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OK everyone, so welcome again. 
Can't have too many welcomes, 

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right? 
And more welcomes the better. 

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That's what I that's what I 
reckon and it's nice to see you 

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all. 
It's always a positive thing to 

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come here to the Buddhist 
society has a nice feeling to 

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this place. 
I don't know what you think, but

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I feel it has a nice feeling, a 
nice vibe. 

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As they say, you sit down and 
you kind of just draw in some of

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the atmosphere. 
And this is one of the reasons 

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why we come here, because it 
kind of supports the meditation 

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when you have a sense of good 
companionship and good people 

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around you. 
And these are all very important

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perceptions to develop. 
And if you develop these 

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perceptions, it is a very, very 
helpful for the meditation. 

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And I'm also very fortunate. 
I live in the monastery. 

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You believe that it's true. 
I live in the monastery, and 

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living the monastery has many 
advantages. 

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One of the great things about 
living the monastery is you have

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really good companions in the 
monastic life. 

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Yeah. 
And this is one of the beautiful

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things about having monks around
you, like Venerable Mocha over 

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here, is that these are really 
good people, people who try to 

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do their best, try to aspire to 
something wonderful. 

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And just that aspiration, just 
like almost all of you here 

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today. 
Maybe all of you, actually, I 

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shouldn't say almost all of you,
all of you here today. 

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Yeah. 
You have some kind of positive 

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aspiration, otherwise you 
wouldn't be here. 

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And that's a wonderful thing. 
Yeah. 

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But what I want to talk to talk 
about tonight is actually some 

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similes of the Buddha. 
You know, one of the things that

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I feel is my job as a monk, as a
teacher of the Dhamma is to 

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bring out the word of the 
Buddha, bring out the Buddha's 

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teachings. 
It's kind of what this very much

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what Buddhism is about, to 
understand what the Buddha 

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actually taught her. 
And I don't know if you have 

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tried to reach the suitor. 
Sometimes people try to read the

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suitors and they started yawning
straight away. 

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First paragraph boring. 
Can't read this. 

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And you know, it's not entirely.
If you do find it boring, it is 

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not entirely strange because 
these teachings were originally 

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given in an oral context. 
Yeah, there were oral teachings 

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and oral teachings. 
Because of the way oral 

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recitation works, it has to be 
very repetitive. 

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That's how you understand how 
you keep it in mind, how you 

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preserve it for the future. 
So oral literature or oral 

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recitation is not really so 
suited for reading. 

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Yeah. 
So when you read it, it can seem

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quite boring sometimes. 
But there's one thing in the 

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Suitors of the Buddha that's 
actually really interesting. 

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Yeah. 
And that is the symbolies of the

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Buddha. 
They are really often very 

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lively. 
They give a kind of flavour to 

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the teachings. 
And there's something about the 

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genius of the Buddha that really
comes out in the similes, this 

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ability to come up with a simile
that illustrates a certain point

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of Dhamma almost perfectly. 
Yeah, kind of. 

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It's like, wow, this is just 
such a beautiful way of putting 

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it. 
Yeah. 

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And this is one of those amazing
things of the Buddha, and it 

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really comes out in the suit is.
So even if you just read the 

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sutas for the similes. 
Yeah, it's worthwhile. 

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So read the sutas for the 
similes. 

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It's kind of an insider kind of 
hint. 

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Yeah. 
So read or get boring. 

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Boring. 
Ah, simile. 

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OK, Read the simile. 
Next simile to the page. 3 

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pages. 
OK, next one. 

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Read that one. 
That's what I'm going to do 

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today. 
Yeah. 

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Just simulate. 
Nothing else. 

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Just to kind of keep things 
really exciting. 

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Yeah. 
Is that good idea? 

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Is that alright? 
Yeah. 

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Do you approve? 
Yeah, if you don't approve. 

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I don't care. 
Let's see, see, we're going to 

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do it anyway. 
So, so I'm going to start with a

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couple of similes that are found
in one of the suit. 

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There's a suitor called the 
Nepal is called the Alagadupa 

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Masuta, and the middling sayings
of the Buddha is a simile of the

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cobra. 
Simile of the snake is often how

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it is translated in this 
particular suit. 

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It starts off fairly early on. 
It has two similes, and these 

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are very well known similes in 
the Buddhist world, and they are

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obviously well known for a 
reason, because they are worthy 

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of contemplation or whatever. 
And one of the things that you 

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will often see is that some of 
the core teachings of the 

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Buddha, like the similes, 
sometimes they are repeated 

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elsewhere, but sometimes they 
are referred to her in other 

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parts of the suitors. 
This is one of those strange 

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things that you realise with the
suitors. 

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It's like there are an 
integrated whole. 

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Yeah, in one place they refer to
something that happens somewhere

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else. 
In one place they just give the 

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name of the simile without 
giving the content. 

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It's understood that is 
explained somewhere else. 

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The whole thing is like a 
cohesive whole referring to each

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other. 
And this is what gives us very 

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much the flavour of being spoken
by one person. 

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Yeah. 
Because everything refers to 

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each other in this kind of 
remarkable way. 

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It is a cohesive and a complete 
hall. 

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And without all the bits, it 
doesn't really hold together 

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properly sometimes. 
So this first simile is known as

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the simile of the snake. 
Yeah. 

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Do you know the simile of the 
snake? 

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Yeah. 
Nayana, no, I don't have to 

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answer this. 
You probably know it already. 

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And some of you are very 
educated in Buddhism. 

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And sometimes, you know, as a as
a monk, sometimes we find people

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who travel around the world and 
people know more about Buddhism.

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And you do. 
And it's kind of scary sometimes

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when that happens and you start 
to say something imperially and 

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then we'll kind of say it 10 
times as fast as you. 

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Yeah, all the way to the end, 
not just halfway, like I can. 

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And that's kind of very 
interesting. 

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When that happens, the symbol of
the snake is a very interesting.

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Similarly is the idea that how 
we deal with the teachings of 

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the Buddha. 
And this is a nice starting 

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point because how we deal with 
the teachings of the Buddha kind

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of gives us access to the world 
of the Buddha or the word of the

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Buddha, if you'd like. 
And that access is really what 

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we call right view. 
Yeah, right view, the beginning 

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of the Noble 8, full path 
samadhiti, the starting point of

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everything. 
If you haven't got a little bit 

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of that right view, you don't 
even get started. 

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So how we deal with these 
teachings is foundational 

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because that is where we 
actually enter this world view 

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of the Buddha himself. 
And so the symmetry of the snake

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says that if you you have to 
read the suit as in the right 

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way. 
And if you read the suit as in 

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the right way, it is very 
beneficial for you. 

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But if you read the suit as in 
the wrong way, it can be 

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detrimental for you. 
Yeah. 

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So it's actually very important 
to understand how to read the 

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suit as how to approach the word
of the Buddha. 

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And the Buddha says it's like a 
snake. 

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Yeah. 
Yeah. 

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The suit that starts, it's kind 
of interesting how we start it 

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or the symbol it starts by, say,
if you need a snake, if you are 

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in need, if someone is searching
for a snake, in need of a snake.

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Yeah, I always found out really 
curious when I was like, what do

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you mean, in need of a snake? 
We tried to run away from the 

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snakes, only we're not searching
for snakes. 

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Yeah. 
If I see a kind of a tiger snake

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in the Bush, there's a big snake
on my walking path just the 

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other day, you're just outside 
my window, just two metres away,

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this really big snake, Fat, fat,
big snake. 

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Yeah. 
And then it kind of walked. 

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It kind of went, it didn't walk,
but it kind of, you know, 

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slithered away or whatever. 
And then it kind of somehow went

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under my walking path there. 
And then it found a hole in The 

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Walking path and it stuck it 
head up out of The Walking path 

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just as I came out. 
And it was kind of looking at me

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and it froze when I came out of 
my door. 

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It's kind of, it's like, like a 
stick coming out of The Walking 

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path. 
So I didn't say I'm in need of a

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snake. 
But anyway, that's what the, 

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that's what the suitor says. 
So this man, Yeah. 

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Or this person is wandering in 
search of a snake. 

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Yeah. 
And if you are unskilled, if you

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don't know how to handle a 
snake, you grab the snake by the

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tail. 
And if you grab the snake by the

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tail, Yeah. 
What happens that the snake 

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turns around and it bites you? 
You know, if it is a cobra, 

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Cobras are very, very poisonous 
snakes, as in this particular, 

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similarly. 
That's it, you're finished. 

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You know, in Thailand they call 
the the cobra the king cobra. 

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They call it the one step snake.
Yeah, because after you're 

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bitten, you go to one step and 
that's it. 

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The one step snake is a kind of 
a nice name for a for a snake. 

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And so this is kind of the wrong
way of grasping the cobra. 

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In the same way you grasp the 
teachings in the wrong way. 

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And the wrong way of grasping 
the teachings is that you learn 

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the teachings, but you don't 
really investigate them 

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properly. 
You don't understand what is the

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real meaning of these teachings.
You don't acquire a view that 

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aligns with those teachings. 
Instead, maybe you use the 

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teachings to argue about things.
Yeah. 

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Yeah. 
There is rebirth. 

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00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,160
No, there's not rebirth. 
Sure, you fool. 

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I know there was a rebirth. 
What do you mean I'm fool? 

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You are the fool. 
Yeah. 

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And there's kind of a. 
It's interesting in the suit as 

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those examples of this kind of 
arguing found in the suit, as 

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00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:36,920
this is exactly how they argue. 
Yeah. 

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00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,800
Your doctrine has been refuted. 
Save your doctrine if you can. 

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00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:42,560
Yeah. 
This is kind of how they kind of

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how they argue. 
And this is kind of the ancient 

190
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:48,760
Indian idea of debate. 
Yeah. 

191
00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,040
It's really kind of full on, in 
your face debating. 

192
00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,160
Yeah. 
And that is wrong because if you

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do that, all you do is create 
more turmoil, more disharmony, 

194
00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:01,920
more bad, combine all of these 
kind of things. 

195
00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:03,960
Yeah. 
It doesn't really get anywhere 

196
00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,720
if all you do is arguing, argue 
about these teachings. 

197
00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:09,280
But if you look around the 
Buddhist world, it is quite 

198
00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:10,680
common here. 
Yeah. 

199
00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:14,480
And often it happens also in 
monastic circles as well. 

200
00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:18,520
One of the things that it says 
in the suit is, is that they 

201
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:21,560
talk about the difference 
between lay people or 

202
00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,440
householders and monastics. 
And they say that lay people, 

203
00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,280
householders, they often argue 
about the things of the world. 

204
00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:31,880
Yeah. 
They argue about what they, you 

205
00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,800
know, what can be acquired or 
had in the world and these kind 

206
00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,400
of things. 
Whereas monastics argue about 

207
00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:38,560
views. 
Yeah. 

208
00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:39,880
And it's quite a common thing. 
Yeah. 

209
00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:42,840
Because views, the path 
obviously is fundamentally 

210
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:44,840
important for you as a monastic.
Yeah. 

211
00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,400
And so argue about that. 
But it's not shouldn't be about 

212
00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:48,120
arguing. 
Yeah. 

213
00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:49,760
It shouldn't be about 
understanding. 

214
00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,000
Yeah. 
And you end up creating lots of 

215
00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,040
bad merit or demerit if you use 
it only in that way. 

216
00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,680
You use it to be proud, use it 
to show off your understanding. 

217
00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,480
How much do you know of power 
you have to aggregate certain 

218
00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:04,880
parley words? 
Yeah, I know that. 

219
00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:06,960
You do know all the cases of the
parley nouns. 

220
00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:08,560
You don't. 
Ha. 

221
00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:15,880
I do that sort of thing, Right. 
And then it doesn't really work.

222
00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:16,440
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

223
00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:18,480
Because then it becomes 
counterproductive. 

224
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,800
So what is the right way here? 
Well, what is the right way of 

225
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,000
catching a snake? 
Yeah, Well, the right way of 

226
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:25,720
catching a snake is that you 
have a stick. 

227
00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,200
First of all, you don't use your
hands, right? 

228
00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:28,760
You use a stick. 
You want to catch a snake. 

229
00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:30,840
Yeah. 
And you have a cleft stick, a 

230
00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:32,760
stick that kind of has a cleft 
on the bottom. 

231
00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:37,840
And then when you grab the when 
you want to get the snake, you 

232
00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,240
put the cleft down and you put 
the cleft over the neck of the 

233
00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:42,480
snake. 
Yeah. 

234
00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,800
And once you put that clefted 
stick over the neck of the 

235
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:46,880
snake, then you can grab it by 
the neck. 

236
00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,400
And if you grab it by the neck, 
obviously it can't bite you. 

237
00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:55,280
So what is the equivalent of 
grabbing the snake by the neck 

238
00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,680
in terms of reading the suit? 
The equivalent is reading the 

239
00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:02,520
suttas. 
Reflecting on the meaning. 

240
00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,160
Yeah, Yeah. 
What does this mean for me here?

241
00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:09,680
What is this Suta really about? 
How does it affect my life? 

242
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,560
You start to internalise the 
suitor. 

243
00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:14,720
Yeah. 
Instead of being an intellectual

244
00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,840
thing, something that is in your
head, something you argue about,

245
00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,120
it's something that actually 
becomes personal to you. 

246
00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:22,680
It has a deep kind of meaning 
for you. 

247
00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:25,480
You understand what it means to 
be moral. 

248
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,480
You understand what it means to 
be kind. 

249
00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:29,800
It's a felt experience that you 
have inside of you. 

250
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,240
And the Buddha says live well. 
You understand why you're 

251
00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:34,360
supposed to live well. 
Yeah. 

252
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,760
You relate these things to your 
personal experience of the 

253
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,320
world. 
And then as you do that, as you 

254
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,880
reflect on these teachings in 
the in the right way, making 

255
00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,960
them your own, you acquire the 
view of the Buddha. 

256
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,800
You start to see the world in 
the same way. 

257
00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,560
Yeah. 
And then it becomes incredibly 

258
00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:57,360
powerful because then what 
you're doing is you're purifying

259
00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,000
the first factor of the noble 
edible path. 

260
00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,600
Some diti right view is getting 
purified. 

261
00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,360
And that becomes this incredible
powerhouse, drives the entire 

262
00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,520
path. 
I gave another talk here just a 

263
00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,920
few weeks ago in beginning of 
January, and that was on how 

264
00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,440
right view is the foundation of 
so many things in Buddhism. 

265
00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:20,360
Yeah. 
And this is really making the 

266
00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,480
same kind of point, but from a 
slightly different angle. 

267
00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,480
Yeah. 
So use the suitors in the right 

268
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:30,400
way, reflect on them, try to 
figure out what they are about. 

269
00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,920
And then you don't argue anymore
because you understand that 

270
00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:37,880
argument is part of the problem.
Yeah, We don't want to argue. 

271
00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:40,600
In fact, we want to create 
harmony in this world. 

272
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,440
Yes, we have to discuss things, 
but if you're going to have a 

273
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,520
discussion, you have a 
discussion which is kind of 

274
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:51,640
peaceful, where you try to 
uncover the truth rather than to

275
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,520
win the argument. 
It's no longer about your sense 

276
00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,520
of self, about whether you are 
right or not. 

277
00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,800
It's about trying to understand.
And if you try to understand, 

278
00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:03,400
you can have very productive 
discussions with other people 

279
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,240
because both people are 
listening rather than trying to 

280
00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,280
present your view. 
This is the right way of dealing

281
00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:11,920
with the Buddhist teachings. 
Yeah. 

282
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,840
The symbol of the snake. 
Don't grab the teachings by the 

283
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,080
tail. 
Yeah, if you do that, you have a

284
00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,360
problem, and then you are on the
right track. 

285
00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,320
Then you start to read these 
teachings, and then they start 

286
00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,760
to become meaningful and 
powerful to you. 

287
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,040
Then there is the second simile 
found in this particular suitor.

288
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,280
And this is a very famous simile
of the raft. 

289
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:37,520
Do you know the symbol of the 
rafter? 

290
00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,320
Does anyone know the symbol of 
the rafter? 

291
00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:40,600
Yes. 
One person over there. 

292
00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,600
Only one person. 
Well, OK, Drew, of course. 

293
00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:45,840
Yeah. 
Drew knows all the symbols in 

294
00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:47,320
the suitors. 
I didn't even see you, Drew. 

295
00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,920
I should have, if I've seen you.
I've never asked the question. 

296
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,200
No, of course. 
Yeah, Nicholas of course knows 

297
00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:55,560
that one. 
And many of you will know the 

298
00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:56,920
symbol of the. 
It's very famous. 

299
00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:57,600
Similarly. 
Yeah. 

300
00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:03,000
And so when you come to these 
teachings and you start to read 

301
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,840
them, the main thing that you 
start to uncover in the suitors 

302
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:12,480
is that the suitors are not so 
much explanations about how the 

303
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,560
world works. 
Yeah, if you would call it 

304
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,360
metaphysical ideas about the 
world. 

305
00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,360
In other words, theories about 
the world, ideas about, you 

306
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,760
know, what actually is and what 
is not. 

307
00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:29,400
The vast majority of the suitors
are really about the path of 

308
00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:31,240
practice. 
Yeah, that's really what they 

309
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,320
are about. 
And the more you read them, the 

310
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:35,360
more you read all that, because 
that is the critical. 

311
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,280
Thing, yeah, What we have to do 
to achieve all the good things 

312
00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:43,920
in life, meaning happiness, joy,
everything that is useful in 

313
00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,040
life is acquired by practising 
this particular path. 

314
00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:52,560
And so the symbol of the raft is
really about the path, Yeah. 

315
00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,880
And how we should deal with that
path and how it actually works. 

316
00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,800
So what I'm going to talk about 
later on as a Similis progress, 

317
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:05,800
I'm going to use Similis to show
the path of Buddhism through 

318
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,800
Similis, how it works through 
Similis. 

319
00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:13,120
But this is like an overview of 
the path and the simile. 

320
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,480
Is as follows. 
As a man or a person, I should 

321
00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,600
say, it doesn't matter if it's a
man or a woman. 

322
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:23,000
A person walking along. 
And as they walk along, they 

323
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:28,240
come to a river. 
Yeah, a large expanse of water, 

324
00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,920
a deluge. 
Whatever it might be, call it a 

325
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,360
river. 
And when they come into this 

326
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,520
river, yeah, they realise that 
the shore they're on is 

327
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:39,920
dangerous. 
The shore they're on is full of 

328
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,440
wild animals and dangerous 
things and robbers and criminals

329
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:45,960
and murderers. 
Murderers. 

330
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,640
You know what the murderers are?
In this case, the murderers are 

331
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,880
the five Kundas. 
Yeah, That is who you are. 

332
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:56,200
You are your own murderer. 
It's not kind of interesting. 

333
00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:56,840
Yeah. 
Why? 

334
00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,000
Or because these Khandas, 
ultimately attachment to them is

335
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,720
what leads to death. 
Ultimately, the Khandas are the 

336
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,880
murderers. 
This is not a simile, but it's 

337
00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:08,720
similarly related to this one. 
So this shore is dangerous, and 

338
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,640
you see this large expanse of 
water, and you know, the far 

339
00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,599
shore is a safe shore, so you 
need to cross. 

340
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,960
But there is no bridge. 
There is no ferry person to take

341
00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,079
you across to the other side. 
Yeah. 

342
00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:25,200
A ferry person is like someone 
who takes you across, right. 

343
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,240
You don't have to do anything. 
There's no spiritual practice. 

344
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,120
You just pray to God and bang, 
you go to the other side. 

345
00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:34,680
It's too easy. 
Yeah, it doesn't work like that.

346
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,800
And so instead of just taking 
the ferryman, allowing the 

347
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,240
ferryman to take across because 
there is no ferryman, you have 

348
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,400
to make your own way across. 
You have to build a raft. 

349
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,600
So you gathered together all the
little wood, the flotsam that is

350
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,480
there, the leaves and the sticks
or whatever, and you tie 

351
00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,400
together a raft or yourself, and
this raft that you're tying 

352
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,800
together, that is the Noble 
Eightfold Path. 

353
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,960
Yeah, right there. 
This is the raft that takes us 

354
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,840
from the dangers of life, the 
dangers of existence, to the far

355
00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:12,320
shore, which is Nirvana itself. 
Extinguishment. 

356
00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,560
That is the meaning of Nirvana. 
Things get extinguished. 

357
00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,960
Yeah. 
So you take this beautiful raft,

358
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,640
you climb onto this raft, and 
then when you get onto this raft

359
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,480
that you're tied together the 
noble effort path and you make 

360
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:28,720
an effort here. 
You make an effort. 

361
00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,520
You paddle with your hands and 
maybe you swim a bit with your 

362
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,240
feet or whatever. 
And as you do that, you hold on 

363
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,760
to the raft, right? 
You don't let go of that raft. 

364
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:39,600
You hold on to the raft while 
you're in the middle of the 

365
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,800
stream. 
And then eventually using that 

366
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:47,080
raft, you get to the other side.
And so then the Buddha asked, 

367
00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,720
but what should you do when you 
get to the other side? 

368
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,360
Should you take this raft or 
think, oh, this raft has been so

369
00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:57,200
useful, thank you, Raft and then
carry it with you wherever you 

370
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,120
go because you are attached to 
that raft. 

371
00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:06,480
Or should you put the raft down 
and beach it on the shore or let

372
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,400
it go on the stream of the 
river? 

373
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:10,960
And the answer is obvious, 
right? 

374
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,040
There's no point in carrying 
that raft along. 

375
00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,960
The draft has done its job. 
And if you carry it along, you 

376
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:18,120
just kind of showing your 
attachment to that raft. 

377
00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:21,000
There's no point. 
So you beach it or you let it 

378
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,800
go. 
Yeah, down the stream. 

379
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,840
So this is kind of the overall 
idea of the path, right? 

380
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:33,480
You cross Samsara, you cross the
stretches kind of expanse water 

381
00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,640
to reach the safe side on the 
other side. 

382
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,960
And when you get to the other 
side, you let go of that raft. 

383
00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:43,840
So what does all this mean? 
What does it mean to let go of 

384
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,640
the raft on the other side? 
And one of the ways that this 

385
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,120
has been understood traditional 
in Buddhism, I don't know, you 

386
00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:54,320
may have heard about such ideas 
as crazy wisdom. 

387
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,240
You feel about crazy wisdom? 
Yeah. 1 Nicholas thought about 

388
00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:03,000
crazy wisdom. 
Crazy wisdom is this idea that 

389
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,240
some people have that you can be
wise and crazy at the same time.

390
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,600
I always said you either crazy 
or you're wise. 

391
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,280
There's no such thing as crazy 
wisdom. 

392
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,760
But anyway, some people argue 
this crazy with and this is 

393
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,040
where the crazy wisdom comes in,
right? 

394
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,320
The reason why it comes in here 
is because you OK, you come to 

395
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:21,280
the side. 
You're not supposed to carry the

396
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:23,680
raft. 
OK, so we put the raft down. 

397
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,160
Now the raft is the Noble 8 full
path. 

398
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,720
So we put the Noble 8 full path 
down and to one side. 

399
00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,320
It means we can do what we want 
because we've gotten rid of the 

400
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,640
raft, for goodness sake. 
It's pleading obvious. 

401
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:40,120
The Buddha says so put the raft 
to one side, do what you want. 

402
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,080
Yeah. 
There's no limits anymore. 

403
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:45,880
Morality is not relevant for an 
enlightened person, right? 

404
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,920
They have gone beyond morality. 
Isn't that true? 

405
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,680
It is not true. 
It is the wrong understanding of

406
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:58,960
the path, but this is sometimes 
somehow the way you kind of 

407
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,080
understand these kind of 
symbolies. 

408
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,880
And this is where the first 
simile kicks in. 

409
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,640
You haven't really reflected 
properly on the word of the 

410
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:09,680
Buddha. 
You haven't understood what it 

411
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,200
is and therefore it becomes 
really problematic. 

412
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,240
So what it? 
Actually means is this it is 

413
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,520
that when you have crossed that 
treacherous stretch of water, 

414
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:25,320
the dangerous expanse which is 
Sansaric existence, the realm of

415
00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:27,360
life and death, of being reborn 
and. 

416
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,680
Dying of all the problems that 
we have in our life, when you 

417
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,840
have crossed that, the process 
that happens from one shore to 

418
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,400
the next one is a psychological 
change. 

419
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,080
You are changing as you go 
across. 

420
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,720
Yeah, you may have noticed that 
in your own life. 

421
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,960
If you practice well, there is 
change over time. 

422
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,120
You're literally becoming 
someone else. 

423
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,160
You're becoming more purified, 
you're becoming more kind, and 

424
00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,640
these things come out naturally.
And when you reach all the way 

425
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:04,960
to the you have taken these 
teachings so deeply that they 

426
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,800
have transformed you 
psychologically to such an 

427
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:12,880
extent that it is impossible for
you to live against the Noble 8 

428
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,520
Full Path. 
Yeah, you can't do it anymore. 

429
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,640
You have internalised these 
things. 

430
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,480
In a sense, you have become the 
Noble 8 Full Path. 

431
00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:23,040
You are a walking example of the
Noble 8 Full Path. 

432
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,240
And this is the beautiful thing 
about, you know, the Dhamma, is 

433
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,760
that because people become an 
expression of the teachings 

434
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,520
through the actions, through who
they are, because that is what 

435
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,280
they've become. 
It is possible to tell who are 

436
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,080
the good teachers in the world. 
Yeah, by observing them, by 

437
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,280
knowing who they are. 
Do they express this path or 

438
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,560
don't they? 
And if they express the path 

439
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,920
well, there is some. 
Chance that they have achieved 

440
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:48,600
something? 
Yeah. 

441
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,120
If not, well, you know it's 
wrong. 

442
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:52,760
Yeah. 
So when it says at the end that 

443
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:57,040
you put down the path, put down 
the the raft, actually it is 

444
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,800
automatic to put down that raft.
You don't have to do it. 

445
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,800
Yeah, because it happens 
automatically. 

446
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,560
What it means is because you 
have internalised all of these 

447
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,120
things. 
You don't have to hold on to the

448
00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,760
raft anymore. 
While you are in the middle of 

449
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,840
the stream, as you are crossing 
over, we have to hold onto this 

450
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,520
raft a little bit. 
We have to be careful, OK? 

451
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,840
How can I make sure that I live 
according to the kindness that 

452
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,040
I'm supposed to live by? 
How can I make sure I don't have

453
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,680
too many angry thoughts or 
whatever? 

454
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,120
Yeah, we have to actually hold 
on a little bit to morality. 

455
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,440
But once you have crossed over, 
you don't have to hold on 

456
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:36,480
anymore. 
You have internalised. 

457
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,920
It's so much. 
You understand the danger of 

458
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:43,560
doing the wrong things so 
profoundly that there is no way 

459
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,200
you're going to touch those hot 
coals of immorality and 

460
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,520
stupidity here. 
You let go straight away here. 

461
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,680
And that is what happens when 
you become enlightened. 

462
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,480
You're awakened when you 
understand the nature of things.

463
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,600
One of the things you understand
is the danger of doing things 

464
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,960
that are not right, doing things
wrongly here so you don't have 

465
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,400
to let go of the wrath. 
It happens by itself. 

466
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:12,560
So the point here, those people 
who carry the raft, once they 

467
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,280
have come to the other shore, 
they haven't actually reached 

468
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,040
the other shore. 
Yes. 

469
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:23,280
If you see someone carrying a 
raft, is that a common sight in 

470
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,680
Perth, people carrying rafts? 
If you see someone carrying a 

471
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,160
raft, yeah, you know they 
haven't reached the other shore.

472
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,560
Yeah, because that's what people
don't do if they have reached 

473
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:35,720
the other shore. 
If you see someone carrying a 

474
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:37,120
raft, you know something has 
gone wrong. 

475
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:38,960
What does it mean to carry the 
raft? 

476
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,000
And what it means is that you 
are still holding onto these 

477
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,280
teachings. 
You're still attaching to them. 

478
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,280
You're still. 
Arguing about, you know, whether

479
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,480
the Buddha was right or not, is 
there rebirth or not? 

480
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,480
You still have some of those 
defilements of the mind that 

481
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,280
we're not supposed to have. 
That is how people are still 

482
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,240
carrying the raft on the other 
side. 

483
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,880
So this is the idea with this 
idea similarly of the raft and 

484
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,720
why it is so important to 
understand it in the right way. 

485
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,320
But the main thing is that the 
noble it for path is like this 

486
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,880
raft. 
Hold on to it, don't think that 

487
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,160
it happens automatically. 
The right time to let go of the 

488
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,840
raft is only when you get to the
other shore and then it happens 

489
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,240
automatically. 
So what is this raft? 

490
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,320
Yeah, as I said, it is a noble 
artful path. 

491
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,680
Another way of thinking about 
the noble artful path is in 

492
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,200
terms of the three kind of 
qualities, the sealer samadhi 

493
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,400
and panya. 
Yeah, sealer, morality or 

494
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,160
conduct, samadhi, meditation or 
deep meditation. 

495
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,680
And Panya is the wisdom. 
This is another way of dividing 

496
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,240
up the path, right? 
So the, in a sense, the raft 

497
00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,400
consists of the these three 
things. 

498
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,320
And sealer is one of those 
foundational things, the conduct

499
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,480
in our life, how we live our 
life. 

500
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:01,360
So I'm going to give you a 
simile for this idea of sealer. 

501
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:06,160
And this is a simile that I have
taught a lot, very often when I 

502
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,720
teach meditation, retreats and 
these kind of things. 

503
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,960
And it's a similar that made a 
lot of big impact on me, 

504
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,280
especially in my early years as 
a monk, because I thought it was

505
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:22,200
very, it was a very powerful 
inducement to practice morality.

506
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,760
And this is the simile of the 
mountain. 

507
00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,960
Yeah. 
The simile of the mountain when 

508
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,960
the sun goes down in the 
evening. 

509
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,200
Yeah. 
And the sun goes down behind the

510
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,280
mountain. 
Then the mountain cast this 

511
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:41,040
enormous shadow over the land 
and all the land in front of the

512
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,960
mountain, because the sun goes 
down behind the mountain, all 

513
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,240
the land is immersed and 
completely enveloped in that 

514
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,640
shadow cast by the mountain. 
And the Buddha says our 

515
00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:57,320
morality, our kindness, our 
goodness in the world is the 

516
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,520
same. 
If you are a person who live 

517
00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,080
really well, and I'm talking 
about really high level now 

518
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:07,440
immorality, when you come back 
home after a long day, maybe 

519
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,360
you're tired. 
You sit down. 

520
00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:12,160
Maybe you lie down on your bed, 
you sit down in your favorite 

521
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:15,400
chair, or you just chill because
you're exhausted after a long 

522
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:16,560
day. 
Yeah. 

523
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,960
And especially giving yourself a
bit of time to kind of 

524
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:23,280
recuperate a bit, you can feel 
the mountain of those good 

525
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:24,720
actions. 
Yeah. 

526
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,920
It's like you are sitting back, 
like you are bathing in the 

527
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:32,200
shadow, being enveloped by the 
good actions in your life, and 

528
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:33,720
you think, you reflect. 
I have lived. 

529
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:34,880
You know that you have lived 
well. 

530
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,520
You don't even have to think it.
You know, I haven't done 

531
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,680
anything bad in my life. 
I have done good actions. 

532
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,000
I've been generous. 
I have supported other people. 

533
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:48,360
I've thought with kindness about
other people and just that 

534
00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:51,120
knowledge because you don't have
to think it is enough. 

535
00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:54,920
And then you bathe in those good
actions, like the shadow 

536
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,080
completely envelops the land in 
front of the mountain. 

537
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,360
In the same way you are 
enveloped and immersed in the 

538
00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:05,000
goodness of your own life. 
And you cannot avoid being 

539
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,720
happy. 
You cannot avoid feeling a sense

540
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,520
of gladness. 
Yeah, because the power of those

541
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:15,040
actions is so great. 
Isn't that wonderful? 

542
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,520
You can't avoid even if you want
to be miserable, you can't be 

543
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,920
blooming miserable. 
It's not good news. 

544
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,440
And of course, you don't want to
be miserable. 

545
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,640
And so this is this idea of the 
power of morality. 

546
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,200
It is automatic that you will 
feel good about yourself if you 

547
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,840
live up to the high standards of
Buddhist morality. 

548
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,000
But you have to take it really 
seriously. 

549
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,880
You have to really understand 
how powerful it is. 

550
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,720
So you take it incredibly 
seriously, and then it has this 

551
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:49,120
kind of transformative effect. 
When I was here last time, I 

552
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:55,520
gave a simile for how to help us
to purify our morality, how to 

553
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,320
make morality very powerful and 
important in your life, how to 

554
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:03,800
remember it all the time that 
you have to live Well, Yeah. 

555
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:09,760
And this similarly is based on 
the idea again, that right view 

556
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,960
is at the foundation of 
everything on the Buddhist path,

557
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,120
and right view is also at the 
foundation of morality. 

558
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:22,040
If you really have right viewer,
you will be moral all the time. 

559
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:24,800
You will slip up, maybe like 
that very shortly. 

560
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,280
And as soon as you slipped up, 
you beg for forgiveness straight

561
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,520
away to overcome that slip up. 
That's how powerful it is. 

562
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:33,480
There's a nice expression of 
this to bring in. 

563
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,800
Some sub similes are the main 
similes. 

564
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,240
I like the ones that I'm going 
to talk and it's just some sub 

565
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,120
similes, secondary similes to 
kind of fill in the gaps between

566
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,760
the other similes. 
This other simile is the simile 

567
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:52,480
of the how someone who is a 
noble person, how they practice 

568
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,000
the path. 
Yeah. 

569
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:58,520
Why they are able to always live
ethically, why they're always 

570
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:01,920
are close to samadhi, why the 
wisdom is always there. 

571
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,680
And the Buddha says it's like a 
cow with a calf or maybe a 

572
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,000
mother with a baby. 
Yeah. 

573
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:14,000
And the Buddha says when the cow
has a calf, no matter what that 

574
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,880
cow does, if it is grazing or 
going from 1 field to the next 

575
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,160
one or going to be milked or 
whatever it is, it always keeps 

576
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,240
an eye on the calf. 
It never forgets that calf. 

577
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,920
Yeah, this is the power of the 
noble ones. 

578
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,480
They never forget the calf. 
So the noble ones don't forget 

579
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,280
the calf. 
What is the calf of the noble 

580
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:39,080
ones? 
It is the practice of the 

581
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:43,000
Dhamma, it is the morality, it 
is the meditation, and it is the

582
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,280
wisdom. 
It is always there, always 

583
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:50,680
keeping an eye on these things. 
And so last time I was here, I 

584
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,320
gave a simile to kind of express
this, which I thought was quite 

585
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:55,480
a nice simile. 
And I've talked about this in a 

586
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,160
few different places. 
And this is connects the idea of

587
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,720
right view with morality. 
Sometimes people think that to 

588
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,160
be moral I have to be really 
mindful. 

589
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,680
Yeah, Because if I'm mindful, I 
will be aware of my mind and 

590
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,120
beware of my actions, and then I
will do the right thing. 

591
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,920
But actually mindfulness is not 
strong enough because very often

592
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,520
you lose your mindfulness. 
You forget what is going on in 

593
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,800
the heat of the moment. 
You'd lose it completely. 

594
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,080
And especially even as a 
monastic. 

595
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,080
Yeah, you forget about these 
right things sometimes as a 

596
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:28,240
labour is even more difficult. 
So how can we remember these 

597
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:29,960
things when mindfulness gets 
weaker? 

598
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,040
And the answer is right viewer. 
So I will show you how this 

599
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,400
works and it's actually a very 
simple idea. 

600
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:42,360
Now, if you come to a street, 
this is what I was saying last 

601
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:46,400
time, if you come to a street, 
yeah, a busy St. 

602
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,960
Like you'd go down to Saint 
George's Terrace or whatever 

603
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,640
down in Perth, right? 
Or one or maybe one of the 

604
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,040
freeway, even worse, and you 
have to cross the street. 

605
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,080
What do you do? 
Do you just kind of walk into 

606
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,400
the street without looking 
anywhere and just hope for the 

607
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:04,080
best? 
Or do you look like right and 

608
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:05,640
left? 
First of all, how many people 

609
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,600
you just walk into the street? 
Nobody, right? 

610
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,720
Not a single person. 
OK, good. 

611
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,760
I'm glad. 
Because if you did that, you you

612
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,880
should probably leave this hall 
and see a psychiatrist or 

613
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,560
something instead, because it's 
crazy. 

614
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,680
I guess sometimes people get so 
kind of caught up. 

615
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,720
I know what it's like with the 
actually, I don't know what it's

616
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,240
like with a mobile phone because
I haven't got one, but I can see

617
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,920
what it looks like. 
And sometimes people almost walk

618
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,720
into the streets when they're 
kind of too busy with a mobile 

619
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,400
phone. 
That shows you how crazy you go 

620
00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:36,720
with a mobile phone. 
It's almost like some kind of 

621
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:42,240
psychiatric disorder, but. 
So you always look left and 

622
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,400
right, right. 
And you don't have to be very 

623
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,200
mindful. 
You don't have to tell yourself 

624
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,520
in the morning when you wake up.
Today, when I go into the city, 

625
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,920
I need to be mindful. 
So I always remember to look 

626
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:53,440
left and right. 
You don't even have to think 

627
00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:57,080
that it's automatic that when 
you come to the street you will 

628
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:00,400
look left and right because 
otherwise you might die here and

629
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,480
you hope. 
Unless an arrow hand, I wouldn't

630
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,360
recommend dying here. 
And if you are an arrow hand, 

631
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,360
please stay and teach rather 
than die here. 

632
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,880
Yeah, this is what I recommend 
plenty to do. 

633
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:16,720
So why is it that we look left 
and right every time? 

634
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:21,160
Why is it that we never forget 
that because we have right view,

635
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:26,800
we know the danger. 
The danger is so deeply embedded

636
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:30,760
in our mind that whenever you 
come to a street, you know that 

637
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,880
you have to look left and right.
It has got very little to do 

638
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,920
with mindfulness. 
It's just a profound knowledge 

639
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:42,800
of the danger of the situation. 
And in exactly the same way, if 

640
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:47,400
you know the danger of acting 
wrongly or speaking wrongly, of 

641
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,160
thinking wrongly, you will 
always know when you come to a 

642
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,520
point when you have to speak, 
when you have to act or you have

643
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:55,480
to think. 
Yeah. 

644
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,800
When you know that, you will 
always think, first of all, what

645
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,120
is? 
You will look left, you will 

646
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,600
look right. 
What is the right thing to do at

647
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:04,640
this moment? 
And what is the wrong thing? 

648
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,840
Yeah. 
And the reason why we don't do 

649
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,520
that is because we think it is 
less dangerous than crossing the

650
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,679
road. 
That's why we don't do it. 

651
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:15,120
But what if it is more 
dangerous? 

652
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:20,159
And I tell you, it is much more 
dangerous to act wrongly here, 

653
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,400
much more dangerous to speak 
wrongly here, much more 

654
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:26,960
dangerous to even think wrongly 
than it is to cross that road. 

655
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,800
Yeah, If you cross the road, OK,
the car comes, you might die, 

656
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:33,440
OK, and get reborn somewhere. 
You carry on anyway. 

657
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,719
It's not such a big deal, right?
OK. 

658
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:38,800
You know, we have to die from 
sooner or later. 

659
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:40,880
So you die a little bit sooner. 
That's really the only 

660
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:45,040
difference. 
But if you mess up when it comes

661
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:48,639
with your morality, what you're 
doing is you're messing up your 

662
00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:51,679
long term future. 
And you have no idea what's 

663
00:34:51,679 --> 00:34:53,480
going to happen in the long term
future. 

664
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,280
You don't know what's going to 
happen even with the rest of 

665
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,160
your life. 
And So what we need to do in 

666
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,120
this kind of situation, because 
it's so hard to understand, this

667
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:06,840
is where we need to use the 
Buddhist idea of right view to 

668
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,480
remind ourselves of the 
importance of doing things right

669
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,720
now. 
So what is that right view? 

670
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,480
That helps us. 
And one of those things, 

671
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:19,200
obviously, is the idea of 
rebirth, because once you 

672
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,920
understand the kind of the 
expanse of Sansaric existence, 

673
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:27,080
of birth, of death coming again 
and again and again, and that 

674
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:32,360
you now are laying down the 
groundwork for how we are going 

675
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,320
to experience that Sansaric 
existence in the future. 

676
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:39,840
Your next line of the life after
that, the whole broad spectrum 

677
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,360
of how your future is going to 
unfold depends on how you live 

678
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:45,520
now. 
Yeah, then you start to 

679
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,520
understand the power of this. 
But even more important, I 

680
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,160
think, for the majority of 
people is not just the idea of 

681
00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:58,560
the broader idea of Sanghsaric 
existence, but the uncertainty 

682
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:03,160
right now in our lives. 
We don't know what's hiding 

683
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,880
around the corner. 
We don't know if tomorrow you're

684
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,880
going to become a Christian. 
Yeah, tomorrow is going to our 

685
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:11,800
Buddhism. 
Poor, too hard. 

686
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:13,600
You know, I went to this Dhamma 
talk. 

687
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:15,680
I heard Ajam Brahma. 
They say you have to always look

688
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:17,600
left and right at every time you
do an act. 

689
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:19,920
Too much for me. 
I'm going to Christianity. 

690
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,080
I'm just going to pray to God 
and hope for the best. 

691
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,120
Yeah, it could happen. 
I heard people say these kind of

692
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:26,720
things. 
Yeah. 

693
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,000
Christianity is a much better 
deal. 

694
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,360
Yeah, than Buddhism. 
You have to have so much 

695
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,440
responsibility, and you really 
have to practice really hard or 

696
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:35,120
whatever. 
Yeah. 

697
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,640
But the uncertainty, Yeah, it's 
so great. 

698
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:41,520
We don't know what's going to 
happen tomorrow. 

699
00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:45,880
When are we going to die? 
Change has happened so fast. 

700
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:48,760
Yeah, so fast. 
We all know that if we look back

701
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:50,960
in time, we can see changes in 
the past. 

702
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:55,440
It was a very interesting 
experiment that was done a while

703
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:56,960
ago. 
I read about this a few months 

704
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,000
ago, a very fascinating 
experiment. 

705
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,040
And this shows us why it is so 
important to contemplate 

706
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,680
impermanence. 
Yeah, uncertainty, 

707
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,760
unreliability, change. 
You can now see how all of these

708
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,920
various factors come together, 
right, by contemplating 

709
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:16,480
impermanence, which is part of 
right view that supports your 

710
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:20,120
morality. 
What this experiment said was 

711
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:25,640
that they asked people, first of
all, to look into the past. 

712
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,720
Yeah, like go 10 years back in 
the past and ask them, can you 

713
00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:33,840
see the changes in your life? 
Can you see the changes in your 

714
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:36,160
personality? 
Can you see that you have 

715
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,480
developed the things that 
happened to you one way or the 

716
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:40,720
other? 
And they said, oh, yeah, I can 

717
00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:43,040
see the change is coming. 
And then, of course, you know, I

718
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:46,080
became a, you know, better 
person or a worse person because

719
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:48,240
this happened. 
And I'm kind of now I'm here and

720
00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:50,680
wow, I've gone a long way in 
those ten years. 

721
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,160
And it's kind of amazing how 
much change has happened. 

722
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,480
But then came the interesting 
point, because then they asked 

723
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,320
them, well, now try to look 10 
years into the future. 

724
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,160
Can you see the change in the 
future? 

725
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,000
And what was very interesting 
was that, no, most people, when 

726
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,640
they looked into the future, 
what they saw was basically just

727
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:14,960
a slightly different person of 
themselves. 

728
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:18,520
Maybe someone who was a bit more
wealthy, maybe someone who is a 

729
00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,680
bit fatter because they're 
getting older, maybe someone who

730
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,960
is getting a bit, you know, 
whatever it is, older at least. 

731
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,640
But basically, they were not 
able to understand the change in

732
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,200
the future. 
Only change in the past were 

733
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:36,880
they able to see her. 
And this shows us how difficult 

734
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:39,680
it is. 
Even a very simple idea like 

735
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:43,240
impermanence anicha in the 
certain, the idea of the 

736
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:47,680
unreliability of the world. 
The a simple idea like that that

737
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:51,000
we take for granted very often 
that we think we understand. 

738
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:55,160
Actually, we don't really get it
because once we try to look at 

739
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:58,480
it into the future, we're not 
able to see that impermanence in

740
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,840
the future. 
And part of the reason for that 

741
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:06,160
is because the sense of self, 
the sense of self demands 

742
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,120
stability, demands certainty, 
and it blocks us from seeing, 

743
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,280
being able to see how things 
actually change. 

744
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,600
So if you want to understand the
future, don't try to think of 

745
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:18,920
the future. 
Look to the past instead. 

746
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:22,200
You look at the change that 
happened over the last 10 years,

747
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:24,920
20 years. 
Look at how the world has 

748
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:26,800
changed. 
Look at how your life has 

749
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,920
changed. 
Look at how other people's life 

750
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,240
has changed. 
And then you start to understand

751
00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:34,280
what is going on. 
And the problem is that there's 

752
00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:37,480
all of this cause and conditions
under the surface. 

753
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:39,120
Yeah. 
It's like when you have an 

754
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,400
earthquake. 
You have seen an did you see an 

755
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,920
Icelander? 
All this, this, this and 

756
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,520
volcanoes and things coming out.
It's kind of in one sense it's 

757
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,600
kind of cool, but it's in other 
sense it's also quite scary if 

758
00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,520
you live there, obviously. 
But there's all these tensions 

759
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,840
building up underground, all of 
this seismic activity, and 

760
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,760
suddenly one day it comes to a 
crunch and the whole earth opens

761
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,040
up, tears apart, and the lava 
comes flowing out. 

762
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,760
And it's the same thing in our 
life under the surface. 

763
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,680
There's all these things, cause 
and conditions, building up, 

764
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:17,680
building up and building up 
until one day they come together

765
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,080
and they have a such force that 
they make a dramatic change in 

766
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:24,200
your life and you don't see it. 
And then when you see it, what's

767
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:25,560
happening? 
Why is this happening? 

768
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:28,600
The reason it's happening is 
because it's been building up 

769
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,960
for a long time out of sight, 
and you didn't even know it was 

770
00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:36,920
going on. 
So impermanence is incredibly 

771
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,680
scary because it is so 
uncertain. 

772
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,160
Yeah. 
You look at the world, you look 

773
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:45,760
at the politics, you look at the
wars around. 

774
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,120
People are now starting to talk 
about the third World War. 

775
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:50,680
Yeah. 
This is starting to become a 

776
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:53,800
serious talk, you know, among 
people who know what they're 

777
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:56,640
talking about. 
Is that something we want? 

778
00:40:57,560 --> 00:40:59,120
This is how kind of the world 
is. 

779
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:00,520
Yeah. 
It is so unreliable. 

780
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,680
If someone had said two years 
ago or three or before the 

781
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,160
invasion of Ukraine about the 
Third World War, you would 

782
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:07,880
laugh. 
It seems so ridiculous. 

783
00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:10,880
But suddenly it seems like a 
possible reality. 

784
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,680
That's kind of scary here. 
Yeah, because war is incredibly,

785
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:20,440
incredibly unpleasant. 
And so we understand the danger,

786
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,640
we understand the uncertainty. 
And when you start to do that, 

787
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,320
you start to understand now is 
the time to practice kindness. 

788
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:34,680
Not after this talk, but now. 
What am I supposed to do right 

789
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,760
now to practice morality? 
Well, first of all, I will try 

790
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:42,000
to speak to you with I should 
speak a bit more kindly, right? 

791
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,760
Maybe I'm doing using too much 
energy into the way I speak, 

792
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,320
like a bit more gentle maybe. 
OK, everyone's a whoa. 

793
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,840
What is the right way right now?
I was just sitting. 

794
00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:55,040
It was interesting. 
Today I was sitting in a 

795
00:41:55,040 --> 00:41:58,240
monastery because I happened to 
be the senior monk in an honest 

796
00:41:58,240 --> 00:41:59,320
runner. 
Ajam Brahm is the way. 

797
00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:01,560
Ajam Brahm is in Sydney. 
Ajam Happy is in. 

798
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:03,680
Thailand. 
So I am the boss, ha ha. 

799
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:06,360
So I kind of Lord it over the 
junior monks, is that right? 

800
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:12,320
Then we mock. 
So but it but it was interesting

801
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,680
because I was sitting at the 
kind of the boss monkey and I 

802
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,760
was looking at everyone was 
there, right? 

803
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,160
And I was looking at and I was 
thinking at that because I have 

804
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:23,000
tried to condition myself in 
this way over a long, long 

805
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,760
period of time. 
And so I very often think this 

806
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,480
thought, yeah, what should I be 
doing right now? 

807
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,120
Which is kind of what is right. 
And I was sitting there looking 

808
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:34,360
out and I was thinking, what 
should I actually be doing right

809
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:36,400
now? 
Then, of course, the thought 

810
00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,320
came to me right away. 
What I should do is look at the 

811
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:42,120
beautiful qualities of all the 
people in front of me, because 

812
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,960
these are really good people. 
And straight away I looked out, 

813
00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:51,320
I saw all these monks and I saw 
people who intend, who want to 

814
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:55,360
do what is good in the world. 
How does anyone become a monk or

815
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,520
a nun or even coming here 
without wanting that? 

816
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:03,200
And straight away, I felt the 
sense of goodness about sitting 

817
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:06,120
there in a group of people that 
actually is very wholesome and 

818
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:08,720
beautiful. 
That was the right thing to do 

819
00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:11,520
at that that time. 
That is the right thing to do 

820
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:12,480
right now. 
Yeah. 

821
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:15,200
What should I do right now? 
Yeah, this is what I should do. 

822
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:19,360
Or if I can't do that because of
some problem, at least I can 

823
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:22,360
have compassion for the people 
around me because I know we're 

824
00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:26,880
all suffering together in this 
world right now is something 

825
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:30,080
there's always something we can 
do to live in the right way 

826
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:34,240
because we understand the 
urgency isn't this moment, not 

827
00:43:34,240 --> 00:43:37,320
the next moment. 
And the Buddha has another 

828
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,640
beautiful simile. 
There's another sub simile. 

829
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:41,000
There's not the real simile. 
Yeah. 

830
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:44,360
So to kind of put this on the 
sub sub level, but not the main 

831
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,920
level. 
And this is the simile of the 

832
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,280
head being on fire or your 
clothes being on fire. 

833
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,080
It occurs a number of places in 
the suitors. 

834
00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:57,600
And the Buddha says that if you 
have some bad quality in your 

835
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:01,240
mind, bad quality in your 
conduct or speech, you should 

836
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:06,240
look at look upon it as if your 
clothes are on fire. 

837
00:44:06,240 --> 00:44:09,480
Well, what do you do if your 
clothes are on fire? 

838
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:11,920
Well, presumably you act pretty 
quickly, right? 

839
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:15,800
OK, try to get it. 
I mean, that's pretty scary if 

840
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:16,320
your. 
Clothes. 

841
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,880
Are or if your head is on fire, 
your turbine is on fire or 

842
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,760
whatever, you kind of act soon, 
right? 

843
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:23,960
Otherwise you can, you can have 
a serious problem. 

844
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,400
And that is kind of what the 
Buddha says about our actions by

845
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:29,040
body, speech and mind. 
Yeah. 

846
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:32,440
Now is the right time. 
No other time will come. 

847
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:34,280
Why? 
Because things are so 

848
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,920
impermanent, things are so 
unreliable, you don't know when 

849
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:39,800
the opportunity comes around 
next time. 

850
00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,280
Now is the time to live in this 
way here. 

851
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:46,960
And if you live in this way 
here, if you carry on like this 

852
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:52,280
year in, year out, week in, week
in, out, day in, day out, second

853
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:54,720
in, second out. 
Yeah. 

854
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:56,360
Second in, second out. 
Right. 

855
00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:59,640
All the time. 
If you do that, you're building 

856
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:04,440
up that mountain that will cast 
a shadow over you when you 

857
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:07,920
eventually come back home. 
You sit down, you relax, you let

858
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,160
go of the burdens of the day. 
You can feel the mountain of 

859
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:13,520
good actions. 
You feel good about yourself 

860
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,280
because you know that you're 
living a good life. 

861
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:19,800
It's such a beautiful idea. 
Yeah. 

862
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:24,280
So please make sure that you 
build up this good mountain in 

863
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:28,000
your life with good actions. 
Allow that mountain to envelope 

864
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,920
you, the shadow of the mountain 
to envelope you and to kind of 

865
00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:34,000
immerse you in that feeling and 
you feel good inside. 

866
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,320
And when you've had that good 
feeling inside, it gets sense of

867
00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:42,320
self worth, self value, self 
esteem, knowing that you live 

868
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:44,480
well in the world and knowing 
that you're doing the right 

869
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:46,360
thing. 
It's a very, very beautiful 

870
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:50,240
thing, and it becomes the 
foundation for everything else 

871
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:55,320
on the Buddhist path. 
So that is the simile of the 

872
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:58,720
mountain. 
That then becomes the foundation

873
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:02,440
for the next simile, becomes the
foundation for meditation 

874
00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:04,480
practice. 
Because when you have that 

875
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:08,400
goodness in your heart, that 
positive feeling within, that is

876
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,440
where meditation becomes 
possible. 

877
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:14,480
And there's a beautiful simile 
for meditation, which also 

878
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,600
happens to be a simile of a 
mountain there. 

879
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,160
Yeah, mountains are. 
There's actually 3 similes of 

880
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:21,360
mountains here. 
So I hope you like mountains, 

881
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:25,280
otherwise you have a problem. 
Most people like mountains, 

882
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:26,640
right? 
Mountains are kind of cool. 

883
00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:30,520
They are big, majestic, often 
snow on the top or whatever. 

884
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:32,560
There's something very beautiful
about mountains. 

885
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:36,960
And so the second simile, which 
is about explains meditation 

886
00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:43,600
practice, is about this. 
There's a monk who is visited by

887
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:45,880
Prince. 
Prince Jayasena comes to this 

888
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:48,760
monk. 
And what is this monk called 

889
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:53,800
again? 
Anyway, forget about this. 

890
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:54,440
It's some. 
It's a. 

891
00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:55,240
Monk. 
It's a kind of. 

892
00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:59,720
It only occurs in one suit. 
It's a kind of minor minor monk 

893
00:46:59,720 --> 00:47:02,840
or whatever you want to call it.
Actually, that's the right word,

894
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:04,080
but you get. 
The idea? 

895
00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:06,320
So the Prince comes to this 
monk, and then. 

896
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:08,480
And he asked. 
The monk, he says to the monk, 

897
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:11,720
well, I have heard that it is 
possible to attain this thing 

898
00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:15,760
called samadhi, where the mind 
is completely unified, but I 

899
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:18,640
don't believe a word of it. 
So you try to convince me. 

900
00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:20,600
Yeah, that's what it says to 
this monk. 

901
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:23,440
It's poor monk. 
Says actually I'm just new to 

902
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:25,520
the practice. 
Yeah, I'm just the someone 

903
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:26,960
there. 
I don't know that much about the

904
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:28,480
practice. 
So go and ask the Buddha 

905
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:29,280
instead. 
Yeah. 

906
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:32,000
And the Prince says, no, I want 
to hear it from you. 

907
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:34,920
Yeah, because now is the time. 
But don't wait till tomorrow. 

908
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:37,280
No, he doesn't say that. 
That's that's what I'm saying in

909
00:47:37,680 --> 00:47:38,360
this talk. 
Yeah. 

910
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:41,360
So please tell me. 
And so this he fails, right? 

911
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:45,600
He fails to convince this Prince
about the idea of samadhi, of 

912
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:51,840
deep meditation practice. 
And then this samanera, he feels

913
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:55,120
really dejected and down because
it's unable to convince the 

914
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:58,840
Prince about the value and the 
profundity of meditation 

915
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:01,440
practice. 
So he goes to the Buddha, and 

916
00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:04,240
this tells the Buddha the story 
of what happened to him. 

917
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:06,800
And he say. 
And the Buddha then tells him, 

918
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:12,240
well, if you had remembered 
these two similes, it may have 

919
00:48:12,240 --> 00:48:14,840
been the case that you would 
have been able to persuade this 

920
00:48:14,840 --> 00:48:15,920
Prince. 
Yeah. 

921
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:20,680
And one of the similes is about 
the taming of an elephant, how 

922
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,840
you kind of gradually tame the 
elephant and eventually, because

923
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:26,760
you take a wild elephant, 
eventually it becomes tame. 

924
00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:28,600
The same thing with the human 
mind. 

925
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:30,640
It is very wild in the 
beginning. 

926
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:32,320
Yeah. 
Is that right? 

927
00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:34,800
Anyone here got wild minds? 
Yeah. 

928
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:35,680
You know what it's like? 
Yeah. 

929
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:37,040
The mind is kind of out of 
control. 

930
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:39,120
Yeah. 
It's a bit wild, I think someone

931
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:40,960
said. 
That the average person has 

932
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:46,200
70,000 thoughts per day. 
Yeah, 70 thousand thoughts. 

933
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:49,240
Per day and that. 
Is and that's that's when you 

934
00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:52,000
don't sleep, right. 
So that is how many thoughts an 

935
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:55,720
hour? 
That's about 5 that's between 5 

936
00:48:55,720 --> 00:48:59,120
and 10,000 thoughts an hour. 
That's more than the thought per

937
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:01,640
second yeah. 
So if you count all the. 

938
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:05,320
You can see how kind of crazy 
the mind actually probably is. 

939
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,400
Probably not entirely wrong to 
say that. 

940
00:49:07,720 --> 00:49:09,720
So you tame the elephant, you 
tame the mind. 

941
00:49:09,720 --> 00:49:12,800
Eventually it comes, becomes OK 
yeah, becomes enlightened or 

942
00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:14,800
whatever. 
And then there's the other 

943
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:16,720
simile and this is the. 
Simile of the mountain. 

944
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:19,680
And I find this particularly 
interesting because it's very 

945
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,440
similar to a teaching that Ajam 
Brahm gives. 

946
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:26,600
Ajam Brahm talks about his time 
in Central America when he was 

947
00:49:26,600 --> 00:49:29,040
climbing the pyramids. 
And it's like climbing the 

948
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:31,800
mountain, getting out of the 
jungle of the world. 

949
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:34,240
Yeah. 
And then seeing things in a new 

950
00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:36,720
way. 
The symbol of the mount is this.

951
00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:39,720
2 friends walking along here and
they're walking through the 

952
00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:42,280
jungle in the jungle. 
What is happening? 

953
00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:44,760
The jungle is a symbol for life.
Yeah. 

954
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:49,440
Similarly, for all the senses 
always around us, similarly for 

955
00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:52,160
all the burdens that we have, 
all the attachments that we have

956
00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:55,440
in the world, all the things 
that always impinge on us, that 

957
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:58,440
burdens us down, this is what 
the world is like. 

958
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:00,080
Yeah. 
And so we are completely 

959
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:02,920
immersed in this world. 
We never have any real 

960
00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,840
perspective. 
And then as they're walking 

961
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:08,520
through this jungle, these two 
friends that come to this 

962
00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:10,320
mountain, actually, maybe it's 
just the hill. 

963
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:12,760
Let's call it the hill. 
The hill is more realistic, I 

964
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,520
think. 
Yeah, so then they come to this 

965
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:19,160
hill and then one friend that 
says to him and says well, let's

966
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:21,920
climb the hill. 
And the other friend said, Nah, 

967
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:23,400
I couldn't be bothered. 
Yeah. 

968
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:25,440
And now it's kind of the 
Australian for now. 

969
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:29,120
And I, I'm Australian citizen 
now, so I got to say use the 

970
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:31,680
Australian link goes and Nah, 
Nah, I couldn't be bothered. 

971
00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:33,960
So OK, you, but you go up, 
right? 

972
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:35,440
You go up to the top of the 
mountain. 

973
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:39,120
And so the other friend he goes.
Up to the top of the mountain, 

974
00:50:39,240 --> 00:50:41,280
Yeah. 
And he looks out and he kind of 

975
00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:43,800
sees all of these things on top 
of this big hill. 

976
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:46,200
And he shouts down to his 
friend. 

977
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:52,640
He says, hey, mate, yeah. 
So I can't do it, but I'm still 

978
00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:55,160
not properly. 
Kind of quite Australian enough,

979
00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:56,600
but it kind of right. 
You get the idea. 

980
00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:59,120
Yeah, Hey friend or whatever. 
So he shouts down to his friend 

981
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:03,000
down the bottom. 
And he says, you won't believe 

982
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:04,440
it. 
When I stand the top of the 

983
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:06,920
mountain, I can see the fields 
around. 

984
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:10,080
I can see the little roads. 
I can see the beautiful little 

985
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:13,960
villages, the beautiful little 
rivers and all of these things 

986
00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:16,080
around. 
It is so magnificent and 

987
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:18,280
beautiful from the top of this 
mountain. 

988
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:24,280
And then the fellow at the 
bottom, he says, no, I don't 

989
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:26,080
believe a word of it. 
What do you mean there's fields?

990
00:51:26,080 --> 00:51:28,320
I can't see anything of it. 
I don't believe a word or what 

991
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:30,960
you're saying. 
Kind of a bad friend, right? 

992
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:32,760
Doesn't believe anything what 
his friend is saying. 

993
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:34,880
But anyway, so his friend on top
of them out. 

994
00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:38,000
And he gets a bit exasperated 
because he gets exactly. 

995
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:42,040
He walks all the way down to the
bottom of the mountain, grabs 

996
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:46,240
his friend by the arm, pulls him
up to the top of the mountain. 

997
00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:48,640
And he says, look, what do you 
see here? 

998
00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:52,640
And he says, yeah, I see 
beautiful fields, little 

999
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:54,640
villages, nice streets and 
roads. 

1000
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,040
Yeah. 
Just now you told me that you 

1001
00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:58,720
didn't see. 
Any of these things So what I so

1002
00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,440
what's going on? 
He said, oh, because this big 

1003
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:04,120
mountain was in the way. 
I couldn't see any of these 

1004
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:07,040
things. 
And so the big. 

1005
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:10,280
Mountain here is a. 
Similarly for the hindrances of 

1006
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:11,400
the mind. 
Yeah. 

1007
00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:14,520
The kind of the things that 
blocked the mind from seeing the

1008
00:52:14,520 --> 00:52:15,800
greater reality. 
Yeah. 

1009
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:19,720
And ascending to the top of the 
mountain, this is like 

1010
00:52:19,720 --> 00:52:22,680
meditation practice. 
It's when your mind kind of 

1011
00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:27,320
withdraws from the world, pulls 
out of the world, reaches a high

1012
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,080
level. 
And when you reach a high level,

1013
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:33,280
you look out and you understand 
the world around you for the 

1014
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:35,720
first time. 
You understand what the world 

1015
00:52:35,720 --> 00:52:38,600
really is like. 
And what you actually understand

1016
00:52:38,600 --> 00:52:41,840
is the human realm. 
You understand the five senses, 

1017
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:44,400
you understand the sensory 
world. 

1018
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:48,120
You understand the world, what 
our ordinary life is like. 

1019
00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:51,000
Because you have pulled 
yourself, you have lifted your 

1020
00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:54,800
mind out of all of those things.
And so you see the reality. 

1021
00:52:55,520 --> 00:52:59,600
And what you see is very 
beautiful because these high 

1022
00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:03,000
states of mind are incredibly 
powerful and incredibly 

1023
00:53:03,000 --> 00:53:04,600
beautiful. 
Yeah. 

1024
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:07,560
You realise that this is really,
really worthwhile. 

1025
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:11,640
If you can have one powerful 
state of meditation in your 

1026
00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:15,240
whole life, that will change 
your entire direction of your 

1027
00:53:15,240 --> 00:53:17,760
life. 
One state of meditation like 

1028
00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:19,080
that. 
Yeah. 

1029
00:53:19,240 --> 00:53:22,400
Because you understand that the 
world is very, very different 

1030
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:26,160
from what you thought it was. 
So this is the power of 

1031
00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:29,880
meditation, the similar of the 
mountain, the elevating the mind

1032
00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:35,680
like kind of almost like you 
know a the mind being lifted up 

1033
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:40,120
by the helium, by the beautiful 
light qualities of the mind, 

1034
00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:43,960
bringing it up and giving with a
kind of bird's eye view of 

1035
00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:47,800
reality here, seeing what really
is going on, understanding the 

1036
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:50,960
world for the first time. 
Now you understand what the 

1037
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:54,040
world is like. 
That is the simile of the 

1038
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,760
mountain. 
So each one of us, it is our job

1039
00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:01,040
if you want to do this path 
properly here, if you want to 

1040
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:04,400
have a life altering experience 
that gives you a different 

1041
00:54:04,400 --> 00:54:08,880
understanding of reality. 
You climb that mountain and you 

1042
00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:11,720
climb that mountain largely 
through the process I was 

1043
00:54:11,720 --> 00:54:15,000
talking about before, which is 
the scene of the morality. 

1044
00:54:15,160 --> 00:54:18,280
And then add on top of that the 
meditation practice. 

1045
00:54:18,720 --> 00:54:21,000
Come down to Jana Grove Retreat 
Centre. 

1046
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:24,800
Yeah, at least once a year. 
Do a nice retreat, check out how

1047
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:26,480
your meditation is going. 
Yeah. 

1048
00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:31,000
And then see if you can take one
step more up that mountain and 

1049
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:32,760
if you are heading in the right 
direction. 

1050
00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:36,880
Every year, every time you will 
take a few steps more until one 

1051
00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:39,520
day you read that top of the 
mountain there. 

1052
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:43,760
And when you're there, then you 
have one of these traumatic 

1053
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:47,920
experiences, Not traumatic 
dramatic experiences, that 

1054
00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:52,920
changes your life forever. 
That much is enough to change 

1055
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:55,200
your life forever. 
But of course, it isn't the end 

1056
00:54:55,200 --> 00:54:58,440
of the story. 
So that is the simile. 

1057
00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:01,800
Of the mountain there. 
They go, then you have to go 

1058
00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:06,160
even beyond that. 
I'll just carry on a few more 

1059
00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:09,680
minutes then you have to. 
Go beyond that, the next one, 

1060
00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:13,000
beyond that, I said there's a 
three factors, the three ways of

1061
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:16,920
dividing up the noble headful 
path, seala samadhi, panya, 

1062
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:21,000
morality, meditation and wisdom.
The next simile is the simile 

1063
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:23,760
for wisdom. 
And the simile for wisdom says 

1064
00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:26,600
the Buddha is like when you go 
to a mountain top. 

1065
00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:29,280
You know, the mountain. 
Yeah, Yeah. 

1066
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:31,600
Everything happened. 
Now you know why all the sages 

1067
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:33,680
and the cartoons are on the 
mountain tops, right? 

1068
00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:35,400
It's kind of all coming together
now. 

1069
00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:37,080
I always wonder why the same 
thing. 

1070
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:39,760
A mountain top must be very 
awkward to get food and drinks 

1071
00:55:39,760 --> 00:55:41,200
or whatever. 
But anyway, that's where they 

1072
00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:41,760
are. 
Now. 

1073
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:44,760
This may be one reason it's kind
of inspiring. 

1074
00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:49,560
So you go up in the mountains 
and you find, find a mountain 

1075
00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:52,080
lake. 
Have you ever seen a mountain 

1076
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:55,440
lake before? 
I used as a child, I used to go 

1077
00:55:55,480 --> 00:55:57,520
hiking in the mountains a lot in
Norway. 

1078
00:55:57,520 --> 00:56:01,080
It's full of mountains and I 
could see some of these lakes. 

1079
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:04,640
And some of these lakes are 
incredibly beautiful there on a 

1080
00:56:04,640 --> 00:56:06,640
still day when nothing is 
moving. 

1081
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,960
They are like transparent. 
There's no pollution because 

1082
00:56:09,960 --> 00:56:12,200
it's high up. 
As you look into the lake, you 

1083
00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:14,840
can kind of see 10 metres down 
and it looks like there's 

1084
00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:17,280
nothing. 
It's more clear than the air, 

1085
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:19,800
for goodness sake. 
Yeah, because the air, the water

1086
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:22,040
is cleaner than the air around 
it or whatever. 

1087
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:25,720
Incredibly clear. 
And when you look into it, you 

1088
00:56:25,720 --> 00:56:29,760
see, you see what is there. 
You see the pebbles, you see the

1089
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:34,240
stones, you see the little fish 
swimming around and sometimes 

1090
00:56:34,240 --> 00:56:36,280
you see the fish standing still 
or whatever. 

1091
00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:38,840
This is like the mine. 
Sometimes the mine moves, 

1092
00:56:39,120 --> 00:56:43,600
sometimes it stands still. 
And the idea of the mind that is

1093
00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:47,560
clear, like a mountain lake, 
this is the mind that comes out 

1094
00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:50,240
of the stillness of samadhi. 
And when you come out of the 

1095
00:56:50,240 --> 00:56:54,160
stillness of the samadh, that 
clarity gives you the ability to

1096
00:56:54,160 --> 00:56:58,680
see into the mind, all the way 
to the bottom of the mind, 

1097
00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:02,280
everything that is going on. 
And what you see, of course you 

1098
00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:04,600
see the three characteristics of
existence. 

1099
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:08,000
You see impermanence, the 
unreliability of these things 

1100
00:57:08,000 --> 00:57:11,080
always moving, always changing, 
the fact that there is no 

1101
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:14,640
substance to this, yeah, that 
there is no self in the ultimate

1102
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,480
sense. 
And because it is all unreliable

1103
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:19,440
and all uncertain, there's 
nothing to hold onto. 

1104
00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:22,760
Why it is in the end. 
Everything is problematic in the

1105
00:57:22,760 --> 00:57:26,720
end, and you have to let it go. 
That is what you see when you 

1106
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:28,960
look into the mind. 
The mind becomes clear. 

1107
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:33,960
There is another sub similarly 
to all the similarities I want 

1108
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:37,120
to talk about, and this is the 
simile of the five hindrances. 

1109
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:41,040
The five hindrances say that 
five hindrances, right? 

1110
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:44,240
The sensuality. 
The sensuality is like the mind 

1111
00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:49,400
that is coloured, the water full
of colours, The sensuality ill 

1112
00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:50,960
will. 
The second hindrance is like 

1113
00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:52,880
water that is boiling. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1114
00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:55,520
You can't see into it properly 
because it's boiling, It's full 

1115
00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:58,600
of bubbles. 
The third one is the tiredness 

1116
00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:00,160
and lethargy. 
Tiredness. 

1117
00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:04,080
Lethargy is like Moss on the 
water. 

1118
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:06,000
Yeah. 
It is like murky and dark. 

1119
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:08,520
You can't see into it because 
the tiredness and lethargy, 

1120
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:14,040
restlessness and warrior is like
the waters is like there's a 

1121
00:58:14,040 --> 00:58:16,480
wind on the surface, there's 
waves on the surface. 

1122
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,720
And the last one is doubt. 
Doubt is actually the murkiness.

1123
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:25,120
That's why that is kind of the, 
the water is like has mud in it 

1124
00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:25,760
or something. 
Yeah. 

1125
00:58:25,760 --> 00:58:27,240
So it's murky and dark. 
Yeah. 

1126
00:58:27,640 --> 00:58:30,040
So coming out of those 
hindrances, the water becomes 

1127
00:58:30,040 --> 00:58:31,840
clear that like the mountain 
lake. 

1128
00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:34,960
Only then can you understand 
what the mind is about. 

1129
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:40,240
And then that is kind of the end
of the path. 

1130
00:58:40,840 --> 00:58:44,480
But then the Buddha has this 
beautiful similarly that gives 

1131
00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:47,920
kind of, again, an overview of 
what it is like to discover all 

1132
00:58:47,920 --> 00:58:48,800
of this. 
Yeah. 

1133
00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:52,440
What is really the spiritual 
path really about? 

1134
00:58:53,440 --> 00:58:56,040
One of the most interesting 
things to me about the spiritual

1135
00:58:56,040 --> 00:59:00,560
path, it is like an adventure. 
This amazing, extraordinary 

1136
00:59:00,560 --> 00:59:03,640
adventure. 
Adventure into meaning, into 

1137
00:59:03,640 --> 00:59:08,320
purpose, into real happiness, 
into love, compassion, 

1138
00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:11,400
understanding all the beautiful 
things in life. 

1139
00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:15,720
Anything that anyone would want 
in this world is held in this 

1140
00:59:15,720 --> 00:59:18,720
path. 
It is the greatest adventure any

1141
00:59:18,720 --> 00:59:22,480
human being can have. 
You look at people in the world.

1142
00:59:22,480 --> 00:59:25,520
They try to climb Mount Everest.
They go to the South Pole. 

1143
00:59:25,640 --> 00:59:27,360
Yeah. 
They do crazy things in 

1144
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:28,840
balloons. 
They go kind of doing all kind 

1145
00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:31,080
of dangerous sports. 
They try to stay alive. 

1146
00:59:31,680 --> 00:59:34,360
For ordinary people, the 
adventure is maybe to go to a 

1147
00:59:34,360 --> 00:59:36,000
new restaurant. 
Yes, a bit more humble. 

1148
00:59:36,000 --> 00:59:38,960
That's what people do. 
Or they kind of do something, go

1149
00:59:38,960 --> 00:59:40,760
for another holiday overseas 
somewhere. 

1150
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:44,480
That's kind of their adventure. 
But we all want adventure. 

1151
00:59:45,240 --> 00:59:48,480
But if you want the ultimate 
adventure in your life, that 

1152
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:52,040
adventure is the adventure of 
the spiritual path, the noble at

1153
00:59:52,040 --> 00:59:57,400
full path. 
The Buddha says it is like you 

1154
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:00,760
are walking through the jungle. 
You see the jungle again? 

1155
01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:02,880
Yeah. 
The mess of life, the burden of 

1156
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:06,040
life, the problem of being 
immersed in all these conflicts 

1157
01:00:06,040 --> 01:00:07,520
and all these problems in the 
world. 

1158
01:00:07,880 --> 01:00:11,080
You're walking in the jungle 
there, and then one day you come

1159
01:00:11,080 --> 01:00:14,880
across an ancient path. 
That is the noble at full path 

1160
01:00:14,960 --> 01:00:18,440
that you come across. 
And when you follow this ancient

1161
01:00:18,440 --> 01:00:21,040
path in the jungle, you don't 
really know what you're doing, 

1162
01:00:21,240 --> 01:00:23,400
but you have faith that this 
path is going to lead you 

1163
01:00:23,400 --> 01:00:27,160
somewhere. 
You follow the path, and as you 

1164
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:31,440
follow the path, you come to 
this clearing in the path where 

1165
01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:34,760
the sunlight is coming through, 
when you can see what is going 

1166
01:00:34,760 --> 01:00:36,800
on. 
And when you see what is going 

1167
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:42,000
on, you see this beautiful city,
the ancient city, and you 

1168
01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:45,080
understand that you have arrived
at some kind of powerful and 

1169
01:00:45,080 --> 01:00:48,560
beautiful destination. 
Yeah. 

1170
01:00:48,800 --> 01:00:52,840
And then you clear up the 
destination, you bring the city 

1171
01:00:52,840 --> 01:00:56,600
back to life again. 
And then you bring people start 

1172
01:00:56,600 --> 01:00:59,760
to live there, and the whole 
city comes to life again as a 

1173
01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:03,160
consequence. 
And this is like the path of the

1174
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:05,760
Buddhas. 
The Buddhas discover this 

1175
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:08,920
ancient path. 
They come to the goal, which is 

1176
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:10,520
Nirvana. 
They become enlightened. 

1177
01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:13,160
They become awakened, 
understanding what life really 

1178
01:01:13,160 --> 01:01:17,400
is about. 
And then when they do that, they

1179
01:01:17,400 --> 01:01:20,920
teach it to other people. 
And then the city is like the 

1180
01:01:21,440 --> 01:01:22,480
sangha. 
Yeah. 

1181
01:01:22,480 --> 01:01:26,080
The lay people and the monastics
grow, and you expand the 

1182
01:01:26,080 --> 01:01:28,600
Buddhist community. 
This is like the city coming 

1183
01:01:28,600 --> 01:01:32,520
alive and it becomes prosperous 
and grand like it was in the 

1184
01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:34,560
past, like it was under a past 
Buddha. 

1185
01:01:35,560 --> 01:01:38,080
And I think the reason why. 
One of the reasons why the 

1186
01:01:38,080 --> 01:01:41,960
Buddha used this beautiful 
symbol here of the ancient city 

1187
01:01:41,960 --> 01:01:47,200
in the jungle, is precisely 
because what we are doing in 

1188
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:50,440
Buddhism, what we're doing on 
the spiritual path, is the 

1189
01:01:50,440 --> 01:01:53,600
greatest adventure anyone can 
ever have. 

1190
01:01:54,880 --> 01:01:57,640
If you walk through the forest, 
I don't know what you did. 

1191
01:01:57,640 --> 01:01:59,600
As a child. 
I used to hang around, walk 

1192
01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:02,600
around the forest all the time, 
climb under rocks, climb rocks, 

1193
01:02:02,600 --> 01:02:05,200
climb trees. 
That's kind of what my life was 

1194
01:02:05,200 --> 01:02:07,720
like. 
When I was a kid in Norway, and 

1195
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:10,040
that's kind of how everyone did 
it back in those days. 

1196
01:02:10,040 --> 01:02:11,240
I don't think they live like 
that anymore. 

1197
01:02:11,360 --> 01:02:14,080
But that was like a small time 
adventure and it was fun. 

1198
01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:15,720
I enjoyed those things. 
Yeah. 

1199
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:18,960
I used to go skiing and do all 
kind of kind of minor adventures

1200
01:02:18,960 --> 01:02:20,640
as they would, I would call it 
now. 

1201
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:24,800
But this is the real deal. 
So if you want the adventure of 

1202
01:02:24,800 --> 01:02:27,320
your life, if you want to have 
something that is truly 

1203
01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:30,600
meaningful and on top of being 
the adventure of your life, 

1204
01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:34,840
overcome suffering, overcome of 
the all the problems of the 

1205
01:02:34,840 --> 01:02:38,200
future at the same time, then 
this is the path for you. 

1206
01:02:38,720 --> 01:02:40,360
This contains everything. 
Yeah. 

1207
01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:43,560
And This is why it is so 
extraordinarily interesting. 

1208
01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:45,680
Yeah. 
OK. 

1209
01:02:46,040 --> 01:02:48,720
So there you are here little. 
Talk for this evening, yeah. 

1210
01:02:56,800 --> 01:03:01,680
All right everyone, so now. 
Is the chance to ask some 

1211
01:03:01,680 --> 01:03:05,640
questions or to make comments if
you like or we don't take any 

1212
01:03:06,680 --> 01:03:09,040
complaints but questions or 
comments I will come. 

1213
01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:14,600
So please anyone to do it from 
the hall here. 

1214
01:03:14,600 --> 01:03:17,400
First of all, if anyone would 
like to thank you. 

1215
01:03:21,800 --> 01:03:23,920
Everyone is OK, yeah. 
No one wants. 

1216
01:03:23,920 --> 01:03:24,760
To say anything. 
OK. 

1217
01:03:24,800 --> 01:03:26,040
Wow. 
People are really contented. 

1218
01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:27,840
That's that's wonderful. 
Yeah. 

1219
01:03:28,600 --> 01:03:30,760
I don't come here so often. 
This is your chance. 

1220
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:35,080
Going, going, gone. 
OK. 

1221
01:03:36,720 --> 01:03:38,160
All right. 
So let's see what they have from

1222
01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:40,400
overseas. 
Wow. 

1223
01:03:40,920 --> 01:03:43,800
One of the things I really enjoy
about this overseas questions 

1224
01:03:43,800 --> 01:03:45,400
that people from around the 
world. 

1225
01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:46,760
I listen to these things. 
Yeah. 

1226
01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:50,200
Isn't that kind of great? 
We have the ability to share the

1227
01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:53,040
Dhamma with the entire world 
over the Internet. 

1228
01:03:53,440 --> 01:03:57,480
Just looking at the the people 
here, one person from Bolivia, 

1229
01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:01,640
Myanmar, Germany and Singapore, 
right? 

1230
01:04:01,880 --> 01:04:06,160
That's pretty cool, right? 
That's kind of cover is a large,

1231
01:04:06,160 --> 01:04:08,840
there's no one from Antarctica, 
so let's try Antarctica next 

1232
01:04:08,840 --> 01:04:10,200
time. 
But we're kind of getting there.

1233
01:04:10,960 --> 01:04:14,520
So anyway, so let's see what 
this has to say. 

1234
01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:17,680
Dear Ajam Brahmali, in the 
suitors, when wisdom is 

1235
01:04:17,680 --> 01:04:21,840
mentioned, they always say they 
have the wisdom of arising and 

1236
01:04:21,840 --> 01:04:23,920
passing away. 
What does it mean? 

1237
01:04:23,920 --> 01:04:26,760
Does it refer to impermanence or
to what? 

1238
01:04:27,440 --> 01:04:30,560
It does absolutely refer to 
impermanence. 

1239
01:04:31,280 --> 01:04:34,960
And so the the wisdom of arising
and passing away is actually the

1240
01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:38,600
wisdom of stream entry. 
This is like the profound 

1241
01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:42,040
understanding of the nature of 
reality, the first insight into 

1242
01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:45,560
the nature of reality. 
And it is not just any kind of 

1243
01:04:45,560 --> 01:04:48,560
arising and passing away, but is
there's a rising and passing 

1244
01:04:48,560 --> 01:04:52,640
away of everything that pertains
to you as a person. 

1245
01:04:52,640 --> 01:04:55,680
In other words, what we call the
five condas, the five 

1246
01:04:55,720 --> 01:04:58,440
aggregates, the five aspects of 
personality. 

1247
01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:01,600
You understand that as arising 
and passing away. 

1248
01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:05,080
And arising and passing away 
doesn't just mean that it is 

1249
01:05:05,080 --> 01:05:06,320
always changing. 
Yeah. 

1250
01:05:06,640 --> 01:05:11,280
It means that it is arising out 
of nothing and passing into 

1251
01:05:11,280 --> 01:05:12,200
nothing. 
Yeah. 

1252
01:05:12,600 --> 01:05:15,040
Comes into being and then 
disappears completely. 

1253
01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:17,440
Yeah. 
It is also referring to the idea

1254
01:05:17,440 --> 01:05:20,880
of rebirth. 
At rebirth, the five condas, the

1255
01:05:20,880 --> 01:05:23,360
five aspects of personality 
rise. 

1256
01:05:23,360 --> 01:05:27,160
Yeah. 
In the particular realm or 

1257
01:05:27,160 --> 01:05:29,520
particular rebirth. 
And then when you die, you pass 

1258
01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:33,160
away from that. 
So in all of these ways are are 

1259
01:05:33,160 --> 01:05:36,000
aspects of the idea of rising 
and passing away. 

1260
01:05:38,080 --> 01:05:43,160
Udayabaya, it is called Impali. 
Udaya is arising, not rising, 

1261
01:05:43,160 --> 01:05:44,920
but up rising. 
Yeah. 

1262
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:48,520
Coming out of nothing. 
And via is ending, completely 

1263
01:05:48,520 --> 01:05:51,120
terminating. 
And it's important to get this 

1264
01:05:51,120 --> 01:05:55,120
translations right. 
Some people translate as as 

1265
01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:58,680
rising and falling, and that 
gives the wrong idea because a 

1266
01:05:58,680 --> 01:06:01,960
rising and falling is like a 
substance rise, like the waves 

1267
01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:04,000
rising and falling. 
That's not what it means. 

1268
01:06:04,080 --> 01:06:08,560
It means up rising and passing 
away, coming into existence, 

1269
01:06:08,760 --> 01:06:11,200
disappearing. 
Yeah, so little things like that

1270
01:06:11,200 --> 01:06:14,480
are important in translation. 
If you want to hear more about 

1271
01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:17,200
little things like that, come to
one of my retreats. 

1272
01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:21,440
Then we have a question from 
Myanmar. 

1273
01:06:21,440 --> 01:06:23,920
Hello, Myanmar. 
I hope you're doing OK over 

1274
01:06:23,920 --> 01:06:25,640
there. 
Dear Adsan. 

1275
01:06:25,640 --> 01:06:29,080
If emptiness means we just 
vanish at the end, what is the 

1276
01:06:29,080 --> 01:06:34,800
point of all this practice? 
And in life, the point of all 

1277
01:06:34,800 --> 01:06:37,560
this practice is to end 
suffering. 

1278
01:06:38,040 --> 01:06:39,480
Yeah, that's what you want to 
do. 

1279
01:06:40,040 --> 01:06:43,240
And as long as you are holding 
onto anything, you will not end 

1280
01:06:43,240 --> 01:06:45,160
suffering. 
That is the whole point. 

1281
01:06:45,760 --> 01:06:49,680
The dear self that you have, the
things that you cling on to, you

1282
01:06:49,680 --> 01:06:52,240
think as belonging to you or 
being you. 

1283
01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:54,880
All of these things are part of 
suffering. 

1284
01:06:55,440 --> 01:06:57,920
So do you want to suffer or do 
you want to get out of it? 

1285
01:06:57,920 --> 01:07:00,680
That is really the question. 
And if you want to get out of 

1286
01:07:00,680 --> 01:07:04,840
it, you have to go to emptiness.
Emptiness is an incredibly 

1287
01:07:04,840 --> 01:07:08,880
beautiful idea, and the reason 
we don't see it as beautiful is 

1288
01:07:08,880 --> 01:07:11,360
because we don't understand it. 
Yeah. 

1289
01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:15,000
So be careful. 
Remember, the whole point of the

1290
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:18,720
Buddhist path, the whole point 
of any spiritual path that is 

1291
01:07:18,720 --> 01:07:21,720
worthy of its name, is that it's
supposed to be challenging. 

1292
01:07:21,720 --> 01:07:23,240
Yeah. 
If it is not challenging, it's 

1293
01:07:23,240 --> 01:07:24,400
not worth anything. 
Yeah. 

1294
01:07:24,520 --> 01:07:29,520
It has to be profound, right? 
And the Buddha set his teaching 

1295
01:07:29,520 --> 01:07:32,320
up against all the other 
teachings in the world and said 

1296
01:07:32,320 --> 01:07:35,760
my teaching is different because
what I teach is non self. 

1297
01:07:35,760 --> 01:07:37,400
In other words, I teach 
emptiness. 

1298
01:07:37,920 --> 01:07:40,960
Yeah, and that is what makes the
Buddhist teachings unique in the

1299
01:07:40,960 --> 01:07:43,480
world. 
The idea of emptiness, the idea 

1300
01:07:43,720 --> 01:07:47,880
of anata or anatman, that is the
thing which makes it special. 

1301
01:07:48,760 --> 01:07:50,920
So be careful. 
We're judging these things. 

1302
01:07:50,920 --> 01:07:53,440
Yeah. 
Stand back, allow these things 

1303
01:07:53,440 --> 01:07:56,600
to mature in your mind. 
And one day you may understand 

1304
01:07:56,600 --> 01:08:00,920
why emptiness, why the ending of
everything is the most beautiful

1305
01:08:00,920 --> 01:08:02,480
thing that can ever happen in 
the world. 

1306
01:08:03,200 --> 01:08:06,040
It's difficult to see because 
the sense of self stands in the 

1307
01:08:06,040 --> 01:08:09,360
way. 
But once you start to get it, it

1308
01:08:09,360 --> 01:08:13,760
becomes very, very beautiful. 
OK, dear Arjan. 

1309
01:08:13,760 --> 01:08:16,720
Are the suitors. 
Not just intellectual. 

1310
01:08:16,760 --> 01:08:20,560
Is it not enough just to ask and
listen to your heart and skip 

1311
01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:21,359
the thinking? 
Yeah. 

1312
01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:26,359
No, it is not enough. 
I'm sorry. 

1313
01:08:26,640 --> 01:08:29,640
I wish it was that simple. 
If it was that simple, everyone 

1314
01:08:29,640 --> 01:08:31,680
would probably be enlightened 
because everyone has the 

1315
01:08:31,760 --> 01:08:33,520
opportunity to listen to their 
heart. 

1316
01:08:34,399 --> 01:08:37,359
But the heart is not always 
telling you the truth. 

1317
01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:39,279
Sometimes your heart lies to 
you. 

1318
01:08:40,399 --> 01:08:41,960
Yeah. 
Sometimes people want to follow 

1319
01:08:41,960 --> 01:08:44,680
their intuitions. 
But are your intuitions 

1320
01:08:44,680 --> 01:08:46,720
accurate? 
Sometimes they are. 

1321
01:08:46,720 --> 01:08:48,560
Maybe sometimes they are not. 
Yeah. 

1322
01:08:49,240 --> 01:08:53,760
So we need to know that one of 
the biggest problems in for 

1323
01:08:53,760 --> 01:08:57,720
human life is the distortions of
our perception, the distortions 

1324
01:08:57,720 --> 01:08:59,279
of our mind. 
This is called delusion. 

1325
01:08:59,279 --> 01:09:02,040
It's called moha avija on the 
Buddhist path. 

1326
01:09:02,760 --> 01:09:05,439
And those distortions are what 
kind of perpetuate the 

1327
01:09:05,439 --> 01:09:08,560
definements of anger and greed 
and design, all of these kind of

1328
01:09:08,560 --> 01:09:10,680
things. 
Yeah, and because the mind is 

1329
01:09:10,680 --> 01:09:14,120
distorted, if you follow your 
heart, very often what you're 

1330
01:09:14,120 --> 01:09:17,479
following is actually delusion, 
one of the things your heart 

1331
01:09:17,479 --> 01:09:19,920
will tell you. 
Oh, I'm a beautiful person, and 

1332
01:09:20,439 --> 01:09:22,760
maybe you are beautiful, but you
may not be a person. 

1333
01:09:22,760 --> 01:09:24,640
You see, that is where often you
go wrong. 

1334
01:09:25,680 --> 01:09:29,560
And so this is really profound. 
So you need someone, the whole 

1335
01:09:29,560 --> 01:09:32,840
point of a Buddha, that the 
Buddha has penetrated the 

1336
01:09:32,840 --> 01:09:35,319
darkness of the world, 
penetrated the veil of 

1337
01:09:35,319 --> 01:09:37,720
ignorance, of the veil that 
veils the world. 

1338
01:09:37,840 --> 01:09:40,359
You can't see it clearly. 
Pull back the veil, and then you

1339
01:09:40,359 --> 01:09:45,640
can see what's going on. 
And so you rely on someone to 

1340
01:09:45,640 --> 01:09:47,800
have done that. 
That is the purpose of the 

1341
01:09:47,800 --> 01:09:50,120
Buddha, to start this whole 
teaching. 

1342
01:09:50,120 --> 01:09:50,840
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

1343
01:09:50,840 --> 01:09:53,160
And that faith and confidence in
the Buddha, why that is so 

1344
01:09:53,160 --> 01:09:56,200
important. 
And the suit as as we have now, 

1345
01:09:56,480 --> 01:10:00,240
they are in place of the Buddha 
because the Buddha is no longer 

1346
01:10:00,240 --> 01:10:02,600
here to teach us. 
So we have to deal with the 

1347
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:06,840
suitors and hopefully also some 
of the noble people that may 

1348
01:10:06,840 --> 01:10:08,720
still be around in the present 
day here. 

1349
01:10:11,000 --> 01:10:13,120
OK, Last question for tonight, 
dear. 

1350
01:10:13,120 --> 01:10:17,280
Adha in meditation I have at 
times heard my mind talking to 

1351
01:10:17,280 --> 01:10:20,040
itself. 
It is clear to me it is a 

1352
01:10:20,040 --> 01:10:24,560
separate existence to I. 
Is this what they mean by 

1353
01:10:24,640 --> 01:10:30,280
insider? 
There is a little. 

1354
01:10:30,280 --> 01:10:32,640
Bit of insight there. 
Right it is. 

1355
01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:37,000
What you are seeing is that you 
are seeing that the 

1356
01:10:37,480 --> 01:10:42,800
verbalisation of the mind comes 
in many different ways and 

1357
01:10:42,800 --> 01:10:46,600
sometimes you can feel that it 
is the eye that drives the 

1358
01:10:46,600 --> 01:10:49,320
verbalisation. 
Sometimes it feels like it is 

1359
01:10:49,320 --> 01:10:52,960
your ego that does the talking. 
Yeah, you want to talk. 

1360
01:10:53,200 --> 01:10:55,600
You put yourself out there in 
the world. 

1361
01:10:55,680 --> 01:10:59,440
You want to say I exist, you 
know, I want to be whatever. 

1362
01:11:00,040 --> 01:11:03,480
But sometimes your ego fades 
away and there's still thinking 

1363
01:11:03,480 --> 01:11:06,720
going on in the mind. 
The eye is kind of fading away, 

1364
01:11:06,960 --> 01:11:08,480
but there's still thoughts 
there. 

1365
01:11:08,720 --> 01:11:11,600
And those thoughts are not 
driven by the ego in the same 

1366
01:11:11,600 --> 01:11:14,040
way, but there are still 
thoughts. 

1367
01:11:14,040 --> 01:11:16,280
So there's still a problem. 
Yeah. 

1368
01:11:16,280 --> 01:11:20,200
So there is like a degrees of 
thinking, if you like ego driven

1369
01:11:20,200 --> 01:11:24,400
thinking and thinking that is 
much less ego driven and the 

1370
01:11:24,400 --> 01:11:27,920
less ego driven thinking is 
better than the ego driven 

1371
01:11:27,920 --> 01:11:29,920
thinking. 
Yeah, but eventually you want to

1372
01:11:29,920 --> 01:11:33,400
overcome all thinking, Yeah. 
And that is where the real 

1373
01:11:33,520 --> 01:11:36,640
profound meditation becomes 
possible. 

1374
01:11:39,320 --> 01:11:41,560
OK everyone, nice to see you 
all. 

1375
01:11:41,560 --> 01:11:44,200
I wish you all a pleasant 
weekend and a nice week ahead. 

1376
01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:46,560
Let's just pay respect to the 
Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha.

