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All right, everyone. 
So let's get started for the 

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Dhamma. 
Tokyo, Are you ready for this? 

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Yeah. 
So it was a bit scary because 

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the Dhamma can be so profound. 
You never know what you're going

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to get. 
And kind of halfway through, you

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think, wow, this is too much. 
I better, better leave this 

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place before it's too late, 
before we get dragged into this 

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cult. 
And then I'm finished forever 

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and after her. 
But no, the Dhamma is very, I 

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don't know, very, very, very 
interesting teaching. 

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And the Buddha is this 
extraordinary person. 

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And there are some very 
inspiring teachings to be found 

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in the suit as the suit, as are 
the word of the Buddha. 

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And I always like to talk about 
these suitors. 

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Has anyone never heard about 
suitors before? 

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Everyone heard about suitors. 
Wow. 

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OK, that's kind of unheard of in
a crowd like this is about 

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usually, I feel a number of 
people never heard about any 

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suitors. 
If you haven't heard about 

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suitors, you've missed out. 
But none of you have missed out.

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What the wonderful thing that 
is. 

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But still the suitors are very 
broad and there's many kind of 

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nooks and crannies to the 
suitors, many fairly, you might 

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call them obscure parts that 
people have never heard about. 

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Now one of those things that I 
have always found very 

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interesting in the suitors is 
the idea of developing 

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perception. 
Did you know that the Buddha has

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lots of teachings about 
developing perception? 

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Did you know that? 
No, you didn't know that. 

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You didn't know that. 
OK. 

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OK. 
So even some of you have been 

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around for a long time. 
Didn't know that. 

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That's OK That's a good sign. 
That means that to tonight's 

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talk might broaden your kind of 
compass on what Buddhism is all 

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about. 
That's always a nice thing. 

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Yeah. 
So we're going to talk about 

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perception, how to develop 
perceptions as the idea tonight.

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And it is surprising, although 
many people haven't really heard

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about these teachings, they're 
quite common in the suitors. 

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There's a large number of 
suitors about this particular 

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topic, but not perhaps the 
mainstream suitors, but a little

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bit more in the kind of corners 
and tucked away in the Pali 

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Canon. 
And to to start out talking 

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about this, I want to go back to
some of the basic ideas and to 

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show you how it all connects 
together. 

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When it connects together 
nicely, when you understand the 

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connection between things, it 
kind of comes together. 

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You understand what this is 
about. 

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So one of the things that I 
always emphasise in my dama 

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talks is the importance of 
kindness. 

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Yeah, the idea of morality and 
Buddhism is very, very 

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foundational. 
And if kindness or morality or 

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your habits, if they are 
developed in a truly good way, 

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meditation becomes automatic. 
Yeah. 

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So I don't know how your 
meditation was tonight, whether 

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it was magnificent or simply 
marvellous or OK, OK, ordinary, 

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whatever. 
Right. 

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But the thing, the reason, if it
doesn't really kind of, you 

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know, really come together here,
then one of the main reasons for

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that one reason is because 
you're tired. 

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You had a long day. 
OK, that's fair enough. 

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But one of the main reasons why 
meditation doesn't come together

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is this idea of kindness hasn't 
been developed enough. 

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So living immoral life is 
extremely important in Buddhism.

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In fact, it is so important I 
can all almost summarise the 

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Buddhist path in terms of 
morality. 

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And morality is very profound in
Buddhism. 

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You know, it encompasses the 
mind as well as body and speech.

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It encompasses positive habits, 
positive morality, in other 

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words, doing what is right, not 
just doing, avoiding what is 

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bad. 
So it's a very broad kind of 

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idea. 
This is why it is so hard to 

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complete morality and especially
the external morality in the 

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world. 
Yeah. 

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The way we treat other people, 
the way we speak to others, the 

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way we act depends a lot on our 
mental state. 

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Right. 
Yeah, Eddie. 

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Yeah. 
Just checking. 

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Nice to see you back, Eddie. 
So it depends a lot on our 

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mental state because of course 
the way our mind inclines is the

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way things tend to come out in 
speech and actions. 

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So if you want to be perfect and
morality is very important to 

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have a mental qualities that 
also are right. 

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It's kind of obvious if you have
a very positive mind state, if 

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you feel really happy, you get 
out of bed on the right side. 

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Yeah, in the morning, yeah, you 
have some positive feelings 

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straight away. 
You read the verse of Damapada. 

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Before you went to bed. 
And then you dream about the 

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Dhamma during night. 
Yeah. 

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And you wake up in the morning. 
Yeah. 

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Has that ever happened to you? 
Dreaming about the Dhamma at 

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night? 
Dreaming about meditation? 

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Right. 
Dreaming about being kind. 

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Dreaming about being full of 
service. 

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There are people who have such 
dreams. 

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You may think I'm just joking. 
I'm not just joking. 

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These things come from 
somewhere. 

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I don't say these things 
randomly, so maybe I do, but 

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actually I don't. 
Yeah, it's hard. 

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Hard to know, right? 
But you hear about people who 

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dream about Dumber, and they 
become so happy here during the 

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dream that they wake up. 
Bang, so bright and powerful. 

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Get into meditation. 
Bang, Go into a deep state of 

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samadhi. 
Yeah. 

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So that is the ideal, yeah. 
And this is kind of where we 

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really want to get to. 
You want to have a mind that is 

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so positive, that is so 
powerful, that is so bright, 

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that has so many good qualities.
And meditation is a matter of 

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course. 
All you have to do is chillax. 

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It happens by itself. 
And even at night you have 

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dreams that are so powerful that
you wake up in the middle of the

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night and you're just buzzing 
with energy. 

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Beautiful, peaceful, powerful, 
non agitated, blissful energy 

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that drives the meditation 
practice. 

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But where do those thoughts come
from, right? 

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How, what? 
What are? 

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What does the thinking mind 
arise from? 

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Why is it sometimes that we have
maybe negative thoughts, other 

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times we have positive thoughts?
Sometimes we might be anxious 

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about something, sometimes we 
are joyous. 

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Where do these things come from?
The quality of our mind, the 

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intention that we have, the 
moral quality of that mental 

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state, What does it arise from? 
And what is very interesting, if

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you observe your mind very 
carefully, and this can be quite

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difficult to do, but when you 
become really peaceful. 

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It is not that hard to see here 
He has. 

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So when you observe your mind 
very carefully here, you will 

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notice that those thoughts that 
you have, they arise from 

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perception here. 
Perception is there first, and 

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then the thoughts come from that
perception here. 

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And you will notice that if your
perceptions when you start out 

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are positive, you tend to have 
positive thoughts. 

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Yeah, your thinking pattern, a 
kind of it, it matches the 

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perception that you have when 
you start out. 

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And this is one of the reasons 
why I said at the beginning of 

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the meditation, give rise to 
some positive perceptions. 

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Yeah. 
Remember something you have done

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that is beautiful there. 
Remember some positive 

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experience that made you joyful 
and happy during the day or 

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during the last week or at some 
point in your life. 

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And as you do that, you bring 
that positive perception in your

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meditation. 
You create a mental space that 

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is positive, and in that 
positive mental space, that is 

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when meditation becomes 
possible. 

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So you can see how your mind and
all your thoughts and all these 

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patterns and everything arises 
from the perception. 

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Perception is there first, but 
to be able to see that, you have

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to have fairly sharp 
mindfulness. 

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Perception is there, then the 
thoughts come. 

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You have negative thoughts. 
If you look carefully, it arises

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out of a negative perception. 
You have a negative idea about 

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somebody here. 
You have maybe an anxiety about 

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something. 
Yeah. 

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You haven't seen something on 
the news and you think, oh, no, 

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I shouldn't have watched those 
blooming news. 

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Yeah. 
It's kind of one of the main 

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causes of, I think, 
psychological turmoil and 

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psychological stress in this 
world. 

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Is watching the news too much? 
There is a very interesting, 

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apparently research on that. 
Yeah. 

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The idea that watching the news 
has a very bad effect on 

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people's quality, quality of 
their mind and their mental 

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life. 
It's kind of psychologically 

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damaging to watch too much news.
It kind of gradually drags you 

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down. 
War here, killed there, climate 

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change getting worse. 
You know, the basic everything 

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looks really, really bad and it 
makes you really depressed. 

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Unless you are a Buddhist, of 
course, in which case you know 

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how to. 
Look at these things in the 

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right way here. 
Is that true? 

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Do you know how to look at all 
these things in the right way? 

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Do you know how to think about 
all the difficulties in the 

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world so as not just to not be 
negative, but to be something 

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which actually encourages your 
practice? 

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Yeah, this is beautiful when it 
happens. 

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And I have spoken about this 
before. 

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I'm not going to talk about it 
tonight. 

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Maybe another time. 
Come back later. 

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I was giving a preview. 
This is kind of the tricks for 

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how to get more people in the 
room because it wasn't that many

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here today. 
So in the future, there will be 

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more coming in here. 
So it comes from perception. 

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Perception is the foundation 
factor. 

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Things develop from certain very
basic perceptions that we have 

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in the mind. 
Yeah. 

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And so because of that, we want 
to establish the right 

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perception at the beginning of 
meditation. 

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We want to establish the 
perception at regular times, 

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during the day even. 
Yeah, during life. 

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So where do these perceptions 
come from? 

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And our perceptions essentially 
come from the habits of the 

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mind, the views that we have 
about the world going deep, 

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deep, deep into the past. 
This is our conditioning. 

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Yeah. 
This is the way we have been 

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conditioned, you know, through 
this life, through previous 

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lives. 
Yeah. 

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And going a long, long, long way
back. 

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Yeah. 
And there's a very beautiful 

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00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:03,120
suitor about this. 
You can see this. 

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00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:04,400
It's actually. 
Very fascinating. 

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You see these things in your own
practice in a meditation, just 

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having come out of the range 
retreat. 

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00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:14,240
Sometimes it's very obvious when
you become quite peaceful, but 

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then you see it in your own 
meditation. 

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And of course, lo and behold, 
the Buddha says the same thing 

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in the suitors. 
And one of the very well known 

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suitors that talk about this, 
what you might call the process 

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of perception and how perception
drives kind of the evolution of 

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00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,520
the mind and the evolution of 
the thinking process is called 

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the Maddopindika suita. 
You know, the Maddopindika suita

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Amita. 
Heard of it? 

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OK, good. 
OK, good start. 

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It's always good to start with 
people. 

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So I have a little bit of Sri 
Lankan background because they 

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usually they sometimes they know
the suitors really well. 

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00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,680
That's kind of that's good. 
The muddu pindeka, Muddu means 

217
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muddu means honey, right. 
And pinda pindeka is like ball 

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or lump of food. 
It's kind of things you eat when

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00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,160
you go on pinda, pinda part. 
Yeah. 

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00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:06,520
Muddu pindeka, same word. 
Pindamat is like you go on arms 

221
00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,880
around as a Buddhist monk. 
Yeah, I often like to pepper my 

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00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,120
talks with a bit of Pali 
terminology because it gives me 

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more authority that Y hair. 
So that's kind of the idea 

224
00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,840
behind that. 
So I hope you will forgive me 

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00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,680
for a bit of Pali with Alex. 
Try to explain as we go along 

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here. 
So Madi Pindiga suitor, Maji 

227
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Manika 18 middle length sayings 
#18 if you wish to look it up, 

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please do so. 
These things are available on 

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the Internet. 
If you search on MN 18 and Maji 

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Manika 18 you will find that 
suitor straight to Y hair. 

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And my dependent casuta is about
this perceptual process. 

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And this perceptual process is 
very significant. 

233
00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,880
And one of the reasons why it is
so significant is because it is 

234
00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,960
really the engine of. 
Dependent origination. 

235
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:57,800
Has anyone heard of dependent 
origination? 

236
00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:00,640
Yeah. 
Anyone not heard of not OK one 

237
00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:01,320
over there? 
Yeah. 

238
00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:02,960
OK. 
So OK, you haven't heard of it. 

239
00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:04,720
OK, good. 
So now we have a we have a 

240
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:06,360
customer over there. 
Excellent. 

241
00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,040
So dependent origination is one 
of the most profound and in many

242
00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,320
ways interesting teachings of 
the Buddha. 

243
00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,960
And what it does, it shows us 
how suffering is perpetuated. 

244
00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,560
Yeah. 
How suffering keeps on existing 

245
00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:22,040
in our life, this life and also 
in previous lives. 

246
00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,360
Yeah, this is the idea. 
So it's for that reason, very, 

247
00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:27,920
very interesting if we can show 
you how suffering comes to 

248
00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,360
exist, What are the causes of 
suffering? 

249
00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,280
It's all we need to know, right?
If you know the cause of 

250
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,960
suffering, eliminate the 'cause 
you're in business. 

251
00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:37,680
Yeah, that's kind of the idea 
there here. 

252
00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:40,320
So we want to create. 
Everyone wants to be happy in 

253
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:45,040
the world, and this shows us how
suffering is perpetuated, 

254
00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,000
especially through the process 
of rebirth. 

255
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,560
That is kind of. 
This is one of the foundational.

256
00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:53,920
Ideas of Buddhism. 
But the question of this what is

257
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:58,200
that drives this process? 
What is the engine that makes 

258
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:02,080
this thing work and this mud? 
Appendix Asuta can be regarded, 

259
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,920
this perceptual process can be 
regarded as the internal engine 

260
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,840
in the process of rebirth, in 
this process of perpetuating 

261
00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:13,160
suffering. 
Yeah. 

262
00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,800
So very, very fascinating for 
this reason. 

263
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,320
So how does it work? 
And this is roughly how it 

264
00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:20,200
works. 
So I'm going to take it in 

265
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,280
reverse sequence, am I? 
Yeah, I take it in reverse 

266
00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,280
sequence. 
So the, the the Buddha says, 

267
00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:29,760
well, actually it's, it's it's 
another monk which giving this 

268
00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,760
particular suit that the Buddha 
has delegated giving the talk to

269
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,520
this monk, just like Ajambaram 
delegates to me giving the talk 

270
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,000
here on Friday night. 
It's a similar kind of situation

271
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:44,040
there. 
Yes, maybe, maybe not. 

272
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,080
I'm just I'm exaggerating a bit.
It's these, these monks are some

273
00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:50,600
of the Buddha were really 
extraordinary. 

274
00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:51,680
Yeah. 
On the nuns as well. 

275
00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:53,040
There was some really 
extraordinary people. 

276
00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,920
And it's always dangerous to 
compare yourself to the greatest

277
00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,600
masters in Buddhist history. 
I actually shouldn't do that at 

278
00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,440
all. 
That's kind of completely bad 

279
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,880
idea, actually. 
But this is what happened at 

280
00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:04,840
that time. 
Yeah. 

281
00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,520
So Mahaka, Mahaka Shayana, he 
was delegated and asked by the 

282
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:10,840
Buddha to give this talk. 
Yeah. 

283
00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:13,720
There was someone who came to 
the Buddha challenging the 

284
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,840
Buddha a little bit. 
And the Buddha says, OK, 

285
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,640
Kashayana, you, you. 
He gave a kind of a brief, 

286
00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,880
enigmatic reply and he said to 
Michael China, OK, you can you 

287
00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,120
reply to that? 
So he he then shows this 

288
00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,920
beautiful sequence and at the 
last thing he talks about is 

289
00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,000
something called papancha sanya 
sanka. 

290
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,360
And the idea of papancha in 
Buddhism is this idea of the 

291
00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,440
proliferation of the mind. 
Yeah, the English word 

292
00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,400
proliferation is usually used 
about plants. 

293
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,440
Plants proliferate, They grow 
kind of all over the place. 

294
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,120
They proliferate out. 
It's like this unstructured 

295
00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:53,600
growth, yeah. 
You don't know where they're 

296
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,120
going to go next. 
It's kind of random growing 

297
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,280
everywhere there. 
And the mind is a bit like that.

298
00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:02,320
It proliferates, it grows. 
Yeah. 

299
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,480
The mind moves, the thoughts 
move. 

300
00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,800
All our ideas, they move and 
then move in kind of random. 

301
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:08,760
Ways. 
We don't know where they're 

302
00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,120
going to go next. 
Yeah, if you have watched your 

303
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,120
mind, it's like suddenly you're 
thinking about something. 

304
00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,040
You can look completely 
different place from where you 

305
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,720
started out. 
One moment you're in Damaloca, 

306
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,280
the next thing you are on. 
I don't know where different 

307
00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,840
galaxies may be. 
You know what I mean, how the 

308
00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,720
mind kind of works in that way. 
There very kind of unstable 

309
00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,480
always condition moving all over
the place. 

310
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:32,920
And this is kind of the idea of 
proliferation there. 

311
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,880
And this is a problem, right? 
Because if we proliferate a lot,

312
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,000
we are not mindful, we're not 
present. 

313
00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:41,920
Before you know it, you get 
upset about something, you have 

314
00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:45,600
all kinds of desires, you are 
restless, and it's not really 

315
00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,520
satisfying at all. 
Yeah, this is the problem with 

316
00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,840
proliferation of the mind. 
So where does that proliferation

317
00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:56,880
of the mind come come from? 
OK, so the, the, the, the word 

318
00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,040
for the proliferation of mind is
papancha sanya, sanka. 

319
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,080
So part of that is the word 
sanya, which is perception that 

320
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,520
I talked about before. 
Perceptions and sanka like 

321
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,600
reckonings coming from 
proliferation. 

322
00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:12,800
That's what it means something. 
Like that. 

323
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,640
So where does that come from? 
And the Buddha says that comes 

324
00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,160
from thinking. 
Yeah. 

325
00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,240
The thinking mind is what drives
this process. 

326
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,800
So first of all, we think, and 
then before we know it, we kind 

327
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,280
of proliferating all over the 
place. 

328
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:30,880
Where does that thinking come 
from? 

329
00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,760
The thinking comes from 
perception from Sonia, right. 

330
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:36,640
This is exactly what I was 
saying before. 

331
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,920
And now you read the suitors and
it says exactly what you what 

332
00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:42,400
you actually recognise. 
Through your own. 

333
00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:45,080
Experience that is. 
I don't know, there's something 

334
00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,000
very beautiful about that. 
When you read the suitors and 

335
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,640
you see in your own experience 
these things actually gel. 

336
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:53,960
They come together here. 
You know the way your teacher 

337
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,920
teaches, like Ajambaram, the way
the Buddha teaches. 

338
00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,000
And what you perceive yourself 
is actually the same thing here.

339
00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,359
So perception is the driving 
force of the thinking mind. 

340
00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:08,079
Once you perceive in a certain 
way, the thoughts take shape 

341
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,240
according to that perception. 
If you have a negative state of 

342
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:13,760
mind, you think you know 
negatively positive state of 

343
00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,079
mind, you think positively. 
If you think someone is an 

344
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:18,760
enemy, you think according. 
If you think that a friend, you 

345
00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:20,920
think accordingly. 
And so it goes on. 

346
00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:24,319
And where do that? 
And what arises with that 

347
00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:27,880
perception, And what comes with 
the perception is feeling what 

348
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,280
you feel, you perceive, says the
Buddha. 

349
00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,160
It's interesting. 
He uses kind of verb is he 

350
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,200
doesn't say you just there is 
feeling. 

351
00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:40,080
He says there you feel, right? 
There's a kind of process. 

352
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,000
There's a verb that is used 
rather than a noun to describe 

353
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,440
this. 
And where do these feelings come

354
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:47,880
from? 
Feelings and perception very 

355
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,320
closely related to each other. 
Where do they arise from? 

356
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:56,040
And they arise from our 
experiences of the world. 

357
00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:58,800
Yeah. 
The sensory experience of the 

358
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:00,880
world. 
And the Buddha says when there's

359
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,400
three things to come together, 
we we make contact with the 

360
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,000
world. 
In contact with the world is 

361
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,640
basically experiencing the 
world. 

362
00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,600
What are those three things like
the eye? 

363
00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,960
The eye has to be there, the 
object has to be there. 

364
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,360
I see Amita object. 
Sorry, Ahmed, I didn't mean that

365
00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:21,280
in a bad way. 
I just, you know, you, you 

366
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,280
happen to be very kind of 
accessible as you're sitting 

367
00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:28,320
there. 
So eye object and based on that 

368
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,320
eye and object, eye 
consciousness arises. 

369
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,680
And when you have eye object and
eye consciousness. 

370
00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:36,600
You have the contact with the 
world. 

371
00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,720
You have experience. 
So as long as we have 

372
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:44,280
experiences, as long as we 
contact the world, as long as 

373
00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,760
our senses are operating, yeah, 
yeah, we will have this process 

374
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,920
will happen to us. 
Our senses operate, we perceive 

375
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,240
in a certain way. 
From that perceptions come the 

376
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,600
thinking, whatever it might be. 
From that thinking comes this 

377
00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:01,440
proliferation of the mind is. 
Going over all over the place in

378
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,680
this particular way, yeah. 
So that is what the how the 

379
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,160
Buddha really explains this here
through this other great monk 

380
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:13,520
called Mahakachayana. 
So what? 

381
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:16,120
How does this help us? 
How? 

382
00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,000
How is this useful? 
And the reason why this is very 

383
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,320
useful is that the way we 
experience the world through the

384
00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,640
senses depends on past 
conditioning here. 

385
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,480
If I choose to look at. 
I'm not going to pick on you 

386
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:31,400
anymore, Amit. 
I'm sorry. 

387
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,160
I'm going to. 
If I choose to look at someone 

388
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:39,040
in the audience, then that 
choice is conditioned by 

389
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:39,680
something. 
Yeah. 

390
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,560
How I perceive that person. 
Yeah, Gary, how I perceive you 

391
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,040
will depend on my past 
experiences with you, right? 

392
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:49,000
Yeah. 
And so and these are all coming 

393
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,000
from past experience. 
So yes, there is sense 

394
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,920
perception, but how that sense 
perception happens depends on 

395
00:19:55,920 --> 00:20:01,240
how conditioning in the past. 
And so if we develop our mind, 

396
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:06,160
if we change our perceptions 
through our daily practice, if 

397
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,000
we change our views, if we 
understand what right view is in

398
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,680
accordance with Buddhists, we 
look at the world in a certain 

399
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:17,640
way, then our sense experience 
happen according to that right 

400
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,120
view, according to that right 
perception. 

401
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,040
So the answer to make this whole
process work properly, to make 

402
00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,400
our perceptions aligned with the
way the Buddha taught, to make 

403
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,280
our thoughts more positive, more
wholesome, more conducive to 

404
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,240
Dumber practice is to develop 
our view and to develop our set 

405
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:40,320
perceptions in such a way that 
when we contact the world, we 

406
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,760
contact in a way which gives 
rise to this positive process 

407
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,520
instead. 
So This is why the development 

408
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,080
of perception is so important 
because it allows this whole 

409
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,800
sense perception process to 
happen in a far better way. 

410
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:58,720
We choose better objects, we 
look at better things, we look 

411
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,920
at more things that are more 
conducive to the right to, to, 

412
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,920
you know, having a good life, to
be more happy, to be more 

413
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,200
content, to have better 
meditation practice, all of 

414
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,280
these things. 
We listen to things that are 

415
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,680
more useful instead of listening
to heavy metal music. 

416
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:16,480
Anyone here listening to Heaven 
Metal music? 

417
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,360
Yeah, people one at the back 
there. 

418
00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:21,040
OK, One person who is on this, 
like. 

419
00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:26,440
So instead of listening to too 
much, OK, occasional Heaven 

420
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,440
metal is all right, Right. 
But not too much. 

421
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,160
We listen more to Dumma instead 
because Dumma is conducive to 

422
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,840
more peace than Heaven metal. 
I think that's a fairly kind of 

423
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:37,160
no, no brainer, right? 
It's kind of obvious one. 

424
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,040
And so we change our entire 
attitude to things. 

425
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,360
We do things differently because
our view has changed. 

426
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:49,080
When we are with people that 
previously we felt were 

427
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,520
difficult to be with her, 
suddenly we see them in a new 

428
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,320
way. 
We have compassion, we have 

429
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:58,000
kindness, we have care for the 
people around us rather having 

430
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,000
these negative things instead. 
So we change things over time, 

431
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:09,240
we do things differently. 
And this is then, as I mentioned

432
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,960
before, actually a very 
important part of the Buddhist 

433
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,040
practice. 
You start to read the suitors 

434
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,040
and you more you read, the more 
you understand that this is 

435
00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:23,040
found in so many places. 
And now you can understand why 

436
00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:27,040
because it builds up a mental 
environment that makes 

437
00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,240
happiness, joy, the negative 
things, you know, things start 

438
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:32,920
to fall into place because of 
this. 

439
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,600
And it is also very useful. 
People sometimes ask. 

440
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,160
They say, well, you know, OK, 
I'm a moral person. 

441
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:42,480
I live well. 
I, you know, do a bit of 

442
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,600
meditation. 
What more can I do? 

443
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,520
Should I do more? 
What can I do in all of those? 

444
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,040
You know, I have a long day when
I'm at work, when I'm with my 

445
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:52,640
family, when I'm with my 
friends. 

446
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,240
I do my hobbies or whatever. 
What can I do kind of all the 

447
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:57,360
time? 
Yeah. 

448
00:22:57,360 --> 00:22:59,600
What can I do in those kind of 
situations? 

449
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,080
And what you can do in those 
situations, apart from living 

450
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,840
morally and being kind and these
kind of things, is to develop 

451
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,760
these perceptions. 
The development of perception 

452
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,560
happen anytime during the day. 
It should really happen right 

453
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:16,400
now. 
Yeah, Right at this moment, we 

454
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,920
should develop these perceptions
because not afterwards, 

455
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,200
Afterwards, it's too late. 
It's only now that we have. 

456
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,320
And right now you can develop 
the perception of kindness, 

457
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,840
Yeah, of compassion, of 
understanding, of overcoming 

458
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,360
negativity. 
Right at this very moment, we 

459
00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:35,840
can develop these things. 
And it's actually right now that

460
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:39,480
we should develop, develop it 
because now is the only time we 

461
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,360
have. 
And so now you start to see a 

462
00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:47,040
broader idea of what it means to
practice the Buddhist teachings,

463
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,400
developing these perceptions. 
I've talked about this here 

464
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,400
before, but I think it's a very 
important subject. 

465
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,960
That's why I like to bring it up
again and again and again. 

466
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:56,720
This is usually how they've done
my work. 

467
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,200
So you hear the same thing again
and again from slightly 

468
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:00,440
different angles. 
Yeah. 

469
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,040
And so how can we do this 
practically here? 

470
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:05,920
Now? 
I have laid, laid the 

471
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,640
foundation, and I'm very glad 
that no one has left so far. 

472
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,640
It means that maybe you have 
some feeling that the foundation

473
00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,640
is correct. 
Do you have that feeling or do 

474
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:18,760
you have a feeling that the 
foundation is, if you thought it

475
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:20,720
was nonsense, you probably would
have left already, right? 

476
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,640
So presumably you are with me at
least to some extent. 

477
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,760
So having laid kind of the 
theoretical foundation, the 

478
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,560
question is how do we do this in
practice? 

479
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:37,240
And the answer to this is that 
there is many, many different 

480
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,520
ways of developing these 
perceptions. 

481
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,160
And when you look at the word of
the board of the suit as if his 

482
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,400
focus is on really on three 
things, there's actually three 

483
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:54,760
kind of foundational aspects, 4 
characteristics of the world 

484
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:56,320
around us. 
And these three things are 

485
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:00,000
actually called the three 
characteristics, the tilakana in

486
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,480
parle 3 characteristics. 
And these three things are 

487
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:09,000
impermanence, anicha, dukkha, 
suffering and non self anata. 

488
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:10,680
Yeah. 
These are the three things. 

489
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:15,360
And a lot of these developmental
perceptions revolve around these

490
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:16,920
three ideas. 
Yeah. 

491
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,480
Things are impermanent, things 
are problematic. 

492
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:21,680
They're often suffering. 
Yeah. 

493
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,320
Things are non self a bit out of
control. 

494
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:30,040
So if these are the perceptions 
that the Buddha tells us we 

495
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,760
should develop, how do we do 
that in practice? 

496
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,640
It's not kind of obvious, right?
How do we actually do this in 

497
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,680
practice? 
And I think it will surprise you

498
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,760
how this can be made very 
concrete and very kind of useful

499
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,920
and very easy to approach this 
kind of perceptions. 

500
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,320
And I will start out with some 
perceptions about how to develop

501
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,160
kindness and how to develop the 
idea of compassion in the world.

502
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,960
It's easy to lose our way, lose 
our compassion, lose our sense 

503
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,000
of friendliness and kindness to 
others, very easy to become a 

504
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,680
fault finding. 
How can we become have less of 

505
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,120
these negative things, develop a
perception that is more 

506
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,120
positive. 
And I'm going to give you some 

507
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:14,440
very simple ideas on how to do 
this. 

508
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:21,520
Now, when I was in Norway 
recently, I was born in Norway. 

509
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:23,960
I'm Australian now. 
That's what they say anyway. 

510
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:25,680
My passport. 
My passport says. 

511
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,120
Actually I got 2 passports, 1 
Norwegian and one Australian. 

512
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:31,000
Some kind of a split personality
split right through the middle 

513
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,160
Norwegian, Australian. 
It's kind of scary, isn't it? 

514
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,000
But so I I hang out in Norway. 
That's why I talk about Norway. 

515
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,520
I hang out in Norway a bit, 
Yeah. 

516
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,040
I usually go to visit my my mum 
over there and these kind of 

517
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,160
things. 
And when I was there last time I

518
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,280
heard about this business 
leader, Yeah, I didn't know 

519
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:52,240
there were any wise business 
people in Norway. 

520
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,960
But it turns out there was this 
one wise business person in 

521
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,080
Norway. 
And I was kind of very, very 

522
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:58,040
happy about that. 
Yeah. 

523
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,840
Because you, you know, you, you 
that's kind of how it is when 

524
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:02,880
you see wise people. 
It's a positive thing. 

525
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,000
Yeah. 
And of course, there is a nice 

526
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,120
distribution of wise people 
across the world, so they can 

527
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,360
estimate a certain percentage 
around the world there. 

528
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:16,800
And this a business person, what
I think it was a he, was it a 

529
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,000
she or he? 
I think it was a he. 

530
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,920
And this business person, they, 
what they said there, which was 

531
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,000
I think really interesting he 
said that the way I think about 

532
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,120
my employees. 
Yeah. 

533
00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:29,280
Because you can imagine being a 
manager, right? 

534
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,800
It can be difficult to be, it's 
difficult to be the person who 

535
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,760
has to fault to kind of deal 
with a manager. 

536
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,840
It's also very difficult to be a
manager because human relations 

537
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:40,880
are always complicated and 
difficult. 

538
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:44,400
But what this manager said, 
which really caught my eye, he 

539
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:49,600
said the way I think about my 
employees is that everyone is 

540
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:54,200
doing their best. 
Everyone is doing their best. 

541
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,160
So what do you think? 
Is that right? 

542
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,600
Is everyone doing their best in 
a company, or is someone 

543
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,720
slacking off and others working 
really hard? 

544
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,720
And I think that was such a 
profound insight, and it gels so

545
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,640
beautifully with the Buddhist 
ideas about how human beings 

546
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,280
work. 
Everyone is doing their best, 

547
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,960
not only in that company, in the
Buddhist society. 

548
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,880
Yeah, everyone is doing their 
best in wherever you work, in 

549
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,080
your family, with the people 
around you. 

550
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,120
Everyone is doing their best. 
This is such a beautiful 

551
00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:35,400
Buddhist outlook, and that 
outlook comes from the idea of 

552
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:36,760
non self. 
Yeah. 

553
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:41,440
The idea of non self is that we 
are conditioned as human beings.

554
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,920
What we are is the product, how 
we have been produced from past 

555
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,680
calls and conditions in this 
life and in previous lives. 

556
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:50,720
That is who we are as human 
beings. 

557
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:55,400
And if we are the product of all
the things that have worked on 

558
00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:01,320
us in the past, then we are kind
of we are, we are kind of made, 

559
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,360
but we are kind of built up from
that. 

560
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,920
And our ability to do whatever 
we do in the present is limited 

561
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:09,960
by those past calls and 
conditions. 

562
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,520
Yeah. 
So in a sense, everyone is doing

563
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,400
their best. 
They cannot really choose 

564
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,080
anything beyond those calls and 
conditions because those calls 

565
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,200
and conditions limit them in 
their ability here. 

566
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,480
And once you start to think 
about people in this way here, 

567
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,160
it actually becomes very 
beautiful because you start to 

568
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,960
think about people instead of 
getting angry with them and 

569
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,760
saying, OK, you are a bad 
person, you are lazy or 

570
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,800
whatever. 
You understand that they are 

571
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,520
trapped by the conditioning. 
Everyone is doing their best. 

572
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,120
It's a beautiful way of thinking
about the world. 

573
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,880
And so you spread this out. 
You make this kind of a motto in

574
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,280
your life. 
Everyone is doing their best. 

575
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:50,760
Yeah. 
And as you do that, you start to

576
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:52,920
deal with the world in a 
different way. 

577
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:58,280
So if you are a business leader,
then instead of telling off the 

578
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,240
people, telling them off, saying
you are bad or you are too lazy 

579
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,760
or whatever, instead of getting 
angry with them, right, because 

580
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,480
you think that they can do 
better if they only put their 

581
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,960
mind to it, they're actually 
lazy by purpose or by intention.

582
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,040
Instead of thinking like that, 
we understand that there is 

583
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,360
cause and conditions behind this
behaviour. 

584
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,280
And because there are cause and 
conditions behind this 

585
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:24,240
behaviour, you ask yourself what
are the causes that make people 

586
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,880
work well. 
And very often you find that 

587
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,840
people, the causes are you treat
people well, they will actually 

588
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,840
behave well back in return. 
Yeah, this is usually the way 

589
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,520
things are. 
I just look at Bodinana 

590
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,040
Monastery. 
We have Ajahbrahm in the 

591
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,840
monastery. 
And I know for a fact that when 

592
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:46,400
I see Ajam Rama, very large part
of why Bodhinana Monastery 

593
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,560
functions very well and there's 
very little, barely any 

594
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,840
arguments and problems or 
anything like that. 

595
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,520
It's because you have a leader 
kind of who leads by example in 

596
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,000
this way and the world is off 
like that. 

597
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,400
So you look instead, you stand 
back, you don't get angry and 

598
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,480
upset because that's usually 
counterproductive. 

599
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,080
It makes them worse in the long 
run. 

600
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,040
You stand back and ask yourself,
well, what are the cause and 

601
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,680
conditions that make people 
really productive? 

602
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,400
Because everyone runs according 
to cause and conditions, not by 

603
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,680
ill will or by negative will in 
relation to the company or 

604
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:21,000
towards the management or 
whatever. 

605
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,440
Or maybe they have that, but 
that is another cause and 

606
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:27,240
condition in their life and this
changes our outlook. 

607
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,360
So beautiful in the world and we
start to have compassion for 

608
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,360
people. 
We start to have a kindness in 

609
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,800
an entirely new way because we 
understand how people really 

610
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,560
work. 
Everyone is doing their best. 

611
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,240
And so this is one of these 
beautiful Buddhist ways of using

612
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:49,360
a profound idea of non self in a
very, very practical way here. 

613
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,440
And I thought it's wonderful 
that we have people in the 

614
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,200
world. 
Yeah, This person was probably 

615
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,000
not a Buddhist. 
If you live in Norway, the 

616
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,560
chance of being a Buddhist are 
zilch. 

617
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,200
Yeah. 
They are very, very small, but 

618
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,600
not not 0, but you know, very 
very. 

619
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,440
Small more greater chance you 
will worship Thor and Odin and 

620
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,280
these kind of things So actually
I think Thor and Odin are pretty

621
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,200
cool yeah, I you know, I wish I 
had kind of discovered them 

622
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,480
before Buddhist, but I never 
really got got there. 

623
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,960
I was. 
I was more like an atheist 

624
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,840
before I was a Buddhist, but. 
This is a secret. 

625
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,440
Yeah. 
So I, I actually have more faith

626
00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,240
in Thor and Odin than I have in 
the creator God. 

627
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:28,960
You know, the kind of universal 
God. 

628
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:31,520
I just had to be careful with 
saying the thing that's actually

629
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:32,840
true. 
That's kind of that's kind of 

630
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:34,800
where where I'm at. 
I'm not sure if I'm kind of 

631
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,400
really backwards or whether 
there's some truth or that, but 

632
00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:39,240
that's kind of how I think about
the world. 

633
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,520
If you want the secret to that, 
ask me later, I'll tell you the 

634
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:49,240
secrets behind that. 
But so anyway, so, yeah, so 

635
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:52,920
people discover these things 
kind of through their own ways 

636
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:54,920
in in many ways. 
And what a wonderful thing that 

637
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,240
is. 
But of course, we need to take 

638
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,360
that a bit further. 
Yeah, Yes, that is kind of 

639
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,600
kindness. 
How can we develop even more 

640
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:06,200
compassion in the world? 
And compassion comes from two 

641
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,960
things, really. 
Compassion comes from 

642
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,280
understanding the suffering in 
the world. 

643
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,560
Yeah. 
You see suffering in other 

644
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:19,320
people, and then compassion 
arises and it's interesting. 

645
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,080
I really would recommend you to 
try to see suffering in other 

646
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:25,360
people. 
It's so easy to be judge, 

647
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,320
mental. 
It's so easy to focus on my 

648
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,520
suffering. 
This is my problem, but not 

649
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:32,560
seeing it in other people in the
same way. 

650
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,880
But everyone in this world has 
suffering. 

651
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,200
Yeah, everyone has suffering. 
And it's very, very similar to 

652
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,400
yours because as human beings, 
we're basically the same. 

653
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,320
Yeah. 
We have the same kind of things 

654
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,200
that we have to deal with, the 
same kind of people problem, the

655
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,160
same kind of family problem, the
same kind of issues with 

656
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,080
politics and the world and 
climate and what have you. 

657
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,920
We are in the same boat. 
So basically we perceive the 

658
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,440
world in very similar kind of 
ways. 

659
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,240
So remember to see that 
suffering in other people. 

660
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,720
And when you start to see the 
suffering in the world, the 

661
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,360
suffering in others, then you 
start to understand. 

662
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,719
No wonder people do bad things 
sometimes. 

663
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,440
No wonder they say stupid things
no matter what do they act out 

664
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,679
of this frustration with the 
suffering in their life? 

665
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,400
So when you see someone doing 
something bad, instead of 

666
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,719
judging them for their vadnais, 
instead of thinking that they 

667
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,320
are an evil person, understand 
that in all likelihood they are 

668
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,560
suffering here. 
There's a problem inside of 

669
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:34,760
them. 
And when you see that, it 

670
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:38,480
becomes a beautiful feeling of 
compassion instead of this 

671
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:42,080
judgement and the harsh kind of 
qualities that we have towards 

672
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,400
other people. 
Always see the suffering behind 

673
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,480
the facade. 
And sometimes it can be kind of 

674
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,840
hard to see the suffering. 
Yeah, some people, they put up a

675
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,040
facade, they may look like they 
have their act together and they

676
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,320
pretend that they have this 
super duper and wonderful life. 

677
00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:00,560
Yeah, but look behind the 
facade. 

678
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,200
And when you look behind the 
facade, you will see something 

679
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:09,600
else often that hard shell that 
we have showing ourselves to the

680
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,720
world in a certain way. 
That self is an expression of 

681
00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:16,480
suffering because it shows that 
we are trying to be someone we 

682
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,880
cannot actually be, pretending 
to be something which actually 

683
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,560
is impossible. 
That itself is often expression 

684
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:24,720
of suffering. 
And as you the more you see 

685
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:29,760
this, the more you start to feel
compassion for the world, not 

686
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:33,280
only suffering, but the other 
aspect that also is a very 

687
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:38,520
important. 
And the other aspect is the idea

688
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:41,400
again of non self. 
Yeah, the idea that people 

689
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,880
aren't really responsible for 
the suffering, not responsible 

690
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:46,200
for the condition they're in 
there. 

691
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,840
They have been formed and shaped
by society, by the world around 

692
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:53,240
them, by causing conditions. 
And they have come to be the way

693
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:55,800
they are because of this cause 
and conditions in the world 

694
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,840
around them. 
To see the world in this way 

695
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:01,720
here. 
So this gives rise to 

696
00:36:01,720 --> 00:36:04,440
compassion. 
But don't focus too much on the 

697
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:05,400
pure suffering. 
Yeah. 

698
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,480
Because if you focus too much on
the pure suffering, yeah, you 

699
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,680
may end up becoming depressed. 
Oh, no. 

700
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:13,800
So much suffering can't stand 
any longer. 

701
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:17,520
It's true, right? 
If you see suffering all the 

702
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:19,280
time, after a while you kind of 
give up. 

703
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,240
And this is one of the reasons 
why I feel so terrible. 

704
00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:24,760
So you also need to focus on 
something else to find that 

705
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:26,720
balance. 
That balance is what we call 

706
00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:29,680
compassion. 
If all you do is if you have 

707
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:33,880
empathy for other people, if all
you do is feel other people's 

708
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:35,880
suffering, then it can get you 
down. 

709
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:40,720
So remember that there's many 
beautiful qualities and people 

710
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:41,920
as well. 
Yeah. 

711
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,280
You come to a place like the 
Buddha Society, you come down to

712
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:46,960
a monastery. 
You look at people, many 

713
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,120
ordinary people in the world, 
and very often you see beautiful

714
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:54,000
qualities in them. 
Despite the suffering, despite 

715
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,920
the problems, they have 
beautiful hearts, they are kind,

716
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,240
they are generous, They have all
of these wonderful qualities. 

717
00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:01,800
And what a wonderful thing that 
is in the world. 

718
00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,120
That means that there is hope, 
because if you develop those 

719
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:08,320
good qualities inside of 
yourself, that kindness, that 

720
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,800
care and all of those things, it
means that you will also 

721
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:15,840
ultimately be able to transcend 
the suffering, to go beyond it, 

722
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,160
because that is precisely what 
is got. 

723
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:22,520
Good qualities are about to see 
the suffering but also see the 

724
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:26,880
goodness. 
And you know that if you help 

725
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:31,160
out in the world, if you do good
actions, if you're part, if you 

726
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,480
are a blessing for the world 
rather becoming part of the 

727
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:37,240
problem for the world, you will 
be able to help out and you will

728
00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:39,960
be able to help other people 
develop good qualities and 

729
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:41,560
reduce the suffering in the 
world. 

730
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:44,120
And that is what real compassion
is about. 

731
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:47,640
When we see the hope and we see 
the potential for reducing 

732
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:52,360
suffering ultimately coming out 
of it all together, then that is

733
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:56,880
what real compassion is about, 
the willingness to help out and 

734
00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,200
sort out the issues. 
Yeah, on a small scale. 

735
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:02,440
Yeah. 
With our people around us. 

736
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,400
That is kind of when it all 
comes together in a beautiful 

737
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,920
way here. 
So this is the idea of 

738
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,680
compassion and kindness. 
They're developing these 

739
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:16,640
beautiful perceptions. 
That kind of then feedback into 

740
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,400
our general kindness in our 
behaviour ultimately feeds back 

741
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,160
in meditation practice. 
But there's one more perception 

742
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:26,320
I want to talk to you about 
because these perceptions, 

743
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:31,000
especially the ones I talk about
now, they come in a, in a, in 

744
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,520
three in the group of three 
things together. 

745
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,120
And one of them is the kindness,
the meta, if you like, or the 

746
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,640
loving kindness. 
Sometimes The other one is the 

747
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:43,640
compassion. 
And the third one, which is a 

748
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:44,960
little bit more challenging, 
Yeah. 

749
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,600
Is the idea of renunciation 
there. 

750
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,480
So I'd give you one minute to 
leave before you start talking 

751
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,960
about renunciation because this 
is kind of, this is, I told you 

752
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,880
it's going to be scary, right? 
Everything in Buddhism is not 

753
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:58,760
everything. 
Some things in Buddhism are kind

754
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:01,280
of scary. 
Renunciation is one of these 

755
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,680
words, especially in the English
language. 

756
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,320
Yeah, renouncing sounds like 
you're giving something up and 

757
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,840
getting nothing in return, 
right? 

758
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:11,800
You just give up getting nothing
in return. 

759
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:13,920
That is not what it means in 
Buddhism. 

760
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:17,440
That's kind of very important. 
Yeah, starting point. 

761
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,960
If you give something up in 
Buddhism, it is always because 

762
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:22,720
you're looking for something 
higher. 

763
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:24,960
Yeah, it is always going for 
something higher. 

764
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,960
That is the purpose. 
So renunciation is not really 

765
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,120
scary if you think about it in 
the right way. 

766
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:32,440
Actually, it is something very 
beautiful there. 

767
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,320
We are aiming for something 
more. 

768
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:39,160
That is why we renounce the law.
We start off by renouncing 

769
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,560
immorality, moving towards 
morality. 

770
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,720
Yeah, this is what I have in 
mind there. 

771
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,920
But to start it off, I want to 
tell another little story. 

772
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,120
This is from another person I 
know quite well, someone who 

773
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:54,160
this person is actually a 
Buddhist, but he was also a very

774
00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:57,920
successful business person 
before he was a Buddhist 

775
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,360
already, but before he kind of 
before. 

776
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,040
Yeah, before something. 
Anyways, there's always 

777
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,120
something before something else.
So before. 

778
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:08,200
Before something, so at some 
point he was a very successful 

779
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:10,840
business. 
They built up this company from 

780
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:13,640
scratch. 
It was an information company 

781
00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:17,040
that sold information about 
carbon markets or something like

782
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:20,160
that around the world. 
He built it up from nothing into

783
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,600
this big company and then it got
sold off to this one of these 

784
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:27,000
large information companies, 
Thomson Reuter or something like

785
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,920
that. 
And he became a very wealthy 

786
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:33,440
person in the process, right. 
As as what happens when you sell

787
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:37,520
off a business like that. 
And then he was interviewed and 

788
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,320
I saw this interview with him in
a in a newspaper, right. 

789
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:42,720
This was also in happens also to
have been in Norway, actually in

790
00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:44,720
the Norwegian newspaper. 
And he was interviewed by this 

791
00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:48,760
business newspaper. 
And they asked him the question.

792
00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:53,160
They said to him, well, it must 
be very satisfactory to have 

793
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:56,040
made so much money out of out of
a good idea. 

794
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,840
Yeah. 
So is it satisfactory to make a 

795
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,560
lot of money out of a good idea?
Yeah, maybe, But what? 

796
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,160
He replied. 
And this was kind of what I 

797
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,400
thought was really cool, he 
replied. 

798
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,840
Well, actually making the money,
yeah, that was just a 

799
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,840
consequence. 
That was just like an arbitrary 

800
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,880
result that would look like an 
additional thing that happened, 

801
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,400
right? 
That was not what this was 

802
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,720
about. 
This was about pursuing an idea 

803
00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:25,640
I was passionate about. 
This was about building up a 

804
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,800
company to create something 
positive in the world. 

805
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,560
It was not about making money. 
That was not what this was 

806
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:33,600
about. 
That was just a consequence. 

807
00:41:33,720 --> 00:41:36,480
That was just an effect of doing
the right thing here. 

808
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:39,640
And I thought, wow, I'm so proud
of this person. 

809
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,080
Right here is a Buddhist showing
for once that they have 

810
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,440
understood a little bit about 
renunciation. 

811
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:50,920
They're not doing things in the 
world to accumulate stuff, more 

812
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,600
of the worldly things. 
All of this which is so 

813
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,400
impermanent, unstable, 
unsatisfactory in the end in the

814
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,320
world. 
Why accumulate so much of that? 

815
00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,000
He did it for a heartfelt 
reason, because he knew it was 

816
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,520
good to work hard, to build up a
beautiful idea and to do 

817
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:11,720
something positive in the world.
I thought, wow, what a beautiful

818
00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:14,480
thing. 
And then when the company was 

819
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:16,680
sold, he made lots of money 
here. 

820
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:19,080
And what did he use that money 
on? 

821
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,840
Well, a large part of that money
he set aside to build up a 

822
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:25,840
Buddhist monastery here. 
Yeah. 

823
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:29,320
He knew there was no real 
Buddhist monastery in Norway, at

824
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,160
least not in the kind of 
traditional sense of the idea of

825
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:36,440
the forest tradition with monks 
or nuns who meditate properly 

826
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:39,720
and practice the part properly. 
So he wanted to establish a 

827
00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:42,720
monastery, for goodness sake. 
Yeah, it's like kind of 

828
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,120
extraordinary. 
How many people in the world do 

829
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:47,360
you find who are wealthy and 
they want to establish 

830
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,120
monasteries all over the place? 
Yeah, it's not that many. 

831
00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:52,320
It's rare. 
You can count them on. 

832
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,120
I don't know how many hands you 
need, but not that many hands, 

833
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,360
right. 
And more than one hand, 

834
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:00,360
probably. 
But anyway, so. 

835
00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:05,160
And so then he did that, and he 
established a monastery in 

836
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:06,720
Norway. 
And that monastery is now 

837
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:08,200
thriving. 
Yeah. 

838
00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:11,240
And he's doing very well. 
And he continues to support it, 

839
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:15,600
establishing it, feeding it with
a requisite amount of financial 

840
00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:18,680
support, but also other support.
He's this kind of person with 

841
00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:21,440
endless support, endless giving 
all the time. 

842
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,080
And this is a beautiful idea of 
renunciation. 

843
00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:30,080
Pronunciation begins with the 
idea of generosity here, of 

844
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:33,320
giving to other people, giving 
to the world. 

845
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:36,480
We forget the power of 
generosity. 

846
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,720
And this is the start of 
renunciation here and of course,

847
00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:43,160
generosity here. 
The reason why it is so powerful

848
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,000
is because it gives rise to so 
much joy if you do it in the 

849
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:47,160
right way. 
Yeah. 

850
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,760
And many of you know that. 
I know that a lot of people here

851
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,280
in the Buddha society are very, 
very generous people. 

852
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:58,040
Because I know you, yeah, I've 
seen you in practice. 

853
00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:01,400
I know how you do these things. 
And what a beautiful thing it is

854
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:05,360
to watch people who are generous
and you get genuine joy out of 

855
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,000
the generosity. 
This is what it is about. 

856
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:13,840
And the idea of generosity, one 
of the reason why it is so 

857
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,880
closely related to renunciation,
one of the ways you can see that

858
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,360
in the suitors. 
And I'll come back to the suit 

859
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:21,400
as again come back to the word 
of the Buddha. 

860
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,400
One of the things that is said 
about generosity in the suit as 

861
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,840
it is explained in terms of 
certain words and one of the 

862
00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:32,640
words that is used. 
Some of these words are the same

863
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:36,600
as the words that you find for 
the third noble truth, which is 

864
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:39,960
the noble truth of awakening. 
The Four Noble truths in 

865
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:43,120
Buddhism suffering it's cause 
the ending of suffering in the 

866
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:46,440
path leading to the end of the 
The third noble truth is about 

867
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:50,120
awakening itself, and awakening 
is the highest thing that we're 

868
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:54,400
looking for in Buddhism. 
If you compare that awakening 

869
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:58,120
the way it is described in the 
third Noble Truth, you compare 

870
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,640
that with how generosity is 
described in the suit as a it is

871
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:05,240
a similar kind of vocabulary 
that is used. 

872
00:45:05,240 --> 00:45:08,480
Isn't that kind of 
extraordinary? 

873
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:13,280
What is that vocabulary? 
That vocabulary is a word called

874
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:15,480
Chaga. 
Chaga. 

875
00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:18,240
We have a monk called Chaga, by 
the way, actually, is he 

876
00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:19,400
generous? 
Yeah, he's pretty good. 

877
00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:22,320
But so we have a monk called 
Chaga. 

878
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,000
Yeah, very nice monk. 
He's kind of very he's like a 

879
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:27,560
teddy bear monk. 
But so he's very, very nice. 

880
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:29,320
And actually all the monks are 
very nice. 

881
00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:31,400
Yeah. 
We have a bit of metagy. 

882
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:33,800
We have so many nice monks. 
I don't, I don't think we have. 

883
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:35,880
Do we have any non nice monks 
and metagy? 

884
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,480
I don't think so. 
I think they're all I don't. 

885
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,920
I'm not sure if we could say 
that anyway, but but actually 

886
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,200
it's true, right? 
We don't really have any kind of

887
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:46,440
bad or evil monks or anything 
like that. 

888
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:48,640
If you see an evil monk, let me 
know. 

889
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,200
So don't tell me it's me. 
I would be really scary. 

890
00:45:54,280 --> 00:46:01,600
I think you so the words used, 
one of the words is chaga. 

891
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:05,280
Chaga means like letting go, 
right? 

892
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:07,200
Giving something up. 
Yeah. 

893
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,480
It's a beautiful word. 
And so, charga, when you let go,

894
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:12,720
you give up. 
That is like giving, right? 

895
00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:14,840
Giving up. 
Quite literally giving. 

896
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:16,720
Yeah. 
And of course, when you become 

897
00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:21,040
enlightened, you also give up. 
Yeah, except that you give up in

898
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:23,720
a deeper way. 
But the general movement of the 

899
00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:26,720
mind is the same. 
You give up something because 

900
00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:29,880
you're generous, or you give up 
something completely because of 

901
00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:31,960
awakening. 
The general idea is the same, 

902
00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,600
man. 
Another word for the idea of 

903
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,920
generosity is mutti. 
Mutti means like freeing. 

904
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:40,640
Yeah, you're freeing things by 
giving them away. 

905
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:44,640
Mutti. 
In the Third Noble Truth 

906
00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:48,200
awakening, also you find the 
word mutti, you are freeing. 

907
00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:50,320
But now the freedom is at a 
higher stage. 

908
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:52,640
But the general idea, again is 
the same. 

909
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:55,720
Then you have the word 
pattinisanga. 

910
00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:58,920
Pattinisanga also means like 
letting go. 

911
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,000
Yeah, it's the highest kind of 
letting go in Buddhism, in the 

912
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,520
generosity. 
You find the word botsanga. 

913
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,560
This is like a course in Pali, 
for goodness sake. 

914
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:12,360
And then I'm using too many Pali
words, botsanga, pattinisanga, 

915
00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:16,840
same root, same basic word. 
Yeah, means to let go, to give 

916
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,840
up again. 
And so you find, and this is no 

917
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:24,520
coincidence, you find that many 
of the same words are used for 

918
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:28,080
generosity as you find for the 
awakening thing itself. 

919
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:31,880
Isn't that extraordinary? 
Isn't that really interesting 

920
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:34,200
here? 
It means that if you have a 

921
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:37,960
feeling of generosity, if you 
really want to give, if you 

922
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:41,520
really want to be part of this 
in the right way and you feel 

923
00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:43,960
you want to be generalized, it's
a wonderful thing. 

924
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:48,360
It means that you have a small 
taste of the idea of awakening 

925
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:52,000
itself because the awakening 
itself is precisely this idea of

926
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,240
giving up, giving out, letting 
go of everything. 

927
00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:59,040
Yeah, yeah. 
So please don't underestimate 

928
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:00,760
the idea of generosity on this 
part. 

929
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,760
It is so foundational for 
everything in Buddhism. 

930
00:48:04,240 --> 00:48:08,120
Please practice it as much as 
you possibly can, but try to 

931
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,080
make it come naturally. 
Make it something joyful, make 

932
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:14,000
it something positive, because 
you know that doing something 

933
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,480
beautiful by practising this 
generosity. 

934
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:20,120
So for those of you who are 
already practising this, please 

935
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,520
carry on. 
And for those of you who feel we

936
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:26,080
can do better, see if we can do 
better in this area, and it 

937
00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:28,320
doesn't matter so much where you
are generous. 

938
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:30,880
Yeah. 
What matters is that you do it. 

939
00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:38,560
But of course, the idea of 
renunciation, it goes even 

940
00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:40,760
deeper than that. 
Yeah, I'm not going to go all 

941
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:42,200
that much deeper, but it goes 
deeper. 

942
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:46,000
The beginning of renunciation is
really just about, again, the 

943
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:49,400
idea of generosity, but it goes 
deeper than that. 

944
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:54,640
And the idea of renunciation is 
very closely tied in with the 

945
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:58,560
idea of impermanence. 
Yeah, Anitsha, I talked about 

946
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:00,920
this before. 
When you understand the 

947
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:05,760
impermanence, the unreliability,
the uncertainty of the world, 

948
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,400
yeah, you take it becomes less 
interesting. 

949
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:12,400
Yeah, because things that are 
uncertain, things that are 

950
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:15,080
unreliable, things that we 
cannot count on. 

951
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:17,440
Yeah. 
These are things that are not 

952
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:20,760
really all that interesting. 
If you have an unreliable 

953
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:22,920
friend, they don't become your 
friend for all that long. 

954
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,600
Yeah, you soon you say goodbye 
because they're not reliable 

955
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:28,600
enough in the same way. 
Oops. 

956
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:31,080
OK. 
May you become well sooner and 

957
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:33,800
wish you all the very best. 
OK, Conrad. 

958
00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:41,960
So the idea of impermanence is 
closely related to the idea of 

959
00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:45,640
renunciation, because when you 
see the problems in the world, 

960
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:47,920
the uncertainty, you cannot hold
onto anything. 

961
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:50,240
Everything is always slipping 
between your fingers. 

962
00:49:50,240 --> 00:49:51,960
You can't really grasp onto 
things. 

963
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:56,640
Then it becomes natural to not 
care about those things so much 

964
00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:59,320
anymore, and you start to 
renounce them. 

965
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,520
And instead of holding to those 
things in the world that are so 

966
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:05,920
unreliable and so uncertain, you
start moving towards the 

967
00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:09,520
spiritual path instead where you
actually, we can hold on to 

968
00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:13,120
things to some extent. 
We can do things that are more 

969
00:50:13,520 --> 00:50:16,720
you can keep for the longer 
term, things like kindness, 

970
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:20,000
building up internal good 
qualities and all of these kind 

971
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:23,880
of things. 
And so there again, the idea of 

972
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:28,040
renouncing comes quite naturally
here because you understand the 

973
00:50:28,040 --> 00:50:30,920
problems of the world, the 
impermanence of everything. 

974
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:32,400
Yeah. 
You start to let it go. 

975
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:36,480
And when you start to let it go,
you set your sight on something 

976
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:40,160
higher, something with real 
value, something with real 

977
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:40,760
meaning. 
Yeah. 

978
00:50:41,240 --> 00:50:43,400
Something that actually takes 
you somewhere. 

979
00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:46,040
We gain something that really 
can sustain you for the long 

980
00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:47,120
run. 
Yeah. 

981
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:50,760
And that is the spiritual path, 
the spiritual practice. 

982
00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:57,600
So let me just summarise for you
very briefly what I've been 

983
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:00,360
talking about talking for quite 
a while. 

984
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,280
Probably talk too much. 
I apologise if I talk too much. 

985
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:04,720
But anyway, this, this what 
happens. 

986
00:51:06,240 --> 00:51:10,960
So you start out, yeah, this 
path starts out, You start to 

987
00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:14,800
purify your perceptions. 
You look at the world in a more 

988
00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:18,040
way that aligns with the way the
Buddha looked at the world. 

989
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:20,640
More right view, more right 
perception. 

990
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,480
And the more you purify these 
perceptions, the more they're 

991
00:51:24,480 --> 00:51:27,560
aligned with the way the Buddha 
taught and the Buddha saw the 

992
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:30,880
world, which is seeing the world
as it actually is, says the 

993
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:32,680
Buddha. 
Yeah, we want to see reality. 

994
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,680
Being deluded is no option. 
Yeah, if you're deluded, of 

995
00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:39,840
course you're going to suffer. 
Then from that, you purify your 

996
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:42,560
morality. 
You become genuinely kind 

997
00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:45,600
because you understand that that
is the only way to live your 

998
00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:49,480
life is real kindness, real 
compassion, even real 

999
00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:52,840
renunciation. 
And as you purify your mind in 

1000
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:56,120
this way, not holding onto the 
world, treating everyone with 

1001
00:51:56,120 --> 00:52:00,440
kindness and fairness, then your
meditation comes together. 

1002
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:03,440
Why? 
Because you feel really free and

1003
00:52:03,440 --> 00:52:06,600
good inside of yourself. 
You have renounced and you feel 

1004
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:09,720
good because you're living well.
Your meditation starts to come 

1005
00:52:09,720 --> 00:52:13,720
together and one day you start 
to experience those really 

1006
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:17,880
profound meditations that are 
earth shattering and change the 

1007
00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:19,920
course of your life forever 
after. 

1008
00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:22,960
These are the the deep states of
samadhi that really make a 

1009
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:26,120
massive difference and you start
to understand the meaning of 

1010
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:30,720
life itself, everything 
ultimately ending in awakening 

1011
00:52:30,720 --> 00:52:32,520
itself at the very end of the 
path. 

1012
00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:38,240
So this is how the development 
of perception works. 

1013
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:45,600
So if you think this is a good 
idea, then please, hopefully you

1014
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:47,040
can make use of some of this in 
your life. 

1015
00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:49,080
So that's the talk for tonight. 
Thank you very much. 

1016
00:52:55,240 --> 00:52:59,280
OK everyone, so now you we give 
you a chance to make some 

1017
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:04,280
comments and ask some questions 
if you like Prem, Mr. Mr. Miri 

1018
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:07,360
Hagala over here can. 
We have a microphone over here 

1019
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:09,920
please to the just in front over
here. 

1020
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:19,040
Thank you Ajen for the profound 
teaching to start the year. 

1021
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:25,440
Thank you. 
It's no secret that some deep 

1022
00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:28,200
rooted habits get carried on 
from one life to the other. 

1023
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:30,680
Is it the perceptions that get 
carried over? 

1024
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:34,960
It, it is a mind that get 
carried, gets carried over, 

1025
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:36,600
right. 
And the one of the things I 

1026
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:40,920
didn't talk about is the kind of
interplay of the different 

1027
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,640
factors of the mind. 
Because the mind that has, I 

1028
00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:47,560
mean, we often divide the mind 
up into perceptions, thoughts 

1029
00:53:47,560 --> 00:53:49,680
and views. 
This is a kind of a standard way

1030
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:52,760
to divide up the mind. 
And there's one very interesting

1031
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:54,800
suit that which talks about what
is called the vipalas. 

1032
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:57,360
The vipalas are like the 
distortions of the mind or the 

1033
00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:00,640
wrong, the kind of wrong 
attitude that we have to the 

1034
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:01,240
world. 
Yeah. 

1035
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:04,400
And those distortions are found 
at all of those levels or the 

1036
00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:07,080
level of perception. 
Perception is like our immediate

1037
00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:10,040
sense of something, right? 
Perception, like our immediate, 

1038
00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:11,960
how we make sense of the world 
straight away. 

1039
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:14,480
They're also found at the level 
of thought. 

1040
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:16,640
Yeah. 
Our thoughts are distorted, and 

1041
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:19,360
from those thoughts and 
perceptions we build up often 

1042
00:54:19,360 --> 00:54:21,360
our views. 
So these things are all related 

1043
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:24,720
to sort of views, thoughts and 
perceptions, and they're all 

1044
00:54:24,720 --> 00:54:27,560
distorted in a certain way. 
So we bring with us into this 

1045
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:32,480
life a whole bunch of distorted 
ideas, distorted, distorted 

1046
00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:34,400
views of what things are 
actually like. 

1047
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:38,320
And so for that reason, the 
reshaping of our views, the 

1048
00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:41,640
reshaping our perceptions and 
thoughts is such an important 

1049
00:54:41,640 --> 00:54:44,320
thing because we come with all 
this baggage from the past. 

1050
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:49,320
Yeah, all of this messed, messed
upness from the past and that is

1051
00:54:49,320 --> 00:54:54,000
what needs to be sorted out. 
Enable us to kind of get the 

1052
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:57,000
noble Apple path to start, 
because the noble Apple path 

1053
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:59,720
starts with the right view, and 
that's kind of where everything 

1054
00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:05,120
comes together here. 
So I'm not clear if my question 

1055
00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:07,760
was answered. 
And I'm not sure my I have no 

1056
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:11,040
idea whether it was answered. 
Yeah, habits. 

1057
00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:16,440
I mean, it's no secret that like
yourself, I mean one number of 

1058
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:19,160
times you have told us that you 
may have been a monkey in our 

1059
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:22,880
previous lives in some other 
margins as well. 

1060
00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,000
How does that happen? 
How, what what gets? 

1061
00:55:26,240 --> 00:55:28,920
Is it the karma or? 
Well, it's the same thing. 

1062
00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:31,240
I mean, karma is one thing, 
habit is something slightly 

1063
00:55:31,240 --> 00:55:33,120
different. 
It's not exactly the same 

1064
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:37,840
because karma is the the ethical
aspect of your actions, right? 

1065
00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:42,040
It's your intention. 
So, and, but habit is just what 

1066
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:44,920
you are doing again and again 
because you're used to it, it 

1067
00:55:45,240 --> 00:55:47,480
doesn't necessarily have any 
ethical significance. 

1068
00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:49,080
So there's 2 slightly different 
things. 

1069
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:51,720
So why am IA monk? 
Is it because of Kama, because 

1070
00:55:51,720 --> 00:55:52,600
of habit? 
I don't know. 

1071
00:55:52,640 --> 00:55:55,080
I, I think probably habit, 
right? 

1072
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,200
I just became a monk because I 
was a monk before. 

1073
00:55:57,200 --> 00:56:01,040
So I just now I'm a monk again. 
There I, there's this nice, I 

1074
00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:03,680
gave a talk about this many 
years ago, why I'm a Buddhist 

1075
00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:04,800
monk. 
And there's a little booklet 

1076
00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:07,360
about that now as well, which is
available, available on the 

1077
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:09,760
Internet actually. 
And many people really like that

1078
00:56:09,760 --> 00:56:11,240
big booklet. 
So check it out. 

1079
00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:12,280
I don't remember Mali. 
Why? 

1080
00:56:12,280 --> 00:56:15,000
I'm a Buddhist monk, and you can
see it, find it out in there. 

1081
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:20,480
But, you know, the main story 
that I tell in that book is 

1082
00:56:20,480 --> 00:56:24,160
that, you know, when I came to 
Buddhism, initially I thought 

1083
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:25,760
that was because I'm really 
smart. 

1084
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:26,880
I'm a Buddhist. 
Yeah. 

1085
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:28,440
Because I'm really. 
I understand. 

1086
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:30,200
Yeah. 
I Chuck away all the nonsense in

1087
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:31,760
the world. 
I kind of get to the choral 

1088
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:34,720
things because I'm really wise 
and smart person there. 

1089
00:56:35,240 --> 00:56:37,560
But of course you quickly 
understand that this has to do 

1090
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:39,880
with ego. 
Yeah, once you kind of get into 

1091
00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:42,760
that kind of way of thinking, 
it's not a good idea, you know, 

1092
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:44,640
that there's an ego plays it's 
role there. 

1093
00:56:45,400 --> 00:56:49,080
So then I start to think, well, 
if I'm not very all that smart 

1094
00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:52,560
necessarily, I could put aside 
the whole idea of smartness 

1095
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:54,880
because it may turn out to be 
completely irrelevant anyway, 

1096
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:56,280
whether you're smart or not so 
smart. 

1097
00:56:56,520 --> 00:56:59,280
What's that got to do with it? 
Where does it come from? 

1098
00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:01,560
Yeah. 
And that's when I started to 

1099
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:04,760
look into some of the things 
that I experienced in my as a 

1100
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:07,000
younger person. 
Yeah, in my younger years. 

1101
00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:11,520
And I had some strange 
experiences, you know, just very

1102
00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:14,160
simple things, really like the 
idea of wanting to, when I was 

1103
00:57:14,160 --> 00:57:16,520
12 years old, I wanted to live 
in a Hut in the forest by myself

1104
00:57:16,520 --> 00:57:18,800
and these kind of things, which 
I thought this is kind of weird,

1105
00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:20,520
But there were more than just 
that. 

1106
00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:24,840
And that's where eventually it 
dawned on me that. 

1107
00:57:25,000 --> 00:57:28,920
Well, maybe I you know, the 
reason I couldn't really explain

1108
00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:31,920
why I was a Buddhist monk. 
Yeah, I grew up in Norway. 

1109
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:33,840
There's just ice and snow. 
There's no Buddhist. 

1110
00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:36,960
There's there's nothing going. 
On which we might remotely 

1111
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:39,280
reminds you of Buddhism. 
In Norway, we had no Buddhist 

1112
00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:40,800
friends. 
My family certainly wasn't 

1113
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:42,480
Buddhist. 
They were a bunch of atheists 

1114
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:44,680
that didn't care about any 
religion at all. 

1115
00:57:45,560 --> 00:57:50,920
And so then I, I, after a while,
it came to me that probably the 

1116
00:57:50,920 --> 00:57:54,520
reason is why it happened to me.
I probably was a Buddhist monk 

1117
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:55,320
in the past. 
Yeah. 

1118
00:57:55,320 --> 00:58:00,200
I'm doing this out of habit. 
And that's a scary moment, yeah.

1119
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:02,280
Because you think that you're 
doing things because you're 

1120
00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:03,440
wise. 
You think you're doing things 

1121
00:58:03,440 --> 00:58:06,640
because it is right. 
But when you think, realise 

1122
00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:09,240
you're doing it out of habit, it
becomes kind of scary because 

1123
00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:11,600
then you wonder, is it really 
right at all? 

1124
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:15,120
Maybe I'm just a dumb dumb who's
just following my ancient habits

1125
00:58:15,120 --> 00:58:16,800
without really investigating 
properly. 

1126
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:21,000
It's the right answer. 
Then the moment you understand 

1127
00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:24,280
that you're doing anything out 
of habit, including becoming a 

1128
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:27,120
Buddhist monk perhaps, well, 
then you start to think, OK, I'd

1129
00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:29,480
better investigate these 
teachings if they make sense or 

1130
00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:30,920
not. 
I'd better investigate them very

1131
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:32,840
carefully. 
I can't take anything for 

1132
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:36,320
granted, right? 
And that is where you start to 

1133
00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:39,240
look at the Buddhist teachings. 
You read them really carefully, 

1134
00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:42,480
you start to compare them with 
your own experience, and you 

1135
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:44,320
start to ask, do they really 
make sense? 

1136
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:47,080
And that is where the faith and 
confidence really becomes 

1137
00:58:47,080 --> 00:58:50,600
powerful because you start to 
feel these are real things. 

1138
00:58:50,960 --> 00:58:52,800
They're not just a habit I 
follow. 

1139
00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:55,440
Actually, there's something very
profound and beautiful going on 

1140
00:58:55,440 --> 00:58:57,840
here. 
So this is kind of how we should

1141
00:58:57,840 --> 00:58:59,760
think, right? 
So at the moment you see a habit

1142
00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:02,880
in yourself. 
I'm habitually getting upset. 

1143
00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:04,640
Everyone gets upset every now 
and again. 

1144
00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:06,720
I'm habitually get that. 
And you think that is 

1145
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:10,680
frightening If I I'm habitually 
getting upset because if this is

1146
00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:14,560
an inheritance from my past 
life, it means I have this now. 

1147
00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:19,040
Unless I get rid of it, I will 
carry that inheritance with me 

1148
00:59:19,040 --> 00:59:20,280
also into the future. 
Yeah. 

1149
00:59:20,280 --> 00:59:22,840
Very scary. 
I may not be Buddhist in the 

1150
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:24,520
future. 
Maybe you get born in Norway 

1151
00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:25,400
next time. 
Prem. 

1152
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:29,960
Yeah, among all the, among all 
the snow and ice and whatever. 

1153
00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:31,840
Yeah. 
And, and you, you, you may not, 

1154
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:34,080
maybe you would you, you'd be 
surprised. 

1155
00:59:34,080 --> 00:59:36,400
You will enjoy the snow and ice 
once you get born into it. 

1156
00:59:36,400 --> 00:59:38,680
You may now you may think it's a
horror, but actually once you're

1157
00:59:38,680 --> 00:59:40,400
born into these things, you 
actually enjoy it. 

1158
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:41,520
Yeah. 
Because you get condition in a 

1159
00:59:41,520 --> 00:59:44,240
different way. 
That is the danger habit is 

1160
00:59:44,280 --> 00:59:47,720
very, very scary here. 
And This is why when you get 

1161
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:50,960
this feeling of how scary habit 
is, because you bring it with 

1162
00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:54,880
you into the future, the idea of
rebirth becomes very scary. 

1163
00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:57,280
Yeah. 
You have no idea what's going to

1164
00:59:57,280 --> 00:59:59,280
happen next. 
You bring these things with you 

1165
00:59:59,280 --> 01:00:02,880
into the future and the whole 
thing starts to look really 

1166
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:05,200
trouble, really troubling. 
Yeah. 

1167
01:00:05,280 --> 01:00:09,640
And you gain energy to get out 
of this mess that we are in 

1168
01:00:09,640 --> 01:00:12,560
there. 
So contemplating habits is very,

1169
01:00:12,560 --> 01:00:14,680
very useful. 
Thank you, Adrian. 

1170
01:00:14,920 --> 01:00:17,240
I have some more questions, but 
I'll ask them another time. 

1171
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:37,560
Oh, Anton Bramley, thanks for 
the really wonderful talk. 

1172
01:00:37,560 --> 01:00:40,920
You know, I have two related 
questions. 

1173
01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:47,040
The first one is, you know, on 
as you Bramley, you know, do you

1174
01:00:48,800 --> 01:00:55,160
notice not the last few years 
now, maybe 4 + 2 the last six 

1175
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:59,160
years now. 
OK, there is some problem, you 

1176
01:00:59,160 --> 01:01:03,200
know, in people's thinking, you 
know, the perception, you know, 

1177
01:01:04,200 --> 01:01:11,520
people are less happy. 
I see like jittery impatience in

1178
01:01:11,520 --> 01:01:16,400
people, you know, you know, and 
you know, the negative also, 

1179
01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:19,840
like in certain traits you deal 
with, dishonesty comes out too, 

1180
01:01:19,840 --> 01:01:25,160
you know. 
So I take this to be from the 

1181
01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:30,360
the mind, from the all people, 
OK, negative. 

1182
01:01:30,360 --> 01:01:32,440
They have the negative imports 
from them. 

1183
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:35,800
They pollute, you know, you 
know, and also from the press 

1184
01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:38,320
too. 
They pollute people's minds and 

1185
01:01:38,320 --> 01:01:39,920
people become like that, you 
know? 

1186
01:01:41,520 --> 01:01:44,960
Do you notice not I don't think 
it's racism from from, from my 

1187
01:01:44,960 --> 01:01:47,600
point of view. 
It's just like that, you know, 

1188
01:01:47,640 --> 01:01:52,600
people's thinking. 
Yeah, I, you know, that not, not

1189
01:01:52,640 --> 01:01:55,520
sorry, not put this by as happy 
as possible. 

1190
01:01:56,000 --> 01:02:00,720
It's outside, you know, Yeah, I,
I, I think it's true. 

1191
01:02:00,720 --> 01:02:03,400
I think that how the leaders in 
the world, how they behave 

1192
01:02:03,560 --> 01:02:04,760
effects everyone. 
Yeah. 

1193
01:02:04,760 --> 01:02:06,520
And things tend to trickle down 
from the top. 

1194
01:02:06,520 --> 01:02:10,080
And that is why it is so useful 
to have, you know, the worldly 

1195
01:02:10,080 --> 01:02:12,480
leaders, they often get 
corrupted because the world is 

1196
01:02:12,480 --> 01:02:15,360
corrupting and. 
When the world is corrupting, 

1197
01:02:15,360 --> 01:02:17,440
leaders will get corrupt, not 
because the leaders are bad, 

1198
01:02:17,440 --> 01:02:19,160
just because that's the nature 
of the world. 

1199
01:02:19,760 --> 01:02:21,840
And so that is why it is so 
important to have alternative 

1200
01:02:21,840 --> 01:02:24,160
leaders, you know, leaders of 
religion or leaders of 

1201
01:02:24,160 --> 01:02:26,240
philosophy or leaders of 
spiritual paths. 

1202
01:02:26,720 --> 01:02:28,840
As we have in Buddhism, we have 
something alternative and we 

1203
01:02:29,280 --> 01:02:31,080
Buddhism also gets corrupted, 
right? 

1204
01:02:31,080 --> 01:02:32,440
This is also the dangerous 
thing. 

1205
01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:34,200
This is why you look around the 
Buddhist world. 

1206
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:36,400
You will find corruption in the 
Buddhist world as well, because 

1207
01:02:36,600 --> 01:02:39,360
it is just a human condition. 
We get corrupted as human 

1208
01:02:39,360 --> 01:02:42,000
beings. 
And so if what you are observing

1209
01:02:42,000 --> 01:02:43,320
in the world, maybe that's true,
I don't know. 

1210
01:02:43,360 --> 01:02:44,640
I don't know. 
I can't really tell. 

1211
01:02:44,640 --> 01:02:47,600
But maybe that is true that 
people are getting, you know, 

1212
01:02:47,600 --> 01:02:50,880
more impatient or more bad or 
whatever. 

1213
01:02:50,880 --> 01:02:52,720
But remember, that is just 
nature. 

1214
01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:55,680
Nothing has gone wrong. 
Yeah, This is the nature of the 

1215
01:02:55,680 --> 01:02:58,600
world. 
And whenever we see the world 

1216
01:02:58,600 --> 01:03:01,760
and how impermanent and reliable
it is and how and all these kind

1217
01:03:01,760 --> 01:03:05,160
of things, it is not because 
something has gone wrong and we 

1218
01:03:05,160 --> 01:03:07,160
should write it and we should 
fix the world. 

1219
01:03:07,360 --> 01:03:09,360
That is always the wrong way of 
thinking about it. 

1220
01:03:09,720 --> 01:03:11,760
The right way of thinking about 
it is this is the nature of the 

1221
01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:14,520
world, OK. 
The spiritual path becomes more 

1222
01:03:14,520 --> 01:03:16,200
important. 
That is the right way of 

1223
01:03:16,200 --> 01:03:17,840
thinking. 
Yeah, sorry. 

1224
01:03:17,840 --> 01:03:20,840
The second part, you know, you 
know, you gave a talk few weeks 

1225
01:03:20,840 --> 01:03:24,800
ago on the UN, you know, and how
to, to, to introduce Buddhist, 

1226
01:03:24,800 --> 01:03:29,280
you know, principles, maybe, you
know, not to correct this, you 

1227
01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:34,400
know, this mess you are in now, 
you know, maybe like how if you 

1228
01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:38,000
can introduce some Buddhist 
principle, you know, like loving

1229
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:40,640
kindness, all these, you know, 
the best place to introduce 

1230
01:03:40,640 --> 01:03:44,440
Buddhist principles in your 
heart, that's the best place. 

1231
01:03:44,440 --> 01:03:44,920
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

1232
01:03:45,120 --> 01:03:47,840
The world outside is so 
difficult and complicated. 

1233
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:48,320
Yeah. 
You know, Right. 

1234
01:03:48,320 --> 01:03:49,840
Yeah. 
Put them in your own heart. 

1235
01:03:49,840 --> 01:03:51,720
That is the really the only 
place that you can put Buddhist 

1236
01:03:51,720 --> 01:03:52,400
principles. 
Yeah. 

1237
01:03:54,200 --> 01:03:56,680
That's what I recommend, yeah. 
Thank you. 

1238
01:03:57,840 --> 01:03:59,200
OK, Eddie. 
All right. 

1239
01:03:59,200 --> 01:04:01,800
Yeah, All right. 
Anyone else? 

1240
01:04:01,880 --> 01:04:10,240
Yeah, please. 
Thank you, John Ramadi for the 

1241
01:04:10,240 --> 01:04:14,200
talk. 
You mentioned that perception 

1242
01:04:14,200 --> 01:04:16,640
and feeling are very closely 
knit. 

1243
01:04:17,360 --> 01:04:23,280
So my question is about feeling 
being positive, neutral or 

1244
01:04:23,280 --> 01:04:26,800
negative. 
So is so when let's say 

1245
01:04:27,560 --> 01:04:30,240
sometimes perception can be 
changed by somebody saying 

1246
01:04:30,240 --> 01:04:33,200
something to you and you can 
just see the reverse side of it.

1247
01:04:33,720 --> 01:04:36,680
So it could be a +1 and then 
someone says something and your 

1248
01:04:36,680 --> 01:04:41,320
mind can jump to the negative. 
So is Buddhism all about keeping

1249
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:45,200
it neutral or always trying to 
see the positive it? 

1250
01:04:47,160 --> 01:04:49,600
Depends on the circumstance, 
right? 

1251
01:04:49,800 --> 01:04:54,840
And in terms of when we move 
around the world in daily life, 

1252
01:04:54,840 --> 01:04:58,440
then the very often keeping it 
neutral is the right thing 

1253
01:04:58,440 --> 01:05:01,040
because we tend to move between 
being attracted to things and 

1254
01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:04,000
being repelled by things. 
You see something nice and you 

1255
01:05:04,000 --> 01:05:05,480
get attracted to it, you want 
it. 

1256
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:08,560
You get say something you don't 
like and you get repelled by it.

1257
01:05:08,560 --> 01:05:11,440
And ordinary life is often good.
It's called sense restraint. 

1258
01:05:11,440 --> 01:05:13,800
This is kind of evenness of the 
mind and ordinary life. 

1259
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,280
But in terms of spiritual 
qualities, it's important to 

1260
01:05:17,280 --> 01:05:18,800
develop positive qualities. 
Yeah. 

1261
01:05:18,800 --> 01:05:22,240
Joy, meta, compassion, all of 
these things are positive 

1262
01:05:22,240 --> 01:05:24,280
feelings, and they are very, 
very important. 

1263
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:27,880
In fact, they are so important 
that the whole path of 

1264
01:05:27,880 --> 01:05:30,840
meditation starts out with this 
positive feelings. 

1265
01:05:31,520 --> 01:05:34,520
The Buddha has the six anusatis.
Yeah, the six recollections that

1266
01:05:34,520 --> 01:05:36,760
we're doing. 
And this is really also what I'm

1267
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:38,160
getting at with these 
perceptions. 

1268
01:05:38,160 --> 01:05:42,040
These perceptions are really 
just another way of thinking 

1269
01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:44,800
about these recollections that 
the Buddha's talking about. 

1270
01:05:44,920 --> 01:05:47,560
Yeah. 
Recollecting the good things in 

1271
01:05:47,560 --> 01:05:49,440
our life, building up those 
perceptions. 

1272
01:05:49,440 --> 01:05:52,440
And as we build all of these 
things up, it also becomes 

1273
01:05:52,480 --> 01:05:55,440
easier to remember the positive 
things because we're developing 

1274
01:05:55,440 --> 01:05:56,880
the perceptions in the right 
way. 

1275
01:05:57,880 --> 01:06:00,880
So it is a little bit time and 
place dependent, but certainly 

1276
01:06:00,880 --> 01:06:03,840
the positive perceptions and 
feelings are very, very 

1277
01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:05,880
significant for meditation to 
work. 

1278
01:06:05,960 --> 01:06:07,600
Yeah. 
So when you're fully 

1279
01:06:07,600 --> 01:06:11,080
enlightened, then does 
everything still have that joy 

1280
01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:14,320
as well as the community? 
Both mingle together. 

1281
01:06:15,280 --> 01:06:17,840
I don't think you even as fully 
enlightened, you're not always 

1282
01:06:17,840 --> 01:06:20,040
joyful. 
You know, you can, you can often

1283
01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:21,880
be your economist. 
Probably, yeah. 

1284
01:06:21,880 --> 01:06:24,680
And so often you probably have a
very balanced mind. 

1285
01:06:24,680 --> 01:06:26,600
But the joy can arise incredibly
easily. 

1286
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:29,960
You know, you can kind of 
anytime, if you turn your mind 

1287
01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:33,480
towards it, you will feel joyful
because you have that access. 

1288
01:06:33,480 --> 01:06:35,040
You don't have any deformers or 
problems. 

1289
01:06:35,040 --> 01:06:35,520
So. 
Yeah. 

1290
01:06:36,640 --> 01:06:42,600
So yes, please fire away. 
Hi. 

1291
01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:50,440
Besides Buddhist texts or 
Buddhist teachings, what are the

1292
01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:54,480
knowledge or answers shall I be 
seeking? 

1293
01:06:55,600 --> 01:06:59,040
You should be seeking the truth.
Yeah. 

1294
01:06:59,320 --> 01:07:01,680
I mean, one of, to me, one of 
the really beautiful things 

1295
01:07:01,680 --> 01:07:04,880
about the Buddhism, and this is 
kind of where it really is 

1296
01:07:04,880 --> 01:07:06,560
exceptional. 
It is a what I call a 

1297
01:07:06,560 --> 01:07:10,960
naturalistic teaching. 
In other words, it is, it is 

1298
01:07:10,960 --> 01:07:14,480
about, it's a description of the
world rather than a description 

1299
01:07:14,480 --> 01:07:16,440
of a faith, if you know what I 
mean. 

1300
01:07:16,520 --> 01:07:19,400
Yeah. 
The Buddha says the world is not

1301
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:21,320
what you think it is. 
The world is actually slightly 

1302
01:07:21,320 --> 01:07:23,000
different. 
This is what the world is like. 

1303
01:07:23,000 --> 01:07:24,920
This is the real description of 
the world. 

1304
01:07:25,280 --> 01:07:28,280
And a very important part of 
that is this idea of non self. 

1305
01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:31,400
Yeah, actually we think there's 
a self that's a delusion. 

1306
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:33,880
So the Buddha gives us a 
description of the world. 

1307
01:07:33,960 --> 01:07:37,080
It's it's a naturalistic 
religion in the sense that it 

1308
01:07:37,080 --> 01:07:40,120
reflects reality here. 
So if as long as we're seeking 

1309
01:07:40,120 --> 01:07:42,080
truth, we're on the Buddhist 
path. 

1310
01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:43,560
That's why I'm saying seek the 
truth. 

1311
01:07:44,880 --> 01:07:46,360
But that was maybe not your 
question here. 

1312
01:07:47,320 --> 01:07:51,320
Can I find the truth only 
through Buddhism or the? 

1313
01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:54,920
Truth can be found anywhere 
where there's truth, yeah. 

1314
01:07:55,320 --> 01:07:57,680
Science, hopefully, is truthful.
That's kind of the purpose of 

1315
01:07:57,680 --> 01:07:59,760
science is to find truth about 
the world, right? 

1316
01:08:00,760 --> 01:08:02,680
Any kind of. 
So whenever there's truth, 

1317
01:08:02,680 --> 01:08:04,800
there's truth. 
And this truth should align with

1318
01:08:04,800 --> 01:08:06,200
each other. 
If they don't align with each 

1319
01:08:06,200 --> 01:08:08,600
other, there is a problem. 
We have to sort it out. 

1320
01:08:10,120 --> 01:08:11,360
Thank you. 
You're welcome. 

1321
01:08:11,360 --> 01:08:14,160
Yeah. 
Very good. 

1322
01:08:16,240 --> 01:08:18,880
OK. 
Ben in the front table asked the

1323
01:08:18,880 --> 01:08:22,080
question. 
Bill, Bill and Ben, that's 

1324
01:08:22,200 --> 01:08:24,319
that's right. 
So nice alliteration. 

1325
01:08:26,040 --> 01:08:30,279
Hello. 
I'm going to ask about a secret 

1326
01:08:30,279 --> 01:08:31,600
that you mentioned in the middle
there. 

1327
01:08:31,720 --> 01:08:33,800
You're talking about you 
remember? 

1328
01:08:34,399 --> 01:08:37,160
I can't remember what did I. 
I was talking about Thor. 

1329
01:08:37,160 --> 01:08:40,760
I think about you believe in him
more than some creation and 

1330
01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:43,520
stuff. 
OK, there was a secret involved.

1331
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:47,960
Well, it's not a secret. 
It's just that the way that we, 

1332
01:08:48,200 --> 01:08:51,560
it's interesting, the way that 
we think about kind of gods and 

1333
01:08:51,560 --> 01:08:54,120
this kind of thing to me is 
really backward, you know, the 

1334
01:08:54,120 --> 01:08:56,080
way we think about in the, 
especially in the kind of 

1335
01:08:56,080 --> 01:08:59,359
Western world. 
I, I'm not so clear about how I 

1336
01:08:59,359 --> 01:09:02,240
think these things I thought cut
differently in many places in 

1337
01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:05,760
Asia, at least traditionally. 
But in terms of Christianity, 

1338
01:09:06,040 --> 01:09:08,960
there was a very fascinating 
book that I read long time ago, 

1339
01:09:08,960 --> 01:09:11,160
kind of by a lady called Karen 
Armstrong. 

1340
01:09:11,160 --> 01:09:15,080
She's this professor of the 
history of religion or whatever,

1341
01:09:15,080 --> 01:09:17,520
and she wrote a book called The 
History of God. 

1342
01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:20,359
That's kind of really fast. 
The What do you mean the history

1343
01:09:20,359 --> 01:09:22,840
of God, right? 
Surely God is just God, right? 

1344
01:09:22,960 --> 01:09:25,720
No, God is not God. 
God has evolved. 

1345
01:09:26,319 --> 01:09:29,760
God started off as this kind of 
small, kind of small time king 

1346
01:09:29,760 --> 01:09:34,200
almost in the Middle East, and 
he evolved stage by stage into 

1347
01:09:34,200 --> 01:09:37,319
this universal kind of spirit 
that is really far removed. 

1348
01:09:37,600 --> 01:09:40,520
In the early days, he was close 
to his people, the Israelis, 

1349
01:09:40,520 --> 01:09:41,479
very close to them. 
Yeah. 

1350
01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:44,319
They kind of hung out together. 
He prayed to him and he kind of 

1351
01:09:44,319 --> 01:09:46,399
bestowed benevolence on his 
people. 

1352
01:09:46,920 --> 01:09:50,120
And then he became more and more
removed until he got kind of the

1353
01:09:50,120 --> 01:09:53,880
modern Christian God who is so 
removed you have kind of no idea

1354
01:09:53,880 --> 01:09:57,080
what what this God actually is. 
So it is kind of completely does

1355
01:09:57,080 --> 01:09:59,720
never interferes in human things
or anything like that. 

1356
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:01,400
And it's kind of the history of 
God. 

1357
01:10:01,400 --> 01:10:05,960
And so I started to ask myself 
which of this kind of God is 

1358
01:10:05,960 --> 01:10:07,760
more aligned with Buddhist 
ideas. 

1359
01:10:08,680 --> 01:10:12,480
And I realised that, you know, 
the, the Christian God is or the

1360
01:10:12,560 --> 01:10:15,680
not the Christian, but the 
creator God, The creator God 

1361
01:10:15,680 --> 01:10:19,320
that is said to be permanent and
always there or outside time and

1362
01:10:19,320 --> 01:10:22,480
space or however you want to 
define this creator God actually

1363
01:10:23,040 --> 01:10:25,920
makes no sense because it is 
something you can never 

1364
01:10:25,920 --> 01:10:28,440
experience. 
You can never experience that 

1365
01:10:28,440 --> 01:10:30,720
sort of thing, right? 
If you ask someone who believes 

1366
01:10:30,720 --> 01:10:32,760
and they create that kind of, 
you can say, oh, I have 

1367
01:10:32,760 --> 01:10:35,600
experienced God. 
Like what exactly was your 

1368
01:10:35,600 --> 01:10:37,160
experience? 
And I will tell you something 

1369
01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:39,880
that does not add up to those 
qualities of creating God, 

1370
01:10:39,880 --> 01:10:44,200
because actually you cannot 
experience something that is 

1371
01:10:44,200 --> 01:10:47,320
permanent and everlasting. 
Such an experience doesn't 

1372
01:10:47,320 --> 01:10:49,160
exist. 
All our experience are limited 

1373
01:10:49,160 --> 01:10:50,760
in time. 
They only last for so long. 

1374
01:10:50,760 --> 01:10:53,440
Even the most profound somatic 
experience only lasts for so 

1375
01:10:53,440 --> 01:10:56,360
long. 
And so the whole idea of a 

1376
01:10:56,360 --> 01:11:01,480
creator God has to be man made. 
There's no other way around it. 

1377
01:11:01,480 --> 01:11:05,160
And so then I realised that 
actually these are ordinary 

1378
01:11:05,160 --> 01:11:05,720
gods. 
Yeah. 

1379
01:11:05,720 --> 01:11:08,560
They're old Yahweh of the Old 
Testament. 

1380
01:11:08,560 --> 01:11:11,040
Yeah. 
Odin and Thor, the Greek gods, 

1381
01:11:11,040 --> 01:11:15,880
the Roman gods, the Hindu gods, 
all of these ordinary gods, they

1382
01:11:15,880 --> 01:11:19,240
are far more realistic because 
they're much more like us. 

1383
01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:21,920
They die. 
They have desires, they have 

1384
01:11:22,160 --> 01:11:26,120
husband and wives yeah, they 
have they war with each other 

1385
01:11:26,120 --> 01:11:29,240
sometimes, depending on which 
kind of level of God you are. 

1386
01:11:29,240 --> 01:11:32,640
They, you know, they, they, they
are something we can experience,

1387
01:11:32,640 --> 01:11:35,640
something that we can relate to,
much more realistic. 

1388
01:11:36,440 --> 01:11:41,960
And so I think that although the
history kind of religion says, 

1389
01:11:41,960 --> 01:11:44,600
if you ask, you know, how we 
have become much more in the old

1390
01:11:44,600 --> 01:11:46,960
days, we used to think about 
this kind of really primitive 

1391
01:11:46,960 --> 01:11:48,640
gods. 
Yeah, we kind of then we evolve 

1392
01:11:48,640 --> 01:11:50,040
and we become more 
sophisticated. 

1393
01:11:50,040 --> 01:11:53,360
And now we believe in this world
spirit, the real creator God. 

1394
01:11:53,360 --> 01:11:55,960
Yes, we have become really 
sophisticated and evolved. 

1395
01:11:56,360 --> 01:11:57,640
I would say no, we haven't 
evolved at all. 

1396
01:11:57,640 --> 01:12:00,800
We've gone backwards. 
Yeah, we are less realistic than

1397
01:12:00,800 --> 01:12:02,560
we used to be. 
The all the our way. 

1398
01:12:02,560 --> 01:12:05,040
That was the real evolution. 
That's when we were on the top 

1399
01:12:05,040 --> 01:12:06,800
of the game. 
Now we have lost the plot 

1400
01:12:06,800 --> 01:12:11,960
completely here. 
That's why I say ordinary Thor, 

1401
01:12:12,160 --> 01:12:14,680
much more interesting and 
realistic than this kind of some

1402
01:12:14,680 --> 01:12:17,360
of this permanent gods. 
Anyway, that's my kind of thank 

1403
01:12:18,080 --> 01:12:19,600
you. 
You're very welcome. 

1404
01:12:21,000 --> 01:12:23,240
I apologise for anyone who finds
this offensive. 

1405
01:12:23,240 --> 01:12:26,640
I, I just, this is the way I, I 
just think about things. 

1406
01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:35,360
So yeah. 
Please, you were talking about 

1407
01:12:35,360 --> 01:12:39,400
clarifying perception and how to
clarify perception. 

1408
01:12:39,440 --> 01:12:46,280
And I would ask, why is it so 
easy to go back into those 

1409
01:12:46,280 --> 01:12:51,280
habitual patterns instead of 
moving towards that clarity, 

1410
01:12:51,280 --> 01:12:55,520
even though that clarity feels 
fantastic and great and amazing 

1411
01:12:55,520 --> 01:13:01,200
and you want to move towards it?
And how do you actually do the 

1412
01:13:01,200 --> 01:13:04,120
practices to move through the 
resistances? 

1413
01:13:04,120 --> 01:13:08,600
And are there any like 
milestones or things that you're

1414
01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:12,520
just being like, OK, cool. 
I'm starting to be more mindful 

1415
01:13:12,520 --> 01:13:14,920
and notice that I'm getting back
into that path. 

1416
01:13:14,920 --> 01:13:15,880
Yeah, that's basically what it 
is. 

1417
01:13:17,240 --> 01:13:18,640
OK, cool. 
I'm getting more mindful. 

1418
01:13:18,640 --> 01:13:20,360
That's kind of that's part, very
large part of it. 

1419
01:13:20,800 --> 01:13:23,200
But yeah, I'll, I'll go a little
bit. 

1420
01:13:23,200 --> 01:13:25,600
I'll say a bit more because 
that's a bit too short. 

1421
01:13:25,600 --> 01:13:29,440
But yes, that's exactly. 
You have discovered what is kind

1422
01:13:29,440 --> 01:13:31,480
of the very difficult part of 
the path. 

1423
01:13:31,480 --> 01:13:33,040
Yeah. 
That our habits are very strong.

1424
01:13:33,040 --> 01:13:34,640
Yeah. 
And because our habits are so 

1425
01:13:34,640 --> 01:13:37,120
strong, it's very easy to fall 
back into those habits again. 

1426
01:13:37,120 --> 01:13:38,800
Yeah. 
And even though deep down you 

1427
01:13:38,800 --> 01:13:41,720
would like to move on, the 
habits are more powerful than 

1428
01:13:41,720 --> 01:13:43,400
your will. 
The will is a very weak thing. 

1429
01:13:43,400 --> 01:13:45,240
Yeah, the will is never going to
win out. 

1430
01:13:45,240 --> 01:13:46,640
The habits are always going to 
win out. 

1431
01:13:47,080 --> 01:13:49,040
So you have to be sneaky. 
You have to sneak up on your 

1432
01:13:49,040 --> 01:13:53,040
habits, right? 
So and being sneaky basically 

1433
01:13:53,040 --> 01:13:57,120
means reconditioning your mind. 
And you have to think about 

1434
01:13:57,120 --> 01:13:58,960
these ideas again and again and 
again. 

1435
01:13:58,960 --> 01:14:01,680
And as you think about these 
ideas again and again, your mind

1436
01:14:01,680 --> 01:14:03,680
starts, you start to think in a 
different way. 

1437
01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:07,560
The way I like to talk about, 
I'll talk about this, this is 

1438
01:14:07,560 --> 01:14:09,480
kind of the way I have 
traditionally talked about this,

1439
01:14:09,480 --> 01:14:12,160
is that you can imagine yourself
as a super tanker. 

1440
01:14:12,880 --> 01:14:15,400
You know, the Super tankers, 
there's enormous ships, yeah, on

1441
01:14:15,400 --> 01:14:18,520
the ocean, they have like half a
million tonnes of oil or 

1442
01:14:18,520 --> 01:14:20,440
whatever. 
And they sometimes they go quite

1443
01:14:20,440 --> 01:14:24,000
fast and maybe do, you know, 20 
knots or something. 

1444
01:14:24,000 --> 01:14:25,440
Yeah. 
So 30 kilometres an hour and a 

1445
01:14:25,440 --> 01:14:30,160
half a million tonnes of ship 
goes at 20 or 30 kilometres an 

1446
01:14:30,160 --> 01:14:32,400
hour on the ocean. 
It takes a long time to turn 

1447
01:14:32,400 --> 01:14:34,360
around, right? 
The kilometres and kilometres, 

1448
01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:38,880
the momentum is so large. 
We are like super tankers. 

1449
01:14:39,240 --> 01:14:41,520
The momentum from the past is 
enormous. 

1450
01:14:41,520 --> 01:14:43,240
We're heading in a certain 
direction. 

1451
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:46,320
It takes a long, long, long time
for us to turn around. 

1452
01:14:46,880 --> 01:14:50,560
So just like the Super tanker 
kind of turns around 1° by 1°, 

1453
01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:54,360
one degree 1°, slowly coming 
around in the same way you 

1454
01:14:54,360 --> 01:14:59,120
recondition your mind, it's 
steadily 1° at the time until 

1455
01:14:59,640 --> 01:15:02,880
and this is kind of the miracle 
until one day you have turned 

1456
01:15:02,880 --> 01:15:06,360
around 180° and heading in the 
opposite direction from what you

1457
01:15:06,360 --> 01:15:08,240
were before. 
So you just have to be 

1458
01:15:08,240 --> 01:15:11,360
persistent. 
You have to allow this beautiful

1459
01:15:11,360 --> 01:15:14,360
Buddhist brainwashing. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1460
01:15:14,560 --> 01:15:18,800
Brainwashing, right? 
Brainwashing is you have to 

1461
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:20,400
allow because we get brainwashed
anyway. 

1462
01:15:20,400 --> 01:15:22,400
That's kind of the issue, right?
So you have to just get the 

1463
01:15:22,400 --> 01:15:24,720
right kind of brainwashing. 
So get the right kind of 

1464
01:15:24,720 --> 01:15:27,920
brainwashing. 
And then eventually you will be 

1465
01:15:27,920 --> 01:15:29,640
heading in a different 
direction, like keep on 

1466
01:15:30,080 --> 01:15:33,760
investigating these teachings 
build up, right view, try to 

1467
01:15:34,200 --> 01:15:37,200
your very best to understand 
what what is this Buddha talking

1468
01:15:37,200 --> 01:15:39,520
about? 
Yeah, maybe he's onto something.

1469
01:15:39,520 --> 01:15:41,480
Yeah. 
And then as you gain faith in 

1470
01:15:41,480 --> 01:15:43,680
this teaching, something starts 
to happen inside of you. 

1471
01:15:44,520 --> 01:15:47,320
And after a while, you don't 
really want to be unkind 

1472
01:15:47,320 --> 01:15:49,760
anymore. 
You feel kind of aversion to non

1473
01:15:49,760 --> 01:15:53,160
kindness because, you know, it's
just dangerous and bad. 

1474
01:15:53,520 --> 01:15:55,280
And you turn away from that. 
Yeah. 

1475
01:15:55,880 --> 01:15:58,000
And you. 
And it becomes very, very 

1476
01:15:58,000 --> 01:16:00,560
beautiful after a while there. 
So don't give up. 

1477
01:16:00,560 --> 01:16:01,760
That's the most important thing.
Yeah. 

1478
01:16:02,240 --> 01:16:05,440
Yeah. 
All right. 

1479
01:16:05,440 --> 01:16:07,640
Shall we take some questions 
from overseas? 

1480
01:16:07,840 --> 01:16:10,480
Bill here. 
Good idea. 

1481
01:16:11,360 --> 01:16:13,800
What was that there? 
Sounds like a good idea. 

1482
01:16:14,040 --> 01:16:15,040
Good idea. 
OK, good. 

1483
01:16:15,120 --> 01:16:17,960
So before before midnight 
strikes or whatever. 

1484
01:16:17,960 --> 01:16:21,920
So, so so the first question is 
from Sydney. 

1485
01:16:22,520 --> 01:16:26,600
Dear Alzan, I was just wondering
how Buddhism views the truth and

1486
01:16:26,600 --> 01:16:30,800
reality behind war and in what 
way the Buddha teaches us to 

1487
01:16:30,880 --> 01:16:36,360
show peace. 
OK, so the truth and reality 

1488
01:16:36,360 --> 01:16:40,320
behind war. 
Well, this is basically a 

1489
01:16:40,760 --> 01:16:43,400
consequence of human 
definements, right? 

1490
01:16:43,520 --> 01:16:46,360
So when there are human 
definements like anger and 

1491
01:16:46,360 --> 01:16:51,040
greed, war and delusion, war 
arises from those things. 

1492
01:16:51,920 --> 01:16:57,000
And one of the, I think, very 
important causes of war, which I

1493
01:16:57,000 --> 01:16:59,720
find really kind of problematic,
and one of the things that we 

1494
01:16:59,720 --> 01:17:03,920
can do a lot better with as 
Buddhist is the sense of 

1495
01:17:03,920 --> 01:17:06,280
identity that often goes into 
wars. 

1496
01:17:06,880 --> 01:17:09,120
Yeah, people are proud of the 
nation. 

1497
01:17:09,800 --> 01:17:12,960
You see people like, you know, 
the, like the war in Ukraine, 

1498
01:17:12,960 --> 01:17:15,280
for example. 
Yeah, the Russians have a very 

1499
01:17:15,480 --> 01:17:19,160
proud of the country, proud of 
the culture, and they want to 

1500
01:17:19,160 --> 01:17:22,040
kind of, you know, have a 
Russian empire or whatever. 

1501
01:17:22,240 --> 01:17:26,000
And I think there's a lot of 
this idea, the self view and the

1502
01:17:26,000 --> 01:17:30,160
self identity as a Russian is a 
very important 'cause behind 

1503
01:17:30,160 --> 01:17:32,040
that war. 
And I think many, many wars in 

1504
01:17:32,040 --> 01:17:35,480
history are this feeling that we
are important, we are the best, 

1505
01:17:35,720 --> 01:17:38,280
our culture matters so much is 
more. 

1506
01:17:38,480 --> 01:17:40,960
And therefore we have the right 
to invade others and what what 

1507
01:17:40,960 --> 01:17:43,160
what have you. 
This is terrible. 

1508
01:17:43,160 --> 01:17:45,680
This is really, really bad idea.
So what we'd need to do is 

1509
01:17:45,960 --> 01:17:49,240
reduce our sense of identity. 
Yeah. 

1510
01:17:49,240 --> 01:17:52,360
Understand that we are not 
better than other people. 

1511
01:17:52,360 --> 01:17:55,200
We're just slightly different, 
slightly different culture. 

1512
01:17:55,200 --> 01:17:58,080
So what essentially we're all 
the same. 

1513
01:17:58,080 --> 01:18:01,080
No one is really any better. 
If anyone is better, it is the 

1514
01:18:01,080 --> 01:18:02,960
noble people in the world. 
Yeah. 

1515
01:18:02,960 --> 01:18:06,200
The areas, the ones who have 
really practised this path all 

1516
01:18:06,200 --> 01:18:09,720
the way to the end. 
And so taking away some of this 

1517
01:18:09,720 --> 01:18:12,160
conceit, some of this identity. 
Yeah. 

1518
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:16,000
I I find identity and I find 
nationalism really kind of 

1519
01:18:16,000 --> 01:18:18,400
disturbing when I see 
nationalism around the world 

1520
01:18:19,000 --> 01:18:21,600
because it all it means, it 
means that our country is is 

1521
01:18:21,600 --> 01:18:23,440
better. 
It comes from insecurity, I 

1522
01:18:23,440 --> 01:18:26,400
think very often. 
And it's a very ugly thing. 

1523
01:18:26,400 --> 01:18:28,920
Yeah. 
And so Buddhism can bring in 

1524
01:18:28,920 --> 01:18:30,600
some of this non identity 
business. 

1525
01:18:30,600 --> 01:18:33,400
And I think that the world could
do a lot, do quite a bit with 

1526
01:18:33,400 --> 01:18:35,560
that, and that would already 
bring more peace. 

1527
01:18:36,480 --> 01:18:39,440
But in the end, you know, we can
do what we want as Buddhists, 

1528
01:18:39,720 --> 01:18:42,560
but we are only a tiny minority 
on this planet. 

1529
01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:46,280
And because we are only a tiny 
minority, we never really, 

1530
01:18:46,280 --> 01:18:48,640
there's, there's no such thing 
as permanent peace. 

1531
01:18:48,920 --> 01:18:51,560
There's no such thing as a final
point where there would be no 

1532
01:18:51,560 --> 01:18:54,320
conflict anymore. 
In the end, there's another 

1533
01:18:54,360 --> 01:18:57,720
thing that we have to do that is
practice the spiritual path in 

1534
01:18:57,720 --> 01:19:00,400
your own life. 
And that is where you find real 

1535
01:19:00,400 --> 01:19:04,600
peace inside of yourself. 
And that is the final refuge 

1536
01:19:04,680 --> 01:19:06,280
from the problems of war in the 
world. 

1537
01:19:08,960 --> 01:19:12,240
OK question #2 Dear Rajan, I was
wondering what are your views 

1538
01:19:12,240 --> 01:19:16,920
about advanced artificial 
intelligence such as ChatGPT? 

1539
01:19:19,680 --> 01:19:23,280
Yeah, I don't know. 
It's probably just another turn 

1540
01:19:23,280 --> 01:19:27,280
of Dukka. 
Dukka comes in various forms, 

1541
01:19:27,280 --> 01:19:29,600
and Kajak TPT is 1 version of 
Dukka. 

1542
01:19:31,320 --> 01:19:33,400
People think that it might 
destroy the world. 

1543
01:19:33,640 --> 01:19:37,080
Maybe it will destroy the world.
I I'm not so concerned about if 

1544
01:19:37,080 --> 01:19:39,440
the world gets destroyed. 
Yeah, to me, that's not such a 

1545
01:19:39,440 --> 01:19:40,680
big deal. 
I don't know why people are so 

1546
01:19:40,680 --> 01:19:44,440
concerned about that. 
Because we reap the results of 

1547
01:19:44,440 --> 01:19:46,600
our Comer. 
If you live well, if you do the 

1548
01:19:46,600 --> 01:19:48,840
right thing, you're going to 
have a good future regardless of

1549
01:19:48,840 --> 01:19:50,760
what Chachi Petitis does or 
says. 

1550
01:19:50,760 --> 01:19:54,560
Yeah, it's kind of irrelevant. 
So the end of the world is that 

1551
01:19:54,560 --> 01:19:56,840
good or bad? 
The beginning of the world is 

1552
01:19:56,840 --> 01:19:58,480
much worse than the end of the 
world. 

1553
01:19:58,840 --> 01:20:00,440
Have you ever considered that 
before? 

1554
01:20:01,240 --> 01:20:04,320
Yeah, If people say it's not the
end of the world, you should say

1555
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:06,480
no, no, no, it's not the 
beginning of the world. 

1556
01:20:08,880 --> 01:20:11,240
Isn't that kind of, that's kind 
of that's the Buddhist way of 

1557
01:20:11,240 --> 01:20:11,920
saying it. 
Yeah. 

1558
01:20:11,920 --> 01:20:13,640
If it's not, it's not the 
beginning of the world. 

1559
01:20:13,640 --> 01:20:14,560
It means it's OK. 
Yeah. 

1560
01:20:14,760 --> 01:20:16,920
If it's the beginning of the 
world, wow, it's bad. 

1561
01:20:17,040 --> 01:20:20,080
Yeah. 
So that's kind of the Buddhist 

1562
01:20:20,080 --> 01:20:24,800
attitude to these things. 
So ChatGPT, it's just, you know,

1563
01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:26,840
it's like everything in our 
world. 

1564
01:20:26,840 --> 01:20:29,680
It is our world is uncertain, it
is unreliable. 

1565
01:20:29,680 --> 01:20:33,240
So the right attitude to have to
artificial intelligence is that 

1566
01:20:33,240 --> 01:20:38,400
it is more uncertainty, more 
unreliability, more no idea 

1567
01:20:38,400 --> 01:20:41,160
where this is heading and no 
idea what's going to happen. 

1568
01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:45,720
Some people say artificial tales
might destroy the human race. 

1569
01:20:45,720 --> 01:20:47,760
Yeah, OK. 
I have no idea whether that's 

1570
01:20:47,760 --> 01:20:49,160
true or not. 
Who knows? 

1571
01:20:49,480 --> 01:20:50,840
But the point, that is not the 
point. 

1572
01:20:50,840 --> 01:20:54,240
The point is uncertainty. 
The point is this is another 

1573
01:20:54,480 --> 01:20:57,920
reason to practice the spiritual
life precisely because of the 

1574
01:20:57,920 --> 01:21:00,400
unreliability. 
That is what is important with 

1575
01:21:00,400 --> 01:21:04,120
these things. 
Last question from London. 

1576
01:21:04,120 --> 01:21:09,520
Hello London de Rajan, Even if 
you know deep down people are 

1577
01:21:09,520 --> 01:21:13,040
suffering, if you get irritated 
by the facade, how do you stop 

1578
01:21:13,040 --> 01:21:15,720
having ill will towards them? 
Even have meta towards them? 

1579
01:21:16,360 --> 01:21:20,520
If you get irritated by the 
facade, remember that facades 

1580
01:21:20,520 --> 01:21:23,320
are really just a sign of 
suffering, right? 

1581
01:21:24,000 --> 01:21:28,920
So when you see that facade, 
know that actually, yes, it may 

1582
01:21:28,920 --> 01:21:32,640
be irritating, it may be 
whatever, but actually really it

1583
01:21:32,640 --> 01:21:34,240
is just suffering that you're 
seeing. 

1584
01:21:34,640 --> 01:21:37,040
You're staring into suffering 
when you're staring into a 

1585
01:21:37,040 --> 01:21:40,480
facade that is kind of, you 
know, people put on some kind of

1586
01:21:40,480 --> 01:21:43,720
me, some kind of pretense or 
whatever it might be. 

1587
01:21:44,640 --> 01:21:47,800
And I wish we were all more 
honest about our lives, that we 

1588
01:21:47,800 --> 01:21:51,160
didn't pretend so much. 
Because when we are honest about

1589
01:21:51,160 --> 01:21:53,240
our own problems, our own 
difficulties, our own 

1590
01:21:53,240 --> 01:21:56,640
shortcomings, it makes it also 
more acceptable for other people

1591
01:21:56,640 --> 01:21:59,240
to have suffering in the life, 
make them more acceptable for 

1592
01:21:59,240 --> 01:22:03,080
them, too, to have shortcomings.
If we pretend that our life is 

1593
01:22:03,080 --> 01:22:06,080
great and wonderful, then we're 
kind of forcing other people to 

1594
01:22:06,080 --> 01:22:08,120
also live according to the same 
pretence. 

1595
01:22:08,120 --> 01:22:10,880
And everyone is pretending. 
Yeah, but it's beautiful when 

1596
01:22:10,880 --> 01:22:12,720
some people are honest. 
Yeah. 

1597
01:22:12,720 --> 01:22:15,880
Beautiful when people say it as 
it is because it allows all of 

1598
01:22:15,880 --> 01:22:17,840
us to. 
Yes, we are part of the same 

1599
01:22:17,840 --> 01:22:20,120
human race. 
We have the same problems, the 

1600
01:22:20,120 --> 01:22:23,960
same issues in our life. 
So when you see that facade have

1601
01:22:23,960 --> 01:22:27,560
compassion, there's something 
going on there which is not very

1602
01:22:27,560 --> 01:22:30,360
nice, not very beautiful. 
Someone is really having 

1603
01:22:30,360 --> 01:22:34,400
probably deeper problems down 
just behind that facade. 

1604
01:22:35,480 --> 01:22:39,440
You know, sometimes we get it so
wrong in the world. 

1605
01:22:39,440 --> 01:22:42,880
You know, we worship all the 
wrong kind of people. 

1606
01:22:42,880 --> 01:22:45,600
We have too much respect for 
movie stars and all these kind 

1607
01:22:45,600 --> 01:22:47,800
of people. 
And movie stars often are these 

1608
01:22:47,800 --> 01:22:51,640
people with glossy surfaces and 
with endless amount of suffering

1609
01:22:51,640 --> 01:22:54,280
behind the surface. 
Yeah, endless amount of 

1610
01:22:54,280 --> 01:22:56,640
depression and problems and all 
of these kind of things. 

1611
01:22:56,640 --> 01:22:58,800
These things arrive in those 
kind of circles. 

1612
01:22:59,200 --> 01:23:00,920
Why? 
Because they live superficial 

1613
01:23:00,920 --> 01:23:02,960
lives. 
And if you live a superficial 

1614
01:23:02,960 --> 01:23:05,600
life, eventually it leads to 
suffering. 

1615
01:23:05,600 --> 01:23:07,240
Yeah. 
There's nothing interesting in a

1616
01:23:07,240 --> 01:23:09,640
movie star. 
It's like yucky, basically. 

1617
01:23:09,960 --> 01:23:11,200
Yeah. 
It's terrible stuff. 

1618
01:23:11,520 --> 01:23:14,440
Who wants to have anything to do
with that part of the world? 

1619
01:23:15,040 --> 01:23:18,600
It's madness to kind of have 
some sort of respect for these 

1620
01:23:18,600 --> 01:23:20,600
sort of people. 
There's nothing there. 

1621
01:23:20,600 --> 01:23:23,160
There's no profundity. 
There's no real understanding. 

1622
01:23:23,160 --> 01:23:26,320
Yeah. 
And so this is we're trying to 

1623
01:23:26,320 --> 01:23:29,640
do the opposite. 
And the honesty with others and 

1624
01:23:29,640 --> 01:23:31,880
with ourselves, I think it's a 
very beautiful thing and very 

1625
01:23:31,880 --> 01:23:36,120
helpful to heal the world and 
heal ourself as a consequence. 

1626
01:23:37,560 --> 01:23:39,560
Anyway, wonderful to see you all
again there. 

1627
01:23:39,600 --> 01:23:42,160
Very nice to be here at the 
Maluca Centre and I wish you all

1628
01:23:42,160 --> 01:23:45,240
a very nice night. 
A very nice week ahead and we'll

1629
01:23:45,240 --> 01:23:47,480
see you again soon. 
Let's have a pay respected 

1630
01:23:47,480 --> 01:23:49,920
Buddha Damasanga before we 
finish off.