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The following presentation was 
recorded at the Buddhist Society

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of Victoria, Melbourne East, 
Australia. 

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Please visit our website at 
bsv.net.au Now we are going to 

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give a little talk. 
And one of the things I want to 

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emphasise or talk about today is
something that is quite close to

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me right now. 
Very often when you give a 

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Dharma talk, you want to give a 
talk about something which is 

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topical, something which is on 
your mind, because that's just 

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natural, it's on your mind to 
talk about it, it makes life 

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easier. 
And one of the things that's 

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kind of been on my mind over the
last few weeks is the fact that 

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my father passed away about four
weeks ago now. 

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And that's kind of, you know, 
for most people is a big event, 

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it is something that you kind of
see as into your memory a little

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bit, and often for many people 
it's quite traumatic when 

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someone close to you passes 
away. 

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So for me it was very 
interesting because, you know, 

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as a Buddhist monk you're 
supposed to have contemplated 

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things like death, or ideally 
over many years, many decades, 

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even if you have been a monk for
a long time. 

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So because of that you really 
find out whether your 

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contemplations have worked or 
not, it hasn't had any impact on

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you, have you benefited from 
these contemplations? 

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Are you able to deal with things
that are difficult generally for

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people? 
Are you able to deal with it in 

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a way that is more in accordance
with the Dharma, whereby you can

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see things in a slightly 
different way? 

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And I must admit I was quite 
pleased, you never know before 

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the events happen, you think 
that you have kind of 

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contemplated these things in the
right way, but it's hard to know

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before the kind of the events 
happen. 

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And that's when you get a test. 
So it's good to get a test 

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sometimes, otherwise you kind of
practice along the path and you 

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don't really know whether you 
are succeeding or not. 

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Actually life is full of tests 
really, so it's not as if you 

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have to look for those tests, 
tests come really in small doses

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every day, but sometimes they 
come in really big doses when 

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someone passes away and these 
things. 

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So it was, for me it was very 
interesting, and I realized that

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my contemplation of death had 
really been worthwhile, and I 

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compared my own reaction to the 
reaction of many others, like my

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family members especially, and 
the usual reaction when people 

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pass away, and this was also in 
the case of my mother for 

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example, of course for my mother
it would have been far more 

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difficult than for me, because 
of living together with someone 

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for so many decades, over 60 
years, and that's a long time. 

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So, but still I could see the 
difference in reaction there, 

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also for my siblings and other 
family members, and very often 

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people say things like, oh it 
happened so quickly, it happened

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so soon, I wasn't really 
expecting, I wasn't really ready

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for it, I hadn't kind of done 
the thing, said the things I 

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wanted to say before someone 
passes away, and this is a kind 

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of a recurring theme when people
pass away, I have noticed so 

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often people say it happened so 
quickly, it kind of came out of 

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the blue, but this is precisely 
the point, that's exactly how 

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death tends to happen, it comes 
out of the blue, and this is why

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it surprises us, it's very rare 
that it happens in a very 

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orderly way, actually even when 
it happens in kind of the 

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orderly way, still people say it
happens too quickly, kind of the

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orderly way is when you get 
really really old, then you go 

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to hospital, and you kind of 
deteriorate gradually, and then 

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eventually you pass away, and 
still people say, oh I didn't 

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really expect it, I thought it 
would hang in there one more 

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day, he's dying, what do you 
mean you didn't expect it? 

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So obvious, but still it's hard 
to take it fully on board, that 

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someone actually is passing 
away, so this is one of those 

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things of course, one of the 
points of this is that you want 

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to take this on board in such a 
way from the very beginning, 

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that you actually can, when it 
happens, it doesn't seem as a 

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surprise, it's more like you 
expect it to happen, and this 

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was what happened to me when I 
got the phone call from my 

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father, I thought yeah, I 
expected that, because I had 

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made that such a powerful kind 
of imprint in my mind, when he 

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died, that was it, and I tried 
to do that with everybody, in my

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life, everyone I meet, everyone 
I know, I tried to make it clear

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to me that I may never see this 
person again, this may be the 

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last time, I tried to make it 
clear about myself as well, I 

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could also die at any time, and 
there's something very beautiful

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that comes out of that, if you 
remember that someone can pass 

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away at any time, and that you 
may never see them again, what 

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it means is that you treat 
people well, how can you, if 

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you're never going to see 
someone again, how will you 

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treat them, would you treat them
by being angry or negative, or 

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saying something bad the last 
time you see somebody, it's 

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almost inconceivable, if I know 
that I may never see you again, 

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then I will try to treat you 
with kindness, with a degree of 

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compassion, to say something 
nice, that when we depart from 

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each other, we feel good about 
it, and then we can separate, 

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and there's no regrets, there's 
no problems, and then we can 

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move on in our lives, and on our
separate journeys, but if we do 

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something which is not nice, it 
is actually often difficult to 

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move on, it's as if we are tied 
to the past, tied to the past, 

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through that bad action, because
it lingers in our memory, and 

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that lingering in your memory, 
that is a tie, that is a fetter,

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that binds you to the past, and 
you can't really let go, and 

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then mindfulness becomes 
difficult, it becomes difficult 

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to live your life fully in the 
present moment, and all of these

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things, they make things far 
more difficult as a consequence,

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so for me, it had been very 
useful, because I remember these

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things, and I realized that I 
had to kind of make peace with 

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my father, and I tried to do 
that many, many years ago, it is

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always the case when you grow up
in a family, there's always a 

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degree of friction in the people
who are nearest to you, and I 

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realized I wanted to make good 
for anything that had happened 

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in the past, so I spent a large 
part of my, when I was with my 

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parents, always trying to live 
up to the highest standard with 

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my parents, and that had a very 
powerful impact actually, it was

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one of those very interesting 
things, that, do you disagree 

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with what I'm saying? 
He's complaining, not sure, 

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right? 
It's still a bit young to 

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contemplate death, I recognize 
that, but it has a very 

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interesting impact on your 
parents and your family members,

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when you kind of turn around 
like that, and before you've had

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kind of a more ordinary 
relationship, and then you 

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realize that how you deal with 
your parents is so impactful on 

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your practice, you may remember,
and I always like to bring this 

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up when I read the suttas, but 
in the sutta, the very first 

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part of the noble eightfold 
path, of course, you have right 

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view, and one of the 
definitions, one of the aspects 

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of right view is, it says quite 
cryptically, there is a mother 

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and father, yeah, and I think 
now someone, I think Adam 

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Sudhato translates it as that 
you have responsibilities 

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towards mother and father, and 
when you see that, you think 

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what does this actually mean, 
there is mother and father, but 

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you realize it is an aspect of 
right view, and it is always 

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framed in the context of kamma 
and rebirth, and you realize 

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that actually how you treat your
parents is a very important part

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of the noble eightfold path, if 
you do it in the right way, it 

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enhances your practice 
dramatically, so that and 

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recollection of death and all of
these things together, made me 

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realize I need to do something 
with this, and I did, I stopped 

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trying to proselytize, I stopped
trying to say to my parents, 

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yeah, Buddhism is the best, 
forget everything else you 

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believe in, become Buddhist, I 
stopped saying that because I 

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realized that doesn't work, you 
can't say that to your parents, 

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so instead I started to act, I 
started to walk instead of 

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talking, I forgot, don't even 
walk to talk, don't even talk at

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all, just walk, that's kind of 
the point here, so I tried to 

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walk, walk, yeah, and when you 
walk, and when you do the right 

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thing, something magic happens, 
something dramatic happens, even

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though my parents were very 
disappointed and very against it

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when I became a monk, yeah, 
surprise, surprise, have you, 

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most parents are like that, 
yeah, don't become a monk, no, 

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please, we didn't bring you up 
for this purpose, everybody gets

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to hear that, most people get to
hear that when they decide to 

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become a monastic, but I was 
stubborn, and I'm very glad I 

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was stubborn, it was the right 
thing to be stubborn about, and 

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what happens over time is that 
something happens in your 

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parents' hearts, they start to 
understand that you're doing 

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something very, very positive, 
that in fact everything else you

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could do in life actually kind 
of pales in significance by 

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being a monastic, especially if 
you live your monastic life 

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well, they start to see that 
something very powerful, very 

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meaningful, very useful, useful 
not only for their son, but also

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for them after a while, yeah, 
when you talk to them, you have 

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good conversations together, you
talk about meaningful things 

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instead of gossiping and talking
about all kind of nonsense, and 

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it's also good for other people,
it's good for everyone, it was 

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one of those fundamental things 
that makes something into a 

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spiritual quality, is that it is
good not only for you, but also 

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for the other people around you,
when that comes together, it is 

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a spiritual quality, and then as
you, as I try to live up to 

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these standards, the standards 
about how to treat your parents 

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in the right way, thinking of 
them as your initial teachers, 

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thinking of them as Brahma, 
these are all taken from the 

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sutta, this is how the Buddha 
recommends which we think about 

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our parents, thinking about your
parents as Brahma means that you

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reflect on them as being those 
who have the most loving 

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kindness towards you, just like 
Brahma has loving kindness, and 

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then as you do that, there's 
this gradual transformation from

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being very against what you're 
doing, starting to take an 

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interest and eventually realize 
that you are doing what really 

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is important in life, and then 
they come to you and they ask 

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you, this happened to my father,
my mother and my brother, and 

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finally also my sister, she was 
the last holdout, eventually my 

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sister also came on board, and 
they asked for, teach me some 

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meditation, teach me something 
about Buddhism, teach me 

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something about what you're 
doing, and when I used to meet 

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with my family in recent years, 
whenever we come together, I 

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would give them a dhamma talk, 
and we would have meditation 

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together, and they would all 
kind of take these things on 

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board to varying degrees, not 
everything of course, but to 

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varying degrees, and it came to 
the point, what my father said 

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to me, he said that I used to be
your teacher, now you're my 

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teacher. 
This is very powerful, and it's 

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very beautiful, and the outcome,
the reason why that happened is 

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because that you live these 
things the right way, you 

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remember death, it came out in 
large part because of death 

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contemplation, I've got to do 
something now, there may never 

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be a chance again to say the 
words that are right, to do the 

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right things, let me take the 
opportunity now, and I did that,

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and it worked, and of course 
when that happens, when you feel

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that you have done everything 
you can, you have remembered 

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death, then when death finally 
happens, there are no regrets, 

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there's no sense that anything 
was left undone, I've done 

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everything I can, so for that 
reason, it was for me, it was 

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fine, it was good, and not only 
that, it was another important 

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aspect to this death as well, 
and that was the fact that my 

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father was generally a good 
person, my father had been a 

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very successful businessman, and
sometimes if you are a 

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successful businessman, you may 
kind of become a bit conceited, 

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yeah, you made it really, he 
started out in very simple, in a

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very simple life, and he ended 
up quite a well-off man, he had 

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done everything kind of really 
well in his life, and sometimes 

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you get conceited, but he 
actually didn't, and he was 

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still open to new ideas, which 
he showed through kind of his 

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leaning towards Buddhism, 
towards the end of his life, and

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for him, he was a good man, he 
lived a good life, he brought up

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his children in a good way, he 
even allowed them to become a 

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Buddhist monk, that was pretty 
amazing, yeah, it wasn't ideal, 

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but he allowed it anyway, and 
then of course, when you look at

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a life like that, why feel sad? 
It's a life well lived, you have

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done your best with this 
existence, you have had a chance

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to live this life for a few 
years, you've done your very 

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best with it, so why be too sad 
about that? 

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Instead, rejoice. 
And that was one of the things 

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00:12:49,824 --> 00:12:52,888
that was interesting, because I 
was in charge of my own father's

218
00:12:52,888 --> 00:12:56,042
funeral service, which was very 
nice, it's a nice way of sending

219
00:12:56,042 --> 00:12:58,995
your dad off into the future, 
and thanking him for all the 

220
00:12:58,995 --> 00:13:04,464
things, and we did that, it was 
a large crowd present, and I did

221
00:13:04,464 --> 00:13:07,772
it in a kind of Buddhist way, in
an uplifting way, nothing too 

222
00:13:07,772 --> 00:13:11,024
sad, nobody was crying at this 
funeral, which is amazing, yeah,

223
00:13:11,024 --> 00:13:14,334
in a kind of western country, 
where you have a Christian 

224
00:13:14,334 --> 00:13:17,120
culture, you're supposed to cry,
people supposed to be sad, 

225
00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,096
nobody was sad, yeah, there was 
no crying, even my mother didn't

226
00:13:20,096 --> 00:13:25,700
cry, and she was, that was kind 
of astonishing, yeah, and 

227
00:13:25,700 --> 00:13:28,058
afterwards people said, wow, 
that was the best funeral 

228
00:13:28,058 --> 00:13:31,440
service we have ever been to 
before in our entire life, yeah,

229
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:35,308
because usually we just feel sad
and depressed, but now we felt 

230
00:13:35,308 --> 00:13:39,610
actually uplifted, and inspired 
by funeral service, so you know,

231
00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:42,040
you recognize that there's 
something to these Buddhist 

232
00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,156
ideas, the Buddhist approach to 
life, where it is taken 

233
00:13:45,156 --> 00:13:48,976
seriously and fully on board, 
that is very powerful, and 

234
00:13:48,976 --> 00:13:53,080
people in secular cultures, and 
many western cultures are 

235
00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,287
becoming very secularized, it's 
true of Australia, it's true of 

236
00:13:56,287 --> 00:14:00,440
lots of European cultures, 
especially Northern Europe, and 

237
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:04,160
in those cultures, they often 
need something more, they need 

238
00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,640
something additional, and here, 
Buddhism has something beautiful

239
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:10,303
to add, and it always reminds 
me, these were people, there was

240
00:14:10,303 --> 00:14:14,360
over 200 people present for that
funeral, people had no idea 

241
00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,648
about Buddhism at all, and all 
they did was kind of speak 

242
00:14:17,648 --> 00:14:20,756
common sense, yeah, ordinary 
things, and yet, they were 

243
00:14:20,756 --> 00:14:24,187
inspired by it, it shows you 
that there is a lack there, and 

244
00:14:24,187 --> 00:14:28,188
often all we have to do as 
Buddhists is to present the 

245
00:14:28,188 --> 00:14:31,904
Buddhist message in a way that 
is palatable, that is easy to 

246
00:14:31,904 --> 00:14:35,120
understand, and people will come
to accept it, because it is 

247
00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,515
really just common sense, yeah, 
there's nothing kind of, I mean,

248
00:14:38,515 --> 00:14:41,246
there are aspects of Buddhism 
that go beyond common sense, of 

249
00:14:41,246 --> 00:14:46,000
course, but a lot of it is just 
common sense, common psychology,

250
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,744
a common outlook that is 
sensible to the majority of 

251
00:14:49,744 --> 00:14:53,392
people, if they think about life
carefully, of course, you have 

252
00:14:53,392 --> 00:14:56,816
to have an interest in life, you
have to have an interest in a 

253
00:14:56,816 --> 00:14:59,806
kind of, what the purpose of 
life is, and all of these kind 

254
00:14:59,806 --> 00:15:02,792
of things, but a lot of people 
have that, and they are open to 

255
00:15:02,792 --> 00:15:07,805
these sort of things, so it was 
a very interesting experience to

256
00:15:07,805 --> 00:15:10,841
me, and it kind of sounds maybe 
strange, saying that your 

257
00:15:10,841 --> 00:15:14,960
father's passing away is 
interesting, but it was, because

258
00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:19,712
when you think about it in the 
right way, it actually enhances 

259
00:15:19,712 --> 00:15:24,440
your life, it makes something 
about it, which actually gives 

260
00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:29,120
it more value, because of the 
right outlook that you have, and

261
00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,888
what is also interesting, 
because I always like to kind of

262
00:15:33,888 --> 00:15:37,660
bring these things back to the 
suttas, and how the Buddha talks

263
00:15:37,660 --> 00:15:40,640
about these things, and one of 
the stories about the Buddha, 

264
00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,908
the Buddha also passed away, 
obviously, and the story of how 

265
00:15:44,908 --> 00:15:48,840
the Buddha passed away in many 
ways kind of encapsulated the 

266
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,870
general problems with passing 
away, and how we should look 

267
00:15:52,870 --> 00:15:56,860
upon life, and the story of the 
Buddha's passing away is found, 

268
00:15:56,860 --> 00:16:00,500
as many of you would know, in 
the Mahapranibbana Sutta, the 

269
00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:04,672
greatest course on the Buddha's 
passing away, it's a very 

270
00:16:04,672 --> 00:16:08,294
beautiful sutta, and if you have
any interest in the word of the 

271
00:16:08,294 --> 00:16:11,132
Buddha, I would really recommend
you to read that sutta, because 

272
00:16:11,132 --> 00:16:14,500
there are so many valuable 
lessons in that particular 

273
00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:18,736
sutta, the purpose of the sutta,
of course, is the Buddha knows 

274
00:16:18,736 --> 00:16:21,760
that he's about to pass away, 
and he goes on this long walk, 

275
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:25,440
starting in Rajagaha, the 
capital of the Magadan Kingdom, 

276
00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:28,814
and he walks all the way to 
Kushinara, which is, how far is 

277
00:16:28,814 --> 00:16:30,520
that? 
Four, five hundred kilometers, 

278
00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:35,018
maybe, something like that, it's
a long way to go by foot, and he

279
00:16:35,018 --> 00:16:38,069
does that, and of course, 
because he knows, especially 

280
00:16:38,069 --> 00:16:42,184
towards the end, that he is 
about to pass away, the 

281
00:16:42,184 --> 00:16:46,069
Mahapranibbana Sutta is where he
kind of lays down what is the 

282
00:16:46,069 --> 00:16:49,241
essence of his teachings, he 
tells the monks, this is what 

283
00:16:49,241 --> 00:16:51,840
you should remember, this is 
what I've been really teaching, 

284
00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,160
so lots of interesting 
information like that. 

285
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:59,788
Also, he explains to the crowd, 
explains to the people, how they

286
00:16:59,788 --> 00:17:03,086
should live without him, how 
they can kind of carry on 

287
00:17:03,086 --> 00:17:06,329
without him, so a lot of 
information there, practical 

288
00:17:06,329 --> 00:17:10,130
information, about how to carry 
on in the future, and of course,

289
00:17:10,130 --> 00:17:13,500
that's relevant for us now, 
because we are that future, here

290
00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:18,210
we are, we are the future from 
the viewpoint of the suttas, and

291
00:17:18,210 --> 00:17:21,404
so for us, it is incredibly 
relevant, many of the things 

292
00:17:21,404 --> 00:17:24,212
that you find in the 
Mahapranibbana Sutta, you get 

293
00:17:24,212 --> 00:17:28,374
direct information about how we 
are supposed to live, how we are

294
00:17:28,374 --> 00:17:31,646
supposed to think about the 
Dhamma, how we are supposed to 

295
00:17:31,646 --> 00:17:35,064
organize ourselves, so that we 
can carry on with this beautiful

296
00:17:35,064 --> 00:17:37,920
teaching that was bequeathed to 
us from the Buddha himself. 

297
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,550
So this is all that is happening
in the Sutta, and then of 

298
00:17:41,550 --> 00:17:44,720
course, towards the very end, 
the Buddha spends one of his 

299
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,640
last, actually the last Reign's 
retreat in Vesali, Vesali being 

300
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,104
the capital of the Vajrayana 
Kingdom, like a confederacy, it 

301
00:17:53,104 --> 00:17:56,892
was almost like an early 
democracy at that time, and 

302
00:17:56,892 --> 00:18:01,555
during this Reign's retreat in 
Vesali, the Buddha has some very

303
00:18:01,555 --> 00:18:05,900
serious illnesses, and Venerable
Ananda, who is his attendant, he

304
00:18:05,900 --> 00:18:09,121
looks at the Buddha, and when he
looks at the Buddha, and he sees

305
00:18:09,121 --> 00:18:11,930
that the Buddha is so 
uncomfortable, he kind of loses 

306
00:18:11,930 --> 00:18:15,909
his sense of his bearings, he 
says, it's as if I'm drunk, my 

307
00:18:15,909 --> 00:18:18,626
sense of directions is 
completely lost, because 

308
00:18:18,626 --> 00:18:21,680
Venerable Ananda has been the 
Buddha's attendant for 20 years,

309
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,387
been with the Buddha probably 
almost every day for those 20 

310
00:18:25,387 --> 00:18:29,680
years, memorizing the Suttas, 
understanding the Dhamma fully. 

311
00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,920
So for him, you can imagine that
it would be a very hard thing 

312
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:35,840
when the Buddha is about to pass
away. 

313
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,927
And then he says to the Buddha 
that, my only consolation was 

314
00:18:40,927 --> 00:18:45,930
that, of course, Master, you 
would say something to the 

315
00:18:45,930 --> 00:18:48,924
Sangha, and you would say 
something to everyone before you

316
00:18:48,924 --> 00:18:53,292
pass away. 
And this is where it becomes 

317
00:18:53,292 --> 00:18:57,960
interesting. 
First of all, the Buddha has to 

318
00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,440
use energy to kind of get out of
that illness. 

319
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,480
In other words, he has to try to
overcome that illness. 

320
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,960
It is very obvious that the 
Buddha is getting older here. 

321
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,275
It's very obvious he talks about
his body being like a cart that 

322
00:19:10,275 --> 00:19:13,680
is falling apart. 
It's almost as if it has to be 

323
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,940
held together by straps like an 
old cart, and his body is a bit 

324
00:19:16,940 --> 00:19:20,150
like that. 
And this in its own right is 

325
00:19:20,150 --> 00:19:21,920
quite interesting and an 
important point. 

326
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,160
Maybe I should just say a little
bit about that. 

327
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:29,040
Because one of the things is 
that when you read the Suttas, 

328
00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,504
there are two different pictures
that emerge of the Buddha when 

329
00:19:32,504 --> 00:19:35,776
you read the Suttas. 
And one is the very naturalistic

330
00:19:35,776 --> 00:19:39,322
picture of the Buddha. 
The Buddha as an ordinary human 

331
00:19:39,322 --> 00:19:43,178
being whose body is falling 
apart, who is getting old like 

332
00:19:43,178 --> 00:19:46,858
everyone else, and who gets sick
and who has all the kind of 

333
00:19:46,858 --> 00:19:49,532
ordinary bodily problems and 
bodily things as everyone else 

334
00:19:49,532 --> 00:19:52,920
has. 
And he's on his way to passing 

335
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,816
away. 
And that is kind of one side of 

336
00:19:56,816 --> 00:19:59,018
the Buddha. 
And then there's the other side 

337
00:19:59,018 --> 00:20:01,120
of the Buddha which is slightly 
more supernatural. 

338
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,568
For example, one of the classic 
examples of that supernatural 

339
00:20:05,568 --> 00:20:09,232
part of the Buddha is when it 
says in the Mahapanibbana Sutta 

340
00:20:09,232 --> 00:20:12,640
that he could live on for the 
aeon if he wants to. 

341
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:14,800
That's kind of a bit strange, 
isn't it? 

342
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:16,320
How can you live on for the 
aeon? 

343
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,474
If you have an ordinary human 
body, it would seem completely 

344
00:20:19,474 --> 00:20:21,920
madness to even try to live on 
for an aeon. 

345
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,418
Imagine what this body is like 
after even a hundred years of 

346
00:20:25,418 --> 00:20:27,309
falling apart. 
If you think about what it would

347
00:20:27,309 --> 00:20:29,360
be like after an aeon, it would 
be like a nightmare. 

348
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,257
Yeah, you don't even want to 
dream about it because it would 

349
00:20:32,257 --> 00:20:38,480
be so terrible. 
So, who is the real Buddha? 

350
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,680
And it seems obvious to me that 
when you read the Suttas, 

351
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,015
especially when you do a bit of 
comparative study which is kind 

352
00:20:45,015 --> 00:20:49,074
of in vogue these days, at least
in certain circles, and you 

353
00:20:49,074 --> 00:20:52,233
compare the Suttas across 
various recensions and all of 

354
00:20:52,233 --> 00:20:56,010
these things, it is fairly clear
in my mind that the real Buddha 

355
00:20:56,010 --> 00:20:59,256
is the naturalistic Buddha, the 
Buddha who was a human being and

356
00:20:59,256 --> 00:21:02,160
he had a physical body just like
the rest of us. 

357
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,960
And there's no way he could live
on for the aeon. 

358
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,790
And there are many reasons to 
think that that idea that the 

359
00:21:07,790 --> 00:21:10,800
Buddha could live for an aeon is
actually not really correct. 

360
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,105
And I'm not going to go into 
that now because it's too much 

361
00:21:14,105 --> 00:21:15,760
of a sidetrack, but just to 
mention that. 

362
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,190
And very many of the more 
supernatural elements in the 

363
00:21:19,190 --> 00:21:22,831
Suttas, perhaps not all, but 
many of them have that kind of 

364
00:21:22,831 --> 00:21:26,149
problems with them. 
Remember the Buddha, he actually

365
00:21:26,149 --> 00:21:29,600
said somewhere that he detests 
supernatural phenomena. 

366
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,658
Yeah, and of course, if he 
detests them, it's very unlikely

367
00:21:32,658 --> 00:21:36,000
that he will be exhibiting them 
or asking his monks to do so. 

368
00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,600
So the Buddha is a person, he's 
one of us. 

369
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,520
Although he has purified his 
mind to the highest extent, and 

370
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,600
in that sense he is different 
from us, he's mentally purified,

371
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,800
and in that sense he's 
different, still he comes from 

372
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,560
the same root, he has the same 
kind of body, he's essentially a

373
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,122
human being. 
And this is a very useful thing 

374
00:21:58,122 --> 00:22:01,208
to remember because when you 
remember that, it makes the 

375
00:22:01,208 --> 00:22:03,360
Buddha's teachings so much more 
relevant to us. 

376
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,196
Yeah, if the Buddha is somehow 
out of reach, if he's a 

377
00:22:07,196 --> 00:22:10,560
different kind of being than we 
are, actually his relevance to 

378
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,970
our life is much more debatable.
But because he is a human being,

379
00:22:14,970 --> 00:22:17,840
which means that he understands 
exactly what we are like, 

380
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,432
because he's been through the 
same problems, suddenly his 

381
00:22:20,432 --> 00:22:22,480
teachings are so relevant to us 
as well. 

382
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:29,488
So think of the Buddha in that 
way, and I think it is far more 

383
00:22:29,488 --> 00:22:32,998
useful for our practice and for 
actually developing the Buddha 

384
00:22:32,998 --> 00:22:36,624
nusatthi and the whole path, 
because it makes the whole thing

385
00:22:36,624 --> 00:22:40,560
more easy to grasp, more kind of
natural and more relatable than 

386
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,322
it otherwise would be. 
Little things like that can make

387
00:22:44,322 --> 00:22:47,470
a big difference and big impact.
Too many people treat the Buddha

388
00:22:47,470 --> 00:22:51,040
as some kind of God. 
Some people go and pray to the 

389
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,920
Buddha, please give me a new 
BMW, I need a new BMW. 

390
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,160
That is the wrong way to treat 
the Buddha. 

391
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,360
Buddha, yeah, so please don't do
that. 

392
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,200
So this is one of the first 
things that comes out of this. 

393
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,710
The Buddha is natural, he is 
also subject to old age, he will

394
00:23:08,710 --> 00:23:11,949
have to die, and towards the 
very end he specifically says, I

395
00:23:11,949 --> 00:23:15,704
have to kind of rouse up energy 
to enable to sustain my life a 

396
00:23:15,704 --> 00:23:18,800
little further. 
And then he has all these other 

397
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:20,480
things that he says around this 
time. 

398
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,920
Many interesting things that I 
won't go into in great detail, 

399
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,480
but he talks about at this stage
about having no teacher's fist, 

400
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,741
the Acharyamuddhi teacher's 
fist, which means that you hold 

401
00:23:32,741 --> 00:23:35,960
certain information back. 
You don't actually give out all 

402
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:40,380
the Dhamma, you hold something 
back to kind of create something

403
00:23:40,380 --> 00:23:44,160
esoteric, secret teaching, that 
kind of stuff. 

404
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,280
He doesn't have that, there are 
no secret teachings in Buddhism.

405
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,668
It's a very useful thing to 
remember because sometimes in 

406
00:23:51,668 --> 00:23:55,870
Buddhist circles, that's exactly
what you find, you find kind of 

407
00:23:55,870 --> 00:23:58,188
secret teachings. 
And once you hear about that, 

408
00:23:58,188 --> 00:24:01,304
you know, actually, this goes 
against the principles of how 

409
00:24:01,304 --> 00:24:05,652
the Buddha himself taught. 
He says it has no inner and 

410
00:24:05,652 --> 00:24:09,120
outer, there is no kind of inner
circle of favorite disciples, 

411
00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:12,000
and then those on the outer 
trying to get into that inner 

412
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,578
circle. 
Sometimes it is like that when 

413
00:24:14,578 --> 00:24:18,106
you have a kind of cultish type 
of leadership, you have like the

414
00:24:18,106 --> 00:24:20,880
close disciples, and everyone 
else wants to kind of get into 

415
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,240
that inner ring of disciples, so
you kind of create this craving,

416
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,890
this kind of feeling of there's 
something special going on, and 

417
00:24:27,890 --> 00:24:29,920
everyone else trying to get in 
there. 

418
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,932
But that is not how the Buddha 
operated, there is no inner and 

419
00:24:33,932 --> 00:24:36,220
outer. 
He treats everyone in the same 

420
00:24:36,220 --> 00:24:38,662
way, roughly. 
Of course, he looks at your 

421
00:24:38,662 --> 00:24:41,624
spiritual qualities and teaches 
you a little bit according to 

422
00:24:41,624 --> 00:24:44,560
that, but generally, he treats 
people in the same way. 

423
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:48,476
There are no favorite disciples,
there is no one who is kind of 

424
00:24:48,476 --> 00:24:52,132
given that special treatment, 
everyone is the same, and what a

425
00:24:52,132 --> 00:24:55,360
wonderful thing that is, what a 
wonderful example that is. 

426
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:58,044
We tend to treat people 
differently depending on who are

427
00:24:58,044 --> 00:24:59,920
our favorites and these kind of 
things. 

428
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,508
One of the things I also always 
notice about someone like Ajahn 

429
00:25:03,508 --> 00:25:06,894
Brahm, who is my teacher, of 
course, he always treats people 

430
00:25:06,894 --> 00:25:08,988
the same. 
Yeah, you never get special 

431
00:25:08,988 --> 00:25:11,762
treatment from Ajahn Brahm, and 
if you want special treatment, 

432
00:25:11,762 --> 00:25:13,769
find another teacher, you're not
going to get it from Ajahn 

433
00:25:13,769 --> 00:25:17,072
Brahm. 
But you should never look for 

434
00:25:17,072 --> 00:25:19,005
that special treatment anyway, 
if you look for it, you're 

435
00:25:19,005 --> 00:25:22,000
looking for the wrong thing. 
It shouldn't be like that, we 

436
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,879
shouldn't have special 
treatment, everyone should be, 

437
00:25:23,879 --> 00:25:26,400
we should feel that we are on 
the same level. 

438
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:29,120
That is the appropriate way of 
practicing this Dhamma. 

439
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,874
That leaves a sense of 
independence for each one of us 

440
00:25:32,874 --> 00:25:35,467
also, so it's a very positive 
thing when it happens in that 

441
00:25:35,467 --> 00:25:38,020
way. 
And the Buddha also said at this

442
00:25:38,020 --> 00:25:41,812
particular point, he says that, 
he is asked, well, who should 

443
00:25:41,812 --> 00:25:43,920
lead the community after you 
passed away? 

444
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,267
And the Buddha says, well, I 
don't even consider myself a 

445
00:25:46,267 --> 00:25:48,659
leader. 
So let alone, why should I kind 

446
00:25:48,659 --> 00:25:51,946
of make anyone else a leader? 
Kind of interesting, what do you

447
00:25:51,946 --> 00:25:53,280
mean you don't consider yourself
a leader? 

448
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,680
Everyone looks to you for all 
the solutions. 

449
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,949
Well, for the Buddha's point of 
view, because he has no sense of

450
00:25:58,949 --> 00:26:02,037
self, and no sense of being 
anyone special, he is just 

451
00:26:02,037 --> 00:26:05,270
there, he just solves issues and
he kind of does things in the 

452
00:26:05,270 --> 00:26:09,140
right way, but he doesn't have 
any personal sense or personal 

453
00:26:09,140 --> 00:26:12,800
identity as a leader. 
He maybe look as a leader on the

454
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:14,960
outside, but personally, he 
doesn't feel that way. 

455
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,040
And now he says, in the future, 
there should be no leader in the

456
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,990
Sangha. 
The Sangha should be a 

457
00:26:20,990 --> 00:26:24,400
decentralized body that relies 
on the Dhamma and the Vinaya, 

458
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,640
these teachings to carry on into
the future. 

459
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,658
And that Dhamma and Vinaya is 
still available to us at the 

460
00:26:31,658 --> 00:26:33,520
present day. 
That is our teacher. 

461
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,445
And that is one reason why I 
like to quote the suttas, which 

462
00:26:36,445 --> 00:26:39,110
is exactly what I'm doing now, 
by the way, just to make that 

463
00:26:39,110 --> 00:26:41,485
absolutely clear. 
I'm just kind of recounting what

464
00:26:41,485 --> 00:26:45,424
is in the Mahaparnibbana Sutta. 
But the main point of all of 

465
00:26:45,424 --> 00:26:48,240
this, I'm just kind of bringing 
these up, because there are very

466
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,800
interesting points that happen 
in the Mahaparnibbana Sutta. 

467
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,750
I'm trying to sell it to you a 
little bit, so that when you go 

468
00:26:53,750 --> 00:26:55,840
back home afterwards, you want 
to look it up straight away. 

469
00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,520
This is what salesmen are 
supposed to do. 

470
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,560
And if you don't look it up, I 
have failed as a salesman. 

471
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,680
So it is quite hard to get 
people to read the suttas, 

472
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,394
because people don't have time, 
sometimes the language is a bit 

473
00:27:12,394 --> 00:27:14,720
foreign, so you have to really 
kind of try your best. 

474
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,400
Good to start when you're young 
very often. 

475
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:24,175
But the main point here is that 
the Buddha is moving towards his

476
00:27:24,175 --> 00:27:27,600
final destination in this life. 
He's about to pass away. 

477
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:31,080
Ananda is distraught. 
He cannot really deal with this 

478
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,648
whole thing. 
So then the Buddha says to 

479
00:27:34,648 --> 00:27:38,160
Ananda, he'd realized Ananda is 
so distraught, he says to him, 

480
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,225
but haven't I told you that 
everything that is dear and 

481
00:27:42,225 --> 00:27:45,480
pleasing to you must become 
otherwise, must become separated

482
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:51,459
from you. 
And of course, this later on 

483
00:27:51,459 --> 00:27:54,240
becomes one of those core 
teachings of the Buddha, 

484
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,420
something that you see in the 
suttas, and what the Buddha 

485
00:27:57,420 --> 00:28:00,445
specifically says that whether 
you are a lay person or a 

486
00:28:00,445 --> 00:28:03,520
monastic, whether you are a 
woman or a man, this is one of 

487
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:05,920
those core things that we should
remember at all times. 

488
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,984
Everything in your life that is 
dear and pleasing to you must 

489
00:28:09,984 --> 00:28:14,526
become separated from you. 
And that of course is a very 

490
00:28:14,526 --> 00:28:17,245
powerful thing, because when you
start to think about it, there 

491
00:28:17,245 --> 00:28:20,660
are so many things in this world
that potentially either they are

492
00:28:20,660 --> 00:28:23,592
dear and pleasing to you or 
potentially could become dear 

493
00:28:23,592 --> 00:28:27,985
and pleasing to you. 
And the more you reflect on it, 

494
00:28:27,985 --> 00:28:31,732
the more you realize that 
actually this entire world of 

495
00:28:31,732 --> 00:28:35,614
sensory existence, where we see,
we hear, we feel, we smell and 

496
00:28:35,614 --> 00:28:40,234
we taste, that whole world in a 
sense is that area where we 

497
00:28:40,234 --> 00:28:43,620
become attached, where we hold 
on and where things become dear 

498
00:28:43,620 --> 00:28:47,402
and agreeable to us. 
So the Buddha then says, well, 

499
00:28:47,402 --> 00:28:51,360
what is the solution to this? 
How should we deal with this? 

500
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:57,280
And what he says is that you 
have to be a refuge for 

501
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,814
yourself. 
You have to take the Dhamma as a

502
00:28:59,814 --> 00:29:02,720
refuge, and you should have no 
other refuge apart from that. 

503
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,280
Yeah, a refuge for yourself, a 
refuge in the Dhamma. 

504
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,024
So you have to have an inner 
refuge, that's what the Buddha 

505
00:29:10,024 --> 00:29:13,086
is saying. 
If the whole external world is 

506
00:29:13,086 --> 00:29:16,348
unreliable, and that's basically
what he's saying, the whole 

507
00:29:16,348 --> 00:29:19,180
external world is unreliable, 
and if you think about it 

508
00:29:19,180 --> 00:29:22,664
clearly, you know that's true. 
You think about things in your 

509
00:29:22,664 --> 00:29:24,720
life, they all pass away, they 
all disappear. 

510
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:28,176
At the very latest, when you die
very often, long before that, it

511
00:29:28,176 --> 00:29:31,040
is so inherently unreliable. 
You don't know what's going to 

512
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:32,720
happen next. 
It's going to let you down. 

513
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,824
That is all you know. 
So there's only one place you 

514
00:29:35,824 --> 00:29:38,320
can find that refuge, and that 
is within yourself. 

515
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,728
And that is what it means to be 
an island unto yourself, or 

516
00:29:41,728 --> 00:29:44,730
being your own island. 
With the support of the Dhamma, 

517
00:29:44,730 --> 00:29:48,349
the teaching of the Buddha, to 
then kind of guide you in that 

518
00:29:48,349 --> 00:29:52,200
process of being an island unto 
yourself, then you have the two 

519
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,720
pillars that make a real refuge 
possible. 

520
00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:01,744
Remember that whenever you live 
your life, and you see that you 

521
00:30:01,744 --> 00:30:03,840
become disappointed with 
something, or you become 

522
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:06,374
distraught, or you suffer 
because of something that 

523
00:30:06,374 --> 00:30:10,080
happens in the external world, 
the reason why you become 

524
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:12,916
distraught, the reason why you 
suffer, the reason why it's 

525
00:30:12,916 --> 00:30:15,947
difficult to take, is because 
you have taken refuge in that 

526
00:30:15,947 --> 00:30:18,242
world. 
You have taken refuge in the 

527
00:30:18,242 --> 00:30:20,240
sense that you expect certain 
outcomes. 

528
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,400
You expect people to live. 
You expect your work to be 

529
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,320
there. 
You don't expect to be fired. 

530
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,040
You expect your kids to behave 
in a certain way. 

531
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,120
You expect your parents to 
behave in a certain way. 

532
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,160
You expect people to look after 
the environment. 

533
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,400
You expect certain politicians 
to do the right thing. 

534
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,068
Whenever you see the politicians
or the environment going down 

535
00:30:40,068 --> 00:30:42,800
the drain, you get upset. 
Why? 

536
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:44,320
Because you have different 
expectations. 

537
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,960
Every time something goes wrong 
in our life, every time we get 

538
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,046
upset about something, every 
time you can't take the 

539
00:30:52,046 --> 00:30:55,240
impermanence, you have taken 
refuge in that world, because 

540
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,860
you had expectations of it. 
You wanted to go in a certain 

541
00:30:58,860 --> 00:31:01,040
way, forgetting that the world 
is out of control. 

542
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,440
The world is always going to let
you down. 

543
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,320
So you have to find the inner 
refuge instead. 

544
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,050
How do you do that? 
And this is where the Buddha 

545
00:31:10,050 --> 00:31:13,953
says that the way to be an 
island unto yourself, the way to

546
00:31:13,953 --> 00:31:17,920
use the Dhamma as a refuge is to
practice the four Satipatanas. 

547
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:24,432
And the four Satipatanas can be 
summarized in one way, just as 

548
00:31:24,432 --> 00:31:28,240
mindfulness of breathing, 
watching your breath and going 

549
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,400
using meditation as a refuge. 
Why is that a refuge? 

550
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,975
Because when you go within, and 
when you practice meditation to 

551
00:31:35,975 --> 00:31:40,040
a deep level, and Satipatana is 
already quite a deep level, you 

552
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,814
are going inside of yourself. 
You are allowing the senses to 

553
00:31:43,814 --> 00:31:46,667
gradually drop off. 
The external world starts to 

554
00:31:46,667 --> 00:31:50,920
disappear, and instead you find 
that solace, you find that 

555
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:54,596
peace, you find the joy and all 
of these things within and 

556
00:31:54,596 --> 00:31:57,130
inside of yourself. 
And the more you have access to 

557
00:31:57,130 --> 00:32:00,240
that, the more you have access 
to these inner positive things, 

558
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,907
the less reliant you are on the 
external world for your 

559
00:32:03,907 --> 00:32:06,374
happiness, for your peace and 
for meaning and all of these 

560
00:32:06,374 --> 00:32:09,360
other things. 
This is why meditation is so 

561
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,584
powerful. 
It gives you a refuge in a world

562
00:32:12,584 --> 00:32:15,120
that is usually without a real 
refuge. 

563
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,480
And I always like that one of 
the things that Ajahn Chah, 

564
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,928
Ajahn Chah of course, Ajahn 
Brahm's teacher, in case you 

565
00:32:22,928 --> 00:32:26,370
don't know, very famous, one of 
the perhaps the most famous of 

566
00:32:26,370 --> 00:32:28,880
all the meditation masters in 
Thailand in the 20th century. 

567
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:33,707
And he said that going into 
meditation, deep meditation 

568
00:32:33,707 --> 00:32:36,160
especially, that's your real 
home. 

569
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,680
That is your home because that 
is where you feel really safe. 

570
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:44,400
And you feel you have a refuge 
from the entire world, which is 

571
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,536
so unreliable, so uncertain, and
that will always let you down in

572
00:32:47,536 --> 00:32:50,910
the end. 
So finding that refuge within is

573
00:32:50,910 --> 00:32:54,378
really a very important part of 
what the Buddhist teachings are 

574
00:32:54,378 --> 00:32:58,152
about. 
And perhaps you think that is a 

575
00:32:58,152 --> 00:33:01,881
high ask, because many people 
who are Buddhist, they may not 

576
00:33:01,881 --> 00:33:05,955
meditate very much, they may 
find meditation difficult, they 

577
00:33:05,955 --> 00:33:09,805
might find it difficult to give 
rise to joy or even peace in the

578
00:33:09,805 --> 00:33:11,478
meditation. 
So what do we do then if we 

579
00:33:11,478 --> 00:33:14,600
can't do that? 
Well, remember that anything you

580
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,744
do in the Buddhist path, even if
it's just being kind, keeping 

581
00:33:18,744 --> 00:33:21,600
the five precepts, we just did 
the five precepts, yeah, 

582
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,040
wonderful, most people here seem
to be keeping them, which is a 

583
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,800
marvelous thing. 
It is not at all obvious that 

584
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,432
people should be keeping the 
five precepts, but people here 

585
00:33:30,432 --> 00:33:32,000
seem to do it, and that's 
marvelous. 

586
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,500
And all of these things that we 
do, the kindness that we give 

587
00:33:36,500 --> 00:33:39,490
out to other people, the 
compassion that we have for the 

588
00:33:39,490 --> 00:33:42,720
world, the metta that we have 
for others, all of that, every 

589
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,096
time you do that, you are 
creating a little bit of refuge 

590
00:33:46,096 --> 00:33:48,640
within yourself. 
Why is that? 

591
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:52,329
Because when we do things that 
have to do with kindness, that 

592
00:33:52,329 --> 00:33:55,989
have to do with all of these 
things, we are building up a 

593
00:33:55,989 --> 00:33:58,320
sense of contentment and 
happiness within ourselves. 

594
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,170
And you know that's true, yeah? 
You know it's true that if you 

595
00:34:02,170 --> 00:34:04,720
really do an act of kindness 
towards other people, you tend 

596
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,315
to feel good about yourself. 
If you're anything like me, and 

597
00:34:08,315 --> 00:34:10,800
I assure you, you are, because 
we're all the same. 

598
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,120
Yeah, I really like to say that 
because people don't really want

599
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:16,719
to be exactly the same as 
others. 

600
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,520
We always want to have a little 
bit of self, yeah, this is me, 

601
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,841
I'm a bit like this, I'm 
different, actually, we're all 

602
00:34:22,841 --> 00:34:26,511
the same, yeah? 
So because of that, when you do 

603
00:34:26,511 --> 00:34:28,960
an act of kindness, you will 
feel good about yourself. 

604
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,809
Sometimes you may not feel it, 
it may be kind of a little bit 

605
00:34:32,809 --> 00:34:35,460
subliminal, a bit kind of below 
the threshold of what you can 

606
00:34:35,460 --> 00:34:38,800
perceive, but sometimes you feel
it powerfully, you don't know, 

607
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:40,719
at times you feel really good 
about yourself. 

608
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,864
But all the time we are building
up this underlying thing where 

609
00:34:43,864 --> 00:34:47,440
we feel that we are living a 
worthy life, we're building up 

610
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:51,360
self-esteem, building up a sense
of feeling good about ourselves,

611
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,120
and that is where that refuge 
comes, because that goodness is 

612
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,864
independent of external 
phenomena, it is a spiritual 

613
00:34:57,864 --> 00:35:01,016
kind of happiness, the spiritual
kind of peace that we are 

614
00:35:01,016 --> 00:35:04,456
building up for ourselves. 
And then down the track, if you 

615
00:35:04,456 --> 00:35:07,090
continue doing that, eventually 
you will also be able to 

616
00:35:07,090 --> 00:35:10,320
meditate, because these things 
go hand in hand very closely. 

617
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:15,840
So this is the Buddha's answer, 
if the world is so unreliable, 

618
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,627
if things are so uncertain, we 
need something else in our 

619
00:35:18,627 --> 00:35:22,340
lives, we need a spiritual part 
in our lives, something where we

620
00:35:22,340 --> 00:35:25,976
can find a true refuge. 
This is why we have the triple 

621
00:35:25,976 --> 00:35:28,848
refuge in Buddhism, that we 
talked about, that we actually 

622
00:35:28,848 --> 00:35:32,046
chanted just before. 
And for people who don't have 

623
00:35:32,046 --> 00:35:35,178
this, for people who don't have 
any spiritual leanings, who are 

624
00:35:35,178 --> 00:35:38,442
just materialists in the world, 
the world is very dry, the world

625
00:35:38,442 --> 00:35:41,324
is like a desert, the Buddha 
says, you're going through this 

626
00:35:41,324 --> 00:35:44,620
desert, there's nothing to 
really nourish you, you feel a 

627
00:35:44,620 --> 00:35:47,120
sense of emptiness, purposeless,
meaningless, you're moving 

628
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,576
towards your death, and then 
when you die, that's the end of 

629
00:35:49,576 --> 00:35:52,455
everything, and all you did in 
the meantime was kind of just 

630
00:35:52,455 --> 00:35:55,564
running around chasing empty 
pleasures, kind of silly, and 

631
00:35:55,564 --> 00:35:58,320
really is kind of meaningless at
the end of the day. 

632
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:03,189
So wonderful, so fortunate 
everyone is who has that kind of

633
00:36:03,189 --> 00:36:07,048
purpose in life, something else 
to give life meaning, and to 

634
00:36:07,048 --> 00:36:10,320
give life some kind of worthy 
goal and aim. 

635
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:15,280
But there is more to this idea 
of dying and to the idea of 

636
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:19,000
impermanence, and I'm just now 
talking about the end of the 

637
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:22,616
Buddha's life, how to think 
about it, but actually this idea

638
00:36:22,616 --> 00:36:25,920
of death and impermanence also 
comes in at the very beginning, 

639
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,864
at the beginning of the Buddha's
search for awakening, so it is 

640
00:36:29,864 --> 00:36:32,988
the conclusion of everything, 
but also it's part of the 

641
00:36:32,988 --> 00:36:36,160
beginning of everything, which 
is perhaps more surprising. 

642
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,120
What has death got to do with 
the beginning of things? 

643
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:43,440
And the answer to that is that 
when the Buddha was growing up, 

644
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,783
as you know, the story of the 
Buddha, this is not just a 

645
00:36:46,783 --> 00:36:51,040
legend, but actually this is 
what you get from the suttas, 

646
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,933
this seems to be a real 
historical account of how the 

647
00:36:53,933 --> 00:36:57,655
Buddha grew up, and he grew up 
in what would be considered a 

648
00:36:57,655 --> 00:37:00,938
wealthy family at that time. 
He wasn't a prince, he didn't 

649
00:37:00,938 --> 00:37:03,942
grow up in kind of great 
incredible luxury, anything like

650
00:37:03,942 --> 00:37:08,276
that, but still to a very high 
degree of luxury and material 

651
00:37:08,276 --> 00:37:10,560
well-being considering the 
times. 

652
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:14,160
Of course he didn't have any of 
the modern trappings of luxury, 

653
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:17,120
but he had some of the ancient 
trappings of luxury. 

654
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,320
You know what they were, ancient
trappings of luxury? 

655
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,996
They were lotus ponds. 
It's true, it actually says in 

656
00:37:24,996 --> 00:37:28,690
the suttas, the Buddha had three
lotus ponds, one with blue 

657
00:37:28,690 --> 00:37:32,320
lotuses, one with red lotuses, 
and one with white lotuses. 

658
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,328
So that was when he was growing 
up, this is how the young men 

659
00:37:35,328 --> 00:37:38,200
enjoyed themselves at the time 
of the Buddha, they had lotus 

660
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,520
ponds. 
It's kind of sweet, isn't it? 

661
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,640
These days things have changed 
just a little bit, and we don't 

662
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:47,543
really enjoy those lotus ponds 
quite the same way we did two 

663
00:37:47,543 --> 00:37:50,738
and a half thousand years ago. 
And what else did he have to 

664
00:37:50,738 --> 00:37:52,955
enjoy himself? 
He had very nice clothes, 

665
00:37:52,955 --> 00:37:57,170
clothes made of the highest kind
of cotton that was available, 

666
00:37:57,170 --> 00:38:02,241
high quality cloth from Benares,
so his turban, his jacket, his 

667
00:38:02,241 --> 00:38:05,888
coat, his coat, his jacket and 
what he was wearing was made of 

668
00:38:05,888 --> 00:38:08,316
that kind of cloth. 
And then he had servants looking

669
00:38:08,316 --> 00:38:11,476
after him, and he had three 
houses, that's kind of high 

670
00:38:11,476 --> 00:38:14,960
luxury, three houses and one for
each of the seasons. 

671
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:17,056
Maybe they were built 
differently according to the 

672
00:38:17,056 --> 00:38:18,640
weather or whatever, I don't 
know. 

673
00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:24,658
So he grew up in luxury, and 
amid all that luxury that he 

674
00:38:24,658 --> 00:38:28,539
had, one day he started to 
reflect about the realities of 

675
00:38:28,539 --> 00:38:30,872
life. 
And this is found in a number of

676
00:38:30,872 --> 00:38:34,000
suttas, one of the most 
important ones is the Arya 

677
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,216
Pariesana Sutta, which 
translates as the noble sutta on

678
00:38:37,216 --> 00:38:40,204
the noble search. 
Yeah, the noble search being the

679
00:38:40,204 --> 00:38:42,400
search of course for awakening 
and enlightenment. 

680
00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:48,456
It's also found in the Anguttara
Thris in a sutta called 

681
00:38:48,456 --> 00:38:53,402
Sukkumala Sutta, which means 
like being, Sukkumala means like

682
00:38:53,402 --> 00:38:57,360
refined or fine or something 
like that. 

683
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,220
You've been brought up in a 
refined way, Sukkumala, I think 

684
00:39:01,220 --> 00:39:05,654
it is. 
And in the sutta, especially the

685
00:39:05,654 --> 00:39:08,940
Arya Pariesana Sutta, where the 
Buddha talks about the noble 

686
00:39:08,940 --> 00:39:12,284
search, he says that while he 
was living this life, it 

687
00:39:12,284 --> 00:39:15,040
occurred to him, that I'm going 
to have to die. 

688
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:19,578
In the middle of all this, I'm 
kind of enjoying all of these 

689
00:39:19,578 --> 00:39:21,840
things, but one day I'm going to
have to die from this. 

690
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,158
So what does that mean? 
Does that mean that I should 

691
00:39:25,158 --> 00:39:27,088
just keep on clinging and 
attaching to all of these 

692
00:39:27,088 --> 00:39:28,815
things? 
And then when I die, I'm going 

693
00:39:28,815 --> 00:39:29,920
to have to suffer the 
consequences. 

694
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,370
What does that actually mean? 
But not only is it the fact that

695
00:39:34,370 --> 00:39:39,000
I am going to die, but all of 
these things around me that I am

696
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:44,080
attaching to, wife and children,
all my possessions that I have, 

697
00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,387
and it kind of counts up all the
possessions that I have, the 

698
00:39:47,387 --> 00:39:50,322
cattle, the animals, the gold 
and the silver, all of these 

699
00:39:50,322 --> 00:39:52,880
kind of things. 
That too is subject to death. 

700
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,756
And that of course, because it's
all subject to death, and the 

701
00:39:56,756 --> 00:40:00,109
gold and silver is subject to 
death in the sense that it will 

702
00:40:00,109 --> 00:40:02,720
disappear one day, because it is
all subject to death. 

703
00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:07,885
It may depart even before I die.
So how can I go around when 

704
00:40:07,885 --> 00:40:10,400
these things are so unreliable 
and so uncertain? 

705
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,894
How can I go around attaching to
these things, enjoying them, 

706
00:40:13,894 --> 00:40:17,880
making this the foundation of my
life, and then down the tracks, 

707
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,749
they're suffering in the face, 
because that has to be the end 

708
00:40:20,749 --> 00:40:24,780
point of all of this. 
And this is what this kind of 

709
00:40:24,780 --> 00:40:27,600
reflection, the reflection on 
death is the fundamental one 

710
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,160
that makes the Buddha decide to 
go forth. 

711
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,630
Isn't that kind of astonishing? 
You may have heard the story of 

712
00:40:34,630 --> 00:40:36,871
the Buddha deciding he has 
compassion for all living 

713
00:40:36,871 --> 00:40:39,247
beings, he wants to find a 
solution to the problems of the 

714
00:40:39,247 --> 00:40:43,120
world, and he practices for four
incalculable eons or whatever, 

715
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,370
and then as a Bodhisattva, and 
then he decides to become a 

716
00:40:46,370 --> 00:40:47,840
Buddha. 
Well, that is a story. 

717
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,720
It is a nice story perhaps, but 
it's just a story. 

718
00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:53,876
It is not actually, it doesn't 
have anything to do with what 

719
00:40:53,876 --> 00:40:56,720
actually happens. 
Sorry, what actually happened. 

720
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,760
This is a story that was built 
up after the Buddha passed away,

721
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,800
in large part because people 
wanted to remember the Buddha, 

722
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:07,828
and they wanted to kind of 
understand who he was as a 

723
00:41:07,828 --> 00:41:10,720
being, and it came in after the 
life of the Buddha. 

724
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,954
There's a very nice book called 
The Genesis of the Bodhisattva 

725
00:41:14,954 --> 00:41:18,520
Ideal, and it talks about the 
foundations of this ideal, how 

726
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,760
it arose based on certain 
passages in the suttas. 

727
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,905
And if you read that little 
booklet, it's about 100 pages 

728
00:41:24,905 --> 00:41:27,682
long or something, you will 
never look at the Bodhisattva 

729
00:41:27,682 --> 00:41:29,600
Ideal in quite the same way 
afterwards. 

730
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,480
It's very well researched and 
very worthy of reading. 

731
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:36,580
So the reality is that the 
reason why the Buddha was 

732
00:41:36,580 --> 00:41:40,378
fought, what the Buddha himself 
says, as far as we know from the

733
00:41:40,378 --> 00:41:42,640
earliest suttas, this was the 
reason. 

734
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:46,080
Death is what actually motivated
the Buddha to go out. 

735
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,880
That is how powerful a 
recollection death actually is. 

736
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:55,164
So the reason why death does not
sometimes drive us on so much in

737
00:41:55,164 --> 00:41:58,630
the spiritual practice as it 
should is because we haven't 

738
00:41:58,630 --> 00:42:01,920
contemplated it quite to the 
extent that the Buddha did. 

739
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:05,287
We still haven't taken it on 
board fully in the way that the 

740
00:42:05,287 --> 00:42:09,196
Buddha suggested we should. 
So the Buddha, seeing all of 

741
00:42:09,196 --> 00:42:13,120
this, that all this clinging and
holding on to these things, is 

742
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,000
actually really problematic. 
There's two things here which 

743
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,612
are kind of interesting. 
One thing is that you cling on 

744
00:42:18,612 --> 00:42:21,200
to all of these things in life 
and it causes suffering. 

745
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,634
But the other thing which is 
interesting, and this is kind of

746
00:42:23,634 --> 00:42:26,200
the Buddha's other 
understanding, I think here, it 

747
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,160
doesn't even give all that much 
happiness. 

748
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:32,240
It doesn't give any profound 
sense of satisfaction. 

749
00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:35,955
All the worldly things that we 
have, they give us a degree of 

750
00:42:35,955 --> 00:42:39,573
happiness and enough to kind of 
carry on, but not the profound 

751
00:42:39,573 --> 00:42:43,218
sense of happiness that you can 
find in meditation experiences, 

752
00:42:43,218 --> 00:42:46,140
for example. 
It's kind of weird, we cling on 

753
00:42:46,140 --> 00:42:48,868
to all these things, but at the 
same time these things can never

754
00:42:48,868 --> 00:42:51,200
give us real happiness. 
What are we doing? 

755
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,368
We're just causing suffering for
ourselves and not experiencing 

756
00:42:54,368 --> 00:42:57,148
happiness. 
It's kind of really a bad idea, 

757
00:42:57,148 --> 00:42:59,864
isn't it? 
So the Buddha goes forth and 

758
00:42:59,864 --> 00:43:04,431
then based on that, based on 
that insight, then eventually he

759
00:43:04,431 --> 00:43:08,000
makes the breakthrough and 
becomes a Buddha down the track 

760
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,960
and then teaches us these 
teachings and then bequeaths 

761
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,548
this beautiful dhamma for 
generations of people in 

762
00:43:15,548 --> 00:43:18,520
different cultures, different 
times, for two and a half 

763
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,562
thousand years into the future. 
And all of that came about 

764
00:43:21,562 --> 00:43:24,766
because the Buddha, or the 
Buddha-to-be, thought about 

765
00:43:24,766 --> 00:43:28,106
death in a profound way. 
You could argue that the whole 

766
00:43:28,106 --> 00:43:31,228
of Buddhism, the whole of these 
teachings, emerged from the idea

767
00:43:31,228 --> 00:43:36,120
of death. 
And that is very interesting 

768
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,144
because it shows you some of the
potential for this kind of 

769
00:43:40,144 --> 00:43:42,534
reflection. 
It shows you how powerful it 

770
00:43:42,534 --> 00:43:46,030
actually can be. 
So if you do it in the right 

771
00:43:46,030 --> 00:43:48,560
way, it really becomes something
very powerful in your mind. 

772
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:50,240
You're going to die. 
What does that mean? 

773
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,080
Take it on board fully and then 
this is the consequence of that.

774
00:43:55,840 --> 00:44:01,280
But one way, that is kind of how
this ties in with the suttas. 

775
00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:08,368
And it can be argued, I think, 
that this idea of death is 

776
00:44:08,368 --> 00:44:13,360
really just one contemplation of
a broader contemplation. 

777
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,560
And that broader contemplation 
is that everything in the world 

778
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:20,320
is impermanent, unsatisfactory, 
always changing. 

779
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:22,960
Death is the starkest expression
of that. 

780
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:27,055
When you stare death kind of in 
the face, it's a very powerful 

781
00:44:27,055 --> 00:44:29,760
reminder of impermanence because
everything has to go. 

782
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:34,014
But actually, it is a more 
general idea that everything is 

783
00:44:34,014 --> 00:44:36,684
impermanent. 
This is kind of the general idea

784
00:44:36,684 --> 00:44:38,640
which incorporates the idea of 
death. 

785
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:41,600
Everything is always a bit out 
of control and a bit uncertain. 

786
00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:45,988
And even though it is a bit out 
of control and uncertain, and at

787
00:44:45,988 --> 00:44:49,127
the same time, it doesn't really
give any real satisfaction 

788
00:44:49,127 --> 00:44:52,400
either when you pursue all of 
these things in the world. 

789
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:55,700
They are kind of nice, but you 
never really feel truly 

790
00:44:55,700 --> 00:44:57,956
satisfied. 
You never feel truly complete 

791
00:44:57,956 --> 00:45:01,512
because of these things. 
There is kind of always that 

792
00:45:01,512 --> 00:45:04,160
endless searching for more that 
never really stops. 

793
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:09,336
So in concluding this talk, I 
thought it would be good to look

794
00:45:09,336 --> 00:45:13,406
at one of the beautiful similes 
that the Buddha uses to explain 

795
00:45:13,406 --> 00:45:16,854
this. 
And how that eventually, if you 

796
00:45:16,854 --> 00:45:20,464
pursue that idea, eventually it 
gives rise to that real 

797
00:45:20,464 --> 00:45:22,928
satisfaction and real 
contentment on the Buddhist 

798
00:45:22,928 --> 00:45:25,506
path. 
And this simile that the Buddha 

799
00:45:25,506 --> 00:45:28,668
uses, and this has more to do 
with the dissatisfaction than 

800
00:45:28,668 --> 00:45:32,020
the impermanence of things. 
We could look at it from the 

801
00:45:32,020 --> 00:45:34,843
viewpoint of impermanence as 
well, but I like this simile, so

802
00:45:34,843 --> 00:45:38,000
I'm going to look at it from the
viewpoint of dissatisfaction. 

803
00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:42,260
And I just taught this simile 
recently on the retreat that we 

804
00:45:42,260 --> 00:45:45,920
had down in Anglesey. 
And it's the simile of the 

805
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:49,100
hungry dog. 
Have you heard about the simile 

806
00:45:49,100 --> 00:45:50,500
of the hungry dog before? 
Maybe? 

807
00:45:50,500 --> 00:45:55,939
Okay, we'll see when I say it. 
This simile is the idea that the

808
00:45:55,939 --> 00:46:00,264
Buddha says that the sensual 
world, the world of the five 

809
00:46:00,264 --> 00:46:04,152
senses and our pursuit of the 
objects in that world of the 

810
00:46:04,152 --> 00:46:06,800
five senses is just like a 
hungry dog. 

811
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:11,527
A hungry dog, it usually runs up
to the butcher shop, and this 

812
00:46:11,527 --> 00:46:14,640
was in ancient India, and it 
sits outside the butcher shop 

813
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:17,538
and kind of looks into the 
window trying to look as cute as

814
00:46:17,538 --> 00:46:20,221
possible, so the butcher will 
kind of have compassion and 

815
00:46:20,221 --> 00:46:23,677
sympathy for it. 
So it sits there and then hoping

816
00:46:23,677 --> 00:46:27,120
for the butcher to throw in some
meat, because dogs want meat. 

817
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:31,680
This is kind of how they're 
carnivores originally. 

818
00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:34,732
So it sits at the butcher 
waiting and waiting, but the 

819
00:46:34,732 --> 00:46:37,520
butcher is a businessman. 
Butcher is not going to throw 

820
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,320
away valuable meat to a dog. 
There's no way. 

821
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:43,440
So the butcher kind of takes 
this kind of skeleton of this 

822
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:46,883
carcass of an animal, cuts off 
all the meat, and when all the 

823
00:46:46,883 --> 00:46:49,560
meat is gone, there's nothing 
left, then he throws out the 

824
00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:53,225
bone to the poor dog. 
And this, of course, all that is

825
00:46:53,225 --> 00:46:58,169
left on that bone is a bit of 
blood, and a bit of kind of gnaw

826
00:46:58,169 --> 00:47:01,315
that bone a little bit, but 
there is no real sustenance 

827
00:47:01,315 --> 00:47:03,308
there. 
There's nothing to fill that dog

828
00:47:03,308 --> 00:47:06,683
that is hungry. 
So all that happens to the dog, 

829
00:47:06,683 --> 00:47:10,516
it gets the taste of the blood, 
and then, of course, when it 

830
00:47:10,516 --> 00:47:13,120
gets the taste, craving becomes 
even more powerful. 

831
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:16,180
But because the hunger isn't 
satisfied, because the hunger 

832
00:47:16,180 --> 00:47:19,396
isn't still there, the craving 
is still there just as much, 

833
00:47:19,396 --> 00:47:23,856
even more than it was before. 
So the poor dog runs off to the 

834
00:47:23,856 --> 00:47:27,690
next butcher shop, exactly the 
same scenario unfolds as before,

835
00:47:27,690 --> 00:47:31,405
waiting outside, more blood on 
the bone, but no real 

836
00:47:31,405 --> 00:47:34,000
sustenance. 
And this way, the dog goes on 

837
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,560
and on and on through its little
life. 

838
00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:41,120
Then the dog dies, and then when
the dog gets reborn, when the 

839
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:42,720
dog gets reborn, how does it get
reborn? 

840
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:46,210
As a little puppy, yeah? 
And the puppy has exactly the 

841
00:47:46,210 --> 00:47:50,170
same problem as the adult dog in
the past life, and it does 

842
00:47:50,170 --> 00:47:53,040
exactly the same problem, yeah? 
And it keeps on going like this.

843
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:56,800
And after a hundred lifetimes as
a dog, it's still kind of doing 

844
00:47:56,800 --> 00:47:59,120
the same thing, probably. 
It's kind of... 

845
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:03,492
It's kind of... 
You can almost get a sense of 

846
00:48:03,492 --> 00:48:05,584
repulsion towards that, yeah? 
It's kind of, oh, it's almost 

847
00:48:05,584 --> 00:48:07,790
difficult to look at, because 
you can see the suffering in 

848
00:48:07,790 --> 00:48:09,200
that. 
It's very kind of unpleasant. 

849
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:13,430
But, of course, the point is 
that this is largely what we do 

850
00:48:13,430 --> 00:48:15,600
as human beings. 
Yeah, this is the problem. 

851
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:19,744
We do exactly the same thing. 
We run after the sense of 

852
00:48:19,744 --> 00:48:22,660
objects of the world. 
We run after this thing and that

853
00:48:22,660 --> 00:48:24,520
thing. 
And then never give that 

854
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:26,480
satisfaction that we are really 
looking for. 

855
00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:30,560
Notice that, yeah? 
When you see that craving arises

856
00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,080
for something, it looks like 
that craving, when you get it 

857
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:37,040
satisfied, it will give rise to 
real satisfaction inside. 

858
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:39,520
But look at what actually 
happens. 

859
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:40,800
And you will see that it 
doesn't. 

860
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:44,588
It gives maybe rise to momentary
satisfaction, and that 

861
00:48:44,588 --> 00:48:45,920
satisfaction isn't really 
profound. 

862
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,530
It's like a shallow one. 
The mind is a bit dull or 

863
00:48:48,530 --> 00:48:50,107
whatever. 
It's not really kind of anything

864
00:48:50,107 --> 00:48:52,816
fantastic at all. 
And then soon afterwards, 

865
00:48:52,816 --> 00:48:55,760
because the satisfaction wasn't 
anything useful, the craving 

866
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:57,886
comes back again. 
You run to the next butcher 

867
00:48:57,886 --> 00:49:00,432
shop. 
How many butcher shops are you 

868
00:49:00,432 --> 00:49:02,880
going to run to? 
When are you going to be fed up 

869
00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:03,680
with those blooming butcher 
shops? 

870
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:09,990
It is time to realize that the 
butchers don't give away any 

871
00:49:09,990 --> 00:49:12,540
real sustenance. 
The five sensory world is that 

872
00:49:12,540 --> 00:49:14,720
butcher shop. 
It doesn't give any real 

873
00:49:14,720 --> 00:49:17,280
satisfaction. 
You can keep on running like 

874
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:18,824
this. 
And then when you die because 

875
00:49:18,824 --> 00:49:21,673
you are in the middle of a 
project, satisfying a certain 

876
00:49:21,673 --> 00:49:24,867
craving, you carry on in your 
next life, and you move on like 

877
00:49:24,867 --> 00:49:28,608
that. 
And within one life, it kind of 

878
00:49:28,608 --> 00:49:31,506
seems bearable enough. 
But if you see that process 

879
00:49:31,506 --> 00:49:34,427
happening in life after life, 
that's when it becomes really 

880
00:49:34,427 --> 00:49:35,732
scary. 
That's when it becomes 

881
00:49:35,732 --> 00:49:38,000
intolerable, and you've got to 
do something about it. 

882
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:41,488
So what do you do? 
So what you do is that one day 

883
00:49:41,488 --> 00:49:43,280
you find a different kind of 
butcher. 

884
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:45,280
Actually, he's not a butcher at 
all. 

885
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:48,320
He's just this nice old holy man
called the Buddha. 

886
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,400
And you come and listen to this 
old holy man. 

887
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:53,760
It wouldn't be good karma to 
call the Buddha butchers. 

888
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:55,360
I got away from that very 
quickly. 

889
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:02,190
So you got to this holy man, and
he tells you, you're looking for

890
00:50:02,190 --> 00:50:05,601
happiness in the wrong place. 
Of course, there is no happiness

891
00:50:05,601 --> 00:50:08,111
in that world. 
And the reason why there is no 

892
00:50:08,111 --> 00:50:11,303
happiness in the world is 
because you have a psychological

893
00:50:11,303 --> 00:50:13,440
problem. 
There is a lack inside of you. 

894
00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:15,840
You don't really feel happiness.
You don't feel content. 

895
00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:18,984
You need to solve the 
psychological problem inside of 

896
00:50:18,984 --> 00:50:22,880
you, not through external things
to try to fill up a 

897
00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:25,490
psychological gap. 
You have to work with your mind 

898
00:50:25,490 --> 00:50:26,880
directly. 
You have to develop your mind. 

899
00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:30,320
Yeah, it kind of makes sense, 
doesn't it? 

900
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,408
If we're going to fill up 
something that is inherently 

901
00:50:33,408 --> 00:50:36,140
problematic inside of us, you 
have to actually develop the 

902
00:50:36,140 --> 00:50:38,915
mind instead. 
So that is why the Buddha says 

903
00:50:38,915 --> 00:50:42,080
we should put our attention. 
How do we do that? 

904
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:44,960
Well, the way we do that is by 
practicing the Noble Eightfold 

905
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:47,602
Path. 
You start doing things like I 

906
00:50:47,602 --> 00:50:49,360
mentioned before by being more 
kind. 

907
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:52,480
And when you are more kind, 
something magical happens. 

908
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:56,001
You start to feel more content 
because you start to feel more 

909
00:50:56,001 --> 00:50:58,240
good about yourself. 
You start to be more generous. 

910
00:50:58,240 --> 00:51:01,247
You do little acts of kindness 
and generosity all over the 

911
00:51:01,247 --> 00:51:03,227
place. 
And you feel a bit of joy about 

912
00:51:03,227 --> 00:51:05,008
that. 
And when you look at that joy 

913
00:51:05,008 --> 00:51:08,560
inside of you, it is a very 
different type of happiness than

914
00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:11,440
the happiness that you get 
through the sensory world. 

915
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:15,077
It is a happiness that gives 
rise to satisfaction, to 

916
00:51:15,077 --> 00:51:18,468
contentment. 
It starts to fill you up inside 

917
00:51:18,468 --> 00:51:22,080
that hole, that craving, that 
eternal itch that is always 

918
00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:24,240
driving you on, starts to 
disappear. 

919
00:51:24,240 --> 00:51:26,720
And you feel the opposite, which
is satisfaction instead. 

920
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:29,280
And then you carry on on this 
path. 

921
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,000
And you keep on practicing 
morality and kindness. 

922
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:34,160
You keep on practicing all of 
these things. 

923
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,480
And then one day you start to 
practice meditation. 

924
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:40,240
And as you practice meditation, 
meditation deepens and deepens. 

925
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:46,000
Until one day you find that 
final satisfaction, that final 

926
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:48,800
contentment where the itch is 
completely gone. 

927
00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:52,592
Craving isn't there anymore. 
There's nothing driving you 

928
00:51:52,592 --> 00:51:55,000
forward. 
All you feel is joy and 

929
00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:57,270
happiness inside. 
And you realize, I have found 

930
00:51:57,270 --> 00:51:59,120
what I was looking for all 
along. 

931
00:52:00,160 --> 00:52:02,892
That's where it is. 
This is what craving was 

932
00:52:02,892 --> 00:52:05,280
promising you. 
But craving could not deliver. 

933
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,120
You look in a different way. 
You look through the spiritual 

934
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:09,920
path. 
You look to all of these things.

935
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:13,505
Then suddenly you find the 
answer to the question that you 

936
00:52:13,505 --> 00:52:16,320
had all along. 
And you feel 100% satisfied. 

937
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:20,484
What that means is that it feels
like it is essentially the 

938
00:52:20,484 --> 00:52:24,732
answer to the meaning of life. 
The craving that always drives 

939
00:52:24,732 --> 00:52:26,400
you on. 
You are always searching. 

940
00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:28,400
You haven't found the meaning of
life yet. 

941
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:32,720
When craving disappears and you 
feel 100% satisfied, 100% 

942
00:52:32,720 --> 00:52:36,000
content, 100% happy, there is no
more searches needed. 

943
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:38,400
It means you have found the 
answer to the meaning of life. 

944
00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:42,320
This is what it's about. 
Why isn't everyone a Buddhist? 

945
00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:47,520
This is what I ask. 
It's so obvious, isn't it? 

946
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:50,835
This is what we should be doing.
And of course, it goes a little 

947
00:52:50,835 --> 00:52:53,989
bit beyond that as well. 
Because beyond that is also the 

948
00:52:53,989 --> 00:52:56,385
insight. 
But this is the first taste that

949
00:52:56,385 --> 00:52:59,626
you have of understanding the 
purpose and the meaning of life 

950
00:52:59,626 --> 00:53:01,428
itself. 
When you have your initial 

951
00:53:01,428 --> 00:53:04,739
feeling and experience of a 
little bit of samadhi and deep 

952
00:53:04,739 --> 00:53:08,774
meditation. 
So this is what the Buddhist 

953
00:53:08,774 --> 00:53:13,460
path is about. 
This is driven by the idea of 

954
00:53:13,460 --> 00:53:15,690
death. 
Death is one of those powerful 

955
00:53:15,690 --> 00:53:18,640
things that kind of drive us in 
the right direction. 

956
00:53:18,640 --> 00:53:22,059
Because death reminds us of the 
problems of the samsaric 

957
00:53:22,059 --> 00:53:25,236
existence. 
It helps us to turn in the right

958
00:53:25,236 --> 00:53:27,200
direction. 
It helps us to start practicing 

959
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:29,680
the path, practicing the 
Buddhist teachings of the 

960
00:53:29,680 --> 00:53:33,460
spiritual path in a good way. 
And it leads to all these 

961
00:53:33,460 --> 00:53:35,830
beautiful blessings, all this 
beautiful happiness all the way 

962
00:53:35,830 --> 00:53:38,320
along. 
Your life becomes meaningful. 

963
00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:40,240
You become a blessing for 
yourself. 

964
00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:42,960
And you also become a blessing 
for the world around you. 

965
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:47,788
What a wonderful thing that is. 
So to each one of you, good luck

966
00:53:47,788 --> 00:53:51,834
with your spiritual practice. 
And may you fare on well and 

967
00:53:51,834 --> 00:54:00,734
happily in this path. 
Okay, shall we take some 

968
00:54:00,734 --> 00:54:02,480
questions? 
Is that a good idea, Adrian? 

969
00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:05,813
So please, if anyone has any 
questions, this is a good 

970
00:54:05,813 --> 00:54:08,664
opportunity to ask. 
Or if you have a comment or 

971
00:54:08,664 --> 00:54:10,320
whatever, it doesn't matter. 
Whatever you want to say is 

972
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:14,560
okay. 
Okay, please. 

973
00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:23,520
I've just got a comment. 
Adrian, what I did, I did it in 

974
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:27,040
2015 and then I had to do it 
again this year. 

975
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:30,320
When we were gone, pilgrimage, 
you have to write a letter. 

976
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:34,236
So the one letter was to Adrian 
Achillo saying, you know, what 

977
00:54:34,236 --> 00:54:39,248
if I died, you know, what I 
wanted to have done with my 

978
00:54:39,248 --> 00:54:41,663
body, etc. 
And then the second letter is to

979
00:54:41,663 --> 00:54:44,475
your family. 
So I have two boys, so I wrote 

980
00:54:44,475 --> 00:54:48,272
two individual letters to them. 
And that, I mean, I'd worked in 

981
00:54:48,272 --> 00:54:50,320
palliative care, but that was 
other people dying. 

982
00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:51,920
This is me dying. 
Right, exactly. 

983
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,400
And that was really very 
helpful. 

984
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:56,640
It was kind of really in your 
face. 

985
00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:01,500
And I couldn't do the two 
letters on the same day because 

986
00:55:01,500 --> 00:55:06,915
it was completely draining. 
So I did them on separate days, 

987
00:55:06,915 --> 00:55:11,760
but that can be quite a useful 
exercise to do. 

988
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:12,880
That's very interesting, isn't 
it? 

989
00:55:12,880 --> 00:55:15,680
You do things that you have to 
do because of the situation. 

990
00:55:15,680 --> 00:55:18,760
And then it actually turns out 
to be a kind of a very positive 

991
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:19,680
dharma thing. 
Yeah. 

992
00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:22,904
And so then you hand the letters
to Ajahn and at the end he hands

993
00:55:22,904 --> 00:55:24,260
them back to you. 
Okay. 

994
00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:28,907
Okay. 
In my case, no one died on our 

995
00:55:28,907 --> 00:55:29,700
pilgrimage. 
Okay. 

996
00:55:29,700 --> 00:55:31,280
Thank you. 
Okay, good. 

997
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:32,640
Was that good or bad that no one
died? 

998
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:37,360
Well, I mean, I always said I'd 
really like to die. 

999
00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:42,930
I nearly died the year before 
when I fell over and hit my head

1000
00:55:42,930 --> 00:55:45,680
on marble and the monks actually
thought I had died. 

1001
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:49,845
That's right. 
And then I said, oh, what a 

1002
00:55:49,845 --> 00:55:51,600
shame I was in front of the 
Bodhi tree. 

1003
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:55,200
Ajahn didn't appreciate that. 
He didn't appreciate that. 

1004
00:55:56,480 --> 00:55:58,480
Anyway, I'll hand over to 
someone else now. 

1005
00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:06,675
Yeah. 
Vantye, you spoke about the 

1006
00:56:06,675 --> 00:56:08,000
right view. 
Yeah. 

1007
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:11,120
Now, my understanding of right 
view or understanding is 

1008
00:56:11,120 --> 00:56:13,949
understanding the Four Noble 
Truths and the Law of Karma and 

1009
00:56:13,949 --> 00:56:15,220
cause and effect. 
Yeah. 

1010
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:18,350
You did bring in about mother 
and father, which I'm aware, but

1011
00:56:18,350 --> 00:56:21,320
I didn't quite understand how 
that fitted in with the right 

1012
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:22,900
view or right understanding. 
Okay. 

1013
00:56:23,280 --> 00:56:27,854
So the reason I think it is 
there is because your parents 

1014
00:56:27,854 --> 00:56:31,440
are a very powerful field of 
merit, either merit or demerit. 

1015
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:35,969
So in connection with the idea 
of kama and rebirth, I think the

1016
00:56:35,969 --> 00:56:38,510
Buddha brings up parents 
specifically because it's a very

1017
00:56:38,510 --> 00:56:43,328
potent way of making kama. 
So in a sense, what it means is 

1018
00:56:43,328 --> 00:56:46,647
that if you want to progress on 
the spiritual path, you have to 

1019
00:56:46,647 --> 00:56:48,904
make peace with your parents, 
you have to treat them in the 

1020
00:56:48,904 --> 00:56:52,014
right way, and it will actually 
add a big oomph to your 

1021
00:56:52,014 --> 00:56:54,530
spiritual practice. 
That's why I think it is in 

1022
00:56:54,530 --> 00:56:57,928
there. 
And this is one of the things 

1023
00:56:57,928 --> 00:57:00,596
that is always maybe slightly 
problematic about the 

1024
00:57:00,596 --> 00:57:04,295
traditional way of talking about
right view, as you say, kama and

1025
00:57:04,295 --> 00:57:07,344
rebirth and these things, is 
that it tends to become a little

1026
00:57:07,344 --> 00:57:10,138
bit theoretical. 
We need to somehow integrate it 

1027
00:57:10,138 --> 00:57:12,240
in a practical way into our 
daily life. 

1028
00:57:12,240 --> 00:57:13,520
So what does it mean in 
practice? 

1029
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:17,185
So for me, the idea, for 
example, of thinking about the 

1030
00:57:17,185 --> 00:57:20,184
five sensory world as 
impermanent and always fading 

1031
00:57:20,184 --> 00:57:25,103
away, being subject to, always 
kind of letting us down in the 

1032
00:57:25,103 --> 00:57:28,360
end, is actually one way of 
bringing right view in a very 

1033
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:30,720
practical way into your life. 
Because we know that's true. 

1034
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:34,070
The world outside is always 
unreliable, always uncertain, 

1035
00:57:34,070 --> 00:57:37,503
it's so obvious to us. 
So there's a way of looking at 

1036
00:57:37,503 --> 00:57:40,552
the Four Noble Truths of Dukkha 
in a very practical way, rather 

1037
00:57:40,552 --> 00:57:43,390
than allowing it to be some 
theoretical issue that is 

1038
00:57:43,390 --> 00:57:44,960
lodging at the back of our minds
or whatever. 

1039
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:53,360
We have a few online questions. 
The first one here, could Ajahn 

1040
00:57:53,360 --> 00:57:59,776
please talk about how he helped 
his father's funeral be a happy 

1041
00:57:59,776 --> 00:58:02,560
celebration? 
How I did that, are you? 

1042
00:58:02,560 --> 00:58:06,320
It's just about how you focus, 
yeah, it's about kind of the 

1043
00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:11,120
issues that you bring forth and 
how you actually reflect on it. 

1044
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:15,009
And first of all, as I said, one
of the first reflections is the 

1045
00:58:15,009 --> 00:58:19,960
idea that you just remember that
your father's life was one well 

1046
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,880
lived, that was kind of one of 
the most powerful things for me.

1047
00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:25,740
And when you think about your 
father's life being one well 

1048
00:58:25,740 --> 00:58:28,952
lived, you have a grant for 
rejoicing, a grant for 

1049
00:58:28,952 --> 00:58:30,750
celebrating. 
I said this would be a 

1050
00:58:30,750 --> 00:58:33,196
celebration rather than a sad 
occasion when my father's passed

1051
00:58:33,196 --> 00:58:35,520
away. 
This was the first one, the 

1052
00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:39,024
first way of thinking about it. 
Another thing that I always talk

1053
00:58:39,024 --> 00:58:42,614
about at funeral ceremonies, 
it's a very simple little thing,

1054
00:58:42,614 --> 00:58:46,232
but it's one that was used by 
Ajahn Chah sometimes in 

1055
00:58:46,232 --> 00:58:48,392
Thailand. 
And he would sometimes hold up a

1056
00:58:48,392 --> 00:58:51,324
glass, there would be a big 
audience present, this is a cup,

1057
00:58:51,324 --> 00:58:54,489
but it would be a glass, and he 
would say, can you see the crack

1058
00:58:54,489 --> 00:58:57,078
in the glass? 
Many of you probably heard this 

1059
00:58:57,078 --> 00:59:00,428
simply before, it's very often 
talked about, but it's a very 

1060
00:59:00,428 --> 00:59:02,160
beautiful one. 
And of course, there wasn't any 

1061
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:04,163
crack in the glass, everybody 
said no, can't see any crack, 

1062
00:59:04,163 --> 00:59:07,642
and he says, well, it is there. 
It is there because this glass, 

1063
00:59:07,642 --> 00:59:11,261
one day it will fall down, one 
day it will shatter in a 

1064
00:59:11,261 --> 00:59:14,060
thousand pieces, because that's 
the nature of glass, it will 

1065
00:59:14,060 --> 00:59:17,564
fall off the table or whatever. 
So because we know it is 

1066
00:59:17,564 --> 00:59:20,890
impermanent, because we know it 
is fragile, we care for it, we 

1067
00:59:20,890 --> 00:59:23,600
look after it, we don't actually
just chuck it on the ground, 

1068
00:59:23,600 --> 00:59:26,450
like a rubber ball, anything 
like that, because then you're 

1069
00:59:26,450 --> 00:59:28,480
not really caring for the glass 
in the right way. 

1070
00:59:29,120 --> 00:59:33,440
In exactly the same way, human 
life is fragile, we are so 

1071
00:59:33,440 --> 00:59:36,617
fragile, yeah, suddenly you die,
I mean, it's a miracle that 

1072
00:59:36,617 --> 00:59:40,520
these human bodies work the way 
they do, for those of you who 

1073
00:59:40,520 --> 00:59:43,252
are doctors probably know that, 
I mean, there's so many bits and

1074
00:59:43,252 --> 00:59:47,032
pieces in these bodies, and that
they even work, to me, it's 

1075
00:59:47,032 --> 00:59:49,120
like, yeah, I'm kind of 
astonished. 

1076
00:59:49,120 --> 00:59:52,070
So they are very fragile, and 
before you know it, things go 

1077
00:59:52,070 --> 00:59:53,920
wrong, yeah, and so we care for 
each other. 

1078
00:59:54,560 --> 00:59:57,594
And that is the beautiful way of
thinking about life, if you 

1079
00:59:57,594 --> 01:00:00,893
think about the fragility of 
life and that we all die, and 

1080
01:00:00,893 --> 01:00:04,180
that makes you a better person, 
then that is a wonderful way of 

1081
01:00:04,180 --> 01:00:08,332
kind of making the Dhamma, 
getting Dhamma out of a death 

1082
01:00:08,332 --> 01:00:11,108
situation. 
But then I also talk, this is 

1083
01:00:11,108 --> 01:00:13,760
kind of one of the ways that I 
usually do my funeral service, 

1084
01:00:13,760 --> 01:00:17,236
this is something I learned from
Ajahn Brahm, and that is the 

1085
01:00:17,236 --> 01:00:20,320
idea of how you actually focus 
when someone has died. 

1086
01:00:20,880 --> 01:00:25,720
And Ajahn Brahm normally talks 
about, it's like going to a 

1087
01:00:25,720 --> 01:00:28,155
concert, but he was into 
concerts when he was young, or 

1088
01:00:28,155 --> 01:00:31,445
it can be any kind of very nice 
experience that you have in your

1089
01:00:31,445 --> 01:00:34,444
life, yeah, you have a really 
nice experience, and then 

1090
01:00:34,444 --> 01:00:38,258
afterwards you can feel two ways
about that experience, if it was

1091
01:00:38,258 --> 01:00:40,960
really, really nice and it kind 
of lifted up your consciousness,

1092
01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:44,470
it could be maybe a meditation 
experience, or a sensual 

1093
01:00:44,470 --> 01:00:47,389
experience, or whatever, 
sometimes we feel transported to

1094
01:00:47,389 --> 01:00:50,000
a slightly different reality by 
these experiences. 

1095
01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:54,820
Afterwards, you can either 
think, oh no, yeah, I lost that 

1096
01:00:54,820 --> 01:00:58,076
experience, and you can feel 
really sad about it, and you can

1097
01:00:58,076 --> 01:01:00,903
get depressed and sad, because 
you lost a very positive 

1098
01:01:00,903 --> 01:01:03,755
experience. 
But the alternative is to think,

1099
01:01:03,755 --> 01:01:07,559
wow, how lucky I was, how lucky 
I was to have a chance, this is 

1100
01:01:07,559 --> 01:01:11,336
my ordinary life, it is so 
ordinary compared to such a peak

1101
01:01:11,336 --> 01:01:14,710
experience, how lucky I was to 
have that experience, I can 

1102
01:01:14,710 --> 01:01:18,130
carry it with me, it gives life 
more meaning, it has enriched my

1103
01:01:18,130 --> 01:01:22,875
life in a very positive way. 
In exactly the same way, if you 

1104
01:01:22,875 --> 01:01:26,748
are fortunate enough to have had
a good father, which I did, and 

1105
01:01:26,748 --> 01:01:30,188
many people do have good 
parents, not everybody, but it's

1106
01:01:30,188 --> 01:01:34,845
a fairly common experience, then
you think, thank you so much for

1107
01:01:34,845 --> 01:01:38,883
being part of my life, thank you
for being there and supporting 

1108
01:01:38,883 --> 01:01:42,544
me, thank you for enriching my 
experience, for making my life 

1109
01:01:42,544 --> 01:01:46,574
better, and then instead of 
grieving over the loss, you feel

1110
01:01:46,574 --> 01:01:50,160
grateful for what you have been 
given during that time together.

1111
01:01:50,800 --> 01:01:54,513
It's a very subtle difference, 
all that is, is a shift of 

1112
01:01:54,513 --> 01:01:57,416
perception from loss to what you
have actually gained, and that 

1113
01:01:57,416 --> 01:02:00,732
makes all the difference between
sadness and a sense of 

1114
01:02:00,732 --> 01:02:05,616
gratitude. 
So these are some of the ways of

1115
01:02:05,616 --> 01:02:09,340
reflecting about death that we 
use at funeral services, and 

1116
01:02:09,340 --> 01:02:12,000
people usually find it quite 
uplifting afterwards. 

1117
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:14,660
And then of course you have to 
make sure that the music is not 

1118
01:02:14,660 --> 01:02:17,200
too sad, if the music is sad, 
everyone starts crying straight 

1119
01:02:17,200 --> 01:02:22,400
away, so make sure the music is 
kind of nice, even uplifting, 

1120
01:02:22,400 --> 01:02:26,831
and then you have the recipe for
a wonderful funeral as a 

1121
01:02:26,831 --> 01:02:29,920
consequence. 
Okay. 

1122
01:02:31,920 --> 01:02:37,005
Is it normal to fear isolation 
when facing the idea of going 

1123
01:02:37,005 --> 01:02:41,430
deeper into the inner refuge? 
I always thought we're not 

1124
01:02:41,430 --> 01:02:46,320
supposed to be in an island onto
oneself, I'm afraid of 

1125
01:02:46,320 --> 01:02:48,855
disconnecting from others. 
You feel more connected to 

1126
01:02:48,855 --> 01:02:52,210
others, yeah, if you do it in 
the right way, you don't feel 

1127
01:02:52,210 --> 01:02:54,970
less connected, if you feel more
connected, this is kind of the 

1128
01:02:54,970 --> 01:02:57,412
point. 
So going inside of yourself, you

1129
01:02:57,412 --> 01:03:00,948
know, when you go inside of 
yourself, you go with positive 

1130
01:03:00,948 --> 01:03:05,432
feelings, you have a sense of 
joy, you have a sense often it 

1131
01:03:05,432 --> 01:03:08,400
is based on, specifically based 
on meta meditation, loving 

1132
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:11,240
kindness and compassion, these 
kind of things, and meta 

1133
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:14,188
meditation connects you to other
people, you see the commonality,

1134
01:03:14,188 --> 01:03:17,416
you see the good aspects of 
other people, you feel, instead 

1135
01:03:17,416 --> 01:03:19,600
of feeling isolated, you 
actually feel connected. 

1136
01:03:20,240 --> 01:03:23,184
The deeper the Samadhi 
experience is, the more 

1137
01:03:23,184 --> 01:03:26,710
connected you feel to the world 
around, to the world in general,

1138
01:03:26,710 --> 01:03:29,014
not to the world around you, but
just you feel connected, that's 

1139
01:03:29,014 --> 01:03:31,885
really all. 
This is kind of the paradox, you

1140
01:03:31,885 --> 01:03:34,664
know, you live in the forest by 
yourself, you go inside of 

1141
01:03:34,664 --> 01:03:37,416
yourself to the rest of the 
world, you might be dead 

1142
01:03:37,416 --> 01:03:40,561
practically because there's no 
movement to be seen, and yet you

1143
01:03:40,561 --> 01:03:42,160
feel utterly connected to the 
world. 

1144
01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:45,128
And that's why people who come 
out of Samadhi, that's exactly 

1145
01:03:45,128 --> 01:03:48,160
what you will hear, they will 
say that, well, I felt, I never 

1146
01:03:48,160 --> 01:03:50,762
felt so connected before, I 
never wanted to lose that 

1147
01:03:50,762 --> 01:03:53,950
experience because it is so 
beautiful, a sense of unity, a 

1148
01:03:53,950 --> 01:03:57,397
sense of non-self, all the 
egotism, all that is gone, a 

1149
01:03:57,397 --> 01:04:00,967
sense of beautiful bliss, a 
sense of wholeness that you 

1150
01:04:00,967 --> 01:04:04,160
never experienced in your entire
life, nothing lacking anymore, 

1151
01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:08,460
these are wonderful qualities, 
very profound meaning, and you 

1152
01:04:08,460 --> 01:04:10,320
feel the exact opposite of 
isolation. 

1153
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:14,880
Please. 
Okay, last one. 

1154
01:04:14,880 --> 01:04:22,666
What should be cultivated to 
inspire oneself to meditate as a

1155
01:04:22,666 --> 01:04:29,078
lay person? 
First of all, remember that the 

1156
01:04:29,078 --> 01:04:32,280
foundation of the Buddhist path 
is not meditation practice, the 

1157
01:04:32,280 --> 01:04:35,152
foundation of the Buddhist path 
is kindness, it's virtue, it's 

1158
01:04:35,152 --> 01:04:37,120
generosity, and all of these 
kinds of things. 

1159
01:04:37,760 --> 01:04:40,752
So if you find meditation 
difficult, it may simply be that

1160
01:04:40,752 --> 01:04:44,218
you need to practice more of 
these other things first of all,

1161
01:04:44,218 --> 01:04:46,780
to kind of create that 
foundation that makes it 

1162
01:04:46,780 --> 01:04:49,776
possible. 
So you don't have to meditate as

1163
01:04:49,776 --> 01:04:54,488
a Buddhist, but what you really 
have to is to be kind, to do all

1164
01:04:54,488 --> 01:04:57,920
of these good things, that's 
really a kind of requirement, 

1165
01:04:57,920 --> 01:05:00,000
because otherwise not really 
practicing at all. 

1166
01:05:00,880 --> 01:05:06,400
And if you do that in the right 
way, and you do it consistently,

1167
01:05:06,400 --> 01:05:10,378
you do it with integrity, you 
bring in all the various aspects

1168
01:05:10,378 --> 01:05:13,245
of morality on the path, then 
eventually there will come a 

1169
01:05:13,245 --> 01:05:16,695
time when you will start to feel
your mind settles down, you 

1170
01:05:16,695 --> 01:05:19,720
start to become peaceful, and 
then meditation becomes 

1171
01:05:19,720 --> 01:05:21,556
possible. 
So it is very closely connected 

1172
01:05:21,556 --> 01:05:24,800
to meditation, you just have to 
get things in the right order, 

1173
01:05:24,800 --> 01:05:26,800
and then meditation becomes 
possible. 

1174
01:05:26,800 --> 01:05:30,012
So the question then maybe 
should be rephrased, what do I 

1175
01:05:30,012 --> 01:05:33,572
need to do to be inspired, not 
just for meditation, but to be 

1176
01:05:33,572 --> 01:05:37,120
inspired to practice the whole 
path, whether it is kindness, 

1177
01:05:37,120 --> 01:05:39,840
whether it is generosity, 
whether it is meditation, 

1178
01:05:39,840 --> 01:05:43,090
whatever it is, all of these 
things need to be inspired into 

1179
01:05:43,090 --> 01:05:44,938
us. 
That is maybe, I would say 

1180
01:05:44,938 --> 01:05:47,040
that's a better way of phrasing 
the question. 

1181
01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:50,652
And the way to do that is to 
contemplate the teaching of the 

1182
01:05:50,652 --> 01:05:54,058
Buddha. 
The source, the basic thing that

1183
01:05:54,058 --> 01:05:59,428
allows anything to happen on the
spiritual path is the word of 

1184
01:05:59,428 --> 01:06:02,980
the Kalyanamitta, the word of 
the Sāppurīśa, the word of the 

1185
01:06:02,980 --> 01:06:05,360
Aryans, the word of the Buddha, 
that's the foundation. 

1186
01:06:05,360 --> 01:06:06,960
Everything happens because of 
that. 

1187
01:06:07,600 --> 01:06:13,520
So the more you build up this 
understanding of the teachings, 

1188
01:06:13,520 --> 01:06:16,770
the more you reflect on these 
teachings by either reading the 

1189
01:06:16,770 --> 01:06:20,296
suttas yourself, listening to 
Dhamma that is in accordance 

1190
01:06:20,296 --> 01:06:23,787
with those suttas, you will 
actually gain that inspiration 

1191
01:06:23,787 --> 01:06:26,604
after a while. 
Your view starts to change, your

1192
01:06:26,604 --> 01:06:28,800
idea of the world becomes 
slightly different. 

1193
01:06:29,840 --> 01:06:34,208
And maybe there is time, I can 
just briefly mention one of the 

1194
01:06:34,208 --> 01:06:36,888
beautiful similes in the suttas 
that I mentioned many times 

1195
01:06:36,888 --> 01:06:39,640
before since I came here to 
Melbourne, but it's such a nice 

1196
01:06:39,640 --> 01:06:42,904
one. 
And it's the idea of this 

1197
01:06:42,904 --> 01:06:46,240
mountaintop and the rain falling
on the mountaintop. 

1198
01:06:46,240 --> 01:06:50,120
And as the rain falls on the 
mountaintop, and this is kind of

1199
01:06:50,120 --> 01:06:53,280
the idea of hanging out with the
Buddha, reading the suttas, etc.

1200
01:06:53,280 --> 01:06:57,001
This is the rain, drawing in 
that information and 

1201
01:06:57,001 --> 01:07:00,000
understanding and inspiration 
that comes from the suttas. 

1202
01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:03,548
And as the rain falls, more and 
more and more, eventually it 

1203
01:07:03,548 --> 01:07:07,892
forms into little streams. 
And as the rain kept falling, 

1204
01:07:07,892 --> 01:07:10,280
the little streams merge into 
larger streams. 

1205
01:07:10,280 --> 01:07:13,965
As the rain keeps falling, the 
larger streams go into the 

1206
01:07:13,965 --> 01:07:16,640
little lakes and eventually the 
little lakes overflow. 

1207
01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:20,794
As the rain keeps falling, the 
little lakes flow over into 

1208
01:07:20,794 --> 01:07:23,152
large lakes. 
As the rain keeps falling, the 

1209
01:07:23,152 --> 01:07:25,530
large lakes fill up. 
And then the large lakes 

1210
01:07:25,530 --> 01:07:29,200
overflow into the rivers. 
And as the rain keeps falling, 

1211
01:07:29,200 --> 01:07:31,120
the rivers eventually reach the 
ocean. 

1212
01:07:31,120 --> 01:07:36,387
All you have to do is to make 
sure the rain keeps falling Like

1213
01:07:36,387 --> 01:07:39,588
this idea of a journey of a 
thousand miles starts with a 

1214
01:07:39,588 --> 01:07:42,692
single step It's a kind of 
similar kind of thing You have 

1215
01:07:42,692 --> 01:07:45,835
to keep stepping, keep walking 
and keep allowing the rain to 

1216
01:07:45,835 --> 01:07:49,560
fall And as you do that, this 
whole thing just emerges and 

1217
01:07:49,560 --> 01:07:53,520
happens almost automatically by 
itself That is how inspiration 

1218
01:07:53,520 --> 01:07:57,550
works So keep on reading the 
suttas Keep on coming back to 

1219
01:07:57,550 --> 01:08:00,520
the Dhamma Allow yourself to be 
inspired, understand what is 

1220
01:08:00,520 --> 01:08:03,980
going on And as you do that, 
suddenly one day you find 

1221
01:08:03,980 --> 01:08:06,456
yourself at the ocean What is 
the ocean? 

1222
01:08:06,456 --> 01:08:09,787
The ocean is Arahant, it's 
Nibbana, it is the highest 

1223
01:08:09,787 --> 01:08:13,370
happiness The ending of all 
suffering One day, bang, you are

1224
01:08:13,370 --> 01:08:15,770
there, what happened? 
Gee, all I did was kind of 

1225
01:08:15,770 --> 01:08:19,121
allowing the rain to come down 
and now I'm there It's kind of 

1226
01:08:19,121 --> 01:08:22,768
cool, isn't it? 
So all you have to do is keep on

1227
01:08:22,768 --> 01:08:25,736
reading the suttas, allow 
yourself to be inspired And the 

1228
01:08:25,736 --> 01:08:29,120
consequence of that is that one 
day you will be there