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OK, so let us get started with a
talk and we'll see what happens.

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So as I mentioned at the 
beginning of the the meditation,

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we have just finished our annual
three months rainy season 

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retreat. 
Yeah, it kind of fits quite 

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well. 
It rained quite a bit. 

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I don't know if it rained here 
in Perth, but it rained in 

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Serpentine. 
I know that much. 

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Probably similar kind of thing. 
Yeah. 

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And it is a time in the 
monastery for meditation 

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practice and for kind of 
withdrawing from the usual 

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things that we deal with in the 
outside world. 

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That's why you haven't seen us 
here and you have had some 

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alternative speakers and variety
of thing, other things happening

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here. 
And when you go on long retreats

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like that, it always leads to 
obviously, you know, you start 

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to obviously have to contemplate
meditation a little bit because 

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that's pretty much what you do. 
And so you look at your 

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meditation and again, hopefully 
a deeper understanding of the 

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process. 
So what I'm going to talk about 

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today is the idea of letting go,
what that actually means. 

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Yeah, how it works, How do we 
let go? 

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And it's one of those kind of 
tricky, one of those strange 

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things that people often very 
confused about. 

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How do you actually let go? 
Yeah, People come to you when 

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they come on interviews. 
They're on the meditation 

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retreat and they ask, oh, I'm 
trying to let go. 

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I can't let go. 
What am I supposed to do? 

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How do I do this? 
What is the trick to let go? 

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And you can see people are 
really frustrated. 

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They spend the whole meditation 
retreat trying to let go. 

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And they have a few times when 
they, you know, finally 

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something happens. 
And then they kind of they grasp

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things again and they kind of 
have to start from scratch and 

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trying to let go again. 
And it goes on in cycles like 

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that. 
And never really finding that 

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kind of button that actually 
really, let's go fully one of 

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those strange conundrums. 
How do you let go? 

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People ask this question all the
time as that's kind of what I 

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want to talk about today. 
Yeah. 

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So even though it is kind of 
seems tricky, Yeah. 

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Yeah. 
And even though sometimes you 

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can get very frustrated if you 
try to let go all the time, 

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obviously one of the answers to 
that is not to try to let go. 

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Yeah. 
If you get frustrated by try to 

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let go, an obvious answer is not
to try to let go. 

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You're not going to get 
frustrated if you don't try to 

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let go. 
That's kind of kind of a start. 

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Good starting point, but an 
important point to realize is 

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that it is an important part of 
the Buddhist path. 

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The way the Buddha taught, he 
really teaches it as a path of 

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letting go. 
Yeah, it's a gradual kind of non

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attachment to things. 
That is the whole path. 

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Not just the path of meditation,
but all the other aspects of the

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path as well. 
Have that kind of idea behind 

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them of gradually kind of 
allowing letting go of the grip 

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that you have on things in the 
world and things in your life. 

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That's kind of one way of 
looking at the entire Buddhist 

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path. 
You can look at it from many 

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different angles. 
You can look at it as a path of 

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calming down, a path of 
increasing happiness, a path of 

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compassion and loving kindness, 
a path of insight and 

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understanding, Yeah, but also a 
path of letting go. 

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And you see this in the way the 
Buddha describes things. 

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One of the beautiful things the 
Buddha says in the suit is, and 

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I'm going to check your language
abilities now, see how good 

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Yahoo language is. 
The Buddha says something as 

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follows. 
It says Busagaraman and Karitva 

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labati samading labati chitasa E
kagata. 

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Yeah. 
You agree? 

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Maybe it says a Pali Pali 
phrase. 

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It's a phrase that you see in 
the sutras in a certain places 

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and what it means, it means 
wasaga wasaga ramana means 

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having created a foundation 
through letting go. 

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Yeah. 
The foundation is letting go. 

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And through that foundation you 
gain samadhi. 

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You have labati samadhi. 
You gain samadhi through that 

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foundation. 
Labati chitasi, Kangita 1. 

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Pointedness of mind. 
So it is actually what allows 

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the samadhi and meditation to 
happen Is the process of letting

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go having made a foundation 
through that. 

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Yeah. 
This gives you an idea of how 

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important it is. 
Madam. 

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The whole process of meditation 
is based on this idea of letting

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go. 
It's a nice party word. 

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00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:38,880
Vasanga is a party word. 
Yeah. 

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00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,000
Vasanga. 
We have a monkey in a monastery 

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called Vasaga. 
Yeah. 

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00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:44,480
You can ask him if he's living 
up to his name or not. 

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No, but don't do that. 
That will be very terrible. 

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Of course it is. 
At least it's trying to let go 

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like everyone else, I suppose. 
It's a nice name, Vosanga. 

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I like that he made a good 
choice. 

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I said, I said to him, why don't
you take the whole phrase I just

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mentioned before as your name? 
And he said, no, it's too long. 

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Yeah, you had to have a shorter 
name. 

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So vosanga already long enough. 
So vosanga is the movement of 

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the mind or the foundation that 
you build up that allows 

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samadhi, stillness and the deep 
meditations to happen here. 

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But it's much more than that 
because the very end of the 

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Buddhist path, you know, we're 
talking about the third noble 

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truth, which is at the end of 
the Buddhist path, they have 

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this beautiful word called Patti
nisaga, which is also related to

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the word vusaga. 
And that also means the idea of 

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letting go, of relinquishment, 
of giving up. 

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So the whole path to samadhi is 
about letting go. 

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And then the whole path that 
leads you to awakening itself to

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the very end of the path, that 
also ultimately is about letting

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go. 
It's just letting go upon 

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letting go, upon letting go. 
That is how important it is in 

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the Dhamma, this whole idea. 
And so for that reason it is 

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important to understand what we 
are supposed to do and how we're

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supposed to do this and how it 
happens, especially in 

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meditation practice. 
But before I go on to kind of 

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discuss this more practically, I
would like to kind of tell you a

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few stories, one from the 
suitors and one from kind of a 

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more contemporary story. 
And it gives an idea of how this

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idea of letting go, how it can 
happen in practice and what it 

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means, how it actually comes 
about. 

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And one of the stories is about 
Venerable Ananda. 

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Venerable Ananda, many of you 
will know, was the Buddha's 

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attendant. 
Yeah, for 20 years, following 

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around the Buddha all the time, 
listening to every discourse the

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Buddha ever gave. 
He was the monk with the best 

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retention, memory retention. 
And so he was like, he heard one

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suit, one disc was by the 
Buddha, and he retained it 

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basically verbatim. 
Yeah. 

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It's kind of extraordinary. 
I don't know how that is 

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possible. 
I'm going to test you 

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afterwards, see if you can 
remember every word I said that 

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during this. 
Like, it's very hard to imagine,

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isn't it? 
Almost. 

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Maybe especially in the present 
day with some of the 

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distractions. 
But anyway, he was this. 

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He was this repository of 
suitors. 

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Yeah. 
You just asked him to open his 

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mouth, and the suitors would 
just pull out of him. 

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And it's kind of extraordinary. 
Yeah. 

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And so after the Buddha passed 
away, it was a very traumatic 

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time, obviously for the Sangha, 
for the monastic community and 

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also for the lay community. 
And one of the things they 

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realised very soon afterwards is
that they needed to recite the 

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word of the Buddha, the suitors 
and the monastic code that had 

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00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:41,160
been laid down for the 
monastics. 

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00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:43,800
This had to be recited in 
unison. 

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They had to come together and do
the recital to keep it alive for

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00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,280
future generations, otherwise it
would get lost. 

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00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,920
And not everyone had heard the 
same suit. 

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So you had to hear some suit as 
from animal Ananda and maybe 

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some of the other monks or the 
nuns or even sometimes the lay 

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people had heard different 
suitors. 

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00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,880
And so they came together in 
this convocation called the 

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00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,160
Council. 
This was soon after the Buddha 

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passed away. 
And in this council, the Pali 

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00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,240
word is sangeeti. 
Sangeeta literally means to 

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00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,280
chant together. 
Yeah, it's just like a communal 

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00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,000
recitation of suitors. 
And in this council, they had 

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invited 500 Arahans, 500 fully 
enlightened people to recite the

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suitors of the Buddha. 
It's that kind of cool. 

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Imagine 500 Arahans, 500 fully 
enlightened people. 

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Wouldn't that be awesome? 
Imagine the atmosphere when 

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there's 500 enlightened people. 
No one is very interested in 

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00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:45,520
talking very much. 
Everyone is just really 

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00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,240
peaceful. 
Everyone is full of compassion 

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and meta. 
Everyone is kind of has has the 

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highest kind of wisdom. 
Imagine a room, a large room, 

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500 people takes a large room 
coming together like that. 

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00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,360
Yeah, just the sight of that is 
kind of extraordinary. 

168
00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:06,040
So. 
So this is what happens. 

169
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They chose this 500 people, 
supposedly all 500 arrows. 

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00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:12,280
I don't know how they knew if 
they had some kind of listing 

171
00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:14,160
cross off here if an arrow hunt 
or anyone. 

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00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,720
I'm not sure how that actually 
worked, but supposedly there 

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00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,200
were 500 arrow hunts and not. 
Yeah. 

174
00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,840
So I some of these things a bit 
uncertain how they how they knew

175
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these things. 
But there was one person, yeah, 

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who hadn't been invited and that
was Vanderbilt Ananda. 

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00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:30,960
And one of the reasons was 
because it was not yet an arrow 

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00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,600
hunt, but they said, OK, he 
knows all the suit tests, so we 

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00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,960
have to invite him even though 
he's not fully enlightened yet. 

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00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,480
And so Venable Ananda was really
embarrassed he got invited even 

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00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,440
though he was not fully 
enlightened. 

182
00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,400
Everyone else, yeah, was fully 
enlightened. 

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00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,520
He was the only one he felt, oh,
oh, you know what? 

184
00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,280
What am I going to do? 
So he practised really, really 

185
00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,120
hard on the days before this 
council that we're going to 

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00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,200
have. 
And he practised and practised. 

187
00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,640
I mean, he was already obviously
quite highly attained. 

188
00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,960
He was a stream mentor already. 
His samadhi was obviously very 

189
00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,160
good, but he practised really, 
really hard and he didn't get 

190
00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:08,920
anywhere. 
He wasn't able to make that 

191
00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,920
breakthrough. 
He wanted to be the 500th around

192
00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,560
in that assembly, but he wasn't 
able to make it. 

193
00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:21,280
And finally he gave up. 
And after giving up, he lies 

194
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,440
down. 
And according to the suitors, 

195
00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:28,240
according to how this is said 
before his head, while his feet 

196
00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,600
was kind of still in the air, 
but before his head had hit the 

197
00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,360
pillow, bang, he got 
enlightened. 

198
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,400
And then that council, that 500 
arrowheads. 

199
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:43,160
And that is very interesting 
because what it shows you, it 

200
00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,320
shows you something about the 
idea of letting go. 

201
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:48,600
Yeah. 
He was trying and trying and 

202
00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,280
trying. 
And eventually, when you give 

203
00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:53,280
up, that is kind of when it 
happens. 

204
00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,400
Yeah. 
When finally you relax, you 

205
00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:57,840
realize, OK, you know, it's not 
going to happen this time. 

206
00:10:57,840 --> 00:10:59,720
OK, so let me just relax. 
So to be. 

207
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,080
And then the inside comes, and 
then the highest kind of 

208
00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,800
understanding arises from that. 
And that tells you something 

209
00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:12,600
very important about the arising
of any kind of letting go, any 

210
00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:14,960
kind of insight, any kind of 
samadhi. 

211
00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:20,760
It happens because you relax, 
because you let go, not because 

212
00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,120
you try. 
The trying very often comes from

213
00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,840
the sense of self. 
The trying is the restless mind.

214
00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,400
I am going to do the letting go,
but you can't do the letting go.

215
00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,960
The letting go happens by itself
when the calls and conditions 

216
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,600
are in place. 
You have to wait for the calls 

217
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,800
and conditions to come into 
place, then the letting go 

218
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,520
happens. 
That is what we have to do and 

219
00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,840
that is what I will talk about 
later on, how to get those calls

220
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,800
and conditions into place. 
So this is what happened with 

221
00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,520
Venerable Anand. 
Let's take a leaf out of his 

222
00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:56,440
book. 
Let's see if we can kind of do 

223
00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,400
something similar in our 
meditation so we don't get so 

224
00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,320
frustrated in the way we 
practice. 

225
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,840
That was the first story, 
Venerable Anand. 

226
00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:09,000
That's actually very, I don't 
know, very inspiring story in 

227
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,640
many ways. 
The other story is a story that 

228
00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,680
Ajam Brahm tells. 
It's always dangerous when you 

229
00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,080
tell the Ajam Brahm story 
because he usually has told 

230
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,600
those two many, many times 
already. 

231
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,360
Yeah, Yeah. 
Here at Amoloka Centre. 

232
00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:23,640
But I'm not sure when he last 
told this story. 

233
00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,240
This was a story from his early 
days in Thailand. 

234
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:30,320
I don't know why all the stories
are so old. 

235
00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,840
Yeah, it's only always from the 
kind of early days in Thailand 

236
00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:34,160
or early days here or early days
there. 

237
00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,200
But anyway, that's kind of the 
way it goes. 

238
00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:42,080
And the story is, I'm not sure 
if Ajam Braham was there, but 

239
00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,560
the story, it was this novice 
monk. 

240
00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:46,960
Yeah, yeah. 
Novice monk looks basically 

241
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,320
like, like Venomi, Mocha and us,
except that they are novices. 

242
00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:52,000
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

243
00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:54,240
You can't feel it. 
Sometimes they're very small 

244
00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:58,200
because they are just kind of, 
they're not 20 years old yet. 

245
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:00,000
They're kind of just teenagers 
or something here. 

246
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,320
But sometimes they're also grown
adults. 

247
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:04,360
But anyway, this little novice 
monk, Yeah. 

248
00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,200
He was sitting there. 
Ajahn Shah Lumpur Shah, Ajahn 

249
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,720
Brahm's teacher was giving a 
Dumber talk. 

250
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,320
And Ajahn Shah was famous for 
this practice called Tordaman. 

251
00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,200
Have you had Tordaman before? 
What does it sound like? 

252
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:21,400
Sounds like torment, right, 
Tordaman. 

253
00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,720
And that's exactly what it was. 
He was famous for the practice 

254
00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:28,400
of tormenting his disciples. 
And so very often he would give 

255
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,520
Dhamma talks that went on. 
Yeah, for an hour. 

256
00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:33,400
And then he. 
Just an hour. 

257
00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:36,920
Not enough, right. 
So another hour. 2 hours. 

258
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:38,240
Yeah. 
Actually, we can go on a bit 

259
00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,920
more. 3 hours. 
Yeah, and he would do this, just

260
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:45,280
carry on and on and on. 
And sometimes, even as Jean Bram

261
00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,080
says, sometimes it wasn't all 
that interesting. 

262
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:49,720
Sometimes he just did it just to
really test you. 

263
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,920
That was kind of the purpose of 
talking for three hours, not 

264
00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:54,720
actually because he had that 
much to say. 

265
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,520
There's a limit to what you have
to say. 

266
00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,360
If you look at the way the 
Buddha taught in the suitors, he

267
00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,520
he fairly concise. 
Usually I didn't go, certainly 

268
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,880
didn't go on for three hours. 
Sometimes very short discourses.

269
00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,800
And so after a while, this 
little novice was getting really

270
00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:12,760
fed up. 
He was getting really 

271
00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,280
exasperated and he was sitting 
there, When is Adhan Shah going 

272
00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,960
to stop? 
When is Adhan Shah going to 

273
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,400
stop? 
Have you heard the story before?

274
00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:23,600
When is Adhan Shah going to 
stop? 

275
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:28,440
And it carries on like this. 
And suddenly after saying this 

276
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,880
maybe for half an hour or 
something, because it's really 

277
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:34,160
kind of hard enough, suddenly 
something happens in his mind. 

278
00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,600
Suddenly he thinks when am I 
going to stop? 

279
00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,320
And the moment he thinks when am
I going to stop, then everything

280
00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:44,440
shuts down. 
He becomes peaceful. 

281
00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,400
And then of course, everyone can
sit there for as long as he 

282
00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:50,240
wants. 
He doesn't want to get up 

283
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,000
anymore. 
The whole idea of Agent Shah 

284
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,160
giving a talk that is too long 
is gone because he had an 

285
00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,280
insight and that insight, that 
understanding that if you want 

286
00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,560
to be peaceful, you cannot wait 
for the external conditions to 

287
00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,160
be right. 
You have to do something with 

288
00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,400
the internal conditions. 
And when the internal conditions

289
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,800
are right, that is when peace 
happens. 

290
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,960
That is when you can sit 
listening to a three hour long 

291
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,360
Dumber talk or whatever. 
Yeah. 

292
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,680
So this is kind of how it it's 
kind of interesting. 

293
00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:27,000
It says something again about 
how to deal, how to actually let

294
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,320
go. 
Letting go is not something you 

295
00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:32,160
do. 
Letting go happens through, 

296
00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:37,520
first of all, not doing very 
often and often through insight,

297
00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,600
through understanding. 
And that insight doesn't happen 

298
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,080
because you try to have an 
insider. 

299
00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,920
That insight happens because you
are standing back or sitting 

300
00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,400
back and observing what is going
on. 

301
00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,880
And then at a certain point you 
understand what is really going 

302
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,360
on. 
And then you let go because of 

303
00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:58,840
that understanding, because of 
that insider. 

304
00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:05,600
So this gives you some bare 
bones, yeah, on how this whole 

305
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:08,920
idea of letting go happens. 
You don't do it. 

306
00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,080
It happens in a very different 
kind of way. 

307
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:20,120
So to go a little bit further on
this, what we have to do to be 

308
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,520
able to understand what to how 
to actually effectuate this, how

309
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,880
to make this happen in our 
practice, what we have to do is 

310
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,600
we have to understand what it is
that we are letting go of. 

311
00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,440
What does it mean to let go? 
Yeah. 

312
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:36,480
What what actually are we 
supposed to let go of? 

313
00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:39,600
And very often it is kind of 
hard to say. 

314
00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,080
Yeah, yeah. 
I mean, OK, so you, you, you 

315
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:44,760
know, one of the kind of obvious
things that you have to let go 

316
00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,840
of when you do your meditation 
is that you are thinking a lot. 

317
00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:49,640
Yeah. 
Has anyone here who has never 

318
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,360
had any thinking in the 
meditation if? 

319
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,400
If not, I would be very, very 
surprised, and I would have to 

320
00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,080
congratulate you on being an 
extraordinary meditator if that 

321
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,080
was the case. 
Almost everyone has had thinking

322
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,960
in the meditation there. 
And so obviously one of the 

323
00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,319
things we have to do is to let 
go of that thinking. 

324
00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:10,119
Yeah, it's kind of one of the 
things that we have to do. 

325
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,440
So how do we let go of thinking 
here? 

326
00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:17,319
This becomes an important point.
Another thing that we sometimes 

327
00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:20,160
had to let go of, and you will 
realise in your meditation is 

328
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,760
that you sometimes the breath is
not really very attractive or 

329
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,000
very nice or very smooth to 
watch because you have a feeling

330
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:31,760
that you are holding onto the 
breath too much. 

331
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,760
And when there is a holding on, 
it's not really pleasant. 

332
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,240
Do you know what I mean? 
Has anyone had that feeling? 

333
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:40,120
Yeah. 
And again, it's this feeling I 

334
00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:41,640
need to let go. 
Right. 

335
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,200
Because the holding on actually 
makes it not really nice. 

336
00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:47,200
That destroys the whole beauty 
of the meditation. 

337
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,160
Because oneness, you let go, you
feel, wow, this is what it 

338
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,360
really means. 
You're just allowing the breath 

339
00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:53,840
to be. 
And that's when the breath 

340
00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,200
becomes incredibly delightful. 
Yeah. 

341
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,480
Easy to watch, peaceful, 
soothing. 

342
00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,600
Yeah. 
Kind of cooling you down. 

343
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,360
It's really positive experience 
once you have the ability to let

344
00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:08,720
go and then further down the 
track, you need to let go of 

345
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:09,680
more things. 
Yeah. 

346
00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:13,040
Gradually you allow the body to 
fade away. 

347
00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:15,000
Yeah. 
You allow the senses to fade 

348
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:16,200
away. 
Yeah. 

349
00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,160
All of these things come further
down the track. 

350
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,840
Yeah. 
And eventually more and more 

351
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,200
things in your experience are 
gradually let go of. 

352
00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,160
So how does this actually 
happen? 

353
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,000
What is kind of the tricks 
behind this? 

354
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,360
Yeah. 
How does this, this kind of 

355
00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:36,640
whole process happen there? 
So when it comes to the thinking

356
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,160
mind, yeah, one of the reasons 
why you are thinking or the main

357
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:42,800
reason why you're thinking, very
often you will listen to Agent 

358
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:44,040
Brahman. 
He will say, well, you have to 

359
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,320
let go of all the activity, all 
the doing. 

360
00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,200
That's kind of part of it. 
But why is there so much 

361
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,720
activity here? 
Why is there so much doing in 

362
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,160
your mind? 
Why is there all that thinking? 

363
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,520
And the reason is because you're
interested in all of this stuff.

364
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,840
That's why it is there. 
And you may think, surely I 

365
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,840
can't be interested in all this 
nonsense. 

366
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:06,760
It's embarrassing, isn't it, to 
be interested in all that. 

367
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,400
But actually this is the point. 
We are kind of interested in 

368
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:11,440
those things, and that's why 
they come up. 

369
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,280
And So what that means is that 
we have to kind of go to the 

370
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,600
root of the problem. 
And the root of the problem is 

371
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,560
that very interest. 
And that interest really is when

372
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,960
we talk about the first of the 
five hindrances, which is 

373
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:30,000
basically sensual desire. 
That is an aspect usually of 

374
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,080
sensual desire, an aspect of 
this interest in the world. 

375
00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,480
Our interest in the world is 
greater than our interest in the

376
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,120
spiritual path. 
You know, we haven't got our 

377
00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:44,080
kind of our bearings right. 
We haven't got the, you know, we

378
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,840
haven't really given it the 
right kind of priorities. 

379
00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,680
And because of our priorities 
are wrong, then we tend to think

380
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,360
about things in the world. 
And so that gives you an idea of

381
00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,200
where we go wrong. 
Your priorities are wrong. 

382
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,120
So how do you get your 
priorities right? 

383
00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:03,720
Well, the way to get your 
priorities right is to have what

384
00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,120
is called right view in 
Buddhism. 

385
00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:11,400
Right view means that you see 
the world in a similar way as 

386
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,280
the way the Buddha described the
world. 

387
00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,840
And the Buddha tells you the 
things that are really valuable.

388
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,080
The Buddha tells you the things 
that will lead to happiness and 

389
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:24,360
what will lead to suffering. 
And so by acquiring that right 

390
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,360
outlook. 
The looking at the world in the 

391
00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:32,280
right way, in the way the Buddha
taught about the world, then 

392
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,440
your values start to get aligned
with the Dhamma, aligned with 

393
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,520
the way the Buddha saw things. 
Right view, the way the world 

394
00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,840
actually is, gives you the right
kind of values. 

395
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,760
And what are those values? 
What what values are valuing of 

396
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:52,480
the spiritual path, valuing of 
kindness, valuing compassion, 

397
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:58,040
valuing peace, valuing sitting 
on your bottom, watching your 

398
00:20:58,040 --> 00:20:59,960
breath. 
Yeah, you're valuing that. 

399
00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:01,920
It's kind of amazing that people
value that. 

400
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,000
But once you start to understand
what it means, it's kind of you 

401
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:09,960
understand why it is valuable. 
And so right view leads to right

402
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,120
values. 
And then when you have the right

403
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:17,240
values, your priorities fall 
into place because you 

404
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:19,720
prioritise according to your 
values. 

405
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,080
And then when you because you 
prioritise right, you sit down, 

406
00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,880
you close your eyes, you allow 
the kind of the noise, the 

407
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:32,000
momentum of the city life, of 
the family life, of the work 

408
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,440
life, you allow that momentum to
run it's course a little bit. 

409
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,440
This takes a bit of patience in 
the beginning, and then when 

410
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,480
it's run its course because you 
have the right values, the right

411
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,960
priorities, the mind. 
Like a dutiful dog. 

412
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:47,200
Yeah. 
Or whatever. 

413
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,880
I'm not sure if the mind is like
a dog, or maybe it is. 

414
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:50,840
It'll be like a dog. 
Yeah. 

415
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,360
It goes to the breath or it goes
to the loving kindness 

416
00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:58,320
meditation where it goes 
wherever you want it to go 

417
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,080
because the mind knows what is 
important. 

418
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:07,040
Right view is a fundamental part
to making this process work, 

419
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,280
Understanding the world in the 
way the Buddha understood the 

420
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,600
world. 
And what does the Buddha say 

421
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,800
about the world? 
The Buddha says about the world.

422
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,040
When I said talking about the 
world, I mean like the world 

423
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,000
outside, not the inner world. 
The inner world is what we're 

424
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,480
trying to develop on the 
spiritual part, but the outer 

425
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:28,080
world outsider, and that world 
is out of control. 

426
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,320
That world is unreliable. 
That world is impermanent. 

427
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:36,400
And if you rely too much on that
world outside, you're going to 

428
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,680
end up very disappointed. 
Yeah. 

429
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,240
It's not really going to work 
your way. 

430
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:45,160
And so seeing things in that way
allows you to withdraw from that

431
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,080
and go within instead and 
knowing what it is, where you 

432
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:51,080
should be placing your 
attention. 

433
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:54,000
This is what I mean by right 
values. 

434
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:57,760
So contemplating these things, 
yeah, is what this is about. 

435
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:04,280
And so one of the critical 
things that you start to realise

436
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,120
when you start to understand 
this idea of letting go is that 

437
00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:10,200
it is a very kind of long term 
process. 

438
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,720
An idea such as right view, 
looking at the world in the 

439
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,160
right way is something that 
matures over time. 

440
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,480
It takes a long time for these 
things really to penetrate 

441
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:24,440
because we are used to thinking 
about the world in a very 

442
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,840
different way. 
And so gradually, gradually the 

443
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,880
mind turns around. 
Our habits are very powerful and

444
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:36,040
being able to turn around those 
habits is what is so difficult. 

445
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:39,320
It's like a freight train, 
right? 

446
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,320
Or actually, I like the idea of 
a super tanker. 

447
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,560
I use assembly all the time, 
probably too much. 

448
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,880
But the idea of the Super tanker
is the idea that the Super 

449
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,840
tanker is enormous. 
Ships laden with oil or whatever

450
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:56,160
when they go 20 knots at full 
speed, it takes a long, long, 

451
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,400
long time to turn that super 
tanker around kilometres, yeah, 

452
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,840
20 kilometres or whatever before
it turns around. 

453
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,960
And our mines are like, are like
those super tankers. 

454
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,600
They're full of habits, full of 
momentum from the past. 

455
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,080
It takes a long time to turn the
mind around. 

456
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,680
And so we need to develop this 
over time, the right view, the 

457
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,400
right understanding, gaining the
right values. 

458
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:23,440
And as you do that, you will 
start to see that your mind 

459
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,240
actually is easier. 
It is more naturally goes to the

460
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,720
right place when you sit down to
become peaceful, when you sit 

461
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,320
down to do your meditation. 
Yeah, the momentum now is 

462
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,600
different. 
You have a different outlook, a 

463
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,280
different way of doing things. 
So this is one of the things 

464
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:44,200
that allows you to let go 
because you now understand the 

465
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,560
world in a different way. 
You understand things in a 

466
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,160
different way. 
You no longer hold on so much. 

467
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:51,160
You don't cling to all of these 
things. 

468
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,080
You don't grasp so many things 
in the world because you 

469
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,960
understand their uncertainty, 
their unreliability. 

470
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,320
Yeah. 
And even with the breath, yeah, 

471
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,240
even when the breath is there, 
you don't grasp the breath so 

472
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,040
much because that breath too is 
part of that world outside part 

473
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,080
of the kind of five sense world 
outsider. 

474
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,880
So the problem is all of this 
grasping the whole thing on 

475
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:18,800
yeah, grasping the grasp, 
grasping the the various kind of

476
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,360
things and letting go of the 
grasping is what we are trying 

477
00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:24,720
to do. 
And that happens to his long 

478
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,600
term development. 
But there are many other ways in

479
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,360
which we can actually avoid this
grasping. 

480
00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:33,520
Yeah. 
Because as I mentioned just 

481
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:38,600
before, the idea, the reason why
can't, why we do all of this 

482
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:39,560
grasping. 
Yeah. 

483
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,800
The reason why we hold onto the 
breath or we hold onto the 

484
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:47,200
thinking mind is because of the 
desires that lie behind that. 

485
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:51,800
And those desires are ultimately
rooted in our sense of self. 

486
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,440
Yeah. 
I want these things. 

487
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,400
These are my things. 
This is my world. 

488
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,280
This belongs to me. 
Yeah. 

489
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,760
This is all of these things. 
The me, the I is kind of one of 

490
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:04,680
the things that lies behind all 
of this. 

491
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:06,920
Yeah. 
It's one of the root causes of 

492
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,520
the problems that we have. 
And so what's 1 of the ways of 

493
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:16,040
helping to let go is to let go a
little bit of the sense of self.

494
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,400
And I will tell you a very nice 
way of reducing the sense of 

495
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:23,080
self. 
And one of the kind of beautiful

496
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,760
ways of giving rise, of 
eliminating part of the sense of

497
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:31,080
self, which may not be very 
obvious, is the idea of 

498
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,000
generosity, of giving. 
Yeah. 

499
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:35,800
Yeah. 
One of those kind of 

500
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,320
extraordinary things that I 
always like to talk about in the

501
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,080
suitors. 
And this is the the, the word 

502
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,200
that I mentioned before. 
Wasaga. 

503
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:44,360
Yeah. 
We have this monk in the 

504
00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:46,960
monastery called Wasaga, which 
means giving up. 

505
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,760
This is also a word for 
generosity. 

506
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,240
Yeah, You have the same kind of 
word, the idea of giving up, 

507
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,840
letting go and generosity is the
same thing. 

508
00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,680
You can see why that obviously 
is the case, because to be able 

509
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:02,240
to be generous, well, you have 
to give up. 

510
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:04,320
You have to let go. 
If you don't let go, you can't 

511
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:05,360
be generous. 
Give it to you. 

512
00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:06,320
No, no. 
OK. 

513
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:07,480
Not sure. 
Yeah. 

514
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:09,760
Yeah, actually, you have to let 
go, otherwise it doesn't work. 

515
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:14,400
Yeah. 
And so letting go begins very 

516
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:15,800
often with the idea of 
generosity. 

517
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,120
I think this is one of the 
reasons why the Buddha makes so 

518
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:22,840
much of it, and why he often 
plays at the beginning of what 

519
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:27,400
he calls the Anupuma Qatar. 
The gradual talk starts off with

520
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,480
generosity. 
And because the leaning of the 

521
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,760
mind when you are generous is 
the same leaning as when you're 

522
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,000
giving something up, when you're
letting something go. 

523
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,440
Yeah, the it's the elimination 
of the sense of self in a way. 

524
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:46,200
When you give up, the sense of 
self is no longer holding onto 

525
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,800
that thing. 
You have to let go of that sense

526
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:50,360
of self at that particular 
point. 

527
00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:53,960
And that is exactly the same 
thing that you have to do in 

528
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,440
meditation. 
You have to let go of those 

529
00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,360
things that you hold onto in the
same way the sense of self has 

530
00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:02,520
to let go of it's grip a little 
bit. 

531
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,360
And so generosity, this idea of 
giving up, is one of these 

532
00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:10,760
beautiful ways of actually 
understanding what letting go 

533
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:12,840
also means in meditation 
practice. 

534
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:18,040
So be generous. 
Be a generous person, not only 

535
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,600
to Buddhist causes. 
Be generous in your daily life, 

536
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,040
to all the people that you meet.
Say some kind words. 

537
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,720
Do an act of generosity, simple 
act of generosity. 

538
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,880
Often it is not about something 
big. 

539
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:33,280
It's about the small things that
you do again and again and again

540
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,600
that are really important. 
Yeah. 

541
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,680
And the more you develop that, 
the more you are inclining the 

542
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:42,800
mind towards letting go. 
And you'll be surprised at the 

543
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,240
effects a simple thing like that
has in meditation if you 

544
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:47,920
practice it systematically. 
Yeah. 

545
00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:50,720
Letting go through generosity. 
Yeah. 

546
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:52,400
Bosunga. 
Yeah. 

547
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:58,400
This beautiful word. 
So this is one of the ways, 

548
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,760
yeah, of understanding how 
letting go happens. 

549
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,320
Another way that is very 
important for to help you to let

550
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:10,520
go is the idea of kindness. 
And one of the reasons why 

551
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,760
kindness or morality on the path
is so important is because it 

552
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:20,440
gives you a kind of inner 
stability, an inner platform, an

553
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:25,000
inner foundation, an inner 
source that you can lean on. 

554
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:29,800
Yeah, when you have to let go 
and that sense of feeling good 

555
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,160
about yourself and feeling 
positive about yourself means 

556
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,760
that there is something there 
that you can grasp onto, a 

557
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,800
spiritual thing you can grasp 
onto, that then stops you from 

558
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,840
having to grasp so much to the 
world outside. 

559
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,240
Yeah. 
So this is one of the reasons 

560
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,080
why morality is so important on 
the Buddhist path, because it 

561
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:52,120
gives you a kind of platform, 
somewhere to stand, something 

562
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,520
you can actually use when the 
letting go is supposed to happen

563
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,320
there. 
So again, very important part of

564
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,720
this. 
Another very important part is 

565
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,840
this idea I just mentioned 
before, the idea of right view. 

566
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,440
Yeah, because if you have right 
view, you understand that 

567
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,560
certain things are not worthy of
being held onto and that 

568
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,280
understanding that they're not 
worthy of being held onto, The 

569
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,360
more you understand that, the 
easier it is to let go. 

570
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:23,600
This is why someone who is fully
enlightened or awakened, while 

571
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,360
they can get into deep 
meditation very easily. 

572
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,800
Yeah, they get into meditation 
like that because they know 

573
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,800
exactly where happiness is to be
found and where suffering is to 

574
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,320
be found. 
They understand that and that 

575
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,040
this is all suffering. 
Why am I holding on to 

576
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:39,720
suffering? 
Yeah. 

577
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:44,560
If you put your hand wrongly on 
the hot plate, do you have to 

578
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,880
think for a long time whether 
you should remove it or not? 

579
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:50,000
No. 
Because if you think too much, 

580
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,280
it's going to be too late. 
Yeah. 

581
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,120
So bang, you take it away 
straight away. 

582
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,520
So you understand the hot plates
of life. 

583
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,520
There are lots of hot plates. 
So remove your mind for those 

584
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,640
blooming hot plates. 
And then there's a chance, yeah,

585
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:03,240
that your meditation will 
deepen. 

586
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,440
This is understanding. 
And the mind withdraws 

587
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:11,320
automatically from the pains of 
life, from the problems of life.

588
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:13,520
Yeah. 
This is an understanding of the 

589
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:14,960
Dhamma. 
Understanding what? 

590
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:19,160
The what I was talking about and
there is the counterpoint to 

591
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,680
that. 
And the counterpoint to that is 

592
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:28,840
to understand the, the delight 
of the beautiful states that 

593
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:33,400
come beyond the when after you 
let go. 

594
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:37,240
And very often that depends on 
the kind of experiences that you

595
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,800
had in the past where you have 
let go of something and you know

596
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,160
how wonderful it is when you 
really let go. 

597
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,560
And sometimes that can happen 
maybe just in daily life. 

598
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,600
Yeah, in daily life, suddenly 
you feel that you let go and you

599
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:51,840
feel like you're kind of flowing
through life. 

600
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,080
You know, they have this kind of
idea of flow in psychology these

601
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:56,680
days. 
And sometimes you can kind of 

602
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,160
feel that in your own life, how 
you're kind of certainly start 

603
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,240
to flow through things. 
That is an aspect of letting go.

604
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,360
And you want to bring that kind 
of flow also into your 

605
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,600
meditation experience. 
And so this is also very helpful

606
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,600
because you know there's 
something out there that is far 

607
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,840
superior to what you normally 
have. 

608
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,600
And you allow that to be the 
character that kind of draws you

609
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:21,800
or to kind of moves you on and 
then allows the letting go to 

610
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,760
happen as a consequence. 
So all of these things, yeah, 

611
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,920
are supporting factors. 
All of these things have to be 

612
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:31,960
developed over long period of 
time. 

613
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:37,280
And as you develop the path, as 
all of these factor factors 

614
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:44,000
mature, letting go happens. 
In your meditation, you don't do

615
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,600
it anymore. 
You stop doing it because you 

616
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,160
don't know when these factors 
are going to be mature enough. 

617
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,000
You don't know when they are 
ready to ripen and letting go. 

618
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,720
There's a beautiful simile in 
the suit as about an axe handle.

619
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:02,640
You know someone who has used an
axe for a very, very long time. 

620
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,800
Let's say you are a kind of a 
one of the old fashioned timber 

621
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,440
men or timber, I don't know if 
they're timber women, but timber

622
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,040
whatever it is. 
And you have an axe and you use 

623
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:16,040
an axe for a long time. 
And after many years or decades 

624
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:20,720
of using that axe, you can see 
the fingerprints on the handle, 

625
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,240
on the axe handle because it has
worn away. 

626
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,800
And we look at that axe handle, 
you don't know how much was worn

627
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,760
away yesterday or the day 
before, but you know that now it

628
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,560
has worn away to this extent. 
It's the same thing with your 

629
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:37,960
meditation. 
You don't know when the letting 

630
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,480
go is going to happen, but you 
know, if you keep on practising 

631
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:46,360
the full noble 8, full path in 
this way, then one day it is 

632
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,680
going to happen, but you don't 
know when. 

633
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,960
And so it means you stop trying.
You stop trying sitting in 

634
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,640
meditation and saying to 
yourself, let go, let go. 

635
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,760
No, that's pointless because you
don't know when it's going to 

636
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:00,920
happen. 
And you know that, that trying 

637
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:05,440
to let go with the gritted, you 
know, with clenching your fists 

638
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,159
and gritting your teeth, that's 
going to make it worse. 

639
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:09,360
That's the last thing you 
wanted. 

640
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:10,920
That's not how you get letting 
go. 

641
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:12,639
That's actually really holding 
on, right? 

642
00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:15,159
If you kind of clench your 
fists, whatever, the last thing 

643
00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:17,159
you want to do is clenching your
fists and gritting your teeth 

644
00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:20,120
and pressing the tongue against 
the roof of the mouth. 

645
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,280
These are all kind of similes 
taken from the suitors. 

646
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:25,719
So that's not what you want to 
do. 

647
00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,960
Instead, you understand, 
patience is the way to patience 

648
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,480
is the right way. 
That is the way to go. 

649
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,520
And then when letting go is 
ready, when all these factors 

650
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,840
come together, it will happen by
itself. 

651
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,560
So you stop stressing out in 
meditation, you sit back, you 

652
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,400
learn to wait, you learn to be 
patient. 

653
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,520
And then one day when the 
letting go happens, you think, 

654
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:55,400
wow, that is how it works. 
And then when you know how it 

655
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:59,840
works, what do you do then? 
Well, ideally what you do then 

656
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,400
is you carry on doing that, but 
that's that's what happens. 

657
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:03,880
And then you kind of grasp 
again, right? 

658
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,360
Because now I've seen how it 
works and you grasp that and 

659
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,280
you're back to square 1 again. 
You know what I mean? 

660
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,280
That's how it works, right? 
That's the reality of things. 

661
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,080
We think that now we understand,
actually, we don't understand. 

662
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,360
Then we have to kind of learn 
the process over again. 

663
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,560
But ideally, we learn from that 
and then we kind of learn to let

664
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:27,720
go in the right kind of way. 
And so you wear this. 

665
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,760
So this is how letting go 
happens. 

666
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,400
Is there anything that we can 
actually do in our meditation? 

667
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:37,760
And the answer is yes, there are
things we can do in our 

668
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,560
meditation. 
And what we can do is to kind of

669
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,280
set up the causes for letting go
to happen. 

670
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,800
Yeah, not trying to let go all 
the way throughout the 

671
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,840
meditation, but setting up the 
causes at the beginning of 

672
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:54,200
meditation very often there. 
So when you start out your 

673
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,360
meditation, you set up your mind
in a positive way. 

674
00:35:57,880 --> 00:35:59,960
You try to have a positive 
outlook. 

675
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:02,760
Yeah, Yeah. 
You kind of feel the good vibes 

676
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,040
in a place like this. 
You have a positive attitude to 

677
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,600
things. 
Maybe you remind yourself that 

678
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,520
you're here to practice a 
spiritual path. 

679
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,360
That is what really matters. 
I'm not here to think about the 

680
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,240
world and my job or whatever it 
is. 

681
00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,200
Whatever silly things that 
people think about, that's not 

682
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:18,880
why, because it's not really 
important. 

683
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:21,600
Remind yourself what is really 
valuable. 

684
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,800
Remind yourself of what your 
priorities really are. 

685
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,360
You can do that at the beginning
of the meditation and then allow

686
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,440
the process to happen. 
But don't try because that 

687
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,040
trying is not going to work. 
And if you are able just to sit 

688
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,840
back and allow the process to 
happen, sometimes what happens 

689
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:42,480
is that you gain little insights
on the way here because you see 

690
00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,440
yourself moving in the wrong 
direction. 

691
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,960
You see yourself doing the wrong
kind of thing, yeah. 

692
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,120
And then you actually letting go
will happen as a consequence of 

693
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:56,720
that instead. 
So this is kind of how letting 

694
00:36:56,720 --> 00:37:00,560
go happens. 
And then if you follow this 

695
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,960
process, something very 
beautiful happens in your life. 

696
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,560
Yeah, meditation becomes more 
pleasant because it's not trying

697
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:10,720
so hard anymore. 
And because meditation becoming 

698
00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:14,160
more pleasant, you become 
encouraged to practice this path

699
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,320
more as a consequence of that, 
because you practice the path 

700
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,760
more, because you put into place
all the foundations that are 

701
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,560
required, Gradually, gradually, 
gradually, your meditation 

702
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,360
improves. 
You let go of more and more and 

703
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,040
more. 
And as you let go of more and 

704
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,920
more and more, you find more and
more happiness in your life. 

705
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,800
You understand what a pain it is
to hold on to things in the 

706
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,120
world. 
It is really problematic. 

707
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:41,760
It doesn't lead to anything 
good. 

708
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:44,800
And so you let go and you let go
and you let go. 

709
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:49,560
And the final letting go, the 
ultimate letting go, is like 

710
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,800
when Venable Ananda lies there, 
puts down his head on the 

711
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:55,680
pillow, just like this young 
woman over here. 

712
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:56,840
Yeah. 
Like, put in your head. 

713
00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:01,880
Are you enlightened already or 
just put your head down on the 

714
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:02,840
pillow? 
Yeah. 

715
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,480
And then one day, that final 
letting go happens. 

716
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,120
And that is then the final 
awakening that comes as a 

717
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:16,240
consequence of that. 
So that is my talk for this 

718
00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:18,480
evening on the idea of letting 
go. 

719
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,560
And then as a consequence, 
hopefully enjoying your 

720
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:26,360
meditation more and allowing the
meditation to be letting be 

721
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,440
rather than letting go. 
Yeah, as I mentioned earlier on 

722
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,280
during the meditation at the 
beginning, letting be is this 

723
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:38,040
beautiful idea, allowing things 
to be, allowing things to unfold

724
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,960
and then letting go suddenly 
happens as a consequence of 

725
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:48,520
that. 
OK, so there you are, so good. 

726
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:56,280
So if you have any, excellent. 
So if you have anyone has any 

727
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,760
questions or comments, now you 
have the opportunity here. 

728
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,040
I just wanted to make sure that 
I'm on the right path with 

729
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,240
understanding it. 
But it sounds like we are 

730
00:39:11,240 --> 00:39:14,600
outlining is the distinction 
between basically a category of 

731
00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:19,560
action and non action. 
Because I'll use an example from

732
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:23,920
my life as a university student,
but passing a test or an exam 

733
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:28,440
doesn't really track to a 
distinct action that I can I can

734
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,080
take in the world. 
It's really just a set of 

735
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:33,760
prerequisites that seems to be 
achieved. 

736
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:35,960
And I just wanted to make sure 
that I'm understanding kind of 

737
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,640
the letting go is a a similar 
kind of non action. 

738
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:41,680
Yeah. 
So, so like when you take an 

739
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,320
exam, you the reason why you do 
well in the exam is because of 

740
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,640
what you have prepared before 
and exactly not because of what 

741
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:49,480
you do so much on the exam. 
It's almost like automatic allow

742
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,720
your pen to flow according to 
what you've learned before. 

743
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:55,960
And in a sense that is very 
similar to meditation practice, 

744
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,360
allow the process to flow 
depending grounded on all the 

745
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,240
things that we have done, you 
know, for years, ideally 

746
00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:05,000
building up all of these 
qualities that are there. 

747
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:06,200
So similar kind of thing. 
Yeah. 

748
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:11,320
Just as a follow up to that, 
when you highlight people, and 

749
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,160
I've seen this in other people, 
there's this craving for this 

750
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:19,240
non action. 
I'm wondering if other states as

751
00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:24,440
well, such as like gratitude or 
something like that is also a 

752
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:28,640
non action as well as people 
sometimes talk about feeling 

753
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:31,960
gratitude, but is it the case 
that we can actually do that as 

754
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:33,640
an action? 
Or is that actually just us 

755
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:38,400
giving the space and the 
orienting ourselves towards that

756
00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:41,240
as an expression rather than a 
discrete action? 

757
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:44,720
Yeah. 
I mean the there is some action 

758
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:47,640
all of this, there's some, but 
it's knowing where to put the 

759
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:49,400
action and where to put the non 
action. 

760
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:50,800
That's kind of the critical 
thing here. 

761
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:55,320
So you don't really generate 
gratitude through a direct act. 

762
00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,480
The gratitude is generated 
through some prior idea. 

763
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:01,640
The gratitude is generated 
because you understand, well, 

764
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:03,480
someone did something wonderful 
and beautiful. 

765
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:05,360
Yeah. 
And you remember that that gives

766
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:08,200
rise to the gratitude. 
So it's important to understand 

767
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,200
what is the cause and what is 
the effect. 

768
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,760
If you try to create the effect 
out of nothing, that's when you 

769
00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:16,000
have a problem. 
Some people try to create 

770
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,600
happiness, but happiness should 
come from the right kind of 

771
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:21,600
cause. 
The right kind of cause is 

772
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,320
because you feel good about 
yourself, because you're living 

773
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:27,240
well, because you feel you get 
gratitude, because you remember 

774
00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:27,840
something. 
Wow. 

775
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,200
Ajam Braham gave all, has given 
one. 

776
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:35,120
Talk to me every Wednesday in 
the monastery for the 30 years 

777
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,080
I've been there. 
Wow. 

778
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:38,840
Ajam Braham is just amazing. 
Yeah. 

779
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:39,760
Yeah. 
Whoa. 

780
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:42,000
And does it do it? 
He does that for all of us. 

781
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:43,080
Yeah. 
Just to help us. 

782
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:45,560
Just to assist us. 
He doesn't get anything out of 

783
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:47,360
except for hassle. 
He doesn't really want to give 

784
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,760
those blooming talks, but it 
still gives them. 

785
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:51,200
Yeah. 
Wow. 

786
00:41:51,240 --> 00:41:52,840
Azharan, he's kind of the big 
hero. 

787
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:55,800
And then you feel kind of 
gratitude because you look at it

788
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:58,520
in the right way. 
There's knowing where to place 

789
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,600
the action and then the result 
comes. 

790
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,880
And so most of the action for 
letting go to happen happens 

791
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,680
actually outside of meditation. 
That's where the action really 

792
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:08,720
happens. 
It is how we live our life. 

793
00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:12,920
It is so important to integrate 
our entire life into the 

794
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:16,920
spiritual path or the spiritual 
path into our lives, because 

795
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:18,440
without that, it's just not 
going to work. 

796
00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:20,120
This show is how important it 
is. 

797
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,280
And then spending a little bit 
of time at the very start of the

798
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:26,880
meditation to kind of Orient 
your mind in the right way, and 

799
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,120
then things came to flow as a 
consequence. 

800
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:30,960
Thank you very much. 
Yeah. 

801
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:44,240
Please. 
Yeah, as you remember. 

802
00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:48,040
So I was wondering in the Vita, 
because Santa Nasuta, they say 

803
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:52,520
like four or five way of letting
off different thoughts, but 

804
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:55,480
aren't we doing something when 
we are doing those things? 

805
00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:00,040
Yes. 
So, but the idea there again is 

806
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,360
if you have done a lot of 
practice beforehand, it's much 

807
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:06,320
easier to apply those methods. 
Yeah. 

808
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,400
So the method first method there
is like kind of turning it is 

809
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,600
like putting your mind on a 
different kind of thought, 

810
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:13,800
right. 
So if you're thinking something 

811
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,160
negative, you put your mind on 
something positive. 

812
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,080
But that is only possible if you
have practised a lot of positive

813
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:22,440
thinking beforehand. 
Otherwise, it doesn't work. 

814
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,920
If you like, you know, you have 
some person who maybe you find a

815
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,280
bit difficult. 
Yeah, or I wouldn't like this 

816
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:29,360
very well. 
Difficult. 

817
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:32,200
I have to deal with them and 
they come in, they invade your 

818
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:33,920
mind. 
That's kind of what people do 

819
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,480
sometimes. 
They invade your private space 

820
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,600
inside, go away. 
The only way you're going to be 

821
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,720
able to deal with that person is
if you have learnt to have 

822
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:45,760
compassion for them or you have 
learnt to see the good science 

823
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,640
in them. 
All of that is developed outside

824
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:50,640
of meditation. 
You can't develop that in the 

825
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:52,760
meditation. 
You can, but that's that's not 

826
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:56,240
really what meditation is about.
You develop that outside and 

827
00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:59,760
then because you have like all 
of these perceptions ready in 

828
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,120
your mind, developed beforehand,
you can kind of substitute. 

829
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:05,840
Yeah, actually, let me not look 
at the negative things. 

830
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:07,400
They don't know what they're 
doing anyway. 

831
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,480
They are trapped in with this 
stupid conditioning. 

832
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:11,560
I should have compassion for 
these people. 

833
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:14,440
Yeah, for goodness sake. 
You know, they don't really, 

834
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,400
really want to be like that, but
they that's the way they are. 

835
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,240
And so you shift over because 
you have done all that 

836
00:44:20,240 --> 00:44:22,840
beforehand. 
It's a very simple thing that 

837
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,640
you're doing in your meditation.
And with a blink of an eye, you 

838
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,320
can go from having a negative 
mind to having a positive mind 

839
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,640
if you do that in the right way.
That is the first one. 

840
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,480
The second one is where you see 
the thought. 

841
00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:39,360
This is the Vitaka Santana suta 
#20, the calming of thoughts. 

842
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:43,640
Suta suta #20 in the middle 
length saying so the Buddha if 

843
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:48,760
those who wants to look it up. 
Second one is where you think of

844
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,440
these negative thoughts as 
something terrible. 

845
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:53,120
Yeah. 
It's like having a carcass of a 

846
00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:57,240
dog hung around your neck. 
Yeah, the suit has a very 

847
00:44:57,240 --> 00:44:58,880
graphic. 
Yeah, this is kind of one of the

848
00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:00,880
nice things about this. 
I give a very graphic 

849
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:03,440
description. 
Carcass of a dog, carcass of a 

850
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:06,600
snake or a carcass of a human 
being. 

851
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:09,280
You decide what is worse. 
But so. 

852
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:12,760
Yeah. 
And so again, the ability to 

853
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:17,040
understand why a thought of 
anger is like having a carcass 

854
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:18,840
of a snake hang around your 
neck. 

855
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:21,440
To really get that, you have to 
have contemplated that 

856
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:25,200
beforehand. 
You have to know why anger is 

857
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,440
really problematic, why you 
don't want to go there. 

858
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:31,160
And if you just remind yourself 
and very quickly it will stop 

859
00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:34,960
because you know how it destroys
the beauty of your mind? 

860
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:37,800
Yeah. 
The mind is very beautiful when 

861
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:41,560
it's developed in the right way.
The mind is compared to gold in 

862
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,120
the suitors. 
Yeah, it's shining, it's bright.

863
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:46,640
If you Polish it, it becomes 
even more beautiful. 

864
00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:49,480
There's something very, very 
attractive about the mind when 

865
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:50,960
it is developed in the right 
way. 

866
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,680
Yeah, gold is the most beautiful
kind of worldly thing. 

867
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:58,960
The mind is the most wonderful 
thing in the spiritual path when

868
00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:02,400
you develop in the right way. 
And then you come to these other

869
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:06,880
factors where you learn to, you 
have Amanesika, asati, 

870
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:08,800
Amanesika. 
You don't pay attention to the 

871
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:11,360
thought, right? 
That is kind of very simple. 

872
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:14,240
Instead of looking at the 
thought, which is disturbing 

873
00:46:14,240 --> 00:46:17,120
you, you just go back to your 
stay with the breath and you 

874
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,400
allow that thought just to be in
the background and it 

875
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:21,320
disappears. 
Yeah. 

876
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:23,520
So there's not much. 
You don't do very much there at 

877
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:25,200
all. 
All you do is kind of just allow

878
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:28,480
it to disappear in the 
background and then you have the

879
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:29,920
idea of calming down the 
thought. 

880
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:32,360
And the last one is you use 
willpower to get rid of it. 

881
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:36,800
But all of those are, they are 
not necessarily a lot of 

882
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,760
activity if you know how to use 
them in the right way here. 

883
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:44,360
And all of them pretty much rely
on the things that we have done 

884
00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:47,160
outside of meditation before you
can really do them properly 

885
00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:47,760
here. 
Yeah. 

886
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:51,120
You want to use the minimum 
amount of work in those Vitaka 

887
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:54,120
Santana. 
If it happens in your ordinary 

888
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:57,200
life, you can use a little bit 
more work to get rid of them. 

889
00:46:57,520 --> 00:46:59,840
But in meditation, you don't 
want to do a lot of stuff 

890
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:02,120
because it just damages, stops 
your meditation. 

891
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:04,680
So you just want to basically 
observe and allow it to fade 

892
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:06,360
away. 
Very often that's the best 

893
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:07,400
method in meditation. 
Yeah. 

894
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:09,520
OK, a little bit of ill will 
comes up. 

895
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:11,240
OK. 
You just kind of allow it to 

896
00:47:11,240 --> 00:47:14,240
fade away by just going gently 
back on the breath or something 

897
00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:17,760
like that. 
Happy with that. 

898
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:20,600
Thanks so much. 
If you want the long version of 

899
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:22,720
that answer, you have to come to
one of my retreats. 

900
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:24,280
Yeah, that's where they get the 
long version. 

901
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:26,160
It goes for at least an hour, 
so. 

902
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,240
Yeah. 
OK. 

903
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:39,920
Yeah. 
OK, great. 

904
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,160
Thank you. 
Anyone else here? 

905
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:44,680
Everyone else here is happy. 
OK, good. 

906
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:47,720
So let's have a look from 
overseas. 

907
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:50,600
So we have a question from 
Germany. 

908
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:51,800
From Wolfram. 
From Germany. 

909
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:57,240
How can you trust a monk again? 
You see that even the old holy 

910
00:47:57,240 --> 00:48:00,400
monks in Thailand were caught 
living in luxury for years. 

911
00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,560
They used the money people gave 
to the temple. 

912
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,280
How can you trust a monk? 
Well, The thing is that how can 

913
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,440
you trust anyone? 
Yeah. 

914
00:48:09,880 --> 00:48:14,080
And the truth is that monks are 
human beings. 

915
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:17,560
And so just like with other 
human beings, there are some you

916
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,200
can trust and some you can't 
trust. 

917
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:21,320
The same thing with the monks. 
There are some you can trust and

918
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,240
some you can't trust. 
I guess the question for you now

919
00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:27,120
is if you can trust me here. 
Because if you can't trust me, 

920
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:28,400
you can't trust what I'm saying 
now. 

921
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:29,880
And then you have a problem. 
Yeah. 

922
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:32,760
So presumably you trust me, 
otherwise you wouldn't ask this 

923
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:33,600
question. 
So you. 

924
00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:35,600
So there you are. 
You're already trusting 1 monk 

925
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:37,480
already. 
I just proved to you that you 

926
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:39,320
trust me, otherwise you wouldn't
ask this question. 

927
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:45,040
So, so you have to just have 
your eyes open. 

928
00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,200
Yeah, you have to look, you have
to know, and you have to be 

929
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:51,080
discerning. 
And some sometimes you trust, 

930
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,880
sometimes you don't because the 
world is complicated and the 

931
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:58,880
world is difficult. 
And, and sometimes what you have

932
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,160
to do is you have to hang out 
with these monks or with these 

933
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,120
lay people over a long period of
time. 

934
00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:06,280
Yeah. 
This is one of the reasons why I

935
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,480
have stayed with Ajambram for 30
years. 

936
00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:10,320
I have tremendous trust in 
Ajambram. 

937
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:13,040
You may not have that trust in 
Ajambram because you haven't 

938
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:15,560
seen him. 
I have seen him for 30 years. 

939
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:20,960
I've seen the integrity. 
I've seen the continuation of, 

940
00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:24,760
you know, of remarkable actions 
and remarkable spiritual 

941
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:26,680
qualities over long periods of 
time. 

942
00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:29,120
And that's really, really 
powerful when you see that. 

943
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:31,240
So be discerning. 
Yeah. 

944
00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:34,160
Look, over long period of time. 
Yeah. 

945
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:37,840
And as you do that, gradually 
you start to get the feeling for

946
00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:39,600
who you can trust and who you 
isn't. 

947
00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:41,400
Maybe not so trustworthy. 
Yeah. 

948
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:43,800
That's kind of the answer to 
that question. 

949
00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:47,000
So don't kind of, you know, 
sometimes people are so black 

950
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:49,200
and white, it's either good or 
it's bad. 

951
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:50,560
Yeah. 
They're either against us or 

952
00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:52,520
they're for us. 
But the world isn't black and 

953
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:55,080
white. 
The world is in Shades of Grey. 

954
00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:57,920
Yeah, And these days everything 
seems to be black and white. 

955
00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:00,320
I think the Internet is kind of 
making the world black and 

956
00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:01,760
white. 
But the Internet is wrong. 

957
00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:04,040
Yeah, The world is not black and
white. 

958
00:50:04,040 --> 00:50:06,600
Don't trust the Internet. 
Yeah, Internet is dodgy. 

959
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:14,800
OK, question from Bolivia. 
Viria comes from Viro or hero, 

960
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:18,520
meaning that the Buddha is a 
hero, which brings us tears of 

961
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:21,240
joy. 
But shouldn't those tear be born

962
00:50:21,240 --> 00:50:26,600
from Sunder and not from Viria? 
I'm confusing those. 

963
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:33,920
So when you think of the Buddha 
as a hero, that's not Virya, 

964
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:34,960
that's Sada. 
Yeah. 

965
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:37,120
Because you are thinking of the 
Buddha as the hero. 

966
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:39,480
And yeah, the Buddha is a hero. 
The Buddha is kind of the 

967
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:41,520
greatest hero in human history. 
Yeah. 

968
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:46,680
The Buddha is like this amazing,
extraordinary person who is able

969
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:51,320
to see through the deepest kind 
of delusion in the human mind. 

970
00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:53,200
Yeah. 
That's kind of, like, absolutely

971
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:54,040
astonishing. 
Yeah. 

972
00:50:54,880 --> 00:50:57,480
And you know, to me the Buddha 
just stands head and shoulder 

973
00:50:57,480 --> 00:50:59,480
above everyone else in human 
history. 

974
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,720
And we still have those suitors 
that have the word of the Buddha

975
00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:05,240
in the present day. 
So it is incredibly, incredibly 

976
00:51:05,240 --> 00:51:09,040
precious because of that. 
And that is faith. 

977
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:12,160
That is Sadda, because you see 
the Buddha in that way. 

978
00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:15,480
But what is interesting when you
have that kind of faith, yeah, 

979
00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:18,280
that faith, first of all, is 
confidence, because you feel 

980
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:21,400
confident after a while that the
Buddha really knew what it was 

981
00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:24,760
talking about. 
But it's also faith in the sense

982
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:26,640
that it is emotional. 
Yeah. 

983
00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:30,040
Faith is emotionally supposed to
bring out emotions. 

984
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:32,480
That is when it's powerful. 
That's when you have, as you 

985
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:37,040
say, tears of joy. 
Yeah, because those emotions, I 

986
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:39,040
would allow the meditation to 
work. 

987
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:43,120
And that is the Sundar of 
Buddhism, this mixture of 

988
00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:47,160
confidence and faith, the 
emotion of the emotions that 

989
00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:51,600
come from faith. 
But then when you have that 

990
00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:56,360
faith, the next what that leads 
to, and this is kind of where 

991
00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:59,840
what you're saying here, because
interesting, what that leads to 

992
00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:03,000
is energy. 
Why? 

993
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,400
Because when you have faith, 
when you have joy, yeah, the 

994
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:10,280
energy comes with that joy is 
always energetic. 

995
00:52:10,720 --> 00:52:15,040
Joy is always mindful. 
So the joy, the pamuja, the 

996
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:19,680
sati, the mindfulness and the 
energy are kind of three aspects

997
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:22,280
that kind of come arise together
in the mind. 

998
00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:25,720
Yeah, these are things that kind
of tend to work together in a 

999
00:52:25,720 --> 00:52:28,000
sense. 
And so in that way, you are 

1000
00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:30,760
right. 
Yeah, the faith and the Virya 

1001
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:33,760
are closely connected to each 
other in that particular way. 

1002
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,800
So contemplate the Buddha by all
means and see him as a for the 

1003
00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,680
hero. 
He was this extraordinary person

1004
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:46,800
who kind of went his own way and
found the answer to the deepest 

1005
00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:50,840
realities of life. 
It's a very lonely journey 

1006
00:52:51,200 --> 00:52:53,760
because you are the only person 
who does that. 

1007
00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:58,280
You have to reject all existing 
ideas in society. 

1008
00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:02,400
You can't listen to anyone else.
You are completely on your own. 

1009
00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:04,680
Yeah, this is kind of why it is 
so hard. 

1010
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:06,720
This is why you have. 
It's kind of heroic. 

1011
00:53:06,720 --> 00:53:09,440
Yeah. 
Because you are on your own, you

1012
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:12,000
know, it starts with the Buddha 
kind of just walking off into 

1013
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,680
the forest and saying, OK, I'm 
going to find the solution to 

1014
00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:17,720
the meaning of life. 
I'm going to find the end of 

1015
00:53:18,040 --> 00:53:19,680
death. 
Yeah, this is kind of what it 

1016
00:53:19,680 --> 00:53:22,520
kind of his his idea. 
And then he walks off to find 

1017
00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:25,560
the end of death, the solution 
to the problem of dying. 

1018
00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:30,000
And then he finds that through 
this very kind of, you know, 

1019
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:33,560
first of all, using the existing
teachers, but eventually doing 

1020
00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:36,240
it all on his own as kind of 
really extraordinary. 

1021
00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:39,040
Yeah. 
And in this way, yes, you can 

1022
00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:43,040
get faith in the in the Buddha. 
OK. 

1023
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:51,120
Last one, Eddie from Indonesia, 
I believe, Dear Arjan, you ever 

1024
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:54,000
mentioned about it, if 
mindfulness is strong, the 

1025
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:57,640
meditation takes off. 
Kindly elaborate more on that. 

1026
00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:01,880
And how do we build strong 
mindfulness despite external 

1027
00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:06,360
factor problem? 
Yes, external factor problem. 

1028
00:54:06,360 --> 00:54:08,920
That's a very good point. 
That's a very that's a very big 

1029
00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:12,720
problem. 
And so you have to build that 

1030
00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:16,680
strength of mindfulness really 
comes from the other factors of 

1031
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:17,560
the path. 
Yeah. 

1032
00:54:17,560 --> 00:54:19,440
And building those up in the 
right way. 

1033
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:25,840
Mindfulness comes because 
basically you feel good about 

1034
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:28,800
yourself. 
You want to be present, you want

1035
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:31,360
to be here. 
If you feel happy about yourself

1036
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,200
because you're living a good 
life, your mind will tend to be 

1037
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:35,840
present. 
There's no reason for you to 

1038
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:39,280
kind of want to flee the present
moment, to be somewhere else, 

1039
00:54:39,720 --> 00:54:44,320
because here is nice, here is 
good, here is positive. 

1040
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:49,000
The virtue of the morality 
builds up the sense of being 

1041
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:51,440
present. 
And of course, right viewer, 

1042
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:54,080
right view that being present is
valuable. 

1043
00:54:54,640 --> 00:54:59,440
Right view that being present is
is delightful. 

1044
00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:01,840
Yeah. 
If you want to be alive, you've 

1045
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:04,400
got to be present, otherwise 
you're not really alive. 

1046
00:55:04,400 --> 00:55:08,320
If you want to be able to react 
appropriately to what is 

1047
00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:10,640
happening now, you have to be 
mindful. 

1048
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:13,280
But you can't even react 
properly, appropriately react to

1049
00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:15,960
some kind of muddled thing that 
is going on. 

1050
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,680
Partly what's going on in your 
mind, partly what is happening 

1051
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:21,360
here. 
And so there's really this 

1052
00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:23,720
integration of the noble 
earthful path. 

1053
00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:27,640
And sometimes you will be 
confused. 

1054
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:31,440
Sometimes your life, because it 
is busy and because you're doing

1055
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:35,160
all kind of things, will mean 
that your mind is muddled. 

1056
00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:38,960
And that is to be expected. 
There is a nice suit. 

1057
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:42,720
There's the the Buddha's cousin 
called Mahanama. 

1058
00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:45,920
You know the famous story about 
Mahanama and Aruda? 

1059
00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:48,120
They were brothers. 
Yeah, They were the two 

1060
00:55:48,120 --> 00:55:50,680
brothers. 
And this is the one of my kind 

1061
00:55:50,680 --> 00:55:54,080
of really kind of cute little 
stories from the from the vigner

1062
00:55:54,080 --> 00:55:56,240
Pitta camp. 
And I told the story here 

1063
00:55:56,240 --> 00:55:58,600
before, but such a nicely. 
So I'll tell it again just for 

1064
00:55:58,600 --> 00:56:01,960
the just for those of you who 
are kind of sitting here and if 

1065
00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:03,040
you want to leave it, I want to 
hear it. 

1066
00:56:03,040 --> 00:56:06,120
You're very welcome to do so. 
But they were the cousins of the

1067
00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:08,040
Buddha. 
The Buddha just got enlightened 

1068
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:10,320
and it comes back to his home 
country. 

1069
00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:12,760
Yeah. 
And everyone is really inspired 

1070
00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:13,960
by the Buddha. 
Wow. 

1071
00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:18,120
Our kinsmen, our family, our 
relative become, you know, wow, 

1072
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:22,160
this amazing teacher. 
We should all have at least one 

1073
00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:26,080
child in every family should go 
forth and become a monk, as it 

1074
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:27,440
was before there was nuns. 
Yeah. 

1075
00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,200
So every, every family should 
have at least one monk. 

1076
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:32,280
In those days, they had large 
families, so they could kind of 

1077
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:34,800
spare one son, right, to become 
a monk. 

1078
00:56:35,240 --> 00:56:36,880
It's difficult, but they could 
do it. 

1079
00:56:37,720 --> 00:56:41,240
And so so all the families, they
kind of sent one young man to 

1080
00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:43,200
become a monk. 
But then there was a family of 

1081
00:56:43,240 --> 00:56:46,080
Anuruddha and Mahanama. 
Yeah. 

1082
00:56:46,080 --> 00:56:49,600
And Anarudda and Mahanama, they 
kind of say meeting up. 

1083
00:56:49,600 --> 00:56:52,920
And Mahanama says to Anarudda, 
well, all the other families are

1084
00:56:52,920 --> 00:56:54,840
sending one young man to become 
a monk. 

1085
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:57,920
We should do the same. 
Either you and Anarudda should 

1086
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:00,240
become a monk or I should become
a monk. 

1087
00:57:00,240 --> 00:57:02,960
Yeah. 
And then Anarudda says, well, I 

1088
00:57:02,960 --> 00:57:04,920
have been kind of treated so 
nicely. 

1089
00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:08,120
I've been brought up in. 
So such a kind of a bit, all the

1090
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:11,640
kind of comforts of the world. 
There's no way I can be a monk. 

1091
00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:13,760
I can't, couldn't stand it for a
single day. 

1092
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:16,320
It's too tough. 
You become a monk. 

1093
00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:18,480
That's what Andruda says. 
Yeah. 

1094
00:57:18,480 --> 00:57:21,320
Really kind of slack. 
What kind of person is that? 

1095
00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:22,440
Yeah. 
That's what you start to think. 

1096
00:57:22,440 --> 00:57:24,680
Yeah. 
And then Mahanama says and Ray 

1097
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:28,760
says, well, if that is the case,
that I should become a monk. 

1098
00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:32,040
Yeah. 
Well, you have to take over the 

1099
00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:34,000
household. 
What? 

1100
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:36,600
I don't mean household. 
I don't know anything about 

1101
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:38,400
household. 
All I know is about eating and 

1102
00:57:38,400 --> 00:57:39,680
enjoying myself. 
Yeah. 

1103
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:41,120
What? 
You're talking about taking over

1104
00:57:41,120 --> 00:57:43,800
the house? 
Well, you have to take over all 

1105
00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:47,480
the work in the fields. 
Yeah. 

1106
00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:49,880
So at the beginning of the 
season, you have to plow the 

1107
00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:51,240
fields. 
Yeah. 

1108
00:57:51,240 --> 00:57:53,800
And then you have to kind of the
plow them and removing all the 

1109
00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:55,520
stocks and the stumps or 
whatever. 

1110
00:57:55,640 --> 00:57:58,400
You have to make the furrows. 
After making the furrows, you 

1111
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:01,160
have to put in the seeds. 
After putting in the seeds, you 

1112
00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:04,520
have to irrigate it with water. 
After irrigating it, you have to

1113
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:06,840
drain the field. 
After draining the field, you 

1114
00:58:06,840 --> 00:58:09,560
have to weed the field. 
And then when the crops come up,

1115
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:12,560
you have to reap the crops. 
And then you have to kind of 

1116
00:58:12,560 --> 00:58:15,680
thrash it and get all the junk 
out and kind of get the seeds. 

1117
00:58:15,680 --> 00:58:17,880
I'm not sure what you call. 
And the junkyard is not a 

1118
00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:19,240
technical term, but you know 
what I mean. 

1119
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:20,840
Yeah. 
So getting all the the rubbish 

1120
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:23,720
out the straws and the kind of 
husk or whatever, and then you 

1121
00:58:23,720 --> 00:58:28,240
have to put it all in silos. 
And Anirudhar says, wow, that's 

1122
00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:29,240
a lot of work. 
Yeah. 

1123
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:33,080
And then when everything is 
finally in the silos, yeah. 

1124
00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:37,160
And in stores, then you are 
ready for the next harvest, the 

1125
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:38,640
next season. 
Yeah. 

1126
00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:42,280
And then Andrew said, what do 
you mean ready for the next 

1127
00:58:42,280 --> 00:58:44,640
season? 
When does the work stop? 

1128
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:48,040
And when I said the work never 
stops, Yeah. 

1129
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:51,360
Our fathers and our 
grandfathers, they died right 

1130
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,280
there while they were working in
the fields. 

1131
00:58:53,320 --> 00:58:56,400
And then Anna said, well, in 
that case, I will go forth. 

1132
00:58:56,440 --> 00:59:00,040
You stay in the home life there.
This is Anna Rudda. 

1133
00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:02,800
It was a real kind of scallywag.
Yeah, really dodgy. 

1134
00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:05,160
And then it turned out to become
a really, really good monk. 

1135
00:59:05,160 --> 00:59:09,000
Of course, you can see even the 
kind of really bad material can 

1136
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:12,160
turn out really, really, really,
really well, which is kind of 

1137
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:13,120
extraordinary. 
Yeah. 

1138
00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:20,360
So this is so this is the the 
story of the of, of all these 

1139
00:59:20,360 --> 00:59:25,800
people going forth. 
And so I'm not sure where I was 

1140
00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:29,160
going with all of this and how 
it relates to the kind of the 

1141
00:59:29,160 --> 00:59:32,240
mindfulness, the mindfulness 
here. 

1142
00:59:34,120 --> 00:59:38,560
But anyway, so that was that, 
that is, yeah. 

1143
00:59:38,600 --> 00:59:42,560
So forget about all of that. 
And coming back to the idea, 

1144
00:59:42,560 --> 00:59:44,800
mindfulness. 
Mindfulness basically comes 

1145
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:48,280
about, yeah, through the 
practice of all the factors of 

1146
00:59:48,280 --> 00:59:51,880
the noble at full path. 
Yeah, in in this particular way 

1147
00:59:51,880 --> 00:59:54,240
here. 
And as you do that, as you build

1148
00:59:54,240 --> 00:59:58,400
it up, as you understand the 
danger of all the definements of

1149
00:59:58,400 --> 01:00:02,440
the mind through the daily life.
Yes, and as I was saying that, 

1150
01:00:02,560 --> 01:00:05,320
you know, you lose that 
mindfulness, you can expect that

1151
01:00:05,600 --> 01:00:10,320
just like Mahanama and Anuruda. 
Mahanama, even though he stayed 

1152
01:00:10,320 --> 01:00:14,040
behind, because Anuruda finally 
decide to become a monk, even 

1153
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:17,680
though he stayed behind, he 
became a very powerful disciple 

1154
01:00:17,680 --> 01:00:19,440
there. 
And according to the suitors, he

1155
01:00:19,440 --> 01:00:21,880
became a stream entry as a 
layperson. 

1156
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:25,840
So it is possible even as a 
layperson, to enter very deep 

1157
01:00:25,840 --> 01:00:29,800
meditations and see the Dhamma. 
But then he goes to the Buddha 

1158
01:00:29,800 --> 01:00:34,040
and he says to the Buddha, well,
sometimes when I go into Kapila 

1159
01:00:34,040 --> 01:00:38,640
Vatu, Kapila Vatu was the 
capital city of the second clan.

1160
01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:43,240
Sometimes when I go into Kapila 
Vatu, I feel confused because 

1161
01:00:43,240 --> 01:00:45,560
there's so much noise and things
going on. 

1162
01:00:45,560 --> 01:00:48,680
You know, all the elephants and 
the horses and the Chariots kind

1163
01:00:48,680 --> 01:00:52,520
of running around and people, 
drums and trumpets. 

1164
01:00:52,520 --> 01:00:54,360
And I don't know what is 
happening in Kapila Vatu. 

1165
01:00:54,680 --> 01:00:58,120
I feel really confused. 
Yeah, and then the Buddha says 

1166
01:00:58,600 --> 01:01:01,640
don't worry. 
Yeah, don't be concerned. 

1167
01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:06,120
Yeah, because you have enough 
insight, enough understanding 

1168
01:01:06,200 --> 01:01:08,240
that your death is going to be a
good one. 

1169
01:01:09,160 --> 01:01:12,800
In the same way, don't be too 
concerned if your mindfulness 

1170
01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,840
sometimes go low. 
Don't be concerned if in daily 

1171
01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:19,120
life it is really hard to keep 
your mindfulness in knowing 

1172
01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:21,520
exactly what you're doing. 
You do your best. 

1173
01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:25,320
Sometimes you will be confused, 
sometimes you lose maybe your 

1174
01:01:25,320 --> 01:01:27,880
sense of direction. 
Sometimes you forget what is up 

1175
01:01:27,880 --> 01:01:30,280
and what is down. 
Yeah, what is back and what is 

1176
01:01:30,280 --> 01:01:34,040
forth and then but it comes back
again. 

1177
01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:36,960
It returns to you because you 
are on the path and you're 

1178
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:40,280
living in the right way. 
And so just make the most out of

1179
01:01:40,280 --> 01:01:42,760
this. 
Occasionally go on a meditation 

1180
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:44,760
retreat and do something nice 
like that. 

1181
01:01:44,760 --> 01:01:47,800
And then see how your 
mindfulness is going. 

1182
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:50,960
And if it kind of turns into 
samadhi and it turns into good 

1183
01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:55,960
meditation on the retreat. 
All right. 

1184
01:01:56,720 --> 01:01:59,720
OK Anything else anyone wants to
say here? 

1185
01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:02,840
Anyone else is happy? 
Are you sure you're happy here? 

1186
01:02:02,960 --> 01:02:03,640
Yeah. 
OK. 

1187
01:02:03,840 --> 01:02:05,040
Happy enough. 
OK. 

1188
01:02:05,040 --> 01:02:06,320
Very good. 
OK. 

1189
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:07,640
Yes, please. 
Yeah. 

1190
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:18,600
I heard in Singapore, Malaysia 
you said starting near death 

1191
01:02:18,600 --> 01:02:22,320
experience club. 
Remember is it possible to do 

1192
01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:26,040
here near death experience club?
I heard you said. 

1193
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:30,280
OK, Yeah. 
Yeah. 

1194
01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:33,240
That's interesting, isn't it? 
Yeah. 

1195
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:37,040
I, I suggest that because I 
think that a lot of people have 

1196
01:02:37,040 --> 01:02:40,960
lots of stories and sometimes 
they are afraid of telling their

1197
01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:43,200
stories because they're afraid 
that people will laugh at them 

1198
01:02:43,200 --> 01:02:44,520
and think they're crazy or 
whatever. 

1199
01:02:44,520 --> 01:02:45,960
But this is a Buddhist 
community. 

1200
01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:47,840
Yeah. 
And people are actually open to 

1201
01:02:47,840 --> 01:02:49,600
the idea of near death 
experiences. 

1202
01:02:50,240 --> 01:02:52,400
And so sometimes it is a good 
idea. 

1203
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:53,760
Yeah. 
To kind of have that kind of 

1204
01:02:53,760 --> 01:02:56,280
group coming together and 
talking and telling some stories

1205
01:02:56,280 --> 01:02:57,480
and that that kind of thing. 
Yeah. 

1206
01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:00,920
So I think it is possible. 
You just need someone to kind of

1207
01:03:01,200 --> 01:03:05,040
get it together, I suppose. 
And what was that? 

1208
01:03:12,760 --> 01:03:16,600
So let's consider it and see and
see what to see what happens. 

1209
01:03:16,600 --> 01:03:18,280
Yeah. 
But I think it would be really, 

1210
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:20,440
really interesting to hear what 
people have to say because I'm 

1211
01:03:20,440 --> 01:03:22,040
sure there's some very 
interesting stories going 

1212
01:03:22,720 --> 01:03:25,960
available in this in our 
society. 

1213
01:03:26,160 --> 01:03:31,560
So, yeah, all right. 
So. 

1214
01:03:32,440 --> 01:03:34,920
OK, great. 
Oops. 

1215
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:36,080
Sorry. 
I apologise. 

1216
01:03:36,080 --> 01:03:38,840
I didn't try to destroy it. 
I just, it just fell off. 

1217
01:03:39,520 --> 01:03:41,040
OK, everyone. 
So let's display respect to the 

1218
01:03:41,040 --> 01:03:41,800
Buddha Damasanga.