensome, not being 

948
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:33,000
burdensome. 
Yeah, it is. 

949
00:50:33,240 --> 00:50:36,640
I think Subaru Baro is burden in
partly. 

950
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:39,920
Subaru means easy, an easy 
burden on the world. 

951
00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:42,720
You don't demand very much of 
the people around you. 

952
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,200
Yeah, if you are a monastic, you
don't really look for much from 

953
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:49,960
the in terms of support. 
And I have to admit. 

954
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:53,320
That the lay people are amazing.
I'm always asked is anything you

955
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:57,320
need? 
And 9090% of the time, at least,

956
00:50:57,320 --> 00:50:59,480
I have to say, well, thank you 
very much, but actually, can I 

957
00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:03,520
give you something instead? 
Because I have too many things 

958
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:05,960
usually because people are so 
beautiful, they always give you 

959
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:07,920
things. 
It's one of those most wonderful

960
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:11,000
thing about being a Buddhist 
monk is that people's kindness 

961
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:12,280
really comes out. 
Yeah. 

962
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:13,400
When you're a Buddhist monk. 
Yeah. 

963
00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:16,120
They always want to support you,
to do things for you. 

964
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:20,640
And that is so wonderful. 
And all kinds of people, yeah, 

965
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:23,440
people are not even Buddhist, 
are kind to you when you're a 

966
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:24,160
Buddhist monk. 
Yeah. 

967
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:26,960
Happened to me many times. 
And it's a wonderful thing. 

968
00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:30,600
But it's also very wonderful as 
a monk to be able to say, I 

969
00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:33,520
really appreciate your kindness,
thanks, but no thanks. 

970
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:39,560
So never feel upset if a monk or
a nun doesn't, doesn't accept 

971
00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:43,640
your generosity or because all 
it means is that actually I'm 

972
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:45,120
already content. 
I have enough. 

973
00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:48,880
And sometimes instead rejoice 
when they say that actually I 

974
00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:52,400
don't need anything else because
it's a sign of contentment, a 

975
00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:55,560
sign of being unburdensome. 
And that is also often very 

976
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:58,520
beautiful here. 
And sometimes as a monastic, 

977
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:02,360
you, you receive things, you 
you'd accept it just to pass it 

978
00:52:02,360 --> 00:52:05,000
on to another monastic, right? 
That's also kind of nice thing 

979
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,760
to do. 
And so this is kind of how you 

980
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:09,840
unburdensome. 
It's one of these beautiful 

981
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:14,120
qualities. 
So this is what the Buddha said 

982
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,320
to Mahapajapati. 
And you can see these are all 

983
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:20,440
very spiritual values, right? 
And then he says you should 

984
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:25,320
definitely bear in mind that 
these things are the teaching, 

985
00:52:25,720 --> 00:52:29,400
these things are the training, 
these things are the teachers 

986
00:52:29,440 --> 00:52:33,120
instruction that gives you a 
beautiful. 

987
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:34,680
Idea. 
So in other words, it's not 

988
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:37,120
necessarily always about 
suitors. 

989
00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:42,280
You don't have to actually teach
from the suitors necessarily to 

990
00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:44,080
be teaching, giving good 
teachings. 

991
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:48,920
If you teach according to these 
ideas here, then you are on the 

992
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:52,280
right track. 
And I want to finish off with 

993
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:55,760
just a little bit about that. 
How should we teach in the 

994
00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:58,280
modern world? 
Should we always quote the 

995
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:00,120
suitors? 
Is that necessary? 

996
00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:02,280
Can we sometimes talk about 
different things? 

997
00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:05,560
What should the relationship be 
between the suitors and how we 

998
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:08,760
teach now? 
One of the things to remember, 

999
00:53:08,760 --> 00:53:11,880
one of the things that I always 
found interesting here, if you 

1000
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,760
look at some of the greatest 
Buddhist masters in the world, 

1001
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:18,480
especially in places like 
Thailand, I think about people 

1002
00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:23,040
like Ajanshah. 
Yeah, OK, no, no picture of him 

1003
00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:25,080
here. 
Ajam Shah, who was of course, 

1004
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:29,200
Ajam Brahms teacher, regarded by
many as the greatest meditation 

1005
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:31,600
master in Thailand in the 20th 
century. 

1006
00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:35,360
A very, very powerful person 
from what I never met him, but 

1007
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,120
from what people say and from, 
you know, the feeling you get 

1008
00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:41,240
about him. 
And yet when you listen to the 

1009
00:53:41,240 --> 00:53:43,200
teachings of someone like Ajam 
Shah, he. 

1010
00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:45,240
Never really quotes from the 
suitors. 

1011
00:53:45,560 --> 00:53:47,200
And the reason for that is very 
simple. 

1012
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:48,840
He didn't know any suitors. 
Yeah. 

1013
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:53,800
So it's kind of straightforward.
So, but still his teachings were

1014
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:57,440
considered very very powerful 
there and many people who 

1015
00:53:57,440 --> 00:54:01,080
practised according to this 
teasing got very powerful 

1016
00:54:01,080 --> 00:54:03,000
result. 
Ajam Brahm of course being one 

1017
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:06,160
of those people there. 
Ajam Brahm today is probably one

1018
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:09,000
of the pre eminent meditators 
anywhere in the world. 

1019
00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:12,040
He is also extraordinary. 
I've known Ajam Brahm for 30 

1020
00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:15,720
years and I never seem to be 
amazed by Ajam Brahm. 

1021
00:54:15,720 --> 00:54:18,760
And some of his qualities. 
Usually you start to get a bit 

1022
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:21,320
kind of you look down upon 
people after I've been with them

1023
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,720
for so long. 
But you know, it's like 

1024
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:27,760
familiarity breeds contempt. 
You know the old saying. 

1025
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:31,840
But for me, over time, my 
respect for Jambram, it's always

1026
00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:33,760
growing. 
And this is kind of weird. 

1027
00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:36,000
I think it's because I am 
getting wiser over time. 

1028
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:39,120
I'm not saying I'm very wise, 
but I used to be even more 

1029
00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:40,920
unwise, believe it or not, than 
I am now. 

1030
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,000
So it's kind of that's the 
that's the issue here. 

1031
00:54:43,720 --> 00:54:47,440
And so sometimes they teach 
things that don't refer to the 

1032
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:51,000
suit as at all, that can 
actually be very powerful if 

1033
00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:54,440
that person understands what 
they are talking about, if that 

1034
00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:57,360
person has been has been given 
good teaching from their 

1035
00:54:57,360 --> 00:54:59,480
teachers. 
And of course, that is the 

1036
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:01,480
point. 
Point is that Ajan Shah, he had 

1037
00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:03,280
good teachers himself like Ajan 
Man. 

1038
00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:07,360
And so sometimes there is a 
lineage that does not really go 

1039
00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:11,720
back to the suitors very much. 
Actually, Ajan Man, he did use 

1040
00:55:11,720 --> 00:55:13,080
the suitors. 
And that is kind of what is 

1041
00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:15,760
interesting here. 
Because as a man, because he 

1042
00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:19,920
didn't really have any teachers 
very, very much in terms of the 

1043
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:22,920
forest tradition and these kind 
of things, he actually went to 

1044
00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:26,360
the city and he asked. 
People in the city, well, what 

1045
00:55:26,360 --> 00:55:28,320
are the teachings? 
What should I practice? 

1046
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:32,080
So in that way, the suit has 
actually crept into the forest 

1047
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:35,960
tradition from the sidelines and
then actually got practiced in 

1048
00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:38,400
the right way after all. 
So they're not. 

1049
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:42,960
Entirely devoid of suitors. 
But at the same time the suitors

1050
00:55:42,960 --> 00:55:44,800
were very often not mentioned at
all there. 

1051
00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:48,240
And so this is what we should be
doing also in the present day 

1052
00:55:48,240 --> 00:55:51,360
here we don't always have to 
mention the suitors, but 

1053
00:55:51,360 --> 00:55:55,280
whatever we do teach should 
always be in line with the 

1054
00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,880
suitors. 
It shouldn't be contrary to how 

1055
00:55:57,880 --> 00:56:00,880
the Buddha taught. 
And sometimes I think it is 

1056
00:56:00,880 --> 00:56:04,760
important that we update our 
language a little bit, that we 

1057
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:08,640
use certain modern ideas to kind
of explain the Dumber from a 

1058
00:56:08,640 --> 00:56:12,080
modern point of view so that 
actually we can deal with modern

1059
00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:14,920
problems. 
How do we deal with the war in 

1060
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:16,880
Ukraine? 
How would we think about that in

1061
00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:20,000
a way that actually is 
beneficial for us, that doesn't 

1062
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:23,440
lead to depression and sadness? 
How do we deal with things like 

1063
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:26,040
climate change in a way that. 
Accords with the Buddhist 

1064
00:56:26,040 --> 00:56:28,240
teachings. 
And I have talked about these 

1065
00:56:28,240 --> 00:56:29,800
things before. 
I think it's very important to 

1066
00:56:29,800 --> 00:56:32,800
deal with that. 
How do we think about modern 

1067
00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:36,480
psychology in terms of in 
connection with the Buddha's 

1068
00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:39,000
teachings? 
Yeah, because because Buddhism 

1069
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:42,200
also is a kind of psychology. 
How does it match with our 

1070
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:45,280
modern outlook here? 
And all of these things can be 

1071
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:48,560
very interesting here if we 
present them in a way that 

1072
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,440
accords with the teachings of 
the Buddha, that does not 

1073
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,600
deviate from kind of the ideas 
that the Buddha himself gave 

1074
00:56:54,600 --> 00:56:59,160
her. 
And so I think we should find 

1075
00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:02,360
this balance in our life. 
Yes, I love to quote the suit as

1076
00:57:02,360 --> 00:57:05,080
and I love the suit as because 
to me they're very powerful and 

1077
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:07,880
beautiful. 
But I also like to bring in 

1078
00:57:07,880 --> 00:57:09,960
contemporary ideas at the same 
time. 

1079
00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:13,880
And so it is this balance in 
Buddhism, sometimes moving to 

1080
00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:17,000
the suit as a, sometimes 
thinking about the contemporary 

1081
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:21,000
issues and then merging these 
things in a beautiful way to 

1082
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:23,920
bring out the Dhamma in a 
contemporary way that is 

1083
00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:27,640
relevant to modern society, that
is relevant to modern people. 

1084
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:31,680
We don't get too stuck in the 
past, but we also don't forget 

1085
00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:35,480
the profound wisdom of the past 
and bring that with us into the 

1086
00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:42,240
future and into the present. 
So there you are. 

1087
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:46,000
I, I didn't know I was going to 
talk so long, but anyway, so 

1088
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:47,200
there, that's kind of what 
happens. 

1089
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:53,040
We start talking just and so few
thoughts for you about what is 

1090
00:57:53,040 --> 00:57:58,560
real Buddhism, how to teach real
Buddhism, and hopefully that 

1091
00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:02,320
will be helpful for you. 
And if it is not helpful, now is

1092
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:06,560
your chance to ask questions and
to complain and to do whatever 

1093
00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:12,960
here, OK? 
So please feel free to ask 

1094
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:18,280
questions if you have any, and 
also to if you want to challenge

1095
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:20,280
anything I've said, you're very 
welcome to do that as well, of 

1096
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:41,880
course. 
Hi there. 

1097
00:58:42,320 --> 00:58:44,840
Thank you for your talk. 
Hi, Yes, I just want to get your

1098
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:49,400
opinion or idea on free will and
whether we had it and where it 

1099
00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:51,320
sits in Buddhism. 
OK. 

1100
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:54,640
Yeah. 
So this is actually a very large

1101
00:58:54,640 --> 00:58:55,360
topic. 
Yeah. 

1102
00:58:55,360 --> 00:58:57,520
And really it deserves a talk on
its own. 

1103
00:58:57,520 --> 00:58:58,760
Right. 
So Are you ready for an hour's 

1104
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:01,760
talk? 
I have talked about this 

1105
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:04,840
actually before online, it's 
available and about free will. 

1106
00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:06,240
And they kind of how it works 
for Buddhism. 

1107
00:59:06,240 --> 00:59:10,080
And the the Buddhist teaching is
largely about the idea that we 

1108
00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:12,120
are conditioned through our 
past. 

1109
00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:14,560
Yeah. 
And that conditioning will tend 

1110
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:17,600
to form who we are as human 
beings and including what we 

1111
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:18,440
choose. 
Yeah. 

1112
00:59:18,440 --> 00:59:20,240
We cannot really choose our 
choices. 

1113
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:24,280
Our choices are largely 
determined by past conditioning 

1114
00:59:24,280 --> 00:59:27,520
here. 
But then of course, when we talk

1115
00:59:27,520 --> 00:59:30,280
about determination in that that
way, it does not mean the 

1116
00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:34,840
classical determinism of Western
philosophy whereby the future is

1117
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:37,960
completely predetermined. 
The future must go this way. 

1118
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:41,360
Our choices matter in what 
happens for the future. 

1119
00:59:41,560 --> 00:59:43,880
And that is a difference between
the Buddhist idea of 

1120
00:59:43,880 --> 00:59:46,920
determinism, if there is such a 
thing, compared to the kind of 

1121
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:50,440
classical Western ideas of 
determinism which says the 

1122
00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:52,920
regardless of what you do, what 
you do is irrelevant. 

1123
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:56,120
The future is set already. 
What you do is not irrelevant at

1124
00:59:56,120 --> 00:59:58,240
all. 
It matters enormously in how the

1125
00:59:58,240 --> 01:00:03,320
future unfolds. 
And so our choices are largely 

1126
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:06,640
very, very strongly conditioned.
And it's not hard to see that. 

1127
01:00:06,640 --> 01:00:10,360
I mean, I look back in my life 
30 years ago and I started, it 

1128
01:00:10,360 --> 01:00:12,040
failed at the time that I had 
free will. 

1129
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:14,400
But when I look back, I realize 
actually I was very trapped in 

1130
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:16,120
my mindset and all of those kind
of things. 

1131
01:00:17,600 --> 01:00:22,240
But you also in the present, you
also bring in the knowledge that

1132
01:00:22,240 --> 01:00:25,040
you have now, right in this 
moment, right now. 

1133
01:00:25,040 --> 01:00:26,840
Yes, all the conditioning from 
the past. 

1134
01:00:26,840 --> 01:00:31,040
But wait a minute, I also have 
Buddhism coming into my life of 

1135
01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:33,880
the last few decades. 
I've just been reading this suit

1136
01:00:33,880 --> 01:00:36,480
as these are now conditioning my
mind right now. 

1137
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:40,160
So let me stop for a second and 
ask what should be my choice 

1138
01:00:40,160 --> 01:00:42,800
right now? 
And so you, this is how you 

1139
01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:46,680
break that past conditioning, by
stopping and allowing the 

1140
01:00:46,680 --> 01:00:48,320
present conditioning to come in 
there. 

1141
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:50,960
Does that mean that there is 
free will? 

1142
01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:53,280
Well, that is another question. 
Maybe that doesn't mean that, 

1143
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:56,880
but it actually allows you still
to come out of your old 

1144
01:00:56,880 --> 01:00:59,040
conditioning and not be trapped 
by it. 

1145
01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:02,480
So whether there is a real free 
will or not is kind of moot 

1146
01:01:02,480 --> 01:01:04,000
point. 
In Buddhism, it's very hard to 

1147
01:01:04,000 --> 01:01:06,360
really kind of come down one 
side or the other on that 

1148
01:01:06,360 --> 01:01:09,360
particular point. 
But there was another way of 

1149
01:01:09,360 --> 01:01:11,320
thinking about freedom of will 
in Buddhism. 

1150
01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:13,880
And this, to me is by far more 
interesting here. 

1151
01:01:14,600 --> 01:01:18,200
And this is the idea that our 
choices are limited in the 

1152
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:19,200
present. 
Yeah. 

1153
01:01:19,640 --> 01:01:21,160
So let's say that you have free 
will. 

1154
01:01:21,160 --> 01:01:22,560
So what can you choose between? 
What? 

1155
01:01:22,560 --> 01:01:24,560
You can only choose between 
those things that you know 

1156
01:01:24,560 --> 01:01:26,400
about. 
And what you know about is 

1157
01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:29,120
incredibly limited. 
You are limited by your 

1158
01:01:29,120 --> 01:01:31,400
definements. 
You're limited by your delusion.

1159
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:34,240
You're limited by points of view
and your perceptions of the 

1160
01:01:34,240 --> 01:01:36,480
world, which are all formed in a
certain way. 

1161
01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:39,640
So you can choose at lunch today
between, I don't know, an apple 

1162
01:01:39,640 --> 01:01:42,600
and a pear. 
Big deal, right? 

1163
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:46,800
You cannot choose things that 
you don't know about. 

1164
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:50,880
If I say to you choose to enter 
into deep state of meditation, 

1165
01:01:51,000 --> 01:01:54,960
you haven't got that choice. 
For people who are not Buddhist,

1166
01:01:55,240 --> 01:01:58,240
for people who have no idea 
about spiritual teachings, that 

1167
01:01:58,240 --> 01:02:00,600
choice is completely out of 
their mind because I have no 

1168
01:02:00,600 --> 01:02:02,200
idea that these things even 
exist. 

1169
01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:06,240
If you are a Buddhist, you can 
start to lean in that direction,

1170
01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:08,560
and then gradually you can 
develop your mind. 

1171
01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:10,800
You can get rid of the delusion,
You can get rid of those 

1172
01:02:10,800 --> 01:02:13,840
deformers that block you from 
getting access to those things. 

1173
01:02:13,840 --> 01:02:16,920
And eventually you may be able 
to choose those things. 

1174
01:02:17,640 --> 01:02:20,680
And when you're able to choose 
deep meditation, you realize 

1175
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:22,600
this is what I should be doing 
all the longer. 

1176
01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:24,520
But you didn't have access to 
them. 

1177
01:02:24,520 --> 01:02:28,080
There's no way you could make 
that choice because basically 

1178
01:02:28,080 --> 01:02:31,360
your mind wasn't ready for it. 
And that is the biggest problem 

1179
01:02:31,360 --> 01:02:33,480
in the world. 
Freedom of choice is limited 

1180
01:02:33,720 --> 01:02:36,680
because of our delusion, because
of our definement, because of 

1181
01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:39,640
our lack of understanding. 
We don't even know that these 

1182
01:02:39,640 --> 01:02:41,520
insights and meditations are 
possible. 

1183
01:02:41,520 --> 01:02:43,000
So how can we possibly choose 
them? 

1184
01:02:43,480 --> 01:02:47,000
That is the real issue, huh? 
So ordinary freedom of will, 

1185
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:50,600
whether you can, you know, 
drink, you know, water, warm 

1186
01:02:50,600 --> 01:02:54,640
water or cold water or have a 
pear or an apple, who cares 

1187
01:02:54,640 --> 01:02:55,920
about that kind of freedom of 
will? 

1188
01:02:55,920 --> 01:03:00,720
Now, what we really need to do 
is take away the limitations on 

1189
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:04,040
our minds, the kind of the 
barriers to seeing the world in 

1190
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:06,720
the right way. 
Then we can make choices we 

1191
01:03:06,720 --> 01:03:09,320
never could do before. 
That is the real issue of 

1192
01:03:09,320 --> 01:03:11,880
freedom of the welfare, and that
is the issue we should focus on 

1193
01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:12,880
now. 
Yeah. 

1194
01:03:14,600 --> 01:03:19,240
OK, Very good. 
Yeah, John, thanks for the 

1195
01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:22,600
inspiring talk, the online 
question. 

1196
01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:27,360
He's listening to Dharma talk 
throughout our daily activity 

1197
01:03:27,360 --> 01:03:30,680
bed. 
When will listening become a 

1198
01:03:30,680 --> 01:03:35,000
hindrance in regards to during 
an activity? 

1199
01:03:35,040 --> 01:03:38,640
OK, that's a very good question.
I, my, my good friend went to 

1200
01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:40,760
Sedato. 
He had a, he writes on this 

1201
01:03:40,760 --> 01:03:43,400
blog, it's kind of a suitor 
central blog where they talk 

1202
01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:44,440
about suitors and things like 
that. 

1203
01:03:44,440 --> 01:03:47,840
And he had this article that he 
wrote and his article, the title

1204
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:51,360
of his article was You are 
listening to too many Dharma 

1205
01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:56,600
talks. 
And I thought, wow. 

1206
01:03:56,680 --> 01:03:59,720
That actually is very insightful
because there's a tendency for 

1207
01:03:59,720 --> 01:04:03,720
people to listen to Dumber talk 
as if it is kind of lift music. 

1208
01:04:03,720 --> 01:04:05,520
You're elevating elevator music,
right? 

1209
01:04:05,520 --> 01:04:07,640
It's kind of in the background, 
always kind of humming in the 

1210
01:04:07,640 --> 01:04:10,840
background. 
But that is not really how we 

1211
01:04:10,840 --> 01:04:13,440
should listen to the Dumber. 
We should listen to the Dumber, 

1212
01:04:13,440 --> 01:04:17,200
giving it full attention, trying
to understand what is going on, 

1213
01:04:17,200 --> 01:04:21,200
trying to bring it into our 
heart in such a way that it 

1214
01:04:21,200 --> 01:04:22,960
actually has meaning in our 
life. 

1215
01:04:22,960 --> 01:04:25,040
Yeah, that is really how we 
should deal with the Dumber. 

1216
01:04:25,400 --> 01:04:28,760
And if it is always in the 
background, very often you don't

1217
01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:31,320
doesn't really have any benefit.
Yeah, it doesn't really. 

1218
01:04:31,320 --> 01:04:36,320
Don't really take it on board. 
And it kind of it's, it's, it's 

1219
01:04:36,320 --> 01:04:38,400
not ideal. 
And after a while you don't 

1220
01:04:38,480 --> 01:04:41,080
never listen to the Dhamma 
properly anymore because it's so

1221
01:04:41,080 --> 01:04:43,120
used to kind of having it 
happening in the background. 

1222
01:04:43,320 --> 01:04:46,720
You're so used to listening in 
that way that you are incapable 

1223
01:04:46,720 --> 01:04:48,800
of really attending properly to 
the Dhamma talk. 

1224
01:04:48,800 --> 01:04:50,840
Yeah. 
So I would say much more 

1225
01:04:50,840 --> 01:04:54,360
important to listen to Dhamma 
talk once in a while, especially

1226
01:04:54,360 --> 01:04:55,560
when you need it. 
Yeah. 

1227
01:04:55,960 --> 01:04:59,040
Read the sutas maybe before you 
go to bed in the evening. 

1228
01:04:59,040 --> 01:05:01,680
So you can have you can dream 
about sutas at night. 

1229
01:05:02,960 --> 01:05:05,120
That is a sign of a real 
Buddhist, the one who dreams 

1230
01:05:05,120 --> 01:05:06,680
about suitors at night. 
Yeah. 

1231
01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:11,760
Avin Zapachaya Sankara kind of 
can't imagine that one. 

1232
01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:15,560
That would be really cool. 
So listen to the suitors 

1233
01:05:15,560 --> 01:05:17,840
properly, try to understand what
is going on. 

1234
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:21,000
Reflect on those suitors. 
The person is there like camera.

1235
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:21,840
Is that right? 
That's way. 

1236
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:22,600
OK. 
Hi. 

1237
01:05:22,600 --> 01:05:26,120
OK. 
So, so, and then you are really 

1238
01:05:26,120 --> 01:05:29,120
doing it in the right way. 
The Buddha talks about this in 

1239
01:05:29,120 --> 01:05:30,640
the suit as many different 
places. 

1240
01:05:31,200 --> 01:05:33,720
Listen with an open heart, not 
an open heart. 

1241
01:05:33,720 --> 01:05:37,840
Listen with that lending an ear.
Try your very best to 

1242
01:05:37,840 --> 01:05:41,760
understand, reflect on it 
afterwards and allow your view 

1243
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:44,520
of the world and your view of 
yourself to be affected by this.

1244
01:05:44,840 --> 01:05:46,560
So actually you change in the 
proper way. 

1245
01:05:46,760 --> 01:05:48,840
That is the right way to listen 
to the Dumber. 

1246
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:53,000
So yes, indeed, you can listen 
to too many Dumber talks and 

1247
01:05:53,000 --> 01:05:54,760
yes, so it's a very good 
question. 

1248
01:05:54,760 --> 01:05:57,760
So thank you for bringing it up.
And I think it is very, it's a 

1249
01:05:57,760 --> 01:06:00,200
very appropriate thing to 
actually ask about. 

1250
01:06:00,200 --> 01:06:05,680
So yes. 
Actually, is there anything to 

1251
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:09,280
watch out for if one tells the 
fake Dharma? 

1252
01:06:09,880 --> 01:06:13,400
Or is that Musa Vada? 
It's it's not Musa. 

1253
01:06:13,400 --> 01:06:15,600
It's only Musa vada. 
If you know that it is fake. 

1254
01:06:15,600 --> 01:06:17,680
Yeah. 
And if you know it is fake and 

1255
01:06:17,680 --> 01:06:20,600
you kind of present it as real, 
that is actually very bad. 

1256
01:06:20,600 --> 01:06:22,440
It's one of the worst kind of 
Musa vada. 

1257
01:06:23,000 --> 01:06:25,760
Yeah. 
Because, you know, OK, you don't

1258
01:06:25,760 --> 01:06:27,360
need the Buddha said you don't 
need to be moral. 

1259
01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:28,640
Yeah, just kind of do whatever 
you want. 

1260
01:06:28,640 --> 01:06:31,360
If you say that kind of thing, 
yeah, it is really, really bad 

1261
01:06:31,360 --> 01:06:33,960
news because you're using the 
name of the Buddha to present 

1262
01:06:33,960 --> 01:06:36,600
wrong teachings. 
So. 

1263
01:06:36,600 --> 01:06:40,120
But it's also important to do 
1's best to investigate. 

1264
01:06:40,200 --> 01:06:43,240
If you have a doubt about 
something, don't just say it 

1265
01:06:43,240 --> 01:06:47,000
because someone else has said it
and trust your own judgement. 

1266
01:06:47,480 --> 01:06:49,760
A lot of people in the world 
that come across as very 

1267
01:06:49,760 --> 01:06:51,320
confident. 
They have no reason to be 

1268
01:06:51,320 --> 01:06:53,960
confident at all, but they come 
across as very confident. 

1269
01:06:54,480 --> 01:06:58,240
And so investigate and make sure
that you do your best to find 

1270
01:06:58,240 --> 01:07:00,280
out whether something really is 
the word of the Buddha or not. 

1271
01:07:00,280 --> 01:07:01,640
Then you are doing the right 
thing. 

1272
01:07:01,640 --> 01:07:02,840
Yeah. 
Really doing the right thing. 

1273
01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:09,960
Yeah. 
And yes, it is time to go. 

1274
01:07:09,960 --> 01:07:11,360
All right, Yeah. 
OK. 

1275
01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:13,080
It's time to. 
We are told by the masters so 

1276
01:07:13,080 --> 01:07:16,640
that it's time to go. 
So wonderful to see you all 

1277
01:07:16,640 --> 01:07:18,560
again. 
And it's nice to see some old 

1278
01:07:18,560 --> 01:07:20,480
faces. 
I see Ken at the back there. 

1279
01:07:20,720 --> 01:07:23,880
Where is your good, Good Wife? 
Is she she in Malaysia? 

1280
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:25,120
All right, OK. 
She's missing out. 

1281
01:07:25,120 --> 01:07:27,320
OK. 
And I saw Brendan at the back 

1282
01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:28,680
there as well. 
Nice to see Brendan there. 

1283
01:07:28,680 --> 01:07:30,600
It's cool. 
So, yeah. 

1284
01:07:30,600 --> 01:07:33,640
So wonderful to see you all and 
so many familiar faces. 

1285
01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:36,240
And I will be leaving again this
afternoon. 

1286
01:07:36,440 --> 01:07:41,120
And maybe if, if there kind of 
if life holds up and there are 

1287
01:07:41,120 --> 01:07:43,720
no more COVID pandemics, maybe 
we'll see you again sometime in 

1288
01:07:43,720 --> 01:07:44,960
the future. 
We'll see what happens there. 

1289
01:07:45,440 --> 01:07:49,920
So. 
So shall we just pay respect to 

1290
01:07:49,920 --> 01:07:52,240
the Boradam Sanger? 
Let's do the Arrohang samba 

1291
01:07:52,240 --> 01:07:53,480
sambudo together. 
Yeah, yeah.