1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,080 Yeah. Now the the topic for today's 2 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:07,760 talk is about the benefits and pitfalls of renunciation. 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,400 And this was a topic that was suggested to me. 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,720 I'm not sure if the person who suggested it is here today, but 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,720 never mind. That's how it often goes. 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:22,240 But it's a nice topic, yeah. And it is a focus on, you know, 7 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:24,120 on things like the monastic life. 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,840 The monastic life is often what we think of when we think about 9 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:32,960 the idea of renunciation. But the monastic life is really 10 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,120 just a particular expression of that pronunciation. 11 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,440 It's an outward or external expression of that. 12 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,960 But of course, the real renunciation is a mental thing 13 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,120 here. It's about giving things up 14 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,640 mentally. And that is what then actually 15 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:51,080 is the path of practice. And that sometimes is expressed 16 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,800 in monastic life. So I'm going to talk a little 17 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,200 bit about the monastic life. What are the benefits of the 18 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,200 monastic life? I don't know if any of you are 19 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,440 interested in that. Maybe you will be after this 20 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,160 talk. That's kind of the the idea. 21 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:09,680 See what see what happens. And also some of the dangers, 22 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,720 some of the pitfalls of monastic life because not everyone 23 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,000 thrives in monastic life. And it's important to kind of 24 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,160 try to understand why that might be the case. 25 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:21,920 And then I'm going to talk a little bit more about the 26 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,560 general idea of what pronunciation actually means. 27 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:31,200 Now, the first thing I want to just briefly address, and that 28 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,800 is the thing about the word renunciation itself. 29 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,840 I don't know about you, but to me the very word renunciation 30 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,280 sounds a bit forbidding. Yeah. 31 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,600 Renouncing means like foregoing something. 32 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:46,320 It means like giving up something. 33 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,800 It means like depriving yourself of something, Right. 34 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,280 And sometimes when we hear about the idea of renunciation in 35 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,360 certain traditions or certain religions or certain whatever, 36 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,040 it is almost like like you give things up, but you don't really 37 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,640 expect anything in return. It's the kind of the giving up 38 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,040 for the sake of giving up, maybe because something is considered 39 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,639 bad or whatever it might be. So the word renunciation sounds 40 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,080 a little bit dark and it sounds a little bit like we are not 41 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,560 really, we wonder why we should renounce that. 42 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:21,440 But in Buddhism, the actually, the word is actually a very 43 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,960 positive word. And the Pali word is the word 44 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,680 nekamatha. And the word near come by quite 45 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:31,440 literally. It means like non sensual or non 46 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,320 sensory. Non sensory is maybe even better 47 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:37,800 because it is about the idea that you are kind of letting go 48 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,760 a little bit of the world of the five senses. 49 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,640 That is kind of the point of this. 50 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,320 And of course the Buddhist teaching is such that when we 51 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,480 let go of one thing, especially when we let go a little bit of 52 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,200 the sensory world, there is an alternative that arises in its 53 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,840 place. And that is really the critical 54 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,960 issue. So it's not giving things up for 55 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,920 the sake of giving things up, it's giving things up for the 56 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:06,800 sake of aspiring to something great, to something larger, a 57 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,880 greater kind of expansion of consciousness or a joy in the 58 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,440 mind or a sense of peace that comes from giving up the 59 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,640 restless search for every more sensory attractive things, 60 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:22,000 etcetera, etcetera. So the idea of giving up the 61 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,640 sensory world is a very, very positive thing in Buddhism, and 62 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:29,400 it's conjoined with all of the positive signs lives of 63 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,360 renunciation there. And this has very practical 64 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,880 consequences. One thing that it means is that 65 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,200 we should always, when we do try to renounce things, we should do 66 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:43,880 all of that renunciation in a very balanced way. 67 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,720 We should not renounce without feeling that we have some return 68 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,280 from that pronunciation. So really the process of 69 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:55,280 renunciation should be almost like an organic process, 70 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:57,880 something that grows by itself. Yeah. 71 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,880 Just by practicing these teachings and kind of using 72 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:03,200 these teachings in the right way. 73 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:04,920 Yeah. And when it is an organic 74 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,320 process, you will find that you live your life well. 75 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,600 You live with care and kindness. You have a degree of generosity 76 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,080 in life. You enjoy doing service for 77 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,600 other people. You sit down in your meditation 78 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,160 and you start to get some peace. You start to get some joy coming 79 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,720 up in a meditation. And of course, when that joy 80 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,640 comes up, you start to understand that one of the 81 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,000 reason is because you have given up something else. 82 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,080 You gain something in return. And then the idea of renouncing 83 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,920 even more kind of becomes natural, right? 84 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,360 Because it's actually, you understand the joy of 85 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,280 renunciation. Renunciation is great. 86 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,000 It's the best thing that ever happened to you. 87 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,960 The rest of the world things pronunciation is for foolish 88 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,600 people, but you know, it's exactly the opposite. 89 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:51,040 Renunciation is actually for the people who have some 90 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,520 understanding of spirituality in a deeper sense. 91 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:57,880 So actually it is a very, very beautiful thing and we should 92 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:00,760 not be put off by the word renunciation. 93 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,720 It is really just in English that this word can have, can 94 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,320 have, not always, but can have a negative connotation in partly 95 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,600 it just means non sensory or non sensual and it doesn't really 96 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,240 have any negative connotations at all, if anything is positive 97 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:21,920 now. So what does this mean in, you 98 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,000 know, from a monastic point of view? 99 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,320 Yeah. Why is a monasticism a kind of 100 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,400 renunciation and what are the benefits of that kind of 101 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:32,320 renunciation? And maybe also what are some of 102 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:36,120 the pitfalls of the renunciation of becoming a monastic? 103 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:37,680 Yeah. And of course, when you do 104 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,120 become a monastic, you are giving up quite a lot. 105 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:45,400 Yeah. And this is precisely the reason 106 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:48,840 why the monastic life is the ideal way of practicing the 107 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:50,560 Dhamma. Because when you become a 108 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,320 monastic, when you live this kind of life, you are 109 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,320 approximating to the life of someone who is fully enlightened 110 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,400 or fully awakened. And the monastic life is about 111 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:04,200 giving up certain worldly pleasures and certain worldly 112 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,000 attachments. And it's quite close to the 113 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,960 ideal of those people who have gone a long, long way on the 114 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,720 path. If you look at someone who is, 115 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,680 you know, a noble person, an area or whatever, someone who 116 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:21,280 has the full insight into these teachings, they will want to 117 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:25,160 live as monastics because that is the natural expression of 118 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,760 awakening. Awakening is expressed through 119 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,480 the monastic kind of lifestyle there. 120 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,680 And so you will see in the suit, as in the word of the Buddha, 121 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,200 the Buddha says that if you actually do achieve awakening, 122 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,720 you can no longer live as a layperson. 123 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,200 Yeah. And the reason is because you 124 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,680 don't attach to kind of houses and storing up things and having 125 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,440 a larger full of food and these kind of things, you don't work 126 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:53,880 like that anymore. So the moment you become 127 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,960 awakened, at that moment you also become a monastic in your 128 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,880 heart at the very least. So this is expressed through 129 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,120 them. And This is why one of the very 130 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,680 important reasons why the monastic life is so powerful, 131 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,560 because it approximate, approximates this ideal of what 132 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:14,000 it means to be awakened. In a sense, you are trying to 133 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,120 live that life directly and you know, thereby renounce more 134 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,720 things and thereby having success on this path. 135 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:26,160 But there's much more to the idea of monasticism. 136 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,720 Yeah, this is kind of the kind of broad outline of why it works 137 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:31,040 so well. But I want to talk about some of 138 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,360 the simple things that make monastic life very attractive. 139 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,680 And one of the most important things that makes monastic life 140 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,040 attractive is all the kalyanamitas you have, all the 141 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,120 good friends, all the spiritual companions that you have on the 142 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,960 path here at Bodiniana Monastery. 143 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:52,080 We have about, we have over 30 months now 30 monks, right is 144 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,920 really large monastery and not so far just on the other side of 145 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:57,640 Perth. We have the nuns monastery with 146 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,440 about 15 nuns, so 15 nuns, 30 / 30 monks. 147 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,520 We have a couple of small monasteries as well kind of in 148 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:07,800 the area with with two or three monks here and there. 149 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,600 So it's very kind of, it's a very large kind of community. 150 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,440 And of course, all of these monks, all of these nuns are 151 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:18,880 heading in the same direction. So you have all these calamitas. 152 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:20,040 Yeah. And when you meet with each 153 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,560 other, you tend to talk about the dumma. 154 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,680 They can you, when you see them, you know, wow, it kind of 155 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:27,960 reminds you of Buddhism. When you see another monastic, 156 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:29,520 right? You see the robe, you see the 157 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:31,480 shaped head. You think, oh, I'm one of these 158 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,640 two, OK, I better do the right thing or whatever. 159 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:35,600 It kind of reminds you of these things all the time. 160 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,520 So it means that you are leaning towards the dumma so much more 161 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,520 easily because you have this calamitas, but more important 162 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:49,120 than just having kind of a variety of kalyanamitas who are 163 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:52,920 on various stages of the path. If you end up in a really good 164 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,400 monastery here, you end up with teachers who exemplify the 165 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:01,000 Dharma, who exemplify what it means to be a monastic. 166 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,920 Yeah, and I feel incredible, incredibly fortunate to have a 167 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,640 teacher like Ajam Brahm. Yeah, You all know Ajam Brahm. 168 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:10,640 And I was always inspired by Ajam Brahm from the very 169 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,480 beginning, because when I saw Ajam Brahm, I saw someone who 170 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,080 was a real, who was a Buddhist in the full sentence, someone 171 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,320 who exemplified the practice, someone who was living the 172 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,400 teaching is a living example of what the teaching looks like 173 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:28,600 from outside when it has been internalized fully. 174 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:30,960 That's what it looked like to me when I met Ajam Brahm. 175 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:36,320 And it is this beautiful feeling when you are around a person 176 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,520 like that. It's a beautiful and wonderful 177 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:40,880 thing here. And Adam Brahma often says that 178 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,600 most of the dumb are happens by Osmo Scissor. 179 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,120 Yeah. And this is true. 180 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,880 So when you sit together with someone who is very peaceful, 181 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,800 someone who has a lot of kindness, someone who has this 182 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,520 vibe, the juju. Yeah, The juju is the modern 183 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,440 word for vibe apparently has this vibe about them that they 184 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,840 kind of feel kind of the dumb in their presence. 185 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:02,760 And this is a very, very beautiful. 186 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,720 And you can just sometimes you just sit there and you feel 187 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,480 peaceful there. You sit there and your mind 188 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,640 turns from worldly things to Dumber things just by being in 189 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:13,520 the presence of a person like that. 190 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,120 And this is one of the very powerful things about being a 191 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,360 monastic, which actually is much, much more difficult to get 192 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:22,920 in lay life. In fact, in lay life it is. 193 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:27,200 You can get it sometimes, but it is very much, much more harder. 194 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,920 And I do not wish to kind of say anything bad about the lay 195 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:34,640 people. There are some very impressive 196 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,960 lay people in the world, but lay life is much more busy, but many 197 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,560 more things going on there. And for that reason it is much 198 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:44,120 more difficult to get access to these kind of things. 199 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,000 So the idea of Kalyanamita is an incredibly good reason to become 200 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,040 a monastic. Yeah, if you ever if there, if 201 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,160 you, if there's no other reason, that is plenty good enough to 202 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,880 enter the monastic life. Because the whole Buddhist path 203 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,360 starts with right view. It starts with having having a 204 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,080 degree of faith in these teachings. 205 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,360 And of course that comes from these people who are your 206 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:09,800 kalyanamitais, these people who are the areas, the normal ones, 207 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,360 It arises from them. And so that contact with that 208 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,040 sort of people is incredibly important for that reason. 209 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,240 So this is one of the beautiful things about the monastic life. 210 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,160 Another kind of very powerful thing about the monastic life is 211 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:29,880 that the the circumstances that you are in as a monastic, if you 212 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,880 are in a good monastery here, are very conducive to the 213 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,120 practice. In Bodhinana monastery, every 214 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,680 monk has a little Hut in the forest and when I sit in my Hut 215 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:43,840 I don't see anyone else. All I see is Kangaroos and 216 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:48,240 birds, kookaburras, the Australian laughing bird, and I 217 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,000 see the grass and the trees and I have a beautiful view in my 218 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,040 from my QT. I even have this enormous view. 219 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,800 You would be surprised that people to pay millions to get 220 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,760 these kind of views that I have on my QT and I just happen to 221 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:00,560 have it. Why? 222 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,480 Because I'm monk. Benefits of being a monk, Hidden 223 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:10,080 benefits, But the main purpose is that you are secluded and you 224 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,440 are away from the world, kind of. 225 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,520 You have animals around you, you have nature around it. 226 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,960 All of these things are a great aid to calming down and to be 227 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,560 peaceful there. You come out of the city, you 228 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:25,960 come out of the towns, you come out of all the sensory realm, 229 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,200 and you kind of sit in your little cutie away in the forest. 230 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,560 And it's a very, very beautiful thing to have that ability. 231 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,280 So what is also very powerful about that thing is that while 232 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,200 you sit in your cutie and you meditate away happily, the meal 233 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,240 comes in cars. Yeah, from the city, The people 234 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,600 drive all around out of body down a monastery here. 235 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,720 And then when I come out of my cutie, all that food is kind of 236 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:54,640 offered to the monks. And then we get this beautiful 237 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:58,040 meal every day, 365 days of the year. 238 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:03,120 That is such a not only is it kind of wonderful to have that 239 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,640 kind of support, but it's actually very inspiring to see 240 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,600 how the Buddhist community works together here. 241 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,600 The idea of sitting in your curity, people bringing all of 242 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,960 these things for the monastics, It's very heartwarming. 243 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,640 And it's very inspiring to see the kindness, the generosity, 244 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,440 the service of the entire Buddhist community looking after 245 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,880 you in this way. And you cannot avoid, you have 246 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,000 to feel a sense of gratitude for these people because it is so 247 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,400 beautiful there. And of course, then you also 248 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,200 want to do something in return. You want to provide a service in 249 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,560 return. That, of course, is the idea of 250 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:39,960 teaching the Dhamma to the world when you do this. 251 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:44,000 So it's a kind of, it's a lifestyle that brings out the 252 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,440 best in people there. You know, when I am with lay 253 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:50,480 people, I always feel that lay people are incredibly kind to 254 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,680 me, incredibly respectful and all of these kind of things. 255 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:55,560 You know, it's very different in lay life. 256 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,480 People are not going to be always so kind to you as they 257 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,560 are in monastic life. And it's a wonderful benefit to 258 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:05,680 have this affection and kindness from people around you all the 259 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,520 way around the world. Whenever I travel anywhere, 260 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:13,320 whether it's to the UK or to anywhere in Asia or anywhere in 261 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,200 Europe or North America or whatever it is, it is always the 262 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,560 same. People are very, very kind, and 263 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:22,520 they treat you with a lot of generosity and service and these 264 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,320 kind of things. And it's a beautiful way of 265 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:29,600 seeing the best in humanity. There is a lot of beauty in 266 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:31,960 human beings. You know, sometimes we just see 267 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:34,200 the negative thing. There's a lot of good qualities 268 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:35,720 in human beings around the world there. 269 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,120 And it's wonderful to be able to kind of tap into that and see 270 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,360 that this is one of the wonderful things you see as a 271 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:43,280 monastic. Yeah. 272 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:47,240 So these are some of the things about being a monastery that 273 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,320 makes monastic life incredibly powerful and very, very 274 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,080 different in many ways from late life. 275 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:58,000 And anyone who has a little bit of inclination to monastic life, 276 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,240 I would really recommend you to try it out. 277 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,480 Go to a good monastery. Yeah. 278 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,560 Go to a place where you feel inspired by the teachings, 279 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,960 inspired by the people. Stay there for a while, feel the 280 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,000 atmosphere. Yeah. 281 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,720 Try to figure out maybe this is something for you. 282 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,480 Why? Because if you don't try it out, 283 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,200 you may be wasting a massive opportunity to make incredibly 284 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,000 fast progress on the spiritual path. 285 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,040 Don't waste that opportunity. This is the life. 286 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:25,400 Yeah. This is the only life you've 287 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,520 got. Maybe you have more lives in the 288 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,520 future, but basically you don't know what's going to happen. 289 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:32,280 Yeah. Now is the opportunity. 290 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:36,000 So now take this opportunity and make the most of it. 291 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:43,080 But so I really recommend the monastic life at least, but you 292 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,920 have to be careful as well because sometimes people are too 293 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,720 idealistic or that go about it the wrong way. 294 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:54,120 So how should one go about the monastic life? 295 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,520 What are the pitchfalls? What are the dangers in doing 296 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:01,760 this? And one of the dangers is that 297 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,080 you don't you follow your intellect rather follow your 298 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,120 heart. Follow your heart when it when 299 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,480 it comes to monastic life, it is very important that when you 300 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,040 come to a monastery that you feel right. 301 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,080 It feels right to you. It feels good. 302 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,080 You feel at ease. You feel the sense that there is 303 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:21,360 harmony. There is a place where you can 304 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:23,560 feel happy. It's a place where you can 305 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,280 easily meditate for yourself. You feel that people are kind 306 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,160 and caring in the right way. This is so important because if 307 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,280 you don't feel at ease in a place, if you don't really 308 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,200 relax, if you don't feel that people are your friends, it's 309 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,640 going to be very, very hard to practice is the path. 310 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,680 If you feel uptight or you feel people are a bit harsh or maybe 311 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,760 they can even be abusive, it very happens in monasticism as 312 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:49,320 well, that there is abuse going on. 313 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:53,080 It happens everywhere because monasticism is just a reflection 314 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,000 of the broader society. So if you have that in society, 315 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,680 you're gonna have it in monasteries as well. 316 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:00,800 So be very careful. Follow your heart. 317 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:05,079 If a place feels right, if the teachings feel right, if the 318 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:08,560 teachings are caught with the suitors, you feel good in that 319 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,880 place. That is probably the place where 320 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,280 you should go. And too often people follow the 321 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,319 intellect there. They have this idea, yeah, if I 322 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:19,119 go to this monastery, I want them to practice these 323 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:21,359 particular rules there. They have to practice really, 324 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,079 really kind of strict rules. And I want to see some serious 325 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:28,079 aesthetic practices. And I wanted people to be told 326 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,560 off when I do bad things and these kind of things. 327 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:33,520 If you come from your intellect and you have very kind of 328 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,000 stringent ideas of what a monastery should be like, but 329 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,840 you don't follow your heart, very likely you will actually 330 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:43,040 end up being disappointed. In reality, there's going to be 331 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,640 a little bit of intellect, a little bit of heart, but make 332 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,560 sure that you enjoy the place. Otherwise I can almost guarantee 333 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:51,600 that your monastic life is going to fail her. 334 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:54,760 This is the first thing. The second thing that is really 335 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,680 matter is for monasticism to work. 336 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:02,000 Ideally you have some good meditation before you enter the 337 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,320 monastic life. It is not absolutely required. 338 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,760 The most important thing is to have faith, have confidence in 339 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,520 the Buddhist teachings. And if you have that faith and 340 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,240 you have that confidence, then the meditation will happen down 341 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:16,400 the road anyway. So you'll be fine there. 342 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,720 So it's going to, it's going to work out one way or another. 343 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,400 You don't have to be too concerned there, but it is 344 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:26,480 important when you come to monastic life that you don't 345 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,040 suppress things. Yeah, sometimes people suppress 346 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,000 things in the character. You may suppress desires, you 347 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,920 may suppress ill will, you may suppress character traits that 348 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,120 you feel not appropriate in the monastic setting. 349 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,080 And that is really the worst thing that you can do, because 350 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,000 if you suppress things, really it will come back and bite you 351 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,880 at some stage later on. And very often, that very 352 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,360 suppression means that you're not able to make progress on the 353 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:57,840 the path. So suppressing things is always 354 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,680 a bad idea. So it's important to be in a 355 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,160 monastery where you can be yourself, you can be at ease. 356 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,840 Yes, there should be a degree of restraint, but there should not 357 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,760 be suppression there. And I've seen this happening 358 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:13,440 with very many monastics. They go into a very kind of 359 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,560 tough environment, and they suppress things in their 360 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,120 character. And after five years, 10 years 361 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:20,920 or whatever, things kind of erupt. 362 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,000 Yeah. And when they erupt in no long 363 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:24,840 time, they kind of destroy when they're out. 364 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:28,160 Or the monastic life, this is sometimes called spiritual 365 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,520 bypassing, yeah, where you bypass real issues in your life 366 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:36,120 that actually need to be dealt with, maybe psychological or 367 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:38,960 science of your personality that you haven't really dealt with 368 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,480 properly. And maybe you become a monastic 369 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,880 precisely because you don't like that side of yourself or 370 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,000 something. And then you end up actually 371 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,280 causing problems and calling trouble for yourself because you 372 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,240 do that. So these are some of the 373 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:57,120 pitfalls. So one of the kind of very 374 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,960 important ways of avoiding these particular pitfalls is actually 375 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:05,120 when you enter the monastic life, and this is also true for 376 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,640 lay life in a sense, is to ensure that you are making 377 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,640 progress in your practice. And this is one of those 378 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,640 beautiful sayings about the Buddha which always kind of 379 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,840 inspired me here. Very often we tend to be a bit. 380 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,040 I like spiritually materialistic. 381 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,000 Yeah, we have this idea that we want to attain certain stages or 382 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,560 certain states of meditation. Have you got a JAMA yet or are 383 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,640 you what is happening in your meditation and these kind of 384 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,600 things? But this is not really what the 385 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,600 path is about, because you can have an attainment, you can have 386 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:46,640 a stage, but very often if you get that attainment, then it may 387 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,400 stagnate afterwards. Yeah. 388 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,120 And if it stagnates afterwards, what's the point of that 389 00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:54,720 attainment? So the Buddha says that it is 390 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,760 not the attainment in itself. The attainments are of course 391 00:20:57,760 --> 00:20:59,480 important. It's in a certain way. 392 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,960 But what is the most important thing is that you are making 393 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,960 progress. That is what really matters. 394 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:08,920 And so when you enter in monastic life, one of the kind 395 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:13,880 of great pitfalls is that somehow you lose sight of this 396 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,800 idea of making progress or you get trapped into kind of 397 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,280 various, you know, projects or various kind of things. 398 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,600 And the moment not making progress on the path, that is 399 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:25,200 when the path becomes meaningless. 400 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,320 As long as you're making progress, there's the feeling 401 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,920 that you are going somewhere. There's a feeling that you have 402 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,120 a purpose. There's a feeling that the path 403 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:35,680 is working for you. And that is so incredibly 404 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,880 important. And if you do that, then you, 405 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:41,520 you have a sense that monastic life is worthwhile. 406 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,000 The moment you stop making progress, even if you have a 407 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,320 Jana state, even if you have some very profound meditation, 408 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,040 chances are that eventually you will disrobe because the whole 409 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,320 path becomes meaningless as a consequence. 410 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:59,560 So focus on progress in your meditation, focus on overall 411 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,640 progress on the path. Are you becoming more mindful 412 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:04,640 there? Are you becoming more gentle? 413 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,360 Are you becoming a more caring and compassionate person in the 414 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:09,760 world there? Do you feel that your samadhi is 415 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,880 coming together? Is your ill will going down? 416 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:14,640 Are they kind of excessive grades? 417 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,280 Are they going down there? And if you see this kind of 418 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,040 progress in your life, then you are on the right track. 419 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:23,080 Especially if you are a monastic, this is incredibly 420 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,120 important that otherwise the monastic life is completely 421 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:31,080 meaningless. So this is the the idea of 422 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:34,240 monasticism and why it is so important. 423 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:39,600 And as I said initially, monasticism reflects the highest 424 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,960 ideal of what the Buddhist path is about. 425 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:45,320 The highest ideals of the Buddhist path are about giving 426 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,720 up, letting go. And this is what you are 427 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,880 reflecting by living the monastic life. 428 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,680 Ideally, when the monastic life is well lived, it is not always 429 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,120 well lived, but when it is well lived, that is what it does. 430 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:01,720 But as I said initially, of course what we are really doing 431 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:06,520 is that we are actually when we are renouncing, it is actually a 432 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:10,640 change in mentality that really what renouncing really is about. 433 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,760 And one of the kind of initial phases of the idea of 434 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:19,520 renunciation is the idea of living a moral life, living a 435 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,640 life of service, living a life of generosity. 436 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,600 And I would really recommend you, if there's one thing I 437 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,040 would recommend you that is going to be incredibly 438 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:33,040 supportive for your entire spiritual life, career, if like 439 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,600 call it a career, it's the only career worth happening is a 440 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,000 spiritual life, right? So forget about all other 441 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,000 careers, just move on to the spiritual life straight away. 442 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,360 So if you're going to have success in a spiritual career, 443 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,320 the one thing that I would really recommended to do, try to 444 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,200 live a life of service. If you can live a life of 445 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:56,440 service where you always try to implement the ideas of morality, 446 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,480 of kindness, of care, of compassion or understanding in 447 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,960 everything you do, man, you're going to have an incredibly 448 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,680 successful spiritual life there. Now, when I say service, I mean 449 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,720 this in a very broad kind of sense. 450 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,560 Yeah, I mean this in a sense of looking after the physical needs 451 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,240 of other people, also yourself, of course. 452 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,400 Yeah, doing this based on compassion, based on 453 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,360 understanding. I mean, using your speech as a 454 00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:27,960 gift to other people with a sense that you want to offer 455 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,520 them something beautiful through the way you speak and the way 456 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,240 you are. Yeah, this is kind of a life of 457 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,000 service when you offer your speech to other people or simply 458 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,400 by being generous and kind in your daily life. 459 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,720 Yeah, and kind of always being open to help, always being able 460 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:46,440 to serve in whatever way you can. 461 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:50,760 And when that attitude starts to go, it's established in you, the 462 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,920 attitude of service. It's a very, very beautiful and 463 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,400 powerful mind state. That mind state of serving 464 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,200 actually gives rise to so much joy and happiness within you. 465 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,320 The person who gains the most from the service is is not 466 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,760 always the recipient. Very often it is actually the 467 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,160 service provided themselves. It's a very beautiful and 468 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,120 spiritual kind of mind state. And one of the things that 469 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,280 always struck me in the suit as the word of the Buddha that I 470 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,080 thought was very interesting was that some of the word that I 471 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:26,280 used in the suit is for generosity are also the words 472 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:31,400 that I used for enlightenment, for awakening itself, similar 473 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,400 kind of vocabulary. And I always thought this is so 474 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,520 fascinating. How can the simple act of being 475 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,040 generous? How can the simple act of caring 476 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,320 for someone else, giving something of your own, how can 477 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,840 that be akin to awakening? Awakening is kind of the end of 478 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,400 the path. Generosity is often considered 479 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,800 the beginning. Of course, it's the beginning 480 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,000 only in the sense that you start out being generous at the 481 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,560 beginning, but actually generosity goes with you all the 482 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,840 way to the end of the path. But the idea is that when you 483 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,720 are generous, you are letting go of something. 484 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,760 Yeah, you are renouncing something. 485 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,200 You're giving something which belongs to you, which is part of 486 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,880 yourself, part of your identity, part of what you take to be 487 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:14,800 mine. And of course, when you are 488 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,360 giving up something which is part of your identity, that 489 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,800 identity of course, from a Buddhist point of view, is an 490 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,120 illusion anyway. It's not really losing anything. 491 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:26,960 All you do is gaining something. But when you are doing that, 492 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,960 that is a kin to awakening, because awakening itself is also 493 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,680 giving up your sense, your full sense of identity that you have 494 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,960 within there. So generosity is like leaning in 495 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,840 the same direction, being kind, living a life of service is 496 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,240 leaning in that same direction, leaning in the direction of 497 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,320 awakening. So this in itself is an aspect 498 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:55,680 of this whole idea of Nekama, of giving up, yeah, of letting go, 499 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,760 of renunciation itself. It happens in this way, starting 500 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:05,440 with such simple ways on the path and then after this very 501 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,280 simple start of the idea of renunciation, that comes the 502 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,680 renunciation in meditation practice. 503 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,160 If you want to have real success in your meditation practice, you 504 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,600 are going to have to let go a little bit of your attachment to 505 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,560 the sensory world. You will start to understand 506 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,640 that once you meditate, once you get a little bit of insight into 507 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,560 how the process of meditation works, it won't be long before 508 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,720 you start to understand that there is a hindrance there. 509 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:37,160 There is a problem that if you hold on to the five sense world, 510 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:41,160 meditation will be blocked to a certain degree here because the 511 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,080 five sense world is always about the world out there, whereas 512 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:46,920 meditation is about going within there. 513 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,160 And if you are attached to the idea of going out into the 514 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,320 world, there is no way you will be able to stay within there. 515 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:58,200 So there is a natural opposition between the five sense world on 516 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,160 the one hand and meditation on the other hand. 517 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,880 And you start to see this in your meditation. 518 00:28:04,120 --> 00:28:07,840 You start to see that the more you let go of the five sense 519 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,240 world, the more peaceful you become because that world is so 520 00:28:11,360 --> 00:28:14,680 agitated, that world is so restless, that world is always 521 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:18,000 moving around, going from one thing to something else. 522 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:20,680 But the world of meditation is the exact opposite. 523 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,400 And you start to see this opposition between the two and 524 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,240 you start to want to renounce the world of the five senses. 525 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:34,360 You become less interested in it naturally then, but even though 526 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:38,200 you do become more interested in it naturally, sometimes we can 527 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,880 help the process a little bit. Yeah, we can kind of add a 528 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,760 little bit to the process. And one of the things that we 529 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,680 can do is do some of these beautiful contemplations that 530 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,880 the Buddha talks about in the suitors that shows us the 531 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,480 disadvantages of the five sense world there. 532 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,560 And I love to talk about this. It's one of my favorite topics 533 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,280 because it is so beautiful when you start to understand what is 534 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,640 going on there. Just to give you a very, very 535 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:06,320 quick reminder of some of these ideas, one of the ideas is the 536 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:11,000 idea that the five sense world is like you are a dog with a 537 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:11,760 bone. Yeah. 538 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,240 When the dog eats the bone, it never gets any satisfaction. 539 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:19,200 All it does is kind of get the taste of blood on the bone, but 540 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,520 there is no satisfaction there. And the five sense world is like 541 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,720 a dog with a bone. There's no real satisfaction. 542 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,120 Where do you find the satisfaction in meditation 543 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,080 practice? In renunciation? 544 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,240 Isn't that the great paradox you find satisfaction in in 545 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:35,880 renunciation? It's kind of weird. 546 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,000 It sounds like the opposite of satisfaction, but no, it 547 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,320 actually is about satisfaction itself. 548 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,800 And then there are other similes about the idea of the borrowed 549 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:46,720 goods. Yeah, the five cents world, we 550 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,600 only have it for so long, then we have to give it up. 551 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,960 The simile of the dream, it's like a dream world. 552 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,640 We're always thinking about what we want to get out of this $0.05 553 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,920 world, but it never delivers on this promises. 554 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:02,680 Yeah, etcetera, etcetera. There are a number of other 555 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,400 similes as well, and I would really recommend you to look 556 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:09,320 into those. So this is how renunciation 557 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:10,960 work. Renunciation is beautiful 558 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,880 because renunciation gives you access to something very, very 559 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,720 interesting, very profound and very meaningful in life. 560 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,280 This particular mean that you get through meditation practice 561 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,240 and this is where you start to feel that life has a real 562 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,640 purpose, has a real aim. It's not just about going around 563 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,440 in circles, never going anywhere. 564 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,640 And the final act of renunciation there is the act 565 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,000 where we let go of the sense of self. 566 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,720 Now the sense of self is this very thing that is so dear to 567 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,360 us. It's the ego, it's how we relate 568 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,280 to the world around us. It's a feeling of something 569 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,360 very, very close to us. And it's very difficult for us 570 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,560 to understand that this is actually a problem. 571 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:53,640 This causes so much suffering in the world. 572 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,280 The sense of self, we have some idea because we can see how the 573 00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,440 sense of self of leads to arguments. 574 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:03,160 It leads to opposition between people because we, you know, we 575 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,280 are, we cannot let go of our ideas or whatever it might be, 576 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:09,680 but it's difficult to let go of that. 577 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,840 But the final act, which comes at the very, very end of the 578 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:17,080 path after you renounce the interest in the five sense 579 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:20,440 world, when they get into some very, very deep meditation 580 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:24,280 states, you come out of those meditation States and you 581 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:28,560 realize that the emptiness of all phenomena, the idea that 582 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:31,920 everything is just constructed in the world is made-up. 583 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:35,480 Nothing is really lasting. Everything comes from cause and 584 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,080 conditions. When you get that insight into 585 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,520 the natural reality here and you're able to see that the 586 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,520 sense of self itself is a construct. 587 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,280 It is not a reality here at that moment. 588 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:51,120 That is when you do the final and the biggest renunciation of 589 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:53,200 all that. And what is the result of that 590 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,560 renunciation? The greatest bliss that you 591 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,000 ever, ever had in your entire life, A massive bliss that lasts 592 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,880 maybe for days afterwards because it is so powerful. 593 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,440 And that is the renunciation of giving up the sense of self at 594 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,400 the very, very end of the Buddhist path there. 595 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,640 And this is what you have ahead ahead of you there. 596 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,000 This is where this path is going here. 597 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,680 And it really is just a matter of implementing these ideas. 598 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:23,480 And as you can see, the idea of renunciation from the Buddhist 599 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:25,520 point of view is incredibly beautiful there. 600 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,480 And you just start to take the baby steps, starting out with 601 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,480 living a life of service, of kindness and all of these kind 602 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,240 of things. Then you get into the 603 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,440 meditation, you renounce more of the world. 604 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,360 And finally you get the wisdom, the insider, which is the final 605 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,440 act of renunciation. And that is where the path comes 606 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,760 all the way to the end. And you will be a very, very 607 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,080 happy person or maybe non person after that. 608 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:59,280 So there you are. So I have used up a little bit 609 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,640 more than my half hour of talking. 610 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,280 So please, if you wish to ask any questions, you want to make 611 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:07,640 any comments, you're very, very welcome to do so. 612 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,400 So please fire away as I say them. 613 00:33:20,740 --> 00:33:22,820 Who's going to be the first one? Who's going to be the brave 614 00:33:22,820 --> 00:33:24,700 person starting out? I've unmuted. 615 00:33:28,620 --> 00:33:33,040 You. Hello, Adrian. 616 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,800 Hi. I have a question about the 617 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,160 Yeah, well, I'm married, but it doesn't matter. 618 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,320 I have a question about the intermediate states between the 619 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:52,400 one death and the next rebirth. Is it the same thing as ghost 620 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:58,800 realm and you have like I put it in simple words, you have like 621 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,080 people annoying you and people being nice to you, like 622 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:12,360 interactions between things of human beings having effect on 623 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,239 the extreme of contest? Or is it like dreams and 624 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,360 nightmares just protection things? 625 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,719 I hope my questions here. Yeah, OK. 626 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,520 I, I, it's a little bit hard to hear you, but I, I will try to 627 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:25,960 answer. And if you, if I don't answer, 628 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:27,320 you can always come back if you'd like. 629 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:34,280 So the, the intermediate state is, is, I think it is similar to 630 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,199 maybe what you read about in near death experiences. 631 00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:38,600 Yeah. The the Buddha doesn't really 632 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,880 explain in detail exactly how they how they are or how it 633 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,159 works. And I think it will vary 634 00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:47,639 enormously how long they last. Yeah, they can last for a very 635 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:50,000 short time. Sometimes you can be reborn 636 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,679 straight away. At other times it will take a 637 00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:54,639 bit of time. It's as if your comma has to 638 00:34:54,639 --> 00:34:56,520 ripen. Maybe you have to review your 639 00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:59,640 life and judge yourself or something like that. 640 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,360 And then because of that judgement, then maybe the comma 641 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:06,040 will ripen as a consequence. But it is probably, in some 642 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,760 ways, it is probably a bit like a it's like a disembodied 643 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,120 experience. Yeah, you so a bit like a ghost 644 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,360 in in some ways. But it's not the same as the 645 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,760 ghost realm because the ghost realm is a realm of suffering, 646 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:20,680 right? If you get reborn in the PETA 647 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,440 Loca, which is 1 particular kind of realm of rebirth, it is a 648 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,920 realm of suffering. But the intermediate existence 649 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:29,720 is not a realm of suffering. This is a realm where you're 650 00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:33,280 waiting for kind of the the karma to ripen for you to judge 651 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,280 yourself or, or whatever it is that it takes you on to the 652 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:40,120 future life. So can you meet beings there? 653 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,560 I think you you can. That's kind of what I understand 654 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:44,120 that you can actually meet beings there. 655 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,600 And so you know, when you, it's actually very useful, I find, to 656 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:50,520 read some of these stories about people who have near death 657 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,120 experiences. It's actually very powerful. 658 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:54,560 Have you read some of those stories? 659 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,480 It's just really interesting and I would really recommend people 660 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,640 to get hold of some of these books. 661 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,120 The most the recent book that I'm aware of is a book called 662 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,480 After, which was published about a year ago or so. 663 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:11,760 And it's just extraordinary. I mean, you, you become Privy to 664 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,480 some very, very private aspects of people's lives. 665 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:18,240 And these people were changed by having these kind of 666 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:21,080 experiences. And we too actually get changed 667 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,280 a little bit just by reading about this experience. 668 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:24,640 You don't actually have to have them. 669 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:26,760 You don't have you don't have to almost die. 670 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,480 You can read about some of these experiences and you will 671 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,200 actually be, you know, you will have some of all the feelings 672 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,760 that they had. These are very, very powerful 673 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,400 and beautiful and interesting experiences. 674 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,720 And basically what they are about, yeah. 675 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:44,640 They are about this process in between whereby you have the 676 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,640 ripening of the karma. So it is like a ghost realm in 677 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:49,840 the sense that you are more like a spirit. 678 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,440 Yeah, but it's not, it's not negative, It's not a painful 679 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:54,920 thing. Yeah. 680 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,120 And you can meet, it seems there you can't even meet other people 681 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:00,960 that passed away and all kind of things. 682 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,680 But generally speaking, it is a +1, especially if you have been 683 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,600 a good person, if you have lived a good life, you've been a good 684 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,920 Buddhist, done the right things, then usually this experience is 685 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,160 going to be very, it's going to be a pleasant one for you. 686 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:27,200 Are you OK with that? I will unmute Margu and if 687 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,680 Marian has another question, you can come back. 688 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:36,040 Mary. Hi Ajam Ramali. 689 00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:39,440 Hi. Thank you, Neil. 690 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:44,400 Wonderful talk. My question is on suppression 691 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,600 and restraints. You mentioned suppression, we 692 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:54,600 should not suppress our negative traits but rather restrain them. 693 00:37:55,360 --> 00:38:01,600 So could clarify the difference? I have some idea, but if you 694 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:06,080 could clarify how what's the difference between the two and 695 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,280 to go about them? Yeah, that's a very, I think 696 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:15,160 very important question because I think what happens is that a 697 00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,120 lot of people, they know how to suppress. 698 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:18,960 They don't know. They don't know how to restrain. 699 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:21,000 Yeah, this is kind of the problem because suppression is 700 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,640 like the first line of defence in our minds. 701 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,680 When you some bad thought comes up, we get angry. 702 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:29,120 And you know, this is not the right time to get angry. 703 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,040 Actually, it's never the right time to get angry, but but 704 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:34,080 sometimes it's really bad time to get angry, right? 705 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,000 You, you are really inappropriate. 706 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,560 And usually what we do is we suppress because we don't know 707 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:43,200 any other means of doing it. And so the right way of dealing 708 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:49,480 with it, using restraint, is actually to use wisdom rather 709 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:51,200 than using willpower. Yeah. 710 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,440 And understanding that actually this anger that I'm getting 711 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,360 right now, it is not helpful. It is going to be 712 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,200 counterproductive. Yeah. 713 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:01,120 And it because it is not helpful. 714 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:02,880 Is it because it's counterproductive. 715 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:04,800 What's the point of getting angry here? 716 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,920 And sometimes that's enough to get the anger to kind of die 717 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,880 down straight away because, you know, it's not going to achieve 718 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,200 any good results. All the results of anger are 719 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,840 usually negative ones. It may achieve some very 720 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,200 immediate results, Yeah, because people get a bit afraid of angry 721 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:21,240 people. So maybe they will shut up, but 722 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,040 they won't have any long lasting results and beneficial results. 723 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:30,680 So just that can be enough. But one of the recommendations 724 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:34,520 that I would use in especially when it comes to anger and and 725 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:38,840 dealing with anger is to always remember that other people are 726 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:44,440 not really autonomous beings who are out to get you or to do the 727 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:47,360 wrong thing. They are just conditioned beings 728 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:51,040 and they do things because of their own inner conditioning is 729 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,960 coming out in their conduct. They can't usually help 730 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,600 themselves. Yeah, I mean, I sometimes if 731 00:39:56,600 --> 00:40:00,120 you, if I ask people, you know, try not to get angry for a whole 732 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:01,560 week, They they know it's impossible. 733 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:03,640 They can't do that. And the reason they can't do it 734 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,200 is because they're not in control of themselves, right? 735 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:08,280 We're not really in control of our own minds. 736 00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,560 They are conditioned. So when you see someone else 737 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:15,320 doing something wrong or bad or whatever, remember that they 738 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,200 aren't conditioned to be like that. 739 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,000 They probably can't help themselves. 740 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:23,320 And the moment you see that, if you understand this properly, 741 00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:26,760 you will understand that instead of getting angry with a person 742 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,840 because they are being silly or stupid, actually you should have 743 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,640 compassion for them because they are trapped in this thing. 744 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:34,760 They're trapped in this behaviour, right? 745 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:37,920 They can't help themselves. And someone who is trapped by 746 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,920 the habits or trapped by the behaviour, it's like someone who 747 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,480 is in prison. And of course, if someone is in 748 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:47,160 prison against the will, not understanding what is going on, 749 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,480 how can you not have compassion? And this is the idea of using 750 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:55,200 wisdom. And if these ideas are kind of 751 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:58,520 really deeply embedded in your mind, if you have reflected on 752 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,520 these ideas again and again, so you have the clarity understand 753 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,440 why they actually are real, why they work. 754 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,840 While they reflect reality, they actually reflect the way people 755 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:11,520 actually are. Once you get that, wow, it is 756 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,920 incredibly, incredibly powerful. And you will convey it difficult 757 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:17,760 to get angry after a while. Yeah, because you always see 758 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,840 people in this way. And that is what I mean by this 759 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:24,880 is a powerful way of using restraint, you know, using 760 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,680 wisdom to stop the thing that the arising of these negative 761 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,440 thoughts. And sometimes you may have to 762 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:35,680 use a little bit of just willpower as well. 763 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:39,160 Not always. Maybe the the the wisdom power 764 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,080 is going to succeed. But if you want to use 765 00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:46,920 willpower, then don't suppress forcefully, just hold the back, 766 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,040 don't act on the anger, Right? It's it's more like stopping the 767 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,160 action rather than actually stopping the anger. 768 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:54,720 Because if you stop the anger itself, then very often what 769 00:41:54,720 --> 00:41:57,000 you're doing is it just suppressing it doesn't really 770 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,280 give any good results. So just stop the actions that 771 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,840 come from that and then try to use wisdom to overcome the 772 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:07,200 actual defilement itself. And then you are on the right 773 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,280 track. Yeah, usually I recommend I, I 774 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,200 think for anger and I'll will, this is where this is most 775 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,040 useful because that is the kind of the one problem, the one 776 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:19,000 thing that causes so much havoc and so much problems in our 777 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,880 lives. So if you can do it with anger 778 00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:22,840 and I'll will, you're doing really, really well now. 779 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:46,720 OK, OK, OK. Hi, thank you. 780 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:48,920 Adam. I hope it's OK. 781 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,560 I wanted to ask maybe a personal question to you about your 782 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:58,520 journey into monastic life and what the challenges were for 783 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,880 you, if there were any, in renouncing to become fully 784 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:11,160 engaged with monastic life. OK, so I would say, so for me, 785 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:14,360 it was kind of a strain for me, it sort of happened almost very 786 00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:16,280 organically. I would say it happened quite 787 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:19,160 naturally. I, you know you, I sort of 788 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,480 started reading, doing some meditation as a layperson and I 789 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:26,400 had some quite nice experiences in my meditation and I just 790 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,720 became interested in meditation practice and kind of 791 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,880 spirituality in general. It just sort of happened. 792 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:37,360 I went to travel to Asia quite a bit and I read some books about 793 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,800 what is when I was there and I went to some monasteries and the 794 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:43,160 whole thing for me was very kind of okay. 795 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:48,400 This kind of is natural. What was the biggest problem? 796 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:51,200 The biggest problem is always the draw of the world. 797 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:52,880 Yeah. The draw when your meditation 798 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,360 isn't going well, when maybe you're finding difficulties with 799 00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:58,440 your fellow monastics, usually. Probably. 800 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:01,120 Probably my fault. But anyway, the difficulties are 801 00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:02,680 there regardless of whose fault it is. 802 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:04,440 Actually, I don't. I don't. 803 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:07,560 I never think of anything as being my fault or other people's 804 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:09,560 fault. It's just nature happening, the 805 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:11,520 world happening. Yeah, it's no one's fault. 806 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:13,760 It's just difficulties happening in the world. 807 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:17,320 And whenever there are difficulties like that and you 808 00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:21,120 feel maybe a bit down or you don't feel happy, your 809 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:24,480 meditation things aren't going well, then it's very easy to see 810 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,440 the draw of the world. Yeah, very easy to see more. 811 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:29,720 I could just relax. I could have a, you know, you 812 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,480 could have a relationship maybe, or you could have three meals a 813 00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:34,840 day, or you could watch entertainment and do all of 814 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:36,960 these kinds of things. And these become much more 815 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,160 interesting. And that is always the most 816 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:42,400 difficult part because we feed on happiness. 817 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:44,520 We feed on joy. Everyone wants to be happy, 818 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:46,600 Yeah. And the moment the happiness is 819 00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,120 gone, you're going to look for it somewhere else, and that will 820 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:51,000 then be the world. That's where you're looking for 821 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,640 the happiness. So that is the most difficult 822 00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:56,480 thing. So you have to kind of deal with 823 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,840 those times through faith. And that is where the faith and 824 00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:03,360 the Buddhist teaching really matters enormously understanding 825 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,120 those teachings to a deep extent. 826 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:09,120 So you have confidence that these teachings really work. 827 00:45:09,720 --> 00:45:11,480 And when you have that confidence, then you're willing 828 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:14,760 to go through hard times and come out on the other side. 829 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,720 And then of course, when you come out on the other side, then 830 00:45:17,720 --> 00:45:20,040 you haven't learned something, you have understood something 831 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,280 more because you take all the difficulties as a learning 832 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:26,320 experience and then you are wiser when you come out on the 833 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:28,240 other side. And that of course becomes then 834 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,200 grist for the male. And you know, the path goes even 835 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:37,120 better as a consequence. So that's kind of roughly how I 836 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:40,680 would what I would say him. Yeah. 837 00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:51,400 All right, so. Thank you, it's good to see you 838 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,040 again and thank you so much for the teaching today. 839 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:58,720 It was relevant as I'm am considering monastic life, but 840 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:00,720 also just a very good teaching in general. 841 00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:06,960 So one of my my question was about your comments about 842 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:12,040 relinquishing the sense of self is kind of this this last 843 00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:14,880 pronunciation, and this is something I've been reflecting 844 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:18,720 on lately is something that can be sticky and get in the way. 845 00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:23,160 So I wondered if you had any tips about ways of kind of 846 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:27,960 looking at this self is something that's not very solid 847 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:32,520 and gets in the way of our ultimately being able to develop 848 00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:34,200 a good spiritual life. I mean, of course there's 849 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,160 reflecting on the condas and dependent origination, but I 850 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:41,040 wondered if you have any tips or similes or something that can 851 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,440 kind of use that that process alone? 852 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:47,320 Yeah, OK. So yeah, the sense of self, how 853 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:52,200 to deal with the sense of self. I, I think, I mean, it's 854 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:55,480 difficult to really fully deal with the sense of self because 855 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,520 it is very deeply seated in that. 856 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:00,760 So all you can really do is deal with it in a superficial way and 857 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:03,800 the rest of it will happen down the path because, you know, you 858 00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,680 need all these other conditions to be in place to be able to see 859 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:09,640 through this sense of self. So, so I would say one of the 860 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,520 main ways of dealing with the sense of self is actually just 861 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:16,720 to practice the noble head for path by practicing right space, 862 00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:21,000 by practicing right conduct, by avoiding ill will, etcetera, 863 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,640 etcetera. You actually that requires a 864 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:27,320 giving up of the sense of self. It requires a giving up of self 865 00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:31,080 concern of of you know, stinginess and all of these kind 866 00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:32,720 of things. So you are actually already 867 00:47:32,720 --> 00:47:34,520 doing it by practicing those things. 868 00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:36,200 It is happening automatically now. 869 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:39,280 Very often people ask these kind of questions, how do I give up 870 00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,320 my attachments? How do I give up my sense of 871 00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:42,720 self? How do I do all of these 872 00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:44,800 profound things? Actually, everything really 873 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:49,000 comes back to the novel part. That is where the problem, that 874 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:52,280 is where all problems are resolved through that particular 875 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:56,560 practice. But it is also useful to reflect 876 00:47:56,600 --> 00:48:00,200 on, you know, more directly on the sense of self and the ego. 877 00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:03,560 And sometimes you can see how it lands in trouble all the time. 878 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:05,400 Yeah, it always lands in the difficulties. 879 00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:09,000 That's kind of the, the, you know, you end up with arguments 880 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,160 or discussions or all kind of things, or you feel hurt. 881 00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,240 Yeah, you feel hurt. Why do you feel hurt? 882 00:48:14,240 --> 00:48:16,360 Well, because the sense of self has been hurt, Right. 883 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,400 This is such a common experience in our life. 884 00:48:19,240 --> 00:48:23,000 And very often you, you know, you, you realise this is just a 885 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:25,720 conditioned response. There isn't, you know, it 886 00:48:25,720 --> 00:48:29,200 doesn't really make any, you know, why, why do we feel hurt? 887 00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:31,240 And then it's kind of what does it matter any or what other 888 00:48:31,240 --> 00:48:33,880 people think, what other people do, they're just following their 889 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,520 own going to the beat or their own inner drummer, right? 890 00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:39,360 And they don't really understand what what is going on. 891 00:48:39,720 --> 00:48:42,120 And very often just by reflecting on this in this way 892 00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:46,240 and seeing this kind of ego being a big nuisance leading to 893 00:48:46,240 --> 00:48:50,280 all of these kind of problems, you actually start to let go of 894 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:53,640 it a little bit and you understand that this kind of, 895 00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,000 it's not a real, it's not real what is going on. 896 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,840 This is kind of this interaction between beings and you're 897 00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:02,760 getting hurt for absolutely no reason. 898 00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:05,800 Of course, it's still is part for the course. 899 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:09,040 You shouldn't avoid that hurt. You can't just suppress it, but 900 00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:13,560 you can eliminate it, alleviate it a little bit by just kind of 901 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:16,800 giving up a little bit of that concern and sense of self. 902 00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:20,280 Yeah. Anyway, so there you are. 903 00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:22,080 Good luck. OK? 904 00:49:23,240 --> 00:49:27,360 Yeah, OK. Hello, John. 905 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:31,360 Thank you. Yeah, just a question. 906 00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:34,560 I, I think I kind of know the answer, but I was just wondering 907 00:49:34,560 --> 00:49:35,560 really have any tips? Really. 908 00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:39,320 I feel like, you know, you've got the, the world as we call it 909 00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:43,560 in the sensory world, the lay life and a lot of that I feel 910 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,520 sort of goes in One Direction and the spiritual life in 911 00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:50,080 another. And I feel that whenever I'm a 912 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:52,720 naturally, I'm a layperson, got a family, etcetera. 913 00:49:52,720 --> 00:49:56,720 It's very hard because I feel like even doing things sometimes 914 00:49:56,720 --> 00:50:00,240 my family's taken me away from the spiritual life. 915 00:50:00,240 --> 00:50:06,160 So do you have any potentially tips to, to how you can make it 916 00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:10,760 more, more sort of 1 and and yeah, balance maybe? 917 00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:13,440 It's nice to see you again, Sean. 918 00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:14,840 Anyway, you're the cyclist, right? 919 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:19,960 Is that right? The cycling? 920 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:24,240 Okay, good. So, yeah, so this is this is, I 921 00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:25,640 think, a very important question. 922 00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:27,480 I think it's a question that everyone should really 923 00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:31,400 contemplate. And the answer is very simple, 924 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:34,800 but putting it into practice is often quite difficult, right. 925 00:50:35,240 --> 00:50:38,240 So I don't envy you the idea of putting it into practice, but 926 00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:41,960 the answer is basically just that you have to make everything 927 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:44,120 in your life part of the spiritual path. 928 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:45,920 Yeah. So when you are with your 929 00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:47,480 family, well, what does that mean? 930 00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:51,560 Well, it means that how can I care for my family in a way that 931 00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:55,040 kind of reflects the Dumber? How can I care for my kids or my 932 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:57,600 wife or whatever it is that you, whatever relationship it is that 933 00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:00,400 you have? How can I care for these people 934 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:03,720 who are so close to me in a way that is a course with a Dumber 935 00:51:03,720 --> 00:51:06,760 where I'm truly kind, truly being a benefit, truly doing the 936 00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:07,480 right thing. Yeah. 937 00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:12,440 And then you are kind of having this idea of service again and 938 00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,680 you permeate your entire life for this idea of service and 939 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:18,600 kindness and kind of doing something for the world. 940 00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:21,240 So that will then be your family life, It will be your 941 00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:23,680 professional life or whatever work it is that doing. 942 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:26,320 It will be your spiritual life. I mean, your spiritual friends, 943 00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,320 you also want to treat them and back to that way. 944 00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:30,720 You want to be of service for all of these people coming 945 00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:34,400 together. And as you, as you do that, as 946 00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:37,080 you kind of apply these teachings to everyone around you 947 00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:40,280 without caring. Yeah, You cannot really afford 948 00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:44,960 to care too much whether people reciprocate or whether they have 949 00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:48,240 any confidence in the dumb or whether they all of that has to 950 00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:50,200 go out the window. Forget about all of that. 951 00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:53,440 The only thing you need to be concerned about is your conduct 952 00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:55,040 in relation to these other people. 953 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,880 And as you do that, you start to, you know, equal actually, 954 00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:02,000 everything in your life starts to become a part of this path. 955 00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:07,920 So, and, and you know, family life is a very tricky one. 956 00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:10,320 I mean, I, you know, I have, we have all lived family life. 957 00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:13,080 We know how hard it can be. We're so close to people. 958 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:16,320 When you're so close to people, it's very easy to rub up against 959 00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:19,480 each other, very easy to have little arguments and irritations 960 00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:22,280 and all these kind of things. So it's a very, very good 961 00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:24,480 training ground. If you can deal with family 962 00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:27,320 life, if you can deal with your family, you can deal with 963 00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:29,160 anyone, right? That's kind of the, this is 964 00:52:29,160 --> 00:52:33,160 ground 0 when it comes to kind of the, the, the spiritual 965 00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:37,120 practice. So try, yeah, this is kind of 966 00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:40,320 what this this is. So you do your very best in that 967 00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:42,040 area. And I think it actually it is a 968 00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:44,840 potential for a lot of lot of growth in the spiritual path. 969 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:47,040 You start to look at your family members in a new way. 970 00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:49,920 You use the reflection of the Buddha of non self. 971 00:52:49,920 --> 00:52:53,920 You rue this idea that these are your kids are people who came 972 00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:55,680 into your life. They have the past. 973 00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,440 They already have foreign personalities. 974 00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,320 There's only so much you can do right with your kids. 975 00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:03,080 If they are in a certain way, it's nothing to do with you. 976 00:53:03,080 --> 00:53:05,480 It just has to do with the way they came into the world. 977 00:53:05,480 --> 00:53:10,240 Yeah, don't, don't live through your kids. 978 00:53:10,240 --> 00:53:14,360 Don't think that your person is reflected in your kids 979 00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:17,040 behaviour. If my kids behave badly, I will 980 00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:19,000 look bad. Forget about all of that, right. 981 00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:22,440 That is kind of a self concern and start to take this kind of 982 00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:25,880 Buddhist outlook whereby you kind of go with the flow and you 983 00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:29,200 start to, yeah, you start to actually implement these 984 00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:31,560 teachings fully in in this particular way. 985 00:53:32,600 --> 00:53:34,920 So I wish, I wish you good luck, Sean. 986 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:38,640 I'm glad I don't have that challenge, but I that's great. 987 00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:46,720 All right. So have we come to the end? 988 00:53:46,720 --> 00:53:51,160 Is that correct? Yeah. 989 00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:54,800 OK. So I I guess so should I pass 990 00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:58,240 this over to to Shell? Is that right? 991 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:01,800 Do you want to finish this up? Thank. 992 00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:05,200 You, Ajan, I've just posted some links in the chat. 993 00:54:05,240 --> 00:54:08,160 So thank you so much, Ajan, for such beautiful and serene 994 00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:10,640 meditation and your wisdom this morning. 995 00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:15,040 It's so inspiring to hear from you, a Biku supporter and 996 00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:18,040 spiritual advisor of Ani Kampa. And we're so fortunate to be 997 00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:19,760 offered the teachings of early Buddhism. 998 00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:24,000 Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. We're very grateful that Ajan 999 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:27,280 has come this morning. Well, even for Ajan and given 1000 00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:30,520 his time to help us with our two aims to promote the teachings 1001 00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,920 and practices of early Buddhism leading to full awakening and 1002 00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:37,240 help to establish the first forest monastery in England 1003 00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:40,120 where women can take filled bikini ordination. 1004 00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:43,800 Thank you so much Aja, and for all your support to Anu Kemper. 1005 00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,200 It was a delight to hear in the announcements yesterday before 1006 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:51,440 the Friday night teaching with Bante Sujatu at the BSWA, the 1007 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:54,600 support for Anu Kemper. Adam Bram is fundraising for 1008 00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:57,680 Annie Kemper for his birthday appeal and his tour in November 1009 00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:01,000 for us was also promoted. We're deeply grateful for the 1010 00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:05,120 support we received from the BSWA with Philip Mehta for 1011 00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:08,840 Venerable Chanda who his retreat in the USA is coming to an end 1012 00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:12,160 and she'll be joining the Sango in Perth later next week for her 1013 00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:15,760 range retreat and we continue to support the amazing project she 1014 00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:19,320 commits her life to. All these teachings are offered 1015 00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:21,360 in the spirit of Dana generosity. 1016 00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:25,080 If you are able, we're asking for your Dana towards Anacampa. 1017 00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:28,640 We have seen the project flourished this past year and 1018 00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:32,640 wish to continue to support the Bikini Sanga in the UK and start 1019 00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:36,400 raising funds to expand from our beautiful Bahara in Oxford to an 1020 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:39,880 even bigger abode to house more bikinis, aspirants and lay 1021 00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:42,280 supporters. Without the support of the 1022 00:55:42,280 --> 00:55:46,600 community here this morning and the wider community, we wouldn't 1023 00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:49,240 be where we are today, spreading the teachings of the Buddha to 1024 00:55:49,240 --> 00:55:51,960 all. If you can, we're asking for 1025 00:55:51,960 --> 00:55:55,160 monetary donations to support the expansion of Anicampa. 1026 00:55:55,440 --> 00:55:57,520 However small or big you're able to give. 1027 00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,040 Every penny is so gratefully received to support the Bikini 1028 00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:04,080 Sanga and get even closer to having a full more forest 1029 00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:07,800 monastery for bikinis in the UK. Please visit the website to 1030 00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:09,720 donate and the link is in the chat. 1031 00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:13,200 If you can offer a one of you can offer a one off donation or 1032 00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:16,400 more regular monthly donations that will really support the 1033 00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:19,480 project. There will be opportunities for 1034 00:56:19,720 --> 00:56:23,480 to offer food donor for the Vahara in December onwards and 1035 00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:25,440 offer your time at the Vahara from the New Year. 1036 00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:27,560 Should you wish to offer these please e-mail 1037 00:56:27,560 --> 00:56:31,560 team@anacampaproject.org. Please also see the Anacampa 1038 00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:33,280 website for the weekly teachings. 1039 00:56:33,280 --> 00:56:36,240 We are being offered by the wonderful Weekly Knees and Adam 1040 00:56:36,240 --> 00:56:38,360 Ramali supporting Annie Campbell. 1041 00:56:38,360 --> 00:56:43,920 Venerable Chandler is on retreat as well as Adam Bram's tour and 1042 00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:46,880 his teachings in November, which are open to booking and 1043 00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:48,560 Venerable Chandler's retreats and talks. 1044 00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:52,200 She'll be given on her return in the UK in Oh Sorry, I'm her 1045 00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:54,200 return in the UK, the US and Norway. 1046 00:56:55,200 --> 00:56:58,600 Her cheating exterior at Gaya House in Devon in the UK is now 1047 00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:01,240 open for booking and you can find the link on the Annie 1048 00:57:01,240 --> 00:57:03,920 Campbell website. She'll be teaching this retreat 1049 00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:07,320 with Barnett von Kloss, who's a wonderful lay Dharma teacher and 1050 00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:09,960 he's actually currently completing a PhD in Vadina. 1051 00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:13,520 Please note that next Sunday we'll be back to our usual time 1052 00:57:13,520 --> 00:57:17,320 at 7:30 PM British Summertime and will be a peer LED session 1053 00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:20,520 with Liam the following Sunday, the 6th of August. 1054 00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:23,080 We're delighted to have been of Rolton Peka back with us too 1055 00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:27,680 with deep gratitude for your time this evening Ajam and thank 1056 00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:29,920 you all for coming and sharing the together. 1057 00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:33,920 Yeah, nice to see you all again and take care everyone. 1058 00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:35,600 OK, bye. Bye.