1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000
So, welcome again, nice to see 
you all here. 

2
00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,539
And we are tonight, I'm going to
talk about the idea of 

3
00:00:10,539 --> 00:00:12,200
compassion. 
Is that okay? 

4
00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,000
Yeah, give me permission? 
Okay, thank you. 

5
00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,001
I can go ahead. 
Just checking if everyone is 

6
00:00:18,001 --> 00:00:20,848
okay with that. 
So, I probably would talk about 

7
00:00:20,848 --> 00:00:25,800
that anyway, even if you didn't 
agree, so I was going to kind of

8
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,128
point this exercise. 
So, I'm going to talk about 

9
00:00:28,128 --> 00:00:31,200
compassion, and one of the 
things I want to do, as I always

10
00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,600
like to do, is to compare the 
way the Buddha taught 

11
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,530
compassion, how it is explained 
in the early suttas, and compare

12
00:00:39,530 --> 00:00:43,716
that with how we do things 
today, and whether we are 

13
00:00:43,716 --> 00:00:46,200
getting it right. 
One of those things I always 

14
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,546
like to focus on is what the 
Buddha taught, because the 

15
00:00:48,546 --> 00:00:51,000
Buddha is like the standard that
we should follow. 

16
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,336
If we understand what the Buddha
taught, then we can maybe apply 

17
00:00:54,336 --> 00:00:58,310
these things in the right way. 
It's such an important way of 

18
00:00:58,310 --> 00:01:01,000
inquiring into what Buddhism is 
all about. 

19
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,063
The Buddha was the one who, we 
have to assume, had some deep 

20
00:01:05,063 --> 00:01:07,800
insight into reality. 
If he didn't, the whole thing 

21
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,875
kind of falls apart. 
So, that's why the Buddha's 

22
00:01:10,875 --> 00:01:15,200
teachings are special. 
So, what do we find in the early

23
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,000
Buddhist teachings about the 
idea of compassion? 

24
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,191
You sure you want to leave 
already? 

25
00:01:20,191 --> 00:01:23,000
This is, you know, compassion is
a good topic. 

26
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000
Sorry, I apologize for being 
naughty. 

27
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:32,688
So, what we find, one of the 
interesting things that we find 

28
00:01:32,688 --> 00:01:38,501
in the life story of the Buddha 
is that very often when we look 

29
00:01:38,501 --> 00:01:43,625
at the life story of the Buddha,
we talk about the idea of a 

30
00:01:43,625 --> 00:01:46,669
bodhisattva, a bodhisattva, 
someone who has been around for 

31
00:01:46,669 --> 00:01:51,002
a long time, for maybe many 
eons, and practicing it. 

32
00:01:51,002 --> 00:01:55,001
This is kind of the standard 
Buddhist view of how the Buddha 

33
00:01:55,001 --> 00:01:57,670
became the Buddha. 
So, he started, according to 

34
00:01:57,670 --> 00:02:01,001
this story, he started off four 
incalculable eons ago or 

35
00:02:01,001 --> 00:02:05,637
something like that, and he made
a vow under a Buddha in the 

36
00:02:05,637 --> 00:02:08,336
past. 
So, there would be 28 Buddhas in

37
00:02:08,336 --> 00:02:12,000
the past, and he was, this was 
called the Buddha Dipankara. 

38
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:18,501
Dipankara, okay, Dipankara. 
And the, our Buddha that we are 

39
00:02:18,501 --> 00:02:22,000
still kind of following now, 
Buddha Gotama, he was not a 

40
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,670
Sumedha at that time. 
And under this Buddha Dipankara,

41
00:02:24,670 --> 00:02:29,412
he then makes supposed to made a
vow and saying, I am going to 

42
00:02:29,412 --> 00:02:34,000
practice in such a way that I 
become a Buddha in the future. 

43
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,286
And the idea behind this is the 
idea of compassion that lies 

44
00:02:38,286 --> 00:02:41,633
behind this, the idea that he 
can see the suffering in the 

45
00:02:41,633 --> 00:02:45,500
world, and he wants to help the 
whole world, and to do that, he 

46
00:02:45,500 --> 00:02:48,155
has to achieve awakening 
enlightenment, and then he 

47
00:02:48,155 --> 00:02:51,616
actually becomes the Buddha 
based on that idea of 

48
00:02:51,616 --> 00:02:54,572
compassion. 
That is what lies behind that 

49
00:02:54,572 --> 00:02:56,766
story. 
And this is kind of a 

50
00:02:56,766 --> 00:02:59,706
traditional story that you will 
read about in most Buddhist 

51
00:02:59,706 --> 00:03:03,150
countries, and you will find 
references in more obscure parts

52
00:03:03,150 --> 00:03:08,155
of the Pali Canon as well to 
these kind of things, but is it 

53
00:03:08,155 --> 00:03:12,000
the word of the Buddha? 
And the answer is no. 

54
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,900
So if it isn't the word of the 
Buddha, then is it true? 

55
00:03:15,900 --> 00:03:18,000
Did it really happen in this 
way? 

56
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,334
And the answer is that this is 
really more to be understood as 

57
00:03:22,334 --> 00:03:27,200
a legend, a way of mythology of 
the Buddha, how we kind of came 

58
00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,000
to know the Buddha after he 
passed away. 

59
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,718
And one of the things I always 
like to point out, you can 

60
00:03:33,718 --> 00:03:36,716
imagine if you have the greatest
spiritual teacher in human 

61
00:03:36,716 --> 00:03:41,000
history, that's how I regard the
Buddha, by a long way, right, 

62
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,334
the greatest spiritual teacher 
in human history, and if you 

63
00:03:44,334 --> 00:03:48,637
have that, and one day he dies, 
imagine the impact on the 

64
00:03:48,637 --> 00:03:50,650
community. 
It would have been a very, very 

65
00:03:50,650 --> 00:03:53,389
powerful impact, a sense of loss
would have been enormous, when 

66
00:03:53,389 --> 00:03:57,668
you touch a towering figure, 
where you always go to ask 

67
00:03:57,668 --> 00:04:01,500
questions about all kinds of 
things, and one day he's gone, 

68
00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:04,848
you can't ask questions anymore.
What did you mean by this 

69
00:04:04,848 --> 00:04:06,693
master? 
That question can no longer 

70
00:04:06,693 --> 00:04:09,500
exist. 
It's a very, very difficult 

71
00:04:09,500 --> 00:04:12,000
period for that Buddhist 
community. 

72
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,848
Imagine if the Buddhist society 
here lost Ajahn Brahm, where 

73
00:04:15,848 --> 00:04:19,250
would we be? 
It would be really different, it

74
00:04:19,250 --> 00:04:22,625
would be a very different 
feeling in this Buddhist 

75
00:04:22,625 --> 00:04:25,250
society. 
So I tell you, practice now 

76
00:04:25,250 --> 00:04:28,625
while we still have spiritual 
geniuses like Ajahn Brahm 

77
00:04:28,625 --> 00:04:31,000
around, because it will not last
all that long. 

78
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,430
And yet Ajahn Brahm is not the 
Buddha, imagine if it was the 

79
00:04:34,430 --> 00:04:37,000
Buddha who disappeared, even 
more, far more powerful again. 

80
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,668
And because of that, after the 
Buddha passes away, they start 

81
00:04:40,668 --> 00:04:44,002
to ask the question, well who 
was this teacher of ours? 

82
00:04:44,002 --> 00:04:47,716
We don't know that much about 
him, he told a few stories about

83
00:04:47,716 --> 00:04:51,715
his life, we can kind of stitch 
that together and make a kind of

84
00:04:51,715 --> 00:04:54,184
biography, but actually we don't
really understand properly where

85
00:04:54,184 --> 00:04:57,337
he came from. 
And then the story starts to get

86
00:04:57,337 --> 00:05:00,667
developed, yeah, I think I 
remember he said something about

87
00:05:00,667 --> 00:05:03,002
that, yeah, I better write that 
down. 

88
00:05:03,002 --> 00:05:06,500
And then gradually the story 
expands, and then later, 

89
00:05:06,500 --> 00:05:11,417
hundreds of years after the 
Buddha, you get scriptures, like

90
00:05:11,417 --> 00:05:15,584
what is called the Charyapitaka,
Charyapitaka means the basket of

91
00:05:15,584 --> 00:05:19,079
conduct, which then explains the
conduct of the Buddha over vast 

92
00:05:19,079 --> 00:05:23,001
amounts of time, and how he came
to become the Buddha eventually.

93
00:05:23,001 --> 00:05:26,457
But it's legend, it was created 
after the time of the Buddha. 

94
00:05:26,457 --> 00:05:29,728
If you really want to find out 
why the Buddha became the 

95
00:05:29,728 --> 00:05:33,336
Buddha, you have to go to the 
Suttas, the early discourse, 

96
00:05:33,336 --> 00:05:36,000
where the Buddha himself 
explains what he did. 

97
00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:40,617
And there, very interestingly, 
and this goes against the common

98
00:05:40,617 --> 00:05:45,500
understanding of Buddhism, we do
not find compassion as a 

99
00:05:45,500 --> 00:05:50,232
motivation for why the Buddha 
went forth, why he decided to 

100
00:05:50,232 --> 00:05:53,000
become a monk, why he decided to
become awakened. 

101
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:58,500
Isn't that kind of amazing? 
Have you ever thought of that 

102
00:05:58,500 --> 00:06:00,602
before? 
Maybe some of you have, maybe 

103
00:06:00,602 --> 00:06:03,948
some of you have heard of my 
Suttas before, probably heard of

104
00:06:03,948 --> 00:06:07,424
these kind of things before, but
it actually goes against the 

105
00:06:07,424 --> 00:06:10,540
whole idea of the Buddha. 
The Buddha is someone who 

106
00:06:10,540 --> 00:06:13,000
becomes awakened because of 
compassion for the world. 

107
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,669
And when I now say, it's like 
I'm overturning the received 

108
00:06:16,669 --> 00:06:19,000
wisdom of so many generations of
Buddhists. 

109
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,000
But anyone who has read the 
Suttas will agree with me, they 

110
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000
will know that this is basically
the truth. 

111
00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:28,200
So why did the Buddha, or the 
Buddha-to-be I should say, why 

112
00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,000
did he decide to renounce the 
ordinary life? 

113
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,637
What was his motivation for 
doing that if it wasn't 

114
00:06:34,637 --> 00:06:36,869
compassion? 
And what the Buddha says in his 

115
00:06:36,869 --> 00:06:39,801
autobiography, because he will 
often tell his life, and he will

116
00:06:39,801 --> 00:06:43,616
tell his life to inspire us to 
practice in the same way, so we 

117
00:06:43,616 --> 00:06:47,000
understand what he did, we 
should be doing the same thing. 

118
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,792
And what he says was that he 
looked out across, he just 

119
00:06:50,792 --> 00:06:53,000
looked from his ordinary 
experience of life. 

120
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,900
And when he saw in his ordinary 
experience of life the amount of

121
00:06:56,900 --> 00:07:00,925
suffering that we have to go 
through, looking at his own life

122
00:07:00,925 --> 00:07:05,500
really, and he saw in particular
three things, and those three 

123
00:07:05,500 --> 00:07:09,000
things are illness, old age and 
death. 

124
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,530
These are the three things that 
he was talking about, the three 

125
00:07:12,530 --> 00:07:17,941
things that he kind of, in a few
different places he said was the

126
00:07:17,941 --> 00:07:21,000
motivating factor for him to go 
forth. 

127
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,750
It's kind of fascinating because
it's really about he sees a 

128
00:07:23,750 --> 00:07:27,107
problem in his own life, and 
because he sees a problem in his

129
00:07:27,107 --> 00:07:30,375
own life, he wants to find a 
solution to that problem, that's

130
00:07:30,375 --> 00:07:35,118
why he decides to become a monk.
This is really the thing, death 

131
00:07:35,118 --> 00:07:38,648
contemplation here is very 
central, the idea, I'm going to 

132
00:07:38,648 --> 00:07:42,250
die, so if I'm going to die, 
this world kind of loses a bit 

133
00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:45,224
of its luster, because all the 
things I accumulate, all the 

134
00:07:45,224 --> 00:07:48,000
things I build up, it's going to
have to go. 

135
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,500
This is what the Buddha talks 
about in the famous sutta known 

136
00:07:53,500 --> 00:07:58,215
as the Noble Search, called the 
Arya Pariessana Sutta in Pali, I

137
00:07:58,215 --> 00:08:00,786
always like to use a few Pali 
words because it sounds really 

138
00:08:00,786 --> 00:08:03,730
cool, and people kind of, you 
kind of become more of a, get 

139
00:08:03,730 --> 00:08:06,455
more authority when you use some
long difficult Pali words, Arya 

140
00:08:06,455 --> 00:08:10,546
Pariessana Sutta, and this 
sutta, it means the Noble 

141
00:08:10,546 --> 00:08:15,092
Search, the Buddha distinguishes
between the Noble Search and the

142
00:08:15,092 --> 00:08:19,600
Ignorable Search, and he says 
that, well I myself, I'm subject

143
00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:24,135
to old age, death and illness, 
and then I go into the world, 

144
00:08:24,135 --> 00:08:27,480
and I seek other people, and 
other things that are also 

145
00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,352
subject to the same things, I 
might get myself a wife, 

146
00:08:31,352 --> 00:08:35,263
children, other relatives, I 
might get cattle or animals that

147
00:08:35,263 --> 00:08:39,336
I kind of use for farming 
purposes, all of these things 

148
00:08:39,336 --> 00:08:43,316
are subject to exactly the same 
problem I am subject to, I'm 

149
00:08:43,316 --> 00:08:46,792
kind of multiplying, making a 
problem worse, yeah, and then I 

150
00:08:46,792 --> 00:08:50,002
attach to these things which is 
inevitable, we always have 

151
00:08:50,002 --> 00:08:53,002
attachments, and so we're 
actually making some, and that's

152
00:08:53,002 --> 00:08:56,716
what he calls the Ignorable 
Search, when we go out into the 

153
00:08:56,716 --> 00:09:00,200
world searching for things that 
we attach to, and then that will

154
00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,800
sooner or later have to die, 
have to pass away, have to 

155
00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,723
disappear from our life. 
The Buddha is pretty kind of, he

156
00:09:07,723 --> 00:09:12,480
kind of doesn't, he really kind 
of lays down the law, and it's 

157
00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,120
kind of, it's very strong 
things, yeah, so he says, well 

158
00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,313
in that case what I should do 
instead is the Noble Search, not

159
00:09:18,313 --> 00:09:21,752
the Ignorable Search, and the 
Noble Search, if I already have 

160
00:09:21,752 --> 00:09:24,946
a problem for myself, instead of
seeking for other things that 

161
00:09:24,946 --> 00:09:28,000
also have the same problem, I 
should seek for something else, 

162
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,200
I should seek for the end of the
problem within me, the end of 

163
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,723
old age, the end of illness, and
most important of all, the end 

164
00:09:36,723 --> 00:09:41,353
of death, and then the search 
for the end of death, the 

165
00:09:41,353 --> 00:09:45,589
solution to that problem, that 
is what drives the Buddha to be,

166
00:09:45,589 --> 00:09:48,766
to become a monastic. 
That is the reason, not really 

167
00:09:48,766 --> 00:09:51,706
compassion, yeah, or we can say 
maybe compassion for himself, 

168
00:09:51,706 --> 00:09:55,000
yeah, but not compassion for the
whole world. 

169
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,004
And there's something very 
powerful about that, yeah, and 

170
00:09:59,004 --> 00:10:03,684
one of the obvious reasons why 
that is correct, and why that 

171
00:10:03,684 --> 00:10:07,092
has to be the case, is that you 
need to know that there is a 

172
00:10:07,092 --> 00:10:09,318
solution to the problem before 
you can teach others. 

173
00:10:09,318 --> 00:10:12,211
Why have compassion for others 
is kind of assuming that you 

174
00:10:12,211 --> 00:10:15,002
find a solution. 
First of all you have to find 

175
00:10:15,002 --> 00:10:17,948
the solution, then the 
compassion will arise, I have a 

176
00:10:17,948 --> 00:10:21,740
solution, I know how I can help 
people, that's why you start 

177
00:10:21,740 --> 00:10:26,500
living as a Buddha. 
But I also just want to comment 

178
00:10:26,500 --> 00:10:31,250
briefly on this audacity of the 
Buddha, the idea that you see 

179
00:10:31,250 --> 00:10:34,500
that death is a problem, and 
then you say, oh yeah, death is 

180
00:10:34,500 --> 00:10:37,802
a problem, I'll find a solution 
to death. 

181
00:10:37,802 --> 00:10:42,500
Not many people think like that,
it's really audacious, death is 

182
00:10:42,500 --> 00:10:45,500
like, no one ever thinks, yeah, 
I'm living here, let me just 

183
00:10:45,500 --> 00:10:48,000
walk into the bush and find a 
solution to death. 

184
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,782
How many people do you know like
that? 

185
00:10:49,782 --> 00:10:52,668
It's kind of, you think, oh 
yeah, you write them off as a 

186
00:10:52,668 --> 00:10:55,638
complete nutcase if they did 
that, no one finds a solution to

187
00:10:55,638 --> 00:10:58,912
death by walking off into the 
bush, but that is pretty much 

188
00:10:58,912 --> 00:11:01,565
what the Buddha did. 
It's just kind of very 

189
00:11:01,565 --> 00:11:04,064
audacious, yeah, it's like 
there's something about death 

190
00:11:04,064 --> 00:11:07,288
which is inevitable, how can you
possibly find a solution to 

191
00:11:07,288 --> 00:11:08,715
that? 
It just seems completely 

192
00:11:08,715 --> 00:11:10,430
impossible, so why even bother 
trying? 

193
00:11:10,430 --> 00:11:14,715
But that is what the Buddha did,
and this is kind of one of the 

194
00:11:14,715 --> 00:11:17,224
things that make the Buddha such
a powerful figure. 

195
00:11:17,224 --> 00:11:20,546
He was willing to challenge 
things and to do things that no 

196
00:11:20,546 --> 00:11:22,730
one else really was able or 
could do. 

197
00:11:22,730 --> 00:11:26,000
This is some of the spiritual 
power that the Buddha came with 

198
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,335
when he was born into this 
world, that enabled him 

199
00:11:29,335 --> 00:11:32,668
eventually to become the Buddha.
Some of these things about the 

200
00:11:32,668 --> 00:11:36,313
Buddha, you may not think about 
it when you read the suttas, but

201
00:11:36,313 --> 00:11:38,504
there's something really 
extraordinary about that idea. 

202
00:11:38,504 --> 00:11:42,318
I'm just going to go into the 
forest and find a solution to 

203
00:11:42,318 --> 00:11:43,896
death. 
It's kind of mind boggling, 

204
00:11:43,896 --> 00:11:46,000
yeah. 
Of course, he lived in a society

205
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,236
where these kind of questions 
were asked, and that's why it 

206
00:11:49,236 --> 00:11:52,896
was probably a bit easier now, 
it's a bit different from just 

207
00:11:52,896 --> 00:11:56,370
walking into the bush here in 
Australia, but still, it's kind 

208
00:11:56,370 --> 00:11:59,060
of remarkable. 
So it wasn't really compassion, 

209
00:11:59,060 --> 00:12:04,300
it was finding a solution to the
dying that was the problem, or 

210
00:12:04,300 --> 00:12:06,700
the motivation factor for the 
Buddha to be. 

211
00:12:06,700 --> 00:12:10,000
So then he goes off, he 
practices under a few teachers, 

212
00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,320
and obviously he has success 
under those teachers, but 

213
00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,000
doesn't find the final solution 
to what he's looking for. 

214
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,236
Then he goes through the period 
of ascetic practices, if you 

215
00:12:20,236 --> 00:12:23,400
know the life of the Buddha, 
many of you here will know the 

216
00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:25,800
life of the Buddha fairly well, 
go through the period of ascetic

217
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,594
practices, that doesn't really 
work out. 

218
00:12:27,594 --> 00:12:31,728
And then he sort of, you know, 
he comes to a halt because 

219
00:12:31,728 --> 00:12:34,765
things aren't working out. 
So what should I do? 

220
00:12:34,765 --> 00:12:38,648
And then one night he has this 
insight, well, the ascetic 

221
00:12:38,648 --> 00:12:40,765
practices, the 
self-mortification they call it,

222
00:12:40,765 --> 00:12:44,648
self-tortment if you like, just 
to be clear what this actually 

223
00:12:44,648 --> 00:12:46,251
means. 
Self-tortment doesn't work. 

224
00:12:46,251 --> 00:12:50,250
Indulging in the sensuality of 
the world doesn't work, because 

225
00:12:50,250 --> 00:12:54,000
he did that when he was kind of 
a young man living at home, he 

226
00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,583
had a wealthy upbringing, this 
is described in the suttas as 

227
00:12:57,583 --> 00:13:01,632
well, not super wealthy, but 
wealthy by the standards of the 

228
00:13:01,632 --> 00:13:03,335
time. 
And this doesn't work either, 

229
00:13:03,335 --> 00:13:06,716
what am I going to do? 
And then he decides, well the 

230
00:13:06,716 --> 00:13:10,286
path forward is actually this 
deep state of meditation called 

231
00:13:10,286 --> 00:13:13,335
the jhanas, that is the path 
forward. 

232
00:13:13,335 --> 00:13:17,534
And that is where he then 
discovered the awakening 

233
00:13:17,534 --> 00:13:20,003
experience after this profound 
state of samadhi. 

234
00:13:20,003 --> 00:13:23,472
This is sometimes called the 
night of his awakening, but we 

235
00:13:23,472 --> 00:13:26,530
don't really know if it was a 
night or it extended over a 

236
00:13:26,530 --> 00:13:29,334
longer period, probably extended
over a longer period. 

237
00:13:29,334 --> 00:13:34,000
So that is the Buddha, that is 
how it reached his awakening. 

238
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,432
What happened then after his 
awakening? 

239
00:13:37,432 --> 00:13:42,900
And then of course we assume 
that compassion would have to 

240
00:13:42,900 --> 00:13:46,200
arise at some point, but there 
is actually an interesting story

241
00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,335
there as to how that happened. 
Obviously he became a teacher 

242
00:13:49,335 --> 00:13:52,412
eventually otherwise he wouldn't
be here, so at some point the 

243
00:13:52,412 --> 00:13:54,884
compassion would have arisen in 
him. 

244
00:13:54,884 --> 00:13:59,375
How did that happen? 
And the way that it happened was

245
00:13:59,375 --> 00:14:03,125
that initially the Buddha said, 
yeah I thought yeah too 

246
00:14:03,125 --> 00:14:06,180
difficult to teach the Dhamma, 
no one will understand anyway, 

247
00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:09,708
so I am just going to relax, I 
am going to chill, I am going to

248
00:14:09,708 --> 00:14:10,944
meditate, I am going to attain 
jhanas. 

249
00:14:10,944 --> 00:14:14,000
He didn't use exactly those 
words, but you know kind of 

250
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,400
roughly that kind of ballpark. 
And so he wasn't inclined to 

251
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:22,337
teach in the Dhamma. 
And you can imagine if you have 

252
00:14:22,337 --> 00:14:25,667
just reached the most profound 
insight into the nature of 

253
00:14:25,667 --> 00:14:28,957
reality, into the nature of what
it means to be a human being, it

254
00:14:28,957 --> 00:14:31,000
is kind of hard to explain to 
others, right? 

255
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,138
To say the least, it is kind of 
impossible, you can imagine how 

256
00:14:35,138 --> 00:14:39,192
even if you have a deep state of
meditation it can be really hard

257
00:14:39,192 --> 00:14:41,096
to explain to others what is 
going on. 

258
00:14:41,096 --> 00:14:44,412
And this is why you will hear 
sometimes in the spiritual world

259
00:14:44,412 --> 00:14:48,648
you will hear people say, oh you
know they have an ineffable 

260
00:14:48,648 --> 00:14:51,144
experience. 
And the idea, the word ineffable

261
00:14:51,144 --> 00:14:54,858
means something that cannot be 
explained in words, it is beyond

262
00:14:54,858 --> 00:14:58,000
being explained in words, that 
is why it is called ineffable. 

263
00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:02,800
And I would think that maybe 
that is what the Buddha felt, 

264
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,400
this experience ineffable, it 
can't be explained to anyone, so

265
00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,000
if you can't explain, no point 
in explaining. 

266
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,108
So I am just going to enjoy my 
meditation or whatever, no point

267
00:15:11,108 --> 00:15:15,400
in trying to do the impossible. 
And actually, if you look at 

268
00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:20,125
kind of the world outside of 
Buddhism as well, where you have

269
00:15:20,125 --> 00:15:23,500
people who have good meditation 
experiences, often they call 

270
00:15:23,500 --> 00:15:25,000
these meditation experiences 
ineffable. 

271
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,750
But actually they are not really
ineffable, because once the 

272
00:15:28,750 --> 00:15:34,234
Buddha put his mind to it, he 
was able to explain these 

273
00:15:34,234 --> 00:15:38,000
experiences, regardless of how 
profound they were. 

274
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,780
And this is one of those 
geniuses of the Buddha, 

275
00:15:40,780 --> 00:15:43,364
experienced that the vast 
majority of the world call 

276
00:15:43,364 --> 00:15:47,000
ineffable, the Buddha said, this
is the way it is. 

277
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,668
So he explains things like deep 
states of samadhi, the profound 

278
00:15:50,668 --> 00:15:53,945
stillnesses of the mind, called 
jhana experience and samadhi 

279
00:15:53,945 --> 00:15:58,612
experiences, and he explains it 
in a way that is kind of 

280
00:15:58,612 --> 00:16:00,750
extraordinary. 
And I know Ajahn Brahm said to 

281
00:16:00,750 --> 00:16:04,155
me, I don't know how the Buddha 
did that, how he was able to 

282
00:16:04,155 --> 00:16:07,073
explain the jhana in such a 
precise way, because these are 

283
00:16:07,073 --> 00:16:10,643
kind of otherworldly things, how
can these things even be 

284
00:16:10,643 --> 00:16:13,002
explained? 
But this is part of the genius 

285
00:16:13,002 --> 00:16:15,000
of the Buddha, it can be 
explained. 

286
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:19,191
And the reason it can be 
explained is that any experience

287
00:16:19,191 --> 00:16:23,000
you have always has some tie to 
your ordinary experiences. 

288
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,693
There is always something there 
that you can kind of grasp hold 

289
00:16:26,693 --> 00:16:30,600
of, and has some relation to the
ordinary experiences, things 

290
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,000
like joy and bliss and 
stillness. 

291
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,504
These are ideas, we have some 
idea about them, and for that 

292
00:16:36,504 --> 00:16:39,709
reason you can explain even the 
most profound things in the 

293
00:16:39,709 --> 00:16:42,500
world. 
So the Buddha thought initially,

294
00:16:42,500 --> 00:16:47,375
yeah, probably too ineffable, no
need to try experiencing, and 

295
00:16:47,375 --> 00:16:51,500
then there is this beautiful 
legend and myth that kind of 

296
00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:54,765
comes into this teaching. 
Whether this really happened or 

297
00:16:54,765 --> 00:16:57,942
is mythology, I think it's 
mythology, there is some 

298
00:16:57,942 --> 00:17:01,456
evidence for that, I'm not going
to go into that evidence here 

299
00:17:01,456 --> 00:17:04,625
and now. 
This is a story of this Brahma, 

300
00:17:04,625 --> 00:17:09,599
a Brahma is like this very high 
divine being, it's like a divine

301
00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:14,000
being who kind of encompasses 
the whole universe, if you like.

302
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,666
And this Brahma happened to be a
mate of the Buddha in a previous

303
00:17:18,666 --> 00:17:21,694
life. 
So I'm going to check out, see 

304
00:17:21,694 --> 00:17:26,060
how my mate, Gautama is doing. 
So he comes down to the Buddha 

305
00:17:26,060 --> 00:17:29,000
and he realises the Buddha has 
had some profound experience, 

306
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,274
because this Brahma obviously 
also had some very deep 

307
00:17:32,274 --> 00:17:35,060
meditation previously. 
And he comes down to the Buddha 

308
00:17:35,060 --> 00:17:39,168
and he bows down to the Buddha 
and he says, please, Master, 

309
00:17:39,168 --> 00:17:45,000
please teach, please teach out 
of compassion for the world. 

310
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,160
Please teach, because if you 
don't teach, there are many 

311
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,002
beings out there with little 
dust in their eyes, and if you 

312
00:17:52,002 --> 00:17:56,001
don't teach them, they will have
serious problems, it will be a 

313
00:17:56,001 --> 00:17:59,118
disaster for them. 
They have little dust in their 

314
00:17:59,118 --> 00:18:02,648
eyes, they will understand the 
teaching if you start teaching 

315
00:18:02,648 --> 00:18:05,004
them. 
So this is where the compassion 

316
00:18:05,004 --> 00:18:09,000
starts to arise, it's like you 
have to ignite that little spark

317
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,000
in the mind of the Buddha to get
him going, to get him started, 

318
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,500
and then he gets the motivating 
factor that enables him then to 

319
00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:21,000
kind of do something that drives
him in the right direction. 

320
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,530
And then the Buddha listens to 
the Brahma, and then when he 

321
00:18:24,530 --> 00:18:27,412
listens to the Brahma 
afterwards, he says to this 

322
00:18:27,412 --> 00:18:31,648
Brahma, he says, well it was 
because I thought no one would 

323
00:18:31,648 --> 00:18:34,000
understand, that is why I didn't
teach the Dhamma. 

324
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:38,875
But thank you for, I didn't say 
thank you for asking, what did 

325
00:18:38,875 --> 00:18:42,250
it say again? 
He says something like that, and

326
00:18:42,250 --> 00:18:46,900
he says, now the doors to the 
deathless are open, I will open 

327
00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:49,000
the doors to the deathless for 
them. 

328
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,614
And this is kind of the saying 
that I will teach about Nibbana 

329
00:18:52,614 --> 00:18:54,000
and the highest spiritual 
practices. 

330
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,286
And then he surveys the world, 
he surveys the world with the 

331
00:18:58,286 --> 00:19:03,000
Buddha eye, seeing beings in 
various kind of states of 

332
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,919
spiritual qualities or whatever,
and then he sees, this is where 

333
00:19:07,919 --> 00:19:11,878
the word compassion comes in, he
surveys the world out of 

334
00:19:11,878 --> 00:19:15,000
compassion, and he sees being 
with weak and strong faculties, 

335
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,335
with good and bad qualities, 
beings that are advanced and 

336
00:19:18,335 --> 00:19:22,335
beings that are not advanced. 
And when he sees that, then he 

337
00:19:22,335 --> 00:19:24,000
makes the determination to 
teach. 

338
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:27,000
That is where the compassion 
comes in. 

339
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:32,144
The Buddha sees beings in the 
world in this way, then the 

340
00:19:32,144 --> 00:19:35,250
compassion arises. 
So the idea of compassion is 

341
00:19:35,250 --> 00:19:39,700
like this broad idea, it is not 
focused on individuals, it is 

342
00:19:39,700 --> 00:19:43,200
not focused on anyone in 
particular, it is this broad 

343
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,616
idea of understanding the 
suffering in the world, and the 

344
00:19:46,616 --> 00:19:50,300
knowledge inside of you that you
have, that you can help, because

345
00:19:50,300 --> 00:19:53,000
you have found a solution to 
precisely this problem. 

346
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,770
That is what the search about 
finding the end of death is 

347
00:19:55,770 --> 00:19:57,716
about. 
It is about finding the end, 

348
00:19:57,716 --> 00:20:00,668
finding the solution to the 
problem of suffering, because it

349
00:20:00,668 --> 00:20:05,001
is as if the idea of death, it 
encompasses all the suffering of

350
00:20:05,001 --> 00:20:09,145
life within it, because that is 
when you have to let go in such 

351
00:20:09,145 --> 00:20:12,338
a big way. 
So this is where it kind of 

352
00:20:12,338 --> 00:20:16,667
arises, and that is where the 
kind of the whole impulse of the

353
00:20:16,667 --> 00:20:20,000
Buddha, the compassion of the 
Buddha comes from. 

354
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:24,424
And one of the things that is 
very interesting here is that 

355
00:20:24,424 --> 00:20:28,668
you will notice that the only 
thing that drives the Buddha to 

356
00:20:28,668 --> 00:20:31,250
do anything is compassion. 
This is the thing that 

357
00:20:31,250 --> 00:20:34,250
motivates, there is nothing else
to drive a Buddha to do anything

358
00:20:34,250 --> 00:20:37,100
in the world, because the Buddha
doesn't have any self-interest, 

359
00:20:37,100 --> 00:20:41,003
he doesn't think, yeah, I am 
going to get rich, if I teach, I

360
00:20:41,003 --> 00:20:44,239
have deep knowledge, I will get 
many people to support me, I 

361
00:20:44,239 --> 00:20:47,096
will get many disciples, it is 
cool to have disciples, it gives

362
00:20:47,096 --> 00:20:49,000
him more power and these kind of
things. 

363
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,002
The Buddha didn't have any ego 
anymore, it was all gone, he 

364
00:20:53,002 --> 00:20:55,000
didn't want to amass anything 
external. 

365
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,800
When you are a Buddha, all you 
want to do is sit in deep 

366
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,556
meditation, because that is 
where you find the greatest 

367
00:21:01,556 --> 00:21:04,574
satisfaction. 
External things, at best, at the

368
00:21:04,574 --> 00:21:08,000
best, there are distractions to 
the inner happiness. 

369
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,530
The last thing you want is many 
disciples, the last thing you 

370
00:21:11,530 --> 00:21:16,112
want is riches and fame, because
it destroys your ability to have

371
00:21:16,112 --> 00:21:18,500
deep meditation. 
So there is nothing in that 

372
00:21:18,500 --> 00:21:21,670
world that is of any interest. 
Ordinary teachers in the world, 

373
00:21:21,670 --> 00:21:25,667
they teach for a salary, or they
may teach because of whatever 

374
00:21:25,667 --> 00:21:29,058
reason, for whatever it is to 
maybe have people listen to them

375
00:21:29,058 --> 00:21:31,000
or whatever, but the Buddha is 
different. 

376
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:35,550
There is no vested interest that
kind of drives him to teach, it 

377
00:21:35,550 --> 00:21:38,000
is only coming from compassion, 
nothing else. 

378
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,549
It is actually a hassle for the 
Buddha to have to teach, he 

379
00:21:41,549 --> 00:21:44,000
would rather avoid it, but still
he does it. 

380
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,352
Why does he do it? 
Because he has our best interest

381
00:21:47,352 --> 00:21:51,000
at heart, because he is there to
help each one of us. 

382
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:58,467
He taught to help you, you, you,
you, you, you, that is what he 

383
00:21:58,467 --> 00:22:00,430
taught. 
Because remember one of my 

384
00:22:00,430 --> 00:22:03,004
favourite ideas about the 
Buddha, when he started teaching

385
00:22:03,004 --> 00:22:06,565
two and a half thousand years 
ago, he knew that there were 

386
00:22:06,565 --> 00:22:10,000
people far away in the future 
who would teach these teachings.

387
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,430
So he did have compassion for 
everyone who was to listen to 

388
00:22:13,430 --> 00:22:16,860
those teachings. 
So he did have compassion for 

389
00:22:16,860 --> 00:22:21,620
everyone of us here today, for 
me, Venum Etijit, Venum 

390
00:22:21,620 --> 00:22:25,500
Vipassitoh, our president, Hok 
Chen, everyone here today, he 

391
00:22:25,500 --> 00:22:28,878
had compassion for you. 
Isn't that kind of amazing to 

392
00:22:28,878 --> 00:22:31,688
think about that? 
He gave these teachings for your

393
00:22:31,688 --> 00:22:33,787
purpose. 
This is the greatest spiritual 

394
00:22:33,787 --> 00:22:37,000
genius in the world who taught 
specifically for you. 

395
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,120
Take that on board, and when you
take that on board, next time 

396
00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:42,760
you read the Buddha's teachings,
they will feel very different to

397
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,878
you. 
Here is someone talking to you 

398
00:22:44,878 --> 00:22:48,000
purely out of kindness because 
he cares for your well-being. 

399
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,730
He'd rather not teach because 
it's still a hassle for him, he 

400
00:22:50,730 --> 00:22:53,000
does it anyway because he does 
it out of kindness. 

401
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,572
Read those sutras and they start
to look different because 

402
00:22:56,572 --> 00:22:59,500
suddenly every word matters. 
Yeah, well he's saying this to 

403
00:22:59,500 --> 00:23:01,000
me, I better read this 
carefully. 

404
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,375
You don't become so critical 
anymore because you understand 

405
00:23:04,375 --> 00:23:07,000
that these teachings are coming 
from compassion. 

406
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,503
They're not said to kind of give
you a hard time or anything, 

407
00:23:10,503 --> 00:23:14,000
even if he might tell you things
that at first sight may seem, 

408
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,560
wow, that's asking a bit too 
much, because you know, or at 

409
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,112
least you think, or you have 
good reason to think that it's 

410
00:23:21,112 --> 00:23:23,250
coming from compassion. 
You take even the difficult 

411
00:23:23,250 --> 00:23:25,750
teachings seriously, you take 
them on board, you think, yeah, 

412
00:23:25,750 --> 00:23:29,504
let me think about that, let me 
not reject it out of hand 

413
00:23:29,504 --> 00:23:32,000
because there's something very 
profound going on here. 

414
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:36,532
So the idea that these teachings
of the Buddha come from 

415
00:23:36,532 --> 00:23:40,716
compassion is a very beautiful 
idea that allows you to open up 

416
00:23:40,716 --> 00:23:44,145
your mind, open up your heart 
and receive these teachings in a

417
00:23:44,145 --> 00:23:47,145
more profound way. 
I'm not saying you should 

418
00:23:47,145 --> 00:23:50,572
discard the critical faculties, 
never discard the critical 

419
00:23:50,572 --> 00:23:52,500
faculties. 
Because there are always issues,

420
00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:56,100
there are always problems about 
how it relates to you, there are

421
00:23:56,100 --> 00:23:59,004
always textual problems. 
But I'm also saying, don't be 

422
00:23:59,004 --> 00:24:02,668
too critical, don't come with a 
kind of fault-finding mind when 

423
00:24:02,668 --> 00:24:06,667
you read these things. 
Find that middle way, we take on

424
00:24:06,667 --> 00:24:10,477
board the good teachings in a 
positive spirit, knowing that 

425
00:24:10,477 --> 00:24:14,145
they're coming from compassion. 
Not just compassion, also from 

426
00:24:14,145 --> 00:24:17,572
wisdom, the highest wisdom of 
understanding the human 

427
00:24:17,572 --> 00:24:20,430
connection. 
Kind of powerful, isn't it? 

428
00:24:20,430 --> 00:24:22,715
The highest wisdom of 
understanding, fully the human 

429
00:24:22,715 --> 00:24:26,003
condition, combined with 
compassion is kind of, really 

430
00:24:26,003 --> 00:24:29,000
kind of awesome when you hear 
that. 

431
00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,800
So this is the Buddha, yeah, 
this is who the Buddha is, 

432
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,700
driven by compassion. 
He is compassion, if you like, 

433
00:24:37,700 --> 00:24:42,200
compassion incarnate, compassion
and wisdom in the flesh, that is

434
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,184
who the Buddha is. 
So then the question arises, do 

435
00:24:46,184 --> 00:24:50,548
we practice that compassion like
the Buddha, or at least a little

436
00:24:50,548 --> 00:24:53,400
bit like the Buddha? 
I'm not saying you should go out

437
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,000
and teach the whole world, you 
don't have to do that, but a 

438
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,500
little bit like the Buddha, are 
we leaning in the right 

439
00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:01,000
direction, or are we sometimes 
getting it a bit wrong? 

440
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:06,057
And I want to talk about some of
the pitfalls, first of all, 

441
00:25:06,057 --> 00:25:08,000
about when we practice 
compassion. 

442
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,000
And sometimes when you read 
about Buddhist practitioners 

443
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000
around the world, you realize 
that sometimes they get it 

444
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,668
completely wrong. 
They have misunderstood what the

445
00:25:19,668 --> 00:25:23,625
idea of compassion is. 
I remember some time ago I was 

446
00:25:23,625 --> 00:25:26,250
reading about these 
practitioners who had this 

447
00:25:26,250 --> 00:25:30,000
practice of taking on the whole 
pain of the world. 

448
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,000
This is kind of one of these 
practitioners, all the pain in 

449
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,000
the world, they want to take it 
on. 

450
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,656
And what they said was the 
result of that, after doing that

451
00:25:38,656 --> 00:25:42,500
for a long period of time, they 
lost all their energy, they lost

452
00:25:42,500 --> 00:25:45,250
their ability to function in an 
ordinary way, because it was 

453
00:25:45,250 --> 00:25:48,635
just too overwhelming. 
They were emotionally kind of 

454
00:25:48,635 --> 00:25:53,370
malfunctioning almost, and they 
were blocked inside because the 

455
00:25:53,370 --> 00:25:57,500
pain was just so overwhelming, 
they didn't know how to deal 

456
00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:01,200
with it. 
And so this is doing it in the 

457
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,911
wrong way. 
And what is wrong with that is 

458
00:26:03,911 --> 00:26:07,728
basically the idea that you are,
when you take on the pain of the

459
00:26:07,728 --> 00:26:11,000
world, what you are doing is a 
kind of empathy. 

460
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,825
And this is one of the first 
things that we need to 

461
00:26:13,825 --> 00:26:16,500
distinguish on the Buddhist 
path, is make the distinction 

462
00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:20,625
between empathy on the one hand 
and compassion on the other 

463
00:26:20,625 --> 00:26:22,750
hand. 
These are two quite separate 

464
00:26:22,750 --> 00:26:26,250
things, and unless we understand
and separate these things apart,

465
00:26:26,250 --> 00:26:30,310
we can actually go wrong. 
And this is what happened here, 

466
00:26:30,310 --> 00:26:33,000
these practitioners basically 
going the wrong way. 

467
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,050
So the difference between 
empathy and compassion, and this

468
00:26:37,050 --> 00:26:41,550
was nicely summarized in 
something I read not so long 

469
00:26:41,550 --> 00:26:47,728
ago, is that empathy is feeling 
with, whereas compassion is 

470
00:26:47,728 --> 00:26:52,000
feeling for. 
Feeling with versus feeling for.

471
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,890
And when you feel with, it is 
like you take on the other 

472
00:26:54,890 --> 00:26:58,572
person's pain, you are there, 
you almost feel what they are 

473
00:26:58,572 --> 00:27:01,400
feeling. 
And there is nothing kind of 

474
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,000
inherently wrong with that, 
sometimes that is the case. 

475
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,830
If you are with someone in great
pain, you will feel some of 

476
00:27:07,830 --> 00:27:10,000
their pain, you know what that 
can be like sometimes. 

477
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,250
But it is important not to take 
that too far, it is important to

478
00:27:15,250 --> 00:27:20,375
transform that, going from 
empathy and moving on to 

479
00:27:20,375 --> 00:27:22,800
compassion. 
That is the critical thing that 

480
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:26,002
we need to do. 
So we don't get stuck in this 

481
00:27:26,002 --> 00:27:29,264
thing that can drain you of 
energy, and move towards 

482
00:27:29,264 --> 00:27:33,474
something which instead of just 
draining you of energy, looks 

483
00:27:33,474 --> 00:27:37,502
for a solution to the problem. 
If you think back to what the 

484
00:27:37,502 --> 00:27:40,580
Buddha was doing, the Buddha was
saying, okay I have the solution

485
00:27:40,580 --> 00:27:44,370
to the problem of humanity, I 
know the answer what everyone is

486
00:27:44,370 --> 00:27:46,848
looking for. 
That is why he had compassion 

487
00:27:46,848 --> 00:27:49,000
for the world, he wanted to 
help. 

488
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:54,400
So compassion is this urge to 
help, this urge to care for, 

489
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,430
look after, to make sure people 
are okay, and that they are safe

490
00:27:59,430 --> 00:28:02,000
in a sense. 
That is the idea of compassion. 

491
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,530
It is a positive thing, it is a 
positive movement forward, that 

492
00:28:05,530 --> 00:28:08,925
is what compassion is about. 
Whereas empathy is taking on 

493
00:28:08,925 --> 00:28:12,000
board all of these emotions of 
other people. 

494
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,144
And so it can be problematic, it
is problematic also for other 

495
00:28:17,144 --> 00:28:20,572
reasons, empathy. 
Empathy often has to do with 

496
00:28:20,572 --> 00:28:23,802
individuals. 
When you feel with somebody, it 

497
00:28:23,802 --> 00:28:28,000
is usually an individual person 
that you feel with. 

498
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,500
And because you feel with that 
person, then you want to help 

499
00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:36,723
that particular person perhaps. 
So you get kind of a narrow 

500
00:28:36,723 --> 00:28:40,612
field of understanding, a narrow
field of action, focusing on 

501
00:28:40,612 --> 00:28:42,800
individuals. 
But the Buddhist idea is really 

502
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,400
to broaden out your mind, and to
have that compassion for the 

503
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,500
whole world. 
Not focus on individuals, where 

504
00:28:49,500 --> 00:28:54,446
you kind of get this narrow 
sense of morality, which doesn't

505
00:28:54,446 --> 00:28:56,000
really spread out to the whole 
world. 

506
00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,118
And you want to kind of spread 
it out, make it broad and wide, 

507
00:29:00,118 --> 00:29:03,000
that encompasses everything, 
rather than being narrow and 

508
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,800
being selective in that way. 
So there is a lot to be said for

509
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:08,844
compassion. 
So what the Buddha was doing was

510
00:29:08,844 --> 00:29:11,737
not really empathy, because when
he was looking at the whole 

511
00:29:11,737 --> 00:29:15,079
world, he saw the general 
suffering in the world, and he 

512
00:29:15,079 --> 00:29:18,700
wanted to find, he wanted to 
help with a solution to that 

513
00:29:18,700 --> 00:29:20,500
problem. 
That was compassion, that was 

514
00:29:20,500 --> 00:29:25,066
what the Buddha was doing. 
So the Pali word behind this is 

515
00:29:25,066 --> 00:29:29,000
karuna, and karuna then means 
compassion and not empathy. 

516
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,000
It's one of those important 
points. 

517
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,400
I remember myself sometimes, we 
do quite a bit of walking 

518
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,650
meditation at our monastery. 
I don't know if you have been 

519
00:29:39,650 --> 00:29:42,000
down to our monastery. 
Have you been to our monastery? 

520
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,288
Anyone hasn't been to our 
monastery? 

521
00:29:43,288 --> 00:29:45,000
You should come down and check 
it out. 

522
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:48,000
Come down, on a day, we have an 
open day, you can see where the 

523
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,780
monks live in the forest, these 
kind of things, and one of the 

524
00:29:50,780 --> 00:29:53,000
things that you will see, you 
have a small kuti. 

525
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,936
Kuti is like a hut, seven square
meters, something like that, 

526
00:29:55,936 --> 00:29:58,500
that's where we live. 
But one of the most important 

527
00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:02,000
parts of the kuti is that it has
a walking path attached to it. 

528
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,250
So you can walk back and forth, 
called walking meditation, and 

529
00:30:05,250 --> 00:30:08,500
they did that at the time of the
Buddha, it's called chankama in 

530
00:30:08,500 --> 00:30:11,548
the Suttism. 
And so this is actually a very 

531
00:30:11,548 --> 00:30:14,744
nice thing to do. 
If you sit too long, it comes a 

532
00:30:14,744 --> 00:30:17,783
point when you need a bit of 
walking, so you go out and you 

533
00:30:17,783 --> 00:30:20,214
walk. 
And because the walking path is 

534
00:30:20,214 --> 00:30:25,000
outside, even though it has a 
roof, it is open on the sides, 

535
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:30,144
it's a half wall, very often you
get insects coming onto the 

536
00:30:30,144 --> 00:30:33,144
walking path. 
And you get maybe ants coming 

537
00:30:33,144 --> 00:30:37,232
in, or you get these centipedes 
coming in, these are the two 

538
00:30:37,232 --> 00:30:40,000
most common creatures we find on
our walking path. 

539
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,693
And when you get that, well, 
when you start out as a 

540
00:30:43,693 --> 00:30:46,572
Buddhist, okay, I have to keep 
my precepts, I better get rid of

541
00:30:46,572 --> 00:30:49,400
those ants, I don't step on 
them, I go tuk tuk tuk, get rid 

542
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:51,074
of the ants. 
Not much compassion there, just 

543
00:30:51,074 --> 00:30:53,000
get rid of them because I'm 
keeping my precepts. 

544
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,468
I don't really care so much 
about you, but I've got to keep 

545
00:30:56,468 --> 00:30:59,003
my precepts. 
And this is quite a common 

546
00:30:59,003 --> 00:31:02,668
feeling in Buddhism, we have to 
keep our precepts, it doesn't 

547
00:31:02,668 --> 00:31:05,000
necessarily mean that we come 
from compassion. 

548
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:10,386
So remember that keeping the 
precept of not killing, that's 

549
00:31:10,386 --> 00:31:14,212
only the beginning. 
But what you really want to do 

550
00:31:14,212 --> 00:31:17,685
is you want to evolve that into 
real compassion for those 

551
00:31:17,685 --> 00:31:19,820
beings. 
That's when that first precept 

552
00:31:19,820 --> 00:31:22,000
really is powerful and really 
useful. 

553
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:27,780
You want to go from just being 
kind out of obligation, out of 

554
00:31:27,780 --> 00:31:33,000
kind of habit or whatever, to be
real kindness from inside. 

555
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,000
That's just what I could see 
happening in me over the years, 

556
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,000
it's kind of interesting to see 
that happening with yourself. 

557
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:43,001
Initially ants get out of the 
way, you're in the way, I'm 

558
00:31:43,001 --> 00:31:47,000
walking meditation here. 
You're bothering me, stupid 

559
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,765
ants, can't you understand? 
And then over time something 

560
00:31:51,765 --> 00:31:55,648
happens in you, and you 
actually, when there is an ant 

561
00:31:55,648 --> 00:31:58,540
there, you kind of get this 
feeling, I don't want to destroy

562
00:31:58,540 --> 00:32:01,334
this life. 
It feels really wrong to want to

563
00:32:01,334 --> 00:32:03,266
destroy life. 
It's bad, you know that this 

564
00:32:03,266 --> 00:32:05,790
little being there, he wants to 
live, just like you want to 

565
00:32:05,790 --> 00:32:08,002
live. 
The distance between us and an 

566
00:32:08,002 --> 00:32:11,750
ant isn't that great after all. 
We both want to live, we both 

567
00:32:11,750 --> 00:32:14,000
want to be as happy as we 
possibly can. 

568
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,415
How can I destroy that life? 
And there's no way you would 

569
00:32:17,415 --> 00:32:20,000
want to step on an ant, no way 
after a while. 

570
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,000
You always step to the side if 
you can. 

571
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,936
And then when it comes to 
sweeping the ants or the 

572
00:32:24,936 --> 00:32:28,191
centipedes off the path, you're 
no longer kind of brusque, but 

573
00:32:28,191 --> 00:32:32,780
you gently sweep them aside, in 
a gentle way, and you wish them 

574
00:32:32,780 --> 00:32:36,787
well, you know, somewhere else. 
There's a little bit of 

575
00:32:36,787 --> 00:32:40,000
self-interest there of course, 
but that's kind of required. 

576
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,000
Okay, so off you go, yeah, out 
of the way. 

577
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,600
And it's such a beautiful 
transformation when you see 

578
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,548
that. 
And I was just working in the 

579
00:32:49,548 --> 00:32:52,430
forest, we're working together, 
we're marking up some areas, 

580
00:32:52,430 --> 00:32:56,002
we're going to build walking 
paths in the forest, and we had 

581
00:32:56,002 --> 00:32:59,000
all these marsh flies, you know 
the marsh flies? 

582
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,000
These kind of really large, 
blood-sucking creatures. 

583
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,800
And I was still having, I must 
admit, I was having a bit of 

584
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,000
difficulty having compassion for
these marsh flies. 

585
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,572
Especially when there's ten of 
them ganging together, kind of 

586
00:33:12,572 --> 00:33:15,869
attacking you from all sides. 
Did you have a hard time having 

587
00:33:15,869 --> 00:33:18,000
compassion for them, or were you
kind of... 

588
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,092
You left me alone. 
You left you alone, you were 

589
00:33:21,092 --> 00:33:24,144
going after me, that's true. 
Okay, well that's really unfair 

590
00:33:24,144 --> 00:33:27,184
for you. 
But that's compassion, that's 

591
00:33:27,184 --> 00:33:31,000
one way of understanding what 
compassion is. 

592
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:36,000
Because with that ant, you don't
really have empathy for the ant,

593
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,000
because you don't really know 
what they feel. 

594
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,668
Ant is kind of too hard to know 
what they feel, but you 

595
00:33:42,668 --> 00:33:45,858
certainly can have compassion 
for the ant, because you know 

596
00:33:45,858 --> 00:33:49,000
that they want to live, just 
like you want to live. 

597
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,638
It's interesting, I was reading 
some scientific findings 

598
00:33:52,638 --> 00:33:55,787
recently about insects and 
people are discovering that 

599
00:33:55,787 --> 00:33:59,668
insects have more and more of 
the same qualities like all 

600
00:33:59,668 --> 00:34:03,000
other animals have and human 
beings have, that they want to 

601
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,770
live, they want pleasure, all of
these things, they have 

602
00:34:05,770 --> 00:34:09,616
gradually finding out the 
secrets of the insect's life as 

603
00:34:09,616 --> 00:34:11,750
well. 
And of course we could have told

604
00:34:11,750 --> 00:34:14,911
them long ago, being Buddhists, 
but science needs to find out at

605
00:34:14,911 --> 00:34:18,275
its own pace, right? 
So gradually we're kind of 

606
00:34:18,275 --> 00:34:21,000
uncovering these things, which 
is great. 

607
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,000
So that is the idea of 
compassion. 

608
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,637
Develop that in your life, 
develop that not only towards 

609
00:34:27,637 --> 00:34:31,000
insects, but a bit towards 
people as well. 

610
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,429
Sometimes it's easier towards 
animals than to people, because 

611
00:34:33,429 --> 00:34:37,143
people are kind of so 
complicated, you don't know what

612
00:34:37,143 --> 00:34:40,001
you're doing sometimes. 
But anyway, of course we have 

613
00:34:40,001 --> 00:34:42,638
compassion for everyone. 
That is the first problem we 

614
00:34:42,638 --> 00:34:46,000
have to be careful with, that is
the idea of compassion, empathy.

615
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:51,000
Compassion is okay, empathy can 
be problematic, not always, it 

616
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,335
can be. 
The second thing that we have to

617
00:34:54,335 --> 00:34:59,334
be careful with is pity. 
Pity is sometimes a 

618
00:34:59,334 --> 00:35:02,617
condescending feeling. 
Pity is like you look a little 

619
00:35:02,617 --> 00:35:06,000
bit down upon the other person, 
you think, yeah, they are 

620
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,858
suffering, they have miserable 
sod, and you're looking down 

621
00:35:10,858 --> 00:35:15,464
upon the person, because you 
think that they are just living 

622
00:35:15,464 --> 00:35:18,500
under a bridge or whatever, and 
they are not really looking 

623
00:35:18,500 --> 00:35:20,778
after themselves, they could 
have done better if they wanted 

624
00:35:20,778 --> 00:35:25,500
to, they deserve a little bit of
compassion, but yeah, I will 

625
00:35:25,500 --> 00:35:29,250
look down upon them. 
And this is actually a fairly 

626
00:35:29,250 --> 00:35:32,335
common problem. 
People say this to me, they say 

627
00:35:32,335 --> 00:35:35,504
that, probably to all monks, 
they say that, well, I try to be

628
00:35:35,504 --> 00:35:38,365
compassionate, I try to be kind 
to people, but then I look down 

629
00:35:38,365 --> 00:35:43,000
upon them at the same time. 
How do I avoid that? 

630
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,000
This is another enemy of 
compassion, the idea of pity, 

631
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,500
when we are condescending 
towards other people, we'd like 

632
00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:52,750
to help others, but we don't 
really want to be helped so much

633
00:35:52,750 --> 00:35:55,860
ourselves, we feel that we want 
to be independent, but we're 

634
00:35:55,860 --> 00:35:58,200
happy to help others. 
It's like you're putting 

635
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,924
yourself in a slightly higher 
position, and of course straight

636
00:36:00,924 --> 00:36:03,770
away when you put yourself in a 
higher position, other people 

637
00:36:03,770 --> 00:36:08,000
have to be relatively lower, 
that's just the way things are. 

638
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,156
So how do we overcome that 
problem? 

639
00:36:10,156 --> 00:36:12,000
Because apparently it is quite 
common. 

640
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,614
Well, the way to overcome that 
is to remember that we also have

641
00:36:15,614 --> 00:36:18,638
been in that position before. 
Maybe you see a poor person 

642
00:36:18,638 --> 00:36:22,400
sleeping rough in the city, we 
also have slept rough probably 

643
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,502
in the past life, and unless we 
get out of this human condition,

644
00:36:26,502 --> 00:36:29,000
we will probably do it again in 
the future. 

645
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,637
So when you see that poor 
person, person in great 

646
00:36:32,637 --> 00:36:36,003
difficulty, person with great 
illness, person wallowing in 

647
00:36:36,003 --> 00:36:40,476
whatever misery they have in 
their life, see yourself in that

648
00:36:40,476 --> 00:36:44,896
person, that's me in there, that
is already inside of me waiting 

649
00:36:44,896 --> 00:36:48,400
to come out. 
When you see someone with really

650
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,400
bad cancer, emaciated, and 
really in a terrible state, that

651
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,750
is me right there. 
And when you make that jump and 

652
00:36:55,750 --> 00:36:59,288
you say this is me, you can no 
longer look down upon them 

653
00:36:59,288 --> 00:37:02,430
because you're looking down upon
yourself if you look down upon 

654
00:37:02,430 --> 00:37:04,250
that person. 
But all of these different 

655
00:37:04,250 --> 00:37:07,002
people in the world, whatever 
they are, they're already inside

656
00:37:07,002 --> 00:37:11,400
of us waiting to come out, given
the right cause and conditions 

657
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:15,001
they will come out. 
It's a powerful way of thinking 

658
00:37:15,001 --> 00:37:19,504
about life, yeah, because it 
makes you able to sympathise and

659
00:37:19,504 --> 00:37:23,858
to have compassion for everyone 
in the world without conceit, 

660
00:37:23,858 --> 00:37:27,365
without looking down upon 
anyone, but having a sense of 

661
00:37:27,365 --> 00:37:30,144
equality, we're all in this 
together, you are sick, actually

662
00:37:30,144 --> 00:37:33,668
it's my problem too, that's why 
I will help you, because if I 

663
00:37:33,668 --> 00:37:36,500
help you, I'm actually helping 
myself, because I will one day 

664
00:37:36,500 --> 00:37:39,750
be in the same position. 
That is the way to think about 

665
00:37:39,750 --> 00:37:41,750
it. 
And when you think about it that

666
00:37:41,750 --> 00:37:45,000
way, you won't have this problem
of feeling pity or condescension

667
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:50,500
towards those people who are in 
an unfortunate situation in this

668
00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:53,502
world. 
So try to avoid those two 

669
00:37:53,502 --> 00:37:58,502
problems, yeah, not too much 
empathy, pity, if it is of the 

670
00:37:58,502 --> 00:38:01,000
condescending variety, avoid 
that of course. 

671
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:06,250
So what should we do then? 
And first of all, before I 

672
00:38:06,250 --> 00:38:11,365
discuss briefly a little bit 
more about what to do, I want to

673
00:38:11,365 --> 00:38:16,200
make a distinction also between 
metta and karuna, between loving

674
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,250
kindness and compassion. 
And this is an important 

675
00:38:19,250 --> 00:38:23,128
distinction to make, and one of 
the things that you find in the 

676
00:38:23,128 --> 00:38:27,800
suttas, the word of the Buddha, 
is that these are part of the 

677
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,144
four Brahma Viharas, which 
literally means something like 

678
00:38:31,144 --> 00:38:33,787
divine abidance. 
So when you practice these 

679
00:38:33,787 --> 00:38:37,000
qualities, it's like a divine 
abidance, says the Buddha. 

680
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,574
Why is that? 
Well, because these kind of gods

681
00:38:39,574 --> 00:38:42,638
in the very high realms, they 
got reborn in those realms 

682
00:38:42,638 --> 00:38:44,000
because they had those 
qualities. 

683
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,637
So you are developing kind of 
god-like qualities inside of 

684
00:38:47,637 --> 00:38:51,000
yourself, if you have lots of 
loving kindness. 

685
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,728
Kind of nice, isn't it? 
You're coming closer to the 

686
00:38:53,728 --> 00:38:57,000
gods, and the gods are beautiful
beings. 

687
00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:00,848
They are radiant because their 
good qualities show in their 

688
00:39:00,848 --> 00:39:05,000
body as well. 
They are radiant, splendid. 

689
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,786
I don't know if you believe in 
these gods, but I believe in 

690
00:39:07,786 --> 00:39:09,500
them. 
The Buddha said they are there, 

691
00:39:09,500 --> 00:39:12,946
it's because the Buddha said so.
I think they are there, not just

692
00:39:12,946 --> 00:39:15,446
the Buddha. 
I know many people who say they 

693
00:39:15,446 --> 00:39:17,500
are there. 
So you are developing these 

694
00:39:17,500 --> 00:39:19,000
divine qualities inside of 
yourself. 

695
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,000
That's why they are called 
Brahma Viharas. 

696
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,000
But the interesting thing, there
are four Brahma Viharas. 

697
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,000
The first one is Metta, loving 
kindness. 

698
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,000
The second one is Karuna, 
compassion. 

699
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,860
One of the things about the 
Buddhist teachings is that 

700
00:39:33,860 --> 00:39:37,500
nothing is really random. 
Sequences are there for a 

701
00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:39,638
purpose. 
So if Metta comes first, there 

702
00:39:39,638 --> 00:39:44,269
is a reason for that. 
And the reason is that Metta is 

703
00:39:44,269 --> 00:39:48,000
a quality that you cannot really
get wrong. 

704
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,924
Because Metta, loving kindness 
or friendliness, this is the 

705
00:39:51,924 --> 00:39:55,000
idea of seeing the good 
qualities of people around us. 

706
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:58,000
If you have a good friend, why 
are they a good friend? 

707
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,572
They are a good friend because 
you see the good qualities in 

708
00:40:00,572 --> 00:40:02,386
that person. 
If you saw only bad qualities, 

709
00:40:02,386 --> 00:40:04,000
then you wouldn't be a friend, 
right? 

710
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:08,616
And the closer friends they are,
the more you see their good 

711
00:40:08,616 --> 00:40:10,800
qualities. 
The Pali word Mitta is related 

712
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,500
to the word Mitta. 
Mitta means friend in Pali. 

713
00:40:14,500 --> 00:40:17,919
Mitra. 
Mitra, we have one of our core 

714
00:40:17,919 --> 00:40:23,000
members of the Buddhist side, 
his name is Mitra, his surname. 

715
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:25,000
It's an Indian name, means 
friend. 

716
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,000
It's nice, isn't it? 
That's your family name. 

717
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:33,000
So this is the first thing. 
So seeing good qualities in 

718
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,250
other people is always positive.
So whenever we have the 

719
00:40:36,250 --> 00:40:39,000
opportunity to see good 
qualities in others, we should 

720
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,200
see them. 
And it's not that difficult when

721
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:43,668
you are part of a Buddhist 
society like this, to see good 

722
00:40:43,668 --> 00:40:45,000
qualities in the people around 
you. 

723
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,000
Because there are so many good 
qualities here. 

724
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000
And there are so many people who
are at least trying. 

725
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:53,000
What a wonderful thing that is 
that people are at least trying.

726
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,728
They may not be perfect, 
actually they are probably not 

727
00:40:55,728 --> 00:40:59,000
perfect, but they are leaning in
the right direction. 

728
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,000
And that in itself is a very 
beautiful and honorable thing 

729
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,144
that is worthy of our respect. 
So it's not hard. 

730
00:41:07,144 --> 00:41:09,848
Look around you. 
Don't fall far too much with 

731
00:41:09,848 --> 00:41:12,668
your fellows here in the 
Buddhist society because these 

732
00:41:12,668 --> 00:41:15,500
are all good people. 
I usually ask people, is there 

733
00:41:15,500 --> 00:41:18,638
anyone here who is not good? 
No one ever raises their hand, 

734
00:41:18,638 --> 00:41:21,848
so you are all good. 
So that's okay. 

735
00:41:21,848 --> 00:41:28,000
It's okay to feel that you are a
good person. 

736
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,770
It's a good feeling inside, you 
feel a sense of warmth for 

737
00:41:30,770 --> 00:41:32,250
yourself. 
It's okay to feel that. 

738
00:41:32,250 --> 00:41:35,638
Don't make it into an ego thing.
It's perfectly okay to feel that

739
00:41:35,638 --> 00:41:39,000
you are a good person. 
So that is the first part. 

740
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,400
Then comes compassion. 
And the reason why compassion 

741
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:45,000
comes second, compassion is a 
little bit more tricky. 

742
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,500
It's more easy to go wrong. 
Too much empathy paralyzes you, 

743
00:41:49,500 --> 00:41:53,000
too much pity, and you become 
condescending. 

744
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,693
It is more kind of enemies, more
areas to go wrong with 

745
00:41:56,693 --> 00:41:59,224
compassion. 
And that's why, metta comes 

746
00:41:59,224 --> 00:42:02,500
first, then comes compassion. 
In reality, we have to develop 

747
00:42:02,500 --> 00:42:05,667
both almost at the same time 
because we cannot always have 

748
00:42:05,667 --> 00:42:08,144
metta. 
It isn't always possible to see 

749
00:42:08,144 --> 00:42:12,000
good qualities in other people 
or in animals, then compassion 

750
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,500
comes in. 
But remember that kind of 

751
00:42:15,500 --> 00:42:17,800
hierarchy. 
So how does Buddha describe this

752
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,820
compassion in the suttas? 
I've already given you some 

753
00:42:20,820 --> 00:42:24,365
examples from the Buddha's own 
life, but one of the most 

754
00:42:24,365 --> 00:42:27,878
memorable ways that he describes
it, and this gives you a very 

755
00:42:27,878 --> 00:42:31,000
nice idea for what it actually 
means in the suttas. 

756
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:35,000
And the Buddha says, imagine, 
imagine that there is a person 

757
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:40,000
and they are walking along a 
wilderness track. 

758
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:44,376
There is no one around, there is
no people to support them or to 

759
00:42:44,376 --> 00:42:48,000
help them, there is no village, 
the next village is far away, 

760
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:54,000
both before and ahead of you, 
and this person then falls ill. 

761
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,000
They become sick while walking 
along this wilderness track. 

762
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:01,911
There is no one to help them. 
So what is your feeling for that

763
00:43:01,911 --> 00:43:05,001
person when that happens? 
You see that happening, you are 

764
00:43:05,001 --> 00:43:08,100
looking from afar, you can't 
really intervene because you are

765
00:43:08,100 --> 00:43:11,144
too far away, or whatever, it's 
like you are seeing them on TV 

766
00:43:11,144 --> 00:43:13,668
or something like that. 
And the feeling that arises 

767
00:43:13,668 --> 00:43:18,638
inside of you is, may this 
person find a doctor, may they 

768
00:43:18,638 --> 00:43:22,364
find some medicine, may they 
find a nurse to help them, may 

769
00:43:22,364 --> 00:43:26,000
they find some supportive people
somewhere that can support them.

770
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:27,750
Why? 
Because if they don't get some 

771
00:43:27,750 --> 00:43:31,600
support, they will surely die 
right there on that forest 

772
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,144
track. 
That is compassion, this sense 

773
00:43:34,144 --> 00:43:37,079
of distance, you are not right 
there with them, you can't 

774
00:43:37,079 --> 00:43:40,002
really see their feelings, but 
you wish them well, you are 

775
00:43:40,002 --> 00:43:43,232
looking for a solution to the 
problem, may they find a 

776
00:43:43,232 --> 00:43:46,334
solution, it's like you are 
caring for that person, that's 

777
00:43:46,334 --> 00:43:50,336
the idea, that idea of caring 
and helping, wanting them out of

778
00:43:50,336 --> 00:43:53,000
that situation, that is what 
compassion is about. 

779
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,386
Because it's very clear when you
see that particular simile in 

780
00:43:56,386 --> 00:44:00,000
the suttas, that is what we are 
striving for. 

781
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:03,667
So first metta, first the loving
kindness to the people around 

782
00:44:03,667 --> 00:44:06,700
you, then this kind of 
compassion where you want to 

783
00:44:06,700 --> 00:44:09,860
help and you want to support 
people around you, you never 

784
00:44:09,860 --> 00:44:13,001
want to hurt anyone. 
The Buddha says that if you 

785
00:44:13,001 --> 00:44:17,000
develop compassion fully, you 
cannot hurt another being. 

786
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,002
Because if you can hurt another 
being, he says, well it means 

787
00:44:20,002 --> 00:44:22,000
that you haven't developed 
compassion fully. 

788
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:26,000
So you need to carry it on, you 
need to take it further. 

789
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:30,000
So how can we do this in our own
life? 

790
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:34,584
One of the most important places
to have compassion is towards 

791
00:44:34,584 --> 00:44:37,668
yourself. 
There is a nice finding in 

792
00:44:37,668 --> 00:44:40,430
psychology for example, that 
self-compassion is a very 

793
00:44:40,430 --> 00:44:44,200
powerful way of dealing with the
problems in life and problems in

794
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,250
the world. 
So make sure you have compassion

795
00:44:47,250 --> 00:44:49,386
for yourself. 
And when you have compassion for

796
00:44:49,386 --> 00:44:51,616
yourself, you will have 
compassion for others because it

797
00:44:51,616 --> 00:44:55,000
never stops with oneself, it 
goes out to others as well. 

798
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,540
And when you have compassion for
others, you will have compassion

799
00:44:57,540 --> 00:45:00,156
for yourself because you can't 
really distinguish, these are 

800
00:45:00,156 --> 00:45:02,000
feelings that kind of go 
everywhere. 

801
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,000
But have compassion for 
yourself. 

802
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:08,079
And I recently had the 
experience, I was talking to 

803
00:45:08,079 --> 00:45:12,334
someone quite recently who was a
person in great distress because

804
00:45:12,334 --> 00:45:16,429
they said they had done some 
awful things in their life and 

805
00:45:16,429 --> 00:45:19,000
they weren't able to forgive 
themselves. 

806
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,202
And I told this person that you 
know, you need to have 

807
00:45:22,202 --> 00:45:24,911
compassion for yourself. 
This is crazy the way you are 

808
00:45:24,911 --> 00:45:27,750
judging yourself so harshly. 
You are a good person, look at 

809
00:45:27,750 --> 00:45:30,000
your background, you have done 
all these other things. 

810
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:33,430
And I realised fairly quickly 
that this person was not able to

811
00:45:33,430 --> 00:45:36,000
see that, wasn't able to have 
compassion. 

812
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:39,000
It was like they were blocked 
from that ability. 

813
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,590
So please develop this, because 
when you develop this, it means 

814
00:45:41,590 --> 00:45:44,650
that when you make a mistake, 
and we are all going to make 

815
00:45:44,650 --> 00:45:47,716
mistakes, it means you will be 
able to let go, to forgive 

816
00:45:47,716 --> 00:45:51,286
yourself and then also have 
compassion for yourself at the 

817
00:45:51,286 --> 00:45:54,001
same time. 
It's beautiful when we can do 

818
00:45:54,001 --> 00:45:56,766
that towards ourselves. 
Instead of carrying along all of

819
00:45:56,766 --> 00:46:00,000
this guilt and all of these 
negative things from the past, 

820
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,000
we can let it go and have 
compassion. 

821
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,602
And remember how you do that. 
Remember that man or that person

822
00:46:06,602 --> 00:46:09,750
on the forest track walking 
around in the wilderness and 

823
00:46:09,750 --> 00:46:13,500
then getting sick. 
That is what you are like. 

824
00:46:13,500 --> 00:46:16,500
You are like this man walking or
this person walking along the 

825
00:46:16,500 --> 00:46:18,500
wilderness track. 
You don't really know what is 

826
00:46:18,500 --> 00:46:21,000
going on, suddenly you just get 
sick out of nowhere. 

827
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,667
The sickness here means that one
day you start doing something 

828
00:46:24,667 --> 00:46:27,000
stupid. 
You don't really know why. 

829
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,667
It is something that has come 
within you, somewhere from the 

830
00:46:30,667 --> 00:46:34,792
past, a bad habit that you carry
from a past life, some kind of 

831
00:46:34,792 --> 00:46:37,948
program that you are playing at 
which was laid down in your 

832
00:46:37,948 --> 00:46:40,869
mind, in your heart, eons, long,
long time ago, many lifetimes 

833
00:46:40,869 --> 00:46:43,000
ago, it's playing out again 
inside of you. 

834
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:48,668
You don't know why it is there. 
This idea of compassion is an 

835
00:46:48,668 --> 00:46:52,336
idea of non-self. 
It is an idea that as human 

836
00:46:52,336 --> 00:46:55,834
beings we are so conditioned by 
our circumstances, by the people

837
00:46:55,834 --> 00:46:58,892
in our life, by our schooling, 
by everything that has happened 

838
00:46:58,892 --> 00:47:02,000
since we were born, but also in 
past life. 

839
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,000
And past life is like this black
box. 

840
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:07,250
We don't know what happened in 
the past life, but we know there

841
00:47:07,250 --> 00:47:09,617
is something there. 
If you open up that black box, 

842
00:47:09,617 --> 00:47:13,574
no, best not to open up, leave 
that black box closed because 

843
00:47:13,574 --> 00:47:17,000
there is endless of stuff from 
the past. 

844
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:20,000
But you know something has 
brought you to this point. 

845
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:25,000
You are blind, you are following
along pretty much like a robot. 

846
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:33,429
And the more, that was tough, 
robots, so you are almost like a

847
00:47:33,429 --> 00:47:35,669
robot. 
You are going through these 

848
00:47:35,669 --> 00:47:38,000
spaces without understanding 
where it comes from. 

849
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:41,693
And then the more you see that 
in yourself, this idea of 

850
00:47:41,693 --> 00:47:45,440
non-self, of not really being in
charge of your own life, means 

851
00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:47,000
you have compassion for 
yourself. 

852
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:51,000
I didn't know what I was doing. 
I was in the darkness. 

853
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:54,128
How could I do that? 
Well, actually I could because 

854
00:47:54,128 --> 00:47:56,000
of that conditioning from the 
past. 

855
00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:59,000
And then you learn from your 
mistake. 

856
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:01,000
You know now you shouldn't be 
doing it again. 

857
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,184
This is critical. 
You can't just have compassion 

858
00:48:03,184 --> 00:48:05,800
and not learn, because if you 
don't learn you will do it 

859
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:07,062
again. 
And eventually you run out of 

860
00:48:07,062 --> 00:48:09,000
compassion even for yourself and
then you have a serious problem.

861
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:13,625
So absolutely learn from it. 
And then at the same time have 

862
00:48:13,625 --> 00:48:16,502
compassion, because you know 
that you are not really very 

863
00:48:16,502 --> 00:48:19,000
much in charge of your own 
existence at all. 

864
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,500
And then you can move forward. 
Then you can learn, you can 

865
00:48:22,500 --> 00:48:24,000
change the trajectory of your 
life. 

866
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:27,236
You can have changed those habit
patterns that have been laid 

867
00:48:27,236 --> 00:48:31,625
down for such a long period. 
And you can become a far better 

868
00:48:31,625 --> 00:48:34,000
person. 
Compassion makes you resilient. 

869
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,145
It makes you able to deal with 
these difficulties that come 

870
00:48:37,145 --> 00:48:40,000
into your life when you make a 
mistake, when you go wrong. 

871
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:44,000
It makes you able to take the 
admonishment of other people. 

872
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:48,616
If someone says to you, you 
know, may I say something to 

873
00:48:48,616 --> 00:48:49,455
you? 
Yeah. 

874
00:48:49,455 --> 00:48:54,000
You think, I'm not sure if 
you're sure about that. 

875
00:48:54,000 --> 00:48:58,584
But if you have compassion for 
yourself you can take these 

876
00:48:58,584 --> 00:49:01,464
things, because you know that 
whatever that person says, 

877
00:49:01,464 --> 00:49:05,000
whether it's right or wrong, you
will be able to deal with it, 

878
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:08,600
because you know that, okay, if 
they're right, actually it is an

879
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:11,000
opportunity for me to improve 
myself. 

880
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,770
It's one of those nice little 
verses that you see in the 

881
00:49:13,770 --> 00:49:17,860
suttas, where the Buddha says 
that when someone is criticising

882
00:49:17,860 --> 00:49:22,000
you or giving you admonishment, 
they are showing you a treasure.

883
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:24,000
Sometimes we're not clear about 
ourselves. 

884
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,000
Sometimes we don't see ourselves
very clearly. 

885
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:28,936
We don't really know what our 
own character is, because we're 

886
00:49:28,936 --> 00:49:31,669
too close to ourselves. 
And sometimes it takes someone 

887
00:49:31,669 --> 00:49:34,000
on the outside to point out 
things. 

888
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,334
So they're showing you a 
treasure, because they give you 

889
00:49:37,334 --> 00:49:41,000
the opportunity to overcome that
hurdle, whatever it might be. 

890
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:44,820
So listen to criticism. 
Not always, because sometimes it

891
00:49:44,820 --> 00:49:48,002
is unfair, sometimes it is 
unreasonable, but often there 

892
00:49:48,002 --> 00:49:51,800
may be some truth in it. 
So ask yourself, could it be 

893
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,878
that they are right? 
And it may be painful initially 

894
00:49:54,878 --> 00:49:58,616
to admit that maybe there's a 
kernel of truth there, but once 

895
00:49:58,616 --> 00:50:01,693
you admit that to yourself and 
you combine that with 

896
00:50:01,693 --> 00:50:05,000
self-compassion, then you can 
grow as a human being. 

897
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,581
You can grow on the path. 
You can overcome some of those 

898
00:50:08,581 --> 00:50:12,000
obstacles that have been in the 
way for you for a long time. 

899
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,000
You wonder why is my meditation 
improving? 

900
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:18,144
Maybe that's the reason. 
And I know this from personal 

901
00:50:18,144 --> 00:50:21,223
experience, because I have also 
been criticised sometimes, been 

902
00:50:21,223 --> 00:50:23,000
told off, you are this kind of 
person. 

903
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:25,000
I thought, wait a minute, what 
are you talking about? 

904
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:27,750
And initially you get a bit 
defensive, you know what it's 

905
00:50:27,750 --> 00:50:30,001
like. 
But then you reflect, do they 

906
00:50:30,001 --> 00:50:32,556
have a point? 
I always try to reflect when I 

907
00:50:32,556 --> 00:50:35,000
am criticised. 
Do they have a point? 

908
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:38,614
And then usually you will find 
that there is maybe a little bit

909
00:50:38,614 --> 00:50:42,000
at least in a character which 
has a little bit of that flaw. 

910
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:46,800
And then you ask yourself, well,
you know, maybe they are right 

911
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:49,750
to some extent. 
How, what can I do to overcome 

912
00:50:49,750 --> 00:50:54,500
that flaw in my character? 
And in this way it can become 

913
00:50:54,500 --> 00:50:56,540
useful. 
Don't listen to criticism too 

914
00:50:56,540 --> 00:50:59,706
much, because sometimes it gets 
out of hand, but occasionally 

915
00:50:59,706 --> 00:51:04,295
when you feel that maybe this is
the right time to criticise or 

916
00:51:04,295 --> 00:51:07,667
to listen, especially when 
someone is coming from a good 

917
00:51:07,667 --> 00:51:10,000
place, then you can listen to 
what they have to say. 

918
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,000
It makes you very resilient when
you do this. 

919
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:15,000
So have compassion for yourself 
in this way. 

920
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,386
And then it starts to become 
something very powerful in your 

921
00:51:18,386 --> 00:51:22,530
own life, helping you to let go,
helping you to forgive, helping 

922
00:51:22,530 --> 00:51:27,275
you to move forward on the path.
But the Buddha's idea of 

923
00:51:27,275 --> 00:51:31,400
compassion is an idea of joy. 
It is an idea that is supposed 

924
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:33,540
to elevate us. 
If you practise compassion in 

925
00:51:33,540 --> 00:51:36,417
the right way, instead of 
depleting our energy that 

926
00:51:36,417 --> 00:51:40,584
empathy can do in certain 
circumstances, it gives rise to 

927
00:51:40,584 --> 00:51:42,750
energy. 
It gives rise to this urge to 

928
00:51:42,750 --> 00:51:45,002
help. 
It gives rise to joy inside when

929
00:51:45,002 --> 00:51:48,878
you do it in the right way. 
And there is a beautiful story, 

930
00:51:48,878 --> 00:51:52,000
this is a story that is in that 
coronavirus book. 

931
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,334
I don't know if you have read 
the coronavirus, actually 

932
00:51:55,334 --> 00:51:58,000
coronavirus, right? 
Corona means compassion, right? 

933
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:00,000
So this is actually, yes, 
compassion. 

934
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:02,000
I should have mentioned that 
book in the talk tonight. 

935
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:06,001
There is a nice book that we 
printed for Ajahn Brahm's 70th 

936
00:52:06,001 --> 00:52:09,000
birthday called coronavirus. 
Corona, corona, almost the same.

937
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:12,430
So in Buddhism we have the 
corona, in the world they have 

938
00:52:12,430 --> 00:52:15,085
the coronavirus. 
We have the coronavirus, the 

939
00:52:15,085 --> 00:52:18,000
virus of compassion spreading 
out in society. 

940
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:20,000
That is what we are trying to 
achieve here. 

941
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,750
So in that book there is a story
which many of you may have heard

942
00:52:23,750 --> 00:52:27,000
before, but I am going to repeat
it anyway. 

943
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:30,000
So whether you like it or not, 
no compassion, right? 

944
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,000
It is kind of forcing a story 
onto it. 

945
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,000
Some of you may not have heard 
this story. 

946
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:39,000
This is a story from a 
pilgrimage in India. 

947
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:42,924
Every few years we go on 
pilgrimage in India and we try 

948
00:52:42,924 --> 00:52:46,000
to see some of those ancient 
holy sites of Buddhism. 

949
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:48,000
Many of you have been there 
before. 

950
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:50,000
Yes, maybe you have been there 
before. 

951
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:53,200
Some of you have not. 
The Buddha said that there are 

952
00:52:53,200 --> 00:52:56,668
these four holy places that we 
should ideally, if we can, visit

953
00:52:56,668 --> 00:52:59,800
while we are alive to get some 
inspiration, have some 

954
00:52:59,800 --> 00:53:02,800
connection with the Buddha, a 
physical connection, go to the 

955
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:05,667
places where he is. 
I talked about pilgrimages here 

956
00:53:05,667 --> 00:53:07,911
before. 
I am not going to elaborate too 

957
00:53:07,911 --> 00:53:10,155
much on it now. 
There are four places in 

958
00:53:10,155 --> 00:53:12,000
particular that the Buddha said 
we should visit. 

959
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:16,000
The place where he was born, 
Lumbini in present-day Nepal. 

960
00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:20,000
The place where he attained 
awakening, Bodh Gaya in India 

961
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:24,000
and the Bihar state south of the
river Ganges, south of Patna. 

962
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:28,287
Then the place where he taught 
his first teaching, that is when

963
00:53:28,287 --> 00:53:33,273
the Dhamma started, that is in 
the Deer Park in Varanasi, which

964
00:53:33,273 --> 00:53:36,819
is an ancient city in India on 
the river Ganges, and the last 

965
00:53:36,819 --> 00:53:40,200
place where the Buddha passed 
away here, Kushinara, north of 

966
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:45,000
the river Ganges. 
These are the four places. 

967
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:48,693
Of course, Ajahn Brahm, he has 
led a few pilgrimages to these 

968
00:53:48,693 --> 00:53:52,000
places and many more places as 
well. 

969
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:56,000
Some of these places are now 
getting very, very touristy. 

970
00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,000
I would recommend you, the 
sooner you go, the better, 

971
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,000
because they are getting more 
touristy every blooming year. 

972
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:06,668
Every year. 
More and more people coming, 

973
00:54:06,668 --> 00:54:10,667
more and more noisy, more and 
more people from all kinds of 

974
00:54:10,667 --> 00:54:12,750
backgrounds. 
Some of them have a quiet time, 

975
00:54:12,750 --> 00:54:16,250
some of them are walking, have 
big ghetto blasters and giving 

976
00:54:16,250 --> 00:54:20,000
Dhamma talks, and loud chanting 
and these kinds of things. 

977
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:23,000
This is what these places have 
become a little bit. 

978
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:27,911
Check it out. 
One of the things when you have 

979
00:54:27,911 --> 00:54:32,000
these large tourist places, it 
attracts a lot of beggars. 

980
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:35,334
These beggars in India are 
probably some of the most 

981
00:54:35,334 --> 00:54:39,000
insistent beggars you have ever 
met in your entire life. 

982
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:42,202
They cling on to you and they 
don't leave until they get 

983
00:54:42,202 --> 00:54:44,200
something from you. 
That's how they function. 

984
00:54:44,200 --> 00:54:47,415
It doesn't matter what you say, 
it doesn't matter what you do, 

985
00:54:47,415 --> 00:54:49,530
it doesn't matter if you 
completely, utterly call them, 

986
00:54:49,530 --> 00:54:50,626
ignore them. 
Nothing works. 

987
00:54:50,626 --> 00:54:54,376
They will kind of grasp on to 
you until they get something 

988
00:54:54,376 --> 00:54:58,000
from you. 
Except this one occasion. 

989
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:03,002
And this is what is so cool. 
This was kind of Ajahn Brahm's 

990
00:55:03,002 --> 00:55:05,000
method of getting rid of 
beggars. 

991
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:08,430
But actually the point was it 
wasn't a method of getting rid 

992
00:55:08,430 --> 00:55:12,000
of beggars. 
It was just accidental. 

993
00:55:12,000 --> 00:55:16,074
This is kind of the point. 
Ajahn Brahm, like everyone else,

994
00:55:16,074 --> 00:55:18,000
he also has a beggar walking 
next to him. 

995
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:22,820
This was a Bodhgaya. 
Venerable sir, give some money 

996
00:55:22,820 --> 00:55:27,000
in that kind of language there. 
Give something useful amongst 

997
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:29,848
having money. 
Just take out your wallet and 

998
00:55:29,848 --> 00:55:32,000
give me a few rupees or 
whatever. 

999
00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:36,500
Insisting. 
Ajahn Brahm tells him, I'm a 

1000
00:55:36,500 --> 00:55:39,092
monk, I don't have any money. 
Bakshish, bakshish, give, give. 

1001
00:55:39,092 --> 00:55:41,000
I don't have any money. 
Bakshish, bakshish. 

1002
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:44,000
I don't have any money. 
Bakshish, bakshish. 

1003
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:50,000
That's how it goes on. 
You can't get rid of them. 

1004
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:55,250
And then something happened. 
And this is kind of the 

1005
00:55:55,250 --> 00:55:56,885
beautiful thing. 
Ajahn Brahm looked at this 

1006
00:55:56,885 --> 00:55:58,824
beggar and he realised this is a
person in very difficult 

1007
00:55:58,824 --> 00:56:01,334
situation. 
Maybe being used by some kind of

1008
00:56:01,334 --> 00:56:03,945
begging syndicate. 
Miserable with all his limbs 

1009
00:56:03,945 --> 00:56:08,224
kind of crooked and bent and 
distorted in all kinds of 

1010
00:56:08,224 --> 00:56:10,668
terrible ways. 
Dragging himself along with his 

1011
00:56:10,668 --> 00:56:13,472
hands and his arms. 
Ajahn Brahm realised what kind 

1012
00:56:13,472 --> 00:56:17,000
of the pain and the suffering 
and the problem of this beggar. 

1013
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:22,000
So he took hold of the beggar 
and gave the beggar a hug. 

1014
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:25,000
This is in India. 
They are dirty. 

1015
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:27,250
They are, you don't know whether
they are criminals. 

1016
00:56:27,250 --> 00:56:30,638
You have no idea who they are. 
Ajahn Brahm gave them a hug 

1017
00:56:30,638 --> 00:56:33,640
because Ajahn Brahm realised 
this is a fellow human being in 

1018
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:37,250
great suffering, in great pain. 
It's a powerful moment when you 

1019
00:56:37,250 --> 00:56:39,716
do that. 
You create this connection 

1020
00:56:39,716 --> 00:56:42,232
between human beings. 
Which probably, maybe this 

1021
00:56:42,232 --> 00:56:45,000
person has never been hugged in 
his whole life. 

1022
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,871
Because when you are in such a 
miserable condition, maybe you 

1023
00:56:47,871 --> 00:56:51,000
were stolen from your mum as a 
baby or something like that. 

1024
00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:54,000
Who knows what the background 
was. 

1025
00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:56,000
And that was like the 
transforming moment. 

1026
00:56:56,000 --> 00:56:59,464
At that point you had 
transferred something far, far 

1027
00:56:59,464 --> 00:57:03,144
more important than money. 
You had transferred a direct 

1028
00:57:03,144 --> 00:57:06,335
human connection. 
And of course from then on that 

1029
00:57:06,335 --> 00:57:09,002
beggar left Ajahn Brahm alone. 
Ajahn Brahm wasn't trying to get

1030
00:57:09,002 --> 00:57:12,001
rid of the beggar at all. 
Ajahn Brahm made a connection to

1031
00:57:12,001 --> 00:57:15,184
another human being. 
And the result was that that 

1032
00:57:15,184 --> 00:57:19,572
beggar left Ajahn Brahm alone. 
It was like the instant coming 

1033
00:57:19,572 --> 00:57:22,572
result. 
So it's a beautiful example of 

1034
00:57:22,572 --> 00:57:25,502
compassion. 
And you can see how compassion 

1035
00:57:25,502 --> 00:57:30,060
like that gives rise to joy. 
The beggar then had a smile on 

1036
00:57:30,060 --> 00:57:33,000
his face for the first time for 
a long time. 

1037
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:36,752
Felt some real love in this 
human realm, which can be so 

1038
00:57:36,752 --> 00:57:41,500
hard to find sometimes. 
And then he went off and did 

1039
00:57:41,500 --> 00:57:43,750
whatever. 
This is what we are trying to 

1040
00:57:43,750 --> 00:57:46,501
do. 
Don't have to go hug all the 

1041
00:57:46,501 --> 00:57:49,000
beggars in India. 
Please don't try that. 

1042
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:53,001
If you try, likely it will fail.
There has to be something that 

1043
00:57:53,001 --> 00:57:54,000
happens spontaneously, 
naturally. 

1044
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:57,000
If you try to do it, it's not 
going to work. 

1045
00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:01,000
But live these kinds of ideas in
your ordinary life. 

1046
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:04,800
Have compassion for people. 
Help out when you can, when 

1047
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:07,650
somebody is in need. 
And when you do that, you will 

1048
00:58:07,650 --> 00:58:10,000
be able to build up that joy 
inside of yourself. 

1049
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:12,000
And then you are on this 
beautiful ladder. 

1050
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:15,400
This thing I talked about when I
gave a talk here last time, the 

1051
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:19,910
idea of the dependent liberation
ladder, from that joy, that is 

1052
00:58:19,910 --> 00:58:24,385
the starting point that allows 
your meditation to develop and 

1053
00:58:24,385 --> 00:58:29,000
allows your mind to go into deep
states of stillness and samadhi.

1054
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:32,765
That is where it comes from. 
From the joy comes the 

1055
00:58:32,765 --> 00:58:36,295
tranquility, from the bliss and 
happiness comes the stillness of

1056
00:58:36,295 --> 00:58:38,765
the mind. 
Because happiness draws the mind

1057
00:58:38,765 --> 00:58:43,000
in and it allows the mind to 
become still as a consequence. 

1058
00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:47,000
This is then becomes the power 
of your meditation. 

1059
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:52,002
Or, as the Buddha said, another 
way of doing this, is once you 

1060
00:58:52,002 --> 00:58:55,572
start to give rise to that 
feeling of compassion, when you 

1061
00:58:55,572 --> 00:58:59,695
bring it into your meditation, 
you can expand it out to the 

1062
00:58:59,695 --> 00:59:02,000
whole universe, gradually stage 
by stage. 

1063
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:05,386
Because there are beings in this
universe, wherever you go in 

1064
00:59:05,386 --> 00:59:09,334
this universe, even if you go to
far distant galaxies, there will

1065
00:59:09,334 --> 00:59:11,716
be aliens, aliens also need 
compassion. 

1066
00:59:11,716 --> 00:59:14,155
Isn't that right? 
Aliens also suffering. 

1067
00:59:14,155 --> 00:59:16,848
Why? 
Because they live in a world 

1068
00:59:16,848 --> 00:59:20,625
just like ours. 
They probably look a bit like us

1069
00:59:20,625 --> 00:59:22,875
anyway. 
So the whole universe is 

1070
00:59:22,875 --> 00:59:26,001
pervaded with life. 
So spread out your compassion to

1071
00:59:26,001 --> 00:59:29,136
the whole universe. 
And as you spread it out in this

1072
00:59:29,136 --> 00:59:31,400
way, you are doing this 
Brahma-Bihara practice, as 

1073
00:59:31,400 --> 00:59:35,136
described in the suttas. 
And if you do it in the right 

1074
00:59:35,136 --> 00:59:38,716
way, building it up, building it
up, it then also takes you to 

1075
00:59:38,716 --> 00:59:41,000
the deep states of samadhi as a 
consequence. 

1076
00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:44,000
So this is what we are trying to
do with compassion. 

1077
00:59:44,000 --> 00:59:48,643
You live it out in daily life, 
bring it back to your meditation

1078
00:59:48,643 --> 00:59:52,848
practice, and eventually it will
be a support for attaining deep 

1079
00:59:52,848 --> 00:59:55,869
states of samadhi. 
And of course that in turn will 

1080
00:59:55,869 --> 00:59:59,716
then take you all the way to 
awakening, if you keep on 

1081
00:59:59,716 --> 01:00:05,750
practicing even further. 
Okay, everyone, that is the talk

1082
01:00:05,750 --> 01:00:14,772
for tonight. 
So if anyone would like to ask 

1083
01:00:14,772 --> 01:00:21,000
any questions or comment or 
whatever, this is your chance. 

1084
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,000
Hi Ajahn. 
Yes. 

1085
01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:38,000
Now we know why you are a great 
Dharma speaker. 

1086
01:00:38,000 --> 01:00:46,910
Okay, a question now. 
So even in the Buddhist BSWA 

1087
01:00:46,910 --> 01:00:51,000
committee, sometimes we have 
disagreement. 

1088
01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:55,584
How do we use compassion to 
overcome when we discuss tough 

1089
01:00:55,584 --> 01:00:58,504
subjects? 
Yes, what you have to do is you 

1090
01:00:58,504 --> 01:01:02,430
have to always assume that the 
other person is trying to do the

1091
01:01:02,430 --> 01:01:04,750
right thing. 
They are trying to do what is 

1092
01:01:04,750 --> 01:01:07,572
right from their angle, from 
their point of view, and they 

1093
01:01:07,572 --> 01:01:11,336
actually want to be helpful. 
And when you see that they want 

1094
01:01:11,336 --> 01:01:15,200
to be helpful, then you can say 
respectfully, I disagree, I look

1095
01:01:15,200 --> 01:01:18,716
at this in a different way. 
And then if both people come 

1096
01:01:18,716 --> 01:01:22,670
with that sense of compassion in
their heart, when they meet in a

1097
01:01:22,670 --> 01:01:26,000
discussion, usually you are able
to resolve it quite nicely. 

1098
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:29,000
It is just a matter of 
respecting the other person. 

1099
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:32,734
And one of the things for me is 
that we are, as a Buddhist 

1100
01:01:32,734 --> 01:01:36,500
society, we should always 
emphasize that the spiritual 

1101
01:01:36,500 --> 01:01:40,000
qualities come prior to 
resolving world issues. 

1102
01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:43,250
We are not here to kind of 
optimize the kind of income of 

1103
01:01:43,250 --> 01:01:46,000
the Buddhist society. 
That is not the main point. 

1104
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:48,000
The main point is to develop 
spiritual qualities. 

1105
01:01:48,000 --> 01:01:51,500
And even if the income is not as
optimal as it could be, or we 

1106
01:01:51,500 --> 01:01:54,750
don't have as big a building as 
we could optimally have, it is 

1107
01:01:54,750 --> 01:01:56,602
okay. 
Sometimes we just take a bit 

1108
01:01:56,602 --> 01:02:00,167
more time, and we ensure that we
do things with harmony and 

1109
01:02:00,167 --> 01:02:04,446
compassion for each other rather
than doing it just because we 

1110
01:02:04,446 --> 01:02:07,875
need to solve things. 
Sometimes you have to solve 

1111
01:02:07,875 --> 01:02:11,250
things straight away, and that 
is why you have to be really, 

1112
01:02:11,250 --> 01:02:13,000
really careful because the 
pressure is on. 

1113
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,000
Sometimes we have time limits 
and things. 

1114
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:20,000
But we try to take things a 
little bit less seriously. 

1115
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:23,750
We were just driving here today.
We were coming here and we had 

1116
01:02:23,750 --> 01:02:26,169
some detours on the way, and 
maybe we started a little bit 

1117
01:02:26,169 --> 01:02:29,334
too late from the monastery. 
We were just making time for the

1118
01:02:29,334 --> 01:02:31,581
meeting today. 
And so our drivers started to 

1119
01:02:31,581 --> 01:02:35,000
drive a bit fast, going in and 
out of traffic, back and forth. 

1120
01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:40,000
And I said to him, just relax, 
it is okay. 

1121
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:43,000
Even if we are late, it doesn't 
matter, we are fine there. 

1122
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:45,728
And we can resolve those 
committee issues later on if 

1123
01:02:45,728 --> 01:02:48,288
necessary. 
That is what I felt at the time 

1124
01:02:48,288 --> 01:02:53,269
was the right kind of approach. 
And I think if we can, always 

1125
01:02:53,269 --> 01:02:57,000
put the Dhamma first, secondary 
the worldly issues. 

1126
01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:06,690
Eddie! 
Ajahn Brahmali, it is really, 

1127
01:03:06,690 --> 01:03:16,063
really, really nice to hear a 
Theravada monk mention about 

1128
01:03:16,063 --> 01:03:20,736
compassion. 
When I heard it, I thought, is 

1129
01:03:20,736 --> 01:03:25,000
it turning into Mahayana or 
Vajrayana, Tibetan Buddhism? 

1130
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:32,668
Because from my understanding, 
the Theravada Buddhists, we 

1131
01:03:32,668 --> 01:03:38,224
don't emphasize on compassion, 
but on the Buddha's teachings, 

1132
01:03:38,224 --> 01:03:43,820
mind, feelings, all that. 
But the Mahayana, they have Kuan

1133
01:03:43,820 --> 01:03:47,000
Yin, the bodhisattva of 
compassion. 

1134
01:03:47,000 --> 01:03:53,000
They emphasize on compassion, 
and the great compassion mantra.

1135
01:03:54,000 --> 01:03:58,000
So there is an emphasis on all 
this chanting on compassion. 

1136
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:02,232
And they even have Kuan Yin, 
whereby when they have problems,

1137
01:04:02,232 --> 01:04:06,274
they ask, is the bodhisattva of 
compassion, ask for help from 

1138
01:04:06,274 --> 01:04:09,000
Kuan Yin. 
And the other thing is the... 

1139
01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:11,000
I wouldn't recommend that part, 
but anyway. 

1140
01:04:11,000 --> 01:04:17,750
The other thing is Tibetan 
Buddhism, they have bodhicitta, 

1141
01:04:17,750 --> 01:04:22,144
that is compassion, and 
Chenreksit, the Buddha of 

1142
01:04:22,144 --> 01:04:25,500
compassion too. 
So sometimes, you know, like 

1143
01:04:25,500 --> 01:04:27,750
a... 
You see, I mean, that's the wide

1144
01:04:27,750 --> 01:04:31,500
range of Buddhism, you know. 
And then you mention these 

1145
01:04:31,500 --> 01:04:38,000
things, so it should be... 
How to say, like maybe adopt... 

1146
01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:41,000
That's okay to adopt bits and 
pieces, isn't it? 

1147
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:44,000
Sorry? 
It's okay to... 

1148
01:04:44,000 --> 01:04:47,929
You know, our teaching, okay, is
more towards the Buddha, our 

1149
01:04:47,929 --> 01:04:51,000
practice, you know. 
We do the practice... 

1150
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:53,000
I think that's a 
misunderstanding. 

1151
01:04:53,000 --> 01:04:55,000
And I think this is what you 
often hear. 

1152
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:58,667
You hear that, oh, you are a 
selfish Hinayana, or selfish 

1153
01:04:58,667 --> 01:05:01,000
Arahants, and this kind of 
thing. 

1154
01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:04,000
But it's a misunderstanding of 
how the Buddhist path works. 

1155
01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:06,770
You cannot be selfish if you're 
going to have success on this 

1156
01:05:06,770 --> 01:05:09,572
path. 
You have to actually give up 

1157
01:05:09,572 --> 01:05:11,250
selfishness. 
Selfishness is one of the 

1158
01:05:11,250 --> 01:05:13,000
fundamental things you have to 
give up. 

1159
01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:16,000
And one of the things you find 
in the suttas, that for example,

1160
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:18,858
if you want to enter a state of 
deep samadhi, you have to 

1161
01:05:18,858 --> 01:05:22,000
perfect your generosity already.
You can't hold anything back. 

1162
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:24,000
You have to be wanting to give 
to the whole world. 

1163
01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:27,287
Because this idea of giving to 
the whole world, that is the 

1164
01:05:27,287 --> 01:05:30,500
state of perfect generosity. 
And it's a beautiful state when 

1165
01:05:30,500 --> 01:05:33,638
you have these kind of feelings,
even if you have them only 

1166
01:05:33,638 --> 01:05:35,000
partially, they're very 
beautiful states. 

1167
01:05:35,000 --> 01:05:39,000
So it is a complete... 
It's actually a profound 

1168
01:05:39,000 --> 01:05:41,667
misunderstanding that Theravada 
Buddhism or Arahants are 

1169
01:05:41,667 --> 01:05:43,112
selfish. 
They are the exact opposite. 

1170
01:05:43,112 --> 01:05:46,001
They are completely giving. 
In fact, you can tell someone's 

1171
01:05:46,001 --> 01:05:49,000
degree of awakening by seeing 
how selfless they are. 

1172
01:05:49,000 --> 01:05:53,000
That's why you see it. 
So this is... 

1173
01:05:53,000 --> 01:05:57,584
It's true that they focus more 
on compassion in the Mahayana 

1174
01:05:57,584 --> 01:06:01,000
tradition. 
But it's fully part of the 

1175
01:06:01,000 --> 01:06:04,000
Theravada or early Buddhist 
tradition anyway. 

1176
01:06:04,000 --> 01:06:06,000
Let's call it early Buddhist 
tradition instead. 

1177
01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:10,100
It's fully part of that. 
And if you read the suttas, the 

1178
01:06:10,100 --> 01:06:13,000
word compassion occurs hundreds 
of times in the suttas. 

1179
01:06:15,000 --> 01:06:20,200
Also, the reason why I ask is 
because I saw myself as a 

1180
01:06:20,200 --> 01:06:24,600
Theravadist, okay? 
I have a kuan yi at home for my 

1181
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:26,500
mom. 
And I also recite the great 

1182
01:06:26,500 --> 01:06:28,000
compassion mantra. 
Yeah, fine. 

1183
01:06:28,000 --> 01:06:30,500
No problem. 
So it's like a little mixture, 

1184
01:06:30,500 --> 01:06:33,000
you know? 
Which I find there's no problem.

1185
01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:36,667
Anything which works and kind of
brings up good qualities is 

1186
01:06:36,667 --> 01:06:37,667
great. 
Absolutely. 

1187
01:06:37,667 --> 01:06:41,000
No problems. 
Thanks for the talk, Eddie. 

1188
01:06:41,000 --> 01:06:44,848
Thanks, Eddie. 
Okay, Rene, you want to bring 

1189
01:06:44,848 --> 01:06:47,000
some questions from outside of 
the center? 

1190
01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:49,001
Anyone else want to say 
anything? 

1191
01:06:49,001 --> 01:06:51,200
Everyone else happy? 
Everyone else happy? 

1192
01:06:51,200 --> 01:06:54,572
Okay, good. 
So this is from Eddie in 

1193
01:06:54,572 --> 01:06:59,546
Indonesia. 
Dear Ajahn, please give more 

1194
01:06:59,546 --> 01:07:07,144
insight about how to be mindful 
when our mind on the present 

1195
01:07:07,144 --> 01:07:10,000
moment is worrisome and we are 
feeling depressed. 

1196
01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:15,000
What can we do to help our 
overthinking mind? 

1197
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:20,455
Okay, so you should come to my 
Satipatana course, right, 

1198
01:07:20,455 --> 01:07:22,600
mindfulness? 
Tomorrow morning we're starting,

1199
01:07:22,600 --> 01:07:28,572
so be there or be square. 8 a.m.
till 2.30 p.m. 

1200
01:07:28,572 --> 01:07:31,500
Perth time. 
So if you're in Indonesia, that 

1201
01:07:31,500 --> 01:07:34,000
means it will start at 9 a.m., 
is that right? 

1202
01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:37,715
No, 7 a.m. 
No, 7 a.m., yeah, they are 

1203
01:07:37,715 --> 01:07:39,600
behind. 
Correct, I'm getting confused 

1204
01:07:39,600 --> 01:07:42,000
now. 
Okay, anyway, one of those. 

1205
01:07:42,000 --> 01:07:50,429
So when you are worried or 
you're feeling depressed, you 

1206
01:07:50,429 --> 01:07:53,000
have to learn to think 
differently. 

1207
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:56,000
It's what you call a cognitive 
problem. 

1208
01:07:56,000 --> 01:07:58,000
The thinking process has gone 
wrong. 

1209
01:07:58,000 --> 01:08:01,000
That's why we tend to feel 
depressed or we feel anxious. 

1210
01:08:01,000 --> 01:08:04,752
So you have to reprogram your 
thinking mind and start to think

1211
01:08:04,752 --> 01:08:09,184
in a different way. 
Anxiety is fear, it's a kind of 

1212
01:08:09,184 --> 01:08:12,415
fear about the future. 
And so to overcome anxiety, you 

1213
01:08:12,415 --> 01:08:15,500
have to, instead of looking at 
the danger in the future, look 

1214
01:08:15,500 --> 01:08:19,625
at the opportunities. 
You know, to give you an example

1215
01:08:19,625 --> 01:08:23,000
is that these days people talk 
about climate anxiety. 

1216
01:08:23,000 --> 01:08:27,287
And, you know, I sympathize with
that because obviously the 

1217
01:08:27,287 --> 01:08:31,184
climate is going funny. 
And so I can see why people are 

1218
01:08:31,184 --> 01:08:33,399
anxious about it. 
But what I would say to people, 

1219
01:08:33,399 --> 01:08:37,729
and this is kind of the Buddhist
view, is that your future is not

1220
01:08:37,729 --> 01:08:40,000
really determined by the 
climate. 

1221
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:42,000
Your future is not determined by
COVID. 

1222
01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:45,334
Your future is not really 
determined by the politics of 

1223
01:08:45,334 --> 01:08:47,638
the world. 
Your future is not determined by

1224
01:08:47,638 --> 01:08:51,548
an asteroid coming into the, and
kind of, you know, blowing up 

1225
01:08:51,548 --> 01:08:55,000
the planet or whatever. 
That's not your future. 

1226
01:08:55,000 --> 01:08:58,600
Your future in Buddhism is 
determined by your personal 

1227
01:08:58,600 --> 01:09:01,107
qualities. 
If you are a good person, if you

1228
01:09:01,107 --> 01:09:04,000
live well, yes, you may have 
some temporary pain and problems

1229
01:09:04,000 --> 01:09:07,600
because of COVID, because of 
climate change, because of 

1230
01:09:07,600 --> 01:09:09,500
whatever. 
But in the long run, you're 

1231
01:09:09,500 --> 01:09:12,430
going to be a happy person 
because you are developing those

1232
01:09:12,430 --> 01:09:15,000
qualities that will safeguard 
you in the long run. 

1233
01:09:15,000 --> 01:09:17,000
These are the things that 
matter. 

1234
01:09:17,000 --> 01:09:20,715
If you want to look after your 
future, that is how it is 

1235
01:09:20,715 --> 01:09:23,002
determined. 
So this is how you shift your 

1236
01:09:23,002 --> 01:09:25,899
view away from being anxious 
about things because you realise

1237
01:09:25,899 --> 01:09:29,001
that those things that you're 
anxious about actually are not 

1238
01:09:29,001 --> 01:09:31,669
really that important. 
For your long term happiness, 

1239
01:09:31,669 --> 01:09:34,000
what is important is your 
qualities inside. 

1240
01:09:34,000 --> 01:09:37,667
So develop those qualities, and 
then you feel less and less 

1241
01:09:37,667 --> 01:09:41,002
anxious as a consequence. 
And you look at that in the 

1242
01:09:41,002 --> 01:09:43,000
right way, and then you'll be 
okay. 

1243
01:09:43,000 --> 01:09:46,000
So ensure that you are a good 
Buddhist. 

1244
01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:51,000
Ensure that you live well, and 
then your focus will shift. 

1245
01:09:51,000 --> 01:09:56,602
So hang out with the Buddhist 
society here, hang out with good

1246
01:09:56,602 --> 01:10:01,001
people around you, and as you do
that, you will gradually get 

1247
01:10:01,001 --> 01:10:04,000
into that groove. 
Depression is similar, because 

1248
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:08,728
depression is about also seeing 
faults in yourself or seeing 

1249
01:10:08,728 --> 01:10:11,637
faults in the world, and 
becoming depressed about 

1250
01:10:11,637 --> 01:10:14,000
yourself because you are no good
or whatever. 

1251
01:10:14,000 --> 01:10:16,000
Also it's a matter of being able
to refocus. 

1252
01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:18,540
Okay, you're heading in the 
right way, you're part of the 

1253
01:10:18,540 --> 01:10:20,500
Buddhist community, you're 
living well, you're doing the 

1254
01:10:20,500 --> 01:10:23,000
right things, a lot to be happy 
about. 

1255
01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:26,572
So try to turn that thinking 
mind around, appreciating the 

1256
01:10:26,572 --> 01:10:29,848
good things in life. 
I have been depressed in my 

1257
01:10:29,848 --> 01:10:33,911
life, I know what it feels like,
and it's really just a bad habit

1258
01:10:33,911 --> 01:10:37,000
pattern of the mind. 
So turn it around. 

1259
01:10:37,000 --> 01:10:41,000
You need some of this sort of 
way of thinking differently, 

1260
01:10:41,000 --> 01:10:44,000
then you'll hopefully be on the 
right track. 

1261
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:49,000
This is John from Penang. 
Hello John. 

1262
01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:52,572
Ajahn Brahmali, can you please 
explain the difference with 

1263
01:10:52,572 --> 01:10:56,000
examples between loving kindness
and compassion? 

1264
01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:01,000
Okay, so loving kindness is like
when you appreciate someone, 

1265
01:11:01,000 --> 01:11:04,000
because you see the good 
qualities in them. 

1266
01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:09,750
You see someone and you feel a 
strong sense of friendship or a 

1267
01:11:09,750 --> 01:11:12,000
strong sense of goodwill towards
them. 

1268
01:11:12,000 --> 01:11:14,750
You feel a lot of goodwill 
because someone is a special 

1269
01:11:14,750 --> 01:11:16,390
person. 
They have lots of good 

1270
01:11:16,390 --> 01:11:19,723
qualities, like someone who has 
been very kind to you in your 

1271
01:11:19,723 --> 01:11:22,667
life, some family member 
perhaps, or perhaps whoever it 

1272
01:11:22,667 --> 01:11:26,667
is, and you have this kind of 
very positive feeling about the 

1273
01:11:26,667 --> 01:11:29,000
person. 
That is really meta. 

1274
01:11:29,000 --> 01:11:31,834
And then you build up that 
positive feeling, seeing more 

1275
01:11:31,834 --> 01:11:35,168
and more good qualities, 
building up this positive 

1276
01:11:35,168 --> 01:11:37,668
feeling inside. 
Compassion is when you see 

1277
01:11:37,668 --> 01:11:41,700
someone who is suffering and you
want to help them out of the 

1278
01:11:41,700 --> 01:11:44,001
suffering. 
And you are inclined to avoid 

1279
01:11:44,001 --> 01:11:46,715
hurting other beings. 
I don't want to hurt other 

1280
01:11:46,715 --> 01:11:48,911
beings. 
Why on earth would I want to 

1281
01:11:48,911 --> 01:11:53,000
hurt even an ant? 
Ants want to be happy as well. 

1282
01:11:53,000 --> 01:11:57,584
So it is the overcoming of 
suffering which is the main 

1283
01:11:57,584 --> 01:12:01,000
thing. 
Then we have Dan from Australia.

1284
01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:04,184
Hello Dan. 
Dear Ajahn, is it skillful to 

1285
01:12:04,184 --> 01:12:07,200
recall instances of your 
compassion in for the world 

1286
01:12:07,200 --> 01:12:10,334
during meditation to drive it 
deeper, bringing up Pitti and 

1287
01:12:10,334 --> 01:12:13,000
Sukha etc.? 
Yes, that is certainly the case.

1288
01:12:13,000 --> 01:12:17,000
You can do that to get things 
started. 

1289
01:12:17,000 --> 01:12:21,286
You feel that there are times 
when you have lots of compassion

1290
01:12:21,286 --> 01:12:24,000
for whatever. 
Bring it back into mind again. 

1291
01:12:24,000 --> 01:12:27,375
In fact this is one of those 
important things in Buddhism, is

1292
01:12:27,375 --> 01:12:30,000
the idea of the Anusatthi, the 
recollections. 

1293
01:12:30,000 --> 01:12:34,000
When we recall our past actions 
and our past way of thinking, 

1294
01:12:34,000 --> 01:12:37,750
bring it into the present. 
And then we bring it into the 

1295
01:12:37,750 --> 01:12:41,637
present, it becomes a source 
right now for success in our 

1296
01:12:41,637 --> 01:12:45,429
meditation. 
Okay everyone, that is all for 

1297
01:12:45,429 --> 01:12:48,288
tonight. 
May you all have a nice night, a

1298
01:12:48,288 --> 01:12:50,000
nice weekend, and a nice 
everything. 

1299
01:12:50,000 --> 01:12:52,000
And then hopefully see you 
again. 

1300
01:12:52,000 --> 01:12:54,750
Let's just pay respect to the 
Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha before we

1301
01:12:54,750 --> 01:12:55,000
leave.