1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,465
interpretations have to be 
resolved, of course, but still 

2
00:00:03,465 --> 00:00:07,456
it is quite amazing that this is
what is going on. 

3
00:00:07,456 --> 00:00:11,337
So I personally, I don't really 
have much doubt that when the 

4
00:00:11,337 --> 00:00:16,180
Buddha spoke about these things,
he basically had a very direct 

5
00:00:16,180 --> 00:00:20,464
understanding of how the 
universe operates, and it is 

6
00:00:20,464 --> 00:00:24,512
very similar to the ideas of 
modern cosmology. 

7
00:00:24,512 --> 00:00:29,140
So based on this, the way that 
modern cosmology looks at the 

8
00:00:29,140 --> 00:00:32,140
universe, they're trying to 
figure out how it all hangs 

9
00:00:32,140 --> 00:00:34,960
together, whether it started at 
the Big Bang, what's going to 

10
00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,675
happen to the universe at the 
end, is it just going to 

11
00:00:37,675 --> 00:00:40,135
dissipate forever, is there 
going to be a new Big Bang at 

12
00:00:40,135 --> 00:00:43,114
some stage, is there going to be
a big crunch, all of these 

13
00:00:43,114 --> 00:00:45,140
matters are still up for 
discussion in cosmology. 

14
00:00:45,140 --> 00:00:48,020
There are certain favourite 
theories, I'm sure you've heard 

15
00:00:48,020 --> 00:00:51,033
about some of these, the 
multiverse and all this kind of 

16
00:00:51,033 --> 00:00:53,137
stuff. 
But I am going to make a 

17
00:00:53,137 --> 00:00:55,786
prediction, right? 
I'm going to be very bold and 

18
00:00:55,786 --> 00:00:58,850
make a prediction. 
It's of course madness to make 

19
00:00:58,850 --> 00:01:01,738
predictions, but it's nice to be
mad sometimes. 

20
00:01:01,738 --> 00:01:06,729
So my prediction is that 
eventually cosmology is going to

21
00:01:06,729 --> 00:01:11,392
fall back on this idea of 
expanding and contracting 

22
00:01:11,392 --> 00:01:15,580
universes, right? 
One Big Bang, big crunch, or if 

23
00:01:15,580 --> 00:01:20,734
not big crunch, one way in which
the Big Bang happens over again 

24
00:01:20,734 --> 00:01:24,020
and over again and over again 
and over again. 

25
00:01:24,020 --> 00:01:26,660
Quite likely a Big Bang, big 
crunch, Big Bang, big crunch. 

26
00:01:26,660 --> 00:01:31,604
This is my prediction here. 
So I challenge you all, keep an 

27
00:01:31,604 --> 00:01:34,338
eye out on those scientific 
journals, right? 

28
00:01:34,338 --> 00:01:38,067
Read a little bit of my 
cosmology, see what happens in 

29
00:01:38,067 --> 00:01:41,372
the next few decades, and then 
let's see if science is heading 

30
00:01:41,372 --> 00:01:43,320
in that way. 
Right now, most scientists don't

31
00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,830
believe in this, right? 
So it's completely out of the 

32
00:01:45,830 --> 00:01:47,950
scope. 
So if this is what happens, then

33
00:01:47,950 --> 00:01:50,170
we, you know, it's very 
interesting. 

34
00:01:50,170 --> 00:01:54,808
So let's see how things pan out 
and how things move in that 

35
00:01:54,808 --> 00:01:56,440
direction here. 
Anyway, that's my prediction. 

36
00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,122
That's my first prediction. 
I'm going to make at least one 

37
00:01:59,122 --> 00:02:02,980
more in the course of this talk 
so that we can sort of, you 

38
00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:05,680
know, compare notes in a few 
years' time, here. 

39
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,026
So this is the first thing that 
I find very interesting about 

40
00:02:09,026 --> 00:02:12,314
Buddhist cosmology, very close 
similarity to modern ideas of 

41
00:02:12,314 --> 00:02:15,176
cosmology. 
There's a second thing, and this

42
00:02:15,176 --> 00:02:18,760
is more coming down to more 
small-scale cosmology. 

43
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:24,360
And this is where the Buddha 
talks about different kinds of 

44
00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,748
world systems. 
And these world systems— systems

45
00:02:26,748 --> 00:02:28,591
that the Buddha is talking 
about. 

46
00:02:28,591 --> 00:02:31,846
Essentially, each world system. 
First of all, he talks about the

47
00:02:31,846 --> 00:02:34,556
planet Earth, right? 
The ideas of the planet Earth in

48
00:02:34,556 --> 00:02:37,536
those days were very, quite 
simple and basic compared to 

49
00:02:37,536 --> 00:02:40,495
what they are now. 
But basically, they had an idea 

50
00:02:40,495 --> 00:02:42,798
of this realm, this Earth that 
we are on. 

51
00:02:42,798 --> 00:02:44,708
And then they had an idea of the
moon. 

52
00:02:44,708 --> 00:02:46,721
And then, of course, they had 
the sun, right? 

53
00:02:46,721 --> 00:02:48,944
And the Buddha says, this is 
like a unit. 

54
00:02:48,944 --> 00:02:51,787
These three are like a unit. 
There's no reference to planets 

55
00:02:51,787 --> 00:02:54,966
or anything like that, except 
maybe the morning star, I think,

56
00:02:54,966 --> 00:02:58,575
in a few places. 
But basically, that is the unit 

57
00:02:58,575 --> 00:03:02,125
called a world system. 
And essentially, it is a solar 

58
00:03:02,125 --> 00:03:06,168
system, and all the beings that 
exist depending on that world 

59
00:03:06,168 --> 00:03:08,646
system. 
And then the Buddha says, and 

60
00:03:08,646 --> 00:03:11,744
this is, again, very interesting
from a modern scientific point 

61
00:03:11,744 --> 00:03:14,176
of view. 
He says that there isn't just 

62
00:03:14,176 --> 00:03:18,248
one world system out there. 
He says there is a thousandfold 

63
00:03:18,248 --> 00:03:21,572
world system. 
In fact, not only is there a 

64
00:03:21,572 --> 00:03:24,685
thousandfold world system, but 
beyond that, there is a 

65
00:03:24,685 --> 00:03:26,376
millionfold world system. 
And he says, if you want to know

66
00:03:26,376 --> 00:03:26,423
more about the world system, you
can go to the book, which is 

67
00:03:26,423 --> 00:03:26,435
called The World System. 
And he says, if you want to know

68
00:03:26,435 --> 00:03:28,048
more about the world system, 
beyond that, there is a 

69
00:03:28,048 --> 00:03:31,579
billionfold world system, right?
So what the Buddha is saying is 

70
00:03:31,579 --> 00:03:35,838
that there isn't just one solar 
system with suns and planets and

71
00:03:35,838 --> 00:03:39,792
moons and all these things. 
There are heaps of solar systems

72
00:03:39,792 --> 00:03:42,690
out there. 
And according to the Buddha, the

73
00:03:42,690 --> 00:03:46,272
solar system that he's talking 
about are solar systems where 

74
00:03:46,272 --> 00:03:49,812
there is life, where there are 
beings of various types 

75
00:03:49,812 --> 00:03:51,909
connected to that solar system, 
right? 

76
00:03:51,909 --> 00:03:55,032
And again, this is very 
interesting, because in the 

77
00:03:55,032 --> 00:04:06,913
book, there is a lot of talk 
about the solar system. 

78
00:04:06,913 --> 00:04:26,420
And he says, if you want to know
more about the world system, you

79
00:04:26,420 --> 00:04:26,640
can go to the book, which is 
called The World System. 

80
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:26,900
And he says, if you want to know
more about the world system, 

81
00:04:26,900 --> 00:04:27,008
there is a millionfold world 
system. 

82
00:04:27,008 --> 00:04:27,245
And he says, if you want to know
more about the world system, you

83
00:04:27,245 --> 00:04:27,300
can go to the book, which is 
called The World System. 

84
00:04:27,300 --> 00:04:27,336
And again, this is very 
interesting, because in the 

85
00:04:27,336 --> 00:04:30,398
book, Europe, Europe of the 
Middle Ages, I don't know if you

86
00:04:30,398 --> 00:04:32,340
remember your school learning 
about these issues. 

87
00:04:32,340 --> 00:04:35,343
But according to the European 
ideas in the Middle Ages, they 

88
00:04:35,343 --> 00:04:38,248
had this idea of what was known 
as the firmament. 

89
00:04:38,248 --> 00:04:41,377
Do you remember the firmament 
from school? 

90
00:04:41,377 --> 00:04:46,270
And the firmament is an idea 
they had before the kind of 

91
00:04:46,270 --> 00:04:48,010
modern astronomical revolution 
started to happen. 

92
00:04:48,010 --> 00:04:50,882
The idea that it's like a 
sphere, right? 

93
00:04:50,882 --> 00:04:54,856
Or an arc around the earth, 
whatever you consider the earth,

94
00:04:54,856 --> 00:04:58,428
you know, here, basically. 
The sky is like an arc over you.

95
00:04:58,428 --> 00:05:01,610
And that arc is only a few 
hundred meters or a few 

96
00:05:01,610 --> 00:05:04,760
kilometers up. 
And in that sphere, you have 

97
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,471
these little light bulbs, right,
that are kind of stuck in the 

98
00:05:08,471 --> 00:05:10,600
sphere around you. 
And these little light bulbs 

99
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,460
that are stuck in the sphere 
around you, those, of course, 

100
00:05:13,540 --> 00:05:15,961
are the stars, right? 
Because the stars are always 

101
00:05:15,961 --> 00:05:18,348
fixed, right? 
You look up every night, and 

102
00:05:18,348 --> 00:05:20,637
they move according to very 
regular patterns. 

103
00:05:20,637 --> 00:05:23,580
So that's the firmament. 
And that was what people 

104
00:05:23,580 --> 00:05:25,230
believed in the Middle Ages. 
A very, very, very, very, very, 

105
00:05:25,230 --> 00:05:26,862
very, very, very, very, very, 
very, very, very simple. 

106
00:05:26,862 --> 00:05:29,770
And you could say primitive, but
it makes good sense. 

107
00:05:29,770 --> 00:05:33,550
Because if you have no idea of 
space, it's a very simple 

108
00:05:33,550 --> 00:05:37,050
solution to the universe. 
And perhaps, you know, often, we

109
00:05:37,050 --> 00:05:38,650
prefer the very simple 
solutions. 

110
00:05:38,650 --> 00:05:41,125
But they had no idea what was 
going on. 

111
00:05:41,125 --> 00:05:44,285
And then you move on to India, 
which isn't that far away from 

112
00:05:44,285 --> 00:05:45,828
Europe, right? 
You have to cross the Middle 

113
00:05:45,828 --> 00:05:50,344
East to go down to India. 
And the weird thing is that 

114
00:05:50,344 --> 00:05:55,000
there had been exchanges between
Europe and India, going a long, 

115
00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,092
long way back to the Greeks, 
even prior to the Greeks. 

116
00:05:59,092 --> 00:06:01,885
There was an exchange of trade 
and ideas between India and 

117
00:06:01,885 --> 00:06:03,712
Europe. 
But of course, when Europe went 

118
00:06:03,712 --> 00:06:07,292
into the Dark Ages or the Middle
Ages, of course, all that 

119
00:06:07,292 --> 00:06:10,649
knowledge was shut out. 
And it wasn't of interest 

120
00:06:10,649 --> 00:06:12,884
anymore. 
So amazing that 2,000 years 

121
00:06:12,884 --> 00:06:17,716
prior to the end of the Middle 
Ages in Europe, there was this 

122
00:06:17,716 --> 00:06:21,250
man in India, right? 
This man, we don't really have 

123
00:06:21,250 --> 00:06:23,992
much familiarity with him. 
He's not known as the Buddha. 

124
00:06:23,992 --> 00:06:27,369
He lived in India. 
And he said, that there are 

125
00:06:27,369 --> 00:06:31,760
these solar systems out there. 
Not only one or two, but 

126
00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,300
billions of solar systems. 
And they all have planets going 

127
00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:36,640
around. 
There's a sun in the middle. 

128
00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,300
There's a planet. 
And there's a moon revolving 

129
00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:42,640
around the planets. 
And then there are beings living

130
00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:44,560
in dependence of that solar 
system. 

131
00:06:45,500 --> 00:06:49,155
It's quite astonishing. 
That's basically right there in 

132
00:06:49,155 --> 00:06:54,496
the texts. 
And one of the things I always 

133
00:06:54,496 --> 00:06:57,740
wondered about, well, okay, the 
Buddha saw all these beings. 

134
00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,920
He saw that there were all these
world systems out there. 

135
00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,800
So basically he knew there were 
aliens out there, right? 

136
00:07:03,300 --> 00:07:04,380
There are all these aliens out 
there. 

137
00:07:04,420 --> 00:07:05,420
That's basically what the Buddha
said. 

138
00:07:06,620 --> 00:07:08,580
There is no Buddhist word for 
alien. 

139
00:07:09,060 --> 00:07:11,420
But you wonder what kind of 
beings he saw. 

140
00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:15,320
We have this idea that aliens 
are kind of weird people. 

141
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,380
Maybe I shouldn't say people. 
I might offend somebody if I 

142
00:07:18,380 --> 00:07:21,036
call them people because they're
kind of green and they have 

143
00:07:21,036 --> 00:07:22,760
antennas and all this kind of 
weird stuff, right? 

144
00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:27,420
Kind of science fiction staple. 
But it's interesting. 

145
00:07:27,420 --> 00:07:30,020
What kind of beings did the 
Buddha actually see? 

146
00:07:30,020 --> 00:07:32,040
Who are these beings in this 
alien world? 

147
00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,600
And this is my second 
prediction. 

148
00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,100
And this is, you know, if you 
look at modern science as well, 

149
00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:42,448
people will say, yeah, it looks 
very likely now that there's 

150
00:07:42,448 --> 00:07:46,140
very likely to be life out there
because we found the planets. 

151
00:07:46,140 --> 00:07:48,020
We know the planets are in the 
right place. 

152
00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:52,100
So if life was able to evolve on
Earth, why wouldn't it also 

153
00:07:52,100 --> 00:07:54,080
evolve on these other planets, 
right? 

154
00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:56,636
So what are these beings? 
What are these things going to 

155
00:07:56,636 --> 00:07:59,232
be like? 
And I say, and I think this is 

156
00:07:59,232 --> 00:08:02,029
fairly obvious from a Buddhist 
point of view, that the beings 

157
00:08:02,029 --> 00:08:05,140
on these planets are going to be
very much like us. 

158
00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:08,328
Why? 
Because we are in so many ways 

159
00:08:08,328 --> 00:08:10,060
connected, according to the 
Buddhist teachings. 

160
00:08:10,060 --> 00:08:13,430
Because we are connected often 
mentally, the way we think tend 

161
00:08:13,430 --> 00:08:16,151
to be the same way. 
The way we view the universe is 

162
00:08:16,151 --> 00:08:18,536
often the same way. 
Sometimes you might get reborn 

163
00:08:18,536 --> 00:08:21,180
on those planets, right? 
And they might get reborn here. 

164
00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,360
It's very inconvenient if you 
get reborn among a whole bunch 

165
00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:24,920
of green planets. 
Right? 

166
00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:25,000
Right? 
Right? 

167
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:25,060
Right? 
Right? 

168
00:08:25,060 --> 00:08:25,180
Right? 
Right? 

169
00:08:25,180 --> 00:08:25,360
Right? 
Right? 

170
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:25,600
Right? 
Right? 

171
00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:26,140
Right? 
Right? 

172
00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:26,500
Right? 
Right? 

173
00:08:26,500 --> 00:08:26,600
Right? 
Right? 

174
00:08:26,820 --> 00:08:26,880
Right? 
Right? 

175
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:28,680
Right? 
Right? 

176
00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:29,200
Right? 
Right? 

177
00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:29,340
Right? 
Right? 

178
00:08:29,340 --> 00:08:29,740
Right? 
Right? 

179
00:08:29,740 --> 00:08:29,940
Right? 
Right? 

180
00:08:29,940 --> 00:08:30,080
Right? 
Right? 

181
00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:30,440
Right? 
Right? 

182
00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:30,520
Right? 
Right? 

183
00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:30,760
Right? 
Right? 

184
00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:31,300
Right? 
Right? 

185
00:08:31,300 --> 00:08:31,800
Right? 
Right? 

186
00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:32,200
Right? 
Right? 

187
00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:32,299
Right? 
Right? 

188
00:08:32,299 --> 00:08:32,380
Right? 
Right? 

189
00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:34,799
Right? 
Right? 

190
00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:35,419
Right? 
Right? 

191
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:36,580
Right? 
Right? 

192
00:08:36,580 --> 00:08:37,200
Right? 
Right? 

193
00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:37,880
Right? 
Right? 

194
00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:38,299
Right? 
Right? 

195
00:08:38,299 --> 00:08:39,280
Right? 
Right? 

196
00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:51,020
Right? 
Right? 

197
00:08:51,020 --> 00:08:54,360
Right? 
Right? 

198
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,938
any movie at all. 
And of course, the beings in the

199
00:08:56,938 --> 00:09:00,055
movie were really weird beings, 
light beings with long, thin 

200
00:09:00,055 --> 00:09:03,078
legs and long, thin arms. 
Otherwise, science fiction would

201
00:09:03,078 --> 00:09:06,040
be very boring if they just 
looked like us. 

202
00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:11,112
But the reality is, I think, 
they are going to be basically 

203
00:09:11,112 --> 00:09:13,380
like us. 
So watch that space as well. 

204
00:09:13,380 --> 00:09:19,482
See what happens in the area of 
scientific contact or how we're 

205
00:09:19,482 --> 00:09:21,400
kind of looking at beings out 
there. 

206
00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:24,984
And see what develops. 
And I predict, again, very 

207
00:09:24,984 --> 00:09:27,380
foolish of me to predict this 
kind of thing. 

208
00:09:27,380 --> 00:09:30,732
But still, I predict that we're 
going to find, eventually, we 

209
00:09:30,732 --> 00:09:34,512
will see that those beings out 
there are essentially just the 

210
00:09:34,512 --> 00:09:37,280
same as us. 
They're not really all that 

211
00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,980
alien after all, right? 
They're pretty familiar here. 

212
00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:45,512
So this is the second thing. 
And there's one last thing in 

213
00:09:45,512 --> 00:09:50,312
this kind of, not really puzzle,
but one last thing, one other 

214
00:09:50,312 --> 00:09:53,060
discourse by the Buddha, which 
is also very fascinating. 

215
00:09:53,060 --> 00:09:54,684
OK. 
And this is one of the discourse

216
00:09:54,684 --> 00:09:58,774
that really, I think, caught my 
eye, perhaps the most, about the

217
00:09:58,774 --> 00:10:03,480
universe and about how the 
universe actually functions. 

218
00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,600
And this is a discourse where 
the Buddha talks about the sun 

219
00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,180
and about our specific solar 
system. 

220
00:10:10,180 --> 00:10:14,308
And he says to the monks that in
the future, the Earth will warm 

221
00:10:14,308 --> 00:10:17,368
up, right? 
The sun will become hotter and 

222
00:10:17,368 --> 00:10:20,286
hotter and hotter. 
And as the sun becomes hotter, 

223
00:10:20,286 --> 00:10:23,060
the Earth will start to warm up.
And he specifically says, OK. 

224
00:10:23,060 --> 00:10:27,520
The first thing is that the 
plants will start to die, right?

225
00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,300
Because the plants won't be able
to cope with the heat. 

226
00:10:30,300 --> 00:10:32,907
And of course, because the 
plants are the bottom of the 

227
00:10:32,907 --> 00:10:35,640
food chain, if the plants die, 
everything else also dies, 

228
00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:40,060
because everything else is based
on those plants. 

229
00:10:40,060 --> 00:10:43,555
And it was interesting. 
I was looking up a Wikipedia 

230
00:10:43,555 --> 00:10:46,020
article on this particular topic
just, when was it? 

231
00:10:46,020 --> 00:10:48,440
This morning, perhaps. 
I had a quick look at it. 

232
00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:53,954
And I googled something like the
fate of the Earth, you know, as 

233
00:10:53,954 --> 00:10:56,320
the sun expands, some kind of 
thing. 

234
00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:58,700
And it got me to this Wikipedia 
article. 

235
00:10:58,700 --> 00:11:00,247
And I started reading. 
And the first thing it says, 

236
00:11:00,247 --> 00:11:02,040
well, you know, the sun is going
to get hotter. 

237
00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:04,020
And then the plants will die, 
right? 

238
00:11:04,020 --> 00:11:07,196
It's almost word for word the 
same thing I found in this 

239
00:11:07,196 --> 00:11:09,900
sutta. 
Again, rather astonishing. 

240
00:11:09,900 --> 00:11:13,050
And then the sutta goes on. 
As the sun becomes warmer, 

241
00:11:13,050 --> 00:11:15,154
right? 
It goes through these various 

242
00:11:15,154 --> 00:11:17,240
stages. 
The water starts to evaporate. 

243
00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,460
Eventually, all the oceans 
disappear, right? 

244
00:11:20,460 --> 00:11:22,940
Everything evaporates. 
Nothing is left. 

245
00:11:22,940 --> 00:11:27,004
And eventually, it says, it 
becomes so hot that everything, 

246
00:11:27,004 --> 00:11:32,316
the whole Earth, starts to 
smolder and smoke and burn in 

247
00:11:32,316 --> 00:11:35,356
flames, right? 
Mountain peaks come crashing 

248
00:11:35,356 --> 00:11:37,500
down. 
Everything disintegrates. 

249
00:11:37,500 --> 00:11:39,520
Everything is burned into 
nothing. 

250
00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,228
And nothing basically remains. 
In one place, it even says it 

251
00:11:43,228 --> 00:11:47,620
just all ends up in ash and 
nothing is left behind. 

252
00:11:47,620 --> 00:11:52,130
And again, it's incredibly hard 
to understand how this is 

253
00:11:52,130 --> 00:11:52,830
possible. 
Because, of course, it's not 

254
00:11:52,830 --> 00:11:57,100
just modern cosmology, modern 
astrophysics, or whatever it is.

255
00:11:57,100 --> 00:11:59,860
They say precisely that. 
The sun will expand. 

256
00:11:59,860 --> 00:12:02,680
And eventually, everything on 
this planet will burn up. 

257
00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:06,128
There will be nothing left. 
All there will be will be this 

258
00:12:06,128 --> 00:12:09,440
smoldering, burning planet, full
of smoke and nothing more. 

259
00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:11,440
Right? 
We know that. 

260
00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,572
For us, it kind of makes sense. 
But how is it possible that this

261
00:12:14,572 --> 00:12:18,496
exists in a text which is two 
and a half thousand years old, 

262
00:12:18,496 --> 00:12:22,360
spoken by a man in India who we 
don't even know who he was? 

263
00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,360
Who he was basically. 
Right? 

264
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,540
He had no access to these 
things. 

265
00:12:26,540 --> 00:12:30,440
How could he possibly know this?
This is like a fact. 

266
00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:32,680
This is something which is so 
easy to establish. 

267
00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:34,680
Right? 
The sun will expand. 

268
00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:37,330
Everything will become hot. 
And then the Buddha says the 

269
00:12:37,330 --> 00:12:38,880
same thing. 
Right? 

270
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,507
And then at the end of that 
sutta, end of this discourse of 

271
00:12:42,507 --> 00:12:45,080
the Buddha, the Buddha says, who
will possibly believe me? 

272
00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,975
Who can possibly believe this 
except somebody who has seen the

273
00:12:49,975 --> 00:12:50,905
truth? 
In other words, the Buddha 

274
00:12:50,905 --> 00:12:51,680
realized that, you know, this is
the truth. 

275
00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:54,700
This is just wild stuff for most
people. 

276
00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:57,080
Nobody can really believe this. 
It's just way out there. 

277
00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,564
And because it is way out there,
he had to say, you know, but who

278
00:13:00,564 --> 00:13:02,380
will actually believe these 
things? 

279
00:13:02,380 --> 00:13:07,190
Because it is so different from 
how we're used to looking at the

280
00:13:07,190 --> 00:13:09,086
world. 
So these are some of the things 

281
00:13:09,086 --> 00:13:12,269
when I read the suttas, I kind 
of stand out and I think are 

282
00:13:12,269 --> 00:13:14,360
kind of really, really, really 
powerful. 

283
00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,685
And I warned you beforehand, 
when you hear all this, you 

284
00:13:16,685 --> 00:13:19,580
probably think I'm some kind of 
religious nutcase. 

285
00:13:19,580 --> 00:13:21,505
Because it's the kind of the 
things that people will often 

286
00:13:21,505 --> 00:13:23,300
think. 
And say, right? 

287
00:13:23,300 --> 00:13:26,240
And often there may not be any 
basis for that. 

288
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,588
So one of the things, having 
looked at all of that, and 

289
00:13:29,588 --> 00:13:32,688
having made my a few predictions
about what might happen in the 

290
00:13:32,688 --> 00:13:35,540
future, having looked at all of 
that, I just want to briefly 

291
00:13:35,540 --> 00:13:40,440
discuss are there perhaps any 
alternative interpretations? 

292
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,340
Is there a way we can explain 
why these things are there in 

293
00:13:44,340 --> 00:13:48,171
the discourses of the Buddha 
that do not invoke some kind of,

294
00:13:48,171 --> 00:13:51,320
you know, supernatural or 
different way of looking at the 

295
00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:54,138
world? 
And very briefly, I want to talk

296
00:13:54,138 --> 00:13:56,556
about that. 
And of course, the first thing 

297
00:13:56,556 --> 00:14:00,340
that people will often say is 
that, first thing is that it may

298
00:14:00,340 --> 00:14:02,260
have been inserted later on, 
right? 

299
00:14:02,260 --> 00:14:05,427
This is kind of the first thing,
you know, we will, a lot of the 

300
00:14:05,427 --> 00:14:08,284
suttas are ancient, but maybe 
some of these things were kind 

301
00:14:08,284 --> 00:14:10,500
of put in there at a later 
stage. 

302
00:14:10,500 --> 00:14:14,640
But really, it is a non starter,
because these things are very, 

303
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,594
very modern ideas of the cosmos.
Most of these things were 

304
00:14:18,594 --> 00:14:21,300
discovered, you know, in the 
second half of the 20th century,

305
00:14:21,300 --> 00:14:21,429
and they were not discovered 
until the end of the 20th 

306
00:14:21,429 --> 00:14:23,695
century. 
Some of these things in the 

307
00:14:23,695 --> 00:14:27,380
first half of the 20th century, 
it is very modern ideas. 

308
00:14:27,380 --> 00:14:30,051
And we know for a fact that 
these scriptures, this 

309
00:14:30,051 --> 00:14:33,320
particular sutta has gone a 
long, long, long way back. 

310
00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,378
The particular sutta, I will 
talk, all of these suttas in 

311
00:14:36,378 --> 00:14:40,390
fact, we can say with a great 
degree of certainty, go back at 

312
00:14:40,390 --> 00:14:44,180
the very least to the time of 
Ashoka, Emperor Ashoka, about 

313
00:14:44,180 --> 00:14:46,916
2300 years ago. 
These are genuinely ancient 

314
00:14:46,916 --> 00:14:51,160
texts, and it is very easy to 
show that through, you know, 

315
00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,245
comparative study of different 
texts and different traditions 

316
00:14:54,245 --> 00:14:57,980
and these things. 
So the idea that has been 

317
00:14:57,980 --> 00:15:00,560
inserted later is basically 
absolutely impossible. 

318
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,800
No such thing can actually be 
the case. 

319
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:06,788
Then, of course, there is the 
other possible explanation that 

320
00:15:06,788 --> 00:15:10,612
people may have, right? 
This is the explanation that all

321
00:15:10,612 --> 00:15:13,580
of these things are a matter of 
interpretation. 

322
00:15:13,580 --> 00:15:15,800
We have to interpret these 
texts. 

323
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,722
When you read these texts, how 
do you actually know that these 

324
00:15:18,722 --> 00:15:22,244
things are not, how do you know?
How do we interpret these things

325
00:15:22,244 --> 00:15:25,000
in the wrong way? 
How do we know that we have 

326
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,540
understood the meaning of the 
Buddha in the right way? 

327
00:15:27,540 --> 00:15:31,776
And actually, one of the things 
which I find, always have found,

328
00:15:31,776 --> 00:15:35,340
that stands out in the Buddha's 
teachings, which makes the 

329
00:15:35,340 --> 00:15:38,220
Buddha's teachings very 
different from the vast majority

330
00:15:38,220 --> 00:15:42,234
of any teachings you find 
anywhere else, whether it is 

331
00:15:42,234 --> 00:15:46,140
philosophical books or books on 
other religions or whatever it 

332
00:15:46,140 --> 00:15:50,265
is, is the simplicity and the 
directness and the ease of 

333
00:15:50,265 --> 00:15:51,780
understanding of these 
teachings. 

334
00:15:51,780 --> 00:15:54,495
Right? 
Very often, it is very simple 

335
00:15:54,495 --> 00:15:56,780
prose. 
It is very easily explained. 

336
00:15:56,780 --> 00:16:00,166
You open it up, you can 
understand straight away what is

337
00:16:00,166 --> 00:16:02,530
going on. 
If there is a metaphor, if there

338
00:16:02,530 --> 00:16:06,058
is a simile, if there is a 
parable, if there is a story, it

339
00:16:06,058 --> 00:16:09,672
is a simple story with often a 
very powerful message, but it is

340
00:16:09,672 --> 00:16:13,892
easy to understand how it fits 
in with the surrounding texts 

341
00:16:13,892 --> 00:16:16,964
around it. 
There is usually not that much 

342
00:16:16,964 --> 00:16:18,780
difficulty in interpreting these
texts. 

343
00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:20,780
It is very, very different. 
Right? 

344
00:16:20,780 --> 00:16:24,115
From the vast majority of 
ancient texts, which often are 

345
00:16:24,115 --> 00:16:27,655
stories and things which always 
need to be interpreted to 

346
00:16:27,655 --> 00:16:30,780
actually give meaning. 
This is not mythology. 

347
00:16:30,780 --> 00:16:34,115
This is somebody who very 
clearly talks about his own 

348
00:16:34,115 --> 00:16:36,780
experiences and his own 
understanding of the world. 

349
00:16:36,780 --> 00:16:41,496
And for this reason, when you 
read something like the sun 

350
00:16:41,496 --> 00:16:44,780
becoming hot, right? 
And eventually burning up the 

351
00:16:44,780 --> 00:16:48,780
whole earth, there is no doubt 
about what it means. 

352
00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:49,780
There isn't really any 
alternative explanation. 

353
00:16:49,780 --> 00:16:54,780
I know the Pali language fairly 
well. 

354
00:16:54,780 --> 00:16:58,310
I can read those ancient texts 
in what is pretty much very 

355
00:16:58,310 --> 00:17:01,780
close to the language used by 
the Buddha himself. 

356
00:17:01,780 --> 00:17:05,446
And there really isn't much 
doubt about the meaning of these

357
00:17:05,446 --> 00:17:08,895
things. 
So I would say that even the 

358
00:17:08,895 --> 00:17:13,336
idea of interpretation actually 
is not really a very likely 

359
00:17:13,336 --> 00:17:17,780
explanation for how these things
can be there. 

360
00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:18,780
Because it is actually quite 
difficult. 

361
00:17:18,780 --> 00:17:21,780
It is actually quite easy to 
interpret. 

362
00:17:21,780 --> 00:17:24,448
I would maybe like to add one 
little thing there, because I 

363
00:17:24,448 --> 00:17:26,780
think this is a very important 
point. 

364
00:17:26,780 --> 00:17:30,447
This idea that the Buddhist 
texts actually are very easy to 

365
00:17:30,447 --> 00:17:32,210
understand. 
And how many people are 

366
00:17:32,210 --> 00:17:34,780
sometimes scared of opening a 
real Buddhist book, right? 

367
00:17:34,780 --> 00:17:37,530
Which goes back to the very 
beginning, taught by the Buddha 

368
00:17:37,530 --> 00:17:38,980
himself. 
They're scared because they 

369
00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:40,780
think it's too difficult to 
understand. 

370
00:17:40,780 --> 00:17:42,780
It's a different culture. 
It's a long time ago. 

371
00:17:42,780 --> 00:17:46,116
It's all these kind of things. 
How are we going to be able to 

372
00:17:46,116 --> 00:17:47,780
make sense of this? 
Right? 

373
00:17:47,780 --> 00:17:49,558
Because they're kind of 
frightened of these ancient 

374
00:17:49,558 --> 00:17:51,898
books. 
But I say, in my experience, 

375
00:17:51,898 --> 00:17:56,114
that it is far easier, this may 
sound astonishing, but it's far 

376
00:17:56,114 --> 00:18:00,115
easier to understand the word of
the Buddha in the most ancient 

377
00:18:00,115 --> 00:18:05,780
texts that we have available to 
us than it is to understand most

378
00:18:05,780 --> 00:18:07,780
contemporary teachers. 
Right? 

379
00:18:07,780 --> 00:18:11,115
Sometimes when I read books by a
contemporary teacher, not 

380
00:18:11,115 --> 00:18:14,781
sometimes, most of the time, I 
often wonder what are they 

381
00:18:14,781 --> 00:18:16,780
really talking about? 
Or sometimes. 

382
00:18:16,780 --> 00:18:19,780
Or sometimes I sort of think I 
know what it means. 

383
00:18:19,780 --> 00:18:23,115
Yeah, it probably means this. 
But I look more carefully and I 

384
00:18:23,115 --> 00:18:24,780
realize actually it's quite 
ambiguous. 

385
00:18:24,780 --> 00:18:27,780
What is it really talking about?
Right? 

386
00:18:27,780 --> 00:18:30,939
So I say that if you want 
clarity about Buddhism, if you 

387
00:18:30,939 --> 00:18:33,780
want to understand the Dhamma, 
if you want to understand what 

388
00:18:33,780 --> 00:18:35,780
this is all about, go to the 
Buddha. 

389
00:18:35,780 --> 00:18:37,780
It's actually clear. 
It's concise. 

390
00:18:37,780 --> 00:18:41,447
It's structured. 
Beautiful similes to explain the

391
00:18:41,447 --> 00:18:42,780
points. 
Right? 

392
00:18:42,780 --> 00:18:44,780
It's actually very, very 
powerful. 

393
00:18:44,780 --> 00:18:46,580
You read a modern teacher. 
Sometimes it's kind of 

394
00:18:46,580 --> 00:18:47,780
feely-feely. 
It's nice. 

395
00:18:47,780 --> 00:18:49,655
Right? 
It goes, kind of you feel good 

396
00:18:49,655 --> 00:18:50,780
afterwards. 
Which, of course, is nice. 

397
00:18:50,780 --> 00:18:55,114
I'm not, you know, I'm not, I 
don't want to diminish that too 

398
00:18:55,114 --> 00:18:57,658
much either. 
But to actually, for a real 

399
00:18:57,658 --> 00:19:00,780
understanding of what's going 
on, you can't really do better 

400
00:19:00,780 --> 00:19:04,280
than the word of the Buddha. 
So it's actually the reverse, in

401
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:05,780
my opinion, what most people 
say. 

402
00:19:05,780 --> 00:19:08,032
Most people say, I want to read 
these other books first because 

403
00:19:08,032 --> 00:19:09,780
they're easy to understand. 
No. 

404
00:19:09,780 --> 00:19:10,780
They're actually hard to 
understand. 

405
00:19:10,780 --> 00:19:14,495
Go to the word of the Buddha. 
That is what is easy to 

406
00:19:14,495 --> 00:19:16,780
understand. 
So, interpretation. 

407
00:19:16,780 --> 00:19:20,380
Forget about interpretation. 
There isn't much interpretation 

408
00:19:20,380 --> 00:19:22,964
required. 
So that, too, to me, doesn't 

409
00:19:22,964 --> 00:19:26,924
really work as an explanation. 
Now the third thing, the third 

410
00:19:26,924 --> 00:19:30,336
maybe, maybe, explanation that 
can explain these things in the 

411
00:19:30,336 --> 00:19:33,394
suttas, so we don't, we can 
avoid what some people feel 

412
00:19:33,394 --> 00:19:37,405
uncomfortable if it is some kind
of, you know, different kind of 

413
00:19:37,405 --> 00:19:41,530
idea from our ordinary world 
views, is that it is just a 

414
00:19:41,530 --> 00:19:42,780
coincidence. 
Right? 

415
00:19:42,780 --> 00:19:44,780
The Buddha was talking about 
these things. 

416
00:19:44,780 --> 00:19:45,780
He had this philosophy about the
world. 

417
00:19:45,780 --> 00:19:47,780
He said, OK, this is the way it 
is. 

418
00:19:47,780 --> 00:19:51,310
And then by some coincidence, it
happens to be exactly the same 

419
00:19:51,310 --> 00:19:53,780
as what we have now. 
Right? 

420
00:19:53,780 --> 00:19:57,780
And, of course, that is always a
possibility. 

421
00:19:57,780 --> 00:20:01,117
You can't discount that. 
But the more facts you have, the

422
00:20:01,117 --> 00:20:05,780
more things that kind of fit in 
line with modern ideas, the less

423
00:20:05,780 --> 00:20:08,780
likely, of course, the 
coincidence is. 

424
00:20:08,780 --> 00:20:12,672
And, of course, one of the main 
points that we can do, we can 

425
00:20:12,672 --> 00:20:15,783
compare these ancient Buddhist 
texts, and we can compare them 

426
00:20:15,783 --> 00:20:19,280
with ancient Buddhist texts that
exist, you know, from other 

427
00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,915
cultures, other places. 
And, of course, it is much more 

428
00:20:22,915 --> 00:20:25,660
difficult to find things in 
those cultures that correspond 

429
00:20:25,660 --> 00:20:28,980
to modern ideas than it is with 
the Buddhist texts. 

430
00:20:28,980 --> 00:20:33,784
You can find it there as well, 
but usually it relies on much 

431
00:20:33,784 --> 00:20:38,780
more interpretation to be able 
to make sense of these things. 

432
00:20:38,780 --> 00:20:40,780
So, again, I don't think it is 
likely. 

433
00:20:40,780 --> 00:20:41,450
When the Buddha talks about the 
sun becoming warmer, it is not 

434
00:20:41,450 --> 00:20:42,780
likely that the sun is going to 
be warmer. 

435
00:20:42,780 --> 00:20:45,128
But when the Buddha talks about 
the sun becoming warmer and 

436
00:20:45,128 --> 00:20:47,480
eventually engulfing the, you 
know, burning up the earth and 

437
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,220
saying at the end, but, you 
know, who will actually believe 

438
00:20:50,220 --> 00:20:53,760
this because it sounds so 
outrageous, I think, wow, this 

439
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,649
is really astonishing. 
How could he possibly have known

440
00:20:57,649 --> 00:21:01,252
that? 
So all of those things are 

441
00:21:01,252 --> 00:21:05,900
unlikely as far as I can see. 
So what does that mean? 

442
00:21:05,900 --> 00:21:09,340
What does that leave us with? 
What kind of explanation do we 

443
00:21:09,340 --> 00:21:12,560
have then for these things? 
And the Buddhist... 

444
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,915
The one explanation that we then
still have is the explanation, 

445
00:21:15,915 --> 00:21:20,200
of course, given by the Buddha 
himself, how he knows these 

446
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,832
things. 
And that explanation is actually

447
00:21:22,832 --> 00:21:26,426
quite simple. 
Of course, it takes a different 

448
00:21:26,426 --> 00:21:28,026
worldview. 
It takes a different 

449
00:21:28,026 --> 00:21:30,600
understanding of the world from 
what we're used to. 

450
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:34,680
But what the Buddha says is that
what I do or what I did or what 

451
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,700
I'm still doing is recalling my 
past lives. 

452
00:21:38,700 --> 00:21:41,760
And when I recall my past lives,
going back and back and back. 

453
00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,060
Right? 
A hundred thousand past lives. 

454
00:21:45,060 --> 00:21:49,524
Then eventually he starts to see
how the universe functions as a 

455
00:21:49,524 --> 00:21:52,380
consequence of seeing his past 
lives. 

456
00:21:52,380 --> 00:21:54,440
Right? 
This is how. 

457
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,890
This is the Buddha's own 
explanation for how he knows 

458
00:21:57,890 --> 00:21:59,840
these things. 
And you may wonder, well, how is

459
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,530
that possible? 
You know, you're a human being, 

460
00:22:01,530 --> 00:22:04,610
you're kind of this tiny little 
being in this enormous cosmos, 

461
00:22:04,610 --> 00:22:07,166
right? 
Crashing together when the big 

462
00:22:07,166 --> 00:22:09,365
crunch comes. 
How can you possibly understand 

463
00:22:09,365 --> 00:22:11,560
what's going on? 
But again, this is about... 

464
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:12,360
From a Buddhist point of view, 
it's about the universe. 

465
00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:15,260
From a Buddhist point of view, 
it is possible to be... 

466
00:22:15,260 --> 00:22:18,212
There's many different kind of 
levels of rebirth, many 

467
00:22:18,212 --> 00:22:21,980
different kind of vantage points
you can look at the world from. 

468
00:22:21,980 --> 00:22:24,832
And after a while, when you see 
the world from many different 

469
00:22:24,832 --> 00:22:28,031
vantage points, over long going 
back and back again and again, 

470
00:22:28,031 --> 00:22:31,630
from eon to eon, universe to 
universe, after a while, you 

471
00:22:31,630 --> 00:22:33,760
start to understand what's going
on. 

472
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,222
And then when you start to 
understand what's going on, you 

473
00:22:36,222 --> 00:22:39,020
start to see how this whole 
thing functions. 

474
00:22:39,020 --> 00:22:42,180
How the universe collapses 
together, right? 

475
00:22:42,180 --> 00:22:44,540
First there is the 
disintegration part. 

476
00:22:44,540 --> 00:22:46,560
Then there is the evolution 
part. 

477
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:51,240
And how this cyclical universe 
keeps on going like this again 

478
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,589
and again and again. 
And when the Buddha then says 

479
00:22:55,589 --> 00:23:01,160
that the sun in the future will 
engulf the earth, it's a similar

480
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,354
kind of principle. 
It's not really a prediction 

481
00:23:04,354 --> 00:23:07,570
about the future. 
What it is, is an understanding 

482
00:23:07,570 --> 00:23:09,840
based on his knowledge of the 
past. 

483
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:11,908
And because of that knowledge of
the past, he's able to make 

484
00:23:11,908 --> 00:23:13,544
the... 
He's able to make the inference 

485
00:23:13,544 --> 00:23:16,560
that this must happen again. 
Because this is the nature of 

486
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:18,890
stars. 
This is the nature of this sun 

487
00:23:18,890 --> 00:23:21,866
that we see. 
He understands the nature of the

488
00:23:21,866 --> 00:23:25,874
universe, how these things work.
And that's why he can say this 

489
00:23:25,874 --> 00:23:28,380
will happen again. 
So this is what the Buddha is 

490
00:23:28,380 --> 00:23:30,760
doing, right? 
He's just recalling the past. 

491
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:36,135
And that is the Buddhist 
explanation for how the Buddha 

492
00:23:36,135 --> 00:23:41,100
could have known these things. 
So what does all this actually 

493
00:23:41,100 --> 00:23:41,500
mean? 
Yeah. 

494
00:23:41,500 --> 00:23:41,620
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

495
00:23:41,620 --> 00:23:41,780
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

496
00:23:41,780 --> 00:23:41,840
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

497
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:41,940
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

498
00:23:41,940 --> 00:23:42,140
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

499
00:23:42,900 --> 00:23:44,858
Right? 
I mean, talking about all these 

500
00:23:44,858 --> 00:23:46,880
things, I probably do wonder 
now, what is all this? 

501
00:23:47,060 --> 00:23:50,835
Why talk about all these things?
You know, okay, what has it got 

502
00:23:50,835 --> 00:23:52,500
to do with my practice right 
here, right now? 

503
00:23:52,660 --> 00:23:54,360
It's important to get back to 
those things. 

504
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,400
Sometimes you kind of get these 
highfalutin ideas. 

505
00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,362
You get away from the present 
moment, which really is where we

506
00:24:00,362 --> 00:24:03,000
have to do things and get things
sorted out. 

507
00:24:03,060 --> 00:24:08,792
So why all of this stuff? 
And the first thing for me that 

508
00:24:08,792 --> 00:24:12,564
occurs to me when I read these 
things is that if you want some 

509
00:24:12,564 --> 00:24:15,877
good evidence for the idea of 
rebirth, there's lots of really 

510
00:24:15,877 --> 00:24:18,720
good evidence for the idea of 
rebirth, right? 

511
00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:22,630
But this is just like one more 
little piece that for me 

512
00:24:22,630 --> 00:24:25,580
actually is evidence for the 
idea of rebirth. 

513
00:24:25,580 --> 00:24:29,570
Basically, because there is no 
other way that the Buddha could 

514
00:24:29,570 --> 00:24:33,496
have known about these things. 
Here is a man who lived in a 

515
00:24:33,496 --> 00:24:35,080
very, quite a simple culture, 
right? 

516
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,380
India, two and a half thousand 
years, very simple, no internet,

517
00:24:38,380 --> 00:24:40,120
right? 
All those kinds of things. 

518
00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:43,410
Very basic things. 
And when you live in that simple

519
00:24:43,410 --> 00:24:46,420
culture, you're just kind of 
sitting at the root of a tree, 

520
00:24:46,420 --> 00:24:48,104
right? 
Imagine yourself going into the 

521
00:24:48,104 --> 00:24:51,084
jungle in India two and a half 
thousand years ago, and you see 

522
00:24:51,084 --> 00:24:53,000
this man sitting at the root of 
a tree here. 

523
00:24:53,460 --> 00:24:56,480
And yes, you know, he's a very 
impressive man, right? 

524
00:24:56,540 --> 00:24:59,680
You see him very peaceful, very 
calm. 

525
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,823
When you talk to him, you get 
this feeling of enormous 

526
00:25:03,823 --> 00:25:05,720
compassion, enormous 
understanding, this wisdom. 

527
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,755
You ask a question and he 
answers you in very simple 

528
00:25:08,755 --> 00:25:10,060
terms, but with great 
profundity. 

529
00:25:10,180 --> 00:25:13,580
And you get this feeling. 
You know, somebody who is really

530
00:25:13,580 --> 00:25:15,220
special, right? 
Somebody very special. 

531
00:25:15,220 --> 00:25:19,480
But still, it is still hard to 
really grasp what's going on. 

532
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:24,373
But then you look at the suttas 
and you start to realize who the

533
00:25:24,373 --> 00:25:27,420
Buddha actually was. 
He had this mind that 

534
00:25:27,420 --> 00:25:29,420
encompassed basically the whole 
universe. 

535
00:25:29,420 --> 00:25:32,764
He understood all of these 
things that was going on through

536
00:25:32,764 --> 00:25:35,280
the recollection of his past 
life. 

537
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,668
So not only is it a good 
evidence for the recollection of

538
00:25:38,668 --> 00:25:41,040
past life, but it says something
about the Buddha as a person. 

539
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:41,540
It says something about the 
Buddha as a person. 

540
00:25:41,540 --> 00:25:44,346
Right? 
You see this man sitting at the 

541
00:25:44,346 --> 00:25:48,507
foot of the tree and it's like 
he has the whole universe in his

542
00:25:48,507 --> 00:25:51,449
mind. 
He has this whole idea of 

543
00:25:51,449 --> 00:25:55,459
universal expansions of big 
bangs and big crunches in his 

544
00:25:55,459 --> 00:25:59,127
mind, understanding what's going
on and relating it all to 

545
00:25:59,127 --> 00:26:03,220
rebirth and to aliens out there 
and all these other kinds of 

546
00:26:03,220 --> 00:26:05,868
things. 
And you get some feeling for 

547
00:26:05,868 --> 00:26:09,740
somebody who has a very 
different kind of viewpoint and 

548
00:26:09,740 --> 00:26:12,420
image and vision. 
Which isn't what the vast 

549
00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:15,588
majority of us actually have. 
Most of us are trapped in our 

550
00:26:15,588 --> 00:26:17,600
own little world, right? 
This is my world. 

551
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,300
This is who I am and I'm missing
this big picture of things. 

552
00:26:22,300 --> 00:26:26,011
And this is one of those things 
that makes the Buddha so 

553
00:26:26,011 --> 00:26:28,500
astonishing. 
And when I read it I think wow. 

554
00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:33,874
That simple man at the root of a
tree actually is really somebody

555
00:26:33,874 --> 00:26:35,940
extraordinarily profound with 
extraordinary abilities. 

556
00:26:35,940 --> 00:26:38,395
He has developed his mind to a 
point where he's able to see and

557
00:26:38,395 --> 00:26:39,620
understand things that he hasn't
usually done, that are beyond 

558
00:26:39,620 --> 00:26:40,270
his social character. 
So I know that somebody is just 

559
00:26:40,270 --> 00:26:40,920
so amazing that he might be able
not to do it, but he's 

560
00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,720
absolutely astonishing. 
He knows more about cosmology, 

561
00:26:45,220 --> 00:26:48,680
at least in some areas, than we 
probably even know today. 

562
00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:54,104
So it gives that feeling of the 
Buddha as somebody really, 

563
00:26:54,104 --> 00:26:57,920
really remarkable. 
His enormously expansive mind. 

564
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,363
And it's not irrelevant. 
You may wonder, you know, why 

565
00:27:01,363 --> 00:27:03,060
would the Buddha even talk about
things? 

566
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,300
But remember the Buddha's search
when he went forth from the home

567
00:27:07,300 --> 00:27:10,001
life and he went into 
homelessness and decided to 

568
00:27:10,001 --> 00:27:13,248
become a monk. 
Remember his search was a search

569
00:27:13,248 --> 00:27:16,403
for finding happiness. 
He wanted to find an end of 

570
00:27:16,403 --> 00:27:19,200
suffering, an end of this round 
of birth and death, right? 

571
00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:23,264
All the problems in the world. 
And of course, to be able to 

572
00:27:23,264 --> 00:27:26,546
really fully understand 
happiness and suffering, you 

573
00:27:26,546 --> 00:27:28,260
have to understand the big 
picture. 

574
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,118
You can't just look at this life
and say, I understand everything

575
00:27:32,118 --> 00:27:35,014
about happiness and suffering. 
You really have to understand 

576
00:27:35,014 --> 00:27:37,810
the whole universe. 
You have to understand the 

577
00:27:37,810 --> 00:27:40,180
potential. 
Where might I get reborn? 

578
00:27:40,180 --> 00:27:43,180
Is there a place where I can get
reborn, where I will be safe, 

579
00:27:43,180 --> 00:27:45,180
where I will be last forever 
after? 

580
00:27:45,180 --> 00:27:47,180
You have to understand 
everything. 

581
00:27:47,180 --> 00:27:50,610
Only when you understand the big
picture can you make a decision 

582
00:27:50,610 --> 00:27:54,609
about where freedom from 
suffering actually exists and 

583
00:27:54,609 --> 00:27:57,180
where true happiness can be 
attained. 

584
00:27:57,180 --> 00:28:01,180
And this is why these things 
actually do matter. 

585
00:28:02,180 --> 00:28:06,848
So, you know, when I read the 
sense, I start to get this 

586
00:28:06,848 --> 00:28:09,180
feeling about the Buddha. 
The Buddha is a man, right? 

587
00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:11,600
He's a man. 
He's a person, just like each 

588
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,468
one of us here. 
But there's something going on 

589
00:28:14,468 --> 00:28:17,515
inside of the Buddha. 
The mind of the Buddha is 

590
00:28:17,515 --> 00:28:19,801
extraordinary. 
And this is one way of 

591
00:28:19,801 --> 00:28:23,467
approaching the Buddha, to see 
the profundity of what is going 

592
00:28:23,467 --> 00:28:27,300
on. 
At least for me, it's kind of 

593
00:28:27,300 --> 00:28:30,134
powerful. 
Even when you start to get into 

594
00:28:30,134 --> 00:28:33,528
deep meditation, that of course 
is when it really starts to come

595
00:28:33,528 --> 00:28:35,300
together. 
But even these ideas give you 

596
00:28:35,300 --> 00:28:37,800
some idea of what's happening 
here. 

597
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:42,300
But having said all that, I was 
recently discussing with 

598
00:28:42,300 --> 00:28:46,400
somebody about some similar 
issues on some kind of forum 

599
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,801
somewhere. 
This was basically a forum where

600
00:28:48,801 --> 00:28:51,900
we were discussing about the 
translation of suttas and these 

601
00:28:51,900 --> 00:28:54,515
kinds of things. 
And I mentioned this because I 

602
00:28:54,515 --> 00:28:56,800
thought, this is really 
powerful. 

603
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,800
And he said, you know, why do 
you worry about that? 

604
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,800
Shouldn't we really focus on the
core teachings of the Buddha? 

605
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,658
This is all kind of, you know, 
it's interesting, but let's go 

606
00:29:05,658 --> 00:29:08,675
back to the essence. 
And actually it's a very 

607
00:29:08,675 --> 00:29:11,186
important point, right? 
He's making, is this really to 

608
00:29:11,186 --> 00:29:12,800
do with the essence of the 
teaching? 

609
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,134
Yes, it gives us some idea of 
the Buddha as some kind of 

610
00:29:16,134 --> 00:29:18,300
remarkable person. 
It gives us some sense of 

611
00:29:18,300 --> 00:29:20,800
rebirth perhaps. 
But how does it fit in with the 

612
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:22,800
broader view of Buddhism? 
What is it really about? 

613
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,300
Does it really matter? 
Is it actually something that 

614
00:29:26,300 --> 00:29:29,050
really we should focus on? 
And of course, the interesting 

615
00:29:29,050 --> 00:29:32,200
thing is that when you read 
these suttas that have these 

616
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,801
particular explanations, the 
Buddha doesn't say, well, this 

617
00:29:34,801 --> 00:29:38,073
is my philosophy, this is my 
philosophy of the universe, here

618
00:29:38,073 --> 00:29:40,800
is the philosophy, you know, 
take it or leave it. 

619
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,230
That's not how it works. 
When the Buddha talks about 

620
00:29:44,230 --> 00:29:47,800
these things, they are like 
incidental matters. 

621
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,800
These are not the core things 
that he talks about. 

622
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,800
He doesn't present the 
philosophical view. 

623
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,800
He doesn't present the cosmology
that you have to take or leave. 

624
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,467
What is an incidental matter to 
other things that he's talking 

625
00:30:00,467 --> 00:30:03,050
about. 
And those other things are the 

626
00:30:03,050 --> 00:30:05,400
real Dhamma. 
And these are just 

627
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,050
illustrations. 
These are just illustrations of 

628
00:30:07,050 --> 00:30:09,550
that real Dhamma. 
And this is what is so powerful,

629
00:30:09,550 --> 00:30:11,620
right? 
It's like, here he's saying 

630
00:30:11,620 --> 00:30:14,550
things that, for me at least, 
are absolutely astonishing, 

631
00:30:14,550 --> 00:30:16,800
coming from two and a half 
thousand years ago. 

632
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,300
But the Buddha is only using 
them as illustrations for a much

633
00:30:21,300 --> 00:30:25,050
more important point. 
So what is that much more 

634
00:30:25,050 --> 00:30:29,300
important point? 
And let us take the sutta with 

635
00:30:29,300 --> 00:30:32,515
the sun, right? 
Where the sun becomes hotter and

636
00:30:32,515 --> 00:30:34,800
hotter, and eventually 
everything disintegrates, 

637
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,515
everything is abandoned. 
Well, towards the end of that 

638
00:30:38,515 --> 00:30:40,800
sutta, and this is the context, 
right? 

639
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,800
The Buddha says, this is how 
impermanent everything is. 

640
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,800
This is how unreliable 
everything is. 

641
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,800
This is how unstable all 
conditioned phenomena, 

642
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,800
everything in the world is so 
unstable. 

643
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,800
And then he says, it is enough 
to be, have a kind of repulsion,

644
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,050
to be repelled by this. 
It is enough to have dispassion 

645
00:31:03,050 --> 00:31:05,468
towards it. 
Dispassion means give up desire,

646
00:31:05,468 --> 00:31:08,801
craving for these things. 
It is enough to be liberated 

647
00:31:08,801 --> 00:31:12,468
from all this. 
This is the bigger view, the 

648
00:31:12,468 --> 00:31:16,300
idea of impermanence. 
So this is, right, the 

649
00:31:16,300 --> 00:31:18,800
carry-home message, right? 
The idea of impermanence. 

650
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:20,800
All the other stuff is kind of 
by the by. 

651
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,800
It is okay, incidental things, 
actually quite interesting when 

652
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,438
you look at it. 
But from the Buddha's point of 

653
00:31:26,438 --> 00:31:29,800
view, it's a side issue. 
The real issue is impermanence. 

654
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,200
But of course, when we hear 
talks about impermanence, it's 

655
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:37,372
not as exciting, right? 
But actually, this is the real 

656
00:31:37,372 --> 00:31:38,800
deal. 
This is the real stuff. 

657
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,800
This is what we should focus on.
Impermanence is what matters. 

658
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,800
So let me just talk very, very 
briefly about impermanence. 

659
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,400
Very, very quick, just to finish
off this talk, because it is so 

660
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:51,515
important. 
The first thing to know about 

661
00:31:51,515 --> 00:31:54,800
impermanence, the Pali word for 
this is anicca, anicca. 

662
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,800
And it doesn't just mean 
impermanence. 

663
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,134
To me, the idea of impermanence 
has always been a bit like, you 

664
00:32:00,134 --> 00:32:02,800
know, wishy-washy, not really 
sure what it means. 

665
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,300
What impermanence, what this 
word actually means, is like 

666
00:32:07,300 --> 00:32:11,658
unreliable, right? 
Anything which is truly anicca 

667
00:32:11,658 --> 00:32:14,800
is unreliable. 
It's like an unreliable friend. 

668
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,892
If you have an unreliable 
friend, and you ask them if they

669
00:32:17,892 --> 00:32:20,550
can do something for you, you 
never know whether it's going to

670
00:32:20,550 --> 00:32:22,800
be done or not, right? 
The world is like that. 

671
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,467
If you ask something from the 
world, like Ajahn Brahm likes to

672
00:32:26,467 --> 00:32:30,230
say, if you ask something from 
the world, it is likely it will 

673
00:32:30,230 --> 00:32:33,050
not happen. 
And yet, we are always asked, we

674
00:32:33,050 --> 00:32:34,800
are always asking things from 
the world. 

675
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:36,800
This is what attachment is all 
about. 

676
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,550
When you are attached to 
someone, or attached to 

677
00:32:39,550 --> 00:32:41,800
something, you are basically 
asking them to be there for you,

678
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,134
when you need them. 
And of course, one day, they 

679
00:32:45,134 --> 00:32:49,550
won't be there. 
So impermanence, unreliability, 

680
00:32:49,550 --> 00:32:53,372
instability. 
Very often, when we talk about 

681
00:32:53,372 --> 00:32:56,800
impermanence, we talk about 
impermanence as something we do 

682
00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:00,600
in meditation practice, right? 
You sit down, you watch the 

683
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,300
impermanence of all phenomena, 
you watch your mind, you watch 

684
00:33:03,300 --> 00:33:07,134
your body, and you see how 
things are kind of arising and 

685
00:33:07,134 --> 00:33:09,956
passing away. 
This is one of the favorite ways

686
00:33:09,956 --> 00:33:11,800
of talking about impermanence in
Buddhism. 

687
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,230
But one of the interesting 
things, it's not that that is 

688
00:33:15,230 --> 00:33:18,200
wrong necessarily, but one of 
the interesting things is that 

689
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,800
the Buddha actually talks, 
usually talks about impermanence

690
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:25,134
in quite a different way. 
For the Buddha, this is a big 

691
00:33:25,134 --> 00:33:27,438
picture thing. 
And very often, the Buddha would

692
00:33:27,438 --> 00:33:30,550
start off with saying that all 
the things around you in your 

693
00:33:30,550 --> 00:33:35,800
life, are unreliable, they are 
impermanent, they are unstable. 

694
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,586
If you are attached to them, you
are going to suffer as a 

695
00:33:38,586 --> 00:33:40,300
consequence. 
Our possessions, everything we 

696
00:33:40,300 --> 00:33:46,800
own in this world, our 
friendships, our family members,

697
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,801
our partner in life, all of 
these things will eventually 

698
00:33:50,801 --> 00:33:54,050
have to go. 
Often they go before you die, at

699
00:33:54,050 --> 00:33:55,800
the very latest when you pass 
away. 

700
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:57,800
Your status in this world, 
right? 

701
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:03,300
Our status, our sense of 
identity, has very much to do 

702
00:34:03,300 --> 00:34:06,186
with this world. 
Because it's this world that we 

703
00:34:06,186 --> 00:34:07,800
have built up this sense of 
identity. 

704
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,800
It has to do with how we fit 
into the network of things. 

705
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,800
This is my identity, I'm a 
Buddhist monk, right? 

706
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,600
If I cling too much to that, 
when I die, I will be very 

707
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,300
disappointed. 
Because I won't be a Buddhist 

708
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:19,802
monk anymore. 
Because the spirit that moves on

709
00:34:19,802 --> 00:34:22,800
is not really a Buddhist monk. 
The spirit is just a spirit. 

710
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,085
Right? 
Maybe you have, I wonder, I 

711
00:34:26,085 --> 00:34:28,911
wonder whether the spirit has 
robes, I don't think the spirit 

712
00:34:28,911 --> 00:34:31,300
has robes on her. 
The spirit kind of just moves 

713
00:34:31,300 --> 00:34:32,800
out, right? 
So you lose your robes. 

714
00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,900
And you think, no! 
I was so happy, monk life was 

715
00:34:35,900 --> 00:34:37,800
actually very good. 
Right? 

716
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:39,199
The Buddha says, cling on to 
those robes, because they're 

717
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:41,514
going to give you a lot of 
happiness if you practice in the

718
00:34:41,514 --> 00:34:43,134
right way. 
But at that point you can't 

719
00:34:43,134 --> 00:34:44,800
cling on anymore. 
That has to go. 

720
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,800
Your status as a monk, right? 
Whatever that is. 

721
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:53,801
Our occupation, whatever it is 
in this world, and so many 

722
00:34:53,801 --> 00:34:56,467
things, our education. 
Often we think about our 

723
00:34:56,467 --> 00:34:58,800
education, our success in 
business life. 

724
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,134
All of these things. 
Everything we identify with, all

725
00:35:02,134 --> 00:35:06,134
of that has to go. 
So this is the Buddha telling us

726
00:35:06,134 --> 00:35:08,800
about impermanence. 
So don't cling too much. 

727
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:12,200
Don't hold on. 
Otherwise you'll have serious 

728
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:13,800
problems. 
Then he talks about death. 

729
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,800
Death is also a serious problem.
Right? 

730
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:18,800
Everything again being 
impermanent. 

731
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,800
But then, and this is kind of 
the importance, right? 

732
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,515
The interesting thing about this
sutta, with the sun kind of, you

733
00:35:26,515 --> 00:35:29,000
know, becoming warmer and 
warmer, and disintegrating the 

734
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,800
whole earth. 
Everything is impermanent. 

735
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,300
Absolutely. 
Our whole civilization, the 

736
00:35:35,300 --> 00:35:38,690
whole planet earth, all the 
cities, all the things that 

737
00:35:38,690 --> 00:35:41,215
we're trying to build up, all 
the things that we've been 

738
00:35:41,215 --> 00:35:43,800
taking so much care to try to 
keep in this world. 

739
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,800
Absolutely everything will be 
gone. 

740
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,515
History will be wiped away. 
There will be no more history 

741
00:35:49,515 --> 00:35:51,800
anymore. 
There will be no more humans. 

742
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,578
You know, you may, even the 
people who kind of create a 

743
00:35:54,578 --> 00:35:57,372
legacy, and are remembered 
sometimes for millennia 

744
00:35:57,372 --> 00:36:01,800
afterwards, that too will be 
completely wiped out. 

745
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:06,086
Nobody will know anything about 
what happened on this planet a 

746
00:36:06,086 --> 00:36:08,800
few billion years down the line.
Right? 

747
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,800
Absolute impermanence. 
Absolute unreliability. 

748
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,800
This is how unreliable 
everything is. 

749
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:18,800
And then the Buddha of course 
says, as I was saying before, 

750
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,800
when you see that, when you 
understand the absoluteness of 

751
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,800
this unreliability, you stop 
desiring these things. 

752
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:26,800
You give up the craving for 
this. 

753
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,300
Right? 
You become actually repelled by 

754
00:36:30,300 --> 00:36:31,800
it. 
You think this is all suffering.

755
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,800
No! 
I don't want to have it anymore.

756
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,550
And when you become repelled by 
it, and when you let go of the 

757
00:36:38,550 --> 00:36:41,230
craving for all these things, 
this is the consequence of 

758
00:36:41,230 --> 00:36:43,800
seeing this. 
Then you gain liberation. 

759
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,800
And that is what this really is 
all about. 

760
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:51,468
And in the meantime, we can talk
a few niceties about Buddhist 

761
00:36:51,468 --> 00:36:55,467
cosmology and all that, but this
is the real message of the 

762
00:36:55,467 --> 00:36:56,800
Buddha. 
Very, very powerful message. 

763
00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:00,493
And that is the context in which
everything else needs to be 

764
00:37:00,493 --> 00:37:04,800
seen. 
Okay, so there you are. 

765
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:18,165
That's the talk for tonight. 
Okay, so now, does anybody want 

766
00:37:18,165 --> 00:37:21,800
to ask some tricky questions 
about Buddhist cosmology? 

767
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:25,800
Now you have your chance to... 
Yes? 

768
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,800
Is there a microphone for the 
speakers? 

769
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,800
Okay. 
Okay. 

770
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:32,800
Back there first of all. 
Okay. 

771
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,800
Very good. 
Thank you for your talk tonight.

772
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:41,800
It was very, very interesting. 
First of all, about the aliens, 

773
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:48,800
Ajahn Brahm actually gave us a 
talk on the alien abduction. 

774
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:53,800
And there was a lady here at the
talk that had been abducted. 

775
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,719
And she spoke about that. 
And actually, I'm going tomorrow

776
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:04,300
to a talk on the support group 
for people that have been 

777
00:38:04,300 --> 00:38:06,800
abducted by aliens. 
Okay, good. 

778
00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:10,000
I haven't had any personal 
experiences, but just an 

779
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:14,967
interesting thing. 
Secondly, about the sun getting 

780
00:38:14,967 --> 00:38:19,069
hotter. 
I feel that we as human beings 

781
00:38:19,069 --> 00:38:23,710
need to take responsibility for 
what we're doing, because the 

782
00:38:23,710 --> 00:38:27,800
sun gets hotter because we're 
destroying the ozone layer. 

783
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:32,024
And that is so important. 
We're destroying the forests, 

784
00:38:32,024 --> 00:38:37,050
the animals are being killed. 
We're destroying ourselves 

785
00:38:37,050 --> 00:38:42,516
through our lack of 
responsibility and caring for 

786
00:38:42,516 --> 00:38:46,800
ourselves and the planet. 
Industry and everything is 

787
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,801
taking over. 
Technology, it's actually 

788
00:38:49,801 --> 00:38:54,300
destroying our connection with 
the simplicity of connecting 

789
00:38:54,300 --> 00:38:57,800
with the Earth. 
And we're doing it. 

790
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:02,134
So I think that the sun getting 
stronger and hotter, we're doing

791
00:39:02,134 --> 00:39:04,400
it. 
We're actually destroying it 

792
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,372
ourselves. 
Yes, I think that's a good 

793
00:39:07,372 --> 00:39:10,134
point. 
I mean, one of the things that, 

794
00:39:10,134 --> 00:39:14,800
you know, from my point of view,
it's a moral thing, right? 

795
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,800
It's a moral thing to look after
our planet, for goodness sake. 

796
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:18,900
Why? 
Because there are going to be 

797
00:39:18,900 --> 00:39:20,634
people, our children. 
I don't have any children 

798
00:39:20,634 --> 00:39:24,800
personally. 
But, you know, if... 

799
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,074
But for the future generations, 
but it doesn't matter if I don't

800
00:39:28,074 --> 00:39:30,300
have any children personally, 
but for the future generations, 

801
00:39:30,300 --> 00:39:33,400
for my nieces and nephews, I 
have nieces and nephews, we have

802
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:35,800
a moral obligation to look after
this planet. 

803
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:37,800
This is what they're going to 
inherit. 

804
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:40,550
So these things are actually 
moral issues as far as I'm 

805
00:39:40,550 --> 00:39:42,634
concerned, and I fully agree 
with you that we need to do 

806
00:39:42,634 --> 00:39:44,956
that. 
But the point of this story in 

807
00:39:44,956 --> 00:39:48,515
the sutta is that regardless, 
right, of how much we look after

808
00:39:48,515 --> 00:39:51,690
it, yes, we can extend the span 
a little bit, yes, we can do 

809
00:39:51,690 --> 00:39:54,800
that, and we certainly should. 
I fully agree with you. 

810
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:58,800
But regardless of that, 
impermanence and unreliability 

811
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:01,800
is eventually going to destroy 
this planet regardless. 

812
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,086
And this is really the most 
important thing, you know, for 

813
00:40:05,086 --> 00:40:09,300
full development of the Buddhist
path, as far as this is 

814
00:40:09,300 --> 00:40:10,800
concerned. 
Yes? 

815
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:13,800
Thank you, but I find that I 
disagree myself. 

816
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,800
Thank you. 
Okay. 

817
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,800
Yeah. 
And the other thing about this, 

818
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:24,136
I also like this idea of alien 
abductions, because I think that

819
00:40:24,136 --> 00:40:28,800
you have to take people's ideas 
seriously, right? 

820
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,200
When people have this 
experience, you can't just 

821
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,200
dismiss it. 
Often you say that you are just 

822
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:35,400
crazy or whatever. 
People often have this 

823
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:37,467
experience. 
It's important to take into 

824
00:40:37,467 --> 00:40:39,088
account. 
And I think, I'm not sure 

825
00:40:39,088 --> 00:40:41,493
exactly what Ajahn Brahm said on
that talk, I don't usually 

826
00:40:41,493 --> 00:40:44,550
listen to the talks that he 
gives here in Novamara, but I 

827
00:40:44,550 --> 00:40:49,164
think it is an important point. 
And I think that, you know, one 

828
00:40:49,164 --> 00:40:52,800
of the other interesting things 
about the early Buddhist suttas,

829
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,800
which I always found 
fascinating, and I wonder why 

830
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:59,803
don't we see this in the present
day, and that is there is often 

831
00:40:59,803 --> 00:41:02,800
the meeting between humans and 
beings from other realms. 

832
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:04,800
You often see that in the 
suttas, right? 

833
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:08,800
Some kind of interaction going 
on there. 

834
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:13,200
And I think that maybe the 
modern-day equivalent of that is

835
00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:16,400
precisely alien abductions or 
contact with these beings, 

836
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:17,400
right? 
What we're seeing is not some 

837
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:21,800
kind of, you know, alien coming 
from a planet far away. 

838
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,800
What we're seeing are just 
beings that may, you know, 

839
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:28,658
actually be among us already, be
part of us already, but we can't

840
00:41:28,658 --> 00:41:31,468
see for various reasons. 
And then there is that 

841
00:41:31,468 --> 00:41:34,467
interaction going on, right? 
This is pure speculation, of 

842
00:41:34,467 --> 00:41:36,800
course, but a bit of speculation
is always fun. 

843
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:39,800
So that's my understanding of 
alien abductions. 

844
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:44,925
That's how I would see that. 
Ajahn, the beginning of the 

845
00:41:44,925 --> 00:41:47,800
universe isn't discernible. 
Yeah. 

846
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:53,300
So I don't want to go, therefore
the end of the universe isn't 

847
00:41:53,300 --> 00:41:56,468
discernible. 
I'm wondering, is this some kind

848
00:41:56,468 --> 00:42:02,800
of nibbana state that exists, 
you know, in the universe? 

849
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,300
Aha. 
That's kind of independent of 

850
00:42:05,300 --> 00:42:08,800
the destruction of the world and
all the rest of it. 

851
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,800
Some kind of infinity would be 
the word I would use. 

852
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,134
Okay. 
Well, nibbana is the ending of 

853
00:42:14,134 --> 00:42:16,550
things, right? 
This is kind of the point about 

854
00:42:16,550 --> 00:42:18,300
nibbana. 
It literally means 

855
00:42:18,300 --> 00:42:20,800
extinguishment. 
Something is extinguished. 

856
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,600
And the standard kind of simile 
that you find in the suttas is a

857
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:26,000
flame going out. 
And the first thing that goes 

858
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:28,800
out are the defilements. 
Greed, hate, delusion go out. 

859
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:30,800
And then the khandhas disappear,
right? 

860
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,925
So to say about nibbana being a 
state is really misunderstanding

861
00:42:33,925 --> 00:42:37,800
what the point of nibbana. 
Nibbana is the ending of things.

862
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,800
And that's precisely why it is 
the highest happiness. 

863
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:42,800
This is kind of the weird thing 
you write, right? 

864
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:44,800
The ending of things is the 
highest happiness. 

865
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:46,800
It's our normal grain of seeing 
things. 

866
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,800
So yes, nibbana is beyond this 
universe. 

867
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:51,800
Nibbana has nothing to do with 
that. 

868
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,800
And that's the escape from this 
kind of whole thing. 

869
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,800
But you can't really say that it
is a state. 

870
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,550
Once you say something like that
about it, you're putting things 

871
00:42:59,550 --> 00:43:01,800
into it which are not actually 
meant by nibbana. 

872
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,800
What about the beginning of the 
universe is not discernible? 

873
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,800
It kind of implies to me some 
kind of infinity thing. 

874
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:12,550
Well, this is the thing. 
It may imply that, but you don't

875
00:43:12,550 --> 00:43:13,000
know. 
Right? 

876
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,074
This is the thing. 
And this is why it's so powerful

877
00:43:15,074 --> 00:43:18,800
when the Buddha says there is no
discoverable beginning, right? 

878
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:23,050
What he's basically saying, for 
all I know, it may very well go 

879
00:43:23,050 --> 00:43:25,800
back to infinity, but actually I
can't see back to infinity. 

880
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:30,050
Nobody can see back to infinity.
So he says there is no 

881
00:43:30,050 --> 00:43:31,800
discoverable beginning. 
Very pragmatic, right? 

882
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,800
Very kind of, no kind of messing
around. 

883
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:37,800
No theories, no metaphysics, no 
all this kind of stuff. 

884
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:40,800
Just the bare bones of what we 
can actually know. 

885
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:54,885
Ajahn, a short question. 
Somewhere I saw the previous 

886
00:43:54,885 --> 00:43:57,800
Buddhas were all were born in 
India. 

887
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:02,217
And does it mean that even these
previous prehistoric times that 

888
00:44:02,217 --> 00:44:06,384
you were talking about, the 
other Earths or the other 

889
00:44:06,384 --> 00:44:09,528
planets also had a place called 
India where those Buddhas were 

890
00:44:09,528 --> 00:44:11,800
born? 
Or what does it mean? 

891
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:15,729
Well, the answer to that 
question is that you have to 

892
00:44:15,729 --> 00:44:18,300
understand that the... 
Actually I wanted to talk about 

893
00:44:18,300 --> 00:44:21,802
that a little bit as well. 
You have to understand that the 

894
00:44:21,802 --> 00:44:25,340
ideas in India at that time 
about the world were very 

895
00:44:25,340 --> 00:44:27,800
different from our ideas of the 
world, right? 

896
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:29,800
The ideas of the planet Earth 
was very limited. 

897
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,800
They didn't know that there was 
such a place as Norway, right? 

898
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:34,800
That's where I'm from. 
I'm from Norway. 

899
00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:36,800
They had no idea there was such 
a place as Norway. 

900
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:39,550
So as far as they were 
concerned, we didn't even exist,

901
00:44:39,550 --> 00:44:40,800
right? 
It was very, very... 

902
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:42,800
It was a very simple idea of the
world. 

903
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:45,800
And the idea of the world was 
this Jambudipa. 

904
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:47,800
Jambudipa is basically a word 
for India. 

905
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,800
It means the Rose Apple Island. 
That's what it means. 

906
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,800
And it was surrounded by seas on
three sides, which India is. 

907
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:56,516
And that's what they know. 
And once you started to move 

908
00:44:56,516 --> 00:44:58,800
outside of India, it was all 
basically mythology. 

909
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,800
They talk about the land called 
Uttarakurus. 

910
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,800
And Uttarakuru is outside of 
India. 

911
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:06,660
And once they start talking 
about it, they talk about, oh, 

912
00:45:06,660 --> 00:45:08,943
people who are three times as 
tall as ordinary beings, you 

913
00:45:08,943 --> 00:45:12,200
know, all this kind of stuff. 
You know that you are in a realm

914
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:15,050
of mythology. 
So for them, the Earth was 

915
00:45:15,050 --> 00:45:17,800
basically India. 
That's what the world was. 

916
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:20,800
And anything outside of that was
unknown. 

917
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:24,134
So I understand when the Buddha 
talks about Jambudipa, talks 

918
00:45:24,134 --> 00:45:26,800
about India, he's basically 
talking about the Earth. 

919
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,800
Because that was all that was 
known about in those days. 

920
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,800
Maybe the Buddha knew more about
the planet. 

921
00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:34,800
It's quite likely that he knew 
more. 

922
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:36,690
Remember the famous simile. 
Actually, I should have 

923
00:45:36,690 --> 00:45:38,800
mentioned that during my talk, 
but I forgot. 

924
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:40,800
There are so many things already
in there. 

925
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:44,600
But the famous simile, where the
Buddha says that he takes up a 

926
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,669
handful of leaves and he says, 
what is more, the leaves in my 

927
00:45:47,669 --> 00:45:49,800
hand or the leaves on the forest
floor? 

928
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:52,493
And of course the monk said, 
well, you know, the leaves in 

929
00:45:52,493 --> 00:45:54,800
your hand are few and the forest
floor are many. 

930
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:58,268
In just the same way, what I 
have taught you compared to what

931
00:45:58,268 --> 00:46:00,800
I know, I've only taught you 
like the leaves in my hand. 

932
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:03,800
But what I know is like the 
leaves on the forest floor. 

933
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,801
Right? 
So the Buddha obviously has this

934
00:46:06,801 --> 00:46:10,348
very extensive knowledge, but he
only teaches those things that 

935
00:46:10,348 --> 00:46:13,515
are relevant for awakening. 
He doesn't teach all the other 

936
00:46:13,515 --> 00:46:15,800
stuff. 
So he may have known about that.

937
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:20,164
But in a society when nobody 
understands what's going on, you

938
00:46:20,164 --> 00:46:23,800
have to speak the language of 
those people around you. 

939
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:26,800
So I don't think we should think
of Jambudipa as India. 

940
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:29,800
I think we should think of 
Jambudipa as the Earth. 

941
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:31,800
This is what they understood as 
the Earth. 

942
00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,134
So yes, you're quite right. 
On those other planets too, they

943
00:46:35,134 --> 00:46:36,800
talk about Jambudipa. 
So if you take it literally, 

944
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,800
there's India out there as well,
right? 

945
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:42,015
You have all this solar system 
and there's India out there, and

946
00:46:42,015 --> 00:46:44,800
there is kind of the four great 
oceans and these kind of things.

947
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,229
But this is where you have to 
use your common sense to 

948
00:46:48,229 --> 00:46:50,800
understand how these things were
understood. 

949
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,515
And this is what I said before, 
there is always some degree of 

950
00:46:53,515 --> 00:46:56,134
interpretation because our world
view is obviously quite 

951
00:46:56,134 --> 00:46:58,800
different now from what it was 
at that time. 

952
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:00,800
Yeah. 
Happy with that? 

953
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:02,800
Thank you, Edwidge. 
You're welcome. 

954
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:04,800
Yes. 
Just wait, Priya. 

955
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:06,800
Just get the microphone so you 
can hear. 

956
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:10,356
We can hear you properly here. 
Okay, so why don't we hear first

957
00:47:10,356 --> 00:47:11,800
of all. 
Okay. 

958
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:13,800
Good evening. 
Yeah. 

959
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:18,552
My question is, the Buddha made 
quite a lot of explanations of 

960
00:47:18,552 --> 00:47:23,800
how the work, solar systems, how
the sun is heating up, etc. 

961
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,493
I was quite surprised how you 
went on to explain how he 

962
00:47:27,493 --> 00:47:32,300
explained how he was aware of 
this knowledge, that he was 

963
00:47:32,300 --> 00:47:35,800
living the experiences of his 
past lives. 

964
00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:39,229
Yeah. 
So going one step further, does 

965
00:47:39,229 --> 00:47:44,372
he explain how he has access to 
this experience of his past 

966
00:47:44,372 --> 00:47:45,800
lives? 
Yes. 

967
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:48,800
And why people like us don't 
have access? 

968
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:50,634
Sure. 
Yes, he does actually explain 

969
00:47:50,634 --> 00:47:52,356
that. 
And that is a whole other talk, 

970
00:47:52,356 --> 00:47:54,800
of course, to talk about those 
things, but he does. 

971
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:58,356
And basically the access comes 
through meditation practice, 

972
00:47:58,356 --> 00:47:59,800
right? 
But remember, meditation is 

973
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,800
really what it is. 
It's a development of the mind. 

974
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:04,800
It's not just sitting down and 
watching the breath. 

975
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:05,800
It's actually a development of 
the mind. 

976
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:09,200
And as you develop the mind in 
the right way, meditation 

977
00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:13,468
becomes more and more and more 
and more profound, until the 

978
00:48:13,468 --> 00:48:16,438
mind becomes so powerful. 
And the Buddha, this is again 

979
00:48:16,438 --> 00:48:18,578
found in the early discourse. 
All of this is found in the 

980
00:48:18,578 --> 00:48:20,550
early discourses. 
And this is kind of the core 

981
00:48:20,550 --> 00:48:23,515
aspects of the early discourses,
not what I've been talking about

982
00:48:23,515 --> 00:48:25,165
tonight. 
Until the mind becomes so 

983
00:48:25,165 --> 00:48:28,468
profound that you can direct it 
to basically anything you want, 

984
00:48:28,468 --> 00:48:30,800
any knowledge you want. 
Right? 

985
00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:33,468
The mind has the ability to 
recall, for example, the present

986
00:48:33,468 --> 00:48:36,800
life in absolute detail. 
You go back in time. 

987
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:38,800
You go back in time to the point
you were born. 

988
00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:41,648
Right? 
And then you try to go back a 

989
00:48:41,648 --> 00:48:44,711
little bit further, beyond that.
And then at a certain point, the

990
00:48:44,711 --> 00:48:47,900
mind makes a jump. 
It jumps, and then it jumps back

991
00:48:47,900 --> 00:48:50,900
into previous existence. 
And this is how you can then 

992
00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:53,516
continue like that. 
And in that way, you can 

993
00:48:53,516 --> 00:48:55,800
actually go on and recall the 
past lives. 

994
00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:57,800
It's just like you are recalling
now. 

995
00:48:57,800 --> 00:48:59,600
You're recalling what you had 
for breakfast this morning, 

996
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:01,711
right? 
And you know that when your mind

997
00:49:01,711 --> 00:49:03,689
is peaceful and quiet, when you 
don't have too many things going

998
00:49:03,689 --> 00:49:07,800
on, your ability to recall is 
greater, right? 

999
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,200
That's very obvious. 
Now, you can make the mind far, 

1000
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:14,800
far more powerful than what you 
have right now, even at the most

1001
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:16,800
lucid moments you have. 
Far, far more powerful. 

1002
00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:19,800
So you can remember these things
in much, much greater detail. 

1003
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,800
And you can make that jump into 
the past lives. 

1004
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,800
That's basically how it works. 
Yeah? 

1005
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:33,374
Priya over here. 
I think what he said is part of 

1006
00:49:33,374 --> 00:49:37,800
what I was about to say. 
OK. 

1007
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:43,000
The fact that the modern world 
being what it is now, it's all 

1008
00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:47,800
about Star Wars and other planes
of existence. 

1009
00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:52,800
The very fact that the Buddha 
said all this 2,600 years ago, 

1010
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:57,675
and purely by developing his 
mind, I think we just don't 

1011
00:49:57,675 --> 00:50:02,550
publicize that enough. 
And the last, the perception of 

1012
00:50:02,550 --> 00:50:10,164
the Buddha is mainly about the 
meditation and the world that is

1013
00:50:10,164 --> 00:50:13,200
involved. 
The last census, I think, said 

1014
00:50:13,200 --> 00:50:17,800
that about 27% Australians said 
their religion was Star Wars. 

1015
00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:19,516
Yeah, right. 
Jedi. 

1016
00:50:19,516 --> 00:50:24,880
Jedi Knights or whatever. 
But I think it was the fact that

1017
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:27,800
all this was Star Wars. 
I think it, yeah. 

1018
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,467
Yeah. 
I personally find it very 

1019
00:50:30,467 --> 00:50:32,200
interesting. 
But I also know that some people

1020
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:35,256
find it off-putting because they
find that, yeah, this is kind of

1021
00:50:35,256 --> 00:50:37,800
religious talk. 
You know, this is not reality. 

1022
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:39,800
There is another explanation for
these things. 

1023
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,300
Sometimes you are so, you know, 
we're all set in our views in a 

1024
00:50:43,300 --> 00:50:45,550
certain way. 
This is just, you have to be 

1025
00:50:45,550 --> 00:50:46,892
that. 
You have to have something to 

1026
00:50:46,892 --> 00:50:49,300
stand on in life, right? 
Nobody's able to abandon all 

1027
00:50:49,300 --> 00:50:51,800
views and stand on nothing. 
It's just impossible. 

1028
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:54,400
But what that means, because we 
are set in our views to a 

1029
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:56,800
certain extent, it means that 
sometimes you discard things 

1030
00:50:56,800 --> 00:50:57,800
that actually have a solid 
foundation. 

1031
00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,400
You have a solid foundation 
without really investigating it 

1032
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,425
properly. 
And to me, this stuff is really 

1033
00:51:04,425 --> 00:51:06,302
powerful. 
But other people are going to be

1034
00:51:06,302 --> 00:51:10,467
put off by these kind of things.
And I think this is part of the 

1035
00:51:10,467 --> 00:51:11,800
problem. 
So I agree. 

1036
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:12,800
And this is what I'm talking 
about tonight. 

1037
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:14,800
So I think it's great to 
publicize it a little bit. 

1038
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:18,534
And, you know, some people will 
write me off as a basket case or

1039
00:51:18,534 --> 00:51:21,600
whatever. 
But I think the, you know, the 

1040
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,468
things which have to do with 
meditation practice, because it 

1041
00:51:25,468 --> 00:51:29,086
is so immediately apparent, it's
so obvious what's going on, it 

1042
00:51:29,086 --> 00:51:30,800
is more easily accessible to 
people. 

1043
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:35,800
And for that reason, more 
broadly acceptable, possibly. 

1044
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:39,300
But I think you have a point. 
And maybe we should do something

1045
00:51:39,300 --> 00:51:41,802
about that. 
Well, the fact is they believe 

1046
00:51:41,802 --> 00:51:43,800
all this without any actual 
proof. 

1047
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:47,800
There are all theories out 
there, Hollywood theories, etc. 

1048
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:49,800
And they are prepared to believe
that. 

1049
00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:51,800
They spend a lot of time 
watching all that. 

1050
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,710
So the fact that, you know, you 
can, that the Buddha did all 

1051
00:51:55,710 --> 00:51:59,087
this purely by developing his 
mind, Yeah, it's really mind 

1052
00:51:59,087 --> 00:52:01,800
blowing, I think. 
Anyway, yeah. 

1053
00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:04,800
Okay, let's have a look at some 
of the overseas questions. 

1054
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:08,230
Okay, I will just get out my 
glasses because I'm getting too 

1055
00:52:08,230 --> 00:52:10,800
old now to be able to read these
things by glasses. 

1056
00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:15,200
So let's see what this says. 
Okay, so this is the first one 

1057
00:52:15,200 --> 00:52:16,800
from Dira Yupa. 
Hello, Dira Yupa. 

1058
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:20,468
I know Dira Yupa very well. 
She comes to the monastery quite

1059
00:52:20,468 --> 00:52:23,587
regularly from Thailand. 
Did the Buddha mention anything 

1060
00:52:23,587 --> 00:52:26,800
that could be interpreted as a 
theory of evolution? 

1061
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,648
When he talked about mankind. 
Did he say anything that could 

1062
00:52:30,648 --> 00:52:32,800
be interpreted as a theory of 
evolution? 

1063
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:37,572
Good question. 
I don't think that the Buddha 

1064
00:52:37,572 --> 00:52:40,800
actually talked about the theory
of evolution. 

1065
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:43,800
I don't think the theory of 
evolution is a problem from a 

1066
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,400
Buddhist point of view. 
I think it's perfectly 

1067
00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:48,356
acceptable. 
I don't think that there is a 

1068
00:52:48,356 --> 00:52:50,300
problem there. 
But remember that the main point

1069
00:52:50,300 --> 00:52:52,800
of the Buddha is the evolution 
of the mind, right? 

1070
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:56,515
How we develop the mind. 
That is what really matters in 

1071
00:52:56,515 --> 00:52:59,300
Buddhism. 
Whether our physical bodies are 

1072
00:52:59,300 --> 00:53:02,300
developed through evolution, 
through genetic mutations and 

1073
00:53:02,300 --> 00:53:05,800
these kinds of things. 
I think apparently the evidence 

1074
00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:09,801
for this is very good. 
So I don't have any problems 

1075
00:53:09,801 --> 00:53:13,719
with evolution whatsoever. 
But I don't think it really is 

1076
00:53:13,719 --> 00:53:17,800
the main purpose of Buddhism. 
Buddhism is about the mind. 

1077
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:19,800
And the mind has a different 
kind of evolution. 

1078
00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:23,467
The evolution of the mind is 
explained through the laws of 

1079
00:53:23,467 --> 00:53:24,912
kamma. 
They are what explain the 

1080
00:53:24,912 --> 00:53:27,356
evolution of the mind. 
And that is what we want to 

1081
00:53:27,356 --> 00:53:29,696
focus on. 
Because once you pass away, it 

1082
00:53:29,696 --> 00:53:32,855
doesn't really matter whether 
the next generation is going to 

1083
00:53:32,855 --> 00:53:35,578
inherit your genes or what's 
going to happen to the next 

1084
00:53:35,578 --> 00:53:37,644
generation. 
If you pass away, you want to 

1085
00:53:37,644 --> 00:53:40,537
continue to develop your mind 
and to move in the right 

1086
00:53:40,537 --> 00:53:42,800
direction. 
This is what matters. 

1087
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:44,800
Our physical bodies are kind of 
incidental. 

1088
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:46,800
They don't really matter so 
much. 

1089
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:50,000
We try to get rid of them. 
Even in meditation you try to 

1090
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:53,800
get rid of that. 
So I'm not aware of anything. 

1091
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:58,853
And I think that quite likely 
the Buddha may not really have 

1092
00:53:58,853 --> 00:54:02,372
understood that or been 
interested in that because it 

1093
00:54:02,372 --> 00:54:05,515
wasn't really part of the thing 
that the Buddha was interested 

1094
00:54:05,515 --> 00:54:07,800
in. 
Okay. 

1095
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:11,800
Next question from... 
Okay. 

1096
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:16,925
This is from Opul in Sri Lanka. 
According to Ratanasuta, it can 

1097
00:54:16,925 --> 00:54:20,800
affect environmental conditions.
Is this true? 

1098
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:22,800
Can chanting help people to be 
peaceful? 

1099
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:30,967
Okay. 
This is a very difficult 

1100
00:54:30,967 --> 00:54:33,800
question. 
And I don't really know. 

1101
00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:36,515
I mean, the Buddha... 
There is a little bit of 

1102
00:54:36,515 --> 00:54:38,356
evidence. 
Again, what we have to do here 

1103
00:54:38,356 --> 00:54:40,300
to be... 
If we're going to be serious 

1104
00:54:40,300 --> 00:54:42,300
about Buddhism, we have to 
distinguish between early 

1105
00:54:42,300 --> 00:54:44,944
Buddhism, right? 
The very earliest things and 

1106
00:54:44,944 --> 00:54:47,800
later Buddhism. 
So is there much evidence? 

1107
00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:51,186
Did the Buddha really talk about
the chanting or the recitation 

1108
00:54:51,186 --> 00:54:52,800
of suttas? 
No. 

1109
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:54,800
Because in those days it was 
more like recitation. 

1110
00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:58,175
And there is one very 
interesting reference in the 

1111
00:54:58,175 --> 00:55:00,800
suttas where the Buddha himself 
is ill. 

1112
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:02,800
He's sick, right? 
The Buddha is sick. 

1113
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:06,100
And he says to another monk, and
this is quite remarkable, and 

1114
00:55:06,100 --> 00:55:09,300
I'm not really sure how to 
interpret this myself, but he 

1115
00:55:09,300 --> 00:55:12,300
says to this other monk, this 
monk is called Mahajunda, a very

1116
00:55:12,300 --> 00:55:15,300
powerful Arahant, and he says to
this monk, I'm feeling sick, 

1117
00:55:15,300 --> 00:55:18,658
right? 
Please recite the Seven Factors 

1118
00:55:18,658 --> 00:55:21,165
of Awakening. 
Seven Factors of Awakening is 

1119
00:55:21,165 --> 00:55:22,800
very lofty teaching, very 
beautiful teaching. 

1120
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:27,936
And then as he recites those 
Seven Factors of Awakening, the 

1121
00:55:27,936 --> 00:55:31,711
Buddha becomes well, right? 
And this is found in a few 

1122
00:55:31,711 --> 00:55:34,860
places in the suttas. 
So it is, you know, so according

1123
00:55:34,860 --> 00:55:37,800
to that, there is a certain 
power to the Dhamma. 

1124
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:40,946
I don't know exactly how this 
works, but probably something to

1125
00:55:40,946 --> 00:55:44,802
do with the fact that you hear 
about the Dhamma, and that very 

1126
00:55:44,802 --> 00:55:47,800
hearing of the Dhamma gives rise
to joy, right? 

1127
00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:51,515
A mind which is very joyful and 
very happy tends to heal the 

1128
00:55:51,515 --> 00:55:54,300
body. 
This is known in hospitals 

1129
00:55:54,300 --> 00:55:58,300
around the world, known 
medically, that a person who is 

1130
00:55:58,300 --> 00:56:01,300
positive, for example, will heal
more quickly after an operation 

1131
00:56:01,300 --> 00:56:05,658
than somebody who is negative. 
This is basically an established

1132
00:56:05,658 --> 00:56:09,200
scientific fact. 
So there is something going on 

1133
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:13,600
there, but there is how it 
actually works is sometimes very

1134
00:56:13,600 --> 00:56:16,945
hard to know. 
Personally, I do believe that 

1135
00:56:16,945 --> 00:56:20,800
there is such a thing as 
mind-to-mind interaction, right?

1136
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:26,400
So if I, or if the monks at the 
monastery, we do some chanting 

1137
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:31,030
and we send metta to somebody, 
if that person is in the right 

1138
00:56:31,030 --> 00:56:34,846
mind state and if they are 
receptive, they may be able to 

1139
00:56:34,846 --> 00:56:38,110
feel that, right? 
And sometimes we all have these 

1140
00:56:38,110 --> 00:56:40,416
experiences, sometimes 
remarkable experiences of, you 

1141
00:56:40,416 --> 00:56:43,550
know, feeling, meeting people in
a dream and all these kind of 

1142
00:56:43,550 --> 00:56:45,669
things. 
It sends that there is some kind

1143
00:56:45,669 --> 00:56:47,800
of mind-to-mind contact going on
in the world. 

1144
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:49,800
Coincidences, synchronicity they
call it. 

1145
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:52,944
Right? 
That is hard to explain apart 

1146
00:56:52,944 --> 00:56:55,800
from some kind of mental thing 
going on. 

1147
00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:58,690
So I think so, but it depends on
many factors, you know, whether 

1148
00:56:58,690 --> 00:57:01,800
it really works or not. 
And it's very hard to know. 

1149
00:57:01,800 --> 00:57:04,690
In the end, I think we're going 
to, again, we can maybe do 

1150
00:57:04,690 --> 00:57:05,800
scientific studies on this, 
right? 

1151
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:08,800
To see if it really works or 
not. 

1152
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:10,800
So can it help? 
Definitely. 

1153
00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:16,400
I would say yes for at least one
reason, and that is the placebo 

1154
00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:18,135
effect. 
The placebo effect is 

1155
00:57:18,135 --> 00:57:19,800
scientifically known to work, 
right? 

1156
00:57:19,800 --> 00:57:23,036
So if you say you're going to 
chant for somebody, straight 

1157
00:57:23,036 --> 00:57:24,800
away they will feel better, 
right? 

1158
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:26,800
Because, oh, somebody's chanting
for me. 

1159
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:30,300
How nice that is, right? 
And then they will feel better 

1160
00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:31,800
straight away. 
It's called the placebo effect. 

1161
00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:34,468
So even if there isn't anything 
else going on, at the very 

1162
00:57:34,468 --> 00:57:35,800
least, the placebo effect is 
working. 

1163
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:38,800
It's always good to chant for 
somebody. 

1164
00:57:38,800 --> 00:57:42,356
Sorry for that slightly 
roundabout answer, not too 

1165
00:57:42,356 --> 00:57:44,956
clear. 
I don't, you know, it's hard to 

1166
00:57:44,956 --> 00:57:46,800
know these things with absolute 
certainty. 

1167
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:51,800
Okay, last question. 
Meditation from Night Dragons. 

1168
00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:57,075
Is that your name? 
Okay, well, you talked about the

1169
00:57:57,075 --> 00:57:59,800
body feeling light in 
meditation. 

1170
00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:02,800
But when I relax my body, it 
feels extremely tired and heavy.

1171
00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:07,800
Do you have any advice for those
of us who feel in this way? 

1172
00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:10,802
Okay, well, welcome to the 
majority, the silent majority, 

1173
00:58:10,802 --> 00:58:12,800
who you don't normally hear 
from. 

1174
00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:15,800
Actually, you hear from them all
the time. 

1175
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:17,600
Because when you teach 
meditation, it's a very common 

1176
00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:19,800
experience. 
Right? 

1177
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:22,800
You come to the Amaloka Center 
on a Friday night. 

1178
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:24,800
You've been working really hard 
for a whole week. 

1179
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:26,800
You have family. 
You have kids. 

1180
00:58:26,800 --> 00:58:29,578
You feel burnt out. 
And all you really want to do is

1181
00:58:29,578 --> 00:58:31,050
rest. 
And the natural inclination of 

1182
00:58:31,050 --> 00:58:33,800
the mind and the body is to go 
to sleep, right? 

1183
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:36,800
You feel tired. 
And it's okay. 

1184
00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:38,800
For goodness sake, please fall 
asleep. 

1185
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:40,800
I love it when people snore 
during the meditation here. 

1186
00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:44,230
It's great, you know. 
At least they're relaxing, for 

1187
00:58:44,230 --> 00:58:45,658
goodness sake. 
And if we can't relax in 

1188
00:58:45,658 --> 00:58:46,800
meditation, when are we ever 
going to relax? 

1189
00:58:46,800 --> 00:58:49,800
Never, never going to relax if 
we can't relax here. 

1190
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:51,800
So please relax. 
Snore. 

1191
00:58:51,800 --> 00:58:53,800
Snoring is like a nice rhythmic 
sound, right? 

1192
00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:56,800
You take the snoring as a 
meditation object. 

1193
00:58:56,800 --> 00:59:00,515
Oh, the beautiful snoring. 
Please don't get upset if people

1194
00:59:00,515 --> 00:59:01,800
snore. 
Have sympathy for them, right? 

1195
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:04,800
They need that. 
They're falling asleep. 

1196
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:07,800
And then you kind of make that a
positive thing. 

1197
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:12,944
So, yes, it is very common. 
And very often in the day-to-day

1198
00:59:12,944 --> 00:59:15,800
meditation, that is what we're 
going to experience. 

1199
00:59:15,800 --> 00:59:17,800
In fact, I have a monastic 
friend. 

1200
00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:19,800
I often tell this when I teach 
meditation retreats. 

1201
00:59:19,800 --> 00:59:21,800
He's been a monk. 
He's a very good monk. 

1202
00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:25,644
He gets very good meditation. 
But he says that every time he 

1203
00:59:25,644 --> 00:59:28,537
sits down to meditate, the first
15 minutes, he's like this, 

1204
00:59:28,537 --> 00:59:29,800
right? 
Nodding away. 

1205
00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:32,800
And then when the tiredness 
clears, his mind becomes bright.

1206
00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:35,800
And then he goes into the bright
meditation state. 

1207
00:59:35,800 --> 00:59:38,300
So please do that. 
Follow what some of these monks 

1208
00:59:38,300 --> 00:59:40,984
do, right? 
Because some of these monks get 

1209
00:59:40,984 --> 00:59:42,800
really, really deep meditation 
practice. 

1210
00:59:42,800 --> 00:59:44,800
So do what they do. 
You will be happy. 

1211
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:46,800
You may be happy heading in the 
same way. 

1212
00:59:46,800 --> 00:59:48,800
So don't worry too much about 
that. 

1213
00:59:48,800 --> 00:59:53,000
Just know that as you practice 
the Buddhist path, all of these 

1214
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,800
factors, they tend to come 
together over time. 

1215
00:59:55,800 --> 00:59:59,330
And as they come together over 
time, your meditation gets 

1216
00:59:59,330 --> 01:00:01,800
lighter and brighter and more at
ease. 

1217
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:03,800
Your body and mind feel less 
tired. 

1218
01:00:03,800 --> 01:00:07,467
You feel more relaxed, right? 
You come to the meditation 

1219
01:00:07,467 --> 01:00:09,600
session. 
And year by year, you feel 

1220
01:00:09,600 --> 01:00:13,372
things are going better. 
Then you go on the meditation 

1221
01:00:13,372 --> 01:00:16,136
retreat. 
And it is when you go on the 

1222
01:00:16,136 --> 01:00:19,054
meditation retreat that you 
really find out whether you are 

1223
01:00:19,054 --> 01:00:20,800
improving in your practice or 
not. 

1224
01:00:20,800 --> 01:00:24,800
And then you see that your 
tiredness falls away, right? 

1225
01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:26,800
Because you are away from your 
family. 

1226
01:00:26,800 --> 01:00:29,912
You're away from your job. 
You're away from all these 

1227
01:00:29,912 --> 01:00:32,300
burdens in the world. 
And people work far too much 

1228
01:00:32,300 --> 01:00:34,800
these days. 
They sleep far too little. 

1229
01:00:34,800 --> 01:00:36,800
All of these things are well 
known. 

1230
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:38,800
We need to sleep more. 
We need to rest more. 

1231
01:00:38,800 --> 01:00:42,095
At the very least, when we go on
retreat, we start the first few 

1232
01:00:42,095 --> 01:00:45,800
days by sleeping. 12 hours a 
night or whatever, right? 

1233
01:00:45,800 --> 01:00:49,800
Really just go for it. 
And then you rest nicely. 

1234
01:00:49,800 --> 01:00:52,256
And then, when you're nicely 
rested, then your meditation 

1235
01:00:52,256 --> 01:00:54,800
comes together. 
This is how it happens. 

1236
01:00:54,800 --> 01:00:58,801
So notice that the only thing 
that matters is not how your 

1237
01:00:58,801 --> 01:01:01,800
meditation works now. 
That's irrelevant. 

1238
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:05,683
The only thing that matters is 
what happens in your meditation 

1239
01:01:05,683 --> 01:01:09,802
over the months, over the years.
If you see that there is an 

1240
01:01:09,802 --> 01:01:11,800
improvement over time, that is 
what matters. 

1241
01:01:11,800 --> 01:01:12,800
That's really all you can be 
looking for. 

1242
01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,800
Because you don't know what 
you're starting out with. 

1243
01:01:15,800 --> 01:01:17,800
We're all starting out at 
different places. 

1244
01:01:17,800 --> 01:01:19,800
Don't expect anything in 
particular. 

1245
01:01:19,800 --> 01:01:22,800
The only thing you should expect
is improvement. 

1246
01:01:22,800 --> 01:01:25,800
And then you're on the right 
path. 

1247
01:01:25,800 --> 01:01:28,800
Okay. 
So that is all for tonight. 

1248
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:31,800
So let's pay respect to the 
Buddha Dhamma Saga. 

1249
01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:48,800
Thank you. 
Thank you. 

1250
01:02:12,800 --> 01:02:14,801
Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media 
Ltd. 

1251
01:02:14,801 --> 01:02:16,675
All Rights Reserved. 
No part of this recording may be

1252
01:02:16,675 --> 01:02:18,134
reproduced without Mooji Media 
Ltd.'s 

1253
01:02:18,134 --> 01:03:12,780
express consent. 
Thank you. 

1254
01:03:12,800 --> 01:04:12,780
Thank you. 
Thank you. 

1255
01:04:12,800 --> 01:05:12,780
Thank you. 
Thank you. 

1256
01:05:12,800 --> 01:06:12,780
Thank you. 
Thank you. 

1257
01:06:12,800 --> 01:07:12,780
Thank you. 
Thank you. 

1258
01:07:12,800 --> 01:07:42,780
Thank you.