1 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,600 OK, so we can, I think we can start this evening's talk. 2 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,880 I, I, I tend to talk about perception this evening, which 3 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:28,600 perhaps has never been talked about here before. 4 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,080 I think I'm not sure, at least not maybe in detail. 5 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:39,640 And the, the thing which sort of started me off to think about 6 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,800 talking, my perception is actually always comes from the 7 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,160 suit. There's always a discourse of 8 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,680 the Buddha that is most of my inspiration in my monastic life. 9 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:52,040 And this particular suit, I caught my eye a few months ago, 10 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,520 a few years ago. And in this suit, the the Buddha 11 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,640 or Vener Bhosari Puta, there's a couple of different discourses. 12 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,200 The suitors are the discourses of the Buddha. 13 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:09,040 In this discourse, Vener Bhosari Puta or the Buddha says that it 14 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,840 is to actually the question to the Buddha. 15 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:17,040 The question is who becomes enlightened in this world and 16 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,880 who does not become enlightened? Or if you like, who awakens in 17 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,160 this world and who does not awaken? 18 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,960 And venerable sorry Puta replies that the person who awakens is 19 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:31,920 somebody who is able to understand. 20 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,240 These perceptions lead to decline. 21 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:38,200 These perceptions leads to standing still. 22 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,480 This perception leads to lead to increase or to distinction or to 23 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,160 higher states of mind. And lastly, these perceptions 24 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,200 lead to like knowledge or deep understanding. 25 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,960 Penetration, I think is the word used in this particular Suta, in 26 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,440 other words, penetrate to proper understanding of the Dhamma, of 27 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,520 the teaching of the Buddha. And reversely, conversely, is 28 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,120 that the person who doesn't understand that these particular 29 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,480 perception lead to decline, standing still, to increase and 30 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,160 to penetration will not attain nibhama, will not actually 31 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,000 become awakened. And that's all it says, the 32 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,680 whole suit to her it all. It says that this is all it 33 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,760 takes to actually reach awakening in Buddhism. 34 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,640 And of course, it's not just about awakening. 35 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:32,600 This is also about practicing the path and actually improving 36 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:36,040 in good qualities on the path. If you want to actually practice 37 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,840 the path properly and you want to move towards this awakening, 38 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:42,320 it's exactly the same principle that applies. 39 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,520 Again, you have to again understand the perceptions that 40 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,720 actually move you in the right direction. 41 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,440 If you don't understand these things, there can be no progress 42 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,400 on the path. And I thought when I first read 43 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,320 this, I thought this was very interesting because this is not 44 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,960 usually how the Buddha explains the path to awakening. 45 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,120 Usually the path to awakening is either the eightfold path, it 46 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,160 might be the five spiritual faculties, it might be the 47 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,880 gradual training. There's all these different ways 48 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,600 of explaining the path to Buddhism, but never ever apart 49 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:17,800 from this suit, apart from a few occasions. 50 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,880 So the Buddha say what all it really takes is to perceive, to 51 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:24,880 look upon things, look upon the world and yourself in the right 52 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:26,840 way, and that is actually enough. 53 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,960 It's sufficient to take you all the way to awakening and also to 54 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,800 keep you progressing here on the spiritual path. 55 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,040 It's a very powerful and important saying, I think. 56 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,080 Yeah. And what it means, it doesn't 57 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,520 mean so much that we can sort of set aside the Noble Eightfold 58 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,720 path and set aside all, all these other things and just 59 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,560 focus on our perceptions. That's not that's not really 60 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,520 what it means. What it means is that perception 61 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:56,960 and the Noble eightfold path, they work together here. 62 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,520 And if you train your perceptions in the right way, if 63 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,240 you understand how to look at the world in the right way, 64 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,720 you're actually, by doing that, you're supporting your practice 65 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,880 of the no plateful path. In fact, I think you can go so 66 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,840 far as to say that if you do use your perceptions wisely, you are 67 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,880 actually practicing the no blightful path by perceiving in 68 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,000 the right way, by thinking about the world in the right way, by 69 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,160 looking at things in the right way. 70 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,640 This is actually leads you and points you in the right 71 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:29,920 direction. Very interesting. 72 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,360 I never actually when I read this, I thought this was very 73 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,720 profound and very fascinating and I didn't really understand 74 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,760 maybe previously how important it is to cultivate perceptions. 75 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,480 And of course, you find that once you start reading The 76 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,160 Suitors, the Buddha very often talks about this idea of 77 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:52,360 cultivating perceptions, because implied in this, implied in the 78 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:57,400 idea that you should know which perceptions lead to decline, to 79 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,800 increase, and to eventual find knowledge of the Dharma. 80 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,280 Implied in that is that perceptions are changeable. 81 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,560 We can choose our perceptions. We can actually decide how we 82 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,600 want to look at things. These things are not fixed. 83 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:13,760 These things are not something which, you know, is set in 84 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,320 concrete. We can choose ourselves how to 85 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,920 perceive the world. And of course, this is a very 86 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,640 fundamental and important part of the Buddhist teachings, that 87 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:27,680 things aren't permanent, that they are not set in set in a 88 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,400 certain way, but that they are changeable. 89 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:35,320 And our choice is paramount to actually how we see the world 90 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,880 and how we look upon the world. So this is sort of one of the 91 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:42,080 foundation principles of Buddhism. 92 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,520 And because of that, we can actually, that's why we can 93 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,040 develop perception, we can change. 94 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:51,280 And you may think as a Buddhist, you may think this is pretty 95 00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:53,200 obvious. That is quite clear that we can 96 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,920 change our perceptions. But for most people in the 97 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:57,600 world, this is not obvious at all. 98 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,600 And the reason it's not one way of looking at this, of 99 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,680 understanding this, is to think of people sometimes you get very 100 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,960 depressed, even to the point where they commit suicide. 101 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,480 And now why is it that somebody commits suicide because they're 102 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,280 depressed or because they are sad, because they're grieving 103 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,160 for something? And the reason is because they 104 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,880 think that that particular perception that they have, they 105 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,760 cannot see it changing. They think they're struck with 106 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:24,240 that. They see no way out. 107 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,160 And because they don't see a way out, that's why they think that 108 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,680 they can annihilate this, destroy this perception by 109 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,160 actually taking their own life. So the general feeling that we 110 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,880 have in life is very often that we are stuck with the 111 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,000 perceptions that we have, that we are set in a certain way and 112 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:42,960 that we can't get away from that. 113 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,040 That is very the exact opposite of what the Buddha said. 114 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,160 We're not struck with perception. 115 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,520 Perception is something we can develop and that we can change. 116 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,480 And this is like one of the cornerstones of the teaching of 117 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,840 Buddhism. So before I discuss in greater 118 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:04,160 detail the actual how we go about changing our perceptions, 119 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,880 some ideas of how to develop these things, I want first of 120 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,640 all to define what perception actually means. 121 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,280 And this is very important, obviously know what we're 122 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:17,640 talking about, first of all. And perception is one of the 123 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,320 factors of what we call in Buddhas, the five aggregates. 124 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:26,440 So the five khandas in the Pali language, the five kundas is 125 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,680 like, I, I don't really like the word aggregate because the word 126 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:32,680 aggregate to me is a rather strange word. 127 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,960 But kunda means like a group. It's a grouping of something. 128 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,400 It's these are like five groups of phenomena put together. 129 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,960 And these five groups put together on how we tend to 130 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,720 divide a human being, how to understand a human being. 131 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,960 Here. Now, when in Buddhism we talk 132 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:52,880 about understanding a human being, we don't mean a kind of 133 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,720 analytical process whereby we divide a human being, a third 134 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,120 person, into kind of five separate groups. 135 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,480 This is not an analysis like a medical analysis or a scientific 136 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,240 analysis. This is an experiential 137 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,000 analysis. So how do we perceive ourselves? 138 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,360 And we perceive ourselves according to Buddhism, into 139 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,600 these five categories, these five khandas. 140 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:21,800 And the main reason why the Buddha talks about these five 141 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:26,120 khandas is because this is where we have to investigate. 142 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:31,120 This is where we have to look to be able to grasp, understand 143 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,200 ourselves and also understand the reality that we are immersed 144 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,640 in. So this is kind of the ground of 145 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,919 investigation the the things that we understand and when we 146 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:45,760 understand those, that is when we gain insight into the nature 147 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,960 of reality here. So the five kundas, these five 148 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:55,600 groupings are basically these are a complete totality of the 149 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,440 things of how we experience the world, in particular how we 150 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,480 experience ourselves as persons. That is what the five kundas are 151 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,640 here. So these five condas, the first 152 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:12,360 one is usually known as form. And form of course includes the 153 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,760 physical body. The physical body is like a 154 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,240 form. And of course we all know that 155 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,720 we tend to take the physical body as belonging to us. 156 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,840 This is part of us. And because of that, this is a 157 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,080 thing. The main, the kind of the most 158 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,360 basic thing here that we need to investigate is actually the 159 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,440 physical body here, because this is the simplest thing of these 160 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,600 five condas, the most basic one form also includes like external 161 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,280 things such as, you know, things that we see through the eyes. 162 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,240 We see forms, things that we hear that we get through the 163 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:45,960 senses. Any any which way. 164 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,400 All of this is part of the form group. 165 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,240 And this is like the first of these five kandas. 166 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,520 The second one is known as a feeling. 167 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:58,400 Sometimes not feeling is not a very good word for the second 168 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,880 kanda, because really what it means is how we experience the 169 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:06,280 world in terms of whether it's pleasant, whether it's painful 170 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,680 there or whether it's neither pleasant nor painful. 171 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:11,080 In other words, neutral there. It's not really feeling. 172 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,600 It's more like a kind of basic sensation of the world, how we 173 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:16,040 actually experience the world there. 174 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,960 This is the second one. Veda now is called in Pali 175 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:23,320 language. The third one is perception 176 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:24,920 there. I will leave that for now. 177 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,440 The 4th 1 is known as Sankara in Pali. 178 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,000 Sankara literally means like putting together, it means 179 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,600 creating, it means making something here. 180 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,800 And the maker in Buddhism is always the will, the volition, 181 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,440 the doer inside of us, the one that drives us around from here 182 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,160 to there. This is the creator in Buddhism 183 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:48,640 and this is what creates like future lives from a Buddhist 184 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,680 point of view. This is what creates a reality 185 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:54,880 pretty much at any particular time, is this doer inside of us 186 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,280 that pushes, pushes us around and makes us run around doing 187 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:01,960 this and that in life. And the last of these five 188 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,480 aggregates is consciousness itself. 189 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:10,720 And my consciousness here just means awareness, the ability to 190 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,320 know, to be aware that things are happening around us. 191 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:19,240 That basic ability to know, that is the consciousness, the fifth 192 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,560 of these groupings. So here you are. 193 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:26,920 This is supposed to constitute everything, our entirety of 194 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:29,240 experience. And you will have noticed I 195 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,440 talked about 3 different aspect. I've talked about first of all 196 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:36,080 physical things, which is like the rupa, the form, and then 197 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,360 three different aspects of mind, feeling, sensation. 198 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:44,520 First one, the will and then consciousness and everything 199 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,440 that remains. Everything apart from that is 200 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,080 perception. That's how we can know the 201 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,320 world, how we can differentiate the world. 202 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,240 This is what perception is about South to give you some ideas 203 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,680 what perception is then it is as I said that the remainder what 204 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:07,040 remains in the mind. So for example, if you your 205 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:10,720 ability to distinguish colours, for example to distinguish red 206 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:15,320 from blue-green from yellow, your ability to see any kind of 207 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:19,840 perception that comes through your eyes is a son here. 208 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,760 It is perception. You can distinguish, you can 209 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,720 understand the world in terms of these perceptions. 210 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,400 Same thing with the ear. When you hear something, your 211 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:32,080 ability to distinguish, to understand what is going on, 212 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:34,160 what is happening in your life is perception. 213 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,400 You can hear 1 sound from another one. 214 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:38,560 You can understand the distinction between these 215 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:41,360 things. Again, this is perception and 216 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,120 the same thing with the other senses with a sense of smell, 217 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:46,520 the sense of taste, the sense of touch. 218 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,960 Your ability to distinguish and understand what is happening is 219 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,200 this aspect of perception that discriminates and distinguishes 220 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,960 thing here. There's some interesting medical 221 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,840 procedures that have been done quite recently. 222 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,720 And I, I can't remember, I read about this a few years ago. 223 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:11,200 And this was somebody who was born blind and they had some 224 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,480 kind of defect, very, kind of very basic defect with the site. 225 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,200 And when they reached mature age, they were 20, maybe 30 226 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,640 years old, they went to the doctor and the doctor told them 227 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,280 that actually we have found a way of curing, curing the 228 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,720 problem that you were born with. We can actually restore your 229 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,640 site. And what happened is that they 230 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,920 restored this person's sight, and once they started to see, 231 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:37,480 they couldn't really see anything. 232 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,320 All they saw was this blur of colors, this blur of shapes, 233 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,080 this blur of light and darkness, and they couldn't really 234 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:45,800 distinguish anything in the world. 235 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:48,840 And the reason for that was because their ability to 236 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:53,440 perceive had not been developed through those 1st 20 or 30 years 237 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:55,360 of life. They basically were. 238 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,720 They could see, but they were still blind in a certain way 239 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:00,760 because they couldn't actually distinguish things. 240 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:03,800 And that is the difference between like the mature 241 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:07,480 perception that we have, ordinary people have the ability 242 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,800 to distinguish and somebody who hasn't actually developed that 243 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,680 function very much at all. So that is, this is how we 244 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:17,800 perceive. This is the very basic sense 245 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,240 perception, how we can actually distinguish things that come 246 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,320 through our senses. But perception is also about 247 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,360 concepts. All the concepts that we have in 248 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:29,240 our minds are essentially perceptions. 249 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:34,320 And for example, how do we relate to ourselves? 250 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:36,080 How who do you take yourself to be? 251 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,480 What kind of person are you? And of course, very often we, we 252 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,160 think of ourselves as maybe male or female. 253 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:45,400 We think ourselves as having a certain education. 254 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,280 We think ourselves maybe as a cultural person. 255 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:51,240 We think ourselves as a spiritual person. 256 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,600 We think ourselves as wealthy or perhaps average or poor even. 257 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,120 And all of these things define us. 258 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,440 And these things are just perceptions. 259 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,480 These are creations of the mind. Perhaps more importantly, we 260 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,880 think ourselves as in terms of psychology, as a caring person, 261 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,920 as a kind person, perhaps as an irritable person, as a peaceful 262 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,000 person, and all of these things are perceptions in our minds. 263 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,400 And one of the things that you will notice when you think about 264 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,560 this is that these perceptions are changeable. 265 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,480 The person that we are changes all the time. 266 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,560 It is not something that stands still, not something which is 267 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,280 stuck here. It changes. 268 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,360 The person you feel that you are today is probably quite 269 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,600 different from the person that you felt you were 10 years ago, 270 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,240 20 years ago, or even yesterday here. 271 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:46,960 And because that person you are is changeable, it doesn't have 272 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,320 to be random change. This change can be guided, and 273 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:52,800 this is what Buddhism is all about. 274 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:57,000 It's about guiding the change, guiding the change of perception 275 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,920 of who you are. So it actually creates greater 276 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,280 sense of peace, happiness, compassion and goodness in your 277 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,200 life. And this is really the whole of 278 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,160 the path. It's this guiding of the change, 279 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,080 and this is the guiding of the change of the perception of who 280 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,400 you are. And then of course, there is the 281 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,480 perceptions of who we are in relation to other people there, 282 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,360 who you know who, who are our friends, For example, who do you 283 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,280 consider your friends? Who do you consider your 284 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,880 enemies? Now, this is just a perception. 285 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,280 There's no real reality to that because friends come and friends 286 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,680 go, enemies come, enemies go, neutral people come and go. 287 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,080 There's no solidity behind those things. 288 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:39,120 And again, you can see how these things, because they are 289 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,960 changing here, always evolving here, they're also something 290 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,560 that we can actually develop deliberately here. 291 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:48,960 And very interestingly, one place, the Buddha said that 292 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:53,400 perception is like a mirage. It's a mirage because it doesn't 293 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,520 have any solidity here. It is always changing, It is 294 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,680 always mutating into something else because it has this 295 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,280 ability, this sense of being a mirage, something which changes 296 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,000 before. And there's nothing there behind 297 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:09,400 the change, behind the surface appearance. 298 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,880 And that's why, again, we can use it to develop our minds, to 299 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,960 develop perceptions, because of that lack of solidness in these 300 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,680 things. And once you start to look at 301 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,400 your mind in this way in terms of perception, you realize that 302 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:27,079 there's so much of what we have in our minds actually is just 303 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:30,520 these types of perceptions. What about your memories? 304 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,320 What are your memories apart from just being perceptions of 305 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,840 the past? It's a certain way of looking at 306 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,200 the past. Now that way of looking at the 307 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,080 past again is not solid. It changes all the time. 308 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,480 We think of things in a different way, at another, at a 309 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,400 later stage. Again, it is just perception. 310 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,880 Or you think about the future. The future again is just a 311 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,480 particular way of looking. The way you look at the 312 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,840 perception of the future is just a particular way of looking at 313 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,080 the future. There's no solidity there. 314 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,680 There isn't any real future in the mind. 315 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:08,320 It's just how we relate to this idea of the future, and the same 316 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,360 is also true of the present, even the present right here and 317 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:13,280 now. Whatever you perceive here and 318 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:17,000 now is basically a choice. It is something that we can 319 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:18,880 change. It's something we can develop. 320 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,880 You may feel that sitting in this room right here and now is 321 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:26,120 a very solid and very clear experience, but it can be 322 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:27,840 experienced very differently here. 323 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,160 Part of that experience that you have when you're sitting in this 324 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:32,960 room right here is a sense of me. 325 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:35,320 I am here. I'm sitting in this group of 326 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,920 people, and that sense of me has a certain solidity to it. 327 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,400 But of course, that sense of me that you have right here and now 328 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,040 is itself just another illusion. From a Buddhist point of view, 329 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:51,880 it is possible to perceive this room in terms of just you are 330 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,720 here, but without having the sense of me as compared to 331 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,400 everybody else in this room. And this is the idea of non self 332 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:03,360 whereby you no longer have that sense of solid identity that you 333 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,600 otherwise would have. So even this present moment can 334 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,840 be seen very differently here from the way it actually is 335 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:14,560 right here and right now. So because of this, this is what 336 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,800 perception is. And you can see here that this 337 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,520 perception is basically our entire worldview is built up of 338 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:23,400 perceptions, how we look at things. 339 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:28,280 And because of that, it becomes very useful, a very useful 340 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,560 ground for spiritual development. 341 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,720 Now, some of these perceptions are much more important from a 342 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:38,720 Buddhist point of view here. And one such perception is the 343 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,360 perception of impermanence. This is a very important one. 344 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:45,000 Now we're moving into the area of Buddhist perceptions. 345 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:51,160 Now, the perception of impermanence is always with us 346 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,320 to some extent. We can see how the world is 347 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:55,760 always changing. We can see how we are changing. 348 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,440 But sometimes we need to remind ourselves of this perception of 349 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,400 impermanence. We need to actually reflect on 350 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:02,760 it. We need to contemplate it. 351 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,720 And only when we contemplate this kind of perception does it 352 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:11,320 actually lead to spiritual growth for ourselves. 353 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,360 This is actually very important, and it is very important because 354 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:19,200 despite the obvious fact that things are impermanent, we tend 355 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,080 not to see this, we tend to forget it. 356 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:23,720 So how do we contemplate impermanence? 357 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,320 This is a very foundational contemplation in Buddhist 358 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:29,000 teachings, contemplation of impermanence. 359 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,280 When you read the sutas, you see it in place after place. 360 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,200 So you see, the Buddha says you should contemplate impermanence 361 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,000 because it leads to spiritual growth. 362 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,200 And of course, a very obvious way of talking about 363 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,640 impermanence is to remember that everything that you have in this 364 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,080 world that is dear and pleasing, pleasing to you, things like 365 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:51,480 your personal possessions, for example, are impermanent. 366 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:53,760 One day you're going to have to lose these things. 367 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,480 One day they will go, and sometimes they go when you least 368 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,200 expect it. And certainly when you die, 369 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,120 these things will have to disappear from you here. 370 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:06,640 That is 1 very basic and very, very simple way of reminding 371 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,000 yourself of impermanence, that your possessions, all you have 372 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,840 in this life will change, will become otherwise. 373 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,160 Another way of looking at it is to think about your 374 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,680 relationships, your friends, and even your family. 375 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,480 All of these things again are impermanent. 376 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,480 They will change, they will become otherwise. 377 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,560 Your physical body is eventually going to die, is eventually 378 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:33,160 going to disappear again. It is not something you can hold 379 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:34,800 on to. It is impermanent. 380 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,720 It will change. And this is a foundational 381 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:42,280 perception in Buddhism. It is a very powerful 382 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,400 perception. It means if you understand how 383 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:49,240 it works, it actually means that you start to let go of things in 384 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,720 the world. You let go because you 385 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,760 understand you cannot hold on to these things. 386 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:55,360 These things actually are impermanent. 387 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,480 It's not up to you whether these things are going to stay or not. 388 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:00,880 They will eventually have to disappear. 389 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,680 And the more you understand that, the deeper it sinks in, 390 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,240 sinks into your consciousness, the more you will tend to let go 391 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,360 of things outside of you, including also your own 392 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:16,280 personal, your own body. And of course, people often ask, 393 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,520 well, how do we let go in meditation practice? 394 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:20,480 I want to let go. I want to be able to enter some 395 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:23,920 deep states with samadhi and I want to have peace and bliss and 396 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,760 all these kind of things. And this is how you let go. 397 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,400 You let go by understanding the reality of things. 398 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,600 And the deeper you understand the reality, the more you can 399 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,360 let go of the world outside. But like all things, it's not 400 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:40,880 just a matter of doing things once and trying to sort of hit 401 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,320 the trigger of impermanence and then having let go forever 402 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,200 after. This is a development. 403 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,360 All of these things have to be developed. 404 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,400 And so it is with the perception of impermanence. 405 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,280 You have to develop it. You have to reflect on it again 406 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,520 and again and again until it becomes like a spiritual power 407 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,840 inside of you. Something can turn on, turn on 408 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,120 particularly when you meditate and you will find that when you 409 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,840 hit the right trigger and it actually works, it makes you 410 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:13,240 very, very peaceful That because it helps you to let go. 411 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,320 That's why it is so powerful here. 412 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,520 And even if you can do just that much, if you can help you to let 413 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,400 go of all the physical things in the world, then you're already 414 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:28,600 doing extremely well in your, in your practice as somebody 415 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,920 practicing the spiritual life, because this will be very, very 416 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,800 beneficial for your meditation practice. 417 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,960 Of course, the idea of contemplating impermanence goes 418 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,960 much deeper than that. This is just, this may sound 419 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,840 difficult enough to sort of let go of your body and let go of 420 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:46,440 all the physical things around you. 421 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,680 It may sound hard enough, but of course it goes much, much deeper 422 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:53,320 than that because Buddhism is an extraordinarily profound 423 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,240 teaching and profound spiritual practice. 424 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,240 And it goes to the point where you actually all these mental 425 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,480 content that I was talking about before, the feelings, the 426 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,720 perceptions, the will, and even the consciousness, even these 427 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,840 things are eventually ultimately seen as impermanent, something 428 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,920 that you have to let go of, something you cannot hold onto. 429 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:18,640 But that is a very, very deep practice. 430 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,560 And if you can start off with just the physical things of the 431 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,640 world, you're already doing extremely, extremely well here. 432 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,000 So this is one example of a Buddhist development of 433 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:34,200 perception. And when you read the sutras of 434 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,320 the Buddha, you find out there are so many types of perceptions 435 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,160 that you can develop so many things. 436 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,160 He talks about it again and again and one another classic 437 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,400 example is the breath, for example, breath meditation. 438 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,440 Breath meditation is really just the development of perception. 439 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,560 You are developing the watching of the breath, and as you watch 440 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,240 the breath, the breath starts to change, and that changing of the 441 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,880 breath is actually itself a development of perception. 442 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,560 As you practice the breath meditation, the Buddha talks 443 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,000 about some very profound development of perception, like 444 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,680 the development, the perception of cessation, the ending of 445 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:14,600 things. And of course, here we're 446 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:17,480 talking about things such as understanding the nature of 447 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:21,040 Nirvana, the ending of the ordinary things of the world, 448 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,800 very, very profound things. So these perceptions are things, 449 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,760 the development of reception is something that you take with you 450 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,920 from the very beginning of the path all the way to the very end 451 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,360 to actually the attainment of Nirvana itself. 452 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,800 But the I want to talk about more about the basic 453 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,440 perceptions, the ones that are really important in life, the 454 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,200 ones that are going to make a difference for you in your daily 455 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,080 life, the ones that are going to make a difference in your 456 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:55,920 practice of meditation. And one place to look for this 457 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,440 basic types of perception that we need to develop is to look at 458 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,120 the very beginning here of the Noble 8 full path. 459 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,000 Now the second factor of the Noble 8 full path is right 460 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:12,000 intention and right intention is divided into the intention of 461 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:16,640 renunciation, but more importantly the intention of non 462 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:21,120 harming, which is the same as intention of compassion and the 463 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:25,680 intention of non ill will which is the same as the intention of 464 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:30,640 matter of loving kindness. So this is the second factor of 465 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:35,480 no blade full path, intention of loving kindness and intention of 466 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,320 compassion. How can you have the intention 467 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:43,280 of compassion in your life? And the answer is the only way 468 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,400 that you can have the intention of compassion. 469 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,800 Now, a real intention of compassion has to come from the 470 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,440 heart. The only way you can really have 471 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,960 an intention of compassion is it you must really feel a sense of 472 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,120 compassion inside of you. If you try to meditate and you 473 00:26:58,120 --> 00:27:01,360 say, Oh my, all beings be happy and well, you have to mean it. 474 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:03,960 It has to come from inside of you, from deep inside of you. 475 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,560 You really have to mean this. If you don't mean it, it's not 476 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,920 going to work. So you have to find a skillful 477 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,040 means by which you can mean these things. 478 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,240 It has to really come from the heart. 479 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,760 So how do we do that? And the way we do this is by 480 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:24,760 changing our perception of the world around us, of the people 481 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:27,680 around us, and also of ourselves. 482 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,600 So understanding and developing perception there is extremely is 483 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,120 foundational for being able to do such a thing as meta 484 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:40,240 meditation, to have compassion for the people around you. 485 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,720 Here you can only have that compassion if you first of all 486 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,200 develop perceptions. So how do we do this? 487 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:48,840 How do we develop these perceptions? 488 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:52,040 Now, the, the first thing if you're going to have compassion 489 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:56,880 and meta for the people around you is to overcome anger, 490 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,560 negativity and irritation. And I just want to explain 491 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,960 briefly, there's a few strategies and how to do this, 492 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,920 how to overcome irritation, anger, negativity in life, 493 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:10,200 because this is very, very important. 494 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,720 But again, I want to say that if you're going to do this, you 495 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,600 have to stick at it. You have to try it, develop it 496 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,920 again and again and again over a long period of time. 497 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,200 And only then does it start to bite. 498 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,720 This is the unfortunate thing about spiritual practice. 499 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,680 It's not a magic pill you can just take and it's all done. 500 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:31,920 You have to actually apply yourself and you have to apply 501 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,960 yourself regularly over time, month after month, year after 502 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:38,320 year. And that is when the results 503 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:43,280 really start to come. So take anger, take irritation 504 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,600 with people around us. This is something everybody has 505 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,400 to experience. It's impossible to have a life 506 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:52,880 where we never get irritated by anybody. 507 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,680 This is the nature of being in existence or having a life that 508 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,480 we sometimes get irritated. So what can we do now? 509 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,840 The first strategy that I like to do and remember that this is 510 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,800 a strategy in developing our perceptions, in changing our 511 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:11,280 perception of things. But the first strategy is to 512 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,560 remember that when somebody does something to you which is 513 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,160 unpleasant, they say something or they do something or they 514 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,200 even think something which is not nice, then anger is not 515 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,720 really going to be helpful. Remember that it is not a 516 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,240 personal issue. When something do something bad 517 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,760 towards you, it's never personal. 518 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:37,600 The reason people get angry and upset with other people is 519 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,000 because we tend to take things personally here. 520 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,200 We have a feeling that in a sense that it is this person 521 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,320 against us. They are doing something towards 522 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,960 us and that's why we get upset with the other person. 523 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,880 But remember that the reason why people do whatever they do is 524 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,880 not because they have anything against us as a person. 525 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,600 It's because they are just reacting to causes and 526 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:05,880 conditions in their own life. They are a slave, if you like, 527 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,240 to their own causes and conditions in their own life and 528 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,520 they act in a certain way because of those cause and 529 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,760 condition. Their behavior is never ever 530 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:20,280 personal. If this person had been in a 531 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,360 similar situation with the same cause and conditioning 532 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,800 influencing them, and another person had been there in your 533 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,720 place, they would have reacted in exactly the same way. 534 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,320 It is never ever personal. And when you look at it at that 535 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:41,840 way, when you change the, the perception of what the person 536 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:46,320 does away from being something personal between you and them, 537 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,520 and it's just the person reacting to their own cause and 538 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:54,600 conditions, you realize that anger is absolutely, completely, 539 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,520 not only unnecessary, but it's counterproductive. 540 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,120 It has no place in that kind of situation here. 541 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:04,720 But try to remember this. Try to remember that it's always 542 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,240 impersonal. It's never ever personal, even 543 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,560 though it might feel that way. It's not personal here. 544 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:18,120 The second way of another way of overcoming anger is just to 545 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,160 remember that the world is the way the world is. 546 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,240 People are the way the way people are here. 547 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,360 A lot of the times we get upset and irritated and angry at 548 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,560 things. It is towards things that we're 549 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,920 not going to be able to change anyway here. 550 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,400 And it's a bit like, as I'm Brahm, similarly, an opening 551 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,640 door of your heart where it talks about the man who gets 552 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:44,760 angry at the red traffic light. That doesn't make any sense to 553 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,000 get angry at the red traffic light because the red traffic 554 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,840 light just does its own thing. And whether you get angry or 555 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,200 not, it's not going to change that red traffic light. 556 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,640 And almost everything in the world is like red traffic 557 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,280 lights. Things are just the way they 558 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,720 are. And whether we get angry or not 559 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:04,200 is not really going to change the situation. 560 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,880 And if you reflect on that deeply, it actually is not so 561 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,760 hard to understand. Actually let go of the anger and 562 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:15,400 realize that as a matter of fact, the anger, not only is it 563 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,440 going to not change the situation, it's going to make 564 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:22,920 matters worse, very often going to make matters worse, and it's 565 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,040 also going to lead to our own misery because we feel miserable 566 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,080 when we get angry. It's an unpleasant state of the 567 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,160 mind. So it is completely most of the 568 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,800 time it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to get angry and 569 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:36,760 upset at things around us in the world. 570 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:42,920 A third way of looking at anger and irritation and that is to 571 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,520 change the focus of what is happening in the moment. 572 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,800 So instead of focusing on the other person doing something, 573 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:56,800 saying something, acting in the in a bad way, place the focus on 574 00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,240 yourself instead. How does it feel when this other 575 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,560 person does something which is not nice? 576 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,080 And what you what you, what happens then is that you feel a 577 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:07,840 sense of suffering inside of you. 578 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,880 It feels painful. They said something to me which 579 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,880 is not nice, or they did something which isn't right. 580 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,400 And look at the pain inside of yourself. 581 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:20,120 Focus on yourself rather than focusing on the other person. 582 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,200 And this has a lot of wonderful consequences when you do that. 583 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,120 Because when you focus on that pain in yourself, first of all, 584 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,280 you can have a sense of compassion on yourself. 585 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,920 You understand this is painful. This is the way the world is. 586 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,920 It's not I can't change this. This is the way things are. 587 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,520 When I have to interact with other human beings, pain is 588 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,280 there. Pain is necessary. 589 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:46,840 This is part of life. And just focus on that pain and 590 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,800 what you're doing there is contemplating suffering. 591 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,200 You're contemplating coming to understand what suffering is 592 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:59,040 about in this world. If you react to the other person 593 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,240 instead, if you become angry because of the way they are 594 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,560 behaving or what they're saying, you are no longer contemplating 595 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,400 suffering. You are reacting in an 596 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:10,960 unskillful way and you're moving away from the Dhamma. 597 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,800 You're moving away from something useful on on this 598 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,560 path. But when you understand the 599 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,440 suffering instead, you're actually creating insight into 600 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,480 what this life is all about. It's a very powerful and 601 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,040 skillful means to use in these situations. 602 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,920 And then you have compassion for yourself because you realize 603 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,719 this is suffering, this is difficult, and this is the way 604 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,199 the world is. It's not something that I can 605 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:41,920 possibly escape. And then once you rise to 606 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,920 compassion in yourself, then of course that compassion can also 607 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:50,239 be extended to other people, including the perpetrator of the 608 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,480 action, which you don't like. Because once compassion is 609 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:56,400 there, it tends to go out also to other people. 610 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,240 And you understand that this other person, he himself or she 611 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:06,160 is also under the influence of condition and causes which they 612 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,440 are not really in charge of. And because of that, they do 613 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:11,160 this particular kinds of actions. 614 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,800 So these are some of the skillful ways of overcoming 615 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:20,280 negativity and anger. And again, if you apply these 616 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:25,440 things regularly, consistently in your daily life and you try 617 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,800 it and you actually do it right, you'll find that something 618 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:32,280 starts to happen inside of you. You start to look at the world 619 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,160 in a new way. You start to see people in a 620 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:36,960 different way here. And gradually, gradually you 621 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:41,760 start to emerge from your previous bad habits and you get 622 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,280 into a new, new way of looking at the world. 623 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,560 And it's very powerful and very beautiful as time goes by here. 624 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:51,120 And of course, it has a great effect not only on your general 625 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:55,080 level of happiness in life, but also has a profound effect on 626 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,600 your meditation practice. You find you become more 627 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,240 peaceful, you become more happy in your meditation, and 628 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,560 meditation takes off in a way that it has never done before 629 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,000 here. So that is one side of the coin. 630 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,960 If you want to develop the second factor, no blade for path 631 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:14,200 of loving kindness, we have to develop the perception which 632 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,240 underlies the ability to have loving kindness. 633 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:23,400 Because loving kindness is really the ability to focus on 634 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,280 the positive qualities of other people and on the suffering of 635 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,240 other people. This is what gives rise to 636 00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:34,000 compassion and loving kindness. When we see the suffering, it 637 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,000 give rise to compassion. When we see the good qualities, 638 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,480 it gives rise to loving kindness and and matter. 639 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:45,640 So once we have sort of undermined the negative states 640 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,800 of the mind, then we can start applying the mind instead to 641 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:54,280 perceptions of loving kindness. So what are these perceptions of 642 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:57,080 loving kindness? These perceptions of loving 643 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:02,760 kindness is basically to remind ourselves of the good qualities 644 00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,920 in the people around us. And you will have noticed 645 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:10,120 before, during the meditation before I started off by 646 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:14,320 reminding everybody to remember the people around you and to 647 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,320 focus on the good qualities in the people around you. 648 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:21,320 And the reason for that is because if you don't have that 649 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,920 perception in your mind of the goodness in the people that you 650 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:28,320 want to have loving kindness towards, that perception isn't 651 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,600 there. It's impossible to have loving 652 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:32,920 kindness. You have to give rise to the 653 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:34,640 perception of goodness, first of all. 654 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,960 And that is why in our meditation practice, it is so 655 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,480 important to choose the kind of object, the kind of person, the 656 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:47,160 kind of people who we regard in a positive way to be able to 657 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:51,040 have loving kindness. And this is something we develop 658 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:55,880 through practice. So remind yourself, think what 659 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,560 is it about these people? What is so special about them? 660 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:02,120 They may not be perfect, but they have an intention to be 661 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,160 good. They have an intention to be 662 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,840 kind. If you meet somebody who keeps 663 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,280 the five precepts, what a wonderful thing that is that 664 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,400 somebody is willing to do something in their life to 665 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,520 actually create a better world, a better life for themselves, 666 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:19,560 for the family, and even for society. 667 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:23,480 Outside of that, the Buddha said some very beautiful things about 668 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,920 keeping the five precepts. Instead of keeping the five 669 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,760 precepts is like giving a gift to the world. 670 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,600 You give a gift of trust and fearlessness to the people and 671 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,960 the animals around you because they know that they can trust 672 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,280 you. They know that you want take 673 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:42,120 advantage of them. And that is a beautiful feeling 674 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,400 of fearlessness and trust that you're providing to the world 675 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,720 around you. Very powerful way. 676 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,320 And if you think about that, this is what people who keep the 677 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,920 five precepts do. They give this gift to the 678 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:54,960 world. Isn't that a wonderful thing 679 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:56,640 here? Isn't that beautiful here? 680 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,200 And when you start to think of the people around you like that 681 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:03,840 as beautiful individuals who are trying to do something good for 682 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,280 the world, who have good intentions, who want to support 683 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,280 themselves and support others, then you can actually, it 684 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:14,080 becomes very easy to actually wish them well. 685 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:17,320 A beautiful person is somebody you want to wish well, is 686 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,840 somebody want to be happy is somebody you want not to have 687 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:24,600 suffering in their life. So develop that perception. 688 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,800 Remind yourself of the good qualities of the people around 689 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,200 you. Remind yourself also of the good 690 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,560 qualities in yourself. Don't be down on yourself. 691 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,840 It's good to be happy with yourself if you keep the fine 692 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:39,480 precepts. It's good to be happy with 693 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,880 yourself. When you do an act of kindness 694 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:45,320 and generosity in the world. It's important and it will give 695 00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,800 rise to a sense of matter inside of you when you do it properly 696 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,200 here. So this is just some basic 697 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:57,680 pointers on how to develop perception in life and how 698 00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,720 important it is to develop perception. 699 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:03,320 And as I said at the beginning of the talk, if you don't 700 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:07,280 develop perception, if you don't take this as part of your 701 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:11,440 spiritual practice, the path is not going to work. 702 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:15,280 It is part and parcel. It is indispensable part of the 703 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:18,960 path that you develop your own personal perceptions. 704 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,480 And in particular, I think one of the most important things is 705 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:27,840 precisely this, to develop the perceptions whereby you overcome 706 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:31,400 the negativities, anger, irritations, all these petty 707 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,680 states in life, and instead you develop the beautiful 708 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,880 perceptions of kindness, compassion, loving kindness 709 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:41,400 towards the people around you. This is one of the most 710 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,440 important things you can do because this is a foundation 711 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:48,280 stone of the Buddhist path. And then as you grow, you can 712 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,560 also gradually start to remember things like perceptions of 713 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,720 impermanence particular maybe when you go on meditation 714 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,920 retreats, you find that these things might be very powerful. 715 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:00,560 So use this. And if you use this 716 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:04,400 appropriately, you will find that it actually has a very, it 717 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,280 empowers your path. It's like giving a bit of rocket 718 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,360 fuel to the noble a full path to sort of improve your meditation 719 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:17,960 and everything else. OK, so that is all I want to say 720 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:28,870 about perception. Does anybody have any questions 721 00:41:28,870 --> 00:41:32,510 or anything they want to mention before we move on? 722 00:41:32,510 --> 00:41:48,730 Yes, in the context of your talk about compassion bounds to. 723 00:41:49,650 --> 00:41:53,720 OK, yeah, I, I think again, it depends on, I guess it depends 724 00:41:53,720 --> 00:41:55,520 on where you're coming from and why you're doing it. 725 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,000 And I think if you do it out of anger negativity because you're 726 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,400 angry either with the regime or you're angry with yourself or 727 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,480 whatever, it's not a very good thing to do. 728 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,200 Because anything which is done out of anger is always a, it 729 00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:10,880 always has a negative consequence in terms of karma, 730 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:13,560 in terms of the future. And this is one of the great 731 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,320 things about Buddhism. You can always, almost anything 732 00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:18,880 in life, you can always go back to one basic thing. 733 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,440 What is the motivation? Why are you doing it? 734 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,680 And from the motivation, you can always decide whether an act is 735 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:27,640 good or bad. So it really, it's impossible to 736 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:30,400 tell. But if they do it with a sense 737 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,760 that they want to, maybe they have even a sense of compassion 738 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,520 or love and kindness. I don't know if it's possible to 739 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,600 emulate yourself out of compassion or kindness, but if 740 00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:42,800 it is possible because you want to maybe show some kind of 741 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,440 injustice to the world, if you can do it, it is at least 742 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,640 conceivable that it might be might be a good act, it might be 743 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,600 a positive act. It is conceivable, but I think 744 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:55,160 it is an area where you have to be very careful because it's I 745 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,160 think it's very easy to come from the wrong kind of 746 00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,240 motivation in those kind of things. 747 00:43:00,720 --> 00:43:02,840 It's really a matter of motivation and intention when 748 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:11,280 you do these things. Yes, with the talk. 749 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:13,800 On perception. How does the? 750 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:19,800 Perception talk about trying to in that right view because it. 751 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:23,280 Seems very similar to me. Yeah, Yeah, that's a very, 752 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:24,360 that's a very good point actually. 753 00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,000 And that's something I, I had intended to talk about, which I 754 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,280 didn't mention in the part in the talk, is that perception and 755 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:32,320 view are very closely related to each other here. 756 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:36,840 And you'll find that in the, the way the Buddha teaches it says 757 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,840 that view, your view you have will tend to condition your 758 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:41,800 perception. If you have a certain way of 759 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:45,320 looking at the world, if this is my view, you will see the world 760 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,720 in terms of that view. And also vice versa, if you have 761 00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:52,240 a certain perception of things, then that will call your view. 762 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:55,360 So these things kind of they revolve around each other. 763 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:59,360 And this for that reason, because, and of course, you 764 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,200 know, that view is the foundation stone of the, of the 765 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:04,400 nobletful path. The right view comes first. 766 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:09,040 So because of that, it actually changing your perceptions also 767 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:11,720 tends to change your view. It changes your view over time. 768 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:13,880 Your view gradually comes around as well here. 769 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,960 So because of that, the changing of perceptions actually 770 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:21,520 reinforces also the very first factor of the Noble 8 full path 771 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:23,840 as well here. So these things go together 772 00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:24,160 here. So the. 773 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:29,640 View would be more complete picture and. 774 00:44:34,720 --> 00:44:38,080 Yeah, a view is like a is like a. 775 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,520 It's, it's actually a kind of decision about what the world 776 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,040 looks like. It's like, for example, you 777 00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:47,160 know, in Buddhism we're talking about like eternalist view, for 778 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:49,200 example. It's the idea that things last 779 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:50,960 forever. And this is based on your 780 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,200 perception, because you have a perception of a self of I exist, 781 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:57,200 I am. Because of that, you create a 782 00:44:57,200 --> 00:45:00,040 view that things are eternal. And then because you have 783 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:02,920 eternal, because you have this view that things are eternal, or 784 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:05,960 maybe you think that your consciousness is eternal or your 785 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:09,040 mind is eternal or whatever. Because you have that view, you 786 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,120 tend to perceive the world in the in that way. 787 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:15,400 So they go around each other. So perception is more immediate 788 00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:18,400 and view is more, as you say, more a kind of you sit back and 789 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:20,720 you have a certain idea about how the world actually works. 790 00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:24,920 So yeah, but that doesn't mean that views are just ideas. 791 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:29,320 Views themselves are also very solid and very kind of are, are 792 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:33,960 things which are not something you can necessarily see straight 793 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:36,680 away. And a classic example of that is 794 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:40,400 the view of self. Now people in the world will say 795 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:43,080 that there is no self. There is, you know, you can ask 796 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:46,560 a psychologist is there anything inside a human being which is a 797 00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,320 self? And a psychologist will say, no, 798 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:50,480 there is no self inside a human being. 799 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,840 And yet, despite the fact that we can have the intellectual 800 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:57,480 idea that there is no self, still there is a kind of 801 00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:00,440 underlying feeling inside of you that there's something solid 802 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,160 there. And that underlying feeling is, 803 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:06,720 is also a kind of view. It's a view which is so deep 804 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,840 that you can't even access it intellectually. 805 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:12,520 It's beyond your intellectual abilities. 806 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:16,400 And that is what you actually, it's that kind of view that you 807 00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,960 are challenging in, in deep meditation practice. 808 00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:20,920 It's a very deep thing. Yeah. 809 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:29,280 OK. Any other questions or comments? 810 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,360 Anybody here? Everybody happy here? 811 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:34,640 Yeah, happy perception here.