1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Okay everyone, so welcome once again. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,500 The topic for tonight's talk is going to be on the idea of 3 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:16,670 insight, and specifically about how to give rise, if you like, 4 00:00:16,670 --> 00:00:20,638 to insight or deeper understanding, not just through 5 00:00:20,638 --> 00:00:25,000 meditation practice, but also through daily life experiences. 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,002 And so to make it really practical basically, and one of 7 00:00:30,002 --> 00:00:34,335 the kind of beautiful things that comes to mind is one of the 8 00:00:34,335 --> 00:00:38,184 things that Ajahn Shah said. Ajahn Shah of course being Ajahn 9 00:00:38,184 --> 00:00:41,540 Brahm's teacher back in Thailand, by many considered the 10 00:00:41,540 --> 00:00:45,000 greatest meditation master in Thailand of the 20th century. 11 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,688 And that is saying something because Thailand is the country 12 00:00:48,688 --> 00:00:52,000 where there were lots and lots of meditation masters. 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 He said he was really quite exceptional in many ways. 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,752 And what he said, and this is kind of really interesting when 15 00:00:58,752 --> 00:01:03,334 you consider it properly, he says that everything teaches 16 00:01:03,334 --> 00:01:07,000 you. So does everything teach you? 17 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,144 Are you able to use that, all the daily activities, all the 18 00:01:12,144 --> 00:01:16,637 daily happenings, are you able to use that in the pursuit of 19 00:01:16,637 --> 00:01:21,000 insight, to help you to see things more clearly. 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,476 And it means that there is almost an endless amount of 21 00:01:24,476 --> 00:01:27,000 possibilities of gaining a greater understanding in life, 22 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,752 just by being aware, just by tuning your mind in the right 23 00:01:30,752 --> 00:01:34,000 way in daily life. That is all you have to do. 24 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,159 And as you do that, you are constantly growing in wisdom if 25 00:01:37,159 --> 00:01:40,251 you do it in the right way. That's extremely important 26 00:01:40,251 --> 00:01:44,616 because one of the problems of the Buddhist path, you often 27 00:01:44,616 --> 00:01:47,693 hear about people who have been practicing for years and 28 00:01:47,693 --> 00:01:52,000 decades, and sometimes they say, oh, I'm not making any progress. 29 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,000 What's happening? Nothing is happening. 30 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,911 Where is that bliss everyone talks about? 31 00:01:55,911 --> 00:01:58,669 Can't see the bliss. Where is that profound peace 32 00:01:58,669 --> 00:02:01,000 that is promised according to the suttas? 33 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,548 Can't see any profound peace. And the problem is often that we 34 00:02:05,548 --> 00:02:09,185 are not really dealing with the things that are really 35 00:02:09,185 --> 00:02:11,000 fundamental to the Buddhist practice. 36 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,202 And of course one of those very foundational things is the idea 37 00:02:14,202 --> 00:02:17,001 of right view. Right view is the foundation of 38 00:02:17,001 --> 00:02:20,250 the Buddhist path. It starts at the beginning of 39 00:02:20,250 --> 00:02:23,310 everything else. And it is the causal condition 40 00:02:23,310 --> 00:02:26,000 that makes the entire Buddhist path work. 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Without right view, there is nothing. 42 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,850 And if you are able to use your daily activities, everything 43 00:02:31,850 --> 00:02:35,750 that happens in daily life, all the little things, the meetings 44 00:02:35,750 --> 00:02:37,625 with people, the disappointments, the 45 00:02:37,625 --> 00:02:41,364 happinesses, the neutral things, all the things that happen, and 46 00:02:41,364 --> 00:02:46,096 if you can use that in the service of insight, then you are 47 00:02:46,096 --> 00:02:49,000 really hastening this building up of right view. 48 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Right view is something that takes time to develop. 49 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Right view is not either right or wrong. 50 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000 Right view is a vast number of different degrees. 51 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,715 And we all come into this world with a large amount of wrong 52 00:03:00,715 --> 00:03:02,500 view. That's why we get reborn as 53 00:03:02,500 --> 00:03:04,000 humans, because we have wrong view. 54 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,002 So we come into this world with distorted ideas about the world, 55 00:03:08,002 --> 00:03:10,000 with distorted perceptions of the world. 56 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,890 Everything is already preconditioned in a very 57 00:03:13,890 --> 00:03:16,336 distorted way. And because it is so distorted, 58 00:03:16,336 --> 00:03:19,000 we come into this world, we don't even know it is distorted. 59 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,572 If I tell you that our perceptions are distorted, you 60 00:03:22,572 --> 00:03:25,556 might shrug your shoulders. You might not know what I am 61 00:03:25,556 --> 00:03:28,000 talking about. And that is kind of the point. 62 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,500 You don't know what we are talking about, because the 63 00:03:30,500 --> 00:03:33,000 distortion is so fundamental, it is very hard to see. 64 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,176 And the only way to rectify that distortion is to follow the 65 00:03:37,176 --> 00:03:40,653 process of development that the Buddha talks about in the 66 00:03:40,653 --> 00:03:42,638 suttas. And gradually, gradually, you 67 00:03:42,638 --> 00:03:46,728 are rightening up this wrong direction of the view, gradually 68 00:03:46,728 --> 00:03:50,000 coming into the right direction, more and more. 69 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,000 I always like to compare this to like a supertanker. 70 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,236 The supertanker is all the habits, all the things from the 71 00:03:57,236 --> 00:04:01,800 past that we carry with us, that drive us in a certain direction 72 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,184 with enormous momentum. And to change the direction of 73 00:04:05,184 --> 00:04:07,000 that supertanker is really difficult. 74 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,000 Have you seen some of those supertankers? 75 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,432 They are like enormous, they are like half a kilometer long, and 76 00:04:12,432 --> 00:04:16,000 they take like 20 kilometers to slow them down, because the 77 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,946 momentum is so enormous. And I think the truth is that 78 00:04:19,946 --> 00:04:23,000 the momentum of our minds is far greater than a supertank. 79 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000 A supertanker has nothing on our minds. 80 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,667 Our minds are really, these are the real supertankers of the 81 00:04:28,667 --> 00:04:30,670 world. So we need to gradually, 82 00:04:30,670 --> 00:04:34,003 gradually move it around, to this enormous momentum from the 83 00:04:34,003 --> 00:04:37,000 past, and then get it in the right direction. 84 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,000 This is what insight in daily life can do for us. 85 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:47,300 But before I give some examples of how to do this, I want to 86 00:04:47,300 --> 00:04:50,000 talk about this word called insight. 87 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,000 What does it actually mean? What does it actually refer to? 88 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,500 If we go back to the suttas, the word of the Buddha, what are the 89 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:01,912 words that the Buddha used? Sometimes when we use an English 90 00:05:01,912 --> 00:05:05,728 word like insight, it can be very hard to grasp what the 91 00:05:05,728 --> 00:05:09,003 Buddha was talking about, because the word insight may not 92 00:05:09,003 --> 00:05:12,000 reflect very well what the Buddha was talking about. 93 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,550 And so the Buddha in the suttas uses two words that are really 94 00:05:16,550 --> 00:05:21,430 kind of fundamental for how he teaches this area of looking at 95 00:05:21,430 --> 00:05:24,000 the world. One is vipassana. 96 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,600 You probably all heard about vipassana, going to vipassana 97 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,800 retreats. Sometimes I get the phone call 98 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,700 at Bodhinyana monastery, I pick up the phone and they ask me the 99 00:05:33,700 --> 00:05:36,625 question, do you give vipassana retreats at Bodhinyana 100 00:05:36,625 --> 00:05:39,184 monastery? I have no idea what to say when 101 00:05:39,184 --> 00:05:41,715 people ask that. I think, what are they talking 102 00:05:41,715 --> 00:05:44,000 about? What is this vipassana? 103 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,670 I'll come back to this later on, because vipassana retreat 104 00:05:46,670 --> 00:05:50,001 doesn't really make any sense when you start to understand the 105 00:05:50,001 --> 00:05:53,000 word behind this. This is kind of radical stuff. 106 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,950 So I'll get back to this later on, I'll warm you up, then I'll 107 00:05:55,950 --> 00:05:59,000 get into the radical stuff, once you're nice and warm and I will 108 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,716 see how it works. So there's two words by the 109 00:06:01,716 --> 00:06:04,000 Buddha, one is vipassana, another one is panya. 110 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,000 And they are not the same. Panya is wisdom. 111 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,336 And you will notice that the idea of wisdom is very closely 112 00:06:11,336 --> 00:06:15,335 related to the idea of insight. Because a person who is wise is 113 00:06:15,335 --> 00:06:18,946 a person who has insight. If you have a moment of insight, 114 00:06:18,946 --> 00:06:22,000 the flash, the bulb goes on, bang, wow, now I see. 115 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,000 That is very close to the idea of wisdom. 116 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Seeing things right like that is actually what drives wisdom. 117 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,000 So insight and wisdom are very close to each other. 118 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,079 It's almost very difficult to get any much daylight between 119 00:06:36,079 --> 00:06:39,000 those two words. They are almost synonymous. 120 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,440 And I remember writing to one of the great translators into 121 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,000 English of the Pali Suttas, and I was complaining to him, why do 122 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,715 we call vipassana insight? It means the same thing as 123 00:06:48,715 --> 00:06:51,000 wisdom. And you know what he said? 124 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,336 He said, you're right, but we're so used to translating in this 125 00:06:54,336 --> 00:06:59,000 way, we can't change it now. That's defeatist attitude, 126 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,668 right? That's kind of what it means, 127 00:07:02,668 --> 00:07:06,000 you can't change. Of course we can't change it. 128 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,060 The point is to give people the right view about what the Sutta 129 00:07:09,060 --> 00:07:11,502 is teaching, isn't it? The point is to present the word 130 00:07:11,502 --> 00:07:15,000 of the Buddha in the right way. The point is not to hold on to 131 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,000 the past because we are used to certain terms of the past. 132 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,000 So anyway, vipassana doesn't actually really mean that. 133 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 And this is what is so interesting. 134 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,000 So what does vipassana mean then? 135 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,334 And what vipassana really means is not wisdom as such, because 136 00:07:30,334 --> 00:07:34,000 the point in the Suttas is that vipassana leads to wisdom. 137 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,600 If insight doesn't lead to wisdom, because insight is 138 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:40,000 wisdom, so what is it that leads to wisdom? 139 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,000 What leads to wisdom is clear seeing. 140 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,334 As you build up clear seeing, you see the world clearly, then 141 00:07:47,334 --> 00:07:49,000 that leads eventually to breakthroughs. 142 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,000 It leads to insight, it leads to wisdom. 143 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,000 And the way that the word vipassana is used in the Suttas, 144 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,792 by in the word of the Buddha, actually clear seeing is far 145 00:07:59,792 --> 00:08:04,000 closer to how this word is used than the idea of insight. 146 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,223 So when I talk about developing vipassana in daily life, that's 147 00:08:09,223 --> 00:08:11,000 what I really want to talk about here. 148 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,000 What I'm talking about is clear seeing. 149 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,728 That clear seeing will gradually, as it builds up over 150 00:08:16,728 --> 00:08:20,546 time, it will lead to insight, it will lead to wisdom, it will 151 00:08:20,546 --> 00:08:23,000 lead to all these wonderful things in the world. 152 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:28,200 Insight is like a word that is used in Buddhism as a marketing 153 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:31,400 word, right? Because who doesn't want 154 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,250 insight? Is there anyone here who doesn't 155 00:08:34,250 --> 00:08:37,548 want insight? Okay, the door is over there, if 156 00:08:37,548 --> 00:08:41,000 you don't want insight. Why wouldn't you want insight? 157 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,365 Insight is this very powerful term, that's why it is so 158 00:08:44,365 --> 00:08:47,334 powerful to talk about insight meditation, because insight 159 00:08:47,334 --> 00:08:51,365 means understanding the world, it means seeing things clearly, 160 00:08:51,365 --> 00:08:55,335 it means knowing who you are, it means being able to deal with 161 00:08:55,335 --> 00:08:57,000 your relationships with other people. 162 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,600 Insight is about having an understanding of happiness and 163 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,400 suffering. Insight into life, psychological 164 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,000 insight, is always a very positive term. 165 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,000 It is a bit like the idea of wisdom. 166 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:12,000 It's very draws in, of course we want insight. 167 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,500 It's kind of, to me anyway, it's a very beautiful word, I think 168 00:09:14,500 --> 00:09:16,000 for most people here probably is. 169 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Just like wisdom is also a very beautiful word. 170 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,334 These are the pinnacle terminology that we use on the 171 00:09:22,334 --> 00:09:25,079 Buddhist path that lead to the very pinnacle of what the 172 00:09:25,079 --> 00:09:28,184 Buddhist path is about. But to get there, we need 173 00:09:28,184 --> 00:09:32,100 vipassana, we need clear seeing. So how can we see more clearly 174 00:09:32,100 --> 00:09:34,750 in daily life? This is what I want to talk 175 00:09:34,750 --> 00:09:37,600 about. Some very simple ideas, and you 176 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,819 will be surprised how simple these ideas are, and you might 177 00:09:40,819 --> 00:09:43,000 start yawning once you start talking about them. 178 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:48,144 Please don't yawn, listen. This is kind of the fundamental 179 00:09:48,144 --> 00:09:51,000 requirement to be able to get these things. 180 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:55,417 And one of the reasons why these things are interesting is 181 00:09:55,417 --> 00:10:00,250 because these are the very ideas that the Buddha to be, the 182 00:10:00,250 --> 00:10:03,668 Buddha to be is the, before the Buddha became the Buddha, he was 183 00:10:03,668 --> 00:10:06,500 the Buddha to be. And these are the things that 184 00:10:06,500 --> 00:10:10,668 the Buddha to be made him, renounce the house of life and 185 00:10:10,668 --> 00:10:15,429 become the Buddha. So these are very, very powerful 186 00:10:15,429 --> 00:10:18,335 ideas. And so if you can use these 187 00:10:18,335 --> 00:10:22,001 ideas in the right way, be careful because you might become 188 00:10:22,001 --> 00:10:25,335 the next Buddha. If you don't want to become the 189 00:10:25,335 --> 00:10:29,000 next Buddha, close your ears. These ideas that actually drive 190 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:33,502 you onto the spiritual path, these are the ideas that become 191 00:10:33,502 --> 00:10:36,000 the very foundation for awakening itself. 192 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,169 Simple things, right? This is kind of the thing about 193 00:10:39,169 --> 00:10:42,334 the Dhamma of the Buddha. It is so simple very often, and 194 00:10:42,334 --> 00:10:45,334 we don't understand the profundity of the simple things 195 00:10:45,334 --> 00:10:47,200 in life. Next time you listen to Ajahn 196 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,728 Brahm tell a story, listen really carefully, because those 197 00:10:50,728 --> 00:10:54,000 stories are far more profound than you might think. 198 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,500 So let me give you an example of the things that the Buddha was 199 00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:00,000 thinking about before his awakening. 200 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,000 And by the way, I should also say that after his awakening, 201 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,286 when he started to teach, he started to teach based on those 202 00:11:07,286 --> 00:11:11,000 same things, and then talk about some of those things that he, 203 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,000 both before his awakening and also that he taught afterwards. 204 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,000 And one of the things the Buddha said is that these are things 205 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,430 that are expected by everyone, whether you are a lay person or 206 00:11:21,430 --> 00:11:24,750 a monastic, whether you are a woman or a man, doesn't make any 207 00:11:24,750 --> 00:11:27,000 difference. This is for everyone. 208 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,000 That's kind of nice to know already. 209 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:36,000 So one of those things are, very simple one, old age. 210 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:40,638 Contemplating old age. This is one of the things, 211 00:11:40,638 --> 00:11:45,112 there's a number of things that made the Buddha decide to become 212 00:11:45,112 --> 00:11:47,848 a monk. Remember the Buddha was 29 years 213 00:11:47,848 --> 00:11:50,000 old when he became a monk, right? 214 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,000 He was already contemplating old age. 215 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,000 So if you think that you are too young to contemplate old age, 216 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,250 the answer is no. You're probably too old already, 217 00:11:59,250 --> 00:12:02,000 so get going. Now is the time. 218 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,668 Don't hold back. Because the earlier these things 219 00:12:05,668 --> 00:12:09,136 become clear to you, that if you are young, well, the opposite 220 00:12:09,136 --> 00:12:13,334 side of the coin is old age. Youth and old age always have to 221 00:12:13,334 --> 00:12:15,715 go together. There's not much choice in the 222 00:12:15,715 --> 00:12:17,668 matter. The alternative to getting old 223 00:12:17,668 --> 00:12:21,001 is actually much worse. Not getting old means you know 224 00:12:21,001 --> 00:12:24,502 what that means. So it's never too early to 225 00:12:24,502 --> 00:12:29,001 contemplate the idea of old age. So what does it mean to 226 00:12:29,001 --> 00:12:32,000 contemplate old age? It can mean a number of things. 227 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,415 But one of the things that it means, and this is kind of a 228 00:12:35,415 --> 00:12:38,334 thing that happens to everyone at a certain point in life, one 229 00:12:38,334 --> 00:12:43,400 day you look at yourself in the mirror, and you see the signs of 230 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:48,500 old age are coming. You see the first gray hair, you 231 00:12:48,500 --> 00:12:53,430 see the first wrinkles in your skin, you see your muscles 232 00:12:53,430 --> 00:12:57,000 starting to waste a little bit because you're getting older. 233 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,000 You see things kind of deteriorating. 234 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:01,944 Your eyesight is getting worse. Well, actually, that's bad 235 00:13:01,944 --> 00:13:04,765 because that means you can't see it so clearly in the mirror 236 00:13:04,765 --> 00:13:06,000 anymore. That's a bad idea. 237 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,650 Put your glasses on. Put your glasses on so you can 238 00:13:09,650 --> 00:13:12,000 actually at least see what's going on in the mirror. 239 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,911 I'm not going to go there. So these are the things that you 240 00:13:16,911 --> 00:13:19,670 see in the mirror. And actually, there's a very 241 00:13:19,670 --> 00:13:23,000 nice story that I should tell at this particular point. 242 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,000 And this is one of the great stories from the suit. 243 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,000 This is the story of the king who lived a long, long time ago, 244 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,000 a time when the lifespan was really, really long. 245 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,600 And this king, he said to his barber, he said that, when you 246 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,750 see the first gray hair on my head, I want you to pluck it out 247 00:13:40,750 --> 00:13:43,602 and show it to me. And so after many thousands of 248 00:13:43,602 --> 00:13:46,000 years, the lifespan was very long in those days. 249 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:50,001 After many thousands of years, the barber saw a gray hair on 250 00:13:50,001 --> 00:13:53,000 the king's head. So he plucks it out. 251 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:54,000 The other king said pluck it out. 252 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,000 He plucks it out and shows it to the king. 253 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,000 And the king says, well, that's a deva duta. 254 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:03,572 It's a divine messenger. The gray hair is a divine 255 00:14:03,572 --> 00:14:06,000 messenger. A messenger from the gods. 256 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,667 And the divine messenger tells you, now is the time to 257 00:14:09,667 --> 00:14:12,669 renounce. Now is the time to give up the 258 00:14:12,669 --> 00:14:15,000 kingdom and to become an ascetic instead. 259 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:20,667 That's kind of inspiring. You have a king, and the king, 260 00:14:20,667 --> 00:14:26,286 even the king decides to kind of give up the life of a king and 261 00:14:26,286 --> 00:14:30,000 become an ascetic in his place. That's really kind of awesome. 262 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,000 So what do you do when you see the sign of old age? 263 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,000 When you look yourself in the mirror. 264 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000 I'm sure this will happen to all of you, right? 265 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,620 Every one of us here, maybe except if you're very, very 266 00:14:39,620 --> 00:14:42,000 young, you see the first sign of what you do. 267 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:46,336 And for the vast majority of people, what you do is that the 268 00:14:46,336 --> 00:14:49,000 first thing you say is like, oh no. 269 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:53,000 It's like a denial of what is going on, right? 270 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,878 You don't want to see that. The gray hair, the wrinkles, all 271 00:14:56,878 --> 00:15:00,000 of these things are negative things in most human experience. 272 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000 You don't want to see those things. 273 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,872 And you deny it, and you kind of become upset, and you kind of 274 00:15:06,872 --> 00:15:10,000 realize that the youthfulness that you've had is impermanent. 275 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,640 And even though, in a sense, you knew that already in a certain 276 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,720 way, even though we know, we don't really know it deeply 277 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,000 enough. And that is why you are upset. 278 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,820 The very fact that you are in denial about that reality means 279 00:15:22,820 --> 00:15:26,000 that you haven't really understood the idea of old age. 280 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,288 You haven't really penetrated what the Buddha saw, because you 281 00:15:30,288 --> 00:15:34,572 actually rejected straight away. So this is the first problem, 282 00:15:34,572 --> 00:15:35,924 right? There's no insight there. 283 00:15:35,924 --> 00:15:38,000 There's no clear seeing about what is going on. 284 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:43,001 There is a denial about reality. What is the second thing that 285 00:15:43,001 --> 00:15:45,787 happens after that? The second thing that happens 286 00:15:45,787 --> 00:15:49,000 after the denial is, how can I fix it? 287 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,000 Right? Okay, hair color, botox. 288 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,000 If you get really desperate, plastic surgery, right? 289 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,000 Certainly makeup, absolutely makeup, yeah? 290 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,770 Maybe take off your glasses so you don't have to see it 291 00:16:02,770 --> 00:16:05,668 anymore. Whatever, so you don't have to 292 00:16:05,668 --> 00:16:08,500 see it, right? So the second thing that comes 293 00:16:08,500 --> 00:16:11,000 to us is the idea, I want to fix this. 294 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,850 And that is really problematic, because the moment you come with 295 00:16:14,850 --> 00:16:19,600 the idea that you want to fix these things, at that moment you 296 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,000 feel that it is in your power to overcome the problem. 297 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,000 That is what you feel at that particular point. 298 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,718 And the moment you feel that the problems of life, the reality of 299 00:16:30,718 --> 00:16:34,456 life, is within your power to deal with, at that moment you're 300 00:16:34,456 --> 00:16:37,000 buying very deeply into delusion right there. 301 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,000 The delusion that the world can be sorted out. 302 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,750 The delusion that it's possible that all the sufferings in life, 303 00:16:42,750 --> 00:16:46,668 all the problems in life, it's in your power to deal with them 304 00:16:46,668 --> 00:16:49,869 in a certain way. And this is this feeling that we 305 00:16:49,869 --> 00:16:53,180 have inside of us, that we are powerful, that we have a degree 306 00:16:53,180 --> 00:16:56,000 of power over the world, that we can actually fix things up. 307 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,002 But remember that ability to sort things out in life, to deal 308 00:17:00,002 --> 00:17:04,144 with things and fix things up, this of course is an illusion. 309 00:17:04,144 --> 00:17:07,000 All you're doing is putting off the inevitable. 310 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,295 Because all the age, even though you may be able to cover it up 311 00:17:10,295 --> 00:17:14,000 on the surface, under the surface it is still happening. 312 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,337 And you have wasted an opportunity to see more deeply 313 00:17:17,337 --> 00:17:21,000 into the nature of who you are as a human being. 314 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:25,085 So what should we do instead? Instead of making yourself think 315 00:17:25,085 --> 00:17:29,232 that you can deal with these things, instead of denying the 316 00:17:29,232 --> 00:17:32,000 reality, what you should do instead at that moment? 317 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,824 Okay, so maybe you deny it for a short second, but because you've 318 00:17:35,824 --> 00:17:38,500 been coming to Dhammaloka, you think, okay, wait a minute, 319 00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:40,000 there is an alternative way here. 320 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,900 And the alternative way is to say, stop, let me take this in, 321 00:17:43,900 --> 00:17:48,118 let me feel what it feels like, when I see myself getting older, 322 00:17:48,118 --> 00:17:52,295 when I see the grey hairs coming out, the wrinkles coming, the 323 00:17:52,295 --> 00:17:55,824 things becoming a bit more saggy, all over the body, all of 324 00:17:55,824 --> 00:17:59,001 these kinds of things. This is the nature of these 325 00:17:59,001 --> 00:18:02,003 bodies of ours. And when you see that happening, 326 00:18:02,003 --> 00:18:05,000 stop, take it in. What does it feel like? 327 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,000 And that is where the transformation happens. 328 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,295 And if you take it on board, what is going on, that is where 329 00:18:11,295 --> 00:18:14,574 the transformation happens. What happens at that point is 330 00:18:14,574 --> 00:18:18,000 that the mind starts to feel more clear. 331 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,118 What happens at that point is that as if you are giving up a 332 00:18:22,118 --> 00:18:24,500 kind of intoxication. One of the marvellous things 333 00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:27,500 about the Buddha, there is a large number of intoxications 334 00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:30,787 talked about in the suttas. Of course there is the 335 00:18:30,787 --> 00:18:34,313 intoxication of alcohol and drugs, as an obvious one, but 336 00:18:34,313 --> 00:18:37,752 there is much more than that. We tend to be generally 337 00:18:37,752 --> 00:18:41,144 intoxicated as human beings, precisely because we have a 338 00:18:41,144 --> 00:18:43,668 wrong view. At this point you are 339 00:18:43,668 --> 00:18:46,540 establishing the opposite view. You are establishing right view, 340 00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:49,000 seeing things clearly, accepting what is going on. 341 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,000 And because of that, the intoxication is going down. 342 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,667 You can feel your mind becoming more clear at that particular 343 00:18:55,667 --> 00:18:59,000 point. Wow, I see a reality here. 344 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,000 What does it mean that your intoxication is going down? 345 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,584 It means that you are actually losing some interest in that 346 00:19:06,584 --> 00:19:08,472 body. You start to understand its 347 00:19:08,472 --> 00:19:10,824 nature. It is not as interesting as I 348 00:19:10,824 --> 00:19:14,668 thought it would be. This body has some very inherent 349 00:19:14,668 --> 00:19:17,140 problems to it. You always have those problems 350 00:19:17,140 --> 00:19:19,865 and you can't really escape them by just kind of touching up 351 00:19:19,865 --> 00:19:22,318 things with Botox or whatever. It's not going to work. 352 00:19:22,318 --> 00:19:25,474 Botox is eventually going to, your face is going to look so 353 00:19:25,474 --> 00:19:29,000 stiff anyway, it doesn't really look very nice anymore. 354 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,616 If there are any monks who ever use Botox, that would be 355 00:19:33,616 --> 00:19:35,472 interesting. Maybe some superstar monk who 356 00:19:35,472 --> 00:19:38,706 has to look just right or something like that, I don't 357 00:19:38,706 --> 00:19:43,000 know. I hope not, but you never know. 358 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,472 That's kind of beside the point. So it clears the mind. 359 00:19:47,472 --> 00:19:51,000 You see more clearly and you can feel at that particular point 360 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:55,353 that you start to understand why this kind of clear seeing, why 361 00:19:55,353 --> 00:19:58,883 this kind of simple Vipassana is actually very powerful in 362 00:19:58,883 --> 00:20:01,000 steering you in the right direction. 363 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,820 The body becomes less interesting. 364 00:20:02,820 --> 00:20:06,336 When the body is less interesting, the entire world of 365 00:20:06,336 --> 00:20:09,000 the five senses starts to become less interesting. 366 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,693 What it does, it moves you, it drives you onto the spiritual 367 00:20:12,693 --> 00:20:16,464 path because you understand that there are other qualities, the 368 00:20:16,464 --> 00:20:20,250 qualities of the heart, the qualities of the mind, the 369 00:20:20,250 --> 00:20:22,540 purification within. That is what really matters 370 00:20:22,540 --> 00:20:25,000 because these are things that do not age. 371 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,000 They are not subject to these things. 372 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,000 These are things you can take with you into the future, into 373 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,572 the long term future. That is precisely why they are 374 00:20:34,572 --> 00:20:37,144 powerful. There is no sell-by date for 375 00:20:37,144 --> 00:20:40,000 kindness, only a sell-by date on the body. 376 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,250 Maybe we should have a stamp on babies when they get born, kind 377 00:20:43,250 --> 00:20:45,000 of sell-by date or something like that. 378 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,667 So, this is what happens. It drives you onto the spiritual 379 00:20:48,667 --> 00:20:51,001 path. That is the purpose of these 380 00:20:51,001 --> 00:20:54,002 kind of reflections. That is why when the Buddha used 381 00:20:54,002 --> 00:20:57,716 the very simple reflection of old age, that is exactly what 382 00:20:57,716 --> 00:21:01,858 happened to him. This is how Buddhism actually 383 00:21:01,858 --> 00:21:06,000 came about. Try this in your own life. 384 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,000 At the right time, the right place, when you are ready for 385 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000 this sort of thing, and see what it does to your mind. 386 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,000 See if you can eliminate some of those intoxications of the mind 387 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,572 that are usually there. This is only for really serious 388 00:21:19,572 --> 00:21:22,334 Buddhists. If you are not all that serious, 389 00:21:22,334 --> 00:21:25,919 then okay. I would warn you that be careful 390 00:21:25,919 --> 00:21:28,770 with these kind of contemplations because the 391 00:21:28,770 --> 00:21:33,572 reality of course is that there are some people who feel, might 392 00:21:33,572 --> 00:21:38,430 feel depressed, or depressed, or depressed, there are some people 393 00:21:38,430 --> 00:21:42,000 who might feel depressed by seeing this, might feel sad. 394 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,715 If it leads you to feel sad or depressed, then please don't do 395 00:21:45,715 --> 00:21:48,000 it. Only do it if you are ready. 396 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:52,001 The idea with these things is to give rise to wholesome states, 397 00:21:52,001 --> 00:21:54,430 not negative states. You always have to monitor your 398 00:21:54,430 --> 00:21:57,524 own mind to ensure that actually it gives rise to the right kind 399 00:21:57,524 --> 00:22:00,572 of qualities. Otherwise, it is going to be 400 00:22:00,572 --> 00:22:03,000 counterproductive. So, use these things wisely. 401 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,000 If you don't kind of blindly follow along, be wise about it. 402 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,064 So, this is the first thing that the Buddha talks about, the idea 403 00:22:11,064 --> 00:22:14,000 of old age. Another of the Buddha's 404 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,178 contemplations, before his awakening, that drove him onto 405 00:22:17,178 --> 00:22:20,706 the spiritual path, and also that he recommends all of us to 406 00:22:20,706 --> 00:22:23,786 do, and I am going to do this maybe a little bit more quickly 407 00:22:23,786 --> 00:22:28,942 now, you get the general idea of what is going on, is the idea of 408 00:22:28,942 --> 00:22:32,334 illness, becoming sick. So, how do we react when we 409 00:22:32,334 --> 00:22:35,191 become sick? Well, first of all, we are in 410 00:22:35,191 --> 00:22:38,000 denial, oh no, sick again, something has gone wrong. 411 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,000 Of course, you have forgotten Ajahn Brahm's basic teaching, 412 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,730 when you go to the doctor, as you always say, doctor, doctor, 413 00:22:44,730 --> 00:22:47,000 something is right with me, I am sick again today. 414 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,549 This is a very important, it is such a simple teaching, and it 415 00:22:50,549 --> 00:22:53,000 is kind of funny, but it is true, right? 416 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,502 It is actually very profound. It is this kind of teaching that 417 00:22:56,502 --> 00:22:58,000 the Buddha used for his awakening experience. 418 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,128 So again, you are in denial straight away, something has 419 00:23:01,128 --> 00:23:03,000 gone wrong, nothing has gone wrong. 420 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,740 This is the nature of the body, you got cancer, what do you 421 00:23:05,740 --> 00:23:07,000 expect? Of course, you got cancer. 422 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,000 You probably have cancer now, I probably have cancer right now. 423 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,411 We all know that the cancers are in here, it is just a matter of 424 00:23:13,411 --> 00:23:15,000 whether they multiply fast enough or not. 425 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,267 I have my father died of cancer, my sister died of cancer, it 426 00:23:19,267 --> 00:23:22,734 would be a miracle if I didn't die of cancer, the question is 427 00:23:22,734 --> 00:23:25,100 when? Is it going to be tomorrow, or 428 00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:29,261 the day after? Right? 429 00:23:29,261 --> 00:23:32,654 And once you kind of start to see the world in this way, 430 00:23:32,654 --> 00:23:35,000 actually nothing has gone wrong when you get sick. 431 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,000 First of all again, you are in denial. 432 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,668 Then, once you are in denial, next thing you think, well how 433 00:23:40,668 --> 00:23:43,668 can I fix this problem up? Okay, go to the doctor, get 434 00:23:43,668 --> 00:23:46,446 chemotherapy, get the right medicines, I am going to beat 435 00:23:46,446 --> 00:23:49,700 the cancer, no problem, I have the willpower to beat the 436 00:23:49,700 --> 00:23:51,540 cancer. All of that is illusion. 437 00:23:51,540 --> 00:23:55,472 I have seen so many people saying that, I am going to fight 438 00:23:55,472 --> 00:23:59,000 this cancer to the very end, and of course they always lose, 439 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,422 cancer is always the winner in these kind of battles, it is not 440 00:24:02,422 --> 00:24:06,500 about will, it is about nature, you can't beat nature through 441 00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:09,502 willpower. And again, we buy into this 442 00:24:09,502 --> 00:24:13,716 illusion that somehow, by using willpower, by using our choices, 443 00:24:13,716 --> 00:24:19,335 by choosing things in the right way, by doing things, it is in 444 00:24:19,335 --> 00:24:22,000 my power to overcome these things. 445 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,202 I do not mean that we should just succumb to the cancer 446 00:24:25,202 --> 00:24:27,288 without doing anything, that is not really my point. 447 00:24:27,288 --> 00:24:30,500 Of course we should go to the doctor, but at the same time as 448 00:24:30,500 --> 00:24:33,750 we try to find a solution, we should also realize at the same 449 00:24:33,750 --> 00:24:37,080 time that these things are inevitable, nothing has gone 450 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:41,288 wrong when you get cancer, when you get a cold, when you get 451 00:24:41,288 --> 00:24:44,715 COVID, whatever it is, it is part and parcel of having this 452 00:24:44,715 --> 00:24:46,540 body. So again, you change your 453 00:24:46,540 --> 00:24:50,200 attitude, you look at yourself in the mirror, you realize this 454 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:55,000 is illness, this is the nature of this body, it feels terrible, 455 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,424 if the body feels this terrible, this body is far more useless 456 00:24:59,424 --> 00:25:03,765 than I ever thought it would be. Actually, it is far less 457 00:25:03,765 --> 00:25:07,295 interesting, and again you can feel the intoxication with the 458 00:25:07,295 --> 00:25:09,716 body drop. The Buddha specifically talks 459 00:25:09,716 --> 00:25:14,000 about the idea of intoxication with youth, sorry, with health, 460 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,637 youth was the last one, this is health, intoxication with 461 00:25:17,637 --> 00:25:20,250 health. I am healthy, I am strong. 462 00:25:20,250 --> 00:25:24,000 The moment you think like that, you are already intoxicated 463 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,670 without really understanding it. Then coming back to this idea, 464 00:25:28,670 --> 00:25:32,845 suddenly the intoxication is gone, your mind clears of that 465 00:25:32,845 --> 00:25:36,528 intoxication and you can feel that you actually are seeing 466 00:25:36,528 --> 00:25:40,100 things far more straight. You can feel that now the world 467 00:25:40,100 --> 00:25:43,700 is coming into focus, the idea of what matters is coming into 468 00:25:43,700 --> 00:25:47,003 focus in a powerful way. You shift your attention away 469 00:25:47,003 --> 00:25:51,002 from that focus on the body, the five senses, the importance of 470 00:25:51,002 --> 00:25:54,668 this world around us, and it shifts instead to the spiritual 471 00:25:54,668 --> 00:25:58,004 qualities that are far, far more significant, because again, they 472 00:25:58,004 --> 00:26:02,000 not only don't age, but of course they also don't get sick, 473 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,400 they don't get ill. Spiritual qualities are things 474 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:09,000 you can rely on, they will be there if you develop them in the 475 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:13,500 right way. This is the idea of illness and 476 00:26:13,500 --> 00:26:17,000 old age. What about the third one? 477 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,276 This is in many ways maybe the most powerful and important one 478 00:26:20,276 --> 00:26:23,000 of all of them. This is the idea of death. 479 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,176 This is the thing that really I think was maybe the most 480 00:26:27,176 --> 00:26:31,000 powerful driver of the Buddha to be on the spiritual path. 481 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:36,180 I think we can thank the contemplation of death for why 482 00:26:36,180 --> 00:26:39,000 we have Buddhism. Isn't that extraordinary? 483 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,300 We have Buddhism in the world today, maybe I shouldn't say 484 00:26:42,300 --> 00:26:45,706 Buddhism, but the Dharma, the teaching of the Buddha, we have 485 00:26:45,706 --> 00:26:49,942 that Dharma in the world today because of the power of the 486 00:26:49,942 --> 00:26:52,766 contemplation of death. That is how powerful it is, 487 00:26:52,766 --> 00:26:56,250 because this is what drove the Buddha to become a monastic, to 488 00:26:56,250 --> 00:26:59,000 become a monastic and then practice this path all the way 489 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,337 to the very end. How can we bring that into our 490 00:27:02,337 --> 00:27:05,001 lives? There are a number of ways we 491 00:27:05,001 --> 00:27:09,440 can do that, but one of the ways that is very, very simple is 492 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,941 when you read the newspaper, or you watch the news on TV, or you 493 00:27:14,941 --> 00:27:19,668 get them on your Facebook feed, whatever, I don't know anything 494 00:27:19,668 --> 00:27:23,616 about Facebook, but whatever it is, social media, wherever it 495 00:27:23,616 --> 00:27:26,693 is, people die everywhere, whether it is on Facebook or 496 00:27:26,693 --> 00:27:29,942 wherever, so people die, lots of people die every single day. 497 00:27:29,942 --> 00:27:33,386 You can always read about people dying, famous people, non-famous 498 00:27:33,386 --> 00:27:36,156 people, local people, neighbours, family members, 499 00:27:36,156 --> 00:27:40,844 people always dying everywhere. So when you read about someone 500 00:27:40,844 --> 00:27:47,000 dying in the world, what happens to you when you read about that? 501 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,232 Does anything happen at all? I'll tell you what might not 502 00:27:51,232 --> 00:27:54,548 likely happen. Oh yes, so and so died, okay 503 00:27:54,548 --> 00:27:57,178 next page, okay, whatever. That's what happens, right? 504 00:27:57,178 --> 00:28:00,412 It doesn't do anything to you, it's just there, of course 505 00:28:00,412 --> 00:28:02,476 people die, that's to be expected. 506 00:28:02,476 --> 00:28:06,528 I mentioned this here before, but it was a beautiful study 507 00:28:06,528 --> 00:28:11,000 done in South Africa some years ago, and it showed precisely, it 508 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000 was a research into this idea of dying. 509 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,000 What happens when people read about other people dying? 510 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,693 What happens is that they other the other person, they make them 511 00:28:21,693 --> 00:28:24,780 other, they make them someone who is not really, doesn't have 512 00:28:24,780 --> 00:28:27,000 any relation to you in any way whatsoever. 513 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,400 Oh yeah, it's someone else, they were just stupid, or they were 514 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,858 in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don't do that, I don't 515 00:28:31,858 --> 00:28:33,716 go to the wrong place at the wrong time, so nothing to do 516 00:28:33,716 --> 00:28:36,700 with me, or they just didn't take the medicine or whatever, 517 00:28:36,700 --> 00:28:38,800 right? Or they walked into the traffic 518 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:40,000 without really reflecting properly. 519 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:46,752 So we other them, we kind of push them out of our 520 00:28:46,752 --> 00:28:50,765 consciousness, because we essentially, we are not able to 521 00:28:50,765 --> 00:28:53,942 understand that actually that person right there, that could 522 00:28:53,942 --> 00:28:56,878 have been us. We could have been in precisely 523 00:28:56,878 --> 00:29:00,228 that same situation, and of course very often we are, and 524 00:29:00,228 --> 00:29:02,957 very often we end up dying for exactly those kinds of reasons, 525 00:29:02,957 --> 00:29:06,112 we step into the road at the wrong time, you forget to look 526 00:29:06,112 --> 00:29:09,169 left when you should, when you look in the wrong direction, 527 00:29:09,169 --> 00:29:14,156 whatever it is, and then of course you have exactly the same 528 00:29:14,156 --> 00:29:18,336 problem as a consequence. So when you read the paper next 529 00:29:18,336 --> 00:29:22,716 time, when you watch the news next time, and you see that 530 00:29:22,716 --> 00:29:26,572 someone has passed away, remember that is you right 531 00:29:26,572 --> 00:29:29,700 there, there is no difference between you and that other 532 00:29:29,700 --> 00:29:33,464 person, you are susceptible to making exactly the same mistakes 533 00:29:33,464 --> 00:29:38,500 and things, same mistakes, and get things the wrong way around. 534 00:29:38,500 --> 00:29:42,250 We all make that mistake. So instead of thinking that, 535 00:29:42,250 --> 00:29:45,334 okay I am going to prolong my life by exercising properly, by 536 00:29:45,334 --> 00:29:48,335 eating in the right way, by doing some meditation, 537 00:29:48,335 --> 00:29:51,600 meditation is good for life, I am going to make me live longer, 538 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,002 that is the wrong way of thinking, because that again 539 00:29:54,002 --> 00:29:58,000 gives you the idea that you are in charge of your existence, 540 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,530 when actually it is not really like that, we don't know when 541 00:30:01,530 --> 00:30:05,472 death is going to happen. So look at that announcement in 542 00:30:05,472 --> 00:30:10,000 the paper, look at someone in your family circle passing away, 543 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,000 look at someone here in the Buddhist society passing away, 544 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:17,500 look at sometimes you maybe get close to death because you have 545 00:30:17,500 --> 00:30:21,501 some kind of illness, look at those things, take them on 546 00:30:21,501 --> 00:30:25,670 board, ask yourself, don't be in denial, don't think that you can 547 00:30:25,670 --> 00:30:29,000 escape this, feel what it feels like to be mortal. 548 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,750 And of course the reality is again the delusion, the 549 00:30:32,750 --> 00:30:36,232 illusion, the intoxication of the mind, again recedes as a 550 00:30:36,232 --> 00:30:38,693 consequence, and when that intoxication of the mind 551 00:30:38,693 --> 00:30:42,501 recedes, clarity arises in your mind, you see things clearly, 552 00:30:42,501 --> 00:30:47,200 and it is a beautiful moment when that happens, and you start 553 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,600 to understand the power of a reflection that may seem very 554 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,600 morbid, death reflection sounds morbid, it kind of goes without 555 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,572 saying, it may seem kind of negative or hard, but actually 556 00:30:59,572 --> 00:31:04,215 it is very beautiful because it clears out all the fog of the 557 00:31:04,215 --> 00:31:07,581 mind, the sky becomes clear, you see the stars, you understand 558 00:31:07,581 --> 00:31:11,334 what is going on, now you see life in an entirely new way, and 559 00:31:11,334 --> 00:31:15,000 again it reminds you of what really matters in this life. 560 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,440 Forget about all the nonsense, we spend so much time doing 561 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,600 stupid things in this world, actually instead we could 562 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,565 reflect on those things that matter, it makes you more kind, 563 00:31:25,565 --> 00:31:28,688 more caring as a person, much more interested in spiritual 564 00:31:28,688 --> 00:31:31,250 practice, much more interested in the word of the Buddha, 565 00:31:31,250 --> 00:31:35,820 seeing the Buddha, this great spiritual master who taught us 566 00:31:35,820 --> 00:31:39,250 some extraordinary simple techniques to take us a very 567 00:31:39,250 --> 00:31:42,848 very long way on the spiritual path, your mind, your heart, 568 00:31:42,848 --> 00:31:46,539 your whole body, your whole person inclines towards 569 00:31:46,539 --> 00:31:50,000 spirituality when you see these things more deeply. 570 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,890 It will come and go in waves, some days you see it clearly, 571 00:31:52,890 --> 00:31:55,595 then you forget it again, the fog descends on your mind again, 572 00:31:55,595 --> 00:31:59,000 oh what am I going to do, I am going to enjoy whatever it is, 573 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,715 and then it clears again, it goes up and down in waves like 574 00:32:02,715 --> 00:32:08,000 this, but gradually, it is not just about going in waves, it is 575 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,223 about having a kind of a tendency for those waves, you 576 00:32:13,223 --> 00:32:16,556 never go down as deep as you did last time, you go a little bit 577 00:32:16,556 --> 00:32:19,860 less down, the wave goes a little bit higher, and there is 578 00:32:19,860 --> 00:32:23,668 a trend going upwards, the trend of going upwards is a gradual 579 00:32:23,668 --> 00:32:29,000 deepening of clear seeing, as you do this more and more. 580 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,929 That is the idea of using depth for contemplation, these are 581 00:32:32,929 --> 00:32:35,670 very powerful techniques. Another idea that the Buddha 582 00:32:35,670 --> 00:32:39,667 also uses in the suttas is the idea that everything in the 583 00:32:39,667 --> 00:32:44,584 world, everything that you love and is dear to you must become 584 00:32:44,584 --> 00:32:48,000 otherwise, must become separated from you. 585 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:52,500 Everyone and everything that you love and is dear to you must 586 00:32:52,500 --> 00:32:57,000 become separated from you, must become otherwise. 587 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:01,412 It is a simple kind of thing, it is an idea when you walk around 588 00:33:01,412 --> 00:33:04,456 for example, some very simple ideas that when you walk around 589 00:33:04,456 --> 00:33:08,500 your house, and you start to see cracks in your house, what do 590 00:33:08,500 --> 00:33:11,000 you do when you see a crack in your house? 591 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,800 And again the first thing you think is, oh no, it is a new 592 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,878 house, it is not supposed to happen, what happened to the 593 00:33:15,878 --> 00:33:18,869 insurance, let me sort this out, this is wrong, no it is not 594 00:33:18,869 --> 00:33:22,335 wrong, this is the nature of the world, things are impermanent, 595 00:33:22,335 --> 00:33:25,858 things are unreliable, things are cracking, expect lots of 596 00:33:25,858 --> 00:33:29,429 cracks in your life, your whole life is full of cracks, let 597 00:33:29,429 --> 00:33:32,000 alone your house, cracks are everywhere. 598 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,667 When you see that crack, well denial comes, the next thing 599 00:33:35,667 --> 00:33:39,002 comes, how am I going to fix it up and repair it, and again it 600 00:33:39,002 --> 00:33:43,002 gives the illusion of being in power, in charge, that you can 601 00:33:43,002 --> 00:33:46,500 sort out the problems of life. Don't go there, instead again 602 00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:49,669 contemplate what is going on, everything teaches you a simple 603 00:33:49,669 --> 00:33:53,668 thing like a crack in your house, a simple thing like a 604 00:33:53,668 --> 00:33:57,001 burglar burgling your house, what is your first thought, oh 605 00:33:57,001 --> 00:33:59,878 no a burglar, second thought, let me get another lock so I can 606 00:33:59,878 --> 00:34:03,400 really lock it up next time, again it is the illusion coming 607 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:07,667 in, take that opportunity, it is the nature of houses to be 608 00:34:07,667 --> 00:34:10,500 burgled, it is the nature in Western Australia for houses to 609 00:34:10,500 --> 00:34:13,400 burn down, how despairing it might be, however despairing it 610 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,728 might be, it is still the nature of things, things crack, things 611 00:34:16,728 --> 00:34:20,600 mould, things gradually crumble, in a hundred years time your 612 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:25,000 house may be nothing but a pile of rubble, right? 613 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,556 These are very useful contemplations, again it shows 614 00:34:28,556 --> 00:34:33,668 you the limitations of the world around us, it drives the mind in 615 00:34:33,668 --> 00:34:36,000 a new direction towards the spiritual practice. 616 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:41,143 This is all becoming very negative, and I wonder when I 617 00:34:41,143 --> 00:34:46,000 say this, this is why Buddhism gets a really bad rap, right? 618 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,728 Because basically Buddhists are the most negative people in the 619 00:34:48,728 --> 00:34:52,000 world, it is all dukkha and suffering, it is all problems, 620 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,716 so we have to be careful with that, I would like to warn you 621 00:34:56,716 --> 00:35:00,365 by not going too far down that track, so one of the very 622 00:35:00,365 --> 00:35:04,144 important things on the Buddhist path is to balance out the idea 623 00:35:04,144 --> 00:35:09,400 of the perceptions that are hard to take, that are difficult and 624 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,625 challenging, balance those out with perceptions that are 625 00:35:12,625 --> 00:35:15,667 positive, that are delightful, that actually give rise to 626 00:35:15,667 --> 00:35:20,375 happiness as a balancing act, and as you have the happiness as 627 00:35:20,375 --> 00:35:24,335 a balance to seeing all the problems, then you have a 628 00:35:24,335 --> 00:35:28,500 balance in your spiritual practice, and then you will be 629 00:35:28,500 --> 00:35:30,500 fine. So the last contemplation that 630 00:35:30,500 --> 00:35:34,572 the Buddha often talks about is a more positive kind of 631 00:35:34,572 --> 00:35:38,000 contemplation, or it can be used in a more positive kind of way, 632 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,456 actually all of these really have a positive counter-effect 633 00:35:40,456 --> 00:35:43,310 to them, because if you use them rightly, and you see the 634 00:35:43,310 --> 00:35:45,800 intoxication going down, actually it does lead to the 635 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:49,100 mind being more clear, that is always a beautiful thing, so 636 00:35:49,100 --> 00:35:52,800 please notice that. But the one thing that the 637 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:58,310 Buddha does talk about, which to me is very interesting, is the 638 00:35:58,310 --> 00:36:03,668 idea of contemplating our kamma, our kamma are our actions, kamma 639 00:36:03,668 --> 00:36:06,112 actually means action. And when we contemplate our 640 00:36:06,112 --> 00:36:10,274 kamma in the right, where the Buddha says we are the owners of 641 00:36:10,274 --> 00:36:14,000 our kamma, so what are we not the owners of? 642 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,786 The things that we are not the owners of are all these other 643 00:36:16,786 --> 00:36:21,200 things that we think that we own in this life, our body, our 644 00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:25,600 reputation, all of these things that are tied to this particular 645 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,616 life, the Buddha calls those things borrowed goods, we have 646 00:36:30,616 --> 00:36:34,800 them for a while, when you die at the very latest, they all 647 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,334 have to go. But the one thing that doesn't 648 00:36:37,334 --> 00:36:40,728 have to go, and this is where the idea of rebirth is so 649 00:36:40,728 --> 00:36:44,000 powerful and so incredibly important in the Buddhist ideas, 650 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:47,668 because the idea of rebirth allows you to see beyond the 651 00:36:47,668 --> 00:36:51,504 ordinary horizon of things, and it allows you to see what is 652 00:36:51,504 --> 00:36:56,144 really owned by you in the long term, and that is our actions, 653 00:36:56,144 --> 00:36:58,716 the kamma. So how to contemplate that, and 654 00:36:58,716 --> 00:37:01,616 what I would really recommend you to contemplate, very, very 655 00:37:01,616 --> 00:37:05,334 carefully, and this is I think so important to encourage us, to 656 00:37:05,334 --> 00:37:08,000 encourage us to live in the right way. 657 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,875 And it is notice what happens when you do an act of kindness 658 00:37:12,875 --> 00:37:16,574 to somebody else. This is so important, when you 659 00:37:16,574 --> 00:37:22,275 really want to give someone else a gift, when you really want to 660 00:37:22,275 --> 00:37:26,500 say something very kind to somebody, and you really feel 661 00:37:26,500 --> 00:37:29,930 compassion inside of you, and you feel this urge to be kind to 662 00:37:29,930 --> 00:37:32,716 someone else, whatever it is, for goodness sake, if you really 663 00:37:32,716 --> 00:37:36,540 feel that urge to be kind to someone, in whatever way, please 664 00:37:36,540 --> 00:37:40,600 never stop yourself, never be afraid of doing that, take a bit 665 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,650 of risk even if it is required, if you never take any risk in 666 00:37:43,650 --> 00:37:46,286 anything in this life, you're never going to go anywhere, so 667 00:37:46,286 --> 00:37:49,145 take a bit of risk with kindness, especially when you 668 00:37:49,145 --> 00:37:51,716 feel the urge. And when you really come from 669 00:37:51,716 --> 00:37:55,264 your heart in doing an act of kindness, notice what that does 670 00:37:55,264 --> 00:37:59,685 to you, and what you will notice is that that act of kindness is 671 00:37:59,685 --> 00:38:03,334 uplifting, it does something very powerful to your mind, you 672 00:38:03,334 --> 00:38:07,335 feel good about it, and the goodness that you feel when you 673 00:38:07,335 --> 00:38:11,191 do an act of kindness is so different from the goodness that 674 00:38:11,191 --> 00:38:14,884 you might feel by indulging in the worldly things, it is a 675 00:38:14,884 --> 00:38:18,118 peaceful feeling, it is a feeling that you know has a 676 00:38:18,118 --> 00:38:21,335 certain spiritual quality, you know that it will lead you 677 00:38:21,335 --> 00:38:24,386 onwards on the spiritual path, and this is the idea of 678 00:38:24,386 --> 00:38:27,287 understanding the opposite side of the coin, what the spiritual 679 00:38:27,287 --> 00:38:30,500 path is really about. We've just talked about how all 680 00:38:30,500 --> 00:38:33,430 of these worldly things are hollow, there is no essence to 681 00:38:33,430 --> 00:38:36,429 them, there is nothing there that is really interesting in 682 00:38:36,429 --> 00:38:40,716 this body, in these worldly things, because they are so 683 00:38:40,716 --> 00:38:44,574 unreliable, so impermanent, but here you are dealing with 684 00:38:44,574 --> 00:38:49,068 something that has far more solidity to it, even the idea of 685 00:38:49,068 --> 00:38:53,002 kamma at the end of the day is not entirely solid, but it is 686 00:38:53,002 --> 00:38:57,232 far more solid than the things of the world, so notice how it 687 00:38:57,232 --> 00:39:01,002 lifts you up, notice how it makes you happy, when you do 688 00:39:01,002 --> 00:39:05,001 that you will never want to forgo any opportunity to do an 689 00:39:05,001 --> 00:39:08,548 act of kindness, please never forgo that opportunity, look for 690 00:39:08,548 --> 00:39:12,337 opportunities to be kind, any opportunity that you have to say 691 00:39:12,337 --> 00:39:16,500 a kind word, to think a kind thought for goodness sake is 692 00:39:16,500 --> 00:39:20,954 often enough, do an act of generosity, and believe me there 693 00:39:20,954 --> 00:39:24,048 are so many good people in this world who do these kind of 694 00:39:24,048 --> 00:39:27,403 things all the time, become one of them, or become if you are 695 00:39:27,403 --> 00:39:31,336 one of them, become even better, do even more of it, because this 696 00:39:31,336 --> 00:39:35,167 is where you build up your spiritual life, stage by stage, 697 00:39:35,167 --> 00:39:39,446 stone by stone, brick by brick, building it up until the 698 00:39:39,446 --> 00:39:43,354 foundation is so strong, that when you come here on a Friday 699 00:39:43,354 --> 00:39:46,375 night and you listen to Ajahn Brahm's peaceful meditation, you 700 00:39:46,375 --> 00:39:49,375 too will have a beautiful meditation experience, because 701 00:39:49,375 --> 00:39:54,400 all the foundation work has been laid for making that meditation 702 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:58,501 possible, this is the right view, the vipassana, the clear 703 00:39:58,501 --> 00:40:02,910 seeing of the power of kindness in the world, understanding the 704 00:40:02,910 --> 00:40:07,400 connection between kindness and how you feel about yourself, it 705 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:12,600 is so important, and as you do that you are balancing out the 706 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,177 negative perceptions with the positive perceptions, actually 707 00:40:15,177 --> 00:40:17,472 they are not really negative at all, it is just that we think 708 00:40:17,472 --> 00:40:20,156 they are negative, actually the perceptions of old age, death 709 00:40:20,156 --> 00:40:22,436 and sickness are actually beautiful perceptions, if you 710 00:40:22,436 --> 00:40:25,481 know what they are, if you know how they work, it is just that 711 00:40:25,481 --> 00:40:30,000 we often perceive them in that way, and so we need to balance 712 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:35,500 them with something else. So these are some ideas for you, 713 00:40:35,500 --> 00:40:39,565 how to contemplate ordinary life, every moment in life gives 714 00:40:39,565 --> 00:40:42,688 an opportunity to contemplate these things in one way or 715 00:40:42,688 --> 00:40:46,320 another, because there are so many opportunities to live with 716 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,300 kindness, or to remember the downsides of things as well, to 717 00:40:50,300 --> 00:40:53,000 see if you can use this in daily life. 718 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:59,355 Now, one of the things here, one of the important things about 719 00:40:59,355 --> 00:41:04,184 the idea of clear seeing, is that clear seeing, the ability 720 00:41:04,184 --> 00:41:08,800 to see deeply into things, the depth of the clarity you have, 721 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:14,000 will actually depend a lot on the peace you have in your mind, 722 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,600 so in ordinary life you will find that sometimes the depth of 723 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,834 understanding, even a simple thing like old age, is not going 724 00:41:20,834 --> 00:41:24,169 to be all that deep, because your mind is busy, you are 725 00:41:24,169 --> 00:41:26,670 thinking about things, and you will kind of want to go on to 726 00:41:26,670 --> 00:41:29,336 the next thing, because you are running around, like we are all 727 00:41:29,336 --> 00:41:33,000 slaves to craving, as it so beautifully says in the suttas, 728 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,455 so because of that it is hard to take this fully on board, so 729 00:41:36,455 --> 00:41:41,000 sometimes reflect on these things when you feel more calm, 730 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,668 come to a nice meditation here at the Maloka Centre, then 731 00:41:44,668 --> 00:41:48,695 reflect on these things, go on a meditation retreat, there will 732 00:41:48,695 --> 00:41:52,252 be more meditation retreats coming up, then reflect on these 733 00:41:52,252 --> 00:41:55,688 things, and then you will see that because your mind is 734 00:41:55,688 --> 00:41:58,464 peaceful, because there are less defilements in your mind, 735 00:41:58,464 --> 00:42:02,310 because you are less distracted, it has the ability to penetrate 736 00:42:02,310 --> 00:42:05,716 deeper within, and you will actually then, then that 737 00:42:05,716 --> 00:42:09,286 contemplation will be more powerful, it will make you even 738 00:42:09,286 --> 00:42:13,000 less intoxicated, even detoxification, this is the real 739 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,085 detoxification, right? We talk about detoxifying the 740 00:42:16,085 --> 00:42:21,668 body, that's just kind of baby stuff, this is the real 741 00:42:21,668 --> 00:42:25,668 detoxification, right? Detoxify yourself from the 742 00:42:25,668 --> 00:42:31,310 illusion of youth and health. This sounds very opposite of 743 00:42:31,310 --> 00:42:35,944 what anyone in the world would ever say, but anyway, that's why 744 00:42:35,944 --> 00:42:39,000 it is kind of nice to say it, this is the real detoxification, 745 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:43,000 this is the way you really gain that kind of clarity. 746 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,168 So, do some meditation, then these things really start to 747 00:42:47,168 --> 00:42:50,670 sink in, and that is where it becomes even more powerful, and 748 00:42:50,670 --> 00:42:55,003 this gives you an idea of why the idea of meditation and 749 00:42:55,003 --> 00:42:59,200 insight and clear seeing always go together, the more calm, the 750 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:02,500 more peaceful you are, the more clearly you actually start to 751 00:43:02,500 --> 00:43:07,003 see what is going on, and this goes deeper and deeper and 752 00:43:07,003 --> 00:43:11,000 deeper, two things always conjoined in Buddhism, calm and 753 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:15,500 clear seeing, samatha and vipassana, they cannot really be 754 00:43:15,500 --> 00:43:19,669 separated, the more you read the word of the Buddha, the more 755 00:43:19,669 --> 00:43:23,073 insight you get into the Buddha's teachings, you start to 756 00:43:23,073 --> 00:43:26,643 see how samatha and vipassana always used together in the 757 00:43:26,643 --> 00:43:29,911 suttas, they are not separate things, there isn't something 758 00:43:29,911 --> 00:43:32,144 called vipassana meditation, there is something called 759 00:43:32,144 --> 00:43:35,000 vipassana meditation, there is no such thing in the suttas, 760 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:39,000 this is a later invention used for, I don't know exactly why, 761 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,693 but it is used as a kind of marketing technique, or whatever 762 00:43:42,693 --> 00:43:45,816 else, what the reason is, these things always go together, 763 00:43:45,816 --> 00:43:49,059 because when you are calm and peaceful, guaranteed, you will 764 00:43:49,059 --> 00:43:53,648 see things more deeply, so then you go deeper and deeper in your 765 00:43:53,648 --> 00:44:00,364 meditation, and what is it actually that we are seeing all 766 00:44:00,364 --> 00:44:04,500 along, when we are focusing in the deeper meditation, when we 767 00:44:04,500 --> 00:44:08,819 are focusing even on the simple things in daily life, what is it 768 00:44:08,819 --> 00:44:12,095 actually that is going on here, what is this called in the 769 00:44:12,095 --> 00:44:15,144 suttas, all of these kinds of contemplations, now one of the 770 00:44:15,144 --> 00:44:18,716 things that you find in the suttas of the Buddha, the Buddha 771 00:44:18,716 --> 00:44:21,572 often talks about the contemplation of the five 772 00:44:21,572 --> 00:44:24,766 aggregates, the five khandhas, it is a very very common 773 00:44:24,766 --> 00:44:27,412 contemplation, the five aggregates are, it is a very 774 00:44:27,412 --> 00:44:30,919 technical word, aggregate means nothing, this is why Buddhism 775 00:44:30,919 --> 00:44:34,787 doesn't work for many people, because we use the wrong 776 00:44:34,787 --> 00:44:38,412 translations, five aggregates, it is kind of five heaps, the 777 00:44:38,412 --> 00:44:42,120 five heaps of gravel, or something like that, so 778 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:46,236 aggregate is a factor of your personality, so five personality 779 00:44:46,236 --> 00:44:50,356 factors, five factors of personality is maybe a nice way 780 00:44:50,356 --> 00:44:54,800 of talking about it, the Buddha talks about the contemplation of 781 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:57,500 the five aggregates, and many people don't really understand 782 00:44:57,500 --> 00:45:00,750 what that means, it is a question I get very often as a 783 00:45:00,750 --> 00:45:04,003 monk, what does it mean to contemplate the five aggregates, 784 00:45:04,003 --> 00:45:07,500 what does it mean to contemplate the five khandhas, yeah, 785 00:45:07,500 --> 00:45:12,353 feelings, form, perception, what exactly, what is all this, and 786 00:45:12,353 --> 00:45:16,589 of course the interesting thing is that the things that I have 787 00:45:16,589 --> 00:45:20,060 been talking about today, the contemplation of old age, 788 00:45:20,060 --> 00:45:24,589 sickness and death, that itself is a contemplation of the five 789 00:45:24,589 --> 00:45:27,723 aggregates, specifically the form aggregate, because this has 790 00:45:27,723 --> 00:45:33,125 to do with form, the physical form of who we are, this is a 791 00:45:33,125 --> 00:45:35,750 contemplation of the perceptions, the perceptions of 792 00:45:35,750 --> 00:45:39,800 what we take ourselves to be, are we the mental content, the 793 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:43,100 purity of a mind built up through living well and doing 794 00:45:43,100 --> 00:45:47,708 the right thing, or are we this physical body that is so 795 00:45:47,708 --> 00:45:50,178 impermanent, perceptions themselves are contemplated in 796 00:45:50,178 --> 00:45:54,501 this way, the will, what is interesting to us, where we 797 00:45:54,501 --> 00:45:58,273 incline our mind is also contemplated in this way, so 798 00:45:58,273 --> 00:46:01,000 this is what it means to contemplate the five aggregates, 799 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:06,000 it means simple things like contemplating old age, 800 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,556 contemplating old age, you are contemplating the five 801 00:46:09,556 --> 00:46:13,500 aggregates, of course it is a very fairly superficial way of 802 00:46:13,500 --> 00:46:16,300 contemplating them, but nonetheless that is exactly what 803 00:46:16,300 --> 00:46:20,002 it is, and then as your meditation starts to deepen, you 804 00:46:20,002 --> 00:46:23,456 start to really enjoy the meditation, you start to become 805 00:46:23,456 --> 00:46:27,459 very peaceful, you come out, that is when you can contemplate 806 00:46:27,459 --> 00:46:30,334 these five factors of personality more deeply, not 807 00:46:30,334 --> 00:46:33,334 being satisfied with just contemplating old age, death and 808 00:46:33,334 --> 00:46:37,866 these things, you start to look at the process of meditation, 809 00:46:37,866 --> 00:46:41,682 and the process of meditation has a large amount of data in 810 00:46:41,682 --> 00:46:45,637 it, and you use that data coming through the process of 811 00:46:45,637 --> 00:46:48,695 meditation, seeing the peacefulness of the mind, seeing 812 00:46:48,695 --> 00:46:53,471 the ending of the thinking mind, or at least the calming down of 813 00:46:53,471 --> 00:46:56,648 the thinking mind, seeing the gradual disappearance of the 814 00:46:56,648 --> 00:47:00,752 body, seeing the five senses fading away, seeing the will 815 00:47:00,752 --> 00:47:04,668 becoming more soft, that is why you are becoming more peaceful, 816 00:47:04,668 --> 00:47:07,848 seeing your perceptions change, now you only have the perception 817 00:47:07,848 --> 00:47:11,155 of the breath, everything else is gone, seeing your feelings 818 00:47:11,155 --> 00:47:14,616 changing, your painful feelings, what happened to my painful 819 00:47:14,616 --> 00:47:18,790 feelings, yay, no more painful feelings, this is really then 820 00:47:18,790 --> 00:47:23,000 becomes where the deepening of that insight starts to happen, 821 00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:27,524 but you will notice it is the same kind of insight that we 822 00:47:27,524 --> 00:47:31,316 have from the very fundamental basic things on the path, old 823 00:47:31,316 --> 00:47:34,792 age, death, sickness, everything that is beloved and dear to me 824 00:47:34,792 --> 00:47:37,250 must become otherwise and separated from me, the 825 00:47:37,250 --> 00:47:40,250 contemplation of come, it is the same kind of thing, except that 826 00:47:40,250 --> 00:47:43,136 it goes deeper, but it all starts with those basic things 827 00:47:43,136 --> 00:47:47,502 that we can do in daily life, then when that starts to bite, 828 00:47:47,502 --> 00:47:51,092 when your view becomes more clear, that enables the 829 00:47:51,092 --> 00:47:54,800 meditation to become deeper because of right view, then when 830 00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:58,400 the meditation becomes deeper, you start to understand these 831 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:04,000 five aspects of personality in a far deeper way as a consequence. 832 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:11,314 So this is then the idea of how to start developing clear seeing 833 00:48:11,314 --> 00:48:15,670 in ordinary life, eventually leading on and on and on, stage 834 00:48:15,670 --> 00:48:19,500 by stage to more and more profound depths of seeing, until 835 00:48:19,500 --> 00:48:23,500 eventually it leads to the very awakening experiences 836 00:48:23,500 --> 00:48:26,669 themselves. There is a lot more to be said 837 00:48:26,669 --> 00:48:31,184 about this, I barely touched the surface of what counts as 838 00:48:31,184 --> 00:48:35,000 contemplation, what counts as developing our perceptions, 839 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:38,645 developing right view and all of these kind of things, and I hope 840 00:48:38,645 --> 00:48:41,632 to be able to talk more about this in future talks, because I 841 00:48:41,632 --> 00:48:45,424 think these are some of the most important things that we often 842 00:48:45,424 --> 00:48:49,310 forget about in our practice, the development of our outlook, 843 00:48:49,310 --> 00:48:53,792 looking at the world in the right way, perceiving the world 844 00:48:53,792 --> 00:48:57,474 in a way that is counter to our habits and the usual way of 845 00:48:57,474 --> 00:49:00,911 doing things, getting ourselves aligned with the way the Buddha 846 00:49:00,911 --> 00:49:04,337 saw the world. That is what this path is really 847 00:49:04,337 --> 00:49:08,800 about, and that is what I am hoping to enable you and also 848 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:12,000 myself and everyone to get closer to her. 849 00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:18,000 Okay, everyone, that is the talk for tonight. 850 00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:25,200 Okay, so let's have some questions and comments from 851 00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:30,125 anyone, so please feel free to ask whatever, there is no limits 852 00:49:30,125 --> 00:49:35,000 here in the Dhammaloka Centre, you are very welcome to ask. 853 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:45,000 Thanks Ajahn Brahmali. Where are you? 854 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,000 Just here. Okay, great. 855 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:51,670 This is a question about impermanence, I don't quite get 856 00:49:51,670 --> 00:49:57,772 why it is so important, because in Buddhism, if you think about, 857 00:49:57,772 --> 00:50:03,225 we are always on about impermanence, but if you look at 858 00:50:03,225 --> 00:50:09,334 say an old building, it has been there for a very long time, so 859 00:50:09,334 --> 00:50:13,001 they might be impermanent, but they have been there for an 860 00:50:13,001 --> 00:50:19,819 extremely long time, so in Buddhism is seeing the mind as 861 00:50:19,819 --> 00:50:25,890 impermanent more important, is the natural state of the mind 862 00:50:25,890 --> 00:50:33,858 very impermanent, and the issue is that I am seeing my mind as a 863 00:50:33,858 --> 00:50:38,860 fixed mind, is there a different rate of change between the 864 00:50:38,860 --> 00:50:44,000 Egyptian pyramid and my mind? I would say so, yes. 865 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:50,002 Well, there are many things to be said about this, but first of 866 00:50:50,002 --> 00:50:53,334 all the mind is probably the most impermanent of all 867 00:50:53,334 --> 00:50:56,574 impermanent things, the mind is just like flashes, you have one 868 00:50:56,574 --> 00:50:59,430 feeling, you have another feeling, you have one desire, 869 00:50:59,430 --> 00:51:03,472 another desire, one perception, it kind of moves so fast, I mean 870 00:51:03,472 --> 00:51:06,530 just right now when I am looking at the crowd, my perception is 871 00:51:06,530 --> 00:51:09,400 changing dramatically, it is like sweeping across everyone, 872 00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:12,477 mind is incredibly impermanent, the Buddha says that if you were 873 00:51:12,477 --> 00:51:15,000 wise, you would take the body as yourself rather than the mind, 874 00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,060 because the body at least lasts for a while, whereas the mind is 875 00:51:18,060 --> 00:51:22,200 like moment to moment, it is changing all the time, so that 876 00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:26,464 is true, but the real problem with impermanence is that even 877 00:51:26,464 --> 00:51:29,668 with the external world, forget about the pyramids, because the 878 00:51:29,668 --> 00:51:33,400 pyramids are too far away to really have an impact on us, but 879 00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:38,200 even with the external world, the reality is that we attach to 880 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:41,502 external things, and the reason we attach to external things is 881 00:51:41,502 --> 00:51:44,278 because our sense of self leeches into the world, the 882 00:51:44,278 --> 00:51:47,892 sense of self does not kind of confine itself to this mind and 883 00:51:47,892 --> 00:51:51,670 this body of ours, or just the mind, it goes into the world to 884 00:51:51,670 --> 00:51:55,212 express itself in the world, so we attach to things, the most 885 00:51:55,212 --> 00:51:59,000 important things we attach to in the world is a partner, right? 886 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:02,600 Having a nice partner in life is one of the really important 887 00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:07,000 things for the vast majority of human beings, partners are 888 00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:11,617 impermanent, right? You don't know how long they are 889 00:52:11,617 --> 00:52:14,650 going to last, they might die, and if they don't die they might 890 00:52:14,650 --> 00:52:17,500 leave you, or you might leave them, or whatever happens, and 891 00:52:17,500 --> 00:52:22,000 that is the problem with impermanence, that things that 892 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:26,128 look nice, things that you think you can attach to, will be 893 00:52:26,128 --> 00:52:30,002 ripped from you sooner or later, sometimes there will be like an 894 00:52:30,002 --> 00:52:33,500 amical separation, it will be fine, but a lot of the time 895 00:52:33,500 --> 00:52:36,429 things get taken from you when you are not ready, every 896 00:52:36,429 --> 00:52:40,288 attachment, every kind of indulgence in the sensory world 897 00:52:40,288 --> 00:52:44,648 must end in tears, the end point is always tears, the end point 898 00:52:44,648 --> 00:52:48,335 is always suffering, that is the big problem, so when you come to 899 00:52:48,335 --> 00:52:51,801 the end of your life, or even long before that, you will have 900 00:52:51,801 --> 00:52:54,202 gone through endless heartaches, everyone has been through these 901 00:52:54,202 --> 00:52:56,716 kind of things, when we have been attached to someone and 902 00:52:56,716 --> 00:52:59,650 they have been taken from us, or there have been things that were 903 00:52:59,650 --> 00:53:03,125 very close to us and they get taken from us, it can be 904 00:53:03,125 --> 00:53:06,875 extraordinarily painful, and only people who are not in touch 905 00:53:06,875 --> 00:53:09,878 with their emotions, will not be able to feel that, they are not 906 00:53:09,878 --> 00:53:13,000 in touch with their emotions anyways, they already have a 907 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:15,602 problem, right? So this is the issue with 908 00:53:15,602 --> 00:53:18,334 external things, and this is the problem with impermanence, even 909 00:53:18,334 --> 00:53:21,667 there already there is enormous amount of suffering in the 910 00:53:21,667 --> 00:53:25,792 world, then comes the mind on top of that, and that is far, 911 00:53:25,792 --> 00:53:29,390 far worse as you rightly point out, because the mind is always 912 00:53:29,390 --> 00:53:33,000 changing, and we take our mental content, we take that as a self, 913 00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:36,667 and of course when that self changes, then it becomes very 914 00:53:36,667 --> 00:53:40,002 problematic, and it leads to again enormous kinds of problems 915 00:53:40,002 --> 00:53:43,716 in the world as a consequence, but even just starting with the 916 00:53:43,716 --> 00:53:46,286 external world is actually a very powerful thing, because 917 00:53:46,286 --> 00:53:49,718 that drives you in the right direction, at least then you can 918 00:53:49,718 --> 00:53:53,000 start developing your mind in the right way, then you have a 919 00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,750 foot in the door of the spiritual path, that will take 920 00:53:55,750 --> 00:53:59,000 you in the right direction, and eventually you can start 921 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,600 uncovering also the impermanence and the unreliability of the 922 00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:08,946 mind. Okay, a small nod there, I am 923 00:54:08,946 --> 00:54:12,693 not entirely sure, but come back later on if you like, I am very 924 00:54:12,693 --> 00:54:14,770 happy to come back later on if you wish. 925 00:54:14,770 --> 00:54:17,310 Please. Thank you for the talk. 926 00:54:17,310 --> 00:54:21,858 So very quickly you said an interesting thing, you said 927 00:54:21,858 --> 00:54:27,860 karma is a bit dodgy, no, you said karma is a bit not solid, 928 00:54:27,860 --> 00:54:34,000 that is what you said, so I was thinking about that, is that 929 00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:42,155 because karma is action, and action is a product of the five 930 00:54:42,155 --> 00:54:48,001 heaps, because those are impermanent, therefore, is that 931 00:54:48,001 --> 00:54:51,695 what you meant? What I meant is that once you 932 00:54:51,695 --> 00:54:54,892 make good karma, you are already, you have already heaped 933 00:54:54,892 --> 00:54:57,334 up a lot of happiness for yourself because you are doing 934 00:54:57,334 --> 00:55:00,670 the good things, you get the result of that, but those 935 00:55:00,670 --> 00:55:04,295 results are ultimately limited, they will only last so long, so 936 00:55:04,295 --> 00:55:07,530 even the kama vipaka, vipaka is really what we are talking 937 00:55:07,530 --> 00:55:11,802 about, the result of kama, and those results have a limited 938 00:55:11,802 --> 00:55:16,626 lifespan, but it is far, far, far greater lifespan than what 939 00:55:16,626 --> 00:55:20,376 we experience in this world, the things that only last for this 940 00:55:20,376 --> 00:55:22,930 particular life, so kama may be something, let's say you get 941 00:55:22,930 --> 00:55:26,670 reborn in a deva loka, are you aspiring to get reborn as a 942 00:55:26,670 --> 00:55:27,336 deva? No? 943 00:55:27,336 --> 00:55:31,180 You look a bit, not sure there, okay, but let's say whether you 944 00:55:31,180 --> 00:55:34,000 want to or not, you will get reborn as a deva, right? 945 00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:37,276 Let's say that happens, because you are a good guy, so chances 946 00:55:37,276 --> 00:55:41,276 of you getting reborn in a good place are good, so let's say you 947 00:55:41,276 --> 00:55:45,410 get reborn in a deva loka, and let's say the lifespan is 30 948 00:55:45,410 --> 00:55:48,716 million years, something like that, so you are chilled for 30 949 00:55:48,716 --> 00:55:51,892 million years, that is the power of kama, whereas here you kind 950 00:55:51,892 --> 00:55:54,778 of go on for, what is it, 80 years or whatever, you enjoy 951 00:55:54,778 --> 00:55:57,816 things, 30 million compared to 80, there is a massive 952 00:55:57,816 --> 00:56:01,155 difference there, and that is my point, and it doesn't even stop 953 00:56:01,155 --> 00:56:04,620 at the end of that life, that kama is likely to carry on for a 954 00:56:04,620 --> 00:56:08,212 long time even after that again, so you get reborn as a human, 955 00:56:08,212 --> 00:56:11,370 you still will enjoy those things, but eventually it will 956 00:56:11,370 --> 00:56:14,000 wear out, but what is interesting is that the Buddha 957 00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:17,878 says we are the owners of our kama, so what he is saying there 958 00:56:17,878 --> 00:56:22,232 is, even this is, what I suspect he is saying, he is not saying 959 00:56:22,232 --> 00:56:26,050 this is a final and ultimate kind of ownership, but it is 960 00:56:26,050 --> 00:56:30,250 more of an ownership than what we normally have in the world, 961 00:56:30,250 --> 00:56:34,912 it is closer to ownership. So it is the effect of the kama 962 00:56:34,912 --> 00:56:39,274 that is impermanent, not the idea of the kama, the effect of 963 00:56:39,274 --> 00:56:41,440 the kama. The effect of it is impermanent, 964 00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:45,040 yeah, but it is your job to make sure that the doing of the good 965 00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:50,445 kama is not impermanent, that is your job, yeah, thank you for 966 00:56:50,445 --> 00:56:57,802 that. Thank you Ajahn for drawing a 967 00:56:57,802 --> 00:57:01,534 similarity between a super tanker, kilometer long super 968 00:57:01,534 --> 00:57:08,000 tanker, and your mind takes days or years to turn direction, 969 00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:11,335 yeah, some people probably spend their whole lifetime or maybe 970 00:57:11,335 --> 00:57:13,000 many lifetimes taking the direction. 971 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:17,802 Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. Ajahn, isn't it the principle of 972 00:57:17,802 --> 00:57:23,252 non-self, anatta, that you can't do what you want, you want to do 973 00:57:23,252 --> 00:57:26,688 it, but it doesn't happen because you have no control of 974 00:57:26,688 --> 00:57:31,000 yourself, so is it the non-self aspect of it? 975 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:36,000 You can't choose your choices, yeah, or something like that. 976 00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:41,000 The thing is that you will do what you are conditioned to do, 977 00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:43,890 so if you are a Buddhist and you get brainwashed by Ajahn Brahm 978 00:57:43,890 --> 00:57:46,316 and told do good things, you will do good things whether you 979 00:57:46,316 --> 00:57:49,540 want to or not, it is kind of irrelevant, it is not about you, 980 00:57:49,540 --> 00:57:52,000 it is about the brainwashing, the brainwashing works. 981 00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:57,000 But for you, for most people it will seem as if I am doing it, 982 00:57:57,000 --> 00:57:59,648 it will feel that way, it feels I am doing good, that is what it 983 00:57:59,648 --> 00:58:02,200 feels like, so that is okay, so you just go with that feeling, 984 00:58:02,200 --> 00:58:07,269 so you do good, go along with that feeling, don't worry too 985 00:58:07,269 --> 00:58:11,000 much about the non-self down the track. 986 00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:16,000 Thank you Ajahn. You are welcome. 987 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:20,232 Oh, Eddie, there is no night at Dhammaloka without Eddie asking 988 00:58:20,232 --> 00:58:22,715 a question. Okay, maybe over here first of 989 00:58:22,715 --> 00:58:25,003 all. Eddie, you had so many chances, 990 00:58:25,003 --> 00:58:28,801 but Bill, let's go over here first of all, because we have 991 00:58:28,801 --> 00:58:31,734 heard Eddie many, many times, so let's give other people a 992 00:58:31,734 --> 00:58:33,869 chance. Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, 993 00:58:33,869 --> 00:58:36,000 Eddie, just to give a bit of a... 994 00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:40,715 How the monk names are chosen? Aha, how the monk names are 995 00:58:40,715 --> 00:58:42,750 chosen. In most places in the world, the 996 00:58:42,750 --> 00:58:45,446 preceptor, your teacher will choose a name for you and he 997 00:58:45,446 --> 00:58:49,400 will say, you are, so and so. That is what happened when I 998 00:58:49,400 --> 00:58:52,650 became a novice monk. We had a monk from Thailand, in 999 00:58:52,650 --> 00:58:55,177 Thailand they are much more bossy than monks over here, so 1000 00:58:55,177 --> 00:58:57,824 he said, your name is Sujato, I said, yes sir, that is all I can 1001 00:58:57,824 --> 00:59:02,000 say, I can't really say anything else, so yes sir, okay. 1002 00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:04,540 So I became Sujato, but then there was another monk called 1003 00:59:04,540 --> 00:59:06,885 Sujato already, you probably know about Sujato, and so I 1004 00:59:06,885 --> 00:59:10,068 thought maybe it is not such a good idea, because if there is 1005 00:59:10,068 --> 00:59:13,000 another, he is also, well I wasn't Australian at the time, 1006 00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:16,000 but he is Australian as well, so kind of... 1007 00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:19,468 So next time, Ajahn Brahm was going to be my preceptor for my 1008 00:59:19,468 --> 00:59:22,144 higher ordination. Ajahn Brahm has a completely 1009 00:59:22,144 --> 00:59:24,386 different philosophy. I said to Ajahn Brahm, well, 1010 00:59:24,386 --> 00:59:27,266 maybe I should have a different name, would you give me a name? 1011 00:59:27,266 --> 00:59:30,000 No, no, find your own name, that is what he says to me. 1012 00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:33,530 So I found my own name, and what is kind of really weird is that 1013 00:59:33,530 --> 00:59:38,000 my name, Bra-Mali, has the same meaning as Brahma-Vangso. 1014 00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:43,000 The ending Ali and the ending Vangso both mean like lineage, 1015 00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:46,112 the line of lineage, so it is a lineage or line of Brahma, that 1016 00:59:46,112 --> 00:59:48,750 is what it means. So it has the same meaning, I 1017 00:59:48,750 --> 00:59:52,625 didn't know at the time, so that was kind of really, really 1018 00:59:52,625 --> 00:59:55,288 strange. So I guess I am in the lineage 1019 00:59:55,288 --> 01:00:00,000 of Ajahn Brahm, I don't know. Anyway, hopefully. 1020 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:03,638 Anyone else? Okay, maybe, let's give Eddie a 1021 01:00:03,638 --> 01:00:09,000 chance as well. Please keep it short, Eddie. 1022 01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:14,834 Ajahn Brahmli, coming back to what you talked about tonight, 1023 01:00:14,834 --> 01:00:21,446 on insight, Vipassana, I relate that to insight meditation, 1024 01:00:21,446 --> 01:00:27,668 Vipassana meditation, the thinking, in order to get that 1025 01:00:27,668 --> 01:00:35,334 clear thinking, so we have to calm ourselves down towards 1026 01:00:35,334 --> 01:00:39,848 meditation, so we are calmed down, like say for example, the 1027 01:00:39,848 --> 01:00:44,637 pond of water, when it is very clear, then we can see through 1028 01:00:44,637 --> 01:00:47,400 things. So we have to calm ourselves 1029 01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:51,000 down during the day. Did you see what I mean? 1030 01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:53,000 Yes, I know exactly what you mean. 1031 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:56,000 The two sides of the coin, the other one is Samatha meditation, 1032 01:00:56,000 --> 01:01:00,695 that leads to Jhana. I was trying to say before that 1033 01:01:00,695 --> 01:01:04,200 the suttas don't have this difference between Samatha and 1034 01:01:04,200 --> 01:01:07,079 Vipassana meditation, it's not a thing in the suttas, this is 1035 01:01:07,079 --> 01:01:10,001 just a modern invention. So there is only one meditation, 1036 01:01:10,001 --> 01:01:13,334 that's called meditation, and it leads to two results, Samatha 1037 01:01:13,334 --> 01:01:17,000 and Vipassana. That's what I say. 1038 01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:19,446 The simile you are talking about is a very nice one, the simile 1039 01:01:19,446 --> 01:01:22,430 that is actually found in the suttas, and I really agree with 1040 01:01:22,430 --> 01:01:26,667 that one, it's a simile that when you go to a clear mountain 1041 01:01:26,667 --> 01:01:29,616 lake, and when you look into a clear mountain lake, because the 1042 01:01:29,616 --> 01:01:33,273 water is so pure, you see everything that is in there, you 1043 01:01:33,273 --> 01:01:36,430 see the fishes, you see the gravel on the bottom, I don't 1044 01:01:36,430 --> 01:01:39,000 know if you have ever been to a mountain lake, that's beautiful, 1045 01:01:39,000 --> 01:01:41,786 I've been to many of those, because we have lots of those in 1046 01:01:41,786 --> 01:01:44,334 Norway, where I was born, and you see all the things, and in 1047 01:01:44,334 --> 01:01:46,500 the same way the mind, as you quite rightly said, the mind 1048 01:01:46,500 --> 01:01:49,834 that is truly peaceful, is like a clear mountain lake, you see 1049 01:01:49,834 --> 01:01:54,000 through it, it's lucid, and you see what's going on. 1050 01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:58,455 Even Ajahn Chah, he says there are two sides to a coin, but 1051 01:01:58,455 --> 01:02:03,000 Ajahn Brahm is for his side, you know, it's Jhana. 1052 01:02:03,000 --> 01:02:07,125 No, it's the same thing, Jhana is Jnana Dasana, Jhana is called 1053 01:02:07,125 --> 01:02:10,667 Jnana Dasana in the suttas, Jnana Dasana is knowledge and 1054 01:02:10,667 --> 01:02:13,000 vision, Jhana state is also knowledge and vision. 1055 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,439 This is the thing, when Ajahn Chah says there are two sides of 1056 01:02:15,439 --> 01:02:19,000 the same coin, it's the same thing, right, it comes together, 1057 01:02:19,000 --> 01:02:21,400 you cannot separate them, that's the point of the two sides of 1058 01:02:21,400 --> 01:02:25,000 the same coin, it always comes together, they're not separable. 1059 01:02:25,000 --> 01:02:29,584 So there is meditation, it has two results, calm and clear 1060 01:02:29,584 --> 01:02:32,626 seeing, that's the way it is explained in the suttas, and so 1061 01:02:32,626 --> 01:02:35,752 this idea of Vipassana meditation is just a modern idea 1062 01:02:35,752 --> 01:02:39,100 that has come about, and it's not necessarily wrong, but it's 1063 01:02:39,100 --> 01:02:41,668 more like marketing, than actually having a real 1064 01:02:41,668 --> 01:02:46,730 foundation in the suttas. So, the clear seeing, what I 1065 01:02:46,730 --> 01:02:53,000 mean is the insight seeing, a lot of weight will be on the 1066 01:02:53,000 --> 01:02:57,548 minds, the five aggregates, the main reason, on our self, the 1067 01:02:57,548 --> 01:03:00,750 suffering, all these things, the emphasis will be on that, isn't 1068 01:03:00,750 --> 01:03:03,400 it? Yeah, come to my retreat in 1069 01:03:03,400 --> 01:03:07,000 July, we'll talk about these things in more depth. 1070 01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:10,000 Okay, let's have a quick look at the questions from overseas. 1071 01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:15,500 So, okay, so we have a question from Germany, Dear Ajahn, does 1072 01:03:15,500 --> 01:03:20,287 right view access your subconscious and gives it peace 1073 01:03:20,287 --> 01:03:24,085 from negative memories, can right view strengthen my 1074 01:03:24,085 --> 01:03:27,000 self-confidence to trust myself in the future? 1075 01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:31,000 Does it access your subconscious? 1076 01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:34,250 I don't know if there is any subconscious in Buddhism, there 1077 01:03:34,250 --> 01:03:37,572 may be things that we are not really fully conscious of, but I 1078 01:03:37,572 --> 01:03:40,145 don't think they are actually subconscious from a Buddhist 1079 01:03:40,145 --> 01:03:44,600 point of view, but yes, I think right view affects everything in 1080 01:03:44,600 --> 01:03:48,626 you, your whole mind and all its various parts, and it 1081 01:03:48,626 --> 01:03:52,064 straightens things out, and yes, it will give peace from negative 1082 01:03:52,064 --> 01:03:54,750 memories as well, all of those things will get straightened 1083 01:03:54,750 --> 01:03:57,800 out, because you will be able to let go more, you will be able to 1084 01:03:57,800 --> 01:04:00,334 forgive, all of these things come with right view, everything 1085 01:04:00,334 --> 01:04:04,200 good in the world comes from right view, right view is the 1086 01:04:04,200 --> 01:04:07,500 foundation for all kinds of happiness, can it strengthen 1087 01:04:07,500 --> 01:04:10,335 your self-confidence? Absolutely, because you realize 1088 01:04:10,335 --> 01:04:14,144 that actually you don't need self-confidence, it is not about 1089 01:04:14,144 --> 01:04:16,430 self-confidence, it is understanding that you are a 1090 01:04:16,430 --> 01:04:23,190 human being, if you are a human being, then you just have to 1091 01:04:23,190 --> 01:04:27,869 practice in the right way, and the good results will come, and 1092 01:04:27,869 --> 01:04:31,430 you will know that in a deep way, and of course you will 1093 01:04:31,430 --> 01:04:34,911 trust yourself, because you have an understanding of what is 1094 01:04:34,911 --> 01:04:38,574 important in life, you will no longer do those things that are 1095 01:04:38,574 --> 01:04:40,000 bad or have negative consequences. 1096 01:04:40,000 --> 01:04:43,334 Question from France, this is really cool, question from all 1097 01:04:43,334 --> 01:04:48,375 different countries, Dear Ajahn, thank you for your inspirational 1098 01:04:48,375 --> 01:04:52,572 words, does insight pop up during meditation, or is it a 1099 01:04:52,572 --> 01:04:56,000 process that follows meditation, thus the result of meditation? 1100 01:04:57,000 --> 01:05:01,858 It can be both, it can pop up during meditation, depending on 1101 01:05:01,858 --> 01:05:06,471 how you do your meditation, but the ideal way for insight to 1102 01:05:06,471 --> 01:05:11,002 arise is you come to the end of the meditation, let's say you 1103 01:05:11,002 --> 01:05:14,250 are watching the breath, you are becoming quite peaceful, and 1104 01:05:14,250 --> 01:05:17,000 then you reflect back on the process, and when you reflect 1105 01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:21,500 back on the process, you start to see what actually is 1106 01:05:21,500 --> 01:05:24,548 happening, you see things disappearing, you see the 1107 01:05:24,548 --> 01:05:27,911 impermanence in real time, because you see it in real time, 1108 01:05:27,911 --> 01:05:31,000 you also understand suffering, because the suffering is 1109 01:05:31,000 --> 01:05:35,144 understood when it disappears, you start to see non-self, so 1110 01:05:35,144 --> 01:05:38,728 very often afterwards is often the best time, or just 1111 01:05:38,728 --> 01:05:42,000 afterwards, like when you review your meditation for example, 1112 01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:47,224 that sort of thing. Question from Indonesia, why did 1113 01:05:47,224 --> 01:05:51,869 you become a monk? That is a long, long answer, I 1114 01:05:51,869 --> 01:05:55,239 did actually give a talk on this once, I said I gave a talk on 1115 01:05:55,239 --> 01:05:59,184 this, so I never have to talk about it again, so, but there is 1116 01:05:59,184 --> 01:06:03,668 a little booklet which is available online, which is 1117 01:06:03,668 --> 01:06:08,184 called Why I Am a Buddhist Monk, so read that one, many people 1118 01:06:08,184 --> 01:06:12,000 said they liked that booklet, so maybe you will enjoy it too, 1119 01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:18,911 look up my name, Bra Mali, why I am, not why I became, but why I 1120 01:06:18,911 --> 01:06:23,000 am a Buddhist monk, slightly different, check it out. 1121 01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:30,092 Otherwise, no otherwise, ok. Question from Singapore, dear 1122 01:06:30,092 --> 01:06:33,334 Ajahn, you mentioned not to contemplate death if it leads to 1123 01:06:33,334 --> 01:06:36,860 unwholesome states, can one also be sad as a result of meditation 1124 01:06:36,860 --> 01:06:41,200 due to observing suffering, and if so, how can one be more 1125 01:06:41,200 --> 01:06:46,500 accepting here? So, don't, if you, yeah, I guess 1126 01:06:46,500 --> 01:06:51,500 that very often in life we distract ourselves in ordinary 1127 01:06:51,500 --> 01:06:54,464 life, and much of that distraction is actually to 1128 01:06:54,464 --> 01:06:57,667 overcome the suffering of life, you eat something, you watch 1129 01:06:57,667 --> 01:07:01,000 things, because underlying feeling is discontent, 1130 01:07:01,000 --> 01:07:04,223 underlying feeling is not really being satisfied with life, I 1131 01:07:04,223 --> 01:07:07,287 think every one of us has been there, distracting yourself from 1132 01:07:07,287 --> 01:07:12,556 the suffering of life, so that's true, if that is your standard 1133 01:07:12,556 --> 01:07:17,168 thing, then meditation when you see face to face with that 1134 01:07:17,168 --> 01:07:20,668 underlying discontent, yeah, it may actually be, make you maybe 1135 01:07:20,668 --> 01:07:26,334 a little bit sad, but you need to learn to deal with life, you 1136 01:07:26,334 --> 01:07:29,668 need to understand why that discontent is there, why is 1137 01:07:29,668 --> 01:07:33,500 there that underlying suffering, and to overcome that underlying 1138 01:07:33,500 --> 01:07:36,156 suffering, you just have to practice the foundational 1139 01:07:36,156 --> 01:07:40,500 factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, be kind, be moral, be 1140 01:07:40,500 --> 01:07:43,429 generous, have kind thoughts towards other people, be 1141 01:07:43,429 --> 01:07:48,772 forgiving, do all those right things, and as you do that, the 1142 01:07:48,772 --> 01:07:51,539 underlying problems will gradually, gradually, gradually 1143 01:07:51,539 --> 01:07:55,286 dissipate, but you have to be very sincere about it, the 1144 01:07:55,286 --> 01:07:58,715 sincerity in doing these things, that is what is going to give 1145 01:07:58,715 --> 01:08:03,000 results. Another question from Singapore, 1146 01:08:03,000 --> 01:08:07,716 Why is the question whether the Buddha appear or reappear after 1147 01:08:07,716 --> 01:08:11,250 death is irrelevant? Okay, so this is a completely 1148 01:08:11,250 --> 01:08:15,500 different matter that has nothing to do with the talk, but 1149 01:08:15,500 --> 01:08:22,000 anyway, so this is a reference to the famous Tetra lemma, as it 1150 01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:25,930 is called in Buddhism, and this is the idea, what happens to the 1151 01:08:25,930 --> 01:08:29,310 Buddha after the Buddha dies? Does he exist after he dies? 1152 01:08:29,310 --> 01:08:34,800 Does he not exist after he dies? Does he both exist and not exist 1153 01:08:34,800 --> 01:08:38,399 after he dies? Does he neither exist nor not 1154 01:08:38,399 --> 01:08:42,144 exist after he dies? Try to get your head around 1155 01:08:42,144 --> 01:08:45,000 those things, it's kind of, oh, it's hard. 1156 01:08:45,000 --> 01:08:52,000 So why is this irrelevant? Why is this a problem? 1157 01:08:52,000 --> 01:08:56,001 And the answer is that all of these questions, they rely on 1158 01:08:56,001 --> 01:08:59,156 one basic premise, one basic foundation, and that is the 1159 01:08:59,156 --> 01:09:02,669 premise that there is a self. These questions are, you know, 1160 01:09:02,669 --> 01:09:06,318 this is what these questions are about, they are what happens to 1161 01:09:06,318 --> 01:09:09,737 the self, what happens to the solid me that is there after I 1162 01:09:09,737 --> 01:09:12,000 die, that is what these questions are based on, and that 1163 01:09:12,000 --> 01:09:15,144 is why they are irrelevant, because the Buddha says there is 1164 01:09:15,144 --> 01:09:19,540 no such self, the self is an illusion, and because of that, 1165 01:09:19,540 --> 01:09:23,000 the whole questions actually fall away as a consequence. 1166 01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:30,184 Okay, everyone, that is all for tonight, so I wish you all a 1167 01:09:30,184 --> 01:09:33,232 marvellous night, a wonderful weekend, and a wonderful time 1168 01:09:33,232 --> 01:09:36,000 until I see you next time here at Dhammaloka. 1169 01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:40,064 So let's end the day as we usually do, by paying homage to 1170 01:09:40,064 --> 01:10:00,000 the Triple Gem. Thank you. 1171 01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:30,000 Thank you.